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As Frank proclaimed the Dungeon as his, several System notifications greeted him, some of them saying that he had acquired the dungeon and also soul connected with a Dungeon Core… However, alongside it, he gained actual power, the white and iridescent essence he absorbed into his soul was not anything else but a power that only Gods wield… ​​

Ding!

[You have absorbed the Dungeon's Core [Divine Energy]

[Divine Energy] has been merged into your [Soul]

[Your stats have increased!]

Ding!

[Enough Soul Density achieved]

[Do you desire to begin [Soul Core] Creation?]

[>YES NO]

"…What?"

And just as Frank tried to Inspect what 'Soul Core' was, an enormous glowing, white-colored orb appeared out of nowhere, screaming at him with the voice of a child!

"There you are! You damn punk! How dare you take over me as if I were an item or something! Do you really realize what you just have done?! Goddess-sama will get pretty angry!"

"E-Eh?! A floating orb?!" asked Frank, as he was surprised over the entity that had just appeared in front of his eyes!

Hades at his side, however, realized who this being was!

"A Dungeon Core?!"

The name Dungeon Core quickly began to flow through Frank's mind, as he realized what it was through the information he had acquired after taking over the Dark Lair Dungeon.

A Dungeon Core was a special artifact that could only be created by Gods, its creation seemed 'simple' as long as the God had enough Divine Power, it could materialize it into a Dungeon Core, changing its components to fit its functions through the creation of Magic Constructs, or Divine Constructs, when Divine Power was used instead of Mana.

Divine Power was the power that any God possessed, it was the energy flowing through their Divine Souls and Existences, an all-encompassing power that was able to break through the Laws of the World's Origin Cores, and it was a more refined form of Mana, Life, and Soul Energy.

With enough knowledge and practice, Gods could employ their Divine Power to do even miracles, although the extent of what they could do was limited to their Divinities.

Divine Power was not endless, of course, and every god had a limited amount. Although they could gain more through the worship of their faith and existences by a large number of mortals, or by generating it through other means.

A Dungeon Core could be considered to be the 'seed' of a dungeon, created to create a dungeon around itself. The moment such a core was planted deep within the ground of any world, a dungeon would be slowly formed around the core, as if it were a tree growing from a seed.

Frank knew deep down that his newly found ability to steal Dungeons was law-defying, and he even attributed it to the power of Gaia herself, the personification of planet Earth, his homeworld.

But why?

Why did Gaia do this, to begin with?

Frank came out with a conclusion.

Gaia wanted him to conquer every Dungeon in Terra, so he could use the Divine Power they contained, connecting them to the System and giving such power to her, so she could regenerate even faster than by simply doing 'echoes' around the world.

Of course, this might also include different versions of dungeons across the many worlds that Frank will visit in the future.

However, such a decision was by completely disregarding what the Goddess of Chaos would think about all of this, after all, Frank had also realized why she created the Dungeons aside from simply giving challenges to mortals.

It was a plan for her to gain power.

Dungeons were special Divine Constructions generated by a Dungeon Core, they had the power to harbor power and enhance monsters, which were born from them when animals were attracted to the depths of the dungeons due to the high density of mana inside. Animals mutated with the mana and became monsters.

Such structures were able to harbor monsters inside and enhance their strength, growth speed, and reproduction speed, and the intricate buildings brought challenges to all humans and demi-humans equally.

However, there was obviously another intention behind the original one.

The Goddess of Chaos used to be the weakest of the Gods of Terra, however, this changed when the approbation to the creation of Dungeons happened.

But how could she gain power through Dungeons?

Dungeons were made to generate Divine Power, it was a tool created by the Goddess of Chaos herself, that no other god could replicate.

They were designed to 'absorb' any type of energy released when there were battles inside, or when there were deaths.

The Dungeons would be able to absorb any energy, be it Mana, Life, or Soul Energy, amassing large amounts of this energy when monsters fought against each other and died inside when Adventurers died inside by fighting against monsters, and so on.

This mechanism was extremely complex, but it netted great results in the end.

And to fake, this intention from the Gods, The Goddess of Chaos decided to make a 'reward system' in dungeons.

After a certain amount of 'Dungeon Points' was registered within the Dungeon Core, a treasure chest containing a reward befitting of a certain adventurer inside the dungeon would pop up. Of course, such a thing would consume energy, but it was a good enough sacrifice, and due to the rareness of such treasures, it did not completely negate the earnings that the Goddess of Chaos acquired.

Such truth was now deep inside of Frank's mind, achieved like a book that he would read over and over again as much as he desired.

And now, he had taken over such a powerful structure, which could bring him a large amount of energy as long as the functions worked properly…

The large orb kept screaming at Frank, as he seemed completely aloof of its whining as if he were in a completely different place.

