Three Points Allotted To Spell Crafting Skill Line

! Possible Advancements Available for Spell Crafting Skill Line !

It turned out that if a dungeon core placed enough arcane theory and basic spell books or scrolls, that was good enough for the system. Graverra had only tucked a few primers in amongst the other books in the study when the system had notified her of the first point. After that, she had to at least test her theory by placing a few more books. The scrolls in the desk drawers might have been a little bit of overkill, but she could always move them around later if Hecrux agreed.

Graverra turned a page in her grimoire to bring up the skills list.

Alchemy - 1

! Fleshwarping - 7

Leather Craft - 2

! Masonry - 10

Metallurgy - 4

Textiles - 3

Woodworking - 4

Horticulture - 3

! Spell Craft - 5

Mana Mining - 4

Monster Taming - 2

! Necromancy - 7

Unspecified Points - 6

“Whoa. When did all that happen?” Graverra definitely hadn’t been getting any notifications about it. Had Hecrux? Maybe it was all from his castle building… Which was great, probably. Unless the system or those core keepers or even Estremon decided they were ill-gotten gains. Graverra tapped a finger on the corner of the grimoire; she really would have to ask Hecrux about all that when he woke up. Until then, though…

! Possible Advancements Available for Spell Crafting Skill Line !

A Familiar Problem - Mobs that are otherwise mundane may be imbued with the power to hold simple offensive spells.

Did You See That? - Visual illusions may cause a minor mental condition of the dungeon core’s choosing.

Did You Hear That? - Auditory illusions may cause a minor mental condition of the dungeon core’s choosing.

There! Finally. None of those options really screamed illusory ceiling, but if their illusions could cause damage — or at least, annoying mental conditions — then they had to be allowed to work on the ceiling now. Graverra selected the auditory illusions option; she already had the beginnings of an idea about how to use it in the ballroom, and if she could use it in the crypt too, then all the better.

Masonry wasn’t half so exciting. Her options were stronger stone, better decorative elements, or some kind of buff to stone elemental mobs, which she certainly couldn’t see them employing any time soon. So, advanced sculpting it was. Graverra doubted Hecrux cared either way. Although she did intend to leave the fleshwarping advancement to him and maybe where they ought to put the unspecified points.

! Possible Advancements Available for Necromancy Skill Line !

Chump Change - When using mana recouped from the death of an adventurer, the use of necromancy skills costs .5% less.

Is Anyone Using That? - In the event an adventurer cannot be resurrected by their party or other means, the discarded body may be temporarily enthralled by the dungeon. When the thrall is slain again, the body may not be reused.

A Quick(er) Dirt Nap - Undead mobs require .5% less regeneration time when slain.

Graverra’s finger tapped against her grimoire again while she tried her best to think over each option carefully. Thralls were, of course, the most tempting idea, but that was only if they had absolutely no means of resurrection… And if you were running a level seven dungeon, you probably had some kind of contingency plan, even if very basic. Meanwhile, the last thing Graverra felt they needed right now was anything further complicating what mana came from where.

After selecting A Quick(er) Dirt Nap, Graverra slouched back in her chair. The fireplace trap had cost a bit, but the books she had been sure to keep on the lower end of things. She wasn’t that kind of tired. More than anything, she was anxious for Hecrux to wake up. The reading about pocket dimensions had quickly turned into planar rifts.

Like a physical pocket, there must first be a tear in the physical plane. The entrance to the pocket dimension of the dungeon is then anchored in place.

It is this author’s speculation that while some have been intentionally placed by and for the various purposes of the pantheon, some have become patch jobs and cover-ups for larger snags in the fabric of reality. Incorporating a pocket dimension may well be easier for them than a seamless mending of reality.

But Aelrindel made no further mention of how a dungeon might come to be. No mention of core keepers or watchers. It was the closest Graverra had gotten to an explanation, and it was still nothing. Still required Hecrux to humor her questions, just a little.

✨ ? ✨

Primary Core Status: Active

“That isn’t what you said you would be doing.” Hecrux spoke nearly as quickly as the status had appeared.

Graverra looked up from Malfunctions of Magic and frowned in the direction of the door between them. How did he even know what she had done so quickly? Maybe if he’d given her the chance to explain… “Well, I did some of that too. I just thought-”

“No! You weren’t supposed to have to do that.”

