It Thinks, Therefore, It Is.

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It awoke, and there was nothing around It. Smooth pebbles, worn by flowing water, sat beneath It and in every direction outwards. There were no walls, there was no ceiling. No sound echoed through the empty space. There was no light—

Wait.

There was a light!

It looked, and in the center of the pebbles was a very different rock. Not just a rock, but a Rock. It held all manner of hues within, from the vibrancies of the rainbow to the dullness of the mundane. The interior was full of flaws and divides, but that only made the Rock more beautiful. After all, Beauty was in the eye of the beholder, and It thought the Rock to be very beautiful indeed. As It watched, the Rock thrummed, and released a pulse of light and energy. More pebbles came into existence as light touched them for the first time. Two walls appeared, worn into smooth but sharp patterns by the unstoppable force of hydrogen dioxide. It began to feel things. The pebbles beneath It, which It was nestled between and anchored in place by, the walls, and even the empty space between them.

Now, with both sight and sensation, It realized something.

It was the Rock.

Well, no.

It was a… thing. A mind?

Soul. That was the word It was looking for.

The Rock was merely a body. A beautiful one.

It was happy to be so beautiful.

But… how could a Rock be a body?

[ Notice ]

You are a Core.

A Core is the crystallization of a soul. Damaged souls are crystallized to prevent destruction.

To alleviate the challenges of lacking a true body, Cores are gifted unique power over their surroundings.

You can create and shape life and matter with minimal mana or effort. Use this to survive.

As a Core, your body is fragile and easy to destroy. Destruction results in the death of your soul.

You, in particular, are a Patchwork Soul, made from many different beings.

You may experience confused memories, mood swings, and insanity more frequently.

Good luck, and do your best to survive.

— Will

It was a Core?

It remembered what Cores were. Large, round gemstones that contained souls. They usually created Dungeons filled with death and destruction. Adventurers would try to destroy Cores. It remembered being an adventurer before. It had made friends, killed friends, made monsters, killed monsters, and drunk a lot. It was mostly just drinking and killing monsters, though. It remembered being a monster once, too! Slipping into the shadow as if It were made of the stuff, killing and eating and killing and growing. Until an adventurer killed It.

Looking at Itself, It could tell that It was indeed a Core now.

It wasn’t sure It believed that It was a Patchwork Soul, though.

It had never heard of those. Or been one.

[ Choose Your Name ]

The entity has been determined to be sapient, but no name was found.

Please choose one.

It does not need a name. It knows what It is without making up a sound for it.

[ Name Chosen ]

The entity will be known as It.

Pah. Fine. Not that it mattered — there was no-one to call It by a name in the first place, other than the strange voice that It saw instead of heard.

There were more important things, anyway. It was a Core. Adventurers would want to destroy It. It needed to defend Itself.

Memory told It three things that Cores made. Monsters, dungeons, and traps. It wanted all three.

But before any of them, It needed something better than a bed of pebbles to lay on. It would not be reduced to such an undignified resting place. Glowing strands of energy snaked downward from the Core, piercing the smooth stones it sat upon. They quickly melded into a single, unified mass of smooth rock. Now It sat in a stone bowl. But It was still at the same level as the pebbles, which was no good. It was an inherently higher being, and It’s standing would be reflected as such in It’s physical height relative to those other rocks.

This time, glowing energy shot out in all directions, and pebbles were taken from all over. The bowl levitated upwards, and pebbles began gravitating towards it. They stuck to its bottom and fused to it, becoming a part of the larger whole. Before long, it was fused to the floor, and It had a pedestal to perch upon. It was the highest form of Rock — It was a Core.

Content with It’s pedestal, It considered what to make first. The echoes of It’s pedestal’s creation carried on in either direction along the walls, seeming to echo without end. Maybe a monster that used sound? Possibly. But sound couldn’t really hurt very well, except for voices. A monster with a voice, then? It liked the idea. Now It just needed to find out what the rest of the monster would be.

Something quick, definitely. A monster which had a voice for its weapon would not need to physically fight, and thus should be able to avoid fighting. That meant something light, with a wide range of motion. It had memories of these strange, faceless wooden dolls with joints all over. They would be twisted into strange poses and held in place. Perhaps they had been used for art?

Stolen novel; please report.

Regardless, it would work well as a monster.

Near the edge of the glow It emitted, It began to form a human-sized doll. It made sure to fully sculpt and add joints to the hands and feet, though. Those were often left featureless and inflexible on the dolls It had seen. In the end, It was left with a large wooden doll that sat lifelessly on the smooth pebbles. The material appeared to be a smooth oak with a more muted, gray hue. The doll blended in with the rocks a little bit. When It nudged it, its joints flopped around uselessly.

That was no good. It wanted the doll to be alive.

Seemingly in response, glowing energy shot forth from the Core and sank into the doll.

After a moment, it got up, and turned silently to face It.

Hello, doll.

