The last thing the Core expected to find upon awakening was a floating screen hovering within his gem-like body. A body that had grown larger he noticed instinctively as the screen took up his attention.

  The Core mentally winced as lines of fire seared new sigils within the Spark Matrix that made up his inner workings. When it ended the screen began writing again.

  The Core didn’t have time to process Krat’Imos’ ending words because suddenly he was inundated with notifications.

  The Core could sense the power of his new Name as it roiled around in his soul. He could not dwell on it much because further notifications appeared as soon as the Core dismissed the first.

  The Core, Valterra, he supposed he was called now, looked at the options in awe. He could feel the power behind each one but also a glimpse of their nature in action. He could sense the rumbling of the ground as the Earthquake worm dug and the Juvenile Dire Grizzly as it tore into a fresh kill.

  He could sense the pack mentality of the BloodMane Wolf and the barest glimpses of how its blood magic would work to make them stronger, faster, and more terrifying. And finally the awe and majesty of the Great Tidal Whale that swam in gallons upon gallons of water that it displaced with ease. Valterra sat still and let them wash over his mind before he even tried to make a decision.

  To play for time and to make sense of what might fit best in his dungeon, Valterra moved his presence outward and began to observe his dungeon once more. He was surprised to find his chief creatures arrayed around his pedestal column.

  In the center was the mouse who now appeared quite militaristic even to Valterra’s untrained eye and… was that the needle from his nest that he was carrying? He was also huge! He was almost a foot long now from tip to tail. He probably wouldn’t be able to leave the first floor even if he wanted to and that just wouldn’t do.

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  With this in mind, the Core widened the tunnel leading out of his first floor and saw the Mouse nod his head in something like a bow. Yeah, he was definitely smarter than he was before too. Where did he learn to bow, I wonder? Valterra thought as he shifted his attention to another of his creatures.

  On the right was the green serpent, his length coiled in on itself as his tongue flickered in and out. He seemed much the same as when he had left, though perhaps he looked way healthier than the one he had absorbed for the Framework, though his memory of that time was hazy.

  Lots of food and Aether perhaps? The snake seemed cognizant of his master’s attention and gave a sibilant hiss in response that was somehow pleasing rather than scary.

  On the left stood the Danian Queen with her wings folded back primly but standing just how Valterra had imagined she would. With her torso raised and her two larger forward arms clasped in front of her, she looked much more impressive and regal than before.

  As each guardian felt the Core’s presence expand they visibly relaxed and seemed happy to see him begin moving. Valterra swept them with his gaze, noting that each one now had an orb of light within them that seemed to pump Aether throughout their bodies, an interesting development. Valterra let a low hum reverberate through his floors letting each creature know that he had indeed returned.

  Leaving his creatures behind, who were now beginning to move back to their respective floors, Valterra once more seeped himself into his dungeon casting around for details. It was different than before. He remembered his time of partial sapience as if it were a hazy dream constructed of fragments of memory.

  Nothing in those dreams and images prepared him for the experience of becoming his dungeon. It was like waking up evolved all over again. He was just bigger, stronger, more vibrant. He felt everything! The whole dungeon was his in a way he would never be able to explain, like a limb that had fallen asleep, numb until needing to be moved. He felt the Aether that coursed through his dungeon, like it was blood, and realized that he was saturated in it.

  It all stemmed from his Aether Funnel and the raging Aether that coalesced there. The liquid stream of Aether that flowed from that point to his Core provided a rich supply of the substance that he could then breathe out to claim more territory. Anything he claimed with it became his, although a better way to say it was that it became him.

  He hadn’t noticed before but even his creatures had a portion of himself inside of them, something he only noticed when he focused on his dungeon. A thread of Aether, a connection, extended from his Core and attached itself to the Aether Cores of his creatures. Those that had no Aether Core, the little mice in this case, had a thread that extended to where one would be, a place somewhat in the middle of their bodies.

  It was a tug on this sensation of connection that drew him to the second floor. The domain of the Danians was thriving but mostly silent with the larvae having only become pupae. They were much larger than they had been before and Valterra felt excitement wash over him. These were unique, made by him before he even knew what imagination was and he was looking forward to what they might do.

  Moving to the entrance of his dungeon, the Core looked out once more upon the shadowed world of the outside. He pondered the difference between the shaded section and the brightness beyond its edge. He thought about the nature of this outside world and how odd the shaded section seemed in contrast to the vibrant colors of the furthest reaches.

  He was filled with a sudden desire to see more and began to expand.

  Rapidly. Much too rapidly.

  Faster than he could really comprehend and yet unable to escape the sudden information streaming in, Valterra shuddered and stopped. He sifted through the information as he struggled to be fully present in a body that had grown far quicker than before. Eventually, he recovered sufficiently to be fully aware of himself and found that he had expanded outward fully halfway across the shaded area.

  His Ascended mind boggled at the speed of his new growth when a new sense poked at it.

  Emptiness, a yawning void.

  He focused more on the sensation and found that he had claimed the entire stone block that his cavern was located in. Not only that but he had claimed a fair section of wall stretching north and west both up and down. The sensation that had caught his attention was down and westward, further into the cabin.

  That was a strange thing to know. Knowledge fluttered at the edges of Valterra’s evolved mind, brief flashes of images and ideas. They threatened to wash him away with their vibrancy and color so with an effort of will he pushed them aside.

  He would sit down and deal with them at a later date. Suffice it to say that he now knew his core sat in the middle of a foundation stone set at the corner of what was his creator’s cabin. Down and further in meant something called a “basement”. That didn’t mean much as no image accompanied the knowledge so Valterra went to work, intending on discovering its meaning for himself.

  He began by carving a path through the rock that he had claimed, beginning at his first floor cavern and working his way down at a rough decline. It didn’t take long to remove the claimed stone and soon he was confronted with the void.

  He couldn’t see.

  There was no light and his breath spread only a few inches out giving him a kind of hazy perception. This space was huge, he could feel it. Big enough to encompass the entirety of his current body and then some. Valterra gathered up some of his Aether reserves and breathed it out in a long gust. It shot out and dispersed allowing him to see…nothing.

  Oh yes, this would take some time but he could already see how he could make this work. And one of the new Schemas he had been offered would fit perfectly once he had everything ready.

  He chose.

  End of Chapter Notifications: