Chapter Sixteen, Playing God.

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  "Don't worry, you can access my memories and know exactly how this world is shaped." Anaflandus said, striding past him.

  "I can access your memories? How do you know this, I could've long done that for all the information I need." Jora frowned, turning and following.

  "No. That's the exact reason I didn't tell you!" She replied, "If you try and assimilate all of my knowledge, you will actually die. I don't mean it in the same way as last time, it's not that it's a high chance, it will literally happen." She raised a finger.

  "Those one hundred points to all attributes were what little you could siphon from my old self... My Intelligence was profoundly high, as well as my Capacity. I have so many memories that it would fry your brain... You can view my memories piece by piece sure, but you'd require my help to navigate them, so you don't accidentally peer upon entities that would fry your brain as well. Even now I can't actively remember my entire lifespan do to your extremely low mental level... It's a bother." She explained.

  They came to a small clearing, an oasis, the sun in the sky gazing down on the open area.

  "Interesting." Jora replied. His eyes raised, looking all about the trees.

  "This is step two of my plan." Anaflandus spun around, her flat face attaining Jora's attention. He analyzed her face for a moment, before she could speak her next words.

  "I will call you Ana from now on. Anaflandus is a mouthful, and it sounds stupid to me." He smiled.

  "What?! My name is Anaflandus you demon! That is what our Mother named me! How dare yo-" She became enraged, stomping her feet into the ground.

  It was rather, tantrum-y...

  "Yeah whatever, Ana. Step two of your plan is?" Jora cut her antics short.

  She grumbled, annoyance on her face.

  "Well... At this point, it makes sense for you to understand the grand scheme of what I intend to do." An evil grin emerged on her face.

  "We will become gods!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air, as a genuinely crazed smile appeared on her face.

  "The goal of every Dungeon is to become complex and powerful, infinite and never ending! We wish to lord over our domain, watching as foreigners attempt to climb towards our end to earn the treasures they rightfully deserve! To me... That feels shallow now. With this new... environment... Being attached to you! The implications are endless..." She started, pacing around the oasis.

  "Fuck a labyrinth! We can shape an actual world! With your mouth as an entrance, there is literally no way anything is entering this place without your permission. And just, doesn't it sound amazing having a world inside of you!? And, imagine the amount of energy it will generate... Infinite mana! Infinite vitality! All the skills! Infinite! Once we surpass A-rank, or perhaps even by the time you actually reach it, we should be able to dilate the time in here with our Management skills..." She roared.

  "I can go beyond becoming a famed Dungeon Core... I can be a true World Core!" She murmured. "And yes! We can become actual gods! With your Monster Production, you'll spit out countlessly little Eldrids, they'll be our little younglings, we'll be their gods! Their creators!" She laughed, maniacally almost.

  "Ahem!..." She shamefully cleared her throat. "So yeah, step two is using [Monster Production] to create some younglings." She returned her eyes towards Jora, who was thoroughly stunned.

  "How interesting..." He chucked. "It does indeed sound like something worth while... It won't impede me satiating my hunger by the way. That is something I will never stop." He smiled.

  "Don't worry, it'll only impede it a little bit." Ana smiled. "Now come on! Use [Monster Production]! Just condense the ambient mana in here, and activate the skill. We're already inside your body, just in a space warped inter-dimensional under layer... The blood will warp without any problems. The skill should be much more potent in the Dungeon Zone than outside." She explained.

  Jora scoffed, stepping forward towards the bubbling woman.

  "Calm down will you?..." He sighed, sparing her a short glance.

  Her face turned sour, and only two words came out.

  "Fuck you?"

  He smirked, sighing in defeat.

  And then, he raised his palms.

  "[Monster Production]." The air in front of him began to swirl, mana condensing violently.

  It reminded him of Jessica Bruchard.

  A sour taste arose within his mouth, but he shook it away.

  He didn't enjoy knowing a meal had escaped him.

  As the mana condensed, something emerged within the space before them.

  "Holy shit..." He murmured.

  "Oh yeah, forgot to mention that everything in here is more compact compared to normal. The space warping.." Ana rubbed the back of her neck. "We may feel normal sized, but we're really ant sized. It doesn't affect anything. If an inhabitant of in here was thrown outside, they would be warped to average size. It just allows for more space in here." She explained.

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  Before them, was a massive drop of blood, that had rapidly shrunk down and been consumed by the swirling and intertwining webs of mana.

  "Interesting..." He said, in reference to what Ana said, and also his analysis of the things before him.

  Silently, he tapped into a stray skill, attempting to use it to guide and perhaps strengthen the process.

