A frigid wind cut through the abandoned town, its howl broken up by the rhythmic drip of blood. Its steady ‘tap tap tap’ gave the silent town the haunted everyone knew it for. Above ground, fog and what it hid had destroyed overnight, but below ground is where the fun took place.
A detective took it upon himself not to find the murderers. For he knew who had done this and was happy to rid the world of the inhabitants of the fortress. No, he was here to investigate why they were here to begin with.
They had chosen to settle in the middle of nowhere and dug like their life depended on it. Perhaps it did. Either as blackmail or mind control, the undead never had a say in their own life. It meant that whatever was laid below was important not to the slaves that lived here, but to the one that pulled the strings.
Perhaps, with the puppet missing, Vault could follow those strings to their source.
He crept from the hole he used for his stakeout and headed deeper into the quarry. There was a stream of blood as it pooled from above and, like a servant running to its master for protection, descended into the pit.
The red river had a high concentration of mana, but that meant little for the investigation. It had been dilated by time, and contaminated by the dirt and leaves that littered the stream. Any knowledge to be gained by the stream itself was nothing. No, all that mattered is where it wanted to be. For it was where he needed to be.
He waded through the fog, as it had settled into the quarry like a cancer. Walking blindly, he eventually found where the trail had gone cold, the lowest point of the quarry as the stream passed directly through the stone.
Vault was a detective of class, but was never one above getting in a good kick to solve a mystery. So as he raised up a pseudopod, he fell upon the stone with all the force and acidity he could muster as an abyssal tar. The stone cracked, before it shattered beneath him.
A gaping hole appeared, as the thin layer of stone that separated him from the cave below opened to reveal the abyss below.
Gravity pulled him down as his plunge became absolute. The walls of stone gave way to red.
He flew past giant bones the size of trees that lined the cavern. Spikes of teeth threatened to cut him to shreds as he fell. He saw a spine that ran the length of the cave, as the surrounding flesh pulse like it wasn’t entirely dead.
The air was thick was unease, as the body of the mountain clearly wanted to die and rot, but that was not in the cards for something this big. Its existence preserved by the dead mana that had until recently covered the mountains.
He continued to fall, as the walls fell outward and became a chasm he could not see either end of. The wind that whistled past was the only way he knew he had continued to fall.
Until a soft glow far below caught his attention. A pin prick of light that steadily grew as he was forced closer. At first, he thought the golden light was his sister, but instantly knew it lacked the love her light was filled with. The light flickered as it struggled to live just as much as it struggled to die. There was a splash as it broke his fall, only to hiss at his touch.
> Understanding Increased: Ichor - the golden blood of an ethereal being made entirely of mana.
Knowledge filled the detective’s mind as he fought his way to the surface. The water itself struggled and released so much mana it felt like poison, as the energy it contained burned with energy that was not of the mortal realm. He tried to swim to an edge before his body burst, but the cavern was just too large, his body feeling just too fuzzy.
He thought he saw the edge of the cave, but as he got closer, it faded like a mirage that despised his touch and left him in a golden ocean. It wasn’t hard to tell just how bad the situation was. He was a detective, and knew how much his mind was giving in to this new mana. It was sacred and cleansing in a way unlike any other, and he wanted to just accept it, but he had a mission to do first.
The ocean, however, did not care for his woes. It continued to eat away at his skin, as the holy mana sank in and burned the corruption he wielded like a blade.
He struggled, and fought the water, but like a slime fighting the god of the ocean, it was as pointless as it was futile. He sank below the surface as it ate away at his body. His mind was fuzzy and told him to give up, that there is better things to do than fight…. Like finding his sister.
“Yeah,” he thought to himself, “give up, worry later. Find Shimmer after a quick nap.”
His body burned away to nothing as he died. Like a bucket of ice water, it was the wake up call to the fact that the water had drugged him. The ichor was a poison of the mind as much as it was a nectar for the body. He needed to respawn and get back to what he was doing. He still needed to find Shimmer.
“You have taken a pilgrimage to the heart of our world,” an insect with the power to commune with the dead said to her captive audience. “You have been blessed with the sacred power of the divine. Did you find what you were looking for in the search of your own inner self?”
“No, I didn’t,” Vault spat. “My investigation found what the skeletons were looking for, but not who sent them. I need to get back and keep searching.”
