If I could sigh, I would. I feel it is too much of a risk for me to send more spirits outside, I can not control them well enough to prevent them from killing people after all. Not that I care, but I am aware I would have cared, so I will act on that line of thought. Becoming a Core is messing with my mind, how frustrating.

Still, this work is so slow.

I guess I will have to accept that my mind will be corrupted, and then spend my time after I get a body back restoring my mind. Whatever, I have eternity to do this work after all. Does time actually matter to me?

I feel a tug on my mind and look through my spirit’s eyes again. That girl is back? ...Is she stupid? My minions nearly killed her after all.

Well, at least I can tell her to get out now.

*Susan*

My horse had died miles back, but I could not stop- it was only luck that I had not been caught. I haven’t slept or eaten in two days, the world is starting to blur together. I trip over my own feet and rocks, but I barely stop myself from falling. The dungeon is just ahead and I stumble in.

“Why… Here…”

I nearly jump out of my skin, a glowing skeleton has stepped forward to meet me- it spoke! I am leaning against the wall, gasping for breath, trying to think of how to respond.

“Why… Here…”

The skeleton took forward and spoke more forcefully, and I do not want to push my luck.

“There are people chasing me. They- they killed my mother and sister…” I don’t know what to say, I don’t even want to think- especially about that. I am still watching the skeleton warily, it might be more violent than I thought or hoped…

The skeleton did not move or speak for a while, and then started moving towards me. I tried to scramble back but trip over myself- I guess I die here. Sorry, mother.

“Master… Welcomes… You…”

Master? Dungeons are not supposed to be sentient this young- no, mother mentioned that undead dungeons are sometimes formed by the death of strong spirits and they would sometimes not attack their descendants. I suppose I am lucky, and I follow the creature deeper into the dungeon.

*Core*

I have to admit to myself- I agreed to shelter the girl mostly because I did not care if she lived or died. Clearly, that is an effect of my transformation and thus I should act as if I cared at the least. When I do recover my personality this will prevent me from feeling guilt for my actions- I am not idiotic enough to do terrible things only to be crushed by my sins when I recover my true personality.

Now having said- thought? That. If people are trying to kill this girl so much there must be a reason for it, and that might be a profitable avenue to explore. She doesn’t look very well though, I would hate for her to die on me.

Well, my spirit did just kill some animal or another, I will order it to drag it back I suppose and then I will have to figure out how to cook the fucking thing. The girl was taken to the second chamber and Specy returned to the entrance, with my second spectral warrior taking over for translating for me.

Tell her that I am bringing her food, but it might be a while- she should rest.

“Food… Time… Sleep…”

Well… That is better than nothing, I guess.

“Thank you,” the girl murmured and she curled up in a corner. Or to be more accurate, collapsed.

I checked on my spirits progress, and it wasn’t very good. Spirits are terrible at interacting with physical objects, which is normally fine, but is frustrating now. It is especially annoying because the only way I can think to cook the meat will essentially mean that I will need to buy something I don’t want to.

I hope this girl is worth the effort- she will be more useful than Specy for knowledge of this world at least.

A couple of hours later, the spirit dragged a small creature, some kind of deer like thing, into the dungeon. I created a new spirit to send outside and took the one that returned and evolved it.

The evolution choice for spirits right now was [Wraith], [Icy Spirit], and [Fiery Spirit]. Obviously, I need the third one to use its fire to cook with, but I wish I could let my minions that I send outside become stronger. That is next on my to do list, collateral damage be damned.

No, can’t let myself think like that. Fuck this is frustrating!

[Fiery Spirits are fragile, and cannot attack normally. Instead, they rush at opponents and explode. Has the same immunities and weaknesses of a Weak Spirit. Unlocked by a Weak Spirit gaining experience.]

Ugh, I’ll just make it into a trap after this. I had the fiery spirit hug the body of the animal, which will cook it I hope? How the hell should I know? I am cooking an unknown creature with an undead creature as a dungeon core in another world. This will probably be disgusting, but after a few minutes it looks cooked to me, so I will just give it to the girl and hope it doesn’t kill her.