“I’m not against joining you for the competition, but we’d need to reexamine the terms of our agreement. I’m not a true member of your faction after all,” Trolke said.

  Pryte and I had caught up with him, Glorp, and, surprisingly, Bert at what used to be the rotting apart house near my property. I had known that Glorp was working on it, but I hadn’t realized to what extent he had managed. When the hell had he had time for all of this?

  The building had been replaced by three bigger adjoining rooms at the front, with two longer halls on the sides that led to dozens of smaller rooms. And apparently, each room housed a different type of mana beast Glorp had rescued from the wilderness. Virtually everything he had so far was on the smaller side: lots of rodents and birds, and even a few frogs.

  “That’s fine, we can figure that out, and if you are interested in officially joining the Empire of Dave, I’m sure I speak for Dave when I say we’d be glad to have you,” Pryte replied.

  “Oh yeah, sorry, was distracted by all of this. This might actually be a solution to another one of the events, too, but we can discuss that in a bit. Trolke is one hundred percent welcome as a citizen of the Empire,” I added, still fascinated by what Glorp had done here.

  “I want in on ground zero of officially designing and building future empire infrastructure. When this all started, I figured I’d be here a couple of weeks at most and head back home to find a new job after this place imploded. But it hasn’t, and frankly, I don’t think it will. I like what’s been done here, but I also want to be a real part of it if I’m going to sign on entirely,” Trolke explained.

  “What are we talking about here? You want to plan how Earth is built out, or beyond that?” Pryte sounded genuinely interested with his follow-up. He had that smile he got when something he wanted was finally coming to fruition. How long had the Gnome been hoping to lure Trolke in entirely?

  “I don’t actually know. But I want to push my class towards an evolution. Faction architect or something like that has been one of my life goals. Until I met you all, it was mostly a pipe dream, but now it seems doable.”

  It wasn’t any sort of surprise that Trolke wanted to push himself. Considering the craft he had put to work on the city already, the man clearly had a passion for construction. The fact that he liked what we were doing with the faction was a bonus as well. Did people really find my leadership that good, though? That was the hardest part to believe.

  “That seems pretty doable,” I replied. Pryte nodded along.

  “I have one more request, though I doubt you will be against considering what you’re pushing the Reltleons on,” he said, and despite the words, there was still a nervousness in how he spoke. That was something I hadn’t heard out of him before. He had been a booming, confident voice since Pryte had arrived with him.

  “My brother has been looking for somewhere new to settle down with his wife and kids. He wants to push more onto a mining classpath. The rest of the family are also all specialized a bit in different aspects related to it, with my sister-in-law on the way to being a talented master mana forger in her own right…”

  Trolke’s request was cut off by Pryte, who was nearly twitching in excitement as he spoke. “Done. Whatever they need, we will figure it out. But why isn’t she already attached to a faction?”

  “That’s a complicated question, and I’m not entirely sure it’s my place to say,” he replied.

  “While normally I might agree with keeping your family’s secrets, we need to know anything that will possibly impact the empire. So that means you’ve gotta cough this one up,” Pryte said, his eyes narrowing as he looked over the Giant critically.

  “It’s nothing dangerous, at least I don’t think so. My niece broke off an engagement to a prince of the Flowing Gem Dynasty. While no one was willing to go to war over a minor family like mine, they were willing to ruin our reputation. It even hurt my own career prospects. And while she could probably find a faction to overlook that and work past it. It’s more likely they’d dangle my niece’s freedom as some sort of prize to force her to serve them,” he explained.

  Pryte shrugged slightly. “Honestly, in terms of factions that people keep pissing off here, those are pretty much nobodies. Yeah, I don’t think they are going to be much of a problem at all. Your family likely could find another faction despite their claims. I’m guessing they are just currently bribing people to ruin your reputation. They don’t have the power for anything else.” There was some relief in his words.

  “So we won’t really be adding another enemy to our growing list here?” I asked, wanting to make sure I understood correctly. It wasn’t going to stop me, but it was still useful to be sure.

  “No. I’ll do some digging when I have the time, but I suspect it’s just a dislike they are holding, nothing they are remotely willing to push a bunch of resources they can’t spare at. I wouldn’t even be surprised to learn it’s just that prince alone, throwing a tantrum,” Pryte answered.

  “Well, if you are that willing to give in to my requests, then sure. I’m on your team. What’s the exact event?” Trolke asked.

  “Wait, how old are your brother’s kids?” Glorp asked, before Pryte or I could answer Trolke.

  “About your age. Two boys and a girl, but if you could hold off on recruiting them for your dungeon delving squad, I’d appreciate that. Let’s ease them into how different things are here. Not that they are overly used to a normal faction. I just don’t want to scare them yet,” Trolke answered.

  “I suppose we can wait, just more people our age would be great. Somehow, there aren’t a lot of Reltleons, and well, the Humans still aren’t big on the city as a whole,” Glorp replied.

  He was right, and that was a problem that was quickly reaching a head. After the competition, one way or another, I had decided we were putting an end to it. We’d milk them for all the information we could get using Grant, and then decide exactly how to deal with the GPA.

  There was the possibility of a giant wrench sitting in Timon’s pocket universe that could still be thrown. Whatever Korl knew was likely to change a lot of their plans, but when we’d learn how, I still had no idea.

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  “The main event we need you for is building. I don’t have any big details beyond that. We’ve got some guess work of it could mean, using whatever you build to defend against others, or it could be we have to fight it directly, or just a pure judging of skill. Is that something you’re okay with?” Pryte asked.

