Kiresula woke up, feeling as if a herd of horses had trampled over her. She looked around and saw the core pulsating blue. Except no, there was a variance: a muted blue first and then a vivid blue that looked more synthic. "You are awake." The dungeon said.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I would like to apologise for my rather underhanded attack on your mind and skills. I saw no other way to survive." it responded.

"You used some kind of dungeon skill to try to assimilate my synthic skills?" she asked tiredly.

"To assimilate you, which obviously failed as you are not only not a creature of my creation as also a weird… you call it… synthic. So I allowed myself to fail.” it said, paused and continued a bit more quietly, “I didn’t want you dead, I clung to you like a drowning person to someone trying to rescue them. Even though that often leads to both sides drowning. There was little of me left. I was desperate.”

Kiresula understood: “What happened? You found a way to handle synthic magic and have it coexist with the regular kind in your core?”

“In a way. I learned how to shape it and I learned about some weird green things that came with it. It went from there.“ it said.

“The green system?” Kiresula asked.

“Yes, the blue system is that of regular magic and the green of synthic magic. I access both now, unlike you.” it said, “I have seen what the blue system did to you. I have found out more while you recovered, but I cannot tell you a lot about it. I can lift you out of the blue system as a thanks for saving my life. But that means you choose a side that cannot be unchosen.”

Kiresula nodded weakly: “The choice between the blue and the green system had been made earlier for us glitchlings, so yeah, I am okay with it.”

There was a feeling of dissolving, of disappearing in what used to be Kiresula, then something emerging from something akin to water, except that it was more viscous.

Kiresula came to it again. She felt weird, in a way that she could not put her fingers on. She felt her body moving slightly differently, it vaguely seemed like being under the influence of Mayana’s dagger, except that it was very much not. She started to slowly and methodically move her body to get used to it, starting from the toes, to the feet, to the legs, to the back, to the fingers, to the wrists, to the elbows, to the shoulders, to the neck and face. She called up her status and gasped.

Name: Kiresula

Species: Emergent Glitchling

Highest Class Rank: Emergent

Highest Class Level: 1

Classes: Seferian Mage (Rank: emergent, Level 1)

Power: 293

Might: 30

Fortitude: 256

Willpower: 47

Speed: 384

Agility: 110

Mental acuity: 146

Perception: 128

Magic: 313

Magical force: 102

Magical control: 123

Magical defence: 88

Social: 123

Charisma: 50

Empathy: 70

Cunning: 3

Health: 286/286

Magic: 320/320

Skills: Improved casting, Seferian Fortitude, Control of the Pioneer, Immediate Escape (only for: Dungeon of the Bridge)

Learned Spells: Illuminate, Sunlight, Freedom of Movement, Travelling Light, Nightly Sojourn, Waterproof Object

"Holy sheet in the wind!" she gasped, then she remembered her manners and with a quite ashamed voice said: "Thank you, Dungeon of the bridge!"

"Thank you, Kiresula!" it said.

She said goodbye and left. As soon as the ceiling permitted it, she did so walking, not crawling. As she left the core's snailhouse and reached the aqueduct, she swam in the water towards the platform. The way back seemed shorter, likely due to the lack of fighting and because the water assisted her in the movement. Also because she felt somewhat more capable, less like a level up and more like one feels more capable after a good night's sleep.

She saw the group stand around a Kedsel, who was slouched on the ground. Kiresula feared the worst as she approached. As she swam to them, Makit turned around, sword raised. "Stand down, goblin!" he shouted.

"Makit, it's me, Kirey!" she shouted back.

Kedsel looked into her direction: "Kiresula‽ You made it through‽"

She clambered up onto the platform. "Yeah, it's me! Sorry to keep you waiting."

Kedsel looked angry: "I thought you died! What in the green hills of fair Eira did you do there‽"

"Long story, do we have time?" she asked.

Kedsel shook her head. "We don't really, but I still want to know. You suddenly were gone and I thought we lost you!"

"Oh dear…" Kiresula breathed in, unsure of what to say.

"I thought that you died!" Kedsel shouted in anger.

Kiresula shrank in her body language: "There was a glitched goblin, so it seemed that the dungeon itself had issues with broken magic." She paused, collecting her thoughts.

"And?" Tamijet asked in anger.

