Layne woke with a start. His chambers were bathed in midday-light, with sunbeams shining in round the edges of his curtains. He had gotten to bed too late again last night. The angry gashes around the core’s hidey hole haunted him – he didn’t know why – and he just couldn’t face the idea of coming home. So, he simply passed by quick enough to grab a horse and head down to High Plantation and a bar. And he lost way too much money. Again. He dropped his fuzzy head back against his pillow.
Despite his efforts to distract himself, his chest still felt hollow. What’s wrong with me? he thought to himself, partially annoyed and confused. It’s just a core. I’m not attached to the other one. And it was true. If he had gotten word that the other core on the island had been destroyed, he would be disappointed at the loss of a dungeon. Not devastated that a core had been lost.
Maybe it had something to do with the loss of potential, he tried to reason with himself. When they realised that it was an anomalous core, a part of him was excited. It was something novel. And the core certainly lived up to that expectation. Swallowing that… distasteful … guy at the beach. Having a little hidey hole right in the first dungeon corridor. The delicate little stem with only a few thorns for defence. It came across as somehow pure, and optimistic. And when he saw the core, he felt a sense of wonder. Now that sense of wonder was diffused with a sense of deep regret, and loss. The hollowness weighed heavily on him, making the thought of getting up almost unbearable. He supposed he should be grateful that at least today his father hadn’t dragged him out of bed at the drop of dawn.
As if summoned by the thought, a furious banging on the doors to his chamber ensued.
“Layne! Are you still in bed? GET UP! We’re leaving for the city in half an hour!” And the baron clomped away, down the corridor.
Layne grimaced.
<>
Lily was also struggling. Not in a general sense, but in a very specific “where is Little Harry?” sense. As far as she could tell, the boy wasn’t in the village. He also wasn’t at the washing spot by the village stream, nor was he at the coconut tree cluster where the children would sometimes converge. She paused and considered. Could he have gone back to his mother’s house, and she just missed him? No. That didn’t seem very likely.
The other children also weren’t around, so he was most likely with all of them. She was just about to continue walking when she heard the rustle of footsteps approaching.
“… well, how do you not have anything yet?” Lily startled at the sound of Bastian’s voice. Diving into the shrubbery, with as much stealth as she could muster on such short notice, she deftly wiggled into a nicely concealed spot as the band entered the clearing.
“How exactly do you expect me to solve this? The baron wants us to find out what’s going on at his house, and at the same time he also doesn’t want us inside.” The man who said that looked slightly annoyed. Stanley and the big lady trudged into the clearing behind them, being quite diplomatically silent. Although the lady warrior did seem to be secretly pleased at Bastian’s displeasure with the tracker. Stanley just looked like he was trying to shrink away, hoping Bastian didn’t notice him.
“I don’t care, you’re the master tracker here,” Bastian bit out. “Find the baron something. We need to gain his trust if we want to get access to his house. There’s bound to be some valuables in there. Gold, daggers, maybe even artefacts. Just find something! We already lost the most valuable thing we could’ve found, with that anomalous core. Not to mention my compass! At the very least just find that little thief for me!”
The tracker’s eyes slid across the space between the coconut trees, and Lily stilled. Had he seen her? For a moment she almost thought he did. But he continued walking past, without any sign of suspicion.
“I did find something already – the tracks leading away from the study and towards the village. If I can pick that trail up again, I’ll have something for you,” the trackers voice faded as the band disappeared into the vegetation again.
As Lily extracted herself from her hiding place she vaguely wondered if she should warn the Baron but quashed the thought almost immediately. It was her tracks they were looking for after all. Plus, she’d already had one too many close encounters with the Baron. Let her not walk willingly into one more.
<>
She finally found the children in the mountainside clearing, where she had also spent much of her childhood years. Cornering a little group she asked, “Hey there, have you seen Little Harry?”
The consensus was that, yes, they had seen Little Harry. They just didn’t know where he was right now.
Lily just shook her head and sat down to think. Where could he have gone? It was hard to focus though, as thoughts of the tracker looking for her footprints kept intruding. She wondered if she could somehow mask her prints – maybe if she got different shoes? She’d have to talk to Agnetha about it.
As she thought, she also absentmindedly watched the children. After a while she noticed all the footprints they were leaving, as she considered what to do about her own. And then she noticed a few small boot prints in the mud leading away from the kids. They disappeared into the grass after three prints. Tilting her head slightly, she drew an imaginary continuous line following the direction of the footprints. It ended right against the mountainside, by some boulders.
