Excerpt from the twenty-seventh draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe

Dungeon Types (Continued)

Crafting dungeons are one of several very specialized dungeon types; similar to puzzle dungeons, they come in a number of different types. In fact, some dungeon scholars claim that crafting dungeons are simply a subtype of puzzle dungeons.

I don’t agree. They’re similar, but puzzle dungeons want you to solve something while crafting dungeons want you to make something.

Sometimes crafting dungeons want you to bring in your own tools and materials; more often, they provide the material, though you may have to go gather it. This is especially common for crafts (such as alchemy) where the components require less processing before the crafting can begin. Even then, there are components that will be provided if something specific is required.

Sometimes, gathering materials can mean fighting monsters, whether they’re there as guards or simply “live” there. Occasionally, the monster is the material. This is fairly common for alchemy, but golems are a common dungeon monster in crafting dungeons, which can provide many other components.

Tools can be hit or miss; when they’re dungeon-provided, they’re generally very limited. For example, a “smithy” might have a basic forge (possibly incomplete), an anvil, and a subpar hammer - or it might be fully equipped with everything you know and things you don’t. It might even be a copy of the one you’re the most used to.

If you’re entering a crafting dungeon, it’s generally a good idea to bring whatever tools you reasonably can.

Some crafting dungeons will require you to fight monsters, whether that’s to gather materials like above or simply as part of the additional challenge, so it’s always a good idea to have people who can fight come along. Crafting dungeon monsters tend to run on the weaker side, since they’re not the main challenge, but that doesn’t always make them weak.

Some crafting dungeons require everyone in the group to make something in order to exit, while others require only one item to be made. Some can be satisfied with anything, while others have very specific requirements. If you don’t know what the requirements of a crafting dungeon are, be careful about who you bring.

Some crafting dungeons will provide training (usually in the form of books, though some have been recorded as having actual instructors). The training is the usual reward from these dungeons.

Other crafting dungeons will let you keep an item you make or some of the materials you gathered; it varies widely. Once in a while, a crafting dungeon will have another reward; while this is usually Etherium or a rare material, many other results have been claimed.

Some crafting dungeons will compress time and allow you to craft “faster” than real time; others will not. Some will allow multiple groups inside at a time - which may be in a shared space or may be instanced - while others will not. Dungeons that are not time-accelerated and do not allow more than one group in at a time are usually tightly regulated, since a group entering can lock the dungeon down for anything from a few days to a few years depending on the dungeon and the group.

The one thing that is common to all crafting dungeons is that if you are on a Path aligned with the craft you practice in the dungeon, it will progress much faster than the same actions outside. Many crafters also say they learned more than they should have, though this is hard to quantify. This is usually considered the real reward from a crafting dungeon, because crafting Paths can become very difficult to progress.

Like most dungeon experience rewards, each subsequent run of the same dungeon is less rewarding than the previous one, so crafters that cannot afford to travel widely usually wait to use a crafting dungeon until they feel “stuck”.

The room that greeted Serenity when he entered the crafting area looked more like a waiting room with lockers than anything else. The lockers looked remarkably modern, large flat metal fronts with only a small square area with the outline of a hand to tell you how to open them and a rectangular area that looked like it would hold a name or symbol to tell you which was yours.

The floor was tiled in stone; even the ceiling appeared to be made of worked stone blocks. Despite the stone and metal of the room itself, the area felt welcoming; there were beautiful rugs covering five areas of the floor, separating them into spaces where half a dozen people could sit and talk in comfort, with a mix of different types of chairs and tables that somehow managed to look comfortable and eclectic instead of mismatched. Serenity assumed this was Katya’s newly discovered love of interior decorating coming out, but he had to admit that she’d done a good job.

The far wall held the only wall space without lockers. It drew the eye, which was clearly also deliberate, as the area between the doors in the far wall held a sign.

Crafting Area Rules:

Combat is not permitted outside of combat zones.

You may leave at any time.

Items stored in lockers will be retained for up to 30 days.

Only the person who placed the items in the locker may retrieve them.

Group Crafting areas are shared.

Individualized workrooms may be entered only with the permission of their owner.

Items for challenges must be completed inside the crafting rooms. Outside materials and tools may be used.

Crafted items must include some individual expression.

Crafted items may be removed from the Crafting Area for a variable Etherium cost.

Tools left in work areas may be added to the default tools provided.

Available Challenges:

Crafting Challenge (individual)

Complete a non-magical item to complete the Tier Zero Challenge and gain limited access to the Crafting Library.

Complete a magical item of Tier One or higher to gain access to an individualized workroom that may be equipped as you choose. Also grants limited access to the Crafting Library.

Additional Challenges will be added in the future.

