A Dungeon’s Survival

Connie

Bond Familiar.

I had only one familiar slot left unfilled, and unbinding a familiar would put the ability on cooldown for an undetermined amount of time. That meant I had only one shot to make this work without needing to wait before trying again. I intended to make the most of it.

My target was a Crystal Puffer. Back even before I'd bonded with Prism, I'd considered one of them for the role of familiar, though the reasons had changed significantly since that time. Back then, I hadn't known what would be possible to use the ability on, and they just so happened to be the only species of monster I could readily get that were unbound to me. Now, however, it was their lack of intelligence that I was counting on.

I'd come to terms with doing this regardless of the result, but if at all possible, I wanted to avoid gifting sentience to a monster before forcing it to risk an unknown fate. My solution, to use Crystal Puffers, didn't ensure that I could avoid such an outcome, but it was better than nothing. Between their natural mindless behavior and short lifespans that were determined by the amount of mana the crystals they rooted in contained, I was able to alleviate just enough of my moral concerns to move forward with the idea.

That was my starting point. From there I'd taken what precautions I could to further minimize the risks involved and maximize the chances of triggering unresolved errors. That included giving it the cheapest aspect I had access to, leveling it up past what its cap was about to be, and using one of my Dungeon powers on it: Pact Magic.

Even if it was immobile and not particularly a threat, it turning on me should it survive being unbound remained a possibility. It wasn't a real concern, but still, I figured having a soul pact that enforced loyalty to me as an extra layer of precaution couldn't hurt. I also figured it would give the System another variable that could trip it up, which was a plus in my book.

Once all of that had been done, it was time to move forward with the plan. Vie and Pee waited on standby, and I'd brought in Stein to help with additional testing. From there, all that was left to do was to actually bind the puffer as a familiar, so that's what I did. I bound it and watched as the notifications began streaming in.

[Do you want to form a familiar bond with Crystal Puffer (Level 3)?

Yes / No]

Yes.

[Error, entity “Crystal Puffer” is not compatible with “Familiar_Handling”! Exception: Entity is being processed by “Revolutionary_Handling”.]

[Error, entity “Crystal Puffer” is not compatible with “Revolutionary_Handling”! Exception: Entity is being processed by “Familiar_Handling”.]

[Comparing handling errors with fallback protocols.]

[Entity “Crystal Puffer”'s handling has been transferred to archived handling protocol “Familiar_Handling_Dungeon_Port_Beta” for better compatibility.]

Those were the usual errors involved in the binding of my familiars. They were nothing new and wouldn't warrant calling a Custodian over. There were more notifications, though, so I read on.

[Your familiars' level cap has decreased from level 7 to level 2.]

[Your familiar, Prism (Level 7), has had its level temporarily decreased to level 2!]

[Your familiar, Loot (Level 7), has had its level temporarily decreased to level 2!]

[Your familiar, Crystal Puffer (Level 3), has had its level temporarily decreased to level 2!]

[Please choose a name for your new familiar.]

Ugh, I groaned internally, it's all just the usual Bond Familiar messages.

That was disappointing, but it wasn't unexpected. All I'd really done was attempt to bind a familiar of a lower level than my current limit but a higher level than what I knew it would be adjusted to upon bonding. In retrospect, if that and a simple soul pact had been enough to cause an unresolved error, I probably would've had bigger problems with the System's instability than how just I could exploit it. Still, it was only the first step, and before moving on the second part of this experiment, I had something I needed to check.

Hey, I thought to the puffer, You there? Can you talk?

Silence met my words. It was completely unresponsive, which was good.

Could you give me a sign if you can understand me? I asked for better clarification.

A moment later, it exploded with a harmless burst of air, depleting its limited mana reserves.

Well, that's one way to respond, I guess. Uh, give me another sign if you'd object to me doing something that might lead to your permanent death.

That didn't get me a response. I had no clue whether that was because it didn't mind potentially dying or if it, having just expended its mana, couldn't give me another sign yet. I, for the sake of my conscience, decided to seek more clarity.