"It seemed to call out. Didn't you see the arrow of broken magic?"

Tamijet snarled: "You are aware that we can't see broken magic‽"

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She nodded slowly: "Yeah, so you should have seen an arrow-shaped hole in the ambient magic. I saw that something was trying to shape it. I also moved the [sunlight] spell to indicate where I was going."

Tamijet shouted: “Wait, that was not the spell dimming at the end as it ended?”

Kiresula shook her head. “It was me spending a lot of Seren to indicate to you that I moved my happy little self where the dungeon wanted me to be.”

Kedsel got up, slowly and looked at Kiresula: “Are you sure that you are okay? You look different.”

She nodded: “I am. Are you?”

Kedsel wiped her eyes and nodded: "I am now. I thought you… had gone into the light… and… I thought that I failed you. But now that you are safe and sound, I feel better. Don't do something pointlessly stupid like that again!"

Kiresula nodded: "I will try. But yeah, I think it wasn't that pointless, the Dungeon called for help and I was able to help it with the influx of broken magic. It seems that there is less broken magic flowing around now."

Makit looked at Kiresula: "You were able to heal a dungeon‽"

Kiresula shook her head: "It needed to know what I learned about broken magic and how to control it. It had been able to take that pretty much from me without my assistance. But it was reckless of me, and I only did so because I assumed you were following me."

Makit made an unhappy sound: “We need to work on our communication, if we are going to make this a permanent group! But we should continue on our journey. I hope that everyone can swim.”

The others nodded.

Soon, their heavy equipment was stored on a float made out of pieces of wood that they salvaged, Kiresula in addition cast one the waterproofing spell onto them, covering them in a slight green sheen. The others either swam, or in case of Kedsel and Kiresula, crawled on the edge. Kiresula wanted to talk to Kedsel while they were alone: “Hey, Kedsel, you need to be careful. You seem to have attracted some broken magic. Not, like, much, but a bit. That decreases the threshold needed for you to glitch. I am sorry.”

Kedsel made an unhappy noise: “There is a threshold? How far away am I from it?”

Kiresula nodded: “There is. I am not fully certain how many Seren it is, but it seems that you are about an fifth there. Previously, you had almost no broken magic.”

Kedsel cussed: “The church will not like that.”

Kiresula asked: “Can they see broken magic?”

Kedsel took a moment to respond: “Only indirectly, they can see the decrease in the magical capacity that someone has. They are good bookkeepers about that. They check us every shift.”

“Eek, yeah, I can see that this is an issue.” she said. “I guess you are not allowed to delve here anymore?”

“I wasn’t really supposed to do so before. But I kinda like to spend time with the group, and someone needs to make sure that they don’t eff up too badly. Makit tends to get himself into more than he should trying to impress Tamijet. And the other way around.” she explained.

“Yeah, Makit and Tamijet are… quite the loud and obnoxious couple. Good thing they are married, bad thing that it’s not with each other.” Kiresula was not a fan of her brother’s affair.

“He married Riajenja to get her out of her parents’ house. Both knew that it was a marriage of convenience.” Kedsel argued.

“I know, but he doesn’t need to make that obvious for everyone. He never heard of being discreet in his life.” Kiresula ranted.

Kedsel made a noise of agreement: “Ah, I mean, if everyone is okay with it, who am I to judge?”

Kiresula stayed silent for a moment, she didn’t want to get fully involved. "I am not sure if everyone is. My parents might not be. There is a social stigma that doesn't just affect the two..."

Kedsel grunted. "Yeah, but that's just stupid!"

Kiresula agreed, while wondering how such a modern minded person could become a [Holy Guard]: "I am not judging, I am describing. We might not like others' social mores but are affected by them as well as others being affected by us. So even if this seems a load of manure to you, to someone else, it is not, and if they are hurt and throw their hurt on someone else, this might not be a good thing."

Kedsel made a confused noise: “What?”

Kiresula paused for a moment, unsure how to explain it. “Yes, it is stupid, but so are we all: humans, glitchlings, ground dwellers, the people of the sea, we are all stupid and weird and have weird hangups about the strangest things. That is how we people are, and we have to live with the stupidity and weirdness of others.”

Kedsel changed the topic: “We’re almost at the end. Make sure that there are no greenskinned surprises waiting for us!”

“Want me to cast [Sunlight] in case some of them are still around?”

