Zack’s mana erupted out of his body in a rush. It was like every drop of energy stored within his crystalline form couldn’t be contained, and he exploded like a bomb. The sudden burst of power was so violent that it blew Zack off Alex’s neck and sent his core shooting toward the broken mall doors. To Zack’s delight, the doors opened to grant him entrance, and he landed on the overgrown tile floor with a soft tink.
As he touched the ground, understanding of his surroundings flooded through him. He knew what materials were used to create each and every piece of this room, from the linoleum tiles to the broken shards of glass lining the floor. He could feel the wires connecting to the long since burned out fluorescent lightbulbs, the gas within either leaking out or evaporating with time.
He also became aware of just how limited his awareness was. He could see beyond the limits of this one room, but only just barely. If he separated his point of view from his core, he could wander twenty-five feet from that one room, but that was it. It felt like he was stretching himself the farther he tried to reach.
“Zack? What the hell was that!?” Alex asked, shoving his way through the broken doors.
“Oh, sorry. Let me get those for you,” Zack laughed, snapping his vision back to his core. With the kind of grace one might use to exercise a muscle, he opened the doors all the way and allowed his friend full passage into the abandoned mall. Alex stumbled they opened, looking around in surprise. “So, I have now established this mall as my dungeon. Or at least this room. It’s a start.”
"I know what a dungeon is, in, like, a video game, but I don't understand what it means in this context." Alex looked from the doors then back to Zack, where he lay on the floor. “You keep saying stuff like dungeon core and your dungeon, but you haven't actually told me what any of that means.”
"Dungeons are a place for monsters to spawn and adventurers to delve into," Zack explained, as though this should have been obvious.
"Yeah, I get it. That's the video game definition." Alex crossed his arms and scrunched up his face. "You expect me to believe that those exist, and that you are one?"
"Is that really so hard to believe?"
Alex shrugged. "Never heard of a dungeon core before today. Monster always just sort of appeared, you know?"
"No, I don't know. I've been asleep for five years," Zack reminded him. "I guess I sort of assumed that the universities were hoarding dungeons of their own to train people that paid them…"
Alex ran a hand over his face and shrugged. "Sure, I guess."
Zack once more lamented his lack of a head to shake. This was just another instance of him having an instinctive understanding of something that he needed to explain to someone who didn’t. “Let me put it this way: if my core is my brain, or my heart, then my dungeon is my body. Does that make sense, at least?”
Alex cocked his head and looked around the ruined room. Aether-infused vines pulsed with faint green light, and the broken roof allowed fresh sunlight to stream through. Zack was perched in a tiny patch of light, glittering like a perfectly ordinary gem.
“Sure, why not,” Alex finally said, crossing his arms.
Zack wished he had arms to throw up in exasperation. “It’s one of those things you’d have to experience for yourself. All you need to know is that I am the room—I am the dungeon. Also, your shoes are filthy.”
Alex sheepishly checked the underside of his sneakers and cringed at the mud caking their treads. As he did, Zack took a second to further explore his abilities. There were a few minor objects in the room he could learn about: an ATM in one corner, a payphone in the other, and a second set of broken glass doors that led deeper into the mall. Zack quickly consumed the pattern for both machines, noting with excitement the unbroken replicas that appeared in his 3D modeling space. He then proceeded to absorb them, adding their materials to inventory.
Alex jumped in surprise as the two machines seemed to break down into smaller and smaller cubes before vanishing entirely. “What the hell!?”
“Don’t panic, that was me,” Zack assured him. “As uncharacteristic as it is, I’m just tidying up a bit.”
The vines were absorbed next, followed by the shards of glass strewn across the floor. With each item he absorbed, Zack obtained the patterns for the materials that made it up. Glass, plastic, different metals, and plant fibers from the vines. Surprisingly, though, Zack couldn’t touch Alex or anything he was wearing. That struck him as odd, considering how while he’d been in physical contact he had no trouble syphoning Alex’s mana. He suspected it was a quality of direct physical contact, rather than a strict limitation.
As he finished, the mall lobby looked as good as new. The tile floor was clean and polished—Zack could effortlessly absorb the dirt and grime off the tiles, leaving behind an immaculate flooring. The walls were free from plants. Even the hole in the ceiling was filled in with fresh bricks. The patch job was obvious, with Zack’s new bricks looking far too perfect compared to the old onces. He quickly covered them again to complete the look.