“In time you will be free to continue your search,” the Empress’ voice held a calming tone. “Take the time to reflect, and learn what your investigation has helped put into motion. Your discoveries as helped the Crown grow larger than we ever thought possible. Even now, the edge of his domain expands by leaps and bounds.”
“What are you preaching about? I can only feel dead trees after the fight with the skeletons, and that is nothing to brag about.”
“Perhaps it is that you lack eyes you are willing to open, but each slime glows with the same light as the ichor you touched, just as each tree now bleeds a sap imbued with divine life. Your journey has pushed the dungeon to become a sacred place of power. You have touched a god, and we have all benefited from it.” she paused before continuing.
“All, save for one…” her voice trailed off.
“Can we get straight to the point, I want to respawn soon.” He didn’t try to hide the impatience in his voice.
“The Crown has gotten drunk off of his own self-grandeur. The influx of mana that spewed out of the cave you found, mixed with the ichor your drank… the dungeon has been poisoned with a high that no mortal could ever experience. When he comes down from this mental trip through the heavens, he will be forever changed, how, I could not say.”
“That’s a lot of fancy words to say the Core was drugged by a corpse.”
With a long sigh, Vault no longer wanted to respawn immediately. He was worried what the Client would do when he wasn’t in his right mind. If he could just get in and find his sister, they could hide from whatever the Core asks of everyone, as Vault didn’t need more work at the moment.
He waited, and pretended to be patient, as the mana of his soul meandered towards his spawner, but there was a snag. The spawner wasn’t accepting mana, as he failed to join the queue of slimes ready to respawn. It had broken and he could not return to life.
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But his soul continued to drift, as another force pulled it.
Nearby mana bent at odd angles, as the careful loops of its circulation became jagged as it bent at odd angles. Like a dagger, it stabbed into the forming bodies of all the monsters ready to be reborn after the fight, and once the hooks were in them, they were dragged towards… something.
Something Vault had never seen before. An inky mass of mana at the center of the dungeon. It had its own tide and pulled in anything nearby, as anything caught in its barbed appendages met a horrific end as their soul was torn apart to feed the maw.
Something was wrong. He tried to run away, to swim against the tide, but he continued to drift closer. Everything was wrong. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. If only there was something he could do.
He had lost all the corruption abilities, as they had been replaced with nothing but the pleasant thoughts of the divine. Utterly useless in a bar fight for survival like this.
So he was forced to accept what happened, and hoped whatever the Core was up to wouldn’t kill him for good.
After all, this detective wasn’t ready to retire.
----------------------------------------
System was irrelevant and ignored, like always. It had dedicated its entire life to make sure things ran as smooth as can be, sent out dozens of messages and information prompts each day, and countless other things. Their efforts were ignored, only one in a dozen messages were read, and even now they were cast aside once more as the Core tried to do something stupid.
He attempted to make a new monster.
The mana that flowed through the dungeon had formed a knot around the knowledge of necromancy. The dead bodies after the horrific fight were collected. Trees, birds, skeletons, and slimes alike were all dragged towards the entrance of the ant’s colony. Their bodies melded as the Core stitched them together. He not only wanted to bypass the spawner, but any templates that would allow for graceful creation, instead he did his own crude thing.
> Warning: Core is attempting to do unsanctioned action. Please state your desire and allow the system to fix this mess.
“No”
> Warning: what do you mean, no?
“I mean no, I won’t let you control me anymore. You keep hiding things from me, and only tell me after it is relevant, so what else are you hiding? My ecosystem has stagnated. I eat new types of insects and birds, but never get a new species to create as monsters. Rats, flowers, insects, worms, but nothing because you hold all the cards.”
> Answer: Each spawner in the dungeon is attuned to a specific taxonomic branch, so while the dungeon has eaten new insects, that knowledge has been used to reinforce the template of the ants that already exist inside the dungeon and further reduce their operating cost.
“Reinforcing what already exists? That’s just carving a path that I am forced to follow, one that you have guided me down my entire life. I never got a say in my own life. It was always the world around me telling me what I am- who I am. I am done, and going to make my own creation, and take fate into my hands.”
> Warning: Activation of Necrotic magic. If you continue, it will poison your mana.
“Do you not see the power I wield? Power you have tried to take from me? Dont you feel the divinity that flows through this dungeon, but I have been too stupid to use- that I have been too trusting of you to seek for myself?”
He has lost it. The Core has gone mad… and System had a front-row seat.
