With little to do, I thought about my minions and how some were still developing even after losing all their essence. I had come back to the subject many times over the last few weeks, as I had very little to do with only eight CP available to experiment with.

  The only conclusion I could come to was that certain minions I controlled had the ability to remember the fighting they had gone through and were learning from it. Sure, they had lost, and their correspondence essence count was drained away, but they still learned. Queen and Krag are the best examples within my Dungeon of this happening. I thought long and hard to find the best example of how I reasoned this was happening.

  The best way I could explain it was like a video game player. Their character dies, but they still hold the experience of playing the game and everything they had learned doing it. Their character loses all the experience gained, but the player retains theirs.

  I knew it wasn't the best way to explain it, but it was the only thing I could think of. I had seen no changes in their character sheets, but I wondered if that would change as I experienced more. I was already seeing evidence of this, with the pair being more practical and effective in combat.

  With this in mind, I had to consider possibly making this part of future minions. I had watched the revenant fight several times, but it had not shown any signs of development so far. I was unsure what the deciding factor was, but I suspected it was linked to intelligence and the nature of the minion.

  I didn't think my plans for the ninth floor would create such a minion, but my plans for the tenth might. I had made enough progress in those plans to be more confident in my vision. Lions would dominate the ninth, consisting of two rooms, each with a group of lions enhanced with a single element of mana. The floor guardian would be a fusion of the two types and a greatly enhanced lion body. Not very creative, I knew, but they were all just a means to what was coming on the next floor.

  That, of course, was if I did not discover anything as I dug down further. I had been thinking about what sort of hook I would use on that floor to attract more people to it. The eighth floor lacked one, and I thought more about what a mistake it was on my part. The floor above had a hook and was attracting many people. The moonlight rose was a good addition to it and was sought after.

  What sort of hook could I use for this floor, then?

  I opened my screens and started cycling through them, looking for inspiration.

  ## ## ## ## ##

  Comus wondered if he had been wise not to disappear when he had the chance.

  He was back in the temple of Ilinia. Technically, he was not a patient but in fine health. He was here to assist with research into how the corruption that had affected him could be removed. As of this time, he was the only known case in which he had it completely removed and survived the ordeal.

  The second part of that did not sit well with him.

  Around him were the first several members of the church, brought in from across the continent and a few from even further away. Several more were coming and would be here over the next month. He had been told to be ready to be available when they all arrived in the city.

  He lay on a bed, looking up at the white plastered ceiling. He was fighting back boredom. He had been lying here for the last three hours, being prodded and scanned with different instruments and crystals. He recited different formulas in his head, thinking about ways to improve them as they worked around him.

  They had started by asking him a horde of benign and entirely nonsensical questions. He had answered them all truthfully, but quickly became frustrated with their repetitiveness. As another researcher, he realised they were desperate to discover what had happened to him and whether it could be replicated. He had not been given full access to his Guild's intelligence reports like he once had, but things were becoming quietly desperate from what he had learned.

  High Healer Selmum intervened several times to stop some of the more intrusive experimentations. She was within the room and a high-ranking member of her order, giving her the power to stand up to a few of these new healers and researchers who had come.

  Several were from her church, and a low-level war over who controlled what and where once authority began and ended was being waged.

  He had recently returned to his position. Since his incident in the Dungeon, he had been working only on selected projects but had returned to his once-occupied role. His Guild still left someone to oversee the Guild's day-to-day running and monitor him, as they still did not fully trust that he had completely recovered. The person they had left was competent and intelligent enough to stay out of his way on most things, only ensuring the Guild's rules were enforced. In the last few months, he had rebuilt the supply of potions he had taken into the Dungeon and lost. As she had initially created most of them, there was no serious issue in replacing them. He had to wait for a few of the ingredients to arrive, but as soon as they had appeared, the Guild stocks were restored.

  Try as he might, he could not fully recover the memories of that day. All of them had been confused since his infection by the corruption, but that day, in particular, was a near blank to him.

  He could remember gathering his supplies and the terrible need to get into the Dungeon. He got impressions and flashes, but they were disjointed and without context. All that he remembered was fear and pain from what he could not say, but he was confident of only those two things.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  Around him, they continued to work gathering what data they could from him and comparing it to what they already knew. Sighing, he let them continue and went back to thinking about formulas.

  ## ## ## ## ##

  "Now a cult! We need to regain this Core in!" Astraus was in full swing and pacing around. "It should never have gotten this far!"

  The group of Gods chosen to oversee Oda's little experiment had thought that allowing the other Gods to approach them with complaints and ideas was a good idea. They like to open these things so everyone can see what is said or discussed. Well, they regretted that now.

  Astraus had stormed in when she discovered the existence of this new proto-cult that was growing around the Dungeon. She was furious and was letting it be known to all present. She was close to the line of insult to several more powerful deities, but never crossed over into openly insulting. It did not help that Rickle was in the background laughing his head off at the whole thing. They had wrapped him in a bubble of silence to stop his amusement from escalating this already tense situation.

  "Nothing is happening that we cannot control." Xandus pointed out, trying to calm the other goddess down and focus her complaints on more practical issues.

  "Control! Control! There's nothing about this whole situation that we control." Astraus's snapback is not stopping her pacing.

