No weapon, looking stunned and confused, Dan realized the goblins were coming. And it didn't take them long at all.

What they lacked in grace they made up with a greedy eagerness. And sadism, actually. They looked like they would really enjoy hurting him.

Moving shield into the path of an oncoming spear, Dan strike out. Maybe he could have shaken the weapon loose?

It didn't work, the imbalance in his stance caused him to stagger. Another Goblin Slapped his club at Dan's face connecting with his skull.

Dan's bones had been made stronger, and his muscles buffed out, but the impact still jarred him a bit. He staggered back, blinded!

Damaging his eyes?! No, blood was running down into them.

“The hit wasn't too much,” he scrubbed with the sleeve of his sword hand, trying to clear his vision, “but this is really bad.” He couldn't see! Was there a way...

Desperate, he tried listening to the rustling of leaves and small thumping of feet. There should be a way to 'hear' the weight of those steps and guess which is attacking.

Sounds to the left. Sounds to the right. Sounds in front.

This was considerably more difficult than he thought...There! Fast scrabbling sounds approaching from the right.

Figuring that his options were limited, and part of a blade was still a blade, Dan swung out with his sword to the right.

The goblin flattened itself against the ground quickly as the sword stump passed over its head. With a mocking grin on its face it lept and bit into his hand, clamping down. Not letting go.

A rain of hits also came down on Dan. Meanwhile, the shifty knife wielding goblin came up behind.

Pain seared up Dan's leg as a cold edge bit into his hamstrings.

He still hadn't panicked, tho. Although he had been woefully unprepared he still did have one option available from the spoils of the cave. It was a shame to use it here, against goblins. He hobbled away as fast as he could, buying time.

Bravery? Can he afford it?

Shame? Is it tasty?

Dignity? Maybe later...

For now he needed to shake these goblins loose for a few seconds. Loose, like his dangling leg right now. Fortunately, although pained to tearing, Dan had yet to panic.

Or, should he say that Dan lacked the actual sense of urgency? Dan didn't know, but this was surely not the best time to ponder.

Why haven't they stabbed him in the back right away? Scrubbing his eye clear he looked back. The little cackling things were sneering at him, enjoying his plight.

The spear user prodded Dan in the cut hamstring. “OH! Go s*** yourself again! F***er!” Maybe Dan panicked a little, or his pain had officially overridden the sympathy. A little late.

Unbeknownst to the goblins, the scrap of parchment Dan had acquired from the old man's stash had begun to activate at Dan's mutterings. It spread, forming lines and symbols, then curled around him. “Later suckers! Huh...?”

As the glow enveloped him, he caught a glimpse of the goblins, who had their prey escape. He couldn't quite feel pleased yet, but when he was back in the cave surrounded by his slave girls he would laugh. The one with the spear chucked it at him, but missed.

At the last second he caught sight of something, in the tree.

The glow took him quickly, and he couldn't process what he saw in the branches above the goblins. It was a small figure in ragged clothes. Clinging tightly to the branches.

Them, the glow shrouded the world.

Meanwhile, at the Core...

Dan had left in the morning and it was approaching early evening. For the Core, it had been a rather productive day as made several internal discoveries.

Of the 890ish sets of memories to comb through for facts and experiences, Core had made head way with half a dozen. This was possible through almost overheating the crystal, causing a noticeable increase in the room temperature which Linda and May noticed.

Of the unfathomable amount of individuals from Earth alone which could have been summoned, less than a thousand actually were. While they each had their own lives and experiences, and they certainly provided him with some new knowledge and skills, he had yet to come across any chemist or scientists, or anyone possessing knowledge of building high technology.

Gathering knowledge in this manner was very much like sifting through the wreckage of a hurricane trying to find treasured memorabilia. Some of the knowledge was even suspect as many people, not using knowledge in their day to day lives, let the valuable facts that Core Dan wanted degrade.

There were even many conflicting 'facts' that sounded equally plausible but couldn't possibly be true. Using his high-speed logic processing, and real world experiments, Dan was confident he could get the real knowledge sorted.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The problem was, his already mammoth task of sifting through it initially was proceeding fairly slowly, for now the priority was to sort out what he had rather than inspect it. All he could do without bringing his work to a stop was to sort them all into categories and attach a tag like reference for conflicting or dubious information later.

Core Dan's concern was what to do with the less factual memories of these individuals. Most of the individuals processed so far were assistant store managers, barristas, and one flight attendant. Sadly the greatest source of knowledge came from a technophobic luddite whose community was stuck in the 16th century.

Not great sources of insight, but in a way these were the last vestiges of the individuals in question. The knowledge which may or may not be worth keeping and the memories of the lives they had, were all the proof that these individuals existed.

Core Dan decided to simply brush them to the side, and return to the task at hand. And that was when he noticed. A clump of something (the mana?) had condensed and was sorting through the minds without him. Core Dan was stumped, this weird ghost was automatically mimicking his earlier actions, perusing and evaluating the memories and sorting knowledge by category. It even applied a flag indicating further evaluation when needed. Although it could be applying that to every scrap of information.

What is this?

If the excess mana wisps inside of the Core Space was the fragmented stuff of all the souls before now, then this clump is a proto-soul performing actions unconsciously and independent of him. Core Dan was in awe of what had apparently happened accidentally. Examining it while it worked he saw that it was indeed operating from 'links' to the various minds throughout the Core, acting as a search program for the mind's processors.

