“Sorry…” Enya sniffled, wiping her snot and tears off Pell’s skull with the hem of her dress.
Pell groaned in annoyance. He had just woken up after—who knows how long—in some decrepit cave of rock and stone, only to be immediately bombarded by the tears of a sobbing brat. But despite his irritation, a pang of something else hit him. Her tears weren’t for herself—they were for him. Something felt... off, and he didn't know how to respond. Just, what was up with this kid...
Enya finished cleaning his skull and gently lifted him onto her lap.
“Mind telling me what’s going on now? Where the hell are we? And where’s the rest of my body?” Pell asked, his tone far more exasperated than usual.
“Ah… um… a lot… has… happened,” Enya mumbled, still sniffling as she held his skull like it was made of glass.
Pell sighed. “What happened to the demon rat? I remember passing out after it ambushed me.” He considered mentioning how her distraction had caused him to get hit, but thought better of it. If he said that, she’d probably break down crying all over again.
“Stupidface is dead…” she sniffled.
“Stupidface, really? What happened to that ridiculous nickname you gave it—Mr. Rat or something?”
Enya paused, trying to collect herself. “I… I killed the demon rat, and then I summoned it back as a skeleton. His name is Stupidface SqueakyMcgee.”
Pell stared, dumbfounded. What kind of stupid name was that? “You… killed it? How the hell did you manage that? Learn a new spell or something? That thing was way stronger than most of the monsters on this floor combined.”
“Yeah… I learned a new spell called Bone Spears, which, uh… shoots a spike of bone from the ground. And I stabbed it after it… after it crashed into me,” she explained.
Pell’s skull shifted, his sockets narrowing in clear skepticism. “It… crashed into you? A tackle from that thing nearly shattered all my bones. How the hell did you survive if it hit you?”
“I don’t know. It hit me, and then it… exploded. I went flying through the air, and when I landed, it really hurt. But when I looked back, the rat was hurt too, like it could barely move.”
A long silence hung between them as Pell processed her words. Then, something clicked. “Wait… do you still have the rebound talisman I gave you?”
Enya tilted her head, confused. “Rebound talisman? What’s that?”
“The small piece of paper I handed you before I passed out.”
“Oh! Yeah, I still have it! It should be…” Enya trailed off, her hands digging through her pockets. But after searching every inch, her expression fell. “Huh… I… can’t find it…”
She patted herself down frantically, her face crumpling with panic as she looked back at Pell. “I’m… sorry. I think I—I lost it,” she stammered, her voice starting to crack as tears threatened to spill again. She was ready to burst into tears all over, devastated at losing the item Pell had given her.
“Stop crying already. If the talisman disappeared, that means it worked.”
Through her soft sniffles, Enya paused. “Huh?”
Pell’s flaming eye sockets rolled dramatically. “That piece of paper was a rebound talisman. It lets you redirect and rebound a powerful attack back to where it came from. If that rat ran into you, the talisman probably broke on impact and activated, sending both of you flying in opposite directions. That’s why it was dazed.”
“Oh… oh…” Enya stammered, her near-tears halting as she processed his explanation.
Pell sighed again, this time with more relief. “Alright… so, you killed the rat with the rebound talisman. I’m glad it worked. What happened after that?”
Enya’s face brightened as she began listing off everything that had happened since. “I obtained my class, went down the study into the workshop… Oh! I summoned a dire zombie as a minion, found a giant skeleton, then I talked to this guy named Custodian, killed some monsters, and then I went—"
“Hold on, hold on, hold on! You’re going way too damn fast,” Pell interrupted, wriggling uncomfortably on her lap. “Who the hell is Custodian? There’s someone else in this dungeon?”
“Oh, no. Custodian is inside my book and—”
For the next thirty minutes, Enya explained everything that had happened leading up to Pell’s revival. She covered every detail, from meeting Custodian, to farming monsters, to other dungeon-related events, filling in the gaps while Pell listened in stunned silence.
image [https://i.imgur.com/ZiLMGqb.png]
“And then you asked me, ‘What the hell is going on?’ and I started crying again, and—”
Pell groaned. “I really despise your sense of humor. Just shut up already.”
