I looked through more of the menu and randomly searched for information on the CoreLink program. I needed to increase my knowledge of my robot and its system and lessen my overall ignorance. I felt like I learned a lot but began to get a headache. I decided to follow the instructions of my cultivation instructor and practice outside of Augmented Reality.

Since I didn't have to activate the program, I could stay there. I got in position and began my breathing exercises. It felt more difficult outside the program, but I also thought it could have been because I was tired. I didn't think I got anywhere close to a heightened state of awareness, but after about an hour, I felt much better.

When I woke up the next morning, I quickly cleaned up my area, checked my map and headed out on my way. I still had water, so I didn't need to head back down to the stream to fill up. I decided to stick to the high ground, which was a good decision. I still had to weave around the terrain and vegetation, but it was much less than down by the water.

I was traveling over a small spur in the hill at about midday when my display started going crazy. Red lights lit up around the entire edge and flashed in time with an audible alarm. I reacted instantly to the perceived threat. I dropped into a ready stance and spun slowly in a circle, trying to find the source of danger.

After I made a complete circle, a large red arrow appeared on my vision's left side, along with a large message.

-ATTENTION: De Unstable Geospatial Node (DUnGeoN) detected in the area. Possible high threat to the local ecosystem. The threat is marked on the map and has been updated to the CoreLink Cluster Server.

As soon as I was done reading, the display disappeared to be replaced by another.

-Attention: The CoreLink Cluster Server has been made aware of a De Unstable Geospatial Node (DUnGeoN) detected in the area. As the appointed Regulator Class in the area, your assistance is required for proper Cordoning, Classifying, and Clearing (C3).

I didn't want any part of what that was asking me to do. I had heard about dungeons from my book; by chance, I had read a little about them the night before, and they were highly dangerous.

Uninhabited and unexplored areas often had high monster concentrations due to the increased levels of De emitted into the area. Those high levels of De warped an area's flora and fauna. That was precisely what happened to the Razor Tusk from the other day. Not that monsters can't form without a De Node, it just happened more often with one nearby.

When they were found, they were usually cleared by teams where all members had their robot compatibility percentages at least in the high twenties. There were also stories of dungeons that couldn't be cleared. It was highly likely that the located dungeon fell into that category since it was in the middle of the mountains.

-Warning: Failure to accomplish the request for assistance could lead to a degradation of Regulator Class authority and demotion.

Well damn.

I didn't want to check out the dungeon, but I had no idea what losing authority or getting a demotion would do. I looked through the messages again. It didn't say that I had to clear it. It just said that it needed assistance.

I didn't want to risk whatever would happen if I ignored it, so I took a deep breath and walked toward the spot on my map. The points were closer to the water, and I was on top of the spur that led down, so it didn't take long.

The foliage around the area was thick. I had to walk in a wide circle looking for an opening. I didn't find one, so I was forced to push through several layers of large bushes to get the last thirty yards.

I pushed past the last of the bushes and stopped to stare. The De Unstable Geospatial Node, or dungeon for short, was actually an accurate description as I thought about it. I could see why it was called a node.

It was just a spot that floated in the middle of the open area. As I walked around it, it looked the same from every angle. The node seemed to warp the space around it as if it was sucking in all of reality.

My goggles' DTA software went wild as the CoreLink usurped my goggles to do its own analysis. While walking around, the system kept placing outlines of different shapes and sizes all around. When one shape of a specific size would work for whatever reason that was beyond me, it would pause for a second and then move through a myriad of colors. Once it was happy with the color, it would start the process again. I made it all the way around the node, and it didn't stop analyzing, so I waited patiently for it to finish.

While waiting, I did my own analysis. I could clearly see the node, and I attempted to see through it but to no avail. I closed my eyes to focus on the sound it made. It was a sound that I noticed even before pushing into the clearing. As I closed my eyes, I focused on the deep thrumming; I realized it had a pulse as I listened. Every five or six seconds, the thrum would deepen as if it was increasing its pull of the energy.

Continuing to close my eyes, I decided to check if I could feel its energy as if I was cultivating. It was probably because I wasn't in a decent cultivating position, but I couldn't feel any De energies.

My robot trilled in my head as it finished its own analysis.

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-Dungeon Analysis Complete:

-Stability: Stable – 9% chance of a breach

-Type: Flora and Water hybrid

-Threat Level: Class C

-Note: This is a highly stable Class C dungeon. Prolonged exposure to the De anomaly will cause a 35% change in the local biosphere over the next 5 years if the anomaly persists at the current level. Based on energy readings, the node is more than 50% toward an increase in threat level. This increase is likely to take place in 1-3 years.

-Recommendation: Priority clearing is proposed for local DUnGeoN.