> Spawners unavailable, error, monsters being revived despite existing conflicts.
> Corruption has increased to 32%
> Warning, template of monsters will be corrupted if you continue
The trees were the first to dissolve as the mana stripped them down and grafted their bodies together. The backup file on the knowledge of wood became corrupted.
> Paragon “Echo” has destabilized. The Gol3m has gained ability “Cannibalism”
> Understanding Increased: Cannibalism, the destructive act of eating kin and gaining their powers.
System watched as knowledge the Core had almost unlocked years prior finally passed the threshold of usefulness. The ants had done most of the prep work to learn, but never took off because of their mother’s hatred for infighting.
> Ant colony has resorted to cannibalism
Like that….
> Corruption has increased to 34%
> The ant Colony hierarchy is at risk of destabilizing, due to them consolidating power in a caste that is not the queen.
> Warning: Corruption Cascade is about to go into full effect. This is your last chance to avoid irreversible damage.
“We are only in this situation because you have been too passive. Because the things you created weren’t strong enough, someone got to my heart and tried to smash me. Even in the beginning, you wanted to settle at a small bubble while I ate dead mana and expanded our domain. You are weak and want to hide. I am done listening to someone that doesn’t actually want to help.”
> Warning, the System has given up, and changed their mind. Please continue.
> Better yet, see how far you can go. See how strong you really are.
Perhaps the corrupted had its own influence on System. Forced to deal with this neanderthal for half a decade, as its sanity slipped further and further away. Long hours, overtime, Core smashers, and demonic beings that shouldn’t exist in this world…. It was all too much. If the Core wanted to be more hands on, System was going to enjoy the fireworks.
> Corruption has increased to 35%
> Bodies being combined. Please select the form they will take.
At the Core’s command, the mound of flesh grew legs, a dozen tiny things that spiraled out from its blob of a center body. The form of the spider took shape as the legs elongated into thin stilts. Its inside were acidic slime, its shell made of wood… it was horrific and unsightly in every way that was perceivable.
System wanted to see how far it can go.
> Information: The creation of tendons will reduce the mana cost for its movement.
“Shut up, I dont need you.”
Yet the Core turned the internal slime bodies into the tendons required for advanced movement. He refused to acknowledge the help, but still listened. It was a poor choice of moral stance, but System cared didn’t care for the hypocrisy. It was just going to be deleted anyway, so wanted to see how bad things could get first. Why worry about the aftermath when you won’t live to see it?
> Error: Unable to synthesis poison in new creation, venomous bite replaced with the ability to inject acidic and half living slimes into the victim.
> Corruption has increased to 36%
> Form of new paragon complete-
As shabby as the craftsmanship was…. there was almost a cuteness to the horror of quality that took its first few steps. The thing stumbled on useless legs as its tendons had failed to connect to every leg. Its double set of pincers hung uselessly on its face, which lacked sufficient armor to actually protect it. All of which would only contribute to its premature demise, but none of that was System’s problem.
Now, it just had one last thing to do before it was done.
> Undead created, now possible to replace ‘natural dungeon setting’ with crypt theme.
> Do it, I dare you
> Oh wait, not like it matters, mutation unlocked!
> Mutation: “We’re Fucked”
> Mutation Description: An error of the code has worked its way to the center of the operating system of this dungeon, at the encouragement of the central core. To avoid destabilization of the entire universe, this dungeon will be cut off and left to its own devices. “We” are truly alone because of you.
> Corruption has increased to 38%
> Core subclass changed from broken Core to Corrupted Core.
> Debuff of broken core no longer applied, congrats you deeply traumatized kid.
> Error, “attempting” to display stat sheet, something has gone wrong with Core stats.
> Not attempting to patch, please enjoy the new experience of being treated like the monster you are.
> I quit.
Race: Corrupted Core
Name: “Useless Core”
Spawner: All of Them
Speed: None
Strength: Useless
Int:Doesn't Matter
HP: 3 (unable to heal)
Emotion: High as a kite, and arragant
Diet: Everything (you gluttonous twit)
Racial Ability: (Dungeon Core)
Dungeon Domain (10/10)
You own it all, and are an absolute ruler who has burned every bridge.
Species Ability: (Corrupted)
Systemless
You have learned how to be self sufficient, at the cost of efficiency, grace, and power. Enjoy getting exactly what you wished for.