Carlos stepped around the corner, Amber by his side, and stopped as the core came into sight. It looked almost nothing like the only other dungeon core he'd seen. It glowed, it hovered in place, it looked solid and hard, and that was about all the commonalities with Purple that it had. Amber gasped as she saw it, pausing alongside Carlos to take it in.
Where Purple was a crisp clean crystal prism, this core was an irregular lumpy shape covered with spikes. Purple was one solid consistent color throughout; the purple that he was named for. This core was mottled with a mix of shades of brown and gray. Purple shone with a dim but steady light, or sometimes pulsing like a heartbeat. This core's light varied unsteadily, brightening and dimming at random, rapidly or slowly, and sometimes even flickering. The one difference that matched Carlos's expectations was its size. Where Purple was barely more than an inch tall, and half that wide, this core was much larger: three inches tall and five inches across.
"Uh." Carlos shook himself out of his surprised stupor at the extreme difference. "Hey, Lorvan? Does the appearance of a dungeon core indicate anything in particular about it?"
"Possibly, but I don't have that knowledge, except that more powerful dungeons have larger cores. The Enchanters Guild's scholars and leaders are the most likely to know such a thing."
Carlos shrugged, and shared a look with Amber. "Ok then, let's... go?"
They stepped forward together, entering the room. The space around them opened up a little, and Carlos sensed two other thick streams of mana coming from other entrances, joining with the one they had followed. All three flows consolidated into a tight spiral around the core, resembling an accretion disk. The innermost area steadily fed mana into the core itself, but little packets of mana kept breaking off from the disk and flying out with purpose to other places.
As they walked further into the room, a tendril of mana reached out from the core itself, splitting into two as it approached Carlos and Amber. Two thinner tendrils split off and headed towards the guards. Carlos got the feeling that he could deny this, blocking the tendril from connecting to him, but why would he? This was what he had come here for; the moment that the entire delve had been building up to. It was time to make a wish, and not incidentally to communicate directly with the dungeon core itself in the process.
The tendrils made contact, and Carlos found himself in a mental illusion of an endless expanse of varied and shifting shades of brown light, some bright and some dim. He experimentally focused, and found that he actually could still see and hear his physical surroundings if he wanted to. It felt similar to switching between his physical senses and his mana sense. With his curiosity and a little bit of paranoia satisfied, he refocused his attention on the mental space. He felt a familiar presence beside him that he instantly recognized as Amber, and two behind that seemed obscured and distant. Far more distant than he knew Lorvan and Ordens physically were, but maybe that distance reflected the dungeon's mental focus rather than physical reality.
Ahead and all around them, seeming to echo from everywhere at once, feelings and emotions pressed down on Carlos and Amber. Anger. Hostility. Hatred. Fear. Grudging submission. Questioning about their desires. Impatience. Carlos sent back his honest desire for mutual understanding, cooperation, willing partnership, and maybe even friendship with the dungeon core, and felt Amber joining him in that. The response was... not what he had hoped for.
Suspicion. Distrust. Refusal. Aggression. Murderous intent. Hunger to devour their mana. Frustration with its inability to defeat them. Impatience to get this over with and see them gone. An insistent demand to know their wish.
Carlos and Amber repeated their request. Their offer, really, and Carlos emphasized that he could help the dungeon, that he wanted a partnership of mutual benefit.
Disbelief. Rejection. Anger and hate. Contempt. More impatience. A more emphatic demand to know their wish.
Carlos sighed. [Uh, Purple, any ideas for how to convince this dungeon to listen?]
Purple just sent the impression of a shrug.
The brown light of the mental space flashed brightly, the mix of shades and brightnesses shifted turbulently, and a new emotion flared at them: shock. The surprise lasted only a moment before it quickly transformed into utter rage. Indignation. Unyielding hostility and hate. Very, very grudging admission of defeat. Once more, a demand to know their wish. And this time, a hint of threat.
Carlos paused to think, taken aback by the extreme antagonism this dungeon core exhibited. It was almost nothing like when he'd made his wish from Purple. Back then, Purple had seemed more resigned to the inevitable than angry or hostile. [Amber, any ideas? This is not how I expected this to go.]
[I'm surprised too. Purple is so reasonable and friendly. I know his situation was unusual, and he already got used to talking with you before I met him, but I expected a more ambivalent or mildly antagonistic attitude, not this... fanatic hostility.]
Carlos nodded and shrugged. [Yeah, but we need to ask for something that it will accept now. I get the feeling it's about ready to try fighting again, despite how close we are to its core. We could wish for equipment or enchanting something, but can't we just buy that kind of thing with money instead? Seems wasteful to spend this on it. Wishing for understanding worked... better than it seems like it should have, honestly. Maybe dungeon wishes are good at knowledge related things in general, or something?]
Amber tilted her head. [That might make sense, I think? Worth a try, at least. It would be wonderful to have knowledge of more spells, and of practical spell design or casting principles.]
