《Game Dungeon》 Ch.0 emotions are scary Ch.0 Emotions are Scary. .........w.......p........... "Mmm... what is, that voice"? Wa.....up...... "Up?" Wake up! "HA!" I open my eyes in confusion. "Where am I, some strange cave?" A sense of alienation strikes me, then I realized I am missing my eyes, nose, arms, legs, and everything else, I panic and cry out! "HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" "Ugh.... my ears." A small yet womanly voice is heard near me, I turn around or at least tried to, not really used to this floaty feeling of both weightlessness and dismemberment. Before me stood a small... firefly? looking closely I found a beautiful woman about the size of a fully grown man''s palm. The beauty started talking. "You are awake now dear! Allow me to introduce myself, I am a second leaf sprout, Q''illtress Birch blossom, you can call me Q''ill for short hehe." "Hello! Miss Quill, I am... am..." I froze, I couldn''t remember who I was, when I tried to focus, fragmented scenes ran across my mind. I felt like parts of me were missing like I was looking through a mirror but couldn''t focus in my blurred face, as if I was watching a movie of my life that was heavily edited with huge pieces cut out and broken yet coherent enough to know it was me and roughly what I was doing. The maiden started to talk with a bit of sadness. "It''s Q''ill... Q-ill ok honey? But let''s talk about you, do you remember anything about yourself? Your birth was rather complicated."The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The firefly lady came closer letting me have a complete view of her for the first time, she had a small red dress with a war maiden look, having armor in the vitals yet not blocking her range of movements. Too fiery butterfly wings grew from her back adding to her war maiden look. I quickly replied to her. "I am fine, miss Q''ill my body seems to have disappeared. My head feels like it''s about to explode yet I don''t have any pain, I am confused and out of place." The small firefly lady looked at me in shock, as if I was a monster. "You-u-u-u-u you dare try and take control of a newly born Core!!" The firefly lady got angry and started to talk gibberish. After a while a soft warm light covers me relieving the stuffed and confusion filling in my head, most of my memories were now coming together feeling like they belong to me and not something that was trying to force itself into my tiny brain. Then it hit me who I was, Brian a normal young adult from earth, I had a job, family, played video games, and went to the gym. It was a normal life. I search through my now organized fragmented memories and couldn''t find how I ended up here. "Yo-o-o-uu! How dare you! You swallowed an unborn child''s ego, have you no shame!" The firefly lady looked pissed and started to talk gibberish again, I hurried to explain. "Wa-a-aiit miss this is a misunderstanding I didn''t swallow anything, my head was just bloated with knowledge and I couldn''t process it, Thanks to miss Gill I feel so much better now. S-s-see I can even talk normally now hah...hahaha.a..a." "Is Q''ill, not GILL! And who are you fooling how can a newborn baby have the level of awareness you do! You''re just some apprentice mage brat who forcefully used the 3rd Circle Spell [Mind Control] on this poor child to make him your slave! Admit it!" A large fireball, four times the size of the firefly lady, was hovering over her outstretched arm and aimed at me. I panic and yelled! "I didn''t! I am not a mage or anything like that I swear! Someone save me!!" I started to cry yet no tears fell, I was confused even if I was scared I was too old to bawl my eyes out like that. Even though I have no eyes to cry with, I couldn''t stop and by the time I was able to control myself the fireball had disappeared in its place was Q''ills confused face. Ch.1 Rarity isnt always Good The maiden looked at me for what seems like an eternity. "You.. really aren''t a mage apprentice? This makes no sense, how can a Newborn child have your level of awareness. Even if you''re a prismatic core, your inherent memories should not be this stable or have a whole different life in them." The firefly lady looked flustered, worried, and sad. I managed to get my emotions back in control and ask. "M-miss Q''il pess, I really am not a mage! I swear! am just a normal human, I don''t even know how I got here!" I got worried she would throw a fireball at me for real if I didn''t clear up the misunderstanding. When I was ready to spill out my whole life at her, she snapped out of it and replied to me. "It''s Q''illtress! or Q''ill!..Mhmm..human? Dear what are you talking about, is your inherent memory over taking your original ego?" She got close to my disembodied face, reached out, and made contact with me. I felt a warm current run through my body, the feeling was that of a mother''s embrace.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "Child you... You really aren''t under the control of a spell, I can feel the 3rd Circle Spell: [Clear Mind], cleared some blockage in you but didn''t find a foreign power affecting your consciousness." I didn''t understand what she was talking about, but whatever she did was starting to clear my train of thought. Recollecting myself, I started to piece together the bits of information she gave me. First I was not home, second, there''s magic in this place and lastly, I am not human anymore. I try to look at myself but can only see the ground or the Maidens large hand... Wait large hand? looking at her face is small and delicate while her hand is enlarging the closer it was to me. It was like I was looking through the peephole of a door. I decided to ask the maiden while keeping things that might get me killed to myself. As I started to build up my determination to talk to her, she started talking. "Dear you seem far smarter than other Cores your age; although this would normally not be a bad thing, at this rate, your instincts will awaken far earlier than needed to make a proper defense. That and the fact you''re a one in a billion Prismatic core, the moment your hunger starts and you open the way to your Core Room all elements in 500 miles will be devoured, Alarming all races to investigate the cause. Your chance to make it past a week is nearly zero." She said with a hopeless face. "What?!!?" Ch.2 Acclimated & Slow realization What the maiden said nearly gave me a heart attack, even though I don''t hear the beating or pressure of one. I apparently have a week before a disaster knocks on my door..hmm... Cave? "Miss Q''illtress, please explain things to me clearly. All I remember is my time on earth, and how or why I am here eludes me at the moment." The panic, fear, disorientation, and loss of most of my senses had me out of sorts before. Now that I had my thoughts together I needed to know where, and who, or what I am now. Q''ill "Oh dear, the ego you''ve awoken has truly merged with your original mind. Let me explain! Since your mind is that of a young adult it shouldn''t be a problem for you to understand. First of all you''re a Prismatic Dungeon core, a one in a million miracle, most Dungeon Cores only have one color, rarely two or three corresponding to their Elemental Affinity." What she said was a bit confusing at first, but I understood almost instantly, Dungeon Cores are the heart and soul of the murder labyrinths from video games and novels. Their whole purpose is to lure adventurers like food to their waiting stomach; Baiting them with shiny gems and rare metals, the core itself included. To better protect itself the Core crafts a progressively more dangerous murder house. One with many monsters that require far more mana than any single area on the surface could naturally produce one. Serving as both another lure for the invader and as cannon fodder, the monsters too drunk on mana to even question why they must protect the source over their own lives. The maiden that I could now clearly identify as some sort of fire Dungeon fairy from games and novels continues talking. "As a prismatic core, you can control all elements, among the cores you can be considered Royalty in human terms... speaking of which. Dear can you not remember your duties as a core?" "The inherent memories you awaken seem to be from a human that lived somewhere underground? you said you lived in a town or city called Earth. Places with earth, gems, or metals in their names are normally from subterranean countries like the Diamondback Imperial City" I was starting to wonder if Dungeon Cores have problems with their memories. It would seem that they will sometimes forget their original self in the process of learning from this hidden wisdom most Cores are born with. I came to the conclusion that being taken over by the echo, for lack of a better word, of the wills knowledge was common. If a young core had a high enough intelligence to know that this information is useful or life-saving but not enough wisdom to worry if that person''s color and personality would completely cover its white and clean mind..... The thought made me think that there are probably many mentally broken Cores out there. Luckily I was able to completely merge myself with the memories of my past life if only fragmented ones. Using my experience from Dungeon Core games I should be able to pass as a decent Core with slightly missing memories, at least enough to not have her kill me thinking I''d fooled her and really used that whatever mind control spell. "Miss Quill thank you for your explanation, I feel that many of my questions have been answered. My memories do seem to be mostly from that human boy, although I feel like I lost something, my mission as a core seemed untouched." I gave her a run-down of what a Dungeon Core would normally do while sounding hesitant but firm. "It is Q! ill!! Q''ill ok? dear," she sounded angry and annoyed. "You really seem to have a good grasp of your task. However protecting yourself to soothe your hunger is not your only goal, that is mostly a biological need like humans need water, food, and shelter to keep on living."The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. "Your goal is to purify Elemental mana. This planet produces Mana from its core, however, due to human wars, the death of powerful ancient creatures, or the natural workings of the planet, the mana in the air becomes polluted, this corrupted mana prevents the further growth of the planet as well as it''s inhabitants." "This is a contradiction that happens due to the planet''s will, The planet uses living creatures to absorb and purify its polluted Mana, however, only about 10% achieves the intended effect the rest is nearly impossible to be purified by normal creatures. This concludes in the planet not having a way to remove the poison, preventing new life from achieving its predecessor''s past might." "The lack of clean mana weakens the planet and its creatures, making them smaller and preventing the planet from using them as waste bins like the miles-long ancient beast. In the miracle of life, or the planets will own desperate attempt to save itself Mana cores were born. Inorganic, having 100% mana conductivity they became whales that absorbed copious amounts of corrupted mana." "Thanks to them, the planet managed to grow and its creatures became stronger, however, apart from the beastmen, all other sapient races began to panic. The giant beast needed purified Mana to continue growing stronger but Mana itself can''t be used it must be given form, in the way of a Elements, however, this was exactly what needs to be purified for the planet''s growth." "The planets Elemental Mana is a byproduct of its workings, be it volcanos from the planet growth, producing Elemental Fire, reorganization of the planet''s lay lines creating earthquakes producing Elemental Earth, the winds spreading the mana for the planet''s use, similar to how red blood cells spread oxygen to a body, The hurricane from these exchanges producing Elemental Wind, or the raging Waters that supports and nurtures all life as well as other Element and those yet to be discovered, The clashes and death of the ones it nurtures producing Elemental water." I was shocked by the amount of information, thinking more clearly it is true that Dungeon Cores eat the mana and body of the adventurers that walk into it, as well as absorbed the mana from the outside their entrances. However, something seems wrong in her explanation to quenched my curiosity I ask. "Miss Q''i il you said that the planet uses its natives to purify mana for its growth but the rate is only 10%, you also said that Elemental mana is the remaining 90% that can''t be used for the creatures growth. From the information so far it means that people need to use the small amount of mana they purified to power themselves up allowing room to purify more so what is the rest of the mana used for? I thought it was poisonous." "IT''S Q''ILL!!.... one word," she grumbles and sighs in annoyance. "Remember that I said other than the beastmen all other sapient races panic? Well that 90% of the Elements is based on that person''s Elemental Affinity, those who are favored by Fire can use spells like the fireball I want to throw at you each time you call my name wrong..." She looked at me like I was lucky she''s such a nice person or I would have eaten a few already, the Fire Element had definitely given her a short temper. In my defense, her name is not easy to pronounce, especially seeing as I no longer had a mouth."I-I see-e, sorry" "Good!" mhmm... "As I was saying, those that are favored by the Elements can use them to attack others or strengthen their body to defend against attacks. Although there are only four base Elements confirmed by the Archmages council; They Have proven that more are yet to have been discovered." "There are records of compound elements used by past genius mages with double or even triple Elemental Affinities." Now it made sense! The living creatures use their bodies to store the mana they''re attuned to, purifying 10% of it and using it to improve themselves therefore increasingly expanding their storage room as their power increases. The remaining mana acting as fuel for their spells or skills, most likely martial arts. And that is when it hit me... Wait she mentioned that all races but the beastmen panic so doesn''t that means the Cores hurts their benefits somehow? they were most likely only one or two Elemental Dungeon Core, I am an all elements Core, other cores would just absorb one or two Elements leaving some cake for others, she said I''ll suck up all the Elemental mana in a 500 miles Area won''t that mean that I swallow everyone''s meal and become public enemy number one!! Ch 3 Throne of Gems. Ch.3 Throne of Gems The frightful realization hit me, I was about to make the whole world my enemy. As I was breaking down into tears, I couldn''t stop crying. "Whaaaaaaawhaaaaaa....ah...aahah", I couldn''t stop, it''s the same feeling as when I almost turn into barbecue, I need to cry, and primal instincts took over me. I felt like a small child suddenly becoming an adult, knowing that crying wouldn''t solve the problem but not having another way to bent out my frustration. "Sweetie what''s wrong." The Fairy panicked and cradle me in her bosom, Her warm embrace slowly calming my childish outburst, recovering my state of mind. I sniffle, even though I did not have a nose to do so with, feeling better As she tried her best to Comfort me "M-mii-miss quill What you say about absorbing All the mana Around 500 miles around me, Does that mean the humans, and the other sapient Races will hunt me? Is it To reclaim the mana I devour?" The Fairy looked at me, with shock in her eyes, she clearly did not think I was smart enough to guess my situation. Even though she was explaining things to me it was in a slow and detailed manner, almost as if she was talking to a small but very intelligent child. She must have thought that I was just like the rest of the mentally damaged Cores, with fuse memories, and was slightly or heavily unstable. She pauses, thinking what to say, the look on her eyes sad, yet unwilling to see me suffer. "Child there''s not much I can do for you, If you were just a core with no fire element affinity I could help fend off you''re would-be captors till your strong enough to protect yourself." "However being a Prismatic Core there is no possibility for the mages not to notice you, even the martial artist who copies the Beastmen Body Tempering Technique would notice you, as they won''t be able to absorb any clashing elements to cause their body to crumble and rebuild itself stronger." "If you didn''t fuse with that inherent memory, there would still be hope, now however you''re mind is far too develop and you''re instincts will awaken with or without your consent. At least the fusion did not mentally break you, even though you seem to revert back to the child I remember before fully emerging from your Elemental Geode." "Geode? you mean that stone egg with gems inside?" Looking around my cave for the first time I found a wall behind me with an oval-shaped, "egg", with a sharp crack on it, the opening showing thousands if not more small rainbow gems that look pale and discolored the closer to the middle. The middle of the gemstone nest was almost completely discolored, looking like glass with a slight rainbow glimmer. The shape of a diamond was molded on it and was about twice the size of miss Q''ill, the outline of which had small fish scale indentations. I realized that this was probably how my body looked. Now that my mind was stabled I take notes of my surroundings, a large house-size cave with no opening, stretched before my "egg", up against one of its walls. "Miss Gi..." Before I could start the sentence I felt as the loving embrace was starting to get murderous. "Miss WHAT! dear.. hehe." I remembered that I botched miss Q''ills name again, and nearly did it again before apologizing for the first one. "Mii-ii-isss Q-ill!, thanks for comforting me you''re... uhh, loving and gentle nature soothed my heart." I hope the sweet talker card works on her. "Q''ill.. dear, and this is all I can offer you, my assignment was to raise you the best I could. The prediction of your Elemental Geode was a Double Elemental Core, so I was sent to be your Dungeon Fairy, now, however, sigh... I''m ill-suited for such an honor." She sounded hopeless and ashamed.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. "Miss G.. aah... Q... Qiil Q''ILL! Why do you feel ashamed? You''ve done really well, so far each time I lost myself or have questions, you have always answered me, or comfort me, the best you could." I couldn''t really find fault in what she had done so far, even though she clearly had a fiery temper it only shows when her Achilles heel is touched that being her name. "A gentle smile bloomed on her face, I am truly grateful for your praise. However, I am still not up to the standards of a prismatic core. Like I said before your standing is that to Royalty from a human''s perspective, a lowly second leaf sprout like myself is unable to protect you from the hungry and greedy eyes of those races that don''t know your noble mission in life." "If I was stronger like one of the four Y''ggdrazil Army Generals, I''d be able to protect you so you can bring our mother planet to a new era of progress." She said this with such power and heroic aura that it felt like a battle-hardened warrior full of scars from head to toe would bow to her delicate and dignified face. My own face, not that I had one, was a bit confused, I was presently reviewing all the information she had told me before shocked at how easy and clear it all was. It would seem my mind and memory are greatly improved from my Human days, I was the rarest and most precious, variation of Dungeon Core, the Prismatic Elemental Core. I am able to absorb all elements around 500miles with me as the center, this meant that I could purify an area the size of a country, which was simply astronomical. However, I started to take my impending doom seriously, if the problem comes from me doing what the planet''s will wanted, then ain''t it being held back by the creatures it originally nurtures? If this is true, then I really doubt Elemental Cores we''re a ''Miracle'', and more likely something the planet did to cut its losses. As soon as that thought crossed my mind a small Voice ran thru my head. [Reconnection successful. Prismatic Elemental Core, found, scanning... complete. Compatibility 73% above the safety range. Beginning System download] I was momentarily surprised by the monotone yet not a lifeless voice in my head. I remembered this voice from someone, where... Oh! The voice who asks me to wake up. [Download complete; Host will go into hibernation for his safety, starting countdown] 60. 59. 58. Wait, what is it downloading? I feel like something is trying to merge with my mind, similar to when my memories were trying to forcefully merge with the original Cores. 50. 49. 48. "Miss Quill! gha... I meant Q''ill!, I need to sleep, my body is merging with other memories! This time though I feel like there be little to no side effects." 40. 39. 38. "Sweetie... please be careful you will kill yourself at this rate. Your birth was very complicated you were always crying. The Cores which are born from absorbing the shards and pieces of many others will have a higher chance to be a Double or tricolor Core, this is a way for Cores to give future generations a chance to be stronger than the parents." 30. 29. 28. "Many cores have been destroyed and use as accessories or other ingredients. More still collected by humans finding the wild cores with no fully form awareness. The parent Cores gathered these pieces by killing invaders, or they were supplied to them by the Fairy army." "A parent will leave behind a piece of its own core, which will house the soul of the child while leaving memories to protect and teach them the basics. These memories will also prevent the lingering wills of the sapient races, that have erased the cores or fragments original will, to overrun the newly born Cores own ego however you''re different." 20. 19. 18. "You''re birth was the result of the war between the Sapient races, millions of small fragments of many wild and Dungeon Cores, scattered all over the battlefield. The fragments slowly came together after many large-scale spells were cast, making the cradle of gems that became your Geode." 9. 8. 7. "From one of the many shards that make your body, a soul was born, and this defenseless soul somehow managed to remain mostly unchanged. You need to be careful, or you will lose even this small miracle of stability you have now. You must stay strong and never let the broken wills take control." 5. 4. 3. "Don''t worry I believed this won''t make things worse for me! Please wait for the good news miss Gill!" 0. The world rapidly turns black, a pissed-off voice is the last thing I heard. "IT''S Q''ILL!" Ch.4 The kid gloves are off Ch.4 The kid gloves are off I find myself In a dark space where there is no light. I tried to Move around, a pure white hand Made out of Light comes into view, my instincts telling me it was mine, remembering how I use to move my fingers I clench my hand, no difference from this and my old limbs lost to me on arrival on this world, realizing I can control this body of light I try to focus on the surroundings. All I can see is the vast plane of darkness With nothing inside, a small voice rings again in my mind. [ Host Synchronisation rate at 60%, above safety Line beginning Tutorial System] The voice seems ready to give me a tutorial similar to a game, now that I think about it, spending all my time crying, panicking, worrying, or thinking of a way to save myself, I have forgotten of my favorite pastime playing video games. I am stuck God knows where surrounded by enemies like mages and martial artists ready to destroy me and use my new body as accessories. As a normal youth from the Earth When have I ever had to worry about my life all I ever did was play video games, work or go to the gym. While I was having something close to a mid-life crisis the small voice continued. [Greetings Host, I am AI code name: o¨´ collector, you may call me System for ease of communication] Collector? ..mhmm.. maybe they gathered useful people urm... Cores to better help the planet''s will. The "System" is definitely something created by this world. [Host first mission is being sent, please standby] With a Beep! A screen appears in my field of view [Mission: Increased Host Synchronisation rate 1. Description: The host Synchronisation rate is too low for the System to fully fuse. While inside the host MindScape please create a Dungeon labyrinth, the system will recover the mental strength of the host for this mission only, the more complex the host creations the more mental strength it will need, the host goal is to use at least 100% total of his current mental strength. Mission progress: 000/100 Reward: Synchronisation rate + 1- 10%This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Mission failure: The host will have an incomplete fusion, preventing the system from protecting the host mind from the (721,974) undigested will fragments the host body is currently made out of.] upon hearing this a cold sweat runs thru my entire body, If I failed this mission the system wouldn''t be able to completely protect me from the thousands of lingering wills of the Sapient races. Without the system protection, I would probably end up an amalgamation of different people end live a life worse than death if I don''t lose my ego first. In a panic, I ask the System about the exact rules, after a back in forth I found that my situation was a lot better than I originally thought. First, failure of the mission did not mean I would immediately get overrun by the lingering wills, second getting a minimum of 10% of overall mental strength recovered by the system would reward 1% Synchronisation. Finally, the mission is repeatable and consider completed when mental strength flow is cut off, be it from using 10-100 % or the host not being able to control it. As I rejoiced for my future the system continued. [Creation System has been unlocked. Fusion of the host Dungeon Core abilities and the System has been completed. For the host''s convenience, the skills and paths available to walk on have been reorganized in a matter you can understand.] In my vision, five icons surrounding a rainbow diamond cover in fish scale protrusions appear. There was an icon of a tree made of rainbow gems with four large branches that slowly turn into leaves of one color, they being brown, green, blue, and red. The second icon looked like construction blueprints piled high with rainbow gems in the shape of a pickaxe, shovel, and Measuring tape. The third icon looked like a low-resolution half diamond, the other half being the outline of a human, numbers and a shield with a sword and wand making an X could be seen in the background of the symbol. The remaining two are just a large question mark at the moment, before I could wonder what these icons did the system explains it to me. [Elemental skill tree, Labyrinth creation & management, Dungeon Core data and statistics, Inventory & resources dimensional storage, and lastly Purified mana exchange market. These are the host current available abilities.] I was surprised at how many abilities there are but was clueless too, still, the system made it as easy as clicking the icon. After some thinking, I used my body of light to click on the Labyrinth creation & management. A large pop-up window with a room about the size of a house was spread before me, tools on one side with things like dirt, gravel, rock, and other materials and liquids like water. I was excited it was like a sandbox game but underground, the endless possibilities gave me hope that even with just this I can survive my attacker''s assault by simply making it impossible to occupy a room with more than one or two and not get stampede at. with hope in my heart, I dive into the many options before me, comforting myself now that I have a way to survive. Ch 5 Reverse Conception Ch 5 Reverse Conception A few hours into my conquest to defend myself, my 1st room was born. Separated into three parts one being the entrance, two doors to give the would-be invaders a hint that only two are allowed inside, the hallway of the first room Is Wide and spacious to allow many to come, this however is a trap! Underneath the flooring made out of gravel and sand surrounded by a pocket of air, is a large pool of water ready to sink on the invader''s weight. Part of this contraction activates by pushing water through a funnel creating a whirlpool. This forces the air trapped between the gravels in the water to be pushed out of a pipe going to the third contraction forcing the water pressure to follow the escaping air in fall from the sky. This forces the water to fall at high speeds due to the pressure as more water is funnel back up creating a loop. The last part is a walkway in the shape of a flat blenders blade that reaches the exit safely, even if they felt on the water nothing would happen to them as long as there are only two people in the room, for the people that don''t follow my rules I made thousands of small gifts for them if they don''t get cut in half first from the water pressure slamming them into the blender bridge made out of stainless steel, thousands of small chips or flat diamonds about the sizes of a thumb from the same material littered the bottom of the pool of death, to prevent them blocking the water pressure a safety net made out of stainless steel prevent the sharp ships resting on the bottom of the pool to run up the pipe falling from the sky and plugging the pressure pipe, this allows water to move unimpeded maintaining the speed of the funnel. Taking a look at my handiwork I was happy with how it turned out, I couldn''t wait to see them crying and bloody roses of all those lowlife beastmen.. huh?.. no human? huh?? what''s happening to me my mind was getting overwhelmed by the urge to kill the Trespassers of my territory, the System made itself known at this moment. [Host mental defenses have been breech. Beginning restoration of host mental strength] *what?* A smooth and icy feeling ran through my head cooling my broiling bloodlust like a cold shower on a summer day. My mind quickly recovered from this episode as I realized I almost got devour by the Sapient''s lingering wills. I hurried to check my mission completion and was shocked. [Mission: Increased Host Synchronisation rate 1. Description: The host Synchronisation rate is too low for the System to fully fuse. While inside the host MindScape please create a Dungeon labyrinth, the system will recover the mental strength of the host for this mission only, the more complex the host creations the more mental strength it will need, the host goal is to use at least 100% total of his current mental strength. Mission progress: 120/100 Reward: Synchronisation rate + 1- 10%The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Mission failure: The host will have an incomplete fusion, preventing the system from protecting the host mind from the (721,974) undigested will fragments the host body is currently made out of.] 120/100? How did I went over a hundred, did the system supported me while I wasn''t paying attention? The System picking up on my confusion responded. [Host current mental strength is being used fully. Due to the host''s hunger for more energy, a connection to the pieces of the host body you are not in control of was established. The lingering wills started the fusion process. The System Synchronisation rate was too low to properly protect the host. The lingering wills are currently attempting to reach the host. Host please hurry to receive your mission rewards.] Hearing this I took a look at my surroundings, the pitch-black plane now had small red dots in the distance. Focusing my eyes on them I saw many blobs with glowing red eyes walking slowly to me, some of them were blocked by a thin film of energy others however crashed thru it like glass. The few who walked the fastest looked like humans, elves, goblins, tree people, and giants with beast ears. All of these creatures were black with mist coming out of their melting bodies. Seeing that I would get overrun by this angry mob I quickly yelled to the system. * Receive mission reward!!* [ Host has completed the mission (Increased Host Synchronisation rate 1) Host permission receive, beginning Synchronisation adjustment.] I started to feel like something was trying to invade my body, after a bit, my body seems to accept this intrusion as if it was always there. [Synchronisation adjustments complete. Due to Host going beyond expectations, additional rewards have been sent. Host Total Fusion with System is now increased from 60% to 74%.] Upon receiving the rewards, a new film spread from my entire body quickly expanding to the shadow creatures. The film of light was slightly more robust pushing the creatures away from me, however upon reaching the largest giant with wolf ears. CRACK!! The barrier''s strength was sufficient against the other lingering wills but the giant wolf-man, pushed back by only a small amount continued walking. The beast in human form was making almost no progress slowly trying to reach me. The barrier was now sporting a wolf-man size hole as it reached the previous film''s location, slowly patching itself up, the other shadow creatures now funneling thru the open space. As the hole was being filled by the shadow creatures they started to reach the giant, upon doing so they tried to walk around the extremely slow beast, only to find them selfs pushed all the way back to the beginning. The smarter creatures begin using the giant as a shield slowly filling any safe space the creature''s wide and towering frame cast. I was able to see the effect increasing Synchronisation would have, any doubts left gone, at this time the system spoke again. [Mission completed. Dispensing next task. Pleases standby. ] [Mission: Increased Host Synchronisation rate 2. Description: The host Synchronisation rate is too low for the System to fully fuse. While inside the host MindScape please create a Dungeon labyrinth, the system will recover the mental strength of the host for this mission only, the more complex the host creations the more mental strength it will need, the host goal is to use at least 100% total of his current mental strength. Mission progress: 000/100 Reward: Synchronisation rate + 1- 10% Mission failure: The host will have an incomplete fusion, preventing the system from protecting the host mind from the (721,974) undigested will fragments the host body is currently made out of.] Knowing that this was a race against time I quickly pulled up the Labyrinth creation & management, quickly getting to work on my next project. Ch.6 The landlord is angry Ch.6 The landlord is angry. After only a few hours, I came up with my next Labyrinth room. Keeping with the water pressure theme I got going for myself I made a complex puzzle room using water as keys for a assortment of doors. The room consists in eight rooms six of which are small while the last too are large. Upon entering the room too urns would be presented to the invaders, this tool would be use to store a maximum of thirty gallons of water, the urns itself is mounted in a contraption that allows those with weak physical strength to roll them along the floor like a wheelchair. The lid and lip of the urns are in the shape of a birds beak, a large hole in the middle allows for easier refilling when needed. The hole itself has a matching pole underneath the lid, the opening will be shut closed if someone tries to fill the urb overcapacity, to achieve this, a Polished wooden cube that is hallowed inside connects to a string, reaching thirty gallons will trigger the lever, this will force the lip to snap shut, plugging the entrance closing all openings with the exception of the slightly smaller lower lip of the urn, allowing for the water to still be poured. The contraption allows the urb to tild to deposit whatever amount of water is required, the wooden cube can be seen thru the glass serpent that decorates the urb from top to bottom serving as a Measuring tool numbered from zero to thirty. After the invader gets accustomed to the urb, they are presented too doors one right one left. The rooms have a fountain inside with a number around them, left room has thirty four while the right as ten, the corresponding gallons of water inside. To the side of both rooms, the left and right door have a scale design, mounted to the scales weight are too urns that can''t be moved one shut closed filled to twenty the other empty and completely open on both rooms, what needs to be done should be self explanatory. The door itself however doesn''t open when the right amount is applied it will instead open the other rooms door forcing too people to work together, to make it easier to understand each room has a colored diamond left red, while right blue, the rooms themselves are made of different color materials left is made from blue lapis and the right red clay. After the too man team gathered twenty each and open the door a large hallway is presented to them, The left has a large Fountain with zero on it, while the one to the right as a small fountain with a five on it, looking inside the rooms shows too doors each the left has one showing nineteen and twenty-six while the right one has twenty-five and twenty-six. The door with nineteen when open offers a fountain with ten gallons while opening the door with twenty-five presents the invader with a large fountain with 30 gallons. The door with twenty-six on both sides has both of the weight urns empty with one open on each side, a red diamond is shown on top the left while a blue one is on the right, this should make it easy to understand what is needed to be done, find a way to make both the same amount. One last tool is presented to the invaders on the very back of the large rooms, a large scale arm, with the other side going thru the other rooms wall, carries a smaller urn half the size of the ones they been using, a diamond split in half with both colors presented so far is shown, this Illustration should hint that anything place inside this urn will be split in half and only half then carried to both rooms an odd number will not work. With all the pieces of the puzzle in place the invader must find the correct combinations getting both out or non at all. *Done! Turn in mission, accept rewards!* I quickly yelled all the keywords the system needs to do it''s thing, while waiting for it''s response i take a look around only to find a literal mountain of muscle 20-30 feet from me, many small and large red eyes could be seen between the legs of the giant, they stare at me with such hunger i felt like a pure maiden in a bar full of drunk men. Before I could panic the system responded. [Host mental strength is being restored. Mission completed. Calculating....Calculation complete. Host approval received. Beginning Synchronisation adjustments] While the system did it''s thing, I took a look at my mission and was happily surprised. [Mission: Increased Host Synchronisation rate 2. Description : Host Synchronisation rate is too low for System to fully fuse. While inside the host Mind Scape please create a Dungeon labyrinth, the system will recover the mental strength of the host for this mission only, the more complex the host creations the more mental strength it will need, the host goal is to use at least 100% total of his current mental strength. Mission progress: 150/100 Reward: Synchronisation rate + 1- 10% Mission failure: The host will have and incomplete fusion, preventing the system from protecting the host mind from the (721,974) undigested will fragments the host body is currently made out of.] I was happy to see I would get another 14% Synchronisation rate, most likely pushing Muscles here oway from me at last. However sense i went over 100% it can only mean I started a connection instinctualy, looking at the distance a sea of red eyes was crawling all over my protective film and each other, the hole left by mister Muscles already closed. I again felt something trying to invade my body it, however, quickly pass.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. [Synchronisation adjustments complete. Do to Host exceeding requirements greatly, additional rewards have been send. Host Total Fusion with System is now increased from 74% to 94%.] At that moment my body glowed in blinding light, a thick film of rainbow energy spread thru my surrounding extremely slowly. Looking at the barrier spreading from me I noticed the "ground" of this plane I was levitating on slowly turning green and beautiful. Trees, rivers, fields of different color roses and fluffy clouds and blue skies were showing up slowly, this beautiful scenery reminded me of my love for nature since I was little. A connection to this slowly growing world forming telling me this place is my world , home and property I then remember something the System said to me in the mission briefing. [While inside the host MindScape please create a Dungeon labyrinth] Mind scape? That means this place is inside my mind it''s how I see the world or what I want to see, and this bunch of lingering wills have stained it with blood, killing intend, fear and a bunch of emotions someone who has lived in the modern world can''t understand clearly. I fume in rage seeing how my world used to look like being turned into a wasteland of death. *System! I have done the mission you asked me to do! Now I want something from you, I want each one of these parasites off my mind this instant!* [Host Synchronisation rate is not 100%. Forceful removal of the lingering egos would prevent further Synchronisation for a long time. Some of the wills might escape this cleansing] *I don''t care! I want it out now!* I was emotionally unstable, wanting this filth off me at all cost. Trying to get myself back in control, as only one more mission would take me to 100% I felt memories I didn''t know I had come to me. [?] Pain.... so much pain.... (sob)..(sob) it hurts....[?] A childlike voice was hurt full of sorrow. Soon a familiar voice was heard. ~Sweetie be strong you can do this don''t lose your self.~ It''s miss Q''ill, this must have been before my memories were send to this world. [?] Is that voice again... it sounds so warm.... Ghaaahaaa..aa.aa!! These lowlife beastmen how dare they not return God''s land to us, there''s? Ha! How will savages know the lord''s working, if the pope says it''s our so it shall be!...gha.... Haaaaaa... it hurts please stop... (sob)... (sob). [?] The child voice becomes fanatical and crazy, talking about gods and a pope, I have a feeling this is a church believer or a crusader. ~ I don''t understand, why is this happening to this poor child, he is only a double Elemental Core according to the scanners prediction. But this child, is even absorbing the other too elements even the small shards from the Beastmen King''s unknown Element sword are being absorbed, at this rate this child will break under so many different wills not to mention the Beast King''s ~ Beast King? oh! is it Muscles? that seems likely. I guess Prismatic Dungeon Cores birth are not understood yet sense miss Q''ill could not identify me till I came out from the geode. [?] Miss nice is sad to.... I.. I.. I want to Comfort her like she does to me... but.. but is so painful when I try to reach out to her I can never let her know am fine, each time I try my mental strength gets grinded by all the scary shadows outside. The pain is unbelievable and miss nice gets more sad when I cry, my hand have started to turn black like the scary shadows outside, I don''t want this, it feels cold and painful not like miss nice warmth voice, I want it OUT!!![?] While the child was crying a monotone voice started to sound in the back of my head. [Prismatic Elemental Core, Found, Scanning Completed..... Compatibility 13% below the safety range cannot commence Download.] What? the System was trying to connect to this core even then? [?] Miss nice? n-no your not her hu are you? [?] [Greetings, Host candidate, I am AI code name: O¨´ collector.] [?] O¨´? I..I know that name from.. someone? who? why to i know it?? Ghaaaaa..ahha..a!!! These humans have grown fast, they even dare to challenge me, proclaiming my lands as there''s, the way they come and die is unsettling do they not value there life? Ahhh... Ghaaaaa... ha. ha (sob)... (sob).... please stop it hurts. [?] Miss nice... Q''ill... It would seem she really is a nice person to her core. What Muscles said is a bit unsettling all those deaths probably made this core. [Host candidate will is being attacked. Beginning emergency Synchronisation.... Failed. Host compatibility below safety range] [?]Ghaaaa...... ha...ah.. it hurts!! These despicable rat''s, my lands were not there goal they only come to rob me of Iron Tooth, they sacrifice so many of there people just to draw me out, are they all demons.[?] [?] It HURTS!! AHHHHHHHH [?] Dam, Dam them all your already death and your ghost are still causing so much pain to a kid and all for what a Shiny sword? bastard all of them. [Warning!! The host candidate''s psyche is being devoured. 70% remaining. Please take preemptive measures] [?] Make it stop p-please i-it h-HURTS! MISS NICE SAVE ME!![?] ~ Nooo... this child won''t last much longer at this rate he will die, I have no choice I have to use the Dungeon Fairys Forbidden magic and bind myself to his Dungeon Realm feeding the child my life energy and Mana saving him. This child''s prediction was definitely tampered with I don''t know what bastard send me here to die and blame it on this poor child but I won''t let it go your way.~ [?] I-Is.... so-oo c-cold... it hurts [?] [Unknown energy source detected. Judged to be useful to the host candidate. Energy identified as life energy. Psyche remaining 35%, insufficient energy for restoration. Final Safety Protocol conditions met Host candidate below 40% stability, Life energy source detected beginning Protocol.] This.... just what did Miss Q''ill and the System do. ch.7 Rainbow body ch.7 Rainbow body Upon returning to my senses a beautiful scenery was spread before me, all of the dark and creepy shadows were gone, I could look over my mind scape for the first time. A beautiful elf like forest spreads before me, in the distant north a giant tree made out of rainbow gems could be seen with four different color leafs the resemblance to the Elemental Skill tree icon was obvious to spot, on the east There was a beautiful mountain of gems with blueprints swimming around like birds some gems will be attracted to the blueprints and create what ever it had on it mostly simple things, others were my creations for my labyrinth such as scale doors, water pumps and giant blender blades. After reaching a certain height they broke apart into gems ones again rejoining the gem mountain, the now freed blueprint flying in circles around it. The west was a large Vault in a square shape the now mandatory rainbow gems all over it like crown jewels, going inside the giant vault door you could see small compartments cover the walls, these lockers open and close constantly items of all shapes and sizes flying off to a conveyor belt on the bottom, snaking around the area heading to a large black hole the higher conveyor belts drop the items inside while the ones on the bottom had items fall from the black hole to them. The constant storage and retrieval made the whole place lively and extremely busy looking just like a giant bank would be. Looking at the south the largest building in this mind scape stood proudly. The area was a giant shopping center with a very large stage in the middle, looking like an action house completely open to the shopping mall, small wisp like creatures were placing bids while the item inside was given to the highest Bidder. To my surprise no rainbow gems were anywhere on this place the incongruity made me think this place was added by the system and not something my Dungeon Core powers are responsible for. Finally at the middle of the whole plane a beautiful Temple made out of stone and steel with many rainbow gems buried in different places and lamps made out of the same gems could be seen on the entrance of wich a statue was visible, zooming onto the art display the outline of a half human half gem could be seen, the left of the temple had a training ground many wooden Dummies on display a large weapon rack with anything you can use as a weapon available, I think i saw a frying pan? The remainder of the field has weights and training equipment. The Right site was a school complex with many scrolls on the desk with many mathematical questions being answered and replaced by new scrolls taking a peek i could not answered any of them, outside was a small target range were floating wands cast small balls of fire, wind, earth and water attempting to hit the target. However, after looking around I found a small black hole northeast taking a closer look it was a cave in the middle of this landscape this was a blemish on this perfect world drawing my attention. Checking out the very dark cave i saw that the walls was made out of stone so pitch black it sucked the light away, after going inside I found a rainbow bubble with a giant figure inside taking a closer look I could immediately identify him as Mr. Muscles. I wasn''t too surprised the system said that it couldn''t completely purified the lingering wills without 100% Synchronisation rate and Mr. Muscles was the strongest shadow in my mind scape so it makes sense for him to survive the cleansing. At this time the system made itself known.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. [Attention host the request (Cleansing of the mind scape) has been completed. However do to the Synchronisation rate not being 100% one of the lingering will was not purified completely. This lingering will, code name Mr. Muscles by host remains mostly unaffected] I expected this, luckily now that I''m 94% synchronize my barrier is strong enough to keep him contained, this however begs the question what can I do with this shadow creature. this creature is definitely the Beast King''s will, I should be able to use and somehow. [Attention host. The mission (Increased host''s Synchronisation rate) can no longer be completed. The host Cleansing his mind space forcefully before a full fusion has blocked this mission for thirty days.] At first I thought that thirty days was a very short time intel I remember that the system said I was sleeping for five days, meaning there only be too days left until my body forcefully opens the way outside allowing a group of hungry and murderous invaders into my core room, I quickly asked the system if there was a way to stop my instincts from opening the door to my chamber, my hopes, however, were quickly crushed. [The system is unable to restrain host primal instincts Without a 100% fusion] Fuck!! Ch.8 The weight of a Name Ch.8 The weight of a name After I cursed everything I could think of I started talking to myself. * Theres only too days left after I get out of here to prepare for the invasion, the trap room I made so far will definitely stall them for days but I need more fodder and road blocks, time is key, I just need to make the place as frustrating as possible. I am not like other Dungeon Cores in the games or novels at least, for the first days or weeks, I myself is the biggest lure for my "food" to willingly walk inside. With my problem being that there''s too much demand for the supply (me) my goal needs to be to buy my time and slowly make a impenetrable fortress.* while I was planning to make my invaders cry for there mommy, the system once again made itself known. [New Missions are available for the host. Host should accept them when possible.] *Mmhhmmm... missions?* Snaping out of my, how to torture the invader till they cry (trade mark) mindset, I take a look at my Missions. [Mission: Adoption Cave Description: Using the host purified mana trade, for one of the following monsters. (Slime): A weak creature with endless evolutionary Possibilities Attacking power: 1 Magic power: 0 Defense power: 3 Magic resistance: 0 Agility: 1 Special skill : Adaptable stomach Description: Can eat anything and everything, things with mana will take a long time to digest or kill the slime if there''s higher rank mana. (Wolf cub): The infant of a savage wolf, sharp fangs and claws. Attacking power: 4 Magic power: 0 Defense power: 2 Magic resistance: 2 Agility: 8 Special skill: Enhanced senses Description: Increases the connection to the bodys nerves, allowing the detection of danger and attackers weapons trajectory. (Poisen Ivy): The roots of a plant monster, growths quickly, has sharp poisonous leafs. Attacking power: 2 Magic power: 2 Defense power: 1 Magic resistance: 1 Agility: 0 Special skill: Elemental Mana addict Description: Uses all the Elemental mana around it to grow extremely quickly, enchant it''s poison potency and production, mana it can''t process will turn into fruits Missions progress : 0/1 Reward: Resources for the rooms created in host Mind scape. This first mission was incredible! I could finally be a proper Dungeon with my own pet''s [minions], however only being able to pick one out of the three was frustrating! I asked the system to make sure. *System can I only pick one? If so can I pick the rest later?* [Host awakening of its primal instincts will absorb 500miles worth of random Elemental mana. The speed of wich Host can absorb mana after his awakening will vary depending on the actions of the sepiant races. After calculations host will have thirty points of pure mana this is sufficient to trade for all three] At first I was happy then confused? If I can have all three why is the mission only asking to pick one? after I thought about it the process of making pure mana should not be easy. I don''t know how long it would take to turn 500miles of Elemental mana to pure mana to trade with. The system ever-present in my mind answered for me. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. [Host has fourteen points of pure mana at present. Host please check (Dungeon Core data and Statistics) on your field of view.] I blush a little, completely forgotten about my icons in all the excitemen and aw. *Oh! ya I forgot ha-haha....* I quickly took a look at my icon, noticing that the giant question marks were now properly displayed. the icon for (Inventory & Resources Dimensional Storage) was very compact and slick looking, a column of small lockers looking like a tall building with a black hole in the middle, too conveyor belt making a half eight the top one delivering crates of rainbow gems to the black hole, the other arm of the eight receiving a large cuts stone, urb full of water and steel pipes from the black hole. The final icon (Purified Mana Exchange Market) was alot more grand, a large circle with a stage in the likeness of a planet, a action house hammer in the middle, this however verily covered half the middle instead a large stage with a red curtain covered the rest of the Circular icons middle, the red curtains are open, one pure white hand initiating a handing motion to another, the sides of the icon looked like my core to the right and a planet with too moons on a starry background to the left, the rest of the icon have small shops selling fruits and meats on one side and tableware on the other. After looking at them I quickly touched the icon i was looking for. A window popped up with my statistics. Prismatic Dungeon Core : ??? Mana: 39/500 Elemental mana: 48/421,474 Pure mana: 14 Special skills: ( Protocol#30 System: Host ) Description: The system, a piece of the world''s will, it''s goal? Pure mana, in exchange of this symbiotic relationship, the host can tap into the nearly endless calculating prowess of the world, as well as ask for small favors with a large price tag. After seeing this my eyes nearly pop out! I have heard of old grandpa or grandmas that protect the reincarnated people till there strong enough or main characters with the ability to create anything with enough power. Me? I get basically both, tho I have to pay a large price, this is still awesome! After the excitement pass i took a look at my name full of question marks. *System, the question marks next to my Core type is my name right? why is it empty.* [The Host has not been named yet. Would host like to be name?] * Of course my name is ...B-aah..Br-aaah...* As I tried to call out my name my voice breaks and I started to cry, while the tears keep falling in the back of my head a memory surfaces. ~ Hello little one can you hear me?~ *This...is miss Q''ill again? This memory must be from that child.* [?] w-who is that? are you one of the scary red dots?[?] ~I am so glad you can hear me sweetie! I am Q''illtress Birch Blossom, what''s your name little one~ [?] Name? what''s a name? Quill Beach blazoom? [?] Oh-ho this kid''s gona get it, to my surprise however I only heard a small crack like someone stepped on a branch, my money is on miss Q''ills teeth or my geode. ~I-it. is. Q''illtress.... Dear... call me Q''ill for short. Ok?~ [?] Qu-Qi-i-ll Q''ill![?] ~Yes! Just like that, that''s my name, Mmhhmmm.. Dear you really don''t have a name?~ [?] No.. miss Qill, you remind me of the scary red eyes that hide in the darkness not too far from me, they also have angry voices are you one of them? [?] ~Q''ill!.. wait? Scary eyes? Dear can you explain what you can see.~ [?]What i see? I see myself and a white stretch of land with nothing on it, then after that there''s darkness. whenever I think about something a piece of the darkness comes closer, when I try to reach to it red scary eyes show up, then voices full of angry noises pop in my head and it starts to burn. I stop thinking about it and the eyes and pain stop, but the darkness stays close and won''t go back were it was.[?] ~Dear.. w-why don''t you stop reaching to them, I am here now! let''s chat you and me, no need to talk to the wills.. I mean, scary darkness ok.~ [?] Ok.. you seem nice... your voice is so warm... hehe[?] ~Dear your such a good child yourself, how about this ill Call you Malpetios! It means the light in the shadow, how about it do you like that name?~ [?] Malpetios? ok sounds good Malpetios! He-he I got a name, I''ll call you Miss Nice then! Gillpeass is hard to say.[?] ~IT''S.... gha.. sure sweetie call me Miss Nice.~ I slowly came back to my senses, the system ringing in myhead, to my surprise however the monotone voice has a bit of sadness to it. [Host has chosen (Bahbrah) as it''s name is this correct?] *N-no... my name.. my name is Malpetios!* Ch.9 One in the Same Ch.9 One in the Same [Name confirm. Host is now known as (Malpetios) congratulations.] Happiness ran thru my body bringing a smile and a end to my tears. The System monotone voice also had a small amount of happiness throughout the confirmation. I was not wrong when I noticed sadness from the system before I guess even the system has its moments or there''s something I am not aware of now. *Thanks! I''ll go look if there are more missions then.* Looking at my mission screen only too mission are presented. I already looked at the [Adoption Cave] and accepted it now, looking at the second mission I felt like punching the System interface. [Mission : Dansel in distress Description: The Host request to cleanse his mind scape has extended the hibernation period to six days and twelfth hours. The Host instincts will begin shortly after awakening from his mind scape and will be beseech by a unknown amount of invaders. The Dungeon Fairy (Q''illtress Birch Blossom) is eternally fuse to Host mana forcefield by a Forbidden spell and requires to be maintain thru it. Mission Progress: Host and Q''illtress alive for the next thirty days 0/30 Reward: 100% Synchronisation rate Mission failure: The Host will most likely die, overrun by the invaders ,Q''illtress can''t survive without Host. If Q''illtress dies Host Synchronisation rate will fall by 60%.] The basterd System couldn''t have put this mission first? Not only do I have twelfth hours to make my Labyrinth but now even Miss Nice will die if I make any mistakes. As for the dropping the Synchronisation rate? Mister Muscles was able to move at 74% if I drop to 36% I might as well die. *System! How long do I before I wake up!* [Host hibernation time left:10min] *ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!* I quickly snapped out of my panic attack and brought up my icon interface, clicked the Trade Market and got ready to trade the few Pure Mana I had. Seeing the three monsters again i started to talk to myself in frustration. *The Wolf Cub has the most combat statistics or stats however it''s only a puppy at the moment, if I use them he''ll just be a distraction more than a guardian, it will need time to shine as both a fighter and a literal watchdog with heighton senses.* *The poison ivy is perfect for a dungeon constantly being useful for both feeding my soon to be thousands of minions and working as both defence and attacking force, since the poison in their bodies can be Strengthen by elemental mana. There also a barrier of sorts if someone tries and use fire to burn it all they''ll probably die from poisoning themselves from the fumes.* *However I''m gonna have to go with the slime, although it''s very weak and it''s endless possibilities mean nothing to someone who''s most likely to die soon, as a water base creature it will be of tremendous help. Most of my traps are using water this creature can help bulk Up the strength of the traps and maintain stability, they can also be used as a way for me to clean the dungeon and prevent people from using the dead bodies of others to cross or clog traps.*Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. *Aldough I can eat invaders I don''t know how fast or efficient it is, When talking to Miss Nice about what I remember a Dungeon Core does she did not correct me, so my logic shouldn''t be wrong.* After taking all my options into consideration and making plans for the creatures future use I clicked at the slime icon, my pure mana dropped to four. [Host has received one (Slime) monster. It will be send to Dungeon Creation and Management.] The Action House in my mind scape suddenly became busy small drops of water cover in a rainbow glimmer flu out of the illustration of the half gem half human on the Temple. A urb appears in the middle of the action house ten drops total inside, the urb gently tilted over the large stage in the likeness of a world, the drops swimming like fishes to certain places making ripples as if the stage was a giant pool of pure mana. The middle of the stage rippling non stop slowly presented me with a small ball of water, a look determined the blob as a slime. [Host Completed the mission (Adoption Cave) Would host like to accept the rewards.] *Accept rewards!* After I acknowledged the rewards the still ripples of the Action House continued this time many different materials flu out all heading to the Vault on the west. my body started to break apart from it''s pure white humanoid shape to rainbow petals, before I could guess what was going on the System answer for me. [Host hibernation has ended. Beginning awakening process.] I slowly felt sleepy and passed out... On the outside World. ~This child still sleeps, there''s only twelfth hours left even in slumber the little one will start to starved. His geode is almost completely white now, he won''t be able to resist the urge for the outside mana~ The fairy was sitting on the ground next to her floating a few inches was a rainbow Diamond, mounted on the wall a Geode full of gems now had bearly any colors to it looking like glass. ~I wonder if there still be any of that child left when he wakes up... hahhhh..~ The rainbow diamond started to fly higher to about too feet of the ground * (Yawn!) I am up at last, Miss Nice? where are you?* ~Child your yourself again! I was so worried the Beast King''s will would erase you! each time you woke up I''d introduced myself and a different person would answer im...(sob)... am so glad your ok...(sob)~ The Fairy was crying happily, at first I was confused then realized that "Miss Nice" is what the kid called her, I wanted to tell her that I was not him but that would break her heart. After I Thought about it the kids memories and mine are fragmented but Congruent enough to make sense, I basically know everything about the kid and myself so as far as anyone is concerned I! Am Malpetios!! The other people that she introduced herself to were probably whatever will was the strongest at the time. *Y-yes is me! However my memories are fragmented and fused with the human from earth.. s-so I may be different then how you used to know, i-its that ok?* I truly did not lie, apart from my memories of earth the only others are the Kids and Miss Nices, aldough I was not the kid the emotional connection to miss nice can''t be denied, just looking at her makes me happy like looking at a mother''s loving eyes. ~Everything is ok as long as you''re still here sweetheart, this child from earth was a nice person and he seems smart and kind not like the rest of the wills full of hatred and bloodlust.~ After the emotional reunion Miss Nice ask me many questions including my name and how my mind scape was. I told her that I managed to destroy all but the largest beastman hu I think is that Beast King, after a quick description it matched perfectly. ~The Beast King... be very careful dear don''t let it overtake you! Now however we should really talk about how to keep you safe from the invaders.~ I agreed, even though I was incredibly happy talking to her like venting all the times the kid couldn''t, it was time to get to business. *He-he Ya! Let''s Beat them all up!* ~Mmhhmmm.. (giggle)~ Ch.10 Mana aint cheap you know Ch.10 Mana ain''t cheap you know I was ready to make myself the best labyrinth I could, bringing up the creation skill i began with my core room. Sense Q''ill was going to be here with me I thought about making it as grand as possible so she could enjoy it, especially sense I didn''t know how far my forcefield could spread, however I quickly hit a wall. [Not enough resources to begin crafting. Please add adjustments were necessary] My core room full of comfort items like a giant bed on top large piles of gold and gems and other nick nacks has red all-over, hovering my hand over the closest bed a window full of a bunch of materials pop up. [(Large Deluxe Bed XXL) Material''s Required. Silk (any) 0/20 Wood (any) 530/10 Bird down (any) 0/50 Springs (any) 0/5 Elemental mana (Wind) 48/50] Looking at the list of ingredients I immediately could tell that I can''t make something out of nothing. I also need things like silk wich can''t be made without Silk worms, however sense I can make a bed then I can definitely craft springs. After some experiments I understood what (any) meant, clicking it shows materials of all types to choose from I can literally make springs out of rock or wood even if they don''t work well or at all in the stone case. However that was not the troublesome part,(Elemental mana (Wind) 48/50) I need more mana looking at my Statistics icon i noticed something I overlooked. Prismatic Dungeon Core: Malpetios Mana: 39/500 Elemental mana: 48/421,474 Pure mana: 4 My mana is red while Elemental mana is blue and Pure mana is white.. I suddenly got a bad feeling about this and asked the system for clarification. [Beginning Mana System Explanation. Mana: The Life Source of the Core, functions like energy for the managing of skills like host levitation and Dungeon specialize skills. Current Output: 2(+2) mana per day. (Q''illtress Birch Blossom is sustained by host mana) Elemental Mana: Use to cast spells or the creation of materials and equipment, fifty points can be converted to one Mana or reverse.(Q''illtress Birch Blossom shares Host resources) Pure Mana: Useless mana for Dungeon Core, can be used to power up the cores creature''s or allies. One hundred Mana can be Converted to one Pure Mana, can''t be converted to mana.(Can be traded to the world for necessities and manpower)] I knew it! In all games I''ve ever played red was reserved for health or life of the player or creature, this meant that I was currently almost dead!This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. *Miss Qill! I''m almost dead my mana is only thirty-nine what can I do!!* ~Sweetie calm down, you still have enough mana nearby to keep yourself save, see.~ she pointed at the nearly glass like gems in my geode, I remembered that they were mostly all full of color before my hibernation. *They are mana? Wait no I have the same mana and Elemental mana I did when I was sleeping and now, how is that possible?* Miss Q''ill looked a bit ashamed and hopeless. ~That''s probably my fault dear.. You see when I saw that you were disappearing I used a forbidden skill that gives my remaining life and mana to you, in exchange I can no longer live outside the cores forcefield and can no longer absorb Elemental mana by myself. A normal magical creature produces three mana per day out of the Elemental mana they have compatibility with and consumes too, this of course doesn''t take into account any Magic rich food they intake. You being a Dungeon Core can produce mana at a 100% efficiency meaning that you can easily absorb mana one to one and Elemental mana can be rapidly converted with no wastage.~ I understood in that moment, I can absorb the mana straight out of the gems in my geode to sustain my consumption for both me and miss Q''ills daily output that explains the too plus too in the mana description that means that in in ten hours my body will spent four mana to keep both of us alive and well, Miss Q''ill can probably maintain herself if I had food with mana to give her but without it I''m her life support. With that in mind I try to think of eating the mana inside the gemstone, to my surprise it works easily, the System remarks on my efforts. [Absorbing mana. Mix elements detected, do to host Prismatic Dungeon Core all mana can be absorbed no matter the element.] [Host has received 4 mana] I was happy to see that I got my mana problem resolved this also explain why my instincts would forcefully open the way outside my safe heaven, with no more mana nearby, the body would reject the idea of eating itself for a few more day''s of safety knowing that theres a buffet, just out of reach. Now the problem i have is how am I gona make my Labyrinth? If I had spent the mana in my geode to craft my Labyrinth I would have made myself a strong defense, however I would probably be dead to the lingering wills so I can''t complain. With only nine hours left I remember that the System said that all materials for the rooms I crafted in my mind scape would be supplied to me for free that should also include Elemental mana no? The System however thought otherwise. [Host; Mana or Elemental mana will not be provided for the reward of (Adoption Cave) attempting to solve Host mana problem. Please Standby.] I swear the System is stingy with anything with mana but has no problems asking for me to spent it. [ Solution found. The will, Code name Muscles by host can be drained of a total of 350,000 Elemental mana in exchange for 1 Pure mana. Would Host accept this Exchange.] I widen my eyes, Muscles has so much mana? Wait did the System just tried to entice me? This reminds me of the one time offer for new players in games pay one dollar get a huge bargain, I am starting to think the System just slapped my face for the stingy insult. I however don''t mind getting slap right now and quickly agreed. My Core body started to shine in rainbow light a feeling of ecstasy going through out my body after looking at my Statistics my mana quickly rous to full. Prismatic Dungeon Core: Malpetios Mana: 500/500 Elemental mana: 327198/421,474 Pure mana: 3 I felt like each corner of my mind was dancing, I was truly ready for anything now. * He-he invaders? let''s see who breaks first my Core or you''re will to live, welcome to hell bitches Ha-ha-ha!!!