"Finally." Olivia inhaled as she stepped out of the dungeon. Her body instantly felt better, her Core no longer being suppressed and pushed down. Her healing speed also increased. "Woo! Almost as good as new!"
The sword had been the only piece of enchanted gear they found. Davi placed that in his vault for himself, along with all the other weapons, just so he could start up his collection again. Ragna, on the other hand, had tugged on his underwear and stuffed the coins, books, and other things down into it.
He also revealed that his underwear was a low-powered, passive magic item that was a storage space. Many high-ranking Knights had this in some form, as it allowed them to store all their wealth and loot. That was how he could seemingly pull anything he wanted out of it.
After they took everything in the vault, they then left, and that was when Olivia began to feel better as she crossed over the border of the dungeon and stepped back out into the real world.
"We did it!" She cheered and celebrated. "We conquered our first dungeon! Go Phoenix Flight!"
"...Go Phoenix Flight," Davi said in his usual flat way as he high-fived Olivia.
"We're not done yet." Ragna patted her on the back. "I like the enthusiasm, though."
"Wait, there's still more?" Olivia craned her head back to look up at the man. "Don't tell me we're about to have to fight the super secret final boss?"
Ragna pinched her cheek. "No, nothing like that. The next part of this job is a lot more boring." Ragna took a seat on the ground and turned to look at the dungeon gate that was attached to the tree. "We have to make sure the dungeon closes."
"Really?" Olivia cocked her head to the side. "I guess that makes some sense, but I never thought about it."
Dungeons would repair themselves and be fixed up, so no matter how badly you destroyed them, they'd fully heal. This included the room Davi nuked with the lava stunt. It had been fully recovered when they were walking back through. The only things that weren't back were the monsters.
The bosses created monsters, and since the bosses were dead, that meant no more monsters. When a dungeon lacked a boss, it would seal up and go somewhere else across space and time.
"Other guilds usually don't worry about this because of a unit that works directly under the king," Ragna explained. "They're called the Cleanup Crew. They also help fix cities after a dungeon or monster attack has happened. They're usually made up of people who failed to join the ranks of Arcane Knights, and their most notable job is that when a Knight accepts a quest, they'll accompany the Knight to that quest. After the Knight clears out a dungeon, it is the job of the Cleanup Crew to guard the dungeon until it closes and seals shut."
"Why do they need to do that?" Olivia asked.
"If the dungeon is left open, you sometimes have cases of monsters who will come and claim the dungeon. That happens more often than you'd think. Monsters grow weaker the longer they aren't in a dungeon, and if they claim one, all that mana is there, and it'll evolve them to become a boss. They also know where dungeons are at all times, unlike us, and can sense when one no longer has a boss. It's not uncommon for a swarm of weak monsters to run for a dungeon's entrance. The other reason, though, is because of stupid people."
"People can be stupid sometimes." Davi nodded as if he understood. "Let me guess. They wander into the dungeon?"
"Yep." Ragna shook his head in disappointment. "Sometimes, mostly kids, people will get it in their heads that they can check out a dungeon. They think, 'There is no harm; I'll run out at the first sign of danger,' and will wander into a dungeon to look around. This will either get them injured or killed by the monsters inside, or if the dungeon is empty, it'll seal up while they're inside." Ragna's eyes narrowed slightly, and he gritted his teeth. "These dungeons aren't just locations. They almost seem alive at times. When a boss is killed, the dungeon will always be open for at least one full hour. After that, though, the time it closes can be random. It can close immediately, or it might remain open for hours or days. I believe the dungeon does this on purpose. It tries to stay open for as long as it can to give monsters a chance to escape, and if a person walks into a dungeon while it's seeking a new monster… It's like a venus flytrap. It seals shut and leaves back to the world they come from with the person still trapped inside."
"That person becomes a mutant, right?" Olivia winced. "And then eventually a full-on monster who takes over as the new boss of the dungeon?"
"That's right." Ragna tugged on his mustache. "No one knows where the dungeons go when they leave this world. We just know they go to the land of monsters, where they can restock and then come back here. We only know this because of a madman. A single fool was stupid enough to enter the dungeons when they were sealing shut. He is known as the Lord of Threads. A Cultivator who has become twisted and transformed. A monster, in his own right. He spoke of this other world and told us how he wishes us all to come with him. Freaky guy." Ragna shook his head. "Anyway, we're just going to sit here till the dungeon closes since we don't have the Cleanup Squad with us. Hopefully, it won't take long."
Davi stood up and pulled the new sword he had gotten out of the vault. He gripped it and then assumed a stance, beginning to practice some basic slashes and strikes. He moved back and forth almost as if he were dancing, adjusting to the weight of the weapon. Then he started to speed up, increasing the pace of his strikes.
