The Tower in the Shadows

I travelled back to my core. The black gem that made up my form was "safely" tucked away at the moment I hoped. It was time to try my last skill, which I was most unsure of.

Core Refining.

It was time to find out now that I had secured my core. According to my wiki, this will allow me to improve my core and increase my CP storage and regeneration outside of expansion and levelling. Activating this skill will allow me to use my CP to enhance the quality of my core crystal, how I do not know. I navigated to my skill list in my menu. Strangely, it was a skill with no number next to it like the others and no accurate description when accessed. I had often wondered what that meant.

"Core Refining. Activate."

What happened next, I was not expecting.

My vision twists and I fall into my core.

When it returned to normal, I could no longer see my Dungeon. As I "looked" around, all I could see was a crystalline structure. Looking more, I noticed that not all were crystalline structures. Below me, from my perspective, there was a black void of some kind. I think that was the centre of my core. I can move around like I am in my Dungeon. I moved towards it, but I encountered a barrier before reaching it.

Looking at this, I make a few guesses. First, touching the blackness would be BAD! This idea and a strange feeling came to me as I reached the barrier. OK, avoid that in the future. This is where the void corruption is being removed from this world. It is the only logical conclusion I can draw on why it exists.

It scares me. Not in the scary film or facing a phobia, but if I interact with it, I might lose my soul scary.

So, I'm not touching that. No sir!

Looking back at the crystal structure around me, I began thinking of what to do next. I need to improve myself as fast as possible. The more I look at my structure, the more familiar it seems.

Mana stone!

That was it. I can see the similarities between the two and what made them different. In many ways, my core was a much more advanced version of the mana stone. In complexity, my core was the most distinguishable from the mana stone.

"Were mana stones based on dungeon cores?" I wondered to myself.

I just existed there for a while, looking at the crystalline structure of my core and thinking about how to do this. According to my wiki, I had to focus on the part of the structure and channel my CP through conscious effort.

"All right, here goes."

I focused on the part of the structure and reached the point where I could sense my CP in my consciousness. The process was straightforward; I could feel the CP flow through me into the crystalline structure, and before my "eyes," I could see a change. A section of the crystalline structure suddenly started to change and alter. Within what seemed a few seconds, my CP was exhausted, but the crystal looked different now. It was more refined somehow and even more complex.

The downside was that I now felt drained and exhausted. I had not felt like this since I became a core. It was like working a 100-hour week and it was finally over. I knew I could not do it anymore because my CP had been drained, so I called it a day.

"Core Refining. De-activate."

My vision once again twisted the opposite way it had initially and I was ejected from my core. I suffered a few moments of vertigo again as I realigned my vision and was assaulted with all the data and knowledge from my aura. As soon as I was steady on my "feet" again, I inspected my Dungeon. Going through the building and the ground below, I noticed no changes. Everything was as I left it, which was good.

Once this was done, I returned to my character sheet and wondered what the alterations would be.

"Status Screen. Bhaldor." Though it was listed as a status screen, it was always a character sheet to me from my RPG days. The simplified voice commands I had set were making things so much easier. The screen popped up in my vision at my command.

"OK. Let's see what happened."

I went through the sheet and it didn't take long to notice the three changes that were now present. First, my CP was now zero, which was not unexpected. Second, my regeneration rate went up from 0.65 phr to 0.75 phr. It is not massive, but a welcome increase. The third and strangest thing was in my skills section. Core refining had increased from zero to 1%. I found this odd, as all my other skills had grown far more when used.

My wiki does not supply more information on this skill, so I had to figure it out independently. It seems like so much—another thing to add to the list—but it keeps me occupied, at least.

I returned to the first floor of my underground section and went through it again. With no CP to play with, I had time on my hands again. I was role-playing different scenarios in my head as to the reactions of adventurers while they were on the floor.

Easy access to the floor. Check.

Set a route that they needed to follow. Check.

Make sure they can't cheat and head straight to the floor boss by making the door one-way. Check.

