[Avardum: Day 028 | Location: Howling Plains | Marcus, Janel | Hours Survived: 0 / 72]
"Did... did you... you get that as well, Holy Dungeon?" Janel asked, panic in her voice.
Bread.
"We need to figure several things out soon; well, specifically, I need to figure it out. I take it that you can provide me with food and water, at least bread and water?" She asked.
Bread.
"And can you create any food other than bread?"
Bread appeared, and then Marcus quickly created some of everything he could make that he considered food.
"Fantastic. Food and water are covered. I assume I can do my bodily functions in here with no problems?"
Marcus hesitated. He had no issue with it, shit was shit, and he had been in enough of it, but he did not know if he would need to dig a deep outhouse pit for her or something else. Marcus produced a piece of soggy bread.
"What... I'm sorry I don't understand. " Janel said with a furrowed brow.
Marcus dropped a piece of bread to her left.
"Yes," Janel said with confusion.
Then, to her right, Marcus made a small trickle of water pour out of the air.
"No," Janel said, still with confusion.
In the middle, he dropped a piece of soggy bread.
"Yes and no?" Janel thought for a moment. "Are you saying maybe or that you are unsure?"
Bread rained around her.
"Very well, let me rephrase my question and break it down a little more. Do you care if I perform bodily functions in the Dungeon?"
Water.
"Do you know if it will be safe for me, as far as gasses and sickness, if I do this?"
Water.
"Will I have to go outside to do them?"
Water. Water. Water.
"So you do have a plan for dealing with my ablutions and such?"
Bread. Soggy Bread. Bread.
"Yes. Maybe. Yes." Janel thought for a moment. "So you do not know if it will be safe, but you have some kind of a plan that may or may not work. Is that about it?"
Bread.
"Very well, let me ask you the most important questions then. Do you know what is happening?"
Bread.
"Can you explain it or have me guess it?"
Soggy bread. Water. Water.
"Can you survive it?"
Soggy Bread.
----------------------------------------
[Avardum: Day 028 | Location: Howling Plains | Marcus, Janel | Hours Survived: 2 / 72]
Janel had been watching as the Holy Dungeon Prepared. The first thing it had done was use the steel in its inventory to create two boxes set into the wall nearest the blue orb. One had a picture of bread above it, the other three wavy lines.
The pictures were new to Marcus. His communication skill had leveled up while he talked with Janel. Now, he could make images of anything he could summon with mana or any creature he could spawn. He had created the boxes to allow her to get food and water whenever she wanted. The food box was simple. He stopped the sandstone-making Automation he had set up earlier and placed it on the box, tasking it so that anytime someone reached into the box, it would make a piece of bread and a small chunk of meat on one of ten Manastone plates that Marcus had made. The Water box was the same, producing a Manastone cup filled with fresh water. When the person had finished using the plate or glass, Marcus could simply dissolve the stone and reshape it back into what he needed and then just make a new plate.
This way, he could get Mana stone, and Janel could get clean plates and cups. The next thing he did was spawn a Steel bedframe and then created a mattress and a bunch of hemp cloth, leaving it on the bed. Marcus knew how to sew and general cuts needed to make clothes, but he did not know how to do this as a Dungeon Core, nor if she would want him to make clothes for her.
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"This is all for me?" Janel asked, looking at the cloth and strange bed.
Bread.
"Thank you, holy Dungeon!" She exclaimed excitedly, making a makeshift robe and laying down in the cloud-soft bed. "I will sleep now if that is fine?"
Marcus dropped some bread to tell her yes, then focused on his work. When he finished, he thought he had a respectable bathroom for the Priestess to use. Marcus decided to take a break and look at some of the things he had slowly accumulated.
The first thing he pulled out was something he got from Jarev. It had been labeled as a Divine Sigil. Now that he looked at it, though, it was not divine. The strange object was a simple blank medallion made of something so black it almost reminded him of a black hole. Nothing he did could tell him more of what it might be. He found that the only thing he could do to it was mark it for Assimilation. So he did just that. Marcus figured he would, at the very least, get the base metal from assimilating the medallion. He was completely taken by surprise when, rather than getting a metal or other material, a notice popped up.
[https://bluebox.akmedrah.com/VV_Notification-018.png]
Marcus shrugs, deciding to work out what DD points are later, and turns back to see his core, with Janel sleeping near it and a certain God next to it. Marcus glances at Janel and sees she is not breathing. Time has stopped once more.
"Hello, Ah-Nu."
