Uno

There was that idea bouncing inside my head ever since I started using wires and all this pseudo-science stuff. And of course, mana duct tape to bind things that normally don’t work together.

What if I could use them on living creatures?

What would happen?

Would it become one of the dungeon monsters?

Or maybe I would get something else out of it?

Or would it just...expire? In more or less gory fashion?

That’s why I was glad that my first subject in that matter was pretty much immortal, as long as I didn’t press too much with my experiments.

I know that because during these few minutes, the vampire managed to reattach its arms. And the damage to its chest was pretty much gone too.

Perfect.

In the meantime, I created an operating chair with added restraints out of pig iron. One that wouldn’t be out of place in a horror movie. This, however, was the reality.

My creatures dragged the vampire in and forced it into the chair. It trashed around wildly, trying to get free as my dungeon core boss looked it over. Or rather him. By this time it was quite clear that my subject was male.

The fear visible in his eyes didn’t deter me in the slightest. His fate was already decided.

From my camera network, I started to grow sharp copper wires, which slowly slithered toward the prisoner. They looked like animals stalking their prey, metal glistening in the light as they slowly grew closer and closer.

The vampire started whimpering, doubling his efforts to escape. It was futile. I already tested the restraints against much stronger beings. Jonathan was not amused.

In a while the wires coiled against his neck, preparing for vertebra insertion. After all, breaking the skull was too much of a task, so I opted for sliding into the spinal column and only then - the brain.

And then it happened - sharp metal made an incision, slithering inside like a parasite. Through my magic, I could see the wires slowly and painfully making their way toward the brain. Then piercing it.

The vampire winced in pain each time a wire moved and then started screaming, yanking at the restraints in a panic. His voice was contained in my core room, behind closed doors. In a few minutes, the sound level fell to the earlier whimpering.

At that time wires were in position.

Now for my experiment...

I added electricity to the network, eliciting another scream from my patient.

Good. The connection was working. Right now however it was nothing more than a meat puppet. With a bit of work it could probably even move around, but… that wasn’t the reason why I was experimenting.

No.

I needed knowledge.

About the world, about the races and kingdoms around here. And most importantly - about language. My ability to think and gather information was, after all, the greatest surprise for any invaders. These strange gods admitted it themselves - none of the dungeon cores were intelligent! If I was found out as an outlier… perish the thought - but still! There was a non-zero chance that I would be slaughtered immediately. After all, the rest of the cores were nothing more than cattle for the sapients to harvest.

With this, I had a moral superiority to make them cattle too.

Just kidding.

I don’t care either way.

Anyone going into my halls surrenders their life. In Uno country, it's Uno rules!

I don't care about any moral dilemma. For now.

The wires were in place. It was time to try. All for new knowledge.

Still, there are about 100 billion neurons in a sapient brain.

Somehow I think that this will be a long night. Or a few.

I sent the Anima towards one of them and pushed.

The vampire screamed in pain.

And then nothing.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Not this one, huh?

Cross it out and… let’s check this one.

Scream.

Nope.

Again.

***

Rikr, Luna Kingdom scout

I crawled forward with caution, trying to hide between sickly-looking shrubbery growing near the ruins of Waltzer castle. There was the stench of death in the air and I wasn’t one to recklessly charge forward. Even if our priests said that something was stirring in these parts. More importantly, I saw the marks of the scuffle that some poor fools from the Geinard Kingdom left. Trails of holy light and wide swings of two-handed weapons marking the stone were easy to understand. I wasn’t going to end like them.

Be careful - I used hand signals to warn Binno, my druid partner, that something was amiss. He nodded and growled quietly, he and his familiar Leaf hiding nearby.

I wasn’t a druid like him, but there was always a slight sense of unease - he loved to stay in this form for too long for it to be healthy. Not to mention that both his form and his familiar - female familiar - were of the Dark Panther race. Which led to some unsavory comments.

Sigh.

At least he was competent, not like most of the people I was paired with earlier. We’re retreating - I signaled and our forms slowly retreated towards the temporary camp we made fifteen minutes ago.

