Climbing down, Kiresula cussed to herself, still keeping it classroom appropriate out of sheer habit of being a teacher of magic. She eventually reached the ground and rubbed her aching arms. She then saw the core glowing blue with some glitchy patches to it. She spoke: “Hello, I am Kiresula. I can assist you with your broken magic issue.”

The dungeon spoke in a weirdly accented voice: “I am Savash Dungeon, or as you say: The Savage Dungeon. Unfortunately, I cannot accept your help. While it would be very convenient, I cannot offer anything in return.”

Kiresula looked confused: “I am not looking for anything in return. I am just here to help a struggling dungeon like yours. If you can talk to the Dungeon of the Awakened Mind, or the Dungeon of the Bridge, you will find out that I have done so before. I do not require payment or anything like that. I just want to make dungeons safe to delve for everyone. Well, and level up of course. I was level 54 before I glitched. I am level 9 and 4 now. As a glitchling, I had been given a second chance at life, but I need to start from the bottom again.”

“And you got a level up already. And I got to use the energy you used in your endeavour. That is a fair exchange. What you suggest would put me in a bind.” The dungeon responded.

Kiresula raised her eyebrows: “How so?”

There was a pause before the dungeon responded: “You are but motes of dust in the air. Ephemeral and ever-changing. We dungeons are not. I was around before the Mainland was even settled by humans. I was named by the Empire, but that doesn’t mean I am from that time. I was asked for assistance by the mainlanders against the empire, the empire against the mainlanders as well as the Island folks, the Island folks against the Re-conquest forces, the Re-conquest forces against the Island folks. It is never a good idea to take one side there. It always leads to disaster. If the people in charge think you are in support of the opposing forces, they can sanction you. And if you support the people in charge and they change, which they obviously will, they also can sanction you. So, as a Dungeon, who is of course a rock in the sea of ever-changing countries, it is very important to appear neutral to the point that governments see you as nothing but a resource. If they think that you show any preference, this can create issues, if not now, then maybe in a few short decades. I think the Dungeon of the Black Cats can tell you about it. Except that it was sealed and probably has died by now.”

“The Dungeon of the black cat had been sealed?” she asked, “I thought it was the source of broken magic that was sealed away. But it still exists and it had been recently unsealed. The local group of Je-ashvehanu is delving it and Mayana has kinda started a beef with it about the elemental beetle spell that it developed. And it asked her to return when she’s past the third threshold, that is level 192.”

That was the first time she heard a dungeon core laugh. “Hahahahaha! That was a really bad idea of it and it still worked on it? Did it try to convince Mayana that it was totally feasible?”

Kiresula shot a [Bite of the Elemental Beetle] past the core at the wall behind it. “It is.”

There was a pause, then the core responded: “That core really did it! Isn’t that amazing!”

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Kiresula smiled: “Not if you are my wife Mayana. She has issues with the staging and destaging of the spell, calling it inefficient and slow. Now, I don’t know because I only have the first few grades of it. She is an enchanter, so this is quite important for her.”

The core responded: “I see. I would like to see the new version of the spell. We used to have tiffs about many things, then it sided with the glitchlings when there was an emergence of broken magic, I remained neutral. And, well, things happened.”

Kiresula perked up: “I didn’t know! What happened?”

The core responded: “Many things did. Broken magic is not a new issue. It emerges at regular intervals though for most delvers, these are longer than their lives and even their empires. And the Dungeon of the Black Cat kinda got into it. It assisted a person in making a beacon for glitchlings. And that… that got it sealed.”

Kiresula nodded silently: “I understand.” There was a long pause, then she asked: “Anyways, I wondered about the plants. Do they exist in reality or only in this place?”

The Dungeon core paused for a moment: “They are based on real ones, but with a bit of liberty taken. No one’s memory is perfect. And some, I met only via seeds in the food or on the clothes of delvers, so I had to imagine how they would look in their environment.”

Kiresula smiled: “They looked really pretty. I wish I could take some home with me.”

The dungeon core suddenly lit up a bit brighter. “Is that really what you want?”

Kiresula nodded earnestly: “As you saw in the solo run, I can use plant traits on myself. So some plants to raise and take a branch with me would be immensely helpful.”

“Oh, that was what you did in the last battle. I understand. It was something I could not fully see as your,… you call it synthic, magic is invisible to me.”

Stretching her social skills she said: “So, I would like to ask for some plant seeds as a compensation. If this is not too much to ask for.”

Savash responded happily: “I can see this being highly useful to you now that I know. I am going to reward you with a small bag of seeds from each kind of tree, flower, bush, grass and vine! This is an exchange that doesn’t scream bias.”

“Grand!” Kiresula moved towards the core. “You can just get it from me if I touch you, okay? It relates to reclamation, I think.”

Savash the core gave an “okay” and she touched it. She felt like her entire existence hurt for a long time. She sagged to her feet, twitched, and blacked out. Eventually, she came to her senses again. She had no idea how much time had passed. She was on the ground, shook herself and looked at the core. It looked strange: It rotated the glitchy and the regular appearance in a clockwise manner. Half of the core looked normal, the other half glitched.

“Thanks! This worked! I am amazed! I can use this to my advantage! This is something completely unexpected. I never knew that… that the other side is actually… a side, not just a mistake!” The core sounded amazed.

“I am glad to hear it.” Kiresula said.

The core sounded happy. “I might understand why the Black Cat Dungeon risked everything to help glitchlings. I would be too afraid of dying to do it myself, but that little core with ideas of spells that can change elements at random,... I might have maligned it too early. Thank you Kiresula.”

Kiresula smiled: “I am happy that I could help!”

The core darkened for a moment: “I do have bad news for you though…” it paused looking at Kiresula’s eager and worried expression: “That ladder, you need to climb it up to exit this room. There is no shortcut.”

Kiresula sighed. In her situation, this was the worst possible news.