Is It Weird to Refine Spirits in Dungeons? (Holocure/Multicross/Insert) Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Hololive belongs to COVER Corporation, Holocure is a creation of Kay Yu, and I certainly don’t own any of the dungeon worlds involved in this story.

Chapter 1: Have a Holo-Isekai!

“And… done!” I cheered as the popup in the corner of the screen informed me that I had completed all the achievements for the current version of the game.

[Get Some Help.
Complete all achievements. Then go outside.]

After over a hundred hours, I had finally finished the current version of Holocure, the fanmade game featuring the girls from Hololive in the Vampire Survivors game style. It started out casually, only for me to get increasingly engrossed in it, until I did a marathon session just to get all the playable characters up to Gachikoi Fandom level. There were times I told myself to take a break and resume it later, only to continue playing it nonstop. 

I glanced at the time on the computer clock. Can’t believe it’s this late already. I’m gonna end up sleeping past noon for sure. 

Smacking my lips, I realized just how dry my mouth was, and decided to go get some water before turning in. The water bottle next to me was empty, so I had no choice but to go to the kitchen for a refill. Getting to my feet, my vision blurred for a moment, and I supported myself against my desk while waiting for the discomfort to pass. Everything felt kind of surreal, a sensation I experienced only once before when I tried staying up the whole night, and moving around had this weird floaty feeling to it.

Since the kitchen was downstairs, descending the staircase was necessary. It was a simple task; just make my way down those steps, and I can get the drink I needed. A bit risky in my current state, but the thirst demanded to be sated. I swayed a bit more than I liked as I left my room, pausing at the top of the stairs.

I reached out to grab hold of the railing…

And missed. My foot also slipped.

Not good, I don’t think… I should… descend… this… fast.

The steps seemed to shoot up towards my vision.

…

“Get up.”

I blinked up at a white ceiling, then sat up to look around. Where is this, am I dreaming? 

Everything around me was white, kind of like the blank space Neo was in before he started training with Morpheus in the Matrix movie. I turned this way, then that way, seeing nothing at all. Looking down at myself, I’m in my casual home clothes, which fits what I could recall. Furthermore, I felt… wide awake, totally unlike the half-asleep state I thought I was in.

“This way. Look here,” An authoritative female voice called out to me.

I spun around to see who had spoken. “Who?”

“You.”

I was sure that there hadn’t been anyone in that direction earlier, but now there was a woman there. 

The first thing I noticed about the brunette was how she resembled another character; chestnut brown hair tied into a small braid at the back, a plain sleeveless top and a pair of dark shorts that showed off muscular limbs, with a pair of rugged shoes to complete the look. She wasn’t carrying handguns on her body, though her body posture and the pair of sunglasses she wore compensated for that lack.

“Um, who are you? And where is this?” I asked.

“Consider it the afterlife, and I’m the one in charge of your future.”

I blinked. “What?”

“You died,” She said bluntly.

I blinked several times more. “I did? Wait… really?”

“Really,” She confirmed.

“...well, shit.”

I touched my face and body all over, which felt totally fine, but somehow I knew that she was telling the truth. I ended up dying just the same way the protagonist from MobSeka did. That sucked.

“So… what now? Do I just… reincarnate? Or…” I trailed off.

The woman smirked. A very faint one, but it was there. “You’ve read the stories, so you know what’s going to happen. That’s right, you’re getting sent to another world.”

Even more blinks. “Could you please elaborate?”

The knowledge hit me like a shot in the head. 

Literally. She pulled a gun out of nowhere, aimed at my head and pulled the trigger. All before I could react, and the bullet dumped all the relevant information in my head.

The reason for my selection? Something something metaphysical explanation that I couldn’t make sense of, other than it being required for something else seemingly unrelated that I… let’s just say that the degrees of separation are damn far apart. What did it mean for me? I get to experience an isekai life, armed with a cheat advantage, and with minimal oversight for whatever actions I wish to undertake. My only responsibility was to train up and strengthen said cheat advantage, which I would eventually surrender back upon my death. Oh, and I also learned the name of the goddess who had shot me in the head, or at least one of her aliases. I now knew her as Lauracie, which was quite similar to the name of her lookalike. 

