"When examining the general public aversion to Necromancy, one must consider it's source. The primary hatred of it derives from two factors. One is the understandable dislike of what appears to be a perversion of life. No one likes to imagine themselves or their loved one's corpse rising to walk the land, their peace in death twisted to suit inscrutable purposes. The other reason is also simple. Necromancy and [CORRUPTION] look remarkedly similar. Except where one is mana and [system] control of decaying flesh, the other is an outside perversion of our very essence."

--Sylvia Sorensen, Dungeoneer. Recorded Lesson from: "DUN101: Intro to Dungeoneering." AC 1133.

"Luna... I think this dungeon is [CORRUPTED]."

She turns to face me, her tone cracking from fear. "Why, why do you say that?"

I try to keep my voice calm, but her reaction feeds on my own and my voice wavers, shuddering as I say.

"I've seen it before. When I was first awakened on the beach. My [status] began acting funny and then I received a ton of error messages and was summoned before the gods."

"Do you think the gods will want to see me?"

My claws lifts to my chin as I tilt my body, thinking. "I don't think they will, I think I was only summoned like that because the error's broke something important. I think, well I think you may just end up like Octo. Not unless we find a way to fix it." I lower my claw and turn to her. "I don't know how we'd go about doing that though."

"Let's hurry up and go talk to Todd. He may know."

I pick up the pace, moving faster through the stairwell as we enter the [safe zone].

I hardly notice the natural splendor surrounding me, my thoughts subsumed by the recent circumstances. It's only as we reach the site of the Hollow and Luna dismounts that I regain awareness of the present. We descend into the hollow and make our way through to the back room. Todd is hanging out in his usual spot, lurking above the doorway. We sit down at the tables and recount our story. As we finish an awkward silence resounds within the area.

Todd detaches from the wall and floats down to the floor. A stone platform raises underneath him and he uses it to move across the room to Luna. He must have a high level of skill in [Earth Manipulation], I certainly can't use a platform to move around. As he approaches our table, the platform raises until he's of the same height as the injury on Luna' body. He leans forward, his spikes fluttering in the water. Finally he says,

"TODD."

Luna nods an arm. "Yeah, that might work." She turns to me. "Todd says that it might be fixed if we manage to escape the dungeon. For Todd and I our bodies are made of [dungeon] mana, since we were originally it's creatures. It's also why only we might be infected if the [dungeon] truly is corrupted. Upon leaving, the [system] should give us physical forms so that we can function separately from the [dungeon] environment."

I say, "Okay. So it looks like we have a plan. We need to get you to the [dungeon] core as soon as possible." I turn to Todd. "Can you help us? Have any of the other creature's returned yet?"

A hesitant ripple flows through his spines. I think I'm starting to understand him a little better. Luna says, "Apparently no one has returned yet. Todd is worried about it, at least someone should have come back by now." My mind continues to spin as I pick up and discard ideas. As I'm thinking I see Luna slump a little. I then do a personal assessment and realize that I'm exhausted as well. We need to rest. I say to Luna,

"How about we get some sleep and tackle it when we wake?"

She nods in response and we find comfortable places on the kelp mats. As seconds pass to minutes, we fall into slumber.

I wake up first. Since Luna is still sleeping I review my notifications.

Your party has defeated level 12 [Undead Octo]!

Experience is awarded for your actions.

[Slice III] - 3 is now level 4!

[Water Manipulation II] - 5 is now level 6!

[Earth Manipulation II] - 7 is now level 8!

You have leveled up!

You are now level 10.

You gain +2 to all stats from the level up.

I consider the information before me. It seems like this is almost a summary notification of everything I experienced on both the trap floor and the brief fight with Octo. The fight with the octopus could hardly be called a fight at all as he was falling apart. Heck, I dispatched him with a single claw. That was probably the reason I only gained one level. Closing the notification I see that Luna is starting to wake. As she rises from slumber Todd enters once more. He says,

"TODD."

And Luna turns to me saying, "Todd says that he wants to remain here in case anyone else shows up. He fears that it's only one us being present that prevents the [dungeon] from destroying it. He think it might try to warp this level into something horrifying like we've described."

I consider and then say to Todd, "That makes sense. We could use a base for operations or if we need to fall back. But what about later levels? If... if the [dungeon] has taken them all, then will you join us?"

