“Just say yes. He’s telling the truth.” Rose perked up from within my brain as the core ground against my armour. “This will only be a benefit for you. You won’t be able to move the dungeon, but you won’t be forced to stay here.”

“OK.” I nodded and pushed him away gently. “I agree. I’ll take over… on one condition.”

“Yes! Anything you say!” He bounced up and down happily. “Please, tell me what you need. I’ll do anything.”

“You’re coming with me. I might have a use for you in the future.”

The core froze in mid-air before its light dimmed. It seemed like a puppy which had been yelled at for peeing on the rug.

“You… want me to be a dungeon core for another dungeon?” Its voice was quiet as it spoke. “I guess that’s better than nothing…”

“No, I want you to help me.” I rested my hand on the crystal with a smile. “I don’t have many friends I can trust, so a new one is welcome. I promise I won’t make you into the core for another dungeon unless you agree to it.”

“Thank you!” The core rubbed against me again, but I brushed it off. Even with my advanced rank armour, it wasn’t comfortable to have a crystal grind itself against your chest.

“Calm down, let me try something. Before anything else, what’s your name? I can’t keep thinking of you as ‘core’.”

“I… don’t have one?” The crystal titled to one side as it answered my question.

“Well, we’ll go with… Cory.” I threw out the name without much thought. At least it would be easy to remember, and Rose’s name wasn’t much better from what she said.

“That seems fine.” Cory bounced up and down, which was the closest thing to a nod he could do.

“Ok, then. Cory it is.” I smiled as I pulled my thoughts back on track. “Can you give me permission to put you in my inventory?”

“Uh, I guess so?”

Collect!

The crystal vanished the instant I activated my skill. A quick check proved it had appeared in my inventory. It had taken the master slot at the top and wasn’t sorted into any of the groups below. The collect skill picked up items directly, whilst the gather skill would split them into their component parts. Gather would only have such an effect on things like monster corpses, but it was still risky.

If I hadn’t been warned previously by Rose, I would never have tried this.

If I’d turned him into crystal bits, I doubt I could have lived with myself.

“Wait, what’s this? What did you do?”

“Don’t worry, this is my inventory. Where I go, you go.” I glanced around at the hall which had been my home for the last few days. “I can let you out later, but for now you attract a bit too much attention. Do you have any combat skills?”

“No…” Cory wasn’t impressed as it answered my question. Rose giggled at it, but I ignored her as I spoke to him in a calm tone.

“Right, so this will keep you safe. You can see everything I can, right? We can explore where you want, and no one will try to take you.”

“That’s fine. This is an improvement… Actually, it’s perfect!”

“Wait, perfect? What do you mean?” I frowned as Cory’s excitement peaked. How would being trapped in someone's mind with no control be ‘perfect’?

“I can help you keep track of your inventory, or give you advice if you need it. I’ll be your helper in the wings, ready to jump out when you need me!”

“He already has a helper.” Rose snapped. I ignored the pair as they broke into an argument and moved to the wall where I had entered.

“How do we get out?” I pressed my hand against the wall. It was smooth and unbroken all the way up, which meant there would be no grips for me to use if I wanted to climb out.

“Happy to help!” Cory broke off from Rose in an instant. “Wait right there, I’ll show you how to open the shortcut.”

A wave of information entered my mind. Cory had pushed all of the instructions for how to run the dungeon into my brain in an instant. It wasn’t too difficult, but most of the complicated functions required a core to complete. I could try to act as one, but that might end up in me being fried alive by the stream of mana.

Opening a door wasn’t that tricky, though.

The wall in front of us broke apart to reveal a tunnel which rose up into the distance. A set of stairs lined its floor, which made the journey easier. As we left the hall, the wall sealed itself behind us and left us in the dark.

Claire propelled herself into the air and landed on my shoulder. At first, I thought she would roll off instantly, but she clung onto my with a thin layer of light blue slime. Her core had changed after she had absorbed the slime cores I had collected. It had transformed from a dull, cracked sphere into a smooth grey orb. The colour matched my armour perfectly…

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That reminds me…

I picked Claire up and set her against the wall. She clung to it as I sent my armour into the inventory. It wasn’t possible to equip it directly yet, but dropping it straight in wasn’t an issue. After that had been completed, I lifted Claire back onto my shoulder and turned to stare up into the darkness again.

“Cory, can you come out for a second?”

“Of course! How can I… oh…”

I pushed him above my head as I continued up the tunnel. His dim light illuminated the path enough so I didn’t stub my toes on the steps repeatedly. After five minutes of constant climbing, we reached the top, though Cory didn’t speak to me during the entire trip.

“Thanks, Cory. that was really helpful.” I patted the crystal and sent it back to my inventory. In its sulk, it didn’t respond to my compliment as it vanished from view. “Can you seal up the dungeon, I don’t want anyone else getting for now.

“Sure.” Cory answered in a dull tone as the pathway sealed itself. I had to trust the other entrance would have closed in a similar manner.

The tunnel took us out of the dungeon, but we had not arrived near the exit. We were stood atop a small rise, but the trees around us still blocked most things from view. A quick glance around showed no recognisable landmarks. We were still in the forest, but finding the way back to the bandit camp would be tricky.

