Cat Core 2, Chapter 36 and Epilogue.

Here we are, the end of book 2, but not the end of Florence's adventures. As far as what's next, I plan on finishing up book 2 of War Core, which will be my full time focus. Once it's complete I'll start in on Limitless Seas 2, then Cat Core3.


Chapter 36.

You are under the effects of Divine Restoration. As a core, this intervention has resulted in the transformation of your being. Your class has been adjusted to accommodate your previous experience across multiple lifetimes. Please review your status.

That was weird, Florence was still kind of out of it, unable to see anything other than the system prompt. Her core felt weird too, not like it normally did, and most definitely not in a bad way like when Berikoz was zapping her gem. It was almost like she could feel things around her, not just sense them with her core. Florence took a moment to review her status screen, hopeful it might shed some light on the newest version of her existence.

Florence Valentine.

Hybrid Entity.

Core Gem/Catomancer (domestic housecat subtype): Level 1 (0/2000).

You have been returned to life, but your dual nature as both a human and a core gem has created a new hybrid entity. As a hybrid entity, you will acquire experience at a reduced pace.

Health: 100%

Mana: 100/100.

Stats: N/A, as a core shard you do not have individual attributes. As you level, your health, mana pool, and melee attack power will increase accordingly.

Core Shard Restrictions: You are a hybrid, but your dual nature is not always in perfect harmony. Once every seven days, you will need to find a suitable area and transform into your dungeon. After 24 hours in your dungeon form, you may once again return to your hybrid body.

Core Shard Traits: Note that new traits will unlock or improve as you level.

1. Indomitable Will. You have survived multiple lives with your mind and sanity intact. It will be very difficult for anyone to influence your mind through magical means or with natural abilities.

Catomancer Restrictions:

Your previous experience has unlocked a unique class, the Catomancer. A catomancer summons and empower creatures to do your bidding. In addition to your summoning abilities, limited direct damage and enhancement spells can be unlocked at higher levels.

When you are transformed into a dungeon, the majority of your catomancer based spells and abilities are unavailable.

Catomancer Traits:

1. Companion. You can summon to your side one feline companion beast to assist you. Your companion beast has already been assigned and is the entity known to you as Doug. Doug’s level will match your own and he will be responsible for selecting new abilities and powers for himself as you level. Should Doug perish in combat you may resummon him after twenty-four hours have passed.

Hybrid Class abilities:

1. Instant Dungeon. This ability can be used once per day and only is available in your hybrid form. Instant Dungeon will anchor you in place, recreating a random room from your dungeon around you. This room will be populated with the defenders and traps that were present when your core controlled a dungeon, but the other items inside will be illusions. Your current level will affect which room is randomly selected. As you level, this ability will improve.

Magic. You have access to the following spells.

1. Summon defender (Catomancer). This spell requires 25 mana and will summon a single random cat defender to protect you for one minute per level. The creatures summoned will reflect your class subtype (domestic housecat) and will have powers and abilities equal to your level.

2. Empower beast (Catomancer). This spell requires 25 mana and will infuse power into either your companion or one of your summoned cats. If cast upon a summoned cat, it will extend the length of the summoning as well as improve its abilities.

Combat Traits and Abilities (Hybrid form only).

1. Soulbound weapon. Your cane has been selected as your soulbound weapon. This item cannot be stolen from you or permanently destroyed. Should the weapon be destroyed, it will reform within one hour. You have been granted proficiency with this weapon and as you level, the weapon, and your skill in wielding it, will improve.

2. Soulbound armor. Your armor has been selected for you, providing the same level of protection as padded armor. This armor cannot be permanently destroyed, reforming after an hour when necessary. The armor provides very limited protection from physical attacks and environmental factors.

After reviewing her new, and rather odd, status screen, Florence found her vision and control returning. She was still a bit wobbly, but it wasn’t scary like something was wrong with her, but instead, it was more like when you first woke up. Standing up to look around, Florence could see that she was inside the ruins of her core room, scorch marks, and the signs of the earlier battle were still there, but thankfully, none of the bodies remained.