Olivia watched him at work. She stayed seated since her body was still recovering from blood loss and mana loss. Davi seemed a little different since he got the sword. More hyper, almost?
"Want to get stronger." Olivia blinked, and she looked to Ragna. He was also watching Davi, but then he turned to look at her. "You want to get stronger, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't try to chase after Davi's strength," Ragna said sternly. "Everyone trains differently, and for you, that Path is somewhere else. It's good to have a goal, but remember to focus on yourself most of all." Ragna reached into his underwear, and he pulled out the three Cores. "Why don't we go ahead and use these while we're waiting on that dungeon to close up?"
Davi stopped swinging his sword and placed it back into his vault. He wandered over as Ragna handed two of the three cores out to him and Olivia.
Each Core was a different size. The one from the merfolk was the size of a grape, while the one from the tree monster was as big as a golf ball. Finally, the biggest was the Cerberus one, which was bigger than a baseball. Olivia got that one, while Davi got the tree one. All three cores glowed with a golden light, and they were warm to the touch and solid despite being made of energy.
Davi eyed the Core up. This could be used to make improvement pills and was the ingredient required to create an enchanted item. They were extremely important, from what he had come to understand.
"So how do we—"
Ragna opened his mouth, stuffed the tiny orb in, and then swallowed.
"Oh." Davi looked back at the orb he held, then the massive one Olivia had. "Good luck eating that."
"Why did you eat it!" Olivia yelled in pure panic.
Ragna didn't answer her, though, because he began to foam at the mouth. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he twitched violently. Blood began to pour down his eyes and nose, and then, without warning, he began to violently punch himself in the face. "YES!" Ragna's voice came booming out and shook the woods. "That's the good shit!" He flexed and gritted his teeth, and his muscles bulged. Steam rose off his flesh, and he spat out a mouthful of blood before finally letting out a sigh. "Phew. Intense."
"What the fuck was that!" Olivia asked in horror.
Ragna wiped the blood from his face and took several calming breaths. "Go on. Eat yours."
"No?"
Ragna finally cleaned himself up and chuckled. "Look, let me explain why I did that."
"Please do!"
"I told you that the only way to grow your Core is to spend time in a dungeon or take improvement pills. Well, those are actually the only safe ways to improve. They're also the fastest but have issues. You can't stay in a dungeon forever, and pills are expensive, and you eventually build up a tolerance. The guilds tend to collect hundreds of Cores they can grind up and turn into better pills to get past this, but we don't have that option. So we have to turn to the dangerous way. By eating a monster Core, you take it into your body, and it fights you. Luckily, human Cores are stronger than monster Cores, so we almost always win. It does put us through a mix of emotions; however, typically, it is pain. You'll likely black out the first few times you eat them. It's worth it, though. It isn't like a pill that boosts your stats temporarily. It's instead like going into a dungeon. Your core is strained and forced to fight back, and that can stimulate it and help it to slowly grow."
"If it's so simple, why haven't I heard of this before?" Davi frowned, and he looked at the core he held.
"Because it isn't simple. Most people aren't willing to force pain onto their bodies. Trust me, it will hurt. A lot. It's easier, safer, and, in all rights, better to take a bunch of cores and create a pill, since that will boost all stats, not just the Core. This method is dirty and nasty, and it also comes with its fair share of side effects. You can usually only do this once every few days, since if you take too many, you'll accidentally turn into a mutant. Also, if your Core is too weak to begin with, it can struggle even worse in the fight with the monster Core. The stronger the monster Core, the more intense the shockwave will be when it hits your body."
Olivia gulped, and she looked at the orb she held. "Why do I have the bigger one then?"
"Davi has a mixed Core. Both a Circuit Core and a Mask Core. His Core can't handle the strain. As someone who also has a mixed Core, I know that better than anyone. It's better for him to take a smaller one. Also, you have a natural healing factor, and your Core needs to grow the most, so the bigger one is better for you."
"Will this really make me stronger?" Davi asked.
Ragna gave a shrug. "It's not a big boost. Don't expect to be amazing after eating it. The consumption of a Core is just the equivalent of spending a long time in a dungeon, which naturally helps grow a Core. If you're lucky, your grade might rise by one, or it'll come close to growing."
"Sounds good to me." Davi opened his mouth and tossed the Core past his lips. He swallowed it. "Huh. I don't feel different—oh shit."
