P-System Log

The next room is empty. There were another set of double doors at the end of the tile-trapped room, but the R Beasts didn't bother to leave it closed behind them. Actually, they didn't bother to leave it there at all. The entire damn thing got knocked off its hinges, wood and metal scattered across the place. Assuming the [Berserker] got healed in the minutes he spent behind the weird [D????? ?h????] spell, he might have straight up run through them.

We passed into it, and now Jerome and Aster are carefully scoping out this room. This one is smaller than the last, maybe ten meters from one end to the other. It's oriented in a circle, the ground paved with cracked marble that looks like it's been there since time began, and there's an incredibly poorly maintained statue on a dais in the center. I think it might have used to be a statue of a person? It must have used to be a decent sight to look at, an imposing figure nearly as tall as the huge R Beast was. But right now, it looks like it's suffered the attentions of a brutal storm for centuries, sharp edges weathered away into nothingness. On top of all of that, it was recently broken, its head completely knocked off. The stone that I assume used to make up its head is shattered all around it, scattered across the worn marble.

Jerome: This place is a ruin. Aren't Dungeon Cores supposed to be... I don't know, tidier than this?

Aster: Yes, they are. But the Maplecrest Dungeon is a [Common] dungeon. Aside from a few drunk idiots a year that get themselves killed when going in here without a single offensive skill, nobody dies inside this dungeon. We believe that the amount of experience and resources it gains from killing and existing is barely enough for continued survival, let alone restructuring or renewal of dungeon rooms.

Ah, the perils of having a shitty class. I'm ǵ̸̖ř̷͍ateful for the fact that the Origin System gave me a [Unique] class and skill, even if I haven't quite figured out what they do yet.

Jerome: This place feels weird.

He's right. This place feels... empty. Well, obviously, there's nothing living here, but it goes beyond that.

When I was still a proper human back on Earth, I lived next to a train station for a few years. There was a railroad intersecting a street less than half a mile away from my apartment. Every half hour, another train would roll through the intersection, and its presence meant that the railroad crossing's sirens would go off. Just about one or two minutes later, the train would make it into the station and then there would be an announcement so loud that anyone walking on the street could hear it.

It was so incredibly grating for the first few weeks I lived there. My sleep, work, life... everything was constantly being interrupted. My neighbor, though, he'd told me that this was normal. That everyone who lived here just ignored the blaring sirens and booming announcements. I didn't believe him at first, but as the months passed by, I realized that my sleep was getting better. My work was somehow being interrupted less. I'd thought that they'd changed the train schedule, cut away some of the noise, but when I went to the station it turned out that the frequency of trains had actually increased. I was no longer hearing the sirens.

When I moved away from there, the silence was deafening. It's kind of the same right here. A not-noise that I didn't even realize I was not-hearing has been removed, and it's only now that it's gone that I can appreciate that there was something there. I got so accustomed to the perception dome that whatever I was sensing, whether it was mana in the air, loose W Inertia, or something else entirely, became a background sensation. But now, it's so apparent that it is no longer here that its absence is affecting even Jerome.

Aster: The R Beasts certainly traveled through here. They may have had an effect on the presence in this room.

That's definitely true. The change in the air here isn't the same as it would be if there just happened to be R Beast presence in the immediate area, but there's nothing else that should've affected it.

Jerome: Let's just get on to the new room. There's nothing we can loot here, right?

Aster: Correct. There should be nothing left in this room. There should have been a monster of some sort, but it would appear that either the Dungeon Core was unable to create one or it is dead. I advise moving forth.

I think I would've preferred to investigate a little more, but I'm not going to bother updating the quest objective just so I can stay here longer.

[Assess] activating! Object identified: Ruined Statue Hero's Personal Log 032

Damn. I was hoping that if I used that spell enough, it would start to level up like my attacking spells. No dice so far.

I feel like Aster's not telling me something. She seems a little ill at ease, but I don't know if that's just me projecting or her actually having worries about this area that she's not disclosing. Given her (pretty justified) exasperation towards reincarnators like me, I could believe it's the second option.

Oh well. I guess I just need to clear this dungeon and get the rewards that the System promised me.

If only I could shake that feeling of unease...

P-System Log

Yeah, I'm definitely not the only one feeling it. Something happened here, something important, but we're moving on from it like it's nothing. It might really just be nothing, but the lack of any monsters or any mana in here is putting me off.

Whatever. Jerome and Aster took one last glance at it and decided to leave. They're on their way out now. I'm looking at everything with my perception dome, but apart from that off sensation, there's really nothing of note.

Oh, also, Jerome mentioned something about hoping his skill would level up. Maybe I'll look into doing something related to that later. I'll just pass his [Assess] skill... three or so W Inertia. I can afford that.

Two more rooms. The next one we're entering is about as large as the room before this one where we'd encountered the R Beasts. Just like the previous room, it's trapped. I can tell already, since Jerome already opened the door. The difference between the last trap room and this one is that while the last one had really obvious floor-tile traps, this one has really obvious ceiling-tile traps. Seriously, this Dungeon Core is slacking. Adventurers can literally see the marks that the traps make on the floor. It's not that hard to dodge, is it?

The main issue with this room, though, is that the traps have already been activated. Every last one of them. There are arrows dumped all across the floor. I assume the trap shot them out, but there's a bunch of broken arrows just lining the floor now. Given the Health system, I can't tell if the arrows actually hit anyone or not, but the fact that all of them have activated is rather abnormal. Anyone with any level of critical thinking should've been able to avoid them.

Aster: Interesting. These--

[Greater Assess] cast! P-System Log

Aster: --were recently activated. The work of the R Beasts, almost certainly.

Oh, she cast an [Assess]-type spell while I was recording her dialogue. Did that really tell her that it was recently activated? Interesting. Maybe it was overcharged, since I don't think it provided that level of detail earlier.

Whatever the case, this room is giving me bad vibes again. It's got the same issues as the last one. The same lack of... something, the same stillness in the air. I have a bad feeling about this, and the fact that what lays after this room--the room that I had sensed W Inertia in initially--has become fuzzier to my perception than it was initially certainly doesn't help that unease.

There's no monsters in this room either.

Jerome: This is empty. Is it supposed to be empty?

Aster: No. Every time I have guided someone through this, every room was populated by monsters, no matter how weak.

Hero's Personal Log 033

This is really weird. Given Aster's positioning and the relative weakness of this dungeon, I'm pretty sure this is basically supposed to be an informal tutorial for us reincarnators. Running into those R Beasts that were way overleveled for me and now this... something's deeply wrong with this place, and I don't think I like it.

I hope I still get the rewards for the dungeon.

P-System Message Rewards for [Objective] Clear the Maplecrest Dungeon will still be given. P-System Log

Going back on my promises now would be dumb. Even if I regret the W Inertia I'm going to be spending, I don't want to lose credibility this early on.

Jerome: What's in the last room? I've never cleared a dungeon before.

Aster: Usually, beyond those doors lie a boss monster of moderate difficulty as well as a small gift of rewards for clearing the dungeon.

Jerome: So the Dungeon Core isn't there?

Aster: The Dungeon Core is hidden in a location within the final room. As a matter of practice, however, we do not slay the Dungeon Cores unless they are actively malevolent, especially because they have emergency defenses.

Jerome: Alright, here we go then.

The door is opening.

My perception dome is crossing the threshold.

And what I can perceive is not a Dungeon Core. What the fuck? What in the actual shit is that?

Aster: What the hells happened?

[Assess] activating!