“Oh, dear, I really loved that chair,” Florence said, saddened a bit to see her rocking chair shattered on the cavern floor.

Class ability unlocked, core vision. You can see in every direction and in any light. All companion creatures and summoned defenders will be granted this ability.

“I say Florence, what exactly has happened to us?” Doug asked. Her kitten advisor was here, only, he wasn’t a kitten anymore. Standing right there in front of her was what could be described as a white tiger. Her Douggie had grown!

“Doug, what got into you, you’re huge!” Florence exclaimed. Doug seemed to shake off the same lethargy she had experienced, his tiger eyes going wide as he looked back at Florence.

“What’s got into you, you’re human again!” Doug exclaimed.

“I am, well, look at that, I didn’t even notice until you pointed it out,” Florence said. There she was, standing on her own two feet and dressed in her favorite outfit, looking exactly like she had back home. Despite the fact she looked like an old woman, she felt like a twenty-year-old, none of the aches, pains, or weakness of her old human body was there. It was wonderful.

“Don’t we make a pair Doug, I’ve got a whole story to tell you, but first, let’s get out of this place, it’s not our home any longer,” Florence said. It was true, the home was no longer connected to her, and was just a rather tastefully decorated portion of a dark old cavern. Doug followed her out, climbing into the attic and then down the ladder into the second-floor closet.

“So, what do we do now?” Doug asked as they made their way to the first floor. As she thought about it, a system prompt populated in her vision.

Quest Issued, Stop Berikoz. The lich, Berikoz, is corrupting and destroying dungeon core gems, using them as his phylactery. Find the remaining cores that are under his influence and liberate them. This is a timed quest, and you have 199 days to complete it.

Rewards: Unknown.

“Well, Doug, it looks like we’re going to delve some dungeons and kill a lich,” Florence said.

“That sounds delightful, and not at all suicidal for a level one adventurer,” Doug replied sarcastically.

“Good to have you back Doug, though I’m sorry to see that becoming a big kitty didn’t improve your disposition none,” Florence said.

“It’s good to have you back as well, Florence, shall we?” Doug said, pointing forward with his oversized paw.

“Yep, no time to waste, Doug,” Florence said, leading the pair out of their old home and into a new life.

Epilogue.

“Hey, where am I,” Aaron Lavelle called out. He couldn’t see anything, and his mind was fuzzy. This didn’t feel like a dream, but it also didn’t quite feel real to him either.

“Welcome human! You have been selected from among the billions of your kind to be granted a great honor,” a voice called out.

“Hello? Who said that?” Aaron asked, more confused than ever. It was then that he realized the voice wasn’t actually speaking, he was hearing it in his mind. He tried to remember what was going on before this, how he wound up here, but it was like parts of his memory had been stripped away.

“Do not worry, while you have passed on from your previous existence, a new one awaits you. This new existence will be one you have trained for all your life,” the voice said.

“Wait, passed from my previous existence? What does that mean, did I like, die or something?” Aaron asked.

“Yes, the mortal life of a human is a short one, but now you will have a potentially unlimited lifespan,” the voice replied.

“This must be a dream or a hallucination, wait, you said something about training all my life for something, I don’t remember doing any training. Dude, I don’t remember much of anything, to be honest,” Aaron told the voice.

“You have been a top one hundred player on the competitive ladder for several games, and because of that, you will now be granted a second life as a core gem. As a core, you can create and grow a dungeon in the new world you are assigned to. Very few meet the requirements for this honor, and you should be proud that your experience has made this possible for you,” the voice said.

“You mean a dungeon, like a game dungeon, or the other kind?” Aaron asked.

“The game type, of course. Extradimensional incarceration is handled by a completely different department. As a dungeon core, you will use the skills you have gained on earth to create something amazing. The only limits to what you create are your imagination and skill,” the voice assured. That was weird, Aaron could remember almost everything about gaming, but the rest of his life was sort of a blur, the memories refusing to form in his brain.

