With the exception of Aaron’s pitiful performance, the core had been quite happy with its new and improved undead dungeon. The various undead had met the core’s expectations, and the challenges had appeared to be within a level that the humans could handle, strengthening them and preparing them for more.
As for Aaron, when his consciousness had returned to his soul in the stone, the core had been intrigued and interested to see this new behavior from a soul. At the body’s destruction, the soul had not tried to leave for elsewhere, but had instead remained in its vessel, primed and ready to be given another body.
Unfortunately, Aaron had not prepared another body, so the core had needed to step in and rectify that matter.
Oddly, the undead had been more upset about the theft of his staff than he had been about the destruction of his body.
Regardless, the former human had made impressive progress with his mastery and comprehension of magic and death affinitied mana, and while he had not done well against his first opponents, the core had already seen what Aaron was capable of, and knew that there were few, if any, humans who were capable of matching his abilities.
He would prove a powerful defender, eventually.
With the undead dungeon developing and receiving guests, the core felt it was possible to proceed with some of its other projects. The more that it developed and grew, and the more that it pushed and expanded its abilities and knowledge, the greater its control of its Concepts and its understanding of what it was capable of.
One thing that had become a top priority for the core was to gather more humans under its control. It had only partially succeeded with Aaron, seizing the man’s soul, but destroying his body in the process. There was no way to proceed further with developing humans with Aaron, which meant that the core needed to find other options. Unfortunately, the circumstances that had led to Aaron surrendering to the core would be very, very difficult to replicate, and the core did not know how else to achieve similar results.
It was clear that the core had to be allowed access to a human in order to be able to manipulate or change them on a fundamental level. The boosts and rewards that the core offered were only able to alter humans’ minds or bodies because they subconsciously accepted the gifts, which allowed the changes to take place. This did not allow the core to make any changes without the humans’ assent, which did not allow for a great deal of experimentation.
After finding and piecing together the disparate bits and pieces scattered throughout various species and bringing the dragon into being, the core had found that its mastery of the Concept of life had spiked significantly, and it had started searching for other, similarly hidden treasures within different mundane creatures it had access to.
Was it possible that there were keys to other species hidden within those that currently lived? What else could be given life?
To this end, the core started developing more and more dungeons and placing them in a wide variety of climates and locations, hoping to gain a more complete picture of life in general, but more specifically, to uncover hidden gems like the dragon.
Unfortunately, the sub-cores for each dungeon were starting to be insufficient. The core’s mental capacity and ability to multitask improved with each additional sub-core, but even so, there was so much going on in so many different places that the core had found several different events had escaped its attention until it was too late.
While regular events that happened repeatedly could be handled automatically, anomalies or new incidents needed the core’s direct attention, and such events were occurring more and more frequently as it spread itself further across the continent.
Also, the core was starting to feel a certain resistance to its development. In the past, it had been able to expand without issue, provided its main self was large enough and there were enough sub-cores. More recently, the core had found that it was no longer able to passively expand its range of perception.
This realization had been one of the first things that the core had learned had escaped its notice, and it had no idea how long the resistance had been present.
Something did not want the core to continue to expand.
To this end, the core started trying to organize and categorize everything that happened and everything that it encountered. The more that things could be automated, the more that system of organization would help the core to pay attention to things that mattered.
With the new dungeons that were starting in specific climates, the core was able to further expand its knowledge of plants and creatures, and that pushed its control of the Concepts of life and growth to improve further and further.
An additional project of the core’s was toying with the power it had taken from Anba when his Legate had died. That power had created a connection between the core and a larger portion of the Concepts of life and growth, but the connection was a vague, indistinct thing that felt unlike anything the core had ever encountered before.
It was an odd thing, this power, as it did not act like mana, and did not seem useful in any discernible way. Still, the fact that it had come from a god meant that it was worth investigating and learning about.
Interestingly enough, it was not any priest or magic user who gave the core a hint as to what the power was, but the Savaren Empire.
One year after the defeat of Farun, the Savaren Empire carried out a massive ceremony in Guilone, officially declaring the former nation to be the newest province of the empire, and the name was declared to be Uttara. When this happened, the new governor also declared his authority under the name of the emperor.
All of this had passed beneath the core’s notice, as it was just another human gathering that did not impact the core at all. There was no threat, so it was irrelevant.
What did matter was that the following day, stone slabs appeared at all of the publicly known dungeons and were placed right next to the writing the core had left to announce the entrances.
