"Gnome free me!" the core screamed as I placed it down on the table beside the other, much more inert cores. The room rattled slightly with the strength of its order. Had this been a mistake?

Before I could move the core back to my storage, though, Pryte spoke. "No. I have no interest in being controlled by a dungeon core, and I would appreciate it greatly if you could stay the hell out of my mind. You may not realize this, but Dave here is likely the only reason you're still alive," Pryte replied, his voice eerily calm.

"Oh, interesting, a feisty core. They remind me of Beta, though perhaps less understanding of the reality of their situation," Karlinovo added.

"They haven't had any real exposure to Corey yet. That core seems to be the best at convincing the others to think more about the world around them than their own ego," I said, glad to see that it couldn't get a hold on either of the men with me.

"I will not give in to your fear tactics. I will not become your slave!" the core screamed, its rage again vibrating objects across the room.

"Will you knock it off already? You're going to make a mess, and you aren't my slave. I, in fact, want you to find your own freedom, including from this oppressive fear and anger you are stuck in. Why don't you think about that a bit while I let you rest in my storage again? Corey will be back with me soon, and they will help you understand this world more. I promise," I said as I vanished the core back. I just didn't have the time at the moment to deal with any cascading issues it caused in its anger.

"Interesting, that is a powerful new dungeon core you've found there. I hope Corey is able to make peace with it. These twelve, on the other hand, seem off. Something has happened to them, and I don't fully understand what," Karlinovo said as he picked up two of the orbs and held them close to his eyes.

"Yeah, thought the same thing when I first saw them. I've never seen a dungeon core quite like them. I didn't want to press the librarians for answers at the time, in case it was something I really didn't like," I replied.

"I doubt they understood enough about cores to truly know how deep the difference here was. You're on your way to being one of the only dungeon core experts in the Spiral, Dave," Pryte added, as he picked up one of the cores himself.

"Well, only if you don't count the people that hijacked my simulation," I replied. I was still nervously awaiting another contact from them.

"Hard to count them, we don't know anything about them. Let me put it this way. You are the dungeon core expert we have access to, better?" Pryte asked, clearly rhetorically.

"I believe these cores have somehow been lobotomized. That wasn't something I was aware was possible. It could just be something new that was developed since I left the Spiral in my untimely death, but from what little I've learned so far I was under the impression dungeons were less interacted with than ever, so it seems odd to say the least," Karlinovo said, popping one of the cores into his mouth suddenly. "Yep, a lot of the mana charge I'd have expected to feel is missing here." His words slurred slightly as he hadn't taken the core out of his mouth before speaking.

"That, that was something, actually, I'm just going to ignore that. Is there any way to heal a dungeon core?" I asked, watching him pull the core back out and trying not to think of the taste. Was it like tasting a battery and feeling the charge? There had to be a better way. Then again, with where his body was currently, maybe there wasn't. Karlinovo may have to work a ton on his core and class again before he was back to use a normal means of energy sensing.

"No clue. In my time, dungeon core partnerships weren't exactly common. And while they seem to be even more taboo these days, even then, the core wasn't really seen as a partner, from what I knew. What was that about hijacking your simulation?" Karlinovo asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Oh, the first time I brought Corey truly into a simulation with me once they were bonded as a second core, I ended up in a whole new place. There was a Dwarf named Rorland, and he had a partnered core named Teral. Whether that was actually their forms, I couldn't tell you. They claimed they were masks. They invited me to a future gathering, but didn't give me any details at all about how to get there or what it would entail other than that it involved a cryptographic key pair, and that wasn't something I was willing to let them do to me. At the time, I wasn't happy about another person managing to capture my mind like that," I answered, thinking of the fact that Karlinovo himself had done it, though not nearly as purposefully. There was also Otis now. Was this just how powerful people interacted in the Spiral?

