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

weasel-looking creatures on one side, and all sorts of deadly – and annoying – birds on the other. Only one of the Shears that she had sent in near the avian-based Core came out “alive”, as the birds didn’t take kindly to intruders invading their territory; the worst part was that she barely saw them before her Shears were attacked and basically snapped in half by the powerful beaks of the birds.

As for the Gnomes, there was fortunately little sign that the reptiles had started to move anywhere except for around the nearby forest.  Though, alarmingly, the Area of Influence from the reptile Core was much larger than it had been before; it now reached all the way to the Gnome village all by itself, whereas before it had only reached there because of Sandra’s own expansive Area.  Worse than that, it had grown so large by that point that it was in danger of reaching through the forest it was in and finding the Elves on the opposite side.

Luckily, they weren’t there quite yet, and the other Dungeon Core on the opposite side of the village was still small – and full of various undead.  Sandra saw walking skeletons, decaying zombie-like forms, and even a few mist-like figures that floated above the forest floor.  Those last caused her to get her Shears out of there, as they appeared to spot her construct – she didn’t want to lose any more unnecessarily.

Everywhere – except for the Gnomes, of course – there were teams of people hunting down the Dungeon Monsters as a matter of course; they performed their culling that the villages were theoretically all there for, bringing back the dungeon loot that the monsters dropped when they were killed.  And other than the reptiles staying relatively near the Core in the Gnomes’ territory, everything looked…normal.  There were no swarms of Monsters gathering and heading towards one of the villages, nor was there any indication that it would soon happen.

In fact, the only Core that really worried Sandra was the reptilian-based one, as it was an anomaly that was different from the rest.

How did they expand so quickly?

Winxa answered, even though Sandra hadn’t technically been asking her.  “It’s likely that it stored up most of the Mana it had acquired from killing the Gnomes and upgraded more than once.  Its upgrade time was likely still less than yours, and it might’ve been able to complete two of them since it first appeared that upgrading was what it was doing.”

That seems like…a lot.  With the appearance of those Ancient Saurians, I doubt they would’ve had enough to do that; not only that, but if I think what is happening is true, then it appears as if it is doing it again.

The Fairy thought about it for a few moments before responding.  “You’re right, that doesn’t seem possible—wait a minute!  Didn’t you say that the Core looted things from the Gnome village?”

Yes, but what does that have to do with—oh.  If the Gnomes had been gathering “dungeon loot” for a while – from two different dungeons, probably – and hadn’t shipped any away to the capital, then that village was probably like finding a treasure trove of Mana and Raw Materials.  This could be very bad.

“I agree – but what are you going to do about it?”

Sandra…had no idea.  I have no clue, Winxa.  Give me a little bit to think that over; they are no danger to anyone right now, fortunately, so I think I have some time.

With everything else looking as normal as could be expected, though, Sandra finally turned back to herself and her dungeon.  Looking around her rooms, everything appeared just the way she left it, though Violet was down adding her own enchantments to the RRPs in the Enchantment Repository.  The Gnome looked like she was going to be there for a little while, so Sandra opened up her new Advancement menus with anticipation…

Chapter 35

Sandra first opened up her Classification Menu and saw that she had…89 Advancement Points!  How did I get that many?  She didn’t have to wonder long, as she brought up another menu that described in detail where she had gotten them.

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)

0 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

25 AP

(25X Qualifying Rooms)

0 AP

Unique Dungeon Fixtures

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

2 AP per fixture

26 AP

(13X Crafting Stations)

0 AP

Creature Eradication

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

3 AP per eradication

6 AP

(1X Territory Ant Colony, 1X Bearling Lair)

0 AP

Sentient Race Elimination

Eliminate members of sentient races

1 AP per 10 eliminations

8 AP (12X Orc, 71X Gnome)

0 AP

Sentient Race Bonding

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

1 AP per 2 Bonds

5 AP (1X Orc/Dwarf, 1X Elf, 9X Gnome)

0 AP

?????

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

?????

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

(?????) Denotes an unknown, unique Source of Advancement Points.  Perform this unknown action to unlock more information.

Essentially, she received 19 AP from her Core Size being at 20, 25 AP for having 25 distinct dungeon room, 26 AP from having 13 unique Dungeon Fixtures which included all of her different crafting stations (apparently her VATS didn’t count, as it was essentially just a series of traps without actual fixtures), and 6 AP from eliminating the Territory Ants and the Bearlings (even if she hadn’t done it all herself).  Sentient Race Bonding – the newest Advancement criteria that she