“I don’t remember much, I was walking out of the store after picking up some energy drinks and beef jerky when something happened,” Aaron said, thinking this whole thing was some game-induced nightmare. It was summer and he had decided not to take any university classes so he could focus on gaming for a couple of months. Maybe he had been overdoing it with the twenty-hour runs? He remembered that much, but when he tried to remember what he had studied or even where he lived, his mind just couldn’t seem to conjure it up.

“Sadly, your human life was terminated when you walked in front of a large conveyance while distracted by your handheld entertainment and communication device. It has all turned out for the best, now you can become something much more than a human,” the voice said. Aaron couldn’t remember much, but becoming something new was fine, especially if this new life resembled the games that he liked to play. Something in the back of his mind told him to be concerned, but he was flooded with happy feelings about this, feelings that overpowered any qualms he might have had.

“Fine, that sounds cool. What happens now?” Aaron asked.

“Now, I have completed your transformation into a core gem, and I must say, you retained much more of yourself than the average human does. Sometimes, that becomes problematic, but I believe you will slide right into your new life with very little in the way of acclimatization difficulty. You will be assigned to the world of Aerkon. Normally, you’re sent to a random location, but there have been quite a few openings for new cores of late, so you may choose between the three open locations that I currently have available,” the voice said.

“What do you mean, starting locations? How are the rules for the game setup? I’ll need to know about each place if I want to min-max my build properly. How do skills, abilities, and expansion work if this is really like a dungeon game? What sort of magic system is there? Is there even a magic system or is a tech world with magic-like nanobots?” Aaron asked, all the gaming possibilities swirling together in his mind.

“You’ll have to figure those things out for yourself once you have decided on your location. Rest assured, a proper assistant will be assigned to guide you through the process,” the voice said.

“Hold on, you don’t mean some stupid fairy. That’s how these games work, right? You send me some hot-looking fairy who flirts a whole bunch and only gives the bare minimum of information. No way, I want someone, or something, that will actually help, not some window dressing,” Aaron demanded.

“Rest assured there will be no salacious manipulation of your emotions, in fact, those types of feelings are no longer a part of your being, so a ‘hot’ fairy is of no use other than as an information conduit. Knowing your preference, I will endeavor to have an appropriate being assigned to assist you. Now, my time is limited, work is backing up here, so make your choice,” the voice told him.

Choose your core gem installation site.

1. Varnham wastes. Once a vast open sea, some cataclysmic event in times long past caused the sea to drain and subsequently transformed the area into a wasteland haunted by dangerous beasts. Rumors tell of unnatural creatures deep below the surface, ones that seek to refill the sea and use it for their nefarious purposes. This location holds affinity bonuses for aberrations, undead, and reptilian cores.

2. Fire Pits of the Steel Mountains. A volcanic region that is unstable and dangerous to all who try to traverse it. Creatures of flame and rock battle with stalwart explorers who look to exploit the resources of this dangerous land. This location holds affinity bonuses for igneous, draconic, and deep dweller cores.

3. Frost Peaks of Ulmore. These frozen mountains are desolate and dangerous. Hardy tribes of barbarians roam about, attacking all outsiders, while hideous creatures, cloaked in frost and shadow, wait for fresh victims. This location holds affinity bonuses for frost, humanoid, and giant cores.

“Dude, how can I choose a location based on some flavor text. How do affinities work and what types of mobs can I create from each of these affinities?” Aaron asked. How could he be expected to min-max properly if he wasn’t being given the whole picture?

“You will be fully instructed by your assistant, but I must insist you make a choice now. I have been lenient so far, as I feel you have potential, but my patience is at an end. Choose, or I will choose for you,” the voice said. Aaron was going to complain further but found himself a bit frightened by whatever this voice was. The guy could totally snatch him up and make him a dungeon core, so who knew what else it could do to him if he ticked it off. Creepy voices in your head weren’t things you should argue with.