So it’s something like receiving a loan of power which I’m meant to grow and return for something far, far, far down the line. I finally managed to summarize the whole load of information in my head, which was quite headache-inducing in itself. “Gaaaah… why did the information transfer have to be like THAT?” I demanded, clutching my unharmed forehead.

“It was faster. Now get up so I can finish processing your status.”

I sat up again, having fallen from the headshot, and glared at Lauracie. “Fine,” I spat out.

The gun was no longer in her hand, but I knew that she could pull it out anytime she wanted, which included giving me another infodump to the head if she deemed it necessary. I really wanted to avoid that. 

Thankfully, the earlier shot also contained information about the next step of the isekai process; the selection of my cheat advantage. No, I could not pull a Satou Kazuma and ask for Lauracie to come along with me. Instead, I had to- I blinked and looked around for the goddess, who had somehow moved from in front of me to behind me, picking something up off the ground(?).

“Hmm,” She hummed thoughtfully as she examined whatever the item was, “Okay, so that’s the best option for you.”

“Wait, I haven’t said anything yet!” I protested.

“You don’t have to. The shot earlier also included scanning your thoughts and temperament for the best choice,” Lauracie held up a [Bullet] that I could tell came from me. “It’s more effective than letting you take your time choosing, with higher chances of success.”

I quickly reviewed the information in my head, and found the details to be just as she said. “Doesn’t that…” I struggled to find the words to describe my feelings, “Shit.”

She gave me a look that had a bit of pity in it. “I’ll give you a bit to prepare yourself for the next part.”

Lauracie slipped the [Bullet] into the gun that had reappeared in her hand, holding it upwards patiently. It was painfully obvious what the next part was, and I spent what felt like minutes just writhing around and making unintelligible noises to vent my emotions regarding this whole situation. This was not how I envisioned my isekai experience to start like. Seriously. Totally messed up.

“Haa… Haa… Haa…” My breathing slowed back down to normal and I opened my eyes. 

I couldn’t see the fiery void that I knew lay behind those sunglasses, but I couldn’t miss how she raised one eyebrow as though asking ‘are you done?’, even as she kept the gun aimed upwards while waiting.

“...” I glanced around helplessly, then looked at her straight on. “Fuck. One, two, three, do it!”

BANG

…

I stared at Lauracie, sitting across the table from me. “Seriously?” I asked her.

She nodded, not saying anything.

I lowered my head into my hands, pressing against my forehead with my fingers. I could feel my breath against my palms.

“I know in some stories they have game-like settings, but this is stretching it a bit, isn’t it?” I asked her.

“There might have been a few modifications,” The goddess admitted.

“Fine, fine.” I held my position for several more seconds, before looking up at her. “Okay, where should I start?”

The sunglasses reflected my face as the lips below it curved into a smile. “First, you need to get a spirit. And before you ask,” Lauracie’s pointed look cut me off before I could say anything, “You should already know the process. Just do it.”

Letting out a sigh, I got up from my seat and headed over to the next room, where I knew the preparations for the spirit summoning ritual was already done. The windowless room was illuminated by light-emitting crystals suspended in lanterns, and in the center was a large raised platform, marked with a ritual circle consisting of various eldritch markings that I could barely decipher. There was a bookstand in front of the platform with a black grimoire placed on it, and the walls to the left and right had cabinets where the summoning reagents were stored, though they were pitifully empty apart from a few pieces.

It’s a bit strange to look at the whole setup and already know how to do it, as though a step-by-step manual is directing me through my mind. Rather than waste time thinking about it, I instead focused on gathering the materials needed from the shelves.

Striped owl feathers, a dagger, and a lantern. I mentally listed off the items as I left them within the circle, before moving to stand in front of the bookstand.

Lauracie was standing by the doorway watching me, though she didn’t say anything and just waited for me to perform the summoning.

Opening the grimoire and placing one hand on the blank space on one of the first few pages, I began to channel the energy I had been granted, speaking the words to the spell I had no recollection of learning. A weight seemed to settle over the room, concentrating on the circle.