Enya giggled softly, her hand gently smoothing over the top of Pell’s skull. “But… yeah. That’s everything that’s happened so far. Now we’re stuck in the core room.”
“It’s hard to believe all of that actually happened,” Pell muttered. “Between me dying again, you getting some limited class, talking to some guy who’s probably in the enchanted realms, and even claiming the dungeon core by yourself.”
“Well, I had Walnut and—”
“Those are your minions, so it still counts as doing it by yourself,” Pell interrupted. “That’s your power, brat. Being a leader is a power in itself. Leading others still counts as your own strength. If they die, then oh well. If you win in the end, who cares?”
Enya simply nodded at his statement.
“Alright, before we do anything else, can you restore my body? If you managed to release my skull from the dungeon’s control, you should be able to fix the rest of me. Being just a skull is damn inconvenient.”
Enya’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! Sable’s spell has different parts to it—there’s the reanimation section, but also a part that lets you create bones with magic. I’ve been using a smaller version of it to fix up my other minions. I was skipping the reanimation part entirely.”
Enya picked up Pell’s skull and stood up, walking over to a flat rock. She placed him down, leaving enough space for the rest of his body to form.
Sable had combined two spells to create the summon skeleton spell she’d learned—one that created a skeleton from pure mana, and the other that reanimated an existing set of bones. If Enya could separate the two, she could repair bones just as easily.
“This isn’t going to hurt or anything, right?” Pell asked, sounding both skeptical and worried.
“Nope, it’ll hurt a lot!”
“Good, then—wait, what?!”
She didn’t have enough mana to fully cast the summon skeleton spell, but by activating only the bone creation portion, the cost was halved. Fixing a small portion like a shoulder blade would barely take a single point of mana. But recreating Pell’s entire body? That would drain about nine points, give or take.
Thankfully, she still had plenty of soul-energy left to substitute for mana.
Mana flared in her palm. A modified spell circuit flickered to life in her hand. She formed all the necessary patterns for the summon skeleton spell, but only activated the parts required for bone creation, leaving the reanimation section completely untouched.
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Mana: 1/30
Soul-Energy: 61
“Wait—what do you mean it’ll hurt a lot? Hang on. Stop it. You better be lying. Don’t you dare—“
Before Pell could finish, Enya’s spell ignited. A few points of mana flowed into the frame, while the rest was filled with soul-energy. Mana poured into the empty space where his skull lay, and the spell began its work, rebuilding his body, starting with the base of his skull and extending down to his spine.
Pell squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for pain that would rip his soul apart. A few seconds passed. He could feel the first hints of his body regenerating, his lower bones coming back under his control. His soul flames flickered back to their normal size as he glanced at Enya, who was grinning mischievously.
“Oh, I’m going to kill you, brat.”
“Too bad you’re already dead,” she teased, sticking out her tongue with a large and goofy smile.
image [https://i.imgur.com/ZiLMGqb.png]
Snap! Crack! Pop!
“Ah, that’s so much better,” Pell said, stretching his newly formed shoulder blades and rolling his arms. “It’s like coming back to an old hut after being stuck at the front lines of war.” He paused, chuckling to himself. “Not like I ever went to war—dodged that arrow by climbing the layers instead.”
With a few more stretches that targeted his legs, Pell stood, standing tall. “Seriously, kid, this is some nice work. My body feels better than it has in ages. Way better than those scraps I used to steal from the other skeletons.”
“Uh, thanks?” Enya raised an eyebrow, unsure if the compliment was meant for her or the spell.
“Anyway,” Pell said, turning his attention to the softly glowing dungeon core. “You’re the owner of this thing now, right? Completely?”
Enya followed Pell’s gaze back to the glowing core. She walked up to it and lightly tapped her hand against its surface. Instantly, the system menu popped up beside her, floating in the air. “Yep. It says I’m the owner now,” she confirmed.
