The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (read novel full .txt) 📕

new Sub-bond put in its place.  Soul transfer has been completed, as partial soul essences cannot operate Dungeon Core systems.

Oh, no…

She knew exactly what that notification was that was shoved to the forefront of her mind, because it was something that all new Dungeon Cores received when they were first created.  It was important for Dungeon Assistants to know what kind of information their charges obtained when first coming into the world, so that they could take it from there.  However, the part that made her freak out a little was that Fairy Assistants couldn’t actually see these notifications – the contents of them as well as any of the Dungeon’s particular systems were all obtained over centuries of talking with different Cores and their experiences.

Tacca tried to flutter her wings and fly around in nervous circles as she considered what that meant, but she didn’t move even a little bit.  What’s going on?  She looked around the small space she was still in as she tried to discover what had ultimately happened…and saw a familiar-looking shape lying on the curved floor.  No, no, no – it can’t be!

Looking back at the notification – she had dismissed it a moment ago, but she instinctively called it back up – she saw the “Special Note” at the bottom, referencing how the soul transfer was complete.  That bastard ultimately pulled me inside and killed my body!  Damaged or partial souls couldn’t inhabit a Dungeon Core, so whatever governed the entire process killed her Fairy form to acquire the rest of her soul.

She understood his motivations – even if she didn’t agree with them – but she was also sure that the Core’s former resident didn’t really know what the results of his actions would be; she wasn’t sure if he would’ve changed anything if he had known, because he seemed very set on his soul leaving the world one way or another.  If he hadn’t done that, of course, it was quite possible that he would’ve done something later to flaunt the rules enough that he was destroyed.  Same result for him, but an entirely different outcome for Tacca.

She stared at her frail, unmoving body for what felt like days, but what was probably more like hours.  Eventually, she had the thought that if it was still somehow alive, she might be able to transfer her soul back inside of it, though that would likely destroy the Core she was currently inhabiting.  Now, how do I…?  This is a lot harder than I thought it would be when looking at everything from this point of view.

Eventually, Tacca figured out how to feel something inside the room; it wasn’t like reaching out with her non-existent hands, but more of her awareness passing over something specific.  She found that she was entirely aware of the entire ovoid-shaped room and for almost a foot into the wall – which was exactly as she thought, just rocks and dirt – though everything beyond that was a mystery.  As her dungeon expanded, she knew the distance she could see through the surrounding land would marginally increase—

No, I’m not a Dungeon Core, I’m a Fairy!

She tried to get her thoughts back on track as she investigated her body, hoping that there were any signs of life.  While she couldn’t feel temperature, she could sense that her body was stiff and likely cold, and there was no indication that it was still alive in any way.  Her hopes were immediately dashed regarding trying to transfer her soul back to her original body – because she instinctively knew it wouldn’t work on a corpse.

That was it…she was stuck as a Dungeon Core for the rest of her life.

Using her unique perspective from her new existence, she was able to look at what she was forced to inhabit for the next…undetermined amount of time.  Tacca’s Core was approximately five inches across and still glowing very faintly, which told her that she still had the opportunity to make the choices that every dungeon had the opportunity to make when they were first brought into the world.  What was different from when she first saw it, however, were the strange streaks of black and white she could faintly see in the center of her floating spherical crystal; not only that, but she could see tiny cracks all over that weren’t there before.  It was almost like something too large was shoved inside the Core and almost broke it, and the cracks were stress fractures in its form.

Wait a minute…didn’t that notification also say something about a “Sub-bond”?  She’d never heard of one of those before, though it was possible that Sub-bonds were so rare that there was no reason to teach it during her schooling.  Or maybe not rare…forbidden, perhaps?  Regardless, she had no idea what it meant…until she was able to pull up her Dungeon Assistant Information screen.

Dungeon Assistant Information

Assistant Name:

Tacca GloomLily

Assistant Rank:

Novice

Assistant Stage:

1/5

Experience:

0/100

Experience Pending/Countdown:

0 in 1 Month

Fairy Mana (FM):

50/50

Fairy Mana Regeneration:

3 per minute

Abilities:

Bond

Instant – Multiple

50+ FM

Translocation

Instant

1000 FM

Hibernate

Sustainable

1 FM per minute

Invisibility

Sustainable

3 FM per minute

Repellant Shield

Sustainable

2 FM per minute

I’m still an Assistant?  And a Dungeon Core?  How is this possible?  There were some obvious changes that she could see to her Assistant Information; the most obvious was that she only had 50 Fairy Mana to spend instead of her original 100, as well as her regeneration being cut down from 5 to 3 per minute.  When she looked further, she also saw that instead of her Experience taking an entire year to be added – which was why she hadn’t gained any experience from all of those Cores she Assisted before, since most of them lasted anywhere from a couple of hours to a few days – it was