Master of the Mountain: A Reincarnation LitRPG Adventure (Dragon Core Chronicles Book 2) Read online

  MASTER OF THE MOUNTAIN

  Dragon Core Chronicles Book Two

  LARS MACHMÜLLER

  Copyright © 2022 by Lars Machmüller

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  Newsletter

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Afterword

  About Lars Machmüller

  About Mountaindale Press

  Mountaindale Press Titles

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  There are so many people who have supported me along the way, it is absolutely ridiculous. Listing them all would be impossible. So here are just a few honorable mentions:

  Maria, for encouraging me to start writing in the first place.

  Tina, for having my back every single day!

  My kids, for being so terribly understanding of me being on “their” computer when they want to play Minecraft.

  Lunatic’s Asylum (you know who you are) for keeping me company during the daily wordings.

  Everybody in the Office Discord for entertainment, good company and loads and loads of wisdom.

  Dakota, Danielle and everybody at Mountaindale for taking a chance on me.

  Nick, Evan and everybody else who try to help me improve my writings.

  Michael for keeping me sane and distracted from bad moods.

  I love you all! May you never change!

  NEWSLETTER

  Don’t miss out on future releases! Sign up for the Mountaindale Press newsletter to stay up to date. And as always, thank you for your support! You are the reason we’re able to bring these stories to life.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Prior preparation prevents poor performance. - James Baker

  Home, sweet home. It wasn't a thought I'd ever figured I would come to associate with a creepy underground dungeon complete with a huge throne, deadly traps, and a glimmering, shiny hoard. But there it was. The pang that hit me as I walked through the throne room was undeniably the same as I’d had back on Earth whenever I took in the splendor of my house. Pride, satisfaction, and that feeling of “Mine. It’s all mine.” The domain of Carl… or should I say Onyx, my new name in this realm?

  Heh. Nothing ever changes. A man’s home is his castle. Back on Earth, I’d only had to protect the house from my debtors, and once, my ex-wife. Here… I was looking over my troops through the mini-map as I was preparing to defend my home from a very real threat.

  Through the mini map, I admired the recent addition to my home. At first glance, it was nothing special. It used to be that, entering my domain, before you’d even make it to the Farm, you’d have to go through a route of winding tunnels with lots of dead ends and doubling back before you'd reach the steep descent down to the entrance hallway. These tunnels had now been blown completely open, and the network of criss-crossing tunnels had been incorporated into our new Gallery of Illusions.

  I took a look at the description.

  [Gallery of Illusions

  This construction applies an illusionary field to a large area of 300 x 300 feet. Within this field, shadow magic will pool and swirl, forming mental illusions to affect any intruders. Effects are set by the owner of the domain and come with several different possibilities. Can be turned off at will.]

  Compared to the description, the actual look of the room was underwhelming. The hard work of the Talpi had changed what used to be a single tunnel with multiple exits. Now, the main tunnel had been enlarged into one large room, huge rock constellations breaking up the room to make the approach to the lair less straightforward. There were only three actual exits: the old trapped tunnels and the single entrance to the domain.

  For any inhabitants, it was a matter of half a minute to navigate the tunnels and reach the entrance. For interlopers… heh. My experimentation with the settings of the Gallery had been limited, but intriguing. The current settings enabled the Gallery to be set to either "Confuse," "Hide," or "Off." Also, I had the choice between having it affect "everybody" and "non-minions only."

  So far, the chances to test it out in practice had been non-existent. Our frequent forays into the lower layer of the mountain had done away with a lot of the more dangerous monsters, and the Talpi were becoming hardened enough to handle a good deal of the remaining solitary beasts by themselves. Today, we had our chance.

  I took a good look at my forces. Arthor and Creziel were waiting side by side. The two Talpus Shamans were as different as day and night. Arthor was tall, self-confident, and stood out with his patterned brown and white fur. Absent-mindedly, he manipulated a single rock with either hand, pushing them floating away from him and beckoning them back in. Meanwhile, the tiny Creziel slouched, looking like he just wanted to be elsewhere. Right now, however, both stood silent and serious, waiting for the signal.

  I closed the mini map and glanced behind me. Aelis stood at the center of a group, having a last-minute discussion with the fighters. Her sleek, jet-black fur and upright demeanor made her look strict and elegant. Even her missing paw failed to detract from the image of control, as she waved away an objection with a cool smile. Roth, our main trainer, stood next to her, but I highly doubted that he was paying attention. The wide, muscled Talpus was bouncing on his feet, fingering the pommel of his massive two-handed sword, glancing with longing at the entrance.

