‘While you might think of classes as one entire bunch of random names, they actually bear a similar form of rarity that Titles and Skills do. While you can’t see it at the current level of your status screen, it will become more obvious late on as your access increases. The actual ranking system is in the same manner as the aforementioned parts of the status has but also has the same ranking as spells and items though the sub-rankings can differ with each on some level.’

Ranking yet again. The Core hadn't been able to study that part of the System too much, due to it not having seen most of the different rarities. It knew that a Skill could be [Common] and [Rare] but that was just about it. And thinking that it was the only ones present in the entire ranking system was a foolhardy thought, there needed to be at least three more. If not, it would have become a much too basic way to categorize different levels. Or the Core did also concede that the sub-rarities could make up for the overall count if there were many of them. Only listening on would tell the truth.

‘And these different rarities show off the different levels of effectiveness that the classes have?’ the Core questioned, just to make sure that it was on the same page as intended. Levels themselves did not decide the true power, only working as a base for later modifiers, with [Classes] working as one of them.

‘Indeed. [Necromancer] is one of the very common classes for any Dark Mana user, being at the very bottom of the [Uncommon] rarity. And do note that I said Dark Mana instead of Black Mana. We don’t want to associate either with the other since much too many would kill on the spot if they heard it,’ the Queen continued, going off-track near immediately.

‘What is the difference between Dark and Black Mana again?’ the Core asked, not really understanding. Another name for Black Mana was The Darkness, yet calling it Dark Mana was somehow wrong? Both names seemed perfectly fine to the Entity, either explaining the concept rather well. Black Mana was pretty dark, after all.

‘Dark Mana is the entire spectrum of the darker Grey-Scale in which Black Mana resides. The level of purity in one Black Mana can be found by looking at how close to True Black it is. Since the actual work required to gain this total purity is so unfathomably high, those who have it are both extremely powerful and very protective of what they have gained. If you cross them by calling their Energies inferior, it is wise to accept your death. The other ends you can meet at their hands will be much worse.’

Don’t cross those who could use and manipulate Dark Mana or Black Mana. The Core could understand that certainly not wanting to know what was worse than death itself. Because what could be worse than the lack of thought? The lack of ability to choose what one would personally think? That was something the Entity had been close to being subjected to due to the Queen wanting total dominion over it, yet it still felt that such a fate was better than anything else. The death of her could still end up with the Core getting its own fate back in its own hands, after all, making it possible for there to still be something better than the void. Or was there even a Void after death? Too many questions for one time of the day, the Entity decided on, before moving along with its thoughts.

‘Is there any possible way that I could test out the purity of a person’s Dark Mana before having to interact with them?’ the Core questioned.

‘If you are more powerful than them, you can do without even being noticed. If not, you will be noticed and likely killed on the spot. Also, there is no real way to test out a person's power without having the same conundrum,’ the Queen happily answered, likely having seen them coming. That was fine for the Entity, it just being happy that there was somebody to answer it after all the time spent alone.

The ability to just ask and get an answer in return was more than heavily. Too many times, it had been subjected to a world of questions where all would simply be left in the dirt, nothing that could be done to answer them due to their nature. How did one create life, why was life created, to begin with, who are the Gods really, and why were thoughts thought of in such a way? The Core wanted to know more about personality traits, how to predict the future, how it could attain total domination over the world, and what possible Paths there were to take further down to the line. And now that it was thinking about paths…

‘These classes,’ the Core started with, trying to shift the focus over to something it had already wondered about previously. ‘All have a ranking associated with them based on the Rarity system already in place with other parts of the Status Screen, right?’

‘Yes, that is correct as long as you ignore that there are a few unique rarities that could be attained,’ the Queen half-agreed, needing to add some more information onto the pile for some reason. It wasn't looked down on but neither was it liked entirely.

‘And the classes gained are not permanent but can be changed over time, including which rarity they reside in?’ the Entity asked, getting another affirmative in response. ‘With how much is required to gain actual levels, is it not close to automatic than one gains a new class after a couple of levels?’

‘Not necessarily,’ the Queen answered, clearly getting close to out of her depth. Slowly but surely, they seemed to be stepping away from the kind of information that was commonly known and more into the depths that only those interested in it knew about. ‘Yes, there is close to no chance of you having a class with a [Common] Rarity later on in levelling, but that doesn't mean you automatically gain it. Many in higher levels have gone by with only a [Rare] class. Yet there are also some with a [Mythical] class from the very start. Levelling and the journey required for such a thing is something that puts pressure on one Class but it doesn't control the evolutions.’

That was reasonable enough, though the Core wasn't entirely happy with it. The lack of automatic gains was another step that needed to be taken care of manually. While it had no desire to just let it handle itself passively, the knowledge that progress would be had no matter what was comforting in its way. Now that it had to take control of the situation to make sure it ended up in the right place, it became harder to trust itself and its actions. It did not know what to do to gain the right Classes, no idea what prerequisites there were. But… it wasn’t alone anymore. One very close to its crystalline sphere had more knowledge than it could ever hope for.

‘Do you know what Class I need to get to become-’

‘No,’ the Queen stated bluntly, not even letting the Core finish its questions. How rude. ‘Listen. The requirements to gain classes with higher rarities are tightly held secrets. Even the [Necromancer] class and the requirements for it is restricted information in most countries. And since it's only a [Uncommon] class, I think you can figure out how the hardship in gaining the knowledge of individual requirements grows with each step. There is no chance to gain it after [Rare]. And the ideas surrounding pure guessing is just as low since they are so specific, with so many things that you can do which makes it impossible to attain them, that there is no real point in even trying.’