As he worked, Alex watched with a hanging jaw. “You're doing all of this?”
“Yup!” Zack confirmed.
“How?”
“How what?”
“How are you doing this?”
Zack considered the question for a moment, pausing his work. “Well, how do you do magic?”
“I push mana through my body and shoot it out as fire,” Alex said without hesitation.
“Right. I push mana through my body—in this case, the room—and use it to repair the damage,” Zack explained.
It was as close to the actual answer as he dared get. In reality, it was far more complex than that. Zack was quickly creating new objects to fill in the gaps of the old ones, and Alex was merely watching as they appeared in real time. To Zack, it was like they were appearing out of thin air as his perception overlayed and then replaced reality. To Alex, it must have appeared as something far more chaotic than that.
Once he was satisfied that the room was up to his standards, Zack turned his attention inward to check his stats.
[Status]
[Name: Zack]
[Core type: Dungeon]
[Level: 4]
[Integrity: 100%]
[Mana: 45/45]
He was surprised to see that his maximum total mana had gone up by fifteen points, likely five per level if he had to guess. He was more surprised to see that his mana was at its cap, too. So far as he could tell, he’d been burning mana ever since he established the room. The numbers didn’t lie, though. More than that, he could practically see the mana bubbling both within him and outside him.
When he concentrated, he could see veins of clean blue energy flowing out of his core and into the walls and floors of his dungeon. The mana circulated through the room, doing everything from cleaning the air to reinforcing the materials within. As the mana cycled, he could feel himself slowly consuming ambient Aether. Sooner or later, this room would run out of Aether for him to consume, and he would need to start drawing it in from beyond its boundaries.
That wouldn’t be a problem, though. In addition to the rest of the mall, replete with Aether, there was still the ambient stuff just outside his front doors. Plus, if people inside started using magic, their spells would leave behind Aether for him to eat in exchange for the mana he spat back out.
Grinning mentally, Zack directed his attention to the next room and attempted to draw in Aether, only to be surprised when he couldn’t.
[Warning: maximum mana levels reached. Consuming aether would result in mana overflow. Aether consumption halted.]
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Zack stared at the message curiously, understanding hitting him. “So my maximum mana is a hard maximum,” he muttered, not bothering to vibrate his core so Alex could hear him. If Zack wanted to absorb more aether, he’d need to spend some of his mana.
“What can I spend my mana on?” he asked, carefully wording his query in the hopes of getting the Akashic System’s attention.
[Patterns Available]
[Basic Animal Creation: level 1]
[Basic Monster Creation: level 2]
[Basic Item Creation: level 1]
[Basic Material Creation: level 4]
“Oooh, new patterns,” Zack chimed excitedly. “Let’s see… Animals?”
[Basic Animal Patterns]
[Rabbit]
“Oh. I only know rabbits. Awkward… What about monsters?”
[Basic Monster Creation]
[Dire Rabbit]
[Carnage Carnation]
[Dire Upgrade]
“That makes sense. Okay, let’s get some dire rabbits going in here,” Zack murmured, accessing the pattern. Like when he tried to create objects, a three dimensional model of the horned bunny appeared in the air before him. It wasn’t Thumper, but it was close enough.
Zack selected a good enough space for the bunny to appear and felt his mana dip down five points as the monster took shape. The horned rabbit appeared fully formed, its nose twitching curiously. Alex saw the creature appear and drew his sword, ready to protect himself or Zack as necessary.
“Easy, pal,” Zack assured him, speaking aloud again. “This one’s friendly.”
As two more bunnies appeared, Alex took two nervous steps back toward the doors. “What about those?”
“Still friendly. The bunnies are mine,” Zack said. Now that his mana was lowered, he tested the limits of his Aether pull, reaching deeper into the mall. As he ate the loose aether, he was surprised to feel himself… grow.
[Quest Complete: Real Estate]
[As a newly awoken dungeon core, you must establish your dungeon in order to advance.]
[Reward: Spatial Influence]
[Perk: Spatial Influence]
[You are now able to extend your influence through an expenditure of mana. Space your influence reaches through becomes a part of your dungeon. Continue growing your dungeon to advance further.]
