I was slowly losing my breath. Exhaustion had long taken its toll. After brewing two hundred potions, I unceremoniously leveled up.

The stats which I had long neglected, at last entered my field of view;

———-Core————

[Class: Hero — Level 2]

[Subclass: ????]

[Power Level: 12]

[World Rank: #173442]

–—-Progression——

[Dungeon Craft — Level 5]

[Potion Brewing —– Level 6]

———Skills————

Hero’s Blessing: You obtain a random cheat skill every five levels.

———Extra————

Languages: [Demon-Speak] [Common]

Inventory Slots: [5]

Despite my new level, the system did not allow me to pick new skills or increase any of my stats. Elvin eventually showed up with a hundred more flasks. Somehow, they all fitted into his inventory slots after Henrietta strapped a bag to his back. The poor creature was being treated like a mule. I gave him a pat and slid all of my red crystals into his backpack. Then I waited until he left before returning to my task.

Another hundred potions it is….

Brewing red potions was easier than what I had thought. The only requirement was for Henrietta not to be around.

This easily raised my potion brewing skill up to level 10. Granting me a subclass.

[Alchemist]

I did not know what that meant, but Elvin arrived with the next batch of flasks.

As I brew red potions, I thought about my friends and family. But more importantly, I thought about my childhood. When I was done, it felt as if I had single handily started the industrial revolution.

The witch kept providing us with flasks. There is no way that she thought we were using them to make rainbows or anything like that.

At last, once we had enough crystal for the dungeon core, I returned to Henrietta’s dungeon.

“Just place them already,” Henrietta said.

“If something goes wrong, it will be your fault,” I said.

Upon placing all the vividly red crystals in the inhibitor, a warm spark of light blinded my eyes. My notion of gravity broke apart. I was falling, flying and simultaneously standing firm on the ground.

[Dungeon Core Online]

“Fufufu,” Henrietta laughed. “Now it is only a matter of time before I climb to the top!”

Her chuuni pose gave her no means by which to resist the violent earthquake that followed.

We both plunged to the floor, and the earth roared furiously, louder than thunder.

The crystals imploded into a white sphere of light, which sucked Henrietta, then turned black. Then it pulled me and I fell into the dungeon core. In panic, I closed my eyes and screamed as loud as I physically could.

“What’s wrong? Are you ok?” a woman said. I felt as if someone shook me, trying to wake me up. I stood up from bed and received a hug.

I was scared and still traumatized by what had happened.

“It seems you were having a nightmare,” the woman said. “I know you are anxious because today is your last day in school, but I want you to know that I love you.”

I was confused. Where was I? I looked around the room. It was definitely my room. But the woman who hugged me was not my mother. She only looked like her.

My mother never said those words.

I looked at my clock. It was seven in the morning. School started at eight.

I followed the woman downstairs; she made breakfast. On the table, my dad joined us and we had a small chit chat. Was this normal? Is this how a normal family interacted? I went back to my room and changed into my school uniform.

On my way to school, the streets seemed devoid of life. Other people made their way through the sidewalk, but none that I could recognize. Was this how people normally made their way to school? I was about to mix into the crowd when suddenly I bumped into a red-haired girl.

“Hey, long time no see!” she said. Her red eyes were filled with energy.

“Oh hey, Maki,” I said.

For some reason, I knew her name, but I was sure we had never met before. As we walked to school, I stared at her long, straight hair.

From where do I know this girl?

At school, everybody was wearing the same gray uniform as Maki and I. Had it always been this way?

When I entered my classroom, everybody hid their faces with shape-less black masks. Maki and I sat next to each other. I felt odd for not wearing a mask.

The first few classes ended in a flash, since the semester was already over and attendance was optional. I spent my time staring at the sky. The moon looked so beautiful, despite being shattered in half.

During lunch, Maki and I headed to the cafeteria, and I chatted about normal things with people who I once knew. Friends in another life. But soon enough, they and their normal topics of conversation lost my attention. Maki tried to start a conversation with me, but all I could do was stare at the half empty water bottle in my hand.

And just as I did. I at last comprehended what magic was.

“And here I thought you were never going to figure it out,” The Witch said.

Seeing Anna fully dressed in black, with her silly pointy hat, made me chuckle. “Don’t you laugh at me, little missy,” she replied, waging her hand. With a single spell Anna converted my school uniform into a witch outfit identical to hers. 

Everybody in my friend group stared at me. It was embarrassing to be dressed like a witch while in school grounds.

“Let’s go,” I told The Witch.

