To Graverra’s relief, her dungeon core husband did not rescind his strange compliment of her temperament, even as she has to continue to explain that they would in fact be better off crafting certain materials fore future use. Not quite everything, that would just get excessive and even the system in all it’s moving targets seemed to understand. But with a bit of forethought - and gaining access to a much larger domain - the cost of certain things could be significantly reduced in the future. Unfortunately for the pair of them, that seemed to be the far future.

“It works out, alright?” She insists a little harder, also not in the mood to begin arguing again. Once they cleared all this genetic code and cultivar nonsense after this, assuming they still didn’t hit the prerequisites for dungeon ‘bosses’, then Graverra could be done with this initial training thing. Nobody got to question how much she did or didn’t know about running a dungeon anymore.

She hoped.

The closer to being able to attempt her ultimate goal with the now officially named Broom Closet, however, the more nervous she became. If it didn’t work how she imagined… She’s not sure what she’ll do and it most definitely did not bear thinking about in the moment.

“It’s like why I need to source bones and things for Necromancy.” She decides to try again explaining in terms he… Probably still wouldn’t understand, but at least it made sense to her. “You’re just recycling mana that’s already been there, instead of having to dredge up all of it from nowhere. It’s a little tedious, I guess, but then you aren’t just spending one big lump of mana at once.”

Which certainly sounded like the sort of thing Hecrux would rather not be doing very often.

“How do we know this isn’t just one big distraction?” The question feels a bit out of left field. In theory, they would just be doing what they were asked, which is more or less what she’d thought the root of the problem had been.

“The Coalition of Core Keepers wants you and your dungeon to thrive.” Graverra parrots back in her made up system voice. Granted, now that she thought about it, perhaps that was something to be concerned about, especially given…

“Estremon isn’t a keeper, she’s a watcher.”

She frowns at the distinction. That felt too much like something she didn’t but should have known. Something the system should have explained by now. Something the two of them were hiding from her. “Is there a difference?”

The answer is delayed a moment. The fact that Hecrux has to think about it doesn’t sit any better. “I’m not sure I actually know.”

“Shouldn’t we know?” It’s too late by the time she asks the question; Graverra is already trying to call to mind anything the system will give her in regards to keepers. It turns out similar to her pull on mana, only this time beginning with a lot of useless information on keeper classes and one excerpt from what is no doubt one long winded scholar’s opinion on how actually necromancers should too fall under that classification and be subject to the same sort of ethics and protocols.

Graverra can’t help but scoff at that one. At least the things potentially in her employ were already dead and soulless.

“What is it?”

“Hm?” It takes a look down at her grimoire to see she hadn’t pulled in of the information through the book, or the mirror for that matter. “Oh. I was looking into the whole keeper thing.”

“And?”

“Are… Are core keepers just… Are you like her version of a summoned companion? Or thralls? I guess it depends on where you came from.” There’s a thought there, she can feel it. It just didn’t have a whole lot backing it up at the moment beyond some basic word association and the fact that maybe there was a distinction at all.

“You’re the one who’s read up on this.”

He really should have learned by now that dodging questions only made her hunt for an answer worse for everyone, even Graverra herself would admit to that. “Do you just not know? Cause if anyone’s going to be understanding of that...” She would have liked it to be her, at least.

“Or perhaps it a bit like asking where mortals come from.”

“Sex, darling.” Graverra says flatly. “Or a number of ill advised magics.”

Hecrux grumbles his displeasure with the answer, but it only causes Graverra and Capo to snicker in unison.

“You don’t have to tell me.” She concedes a moment later. “It would be kind of nice to know, but…”

“And what does knowing where I came from accomplish for you?”

Graverra shrugs. “I suppose it promotes a sense emotional intimacy with the entity who promised me the rest of forever.”

“And the mechanical benefits of emotional intimacy are…?”

Graverra rolls her eyes. That one definitely wasn’t going to work anymore. “Oh, stop it. I’m the one doing the reading now, remember? ‘A secondary core may act as a companion for the primary core if the primary core’s emotional and intellectual needs are not being met by a simple companion.’ ”

The dungeon core growls again. “This is exactly my point.”

“What point?” They had maybe gotten a little distracted… Or, she had.

“Just because you’ve been presented with the opportunity to do something does not mean it’s the best, most direct, course of action. Keeper, watcher, whatever she is, Estremon would rather you come to the correct conclusion on your own and she isn’t above a little test here and there.” That was maybe the most information he’d divulged of his own free will yet.

“Is that what you think I am?”

The dungeon core bristles. She can just feel it. Maybe that was a step in the direction towards unwittingly reading the other’s mind. And maybe, if she were the one able to do it, it wouldn’t be as bad… She’d at least get her answers without having to pull teeth.

“That’s exactly what she said about me.” Was he having second thoughts? Graverra tries not to dwell on it. Or the fact that her little dungeon delve and recovery period after as technically the first bit of distance they’d had between each other which could have reminded him that maybe being the only core in the dungeon wasn’t such a bad thing after all… Not to mention the fact that really, he hadn’t argued very hard about her not being a quick means to an end.

“Well, I wasn’t referring to you. I was talking about being treated like a common crafter.” He still sounds flustered about it. Like he’d been caught again.

“So, impulsively adding me to the dungeon, good. Working really hard to find the best exploits in an already tedious system that I only made tedious-er by existing, bad.”