That was the knowledge and power granted to me by the second shot from Lauracie, as my granted isekai cheat. It could be loosely described as a Spirit Refiner in gamer class terms; by gathering the relevant items and performing a ritual summoning, a spirit would be manifested and grant me its powers, which I could then utilize in various ways depending on the type of spirit it was. At this beginner stage, the spirit’s power would be weak, and needed nurturing to get stronger. Said process was much more complicated than just beating up monsters and getting experience points, however. There were many other things involved; gathering materials, planning and performing rituals to maintain and advance the spirits’ strength, and so on.

What I found strange about it… was how similar it was to Holocure, the game I played before I died.

Even this summoning ritual… it gives me the whole rhythm game feel- I felt the gathering energy buzz dangerously as I missed the proper timing for pronouncing a word. Better not get distracted.

Luckily it wasn’t an irrecoverable mistake, and I managed to finish the summoning spell. The items floated upwards, a glowing light engulfing them before reforming into a small, fairy-like figure. She had the proportions of a stuffed doll, resembling the appearance of Hololive English’s Nanashi Mumei. The spirit flitted over to me, floating above the grimoire.

“Oh hi.” She greeted me.

“Um, Mumei?” I asked her tentatively.

“Hi.” She repeated. “Bye.”

Her figure started to turn transparent, tiny motes of light moving from her down to the open page. Moving my hand aside, I saw the blank spot where my hand was now bore the image of an owl.

“The spirits you summon can’t really talk like how you’re used to,” Lauracie explained, stepping forward next to me, “But they can still communicate in their own way, so do your best to form good bonds with them.”

“Okay,” I nodded, still not sure what to do next. “Is she… okay like that?”

“In the book, you mean?” The goddess asked amusedly. “She’s just there waiting for you to call on her when you venture out.”

“When you say out…” 

“Follow me.” She beckoned to me, already walking out of the room.

Once again, it feels surreal knowing the layout versus actually experiencing it for the first time.

The place we were in was my personal homebase, of sorts. It was the shape of a two-storey house, with several rooms separated by plain wooden doors and blurry glass windows to let the light in. At this point of time, it was sparsely furnished; apart from the table and chairs in the kitchen, there was only a simple cot in one of the rooms upstairs to serve as a place to sleep, and the other rooms were all empty. Thankfully, the toilet had a hose attachment near the toilet bowl so I could take a shower, but I definitely needed to do a lot more upgrading to make this place comfortable to live in. Good thing that the upgrade process could be handled with the right spirits, as long as I provided the right compensation.

Outside of the house, I could see what looked like a wild forest, with a plain wooden fence marking out the house’s boundaries. There was enough space for a garden plot, and maybe further outdoor expansions, but other than a rough stone path leading towards the gate, there wasn’t anything else to see. I glanced back after stepping out, and the exterior of the house was similarly plain as everything else I had seen so far.

Lauracie led the way to the tall gate, which was usually built out of stone with a wooden door, the type I’d expect to see in an historical stone building. Stopping in front of it, she turned to me, laying one hand on the wooden door behind her. I noted what looked like a post box next to it, made out of lighter wood with a handle to open it, before turning my attention back to her.

“This place is a separate dimensional space, which you already know…”

I winced when I caught sight of her eyes, or what passed for them, over the top of her sunglasses when she tilted her head towards me as she spoke. Windows to the soul… that’s apt, and not a good thing for human-goddess communication.

“This gate will allow you to access other realities,” She continued without pausing, “Where you can gather what you need to refine your summoned spirits. At this point, the number of worlds you are allowed access to is few, but as the strength and number of spirits increase, you will be able to gain access to more.”

Lauracie stepped aside, gesturing for me to give it a try.

I raised my hand and approached. My hand felt like it came into contact with something, even though it hadn’t touched the door at all. Instead, a message window appeared before me, an actual virtual screen like in a VR game, telling me to make a selection of which world to connect to. 

There was only a single option, marked ‘Training Dungeon’.