  Before them, the mana consolidated and boomed to life, a young creation emerging from the small lightship.

  His gaze hardened, staring into the entity.

  "Good lord..." Ana exclaimed breathlessly. "So, didn't get the Eldrid part, but did get the human? And got some of your stats for sure, that's more powerful than a normal adult human." She said.

  Jora only glanced down at the boy.

  A young human, less than 10 years of age it looked. There wasn't a hint of intelligence in his eyes, just an empty blank stare.

  "Okay that's step two! With step three, he should be granted some semblance of intelligence, and it should make way for the next steps!" Ana clapped her hands.

  Jora smiled back, entertained by the depth of her plan and all the steps.

  "Use [Power Descend], give him 50 Vitality, Strength, and Agility. Then give him 75 Intelligence and Capacity." Jora's eyes widened open.

  "Wouldn't that make me lose all those points?" He questioned.

  "Yes. Thats the goal! Imbecile... We need you weaker! With your [Stalker] at such a high level now, your presence is continuously heavily masked. But what does leak through, gives you away! We need to weaken your power so that what leaks through means nothing... We're going to do this three more times! With three more younglings! That way, at the end, the only power that should leak out would give off the signature of a lowly E or D-rank. Wisdom and the remaining Attributes don't really play a part into what emanates into your surroundings, so you'll still be powerful, just with less energy at your disposal and less health to work with." She explained.

  Jora blinked. He understood, but it still felt outlandish.

  All the power he just gained would be gone...

  "Only until we become capable of fully masking our presence. Perhaps when [Stalker] evolves? It depends what it grows into... I'm hoping I can help you level up your skills a bit with this process, as well."

  Jora sighed, but it made enough sense, and he really wanted to return to eating enemies.

  "[Power Descend]." His hand was outstretched towards the unmoving boy before him. He watched as energy was sapped directly from his body, slamming into the boy from his palm.

  "Holy shit." Jora stumbled, watching as life was breathed into the boy.

  Literally.

  The boy gasped for air, emotion and color filling his face.

  "Good! It's working!" Ana clapped from the side. The boys attention was drawn, making him swing his head toward the sound.

  His eyes widened upon seeing the source.

  Ana's brows furrowed.

  "You gave him fifteen Sensitivity too?" She half questioned, half noted.

  "That works even better! Maybe you aren't so stupid!" She clapped happily.

  "Now three more times!"

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  A woman stepped into a room, closing the door behind her. The gazes of both men within the office, fell onto her, and a bright toothy grin appeared on her face.

  "Well! I failed!" She threw her hands up in happy defeat, her careless attitude infesting the room.

  The man seated at the main desk, frowned.

  "What do you mean you failed? We both just spoke to our kids, they said everything was well?" Zenor asked, confusedly.

  The man that stood next to his desk, only frowned.

  "Yes yes... Your children are all safe and sound. I'm sure they relayed to you what happened with Jessica, and we will converse that momentarily. I just wanted to shed light on my small failure, and request help from a special someone in here." Her eyes fell upon the standing man, his frown turning into a inquiring look.

  "The Dungeon collapsed! So I couldn't stabilize it for you Tilly, sorry!" She rubbed the back of her head, the frown returning to Tilmont's face. "More importantly! The anomaly that caused the collapse, escaped! I have reason to believe that the Dungeon assisted it, knowing I was outside waiting to capture it... I'm thinking that it folded outside of my awareness, so... I was wondering if you could help me find it Tilly... Please! Not just for my curiosity but also for the safety of Tilmont itself..." She pleaded, while letting out some information.

  "It's safety?" Zenor asked.

  "Yep! I was able to feel it's power before the collapse! It was a high B-rank entity, not even mentioning it's presumed Unique Talent, that is already too high of a rank to be rampaging through the wilderness around our city!" Agatha frowned, her finger raised.

  The two men before her wholeheartedly understood her words, but they still didn't seem to be happy.

  "I should have gone myself." Tilmont spoke, his hands behind his back. "I will search for it after this small meeting." He finished.

  "Then should we discuss Jessica?" Zenor asked.

  "We send her to the capital." Tilmont replied, rather instantly.

  Agatha's brows furrowed.

  "As much as I would like to keep my family close... Jessica's Talent needs to be nurtured by the right people... We may have to send word of Jessica having a suspected World Talent to the king." She replied.

  Zenor's eyes widened in response to her words, surprise filling him.

  "You hated when we were separated... You want to do the same to them?" He inquired, disappointedly.

  "I didn't say anything about separation." She shot back, a warm smile filling her face.

  "She'll need a knight squad. What better additions than her childhood friends." Tilmont nodded.

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