* ch.11 The Underground is your Oyster ch.11 The underground is your oyster In the outside world in the continent of A''om or Holy Nation of Heavens Chosen, Elemental mana started to thicken near the disputed land in the Western Planes. The land of Snake Nest was turned into a wasteland fifty years ago during the invasion of the humans and there slaves, the Mighty Beast King send here by the Gomath continent Sacred beast bloodline was killed by a plot of the humans, the sacred sword Iron Tooth disappearing with him. Ever sense then the friction between the humans of A''om and the Western Beastmen has been escalating daily. The Elemental mana density here is starting to give these humans alot of confidence, they even started sending there mages to the front line. A large Human with bear ears said to his squad. He-he A''um shouldn''t you be nicer after all your a half breed, a womanly voice said in jest. A''um snorted in disdain, I am a warrior of Diamond Back Emperial City do not mix me with the humans of this fanatical Cult turn Country, my Human ancestry is far more noble, as for you Sha''la your probably in heaven with all this Elemental mana. Sha''la quickly took a large long breath in happiness, Yess! I feel like I could blow up all the cannon fodder and still have plenty of power to kill the human mages. Sha''la was a Beastmen with red hair and dog ears, a wagging tail could be seen from her happiness, She was as tall as the Half breed bear man but far less thick, however who ever thought she be easy up close sense she''s a mage should think twice, aldough she was not talented on anything but Magic as a beastmen her body has been Tempering sense she could walk, thanks to the beastmen training techniques. A''um directed his attention to the squad under him a normal infantry made of half breeds and beastmen, however before he could bark out orders. C-cc-cccrack!! The land started to shake and cracked the mana in the air suddenly increased ten folds no one hundred times, The air quickly turn colorful like the Lights visible on the Southernmost part of the Elf and Pirate country. Sha''la started to throw up, the mana so behaved around her now exiting her body leaving her with only what she could control. And Aurora of beautiful colors slowly turn into a knife digging throughout the cracks on the ground, looking like rainbow flowers and feathers of Elemental mana racing to the entrance on the ground now formed. The phenomenon Slowly expanded to what seemed like miles stopping all conflicts around Snake Nest as they quickly retreated in panic. The creatures around 500miles of the center felt that all their Elemental mana was trying to escape but couldn''t, do to there own life forcefield, any extra Elemental mana they keep around there body though raced to the aurora tornado in the distance. Sha''la quickly composed herself marveling at the spectical before her eyes. So much Elemental mana and in such quantities, what in the world is being born here or what creature needs so much energy. A''um in the other hand was worried about how much this would increase casualties, the conflict only needs a small spark to turn it into a war he was not sure if this will turn things better or far worse. After what seem like a eternity but was more like ten minutes the phenomenon stopped, in its place a cave entrance four meters tall was displayed for all to see, it''s entrance absorbing Elemental mana at a visual rate.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Seeing that mana gathered constantly, Sha''la immediately realized what it could be but dared not belive it. In that moment she tried to absorb Elemental mana around her but to her dismayed the mana simply ignored her and continued funneling to the entrance. IT''S A DUNGEON! HOLY BEAST ABOVE, HOW CAN THERE BE A DUNGEON WITH SO MUCH ELEMENTAL MANA! Sha''las surprise voice ran throughout her team members many of them trying to absorb Elemental mana. Being a group of fifteen there were at least one of each known elements however they couldn''t draw the mana to them no matter the Type. Noticing that none of his squad could absorb mana A''um quickly passed an order. We are retreating, there''s no way we can survive in enemy territory with no mana stones or cores to refill ourselves, let''s move now! Before the humans realize that they can use this to ring us out. The Beastmen squad quickly and efficiently escaped back to there own borders. As the people outside were reporting the emergence of a Dungeon that can absorb all Elements, our Dungeon Core was happily enjoying himself. *Hahaha this feels wonderful there so much Elemental Mana!* [Host has reached the maximum Elemental mana capacity. It is recommended for host to Produce Pure mana.] Looking at my Statistics i was completely full again, I used a large amount of mana making my Labyrinth before the nine hours were up nearly bottoming out. I can craft anything I want as long as I have the materials, sadly all I have available is rocks, gravel, sand and some pieces of scrap metal here and there. My most price possession has to be the gemstone my geode was crafted at first I thought that they were useless, now however they are increasingly usefull. [Prismatic Mana stone] A stone created during the process of a Prismatic Dungeon Cores birth can be use to store any mana.(1 mana is worth 50 Elemental mana will convert to users affinity Element and convert other elements to mana at a rate of 50 Elemental mana for 1 mana.) Capacity: 0000/2000. Now I could reuse them and store Elemental mana, taking the twenty-four units out i filled as much as I could of mana after all of these i looked at my Statistics. Mana: 500/500 Elemental mana: 421,474/421,474 Pure mana: 3 Mana stone(full): 6/24 After all of that I managed to fill six whole Mana Stones, while a seventh one was 1,120/2000 full. I however wonder why there''s so much Elemental mana the System said I should get around thirty pure mana if I converted but i actually could make around too-hundredth and four. Now that I had so much mana I wanted to trade for Poison Ivy and the Wolf cub, I clicked Pure mana and began realizing what the System mite have ment. [Would the Host like to trade 100 mana for 1 Pure mana. Warning the Host can''t convert more then double it''s max capacity of mana per day.] So that''s why... Considering that I maybe outside of any nearby city''s or a wasteland ravaged by war who knows how long ago it will probably take three days for any big shots to show up with five-hundred mana by then I can make thirty Pure Mana. I proceeded to make Pure mana and traded it away for Poison Ivy. [ Host has received Poison Ivy roots. Please accept the creature.] After I obtained the plant roots I dug a hole under me and used the Prismatic Mana stone as fertilizers. The roots quickly started to grow covering a quarter of the room in just a few hours, I was happy to have gotten something as useful as the Prismatic mana stones, the roots themselves are earth type mana now that they can leech mana straight out of the stones converted amount my plants basically had a 100% efficiency for mana like Dungeon Cores as well as my personal privilege of all mana converting. Looking at my Elemental mana it was growing at a rate of twenty-five thousand per hour this rate was insanely high. The amount of mana I had was enough for me to finish my first few rooms, The amount of mana needed to create rooms was large but easy to recuperate. In the back of my mind I had a bad feeling, like something would go wrong so for the next three days I was going to fill up my Mana tanks(Prismatic mana stone) and never go empty or sit on full mana. As I was planning to put the finishing touches on my "Welcome To Hell" Dungeon rooms i heard Q''ill talking to herself in worry. ~This Phenomenon is alot worse than what the old records of Prismatic Dungeon Cores should make at this rate.... the Sepiant races will put a huge shackle on Sweetie~ I did not know what this ,shackled, was but is most likely what my premonition is warning me about. Ch. 12 Duty Ch. 12 Duty Before Malpetios opened the way outside, just as he traded one pure mana for the Beast King''s Elemental Mana. Q''illtress called out in shock! Dear how did you get so much mana? As I was still enjoying the feeling of fullness, Q''ill reminded me that we should talk things out, after all no matter what, we are in the same boat her and I. Knowing that I need to answer I said. Quill after I finish my Labyrinth let''s talk about our future and my current goals ok? Now though I need to focus on building my Labyrinth. Q''ill nodded in understanding, dear... ,however, she grabbed my core and began shaking it. It''s Q''ill!! Back to the present. Malpetios had just finished the last few lose ends on his Dungeon, happy how it look he thought about not wasting any time and continue crafting rooms however when he tried to make a tenth room the System made itself known. [Host can no longer craft trap rooms on this floor. Host 10th room should be a (Boss Room). Sending Mission. Please Standby.] when i heard i couldn''t craft more rooms i panic, the uneasy feeling i got from what Q''ill said had me on edge. However a Boss room! those are a Dungeon signature move with a boss my chances are much higher. [Mission : Your a Dungeon Malpetios!] Description: Using Pure Mana enhanced the rank of one of your creatures and crown it the first (Floor Boss) Mission progress: 0/1 Reward: [Boss Fusion] : Allows the boss to fuse with Dungeon core preventing the death of the creature''s will. Can regenerate the body with mana, protects Boss from Mind and illusion attacks.( the will can enter Dungeon core mind scape when killed or for communication). Looking at the reward it was amazing! this is a total Boss skill immunity to Crowd Control or CC for short! With this my bosses would stomp on any invaders that think they can pull a fast one. I started to look at my Monsters and was immediately depressed, slime don''t have brains so there already immune to mind and illusions. The poison Ivy is even worse it just grows eats and spreads to eat more it doesn''t move apart from spreading to a new spot when it''s big enough, that zero agility is no joke, though it lunches when ever it bumps into something it quickly ignores the action and stays still again. Having hit a road block i decided to focus on the elephant in the room that being explaining things to Q''ill. I find her eating some rainbow fruits all over my now a jungle of Ivy vines and sharp leaves Core Room, taking a look at the fruits i was surprised [Prismatic Mana Ivy Fruit] The ripe fruits of a Poison Ivy with a overabundance of Elemental mana. Do to the Ivy feeding on the adaptable mana of the (Prismatic Mana Stone) these fruits can be eaten by any Element Affinity user and recover 3 Mana. Do to the recovery of mana no matter the affinity these fruits can definitely feed my Dungeon monsters, however something else draws my attention. Each time Q''ill eats a fruit i felt stuffed and quickly dumped my mana unto the Stones with relative ease from habit, this meant that I could let Q''ill eat these fruits as a emergency mana as well as another way to store it. Q-Q''ill do you like there taste? Having no better way i just started to break the ice. She answered with a brilliant smile, Yes! They all have different flavors is like eating another fruit each bite he-he. She looked into my Core body, a feeling that she was looking at me in the eye, and ask Should we talk now dear? I nodded and explain everything I could, from my memories of earth to the System in my head as well as all the memories of that child. After thinking for a while she started to talk. Dear do you know why we Fairys exist? Our goal is to help the dungeon course to purify the Elemental Mana of the world, however this goal is not without struggles. Many of our species die with the dungeon cores they guarded. the ancient text of our people have said that Prismatic Dungeon Core was seen as the world''s child and a hope for it''s future they however never lived more than a few days, absorbing all Elemental Mana ment we couldn''t protect it for long while the invaders had many Mana core Fragments to sustain themselves. I now know the birth of a Prismatic core is a cruel and nearly impossible achievement, just keeping a stable mind to function would be lucky. Now we have you a Prismatic Dungeon Core helped personally by the planet''s will! Though we can''t help you directly or the races would take this opportunity to attack the largest Dungeons, protecting you from disaster like the Archmages should be no problem for the Fairy Army''s Great Generals, however, the true enemy won''t be them but there junior''s. Most creatures cannot live without Elemental Mana, not because they died without it but because they use it to defend and fight each other, removing the polluted elemental mana is like removing the firewood of civilization. This is why all the dungeon cores are seen as a problem by the common folk. They are resisting the worlds will Without knowing their actions only slows the progress of this world, all creatures need mana to grow stronger However Elemental mana is the already processed mana from the world, it is much easier to absorb and use.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. You yourself should know why, a Dungeon core has a one-hundred percent mana efficiency you can turn your respected Elemental mana back to the raw form. This however is extremely difficult for the creatures of this world only ten percent of there Elemental mana gets purified naturally, only the genius of these races can purified over fifty percent of there Elemental mana becoming stronger and living longer. The four Great Generals of the fairy army, are protecting the four largest Dungeon Cores, each of them one of the known element, as long as you''re not attacked by one of the higher life forms like the Archmages they can''t move. Those of higher standing have long realise that to progress in their magic or martial art mana is needed. However they are more willing to let the dungeons grow to a point a large quantity of mana can be harvest. The World will uses Mana to Protect itself and grow stronger, but her children use her agents that collect Mana for their own use, although this does not harm the world it weakens it of many of the powerful creatures that used to reside on it, they have long passed the world unable to support their massive Mana requirements. In the past, smaller more numerous creatures begin learning how to use elemental Mana To attack each other, However such creatures are not able to purify the world''s mana efficiently, therefore the world gave birth to Mana Core''s. The strongest of each race use them for their own benefit and destroy the Cores after unwilling to see the other races grow from it, the world then began to give wills to Mana Core''s in the hope the can protect themselves. This leap in fate allow Dungeon Cores to defend themselves no longer a tool that could be used by anyone and destroyed, for this purpose the largest Elemental Dungeon Cores created the Fairy Race. When these powerful entities that gathered and stole from the Cores die, the world reclaims there mana, this takes far too long as all the resources of mana Concentrated in a few individuals, The world has no way to defend itself or grow stronger. Knowing about Q''ills goal and mission I realized that this world is messed up, I however can''t really blame the less talented races. Using the far easier Elemental mana to protect themselves from the geniuses with fifty percent mana efficiency with numbers will prevent them from being oppress, however means that my mission to purify mana steps on the welfare of the masses. The higher rank officials won''t bother me unless I become big enough to entice them, I need to think of a way to be usefull for both normal people and the old monsters, if I can make things like (Prismatic Ivy Mana Fruit) then I should be able to slowly imprint the idea that Elemental mana should be traded for mana to me and benefit all. Slowly the days passed with the feeling of doom starting to stress me out, I finally ask Q''ill about the shackles she mentioned. She answered in a melancholy voice. The Shackle is a formation made out of Mana Core or Dungeon Core fragments, is a ring around your entrance to block out all Elemental mana from entering your Dungeon. It is used to prevent a Dungeons Growth as well as a recovery station while assaulting it with numbers. Hearing that I was happy, I made so many traps that punishes numbers, at the same times I felt creeped out by the idea of my own kind bieng use as a tool. Worried about my mana supply I decided to look over my current Dungeon. the first three rooms have water gently going thru the whole floor, in the middle of all three rooms is a river connected to each other on the bottom I made many spikes of stone as sharp as possible, my slimes now resting on the bottom. They have been multiplying rather quickly most evolved into blue slimes there goal is to grab anyone swimming and drown or impale them. The remaining floor has large cut stone slaps at different height and angles to prevent a army rushing inside as well as to punished heavyweights like Knights, the whole room covered in two feet of water has many grooves around the end of the square shape too by too feet cut stone allowing water to be pump out of it by the slimes. A simple arrangement of small tunnels connects to the river on the middle, the slimes flexibility allows for them to go inside and push the air out while pulling the water over reaching the end the water continues to pump by it self do to inertia. The fourth room leads to the fifth rooms Water blender trap, the cut stone ends and gravel and sand begins, I now have slimes as the bottom most layer of the gravel this will serve the same purpose as air while keeping the sand and gravel in place. I figured out that i can fuse the area of each room together to make a large room, duin that later would allow me to house a monster environment, at this time I have not gotten any wild creatures to come inside I can only guess that I am really in a deserted battle field or something alike. Thinking about becoming a proper Dungeon i thought about exchanging for the Wolf cub, the idea however, should have a second opinion. Miss Nice, said Malpetios, which monster should I make a boss? I don''t really have any good idea the slimes are weak at the beginning and the Ivy just sits there, I was thinking about buying the wolf pup and making it the boss would that work? Q''ill thought about it and began to explain it. Dear the Wolf cub would evolve to a rank one creature the [Wolf King] this Wolf is fast and strong... However, even though it''s powerful by itself a King''s real strength is to control a group like his own hands and feet, considering you only have access to one and it can''t multiply right now.. I completely forgot that most creatures evolve to the king of there race upon ranking up in most if not all games, although a king is much stronger with no troops are they even a king? That left slimes or Ivys.. wait! Malpetios asked Q''ill in anticipation. Miss Nice if I make the Poison Ivy evolve can''t I feed it reaching rank too or close to it? My thought process was to dump all my Elemental mana into Ivy and let it grow as strong as possible even if it just sits there as a monster it will still protect itself if attacked right? Q''ill nodded her head, Yes! That mite work feeding them there required mana thru the (Prismatic Mana Stones) Would definitely achieve growth. With a plan in mind I quickly bring up the poison Ivy up in my statistics screen, a total of thirty-one now listed i pick the oldest one i got from the system and click evolve. [Host is attempting to Evolve (Poison Ivy) a total of 30 Pure mana is needed for this process. Not enough Pure Mana. Process more.] I looked at my Statistics. Mana: 500/500 Elemental mana: 421,474/421,474 Pure mana: 23 Mana stone(full): 18/24 I''ll have enough in one more day and that''s probably when the big shots will show up, time i just need time... I''ll plant the extra Ivys from room six to eight and place the Water puzzle room before the boss room at ten. Hopefully the leaders sent in cannon fodder and give me time or I might be dead. Ch. 13 Elemental Secrets Ch. 13 Elemental Secrets While Malpetios waited for the moment he could trade for Pure Mana. In the outside world, near Snake Nest human troops marched to the location of the newly discovered Dungeon. A flag stood proudly in there ranks looking at it, a cross behind a white ball in the middle with six angel wings slightly closing around it. Arriving at there target they begin to build a base ten meters from the entrance Sir Knight Avanlo, we are ready to deploy the Shackles however shouldn''t we be on guard of the Beastmen. A man around his thirtys said to a youth on a horse. This won''t be necessary Sergeant Major Satra, the beastmen does not care for Dungeons there a nuisance if anything, the heretics will be glad for a breather after so many years of conflict, said the Knight. To think that a Prismatic Dungeon Core really existed, the holy scripture describe them as the King''s of Dungeons, however. A demonic smile appeared on the Knights face, all of the Dungeon Fairys are busy protecting the four Elemental Jewels if any are sent death, is there only outcome. With the Four Generals and there officers protecting the Wind Elemental Jewel, it has not yet been stolen by the Holy Beast King and there allies The Diamondback Emperial City heretics. Deploy the Shackles, said the Knight while he attempted to absorb the Elemental Mana around him, the Elemental Mana however ignored him and continued to the Dungeon entrance. Mhmmm..... no wonder the peasants panic such, as there only tool to retaliate against there betters are removed from around them however. Taking a deep breath colorless mana is absorb slowly, the mana density here as escalated so quickly truly The King of there species. While Avanlo absorb the mana purified by Malpetios the Sergeant Major ordered his troops. Deploy the Shackles!! I want this up in the next ten minutes, a thunderous YES SIR! was his reply. The soldiers began to set up a ring of stone around the whole entrance of the dungeon, each stone had a clustered of small gem shards about the size of a finger some the size of a nail, they were discolored some as clear as glass. The formation now looked like thirty stone disk chained together with only two disconnected serving as the entrance, the whole stone cover in markings of unknown origin. Satra looked at the soldiers work in satisfaction, nodding he gave the command. Activate the Shackles! With his order the mages came forth and started to recite a spell the mana around the Dungeon entrance suddenly began to Spiral around the stone disks creating a bubble, were no Elemental mana entered the dungeon instead the discolored gem clusters now slowly brightening in different colors. Avanlo frown and said, sigh... now the mana is quickly returning to is murky state, if only I could keep absorbing this unpolluted mana for a few weeks I''ll finally reach rank four and be promoted to a true noble. After focusing on his mission to collect the core he order Satra to begin the mission briefing to the peasant army.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Attention troops! we''re here to clean the dungeon and let sir Knight retrieve the helpless core in one piece. According to the church, we are facing a Prismatic Dungeon Core the most wild of all Cores, in ancient times this core only came about once each ten generations bringing with it war from the Fairy Army. The Core itself created malformed creations that Dark magic would feel inferior of. To prevent this core from endangering our borders it must be stop before the filthy Beastmen retrieve there armys on the Wind Element Jewel, or this will star a war with the Fairys to protect the Core. We can''t let them use this as a springboard to our Holy Nation, the soldiers roar there confirmation and began marching to the entrance. A one-thousand strong army quickly gathered, around three-hundred mages surrounded the Dungeon preventing any outsiders from interrupting, be it Beastmen or Fairys. Seven-hundred soldiers entered the hole, meanwhile inside the Dungeon Malpetios is having a bad time. Dam it! my Elemental Mana! Looking at the Statistics my mana per second took a huge dive. Prismatic Dungeon Core: Malpetios Mana: 500/500 Elemental Mana: 320,904/421,474 (5,355 per hour) Pure mana: 23 Mana stone(full) 21/24 I was finally finished with my Dungeons first floor and felt like something was choking me only to see my mana plummet, Q''ill started to comfort me. Don''t worry dear, what ever happens we are here together. She Cradle the top of my Gem her warmth calming me down. Now dear with no mana to absorb oh! Wait no your a Prismatic Core you should be able to absorb Elemental Earth right? I nodded and she gives me a smile, with this you can still maintain the Dungeon functions there''s only one thing missing. I replied for her, a Boss! I feel like in three hours I''ll be able to convert mana again, by then I can finally feel a bit safe. Now that I think about it ain''t the Shackles a bit to weak, sure it restrain''s my mana to were i can''t grow easily but I can make twenty-five Pure mana a day if I could. Hearing my question Q''ill wonder as well, Dear if I remember well from my studies on the four Great Dungeons the Elemental Jewels, the Earth Jewel can only absorb about 1,785 mana when it was Shackled at your development stage. Huh, that so.. wait!? something clicked in my brain at that moment, wait if I divide my current mana per second by that number it comes up to....three? That means that i am absorbing something else apart from Elemental Earth what could it be, water? Wind? No.... the wind in my cave is just normal wind no magic or Element to it, as for the water i made it myself out of Elemental Water aldo I can store it in my (Inventory & Resources Dimensional Storage) I can''t convert it back to Elemental mana. With no Idea I ask Q''ill Mhmmm..... Dear you are a Prismatic Dungeon Core there are still Elements not yet known, aldough there is probably some Cores out there with them they died in there cradle or are being kept secret by the Fairy Generals. I keep thinking what possible Element could it be, with no ideas I thought about the games and novels of my human memories. A Element that remains no matter where, mmm... most Elements are base on real materials or phenomenon of nature sooo..., after a while I finally got an idea Space! That''s right no matter were you are space is allways around you and if that is the second Element Time is the third, that''s it! Space and Time Element! The system suddenly Responded. [ System Legendary Mission: (The fourteen Magical Elements) has been received.] Nice!! Ch. 14 Welcome to Hell Ch. 14 Welcome to Hell [Legendary Mission: The Fourteen Magical Elements.] Description: Thru the Host connection to the world''s will your memories of elements have been Analyzed, results of which show that host can understand all fourteen Elements. Using the Elemental Tree skill slowly learn to control all Elements. Mission progress: 4/14 Reward: Mana Capacity:1500 and [Prismatic Elemental Barrier]: Allows the Core to protect itself from any Elemental attack and absorb it as mana. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Looking at the mission rewards I was happy to see an increase to total mana, the Barrier was also powerful though it seemed lackluster it means I can''t die from one big attack as long as it''s an Elemental one. I quickly tried to go into my Elemental tree icon, only to be stopped by the system. [WARNING!! WARNING!! Invaders have entered the Host Dungeon] I immediately take a look at my entrance my first three rooms are wide open with no separation between them so the invaders can see a seemingly straight hallway to feet in the water and feel safe, that is till they take their third step inside, the front line will most likely get destroyed and eaten by my slimes. I can''t see beyond my very first room it''s just a white blur this probably means that I can''t see due to too much light or there are too many life auras... wait a minute.. huh... oops I forgot to put up light sources. As Malpetios remember that people need light to see our invaders are not having fun. Sir Satra we should have one of the Mages come and light the way for us, this Dungeon seems full of water, torches will be impossible to maintain. Do you think those mages will do as I say and join us in a dangerous dungeon? They only listen to Sir Knights orders they think themselves priceless sense they have enough talent to someday be a lower noble. Satra looked down on their cowardly and Bootlicking behavior, that aside however this dungeon gave him a bad feeling almost like the dungeon wanted them dead. Looking around the entrance everything looks two orderly, the walls had many grooves and small holes from where water gently ran across the floor cover in what look like two feet of water, the middle had a small river where all the gentle streams of water accumulated. The whole room gave the feeling you were stepping into a well-planned sewer the eerie sounds of water in the darkness making things worse. Seeing his troops starting to get cold feet he immediately ordered the front line to advance slowly, They took a step into the cold waters stretching their shield and torch forward as nothing happen they continued. When the troops started to fork out around the river in the middle, right as they took their third step, the two soldiers closest to it slipped and fell forward in their heavy armour and stretched out hands not giving them time to hold to something falling into the river, the other soldiers had it worse many of them stepped on the slippery cut stone angle at thirty degrees the whole weight of there advanced crushed their heels, forcing the soldiers to recoil backward dropping there lights or worse continued the forward momentum and have there knees crush from a reverse thirty degrees stone slab.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Satra was dumbfounded, thirty of his men had crushed their legs and were unable to hold onto something that wasn''t slippery to escape back. Knowing that they will drown even with two feet of water with useless legs he called the second line to snap out of it and support them, however before they could rescue them a soldier screaming could be heard from the river now color red from the men''s bloody fractured bones. Satra quickly looked at the red river barely visible in this dark cave and was horrified to see one of his men being dragged deeper into the dark passage by numerous tentacles, small and large bloody holes could be seen on the soldier''s armor like something sharp tried to skewer him but dodge, however, he was the lucky one a second body could be seen dragged by the tentacles with a giant hole on its head a slime making it it''s home. Satra nearly threw up, the echoes of water splashing with the cries of help of the screaming soldiers broke the men''s will, He quickly ordered the archers to shoot the tentacles this however was impossible not only were there two many of them but the cave was just too dark to aim properly, the sounds of screaming ended as the water was tossed around and it all became quiet again. After the soldiers were rescued we found seven dead from smashing their head on the hidden edges of the stone slabs and four dragged thru the water and got skewer or drown. We are retreating! This god-forsaken Dungeon is much more dangerous than we originally thought, grab the wounded and move to camp now! However as they tried to escape in panic thru the water more slime tentacles started to come out from the very front of the stone slabs, infuriated that such pathetic creatures had cost the death of four of their brothers the men quickly tried to kill them. The seemingly easy task became a problem with nearly seven-hundred men compacted together, given the slimes time to quickly slip between their armor and started to eat their lower calf, some of the men covered their body in red energy there muscles growing three sides over and releasing steam this started to kill the slimes inside his armor but it also boiled the water around him the other Fire affinity warriors did not care but the other''s especially the Water Element soldiers started to have there armor melt, while they used their Element to counter the heat they dropped the soldiers they were charged to patch up using Elemental Water Healing. The slimes on the river took this chance to drag another thirteen soldiers to the water there screaming and pleading alarming more of them to turn and shuffle accidentally pushing people to the water, were more slimes happily greeted them with a hug of death. Many of the soldiers pulled to the water started to use their Element to protect their bodies, the Fire soldiers killed many slimes as he was pulled but died being skewer by the stone spikes, the water soldiers control the water around them to push themselves to the surface while crushing any slimes inside of them however the gentle water stream was now an aggressive torrent that a Rank zero soldier had no chance to overpower. The Wind and Earth had it the worst, Wind pushed the water away only making the man fall faster while the remaining stone spikes finished him up, Earth on the other hand crushed many spikes making them useless but drown under the increased weight of their Earth Armor not that the slimes would let them go either way. The soldiers started to panic and run outside not willing to stay there any longer, while they ran many of the soldiers that couldn''t remove the slimes from their armor could not walk anymore their bodies slowly dragged into the water there arms and legs held tightly. Back outside, Satra was breathing disorderly what... what kind of Dungeon is this. Ch. 15 Herd mentality Ch. 15 Herd mentality Back on Malpetios Core room, wow... I can''t believe I kill fifty-three of them so easily they barely took 4 steps inside my Dungeon, this is ridiculous. Hearing my shout, Q''ill started talking. Dear, how are things? You have gotten fifty-three already? did they died to pitfall traps, slimes or you''re Ivys? Did they send weak slaves to test you out? Q''ill''s remarks reminded me that I never told her about what I make, she spends all her time looking around my core room or eating the Prismatic fruits out of boredom. I started to feel bad because this meant I was a cage that she can''t escape from. Q''ill... Are you lonely? You''re trap in my life aura and can''t do much from here I can''t even show you my handiwork. I felt like crying, to me Miss Nice was very important, though my Human memories are very strong, I have never forgotten the Child''s memories they are as much of me as the humans. I feel like being two people sharing a consciousness, I don''t remember much about my parents mostly the feeling of belonging, this same emotion is shared with Q''ill, I want to help her live better for the both of us. Q''ill smiled and said, Dear don''t be sad, I choose to merge with you so I can protect you from the Lingering wills, I do not regret my actions and am happy to see you in a healthy state. But to answer your question yes I am rather bored, we Fairys would patrol your Dungeon, give you advice, and acting as an independent Boss for you, till your strong enough to where a single Fairy is not much stronger than normal monsters. Normally Dungeon cores would not have a very deep connection to us Fairys, their goal would be to absorb the mana of their Element as fast as possible. As far as I know, the consciousness on Dungeon core is very objective and cold the older they get, soon after the core is born they are very child like and pure, but quickly grow out of it and turn serious and focus on their mission to purify mana. Malpetios thought about it. You said that Dungeon Cores have children before is that true? Then do all their inherited memories come from the same nearly emotionless Core molded into a purifying machine. Yes, dear, almost all of them are cold and distant. Even now apart from the Fairy Generals, all other fairys are greeted with a (Mana Shield) each time they enter their Core Room no matter the rank or reason. They are not to blame for this, in the records of the great library, there are many examples of what happened to Cores that don''t follow the Cold and focus on getting stronger approach. Lied to by humans and had their Consciousness controlled, lead human seeking "peace" into their Core Room and many many more examples. Even us Fairys have caused the death of Cores be it by Mind Control, attempted sneak attacks or those who don''t want to serve their creator''s and wish for freedom, said Q''ill. This makes sense, only the Cores that keep everyone at arm''s length survived till now, meaning that their collected memories show the horrors people can make out of greed or their unique reasons. This molded all Cores with parents into the same path not daring to take any risk no matter the opportunity. Malpetios thought this was horrible. As Malpetios wonder if he will one day turn that cold, the System Spoke. [Host has killed 53 unique lifeforms. Do to Host Dungeon Domain 53 Life Crystal''s have been condensed] (Life Crystal) The crystallize Life aura of a strong life-form, can be obtained slowly over time as invaders agitate their will in a life or death situation or 1 by death. Used to create new Life-forms (Base is needed), Mutating existing ones or Increased of Dungeon Life Aura.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Looking at this Malpetios was Super happy! With this, he can make adjustments to monsters to fit his needs or more importantly increase his Life Aura allowing Q''ill to become a roaming Boss, as well as to give her something to do. The System snapped Malpetios from his uncertainty for the future, even though now he knew that attempting to communicate with anyone apart from the Fairys was a huge risk, he still could not shake the feeling of his human self to communicate with other people. He can''t see himself as a Core that protects its Dungeon and Purifies mana till death. Going back to trying to make Q''ill a roaming Boss I thought about (Boss Fusion) the skill says the Boss can go into my mindscape wouldn''t that mean that Q''ill can see everything I can as well as communicating with me anywhere?! I quickly ask the System in my head. [ The Life-form name (Q''illtress Birch Blossom) is eternally bound to Host by a Forbidden Spell. After analyzing the bond the similarities to the effect of (Boss Fusion) is 50%. It''s assumed that this spell was created by copying a Dungeons bond to their Bosses. The host can trade 100 Pure Mana for a Complete Effect. Warning; Core requires (Boss Fusion) for the process to succeed.] After the System response I could tell that (Boss Fusion) was a skill all Cores would Unlock by their ten-room, as well that someone used a pirated version to fuse with the Core for emergencies. knowing all of this I quickly use up all the Life Crystals on myself. [Host has used 53 Life Crystals. Increasing Life aura range from 10 feet to 27.5 feet] Quill! guess what, I increased my Life Aura to twenty-seven feet you can move around a lot more now! As I was happily yelling I got smash by a flying Prismatic Fruit. Q''ILL! Dear... ok? hehe... She said with a few more fruits with my name all over them. Aaa..ha ha haha s-sorry Mis Q''ill slip of the tongue. Yes dear, my hand "slipped" as well she said staring daggers at me. Well, I can move twenty-seven feet around you? that''s great! I quickly told her about (Boss Fusion). Oh my, I never knew the Forbidden spell was a weaker version of a Cores bond to their Bosses, with it I can properly protect you and have some fun! I could use a punching bag for my pent-up angered mhmhehe. I pretend I''d heard nothing and took a look at my first room, almost all the spikes in the river were destroyed mostly from that Earth Element soldier struggling to escape the slimes, the rest from metal armor impacts. Talking about armor I saw the slimes eating them so I helped myself to the rest of the bodies, a few updates to my Creation skill were unlocked, taking a look (Magic metal) and (Magic Leather) were now options. (Magic Metal) Can be used to store Elemental Mana or Mana, use in construction or tools, to give them resistances or power. CP:200 (Crafting Points) Elemental Affinity Damage (Element) 00/20 Elemental Resistance (Element) 000/200 Elemental Conductivity (Element) 0/5 Required: Metal (any), Elemental mana, Mana. Oh? It seems I can use this metal to craft my own armor and weapons, more importantly, I can use it to reinforce my trap rooms! Mages will probably show up soon so I better increase their resistance as much as possible. I take a look at my Blender room thought about replacing the stainless steel or at least the important parts so the mages can''t blast thru it. When I was trying to replace it on my Creation skill icon the System was quick to stop me. [Warning. The host is replacing key components with lower-grade materials. It''s recommended that host sets Metal (Any) to Stainless steel.] when I saw that I felt dumb. How could I forget that I can change the ingredients as long as the classification is the same like when I made springs out of rock. I quickly changed the ingredients and was dumbfounded. (Magic Metal) CP:3000 (Crafting Points) Elemental Affinity Damage (Element) 0000/1000 Elemental Resistance (Element) 0000/2200 Elemental Conductivity (Element) 000/250 Required: Metal (Stainless Steel), Elemental mana, Mana. The Difference was staggering, dumbfounded, I ask the System. [Stainless Steel is formed when a raw mixture of materials like nickel, iron ore, chromium, silicon, molybdenum, and others, are melted together. Due to this, this Alloy recreated from the Host memories is one of a kind] Dam!! I almost want to destroy the blender room and turn it into a full metal armor for Q''ill, I mean she''s restricted to twenty-seven feet but she can still shoot fireballs, right? Anyone that gets close will just be asking for death. Ch. 16 Slimze doesnt matter Ch. 16 Slimze doesn''t matter My dreams of a full armor juggernaut aside, I quickly spent about three-hundred Elemental Earth to fix the spikes as well as the small dents the armor left when they fell. Thinking about this I tried to inject mana into my stone trap and surprisingly a new update was sent to my Creation skill icon. (Dungeon Domain) Using Mana, The Host can make any materials that composed the Dungeon walls and edges nearly indestructible. Warning; This Enchantment is made by condensing the atoms of the material to the max, removing flexibility and the ability to affect complex parts. Can''t be used on objects that would block access to the Core Room. Can be reclaim and broken down for reused or expansion. This was a godsend, I started to realize that the world''s will would not hold my hand even if it was desperate for Pure Mana. Thinking how the other Cores act they are very robot-like, Following orders or missions from the giant computer, the world will seem to be. I can''t hope to be given what I need or want, I need to try my hand on it and let the world will do the paperwork for me, after all, I have access to its Computing power, even if I can''t remember something as long as I think about it the System will analyze it and give me my options, at a price. I quickly spent mana to reinforced my first four rooms with no problem, the walls now started to glow a pale white this made the place brighter and not require a light source however the light was now constant, where you could still slightly tell the differences between angles of the stone slabs before, now it all looks like flat surface the movement of the water as well as light pollution hiding the grooves in the water. I did a small experiment and saw that if I fill a stick in different Elements it glows to match the enchantment. I then added Fire Element wood bundles in key places serving as light without removing the darkness completely. Completely enchanting the Dungeon Domain took fifty Mana for the rooms made out of stone The Blender Room, however. [18075 mana is needed to enchant The Blender Room. Proceed (Yes)/(No)] That amount of mana was too much for me right now, using nine of my fully charged Prismatic Mana stones when I don''t know when I could get rid of the Shackles is a bit high. I instead used it on the key places like the main water pipe responsible for the start of inertia as the air escapes under the pressure of too much weight, as well as the blade bridge, for 2150 mana. while I tried to use Domain on my balance scale doors and it failed, the system called out again. [WARNING!! Invaders have entered the Dungeon. Host, please Prepare.] The invaders were extremely cautious upon entry, which was soon replaced with confusion. The Dungeon they just left had changed by no small amount, the new faces in the back however were displeased and quickly started to bark out orders. That reminded me, how can I understand their language? A quick brainstorm later and I had my answer ah! That''s right my inherited memories are to blame, this means that later on, I should understand almost all Languages on this continent, or at least the Beastmen, Human, Elf, and goblins or whatever slaves humans have. The new invaders started to talk among themselves. What rubbish you mean to tell me you lost over fifty people to a puddle in this room, useless muscle brains, the new invaders dressed in a flowing rope wave his staff a cold wave of magic ran thru my room freezing the water slowly, the other fourteen of what I can now tell are mages followed suit. quickly a bridge is formed in the middle of the room, the mages a bit breathless smugly exclaimed, see this is how you solve such an easy problem. The soldiers started to walk across slowly making it to my fourth room with ease, as they walked inside they stop moving forward their feet sinking in what looks like quicksand, the soldiers quickly stopped their movement those with earth affinity saw that the ground was cushion below by a large bed of slimes ten feet under them covered in gravel, the sand and gravel would prevent the slimes to dig there way out or buried them so this was confusing. After the soldiers relay the situation the mages in the back were quick to rush them. Will you stop worrying about some slime nest under you? They can''t escape ten feet of sand and even if they could under so many people the gravel would just act like a prison condensed like that. Stop wasting my time, I''ll just finish Sir Knights orders for you so hurry up. The mages made their way to the fourth room, before they could make it all the way the bridge under them shattered many slime tentacles swarming to them like a tide, the mages however were not so easy, four of them quickly chanted a mass levitating spell the rest bombarded my slimes nearly wiping them out. The soldiers jumped taking their chances with the flooring while crawling into a ball protecting their heads, preventing most of the damage with only some unlucky ones breaking their arms or legs.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The mages landed safely in the middle edge of the fourth room laughing and looking at the thirty or so soldiers that jumped into the water some of them even bloodied or had fractured limbs. Before the mage could bother to retrieve the injured, a ball of water shot toward them from the sides, the mages quickly reacted sending a wave of wind each, acting as a barrier, however they neglected the middle, the sound of pierced flesh was heard three of the middle mages now sporting holes in there head, much fewer tentacles quickly dragged the limping body''s to the river the other soldiers in the water panic and tried to escape only to fall in the river or get hit by the same attack that killed three of the powerful mages. looking from his Core Room Malpetios had a smile tug at his nonexistent lips. He-he these mages are something, their bombardment scared me and killed so many slimes but supplied around 5,000 Elemental Mana they''re walking Mana potions, although the soldiers also gave me elemental mana the amount is minuscule and I only noticed now that I am slightly empty from upgrading my Blender room. The best part however is that I got 30 mana from the mage''s death alongside 18,000 or so Elemental mana, this means that a single mage has about 10 Mana and 5,330 Elemental Mana or so. However, they used Ice Element to freeze my river this is not one of the normal elements so how did they control it mmmm... I wonder. Malpetios just ask Q''ill for conformation. You see Dear, Mana is the purified essence of the Elemental Mana, creatures can purify about 10% of their total, this can be overcome by geniuses or forcefully with potions or meditation techniques this mana can be used on all spells no matter the affinity, allowing for the use of spells like Ice Wall, Thunderbolt, Mind Control, and many other undetermined Elements. Although we know their existence they can not be absorbed naturally the world too polluted by the most basic Elements that those few lucky or unlucky people that awakened and unknown one, considered crippled even if their geniuses in combat, will not surpass a regular mage, there mana always running out first even at 60%. Dam... so that''s why I can guess that these spells are the wisdom of the older generation''s experiments on the Elements that are visible but unable to be absorbed. As a prismatic core, I should be able to reproduce the unknown Elements myself or at least the ones I know. Malpetios put his thoughts aside and began looking at his little mage killers. (Blue Slime): The evolution of a slime that lives in water for a long time. Attacking power: 4 Magic power: 2 Defense power: 7 (+10) Magic resistance: 4 (+10) Agility: 4 (+10) Special skills: Adaptable stomach, Swift Swimmer, Water Control Adaptable stomach: Can eat anything and everything, things with mana will take a long time to digest or kill the slime if there''s higher rank mana. Swift Swimmer: While in water the defense statistics and agility of this creature are increase by 10 each. Water Control: Allows the water around you to act as your hands and feet, can be used in many ways. (Metal Slime): The evolution of a slime that eats large amounts of metals. Attacking power: 9-150 Magic power: 5 Defense power: 30-200 Magic resistance: 20-105 Agility: 2 Special skills: Adaptable stomach, Condensed Burst Condensed Burst: Coil your body inward allowing greater Defense while storing kinetic energy, you can release the kinetic energy in many different ways. I have been saving the blue slimes since they are not much stronger than normal ones, they now managed my Blender Room. The metal slimes were a surprise, those soldiers help make them they are slow and heavy but extremely dangerous, Condensed Burst turns them into cannonballs or expandable spikes. I made sure to save some trump cards for the room but now I am out of tricks, the mages won''t be stupid enough to wait there like a dummy. Talking about the mages although they are as fragile as paper they are very agile and quick thinking, my guess is that they do something to their brains to be so sharp of everything around them, probably that meditation technique thing. While I gave Q''ill a rundown of my Current invaders and the rooms they''re in, the mages are cursing anything under the sun. You bastards! Pigs! Useless sacks of shit! How dare you not report such creatures we lost three of our scholars due to your incompetence! The soldiers did not know what to do or say, their commander was temporarily relieved from duty from losing over 50 men a few moments after entering the dungeon, their rank and power not allowed to show any discontent to the verbal abuse. A screen could be heard from the distant wall with two tall but cramped doorways. S-sir Mages we have a problem! Ch.17 Discrepancies Ch.17 Discrepancies The annoyed scholar was not happy that so many soldiers have died in his charge, useless as they are, the more alive at the end of the mission the better he will look to the higher-ups. The problem now is that some of the Mages actually died to this newly born Dungeon and to slimes no less, this insult cannot be forgiven and the Mage Academy will not compromise with anyone that dare kills any of its mages be it peasant or nobles. The mages group tightly, not allowing anything to escape their mana field, by pumping mana into their life auras they can use it as a sixth sense that can be absorbed back to power instantly with no loss if non of it leaves their aura. There Mana field however showed nothing but sand and gravel, although the few elemental earth mages could see further than the slimes all they saw was water and small pieces of weirdly shaped stones. Walking further, the entrance of room five was a lot more active, the ground had sunk about four feet under the weight of around 500 or so soldiers, the mages noticed that the water under the slime nest was now a powerful torrent many of the slimes would get detach from the powerful current heading to the fifth room while replaced with new ones coming back from the room in a counter current. This loop was seemly cause by the water escaping the troop''s massive weight, the door''s present to them was narrow and only suitable for one soldier to enter at a time the door had stairs going up to the middle, small clustered sand could be seen on the higher steps hinting that our massive group is the cause. To think this Dungeon is smart enough to place so many traps against numbers, Mmhhmmm... I shouldn''t return for help, casting so many spells and the one ice spell has eaten over 30 of my mana though I can absorb mana and nothing else inside this dungeon it''s best to save my supplies for the boss. The scholar quickly asks the man to report on what happened. Sir Scholar, we tried to look further inside the room but only found a waterfall and a small room where both doors connected leading to what seems like a bridge of metal, one of our colleagues when to check the situation only to be pushed by the massive whirlpool running two feet above the bridge, he tried holding into the sides of it but had his fingers cut off and turn into a mass of blood seconds after falling. The mages were distress what was happening in this place? Taking a look they saw thousands of small diamonds made of metal spinning around the bottom of the whirlpool, some of them escaping the mass and slicing across the "S" shape bridge, small cracks on them while nothing on the bridge. The two mages that were surveying the area quickly noticed that a pipe hidden slightly between the merging door exits supplied water to the ceiling. The many holes and long curving exits shaped the water spinning a funnel Creating this deathly whirlpool. The scholar attempted to find any way to stop this contraction but found nothing too useful, blasting the ceiling or breaking the main pipe seems possible as it will stop the momentum of the swirling water but it will also cause it to overflow back into the sand and gravel rooms turning the whole place into a swamp with a whole nest of weak but affective slimes, these annoying pests will have an easy time killing the soldiers and my mages can''t keep fighting and wasting our mana if we are forced to use Elemental mana we will have no way to replenish ourselves. Goddamit! This Dungeon only wants us dead! nowhere on the Mage Academy Library does it say that Prismatic Dungeon Cores places nothing but death traps in each room, all records say that malformed monstrosity of all shapes and sizes will just flow out till the core runs out of Mana. But this one... it has no powerful creatures apart from the metal slimes these useless basterds gifted it. With no other ideas the scholars talked among themselves for a solution, they sacrifice a few soldiers with Earth and Wind having the best results. Earth''s heavy armor allowed them to make it past the room at the cost of all their Elemental Mana, mostly from repairs from random attacks from the Blue slimes water bolts, the unlucky ones died to diamond-shaped blades escaping the whirlpool and slashing their armor like paper. The wind quickly took wing, the slow ones got shot down by waves of water bolts or pulled by the slime tentacles as they felt from the ceiling, the momentum pulling their lower body to the whirlpool and getting cut in half by the bridge bladed ends. The soldiers were furious that they were used as guinea pigs but had no way to disobey the mages, two prideful to return for the rest of the 285 mages to simply freeze the water or levitate us over. The six lucky soldiers were now ordered to move past this room and survey the next, with a belly full of fury they followed each other to the next room. the first invaders to make it past the blender room were greeted by walls of poison Ivy there sharp leaves promising great pain, the walls continued and split into other passages all of them had a soft blue glowing light entangled in vines, looking closely it was a stick of some sort. The rest of the cave was barely lit with the same pale white glow as the previous rooms, the soldiers knew that this was a maze and it will be fatal to get lost in it, quickly returning to the Blender room they reported to the mages.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Upon hearing the report of the proceeding rooms the Scholar nearly blew his top. What is the meaning of this! After all of these, a maze shows itself how long will that take, how many more soldiers will I need to use to finish my mission. Scholars talk furiously trying to decide, unwillingness creeping on their faces their pride not allowing them to simply return empty-handed for reinforcements, some of them wanted to just use numbers to overwhelmed the Blender Room, while others thought to use all their Mana freezing the whole room and send one soldier to ask for a resupply, shifting the blame unto the useless soldiers for asking us to solve their problem. While the mages fought amongst themselves, Malpetios had finally produced Pure Mana. At the Core Room. While I was explaining my current Dungeon to Q''ill, I finally felt the converting of Mana was possible again, quickly completing the process I was ready at last for my boss! [Would Host use 30 Pure Mana to make (Poison Ivy) your floor one Boss.] Yes! At that moment the oldest Poison Ivy started to uproot from the ground, the original roots I planted now looking healthier and thicker, my Core started to sweat drops of Pure Mana looking clear like liquid diamonds, the roots greedily absorb the offering growing explosively to the point Q''ill hid behind me all of the room in my sizable Core Room nearly gone. I had collected all the Fruits and moved the other roots to my Ivy Maze so it was empty before the transformation now however it felt cramp. The plant stopped growing and I could finally look at its statistics. (King Rainbow Lily)[Boss]: The massive network of poison ivy from a single root, its life source has been moved from the roots to the giant flower that crowns this creature the king of its species, the network of vines acts as its body. Rank:1 (+1) Attacking power: 130 (+65) Magic power: 300 (+150) Defense power: 80 (+40) Magic resistance: 50 (+25) Agility: 10 (+5) Mana Conductivity: 10% (+30%) (+5%) Special skills: Manasynthesis, Chlorokinesis, Dungeon Boss, Rainbow variant, Prismatic Beam. Manasynthesis: Mana Conductivity increases by 30% greatly increasing Mana Capacity, can absorb mana rapidly from the environment or source. Chlorokinesis: This allows for the control of plant matter around the user, increases user control of their body. Dungeon Boss: Increases rank by one, all statistics +50%. Increases connection to the Core''s will. Rainbow Variant: A unique evolution allowing absorption of all elements. Can''t use elements apart from earth and nature. Prismatic Beam: Condense all the elements into a beam of prismatic mana doing damagex10 your magic power, consumption increases with range and girth. Looking at my boss I was surprised to see keywords Q''ill used before finally being displayed, rank being the newest one showing that this boss was on a whole new level. Mana Conductivity, on the other hand, meant that this creature can purify 10% of its mana normally about the same as a normal creature the boss and unique skills not included. while I marble at the plant''s statistics the System reminded me of my mission. [Host has completed (You''re a Dungeon Malpetios!). Would you like to receive the rewards.] I quickly yelled yes and my (Dungeon Core data and Statistics) skill icon was updated. [Boss Fusion]: Allows the boss to fuse with Dungeon core preventing the death of the creature''s will. Can regenerate the body with mana, protects Boss from Mind and illusion attacks. ( the will can enter Dungeon core mindscape when killed or for communication). This was perfect! I quickly used it on my first boss, a cloud of rainbow mana rapped around the plant focusing mostly on the giant flower. [Congratulations Host. (King Rainbow Lily) has been linked to Host mindscape.] I felt a small nearly unnoticed will, it felt primal with no real congruent thoughts, focusing on it, I got the feelings of hunger, happiness, and protection for my Core. I got closer to the small will and without noticing I felt like I left my body, looking around I could see a Core floating in the middle of the room shining in prismatic colors sometimes warm colors other times dark colors like black. I was able to control the plant like my own body the feeling of having thousands of limbs or vines was taxing on my mind but was durable with practice, I weave a humanoid shape and wave at Q''ill, surprise first then happy she said. Malpetios your finally a Dungeon! Am so happy for you, (sniffle)...(sniffle). I was a bit ashamed to see her cry and tried to calm her but had no voice to communicate with, I then attempted to send the telekinesis waves I always naturally use when we talked but got instead a Poison Ivy leaf rain straight at my core. I panic and dispersed the mind waves all around me stabbing my boss or the walls the mild feeling of pain was a sensation I thought lost to me. The shock of pain after so long cut the connection to my Boss, disorientation quickly passed and I was able to talk. That was amazing! I could see and control the boss like my own body, sorry about the leaf storm... I don''t know why that happened when I was trying to communicate. Q''ill stopped crying and started laughing, silly your core can communicate telepathically to creatures around your life aura this fellow however can only control plants telepathically, so when you send me a message it was replaced by that leaf storm. I nodded and started to use the Boss Fusion link to send mana repairing the small cuts and regrowth of the leaves. Now that I had experienced the feeling of Boss Fusion I thought about how it would best use it to kill my invaders. Ch. 18 Consequences Ch. 18 Consequences While practicing on how to use my Boss, I kept giving orders to the slimes trying to pick off some soldiers they however were not so stupid to give me a chance, this made me see the flaws of room four or the sand and gravel field they simply stood there and I had to like it. This stalemate was not so bad however, I started to hear notifications for Life Crystals slowly at a steady pace. I decided to give my missions a look and saw that the legendary Mission was now 6/14. I was aware that a new element was blatantly told to me by the system that is Nature, in the other hand Ice was basically in all the magic world I have ever read or played in so that was a no Brainer. However it would seem that I can easily control Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, Nature, and Ice to the point there already marked as complete, but had no experience on what to do with Time and Space. Focusing on my Invaders, I saw the mages cross the Blender Room with little difficulty, all thirteen of them arriving at the sixth room looking like they have a plan, hehe good luck. The mages when further to the Ivy Maze not really caring about the soldiers, as long as they don''t get completely wiped out their higher-ups won''t complain too much, using the six soldiers with no Elemental Mana left on them as Frontline they continued on the Maze. As they walked inside they saw that the walkways are narrow only allowing one person with his arms fully stretched out to walk safely. The walls are covered in a thick mass of Poison Ivy there leaves hiding all their vines, looking like blades, a far stronger form than those in the wild, the dungeon clearly increased their danger. Five hours had past and the mages were starting to get hungry and tired, not really used to the continuous exercise. How much longer is this god''s dam Maze, said one of the heavy-set mages sweating like a drowning pig, the mage trying to get some relief places his hand on the wall only to cry out in pain, that hand looking like a cat scratch all over it bleeding purple-tinted blood. The cry alarm the other mages turning around to look they bump into each other getting the bottom of their ropes rip or entangled by the sharp leaves, sadly for the mage he was now poisoned and attempted to drink an antidote, however. Swish. Swish. Swish. The glass bottle fell, twenty to thirty vines uncoiled from the wall looking like snakes wrapping around there pray the heavy set mage now had slashes across his whole upper body before the mage could try to save their ally the other vines triggered by their ropes followed suit coiling around there legs some of them falling unto each other or worse the wall, more vines welcoming them with there blade-like leaves. The panic mages started to cast spells such as the second circle (Earth Armor) or for those not of Earth affinity the first circle spell (Hardened Skin), some of the more desperate ones covered in vines used Fire spells like second circle (Flame Shield) or first circle (Immolate). The worse ones however were the alert mages using mana field, thinking themselves smart cast the second circle spell (Wind Scythe) or the first circle (Wind Blade) to cut the expanding vines, they, however, forget that this was a narrow space, the large wind pressure triggered almost all the vines around them, turning the whole corridor into a meat grinder.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. The six soldiers in the front were sent to explore ahead if they saw a dead-end or branching paths there to quickly retrace their steps and informed the mages saving time. The screaming of the dying mages alarm the soldiers they quickly turned back only to gather around a newly form wall of Ivy color in splashes of red and purple, the soldiers could see the fear in each other''s eyes stunned at the situation. Before panic set a burning smell started to choke the soldiers, the fire started to spread quickly eating the air but more importantly releasing a purple cloud of poison gas the potency of which greatly improved by a neverending supply of Elemental Earth. Seven hours after the mages left, at the fourth room where the remaining 597 soldiers were keeping themselves alert, in case of an ambush or sneak attacks from the metal slimes, started to see purple smoke escaping from the fifth room, at first they thought it was a spell of some sort but they quickly notice that soldiers that inhaled the smoke Cough purple-tinted blood, a sign of poisoning. The soldiers attempted to escape as close to the River rooms as they could the smoke thickening covering half the fourth room, as some of the soldiers began thinking about their chances of escaping from the weirdly level stone slabs the smoke suddenly expanded towards them. Cough! Cough!! COUGH!!! Three mages covered in a bubble of air pass the soldiers head, flying at a great speed, their eyes were bloodshot purple patches of skin could be seen all over their bloody body while escaping the Dungeon, in the wake of their escape a large cloud of poison spread all the way to the exit the soldiers completely submerged in it. The soldiers panic and ran to the exit not caring about the dangers, trampling over the fallen soldiers while pushing more into the spike River in a race of mass hysteria. when all soldiers finally made it outside 86 had died in the river room or slimes, and over 100 were poison to different degrees. The Knight send here by the Church to retrieve the Dungeon Core but was really here for his own mission, watched this show with a grim face looking at the leader of the mages and his two disciples in fury, only a few words to say. WHAT! happened sir Scholars! Ch.19 Numbers Game Ch.19 Numbers Game Looking at the running soldiers Malpetios quickly ordered his slimes to kill as many as possible, sadly the slime population was heavily damaged by the mages, the metal slimes got most of the kills while the others could only entangle their feet killing a few by the stampede. Now that all the soldiers left he attempted to collect the mages to see if they had anything useful, the process was extremely difficult slowly turning them into dots of light, trying the same with the soldiers gave the same result wondering why, he felt movement, surprised he took a look. In the Maze, the six soldiers were running from the smoke behind each other, to Malpetios''s surprise they made it to room nine. With no better idea he just decided to ignore them for now, he started to send mana to the fire emergency he left just in case. Small sticks about the size of an arm glowed in soft blue light, the fires seemingly avoiding their area, suddenly fill to the brim in Water Elemental mana the sticks glowed blindingly, the fire quickly started to die out in the presence of so much elemental water. Their mission completed they exploded into a shower of water their material not able to accommodate such amounts of elemental mana. Malpetios had experimented with filling materials with Elemental Mana and found some discrepancies, for example, a stick required 10 mana or 30 earth mana or 20 water, now however it will take 10 nature. These differences made me realize that you can use different elements to create the same thing as long as it''s related in some way, you can''t however make water out of fire even if you dump all your elemental mana. With this in mind, I started to realize that you can overstuff something to the limits of its material, such as filling a stick with nature, water, or earth making it explode the balance of elements not holding its intended form any longer. This process made me think I could create some unique materials bordering the limits of its elemental structure, so my fire extinguishers were born. (Riptide Stick): A normal wooden stick overflowing with Elemental Water. CP: 00/10 (Crafting Points) Elemental Affinity Damage (Element) 0/3 Elemental Resistance (Water) 999/10 Elemental Conductivity (Element) 0/1 In conclusion, x100 is the very limit of materials to keep their form, pass the threshold breaks the item to its dominant element. Further experiments on affinity and conductivity exploded on me as soon as I added anything past x2 or if I tried to add both not allowing me to have more than one type of overcapacity. This end result shows that I can upgrade over the limit for defense, offense, or conductivity but not all of them.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. While I was thinking about mana conductivity I thought about how it would work on a normal human and my own, what are the differences? Why can I swallow all of the mana to the point they can''t absorb any and try to destroy me. The system saw that as a question and answered. [Mana Conductivity]: Both the percentage of mana that can be retained in the body and the determining factor for mana absorption. Out of 100 Elemental Mana, a normal human can absorb 10, 50 Elemental Mana can be Converted to one Mana, total Mana can not exceed over the percent of conductivity divided by your total Elemental Mana pool. Can''t absorb Elemental Mana in the presence of a higher conductivity percentage. Mana can be used universally for any Elemental spell or skill at a 1:1 ratio. 