“Chip, will you do me a favor, please?” Corey asked, as the dungeon core expanded their perception to the larger soul realm as a whole. There had been just a gentlest feeling in the back of Corey's thoughts since the first time they had come here. It had been the tiniest buzzing nag that they were missing something in the energy flows.

  But every time they had been here so far, there had been much bigger problems to handle. This was the first time they were here without the louder voices of the other people. That wasn't to imply that Corey didn't like Dave and the other non-dungeon cores. In fact, Beta was almost certainly grouped with those they considered noisy.

  It was more that Corey had just changed. While Corey had initially been nearly as impulsive as Dave when they first met, the core's growth had taken a different path as they learned and experienced more. They were no longer desperately seeking a way to cling to this world. They didn't want to steal anyone else's body. They certainly didn't want to invade anyone's soul. They were happy with what they had.

  That meant they had time to slowly examine the world, the universe, and everything else they could experience. Not quite as slowly as Alpha preferred to do it, that was a bit too slow for them. Corey couldn't bring themselves to just sit and watch the birds for hours at a time. And well, that was a tedium too far, even for them. They didn't begrudge Alpha's enjoyment of the experience.

  The Pumakey appeared next to Corey's manifested form as their thoughts wandered. The light chirping sounds Chip made sounded like an agreement for the favor. Although Corey still wasn't entirely sure how much the Pumakey understood. That was a sentiment that Corey knew most people shared, especially those within the soul chat.

  “I need you to attempt to energize this realm as you have in the past, preferably as strongly as you can. I wish to examine all of the energy flows,” Corey explained. Both of the soul reflections were nearby, listening intently.

  Several of the chirping sounds that came from Chip sounded closer and closer to an actual constructed language. Corey would need to discuss this with Dave when they had more time. It did seem that Chip was truly awakening.

  Would it be as traumatic for Chip as it had been for Corey? The core hoped not, but also doubted it would be, so they didn’t overly worry about that possible outcome. Whatever the corrupting force was that came for the Dungeon Cores, Corey had seen no evidence that it affected mana beasts.

  Corey watched as the mana built around Chip while the Pumakey moved towards the center of the central hub. It was an interesting mixture of both soul mana and some sort of primarily unrefined core mana. Chip was the only creature Corey had ever seen capable of doing anything quite like this, and they strongly suspected this was what had made the Pumakeys so endangered.

  It came as no surprise that the only other being Corey had met who could channel mana in any way similar to what Chip was doing was Dave himself. And even in that similarity, there was still a vast ocean of difference. Though the core wasn't sure your average person could so easily read those types of differences. It was something they had realized early on. Mana signature detection just wasn't in the wheelhouse of most people, especially in the way it came so naturally to dungeon cores.

  Though if anyone could figure out proper detection, Corey had a feeling Dave would be able to. The man was a very strange Human. Corey was glad they had found him, even if their first meeting had been so traumatic. These days, Corey wasn't quite sure where Dave's Humanity ended, and Corey's dungeon coreness started.

  “Ooh, this is pretty,” Saud said, as the color show grew. Her eyes went wide when the energy Chip had been building was released into the entirety of the soul realm.

  Even Corey was a bit surprised at the intensity of it. This was much stronger than what they had seen Chip do in the past. Was his power increasing, or did this have more to do with the soul realm leveling up?

  The concept of a leveling soul realm was something Corey found novel. Dungeons grew in their own, not dissimilar fashion. But they didn't have actual levels. At least as far as Corey knew, they didn't, and the core was now questioning if that was something they actually knew.

  There was a distinct possibility that dungeons had just never been pushed, similar to how Dave had pushed the soul realm. It was something that both tantalized and terrified the dungeon core. Any sort of temptation that pushed them back towards controlling a dungeon was dangerous. But if they could do so in a way that helped protect their friends, it was worth exploring.

  That was something that had started to creep up as a thought in the back of their mind. But for now, it would remain simply that. It was just too dangerous to pursue as things stood.

  Instead, it was time to understand this soul chat, the connections everyone had to it, and exactly how it interplayed with the soul realm. Carefully, Corey moved about the hubs, examining the difference in the color patterns that surrounded each of the platforms. The palette of colors shifted and merged every time Corey approached.

  This suggested that their own internal mana was enough to influence the delicate energy balance that Chip was creating. Although creating was probably not the correct word either, Chip was more exposing what was happening here and guiding and directing the soul mana flow as he did so.

  That did add a small degree of complexity to what they were trying to do. If their own energies interfered with what was happening, they couldn't accurately study each of the walls close up. As a compromise, Corey walked to the central hub near Chip, planted themselves as close to the center as they could without being in the Pumakeys’ way, and began to carefully move their perception across every square inch of the domes.

  It was incredibly slow going. And it wasn't long before both Saud and Selody went back to their own activities. But despite the tedium of it, Corey persisted. There was something here. The core could feel it.

  They were on their second in-depth scan of the central hub when they finally spotted the tiniest thread coming from the top of the mana dome that enshrouded the platform. Compared to what the soul reflections had, it was like spotting a single needle in a thousand-needle-stacks. But it was there, and now it was time for Corey to test another theory they had come up with.

  “Saud, I believe I am ready to test that experiment if you are still willing,” Corey said, finally breaking the silence that had persisted during their entire study.

