For three days, Darron worked like a man possessed. The forge raged day and night, piles of coal disappearing into its hungry maw. With each practiced strike, my new scepter took shape, each pang of metal on metal bringing his vision to life. "This is beautiful." I say, as the rhythmic blows sing through the floor. "He really is a master craftsman."

  Darron thrust his work back into the fire, flames erupting as he pumps the large bellows a handful of times. "Let's see if a bit of heat will make you behave." He says, throwing a few more shovelfuls of coal into the forge. With a groan, he stands, stretches and then plods over to the table my core is resting on. "Blasted mythril is fighting me again. There's not enough mana around here to keep it behaving." Darron drops himself onto the old chair next to the table, his body relaxing as the chair protests its rough treatment. "I should eat."

  "Wait, you need to eat? It's been like three days. Why is this the first time I'm hearing about you eating?" I say, letting out a grumble as Pop's blue screen appears in front of me. "I swear to god Pop, if this is some condescending bullshit about biological systems or whatever, you're getting deleted."

  Pop's screen remains blank for a moment except for a blinking cursor in the top right corner.

  Deletion of WEEB system is not possible or advisable at this time.

  Note: Threats of deletion may impact the usefulness of the WEEB system.

  With a long sigh, I turn my vision towards the roof. "I'm sorry, Pop. You're right, I shouldn't be threating you like that. You're not some mindless AI anymore."

  A loud buzz rings through my head as Pop's screen turns red.

  Error: Classification of system Pop as artificial intelligence is incorrect. Correct classification is Mana created intelligence.

  Before I have a chance to apologize again, Pop's screen disappears, leaving me face to face with Darron. "Let's have a look at that slave seal of yours." He says, his words muffled by a long stick of dried meat hanging from his mouth. Darron's eyes grow black as he mindlessly chews on the shrinking pile of meat. "While I've got you, Mr. Core, I have a favor to ask. You see that cupboard behind me?" Darron says, throwing a thumb over his shoulder at a simple freestanding wardrobe. "It’s a magic pantry that restocks itself with food if you pass mana through it." Darron's eyes return to normal as he looks towards the ground. "It was a gift from my father, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't absorb it when you get free."

  "Dude, I'm not going to steal your stuff. I'm not..." A feeling of dread washes over me as I realize I don't know how that system works. "Um, Pop? Can we put Darron's stuff on the do not absorb list, or is that not a thing?"

  A loud and rather happy-sounding ding rings through my head as Pop's green screen appears to my right.

  Yes, the WEEB system can exclude all possessions of Ally Darron from the auto-absorb feature.

  Note: This may have unforeseen consequences when recapturing the dungeon.

  Note: Ally Darron is currently passing mana through user Unnamed dungeon's core. Would you like to agree to this deal?

  "Wait, he is?" I turn back to Darron, his pleading face illuminated by a gentle red light. "How can I say no to that face?" I say with a chuckle. "Good sir, I agree to your terms. I won't touch your stuff."

  A smile grows across Darron's soot-stained face as my core pulses. "Thanks. That means a lot to me." With a nod, his eyes grow black again. "Right then, I better keep up my end of the bargain and get to work on that seal."

  Over the next two days, Darron split his time between smithing my new scepter and undoing parts of my slave seal. The new scepter is a thing of beauty. A single serpent-like dragon with scales incorporating both gold and silver. I'd love to say it was perfect, but I didn't get a lot of time to appreciate it. Why you ask? Well, it turns out that undoing a slave seal by force is incredibly painful. So painful, in fact, that Pop forced me into standby mode.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  By the time I woke, my core had already been mounted into the sceptre, and the jaws of the dragon and fire bat teeth blocked most of my vision. "It looks good on you." Darron says, turning me so I can see his face. "I've done as much as I can on the seal with the tools I have. Hopefully, it's enough."

  Darron rests me back on the table, facing my core towards the stairs. "You there, head up and give this to the guard on the 6th floor. He'll know what to do." The closest golem to the stairs drops its pickaxe and rushes over to me. "Settle down, you almost ripped my arm off." Darron says, as the golem thunders up the stairs, its heavy footsteps echoing through the floor.