“How much mana does the core have? And how much do you have?” Pell asked.
“It has 19 mana, and I’ve got… 1 right now.”
“Hm... alright,” Pell muttered, thinking. “That’s not a lot, but with a few potions, it should be enough to at least get us started on a tunnel out of here.”
“Uh…”
“What?” Pell turned toward her, noticing her hesitation.
Enya pointed to her backpack, still damp and leaking both blue and red potion liquid.
“The potions died,” she said flatly.
Pell groaned, the flames in his skull dimming in frustration. “Oh, come on… Fine. We’ll just have to make do with however much 19 mana gets us, and then wait for your mana to regenerate—“ He stopped mid-sentence, his expression shifting as realization dawned on him. “Wait a second. You should be able to give me access to the core, right? If you can do that, I can use my 40 mana, and we should be able to get out of here in one go.”
Enya’s face lit up at the idea. “Oh, yeah! That could work.”
Without wasting a moment, she tapped the core again and began navigating through the floating menu. Swiping back and forth through the various options, she fiddled with the system until she finally found the screen that resembled what Pell had requested.
Grant Admin Privileges to party member Pell?
[Accept/Decline]
She accepted the prompt, and a new screen popped up.
Pell has been registered as an Admin with full access privileges for dungeon: Tower of Sable
"Okay, you should be good, I think," she said, glancing over at Pell.
Without wasting a second, Pell placed his bony hand on the dungeon core. His soul flames flickered erratically as he focused on the screens that only he could see. He stood there for a few moments, entirely absorbed.
"This is… really intriguing. I’ve never actually interacted with, or even seen, a dungeon core before," Pell muttered, sounding more fascinated than usual.
"You haven’t?" Enya tilted her head in surprise.
"Of course not! Dungeon cores are the business of adventurers or those in the Paragon of War. A merchant like me? I’d have never gotten near one, let alone been given access." His voice carried a rare mix of awe and disbelief.
Enya hummed in acknowledgment. It did make sense—a merchant wouldn’t have had much of a chance to interact with a dungeon core unless something unusual happened.
She stared at him, a hint of almost childlike joy bouncing around in his eyes.
"Oh, uh… that reminds me," Enya started, her tone becoming more serious. "There were two other names in the registered creature list."
"Yeah, I see 'em," Pell said, still focused on the core. "Kidirge and that guy, Tim."
"Tim?" Enya raised a brow.
"Yeah. Tim was one of the adventurers I hired for the dungeon run. Real piece of work, that one. I’m pretty sure that bastard was planning to betray the rest of us and loot everyone’s gear before we made it to the boss room," Pell added, his tone filled with contempt.
He looked through the menu. Swiping past the options, he arrived at the entity screen specifically for Tim.
[Soul of Tim x 1]
This entity will be released from the dungeon’s [Registered Creature List] absorbed into the dungeon.
[Accept/Decline]
Without much hesitation, he tapped "Accept."
[Soul of Tim x 1]
This entity has been absorbed into the dungeon.
“Well, that takes care of that. Whatever 'absorbing' means,” Pell thought aloud, shrugging it off.
A notification popped up silently in front of Enya, and she opened her status screen. The soul of 'Tim' had indeed been absorbed. She shot a skeptical look at Pell, one eyebrow raised higher than the other.
Pell, noticing her stare, glanced back with a shrug. "What? He deserved it. Probably. Look—you know me. I’m an asshole. The guy was dead already, I just… did him a favor. Better than leaving him stuck in a dungeon core for all eternity, right?" he explained, trying to justify his action under her watchful eyes.
Enya’s stare didn’t waver, though she simply nodded. Even though Pell tried to explain himself—poorly, she noted, she didn't really see why it was such a big deal. She had already absorbed souls herself before, using her bonecarver's quill. What did it matter if a soul she didn't know vanished? “Who’s Kidirge then?” she asked, changing the subject.
Pell tapped through the options, then paused. "No clue who Kidirge is. Definitely wasn’t one of the adventurers in my party. I guess one of them could’ve lied, but that seems pointless. Getting caught lying to the adventurer’s guild would get you kicked out, and nobody’s dumb enough to risk that," he mused.
