Valentine Core, page 12
part #2 of Holiday Dungeon Core Series
The ninja was somehow already on the Dragon’s back, having snuck up there when it came down to attack the archer, and she stealthily struck at its neck with her swords, widening the wound created by the Berserker. Somehow, despite only a few scraps still keeping the Dragon’s head on its body, it was still alive, and it bent around to breathe fire on the ninja on its back, ripping its neck open even further. The stealthy Adventurer attempted to flee, but she wouldn’t be able to avoid the fire-breathing attack in time.
She was saved, however, as the Mage finally finished her spell, a roiling mass of red energy surrounded by dark streaks. Red hair was blown backwards as the force of her spell shot out at the Dragon, striking it in its open neck, where it decayed the stuffing in an instant as if it had been left out in the elements for years, and then igniting into superheated flames, all resistance to fire seemingly gone.
The attack was enough to burn through everything keeping the Dragon’s neck together, and its head fell to the ground with a *thwump*, indicating its demise. Elmer wasn’t sure what the spell was that killed his Love Dragon, but he could almost feel it in his Core. Needless to say, it was quite scary.
It felt like his Dragon hadn’t really put up much of a fight, but when he considered how powerful these Adventurers were, he doubted that there was anything he could create at this stage of his life as a Dungeon Core that would actually pose a challenge to them. Regardless, he thought it was a good showing; he just hoped these Adventurers agreed.
“Whoo! That was awesome! It wasn’t very strong, but it definitely got my blood pumping,” the Berserker said as soon as the Dragon was dead. “Nice job on your Disrupting Flame Ray, Miranda!” The excitement in the armored man’s voice was evidence that he at least enjoyed himself. Whether or not they enjoyed the entire Valentine’s section was another thing altogether.
“Yeah, yeah; it actually felt good to use that spell again. Been at least a year, I believe.”
In a matter of a minute or two, everyone had recovered from the battle, and the Love Dragon disappeared into motes of Dungeon Mana, ready for Elmer to either recreate it or make something new. As for the Adventurers, they walked up to the chocolate coin pile and investigated, and were a little disappointed to find that it wasn’t real gold.
“But it sure is delicious! Get a taste of these,” Maron said, unwrapping a few and popping them in his mouth. The others hesitated until they saw if it was poisoned, but followed suit shortly after that. Pleased nods joined their enjoyment of the chocolate, but they weren’t there for chocolate; they were there for the loot reward and the experience of delving through his unique dungeon, Elmer supposed.
As for their reward, there were 5 Golden Wedding Rings (a throwback to his Christmas section), which would regenerate both Health and Mana, more than any of the others he had as loot in the dungeon. They weren’t fancy, but he thought that they were a good reward. Fortunately, it seemed as though the Adventurers were pleased, or at least they didn’t say anything disparaging about them.
“So, what do you guys think? Was this worth the diversion from the coast?” Maron asked, looking pointedly at the red-haired Mage. “I’m certainly satisfied.”
Miranda wasn’t the only one that blushed immediately at the statement, and she cleared her throat while turning away. “Yes, that was fine. Let’s go.”
Elmer wanted to laugh out loud in relief, but he wasn’t off the hook quite yet. Thankfully, there seemed not to be any dissention in the group, and the others turned away as well, following the Mage out of the room.
Before he left the room completely, the armored Berserker turned toward Elmer’s Core, looking at it with a strange look in his eye. “Thanks for that. It was quite enjoyable; a good time was had by all. We’ll be seeing you again in the future, I’m sure. Toodles!”
That was it. No mandate to do better next time, and no timeline of when they were going to be back.
Elmer counted that as a win.
* That was nerve-wracking, Keebles. Do I have to worry about stuff like that for the rest of my life as a Dungeon Core? *
“Hopefully not, Elmer. Then again, you’re sure to draw even more attention in the future because of the nature of your dungeon. I’ve already mentioned that you’re quite unique, and Adventurers tend to like uniqueness. That, and you haven’t made your dungeon extraordinarily deadly compared to others out there, which is why you’ve been so popular.” The Elf held up his hands. “Now, don’t get me wrong, your dungeon is plenty difficult, but in the future, you may need to be a little more ruthless in your new sections.”
Elmer understood the reasoning behind that, but it felt a little wrong to deliberately make his dungeon even more deadly than it was. He wasn’t above capitalizing on the deaths of those that perished in his dungeon, because it was a necessary evil, but he didn’t want to deliberately try to rack up even more deaths. Still, it was something he would consider in the future.
“It’s still going to be a little bit of time until you can expand again, of course, but have you thought about the next section you’re going to construct? Are you going to add to your Christmas or Valentine’s Day themes?”
Elmer thought about that, but decided against it. Instead, he thought about what major holiday he and his wife would normally decorate for next.
Thinking about his wife brought his focus inward, searching out the barrier that prevented his Mary from being with him. Over the last month, it had gotten a little thinner as he had Leveled-up his Core, but it was still strong enough that he couldn’t penetrate his thoughts through it to speak with her again. Still, even as he focused on her and thought about the next holiday at the same time, he could’ve sworn he heard her speak, a whisper of a name that immediately made him happier.
* …Easter…. *
Well, I guess that settles that.