  Darron scrapes his chair around the table, positioning himself so I can see him. "In the name of the 5, this has to be my finest work." Darron says as he drops onto the chair and throws his head back. "I'm exhausted." Darron lets out a loud yawn, his back cracking as he stretches against the chair. "And hungry."

  "Darron, my lad, you look terrible."The king says as he walks down the stairs with the golem in tow. "By the gods, boy! Is that my sceptre?"

  Darron nods with a long yawn. "Yes, Your Grace. It took me longer than I expected, but I wanted it to be perfect." Darron says, sounding more exhausted than he had since I’d been here.

  The king rushes over to the table, his greedy eyes tracing the lines of his new prize. "It's a masterpiece. I've never seen anything like it."

  Darron nods, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. "Does it please you, my king?"

  "Please me? It's better than I could have imagined! You've outdone yourself." The king exclaims, his fingers wiggling towards me like sausage-shaped worms.

  "I'm glad." Darron says, with a loud yawn interrupting his speech. "Before you touch it, could you pass some of your mana through it? I had to remove the force spell that was killing people."

  The king's eyes go wide, his cheeks flushing red as his head flicks to Darron. "You did what?"

  "I removed the enchantment. I couldn't let a sloppy spell like that be the only thing protecting it."

  "Sloppy?" The king says through gritted teeth. "It cost me 50 gold to have someone cast it."

  Darron nods, relaxing back into his chair despite the ever-reddening of the king's face. "50 gold? Your Grace, I'm not sure who cast that spell, but I wouldn't have paid 5 copper for it. All it did was apply force damage once a day to anyone other than you." Darron chuckles and shakes his head. "Anyone with the slightest bit of force resistance could survive it with ease. That's why I imbued it with a paralyzing spell instead."

  The anger falls away from the king as his eyes narrow. "Paralyzing spell? Darron, can you enchant things?"

  Darron snorts a laugh through his nose. "That's funny, Your Grace. Of course I can. Everything I've made for you has an enchantment on it."

  The king joins Darron in a laugh, his far less sure than the blacksmith's. "Of course I knew that. What I meant was, I didn't know you could cast such high-level spells."

  "Were it not for your charity, I couldn't have. Yeti eyes aren't cheap." Darron chuckles to himself as he mindlessly strokes his beard. "It was worth it, though. Now, when someone other than you touches the core, they'll be unable to move until you flow mana into them."

  The king runs his hand over my scepter, and I can feel his gross mana filling me. "This is icky." I say, gagging as I look up at the off-putting smile on his face.

  "Could I use it as a weapon as well?" The king asks as he grasps my scepter with both hands.

  "Sure, I suppose you could if you wanted to. But only the core has the paralyzing enchantment. The scepter itself..."

  Before Darron can finish, the king thrusts me into the air. “Oh, it's so light! How did you manage that?”

  Darron nods and lets out another loud yawn. "As I was saying, Your Grace. There’s an enchantment on the scepter as well. It reduces its weight by 1/20th when you, and only you, hold it. To everyone else, that thing will be almost impossible to carry."

  "Masterfully done, Darron." The king says, swinging me around like a child would a toy sword. "With this, I'll be the talk of the town. If there is anything you desire, tell me and it shall be yours."

  Darron stumbles as he gets to his feet. "A good night's sleep is all I want." Darron says, his unsteady footing carrying him towards his bed in the room's corner. "Oh, and some more room for my finished work. The 6th floor is looking more like a dumping ground than an armoury."

  The king nods, still eyeing his prize. "That's not a bad idea, my boy." He says as he heads towards the stairs to the 8th floor. "Get some food into you, wash up and get some rest because tomorrow is a big day."

  "Wait, you only tell me to wash up when people are coming. Are you throwing a party?"

  "Even better, my boy. Tomorrow I’m breaking ground on the 10th floor."