Aurora

Opal and Mira started to leave after we exchanged information but paused before they reached the door. They exchanged a look before walking back to the throne. I tilted my head wondering what the problem was.

“Um. Aru? Why does your friend listing have you as Aurora?” My heart dropped a little. I hadn’t thought about that. I really should have. Thankfully, this archina form while beautiful, didn’t quite have as many facial muscles to reveal my mistake.

I leaned back and waved a hand in the air dismissively. “Because that’s my full name. I have been alone since even before all the shit went down. I don’t like to tell people my name until I know them better.” I might be talking out of my ass, but I hoped it worked. From what I could tell you were sort of required to be a loner to play this race.

Mira looked at me with narrowed eyes but then shrugged. “I guess we didn’t exchange dets per say, so whatever. Let us know if you need us. We’re taking off.”

I waved with a smile, thankful that she’d dropped it. I knew they were probably going to be suspicious, but I would be more surprised if they weren’t. Especially given how this place operated. I would need to have my gun fixed before the month was up. Having only one shot at full power wasn’t going to do me any good.

Dropping back into the chair after the two left, I relaxed for the first time in the last seven or eight hours. While I wanted and needed the crash course on the city, it was still a lot to take in in one session. I jumped up and made my way to the door at the side of the throne room. Through a silk sheet that was made from the finest spider web, a nice-looking room that was solely for my use came into view.

A massive bed was the centerpiece. There were a number of other interesting objects lying around but they were mostly related to the culture of the place. Shoa had apparently liked to read, as there were stacks of books that almost went to the ceiling surrounding the room. I checked to make sure there weren’t any traps or anything of that sort. Shoa might have rigged the place should she lost. Of course, I could just be paranoid.

I fell back into the bed and enjoyed the silks. I just wanted to close my eyes and sleep for a few days. Other than being knocked out, I hadn’t slept since I’d gotten stuck in this world. I would have to find a way to fix that. Even if it came with a risk, I had always enjoyed closing my eyes and going to another world for a few hours.

Sitting up, I pointed my hand at a corner in the room. I focused on my main form and thought about connecting the two for a split second. When I felt the link, I quickly used my mana to summon a Greater Demon. I modeled them after the Archanic race but kept them mostly human.

Finally, a woman dressed like a maid appeared, parts of her body wisping off as tendrils of shadow. She bowed, her current like hair flowing around her as she did so. “You’ve summoned me, Quin, my queen?”

I jumped to my feet and walked over to Quin. “I have. You are to be this form’s guard and protector. Never leave its side.”

The new demon bowed even deeper. “As you wish.” Her body quickly lost its solid appearance as her form faded into the shadows. I could still sense my link to her though. I walked back over to the bed and laid down before disconnecting from the body.

Opening my eyes back in the dungeon, I was hit with a massive migraine. I guess prolonged usage of telepathy to control my new bodies took its toll. I rubbed my forehead and just rested for a few minutes without doing anything. The migraine didn’t hurt per say, but it was still uncomfortable. I would have to take it a bit easier to avoid experiencing them in the future.

While I rested, Zaras walked into the throne room. “Welcome back, my queen.” If he was back, that meant they had returned from the other dungeon. My mind snapped back to clarity, headache forgotten. The rest of the group came in after him.

“How did it go?” I asked once they were all lined up in front of me. While unharmed, Roland and Harvey, sported several tears in their armor and cloths. Whatever they found had put up a fight it would seem.

“They were many earthen monsters. Their complete lack of blood made diving the dungeon harder for us. We managed to reach the first boss. A golem that most of our magic simply washed off. After a harsh battle, we finally managed to defeat it.” Zaras explained. Roland stood and walked up to me with something in his hand. He held it out like a priest making an offering. I pursed my lips but reached out and took the cloth covered object.

Removing the cloth, I found a necklace. I could feel the mana coming from it. The dungeon part of me wanted to absorb it, but I wanted to check it out before I destroyed it. I would hate for it to be unique and find myself unable to reproduce it. Holding it up to my eye, I examined the stats. It was a Epic item. The Gem of Oris. Not sure if the name meant something.

It offered a fifty percent boost to Earth based magic. I pursed my lips as I wondered if that would translate over to my abilities as a dungeon core. I spent a few more moments looking it over to make sure it wasn’t dangerous. I still wasn’t sure which of the four had caused Losa’s death. Once I was confident, I wore the necklace. I waited, but there wasn’t a feeling or sensation like I had expected. I felt exactly the same.

Flexing my fingers, I pointed my hand at the wall and used a stone sigil. A shard of rock that was easily as deadly as a long sword flung from my palm and impaled the wall deeply. That should have been more along the lines of an arrow. That was a pretty good increase in power.

I looked back to my vampires. “Well done. I’m pleased with this present. Did you fall back after the boss?”

Zaras nodded. “Correct. The monsters further in were not only made of stone and earth but possessed armor and magical weapons. We deemed it suicide to explore further.”

“Very well. We will retire for now and I shall speak with each of you on how best to approach this challenge.” I smiled warmly at them each. “Get some rest. You deserve it.”

The group bowed then left the throne room. Before they left on their trip, they really didn’t have a place to relax, but in one of the many new rooms there was a bar that served, well, water and blood. That was all we had to offer right now. There were also rooms that had coffins that they could sleep in. My monsters were able to sleep unlike me, the jerks.

