The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (the false prince TXT) 📕

been slaughtered along with her Core.  Just before he arrived at Joshua’s dungeon, he had made sure that it was still empty and no new Dungeon Cores had arrived nearby – and found that they were good to go.  It was also to the south of the continent’s “girdle”, meaning that it would be a while before it was in the danger zone (as long as the monstrous people didn’t change up their strategy, of course).

With that image of the defunct Core Room in his mind, he reached out to the Core and laid his hands on Joshua’s form.  It was a relatively small spheroid crystal, as Joshua had only been around for a few decades and was in his mid-20s in his CI Level, which was quite respectable, all things given.  When he had his hands firmly on the Core, he looked back at Aster and Begonia – his “helpers” – as he activated his new, untested ability: Core Translocation.

At first, Malachite didn’t think it was working because nothing happened.  A few seconds of keeping everything steady, however, saw a gradual change.  Energy—Fairy Mana—started to flow out of his hands to surround the Core in pulsing layers of glowing power, like he was wrapping the crystal object up in multiple blankets.  The “blankets” started to merge together as more and more Mana flowed out of him, until he felt like he was being drained dry of all of his life force.  In a panic, he nearly let his hands leave the Core – but he knew this would happen, so he left them where they were as he concentrated on staying conscious for as long as possible.

“Malachite?  Malachite!  I feel like the connection to my dungeon is fading; I can barely see anything but what’s around me right now!  What is happen—”

With a last pulse of Fairy Mana, the glowing layers solidified with a *clink*, sounding almost as if it was a thin glass that had just crystalized. As his vision started to fade, Malachite watched the blanket of energy surrounding the Core start to forcefully shrink, and he heard a hollow *crunch* as the crystal form inside was shattered.

That wasn’t the only thing that had broken, as he immediately felt the backlash of a Bond being broken and pain suffused his entire body.  Just as he started to fade into unconsciousness from the severe drain on his Fairy Mana and the backlash, his hands were flung off of the object he was touching. As he was knocked backwards through the air, where he had been hovering in front of the Dungeon Core, the pseudo-Core vibrated violently for less than a second and then a *pop* signified its sudden disappearance.

Malachite felt arms holding on to him as his mind and body finally gave in to the siren call of unconsciousness.

When he woke up later, lying comfortably on his bed in the DPRC, he expected to still feel the effects of the severed Bond.  However, sitting up, he felt a little weak – but that was all; it was to be expected after draining all of his Fairy Mana in one go.

“Council Leader?”

He looked to his right to see Begonia, who had likely been the one to bring him back after he had been sent into his coma-like state.  “Begonia – thank you for helping me back,” he said sincerely, before remembering all that had happened.  It was like a bucket of cold ice had been just flung in his face.  “I guess that option is out.  I can’t believe it would just destroy a Core like that.”

“Sir?  It worked.”

He thought he hadn’t heard her right, so Malachite asked her to repeat herself.

“Yes, it worked…sort of.”

“But I heard, saw, and felt the Core being destroyed, and my Bond was forcibly broken,” he insisted.  “Wait…what do you mean, ‘sort of’?”

The young Dungeon Assistant hesitated.  “Well, the Core was Translocated into the empty dungeon, right where you had pictured it would go.  Except…it isn’t quite the same.”

I can only imagine.  I mean, I shattered it!  “What does that mean?  Is it…empty?  Is Joshua not there anymore?”

“Oh, no, no – Joshua is fine.  Or at least, Joshua is still there.  But,” she hesitated again, “his Core isn’t the same as it was before.  Where he was Core Improvement Level 26 before, now he’s…not.”

“Well, out with it – what Level is his Core now?”

“One, sir.  Level one.”

Great.  That’s not good.

Begonia wasn’t done yet.  “But that’s not all.”

Malachite just looked at her.

“His Core was…reset.  He had to go through the entire initial choosing process again.  It was almost as if he was literally reborn into this world.  Again.”

Well, that’s not all bad, I guess.  Beats being destroyed, I guess.

“Thank you, Begonia.  This is something that we’ll have to think about going forward.”

As she fluttered out the door to his room at his unspoken dismissal, Malachite sat on the edge of his bed and put his head in his hands.  What in the world are we going to do?  Is this the solution we needed?  Better yet, where are we going to put all of these Cores if we do end up Translocating them all?  There’s only so many empty dungeons, after all. 

He didn’t have the answers, but he thought he may know who might.

Chapter 15

“It appears as though the word is out, Tacca.”

The Dungeon Core watched through Shale’s eyes as he flew back towards the dungeon, the Assistant watching the random groups of Raiders either heading up or coming down the well-worn pathway up the mountain to her dungeon.  He had been listening in on conversations throughout the bustling town that was still nicknamed, “The Village” by its inhabitants and visitors – which meant that Tacca was hearing them all, too, thanks to the Perception Link.

When her Dungeon Assistant flew all the way back