“Wait, stay. If you leave, that will be weird,” Maki said. “Why are you even dressed like that?”

The embarrassment made me giggle. But I knew deep down that I wanted to be anything but normal.

“I am sorry Maki, I know we just met, and this is crazy, but goodbye!”

Me and Anna The Witch ran away.

It felt like an awakening. Soon enough, my perception noticed the logical errors that plagued the world.

Buildings without doors, trees without roots. The sun and the moon both up in the sky at the same time.

Colors that did not match.

Streets that stretched forever.

“How or why are you here?” I asked Anna. She seemed to know this question was coming and answered right away.

“Did Henrietta ever tell you what happened to her first dungeon core?”

I nodded. "Of course I remembered. She said someone destroyed it."

“I destroyed it for a reason,” Anna said. “You see… emotions do not exist without a context. How do you know how anger feels like if you have never been mad? Fear, love, happiness, how do you know how these emotions feel if you have never experienced them?”

I still did not understand what the witch was trying to say.

“See, Darling, when a dungeon core is born. It is born with powerful emotions but no context of the world. Not only must it justify its emotions but also justify its existence. Where does a core look for these justifications? You can see it all around you. It looks for answers in the memories of its creators. If Henrietta had ever recreated the core on her own, an ever-expanding dungeon might have been born. But since you are here, things will be different.”

“Different?” I asked.

“Yes, but it remains to be seen. Your memories and world view did not mix well with those of Henrietta. That is why this world seems corrupted, illogical, fake. But that is not her fault. The complexity of modern human civilization is far beyond her comprehension. How would she know that every building had doors, or that vehicles roamed the roads, or that humans are individualistic in nature and yet associated in groups?” The Witch said.

The witch pulled a broom. Then sat on it, as if the broom was a motorcycle.

“You can fly!?”

“Oh darling, why would a witch not be able to fly?”

As we made our way through the sky, I hugged her really hard. The city below us looked beautiful and yet, I could not stop thinking about the height.

“I don’t want to fall!”

“You will not fall, I think. Just hold on tightly,” Anna said. “But if you do fall. It will only hurt for a second, people can’t die in the dream world.”

“Hurt!? How bad!?”

“Depends on how bad you think it will hurt. You want to find out?”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA,”

I almost chocked as we passed through a cloud.

“Hey, stop screaming, it was a joke.”

Far from the city, we arrived at a mansion.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Wait and see,”

The witch knocked on the huge wooden door. When it opened, we were received by a Demi-human maid.

“A Demi-human!?,” I said.

“I told you before, this dream world is not fully yours,” Anna replied. “Now, behave.”

Either because this was a dream, or because The Witch held a high social status, we were allowed into the mansion.

The local lord invited us to have dinner with his family. They were all demons.

“Is this normal?” I asked Anna.

“Ah yes, in demon families, children are plentiful. Sometimes couples have up to fifty kids.”

“No, not that.”

“Oh, you mean, the fact that only half of the kids get to sit at the table while the rest only watch as we eat? You see, in demon society, you must take what you want or die. In this specific situation, the demons in each seat either were here first or took their seat by force.”

“isn’t that cruel?”

“Darling, it might seem cruel to you, but this practice is a source of pride for them. Why did you think I told you emotions do not exist in a vacuum?”

“Well, I am going to put a stop to this!”

“And do what? if you give up your seat, it merely means that you are returning the seat to whoever ate in the original memory. Yet, the system remains unchanged. Another twenty kids remain without a plate.”

“So what? you prefer to just sit there and do nothing?”

“Well, let me tell you that homely cooked, demonic pork chops are something you rarely get to eat in a lifetime. Dream-world or not. Trust me when I tell you you are going to regret missing out.”

As soon as I got up, we were teleported somewhere else.

“What happened?” I asked.

“You tampered with the memory and it became unstable.”

We were now at a library within the mansion. The demon kids were fighting over who got to read which book.

As the adult in the room, I took one of the books they were fighting for and read it out loud.

We were teleported again.

Now two girls were fighting over a doll. I convinced them that the doll was haunted, and they fled.

Then we got teleported again.

Half of the kids were sleeping on the floor, while a few of them had their own bed. I forced them to share it instead.

At last, we got teleported outside the mansion.

Anna laughed. “Are you satisfied?”

“No, we are going back in there right now!” I said.

The witch laughed again. “Not you, but the dungeon core.”

I felt someone hug me from behind; It was Maki. She sniffed my hair. “You, in particular, are interesting,” she said, whispering in my ear.