They were done with the dungeon and wanted to leave. Hopefully, they would never need to come back. Despite his connection with the World Carrier, Mash agreed with their sentiment. This experience had not been pleasant with most things going wrong. They did get stronger, but any dungeon run would do that. He gained a lot of information but had made too many decisions in haste. Being forced to make decisions in awkward situations, was an accurate summation of this dungeon.

“Did you ask anyone for more time?”

He heard Priscilla’s voice within his head. Priscilla had been the name the boss chose, enjoying the more humanlike nature of it. He didn’t know what to think about her preferring a human name, but at least he found no problem pronouncing it. The message she sent indicating her apparent dislike with his thought process. She was adding her own remarks frequently to his thoughts, and he started incorporating them more naturally to his internal dialogues. Adjusting to her presence was surprisingly easy, it felt like recovering a lost limb. This was a remark he chose to ignore, instead continuing to follow the others through the dungeon.

They didn’t really clear the dungeon; the boss was still alive. He asked her about the rewards and learned that they were a product of the class system. Whomever created the class system designed it to reward them for killing powerful beings inside of dungeons. His knowledge that dungeons were other worlds created some problematic implications with that. He considered the other beings within the world; how many people would’ve massacred the intelligent species for the chance at some reward. If he had met the creatures in a different order, he probably would’ve killed them.

They had looted the bandits earlier, finding several of the items that the adventurer’s guild had listed as missing. It would prove their accomplishments and validate the information that they had. They decided to inform the guild of the bandits plans, and leave it to them to decide what information to divulge. The political implications of the events were beyond them, and they didn’t want to get involved too deeply. The bigger problem was the situation with Leah. They still didn’t know if she was really related to Ellis, but she certainly looked like she was. Not wanting to make enemies with Ellis had been the plan, though it didn’t seem like it would work.

They could try and find Davin and speak to him alone, but they didn’t know how easy that would be. Also, it was unlikely that he would trust them. They didn’t have the influence in the city for their words to be taken seriously. No, their best bet was to leave the information at the guild and get out of town.

There was another city further east, and they could rest safely there. Going back home would take a few days, so it would be easier to continue to head east. The city was a lot smaller, but it was safe, and they wouldn’t have to worry about running into Ellis. They wanted to take a break, having to watch their backs wouldn’t let them rest. They would be able to make it there in a few hours and wanted to get out of the dungeon quickly.

Mash paid a lot of attention to his surroundings as they left since he hadn’t been able to see it on his way down. Knowing that dungeons were part of other worlds, how did they constantly have a new source of monsters. What about the labyrinth from earlier?

“The portals connect to different places every so often, this portal would eventually lead to another location as well. Labyrinths are unique as far as I know.”

Priscilla’s answer was welcome, and he thanked her internally. Claiming that it was like thanking himself, she did not like the gesture, and he could feel a little irritation from the bond. He was grateful anyways; the information having proven very useful thus far.

“I think you mean as far as we know.”

It was a small change, mainly to make a jab at her phrasing. She usually never used an identifier like “I.” It seeming to go against her beliefs. Not meaning to be hurtful, he felt bad as regret bled through the bond. She was sending him a series of regretful apologies, and he felt worse since she took it so seriously. Letting her know that things were fine, he tried moving their thoughts to the surroundings, analyzing what he could from the inside of the cavern.

From the inside of the mountain, he could see the rock was whiter than he expected. They had been walking for a while, but the stone’s color had been constant for the entire trip. He wondered what the stone was. Speaking aloud to the others, Red and Jill turned around to look at him. Luke was dragging behind, still not feeling comfortable.

“Do you guys know why the stone is so white?”

“Never really noticed, you know, with the whole murderous bandits chasing us.”

Jill’s response was dry, exhaustion lingering at the edges of her voice. The others didn’t have an answer, Luke seeming to not be paying much attention to the conversation. The answer did come to Mash, Priscilla sending him a series of images and thoughts. She didn’t respond verbally, and he could already see some uses for this ability. She could change her size and could act as a scout, passing him images as she saw them. In fact, she could send him images from each of her bodies. He could feel her smugness as he realized how much more she could accomplish. He didn’t respond to her though, instead choosing to enlighten his friends on the information.

“It’s a tooth. Some monster was trying to kill the thing that I told you guys about.”

