Watching from the Monitor I began the process of respawning Mary and Mulan. Normally it would take Mary 15 hours to respawn and Mulan 3 hours on account of being a [Boss]. I could expedite the process with mana but it was rather expensive. Mulan alone would cost over 15,000 mana per hour removed from the timer. Luckily Everest seems more interested in speaking with me than chasing us out.

The man himself was grinning wildly inside a giant crater in the middle of the forest. When the 3 combatants had struck the ground 4 Infernal Redwoods had been uprooted and around 100 Burst Corn cobs had gone off. The result was a section of the floor now resembling a mine field.

Eventually the S class pulled himself off the ground and walked over to retrieve Mulan’s boss item. Sadly Mary didn’t drop anything as I never altered her [Loot Control] options. This meant she dropped the defaulted Rhilos instead of specific body parts or her corpse. Although maybe that was a good thing. Looking at the lifeless body of Mary would really hurt my heart.

Mulan’s item is called a “Red Ronin Streamer” and can be attached to a weapon or armor set. Once applied to a piece of equipment the Streamer will act much like one if Mulan’s tails under the mental control of the wielder. A plausible application could be parrying an incoming attack, swatting a projectile out of the air, or even as a surprise attack from a different angle. Once adventurers begin challenging Mulan regularly I have no doubt the streamers will become a highly sought after and expensive item. Even the voice classified the weapon as powerful by limiting the drop rate to one per adventurer. Meaning that even if someone challenged Mulan repeatedly they would never get another streamer, only receiving several of her normal bladed feathers as loot.

All that is to say the “Red Ronin Streamers” are worthy trophies of those who defeat my warrior.

While I mused Everest propped up one of the fallen redwoods against the remnants of the boss platform and got climbing. Most of Mulan’s proper area was now sitting in piles of flaming rubble but I’ll replace the damage should we survive.

Having reached the top of the 400 foot tree Everest made a mighty leap for the open doorway of Camp Core. So strong was this jump he sent the dying tree back to the ground with another boom. Everest didn’t spend long in Camp Core itself but did voice his approval of the wide range of facilities available for visitors.

Eager to potentially speak with me I presume Everest walked down the marble hallway and with a skip in his step walked through my core room’s doorway. Also along this temporary hallway was the entrance to the 3rd floor but the S class seemed to purposefully ignore it.

My core room is a relatively simple marble oval with my orange core placed on a pedestal in the center of the room. Mary also had a private space in the back just like the old shack days, where she kept her things and slept. On the left wall was the Monitor I’d recently purchased hanging beside a second Monitor that constantly displayed [Population Control] and [Note Keeping]’s data scrolling by. Atop this second Monitor I have my [Dungeon Status] permanently affixed alongside my fluctuating mana generation per second.

Barely out of breath Everest pointed rather rudely at my core and asked “You’re the boss right? Can you talk?”

Before I could sarcastically answer to myself I was interrupted by a notification.

*DUNGEON HAS REACHED HIDDEN REQUIREMENT!: A SAPIENT WITH PEACEFUL INTENTIONS HAS ENTERED CLOSE PROXIMITY TO YOUR CORE!

*ACCESS TO SKILL “PROJECTION” GRANTED

‘Eh?’ I thought before the skill was forcibly activated.

Following a brief flash of orange from my core I found myself standing in the middle of the room. Not my consciousness shifting into that part of the room. I had legs!

Looking down I saw a vaguely human shaped glowing orange body that was incredibly similar to my old body on Earth, albeit rather featureless. I was naked but didn’t seem to have any genitalia. If it wasn’t for my personality nothing would insinuate myself as male. Somewhat forgetting the circumstances I began stretching out my new body. After jumping lightly into the air I made an incredible discovery. I could fly!

“Uh... hello?” said Everest waving to get my attention as I flew around the room like Superman.

Coming to a grinding halt I coughed and spoke my first audible words in this world “Oh! Sorry a new skill just showed up.”

“Fair enough. I’ve never heard of a glowing body coming out of a dungeon core. Granted I’ve never heard of one talking before either.”

Taking the opportunity to learn about my existence in further detail I asked “So I am something special after all? Man, you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to learn about other dungeons. I mean seriously! Coming up on 2 months and I don’t even know how many there are.”

“Oh most definitely! You are completely alone in your existance!”

Laughing at my saddened silence Everest said “You are much different than I was expecting after speaking with Mulan. Not near as proper as her are you?”

Feeling more conscious of my hunched over defeated posture I said “Yeah... she’s just like that. Don’t ask me about the Milord stuff either, that was all her idea.”

‘twinge’

Whatever part of my core that held a bond with Mulan sent me a zap of annoyance and embarrassment while the Mary part of the same connection was giving off a feeling similar to laughter. Good to learn now they can still hear me before I did something embarrassing...

“So uh... you wanted to speak with me?” I asked tentatively.

Spreading his arms out wide Everest grinned “Yes! Of course I did! Meeting a sentient dungeon core is a once in a life time possibility!”

“Do you plan on confirming that to the outside world?” I asked leaning against my core’s pedestal.

The 9 foot tall giant seemed to think for a moment before reaching onto his belt and pulling out an item. It looked like standard Crayola kid’s chalk but with a scaled shaped rune carved on the side. The chalk was well worn with only an inch left but I could still recognize the item as what Alice used to draw Truth Circles with.