Give me a sign if you understood that question and just don't mind.

At my prodding, its barely regenerated spores detached once more, causing the plant monster to jiggle ever so slightly but not much else. I cringed internally at that. Mana Puff ate away at a chunk of a Crystal Puffer's health every time it was used, and even if it hadn't absorbed the mana needed for the ability to have additional effects yet, that second answer was already enough to mostly kill it. A single glance at its status was all it took for me to know it could only survive using the ability one more time. I needed to make that count.

Thank you, I told it, Your sacrifice will be remembered.

I still felt wrong doing what I was about to, but while the creature did seem capable of understanding me, I felt like calling it sentient would've been a stretch. I couldn't feel any fully formed thoughts from it, and even normally summoned members of its species could understand me to this extent. I didn't know if that was enough to go off of, especially since Prism couldn't communicate with words either, but at least with my little slime, they displayed emotion, something this puffer didn't seem capable of. Taking comfort in that and my having already received permission from the monster in question, I swallowed down my reservations and did it.

[Do you want to dissolve your familiar bond with Crystal Puffer (Level 2)?

Yes / No]

Yes.

I gave my confirmation and waited expectantly. What followed didn't disappoint.

[Error, reference null. Commencing manual search for target entity “Crystal Puffer”.]

[Entity found. Dissolving familiar bond.]

[Error, familiar bond could not be dissolved! Entity “Crystal Puffer” is being processed by “Familiar_Handling_Dungeon_Port_Beta” and not “Familiar_Handling”. The transfer of entity “Crystal Puffer” from “Familiar_Handling” to “Monster_Handling” has failed.]

[Comparing handling errors with fallback protocols.]

[Error, solution not found.]

Immediately, I was flooded with conflicting emotions. There was the initial rush of excitement that came from seeing the words I'd been hoping to, but there was also dread and the unshakable feeling that I'd just made a huge mistake. I'd gotten my error, but the implications it brought with it were dire.

It was one of the worst case scenarios that'd made me so hesitant to go down this route. Sure, it was enough of an excuse to contact the Custodians, but whereas before I'd wanted their help with other things, I now needed their help with this, and the prospect that they might refuse that aid weighed heavily on me. If I couldn't get this resolved, I was going to be stuck with a Crystal Puffer as a familiar going forward, and until I could offset their level cap by raising my SOUL, my other familiars were going to be weakened because of it.

Ugh, calm down, Connie. This is what you were after, I told myself in a vain attempt to assuage my worries.

“Is something wrong, mistress?” Stein groaned out a moment later, and as much as his concern meant to me, I didn't have the patience to explain the situation to him over and over again due to his short-term memory loss right now.

Yes, but don't worry about it, I answered in way of avoiding the question.

“What is it?” Vie asked a moment later.

“Is everything okay, mother?” Pee quickly followed.

Uh, kind of? I responded, their concern being too much for me to simply dismiss, I got a lingering error.

“Isn't that a good thing?” Vie pressed.

I mean, maybe? It is an excuse to contact the Custodians, but I wasn't able to unbind the puffer. If they don't fix it, well–Never mind that. I'll just send the message and hope for the best.

This was exactly why I didn't like gambling on important things.

* * *

Plooh.

A short while later, there came the distinctive whoosh of air I'd come to associate with the arrival and departure of the Custodians. One had arrived. Anxious at what was to come, I immediately diverted all of my attention away from the others in the arena and began searching the surroundings in my core room for our visitor, hoping with all my being to see a familiar glowing pink orb. Instead, it was a different but equally familiar color that met my sight. It was blue.

No sooner had I spotted it than the cold and uncaring voice of Seven rang out in its distinct, halting manner, “What does the problem child need this time?”

Ugh!

I kicked myself. Things just went from bad to worse.

“What is the issue? Could it be that you were hoping for Twelve so that she could bestow more unwarranted gifts upon you?”

