The rest of their route was tentatively prepared before they settled in for the night. Initially, both girls had tried to enter the dungeon using Aura’s method by first lightly touching Nate’s arm, and then straight up touching the area above his heart and core.

  When Aura did it, she could get away with touching any part of his body and would then enter the dungeon through his core. Unfortunately, as humans, it seemed the rules were different for them.

  “What do your wrist computers say? Anything?” He asked.

  Angie flipped open the screen and tilted her head. A blush of embarrassment could be seen quickly creeping up her neck and into her cheeks. “Apparently, Lindsay and I need to get used to looking at this thing more often.” She cleared her throat and began reading a message from the screen.

  “This wearer of the Sub-Dungeon Control Device or Sub-DCD is near the main unit and its holder. As such, a new option will be added to your menu when in close proximity to the holder. This option will allow you to enter all previously created dungeons using your bodies. Please note that all damage done to you while in the dungeons will be healed, as long as the original form of the main holder survives. However, any and all damage will still be incurred against your mind.”

  Nate glanced down at his wrist computer. “Dungeon Control Device? I mean, I guess the name is as good as anything else. I’m a little annoyed that it took a message to you two for me to find out what it’s called though. I’ve had this thing for over a year now and I’m just barely finding out the name.” He finished in muttered disgust. “Anyway, at least we now know how to get you both inside the dungeons at night. You just need to be near me.”

  They opened, and then slowly closed their mouths with twin looks of resigned annoyance on their faces.

  He shrugged. “Sorry.”

  Lindsay rolled her eyes. “Idiot,” She muttered softly.

  “Yup,” Angie agreed just as quietly.

  Nate tilted his head, not quite catching what they had said. “Are you two ready to get some sleep?”

  “Not just yet. We were actually hoping you could show us some of the other dungeons you two have done. Along with the traps inside them.” Angie said as she gathered up their plates and put them in the sink.

  “Yeah, I can do that. Let’s finish cleaning up and lower the table so we can get more comfortable. Then I’ll bring up my screens and show you everything that Aura and I have been working on over the past few months.”

  It was nearing midnight by the time they decided to call it a night and head into one of the dungeons as a group for battle practice. They had spent so much time reviewing certain traps and decisions that he had made during their construction that, in the end, they had only covered six dungeons.

  “Hey, you want to see something cool?” Nate asked as they were debating which dungeon to head into.

  Aura looked at him curiously and then began to laugh in the slightly off-way that foxes had. “Oh, if you are going to show them what I think you are, then yes, that should be good. I don’t think they’ve realized it yet. Do it now before they think about it.” She tittered.

  “Huh? What are you two talking about?” Lindsay wondered.

  “Nothing. I just know where we’re going for the night is all.” His eyes twinkled mischievously. “Um, I guess. Put on your armor and weapons. Just generally get ready. Then select our home dungeon. I’ll be waiting for you inside with Aura.” He winked and after Aura vanished into his chest, climbed onto his bed.

  It took a few minutes for the two of them to arrive, and for Nate, it was a distinctly uncomfortable experience. He could feel twin bursts of energy momentarily appearing inside his core, and then vanishing just as quickly. In front of him, two pillars of stone formed and grew from the floor of the dungeon, and then melted just as quickly, revealing the girls in their wake.

  “Why am I the only one who had to show up here naked?” He muttered.

  “What was that?” Angie asked sharply.

  “Nothing,” He replied quickly. “Just thinking, I was glad that all your armor and weapons came along without a problem.”

  Lindsay stared at him suspiciously for a few moments before flipping open the screen of her DCD. “Is there a reason that this dungeon is mostly empty?”

  Nate glanced over her shoulder to see what she was looking at and nodded. “Here, go through the portal, and you’ll be able to see something interesting. Any dungeon with a level two Core or higher has a second level inside the portal. This particular portal, however, has a few more than that.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Why? What makes this one so different?” Angie asked.

  Lindsay and Nate both looked at her like she was an idiot. “I’ve fully taken over this portal. That’s why the community exists. The Core for this particular dungeon is level four as well.”

  She flushed in embarrassment, looking away.

  “How many floors, or levels are there in total?” Lindsay asked as they began walking through the dungeon.

  “It can have up to five, and each level past the initial two starts coming with additional characteristics.”

  “How many levels have you made for this one?”

  “I did the initial two levels, the one we’re standing in right now, plus the first level inside the portal. Aura then designed the third level just to see what sort of additional characteristics were unlocked.”

  “And?” Angie prompted him.

  “It was… odd,” Aura replied. “Since the dungeon was already conquered, it wasn’t very useful, and I removed most of the traps. In a dungeon that hadn’t been conquered yet, or with inhabitants that are particularly annoying I can see it being very useful for making them more cooperative.”

  “Alrighttt… So, what exactly was it?”