With the stone being carved, the core was able to make out the writing, and it found that they were all practically identical, with only the second line being different:
This dungeon is property of his Imperial Majesty, entrusted to the military of the Sercen Province for the purpose of training and strengthening the empire.
Long live the emperor.
Property of the emperor? What was this outrage! The dungeons belonged to the core and to it alone! The dungeons had all been created by the core, formed from its absolute control that existed within the confines of those dungeons. Having this ownership challenged infuriated the core, and it prepared to destroy the stone slabs.
Suddenly, it stopped.
How would it declare its authority over the dungeons? What should be done? The core’s instinct was simply to destroy the offensive signs, but after a moment, it had realized that doing so would accomplish nothing.
At that moment, Anba’s power positively writhed under the core’s control. This power had always been docile and had felt as though it belonged to the core in the same way that its mana and dungeons were its own, but at this moment, the power started rebelling.
Confused, the core allowed the power a bit of freedom. It did not seem like it was trying to escape, and if it did, the core could instantly retake control.
Oddly enough, the power did not move, but instead diffused throughout the original dungeon.
The power permeated the entire place, and once it had spread across every last bit of the dungeon, the core understood what the power was and what had happened.
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That power was Authority, which dictated the gods’ domain of power. Anba’s Authority was over the sky and the sun, which encompassed the Concepts of growth, life, and order. The gods’ Authorities were what made their temples into a part of their own realm, as their Authority bound the temples to the gods. This was also why gods could share Concepts, while having vastly differing domains of power.
Authority was a power that followed the innate nature of gods that was present when they first appeared, and the faith of their believers was what created a niche in the world for each of the different gods.
The core’s nature was that of greed and possessiveness. It desired all Concepts, all power, all of the world.
The power of Authority resonated with the core’s desires and nature, and it gained the Authority of totality.
A resonance appeared and spread, shifting away from the physical realm and into the divine, following the Authority’s original connection to Anba. The resonance rang throughout the Concepts of life and growth, causing Anba’s control to tremble, and the god himself to freeze.
On and on the resonance spread, reaching another Concept, that of order, which was Anba’s third and final Concept.
It was at this moment that the quality of Authority was made clear, and a hierarchy was enforced. Anba was the god of the sun and the sky, overseeing things such as weather, crops, the changing of the seasons, and other similar matters.
The core was an existence that fully and completely controlled all within its domain, even if it did not normally exert that control. It was a tyrant, a dictator, and it would brook no superior, as such a thing was antithetical to the core’s very existence.
The difference in quality of the two Authorities was irrefutable, and thus Anba, by the very nature of his divinity and Authority, was forced to submit to the core.
At that moment, the core seized control of Anba’s Concepts, gaining access to the Concept of order, and taking a much, much greater hold of the Concepts of life and growth.
In particular, there was only one other individual holding partial control of the Concept of life, and at this moment, the core understood that this entity was Yur, the goddess of the earth.
As long at the planet and the earth itself endured, so would Yur.
Many, many things happened at this same moment. The use of Authority and a newly aspected Authority appearing on a planet had previously always heralded the birth of a new god, but while the pantheon could sense that something was encroaching upon their territory, that something felt like a void or an emptiness. Something was fundamentally missing from this new arrival, and it was clearly not a god.
As for Anba, things were even more bizarre. The god retained his sense of self, and yet not. He retained his Concepts, but only in a secondary manner. That control could be taken from Anba at any moment, and he knew it.
He still had all of his previous memories and knowledge, and yet he felt nothing but a sense of submission to the one that stood above him.
While this happened to Anba, the core’s new Authority grew and expanded, feeding on the core’s nature and power as it spread throughout all that the core claimed as its own. At this moment, the dungeons were no longer merely difficult for the gods to enter, but utterly impossible, unless they were invited. In the same manner as the gods’ temples, the dungeons were under the core’s Authority, and no one with Authority could encroach upon a region claimed by another’s Authority. It was as though they existed in different planes of existence, rather than places that were protected or defended. There was no way to forcefully enter a place under the Authority of another.
On and on the ripples of this one incident spread, with ramifications far beyond what any of the gods anticipated.
Anba had not been defeated or usurped, but dominated in such a manner that his power and Authority had been appropriated by another. The nature of the gods meant that Anba did not even feel resentment or anger over this change. Gods were beings of faith and Authority. From that, they gained access to Concepts.
