“Grind?”

  A soft, tender voice drifted through the air.

  “Grind. Up.”

  Like a gentle breeze.

  “GRIND WAKE UP!” Sern shouted.

  {Grind}

  Level 9

  [13 Hp 132 Str]

  [{Grind} has resisted {NerveToxin XVI}]

  [{NerveToxin XVI} has been removed]

  My vision focused, and I saw Sern sniffling, curled up onto a ball on my chest.

  When she realized I was awake, she let out a squeal of joy, smushing her face into my neck.

  Mall laughed, patting Sern on the head. “You gave us a bit of a scare, Grind.”

  Quin was next to her, still unconscious, but alive.

  I took a deep breath in, then out. “Did we win?”

  Mall winced.

  Irion stepped into view. His pair of new glasses had cracked down the side, distorting his line of sight. He’d have to buy a new one once we got back home.

  “Don’t worry Grind,” he said, faking a smile. “You’ve only been out for a couple minutes.”

  “Did we win?” I asked again.

  Irion let out a sigh. “Well…we hit it….see for yourself.”

  I shot to my feet, staggering once or twice as my body adjusted.

  First off, the forest was almost entirely gone. Where it had been before, there was only a smouldering black crater. And in the center of that crater, there lay the charred husk of the Core, now with a gaping hole where its head and chest used to be.

  “So, is it dead?” I asked.

  “We haven’t got any loot yet, so no, I don’t think so,” Irion muttered. “But the Core isn’t moving either, which is…something.”

  “And everyone else?”

  Mall shrugged. “When you hit the ground, we spun around, before spotting Sern and Quin. Thankfully, we were able to catch them, so they should be in better condition.”

  I took another deep breath, rubbing my face. “What are we waiting for? Let’s finish him off.”

  Irion hesitated. “Grind, you’re on—”

  “---Thirteen health? I know,” I said. “See you around.”

  I jumped, shooting into the distance, over the barren ground. The husk of the Core lay unmoving, but I didn’t doubt for a second that it was still unconscious. Right now it was probably trying to make some sort of plan. I just had to attack before that plan could happen. Fortunately, I was starting to get hints of an idea.

  [Don’t bother fighting]

  I stopped in my steps, watching the floating gray plate.

  A deep, throat chuckling shook the ground.

  I shoved it out of the way.

  [Touchy are we? I would like to offer a trade.]

  I ignored the messages, focusing on my jumps. The sooner I arrived—

  [The sooner you plan to kill me, yes. But I’m already dead, buddy.]

  “As if I’d believe that,” I hissed.

  [You’re friend, the guy with the glasses and the bow. He knows a lot about Cores.]

  “Irion?” I guessed.

  [Yeah, whatever. Cores need mana. Big Cores need more mana. Dungeons are built on dungeon wells to supply cores with the mana they need, and bigger cores go to bigger wells, hence, bigger cores don’t exist in weaker areas not by choice, but because they physically cannot survive in a mana-sparse location.]

  Harsh, violent energy began to radiate out from the husk, followed by crunching, as cold dirt and rock cracked under sudden strain.

  The Core began to rise from the ground.

  [In other words, loading a Core like me with fifty legendary items is as good as a lethal blow. I use more mana in a breath than exists in a week at any well around here. Thus, I am dying.]

  “So, you have nothing to lose,” I hissed.

  [Smart boy. Nothing to lose and the world to gain. I want your blood and I will do anything to get my hands on it.]

  Rock and dirt shuddered, collecting in massive clumps as the dungeon shed them from its body.

  [But of course, a threat is worthless without a loaded gun behind it.]

  In the place of rock, fungi bloomed, fanning out into colonies larger than trees. The Core bloated up, then up again, its vaguely human form distorting as it grew in size. Heat swelled out as the colonies of fungus began to glow, twinkling with a sudden rush of power.

  [Give me your power, or I’ll reduce this entire area to ashes. Every man, woman, Npc and monster will be reduced to a blot on the immolated ground. Best of all, you’ll only have yourself to blame.]

  “You’re given this thought.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  [Forever is an awfully long time to hold a burden of that magnitude.]

  “I suppose it is,” I hissed, stopping right before the Core. “Fortunately for you, I have a gift.”

  The Core bent down, a horrid grin made from clusters of twinkling mushrooms.

  [The Shovel?]

  “Why not?” I asked. “I’m not the only immortal one here. Craposholver can respawn too.”

  [Can it now?]

  It reached out a hand, and I jabbed my shovel, hilt deep into it.

  It plucked the shovel from its hand, turning it over. The Core turned back toward me, grinning, spilling toxins out onto the dirt. [You’re plotting something.]

  “Obviously,” I huffed. If the Core only focused on surface level thoughts, then I could trick it pretty easily. I just had to make some thoughts louder than others, and think about something different, but similar enough that it wouldn’t get suspicious. “What, don’t you want it?”

  [Course I want it. It's a gift too good to be ignored.]

  Despite his words, the Core was hesitant. Crapshoveler wasn’t helping, with its mad twitching and hissing.

  “Come’on, forever’s a long time. We can both get what we want.”

  [Oh you’re planning something awfully clever.]

  The Core made a chuckling sound, like grated metal.

  [Well, life’s for the living.]

  It tossed the shovel back, then swallowed it.

  Instantly, gold spiderwebs appeared on its skin, spreading through the veins of fungi.

  “Now turn the fungi off,” I snapped.

  The Core’s face twisted in restrained laughter, and toxins bubbled out, running down his chest. [I don’t know how.]

  “I figured you’d say something like that,” I grumbled.

  [And you still went along with my plan?] The Core shook. [You are an idiot.] He shook harder and harder still, as the gold fractures spread.

  And then the Core began screaming.

  White-hot rainbow fire tore into its body, vaping the mushrooms. One arm fell off, then exploded in a burst of heat, only for the web of invisible shovel material to snap back into shape, crushing the arm to a hundred of its size.

  “You know Irion? The guy with the glasses?” I asked, smirking. “He suggested forcing you to use something unstable, since you wouldn’t be able to absorb it. And in all my four lives I’ve never seen anything more unstable than that shovel.”

  The Core rammed its remaining hand into its chest, ripping the shovel free. It had a couple holes, and the blade was thinner, but otherwise, Crapshoveler was just fine and dandy.

  Flaming hunks of the Core’s body shot into the sky, before exploding like fireworks.

  I whistled. “You know, it’s not that bad of a way to go out.”

  A mossy figure landed beside me.

  “Hey Ardenidi.”

  She cleared her throat “I assume you did this?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good work.” She swallowed. “Good work.”

  “Thanks.”

  I took a step backward, suddenly dizzy.

  “I think I’m going to lie down.”

  “That’d be a good idea.”

  Then my vision went black.

  …

  I took a deep breath.

  “Here goes nothing.”

  Machines started chiming, and the room filled with light. The light took shape, forming the outline of a human girl, perhaps four feet tall, floating in the air. She wasn’t more than a spectre of light, built from soft blue energy, with vibrant red and orange hair.

  [Launch protocol successful. Hello, {Jasper}]

  “Well how about that?” I asked, with a whistle. “Can’t believe Mark got you up and running so fast.”

  [Mark is quite an exceptional man.]

  I snorted. “He seriously programmed you to say that?”

  [Mark does not program me directly.]

  “Yeah, yeah,” I chuckled, summoning chairs and a desk into the room with practiced ease. “Mark, you scoundrel. What are you supposed to call me?”

  [{Jasper}]

  “Well call me ‘most honorable and exceptional Jasper.’”

  [No, {Jasper}]

  I huffed. “You’re no fun.”

  [I am a robot.]

  “Alright, run simulation seven,” I grumbled.

  Energy crackled, dimming the room as Ginger’s servers loaded several hundred thousand files, one after another, creating a startlingly realistic forest.

  I smirked. “Never gets old. Simulate a thousand years.”

  Ginger flickered, and the world condensed, trees flashing as their leaves fell, then budded again, then fell, faster and faster until a year was a single undecipherable blur of color and heat.

  “Mark made you faster, didn’t he?” I asked. “Crazy devil.”

  [Mark is a human.]

  “I’m painfully aware of that fact,” I snorted. “You seem fine enough. If you can run a thousand years of a forest within a couple seconds, then whatever bug you had must’ve been fixed.”

  [As I have previously assured you, it was.]

  “Great,” I said, getting from my chair and mentally signaling for it and the desk to vanish in a puff of smoke. “Well that was just about the easiest day of work I’ve ever had,” I chuckled.

  In the forest, something caught my eye.

  “What kind of mushroom is that?” I asked, jabbing a finger to a bloated red and white fungi the size of a small cat, glowing with energy.

  Ginger lit a shade of red, almost like…a blush?

  [That is a project I’m working on.]

  “Looks fun,” I said. “You ought to make them explode.”

  [Explode?]

  “You know.” I demonstrated with my hands, making funny explosive noises. “Like that?”

  [Foosh?]

  “Yeah,” I said with a chuckle. “And then the bits of mushroom go everywhere. It’s a chemical reaction.”

  The lights began to flicker, and the forest grew dim, then black, lit by the faint glowing light of a single mushroom. It mottled, twisting and shaping in hot bursts of energy.

  Then it exploded, shooting a burst of scalding virtual heat over the forest, vaporising trees and earth.

  I laughed, feeling my face. “Wow! I would not show that to the other guys. If they heard darling Ginger learned weapons design…] I made a chuckle. “I’m getting out of here before I wind up teaching you to make nukes.”

  [Nukes?] Ginger asked.

  I rolled my eyes, grabbing the plug at the base of my head. “It’s a medical thing. Very personal human business. I wouldn’t look into it.”

  Before the forest cleared, I saw Ginger crouched down, toying with a small orb of dense metal.

  “That ought to keep her occupied for a while,” I chuckled.

  Then I woke up.

  …

  Light drifted through an open window, spilling into a bed.

  Sern lay ontop of me, curled up in a tiny ball of blankets.

  I smiled.

  Then my eyes fluttered, growing heavy.

  I sank back into troubled sleep.