“So what’s being delivered from those prizes anyway?” I asked. I had no real idea what they could contain, considering that the orcs had apparently won Earth as a level one prize. It seemed likely the prizes could be just about anything.

  “Hard to say, but if we get lucky, we might get some special equipment,” Rabyn answered as he walked to a picnic table that hadn't been there when we’d left and took a seat. The porter had only vanished moments before I’d asked my questions, so everyone was still gathered in the front yard of the cabin. Rabyn and Glorp both looked exhausted and considering they’d spent the longest fighting the dragon, not counting Maud, who always somehow looked chipper, I wasn’t surprised.

  “Could also be a lotta nothing. Some of those prizes ain’t worth the name, but hopefully, we get a little lucky here,” Mel added.

  “So that was a lot of fun. Terrifying but fun. I promise I’ll go over this level stuff later. Right now, I gotta go find John and tell him all about it,” Maud said, running off.

  “Speaking of that, how can she? How does that Arena oath you told me about work?” I asked, confused, I had meant to ask earlier, but it hadn’t been the most important of topics.

  “Dave has a point. Why haven’t they put us back under that yet?” Rabyn asked, backing me up. I liked it even less that he didn’t know the answer.

  “Honestly, don’t know, don’t like it neither,” Mel answered, looking unhappy at the thought.

  “Well, in the case of Dave, he won’t be put under it. Good luck making it stick to me, either. It could just be a matter of why waste the effort. Dave is going to tell everyone everything anyway. The judge knows this faction isn’t anything you’d call average,” Pryte spoke up, adding some good points. I’d forgotten that faction leaders didn’t generally get that.

  “Oh good, glad I heard you all over here. That explains what’s going on around back,” Trolke called, appearing from the side of the house.

  “What’s going on?” I asked in return.

  “Got a delivery of a greenhouse, some weird tree, and a mana battery,” the giant answered. It seemed like at least two of those prizes were for Cecile. The mana battery, though, sounded interesting. I hoped it meant it could be used to store mana, as I could see ways that would help with my future experimentation.

  “What kind of tree?” Cecile asked with all the excitement of a toddler, exactly what I had expected from him during times of joy.

  “Some kind of fruit tree. Couldn’t get a good read on the wood type either; haven’t had that happen in a while,” Trolke answered. I figured that meant his class generally let him understand building materials pretty well, which would make sense.

  “Well, what are we waiting for?” Cecile said, pulling his brother into a run toward the other side of the house. I shrugged and went after him, not bothering to see if anyone else joined us.

  On the other side of the house was a large tree lying flat on the ground. I’d been expecting a sapling. I glanced behind me to see who else had come along to see their reactions, and Mel, Pryte, and Elody had joined us. Elody walked over to the tree and started to examine it beside Cecile.

  “Where’s the greenhouse?” Pryte asked, only to be handed what looked like a miniature dollhouse version of one by the giant.

  “Cecile, where do you want this? It’s likely a good idea to get this up today if it does what I think it does,” Pryte asked.

  “Oh, uh, put it around the Glornials,” he answered, pointing to a field. Pryte seemed to know where he was going even without the pointing. As soon as he placed the small greenhouse in the center of the crop field, a much larger version popped into existence, Pryte standing in the center. He walked out smiling.

  “Yep, this should be great. The mana battery inside is going to help get these plants going much faster,” Pryte said, with Cecile nodding as he looked at the tree.

  “I don’t know what this is, Cecile,” Elody finally said, looking up from the tree.

  “Me either, isn’t it great?” He replied, beaming from ear to ear.

  “I do, and ain’t got a clue what to make of it,” Mel said, staring at the tree in what I could only describe as awe.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “What is it?” Cecile asked, turning back to the floating man.

  “It’s a pristine cloudwood tree. I didn’t think there were any left,” Mel said, bobbing over to the trunk and running a hand over it.

  “Well, better get it planted then. I’ll secure some cuttings from it as soon as I think it’s safe. We will want to make sure it isn’t lost again,” Cecile replied, seemingly catching onto how important this tree was to Mel.

  “Does it have any special needs that Cecile won’t be aware of, Mel?” Elody asked.

  “I honestly don’t know, ain’t seen one in a long time,” Mel answered, sounding distant.

