*Susan*

I would not stand by while my savior died, especially not when he gave up his life so easily! I would not let him turn over his life so easily!

[Conditions Cleared: Succeeded to conquer Dungeon and make it submit via surrendering! Class Unlocked: Dungeon Master! Dungeon Master class is now level one!]

What..? This is a Menu, only powerful diviners were able to see and interact with this! And this class- The Dungeon Master class is so rare as to be mythic. It was popular in stories and was well known, but I had never heard of anyone actually possessing it…

“Susan!” Hailey called out to me as the tremors died down, “Are you alright? You need to leave the dungeon before something happens!”

“I should have known that it was a trick,” the templar sounded disappointed as he addressed Specy. “Regardless, you will be cleared.”

“I had nothing to do with that! I hardly know what is going on!”

Wait, whose voice just responded? No one else seemed to hear it- because it was Core! I could hear him now!

“Hailey, no.” I had to struggle against my friend as she tried to pull me out- to my surprise, I was easily able to break her grip though she had always been stronger than me. “Templar, sir, Core had nothing to do with that! I- I think it was me…”

Specy had relayed what Core had said, it was odd hearing Core talk and then Specy say the same thing after him- or, almost the same thing. It seemed Specy editorialized a bit, it was actually quite amusing. I could even see Core somewhat now- no, new knowledge flowed into my head, I was not seeing him, the flickering light and shadow that I was seeing was merely where his attention was. After all, Core was all around me- he was the dungeon itself.

“Templar, sir-” I began.

“Please, call me Taric.” The templar replied, still at the ready after the latest surprise.

“Sir Taric,” I hesitated for a second. “It seems- it seems I gained a new class…”

The templar frowned, “explain.”

“Specy, I command you to defend Core if he is attacked- even if he does not want you to.”

To the surprise of everyone around me, Specy bent to pick his sword back up- even as he was demanding to know how I could make him do it.

“Wh- what is this?” Specy’s teeth chattered, the skeleton version of a stutter I suppose. “How dare you coopt my Master!”

“What are you doing young lady?” Taric frowned at me, shifting his stance to respond to me as if I was a threat- but I want this to end peacefully, I need it to.

“I just unlocked the class Dungeon Master.” I spoke calmly, even if I did not feel it. “I do not know quite how- I saw a Menu, and it said that the dungeon had surrendered, that Core had surrendered and so I became the Dungeon Master.”

“Impossible,” Taric breathed, than I felt a wave of divination magic wash over me. “Repeat that.”

A truth spell, Taric must be an extremely high level templar, perhaps on the verge of the Justicar class. However, I had spoken the truth- and this spell proved it as I repeated myself.

“So I am to be your slave now?” I could sense Core’s displeasure, and merely responded.

“No, but I was right to step in when you were trying to kill yourself.”

“You do not know that this will even help- they might just kill you too!”

“I guess it would all depend on my next few sentences,” I said, feeling more confident and ready than I had in years. I had heard rumors that some Classes could affect their users personalities- it was part of the reason templars had such similar attitudes apparently- and it was definitely occurring here. This was my domain, why should I not be confident here?

“You are speaking to the Core.” Taric stated, I had forgotten that he could only hear my half of the conversation.

“Yes,” I said, and took the opportunity to declare, “As Dungeon Master of this dungeon, with my words proven by your spell, I promise that this dungeon will never be evil and act always for good and morality.”

The templar studied me for a second, and then sheathed his sword.

“I will come back to test your words,” he said. “But you are speaking the truth now, and while evil must be purged this dungeon was already odd to begin with- and with your influence it may end up a force for good. However, know that I will be watching- and that I will not be alone.”

The group left, but Hailey stayed behind for a bit.

“Susan…” She seemed lost for words.

“Come back for a visit sometime,” I smiled at her. “Next time under better circumstances.”

“I will do that, take care Susan.” And with that, the group had left, but that had not ended my problems.

“What have you done to me?” Core’s presence floated around me, and I even found I was able to read the emotions in his tone and movements- even though he was little more than the barest light and shadow. Right now, Core was agitated- angry and afraid, afraid of what I could do to him. But I would not be so ungrateful as to turn on my savior, a person- and I truly thought of him as a person- who was even good enough to surrender to the templar for others sake.

“Honestly, I do not know.” I replied truthfully. “There are many myths about Dungeon Masters, but very few have ever actually existed.”

“If I had known my admission of defeat and surrender would lead to this, there would not be one now.” Core replied unhappily, “But how was I supposed to know that someone could assert their will over me in that situation?”

I was not sure how to answer that, but I was distracted by something when I looked at Specy. I had an idle thought about what his Menu was like, and it had appeared in front of me! Listing stats of all sorts.

“So this is a Menu…” I was amazed to see it, to think that Dungeon Masters had such power.

“What, you could not see them before?” Core seemed surprised by this. “Just by thinking about it menus for anything in the dungeon will appear to me- and now apparently for you. But shouldn’t you be able to see your own normally?”

I shook my head, “long ago the legends say that people could, but these days it requires visiting a very powerful diviner who has the necessary magic to inspect your Menu. With enough money or fame they can even tell you how to gain really rare classes and guide people to them- but the cost is so exoberiant that never happens.”

“So where does this leave us, Susan?” The Core seemed tired as he spoke. “I had planned to give you one of the houses in the necropolis when it was built, but should it be a palace now? Apparently, I cannot do anything about this situation, so the question falls to you- what do you want?”

I had an answer to that question, and I was glad the templar was not going to be here to hear it.