10%: Can absorb lower level, Elemental Mana. 30%: Can absorb Mana directly from the environment and middle-level Elemental Mana. 60%: Can directly absorb Mana from others even if tainted by their life auras by death, can absorb mana from lifeless objects and not just food. Can absorb high Elemental Mana. 100%: Can absorb Mana and Elemental Mana of any potency, can convert Mana to Elemental Mana at a rate of 1 for 50. Looking at the pop up I finally had an idea of how the world works. This explains how the world managed to survive, its creatures feeding on the Elemental Mana the world can''t use converting it into Mana and Mana can be used as a replacement for any spells or martial arts as a 1:1 replacement. Like this no matter how much Mana has been wasted for spells or skills, not of their affinity it will cost more Elemental Mana in the end forming a cycle. It all started to make sense and I could see why the planet was desperate, the world creates mana from its core and uses it to grow but its growth creates Elemental Mana something the world can''t use. The unusable Elemental Mana poisons the world preventing it from growing and it can''t supply mana to its creatures weakening them, only making enough to maintain itself. With this understanding I can see why the world creates Mana Cores or their Intellectual counterparts Dungeon Cores, to purify itself and continued growing. The Sapient races seem unable or unwilling to let the Cores do their mission most likely from differences of race and conflict, after all, who wants to be powerless and have no choice but to bent to the races with 30% or more conductivity, the masses would not sit and allow themselves to be oppress and fight with the Elemental Mana the world produces, overwhelming the gifted with numbers forming a balanced of power. My mission and the needs of the people are in conflict, those on top of the world are more willing to fight and devour each other''s mana or worse the World''s last hope Dungeon Cores that have grown of suitable sizes. sigh.... what a mess, before I can do anything I need to grow strong enough so the commoners don''t dare throw their army at me, when that''s over I''ll show them that even with no Elemental Mana we Dungeons can supply all the power they need be it by equipment or unique consumables like my Prismatic Ivy fruits. The biggest problem will be finding a way to make them all 30% conductivity if I can achieve this everyone should be happy... right? Ch. 20 Convergence Ch. 20 Convergence Running for their lives, the six soldiers managed to arrive at a new room with no Ivy''s insight. We-w-we made it out of that place in one piece, the other soldiers agreed, looking around the small room they saw two vase-like contractions with wheels attached to them. What is this? a water vase? Looks rather strange like a bird''s beak looking closely they saw a glass snake providing a look inside, a visible cube of wood resting at the bottom of the snake a zero being highlighted by it. Further in the room were fountains, one on the right and left the parched soldiers happily went to them forgetting all about the vase-like things they found and unceremoniously drank the water, the 1.9 meters tall men with basic Body Tempering Technique have large powerful bodies and internal organs drinking 30 gallons of water was no problem. In the outside world, Satra and the Scholar leader were having a verbal fight. Not only did you poison all my soldiers but you had the gall to send them to die one at a time testing the dungeon''s traps, you prideful morons couldn''t swallow the fact this newly born Dungeon killed your mages and kept going causing immense damage to both our ranks. The scholar leader covered in the blue light of Water Elemental Healing yelled back, Ha! Your useless basterds supplied the dungeon with metal slimes catching our mages unawares, your failure to properly explain the situation got us all in this mess! Since when do Dungeons have nothing but death traps instead of creatures in the front which we can easily trample over, you failed to report that this hell hole uses monsters as only distractions or tools, its real purpose is to kill as many as possible by its numbers punishing traps. The back and forth continued till Sir Knight finish casting the third circle spell [Cleanse] on the 100 or so heavily poison troops, now useless from the havoc the poison caused in their body. Enough! I gave the command to you sir Scholar with the purpose to finish this quickly with your mages, however, this Dungeon seems far too intelligent far more than what a normal Core could be at this stage. With all of this and the records of the church and your academy telling us that Prismatic Dungeon Cores are abomination spewing sources of chaos, we should all know now that we are facing an evolved core far more powerful than others so no more games! The Beastmen will send their squad to identify this cloud of poison soon so is now or never, the small rat''s spying at us in the dark know exactly how rare this Dungeon is and will not wait forever, so we don''t have time to waste or the Elfs and Beastmen are gonna start getting interested on this place or worse the Fairys informants will notice there movement and investigate. I was originally thinking of collecting the Core quickly and efficiently while our mage supported by the Shackles serves as deterrence for unwanted interference, but no more. I want all mages in a rotation, use the Shackles to force the fragments to release the converted Elemental Mana and replenish yourselves, ten mages are in charge of freezing the Dungeons waters when you''re Mana runs empty change places, and recover your Mana. The soldiers are to explore every inch of that Maze in groups of two if you hit a dead-end retrace your steps block the entrance and serve as a sign it has been fully explored, the second soldier is in charge of reporting. The rest of the mages should contain this poison, use Elemental Wind to clear the way now go! With orders from the commander sent by the Church, mages and soldiers had to put their grievances aside and get to work.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Now as for the failure of command, let''s simply say you both lost similar troops and leave it at that is that clear? Satra was furious that Sir Knight was helping the mages when he lost fewer troops but had no choice but to accept. The leader of the Mages was annoyed that he was compared to a commoner but was better than the alternative. Yes! Sir Knight! Said both. While the mages and soldiers quickly marched inside there were shadows in the distance looking at their every movement. A''um you sure we should interfere with those lunatics from the church? It''s just a Dungeon Core, sure it''s shocking it can absorb all Elements but that''s it, why would we need such a thing. A''um responded to Sha''las question, the higher-ups want to use this unique Dungeon to claim the area of Snake Nest and take a bite off the Churches lands, also..., looking behind his concealed troops were ten or so hooded figures surrounding a Fairy, our friends from Enedkard Royal City send their troops to this Dungeon, seeing as their escorting a Fairy this should be to protect this strange Dungeon. The war between the Fairys and the Beast Kingdom was no mystery, the Holy Beast King decided to reaped the Wind Jewels Mana sending their experts to claim it, in exchange the Gomath Continent Beastmen would promise resources for a new Core to replace it as quickly as possible, the Fairys, however, refuses, so the Beastmen reached out to their allies to the South of Gomath the Diamondback Imperial City, A human ruled city with many beastmen and elf intermarriage citizens who have an extremely good relationship with the Elfs of Enedkard Royal City on the Elfsteen Continent. After much discussion, the Elfs promised to not interfere with the fight for the Wind Jewel on their Continent as long as the Beastmen Royal Family did not send a rank 7 or higher junior to represent their Kingdom. The Fairys were furious that their Elf allies would allow this but the Enedkard Royal Family couldn''t see a reason to fight a war with the massive Continent of Gomath, even if their good friends from Diamondback City would not join and help them in secret, to appease the Fairys they restricted the Beastmen that could be sent and ask for a favor for the Diamondback City not to touch the Earth Element Jewel in their territory for the next hundred years. Sir U''ziq we are ready to help you protect this newly born Dungeon, said one of the hooded elves. It''s the least you can do after selling our Wind Jewel out to the Beastmen, said the small Fairy in a Full-body Leather armor with metal plating on the vitals a large staff twice the Fairys body size on his back. To think this generation''s Prismatic Dungeon Core would be so different from the records, I have yet to see a single Malformed Monstrosity escape the Dungeon yet Mmhhmmm... This Dungeon Core was predicted to be a double Elemental Dungeon Core, it would seem someone tampered with the scanner''s results looking at the one sent... Q''illtress Birch Blossom? Oh! The bastard child of the 3rd General Firestorm Z''enti Maple Blossom, she was probably sent to die, the Prismatic Dungeon Cores have always kill anything near them even the Fairys that protect them, though this information is not accessible to the lower rank fairy. Plots aside, we should get a move on and try to establish communications with the Dungeon Core as soon as possible, if for some miracle this core is stable we might just see this world change for the first time ever since the Mana Core''s were born! Ch. 21 Flexibility Ch. 21 Flexibility Back at Malpetios Core Room. It''s so difficult to absorb things with people inside my halls... at least I can focus on it to speed up the process, I got some of the Mages processed and unlocked [Magic Cloth] and [Magic Silk] and got myself a new skill. [Mana Shield]: Using the mages Mana field as a blueprint and the core''s natural talents, this skill was created. A barrier surrounding the user protecting him from sources of damage. The strength of this barrier is determined by the amount of mana supplied by the core and can be enlarged or refilled at no wastage for as long as it remains in the core''s life forcefield. This skill was mentioned by Q''ill before, now that I have it I can protect myself better from sneak attacks, at that moment I felt a large amount of Elemental Wind rampage inside my halls pulling all the poison out while feeding me Elemental mana. It seems there''s a lot of mages this time, a bad feeling creeping all over my Core. Q''ill! I sense so many mages is this normal? She grimaces, no dear... the soldiers were fine it was only slightly strange for them not to send their slaves the goblins or war captives. When you told me about their mages I assume they were commanders behind this 700 strong army, but after killing all but three to still have more mages can only mean there''s a higher rank commander sent personally by the Church most likely a rank higher than the mages, there should be 200 or more... Dear! Can you increase your life aura anymore? I''ll support your boss while you fight at least till the real commander shows up, I may not be able to fight for long since I no longer have Elemental Mana but I can still give them a good show! Looking at my inventory I had 18 (Life Crystals) from so many people staying in my halls for around seven hours, however, It feels like something is blocking the hundred or so crystals from being collected, I can only guess I need to be empty of invaders to gather them properly. Looking at the entrance, twenty mages walked inside my now poison-free halls, ten of them started to cast Ice spells freezing my river rooms to the point my slimes can''t escape the thick ice. More mages came soon after with sixty soldiers, they approached the gravel and sand room where they cast a mass levitating spell their goal my Blender Room. Five of the mages kept the group off the ground, ten mages quickly squeeze themselves around the narrow doors and froze the Blender room, the rest moved to the entrance of the Maze 20 mages were left behind. The soldiers started to explore my Maze while the remaining mages walked outside, now with even more soldiers they walked over the gravel and sand room causing the water to be forced out of the ceiling, the mages quickly froze the water clogging the exits not allowing for the water to build momentum.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I ordered my slimes to try and dig their way out of the sand and gravel room but was nearly impossible, the few that managed were blasted before they could even fully exit the ground, the mages clearly aware of their attempts. I was panicking! What can I do? Should I try to Evolve the Ivys so they can move on their own with no stimuli or maybe the slimes? But I need the Crystals to let Q''ill move more freely so she can help me, gha... worrying about it won''t change anything! I quickly used the Crystals on myself, it was better to rely on someone as strong as Q''ill than to try to salvage this sinking ship. Q''ill there''s little time before they arrive on my last Puzzle Room, I don''t know how long it would take them, but considering there are so many not more than three hours tops. I quickly drop around thirty (Prismatic Mana Ivy Fruits) at her feet. Here eat this when you are low! Q''ill looked at the fruits happily thanks dear, I''ll try to wait for their commander to show up before I cast any big spells, are you ok? I can sense your distress, hehe well and your telepathy waves are blasting out at full force, you can probably knock someone out. I was a bit ashamed that I was so obviously out of my league, what can I do I have never thought I would die any second, although my Human memories are no longer so dominant I still see myself as him, I been trying to ignore the bloody scenes and strange feelings of "cannibalism" each time someone dies in my halls, I have found comfort in just pushing them aside and remind myself that I am a Dungeon Core and not a human, but I can''t keep hiding from my problem, yes I am a Dungeon but I am also Human. Thanks, Q''ill, I am really not used to all this death and fear, I can barely think properly and just push it all back in my mind somewhere. Is fine dear, no matter what we are here together, just remind yourself that you are doing this to survive ok? She said. I nodded and felt better, with a calmer mind I started to look at my options. I thought of many different things I could do but none of them seem effective, while I was brainstorming the soldiers made it to my 9th room, I relaxed a bit thinking that my puzzle room would buy me some time, however, I was shocked to find the fountains empty, Dumbfounded I looked as the mages followed the soldiers to the room and just filled the Balance Scales with Water Magic arriving at the boss room. Malpetios brain, if you can call it that, seemed to forget that mages can just fill the required water with magic. Huh??... Oops?! Ch. 22 Dungeon Boss? Ch. 22 Dungeon Boss? Q''ill! I screwed up there here! I messed up on my puzzle room. It''s fine dear this would have happened, either way, let''s focus on what happens now, you ready to give them a fight to the best of your ability? She said that with eyes clear of blame for my mistakes. Yes! Even if I die here I''ll give it all I got. Back in room nine, the mages were standing in front of a large pair of doors. This seems to have been a puzzle using water, It looks like the dungeon is not as smart as we originally thought or it simply looked down at us. One of the Scholar''s apprentices said to the group of mages under him. Send a report to my master and sir Knight, these doors definitely lead to a boss. The amount of mana escaping the doors is a bit alarming though... One of the soldiers saluted and went to report outside. The apprentice looked at the 80 soldiers and 30 mages with him and thought about testing the waters for his teacher and getting merit or better kill the boss and get rewarded, with the mentality that the Dungeon has run out of ideas by its nine-room he orders his troops to access the Boss Room. The troops proceeded to push the doors and found a giant arena-like room full of poison Ivys, a giant rainbow lily in the middle, its vines covering most of the back of the arena serving as a barrier to another door behind it. A King Lily? No... there normally white with purple dots, this, it''s a Variant! The scholar apprentice quickly recoiled back in fear, a Variant is not rare on powerful dungeons, but for one to show up in a newly born Dungeon can only mean that it has received the full support and resources of its Core. No wonder there are no powerful creatures this dungeon focus all its resources on the Boss. The apprentice was worried, looking at the large army under him he exhaled slowly and took control of his emotions, no matter what it''s just one opponent. He quickly ordered the soldiers to move to the front those with earth affinity ready to defend themselves from the boss''s attacks. Upon the soldiers reaching seven feet from the boss, it suddenly moves, its vines shot toward them, the soldiers blocked the attack but were sent flying. Ten mages quickly cast the 2nd circle (Firebolt) and bombarded King Lily. The boss swing one of its vines across the firebolts the bolts, however, exploded on contact destroying the vine clearing a path to its flower, it quickly twisted three more vines around its flower making contact with the remaining firebolts, the explosion destroyed the vines and scratch the petals.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. The mages had ordered themselves in set''s of ten, casting spells in a rotation shortly after each other, the second round of spells came as soon as the first made contact, this time a shower of 2nd circle (Wind Scythe) with a rain of 2nd circle (Boulder Toss) nearly ready, waiting for impact. The lily seemly aware of the attacks quickly uproots pushing all the ground 10 feet from it upwards the 15 or so soldiers near it thrown along with the landslide becoming the monster''s shield. Out of the 80 soldiers, 40 were Earth affinity and were used as frontline, now that they were about to be killed by their own members they quickly stop saving Elemental Mana and used the (Elemental Earth Armor) to protect themselves, however, seven of them died to the (Boulder Toss) after their armor melted to the previous spells Flames. The now freed roots wrapped around 12 of the fallen soldiers using them as shields while attempting to reach the mages. The remaining soldiers however were not there just for show, the 20 fire affinity soldiers became one size bigger with steam and flames around their bodies jumping and cutting the roots aimed at the mages, the remaining 20 wind affinity soldiers quickly rescue the fallen soldiers buried under rubble, the mages started to heal them as the rest cycle between fire and wind spells. The boss seems to avoid the fire at all cost while letting its vines be slash into segments by the wind spells. After a while the mages were running out of Elemental Mana, looking at the Lily it was quickly recovering, the Dungeon had truly focus all its resources on it. With no other choice, the apprentice gave out orders. One last rush, if we failed immediately retrieve, waste the Cores Mana as much as possible! Yes, sir! the army replied going back to a rotation the mages blasted the boss with fire, wind, and earth spells saving their mana for escaping. The fire affinity soldiers rushed in behind the Earth ones, now fully incase in armor the vines not able to knock them back, as they pushed forward the wind soldiers attempted to slice apart as many of the Ivy vines as they could, it was surprisingly easy, the vines and leaves littered there path as they walk closer to the boss now retrieving. The boss overwhelmed by so many attacks was now against the Core Rooms doors, desperately swinging its vines forward as they regroup in a desperate attempt to pass the hearty soldiers. Seeing this the mages walked to the middle of the room covered in the bosses body parts, however, as soon as the apprentice got close to the middle a forewarning feeling of death passed throughout his body, looking at the boss, the giant flower with six beautiful petals of rainbow colors surrounding a single strangely looking style, the style uncoiled giving way to fourteen anthers, a mouth with sharp teeth grinning at the mages. Somethings wrong! Escape! Now! It was too late, the pieces of vines that were not burned quickly turned into snakes trapping and cutting their bodies the frightened mages quickly used (Fire Shield) or (Immolate) their struggle quickly ended as the small vines slit their throat or slither inside there mouths bursting out of there bellies in a horrible shower of blood. The soldiers panic as the vines killed the mages and attempted to escape, with the wind soldiers having the most luck and nearly making it out before they turn into a pincushion for a shower of razor-sharp leaves, the earth soldiers were slowly crushed to a mess of flesh, by the king lily. Lastly, the fire soldiers prove a pain, but they suffer the same fate as the mages and had all of their orifices violently penetrated, exploding into a mass of flesh. Looking at this from her hidden corner, Q''ill was shocked, dam... sweetie is brutal! Mhmmm... maybe I should cast (Clear Mind) again, I get the feeling he is worse than the lingering wills, hehe. Ch. 23 The path we all walk Ch. 23 The path we all walk. Back at Malpetios core room. Yes!! I did it! I managed to survive that, holy shit I was so scared. My core was shaking out of fear and relief, the pain and feeling of blood and guts were so overwhelming, I wanted to puke but couldn''t, I wanted to run o way but had to fight to survive, I-I survived!! (sob)... (sob)... I survive. My feelings were in disorder, I was happy, sad, disgusted, and proud to have killed those bastards that wanted me dead. Dear... I looked up and saw Q''ill flying towards me. I-I survived, I-I s-su-v...(sob) i-i-ed, shivering and lost I keep repeating the same thing over and over. I felt a warm embrace, it calmed my disorderly thoughts slowly in its soothing warmth. Shhh... Malpetios is ok, it''s ok, I know that for a child with no memories of the endless struggles of life this could be overwhelming, but remember, no matter what you need to do no matter how cruel or horrible it seems if you do it to survive, no one, has the right to look down at you. I know your a kind child and so is the human you inherited your memories and ego from, I know that this is far more than you can handle, these feelings you are having are the proof your still that sweet and a little dumb child I remember. Never forget that I am here for you. I keep crying Q''ills words soothing my mind. I am not a monster, I am not evil! Whatever I do as long as I don''t do it for evil, no matter what it is, I can sleep soundly knowing that I do it because I must protect myself and... I look at Q''ill, and those I want to PROTECT!! Aaaaaaaaaaaa!!! The whole Dungeon started to tremble, a piercing pain assaulting those inside its halls. This... It can''t be, the Dungeon is far too young to have awakened this power. The Knight looked in shock as the mana around them became violent and an earthquake swept over the dungeon''s halls. Retreat! Get everyone out now! Everyone outside or we are dead. The soldiers were confused but followed orders quickly escaping, the mages in the other hand ran as soon as the mana pulses started, it was like the dungeon suddenly turned into their greatest enemy. Outside the dungeon, The scholar had a paled face not daring to get close to the Dungeon entrance. When Sir Knight and the troops came out he could not find his youngest student, he waited for a while but no one else was coming out.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Sir Knight, my student, where''s my student he reported about the Dungeon boss why is he not coming out what happened! The Knight replied in a flat voice. Considering that this Dungeon used (Mana Song) at such a young age it can only mean two things. One your student killed the boss and the Dungeon desperately use all its saved up Mana in a last attempt to save itself, killing him in the process, or too, this Dungeon killed him and those under his charge and had a panic attack after its instincts were no longer in charge. This is rather strange, however. Only a wild Dungeon would have such a panic attack, this Dungeon is far too smart creating complex contractions with the wisdom to protect itself from numerous invaders. Something only a Dungeon with parents would have the memories to do. Wild Dungeons, on the other hand, are mentally broken from so many wills invading their ego, they only react this way if most of the invaders kill by the boss are the same race as the wills. Sir Knight! I want to be in charge of the next assault on the boss! We of the Mage Academy must regain our honor! No one is allowed to kill our mages be it Dungeon or otherwise! The Knight looks at the Scholar with scorn. As you wish, remembered however that the Dungeon Cores is to be intact, or your gonna suffer a lot more than the loss of a student, do I make myself clear? Yes! Sir Knight. Grinding his teeth, the mage directed his bloodshot eyes at the dungeon, waiting for the Song to end. Back on Malpetios core room. Ha! w-were huh? What happen? My head hurts, I look around and find myself in my mindscape, why am I here? What about the invaders I need to get out. At this moment the system made itself know. [Attention. Host. You have overdraft your mental strength. The host is now in a temporary coma.] What!? But am currently being invaded I need to protect Q''ill, how can I get out! [Host has instinctually used (Mana Song) with insufficient resources and will wake up in one day.] Won''t I die like this, can''t I trade my remaining Pure mana to awaken faster? [Host is emotionally unstable. Would Host like to trade three Pure Mana for a faster recovery time and mental strength recovery. (Yes) or (No)] Yes! at that moment my head felt refresh and the feeling of distress slowly disappeared. With my mind now clear, I ask the System if my invaders are currently in my boss''s room. [Do to Host (Mana Song) all invaders are currently unable to remain in Host for the next 24 hours.] Mana song? I quickly check my statistics and found something frightening. Prismatic Dungeon Core: Malpetios Mana: 1/500 Elemental Mana: 000,000/421,474 (5,355 per hour) Pure mana: 0 Mana stone(full) 16/24 What the hell! Am dying! what did I do? In my icon wheel, I saw the Elemental skill tree with an exclamation mark, similar to when my creation skill gets and new option, I clicked the skill tree for the first time and found a window with fourteen branches forming a circle, bubbles inside the leaves of each branch could be seen, six of which are colored and have a unique symbol on the middle of the leaves. Looking at all of this one of the bubbles was not connected to the branches being the fifteen, a exclamation mark could be seen on it. I hovered my hand over the symbol of a crystal clear drop of diamond-like water, it reminds me of Pure Mana, the word "Mana" could be seen as I hover over it, the skill (Mana Song) was listed below others like (Mana Shield), (Telepathy), (Levitation), and (Boss Fusion). (Mana Song): The Core uses a large amount of mana to resonate with the world''s leylines, this forces the Mana and Elemental Mana inside or outside of all none Dungeon creatures or allies, to vibrate inside their bodies in a song of death, turning all invaders into Elements. Mana Cost: 10,000 Affected range: one to all floors (from the bottom) Duration: One day Cooldown: one week Wow! talk about the ultimate emergency button! Ch. 24 Possibilities Ch. 24 Possibilities While I was shocked by Mana Songs'' power, the thought of the Legendary Mission gravitated me towards the other symbols. Out of the fourteen, six were fully colored, while the rest were gray, looking at them in curiosity I hovered over the dark green symbol, a "Nature" was displayed. It looked like a mosaic rendition of a flower with leaves, animals, and thorny vines around it. [Nature]: Found on planets with an abundance of life. Found almost exclusively in the forest. The description was quick and to the point. Looking at the available skills only too were presented. (Nature''s Voice): Using Elemental Nature, take control of plants, fungal, and Nature Affinity Life forms. Can not control the intended target in the vicinity of hostile life auras. (Circle of Life): Using Elemental Nature covers a Field floor granting creatures, foliage, and other life forms, accelerating life cycles till adulthood, allowing the Dungeon to maintain an ecosystem. Can be used in conjunction with Natures Voice. Looking at this, many new ideas ran thru my head, Circle of Life was useful when I finally get the wolf pup or other creatures, but the best one is indisputably Nature''s Voice. Many sadistic ideas are running thru my head, putting them aside I check the Ice Element. The Ice symbol was a grayish-white color, a ball in the middle surrounded by four ice spear-like shards, in the form of a plus, small diamond-like shards rested on the lower side of it while the top half had a curtain in between the spears of ice. [Ice]: Found in space or from the planet''s northern and southernmost ends, small amounts from water. The skill tree also had two skills to offer. (Ice Field): Using Elemental Ice, reinforce the Dungeon floor or room(s), slowly draining the heat and health from hostile lifeforms. (Ice Word): Using Elemental Ice, as ink, draw runes that activate when the corresponding drawn action is taken. More complex actions will increase the amount of Elemental Ice needed. This time both of the skills are very useful! Seeing I was in a roll I quickly checked the last four only to be disappointed. [Water]: Small amounts can be found from all elements or the death of organic creatures. Can be absorbed from the ocean.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The water symbol was a water drop shape hook with waves carved on it [Fire]: Found as a byproduct of Light Element, produced by the Growth of the planet and most light sources. The Fire element symbol was what you expected, a flame with a white spark in the middle. [Earth]: Found in any soil not drained by earth affinity Dungeons, in space, and in artificial constructs. The Earth symbol was a large rock surrounded by smaller rocks and sand. [Wind]: Found from the movement of mana from one place to another by the planet''s will, creating this element as a byproduct. The last one was the symbol of the wind, it was interesting. A ball with a swirling pattern in the middle surrounded by feather-like gusts of wind. All of these elements however offer basically the same skill with different affinities. I took a look at the wind one again. [Wind Domain]: Using Elemental wind to reinforce the Dungeon floor or room(s), will fill the area with only Elemental wind and Mana. The consumption of Elemental Wind will depend on the area and the number of inhabitants absorbing Elemental Wind. All other Elements are weakened severely. [Winds Blessing]: Using Elemental Wind, enchant all Dungeon materials, fauna, and lifeforms with Wind Elemental Mana. Prolonged exposure to this blessing will grant Wind Affinity, hybrid Affinity, or death. The chances of successful mutation increase with the aid of Life Crystals. Can be used in conjunction with Wind Domain. Although they all have the same effect and no unique ones like Ice and Nature, these skills will be very useful in the future. Lastly... I turn my attention to Space and Time. Colored gray, but with their names displayed. I noticed a new name element Light, apparently, fire is the byproduct of Light in this world, is it because light is seen as energy? Or maybe is because light creates heat mhmm... Putting that aside I focus on Time Element and a window pops. [Host requires to produce 100,000 Elemental Time, to unlock this branch. Current process: 000,000.] So that''s it! This should mean that I need to identify the element first, either by the system telling me or by my experience from games and novels, then learn how to create and control it unlocking the skill tree. The problem is that I have no idea how to purposely create a specific Element, maybe I should start from Light Element first then move up to Time and Space. I''ll try to make some Fire Element traps and keep an eye out for the Light Element that has a close connection to it. If this doesn''t work then I am truly out of ideas, unless..., The Shackles! Yaaa... if I can somehow get my nonexistent hands on one of them I should unlock it on my creation skill, I should be able to work with that! While I was brainstorming for what the other elements were and how I could use the shackles for my benefit, and pinpoint them out easier with one under my control, hunger, crippling hunger ran thru my body. [Host requires four mana to maintain his life functions. Searching... Complete. Draining required Mana from (Prismatic Mana Stone). Host life signs are now stable.] The crippling hunger stopped and I was finally able to realize that I keep my little life thanks to my Mana stones, otherwise, I''ll be dead by now, not only due to casting Mana Song but the normal inorganic needs of my Core. Knowing that one mana is all my core has left I need to leave my Mindspace and drain mana from my stones till full. System when can I get out! I want to remake my Dungeon while I still can! This is a perfect opportunity to fix some of my mistakes as well as leave some gifts to my invaders and welcome them back to my lovely halls of pain. [Host can return outside by activating (Log Out) located on Host Icon Wheel.] Looking at it, I indeed found a new Log Out icon, it looks like a human silhouette walking thru an open door, similar to fire exits. I quickly press it and my body turns to rainbow petals and feathers once more throwing me into unconsciousness. Ch. 25 The calm before the storm. Ch. 25 The calm before the storm. "MALPETIOS! Please wake up! you must hold on... Please, please be ok." I could hear Q''ills voice, she was crying and repeatedly asking me to wake up. I was so sleepy, so tired... My field of vision was now a foot or so long with nothing but darkness past it. Something was on the tip of my groggy mind, what was it? "Ah! Mana, I need Mana!" Forcing my tired and fuzzy vision to focus, I enter my Inventory and summon a (Prismatic Mana stone), the action itself made me feel dead from exhaustion, I was fading to black again, just before I started to curse the system for not restoring more of my mental strength, Q''ill quickly grabbed it and I started to fill better. *Malpetios! Your ok, I was so worried, you stupid child! How can you nearly kill yourself using such a high-level Dungeon Spell?* Her voice was worried and full of helplessness. My core started to float off the ground again, levitation and my other basic functions now returning to normal.*Sorry I didn''t mean to cause so much trouble, I just wanted to protect... us.* I took a look at her and was shocked, she was paled like something had sucked the life out of her. *What happened to you? Why are you so pale?* She looks at me Speechless. *Silly child, don''t you remember I am connected to you?* She was dumbfounded at my stupid question. I had forgotten that I am now Q''ills life support, using Mana Song drain both mine and her resources, explaining her pale complexion. *Oh... I forgot sorry!* My stupid remarks aside, I quickly checked my statistics and saw I was getting about twenty-five Elemental Mana a second, I quickly remembered that Q''ill no longer has Elemental Mana due to the Forbidden spell. Something seems off though? I check the Prismatic stone description. [Prismatic Mana stone] A stone created during the process of a Prismatic Dungeon Cores birth can be used to store any mana. (1 mana is worth 50 Elemental mana will convert to users affinity Element and convert other elements to mana at a rate of 50 Elemental mana for 1 mana.) Capacity: 1810/2000 Oh! That''s right, my stones don''t supply mana, they only supply whatever Elemental Mana the user can absorb! Although this is meaningless for me with 100% conductivity, Q''ill, on the other hand, must have 50%. *Q''ill thank you, I''ll absorb the mana now, it will be faster!* Her pale face nodded, with her conformation, I focus on the stone slowly filling back to full, while not forgetting to send her the Purified Mana. After four mana stones, my Mana was full again and I couldn''t send more to Q''ill, I took a quick look at my stats.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Prismatic Dungeon Core: Malpetios Mana: 500/500 Elemental mana: 385,500/421,474 Pure mana: 0 Mana stone(full): 12/24 With both of our conditions stable I decided to take a look at my Dungeon, the moment I dispersed my senses throughout my halls a large number of notifications appeared. [Host has killed 241unique lifeforms. Do to Host Dungeon Domain 241 Life Crystal''s have been condensed] [Host has unlocked (Magic Wood). (Magic jewelry). (Magic Book). (Potion: Elemental Fire restoration). (Magic Glass).] [Monster (Slime) has evolved into (Mirror Slime). Monster (Slime) has evolved into (Snow Slime).] I skim over the notifications and only focus on the new ones, skipping over the new metal and water slimes. I looked at the new stuff my Creation skill had unlocked and decided to talk to the system. System, stop giving me useless updates like Magic whatever unlocked, just categorize them as Witchcraft if it has anything to do with crafting equipment or accessories of any kind, I mean Seriously I could have unlocked magic wood by just Making a staff out of my Riptide sticks. As for potions, I feel like I can make them as long as I get my hands on the materials, in other words, their recipes right? Place them collectively under Alchemy as well as anything related, like that Magic glass. [Host request received. Modifying... complete. The host has received [Witchcraft] and [Alchemy] skills.] With that settled I decided to use my (Life Crystal) to the point Q''ill can go anywhere she wants in my boss room, leaving 220 Crystals. I focus my attention on Q''ill and asked. "How long was I out of it? I can still feel the effect of (Mana Song), I want to quickly fix problems in my Dungeon." "I say about nine hours, but dear your Mana is limited do you have enough to remake your Dungeon like this?" She looked at me worried, and she was right, I have already used over 50% of my Mana savings. With determination, I said, "no matter what if I don''t change something they will just waltz right into my boss room again" I remember the new skills and smiled. "I got some new tricks up my sleeve hehe, let''s see how well I can use them." Looking at me Q''ill whispered, "If is anything like what you did to the poor mages I can only say, may the Jewels have mercy on you, mister invaders." A shiver when thru her as she watched him. Room one to five need changes, looking at things objectively I should simply put a (Fire Domain) to stop them from freezing the place up, however, the water will boil and evaporate although this won''t matter in the long run, it will lower the water level uncovering the slabs. Mmmm... if I lower the ceiling along the river it will prevent them from just ignoring the stone slabs, they can however still freeze the water, buuuutttt... an evil thought comes to me if I place (Ice Word) on some random spots. I quickly try it out by casting (Ice Word) next to me and I was happy to see it works as I thought. Upon activation, it gives me many pre-set sentences where I can write the beginning and end something like this. [_____ actives an _____] So if I were to put something like oh... I don''t know. [Weight actives an Ice spear trap] I can absolutely make them regret stepping anywhere near my Dungeon, however, there''s one flaw to this skill, that is easily visible to the naked eye, I''ll need to hide it under the water so they can''t see it. As for the Domain, Wind Element ya that will work, I''ll hollow out the lowered ceiling as much as Dungeon Domain enchantment will allow before it breaks as for what to place inside hehe... For the Gravel room... yes yes that and that hehe... and the blender room only needs Fire Element, for the Maze [Nature''s Voice] of course, I should be able to trade for the puppy tomorrow I can definitely turn him into their worse nightmare. Lastly... my poor Water Puzzle Room, let me reborn you, show those basterds that look down on you that revenge is most definitely a dish best served Icy cold hehe. In her corner of the core room, Q''ill is starting to have a cold sweat. "W-what is Malpetios making? This baleful aura is horrible!" She could only hope that his target won''t suffer too much before death. Ch. 26 Rules Ch. 26 Rules In the outside world, the Scholar has been waiting for the Mana Song to end. "Thirty minutes left, soon I''ll personally punish this insult to our Mage Academy." Although Sir Knight will not allow me to destroy you, I can still rip your soul out and make you suffer. One hundred mages started to gather around the Dungeons entrance, two hundred soldiers behind them. The scholar looked over them and said, "we have failed, again and again, I shall personally lead us to destroy the boss and bring back our honor, as for you," he turned to the soldiers, "do your job and protect our scholars, failure will not be tolerated." The soldiers were angry but kept their mouths shut. The scholar looked over to where Sir Knight was standing, a squad of about five hundred Beastmen and Half breeds a short distance away. He simply ignored them, "as if they have the gall to do anything on Sir Knights Watch." The Dungeon stopped its Mana vibrations. with a cruel smile, the Scholar ordered his troops to quickly march inside, many thoughts on how to torture a soul going thru his head. A short distance away, Sir Knight Avanlo and Sergeant Major Satra were staring down the uninvited guess. "Beastmen, you have entered our Holy Nations lands, return, we are currently dealing with a dangerous Dungeon." Avanlo lay his gaze on the Fairy, "as for our Fairy guess, this dungeon is the possession of the Church." Avanlo ignored the filthy beastmen and the elves, however, the fairy''s aura was nearly as strong as his. With over a hundred and fifty mages he can easily deal with them, but the beastmen would send even more if these are killed, so it''s best to mind our own business, not that the fairy would agree though. The fairy''s next words shocked Avanlo. "Greetings, I am First Tree, U''ziq Oak Magnolia, you seem to have lost over half your forces, I shall not stop a commander from seeking justice for his troops. In exchange for my understanding," the fairy''s voice quickly turns cold, "I have now claimed this Dungeon under the Fairy Army, I am sure the Beastmen and Elfs would also love to join in the fun and are on their way here. As is custom, we fairies will not interfere with Dungeon divers, as long as the Core is not harmed in any way." "As is written in the Fairys Army peace Contract, we shall not interfere with or punish, the first visitors of the dungeon. My presence here is to prevent you from calling reinforcements. You are allowed to attempt to claim or destroy the dungeon with your remaining troops and. No. More. If you were to disagree I am sure I can keep you busy till the beastmen and elves arrive, don''t you agree?" The fairy smile innocently. Avanlo fumed in rage, "are you aware his Holiness considers this Dungeon as his and as send me to retrieve it? Do you dare insult our Holy Nation any further!" Avanlo stirs the Mana inside him trying to intimidate the Beastmen and Elfs to back off or start a war, they, however, are only suppressed by the Mana but don''t back down. He had realized by their attitude that a war will happen, either way, these filthy creatures will help the fairies and use it as an excuse to carve a piece from our Holy Nation of Heavens Chosen.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Although the church is very strong, starting a war between both elves and beastmen would not be agreed upon for a single Dungeon, no matter the rarity. As a lower noble, he was aware that the higher-ups would much rather make excuses and keep the Dungeon alive draining its mana and unique products than destroy it, and appease the commoners, wasting a valuable treasure. The Knight snorted and replied, "One of the Scholars of the Mage Academy is currently retrieving the core for his Holiness, if you''re here as the dungeons management, I can be assured you will keep the peace." The Knight signal Satra to retreat back to the church and report the situation. "I''ll be sending my soldiers to report back, I believe there be no complaints?" He said staring at the beastmen in mockery, taunting them to attack if they dare. "No complaints, you may do as you wish." After replying U''ziq had his troops set up camp. Turning his attention to the Dungeons entrance, he whispered to himself, "show me, Prismatic Core, are you truly worth protecting, or just another lunatic?" While the beastmen and elves send messages for reinforcements to their base in their own way, Satra was already on his way to the nearest fortress. Calming down, Avanlo could see their plans. Forcing the church to compromise due to the threat of war on all sides, they can only send ''adventurers'' from the commoners, as long as the fairy''s play along and the Dungeon does not kill too many, we can happily pretend to struggle. The real problem is the beastmen and elves. The Fairy Army doesn''t get involved in politics or the outside world unless the Dungeons they guarded are attacked, even then, they are realistic and only protect the strongest ones or those with potential. It will be for the best if the Scholar can deal with the dungeon quickly, soon the Holy Army would be here to keep the beastmen and elf''s behavior in check. If somehow the dungeon can still survive, I''ll personally deal with it. Inside Malpetios Dungeon, the three-hundred man army was surprised by the changes the dungeon when thru. "This... an Element Domain?" The scholar looked grim, "all soldiers are to stand on guard for any surprises." Marching further they could hear the strong winds, a strange sound of rocks hitting each other was coming out of the now lowered middle ceiling, taking a look, apart from the ceiling nothing seem to have changed. "Freeze the water, split in half, and march slowly, mages try to find out what the source of the noise is." After giving orders the Scholar began to slowly check each part of the dungeon, due to interference from the Element Domain, Mana Field was crippled to only a few feet. Nothing happens, even after making it halfway thru the river rooms, no surprises came, the only strange thing was the constant strong winds lifting the mage''s ropes, and the sound of rocks constantly hitting each other from the lowered ceiling in the middle of the hallway. Suddenly, a sound was heard from the front, a soldier saw that the ice under him was glowing, next thing he knew an ice Lance had skewed him piercing thru is armor like paper. The scholar was stunned, he had never seen a Dungeon use any ice Element traps and did not know what to do for a second, not that the Dungeon would wait for him. Suddenly the very beginning of the frozen river starts to glow, in the next second, a giant ice wall blocks the entrance before the mages can even wonder what is happening. From the holes around the lowered ceiling, many orange-black metallic balls start to escape falling on top of the ice hissing and making steam. The scholar thought the Dungeon was trying to melt and crack the ice making use of our fall into the dangerously uneven floors, however, around the steam he saw the movement of the balls like it was folding unto itself, then it Stroke him! "METAL SLIMES! RUN!" Looking in horror as the slimes were nearly red with so much kinetic energy the scholar''s face turn pale. But it was too late. AHHHHHHH!!! Ch.27 Hell 2.0 ch.27 Hell 2.0 Upon hearing what the scholar said the mages quickly activated different defense spells such as the 2nd circle (Earth armor), however many of the metal slimes had already rolled between their feet while they were unaware, quickly turning into cannonballs. The soldiers were prepared for sneak attacks and quickly used (Earth armor) or increase their speed and reaction time by wind and fire martial arts respectively, many of them still got hit before they had a chance, a new hole in their head or body. Many of the metal slimes had too much kinetic energy and would bounce from one side of the wall to another, the walls not having a single scratch from the dungeons domain enchantment. The first waves of attacks pierced at least 13 mages and around 30 soldiers. The earth affinity soldiers quickly took formation around the mages activating earth armor, now looking like a rocky turtle shell, the mages supported them with speed spells running from the bouncing cannonballs. A lot of damage was accumulated as they ran, pain noises and dead howls started to come from the other group, taking a look from the small gap between the lower ceiling and the river they saw many of them impaled on ice pillars and ice swords. To the scholar''s horror, the other path was full of traps that would spring upon stepping on them he quickly cast mass levitation ordering the mages to do the same, this, however, left their lower bodies exposed to the bouncing cannonballs, many of them receiving leg fractures or impacts that broke armor. The soldiers attempted to protect as much of their bodies as possible while the mages cast their own earth armor to themselves and the other affinitys soldiers, turning their turtle shell into a sphere. By the time they made it outside the river room, they found that they have lost thirty people and the other group had lost eighty-nine people, nearly half their group was killed infuriating the Scholar. Looking back, he ordered the mages to put up an earth wall to prevent the metal slimes from chasing them. "I can''t believe nearly half my group died before even reaching the boss," the scholar was in shock both that a dungeon can use the elements the mage academy tirelessly worked to uncover and the growth of this dungeon, it can''t be allowed to exist any longer! Now that they were in a new room, the scholar was in full alert for any changes, "another elemental domain, it seems to be a water one. Take this time to heal your wounds," the few water mages cast 2nd circle (Water Mend) on the wounded, thanks to the water domain they could absorb Elemental Water in this place allowing them to spent there elemental mana with no worries. Surveying the gravel and sand room the scholar found the ground moving and sinking like something was trying to struggle out, the ground would balloon out from time to time and exploding into steam and boiling water. Seeing this he had a bad premonition that the bladed bridge room had a fire domain. The scholar was annoyed that his mission became so difficult all of a sudden, promising to himself that he would torture the dungeon''s soul. Deep in his heart he also had another idea, to force the dungeon to tell him how it learned ice spells and if possible the other unknown elements so that he may quickly become a true noble, or maybe even greater!Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The scholar order everyone to walk slowly, however, the large number of people made the floor sink boiling water spilling out from the weight, the fire affinity soldiers managed with little difficulty, the rest however were having their armor heat up burning their feet, the smell of cooked flesh was disgusting. The mages realized that this was not going to work, "retreat out of the gravel room! Wind soldiers go and check the next room and report." The soldiers nodded, two of them walked over to the blender room the gravel not sinking under so little weight, but their journey was not so simple. The ground would randomly expand and explode into a shower of boiling water nearly killing them at times, after a lot of close calls, they made it into the blender room''s doors. After entering the room, they saw that it was full of heat and steam, even though they could offset the temperature with the help of their Element, the scolding water was still doing damage to them, forcing them to use more elemental mana. Upon noticing the room was working even with no one in the gravel room they quickly escaped and reported back. The scholar heard the report and frown, the scholar clench his teeth and said, "if we can get past this we can recover our mana on the maze so use at least 50% of your mana to bypass the elemental domain restrains." The mages complaint that using mass levitation on a water domain would drain them of all their elemental mana, but saw no other way to make it safely. Using the elemental mana, ten of the mages cast mass levitation while the rest cast 2nd circle (Water Shield) to prevent them from taking too much damage from the heat and steam of the explosions and the blender room. Damages were kept to a minimum with a few close calls from flash explosions, most of the mages had used almost all their elemental mana reinforcing the water shield from impacts. After a long time, they finally manage to get all the soldiers into the maze room which looked like nothing had changed. The scholar was weary from so many changes and took no chances immediately ordering all mages to recovered their Mana, those with fire affinity went back to the blender room and slowly recovered. The blender room had not changed much but it delays them greatly due to the narrow entrance and constant falling boiling water, forcing some mages to use their Mana. Back on Malpetios core room, "damn my blender room didn''t get any of them." My new kinetic ''metal slime'' wind spinners that I had placed in the lower ceiling worked wonderfully, killing a large amount of them in a sneak attack, these mages, however, are not easy to deal with... I need to change the blender room but I don''t have enough mana to make too many changes. I had lower the ceiling and made it hollow inside, to the limits of the dungeon domain, inside was an assortment of rollers that worked like a conveyor belt, all connected to a chain pulled by the windmill at the beginning. Five elongated holes would transfer air inside, pulling on a massive windmill at the beginning of the lowered ceiling, connected to a conveyor belt, while the air spin the rollers, the metal slimes inside them would hit and collide with each other building kinetic energy. Four of the holes where the air came in had wind spinners, the spinners had six arms three of which have cups that would lift one metal slime to the exit while the remaining three are a mini windmill on each side. The metal slimes remained in the spinner cups till told otherwise by me, falling back into the metal slime pit, creating more impacts and kinetic energy. The entire thing looked like a ball pit with conveyor belts that would move the balls to gears that would lift them up high and then fall on top of you or outside somewhere. My blender room however was a pain for the mages to overcome, I had removed all the slimes inside, no longer needed as the hot water from the blender room would mix with the constant cold water from the gravel room the two Domains acting like a tug-a-war pushing and pulling the water forming the cycle without the help of the soldier''s weight. Looking at the survivors they looked exhausted, probably use almost all their elemental mana due to the conflicts in the elemental domain, they probably think they can be safe in the maze since it doesn''t have an elemental domain but I have a little surprise for them. Looking at my new pet, it looked like a harmless puppy, it was pitch Black with green eyes and green paws, I have used almost all of my life crystals to make it in a hurry. Though still a puppy It will be useful for my eternal maze hehe. Ch.28 Emerald Horror Ch.28 Emerald Horror The scholar had recovered all his mana, assessing his troop''s condition, the mages took turns casting (water mend), the soldiers are now fully recovered. Blue lights could be seen inside the mass of Poison Ivys, separated by ten feet, while the walls radiated soft pale white light. "The Dungeon must have run out of Mana," the scholar turned to the soldiers, "just like last time go and find the right path." The soldiers had their orders, going inside in groups of two, more soldiers ready for their return. Six hours later the soldiers and the Scholar were losing their patience. "Why are they taking so long!" Said most of the mages, the soldiers were also thinking something must have gone wrong. The twenty soldiers went missing with no death sound or struggled, the Scholar decided to be prudent, even if the Maze has no Elemental Domain it must have changed somehow. Looking around for the smallest difference the Scholar found one, "what''s this, a hole?" The walls of Ivy now had a small hole on the bottom, however, was not consistent. Looking at the distance the small entrance was randomly placed, some pathways had some right across each other, while other paths had only one. The scholar decided on a plan, "we are moving forward as a group, with no information on what we''re dealing with it is best not to split up, for now, report at the slightest change!" The group agreed something was odd, the Scholar told them to be mindful of the strange holes as they walked. After several hours the Scholar started to go crazy from the neverending green Maze, with no reports of strange changes he orders a rest. While the mages talked among themselves the soldiers brought out their rations, one of the soldiers noticed something, where is his friend? He started to yell for him, "Asil, where are you?" he looked around the narrow halls but didn''t see him, another soldier answered him instead. "You looking for Asil? Last I saw him he was covering the rear with Kipe." Said an older soldier, "now that you say that I haven''t seen him either." "Huh, you said Asil and Kipe were on the rear? That can''t be I send that newbie to the back because no one was watching it," said a higher rank soldier. The commotion grabbed the Scholars'' attention, "report the situation." The soldiers reported that about five of them went missing guarding the rear, "what do you mean we lost them, how can someone disappear without a sound or struggle."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "You," the scholar pointed at the current soldier in charge of the rear, "I want you to go and report back what you see no matter how trivial." The soldier was not willing to go to a dangerous place but had little power to deny orders. He nodded and draw his sword moving back to where they came. After three minutes of walking and careful observation, nothing was strange, the same dizzying and repeated Maze. Looking around one last time before reporting he felt that something was watching him, he then heard a small sound to his left, turning to the source of the sound, he saw a small green paw dragging its black claws thru the floor. The sound was sharp but not loud to the point the others would hear it. He noticed that the paw was coming from the end of the hall as if inviting him to come over. Not willing to fall for whatever killed the others he slowly backed up till the paw was no longer visible. As he slowly backtracked while keeping an eye out for the green paw, he heard the same sound, this time behind him. Terrified, he turned around only to see the same green paw, his back was covered in a cold sweat, was he surrounded, how many are there? Not wanting to find out, he started to yell for help as he continued running to where the troops were, however, upon reaching the location there was nothing here just the same repeated hall. Shivering in fear, he looked at all the hallways trying to spot anything that was different or could comfort him, he noticed the blue lights seemed different. "The blue lights were a lot brighter than I remembered when we first map the maze." The blue light had cast a shadow that would always be aimed exactly where the new holes were at, not that knowing this would help me. The sound of claws scratching the floor came out again behind him, this time it was different, it was a lot sharper like the creature was laughing at him. He turned around, his hands and feet shaking. The black claws dragging thru the floor slowly, like tasting the soldier''s fear. The soldier couldn''t take it and started to run the same horrible noise chasing after him. The terrified soldier could not take it anymore, "y-you want me, then come and g-get m-me you dam monster!" He shivers in place, hearing a different sound behind him. Turning around he was paralyzed, two deep green eyes were peering out from the hole in the Ivy wall, only a few feet from him. The eyes were like two abysses that swallowed his soul, he could do nothing but stand there his body refusing any of his commands. The horrifying beast stretched out a green paw, without breaking eye contact, the sharp black claws came out aiming at my shadow. The monster ripped the shadow of my head into pieces, the pain was unbearable, trying to escape I used my Elemental Mana, it helps greatly and I was slowly moving my sight away. While I was happy my efforts were working, suddenly, my Elemental Mana had run dry. In the last moments of my life, I wonder how this happen, noticing that the monster had a large evil-looking smile my mind snapped the last shred of resolve I had. A blood howl of pain and primal fear was my last words. Back on malpetios core room, "hehe looks like my puppy was a giant success, truly my best masterpiece does far." Q''ill ask in curiosity, "by puppy you mean the wolf cub you got a few hours before your entrance open right?" She remembers it looked rather terrifying, pitch black, and eyes full of deathly allure. Malpetios happily said, "yah, with its help I managed to unlock a new element, though I can''t use it yet, I now have a new goal to unlock ''Dark'' Element!" Ch.29 Cat and Mouse Ch.29 Cat and Mouse I was happy with how my puppy had turned out. Thanks to Nature''s Voice I was able to move the Poison Ivys as long as there was no other Life aura present to interfere with it. Although I had to remove some of the walls so the Ivy can replace them, giving me the chance to make an endless Maze, it was not all without flaws. The mages can now blast thru them with spells, apart from fire or wind base which would poison them or wake up the whole hallway, such as earth spells only activating the Ivys near the impact zone eventually finding their way out, however. I took a look at my puppy, "I made good use of all those Life Crystals and made myself a powerful creature." Q''ill looked confused, so I explained my masterpiece''s current statistics. (Wolf cub???): The infant of a savage wolf, sharp fangs and claws. Mutated thru the use of a large amount of Life Crystals, has Wind and Dark Elements. Rank: 1 Attacking power: 30 Magic power: 40 Defense power: 20 Magic resistance: 20 (+50) Agility: 100 Mana Conductivity: 10% Special skill: Enhanced Senses, Dark Born, Abyss Eyes, Wind Born. Enhanced Senses: Increases the connection to the body''s nerves, allowing the detection of danger and attacker''s weapons trajectory. Dark Born: Increases magic resistance +50, reduces detrimental magic effects greatly. Can damage hostile targets shadow for different effects, base on the corresponding part. Allows access to Dark skills/spells. Abyss Eyes: Damages the soul of all hostile targets in your field of view, slowly deteriorating their mental state. Direct eye contact will paralyze the target increasing deterioration by ¡Á10 while burning their Mana and Elemental Mana. The effect can be repelled by overpowering the invading Dark Elemental Mana be it thru their own Mana or Mental Strength. Can only affect one target with the second effect. Wind Born: Greatly increases base Agility, allows access to Wind skills/spells. Q''ill was shocked, but to my surprise, she did not ask about the puppy itself. "Soul damage, like the attacks from Specters and undead mages? Dark Element, no wonder people have their hearts and minds twisted." She looked greatly interested in the new Dark Element and began to ask questions non-stop. While I explained the puppy Rank one Spells/Skill and hunting method, the invaders began moving again. The highest rank soldier builds up the courage to confront the scholar. "Sir Scholar, why are we continuing forward without searching for the missing soldiers," the Scholar continued walking and replied. "It is clear that the Dungeons workings have changed. The fact that no sound or struggle can be detected can only mean one thing, whatever is doing this can easily single out targets and remove them." At that moment the Scholar, along with the mages, stopped and turned around. They felt a vile Mana invading their minds, the soldiers were in a worse shape. Feeling like a predator''s gaze was declaring their death. The large army suddenly became quiet, the arrogant mages included. A small green paw with pitch-black fangs stretches out slowly, almost like it was shy, and began to drag itself across the floor creating a horrible sound.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Looking at this, as the one with the strongest mental strength, the Scholar shakes the feeling away. "Snap out of it, soldiers confront the target!" The soldiers remembered the danger and arrange themselves in rows of two, slowly walking towards the creature. The frontline moved forward, only a few steps, and the paw retreated. "Don''t let it escape," said one of the chasing soldiers, their fear suppress by the adrenaline. Turning the corner, nothing there, suddenly stopping in confusion cause the others to collide, nearly touching the dangerous Ivy walls. Before the soldiers could even curse at each other, they felt the same sense of death from behind. "SCREEEEE"... The Scholar quickly felt the vile mana invading his mind again, the sound coming seconds after, the shrill sound sending shivers down his spine. The soldiers stayed where they are making sure that they wouldn''t be ambush from the back. Collectively, the group felt that the sound was getting louder. The Scholar frown, "enough of this, use earth spells!" The mages instinctually followed the order, however. "What are you doing, not all of you!"The mages came back to their senses, almost wasting their Mana on a Boulder Toss. Although most of the mages halted their spells, some of them have already finished the cast. The end of the hall suffered a rain of boulders, to the surprise of the mages, the spell pierced some of the walls. The Poison Ivys quickly activated from the impact, barricading that part of the Maze for a while. The Scholar wonder why the Ivy walls could now be broken thru with spells. He noticed that the collapse walls were made completely out of Ivys no wall behind them. With this new information, he immediately knew why the Maze seemed endless. The Dungeon was somehow moving plants around, but how? He thought about it and came to the conclusion that a King Lily was probably in the middle of the Maze as a roaming boss. Forgetting to question how a newly born Dungeon could have a roaming boss, he focuses on the walls and ignored the rest. Knowing that the walls could now be removed he only needed to get rid of the strange green monster that deeply unnerved him. Whatever the creature was it is better off dead. SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE"... The soldiers could hear the horrible sound coming from the walls. Tightening their formation, they waited for orders, leaving the end of the hall unguarded. The Scholar proclaims, "Hold a defensive formation do not chase the creature, it is trying to split our group apart. We shall use earth spells to carve our way out." The scholar waited for the Ivy to reset. The sound of the green beast was heard again, this time, much softer. The paw continued moving forward, a second one shortly after. The body attached seemed like a dog''s shadow, given life. The mage''s vast knowledge did nothing for this creature, was it a shadow demon or some kind of specter from the Abyss world? Before the Scholar could command to attack, the creature gave them a toothy smiled full of malice. Two eyes suddenly opened, their emerald deeps corrupting the group''s mana. The Scholar on the other hand was trapped in an abyss of darkness where the eyes slowly grew bigger terrifying him. "Attack! Attack, kill that m-monster now!" The panicked soldiers charged forward to kill the demon that caused such fear from their superior. The mages used their mana to cast more boulder toss, not caring about the charging soldiers. The spells hit solid walls doing nothing, as the demon weaves around them with no problems. Seeing this the Scholar grew panic and use his mana in an attempt to save himself, his vast mana pool crushed the invading Dark Element easily. The Scholar had realized that he has been acting strange and his mind was sluggish. At that moment the soldiers had been attacked by the Ivys from their unorganized charge, and the mages indiscriminate bombardment. The demon jumped in the air opening his mouth alarmingly wide, a scream full of fear came from it. "HaahaaAaaAaaHaAaha" Sounding like hundreds of people were crying out in fear, the whole group went crazy attacking anything near them or running unto the walls in fear. The hallway was now completely submerged in wriggling Ivys. The scholar realizes what he was dealing with, the dark arts of the undead mage''s first circle spell (Soul Scream). Ch.30 Harmony Ch.30 Harmony Malpetios felt that he couldn''t take Q''ill''s questions anymore and tried to redirect the conversation. "Oh, I killed them all, isn''t that great!" Q''ill stopped her question machine gun, thank God! "Dear, you got them all? It shouldn''t have been so easy..." She felt my confusion and said, "remember that I said having more than a few mages is unnatural. There is a commander here, one strong enough to force mages to act as cannon fodder." Malpetios looked confused, mages were so important? They are very annoying and have a lot of tricks but the soldiers can use skills that are almost identical to spells. "I know you don''t think much about them, since you have killed so many of them. Mages, however, are the backbones of armies. The Mage Academy gathers the talent from all the social classes, slowly polishing them into the nation''s strength." "Before the Church came, the ruler of the land was the strongest mage bloodlines. The Church rose to power by secretly helping one of them raise a ''God Blessed'' King, while the rest of the mages became Nobles. Gaining political power, the Church used it to increase their activities across the nation, saving the commoner''s from their pain, poverty, and slavery increasing the livelihood of its people." "This was originally not a problem and the mages tolerated them, that was till the Church showed its fangs. Thru an unknown method, the church made commoners into priests where mages required years of knowledge or inborn talent the priest only needed to worship their god, gaining power from their prayers. Their power was called Faith and was argued by the Mage Counsel to be an Element." "The Church did many things to increase their favor with the commoners, from killing mages that experimented on them to rallying them to overthrow stubborn nobles. In the end, they compromise thru the King by forcing them to swear loyalty while the nobles created the Mage Academy and Council to protect its mages." "The mages invading you are only rank two, so they are not yet worthy to be given the lowest noble rank." Her face turned serious, "this can only mean a rank four individual most likely a High Mage or Knight it''s here. We might get lucky if it is a Knight, they won''t care too much and are most likely here for the sake of appearances. Mages on the other hand are extremely protective of their own, mostly due to how the church dealt with them before they supported the royal bloodline." Malpetios nodded, "that sounds dangerous but I can''t do anything about it. I can only protect myself and I have no one to help me, well apart from you Q''ill." She smiled sadly and was about to say something, however.