"Am I going to have to fight that representation of Corey over there as well?" I asked, looking at Otis, who, for the first time, was looking on in what I thought was surprise. Had we finally started to hit things that he really didn't know instead of pretending he didn't?

A message window popped up before Otis could answer.

Karlinovo: Whatever you're doing, Chip just started to channel a ton of mana. How much longer are you going to take?

Dave: Not sure, could actually be a while. Can you move us both near the mana well I set up in the greenhouse?

Karlinovo: I guess. Do you just want me to have your bodies monitored then?

Dave: For the moment, yes. Let me know if anything pressing comes up, and I'll try to take care of what I need to here. Hopefully, I'll have a way to entirely remove the soul knots once I'm out of it.

Karlinovo: Try not to suck us all in there with you. I've got things to do out here.

Dave: No promises, I still don't understand why only Chip and I are here.

Karlinovo: Oh, I might actually know the answer to that. The discharge passed through both of you, but in your case, it wasn't anywhere near your core.

Dave: So, just because it missed Corey, none of the cores are here, too?

Karlinovo: Possibly, keep in mind this is all a theory. You are combining multiple levels of unknowns.

Corey: I believe he is correct. I can tell where the energy passed through you now, and it did miss every connection we have somehow.

Dave: Alright, then I guess it's time to find out just what this shadow version of you is, Corey.

Corey: I am not sure I understand.

Dave: Don't worry, I don't either yet. Keep Karlinovo from blowing anything else up while I'm here.

Corey: Understood.

"Know," was all I caught Otis saying as I closed the window.

"Sorry, got a message from outside, and got distracted. Can you say that again?" I asked. Would there be any effects from moving us from the soul anchor? I hoped not, but that mana well was the only one I had created so far, and it was the best bet to recharge us both if we weren't able to easily do it ourselves at the moment.

"I have no idea. As far as I know, dungeon cores don't have souls, so whatever is going on over there is probably better understood by you than it is by me. I am looking forward to chronicling all of this, though," he replied.

I wasn't sure how true that claim was. While I hadn't done it yet, one of my class features directly referenced the idea of dungeon cores gaining souls. That did imply that they didn't start with one, though, so maybe Otis was right there. Then what the hell was that projection of Corey?

If my projection had required part of my soul plus the creatures in here to fully manifest, how could that one do it without any part of a soul? And that still didn't begin to explain what this soul realm even was. Why did I have a platform connecting to Corey like this? I took a deep breath and started walking forward. There was only one real way to get the answers after all.

I took a very cautious step onto the bridge, wishing it were wider. Rationally, I knew that as enhanced as I was these days, I wasn't likely to trip and fall, but since when did rationality compensate for a fear of falling into nothingness?

As I took several more steps, slowly crossing the gap, I called back to Otis. "What happens if I fall off one of these things anyway?"

"Well, hopefully you can will yourself back to the tether. Otherwise, it's going to likely be a very long fall until something bigger than you decides to end it," he answered.

I understood what he meant by the second part. It wouldn't be some pleasant rescue mission by a benevolent stranger. It would be a soul hunter, or some other beast I had never heard of it devouring what was left of my soul. Considering how much my previous interactions with them had hurt, I didn't think that was something I wanted to encounter, especially with my pain management magic not working.

The moment both my feet left the bridge, it vanished behind me. So I wasn't going back that way, at least until I figured this out, which wasn't too surprising, but something to pay attention to in the future if there were more of these. As I turned my head back to Corey, the earlier form I had seen them in dissipated into the air, leaving only the dungeon core behind. It hit the ground with a clank.

"Hey there, can you hear me? Are you in there, Corey? Or maybe some reflection of you at least?" There was no response to any of my questions.

The first time I met Corey was when I picked their form up like an idiot in the dungeon. Mel had even warned me to be careful, but the excitement of the whole thing had overridden my sense of danger. Did I need to recreate that scene? Considering I had won the contest of wills before, I didn't see a chance of losing now.

With that in mind, I leaned over and touched the core. Again, nothing happened. I could feel something inside it. The energy was there, but something about the spark itself that would let them manifest here was missing. It was possible this was tied to their lack of soul. So then what was I supposed to do?

To what level could my thoughts alter the reality here? Corey and I hadn't connected like we were now until I had socketed them within my core. I had an idea, but I needed the tools to do it.