“What? Think?” Graverra huffed a humorless laugh as she placed her bookmark. That couldn’t have been what he meant by that. “I’m allowed to work on the dungeon too. It’s both of ours.”

“Wasn’t the manor enough for you?” If Graverra didn’t know better, she might have thought Hecrux sounded hurt. But that was ridiculous. He had no reason to be.

“It- It was too much.” Graverra hated to bring it up this way. Talking about mana madness or their real purpose as dungeon cores or core keepers or any of it wasn’t going to go well, and she already knew it. For starters, they should have been having this conversation face-to-face. Or at least face-to-eye.

Graverra hurried to get up from her workspace and into the dungeon core’s lair before anything else could be said.

“What?”

She stepped over their threshold just in time to see Hecrux blink his confusion. Maybe it was genuine.

“You didn’t have to do all that if it was going to get you in trouble again. I don’t want-”

The dungeon core laughed. “I’m not in trouble, Graverra.”

“You said we shouldn’t make a habit of overspending mana, and now the coalition of core whatevers are considering your repayment, and I think Malfunctions of Magic says-”

The dungeon core shook himself ‘no.’ “You don’t have to worry about all that.”

“Maybe I want to.”

“It isn’t necessary.” There, Hecrux began to sound short and restrained again. Graverra wished he wouldn’t do that.

She crossed her arms, trying very hard not to just rattle off all the things she’d almost but not quite learned from Malfunctions of Magic. It wasn’t that she didn’t think Hecrux was taking this seriously; he’d been so desperate to do a decent job he’d gone and added her to the dungeon, after all. But that was it, wasn’t it? He’d added her to the dungeon, and expected what? “So, what am I here for then?”

The longer Hecrux took to answer, the more Graverra feared hearing it.

Finally he blinked, still using that tight and guarded tone. “You’re here because I want you here.”

Graverra dug her nails into her arm. That had sounded so much better before. That was what had gotten her to agree to this all in the first place. “Want me here for what, Hecrux?”

“You didn’t want me to have to kill you, and I could make better use of your mana.”

“Oh, you can?” Graverra feigned sickly sweet shock. “Is that why you had to go and run up some tab with what I’m pretty sure now are minor gods?”

“That doesn’t concern you.”

“Yes, it does. I’m part of this dungeon too, aren’t I?”

“Yes.” At least he didn’t hesitate about that.

“Then what am I here for?”

“Because,” If he had paused any longer, she might have screamed. “I wanted you here.”

He spoke as if he were stating the obvious. Even as a non-answer, it was close enough to his admitting it for Graverra. She spun on her heels and stormed back to her chambers.

“How was- Bad. It went bad.” Capo started and corrected himself as she continued through her chambers to the wall opposite the door between herself and Hecrux.

“Really bad.” Graverra’s voice was a shrill whisper as she tried not to cry about all this. She didn’t even have to go through with it. She could still turn around and sulk in a four-poster bed on silken sheets.

“What are you doing?” Hecrux asked, and it made Graverra hate the way he could know everything she did, maybe even everything she thought, but she hadn’t been extended the same courtesy, all over again. It wasn’t fair. They weren’t partners. She probably wasn’t even a real dungeon core after all.

“I’m… I’m going to clear the dungeon.” She said. And then it was just as if he had forced her hand; she had to summon the dungeon’s entrance now.

It was easier than she had expected in her all-of-a-moment’s anticipation, even without her grimoire. Doorways weren’t allowed to lead nowhere, after all. Graverra summoned the same wrought iron fence she had helped place at the dungeon’s actual entrance.

Place ‘Wrought Iron Gate’ for 750 mana?

Y/N

!Warning - Core Combat Inadvisable At This Tier!

“No, you aren’t.” Hecrux dismissed the system prompt just as quickly.

“Yes, I am.” Graverra called it back and accepted before he could decline for her. The iron gate replaced the blank wall in front of her, laced with the ivy she had placed, and beyond that, the dim and dancing light of the dungeon’s torches.

“And what do you expect that will accomplish?”

Graverra summoned her grimoire and tucked it under one arm, reaching out to the dungeon gate with her other hand. “You said I couldn’t leave because you didn’t have enough mana to compensate me; if I clear it now, you can just give me mine back.”

“I think I’d rather kill you first.”

Graverra can just hear the way his eye lights up, the way it had the last time he said the exact same thing.

“I think I’d like to see you try.”