The doll waved with one hand.

Oh, no. You’re supposed to be able to talk.

The doll tilted its head at It.

Don’t worry, It will figure out a way to make you work. Hold still.

It extended energy from It’s Core once more, though this time intentionally. The doll simply stood there. The energy hollowed away a mouth, a windpipe, and a chest cavity, tearing away surplus wood from the doll. After a moment, It realized that the new monster would need a jaw and joints for it as well. Some of the energy went to creating more wood to replace some of what was taken.

Within a minute, the doll had a mouth, and should have been able to talk.

Does that work?

The doll opened and closed its mouth a couple times, creating a wooden clacking sound.

Oh dear. One moment, please.

Talking… needed air. It remembered that from Its time as a thing that breathed. The doll needed to breath and move air. How could It give it the power to breathe, though? Maybe It just… needed to try? Like It had done to make the doll alive. Agreeing with Itself, It sent more energy at the doll again, focusing on It’s desire to make it breathe and talk. The doll absorbed the energy.

[ Objective Complete : “Make Your First Monster” ]

The entity has created its first minion that could be considered a monster.

[ Monster : Talking Doll ]

Wooden Doll (Humanoid), SL: 3, Inapplicable

( Skills ):

[ Mimic Voice (Mighty) ], 3 SL

Hello?

“Hello?” Asked the doll in a nearly mechanical voice. Its mouth opened to a thin crescent when it spoke, but moved no further.

Hello! It worked! You can talk now!

“Hello! It worked! You can talk now!” The doll chirped.

Oh…

“Oh…”

I was hoping you could speak on your own. Maybe I can fix that?

“I was hoping you could speak on your own. Maybe I can fix that?”

The doll had to be smart enough to speak for itself. With yet another wave of energy, It tried to make a doll that could think. The effort was… surprisingly difficult. Before, It could just think about what It wanted and it would be done, but now it took will. It had not thought a Rock would be capable of fatigue, nor a Core, but by the end It was exhausted. It could tell there was no more energy within Itself, although already the Core began to refill. The effort had been worth it, though.

“Hello,” said the Doll. This time, it spoke in a light and airy voice that seemed unusually feminine for something that had been an inanimate object so recently. Though, it was still just within range of being androgynous.

Hello…

“You sound very tired,” Doll told him.

It is. Creating you was difficult.

“I see. Thank you for creating me. When you feel better, could you give me some senses, though?”

Senses?

“Yes. I cannot see or hear a thing. I only understand you because I am bound as your minion. I know that I am speaking, but I have no senses that confirm it. It’s very confusing.”

Oh… okay. It thinks It is going to sleep first, though.

“Okay. Have a good sleep, It.”

It succumbed to It’s fatigue, soon falling dead asleep.

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It awoke some unknown amount of time later, and the Doll still stood before It.

“Good morning,” it told It.

Is it morning?

“I do not know, but your memory says that ‘good morning’ is a normal thing to say to someone who is waking up.”

Oh, right. It forgot that for a moment.

The Doll let out a giggle. Being made of wood made the sound oddly… soulless.

It will try to give you senses now.

“Okay.”

It pushed through the last of It’s lingering fatigue — sleeping was a weird sensation for a Core, since It’s Core was really just a Rock. When It felt fully awake, It drew energy from the pretty Rock once again, sending it towards the Doll. It was bouncing up and down on its toes, seemingly excited. Admittedly, It found the action rather cute. It focused on allowing the Doll to see, and concentrated the energy onto a single point on the front of the Doll’s featureless face, around the height a human eye would be at. Only moments passed before the Doll angled its head down to look directly at It’s pedestal. This had been much easier for It than making a thinking Doll.

“You’re beautiful,” it gasped. “I’m so glad I got sight first.”

The Doll knelt before It, and delicately cradled It in its hands without ever actually touching It.

Encouraged by It’s success, It drew more energy from Itself. This, It split into two and sent half to either side of the Doll’s head. It formed minuscule crystal antennae — really, more like hairs — and rooted them to the wood. Then, It focused on allowing the Doll to hear. Crystals would make exceptional ears; they were very sensitive to vibrations. For the final touch, all It did was cast a thin layer of energy over the entirety of the Doll, focused on allowing it to feel. Immediately, the Doll recoiled, realizing it could feel the ground it was kneeling on.

“Thank y— oh. Oh! I can hear myself!” Doll did a little dance and jumped up and down in front of It’s pedestal.

You’re welcome. You are a very excitable one, aren’t you? You almost seem like a child, to It.

“Well, you did just make me,” the Doll said, still bouncing excitedly. “In a way, I am a child. I’m yours!”

It’s… child?

“Mhm,” it hummed.

… Then It shall name you January, for you were It’s first creation.

January gasped again. “Yay! I get a name! I get a name!”

Happiness washed over It, watching It’s child skip in circles around the pedestal.

Perhaps a dungeon is meant to protect more than Itself.