We went back without any trouble and soon we were sitting near the small smokeless campfire and eating field rations. Binno even turned back into a human, his two meters, muscular form radiating wildness. He devoured the food in large gulps while keeping watchful eyes on the surroundings. Wearing his half-prepared animal skins made him look like a real barbarian.

"Don’t keep me in suspense Rikr. What happened out there?" He asked in the end, looking at the brooding half-elf. The ranger turned his childish face towards the druid and mumbled under his breath.

"Damn undead happened, that’s what. A Geinard scouting team was wiped out nearby - all newbies, you know. I saw enough marks to be sure of their nationality. At least they had a ranger with them… Yet Goddess of Luck wasn’t favoring them." He confessed slowly.

"I don’t understand why are they doing this. Wasn’t sending a low-level team into this wilderness pretty much a suicide mission? Why waste manpower like that?"

"They don’t have a choice, you know." Rikr sighed. "Unlike us, their population is booming, their farmlands are taken over by blight or being burned by the warring nobles. The Geinard Kingdom is starving, Binno. They’re just getting rid of excess people."

"It’s still a waste you know?"

"I think so too, but their choices are limited." He sent a small prayer to Mirabelle. "They are a warrior-centric country. Not like our druids who can even cleanse the corruption." He nodded towards the large man.

"Haha! Of course!"

"They instead opted for a saturation technique."

"Saturation?"

"They “feed” low-level parties to the undead. Undead grow stronger and then they send higher level warriors who can do more good in the long run and wipe out the whole infestation." Small half-elf face clouded.

"That’s inhuman!" The druid shouted quietly. He knew that any large display of emotion was stupid, they were still in the enemy lands after all, but there was rage burning in his eyes.

"Yet it works. That’s why the Kingdom worships mostly the God of Science and Stars. For the greater good, as they say."

"Still…"

"Don’t worry about it, old friend. It’s not like we can do anything about it. We’re not heroes after all." His small face twisted in an angry expression. Yet any woman who saw him at this moment would squeal in delight and race to pamper him. Quite the humiliation for a man in his forties. Curse of half-elf heritage as he called it. "Let’s move out. There is one more place we need to check. And if I’m right then we’re going to retreat and return with reinforcements."

"Yup, let’s go." The giant answered, immediately transforming into the Dark Panther, its taut muscles moving under the skin. From outside the camp, Leaf appeared, snuggling against him.

The ranger nodded while moving forward quietly, trying to blend in with the surroundings. They already packed all they needed for a quick retreat. Undead were after all adept at sensing the living.

Twenty minutes later they were back at the ruins - dark pieces of stone covered in sickly vegetation were strewn against the ground, leaving little to the imagination. There was a distinct lack of undead, which tingled Rikr's senses a lot. Be careful, very careful - He signaled and Panther growled in assent.

It took another few minutes until the ranger managed to spot their enemies. Sadly they were spotted in return. Straightening his back Rikr hissed in annoyance.

"Death General! Shit! I knew it! We need to gather an expedition before it manages to accrue more subordinates." As if in response to his speech the undead started moving towards them in a tight formation. Skirmishers were closing in quickly too. He clicked his teeth. "Let’s run, Binno. We need to report back immediately."

Dark Panther howled while swiping at nearby undead, taking its head off. Leaf bit another one and recoiled in disgust, growling at the sight of incoming zombies and skeletons. The whole group started running, leaving their enemies in the dust.

When they left the surroundings Death General ordered its troops to stand down. Its eyeless skull moved towards the direction of the rangers and then to a buried staircase nearby. It shook its head in a human-like fashion.

And then it simply continued to wait.

***

Uno

Stick.

Scream.

Stick.

Scream.

I was growing bored. I had no sadistic streak, after all, just doing what needed to be done. But it was slowly becoming too much even for me.

Stick.

Scream.

Stick

…

..

.

Oh?

Did it work?

[IT WORKED!] I screamed through the dungeon link and my creatures hooted in response, Lebirs smacking their clubs on the ground and Ratlings dancing around.

I returned to the core room.

So.

Your name was D൫n੩l?

No. That’s not right.

Daniel? Yes…

Good.

It seems like I can start in earnest now.