Resource Gathering Challenge (Not Yet Implemented)

Crafting Adventure (group) (Not Yet Implemented)

Serenity gave a sigh of relief as he read through the rules. They weren’t quite like any crafting dungeon he’d ever been in, but in many ways they made sense; they seemed surprisingly appropriate for a crafting dungeon situated in a city, where people could come and go. More than that, they implied that the dungeon could reasonably be used once to gain boosted crafting experience per Tier, which was incredible.

He’d also never seen a dungeon that was so blatant about pieces that weren’t complete. “Aki? I assume the Crafting Library’s pretty limited right now, to go along with the stuff that isn’t implemented yet?”

:Pretty limited is understating things. All I’ve been able to afford to buy so far are some really basic books. I can get more with time, but they’re expensive. I’m thinking about putting up some Quests for gathering useful books or teaching, but there’s still time.:

Serenity shook his head. “We have got to get you an internet connection. YouTube alone could be really helpful to people trying to learn.”

It wouldn’t happen soon, but it would be good when it did. For now, of course, people would just have to work around it.

Katya had probably set a lot of the rules. While she’d probably been in fewer dungeons - even Crafting Dungeons - than Serenity had, she was from a family of crafters and seemed likely to have opinions on what they should be. He hoped she’d gotten Aki’s input as well, but at the end of the day all Serenity really cared about was whether or not he could get to the warded workroom. “Aki? Is the mage’s workroom one of the individual workrooms the sign mentions?”

:Yes. I have also been designing one that can be used by multiple people, but it will not be on this level. I’m planning each level of the tower to have something that will draw people to visit and spend time. Preferably also spend mana, but time is enough for some floors.:

That explained why she’d said he’d only have to complete the challenge once.

Serenity turned his attention to the doors. They were a pale, polished-looking wood with metal handles; each had a label burned into the wood. Starting at the left, there was the Common Work Area, then Higher levels of Tower (Currently Inaccessible). On the other side of the sign was the Library and then Individual Workroom.

It was obvious where he needed to go, so Serenity shrugged and headed towards the Common Work Area. When he got to the door, he found himself standing with his hand on the door handle; he wasn’t certain how long he’d stood there without opening the door. “You may leave at any time,” he reminded himself. “That’s what the sign said.”

With that reassurance, he managed to open the door and step into the room on the other side.

Compared to the crafting dungeons he’d been in before, the Common Work Area was in good shape. That was the only thing he could say in its favor; it was pretty but it was empty of almost any tools that would actually be used in crafting. Oh, there were a few, but it was one of the worst-equipped ones Serenity had ever seen. “This is where the note about tools left in work areas comes in, isn’t it? You’re planning to build this place out using stuff people bring in and leave behind, deliberately or accidentally.”

:Correct. Once I have the pattern, I can make it, but that will be a far better way to get the pattern. I never had a crafting area. In my previous dungeon, that is.: Aki sounded thoughtful, almost nostalgic. :I think I like the idea. Katya is enthusiastic; we’ll see how it works out.:

Serenity reached into his pack for something he’d been carrying for quite a while with no real use - the Dry-Erase Marker with Mana-Compatible Ink he’d gotten as a reward from the Blue Line Enigma dungeons. He set it on one of the nice tables as a gift. While he could use it to draw runes on any surface it would mark, he expected that it would be far more useful to Aki and to actual crafters; he would simply use liquefied monster cores if he needed a rune. As expensive as they were, they were really not that hard to get when he could tell which monsters had them and simply teleport them out of the monster’s body. “So what do I need to make to finish the challenge and get access to my workroom?”

:I can’t tell you anything more than what’s on the board. You need to make an item of Tier One or higher, with at least minimal self-expression.: Aki paused, then continued with a hint that didn’t actually tell him anything directly. :Given what you told Rissa on the way in, I doubt you will have any trouble.:

Serenity knew he could overthink that statement a lot, but he decided to take it at face value. No trouble meant it should be something easy to make. That meant a one-time-use rune structure; those were the easiest things he could make that seemed likely to qualify as a magic item. They required magic to function and that meant they fit most (though not all) of the definitions of “magic item”.

He glanced around the room. He needed something to put the rune on, and something portable would be best. The tools and materials he wanted weren’t available, but there were reasons he knew other methods, and this was just another one. Off in the corner of the far table, Serenity saw a stack of what looked like printer paper with a few pencils lying near it; it must have been set there to give people something to use for sketches or working out what they were going to do. It would work.

Serenity pulled some monster cores out of his pack and grabbed a short stack of paper; he wanted enough paper that even when the liquefied mana bonded to the paper, it wouldn’t bleed through to the table. While he could control it accurately enough to prevent that, it was easier to simply use more paper and printer paper was cheap.