《Dungeon's Legacy》 Chapter 1 - Rind and Core Hi, my name is Rind. I¡¯m just a regular middle schooler. Or I was one at least. All of this changed when I suddenly stepped through a portal and arrived in another world. And I know what you¡¯re thinking ¡°Oh my, he¡¯s going to be a hero¡±. Well, you¡¯re not exactly wrong, but you¡¯re not exactly right either. But that¡¯s not where we are in the story yet. I was on my way back from school. I can clearly remember having done horrible on a French test, and feeling rather down about it, because I really did do my best. It¡¯s just that the test was so much harder than I expected it to be. But that aside, I was walking back home and I just passed the third corner on my way when suddenly I saw a cloudy purple glow surrounding my vision. I tried to step back, but before I could it closed around me leaving me in a strange dark could. While I say that it was dark I could see almost perfectly. It was rather circular and reminded me most of a sponge or a cloud in the distance. It was a dark purple substance surrounding me which I couldn¡¯t touch but simply passed through. Though if I did I felt a sense of horror and danger welling up in me, so I only did it once. The adrenaline rush was cool, but the cold sweat made me keep still. Bright purple lines and sparks of energy sometimes surged about the surface of the cloud I was in, but they didn¡¯t near me. After what felt like ages but was probably only fifteen minutes or so, I arrived somewhere. I say somewhere because I still wasn¡¯t sure where I was. In here it was truly dark, and I wasn¡¯t able to see any of my surroundings, and was only able to feel a floor that felt like dirt, but with something similar to a stone floor below it. I was only able to look around for a minute or so before I suddenly heard a voice in my head. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Step forward and tell me your name¡± it ordered. It was a stern voice, but it didn¡¯t seem angry. Like a grandpa who knows you¡¯ll do something naughty like steal cookies, instead of a father who¡¯s punishing you for having stolen them. I considered not answering or doing as the voice said, but decided against it because whatever it was, it was here and so was I. So I stepped forward and said ¡°My name is Rind. What is yours?¡± Always make sure you know who you¡¯re talking to, my mother used to say. A bellowing laughter assaulted my mind. It seemed to go on for several minutes before calming down. ¡°Good, good¡± it spoke ¡°You have guts, I¡¯ll give you that. And with that you¡¯ve earned the right to know my name¡­ Not that I have one, but my servants call me Master Core¡­ So Core will do.¡± By now I was still in the dark, with only this voice to accompany me. So it¡¯s safe to say I didn¡¯t feel safe at all yet. Almost as if in response to this, another uncomfortable factor was added. I was lifted into the air by a strong wind. ¡°Relax, I¡¯ll introduce you¡± Core said, and with that I was pulled away. Chapter 2 - Hornscale ¡°A human, interesting. Most interesting¡­¡± the voice mumbled to itself. Or to me, considering I was able to hear it and it wasn¡¯t exactly talking. It was far more like a voice was being projected into my mind. The combination of things happening left me completely unable to talk. Not physically, but I was so overwhelmed by the situation that I wasn¡¯t able to process everything fast enough to form anything decent to say. I was blown through the darkness. The first few seconds were fun and interesting, but after that I was terrified that I¡¯d hit something. It¡¯s rather scary to realize you¡¯re probably flying at 80 km/h with no control over what¡¯s happening, and no light to show you where you¡¯re going. I think I nearly peed myself in fear, the cold sweat flowing down my back before I passed out. ¡­ ¡°¡­ extremely fragile¡± I heard Core say as I woke up. My pants were dry, and I didn¡¯t wet myself. I swear. ¡°Wha¡­ What did you do?¡± I asked. It was the first thing that came up in me, and probably the most logical thing I could¡¯ve asked in the situation. I could almost hear Core making a smile ¡°Now that you ask¡± he voiced before he started ranting about magic, symbols and several hundreds of terms I didn¡¯t understand. In all it easily took over fifteen minutes where I wasn¡¯t able to cut in a single time. ¡°Won¡¯t you ever learn to speak to someone in their own language¡± an elderly voice said. Yes, I could actually hear it with my ears now, rather than only hearing it in my mind. This actually calmed me enough to observe my surroundings again. I was lying on a field of grass, and above me were many dots of light, almost like stars but far closer to the ground. Some had a blue hue, some white, some pink, others yellow, orange, red. Just about any colour you can think of. The ceiling seemed to be made of rather plain rock. Something I hadn¡¯t seen in my life, as I actually hadn¡¯t been in a cave before, and I must tell you that it¡¯s rather different from a concrete or stone building. I sat up and looked around, hoping to see either Core, or whoever the other voice was from. And I can say I was not disappointed. I saw the source of the voice just as he was about to start talking again. He looked old, and was about five feet, one and a half meters, tall. He had a long wizard-like grey-white goatee. He wore a long robe, similar to one from those Asian stores, coloured black with red where it was folded, and what seemed like fine golden threads keeping the structure together. He stood on a pair of slippers which seemed to be made of very old wood. But the most impressive part was that he was covered in brown, almost bronze scales. His head was shaped liked that of a dragon from stories, aside from the goatee that is. Instead of ears there were holes on the side of his head, behind which were horn-like protrusions, one on either side of his head. His hands and feet were clawed, with ridges covering their backs. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. He saw me looking at him as he was about to say something. He halted for a moment, as though he was in thought before he continued. ¡°What, have you never seen a Kobold Ancient before?¡± he said. Something which I later learned was a smile began to cover his face. Showing his teeth similar to how an angry dog would bare its teeth, but apparently happy and joking. ¡°The teeth! The horrible teeth!¡± was all that occupied my mind, feelings which I can only describe as being similar to terror flooded over my mind, covering it from thinking straight, even for a little bit after he continued speaking. ¡°What Master Core meant to say was that you were brought here for one of many of master¡¯s experiments. Master created the magical formation to bring you here, and then used air magic to lift you up and move you here. You passed out in the process which allowed master to conclude that you were extremely fragile. This is something which master had been pondering about as you were passed out.¡± The Kobold Ancient explained. My thoughts simply couldn¡¯t keep up, the only word which finally broke through my confusion was the word ¡®magic¡¯ ¡°Magic? Like in stories? Things like throwing fireballs, creating lightning bolts and barriers?¡± I asked with confusion and astonishment most likely easily heard in my voice. ¡°Exactly, that kind of magic¡± The scaled horror with teeth for days said. Followed by Core speaking into my mind saying ¡°You haven¡¯t even described a millionth of what¡¯s possible. Don¡¯t see magic as something only that simple.¡± I can¡¯t say that I couldn¡¯t believe what they were saying, but all of this felt more and more like a weird feverish dream rather than reality. The weirdness of the situation forcing itself on my mind, struggling to overpower the fear that was still present from seeing a dragon-faced person for the first time¡­ Especially the teeth. He kept looking at me as over a minute passed, not much of which I realized. I suppose he was expecting something of me, but I still don¡¯t know what. ¡°His name is Hornscale¡± Core said. ¡°What?¡± I asked in response ¡°I said I¡¯d introduce you. This is Hornscale, one of my longest living servants. He began as a young Kobold, but survived the test of time, and grew up to be my most loyal and trusted servants.¡± Core explained. ¡°¡­Right¡­¡± I said, still unsure of what was going on around me. I realized both of them were trying to be social to me despite what I heard earlier about an experiment I was supposed to be a part of. I didn¡¯t quite understand what they meant just yet. ¡°Before we introduce anyone else, let¡¯s begin with the first steps¡± Core said, upon which Hornscale grabbed a book from within his robe. Chapter 3 - Skillbook Does anyone remember the first time they saw a gold bar? It looks rather unimpressive, and while it¡¯s nice and shiny it doesn¡¯t really look like much. But even though all those factors exist, you still have this nagging feeling while looking at it, a feeling or awareness that this little piece of metal is worth more than everything you own combined and then some. This is the same feeling I had when Hornscale took the book from his robe. It seemed unimportant, with a ashen grey cover. On the cover were two purple-blue triangles, drawn in such a way that they seemed three-dimensional. The top one of the two pointing to the top of the book, then about a thumb width space of nothing, followed by the second triangle facing to the bottom of it. In all it looked unimposing but it made the hairs in the back of my neck stand tall. Unlike Hornscale who¡¯s first impression on me was almost horrorlike, this seemed to scream at me that it was worth more than I could imagine. This conflicted with its look of almost complete simplicity causing me to grow hesitant. ¡°Take it and read it¡± Hornscale said as he offered it to me, bowing down because I was still sitting. ¡°Why¡± I asked, still both afraid and confused. ¡°Because I need you to¡± Core projected into my mind. And for the first time he seemed forceful. ¡°Then no¡± I replied ¡°you¡¯re not my parents.¡± Hornscale sighs and Core remains silent. Just as that moment passes I realized that I most likely wasn¡¯t supposed to refuse, and that whatever the situation was, I just let it take a turn for the worse. ¡°Read it.¡± Core ordered, anger could be heard inside my head. A surge of pain seemed to push through my mind. ¡°Master, calm yourself. You said yourself we can¡¯t force it.¡± Hornscale said pleadingly. Apparently they had expected me to refuse to some degree. It was quiet for a while. The headache I had less than a second ago disappeared and I had time to look around. Hornscale had a complicated expression, maybe even pained. And seconds later the ground beneath my feet shook, and I dropped down. ¡°You will do as I tell you, human¡± Core bellowed in my mind as I fell. ¡°I really do suggest you do as he says¡± Hornscale said as he jumped after me. I hit the floor below, having the feeling as though I nearly broke my legs as I landed. I landed first on my feet, bending my knees, before feeling the rest of the force drone down and making me land on my rear. ¡°I think I twisted my ankle¡± I complained. Hornscale landed far, far more graceful than I did. In a way that could almost be called gravity defying, he landed on a single foot, not even making a sound. I could almost hear my jaw drop at the sight of it. ¡°I suggest you read the book. Master Core can¡¯t handle those that refuse to cooperate.