"TODD."

"He says he will. If in a couple more levels if no one has showed, then he'll join our group to clear the dungeon. At that point, there is no point waiting here to be destroyed."

We gather food from the stocked stores in the hollow and eat a meal in silence. Before we head out, I crouch close to Luna, inspecting her wound. The black ring surrounding the puncture mark appears to have grown a little, and there is no indication of it healing. I stand back up and ask her how she's feeling.

"Do you feel any different? Any sudden urges to consume or anything like that?"

She shakes an arm no and follows up with, "No, actually I feel alright. If anything, it just feels... hollow. As if there's a hole where something important should be." Her voice trails into silence as she quietly adds, "Really... It feels a bit cold, like a numb void echoing in the dark."

I pat her on the shoulder, trying to cheer her up.

"Don't worry, we'll figure this out and get you fixed okay!"

As we ready ourselves I voice one final thought. "We think it's [CORRUPTION] that's affecting the [dungeon] right? Well... I think that process takes time. We might be able to escape before it gets too terrible in here." Luna takes my claw in arm and almost to myself I add, " I wonder what's going through the [dungeon]'s head right now?"

A shrug is the only answer I receive as Luna activates her skill:

"Level 6 - [Recall]."

Meanwhile, in the depths of the dungeon a silent battle is being waged. A battle inside the [dungeon] core itself.

/* Program 9281: Dungeon Monster List

Author: Aethir

Last Updated: AC 0

*/

#include

using List(Deepwater.Dungeon);

main List();

{

List1 = Dungeness Crab;

List2 = Dungeness Crab - Big Momma;

L̷i̷s̵t̸3̴ ̷≠ ̷U̴n̶d̵e̶a̵d̶ ̷D̷u̶n̶g̴e̵n̶e̷s̶s̸ ̷C̵r̸a̷b̶ ̶-̷ ̴B̴i̵g̶ ̸M̸o̶m̸m̷a̶

L̸i̸s̷t̵4̴ ̸=̷ ̷U̸n̸d̶e̸a̸d̷ ̴S̵t̶a̷r̴f̶i̸s̴h̴ ̶-̸ ̴C̶r̸u̵s̴h̶e̸r̶ ̴

}

Break;

INSERT INTO List(Deepwater.Dungeon);

{

L̵i̸s̵t̵1̶ ̵≠ ̷I̶n̵s̷e̵c̶t̸i̵l̷e̴ ̸A̶b̸o̷m̶i̷n̷a̵t̶i̸o̶n̵;̶

̸L̸i̷s̴t̸2̸ ̸=̷ ̴S̵o̵u̶l̵ ̸D̴e̶v̶o̵u̷r̴e̸r̶;̵

̶L̶i̸s̸t̵3̷ ̵=̵ ̸E̷t̸e̶r̷n̵a̵l̶ ̶S̷o̵r̴r̶o̴w̷;̷

}

Compile Error. Parameters are not ;

*ERROR*

*ERROR*

*ERROR*

Break;

Ë̴̘͚́͛l̷̹̆̉̋ê̴͇̾͆v̶̼̘͘à̵̻͉̒̉t̸̻̜̅e̶̢̗͂ ̵̛͚́A̶͙̕ċ̸͈̣̱̿͝c̵̟̓̿e̵̲̺͐̎͊s̴̻̗͊š̴̳ ̴̝͍̈P̶͙̋̏ḛ̷̙̭͒ṟ̴̪̺̊́̌m̴̺͈͕̆i̸͝ͅs̷̫͗̈̾s̶͔̃͑̐ȉ̶͎̪̳͗̄ỏ̵̡n̸͈͛͛̃s̵͖̯̖͊

INSERT INTO

List(Deepwater.Dungeon);

{

List1 = P̴͕͍̲̝̆A̴̺̩͑̒͝Ĩ̴̡̝̳N̸̪̗̣͆́͛̔͜͝

}

...Parsing

......

.........

Local administrator override accepted.

Conceptual variable P̴͕͍̲̝̆A̴̺̩͑̒͝Ĩ̴̡̝̳N̸̪̗̣͆́͛̔͜͝ accepted. Dungeon engaging callout to program [concept.translation] accepted.

[Dungeon] is now updating lists based on conceptual variable.