This was what fundamentally differed between gods and dragons and other such powerful beings. Gods gained access to Concepts through their Authority, which was derived from the faith of their followers. Non-divines gained access to Concepts by rising up and gaining control of the Concepts through their mastery of mana and developing a perfect affinity for a specific type of mana. This was also why certain Concepts primarily belonged to gods, as the more esoteric Concepts were very difficult for those rising up to gain access to.
With access to Anba’s Concept of order, the core had access to four different Concepts, and once again, it felt as though some sort of hole existed. It could sense the existence of the four other Concepts that it was missing.
This granted the core a direction to follow to gain those missing Concepts.
One final result of dominating Anba was something far more subtle, and if not for the core’s experience with Aaron, it would have completely ignored the matter.
The core could feel a connection through Anba to his followers.
With this, the core finally had a way in to start more directly manipulating humans. Maybe they could finally rise up to their full potential, once they received the core’s more direct assistance.
***
More and more remnants of the Farun army were rounded up and eliminated, while the survivors succeeded by either hiding themselves among the regular population, or scattering beyond the sweeps conducted by the Savaren Empire’s troops.
Ben and Brad were brothers, and they had managed to join the army together before serving in the same squad for a few years before the empire invaded.
When things had gotten bad, the brothers had slipped out of camp together, prepared to make their way to the far east to the frontier villages they had grown up in.
They had been the lucky ones, as despite various close encounters, they managed to reach the remote villages, where they expected to be safe.
Unfortunately, their long absence saw the brothers regarded as almost being outsiders, especially considering the fact that they arrived with little more than the clothes on their backs.
They had been forced to go from farm to farm and homestead to homestead to help out and do odd jobs here and there in order to survive. Few people had coin, but the brothers were able to eat and receive shelter for their work.
After a few months of this, Brad had succeeded in convincing an old farmer to give them an old bow and a few arrows for their work, and the odd bit of hunting after that had seen the brothers greatly improve their situation.
Many farmers were unable to afford meat throughout the year, especially in such a remote area, so having some pheasant or venison was something many people were more eager to trade for than some physical labor from a couple of ex-soldiers.
The brothers had taken to separating when they hunted for fowl, but remained together if they sought something larger, such as boar or a stag.
After more than a year at the frontier, Ben and Brad were far more comfortable, and they had been accepted by the local community. They spent their time hunting or working at farms that needed extra help, and traded their work for food and various goods, much like most of their neighbors. With coin being so scarce, there was a thriving trade system in place, and the brothers were almost done with their small hut they had been building.
As they made their way through the brush and sparse trees, they listened to the birds singing, hoping to hear the cries of their prey.
Hunting had been a bit lean in recent days, and the brothers needed to get something to avoid going to bed with empty bellies, so they were much more motivated than normal, and they ranged a bit further than they were wont.
They pushed into the wetlands, hoping to find some geese or ducks. They moved through the reeds and rushes, trying to remain quiet and keep their footing. A wet bowstring was not something either of them wanted to deal with.
Suddenly, Ben stopped walking, which caused Brad to run right into his older brother. Irritated, he smacked Ben’s shoulder. “What’s the deal? At least warn me!”
Ben ignored the hissed whisper, and remained staring straight ahead. “Am I mad, or is that what I think it is?”
Confused, Brad peaked around Ben’s shoulder to see what was up ahead, hoping to see a nest full of eggs or something similar.
Instead, he found a solitary stone arch on a small island of the same stone. Water poured down alongside the steps in channels that descended just past the arch, falling into an unknown darkness.
Looking up, Brad saw a bit of writing on the arch, and he knew what they were looking at.
“Anba save us! It’s a dungeon!”
“Do we go in?”
“How is that even a question? We saw what happened to those men in Eagle Squad after their visit to the dungeon! Even those idiots got that much stronger. Of course we’re going in!”
“Eagle Squad lost Darren and Ezra in that dungeon, and they knew what they were going to face. We don’t know nothin’ here.”
“Ben, I love you, but you can be a real idiot at times. Don’t you remember what they all told us? First section is easy, but doesn’t give many rewards. We’ll just wander about the first level and take the slow path. We’re not doing this for the army, but for us. Let’s go.”
Ben still hesitated, clearly concerned by the deaths he knew happened inside of dungeons. They were never safe, no matter the situation.
“Let’s go, Ben. We can use this to help the whole village. We just need to scout it out and make sure we’re careful. If we need anything we don’t have, we leave right away and go get it, alright?”
Ben finally relented, and the two brothers slowly moved forward and down the stairs, though not before the older one muttered a quick prayer.