"So?" I asked when Moira returned from the ice gallery. "What exactly did you do to me?"
"Mm!" she grinned. "Have you looked at your status screen yet?"
"Yes, apparently I'm supposed to tell you 'apples'?"
"Ah! It worked. I wasn't sure if I had gotten the inputs for that right, but it looks like I figured it out in the end!"
"And?" I crossed my arms, still upset at having my mind invaded or whatever she had done without my permission.
"Don't worry, don't worry! I'm an expert in mind magic! The Goddess told me to prepare a few things for you, so you're all good now."
"The knowledge infusion and the system back-up?"
"Yup! I guess she's worried that your access to Draugner's system might get cut off at some point, since she had to kind of shoe-horn your connection back in after your death, so she got me to make a copy of its current functions in case Draugner pulls something in the future."
"Draugner…I've heard that name a few times now, he's one of the other gods, right?"
"Ugh," she sighed, looking down. "Revered as the god of wisdom, the ruler of the mind domain. He's the one who designed this system for you and all the other summons, and much as I hate to admit it, it's fine work, adapts to new information like nobody's business. It even obtained the Read Memories skill seed just from my knowledge infusion. Stupidly good when it comes to speeding along the progression of a know-nothing like you. But that's also what could make it dangerous—take away the system, and if you're not prepared you could be left totally powerless."
"Hence the reason for the backup."
Moira nodded. "Well, they'll pound that stuff into you pretty well in the Arena of Wrath, so I wouldn't be too worried, but our Lady likes to prepare for all possibilities, so I'll come down to make another backup before you leave Pride."
"Wrath? Pride? Are these other floors of the dungeon?"
"Greyor didn't tell you? Sheesh, what's that old skeleton doing these days? Yeah, seven floors, seven deadly sins. First the realm of Sloth, where souls go to rest. Second the realm of Envy, and the gallery of memories. Third the realm of Gluttony, and the well of power. Fourth the realm of Lust, the beginning of what we call the inhabited floors, where servants of Our Lady come to seek pleasure and entertainment. Fifth the realm of Wrath, where servants train and spar with one another. Sixth the realm of Greed, the treasury and armoury of Our Lady's domain. Seventh the realm of Pride, the command center where her top aides live and help to govern the rest of us. The Goddess has many kinds of servants, those who live in the dungeon are her most loyal and trusted retainers, who are bound to her will, whatsoever it may be. But there are also many like you, who are mere blessed of the Goddess and are thereby more or less free to do as you please within certain limits. Make sense?"
I sat down heavily on a nearby sofa. It felt like all the wind had gone out of my sail. "I thought…this was an incubation dungeon…"
"It is!" Moira replied cheerily. "New servants or newly resurrected servants make their way through the lower floors killing the monsters in the wastes, gaining power as they go. Their skills are developed by me, their power is deepened by Fencer, and then they enter the inhabited floors where they learn about our organization and train in combat before they're equipped and sent on their way. I'd say it's a pretty good system, myself."
"Uhuh," I replied, unconvinced. I had expected mystery, bosses, life-threatening brushes with death, all of which I finally conquered with my own individual strength and ingenuity. Finding out that it was all just some training wheels to get me up to speed for entry into a well-organized fighting force was truly a blow to my motivation. Though, I had suspected something was up when that dragon just rolled over and let me kill it. Still…I had hoped to feel a little more…special. Special, that it was it, that was the reason hearing about the truth of the dungeon felt like such a blow.
I wanted to be Melphinoe's special chosen one, who passed the trials no one had ever passed before, who became so powerful none could surpass me, who made it on my own and by doing so asserted my own worth, my own special place in the world. I was beginning to wonder if I hadn't been intensely naive to think that way. It was the same feeling I had gotten when I first arrived in this world, when I first saw the system and my class, and thought that I could be the protagonist, the unbeatable, the one who surpasses all.
But I had died. I had thought that would be the end of it, but deep in my heart when I revived, I thought, maybe this was my true arc, maybe this was my own secret way into becoming the strongest of them all. But maybe it was foolish to think that way from the beginning. I thought of all my classmates running around trying to be the best, killing monsters, putting their lives on the line, while the gods who had brought them here, the ones with the true power, sat back and watched, like puppets dancing at the ends of their strings. I thought back to Melphinoe's words. "I prefer my puppets aware of their strings."
I looked down at my hands, letting my living form clothe my black bones in soft, white flesh. "Still, why the hell am I a girl?"