A mantra of the people of Equinox, Member Planet of the 2nd Wave

I will never surrender

For I shall be

Equinox’s powerful defender

Death before I flee

Albasalas’s words fill my mind, each one thundering with gravitas.

“You must have a clear idea of what you are seeking before you begin the active memory search. Without it you will become lost. Focus on your goal and then cast your mind outwards to your target. Break through the passive information and find what you seek.”

Sitting on the floor of the cave, I follow her directions and cast my mind out towards the fungus, feeling the now familiar sensation of the passive information flowing into my unconscious mind. Ignoring it, however, I focus intently on the concept of Trainee movements, the only subject Albasalas will allow me to seek out without seeking retribution. During my first attempt I had tried to seek out more information regarding Items and she had very clearly shown me that doing so would result in … negative consequences. A headache for three days had been annoying enough, I didn’t want something worse.

It has been a little under two weeks since I unlocked Passive Mental Search and today is my final day of training with Albasalas before our agreement comes to an end. I had casually asked if we could extend the agreement but she had very adamantly stated that she wouldn’t consider it. I’d even offered up my remaining two questions in return for a few extra days but she had remained firm.

Trainee movements. Trainee positioning. Trainee control. These thoughts are held in the front of my mind with an iron will as I delve deeper into Albasalas’s mind. I feel other concepts and ideas rush past me as I dive into the section that contains the information I seek, getting closer and closer with each passing second.

It takes me eons to reach my mental destination, the part of her mind that contains the information regarding Trainees, but I finally arrive. Step one completed.

Now for the hard part.

Scrunching my eyes tightly and bringing all of my prodigious willpower to bear, I reach out with hundreds of mental tendrils and wrap around all the information. It takes a long time, as I have to make sure that there are no holes that information will escape out of, but I finish the bindings and a quick inspection reveals that it is structurally sound. A sigh of relief escapes from my body, a physical manifestation of my mental feeling of accomplishment, but I don’t notice as my focus is entirely on the mental space.

With the information wrapped tightly, I focus my will and start pulling it towards me, careful to make sure that nothing slips out. Sweat begins to drip down my brow and dampen my back as the effects of the mental strain become evident on my body but I ignore all these sensations, singularly focused on finishing my extraction.

Halfway through the process I feel some of the mental tendrils begin to fray as Albasalas defends herself with a few quick mental jabs. I’d asked if it was possible for her to refrain but her response, ‘Better to learn the habits of a skilled opponent’, shut down that possibility. I’m prepared for her attack however, having reached this stage in the process a few times before, and I quickly reinforce the weakened tendrils with my will, bringing them back to their original state. A few extra tendrils, stealthily woven into the mental net, unweave themselves and begin batting away her jabs. They aren’t the most elegant or powerful defense but they are enough to handle her light mental attacks as I continue to pull the information outwards.

It continues like this for a few more seconds but I finally manage to complete the process, bringing all the information caught within my net into my mind and letting it disperse. Unlike the slow realization of the passive search where I let my unconscious mind aggregate and interpret the results, this information explodes into my mind and I am filled with comprehension, including the small nuances that would have been lost in translation.

The way the fungi interacts with the Trainees to control their movements while retaining a semblance of their previous Skills. Their positioning at the border to repel all creatures, always keeping retreat open as a possibility. These and a hundred other small things fill my mind and I understand them in a strangely intimate way, almost as if I had been personally involved in the creation of the memories. With a small gasp I realize that I’m not only understanding Albasalas’s memories, I’m also comprehending all of her emotions that accompany the memories. The pride and protective instincts she feels for the Trainees fills me with empathy for her situation, a strange feeling for a creature that has actively tried to kill me on multiple occasions.

I open my eyes and see the notification appear.

You have discovered the Skill Active Mental Search (R-1) Lvl 1! You have reached into the mind of another being and dragged out the information you seek, achieving a new level of fundamental understanding. Use your mind to discover the secrets that you wish to know. Cost: 70 Stamina per minute. Limit: One Subject. Increased skill level increases the amount of information that can be searched and decreases stamina cost (Limited by power of Weak Telepathic Mind). Subject Defense: Derived from Subject Willpower and Skills

I finish reading and look up at Albasalas, the hole in the top of the cave allowing a beam of light to fall directly upon the dilapidated trunk upon which she rests. Her body of white branches and purple fungus lies down on the trunk, as if she has no worry in the world, but I know the truth of what lies behind her red rose petal eyes. She is a calculating being with her survival being the singular driving force behind every decision.

