"It had been a long time pointy ears!"

"Like you would stop by, if there wasn't anything to pick your interest."

"Yeah, I wouldn't."

"Such an ass, you are not even denying it!"

"Can we talk?" The man's face turned serious and he looked around the room. Both of them wore common elven clothes, looking like typical elven hunters and gatherers. In fact, it was to the point of being standardized, like they were desperately trying not to stand out.

"We can. I have a tracking device in place, everything is ready. What have they decided?"

"It is not search and destroy, there will be some fun this time. For me mostly, pointy ears, hand over the tracker."

There were no names and only vague information exchanged. It was a part of the job. The one of them who had a hood over his ears to hide his non-elven origin remembered the contents of the report they had received just recently.

. . . they have just summoned their hero but instead, a demon appeared. They left it alive, probably on the conduit's orders, not even chaining it properly. The conduit, Fealdin and a group of roughly fourty elves left today for the eastern border, the demon with them.

That was all it took to lift the spymaster of The Lazurite Tower off his chair. They had some suspicions of demon activity in elven forests, but the elves were never openly harboring a demon before. Not only The Lazurite Tower, but the whole Magic Guild had a war going on with the realm of fiends, who perceived them as a threat. Even though they were not the most skilled wielders of magic in this world, The Magic Guild, or just The Guild, was the most diverse and bulky organization studying magic in the world, their organization unifying dozens of Towers like The Lazurite Tower to create an entity the resources of which could not be taken lightly. The Magic Guild derived much of their might from their influence and wealth, half of the living kings possessing at least one high-grade enchanted item made by them. Not speaking about wards, empire-wide enchantments, teleportation networks, golems and many more, bringing immense wealth and influence to The Guild to the point where fighting the whole Guild was considered suicide, the only option in a quarrel with them was to pit individual towers against each other to block a unified approach.

In The Lazurite Tower's domain of influence, the disappearance of Durkan had already sounded all alarms, the news about elves harboring demons had only poured more oil into the fire. That was why they had dispatched him, Randolf Trudou Allenheim, their ace battlemage to investigate.

He quickly parted ways with The Guild's informant and headed to their local branch office, from where he could teleport into a branch closest to his target.

* * * *

"You should really let me pull the thing out." Toby said, but the elf was stubborn and pulled away from him every time he tried to get near. He was sure the wound would eventually fester with the dagger still in and she had to know it also. They walked further east and the forest began to give way to a mountainous terrain with a lot of deep ravines. Toby decided to rest and simply gave an order to stop. The elven girl just squatted down, holding her arm and stared in front of her.

After a while, he managed to lit a fire with great difficulty to ward off the chill that was coming along with the night. The elf finally decided to pull out the dagger and used the fire to burn and sterilize the wound. She fell into the grass shortly after, her exhaustion evident.

Toby wanted to lament her stubbornness , but he heard footsteps and was on his feet to meet whoever was coming. He could not shake off an uneasy feeling as they were resting close to a deep ravine. It had seemed like a good defensive location before, but it gave him chills every time he saw its depths.

"Hi friend! Can you share some food with tired treasure hunters? We can sell you some of our loot! Do not worry, we are not thieves, we will pay for what we eat." A pair of two men presented themselves, one of them dressed like a poor mercenary and the other in common elven clothes. It was not strange given the proximity of the elven forest.

"Fine, but do not get too close." Toby grumbled, but was far from feeling safe with these two around. It was odd they were acting like he was a little girl camping in front of her school. He was a demon, or was it normal in this region?

He decided to chase them away after they had eaten some of their meat.

* * * *

"I am William, nice to meet you." Randolf said, and looked to the side, where an elf sat silently. Based on her behaviour, she was afraid of the demon and acted like his property would, clear marks of abuse on her body.

The demon gave him no answer.

Was she a sacrifice or a hostage? Randolf knew the elves had not chased after them openly, it was strange that they were acting secretive and had not eliminated the demon right away.

"You can chew the rest on your way, it is time for you to leave." The demon tried to shoo them away even before they had finished their food, his suspicion apparent.

"Right, it is time to leave. There is a little something to pay for your hospitality." Randolf offered a purple shard as payment. It was a core of a destroyed dungeon, something a lucky treasure hunter might have used to pay. Although it was a bit wasteful, Randolf could not care less about the value of the core, he had placed a tracking enchantment on the core, because the elf had lost the item they had used previously, making it difficult to find them after they had abandoned the cave, which was stained with coutless blood marks.

The demon took the shard, it appeared as if electric current ran through him the moment he touched it, but continued a second later in his motion.

"Thank you very much, leave us!" The demon smirked and a shiver ran through Randolf's spine. Was it his imagination or something .. . no, the important fact was that the demon took the shard, they had a lead on them now.

"Good bye." Randolf said and left the place, planning his next course of action after he had seen the targets in person.