“Sorry man, I don’t want to cause any problems, I just want the best start possible. Please, just give me a minute and I’ll make a choice,” Aaron whined, worried that the voice would be mad that he asked for more time. He didn’t want it to stick him in some crappy starting location that would hamper his potential build.

“Very well, take a moment and choose. Look upon your options and let your previous experience guide you,” the voice said.

Aaron looked over the options, his memories of life as a human had continued to fade, but the gaming knowledge was still there. When he focused on each location or affinity, images of various creatures and how they functioned filled his mind. Draconic affinity with the fire mountain place sounded cool, but he knew that it would be a way long time before he could summon them. His starting creatures would be lame and weak stuff like kobolds or lizards.

The Varnham wastes were a no-go as well. Reptilian and undead were overdone, and he had the sneaking suspicion that if he chose aberrations for his affinity, the place might become a water dungeon. Nobody wanted to clear a water dungeon, they were the worst. There was no way he was going to pick this place if there was even a small chance that he would be stuck becoming a water dungeon forever.

The frost peaks sounded cool. His mind was filled with images of raiders in longships attacking villages. Fierce barbarian warriors with swords and axes would be in his lineup of mobs and having something sort of human was perfect. He got the feeling in the back of his mind that the other classes might bleed over into the humanoid affinity, offering him frost creatures and even giants at some point. If he was going to be stuck in a dungeon his whole life, which was not a bad thing at all, this place would be where he wanted to live.

“I’ll take the Frost Peaks of Ulmore, and the humanoid affinity,” Aaron said with confidence.

“Very well, I have an appropriate assistant created for you, give me a moment or two to get things in order, and then you’re off,” the voice said. As his vision faded, Aaron wondered what the person’s name was.

***

Time passed on this crazy Aerkon world and Aaron Lavelle found the life of a dungeon core wasn’t quite as easy as he had been led to believe. Even with all the skills of his previous life still available to him, Aaron had a few close calls. The creatures that inhabited the mountains were fierce and his newly created dungeon seemed to attract everything around him. With his weak initial defenders, Aaron was barely able to hold off the various monsters and wildlife looking to consume his core. He had weathered the assaults, and now, the flow of monsters had slowed to a trickle. Instead of the denizens of these mountains feasting on his core, he fed upon them, and that feasting had allowed him to reach level three.

His assistant, a scrawny hairless frost hound call Qui, was of dubious assistance. Qui had promised that there would be adventurers flooding into the area as soon as they opened up. Apparently, new dungeons were rare, and adventurers should have been lined up at the entrance to test their steel and spells against his dungeon. Instead of a flood of adventurers, he got nothing. His location looked cool and all, with a spikey stone entryway accented with some glowing rune script that promised doom to anyone that entered. The problem was that his dungeon location turned out to be surrounded by fierce tribes of barbarians that drove away or killed any strangers, including any adventurers that happened to approach. His dungeon wasn’t growing at the pace Aaron had expected, and the frustration over it was mounting.

“Master, we have a visitor,” Qui said. The wolf liked to sleep in his core room, and Aaron was glad he couldn’t smell it, Qui looked kind of skuzzy. Looking toward his entrance, Aaron saw a single traveler approaching, wrapped in a thick cloak and furs that hid his features. It looked like a humanoid of some sort but was too covered up to tell exactly what race he belonged to. So far, Aaron hadn’t seen anything other than normal humans and a single dwarf, despite Qui insisting that there were a whole bunch of different ones on this world. The man walked past the imposing spikes and dire warnings at the entrance without even glancing at them. It was like he didn’t even care that a dungeon was about to kill him.

“Some fool nomad looking for a place to shelter from the storm, I’d wager,” Aaron said. So far, the violent tribes that wandered the mountains had paid little attention to his dungeon. Qui said they were a superstitious people and wanted nothing to do with a dungeon, fearing the dungeon drained their souls when they went inside. Well, Aaron did drain their mana, but he didn’t think his core did anything to their souls. He was glad enough to be left alone by the local tribes, they were pretty tough from what Qui had told him. When there were few victims to be found in the mountains, the tribes would often war amongst themselves or travel into the lowlands to raid the settlements there.

