'Tilly...Why exactly are our dungeon bosses bringing back a child to the dungeon...this seems kind of off don't ya think?' I ask suspiciously as I continue to watch Tyr and Slax lead the small girl through the various deathtraps of the broken down village towards my dungeon. Tilly makes a hmm sound as she continues to watch the scene for several more minutes before she speaks.
"Well Kyle, since you have been reborn as a dungeon core your human values have been warped somewhat. You still have all your feelings but your negative feelings towards things like murder and such have been warped to allow you to survive without feeling bad about it. This doesn't affect those pacted to you though. If Shank or Spooky were to have found that child most likely they would have killed it or brought it back for experience for you since their mindset is similar to yours. But Tyr and Slax were both born and raised outside a dungeon so they probably have mixed feelings about finding a child in that situation and since they're both decent people from the feel of it they feel responsible to make sure the kids safe. Honestly it wont hurt to speak with her and since she's a young child she hasn't unlocked her ability to pick a class or get many skills. Let's see if she knows anything and maybe the bandits will be able to raise her." Tilly explains and it hits me that my existence is kind of odd.
Since waking up I can remember everything but most of it is confusing. I can "eat" and even get a type of "flavor" but I'm basically just converting the stuff I eat into mana and substance to create stuff out of maybe. In my old human life I could never imagine intentionally hurting anyone, I mean yea I took some judo classes as a kid but I'd never go out and cause damage for the hell of it but here I find killing people in my dungeon exciting, entertaining even! Maybe this new life has warped me a little bit but now that I'm aware of it I can at least stop it and my first step is to make sure this kid is ok!
As my inner monologue keeps going I watch as the group of three can be seen in the distance approaching my dungeon entrance, carefully making their way towards me as they keep the child between them. Slowly they finally make their way into the entrance and you can visibly see their bodies relax as they smile at each other while leading the child to my core room.
"Yo um...Lord Kyle? Actually what exactly am I supposed to call you? Slax is cool and all but I'm not doing the whole master thing. Anyway we found this little one in the village fairly close to the important stuff, and she was being attacked by a twin headed hound. We brought its body back along with some decent stuff and she would've died back there on her own so we decided to bring her here." Says Tyr as she scoots the girl in front of her and then begins dumping out all the stuff in her bag, each item being swallowed by the floor as it touches it.
"Umm h-h-hello Mr. Rock person and Mrs.Fairy lady...thank you for letting me stay here til its safe." the small girl stutters out before she runs behind Tyr and peeks from behind her legs. I can almost hear Tilly's heart breaking as she flutters over and starts fussing over the girl and I smile to myself as I clear my throat.
'Hey little one! My names Kyle and I'm the glowing rock. This fairy is my friend Tilly, can we ask what your name is and how you knew I was a person honey?' I ask as gently as I can while remembering how I used to talk with my nieces and nephew in my old life.
"My...my big brother was an esplorer, he got paid lots of bronze and silver to splore caves. He told me once that a cave he was sploring was something called a doongen and there was monsters! He was all blam! and Boom! and pew pew! Him and his friends beat up all the monsters and brought back a rock like you! He said the one he had was angry and dangerous so he had ta but there were good ones too and they had monsters that can leave the cave and esplore for it! When I turned nine last cycle he taught me a skill that lets me see colors of monsters! Green means good, red means bad, blue means its someones pet, and white means its a cave monster! Your monsters saved me so you hasta be a good doongen! My names Sarah and I came with my family through the forest! But they got attacked by another doongen monster that was scary, he was a giant see through monster that was ugly and had warty skin! I ran away cus I'm not strong and I took a book my brother gave me. I read it one night and learned a bunch of magic and I can even make my friend Flippy appear so I've been sleeping in the clothes shop! Was safe until a big boney thing went through town and after that lots of monsters showed up." Sarah explains quickly, gasping for breathe in between words until she finally finishes speaking and looking at me expectantly.
'Well its very nice to meet you Sarah! If you'd like you can stay here until we find your family or until your strong enough to leave. Why don't you let your friend Flippy out so we can see him and show us all of the magic you can do? Maybe if your super nice, Tilly can teach you some new stuff too since she's a master in magic stuff!" I say enthusiastically while I notice Tilly giving me a death glare that she quickly replaces with a smile and nod as Sarah looks towards her in excitement.
"Kay, Summoning Magic: Uster!" Sarah chants as the small meter tall, fish/satyr fusion appears and looks around with dull glassy eyes. As it stands in one spot dumbly Sarah casts two more spells after it appears and the creature takes on a golden red glow as its muscles bulge. After the buffs take effect she summons her venom bridge and finally finishes with a small ball of water materializing above her palm before it spasms and falls to the ground. Inspecting the strange summon I find it is actually fairly powerful compared to my normal mobs and I wonder if I can get its blueprint.
{Species- Summoned Uster Description- The Uster species is a rare and historically viscious species of land dwelling mer creatures. The first sighting of these creatures dates back to thousands of years ago when a small settlement of beast folk was found abandoned, all traces of the original inhabitants replaced by strange amphibious creatures sporting fish like heads and features combined with traces of beasts and humanoids. This race can speak and is known to appear once every few hundred years and attack nearby settlements, taking as many live prisoners as possible while leaving all valuables and normal loot behind. Recently to be discovered as a manufactured species, several underwater races stumbled across a large and heavily defended city that was shown to be the Uster home. Inside were warped experiments of combining intelligent marine life with that of land dwellers creating incredibly dangerous crossbreeds. This Uster is a summoned creature who's soul was entrapped within a spell and robbing it of its will. Although it can think it is bound by the one who summoned it and is not a truly living being.}
"Sarah honey, why don't you go with Tyr and Slax and make yourself at home. Kyle and I have to talk." says Tilly with a small hint of agitation as the three leave for the living area while Tilly hovers in front of my core with a grimace, her eye twitching.