The End
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Valentine Core!
I had a blast writing the first novella in my Holiday Dungeon Core series, so I was excited to write Valentine Core – and I was not disappointed. I wanted to write about the ideas behind St. Valentine’s Day (love and friendship), in addition to having related material in Elmer’s dungeon, which really came together in his fourth Valentine room. In addition, I wanted to expand a little on Elmer’s past, showing him to be flawed just like most people, as well as his journey through life and love and relationships. This was especially poignant in the Maze of Emotions, where I think most people suffer from those extreme emotions at some point in their teenage years – and even beyond. In fact, there isn’t really an age cutoff point for those types of feelings, because there’s never an expiration date on love.
I hope you enjoyed this book, and look for Easter Core coming sometime in April!
Again, thank you for reading, and I implore you to consider leaving a review – I love 5-star ones! Reviews make it more likely that others will pick up a good book and read it!
If you enjoy dungeon core, dungeon corps, dungeon master, dungeon lord, dungeonlit, or any other type of dungeon-themed stories and content, check out the Dungeon Corps Facebook group, where you can find all sorts of dungeon content.
If you would like to learn more about the GameLit genre, please join the GameLit Society Facebook group.
LitRPG is a growing subgenre of GameLit – if you are fond of LitRPG, Fantasy, Space Opera, and the Cyberpunk styles of books, please join the LitRPG Books Facebook group.
For other great Facebook groups, visit LitRPG Rebels and LitRPG Forum.
Also, on Amazon, check out the LitRPG storefront for a large selection of LitRPG, GameLit, and Dungeon Core books from the biggest authors in the genre!
If you would like to contact me with any questions, comments, or suggestions for future books you would like to see, you can reach me at jonathanbrooksauthor@gmail.com.
Visit my Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/jonathanbrooksauthor and become a patron for as little as $2 a month! As a patron, you have access to my current works-in-progress, which I update with (unedited) chapters every Friday. So, if you can’t wait to find out what happens next in one of my series, this is the place for you!
I will try to keep my blog updated on any new developments, which you can find on my Author Page on Amazon. In addition, you can check out and like my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/dungeoncorejonathanbrooks
To sign up for my mailing list, please visit: http://eepurl.com/dl0bK5
To learn more about LitRPG, talk to authors including myself, and just have an awesome time, please join the LitRPG Group.
Books by Jonathan Brooks
Glendaria Awakens Trilogy
Dungeon Player (Audiobook available)
Dungeon Crisis (Audiobook available)
Dungeon Guild (Audiobook available)
Glendaria Awakens Trilogy Compilation w/bonus material (Audiobook available)
Uniworld Online Trilogy (2nd Edition)
The Song Maiden (Audiobook available)
The Song Mistress (Audiobook available)
The Song Matron (Audiobook available)
Uniworld Online Trilogy Compilation (Audiobook available)
Station Cores Series
The Station Core (Audiobook available)
The Quizard Mountains (Audiobook available)
The Guardian Guild (Audiobook available)
The Kingdom Rises (Audiobook available)
The Other Core (Audiobook available)
Station Cores Compilation Complete: Books 1-5 (Audiobook available)
Spirit Cores Series
Core of Fear (Audiobook available)
Children of Fear (Audiobook available)
Carnival of Fear (Audiobook available)
Community of Fear
Dungeon World Series
Dungeon World (Audiobook available)
Dungeon World 2 (Audiobook available)
Dungeon World 3 (Audiobook available)
Dungeon World 4 (Audiobook available)
Dungeon World 5 (Audiobook available)
Dungeon World Box Set: Books 1-5 (Audiobook available)
Dungeon Crafting Series
The Crafter’s Dungeon (Audiobook available)
The Crafter’s Defense (Audiobook available)
The Crafter’s Dilemma (Audiobook available)
The Crafter’s Darkness (Audiobook available)
The Crafter’s Dominion (Audiobook available)
The Crafter’s Dynasty (Audiobook available)
Dungeon Crafting Series: Books 1 – 3 (Audiobook available)
Dungeon Crafting Series: Books 4 – 6 (Audiobook available)
The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Series
The Dungeon Fairy (Audiobook available)
The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices (Audiobook available)
The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives (Audiobook available)
The Dungeon Fairy: Four Days (Audiobook available)
The Dungeon Fairy: Box Set Books 1-4 (Audiobook available)
Serious Probabilities Series
Dungeon of Chance: Even Odds (Audiobook available)
Dungeon of Chance: Double or Nothing (Audiobook available)
Dungeon of Chance: All-in
The Body’s Dungeon (with Jeffrey “Falcon” Logue)
Bio Dungeon: Symbiote (Audiobook available)
Bio Dungeon: Parasyte (Audiobook available)
Bio Dungeon: Hemostasis (Audiobook available)
Bio Dungeon Box Set (Coming soon)
Tales of Dungeons Anthology
Tales of Dungeons Vol. 2
Tales of Dungeons Vol. 3
Tales of Dungeons All Hallows 2020
Dimensional Dungeon Cores
Core Establishment (Audiobook available)
Holiday Dungeon Core
Christmas Core
Valentine Core
Jonathan Brooks, Valentine Core