  Nate scratched the back of his head. “It was a form of mental influence. The entire level affected the mental stability of the beasts that wandered through it. The traps simply made it worse. It doesn’t seem to be a strong mental aspect, more along the lines of what you would experience at a really haunted house or something.”

  “There are no haunted houses in our city. They’ve all been destroyed.” Lindsay muttered.

  “Ugh, don’t you two ever spend any time on the internet?” He shook his head and kept them focused as they hurried through the dungeon.

  The point of this particular trip wasn’t to fight, it was to show them something that he doubted they had thought of just yet. Originally, his avatar was limited to staying inside the dungeon and couldn’t leave. Now, he could leave the structure and go outside and enter the community that had formed outside it. Which made sense, since it was also governed by the rules of the dungeon and all the buildings were also made by the Dungeon Core as well.

  They made their way through the dungeon and out into the community that had been created to house the beasts who wanted to become something more. Not all the beasts that made it through the dungeon wanted to live in the community. Some of them simply wanted to continue as they were. Not all beasts were created equally, as there were those who simply couldn’t control their urges or wanted to get stronger.

  It wasn’t that the beasts inside the community gave up on getting stronger. It was simply that they understood the need for moderation and had other hobbies, is all. All of them also had their various paths that they were working on as well.

  As they walked through the dungeon, Nate showed them all the different traps he had put together. As they reached the entrance, the girls stopped and looked back at Nate and Aura.

  “Alright? So, what now?” Lindsay asked.

  “Now we go outside,” Aura told them.

  “I thought you said we can’t?”

  “That doesn’t apply here as the community exists here,” Nate told them. He scratched his cheek and glanced at Aura, remembering how she had initially left the dungeon. “Actually… you know what? That might be something that favors you instead of me. A balancing action of sorts, if you will. My avatar can’t leave the dungeons, however, that doesn’t necessarily apply to any of you in turn.”

  Angie raised a brow. “You mean that your avatar is a limitation and a blessing? It dulls all the pain to your real body, but in turn, you are always stuck inside the dungeon.”

  He nodded. “It wasn’t something that I even thought of until this moment, but it’s possible. It makes sense to me that certain positions come with their own benefits… I guess?”

  “But you’re the leader. Shouldn’t you have all the abilities?” Lindsay wondered.

  “Eh, that would be nice, but I don’t know that I’m actually the leader.” Nate ran a hand over the wrist computer. “Whoever gave me this, I think, counts as the actual leader. Compared to that, I’m just a… lackey?”

  “If you’re just a lackey, what does that make us?” Angie snarked as they walked out of the dungeon and into the community area.

  “Under-lackies?”

  Lindsay shoved him and gave up on the subject. “Is this still the only community you, or I guess, now we have?”

  “For now, though, there are a couple of dungeons that are getting close.” He pulled up the menu on his wrist and pointed to the eighteenth dungeon on the list. “This one right here, for instance, is actually almost finished. We’re just waiting for the timer on it to run out. Once it does, it’ll either become another closed dungeon or get turned into a community.”

  Angie pulled up the dungeon information on her screen and tilted her head. “Slime monsters?” While she had pulled up the information, Lindsay had gone ahead and opened a few camera screens. Angie brought her wrist close to her friend’s eyesight while peeking at the images inside the dungeon. “They’re a little… cute?” She said hesitantly when she finally saw what they looked like.

  “Eh, they’re alright, for the most part, they’re weak monsters, but they occasionally combine into a larger slime. That variant becomes much stronger and smarter,” Nate sighed. “The issue is that slimes are mostly docile monsters. They rarely attack, if you don’t attack them first. They’ll eat just about anything as well. They’re actually rather useful. Anyway, let’s check out the community, and maybe even see if you can leave through the gate while we’re at it.”

  The group was able to get some shopping done while they were there. The weapons and armor they were creating weren’t quite up to the standards of the humans just yet. However, they were making quick progress in changing their designs and methods to fit them. Everything they were doing was new to them, after all. They had never made anything for humans before the creation of the community.

  Outside of those items, there was plenty they could still buy, as the community had alchemists and apothecaries among others.

  Nate could also stock up on bolts for his crossbow when he needed to, though at the moment, his storage had plenty of them.

  After they had finished their short shopping trip, Lindsay approached the entrance of the community, and a sudden mist appeared in front of her. A soft chime echoed forth from her wrist computer and a small notification appeared on its screen.

  Glancing down at it, her brows furrowed, and she turned back to the rest of the group. “It says,”

  ‘Sub-User instance- is about to leave the effect of the Dungeon Core. All injuries made to the body beyond this point will heal at the normal rate. You will not be able to return to your previous location until you have reestablished your connection with the Dungeon Core.’

  “Huh, I guess you can leave the dungeons then,” Nate muttered.

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