The sudden influx of information was enough to leave Zack stunned for a second. As the Spatial Influence perk took effect, he became aware not only of himself, but the true size of his dungeon. Was only a couple dozen cubic feet, pitifully small for all intents and purposes, but he had the potential to grow so much larger. The mall was massive and the perfect place for him to establish the perfect dungeon!
Like a creeping tide, Zack reached his influence through the lobby and deeper into the mall. He felt a shiver through his entire core as the walls, ceiling, and floors became a part of him. He felt himself grow larger, stronger, as he consumed more and more aether. Then, he hit an obstacle he hadn’t expected.
“Dammit!” Zack roared, his consciousness slamming back into his core. The volume of his outburst was enough to make even Alex jump in alarm. “There’s stuff blocking me in there! I can’t dig any deeper!”
Alex looked around in confusion, so Zack opened the doors. Alex peeked inside, the trio of dire rabbits following his example. Sure enough, not a dozen feet beyond the doors, a mushroom-like creature was waddling about passively. It turned a pair of bulbous black eyes on Alex and froze in place.
“Eugh, stooltoads. Those things suck,” Alex grumbled, drawing his sword.
“What’s a stooltoad?” Zack asked, his curiosity momentarily overriding his frustration.
As if on cue, the mushroom monster abruptly leapt into the air. Its hind legs were like those of a toad, allowing it to leap high as it lunged towards Alex and the bunnies. Not wanting to be caught by another plant monster, Alex lobbed a fireball at the mushroom’s face.
The spell had the desired effect, and the room filled with the smell of roasted mushroom. Zack, not wanting to be wasteful, slurped up his friend’s spent aether greedily, cycling it back to mana and spitting it out again as fresh influence in the direction opposite of the offending monster. Alex raised his sword to prepare for battle, conjuring another fireball to lob at the monster’s face.
This time, the stooltoad dodged, leaping over the spell. As it came in for a landing again, bright yellow spores erupted out of its cap. Alex fell backward to avoid the blast, but one of Zack’s bunnies wasn’t so lucky.
[Dire Rabbit B has been afflicted with Fungal Spores.]
[Fungal Spores]
[In addition to taking damage over time, this creature will turn into a stooltoad upon death if the Fungal Spores are not purged.]
“Oh, I really don’t like that,” Zack growled. “That’s my bunny! Dire rabbits! Chew it to bits!”
On command, the trio of bunnies charged forward, horns primed and ready. The stooltoad managed to leap over one, only to land right in the path of another. The dire rabbit’s horn impaled the mushroom’s main body with a spray of milky white fluid. The stooltoad made no noise as it vainly attempted to wriggle free of the horn.
The trio of dire rabbits fell upon the mushroom, devouring it in seconds. It was dead before they even finished, and Zack happily absorbed it to store away for later. With the monster out of the way, he was free to continue extending his influence deeper into the mall. He made sure to absorb the bunny afflicted by the spores and respawn it. The mana otherwise spent to create it was quickly regained as he extended his influence deeper and deeper into the mall.
By the time he reached the end of the hallway, Zack was surprised by how tired he was feeling. A quick check of his mana values was enough to show him why. He was running on a dangerously low, with only five points remaining of his maximum forty-five.
“Whuh? How is that possible? Shouldn’t I be regaining all the mana I spend?” Zack slurred. If he were standing, he would have been swaying dizzily from exhaustion.
Checking his status, Zack could see exactly where he was going wrong.
[Warning: mana upkeep is exceeding aether intake. Core shut down imminent.]
“Of course,” he grumbled, as understanding of the situation rolled through him.
Just because he could consume aether indefinitely didn’t mean it didn’t have to go somewhere. Just like plants or living creatures, the food they ate had to be used in the upkeep of their body. They didn’t just get to produce waste matter. It made him chuckle, thinking of the mana he exuded as poop, and he congratulated himself on being mature enough not to tell Alex.
[Upkeep requirements]
[Influence: 30 mana per hour]
[Monsters: 3 mana per hour]
[Aether intake]
[Influence: 15 aether per hour]
[Ambient: 10 aether per hour]
[Recovery: 4 per hour]
A quick check of his math told Zack exactly how he was spending his mana. Every cubic meter of space he added to his influence beyond his main room added one point of mana to his hourly upkeep, while his rabbits added one additional point each. He could easily reabsorb his bunnies to terminate their expenditure, but that would still leave him over his passive intake. Not to mention, it would leave him undefended.
