Worthy Core Chapter 423: Parenthood

DAY 828

The next few days were unexpectedly quiet in Worthy Dungeon, perhaps the quietest they'd been since the invasion had begun. Domain soldiers still occupied five floors of the dungeon, and would occasionally be ambushed by monsters, traps, or particularly bored adventurers, but they never amounted to more than skirmishes with minor casualties. The Supre-tier specialists had all left the dungeon, although so could occasionally still be seen in the camp outside the main door indicating that this was a pause and not a full retreat. On the plus side, once Pretty Thing left the premises his spell upon Bandages of the Scarlet Eagles had co to an end, and the healer had finally recovered.

Overall, the effects on the mood of the dungeon's defenders were...mixed. The sudden vanishing of the Domain core-crackers and the halt to new offensives had allowed everyone to breathe easier and get so better rest, which was definitely helpful. On the other hand, every day that went by was another series of als where people had to pretend not to notice the empty seats at the tables, that people ran out of fresh stories to tell and began repeating themselves or taking to griping, and that the pressures of being cooped up in such small confines with the sa people had ti to build up. Fights were becoming more common, and those Challengers who had decided not to join the defensive force had to be carefully monitored to keep them from falling into alcoholism. For those who had volunteered, at least, increased training regins allowed them to burn off both excess ti and energy.

Even the cooldown in operations doesn't bring an end to the need for etings though, and once again Xenia finds herself leading a daily gathering with so of her closest advisors. Sincere, Lollyp, Beatrice, Trush, and Pizola sit at the conference room table as Guy hovers around the edges, most of them feeling sowhat comforted by the routine that the updates have beco.

"Pizola, how do you feel about the prisoners? Think you're getting anywhere with them?"

The arachnid guardian shakes her head. "Unfortunately most of them still feel rather confident that the Domain is going to eventually win this battle, so they don't feel inclined to turn sides or even give us information, even with bribes. The exception of course is the succubi and incubi, and the requests they've been making...which I'm sure you've overheard."

Xenia winces at the reminder. "Even for demons, I'm not sending dungeon monsters to go fuck prisoners. Fuck, that's how the 'ravager' dungeon achievents beca a thing in the first place! I don't need to lean any more into that kind of reputation." As she notices the looks Lollyp and Sincere are giving her, the dungeon master suddenly feels a little less confident. "...Or am I wrong?"

Her slimy companion chuckles. "Xen, you know that's how they eat. Yeah, they can get a bit of energy by jerking off, or screwing the other prisoners if they're paired up right, but that's basically a starvation diet for them if this keeps going for a while. I an, they are prisoners, so it's not like we've gotta keep em in luxury or whatever, but if they're willing to trade intel for a little nookie..."

Sincere nods in agreent. "It's very difficult for a demon to actually starve completely to death, as long as they're still provided with mundane food and kept in a safe location. But we tend to beco very weak and even helpless when we've gone long enough without feeding, and it can range from 'unpleasant' to actually rather painful. There's been no proper international agreents on it, but the Domain considers 'starving' a demon prisoner to be a form of torture."

"So...arcane demon prisoners get what, puzzles to solve? But fine, fine...Pizola, let the demon prisoners choose their own bunkmates, and keep a rotation if keeping things 'fresh' helps them out more...assuming everyone's down for that sort of thing, anyways. And...if soone really does sound like they'd be willing to flip in exchange, I...suppose I can keep so of the bunny dancers on call."

"I'll limit things to those who sound sincere in their offers, no worries." Pizola smirks to herself as she takes a note. "Never thought 'bunny pimp' would be one of my job duties..."

"Please don't emphasize it." Xenia sighs before turning to Sincere. "The Operation. How close are we?"

The man frowns slightly before answering. "Are we not cleared to discuss the full details of 'The Operation' even in this eting? Surely everyone here is trusted."

The reincarnator sighs. "I can't rule out that soone - either a resident here or one of the Domain mages sowhere in the area - might have so way of listening in on things in nearby floors. We don't need to discuss the details, just give a basic status update. I can't see how things are going there myself, after all."

"Well, things are going well. Ready within a few days, I believe. Lyota taking part has apparently been very motivating, her newfound...ah, fanaticism, if I might call it that, has been very well-received by her new colleagues. Grizza may have a good reputation there, but he's still quite a young man and not fully set for leadership."

"Good. In the next day or two then we'll need to start bringing in so of the adventurers on this, ones we can trust. Make sure everyone's prepared and in place. We'll only get one shot, after all."

Sincere nods, and Xenia turns next to Beatrice. "Beat, about the fights we've been having in...oh. Oh, shit."

Beatrice's eyes grow wide beneath her enchanted helt. "What? Did another fight just break out in the inn? Or is the Domain leading another raid!?"

"No, ain't none of that." Xenia stands up from the table, but wraps one arm around her midsection. "It's...I think it's ti. Guy! Can you, I don't know, pick up any dungeon shit going on here? I'm feeling...I don't know. Sothing's up with my dungeon senses."

It takes a few monts for everyone to catch on given Xenia's lack of a physical baby bump, but eventually Lollyp shouts out a cheer. "They're coming!? Oh shit! Let's get you to...fuck, where do we go? The clinic? Your bedroom? Should we get Deylia or Hamrdown to play midwife?"

