Magic is Programming

Carlos woke much earlier than usual that morning, full of excitement to continue building soul structures. He quickly choked down a portion of trail rations, then turned toward Purple, but paused and frowned at the spot where Amber had built a fire to cook dinner the day before. He looked up towards the cave ceiling, but there was too little light to see much.

He quietly spoke the lengthy incantation of the light spell, and reached up as he finished, trying to direct it to place the light in the air near the ceiling, but it just made the tips of his fingers glow instead. Apparently he needed a different version of the spell to make it affect something distant from him.

He considered for a moment, and found a pebble to try again. Maybe it would work on something he was touching. He cast the spell again, and shook his head at how long it took. Surely there was a way to get that tedious step dealt with permanently, not just doing it in advance but still the same number of times like Amber did, right? Something to figure out later. Right now, he had a glowing rock in his hand, and a potential problem to check.

Carlos tossed the pebble toward the ceiling, trying to get close without actually hitting the top, and paid close attention to the air around it as it flew. The light stayed with the pebble as he'd hoped it would, and he thought he saw some haze and distortion in the air near the ceiling. That was concerning. They'd need to solve the cave's ventilation before they depleted too much of the oxygen in the air.

Well, they had something well known for its ability to structurally overhaul the landscape on a large scale. [Purple, can you make a narrow tunnel in the ceiling, to let air flow to the outside?]

[Yes. Easy.]

[Please do, then.]

[Ok.] About half a minute later, Purple replied again. [Done.]

[Thank you.] Carlos nodded and let out a small sigh of satisfaction. They weren't going to suffocate themselves by accident in bad smoky air. He walked over to purple, sat down, and began meditating to build his third soul structure, the mana redistributor.

He wasn't sure if that was the best name for it, but he could think about that later. What mattered right now was just the concept of what it was supposed to do.

He wanted it to give him control of how much mana was allocated to each soul structure's use and development. Maybe even take mana that had already been incorporated into a soul structure, and transfer it to another. He knew from what Amber had told him that soul structures absorb mana from being used, and that mana strengthens them, increasing the power of their capabilities. He wanted more control over that process. This was the capability he had named the structure for.

Perhaps more importantly, however, Carlos wanted this soul structure to let him tinker with the details of his soul structures even after he made them. He'd have to ask Amber for explicit confirmation, but he was pretty sure that soul structures were normally permanent and unmodifiable once initially created, or at least extremely difficult to modify. He was practically guaranteed to eventually think of something to improve about one or another of his soul structures, and he wanted to be able to use those ideas no matter how late they came to him. And if his soul structures ever somehow got damaged, he wanted to be able to repair them.

With those concepts firmly in mind, Carlos set to work, and his soul shell mana began to flow once more.

Amber was surprised to find Carlos already awake and working on a soul structure when she woke up. Both of the last two days, he had slept late, and even resisted attempts to wake him up. Apparently not this time. She could guess why - excitement - but it affected her differently. She had stayed awake far into the night, increasingly tired and yet unable to stop thinking about how dramatically her future prospects had improved, until she finally passed out.

She idly chewed on some tasteless trail rations while she cautiously walked to the cave's entrance and looked out. It was mid morning, at least an hour later than she usually woke, but everything appeared the same as when they had entered. They might have to go hunting soon, but she had bought enough food back in Erlen that they could afford a few days focused on building the foundations of their souls.

She went back inside, and considered setting to work on exactly that, but decided to wait for Carlos to finish his mana redistributor first. They had Purple's traps for protection, as well as the concealment ward she'd paid a painfully large portion of her savings for, but that was far from a guarantee of safety. It would be prudent to have at least one of them available to respond and help Purple if something went wrong.

Besides, she wanted Carlos available to advise her on the details of the remaining soul structures before she crossed the point where it would be too late to benefit from his advice. She knew she didn't fully understand all of his soul structure plans yet, and even the ones she did understand she suspected might have subtle details she was unaware of.