  “Alright, the more important question is, where are we planting it?” Trolke asked, looking to Cecile and then to Mel.

  “Follow me. I’ve got the right spot, I think,” Cecile said, guiding the giant.

  “Any chance I can see the three of you in the garage for a private talk? I’ve some plans that I want to run by you,” I said, not sure if Mel could be broken from his current state or not.

  “Of course,” Pryte answered, and I spotted a nod from Elody.

  “Mel, if you want to stay out there, that’s fine,” I said. He still didn’t respond.

  “Best let him have a moment. I’m guessing that’s from the Floating Empire, and there isn’t a lot of stuff left from there. The System seems to have sent this as a very personal gift to him, and I don’t know what that means,” Pryte said as he opened the back door of the garage and walked in. Elody and I followed after, letting Mel have his moment, as Pryte had called it.

  “So, uh, anyone know anything about putting a dungeon core into your soul-core reactor?” I asked after closing the door behind us. I tried and failed to keep the nervousness out of my voice as I finally said the words I had been thinking for so long out loud. If this were remotely possible I needed Corey to move from the mallet directly into my internal systems.

  “Ah, so you’ve finally decided on that course of action. I suspected that was a path you were likely to pursue once I learned about Corey. Are they also okay with this?” Elody asked, looking intently at me. All four of her eyes were wide.

  “Yes, and after the Jester incident, they’ve certainly gained my trust entirely there,” I answered.

  “I suppose the most important question here is, do you think you can actually do it? Sure, there are plenty of people working with dungeon cores, but I don’t know of any directly attached to their core like yours will be. Will you even be able to act individually after this?” Pryte asked, seeming to also be studying me.

  “I suspect they would be able to. This isn’t actually totally unheard of. Consider a dungeon core actually possessing a person entirely or even a strong mana beast. It’s not dissimilar, and there have been at least two cases I know of where they formed more of a symbiotic relationship instead of one dominating the other entirely,” Elody said. One of her eyes had changed color as it stared at me.

  “Did either of those cases already have their own core, or did the dungeon core take the place of it within the soul-core reaction?” Pryte asked. I was glad to see I at least found the right people for this conversation, even if I was likely going to do it no matter the outcome of the talk, barring a guaranteed failure.

  “I don’t know. As you know, records on odd cases are generally kept away from the public. The larger factions prefer to keep those secrets to themselves,” Elody answered, annoyance clear in her voice.

  “So, what’s the final word here? We can argue about this all day, but do you both think it’s possible?” I asked, wanting a decision here so I could start really figuring out how to go down the process.

  “If you think you can do it, I’m not against it. I assume this is a potential solution for the damage to your mana channels?” Pryte asked.

  “Yes, it would likely fix that, as well as dramatically increase his channeling speed. All those switches he uses to avoid socket overloads could be swapped much faster using Corey’s capacity,” Elody said, backing up thoughts on it.

  “I want to do it, and I think I can do it without any serious backlash. I have a few ideas, but I’m going to need to have some discussion with Corey and another core we’ve been working with. I’m hoping that core can replace Corey in my mallet. Assuming they can, I think the key to adding Corey to my core will be a core fortification,” I said. That was my guess, at least. I thought that if I forced Corey into my system, as though they were trying to take over my soul, and triggered the fortification it had a real chance of bonding them into my core itself.

  “That’s a very good idea. I’m not sure I’d have even considered it, but that might be able to bypass the energy issues. I don’t think your core grade will increase, but I assume you don’t care about that part,” Elody said, all of her eyes now different colors and rapidly scanning over my person.

  “I do not, but it will require a few more simulation runs, and I won’t really be able to fight in them, so I’ll have to work out other possibilities for cheating them,” I said. I had a few ideas, but I would need to be careful about how hard I pushed. We didn’t have any extra mana potions sitting around to help me this time.

  The cloudwood forests of the Floating Empire were one of the most beautiful sights ever seen within the Spiral. Their loss is something that cannot be truly understood unless you actually experienced them in their prime. It is with a heavy heart that I must remove their entry from this guide. I do not know that I will ever find something as majestic to fill the void their destruction has left. In my dreams, I find myself floating again in their serenity once more.

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