Isa came to in the same place that she logged out. Francis was waiting for her.

"Miss Evie has gotten better and better as you were gone. I brought her over to me and discussed ways I thought she could do better with footwork. I know I am not a parkour expert, but I think I have good footwork. Evie seemed to pick up on what I showed her, but it's like there is a disconnect with language or something between her and me. Just so you know, you have been gone for 3 days. Lady has recovered and has something she wants to talk with you about when you get the chance. She told me it is unimportant, but just a quest she wants to offer you. What would you like to do?", Francis summarized.

"I want to look at Evie quickly and then go through the footwork I have learned previously. I feel like I have a better grasp on it than I did the last time you saw me.", Isa responded.

Isa opened Evie's status screen, but a prompt message filled her vision before she saw it.

Be Aware: The pain from the meridians getting suffused with mana will lessen as your meridians become more saturated. Current saturation level: 4%. Current time to full saturation: 1 month, 2 weeks, 3 days, 1 hour, and 4 minutes.

It was true; Isa's pain had lessened since she had last been logged in. Isa wondered if her avatar kept going through time when she was not controlling it.

That’s a question for later.

Evie stared at her for a while, and Isa finally turned to look at her. Once they locked eyes. Isa felt something, a pushing of sorts. “Master….. here.”

As soon as that push happened, another impossible thing happened in this game world. Isa started to think about it and realized that as soon as she claimed this dungeon, this game world had become more realistic. As soon as she realized that, a prompt appeared in Isa's vision.

Be Aware: Evie has initiated Soul Meld with you. This act will "defile" your souls but make the other forever inseparable. Would you like to Soul Meld?

[Yes] or [No]

Isa was stunned…. And had no idea what this would do to her and Evie. As Isa was thinking about the repercussions of what this might do, she heard a voice… from Evie. "Master…. Please.”

Isa trusted that her familiar would not cause her any harm with anything that she asked for. So Isa nodded her assent. As soon as she did that pain wracked her body.

Be Aware…..

Be Aware…..

Be Awa…..

Be A…..

B…..

The pain was so great that Isa wasn't sure if she could stay conscious through it. When Isa fought through the pain a little and looked at Evie, Isa saw that Evie had passed out and was having a seizure and foaming at the mouth. Isa couldn't do anything about it.

As some time passed, the pain became more manageable, and Isa finally noticed that she had a couple notifications she hadn't checked. Isa opened the first one.

Be Aware: You have initiated a soul meld with Evie. Waiting for consent from Evie…. Consent given. Soul meld starting.

Be Aware: You are under extreme amounts of pain during a process in where pain can permanently delete your character. If you don’t endure you will die permanently.

Be Aware: You have remembered something buried in you. You have uncovered the ability: Pain Dampening.

Pain Dampening: You can actively dampen pain in your body. You can also increase the pain in your body.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Cost: N/A

Cooldown: N/A

Be Aware: Through the process of soul melding you have fundamentally changed the ability Pain Dampening. This ability has evolved into Pain Manipulation.

Pain Manipulation: You can completely control the level of pain in your body (you can still die from blood loss or another debuff) and, in minor amounts, can inflict pain upon others; some will resist this skill. As this skill is now levelable, the amount of pain inflicted, the area of influence, and the residual side effects to you will differ as you level.

Cost: N/A unless used for prolonged periods of external influence. From prolonged external use, will suffer debilitating headaches and confusion debuff. Length of headaches and confusion changes based on how prolonged the use was. However they will always be the same length.

Be Aware: Soul meld complete. You can now converse freely with Evie and she can converse with you at any distance. A piece of her resides in your soul now, and you hers, so even outside the game she will be with you. Her code is now available for 10% manipulation in the real world.

"Master, it is so good to talk with you. Now, I can do more complex tasks. I can understand you better, in other words. And I can understand people besides you, including this avatar, Francis. I couldn't understand earlier, but now I'll be able to."

Isa frowned and then thought about it. This was really good news, but then again how would leaving this space change things? Isa was entirely sure now that this dungeon functioned differently than outside of it. For instance, when she was trying to conquer this dungeon, enemies had the same patterns and the same movements. In other words, they were easily manipulated. But now, everything seemed different; everything seemed real like it would be in the outside world, except still video gamey.

Right as Isa was about to respond to Evie she heard a voice at the doorway to the main area.