¡± Hornscale pleaded, seemingly worried for me. ¡°What¡¯s in it¡± I asked ¡°I can¡¯t just read it. It¡¯s probably dangerous or something isn¡¯t it.¡± I called out. ¡°It¡¯s a skill book, have you never heard of them? They teach you something after you read through it.¡± Hornscale argued. He seemed calm, calmer than me at least. ¡°A¡­ Skill Book? Does that mean I need to read a lot?¡± I asked ¡°Only a little. Maybe a page or two.¡± Hornscale said. I considered it a while as I stood up, not wanting to fall on my rear if I dropped down again. I looked at the scaly monster, and it held the book towards me. The feeling it gave me was still that of something which was worth far more than I realized, packed in something that completely didn¡¯t look the part. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll do it¡± I said as I grabbed the book from Hornscale¡¯s hand. I opened the book, the hard, leathery cover feeling slightly cold against my skin despite the air being rather comfortable. The first page had a single line, it was filled with lines and dots which seemed to be dancing over the area, before slowly forming into words. The words forming what I assume to be the title of the book. ¡°The dungeon, Core¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. A few thoughts surfaced within me, but I decided to let them pass by me and focus on the matter at hand, I turned the page. This time there were two pages filled with lines, dots, squiggles, and shapes all dancing around the page before forming into words. I began reading as the words nearly formed under my vision. It was a bit of a confusing story about a spirit which wanted to influence the physical so much that it transformed into a solid object: a Dungeon Core. The Dungeon Core had lost all its memories from the time that it was a spirit, but knew things. The first of which was that it had to collect mana. The second was that it could collect mana from its environment far better than any creature. The third was that it could increase the area which it could influence by spending its mana to do so. The fourth was that it could add and remove stone from the area it was in. The fifth was that it could create objects and materials by spending mana. The sixth and final thing it knew was that it had to defend itself, though it didn¡¯t know from what. I flipped the page, finding another dance of shapes which solidified into words under my gaze. The Dungeon Core soon learnt that it could bind spirits to its service, who knew far more than it did, and began telling it bits and pieces of its previous life. How it had lived for centuries off the mana in the air, desperate to influence the physical world. The Dungeon Core was sad, realizing it wouldn¡¯t know the joy of being able to actually doing it, now that it was capable, but couldn¡¯t remember. Another page and another jumble. It realized it could also summon living creatures, some containing intelligence, others with nearly none, but it would cost immense amounts of mana, compared to what it had at least. It also found that it could create plants, though it didn¡¯t know what they were for. And with that knowledge it began creating a cave around itself, expanding in all directions, though ever so slowly. Time passed and eventually it had several rooms, then one of the spirits told it to make a straight tunnel in a certain direction. It didn¡¯t question it and eventually breached to the surface, which caused an immense rumbling. Animals approached from the outside, but as soon as they entered they felt watched and quickly ran off. Soon after bipedal creatures which the spirits called Humans came to explore, this was both the best and the worst thing which would ever happen to the Dungeon Core. These humans realized they were watched, but for some reason decided to go deeper. The Dungeon Core felt threatened, and summoned the cheapest living creature it could manage, and sent it to chase the humans away. It succeeded, but it soon realized that their arrival had given it a large amount of mana. The book abruptly ended, before it started to emit a bright light which soon turned blinding. I felt the book disappearing from my hands, and the shape that was emitting light changed from almost rectangular to circular. At that point it suddenly disappeared into what I can only assume to be my head, as my head started to hurt as though it was cracking open. --------------- Hey, Author-sama here. I hope all of you are enjoying the story. I¡¯m sure you can probably see my inspiration, but I just hope I¡¯m doing a good job, and that people can appreciate it, or even enjoy it. Thank you for reading so far. I managed to finish this today, so I¡¯m happy about that. Chapter 4 - Vision My mind suddenly went blank. I don¡¯t think I felt any emotions at this point, nor do I remember thinking anything at this point, just complete nothingness after the light went into my head. Even the splitting headache I had moments earlier was completely gone, which now that I think of it happened earlier too. I couldn¡¯t feel my body, nor could I feel anything around me, I couldn¡¯t even see or hear anything. Or so I thought initially