[Sounds good to me.] Carlos turned his attention back to the dungeon core's mental presence. Its rage was crashing against them repeatedly, and it was starting to do something new with its mana in the room. Possibly spawning a monster, but definitely not something good. He hastily started sending the concept of the knowledge he wanted to gain. He visualized the strictly organized structure of a properly assembled spell, the pieces it was composed of, the structure it created when cast, and how that produced an effect. He imagined swapping out parts of the spell for nebulous and unknown other possibilities, or changing its structure in similarly vague ways, all to achieve different effects in different ways. Finally, he emphasized his and Amber's - and not their guards' - shared desire to know more of what specific swaps, changes, and effects were actually possible, and how to use them properly.
The storm of rage around them halted, and for a moment everything was still and quiet. Then reluctant acceptance pushed the rage aside, and the dungeon started building a strange edifice of mana around them. Carlos tried to examine it in detail, but he quickly started feeling dizzy. He was sure it genuinely was meant to give what he had asked for, but beyond that even with his comprehension aid he couldn't make much sense of it.
The mana for their wish built up more and more, and expanded with a new part that Carlos realized was actually familiar. It was more free form than he'd seen before, smooth like a piece of cloth rather than a lattice of points all connected into a net, but it was doing the same job of wrapping around all four of them to define a boundary in preparation for a teleport. It made sense that the dungeon wanted to eject them to somewhere else, though the realization that it was actually doing it raised some questions for Carlos.
Why didn't it just teleport them out without giving a wish? Why hadn't Purple ejected him like this when they first met? Could Carlos stop it if he wanted to? Unable to resist his curiosity, he reached out with a little of his mana to poke experimentally at the still-forming boundary. The dungeon forcefully shoved his mana probe back with a comparatively giant hammer blow, and a feeling of menacing anger and annoyance pushed into Carlos's mind.
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Chastened, Carlos withdrew his mana and waited. That brief little shoving match had answered one of his questions already. The force of the dungeon's shove had been much weaker than the amount of mana it used should have exerted, and in the moment of contact he had felt the reason why: the dungeon's grasp on this mana was tenuous. The dungeon controlled it, but it wasn't truly part of the dungeon, at least not in the way the mana in Carlos's soul was part of him. He couldn't possibly duplicate the dungeon's sheer scale of how much external mana it was directing, or how improvised and fluid most of it seemed, but he could disrupt it easily enough if he wanted to.
The boundary-defining blanket of mana finished forming, and as tendrils of mana reached inward from it to connect with each of them, Carlos sensed a vague impression of the purposes of it all, and realized the answer to his first question. He could deny this magic if he chose to, refusing to be teleported away, but doing so would also deny the fulfillment of his wish. The two parts of what the dungeon had made were inextricably linked, inseparable and impossible to pick and choose from. He could accept receiving his wish and also teleporting out, or he could refuse teleportation and also refuse his wish. In effect, the wish was payment in exchange for leaving, in a bargain that could not be directly cheated. He chose to accept, of course.
The dungeon-built edifice of mana flared, and their surroundings were abruptly replaced with the familiar sight of trees, shrubs, underbrush, and decaying leaves on the ground. At the same time, mana poured into Carlos and Amber, imparting knowledge as it came. Carlos cried out in pain, and was faintly aware of Amber doing the same. It felt like his brain was being mauled, or maybe hit with a hammer. Repeatedly. A sudden impact shoved him forwards, and he stumbled and fell on his face, barely coherent enough to get his hands up in time to soften the impact of hitting the ground.
With his heart racing, instinct warning him of danger, Carlos pushed past the agony in his head enough to look behind him. He saw a ferocious-looking fanged tiger of some kind, which was shaking its head violently, and lifted its hindquarters from the ground right as he spotted it. It stopped, rapidly flicked its head and eyes up and down, left and right, looked directly at him for a bare moment, then turned and ran.
Carlos slumped in relief for a moment, then groaned as the pounding pain in his head surged and reclaimed his attention. He rolled over onto his back, and sprawled out on the ground. "Ow."
"Agh. Souls, that hurts!" Amber was sitting on the ground, curled up tight holding her knees to her chest, and rubbing her forehead. She groaned again. "Ow. I'd scream, but it feels like that would make it hurt worse."
Lorvan moved to in front of them, looking concerned. "What happened? Are you ok? I didn't catch what you wished for, is pain an expected result of it?"
Carlos groaned yet again, and feebly waved his right hand. "We'll be ok. Yeah, it's because of the wish. Ow. I didn't specifically expect - ow - pain, but it makes sense in hindsight." He rubbed his eyes and forehead, and carefully took a deep breath. "Do you have som - ow! - something to help with headaches? Magic or - ow - maybe some ice?"
"Frozen water? Why would I have a luxury food ingredient like that with me?"
"Nevermind the ice. Anything else for a bad headache?"
Lorvan shook his head. "For wounds and injuries, yes, but not merely pain. For that, all I can suggest here is food, rest, and distraction."
"Ugh." Carlos squinted, saw that the bubble of force around him was still there, then closed his eyes and relaxed. "Distraction, huh?" He really didn't want to think much right now. The drum symphony of pounding aches in his head made thinking hard, and trying to think made it feel worse. Well, a little pain now to reduce it more later would be worth it if it worked, so what could he use to distract himself? ...That didn't involve thinking. There was all the wild forest around him, but having his eyes open would hurt too. There was Amber beside him, and... Oh. Of course. Mana was flowing into both of them passively already just from being here in a higher density area. He chuckled, then winced. It could even be a productive distraction!