The first room has one trap but is designed as a resource room. Copper, being the result of the work, can be mined out. Check. The pitfall trap is just inside the doorway. Was it too excessive? I want to lure them in and get them to commit.

"Note to self. Remove pitfall trap."

"No, wait. I need them to understand that this Dungeon is dangerous. I will move it deeper into the corridor."

Next room.

"Maybe add spider webs?..... No, that is a bad idea with me using wasps on this floor."

The next room has four wasps and no traps. Check.

"Maybe I should number these rooms to make it easier?"

"I should also organise them according to the floor."

"That is a good idea. So, this will make the stairwell and linked room will be 1A. The resource room will be 1B. The next room will be 1C. The room with the first minions will then be 1D. That sounds better."

"Hang on one minute! Can I generate a floor plan?"

It turns out I could. The minute I voiced the question, the option became available to me. This was another thing that was not listed on my wiki. I grew increasingly concerned and downright paranoid about what was not found within it. I also discovered that I could alter the plan to include the names and numbers of the rooms I wish to add. During this little task, there was a lot of swearing and questioning of certain gods' parentage.

I numbered rooms 1A through 1H on the plan and continued my inspection. The next room was 1E. It was a long, thin corridor that only contained a pitfall trap. Check.

Room 1F. Five wasps, no traps. Check.

Room 1G. No traps or minions. Check. No. Change of mind: I will place two pitfall traps at either end as soon as my CP is regenerated in this corridor. I will have to remember this and make the alterations later. Yeah, I like that; keep any adventures on their toes.

Finally, room 1H. Floor Boss! One-way door to vacate the room. Enlarged pit traps make manoeuvring difficult, leaving them exposed to be seen. Check.

"Right. Overall, we are done with a few alterations to be made."

I was happy with my first floor now. I had created a solid foundation when I had planned it out but realised a few alterations were needed. Looking at the floor plan, I realised two things. My floor was a large square. The other was that I had a lot of unused space. Each corridor was half the size of a wing upstairs in the building. My sense of proportion is entirely out. I could create more danger with the pitfall traps……

A thought suddenly occurred to me. "Hang on, are the pitfall traps resetting automated?" It turns out I could and it cost one CP tax for all the pitfall traps on the floor.

Once this was done, I stopped to think. I have an issue and I have been ignoring it. The wiki I have is different from what I need. The system has more options and abilities that I do not know, as the wiki is either poorly designed or purposely misleading. I am leaning towards misleading.

Oda is a god who has been planning this all out. You do not just do the things he did to organise all this without planning it all out. This means he has an alternative goal here. What is it?

He has met the conditions that were laid out in our first meeting. But. But he has filled these conditions at the bare minimum. Removing void corruption was the primary thing I was here to do. This was obvious in the nature of my existence and how I interact with the world just by existing. The system he supplied has got me going but has many issues. It is designed to hold me back in most ways. I have no recourse in changing the system, but I can try to work it to my advantage. How? I am still determining how.

I returned my attention to the floor. My CP was restored enough to move the pitfall traps to their new locations. This marked the floor completed for the moment in my mind until some poor sap tried it.

"Soooo….what now?"

I think about it for a few minutes. I ignore the lantern/cage thing upstairs in one of the wings. I know it is there. I want to absorb it, but I continue to resist the urge. I need to do something to get my mind off it.

"Time for the second floor!"

I am back at the spiral stairwell. I have been thinking about how to approach the new floor and have decided to continue the stairwell down to the next floor. I started to absorb the stone on the ground and remove the dirt. I began curving the hole I was creating to match the stairwell.

I was not expecting the flaring pain that tore through my mind.

I double-backed into the first floor and the pain vanished. The alert in my vision was different from normal; it was an error message rather than an alert. I opened it.

++ ERROR! ++

Dungeons cannot create a new floor until they reach the required Core Level and further attempts may damage the core.

"Fuck!"

