Worthy Core

As the group of dungeon residents look around in some confusion, BB is the first to speak up. "...Shit, something weird happened, didn't it. Is the dungeon raid canceled?"

DEATH nods in agreement. "I WAS RATHER LOOKING FORWARD TO STRETCHING MY LEGS. ARE YOU ALRIGHT, HOWEVER?"

Xenia checks herself, before planting a palm on her forehead and groaning. "Ahhh, fuck! I mean, I think so? Got a killer headache for some reason, though. Shit, t'fuck that asshole do to me now?"

Sincere looks over her avatar from top to bottom, but rather unsurprisingly, he finds no signs of injury. "Did another visitor take a disliking to your face? Although it's odd that it would prevent us from entering the dungeon entirely. If someone's found a way to block our access, that would be a rather bad sign."

She shakes her head. "No, no, it was the Dragonlord this time, again. Said they were giving me...a gift?" Xenia looks around the room with one eye open, wincing as she does so. "Dunno what I'm expecting, though. Hope it was a bottle of aspirin. Fuck. What the hell did they do to me?"

As she collapses into a seat, Guy hovers over. "I...think I may have a clue. There's a message processing...one moment. This feels a little...unusual..." A few moments later, a new screen appears.

The dungeon master groans as she reads over it. "Is that it? Giving us access to a floor unlock without needing to clear it? It's something, I guess, but I'm pretty sure we could've done that on our own just fine."

Guy interrupts before she can continue complaining, however. "I...no. The message is incomplete, there's...something more? I really don't know what to make of this."

"Shit, if they broke you, Guy, I'm definitely callin' it quits between them and us, and that's for starters. You feeling alright?"

The screen bobbles. "I'm fine, just...confused? Ah, here comes the rest of it, apparently." As they say that, the original screen expands with additional information.

Xenia gives the screen a rather blank stare before blinking once. "...And here I thought I was breaking shit with my 'worship of null' shit. Fuck, was Raz the Necromancer's name? I never knew...or maybe this is just some random loot he had? How the hell did the Dragonlord yoink this out of there?"

Trush's gaze swaps between the screen and Xenia, not sure which one is confusing him more. "Mind catching up the rest of the party, Xenia? What did we miss out on?"

After shaking her head to clear her thoughts - and slightly worsen her headache - Xenia gets to explaining. "Went to a run where I was a monster summoned to serve a necromancer. He wasn't around, but the Dragonlord was. Said that whoever tapped into my adventure last time is trying to do it again, and also...they apparently want us and them to be their version of friends, I guess? Said they were giving me a gift from my own past, which is apparently this mirror...which is apparently something of the Necromancer's I was guarding during that run, though I didn't know it."

Sincere strokes his chin. "Do you know what it is? Or Guy, do you know what a 'unique' item means? That's not a term I'm familiar with, at least not when it applies to dungeons."

The screen sounds rather confused themselves as they answer. "Neither was I until now, apparently. I can see the mechanics of it, however - unlike a physical item stored within your dungeon inventory, a unique item is created from your mana at will. While you can only have one of that item at once, if it's destroyed or unsummoned you can create a new copy as you like."

"And it's 'SS' class? Jeeze, I didn't even know the ranks went up that high. Well, I got no idea what it does, and I'm guessin' the only way to find out is to make one. It doesn't sound like a trap, at least. Anyone disagree?" Xenia looks around at the crowd, but Sincere shakes his head.

"Knowledge of dungeon mechanics is extremely sparse, but to my knowledge 'S-tier monster' is generally used as a synonym for a very difficult deep-floor boss monster. I would very much like to see what an S-tier item is like."

"Got it. If this kills us all, blame Sincere." With a few taps on her menus Xenia summons the mirror into an empty part of the core chamber, and it's immediately recognizable as a necromancer's work. The mirror itself is perhaps nine feet tall and four wide, but beyond that the artifact is encrusted within a thick frame and stand made of skulls and other bones. Artificial ones, probably, made of shiny black stone or gems or other less familiar materials...but Xenia wouldn't exactly bet money on that being true for all of them. The only part of the black-colored frame not skeleton-themed is two round, flat surfaces, one on each side of the mirror's central hinge point where it can be tilted up or down.

Xenia steps in front of it for a moment, looking into it. "Well, creepy, and not really in keeping with the current dungeon theme, but it's...nice? I don't really see - oh, shit! Trush, take a look at this!"

The man steps forward, being a little cautious about it, but he freezes when he realizes what Xenia was talking about. Staring back at him from the mirror isn't the Rabbit Champion the man now is, but the orc he used to be. Granted, the mirror-orc has both arms, but otherwise he looks nearly identical to Trush's original form. "That's - ! It's the old me! I...suppose that explains the name of the thing, does it not? It reflects, what...the soul's image of the self?"

"Seems like it!" Xenia steps closer once again, taking another look. "...BB and DEATH, you guys both look like you do now, guess your old selves dying here came with the whole soul-wash routine or whatever, huh? Still...it's a neat party trick, but how often is that gonna come in handy? Don't really seem like an S-tier enchantment."

The Xenia in the mirror points to one of the rounded surfaces on the side of the mirror's frame. "Well if you want to use the main feature, just plant your palm on one of those and shout 'I summon you forth, my inner fears and desires!' Or something like that, the intent matters more than the actual words, y'know?"

"Oh. Okay. Thanks." After another blank look and a blink, Xenia looks back towards the rest of the group once again. "Did that actually just happen or am I going extra nuts?"

Trush answers for the group with widened eyes. "Hard to say, I think I might have just gone a little crazy myself. Interesting enough that you even have a reflection, I think. Are you...going to do as it says?"