for the first fifteen minutes or so. The strange thing was that no emotions or thoughts really appeared in me either during this time, only a slowly growing feeling of energy inside of me. Energy which I could also somehow sense outside of me. Like warmth, pressure, or that tingling feeling you get from electricity, but not quite any of these. I could feel that the energy on the outside was slowly moving towards me, merging with me, but not decreasing in the slightest. I tried focusing on moving the energy outside towards me, and the trickle of energy turned into a stream. The suddenness of which surprised me and made me lose the focus I had for doing it in the first place. The sensation was new, but not scary. And because it was new, I played with it, attempting to find different ways to use this energy, and to let it flow into me. Time passed in ways I didn¡¯t notice until I got bored of trying to collect this energy. I tried to feel around me, like you would move your arm around you in the dark, except I didn¡¯t feel like I had arms, or could see light. For some reason the energy I felt inside of me became pressured, and felt as though it squirted out into the direction I wanted to feel around. And all of a sudden I noticed that I was aware of it. A strange type of awareness I had never felt before, like it was a part of me, far more than my body had ever been. ¡°My body¡­ I had a body? Where am I? Who am I?¡± Suddenly these thoughts plagued my mind, panic hit like a familiar ball smashing in your face. I was suddenly in pain, as though cracks were appearing all over me. It¡¯s hard to describe how pain feels if you don¡¯t really know if you have a body or not. It was like my thoughts themselves were in pain, rather than anything physical. Cracks spread out, growing larger, pain begins to rack everywhere. The intensity of which grows by the second as the panic slowly grows to a combination of insanity and blankness. I try to move, no longer feeling around me, but actually move. I feel stuck, horribly stuck. The pain now growing to unprecedented heights as I try to feel anything other than pain. Suddenly I feel something which I can only describe as a thread of white light, though it could also be blue, before feeling white again. Colours are difficult without vision. It begins to overlap on the cracks I feel, covering them one by one. First one, then five, then twenty, all the way until every single crack feels covered. At this point I try to focus on it more, as it¡¯s the only thing that distracts me from the pain, and as I do I feel the string wind around me and slowly tighten. The cracks feel as though they are slowly mending, and my panic lessens. ¡°I like this thread of light, it helps me.¡± Is the conclusion I end up with, before my mind becomes calm again, and I return to the state I was at before the pain. Awareness once again spread through me. I was now aware of myself and myself. I was both me, and the area surrounding me. The first being a solid cuboid, the second being made of rock. I felt that I could move myself around if the rock wasn¡¯t there, and the idea of removing the rock passed through my mind, and I did. Without any effort the rock around me began to disappear, creating a room around my cuboid self. I could now move around in the space around me, and while this space around me was also me, the new feeling was interesting, and with interest came experimentation and playing around. I must have spent hours just moving myself and enjoying the new sensation. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The small room soon became boring, and I began to desire to expand the area. And I did until I felt resistance. I had hit an area that wasn¡¯t me. And with that I began to feel around more, once again pressuring the energy inside of me. The energy exited me, and I now noticed the energy decreasing as I expanded. I once more began to focus on collecting the energy, and noticed that it flowed into me at a slightly increased pace. I repeated the process of expanding and collecting and began to notice a pattern. More of me meant more energy. This occupied me for a long time, and at a certain point I began feeling more resistance, and I realized I had expanded hundreds of meters away from my initial location. The process of repeated collecting energy and expanding myself was clearly the only thing that occupied my mind during that time. Suddenly I began feeling as though this was all a film playing out, rather than experiencing it myself. Images popped up in my mind: Spirits, a cave entrance, humans, creating goblins, metals and plants, fighting, expanding more, more summoning and fighting, up until the point that a form of balance and cooperation was formed. Humans, and later other creatures called Dwarves, Elves and far more, named by the spirits appeared, depositing their mana in the thing I now realized was a Dungeon, in return for a challenge and things they considered treasures. In time some died, but the Dungeon managed to hide its core, and expand to create multiple layers, the mana in the area flowing downwards as though the Dungeon itself was a funnel, and the more it expanded, the larger its open area was, with each layer bringing an extra dimension to it. This film-like experience sped up, imprinting upon my mind images faster than I could consciously process. Faster and faster the images appeared, accompanied with sounds, experiences, feelings and more. Wars were fought, artifacts were created, precious people died and the earth trembled under a flood of