On some level, I was not surprised, but still, it was frustrating. I am stuck until I meet the next floor criteria. It dawned on me that I did not know what that was. I go through the wiki again. I know there is nothing on the floor expansion criteria in the wiki, but look anyway; I was correct; there is no information on this. Another glaring omission of important information. Oda was definitely trying to stymie my development for some reason. The next few hours were filled with me waiting for my CP to regenerate and much swearing about a god of balance.

But I had a plan!

It had come to me during my hours-long ranting. It had not stopped but had started forming during a brief lull near the middle. It had to do with my core and the core refining ability. When I used the ability, I only focused it, but what if I could control it? Could I get around the issue of having no mana storage but changing part of my core into a mana stone?

Risky? Hell yes! But I was reaching a development dead end unless I could access a functioning means to store mana. I remembered the part in my conversation with Oda about now being near "immortal". Any mistake I made now could be with me for a very long time. But if I did not, I was hamstrung from the lack of access to mana storage.

Time to stop procrastinating!

"Core refining activate."

My vision twisted again and I was once more within my core—time to get to work.

I focused on the part of my core near the crystal surface. I pictured what I wanted to create: a small bubble of altered structure resembling a mana stone. Then, I began releasing my CP.

I felt it……..I felt strange. It was not painful, but it was not comfortable either. Something was happening. I remained focused on what I was trying to do and not to get distracted by the sensation.

I could see the crystal structure changing into what I had envisioned. It was slow, but it was happening. Suddenly, it stopped as I realised I had run out of CP. It looked like a bubble in my core as it was different from the rest of the crystal structure.

Moment of truth time.

"Core refining de-activate."

I quickly returned to my "normal" worldview and had an alert awaiting me. I hesitated but opened it. Information cascaded through my sight and mind.

Alert!

++ ERROR! ++

Alert!

++ ERROR! ++

Dungeon Core has been modified in an unauthorised manner!

++ ERROR! ++

++ ERROR! ++

Alert!

Restriction - Affintyless active!

Restriction – Affintyless bypassed!

++ Error ++

++ Error ++

++ System Admin – Calibrating ++

……………..

……………..

……………..

……………..

++ System Admin – Calibrated ++

Alert!

Mana stone has been created.

Congratulations, Dungeon Core Bhaldor, you have created your first mana stone!

This stone can store up to twenty units of mana.

"Yes, I did it!" I screamed aloud, but another alert appeared.

Alert!

Dungeon Core Altered!

Core Refining max reduced to 99%!

"Ooookay? What does that mean?" I wondered.

“Status Screen. Bhaldor.”

It was now listed in red on my status screen as a restriction.

I thought about these alerts and alterations as I regenerated my CP. I mulled over it for quite some time, going over ideas. The only idea I had was how refined my core was in total and how creating the mana stone within me had reduced the overall quality of my core in the long run. What the result would be, I did not know, but now I had options.

"Larry, where are you?"

I found him in his usual spot in the rafters. After some mental prodding, I got him moving with the instruction to bring the lantern/cage thing down to my core. Through our connection, I sensed his annoyance.

Damn, he was getting to be lazy!

After about ten minutes, he arrived with it at my core. I would be drooling right now if I were still in my human body. I wanted to absorb this thing immediately but was resisting because I still needed to be cautious, as I had only one chance at doing this right. I had also opened the section of the stairwell I was hiding in to be safe.

Clunk.

He placed it down in front of my core. I took a mental breath, focusing.

"Come to Pappa!" I said as I absorbed it. The alerts that began first were the most important. As soon as I "grasped" the mana, I put it into my core, where I had just created the bubble.

Alert!

Illusion Mana discovered!

Mana Absorption is possible!

Do you wish to absorb Illusion Mana and have it become your….

++ ERROR! ++

++ ERROR! ++

Absorption is impossible!

++ ERROR! ++

++ ERROR! ++

Illusion Mana absorbed and stored within Mana stone.

"Close alert. Open Status Screen Bhaldor."

The blue box closed, my personal screen opened, and two things were different. The red error message is now next to Affintyless; the other was the added new section.

Mana Stored

Illusion – 20(20) / 0.01 phr.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! It Worked!"

I knew that I had a chance of surviving now!