Xenia turns back towards her reflection and narrows her eyes at herself. "Is this a trick? If I...'summon' you are you gonna start killing people or something?"

"Do you want me to start killing people?"

"...No?"

The reflection grins. "Love that confidence! It's up to you, though. I don't mind watching if you want to just stick me in a corner of the room or something."

The dungeon master sighs to herself for a long moment, before eventually planting one palm on the side of the mirror. "Fuck it, might as well see how crazy this gets. I summon you, my inner desires and all of that stuff."

"Woo!" With her arms raised in a cheer, the mirrored Xenia steps out of the frame and onto the floor. After taking a good look around, the summon grins. "Nice place you got here. Way better lighting than that Necromancer's dump. Ooh, ooh, think you could put me up on Floor Five?"

Sincere's tone has a note of alarm as he responds to that. "You're aware of Floor Five? ...Don't tell me you have all of Xenia's memories, as well as her appearance!?"

Xenia's face grows even more alarmed at that suggestion, but the reflection shrugs. "Memories and skills, for as long as I'm out here. Once I go back in, I only remember shit we talked about. Two restrictions, though - I can't leave the line of sight of the mirror, and my strength's limited to my own personal power cap. I'm not gonna be levitating any mountains just 'cause you plopped an archmage in front of me."

"Gah! And how do we get you back in? Dammit, I should've asked that first..." Xenia grimaces at herself, but her reflection gives her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Hey, no worries! If I lose sight of the mirror, I pop back in. Or, you know...you can just ask me. I know my style's all Spirit Halloween and shit, but I ain't a cursed item or something. I want what you want! So if you want me back inside, just say the word. Also, you're my owner, so I'll follow your lead even if someone else does the actual summoning."

While she is somewhat reassured by that, BB still has a question on his mind. "So, I've never met a necromancer before, but I'm not really sure how this helps one out. You're not a zombie or something, so...why make you?"

The reflection turns back towards BB and her grin goes wider. "Well, for fuckin', mostly. I could also help em out with rituals that needed an extra pair of hands, and I could've helped put up a fight in a last stand or something if it came to it. My own personal memories only go up to the time Xenia here got adventurerized, though, so I dunno if that ever happened." As the group gives her stares of varying levels of disbelief, the reflection shrugs. "What? The Necromancer was a bony-ass lich, but since I reflect the soul I still looked like them at their prime. I'd fuck me too, if I was them."

Sincere's eyes glow for a moment, and the demon speaks up with a new discovery. "Ah, Xenia! We could perhaps have Beatrice test this as well, but there's something more here - I believe this reflection would be visible to all, not just your dungeon monsters! She could perhaps be used as another way to communicate with the world...if we trust her to do so."

The reflection shrugs again. "If the world doesn't mind coming into my room to hear it, yeah, I could do that."

Xenia plants her hands on her hips and does some deep thinking as she looks the reflection up and down, snorting slightly as the reflection does the same back to her. "...Suppose I could see this coming in handy. Could be a special extra challenge boss somewhere maybe? I can always bring it back if the mirror gets shattered by Challengers or something. Dunno about putting you on Floor Five, though..."

"Ahhhh, but sticking me down on some floor where no one ever comes sounds boring as hell! I mean, granted, I'm used to it. But I'll play nice!"

"...Maybe." Xenia chews on her lip a little before shaking her head. "Well, while I'm thinking about that, might as well do the other bit of business I was planning for tonight - let's unlock some shit! Gonna go ahead and spend that floor credit now, just to see what that gets us..." She taps through her menus, and soon enough a new screen appears from Guy's display.

The dungeon master gives a cheer of her own. "Woo! A-tier slimes, Lolly Pop's gonna love this! Thanks, cities and your shitty sewer management systems! And now with that out of the way, let's go ahead and use up those souls we've had sitting around." She taps her menu a few more times, and another confirmation screen appears.

As the rest of the group reads along, some of them seem a bit unimpressed - DEATH among them. "YOU SPENT THE SOULS ON UPGRADING AN F-TIER MONSTER? IF THIS IS MEANT FOR FLOOR EIGHT, EVEN AT C-...IS THIS NOT PERHAPS A LITTLE WEAK FOR THE CHALLENGERS THEY WILL BE FACING?"

Xenia waves off his concerns, unbothered. "Yeah, yeah, but wait til I start crossbreeding them with other shit! Just imagine if I mixed them up with...hahah, oh, shit!" The dungeon master practically doubles over in laughter as she brings up her crossbreeding menu and looks at her options. "I can crossbreed mimics with inanimate shit! Like swords and armor! Oh, just you wait, guys - this is gonna be great."

Sincere shudders slightly. "I fear for the mental health of our Challengers as much as their physical, I believe. ...Well, if there's no need for an actual dungeon raid tonight, I suppose our business is concluded, then? I wouldn't mind doing some research into this new mirror of ours, but that can wait for another day."

"Yeah, sorry to get you all prepped and ready to go for nothing, guys. Maybe next time? But in the meanwhile, I think I need to do some...'research' on this thing of my own." If there's a few smirks and snorts at that statement, Xenia chooses not to hear them, and after a few farewells the various dungeon guardians have returned to their apartments, or to Floor Five. Soon enough she's left alone with her reflection, who has a smile and one question for her new boss.

"So...we bangin'?"

"Obviously."

DaScoot

Minor retcon note: I had to cut back slightly on Xenia's soul stockpile as I'd briefly forgotten that she doesn't get souls for people who fall off her Floor Six cliffs.

Also, next time is smut time.

Enjoy!