Chapter 13

William is sitting at his desk in the guild hall. He runs his fingers through his hair and a few strands fall loose from his head. "Great, all this stress is making me lose hair now." he says with an awkward chuckle. He takes a look at the open journal that has been laying on his desk. "I just don't understand what went wrong. Did Sluggo and the council plan this from the beginning? Everything was going according to plan until..." William looks up, interrupting his own speech. Across the desk from William, seated in a relatively simple chair, is Alvin.

Alvin is currently sitting with his legs crossed while smoking from his signature gold pipe. It is currently being supported by a jet-black tentacle. Occasionally, black liquid seeps from the sores on his skin onto the chair.

"I will need to replace the furniture later." says William with a sigh.

"You worry too much William, I simply need to make my report to the guild and return." says Alvin. William leans back in his chair and folds his arms across his chest.

"How exactly do you plan on doing that with your current appearance?" asks William.

"Oh you are concerned about my new additions. I suppose that makes sense. It's simple really. Most of this can be hidden within my robes." says Alvin, ever confident.

"The guards will notice something is off the second you reach the gate."

"William I have never been the most handsome man. A few sores on my face will not alert the guards." says Alvin with a grin.

"And if you are wrong the kingdom and the church will find out they have abominations on their doorstep." William had never been so frustrated in all his years.

"And if I don't return, you end up with an army on your doorstep looking for a guild investigator." says Alvin. William sighs heavily.

"I suppose your point holds. What about your guard Harold?" William asks.

"Luckily the Crabmen restrained him without lethal force. The man is too much of an imbecile to even notice I have changed. I will travel back to the guild and return here in a few days."

"So you will be returning then?"

"Oh of course. First I need to talk to some of my contacts. I must return and work hard for the Shiny God!” shouts Alvin with a fervor that is matched only by his attempts at courtship.

"Fine. Here's your journal. Your report seems fine." says William. He hands the tattered journal towards Alvin as a black tentacle shoots forward and grasps it.

"You will most likely start seeing some adventurers as early as tomorrow. I will see you in a few days William." Alvin says as he gives an elegant bow. William rests his head in his hands as Alvin leaves the office.

"I need to speak with the council." the words come out as a mumble through his fingers.

Escorted by a Hellclaw guard, William once again makes his way through the barracks towards the core room. As the pair reaches where the gate to the core room should be William becomes confused at the sight. "Where– where is the core room gate? Did we enter the wrong room?" asks William. The guard casually walks up to the stone wall and knocks on different spots along it. The wall itself rumbles briefly as a giant eye opens along its surface. "What is that?" shouts William as he points towards the giant eye. The soldier, undisturbed by William's display of confusion, gives a prompt salute.

"Hugh Man seeks an audience with the council" states the guard. A voice rumbles from within the wall giving off a sound of stones grinding against each other.

"Entry is approved." A maw of jagged stone teeth opens underneath the massive eye and a long tentacle like tongue stretches out. William falls backwards in horror and begins scurrying across the floor as the tongue coils around him.

"Please no!" he shrieks as the tongue pulls him along the ground. He claws at the floor trying to escape but the tongue’s grasp on him only tightens. William looks towards the guard for help but simply gets a blank face back as the guard shrugs at him. In a last bit of effort to survive William fumbles for a knife at his waist only to be interrupted by the tongue coiling around his arm and bringing it tight against his chest. Finally the creature begins to drag him inside its mouth while he kicks and flails. The world turns black for a few moments as William contemplates just where his life went so wrong. What choices led him to be here in this moment, eaten by a stone monstrosity?

Suddenly dim lights penetrate the darkness as William finds himself standing in a hallway. The tongue that was coiled around him recedes back into the wall’s maw and its eye and mouth turn back into stone.

"What happened? I thought I was going to die?" asks William in confusion while patting down his body to make sure all his parts are still in their respective places. William expected no reply but jumps in surprise as a voice answers.

"The master made a gateway mimic. It's a good gate, but a little moist." says the voice. William looks around the hallway looking for the voice’s source before noticing various slug like creatures similar to Sluggo's head moving along the ceiling and walls. William looks on in horror as one of the creatures quivers as it speaks.