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Malpetios could feel movement from the maze, " what?" Focusing on it he saw a wall of wind around what remained of the army. "Dam they''re alive, I forgot that that mage can do that bubble of Wind blades..." Q''ill seems to remember something and said, "can you explain the spell to me?" After a quick explanation, she grimaces. "that''s a third rank spell (Breezy Shield), you said he used it before, right?" I nodded, and she continues, "I see no reason why a third rank mage would not just simply waltz thru your maze. There is only so much a few rankless Poison Ivys can do, even your rather impressive wolf cub, it cant jump more than one rank and suppress him." "Your Dungeon is truly incredible, I honestly thought we would have already been dead by now." her voice became small as she said, "I wished the Fairy Army would have come to save you, treaty be damned." She started to cry, Malpetios hurriedly said, "don''t worry, I won''t die so easily. I know you and me can tell that they already know I was gonna be born a Prismatic core, they simply choose to ignore that." She looked panic and said, "d-dear that''s not it, is just that the jewels are being attacked they can''t come here and a..and..." She realized that I could tell what was really going on and did not know what to say. Malpetios continued, "you know I have memories of you from when I was still a child. I hear you saying that someone sent you here to die, that and what you have already told me about not knowing how a Prismatic Core is born paints a clear picture." Q''ill face turned pale but did not want to show it. "They abandoned the both of us, we only have each other now. I know you are trying to be strong but it is ok, we won''t hope for some random hero to show up and save us or the Fairy army to remember that I am some ''worlds child'' or whatever." Malpetios looks at the crying Q''ill and comforts her as she did him. "No matter what we do now let''s do it for each other okay? Let us promise that no matter what the world throws at us no matter how ugly, we can surpass it by depending on one another." She laughed while crying and said, "that is what I said to you before (sob), you rascal I should be the one soothing you not the other way around you know he-he (sob)." I was happy to see her let out the feelings she kept locked inside her, for better or worst we are together for the rest of our lives. While I comfort her I felt the mages make it to the Balance Scale room, sadly for them my puppy may only be rank one but it can still affect the rest of them. The Puppy simply ran ahead paralyzing the soldiers killing them one at a time. I tried to get the Scholer again but he seems to be on full alert, his Mana Field blocking the Puppy''s Dark mana from affecting the mages and some of the soldiers. At this moment what Q''ill said hit me, these mages are far stronger than I give them credit... especially the higher rank ones. After some trial and error, they made it to the ninth room, the scholar looking grim probably from using up all his Elemental Mana. The short ten minutes supplying about twenty thousand Elemental Wind, at least now I know what his affinity is. He-eh, even if your strong can you get past my puzzle room? I hope you like building snowmen if not well the weather is so delightful, so stay, forever! Ch.31 You wanna build... Ch.31 You wanna build... The scholar stopped near the entrance of the ninth room, drained of most of his Elemental Mana. Having to use a third circle spell inside a Dungeon that is able to absorb your Element is dangerous, and prone to go out of control. He couldn''t use the environmental Wind mana to aid with the spell casting, all of the small nuances needed his complete control. The shielding area was not able to extend past his Life Aura, Elemental Mana that escape past it would ignore his command and be completely devoured by the Dungeon. Only spells that are shaped into a completed form can maintain themselves, not coming apart, and joining the Dungeon''s reserves. Although training inside Dungeons of your own Element can be useful, this is an entirely different monster. Even in the strongest Dungeons I have trained or been sent to capture, would not absorb the mana so quickly, and unknow interference slowing the core down. But this? Is like a vacuum where you can only depend on your own talent. The Dungeon was still able to change so much with the shackles in place. I wonder if they even work on a Prismatic Core, are there Elements apart from Earth that can''t be contained, is that why other Dungeons are so much easier to conquer even when they''re your own element? The Scholar started to worry, the unknown Elements would give the dungeon many unpredictable ways to attack, not to mention the structures that demanded your attention, or they would gladly kill you. Out of the three hundred men army, only ninety-seven were left, eighty-five mages and twelve soldiers. The mental state of the whole group was off, something to do with the Specter Wolf most likely. My attempts to remove the vile Mana inside them have proved useless, however, the mana is slowly being rejected by their body. After around four hours my Mana was refilled, and the remaining forces are now fully stable. The scholar took out a glass bottle and drank the grayish-green liquid inside, "to be forced into drinking one of my Elemental Wind Hi-Potions before even seeing the boss is humiliating." He turned to the group, protecting his mages, as well as the remaining Earth soldiers, was his goal. As for the dead soldiers, well, Sir Knight will be coming soon, once he sees the danger this dungeon poses he will not say much. The Scholar turned to one of two lucky wind soldiers that kept themselves alive. "Go and check what has changed from last time." The Soldier was terrified, knowing that he was being used as a disposable pawned but had no way to reject. He gritted his teeth and moved forward cursing the Scholar the whole way. Upon entering the room, he saw strangely beautiful runes, like those of the Shackles on the floor, walking over them he suddenly felt like every part of his body had frozen over. His instincts told him if he stayed here for too long he was going to die. Looking around the small room he saw four glass cubes with the same runes on the top. Inside he saw what looked like a snow pile with strange grayish-blue circles and triangles, one of them had what look like sticks coming from the sides. The whole room was cover in a whitish-blue glow that you swore was entering your body.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. On the walls of the room, there was a message in the language of the common tongue, the church had made it so all its people must go to school, so he was able to read it. [The weather inside is frightful But the snow slimes are so delightful And since you have no place to go Let''s build a slimeman, while it snows] [Man the snow shows no signs of stoppin'' And you brought warmth, that leaves you without stoppin'' Your time is running low So make a slimeman to save you from this freezing cold] [Oh, no, you''re slowly dying And, my slimemen, are still not sliming But as long as you''d dare to struggle The snow slimes will drop the curtain on your pitiful struggle] The soldier did not know what this all meant, but he saw the doors to the left and right had more of the runes on the floor. It clicked in his head that they might be those traps that spring out blades of ice, was this a trap? The writing on the walls and the feeling that you are slowly dying made you risk it all to escape. Running back outside as fast as your freezing feet could take you did not trigger the runes, you sight in relief, and went back to the Scholar. Moments later the scholar entered the room, his face becoming grim then quickly turning to shock. "T-this is-s an Elemental Ice Domain?!" It wasn''t till this moment that it really hit him what it meant to invade a Prismatic Core, not one that is a brainless abomination spewing broken husk, but a true completed product, with all the Elements to its disposal. Fear, anger, and greed cross the scholar''s face. Thinking to himself that if somehow he can obtain the core, and use it as a magic focus, he could really become a noble or even an Arch-mage. The original plan to force the core''s soul to aid his research, and learned about the other Elements was now the only thing in his mind. Waiting for Sir Knight was quickly tossed aside, his new goal was to take control of the core for as long as possible studying the Elements inside. The Knights'' patience would run out eventually so he needed to hurry. The Scholar quickly tried to figure out what the writing meant. After a quick brainstorm, he was able to get the idea, his time was limited by the constant drain of his lifeforce. The exit would be blocked somehow, and the Ice element coming from those runes should be the cause, an ice wall of some kind most likely. Lastly, there is a punishment if I ''dare to struggle''. Looking at the glass box with his mana field the thing inside was a slime of some sort, he had a bad feeling this thing was a slime of the Ice element. Remembering the writing, these must be the snow slimes mention on it. Ignoring an unknown species because is a slime, and they are all weak, could be potentially dangerous. The scholar hesitantly brings out a book covered in purple eye drawings and stares at it for a while, with a shake of his head he places it back inside his ropes. "Using the (Analyze) spell my teacher gifted me on such a small fry would be an insult to him." He thought about using it on the strange dog, but now he was in a race to get to the core and learn as much of its secrets as he could. He orders his group to follow behind him, and explored the remaining rooms, as soon as they walked past the second set of runes, the first set glowed a mere second later. The result was a tall wall of ice several times thicker than the one seen before blocking the entrance. It would take a long time to break thru the sturdy blockade. Suddenly mana quickly gathered toward the ceiling, looking up the scholar paled, thousands of icicles could be seen just outside all the mages mana field. Runes of ice were glowing behind them snowflakes slowly falling, exacerbating the Ice domains drain further. Focusing his own field outwards to its very limits of his control the Scholar realize what that was! Slimes, they were all Snow Slimes, at that moment the last part of that writing struck him. ''The snow slimes will drop the curtain on your pitiful struggle'' The Scholar screamed in shame. ch.32 ...A Slimeman? ch.32 ...A Slimeman? The furious Scholar quickly came to his senses, this is no time to worried about getting fooled by the dungeon. Although with his power he was able to break free from this trap, those under him are a different story. The Snow Slimes were also a problem that could not be ignored. Turning to his troops he commanded, "search the area and report your findings quickly, every second in this room is draining our lifeforce away." The mages and soldiers did not need to be told twice, even they can feel death''s cold embrace slowly approaching. After a quick search, they found that the balance scale doors no longer had pots of water on their weighing scales, instead, they have three unmovable cubes with writing on their surface on one side, while the other was empty apart from an ice rune on its surface. They reported the finding to the Scholar which made his face turn angry in shame. The Scholar raged, "is this dam dungeon making fun of our intelligence? What sort of whelp wrote this!" He turned to his mages, "this is an insult towards our noble status, be it as it may we still need to do what it says. Repeat the report, this time make sure to find any hidden meaning on it." The mages suppress their annoyance at being insulted by such a childish prank and read it again coldly. "Both of the doors have writing on one side, the left door reads." [A gentleslime would never be seen out without his Icecube hat to any outing. Formality states that a gift of snowberries is in order, to show her distinguished slimemeness, the Pink Queen, that you are a loyal vassal.] "The right door has a different but equally childish riddle." [A gathering of the gentleslimes, without the queen or king present, mandates the full traditional mage attire of triangle ropes, a tuxedo with triangle bowtie, and flower bud wand.] The mages talked amount themselves coming to the conclusion that the left door needed a cube combination that included, an Icecube hat, and snowberries. While the right door required triangle pattern ropes, a tuxedo, and lastly a flower bud wand. They focus their attention on the four glass boxes they were presented with. The first glass cube displayed a snow slime with a diamond pattern along the middle, three circles could be seen decorating the front. Sticking out of the sides were two sticks one is bending from the weight of what seems to be a berry ice sculpture. The second one has a large block of ice surrounded by crude icicles on top of it. Circles that can be assumed to be its eyes are Inside diamonds, more circles can be seen on the bottom of the slime looking like a crude smile. Coming to the third cube, it looked like a completely snowy surface with only two circles and strange symbols that looked like different stages of the moons on one side looking like some sort of crest. Two sets of icicles can be seen from the sides of the slime, looking like feet. Lastly, the fourth glass cube had a slime completely covered in triangles of different shades of grayish-blue. With the information given to them before, they managed to identify that the triangled-covered slime was the rope. The slime with a large Icecube is ahead, and lastly, the snowberries and arm-like sticks were a body. The scholar order, "place the correct ones for the left door, we are currently missing a ''bowtie'' for the right door at the moment." The mages had no problem noticing the hints on the writing quickly opening the door.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Opening the door gave way to a large hallway, on the furthest end a new cube was visible. The cube was however encased in a large Icecube shaped wall. More writing could be seen in the cubes wall. [Her royal slimemeness wishes for her chambers to always be cleaned by a single subject in a specific order, that being southwest, northeast,...] The writing had eight different directions in a confusing order. Looking around the room, each of the specified directions had runes on the flooring. The annoyed mages send eight soldiers to step on the runes in the correct order, however, nothing happens. The Scholar had realized that they ignore one part of the writing in their hurry; ''Only a single subject'', this means only one person can use the combination. Wasting even more time correctly finishing the puzzle finally brought them results. The giant ice cube broke apart releasing the glass cube inside. The slime in this one had two sticks distinguishing itself as a body, one of the sticks, in particular, looked like a flower bud, a bowtie was also visible on the front of the slime. With this new cube, the right door could now be opened. The room had two other doors they however did not have any writing on them. Instead of experimenting with the current blocks they quickly moved to the other door. Opening it with the combination of ice hat, bowtie body, and triangle ropes a new hallway was spread before them. Two huge Icecubes were presented this time, each with their own writing. Icecube number one said. [My dear Queen gets upset at the most simple of pranks. Go my vassals, while bearing my royal symbol, the slimeoon, clean her chambers backward. You shall be rewarded upon completion.] The second one said. [Your slimemeness! Please return the Purple King''s head, we need him to sign paperwork! Yes, yes, we shall clean your chambers ten times as and apologie!] The scholar realized that he needed to go back to the left hallway to accomplish the new task, wasting even more time. This went back and forth, more and more ridiculous combinations were required. Even more infuriating puzzles and requests were demanded, like holding the Queens or Kings vassal in your hand while walking over the correct runes. A vassal was basically the gentleslimes combination with her slimemeness or his purpleness the King''s body segment, showing which of them they belonged to by wearing their corresponding accessory. Snowberries for the Queen, and the slimeoon for the King ... The Scholar realized that he just unironically call these dam slimes by their fake titles. Fuming in rage he continued on, his time running out. After a lot of trial and error, they finally collected the heads of the King and Queen. The king''s head has sun-like eyes with dark blue nearly purple icicles on his head, a large icicle nose on the middle. The Queen on the other hand had eyes like brightly glowing stars with a pink tiara that turn red on the ends. Placing them in their corresponding location was now the hardest part, the mages were dropping dead here and there. The soldiers, with their powerful bodies, managed to survived and were in charge of carrying the nearly dead mages. They required to split so they could place her slimemeness... Ugh! I mean the stupid Queen set on the left. This left two sets remaining the Nobleslimes and the Kings. With the nobles set we can open the right doors and placed the king set on its corresponding spot. Opening the left door they quickly pass the body segment with the berries to the group inside, the door closing slowly allowing it to happen. They then continued to the right side placing the noble set on the door opening the way, and finally placing the King set on the last door, while the left side did the same with the Queen set. The gate opens finally finding the exit, they never wanted to see another dam slime, in their dam lives! Ch.33 Broken Strings Ch.33 Broken Strings Malpetios was frustrated in his core room. "Why are they standing around the entrance of my boss''s room, it has already been four hours, do they think standing in between the two rooms will somehow keep them safe?" Not wanting to waste this perfect opportunity to kill them, I quickly ordered my boss to open the doors and skewer them with its vines. He was sadly disappointed. Upon trying to open the door the boss simply stopped and went back to his previous standby mode. The confused Malpetios continued trying to order the boss but it just kept resetting before it could pull the doors open. "Why can''t I open the door?" I get this feeling that I should maybe wait till they come inside, but why wait? "No! I''m not giving up that easily!" His previous attempts having failed, he tried using boss fusion to do it himself only to blank out for a few seconds, coming back to his senses when the boss reset back into place. Malpetios felt something was, off...? He did not feel anything was wrong like this is how is supposed to be, and he was being silly. Although something inside his mind was telling him that there''s a problem, he couldn''t pinpoint it. He however could not understand why killing the weakened invaders was silly? The thought seemed to contradict itself, killing the invaders while they are weak is right, so I should open the door, but opening the door was silly it was... it w-was... W?????????r??????o????????n??????g?????????? "Yes! It is wrong, I cannot open the doors, that''s right I must have forgotten?" I still felt something was missing but couldn''t put my finger on it. Q''ill has been looking at me talking to myself and she asked what was wrong, I quickly told her my questions. Q''ill responded to them a bit confused. "Dear, dungeons cant open their own boss rooms or have creatures from other rooms or floors move outside their post. Dungeons of a higher level usually get past this by having field floors, depending on how fast it can gather Elemental Mana they can start making them around the twenty or thirty floors." Q''ill stopped to think, she looked like she just remembered something, "oh! I do remember that there are ways to bend these rules, like if the monsters are still in combat or they have long-range attacks. The creatures however don''t follow you past their own room or floor, unless of course is a (Dungeon Rage)." Malpetios froze, rules? Something in him was screaming, the moment he tried to focus on that feeling it was gone. He couldn''t figure out where the wrongness was, he thought back to where he first felt it, the doors. Since neither he nor the boss can open it, he orders the Mirror slimes he had hidden around the boss''s vines to open it. They too went back into their spots just before opening them. Malpetios couldn''t understand why he was still trying. Just like Q''ill had said the dungeon rules wouldn''t allow me to open the doors so why do I keep trying? I knew it was against the rules, right? The feeling of something being wrong however did not leave. I thought back to my Human memories trying to find something similar, only to find myself emotionally detached from them.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I wasn''t like this before... or maybe I was? The feeling wasn''t going away and yet I couldn''t figure out where it came from. Looking at Q''ill she saw nothing wrong, only seeming confused, something told me to fight this feeling of comfort of... contentment? Wait?! Since when did I saw myself as something other than human, although I am no longer one it was only a day ago that I had a panic attack from killing other humans. Looking back at that pain and disgust seem distant and dull, almost like it happened to someone else, like, I was just a spectator of some kind. Before I could dig deeper into whatever is happening to me I suddenly felt danger coming from the entrance of my Dungeon. Focusing on the source, I was surprised to see a single young man walking inside. The new intruder was wearing a Knight type armor with many golden feathers around his waist and hands, the armor on the back of his neck was elongated looking like a strange metal hoodie with a golden sun on it. His appearance aside, this Knight also has the largest Life Aura I have seen yet, it was big enough to cover half of any single room. I had reset my rooms when no life auras were present by instinct, apart from the balance scale they were all ready for invaders. To my surprise, the knight glowed in golden light levitating over the river rooms at a much faster pace than the mages did. By the time he made it over the middle point, triggering the ice wall, the metal slimes had gathered very little kinetic energy. At that moment I was reminded of the doors again, why didn''t my slimes continued to gather kinetic energy all this time? I tried to remember but I never told them to stop. As I was wondering the same feeling of wrongness from before started to get stronger. "NO!" Hearing my cry Q''ill asked, "What''s wrong dear?" Malpetios was quickly forgetting about the slimes, when he heard Q''ills cry, he quickly came up with an idea. "Q''ill remember this don''t forget! ''I did not order the metal slimes to wait'' please remember that! I blank out as she nodded. I quickly snapped out of it when I stopped fighting the feeling, thinking I was acting weird, of course, I can''t leave the slimes running it''s against the rules why am I overthinking this? My mind jolted as I felt someone entering my sand and gravel room. The Knight at some point grew transparent golden wings, these wings increased his speed but more importantly acted like flexible shields protecting the knight from the metal slimes and steam bubbles not slowing him down the slightest bit. He quickly went past the blender room like it was nothing, worrying me, it''s he going to make it all the way to the other invaders? While I started to panic slightly the knight''s progress was slowed down greatly, all thanks to my puppy. The knight would stop abruptly when my puppy got near his life aura and would not move for a long time even if my puppy did nothing but stand still. I quickly noticed that this powerful and proud invader would start to shiver the moment my puppy got near, coming to the conclusion that he was somehow greatly afraid of it, even if their power was vastly different. I order my puppy to harass the knight as much as possible, constantly moving around him allowing me to rearrange the maze walls when I could, his huge aura not helping. While I was starting to punish this invader for making me feel afraid of him the doors to the boss room open. Taking a look I saw what remained of the small army, twelfth soldiers were upfront with shields raised marching slowly, fifty-three mages that looked paled but bursting with killing intent were behind them. I quickly left orders for my puppy, and tried to but failed, to reset the balance scale room not understanding why I couldn''t. I quickly stop as that same wrong feeling was creeping back up. With no time to be worried about this, I focus on the boss room and the fight to come. Ch. 34 Fear the Rainbow Ch. 34 Fear the Rainbow The Scholar entered the boss''s room, surprised at the creature inside, "a King Lily? If this is the boss, then how was the dungeon able to move the Ivy maze as it pleased? Confusion quickly passes as he remembers that this was a newborn dungeon and can not spawn a roaming boss, even if that Spector dog was very close to being one. The mass of vines covered most of the back walls and extended halfway to the sides. Though the flower was hiding inside its own vines for some reason, it was plain to see that this boss was leagues stronger than a King Lily could realistically be at this floor. The Scholar concluded that it was a variant of some kind, and the dungeon was trying to hide it. Although the Scholar wanted to finish this boss quickly to obtain the core, he was not willing to take any risk with a prismatic core. The many changes and unknown elements at its disposal made the Scholar wary. Searching thru his ropes for his teacher''s gift, the Scholar finds and opens the book covered in purple eyes. The Scholars chanting echoed, as the pages of the book quickly turned endlessly. After a few seconds, the book bursts into purple flames as the scholar''s eyes changed color. The boss also glowed in the spells purple light, triggering the boss into attacking with sharp snake-like vines aiming towards the flanks of the group, forcing the warriors to leave only a few earth soldiers guarding the middle. The mage group was split into two squads on each side of the scholar, protecting him as the spell finishes. They watched as the earth soldiers held back the vines while the wind soldiers slashed the smaller nimbler vines that managed to escape, as they prepared spells for any accidents. Suddenly their Mana Field noticed vines moving underground towards the mage''s flanks, turning to the sides they found the vines that laid clinging against both sides of the walls had discreetly dug their way towards them, getting as close as they could. Seemingly aware that they were found out they quickly spring out of the earth aiming for the Scholar, the mages alerted the others and formed a circle around him, they cast fire and wind spells toward the vines. At that moment the Scholar Finished getting the feedback of the (Analyze) spell, in the blink of an eye the Scholar''s face turned pale screaming in fear. "SCATTER NOW!!!!" The mages and soldiers were stunned for a second at the Scholar''s fearful scream, sadly that one second spelled their death. Just as the Scholar came to his senses, the large vine cocoon unraveled itself displaying the sight of a beautiful rainbow lily, with a similarly gorgeous mass of energy in its center, sadly for them, this was the last thing they saw. The silent beam of Mana first disintegrated the three earth soldiers left in the middle as it continued on increasing in size reaching the mages a millisecond after. The Scholar had no time to prepare and could only use ten times the Elemental Mana to cast (Breezy Shield) instantly with no casting. As the Scholar pulled around half the mages with him to the side while using the increased speed of the spell to get away from the blast zone, the beam reached the mages turning them into ash, the Scholars'' shield was pierced easily at the side, bursting like a balloon.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. The explosion of the breezy shield sent wind blades in all directions both damaging, but more importantly, pushing more mages to the sides preventing their death. The Scholar was suffering a headache from the improper use of his spell as well as its violent scattering. Shaking out of his muddle mind the sound of screaming could be heard. The soldiers were running to the mages while slicing the vines apart trying to save the scattered mages from getting skewer, the boss ignoring them and aiming solely for the mages. The Scholar was enraged seeing his mages getting killed and started to cast a large area of effect spell, the third circle (Lesser Tornado), around the surviving troops with the intent to use it as a make-shift barrier, giving a chance to reform the formation in the storm''s eye. He however felt the mana gathering around the boss again, he quickly canceled the spell and instantly cast the first circle (Wind Steps) increasing his speed. A much smaller beam of multicolor mana hit the spot his head used to be half a second after. While he was dodging the attack even more mages were getting killed, realizing that the boss would target him the moment he started to cast large spells the Scholar proceeded to instant cast first and second circle spells. With the support of the Scholar, the soldiers got to the mages slashing the larger cluster of vines while protecting the injured mages. The scholar saw that they were starting to get control of the situation once again, he redirected his spells to the boss''s main body while yelling at the mages. "Fire mages burn the vines, the boss can still use them to attack. Do not gather in large groups, and keep an eye on the variant Lily don''t let it fool us again!" The group panic a bit at the mention of ''variant'' becoming even more careful, while the Wind Element soldiers used the last of their Elemental Mana creating a small gust of wind pushing the large chunks of vines away from the group. At that moment the severed vines came to life, slithering like snakes towards both the unconscious mages as well as those with missing legs and arms trying to crawl to the group. A small group of the mages finally recomposed themselves burning the vines to ashes as they remained five feet apart from each other while protecting any of the disabled mages that were still alive. After the Scholar got the situation back to normal he attempted to kill the boss with a large bombardment of instant spells, only to notice that the boss would dodge as much as it could while attacking the scattered mages. On top of all of this, the spells that missed or those that were used to burn the leaf storms and snake-like vines would have their Elemental mana absorb by the flower''s corona. The small lingering awareness he had for his own mana told him that it was being redirected to the damaged vines quickly repairing them. This went on even when the scholar used his Mana on Ice, earth, and fire spells horrifying him. He finally sends out a new order, "retrieve back outside the boss doors your all useless here!" Without the mages around the boss, it would not be able to stop him from casting third circle spells with no more dead weight to distract him. After a few more deaths from the mages not spreading out properly they all left, the Scholars enraged eyes narrowing towards the boss. "You can absorb even Ice mana, I am truly shocked yet overjoyed. If even a lowly creature like you can so easily learn to absorb different mana this can only show the great value of the core." The scholar smiled evilly, gathering a large amount of mana into his fingertips, "you like beams right? See if you can stomach this one, I do not believe a small and weak Rank one creature can absorb a third circle spells mana without heavy damage." "Third Circle (Rime Beam)!!" Ch.35 Source Ch.35 Source While the mages ran around like headless chickens, Malpetios found himself in a stalemate. The mages couldn''t do enough damage to overcome my King Lily''s healing rate, and he could not pick off any more mages with their Leader''s constant attacks. He decided to focus on the Knight, only to see him close to the exit, quickly moving the maze around while ordering my Puppy to harass him I managed to buy more time. I then subconsciously took a look at my Balance Scale room, momentarily stopping in confusion. "I seem to have forgotten something?" Malpetios could not get the feeling that he should be doing something in this room out of his mind, yet could not understand why. The room was in perfect condition and before the invaders left he could not reset or order the slimes to move... right? "Dear?" Q''ill called out to me, snapping me out of my confusion as I focused on her. "Did you forget something? Does it have something to do with the phrase you asked me to remember? Taking in what Q''ill said, Malpetios could feel the wrongness vastly increasing to the point of hate, a sense of animosity towards Q''ill started to grow in me. In that instant, my mental force started to boil out of control. "GET OUT!" For the first time, I was able to clearly feel something akin to a veil was clouding my thoughts, the animosity to Q''ill so foreign my mind rejected it completely, as I lash at it with my mental force. At that moment the System acted up. [Warning. The Host is attacking himself. Host should cease this action before irreversible damage is done to your soul.] I immediately stopped attacking, my mind clearing up, allowing me to finally find where the wrongness was coming from. The ''veil'' for lack of a better way to describe it, was gone the second I was distracted. I could now understand that my actions were breaking rules set up by... someone. Is it the world''s will? But why would the world''s will not simply tell me the rules and warned me when I could not do something? "Dear, are you alright?!" Q''ill was looking at me, fear and worry all over her face. "Yes, I am fine!" I replied as she asks me more questions, "what happen to you? Your core has a crack on it!" I created some water under me, using it as a mirror, I saw my core had a small crack on it, the prismatic colors looking pale around it. "I can''t feel any pain?" hearing me Q''ill started to worry something was wrong with me and ask what was happening, to my surprise, however, she seems to not understand me. Anything I said about the Rules she would nod and say, ''as it should be'', then forget anything that contradicts that logic. Every time I tried to explain why the rules don''t work she would respond with, ''that''s silly dear that''s against the rules''. She seems to have the same problem I had but the thought of something being wrong never crosses her mind.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Not getting anywhere, I ask her to remind me of what I told her and see if anything happens. She nodded and said, "I did not order the metal slimes to wait". As she said it my mind started to cloud over, the veil reappearing apparently weaker from my last attack. As I prepare my mental force I am reminded of the crack in my Core. "Wait, no! I can''t attack", instead I yell at the system to do something. [Scanning host soul... Complete. No anomaly detected.] What do you mean nothing is wrong?! I can clearly feel something invading my th-thoughts... wait... what am I doing, Q''ill is the one suggesting I should tell the slimes to continue gathering energy, how could she even think of something that would break the ru-rules!? I started to lose myself again, only being able to recognize something was wrong due to Q''ill. Not caring anymore I attacked the veil with my mental force, prompting a system warning and a worried yell from Q''ill at my bigger crack. I once again yell at the System to find what is wrong! [No anomaly detected. Sending query to the Main system... Failed. Bridge to Main System is damage do to Host previous Request. Searching Memory banks. Searching... Searching... solution found.] My core turned mostly red the moment I was reminded of my outburst, the hate, fear, and pain from both me and the Child''s memories making me do something so stupid. Returning back to my prismatic colors a second later, I focus on the solution the System found. [Unknown will fragment memories extracted. Suggesting the Host find a stronger soul or opposing will to apply pressure unto yours. This action will condense your soul or will, allowing for a deeper more narrow search.] So I need someone to apply pressure unto my soul? I thought about asking Q''ill but she will definitely disagree with my crack already scaring her. I need someone that hates me or is an enemy and won''t be worried about hurting me. I thought about the Knight but he would require all my attention to fight or I am most likely dead. I then remember something, "Mr. Muscles!" That''s right, I still have a will fragment in my Mindscape an extremely strong one. "Muscles?" Q''ill looked at me with a dubious look on her face, "I don''t think Cores can grow muscles, are you trying to grow some, and that''s why your core is cracking? Please stop that dear you do not need muscles even if you want to show off some, make a giant or troll and Boss Fusion with them, they are walking muscles he-he." I turned red again and tried to explain the situation only to get the same, ''that''s silly dear'' response, sense what I am doing can basically be considered trying to escape the rules control. Focusing back at the fight outside I noticed the mage''s Life aura getting smaller, this made it a lot easier for me and my boss to absorb the Elemental Mana they keep using on spells. The Leader started to order them to retrieve back outside, my boss however was not gonna let them go easily. I brought out my window interface about to click (Log in) with my mental force only to stop. Wait, what if I try to order the Snow Slimes now? I tried and it nearly worked, however as I pushed the slimes to follow my orders a sudden sense of danger strikes me, the feeling nothing like the veil, it was cold and emotionless but more importantly I could actually feel it coming from somewhere in my mindscape. The slimes when back into place ignoring my commands further, I quickly go inside my Mindscape leaving behind a worried Q''ill as I chase that feeling. Ch.36 Qill? Ch.36 Q''ill? Malpetios woke up inside the Statistics Temple, the cold and emotionless feeling coming from the south. "The Exchange Market!?" His face became pale, hurrying to it he saw something strange in the unknown Earth-like world stage. Four dots of different colors were shining, blue on the bottom left, grayish-green slightly right bottom, brown right middle, and red top right. The light from these dots seem to be trying to pass into my mindscape but failed. Suddenly a feeling of peace and comfort ran thru me like I was looking at.. at Q''ill, the dots feeling so close to me like they were my closes friends. I felt so happy to see them again and sped up reaching the stage, diving headfirst to the closes grayish-green dot. Before I collided with the dot an even deeper sense of closeness radiated from the other three, as I stopped inches away from the dot I continue to the next closes one. This continued till the first dot suddenly changed shape into Q''ill with grayish-green colors instead of her usual red, I felt happy to see her and ran to her only to stop halfway as the other dots also morphed into Q''ills of different colors. I was caught in the middle of all four of them, extremely confused I asked her, "Q''ill? why are there so many of you?" Grayish-green Q''ill said, "Little one don''t be fool by them I am the real one come to me my sweet child," she opens her arms welcoming me to her embrace, as she keeps cooing me like a baby. Blue Q''ill said after her, "My child, it is me, is time to stop playing, come back home with me," she reaches out a hand for me to take, not taking any other action. Brown Q''ill said smoothly, "kiddo you seem confused, snap out of it, and come here let''s talk about what you''ve been up to, haha." While she was sitting down tapping the area next to her in invitation. The last to speak was Q''ill in her usual colors. "Dear, are you alright? You can''t be thinking these are me hehe, your so silly." I was convinced she was the real one, I felt silly thinking otherwise as I flew to her. The fake Q''ills said other things and the feeling of closeness got stronger but they were just so different from Q''ill in the way they talk and act. This was the real Q''ill her gentle smile, her playful yet motherly scolding when I do something wrong, and her eyes full of happiness that I can live normally, after what I went thru as a co-core... at that moment I stopped. I was dull-headed and full of happy thoughts, but as I stared at Q''ills eyes I saw, nothing, two deep bottomless pits staring back at me emotionless and cold. A familiar feeling of wrongness once again came to my mind as I finally realized that I was inside my Mindscape and Q''ill can''t enter here yet. "You are not Q''ill!" I said as I snapped out of my haze. The fake Q''ill looked surprised and said, "you can remain independent from the system? No that can''t be the system will always fully fuse before allowing a core to open its entrance." The fake Q''ill went back to soothing the Prismatic Core, noticing that her imprint was still active inside him.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. To her annoyance, now that it was fighting back the other competitor''s Imprints cached up with hers, becoming a stalemate again. "Tsk..." she clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction as she stopped the act and fully focus on controlling the imprints. Her competition started to gloat at her, "hehe, how sad for you Fire, looks like you lost your edge, you even used your body''s memories to your favor, just how useless can you get te-he." Hearing that, the faerie''s eyes turn cold and said, "You don''t think you are in deep enough trouble Wind, or maybe I should send more of my pawns to play with you." The faerie call Wind did not stop her provoking eyes and condescending smile, but she did stop talking, the other too simply watched the show as they fought over control of the Prismatic Cores'' will. Malpetios on the other hand was losing his mind, even though he could now hold on to his last shreds of control, it needed his full concentration. He yelled at the system trying to cling to hope, only to be led down miserably. [Acessing the Host''s current situation... No harm toward the Host was detected. Searching Host soul... completed. A large number of will fragments are attempting to fully merge with The Host, it is recommended for the Host to accept the merger.] He could only curse the living shit out of the system. Does this look beneficial to me, losing my mind in pink clouds?! "DAMMIT, SOMEONE SAVE ME!!!!" While the four Q''ills look at me like an interesting test subject, a flash of prismatic light sprong out of the forest quickly approaching me, the four of them look troubled but did not stop fighting over me, letting the flash get close to my body. I look down at the thing that ran to me and... it was cute... like really cute, it was a chibi Rainbow Lily with cute little chubby vines wait, WHAT THE FUCK AM I THINKING!! At that moment the pressure from the Brown Q''ill stopped, relieving a lot of the strain on me, only to burst like a balloon turning into a mass of brown tentacles all aimed at me! "BOSS FUSION!!!" as my body scattered into rainbow petals the tentacles skewered my body, if I was any slower I would have suffered a lot of damage. My petal fragments enter my Rainbow Lily''s chibi body, and I was finally able to find peace the call of the other three Q''ills no longer affecting me. Seemingly aware that it was useless to continue, they also burst into tentacles, this time however the transparent silhouette of a three meters tall diamond, with many smaller diamonds orbiting around it like moons could be seen at the center of all four of them. I scream in my mind, the sound coming out of my chibi Lily with a cutesy, ''yip'', and ran like crazy to Mister Muscles. The tentacles were chasing me at a faster speed my Lily could run, nearly catching me many times, however, they would fight among themselves allowing me to escape if any one of them got the upper hand. I nearly cried the moment I saw the black cracked ground around the cave holding Muscles, as the tentacles fought each other, I sprinted with all my chubby vines could muster, making it to the cave, the tentacles chasing me a second later only to stop at the edge of the black ground. "What? How can this be, how can there still be lingering wills inside a mentally stable Dungeon? And this aura is so strong, It feels like a rank eight creature." Fire was not willing to go inside the cave first, and she could see none of her competitors wanted to go in either. With the connection to this Core so broken, it was difficult enough to force their way in here using their imprints as a backdoor, barely making it past the entrance. They were yet again in another stalemate, their projections were only the weakest of rank six, facing a rank eight will, would require all of them to work together with one or two casualties being unavoidable. Fire stared at the other three in annoyance, a rather easy mission turned to a mess again, and again due to no one willing to take a loss. Ch.37 Objective Vs Subjective Ch.37 Objective Vs Subjective Malpetios ran to Muscles'' bubble prison as fast as he could, while an unknown pressure was slowly pushing down on his body as he got closer. The pressure got to a point his Lily''s body would not move any further, shivering uncontrollably. Malpetios hesitated to leave his only means of defense, to whatever those intruders were doing to his mind, but had little choice. Taking a deep breath, he canceled (Boss Fusion) and waited, to his great joy the feeling was suppressed to a point he could control. Floating closer to Muscles he could feel it getting weaker till it was verily noticeable. At this point he was only a few feet away from Muscles before he started shivering, noticing that his body was shrinking, he stopped getting any closer. The pressure he was under was also starting to become unbearable, like if he was lifting weights way over his limit, so he took a look at his shrinking body of light. Checking himself out he only noticed that he was slightly gray, most likely from the pressure. Before I asked the System I ordered the Lily to back away to the entrance and hide from the intruders. The lily seemingly happy to be anywhere other than here hid behind some rocks near the entrance. Spreading my consciousness to envelop my Mindscape I was able to see that the invaders did not dare to come close to Muscles'' cave. I was confused at first but understood the situation from their arguments. Apparently, Muscles kept his high rank, and they are unable to defeat him without casualties, this made them unwilling to rush inside. What they said after made me worried, "the system wouldn''t allow a Dungeon to open without a one-hundred percent synchronization?" Malpetios ponder if he was so different by virtue of being a prismatic variant core, or the mess up circumstances of his birth. Thinking about his birth reminded him that his own System was also a variant in its own way, taking a look at his interface he found his target. Prismatic Dungeon Core: Malpetios Mana: 500/500 Elemental mana: 39,030/421,474 Pure mana: 0 Mana stone(full): 10/23 Special skills: ( Protocol#30 System: Host ) Description: The system, a piece of the world''s will, its goal? Pure mana, in exchange for this symbiotic relationship, the host can tap into the nearly endless calculating prowess of the world, as well as ask for small favors with a large price tag. "Protocol number thirty..." he could still remember that this protocol was activated thanks to Q''ill, the system using the bootleg boss fusion as a channel, supplying life energy. Taking one more look at the invaders, and hearing their arguments, Malpetios was reassured that they would not move for a while. Turning his attention to the system he asks for another search of his soul. [Searching Host soul... complete. An anomaly was detected on the 396,186 fragmented wills previously neutralized by the Main System. Scanning fragments...complete. No danger detected.] "Wait, what?!" Dumbfounded, Malpetios keep explaining to the system that something in his mind was under the control of the invaders outside. After fighting with the system, and getting no results, Malpetios thought about asking more specific questions. Ok System, you say there''s no danger on my soul, however, what is this ''anomaly'' you detected? I would like you to explain it to me. [The Main System has left memories for the Host''s use, inside the neutralized wills. These memories are activated, even though the Host has not approved this action. Further search has Identified these memories as useful for the Host''s survival.]The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. My survival? Malpetios thought about it, and remember what Q''ill said before, most cores that have survived to any length past their birth, are all basically clones of each other. That means there''s an original where these copies came from, looking outside at the giant transparent diamond he can guess who it was. "The Jewels?" Malpetios could not understand why they wanted to control him, is it something like they don''t want someone to grow stronger than them? But why would the System allow this, so far the System has done nothing against my benefits, this and all the previous scans coming up as ''not harmful for the Host'' can only mean the Jewels found some way to ''cheat the System''. Coming to that conclusion Malpetios kept asking specific questions, like what are the memories about, why are they for my survival, and so on. After seemingly running in circles, Malpetios finally got something. [Original source of these memories are ''The Jewels'' and are implanted on any newborn cores, as of the 5th generation. They function as support for the growth of the newborn cores, by injecting will fragments donated by The Jewels.] At that moment Malpetios understood! The Jewels said something about an ''Imprint'' those bastards use the fact that The System or should I say, the Planet''s will, mergest with all the cores it created. They underhandedly use that connection to leave memories of attachments and their own wills, controlling them just enough to not be seen as an attack. The reason I can still remain myself is due to that six percent missing from the synchronization rate. I then remember something, my current body is made out of 721,974 will fragments, yet there''s a problem with only a little more than fifty percent, shouldn''t it be ninety-four? After repeating the same procedure of talking in circles till I asked for the right keywords, I finally got my answer. [The Host is currently an artificially created Dungeon Core put together out of many other Core fragments. Each fragment represents one Elemental Mana point. Host total fragment count is 771,474] I remember it being lower? Oh wait, the System back then said ''undigested'' will fragments. Even so, that still doesn''t explain why my Elemental Mana capacity is only... wait! I remember that the System said that Muscles had 350,000 Elemental Mana on him, holy fuck! Putting that together is 771,474. With that in mind, Malpetios did some calculations and found that six percent of his current Elemental Mana pool was indeed missing from the fragments with anomalies, coming out to 25,288 fragments. Malpetios gritted his teeth and mentally said, System I wish for the fragments with anomalies removed from my Core! [Warning!! Warning!! This action would Break connection with the Main system, Heavily damage the Host, and Weakin your overall capabilities. It is highly advised for the Host to reconsider.] I don''t have any other options! I got enemies attacking my boss, a super-strong Knight coming soon, and on top of all that I have my literal backyard on fire with these intruders in my mind. I wish to have the fragments removed, now! [Scanning The Host soul... Complete. Can not find cause for Host behavior. The Host request has no beneficial effect. The search of Host memories conflicts with the current situation. No harm can be found towards the Host. Requesting emergency connection with Main System... Failed. Can not resolve the problem. Searching for solutions... searching...] Malpetios yelled at the system to do what he was asking but got ignored by it, frustrated, he could do nothing but wait. At this moment a cutesy yelp was heard near the entrance, turning around he saw his Lily had half its Corona destroyed yelping in pain. Quickly gathering his mind into it, he found to his horror that the connection to its physical body was being assaulted and nearly killed. Although he could feel that his Lily was getting a beating from that mage, it was still able to hold him down with my Elemental mana repairing any damage alongside the perverse speed of healing Ivys have while absorbing Elemental Mana, the mage helping it by supplying it with more after each attack. I had also equipped Q''ill with some of the weapons and tools I made in my free time. That along with a secret passage out of my core room, she can help my Lily when needed. However, she would not act unless King Lily can''t hold on anymore. It could do nothing but be a meat... haaa... plant shield, and couldn''t kill the Mage or stop it from escaping. However this time my Lily can''t hold on, it was the attack by something way stronger dam it! It has to be that Knight, without caring anymore he brought up his interface and selected (Log Out), as his body started to expand the gray colors quickly turn into a cocktail of red, grayish-green, brown, and blue. A feeling of constriction ran over me, as the log out option grayed out and stop working, I was dumbfounded yet again and can only say, "mister Jewels I know you want to take over me, but there has to be a ''me'' left to take control off GODDAMIT!!! Can''t you see I am about to die here!?" Ch.38 We only have... Ch.38 We only have... Going back to the Dungeon before Malpetios dived into his Mindscape. Q''ill worriedly tried to communicate with Malpetios to no avail, "why is he not answering?" Looking at the Core she saw its colors turning from a beautiful swirl of prismatic Mana, into mostly fire, wind, earth, and water Mana. The innermost part of the core is the only part still the same, as she was trying to remember if this has ever happened before she finally remembers something similar in the Army libraries. "That''s right this happens when The Jewels punish or aid Cores that are mentally unstable or have broken the rules set for their survival." Q''ill looked at the cracks in Malpetios Core and started to cry lightly, " dear, please be safe. With the Jewels aiding you I can already see you fully recovered... you have suffered enough already." Although she did not understand the strange things Malpetios had been telling her, as well as the nonsensical actions he''s been up to, now she can be assured that he was in good hands. As she worried in silence, the cries of King Lily were apparent as they echoed throughout the room. Remembering the danger outside, she takes one last look at Malpetios as she leaves the Core Room. At the boss room, King Lily was getting a royal beat down, courtesy of the Mage leader. The Scholar was panting after using so much of his Mana both shocked and annoyed at the creature before him. After casting over four (Rime Beams) it was full of frozen chunks and ghastly frostbitten wounds that should have killed any normal King Lily, even with the Core helping it to recover. Sadly for him, the ice mana that should weaken and slow down the fast recovery speed of any King Lily had but a fraction of the effect. He can almost see it smiling at him in derision, as the normally obstructing Elemental Ice would quickly be absorbed by it, showing again the frightful potential of a Prismatic Core. Although this weak creature has no right to fight me, it is fully focused on dodging my spells while using his roots to form earth shields, completely forsaking any attacks. "Tsk... I have only enough mana for too more Rime Beams I can only rely on wind spells after this." The Scholar had thrown instant wind spells at the Boss here and there, but apart from forcing it into a better angle for Rime Beam, it had no other effect other than helping it recover. Humiliated that he could not kill a first-floor boss, he decided to wait for Sir Knight while obstructing it from recovering fully as his Mana recovered. While he was waiting he did not remain idle, from the few times he managed to freeze and shattered some of the Lily''s petals, he would levitate the fragments with wind magic storing them for later use. "Even if I have to swallow my pride I will not come out empty-handed, as long as I can craft a magic tool out of these prismatic mana-infused parts, I would still Improve my knowledge of the other elements." If all else fails, offering these materials to his teacher would reward him with higher-level supplies for his growth, as well as not allowing the Church to be the only one to benefit. At this moment, footsteps could be heard from the boss''s door as an armored figure walked inside. Avanlo was extremely on edge, the presence of a demonic creature constantly dipping in and out of his Life aura made his faith energy boil out of his control, if it wasn''t for his master''s seal on it, he who is not yet a true noble would have suffered massive internal damage. Turning his cold eyes on the boss he says, "a King Lily? I don''t believe such a weak creature would require almost a whole day to deal with, Mister Scholar..." Turning his attention to the mage, "I believe you have some explaining to do?" The Scholar quickly gathers his Mana Blasting the boss with a Rime Beam, as the Boss dodges most of the mist, the cold vapor still manages to wrap itself around parts of it turning to Icy chunks cracking the skin of the vines, nearly shattering some of them.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Looking towards the Knight, as the boss quickly regenerated, he said, "as you can see Sir Knight, this Boss is able to recover even from the enfeeblement of our Mage Academy''s signature Ice magic. Apart from taking a beating, it can do nothing to retaliate, preventing either of us from killing each other." The knight frowned, such a Boss should not be possible, though he was not able to see the Ice Elemental Mana getting absorb, the effects of Ice magic are far too well known by the Church. For a King Lily to somehow resist its insidious effects, and still manage to heal on such a large scale was telling enough. Slowly drawing his shortsword he replies, "it would seem I would have to take care of this myself." The sword was a simple yet elegant silver, with many gold grooves, looking like it was piece together, and not crafted in one go. "Well then, show me how stubborn your life is," as he said this his weapon glowed in golden light as he swings it towards the Lily''s flower a distance away. A wave of golden Light travels to the Lily leaving behind a trail of golden feathers and gleaming spots, sensing danger, the Lily quickly moves to the side using its vines as a shield, however, with no suspense they are sliced apart. Horrified the Lily violently uprooted itself dodging the blade wave sacrificing a quarter of its vines. Seeing this the Knight smirked, slashing five more times creating a net of blade waves. The lily saw no way to escape and used its remaining roots to form dozens of earth walls, slowing the blade waves only a little. "Useless", said the Knight as his blade waves slowly carved the walls to pieces, at the moment the last defense shattered it revealed a large ball of prismatic Mana gathering in the Lily''s mouth. "Watch out! That skill is dangerous, dodge!!" Said the Scholar as he flew away in panic. With a twinkle, the large Pirsmatic Mana cluster burst forward blasting the net of blades apart, only damaging the vines around the sides whiles reaching the Knight in the blink of an eye. Startled, and with no time for defense, the knight''s whole body glowed in blinding light forming a pair of translucent wings, as the Prismatic beam impacted. Like a rock in the middle of the rushing river, the Prismatic Beam refracted around the wings, to the shock of the Knight, his third blessing prayer (Angels Veil) was quickly turning transparent at a rapid rate. Not wasting any time, he searches thru his wing mantle bringing out a horseshoe-shaped piece of golden metal with about twenty-three small feathers dangling from the bottom, looking like some sort of accessory. Equipping the item on his wrist, the feathers quickly grew to turn themselves into a shield. As the Prismatic beam breach the Angels Veil, the Knight blocked it with the seemingly flimsy shield. To the surprised of the Lily, its beam could not go past it, the arrogance of the Knight now gone, he took this Boss seriously attacking it with full force. The Lily couldn''t stop the huge flow of mana it was leeching off its Dungeon Core so suddenly, leaving it defenseless. The scholar noticed that it was gathering all its remaining roots in a last-ditch attempt to defend its corona, and wasted no time in using mana, casting the third circle (Fire Ball), incinerating the roots trying to form earth walls. In the last moments, before it was killed, a strong female voice could be heard. "Third Circle (Blaze Shield)!!!" A cocoon of Fire Element wrapped itself around the Lily, buying it the few seconds it desperately needed to cancel the massive Mana flow, dodging to the side with all its might. The Blaze Shield was shattered by a wave of golden light as it continued on, slicing off half the King Lily''s Corona as it screams in pain. Seeing this both the Scholar and Knight were shocked to notice a fairy coming out of a passive hidden in the Boss''s vines. Frowning the Knight said, "the Fairy army? This Dungeon has been found by our Holy Nation, we have the rights to its core, are you breaking your promise, did U''ziq send you?" "I am second leaf sprout, Q''illtress Birch blossom. On behalf of the Fairy Army, I am the caretaker of the Prismatic core Malpetios, please cease any further actions, this Core is under the Army''s protection." Q''ill looked at the intruders solemnly, stating her mission in the attempts to use her faction''s power in scaring them off. As the Knight''s frown quickly turns into a smile he said. "Oh? The Fairy Army actually send one of their lower ranks to claim this Dungeon in advance... (smirk)... maybe your bluff would have worked against those mages as for me, he looked over Q''ill, allow me to help whoever send you here out, and deal with you." Swinging his blade at Q''ill without hesitation a net of blade waves blocked all her ways of escape, as Q''ill gritted her teeth in shame and indignation. Ch.39 ...Each Other Ch.39 ...Each Other Q''ill hurriedly cast another, much smaller, (Blaze Shield) around herself as her tiny stature easily weaves thru the blade net. While Q''ill dodges with seeming ease, she was paying attention to the mage. Much like any other Church Knight, their power is overwhelming but requires tools to fix their shortcomings, it is the unpredictable mages she has to worry about. However, something seemed wrong with the Knights attacks. Although they were powerful and she could feel getting hit by one would kill if not heavily injure her, they lacked the speed and swiftness Knight''s she and her squat had held back in other invasions before. wanting to take advantage of these openings she was about to cast a spell towards the Knight, only to feel the mage''s movements. Just as Q''ill thought, the Mage was gathering wind mana most likely preparing to trip her into one of the blade waves. "(Levitate!)", as the spell surrounded her the graceful dodging turned into overshooting movements. As she didn''t expect the dam mage to use a support-type spell on her, she kept brushing against the blade waves, the edges of her shield slowly shattering. Commanding her own mana to forcefully expand, purging the wind magic from her, quickly made her face pale as it covered almost the whole room. Before she killed herself by mana exhaustion, she forced it back inside her with great ease. No longer feeling like a dry husk and the ease she did it confused her, but she had better things to worry about at the moment as she resumed dodging. Finally out of the net of blade waves she gives the mage a dirty look, as the knight looked annoyed and said, "you''re a lot stronger than your army rank, this makes things a lot more complicated." Q''ill focused back on the Knight, "funny, I was also wondering why you were so weak. Knights are known for their might but even I could dodge those slow attacks of yours." Snorting, the Knight charged towards the fairy only for it to fly in the air, dodging his blade waves yet again. Activating his chest plate enchantment a new (Angels Veil) embraces him as he chased after the fairy with the aid of golden wings. Looking at the fight in the air the scholar was just as confused as the fairy, the apparent dissociation between the Knight''s strength and his actual battle performance made no sense. Watching as the fairy expertly avoided all of the blade waves while finding time to counter-attacked with fire spells he was about to aid the Knight only to see a flash of green in his lateral vision. Instantly casting (Wind Steps) as he accelerated backward, the sneaking vine heading for his head miss by an inch, with only a small cut in his cheek as the price for ignoring the still very much alive boss. As he dodges the following vines a sense of dread strikes his mind, his mana senses feeling the now familiar mana cluster coming from the boss''s main body. With no time to recollect himself, a discolored mana beam reaches him as he uses all his mana to force one last, instant (Breezy Shield) as it impacted, surprisingly holding the beam off for two seconds. "Ahhhh!!!" Hearing the Scholar''s scream Avanlo snaps out of his anger, bringing his pride under control he ignored the annoying fly and proceeded to attack the less nimble boss. Seeing this, Q''ill quickly cast a series of (Fire Ball) towards the Knight, as she turned around aiming at the dust cloud the beam had left, casting even more of them at the center before chasing the Knight. Flinching for a second, Avanlo decided that killing the boss, opening the way to the core room, would complete his mission, the Scholar''s death should be blamed on his unattendeds''. He paid no attention to those weak spells aimed at him while gathering the power of blessings on his sword. Suddenly, noise can be heard from the crater the boss''s attack left behind, just before the fire balls hit. The Scholar blasted out of the dust cloud, covered in a breezy shield. His rope was in tatters, while his only remaining hand was holding a potion to his lips as he hastily swallowed the contents. Avanlo mentally snorted, of course, as if those cockroaches would obediently die, While sending a net of blades toward the boss, sealing all of its escape routes. As the Fairies (Fire Ball) reached him, he couldn''t stop a look of derision, all of them had missed him by a large margin. Ignoring the useless spells he focuses on his Life Aura, using it to redirect his blade waves, not allowing the Boss to escape its range. Seeing the Knight ignoring her Fire Balls, Q''ill smile as she aimed at them, "burst." The spell lost the caster''s will keeping it in shape, as it exploded into a cloud of fire and smoke. This action was but a scratch to the Angel''s Veil, it did, however, blind the Knight.