When Victor came to his senses he felt like he had just awoken from a bad dream.
The first thing he saw was a turquoise window directly in front of him. It was directly projected into his mind.
[Thank you for choosing the TDH system] The text read.
TDH system? Victor had never seen something so strange. At the top of his mind, he could think of three possible origins for this odd thing.
First, this was some aberrant form of magic. Maybe from the mind spectrum?
Second, this was a blessing by the gods. He didn't know of any that would utilize such a weird means of communication, but who was he to judge?
Third, this was the doing of a relic. No one truly understood their workings and purpose so it wouldn't be too far-fetched for one to have this kind of weird ability.
Whatever it was, it was communicating with him.
"What do you want?" He asked directly.
[Please specify] A new window replied. Whatever it was, it was clearly capable of listening in on him.
"Why did you appear to me?" Victor tried anew.
[System user has granted the individual known as Victor access to a sublicense of their system through a taming subcontract]
Victor didn't understand. The words made sense individually but not in context. Someone granted him this system thing through a contract? What even was a system? Victor was ready to lose himself in thought when he finally became aware of the rest of his surroundings.
He was in a forest, that much was clear, and the ground around him was blanketed by ash. Victor froze.
He easily recognized the phenomenon. This was what remained when something living had been completely deprived of its energy. A telltale sign for the presence of undead and unholy creatures.
On that note, he also noticed his hunger. It wasn't overbearing, but there nonetheless.
Already with a bad premonition, he risked a glance at his own hands.
It was him.
Just like he feared. His pale white skin was all the verification he needed.
He was undead.
His heart raced in panic at the realization, but when he grabbed his chest, there was nothing. No heartbeat.
The ash all around him. The remains of his last meal.
Victor felt weak. He sat down right there, his face blank.
His head was spinning.
It took him a moment to calm down. Much faster than should have been possible.
"What happened to me?" He couldn't help but mutter aloud.
Victor tried to remember. It was difficult. It felt as though someone had bleached his memories. There were some traces but nothing that gave him an immediate and definitive clue to his circumstances.
[The individual known as Victor was tamed and resurrected as a Zombie by the main system user] Another one of those messages popped up.
Tamed? Like a pet? What was it talking about? Once Victor thought about it he found that he was connected to someone. He couldn't tell any details but he was able to tell their general condition and the direction of their location.
He didn't feel angry about the fact that he 'belonged' to someone else. No, it was his honor. And it was time he rejoined them, now that he fulfilled his task.
There was a tiny voice in the back of his mind, telling him that he was controlled all his life, and didn't want to be controlled all his death, but he ignored it.
+++ +++ +++
In a subspace, Riva was taking in the scenery as she slowly strolled towards the core area. There was a warm breeze playing around her as if to welcome her.
The further she walked the more purple flowers grew on the grassy field that reached into the distance. The flowers had some similarities to Lilies but when touched they glowed in a magical luminescence that lit up the darkness of the night. Their captivating beauty was only amplified by the countless stars that glittered in the sky above.
It took a few minutes for Riva to reach the heart of the space. Here the grass and flowers gave way to a shallow pond with large black tiles at the bottom and in its midst, a familiar willow tree.
Here Riva's mindscape had merged with reality to some extent with the dungeon seed, or rather core, now that it evolved, at its center. It directly became part of the subspace that was typical for any dungeon.
Riva mused, what would happen when she was outside and split her mind again? Would there be two real and physical hers?
In fact, Riva knew the answer. It would be the same as with the tree in front of her. It existed in the form of a spirit and could only take physical shape in this area because of its special nature.
She could also project herself in her mindscape and thus come here by leaving her body behind. But once she left the safety of the core area while in her spirit form, she would be nothing more than a ghost. It could be compared to an out-of-body experience.
Still, the whole thing was super weird. Riva never expected that the dungeon would project her mindscape to a physical space. The possibilities alone… also given the fact that she could freely manipulate the dungeon's entrance. Didn't she technically own a small pocket world that she could take with her wherever she went. That was so friggin cool!
She opened the Dungeon Management window of the system.
A quick glance revealed that the residents count had risen to nine. It probably counted Fate and the three Zombies as additional inhabitants. Which made little sense. But what ever did?
At least this likely meant that the two Zombies and Slashy, which she left behind at the collapsed dungeon were still 'alive'. Or maybe it just couldn't register their death because they already were that way to begin with. No sense in worrying over it.
Then there was Riva's remaining energy. It said she had 1287 points. But the number was constantly changing ever since Riva started the mana conversion so there was little sense in splitting hairs over each point. In fact, Riva could watch it slowly increase point by point.
Now one might wonder if it made sense to absorb mana from inside the dungeon since it was already mana that technically belonged to Riva. But this time it wasn't just Riva that was generating the energy. Not directly. The dungeon was also absorbing the surrounding mana and converting it into energy. After all, it was a part of her.
And it wasn't just mana. Riva noticed that the dungeon could also harness other types of energy which it directly added to their shared pool.
In just the moment it took Riva to analyze the situation her counter had increased by 5 points.
Not only did she have a stable energy influx, she was earning enough to easily pay for several spells a day.
Enough using 'Haste'! It was high time she pulled out the big guns and finally honored the true greatness of magic. Being flashy! She would spam special effects until her foes couldn't see a thing. She would become truly unbeatable!