“There are two types of magic, and they’re the same thing,” expounds the dungeon core. “Arcane magic is simply any type of magical energy produced from within the body. There are edge cases, but typically when the source is a limitless well somewhere beneath mortal skin, the magic is defined as arcane. Alternatively, there’s divine magic. When the source of power is external, the magic is defined as divine. Usually the cause is either ambient energy or some sort of god, which is defined by being a creature that outputs enough mana that the creatures around it can harness that energy for their own ends. Clerics and paladins of all sorts draw their strength from a god, whereas other users of divinity like rangers and druids draw on the ambient power generated by the diffusion of nature.”

“Okay, good definition of terms,” the creature allows, “but that doesn’t come close to making this place seem less like it’s being watched by unknowably powerful entities that could come down to obliterate us all with a thought, should they decide that this particularly piece of entertainment is no longer worth the cost of allowing it to exist.”

“As though this pit could be of any interest to such beings. I haven’t even been able to feel a connection to my sponsor, though I suspect it has something to do with your foul magics. You drain the mana from the air like a slime with garbage. Your very existence is a blight on reality, and if this were a just world you would be purged by paladins of every god.”

“Flatterer. Tell me more about these heresies I’m doing constantly.”

“Among the mortal races, the weakest creatures use the least mana. To live, they eat, they drink, and they convert the matter to energy. As they grow more powerful, they need more resources, which are acquired by devouring more and more, until you have the colossal dinosaur. However, that is for base species. When a humanoid is fully developed, they can grow more powerful without needing more resources; they learn to use weapons or magic, train their bodies, and eat the same amount as a human that works in a city. They use their energies more efficiently, generating more mana with the same resources. Arcane casters are the least useful of these, as they then take that mana welling up within them and use it themselves, but that leaves them weaker than the fighters and divine casters who keep that energy within themselves. While they are within a dungeon, their mana production does not stop; it in fact overflows into the world around them. That happens constantly, and is detectable through a few spells. They call it ‘aura’, and I can drain it to fuel my own growth. You are the opposite, a hole of nothingness that adds nothing to the world, but instead makes it worse with every breath.”

“I can stop breathing, if you want. It’s not like I really need to,” the creature says, before inhaling. “Other than so I can talk, that is.”

“That was an idiom, not a literal statement. Breath is to represent an amount of time, not what you are physically doing.”

“Sarcastic remarks don’t work, noted,” it says under its breath, before nodding. “Of course, sorry about the misunderstanding. Anything I can do to assist you in preparation for our ongoing arrangement?”

“Exiting soon would be the first on my list. I have been experiencing blackouts, in addition to the mediocrity of my dungeon and monsters. The hypothetical is it being a result of core damage, which is impossible to fix.”

“Ah, so you suspect that my being here, holding your orb, is detrimental to your mental state.”

“Not exactly. Decreasing the mana degeneration rate is more like increasing my fine control on how to burn away the broken segments of my core; generating a mass of slimes was enough to dissolve a good portion of shattered gem, and their upkeep requirement is low enough to watch the mana drain in the singularity, rather than a constant spinning down of power.”

“In that case, why did you burrow downward while I was chasing you?”

“Because you were chasing me.”

“Reasonable. Dropping into a cavern full of water would likely have deterred a large number of sapients from attempting retrieval of what looks to be a fairly normal gemstone.”

“You imply that would not be the case for yourself, despite my reduced form.”

“What can I say, I function better physically when less restrained by gravity.”

“The cavern is open then? I hadn’t thought I breached the fourth level before you restrained me.”

“As it turns out, you did it while blacked out. I suspect you may be intrigued by the changes that occurred while you weren’t conscious of them.”

“What are you talking about? I don’t… Puzzles? Why? How?”

“Tell you what, I’ll go down to the second floor, grab something I left there, and get out while you look around.”

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Dragging the human’s body behind it with its tail, the creature fiddles with the dials on its box as it walks slowly toward the cave opening. Double doors stand before it, simple features carved of stone, with no handles. As it approaches them, they swing inward automatically to allow egress, without even needing a pull of telekinesis.

“Neat.”

Checking behind it to see if there were any nasty surprises waiting to ambush it, the creatures notices a trail of red behind it, stemming from the body it was dragging.

“Eh, that’s still fixable,” it mutters, readjusting its grip on the foot and continuing to pull the body face down over bumpy rocks.

As soon as it passes the doorframe, or where one would be, should it exist on a cliff face, the double doors swing shut, slotting into place and leaving only a hairline gap to indicate that there was anything there to begin with. The creature drags the body over to a raised square of rock and lets the weight lie upon the obvious switch, which depresses to the point of flushness to the ground. Another sits on the opposite side of the door, and the creature ignores that one to instead descend to the ravine down below.

“Come in base, this is recon team eff,” it states into the box. “We have found intelligent life near the landing site. However, forty-five unit assistance is required for public relations purposes.”

“Recon team eff? Your channel is listed as decommissioned, with the note on the file of ‘useless’.”

“That was likely due to the complete annihilation of the radio, and subsequent restructuring. Grimfang was the one who answered last time, incidentally.”

“Condolences. That explains the note at least. You are at the end of the chronological timeline now, by the way, and all the humans have divvied up the reconnaissance results, taking into account that your mission was a complete failure.”

“Wonderful. Does that mean I can just pack up and head off to whatever we were assigned?”

“There are a couple assumptions there.”

“Great. Yeah, this place is probably habitable for our purposes, though I’d recommend a fifty-three come in along with the forty-five for stability generation.”

“Expect a drop shortly.”