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

“You’ve got to spend money to make money,” was something her father used to say all the time.  Of course, he was referring to paying for merchandise in one place to sell somewhere else for a markup, but she supposed it applied in her current situation.  With a sigh, she turned back to the Advancement options she had…

Chapter 37

Obviously, to get what she wanted – no, needed – Sandra was going to have to Advance her Classification.

“I’m not sure exactly what it will do to your existing construct options, but I do know that in the future it will provide you with more selection when you upgrade your Core Size.  In the past, advancing your Classification meant that you’d have access to Monsters that wouldn’t normally be something you’d see, and they only get better the more advanced it is,” Winxa explained when Sandra asked more about it.  “Though, with what you’re looking for, I doubt that any changes to your current Monsters will matter to you, as they likely still won’t be able to enchant anything.”

Regardless of what it did to her current Classification, Sandra decided that it needed to be done to get access to other Dungeon Monsters that would be what she was looking for.  Therefore, with just a few moments of hesitation, she spent the 75 AP on advancing her Classification one level; the Advancement Option menu showed the Classification advancement option change from costing 75 AP to 750 AP, which meant it would be quite a while before she upped it again.  She felt the same internal shifting of something inside her Core as it did when she spent 5 AP on acquiring the Goblin Worker, but it was much stronger.

It was so intense, in fact, that she…blacked out…for a second and her mind came to a screeching halt.  It wasn’t the same as being in the featureless grey void of death or the limited awareness of her Core Size upgrades. Those existences at least allowed her to think; her blacked-out state wouldn’t allow her to do even that, which was probably good because she couldn’t even worry or freak out about it.  Sandra had no way of telling how long it took – mainly because she couldn’t think enough about it to care – and when she came back to awareness it was with a sudden jolt; one second she was carelessly floating in a black void without direction or thought, the next she was back in her Core with menus scrambling for her attention.

Congratulations on your Classification Advancement!

Current Classification: Constructs (Advancement Level 1)

Your current Constructs Creation Options have been upgraded!

Your current Advancement Creation Options have been upgraded!

(Attention!  Your existing Dungeon Monsters will not be automatically upgraded.  Upgrades will only take place when a new Dungeon Monster is created.  Mana requirements may have increased as a result of this advancement.)

You can now purchase Advancement Level 1 Dungeon Monsters from the Advancement Options Menu.

Constructs Creation Options

Name:

Mana Cost:

Clockwork Tarantula

25

Reinforced Animated Shears

50

Hyper Automaton

100

Dividing Rolling Force

125

Lengthy Segmented Millipede

500

Iron-banded Articulated Clockwork Golem

750

Roaring Blademaster

1500

Large Armored Sentinel

2000

Mechanical Jaguar Queen

4000

Mechanical Dire Wolf

5000

Martial Totem

8000

Automated Sharp-bladed Digger

10000

Multi-access Repair Drone

16000

Steelclad Ape Warrior

24000

Titanium Anaconda

32000

Steel-plated Behemoth

40000

Gravitational Devastation Sphere*

15000

Advancement Creation Options

Name:

Mana Cost:

Goblin Foreman

80

Uh…what just happened?  Being bombarded by all of that information right when she came back to awareness was unexpected, but not as unexpected as the Mana Cost of her constructs being four to five times what they were before!  The Goblin Worker – now Goblin Foreman – was only increased by a little bit, which was strange—

“There you are!  It’s been almost a week since you started that advancement to your Classification, and I was starting to get worried!”  Sandra heard Winxa’s anxious voice and looked around to see her hovering nearby with an equally anxious look on her face.

I’m sorry, I didn’t know it would do that – why didn’t you warn me?

The anxious look didn’t disappear from the Fairy’s face; in fact, it looked to be even worse than it was when Sandra had first seen her.  “From the little I remember, it wasn’t supposed to do that.  It should’ve been like a super-quick upgrade that wouldn’t have lasted more than a few minutes – not an entire week!” she exclaimed.  “But that’s not everything – you’ve got a visitor.”

Huh?  What visitor?  Experimenting quickly by trying to eat at a nearby wall, Sandra found that she was still able to do it – which meant it wasn’t an intruder, at least.  Winxa sensed her confusion and pointed down below her, so she switched her attention to the floor beneath her Core.  Violet stood there looking up at Sandra both in wonder and consternation, if such a thing were possible.  She looked very impatient and appeared to have been there for a while.

* Violet?  What are you doing here?  And how did you get past my trap— *

Sandra realized before she even finished the thought how that had happened; she had taken down the trap while she was experimenting with the Goblin Worker and enchanting and hadn’t even considered setting it back up before she had advanced her Classification.

“You’re back!  I’ve been trying to communicate with you forever, it seems; I thought you said you were only going to be gone for a few days at most,” the Gnome said with her hands on her hips as if she was trying to admonish Sandra for her lack of communication.

* I’m sorry about that; something unexpected happened and it took much longer than I had known it would.  Are you ok?  Did you run out of food? *

“No, I’m fine – but I finished setting up the Stasis Fields on