Feeling accomplished for having learned the Skill, I look at the cave around me; this has been my home for the past three weeks. The walls, covered with purple fungus, glisten in the scant light that manages to get through the small hole in the ceiling. Spores constantly fall from the fungi growing on the ceiling like a heavy rain of thick drops that continue endlessly. The floor, the only part of the cave where the ground is visible slightly through, is crisscrossed with pulsing veins of fungi that carry commands out to Albasalas’s numerous minions.

I let out a shiver of relief at the thought of no longer living in this creepy alien environment.

Albasalas interrupts any further thoughts, mentally prodding me in her equivalent of raising her hand. “Congratulations manling, it has taken you three weeks to learn Skills that every Ophiocordyceps knows upon growth from the spore phase. There are no other Skills I can teach you in the time we have left. Ask your questions and leave. I have no desire to see you again.”

Knowing that it annoys her, I smile in an impish manner, cocking my head slightly while I pretend to consider the questions that I want to ask. I’d wasted five of my questions asking for deeper clarifications of Active Search, paining my curious soul but necessary for my development. Seconds tick away as I raise my hand to my chin, pretending to be deep in thought, but actually just analyzing her face begin to contort into annoyance. It may be petty but she gave me a headache that lasted three days and if this is the only way I can respond then so be it.

After thirty seconds of this, I snap my hands as if I’ve figured it out. I let the impish façade fall away and become serious again.

“What is the purpose of Dungeon Worlds and how are they created? Yes I understand that those are two different questions. They are my final two”.

I’d seen flashes other Dungeon Worlds in her racial memory when she had given me Screaming Mind. Faul had told me that they existed to serve as training grounds for individuals who sought power but that had always struck me as odd. If that was the purpose why not just put the same creatures on the original planet to accomplish the same goal? Why go to the effort of creating an entirely separate world just for growth that could be accomplished with other methods?

Albasalas chuckles to herself, her wooden eyebrows raising and rose eyes looking at me in an almost admiring way. A shiver runs down my spine in response. It creeps me out.

“Just when I think I understand you manling… Satisfy my curiosity before I answer. Why do you ask this question?”

I feel suspicious surprise at her response, suspecting that she will try to twist my answer in her favor. Despite this, I decide to answer her honestly, understanding the powerful driving force of curiosity. “Your racial memory contained hints of different Dungeon Worlds and I suspect that it was only a portion of what you know. I will return to my home after this and I need to understand what Dungeon Worlds truly are if I intend to accomplish my goals.”

She nods her head as I speak, seemingly agreeing with me. “Your suspicion is correct, my race does indeed have a deep understanding of Dungeon Worlds. The advent of Genesis brought this quasi-slavery upon us and understanding this subject was once considered a possible method of escape. It was not fruitful but that is beside the point.”

Adopting a deeper gravitas, she continues. “While we have never been able to prove it completely, as we are only seeded after the fact, my race believes that Dungeon Worlds are created from a small portion of the worlds that are brought in with each ‘Wave’. In the past my brothers and sisters have found traces of civilization, ancient and worn away, within their Zones, suggesting that these worlds were once inhabited. Whether this happens before or after Genesis appearing is unknown but most of us believe it happens afterwards. It would satisfy the cruelty by which Genesis controls us all”.

Her vehemence and hatred of the system slip out at the end. I’d never thought of her as an enslaved being before, my desperate focus on survival taking precedence, but it makes a strange amount of sense. Albasalas is the most intelligent creature I’ve met on Helldarvin, which isn’t saying much given her comparisons, but is unable to leave the world and stuck within her Zone. She is effectively a prisoner.

“As for the purpose of Dungeon Worlds, my race is unified. Our understanding of the outside Universe is derived from the information we absorb, and thus subject to the subjects own bias, but we have our own perspectives that allow insight.”

She pauses for a few seconds, seemingly gathering her thoughts, before bringing her attention and mental focus on me. I feel the full weight of her mental power crash down upon me and the words seem to adopt a more significant weight.

“Dungeon Worlds exist for a single purpose: to give the powerful the means by which to maintain control. As a transplant you wouldn’t know but the Ambient Mana on a Dungeon World is significantly higher than the rest of the Universe. Beings who fight and kill the creatures of these worlds develop much faster than their counterparts. The Worlds also grow in difficulty through some mechanisms we’ve never been able to identify. There is an upper limit to the growth of beings and the World itself but controlling it offers a path to growth and power. Entire species have been eradicated over them.”

The mental presence and depth seems to disappear as she finishes, her body collapsing onto the trunk in exhaustion. Raising her hand, she brushes away, a sure sign of dismissal if I’ve ever seen one.

Looking back at her and, for the first time truly seeing her as a prisoner trapped on this world, I whisper, “Thank you.”

I then turn my back and walk away from the cave and out of the tunnel.