* * * *

The moment Toby touched the purple shard, he felt being squeezed and stretched to the point of losing his sense of touch. Too late had he noticed his fatal mistake.

He thought the man was giving him some simple shining jewel as payment, but the piece of rock was apparently something special, because the thing was suddenly active and trying to squeeze him into it. Naturally, a core of a dead dungeon was capable of storing a soul and the demon thing deep in his mind was trying to use its services to squeeze him in!

It was a surprise attack he had not expected and by the time he managed to muster some resistence, he had already been past the point of no return. He was trying to claw his way out of the purple crystal, back into the mind of the demon, but it was already too late and the demon put the core away.

His fight had been lost in that exact moment.

His senses dulled immediately, he had no sense of touch, sight, nor any other sense he had been used to anymore.

Madness threatened to overtake him.

What could he do to keep his sanity?

He could not see even the expected black screen, as he was unable to see even that. There was simply . . .nothing.

He tried the only thing he could possibly do and invoked his status that unexpectedly still worked and it was even less mangled than before.

Lich Rhazan

Level 0 Dead Dungeon Core

[Experience 0/1]

[SP 0]

Toby Alton

Level 28 Elf Druid Mystic

Fitness - 7

Mysticism - 30

Chronomastery - 5

[Experience 2202/2800]

[Skill points 2]

[Expert Level Arcane and Life Energy Manipulation] - You are one with arcane and life energies, manimulating them intuitively and with great expertise.

Unique Bonus Abilities -

[Selfless Saviour] - You do not like killing, you care for lives of even little kittens. You won't receive any experience for killing, but you now receive experience for saving lives of all creatures. The amount depends on the level of threat prevented and the level of the saved creature.

[Impress The Elderly] - Nothing warms your heart more than impressing your grandpa with your heroic deeds when he is watching you! Your experience gain is trippled, when you manage to impress the elderly with your deed.

Clearly, the demonic parts had reverted back after he had split with the demon, but what was about the second thing? Toby had not much time to think about it, as the status flashed and the two merged together, one person apparently could not have two statuses simultaneously

Lich Toby Rhazan

Level 14 Mystic Elven Dungeon Core of the Dead

[Experience 0/1400]

[SP 16]

Unique Bonus Abilities -

[Selfless Saviour] - You do not like killing, you care for lives of even little kittens. You won't receive any experience for killing, but you now receive experience for saving lives of all creatures. The amount depends on the level of threat prevented and the level of the saved creature.

[Impress The Elderly] - Nothing warms your heart more than impressing your grandpa with your heroic deeds when he is watching you! Your experience gain is trippled, when you manage to impress the elderly with your deed.

"Where is my surname?!" Toby noticed that the system probably had to compress his already overly long identity to something shorter and more sensible, if Mystic Elven Dungeon Core of the Dead counts as sensible and short.

His level dropped to an average of both, but he was glad that his status made sense now, with some hope of advancement after it had been enough to save any creatures yet again, not just the "arcane" ones. One of the lines was the crystalization of his hopes.

"Skill points." He uttered in his mind and hoped for what would really happen a second after.

[SP 16]

[Level 1; SP 0 -> Basic Dungeon Sense]

[Level 1; SP 1 -> Basic Construction]

[Level 1; SP 1 -> Basic Undead]

He selected everything on the list as all of it seemed non-dispensable and understood that this time, he would not be selecting new roles, but perks in addition to a fixed role. Meaning he would not be able to get rid of his dungeon status easily. The list changed after his selection, but he had immediately tried to use his dungeon sense instead of continuing in his choices.

To his great joy, he could actually see what was around him, but there was just darkness, with only a thin stripe of light up in the sky. After a while, he understood he had to be at the very bottom of one of the deep ravines. It even seemed like water was flowing around him. Was he wet?

The [Basic Dungeon Sense] was nothing much, but it was thousand times better than being kept in the dark. Along with his understanding of his position arrived guilt that gnawed on his mind. He knew the thing was back in control and also knew what it meant for its elven companion. He imagined the situation for a second, but could not bear to see it. He was in no position to rescue anyone, he could only make peace with how things ended and continue on.

He was unwilling.

So much unwilling.

But this was life, it fed you shit only to give you some extra when you had already enough of it. The time would come when he would be able to make a difference.

Toby resolved himself to remember what he owed to the evil thing. He was not done with it, not yet.

"Just you wait, you evil fucker, there will be a reckoning, for your bill is too long to forget." Toby did not hesitate to put himself into action and found out he was able to inspect the skills he had selected.

[Basic Dungeon Sense] - The basic five senses the core can use, the senses are connected to the surface of the core.

[Basic Undead] - Summon up to five undead. You can summon [Ghoul Servant] and [Battered Skeleton]

[Basic Construction] - Your servants' ability to carve and dig is improved, ability to move the core around the dungeon.

