I feel excitement from the voices for the first time in a while! It feels overwhelmingly joyful and eager. The voices are speaking so fast that I can’t keep up, but I caught the word ‘dungeon’ among the rest so maybe it found a dungeon. Following its directions sure enough we found a dungeon. But rather than conquer the dungeon it seems to be more interested in talking to it as if it expected it to talk back. After a while of feeling foolish standing outside the dungeon waiting for a reply, we finally headed in. With some practice I've become able to switch back and forth between my original vision and my enhanced vision, that recently even has a zoom function. Though I am more inclined to believe that this thing just switches it itself when it feels me want to see what the normal races would have. Anyway, I mention this because this is my first time in a dungeon so I was interested what it would look like. Dark, very dark. There is occasional glowing moss in the cave like tunnels that are the only source of light but its barely enough to make out the ceiling its on let alone the current room we are in. I feel this thing take over my body and raise my arm to defend against something. Out of the dark came a stick swung by a goblin. I couldn’t even see it there until it was right in front of me! Kay pinned it down and I felt it join us so it should be alright now but if it was just me as I was before here, and it was multiple goblins I might have died! Or worse if those little devil’s reputation is to be believed.

My seniors always warned new adventurers to stay out of dungeons until they were confident and even then, to go with someone who knows the dungeon already. I also heard those warnings hundreds of times, but this place really makes it strike home! We have been in here for hours and its ambush after ambush that even with my new eyesight I have trouble noticing. What’s really scary is that this dungeon is right on my usual scouting turf and if I was really hard up for money I would’ve surely entered alone and died! The goblins alone are deadly but sometimes there are pitfalls that I fail to notice set right before a group of goblins. That’s not a pit fall any more but a killing pit putting my head right at the height of the goblin’s chest! All they would have to do is stand around the hole and wack away until I die! I'm pretty grateful to this thing right now. I know it’s weird to say that about something that can work you like a puppet, but it was really a matter of time before I came here. And no one would see me again. Sure Tanya might come looking for me but Jeff would be useless here as an archer and she would only last until she hit the first pitfall since there’s no way you would be able to see it in this dark cave.

Now with its help I am navigating the dungeon like a morning stroll through the woods. There were even several well-guarded and trapped rooms that had a chest with some small silver coins inside. It took some arguing with the voices to be able to take it with us and that the dungeon wont mind but at this point I have enough to slack off for a few weeks if I ever make it back to town. I would have enough for a month or more if I could take the magic stones from the goblins but it insists that they not be harmed more than needed until it can talk to the dungeon. So we have a line of umpteen goblins following us everywhere. Honestly that thought gives me shivers but I’ve never been harmed by anything that joined us before. Well other than when my puppeteer was testing some new improvements it made. I really want to call this thing something specific, but it asserts its opinion on not having a name so there is no indication that anything other than me is involved. That sounds like preparation to throw me under the cart, but I’ll let it go for now and just call it my partner. Honestly calling it that is a lot friendlier than I feel for it right now, but I guess its about as trustworthy as Jeff with my laundry right now, so its passable.

It feels like we have been down here for forever. I might have doubled my savings here but if I had any needs to sleep, eat, drink, or if I was still able to get tried or sore, I think I would’ve thrown in the towel by now. That’s if I would’ve been able to find my way back! Otherwise I might have bit the dust by now. My partner persists on carrying on until we find the core. I might get to be one of the few adventurers that gets to see the so-called core of a dungeon. I'm slightly excited myself at the prospects. They say that old dungeons can grant nearly any wish to those who spare it. Not that I think this dungeon is very old since it only has goblins, but its gotta count for something right?

Finally, we found the boss room door! The whole door and the area around the entrance is lit by moss but the rest of the boss room is completely without a light source! My partner even had to rework my eyes again to see further in, and what I saw was a group of goblins that were fully armed. Bows, shields, spears and even a magic staff. Wait… as my eyes are further adapted, I notice- every single one of those goblins are a SHE! I thought female goblins were a legend! They look far more human than normal goblins. Like a slightly green tinted, very short, 15-year-old girls. Unlike goblins that have a face of a 95-year-old grandpa who is always grumpy, the goblinas have a slightly plain young human face. They say the odds of a female goblin being born are 1 in 10,000! That’s why goblins and orcs are considered an “all-male” species that takes its ‘mates’ from any female of any race they can capture. And yet here are 10 goblinas in a neat formation like some war troop ready for battle.

My partner petitioned to have control to speak with the dungeon again. That’s another notable change in our relationship, it tries to ask before taking me over unless it’s an urgent matter. And I must say I like this set up much better than it just taking me over without a word. It kinda feels like we are sharing my body, rather than it owning me entirely. I have to constantly check myself for changes incase this is another suggestion it forced in my head though. Since it is always obsessing with learning and improving everything its only a matter of time before it would be able to plant suggestions that I won’t be able to notice, if it really wanted to.

At any rate since it didn’t really matter to me if it spoke through me or if it spoke directly, I handed control over and watched the show. Sadly, the fight started the moment it said hello. I watched as it controlled my body rather well considering it only has been able to adapt to it a few days. Then the lightning spell hit. Pain, there was no numbness that usually happened when electrical magic hits. There was no muscle seizure either. Just pain that felt like tiny knives hacked at every inch of my body at once. Then there was a burning heat that came from where my heart is/was. It is still the heart of my body per se but now it is a “generator”, that started to burn me from the inside. The heat was quickly dispersed to my skin and then I became drenched with sweat, cooling my body rapidly while breeze magic invoked to help cool me. It just occurred to me that in all the time I've been with my partner this is the first time I’ve felt pain. With my weird demonkin looking skin it calls “bio-armor” every single monster we have come across so far have been only able to hurt on the level of a paper cut until now. And there were a few B rank monsters in that group. Even the arrows of the goblinas was like a pin prick, but that lightning spell hurt like I had broken a bone.

