No Need for a Core?

Bellona escorted Deidre up to the surface via a shortcut into the shrine. When they walked out into the trading post village outside, the blonde avatar looked around with a mixture of curiosity and puzzlement. "Mordecai mentioned it before, but I still have trouble grasping how they expanded out to the surface like this."

The orc champion shrugged and replied, "I certainly don't understand the details. But from what they have said, it's basically a larger investment for a larger return. There are lots of outsiders spending lots of time doing stuff in what is technically their territory." She guided their involuntary guest to a position that Kazue said would give them a good view of what was about to happen. "Right now they are waiting on you. It's part of wanting to have you understand this dungeon better."

Deidre looked dubious, but she nodded before turning her gaze toward the rows of pillars that had sprouted up around and throughout the town. But that wasn't where the next change began.

In the space along the foothill that nestled the original entrance to the dungeon, between that entrance and the testing arenas; rock and earth began to shift to form wide staircases that branched off to either side. These stairs curled up and around to follow the slope of the foothill and then curved in the start of an upward spiral before they came too close to the crest. This path left the ground at this point, and the large spiraling stairs were supported by a series of small pillars and traverse, parabolic arches until they leveled out at some twenty feet above the nearest ground.

From here they widened and grew at a gradual slope up back toward and high above the town. The pillars and arches supporting each stage grew wider as the massive stone structure grew larger, taller, and thicker until it met with the first of the prearranged pillars. There, more arches were added to create an arcade of arches along the length of the overhead mass, as well as cross-vault arches on the diagonal. These twin, upward-sloped paths grew halfway toward the border with Kuiccihan before curving outward and eventually back toward the foothill. There they finally leveled out and turned toward each other to create one massive, flat platform that was the end of the two paths and would be the location of another city by the time the two cores were done.

This massive structure did block out a significant amount of sunlight, but Kazue said she already had a plan to help fix that. Her mental voice had held a giggle, and the girl obviously wanted to keep it a surprise, so Bellona hadn't pressed. Hah, 'girl'. Kazue was a good year older than Bellona, though the differences in their life cycles and experiences made Bellona feel like she was the older one by a fair bit.

"So, what do you think?" Bellona asked as she turned back toward Deidre, who was staring open-mouthed at the creation.

"I didn't know we could do that. I can feel the flow of their mana, and they aren't creating this stone from mana alone, they are pulling it from the earth that they had already collected during their underground growth. It's real, even if it's assembled and fused using mana. How massive are their levels?" Deidre practically whispered her question as she processed what she'd just seen.

Bellona chuckled and replied, "The first three are probably pretty ordinary. The library in the fourth zone started getting expansive, and the fifth zone down is a pair of huge mushroom forests. Each zone seems to keep getting bigger from there, though this isn't quite as big as the wetlands. I think. It's hard to tell from this perspective."

"Hmm," Deidre said thoughtfully, "zones. You've all been using that word instead. I, I think I get it now. The moment you think of them as zones, you can think of them growing in new ways. Floors is limiting."

As the avatar mused over this new concept, the air around the raised zone began to swirl chaotically. Bellona tilted her head thoughtfully. "They seem to be very thorough about preemptively counteracting what they consider to be 'cheaters'. I think Kazue's mom made them more conscious about such things." At Deidre's confused look, Bellona added, "Kazue was reincarnated as a core by Lady Mericume. Her previous life was as a normal kitsune, and her clan is only about two days from here, less for some folk. Her mom's a seven-tail druid who wreaked some havoc when she decided to show off for her girl. If I remember correctly, they had just barely claimed their fifth floor at the time."

The often stoic avatar was unable to keep her expression completely controlled as a series of emotions rolled through her. One of the emotions surprised Bellona: Anger. Deidre started to say something several times before she was able to find the right words. "Imagine, if you will, that you have hired a specialist partially for their work and partially as a consultant on another project. Thanks to the particular way in which this specialist was hired, you know that they are bound to do what you ask of them. Now imagine that you are so paranoid and fearful that you fail to pass on potentially critical information to your specialist that one of the gods had literally intervened in the project you wanted them to consult on, along with other details." Every word was laced with venom and scorn, and it didn't take a lot of imagination to interpret this as a stand-in for talking about her actual circumstances.

"I see," Bellona replied, "that does seem unwise, and it would hamper the specialist's job. Even if they don't like their circumstances, I imagine most people take some pride in their work. It would be upsetting to fail at a task without understanding why, and even more so when you find you were effectively sabotaged by your, ah, employer's incompetence."

"That might be the least of the employer's sins." Deidre hissed, then winced slightly before her impassive expression dropped back into place. Bellona could only assume that Deidre had strayed too close to not obeying an order. Depending on what exact standing orders the woman had been given, it was going to take a long time to work around them all. Time and distance from the one who gave the order could wear down, but not eliminate, such compulsions. At least, according to Mordecai.

Time to switch topics. "Well," Bellona said, "why don't we head back in and let you run Kazue's path? Oh, and I have been asked to remind you that there is no combat to be found on this path, you should keep any reactions in check. And any potentially dangerous activities will be obvious, such as having to climb." The avatar's speed and power might be restrained, but she was still faster and stronger than most recent recruits.

Deidre nodded once. "I understand, and I do not exactly have many plans at the moment. So let us see what your mistress has in store for me."