emotions. And at that point all became white. I was back where I was earlier, standing opposed to Hornscale. My hands still as though they were holding a book, but were holding nothing but air. He looked at me, and somehow I could feel that Core was as well. A pressure I didn¡¯t know existed was lifted from my body, and almost as though I was guided by invisible hands I felt something inside of me. I felt energy inside of me. --------------- Hey, Autor-sama again. I know that the first three chapters released on the same day, but I recall them being almost 24 hours apart, and the only reason the second chapter released so quickly after the first was because it had to be checked by a moderator. I don''t know how long I''ll be able to keep up this pace, but for now I''ll try to write (and post) one 1000+ word chapter every day. Maybe holding back on posting them early to allow myself resting days later on. Aside from this I hope to be able to slowly increase the wordcount per chapter, but I know it will take longer to write if I do that. Regardless, thank you for joining me in this story so far. Chapter 5 - Council part 1 ¡°It succeeded!¡± Core spoke, excitement and joy clearly to be heard within the voice in my head ¡°I can sense the mana flowing through and around his body!¡± ¡°Congratulations on your experiment Master Core¡± Hornscale said, a satisfied glimmer appearing in his eyes. The ground below me moved again, and both Hornscale and I were slowly raised to the glimmering lights up above again, the floor below my feet turning from a solid stone cave floor into a field of grass similar to the area around it. Soon it blended in in such a way that I couldn¡¯t tell the difference. The experience earlier had turned itself into a sort of memory, where certain parts were clearer than others. The feeling of energy inside of me, as well as all around me became known as Mana from memories that surfaced, but I couldn¡¯t quite remember experiencing, or perhaps from expriences I couldn''t quite remember, I don¡¯t really know. I tried to feel the energy around me, and noticed that there was far more of it than in my memory. Similar to how I somehow remembered I tried to call it to me, to make it flow in to me. But unlike the ¡®previous time¡¯ I wasn¡¯t able to. I did feel it flowing into me, but I couldn¡¯t do it on my own. Like a baby who is unable to feed themselves being spoon-fed by a caretaker or parent, that¡¯s how I felt with being unable to do this myself. During the time I was figuring out this whole ¡®Mana¡¯ thing, which had probably taken ten minutes or so, far more than I¡¯d honestly like to admit, some things had happened. A seat had appeared underneath Hornscale and he sat down before being moved backwards with it. After he was moved backwards a table appeared in front of him, between me and him. The table seemed to be made of red wood with a metallic gleam, and was shaped like a crescent with round edges, with me at the point where the center would be if the crescent was a full circle. On both sides next to Hornscale more seats appeared, four on either side. During this time a grinding sound could be heard as a decorated wooden double door appeared several meters behind Hornscale, the doors of which opened soon after it appeared. Once that had happened a chair knocked against the insides of my knees, forcing me to sit down. This seat had padding which I couldn¡¯t see on the others. The doors were now open, and creatures began walking through it, each sitting down on the seats next to Hornscale. The first creature that entered was accompanied by a blazing heat which disappeared almost immediately as he entered the room. His figure was masculine with a broad build, a thin middle part, and a strong but sleek lower body. He was entirely made of bright yellow flames, and was covered with a red fiery aura shaped like a candle flame. His face was mostly featureless, with a depth where his eyes should be. ¡°This is Ifrit, a fire elemental spirit as you can see¡± Core said as Ifrit sat down. The second creature to enter came through the door as a gush of water which shaped up to become a voluptuous female figure. And though the face initially lacked features it quickly shaped up to having a rather round cutesy face, her eyes locked on me. She had wide hips and a rather large front side, with thin arms. Her legs didn¡¯t end in feet, but rather in an inverted whirlpool. As she looked at me I looked back and saw her transparency slowly fill in with skin tone, and her figure become covered in a dress. Her skin tone was similar to mine and her dress was a fresh, light blue with vertical streaks of white elegantly placed along the folds and snowflakes seemed to be flowing from the top of the dress down into the whirlpool of her legs. ¡°This is Maraid, water elemental spirit¡­ She used to be a slime you know, but she¡¯s grown a lot¡± Core explained. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.The third and fourth appeared rather quickly after one another. The first looked like a stack of boulders rolling through the door, which as they appeared made it feel as though the entire room was weighing down on me. They seemed to merge into something I can only relate to Thing from the Fantastic Four comics which then moved to sit down. After him came a twister accompanied by a fierce wind, literally. It didn¡¯t even take a humanoid shape before positioning itself above the seat. ¡°Dao and Djinn, Earth and Air¡± Core said. The fifth to enter the room had some difficulty to go through it. It first grabbed the sides of the door with hands the size of half my body, followed by a head covered in scars poking through it and looking around. Then the rest of his earthen grey body squeezed through. His body I could only describe as that of a fat Ogre, with a small head and a huge almost drop-shaped body with legs that seem slightly out of proportion compared to its body, and arms of which you can¡¯t really see shoulders but still seem like they could crush you easily. ¡°Rakk¡± Core explained ¡°An evolved troll, very sturdy and his blood can heal most creatures¡±. Seventh to enter was someone who arrived mostly human-shaped, rather than needing to form at the spot, or looking like something that could possibly in some way maybe be a human. Her skin was dark red, and her hair black like the night. Her eyes gleamed a golden yellow and her bosom was even more grand (and less covered) than the one Maraid had formed. She was wearing what looked like a black leather crop top which only barely covered the important parts, accompanied with almost skin-tight pants made of the same leather. Her face could only be described as that of a model, except that from her forehead two dark horns stuck out which seemed so sharp that I was tempted to ask if I could feel how sharp they were exactly. She looked haughty, as though she was above everyone here, perhaps even prideful, but as soon as her gaze fell on me it changed to disgust, she looked away with an expression as though she smelled something bad. Despite this she elegantly moved to her seat and sat down ¡°Amon¡¯dy, our resident Demon. All of the demons are under her command.¡± Core said. Eight and final to pass through the doorway was a skeleton with an oversized head, not very much so, but still. His bones were pale white, and if I hadn¡¯t experienced everything I had up to now I would¡¯ve been surprised, but now I would¡¯ve been surprised if there wasn¡¯t a skeleton. ¡°Calcoph, a Lich or Undead lord. It took me a while to realize that it was actually far simpler than I thought to make him so¡± Core explained happily. All of these creatures I knew of a little bit, from a minor interest in mythology and fantasy which was spoon-fed to me by my parents from an early age. And all of them, even the air creature called Djinn, had some humanoid traits. And there I was, surrounded by nine monsters sitting at a table, with a voice in my head. ¡°Now let me explain¡± Core said, this time I could actually hear it physically, but I couldn¡¯t quite locate where it came from, and from the looks of my¡­ companions, this was a rarity, as all but Hornscale looked up with surprise. Chapter 5.5 - Amondy Amon¡¯dy P.O.V. ¡°Master Core has been in retreat for nearly three months. Master has gone in retreat several times before, but rarely longer than a month. I wonder what¡¯s keeping them. The last time we ended up with a failure of a true black dragon, which managed to die before growing old enough to become a real force to reckon with.¡± These were the types of thoughts that were active in her mind. Amon¡¯dy walked through the hallways of her personal domain which was decorated with flames, spikes, decaying mists, creatures made of darkness, imps, hellhounds and other demonic creatures. All of whom either bowed or scurried away as she walked by. Her Master had granted her control over this area, linking her to an extension of themselves which her Master was able to create upon reaching a high enough level. With this she was able to manage this area herself as though she was the Dungeon core, her Master, herself. This granted her control equal to her Master¡¯s, and allowed her to form an internal hierarchy which was naturally only found in the depths of Hell or in the Abyss. Now only a sliver of her Master¡¯s own will remained in this area, sleeping deep inside the extension of themselves which she had control over. It was almost as though her Master had split itself apart purely for her. ¡°I wonder what Master needs me for, perhaps¡­ Perhaps he needs me for an experiment¡± she thinks excitedly, blushing at the thought. It was a simple step by step growing cycle. Every demon of a higher level than an imp or a hellhound would have to lay their eggs every ten cycles. These eggs would hatch into imps or hellhound pups, or other types of demons. These would then fight and kill each other to grow up into higher leveled demons. Unlike almost all other types of creatures only demons had to have such a vicious cycle of breeding, killing, and growing. Most other creatures could live from the ambient mana which the Dungeon Core radiated, but Demons and Abyssal creatures required Demonic or Abyssal mana, which only a Dungeon Core of the same type emitted, and Amon¡¯dy her Master was but a regular one. Her master was a regular Dungeon who had grown to amazing heights of power, spanning past several large kingdoms, and even including a multiple smaller ones, and because of this was respected by monsters such as herself, and other creatures such as Humans alike. And despite that her nearly all-powerful master had taken its body apart and given her a piece Amon¡¯dy could not be satisfied. She desired more, perhaps to own all of her Master. She bit her tongue to dispel the thoughts, she bit it until it bled and she had to spit out her blood. Blood which other demons oh so happily tried to consume. And when they did they would either grow above and beyond the average demon of their generation, or be consumed by the blood itself to form one of Amon¡¯dy her many personal minions. ¡°No¡­ No foul thoughts against Master Core¡­ I can¡¯t betray him, I can¡¯t follow my instincts. I swore to serve and protect the Master. I can¡¯t fall to my Demonic desires. He already gave me so much.