Magical Engineering

I was able to push myself to level three thirty-nine, not far enough for another fortification yet, but further than I had been before, with both a more powerful primary core, and a fancy secondary core in the form of Corey. Compared to how I’d felt on the previous Arena floor, it was like night and day. I was confident I could hold my own again on the next Arena level, but I had other things I still needed to accomplish before then.

The first thing I did was check just how much of the refined soul mana plate scraps I had left, and the answer was not enough for everything I wanted to try. I could either add one more dungeon core and a mana socket, or I could add two dungeon cores. The answer to which was best relied on testing Corey’s control over one of the dungeon cores, likely the wasp core in the mallet, and whether or not Corey was able to channel other mana orbs through the connection.

“Ready for this conversation, Corey?” I asked, remembering to look over at their new physical form. That was going to take some getting used to, as I had been talking to the mallet. Hopefully, they didn’t feel overly insulted by it. Did they even understand that custom?

“Yes,” they replied. I reached into my storage and pulled out the wasp core, setting it on the workbench in front of us.

“Hello, have you chosen a name yet?” Corey asked once they were out.

“Still not understand need,” they replied.

“I do not believe it is needed, but I do think it helped me think more about myself in relation to being a unique being, not driven by my own constant hungers,” Corey replied—the concept of how dungeon cores felt after their birth was still very alien to me. Then again, was it? Was a newborn baby capable of understanding much besides the urge to eat and grow? How scared are children when abandoned on their own? Maybe Corey wasn’t actually that different.

“Then give name,” the core replied.

“I can do that. Are you sure you truly feel no tie to the idea of a name, though?” Corey asked again.

“Sure,” it replied.

“Understood, but I wish you to understand that at any point, you may also request your own name. As you will be replacing me in the mallet as the first of the networked cores beyond myself, your designation will be Network Alpha, or Alpha for short,” Corey explained. Honestly, Alpha wasn’t the worst name, especially considering the future series of names for future cores that didn’t want to name themselves. Corey had a good idea there.

“Am Alpha,” the core replied. We would need to revisit this in the future if the core ever woke up more, though from what Traveler had said, I wasn’t entirely sure that was always possible. I wished they were already here. Their advice right now could be of incalculable worth.

“Finally, you are willing to join our network, and control the mallet?” Corey asked.

“Yes,” they answered.

“Dave, I understand the rudimentary conversation here likely makes it seem they do not fully understand what they have agreed to, but they have. Certain facets of individuality are lost on Alpha, and sadly, I am not sure they will ever truly gain them due to how long they were alone. But they will enjoy being part of our network, I am sure of that,” Corey said, turning back to me.

Accepting that Alpha might always be something closer to an incredibly smart dog than true human awareness, I nodded to Corey and picked up the core. I worked it carefully into the mallet, in the same place Corey had been removed from. The moment they were fully socketed, I felt the mallet more strongly than ever. I assumed it was a byproduct of what networking it had done. The familiar black chat window appeared in my head.