She got up, walked over, and studied the rocks. Walking round, there was a gap. Slightly furrowing her brow, she knelt and peered into the gap. It appeared to be the beginnings of a cave.
Skill increase: Observation +2
“Harry? Little Harry, are you in there?” she hesitantly called out, feeling a bit foolish. Just because there’s a hole in the ground, doesn’t mean he’s going to be in it.
To her surprise, a scrabbling sound ensued. Lily quickly backed off and looked around to make sure the other children weren’t too near. If it was some kind of aggressive animal, they’d have to run.
But it turned out to be Little Harry after all. He crawled out of the cave, dusted himself off self-consciously, and then stood there looking at her with big eyes.
Little Harry had been found.
<>
Some food would be nice, Layne thought longingly as he followed the Baron through the winding streets of High Plantation’s business district. They had just walked past a sugar cane stand, where children were enthusiastically sucking on the cut-up stalks. The smell of warm bread was suffusing the air from a nearby bakery, and Layne knew that three streets over there was a stand that sold the most delicious curry. The Baron, on the other hand, entertained no such thoughts. Unlike me, he probably had a good breakfast, Layne silently groused. He didn’t say anything though. All that would accomplish would be to give his father another opportunity to chastise him for his lazy ways. If he hadn’t slept in till mid-morning, he too would’ve been able to get a good breakfast, after all.
“Ah, there it is,” the Baron remarked as they came into view of the book and scroll shop. From the outside it looked like a charming little place, with a freshly painted sign proclaiming “Cornelia’s shoppe – your one-stoppe booke ande scroll emporium”. Personally, Layne thought that there were a few e’s too many on the sign. However, no one could argue with the knowledge the shopkeeper possessed about just about every conceivable subject. That is, if you could find her and didn’t have to deal with one of her two apprentices. He guessed they weren’t too bad, but it was hard to compare them to Cornelia herself.
A little bell tinkled over the door as they entered, and a male apprentice looked up. Maurice, if Layne remembered his name correctly. “Good afternoon, good gentlemen,” he greeted them politely. “Welcome to Cornelia’s book and scroll emporium. Is there anything I can help you find?”
The offer was a necessary one, as the walls of the little shop were lined from top to bottom with shelves displaying scrolls. In the middle there were several rows of shelves, carrying the more modern book selection. Anyone who wasn’t deeply familiar with the shop would be hard-pressed to find what they were looking for without help.
“Yes. We need information about rogue cores,” the Baron responded, foregoing a customary greeting. Layne stiffened.
“Oh yes, sir. That’s a bit of an unusual topic. Let me go fetch Mistress Cornelia for assistance.”
“Well, hurry up then,” the Baron groused.
“Yes, yes sir, immediately,” and Maurice hurried of into the recesses of the shop.
Layne steeled himself, then said, “Uh, you know father, yesterday I went back to the anomalous dungeon...”
The Baron whirled around. “What? Why didn’t you say so before?”
Layne took a breath and forced himself to keep eye contact with his father. “I’m sorry, I was going to tell you, but I got back so late, and we left right after I got up.”
His father waved impatiently, “Just tell me what happened.”
“The core wasn’t there…” And Layne went quiet, waiting for the eruption.
“What do you mean it wasn’t there?” The Baron’s voice had fallen a degree.
“The hole where the core used to be was empty, and there were a lot of footprints – looked like two, maybe three men. I think the core has been taken.”
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
The Baron stared at him for a moment, then turned towards the door and stomped out.
Layne gathered himself, following reluctantly. He could hear the sweet siren call of the High Plantation sea-view bar. He still had a gold or two left in his adventuring pack. He bet they served a delicious lunch. And maybe he could gamble a little bit more tonight. It would be a fine distraction. Just what he needed, in fact. He ignored the part of him which warned that just maybe he shouldn’t take both golds with him.
As the door clicked close behind them, the bell giving one last forlorn tinkle, a woman entered from the back of the shop with Maurice close on her heels. Her long blond hair was pinned in a loose bun, and she wore a strange device consisting of a piece of round-cut glass over each eye, held in place by a thick dark rim. Her green dress looked ever so slightly dishevelled and was covered with dusty handprints in various places.
“Anomalous cores you say?” She said, before stopping and looking around the shop.