Blood erupted from Davi's eyes, nose, and ears. His body collapsed onto his back, and a deep foam poured out of his mouth. His mana began to turn on and off, flickering over and over again in a bright display, and his shadow also grew wild and intense, changing shape on its own. It looked like a pair of massive wings that began to beat across the ground, then it transformed into the head of a large hawk as it opened its beak.
Eventually, Davi stopped squirming, and his eyes were thoroughly squeezed shut as he blacked out. That also didn't help Olivia with the motivation to eat her Core.
Ragna checked on Davi and cleared his face of some blood. "He'll be out of it for the rest of the day. I'll watch over the two of you while you recover. I can guard the gate alone, and I've gone through this so many times I can shrug it off pretty easily."
"D-Do I have to eat the Core?" Olivia stared at it, watching as it pulsed.
Ragna hummed. "Of course not. That Core is yours. You can sell it if you want, or try to save up until you can use it for an enchanted item. Olivia, I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want. I'm also not going to hold your hand, though, during training. You want to get better, and that's my job. I'm going to give you every chance to grow, and that includes here and now with this Core. What do you want to do?"
Olivia gulped, and she gripped the Core with both hands. "I-I do want to get stronger. I'm not afraid of pain, but seeing it is…" She shook her head and sighed.
How was she still so useless? Her mind couldn't help but wander and go back to the event in the dungeon when they first arrived in the room with the cerberus and the hellhounds. Davi had demanded she leave and even said she wouldn't be of any help.
She was tired of it. So why was she hesitating here?
Olivia forced her nerves to steel, and she brought the Core to her lips. "Fuck it." Olivia opened her mouth, and she bit down onto the Core.
It was so big that she wasn't able to simply swallow it like Davi and Ragna had done. She had to tear into it with her teeth.
It wasn't like she thought it would be either. She expected it to burn, but instead it was like biting into cotton candy. It melted in her mouth, and as the Core got small, she shoved it all in and then gulped. She felt it fall down her throat and appear in the center of her stomach.
Like Davi, nothing happened for a moment, but then she felt it. Her stomach twisted, and a sharp pain coursed through her gut. She grabbed at it as hard as she could but couldn't even scream out as she exploded.
Several of her blood vessels popped, and she choked and groaned as her ears, nose, and eyes became wet. Her veins felt like they were on fire, and her flesh became too tight for her body. Her bones were wrong as well. They were too big or too small in places, and she felt like she was lacking something.
Her brain began to shake in her skull, and her nerves ignited and roared. Every cell in her body was flooded with mana that wasn't hers, and it attacked her very soul.
She was vaguely aware of what was happening in the real world. She was rolling around on the ground, choking on vomit and blood, but she also wasn't in the real world. At the same time, she was in an ocean of red, and it was on fire, devouring her.
Her flesh ignited, and her hands jutted out and formed claws. Her rear burned as a tail shoved its way out of her, and her arms and legs began to twist violently and snap. Her face elongated as a snout tried to emerge over her skull; her hair began to grow in patches across her flesh. The worst pain was in her spine and brain, though, which was attempting to split into three so that it could create two other heads for her!
She was becoming the Cerberus!
She could feel it. She was mutating and changing!
She could barely think straight from the pain, though, and just when it seemed like the transformation would be complete, there was another flash of red, and something appeared in front of her in the sea of red.
Her Core. A powerful and red orb that beat like a heart. Tendrils of spiraling DNA stabbed out of it and began to wrap around her. It then began to pull her apart!
Her Core was killing her! It swelled and hissed, pumping as her form was torn to shreds. Her limbs were torn off, and even her head wasn't spared. The Core undid her fully, then its tendrils wrapped around her shattered pieces, and it pulled her into it.
Her ripped-up body was forced past its barrier and placed deep within the center of it, and her form was remade. It put her back together, piece by piece, and when it was done, she was as naked as the day she was born and in a fetal position, floating within her Core as it became her new womb and rebirthed her.
Her silver hair flowed around her, and her eyes weakly opened as the process was done. Her Core fixed her. Made her human again. That wasn't all it had done, though. Her Core was bigger now. Not by much, but she was sure it had expanded. The tendrils reached in and pulled her out, but red kept flowing as well, shaping and mending, and then she heard it.
As Olivia was pulled out of her Core and she floated in the sea of red, the sound of a dog barking filled her ears. She blinked and stared at a dog. It was an enormous hound with brown fur and specks of black across it. The dog cocked its head to the side as it stared at her, and then, without warning, it jumped onto her and began to lick her face.
"Huh?"
Olivia suddenly blinked, and she was back in the real world, her body aching and spasming. She rolled back, and she felt herself begin to black out, but strangely enough, a bit of blue light caught her attention.
'You have unlocked a new spell.'
And then she blacked out.