He couldn’t risk extending his influence farther without putting himself back to sleep, but he couldn’t increase his aether gains without increasing his influence. It put him in a bit of a bind. How was he supposed to continue growing without access to more aether?
Then, an idea came to him: there was another way he could get aether!
“Heeeeeeeeey Alex,” Zack sang.
Alex was sitting up against a wall in Zack’s entrance room, watching curiously as the bunnies chewed on the plants blocking Zack’s growing dungeon. At mention of his name, he perked up and looked at the crystal on the floor. “Sup?” He grunted noncommittally.
“Would you maybe like to help me with something?” Zack asked in that same innocent, sing-song tone.
“Does it involve me fighting more monsters?” Alex asked, only half-kidding.
“Yes, actually, it does!”
Alex scowled and shook his head. “No thanks. Two is more than enough for one day.”
“Come on, please? It’ll help you too, I swear!”
Alex narrowed his eyes dangerously at Zack, but ultimately sighed and rose to his feet again. “Fine. Point me at the plant.”
“Oh, it’s not plants that I need you to kill. I need you to kill my bunnies again,” Zack said.
On cue, the trio of rabbits turned in place and wiggled their noses curiously at Alex. The human stared at them incredulously before raising a hand. Like a gunshot, a tiny ball of fire shot from Alex’s hand and splashed against the nearest bunny.
Almost immediately, two things happened. The first was that Zack was able to greedily consume the three points of aether produced by the spell. The second was that the mana used to create the bunny flowed back through the air and into Alex.
Alex must have noticed the shift, too, and turned his hand over to check his tattoo. “What the…” He murmured, shocked. “Huh. That should have spent more mana…”
“Yeah, so like, remember when I told you it’s my job to help train people to use magic? That’s kind of what I mean. Cores are symbiotic creatures. We are to magic like plants are to air. We take in unusable aether and spit out usable mana. The trade off, though, is you can’t just get our mana, you have to earn it.”
Alex stared at his tattoo in wonder, before aiming his open palm at another bunny. Boom. Another fire, another dead rabbit, and a fresh flow of aether into Zack in exchange for the spent mana. It wasn’t enough to fully handle his upkeep, it was a good place to start.
“If I can get a steady stream of people in here using magic, I’ll be able to offset my mana expenditures with their aether. Then, I’ll be able to continue growing my dungeon. More people means a bigger dungeon, which means more people casting spells in the dungeon. It’s a win-win all around,” Zack explained.
Alex turned his hand over to marvel at his tattoo again, a grin creeping up on his cheeks. “You know, Zack, I think you just might be on to something,” he agreed.
“The only problem is I don’t really know how I’m going to get people to come in here willingly,” Zack grumbled. The last remaining bunny stood up on its hind legs and crossed its arms indignantly, tapping a foot as though deep in thought.
Alex tapped his chin as he considered that for a moment, before snapping his fingers. “I think I might be able to do something about that. Can you modify the space inside your dungeon?”
“Yeah, in loads of ways. How do you want me to modify things?”
“A desk and cash register to start. Throw up some thicker walls over here, and toss in some nice benches right over there,” Alex explained, gesturing about the lobby as the idea started to take shape in his mind.
Zack mentally frowned but didn’t argue. Desks and benches were easy enough for him to make. All it took was slapping some quick 3D models together, giving them materials, and placing them in-world. Since this was his current main room, it didn’t even cost him any mana towards his upkeep. Thicker walls were a bit harder. He could remove the glass doors leading into the rest of the mall, but he had no way of making new ones. After a moment of experimenting, though, he found he could simply absorb part of the wall to open doorways as necessary.
Finally, he added a new brick wall at the end of the hall, blocking off his influence from the rest of the unclaimed mall.
“I can’t make a cash register until you get me the appropriate pattern,” Zack informed Alex, as the final bunny hopped into the lobby and scooped him up in its mouth. “Why do we even need one, anyway?”
Alex grinned and rubbed his hands together eagerly. “We’re going to solve two problems at once. My money troubles, and your aether troubles.”
“Okay but how?” Zack asked again.
“Simple: the dungeon is now open for business.”