Kiresula cast [Illuminate] and moments later wished that she didn't: The ground was moving, but not in a real manner but as if it was glitching: Sometimes, its material changed, and sometimes shapes arose and fell from it. Her [Freedom of Movement] was strained even standing in the same place. Looking up, from the ground below her, she saw a hallway. Said hallway led to a glowing mass of glitch. The core. Or rather a glitchy mess that used to be a core.
Kiresula approached the thing carefully, dodging the flying debris that seemed to flit erratically. Her [Spherical Vision] was working overtime to help her to keep her uninjured but even this wasn't enough to fully protect her as some sharp, glitchy stones nicked her legs, arms and her lower back. She proceeded, dodging what she could. Eventually, she reached the core. When she did, she was bleeding a lot. She reached out to the core. As she touched, there was pain. The core was hurting. It was not just hurting, it was dying. It felt like it was in its death throes and touching it, Kiresula was exposed to all of it. She screamed. While she did, while she was hurting, she tried to concentrate on sending to the core her feeling of managing synthic magic. It was hard. It was painful. Sometimes, she could not continue and just screamed, but she caught herself and continued. She had no idea how much time had passed. She could only feel her health dripping lower, bit by bit. Both by the core as well as by the debris, but she could not let go. Even when she tried. She screamed at it: "You stupid core! Stop doing things wrong!"
There was, for the first time a reaction: A strong feeling that this core didn't want to do things at all anymore and it just waited until it completely dispersed.
Kiresula stared at it for a moment in shock, then said: "What if you don't! What if you just glitch akin to a glitchling and start from zero, with nothing!"
The response was a lance of pain and fear running through her, taking off more than 50 points of health and making her scream. She wanted to take her hands off, but the core had glitched structures around her. She tried to form a response: "I know that this hurts you. But you are constricting me as well, so I cannot leave. So, I can only say that what I taught helped all the dungeons I met so far and all of them handled things well. Please get yourself together! Please accept the new kind of magic and please become the dungeon for a large group of level 1 glitchlings to become better. To level up and to gain new skills. And to join the community of dungeons that can work with both kinds of magic."
The last thing actually caused it to give a sense of curiosity.
"You ask about the community? The Savage Dungeon, the Dungeon of the Awakened Mind, the Dungeon of the Bridge, the Black Cat Dungeon and the Forbidden Dungeon. More when I can get around to teach them."
In that moment a feeling of overwhelming loneliness enveloped her.
She spoke: "The barrier has fallen, so you might be able to contact them again. Can you try? I know that you have a way to communicate among each other!" She didn't actually know but made assumptions based on what the Savash dungeon said.
There was a pause in which she found the dungeon trying to calm itself. Then, she felt the glitch envelop her arms further. At the same time, the debris flew towards the core at high speed, hitting Kiresula as she could not budge. She tried not to yowl. She tried not to scream as the bombardment intensified. She tried to listen to the core for a change without being a pain on it. She tried to concentrate on suppressing the pain, but checking her health, she saw the drain. She felt panic arising in her. She was down to her last 50 health points. Her body looked as if it had been through an encounter with mortar and pestle and it felt as if it had been through a mill. [Freedom of Movement] ran out of the last Seren of magic and ceased and then, she had to concentrate on not falling onto her lower back as the ground had become highly unstable and constantly shifted, moving up, down and into all kinds of directions. She tried recasting the spell and had to use 5 times the normal magic the spell takes to break through the thick conventional magic. The ground was steady again afterwards, but the core turned brittle around her arms and hands.
The core visibly and tactilely shuddered and sent an unspoken question.
She blushed and apologised: "I had to stabilise my footing with a spell."
The core's curiosity focussed on the way Kiresula did the spell and as a former teacher, that was all it took to start a long explanation about how to shape synthic magic and how to use it to shape spells as well as how to enchant with them from what her wife told her. After she explained this, she narrowed it down to the particular spell and explained it. She also explained how she used that to change the [Icy Terrain] spell into a synthic spell. She had the core's rapt attention, so she expanded on how Mayana tried to modify a healing spell to work on glitchlings and she decided to work with the core on turning it into a synthic spell.
The core worked with her on the solution and eventually, went through all the 3 stages: Staging, casting and destaging. Kiresula asked it to try to cast it via affecting the synthic magic indirectly.
There was a pause, then she felt better for a moment. She realised that 10 hitpoints had been restored and immediately been reduced again by a piece of flying debris.
The core shuddered and twitched. Then, large parts of its shell broke into fragments. Kiresula gasped. Her hands were now free and she moved away in shock. Then, the core flowed together again. Its colour became blue and green, then ran together into a pleasant teal. The ground no longer ran down her [Freedom of Movement] spell and the flying debris cluttered onto the ground. She asked: "Are you okay, core?"
The core spoke audibly for the first time: "You… was this a trick? Did you trick me to become a synthic core?"
Kiresula looked a bit embarrassed: "I was a teacher before I glitched. When you showed interest in synthic spells, I was eager to teach, because that is what I like doing. The fact that you have apparently learned it without putting me into a bad mental state or even having me pass out is just a bonus."
The core paused for a moment: "I didn't expect this to happen, but… I guess…" There was a pause, then it continued: "I am not in pain for the first time in a long time. I had forgotten that this was possible. I had forgotten that there was something worth being around for. You know, with the synthic intrusion, life slowly became worse and living became more and more miserable. I tried to make it worth my while, but eventually, I felt like there was nothing that would help, nothing that made things okay anymore. Even a low pain day was a miracle. And I was alone all the time while this happened. The barrier shut me out of the community of the dungeons. I had to suffer on my own and so I… guess I forgot that there was anything else than suffering. So, I just wanted it to end. I know that this must sound terrible to you."
