The Core was unsure about what to do with its time. Or it did suppose it had a lot of things it could be doing. Blood-stains needed to be cleaned up, a few pieces of flesh were still hanging on to the walls, and there was more than enough footsteps to cover with a fresh layer of dust. It was all about the atmosphere after all. When the [Enlightened] stepped into the newly discovered Dungeon, finding pieces of meat hanging everywhere would make most just turn heel and go right outside again. That wasn’t the intended result, forcing the Core to constantly redecorate over to a certain standard.

What did those people like so much about unexplored caves anyway? They must have known just how many of them there were in the system below ground yet there had never been a moment where they all decided to run down and see what it had to offer. Yet the moment that there was treasure, any ideas about self-preservation went straight out of the window. The concept of mortality was ignored in favour of material wealth. The Core was unsure of what to think about that.

It could have been happy that it was there, unhappy that such stupid species ruled over most of the known world, or perhaps regretful that their idiocracy didn’t exapnd to running directly into sharp rocks when seeing gold just beside it. If it didn’t have to clean up after the [Enlightened] and just leave the stains as a part of the environment, so much time would be saved. But, oh no, the Core couldn’t do that. No, it had to clean every single piece up. It fully understood removing the larger body-parts, of course. Those were too easy to rot away, making all kinds of bugs permeate the area. Bugs not under the Core’s control to be precise, which was the real problem. An army of small creatures sounded good in theory if only because it would be an army extremely hard to kill. With every bug killed, thirty could take its place, overwhelming a normal group of adventurous in mere seconds.

Not that the Entity could actually create such a thing. It still had those nasty requirements holding it down. At the current time, it couldn’t even create twenty creatures in total and hold them under its direct control. It was annoying and certainly something it would focus on fixing as soon as possible.

Getting back to the point of creating the standard setting for adventours, however, the Core was still unhappy with the vague yet precise requirements for the [Enlightened] to be interested in killing themselves in the name of Gold. It needed to look unexplored yet not to the point where they didn’t have the ability to make a precise map of it. Everything needed to be semi-natural looking and have no real signs of intelligence at first. Monsters needed to be further inside so they wouldn’t scare anybody away at first. Not that the Core understood that lost one much, however. If people would be scared of a creature in one location, would the change of scenery really shift their opinion? It was still the same creature, after all. Only the lighting was different.

The minds of humanoids were still one step too far away. They liked some creatures with fur but others were something terrifying to look at. What were the standards really? And why did exoskeletons make them shake? They lacked fur. They could be cleaned much more easily. And, most importantly, their more smooth exterior allowed for a much more coordinated form of understanding. Nothing was truly hidden, all vital organs proud on display. So… why exactly did people fear them? It showed off all the elements of a creature that did not need to be feared. It was easily understandable, all features could be seen, and it was on average smaller than the average humanoid. If anything, they should have been the perfect pet.

But, alas, the minds of [Englightened] were too stupid to fathom such an easy fact, making their name seem so out of place. All those creatures could do were scream when around the ants instead of anything productive. Maybe try and put logic into the equation instead of just babbling and losing fluids from all kinds of places. The Core just couldn’t understand it. Their method of communication was based on verbalisations so why was smell becoming such a large part of the program when the ants were involved? Only time would tell, though time would also tell if the Entity would be able to handle that constant screaming put out. Even with the Queen working on it, there was no end to it.

‘Is there any progress in getting it to shut up?’ the Core sent out, hoping to get some form of positive update. It truly was the greatest idea to only leave one of them on the mortal plane. If the Core had been forced to listen to two of those things screaming without end, it was sure it would have made them both quiet down in a much more efficient and permanent way. Even trying to ignore the place the sound was coming from was proving pointless since it just traveled to anywhere else as well.

Sound was too powerful a tool. It went too far around the area. Now that the Core had officially gained control of quite the large distance, being able to follow the echo all the way outside was proof that some insulation needed to be made. The Queen had no real way to know how such a system could be made so the Core had temporarily just stepped up a lot of jagged lines on the roof. While extremely peculiar to look at, it did contain the noise to being only inside the Dungeon instead of outside as well. Something needed to be done in the future, though, when the Entity could finally start getting information in from the outside.

‘I believe it is a little rock. And, no, there is not much I can do at the current moment,’ the Queen said as she continued her work. She stood a few meters away from the [Enlightened], letting her children do the job of holding it down. Or… the Core supposed that it was a he instead of just another creature. How needlessly specific those humanoids were.