Then I felt it. My partner isn’t a very emotional sort, other than curiosity, but right now I felt a new emotion- RAGE! Burning, consuming rage. It felt like someone had killed a loved one right in front of it. My thoughts to calm down didn’t reach it at all as it barreled its way at the offending mage, ignoring the other goblinas like they were insignificant. Then again other than a few new holes on my clothes and leather armor they couldn’t harm me even with the wide-open opportunity right now. A part of me is rather frightened by this turn of events but another side is curious. Its scary to see a usually easy-going person snap in sudden anger but I can’t help but wonder: what is the cause of that rage? It really hurt but it seems I'm already back to normal. Is it because something hurt it… or hurt me? I don’t know. It doesn’t seem to treat me like a puppet or seem to think about wanting to toss me aside despite us having met monster far stronger than I was. I have knowledge that monsters don’t, but it could easily raid the town with the number of bio-armored minions it has. The walls won’t defend against an army of indestructible birds dive bombing after all. Heck, after everything I've seen it do, it just needs a single bird to take a dip in the wells. Everyone would drink it and be taken over within hours rather than days. And if its “research” it kept muttering about for a while is to be believed, no one would even notice until it changed their organs. An entire town of people that may know far more than me. So, what value do I have? I don’t know… I don’t even understand why I still exist in this body, and why it seems to try to meet me halfway on things. It doesn’t make any sense. Is that just how my partner is? Or is there a deeper reason I haven’t found yet. So many questions but so few answers. And I don't know how long I will have to find out.

Ah, before I noticed it the mage and the other goblinas are part of us. No there are still 2 left that are hiding in the back corner. Why would they just curl up and hide there? Its not like we can’t see the- No I'm wrong, I shouldn’t be able to see them. If I swap my eyesight back, its so dark, there is no way you would notice them. Clever. If they then ambushed us from behind, they could do some damage. Though with over 50 goblins now coming in the room and following us it’s kinda moot. Especially since they can’t actually harm me or Kay.

The meeting with the dungeon core was rather deflating for both of us. I expected something far grander and my partner, seemingly, was expecting something else as well. I can feel a sudden apathy where its excitement was. Like its not even sure if it’s worth bothering to add the dungeon to us.

In the end it ended up taking the dungeon as well and began its happy little tinkering time it always does when it first takes a new creature. From what I can gather from the voices muttering, any time it comes across any beneficial abilities that it didn’t have before it then implements it in all of us. I don’t really get it, but what I really don’t get is why I'm still the main host? It seems to be quite taken with the dungeon’s abilities, but it stays on me. Why? A dungeon would be far better to defend and hide you than me. So why are you staying with me?

As it was going over the rules the dungeon must follow, it suddenly stopped. Then it attacked a goblin that hasn’t had any bio-armor added yet! It feels like some strange force prevents me from harming the goblin. Kay however could hurt the goblins so its not like its an issue. Or so I thought but my partner seems panicked that I can’t help with the defense. Why? You have an army of monsters roaming outside, spreading your group everywhere other than the town. It’s not like I can outperform your upgraded earth bear or all these goblins if you upgrade them. For that matter there are more dungeons than just this one. Why are you hung up on not losing this one, yet you don’t fully take over the dungeon’s will?

My partner ended up spending hours on hours tinkering with the dungeon’s defenses. The amount of mana consumed doing so was insane, yet it treated it like a drop in a lake. I have a sudden premonition that if my partner ever gets its hands on a high-class mage… the world will fall to it shortly thereafter.

It seems Tanya and Jeff have come looking for me. What’s worse, they seem to have triggered my partner’s paranoia of the world being against him. Well crap. I'm out of time to observe my partner before I get involved spreading it to other people. And there’s no way I’m letting it take charge of taking them in! I can picture them battling all its monsters complete with bio-armor until it kills or captures them. And since Jeff is a coward as it is, even if they live, I'm sure he will have a huge trauma from that and not leave his bed for weeks while Tanya takes care of him. But I wonder if my partner will listen and trust me with this? And if I'm honest, I'm scared it will abandon me if it finds a better host.

My partner did listen to my relief. And it even refused to give up a small animal from us. Hopefully that means it wants to always keep its… Minions? Partners? Family? Toys? Tools? Pets? I still don’t know what it truly thinks of us as. Tanya, Jeff, if this doesn’t work out and it thinks of us as less than dirt when we have expended our use, I'm sooo sorry! But if it stays with us afterwards and lets us live with its protection, we will be far happier than we have ever been before! Never having to walk the tight rope of death again. Besides if this thing spreads everywhere, all adventurers are going to be out of the job. After all, what use is a monster hunter, caravan guard, or anything else if we can’t kill a single one of its bio-armored mosquitoes? Better to join now while it is semi friendly rather than when it views the races as its enemy.

Lastly this will serve as evidence if I’ve been totally brainwashed or if I'm still me. Tanya, I'm counting on you to notice if I'm acting strange! If they still think I'm me, and I can convince them to join us, that means it isn’t a completely one-sided arrangement. And a deal with benefits like these… if it was the me before, knowing what I do now, I would’ve hugged that stone to my face and begged for it to bless me. Well and maybe I’m just happy to have someone to talk to about all this.