However, the two had already left. Dan had already seen this in the corner of his eye. Since they were fleeing, they posed no threat to him. Everything had happened so fast, and he welcomed the bit of breathing room to process his 'rebirth'.
His shocked conscience wasn't thinking completely straight, only reacting. And from what was trickling in, so were the rogue apprentice mages. Dan had succesfully gotten the upper hand, and the two people who could use the 'soul-breaker' spell were dead or running away.
Still, with two at large Dan felt the pressure. No telling when they might put two and two together and get 'Break the Crystal'. Yet, there was some time to absorb and digest some of the memories of the three he had recently added.
Truthfully, he didn't want to chase after those two. He would prefer not to have killed at all, but even now he didn't see any alternative.
Dan was in something of a conundrum. The truth was in terms of actual 'threat' he felt the priority had gone Old man, Timid girl, Herk, knife guy, and finally No clean. The soul bolt, which he now knew the name of, did no lasting damage but could easily stun his form long enough to be hacked to pieces. They were just too inexperienced to take advantage.
But he hadn't gone after timid girl or the No cleaning because he had honestly hesitated at raising a hand towards women. It was stupid, they were a threat both from magic and also letting others know of him.
His only offensive option seemed to be of the 'hit it till it dies' option. Not a bad option, but he preferred not feeling like a bad guy...too much. No, they were at his mercy and he was going to make them live while regretting what they did to the...wow! There is 893 lives worth of soul energy and memories in the core! Yeah, they're going to do hard time.
And in those memories he found a somewhat workable solution from combing the three individuals He just absorbed.
Herk had infarct been a student of magic before, surprising. He read without comprehending because he felt the basics were 'a trick to get dumb student to waste time', oh the irony. One of the spells he had wanted to learn was a sleep inducing spell. Herk had wanted this so he could commit his crimes more brazenly. While he hadn't enough 'theory' to understand it, old man did.
The same was true with Knife guy, he had self esteem issues which led to him never talking to a girl, yet fantasizing about her. He had given up completely on being able to overcome his anxiety except in a very controlled situation, namely buying her from a slave market. He had also been working on a project to use magic to enhance the slave status by various methods. Later though he would have found out that the Slave Guild doesn't take kindly to people conducting independent studies on their proprietary inventions and he is now also on the run.
The old man's foray into soul-based magic didn't end with a Soul Bolt which scattered and disrupted a soul. The Soul Greater Core was his life's ambition because it would be a power source for his dynasty to rise. Yes, in the Old Man's mind he would be able to found a Dynasty. Considering the crew he ran with Dan shuddered to think that the old man could have actually succeeded.
Oh and of course, of the three he had killed so far, each one of them had planned to betray and kill all the others when the project was completed. Dan could rest easy as the old man had apparently locked and barred the door to the hideout shut and the only way for the two girls to go would be to basically hide in either the storage room, the study, or the sleeping area.
Armed with the layout of the lair, and a few spells that can be used for non-lethal take downs, Dan chase down the girls.
Leaving the Core Room in Demon's body, moving outside of the 'vision' of the Core was somewhat liberating without the awareness of the Core and the Demon Body overlapping each other. Actually it 'felt' as though the Demon part of me was getting thinner and thinner. Panicking a little the Demon body dashed back into the range of the Core. There he found he suddenly had a complete memory of what it had already seen.
In other words, any 'other selves' are somewhat autonomous but relay what they experience flawlessly. “Good to know, like I can create Player Characters and have them come back to the crystal room to Record their journey...I feel like I'm building an RPG system in real life.”
While Demon Dan is walking in a slow pace his string of conscious thought is having less and less to do with Core Dan. Meanwhile Core Dan has more and more time to devote to processing the gathered information.
Sure enough, the entrance had signs of frantic banging and scrambling to get out. Because the floor was sandy dirt, it was relatively easy to see that one had run to the store room, while one had hidden in the makeshift library called the study.
He decided to go to the study first. Odds are, that the one versed in Soul Magic would be seeking refuge here, and she was the most credible threat that he could see.
Walking in, the study was small. Although it had three rows of shelves it could not be called a library. There was no where for her to hide except in one of the two aisles between the shelves.
He paused though. Demon Dan could see the disturbed dust leading in, and he could hear the breathing. A cornered rat was most dangerous so he considered his options. Or rather he took his time delaying.