Bellona scowled at her. "A point of clarification first. My contract with the dungeon places it third in my priorities, behind both Lady Amirume and Kuiccihan. Get rid of whatever thoughts you have about everyone's relationship to the cores. Not even all the inhabitants are that formal and that is their technical relationship."

The blonde woman spread her hands in acknowledgment of the point. "I apologize, you are correct. I have had some bad habits and assumptions ... strongly encouraged in me. Let's call it a less than healthy relationship."

"Alright," Bellona said as she relaxed, "just keep in mind that many of your experiences have very strong negative biases. I'm not saying anyone here is perfect, I am just saying that it is almost certainly nothing like you expect. Now, come on." She led the dungeon avatar to this dungeon's path selection chamber and gestured toward the control panel. "I'm just your escort and keeping you company. So to keep everything on the up and up, you should press the button. You'll want the one on the left for Kazue's path."

Deidre reached for the button but then hesitated. "It's funny, I don't think I'd have been allowed to make a chamber like this be sincere. It would have some traps I am sure, and the selection would have to be reversed. Not that there is a safe path anyway." There was a faint tremble in her hand before she was able to make herself push the button. Smoothly and silently the door behind them closed and the ring wall spun to reveal the path forward.

Bellona chose to not comment on the intervention of the cores, as the normal sound effects were noticeably absent.

The next chamber demonstrated the first of Kazue's adjustments to her path; there was another selection chamber and three buttons. Deidre pushed the button with a tree icon and the wall spun to open a door onto an orchard and berry bush variation of her original puzzles. And just inside the door was a haversack with a plenitude of secondary pouches.

There was a moment of mutual confusion before Bellona was contacted, and she passed on the information to Deidre. "Ah, that's a bit of a gift, though in the end it will come out of their budget for your prizes later. But you aren't exactly prepared for a delve, so this should help. There's also a change of clothes, Kazue suggests that it might make things a lot easier."

"Oh." Though bemused, their guest followed the suggestion and changed into the slightly thick, layered shirt and leather pants. "Hmm, my skin isn't particularly delicate, I am not sure why these would be useful," she mused before shrugging and continuing down the path. "I take it that collecting fruit is part of the activity?"

"Yes, but you may want to see the end of this chamber before worrying about that part too much," Bellona replied with a smile. It would be best to let the woman figure out the details.

Deidre examined the door and puzzle in question and then turned around to look at the grove of trees and winding paths defined by thick and thorned berry bushes. "So, a matching puzzle? Oh, some of the fruits and nuts will be high in a tree or difficult to find. Hmm, I see why you suggested I see this first. It's much more efficient to collect while I search."

That wasn't exactly Bellona's thought, it had been more along the lines of being less frustrating, but close enough. Watching Deidre move through the maze was interesting and a little saddening. The woman was calm and thorough, taking the time to sample at least one of every edible item and comment upon its flavor as well as mention anything interesting she knew about the plant, but she didn't look like she was really having fun. She was just doing what should be done without any emotional involvement.

Bellona wished that this was more of a surprise. It wasn't hard to figure out that Deidre's actions, words, and expression of emotions had been very tightly controlled for a long time. That there had been any cracks at all in this shell was a good sign, though it would be better if something other than anger had been the driving force. She'd take what she could get.

Betty and Bellona had been assigned as Deidre's primary contacts and escorts for now. Kazue and Mordecai both hoped that they'd be able to make actual friendships with the foreign avatar but at the least they wanted everyone to be on good terms.

This wasn't enough people in the long run, but Fuyuko was still uncomfortable around Deidre and they didn't really have a lot of people whose duty was light enough to commit to spending a lot of time with her. Kazue had complained about running thin on required inhabitants, it seems the only reason that their current zones were full enough was that they had collected a lot of upgradable animals when they claimed the hunting zone. Some of their current guests might help with getting to know Deidre, but that was still in discussion.

When Deidre had found and collected all the required fruit and had picked up a few special rarities like the golden lychees, she paused before completing the puzzle. "Hmm. While that was less intense exertion than most battles, it was far more time-consuming. And progress forward isn't truly blocked, it is gated by one's skill and competence, with large numbers also enabling faster progress. It has an equivalency to combat for the purposes of mana generation and collection, and it is still rewarding. Many of these fruits are difficult to cultivate even their mundane varieties. Your dungeon has enhanced some of them with enough magic to make them minor potions or potent alchemical ingredients. It is an interesting choice. I would like to understand more how you were able to defend this route."

Bellona smiled and replied, "Well, if you complete the floor, I think we can show you part of the secret. Kazue says she'd be happy to take care of the demonstration."

There was a glimmer of curiosity in Deidre's expression, but she didn't reply. Instead, she completed the puzzle for this room and proceeded to the next. The complications for this version of the path were different than for the flowers, partly because not only were there a lot of different varieties of a single fruit such as an apple, but Kazue could add details such as how ripe the fruit was.

The physical puzzle had been changed into ways to manipulate the paths and uncover new routes and hidden spaces, and the final puzzle involved artificially manipulating the 'season' in order to change the ripeness of fruits before they were picked (and had no effect on them once picked).

However, there was one aspect of the challenges that remained unaltered no matter which variant one took.

Deidre finished her work on the second puzzle and strode forward confidently into the third chamber, only to be struck dumb by a sudden cacophony of high-pitched voices.

Faeries.