Chương 41: Chapter 40: Noble Dungeon Core

It took him the whole day, including much of his cultivation time, to read through all three books on Gene talents and Cypher Art merging mechanics of the system. And just as he'd expected, there really wasn't much information in these books about a talent influencing Cypher Arts merged with its path. There was information about certain gene talents that could be used to merge two Cypher Arts into one, such as Synthesis.

According to the guidebook itself, it was the talent which had brought the top talent of their sect, Elder Giant Sun, to the top, as he could effortlessly merge various Cypher Arts. There was also another gene talent, supposedly possessed by one of the seven Kings of the Council of Seven. It was named Divergent Convergence. It allowed one to merge two separate kinds of Cypher Arts into one, but also to merge gene talents themselves!

It could also separate gene talents into sub-talents and merge them together to form entirely unique gene talents! Though, the author left a note beside it specifically labeling this information as not hundred percent accurate, as it was derived from old rumors and should be taken with a grain of salt. Either way, the mere concept of effortlessly merging Cypher Arts felt too absurd to his own brain.

Usually, one could only do that by mastering two separate arts, and then deriving a wholly different Cypher Art by drawing inspiration from the previous two's strengths and weaknesses. Beyond that, Nero had also learned exactly what a gene talent was, unlike what he'd previously imagined. A gene talent wasn't some magnificent, magical ability of a dungeon spawn that one just inherited.

That was only an overly simplistic and, according to the author, Serie, (yeah, this book was written by her too, wild) a very misleading way of conceptualizing their function. A gene talent was more like the alignment of the attribute genes within oneself in a way that matched the laws and orders of the world. In this world, humans and various other races lived and breathed by its laws and, in many ways, used them for their own benefit. These were implicit alignments with the natural laws set by the heavens.

What genetic alignment with certain laws brought was something entirely different. That kind of explicit alignment resulted in a literal manifestation of the law within one's genetic profile. And that section of the profile where it aligned with the law explicitly was what one considered a gene talent. In short, when one acquired a gene talent from a dungeon spawn, it was less that creature handing them their gene talent, and more of a genetic alignment that happened through the consumption of the spawns essence.

By consuming the creature's genetic essence, that explicit interaction allowed the monster's own genetic profile to be formed within the consumer, leading to them 'developing' the same gene talent as the monster, rather than simply taking the gene. The information still rumbled with confusion in his head. But from what he could understand, by consuming a monster part, he wasn't getting its gene talent out of only pure luck.

It depended on whether his own genetic base shifted, under the creature's genetic essence's influence, into a similar genetic profile for the gene talent to develop within himself. In short, his own genetic malleability mattered just as much as luck.

"Yeah, that still feels complicated." He sighed. Setting that aside, he went to take a shower before heading straight to the garden for work. Once done, he went back to the chicken dungeon. There, he grabbed some fire elemental mana crystals, pouring them into his bag. Once full, he prepared to leave. Just then, an odd voice called out to him.

"H-Hey, adventurer!" Nero's heart jumped to nearly his throat in fright. Swiveling his head left and right, he searched for the source of the voice, but to no avail, as the dungeon was still empty. What's happening? The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Who are you, where are you speaking from!" Nero quickly drew his dagger.

"And how did you find out this dungeon's location?" His eyes sharpened as killing intent welled up in his heart. This dungeon had been invaluable to his cultivation and progress. If some other adventurer had found out about it and was hiding somewhere, he wouldn't hesitate to kill them if they sought a share of his loot. The dungeon had lots of mana crystals, but not enough for him to be willing to share.

"I-I mean no harm, adventurer…" Nero was thoroughly confused. The tone of the voice didn't reveal whether it belonged to a man or a woman. It was very androgynous, and sounded quite a bit younger, too, now that it spoke again. He took a deep breath, calming his racing nerves.

"Come out from where you are, and make sure to do so without any weapon in hand… otherwise." Nero's body exploded with Pristine Aura as his blade was immediately colored by the Aura of Decay. The voice, strangely enough, went quiet for a while before finally responding.

"Actually, I can't," it sounded thoroughly unsure.

"Not unless I ascend."

"Ascend?" Nero repeated dubiously. What was it even talking about?

"What are you, a dungeon core or something?" He joked.

"That's right, dear adventurer! I am a Dungeon Core, man, how did I forget to tell you that first? Yeah, I'm a dungeon core!" Nero froze in place. A dungeon core, speaking with a human?

"Even lies should be told with some skill; this one of yours insults my intelligence. Whoever you are, come out, or I'll start searching for you myself!" In fact, that itself was a bluff. The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. But why would someone lie about being a dungeon core? That seemed incredibly stupid; no one would ever fall for it, unless— it really is a dungeon core? Yeah, he was falling for it.

He took several breaths, trying to think the whole thing through before settling on how to deal with this.

"Okay, if you really are a dungeon core, show me proof of it."

"How exactly?" the high-pitched voice replied.

"Are you dumb, perhaps?" he asked.

"What do you mean by 'how exactly—'""I'm not dumb! Take that back!" the voice shouted, clearly angry.

"I'm actually incredibly smart! It's just that you humans speak in riddles, and we, the intelligent life forms, don't like speaking in riddles." Now it sounded proud. Nero sighed; it was increasingly feeling like he was dealing with a child here.

"Okay, let me speak more simply, without riddles. Do something that would prove you're a dungeon core," he said, feeling like even that might not be simple enough for it.

"Like, activate the safe zone of the dungeon, or bring out those chickens you've been hiding behind that door. Then I'd believe you."

"M'kay." With a crisp noise, like an aurora exploding in the sky, the dungeon's ceiling lit up with green light as it spread into circles around him. Nero just looked at the display, dumbfounded.

"I can also do this." The grinding sound of stone against stone came from right behind him. Nero turned as several multicolored, oversized chickens emerged through the now-opened gates. They marched tentatively toward him, and although their eyes exuded fury, their posture remained calm and non-threatening. The chickens then all proceeded to hop in place in sync. Nero watched the scene with a baffled expression. What on god's green earth.

He watched as one of the chickens, a green-furred one, fell out of sync while the others jumped in unison.

"Okay, that would be enough," he said, prompting the dungeon core to make a disappointed noise.

"Wasn't that a good dance?" it asked expectantly. Nero wasn't sure how to respond. Was that even a dance? Also, how did this dungeon core even know what a dance was? Taken from the memories of the victims it had consumed? Likely.

"Yeah, it was good," he lied.

"Now, would you mind telling me if it's only you who's talkative with adventurers, or if other dungeon cores are like that too?"

"Ah, hell no, those numbskulls' intelligence and emotional capacity could never match mine. They grew up consuming human souls and other low-quality garbage, while I grew by consuming the nectar of Mother Earth herself! Actually, you should feel honored that I'm allowing you to talk so freely with me. I could even be considered one of the nobles among dungeon cores, now that I think about it."

"Okay, shut up, your majesty, kindly." Nero felt his head throb from listening to this thing yap.

"Tell me why you're suddenly speaking to a peasant garbage like myself."

"Oh no, you're not garbage, you're a premium human. To so easily destroy my spawns, you couldn't be anything less than exceptional, I'm certain of that!"

"Right, thanks for the compliment, I guess, now get to the point."

"As you wish." The light of the safe zone overhead disappeared as two large stone chairs formed alongside a stone table in-between.

"First, let me send my avatar over." It said, as Nero sensed a huge burst of mana surge forth from beneath the earth.