Chapter 1
They Meet:
The stables was full of people, legs and arms chained together at the wrists and ankles respectively, and their necks were chained to the walls. All of them wore little more than filthy thread-bare rags that did basically nothing to protect their modesty, and they were forced to sleep, or try to, on random piles of straw, who knows what else might be making said straw its bed. Beside them were bowls that once held some kind of thin gruel that have been left there, unattended, and uncleaned, all said bowls were “analyzed” and rebuilt, leaving none the wiser.
All of them lied whimpering, cowering, begging and crying, trying to get for themselves a fitful attempt at rest. All save one, the bunny girl in the back corner, beaten black and blue all over. She's in a light sleep, ready to rouse herself at a moment's notice and fight.
The rest of them are a lost cause. Even if I were a therapist, which I'm not, I have neither the time nor the tools to help them, especially with the active threat of the local overseers still hanging over all our heads. This bunny girl is the only one with the potential to help, and that's still going to be hard as she's clearly been beaten, as the louts tried to utterly crush her spirit with physical violence. I really don't want to do this, but I can't think of another way. [Appraisal] doesn't even give me this girl's name!
“Um, hello there, Rabbit girl. I need your help.”
“Oh great! As if beating me black and blue wasn't enough, now the bastards are sending people to violate my mind while I try to sleep?!”
“No. Down here. I'm not with them...”
“Now, I've seen everything. A giant, glowing marble is talking into my mind... Wait! Wait! Wait! Are... Are you a dungeon core?!”
“Yes. I am, and I could use your help. Oh, and don't worry, I'm monitoring the air around us so the sound doesn't carry...”
“Oh. Erm. Oops. Got a bit excited there. Not every day you hear of a sapient core. Entire kingdoms would kill just to get one, and here one is, asking for me, personally. Now what is it that you need of me, oh great and powerful core!”
“No need to be sarcastic. As you so eloquently put it, I'm nothing more than a giant, glowing marble. I need you to be my arms and legs so I can move around, find out what's going on here, and if need be, shut this place down, leaving not one stone lying atop another.”
“At first, you had my curiosity, but now you have my rapt attention. So I'm going to ask again, what, exactly, do you need me to do?”
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“I need you to agree to become my Dungeon Boss Monster.”
“Boss Monster?! I'm flattered, really, but you realize you're talking to a kid, right? An easily beaten kid? Or did ya think these bruises and swollen eyes were some kind of fashion trend?”
“No. I'm not joking. All the other slaves here have already given up and resigned themselves to their fate, but the fire of rebellion still burns bright in you. Besides, if you agree, I fully intend to rebuild your entire body into a stronger, faster, better you. At which point, you and I will basically be one in mind, spirit, and body, until death do us part, and I'm not entirely certain about that last bit.”
“Aw, shucks. You sure know how to make a girl blush, talking all pretty like that. Bet you'd be on bent knee and all. Well, if you HAD knees, or were you some kind of pervert who got off on little girls, Traveler?”
“And what makes you think I'm a Traveler and not just a core that came about spontaneously?”
“I see you didn't deny being a pervert, but that's fine. All sapient cores are, or were, Travelers. No exception to date. And while I'd love nothing more than to take you up on your offer...”(Points at her slave collar) “I'm kind of spoken for. We're kinda not allowed to die without permission, even if we're going to be resurrected, reincarnated, or reanimated in the very, very near future...”
System Message: If the collar is removed carelessly or improperly, the slave's body will be destroyed beyond hope of recovery. Warning. If you're going to proceed, you have only one attempt at this.
“Did the system just talk to both of us?!”
“Seems so. Would you like me to take a crack at destroying that blasted collar? Even knowing the risks?”
“Don't need to sweet-talk me! I'd rather be reduced to ash than spend one more plank-second being enslaved to these... animals... than I absolutely have to!”
“And how do you know what a plank-second is? Never mind. Here goes nothing!”
System: Mana Circulating through the slave implements actively resists your attempt at [Analysis], cost 1000 mana to overcome the resistance. Proceed? Yes/No.
Both the dungeon and the rabbit girl cry out simultaneously “YES!”
MP: 2000/3000.
Acquired blueprints: Rust-resistant Chains, Collar, Cuffs, Slave Magic (POW) engraving.
Acquired resources: Iron, Carbon, Chromium, Copper, Tin.
“Whew. That took 1/3 of my Max MP. Now that you can speak freely, do you accept? You can speak freely, right?”
“Yes, and yes! I can speak and decide freely, and if you agree to help me get my vengeance on the slavers in this mine and the damned brigands who burned my village to the ground to capture and enslave me in the first place, then I will very, very happily agree to be your Dungeon Boss, for all eternity if that's what I'm signing up for!”
System: Consent acquired. Contract complete. Beginnig [Analysis]....
Acquired Blueprints: Beastkin female, rabbit subspecies, and all biological components, cloth rags, straw, lice, ticks, and other pests, straw, hay, biological waste, etc.
Acquired resources: Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Calcium, Chlorine, Sodium, Potassium, Iron, and other trace elements.
Initializing [Synthesis]: Compatibility with [Giant Vampire Bat Wings] blueprint discovered, add to design?
“Yes.”
Yes selected. Adding wings to final design. Conforming final design to the adult of the species at user's request. Warning: Insufficient resources, using [Analysis] on the surroundings to collect other resources and MP to compensate for the rest.
MP: 100/3000
Dungeon Boss Selected: Rabbit-kin Were-Vampire-Bat.