I continued my own examination of the area, confident that my robot would go about doing whatever it had to do. I held out my hand to see if I could physically feel anything. I thought I could actually sense a slight tingling in the air. I moved a little closer to see if it would increase in intensity.

-Attention: A proposal for clearing a local DUnGeoN in your area has been approved. As the closest available Regulator Class in the sector, you are appointed to oversee its clearing. The location of the DUnGeoN has been sent to your assigned robot. Please proceed to the coordinates to complete your mission.

-Priority Level: C

-Warning: Failure to accomplish the appointed mission could lead to a degradation of Regulator Class authority and demotion.

I was still holding out my hand while reading the last message. I wondered how long I could take before it was considered a failed mission. I would have to make it to the city, recruit a team capable of completing the mission, then come back there. I had no idea how long that would take me.

-Success: Coordinates reached...

That sounds about right.

-To enter the gate, please step within its De field…

-Success: De Field breached…

I should probably step back.

-Initiating node activation…

"Shit -"

It felt like electricity sizzling through me. It started at the point where my goggles connected to my head. It traveled around my brain in a swirl, flushed down my neck and into my arm, which was still outstretched toward the node. To top it all off, I couldn't move.

Like an expanding sphincter, the lines around the node elongated until they reached my extended arm. I could feel the power radiating off it while it inched closer. As it touched my hand, it sucked around it, pulling it and me toward the node's original position. I didn't move from my spot, though.

As it stretched toward the node, my arms looked like a string of water from a flailing hose. Soon it was my shoulder, then my body and head. The world around me started to stretch, and the colors began to bleed together as they thinned.

I suddenly felt like I was being crushed, even as I was reduced to strings of matter. I was a blob clogging a pipe that was slowly being extracted from the other side. Then I was standing once again in the same position.

"-beans!"

My stomach roiled, and I tried to tamp down nausea. I used a trick I learned when I was little to keep from vomiting. I filled my cheeks with air and then slowly squeezed the air out. I don't know why it works; it just does. When I was sure I wouldn't vomit, I realized that my arm was still raised, so I let it fall.

I also got ready to fight because I realized I was no longer in the same place.

At first glance, it was similar to the area to the one before. But unlike the space before, the other was dark and dreary. The place was almost devoid of the vegetation that permeated the area. There was still a ring of large bushes, but they were skeletons of their former self. On top of the shrubbery were puffs of spikey black leaves that weighed the branches down.

I looked up at the sun and sky. They were covered in low-hanging, dark grey clouds that cast a depressing pallor over the area. I immediately wanted to go back out of the dungeon. I turned around to go back through the node, but it was no longer there.

I sighed loudly as words were wholly unable to express my utter exacerbation and the position I found myself in. I looked hopingly around that I would be lucky and find whatever I had to do to clear the dungeon, but it wasn't meant to be.

If I remembered what I read on the CoreLink Data correctly, I had to travel to the dungeon's center or the most defensible position to clear the place. As I looked around, it seemed that it would be the center. Still, I wasn't totally sure.

Visibility outside the circle of bushes dropped off after twenty meters due to the clouds and fog in the area. I checked my map only to discover that it was grayed out. I could see a little red dot in the middle, but I wasn't getting any other data.

I stared at the bushes in front of me, waiting for the DTA program to initiate, but nothing happened.

"CoreLink, search dungeon plants," I said, thinking of something quick to initiate the search.

-Searching CoreLink….

…..

….

-Error unable to connect to server…

-Trying to connect to server…..

I ignored the continued prompts as my robot continuously tried to connect. It seemed like I would have to do this on my own.

"Why did I ever want a robot?"

It was, of course, a rhetorical question. However, at that point, I was really considering the answer. My robot had been nothing but trouble since the day I left to go get it. My life wasn't looking as if it would get better either.

It was actually looking like the end of the trail. I didn't have a lot of hope of getting out of the dungeon alive. If a whole team of higher compatibility users would have trouble, I had low expectations to complete it.

I wouldn't give up without trying, though. My father taught me that much.

I took stock of what I had so I could properly plan.

I was still wearing my pack, so I had food for a week and water for a few days. I was armed with a broken spear, but it could be used as a staff. I hopefully could still partially use my robot, even though it wouldn't give me information. As I thought of that, I decided it would be best if I switched to Symbiotic Mode.

I ordered my robot to Symbiotic Mode, and it was followed by the puff of air being released from the side. My display lit up with my De usage bar and the body silhouette in the lower right. On the top left, I could tell that my DTA program was initializing for the mode change.

Once it was done, I scanned the area again. All the spikey leaves on the branches lit up with red. I was surrounded already.