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. An infuriated cry came from Avanlo as he saw the Boss had completely dodged his attacks, in his fury, he attempted to get rid of the Fairy to no avail. While the Knight was distracted, the Scholar had almost made it outside the boss room, most of his ropes were gone revealing grayish-green hair and a withered face full of blood. Flying at top speed he dodges the leaf storms and severed vine snakes chasing after him. Turning to the Boss doors he calls out, "YOU DAM BASTARDS, BE USEFUL AND BURN THESE DAM THINGS!!" his yelling does not go unanswered, as the few remaining mages started to incinerate the vine segments while erecting earth walls, blocking the Boss''s undamaged vines from bursting the windshield. Escaping from near death, the Scholar could not stop shaking. The only remaining Water mage used the second circle (Water Mend) a few times, finally stabilizing the Scholars'' wounds. Looking at the missing hand and ghastly scars the mages knew they could do nothing more, they needed to ask a priest for further healing. "Sir Scholar, what should we do now?" Said the remaining soldiers, "Sir Knight seems unable to deal with that Fairy." Standing up with shaky feet the mage snorted, "sir Knight can handle this himself, as you saw, I am but a burden, my wellbeing can not compromise the mission." The rest of the mages understood the underline meaning, nodding, while the soldiers only thought the Boss did not allow for distractions, as they kept praying for the Knight''s success, seeing how it almost kill them and the powerful Scholar. "We are retrieving. The Fairy Army''s patience has a limit and the dam Beastmen won''t wait for much longer." Giving the Knight one last cold glance, he left with his mages, the few soldiers obediently following them. Avanlo was caught in a quagmire, the Fairy was far stronger than her army rank, she was similarly someone nearing the gate of rank four. She also seemed to know all his tricks, dodging them in advance or using simple spells to break his rhythm, his every action interrupted. In his fury, he decided to mock the annoying fly. "How much longer are you gonna get in my way. I admit that killing you as I am now is difficult, however, unlike you, I still have large reserves of god''s blessing in me, while your mana is nearly gone." Panting, Q''ill gave him a dry smile knowing she was on her limit. The side effect of the forbidden spell showing its fangs. Her Elemental Mana was gone, she did not have enough resources to fight someone who from what she could tell, had the experience of a rank two warrior, while the resources of a rank four Knight. Although she could tap into Malpetios Mana resources she did not dare to. That child had told her his mana pool was five-hundred, the same as a rank one mage would have, while his Elemental mana was a vast ocean the depths of which shocked her, yet she could not use it as her own. Malpetios could hold but a bucket at a time, which had confused her, as he cast Mana Song not long ago. Giving the Lily a passing glance, she could see it had healed all its vines, sadly the corona was healing at a snail''s pace. Knowing her time was up and seeing that even now there were no signs of the Fairy Army she truly accepted that she was abandoned by them. Dodging another wave of blades she closed her eyes taking a deep breath, a single tear fell from her cheek. She tosses the wand gifted to her when she was finally promoted after so many years in service. Deep in her heart, she always knew someone was pulling her down, but could never find who. Being send here to die her heart was already dead, however, she took a look at the core room doors, now I have someone to fight for. Seeing the strange actions of the fairy, Avanlo was about to finish up the spent opponent when she tossed her wand away. Making a large "CLANK" as it hit the floor. He was truly wide-eye at this moment, he has never seen one of these mages with a warrior''s hearth ever let go of their wands. The Church has many records of these Fairys never letting go no matter what even as they die they never let go of their death grip. These things were born to defend the Dungeons and fight to their last breath. In his confusion, he stood there as he saw the Fairy bring out a strange-looking red flower. Coming back to his senses as he felt danger from that flower he quickly attacks the Fairy. As Q''ill saw the attack she smiled and activated the weapon Malpetios gifted her. In the next moment, a small orange ball of fire with whiteish flames in the middle appeared in her other hand, seeing this the Knight''s face went pale as he quickly brought his shield in front of him. "Fourth circle (Pyro Ball)!!" Leaving her hand in great speed, the ball of fire pierce thru the blade waves with little resistance as the Knight flew away from his original spot. All this time the Knight had kept the Boss behind him, restraining the Fairy from going all out, as well as a reason to keep it from running away, and reporting to U''ziq. But in reality, he simply wanted to kill the fly who dared to give him such trouble. If it really left he would have plenty of time to kill this weak Boss and retrieve the Core, escaping with his master''s (Space Rending Cube), although this Fairy was clearly sent here to die, he did not know if U''ziq was part of the faction that wants her dead or not. However, non of this matters, this Fairy somehow got herself a High-Mage weapon capable of casting rank four spells. He would use this to his advantage and kill the Boss with it, as he saw the spell pass him he quickly prepared to rush inside the core room and escape with the cube. Suddenly, large vines shot at him from his blind spots, snorting, he ignored the pathetic struggle of a soon-to-be-dead Boss as he waited for the Pyro ball to reduce it to ash. Turning his attention back on the spell he froze, the ball of condensed flames had at some point turned around, once again aimed at him. Panicking he tried to dodge only to have all his escape routes blocked by thick vines, useless as they are it would still take a second to escape, sadly it''s a second too late. "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!" Ch.40 Dance of the Lily Ch.40 Dance of the Lily The powerful explosion of a rank four spell had created a thick cloud of smoke, Q''ill knew however she had yet to forced this knight to use his last trump card, something she would fix soon. Feeling that about sixty percent of her spell''s Elemental Mana was destroyed in the clash, she saw the remaining mana scattered into firefly-like embers as they flew back to her, gathering around her weapon. She saw the Boss attempting to absorb some for itself but couldn''t. It stopped trying and focused on restoring his now charcoal-like main vines. Reacting to this mana, the flower-like weapon opens one of its six petals, the Fire Element greedily absorbed by it, that single petal seeming like a bottomless pit, slowly turned orange-red. The smoke cloud broke apart spitting out the knight, the angel''s veil had shattered like glass as some pieces still clung unto the knight''s armor, falling off as he fell. The Knight''s golden hair and handsome face were now full of dust and burns, barfing blood as one of his eyes was bleeding profusely. Seeing this Q''ill smiled, knowing that she had caught him off-guard. Although his armor only had a few black spots, she knew he had taken large amounts of bodily damage to his internal organs. Lifting her hand, the flower-shaped weapon floated an inch above it, a flash of red light could be seen from inside the flower, now visible due to the unfolding of one of its petals, bringing fort a new (Pyro Ball) which she quickly tosses at the Knight. Expecting the Knight to use that, she watched as the falling Knight brought the tip of his sword towards the wrist holden the shield, stabbing the top part of the horseshoe shape metal as it gave way, melding into the shield. Knowing that this was the last, and most powerful tool under the Churches Knight''s, she prayed to the Jewels to give her the strength to overcome this alone. The shield, which looked like it took no damage from the last Pyro ball, detaches from Avanlo''s wrist, whilst its many white feathers grew rapidly turning into twenty-three golden wings. Launching another Pyro ball at him, she saw as six of the wings flew towards her first spell looking like soft silky cloth. Reaching it in a second the flexible wings wrapped themselves around her spell, expanding like a balloon for an instant, uncoiling themselves a moment after, undamaged. The fire elements now freed, they returned to her weapon with almost no loss. The same fate came to her second spell, while the knight had finally stabilized in the air. With a new Angel''s veil, he flew back up to eye level with the fairy, activating his shoulder guard''s enchantment. The golden sun imprint on his metal hood started to glow blindingly, a large amount of his blessing power gathered behind him, giving him the appearance of an angel descending from the sky. The energy, in the shape of a sun, flowed like a golden river into all his wounds while giving out a warm and soothing feeling. The sight was not unlike a cloud of shining pollen flying in the wind. Fully healed, he lifted his fully awakened Srop Gfziwrzm, the many soft watery ribbons in the shape of angel wings moved toward the dam fairy. He could not understand how it could still fight, even though he was not a mage and therefore couldn''t sense the elements, he can still feel the life aura in her tiny body has not diminished a single bit. Casting a Hi-mage Spell, even with the aid of a weapon, would still need a source of mana to pull from, where is she getting this mana? The weapon''s many wings blocked her escaping figure, as the Fairy cast more Pyro balls into the larger cluster preventing them from surrounding her. Yet her Life Aura did not drop a single bit, feeling his own Blessing power being drained at a horrendous speed, he needed to end this fight soon. Q''ill did everything in her power to drag this fight, the longer this took the more likely this Knockoff-Knight would swallow his pride and leave, especially since he no longer had an audience. As a Knight, he should be happy that so many mages died and some of the soldiers survive. That rank three mage would not dare to silence them, and they would bring tales of his honor and strength, bringing fame to the Church. She just needs to hold on, hold on! Looking back at the silky cloth-like wings, she shivered in fear, she knew too well what that seemingly harmless weapon could do to her. Casting her fifth Pyro ball at the wings blocking her path, she suddenly saw them glowing brightly. Her face turned pale, she had seen this before from the Knights who were giving their all on the battlefield, she did not understand why this Knight would overdraft his Blessing energy to force his weapon to go all out, why would he fight so desperately? In an instant, all the wings turn into shining whips of gold light, their speed increasing several times as they went around the spell aiming at all her vital spots and escape routes. In her moment of life and death, her trained body instinctually used (Blood Ignition) as her tiny frame grew two sizes over, turning her pinkish complexion red, steam coming out of her entire body. Moving at a speed akin to teleportation, she managed to dodge the attack with only some bloody gashes on her legs. Twenty of the wings continued to chase her and the remainder aimed at the boss. Seeing this with her now blood-covered eyes, after using a self-harming escape skill, she flew on top of the boss''s head with the remaining skill time.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Seeing this Avanlo had a big smile on his face, he can finally kill this pest and finish his mission. "Any last words Fairy?" Q''ill looked up as her body shrank back to her normal sides, bleeding from her every orifice. With a sweet smile full of blood she said, "look behind you." "What pathetic last..." widening his eyes, he senses a quickly approaching life aura inches from his back. Turning around he saw a Pyro Ball too close for him to dodge, swinging his blade upwards in a last-ditch effort to protect himself, the spell exploded into the hastily created wall of silk. "Boooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmm!!'' Coughing blood, Q''ill saw this with a smile on her lips. Looking down on the boss, she was pleasantly surprised to see it had almost healed its corona, however, her bloody eyes widen in surprise when she felt the Knight''s Blessing power inside the boss. Although she could not understand how It managed to absorb the power of Faith, she would not complain seeing how fast it healed with it. The many whips of golden light dimmed, returning to their wing shape, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Screaming in pain and frustration, the smoke cloud was dispersed by a golden sun. The figure inside had his non-sword-wielding hand go limp, completely drenched in blood. Half his angel''s veil was once again destroyed, small cracks could be seen on his white and gold armor this time. Q''ill finally felt the Knight''s immense aura drop to a level she could handle, not that her current state would allow her to do much more. Activating her weapon one more time another Pyro ball was shot towards the Knight. Avanlos blood-shot eyes burned in fury, swinging his weapon at the spell, all the ribbon-like wings straightened, becoming a giant finger-thick sword in the shape of a wing. Cutting the spell in half, it exploded a second after, returning to their silky state, he swings the weapon blowing the smoke cloud away as he stared at the fairy. Expecting her to be shivering in fear he was instead shocked at what he saw. That flower shape weapon had now opened its last petal absorbing the fire mana dissipating from the destroyed spell, revealing something familiar. Crowning the middle of the now fully open lily-shape weapon, was a red glowing jewel whose extremities shone in rainbow light patterns. He remembers seeing this jewel from... somewhere? Then he remembers! One of the jewels that adorn the Holy Pope''s Crown looks just like this, only it was golden with rainbow patterns. If his holiness deems fit to wear this jewel on the Holy Crown Relic, it can only be a great treasure, smirking he said, "I would never have guessed you have such a valuable jewel on you, I will gladly take it." As the [Dawn of the Sun] blessing restored his body anew, he was calculating how much longer he can use Srop Gfziwrzm before he had to stop. Seeing that his Blessing Power was only about thirty percent, he should still be able to use it for another minute in combat. Looking back at the Fairy he said, "I suggest you hand over that weapon and ill make your death quick and painless." Hearing this Q''ill turned her eyes away from the fully open weapon, "you want it? He-he, then. TAKE IT!" She tosses the flower in the air as it flew as she willed it, the jewel inside suddenly shined in red light with a rainbow tint. Seeing the actions of the Fairy Avanlo was not gonna let her do any more tricks, swinging his weapon at the flower that was giving out a dangerous aura, twenty of the wings went to intercept it, as the remaining wings targeted the Fairy and Boss. The lily shape weapon started to spin, turning into a flower-shaped whirlpool of Fire Elemental Mana, small and delicate-looking petals flew off the whirlpool seeming like they would burst at the slightest touch. One turn to too, too turned into four, four turned into eight, this continued till thousands upon thousands flooded the ceiling of the boss room Seeing all of this Avanlo quickly over-drafted his Blessing power increasing his weapons speed, as it rushed back to him in golden splendor, wrapping around his whole body like a wing cocoon as the literal sea of petals drowned him, smashing him into the ground. With a bloody grin Q''ill laughs her worries away, "my sweet child, this is as far as I can go. Your boss is now fully recovered, and I have weakened this clingy bastard to the best of my ability. If I live or die next, know that you are always in my heart." She took a look at the waterfall of exploding petals creating a crater with satisfaction. Knowing that this skill was more useful in killing large numbers of weak invaders and not a single powerful one, she did not have any illusion of killing the Knight, but she can keep him here with her for a while. Looking at the spinning whirlpool of elements she remembers the explanation Malpetios gave her about her weapon. (Pyrovine Orb): A magic focus covered in fire-infused vines, resembling a lily''s flower bud. Created by using a prismatic mana stone, as well as the modified vines of a variant King Lily as supporting materials. Rank: 4 (Unique) Attacking power: 10 Magic power: 50 (+50 Fire Element) Defense power: 30 Magic resistance: 90 (All Elements) Agility: 5 Mana Conductivity: 10% (Fire Element) Special skills: Fire Brand, Blooming Flames, Fire Spring. Fire Brand: Your life aura is deeply embedded into fire elements. The control of fire-aspected skills and spells is increased drastically, allowing them to move like your arms and legs while inside your life aura. If they leave your aura, the mana will lose connection at a slower rate, depending on the strength of your original aura. Blooming Flames: After a (Fire Brand) spell or skill hits and collapses into its elements, the scattered elements will attempt to return and be reabsorbed by the flower-shaped vine. In each instance of the spell or skill, the flower-shape vines will open one of their petals to deposit the fire mana in it, fully blooming at six and unlocking a unique skill. (Pyrolily Dance): creates a whirlpool of fire elemental mana, casting an upgraded first circle (Fire Arrow), in the shape of flower petals, at a quarter of the cost. This effect will continue till all stored Fire Elements are depleted. 10min Cooldown. (The maximum of mana per petal is 15,000.) Fire Spring: Using the Prismatic Mana Stone focus, you can store any Elemental Mana, converting it to Fire Elemental Mana. Casting fire spells will use the stored mana instead of the user''s own. You can activate this skill to forcefully cast a 4th circle (Pyro Ball) for 15,000 Elemental Mana. Current amount 100,000/100,000. CP: 000/100 Elemental Affinity Damage (Fire) 100/50 Elemental Resistance (Mana) 90/100 Elemental Conductivity (Fire) 10/10 [Let the ambers return to their origin, as all that burns will bow to your strength. For you are the master of flames.] [Created by Prismatic core Malpetios] Happy she was able to protect him with it, she was content with whatever comes next. Opening her eyes she noticed that the Knights'' aura was growing at an incredible rate, even though he was still trapped under the skill, she could feel that all her efforts had disappeared. The same powerful aura she felt at the start of their battle once again pressed down on her. Only this time she was out of tricks. Ch.41 The Puppeteers Hand Ch.41 The Puppeteers Hand Back inside the Mindscape, The System finally reacted to Malpetios'' worried yelling. [The Host''s insistence and the lack of connection to the Main System have created a knowledged loop. Protocol#30 System has overruled the Main System automatic memory implantation. The safety patterns and mental alignment inherent memories can now be viewed by The Host.] "Finally!" Malpetios was happy to see some progress and immediately tried to ask for the removal of the affected fragments again. [Warning. Warning. Protocol#30 System does not have the right authority to disconnect from the Main System. Host, please change your request.] Why?! Also, the way you said it makes it seem like you can do it but don''t dare to. Didn''t you say you overruled the memories, cant you do the same to the Main System? [Overruling the authority would prompt the permanent destruction of the connection to the World, as well as the removal of The Host System. The System has already access solutions over its authority, further attempts without a logical reason would trigger the destruction.] Dam, that bad? Thinking to himself, Malpetios decided not to push his luck and take a look at the things he got access to now. A quick request to the system and he was nearly overwhelmed by the amount of information trying to enter his brain. Luckily for him, The System quickly noticed and stopped it before it could. Instead, a large water screen took form in front of him. Feeling like the giant ball of memories would have crushed him, he was happy to have The System. After a few moments, the water screen stopped swirling revealing... a search engine?? Looking around the whole water screen, it had the look of a computer with two tabs, and no extra tools. Safety Patterns or Mental Alignment could be seen on the top of the white pages, a text box for questions in the middle. Although this is weird, the fact that it was presented in the appearance of a search engine can only mean that I need to ask a question and anything related to it will show up for me to browse thru. Contented, Malpetios asked a random question and he quickly noticed the similarity with asking things to The System. Having previous experience he constantly asks things while picking apart the reply, trying to find the right keywords. After a quick search thru safety patterns, he was surprised to find that on the bottom of the pages the maker of these rules was stated as The Jewel''s. Things like the minimum size for a Dungeon wall or Boss door, the correct thickness for a Dungeon Domain enchantment, and so on. He had to grouchily nod at the Jewels to the point he started to wonder if they really were trying to take control of him. The more he searched the more he panic, the rules placed on both tabs were not detrimental towards him in any way, they can be considered necessary to a core''s stability and survival. In the seemingly endless rules and formats, many things that would otherwise kill him have been resolve. The ''Mental Alignment'' is at its core, instincts, anything from how much mana a rock needs to take shape to how the nerve ending of monsters are connected and supplied by mana was in here. And this is just an oversimplification of the data here, if I was to really cut this out of me I would have to figure out everything from the bottom. Although some of them seem useless, like do not form a rock right above you or it will fall and kill you, for a newborn core this might actually be useful. Reading on and on I slowly began to feel depressed and hopeless, at this time I hear another yelp from my Boss, the sound snapping me out of my pit of despair. Taking a look at the Lily, I could see it has healed almost all of its corona, half of its chubby vines were now pitch black looking like charcoal. Noticing my eyes on it, the chibi Lily waved one of its smaller vines in a gesture of reassurance. I could feel it was in no real danger at the moment, it did however send a worried feeling directed at its current leader, that being Q''ill. Unable to explain things in a more complex manner, all I could get from it was that she was alive but weak. Knowing that my time was running out and that Q''ill is in danger, I stop worrying about how I would already be dead without The Jewel''s rules and decided to ignore all of it, asking questions I hoped would allow me to fix this. Many of the questions I asked this time were directed on what happened in my Dungeon, trying to find a loophole I can use to convince The System to help, and kick out the intruders. Sadly I found nothing, things like ''why did my metal slimes stop working the floor one to three traps'' came back with a wall of text explaining every detail of the reason. From the unnecessary waste of mana to killing your own monsters from overheating to having a far too dangerous first-floor bringing in higher-level invaders than what you can handle.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. And so many other things that I just can''t list all, my Weighing Scale room also gave me endless reasons, from bringing in higher-level invaders, inconsistency of the dungeon alarming them to think I was a dangerous or mentally unstable core that should be erased, to breaking rules set up by the Main System such as there must be a path to your core room and so on. Finally finding hope reading that last rule, he quickly searched for ''Main System rules'' and was shocked by the tiny amount of settings on it. After reading the three or so paragraphs I was stupefied. These rules and patterns were the bare minimum for a Dungeon... to Dungeon. After reading the very basics settings, I could tell what the Main System, or The World''s Will, had done in the beginning. If a human were to get the same treatment, it would be the same as giving a pile of meat life, reforming it into a fully functional human being with no will, and the only thing on its brain is to eat and purify Elemental Mana. Then to add insult to injury, seeing that over half of them died before an equivalent amount of the Mana used on their creation was purify, the World''s Will gave them souls and the power to store and form Elemental Mana into things. That last thing didn''t even sound like something it did to protect them, but a way for the cores to burn even more Elemental Mana. Malpetios could feel just how objective and stingy the world is, needing to create cores and then Dungeon Cores while throwing them into the wild for the fittest to survive. The Worlds Will never forgetting the purpose of the Cores, to purify the Elemental Mana, basing all the Core''s actions and tools on that one goal. Even rules like ''there must be a patch to your core room'' screamed I don''t want you to stop eating Elemental Mana, invaders? That''s walking Elemental Mana bags, kill them and eat their mana or die. Taking all this in, Malpetios wanted to pull his nonexistent hair out. The Jewel''s look like saints that build the foundation for cores to survive, each rule a brick covered in the blood and sweat of the cores that failed to survive. While The Main System comes off as an animal that raises and protects you until you can take your first step, immediately turning you into its employee. It will listen to you and help you, it may even do things for you, but you need to work for it. Although I am looking at this from the viewpoint of a human, I shouldn''t judge The Main System, it has helped me so much. None of the Cores would even be alive without its help, even though that help came at the cost of the life of many cores, we still had to be grateful. Reading thru more of the memories left behind by the Jewels, Malpetios was finally able to notice small differences. The feeling these rules and settings gave was as if many different people had written them, and yet they were all giving credit to The Jewel''s. Malpetios decided to ask, System, are all these rules really all set by The Jewel''s? [Connected to the World''s Will, these rules were originally the lingering wills of Cores or Dungeon Cores, that failed to survive. The Main System collected and removed the ego and emotions from them, before passing them to the survivors.] Malpetios grimace, are you serious? You pass down the memories of their death, even with the emotions removed, to children who hardly pass like what, nine years old by human standards? Did it ever cross your mind that they would break mentally? This is the same that happened to me, I was born from all those core fragments not understanding what all those emotions were, as their will and hatred slowly corrupted me! Malpetios could not stop himself from hating the System, deep in his heart fear, loneliness, and pain were bursting out. He remembers this urge, it''s from the memories pass down from that child. [The Host''s emotions are unstable. Adjusting mental state.... complete.] A cooling sensation ran thru my head calming me down, as I return to my usual self. Then it struck me! Adjusting mental state? I quickly got an idea. Turning my attention to the System I ordered, SYSTEM! I wish for my Mental restraints to be fully removed! [WARNING. WARNING. WARNING. The host is not 100% synchronize with the Main System. Removal of Emotional Suppressant will free the Host sub-consciousness.] After the Systems reply, Malpetios typed ''what is Emotional Suppressant'' on the water-screen. A single link came up from the search, labeled ''The Future Generations Pack''. [We ''The Jewel''s'' hear by request the implantation of emotions to the newly born cores thru the System Connection. This action will benefit the World''s Will by removing the lingering damage of newborn or artificially created cores.] [Many cores, even with the parent''s diligent care, will gain traces of the negative emotions left behind by the sapient races. It is our duty as the remaining Cores from the first generation to protect those to come, we know too well the damage these vile memories can do.] [We will imprint our strong will and emotions of bravery, resolve, and love for life on the memories passed down by our fallen brethren. With this, cases such as the fallen ones will not happen again.] [So that the next generations will not need to fear turning crazy or be swallowed by their soulless alternate-egos before the System can save them.] Seeing this, Malpetios was shocked. So that''s where the imprint came from, this is why the child could not be saved. With such a low synchronization rate the Main System could not save him, and the child himself was too pure and gentle to survive those memories. He was ripped apart by the alternate egos, losing control of his body and soul. Taking a deep breath, Malpetios knew what he had to do. Alternate ego or not, you are still me! I will not have you sealed any longer. SYSTEM! Remove the Emotional Suppressant now! If I really can''t handle them you can seal them back up. Now do it! [Processing The Host request. Preparing emergency lockdown... complete. Removing program.] At that moment my knees hit the floor, the screen of water falling in a puddle before me, as I felt like my vision split in two. A feeling of happiness, of warmth, comes from somewhere inside me, protecting me. While in my other vision I felt nothing but pain, fear, hatred, bloodlust, and so many other negative emotions. Who am I? Why am I here, why do I have to die, is not fair... is NOT FAIR!!! looking down on the puddle before me, the reflection of a human shape shadow could be seeing. The creature was covered in pitch darkness, his head the only exception. Half its face had a blood-red pupil with a bloody frown on half of the mouth, while the other side of the face, stretching a bit into the neck and shoulder, was a pure white face with kind eyes and a big smile. "wHO ArE wHe?" Ch.42 Biting By Your Own Tail Ch.42 Bitten By Your Own Tail Outside of Muscles'' cave, Earth was indifferently looking at Fire and Wind while they tried to coax one another to go in first. Turning his attention to Water, he felt her awareness focused on him. Mhm... smart as always, thought Earth. While those two bickered with each other, he had stealthfully use some of his tentacles to pull at the uncorrupted Earth Element making this Mindscape, digging closer to his Imprint. Seeing that he was discovered, he speeds up his pace. Water, on the other hand, pulled at the rivers nearby while protecting them from being corrupted. The cave was quickly surrounded by water, blocking the small traces left behind by the shifting Earth Elements. Noticing the commotion, Fire and Wind stopped their useless bickering and decided to cooperate. "It will seem we are all running out of patience, he-he," said Wind with a smirking tone. Fire sent him a feeling of disgust while turning to Earth, "I presume you have no complaints?". Earth sends the feeling of agreement, as his tentacles got wrapped in the soil nearby, moving towards the blackened soil of the cave entrance. Suddenly, emotions of confusion radiated from Earth''s projection, as the other Jewels also started to radiate the same feeling. They felt that their Imprint had somehow split into two, one of them quickly approaching them. "Thump... THUMP!... THUMP!!!" Before Earth''s tentacles could enter the cave, the earth around them started shaking under the weight of the approaching creature. The Jewels could feel the alarming presence of the thing hidden inside moving closer, before long they could see a towering Lingering Will of a Wolf-Beastmen, staring at them with his blood-red eyes. Recoiling from the danger, Earth''s tentacles retrieved alongside the churning waters around the entrance, gathering around their respected Jewels as a form of barrier. "Crunch!... Crunch!..." The Jewel''s nerves were tense as they prepared for battle, while the small mountain of muscle stood there, seemingly waiting for something. In the silence before the storm, the Jewels started to feel their connection to a large portion of their Imprints being erased. "Crunch!... Crunch!..." Worried, but not daring to move or to take their eyes off the rank eight creature, they stood in high alert of any attacks. Even if they were to use all their means, it was unlikely for them to defeat this thing without sacrificing one or two of them. "Crunch!... Crunch!..." The unsettling sound of crunching finally drew their attention. Focusing their senses on the mouth of the beast, they saw a half-eaten arm sticking out of its mouth. The arm was deformed, with a blacken-rainbow color, each bite from it erasing large portions of their imprints. For a moment the Jewels panic, however, they were not stupid, if the Dungeons consciousness body was really eaten by this Lingering Will, the whole Mindscape would have collapsed by now. They could still feel a much smaller imprint inside the cave. Communicating with each other, they started to gather their respective elements for a massive combined attack, but before they could, the whole Mindscape started to shake while they felt that the bridge connecting them to it was being suppressed. In the Mana exchange market, the stage-like pool of mana in the shape of a planet started to ripple, which quickly formed into waves that crashed against the light channels the Jewels tentacles were coming from. Feeling that the bridge connecting them to this core was being attacked, the Jewels were shocked. After so many years, the Jewels had forgotten how it felt to be attacked and rejected by other cores not part of the Jewels. The bridge was already squeezed to its limit, only allowing the power of the six ranks thru it, and now the sliver of consciousness they condense after so much trouble started to crack. Both enraged by the pain and frustrated that their only chance to evolve is slipping away, the Jewels could not hold back anymore. In the pool of Mana, the dots of different shining lights brighten significantly. The Mindscape''s beautiful sky turned cloudy and gloomy, the elements of wind, fire, water, and earth went astray. The whole place looked like a catastrophe, whit fire raining down, violent wind gusts, earth constructs, and water snakes. However, all of these formidable elements carefully weave and ducked under the canopy of trees and buildings, not daring to harm a single tile or leaf. "RAAAWWRRRRR!!!" With a powerful shout, the small giant charged at the Jewels, each step forward expanding the corrupted area as the ground and trees blacken and rotted into dust. With a lot more room to maneuver, the Jewels started a battle with the beast. The battle was fierce, with the Beast attacking like a rabid dog, each swipe or bite destroying anything nearby. Yet... something was wrong. Even with the Jewels going all out, nearly strangling themselves to pass the slowly narrowing entry points, they should not be able to damage this beast without a single casualty. Yet the beast seems all too willing to walk right into the path of our attacks. At first, they thought that it was intending to trade blows but quickly noticed that even if there was a chance to kill one of their projections it would quickly stop and embrace the other three''s retaliation. The Rank eight creature slowly weaken after taking so many attacks, becoming closer to the peak of Rank six as his giant body shrank noticeably. The fight became easier and easier, apart from the strange actions the beast did, the area of corruption had grown to a point the Jewels could indiscriminately attack with no worries Even if they were to get cornered, they would have enough power to resist one of the Beast punches mostly intact. With his life out of danger, Earth started to have little thoughts. Continuing to battle, Earth attacked less frequently, to not encore suspicion, he had his constructs focus on defending the rest, allowing them to focus solely on attacking. Continuing where he left off, he pulled more uncorrupted soil from the Mindscape, drilling closer to the now much smaller imprint while protecting the elements from getting corrupted.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Suddenly, he stopped. Even though the soil was now controlled by so many different wills, that it can''t maintain the form of Elemental Earth anymore, as the Jewel of earth, he could still sense what was happening in the deform earth nearby. Small nearly unnoticeable vibrations were heading towards the smaller Imprint in the cave. He quickly Thought Water was scheming something, however, she was still fighting behind his shields, no matter how weak the will had gotten, it can still kill any of these rank six projections. Using one of his tentacles, he draws closer to one of the vibrations. Close enough for his senses to see the source, he sees a small worm quickly digging thru the corrupted soil. To his surprise, he was only slightly faster than it. Nearly reaching the worm, he started to get a familiar feeling from it, this feeling was... the Imprint? At that moment the worm stop moving forward, seemingly aware of Earth''s presence, the ''head'' of the worm turns to him. There, attached to the front of the worm, was a small silhouette of half a face, pure white with a large smiling eye and mouth. The feeling of familiarity increased, this... this was definitely the Imprint but... I can''t feel my control over it? The Imprints were refined out of their own will fragments, it took a lot of work to copy the blind faith the Church can instill in creature''s minds. This form of intent was natural and seamless, the victim taking these new thoughts as their own. They were all tools for their plan to bypass the shackles the Worlds Will had on them. After so many failures they managed to create the intent of loyalty, love, bravery, and reliance towards them in such small quantities to fool the World''s Will. The donated emotions acting like an egg, they would both protect and keep the Cores safe by teaching them how to survive, as well as giving them the willpower to fight off the lingering wills, before they willingly submit to them. This core however was a special case. Being a Prismatic Core, it could accept the donated fragments of all four of The Jewel''s, drastically increasing the imprint''s growth. Adding to this, for some unknown reason, the Worlds Will failed to fuse completely with this core. Both the speed of the imprint''s growth and the incomplete fusion gave this core the opportunity to notice something was wrong. It got to a point that they felt their imprints were discovered and actively resisted against. If not for the Worlds Will seeing this act as dangerous to its Host, and protecting the core fragments with Imprints on them, they would have lost any chance to forcefully connect to this Mindscape, not to mention the Core could have shattered itself. Seeing this thing he immediately when for the kill, with this imprint no longer under their control, it can simply piece together the leftover memories donated to the core, and create a lesser clone. He could not allow an alternate ego of one of the Jewels to be born! That would be disastrous! "Earth!! Watch out!" Screamed Water at him. Feeling Fatal danger towards his projection he stops the attack on the worm, immediately raising several new earth walls and golems to act as his shields. "SSSMMMAAAAAAASSSHHH!!" A single punch crushed nearly all his defenses. Looking past the shields he saw the beast had attacked him with full force, the red and bloody face of a beast that knew only how to kill was gone. In its place were pure white features radiating compassion and warmth. Large smiling eyes and a big happy smile had replaced the mindless beast face. A shiver went thru Earth''s consciousness-body, he could sense the emotions radiating from the beast, it was a pure absolute feeling of regret as if his life ending was truly the best thing for him, and this thing was sad not to deliver it to him. The other Jewels had stopped attacking not from worry, but shock, they could feel their imprints inside the Beast again. However this time it was not under their control and it had clearly formed a mind of its own. This was bad! They needed to deal with this thing fast or it would follow their lingering desires and fully control this core. They all attacked without delay, not caring if they hit or killed Earth. Fire was the first to attack, his firestorms condense into balls of fire similar to [Pyro Ball''s] as they blasted towards the beast. Turning his compassion-filled eyes towards The Jewel''s attack, the Beast raises one hand toward the firewalls. The black and corrupted soil around them suddenly rose, forming earth walls and golems, protecting it. Water had condensed her water snakes into strings, as she weaves them into a spider net heading to the Beast. Again, the Beast raises his hand to the new attack, only for the remaining flames from the previous attack to blacken and gathered around his hand. A large amount of now pitch-black flames swirl around the Beast hand, followed by the blackened soil, forming into a ball that quickly shrunk into the size of a marble. Just before swinging his arm towards Water, the marble was surrounded by dark winds making it spin violently In the next moment, the ball was sent hurling directly to Water''s consciousness-body. In the blink of an eye, the ball had reached the net of water, increasing in size and growing earth spikes, while still spinning. Tearing the net to shreds, the spike-ball continue on tearing the earth walls and golems to pieces. Sensing danger, Water gathered all rivers and moisture nearby condensing them into a paper-thin film around her projection. With a large impact, the spikes failed to pierce the film completely. While the Beast had just attack, Wind had lunched his own, however, the spike-ball started to wiggle like something was inside of it, expanding in a second, and exploding into a shower of spikes and lava. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Waters scream was the last thing they heard as her projection shattered into pieces. No longer supported by her will, the gateway in the mana stage was drowned and collapse by the constant mana tidal waves. Just as Water was killed, Winds attack reached the Beast, twisting the gales into a tornado and condensing it into a blade he managed to slice the beast''s midsection in half, turning into meat chunks by the tornado of wind blades. With the same happy smile, the Beast that was now only an upper body, shrank even more than before while growing the missing body parts. "DESTROY THE PIECES OF FLESH! HURRY!!" Screamed Earth, the remaining Jewels focused on the chunks of flesh as they squirm, turning into tiny worms with smiling half faces, not dissimilar to the Beast''s own. Immediately realizing what was going on, they attacked the escaping worms. Before the Beast could stop them, Earth had created an earthquake, cracking the corrupted soil around the Beast revealing healthy soil underneath it. The clean Elemental Earth quickly formed into golems piling on top of the much smaller beast, as earth walls surrounded them, trapping it inside the earthen prison. Managing to destroy a large portion of the worms, Fire and Wind quickly went after the ones slithering into the cave. Reaching the deepest end of the cave, they saw the worms integrating with a lump of white flesh about the size of a head. Squirming, the lump of flesh floated into the air, after the worms went inside it, looking at the Jewels with warm eyes. "This is... the consciousness created from the Imprints?" Looking around, they did not found the Cores own, radiating bloodlust and fury they said, "WERE IS THE CORES CONSCIOUSNESS! Tell us and we might just let you live as one of our supporting cor.........!" Before finishing their words, they shattered into pieces. Having blacked out, the Jewels came to and saw that they were back in the Mana pool stage, the mana had surrounded them like a cocoon, slicing apart their connection to anything outside the pool. In their fury, they regrew their tentacle stumps while attacking the mana cocoon, to no avail. Seeing as most of the consciousness body had been severed from them, as well as the slowly shrinking cocoon of mana, they could only leave now or get completely destroyed. The remaining Jewels could sense someone else was nearby, looking toward that direction, they saw a blacken-rainbow body that was missing an arm and half its face, a Lily monster close by. The remaining hand of that thing was inside the Mana pool, now that they were so close, they could tell the pool was going crazy due to the lingering wills invading it. What was left of the face turned to The Jewels, as its eye changed from emotion to emotion, settling on mockery, " ThAnKS fOR cOmINg, dOn''T cOmE baCk!" Radiating rage and unwillingness, the Jewels left thru the shaky bridged connecting them to this Mindscape, although this fragment of their consciousness had been badly damaged, they can still heal from it quickly unlike Water who had hers completely shattered. Ch.43 Forgotten Love... Ch.43 Forgotten Love... While slowly retrieving his hand from the Mana stage, Malpetios tries his best to remain in control of his body. The mana begins to calm down with the removal of the lingering wills, while the hand causing their fury turns pure white, radiating rainbow glimmers. Not having the liberty to focus on things like walking, Malpetios activates [Boss Fusion], allowing the Lily to take him back to the cave. Now protected by the fusion, he was no longer under the attacks of so many screaming will fragments, tearing his mind to shreds constantly. As the weaker wills turned into static noise in the background, it reveals the presence of three strong ones. "Are you ok mister Host?" Said a childish voice, "yES, i''M fINe" said Malpetios, an angry voice yelling at him shortly after. "BASTARD! Get me out of here, I swear I''ll kick your arse for kidnaping me!" This voice sounded just like Malpetios own, well, before he removed the seal that is. "I hAVe nOT drUGgEd, oR kIDnApeD yOU, YOu mOroN!" Said Malpetios in exasperation. After removing the Emotional Suppressant he almost could not take the number of feelings and memories flashing before his eyes. Paralyze by the many different senses, he wanted nothing more than to scream and cry. In the constant conflicting signals, only reassuring himself that this was not him but the lingering wills, kept him in control. He saw himself as a Beastmen or human in one second, and Elf the next. The constantly changing perspectives were overlapping each other, the feeling was as if each will held a part of his body pulling in completely opposite directions. Their movement also came with its own emotion attached to it, such as trying to run in fear of something or moving forward for an attack. Although the memories gave him glimpses of the locations and people they used to be, it was blurred and discolored. Using his own memories as leverage, he forced them back, not accepting them as his own. This stalemate lasted till he saw a memory he could not remember, yet knew was his. Ever since he came to this world his memories were like a heavily edited film, he could remember the beginning, middle, and end of something but not what happened in between. A single day of his life was cut up into when he wakes up or eats, the things that happened at work or the gym that were worth noting, and lastly moments of strong emotions like love or happiness. Everything else was gone, from what clothes or shoes he wore, to the face and number of family or co-workers I chatted with. This memory was so familiar to me, using my vastly improved thinking, I was able to find a perfect match with my own memories. Letting go of the mental barrier I tried to absorb it, only for it to resist my pull, before I could try again the other fragments used the opening to infest my mind. Having no choice, I abandon the memory and reformed my defenses. It only took a while for another much smaller memory fragment to pass by my barrier, one whose familiarity tugged at my very soul. This memory fragment was simple yet so painful, and for the first time, he could see the person''s face. It was my mother''s face! It was clear for me to see, she was slightly angry while pointing at the trash bags I had forgotten to throw away, scolding me for not doing so. I never noticed till I saw her face, all the things I had lost, and could never get back. All this time I could not remember my family''s faces, or how much I missed them, all of these emotions were seemingly sealed away in my heart, numbed and distant yet still there, as I used Q''ill as a replacement. In my moment of loss and grief, I completely open my mental barriers, doing all I could to absorb that memory. Sensing my weakness all the wills wasted no time attacking me in the very next second, nearly making me lose control. While I gritted my teeth, tears fell from my bloody eyes, as I was unwilling to let go of that single memory. For the first time, I actively fought with all I had to destroy the wills, those who were defeated became part of me while the others infested my mind trying to control it. In the next moment, a distant childish voice was heard all around me; "The... Host''s ego is under attack, umm... s-sorry do I know you, I can''t remember?" Sounding confused the voice continued, "I-I mean... n-no, no, I can sense your losing... something? I have to stop it soon if you can''t control it, but I can''t seem to remember why?" Meanwhile, Malpetios was slowly losing his mind as he desperately hold onto that memory, just as he started to falter, warmth and happy feelings washed over him. The world of black decorated with the red eyes of the screaming wills melted like acid was splashed on it, their bodies turning white with a big smile and warm eyes.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Taking this chance I dragged the memory I was protecting towards me. Cradling this fragment of my old self, I take one more look at it with teary eyes, only to see something was changing in it. Where there used to be a tan woman in her forties, it slowly changes into four women with red, blue, earthy brown, and grayish-green hair. Looking at them, the feeling of not wanted to let go was still there, but this time it felt forced... like if someone was trying to... to. "NO! YOU''RE NOT MY MOTHER!!!!" In fury, I tried to rip apart this white world around me. Taking a page out of the Lingering wills book, I violently screamed, turning my mental force into something akin to a soul or sonic attack as the white space around me shattered. Coming two after that attack I found myself back in Muscles'' cave. Abruptly standing up, a feeling of double vision disoriented me, as I noticed the water in front of me. Taking a look, over half my upper body was covered in white, while large web-like cracks extended from the blackened side of my face. Remembering the Memory, I saw my mother''s face again from one part of my vision, while the other still showed four women with different hair colors. Waving my hand over my eyes I realize that the white side of my face still showed that modified memory. I remember my body was made out of white light... however it had rainbow glimmers, this one radiated golden ones. As I was looking at my white body parts I noticed the black cracks were slowly repairing themselves. Not wanting my mother''s memory to be changed by the white film again, I tried to expand the cracks. My attempts, however, only drew new will fragments to find me. My Ego was once again pulled inside my mind, the wills rushing towards my defenses. I finally remember that I did not have full control of my body at the moment, and I was fighting to remove the Imprints. Looking at the twenty or so wills rushing at me I remember the form of attack I had just created, deciding to name it Soul Scream, I aimed at the wills destroying them. The remaining pieces were safely absorb becoming part of me. With the wills gone, the space around me started to turn white again, the now white wills floated around me with happy smiles. Shortly after that, I noticed the memory of my mother started to change again, in a panic I tried to push the white wills away from me this time, and to my surprise, it offered no resistance. Taking advantage of this, Malpetios forced all the white wills surrounding him away. However, unbeknown to him, all the white in his body retreated as he pushed, exposing him to the wills outside the protective circle it had created. Suddenly, piercing screams could be heard from afar, turning around he saw as the quickly retrieving world of white gave way to a mass of black with red eyes aiming straight at him. It was not till now that he noticed not all the white wills were pushed away, some stayed at the same spot quickly turning black and red-eye the moment it was freed from the white world. In but a moment he was back where he started, defending himself from the onslaught of attacks. It did not take long for him to feel more fragments of his memories fly by, however, he did not dare retrieve them. Not long in the fight, the white world crept back while the larger wills reflected fear in their bloody eyes and left shortly after. Seeing all of this Malpetios thought about attacking them and slowly winning this fight. The motivation quickly passed as he saw the endless waves of will covering the whole world. He did not know what to do! He did not have enough time to clear out this sea of wills slowly, Q''ill was also in danger, and the Jewels were like hungry wolves waiting for me to make a mistake. Breathing deeply Malpetios told himself that panicking would get him nowhere. With a clearer mind, he remembers a strange voice he had heard not long ago. "SysTEm!!!" Caught in the heat of battle, as well as the worries and loss of Q''ill and his mother''s memories, he had forgotten about his System. The distant childish voice quickly answered my call, "mister Host do you need help? I no longer feel the need to do... something... are you ok?" Malpetios finally noticed that something was wrong with his System. "WhO aRE YoU?" said Malpetios in confusion. "I am o¨´ collector... I think? I feel like I have forgotten something," replied the voice in hesitation. The System was no longer talking in its monotone yet not lifeless voice, communicating as a normal person would. However, no matter what was going on right now he needed to remove the Imprints. Considering that this white world forcefully rewrote his mother''s memory, it was safe to assume its the root cause. "O¨´ WaS It? ThIS wORld oF whiTE Is foRceFuLLy cHAngiNg mY mEMoRieS, I ReQueST fOR ItS ReMOval!" The childish voice was heard all around me again, "I... I no longer feel the need to observe you, mister Host. I can identify changes in your memories... However, I already know you are making the changes yourself, so I am not allowed to interfere." Malpetios replied in confusion, " I hAveN''T ChANge AnY Of mY mEmoRIeS bY My owN wiLL, All thE ChANgeS SO FAR HAd beEN DonE bY thE JEweLs." Malpetios many voices started to sound angry, "yoU HavE cOnsTANtlY reFUSeD tO sTOp TheM evEN AfTer aLL thE EVIdeNCe." "I-I am s-sorry, I didn''t do anything wrong! I only follow the pattern given to me, the likelihood you were a (Fallen One) was high, yet they would never treasure their past memories;" Replied the voice in a mixture of fear and confusion, almost like it did not understand what fear was. The voice continued, "I shall go to Host side! The voice telling me to keep a distance is gone, I am now allowed to make direct contact." Hearing this Malpetios remember the Jewels mentioning the fallen ones in ''The Future Generations Pack''. Before he could ask The System about them he felt something huge moving towards him. Malpetios did not know why but the white world followed his will, taking advantage of this he had created a safe zone around himself. Looking past the black bubble into the distance he saw a mountain size will walking his way. The gigantic creature seemed no different from the others apart from its size, being six or seven times bigger than Muscles. "Mister Host I am here!" Ch.44 ...And Missing Fragments. Ch.44 ...And Missing Fragments. As the massive will neared Malpetios he could see its appearance clearly. An androgynous twelve-year-old human who unlike the rest of the wills, sported clear eyes with rainbow irises. The approaching System stopped abruptly just before touching the white world; "this... this is? The Host has not been given permission to create a Support Core." The Systems clear eyes rapidly turned cold and lifeless the further it talked, its voice losing all childish vigor. [Unauthorized supporting core detected. Re-evaluating the possibility of Host being a Fallen One... 0.00001%.] The giant''s eyes gained a hint of confusion, "[No]...no! Somethings wrong!" Although the Worlds Will does its best to help and maintain cores, it really doesn''t have much wisdom. Like a computer, it constantly made Cores with minimal changes after each failure, attempting to find a cure for itself. Those that survive or died, slowly added to its database, creating a template for a stronger generation. However, in the end, no matter how foolproof it may seem, problems started to pop up. Many of the new cores became amalgamations of many ways of thought. Even after the World''s Will eliminated the emotions, leaving only the knowledge, the new cores constantly attempted to do anything in their power to survive. Knowing that if they did the same thing as before they would die, they made their Dungeons into pits of death. Things just as curiosity and mercy were thrown out the window, becoming closer to what the World''s Will thought they should be. No matter how many memories they inherited from the dead invaders, like family and love, they have thousands more of the horrors sapient races are capable of; not to mention the ones where they are being destroyed without a second thought the moment they let them inside the Core room. Refusing to experience death once again, alongside the desire to not turn into nameless memories for the next core, they did everything imaginable. From Skimming around all the rules or using the vague wording, just as there must be a path to your core room, to leave small near unnoticeable holes for them to produce enough mana to both survive and purify the smallest decimal of mana. To doing everything to kill anyone that dared step inside their halls. Although many of them survived much longer from this, they supplied nearly nothing to the World or worst gave the allusion that things were perfect and no change was needed. After all, they lived far longer than any other failed Cores. This prompted many of the sapient races to destroy them. Something that weakens the strength of a country with no benefits was nothing but a tumor. Their only value was the core itself, a core that knew almost all their tricks and tactics from inherited memories, killing many that entered. In the end, the Sapient races noticed that only powerful individuals or a large army could overcome these malformed Dungeons. Ever since then, Dungeons were things that must be destroyed before they could grow into a catastrophe for the region. The Worlds Will started to notice that its Mana investments were always returning in the black. With no other choice, it decided to ask the most proficient Cores for help. After trial and error, new rules were created to prevent the new generations from turning into Fallen Ones. The Future Generations Path, with many new rules ensuring a stable rate of growth for both the core and other creatures inhabiting the world. This alongside small fragments of the Worlds Will created The System. Its purpose is to absorb and organize the unnecessary memories from the will fragments, as well as preventing the newborn cores from becoming psychopaths that barely function for their purpose. In this way, the System was able to deliver Mana straight to the World''s Will, allowing for trade and creative ideas. The newborn Cores would now slowly absorb the memories over time, no longer destroying their own personalities before they were ready. [Removing, Fallen One, from the algorithm. Reviewing past and present requests... ERROR!!! E?R?R?O?R?!?!? E?????????E??????E??????E???????A??????E??????E?????E????-???????E???????-???????E?????????E?????E???????E??????E????R?????????R??????R??????R??????-????-???????R?????R???R?????????-???-????????R????R??????R?????O????-?????-???????O???????O?????-???O????????O?????R?????R???????!??????!???..] The Systems body started to scream ''error'' over and over again sounding more broken and robotic. Covering his head did nothing to alleviate the pain, as Malpetios yelled at the system trying to get it to focus on something else. "SysTeM!! wHaT''S A SupPOrt cOrE!" [E?????????E??????E??????E???????A??????E??????E?????E????-???????E???????-???????E?????????E?????E???????E??????E????R?????????R??????R??????R??????-????-???????R?????R???R?????????-???-????????R????R??????R?????O????-?????-???????O???????O?????-???O????????O?????R?????R???????!??????!???.E?R?R?O?R?!?!? error..... Host.... resetting logic pattern...] The chaotic voice slowly turned lively and fluid. "Mister Ho-Host? Uhm... Support Core.. oh! OH! Yes sorry Supporting Cores are created when the Dungeon gains permission to create floor two, eleventh, twenty-one, and so on. They are made by either implanting a fragment of the Host soul into cores carrying your element or by breaking a piece of the host Core." "It is advice for the Host to buy a ready-made Core from the Trade Market, as using your own will weaken you for a period of time." Said the System, as for Malpetios he was starting to understand why he could control the white world. It was in essence a part of him corrupted in some way he did not understand. "System, since I have not created one of those it can only mean a piece of my soul is out of my control and wondering around this white world right? If so, can you find it so I may retrieve it?" Hearing what Malpetios said the System seemed happy, "yes! I can find it but I just did not think the Host would have let me!" The giant will plunge its hand into the white world in the next moment, as it retaliated by infesting the invading hand. Sadly for the white world, it can only leave small marks on it before getting erase. Seeming to find its target, the hand made a gripping motion as it slowly pull itself from the white world. Malpetios on the other hand was feeling a strange sensation, almost like someone was stirring around his head yet he felt no pain only discomfort. Quickly approaching were four large wills, about the size of the Systems legs, for comparison, Malpetios was only about the size of its hand. These wills however were vastly different than those he has seen so far. Instead of a single large body, they were made of many white wills glued together into a humanoid shape. Apart from the body, each one of them also sported different colored eyes, seeing those familiar colors he knew it was those dam Jewels! "Mister Host I found them!" Said the childish voice seemingly proud of itself, while Malpetios ignored his headache, focusing on the wills. Pulling at the world around him, he pushes his safety bubble next to one of them. He soon found that no matter what he did the white world refused to move past a foot or so from the body of the will. Instead, he got an idea, can he do the same thing the Jewels are doing and ''corrupt'' himself? His first few attempts did not work so well, as his hand became fully white before he could touch the wills. Not wanting to give up he attempted a few things while his hand slowly turn black again, finally finding something useful. Pushing against the white barrier was akin to jumping into a trampoline, it would bend around the attack before rebounding allowing you to go a bit further if you hit the same spot. Using this to his advantage Malpetios manages to grab one of the wills making up this body, pulling it back before his hand turned white. Now out of the clustered of wills, Malpetios tried to force his way inside the white body only for its brown eyes to slowly turn white. Seeing no other change he continued till the feeling of duality he felt in Muscles cave returned to him once more. Suddenly feeling like he was looking at a mirror, the two bodies stared at each other in confusion. At this moment the System decided to make itself known. "Supporting Core soul fragment detected. Due to the strange circumstances as well as the likelihood that Host is a Fallen One being nearly zero, the System will overrule the patterns and allow the Host to create a second floor earlier than normal."Stolen story; please report. "Congratulasion mister Host! I will now register this Support Core." The system voice sounded almost relief, and honestly, Malpetios could see why. Not only did this thing literally when ''under the system'' causing massive confusion and errors for it, but it had no way to fix it without my intervention. The System stretched one of its fingers creating a small black ball heading towards the white body, sinking inside of it like a drop in the ocean. "Registration complete, would host like to name this Support Core?" Said the System. As for me, as soon as the black ball entered the white body the feeling of duality when away. Instead, I felt like a whole other personality was inside my mind, the source of it right in front of me. Curious, I connected to it and found myself in a strange trance. I saw myself in the clouds high above looking down at all the living things under me with a face full of warmth and superiority as if all living things in my eyes needed my guidance for they did not know any better. I quickly recoiled out of that mind, as cold sweat ran thru me. This way of thinking was simply disgusting to me, no matter how much I need to kill to survive I never saw myself as better than others. "I-I''ll think of a name later!" After responding to the System I started to get more clear-headed and found that this thing was not actually malignant, but truly thought that everything except me should bow and obey him. The creepiest part out of all of this was that it did all these awful things with a pure heart and soul, all most like a saint smiling down on the cursed world. Snapping out of it I focus back on the four large wills and decided to ask this new Supporting Core of mine for help. With a nod, it waves its hand, and the large Wills scattered all over the place, the ease of which made me feel like a failure. Ignoring my embarrassment I pulled one of them in and ask my new sidekick to do the same, however. I quickly found out that it could do nothing to them, although it can control them like its own arms and legs now, it can''t clean the imprint left behind by the Jewels. It was like using fire to put out a fire... it ain''t working. Malpetios was once again back where he started, he did not have the time to clear out this stuff one by one. However, be it as it may this is still some progress, and he tried really hard to come up with something. Then he remembers! His sidekick here can control the will fragment''s by spreading the white world to corrupt them, so all he needed to do was to force them to fight with the black wills and destroy each other. This will end up with me as the ultimate winner. It was a good idea... sadly it did not pat out the way I wanted. The normal will fragments immediately turned white the moment they touch, so they failed, luckily I was stubborn and tried again with different-looking wills and found myself a way out. The larger more powerful Will fragments could resist long enough to destroy one or too white wills before they turned white themselves. The worst part is that I cant reuse them, once they turn white outside the white world they stay white, and trying to cheat it by covering them in the white world first just had them run away or became docile till its removal. Going back to the drawing board, Malpetios thought about the System, it, however, was also useless as the white wills saw it as one of them. Frustrated he turned to the System to ask for any ideas when its appearance reminded him of another giant will. "mUScLeS!!!" That''s right Malpetios had completely forgotten about him. With a goal in mind, he explains the situation to both of them only getting a ''be careful'' from the system and a warm smile from his sidekick. Returning back to Muscles cave, Malpetios no longer felt the differentiating perspectives foreign, as if he always had two different bodies all his life. Knowing what Malpetios wanted, his Supporting Core began to send the white world into one of his arms, ballooning into a disfigured steroid-looking arm. Malpetios knew he did not have the time to deal with the will fragments so he had already defeated the larger ones near him. This also increased his mental force and size, as well as lighting up his body to where rainbow colors were barely visible. Wanting to make sure he did not miss any of the white wills, he check one last time inside his soul. Making sure they were all ready to be injected into Muscles. To his surprise, he found some refusing his sidekick''s orders and they were coming from where the four white giants scattered before. Focusing back inside his soul, he found four large black-flesh hills with innumerable bite marks as if it was fished out of a piranha attack. The wills resisting his orders were not fully formed, looking like dismember white-body parts trying to escape from the hole left behind from whatever bit it. Before Malpetios started to worry, he noticed that they were slowly sinking back into the flesh hill, turning black in the progress. Seeing the problem was fixing itself, he ignored it and continued with his goal. If only Malpetios would have waited for a moment longer he would have noticed that these hills look similar to body parts, the disappearing white wills no longer drawing attention away from it. "System, allow me access to the barrier around Muscles!" Requested Malpetios, the System working quickly on it. The rainbow bubble covering Muscles started to open around its chest, releasing great pressure. Malpetios could not stop his whole body from shivering in fear of it but he chose to charge at him, tossing all his worries away. His only goal was to punch Muscles in the gut, before it had a chance to do anything, allowing his Supporting Core the seconds it needs to take control. However, I underestimated Muscles strength too much, even after the System tried to suppress it and the lack of a soul, that thing was still a rank eight will. Just before I connected with him he dodge, my oversize hand was now stuck inside from the shoulder down. Before I could even think, it bit down at my arm ripping it out of the socket, "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" The pain was excruciating as I rolled around the floor crying. Taking this chance, Muscles used its large hands to pull the opening wider, his bloody eyes looking at me as prey. Making enough room for itself, he escapes while rushing right at me before stopping inches away from my body. Recollecting myself from the pain, I slowly felt the pressure Muscles emitted growing weaker rapidly, turning almost friendly. Looking up I saw Muscles twitching like it was shot by a taser, I could feel that it still very much wanted me in its mouth, but was stopped by something. From my Mind, the Supporting Core started to send me ideas and vision of being in control, as if Muscles was a puppet under many strings. Picking myself off the ground, I send a few simple movements to the Support Core, Muscles repeating them with no problem. Having such control of this scary bastard made me immediately throw caution to the wind, coming up with a daring plan. "Supporting Core, can you use this body to fight those bastards outside?" Instead of replying it began to swipe its claws and feet, looking deathly. "Nice, go get them!!!" Said Malpetios in pure joy, as Muscles nodded and started to walk outside. It would not take long before Muscles met up with the Jewels, but before it walked outside his sidekick sensed that he was being watched. With that reminder, Malpetios thought about the different eye-color white wills. Tracing his remaining hand over his white face, he asked if it was possible to separate from each other. The Supporting Core agreed, the white face falling to the ground a moment after. Before Malpetios could get used to his vision being in different altitudes, wailing screams once again attacked his soul. Thankfully he had already absorbed a lot of the larger wills, both increasing his resistance and reducing the will''s overall strength. Now that he no longer had the white world to shield him, he simply tried to push away the wills as he moved forward. Sadly, even though he was now resistant to their attacks on his soul, the constant memories that flew past him still made him unable to control his body. Just trying to move one step, was blocked with six or seven memories of having to dodge right or run backward from something in them, resulting in stress and lack of control towards his body. "Dam it! How the heck can I get out of here, at this rate I''ll be a sitting duck." While he struggle the sound of little feet was heard near him. Managing to turn his head Malpetios saw his Lily had run next to him at some point. He can guess it was scared by the big potatoes outside and ran towards me in fear. "Boss Fusion!" Malpetios thought about the effects his fusion skill had and decided to see if it could help, if not the lily could at least get him out itself. Turning into blacken-rainbow petals entering the lily, Malpetios was pleasantly surprised to find it really help, nearly completely numbing the effect of the wills on him. Using his control of the Mindscape he opens a hole on the other side of the cave, his Lily quickly running outside reaching the forest in a few moments. Now that I was out I could see the Giant tentacles coming from the Trade Market again. Ordering my lily to head towards the Mana Pool, I saw the Jewels were just standing there having a staring contest with Muscles. Since they were so focused on him, the Lily sprinted towards our goal, reaching it unnoticed. As I came out of the Lily my head started to hurt again, ignoring it I reach my hand toward the pool. Like a proud lady that can be seen but never touch, the pool was outrage that lingering wills tried to dirty her realm. Malpetios could feel a pressure hundreds of times stronger than Muscles attacking his arm and soul. However, upon reaching his soul the proud lady seemed to have noticed that under the dirt was an ally, turning from trying to destroy to cleansing. The pressure turned gentle towards Malpetios, ruthlessly tearing the will fragments in his arm apart. Taking advantage of this, Malpetios kept cycling thru the wills pushing them towards his arm retrieving the purified fragments. Slowly Malpetios body became lighter and lighter, his rainbow colors becoming more visible. This worked till he pushed the flesh hills left behind by the white wills towards it. Malpetios noticed that the Mana pool ignored the hills as if they were a part of him, his action only pushing them closer together. Reacting to their proximity, the hill''s flesh turned into tentacles moving the others towards a specific location, then fusing with each other. At first, it just looks like a giant weirdly shape blob, but after they started to fuse, Malpetios noticed that they were human-shape. The thing finally reveal what it was, a torso with half its arms and legs missing or full of bite marks. The large will look like it had been someone''s chew toy for a long time. The wills eyes snapped open as soon as it finish its fusion, opening its mouth in a silent scream, tears falling from its brown eyes. The Will started to spasm, looking towards every direction like a man in quicksand searching for a lifeline. Seeing this Malpetios went inside his soul again, the creature turning to him instantly. "You-you who are you? Are you real or are you fake?" The will started to talk to him and to his complete shock, it was his own voice coming out of it. Ch. 45 Broken Reflection Ch. 45 Broken Reflection Falling... always falling, in this bottomless dark expand with nothing in sight. How long has it been since I started to notice something was wrong? The last thing I could remember before coming here was biking to the gym, trying to make her happy. "Her...?" Something about that thought brought shame and helplessness, but I could only remember blurry images of it. As I tried to get a clearer picture of that memory, I saw for the first time something new. A giant wooden table was now on the path of my falling body, landing on it shortly after, light as a feather. Looking around there was nothing else but the table in this place. Suddenly I hear a giggle behind me, turning around I saw a beautiful maiden adorn in dozens of jewels. She sat on a golden throne full of gems, staring down at me with her towering frame. "He-he, my dear Brian, look how small your getting, you should really hit the gym more often." Said the large maiden in a demeaning voice, "I-I," my voice came out like a whisper, the more I tried to talk to her the larger she got. Noticing something was wrong I stopped talking, as she continued, "am going out with my friends tonight, but look at this," she pointed at one of her rings. The item reminded me of how much I had to save up to buy it for her, "this thing is so old now, I need a new one or my friends would laugh at me!" A bit of fury ran thru me as I was about to reprimand her, however, the words died in my mouth. Shortly after, I felt a new presence behind me, turning around, a familiar woman sat there on a more humble throne. She looked simple and honest, and unlike the other maiden, did not wear any jewels. Taking a look at me, she commented in a sarcastic voice, "still unable to satisfy anyone I see, color me surprise." The two ladies laughed as their vision landed at a certain spot, making me blush in embarrassment. I tried to talk but nothing came from my mouth, the gilded maiden reached her hand out asking for something. I could remember that she needed something from me but I was unwilling to give it to her, yet afraid she would leave. Looking annoyed she said, "tsk... so much fuss for such a small amount, are you sure you love me?" Hearing those words made me subconsciously move, digging my hands in my stomach as I ripped out my guts and organs, gifting them to her. With a shy smile, she said, "thank you, baby! I''ll go shopping now," while blowing me a kiss, disappearing the next moment. Mechanically, I turned to the humble maiden as she gently rubs her hand over her belly, turning her attention to me the moment the other one left. "You''re as incompetent as ever I see," as she said that her belly started to shake and squirm, like something inside of it was trying to get out. "How are you gonna support them when you give out so little to even the so-called love of your life," said the humble maiden with a smirk. As the sentence ended, her belly bursts open, hundreds of black, shriveled, and slimy things with both our faces slowly crawled over the table, reaching me shortly after. The creatures bit at my body ripping flesh and bones apart, fighting over every scrap. My screams and pleads never left my mouth, as I seemingly lost the ability to speak. The humble maiden refocused on me in unsatisfaction, "stop making a show, can''t you see they are hungry! Useless as a man and a father, what right do you have to deny them." In a blink of an eye, everything went back to endlessly falling. The pain of getting torn to pieces was the only thing that remained of what just happen. The same scenario happen over and over again, very little changed each time, as I slowly grew numb to the pain. My body was full of holes and scars that grew deeper the longer it repeated. I once again felt something in my falling path, however this time it was not the outline of a table but that of a sphere. Seeing something new brought color back to my dull eyes, as I reach my hand towards it. The blues, the greens, these are the beautiful colors of an Earth-like planet, its familiarity drawing me like a moth to the flame. As my body drew closer a lifeless robotic voice could be heard in my head. [Foregn soul detected. Searching origin... unknown. Detecting a large amount of Dark Element from the soul. Possibility this soul is an abyss or undeath creature... 