As this was a subconsciously created...entity...it existed within Core Dan's mind. Noticing that not all of the minds were at work, Core Dan tried imagining more links from idle processors to the 'program'. More mana was absorbed into the 'ghost' and its work speed visibly increased.

Where once, Core Dan focused all his attention sorting through memories for knowledge, now he had an automatic process acting in the background. This was truly a great discovery for Core Dan, and Dankind everywhere. “Hmm...lets not do the whole multiple man thing, its pretty nerve racking with just the one separated.”

Occasionally checking on its progress Core Dan could now think of other stuff. “I bet this could work for other processes, like my earlier attempts at making a sword.” He had been proud of its shape at first, but the sneaking suspicion that there was something wrong with it was creeping slowly up.

Proudly, Core Dan opened a new category, and labeled it “Original Discovery: Spirit Programing”. Saving his observations into it, he hoped that this would be the start of a long and profitable career.

Outside the core, Linda was staring intently at the Core. “...What is she doing?” Core Dan thought to himself.

“What are you doing?” asked May who was idly sweeping. Being bored was not fun so she was pushing dust around with a broom.

“...Nothing,” Linda moved away from the Core. “I was just thinking if my family will wonder where I am before long.” Core Dan snorted. It seems like neither of them realized he could hear them, or speak with them from here. He honestly wasn't too concerned with their relationships. These two might have been victims of circumstance, yet they were still participants.

“Are you worried about your family, too?” May, looked concerned. “When I found out that I had some talent for magic, everyone was so happy. Now...this was not how I pictured it.” She sighed. She had the opportunity to learn magic but had wasted it, letting herself be tricked into this murder fest.

“My older brothers and sisters were so proud of me...now I'll never make money and help them.” May emptily swept the broom back and forth “How do I even face them after going along with those horrible things? I did the spell which broke the souls of all of those people...” Core Dan observed May's melancholic attitude.

Linda “Yeah, that's nice and all...” Linda interrupted her. “But did you know who my family was?”

May simply shook her head. “It wasn't some insignificant family of dirt farms from the sticks, you know? My father is the current head of Galiston Merchant House. You may not know of them, MAY, but we are an up and coming wealthy family. And soon it will be granted a Noble Title!”

“What are you saying I may not know? Who hasn't heard of Galiston House?! They are the richest merchants in the kingdom, with aspirations of rising to one day royalty. Yet, rumors have it that for some reason they've refused to make any play for taking over this Kingdom?” May seems to know exactly who they are, and Core Dan couldn't help but wonder why Linda talked like May shouldn't know her family's circumstance.

Unless...that was for his benefit. “Does she know I can hear them? And if she does, why reveal this?”

“...Daddy doesn’t want this kingdom, this Failed Kingdom. That’s how it looks to everyone. Its too unstable, whoever takes over is going to find this place as a bottomless hole that money goes in but never comes out.” Linda waves haughtily.

“Then, Miss Linda,” Core Dan frowned at May's change in address, “what are you doing here? Surely the Galistons can't be seen being involved with Hero Summoning magic?”

“I'm not 'being involved' in this sordid affair!”

“AHH! Miss Linda, don't jump at me, like that!”

“Don't get it wrong! GRRR! I'm not so poor like you that this would be an opportunity!”

May cowered and said “Sorry, sorry!”

Linda huffed “Providing information on an illegal Hero Summoning Ritual and rogue magic research...with the Merits I can earn in the name of house Galiston will advance our prestige!” she struck a 'guts' pose imagining victory.

“So you did work with them for the opportunity? And you even growled at her...holy sh** that bi**h growled at her?!”

May realized something, “So you were spying on us the whole time?” Dan's words from earlier mentioned betrayal, but she didn't want to believe it. May hadn't known much about the others but she was surely convinced that Linda had seen something in Herk and that they were in 'love' or something mutual.

Linda hugged herself excitedly, “Daddy will have to acknow-”

She cut herself off quickly. Looking slightly awkward.

May peered into Linda's face and Core Dan would have leaned forward if he could.

Shooting a glare at May, “Cough! Never mind that...” Linda stole a quick furtive look at the core.

Realizing a larger issue, “Wait, what are the odds that, someone might come to save you?” May was conflicted about this. Would she be 'saved' or would she be 'doomed'?

The Core, also feared this. Fortunately, Linda said “Hm? Oh, no. You think I'm giving away this chance for fame? Daddy thinks I'm still in town, even now. I was going to surprise him with the information on this little gathering of yours, but then you went and screwed up.”

May was silent for a moment before “...wait? What? Me?!”

Whatever she was about to say was cut off as a thump of displaced air ran through the halls. It was not unlike the inside of a very large drum. And there before them was a ghastly sight. “Yaaahhh!!!”

Before them stood Dan, bloodied and broken. Almost blind by his own blood spilling from a flap of loose skin from his forehead, one leg seemingly inoperable, tunic bloodied and tears in cloth and flesh. His sword was clasped firmly but broken at the hilt, most of the blade missing. The shield bent in another direction.

Dan could only think, “Was that a little girl stuck in the tree?” That isn't any good, “I have to, need to...” Avatar with enhanced physique or not this was clearly too much for one day. Dan Collapsed onto the ground in front of the crystal core.

May and Linda didn't know what to do, but before they figured that out the Core glowed and ushered the body of Dan into the pocket dimension.