I rubbed my head and looked off into the distance. My needed to decide my priorities. I would be lying if I said my passion to kill Maxwell still burned as much as it did a few days ago. With Mira and Opal’s testimony, I knew he wasn’t—entirely—to blame for what happened to Losa. Just like me, he was playing the game and caused something to happen that just happened to adversely affect me. Weren’t most things in life like that?

That said, I wasn’t about to let him off easily. Whether he meant for it to happen or not, he caused Losa to go into a coma thus allowing for treachery in my ranks. The question I had to ask myself was what I was going to do about it. Perhaps I could make him fetch something for me.

I sat up. I could make him fetch something for me! It might be months or even years before I was able to reach the seal of the Demon Lord that could potentially bring back Losa. Since this was my life now, that wasn’t exactly a problem, but I feared if it took too long the chances of bringing Losa back might grow increasingly more impossible. I wanted to reach that Seal as soon as possible.

Jumping to my feet, I started to pace as I considered my plan. I had to be present. I wasn’t sure why I thought that, but I was sure that if the Demon Lord got free, he wouldn’t just stick around. Rezdona had gone back to her previous claims from the looks of things when I mentally visited her. No doubt, Astrar would do much the same.

Leaving the throne room, I made for the prison. I would have to rebrand it soon to my magical workshop. Taking a look at the massive magical circle carved into the ground, I walked to a section and used my earth magic to alter it slightly. This otherworldly magic was close to clairvoyance only with much larger range.

I kneeled in the center of the circle and pressed my hand down. Magic constructs formed around my hand like when I used my other magic. It grew until it overlaid the engraved circle then the two began to harmonize. When I was done pouring in enough mana, I took a deep breath then visualized what I sought. The Demon Lord, Astrar’s Seal.

My vision flew straight up until it was over the mountain overlooking the forest. my point of view began to move rapidly, as I memorized every detail as pictures. After a few minutes, we arrived at a ruined temple in the center of the forest. A powerful aura emanated from it. It would take a brave soul to approach this site.

My vision sank back into the ground. What might as well be a dungeon protected the Seal. I would need a small army to fight through some of the monsters I saw. I finally reached a circular door that had runes engraved over every centimeter of its surface. As I peered at the door, I felt something start to peer back. It looked like Astrar was awake.

I broke the connection and stood up. I pulled some parchment out and began to draw the path that I saw. It took more than a few pieces to get everything, but I soon had a decent map of the Forest up until the Seal. “Close to two hundred kilometers.” My current link with my homunculus only afforded me at most ten kilometers.

Quickly checking my status, I saw I had enough mana for a few Paragon Vampires if I added up my mana stones. I had the Primal Gold to thank for that. The outcropping was generating no small amount of mana just by sitting there. I left the prison and made for an empty room. There were a few ways that I could increase my telepathy range. The first and easiest one I planned to try was to summon an artificer to create gear that would boost my range.

I did just that, creating a new Paragon. I focused on the image of a researcher that was versed in the magical ways that had such a job. A man that wore a lab coat that was dyed black soon stood in front of me. He had a handsome face that bore a pair of glasses that possessed at least a dozen different lens on each side.

“Name?” I asked since I had a lot of pent-up energy. My hope and dread were seesawing back and forth about whether Maxwell would actually help me. I had sort of been rude to him last time we talked. Not to mention, I decimated both his and that goblin’s forces.

The vampire bowed, looking even more elegant than Zaras which I found hard to believe. “Everild, my queen.”

“Everild. I want to you create items that boost mental abilities. If you can focus it even further, then telepathy.”

“This will require materials of at least level two. The higher the better.”

“Okay. I’ll acquire these for you. For now, practice with what we have.” I had a nice city of workers that should be able to acquire everything I need. All the more reason for me to grow that place into a much stronger realm in the Labyrinth. I smiled to Everild and made sure he had everything he needed to work. Being a dungeon core had it perks at times.

Once I finished with the new vampire, I hopped into my other body. Stretching, I got up from the hidey hole and made for the exit. I skid to a stop as I realized this body was still naked. Chuckling to myself, I quickly rushed back and got dressed along with grabbing one of the pistols from York.

Walking outside, I enjoyed the glare of the sunlight. I might still technically be a vampire, but this body didn’t have to deal with that. I walked in the direction of Maxwell’s village. It was in range of my current abilities, though only just barely. The white wall that kept me from peering into the zone soon came into view. Soldiers patrolling the walls and standing guard outside the gate were a clear sign that he was building up his strength.

It looked like he’d already replaced most of the people that my little gift had killed. A bit of regret welled in my heart, but if I hadn’t done that, I knew I would have gone insane. I would just have to figure out a way to make it better. Countries in the real world have been doing that for centuries.

I straightened my dress and walked up to one of the guards. Not surprisingly, they drew their weapons instantly. “Halt! This is Lord Maxwell Orfen’s territory! Identify yourself!” I waved since I didn’t actually know if there were proper etiquettes to follow.

“IF you could fetch your master for me. I need to talk to him. Trust me, he’ll want to hear me out.”

The guard looked at his compatriot before slowly lowering his weapon. “And who shall I say is calling on him?”

“A messenger from a mutual friend.”