Core Dilemma

As we made our way back outside I held a silent conversation with the new voice in my head. The voice was feminine but also strangely robotic, definitely not Carnachias.

"So you're the one that's been watching me then? Why?"

"I watch all of my Dungeons. Especially ones I don't remember making, ones with a species of Devil I've never seen before, ones that grow in power faster than I've seen in ages, and ones that invade another Dungeon to consume it's core. Most especially ones that are somehow aware I'm watching them." Well shit. This can't be good.

"Well it was only a faint awareness, a hint in the back of my mind but it was growing stronger. You're the Ancient Dungeon Core, Mundus Est Machina aren't you?"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME!" Fuck. Think carefully...

"My Dungeon spawned a library full of books, a whole bunch of histories among them. Didn't you put them there? And that reminds me what's up with all the cliff hangers in the fiction section?!"

"We are not in control of what appears in your Dungeon, what spawns is a reflection of you. That you got a library, let alone one with that kind of information is also very interesting." Okay dodged that bullet. Also interesting information, I thought I was getting what I wanted not a reflection. Unless she meant the contents of the rooms...

"Okay so why are you contacting me now?"

"We are bored. Never before has one gone out and consumed a second Core, I did not even realize it was possible until you did it. This, you, is something new. Are something new." Oh great, a world spanning dungeon spawning ancient AI overlord and she's bored. Fuck me. "So I have contacted you to tell you of another Dungeon nearby. I want to see what you will do about it, what you can do about it. North West of your castle along the river there is an entrance below the water leading to a network of tunnels. In a cave beyond is a River Monitor and the water snakes in the tunnels serve it. It has done nothing in all the time since acquiring power but eat fish. It has wasted our efforts in raising it up and we tire of it." Great so now she's giving me quests. And a warning not to sit back and get lazy I guess...

"Yeah okay, but I don't breathe underwater, certainly not while wresting a giant lizard."

"Find the entrance, look inland for a single large tree growing on a mound, dig down on the river side of the tree. There you will find it's lair. Kill it, eat it's heart. We will see what a third Dungeon Core does to you."

"Wait, what did a second Dungeon Core do to me?" I had gained a level in Dark Hunter and two in Dark Priest but nothing had come up for Dungeon advancement. All of us had leveled save the Emination, Electra clear up to lvl 5, the Bonehorror had been worth a lot of xp even without the Pure Land Dungeon boost.

"You will see when you return home. Goodbye." And the voice was gone, but there was still a nagging feeling in the back of my mind. And more demonic laughter. It was getting crowded in here...

I would see when I got home was particularly ominous, I had people at home. Replaceable yes, but I still didn't want to lose them if something drastic had happened. Maybe she just meant I'd need to be in my Dungeon for my Core to advance. Maybe.

Regardless I wanted to get back as quick as possible. My guardian had no problem carrying Alanna while running, and wasn't even much slowed down. I handled Brigitte and Electra cuddled Shailynn again, the trip back didn't take much longer than there and we were in sight before nightfall. Sight of a very much changed Fortress from before.

It still looked like a ruin, but the outer walls were larger, higher, and now had guard towers along it. The main building had also changed to one that was larger, the peaked roof was still there but was now surrounded by a flat section that was ringed by crenulations. Instead of being a simple rectangular shape the four corners were round tower like structures though no taller than the central peaked section of the roof. The grounds within the walls also seemed to contain more land as if the whole thing had expanded out making the valley it was in wider. Strangest of all no one remarked on the changes.

Depositing Brigitte and Shailynn on the roof Electra and I then lifted Alanna and my guardian up top as well. The hidden shaft was still in place but before going down I used my Dungeon vision to check out the new layout. The maze and traps were intact, though now larger and more intricate. My **** of 60 imps was now one hundred, 20 of which were Greater Imps who looked much the same as the regular ones save for being a lighter shade of red and a bit taller. They were tougher and could also throw the occasional fireball in addition to the flame bolts of their smaller kin. The great hall was unchanged, as were the auxiliary rooms, but now there were more. A cluster of smaller rooms opened up in a short hall past mine now, a large open barracks was now past the wall opposite the dairy and it connected to its own dining hall that also opened up on the kitchen. The cows and Moira seemed undisturbed. Argent, Glory, and the daughters of my trio now all wearing smaller sets of the same dominatrix black leather armor as their mothers were lounging around in the new smaller bedrooms. I'd asked Electra during our solo flight if she noticed anything different about the castle and she had said no. Consuming the second Core had apparently doubled the size of my Dungeon and added more rooms retroactively and only I noticed it. Well and also the Ancient Dungeon Core apparently. If we were going to be having conversations I'd need a better name to call her. If I remembered enough old Latin from school her name translated to The World Is A Machine. Even more of a mouthful than the Latin, but if she was literally the world I wondered if she'd accept Gaia. Scary to think she and these Cores had the power to rewrite reality but the Goddesses didn't really seem to understand how they worked either and maybe it wasn't intentional. She'd said no one had consumed a second core before.

The Succubi swarmed out into the great hall when we flew down wanting to know how things went. I showed them the crown and sent Electra off with them to tell the story. I asked Alanna about the den and she knew right were I meant, poor fishing she said unless you wanted snakes. I'd send someone to scout it out in the morning, right now I needed to sit down and think. How should I play things with the Ancient Dungeon Core. How much power over the Dungeons did she have? And would consuming enough Dungeon Cores give me enough influence to control her? I sent Alanna back to hang out with the cows and had Brigitte and Shailynn make out while I watched much to the Sorceress's delight but I barely noticed their spectacle lost in thought.