Guy confirms her conclusion. "Indeed - while I've certainly never seen this before, it looks like a similar process to the summoning of a dungeon guardian. I suppose that's a form of childbirth, in a way...but yes, how may we assist? Things seem to be progressing quite rapidly."

"We probably should get one of the clerics. Although..." Xenia takes a deep breath as she leans against the table, despite the fact she doesn't need oxygen. "I don't think we're going anywhere, I don't think there's ti to get everyone moving before this starts."

"Well, then, I dunno, get on the table and take off your pants!" Lollyp throws her hands up into the air before freezing. "...Not like how I normally an it, though!"

"Ha! Actually, I don't know, this doesn't feel like..." Xenia pauses, then blinks, and in a sudden flash of light the table's surface is occupied - but by two new arrivals. The pair of figures appear to be sowhere between kobolds and draconics in their shape and size, with reptilian forms, tails, and sets of stubby wings. Getting more detail on their appearance is difficult as the pair seem to be tightly embracing each other, almost wrapped up into a ball, but what is obvious is their coloring. One of the pair is almost pitch black, while the other is a glowing white...at least for a few monts. As everyone watches on in shocked surprise the strange tints fade away, leaving more common shades of leathery brown and green skin.

After taking a few seconds to stare at her apparent newborn children, Xenia quickly pats her stomach before standing back up straight. "Oh. Huh. I, uh...guess that was labor, then. Little anticlimactic, but sure ain't complaining there! Woulda had way more kids if...well nevermind, Guy, how do these two look to you? Hey kids, can you hear ?"

The dragonlings - as Xenia ntally labels them - remain unmoving as everyone present gives them so space, but Guy takes the ti to do a quick analysis. "Well, this is certainly...unusual. They hold a classification similar to that of a floor guardian, but without being linked to any specific floor. They...also appear to be of a unique 'monster' category, as well. 'Reforged Core', it would seem."

Xenia glances at her guide with a raised eyebrow. "What, like my guts were a forge or sothing? Well, I guess Kahlia did give them a pretty good...uh, right, children in the room. Speaking of, are you two alright? Do you understand ?"

The once-again mother touches the back of one of the pair, the one with more green in their skin, and as she cos into contact the pair suddenly unravel. Sprawling across the tabletop their forms beco a little easier to examine, although so of those present quickly avert their eyes. Not counting their tails they would seem to be a bit under five feet tall, with stubby horns that don't add much to their height. There's signs of scales around certain parts of their body, although they give Xenia the impression of being immature, as if they haven't fully grown in their natural armor yet. More notably, the green one is plainly female while the brown is visibly male, and their complete lack of clothing makes it easy to see that they are not exactly newborns in the physical developnt sense.

Realizing how exposed they are, Xenia quickly summons up a large blanket and tosses it over the two. "Whoa, okay. Let , uh, get you two so pants, and...do you need to eat? I got so, uh, cow milk stockpiled..."

Taking their first deliberate motions, the pair sits up - causing the blanket to shift although the green dragonling does pull it close to her chest. They look to each other and then the others around the room, and begin to speak. Their voices are synchronized, not quite identical, but so in-tune that it's difficult to tell one from the other. "So that was gestation? We can see why mortals don't bother rembering it."

Pizola tilts her head at their matter-of-fact manner. "They speak! You're saying...you do rember it? The past few weeks you were, y'know, in there?" She points towards Xenia's midriff for emphasis.

Together the pair nod. "A dungeon core knows everything that goes on inside it, doesn't it? Well, we suppose it did take us at least a week or so to resu conscious thought. But the past few weeks, certainly."

Xenia briefly ntally reviews the activities of the past few weeks. "...Uh. Right. ...You saw everything that went on in the dungeon these past few weeks?"

The pair turn to face her with matching grins, even as they begin shuffling towards the edge of the table. "We imagine that if we were mortal children, we would be quite traumatized. Really, mother, won't you settle down and find us a nice father figure one of these days?"

Xenia pulls back, a shocked expression on her face. "Hey! I don't gotta take no sass from no damn newborns! I can and will give you two a spanking, young man and lady!"

"Really? We were under the impression that you preferred it more when you were the one - "

"Gah!" Rushing forward, Xenia takes each of their snout-like jaws in hand and snaps them shut. "We speed-running past the terrible twos right into being teenagers, here? Wait - do you two rember what you were like, you know...before? Cause I'm pretty sure there was only one of you before Kahlia got involved."

The two share another look, and as Xenia releases their snouts they answer. "We were one...then we split. Now we are two. It's...new."

Lollyp laughs at the understatent. "We can see that! But why are you two saying all the sa words and all that? You even move the sa."

They answer simultaneously, as usual. "We have the sa origin, and so far, all of the sa experiences. So we're still of one mind? It...may change. If we do things differently, form different mories, different minds. We think we can...if we focus..." The two peer at each other, holding eye contact as if undergoing so sort of ntal telepathy until eventually the girl speaks.

"I am I."

The boy responds. "I am I?"

The two take a breath and resu their synchronization. "It may take so ti. But that is for the future. We believe you were concerned more about the past? The present is also quite concerning, we believe."

Xenia takes another deep breath of her own. "Yeah. Lem get you those pants, and we'll talk..."