"I have some bad news. I need to talk with you, but I can't enter the training room; it is off-limits to me.", Lady said.

“Okay, I’ll be over in a minute.”, Isa responded.

"Actually, this is very pressing, and I will need to do something about it soon, or everything you have done will be for naught.", Lady said frantically.

Isa stopped what she was doing and headed over; if this was that important to Lady, then it must be pretty important. As soon as Isa crossed the threshold to the dungeon proper a prompt appeared in her vision.

Be Aware: This dungeon had now been considered a virus to the game. This dungeon will be quarantined and deleted upon completion of study.

Be Aware: You are now considered over the threshold for available power in this game. Character deletion and new character options will start soon.

Be Aware: Evie is too powerful for this game. Deletion is imminent.

Be Aware: The Avatar is not in the game code, The Avatar will be ejected once dungeon quarantined.

Isa had no idea what was happening, but everything she had worked for, all the pain she had gone through, and all the deaths that she had had were going to go away, and she was going to have to start again. Isa had no idea what to do, but she liked how she was. And Isa didn't really want to lose Evie. She had come such a long way very recently.

"You see the problems now. I don't know why you couldn't access them in the Training Room, but these problems just now came up and must be dealt with immediately. I sense that the game world is already quarantining this dungeon. I have something I can do, but I don't really want to do it. It will cause me to go into hibernation for a long period of time. But it seems that I will have to. Take my hand and follow me.", Lady told Isa and held out her hand for Isa to take. Only once Isa took her proffered hand, and Lady started leading Isa toward the mirror fire did she speak again.

"What I will have to do will make you the enemy of the entire game world until I return. You will have Avatar power, well a piece of it. You won't be able to use it, but it holds Authority to alter the game world. That Authority is hated by all instinctively. I will be giving you a couple other things and creating something, but beyond that, I currently do not have enough power to change more. You'll understand more once I do it.", Lady relayed.

Isa had no idea what was happening besides the fact that Lady was going to try to do something that would change…. something. Before Isa could ask Lady sent a thread of power through her arm and into Isa's hand. The burning that happened afterward made Isa quickly pull back her hand like it had been burned. After a second, the pain in her hand died down, and Isa saw that a scar had formed on the top of her hand in the shape of an Ace of Hearts.

“What’s this?”, Isa questioned.

"That is my Mark; it will lead me back here. Once I enter the fire and expel my power to make changes, I will be floating in the subspace of the game; I am not anchored to anything, so that Mark will allow me to find my way back.", Lady answered.

"Now for the coup de gras." Lady stepped into the fire and started to glow brighter than the flames.

After a minute, or so, Lady started spitting out motes of light from her hands that got sucked up by the fire. Then she began to disappear.

“That is all I can do. Good luck young one.”

Isa had a flood of prompts hit her once Lady entirely disappeared.

Be Aware: This dungeon has now been quarantined by Avatar Ladisifur. This dungeon is not connected to the game world and will float in the subspace.

Be Aware: Anchor to the game world has been set in subspace linking to game world. Anchor cannot be deleted as it is in the subspace.

Be Aware: Well of Connection has been created and placed in a ritual room connected to dungeon proper.

Be Aware: You have been deemed an Avatar and, therefore, cannot be altered or deleted by the game world.

Be Aware: As an Avatar, you are considered [Suspicious] by all others.

Be Aware: Your familiar, Evie, is considered an Avatar's aide and cannot be altered or deleted by the game world.

Be Aware: You now have the power to alter time's flow speed up to 10x real-world speed. Be aware that that will affect how drained you are once you log out.

Be Aware: You will always appear in Luck’s Folly when logging in. However you may teleport to last location once logged in.

Be Aware: Francis now has stealth training available. Francis is considered Grandmaster in Stealth.

Be Aware: You have been given Authority. You may not use it in its current form.

Be Aware: You have been given 2 Abilities and 2 Talents

Be Aware: You have been awarded 2000 Attribute Points. Attribute Points outvalue current maximum. Highest possible holding value given. 100 Attribute Points given. Attribute Points to Soul Points conversion now set at 1:1 until Mark is taken.

Be Aware: Well of Connection has tried to Soul Meld with you. Will you allow it to Soul Meld?

[Yes] or [No]

This must be a glitch in my system.