Amber got out Carlos's notes, and prepared to make her own notes on questions she might have. She absently muttered spell preparation incantations under her breath and she scrutinized everything. She had spent many more prepared spells than usual over the past two days, and she needed to replenish them. Fortunately, she was so practiced at preparing spells by now that it barely took any attention.

About a quarter of an hour after she started, she was interrupted by a strange voice in her head.

[Hello.]

Amber jerked in surprise and looked around. The light from Purple's glow was dim, but it was still bright enough that she should see anyone nearby easily enough, yet there was no one. "What? Who?"

[Am Purple.]

Amber blinked. "Purple?"

[Yes.]

"But- What? I thought you needed a lot more mana to grant that wish again. And weren't you using your mana on making a soul structure?"

[Made soul structure. For making bonds. Made bond.]

Amber's jaw dropped, and she stared blankly for a few seconds. "You what? You dedicated a whole soul structure to making a bond to talk with me?"

[You. And others. In future. Carlos's advice.]

"Oh. Um. Well, thank you. It's nice to finally talk with you directly."

[Welcome.]

"Have you noticed any other benefits from it?"

[Pull mana stronger. Slightly.]

Amber nodded. "That makes sense. That happens for humans too." She hesitated. "Um. This might be rude, but no one's ever talked with a dungeon core before that I know of and I have so many questions! Do you mind?"

[Ask.]

"Great!" Amber settled in to start interrogating Purple about life as a dungeon core. Waiting for Carlos to finish his mana redistributor had suddenly gotten a lot more interesting.

Tornay and Darmelkon marched slowly through the forest, Tornay's apprentice and Darmelkon's servant clearing the worst of the underbrush ahead of them. They had found nothing of note at the camp site, save confirmation that Amber had indeed been there, and that she was not alone. Darmelkon would have preferred to track Carlos's aura, but unfortunately the innkeeper had already laundered the sheets from Carlos's bed by the time Darmelkon had started chasing him. Besides, that bed had been slept on by many travelers before Carlos, and any hairs he got from it could just as easily have come from them instead.

Oh well, tracking Amber was good enough. If she were going to split from Carlos, she would not have bothered leaving Erlen with him in the first place. Darmelkon wished she hadn't been so good at eluding pursuit, though. This chase across untamed wilderness was a nuisance.

"Any idea how they modified the scroll to come here?"

Enchanter Tornay shook his head. "That feat should have required the skills, and soul structures, of an advanced enchanter. I could do it myself. My apprentice could not, yet. Two younglings their age, not even associated with the Guild, certainly should not be capable of it."

"Hmm". Darmelkon nodded. "They must have somehow gotten the dungeon core to do it, then."

"Plausible. Dungeon cores have improved or altered enchanted items on numerous occasions, though I'm not aware of anyone using a dungeon wish on a scroll, of all things. If so, then that's even more reason the Guild must acquire this core and learn how it was done. An unanchored dungeon core should not be capable of granting such a wish."

"Careful. Say too many things like that, and I might demand to renegotiate my price."

Tornay chuckled. "Your leverage to do that is spent. The Guild will hold to our signed contract, but we already have what we need from you."

"Fair enough. Hmm. Are we almost there now?" A rocky cliff loomed ahead of them, and they emerged from the trees.

Tornay looked around with his aura tracer. Three glowing trails, two fainter than the other, all entered a small opening in the cliff face. The brighter trail was the one they had been following on the way here. One of the fainter ones approached from the side, and the other led off in a diagonal direction.

He nodded. "Yes, this seems to be it. It appears that Amber scouted this place, then left and came back, presumably leading Carlos."

Tornay's apprentice and Darmelkon's servant exchanged a look, shrugged, and moved to enter the narrow tunnel.

Enchanter Tornay raised a hand and called out. "Hold! I'm sensing an active dungeon area. How interesting."

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