Finally, it stopped, the headache and nausea leaving him in a sudden rush, relief flooding him. On its heels, Keaton saw more text.
“Carved Stone” is now available to all workshops.
“Stone Wall” is now available to all workshops.
“Stone Cladding” is now available to all workshops.
Keaton blinked, taking a moment to understand what he’d just seen. Those were… building materials. And if he searched his mind, he saw images of exactly how to refine stone to make it into what the drones used to fancy up the chamber.
That was… amazing. He needed to get more of those crystals. That was clearly the key to building things up and creating a bigger, better dungeon.
Hurrying out of the room, Keaton searched for his drones the old-fashioned way, hearing inhuman grunting and chittering in the distance. As he drew closer, those sounds were joined by what seemed like a hundred tiny hammers clinking into stone, then crushing it. The similarity ended there as Keaton was unfortunately witness to the sight of one of his drones merrily crunching the stone it had excavated and swallowing it.
At his appearance, the lead drone perked up, its vacant eyes widening. It smacked the one nearest to it, chittering angrily. Soon all the drones stood at attention.
“That’s really not—” Keaton began before just waving it off. “Nevermind. Do you know where I can get more Source of Anima crystals? I found one in the room you finished back there.”
The lead drone produced a small sack from the corner of the room and handed it over to Keaton. Sure enough, several tiny crystals glinted up at him from the bottom of it.
I’m going to have to find a better way for them to store these… they’re too fragile for a sack.
“Thank you,” he said distractedly, carrying the crystals to the entrance. “Uh, as you were. Just keep looking for more of these, and anything else that might be useful to the dungeon.”
The lead drone chittered in response, but Keaton’s attention was already elsewhere. Walking into the hall, he carefully grabbed the next crystal. This one was a dark brown, and when he examined it, the name was different, even if the description was the same.
Source of Anima: Wood – This fragment of Anima represents the structural components and necessary building blocks of a specific form of matter. Those with advanced abilities in Anima manipulation may crush the crystal to draw the Anima into their body and learn the knowledge it contains.
It crushed just as easily as the last, producing the same debilitating headache. That, too, was something he’d have to figure out and work on. For now, it was worth the suffering, as more text appeared.
An understanding of “Lumber” is now available to all workshops.
An understanding of “Carved Wood” is now available to all workshops.
An understanding of “Wooden Plank” is now available to all workshops.
An understanding of “Wooden Wall” is now available to all workshops.
An understanding of “Wooden Door” is now available to all workshops.
That was a lot more than the stone had given him. Keaton gleefully repeated the process with the other two crystals in the sack, Source of Anima: Fuel and Source of Anima: Fungus respectively.
He repeated the process, gaining knowledge of how to make a fuel source that could be burned, and how to replant, harvest, and cook mushrooms, apparently a favorite food of drones — outside of rocks.
It was almost overwhelming, but excitement still threaded through him. He’d never been this enthused about anything in his life, nor had he ever been so ready to get his hands dirty and see what could be made. Right now, the drones were just excavating and finding these crystals, but they could probably retrieve materials for him, too, and Keaton could spend the rest of the day — maybe even the next several days — just trying things out.
He was so eager to get started that he failed to notice the initial shriek from further down the tunnel. He heard a tearful exclamation of “no!” though and rushed to see what the matter was.
Deeper into the cave he saw the dragonkin once more, the shackles still binding her hands and legs, chains dangling from heavy iron manacles, his drones poking and prodding her along.
9
“Hey, hold on a minute!” Keaton exclaimed, his tone terse enough that all but the lead drone let go of the woman. “I didn’t tell you to do this!”
The lead drone stood his ground, chittering in a tone Keaton didn’t appreciate. A tone he understood, though, the drone insisting it wasn’t at fault. That it was just doing what it was told.
…And it was right, in a way. Keaton had told them to bring him anything useful. Apparently this dragonkin woman was useful to a dungeon lord. He’d seen that easily enough before he’d killed the bastard who put those irons on.
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath, lifting a hand to his forehead.
“Please, I can’t do this. I can’t pact. It’s too much. It’s too much,” the woman began, repeating a combination of those words over and over.
Her whole body was shaking, and Keaton wished he had a coat or something else to offer her that might provide some comfort and cover her up. Considering he was just swinging free in the breeze beneath his shirt, though, perhaps his priorities were a little skewed.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said in what he hoped was a soothing voice. “I don’t know anything about a pact, and you’re not bound to me. You can leave if you wish. I’ll have my drones light the tunnel that leads above ground.”
She looked up at him with fire in her eyes; a burning hatred that made Keaton stagger. The passion there, the blazing heat was enough to make his pulse race and put the absolute worst thoughts into his mind… if only she wasn’t directing that look at him.
Her lips curled in a snarl, revealing sharp, pointed teeth. Not the size of a dragon’s, but enough that Keaton didn’t dare come any closer.
“You’re cruel,” she said, “even for a dungeon lord.”
“Cruel? Because I said you could leave?” Indignation flared within him, but Keaton tamped it back down. She was scared and acting defensive. It had nothing to do with him. “Oh. I get it. You think I’m going to set you up and trick you.”
Her eyes narrowed, irises a striking gold that made Keaton think of the richest honey. So she did suspect him of trickery, which was fair enough. He was wearing the same gauntlet as the man who’d hurt her. Keaton frowned down at it, wondering if removing it for a little while would change matters, but it seemed to be the source of his power. He wasn’t eager to set it aside. With his luck, someone else would suddenly swoop in and claim it.
What to do about the dragonkin, though? How could he make her understand he didn’t want to hurt her? Nothing he could do would set her at ease, so he just decided to tell her the truth.
“Look, I’m… new to this. I know nothing about dungeon lords or pacts or anything else. It made me angry to see that last lord hurting you, and I don’t want you to ever feel that way around me. So if you want to leave, please do so.”
There. The truth. Maybe it was weakness to admit just how inexperienced he was, but Keaton didn’t think she was the type of person to take advantage of that. If she had been, he’d likely already be dead.
Instead he took a step back and inclined his chin toward the tunnel behind her. She watched him with the same suspicion, scoffing at him. Keaton frowned, shook his head, and started to turn away.