  Next to the well-groomed forms of the Talpi stood my… less charismatic minions - my Crawls and Clenchers. The Crawls were medium-sized, brutish humanoids with rolls of hardened skin for armor and shit for brains. Currently, their leader, Erk was also listening to Aelis’ explanation, but the vapid expressions on his coarse, ugly features made me doubt that any of the information was getting through. Sometimes, I debated my wisdom in taking them in as minions.

  The huge, hairless forms of the bearlike Clenchers stood heads taller than the Crawls. While they’d started out as nothing more than mindless, slavering monsters to be dominated and eaten, these days, they were closer to pets. Dangerous, hungry pets. They looked like they were enjoying the outing.

  Jumping back to the mini map, I spotted the threat immediately. A wandering Orugal had made its way into the Ga
llery. Our scouts had noticed the dangerous monster in good time, and I was waiting on the far side in case my assistance was needed. I shouldn't have worried, though. I initially set the choice to "hide" and watched from inside the mini map in satisfaction as the large monster sniffled around the Gallery.

  He looked to me like what would happen if a giant alligator decided to breed with a mutant bulldog--his long body was all teeth and wiry muscles, and he sported a matching bad temper. His well-developed sense of smell was clearly confused by the strong scents that had led him here, but not once did he amble his way toward the domain entrance. Every single time he turned the right way, inexplicably, he'd start veering off course within a couple of tunnels. I decided it was time to experiment a bit and changed the setting to "Confuse."

  The effect was immediate and hilarious. The large monster went berserk right away, attacking a nearby fleck of dust. Watching the stupid beast go through different grades of frenzy, confusion, and bewilderment was excellent entertainment. With that knowledge came an overwhelming sense of relief that my minions would be able to stay safe, even if I was away with the fighters. A grin spread across my face. It was time to implement the second phase of our plan and see how it would work in combat.

  My mental shout went out through the dungeon: "Slide the windows open!" I grinned as rectangular sections opened on the outer walls of the Gallery at eight different positions. Beyond the openings rested the activated tops of eight Shadow Towers as well as my battle-ready shamans and ranged fighters. Split seconds later, the towers started taking potshots at the Orugal every time it got closer to one of the outside walls.

  The effect was brutal. The moment the first Shadow Tower hit, the weakening effect kicked in. But the confused senses of the beast did not allow it to locate the attacker. Instead, it raged about the place, visibly weakening each time one of the towers managed to tag it. Once, it managed to focus on one of the towers through the confusing effects of the Gallery and charged in that direction, but the Talpus in charge acted sensibly and slid his window closed again. Right away, the huge Orugal was distracted by something else, forgetting all about the attacker.

  The efficacy of the Gallery was undeniable. Even with our shamans and ranged fighters ready to attack at a moment’s notice, we had prepared for the possibility of having to hold the huge beast further back in the domain. Totally unnecessary--it hadn’t even managed to find the entrance.

  Still, the Gallery was not foolproof. I wasn't too sure how it would hold up in the case of groups of attackers. The main thing was that it worked. It would keep the workers safe from most everything while the remainder of us were out touring the mountain and give us a huge advantage in larger battles. And in case somebody managed to proceed, well... I smiled. If somebody managed to force their way further on inside the domain, the walls and ceilings held other, more deadly surprises.

  I led my people out to inflict tiny wounds on the Orugal from a distance. This way we would share the experience of the animal when we slaughtered it. Or not so tiny wounds, in some cases. I grinned to see the large monster finally succumb to our newest experimental weaponry.

  That one had been tough. Roth and I had almost broken our brains trying to come up with a functional ranged weapon that would allow the strength-challenged Talpi to deal some damage at range. We ruled out crossbows and most throwing weapons right away. Crossbows, because stone weaponry, even combined with carved bone for the bow itself, wouldn't be able to provide the tension needed for proper damage and still hold up well to repeated usage.

  Regular throwing weapons because, well, they were weak. We debated bows for a good while. In the end, we decided against them, though. It wasn't like I really knew much about bows, but from the books I'd read, you needed to find the right wood for it. Bone would probably be a bad replacement. Also, the winding, low-ceilinged tunnels that were the usual haunt of the Talpi wouldn’t allow them to make proper use of the range a longbow would grant.