“Not what I said.” His tone only grows more strained.

“I’m just trying to keep up.” Graverra demurely flips a page in the grimoire as if she actually needs to. She does need to get back to the end of this chapter. There are more points she needs to prove outside the confines of initial dungeon training.

“You both lost me a whiles back.”

Graverra gives the skull a sympathetic pat on the head, but certain thoughts just won’t leave her alone. “You don’t like me knowing how things work. You really were just going to get whatever it is you’re really after and then… and then dump me in the hall like when you first summoned Capo.”

“Demonstrably false.” She still thinks he answers rather quickly. “I’ve let you have a hand in just about everything, as I said I would.”

“Let.” She repeats bitterly. Part of her knows she couldn’t even argue with that if they tried - which she still doesn’t want to, really - He was the primary core. He was there first. But still…

“Is the broom closet quite finished yet?” That name got a lot less funny when he said it.

“One more section…”

6.3 Cultivating Unique Defenders and Dungeon Flora

There isn’t much actionable for her to complete with just one defender in the room. She had hoped for a moment that maybe the system was about to by-pass their limit or at least offer up another freebie. But when all she was asked to do was merge one carnivorous plant with another, gaining the acidic property but still not taking it up to a size to be considered trap or defender, Graverra quickly gives up hope on the idea.

Please place ‘Bone Spider’s Egg Sac’

“Oh?” It doesn’t take much more prompting than that. Pulling up it’s stats after placing it however was just a slew of question marks, glitched out text, or a combination of the two.

Bone Spider x ?̷͍̤͖̱̞̖͔̯̳̥̄̈͗͠?̴̧̪̼͇̺͒͊̆?̶̡̞̯̱̥̮̫̻͊͗̆͑̔̌̒̅̉̋̐͜͠ Spider Egg Sac - Cost: —

Type: Undetermined

Theme: ?̷͍̤͖̱̞̖͔̯̳̥̄̈͗͠?̴̧̪̼͇̺͒͊̆?̶̡̞̯̱̥̮̫̻͊͗̆͑̔̌̒̅̉̋̐͜͠

XP Granted: Undetermined

Possible Loot Dropped: Bonemeal, vial of ichor, Spider’s Fang, Silk, ???, ???, ?̷͍̤͖̱̞̖͔̯̳̥̄̈͗͠?̴̧̪̼͇̺͒͊̆?̶̡̞̯̱̥̮̫̻͊͗̆͑̔̌̒̅̉̋̐͜͠

Possible Damages Dealt: Physical, Necrotic, Poison, ???, ???, ?̷͍̤͖̱̞̖͔̯̳̥̄̈͗͠?̴̧̪̼͇̺͒͊̆?̶̡̞̯̱̥̮̫̻͊͗̆͑̔̌̒̅̉̋̐͜͠

Actions: Sprint, Dodge, Pounce, Bite, ???, ???, ?̷͍̤͖̱̞̖͔̯̳̥̄̈͗͠?̴̧̪̼͇̺͒͊̆?̶̡̞̯̱̥̮̫̻͊͗̆͑̔̌̒̅̉̋̐͜͠

Possible Resistance: Necrotic, ???

Health: Undetermined

Time Until Hatched: [120:00:00]

“And there goes another defender’s slot…” Hecrux huffs. She doesn’t quite feel like correcting him on the fact that until whatever it is hatches, it appeared to work similar to his beloved slime.

“Poor bastard babies…” She wonders if the system would account for the fact one of the parents was very specifically made of bones, or they were about to have some real mutant looking things crawling around. The fact that she didn’t have a way to worry about the physical appearance - at least not right that second - might have been worth the extra cost of simply making a whole new one after all. “We should move that somewhere safer in a minute.”

“A minute?”

“Well…” Graverra skims through the tail end of the section. More information al that random chance factor that she was sure someone with a more meta-minded disposition could find a way to crack but… Between this, trying not to devolve back into another argument, and her health still not completely restored, there was only so much she could take before it all started wearing on her stamina again.

Skills, Crafting, and Cultivating - Completed!

Conditions for Dungeon Bosses Not Yet Met

Congratulations, Initial Dungeon Training (Temporarily) - Completed!

Mana Reserves - Restored

Achievement - Initial Dungeon Training

Achievement - Well Read

Achievement - Expecting!

Achievement - …

“You would think after all that fuss I could get a little more fanfare.” Graverra sulks down at her grimoire for only a moment. Now, unless Hecrux was still feeling particularly resentful, she could finally return to managing the rest of the dungeon.

Indecision over what to start with hits next. “Alright, well, first…” She picks out the itty bitty supposedly pointless chest to drag down into the crypt. It made sense to her there. The spider eggs then to the faked upper level inside the would-be castle where they were at least less likely to be bothered if the dungeon wound up placed before they hatched.

“Now.” She says a bit louder and more forceful than usual. “I am going to try something and I don’t know if it will work and even if it doesn’t I don’t want to hear about how I should have known, or there was an easier way, or why didn’t I just- just- Whatever! I did the initial training at no actual cost to us, you didn’t have to suffer through reading all that, and alright I spent a little on a book of questionable credibility, but! I told you the dungeon would reset in the end so it’s almost like that didn’t cost anything either, alright?”

“Yes, mistress.”

“I know you’re only saying that to mock me.” She’s not sure what him knowing that she knows gets either of them, but she does. And he doesn’t argue.