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Interesting. This time, I don't recognize the names. No idea if that is a good thing or not. I honestly wasn't aware you could hijack the System like that. That speaks to some very interesting possibilities going on in the Spiral. We are going to need to work on defenses here, I think. Despite that refusal, though they still invited you?" Karlinovo asked, scratching his beard nervously.

"They did, but as I said, no clue how that will happen," I answered. I was more annoyed with the encounter now that I had gone over it again. Still, I'd probably go to the gathering if they actually managed to invite me.

"Despite the means of their contact, I do think we should go if we can. Also, what kind of home defenses are you thinking?" Pryte asked.

"At the very least, we need something to block the repeated attempts we've had to access Dave's mind. That should be a lot easier than any physical defenses for now. Anything we build there at the moment won't be able to do anything to stop a real invading force, so probably best to keep our focus on areas of the mind. Not that that will stop Otis. I have very little idea how these soul realms he spoke of work," Karlinovo answered, and for the first time in this conversation, Pryte actually reacted.

"Did you just say soul realms?" He asked nervously.

"He did, sorry, with the evacuation, there just wasn't a good time to tell you in private yet. There's another thing as well, but that can wait until the meeting," I replied, apologetically. I hadn't purposely left Pryte in the dark. It just hadn't seemed like the smart idea to mention Otis until we were back here.

"So that's what your soul chat is. I probably should have made that connection earlier. I don't actually know much about soul realms, honestly, other than that they are a topic I've almost never heard discussed. Emphasis on the almost. I know there are some very powerful things within that plane, and I also know there are some diviners that the big factions employ that claim to be able to delve information from them. Personally, I've heard it mentioned twice in my time in the Spire, in both cases by members of the Platinum Quasar royal line. Those aren't people we want to encounter," he replied, the nervousness in his voice had taken on a tinge of fear as he mentioned the faction.

"Hrm, they are still around then? Guess I shouldn't be surprised. They were always menaces. Well, at least we know where to start our research now," Karlinovo said, not seeming to share Pryte's fear at all.

"To make a long story short, apparently what we have going on is the start of a soul realm, and Otis, who is something called a chronicler, managed to find his way there. He's offered to return in the future to help us secure it, and based on what you just said, it seems like something we need to accept his help on," I replied.

"It very much is. Add that to the list of defenses we need. For the mental defenses, what are you thinking, Ivan?" Pryte asked. He appeared to have gotten control of his nerves, visibly at least. I had no idea what was going on in his head.

"We need to place three mana attuned objects in a triangle pattern around where we initially plan to lay out this city. Then we will need some sort of cabling to connect them all. I think with the help of the core I met when I came into this world, we can recreate a sort of dungeon effect across the area: no fear, but more mental protections. I'll need to find something capable of handling charged mana flow across it, though, so far nothing in here has been able to," Karlinovo answered.

"We have a ton of different types of wiring and cables on Earth. I don't know about the engineering requirements for charged mana, but if we can work that out, I think we can find the right one and make that work," I replied. My mind went to high-voltage electrical lines, but it was possible that something like fiber optics was what he needed. We'd need to experiment.

"Good, good. I was hoping you'd be onboard as we figure out the mana-material sciences of this world," he replied.

"I very much am. But as we need to have the big meeting soon, we've gotta call our smaller private one to a close. I need to go swap Corey back to my core and get the dungeon returned to me. I'll see you both at the hall soon," I said, before making my exit from the workshop without any objections.

Teleportation is a specialized field of transportation magic. It's the underlying type of mana used for any gate travel. It is incredibly useful for cutting the travel time for long distances, and while it takes very little ambient mana to maintain once it is established. The problem is just how much it takes to initially create the two bonding points for the gate. Generally speaking, you need to be able to channel as much mana in a rapid burst that would be required for the average person to teleport to the location, but by doing so in one-meter increments. This is why transport mages almost always have skills specializing in harmonizing mana channeling with others.

Quarliyn during the defense of her dissertation on Minimizing Mana Costs of Gate Creation

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