Just as he was about to hit the option to absorb Kidirge’s soul, Enya interrupted. "Wait, shouldn’t we at least see who it is? What if it’s like… the original dungeon owner—Sable? Or maybe his assistant or something?" she suggested, curiosity roaming.
Pell hesitated. Swiping back, he returned to the list of options.
Select what you would like to do with [Soul of Kidirge x 1]:
[Create Entity]
[Release Entity]
[Transfer Soul]
[Absorb Soul]
"It probably wouldn’t hurt to check," Pell muttered. With the core under their control, any entities they created would likely be bound by the dungeon’s rules and follow their commands. If Kidirge turned out to be unruly, they could always deal with it later. And, as annoying as it was to admit, the brat had a good point.
If Kidirge’s soul belonged to a previous inhabitant of the dungeon, perhaps they’d have knowledge of where the vast treasures were hidden. Pell glanced around the room, taking in the chaotic mess of rubble, stone, and dirt. It was dark, the only illumination coming from the core and the faint glow of his and Enya’s eyes. He shuddered, realizing that they now shared matching glowing eyes—quite the bizarre connection.
Clearing out and repairing the entire room would be a hassle. It’d probably consume all the mana they had just to make a dent in the mess. But if they could pinpoint specific locations for the treasures, they could save a lot of time and energy. The real question, however, was what vessel Kidirge’s soul would inhabit. Pell's own soul returned to his skull, but what if Kidirge's body was destroyed or buried under rubble on the first floor?
As he pondered, an idea struck him, quick and sharp like a dagger. “Hey, brat, how many summons do you have right now?” he asked, his voice laced with optimism.
Enya, who was busy trying to untangle her disheveled hair—now partly soaked in blood—looked up. “Uh… I think… zero…” Her tone turned melancholic. “They all died…”
“Ahem…” Pell coughed to clear his throat. “Say, you still have that new soul energy thing, right? Can you create a new skeleton right now?”
Enya shook her head, her expression filled with disappointment. “No. I need a bone to make a new skeleton. Using 40 points to make one seems really wasteful. And I can’t use yours either since you were reanimated by the dungeon.”
The flames within Pell’s skull flickered with excitement. “Then… what if we just summon another skeleton here? The core lets us summon any of the dungeon monsters currently stored within it, to any area. We can stash this guy’s soul in a random skeleton,” he suggested.
With a slight tilt of her head, Enya gazed up at the shattered ceiling, pondering the idea. The ‘transfer’ option inside the dungeon core allowed her to move a soul to a new host body. If she couldn’t create one right now, using one of the skeletons already in the dungeon could work just as well. After all, she had just stored one away; surely, she could retrieve it.
“I think that might work?” Enya said, her uncertainty mingling with eagerness to test out the theory.
“Alright. You summon the skeleton, and I’ll transfer his soul over. All the monsters inside a dungeon are under the owner’s control, so we shouldn’t have to worry about the skeleton or Kidirge turning on us.”
With a simple nod, Enya flicked her status screen up and navigated to the entity summon list.
“Ready?” Pell asked, his voice full of anticipation.
“Mhm,” Enya replied, her finger hovering over the create entity option.
“Alright, go ahead,” Pell urged.
With that, Enya summoned the skeleton. At the same time, Pell executed the transfer of Kidirge’s soul to the newly created skeleton entity, once the system notified him that an eligible host had appeared.
Entity: [Skeletal Noble Knight x 1] has been summoned to Floor 6.
Entity: [Soul of Kidirge] has been placed inside of [Skeleton Noble Knight].
After confirming his side of things, Pell lifted his palm off the core and turned around to meet the new skeleton.
“Alright, Kidirge, tell us where—HOLY SHIT!” he screamed, falling back on his behind, voice echoing off the darkened walls as he found himself staring at the towering, imposing form of the reinforced skeletal noble knight, who’s purple-soul flames stared straight back at him.