The draw on my soul was agonizing. I can feel it being pulled away. Slowly. I am watching as the shell that is pure soul gets pulled into the fountain. An eternity of watching one soul convert into soul mana then broken into arcane mana then ultimately becoming fuel for water purification and a barrier. There is no one at this town yet to defray the cost of maintaining this. It is only my soul paying the price.

  I struggle with the pull. Seeing if I can hold my soul, to no avail. Damn, if I could just make soul mana I could just supply the flow. But my body is in stasis, my mana is locked. Even the cores inside my soul core are inert. Denied for not reforming my physical cores. Which my body can't do. Bleeding stasis.

  Another mote of soul is broken down. It feels like it is being frozen then snapped off. They know my skills. Witnessed my [Status Screen]. They know I have this soul core. I can't depend on the core saving me. Otherwise they wouldn't have gone this route.

  I know I can resist [Drain Mana]. The bit of soul the fountain is siphoning burns as it becomes soul mana. I permanently lost one soul but the fountain is now straining to extract the mana. I hold it as long as I can. A tug of war that I am ultimately losing ground on, albeit slower than before. I try to [Drain Mana] back. I can pull the arcane, I remake it into soul mana. It was less than what I would have gotten burning my own soul. Damn it. I'm going to lose because what I pull back is always less than what it took.

  I need more soul mana. The only thing that could produce it is my unignited core. A core that only grows when a mana core grows past competent. Those cores only granted one per tier…what if…what if I just tried to force it to ignite. I lose hold of the bit of soul mana as the fountain starts to pull at another piece. The pain just grows. Will I even be lucid by the end.

  I take a moment to drop a potion bottle of blood next to a rather taciturn vampire. She knows when the time comes if she needs to drink it. I wince some more. I can't delay this.

  I mentally scream as a fourth of my soul turns into soul mana. The fountain tries to claim it even as I push it into my core. It strains. I can feel my soul shaken at what I am doing. Time is as slow as it can be without burning mana. I can see the core push then contract. Damn it. Time slows further, I am burning mana just to push twice as much for every contraction. Slowly the core expands. Infinitesimal growth that is not reclaimed as the soul core contracts.

  Suddenly there is more room. The mana I had made floods into it. Only a quarter of the soul mana remains outside. Whether burnt off, or in my core. I am not sure. The fountain is relentless at taking what is available. I fight back.

  I take another quarter of my pure soul, the pain even greater as time slows again. My soul core shudders as I demand it to grow again. Instead of two pushes per contraction I do three. It is harder but I must survive. It takes longer. It needs to grow larger. I push and I push. Even as I struggle I can feel the fountain relentlessly try to steal more. It expands again.

  My mind is exhausted. I've strained myself for thousands of years perception wise. I don't know how long it's been in reality. I see the rest of my soul, it should be enough. I convert all but a scant bit into mana. And begin pushing again. Will the core shatter? I double my perception of time, double the amount I am pushing. I can feel it crack but I have to push through. Both the pain and the level. It holds, I don't know how it holds. And then it expands.

  I think I have enough to finish. As I am about to proceed I feel something rip from my Tapestry. I black out.

  -----

  My mind awakens. My soul mana is nearly depleted, the fountain just as greedy while I was unconscious. Damn it. But there was barely any pure soul left.

  My dungeon is mostly soul constructs. I start to pull them apart. The instances begin to collapse. To shrink. The live monsters begin to gather closer as their home grows smaller. All the dungeon monsters become soul mana at a terrible rate. All but one. I use the soul mana I gather and push again…knowning the futility. It's not enough. I push anyways as I start trying to decide exactly what memories to keep and which to expunge in my mad scramble to survive.

  Just as I am about to start at my years in the village I feel more pure soul pour into me. It comes from the last soul construct still in the dungeon. She had severed it, diminished herself. It has already joined my soul. I convert it into mana and push it all in. Ignite damn you.

  It does. There is a massive chiming in my soul and my dungeon. The battle isn't over. I push the new mana created out for the fountain to try to grab. I need to continue struggling with the damn thing while my core fills. A bit taken here, a bit there, it is agonizingly slow but the core is filling.

