Core Training

  John placed his dungeon core in a patch of sunlight while he waited for Jim and Lorem. He was curious what kind of paths would open up if it accumulated enough light essence. He hummed to himself while he watched to see if the crystal began growing brighter.

  His own essence was pouring into the crystal also. That was something he never saw used on Homeworld. Destiny absorbed directly from the essence veins and ambient essence. The smaller dungeons were often fed essence crystals when first deployed. John shrugged. Maybe it was possible, but they had never bothered.

  “Why haven’t you made an essence accumulator?” Lorem asked from behind him. Jim had loosened his leash to allow him to float around the homestead.

  “Don’t know how to. This is my first time being able to control external essence. Previously, I could only cast spells inside my body?” John answered.

  “Were you some sort of elemental prior to ascending?” Lorem asked fishing for information. He had a feeling this “John” was far from a mortal being. He had a companion bond and something else that he suspected was a link to divinity making him an avatar for a god.

  “A slime. Metal slime. Master of whooping ass and other forms of badassery.” John answered. “I didn’t just kill. I killed with style.” Two extra arms formed and flexed impossibly massive muscles.

  Lorem rolled his eyes, but noted that his guess about the divine link wasn’t denied. He also began pulling his knowledge of slimes and processing what John had said. “You cast spells inside your body? Light and darkness and things like that?”

  John tilted his head. “Huh. That might be interesting. Never tried it though. I did cast a lightning nova inside my body to kill a shadow dragon once. It was trying to kill Queen Maggy and the twins. Nasty bugger. If John and I hadn’t shown up, things might not have gone well.”

  “Slimes are vulnerable to elemental attacks. How did you survive setting off a lightning nova inside of you?” Lorem asked.

  “Not at all. Deader than a doornail. At least I took that damn shadow dragon with me though. Well worth it in my book. Do you know how to set up an essence accumulation array.”

  Lorem cast the accumulator underneath the crystal and watched as John inspected it. After a few seconds John asked, “These are receptors around the edge that aren’t connected to anything. Can we set up other arrays to increase the power?”

  “Yes. But we’d start draining everything around us. Jim would be very upset with you if his house started crumbling.” Lorem explained.

  “Why would he be upset with me. I don’t even know how to set up an accumulation array.” John said with a smile. “Can we make arrays that just relay what another is absorbing?”

  Lorem reviewed some of his data before answering. “Sure. Are you thinking of pulling essence from somewhere else?”

  An hour later, a tree fell and the loud crash caused Jim to come running out of his house where he had been reading Beware of Chicken while finishing his breakfast. After a bit of looking about, he followed Lorem’s leash to where he and John were dissolving a tree…with a flat stone.

  “Morning Jim. Just feeding the dungeon. He’s a growing boy and needs lots of fiber.” John said.

  “He made me do it.” Lorem exclaimed.

  John went wide eyed and placed his hand on his chest in disbelief at the accusation. Jim wasn’t sure who to believe. He thought about it and realized that he didn’t care and was curious how you feed a dungeon.

  When Jim asked, he explained, “John forced me to make an essence accumulator to help his dungeon grow faster and then forced me to set up a relay and also forced me to make an accumulation disc to absorb essence from different objects.”

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  ‘It was your idea to test it on the tree.” John stated.

  “There’s some rocks behind the house that are just begging for some accumulation. Been thinking of doing some planting in the spring so I don’t have to buy so much food from town.” Jim said.

  Lorem and John began to discuss the appropriate controls for designating what substances to absorb essence from. Jim was lost in a matter of seconds, “Just don’t test it too close to my cabin. I don’t want the foundation to disappear.”

  “Give us a couple days and you can move into the dungeon.” John said. “In fact, planting some fields inside it would probably be a good idea.”

  *****

  The siegemaster had his dungeon in full absorption mode as he looked for civilization. He had accumulated large amounts of wood and stone and ores, but hadn’t found any pure metal to feed his dungeon and he knew he’d have to have the dungeon absorb items. He wasn’t a genius inventor like Billy. He also wasn’t a dragon, but that wasn’t really pertinent to his current situation.

  He came across a wide stone path and followed it. After some time he heard a vehicle approaching at high speed. Stepping off the path, he waited. When it passed, he waved and smiled. The vehicle rapidly slowed and turned around coming back towards him. It stopped a short distance away and a young human male got out.

