The Crafter's Dilemma: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (english readers txt) 📗

Energy Orbs he had on his chest.  Normally, that would’ve just resulted in the enchantment absorbing energy at a rapid rate, which would make it increasingly hotter and hotter until he moved the Orbs away.  However, because he had the Limiter on one – and it was obviously touching the Fire Energy Orb – it acted as a catalyst that kicked the rune into working.  Instead of the expected trickle of energy leaking through, the Limiter was apparently cranked all the way up; the energy in the tiny Spirit Orb was expended all at once, as well as some of the Fire Orb.

The tiny Spirit Orb was entirely fine, but Felbar’s Fire Orb had been reduced by a quarter, or perhaps even a third; Violet could only be thankful that the relatively minor heating enchantment was relatively safe in the first place, otherwise the heat and flames would’ve been…deadly.  Fortunately, it hadn’t been and Felbar was alive – if a bit shaken from the experience. Not only that, but Violet thought she had figured out how to use the rune, though it would still take some very cautious experimentation to control it.

Spirit energy was also thought of as “living” energy, found in almost everything that was considered alive; this made a difference in this case, because it was apparently the catalyst for initiation.  Going back to Sandra’s description of how Humans would cast their spells through the enchantment, the Spirit element was applied by the living Human; it was probably a failsafe built into the rune so that it wouldn’t be activated by stray elemental energy.  When they “initiated” it, only then would the Limiter activate to do what it was supposed to do.

All of that ultimately meant that every enchantment that they were hoping to power – like the Stasis Fields – needed a Spirit Energy Orb for “initiation” and one supplying the actual energy.  In Felbar’s case, the tiny Spirit Orb started the process with the Limiter rune and used his Fire Orb as energy – and consumed a good portion of it in the span of a few seconds.  In any further experiments, Violet knew she needed to supply at least a Spirit Orb to start the process, and a second one to act as the power source.

Felbar rested for the remainder of the day from his harrowing experience, but Violet was now eagerly waiting to experiment some more now that she thought she figured it out.

* Just be cautious, Violet.  Felbar was very close to dying there; I know it was an accident – even if you may have learned something from it – but that doesn’t mean you can be reckless.  Just in case, I’m placing an additional two Repair Drones inside your workspace, bringing them up to four; two was barely enough to save Felbar, and I don’t want you dying because I didn’t have enough help for you…but that doesn’t mean you should throw all caution to the wind. *

“I know, Sandra; don’t worry, I’m planning on being extra careful from now on, especially seeing what happened to Felbar,” she told the dungeon, safety a very conscious thought on her mind.  “Did you know that the rune could extract the energy at a faster rate than usual?  I thought it was only to limit the amount already coming out?”

* I didn’t – which is why I want you to be extra careful.  I don’t know what other unexpected things will come from this whole experiment. *

“Me neither, Sandra, me neither.  But I hope a lot of good comes from it as well.”

* That’s my hope as well.  Well, I’ve got some deadly beasts to kill that are inhabiting my wasteland, but I’ll be keeping an eye on you, nevertheless.  My Drones have instructions to heal you on the chance that you need it, but I’d rather they not be needed – if you catch my drift? *

“I do, I do,” Violet said, walking back into the Enchantment Repository Room.  “You go have fun, and I’ll call if I need you—actually, can you create a whole lot more Orbs of different sizes?”

* Already on the way.  Good luck. *

“Thanks – you too.”

* Oh, I don’t need luck; I’m going to absolutely annihilate these things and make it safer for everyone to travel through these lands. *

Sandra said that with such conviction and confidence that Violet had to chuckle a little.  As she settled down in her little corner of the room she had designated as her workspace, she rubbed her hands together and smiled in anticipation.  Hmm…where to start, where to start?...

Chapter 8

“Annihilation” turned out to be putting it mildly.

Sandra’s force of Ape Warriors, Jaguar Queens, Dire Wolves, Dividing Rolling Forces, and one Repair Drone poured out of her alternate dungeon entrance connected to the workshop one after another until they were gathered outside in – if she did say so herself – an impressive display of might.  When they were all assembled, she immediately sent them towards the massive Desolate Spider cluster that was now fully moved to the pathway Echo used to travel towards her dungeon.  It was now clearer to Sandra than it had ever been that she needed to eliminate the deadly creatures of the wasteland if she wanted to maintain a relatively safe environment.

She sent her Dividing Rolling Forces in first, bringing them to within a dozen feet of the leading edge of the cluster; with what looked to be a perfectly choreographed action – but in reality was just that the Rolling Forces decided that it was the right time – they all sprang apart.  More than a thousand heavy slices of the constructs shot into the air, their forward momentum launching them up and over the first ranks of Spiders. When they reached the apex of their vertical arc, the pieces of Rolling Forces rained down