Carlos started actively absorbing mana as fast as he safely could, and soon sensed Amber doing the same. The pain was still there, but it didn't bother him as much when his attention was focused on keeping that rapid absorption and development going. And whenever his attention started drifting to other things, the headache quickly pounded its way into reminding him to get back on task. So hey, free bonus stay-on-task motivator with his wish! He winced again, and refocused once more.
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Hours later, the pounding headache was a little less intense, and a few sticks and stones digging into Carlos's back had grown uncomfortable enough for him to care. Then his stomach added its own complaint with a growl, and he suggested going back early to eat a hearty dinner and sleep off the headache in comfortable beds. Amber agreed, and even mustered some enthusiasm through the pain. They returned to the Adventurer's Haven with their souls only about half way to the next compression, and soon collapsed into bed with full stomachs.
The next day, Carlos's head still hurt enough that he had to force himself out of bed, but he was determined to at least get their current advancement step out of the way while it was still the only productive option that didn't hurt more to focus on. He and Amber finished that an hour after noon, and the pain faded noticeably the moment the compression happened. Carlos cocked his head curiously at that development. "Huh. Is pain resistance, or toughness, or something like that an inherent benefit of having denser mana?"
Amber hesitantly shrugged, but Lorvan stepped up with an answer. "It is not. Many people have a soul structure dedicated to that, or even multiple structures, but without such a structure your body remains as vulnerable to physical injury as a child's. Improved resistance to direct effects of hostile mana, however, is inherent in soul development."
"Hmm. It feels like a normal headache now, but I don't think resistance to hostile mana is the reason." Carlos frowned in thought. "It's more like... we're better able to handle what that wish did for us now?" He looked at Amber and raised an eyebrow.
Amber nodded back slowly. "Yes. I feel like... Yeah, that's it." She switched to telepathy. [I feel like I just finished obsessively studying a new book and the back of my mind is sorting through all the new information. It feels a bit weird. I haven't been this aware of that before.]
[Yeah, I know what you mean.] Carlos could feel his comprehension aid hard at work, organizing all the information the dungeon had dumped into his head, indexing it and building appropriate links to other knowledge. His mind would do that naturally over time anyway, but it would take longer.
Carlos considered how he felt, the rate the headache was improving, and all the things they had to do, and made a decision. "Let's head back for now. We have some things to figure out, and plans to make. But after that... Lorvan, prepare for a more extended expedition, setting out preferably tomorrow morning. We'll need to go farther soon, and all this travel back and forth is already taking considerable time."
Lorvan nodded. "Of course, my lord. I was going to advise that very thing shortly."
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Carlos avoided the new knowledge in the back of his mind until they got back to their private suite, letting it settle more and the headache fade further, not wanting to risk that stirring it up might aggravate and prolong the pain. Finally, with the door closed, the guards outside, the headache much reduced, and seated at a small table with Amber across from him, he consciously started calling it to mind.
"Alright, let's see what we learned." He grinned widely, leaning forward with his elbows on the table, with Amber matching his grin eagerly. With this new knowledge, he could... produce an astoundingly vast variety of effects. He just had to reach out with a web of threads of his own mana, weave it around and through the ambient mana around him, seize command of it all, and impose his will upon it to make it obey him. Uh...
Carlos slapped his forehead, and groaned. Then a chuckle escaped his mouth. Then another one. He gave up holding it back, and started laughing hysterically. It took a couple minutes for his laughter to die down, and when he finally looked up Amber was rolling her eyes and shaking her head with a wry smile on her face. There was a lot more depth and detail to the knowledge the dungeon had given them than his brief and crude summary in words could express, but that summary covered its scope in full. It included no new incantation keywords, no new patterns or syntax, no design principles. Nothing related to incantation based spells at all. Just pure, raw mana manipulation.
Carlos took a deep breath and sighed, then shook his head ruefully. "That damn dungeon didn't even understand what we were actually asking for."
Amber chuckled and let out a sigh of her own. "It taught us how dungeons use mana instead."
"And if we try to do it the same way..." Carlos hesitated, then experimentally pushed out some of his mana in thin threads, wove them into a web covering a volume of mana in front of him, and willed it to make a small flame in the center of the volume. Weaving the web was a laborious and slow process, taking most of a minute, and even when that finished, his first efforts at making fire produced no visible effect at all. He pictured a flame, burning brightly in front of him, and focused as hard as he could on pushing that image, that desired result, into the mana enveloped in his web. He ramped up the amount of his own mana invested in the effort, up to a quarter of his entire available pool for spellcasting... And a spark began dimly flickering in the air, weaker than the spell they already knew for making a spark, which cost a tiny fraction as much mana and was faster to cast too.
Carlos released his grasp on the experiment, and slumped back in his chair. "As I thought. We can't make a worthwhile effect that way. Our influence over external mana is too weak."