While he felt no issue with suddenly killing the three from before, both the situation and the for lack of a better term 'interrogation' seems to support the thought that they were bad guys and a threat to Dan. Feeling so certain over other's deaths in and of itself made him pause.
There was also the simple fact that lashing out and killing suspicious looking men was a different experience to chasing down and killing an opponent who gave up. And its a rather small girl.
The information the others had of this girl led Dan to believe that this girl, had literally fallen into a wrong time wrong place scenario. Her Soul breaker magic still made her a threat to him, though. Instant Killing technique and all.
Then with slow, methodical, heavy steps he walked to the shelves in a spot opposite where she should be. “Do you find comfort amongst books, May?”
“Hiii!” it seemed it surprised her. “You, know my name?! You speak our tongue?!”
“...Indeed.” Somehow, the Demon's throat made a very human and soothing sound.
“Who...what are you?”
“...Come out May. I know what you did. What you helped to create.”
“No! I did what I was told, I thought-they told me-that I could help in a great project! It would bring peace for once...”
“Well, they lied, didn't they. They let you dirty your hands and controlled you, you know?” Dan walked up and down the back of the shelf, his footsteps crunching along. “Come out May, its over.”
Dan heard drops and a slight trembling breath. “I didn't want to be involved in any of this...” she inhaled before continuing. “I won't help you continue our work...”
“Hmph! This work ends! Do you know how many sacrifices have been ripped from their homes to fuel that Old man's ambition?! 893 souls. Chosen at random from worlds all across who knows how far!”
“Eight...Hund...” May couldn't comprehend that many. “How do you know this...what are you?”
“...I know of your reluctance to serve them May, I also know of their plans for later. Long story short everyone except probably you and the other woman had plans in place to back stab everyone as soon as your project was finished! Maybe I've taken pity on you, but you don't have to die. Come out May,” the sound of crying muffled behind bookshelves were heard.
Meanwhile, Linda crept out of the entrance to the store room. Unlike May, she had figured out a guess of how to stop the Demon! Its the core, it revived in front of the core! It seemed to know things, and could speak their language because it interfaced with the Core!
In a very really way, the Old man's experiment was a great success! On the other hand, it was a greatest failure. Just before it had succeeded in becoming a repository of vast amounts of knowledge for the highest bidder, it had received a mind of its own and become a potentially powerful Dungeon core. And Linda was trapped inside with it.
Now that the Demon was out and the Core vulnerable, at the very least she'd be able to weaken the seal on the entrance and escape. May is keeping the thing busy, Linda had no idea why it was being so talkative but it was a good for her.
She entered the Core chamber once again it was a shame after all her hard work it was just going to break. Oh well, that's life! Maybe she could get a few shards for selling. Either way the thought of an alien demon like that having access to all the mana energy and extra-dimensional lore stored in the crystal would spell doom for more than this continent.
The gem oscillated slowly in the air. Linda had no idea why, but she felt the feeling of being watched coming from the gem itself. Probably just nerves, she told herself.
She had 'borrowed' a crowbar from the stock room and hoped it would be enough to smash through. As she approached she didn't notice the hazy glow exuding from the Core. This haze was colorless, odorless, and she wasn't paying any attention as it slowly filled up the room.
A hissing crackling sound drew her attention behind her. The Beast had finished May! Dam...No, its not there. An extra wall had filled in the chamber entrance, sealing her in!
Linda began hammering at the new wall. Meanwhile, the haze which had been filling the room slowly with the door open now completely filled up the room. Linda's foul cursing began to become interrupted by coughing as the haze suffused her.
Loosing strength, she looked back at the gem. It gave off a sudden red pulse of light as if to say: “Yeah, that was me!” She lost consciousness, not having the strength to lift the crowbar in even token resistance.
Dan decided to process some of the things he had received. All though the bodies disappeared he found them stored in the Core. Well, more like the magical version of converted to a digital format for reproduction, while the matter is separated and stored in another dimension...Wait, Reproduction?
That basically means, the sleeping 'spell' Core had dragged up from the pervert's memories could have been replaced with producing actual gas much easier? It was really hard even for a high-speed super processor to modify that spell so it worked from inside a floating crystal that much! Meh, file that under 'lessons learned'.
Dan focus into the crystal core and sorted through everything...this would be easy if I could search by keyword and type...he can do that. It seems that within the Core whatever was conceptualized becomes reality. Well, virtual reality anyway.
