Harvest Dungeon 13 Chapter 13 - Zephirah

You have found a dungeon core shard. Do you wish to bond with the core shard?

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My mind went blank as I read the short message that appeared in front of me. Wasn't I already bonded to the dungeon core? Did this mean I wasn't bonded to the dungeon core? If that was the case, then I could go home!

Excitement welled up inside me as I turned to leave the shack but stopped before even taking a step. So what if I could leave. Sure I could use Runic, and with that I could create a portal back home, in theory, but I didn't have the mana pool to pull that off. Not even close. Maybe if I was a level thirty and dropped everything into wisdom, then I might have enough mana, but I still wouldn't be able to handle that much mana or craft it into a portal I was willing to trust my life with.

I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, with Runic being available I had the knowledge of a veteran while being stuck in the body of a rookie.

I looked back at the core shard and considered my options. I could grab a weapon. Head up to the surface. Then kill whatever came until I reached level five and the barrier dropped. Then I could hunt with my weapon and runes until my level was high enough to leave this place. No idea what the danger level was outside of my barrier. Whatever that dark shape that had attacked my barrier was, it seemed even more dangerous than the giant mice.

My other option was to bind with the core shard and become the real owner of this dungeon. No more of the companies lies and tricks. Oddly enough the later option appealed to me more than the first one.

I reached out and grabbed the crystal in a firm grip then agreed to bond the core shard.

"Oh yeah, just like that, ohhhh goooodnesss, its been sooooo long!" a feminine voice moaned just like Melissa had in the bedroom. "Lower lover boy, just a little lower!" the voice moaned out again.

My gripped slipped down on the crystal as my head swung around looking for the source of the voice and checking to see if it had distrubed Vanessa.

"OOHHH YESSSS RIGHT THERE!" the female voice screamed out like she was getting off. Which was followed by a few moments of panting.

"Who's there?" I called out worriedly.

"s.h.i.+t that's even worse than forgetting my name!" the female voice griped unhappily. "Guess I can't blame you though, at least not this time."

I frowned as I kept scanning the room, Vanessa hadn't even s.h.i.+fted and was still breathing steadily.

"Over here lover boy." the voice called out.

I looked around again not sure what to expect.

"In your hand big boy." the voice called out again.

I looked to my left hand but it was empty then looked to my right which was supposed to be holding the core shard, except the core shard was gone now. In its place was a woman with brilliant golden blonde hair that reached down to her knees, her golden locks framed an incredible figure that matched my tastes perfectly, long legs, shapely hips, thin waist, oversized bust, and perfect angelic features with dark sapphire eyes. A very naked beautiful woman. Only problem was she was three inches tall.

"Don't look so disappointed, the best things come in small packages!" the little woman told me then squirmed out of my grip. I s.h.i.+fted to try and catch her before she fell but four gossamer wings appeared from her back and began to flap like a dragonfly's wings.

"A fairy." I murmured quietly.

"Oh good, you do have some brains in there. That will make this so much easier for both of us." the fairy commented. "And no, I am not a fairy, I am a dungeon sprite. But the resemblance is uncanny so I will let this go this one time with a warning." the sprite told me.

"So a sprite, alright, what is the difference?" I asked curiously.

"Sprites aren't stuck up like those prissy fairy b.i.t.c.hes!" the little sprite retorted angrily.

Okay, definitely a sore spot.

"Sorry, old issues, nothing to do with the here and now. I'm Zephirah by the way." she introduced herself.

"Jason." I said returning the greeting not sure whether I should offer her my hand or not.

"You can keep those marvelous paws to yourself for now, if you start touching me again we might not get anything done." Zephirah told me as if she was reading my mind, while giving me a sultry look that seemed almost comical on a being three inches tall.

"Alright so why are you here?" I asked.

"We just bonded husband. Don't tell me you want a divorce already." Zephirah game me a mocking scowl.

My mind froze for a moment hearing her call me husband, I almost missed the rest of what she said. "You are the core shard!" I nearly yelled but remembered to control myself.

"Got it in one handsome!" Zephirah replied excitedly. "Now that we are bonded I can claim this silly faux dungeon as ours!"

I felt the ground under our feet s.h.i.+ft a bit then settle down. "What was that?" I asked.

"I just claimed the dungeon as ours. Truly ours. No more interference from that silly company." Zephilia replied.

I frowned. "So the dungeon was never mine?" I asked.

Zephilia tilted her head from one side to the other for a moment, "Yes and no. The company can't use me to create a dungeon without a dungeon master like you. However they don't seem to trust the dungeon masters they chose, maybe something to do with the kidnapping part. Anyways they invented that stupid orb thingy as an inbetween. Your presence was enough to activate the dungeon and make changes, the orb acts as a middle man between us so that the company can control us both, kind of like a mailroom sorting which messages they want to allow to pa.s.s between employees and which to trash. Downside it also sacrifices a lot of the dungeons power making it a lot smaller than it should be. However they seemed to think that level of control was worth it." Zephirah replied.

"Control?" I asked.