Toby postponed all tests of his new abilities and decided to get better versions first, invoking the selection screen again.

[SP 14]

[Level 10; SP 2 -> Advanced Dungeon Sense]

[Level 10; SP 2 -> Advanced Construction]

[Level 10; SP 2 -> Advanced Undead]

[Level 3; SP 2 -> Basic Dungeon Sense:: Extended Action Radius]

[Level 2; SP 1 -> Basic Construction::Tomb]

[Level 2; SP 2 -> Basic Construction::Treasury]

[Level 4; SP 2 -> Basic Construction::Sacrificial Altar]

[Level 8; SP 2 -> Basic Construction::Forest of Death]

[Level 2; SP 1 -> Basic Undead::Skeleton]

[Level 5; SP 2 -> Basic Undead::Skeleton Archer]

Toby decided to go with the same selection again and read the description of his new abilities. He felt uneasy about the fact that he could display the details only after he had made a purchase, choosing only based on names was too uncertain.

[Advanced Dungeon Sense] - The senses of the core can be shared with your undead servants, extends the action radius of your minions.

[Advanced Undead] - Summon up to five undead. You can summon [Acolyte Fanatic] and [Battered Skeleton], enables further improvements.

[Advanced Construction] - Your Acolytes can carve and dig using magic.

It felt lacking, Toby decided to have a look at the skill points table again.

[SP 8]

[Level 3; SP 2 -> Basic Dungeon Sense:: Extended Action Radius]

[Level 2; SP 1 -> Basic Construction::Tomb]

[Level 2; SP 2 -> Basic Construction::Treasury]

[Level 4; SP 2 -> Basic Construction::Sacrificial Altar]

[Level 8; SP 2 -> Basic Construction::Forest of Death]

[Level 2; SP 1 -> Basic Undead::Skeleton]

[Level 5; SP 2 -> Basic Undead::Skeleton Archer]

[Level 10; SP 3 -> Advanced Dungeon Sense::Extended Action Radius+]

[Level 10; SP 3 -> Advanced Construction:: Great Tomb]

[Level 12; SP 4 -> Advanced Construction:: Library]

[Level 14; SP 5 -> Advanced Construction:: Laboratory]

[Level 10; SP 3 -> Advanced Undead::Skeleton Warrior]

[Level 10; SP 3 -> Advanced Undead::Skeleton Knight]

Toby picked one and looked if he had managed to guess the effects.

[Tomb] - Construct a small tomb in your domain, increasing the number of minions you can command by five.

As expected. His next step was to verify his second hypothesis. He willed five [Acolyte Fanatic] into being, and purple light slowly extended out of his core, materializing his servants slowly.

They had black robes tied with a simple string at their waists and immediately rushed to dig according to Toby's wishes. A flight of stairs began to be constructed spiraling downwards with the core at the center.

Toby waited, not too bored as he could observe what each of the acolytes did. Although it felt like too much waving with hands and flapping sleeves was involved after some time, because the acolytes did everything using magic. In the end, their connection with the core was too strained and they could not move further away, exactly what Toby had been waiting for.

"The initial radius seemes to be fifty meters." It was not much and Toby's next command was to pick him up and carry him below the ground, where he felt more safe and the space above his head was not wasted on air.

Beginning to understand how space was closely related to his power, Toby immediately decided to buy two skills, spending five skill points.

[Extended Action Radius+] - Doubles your action radius to two hundred meters.

It did not seem like much, but his strength would probably come from his minions and their numbers depended on the number of tombs he had in his domain. That meant that doubling the action radius of the space he could build his structures in was like doubling the radius of a sphere while observing the change of volume, it boiled down to one to eight ratio if he calculated it right. It was worth it.

There was not much he could do with the remaining three skill points, he needed an advanced unit, leaving him with only two choices.

"Knight or a warrior." There was not much to think about, it was simply about luck. He decided to choose the warrior, because he felt that he did not completely understand the knight's strengths.

[Skeleton Warrior] - A well-balanced advanced undead, an armed skeleton equipped with medium armor and weapons of average quality, skilled equally in offense and defense

It was exactly what he had wanted, an ordinary undead thug he could rely on. Toby thought his potential for power was not bad at this moment, what he lacked was the ability to project that power outside.

He tested the speed of creating minions and his ability to switch acolytes to warriors and vice-versa. The Skeleton Warriors looked like ordinary armed skeletons, true to the status' description. His only regret was that he was unable to display their status, making their strength too mysterious for his taste.

Toby found out there was no cost for creating skeletons, just like with casting magic in his previous body, the only limitation was their number and the fact that he could create only a small number at a time and the whole summoning process was rather slow. His summoning speed was definitely not something he could rely on.

He destroyed the one warrior he had created and summoned five acolytes again. It was time to create a lot of tombs!