  "Barely a dozen followers do not merit our invention." This time, it was Nictor who spoke. He was far less tolerant of her rants than many of the others. "Hundreds of such cults are active on the mortal plane every day."

  "Yet some are dangerous. Rember Nyralia and the Dyrads. We had to take action there as that cult went down a dangerous path." She retorted, controlling her voice, remembering who she was speaking with.

  Lawdrun Interjected before things could get heated. "In that, you are correct. We were negligent in watching that cult, and the resulting attempt to create a world tree forced us to intervene. We are monitoring this new cult, but it has taken no action that warrants us to interfere."

  "Do you ignore that it is growing and becoming more established?" She was not giving up this argument.

  "Both of your points are true, but it is no threat to us now. And we have already agreed that if it becomes powerful enough to start to affect any, and I mean any, deities, Mantle, we will interfere." Lawdrun's calmness was legendary, even in the face of Astraus's temper.

  "By then, it might be too late. We need to take action now."

  "We have spoken, Astraus. We will take no action but monitor the situation." Xandus spoke more forcefully this time.

  Astraus looked like she would continue the argument, but the weight of numbers and power against her forced her to relent. She turned and stormed away. A literal Thunder crowd above her head. The others watched with a combination of frustration and concern. One God in the back was still laughing, thoroughly entertained by the whole thing.

  "Let us withdraw. We are finished with today's public deliberations." Victor said as he rose and started to walk away. The others knew he was right and followed him. They retired to a more private room where they knew they could speak openly.

  They sat in a rough circle, looking at each other, thinking about what was happening on the mortal plane. Things were building towards a crisis point that they had to handle carefully. Miss management could be a disaster on a scale not seen since The Folly.

  "Is this culture a threat to us?" Xandus asked.

  "Not at the moment. It's centred around a true believer and attracts others, but it is far from anything we need to be musterned about." Lawdrun replied. He had been tasked with investigating this new cult, and one of his agents had infiltrated it. "It is non-violent and does not want to upend the natural order."

  "What are its beliefs and core tenets?" Hackyon asked.

  "They're still forming. We know they believe the Dungeon is a source of change for an individual in a bad position."

  "You mean to those who have been handed a bad deal by fate and destiny," Xandus asked innocently.

  "I'm not walking into that one, Xandus." Lawdrun's reply caused a few to snort in amusement. "Fundamentally, yes. They recognise that this change does not come for free and comes from a place of trial and danger."

  "I can see why Astraus is so concerned. This new Dungeon Core seems to be starting to tread on her Mantel." Hackyon mused, thinking about the possible implications.

  "I would agree if the Core were even aware of the cult's existence. It is oblivious to its reality, and I think it might even be slightly unsettled. The soul within has changed somewhat since it first arrived. This is partly due to its long isolation, and some of the changes to the Core are forcing it to endure. The result is that its antisocial personality traits are being magnified. This, along with its intense desire to remain hidden and seeing that as one of its most significant protections, means it will not have much patience for a line of penitents coming to see it for boons. "

  That image caused another round of laughter amongst the Gods sitting. Ironically, Oda's decision to make the soul increasingly more paranoid and less social as it grew older through the influence he had placed within the Core it inhabited was working in their favour.

  "We need to speak about the lesser demons that attack the Dungeon." Xandus brought him back to a more serious topic.

  "I agree," Nictor said. "Does the Core have access to infernal mana? The first question we need to ask, and the second, is how badly that demon was affected by avoiding corruption. If other celestial and infernal beings could be equally affected, we could see an assault on the divine plane if we are not careful."

  Even though it was a lesser demon, the void-corrupted demon had caused great consternation on the divine plane. It clearly showed that the warnings Oda had given him were truthful. Void corruption had no limits and could affect anything, even them. This truth had caused many of the gods to become far more focused on the problem of the void corrupted now outside those who already were. They looked to Lawdrun again for answers.

  "To the question of infernal mana. The answer is yes. Bhaldor now has enough stored to create his own Lesser Fearfiend. He is highly hesitant to do so. We believe this combines a lack of resources and understanding of how the city near him will react to its existence."

  "That is at least a piece of good news," Xandus said, with many others nodding in agreement. "Do you believe it will create one eventually?"

  "That is impossible to answer that question. We do not have access to its internal thought processes, just what it's doing through our access system screens. The void corruption effect on the demon is more interesting. Remember that we have all reviewed the battle several times. At first, I didn't notice it, but now I'm sure that somehow the voyage corruption enhanced some of its abilities but also negated another."

  "What have you seen, Lawdrun?" Came from Hackyon.

  "I was not sure at first, but the more I reviewed the battle, the surer I became. During the entire assault, the demon never used its infernal bolt spell."

  The other gods and goddesses sat quietly, considering what he had just said. They reviewed the battle in their heads again, and the more they watched, the more they realised that the God of laws, contracts, and courts was right.

  "What does this mean?" Nictor asked.

  "To that, I do not know. It might have been something intentional or a strange fluke. Until we know more, there is nothing we can be sure of."

  The group lapsed into contemplative silence as they considered what had just been revealed. In the corner, they did not notice a shadow slightly out of place and the figure hidden within, watching them all and listening to what had been said.