Selecting it, I was greeted with a larger window providing a description of what to expect in said dungeon; a sparse grassland where enemy spirits would come attacking in waves, with various clear conditions, like surviving a certain amount of time, or beating a boss enemy. Achieving those objections would give me rewards, though there weren't any details for them. Being defeated would boot me out of the place, back to the house.

I looked at Lauracie. “Isn’t this way too much like a game?”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “It is a training ground. The rewards won’t be anything amazing, and it’s mainly for you to practice with your spirits. The experience gained from it won’t be much either, so it’s pointless to try and grind this dungeon ”

“So what are the other options like?” I asked. “It’s not in the information you shot into my head.”

“As you can probably guess, not all dungeons have a safety measure for you,” The goddess warned, her voice taking on a serious tone, “In those, your death will be final. No revives… unless you have a spirit for that.”

Lauracie went on to give a few examples of the types of dungeons; there were realistic ones where monsters and beasts lurked and lived in, and there were game-like ones, with respawning creatures that would disappear once defeated. Simply put, the characteristics could vary greatly, and appropriate preparation was important. Still, she could talk and tell me about it as much as I wanted her to, but it wouldn’t replace actual live experience. The only option left was to go into the dungeon for real.

She gestured to the post box nearby, so I opened it. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised to see the grimoire in there, the same one I recall leaving in the ritual room. Following her instructions, I opened it up to Mumei’s page, and laid my hand on the owl icon. I could feel the energy flowing from the book into my hand, and the icon appeared on the back of my hand like some magic tattoo. Sure enough, the spot on the paper was blank once more. Clenching my hand, I called on the spirit residing within, and she materialized in front of me. 

Mumei landed on my fist, her feet perched on top of it without exerting any weight. She really is a spirit, huh.

“Oh hi.” 

“I’ll go in with you for this first time,” Lauracie told me, distracting me and causing Mumei to slip back into the tattoo. “Just to show you the ropes.”

Nodding, I completed the selection of the training dungeon, and pushed open the gate. The air rippled as I walked through, making everything look blurry for a moment, before settling into an entirely different environment. From the house, the outside was a densely wooded area, but my current position was in the middle of a large grassland, with nothing else in sight beyond the horizon. Turning around, I saw that the gate I had come through was gone, leaving me with no apparent way back to the house. I even tried to reach out, but unlike the earlier invisible barrier that triggered the message window, there really wasn’t anything there. I lowered my hand and turned to look at my companion, who looked mildly amused at my action.

Instead of saying anything, she pointed at something past me. I turned to see what looked like a flying shrimp, except a bit more cartoony in appearance. It was floating in the air, gradually approaching my position. I knew that if it made contact with me, it would chip away at my HP until I ‘died’, so to speak.

I held up the hand Mumei was in, aiming for the spirit, and poured the power through it to activate her granted ability.

Two feather-like projectiles shot out from my palm, one missing it slightly, while the other struck straight on. The shrimp faded away, as though it had never been there, but left a small glowing shard in its place. 

A quick glance around only saw Lauracie give me a ‘get on with it’ look, so I walked closer and saw the shard fly into my hand, as though sucked up by a vacuum. There wasn’t any screen or indicator bar, but I could tell that Mumei would gradually grow in strength with the more shards I absorbed.

Similar shrimps started to appear out of thin air, always a certain distance away from me and moving towards my position like some carnival shooting game.

“They won’t target me, as I’m not marked for that,” I heard the goddess say behind me. “Just do your best to shoot them down and collect the spirit shards.”

“Okay…” So there’s cooldown time for my attacks…  “Um, just to ask, why do I have to defeat them in order to grow the spirits? Can’t I just… pour in energy directly, charge them up?”

“The explanation for that is because the attacks break off part of the enemy’s spiritual force, which they attune to your spirit’s energy signature so it’s absorbed more safely,” She explained, even as I started to move around to avoid the increasing numbers, “Trying to pour in the energy directly will just see most of it go to waste.”

“So… a necessary process then,” I summarized.

“Correct.”

“I-” I winced as I accidentally made contact with one of the shrimps. It felt like a weird poke in my soul, not painful, but not comfortable either. “That felt weird.”

“It is a training setting. Actual dungeons might be more realistic in damage.”

