The Crafter's Dungeon: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (best books to read for students TXT) 📗

long.  I honestly thought that you were safe from any dangers here and I wanted to do as much research as possible into your situation here before I came back.  That doesn’t excuse leaving my charge for so long, of course, and I hope you’ll forgive me for leaving.”

Winxa was silent for another couple of minutes, before she continued.  “It’s been a long time since I’ve spent more than a few days with a Dungeon Core before they tried to ‘eat’ me,” she started, flashing a grin down at Sandra, “and it’s been even longer since I’ve touched a Core.  Not that anything bad would happen, but none of them had felt…safe…or at least normal enough for me to want to touch or get close to in any way.  With you, though – and considering what you might be up against – I feel like I could be your friend instead of a just a snack.”

The Fairy abruptly stood up and looked off into the distance, before sitting back down cautiously.  “You just lost another pair of your flying scissors, but you still have plenty there taking its place.  Anyway, I wanted to tell you what I found out now that I’ve got a captive audience,” Winxa said, flashing another smile in Sandra’s direction.  “I unfortunately didn’t find out anything official, and all communication – which is rare to begin with – with The Creator has essentially ceased.  That doesn’t mean it won’t pick back up, but I can’t get anything definite from that source.

“As for your location, I have a little bit better understanding of it now.  You see,” the Dungeon Fairy began, settling herself more comfortably on top of Sandra’s Core as if she was preparing to tell a story, “I’ve spent the last 150 years or so working with new Dungeon Cores located in or near the Human land of Muriel.  As a result, I’ve lost track of the state of all but the Merfolk, who live in the ocean and nearby islands close to Muriel.

“I knew this place from centuries ago, however, though it has certainly changed since then.  Previously, the Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes had been easily holding back the advance of their surrounding dungeons and were even using them much as the Humans still do – as a source of excellent seed loot that they could turn into weapons and armor to help combat the dungeons in a cyclical relationship.  While the Merfolk, Humans, and Beastmen far to the south are still doing fine – in fact, they are practically thriving – those races that you’re currently near haven’t had the same kind of luck.

“The Elves were always a long-lived race, but they also reproduce slowly.  Over the years, attrition in the ranks of their ‘Elite’ – which is what they call their ‘Heroes’ – have led to a diminished population.  They have abandoned many of their primary holdings along the border of their lands and have retreated to where there are no current dungeons, such as their capital city of Lyringlade.  With them not thinning out the ranks of the dungeon monsters anymore, the border dungeons are starting to get extremely powerful and are expanding their Area of Influence closer and closer to the remaining Eleven population.  I give them no more than a century before they’re wiped out.

“The Orcs to the northwest were always a warlike people and used that confidence in battle to devastate nearby dungeon monsters.  However, over time they have concentrated more on being the strongest and bravest ‘Warriors’ and look down on anyone who wants to be a weakling like a craftsman.  As a result, many of their strongest weapons and armor from the past are breaking down and they are left with the basic swords, axes, and other armaments they can manage to produce from their craftsmen who barely know what they’re doing anymore.  Most of their knowledge they used to have in crafting beautiful weapons of war have been lost, so their civilization is in decline.  Because they have no reproduction issues like the Elves – the opposite in fact – they have plenty of bodies to throw at the dungeons, but not the weapons in which to do it.  I give them…oh, maybe two centuries before they’re completely destroyed.

“The Dwarves are a strong, hearty bunch; they also make some of the most detailed and powerful weapons and armor in the world.  However, due to staggering losses in their ‘Shieldmen’ over the last century, they’ve apparently holed up in their homes located in the nearby mountains and have let a portion of the countryside around them get overrun by the dungeons.  Unfortunately, this means that the farms they still rely largely on for food are at risk of being wiped out – and like the Elves, I give them about a century before they starve to death in their mountain strongholds.

“Lastly, the Gnomes aren’t doing too badly right now, but a recent Dungeon Monster overrun of their Enchantment Learning Academy has wiped out many of the smartest and most knowledgeable Enchanters.  They rely on both those Enchanters and their War Machine manufacturers to defend them from the dungeons, and with one element of that disappearing, they will be in trouble in the future.  Without something to help them, I give them the best odds of surviving the longest if it were just a matter of their own dungeons they have to deal with – at about three centuries – but if the other races fall, they will go down quickly not too long afterward.

“Therefore, you can see that this portion of the world is slowly going downhill.  If these races fall, it is only a matter of time before these dungeons here get so powerful that they can extend their range to the lands of the Humans, Merfolk, and the Beastmen down south.  In less than half a millennia, I estimate that there will be only