"The master and the council are up ahead Hugh Man." William quickly regains his composure in order to not show any weakness to the core.

"Thank you. I will be on my way then." he says with a handsome grin as he walks down the tunnel towards the core room.

William's fake sense of composure does not last for long. As he travels down the tunnel its walls begin to change from their mine like appearance. First occasional strips of muscle and flesh appear along the walls and floor almost as if it's some sort of root structure. As he continues down the tunnel more flesh starts to appear. The various support beams and arches now seem to be some sort of bone-like rib cage holding up the ceiling and walls. Various sacs and tumors seem to grow across the fleshy corridor. Some of these sacs even glow, giving off light similar to a lantern in brightness. Tentacles and tendrils grow out of the mass of flesh in various places but part for William as he walks. Occasionally he spots eyes growing from the fleshy roots that stare at him without blinking.

"This is insane. The core room seems like it's becoming similar to the church out in the town. How far is the core’s influence going to spread?" he asks himself. William wears his fake smile while drowning in sweat from his fear. Finally William reaches the end of the tunnel. All aspects of the mine are now gone and the world around him is completely made of flesh and bone. A large gate of sharp fangs lies ahead of him. Around its perimeter are hundreds of eyes all staring at William. William's smile gives just for a moment before he catches himself and returns to his mummer’s grin. The teeth of the gate chatter before opening, allowing William to pass into the main chamber.

William's terror reaches new heights as he looks around the core room. The entire chamber now seems to be constructed entirely from flesh and bones. Various giant red sacks line the chamber and massive tentacles occasionally move and wave about. Thousands of eyes appear dotted around the room’s perimeter. However to William's relief, not all of them seem to be staring at him this time. The core itself is no longer visible as it seems to now be completely covered in the fleshy growths William had seen along the tunnel. William hears a noise reminiscent of someone stepping in thick mud and looks at one of the pulsing red sacs near him. One of the massive tentacles darts over to the sac and punctures it, causing blood and pus to pour out onto the floor. William takes a step back as to not get covered in the fluids. A goblin-like body stumbles out of the sack, gagging and coughing for a few moments in its struggle for breath. The creature stands up, opening its eyes to see William.

"A goblin? Three eyes like Glaaki?” says William, absolutely baffled. The goblin cheers as it stretches its arms above it.

"Me born. Me love Shiny God." shouts the goblin. "Me go work now." The three eyed goblin turns and runs down the tunnel towards the town. William laughs at the sight, overwhelmed in equal parts by his fear and confusion.

"You could at least put some clothes on!” he shouts as the goblin fades from his vision. “What is even going on?"

"Isn't it amazing!?" William turns towards a voice to see Glaaki has approached him. Glaaki, looking much different than the last time William had seen the goblin, throws him further into confusion.

"The master has decided it's easier to spawn new servants this way." says Glaaki. William recovers from his shock with a jolt and gives an elegant bow.

"Greetings master Glaaki." Glaaki scoffs before speaking.

"No need for formalities Hugh Man we are all one under the Shiny God are we not?" William raises his head and speaks.

"Yes, of course.” William shakes his head, waving off the last bits of shock from his rattled brain. “Glaaki? Is it just me or do you look different from when I last saw you?”

"Oh yes, the master has graced me with a new evolution! If you work hard I’m certain you will obtain one as well Hugh Man." says Glaaki with uninhibited glee.

"Humans can't evolve. Actually nevermind, I wouldn't be surprised if they could at this point. I'd rather not evolve." says William as Glaaki’s face turns to anger. "Because so many are more worthy than I." shouts William to calm Glaakis anger.

"Oh yes of course. For a moment I thought you were insulting the Shiny God. Of course you wouldn't dare." says Glaaki with a chuckle.

"How does this even work. How is the dungeon making goblins from these sacs. Mana must become a problem eventually, I assume?" asks William.

"Let us move over to the core the master will answer your questions there." Glaaki turns and motions towards the center of the chamber.. The pair walk in silence towards the center of the chamber before Glaaki takes a seat at the long table, now made of bone. Dak, Yidhra, and of course Sluggo are already seated at the table. William, being closer to the core now is able to make out more of its appearance.

