I was able to push myself to level three thirty-nine, not far enough for another fortification yet, but further than I had been before, with both a more powerful primary core, and a fancy secondary core in the form of Corey. Compared to how I’d felt on the previous Arena floor, it was like night and day. I was confident I could hold my own again on the next Arena level, but I had other things I still needed to accomplish before then.

  The first thing I did was check just how much of the refined soul mana plate scraps I had left, and the answer was not enough for everything I wanted to try. I could either add one more dungeon core and a mana socket, or I could add two dungeon cores. The answer to which was best relied on testing Corey’s control over one of the dungeon cores, likely the wasp core in the mallet, and whether or not Corey was able to channel other mana orbs through the connection.

  “Ready for this conversation, Corey?” I asked, remembering to look over at their new physical form. That was going to take some getting used to, as I had been talking to the mallet. Hopefully, they didn’t feel overly insulted by it. Did they even understand that custom?

  “Yes,” they replied. I reached into my storage and pulled out the wasp core, setting it on the workbench in front of us.

  “Hello, have you chosen a name yet?” Corey asked once they were out.

  “Still not understand need,” they replied.

  “I do not believe it is needed, but I do think it helped me think more about myself in relation to being a unique being, not driven by my own constant hungers,” Corey replied—the concept of how dungeon cores felt after their birth was still very alien to me. Then again, was it? Was a newborn baby capable of understanding much besides the urge to eat and grow? How scared are children when abandoned on their own? Maybe Corey wasn’t actually that different.

  “Then give name,” the core replied.

  “I can do that. Are you sure you truly feel no tie to the idea of a name, though?” Corey asked again.

  “Sure,” it replied.

  “Understood, but I wish you to understand that at any point, you may also request your own name. As you will be replacing me in the mallet as the first of the networked cores beyond myself, your designation will be Network Alpha, or Alpha for short,” Corey explained. Honestly, Alpha wasn’t the worst name, especially considering the future series of names for future cores that didn’t want to name themselves. Corey had a good idea there.

  “Am Alpha,” the core replied. We would need to revisit this in the future if the core ever woke up more, though from what Traveler had said, I wasn’t entirely sure that was always possible. I wished they were already here. Their advice right now could be of incalculable worth.

  “Finally, you are willing to join our network, and control the mallet?” Corey asked.

  “Yes,” they answered.

  “Dave, I understand the rudimentary conversation here likely makes it seem they do not fully understand what they have agreed to, but they have. Certain facets of individuality are lost on Alpha, and sadly, I am not sure they will ever truly gain them due to how long they were alone. But they will enjoy being part of our network, I am sure of that,” Corey said, turning back to me.

  Accepting that Alpha might always be something closer to an incredibly smart dog than true human awareness, I nodded to Corey and picked up the core. I worked it carefully into the mallet, in the same place Corey had been removed from. The moment they were fully socketed, I felt the mallet more strongly than ever. I assumed it was a byproduct of what networking it had done. The familiar black chat window appeared in my head.

  “Dave, I am going to attempt to direct the shield orb through the link to Alpha. Are you ready?” Corey asked as soon as the chat window vanished.

  “Yep, go for it. Do you want me to try to trigger it?” I asked.

  “No, I am going to try to fully control the network myself,” Corey replied moments before I felt the shield orb socket fire off. I focused on the path it was taking, which was easier said than done at the speed it now moved, but I was able to track it through the connection to the mallet, into Alpha, and then feel it disperse from the mallet as the proper shield formed around us.

  “Well, I guess that means we go with another two tools. Do you think the other two cores are willing?” I asked, unsure how far Corey had gotten with them.

  “They are both more aware than Alpha, but they are less stable. I am sure they would agree to the situation, but they may also attempt to rebel against that. Given the way the ability works, though, I am not sure they will be able to. They should not be able to disobey any orders, channeling, or the like from my central commands,” Corey answered. The problem was that while I entirely believed that Corey believed that. I also knew that computer architecture didn’t always go as planned. The reality was things crashed. Things had bugs, and most of all, things had unexpected interactions. But I also didn’t think that that was a good enough reason not to do this, as I knew from experience I could cut the mana flow to them if needed, and I was sure Corey could too.

  “What do you think then? This isn’t just about me here. You’re part of this, too. Do you want to add them?” I asked, looking down at the far too strangely familiar robot.

  “I believe the rewards far outweigh the risks, and the reality, from what I understand, we have coming means we will need several surprises prepared. This will be a large upgrade in our capabilities, even without being able to add mana orbs into the tools yet. I assume that it will be possible in the future?” Corey asked.

  “Yes, it should be. We’ll just need to find a source for the materials needed. We should talk to Pryte about that when we meet the giants officially,” I said. I still had no idea just how hard it would be to come by what the System had given me for this task, let alone how the System seemed to have it waiting. As far as I could tell, that wasn’t a common occurrence.

  “Then I believe we should begin,” Corey replied.

  “As long as you agree, then let’s get to work,” I said, pulling out what remained of the material and the tools to slowly work it into the needed forms. Once that careful bit of molding was done, I checked my core menu again, hoping my blueprints had changed with the increased core level, and I was glad to see that the tools had. If nothing had changed I was going to go with the prybar and a screwdriver, but I had gained a couple more interesting options.

  The reinforced mallet was a nonstarter, as I wanted more tools, and both the guns required more than just the dungeon cores to be feasible. They needed something called a mana storage matrix as well as a storage space linkage extender, neither of which I was currently able to provide, partially because I wasn’t even sure what they were or even how to make them. But it was some motivation to learn more, as those two tools could be extremely useful. I had no idea how the System was choosing blueprints either, as it seemed there were several logical but weaker tools that had just been entirely skipped.

  I searched my workbench, eventually finding a compass buried in the back of an old box. The knife, though, was a different matter. I had several of those, and the question was which I wanted to use. The fact that it didn’t seem to require any sort of storage linkage for the knife made me think one with a replaceable blade might be best. After a few minutes of thinking and considering if a regular knife might count too much as a weapon anyway, I decided on my initial idea. Now, I just needed to do this without nearly stopping my heart again.

  Each of the tools had the same two options for infusion points regarding how to connect them to me and how to embed materials into them. They each had different infusion points for adjustments, as well as quick releases and rapid reloads. I hadn’t even considered the idea of the pencil in the compass to be a sort of ammunition, but it made sense. Once we had more time, I’d need to play with how far I could push mana infusion without destroying a tool, but now wasn’t that time.

  I managed to connect both tools to myself with only a few minor feedback issues. This success was much more the doing of Corey, though, as it turned out, they were able to regulate my mana flows into the infusion points as well. That allowed me a much better control of how the energy moved when I touched each spot. All that was left was to insert the two cores and see exactly how they felt about this. I grabbed them both from my storage and placed them on the desk in front of me.

  “So, are you two ready for this?” I asked, not even entirely sure we were. Not that it would stop me. Some experiments just came with dangers.

  Sometimes, when I am in my deepest of sleeps, I think I might just truly understand the workings of the System, why so much it does is so random, and just how it thinks and views us flesh bags, but then I wake up and realize it was complete nonsense caused by far too much drinking the night before. Don’t let a contemplation of the System distract you from some of life’s real pleasures.

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