I run!

This is my Mindscape, shouldn't I be something of a god here, why is Fredrick, dear suddenly so much more menacing! Fortunately for me, the creature was checking out its newly buffed physique in obvious glee, striking various poses that could have gotten Mr. Herman feeling riled up for a show-off challenge.

I slowed to a jog, my focus suddenly drawn into what is happening behind it. The lady who is obviously the soul residing within the Core, however it is she is here now when it should be a duel between me and hulky-Fredrick, is in the process of what I would describe as transforming. Her human form starts to crystallize and shift into an elongated and multicolored rhombus shape, its two points aiming at the ground and the sky respectively.

"THIS IS WHO I AM NOW!.. I SEE YOU HAVE ALSO BECOME AS YOU HAVE SO LONG DESIRED MY CHILD!" She addressed her Ogre. They started communicating among themselves somehow, giving me time to experiment.

Desire? Is it really that simple?

I stopped running and turned to keep those two within my sights, then tried to desire my armor into existence…

Still dressed in t-shirt and jeans.

"I THINK IT'S ABOUT TIME WE GIVE THE BOY SOME ATTENTION, WHAT DO YOU SAY FREDRICK, DEAR?"

"What!? No no no, please, carry on." I encourage them, "no need to cut short your mother and child bonding time on account of my presence!"

"THAT IS SWEET OF YOU, BUT WORRY NOT. FOR WE WILL HAVE ALL OF ETERNITY TO BOND ONCE WE ARE DONE GIVING YOU THE ATTENTION YOU DESERVE."

Ew~! The Ogre made use of my shock to rush at me whilst roaring a menacing warcry, its gigantic steps bringing us closer within just a few bounds, its outstretched arms now centimeters away from grabbing my head. I feel a deep sense of regret, wishing really hard that I had kept running further, my eyes close conceding my demise. Yet deep down, I desire to live, deeply wishing that I'm way back there rather than he--

The moment of my death is surely taking its time, an~y~, moment now..!

The moment passed, then another, maybe now?.. I decided to open my eyes. Hulk-Fredrick and Mommy-wannabe now look like ants, standing much further than I remembered over yonder by the horizon, where the weird floor visibly cut the sky from view. I think their tiny mouths are wide open in shock.

I blink a few times and squint just to be sure… yep! So I had just ported myself from over there, to over here, due to some strong desire to live? Cool!

They seem to have got their wits back and Fredrick is currently stomping its way here, while I still can't, for the life of me summon any armor! Why!? I desire to be safe for sure, for that is how I will stay alive… I notice the Ogre finally arrived and see it take a massive leap. I might eventually get this if only that piece of snotty shit would die and stop bothering me!

My desire for it to die escalated and it finally clicked. So I raise my right hand to cast... Its desire, not wish. Fredrick desires to be strong, the core desires to be a core. I desire to live, to be inviolable! And for that, they must perish. Rend Psyche.

My hand swings out lazily in the general direction of the leaping enemy, causing a massive crescent like tear in space to rush out and dissect it into two while midair. The jagged tear itself begins closing up after impact, harming no others but its intended target. I noted that nothing could be seen through that rip beside pitch darkness, while the two parts of Fredrick faded into… something, before being pulled back towards and into the Core.

Ah~! It was a part of the Core, a piece of its soul given life. So upon death, back into the Core is where they return.

** DING **

Wrong. A Dungeon's boss monster has its own soul, but is immortal for as long as its Core survives. They are connected, as you have seen and felt. A link that allows it to return into safe custody while it awaits resurrection. In fact, all monsters created by a Dungeon hold within, their own individual soul. Yet, from whence souls are so aplenty, we too, wish to realize.

Ohh. 'Why so chatty now?'

You are very close, we shall witness you swim… or sink

Geez, why make it sound so weird.

The Core does not seem to be doing anything all the way out there, uncharacteristically silent too. 'Mana?'

Mana: 340 / 4548

Cool!.. no, that can't be right!! I dismiss the box and resummon another.

Mana: 341 / 4548

Alrighty… later! My eyes turn towards the Core-soul, creating and dismissing scenarios of how to best destroy it. A few deep breaths and SYMPHONY comes into play, I feel my emotions calming down and my thoughts clearing up. What I know to be desire is wanting something very strongly, I want to be there. There!

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

My vision shifts before I find myself standing near the Core. A multicolored crystal, maybe 1.2 meters tall, floats three meters ahead. Rend Psyche… I flick the index finger on my left arm outwards, low to high, at the Core, forming a vertical tear in space that crashes onto it, causing a deep fracture on its crystalline structure.

"NO! HOW COULD YOU DAMAGE SUCH A BEAUTIFUL AND SOLID MINERAL AS I. PLEASE STOP, I DON'T WANT TO DIE."

Rend Psyche, this time diagonally, bottom right to top left. After the second impact, the core began to lose its form, some parts of it faded into the ambient space while the rest reformed into a transparent image of the lady. Hmm, I never got her name…

"Why~?" She asks, in a hoarse whispering voice, one I would imagine a lingering spirit would have.