“I’ll make a deal with you. You answer my questions and I’ll keep your secrets. If you want extreme security I could get us into the Zone of Recompense. For my part I won’t speak of anything beyond your little campground.”

‘Tempting... If I give him answers but he won’t talk about what they entail with others it should be safe. But I should clarify the terms a bit more.’

“Correct me if I’m unaware but what’s stopping someone from reading your mind or using similar magics?”

Throwing his head back in laughter Everest answered “The only person in existence capable of reading my mind is the mage guild leader and she wouldn’t dare piss me off. Plus, with my defense skills I’d know instantly if someone looked in my brain and even what they searched for. You’ve got no worries.”

“Then I accept your terms. I’ll trust you and just perform the Truth Circle.”

Nodding the S class got on the floor of my core room and began drawing out a simple white circle with a line in the middle. In my nerdy brain I couldn’t help but compare the design to a pokeball outline.

Using my [Projection] as a stand in for a body I stood on one side while Everest sat on the other before I created some of the rocking chairs from Camp Core for us to sit in. Getting into the mood I even put a small firepit between us.

Gently rocking with my new feet I asked, “So what did you want to know?”

“Well for starters, what’s your name?”

“Mmmm... Don’t have one in this world and it would be lame to use my old one... Just call me whatever until I choose one.”

“Alright then Mr. Core, what are you? Or more accurately what were you if I can read the subtext correctly?”

“I should start by saying I don’t know how I ended up as a dungeon core. From the conversations I’ve overheard a mage named Ford likely performed an experiment, but I have no idea what it entailed. From my perspective I was just an ordinary human who died and woke up in a cave shack.”

Widening his eyes Everest said, “Then you were human?”

“Yes, but not here in this world. I’m from another world called Earth.”

“Another World!” Everest said even more surprised. “Incredible... the mages would be hunting you down if they knew that. Other planes, worlds as you seem to call them, are known to exist but we’ve never been able to cross them. Your existence is a potential huge step towards the future.”

“Sadly the man I assume was Ford Phalen was dead when I awoke. Whatever he did to transform me was lost with his death.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have the corpse would you?”

“No it’s long gone. First thing I ever absorbed in fact. By complete accident of course, dungeons don’t exist where I’m from so in the beginning I was lucky to figure anything out at all.”

“Blast... it might have been illegal, but a good necromancer could have let us speak with the old man. I’d bet the king would have allowed it in pursuit of progress.”

The conversation flowed from there. We talked about lots of things regarding my existence. I described the voice and status screen I could view while Everest described how this world’s humans gain skills in return.

Apparently the experience gained from killing monsters, working, or training is tallied by the same system I seem to be interacting with. Difference being humans can’t pull it up whenever they want like I can. Only when they gain enough experience to level up will their status appear in their dreams, prompting the person with options to choose from regarding skills and magic. Each person’s dream is different, but fundamentally they all serve the purpose of spending experience.

The whole process was remarkably similar to what my [Named] apparently see. Although Mulan was unable to choose all her powers since they were race locked and affected by her nature of being a boss monster, Mary would find herself infiltrating a compound filled with various people. These people would all have different skills and abilities she’d witnessed in the past. Before her “extraction timer” hit the limit she would slay the one’s with abilities she wanted. Another S class water mage Everest knew views her dreams as a pond. Her experience acts as an air supply while she must choose what treasures (skills) to dive for.

Eventually we moved away from philosophical questions when Mulan was finally reborn and joined us in the core room. Soon after followed Mary and we began discussing my future plans while they asked for combat advice. I wanted to describe and get advice on the up and coming 3rd floor but Everest cut me off.

“I’ll be back one day once you’ve grown more. Wouldn’t want any spoilers.”

By the time he left the circle I felt we’d gotten to know each other pretty well. Everest knew I would only act in self-defense instead of searching out victims and was all around a normal guy. While I learned he lived a life so full of adventure and battle I could never hope to understand him. Truly the S class were like living comic book characters.

Stretching my new [Projection] as we got ready to part I asked, “Will you be taking the Teleporter back?”

“No I’ve actually got a better idea. Since you’ve all been such great hosts I’ll leave you with a gift! See you someday in the future!”

The three of us watched in anticipation as Everest placed one hand on his chin, the other on his forehead. Something from the hands of an S class adventurer would without a doubt be incredible after all!

Just before he acted he said, “Feel free to absorb, I’ll be fine.” and without any warning snapped his own neck.

“What the hell!” screamed Mary as Everest’s limp body fell to the ground 100% dead.

Mulan began flapping around me in panic yelling “How is that fine! He just killed himself Milord!”

As we all were panicking a ring on Everest’s finger flashed and teleported itself and all the S-class equipment out of the core room, leaving him naked.

“Huh...?” said Mulan craning her head to where the body was laying.

Bending down and touching the body I said aloud “Could mana be the gift?”.

Mary added “He did say we could absorb him. Maybe that is what he meant.”

Turning to face Mary, a strange feeling since I’ve been a consciousness for so long, I asked “Next time you’re in town could you please ask around about him. I doubt he’d just kill himself but...”

“Just to be safe?”

“Just to be safe.”