Dungeon Core Sixty-six had never taken damage before the advent of one stray necromancer. Not to his recollection, anyway. And though she had done far more physical damage in their first altercations, he had at least been prepared for it. Why shouldn’t a low level adventurer take advantage of a dungeon core at its most vulnerable? It’s what he had been expecting.

This singular point of damage from having a piddly little skull thrown in one’s eye by the woman who had swept in there only a week prior babbling nonsense about marriage proposals, though… He hadn’t been expecting that. It must have added some sort of sneak attack bonus that wouldn’t register with him.

The dungeon core blinks, momentarily forced to use the eye for its intended purpose and watch the skull roll to its ultimate resting place.

“Long time no see, eh, bossman?”

Hecrux’s sigh rumbles through the room. “Capo still, isn’t it?”

Whatever the skull has to say for itself - far beyond a simple ‘yes’, it would seem - the dungeon core tunes it all out as he returns his awareness to the whole of the dungeon; Including the secondary core’s chambers. It wasn’t quite the same as reading her thoughts, though he did nearly argue back to her last shout that it was still well within his rights as the primary core. She had asked to be part of the dungeon, after all. If both of them so flippantly shirked being responsible for it, what was even the point of the dungeon?

There is no way for her to ever know, but he still won’t be made sorry for the twinge of sympathy he feels as her own awareness for the state of her health returns to her and there by more prominently to himself. She should have gained something back by now, for the time she spent wallowing…

Restore Secondary Core’s Privileges?

[Y] / N

Unable To Restore Secondary Core’s Privileges

Secondary Core Is Currently Engaged In Combat

Hecrux growls to himself. It wasn’t as if he had taken them from her. She had made that decision for herself, but she would blame him for not being able to restore them. Being upset with him at all was probably what still registered as combat after that throw… Graverra would just have to get over her petty little hang-ups if she wanted any power back.

“Didn’t we talk about being more respectful of her wishes?” The skull asks as if he knows what the dungeon core is doing. There were reasons he preferred to keep it elsewhere…

“I have been most accommodating and I am not currently reading a word of her vapid little thoughts because if she isn’t careful, she may very well be about to slip out of my control entirely.”

“You might wanna consider rephrasing that last bit, bossman.”

“She isn’t regenerating health. I can’t fix her.”

“Probably shouldn’t have hit her then, huh?”

“It’s like you said. She walked into it. Much like the reading of her thoughts, what am I supposed to do? Cater myself entirely to her whims? If dungeons don’t work the way she thinks they do, that isn’t my fault.”

While on the subject, though, the dungeon core moves a part of his awareness to the crypt and begins scattering the coffins in less uniform rows. He could at least give her that; Graverra’s game of keep away had shown an unforeseen weakness - the ability for one to lie betwixt the narrow rows where the homunculus couldn’t reach. The coffins themselves needed to be patched up now as well, costing what would eventually be an inconsequential amount of mana, but that should have been after the dungeon had been placed and opened, not because of the secondary core choosing to throw a tantrum.

Dungeon - Name Undecided, Will Be Placed In [159:24:37]

Graverra Graeme, Bride of the Dungeon Core

208 / 400

Restore Secondary Core’s Privileges?

[Y] / N

Unable To Restore Secondary Core’s Privileges

Secondary Core Is Currently Engaged In Combat

“It’s you, isn’t it?” Again, the skull asks like it can see the same information.

The smallest pang of hurt over shadows anything else. Finally, being able to cause damage to something had been one thing while she was down there, but now that she had returned to her chambers, the secondary core’s chambers… “She can’t stay mad forever.”

“Well, between you and me, the mistress’s sense of time seems to have been a little ruined by all this core stuff.”

It’s unclear why that needed to stay between the two of them, when in reality, if Graverra were already aware and they were already aware… there was nowhere else for that information to go. All irrelevant, but she would… Whether or not intentional, Graverra had certainly proven to be the stubborn type. He’d thought it might be useful, when not used against him, if she could manage to live that long…

Hecrux feels mana begin to trickle away, launching his attention back to Graverra. But it was only cosmetics… No boost to her health. He wonders if she’d even considered that yet and then that perhaps he ought to be the one to try on her behalf.

“She should put the necklace back on. She still has that, doesn’t she?”

Unable To Modify Secondary Core

Secondary Core Is Currently Engaged In Combat

Hecrux huffs, wondering if maybe he dropped her all the way to zero, then she wouldn’t be in combat any longer… But then they might also find out the proper precautions set in place, he wouldn’t be able to revive her at all. And he doubted very much that Estremon was interested in third chances after all the trouble they’d both gone to in keeping the necromancer…

“Could always try the note again. She liked the note.”

Hecrux hums doubtfully. Though the situation was shaping up to be awfully familiar, he had thought they’d moved past the need for overt performances of devotion.

“Probably wouldn’t even be opposed to talking, if you do it right. Remember her whole thing about pursuing her?”

“I was very recently pursuing her.” Still, the dungeon core is already filtering through every item in the dungeon, until coming upon the necklace in question. Technically, he doesn’t know if it will work - all the more reason not to simply begin making demands of her - but if the system was determined to treat her as the average dungeon delver…

“I think the difference with that one was the violence, bossman.”

Hecrux rolls his singular eye. They had already had this discussion. Any damages were her own fault for expecting a dungeon not to behave like a dungeon, and furthermore, he was being extremely accommodating, if not downright attentive, attempting to fix her despite her willful stupidity. “Tell her… That I look forward to her returning to her full capabilities as my secondary core.”

Before the skull can argue about it, the necklace is placed in his mouth and he’s banished back to Graverra’s chambers.