The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) by Jonathan Brooks (ebook reader with android os TXT) 📗

only receiving a fraction of what she used to in terms of Mana from them, but they would pay for themselves in a few days and would be a semi-permanent addition to her overall Mana absorption strategy.

In addition, in between creating and sending up more Shears, Sandra started to produce hordes of Clockwork Tarantulas, which cost approximately half of what the Shears did in terms of Mana: only 18, as opposed to 35.  Now, while they weren’t as versatile – basically, they couldn’t fly – her new Tarantulas were an improvement over their original incarnation.  The Clockwork Spider was small and relatively slow, and while the Tarantula was almost twice as big, it was also three times as fast.  At five inches wide (from leg tip to leg tip), the Tarantulas were a bit deadlier than the older Spider version, and could scuttle over the ground with a better speed.  They didn’t approach anything like what her Dividing Rolling Forces could as far as quick movement, but they didn’t plod along, either.  Therefore, she sent waves of them out to randomly venture out into the wastelands, moving without any particular purpose but to wander around and absorb Mana.  If any Cores saw them moving around, she hoped they would just look like they were scouting around, looking for anything to kill.  She made sure to instruct them not to bunch up too much and to spread themselves all over the wastelands so that they weren’t obviously moving with an ulterior purpose.  Whether or not she succeeded in that was still to be seen, of course.

There was a third way she intended to acquire more Mana, though it was going to take a little more effort and time to achieve results.  It was something for the near future, however, and not something she could afford to start on except for the beginning stages of what she had planned.  Part of that was tied up with what she needed to do to start the communication process with the different lands and their people; as such, a few hours into her gradual increase of her AMANS and her GMANT (Grounded Mana Absorption Net of Tarantulas), she turned to Winxa for advice.

What kind of Dungeon Monster do you think would be able to fly fast, carry more than a few people, and haul a decently heavy load?

The Dungeon Fairy stared at her Core and whatever color she had in her face abruptly bled out.  “Y-you can’t be serious…nonono, I won’t be a part of whatever you have planned if you’re going to involve them.”

Now Sandra was confused.  What are you talking about?

“I told you that I didn’t want to help you if you started using Dragons, remember; Wester created and commanded Dragons, and it’s what led to this place being what it is.”

I didn’t say anything about Dragons, Winxa.  Besides, as interesting as they might be to create, those seem like the absolute last Monster I would send to the races’ leadership; if the Elves are as long-lived as I’ve been told, then some of them might even remember fighting Dragons controlled by your former Core.

Winxa looked relieved as some of the color came back to her face as she hovered in front of Sandra’s Core.  “They certainly might, at that,” she said softly.  “Well, if you don’t want Dragons, what is it that you want?  I imagine this has to do with transportation to and from each lands’ capitals, though – again – I haven’t heard of anything like that happening before.”

Like I said, I need something – not a Dragon – that can fly fast, carry more than one person, and perhaps even carry a large load.  The most important attribute is being able to fly fast, though, and be big enough to carry more than a single person – unlike my Pegasi.

“Ok, fair enough.  There are a few places you might be able to find something like that in your Advancement Menu; just concentrate on Air-based Dungeon Monsters at first, and expand from there into dual elements.  There are dozens of Monsters that I can think of – that aren’t Dragons – that might work for you, but I fear if I give you specific choices, that might be considered advice…and I’d rather not test that theory, if you don’t mind.”

No worries, Winxa – I think I can take it from here.

She figured that looking in Air-based Monsters would be the way to go, but she wanted to see if the Dungeon Fairy had anything specific for her to look at.  Regardless of what she chose, she needed to determine how many Dungeon Monsters she could unlock in case the first one she chose didn’t work out the way she wanted.

Advancement Points (AP)

Source

Criteria

Point Value

Lifetime Earned Points

Lifetime Spent Points

Core Size

Receive AP upon Core Size upgrade (does not count for Core Size 1 nor upgrade stages)

1 per Core Size upgrade

19 AP

(19X Core Size Upgrades)

19/19 AP

Number of Rooms

Receive AP for each distinct dungeon room at least 4,000 cubic feet in size (20ftx20ftx10ft minimum)

1 AP per qualified room

47 AP

(47X Qualifying Rooms)

45/47 AP

Unique Dungeon Fixtures

Receive AP for each never-before-seen fixture in your dungeon

2 AP per fixture

32 AP

(14X Crafting Stations, 1X Bathing Room, 1X Enchantment Repository)

32/32 AP

Creature Eradication

Eradicate sources of nearby creatures (i.e. lairs and spawning areas)

3 AP per eradication

72 AP

(5X Territory Ant Colonies, 6X Bearling Lairs, 4X Desolate Spider Clutches, 4X Crag Hound Packs, 5X Solitary Broat Spawn)

48/72 AP

Sentient Race Elimination

Eliminate members of sentient races

1 AP per 10 eliminations

12 AP (12X Orc, 71X Gnome, 42X Dwarf)

8/12 AP

Sentient Race Bonding

Form a new Dungeon Visitor Bond with a member of a sentient race

1 AP per 2 Bonds

44 AP (1X Orc/Dwarf, 6X Elf, 9X Gnome, 73X Dwarf)