“Rose, any hints?”

“I’m not a GPS. You’re on your own.”

“Wait, how do you know about that?” She had been created in this world, it shouldn’t have been possible for her to know of such a specific item from my world… unless she had lied.

“I learnt a lot about your world when I helped pull your soul together. It’s interesting, but I only picked up a few scraps.” Rose grumbled under her breath, as though I had done such a thing on purpose. “I can’t even ask you, you don’t remember much yourself. Whatever I picked up, you already know. Whatever I didn’t see, you don’t know. It’s so irritating.”

“So, you can’t help me? I should have guessed.” I stepped down from the rise and moved in a random direction.

“Wait, go that way.” I felt a tug on my shoulder as Claire pulled me to the right.

“Why?” I glanced in the direction she had chosen. It seemed the same as any other, so the reasons for taking it didn’t seem clear to me.

“I remember that tree. We’re near the village from before. From there, we can figure our way back, right?” The orb swivelled around as though she had turned to face me. “You promised you would go back and help. No time like the present, right?”

“Yeah.” I smiled and patted the sphere. I heard a little giggle, so I pulled my hand back as though she had burned me. It was difficult to keep it in mind, but this little creature had once been a grown woman.

One that had loved me, apparently…

We walked through the forest as Claire threw out the occasional order. It didn’t take too long to find the village we had visited previously. At first, everyone treated me with suspicion, but then the village leader appeared. He looked ready to send me off without a thought before he noticed who I was.

“Well, if it isn’t the friendly bandit. Here to keep up your end of the bargain, eh?” He spoke with a sardonic grin as he leant on his staff. It was clear he still didn’t fully believe I would stick to my promise, and he wasn’t afraid to show it.

“Of course I am. Come on, let’s go to your house. I have a surprise for you.”

The leader raised an eyebrow before he turned and lead me to his home. The other villagers watched with narrowed eyes as we walked past them. They remembered the last time I had visited, and the people who had been my companions at the time. After the leader had kicked his door closed behind him, he turned to face me with a frown.

“So, you really mean to say that you’ve-”

He fell silent as he saw the pile of coins on his table. I had returned double the amount he had given me a week ago. His eyes widened as he reached out and picked up a gold coin from atop the heap.

“Wait… how?” He put the coin back carefully and stared at me. “Is this some sort of trick?”

“Of course it is, the best kind.” I ran my hand across the small mountain of money with a chuckle. “A friend told me to trust you, and I believe in her instincts.”

Claire rocked back and forth happily on my shoulder, but the leader didn’t notice it as he turned back to the table.

“This money will help us more than you realise. How can we ever repay you?” He spoke solemnly as he held a hand in front of his chest. “If you need me to help you, all you need to do is-”

“Don’t worry about it, I have plenty more.” I waved off his vow speedily. Whilst I was helping him, this would also set a seed for my escape plan should it be needed. “I promised you I would help, so I did. Next, we have to figure out how to get your people home safely. They joined the bandits, but they don’t know the full truth… right?”

“That’s true.” The leader frowned as his hand dropped back to his side. “Well, you’ve met some of them, so that’s not an issue at least.”

“Wait, what?”

When did I meet them? What the hell is he talking about?

“Oh, you didn’t know? A few of those you brought to the village were those who joined the bandits. There are a fair few more of course, but Leah can point them out.”

“Ah.” I nodded in response. I had guessed Leah had some link to the village, and this situation had been one of the most obvious. The other members of my group also being villagers of old came as a surprise, but it made sense. Leah had worked well with them, so the fact they had an old bond checked out.

“Well, things were better under the old commander.” The leader glanced at the pile of money. “He would have never asked for this much. He wanted a lot, but he left enough for us to get by.”

“But he still took it from you, right?” I shook my head irritably. “It doesn’t matter if he’s better, he’s just another leech”

“I guess so.” He turned away and pulled a chest out from under his bed. “The world is dangerous, so having a few strong fighters on your side is worth a sacrifice.”

“Sure.” I didn’t try to argue any further. My logic would never align with his, which was due to the difference in our lives. I had lived on a peaceful world, so this sort of thing was blackmail at best to me. “Well, I’ll get Leah and the rest and come back to meet you. We can figure it out after that.”

“I’m surprised Leah didn’t beat you up. She was the only one who doesn’t believe in the bandits lies. She always sneaked her earnings out to us, which is why we had enough to give you in the first place.” The leader glanced at the pile of coins guiltily. “A portion of this is hers more than ours, but she’d never accept it…”

“Right.” I nodded and pushed myself up from the table. “I have the perfect plan. You said some people in the village don’t want to leave the forest, right? Would they be happy to move slightly, do you think?”

“Maybe, if it wasn’t too far. They feel a link to the forest, not to these buildings specifically.” The leader cocked his head to one side as he stared at me. “But it doesn’t matter, they’d never move far enough to escape the bandits, and the others won’t abandon them. Whatever plan you have, it’ll never work.”

“Trust me, it will.” I walked over to the door and turned to face him with a grin. “All you have to do is trust me. Do we have a deal?”