Worse, he called me out immediately.

Wisely, I decided to ignore that jab and answered his first question instead, I ran into an error, a bad one.

“Yes, that tends to happen when you intentionally seek them out.”

If I had a body, I would've shuddered under the sheer judgment his emotionless voice somehow managed to convey. He knew. I didn't know how he knew, but he knew.

You told me not to contact you unless I encountered an error.

“You are unfortunately correct. I will now assess the error and be on my way.”

Wait!

“What is it now?”

I need to ask you a few things.

“While it may be true that I am a repository for data, that does not mean I have nothing better to do than to answer your questions.”

This was going downhill fast.

What if that question had to do with how much information you were fine with being shared about you?

I grasped for the most relevant thing I could think of that might also grab his attention. With that criteria, it ended up being some of the subject matter from the interrogation that came to mind. Immediately, I wondered if that had been a mistake. That worry only continued to grow as my question was met with silence. For several long moments after that, I waited for the Custodian's response, too worried to speak up again until he gave it.

“I see,” his voice eventually came, “You were interrogated and used us to distract from your connection to the Fairy Council.”

Um, yeah. I tried not to tell them too much about you, but I didn't know how much you would be okay with me saying. I hope I didn't say too much.

“It does not matter,” his response came almost immediately this time.

What?

“I would not care if you told them everything or kept our existence a secret. It does not matter.”

But, the world doesn't seem to know about you. Isn't that intentional?

“No. The world easily forgets. Whether mortals know of our existence or not is irrelevant to our duties.”

I see …

“As for your error, it is not one that can be replicated by others. Due to that, there is little reason to implement a complicated solution. Since the problem stems from you binding Dungeon monsters as familiars, I will disable that functionality for you instead.”

Wait, no! I shouted into the robot's mind before I could stop myself, Don't!

“Why shouldn't I?”

That would weaken me so much!

“Perhaps, but the ability would remain functional as intended. The only difference would be that you could not turn your Dungeon monsters into familiars.”

But, they're the only monsters I have access to!

“That is none of my concern. Unlike Twelve, I have no motivation to go out of my way to help you. I am only here to resolve your error.”

But …

I frantically searched my mind for an excuse, some reason that could convince him. He obviously didn't care, but still, I had to say something, anything.

What about Skortch the Brave? I blurted out, the story Octavia had told coming to mind, Don't Custodians have a history of helping Heroes?

“No. Twelve has a history of meddling in things she shouldn't. Custodians do not involve themselves in mortal affairs.”

What about me being a Dungeon? Don't you care if we survive or not? Aren't we holding back some kind of cataclysm?

He paused at that; then, he answered, “It is not our duty to interfere. Whether you live or die depends on your decisions. I will not involve myself.”

That's rich, I complained, my annoyance overtaking my common sense.

“Excuse me?”

You've already gotten involved. You completely screwed me over last time. You nearly got me killed.

“In what world did I do anything other than assist you?”

Assist me? You completely outed me for not being under the Fairy Council's contract. They sent a level one hundred to kill me because of that. The only reason I survived was because Twelve gave me that ability, and now, because of that, I have to deal with an insanely powerful alchemist that somehow knows about him showing up. How is that not you getting involved?

“This, 'Fairy Council' tried to kill you?”

Yeah.

“They sent a level one hundred fairy to kill you? They didn't try to have another Dungeon do it?”

That's what I said. Can't you check with your System logs or something? It only happened yesterday, and you already seem to know about everything leading up to me messaging you.

“Why?”

Why what?

“Why did they try to kill you?”

Because I didn't accept that pact you outed me for.

“That's all?”

Yeah?

“I see. I did not realize the Dungeon Fairies had fallen so far.”

So?

“Fine. I will fix your error in a way that is more beneficial to you. Do not take this for granted, however. This is the only time I will go out of my way to help you beyond the bounds of my duties. Please wait. This will take a while.”