When the core spirit woke up again, he was not where he was previously, surrounded by the stone walls of the room but instead his gem was floating in the middle of nothing. Darkness as far as his sight could reach. Trying to affect his environment did absolutely nothing and with a sort of sigh of frustration the spirit called up the notification.

Congratulations your Dungeon specialty has changed.

Warning changes to the soul’s affinity took a large amount of time, many things may have changed.

Dungeon Menu

Core Spirit

Level: 2

Dungeon Specialty: Void

Name: Unbound

Mana: 100/100

Dungeon Body

Levels: 0

Rooms: 0

Defenders: 0

Traps: 0

Shop:

Defenders (four free choices available)

Plant Life (four free choices available)

Traps (four free choices available)

Environment (four free choices available)

Dungeon Abilities

Skills

Shop Points: 10

Warning existence of Dungeon requires management aid. Dungeon requires a core companion. Summon spell available (usable once). Perform?

YES NO

With a mental huff of frustration at the constant choices the soul mentally chose yes and waited.

Summon spell active, cancellation may cause core destruction….

Scanning….

Finding suitable companions….

Possible companions found: 1

Sending companion request….

Agreement received, summoning….

Summon: Void Fairy

The intricate mana patterns of the spell hurt to look at, forming massive chains that pushed through space and time, the core instinctively knew it requires far more knowledge and power to mimic even with its new affinity. The mana-formed chains started reeling in and on the other end, an armored box popped out of the spacetime tunnel. The intricate mana patterns faded slightly, the chains vanished from sight and the armored box swung open. Out of the entryway a small purple and black humanoid being flew. Less than half a meter tall with delicate features and a curvy body. A dark purple skin that was traced with black lines in intricate forms. Most of the body was clad in form-fitting black clothing with gaps for lighter purple wings to poke out.

“Are you going to keep staring because that little contract shows that you meant to be more intelligent than average?” The fairy spoke in an amused tone that Unbound found quite delicate. Unfortunately for him, he did not know how to respond.

“I mean hello. Is this core hollow?” The fairy snarked at his lack of response. In his annoyance, he tried to push mana out at the little fairy. To his surprise, it moved quickly and almost eagerly towards the fairy instead of the struggle to push it into the sword from when it first tried.

“Ooooh, food already aaannnnd you don’t know how to speak. Hmm. Try this.” The fairy sent a small mana burst back at him and in the instant, he saw it before it was absorbed by his core it was like a spiderweb made up of tiny letters and symbols. Once it was absorbed, he suddenly knew more.

“Greetings.” He mentally pushed at th- his fairy he decided with the new knowledge he could feel their connection more clearly and see the path his mana traveled along to the small being.

“Ah, the mute child speaks.” The fairy said again in its delicate voice, amusement suffused throughout its tone. “Never did I think I would receive a dungeon companion. I learned about them with my fellows, but they received partners a long time ago.” The fairy’s voice trailed off in thought, but her words confused the core spirit. Was the affinity chosen truly so rare?

“Your thoughts are really loud you know?” The fairy chided. “But yes, to answer your unspoken question. Your chosen affinity is the only one of its kind. You are unique. There will only ever be one being of legendary rarity. In the case of our death, there will never again be a dungeon or fairy of Void affinity.” The enormity of her statement struck him for a moment before he pushed past it and questioned the fairy.

“How do I do anything in this empty space. My mana just couldn’t touch anything.” The fairy’s face became more serious at that and assumed a lecturing attitude.

“The reason your mana couldn’t touch anything is that mana is pure mana. Until you gain quite a few more levels you won’t unlock your mana affinity pool. After you unlock the affinity mana pool then more options unlock for the void affinity. So, to gain those levels you have to kill a lot of beings or have a couple of lucky breaks, achievements, and such.” The fairy paused for a moment before continuing. “To quickly gain those levels it's best to kill something and to do that you need a dungeon. Whilst you technically have one now it is unconnected to the universe outside and has nothing in it. From your status, I can see the unlocked patterns of common stone. With that fill everything around you.”

“With stone?” He replied.

“Yes.” Said the fairy. “Fill this space and carve out a floor layout in the stone. You fill space by converting mana to the material. It will go slowly at first but faster once you gain the relevant skill. Oh, to keep your mana regeneration going you are going to have to open a portal entrance. Imagine where you were then push out.” She shrugged at that. “I can’t give you a better explanation than that though.”

“Does the surface improve mana regeneration?” He questioned the fairy. Her face brightened as he asked.

“Yes. Yes, it does. I am glad you asked. Were you really deep underground?” He gave a mental nodded and thought about her words. He thought about where the sword had landed and stabbed into the earth. Where he had sealed the hole, he made back up after he dug down. He pictured the place then pushed his presence on one side of the nothingness and tore a hole through. As the clumsily made breach through space stabilized he could see part of the battlefield from earlier, curiously from what small part you could see there were no real skeletons apart from old bone fragments littering the floor. After the portal solidified a great flow of air rushed into the empty nothingness, the force of air so great the fairy was moved to one side temporarily. Once steady again the fairy clapped as the mana dwindled and started rising again.

“Well done, you have formed your entrance where all adventures start. In the future, you may want to make it more elaborate and grander but for now the interior.” He listened to the fairy and brought up the idea of stone you had swallowed earlier. Bringing the mana, he pushed the idea onto the pure mana until it twisted into shape. With a soft crack as the air flowing from the entrance was shoved out of the way a small pebble of dull grey stone appeared. He paused for a moment as a question came to mind.

“I know my name. I chose it. I am Unbound. Who are you?” The fairy slapped her face with one small hand in embarrassment.

“I forgot to introduce myself. Lifelong partner and I forgot to introduce myself.” She shook her head with a huff and spoke again. “I am Elvinia the only void fairy in existence and it’s a pleasure to meet you Unbound the only void dungeon in all of existence.” There was a sense of formality to her words and it was like the tightening of a knot. He saw the mana string between them grow in size and so did the fairy change to become almost a meter tall. His own surroundings seem to become clear making his vision a few seconds ago seem blurry in comparison.

“What happened?” you questioned the larger fairy.

“The complete dungeon – fairy bond. What we should have done after you started talking but I forgot, and I am sorry.” She murmured shyly. He comforted the fairy through the bond and once she seemed confident again went back to filling the dungeon space with stone until the massive space was filled.

A long time later he was finished and something changed on the dungeon menu. The first floor was registered.