Callum glanced around the great hall in amazement. His recent experience had given him some appreciation for what a Castle Core could do, but seeing a room this size, especially since it hadn't existed a short time ago, was something he struggled to accept.
The hall was of a decent size, able to comfortably seat forty individuals for a feast; a raised dais at one end overlooked the rest of the hall. A large hearth in the middle provided both heat and a way to cook meals—prepared in the small kitchen area in one corner of the hall.
None of that was possible now though, the room was completely empty. Amarok curiously began sniffing around while Callum approached a door at the far end of the room, directly opposite the raised dais.
The thick door opened straight into the outdoors, a short flight of stairs led down to the ground. He closed the door and turned to face the dais once more. To his right was the small kitchen area and he spotted some stairs in the corner on his left.
Upstairs, he found three similarly sized rooms accessed by an inner hallway; all the rooms were empty. A narrow, outer, hallway wound around the entire castle and led to various arrow slits that were currently blocked with wooden boards, to keep out the cold.
The staircase continued up to a large open roof that gave him a sense for how thick the outer walls truly were; the roof area was much larger than the great hall was. Callum and Amarok approached the battlements to survey the surrounding area.
"Oh, wow, you've already got a bunch of upgrades done! Hooray!" a high pitched, squeaky, voice shouted behind them.
Wolf and man both immediately turned around with snarls on their faces. Amarok crouched down in preparation for a lunge while Callum activated <
"Eeeep! Whoa, that's a big dog. They told me about dogs, but I didn't think they got that big. He's not going to eat me, is he mister Murray, Sir? He looks like he wants to eat me!"
The same voice spoke from somewhere in front of him, but Callum couldn't spot anything. He tapped into his connection with Amarok and was able to get a sense for what to look for and where to look for it.
Flying at eye level several paces away was a tiny figure with a soft yellow light around it.
"Who are you, or should I ask what are you? How do you know my name?" Callum cautiously asked.
"What am I? How rude! Hmmp, I'm Primrose Petabelle and I'm your Castle Fairy. They told me your name when I was assigned to your Castle Core. Mister Sir, is your dog going to eat me?"
Callum narrowed his eyes at that pronouncement.
"Who are 'they'? What made them think that I had a Castle Core?" he carefully inquired. He wasn't going to admit to having a Castle Core.
"I'm forbidden from talking about them. But they know about all the cores on Terra and elsewhere; us fairies help manage all Dungeon, Castle, and City Cores. I'm supposed to be your helper."
Callum relaxed a little when he remembered the man in the recording had mentioned that he was going to get a helper. He had also mentioned something about his fairy. He could definitely use help with figuring out what to do with a Castle Core.
"Sir Murray, Sir, about your dog, can you tell him not to eat me?" Primrose asked.
Callum sent a thought to Amarok that the fairy was a friend and not to eat her. He received a faint hint of amusement from the Dire Wolf in return.
"He's not a dog, his name is Amarok and he's a Dire Wolf. No, he won't eat you. So, how can you help me?"
The fairy immediately zoomed right in front of Amarok and grew to be a foot (30cm) tall. She touched his nose before racing around to sit on the wolf's back, where she started petting him.
"Yay!"
"Booped your nose!"
"Ooh, he's soooo fluffy!"
Both Callum and Amarok were caught off guard, and the bewildered pair could only stare at the exuberant fairy as she rapidly performed all three actions, with accompanying pronouncements. Which left Amarok conflicted about whether he should enjoy her actions or not.
"Sorry, I've wanted to do this ever since I learned about dogs! Now summon the door to the Core Room. Just will it to appear somewhere on the roof!" shouted the excited fairy.
The same door that Amarok had initially found appeared on the floor of the castle's roof. Following the fairy's suggestion, they moved towards the actual Castle Core; Primrose chose to ride Amarok down the stairs.
"The door to the Core Room is magical and will appear anywhere in the castle that you will it to. But, that also makes your Castle Core vulnerable to anyone trying to steal it. You should anchor it to a restricted and well guarded area of your castle."
The fairy explained as they moved down the stairs. Callum observed, with a sense of relief, that the excitable fairy seemed a lot more serious now that they were talking about her field of expertise.
This notion was quickly shattered as they neared the Core Room and she zipped ahead.
"Wheee! Come here you shiny crystal you!"
Callum walked in to see the fairy intensely hugging the Castle Core with her eyes tightly shut. The Castle Core rapidly pulsed with each beat of Primrose's wings; the white light inside the core dimmed and brightened with each pulse.
"Okay, I'm attuned to the Castle Core! I can access the status and different upgrade options of your castle for you. This way, you won't have to come here every time you want to change something. You're here now though, so just will the status to appear as you did with the door."
Callum followed Primrose's guidance and a new window popped up in his vision.
_____
'Castle Level: Level 2 | Mana: 4250/2500 | Regeneration: 17/25
Garrison: (1/42)| Staff: (0/10)| Total Capacity (1/52)
Keep: (Level 2)| Upgrade Cost: 3000| Total Number Of Upgrades: (7)
- Durability: (Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 10000
- Reinforced Main Door: (Lvl 2)| Upgrade Cost: 1200
- Battlements: (Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 500
- Mana Battery: (Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 1500
- Mana Siphon: (Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 3500
- Basement: (Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 3500
Outer Wall: (NA)| Upgrade Cost: 5000
Core Room: (Level 1)| Upgrade Cost: 5000| Total Number Of Upgrades: (1)
- Map: (Lvl 1)| Upgrade Cost: 1500'
_____
"Okay, you have more upgrades than I thought you did. Yay! Did you add Beast Cores to your Castle Core? How did you know to do that?"
"I didn't . . . errr, well maybe? The previous owner left me a Beast Core and a ring, but the Beast Core disappeared shortly after I touched the Castle Core. I didn't choose any upgrades though!" Callum responded.
"If he left you the Beast Core, he might've pre-chosen some upgrades for you. That's allowed as long as he paid for it. Your excess mana will disappear in a day, so we need to use that soon. Can I see the ring?" she asked him.
Callum gingerly pulled the ring out of the bag, where he had stuffed it, being careful not to touch it directly. Primrose shrunk back down to her smaller size as she zoomed right up to the ring and closely inspected it.
"Yay! It's what I thought it was!" She danced in the air, twirling around the ring as she zoomed around Callum, "You have to unlock a lot before you get access to that baby! It'll hide your Castle Lord Class. Put it on!"
"My what class?" Callum asked as he looked up his status
'Castle Lord: Lvl 2 (Supplementary Prestige Class)
This class supplements your primary class. Your levels in this class will only grow with your castle.
+1 Bonus attribute every level. Must be added to Intelligence, Willpower, or Charisma.'
"Oh, huh . . . I didn't realize I got this," Callum read through the short description. It was pretty lacking for a Prestige class. But an extra attribute every time he leveled up was nice.
"Yuppers! The ring will hide that from others so you don't get targeted, while you're still vulnerable. Now look at the map."
She pulled up a much simpler map, compared to Callum's vision; the smaller map centered on the castle. Two circles, red and orange, and a black X appeared on the map as she waved her hand.
"The two circles are monsters that are interfering with your castle's mana generation. And the X is where two neutral sentient parties are fighting." She was about to continue when Callum interrupted her.
"Wait sentient, like Humans?" Callum blurted out.