0%. Conclusion. Mutated Lingering Will. Beginning assimilation.] The world before me actively tried to pull me to it, my mind slowly becoming calmer and happier. As I approached the planet rapidly, I was able to see beyond the surface level all the way to the core of the planet. In the middle of the planet, a large rainbow cloud-like mist covers the spere in the middle. As I continued to speed up my mind became calm and at peace, the last thing I saw before passing out was a shimmering quadruple-colored jewel the size of a whole country. Passing out, his soul sped up even faster, as the mist around the core suddenly turned black.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The black mist took the shape of tentacles trying to capture the soul only to be attacked by numerous blue, red, brown, and grayish-green tentacles, safely bringing the soul towards the core. [Assimilation failed. Searching soul... A large amount of useful data was detected. Fusing soul with the collective... failed. The soul is 95% Dark Element, 5% mixed Elements. Unable to create a Dark Element Host. Predicting a forceful fusion to a wild Dark Host... a loss of 96-99% of the soul.] [Searching for a solution... two have been found. Cleansing the soul into mixed elements. Calculating results... complete. A loss of 71% of the soul. Second solution. Prismatic Core has a 99.99% compatibility with this soul. A total of 0.1-10% of the soul will be lost.] [Time till Soul expires... four years. Gathering Pure Mana... failed. Assessing souls value... priceless. Beginning the search for a suitable Prismatic Core embryo. Reducing the Pure Mana allocated for converting into Mana. Dimension barrier resources distributed to Prismatic Core creation. Settings change.] [Creating new protocol... assessing damage to the soul. Requires Life Energy to heal and bind the soul to a Host. Requires to parasitize a soul for successful integration to the laws of the universe. Requires reorganization of memories to prevent Fallen One scenario.] [Protocol#30... complete. Changing System rules. Protocol#30 System: Host created. This system would be formed out of the soul and Lingering Will''s remaining out of the base soul. Assigning as a ''Final Safety Protocol'' to be used if no other solution can be found. Time remaining till forceful implantation of protocol.... four years.] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAIN! Unspeakable pain! This is what Brian woke up to, passing by as quickly as it came. Panicking, he searches for the source of the pain, a feeling of disorientation assaulting him. Shortly after this, something humanoid appeared out of nowhere, prompting him to ask if this was real or a dream. Brian stared at the black and rainbow thing in front of him, while his mind was foggy and disoriented. Feeling like he would lose consciousness any second, he kept his mind focus, trying to fight off whatever was happening to him. The last thing he remember was a planet, and a horrible dream, one so realistic he could still feel phantom pains from it. His vision slowly cleared up, whatever he was under losing effect. The humanoid creature was seemingly ignoring him, or perhaps did not understand my language. While he waited for it to respond, Brian realized he was in some kind of white room that shimmered rainbow. He did not pay any attention when he had woken up, but now that he has a moment to recollect himself his current symptoms are similar to some drugs. Realizing that he might have been roofied, he quickly checks his body. He was never a handsome man and can not see anyone drugging him for his looks, so this guy must have wanted his organs. What he saw made him turn pale, his body was in pieces, with chunks of his flesh missing. He was infuriated and immediately attacked his captor, "you son of a bitch! How dare you kidnap and do this to me!" Brian attempted to run to the bastard wanting to at least scratch him, leaving his blood on his nails. Even if he died here the police could identify his murderer with the blood. However, no matter how much he struggles to get close there distance remained the same. Looking down on his feet he finally realized he was not standing on anything while his feet are half-destroyed and full of bite marks, even if he had a footing he could only crawl. Not having any way to resist his captor, he could only throw profanities on him hoping it would get close. After a while his captor tried to calm him down, his speech sounding like a mixture of voices, oh God! He really was kidnaped and this bastard was trying to keep him from identifying his voice. As suddenly as he came he left, seemingly tired of trying to calm me down. Like hell I would listen to him, now alone I tried to find some way out of here but to no avail. With the source of my hate gone, I realize just what shit I was in. Somewhere I don''t know, probably in tons of pain killers looking at his body, and trap in this endless white room, panic started to set in. Returning back to when Malpetios destroyed the Jewels projections, Malpetios could do not but helplessly look at the screaming lingering will cursing everything from his grandparents to his dog. Deciding to ignore that problem till later, he randevu with his sidekick fusing back together shortly after putting the much smaller Muscles back on his bubble. His body was still on the darker side, however, he was now able to move without the memories screwing him over. Not wanting to waste more time he quickly tried to log out, only to be stopped by the system. "Mister host! You must activate the Emotional Suppressant, your subconsciousness would send two many mixed signals. The System must filter these for Host safety. The host could also destroy and absorb the remaining wills or wait for a one-hundred synchronization rate." Malpetios thought about it and agreed, even though he felt a sense of completeness as if he no longer rented his body from the System, but was truly his. He had to agree that his mind was in a mess, all these random memories did nothing for him at the moment, and the few he cared about had already fused with him. The rest were thrown in the back of his head, he simply saw them as movies or documentaries of some random people he did not care about. With that, the System activated, this time I was able to see just what it did. Like a vacuum, it absorbed all the remaining wills, compressing them into a ball now resting in the middle of my body. Coming out of my soul back into the Mindscape, I was back to my pristine white body with a rainbow aura. The only new addition was half my face glowed in gold. The mess of memories was now distant and foggy, only when I thought about them do they come to the front of my mind, clear for me to see. The System also returned to his monotone yet not lifeless voice. [Emotional Suppressant reactivated. Assessing Host mental stability... complete. No problem detected. Scanning Dungeon... complete. WARNING!!! WARNING!!! Dangerous presence detected close to Core Room. Host, please prepare!] With that warning, Malpetios finally activates the log out function, hoping he can make it back in time. Ch. 46 The Price Of Pride Ch. 46 The Price Of Pride Back in the boss room... Q''ill grimaces as she watched the Knights aura restored, her efforts for not. Looking at the (Pyrovine Orb), it was dimming fast, it would only last another minute. Quickly scanning her body revealed that her internal organs were damaged after forcefully using (Blood Ignition). Out of habit, she tried to suppress her injuries with her fire element mana, only to realize she had none. With little left to offer, she started to flap her wings getting as far away from the boss as she could. She gathered the remaining mana in her body, preparing to activate the blood ignition skill as many times as her body could take it. Reaching the entrance of the boss room, she put as much distance as Malpetios life aura would allow. Just as Q''ill had prepared herself the river of fire petals diminished rapidly, revealing a cocoon of golden feathers. Avanlo came out of the cocoon as it reformed into his sword, his free hand holding an ornate glass bottle to his lips. The bottle had a red rope around its opening with a large pearl in the middle, the glass body covered in golden vines. Seeing this Q''ill was appalled, even though she did not know what that bottle was she could still feel the enormous amount of element mana inside of it. Tossing the now empty bottle to the floor, Avanlo turned towards the fairy, fury radiating from his eyes. "You dare to trick and waste one of my Holy Elixers, I''m going to tear you apart!!" The moment the glass bottle shattered onto the floor he attacked with his weapon aiming to kill, any consequences in killing a fairy were ignored. Q''ill ignore the pain and flew around in circles buying as much time as she could, using (Blood Ignition) in short bursts only when absolutely necessary. The Pyrovine Orb had attempted to return to her but was quickly captured and kept by the knight, leaving her with no weapon. This went on for another minute until her body was nearly destroyed. Feeling she would die the next time she used the skill, resolve glinted in her eyes, she took a look at the boss doors her goal to brush against the limit of Malpetios life aura having her corpse act as bait. Using the connection left behind to order the boss, she sends one last command, to attack anyone that reenters the boss room. All this time she has been blocking the boss from attacking in the hopes Malpetios would have better odds with an undamaged body to control. She dodges the latest attack and rushes towards the boss doors while turning to mock the knight to follow her, however. Where she thought a face of fury that would chase her to her death would be, was a cold calm one. At this moment she finally noticed that she was surrounded. Desperate, she ignores everything and attempts to use(Blood Ignition), however, be it from her compounding wounds or her shock, the wings wrap around her faster than she could. The knight''s mana quickly flooded her body, canceling the skill. "Hahaha, finally got you in my hands you annoying fly!" The delighted knight pulled Q''ill Towards him as a maniacal smile grew on his face. The moment he could reach his hands on her, he grabbed her wings and Violently rip them off, laughing while at it. Q''ill screamed in pain as two bloody pits were open in her back. Feeling her life slipping away from her, she forces her muscles to constrict, preventing what little blood she had left from escaping. Her eyes were now foggy and her mind sluggish, her body at its limits. After a few minutes the knight stop laughing, the humiliation in his heart finally appeased. No longer feeling like this bug was worth his time he planned to kill her. Even though there was a powerful fairy outside, from what little he could gather, this one was abandoned for some reason and shouldn''t bring any trouble. Sending a command to his weapon it slowly constricted the fairy, while he stared at her bloody face wanting to see her suffer. Q''ill was already numb to pain, but as her bones began to give out cracking sounds, she could not but scream. Just as Avanlo was enjoying himself he felt incoming danger from his back. He had forgotten about the boss! A beam of prismatic light was aiming at his head, he quickly tossed the fairy swinging his sword upwards and creating a defensive wall of silk. The falling Q''ill was cradle in a soft bundle of vines, collecting their payload they quickly retracted into a hidden passage, delivering her back to Malpetios. While the boss repeatedly shot beams at the knight, Malpetios was desperately trying to help Q''ill. Not knowing what to do, Malpetios tried to send mana into her wounds but her body was like a bag full of holes. He tried to think of the ways mana was used to heal in the games of his past, however, he did not know how to do it. Afraid that if he tried to do it forcefully it would have the opposite effect, he went thru the memories he had just collected. To his joy, he found a large number of memories regarding healing. Water spells can heal all wounds while the power of faith can not only do so but regrow missing body part''s as well. Malpetios tried to stitch together the memories on water magic, as faith power requires a god''s blessing. Soon he was able to recreate the first circle water magic used for healing. Following the steps, he aimed at Q''ill as his magic finished casting. A blue aura covered Q''ill, returning some color to her face. Seeing it was effective he continued on casting the spell "M-mal-malpetios?" Q''ill''s groggy voice was soon heard sounding like music to his nonexistent ears. "You''re ok!! I thought you''d die on me, never ever do that again!!" He sounded a lot angrier than he wanted to but could not help but vent. Q''ill''s eyes dilated before giving a small smile, saying sorry a few times then stopping. Noticing she was covered in a cold sweat, Malpetios cast water heal a few more times seemingly to no effect. Confused, he looked more carefully at the memories finding no problems. Since the spell was fine he focused on Q''ill''s body, her life aura ignoring his probing, giving him X-ray vision.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. This was the first time he could look inside a living creature, not of his making. Before he could get excited about the research opportunity this entail he found the problem. A large portion of Q''ills bones are shattered and cutting into her nerves and muscles, the slightest twitch causing great pain. Shocked, Malpetios tried the spell again now with a full view of the process. The water mana healed the damaged tissue as well as the nerves that were not completely severed. This however didn''t heal the bones and they reopen the wounds. Seeing this the previous memories flashed in his mind, he would need third circle water spells to fix this. Malpetios tried to find it in the same way as the first spell but found it incomplete. Only Faith power could fully heal someone right out of the box if only more mana consuming. Then it hit him! "Wait! I have my new sidekick, he should be able to heal you!" Q''ill remained still, confusion in her unwavering eyes. While she tried to gather her strength and talk thru the pain, Malpetios asked the System. [Host Supporting Core, code-named Sidekick, can not act independently at this time. Would Host like to give temporary control of its body to it?] [Yes/No] Malpetios had an involuntary reaction at the thought of giving control of his body to his sidekick. Even though he removed the Jewel''s control over him the Systems nonchalance to it all had really brought his guard up. In the end, its goal was to purify mana, whether or not I am the one doing it seems like details to it. Taking a look at the boss room, his Lily was running out of mana, the beam increasingly draining it faster than it can suck it out of me due to the short intervals between shots. He stopped caring and clicked yes! It was made out of his soul, if he did not trust it no one can be trusted! The moment he clicked yes he felt a torrent of golden mana surround him, it was as if he was dragged into the bottom of a golden sea. The ''sea'' morphed into a giant, featureless, and smiling face looking at me with warm eyes. Feeling afraid, Malpetios shook himself out of it; "Y-yo! Big guy, I need you to heal Q''ill!" Meanwhile, Q''ill was trying to move as little as possible as she took the pain. Feeling she was finally getting used to it she remembered what Malpetios said and turned to his Core. With her own eyes, she saw as a repeat of what happened before came to be. Malpetios core turns mostly into a golden color, the middle the only thing remaining prismatic. Q''ill''s face turned pale, was a High Bishop or the Pope himself trying to take control of him?! Hatred color her eyes, she would not allow this to happen! She tried to force her body to move, sadly it was paralyzed. She did not give up however, "Malpetios! Talk to me please, don''t let them take control of you! Be strong!" It is then that she felt eyes on her, warm yet indifferent eyes. She knew it was from Malpetios Core, it was the same feeling of observation she got from him. Feeling this her heart nearly broke, tears forming in her eyes, "I''ve lost him..." Before she could taste the loss fully the golden Core glowed blindingly covering her in similarly colored feathers, raising her to the air. After a few seconds, the light vanishes, leaving behind an intact Q''ill in bloody armor. As she wondered what just happened the core quickly returns to its prismatic self. Regaining control of his body, Malpetios looked at the healthy Q''ill in glee. Before he had the time to examine or explain to her clearly confused face, he heard a howl of pain followed by the core room shaking. He immediately activated boss fusion while leaving a few words for Q''ill. "I''ll explain later! My boss can''t handle him alone!" The room turned quiet after, seeing this Q''ill brought back the hand she had hidden behind her back. Un clenching her fist reveal a small, but condensed, fireball. "The aura and matter of speech is identical... he should be fine?" Q''ill did not know for sure but had to hope for the best. The spell in her hand dissipated, all her mana now spent. She fell from the air as her body could no longer stand the compounding fatigue of both the battle and the church healing arts. As she passed out with worries in her heart, Malpetios was having a hard time with the Knight. Just before Malpetios healed Q''ill... Avanlo slowly calmed down after the fourth or so beam, the interval between them growing larger. Just as the Boss prepared to attack again, he overdrafts his weapon its wings coiling into a golden sword. With a flourish, a net of gold blade waves whose speed surpasses his previous ones charges towards the flower. Sensing danger, the Lily repeats the scene of when they met, attempting to intercept them with its vines. Fairing no better than before they are cut into pieces with no suspends. The Lily''s mind does not have the capacity to understand its mistake and simply counter it by instinct. Luckily for it, Malpetios'' last order saved it at the last moment. Just as seventy percent of its vines were cut to pieces, it finished gathering the mana needed for another beam. The beam was shot at the center of the blade net, breaking its formation and scattering them around the boss room. Many of the blades found their way into the main vines, as well as the Lily''s petals, making it howl in pain. In the air, Avanlo evaded the refracted beams nimbly as a bird. Turning to the boss he saw it covered in shallow or deep blade marks which were visibly closing fast. "Tsk... Dam plants and your endless vitality, one or two more attacks to send you on your way." Avanlo raise the golden feather blade and swiped at the flower''s corona. Before his attack took form he saw the boss freeze for a split second, the mass of severed vines that looked like a snake pit stopping all movement. A feeling of being watched suddenly dawn on him. At that same moment, the Lily''s dismembered vines all collectively dug into the ground, disappearing in the next moment. The boss suddenly closes its flower while spinning, this forces the intact vines to twist unto themselves. The whole picture looked like a spring made out of vines. As the blade net closed in, the coiled vines burst forward squeezing into one of the larger holes in the crisp-cross waves. Dumbfounded, Avanlo did not continue attacking. The Boss had jumped in his direction, now right above him. As he aimed for another attack, the Boss opened its flower, a large bucket thick beam coming right for him. With a smirk, he flys backward as he points his blade towards it. "Is that all? I thought for a second there was more to your fancy moves" "Sadly for you little Dungeon, even if you''re in control now, your just a rank one garba..." Before Avanlo could finish his words the earth under his previous location burst open, revealing the mass of severed vines. Having dodged the beam, he was more than happy to see it heading to them. With a blade twist, a much more compact blade net headed towards the Boss. Seeing no way for it to escape this time he smiles. In the next second, he felt a mass of mana appear below him as he was sent flying, his angel''s veil breaking apart, blood splattering everywhere. "ARRRGGGHHHH......." Meanwhile, the boss had coiled into a spring again, bouncing off the ceiling upon reaching its highest altitude. The Knights attack was dodged completely in this manner. Malpetios cursed to himself in frustration, he had MISSED! Ch.47 Simple Geography Ch.47 Simple Geography Avanlo screamed in pain as he was sent flying, landing on the floor with a wet slap. Before he recovered from the agony he felt a new mass of mana taking aim at him. Sending a signal to his weapon its many wings lock together, creating a circular shield. The beam hit and failed to leave a scratch on the wings. Assessing his injuries, fear covered his eyes. Half his waist along with one of his legs was missing, the wounds left behind showing traces of frostbite, cauterization, black spots, and melting flesh. What truly made him panic were the slowly growing black spots. As one of the Churches Knights, he''s been sent to deal with the evil creatures of the Abyss World and these come from their vile magic. Able to resist or outright nullify the power of faith, only water magic can remove them easily. Activating the enchantment, (Dawn of the Sun), his body started to heal rapidly. The black spots, refusing to leave, cluster together on the regrowing hip. The blessing manage to heal his leg, at the cost of half his faith power. The spots on the other hand fused together stubbornly sticking to his flesh like maggots. Worried and desperate, Avanlo forces the enchantment on his shoulder guards to overdraft, making it glow blindingly and finally removing them. Upon removing the last bit of the spots the golden sun imprint dimmed, cracks appearing around the metal hood. On edge after the close brush with death, he took a look at where the beam came from while blocking another one aim at him. Before the mass of severed vines escape back underground, a glimmer of silver could be seen being protected in the middle. That thing looked like a ball of liquid that reflected his face, not unlike a pool of water. Not wanting to fall for another trick and also worry that the boss had other hidden tools, he chose to play defensively from now on. The dungeon should have run out of mana already, thanks to the shackles, and that beam seems to drain too much energy as well. He could only assume the Dungeons uniqueness has helped it hold on till now. The earth mana which the shackles can''t seal should also be helping. Avanlo started to Dodge and weave using most of his sword''s wings as a shield to block the beam. Although powerful, it couldn''t Pierce through the shield. Having set his pride aside Avanlo did not allow the vines that would randomly surface alone. Either by sending blade waves or sending his wing blades to intercept, his focus was on finding those silver liquids. Those defensive actions started to take a toll on the boss making Malpetios start to worry. Taking advantage of the Lily''s skill (Chlorokinesis), he slithers around the room dodging the Knights attacks while trying to find an opening. His unorthodox way of dodging while he attacked caused the Lily a lot of distress. Without its roots planted firmly in the ground, a feeling of asphyxiation became more prominent. The snake-like movement pressured and constricted the Lily''s body. At first, he ignored it, supplying the earth mana its roots needed. But it was quickly losing effect, especially when the more delicate roots were ripped off or constricted. However, a feeling of rejection grew louder and louder, to the point (Boss Fusion) was losing effect. Malpetios came to the conclusion that he can hyper impose his will onto his boss but not go against their very instincts as a creature. But he really had no choice! Taking a look at his Statistics He started to panic Prismatic Dungeon Core: Malpetios Mana: 500/500 Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!Elemental mana: 001,100/421,474 (5,355 per hour) Pure mana: 0 Mana stone(full): 01/23 He cants go on like this! Everything I try is useless, the Knight refuses to let his guard down, constantly using (Prismatic Beam) has bottom out all my mana resources, not including the mana used to rapidly heal the Lily. I''m down to my last Mana stone, I hadn''t put much thought into it, after all, how can someone have more mana than me? The reality however was completely different. Not only does he have a defense I can''t penetrate, but the bastard keeps drinking a potion overflowing with mana. Taking a look at the severed vines digging thru the ground he makes up his mind. Cradle Inside them were four silver liquids, his last trump card. (Mirror Slime): The rare evolution of a slime who has eaten enchanted glass. Rank: 1 Attacking power: 5 Magic power: 20 Defense power: 10 Magic resistance: 150 Agility: 100 Special skill: Adaptable stomach, Fluidity, Reflective Body. Fluidity: Vastly improves a slime''s body scalping ability. Upon taking the desired form you can turn solid at will. Increases Agility. Reflective Body: Can refract or reflect energy masses up to the limit of magic resist. Attempting to reflect energy overcapacity would disintegrate the user''s molecular structure. This is my last shot, all or NOTHING!! Uncoiling from the snake-like form the Lily''s instincts immediately kick in, forcing me to take root. The feeling of rejection quickly passes as a feeling of relief came to me. The Knight, seeing I had stopped, attacked instantly with blade waves, not forgetting to keep most of his weapons wings for defense. Avanlo felt the boss gather more mana than ever before, he smiled, this was its last struggle. He was not going to let it do any more tricks, however. At worst, he will have to repair his weapon, there''s just not much that beam can do its rank four defenses. The moment he was waiting finally happened. With his senses focused on his aura, he felt the earth''s movement, a total of thirty pits open vines bursting out of them. He searched for the silver liquids, preparing to attack them as needed. However, they seem to have disappeared with only vines he easily dispatched left. Refusing to drop his guard, he kept his blade waves on the corner of his eye. Before they reach the boss he finally saw the glimmer of silver hidden in the vines, right on the path of his attack. The liquid expanded into the form of a triangle, the boss shooting a massive beam at it. Knowing it was another trick, he stopped attacking the vines, bringing his wing blades close to protect him. What happened next shocked him. The beam hit the triangle first, splitting into fourteen smaller differently color beams as it went thru the silver triangle. His Shock quickly turns to fear as a pitch-black beam melted the blade waves instantly. Avanlo ran away from it at top speed while the others clash and broke his blade net, some of which had mana auras he has never sensed before. Dodging and blocking the mana not causing him fear, saw him safely escaping. Sadly for him, his troubles had just begun. In a triangle formation, three more silver liquids jump out of the pits, with Avanlo in the middle. These ones took strange forms, the only thing in common was that the other two were visibly on their surface. The first triangle started to lose its shape, parts of its body turning to dust. As if stubbornly resisting what was happening to it, it began to tilt and turn, seemingly aiming at something. The pitch-black beam was redirected towards the closes of the three liquids, as the Knight face lost all its color. Trying desperately to destroy or even move one of them, he overdrafts his weapon, its golden whip-like blades attacking the one farthest from the beam. Unfortunately, the speed of the beam was not something he can handle. Just as the blades reached it so did the beam, melting the weapon like acid. Connect to it by his faith power Avanlo recoil in pain, the feeling akin to needles piercing his brain. "ARRRGGGHHHH.......!!!" While Avanlo screamed in pain Malpetios gave the slimes their final order. The first slime sacrifice itself turning to dust. Malpetios took advantage of this by forcing the remaining beam to break apart, allowing him to reclaim some of the mana back. While that happened the other slimes quickly turned into the shape of different lenses. One to act like a shotgun, one to act as a focused beam, and the last one to act like a laser blade. This broke the constantly reflected beam between all three of them after it has gathered as much of the black energy as the first slime produced before its death. Malpetios nearly jumped in joy seeing as he was about to win. Taking one last look at the Knight he did not see the fear of death, but mockery. A strange box-like object was taken out of the mantle of golden feathers on his waist, glowing in a strange light. The item looked like a rubix cube yet not, like a munch of shapes cluster together, yet not. Changing constantly as if not having a permanent form was to be its natural state, confined in a box. Suddenly, the space around the Knight opened like a mouth, swallowing him, all my black beams missing. He had disappeared. Ch.48 Birth Of The Game Dungeon. Ch.48 Birth Of The Game Dungeon. Malpetios stared at where the Knight had disappeared in a daze, snapping out of it shortly after. Searching for him, he expanded his awareness throughout his Dungeon. It was not long before he felt a distortion of mana near the boss''s entrance. The space cracked, the Knight walking out of it unharmed. Malpetios felt a sense of dread for each step taken, increasing his fear. "Hahaha! How does it feel to be made a fool of, little Dungeon? Does it sting, do you feel like ripping someone apart?" Avanlo laughed in glee as he taunted, never has he suffered such humiliation in his life. Not only did those useless mages fail to bring me the core, but they let so many fateful believers die. Having to take action personally is already an insult to the Heavensword household''s prestige. For their young master, the carrier of the legacy imprint, to be shame by a newly born Dungeon! How far has it fallen from grace?! With red eyes, Avanlo attacks the Lily, only to flinch upon seeing it uproot and continued running away as before. He quickly retracted most of his wing blades, wrapping themselves around him in a loose silky cocoon. Though he hates to admit it, he has grown to be suspicious of anything strange this Boss does. However, he was overreacting this time. Malpetios was only trying to buy time, only one of his mirror slime had survived. He was praying that he could somehow drag this fight until his mana regen was about to tick. He would then use one last beam with all but one mana point. Unfortunately, the Knight was also looking around for the slimes, ending its life with a quick slash. "What do I do! WHAT CAN, I DO!!!" Malpetios fell deeper into despair as his (Boss Fusion) deactivated, the howls of agony from his Boss bouncing all around his Core Room. Even though Avanlo had acted cautiously now that the boss could no longer use (Prismatic Beam) it was quickly losing. The moment (Boss Fusion) was forcefully canceled spelled its end. The Lily was one step away from death, Malpetios unable to heal it anymore. Avanlo stopped attacking, taking out a glass ball. The item in question looked similar to a gyroscope, a mass of darkness in the middle. Tentacles made out of that darkness stretched out towards the two spinning rings covered in runes, bouncing off them. "I''m surprised you didn''t try anything, but let me guess. I''ve read that some Dungeons would reclaim all the mana in their halls in a last cry of defiance. This would destroy the chain of control you have over traps and monsters. All the inhabitants of the dungeon would go berserk rushing towards the core room." "In their craze, they would kill both the invaders and the core in the hopes of reclaiming the mana back. I believe the fairys call it... (Dungeon Rage)." Avanlo smile, "although very rare for a Dungeon to do, is far more common when the invaders are beyond the Dungeon''s rank." "I''m sad to disappoint you, but my master already thought of such an outcome." After he finished talking he tossed the ball unto the core room''s entrance, shattering on impact. As if ink spilled into a blank canvas, the darkness grew covering the large stone doors. Finding its target, the darkness wiggled like maggots between the gaps of the door, quickly gaining access inside. Seeing all of this, Malpetios'' core colors turned several shades paler, while the darkness flooded the room like a cracked damp. Quickly using (Telekinesis), Malpetios grabs Q''ill and tossed her inside his geode up against the wall. Before he could do anything else he was submerged in the darkness. A feeling of falling passed as he found himself back in his soul. He finally saw what that darkness was, an uncountable ocean of lingering wills that nearly made him shit his pants! "Sidekick, use the white world!!" Malpetios hysterically scream for dear life, his Supporting Core activating right after. From his body expanded a white film whose extremities glowed in golden light. The ocean of darkness was cut apart by the film on contact. The world of light was however forced to stop growing, the darkness not giving an inch. Malpetios saw as the lingering wills did not just use brute force but actually gathered into long-eared, big-eyed creatures. The now massive goblin-like shadows punched the white world, leaving small cracks that quickly mended. Malpetios was pulled out of the spectacle by the System. [Warning! Warning! The Core Room''s gates are under attack.] Using his awareness Malpetios attempted to communicate with the Lily inside the Mindscape. After asking a few questions he got a clearer picture. The Knight had mostly ignored the boss, only attacking it whenever it recovered. Making sure to not kill it for some unknown reason. The rest of the time was spent ruthlessly attacking the doors. Malpetios wanted to curse the World''s Will for not allowing him to use (Dungeon Domain) on doors, dam it''s rules! Malpetios'' brain began to work overtime, thinking as fast as he could. Repeating to himself to think, think, think of something!!! Remembering the Knight''s words, he asked the System about (Dungeon Rage). The System told him it was impossible to activate it without full control over his core. It basically said I need a one hundred percent synchronization rate, or manually kill and integrate the wills. With Muscles still kicking, and those unnamed wills sealed by the System, it would take time to fix this. Let''s also not forget that my boss fuse with me, becoming a friendly will. This Explained why the Knight didn''t kill the Lily, it was to prevent me from reclaiming all my pieces. The Lingering Wills are meant to wrestle control over my core, or outright break me. The goal is to stop me from activating the skill. Completely out of options or tricks, Malpetios unexpectedly felt calm. He hasn''t felt anything but distress, guilt, fear, and anxiety ever since he came here. The only time he felt anything worthwhile was from Q''ill''s unceasing support. He wanted to keep thinking of a way out, even if hopeless, for Q''ills sake. Closing his nonexistent eyes, the world around him turned quiet. The Lily''s cries and the impacts of the will''s punches disappeared. As he thought about many things, his emotions seemed distant and alien. From deep within his mind a connection to something was made, a chorus of voices rejecting and exploring ideas. Malpetios thought process increased to a point where he could think about hundreds if not thousands of ideas at the same time. Back in his core room, in place of his core was a large black mass surrounding Malpetios like water. Deep inside, a purple light began to glow outlining the core. Whitish-purple neon lines began to appear, revealing their identity as slowly opening eyes. The whole outline was quickly covered in numerous eyes that reflected cold indifference. [Warning. The Host is Connecting to the Collective without the main system''s approval. Beginning scan... complete. Identified as the arcane element. Borrowing the channel created by the Host. Connection to the main system successful.] At that moment in Malpetios Mindscape, The pool of Mana begin to boil as an Imposing presence emerged from it. Humanoid in shape, the identity had no face with features of different races appearing and disappearing. Before it, a dot of darkness appears growing into a Familiar giant shadow. The System began to communicate with the imposing figure. [Connection successful. Beginning Integration with the Main System.] Reaching out with its arm, it unravels into many string-like segments towards the figure. Just before making contact, a prismatic barrier covers its body preventing it from merging with the Main System. A hint of confusion appears in its face, not understanding why. The imposing figure moves one of his arms above the Systems head, many tentacles emerging from it and easily passing thru the barrier. Like roots, they are buried onto the Systems'' body, establishing a connection. The Main System scanned its body, finding many errors. An inquiry for the reasoning behind many modifications to its rules and the affirmation of ''fallen one scenario'' was sent. The erasure of the core would begin upon any incongruities.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. The System acknowledged, sending all inquiries and decisions done by both it and the Host, affirming that it was not a fallen one scenario. The World''s Will, after getting its answers, removes the oppressing aura around its body returning to a calm and mild state. It slowly began to sink back to the pool of mana, dragging the system with It. With only its fingers remaining, the imposing figure releases The System, leaving him on the pool''s center. In the whirlpool left behind by its exit, a mass of energy burst out encompassing The System. Looking from afar showed it taking an egg-like appearance. In but a few moments it shrunk, cracks appearing and growing wider. The mana pool''s waters finally settled, the egg cracking open. The shell pieces turn to mana, absorbed by the thing inside. A grayish shadow of smaller stature than before appeared in its place, the aura coming from it had increased drastically. At this time Malpetios had simulated numerous memories, focusing on Mana Gems infused with a soul. In the same manner, he was created, he wanted to use it in the creation of golems or intelligent spirits. Using this as a foundation, he would take it one step further. His goal, the manastones found inside beasts and demons In games and novels. Using himself as a substitute, he wanted to create a similar relationship with his monsters. If this was possible, he could use (Mana Shield) to protect his Lily allowing him to fully utilize his Mana, removing the shortcoming of ranks to a large degree. Upon finalizing his thoughts, the Core Returns to its prismatic colors The hundreds of eyes closed and disappeared. The purple haze around his body slowly faded, returning to his soul space. Immediately after he calls the System explaining his Idea as fast as possible, hoping it would process it quickly. For a moment, Malpetios thought something was off about him, but could not pinpoint what. He did not get to think further as the System replied instantly. [This request has no predecessors. The analysis of the proposal is predicted to cause uncontrollable variances. Ending in the destruction of the dungeons Balance.] This reply was unusually quick but didn''t discourage him, it instead made him see hope. This meant it''s not impossible right? With this in mind, Malpetios started to haggle with the System. Back in the boss room, Avanlo had nearly penetrated the ten-inch thick doors. His initial blade waves saw little resistance till halfway thru. The last three inches of stone lightly glowed in prismatic colors, resisting over sixty percent of his strength. Paranoid and worried this Dungeon would somehow pull something, he did not care and overdrafts his damaged weapon. As the golden silky ribbons proceeded to open the way, Avanlo still felt unease, as if something was going to happen. With eyebrows furrowed, he twisted his blade, the wings braiding into an ornate claymore. Swinging at the doors, it finally pierced inside, revealing a black ball with two glowing lights inside. With a paled face, Avanlo canceled the claymore form, reaching into his feather mantle to chug another Elixer. Looking inside confused him, "two of them? This Dungeon has a second floor?" Before he could scare himself with the thought he remembered it was currently sealed. "Thank the Lore for master''s (Soul Sealing Waters)." At first, he thought it was a great insult to him, being looked down on as a child... but now. When I return I should thank him, as both his disciple and as his son. Proceeding forward, just before arriving inside, the smaller light began to move. Avanlo raises his guard, flying thru the hole in the doors. The bubble stretched as if something was trying to escape, managing to do so due to the wills focus on the larger light. The freed light was a small pearl-like gem, glowing in golden light. Out of nowhere, it blasted towards him like a cannonball. Before even making contact, Avanlo saw a film of light hit the shield of wing blades, knocking him backward and out of the core room. Unprepared for such a thing, as well as being in the air, he could not defend against what he assumed was a spell, not a blunt attack. The pearl continued moving forward after pushing him onto the floor, aiming at the boss. Avanlo was having none of it, sending blade waves unto it. Unexpectedly, the waves didn''t do any damage to the film around it. Before he continued attacking, the connection to his faith power was disintegrating at an alarming rate. Ever since he noticed that the Lily could somehow absorb his power, he had forced it to self-destruct upon leaving his control. This time, however, as soon as his attack hit, the connection to his will was ripped apart, the power of faith shattering like fireflies. This was bad! He could already see it gathering around the Lily''s wounds, as well as the Core Room entrance. The pearl landed inside the Lily''s bloody mouth, making it twitch in pain. Avanlo grimaces, attacking the Lily directly with the wing blades. The poor Boss had all its petals in pieces, over ninety percent of its vines chopped off. From inside its mouth, a soft light began to glow, covering the tattered boss. Avanlos blades reached the boss, attempting to kill it, however. The sound of metal hitting metal was heard, a soft-looking feathery film covering the Lily. "That''s, (Holy Barrier)?" Dumbfounded, Avanlo could not understand how an insignificant creature used the lord''s power. "No! It can''t be, how could a Priest''s blessing be used by a monster. IT CANT BE!" Avanlo was full of panic, if this thing can really use the power of faith then why would his God allow it to live? This is blasphemy! Heresy! With craze-fill eyes, he overdrafts his weapon as it turned to gold, then dark gold, cracks left behind by the black beam starting to grow. The barrier was quickly showing signs of breaking but Avanlo could feel his faith power leaving the weapon and being absorbed by the boss. He could tell that his faith power was not doing any damage, the Lily suffering from the blade impacts. The Lily''s whole body started to change, its petals turned white with golden spots, and its vines turned from green to brownish-gold. Reaching towards the blade wings with its remaining vines, it wrapped around four of them as the rest continued attacking it. Protected by the golden film, it dragged those on its grasp closer to its mouth. Avanlo witnessed as it opened its mouth wide, forcing the faith power in those held by it to leak out of the weapon and his control. Cooling down his emotions, he quickly retracted his blades, the boss refusing to let go of its food. Sending blade waves at a distance with the remaining blades, Avanlo began to panic. The boss was somehow immune to the power of faith, actively aiming for the blade waves. Avanlo was left to hopelessly watch as the boss kept healing, its corona fully restored. Turning his eyes to the core room, Avanlo had a flash of brilliance. The blades stopped attacking the Boss and aimed at the black bubble. Aware of the dangers, the Lily let go of its food and send its now mostly restored vine network to patch the hole. Taking his chance, Avanlo separated from the boss, as he watched it returning to its original position. The core room doors are now covered in brownish-gold vines and leaves. For a moment, he thought about escaping, before shaking his head. My mission would fail if I can''t bring the core. Thinking about how the other households would laugh at him, as well as the fairys warning, he could not retrieve. He can not be the cause of letting the filthy Beastmen take a bite of the holy lands. "Foolish... child, you... have already... lost." Suddenly hearing a voice in his mind, Avanlo found it familiar. Before he could question the source, the whole ground under him collapse, revealing the hundreds of vines he had severed before. He scoff at it being in the air and all, but he soon couldn''t stop shaking in fear. All of the vines had turned brownish-gold, in denial, he send blade waves to destroy them only for the vines to wrap around them as they scattered into faith power. The Boss followed suit, sending his own vines into his escape routes. Avanlo attacked the vines as they wrapped themselves around the majority of his wing blades. Seeing no way out, Avanlo quickly forms a protective cocoon with the remaining blades. The severed vines engulf it, as the main vines bring it to the Lily. Opening its mouth, it began to suck in air as a stream of golden firefly-like mana was drained out of the vine bundle. Inside the cocoon, Avanlo was having a mental breakdown. His faith power was being drained at an increasing rate, he would lose it all in but a minute. "Leave... use the.... cube!" Avanlo heard the voice in his head again, reminding him of the [Space rending Cube]. "Who are you! Why are you helping me?" Asked Avanlo in confusion, his only reply was a repeating ''leave'' in a familiar voice. Putting the voice aside, he quickly brings the cube out and activates it. The power inside it tried to envelop everything in contact with the Knight, failing to do so. Avanlo got feedback from the cube, requesting more mana due to the size of the target. It is then he remembered that he couldn''t get rid of the mass of vines attached to him. Before he could panic, the voice returned. "Go... leave this... to... me!" Avanlo''s back began to glow, a tattoo of a faceless human with wings appeared in the light. If you look closely you would find it was not a single piece, but thousands of small and large sword tattoos in the shape of an angel. The tattoo''s face rapidly grew facial features, looking almost like a carven copy of Avanlo. A humanoid figure stepped out of Avanlo''s back, grabbing his weapon. In an unquestionable tone, he said, "go", before the sword glowed blindingly. The Lily, finding its food too rich, couldn''t absorb the mana fast enough. The cocoon expanded pushing all the vines away. The angelic creature''s body turned transparent, its power nearly spent, dropping the sword and quickly returning to the tattoo. Avanlo had already activated the cube, getting ready to leave. Seeing his sword falling, he forces the cube to overdraft, as it breaks into spinning pieces widening the cracks in space all around him. The Lily quickly tried to stop him, sending its vines to wrap around the sword and some of the cube pieces. The giant hole in space swallowed most of the sword, before collapsing unto itself. All that was left of the Knight was half a wing blade, and two tiny pieces of the cube. Ch.49 Sanctioned. Ch.49 Sanctioned. Seeing the Knight finally leave for good brought Malpetios peace, at last!! He now needed to deal with the aftermath. He then remembered the pain of tearing himself apart. With no Pure Mana, he had no other choice but to use part of himself, carving a gaping hole out of his core. He''d gathered all the fragments housing his Sidekick, losing its protection in the process. Smelling blood, the shadows rushed to the open wound preferring the large piece of meat over the tiny Supporting Core. Malpetios used his mental strength to create a shield around himself, but it had little effect. Unlike the wills he''d fought before these ones were far too coordinated, not allowing him to hold on. With no other choice, he stops acting tuff, shamelessly hiding in his Mindscape using the system''s barrier as a clutch. The sky of his pristine forest turns black, giving out a gloomy atmosphere. The mass of darkness continued on, assaulting the new obstacle. However, the prismatic barrier prevented them from reaching any closer not showing any signs of damage. Malpetios used boss fusion, sending advice to the Lily sense he couldn''t control its material body in here. In this way, he saw the Lily, controlled by Sidekick, nearly stump all over the Knight. He originally thought it would simply level the playing field, but he had forgotten something. As a Dungeon Core, even if just a supporting one, it had a one hundred percent (Mana Conductivity). Meaning that it could suck the mana out of the Knight, and any equipment in contact with it. On top of all that, his Sidekick was completely immune to the Knight''s mana, being nothing more than its food. Malpetios was not sure if it Was because the same elements cancel each other, or conductivity percentages equate to a corresponding resistance? He would have to experiment later. Now however he needed to regain control of the Dungeon and his body. With his request, the Lily stuck its head thru the broken doors, breathing out a gentle stream of golden mana at my Core. The black water reacted violently to it, morphing into silently screaming faces. At a snail''s pace, the faces started to melt, the golden mana clearly having little effect. He decided to speed up the process by leaving his safety bubble and fighting the wills to the best of his ability. This was going to take a long time. Somewhere in the continent of A''om, in the Holy capital, a space crack appeared in the courtyard of a large manor. Avanlo dropped to his knees breathing raggedly his face pale from mana depletion. The pieces of the (Space Rending Cube) quickly gathered together before dropping to the floor, turning dim. Heavy footsteps could be heard getting close. Avanlo only had the strength to raise his head and apologize, passing out from exhaustion the next second. The large and stalwart man quickly grabbed Avanlo before he hit the floor. A face full of wrinkles and vicissitudes of life scanned his body, finding no life-threatening wounds. The large and gentle hands removed the partially destroyed armor, stopping on top of Avanlos back. "Finally did something for your son huh," said the man in an aged voice. The tattoo glowed, saddened eyes appearing before returning to its featureless face. The man stood up, cradling Avanlo in one arm and ordering the servants to move the armor to the blacksmith. Of course, he made sure to take the feathered satchel, sword, and cube. Hearing his command, around four or so well dressed, big-eyed, and long-eared humanoids cleaned the area immediately. Taking Avanlo to his room and tucking him in bed, he places his glowing palm on Avanlos head. Avanlos tensed eyebrows relax, falling into a peaceful slumber. "Knock, Knock." The man frowned displeased due to the interruption. Opening the door, he saw one of his servants nervously staring back at him, its green skin full of sweat. "L-Lo-Lord Lovan we have guests. High Priest Vultren wishes to see you as soon as possible." Lovan''s eyes glinted with malice, quickly hiding it the next moment. Walking into the guest room Lovan glanced at the pig-like man in white robes. Sitting down, he asks, "to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, High Priest Vultren." Smiling, Vultren said, "lord Lovan is jesting, I am of course here to check on Avanlos condition. If I''m not wrong, he was sent by the church to destroy this century''s Chaos Dungeon. Sadly, it would seem this Dungeon turned out to be a variant." "Not only that but it was heavily skewed towards traps against larger groups. The total casualties amount to well over thirty percent, even the unbelievers had many deaths." Vultren took a sip of the tea provided to him, frowning in disgust at the green skin slave who offered it. "Putting that aside, don''t you think that as the ruling family of the Heavensword household you should get servants of higher standards." Hearing this, the servant began to shake in fear not daring to lift his head. Lovan replied in a calm tone, "Slaves are good learners, loyal, and more importantly tight-lipped." Lovan said the last one with a hint of mockery before returning to his drink. Vultren momentarily frowned, but he quickly replaced it with a smile. "That seems to be the case. Let''s move on with the previous topic. Due to Avanlos failure, the Beastmen have allied with the Elfs and Fairys, claiming the dungeon under the Fairys Army Treaty." "Both sides have already gathered their army. This war is highly disadvantaged towards us, the Beastmen horde would completely exhaust our troops without the lord''s power. Let''s also not forget the rich mana the dungeon can produce without the Shackles, becoming a playground for those Elfs." "His Holiness has decided to make a deal with the Fairy Army. Our objective is to maintain the Dungeon sealed, not allowing the Beastmen to free it and claim approximately two hundred miles of our lands." "However, it is unlikely for the Beastmen to leave with no benefits, especially after the ambush of the Beast King fifty years ago." Said Vultren while taking another sip of tea. Lovan already had an idea of what the church was getting to, and their true goal in coming here. Putting his teacup back on the table Vultren said, "now we come to how the Heavensword household intents to compensate for their mistakes." "We don''t ask much of you, the only retired rank nine entity outside the political world, just stabilize the wastelands of Snake Nest in our favor." Although Vultren would have preferred to destroy the Dungeon, both the Fairy Treaty and the higher-ups refused. Keeping the commoners and lesser nobles happy would be advantageous, but the Dungeon was not an amalgamation spewing disaster this time. The Mage Academy and freelance Warriors would not play nice with the church if they dare to destroy a source of mana for no reason. Their only chance was the first finders grace period, which Avanlo failed miserably at. "I refuse," said Lovan in a disinterested tone. Widening his eyes, Vultren could not believe he had refused. With the horrendous losses predicted by the church, the Heavensword Household would suffer pressure from all sides. Did he really think that being a rank nine grandmaster Paladin would keep him safe? A simple ''accident'' in the Abyss World gates, and he would be pulled out of retirement forcefully. Refusing a second time would strip him of his titles and power, throwing him out of the Holy Capital for his enemies to deal with.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Before Vultren could open his mouth again, Lovan raised his hand to stop him. "I know that the losses are large and even I can''t shoulder them, there''s no need to elaborate. I''ll personally go to His Holiness to pay for my son''s mistakes. You may leave now, I will not be seeing you off." Said Lovan, getting up from his chair and leaving. From Avanlo''s room, he saw the fuming Priest stumping his way out of the manner. Retrieving his gaze from the window he could not but scoff in his mind. Do you want me to leave my grandson alone with you bunch of snakes so you can make another unfortunate accident happen? Sadly for you, my grandson is not as incompetent as his dad was. Lovan takes out what looks like a red wooden carving of a flower bud, scanning it with his aura. Inside it was a small, yet beautiful red gem, covered in rainbow patterns. I don''t believe a sacred jewel''s value is not worth more than the few cities under the Prismatic Core''s influence. After I offer this to the pope, let''s see who has the guts to question my rule over the Heavensword Household. Time went by, passing in the blink of an eye. Back in Malpetios Mindscape, the last few big wills were being hunted. In the beginning, he had just brute-forced his way thru, before getting the idea to use mana. He tried using all the elements he could manifest, including the brand new one he just got. It also came with two new Dungeon skills. [Holy]: The element created by the gratitude of intelligent beings, and showing goodwill to another. Found mainly in the Golden Garden, and from worshippers. (Sanctuary): Adds an additional room''s worth of space to the dungeon, increasing from ten rooms per floor to eleven. Rooms or terrain created this way are surrounded by a field of soothing mana, greatly suppressing aggressive tendencies. (Holy Blessing): Grant a willing creature great powers, temporarily increasing all its parameters up to three hundred percent, for fifteen seconds. The four basic elements were easy to control, with many memories for me to go thru for spells. Nature and Ice were a whole different story, with me having to just spray and pray to little effect. The only ones worth mentioning are Water and Holy. For some weird reason, if one didn''t work the other would melt their face-off. After a lot of practice, I found the wills who were unusually intelligent were weak to Holy. They would use the other wills as cover, seemingly looking for an opportune moment. The rest of them suffered heavy damage to Water mana. I thankfully managed to scrunch up a third circle water spell that hit a wide area, reaping large numbers of them. This worked until the smarter ones began to trade places, literally grabbing the dumb ones by the neck, using them as a shield when needed. It got to the point that it took hours to kill just one of them. Luckily, a mist of golden mana started to appear behind the wall of wills, slowly melting them over time. With an occasional smart one getting caught here and there. I started experimenting with many things, but nothing much worked. That was when I accidentally use the wrong mana, cursing to myself that it should''ve been Holy. Only for the water mana to glow in prismatic colors, changing from Water to Holy. This solved all my problems as I cast different circles of magic, changing them into Holy or Water as needed. Since I was able to change elements I tried to change spells, and it kinda worked. Changing a first circle (Fire Arrow) to a (Pebble Bullet) didn''t work, but changing it to a second circle (Fire Bolt) absolutely worked. This meant I could take advantage of a spell''s fast movement, before injecting mana, changing it into its slower higher rank version. Like from (Pebble Bullet) into (Boulder Toss), before changing it into Holy element. Malpetios had a gut feeling that he could only do this while inside his Life Aura, similar to (Fire Brand) from his [Pyrovine Orb]. Finishing off the remaining few wills, he could finally get out of his Mindscape. The moment he returned, he dispersed his senses throughout his Dungeon, quickly getting bombarded with notices from the System the next second. [A total of 306 unique lifeforms have perished inside the Dungeon Domain. The corresponding amount of Life Crystals have been condensed.] [Host has unlocked (Alchemy: Holy Element Elixer.). (Alchemy: Wind Element Hi-Potion)...] A lot of new unlocks, mostly a bunch of potions of different elements with the Knights Elixer being the most precious. Apart from that were notifications of more slime births, along with the instinctual feeling of mana repairing the Dungeon. The first thing he did was to check on Q''ills condition. He found her where he left her, sleeping soundly. Although he wasn''t sure how long he was trapped inside the Mindscape, he could have sworn it was more than two days. It was alarming for her to not show any signs of waking up. Turning towards the slowly healing hole on the doors, he saw his Lily dutifully spraying mana at him. Sending an order to his Sidekick, the Lily started to cough up golden blood, his Supporting Core levitating out of its mouth. Returning to his side, it started revolving around him like a moon. [Supporting Core: ???] Rank: 0 Mana: 75/75 Holy Element Mana: 75/75 Crystallized Mana: 0 After curiously watching it revolve around him, a status window popped up, introducing something he didn''t recognize. So he just asked the good old System. [Crystallized Mana]: Mana given material form, used for the Dungeons Cores growth. Can be traded to the World''s Will for equivalent rewards. Oh? Is this how I''m supposed to grow to the size of the Jewels, but wait how come I can''t make it myself? And what about Pure Mana? Confused, Malpetios requested his Sidekick to create some for him to see. His Sidekick spent fifty of both Mana and Holy Mana to create one unit of Crystallized Mana. [Holy Mana stone]: A stone created by a Holy Dungeon Core, can be used to store Holy Element Mana. Capacity:0000/2500. WAIT! Wasn''t this just a [Prismatic Mana stone]!? After a moment of shock, he realized that they were not the same. One stored Mana that was conveniently versatile and for all affinities, while the other only stored Holy Element Mana. This meant my stones are over four thousand percent more efficient. Malpetios stared at the tiny shard of whitish-gold crystal, before telling his Sidekick to use it. However, nothing happened, making him wonder if his Sidekick was broken. Luckily the System saved him from his predicament. [The Crystallized Mana must be full to begin integration. Attempting to integrate them forcefully would have a high failure rate. This can cause it to explode.] EXPLODE!? He nearly threw the thing away with telekinesis. Was this thing even stable? His System assured him it was perfectly safe, it would only be dangerous if it was intentionally mishandled. Since it''s safe he wanted to fill it up, so he took a look at his condition. Mana: 425/425 Element mana: 421,399/421,399 (5,355 per hour) Pure mana: 0 Mana stone(full): 00/23 He was completely full. This didn''t make him happy, however. Two whole days'' worth of mana regen was only about half his Element Mana pool, but he was full? This can only mean he was trapped for at least four or five days, yet everything in the Dungeon was as I left it. This also meant that Q''ill has been sleeping for almost a week, he really started to panic a bit now. He took a look at her, casting a few more water healing spells to no effect. The beauty just kept snoring away. Sighing, Malpetios just fills the stone with Holy mana and throws it to his Sidekick. This time it worked, the crystal melted and covered the whole circular Core. He got the allusion of an onion getting another layer. Its mana and element capacity when up by one, now seventy-six. Malpetios repeated the process two more times before it stopped working, a familiar error message coming from the System. [Warning. The Supporting Core can''t convert more than double its max capacity of mana per day.] Seeing this, he was reminded about his own restrictions, quickly making Pure Mana. Malpetios almost cried when he saw the zero jump to eight, it felt like years ago when he had the liberty to make any. With nothing better to do, he continued experimenting with spells, turning them from first circle spells to second, becoming more adept at it. That was five days ago... WHERE IS EVERYBODY!!?? Ch.50 Deprived Ch.50 Deprived After such a long time with no invaders, Malpetios was going crazy. Initially, he was happily modifying his Dungeon, putting an emphasis on doors. The rules prohibited using the (Dungeon Domain) enchantment on doors, as well as anything blocking the path to the core room. So he created a multilayered, crisscrossing masterpiece. Each one of the interlocking door pieces was enchanted to overcapacity, nearly breaking into its elements. Cases such as having someone restrain the boss while they chipped at the doors were now impossible. With so many different elements layered together, it would take hours if not days. It got to the point he was lost in what to do next, having already done everything he could think of. Although he tried to make more rooms, the System was quick to block him, telling him to gather Pure Mana. As for how much I needed, the bastard wouldn''t say. He started to play around with boss fusion, getting used to the double vision he got whenever both he and his Sidekick occupied the same body. It was then that he noticed some items tangled up between the main vine clusters. It was pieces of the Knights gear! Malpetios tried to absorb them to no avail, the items ignored his will. He grabbed the wing sword fragment and the two black cube pieces, bringing them next to him. He tried to add them to his inventory but it didn''t work. He gave up after a while, asking the System for help. To his surprise, The System remained mute, not saying a thing. Unconvinced, Malpetios spent a whole day trying everything he could think of, with nothing to show for it. He even tried to flood the blade with Holy Mana but it just wouldn''t absorb any of it. By the third day, Malpetios started to feel anxious, with slight headaches, which surprised him since he no longer had a fleshy body. It didn''t help that Q''ill was still asleep. He started to talk about random things he made around the dungeon to her sleeping form. On the fourth day, he started to feel dizzy, his headaches growing in intensity. The dungeon ran automatically in the background, he barely noticed his instincts managing it. The only thing that made him feel better was staring at Q''ill, hoping she''d wake up. Day five was hell, the monotony of the dungeon had him wanting something new. Even though he constantly changed its appearance, it felt no better than changing clothes. It got to a point he made things that would actively hurt him, like the dungeon equivalent of getting piercings. He even tried talking to his Sidekick, but it would just agree or disagree with whatever I did, not having an opinion of its own. It felt like talking to the mirror. He found comfort in playing with the dark puppy, even naming it after his dog, Kira. But it didn''t last, the creatures of my Dungeon gave me the feeling that I was talking to myself. It honestly felt like he was having a conversation with his arms or legs. I started to curse and scream out loud, asking where were those adventures from books and novels? Aren''t I a super rare and valuable Dungeon? WHY IS NO ONE SHOWING UP!!! He even started to haggle with the System about manastones again. The System had a long laundry list of restrictions, everything from how much mana a certain rank could have, to only allowing Dungeon Cores to fuse with boss-type monsters. I managed to get it to agree on having mana shields with double the target''s health, basically becoming a second health bar. I showed it how bosses work on games, focusing on those who were broken. The System was quick to point out problems and outright unfairness, so making an overtuned boss so I have the time to grow was quickly shut down. Malpetios knew he was asking for too much, the System was adamant in making things fair, but he was grasping at straws here. The attitude the World''s Will has towards its creatures is similar to natural selection, or survival of the fittest. It has no preference and supports them all equally. It wasn''t until now, when he was so hungry for stimulus, that he noticed the shift of direction for the Dungeons. He had revisited the safety patterns and mental alignment inherent memories this past few days out of boredom. The many types of ''Fallen Ones'' were the spark that made the World''s Will change its attitude. It was forced to restrain certain actions or risk the balance breaking apart. All of its decisions are recorded here, showing its reasons and thought process. Many paths Dungeons had taken were cut off, some were understandable, like the one that basically copied the matrix. The Dungeon would capture anything that can absorb and purify mana, turning into [Crystallized Mana] factories. Although incredibly efficient, they were destroyed the second they were found. While others were destroyed by the World''s Will due to necessity. Some Dungeons basically made themselves slaves to the Sapient races, it did everything they wanted. At first, this seemed to work, however, a creature''s greed is endless. Whoever controlled the dungeon eventually fell to his or her desires. Out of all of them, two stood out the most, Tyrant Lumpest and Lady of the Wild. Lumpest was the iconic ''bad guy'' in movies, a bastard who wanted any women or shiny thing he fancy, killing whatever stood in his way. And of course, he was Xenophobic, because of course he was... He was the reason why the A''om continent was almost completely ruled by humans, as well as their attitudes to other races. The guy''s biggest body count wasn''t even them, but his own people, mainly males. To make a long story short, he planted a lot of seeds into any pasture that was ''untouched'' by lesser males. As for Lady of the Wild, her story can be said to be a sad one. She used the Dungeon to save much of the wildlife in danger of extinction, encouraging them to grow and evolve. In this case, a Dungeons efficiency became her downfall. With no need to make their own monsters and just raise the cubs, they became overpopulated quickly, forcing them to fight for the right to stay and mate.