“Oh,” Maurice said. “They were just here – it looked like the sugar-cane baron and his son.”
“How curious,” was Mistress Cornelia’s only reply, quirking an eyebrow behind the glass contraption on her face.
<>
As the afternoon turned into dusk, Claire happily watched and waited. Her life-force had been steadily ticking up throughout the day, thanks to her investment in mosses, the glasswing butterfly and her new air-flute scout. The resulting 6% rise in processing speed already made her mind feel better, not to mention the 8% rise in her core integrity. Finally it was dark enough to send the new scout out.
Directing it was easy, having been to the village once already with the glasswing butterfly. As it zipped out of the mouth of the dungeon entrance, she and Rick settled in companionably to watch the island landscape flying by. The construct’s 360° enhanced scotopic vision didn’t disappoint. Neither did its speed and agility. It easily spotted threats in all directions, deftly changing course, veering round, speeding up and slowing down.
“I think this might be the best dungeon scout ever created, don’t you Rick?” Claire asked proudly.
“I don’t know about the best ever, but it is certainly up there,” Rick replied.
“Do you know of even better ones then?” Claire asked curiously.
“Well, in our case studies we once learned about a scout with an astral projection ability. It could literally project anywhere unless a place was heavily warded. The downside was that the projection dissipated as soon as anything, friend or foe, became aware of its astral presence.”
“Sounds a bit like our scout. Very fast and observant but doesn’t do well during the day and can be easily destroyed. Of course, it will have to be captured first, which I think not many things will be able to do. At least in darkness.”
“Yes, exactly. There is always a downside, and weighing the problems with the advantages makes it quite hard to determine a specific ranking. I know, that was one of our first assignments aimed at teaching us this very principle.”
“Dungeon elemental school does sound like fun. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to teach something there,” Claire said with longing.
Rick just laughed, “Let’s first focus on surviving and thriving right where we are.”
Claire also laughed, “That will be my class – surviving and thriving as an anomalous core.”
“I think you’re on to something.”
<>
It wasn’t much later when the air-flute scout zipped into the mouth of the cave. Even the darkness therein was no match for its eyesight. The entrance cavern was fairly large, maybe two metres broad and one metre deep, and high enough where a person could almost stand. It narrowed a bit towards the back, but from there a branching tunnel led deeper into the earth on a progressive decline. For now Claire wasn’t interested in mapping all of the tunnels, so she had the scout concentrate on the ones that seemed to extend in her general direction.
Still, it took her deep into the night to map all the relevant ones, with some just randomly coming to an end, others being blocked by past rock falls and tunnel collapses, and still others eventually changing direction and heading away from her again.
She did find it curious, though. Some of the tunnels reminded her a bit of what she was capable of manufacturing, although very worn and impossibly old.
“Hey Rick, look at this tunnel wall. Do you see what I see?”
“If you mean it looking like a very old dungeon tunnel, then yes.”
“Do you think we might be intruding into someone else’s territory?”
“Oh no, definitely not. If that core was still operating, you would have seen quite a few constructs by now. Additionally, the core wouldn’t have tolerated an intruder exploring its tunnels as blatantly as you are. No, I think this is simply a partial relic of a very old dungeon that lost its core.”
“Oh, how sad,” Claire sighed as she continued exploring.
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Later still, Claire finally ceased her exploration, silently musing. Almost all the tunnels extending in her general direction were mapped now, and there was one very promising one. It crawled deep into the island earth, extending most of the way to her location, leaving a gap of only about 500 metres for her to bridge. Only, it was also a very disconcerting tunnel. It was dug in a rough and jagged way, very pockmarked, especially towards its end, and partially collapsed in some places.
From her perspective as a core, she could reconstruct a story of another core, very long ago, desperately digging away as the last of its constructs tried to defend it. Finally, it ran out of whatever it needed for digging, and met its demise.
The tunnel was convenient for her, and quite reachable. But being able to deduce the end of its creator made it quite a macabre location. Joining it felt like moving into a house where a massacre occurred.
Rick did not share the feeling. He was dancing in the air around her, shouting, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Then he noticed Claire’s silence.
“What’s going on, Claire? Aren’t you happy too?”
“I don’t know what to feel, Rick. Don’t you see what had happened to the core who used to live here?”
Rick paused as Claire had her scout survey the area again for his benefit.
