The Survivor Becomes a Dungeon

Vitmori POV

'Vitmori?' The feminine voice called out to me again, but I was still mentally reeling from the sudden drain on my mana. My name was written out in patient anticipation on the panel in front of me as the voice waited for me to respond.

After another moment I finally managed to get myself to sit up before just sitting cross-legged in the stone sand, the panel following my field of view as it rested in the bottom right corner of my vision where I could see it clearly without it obscuring my vision. I could feel Reyvyre's hand on my shoulder, and feel the vague sensation of her talking to me, but I couldn't make out anything as I offered her a small smile. "Don't worry, I'm fine. Just... Just give me a few minutes, we're not alone right now." Having taken the moment I needed to orient myself, I looked at the panel and spoke up. "Sorry for making you wait, I can safely say I wasn't quite ready to hold a conversation after everything that just happened..."

Despite never having seen her face, I could vaguely sense the feminine voice was smiling a little in understanding. 'No need to apologize Vitmori... I suppose it's fair to say that none of us were quite expecting to have this conversation right now.'

Now that was interesting... "What do you mean by that? Weren't you the one who reached out to me?" I asked while causally dusting myself off. Glancing over at Rita and Reyvyre, I could tell they were clearly concerned but Reyvyre soon had a realization of some kind as she opened her journal and began writing things down.

'No, by using that magic circle, you reached out to those of us who have granted you your aspects. While I may not have been the one to originally grant you your aspects, you still inherited the one I granted to Lichtdren.' The feminine voice explained.

"Ah okay... Wait, you said us, right? I have three aspects, don't I?" I asked curiously while quirking a brow at the panel.

'That's right you do, and she did indeed say just that.' A younger-sounding feminine voice called out, sounding remarkably cheerful and rather enthusiastic; a different line of writing came onto the screen with a different color and font. 'I don't get to meet living mortals all too often, so it's great to finally talk to you, it hasn't been fair of her to hog you for herself all this time.'

My head started to reel at her excited reveal, though I suppose that explains why my head was feeling more occupied than usual. In the next moment, a new line of text with a different color and font came onto the screen. This time a male voice came to my mind, it sounded like a young man, though he held a more mature and calm air when compared to the other new arrival. 'You and I both know that he wouldn't have been able to handle all of us as he was a month ago. Just be happy he's defined his existence enough to be able to handle this conversation now.'

"Handling it might be a stretch, though I suppose it's safe to assume that this whole experience could be worse than a mild headache." I mentioned with a pointless huff before doing my best to collect myself again. "So what are you all doing here? And what did you mean by me defining my existence?"

They didn't respond right away, I could feel them discussing something between themselves, but I couldn't make anything out despite the conversation happening in my own mind. After a few more moments, the first feminine voice spoke up again as a new line of text started scrolling down. 'Well, like I said before, you called us by using that magic circle you found in the memories of that scion. As for why we were called in particular, it's because I am your handler. I chose you and brought you into this world once you had passed on in your home world. As for the other two, they sponsored me and gave me the influence I needed to place you on this mountain as a dungeon core.'

The younger female voice chimes in at that. 'Not that you're any kind of dungeon I've seen before. But I suppose that's our fault.' She mused a little sheepishly, and I could vaguely imagine her scratching her cheek out of embarrassment.

"How is that your fault?" I asked; it's not like the idea of making a labyrinth even appealed to me in the first place.

The male voice spoke up at that. 'While all three of us may have contributed to your being here, we accidentally spent too much of our influence granting you your titles and our aspects. You were quite accomplished for a mere human and the karma you accrued helped us do quite a lot to prepare you for your arrival here.'

'With that said...' The original feminine voice started to say. 'We failed to set up a summoning circle along with a spawner for your first scion and monsters. If we were able to do this from the outset, we would have been able to properly speak to and advise you as to what you were supposed to do to build up your strength and get a dungeon going.'

"Ah... I see. Well, that certainly explains my days of complete solitude when I first arrived here." I mentioned though I didn't feel particularly bitter about it, especially considering that I do get the sensation that they genuinely feel bad about letting that happen to me.