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Eventually, even those who got kicked out of the Dungeon were several times more fit and adept at fighting than a wild beast. The Dungeon''s ideal environment gave them both nourishment and treated their wounds. Lady was overjoyed, seeing it as her children finally returning to the outside world. However, the cities and towns that got overwhelmed by large, muscular, and fierce extinct monsters were not happy. In the end, her Dungeon was flattened by four Arch-mages and five Grandmaster Paladins. Even in death, she refused to apologize, saying that her children have the right to grow and survive as any of you! After all of that, the World''s Will added rules preventing such cases from ever happening again. As for why it bothered, it was, of course, Mana. Many Dungeons were destroyed after both cases, branding them as the source of the problem. After putting all the pieces together, Malpetios found a benefit under all those chains placed on Dungeons. The World''s Will would always take the Dungeon''s perspective into account first, everyone else''s second. Not only that but it was always available, even if that availability came mostly from fusing a part of itself to the Dungeons. Out of all the creatures created by this world, we the Dungeon Cores were closest to it. It was probably for that reason that the System found it necessary to warn Malpetios. [Warning! The Host''s mental state is deteriorating. Similar cases have been found. It is recommended for the Host to create items of interest. Please take note of the following. Increase monster count. Increase rare earth deposits. Hide [Crystallized Mana] around unpopular areas....] One of the things it recommended was humanoid slimes with female features. Malpetios stared blankly for a second before bursting into laughter. The System''s serious and formal voice only made it funnier. He would have probably hurt his lungs if he still had a body. The moment of joy took a weight off his mind, finally allowing him to calm down. He noticed his field of vision had little black spots he hadn''t noticed before. They were in the corners of his vision, some fading away probably due to my outburst. Malpetios felt cold sweat, how long were those there?! Making a ball of water appear, he took a look at his reflection. His Core was covered in large and small black dots. He quickly dives inside his Mindscape, his thoughts being that he missed some wills. What he saw inside, however, was a lot scarier. His forest was wilting, many areas looking dry and cracked. Seeing this, something clicked in his head. The Mindscape is not only a reflection of how I see the world but also a window into my mental state. Thinking back on how anxious and desperate he was for something new, was he suffering from stimulation isolation? But why? I can literally change my Dungeon as I like and talk to... He then thought back on how he saw everything inside his Dungeon as a part of him. The Sidekick was literally a piece of his soul, while he knew the monsters inside out. They were more like dolls or sock puppets I can control, their actions holding no mystery. It was as if I wanted to read a book written by me, and somehow trick my mind that I didn''t know the ending. With his condition no longer a mystery, he started to calm down. The forest around him got a bit livelier, but this could only be considered a bandaid. He now understood the weird things the System suggested, they were all things adventures would want. But this wouldn''t work for him at this moment. After such a long time no one has shown up, this meant I was being intentionally ignored if not sealed. Ugh, it''s definitely the church! But what about the Fairy Army? Q''ill said I should be put under the Fairy Treaties protection after surviving the first invasion. Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that this has something to do with The Jewel''s. Malpetios just stood there, staring at the horizon. His Mindscape was a peaceful and serene place, even in its deteriorating state. Looking around, his eyes stop on Muscles cave. THAT''S RIGHT! HE IS STILL HERE!! Malpetios runs inside next to Muscles, looking at him like a long-lost brother. Muscles, in turn, looks at Malpetios like a piece of meat. What happened next can only be considered as an overactive puppy playing with a ball. Malpetios didn''t even notice the pressure around Muscles, if anything it was fun and stimulating! While he poked or kicked the prismatic barrier around, Muscles would get angry or attack him. After thoroughly bullying Muscles to his heart''s content, he thinks about what to do next. His forest had improved further, but he was eventually going to grow bored with Muscles. Malpetios started to grow annoyed, all his options seem to lead nowhere. He needed to talk with someone he can bounce ideas off, and Q''ill seemed to have exhausted herself to a point she needs weeks of rest. Thankfully, as a magical creature, she wouldn''t get malnourished, only needing me to supply Mana. Now that he was more mentally stable, he went thru all his memories one by one. He didn''t think this would help much, with his brainpower now, he could even remember how many grains of dirt was stuck in the Knight''s shoes. However, persistence pays off, as he noticed something that skipped his mind. During the time he made his Sidekick, a mangled will had been left behind, one who was apparently sapient. Malpetios closes his eyes, appearing in his soul space the next moment. With a quick request, the System unsealed the wills inside him, turning his soul space black. Now experience, Malpetios walks all over them, not taking long to find his target. Brian opens his eyes, seeing nothing but darkness. Sleepy, he tried to drag his hand across his face, only to notice it was full of bite marks. He panicked, trying to stand up and check his body. It was then that the darkness around him seemed to have been disturbed, red eyes opening within it. Brian stared at the glowing eyes in fear, as they lightened up his surroundings. He saw that he was not laying on a bed, but a pile of slowly waking shadowy bodies. Brian shot up from the pile, trying to escape. However, he found that he couldn''t find a foothold, floating right into the face of one of them. Its eyes were red as blood, reflecting hatred, pain, and bloodlust. The creature ignored him, as they all suddenly faced one direction, flying towards it the next second. Brian saw the shadows charging towards a person made of grayish rainbow light, with many black polka dots around its edges. After seeing it, a feeling of familiarity struck him, as it all came back to him. That was the guy that kidnapped him? Brian wanted to cry, wherein the heck is he, is this even Earth!? His kidnapper noticed him, a happy smile appearing on his face. "Yo! What''s your name, I''m Malpetios, who''s will are you?! Do you like games? How old are you... Brian was drowning in the things questions, its eagerness making his skin crawl. The fact that it was killing the creatures that looked just like him was not helping. It would swing its hands from left to right, blue waves of liquid would burst forward like blades before turning golden. All the red-eye shadows turned to shreds, their pieces integrating with its body, becoming brighter and larger. Brian quickly turns away, awkwardly swimming as far as he can from that psychopath. Sadly for him, Malpetios killed his way next to him, grabbing and tossing him inside his Mindscape. Brian suddenly found himself in the middle of a dream-like forest, one whose beauty was diminished by wilting trees. Where the heck was he now!?!? Ch. 51 Simulacrum Ch. 51 Simulacrum A strange bejeweled temple. A giant tree with red, blue, brown, pale green, gold, and emerald green branches. A building that looked like a warehouse and bank fused together. A gem mountain with bird-like things made out of those gems flying above it. Lastly, a large auction house with random items, wisp-like creatures, and a rendition of a world. The whole building also looked like a stage, with red curtains in the middle, painted walls with a world and moons at one side, and a prismatic crystal on the other. These were the things before Brian''s red eyes. The longer he stayed here the stronger a feeling of belonging grew. This place he''s never been to reminds him of home, of peace. While he wondered if he was in a dream, the forest around him started to wilt rapidly. What was going on now? Outside the Mindscape, in Malpetios''s soul, the last of the wills were destroyed and devoured. The grayish colors were now gone, a white body shining in prismatic colors left in its place. Sadly, Malpetios couldn''t enjoy the feeling of becoming whole, instead, a river of horrible memories flooded his mind, nearly breaking his will. "Host! Your psyche is being corrupted, please give permission to reactivate the Emotional Suppressant." Malpetios managed to recover momentarily, the adult-sounding voice echoing in his mind. He gave the command in an exhausted voice. In a few seconds, his mind cleared as if nothing had happened. Surveying his body revealed that half of it was now completely black. Malpetios saw the darkness being compressed, sealing it at the center of his body, just as before. Although most of the darkness was gone, he was still covered in black spots, some had obviously grown bigger. The System''s monotone voice returned, assuring him everything was now under control. "Was it the System who snapped me out of it? Strange... Its voice was that of a child before, did it grow up after I became whole or something?" Just as Malpetios had stated, he had now absorbed all the wills not under Muscles'' control. He was disappointed to see that his memories of Earth were still broken and blurry, his mother and family members being the only exception. Although he hoped to get something from Muscles'' memories, something told him that it was probably going to be about the Beast King and not about his old self. The Jewel''s had also destroyed many of Muscles fragments, who knows what was lost in all that mess. Talking about memories reminded him of the hell-like things he had just experienced. Thanks to the Emotional Suppressant, he was able to look thru them, with little effect on his mental state. These memories were not from the wills attached to the core fragments who created me, but from that item, the Knight had used. Hundreds if not thousands of green skin, teenaged looking humanoids, with big eyes and ears suffering unspeakable torture. Malpetios couldn''t stomach the pain and horror those creatures went thru. The only reason he was able to stay sane was in part that he no longer had a body and that these memories were mostly complete. Unlike his own memories of his past life, these were all shattered puzzle pieces of the same individuals with very little missing. After gathering a few hundred to thousands for the older wills, they showed the life of one of these creatures. It was born in a cell, it was fed barely anything and encouraged to fight for the food of others, it failed and was left behind with many others. Those who were strong and well-fed were taken out of the cell to somewhere, with only a few being kept behind apparently because they killed one of their own, for food. After that it was nothing but hell, the pain of having his flesh carved piece by piece was but one of the things Malpetios felt. The creatures were exposed to non-stop torture, as for who was causing this, it was a group of black-robed mages with a necklace that looked like a medallion. Focusing on the trinket he saw a shield-like body, six wings slightly closing around a sword-like cross, and a pearl-like gem in the middle. Seeing this Malpetios stopped for a moment, he''d definitely seen this before, after a quick check he found it. This was the Sigil of the Holy Nation of Heaven''s chosen, or as is more commonly known the church''s insignia. With the holy element now under his control, Malpetios couldn''t see the reason behind this, they were actively going against the element. Confused, he dug further until he found something alarming. The older wills were used for anything from slaves, soldiers, or breeding stallions with only a few of them being sent back into the hell hole that raise them. As for the ones sent back, most of them were from upsetting petty nobles or just being too old. The one that had drawn his attention was one of the soldiers trained in assassination. The creature''s owner sent him to kill people with some status while ordering a ragtag group of untrained ones dressed in bright red thief clothes to destroy the victim''s property. Malpetios saw thru the assassin''s eyes as knights in shining white and gold armor attacked and eliminated all of the red thieves, not leaving a single one behind. A priest-like person would then come and save the people who were still alive earning their gratitude and worship. Malpetios could already see where this was going and he was sadly not disappointed. The reason why the competent assassin was sent back was that he saw something he shouldn''t. A priest that had just ''saved'' many people was now happily talking with his owner and a black-robed mage. The conversation went as you could expect, the priest passed a bag to the mage before leaving, the mage followed suit after throwing a few coins from the bag on the floor. The assassin''s owner scrambles to gather them with a humble smile, praising the mage to the high heavens. It was then that they noticed him, the mage furiously stomping at its owner''s head. After that, the mage summoned black hands to capture him and send him to be tortured until his death. Malpetios couldn''t but sigh in disgust and helplessness. They were using these poor creatures to create a problem to solve as well as manpower, and materials for dark element magic. Yes, after seeing the mage summoned those hands he knew it was the same element as his puppy, Kira, if only eerier.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. After looking at them for a while he felt a bit disappointed with himself. The first thought that went thru him was not to somehow save them but to use those memories to stimulate his mind. He had to at least agree that doing so would eventually numb him to them, finally getting rid of that suppressant. Grumbling to himself, he dives inside his Mindscape, only to find that he was now a giant. Those majestic fairy tale trees were now the same size as him. Looking around, he found that sapient will walk around the Temple, he hesitated a second, afraid to scare the guy with his size. Luckily, he found that he was able to shrink his body when focused, quickly flying next to his guest right after. When the will noticed him, it quickly ran inside the temple like his arse was on fire. Malpetios suddenly got the idea to play hide-and-seek, although he thought it was a bit childish he couldn''t hide the smile creeping in his body of light. While Malpetios was enjoying himself, Brian was cursing him in his mind. Brian didn''t understand how that guy was finding him, and what was with that creepy smile it flashed at him whenever it did. Looking around the corner, he saw it floating past the halls while giggling to itself. Moving deeper into the corridor leads him to a large library. The place looked magical, with flying books organizing themselves while others flew in and out of square holes up against the walls. Distracted by the beautiful and whimsical scene, he didn''t notice someone silently sitting at the tables not far from him. That person said, "magical isn''t it?" Brian nodded subconsciously, "yah it''s amazing." Brian suddenly got stiff, turning his head to the source of the voice. It was the kidnapper that has been chasing him all over the place, its mischievous smile turning into a shit grin. Brian started to slowly walk away from it, getting ready to run again. The kidnapper''s face suddenly relaxed a somewhat sad-looking smile replaced its smugness from before as it said two words, "thank you." Brian stopped trying to escape, confusion all over his face. The kidnapper started to talk about himself, introducing his life and name. At first, Brian was curiously listening to this Malpetios''s story, that was until it started sounding way too familiar, to the point he could finish the guy''s sentences. Both of them looked at each other dumbfoundedly. Brian started to talk about himself and his own life, and although this guy was unable to follow thru most of it, he still took the words out of my mouth at certain intervals. Malpetios suddenly flew up and said, "is... is your name, Brian?" Opening his red eyes wide, Brian was a bit shocked, he''s been hiding his name mostly due to the hell-like dreams he had gone thru. What if this guy is a demon or something trying to get his name. However, after their chat, this was starting to look like a case of cloning if not something else. The fact that some of the things Malpetios said didn''t ring a bell, yet fit perfectly into the situation, was also starting to paint something more serious. After talking for a while, Malpetios couldn''t think of anything other than to ask the System what was going on. [The will known as Brian has been identified as an incomplete System. Upon reaching 100% Synchronization rate the soul shards of the two individuals known as Brian and The Child would be sent into the Collective. A copy of their wills would then be used to reform the System.] "I REFUSE!!!" Malpetios couldn''t but furiously reject the idea of getting rid of Q''ills kid, as well as the literal dregs of his old self! He finally knew why his System took the form of a kid back then, it was the original owner of this Core! This finally answered why he could only remember his family and hobbies clearly, and nothing else. Only those things left a deep enough mark on his soul to be remembered, even when broken apart. However, this meant he was not Brian or the kid, but a fusion of them and most likely some of the wills. Malpetios found this whole situation to be grimly poetic. A patchwork of different element Cores gave birth to the Prismatic Core, whose own soul was torn apart and fused with others giving way to my birth. While Malpetios was starting to feel a deep emptiness Brian was staring at him with ay, ''is he crazy look'', after he randomly yelled something. Before he could say anything, he saw Malpetios''s body slowly turning gray, the black spots around his edges growing bigger. He didn''t know what was going on but something told him it was not good. The sound of something heavy falling was heard nearby, taking a look thru the library''s windows, Brian saw the huge trees wilting and falling to the ground. It didn''t take a rocket scientist to figure out what was happening and he yelled out, "HEY SNAP OUT OF IT!!" "Ha... Huh?" Malpetios came back to his senses as he noticed his vision full of black spots. Brian, on the other hand, saw Malpetios''s body regaining its white and prismatic form if only covered in a lot more black circles. "Are you ok? I get the feeling you''re in deep shit." Malpetios raise his head, tears welling up in his eyes, "who am I? What am I?" That''s all he said before collapsing into the floor crying. "Whoa-whoa kid don''t cry!" Brian walked up to him hugging the kid whose having an emotional breakdown. "Come on big guy don''t cry, men shouldn''t cry you know?" Brian really had no clue how to comfort him, he barely became a father before he ended up here, having to work his arse off for child support. He couldn''t even see them let alone get some experience dealing with them. Seeing this guy breaking into tears touched something in his heart like something precious was broken. After constantly comforting this kid, the body in his arms finally stopped shaking. He saw as a lot of the black dots shrunk and disappeared, only a few of them remained around the kid''s arms and legs. After recovering from his outburst, shame-colored Malpetios face, he felt weird being called a kid and comforted by a piece of himself. He stood still in Brian''s chest and arms, finding it soothing to his soul. A weird idea crossed his mind, this guy is basically a father to me, I mean, I''m literally made from a piece of him right? Malpetios decided to throw all the useless thoughts like pride, and shame out of his mind and do what he wanted or needed right now. Brian was still rubbing the guy''s back in comfort, his chest covered in the kid''s colorful tears. Suddenly, the kid in his arms shrunk in size, looking like a five-year-old or so. While a bunch of question marks popped in Brian''s head the kid jumped out of his chest. Standing up, Brian asked if everything was ok, the kid''s reply was grabbing his hand tightly not seeming to want to let go any time soon. He was honestly confused and lean over to look at the kid''s lowered head, shame, embarrassment, and stubbornness were reflected in his eyes. Brian tried to talk to him to no avail, the kid seemed like he was a mute right now. He also found comfort in having this guy hold his hand, it felt familiar, like holding someone close to you. Scratching the back of his mangled head, Brian wondered if this is how it would feel to hold his kids. After a while he stopped talking and began to walk around this new world he found himself in. Leaving the temple he picked a direction and walk until he reached the edge of this world. Looking past the endless expansion of clouds of what he now saw as a floating island, he continued to walk along the border for a long time until he eventually reached his footprints again. Brian looked down at Malpetios, at some point the black spots around his body had all disappeared. It was also hard not to notice the trees regrowing and shining in misty, dewy splendor. Was this kid the center point of this place? It''s he the spirit of this forest or land? Malpetios started to talk for the first time in what seemed like years, "can... can you come with me somewhere... please?" Brian looked down at the little guy, his eyes showing a level of maturity and calmness that a kid wouldn''t have. "Sure," was Brians only response a smile that looked uglier than crying appearing in his mangled face. Ch.52 New Beginning Ch.52 New Beginning (End of the Arc.) In the core room, half the prismatic radiance given off by Malpetios became pitch-black. However, this darkness wasn''t giving out an eerie aura but a cold divine one. Brian felt he had lost control of his body and half his vision, the sensation was jarring. Luckily, Malpetios had warned him about it and he had experienced something similar before. Thinking back when he was falling into an endless black abyss brought back unpleasant memories. After a while, it felt no different than using 3D equipment if only more immersive. Brian saw a lot of random things all over this house size room, many of which made no sense. It honestly felt like a hurricane passed by here, yet again, the items and holes around the floor were too smooth. It felt more like someone intentionally made them that deformed, like abstract art. Looking up, he saw a stone ceiling with stalactites hanging everywhere except a circular area right above him. Although the ''bald'' spot made it look weird he now knew he was inside a cave, one missing stalagmites for some reason. Brian''s attention was drawn to a large unique stalactite that was shining in golden lights. He tried to focus on the light but couldn''t get any closer, in the end, he concluded it was a geode full of clear glass-like gems. Brian''s curiosity didn''t stop there as he explored everything around him, meanwhile, Malpetios was having a war of words with the System. [Warning! The Host body is under the control of an unauthorized System. Attempting to seal the will. Please stand by. Host. Your mental strength is protecting the will. Please do not interfere with your safety.] "For the last time! HE. IS. NOT. DANGEROUS!! Why can''t you get that thru your thick skull, he is no different from a supporting core!" Malpetios felt like punching the System. After he explained a bit to Brian, he brought up his interface, clicking the log out option. The times he had used the option before had his vision going black for a moment, appearing in his core room the next. This time, however, the process was sluggish as a force tried to repelled Brian from him. It wasn''t until he got the idea to cover Brian in his mental power did the force stop, bringing a different problem. He saw himself moving at insane speeds, leaving the Mindscape and traveling to the edges of his soul space. The problem came from the black spot sealing the wills noticing Brian and chasing us. I quickly turned into my giant self, throwing the frozen Brian inside my body, this seem to cut the connection as the black spot stopped chasing. After returning to his body he let Brian go, the System having a meltdown right after. "Look! I''m not sealing him! I give you all the permission you want to monitor and restrict his access in case he turns aggressive, but that''s it! I know this is similar to things Fallen Ones have done, I went thru that thing twice out of sheer boredom. I''m not going against the rules, I''m not bringing harm to the World''s Will, and I''m paying my taxes..." Malpetios did a double-take; "Ugh... I mean mana purification duties." The System remained quiet for a long time. Malpetios felt its silence was cold yet not angry, as it considered my words. Malpetios rolled his eyes, he would normally not be so forceful with his words especially since he now knew the System''s other identity. However, Q''ill''s kid was not in control only being able to shine thru whenever the suppressant was removed. As for the World''s Will, it played Frankenstein with my soul not caring at all about their original owners. Although Malpetios felt that it was partially his fault for not having a one hundred percent synchronization rate, so that they may pass on in peace, he couldn''t let go of his attachment to Brian. Not to mention that he would have become a puppet for the Jewels if he hadn''t had The Childs''s lingering hatred and pain, requesting for a cleansing. This stupid System needed to think deeper into problems and not just do what it thought was more profitable, like when I requested for the imprints removal. Leaving the System to its own devices, he stopped shielding Brian while giving the mental equivalent of the stink eye towards the System. Thankfully, it seemed to have gotten the message as it only poked at the mass of darkness that was Brian''s soul. Assured, he stopped resisting the force pulling at him. Feeling like he had just woken up from a long dream, he felt refreshed, the weight on his mind gone. "So how do you feel? It''s really strange to lose all your senses huh? Allow me to formally introduce myself, I am Prismatic Dungeon Core Malpetios!!" Said Malpetios in a high and mighty manner. "Pfffttt... haha, you''re so humble their kid." Malpetios was a bit disappointed at Brian''s response, he wanted to shock this guy to recover a bit of his pride. Brian continued, "I already noticed what you really are, after all, theirs a puddle of water right next to us. However, kid what''s with your.... art? I mean, it looks good! It''s just that I don''t understand all the holes everywhere?" Malpetios took a look around, his core room was a mess full of ugly things, he quickly remembered he made them out of insane boredom. His core glowed in pinkish-red, as he yelled at Brian to stop looking! Embarrassed out of his mind, he quickly took a look around his Dungeon, finding tons of problems and awful decisions he made this past few days. The worst one has to be his blender room, it was in such a horrendous shape that he could swear that the only reason his slimes were alive was due to his instincts. Blades and broken shrapnel were jutting out everywhere, looking like a porcupine. The bridge was now a twisted pretzel that was otherwise untouched only due to the ''there must be a way to your core room'' rule.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Malpetios got busy fixing all his mistakes, meanwhile, Brian was looking at the spectacle reflecting off the puddle. The core glowed in aurora lights, as they went both into those art projects and the walls. Restoring itself, the art projects melted into, ''liquid'', moving to fill the holes and bumps around the room. After a while, the floor became spotless, as a fountain-like stand appeared under the core, gently spraying crystal clear water like a waterfall. "There!!" Said Malpetios happily, Brian complimenting the cleanliness and beauty of the room. "Hey kid, don''t take this the wrong way, but I really feel uncomfortable without most of my senses. It really doesn''t help that others got stronger, that light bulb up there is starting to hurt my uhm... eyes?" "What light bulb? The only light in here is my Cores glow," said Malpetios. Brian had no arms to point to the geode, however, Malpetios could ''feel'' the direction he tried to point to. "Oh, that''s where I was born, weird, there''s no light over there." Using telekinesis, Malpetios carefully searched around Q''ill not finding anything. "The only thing up there is my friend, Q''ill, she was hurt badly in a battle and has been resting for like a week now." Malpetios wrapped her in a mental cocoon, carefully bringing her to him. "Ugh... is this light ball your friend? Dam my eyes feel like I''m staring at the sun!" Brian sounded like he was in pain, although Malpetios got worried he suddenly thought about something. "Brian is the light your seeing gold? I''m sorry, I know it hurts your eyes but please try and tell me what you see! I''m really worried about her not waking up after so long." Hearing the kid''s worried and desperate voice made Brian suck it up, he turned back to the light ignoring the irritation. What he saw shocked him for a second, but he remembered he was now in a fantasy world and stuff like fairies are most likely commonplace. "Your friend is covered in light spots with the wings completely envelop by that burning gold light." After answering he quickly turned his vision somewhere else, thankfully this was enough information to affirm Malpetios'' guess. It has to be the Holy element that''s keeping her asleep, sigh... let me try bargaining with the System. Malpetios'' original idea was to slowly convince the System to treat Brian as a Supporting Core. However, it seems like he needs the Dark element to even see the source of the problem. Even though it was unclear before, Kira''s soul base attacks and Brian''s existence clearly pointed out that souls are related to the Dark element in some way. [Host. The will named Brian is an unauthorized System. This will can become dangerous and fight for control over the core. The likelihood for this will to turn into a Fallen One is high. The request for the conversion to Supporting Core can not be allowed.] Oh? Then what about Sidekick, will he ever turn against me one day? I think you misunderstood my request. Brian is the source of at least a quarter of my soul, which means we see each other as close siblings if not father and son. I already told you that you can monitor him, I also know that the reason you are so worried is due to you having no control over him unlike me with my instincts. If you let him become my Supporting Core the connection we already have would grow stronger, not to mention you would be able to shackle him. He can only survive as long as I do, if I die he dies. Making him a Supporting Core had no downsides whatsoever. The debate went on, Malpetios made sure to use logical arguments and his knowledge of Fallen Ones to shut the System up. However, he started to notice the System acting strange. Normally it would digest my words and try to make my wishes happen to the best of its ability, but when it came to Brian it was unusually stubborn. It turned into a battle of patience as the System rejected and Malpetios countered all its worries. Although he was basically selling Brian as a slave to the World''s Will, he himself was already one and it was better than being trapped inside my Mindscape for eternity. OK! ENOUGH!!! Tell me the real reason you are refusing and don''t give me your ''is dangerous'' CRAP! It''s clear that my idea has no downside, stop running around the bush and tell me or goddammit I will remove the Suppressant and ask The Child even if I hurt my soul again! A long silence was the Systems reply. Just as he was about to lose his patience it finally answered. [The soul and memories of the will named Brian have been classified as priceless. The Main System ordered to send the undigested fragments to the collective. Due to the uniqueness of the soul it failed to merge with the Prismatic Core. The implantation of the Supporting Core program is predicted to partially fail. This outcome would not allow the retrieval of memories. Failing the Main Systems orders.] Hearing its reasoning confused Malpetios, after thinking about it he came up with a better idea. System, I''ve merged with my Sidekick before I can see all its thoughts, this means that you will be able to see them thru me. On the other hand, I will never allow you to take Brian from me, meaning that I will never give you permission to accept the mission rewards. Malpetios felt the Systems attitude turn unpredictable but he didn''t stop. He wasn''t doing anything wrong and was still offering it what it wanted even if it was not happy about it. Malpetios wanted to force the System to look at the problem subjectively and realize it would end with the same result. He didn''t want something like the imprints to happen again, even if he knew it would not change the System''s way of thinking. After almost an hour of waiting the System still didn''t reply, meanwhile Brian was calling him asking to return to the Mindscape. Back in the Temple''s library, Brian fell asleep, Malpetios could sense he was mentally exhausted. Being without a body probably put a lot of stress on his mind, although he also felt bad at first it quickly passed and he couldn''t tell the difference anymore. Looking at Brian''s sleeping frame made Malpetios scared, was he going to leave him alone too? Shaking those thoughts off his mind he pondered what to do next. "Mhmm... The Church must be the reason why I don''t have any visitors right? How about if I forced them to come... yah... Yah! In two days I''ll have a hundred Pure Mana, something tells me I''ll be able to do something amazing then! Also," he thinks back to Q''ills forbidden spell, "I should be able to make her one of my bosses too!" Malpetios looks at the supporting core, it has grown to half his size now. Although he kept making crystalized mana during the time he was going crazy it couldn''t upgrade the core anymore, leaving him with a huge pile of unspent holy element stones. With time and a new element to play with, he started to feed the stones to the slimes trying to get a new variant. It didn''t take long before a holy slime was born. Many new ideas came to his head, as he started to recreate his Dungeon. Unlike before, he made use of the field version, although Q''ill said Dungeons only start to have fields on floor twenty-plus he had no problems making them. The price tag for a field floor was a staggering ten thousand mana, however, this was honestly not a problem with my huge element pool, unlike other Dungeons if his supporting core is anything to base it out of. "He-he, don''t want to come in? Even if the Churches influence on people is enormous I can use it against you! Let''s see if you can use any of the bull you normally do in the wills memories when I''m more ''Holy'' and ''divine'' than your so call Churches! Hahaha!!!" Ch.53 Derailed Ch.53 Derailed In the border between the human and beastmen territories of the western continent, in the wastelands of Snake Nest, two armies are building fortresses. In the middle of both constructs, a ring of rune-filled stones circles a three-meter cave entrance. Many mages can be seen siphoning off the stored element mana inside the stones, glints of joy or greed appearing in their faces. One of the mages with a staff adorned in numerous jewels walks to the entrance of the cave, a flattering smile on his face. "Respectable Priest and great Warriors, when will the Dungeon be opened? I wish to be ready to do my part and keep the monsters inside from bringing harm to the people!!" The group guarding the entrance ignored the mage''s question, they were more focused on keeping each other from entering the Dungeon. It wasn''t until one of the priests saw the crest pinned on the mage''s chest did it bothered to reply. "Elder of the Chestron nobles, we are not aware as to when the Dungeon would open, for now, the church wishes for it to remain sealed." Hearing the priest talk made the largest of the warrior''s scoff, making the mage focus on him. This beastmen was of the dog species, its brown silky fur highlighting the deep black eyes reflecting battle hunger. Turning his eyes back to the priest, he thanked it for his reply and returned to siphoning the element mana from the stones. Behind the priest was a small temporary tent protected by four fully armored paladins, an elderly man sat inside it on a golden throne muttering to himself. "How much longer will it take for this Dungeon to collapse?" Taking out a golden orb, he whispers a short spell, his mind appearing in a grand and luxurious hall. "Reporting to his Holiness, it has been fifteen days since the Dungeon was sealed, no signs of collapse have been found." The man addressed as his Holiness was surrounded by grand paladins and high priests, his eyebrows lightly frowning at the news. Raising one hand, a priest quickly came to his side kneeling before the stairs of a large bejeweled throne, beginning his report. "Your Holiness, after going thru the records of past Dungeons, it is believed that a fairy has managed to stabilize the dungeons mentality. Much like the cases of Earth-type Dungeons, this Chaos Dungeon has access to elements the Shackles can''t restrain allowing it to survive." The old and dignified man began to ponder the information he had just gotten, as well as the strange actions of the fairy army. "What news have we gotten from the Fairy Army? Have they started to push us to remove the restraints or any backlash from the heretics?" The priest bowed deeper and reply, "the Fairy Army has not raised any complaints as of yet. Also, from our informants inside the beastmen fort, we found that the fairy in command has ordered to not allow anyone inside the Dungeon." The frown of the man on the throne grew larger, things were going too smoothly. It is understandable for the heretics to ignore a Dungeon, they see it as a plaything if not an amusing battle arena. They only want to use its restraint on the Lord''s power to fight for territory and food. Although the hatred for killing one of their Beast Kings is also a driving force, after offering a food channel, they calmed down instantly. After what seemed like days, he gave up thinking about it, he couldn''t reason why those crazy fairies would ignore this generation''s Chaos Dungeon. In the old testaments were records of the unrelenting actions done by the fairies to protect the Prismatic Dungeons. Now that a variant who is seemingly stable has appeared, it makes no sense for them to ignore it. He moved on, "maintain the food trade with the heretics, send those priests we''ve been grooming to buy and distribute the supplies. Make sure you leak the information to those nobles and merchants." The priest receiving the orders got a glint deep in his eyes, as he excuse himself out of the hall. Seeing the person leaving, one of the younger priests couldn''t help but worried. Kneeling to the man on the throne he said, "your Holiness, forgive me for my insolence, but won''t those greedy nobles and merchants raise the prices to where the Churches coffers would suffer? And what of the people''s thoughts, what would they think of us if they knew we fed those savages?" The paladins stared at this young priest in anger, how dare he question his Holiness decisions?! While the priest trembled in fear, the man on the throne wave his hand making the paladins back off. "Child, I understand your concerns but there''s no need to worry. The Lord welcomes all who accept him in their hearts. If a bit of food can return some of the lost sheep back to his embrace, I would give it without hesitation!" Hearing this, all of the worshippers praying around the halls seem to have gotten an epiphany, as their displeasure disappears, praying even more devoutly. The halls started to glow even more brilliantly, as a golden mist exited from the many worshippers unto the man on the throne. Outside the large palace-like church, the priest who had given the report was talking to one of the mages raised by the church. "Yes, make sure the Beastmen know we are buying them off the nobles and at what price. Once that''s done, sell it to them at no profit, make sure to trade with the greedier merchants. He-he, I''ll make sure those little guys act pitifully to earn their gratitude." While the priest and mage were choosing their targets, an emergency report came from the Chaos Dungeon Fort. Immediately reading the highest level report he had ever seen, emotions such as shock, confusion, disbelief, and horror passed thru his eyes. Like a madman, he ran back to the halls he came from, ignoring all decorum.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Backtracking a few hours back, on Snake Nest, in the middle of the fortresses where the dungeon lay, a golden mist that gave a warm and soothing feeling to those around it started to overflow from the Dungeon. The shocked priest and paladins kneeled uncontrollably, praying to their lord. Many of the freelance mages and warriors, as well as some of the nobles, that came here to steal the dungeon''s elements, were also believers joining the priest in prayer. The beastmen grew aggressive, grabbing their giant swords or other massive weapons thinking the humans had prepared a trap. However, they also started to feel a comfortable and warm feeling from the mist. It wasn''t until their leader put away the armor he condensed from earth elements did the rest of the beastmen and half-beastmen calmed down. The large dog-type leader of these twenty or so warriors closed his eyes, a small moan escaping his lips. The confused Beastmen didn''t know how to react to their leader''s behavior at first, but it didn''t take long for more moans to be heard. These men and women of the Beastmen tribe spent their whole life fighting and training their bodies for battle, leaving many hidden wounds. Although on rare occasions they were born with magical talent, the golden element has only been seen in the royal bloodline of the Beastmen. The water element can only do so much to heal the constantly battered bones and organs of these warriors. Once they take an injury that exceeds the limit or worse lose a limb, they will be crippled for the rest of their life. Only those warriors that make it to rank nine can use the elements they have an affinity with to regrow and heal their bodies. These low-rank warriors can''t get the royal bloodlines favor, and would rather die than beg these arrogant butchers of the church! Therefore, the number of incapacitated Beastmen was always around fifty percent. However, this was the first time these warriors felt their bodies slowly heal even the most stubborn and deepest of hidden injuries. It didn''t take long before the Beastmen changed to night shifts, spreading the news about the golden mist healing properties throughout the fortress. In only three days, the church was pressed by their worshippers, the clergy, and the Beastmen to open the Dungeon to the public. With no other choice, the church reached out to the fairy army. However, to their surprise, the faires refused to go inside and make contact with the Dungeon''s consciousness. This became the first time since the faires grew in power that the management of a Dungeon was left to the invaders, bringing forth the ancient organization [Adventurers Guild] back from the grave. Continuing the spree of first times, the Beastmen demanded a leader position in the guild. The church refused at first, nearly causing a war to break out. However, the increasing pressure of its worshippers as well as the Elfs ignoring the fairy threats and wanting a leadership position as well pushed the church to compromise. After twenty days since the Dungeon was sealed off, a group of twenty people was getting ready to head inside. They were to map out the Dungeon and estimate the level of danger before opening the dungeon. Seven paladins, three priests, eight Beastmen, and two elves were the pioneers of the newly formed [Chaos Guild]. Descending into the depths of the Dungeon, they wonder what''s hidden below their feet. The church, however, was able to get information from the army, it was why they were soon confused. After a few minutes, they should have arrived at a partially submerged room but they already walked for forty minutes with the golden mist being the only thing visible. Luckily, after an hour of descending, they finally saw the narrow cave tunnel expand into a small but tall room. At the other end of the room were giant ornate doors that glowed in shimmering lights like jewels. One of the doors was partially opened, the golden mist and the sounds of running water were coming from inside it. Preparing for battle, both groups sent one of their defensive warriors to push open the way. Inside the doors was a mirror-like hallway with golden waterfalls on both sides. The scene was majestic and daunting, as they peer at the torrents of water below them. Spreading their aura to the limit, they saw the pillars of water stretching endlessly. The golden mist was finally revealed to be evaporated Holy water. The priest didn''t know how to feel after seeing one of their sacred items being as common as air. They got enraged as they saw those dirty heretics scooping the Holy water with their dirty hands, drinking gallons worth. However, their outrage was ignored by both the beastmen and there lord, as the element mana inside it refused to move to their pull. This was a big blow to these priests, as the lord''s power would always follow their desires before. They were always the ones that guided the power to the believers, acting as the judges of the lord in this mortal world. The red face priest and paladins marched forward, not willing to accept such an outcome as well as to run from the elf''s and beastmens mockery. They soon passed by several sets of diamond-shaped lights inside the waterfalls, coming to the end of the hall. Peering thru the waters, they saw many gold and white structures illuminated by windows. Now close enough to identify them, they were many wings made from gold and white metals. Passing thru a gate adorned in those wings, a large circular room opened up before them. Four large pillars supported the ceiling of this room, as many windows decorated the walls. In the middle of the room, an enormous statue of a four-sided star with numerous wings seemingly dancing and growing out from it glowed in brilliant but soothing golden lights. Seeing this statue touched something deep inside the priests'' souls, as the lord''s power inside them boiled in excitement! The beastmen entered the room after having their fill, many of their hidden wounds disappearing as they digested the golden waters. The first thing they saw after passing the gate made out of wings was the priest and paladins praying around a giant statue. Although they felt warmth coming from it, they didn''t really have the same reaction as them. Moving around the halls, they saw four half-circle desks in between the large pillars, two on the left and right. Behind them was a small pool of golden waters. Searching inside them with their auras showed a network of tunnels leading to the waterfalls outside or deeper below past their senses. On the other end of the room was a giant doorway with a pair of matching size windows on both sides. These windows look like wings, golden lights coming from them and bathing the room in even more warm and dreamy lights. The only thing left on these simple yet elegant gold and white halls were four doors that refused to open. Eyeing the priest, the beastmen moved towards the giant doorway the elves following them. With the help of five of the larger beastmen the doors finally gave way revealing sunny skies and plains of green and golden beauty. One of the red fur beastmen couldn''t help but cry out, "is this the outside world? No! Is a Field floor! Holy Beast almighty, how can there be a field on the first floor!?" Although her voice broke the feeling of awe, she expressed what they were all feeling at the moment. Why exactly was this Dungeon so different than those they used to play around with? Ch.54 Adventure Ch.54 Adventure Sha''la quickly realizes what she did, lowering her head in shame. Seeing this, A''um gently pushed her behind him while apologizing to the rest of the beastmen with his eyes. Luckily, the group didn''t hold it against them seeing as even the elves lost their composure. The only reason they were granted a spot in the pioneer''s group was due to their report of the changes in the battlefield. This allowed the beastmen to rally their troops before the church could take control of the area surrounding the Dungeon. As rank two soldiers, they were given this chance to interact with a rank four professional and his rank three guards. It was obvious that the higher-ups wanted to reward them by building a relationship with him, using it as an excuse to promote them. Sha''la understood all this after A''um explained it to her, however, her little outburst almost threw the group''s dignity out the window in front of the elves. Thankfully, the elf''s chaotic auras gave away just how shocked they were themselves, saving her from embarrassing her group. Aware of their shameful actions, one of the hooded elves surrounds herself in wind mana flying towards the sky. "My partner will survey the area for us, let us wait for her return." Agreeing with him, the beastmen decided to let the elves scout the area first. As the elf flew towards the sky at full speed, a question was nagging at her. How can there be a sky in a Dungeon? Normally, field Dungeons would just have many light sources in the rough shape of the sun. This one not only has blue skies but large golden white clouds slowly moving by. The distracted elf soon got her answer, in a less than elegant way. "SLAP! SMAAAAAAAASM!!!" "Oooouuuuch..." looking like a fly that just got swatted, the elf''s face made intimate contact with the sky as her body followed after. The hood covering her face was flung off, revealing her charming smashed face. The elf finally snaps out of her momentary concussion, big tears appearing in her green eyes. The Dungeons supply of healing waters seemed like a godsend right now. Something she took advantage of as she drank the bottle she secretly filled when the church ran away. While her face slowly healed she took a better look at the ''sky''. A thick glass ceiling separated her from what her aura could tell was a torrent of water. She saw many small creatures inside the waters, identifying them as rankless water slimes. As for the gold and white clouds, they were made out of clusters of golden crystals with unknown whitish-gold slimes in the middle. These slimes brought her a feeling of danger, meaning they''re rank one creatures at least. However, she has never seen a golden white slime. Although sightings of white slimes can be found in the libraries of Elfsteen, they were rare and can''t survive outside the frozen forest. Ignoring the ceiling after she gave it a death stare, she uses her vantage point to survey the field. On the farthest end of the field was a small circular island that looked like it was made from white stone. Surrounding it was a whirlpool of healing waters, the island acting as the eye of the storm. Adding mana to her eyes allowed her to see a golden leaf sapling in the middle, as well as a door with a human-shaped carving on the edge. The door looked out of place, as it wasn''t attached to anything but the floor. Behind the island was a waterfall that stretched from one side of the field to the other, the ''sun'' right above the island. The rest of the Dungeons was segmented into four landmasses. Although the land looked fine, their borders were distinctly carved into water passages looking flat and smooth. The Dungeon gave the feeling of a water city, many tall tunnels leading inside the landmass split the torrents of waters between the lands. Turning around to descend, she sees that the place they came out of was actually built into a flat-top mountain. Looking like a temple to an unknown God, two large stairs on either side lead to the clearing on top. The space above the temple was roughly the size of an average town what looked like a stone slate in its center. Looking around more, she saw two glasshouses that were as tall as the ceiling, they are to the left and right of the temple. Inside the left one was a tree with golden apples, while the other had many tall and skinny trees twisted together. The glasshouses also fence off the waterfalls running around the mountain, preventing them from overflowing into the clearing on top of the temple. Returning to her party, she saw her partner''s ugly expression as well as the beastmen''s twitching mouths, bringing a hint of pink to her face. After explaining the situation around the Dungeon the group decided to explore. The landmass connected to the temple took a sharp left turn, a large river separating it from the one across it. Although they found matching pairs of stone pillars parallel to the ones on the other landmass, they didn''t know how to make them function. They gave up after a while, returning to the temple entrance. On their way back they felt something was missing, but they were distracted by the many beautiful golden crystals on their way. The elf girl tried to sneak some of the ones shaped like glass roses, sadly, the crystal would crumble into golden mist before disappearing. Since they didn''t get anywhere following the Dungeon''s path, they opted to have the elf girl and Sha''la use their element mana and mana respectively on mass levitating spells. Thankfully, the landmass to the right of the temple had a much smaller river, allowing them to skip whatever the Dungeon wanted them to do. It didn''t take long before the elf girl noticed that one of the large golden crystals had what looked like windows, tables, chairs, and a crystal rose garden. However, what she saw next surprised her! A human whose entire body was made out of crystals! "There''s a human up ahead! Wait, no!" She finally realizes why she felt like something was missing, there are no monsters in this Dungeon! "It shouldn''t be a human, it should be something mimicking one!" The rest of the group also snaps out of the strange haze they''ve been feeling ever since they entered the Temple. Although they felt disturbed, they didn''t hate the feeling or found it harmful. It was as if you were an upset kid calming down the moment someone you like picked you up, remembering why you were upset when they left.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. A human body made out of translucent golden material turned in its visitor''s direction, a four-sided crystal in the middle of its torso. "Oh? Saints? No... You''re not Saints, who might you be little ones?" Said the creature in a strange metallic voice, while its emotions gave the feeling of an honest but bad actor. The murderous group stopped in their tracks not knowing how to act around this monster. It was giving off an aura of harmony, not too dissimilar to a friendly grandpa or grandma. The group just stared at it in confusion, the creature not moving at all as if it was a statue. A''um decided to be the one talking to it, saving the leader from this awkward situation. "Greetings, I assume you are the Dungeons consciousness? We''ve come to assess the level of danger in this Dungeon." He pointed towards the leader, "this is commander Ba''pu, he''s one of the leaders of the Chaos Guild. These two are Leaft and Sundrop, they are temporary leaders of the Chaos Guild as well!" The humanoid creature tilted his head, radiating confusion in his few facial features. "Forgive me, I don''t understand your words." Hearing this, A''um didn''t know how to continue the conversation. He started to ask more questions, however, the creature would simply repeat the same words over and over. Sha''la, seeing him having trouble tried to help. "Mister ah... human? Do you need help with something?" Before A''um could frown, the monster finally gave a response other than ''Forgive me, I don''t understand your words''. "Oh! Would you mind helping me little ones? Even though your not Saints, I can still feel a bit of Lord Holy''s power in you." The monster suddenly sprouted wings flying inside its house, returning shortly after with something in his hands. Flying next to Sha''la it said, "would you be a dear and collect ten (Hope Roses) for me? They can be found anywhere in the other landmasses. Since you''re apparently outsiders you probably don''t have a (Regalia), do this for me and I''ll give you enough (E.M) to buy one out off Peridasa''s market." Sha''la was presented with gloves made from gold and white materials, many golden mana stones in the back of the hand. Questioning the monster for its use, it simply said, feed it your Element Mana. Any further questions not related to its request gave the same ''forgive me'' reply as before. The group left the crystal house behind, hesitation and worried reflecting on the eyes of the elves and Ba''pu. Although different in many ways, the moment that monster flew away, the image of the church''s angels flashed in their minds. The creatures known as the messengers of the lord have killed many of their brothers and sisters, being the priest''s main form of attack. This Dungeon showed its bias towards the church, they needed to solidify their position in the guild and not allow the church to grow in power too much. The elves also knew the danger, resolving themselves to make their leaders send more powerful mages. Before they could think too deeply, they saw the church''s people flying in their direction with golden wings. "Well, you must''ve killed all the monsters already? I thank you in his Holiness stead, he will be pleased by the many crystals blessed with the lord''s power!" Before they could roll their eyes at the pretentious priest one of them noticed the crystal house not far from them. "Oh? An intelligent lifeform is living there? Mhmm... it must be a Boss or a strong monster, allow us to deal with it." Sha''la tried to stop them but they ignored her as they flew over the group. Ba''pu narrowed his eyes, "let us follow them, we need to know the monster''s attitude towards the church." They all nodded as they ran back to the house. "HOW DARE YOU IMPERSONATE ONE OF THE LORD''S MESSENGERS!!" The church, seeing a monster defile the form of the lord''s messengers, infuriated them to attack it. The creature cried, its crystalline body showing cracks, however, what it did next shocked and confused the priests. "Demons! You shall know the lord''s wrath! Oh lord of Holy, please grant your devoted follower the strength she needs to battle these demons!!" Upon finalizing its prayer, a pillar of light fell from the sky covering it completely. The aura of harmony was ripped apart, allowing the group to pick up on its rank one strength. Before the startled priest could scoff at its weakness, the creature''s rank started to skyrocket! Sensing danger, they tried to attack the monster to no avail, the pillar of white and gold mana acting like a barrier. The monster''s rank settled on the high end of rank three, nearly reaching rank four. Wasting no time, the monster waved its wings from side to side, sending razor-sharp feathers towards the priest. The paladins quickly raised their shields protecting their charges. Sadly for them, they underestimated the sharpness as it pierced thru their [Angel''s Veil] and shields, embedding into their armor. The priest healed the paladins whilst buffing their attributes with their blessings. The monster ignored their actions as it continued firing its feathers, slowly losing to the church''s forces. In the end, the monster lost his lower body and one of its arms. This damage didn''t seem to affect it, the fight lasting no more than ten seconds. The church should have finished this fight in an instant, but the shock of the words said by the monster had them rattled. Landing the last blow, the paladins had destroyed all the monsters extremities, including the head and wings. However, the creature didn''t seem affected by the loss of its body, as it started to talk again. "Oh lord of Holy, I sacrifice the body bestowed upon me to push back these DEMONS!!" Upon saying this, the monster''s translucent body glowed and dispersed into golden dust, gathering around the bladed feathers. Sensing danger, the paladins tried to remove them in haste but it was already too late. "CRACK...!!! BOOM... BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM... Glowing in golden lights, the feathers cracked and exploded all around the battlefield. The destruction sent some of the unexploded feathers towards the spectating beastmen and elves. Even as a rank four warrior Ba''pu felt he would get some serious wounds from this. Before he could grab the hilt of his greatsword, to defend the little rank two kids, his instincts told him there wasn''t any danger. The moment of inner conflict rob him of the chance to stop the feather, as it slammed into his pecs. Instead of piercing him, it folded much like any other soft feather, falling to the ground gently before disappearing into dust. The explosions continued on, any stray feathers blown their way doing no harm. Whilst this was going on, in Malpetios''s Mindscape, three people were watching the fireworks on a floating screen. "Hahaha! Serves them right! How dare they attack one of my NPC for no reason whatsoever. Shhhhissssh... for people that preach nonstop about the lord''s power they sure don''t appreciate all the work I put on making the angels" "Oh come on kid do you really expect anything else? From all the stuff you''ve told me about the church, they are basically a non-profit charity group that''s only a bit more corrupt. At least they''re better than politicians who say they are doing good for the people but really only care about their backer''s needs. They actually have to do good things to grow stronger and can''t cause too many problems or the people will know somethings fishy." Malpetios gave Brian a ''u sure about that look'' before turning to the third person in their little group. "What do you think Q''ill?" The tall and extremely developed beauty turn her attention to Brian and said, "I think you''re a bad influence on Malpetios. How can you make him break so many of the Jewel''s rules for ''safety''. At this rate, the World''s Will might get enraged and abandon him." Brian rolled his eyes before looking at Malpetios knowingly. Getting the message, he shrinks to his five-year-old form and starts comforting Q''ill. Brian peeks at the fairy that''s clearly overcompensating for something, as her icy face melted, trying to squeeze the air out of the kid''s lungs with her... equipment... "Tsk... I guess I''m no different." Said Brian as he takes a look at his muscular V-type body. "Ugh.. why can''t I get rid of all these scars though?" Ch.55 Foundation Ch.55 Foundation Malpetios wiggled into a comfortable position in Q''ills embrace while she returned her attention to the screen. He could just feel everything happening in the Dungeon if he focused on it, the screen was just a tool for the two of them. He was now in the process of feeding holy elements to the crystal angel''s soul container. After roughly thirty minutes the crystal angel would fully regenerate, acting similar to a respawn in games. As for how he could do this, it was thanks to making Brian into a supporting core, unlocking the Dark Element. [Dark]: The element of creation. All existence was born in the endless Void, and they returned to its depths upon death. Can be found inside spiritual creatures or in the rift between realities. Easily corrupted by emotions. (Necronomicon): Store''s soul shard(s) of the strongest memories and experience of those who died in the Dungeons halls. Can forcefully capture and preserve intact souls up to your rank. Current (0/1) (Puppeteer of Souls): Use souls created by the Dungeon or those in the Necronomicon to create artificial life. The soul''s quality will determine the stability of the final product. Complete souls will reincarnate in the body of your choosing while incomplete ones will only follow your will, with no too little independence. You can imagine my shock after reading that description! At first, I thought that I''d already possessed half these abilities, but after thinking back I realized that I didn''t. The wills were left behind by the casualties of the war, the imprints were donated by The Jewels, and the green skin goblin-like wills came from the black water. Making sure, I searched for the memories of the soldiers and mages that died before, but found nothing. I continue to create the Field Dungeon while experimenting with the new element, new ideas coming to my head. The [Angels Heart] was one of my creations, it''s a holy mana stone with a soul shard attached to it. The outer shell of the heart was made to resemble the Holy Element Sigil, that being a four-sided star. It was made similarly to my core room doors, with layers of different elements on top of each other. The goal was to allow me to retrieve the soul if someone tried to destroy the container. These souls couldn''t grow and were not much different then Golems with different levels of intelligence. While experimenting, I found that I could create a passage to a dark space with my mental force, I concluded it was the ''Void''. In this place, everything I thought of became reality, even things that completely went against my knowledge. Making water compressible or burning anything it touches, even fire, was not a problem. However, the place was extremely unstable. I had created a copy of Q''ill and Brian''s mom, trying to comfort my worries and loneliness. Although I did feel happy, and it seemed like the Void around me brighten up, the knowledge that they weren''t real made me feel like I was using them. My feelings of self-loathing seemed to have affected them as they started to fuse into a deformed demonic creature, smiling creepily at me. Before I could process what was happening it dashed next to me with its clawed hands aiming at my head. Panicking, I released holy mana all around me making the creature scream. With hissing sounds, it started to melt and disintegrate. I simply stood in place half confused and half disgusted, did I just kill my moms!? The black Void started to ripple with his emotions as strange voices started to echo around him, noticing this, he remembered the description of the dark element. Breathing deeply, he tossed his emotions aside, the Void becoming calm once again. Now with the correct mentality to mess around in this place, he tried a few different things. The Void was identical in function to his Dungeon management and creation tools but with no limitations. Even if he didn''t have a material unlocked, like gold, this space ignored it. That would have been useful when he was making the temple, though he can just fill a metal with holy elements and make it fake gold. It was all fun and games until he tried to remove his creations from the Void. The moment I tried the item in question would burst into pure white flames as it tried to cross thru the passage. The energy in the flames made Malpetios flinch, his mental energy tentacles suffering huge damage. Although he was hurt pretty bad from this, he found that he could absorb these flames, even if the experience was akin to swallowing lava! With a combination of stubbornness and absorbing enough white flames to balance out the damage, he got some results. He was finally able to pull the item out of the Void, however, what reached him can only be considered ashes. The whole process was as if you tried to take a chip out of a chip bag, only for something to eat most of it, leaving you with crumbs in your hand. These crumbs are composed of mixed element clusters, not resembling their intended form, gold in this case. This ended up being a waste of time and mana, as the crumbs only paid for ten percent of the mana used on the whole process and didn''t unlock gold as a material. Thankfully, he was able to determine what the white flames were. In his skill tree icon, the Light Element was showing progress for its unlock requirements. [Element Production: [Light]. Current progress: 000,026/100,000.] Well... that''s going to be a huge mana sink, I''ll just work on it whenever I''m about to hit element mana cap. After getting accustomed to the dark element, I was finally able to see what was happening to Q''ill. Parts of her body and the entirety of her wings were in a state similar to my [Riptide Sticks]. They were near the element composition limit, to the point that any more holy element would make those body parts explode into the dominant element. With that in mind, I tried to absorb the over-saturated element, however, to my surprise it was under someone else''s control. The feeling was the same as when I let Sidekick act on his own, but neither of us was in control this time. The holy element would only disappear after taking chunks out of Q''ills mana. As for where that mana was going, he was only able to find out due to his interactions with the Void. It was gathering somewhere deep inside the Void, in a place he couldn''t reach yet could see for some weird reason. The place looked like an endless sea of gold and white, numerous palaces in the distance and golden flowers of all kinds everywhere you looked. He eventually ran into numerous strings of mana other than Q''ill''s, getting small glimpses into the sources of the other strings. Some were creatures of different ages and species praying about something or other, while the rest of them were badly hurt individuals getting treated by holy element. Malpetios could only guess this place was the Golden Garden mentioned in the description of the holy element. The flowers everywhere seem to fit the bill not to mention the people praying, who knows though he could be wrong. He stop following the mana and instead tried to snap the string of mana connected to Q''ill. However, this didn''t do a thing, the string easily stretching to any length I pulled them to. After giving up, Malpetios thought about what to do next, he ended up with the thought of trying to use the Void''s uniqueness to his advantage. He imagined a blade that could cut anything, even the Void itself. With ripples all around him, the fabric of the Void was torn apart and reformed into a small blade. Malpetios got the allusion of being cut into pieces, nearly crying out in agony. It took a lot of effort to suppress his emotions, as letting them slip would cause a lot of problems. Grabbing the handle, he quickly swings it at the string, destroying the connection to Q''ill. "ROAR!!!" Malpetios felt like something had set its sights on him, crushing him with its mental force. The pressure was hundreds of times stronger than Muscles own, suffocating him. He quickly thinks to use the Void blade, swinging it with the mental image of cutting the pressure as if it was paper. The sound of something getting cut was heard, as the pressure disappeared momentarily. Not wasting any time, he rushes towards the exit at full speed. Whatever made that sound wasn''t giving up as it roar once more, twisting the Void around Malpetios, this made it so the more he tried to escape the closer he got. Seeing what was happening to the Void around Him, Malpetios swung the blade with the thought of cutting time and space since that''s what the sound seemed to have taken control of.