“You!“ Su'ong sat up and pointed her finger at the Wraith. Although her face was as cool as stone, her voice was an accusatory snarl full of undisguised malice. “You secretive ass! The Contract is null and void. You made it so yourself. Now let me make one thing clear. I don't trust you, nor any of your motives. If I had it my way, I would have nothing further to do with you. But…” She sighed and looked at Alan, contemplating her next move.
“Alan made an Oath to you, and we both know the System is going to hold him to it. So I am willing to set aside my personal feelings for now, and cooperate for his sake. As long as you do not try anything underhanded, I will do what I can to see that his Oath is fulfilled. But just know. I'm watching your every move. After we get out of this sand trap, we go our separate ways. Alan and I must first go to the Tutorial town. From there we go to see my grandmother.“
“I don't care where you decide to go,” Su'ong finished harshly. So long as it is far away from me.“
“I see you are as cheerful as always,” Reggie grumbled.
He pulled back his hood, revealing long sharp ears, and angular, overwhelmingly blue features. Alan tried to mask his suprise with a forced grin. It was a partial success at best.
The dim lighting of the Sandstone Palace had failed to reveal the way his skin seemed to glow. Alan wasn't sure if it was the improvement to his Stats, or simply an effect of seeing him under the false sun of the Safe Zone, but it was one of the craziest things he had ever borne witness to. And he'd seen a lot in these last weeks.
Alan might've been mistaken, but seen in this new light, he was growing suspicious that Reggie might not have any actual skin. He looked like a nebula cloud gathered up and taking on the semblance of an elf with glittering green eyes. Waves of luminous radiation expanded and contracted just under the surface. It was like he'd been gifted a vision into space itself.
Why am I only now seeing this? Alan wondered. His face looks like a plasma ball with eyes for fuck's sake! Could it be something to do with Evolving? Is it the all around improvements brought about by my Evolution, or does this have something to do with the whole 'Your body has acclimated to the Energy-rich environment of the Multiverse' thing? Or maybe awakening my Cultivation Core is the cause?? Shit man, there's too many options to tell for sure what it is. I need to get a handle on how my body actually works before I go off making random assumptions.
No matter how he puzzled it over, it was impossible to be certain. Having undergone a vast array of physical, Spiritual, and Racial changes in such a short timeframe made it difficult to determine what was causing what.
The unexpected display was oddly entrancing. That he'd never noticed such an oddity in the first place was something he would have to ponder over.
Thats going to have to wait until later...
“You know as well as I do that I want out of this cursed place far more than that tiny little snake brain of yours could possibly fathom. How about this. Spend another thousand years wandering these bleak halls, fleeing the ceaseless pursuit of your demented twin, with no one other than yourself and the beasts for company, and then come find me. Until then, refrain trom talking to me about your woes, child.“ Reggie snorted at the look of shock on Su'ong's face.
As the Wraith began to build up steam, Alan tried his best not to gawk. He couldn't say for sure without first touching him, but it really seemed like there was a decent that a casual swat with the back of his hand would cause this strange, gaseous being to disperse into colorful smoke and glittering motes of dust.
“Oh grow up already.“ Reggie said with a tired frown. “I've been here more than fifty times longer than you've even existed. I did not force you into the contract. Far from it. It was your decision, and yours alone. At the time, cooperating was beneficial to us both. I told you I was working on a solution to free us from the Core's influence from the very outset. If you recall, I also warned you that it would likely take more time than either of us would prefer. I've been as upfront as possible with you, so that when the time came, we might assist each other in escaping. Yet once you grew bored, my word was no longer good enough.“
“You should have at least told me the Dungeon has a time dilation!“ Su'ong balled up her fists and shouted. “I'm worried about my grandmother! How am I supposed to know what's going on out there? My cousin is a wretch, and I need to get home... Had I known that time was flowing differently on the outside, it would have been a different story entirely.“
Alan wasn't sure what to say. It was plain to see that a lot of tension had long since had built up between them, but this was going nowhere fast. Getting their frustrations out into the open might help them to start getting over it, but he could think of a thousand far more productive tasks that they could be focusing on at the moment. He wanted to say so. And if half of their argument hadn't revolved around him, and the Oath he'd so casually made, he might've even voiced his opinion.
