Mana flooded through my system, far more controlled than before. It wasn’t even Corey’s doing, the fortification itself had completely repaired my channels; no, it had done better than that. They were stronger than before. My core rank was unchanged, as expected, but my entire channeling system felt far more powerful than before. I forced my eyes open, letting the light stream back in, spotting the worried eyes of Pryte and Elody.

  “Did it work?” Pryte asked the moment I moved my eyelids.

  “I think so. Give me a second to test some things,” I replied, pulling up my chat window.

  I closed the chat window and reflexively went to switch my elemental cores on, only to realize that Corey had already taken control of them. Instead, I gently released the mana flow from my core while keeping my soul reservoir closed. The mana flowed into my second core, Corey itself, and from there, they took total control of the flow as my brain dictated what I wanted. Instead of the time I had spent before adjusting the flows and their pathways, it was just instantaneous. Alongside this speed, I seemed to lose less mana potency in the exchange. I’d need to explore that concept more later. Was there something similar to Ohm’s law in play?

  “Gases bond, liquid heat, steam flow,” I said, remembering I hadn’t invested anything into silent spell yet and feeling a bit silly at the lines the mana orbs had decided to use for the task of making a little water and turning it to vapor. What I didn’t feel silly about at all, though, was the speed it had happened. My channels had never been that fast before, and I didn’t have to give up any focus on what was going on around me to do it.

  I pulled back up the chat window.

  I closed the window again and this time, released both energy sources, trying the same casting. I produced ten times as much water and steam as before, and while I felt it slightly more taxing, it certainly hadn’t been ten times as much. Corey seemed to fill the missing gap far better than I could have hoped.

  “I assume both of those castings mean that things have gone well with you and Corey?” Elody said, breaking her silent stare.

  “Yeah, my channels are all working again, and Corey now has full control of my mana flow, taking that duty away from me having to constantly split my focus,” I replied.

  “Good, then we need to try one more thing. As I said before, I didn’t think Corey would truly lose their physical independence once this was done. So Corey, can you try focusing on projecting yourself beyond Dave,” Elody said.

  Seconds later, a robot-like form appeared in front of us. It was about the size of Glorp, but looked like something out of a fifties sci-fi movie. “I believe I have done it,” Corey said. Despite the form existing, I could still feel them within my own body. How did that work?

  “Not that the new body isn’t interesting, but how? I’m pretty sure your core is still inside me,” I said, looking to Corey and Elody for answers.

  “I do not know. I can still feel the mana flow with you, but my actual perception has been moved to this form. It is a very new experience,” Corey responded.

  “I suspect that this is Corey’s soul manifesting its own form, and essentially, their soul and core are able to exist separately without needing a near-death experience to do so,” Elody answered.

  “Okay, so I’m following all of this, but why that form?” Pryte asked.

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  “It is from one of the books Alex showed me,” they answered.

  “Oh,” I said, trying not to laugh. I knew who they had picked for their inspiration of form now. Corey had tried to replicate what Marvin from Hitchhiker’s looked like. I forced myself to contain the laughter. They’d done something amazing today and didn’t deserve to be laughed at, no matter how hilarious it might be. I just hoped they didn’t inherit the depression that robot had.

  “How real is your form, Corey? Would we be able to give your own class?” I asked, the idea having just hit me. I already knew Corey didn’t count as an extra squad member, so this was potentially a great addition.

  “Maybe. I am deeply unsure. I would prefer not to test it until I have spoken to Traveler. As this is apparently a representation of my soul, I am not sure how that would work with my core being stationary inside your body,” they answered. That was a good point. Without the soul-core reaction in the body, I wasn’t sure how any of that would work. Then again, I wasn’t sure if there really was anyone who did know.

  “I once found a mostly burnt book that covered this topic. Despite my best efforts, the only real information I could salvage from it was the following lines. ‘Dungeon core advancement in utilization of a class orb requires a specialized class orb. Their existence is generally,’ beyond that it was impossible to get any information from, despite every bit of skill I possess to restore such things. Whoever had wanted that information destroyed had gone to great lengths to do so,” Elody said, tossing another new mystery onto our pile.

  “Interesting. I’ve never heard of a dungeon core class, so even that little information is more than I know exists in the Spire,” Pryte replied.

  “Yes, and considering I came across it on my only trip near the holdings of the Children of the Silent Sun, it isn’t likely we will be able to investigate it any further anytime remotely soon,” Elody said.

  “Okay, that name sounds terrifying. Can you explain?” I asked, the name far too distracting not to grab my attention.

  “Not really. Very little is known about them, and they’re incredibly unwelcoming to outsiders. They rarely interact in Spiral politics, and I doubt even Elody has spoken to any member at length,” Pryte answered.

  “I haven’t. However, someday in the future, I would like to make the attempt again. Perhaps once the Empire of Dave has solidified its own position, they’ll be more willing,” she said.

  “As much as I’m going to hate our future diplomacy adventures, I get the feeling they’re going to be interesting,” I said, wondering what Laura would think of something like that. She’d honestly be the perfect person for the job. Would she consider it in the future?

  “Yeah, that’s going to be its own fun mess to sort out, probably sooner rather than later. We need to have the meeting with Earth’s people already; then comes the giants. I can probably find a few other small factions willing to work with us too, but it’s going to be a hard few years to find allies,” Pryte said. Even if Laura wasn’t interested, I would need more diplomats than just Pryte. I couldn’t afford for him to be away for extended periods, with how little I knew.

  “Alright, as much as I’d love to sit here and talk about random future plans forever, I’m level one again, and I don’t think that’s viable for the next Arena floor. So I’ve gotta speed run myself back up to where I was. In theory, I should be able to push my core another rank as well, assuming Corey is prepared for that today,” I said. Getting myself to the D rank for my core just seemed like the smart move, though how the mana backlash would affect us now that we were so bonded, I didn’t know.

  “I am, but make sure to move the shield orb back into your own socket. After we finish the simulation runs, we can then discuss with the wasp dungeon core if they are ready to take over the mallet,” Corey replied. I hoped they were, as I didn’t like the idea of no longer having the kind of team action the dancing mallet had made possible before.

  “If you’re sure, then good luck. I want to go talk to Trolke anyway, and I’m sure Elody wants to get back to the mana beast hunt,” Pryte said.

  “Yes, I would. But let us know if you need anything,” she said, smiling, before they both left the room, leaving Corey and me alone.

  One quick mana orb change and a few simulation runs later, neither Corey or I were worse for the wear. I was finally ready to attempt my second fortification for the day. Despite some worry that Corey’s presence would cause a potential issue when the affinity evolution presented itself, everything went smoothly.

  That presented some interesting implications. That meant I could possibly use all the cores in my possession already. Did I even need the cores fully awakened for this? I didn’t know, and I wasn’t entirely willing to risk that experiment just yet, but I think it was time to attempt to link a couple more, assuming they were willing. As long as Corey remained in charge of the network, that seemed pretty safe. First, though, I needed to get my level back up with a couple more runs, and then we could have that conversation.

  When the Children of Silent Sun come calling, do not answer your door. It has been said with a single look they can steal your soul, and once they have it, they will use it to power their sun. Is this tale true, or only a story to scare children from talking to strangers? No one knows, but I do know that everyone who has ever met one of the children speaks of them with such fear that I can’t even get enough reliable information to construct a good story about them. So that, dear readers, is the answer to your constant questions about why they have never been a subject for any of my works. I would much rather tell you about the Man who Watches than I would those strange creatures.

  Forward from Another 117 Scary Stories for Sleepovers by S. M. Grime

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