"You are doing well, Marcus. I am glad that I gave my blessing to you." Ah-Nu said, smiling in that disconcerting way he had. Marcus tried to respond but only felt pain as Ah-Nu jabbed a finger into his core. "Please fucking explain to me where you managed to get your grubby little hands on Dark Dvinity Points?!"
The rage in his voice fills Marcus with dread. He tries to respond, but all he can do is proverbially squirm in confusion.
Ah-Nu pulls his finger back. "Ah, sorry, I let myself get a little carried away there. Please tell me, my friend. Where did you get them?"
"I just got them like ten seconds ago. They came from me assimilating an object the system called a Divine Sigil. It also gave me access to Dark Divinity." Marcus stuttered out, his mind reeling from a pain unlike anything the physical realm could offer.
"Good, and where did you get the Sigil?"
"I helped Janel kill a strange lizard man; he looked half-human, half-lizard, and he was a slaver, and he had it on him. It was for a quest for Elina. It was loot off the lizard man's body." Marcus said quickly, deciding that a happy Ah-Nu was far more preferable to the angry version.
Ah-Nu's eyes glaze over for a second. "Ah, I see, rescuing her High Priestess. She is also being quite liberal with her rewards. My goodness! Quite Liberal!"
Without missing a beat, Ah-Nu plunged his finger into Marcus's core once more. "Tell me again, Marcus, tell me so I know you're not lying."
Marcus was vaguely aware of the AI pain suppression systems kicking in, but even then, Marcus swore he could feel his very soul being burned by the first god's finger. "I told you Ah-Nu, I helped Janel.... kill a strange lizard man. He looked.... half-human, half-lizard, and he was a slaver, and he.... he had it on him! It was for a quest for Elina. It was loot off the lizard man's body. Now get your... FUCKING FINGER OUT OF ME!"
Marcus screamed that last bit with every ounce of strength he could muster, as he was not sure he could survive much longer.
Ah-Nu looked somewhat surprised as he removed his finger. Marcus continued speaking. "Fuck me. You understand that I am on your side. Weren't you like all about me taking this job? What the fuck! It's bad enough that it seems like it's me versus every-fucking-thing on this planet, and now I have gods fucking with me. I don't even know what the fuck Dark Divinity or DDP are! Ask some gods-damned questions before you stick your fingers in people. Do that on Earth, and it would be sexual assault!"
Ah-Nu began to laugh, not a mocking laugh but a deep belly laugh. "You going to bring me up charges, Marcus?"
"Fucking how?" Marcus said without missing a beat, "Not like there is a lawyer who could even stand to be near you, and I know some mean fucking lawyers, but you're on some next-level shit."
"I like you, Marcus." Ah-Nu said suddenly, "Do you know how long it has been since anyone has spoken to me so casually?"
"Long time?"
"A very long fucking time, Marcus. Just so you know, Dark Divinity is from another entity similar to me, but pure evil. Dark Divinity Points can only be made by killing a god and stripping parts of their soul and power away after their death. They are a literal manifestation of evil. If they are here, that must mean something even worse than I thought is going on. What are you planning on doing with the DDP, Marcus? If I could, I would like to take them so that they can be disposed of and to ensure they do not fall into the wrong hands."
Marcus thought for a moment. "If it is all the same to you, I would like to keep them. Since they are divine, and after having a couple in my inventory for a while, they feel similar to the Nullmana, I would like to try and purify them if that is okay."
"Well, you are a clever mortal." Ah-Nu says, laughing again, "Very well, Marcus, keep them, but do send them to me if you don't want them anymore. Also, by way of an apology, have a gift."
Ah-Nu waved his hand, vanished, and time resumed, leaving Marcus dazed with the sudden rush of information that Ah-Nu had imparted to him.
"The least he could have done was move time forward to compensate the quest timer. No telling how many hours I was in that time stop." Marcus thought and then felt his blood chill ice cold when he got a notice. Nothing as official as a system notification, just a simple one-line message directly implanted in his head.
All it said was, "Not a time stop, but I will give you an hour. Have fun, Marcus."
Then Marcus watched as the clock accelerated forward one hour. Marcus decided it was time to address his mana accumulation rate and began summoning as much Manastone as he could and compressing all the stone he had into Dungeon Stone as rapidly as he could.
"We building again, Marcus?" Aurora asked.
"Yep, need to survive sixty-eight hours still, so we might want some defenses. Go ahead and draw up some plans, Aurora. Let me know what to do, and also, take a look at This." Marcus said, referencing one of the things Ah-Nu had given him.
"Oh, we are definitely surviving now," Arora said smugly.
"Gods, I hope so," Marcus said, going back to his work while Janel slept.