Kedsel agreed: “Yeah, please!” She then shouted: “Sunlight incoming!”

Kiresula cast the spell, but it felt different. She had seen something like Control of the Pioneer in her new, strange status, but didn’t give it much thought as she didn’t have the time and quiet to look into it more closely. It felt somewhat more steady and that it didn’t just establish a particular constellation of magic but to adjust certain things in a slightly more controlled manner, like make the light slightly less blinding towards Kedsel and her.

As they exited the room, they saw a cave of dark blue crystals. On the other side of the cave, a troll awaited. Contrary to its species’ regular behaviour, it was meditating.

Kedsel cussed: “The dungeon brought that thing back?”

Makit nodded: “This belongs into the puzzle run! It’s so frustrating!”

Kiresula raised an eyebrow. “What is this?”

Makit looked at her: “The troll gets both stronger and angrier the more of the crystals are broken. You generally have to fight an absolute behemoth in the end, unless you know some kind of levitation.”

Kiresula nodded: “That sounds bad, to see your opponent become stronger and angrier when you cannot do anything to help.”

Makit nodded: “The dungeon loves to reuse rooms after a while, but when that thing was more common, we carried levitation items, because that was just too frustrating. Unfortunately, we don’t have anything like that with us today.”

Kiresula shook her head: “We might be able to try something, but I am not sure if this works, if it continues to work and if I can use it on the entire group.”

Makit raised an eyebrow: “Has Mayana made another item for you?”

Kiresula shook her head: “No," only to correct herself: “Kinda. It allows me to cast the spell called [Freedom of Movement].”

There were some gasps in the group. One person asked: “Wait, glitchlings have spells? I thought that they were magically inert!”

Kiresula explained: “It’s a bit more complicated.” She paused for a moment: “Freedom of movement allows to traverse through difficult terrain without being impaired by it. I used it in the stalagmite cave to keep away from the goblins.”

The others murmured about it, not trusting a spell cast in broken magic. Tamijet was quite vocal about it. “What in the name of the green plains do you think you are doing? Do you want to turn us all into glitchlings? Have you lost what little is left of your mind?! I really would have thought with a Thought of 255, you would do better!”

Kedsel responded: “I understand where she is coming from, but you know, she is trying. No need to be so hostile. And no need to bring her stats into it.”

Makit looked at Tamijet and chided mildly: “She’s my sister, let her live.”

Kiresula rubbed her chin for a moment: “Okay, other idea: I try it, if I get over, I try to fight it, if I succeed, you don’t have to worry about the crystals.”

Kiresula looked at the group. They were stunned.

Makit asked: “What in the green hills do you want to do? You’re less dangerous than a newborn kitten!”

Kiresula nodded: “Neither is the troll if nothing gets broken, right?”

Makit hesitated: “I mean, yeah, but not glitchling harmless but like level 1 or 2 harmless.”

Now it was her time to hesitate: “Basically, things are a bit more difficult, but not in a way I can tell you right now. Once you get elevated to glitchling, I can tell you everything about it.” She tried to make it seem as a joke.

Makit grabbed her shoulders: “If you want to get killed, don’t do it under my watch. I understand that being a glitchling must be hard for you, but if that made you join us, no!”

She shook her head: “I plan on living and I plan on defeating that troll.”

“Give me any clue as to how, so I can believe you!” Makit said.

Kiresula took a moment to respond and then, hoping her 3 points of cunning could help her, lied: “The core debuffed me. And you know, debuffs work paradoxically on glitchlings.”

Makit nodded: “Okay, so you have a plan. Do you still have enough casts of that sunlight spell on your items?”

Kiresula lied again: “Yes.”

Makit looked at her seriously: “Are you absolutely sure?”

Kiresula mentally cussed. Lying with such a low Cunning was a bad idea, not just from an ethical stance but also from a logistical one. “I can assure you that it can be cast sufficiently often.”

Makit nodded: “I don’t like this, but I don’t like fighting a troll that outlevels us either. Please try, and please know when to retreat.”

She hugged him: “Don’t worry, I will!” Then ended the hug, asked the others to close their eyes because of the light and cast [Freedom of Movement] as well as the spell [Nightly Sojourn], that would hide her from all senses but sight.

She then gave a thumbs up and stepped onto the crystals.