  “That’s an awesome get up you’ve got. Is it an item, equipment, or a bit of both like the mechas that some people are making.” the man asked.

  “Neither. It’s just me.” the siegemaster answered while scratching his head.

  “Whoah. Cool animatronics. That is so smooth. Not jittery at all. And the lips synced so perfectly, I could have sworn you were actually speaking. What else can it do?” the man excitedly exclaimed.

  Siegemaster tried to think of some of the phrases the Battlemaster would use and one came to his mind. “Hulk smash.” He said as he slammed his fist down onto a boulder turning it into dust.

  “Awesome. That is a lot of power. How did you get the actuators so efficient? That was so fast it looked like a single movement. Do you have multiple processors controlling theactuators? That must be a huge draw on the batteries.” The human stepped forward and placed his hand on the siegemasters arm. “Wow, this feels like real skin. Tougher and rougher and a little cooler, but real.”

  The siegemaster thought it might be a form of greeting the humans used so he raised his opposite arm and placed his hand on the human’s other arm accidentally pushing him a couple steps to the side.

  “Hey. Careful. That thing has some real power.” the human said, rubbing his shoulder. “What’s your name and where are you from? I’m Chase. Are you affiliated with a guild? My dad is the leader of the Granite Throne. You’d have no problem getting in with that suit.”

  “Siegemaster. I’m from Homeworld. I’m a member of the Drake Guild, but we don’t have a guild hall on this planet yet.”

  “Siegemaster. That’s so cool. Never heard of Homeworld.” the man’s face kind of scrunched up as his mind caught up with his mouth. “What do you mean on this planet?” For some reason, he began cautiously stepping back towards his vehicle.

  “I just arrived. I’m supposed to use my dungeon to protect and train as many humans as I can. Your planet will be invaded soon.” Siegemaster explained.

  “Ahhh…cooool….well…I have to get going…Dad’s expecting me.” Chase said as he quickly jumped into his vehicle and sped away. Siegemaster shrugged. Not the best first contact, but things could have gone worse. He then started jogging in the direction Chase had sped away. Occasionally stopping to let the dungeon absorb some metal alongside the strangely smooth rock path.

  *****

  Lorem found himself staring at the dungeon core. Just watching it grow and evolve. It was really amazing. The essence chains growing and connecting. It was like a three dimensional enchantment that was constantly evolving. The complexity was intoxicating. The knowledge contained…

  “Don’t even think about it, book.” John said with a tentacle spear inches from Lorem’s spine.

  “How soon before we can go inside?” Lorem asked.

  John shrugged. “Probably tomorrow. He needs one more level before he can get the dimensional upgrade allowing him to create subspaces. We’re still short on metals and more wood and stone wouldn’t hurt. “

  “Let’s head to town tomorrow morning.” Jim said. “If you’ve got the credits we can feed him then. If you don’t, we can just have him expand and absorb the town.”

  “Oh sure. I’m a bad book and am not allowed to absorb the town, but sure. Let’s let the baby dungeon just absorb whatever he wants.” Lorem complained.

  “The dungeon can recreate and improve anything it absorbs.” John pointed out. “That’s not a very fair comparison. Besides, I have plenty of credits.”

  The next morning, Jim led the trio east away from the homestead. “I thought the village was south?” Lorem asked.

  “I always figured books were smart.” Jim answered.

  *****

  John sat with his fledgling dungeon. He could sense it observing him. “Do you know what our mission is here?” he asked, but received no response. “Can’t talk yet? That’s fine. This planet is inhabited by humans. It was recently integrated. Unfortunately, it will be invaded by the insectamorphs soon. We have to protect and train as many humans as we can.”

  John sensed the young core could understand some of what he said. “Two of my friends, Baby Ogre and Gummy, are here also. They have dungeons also. We’re all strong enough to defeat the insectamorphs, but we aren’t going to be able to protect the people without your help.”

  John continued speaking. He didn’t know if talking to the core would help it grow, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt. “Once we get you strong enough, we’ll create a space for you to house the humans we find and train them. We’ll also have access to dungeon schematics that will allow you to turn your domain into vehicles. It won’t be long before you will be rolling all over the place blowing up our enemies or flying in to rescue humans.”

  John chuckled as he felt a sense of pride emanating from the core. The little guy was going to be a good dungeon.

  John sighed as he watched the sun set. Candrel would enjoy this adventure. Too bad she was working on that other project.