He sounded certain, able to see a clear image of the monster from Priscilla’s vision. It didn’t look particularly intimidating from the mental image, but the sheer size of the creature had horrified Priscilla. It was like an enormous fish, though its mouth was lined with millions of sharp teeth. When it tried to take a bite out of the world, it destroyed everything, turning the world in to a planet of rubble. Everything on the surface was ground beneath the churning mass of teeth. Priscilla only managing to survive because of her specific nature. Most of the creatures that remained alive were like her. A singular mind that manipulated many bodies, even the bat creatures they first encountered were like that. It was this vision that showed him just what kind of experiences Priscilla must have had. On top of that, it meant that she has been around since the creation of the dungeon. How many adventurers had she killed?

Even though he didn’t really want the answer, he was amazed at the hundreds of images of people that passed through his mind. She didn’t stop with just those images, revealing times where she lost the fight, and was forced to recover slowly through one of her other bodies. Apparently, it was near impossible to kill her, and eventually she would be able to do the same for him. Honestly, the idea of transferring his mind, consciousness or whatever, was a little scary.

He told the others of the creature, and how the tooth ended up here. They were obviously surprised, and a little jealous that he could see the image. It was understandable, he had gained a lot from this dungeon, the biggest reward having been Priscilla herself. Jill and Red managed to find a few items, some of which were valuable, but they paled in comparison to his rewards. The best thing that they found was a ring for Jill, it would give her a small amount of foresight to otherwise fatal attacks. It had saved her life against Priscilla’s lightning. There levels had changed as well, with him able to get the most benefits by fighting alone. He was two levels above the two of them, and three above Luke. He really benefited from the dungeon but still desperately wanted to leave.

“If they accept one of my bodies, I could communicate with them as well.”

Mash considered asking them but stopped as the rest of the process entered his mind. She was suggesting making them into something like herself. She didn’t see the problem with it, considering his mark as a sign of privilege. That his friends would be happy to accept the position. It was natural to her because it was part of her nature, but he knew how wrong it would be to do that to another human. Just the fact that he could do that was horrifying, it would probably be banned and maybe even get him killed, if others found out. Plus, that would mean that all their minds would be linked like his was with hers. He didn’t’ want to relinquish his privacy more than he already had.

“You would lose nothing. We are fundamentally the same being now.”

He ignored the comment, they came whenever he treated her like a separate creature instead of another part of himself. Although, he didn’t see that changing, since she was a female, and he was male. He got a message about how gender didn’t matter for a situation like theirs, and while he couldn’t fully disagree, it still felt strange. The subject had been so distracting that he almost missed the shift in mana around a nearby wall.

“Stop! There is something on that wall.”

He yelled the first word, thinking it was a trap, but was quickly informed by his mana territory that it was an illusion. It was a hidden passage of some kind, and he waved his hand through the wall to dispel the illusion.

“Priscilla, why is there an invisible wall here?”

He asked the question aloud, that way his friends would know to wait for him to get an answer. It took her a minute of thinking and analyzing the illusion before giving her response.

“I don’t know.”

That was all she sent him. The incompleteness of the answer irritated him. Sensing his irritation, she elaborated before he could pry for more.

“I mean it was not made by me, nor is it natural. I expect it was made by one of your kind, or another who treats these worlds as places of conquest.”

The more complete answer made him pause. Before asking anything else, he asked her for images of other species that acted like he did. The images he received this time were a lot more diverse than he expected. There was a plethora of intelligent species with access to magic and weapons. Several of the images depicting other humanoid creatures, though they had some stark differences. There was one of something like a human, but instead of normal skin they were covered in colorful stone. It was carved into the skin, resembling the chitinous exterior of insects. They were typically dark shades of brown and black but were covered in cracks of bright vibrant colors. They wore clothing that seemed advanced even to him, each covered in highly detailed embroidery.

He couldn’t contain the information, telling his friends excitedly about the many species passing through his mind. His excitement and interest leaked into Priscilla’s mind, and she continued sending him more images from her memory. He barely noticed when his friends asked him if it was safe to enter the pathway. They were not as excited as he was, being unable to see the images with the same clarity, his descriptions while interesting couldn’t grasp the detail. He was no bard and didn’t know how to articulate himself better. He indicated that it should be mostly safe, but to be careful. Unable to sense anything dangerous they entered.

The path winded downwards for a little bit, then it opened into a small room. It was filled with skeletons, a group of seven humanoid corpses lining the walls. The people must have hidden here in the past and died slowly, unable to escape from the dungeon. If they made it down here, he wondered why they hadn’t been able to leave. Perhaps, the exit to the dungeon had shifted, and they were trapped between unknown worlds. It would be a good idea to find out if they could tell when a dungeon’s gate would change. He didn’t want to be trapped jumping between other worlds. Well, maybe that would be interesting once he was extremely powerful. The others were more excited with the other things in the room, a stash of items piled up in the center. It seems like there would be a big reward for the dungeon after all.