I stop to think for a while. "Well, you were a threat to the surviving humans with your Goblins running around, not to mention it's where my friends and I decided to settle down for now. So, you're definitely set against humans, though you are... were, one before all this, right? And lastly, someone higher up decided to replace you, so to say. Sorry."

"Didn't I agree to keep to myself for a year?" The confused look on her face is obvious.

"Yeah, then what about after? Barrier is gone, maybe outsiders that have had uncountable years before us to prepare might be coming to take over, humanity will be focusing their attention on the invaders... And there you are, an internal threat to take care of." I lay it out for her.

I've also decided I don't care what her name is. She has a story justifying her actions, but so do most people. What's important is that she's opposed to my cause, and getting rid of her not only benefits us and the territory, it personally benefits me too.

I tune out whatever other words she has to say. 'Mana?'

** DING **

Mana: 197 / 4548

Rend Psyche… The rip tore her soul in two from her right shoulder to her hip, an expression of unwillingness mar her face as the spell pushes her off. Her lower body instantly began turning into motes of light that drifted into the upper part of her soul that is still, somehow, maintaining its shape.

** DING **

Well done, her soul still lingers unaccepting its demise, but the damage you have caused her is sufficient to weaken her bond with the Core. We shall now sever their connection.

The next instant, the air was filled with the sound of a primal scream, one born out of unimaginable pain. Fortunately, it lasted for barely a second. But the shock effect it had on my mind lasted for quite a while longer, the soul in question visibly deflates and lost it form before me, it now floats there as barely a puff of lingering mist. WTF?

Unfortunately, it is no small matter to sever the bond formed between a Dungeon Core and its governing soul. In fact, such is true for anything regarding a soul and severing its connection with another or itself.

'Alright, good to know, thanks. So, what's gonna happen to her now?'

Unlike you, we have no use of such a weak soul, you may do as you wish. Leave her untouched and she shall wane, or take her under the warmth of your Hearth. We anticipate the soul may survive and thus accorded you the means of containment. Means that shall be available for you so long as your quest remains unclaimed.

Damn, I hate options like this… 'How do I help her? Is this my Mindscape? Where is that Hearth thing anyway? Is this real?"

Look deep inside of you, this is but the outermost area of your impressive Mindscape. You shall find what you seek within its core.

'Thanks, impressive how? And while you're at it, please tell me if you know why my mana is in the four thousands?' I waited for a while but no answer came, while the Core's ex-soul is visibly fading away even further.

Tsk! Let's just keep her alive for now and see how things goes, it probably won't cost me anything and there must be a reason why The System gave me the means to. I dig deep into SoulSense, because what else can I use to look deeper into my mind and soul. But as though waiting for me, a connection can be felt easily enough, it pulled at me and the fading soul.

An eternity passed in the blink of an eye and I found myself standing on a stone floor, which is part of a massive, extremely cozy feeling, gazebo. Every decoration, accessories and furniture is seemingly a part of it, like something made out of one piece of stone in various decorative shades of brown orange and maroon. Right behind me burns a massive Hearth in its own little pavilion, four pillars, a chimney of sorts that grows beyond the Gazebo's roof… and fire, a massive blaze! Though all I can feel out of it, a blaze bigger than any bonfire I've seen, is warmth. The likes of which you can feel from coming home after a long day at work and melting into the arms of your loved ones.

After looking around, I came to the assumption that the building is probably as big as a soccer field, which should be impossible with only the four pillars holding it all up. And standing maybe, a whopping fifty meters tall from floor to roof. The short fences in between the four main supporting pillars may seem up to scale from a far, but are really about ten meters tall.

It is during this exploration that I found the remains of the lady's soul floating on one of the stony sofas. The good news is that her condition may have finally been stabilized, as she no longer seems to be waning away. But, she is wholly unresponsive to any external stimuli…

Apologies, administering a newly conquered Dungeon Core are rather process intensive, natheless our near limitless mental capacity. Alas, what we referred to as impressive would be the vastness of thy Mindscape, which we believe is brought about by one of your traits. The trait in question is too, the cause of your magnified mana pool.

Sometimes, The System would sound like a very ancient person and at the same time, sound like someone in their twenties living in the 2010 or maybe a middle aged man. I find it fascinating as it is giving my inner monologue a bit of the chameleon affect.

'Maybe a little clue about which trait exactly?'

It deigned to answer.

'Okay~, how about a clue about what to do with this, lost? weakened?.. The ex-Core lady's soul?' Shoulda got her name… it doesn't want to talk about the trait for some reason, so I decided to try asking the other things still on my mind.

Give her a sip from the Ladle of Lethe, a pure soul serves plenty of purposes. Be it the crafting of an ego weapon or tool, the birth of a divine pill, or the coronation of a sovereign spell, to name a few. For a soul is the purest and most potent form of energy there is, so much so, as to be capable of thoughts for learning and experiencing growth. Keep it here until needed and it'll remain uncontaminated whilst lasting thy current lifetime.

Uhh~, ego weapon? Divine pills? That's a lot to take in, though not unheard of. But, sovereign spells?.. A soul is simply energy?

Whaatt~?