I glanced over at her, seeing another shrimp just phase through her without any issue. “Uh huh.”

“Anyway, your spirit is a young one, so it won’t take too much for it to grow.”

Just as she said that, I felt Mumei’s power increase, as though solidifying into a new level of strength. The feathers didn’t look any different, but I could feel them carry more force.

Lauracie continued to give me tips and advice along the way, as stronger spirits began to show up.

“Physical ability is important too. Better get used to moving around like this, instead of just sitting around in front of a computer.”

“Stay alert, it’s not a top-down view anymore, but an FPS, so make sure you know what’s behind you.”

“Pick your targets wisely. Sometimes you should go for a farther target, just to create the opening you need to reposition yourself.”

“A lot of it might seem familiar, but not everything is an exact replication.”

“No, you don’t get any other weapons. Not yet.”

“No health drops either. So don’t get hit as much as possible. And yes, there’s a spirit for that.”

I was feeling a mix of irritation and gratitude as I listened in the middle of trying to handle this whole new experience; she was trying to be helpful, and what she was saying did have a point, but the tone was a bit grating to my ears, not helped by how unused I was to this whole thing. But I had to admit, the experience was kind of fun. Moving around, shooting enemies down, and gradually growing stronger. Mumei’s feather shots grew in strength, speed, and number, which made it easier to defeat more of the spirits that came at me.

The spirits really did resemble Holocure mobs, like animal representations of the various fans for each girl. I saw chickens, octopi, skeletons, and others. Unlike the game, there weren’t moving wall-type mobs that forced me to dodge or tank the damage, but the strength level seemed to pick up sharply after a while, requiring more than one hit to take down a single one, yet with many monsters spawning in at a time. 

My stamina was flagging too, and I had started using my other hand to support my shooting one. The amount of hits I took indicated that my HP was close to zero, but I wasn’t going to give up till the end.

Then it was over. One final brush against a fast moving chicken, and everything blurred out and settled back into the scenery in front of the gate.

“Is it over?” I asked Lauracie, who was standing next to the still-open post box.

“Yes it is. Not too bad for a first try.”

“So what now?” I called up Mumei.

“Oh hi.” Somehow, it looked like her smile was slightly wider than usual, almost a little creepy.

“Now, you need to use some of that energy you collected to refine your spirit further.” She indicated the grimoire with a tilt of her head, “Return her to the book for that.”

Returning my spirit back to my hand, I did as she said, placing my hand on the page and watching the tattoo vanish from my skin. The knowledge of the next step was in my mind as well, and I got right to doing it. It wasn’t like collecting Holocoins to purchase upgrades in the shop at all, but something like xianxia cultivation with gathered Ki energy.

Not all of the collected power and increased levels could be retained. What I did in that dungeon was like a temporary increase, using gathered blocks to build a tower. Tall, but ultimately not completely stable. If I left it alone, it would tumble down eventually. Instead, I was now dismantling that tower, and using the material to shore up the foundation, making it so that she could grow even stronger next time. Another analogy would be as though I had gathered sticks outside, wove a basket out of them so I could carry back a large load, and recycle all of them into a whole new construction project. 

Just like the game though, there were multiple options to pick in strengthening Mumei, and each time I made a selection, the cost of future upgrades would go up. It was possible to grab all of it, as long as I was willing to put in the time and effort… just for Mumei. It appeared that upgrades wouldn’t apply to every other spirit, just for the one I’m focusing on. Rather than worry about the future, I focused instead on picking my first enhancement.

It feels like I’m building a pipeline between nodes, so to speak. I had my eyes closed as I felt the energy shift and move under my direction. Also, I can feel Mumei’s emotions like this… Whew, she’s not mad at me?

Fun. Anticipation. Gratitude.

Just like Lauracie said, the spirit had her own feelings. She enjoyed venturing out like that, and was looking forward to doing more of the same. As for the whole tower-breaking and strengthening, she could tell that it was a necessary process that would make her stronger. That was a good thing; I had thought she would get mad at me for taking away the accumulated strength like this.

Somehow, I had a feeling that I just jinxed myself for the future.