That wasn't what Core used to close the room by the way, that 'door' conjuring was what the Old man had prepared for as a security measure to prevent the core room from being found. Although, once again in hindsight the Core could have done both of those things easily.
“Whatever, I still proved that the Core has defensive options. Ohh! My other half is finished over there too.” Redoing the traced sigil, the wall dissolved and revealed the Demon Dan with a bond May in tow.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The Core was about to welcome Demon Dan back, but as 'he' walked into the room the connection became so greater that it went back to being one mind with multiple bodies again. The joke was rendered masturbatory, and embarrassing with the presence of witnesses.
May, looked around the door frame at the strange wall which had appeared and then vanished before her, she also saw the sleeping form of Linda on the ground. “Linda! Is she alive? Why is she here?!” Dan noticed she was addressing the Demon Dan body, so he spoke with that.
“She's alive.” Demon Dan gave no more response to May's query, merely walking into the Crystal Chamber, the leash of May's bound wrists leading her after him. “I'll figure out what to do with the two of you later, for now SLEEP!”
May felt her self fall to be caught by the Demon. He laid her out next to the other one, Linda. “What will I do with them?” Letting them go would be suicidal for him. Killing them in cold blood now that he had them captured...a bit too much for him. Keeping them prisoners meant he had to make cells and find food...
If he was perfectly honest, he didn't like that he had killed those three from earlier. Or rather that he had been forced to do it. He felt no guilt for them, but he didn't want to continue the slaughter.
Hmm...What did he want to do? In general, what Dan wanted to do was a bit of an indecisive mess. In the past he had been moving from interest to interest without staying in one profession long enough, changing majors like seasonal fashion.
A thought occurred, could he send out his 'Avatars' and focus on the various livelihoods and lifestyles of this new world? Like send one to become an adventurer, another to become a scholar, another to become a whatever? That could work given how virtually autonomous they become at long range...
But these considerations require more thought for the future. More information will be required, and money. For now he needed to understand a basic grasp on what he could do.
When May woke up, she was in a new room she had never seen before. The walls were all of a single piece of smooth gray stone. One of the bunks from the sleeping area had been brought here and she was currently laying in it.
There was almost nothing in this room, she did nothing but get up cautiously. Leaving the tiny room, a cell really, she found herself face to face with someone. Not the demon that had killed her coworkers, but a young human man who looked vaguely familiar.
The book shelves from the former study were lining the walls of this room, a desk and chairs were there as well. “Ah, your awake. Please come in. Have a seat.” as she nervously did so he smiled warmly.
“...Who, are you? Where's the...”
“Demon?” the young man gave a piercing stare. “I'm surprised you haven't guessed the truth by now, but you are dealing with some stress.”
“I am the person who was summoned right before the Demon, the one who was absorbed by the crystal out of order.” Her eyes lit up, so that's what happened...oh bad that means this man is...
Toppling the chair as she stood abruptly, she backed away from this...thing “y-you, you...” She was prepared to run at any minute, but the young man merely smirked at her.
“Where are you even going to go? I've been expanding the...lair for lack of a better term, and even if I didn't, I still control the ward on the entrance. Now, sit back down, you silly girl.” He was amused, definitely amused this demon.
Only the fact that he didn't seem inclined to kill her immediately kept her from hysterically bolting for the door. She picked up the chair and sat back down. “Feeling better? Calmed down? Good.” She hadn't actually responded to him, yknow?
“So, I've decided that I won't be killing you for what you were apart in before.” The demon shaped like a man stated casually. “Or perhaps more accurately, I don't want to. You're timid and pitiful and cute.”
“But, you telling others about me...that’s a threat to me, so I can't let you go free. So, you are going to work for me from now on. Congratulations.”
“...work for you?” her hands clenched in her chest.
“Yes, as in be my servant, slave, maid what have you.” She could only open her mouth, but whether to object, plead, or bargain she didn't know. “You know, you work for me or...” he left the threat unsaid, yet the too steady gaze pinned her.
“...how long?” “For your life.”
“...Why? I...” “Had things you wanted to do in life? Meet a nice man, fall in love, have a family?” She nods.
“How many of the victims of this 'project' you were apart in wanted the same? How many had families that are missing them very much right now? 893 lives were snuffed out by your coworkers, and you balk at this?”
