"Okay—so, Fuzz." Wilona snapped her fingers towards the humanoid mushroom. Fuzz tilted her head in response. "Let's say that I met a dungeon core, what happens then?"

  "You met a dungeon core?" Fuzz sounded more curious than wary, so Wilona assumed her decision to talk with Rottie must have been a good idea. Well, she trusted her system more than Fuzz, but still, the mushroom's second opinion also had its merits. "They're good sources for materials and special items, but you don't really need that now, do you?"

  "Nope." Wilona stomped the ground using her new boots; the mud barely shifted from the force. She had also tried them out in the water some time back and the effects there were similar to how water striders—or small insects in general—manage to walk on top of ponds and lakes without drowning. The boots messed with water tension in some way, which Wilona found pretty cool.

  "Right, your boots are just one of the many things that you have managed to obtain. Dungeon cores also reward people who beat their dungeons, but the reward can depend on how powerful a core is. Then again, the weaker the core, the less the danger present, so in a way, it's expected," Fuzz explained at length. Unfortunately, Wilona already knew most of that thanks to both her previous life as well as Phocles. But mainly her previous life.

  "They're friendly too, right?" Wilona asked. She'd been meaning to, really. But she and Fuzz had been preparing dinner and her bath, so she thought that asking the question would ruin the mood. "I've met one and he's pretty nice, at least when you don't count the whole slaughtering-an-entire-town thing."

  "Hm, most are hostile, and it was expected for that particular core to have been planning on murdering humans before you two met, as that's how they operate." Wilona believed it had something to do with Rottie's adviser, but she still didn't know enough about dungeon cores, so maybe that's not the case?

  "Okay, so they're generally hostile. Right. They attack people after all—I get that—but why was Rottie friendly to me?" Before she came to disturb him, Rottie was, for the lack of a more savory term to call it, preparing his dish. So to say. The humans in that town were slowly getting cooked using storms and rains that broke down their will and their houses.

  "No idea. The only thing I can come up with is that it must be old. Dungeon cores usually wisen with age after all, that's how human cities make contracts with them."

  "Nope." Wilona shook her head. An expert in dungeon cores would probably be able to tell her the actual age, but she knew that Rottie was young—even she could tell. "I didn't know that part, by the way. So like, the reason why Skarnov exists is because the dungeon there is old?"

  "Yes, dungeons who live for long enough eventually realize that making a pact with humans is the best way to feed. Not only would this relationship stop the constant invasions into their dungeon, but also ensure a steady stream of souls for them to feed off of."

  Wilona nodded. It made sense—humans would obviously stop trying to break a dungeon core when they know it's friendly, and who knows, maybe even the one in Skarnov can take a break when it wants to? Surely there's no gladiatorial fight there every day, right? Who's stupid enough to risk their lives for a simple magical item?

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  "There's a price if a dungeon wants to summon things, right?" Wilona caught on to this fact while talking to Rottie. The fact that he didn't swarm the area with shield-wielding undead said a lot too. "There's a limit to them affecting the environment and their summoning."

  "Yes, they have to pay with souls, usually. And rewards depend on the amount of monsters someone kills during a raid, as the dungeon core collects the pure energy the killed monsters turn into after death and transmutes them into magical items or outright power."

  "Ah." Wilona nodded. She's learning a lot. But then her actual question never got answered. "So why was Rottie friendly to me? I really didn't get that part."

  "No idea," Fuzz shrugged. "He might just be an outlier. Sometimes, things are just like that."

  "I guess?" Wilona nodded. It's not like she's never seen an outlier among a population, but Rottie was strangely very good to her. Like, in retrospect she now realizes he controlled zombies—which is still cool and all—but for a core that controls the dead, he seemed very happy to talk to her. "I just found it odd, that's all."

  "I'm sure you're going to meet more cores with similar values in the future," Fuzz walked over to her. "Your bath is ready."

  "Thank you, Fuzz." Wilona grabbed her bowl of poisonous-fish-stew and walked on over to the bath. Toxins began to prick at her skin the moment she dipped inside, and in reaction to that, she could only groan in relief. "Have I ever told you that this literally feels like heaven?"

  "Yes, several times." Fuzz nodded dully. Wilona had never gotten a reaction out of the mushroom for some reason. She wondered if there's a happy myceloid out there that's not dull like Fuzz and her kin, or if Fuzz is, like, the only myceloid who has a pessimistic attitude towards things.

  "I think I'm gonna practice magic tonight. No more of that carving stuff for now," Wilona muttered. "It's been what? A few days since I last tried to make a new spell?" She blinked. "Oh yeah! I got a new profession—kitchen hand!"

  "So what you had wasn't the innate limit of your system then? I guessed as much, but how did you get that profession in particular?"

  "I helped out some old man organize his kitchen. Now I have some kind of organizational skill for food." Wilona shrugged. "It's kinda cool, I think."

  "Is that so?" Fuzz tilted her head. "It didn't go to your survivalist profession like all the other skills?"

  Wilona paused as the realization struck her in the head. If she were a bell, she would have chimed very loudly then. "I think I get what you've been trying to tell me now!" She quickly turned to Fuzz. "You've been saying that I didn't get any new professions because the skills I got went into my existing ones!"

  "Yes," Fuzz confirmed. Which, really? Wilona gave her a dry look. She could have just said so instead of dropping hints. What are they, dating or something? "I'm glad you finally understood."

  "I mean, it was kind of obvious now that I get it." Wilona hummed. She moved her index finger in a circular motion. "Like, instead of getting a profession called Runist or something, I earned a rune forging skill in my wizardry profession instead. Which makes sense, but like, isn't it a bit too complex? Like, how do I know the skills I get won't earn me a profession? Sounds stupid to me."

  "Well, I think your concerns should lie on the fact that not getting a corresponding profession which complements a skill can mean that the skill is not as good as it would have been if it was under the right profession."

  "That too." Wilona agreed, even though most of what Fuzz said went over her head. She got the gist of it: a skill that's not in a proper profession will not work as intended since the one it's on isn't exactly made for it.

  But to counter-argue: "Don't wizards also use runes?"

  "They do, yes."

  "Then there you have it. It just means that I'm a wizard carving runes into something. Not a professional enchanter." Wilona concluded. "Obviously it's not good enough. Wizards don't specialize in runes after all."

  "You're implying that if you focused on runes and somehow managed to get a spell, you'd be like an enchanter trying to cast magic?"

  "You just said the opposite of what I mean, dummy." Wilona flicked a piece of rock towards Fuzz's forehead. It made a dull thud sound before falling to the ground harmlessly. "So I need to do proper enchants to become an enchanter, right?"

  "If I may; you are correct," Fuzz began. The myceloid seemed eager. "You have access to only a beginner's book about enchanting. Of course, you are at the peak of that particular tier, maybe even the same finesse-wise as a well-educated wizard that doesn't focus on runes, but you still lack proper rune knowledge and other important variables to truly become an enchanter."

  "And that's why I don't have the profession," Wilona muttered in resignation. It made sense. All of it. She's basically at the peak of the starting point for rune magic but still far from an actual professional. "One day, I'll get that profession—for now, I'm just gonna chill."