Instead, Alan decided to try changing the subject.
“Hold on guys, I'm confused,” Alan said, wondering why he'd raised his arms, as if already in surrender. Reggie cocked his head and gave Alan a contemplative look. Su'ong on the other hand was still glaring daggers at the Wraith. Her fists balled up in anger.
“Ok, so, I kind of understand how time dilation works, we dealt with that issue for a long time back home, but how exactly does that work for you?“ Alan lowered his arms, looking to Reggie, hopeful for an explanation. Multiple times, he'd heard the Wraith mention spending 'a thousand years' in the Dungeon. Was that literal? And if so, was he talking about a thousand years of Dungeon time, or did he mean years outside the time dilation?
“I grew up in a Dungeon. One far less deadly than the Sandstone Palace for sure, but a Dungeon no less… Look, my point is, time was all fucked up in there. For every year that passed on my home-world, thirty years went by in the Dungeon. Does it work the same way here? Do all time dilations last the…” He hesitated.
Although he'd grown up under time dilation, he had no clue how any of it actually worked, nor any of the proper terminology.
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“...the same amount of time?“ He finished with a frown.
It probably wasn't the correct phrasing, but it was all he had to go on. Thirty years inside was a year outside. That was what he knew. Thirty days spent in the Guadalupe River Dungeon meant a single day went by in real-world time. Other than that, it was all a confusing, jumbled-up mess.
Shaking his head, Alan tried again. “When you say you've been here for a thousand years, what does that actually mean?“ Alan asked, the scales around his eyes crinkling as he narrowed his eyes with confusion. “Are you talking about Dungeon years, or like, actual years in real-time?“
“Ah, yes, I believe I understand your confusion,” Reggie nodded sagely. “First, let me clarify a few things. Not all Dungeons have a time dilation. All Dungeon Cores come into being with an Attunement, but only those that also posess an innate affinity for Dimensional Manipulation will display these strange spatial anomalies. It could be said that we aren't even in a physical location right now. This is more of a pocket dimension that swallowed a piece of physical reality than it is anything else.“
“And,” he said excitedly, obviously enjoying the attention, “Not all time dilations last 'the same amount of time', as you described it.“
Alan risked a quick glance at Su'ong. Although it was plain to see that she was still angry, her fists were unclenched, and she was quietly soaking up every word that came out of Reggie's mouth. At least for the time being, it seemed the chances of a fight breaking out were at an all-time low. With a sigh of relief, he tuned back in to the Wraith's explanation.
“As a Dungeon grows, and gradually matures, their auras expand, and everything encapsulated within that aura is claimed as their own territory. However, while the Dungeon Core will fight to the bitter end, using every means at hand to protect the land it has taken, in the end, that is all it ever amounts to. Land. Dungeon Cores can make modifications to their environment, sure. Defensive fortifications, beast replication, traps, arrays, empowerment of, and eventual control over the local flora and fauna, the list goes on.“
Unsure how this had anything to do with time differences, but holding onto the hope that Reggie would get there soon, Alan bit back his impatience, and lounged back on his tail.
“When a Dungeon with an affinity for Dimensional Manipulation, one such as mine for example, expands, that claimed space is removed from the physical world entirely. On the surface, one would find a location with an entrance portal to enter into the Dungeon. Yet the physical location that was once beyond that point would no longer be accessible. It matters not of it was a cave, or forest, or,” Reggie raised a meaty finger in emphasis, “An ancient underground labyrinth of sandstone passageways built by only the Gods know who that was conquered, and then painstakingly prepared. All to house a stolen Dungeon Core…”
With a pointed stare at Alan and then Su'ong, Reggie continued to make his long-winded, but admittedly informative presentation. “Once an area has been claimed, no matter how one were to search, they wouldn't be able to find the location they sought out without first stepping through the entrance portal. Because what they seek has been consumed by a a spatial distortion. The only reason my Sandstone Palace has yet to consume the Realm above is because the Tutorial Administration is actively blocking further upward expansion…”
He looked at Alan, his expression suddenly somber, “We also wouldn't posess the requisite energy to do so, even if they weren't holding us hostage…” Reggie was obviously distressed by that revelation, but he pressed on nonetheless.