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Kiresula shook her head: "It isn't. I can only imagine how scary isolation would be. I would have absolutely lost my everloving mind without my family and my wife. My father was the first one who talked some sense into me and got me to continue after I glitched and lost everything of the system. So, while I never experienced the situation, I know how much social ties mean when suffering and can only imagine how scary it must have been for you. Do cores want hugs?"
The core responded: "Actually no. Humans love body contact but for us it feels more like a knife to a sensitive region."
Kiresula blushed: "I am sorry for touching you earlier without consent."
The core responded: "I understand why you did this. It was the only way to get through to me in that state… and I had made it easy to get to me and in that moment, I didn't mind it."
Kiresula asked: "Thanks. Can you manage now? Would you be okay with me leaving and soon returning with level 1 glitchlings?"
The core made an uncomfortable noise: "I have always been a high level dungeon. Level 60 and up. Starting with a completely new identity will be hard."
Kiresula smiled: "There are currently no high level glitchlings and the synthic magic here prevents high level adventurers from coming unless they are shielded by us… so…. shit! I need to get up from here! Arikan and Shtiljit are outside in all this murk!"
The core responded: "I understand. You are very low-level and yet you are out there, so I assume you are high-level for a glitchling. I hope you get up to level 60 fast enough that I can return to my usual shenanigans! Allow me to let you out!"
The ground behind her turned into stairs and Kiresula rushed up.
As she looked around, she saw the glitchlings physically shielding Arikan and Shtiljit, who were curled up. Kiresula rushed to them and Serenity-ed up synthic magic in the meanwhile.
"Kirey!" Mayana shouted in an excited tone.
"Mayana!" She ran to her wife and hugged her.
Arikan and Shtiljit looked up: "What happened to you? You were just gone! And now you look like you were in a terrible fight."
She shook her head: "Not a fight! Just a dungeon on the verge of breaking. It should be resolved now, system willing."
Arikan and Shtiljit looked concerned: "The Black Waters? I thought that was a morning's walk to the east! How did you defeat that one?"
"There was little left to defeat apart from its grouchy attitude and fear of change. The synthic magic did most of the work already." Kiresula explained.
Arikan breathed a sigh of relief: "Good to hear! The others were not sure if they were able to prevent the synthic magic from intruding, so they asked us to cluster together."
Kiresula nodded, she could not see any noticeable accumulation in the two retired adventurers.
She checked her notifications:
Class Achievement: You taught a new kind of magic to a dungeon core. This provides experience for your Seferian Mage class.
Class Achievement: Reached Level 17 of your Seferian Mage class.
60 stat points assigned, 5 free stat points.
You have gained the spell: High Sight
She smiled. The level ups in the new system seemed smoother, probably due to a higher level cap, but they still filled her with a profound sense of happiness. As the others cleared more groundsnarlers, she noticed something stuck in her clothes: As she checked, she saw it being a piece of paper: A skill scroll. Kiresula reacted in confusion. She read it and gained the spell Beacon, which allowed designated others to be aware of her position. Before the scroll disintegrated, she saw a message: "I hope this helps you and your level 1s in future delves! Good luck, Kara Sular!" She smiled. If she ever had to separate from Mayana again, she'd certainly use it.
Eventually, the group returned, and she took the moment to check her status:
Name: Kiresula
Species: Emergent Glitchling
Highest Class Rank: Emergent
Highest Class Level: 17
Classes: Seferian Mage (Rank: emergent, Level 17), Elemental-Somatic Mage (Rank: emergent, Level 10)
Power: 893
Might: 205 (+80) (+20)
Fortitude: 511 (+140) (+20)
Willpower: 107 (+40)
Speed: 664
Agility: 230 (+80) (+20)
Mental acuity: 176 (+20) (+20)
Perception: 178 (+20) (+20)
Magic: 873
Magical force: 272 (+60) (+20)
Magical control: 233 (+20) (+60)
Magical defence: 258 (+40) (+60)
Social: 153
Charisma: 60
Empathy: 80
Cunning: 13
Health: 130/720
Magic: 880/880
Skills: Improved casting, Seferian Fortitude, Control of the Pioneer, Immediate Escape (only for: Dungeon of the Bridge), Enhanced Synthic Restoration, Elemental Awareness, Botanical Awareness, Glitched Recovery, Improved Climbing, Mental Mapping
Learned Spells: Illuminate, Sunlight, Freedom of Movement, Travelling Light, Nightly Sojourn, Waterproof Object, Icy Terrain, Foggy Terrain (rank 2), Spherical Vision, Enhance Ability (rank 2), Grains of Time, Northern Star, Preserve Commestibles, Bite of the Elemental Beetle (Rank 3), Wind Step, Fire Strike, Evaluate Plant, Move Soil (rank 2), Synthic Magnetism, Find Plant, Adapt Plant Trait, Light Body, Ice Strike, Wind Repel, Swift Stride, Bubble, Magic Prism, Fluidity, Jump, Flash Strike, Barkskin, High Sight, Beacon
Kiresula breathed in. The black waters brought a lot of changes and all she hoped was that it was enough for the future challenges and that they returned in time to help the glitchlings of Ilkshehir.