“― Jonathan Swift – “A Modest Proposal”


    What talk?


    Yes.


    How else can we get survival points?


    Prey come, they leave. Get points. Survive other dungeons, get points. Quests give points. Special things.


    What do you mean survive other dungeons?


    Touch dungeon, conflict between.


    So only if we grow and end up touching another dungeon?


    No, some move. Treat like prey.


    How often do dungeons get attacked by other dungeons?


    Not common.


    How uncommon? Several times a year? Once every year or two? Decades, centuries?


    Don’t know. Long time. May never happen.


    So we get points when people come in and then leave again. Why kill people at all?


    Small. Points tiny. Death is big.


    Tell me how the points work when they leave. Does anything change how many points we get?


    Yes, not always same. Points change.


    So what does make the points change, and how does it change?


    Time. Longer time more points. Struggle. Danger. Almost kill prey, get more. Travel. Prey go long way, change level, more.


    Exsan? Do you know how to speak properly? Speak like I do, for example, and use complete sentences?


    Not understand. Am speaking now.


    Right, never mind. Anyway… I… wanted to talk about people, about prey.


    What about prey?


    Do you remember how you said I belong to you?


    Yes.


    Okay. So we both belong to each other. We own this dungeon, the space, the creatures, plants, mana and so on. It belongs to both of us. Do you understand and agree?


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Yes. All one. All same. Belong.


    Good. Do you know what I was before we belonged to each other?


    No. Before absent.


    I used to be a person. I died, but I was what you would consider prey. I was combined with you, our souls were joined.


    You were prey. Now dungeon. Predator.


    I still remember my old life. I still feel like a person.


    Will help.


    You will? How?


    Teach Caden. Help kill. Make good predator. Consume much prey.


    Okay, so everything in the dungeon is yours. You could let most of it be destroyed and you would just rebuild it without caring right?


    Yes.


    You wouldn’t want me harmed at all though, right?


    Yes.


    So what is different between me and the rest of the dungeon?


    You me. You hurt. Hurt. Dungeon remake. No hurt.


    People belong to each other. One dies, others hurt. It is not pain of the body, the core. It is pain of the mind. My mind is still human. People die and I will hurt. People that come in, they will belong to me. It they die it will hurt me. Do you understand?


    Prey come, they die. Caden hurt?


    Yes.


    You die?


    No, pain only. However, I do not wish to experience pain. I wish to make a compromise.


    How?


    I want to offer a better chance for people to survive. If people give us a sacrifice that allows us to grow then we will spare them when they would otherwise die. They will gain a certain… leeway. It is not infinite. They are not preserved forever. However, by helping us to grow they are given another chance.


    This should encourage them to help us more. And from that we will gain new things. New animals, plants, new decorations and loot.


    No.


    Why not?


    Not enough. Slow down. Gain not worth levels.


    It is. If the dungeon gives people a second chance then more people will come. And by getting so many new things we will draw in more people with better loot. And then they will come back again and again.


    Gain not certain. Not enough.


    It will also reduce my pain.


    Caden survive.


    If you believe that pain is something just ignored then I will show you a type of mental pain.


    What pain?


    Frustration.


    I had died. The fact that people had souls was a bit of a comfort, but it did not make their lives unimportant. If I was going to consider myself a moral person, even a person at all, then I needed to tread this path my own way.


    Stop! There is no point. This useless.


    Do you agree to my terms?


    No.


    Then I will not stop.


    Stop. Will win.


    This is not a battle that either of us can win.


    Caden meditate. Can wait. Will rebuild.


    It won’t be enough. I can demolish all of our aura. Dismantle our dungeon. Destroy everything.


    No. Will not agree. Will fight.


    You can fight, but it will not be enough. Even if you fight your hardest. Even if you fight me constantly. Even if you battle forward and make gains while I cannot fight you. Even if you fight me every single day for every step, for every foot, for every speck of mana needed to keep the dungeon working, you will never get rid of this frustration. It will never end. You cannot win, because even if you do all of this and you manage to kill a horde of people and gain countless points, it will profit you nothing.


    You. Need. ME. To. Level.


    If you do this then I will share my own pain with you forever. You will cause me pain as you kill, but I will cause you pain in turn. You will rack up survival points and never be able to spend them. My compromise might be slower, it might be faster, but anything will be faster than being stuck in a stalemate for eternity.


    I don’t actually need to fight. All I need to do is never consent.


    I am going to stop fighting for a moment, if you stop too. Take some time to think properly.


    Mental pain. This… frustration. Understand. Will compromise.