¡± She tries to convince herself, to solidify her resolve. But this isn¡¯t the first time these thoughts float to the surface of her mind for her to suppress. And they have been coming up there more and more often as of late. She arrived at what would be considered the entrance to her ¡°Boss Room¡±, the place she was to fight if anyone would ever get so far. This was the place where her body would be reformed in by her Master if she ever was to be defeated and slain. It was a humongous circular cave made of yellow stone, flames fueled by the death and of the hundreds if not thousands of dying Demons both above and below. In the center of the room, suspended by two stone bridges decorated with gargoyles in all shapes and sizes, was an island with a small castle on it. This castle was where she would fight if so-called ¡®heroes¡¯ were to get this far. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The doors of this castle opened to allow her in. The floor was tiled in black and white, and pillars decorated the walls, between each of which were hidden doors leading to other rooms such as her personal torture chambers, alchemical research room, and others. Directly opposed from the main entrance which she had used was a raised platform, approximately one third the size of the room itself. Two thirds of this platform was covered by a bed, her bed. This was her room, but not her destination. She walked by her bed, out of the door which was previously hidden by her bed. She turns the knob in such a way to bypass the traps and continues. She walks over the second bridge and into the next area. This area was the area under Hornscale¡¯s management, her Master¡¯s eldest living servant. And it connected to the very lowest area of the dungeon, their Master¡¯s personal research area. As she finally arrived in one of the rooms which connected to her master¡¯s area she saw Hornscale disappear into the portal, leaving her locked outside to wait. This caused her mind to once again fill with thoughts of betrayal, spite and hatred. But most of all she was filled with murderous thoughts towards Hornscale, who was given preferential treatment over her. It wasn¡¯t as though her master did not know she was there, because her master knew, and she knew that her master knew. And yet her master forced her to wait. Time passed and soon the portal in front of her opened once more and she was let into her Master¡¯s chamber. She tried to force herself to let all negative emotions slip off of her. She was above all this; she was above everyone after all. But what she saw shocked her to the extreme. She saw something she had never expected to see in her Master¡¯s chamber; she saw a human child. And worst of all, it wasn¡¯t some brave warrior, trained mage, or even something that could¡¯ve gotten an achievement of sorts. It was a normal and plain human child who had even less Mana in his body than there was in the surroundings, as though it rejected the Mana so generously granted by her master. Immediately her previous thoughts and even the determination regarding them faded, and all of it turned to scorn, disgust, and more hatred. But she contained herself, not letting these emotions get to her, and forcing herself to sit on one of the seats which her Master had obviously prepared for her. --------------- Author-sama here. I was originally planning on posting this one last night, but I''d also set myself the requirement to finish chapter 6 before then. Things happened and I started to notice my writing pace slowing down which kinda made me sad, but that isn''t the issue here. It means I''ve hit a part of the story I have difficulty writing, which happens sometimes. But because of that, I did have the time to look over this chapter once or twice more, fixing some things which I would''ve had to Ret-Con later if I hadn''t fixed them now. Which is good. Once again thank you for reading my story. :) Chapter 6 - Overstimulated ¡°Now let me explain¡± was what Core said, and all fell silent around, even the sound of the air which was present earlier had gone away. All was still. ¡°This¡± Core obviously meant me here ¡°Is the result of my latest experiment¡± Core vocalized. Those who could frown in the crowd did so, likely wondering why I was here. Myself included. ¡°I pulled this human from a world without mana¡± a gasp and clattering of bones could be heard ¡°And like I hypothesized his body at first refused any Mana, both from the natural environment and from me.¡± More gasps and clattering could be heard, they were clearly having issues staying silent and listening to the explanation. ¡°I made him read this skill book¡± A copy of the book I read earlier appeared out of thin air on the table between me and the creatures in front of me ¡°A skill book you may all know I have produced many years ago as another series of experiments¡±. ¡°But how?¡± Calcoph, the undead, asked ¡°The internal mana of all previous subjects resisted the change and forced the subject to either be wiped completely blank, or would even force them to self-destruct!¡± At this point I didn¡¯t even listen to what it was saying and was far more focused on how this skeleton could talk without any vocal chords. Even though there was something that didn¡¯t have a body which could both talk and speak into my mind. ¡°As I said, this human¡¯s body refused any mana, which was something I expected and hoped for as I set about to collect him. Because of this particular trait he apparently also had no internal mana to fight against this particular skill book allowing it to apply as any other. And only the minute resistance of mana density was left.