Zephirah nodded with a grimace. "As you could guess we didn't have a standard bond before this. Sure they bonded us, had to, to get the dungeon going, but it used the orb as and intermediary. No idea how they got that to work, but they did. It created a faux bond between us, just enough so you could use the dungeon core to create things but not enough that you had full control." she replied. "Unlike now where we have complete control." She added

"And now?" I asked.

"I control everything." she replied with a happy smile.

I frowned at her.

Zephirah flew close to me and placed a kiss on the tip of my nose, "And you control me. So you control the dungeon too." she added.

I continued frowning.

"Well fine, you don't really control me, but we are bonded now, soul bonded. I get it that there wasn't much of an explanation when it asked if you wanted to bond with me in my core form. Honestly though no one would bond a core if they knew that doing so would create an eternal bond between you and the core, one that allowed us to share not only thoughts and emotions, but our lives for the rest of eternity!" she said as she nearly shouted the last part then burst into giggles.

I stared at the overly excited sprite my mind blank. My expression must have matched my mental state as Zephirah started giggling even harder bent over her stomach as she floated in the air. "Your face, so cla.s.sic." she chuckled after she got her giggles under control.

"So you were just joking?" I asked nervously.

Zephirah laughed again. "We are bonded, when you gain some control on your emotions you can explore the bond in your mind later, it will lead to me and the rest of the dungoen which is an extension of myself, now that that stupid inhibitor is off." she grumbled a bit. "As for the soul bound for eternity? No idea. I haven't met anyone who bonded like we have, after they died. Probably never will, as far as I know our souls move on to a completely different realm. Before you ask, yes this world is realm, it is a different plane of existence in the same realm as your home. No you can not go home. Eventually you will be able to, but I am not strong enough to leave this plane."

I closed my eyes and let what she said sink in. I had suspected I wouldn't be able to leave if I bonded the core, so that wasn't bothering me. It was her declaration that this place was real, and her ability to practically read my thoughts that was giving me pause.

"Not practically honey, as you are right now I can read you like a book." Zephirah informed me. "As to proving that this realm is real? I have no idea. Your mind is pretty twisted up on that, no matter what I show you right now you will find a way to believe that it is something that could happen in a game. A really advanced game that is way beyond the technology of your home world, but whatever you get the point." she added then flew closer to me with a smile.

I let out a sigh, she was right, but I didn't want to admit it.

"Better." Zephirah said then kissed my nose. "Can't have you breaking down on me as soon as we bond."

I nodded then sat on the edge of my bed unsure what to do next. I had so many questions, a lot disappeared with admitting that this world was real. Not sure I believed it yet, but I could act like it was and go from there. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to accomplish it any better than I had earlier in the day, but I was determined to try. Despite that there were still a lot of questions I needed answers too.

"No, not really." Zephirah told me. "This world is real, you and I now completely control the dungeon. No parting from the company would be a bad idea for several reasons, you starving to death from hunger being chief amongst those." Zephirah told me answering some of my unasked questions. "As for what should we do now." she said then stopped and looked over at Vanessa for a moment, "Oh I did not expect that." she muttered.

"What?" I asked warily.

"I control the dungeon now and as soon as I took control I did a scan it to discover anything that might have been placed here that we were unaware of. It's something the company usually does. There aren't any here, which is odd." she told me.

"Alright, how do you know all of that and what does it have to do with Vanessa?" I asked.

Zephirah didn't take her gaze away from the sleeping beauty. "You're not my first fake master. You are my seventh or eighth. As I was trapped in the stupid orb there wasn't much for me to do, so I observed, both on this plane, and back at the headquaters while they were looking for a new user. Standard company plan includes the isolation, Neglism, then the introduction of your pretty handler. After that the company is usually hands off. The Neglism makes enough to generate a profit for the company even if you don't do anything else. Everything after that is just extra in their pockets. So they sit back and observe until they need to intervene or lose my shard. To do that they use a lot of observation equipment. It happened the same way with all your predecessors, this time there is no observation equipment, they are imitating your sister, also not standard practice, and your handler is…...unusual." she explained.

"Unusual how?" I asked suspiciously.

Zephirah didn't answer immediately. "It is hard to explain. I can only see as screen like your status page. Her race and condition aren't what they should be. Nothing dangerous to you." she rea.s.sured quickly, "Just problematic."

"How so?" I asked.

Zephirah shook her head. "If I explained it would just raise more questions. Instead how about I help you get to sleep. You may not be able to feel it yet, but you are completely exhausted. I will instruct the earth golem on the lower level to water your crops, it is something you could have done through the orb if you had looked, so it shouldn't raise any flags that you figured it out on your own."

"Why does that matter?" I asked.

"We can't do without the company yet, so we have to play along for now." Zephirah replied. "And I need your permission to use the Neglism tree and pod in storage." she told me.

I frowned. "Why?" I asked I wasn't suspicious just curious. As I calmed down I could feel Zephirah and the dungeon in the back of my mind. I couldn't read her like she seemed to be able to read me, but I could feel that she was just trying to help.

"I need it to help unravel Vanessa's puzzle." she replied.

I considered it for a moment, then nodded. "Alright." I told her then climbed back into the bed. I was incredibly tired. No idea if she was the cause, or it really was catching up to me, but I was barely able to keep my eyes open long enough to get under the covers and lay my head on the pillow.