Seeing no further objections he reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a leather collar with a bronze clasp. He made her stand up and while she was trembling he fastened the collar around her neck. It schnicked into place, sending a tremor down her body.
A feeling like worms of chains were coursing all throughout underneath her skin. It was terrifying for an instant and then vanished like it was never there. She inhaled deeply, glancing up unsure at the 'demon man'.
“...Where did you find...”
“You're former coworker Berr was very shy, yes? He had self confidence issues to the point of talking to a girl was a terrifying ordeal to him, never mind finding a wife. He planned to make finding one as 'safely in his control as possible' by poaching a slave himself.”
“Isn't it time for you to offer your greetings?” the man, her new master said.
“Hello, my name is...” but she was interrupted.
“No, no, no...we're going to have work to do.”
Meanwhile, another bed had been moved into the new crystal chamber. Looming over top of it were the crystal and the Demon form. On the bed lay the prone figure of a blonde woman. Although Core did nothing but loom, the actual truth was he was hard at work subtly inserting modified memories into the woman.
Like May, he somehow took pity on Linda despite her shameless actions. Perhaps he was too soft, even from the Modern Earth perspective he had been summoned from he thought he was too much of a doormat. Now in a world which multiplied people's strength with magic, an attitude of 'strong eats weak' seems to prevail.
Whether it was a mistake or not, he decided not to kill the two girls. But that didn't mean he could trust them. Especially Linda.
In order to ensure 'loyalty' he had been thinking of using Psychology and magic to effectively brainwash her into being a faithful servant. However the more he tried the more the evaluations became...suspect.
Not that she was fighting back or anything, but trying to overlay loyalty onto a person's freewill was apparently harder than writing a grocery list onto a lake's surface. It will dissolve on its own in the current.
Frustrated, Dan decided it was impossible to mind control people and that a sudden personality shift to slave mentality was more lazy plot device than functional (which he felt relief about).
When Linda was finally permitted to open her eyes again, they were not filled with fear or haughtiness, but of uncertainty. Much like May, she found her self in a plain stone room with smooth featureless walls. She looked around growing more and more frantic. It was not unlike a lost little girl who found herself all alone in the world.
Dan took pity on her. “Ahh,” gasping in pleased surprise as if her most beloved guardian had appeared before her. In front of her was without a doubt a different form of the Demon who had chased her earlier, but still was the same being. She knew this.
“...Its really you?” She reached out and touched his leg as if to verify his existence with touch. “It is...Ahh” she retracted her hand. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean too...” her face bloomed red with embarrassment.
“You recognize me, even though I look different?” Dan.
“Of Course! Although I don't know how...I would naturally recognize you! You are my...uhm, my...uh,” she floundered. He was important but she didn't understand who he was or why.
“We aren't anything yet...” Dan.
“Please! Don't throw me away!” Suddenly panicked Linda clinged forward.
Wierd! Mind control didn't work. Didn't he just come to that conclusion?
“Do you want to serve me?”
“Linda!” May ran up to the woman with great relief. From being the only other woman in the group, to being the only other 'survivor' May couldn't help but feel relieved to be speaking to her. Although they were certainly not 'friends' before.
“Its good to see you again, May. How are you doing?” While they weren't exactly friends, the difference was noticeable.
“...What's wrong with her, what did you do to her?!” May.
“...” without acknowledging her question the young man moved over to the floating Core Crystal.
He had infact given up on his brainwashing attempt. Perfectly honest he hadn't wanted it to succeed in the first place. Upon waking she had been rather...submissive? A few possible answers were floating around the head-space of the core, but this transformation baffled him anyway.
He didn't need to move over to it to interact, as both were technically 'him' but he felt like it. With the knowledge of a geologist (one of the expert minds absorbed into the core) and the magical ability of the core to disintegrate matter in the vicinity the Core had been able to make not only the cells for the girls, but also to expand the hideout quite the ways be 'beaming' the excess rock into the Crystal's inter-space storage.
The result was an expanded labyrinth that was more roomy and comfortable. Inside the inter-space storage the materials were sorted by element, among which were quite a bit of iron and copper and very little gold.
Of course 'very little' after de-materializing hundreds of cubic meters of rock amounted to about 50 lbs. Of pure gold mass. The tonnage of pure iron and copper was also not insignificant. The only problem with his finances was that he had no way to actually spend pure gold, and the quality of equipment made from the various metals would have to be diluted or disguised as lesser quality.