  No, they needed something with a shorter range with more impact. As a result, right now, part of the Training Chamber had been turned into a shooting gallery, holding freshly carved, slim, stone-tipped bone throwing spears along with a couple of atlatls - handheld devices that allowed the Talpi to throw the spears a lot harder than they would be able otherwise.

  As I passed the descent from the Gallery into the entrance hallway and the bowels of my domain, I thought of the well-hidden death ready to be unleashed on any attackers to brave the rough, boring hallway. Four Shadow Towers, a wall with hidden crawl spaces, the spiked, reusable pit trap and now, also easily disguised murder holes from where to unleash damage from a distance.

  As I walked back toward my throne room, I couldn't help but give out a growl of wellbeing. Our situation was improving every day. We had just finished the last known major threat nearby yesterday--the Earth Furies. It was an exhilarating fight, and a mentally exhausting one, as the Furies had limited shapeshifting abilities.

  We kept having to adapt to changing methods of attack. Even so, they had been unable to force their way through the combined bulk of the Clenchers and myself, and we’d whittled them down little by little, with tons of experience to our forces as a result. In short, we might not have any long-term plans right now, but things were fun and as safe as they came inside the mountain. I loved it.

  The ample experience gave me enough to hit level 17 myself. This had been the first fight in almost four weeks since the final showdown against the green dragon who had slain Jazinth. We had not been sitting on our asses since then, but had, for the most part, stayed inside my domain.

  Defeating the Earth Furies, on top of the fight with the vile green dragon, had given me a lot of goodies. Treasures, to begin with. Five new mana crystals that were now snugly installed in my own hoard at home, bringing my mana regen to 724 a day, more than a full mana pool for me. A lot of nice weapons and armor. Most of them were way too large, given that they were made for the heavy Urten. Some jewelry lay scattered around, baubles the green had decided to keep for himself.

  There was also one massive stretch of cured animal leather I was unable to see the point of, at first, until the small spikes embedded in the leather gave it away. It was a collar, large enough for a dragon. Clever goddamn green. Or, I was just the slow one for not coming up with it earlier. Of course dragons needed magical boosts as well from wearing neck bands. Right now, the collar was resting comfortably back in the hoard, waiting to gain some magical attribute that would allow me to boost myself. Meanwhile, one of the leatherworkers was toiling away on another custom order for me: a full-body harness. The green had been right, but he'd just been thinking too small.

  The loot, abundant as it was, had not been the real gift from the battle. No, the real kicker had been in the rewards from leveling up. Obviously, the attribute increases had been lovely, but I had gained a new feat, an upgraded skill, and a new skill to boot.

  The feat was a defensive one, and a tough choice. I loved every single choice on the list and wanted them all.

  [Improved Defense.

  The layer of skin beneath your scales hardens, granting you an extra layer of defense against physical attacks. For every subsequent level, you gain a 5 percent resistance to physical attacks. Maximum cap: 50 percent.]

  [Improved Magical Resistance.

  Your scales evolve to protect you against any magical and elemental damage. For every subsequent level, you gain a 5 percent resistance to magical or elemental attacks. Maximum cap: 50 percent.]

  [Improved Mental Resistance.

  You train your mind to protect you against any mental assaults. For every subsequent level, you gain a 5 percent resistance to mental attacks. Maximum cap: 50 percent.]

  I ruled out the mental one pretty quickly. Sure, the idea of being mind controlled or whatever they could do to my brains was not a nice one. Even so, my Mental Power was already high enough that I should be pretty well protected from those kinds of attacks. If they could beat that, t
hey could probably also brush aside what extra resistance I could come up with.

  The other two were tougher to choose between. I already had the Hardened Scales feat, and I could easily picture just how effective my physical defense would be if I added another layer of defense on top of that... except, I wasn't aiming to be a close-combat specialist. In fact, thinking back, my Agility usually allowed me to keep my distance. The real threats had come from enemies who were able to beat me down at a distance with magical or elemental attacks, like the poison from the green dragon or the red dragon's fire breath. I selected Magical Resistance, grumbling a bit at how they wouldn’t let me pick both.

  My improved illusion skill was just lovely on all counts.

  [Skill improved:

  Create Illusion.

  This skill allows you to create and maintain an illusion. As long as the viewer doesn't see through the illusion, it fools all senses except touch. The chance of targets seeing through illusions is affected by the size and intricacy of the illusion as well as their mental power.