Such words were certainly disheartening to the Core, yet it wasn’t shot down hard enough to actually give up.

‘Well, how did you gain the information needed to become [Leader of the Colony]?’

‘I was told the requirements by my Colony’s former leader, who learned it from the leader before them and so on and so on. Secrets like these are not open to just anybody. You have to know somebody who already has the class. Some of the [Legendary] information-brokers might know a few that they would be willing to share, but the costs would be…’

The Queen stalled in her own words, seemingly sending out her Mana to Sense the location around her.

‘You know…’ she began again. ‘I think I just figured out a way to solve this problem of yours. The brokers rarely accept pure currency since those become worthless in mere centuries but materials from monsters could be quite the lucrative offer to make. It’s impossible to get hands-on anything at the level that’s desired by those people, yet you being a Dungeon-Core could help us out favourably. There would be no need to risk our lives killing beings since you would have complete and utter control of them from the very start.’

‘I just have to make sure I understand what you’re saying right now,’ the Core had to state, stopping the Queen even when she seemed to have more to say. ‘You want me to kill my own creature repeatedly just so that I can sell their body parts to a group of people who will give me information on how to gain power?’

‘That just about sums it up, yes,’ the Queen confirmed, going so to nod her head at its summary. ‘I don’t see anything wrong with this plan of mine.’

‘Well, I most certainly do!’ the Core said with an annoyed tone. ‘Why would I have to go through the effort of creating an entire being when I could just create the parts needed separately? It would take less energy from my side and would increase the speed of the process by an extreme margin.’

‘You can do that?’ was the question that came from the Queen moments after, the Intelligent Ant seeming quite shocked at the revelation.

‘Of course? I can create creatures at will so why should anything stop me from creating only parts of a creature? Sure, it won’t have a Status since it was never alive, to begin with, and it will likely have to be cared for lest the tissue inside will die, but there should otherwise be no issues about getting the parts at all.’

The Core was meant to be the new one in that situation, not having to share information but instead only listening. It had previously been of the mind that communication-based on sharing equally would be the most productive, yet such a thing could change radically when one already had a base of information more than ten times the size of the others. It made the trade unequal no matter what, the one with more needing to give out something proportional to its the others instead of just matching the amount. And with the Entity’s own explanation, it had given plenty and deserved to get more right back.

‘I see. It makes sense now that I think about, yet I’ve never heard about any Core previously doing something like this,’ the Queen said, though the last part seemed to be sent more to herself than at the Core. The emotion being felt was one of pondering and not confusion. Something had seemed wrong but not wrong in the way of causing anxiety. Only quiet thought.

‘If others knew I could do such a thing, it could perhaps create a desire to exploit me more easily?’ the Core suggested, not really sure what else there was to say. ‘You said something about people coming to kill my creatures and harvesting their parts for the people’s own gain. It would make sense that they would try and enslave me instead if they knew I could just create the parts for them without the effort of having to slay the creatures that are held together by the desired tissues.’

‘While that might be a part of it, I believe it is more because Cores normally don’t talk,’ the Queen said. Which made sense since… Wait. What? ‘While I remember hearing rumours about the older Dungeons whispering to the people entering it, I have never heard of a newer Core doing anything but reactively lash out. It is obvious that your unique situation is due to your age and what might be related to that, but most Core’s have nothing close to it in their backstories. They are simply made by pure chance, a more-than-average amount of Mana building into a smaller pebble and gaining sentience because of it. That’s how most Golems are made, after all, and few seem to question those.’

Golems? Just what were- No. The Core needed to focus, not wanting to go into another tangent that would distract it from what was important. In the current moment, there was nothing that could be used from knowing more about some random creature that was vaguely related to how Cores were created.

‘So I do not need to fear that people will try and exploit me, if they ever stumble upon me. That is understandable,’ the Core said, not truly wanting that to happen anyway. The idea of having more entities intrude upon its domain was… irritating. It itched at some of its instincts, one or two parts suggesting the creation of more Arcane Spears just to make sure none that came in without an invite would get too far inside. But such things were pressed down again, the repeated knowledge of nobody being around helping it regain control of its Mana. On that front, however, some details needed to be fleshed out. ‘So… to gain more power, we need to sell off parts of creatures without being noticed by anybody. It seems hard to do but I can trust that you know something about it.’

‘I know enough that I could do a few things,’ the Queen confirmed, though the emotions being put out weren’t on the same side that the Core felt. The Entity was personally satisfied with the plan and promises of its own security. The Ant, on the complete opposite side, was seeming quite perturbed, still deep in thought. ‘But your ideas about staying out of reach of anybody will not do us any good if you plan to have any chance of selling anything.’

…

‘Do you mean at all or do you mean that it will be limited?’

‘I mean at all,’ the Queen stated. ‘To truly put things into perspective, there is no chance that anybody will trust any materials that came out of the blue. If I, a literal monster, came into that place and offered thousands of Mana-Nodes, I would likely be killed on the spot. The first requirement to fix that would be to have somebody trustworthy to do the transaction for us. This would likely be a humanoid or generally just one of the [Enlightened]. Nearly all information brokers are also part of that grouping and will typically only deal with people of that class. Yet they also need trust in those transactions regardless of anything else. Enough rare parts to buy a thousand secrets will be worthless if it can’t be proven they weren’t stolen from somebody else.’

‘And how would we prove something like that?’

‘With receipts.’