The original feminine voice continued. 'By the time we were able to actually contact you and you managed to accidentally trigger the system which had been in place to help guide you, you were already well into getting yourself established in the world and influencing it in your own unique way. So instead of getting you a spawner and scion, we spent the karma you accrued to remove the system and gave you a goal to prepare for in the near future.'

'Who could have guessed that a magicless old man like you would have figured out how to absorb natural mana? Not to mention mutating and ascending all those animals into formidable mana beasts.' The younger feminine voice mused as she chuckled softly. 'Then with only one beast, you managed to slaughter a bunch of criminals and absorb their souls which allowed you to grow even faster. But then with nothing but sheer intuition, you somehow figured out how to resurrect the only two people who were worth bringing back and won them over with your winning personality.' She continued, sounding a little sarcastic at the end there. 'Those gems made from people probably helped a lot with that; even I didn't know something like that was possible. Oh, but the silliest thing about you is how you keep sharing your titles with everyone. Sure you didn't know better, but come now, you could stand to be more creative ya know.'

I wasn't exactly sure how to take those remarks, they didn't sound like insults, but they certainly don't paint a pretty picture of how brutal I was when I first came here. Not that I've changed all that much since, but I'm definitely in a better place than I was at the start of this. "So... What did you mean when you all said I've defined my existence? How did that happen and what does that have anything to do with the ability to speak to you all?"

The male voice decided to pitch in at that. 'While not every decision you make has an impact on the world, there are some that will absolutely change things in possibly big ways. The decision you made to ally with the Empire, then led you to be labeled as a druid, only to then become the protector of Empress Historietta. The decision to give Dread and your Sinners their memories back, and then send them into the Theocracy. Not to mention your plan to explore the Hegemony with your right hand Basti. You've set so many things in motion, the potential futures are numerous and many of the others are interested to see what you'll ultimately do and become. There are many paths, the possibilities for great good and possibly terrible evils, but all of them are unique, interesting, and valid.'

"Wait what? Great goods and terrible evils? Y-you're expecting both from me and you're all fine with this?" I mean, I like to think that I'm a good person, and sure I've done horrible things to people who deserved it... But I'm not sure how I feel hearing it laid out like that.

The original feminine voice spoke up at that. 'As I'm sure you now know... We have watched you become the person you are now, we know what you stand for and what you were capable of before becoming what you are now. No matter what you do, we chose you and we'll be in your corner regardless of what you become and the decisions you make. We're just here to help you and offer our guidance should you choose to ask for it. Just stay true to yourself and you'll do just fine in this world.'

My head was starting to ache more noticeably again, and I could feel the strain of this conversation wearing on me. Before I can say anything, the younger feminine voice speaks out again. 'Enough chit-chat, let's get this spawner set up before we lose connection again. It would be a shame to not reward him for his efforts after all this time without our support.'

I could sense the other two agree with the younger feminine voice as the magic circle started to shine and glow before me. Before I knew it, there was a cracking cacophony as what felt like hundreds of presences made themselves known for several seconds, the original trio of voices listening and discussing with them what to do next until it all went comparatively quiet. The original feminine voice then piped up, sounding almost apologetic while I sensed the other two setting to work on the magic circle. 'Sorry about that Vitmori, given how long you went without having a properly summoned scion, a lot of the others were interested in what you'd get so we put it to a vote.'

"You what?" I asked, still a little stunned from all those presences practically invading my thoughts all at once before vanishing just as quickly. However, the idea that a bunch of higher beings were interested in what was summoned for me also sounded more than a little ridiculous and was kind of ruining the mystique of these higher beings somehow acting as gods of this world, then again, there were apparently some of these beings who took time out of the day to describe food and other things to Tori upon request. "Is that wise?"

I could feel an amused smile coming from the original feminine voice as the words scrolled out before me. 'While there are a few that would like to mess with you for the fun of it, a majority of them are interested in the story you'll weave. So do not worry, these things will generally play out to your benefit.'

Before I could say anything else, the sapling at the center of the magic circle began shifting and changing as the mana build-up from the magic circle began swirling into the wood itself. Suddenly a crack ran through the trunk of the sapling, glowing red embers licking the fresh wound on the surface of the bark when a hoof emerged from the flames. I couldn't help but be fascinated by the scene playing out before me as a young fawn emerged from the flames of the spawner tree. It had an ashy gray coat that was speckled with black and white dots, both of its eyes were a vibrant emerald green, and it had two tiny spike horns that were a fiery crimson red. All in all, it looked like a young button buck with fresh horns still growing from its head. It stumbled into the stone sand, nearly falling over and tripping on itself as it took in the first look at the world around it.