Low key, low key. When he decides on a goal, it won't be too late to act in a bombastic manner. Until then, he will be quiet.
Fortunately, he had some coins from the looted purses of his fallen enemies, he found that the coins were of a fairly low quality mixed with copper and iron (probably to retain shape as pure gold is surprisingly soft). Using these as a base he 'minted' about 3,286 aurum (gold coins), 30 talents (silver coin), and 500 sheckles (copper coins).
“...no, May even if you point out that I've changed, I don't think its for the bad. Honestly, people probably hate me for being arrogant and stepping on people. Now, I feel...released? A sense of belonging?” Linda seemed to be explaining something to May.
May still whispered, “But aren't you concerned at how much you've changed? He definitely changed you. You're different....”
“...Seriously, that’s some fast-acting Stockholm syndrome. Your setting records girl...” Dan muttered under his breath.
“...May, even if you told me that...”
“Linda,” came the voice of the young man after ignoring them for so long. Dan was partially convinced that although smart enough, Linda was the kind of person who would easily fall for a con-artist or religious cult. Having 'not killed her' in her mind became 'saved her life'.
“Yes, Master!” Linda bounded up to attention. Then she hesitatingly began to make a curtsy, “No, that’s for equal status...” and then opted to stiffly bow. The core shivered it imaginary spine.
“That's alright, Linda. I haven't decided on the etiquette yet. For now I'm satisfied with prompt and respectful answers.” Linda relaxed a bit, her uncertainty clearing a bit. “Linda, I need you to answer some questions for me.” He held out a leather pouch which clinked out loud. “Explain certain things to me that everyone in this world 'should know'.”
“Master, this copper coin is called a sheckle and is not worth much...” Linda moved on to the silver coin seemingly having not much to say about such a worthless coin, “This silver coin is called a Talen and a few of these is enough to buy a nice dress at a tailor shop. That's nice for traveling, tho. Naturally since travel clothes will get dirty easier...”
“Uhm, if I may?” May interjected. Linda sulked as Dan nodded his approval. “A sheckle is enough to buy one bowl of the cheapest food on the market. A bowl of gruel, rice, or a small loaf of bread, for example. Most commoners rarely see a silver Talen...”
May, like most young scholars, couldn't help but feel excited as she began explaining the value of currency to...the other worlder. He was definitely smart, memorized what she told him instantly, and calculated at a terrifying rate.
But he should have absorbed the knowledge from the others. “The old man, Barnebus, cared so much about his precious research projects he ignored money as 'worldy distractions'. Herk was a bandit who would just rob from people without worrying about saving, and Timothy was even more sexually repressed than you.” It turned out that Master had reasons for avoiding their memories for now...
May didn't think she was 'sexually repressed'...but let the matter drop.
Anyway, diving into explanations, one shekcle can buy a cheap meal. 500 sheckles can get a silver Talen, which are usually the realm of middle class merchants and townsfolk and tradesmen. A gold Aurum was worth 120 Talens and was usually the purview of nobles and royalty.
Dan sighed explosively as he complained about the 'illogical and unreasoned' setup. May had nothing to add, and Linda just shrugged her shoulders.
Their master than dropped a huge bomb “So with over 3 thousand Aurums I can be said to be rich, but how the heck can I spend that money?”
“3...thou...” May and Linda looked at each other. That ammount of money was the equivalent of a small kingdom's savings. Linda's parents had certainly dreamed about wedding their daughter to a young prince who could command that much, but it was unrealistic. May had only known what it means to scrape by on the goodwill of her teacher in magic and had never expected to speak with someone who had seen a gold aurum.
And now, they were tied with someone who had apparently been in their world for less than a day and had 3 thousand? “Master! When in the world did you have the time to make that much?!” May admired Linda's ability to adapt to calling this boy 'master' but also to form a pertinent question.
“You may have noticed the new renovations to the 'lair' you used to live in?” Nodd. “They are the result of my core disintegrating the stone of the mountain. Although I do not wish to proceed any further, for now, I was able to find enough trace ammounts of gold dust throughout the walls to condense about 50 lbs of gold dust. Pure, that is. I found a Aurum coin in one of the bags and made copies of it until I ran out of raw material (gold dust).”