‘Do keep me updated on any progress then,’ the Core responded, knowing that it would likely take a while more. It understood when Mother Carapace had said that [Mind-Manipulation] wasn’t her forte but the Entity had still expected some larger level of skill in it. She had the [Skill], after all, so that should have meant something.

It was used quite frequently, at least, to control some of her underlings on a more personal scale. Their minds were twisted and they became even more ruthless than usual. The Core hadn’t seen it much before, only getting a hint at the potential during the older times where it and the Queen fought. The skill could apparently be used for enhancing a creature’s abilities for a shorter time if done right, though it came at the damage of the creatures dying shortly after.

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… Thinking about it again, that use of the skill might have been the reason it was so ineffective at the current moment. There was no doubt that the Queen was good at what she did btu having the creatures be dumb cetainly made the process much easier. When tasked with the job of putting the spell on ten stupid creatures, she could do it without issue. When being talked with shutting an intelligent creature, however, it became slightly harder to do. The complexity of the mind could certainly create some amount of hardship and when mixed with the fact that the person was already quite agitated, it became much harder to do effectively.

But, perseverance would win out in the end. Since the [Enlightened] mind needed rest at some point, their defences would almost certainly be lowered. It could take a few minutes or a few hours. It didn’t matter. At some point, the Queen could make them shut up and follow orders. Then they could move on to more important things like strengthening the Dungeon as a whole. Those weaknesses seen before were not acceptable. Everything seen would need to be improved on at some level, starting with those awful door designs.

Before that, though, the idea of improvement reminded the Core of one simple fact. It had gained a level very recently.

Character Screen

Name:

-

Gender:

-

Level:

10

Class:

Core

Race:

Core

Title:

The Ancient One

Health:

160/160

H-Regen:

0.15/sec

Mana:

190/190

M-Regen:

0.12/sec

Stamina:

-/-

S-Regen:

0/sec

Basic Stats

Strength:

-

Wisdom:

18

Vitality:

15

Intelligence:

12

Dex:

-

Willpower:

14

Available points:

2

Resistances

Fire:

10%

Earth:

30%

Water:

-20%

Arcane:

10%

Lightning:

-20%

Light:

10%

Wind:

0%

Darkness:

0%

It had gained- no, wait, what? The Core, more than happy to focus on its new level and the available points gained from it, was more than a little surprised by the new part of its [Status Screen]. Where there was normally nothing, [Resistances] were suddenly added in the end, each defining some form of Element. Basic Elemental ones were noted down, Arcane, Light, and Darkness sticking out from the rest. Lightning could have been on that list as well but the Core wasn’t entirely sure. It just knew the fact that it could see it now. And what a spectacle it was.

That negative resistance to water, though… that wasn’t nice to see. Lightning as well would prove unwise to meet in larger amounts. The resistance to earth was very great to hear, the Core happy that it didn’t need to fear the rampant underground as much as it had done previously. Still, getting buried was not on the current plan.

Leaving resistances for late, the Core looked towards the two new points it had to work with. It had previously had some amount of planning for what to put it’s point in yet each new development just made it harder to stick to that plan. It couldn’t predict what impacted what, after all, and the future was quick to turn everything upside down.

Making decisions based on current events rather than the ones made in the past seemed more thoughtful down the line, though the Core understood that the older problems were still around. The current idea was to put it in [Willpower], yet [Intelligence] also needed more…

What did it need the most? More space for the Dungeon or more creatures to fill in the pieces of the Dungeon already made? Making its decision based on that and nothing else, the Core put it into Willpower, raising it to sixteen. Another point in it would allow the [Ancient One] title to come into effect and raise by an additional point so that was definitely the one to get upgraded next time as well.

‘Little rock, I don’t think this is going to work,’ the Queen sent out, taking the Core out of its number. ‘His mind might be restless but he hasn’t wavered these last hours. It might take days before I could break in with brute force.’

That wasn’t good to hear.

‘What other suggestions do you have then? We need a servant, and I think you made it clear that these humanoids had very abstract morals,’ the Core stated.

‘Think about how we catched this one,’ Mother Carapace pointed out, looking towards the point the Core used to look at the process. ‘He had neither will nor desire to save anybody in his group yet was as pathetic as anything else the moment his own life was meant to be over.’

‘So?’ the Core questioned.

‘It means I don’t have to use Magic to break him,’ the Queen began, her voice turning sweeter with every second. ‘I believe words will be more than enough to bend this one to our will.’

…The Core allowed it to start anew.