  “Really? Where do we start?” she asked excitedly. “Can I hold Chip while we work?”

  “Well, I am sure that Chip would enjoy being held. He is a very friendly fellow. Currently, we will need him to continue what he is doing. It is important that I am able to continue seeing exactly where these threads attach,” Corey explained.

  “Oh, okay,” Saud said, sounding mildly disappointed

  “Please come over here and stand directly below this spot,” Corey instructed.

  “All right, now what?” Saud asked once she reached the spot.

  “Nothing else at this exact moment. I just need you to remain standing here until I return,” Corey replied.

  “Wait, where are you going?” Selody asked, joining them.

  “I do not know the answer to that yet, but hopefully it will not be overly dangerous. Do not tell Dave or Karlinovo that I did this. I am letting them believe that I am making better decisions than they would in my place,” Corey said, doing their best to ignore their own hypocrisy. Somehow, though, the core thought Dave would be proud of this.

  What the others couldn't see that Corey detected, and only because they had spent so much time studying all of these energy signals today, was that when Saud had stood directly below the strange thread at the top of the dome, their own thread had joined with it. The vibrations they had given off before hadn't changed, but they were now intertwined. And Corey was going to find out where they were going.

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  This would involve doing something they had never tried before. At least, not within the soul realm. Focusing their internal will onto the thread, they released their manifested form, attempting to grasp that energy signal.

  Had Corey done this anywhere else, they would have just fully returned to Dave while their manifested form fizzled out. But thanks to Dave's first journey here without them, they had made some guesses on how differently it would work here. And luckily for them, their guesses quickly proved accurate.

  As their consciousness grasped onto the thread, what felt like a magnetic repulsion attempted to push them away. That worried Corey somewhat, because if that force were to win while they were outside of the dome, they weren't sure what would happen to them. But it was a danger they were willing to accept.

  Carefully pulsing their own mana energies, they overrode the repelling force and grasped firmly onto the threads. The further they moved from the soul realm, the easier it was to maintain their hold. That likely meant that it was actually the soul realm itself trying to pull Corey back into it. That reassured them more that this may not be as dangerous as they had initially worried.

  It was hard to judge the time that Corey spent traveling across the threads, but eventually, they reached a point where they split. Corey decided to follow the thread that connected to the soul realm itself first. Solving that mystery would likely make it easier to accomplish their other goal.

  What they found at the end of the soul realm thread had been far from what they were expecting, not that they were entirely sure what that would have been, but it certainly was not a shining, shimmering city. To make it even stranger, despite how beautiful the city gleamed, it looked entirely empty.

  Despite growing apprehension, Corey followed the threads until they touched the city itself. There was no dome of soul energy enclosing it. Was that what had happened to any of the residents? With no dome, had they fallen prey to the creatures that lurked in this soul space? Had there ever even been people here?

  Focusing their mind, they attempted to re-manifest their body onto the ground of the city. The drain required was higher than ever before, but they were able to do it nonetheless. The amount of spent energy had not gone unnoticed, though, as a chat window popped into view.

  Corey did not plan to stay around the city for overly long. Dave's fears were not unfounded, and the core had already realized the danger. But there was a curious structure that sat at what looked to be the city center.

  It looked similar to a gate, but unlike the usual color Corey had seen within the gates of the Spiral, this was filled with a dark, inky blackness. It made them uncomfortable the longer they looked at it. They were not sure exactly why.

  A crunching noise from a nearby building told the core that it was time to leave. This would just be another unsolved mystery for the pile. Perhaps Elody or Karlinovo would know more.

  Before any creature discovered them, Corey quickly made their way back to the branching point of the thread. This time, they followed Saud's thread. It terminated in something that was perhaps even stranger than the city.

  At its end, Corey found a large knot of threads, each of them leaving the ball and then vanishing. Only Saud's end seemed to connect back to the soul realm. Was this the basis for the soul chat? If it was, why weren’t all of the cords connected to the soul realm? Or perhaps they were, and Corey was only capable of seeing the threads when they were intertangled with another one. After all, they did not see their own, nor did they see Selody's.

  It was time for a test. Corey pulled up a chat window.

  Corey intently watched the giant ball of threads. First, identifying a thread that lit up with soul mana as they sent a message, and then a corresponding thread that lit up with a similar but slightly varied mana signature of its own, as Dave responded. This was it. This was the connection to the soul chat that Corey had been looking for.

  They followed up their previous request by having every single person in it send a message and watching which corresponding thread reacted. Soon, Corey had a map of every thread and every person connected to it. The dungeon core suspected they now knew the soul energy signatures of everyone who could utilize the soul chat.

  It was time for another test, and they again pulled up a chat window.

  Closing out of this little chat window, Corey found again the small mana thread they'd used to find their way here. And then they applied a giant jolt of their own soul mana directly into it while focusing on their own soul signature. Again, they pulled up a chat window.

  Corey then brought up the chat window again, this time without focusing on any specific person.

  Corey looked away from the soul chat while those two began to converse. Curious about another notification they had received after connecting to Saud.

  Despite the green color of the eggs, they pair surprisingly well with the ham. The main trick is to make sure they are properly salted and to add a tiny dash of hot sauce. That allows the unique flavor to come to the forefront with each bite of meat.

  100 Recipes for Your Core by Jordan Hamsy