I focused on the physical form of my workbench back home. I pictured each of the tools on it, and their exact uses. Slowly, as I formed the images in my mind, wispy shapes began to appear around me. I tried channeling again, this time just soul mana, and I directed it at the transparent shapes.

Unlike the regular mana before, it worked. I felt the mana leave me and flow into the different objects, each one becoming more real as the mana filled it. I now had actual tools in my soul realm. The downside was that in creating them, I had used more soul mana than I would have liked, and the drain was taking a toll on my strength. I needed to get this next part done and rest, assuming I was even capable of doing so here.

I rummaged through the workbench until I found what I wanted. The refined soul plate had been recreated just as I hoped it would be. While I had been tempted to try to create distilled willpower, it hadn't been what I had initially used to make my socket system, and altering that right now just seemed like the wrong move.

Grabbing a hammer as well, I went to work on it. Carefully, I crafted the same socket I had made for myself back in the archives, then I extended it, replicating the entire design as it existed in my body. The only thing I left off was the connections to the other cores. I had a feeling they would have their own little floating islands if this place worked like I was starting to suspect it did.

Once the channels and sockets were all laid out on the platform as closely to my internal structure as I could get them, I moved on to the next part. I started to hammer them all into the floor. They sank into the hard stone with little effort, reinforcing my belief that I was on the right path.

After grabbing the dungeon core from the workbench, I placed it over the socket near where my own core would be in this representation. Nothing happened. Had this all been for naught then? No, this had to be the right path. What was I missing?

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Soul Energy was the obvious answer. I needed to channel more of my dwindling reserves to get the core into its place. Hoping this wouldn't take all I had left, I started the process. It began to move the moment the mana hit it. I clamped down hard onto my reserves, forcing them out into the core, killing the feed the second it was perfectly socketed into place.

I caught a chat window notification out of the corner of my eye as I crashed down onto the ground below me. It had taken nearly everything I had left to do this. The choice of whether to rest or not had been taken from my hands as I felt my vision go dark.

A soft purring sound was the first thing I heard as I felt consciousness return to me. I was back on the first platform, somehow in a bed similar to my own, with Chip again asleep on my chest. For a brief moment, I questioned if the previous experience had been real, but the sight of Otis sitting in a chair, eyes closed and snoring loudly, told me this was all too real.

Remembering the messages I had missed as I finished the other platform, I pulled back up the soul chat.

Corey: Something has changed. I can feel our connection much stronger again.

Corey: Dave, are you there?

Gamma: I am at his body, it seems mostly unchanged. Perhaps he is just asleep.

Karlinovo: Gamma may be right. What changed Corey?

Corey: The disconnect I had felt after what had happened is gone now. I can also sense Dave's soul energy better than I could before. Prior to now, it was difficult for me to guide that channeling myself without Dave's direct input.

Karlinovo: Interesting, yeah, he must have done something, guess we wait around and hope it didn't kill him.

Dave: I'm alive, and awake again. I burned through almost every bit of soul energy I had, establishing a portion of the soul realm here. I believe it corresponds to my connection with Corey, which would explain the returned connection, and possibly the strengthened soul one as well.

Corey: I wonder if that means I could join you there.

Dave: Possibly, but let's not try anything like that until I figure out how to get Chip and me back home first.

Corey: Understood.

I closed out the chat window, and gently moved Chip off my chest, letting him go back to sleep on the bed. I stood up, trying not to wake Otis either, as I took a look around for any changes. There were four newly illuminated paths from the platform I had just sealed Corey's representation in.

I had a feeling those belonged to the other dungeon cores. Even more interestingly were the two new darkened paths from the main platform. Would I have to wake Chip up to get those illuminated as well? I wasn't willing to attempt to cross them until they were, at least until I better understood this place.

Instead, I headed back to Corey's platform and took a closer look at the four new ones. Each one had a shadowy silhouette of its own resting in the center of it. A mallet, a boxcutter, a drawing compass, and a metal spike floated in the middle of each, respectively.

At least this time, there was no mystery about what I needed to do. I walked over to the workbench, which thankfully hadn't disappeared as I was likely going to need to will an even more potent material into existence. Hopefully, my use of it here didn't mirror what had happened when I used it in the real world. Grabbing some of the refined soul plate and the hammer, I set back to work making four new sockets.

