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

two other Titanium Warhammers with her Ape while they were trying to figure out the enchantment in the first place.  Instead, she just absorbed the halfway-destroyed weapon, noticing that the Average Fire Energy Orb that was placed in the pommel was now two-thirds smaller from just the single activation of the enchantment.

The second enchantment went much easier and faster, now that she knew that she had to drastically turn down the flow from the Limiter rune.  When she tested it – aboveground again for safety – it had the desired effect; a brief burst of flames erupted from the head of the hammer, creating a small dent in the dirt and making the hammer rebound from the force of the mini-explosion just a little.  It was exactly what she needed to make her Steelclad Apes into the warriors they were meant to be.

That wasn’t all, however; because they were going against the Undead, she also wanted to create some Holy-based enchantments that were offensive.  That was going to be a little difficult, because most of the enchantments she knew of were primarily defensive – but with the added potential energy behind one, it could prove to be just as deadly as the Fireburst…if not more.

She finally settled on the Holy Light enchantment, which was an extremely basic enchantment that was normally crafted on simple wooden sticks and used as a torch of sorts while delving through Nether-based dungeons.  The enchantment gave off a steady light that could last for days of constant use; Nether Dungeon Monsters tried to avoid being close to it (likely because the light made them a little uncomfortable), though it apparently didn’t actually hurt them unless they were touched by it directly – and then it was essentially like burning them with a hot brand.  Again, not normally that powerful or even deadly except against the smallest of Undead, but when it had a bit of an extra boost behind it…who knows?

When they were done, it was hard to tell exactly how powerful it was; all she could say when her Ape experimented with it outside, was that it created a brief flash of light that was as bright or brighter than anything she’d seen before.  It only lasted for a fraction of a second, but it was impressive for all that.  Before she created any more of those, she’d have to try it against an Undead to see if it actually did anything.

* That’s a good start, don’t you think?  Now, let’s focus on the War Machine. *

“You mentioned that before, but it’s already working the way it’s supposed to,” Violet said, after the warhammer experiments were complete.  Sandra was planning on creating more of them once they had figured out all of the other enchantments she had in mind.

* No, that’s all fine – perfect, even.  You did a really good job on that, you know?  No, what I’m talking about is adding some extra elemental weaponry to it, to make it even more versatile. *

The Gnome seemed to consider that for a moment.  “Ok…but I’m not sure how that is going to work.  With the warhammers, we used an Activate rune sequence, but if the War Machine is already touching something, it’s probably already being destroyed by its weapons.”

* That’s a good point, but the way I’m thinking it will work will be just a bit different.  I have some thoughts about what I’d like to include, but instead of the Activate rune sequence being at the point of contact, I want it to be inside where Felbar is piloting the construct. *

She cocked her head to the side as she thought about it, before smiling wide as she understood.  “Ah, I see now.  What did you have in mind?”  Sandra mentally smiled back.

It required a bit of manipulation of the inside cockpit where Felbar controlled the Machine, but it was relatively minor and done fairly quickly.  When Sandra was done, there were now an Average Fire Energy Cube and its accompanying Spirit Energy Orb wedged into the inner wall, as well as Limiter and Activate runes sequences running down the left arm and to the tip of the warhammer fused to the end.  On the right side, there was an Average Holy Energy Cube with the same setup, though instead of just the right arm the sequences roamed lightly over the entire War Machine.  That enchantment required Sandra to contribute four of her Shapeshifters in Echo form to complete because of the sheer size of it, though at least the enchantment itself wasn’t complicated.

Felbar came back into the workshop just as Sandra and Violet were finishing up the new additions.  “What are you doing to my girl?” he asked worriedly, rushing over to put his hand on the War Machine’s leg possessively.

Sandra couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction and proceeded to tell him that they had made some changes for him to try out.  He looked suspiciously at Violet, who looked back at him with an innocent smile on her face, before climbing up with the help of some boxes into the pilot’s area.  “What are these Cubes doing in here?” he asked, seeing them immediately.

* I’ll explain it in a moment.  Head out of the workshop and I’ll show you. *

The Gnome grumbled under his breath about secrets and about having no respect for his baby, but he did as Sandra asked.  As soon as he was out there and safely away from anything that could get hurt, the Dungeon Core pointed out the activation symbol on the nearby wooden wall, just to his right, along with a similar one on his left.

* Now, touch the one on your left and hold your hand there. *

Felbar did as he was instructed, and a semi-transparent shield of light sprung up around the entire War Machine.

* If you sort of turn your fingers