chapter 13

Chapter 13

I took a moment to myself, sitting in the room I had created, and let Nike's words sink in. I could be destroyed if we aren't careful. That left only a few options for survival, and none of them seemed particularly appealing.

I needed to talk to Nike about ways to protect ourselves—ourselves, not just me. If we could avoid getting on the gods' bad side, we might stand a chance. But for now, the best thing I could do was practice using my spirit form and go over the extra information in my template.

Letting out a sigh, I focused inward, pulling my presence from my body and shifting into my core form.

If I thought the system's voice was annoyingly loud before, it was nothing compared to this. The moment I entered my core, the voice boomed in my mind, completely drowning out my own thoughts.

"System voice panel guy—template master—" I shouted in frustration, "for the love of all the gods, please speak a little quieter! Use your inside voice! You've been the biggest jump scare and sensory overload I've had in a long time!"

The words came out sharper than I intended, but I had reached my limit.

I barely had time to register the sound of hurried footsteps before Nike burst into the room, eyes wide with panic. "Are you okay?" His voice was filled with worry, his gaze practically pleading for reassurance.

I took a deep breath and nodded. "I—I'm fine. It's just... the voice that reads the panels is so much louder when I'm in my core form than when I'm in my body."

Nike let out a sigh of relief, his shoulders relaxing. "Take a moment and breathe. If you're able to, try to relax. I'll be right here."

With that, he stepped closer, plopping himself down on top of my core with zero hesitation. He leaned back on his arms, his posture casual, utterly unbothered by the fact that he was literally sitting on me.

While I wanted to take his advice, it was hard not to notice the imp pressing against me—well, sitting on me, but still. It was distracting.

Focus, Azazel.

Forcing myself to tune out Nike's squishy presence, I turned my attention back to my template, scanning for anything new. There was an entire section of extra information, listing things like Strength, Dexterity, Charisma, Wisdom, and Intelligence.

Huh. This is starting to feel more and more like some kind of Dungeons & Dragons setup…

I skimmed through the new details, noting that my passive skills were also listed. That's when I spotted something unexpected—

Soul-Draining Kiss?

Wait, we have racial skills?!

How had I not noticed this before? This would have been so much better to know earlier. I made a mental note to go over everything properly later, but right now, I had something else to check.

Nike had mentioned residential options—a way to create dungeon residents who could assist me.

With renewed focus, I continued scrolling through my panel… and there it was.

I stared at the option for a few moments before opening the panel, watching as it expanded to reveal two sections—one for Settlements on the left and one for Residents on the right.

The Settlements section detailed how dungeon cores could establish livable areas within the core room. It started small, with five tiers of development:

Settlers

Villagers

Small Townsfolk

Big Townsfolk

City Dwellers

Each tier had its own description that I could read if I hovered over it, but before diving in, I wanted to share what I was seeing with Nike.

He followed along as I explained, nodding occasionally—until I mentioned City Dwellers. His entire posture changed, shoulders tensing as his eyes narrowed.

"Are you sure it said city, Azazel?" His tone was more serious than I expected.

I nodded, then paused, realizing my mistake—I was still in spirit form, and nodding probably didn't translate well. "Uh, yeah, it definitely says city. Is that bad? I haven't read over all the details yet, but why did that catch your attention?"

Nike let out a small sigh, shaking his head. "Honestly, it's not worth worrying about right now. Monster-run cities inside dungeons aren't allowed unless all the gods are worshiped there. With your circumstances, I don't think you could reach that stage for years, so let's not stress about it. We have enough problems as it is."

That was one of those moments where Nike could have told me more, but I wasn't about to push it. He was probably right—I had bigger things to focus on than some problem that might not even come up for years.

"Besides," Nike continued, "the only thing you might be able to work with right now is the Settlers option. Even then, there'll be some issues—like making sure there's enough space for them to rest. It's not a lot of work, just time-consuming."

I nodded again (mentally, this time) before shifting my focus to the Residents section. "And what about residents? It sounds like there might be a catch."

Nike shook his head. "Not a catch, exactly—just not a guaranteed thing."

He gestured toward the panel as he explained. "There are two ways to gain dungeon residents. The first is by letting a monster race willingly settle here and take a vow of service to you. If you make a contract with them, they'd officially become part of your dungeon's forces—mobs with free will. That means they'd be able to respawn using your core's mana, just like your current monsters."

He let that sink in for a second before continuing.

"The other way is a little more direct—you can manually evolve one of your existing dungeon monsters into a residential mob. That evolution would give them sapience, allowing them to make their own choices. They'd still be part of the dungeon, but they'd have the freedom to come and go, follow orders or ignore them."

That last part caught my attention. "Ignore them?"

Nike shrugged. "They wouldn't be mindless minions anymore. They'd be people."

I mulled over that for a moment, glancing at the panel again. This was a lot to think about.

I decided to stop reading and shift my consciousness back to my avatar, feeling the familiar weight of my physical form settle in. My body was just in the other room, so I stood up and stretched before stepping out.

The moment I saw Nike, I didn't hesitate—I pulled him into my arms, holding him close in a warm embrace. His body was smaller than mine, but he fit against me perfectly, his warmth comforting in a way I hadn't expected.

"Nike, let's get some rest," I murmured. "I think we've both had an exhausting day, and I just wanna lay down."

For a brief moment, he was still, then I felt his lips curl into a smile against my shoulder. He leaned into the hug, his tail curling slightly around my waist before he pulled away. His golden eyes softened as he glanced at me, then without a word, he turned and started walking toward my room.

I followed close behind, grateful for the quiet, for the simple comfort of having him there.