“Oh, I see…” he said. “But Claire, you can’t let that stop you. The normal cores really aren’t like you at all. They don’t think and feel like we do; they’re more like constructs than like real beings.”
“Maybe, but how many of them would try to dig away from danger and flee? This core was scared, and it wanted to survive.”
“You’re ascribing your own feelings to it. Any core would’ve done the same on the basis of pure self-preservation. Or do you think it was an anomalous core, like yourself?”
“I don’t know. Maybe?”
“Hmmm,” and Rick also fell silent as he considered. Then he spoke up again, “Well, maybe, and maybe not. Regardless of whether it was or not, perhaps another way to look at it is that by following in its footsteps, you’re not allowing all it achieved to go to waste. By joining your dungeons, you can honour this forgotten core and bring new life to what it had built.”
Claire looked at Rick in surprise. She had never heard him speak so eloquently before. Especially in the beginning, when he was basically just a bundle of nerves, trying to deal with the anomalous curve ball life had thrown at him.
“Wow. Yes, when you put it like that. Maybe I can restore these old tunnels to their former glory. That would be something. I bet the old core would like that,” she mused.
<>
Connecting her dungeon to the ancient one turned out to be quite easy. All she needed to do was to extend another shaft from the closest point in her existing dungeon to that tunnel.
Claire took a deep breath as she prepared for the drop in her main stats that she knew would follow as she worked on the shaft. At least it would yield her more raw matter again. She might even gain another blueprint or two.
As she dug, she could feel the familiar drain in functional capacity and the corresponding effect on her processing speed and core integrity, but she gritted her metaphorical teeth and pushed forward. This was going to put her in the worst state yet, but it was necessary. She shuddered as she felt some hairline fractures forming. Only a little further, only a little further, she repeated her mantra.
And then she gasped as the final barrier between her and the ancient dungeon fell away. In her mind, a whole new map section had just lit up, and she felt a rush of awareness as the totality of the old dungeon suddenly merged with her current territory. But that wasn’t all; a new notification had also sprung into existence.
Hidden reward unlocked: Territory Tycoon 1
You have literally gone the extra mile, extending your dungeon far beyond what most cores ever can or will. Intrepid? Yes! Such industriousness deserves to be rewarded!
+50 LF per territory km per day for up to 14 km’s
——>
Upgrade achieved: Territory Tycoon 2
You have literally gone the extra mile, extending your dungeon far beyond what most cores ever can or will. Intrepid? Yes! Such industriousness deserves to be rewarded!
+25 LF per territory km per day for up to 49 km’s
“Claire, Claire, what is it, Claire?” she heard Rick’s urgent voice. “What’s going on? Are we in danger?” he hyperventilated, flitting about urgently, as if looking for an escape. It felt like forever to her, as she tried to make sense of the notifications in her reduced state. Finally, it snapped into place.
“I guess it depends. How much danger do you think this is?” Claire slowly jubilated as she projected the new notifications for him to see.
<><><>
Character sheet summary at the end of Chapter 19
Claire
Type: Life-Mind
Level: 1
Integrity: 34%
Processing speed: 24%
Functional capacity: 17%
Progress to next level
-1 080/250 LF Performance provision
928/500 Dungeon Investment, consisting of:
748/≥125 LF
180/≥125 ME
33/250 Skill Share Value
Core defence enabled
Cutting thorn barrier
5 LF to initiate
Continuous drain of 10 LF per day
Resources available
Biomass: 118
Mental energy: 9
Raw material: 334
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Lily Hunter
Primary class: Rogue Level 1
Secondary class: Herbalist Level 1
Status effect: The Gods’ favour for 24 hours
Active quests
Help Little Harry!
Progress to Rogue Milestone 1
1/250 EXP
Progress to Herbalist Milestone 1
0/250 EXP
First-tier skills
Deception 2/20
*Herbalism, basic 9/20
*Identify 5/20
Lock picking 5/20
*Nursing, basic 2/20
*Observation +2 → 14/20
Petty theft 1/20
Pick-pocketing 4/20
*Poisons, basic 5/20
*Poison resistance 1/20
Quick thinking 2/20
Sneaking 8/20
Sleight of hand 2/20
Second-tier skills
Spying 0/50
*Skills contributing to secondary class.
<>
Lily’s tab (Yes, Agnetha is counting.)
x1 donkey
x1 glowstone
10% of Lily’s profit
Two days assisting Widow Hari
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