I'd need to use the distilled willpower for Beta and Gamma's mana orb sockets, as well as Apollyon's core socket, but I'd worry about that after I got Alpha's platform squared away. Hopefully, giving Apollyon a deeper connection to my soul wouldn't be an issue. I was still leery about their views, and I wasn't sure, given the chance, they wouldn't attempt to dominate my body for their own ends. I would just have to hope Corey would still be able to lock that down even after this.

Once I had the four sockets formed, I headed to the platform with the floating mallet. Just as when I had reached Corey's, the mallet vanished, and the dungeon core that represented Alpha clanked to the ground. Walking over to where it had landed, I went to work placing the new sockets and infusing them with the soul mana needed to bring it to life.

It took nearly as much as it had for Corey, but despite that, I didn't feel quite as drained as I thought I should. Had my connection with Corey improved my access to my reserves? That would be welcome news, considering I still had three of these to go.

I opened the new message that flashed as I headed back to Corey's platform.

Alpha: Feel different.

Corey: Yes, I can feel Alpha's bond to the soul energy much firmer now as well.

Dave: Good. That means it was what I did with your representation here that caused it. I just finished with Alpha. Beta, Gamma, and Apollyon will be next.

Beta: What does it feel like?

Corey: Just a stronger connection to Dave. Do not worry.

Apollyon: What if I do not want that?

Corey: It also increases your ability to channel soul energy, and when Dave gives you your own mana sockets, you will be that much more powerful.

Apollyon: Perhaps I will accept it then. As long as it helps build the dungeon core nation.

Gamma: I want to channel soul energy through the mana orb I have.

Dave: And as soon as I get this all working, and I'm back there with you all we can test it to our heart's content. How long have I been gone anyway? Is time passing the same here?

Corey: It has been roughly 36 hours since you first went to sleep.

Dave: Oh. That feels like time may be passing more slowly here than, or I was just out for longer than I realized. Alright, getting back to work.

Once I was back at the workbench, I focused on forming the distilled willpower. It was harder than the refined soul plate had been, as I had to replicate the same feeling I got from it as well, and remembering exactly how something made you feel wasn't the easiest thing to recreate. But after several minutes, I thought I had something reasonably close and started filling it with the soul mana needed to make it real.

A new message floated across my vision as soon as I finished it.

Mana Orb Rank Increase

What had led to that? There didn't seem to be much of any mana flow here, other than possibly soul energy. Or had that been exactly what the orb had needed for its increase? Was that the key to ranking up any mana orb that required soul mana? If so, I might just be able to push it up again before I was done here.

I'd look at any changes after I finished with the three remaining dungeon cores. To that end, I grabbed my newly created material and started working it into another three sockets. It was much harder to work with than I remembered it being, but as it didn't trigger any strange System effects or feedback into myself, I could live with that. I hadn't had to infuse the sockets for Alpha as I had when I originally made the mallet, so I was confident I wouldn't have any issues with the distilled willpower this time around either.

Beta and Gamma's platforms worked much the same as Corey and Alpha's had, but by the time I had finished with Gamma's, I was starting to feel the drain on my soul energy. It wasn't quite where it had been before I had done Corey's, but after I finished Apollyon's, I almost certainly had to already call it a day. I opened the message window as I walked toward the final platform.

Beta: This does feel different. I am truly one with the empire now.

Gamma: I am not sure I would classify it exactly like Beta said, but I agree with Corey on their description of how this feels.

Dave: Good, I'm moving onto Apollyon now.

Apollyon: Give me your soul.

I closed the soul chat on that message, hoping it had just been a joke. As I set to work on the last core's platform, I felt something wash over me. It reminded me of Mel's scans. Had one of the creatures spotted me out here? Worried about what it would mean if I left the platform half done, I rushed through the rest of the process.

Exhaustion hit me as I finished again with the soul mana channeling, but not enough to drop me to the ground unconscious this time. The platform sprang to life again, just as the others had, and apparently none-too-soon as a giant shark-like monster slammed its head into an invisible barrier, startling me enough that I fell over backward.

Sometimes the best thing you can do with your day is to scream at the sunrise. It can invigorate you for the day to come, and it's a great way to start off fighting that stress that will build as the time goes by. Just remember that if that sun happens to scream back, it's best not to further antagonize it. No one likes a grumpy sun. Not even the Solar Lizarians of Freld are partial to one.

Twenty Rules For a Better Tomorrow by Paulio

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