Author's Note: Some changes were made to Chapter 2 that clarify the restrictions on the Original Dungeon's skills.

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Chapter 3 - Seeding

In a small clearing of a dense forest, the Original Dungeon was being carried. Over grass, roots, and rocks; trekking along despite the weight, and holding on as tight as possible, the journey continued.

“Hey! Are you there!? Somebody answer me!” I cried in desperation.

“Where are you taking me!? Why are you pinching me so hard!? Why won’t you respond!? Please, Undine, I apologize for anything I said!” I continued to cry out.

I was banging my hands and head on the proverbial wall in frustration. The endless abyss was an unforgiving hell for me. Without sight, sound, taste, or even smell, it was impossible to establish any sense of direction or time. The only sensation I had were the constant pressures on specific opposite locations of my body. It was like I am getting squeezed, or pinched between two objects.

Before that, it was a pressure spread out to encompass my entire being. I felt the constant pressure from everywhere, and almost had a sense that I was floating. No tremors were felt from abrupt steps or movement. That was until Undine told me we had arrived and seemed to have set me down on the ground.

Now, it felt like I was being pinched and carried off. Tremors shook my body through two points at set pattern for what seemed like a lifetime. No matter how much I screamed, cried, and shouted, no one responded.

“Oh! There you are.” Undine said uninterested.

I felt the pinching stop, and was once again suspended in a spread of pressure.

“Undine! Thank you! I missed you so much! I’m sorry for whatever I did! Please don’t give me the silent treatment again! I promise to do whatever you ask, just don’t abandon me again! These past weeks were absolutely unbearable!” I cried out in mix of happiness and distress.

“Stop being over dramatic. I was only gone for five minutes. Although, coming back to find you being carried off in a row of ants was amusing, so I watched that for another five minutes. I didn’t think the ants would make it over the circle of rocks and sticks I put in their way.” She responded with a bit of mischief in her voice.

“HEY! Is my suffering that amusing to you!? How am I supposed to know how much time has passed!? God, why me!?” I shouted angrily.

“In a word, suicide.” She responded coldly.

If I had known that this was the punishment for suicide, I would have kept on that miserable and boring past life. At least I had five senses, and the internet to waste my time away. The dark silence without smell or taste would have me cornered and crazy by now, if not for Undine.

“Ah, that reminds me! Hey Undine, why didn’t George respond to me?” I asked.

“He’s busy.” She answered indifferently.

“Busy? He’s a chair! What could he possibly be busy with!?” I asked in disbelief.

“Protecting your soul from the corruption. The corruption is like a cancer, or a computer virus. He has to concentrate to make sure it doesn’t spread and corrupt the rest of your soul, including the new memories and information. It takes almost all of his concentration to quarantine the infected areas. Overtime, the corruption will be cleansed, but the process is long and difficult.” She explained sadly.

“New information and memories, I thought the body stored information apart from the soul?” I asked.

“Normally yes, but in your case it is different. Normally, the soul is reformatted and restarts the entire process from zero. This means that the soul doesn’t need to be cleansed or quarantined, it is just wiped clean and a new body will bring new information. However, in your case, if we bring a new body with new information to a corrupted soul, the new information will become infected and spread the corruption. So, your current body contains your entire soul, past memories and everything. Didn’t you think it was weird that you were so self-aware despite your current age?” She continued with a hint of annoyance.

“Well excuse me! It’s not like I can even tell the current time, let alone how old I am!” I argued.

“It hasn’t even been a full day since you were ‘born’.” She informed.

I sighed and asked the big question. “So, how long will it take for my soul to be completely cleansed?”

She remained silent for a moment and said “Hundreds, Thousands, Hundreds of Thousands, Millions of years. Can’t really give you an answer. It will take as long as it takes.”

After that was said, Undine and I stayed silent for a while. I could have continued the conversation, but I decided that constantly talking would just make future silence unbearable again. I took the time to review my status, but nothing had changed. I should have checked for that ‘Special Sense’ skill. Surely that would have allowed me to sense the mana and possibly view the outside world. I could have chosen the ‘Magic Comprehension’ skill as well and possibly had the same effect. I don’t even know what Undine looks like, or where we are.

“Hey Undine, where are we? You said we have arrived, but to where?” I asked.

“We are in a clearing located at the center of a dense forest. The mana is thicker here, and it is here that we will make the first dungeon.” She answered.

“First dungeon? I thought a Dungeon Core could have only one dungeon.” I asked confused.

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“Your thoughts are correct. Each Dungeon Core has only one dungeon.” She answered.

“Then how am I going to have more than one dungeon, you said ‘first’ dungeon?” I continued.