And… done. I opened my eyes and pulled my hand away.

Near the icon on the page was a new addition, showing a small offshoot where an evil-looking grinning face was. I had used the energy to unlock what would be considered the spirit’s Special Attack, which would gradually charge until I was ready to unleash it. From what I could recall, Mumei’s Special Attack was like a full board clear of all non-boss enemies, though I wondered just how it would differ in this setting.

I still had some energy left over after picking it, so I ended up going with the increased spirit shard absorption, which would improve the growth speed for the future.

“Well, congratulations.” Lauracie gave me a few claps of appreciation. “You summoned your first spirit, had your first foray into a dungeon, and performed your first refining. How do you feel?”

“How do I feel…?” I looked up at the late afternoon sky above me. “I would say… eager.”

“Good to hear that. There’s still a few more things to do to get you settled in, so let’s return to the ritual room.”

“Another summoning?”

She was already walking, leaving me to catch up to her. “That’s right.”

A hammer, nails, a yellow safety helmet, and some special tag Lauracie handed to me, plus a quick summoning ritual later, I had a Construction Spirit floating before me. This one looked like a white blob wearing a safety helmet, construction tools floating by its side as though held by invisible hands. Unlike Mumei, this spirit was much stronger in strength, though the link I could feel with it was different.

The goddess explained that as being due to the tag’s effect, which made her contribute most of the summoning cost in my place. As such, it was like the spirit was sub-contracted out to me instead. She went on to explain what the spirit’s purpose was; to help remodel and refurnish the house, provided I provided compensation for it with excess spiritual energy. Communicating with the spirit was no issue; it could talk normally unlike Mumei’s simple words and conveying of emotions.

“Got a name for me, sir?”

Name… come to think of it, maybe I should take a new name to go with this new life. “...I’ll call you Shiraken then.”

It saluted me with a hammer. “Understood, sir! I am Shiraken, and I will provide you with help in reconstructing and rearranging your house, at appropriate prices!” 

“And what are your prices like?”

“Here you go, sir!” It didn’t seem to do anything, but a window screen appeared in front of me.

I scrolled through briefly, noting the energy counter at the corner. “I can’t afford any of this right now,” I said regretfully.

The window vanished. “No worries, sir! You can call on me anytime you like when you have enough.”

It took a different tag out from nowhere and dropped that into my hand. It looked like a plain luggage tag, with a safety helmet emblem on it.

“That’s my summoning tag, sir,” Shiraken explained, “You can use that to call me, without having to perform the summoning ritual again.”

“Alright, thanks.”

“Hope to see you again soon, sir!”

It vanished away with a soundless pop.

I looked at Lauracie. “So… what next?”

“Some rewards for clearing the initial tasks first,” She gestured, making another  window screen appear in front of me. “You can make those appear once you’ve decided to accept them, but there’s nothing wrong with leaving them in the window until you’re ready.”

“Okay…” I scanned through the list of items on the window. Summoning reagents, ritual manuals and a few other items to serve as spirit weapons. I guess I can refine those into something Mumei can use. “Just to ask, will quests like these be a regular thing?”

“Not a daily thing, but you can expect to see some. Some are just milestones to encourage your growth, while others will be more critical in importance.”

“Such as…?” 

“I’ll leave it to you to find out for yourself. Do your best to summon, and refine more spirits.”

“You said ‘first’, so what else is there?”

“Just an information update.”

“Informa…tion?” My voice trailed off as the word sunk in, eliciting a really bad feeling.

I tore my eyes away from the screen to look up at Lauracie. She was aiming a gun right at me.

“Fuck.”

BANG

And so, that was how my new life started as a Spirit Refiner. With a newfound sense of empathy for Sawada Tsunayoshi, who kept getting shot in the head by his home tutor Reborn.

Afterword: Decided to try challenging myself with a new story, and this was the idea I hit upon. A combination of Holocure, and Dungeon Crawling. I’ve also started a Patreon, and I’ll try to keep two chapters ahead of what’s available on QQ as membership content, so please support me if you like it. I hope to continue it for a long time, and that you all enjoy this story.