Aaron wished he could watch some of those battles but being a core gem meant that his view was locked to his dungeon and the immediate surroundings. A single nomad or adventurer wasn’t going to find his dungeon a hospitable place, and already, growls from the pack of wolves guarding the first chamber of his dungeon reverberated against the bare stone walls. Qui had tried to get him to decorate a bit, adding some things to make the dungeon more imposing, but Aaron didn’t become what he now was to waste his time and mana on creating window dressing.

As the three wolves in the entry chamber struck, the figure merely chuckled and waved his hand. A cloud of poisonous vapor filled the room, leaving the wolves choking to death on the cold stone floor. Instead of stopping to gather loot, the hooded figure pressed on. Aaron’s dungeon wasn’t very large yet, but Qui had assured him that his defenders were more powerful than their level would suggest, due mainly to the affinity bonus that the location offered him. Room by room, the stranger progressed, and none of his defenders even laid a hand on the intruder.

Berserkers, wolves, a swarm of frost mephit’s, and even his champion, a warlord that would one day become a powerful giant, all failed to stop the intruder. Qui whined in fear and crouched down behind the pillar that Aaron’s core gem rested upon. This was what Qui had warned him of, a powerful adventurer that would destroy his core to gain a portion of Aaron’s power.

“Hello there, little core, that wasn’t a very friendly welcome. Sadly, it wasn’t just unwelcoming, it was downright pathetic,” the man said, his voice having an otherworldly timber to it that Aaron found terrifying.

“Who are you?” Aaron asked. It felt strange to communicate with anyone other than Qui, who he didn’t really talk to since they could read each other’s thoughts. In fact, it was the first time he had spoken aloud since become a core. At least Qui had taught him how to project his voice in the dungeon, otherwise, he would just sit there without replying.

“Who am I, I am the one that has to decide whether to end your short life as a core, or whether you might become my new best friend,” the mysterious stranger told him.

“Woah, dude, since I don’t want to be destroyed, what exactly do I have to do to become your new best friend?” Aaron asked, trying to sound brave, despite the terror starting to gnaw at his core.

“I’m here to make you an offer, one that should benefit us both,” the figure said, finally pulling back his hood. Instead of the face of an adventurer, Aaron looked upon a skull covered in desiccated bits of flesh. This was the first undead creature he had seen, and the gamer in him put the pieces together quickly. This monster was powerful, it was a lich, and a lich was someone that Aaron didn’t want to mess with.

“What is this deal you mentioned, sir? Oh, and I didn’t catch your name, I was once known as Aaron, but you can call me whatever,” Aaron said, trying to put a friendly spin on their conversation.

“My name is Berikoz, and I can offer you something very important to a newly created core. I can offer you a steady supply of victims for your dungeon to feast upon. You will grow powerful, despite the dearth of adventurers in this forlorn area. In return, I only require one little thing,” Berikoz offered.

“What do you need?” Aaron asked.

“Why, all I require is your core for a new experiment. I should advise you that saying no to my offer is not an option. Oh, I should also inform you that your assistant’s services will no longer be needed, I shall have a new advisor sent over to you soon,” Berikoz said, pointing a finger at Qui who shriveled up and died so quickly that only a small whimper escaped Aaron’s former assistant.

“What are you going to do to me?” Aaron asked, unable to mask the terror in his voice.

“Nothing much, I just need to make some small tweaks to your core gem. You, my new friend, will be providing me with temporary accommodations inside that shining little core of yours, accommodations I will enter when the time is right. Don’t worry, my previous experiments have taught me much, and I’m nearly certain that you will survive completely intact, though, I am afraid that the process will be rather painful,” Berikoz told him.

Qui may have only given a small whimper of pain when he had died, but Aaron’s screams lasted for much, much longer.