Dungeon Core Online 88 Chapter 88

"I get to what?" James was pretty sure she had just said he would get to participate in Dungeon Wars. But that didn't make sense. That went against the whole 'you cannot tell anyone you are the dungeon core' clause of being a dungeon core. It was like fight club; you just didn't talk about it.

"You get to take part in dungeon wars." She selected the option to continue to the next screen, and before his eyes, a new tab and display opened. Avatar Creation.

"But I thought we couldn't interact directly with our players."

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"You don't." Rue smiled sweetly at him, motioning towards the screen before him. "Your avatar does."

"Yeah, just saying that doesn't really clear anything up for me Rue." James crossed his tentacles, mimicking the pixie when she would get moody with him. "You're not being very helpful."

Rue's eyes flared with annoyance, before they softened, and she smiled evilly. "Oh, I'm sorry, for a moment I thought I was talking with an actual intelligent person. Allow me to dumb it down for you, oh mighty Glyax." She stuck her tongue out at him but continued.

"You are not allowed to share your identity as a dungeon core to anyone. Players are not to know the dungeons are run by another human. As far as they are concerned, dungeons are generated based on coding, and an advanced AI, such as me." Uh huh, she sure was advanced all right. An advanced pain in the butt sometimes.

"Then how do I- "

"The Avatar is explained away as an advanced AI meant to aid adventurers against outside threats, and to also bolster and assist adventurers when they assault other dungeon cores. In fact, avatars are a major part of dungeon wars, considering they are the only thing that can actively damage a dungeon's core." Wait. What? That was new.

"Ummmm, what?" He was pretty sure she just said dungeon cores could get damaged. James did not like that idea.

"It's not permanent or anything." She waved a hand, like it wasn't important. "During dungeon wars, the invading force cannot be thrown back unless the invading avatar and portal are destroyed. Conversely, the portal for the invading army stays open, and allows for players to invade, until the dungeon core of the world they have been invading is destroyed."

"Being destroyed sounds like a terrible life choice." James muttered. He really didn't like where this was going.

"Mmmm, I suppose." The pixie's disregard for James's safety was a bit concerning.

"What happens if my core is destroyed? What even is my core" He was pretty sure it would be damn near impossible for players to invade worlds and destroy the floating orbs that were the dungeon cores.

"Oh, right." Rue facepalmed and waived her hand once more. The world around James flashed by in a rush, and suddenly, it seemed they were at the center of the world. A massive crystal floated easily before him, pulsing with glowing light. From it, tentacles of energy pulsed tens of hundreds of feet into the air, digging deep into the rock formations. James had to admit; it was an awesome sight.

"This, is the dungeon core." She waved an arm in an extravagant manner towards it. "From it, you gain all your abilities, and control of the instance. The dungeon core fuels the very land and is also where your resources are generated." Beside the core, a strange machine sat, with three tendril-like pipes flowing into it. From what James could see, the generator had multiple rotating parts, which seemed to be grinding away at something hard within. Underneath those parts, James could see flickers of light, as if something, a fire perhaps, were burning, consuming whatever the rotating parts ground up. From there, a single tube flowed back into the core, and James figured that was what delivered the resources to him.

"This, is awesome." James turned and looked away from the core, to the Pixie. "But, if we are at the center of the instance, how exactly would invaders even reach the core?"

"Through a special gate." Rue waived her hand, and they were again back in the air, looking down upon the main instance of his dungeon.

"Annnd, where is this special gate?"

"Oh. It isn't located anywhere silly." She laughed lightly and pulled up his avatar screen again. "Avatar's have the ability to summon the gate, once they have consumed a certain amount of adventurer orbs along the way." Was that really how DCO had planned it? A massive battlegroundish all-out battle royal, with each side killing each other and feeding the orbs to their avatar, in order to unlock a special portal or destroy the enemy portal? James had seen similar mechanics in the past, but for the scale of DCO, James was having a hard time wrapping his head around it all.

"Tell you what Glyax." Rue patted his orb gently, pointing him kindly back towards the Avatar screen. "How about you work on creating your avatar while your research finishes up and take some time to process what I've told you. We can go into more details once you finish." She offered him an encouraging smile, before she waived her hand, and a hologram appeared in front of her.

"Alright T, I've got time for another game or two, while he builds his avatar." Sure enough, the other end of the hologram showed the Terminus, his fearsome face grinning…evilly? James really wasn't sure if that was an evil look, or just how the second-floor boss appeared. He supposed no matter what, a monstrous steampunk T-rex would look evil, even with a top hat on.

"Jolly good Rue. Shall we play standard this time around? Or perhaps commander? I remember you were working on a Sliver deck. Fearsome little buggers, sliver's can be." Magic. They were playing Magic. Of course, they were. James sighed, drowning the two of them out, as he cleared his mind, and went to work.

Chapter end