  “Can I pick my own team for it? I’ll do it either way, obviously, but I’d like to stick with the crew I’m used to,” Trolke asked.

  “Yes, but possibly not Glorp if you can avoid him. We are worried about how many events they are going to try to get us to do at once, and I want Glorp to show me through this new addition he’s been working on, as I’ve got some ideas of where we will need him,” I answered, cutting into the conversation.

  I spotted Glorp’s eyes going wide for just a second, then he looked away nervously. Was he worried I’d judge his work poorly?

  “Well, Bert, you’re with me then. Go grab the primary construction crew and have them meet at the hall for dinner. We need to go over some plans. I’ll catch up with you then,” Trolke said.

  “Huh, hadn’t expected I’d get roped into going off-world, but if I guess if you need me.” Bert gave a wave and started in the direction of the residential portion of the city.

  “Gotta go myself. I’ll see you all later,” Trolke said as he left in the opposite direction Bert had gone.

  Where was he going? I pushed that question out of my head and instead looked at Glorp. “Well, I think it’s time for a tour.”

  Corey

  Corey had decided to spend the little time they had free before the events focusing on a different problem. It was one that Dave had realized, but hadn’t had any time to pursue at all. Corey wasn’t even sure it was possible to solve it, but if anyone was equipped to do so, it would be them.

  The soul chat was getting too crowded for their liking. They wanted a way to directly message people, especially if they were going into a competition with everyone focused on different things. Right now, everyone had to read everything to keep up, and that slowed things down. It broke their focus.

  In theory, it should be possible. Now that the soul threads were evident in the soul realm, chasing down where each went was trivial enough. The issue still remained of how did they single one out for communication, though.

  “Hello, Maud and Elody reflections. How are you two doing today? Do you experience days in the same way we do outside of the soul realm?” Corey asked as their manifested form entered.

  Both of the reflections had been sitting on the central platform, each holding a book. Corey felt somewhat guilty about interrupting, but doubted they would mind the visit. The core knew firsthand how lonely isolation could get.

  “Hi!” the reflection of Maud yelled, tossing her book aside immediately on Corey’s greeting. “It’s been a very boring day so far. None of the usual sharks have even swam by. I think they are bored with us now.”

  “Saud is correct, I believe. The soul realm is now secure enough that the creatures lurking no longer feel we are easy prey,” Elody’s reflection added.

  “Did you call her Saud? Have you two taken your own names?”

  “Yes, Selody and Saud, nothing overly fancy, just placing the word soul creatively in front of our twins’ names. It only seemed fair that they keep the originals, as we have come to accept the facts of our birth and existence. I believe as a dungeon core you understand well,” Selody answered.

  “Yes, our situations are not entirely different, I think. I find these people very accommodating though, even those that initially distrusted me, and my kind seem to have come around,” Corey added.

  “To answer your last question. The day and night cycle here isn’t the same as in the other world. It does exist, but it is more perceived as an ebb and flow of soul mana, something like a tide. I believe that means there is some large body out there that affects it, but I don’t yet know what,” Selody answered.

  “Interesting. I wonder if that at all connects to why I have come here today. I am trying to better understand the soul chat and how everyone connects to it. Do either of you have any idea how that works?”

  Corey wasn’t sure just what knowledge they retained from their previous existences. There seemed to be some mashing together of what Elody and Maud knew into their memories, but what existed there was odd. That was where they differed greatly from the cores. The reflections already had a strong sense of self, even if it was connected to another person.

  “Oh yeah, those weird threads that connect everyone? We’ve got them too, but ours don’t seem to be as strong,” Saud said, reaching behind herself and grabbing something.

  Corey looked closely at what she was doing, and as he studied her action, a thin, nearly translucent thread of soul mana came into his view. She had been right. It was very similar to what connected everyone else, but much weaker.

  What if they could find a way to get the thread fully functional? Could that be the first step to mastering these connections? It was an interesting idea at the very least.

  “May I have permission to attempt to strengthen your threads?” Corey asked.

  “I guess, not sure how you can do it though. Any ideas Selody?” Saud replied, looking at the other soul reflection.

  “No, but I’m in favor of you doing it, if it’s possible. I think that might help strengthen our own connections here.”

  “I have a single idea on where to start now that I’ve seen Saud’s thread. One moment, please,” Corey said as they opened up a soul chat window.

  Corey closed out the soul chat as he pondered what Maud had said. The translation of the System was working, and the idea behind it came through, but the humor portion that it implied was hard for them to grasp entirely. Corey made a note to ask Maud more later.

  Behind them, Chip squeeked lightly as he had joined them in the soul realm.

  Mana beasts are not the only creatures capable of awakening. Most people know that. They are very aware of the danger an awakened core beast can cause. Some people are also aware that the dungeon core itself can awaken without being bonded to a mana beast.

  What fewer people are aware of are soul beasts in general, or if they are, they are only truly aware of the monsters that hunt the soul channelers. And I will not downplay the danger of these creatures in their endless hunger. They are one of the key reasons so few know of soul beasts in general.

  But soul beasts themselves can also awaken. How exactly this is done remains a mystery, or at least if anyone knows the details, they aren’t sharing them. Both of the awakened soul beasts I’ve encountered were experiences I wish I hadn’t had. They were some of the most cunning creatures that have ever attempted to kill me.

  Both of them managed to escape alive. I live in constant worry of meeting them again one day. I still do not know why they chose to target me. I have no strong connections to soul mana in any way.

  Mana Beast Awakenings by Ceril Roph Horned-Trunk