“If a Dungeon Core like mine were to be destroyed, or removed from the Dungeon, the spatial distortion would collapse, and the corresponding location the Dungeon occupies in physical reality would simultaneously cease to exist. The System isn't fond of gaping holes on the face of reality, so it would fill in the missing pieces with whatever spare parts it has laying around. By the time the System finished, it would be as if my Sandstone Palace Dungeon, and the labyrinth that preceded it had never existed in the first place.“
He stopped and shrugged, “Such is the way of it. As to how time factors in, that's straightforward enough to explain. Now that you understand the basics, it shouldn't be difficult to understand that as the aura of my Dungeon Core expands, so to does this pocket dimension it is contained within. As it grows, the spatial boundaries of this sub-dimension must be upgraded and fortified to keep it all from being swallowed by the void between dimensions. In doing so, the depth... No, that's not right... Density. As the density of the spatial boundary between the pocket dimension and the real-world increases, the flow of time is affected dramatically. And with it, the time dilation increases.“
“Finally, to answer your original question,” Reggie said with an apologetic grin, “I measure time as it passes on the outside. Although different in many ways, a Dungeon Core is still a form of life. Just like any other mortal existence, they live, and eventually, must die."
"Although I have a modicum of independence, I am still a part of this Dungeon, and thus equally subjected to the laws of physical reality. The Dungeon Core was born in the physical world, and thus must remain tied to it. The location that houses the entrance portal is the anchor point that keeps this place from floating off into the void and winding up somewhere on the other side of reality.“ He spread his hands as far apart as they would go in a failed attempt to demonstrate the distance.
“My lifespan is tied to that of the Core's. And that shared lifespan is measured by the flow of time in the reality that birthed the Core."
“As for the Dungeon you grew up in, if the dilation is as you say, I would normally guess its aura to be about half the size of the Sandstone Palace. However, I admit I find it to be odd that a newly-integrated world would have such a highly-developed, yet remarkably under-leveled Dungeon Core just lying around.“ With a thoughtful expression, Reggie asked a rhetorical question that Alan himself had occasionally wondered over the years.
“I wonder… Is it a naturally formed Dungeon, or was that Core set in place for an unknown purpose, and your ancestors just happened to stumble into possession of it? Or were they perhaps lured to that location in the first place?“
Seeing the concern reflected in Alan's eyes, Reggie bit his tongue and changed the topic. “The time dilation here is roughly double that of your Guadalupe Dungeon. So while one thousand years have certainly passed on the outside since my birth, if I was measuring the time that's passed within this wretched place, I would have to judge it near to sixty-thousand years…”
“Sixty-thousand years!!“ Alan choked out in disbelief. There was no way! That was absurd. It was so hard to wrap his mind around such an idea that he gave up and stopped trying. Having only been alive for twenty years, he lacked the perspective to fathom the implications of such a statement.
“You couldn't begin to understand the loneliness and desperation I've suffered,” Reggie said, fixing Su'ong with a stern scowl laced with pity. “It wasn't my intention to hide anything from you. Tell me, what would I have to gain from such an endeavor? This," he gestured all around him, "has been my reality for so long, that I had no reason to believe you didn't know that there was a time difference. Had you come out and asked, rather than clamming up and refusing to do anything other than sleep, I would've had no reason not to tell you all I knew of the subject.“
Su'ong sighed, and it was like she deflated. Her puffed up stance, and aggressive posture fell away. All that remained was a young Beast-Folk woman. One who was desperate to go home. She raised her eyes, and looked at Reggie.
The expression on her face was a volitile mixture of embarrassment and indignation.