Countless eyes cover the surface of its black skin. The eyes are looking off in various directions as if observing multiple things at once. The flesh near the core bunches up into roots that penetrate into the floor of the chamber. Tentacles six times the height of a man grow out from the fleshy floor near where the core lies. A maw of countless teeth opens up into a horrifying grin as a voice leaves its depths.

"Hello Hugh Man!" says the strange but familiar voice. A tentacle lashes out before gently touching William's skin. "Its neat being able to feel things now!" says the creature.

"Who and what are you?" asks William. Glaaki gets clearly angry at the question but remains silent.

"Oh right I didn't have a body before. It's me the Shiny God!" William finds himself lost in the maw of the Shiny God as he processes this new information.

"But,” he gives out a heavy sigh, much like one would see out of an old man who has seen far too much. “Nevermind. Hello Shiny God. Why do you have a body? What is going on?" continues William as he tries to keep his smile in place.

"The master decided it was too restrictive being made of mana so they have decided to create a body, as you can see." answers Sluggo.

"Right! I mean it was so annoying trying to float around and do things. Now I really am the dungeon!" says the Shiny God. The Shiny God laughs causing the chamber itself to shake.

"Cores can't have bodies though." says William nervously.

"Oh stop it with the Steve talk! I mean Steve was wrong about everything right? Goblins are friends not intruders. Fusing monsters is fine! And abominations are cool! So I was thinking, why listen to any of those rules Steve made up?!" says the Shiny God.

"But…" William begins to speak but is immediately interrupted.

"So anyway, if monsters can evolve why not dungeon cores? Of course the evolution was insanely expensive at 1,000 DP. But then I thought to myself, ‘well Shiny God, why do you even need to use dp and research points?’ After all that's a Steve thing and so here we are. Now I have a cool fleshy body!" says the Shiny God as it gestures to itself with a tentacle as Yidhra nods in agreement.

"Master those rules are in place for a reason, there could be consequences!" says William as tact as he can muster.

"No I'm pretty sure the rules are bad. I did feel like I was disconnected from something but I don't think it's too important. Also Steve is permanently gone now so that's good! " says the Shiny God.

"Havin’ a body is good. How can you win fights with no body?" says Dak as he flexes his muscles, they’re swollen as if he just worked out, he probably did actually. The shiny god tries to recreate the pose with two of its tentacles and Yidhra gives a thumbs up in approval.

"Master how are you going to build your dungeon if you are confined to this chamber?" asks William.

"William don’t worry your handsome little head, I’m growing myself in that direction. I'll sprout some eyes down there and I should be able to make changes with mana, just like normal! It seems I just can’t get away from using mana. Guess at least one of the rules are real." says the Shiny God with a chuckle as it brings its tentacle to its mouth. William sighs and slumps his shoulders.

"And the spawning sacs?"

"Oh that was my idea!" shouts Yidhra. "I mean the master had to keep waiting for mana generation in order to make monsters. Why wait?"

"That doesn’t explain anything," says William with a sigh.

"Basically we have to wait for me to purify mana to make things right? But why not just make things with impure mana? There's tons of it!" says the Shiny God.

"Of course you can do that." says William in exasperation.

"Yup and why make just one goblin cultist when I can make something that makes them at regular intervals?"

"Of course. Common sense really." says William having fully given up on the insane workings of his master.

"So you do understand!" shouts Glaaki as he stands up from the table. "Isn't the Shiny God amazing!" he shouts once again. William glances over at Glaaki before returning his gaze to his grinning master.

"I'll just focus on guild business from now on then master. I swear every time I come in here you have done something impossible. I don't know how long my heart can take this." says William.

"Okay Hugh Man thanks for the help!” says the Shiny God as it extends a tentacle towards him and begins to softly pat his head. As William begins to head to the exit of the chamber he hears his master's voice talking to the council behind him. "So what do we do with divinity points?" says the Shiny God. William continues walking towards the exit, trying to ignore the impossible thing he just heard.