“I never said this was ‘your’ dungeon. We are going to plant the seed that will make this area into a dungeon. When I left you earlier, I had setup the ground work to perform the ‘seeding’.” She explained.

“What do you mean by setup the ground work?” I asked with a bad premonition.

“Mana flows through everything, the ground, the water, the air, the living, and the dead. However, the flow rate is different for each material. Mana flows easier and more spread out in the air, than in water or the ground. Same comparison for the living versus the dead. The ground work I have set up is a dense stone. I cut the stone in half, created a tiny indent in the center and set it aside. I also found a suitable stone to become the seed. After we perform the seeding process, we put the seed in the indent, and close the two halves around it. The mana in the surrounding stone will become more refined and concentrated. The concentration of mana will cause the seed to mature and eventually break out of the stone like hatching out of an egg. The concentrated mana from the broken stone will burst out, alerting the world to the core’s maturity. The environment will then begin to mutate faster and the dungeon will start to spread.” She clarified.

“Ok, that doesn’t sound too bad, but what is the ‘seeding process’?” I asked while starting to feel nauseous.

“I’m ready when you are, Undine.” Stated George.

“Ok George, I’ll get started right away.” Said Undine.

Then, I felt myself being put down, possibly pressing up against something. I felt something encase me almost completely. I remembered what was described before, and figured I should be up against the suitable ‘seed’ inside of the ‘shell’.

Suddenly, a very intense pressure was being applied from all directions. The pressure increased by leaps and bounds as I cried out in pain for what seemed like an eternity. My very being felt like it was being compressed to the size of an atom.

Next, the pressure started to lessen, and a sharp pain coursed through my body. I felt like I was forcibly being split in two pieces. I could only think to compare it to being the atom used in an atomic bomb when it blows up. I wanted to crawl into the fetal position on my divine chair and cry uncontrollably for the next thousand years.

Notice: Dungeon Core Creation Successful New Dungeon Core Created Through the actions of your bound familiars, you have successfully created a new Dungeon Core. Corrupted Data was transferred to the new Dungeon Core, and will be cleansed before reaching maturity.

I slowly read the displayed notice before figuratively looking up and asking “What just happened?”

“Simplest answer would be ‘HPHT’.” Answered Undine.

“HPHT…HPHT…HPH… HEY! Isn’t that the process to synthetically produce diamonds!? High pressure, high temperature to dissolve and transfer high purity carbon materials that attach to a small ‘seed’ diamond!? That’s why you called it ‘seeding’!? I’M THE FUCKING SEED!? They don’t take the seed out of the synthetic diamond! Did you have to break it the fuck off!?” I screamed and shouted.

“While Undine created the high pressure, high temperature process with magic, I forcibly transferred a certain amount of corrupted data into the newly fused pieces. Like moving an infected computer into a DMZ of the network to prevent it from spreading and to remove the virus. The new Dungeon Core will be wiped clean and new life will be created when it reaches a certain level after maturity. Yes, it is painful, but it will significantly reduce the amount of time required to cleanse your soul.” Explained George.

“Additionally, you are the only Dungeon Core in existence. We need to reproduce more Dungeon Cores and plant them. This will keep you from getting discovered too quickly as well as refine the ambient mana around the globe. It will take years for these new Dungeon Cores to mature. When they do, they will produce a more magically adapted world that will speed up your overall growth. It will take you much longer to mature than these new Dungeon Cores. Unless we can make enough of them to remove the majority of the corruption, if not all of it.” Added Undine.

“How many more times will I have to go through this shit!?” I asked trying to control my anger.

“Several dozens of times, but there will be time in between. Undine will have to carry you to specific mana-rich areas that will cultivate the new Dungeon Cores, and provide enough magic for her to perform the process. I will also need time to concentrate on setting up the separate quarantine for the corrupted data to be transferred each time.” Answered George.

“Or you can spend the ungodly amount of time it will take to cleanse you naturally.” Said Undine with a bit of sarcasm.

I slowly started to imagine what a tried and true eternity would be like in this personal hell. Nothing was perceivable around me, just the pressure and pain from the seeding process. The warmth of the sun, the cool breeze of the night, the taste of a home-cooked meal, the smell after it rains, and the sound of thunderstorms were lost to me.

“Fine, I’ll go with your plan George, but it better be worth it. I don’t want to be trapped in this dark abyss forever.” I said making my decision.

“Quit your bitching about that already, Suicide. I don’t recall any diamonds complaining.” Responded Undine.

“Diamonds don’t fucking feel it!” I snapped back.

“How would you know that?” She quipped.

“FUCK YOU!” I shouted.