  The war continues. One attention fights the fountain. The other dribbles out more soul mana. A balance between my core and my need to fight this fire. Half of what dribbles out is used to just maintain my focus. I stop counting the hours, stop doing the math, millenniums pass in days. When my core finally fills I divert the stream to the fountain. My other attention continues to resist the drain. If only to reduce the burden. I go check on the damages.

  -----

  “Systems, I hug you but I just end up grabbing air…You have a giant gaping hole in your ghost chest.”

  I look down. Guess I do. Must be from the fountain. I'll have to avoid soul reapers. I touch Lea's arm.

  Thank you…though you should have drank the blood.

  “Fuck you, also your welcome. So are we safe? The dungeon is kinda a wreck. They evacuated everyone once it started shaking. And well I think your death slime and blood slime grew a whole lot bigger eating all the other monsters on their instance.”

  Shit really? I start expanding the areas again. To give room. I burn a great deal of soul mana, far more than it should. But there is no upkeep.

  “Sara!”

  Sorry, it's going to be a bit before I can make enough room. Something has changed. I wish I knew what. I need to focus on refilling my core now.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Sure…your eyes were swimming with various colors while you were doing that.”

  I look up at her.

  “No, no, you focus on your core for now.”

  I smile and nod.

  -----

  It was weeks of slow expansion but I kept at it. Ultimately my soul core grew again from all the strain. The pain was excruciating but my output was enough that I could fill the fountain's need without trying. I still denied the damn thing. If only for the levels.

  I wave at Lea. She looks annoyed as she walks to me.

  “Took you long enough. Though you haven't filled the instance with fodder yet.”

  I touch her arm. I thought you'd want to be there when I made my first horned rabbit.

  She rolled her eyes as we entered instance one.

  “Well, get on with it.”

  I focus and the rabbit bones, blood, organs, muscles and then skin and fur form. It took way too much soul mana to do. It had a princess crown…

  “Well hurry up and make more. The field had twenty last time.”

  Uhhhh Lea…I think that rabbit is real.

  “The fuck you on about, I didn't see you lay an egg. I certainly didn't lay one.”

  But it has the crown. She looks closer as the rabbit scrunches down in panic. She picks up the critter, shrugs her shoulders and bites down. It dies and she is still swooning.

  “O ya, that thing was real. I can still feel the bliss after it died. No exp though. Guess you can't sacrifice your own to level.”

  I look annoyed at her.

  “What, it was the quickest way to figure it out. Soooo now you can just make full grown real monsters. Albeit at a very slow rate.”

  Which will only grow with my core. I need to make dungeon fodder though not real things…at least not yet.

  “They are soul constructs before right? Just focus on making those.”

  I do and a new rabbit forms. No crown, less soul mana but an upkeep. I give a sigh of relief.

  I turn my head towards where my sister is. She is touching my left hand. I connect with her again. She doesn't have memories. But I push a thought into her. Eat the hand. She wants to but an…order…is stopping her. Well then, just ask if you can. A moment later she bit a finger off. Fuck.

  “Sara?”

  The bleeding hand that's not even on my ghost is then crushed. The dungeon shudders at my pain. I feel myself diminish as my sister grows. I take a moment to gain lucidity.

  “What was that?”

  I touch Lea's arm, sorry it hurt a lot to have Violet eat my hand. It was better than leaving it with the supreme bitch number one. Lea barks a laugh at that. I got to see a bit of what was going on. She is turning Violet into an Elf and is having Violet call her mother. It's all sorts of gross. She is down to one tail Lea…you have more tails than she does now. It's just terrible.

  Lea looks at me with concern, “So what are going to do about it?”

  I'm not sure, but she is gathering my body parts. My head hasn't moved but my right hand is heading towards Violet. I look at my ghost hand and sigh. I won't be able to give the bird to anyone for a while. It detaches where it was guillotined and flies towards the Elf Empire.

  “Your plan is to continue feeding yourself to Violet?” Lea asks incredulously.

  No, but I need to make sure to not let the Elf know I am aware.

  -----

  …

  7-4-1705

  …

  Adventurers will be returning to the dungeon soon. Sara informed me that she tried her best not to let the pain shudder the dungeon again. She also warned me that her hand is arriving at the Elf bitch soon. I asked Sir Ujan to inquire who had it prior. I hope whoever did, turned it over peacefully. With the return of adventurers we can start receiving blood wine again. The first cask is almost out. I will need

  …

  -----

  You seriously drank two hundred and fifty gallons of wine.