'This fawn is the first of its kind and will be the scion of its species. Name the species and grant your scion a name. The ones that spawn afterward will be monsters who are meant to die and come back, do not feel remorse for them as that is their lot in life. They are not like the natural-born mana-beasts in your service and will not suffer as the other creatures would.' The male voice explains, a gentle reassurance ever-present in his words.

"This... Is different than when that blue core got his scions... Why is that?" I couldn't help but ask as I approached the fawn, reaching out and gently petting his ashy gray head fur. Even through the senses of my wooden hand, I could tell it was incredibly soft and pleasantly warm to the touch.

The fawn lets out a muted bleat while leaning in and affectionately nuzzling its head into my touch, and it's only now that I realize I still can't hear anything but the trio of beings that have been occupying my head for some time now. I glanced over at Reyvyre and Rita, though the duo was currently more occupied by the burning tree that just spat out a fawn rather than me or the fawn in question.

The younger feminine voice decided to answer as she spoke up. 'It's likely due to the sheer difference of mana being used here. Most cores only get the minimal amount of mana granted into those magic circles and small hints of guidance from their handlers. You're much more than a simple core, and the amount of mana you can wield combined with the influence of your handler and two sponsors... Well, we can do a lot more than summon a rando frog and spider.' She explained with a distinct note of amused mirth in her voice.

"That's... Fair enough" I considered before regarding the fawn, still doting on the little guy as I considered some names. “I’ll name the species… Fuevimo Harts and Hinds, for their ties to life, death, and fire. As for this one in particular… I name you Pratemis.” With that, the bond is formed as a green ring starts to take shape around his ear.

Pratemis let out another muted bleat which I can tell is full of delight thanks to our new bond. I couldn’t help but smile even more at just how happy he was as he nuzzled into my hand with even more delight.

The original feminine voice speaks up once again as the words scrolled down the panel again. ‘It’ll be some time before we’re able to perform another summon like this, but just so you know, you should be able to attune spawners to your other scions, or vassals as you call them. You won’t be able to make new monsters with your natural born mana-beasts, but you’ll be able to maintain what you have. As for your new spawner, you’ll need to feed it more mana if you want to make more Fuevimos, but in the meantime we’ll set it to create and maintain eight of the monsters until you want it to make more.’

Before I could reply, I could feel the younger feminine voice almost mentally butting into the conversation as her words started scrolling down the panel. ‘Yeah, yeah. He’ll figure it out soon enough, like with everything else he does.’ She said, seemingly addressing the original feminine voice before turning her focus to me. ‘As for you, you better not keep us waiting this long next time. You’re just about the only interesting thing around that I can directly interact with and it’ll be a pain to just sit and watch for another couple months.’

Before she could make any more demands, I could feel the male voice step in with a smile to his voice. ‘I’ll admit, it was nice interacting with mortals again. I look forward to next time, Vitmori.’

With that, the younger female and male voices seem to leave my mind, leaving me with the original feminine voice. ‘I look forward to seeing your progress Vitmori. Just remember to stay true to yourself, and you shall do fine in this world.’

After that was said, my mind was finally my own once more as I could hear Reyvyre dictating notes to Rita about her observations on Pratemis while doting on the ash gray fawn. I couldn’t help but sigh with vague relief as the overall headache I had been enduring the whole time also finally faded. “Well that was unexpected. Sorry if I scared you all.” I offer while making my way up to Reyvyre and Rita, doing my best to make sure they knew I was addressing them now.

“Vitmori! I’m glad to see you can finally hear us.” Reyvyre said in good cheer due to no small part of Pratemis’ affectionate charm. “So… Do you want to fill us in on the other half of the conversation you were having?” She asked, pulling away from Pratemis and taking her journal back from Rita as tangible curiosity bubbled in the forefront of her thoughts.

“Well… Gosh, where do I begin…” I start to say, considering everything that just happened as I thoughtfully stroked my wooden chin. “Well… I just spoke to the beings that placed me here.”