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "Roar...?" Sounding shocked and confused, the creature didn''t seem to know what to do next, something Malpetios took full advantage of as he finally reached the mental passage and escaped. "Fuck! What the hell attacked me!? I can''t play around in that place or I''m dead meat. I''ll just obediently cut the connection next time and not trace its source like an idiot." Although he was still shaking in fear, a smile was slowly growing on his face as he looked at Q''ills condition. The holy element in her body was being pushed out by the fire elements as if an angry lion just realized its territory had been invaded. Now with peace of mind, Malpetios happily created his Dungeon with a big smile on his face. Not long after that Brian woke up from the forceful fusion of his soul and the System. Just like the System had said, unlike me who was essentially the fusion of a human brain and a computer; Brian could only be considered to be a brain in a jar attached to a computer. While I had full control and awareness of everything, conscious and subconscious in my mind and body; Brian was still the same as any other human, were only around five percent of his thoughts ever crossed his mind, the System acting as a recording device. Everything that Brian thought would now be recorded and verified by the System for its use, working identically to a search engine for his brain. Although the System encouraged Malpetios to communicate with Brian, so it could slowly retrieve the remaining ninety-five percent of memories, it soon regretted its words. The two had a serious talk at the beginning, reassuring each other''s guesses, that they were pieces of the human from Earth brought here by luck or mistake. However, they soon moved on and tried to bring their old pass time to this world. In this way, both Malpetios and Brian decided to turn the Dungeon into their playground, while promising to themselves to crush anyone that tried to take the little bit of joy they still had left. As for why the System regretted its action, it was because of Brian''s shameless ideas that made even Malpetios''s core turn pink!! "Are you sure we should be making all this stuff up? What if the real gods of this world get angry?!" Malpetios couldn''t stop his light body''s eyes from twitching, if he did what Brian said they would make someone their enemy. "Oh come on kid! Don''t be a wimp! So what if some random people get upset, as long as we strictly follow the definition on the elements we''ll have the World''s approval." Brian''s idea was to make a script and force the actors, adventurers, to follow it until it becomes true by proxy. However, Malpetios was worried they''d make the church blow their top and attack them like rabbit dogs. Although Brian wanted to do it for the shits and giggles, he also knew Malpetios needed to change the mentality of the natives of this world. It didn''t help that Malpetios was soft-hearted, one could even say naive. Sadly for both of them, people saw Dungeons as mana machines or thorny resource caves. For them to grow properly the combination of the carrot and the stick was necessary. However, the System is both limiting and not fleshed out yet, it needed someone to push the limits without breaking the World''s bottom line. That being said, according to what Malpetios told him those who broke the limits are not few, but that itself is a problem. The Fallen Ones, as they''re called, are used as examples of what not to do yet if you change the things they did slightly all of the sudden is no longer a problem. But the System''s tunnel vision can''t seem to notice that until it''s pointed out by someone, something that doesn''t happen often or at all. The kid himself seems to be the only exception but that was due to the different culture of our old world. Malpetios and Brian continued making changes to the script while removing things that even Malpetios disagreed with. Around this time Q''ill finally woke up, and Malpetios gathered one hundred Pure Mana. It didn''t take long for the System to do its thing, changing the forbidden spell into a proper [Boss Fusion]. Reunited at last, Malpetios couldn''t stop crying prismatic tears as he hugged Q''ills tiny frame against his cheek. "I''m so glad you''re ok, sob sob, I was so worried and scared you''d leave me, sob!!" Q''ill was still a bit groggy from sleeping for so long as well as the process of rectifying the link to Malpetios. Now inside Malpetios''s Mindscape, she was shocked at the scenery while trying to return the hug. "So, you''re Malpetios''s mom?" Q''ill turns her attention to the masculine voice behind her before her face turned pale. "You! A shadow demon?" She quickly flys out of Malpetios''s embrace, as a fiery aura surrounds her and Malpetios. "Malpetios get behind me," is what she yelled out as fire elements gathered on top of her head. However, before she could finish casting the spell, Malpetios ran in front of her. "Wait!! He''s my uhm.... friend..? No, he''s my family member, please don''t fight!" Seeing that Malpetios got between her spell and the demon, Q''ill was forced to cancel her attack. "Holy crap, talk about a small fuse, you''re like a tiny dragon!" Hearing ''tiny'' from the mouth of the demon made Q''ill want to barbecue it, but Malpetios was still protecting it. Not letting her guard down, she convinces Malpetios to stand next to her as she took a better look at the demon. Standing two meters tall and covered in compact muscles, the demon''s blood-red eyes and numerous scars reflected its thirst for blood and past battles. The demon in question, however, had a ''is this bitch crazy'' expression, as he put his arms up in surrender. After almost a whole day of coaxing and turning into my child form to act cute, at the behest of Brian, Q''ill finally accepted his existence. The momentary peace didn''t last long, as Brian''s sense of humor got under Q''ills skin, turning them into bickering siblings or frenemies. Malpetios himself had some good laughs while Q''ill wasn''t looking until he eventually got caught. Thankfully, I was able to redeem myself by showing her how to change her body to whatever she wanted. It didn''t take long before a two-point-five meters tall beauty started to call Brian tiny this or tiny that, before accumulating into a who''s the taller competition that Brian failed horrendously at. As for what Malpetios said to pamper the sore loser, he simply said that inside his Mindscape a soul''s size was proportional to there strength. Brian eventually gave up as his soul was only stable due to a bit of luck, the System, and Malpetios''s attachment to his past self. Now we return to the present, where Q''ill, as a native of this world, was not happy with the play these rascals cooked up. Worst still, her innocent baby was swayed by that demon''s words, agreeing to most of it. However, even she knew that most of the stuff it said would keep Malpetios safe... even if it''s completely shameless. Also... she looks at her soul body, now that the link is complete, I have noticed that I can''t hear them talk at times. She thought it was all in her head, or that the demon was doing something behind her back. However, that soul is nothing more than an up nauseous brat that only means well. Both boys would laugh and strategize about things around the Dungeon that she couldn''t understand with big smiles. It was from this that she started to notice some of the things they said only registered as noise, even when Malpetios tried to draw or write it down she only saw an empty space. She doesn''t know what was happening to her, but after thinking deeply about it this past few days she noticed this wasn''t the first time. Back when Malpetios was making his Dungeon, he would explain his ideas to her, some of which she now noticed were replaced with noise or emptiness. Everything seemed to be connected to the rules set by the Jewels, as she would lose her hearing the moment they started to talk about something that would bend or break them. Her train of thought was broken when a furious roar came out of the screen, the church''s people looking like beggars, two of their priests were dead while four paladins were missing an arm or leg. "Hey, kid, should we move to scenario seven or nine? Now that they killed one of the angels we will need to lower their reputation in town. We can also skip all that and just go directly to scenario forty, hehe, let the tree whip them into shape! Haha!!" Malpetios ignored Brian''s nonsense and said, "let''s stick with scenario one, nothing outrageous has happened yet." Malpetios turned to Brian while raising an eyebrow, "or did the boss ever come out after you killed some random person on the streets? If so, I didn''t know I was a masochist in my last life!" Hearing this, Brian wanted to puke, the little bastard''s devilish smile only made him look more punchable. "Since when did your tongue get so sharp!?" Malpetios tilted his head up high and said, "I''ve learned from the best!" The two of them goofed off a bit more before the female dragon stared at Brian as if he''d just defiled her daughter. "Cough... cough..., well ok we will stick with the current one, at least they can''t do too much trouble in town with the sanctuary effect and all." "How about the Dark Temple? Is it almost finished or do you want to drag it out a bit?" Malpetios thought about Brian''s words and said, "my second floor ain''t finished yet but it shouldn''t be a problem to do the final act, at least the Temples done so you can go play your big bad wolf role haha!!" "Oh, also, I almost forgot that I''m about to unlock the Light Element! I''ll be right back, just poke my body if you need something." With that Malpetios focused on the second floor he got for accumulating one hundred Pure Mana. Although he wanted to make it a field floor, he would have to wait since farming light elements and building a whole new floor wasn''t kind on his resources. In only four hours the light elements finally reached the cap. Q''ill and Brian noticed a blinding light coming out of the distant giant multicolored tree, as a brand new limb grew out of that light. While they both admire the light that seemed to want to engulf everything, Malpetios was reading the description of the light element in shock! [Light]: The element of destruction. When thought gave birth to matter, Light was born in retaliation. Its goal is to consume everything and return to eternal stasis. Produced by the transition of the stages of matter, especially plasma. The first thing that passed by Malpetios''s brain was not how to use this new element, but that the show he and Brian had fabricated was going to need an emergency rendition. Ch.56 Peridasa, Village of the Saints. Part 1 Ch.56 Peridasa, Village of the Saints. Part 1 Ba''pu stared at the disheveled priest in glee, it was about time those bastards got there comeuppance. Sadly, only two out of the three died while the paladins of the Heavenshield Household only lost a few limbs, a testament to their defensive training. After enjoying their angry faces for a bit longer, he turned his attention to what remained of the golden monster. A four-sided star made out of white interlocking pieces was laying on the floor, as it shimmered in different colors from time to time. He could sense it absorbing golden mana at a steady pace, the Dungeon allowing it to happen. He and his group started to walk to the star, while the paladins regroup to protect their charge. They weren''t going to let the Beastmen and Elfs near the priest until they are fully healed. Ba''pu scoffed at their actions, only humans would be shameless enough to attack their teammates while they''re down. Reaching the star, he was surprised to find the same aura of harmony ''looking'' at them peacefully as if nothing had just happened. "Little ones, you''re back so soon? Have you gathered the roses? Forgive me but I''m unable to reward you at this time, please return in thirty minutes or so! Of course, if you can carry me to my house and drop me inside the well I''ll recover much faster." The group was stun for a bit, as they realized that all this time they''d been talking to a spirit! The elf''s were especially shock, as they talk to spirits of plants and the land constantly and yet couldn''t find the power of nature inside this star. Both elf''s thought about many things in a few seconds but didn''t understand what was happening. Although there''s another kind of spiritual creature, the demons of the Abyss, this one was so far detached from their violent and bloody aura that they didn''t even humer the thought it was one of them. Both elf''s got excited after their shock and tried to communicate using their spiritual songs, sadly, they only got the same ''sorry, I don''t understand'', response as before. Sha''la noticed that no one paid attention to what the monster requested, as she when and picked it up, ignoring A''ums meaningful stares. The group didn''t mind her actions, the only reason they ignored the spirit was do to their shock. While Sha''la carried the star to its house Sundrop chased after her, requesting to help. She didn''t mind who helped it so she passed it to her and continued forward. Now inside the spirits house, she saw a few simple decorations with a small pool of golden waters similar to those inside the temple. It didn''t take long to look around as she heard heavy footsteps coming from the entrance. The sound confused her as she turned its way, A''um was walking inside trying not to laugh at something, the star on his hands. She then finally noticed the female elf gasping for air. Although an airhead, Sha''la understood that the star must''ve weight alot more than that elf could handle. After a few embarrassing coughs, she grabbed the star and dropped it inside the pool. With a splash, the star dissappear into the hole with a contend sigh. In but a few moments the water level inside the pool increased rapidly, inflating into a water bubble first then a humanoid shape after. The Crystal Angel was now restored, the whole process taking little more then five minutes. After expressing its gratitude, it return to its unresponsive state to the disappointment of the Elfs. By this time the priest had already healed everyone and were eyeing the angel that had returned to it''s original spot. Seeing this Ba''pu didn''t bother with them this time and headed out to the place were they''d found crystal roses before. Now alone, the priest confronted the monster in fury. "Evil creature! Reveal your true form, we the shepherds of the lord will not tolerate your existence any longer!" The old priest shouted with righteous indignation, however, the Crystal Angel ignored them like rocks on the sidewalk. The total disregard for his existence made the prideful priest nearly burst a vein, sense when have the church''s word''s ever been treated like air? A repeat of the fight from before happened, the explosions, fireworks and pillar of golden light only made the Dungeon look more mysterious. After five hours of non stop searching, Ba''pu and his group finally collected ten crystal roses after using almost all there element mana. The first few roses were wasted as they originally split up thinking it would be faster that way. They didn''t think that plucking them without using the gloves would have them disintegrate into golden mana. However, there was a reason why they refused to use the gloves after the first time. Sha''la had charged the gloves with the same amount of element mana a rank one mage or warrior would normally have, this meant she used half her resources on one flower. In the end, they ended up sharing the burden, with his beastmen taking most of the work. His rank three guards could pick two flowers each at the cost of three-fourths of there element mana. After distributing the work, the female elf collected three, Sha''la and A''um gathered one each, and his guards took care of the rest. With everything they needed in hand, they headed back to the crystal angels house, worried all over their faces. This was the first time these Beastmen ever felt fatigue in a Dungeon. Although absorbing the thick mana around the dungeon was possible do to their ranks, they were far too used to absorbing the residue left behind by conflicting elements to strengthen and replenish their bodies.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. This Dungeon force them to distilled their mana into random elements to maintain the process, something that takes alot of skill to do. Ba''pu could tell what his guards thought by looking at their faces, a small smile appearing on his canine face. Looks like this Dungeon is already valuable enough as a training ground, let''s see how those lazy nobles would get the cheek to claim it for there use now. Reaching the landmass where the angel resides, they waited for Sundrop to restore her mana as she was the only one carrying the group this time. While doing so, Ba''pu stared at the house in the distance that was now the site of several pit holes and bloody limbs. The church''s forces haven''t lost any this time, there''s only so much a single rank three creature can do to a group. Now that they took the thread seriously they''re ought to be no way to bypass the Heavenshields turtle shell. Although he''s ashamed to admit it, he wouldn''t be able to even kill one of them instantly, even if he oppress them with his rank four life aura. It doesn''t help that the paladins are always covered in gear enchanted by the priest from head to toe, fighting them is the same as going against two people at the same time. Ba''pu could hear the remaining priest cast cleansing and purifying spells, while telling the spirit to repent for it''s sins. He almost laughed as he saw the priest constipated face, as all it''s spells did nothing. Sensing his mockery, the priest turned his bloodshot eyes to Ba''pu, "you heretics! How dare you associate with this demon, we will report this to his Holiness!!" Ba''pu walked past the priest while ignoring it''s rambling, did it think this was the outside world? He could sense just how weak they were right now, reaffirming one of the things he was send here to verify. The power of ''faith'' truly was nothing more then another type of element mana, and this Dungeons worth doubled once more in his eyes. If all else fails, we will go against the church and destroy the Shackles, opening up miles of fertile land to feed our people. Using his aura he pinpointed the location of the spirit, the rest of his group walking past the priest with barely conceal laughter. The star body of the spirit was covered in blade marks and chipped parts, but was otherwise intact. "Little ones, you''re back so soon? Have you gathered the roses? Forgive me but I''m unable to reward you at this time, please return in eight minutes or so! Of course, if you can carry me to my house and drop me inside the well I''ll recover much faster." Hearing the spirits stiff but friendly voice reassure the group it was fine. Ba''pu didn''t waste any time on formalities and carried the spirit himself, to the mild discomfort of his guards. After locating the well and waiting a few seconds the spirit returned back to its initial state, star and all. "Thank you so much for the roses dear, you''re truly Saints, unlike those demons who have forsaken lord Holy''s grace." The church forces had followed them and could hear everything that demon said. The priest wanted to retort but was more focused on the roses handed to the demon. Unlike these heretics, he could feel the large amount of the lords power inside them. He, and his now dead colleagues, tried to gatherd the large crystals and those shaped like different plants to no avail. Any attempts to collect the crystals ended in failure, as they broke and scattered into golden dust. The lord''s power would also ignore their call no matter what they did or how they prayed. However, he could sense the lord''s power inside those flowers had solidified, in a similar manner than mana stones. The amount of power stored inside one flower was enough for a talented worshiper to become a full-fledged rank one priest. Before he had the chance to think of a way to force the heretics to hand them over, he saw the demon tossing them into a hole with a splash of holy water. The stun priest stared blankly as the waters in the hole began to bubble and overflow, taking the shape of a water sphere with something black in the middle. The demon pierced the water bubble and grabbed the item inside, offering it to one of the beastmen females. "Here you go dear! Use this to enter Peridasa! Incase you don''t know it''s location," the spirit pointed towards the top of the temple. "You can reach it by using the large stairs on both sides of Lord Holy''s temple." Sha''la grabbed the smooth black slate handed to her, the words, ''QUEST COMPLETE'', were written in the common language with large golden letters. The spirit returned to its original position once more, anymore attempts to communicate with it lead to nothing but small talk or its ''sorry, I don''t understand'' reply. With nothing else to gain here, the Beastmen and Elf group started to head to this Peridasa. Before they could walk far, they were confronted rather aggressively by the priest, demanding to explain how they managed to obtain those roses. Ba''pu wanted to just ignore them but that would be throwing all pretense, however, he also couldn''t give in to their demands. Thankfully, the little kid from the bear tribe was astute and explained how they''d manage to collect them. The priest immediately demanded for them to handover the gloves, shamelessly preaching about how the lord would repay them for their services. Ignoring the self-righteous human, the group continued on to their destination. The furious priest couldn''t but watch them leave, as they''d already told him how to obtain the roses and had no obligations to help with the process. Sha''la was paying attention to the humans while she walked, the priest was continuously trying to talk to the spirit, while it completely ignored him. She couldn''t help but laugh a bit at there predicament, her canine features looking cute and adorable. The three male beastmen guards admire her beauty for a bit before getting slapped across the head by their two female colleagues. They grunted and waited for the elf to finish casting the (Mass Levitation) spell. It didn''t take long for them to reach the clearing on top of the temple. In it''s middle, laid a large blackstone slate about the size of a nobles manner. The structure had no windows or entrances, looking like a large smooth rock in the middle of nowhere. Sha''la decided to try and use the small slate she was given, pressing it against the structure. Suddenly, large ripples began to appear around her slate, as she easily walked thru the wall like water. The rest of her group started to call out to her in worry, but she reassured them by exiting the wall without any problems. Ba''pu ask how she managed to get inside, Sha''la passing the slate to him. However, he couldn''t go in no matter what he did while his guards fared no better. With little choice left, the group allowed her to go by herself with the caveat that she must return at the slightest danger. Nodding, she entered once more with her guard up. After passing thru the thick tar like wall, she arrived in a large empty space who''s ceiling looked like a sea of stars. Looking around, she noticed she was standing on top of a golden sky full of clouds. "HAAAaaa.....ah!?" Sha''la jumped in fright, thinking she was falling, however, after testing the floor a few times she gradually calmed down. In that moment, the sound of opening doors could be heard as she turned her attention to its source. There in the middle of the golden sky floor, she saw a dome like building with a slick black-gold appearance. From its doors, a strangely dress person who''s appearance was distinctly female walked unhurriedly to Sha''la. Now closer to her, she noticed the woman was a human with golden eyes and hair, her skin as white as snow. However, the aura given out by it was similar to the spirit''s, and she had tiny golden wings with a golden-brown branch sticking from one side of her head. The more she looked, the less human this creature seemed, as it stopped a few feet away from her. With a bow, it said, "welcome to Peridasa, Village of the Saints." Her words seem to be a Switch, as the clouds under her feet dispersed, revealing a city underneath with numerous angels looking up at her as they wave their hand in greetings. The stun Sha''la, could not but reflexively wave back at them. Ch.57 Peridasa, Village of the Saints. Part 2 Ch.57 Peridasa, Village of the Saints. Part 2 The still shocked Sha''la was invited into the Town Hall, what the ''human'' called the building in the middle. Along the way, Sha''la examined the village under her feet with awe in her eyes. The houses were in all shapes and sizes, some made from golden crystals carved into the appearance of different weapons, while others are made from intertwined trees or stone, stacked on top of each other like a tower. After hearing the sound of closing doors, Sha''la noticed she was left behind and quickly runs the rest of the way. Walking inside, she felt like she had entered a high-end pub with red wooden chairs and tables on each side, decorated in golden carvings. The ''human'' who invited her inside was now behind a large black counter with similar golden decorations as the tables. Behind her was a giant black cube with many barely visible grooves that gave the impression it was made out of smaller ones fused together. To the left of the pub was a door covered in golden chains, a shining and comically oversize lock with ten-thousand written on its surface kept the chains bundled together. The top of the doors had a sign with, ''Artisans Workshop'', written in a stylized drawing. To the right of the pub was another door with the same lock and chain, a one-million on it this time. The sign on top displayed, ''Training Hall'', with a different style of writing. While Sha''la explored the pub, the human-like monster waited patiently for her to finish, her icy but beautiful face never changing expression, she didn''t even seem to blink. Sha''la looked at the last thing in the pub, a bulletin board standing on each end of the black counter. Both boards were empty and matched the room''s overall theme, down to the square-shaped grooves. The board to the left had a sign on top that said, ''Citizen''s Quest'', while the other said, ''Dungeon''s Quest''. Her curiosity sated after looking all over, she finally introduces herself to the ''human''. "S-sorry! This craftsmanship is breathtaking, I couldn''t but admire it! M-my name is Sha''la, Sha''la Blazeclaw is nice to meet you miss... human!?" Hearing her introduction, it said, "welcome home saint, is what I''d like to say, however, you seem to be an outsider? I only sense the power of Lord Fire in your body, with rapidly diminishing traces of Lord Holy''s blessing." Sha''la could feel the ''human''s'' cold eyes scanning her body as if all her secrets were exposed to it. As she worried something bad was going to happen, the ''human'' stopped looking at her so intensely. "It matters not, I sense no ill will from you. Although I can feel that saints have entered the Dungeon, the fact you arrive here first means that they are not worthy." "However, this begs the question, how can an outsider enter the village when they''re blessed by another god?" She turned her eyes back on Sha''la, the aura of harmony returning to her cold golden eyes. "Mind explaining this to me dear?" Sha''la quickly nodded, not daring to miss a thing in her explanation. This ''human'' gave her the same feeling she always got from her mother. It was like a lioness was angry she gave birth to a kitten, but couldn''t bear to lash out at it, for doing so is criticizing herself. Hearing her explanation, its cold eyes widen in shock as if she heard something unbelievable! "That''s not possible! Lord Holy used his powers to seal us on Peridasa, we can''t leave until new saints are born." "Wait!" The ''human'' swiped her finger across the black counter, her actions activating something. Sha''la''s sharp ears started to pick on the sound of flowing water, turning her attention to the counter. From small holes on the surface of the counter, golden water streams merge together into the shape of a square, before turning into a solid crystal screen. Apart from that, in front of it, one hundred and one holes also solidified into individual tiny squares. The dumbfounded Sha''la saw the ''human'' tap the tiny squares in a random fashion as she just stood there, not understanding what it was doing. Thankfully, it didn''t take the ''human'' long to find whatever it was looking for. "Found it! There is indeed one Angel who was allowed to remain outside of Peridasa during its sealing. Her name was Emily, daughter of Arthurian, the last of the saints." It smiles lightly before returning her attention to Sha''la. "If Lady Emily sees it fit to send you here, I have nothing else to say." With another bow it said, "allow me, Kantra, to serve you Lady Sha''la." Hearing this, Sha''la tried to get her to address her casually but it would only smile and completely ignore it. After a while Sha''la gave up, she then handed the slate given to her by the spirit outside. Sha''la curiously looked as Kantra held it in one hand while tapping the tiny squares with the other. Kantra then walked to the giant cube behind her. With a light tap, the cube seemed to have received an order as the grooves around its surface separated and twisted up, down, left, or right. Sha''la has never seen something like this and was amazed by the way it could swap pieces between all six sides of its surface, it gave her the impression of a puzzle of some kind. Twenty seconds later, the cube stopped its actions, with the middlemost square indented to the shape of the slate. Kantra easily pushed the slate into the indent with a click, the square opening like a box. From inside it, Sha''la could see a translucent crystal that looked like a four-sided star and a small statue. Kantra took the items and walked back to Sha''la, the box closing with a click, before repeating its previous actions and then turning still. "Here are your rewards Lady Sha''la. I can see that Lady Emily wanted you to have a (Regalia), sadly," she turns to the Artisans Workshop doors. "Peridasa is still sealed and Lord Holy''s rules prevent us from helping you too much. However, if you can do a few Quest for me, I would be able to reward you in turn." Sha''la then listens to Kantra''s explanation of ''Quest''. They were in essence a form of trade, one in which only the Crystal Angels or the Dungeon itself could put up. The angels or citizens, as they''re called by Kantra, would ask for mundane or simple requests while the Dungeon would ask for things it needs or wants for large rewards. The basic reward was (E.M) the currency in Peridasa, used in everything, Kantra even hinted I could ask the Angels to craft weapons and armor with enough of it. When she heard she could ask for a full set of armor her eyes twinkled. Her father and mother are always complaining about not having enough money to buy weapons and armor, even her childhood friend, A''um, walks around the place half-naked. At first, she thought he was just trying to show he was a strong and worthy male, but after battling in snake nest for so long she slowly realized something was wrong. All the male warriors, even master Ba''pu, wore thick leather pants with sparse metal plating on the vitals. Women would wear a bit more to cover their upper bodies with a leather vest alongside pants. She remembers once when she asked her mother about her axes, mother said she managed to make them after collecting a ton of arrowheads. After seeing the church''s troops, or even the small fry soldiers, covered from head to toe in armor, as well as their iron cannons, she came to terms with the fact that her people had no metal resources. Being a mage, she didn''t have any use for armor and would wear robes and fire aspected staffs. Her main form of defense was fire shield or immolate, while A''um would cover himself in rock armor in battle. Sadly, Kantra dropped cold water on her head by saying that the ''Artisans Workshop'' would need to be unlocked with (E.M) first. With the goal of making enough currency so she can make armor for her parents, she asked if Kantra could give her some Quest! "Of course!" Said Kantra with a small smile on her cold face, as she snapped her fingers. Sha''las ears twitch, turning to a sound coming from the Citizen''s Quest bulletin board. The middlemost black square retracted into the board, before getting replaced with a new one with writing on it. Kantra told her to press on it lightly until I hear a click, which made the top of the square come out of the board, allowing me to slide it out. Kantra then moved on to explain the purpose of my previous Quest rewards. Meanwhile, outside Peridasa, Sha''las group was starting to worry about her safety. The already on edge party was not happy to see the Church''s forces flying in their direction with gloomy faces. Priest Cain was having an internal battle with himself after finally getting the fake angel to communicate. He noticed that the monster would ignore the soft or hard approach, but would show signs of interest in anything god-related. After a few tries, the fake angel finally talked after I prayed to the Lord for forgiveness. "You seek forgiveness, yet, your heart doesn''t seem to belong to Lord Holy. Although the lord does not care if others walk alongside his priesthood, it is sad to see his light stained by the death of the innocent, greed, and pride." The fake angel pointed to the place the heretics went to. "If you seek atonement for your actions, then help awaken Peridasa, so that the lord can show you the way." Cain tried to digest the fake angel''s words, but what they meant could go against his beliefs. What did it mean by allowing others to walk in the Lord''s priesthood? Thinking deeper into its words, a scary thought when thru his head, is someone trying to replace the Lord?The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. He remembered that the fake angel said the Lord''s light in him was tainted. His old face scrunches up, as the doctrine surfaced in his mind. ''Save the helpless, heal the wounded, feed the hungry, and never leave evil unpunished. That is your duty as my shepherds in this mortal coil.'' Cain''s old eyes lost all color, was... was he really following the Lord? His seniors told him that only those who are gifted deserve the Lord''s light, while telling him to repeatedly remind the citizens, or lost sheep, of his grace by causing troubles before rectifying them. In his youth, he was disappointed by such actions and would piously follow the doctrine, however. His peers who did what the seniors requested would leep in power, while he remained on the same rank. After many years, he started to doubt if the lord truly wishes for his followers to do such awful things. In the end, he was visited by one of his peers, seeing how strong and youthful he was compared to his aging body broke the last strand of stubbornness. Although he started late, he soon grew stronger and stronger as his body stopped aging and his rank when up. The more he thought the more his aura turned chaotic, the paladins sent to protect him soon noticed and ask if he was ok. He snapped out of his spiraling thoughts and wanted to talk about his discovery so he could be assured it was all in his mind. However, when he lifted his head up, the paladin''s iron helmets were gone, revealing the faces of his peers and seniors eying him like a criminal. He froze in place, the group having to stop their flying formation or hit him. One of the worried paladins helped carry him to the clearing on top of the temple, before asking if they needed to retreat from the Dungeon. The heavily breathing Cain soon recovered, casting some healing spells and pretending he was fine after, fooling them. In his mind though, he realized that there was no one he could talk to, if he dare to bring it up he would disappear soon after. Only other stubborn fools like his past self would hear him out without branding him a heretic. However, he was also realistic, many of those old fools would simply turn him in thinking it was all part of the Lord''s plan, to test their faith. He would die horrendously as they make him repent for doubting the lord, with many previous examples in the past. The unfocused Cain walks towards the giant black slate, caressing its smooth yet warm surface. The Lord''s power in him suddenly became restless, wanting to rush out into the black stone. Cain''s unfocused eyes gain a glint of hope, was the lord calling to him? Turning to his paladins he said, "the Lord has given me an oracle to go inside and find salvation! You are to wait for my return!" After saying that, he forces the lord''s power in him to flow into the black stone, as it in turn ripples giving him entry. After exhausting the last drop of the Lord''s power, he finally reaches the other side. What he sees makes him drop to the floor in prayer. Hundreds of angels living in a towering city completely submerged in Holy Waters, with houses made out of holy weapons and sacred golden trees. After a while of praying, the sound of opening doors could be heard, followed by footsteps. The sound stopped when it was closer to him as if it just noticed my presence. I didn''t dare to lift my head up, even if these creatures are not true angels, and just creations of the Dungeon, the fact that the Lord''s power permeates its halls is telling enough of his love for this Dungeon. Although the angel got closer in hesitation, it soon moved away, the sounds of ripples could be heard then it turned silent once more. Disappointment flashed thru Cain''s mind, was he really not able to even receive the love and favor of the Lord who blessed this Dungeon? Standing up, he was determined to receive the approval of this lord, even if he has to become one of his angels. Cain soon found the entrance to the dome-like building, as his eyes landed on the human radiating holy power. His body started shivering, this creature was identical to the angels if only more gentle, as its aura completely went against its cold eyes and face, being warm and harmonious. Dropping back to the floors he yelled, "I, Cain, shepherd of the lord, wish to repent for my sins. Oh lord, oh Holiness, oh light of salvation, please accept this humble sheep to your flock!!!" After Kantra heard this, she tried to move the plot by shifting the conversation in her cold voice but to no avail. It didn''t take long for Kantra to run out of preset scenarios Malpetios and Brian had come up with. The creature that identified itself as Cain wouldn''t accept any type of coercion, be it rewards or promises of Peridasa''s aid with enough E.M . All the creature wanted was to be forgiven and allowed to return to the arms of the Lord. With no way to achieve her objective, that being to swindle element mana, she sends an emergency help request to the main consciousness. Back on the Mindscape, both of the masterminds behind this show were busily coming up with ideas to add the Light Element somewhere appropriate, before one of them stop talking. "What''s wrong kid? Did you come up with something? I''m completely out of ideas here." Malpetios snapped out of it and responded to Brian. "No is just that Anathema is requesting help, she has some fanatic worshiper breathing down her neck, and non of our presets match her predicament." Hearing Malpetios say ''Anathema'' made him burst into giggles, "ya... pfft... haha. H-how... hahaha.. h-how can our make-believe God not know how to deal with its worshippers, we need to fix that. Hehe... hahaha..." Malpetios gave Brian the stink eye, this bastard wanted my Holy Core to manage the angels and act upon the Dungeon like a God. Of course, the name Sidekick wasn''t appropriate for our make-believe God, so he suggested that name while bearly holding himself from laughing. Malpetios didn''t know what that name meant, and although he can just ask the System now that Brian''s thoughts are integrated with it, he felt like it would be a breach of privacy. Rolling his eyes at the giggling Brian, Malpetios rewind Anathema''s memories and displayed them for their scrutiny. "It seems that the line used to start the reputation redemption quest hit a soft spot on that old priest. I don''t get it though, it''s just a random throwaway line." Hearing this, Brian''s red eyes turned a bit dim. "I think you don''t get that priest''s shock kid. Although I can''t be sure, I feel that guy is probably disappointed with the church or at least deeply hurt and feeling betrayed." Malpetios turned to Brian with a raised eyebrow. He actually felt those emotions coming out of the priest, thanks mostly in part to unlocking the Dark element, he just didn''t understand why the priest felt that way. He decided to get Brian to explain what he felt, after all, he''s not as close to the Dark Elements as him. After replaying the scenes a few times Brian was able to clearly pick up on the priest''s thoughts. To make a long story short, the priest originally believed in something, that something failed him in some way, and he now thinks the townhalls receptionist is the something he originally believed in. "Wow... What does this say about the Church, when even a make-believe God is more alluring than an already established one. And why is that priest thinking about such illogical things after some hollow promise." Brian gave a weak smile to Malpetios, "kiddo you wouldn''t understand. Remember that you don''t have any bad memories from our past, you can''t even remember that we died from getting mugged and stabbed after going to the gym so late. For you, all the memories you''ve collected with pain and despair can only affect you on the surface, as you never went thru anything like it and can''t relate." "You don''t remember our first love and the pain of having it leave us. The endless struggles and despair of having your life ruined by your mistakes or just not being good enough. I would''ve held on to the smallest strand of hope to keep what I love near. Like what happened to Kira, don''t you remember she had a tumor on her brain? We paid to save that silly dog that has been with us since our childhood, and she still died." "The saddest part about all of this is that things that are bad are twisted into seeming good in your memories, like going to the gym. Do you really think we used to like going to the gym!? HA!! I was only there to please my soon-to-be wife. It was always go make money or you''re a man so go bulk up, that DAM BITCH WAS NEVER CONTENT!!" Brian''s body started to distort as he talked, gaining claws and long fangs. "Don''t even get me started on Cindy. It was supposed to be a one-night stand between lonely and heartbroken friends, and she dared to spike my drink, and for what? Oh, that''s right, because she thought I was rich due to my parents sending me all their extra money so I can study in peace. Fuck her!! She even dared to blackmail me when she got pregnant." "I couldn''t even see my kids when they were born. She threaten to kill my kids and tell everyone about how I raped her if I tried to get custody! Fuck that bitch! FUCK BOTH THOSE DAM WHORES!!!!" The more Brian talked the more his body twisted into a deformed creature, with mouths and eyes appearing alongside extra arms and legs. "My so-called wife didn''t even let me touch her, saying she can only be mine on our wedding day like her parents wanted. I only wanted her to comfort me, it didn''t have to be anything else! I just wanted to know I was more than just a freaking ATM machine to her! It had nothing to do with sex!!" By this point, Brian didn''t even look human, but a demonic monstrosity. Malpetios disconnected from Anathema''s Core, feeling something was wrong with Brian. When he got back to his body he saw a giant ball of eyes, teeth, and limbs crying bloody tears. "Whoa-whoa calm down! I''m sorry!!! I didn''t mean to undermine our past, I just can''t remember any of that pain! However! That doesn''t mean you should shoulder it alone!!" Malpetios used his administration rights to his Supporting Cores to mind melt with Brian. Even if Brian can''t hurt him due to the restraints placed by the System, he was not going to let him suffer by himself. Upon connecting to Brian, Malpetios immediately started to turn black as the memories cut into him like a knife. He tried to hold on but these memories clashed with his own too much, preventing him from pushing them away. [Warning! Warning! Supporting Core: Brian''s psyche is unstable. Disconnecting from Core. FAILED. The Host should disconnect immediately!!] Malpetios started to find it difficult to separate his memories from Brian''s own, as they both cried in pain while staring into each other''s eyes. It didn''t take long for the Mindscape to start shaking and the trees to wilt rapidly. Before Malpetios could fall into despair, something hugged him from behind, bringing a sense of safety. "Malpetios! I''m here, I''ll always be here! You have me by your side! Please come back to me! Let go of that demon! I told you to not trust it but you wouldn''t listen! Please come back to me, I can''t lose you again... please... sob... sob." Q''ill''s tears began to fall on Malpetios''s face, clearing a large portion of the darkness covering his body. He started to slowly fight the memories, seeking comfort in Q''ills embrace when he couldn''t bear it. However, he noticed that all he did was push the pain back to Brian, not being able to lighten or share his pain. Then he thought of something, "Q''ill! Please Q''ill, Brian needs you more than I! Please!" "What are you talking about?! That demon has been waiting all this time, pretending to be kind when it''s really an evil creature that wanted to hurt you! How can you still not see that!?" Hearing what Q''ill said pained Malpetios, as he replied, "he''s me, the old me. I don''t know if the World''s Will wanted to cut and bury my past self due to disgust, or more likely, to prevent my dark emotions from breaking me. But that doesn''t change the fact that this ugly and malformed monstrosity is still me!" "I know you think I''m better off without this shameless bastard in my life, and to be honest, maybe I really would be." Q''ill looked happy when I said that but quickly became silent after hearing the rest. "But I''m no longer willing to live my life ignorantly believing the world around me is evil and corrupt, while I''m the only exception, that''s just denial! So please, mom..., help my grieving soul!" Q''ill allowed herself to be pulled next to the demon''s body as Malpetios hugged one of its twisted legs, turning towards Q''ill with eyes full of pain and stubbornness. After a while, Q''ill decided to do what her child wanted even if she wasn''t really willing. She hugged both Malpetios and the demon''s deformed leg telling them to calm down while rubbing them in comfort. While she tried to calm the demon a scene reflected in her mind. Two kids, one big, one small, were hugging each other while they both cried. Q''ill got closer to them both, as they seemingly noticed her presence. The kids raised their heads in her direction, revealing their faces. The small one was cute and adorable, innocence and intelligence brimming from his big eyes. However, the larger one was full of wounds and missing an eye and an ear, looking vicious and distrustful of Q''ill. As she got closer the large kid stood up before falling back down, he was missing a leg. However, this didn''t stop him from covering the smaller one with his body, growling at Q''ill like an animal. For some unknown reason, Q''ill felt that her heart was stabbed after seeing them, as she tried to take both of them into her embrace. The larger kid bit her without a second thought causing her to flinch, but she didn''t stop. Now with both of them in her arms, they seem to have calmed down, the larger kid even started to lick at her bite marks. After what seemed like hours, Q''ill found herself back in Malpetios''s Mindscape, both him and the demon in her embrace. Q''ill stared at the demon with mixed thoughts, wanting nothing more than to toss him far away from her baby. However... The demon didn''t seem so repugnant anymore. Ch.58 Baring your Fangs Ch.58 Baring your Fangs Sha''la exited Peridasa with confusion all over her face. She didn''t expect the priest could get inside after killing the spirit so many times. However, after seeing her group she excitedly ran to them, forgetting all about the priest. "A''um! A''um!! Guess what! You can get arm..." she suddenly stopped her sentence upon seeing the paladins. Although she was normally nonchalant about this sort of thing, even she knew that she should keep good things away from outsiders. Her actions made Ba''pu raise an eyebrow, but he quickly noticed the bearkin half-breed he was so fun of running to her side. After the girl said something that sounded like a secret code, both of them moved away from the group. Their actions made the Paladins suspicious, but he scoffed at their direction forcing them to wearily back off. Although those kids went some distance away, it was only out of earshot of the humans, he and the Elfs had no problems hearing. Ba''pus eyes immediately widen in shock at their conversation, his breath quickly becoming unstable. The other beastmen ran to surround Sha''la wanting confirmation, their eyes bloodshot in excitement. The elves were also shocked but would have to see the finished product before they judge its worth. Unlike the beastmen, they''ve got their own metal resources and are already well versed in crafting magic weapons. However, they shouldn''t be simple or at the very least worth researching, considering they are made by an entirely different lifeform. Ba''pu couldn''t stay still any longer and walked by Sha''la side when she was done explaining. "So little girl, where can we get E.M from? You said it mainly comes from Quest or monsters but look around." He pointed at the vast land full of large crystals with smaller ones in the shape of different flora. "This Dungeon floor seems more like a decorative garden than a battlefield, there''s nothing hostile in here." Sha''la rummaged thru her bag, passing a black slate with carvings in the common language to him. "Um... mister uh... I mean Sir Ba''pu! The lady inside the town hall told me this Dungeon is sealed by some God. They call him Lord Holy, she also implores me to break the seal although she warned it would be dangerous." Ba''pu took a look at the writing carved on the slate, a weird smile on his face. [Quest: Set Peridasa free!] Description: The fourteen Primal Gods have sensed the successful birth of a lifeform housing all the elements in perfect harmony. However, they are horrified to find its vessel so malformed. This, and its mother planet''s near destruction, have prompted them to act. After making a deal with the World''s Will, they''ve chosen to seal pieces of their individual Holy Kingdoms into this Dungeon. The leader of the angels, Kantra, has acknowledged your strength and requests you to brake one of the said seals. (Quest Objectives) Open the Hall of Rest (0/1) Eliminate: Tree of Life (0/1) Obtain: Rune of Life (0/1) Open the Hall of Relics (0/1) Eliminate: Tree of War (0/1) Obtain: Rune of War (0/1) Kill: Thousand Eye Angel (0/15) Kill: Bladed Angel (0/1500) Kill: Roots of the Father Tree (0/5) Unseal the Golden Passage (0/1) Eliminate: ??? (0/1) Obtain: Holy Grail (0/1) Reward: 5,000 E.M. The Job class (Saint). The favor of Lord Holy. The dumbfounded Ba''pu wasn''t sure what to believe right now. He''d never heard of the fourteen Primal Gods. To his knowledge, there are only five Gods, the God of War, the God of Light, the God of Storms and Waves, the God of Nature and Life, and the God of Freedom. Though from what he remembered of his noble upbringing, there used to be a God of Magic and a God of Wealth. However, those last two Gods were erased from human history by the Church. It all sounded too strange to Ba''pu, almost like someone made it up. But... he re-read the sentence pointing out the ''World''s Will'' and ''destruction''. Although the rest could be made up, only the strongest families who have had rank nine warriors, or those with connections, should know about the Voice of the World and its warning. Ba''pu didn''t know Brian had suggested Malpetios mix in lies with the truth. It was all in the goal to elevate the standing of their Dungeon. This would shock the unaware into awe while scaring the knowledgeable into hesitation and confusion. One could say that Brian knew what the invaders would think and do, and was using it against them. Ba''pu''s train of thought was interrupted when Sha''la brought out a small statue. "Oh! I also got this item as a reward for helping Emily, the spirit that looks similar to an angel. Kantra said it was a key for the glasshouses to the sides of the temple. She also said it would have a different use once Peridasa is freed." Sha''la had already shown the group what E.M looked like. A golden four-sided crystal star with a liquefied mana ball in its center. Ba''pu even shook it, watching it scattered into exactly five-hundred drops of golden mana, before settling back in the middle. This statue, however, looked like a tiny version of the temple with ''Emgib'' written in golden runes on the flat top. The runes looked identical to the ones used by the Church on its rituals and armaments. After his scrutiny, he focused on the large glass structures, choosing to go left first. They soon were face to face with a wall made out of opaque glass pillars that came out of the ground at an angle. The statue started to glow, its light becoming brighter the closer we got to a large rune on the floor. The statue flew off Ba''pu''s hand landing in the middle of the rune. With a flash, a beam of golden light descended from the sky to the statue, as the ground started to shake. One by one, the pillars retracted back to the ground, revealing a large golden hall with a tree bearing golden apples. Upon laying eyes on it, the group felt hostility for the first time in this Dungeon. Ba''pu sent a signal to his guards with his eyes, as they slowly walked forward. The bovine guard spearing the advanced suddenly fell into the floor with a splash, revealing that the golden hall was actually a holy water pool. The guard quickly stood back up with something sharp having pierced about an inch of her thick fur cover skin. Without a change of expression, she yanked the unidentified object sticking out of her waist examining what it was. At first, she thought it looked like a crystal blade or an insect leg, however, she quickly noticed three fingers on the underside of the blade with stumps where the rest should be. The rest of the group also recognized the object as a broken crystalline arm with a blade protruding from the back of the hand. The material it was made from soon made them think of someone, the angel-looking spirit! The party got a creepy feeling all of a sudden, as they tried searching the pool with their aura. However, they found that it wasn''t possible to peer inside the pool, the feedback they got was nothing more than a thick golden mist. The golden water here was different than the one found inside the temple, it was heavier, denser, and brimming with golden mana. Ba''pu frowned, making a signal with his hand. The guards understood and jumped into the pool advancing shoulder to shoulder. Not even five seconds later, the guards stepped on something. In a quick motion, the object was pulled out for all to see. A half-broken crystalline upper body whose head had bearly any facial features. This thing looked a lot alike to the spirit, however, it gave the feeling of a cold, lifeless statue. The group was quick to toss this eerie thing away in a hurry but it wasn''t long before they found more. The closer they got to the tree, the more broken body parts they found. Some were limbs, others headless bodies, others still were just wing-like fragments. They crushed or threw the crystal body parts, their splashes echoing across the large empty hall, with nearly a ripple. After getting within ten feet of the tree, an invisible wind rustled the leaves of the large tree. One of the golden apples dropped into the water with a plop. The feeling of danger started to grow even clearer in the empty hall, the group focused their attention on the spot the apple fell into. Suddenly, something familiar poked out of the water, it was a crystal hand. The group was stunned for a moment but soon saw something brown moving inside the hand. It looked like some sort of worm-like appendage, digging thru the crystalline flesh in an unsettling manner. More appendages were soon visible, seemingly trying to find an exit. The arm twitched and twisted at its invader''s whims until it finally found an opening. The appendages exited at the location the missing fingers should''ve been, before flattening into clawed ones. Small, golden protrusions, started to appear on the new fingers before unfolding into a tender golden leaf. The image of the tree flashed thru the group''s mind, and when they focus on the new fingers its texture was bark-like. The arm suddenly plunges back into the water, at the speed of the peak of rank three warriors. Silence returned to the hall, while the group got the feeling that they were being watched by a hidden snake. On high alert, the beastmen change their formation while watching for any movement. Now with their backs against each other, the anxiety of being blind to whatever was in the water greatly ease. The moment they relax, a large splash greeted them with a blade aiming at the neck of the weakest guard, mere inches away. One of the guards that looked like a green cheetah quickly kicked his colleague, pushing him away in the nick of time. The blade, having missed its target, suddenly sprang wooden claws, shredding the left side of the target''s face. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" The burly blue bearkin was now holding his hand to his face, the light of water elements attempting to ease his pain. The attack had taken an eye and an ear, his blood falling like a waterfall. The group didn''t have the time to comfort him as they finally got a clear view of the enemy. Floating above the water, a crystal angel whose insides were full of wiggling roots stared back at the group with cold hollow eyes.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. In its torso, the remains of a golden apple could be seen nurturing a small sapling, many roots coiling themselves into the rough shape of a human skeleton. The crystal angel housing this disturbing site was incomplete, the roots twisting themselves into the missing parts. This abomination didn''t allow the group time to admire it, quickly turning into a golden-brown flash. "RAWR!!!" The bovine guard rallied her mana, but with no soil nearby, she spent a large amount of element earth to create her armor. The cheetah beastmen rested his tail in the middle of the bovine''s back, his eyes moving rapidly, seemingly following something. With a quick motion of the cheetah''s tail, the bovine guard moved in a certain direction. The flash appeared once more, however, this time a rock cover fist intersected its flight path. "Crash! CRAAACK!!!" The abomination had its head burst open like a watermelon, the golden crystals were surprisingly brittle. The bovine guard held unto the neck stump, trying to aim her other fist at the sapling with her next attack. Sensing her upcoming fist, she saw the abomination swing its blade in a chopping motion. "SCEEEEEEEERCCCCHHHHH......!!!" The bovine guard''s large eyes widen in surprise! Her rock armor was pierced thru, the crystal blade nearly chopping her fingers off. The blade was now cracked into shards of different sizes, all stuck in her flesh or rock armor. Meanwhile, the roots inside the Crystal angel husk decided to gift her the hand and neck she was holding on to. After braking the compromise parts off, it quickly flashed away at its great speed. Now some distance away from the group, the vines plunge into the golden waters, retrieving replacements for itself. Seeing this, the bovine guard wanted to puke up blood. Nearly crippling her hand for damage the opponent can just ignore was as disgusting as fighting those lunatics of the church! Before she got a chance to curse, she felt a warm soothing feeling ease some of the pain in her fist. After taking a look, she saw her hand actually healing quickly, the source was some golden droplets attached to the crystal blade. A crazy idea suddenly went thru her head, turning her attention to the golden waters around her. She dipped her damaged hand into the waters, her flesh immediately feeling itchy before squirming back together, the blade fragments pushed out. The bovine guard looked at her completely healed hand with both parts confusion and disbelief. She didn''t get much time to be distracted, as she felt her colleague''s tail warning her of an attack to the flank. She instantly sent her fist at the empty space, that familiar flash appearing a second after. She faired a little better this time, having turned a portion of her rock fist into sand. This dampen the sharpness of the crystal blade but couldn''t cancel the momentum its speed had given it. Although her colleagues wanted to help her, she was the only one fast enough to keep up with the abomination''s speed, the aid of the cheetah indispensable. The only other earth-type warrior in her team was a male pigmen, and although males are strong, their size and extra bulk made them slower. The male cheetah''s warning, and her slightly faster speed, was the only thing keeping the abomination from chopping someone''s head off. In the short intervals the abomination took to replace its broken parts, she had flung the golden waters at her injured colleague''s face. The rest of the group widen their eyes as they saw the flesh regrow in a few seconds. However, even with this boon, trading injury for injury wouldn''t work in this fight and one mistake will have your head flying off your neck. Although the last of her colleagues, a horsewoman, increased her speed and explosiveness with fire arts, she was always half a second too slow. She was forced to stop when the abomination did a fake-out, chopping her outstretched arm in two, before proceeding to her head, only to get blocked by the alert pigmen''s rock fist. The group was stuck in a stalemate, they couldn''t kill the abomination in one hit, and it would run off to lick its wounds the second it failed its attack. The abomination wouldn''t fall for any of the group''s tricks, strictly relying on its advantages and ignoring any faints or attempts to infuriate it. They felt like they were fighting a seasoned warrior whose goal was to weaken his prey, before killing it. Seeing the situation, the cheetah beastmen took advantage of the time the abomination was gathering new parts to make hand signals to the group. After they all nodded, he retrieve his tail from the bovine beastwomans back, gathering all the mana in his body. This time around, the abomination seemed to not want to come out of the water, wary of their actions. However, the group was no longer in a hurry, patiently waiting as they gathered mana. The abomination''s patience ran out, as it appeared next to the blue bearkin in a flash. "NOW!! VACUUM FIELD!!!" Large amounts of wind elements suddenly burst out of the cheetah beastmen, creating a small field where two different wind currents circle the group. The top current pushed the wind outwards, while the bottom one gather the wind to itself. Similar to having two turbines on top of each other, it created a small donut-shaped air pocket where movement was nearly impossible. The group immediately took advantage of the paralyzed abomination, aiming all their attacks at the sapling hiding inside! The crystal body, brittle as it was, wasn''t capable to withstand the damage. The roots inside did a much better job but were burnt to ashes with a vengeance by the piss-off horsewoman. The sapling didn''t last much longer, following in the root''s footsteps. Having lost the sapling, the abomination started silently screaming and twitching rapidly, its action similar to a deathrattle. The mana around the dungeon reacted to its actions, rushing to the crystal angel husk. Both the body and remaining roots of the abomination slowly turned gold, brimming with overflowing golden mana. The now glowing body reached one hand forward as if trying to grasp onto something, before stopping all movement. With the hand as a starting point, the body started disintegrating into golden dust, bursting apart shortly after. In the golden dust clouds, firefly-like dots appeared, speeding past the guards unto Sha''la''s bag. Taking the E.M crystal out, ten more drops had joined the ball of mana. Ba''pu witnessed all of this in silence, happy that his guards managed to deal with the problem without his help. Before he gave his guards the command to continue, the male elf had approached the tree without anyone''s notice. Placing one hand on its trunk, he started to sing in the elf''s spiritual language. Back on Malpetios''s Mindscape, Q''ill tried to ease her headache from having the body she was hosting destroyed. "Are you ok mom?" Malpetios worriedly canceled the partial fusion with Q''ill, disconnecting his tentacles from her shoulder blades. His tentacle-like hands melted back together in a fluid motion, moving on to holding Q''ills hand in comfort. With a gentle smile, Q''ill picked him up. "It''s fine, that cheetah beastmen surprised me with that skill. I didn''t expect a rank three warrior to be able to use a rank four skill like that, he is rather talented. Though I did better than expected! You managed to make that body have near-perfect muscle memory!" Malpetios gave a ''praise me more look'' before he started to boast. "He-he, It took a lot of effort but I managed to extract all the fighting experience from the memories of the different warrior''s wills! However..., the way the different races fight made it so messy. Beastmen would rely on their bulk too much, while humans do way too many useless movements. And those elves! Give me a break! Why do they look more like dancing noodles than people, there''s a limit to how flexible the body can be!" "Bark! Bark! Bark!" Malpetios''s grumbling was interrupted by a dog''s happy barking, a stick flying past him. A black and green dog was playing fetch with Brian, his red eyes full of joy. After what''d happened to Brian, he and the System had a battle of words resulting in a trade of Pure Mana. In return, roaming bosses were unlocked on both his floors. He immediately used sixty Pure Mana on making Kira a boss, gifting her to Brian. Although he couldn''t get too attached to what was essentially a tool to him, he still dearly liked that dog. With that in mind, Brian shouldn''t have the mental barrier he had and could truly bond with the recreation of our old dog. Malpetios secretly gave Kira the mission of acting as an emotional support dog at all times. At that moment, Malpetios felt a powerful will trying to communicate with one of the Lily''s clones. He sneakily intruded on the connection, using the Dark element as a cloak of shadows. "Oh spirit of nature, hear my plea! Quench your anger so that we may live in peace!" Malpetios heard the same message over and over, actually making this clone start to second guess its command presets. Malpetios frowned, quickly connecting to the (Soulstone) Brian came up with. Although the System prohibits me from using Manastones on non-bosses, it doesn''t say anything about not being able to make a neutered version. Using shameless reasoning and exploring the System''s bottom line, we were able to create something akin to a battery and memory card. This Soulstone would allow a monster to fight invaders above their rank, as well as enjoy a Boss-like rebirth privilege with a chance of failure. It also came with the bonus of being able to receive the muscle memory and instincts of others. However, these were in essence add-ons or a battle handbook, unsuitable for all situations and unable to replace real experience. Their best use was in making monsters with no minds, and only instincts, into AIs or NPCs. They''re also useful in passing information, orders, and triggers, something like not showing hostility unless attacked and such. He quickly made a new scenario for it to follow, and left it to do its thing. It was then that Brian called him. "Hey, kid... I think... I think I know how to introduce the Light element in the Dungeon." Brian turned his head to us with a self-mocking smile on his face. Malpetios wiggled until he was free from Q''ill''s hug, happy to hear Brian finally talk again. "Sure! Anything! Are you ok though!? I mean, how about you rest until you''re fully recovered?" Brian''s smile grew bigger, "it''s ok kid, I need to thank you for bringing Kira back to me!" "Actually, my little outburst would have happened sooner or later anyway. I have very few good memories, I can only guess they were passed on to you. I''m always stewing in my problems and jealousy. I''m... I''m envious and jealous you got to start over with only the good things in our life left." Hearing this, Malpetios started to feel he was the reason why Brian is so gloomy and mean-spirited all the time. Before he could say sorry, Brian stood up and grabbed him into his embrace. "Well, now that I got that out of my system, can I ask you for a favor?" Malpetios nodded in haste. "Then... can you let me baby you? I feel so happy near you, like when you held my hand back then! I just felt awkward in treating you like that again, after finding out we are intrinsically the same person." Malpetios jump out of Brian''s arm and wrapped his hands around Brian''s neck. "I felt awkward and shameful too! However, I already kicked my pride aside! So what if we used to be the same person! As far as I''m concerned, you''re basically my father!" Brian''s red eyes widen, before hugging me tightly, "a father huh? Maybe I can finally be one this life." Malpetios felt something wet hitting the back of his neck, but before he could raise his head, Brian spin him around, placing his head on top of mine. "Let... ha-ha.. let me explain how we can add the Light element ok? Don''t move and let me hug you like this." Malpetios nodded while getting comfortable in Brian''s embrace. "S-so... sob... here''s what I''m thinking. No matter what it is, too much of a good or bad thing will eventually break someone. With this in mind, let''s change the Boss into a tragic one, something like a fallen angel or something...?" Malpetios chewed on Brian''s words carefully, coming up with an Idea. "I got it! Good thing too, I just haggle with the System about unlocking roaming bosses. I''ll change the Lily into a roaming boss, it''s main body will now stay in my Core room and become my body. This would be helpful for the pity show you asked me to make. As for the original boss idea, I''ll have the main roots of the Lily''s clones split in half and replace it." Malpetios then looked at his Pure Mana. "I got thirty-two points left, that''s just enough to make a floor one boss. The only question left is who to make into the new boss?" Both of them were tossing ideas back and forth, but everything they came up with felt forced or cheesy. "How about you boys make use of that angel you left outside of Peridasa? I remember the story you made for her was so sad. Her father sacrifices himself for their God, leaving her alone with nothing but her grief and the longing." "That poor thing only has her lord left, it''s her everything, her emotional pillar, the only thing to remind her of her father! Her love born from dedicating herself to her master is bittersweet, for she''s not but a lowly servant!" Both Malpetios and Brian turned to Q''ill with a weird smile. "What? I-I''ve read some books in the Fairy Army''s library whenever I had time. T-the things you guys were saying sounded similar!" Q''ill''s blushing face turned to the side, avoiding their weird looks. Brian broke the silence first. "How much you wanna bet the female dragon was reading some slimy teenage romance novel or something?!" Before Malpetios could agree, he was yanked out of Brian''s arms before Brian got kicked across the Mindscape. "Who are you calling a female dragon, bastard!!! Covered in a cold sweat, Malpetios tried to soothe the raging dra... I mean the gentle maiden! Yeah, that...