Using Gill’s technique, I pulsed the elixir through my core, completing one circuit.
Agony washed through me. A river of pain trickled deep within my inner self.
“Again,” said Gill.
“Again? I can’t.”
“You said you were ready to suffer to become the core you need to be.”
I circulated the elixir once more.
Twice.
After a third time, it was like my whole core was ready to burst into pieces. I felt like a man who had just swallowed a glass of liquid lava. Suddenly, my resurrection as a dungeon core seemed a mistake. The pain was so bad that my previous death as a man seemed a thousand times more preferable.
“Again!” said Gill.
“It isn’t working!”
“Again!”
Pulling every ounce of resolve from every nook and cranny in my core, I used the Essence Pulse technique. I pulsed the elixir all the way through my core once more and felt it sear new paths inside my core.
“Again!”
A great river of light burst through the core chamber floor like water spraying from a geyser.
It filled the room with blinding white until I could see nothing. Not the chamber walls, not Gill, not the empty elixir bottle.
And then the light disappeared as if sucked away by hungry lungs.
Core quality rank improved from Base (1) to MidBase (2)
- Essence concentrated
- Replenishing rate improved
- Monster base level improved
- Essence reservoir gained (total: 2)
Everything had changed, yet it was all the same.
The core chamber was as it always had been. Gill was still standing next to me, but he had crossed his arms across his chest to shield his eyes from the light.
But my pain was gone. The elixir was no longer inside me. Instead, I felt formation essence begin to pour into the reservoir inside my core. It was much quicker than it ever had before.
But not only that. I could feel a second reservoir inside my core. One which the formation essence wasn’t touching.
Was this real? Had I really done it?
“Welcome to MidBase, Beno,” said Overseer Gill. “How does it feel?”
“My formation essence is replenishing faster. And I have an empty reservoir in my core that I can fill with a different type of essence.”
“That comes with your improvement in rank. Every such improvement will feel the same. Not only that. The monsters you create will be just that little bit better than before. Your traps will be more efficient. Everything about your core abilities will be improved.”
I took a moment to enjoy the powerful feeling coursing through my core. Even as I did, another thought struck me.
“Overseer Gill?”
“Yes?”
“How can I do this again? Do I need another elixir? Is there something else I can do? When can we get started?”
Gill’s belly smiled wide. “I told you, Beno. Give me a year, and you will not recognize yourself. Now that I have seen you are prepared to suffer… I believe this year will be more productive than you could imagine.”
Over the next few days, everyone in the dungeon remarked on how I seemed to have changed. They couldn’t see the new reservoir inside my core, of course. Only Gill could.
Well, Gill and one other person.
“You have ascended,” said Overseer Bolton when he returned from his trip with Anna.
“Overseer Gill knows how I can improve my rank again. But I will probably have to leave the dungeon for a little while.”
“I believe we can manage without you. I am proud of you, Beno. I always saw something in you, back at the academy. We knew little about core quality back then, other than vague notions. We certainly didn’t have a test to gauge quality so precisely. I believe that you have shown Tarnbuckle and other overseers that it is not so wise to rely on such instruments. I only hope that you do not rely on them, either. It is admirable to have the goal of getting stronger. But do not place all your life’s value on such a scale as core quality.”
“It isn’t just a label or a worthless test, though, is it? When I ascended to MidBase, a new reservoir opened in my core. The academy used to place all its emphasis on how a core should level up when he leaves the academy. Leveling up meant killing heroes. If we could do that, we must be great cores. The higher the level the better. But that’s quite different from a core’s quality, isn’t it? Everything the academy taught me was worthless.”
“Worthless? Beno, that is the stupidest thing you have ever said. Your academy education is the reason you haven’t been pounded into core dust yet. And besides that, the academy is learning as they go, just as anyone is. Only a fool proclaims his knowledge is complete.”
“It doesn’t matter in any case. Base, Foundation, Ascended, Ancient. Gill and everyone else can use whatever terms they want to judge me. All I’ll measure myself in is how much stronger I get.”
Bolton nodded. “Then go and do what you must. The dungeon and your academy will still be here when you get back.”
“My academy?” I said. “We only needed it to get into the tournament.”
“And what about poor Wrench? The core agreed to join your academy, believing he would be taught.”
This made me feel a little bad. “But Overseer Gill is our only overseer, and he’s coming with me, so…”
Bolton widened his eyes. “Oh? Have I become a ghost? A figment of your imagination?”
“You didn’t want to be an overseer anymore.”
Bolton thought about it for a second. “There’s a lot to be said for trying everything once. But it’s also important to be truthful to yourself. When you find something that you really love, there
