The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) by Jonathan Brooks (free e books to read .txt) 📗

was created entirely of Dungeon Force and was fused into her dungeon, which meant that it couldn’t be physically moved from where she placed it – but it could hold up to a certain quantity of rewards, depending upon Reward Tier.  At Reward Tier 1, it could hold up to 100 DF-worth of rewards; at Tier 2, which Tacca had unlocked, it could hold 200 DF.  At the moment, though, all that it contained was 10 silver coins which cost 100 DF – a fine-enough reward for a few hours’ work.  Plus, the creatures inside the room all dropped some copper coins and pieces of lower-Tier equipment, so it wasn’t half bad.

As they left, all smiles despite the few bloodstains and torn armor, Tacca couldn’t help but be relieved as they didn’t investigate any further than looking down the partially hidden tunnel to her Core Room.  Either they knew that all that was left was her Core Room and didn’t want to disturb her Core, or they didn’t want to push their luck and run into something they couldn’t handle.  Not that she had anything like that at the moment, but she was happy that she didn’t have to test that.

“See!  I think that was a very successful test of your dungeon; you even challenged them a little, which I honestly wasn’t expecting.  Hopefully, this means that many more will be coming here soon.”  Shale was excitedly fluttering around her Core Room, and she couldn’t help but be infected by his enthusiasm.

Absolutely!  However, there’s something that I was thinking about when they were leaving….

Chapter 3

With the first “real” visitors gone from her dungeon, Tacca could finally let go of some of the tension she had been feeling the entire time they had been inside.  The Dungeon Core kept expecting something to go wrong, some element that she had overlooked wreaking havoc on her creatures and traps, or even something happening that might inadvertently kill one of the Raiders sent to investigate the newly opened dungeon.  She wasn’t opposed to that happening on a fundamental level, but it would be like killing one of her instructors back at DAPS when they came to check up on her work.  A good first impression was imperative to success, and killing one of her evaluators probably wouldn’t have gone over well.

As her creatures and traps automatically reset, starting with the ones in the Boss room and working their way up to the entrance (so that the next group of Raiders that came in would see the first room stocked with monsters and know that it was ready to be delved through), Tacca thought about something that always bothered her about the dungeon setups she had learned about in the past.

Shale, can you remember any dungeons that you’ve learned about that had any access points other than the main entrance?

“Huh?  What are you talking about?  I would think that would defeat the purpose of having a dungeon in the first place,” Shale replied, confused.  “And no, I haven’t heard anything like that.”

Well, when I was watching the group leave here, I realized that it seems like a waste of time, waiting for them to leave in order to start replenishing my dungeon creatures and traps.  I usually have enough DF regenerating every minute that I could nearly replace each creature and trap as soon as they leave the room on their way down – other than the Soil-covered Pit traps in room five, of course.  I may end up replacing them because they take so long to reset, at least until I can obtain another Trap Specialization.

“Yes…I can see that.  But then they would run into them on their way out, which is against regulations.  As unique and…different…as your situation is, I really don’t think you should do anything that drastic; it could cause some severe repercussions that could result in your destruction.”

I’m well aware of that.  However, what would happen if I were to add exits to each of the rooms leading up to the surface? That way, as soon as they either finish all of the rooms, or decide they don’t want to push on anymore, they could take the exit and walk up a set of stairs until they are above ground.  Do you think that could work?

Shale was silent for a moment as he settled on the floor of her Core Room and tilted his head to the side in contemplation.  After nearly five minutes of complete silence and intensely focused thinking on his part, her Dungeon Assistant shrugged and said, “I don’t see any problem with that, and it doesn’t violate any rules or regulations that I can think of.  But how are you going to prevent people from abusing these exits and using them to enter?”

He had a good point.  If they could exit from there, what was to prevent a group of Raiders from entering and skipping all of the rooms to access something further down – like her Boss room, for example.  The point in having Raiders inside was to gain Core Improvement Points from their presence; if they could enter, kill everything in the Boss room quickly, and then leave…what was the point?  This problem was probably why none of the other dungeons that had ever existed had done anything like that, because it was difficult to devise a way to prevent those who would abuse the system from taking advantage of it; that, and for longer dungeons, if they had to navigate through the entire thing to get to the harder rooms – then that was just a bonus, in terms of time spent inside and consequently more CIPs.

It was a mystery and problem that needed to be solved, especially as she grew in Core Improvement Levels and was able to create harder sections.  She wanted to be viable as an easier dungeon, but also have the option for