  “Almost, it's been seven months since it was delivered. If you hadn't taken so long we could have had at least another cask by now. Besides, I was lonely and afraid.”

  More reason not to drink, shit Lea you went straight to alcoholic, real fast. She grows annoyed at that.

  “I had to drink more at first, your ridiculous skill takes awhile before it really gets going.”

  And what is your skill level now? She minces her hands, looking away. She murmurs.

  “Competent three…of the third evolution.”

  Fuckkkk. The dungeon shudders.

  “It’s nothing to get that upset about.”

  No, system. My right hand just got crushed. I kind of got distracted by you becoming a lush. Systems, you better be getting smashed over shots at this point.

  “I think it only makes the blood as potent as the proof imbibed.”

  So a glass of blood wine is the equivalent to a regular glass now.

  “I guess…might want to ask someone who didn't have an Elf liver before all this.”

  I roll my eyes. I am about to say more when Violet reaches into our soul core and tears something vital from our soul. I lose consciousness.

  -----

  How long has it been?

  “Seven days. Do you know what happened?”

  Violet ripped a part of our soul. Removed something important. I don't know what. Anything interesting while I was out?

  “Nothing really. More adventurers are buying potions. What?”

  I had set out to make a smithy and couture but all we sell is potions.

  “Thems the breaks, the smith and tailor are out, so potions is all they get. Speaking of, got enough mana to make a clear slime?”

  I roll my eyes, the slime forms. Lea peers into the little guy.

  “Aw, he got a little crown at his core. Why did you make it so small?”

  Look, it is less burdensome to make tiny, it will grow. You got enough…fertilizer for it.

  “Shit Sara, literal shit. You are such a child sometimes.”

  I frown at her. She just laughs. After she was done laughing at my consternation she spoke up again.

  “Hey, now that you're out of my body…think we could try the tail thing…”

  I look at her as if she was insane.

  “Hey, you could just poke my nose like Said did. No need to jump into me. Surely that's not dangerous.”

  I wave my handless arm stumps at her. She just rolls her eyes and points at my feet. Annoyed, I kick her in the face thinking she is mental. That it actually connects instead of just going into her head surprises me. That her body becomes the green crafting dryad form of Violet surprises us both.

  “Oh wow, I'm green ahhhhhhh.”

  Lea clutches her head. Right, this form could make silk. She is probably learning a bajillion and one ways silk can be formed. It takes awhile but she finally releases her head.

  “Why do I know that each blade of grass around me is unique?”

  I touch her arm, your body is mostly a dryad now. That means you understand way too much about grass and plants in general. Impressive that you can control your voice right from the get go.

  “The hell are you on about, I'm not controlling anything at the moment.”

  I just want to cry at that…she took her voice away. That's what Violet gouged out. Her voice. Is she mute now, like me? I see Lea start to smile as I become morose.

  “I could make silk with this. We could open that frozen wasteland you planned.”

  Exactly how are you going to imbue fire. Your reserves took a nose dive after you saved me.

  “If I tier I could absorb the fire core.”

  Not allowing you to eat adventurers. She sighs at me.

  “What about a death tax, you've been taking blood but could you also take a bit of their exp they have stored towards their next level?”

  Wouldn't it just go to me?

  “Well I'm part of you, just, like, give it to me instead.”

  I feel like we are going down a slippery slope. She rolls her eyes.

  “No, we are trying to install slippery slopes in your dungeon.”

  Fine, exactly how much exp is too much to take.

  “You could take it all, not like the majority understand how much they have to level.”

  I think people will notice they are taking longer to level. The math isn't that hard.

  “[Status Screen] elite, we lesser beings don't have a fancy screen that lists everything out. You try keeping track of your exp if you have to listen to a voice for an hour telling you your skills and levels.”

  Okay that would kinda suck. I still feel bad about taking their progress. Ten percent.

  “All, you're letting them live.”

  Twenty. She just stares me down. Thirty? She doesn't budge. Fine all their stored exp.

  “And this is why I am the shop keeper. Can't believe you let the smithing guild set your prices without checking their stores.”

  Not one of my smarter moments.