The Crafter's Defense: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 2) by Jonathan Brooks (top 10 novels txt) 📗

while she was distracted.  She also checked on the Shears hovering far overhead of the other villages near the wastelands and was relieved to see that everything looked as normal as it was before.

Sandra briefly wondered what had happened with Echo, the Elven woman watching her dungeon.  She had lost track of her after she saw the woman running after her Repair Drones on their way to the Gnome lands; she had been visible for more than half of the way there, but then she disappeared with her special elemental ability.  Since that last glimpse of her still following the Drones, Sandra hadn’t seen even an “echo” of her presence anywhere.  She hoped that she hadn’t been caught up with the reptile army and had gotten out of their way.

Putting that out of her mind, Sandra worked on finishing the things she had been putting off.  First, something she thought would be easy enough to take care of, she had her Steel Python spit out the blue-colored rock it had picked up in the Gnome village.  She thought that it was about time to see what the Ancient Saurian had left behind after it had died – so she ate it with her Dungeon Core powers immediately.

New Monster Seed and Origination Material found!

Sapphire

While Sapphire can be directly used as a Monster Seed, it can also be used as a material for use in the dungeon or other purposes.

You now have access to:

Tiny Faceted Sapphire Sphere

Origination Raw Material Cost: 12000

Origination Mana Cost: 3500

Monster Min. Mana: 3500

Monster Max. Mana: 8500

A Sapphire with those Mana and Raw Material costs was much better than she had expected; if she were to unlock the larger sizes, then in some ways it would be more affordable than her Large Steel Orb in terms of Raw Materials, and the Small size would actually give her an alternative to the Small Dragon Glass Sliver when it came to the maximum Mana she could use for a Monster Seed.  She didn’t have the time or resources to spare to unlock it then and there, however, so it would have to be later.

The second thing she had completely ignored until now – and which she was hoping would help with the defense of her dungeon – was the new construct option she had received as a result of upgrading her Core Size up to 19.  She couldn’t even imagine what it could be, since her Iron-plated Behemoth had cost 10,000 Mana to create; if it costs even more and is even bigger, can I even contain it inside my dungeon?

 With strange trepidation and eagerness all rolled up into one, she brought up her Constructs Creation Options menu.

Constructs Creation Options

Name:

Mana Cost:

----------

----

Ironclad Ape

6000

Steel Python

8000

Iron-plated Behemoth

10000

Gravitational Destruction Sphere*

15000

Uh…huh?  Not only did “Gravitational Destruction Sphere” make absolutely no sense to her, but it also had a strange symbol next to it that she didn’t recognize.  It almost looked like a star, but unlike anything she had ever seen before.  The only one she could ask about it had no idea, either.

“I’ve never heard of that before.  There must be a reason for it to have that symbol; maybe you need to concentrate on it to see if it gives you any more information,” Winxa added with a shrug.  It was an overly simple solution to her problem, so of course it worked.

Gravitational Destruction Sphere*

* This unique construct is limited to being created only 1 time every 60 days.  Each Sphere will maintain its existence for 24 hours before dissipating while also consuming whatever Monster Seed it was created from, no matter if it was used or not.  Range limit: 300 feet from dungeon entrance.  Warning: Use of this construct is not advised inside of a dungeon.

That was a lot of limitations for something so expensive in terms of resources, which at the moment was almost her entire maximum Mana; in addition, whatever Monster Seed she used for its creation was set to be consumed at the same time, even if she didn’t “use” it within 24 hours.  Speaking of that, if it isn’t advised to be “used” within a dungeon for defense, what good is it?

Winxa answered even if Sandra wasn’t actually asking her.  “That sounds extremely dangerous.  I can’t give you any specific advice, but I’m sure you can guess what I would say.”

Yes, and I agree; I won’t use this new construct unless it’s absolutely necessary.  Sandra was wary of using anything that had an actual warning attached to it; everything else that she could make – including her deadly traps – were fine, apparently, but she was planning on staying away from something that could potentially harm her as well.

With the new construct essentially a bust, Sandra turned her attention back to what she could do to increase her defenses.  With what appeared to be at least 200 various reptiles (not counting the two Ancient Saurians farther behind them) heading her way, there were a number of ways she could defend herself; first, she could intercept the army with a force of her own before it even got close; second, she could use her AMANS to attack from above, killing many – if not all – of them, but it would end up destroying hundreds or even thousands of her Shears in the process; or third, she could let them come to her dungeon and let the constructs and traps inside do the work for her.

As for the first choice, it had the benefit of not revealing where her dungeon was located, though she was sure if they looked hard enough they could eventually find it.  As it was, Sandra could see that they were following the sporadic blood trail left behind by the bleeding and unconscious form of Felbar, as well as her constructs’