Starlight Necromancer

Chapter 75 - Thiodrus' Creation

"Eh?" Kyla let out, surprised by the thing that the dungeon's incarnation had just explained to the group, "Your... father? But aren't dungeon cores born through ambient magic?"

The man quickly turned toward the cleric and nodded, "Usually, yes. It happens because of an abnormally high concentration of ambient magic. It will start to form a cluster, which will then pull more and more magic toward it. The more magic it can absorb during its embryonic phase, the higher its tier will be when it's born. Usually, the type of dungeon something becomes depends on different factors, and the magical element simply doesn't play much of a role, but in this case, I was born in a quite unique way. I-"

"You were born because of Thiodrus' magic?" Foster asked slowly. He had experienced an extreme output of... well, something when fleeing from that corrupted tree back then. He was certain that it was related to Thiodrus' powers now after he used part of them himself. Foster didn't know much about magic, but this seemed like a logical possibility to him.

Kyla scoffed slightly, "That's ridiculous, no single person can create a dungeon core themselves. The amount of mana that they need for that would be absolutely astronomical. That's why only nature's magic can create them."

Foster turned toward Kyla and locked eyes with her, "Calamities." He said, "The people, I mean. They're usually compared to forces of nature, right? Beings that ravage the world, unstoppable by the people living in it. Or at least, that's how it was explained to me. If it's one of them, wouldn't it be possible?"

"So... You mean... you mean Thiodrus Argomna? You're somehow related to him? To that... that thing?" Kyla asked with a deep frown, taking some steps back, "Are you kidding me right now? Is that why you got that weird immunity? Because of him?"

"No, it's not because of him. It's actually just a big coincidence that I ended up around him." Foster sighed deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I'll explain it to you later, alright? You can just leave us be forever for all I care, but just stop it right now. We helped you out with your goal, so don't be so picky about it now."

Foster turned his head toward the man standing next to him, "You said it wasn't possible to meet him anymore, so you know, right? That he's dead?"

"It's just as you said. I'm made from his own personal magic. That's why, yes, I know that he's dead. I noticed that his strength was dwindling for a while as well." The man said with a bitter expression, looking down at the ground, "Do you... know anything about how he died?"

"...He was attacked by a group of adventurers. I doubt that usually they should've been able to beat him at their strength. Even I was able to violently beat one of them up, and I didn't even have a class yet. He was weak, much, much weaker than normal. He was using his strength to seal something up, and in the end, he died so that he could destroy said something." Foster quickly explained, "He really helped me. Without him, I probably would have been randomly ripped apart by some monsters. He gave me new clothes, he gave me food... he gave me a place to sleep. He even gave me the ability to speak to people here, and then passed his legacy onto me."

Slowly, Foster held his hand forward, showing the bracelet of the snake biting its own tail wrapped around his arm, and the man looked at it with a slight smile, "If it is a legacy, then your words must be true. A legacy can only be passed on by the former owner's will. Even if the owner is killed, the legacy will die with them if they haven't chosen a successor."

"How do you know all this? You're a dungeon core, so how can you get all this info?" Lynol asked, confused about quite a few parts of this conversation, and the incarnation quickly explained, "Mana is the building-block of the soul. It is that which contains the mind. With the mana he gave me, he gave me his knowledge as well. He even gave me his own original appearance, from before he died the first time?"

"Huh?" Octer let out confused, while the others looked at the man just shocked, "Hold up, you mean that this is what Thiodrus Argomna looked like? Before he foolishly killed himself with his own magic?"

"I don't know what you mean?" The man replied with his head slightly tilted, "Thiodrus didn't kill himself. This isn't the appearance of Thiodrus himself either. It's that of the man he was before he died. Thiodrus Argomna was a being that was born through necromancy, a simple skeletal soldier. His summoner was the first owner of the legacy this boy now holds, and in death, he handed it to the closest being. And that was Thiodrus."

"Hold up, so you're telling us that Thiodrus looked like that once? Seriously? Foster, are you sure you're not related to him?"

"I'm fucking positive, yeah. How could he be, I'm not even from-" Foster said, before quickly stopping himself mid-sentence, "That's not what's important right now. This is a lot of information to take in all at once, man. I don't really get any of this anyway. I don't give a shit who you look like either. Just... do you want to know something else about Thiodrus? I don't really have much I can tell you, honestly."

"No, I think that's fine. I know quite a lot about him anyway. But I do have another request for you." The man said somewhat awkwardly, "Since I built this dungeon in this way to wait for Thiodrus, nobody can really come. But you guys managed... do you think you can make your way through this dungeon every once in a while? Since through this man you're now all connected to Thiodrus, I don't hate talking to you four that much anymore."

"Wait... what?" Kyla let out surprised, "You mean that... no matter how many times we come... we can talk to you all we want?"

"Well, not all you want. There is a time-limit for this thing. Which is another five minutes in this case, by the way. But yeah, I don't mind talking to you every once in a while. But don't come bother me too much." The man said as he scratched the back of his head, "I know you four had quite some troubles the first time, but now that you know what to expect, it should be fine, right?"

"Urgh... sure, we'll figure something out." Foster sighed, kind of annoyed right now. This guy's personality was a bit too much like Foster's own. The way he was talking, from tone of voice to his cadence, all the way over to how he carried himself, was weirdly similar to Foster's. Creepily so. Maybe the language part was because Foster was given Thiodrus' understanding of language, and so did this dungeon's core, but it was still annoying.

He hated himself, so he was quite bothered by this guy as well.