"Hey! Are you hearing me?! Very well then, I am going to just kill you! I-I have never killed a human before… b-but many had died here…! S-So, die!" said the orb, as it tried to exert a powerful flash towards Frank… only for it to dissipate instantly.

"E-Eh? My power… Why? But I can still feel my power! But why can't I…?!" asked the floating orb.

"Sigh… So you are the Dungeon Core of this Dungeon, aren't you? Number… err… 12432…?" asked Frank.

"It's 12434! And you are…! You are the one who stole me from Goddess-sama! Do you know that stealing a Dungeon Core from its god is a very big offense?! You have offended a God! A God of this world, you punk! G-Goddess-sama will beat you to death! J-Just you wait…" said Dungeon Core #12434.

"What an insolent Dungeon Core… Now that it is your property, you have to teach it some manners, brat!" said Hades, although the Dungeon Core could not see him.

"Manners? …Oh, I know what to do… It must be because of the info I got… What a big info dump…" said Frank, as the Dungeon Core kept barking at him annoyingly.

"Info?! What info?! A-Are you an enemy of the Goddess?!" asked the Dungeon Core.

"How do I do this…? DO I just… Sit," said Frank, as the Dungeon Core felt a strong pressure as if the entire laws of the world were telling it to sit!

"Aaagh…!"

Clash!

The Dungeon Core fell into the ground, 'sitting'.

"Y-You can't do that! That's illegal! You big bully!" said the Dungeon Core.

"Would you shut up for once? I have just discovered this ability and I am just getting used to it… So you're the heart of this Dungeon?" asked Frank.

"I-I am! But don't think that because you have power over me that this will be done as you want! W-Whenever Goddess-sama comes here… everything will be over for you…! Hah!" said the Dungeon Core.

"Your name is way too complicated, we'll name you Orb because you look like one. Do you like your new name, Orb?" asked Frank.

"No! I hate it! But my name is Orb now…" said Orb.

"So it recognizes it immediately… Err, what gender pronoun you want? You sound a lot like a girl, but I guess you're genderless, you're a sphere after all…" said Frank.

"I am me! And… whatever you please to name me after, M-Master…" muttered Orb, trying to not muster those words that came out of her almost naturally, it was the power and authority of Frank over her mind as the Dungeon Master.

"Oh damn, you got her tamed already, brat! Good job!" said Hades.

"This is nothing to celebrate about, it feels weird that she calls me 'Master'… Just name me Frank," said Frank.

"Yes, Frank…sama… S-So that's your name, bully!" said Orb.

"Yes, well, your Goddess hasn't come yet… Have you not thought that she might not even care about you, to begin with?" asked Frank.

"Impossible! She created me, she cares about me, and…!" said Orb.

"And…? When was the last time you talked with her?" asked Frank with an expressionless face.

"T-That's easy! Around… err… a few… thousand years?" said Orb.

"And when did she created you?" asked Frank.

"Ah… A few more thousand years! And she said that I needed to be in this dungeon! That was my task! And since then I have worked very hard for her, every day processing the energies diligently… and… and… sending her Divine Power… And… Err…" muttered Orb.

"So she only said like a few words and then you have never seen her since your creation? How can you be so attached to someone like that? She sees you as a tool, you know? I think I have already spoken more with you than her…" said Frank.

"That's not true! Y-You… punk… Sniff…"

Orb began to weep, even though she had no eyes for tears to come out of them.

"Sigh… I can see why you are so immature, you've never experienced anything in life, have you not? You have been sealed in that chamber down there for an eternity…" said Frank, he even pitied Orb.

"D-Don't pity me! I don't… need… y-your pity… Sniffles…" said Orb.

Frank sighed as he moved near Orb, petting her.

"There, there, calm down…"

"S-Shut up! Why are you…?! Eh? Why do I feel so relaxed…?" asked Orb.

"You're not a tool nor an item, you have a mind, a personality, and intelligence. You're a person. You need attention to be mentally healthy… Although you feel like you have lived for thousands of years happily, that might be a mere illusion of a false bond between your creator and you," said Frank.

"That's… No… It can't be! Goddess-sama surely cares about me!" said Orb.

"W-Well… She is not coming at all…" said Frank with a bitter smile.

"D-Damn it…O-Okay then! If you want to be with me so badly… Y-You better bring me some amusement at the very least!" said Orb.

"Sure thing… Haah, what a pain, another chatterbox…" sighed Frank, although he felt a bit responsible for Orb as if something deep within him made him want to take care of her.

"Huh?! Are you referring to me as well?!" asked Hades.

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