¡± By now the monsters sitting opposed from me began chatting amongst each other, none of which I was able to understand, sadly. Core remained silent and the group of monsters opposed to me apparently reached a conclusion as they began yelling out what I can only assume to be a cheer of joy. It¡¯s hard to figure out that sort of thing when most of the things in front of you don¡¯t even have vocal chords¡­ Or skin for that matter. Hornscale stood up, an expression I couldn¡¯t quite read upon his face ¡°Congratulations on your success Master Core¡± he said, bowing forward somewhat. The others also rose. All of this gave me an immense sense of awkwardness which made me realize one thing which the bone-head had said earlier. ¡°You could¡¯ve killed me!?¡± I yelled in surprise, not truly realizing what it entailed at this point in my youthful naivety ¡°You knew that it could kill me and still forced me to read it, what kind of psychopath are you?¡± I yelled out, anger becoming present in my system as I stood upright. At this point some more of the absurdness of the situation began hitting me, and in all honesty I¡¯m already sick of telling you how much of a gutless wuss I was back at this point. Tears began streaming down my face and it felt like a chunk was stuck in my throat. Sniffing to try and swallow it back down I said ¡°First¡­ You take me away¡­¡± If I were a girl wearing any makeup then by now most of it would¡¯ve been all the way on my chin ¡°From my¡­ family¡±. ¡°Then¡­¡± my hands now balled into fists while I tried to force the words out of my throat ¡°You blew me through the darkness¡±. I¡¯m honestly not sure if anyone was even listening, or if I was just expressing my own anger, confusion, and fear ¡°Then¡­ You yelled at¡­ me and dropped me¡­ in a hole¡± a deep breath, and once more I swallowed to try and force down the chunk in my throat ¡°And then you¡­ Made me do something¡­ That could¡­¡¯ve¡­ killed me!¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. By now I began to get the feeling that these creatures, these monsters, were looking at me. I don¡¯t know why at the time I thought it was a good idea but I said ¡°And now¡­ You¡¯ve put me on display to these¡­ Monsters. Like I¡¯m¡­ Some kind of farm animal!¡± and in all honesty by now, after I had said what I did, I expected most, if not all of them to become upset or even angry. But they didn¡¯t. They did not become angry. In fact I could see the largest of them all, the Ogre, making a very saddened expression. I couldn¡¯t read the other¡¯s expressions, save for the underdressed demon, but somehow I knew that I had really disappointed that overly large fellow. Like the face my parents would¡¯ve made when I told them I¡¯d failed my French test, but without the compassionate smile afterwards and them saying ¡°It¡¯s okay, you can try again next time¡±. Silence was present in the room, a silence which was painful to me. None of the regular sounds I was used to had been present since I got here, something which only dawned on me in this silence which followed my outburst. I couldn¡¯t hear the buzzing of electricity or electrical devices. I couldn¡¯t hear the chirping of birds, the noises that insects make, or even the grass being blown by the wind. It just wasn¡¯t there, and at this moment I became perfectly aware of this. Seconds passed, slowly, ever slowly turning into a single minute of deafening silence. And before this minute could become two Rakk, the Ogre, spoke. A deep and slow voice ringing my ears loudly, but not uncomfortably so ¡°How saddening¡­ How human¡­ To scorn others for their appearance¡± ¡°I¡­¡± I wanted to defend myself, but no words came out of my throat. The chunk that had been stuck in my throat was finally gone there but had sunk to my stomach where it blocked even my thoughts. ¡°I¡­¡± I tried again but still nothing more than that single sound slipped away, seemingly blocked by that chunk which simply didn¡¯t want to disappear. The edges of my vision seemed to slowly darken, and yet the expression of disappointment did not seem to lessen, instead it only seemed to become more apparent. I began to breathe faster, a choking feeling in my throat forcing me to breathe heavier too. My vision darkened further and a sense of icy cold panic began to spread out from my chest. ¡°What if I die¡­ what if I die!?¡± I thought, my vision now also blurring. The panic now spread further along my body. This combined with my vision darkening which gave the feeling as though the panic was eating my vision, which only made me more uncomfortable and afraid. My vision was now completely gone, and the icy cold quickly began to spread over my face. I could barely sense it go past my eyes before¡­ I blanked out completely. I had fainted. ¡­ ¡­ I dreamt that I was at home, with my parents. They scolded me for failing the test, but made me hot chocolate to cheer me up, telling me it was okay and that I would do better next time. I was happy. --------------- My apoligies for the relatively late post today, things happened IRL. I was kinda busy because of it and unlike usually where I wake up and post, today I woke up and headed out. I havn''t started on chapter 7 because of it either, so I can''t promise to release it tomorrow, but I''ll work on it nonetheless.