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It's not wrong to make Friends in the Dungeon (Danmachi / Sanctioned [Worm])

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ROTH963 said:
Not really, Taylor made new souls when she created Friends, Queen already does have a soul, as does Taylor, it is the main reason Freya is interested in them, the uniqueness of their souls and the way they interact with one another.

And soon Taylor would presumably start mass producing dungeons.
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There's a difference between a Brand New Soul and one Developed Enough to facilitate Doing Magic on its own.

Though, Falna would speed that up.
Thanks Loki!
 
V01DRei said:
There's a difference between a Brand New Soul and one Developed Enough to facilitate Doing Magic on its own.
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How do you know it, are you a wizard, there is no reason to believe or imply of what you said in the story, the only reason Dreamer takes time right now is that inventing things take time.
 
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Dreamer's own meatsuit is designed to have a high compatibility with magic. This is not definitive, it is possible that with a new soul the aptitude would be impossible to utilise, but it does suggest that in this version of the setting magic can be somewhat brute-forced by physiology.
 
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Chapter 44: Petition
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    • Special thanks to @saganatsu, @DB_Explorer, @fictionfan, @Adephagia, @Just_A_Knight, Mr. Silver, @DaGeek247, @ChaoticSky, @Wordsmith, @LonelyWolf999, Jamie Wahls, and my twenty other patrons not mentioned here. An extremely enthusiastic "Thank you" to @Torgamous for her patronage as well. Also, if you're not on here, you fit the tier, and you want to be added, please tell me. >.>

    Beta-read by @Vebyast and @Nixeu.


    Dreamer felt it probably wasn't normal for small children to think about philosophy and/or their life decisions while trying on new clothes. Of course, she was a baby alien goddess masquerading as a human child. Some strangeness should really be expected, especially when her alleged child-wetware was a less than accurate imitation of what a human brain actually looked like. She was still happy with the overall results, though.

    She couldn't previously remember enjoying being cooed over by those older than her. Of course, she also had trouble remembering her old name; not remembering shopping trips didn't really mean much. Either way, Dreamer was surprised to find that the shopping trip was actually as enjoyable as she was hoping it would be. It wasn't just that she looked good; it was that other people were happy she did.

    No, wait. It also wasn't that. If she'd really been that interested in receiving positive responses from other people, then she could've specifically designed her puppet to elicit desirable responses from as many people as possible. Why was she enjoying this, then? Was there just some part of the human brain that liked it when other people thought they looked nice? Dreamer supposed such encouragement would probably grant an evolutionary advantage to any members of a species that selected mates based on cosmetic appearance. That meant enjoying herself was OK and provided proof that she wasn't shallow; it was evolution's fault. And besides, even if it wasn't, why shouldn't she enjoy almost whatever she felt like? If her hobbies didn't hurt other people, then Dreamer shouldn't care if those people disliked her hobbies.

    Really, they were lucky she was still interacting with the world at all. It wouldn't be unacceptably difficult for Dreamer to forge a fake world with fake people and spend all her time in there. She wouldn't, though. 2d people wouldn't be actual people; even if real people had treated her poorly and/or neglected her in the past, Dreamer was a member of two social species. A virtual reality game with lifelike NPCs might be fun now and again, but she wouldn't want to live there forever. Not without bringing a whole ton of friends, anyway.

    "You weren't kidding about the frilly bits," Huntress mused. "Whoever kept them from you was a jerk; you're honestly adorable. Blue's a good color on you."

    Dreamer giggled and spun on one heel, her new tail automatically adjusting position to help maintain her balance. She'd meant to only twirl the once, but impulse had her repeatedly striking the polished wood floor with her other foot to help her pick up speed. That venture came to a stumbling stop when Huntress interfered and caught her. Dreamer was slightly irritated that her puppet wasn't dizzy; she'd need to weaken her internal inertial compensation mechanisms. Or, no, that was dumb. It'd be better and safer to manually induce minor sensations of vertigo.

    "I've seen bored staff-users and drunk adventurers accidentally set fires by doing almost exactly that," Huntress warned. "Or break the floor, or both, or even rub their shoes away to nothing. Remember that your environment gradually becomes more fragile than you."

    Dreamer blinked and refocused her gaze on Huntress. New-Mom stood behind Huntress with both eyebrows raised and a small smile, while Sympathizer quietly talked to Dreamer's old body in one corner of the shop. New-Mom's flying hummingbird Friends flitted around the room in diligent overwatch and an adolescent catgirl employee blatantly eavesdropped on all of them. Dreamer still didn't get why so many of the local shops dressed their employees like boring maids or manservants, but at least it made it easier to identify the employees in any given shop.

    Non-combat? New-Mom mouthed.

    Dreamer stuck her tongue out and decided to change the subject. Or not. Some? She didn't know.

    "I'm not actually an adventurer yet; I'm still deciding if I should become one. Plus, I kiiiiinda lost focus after the bit about Magic Stone usefulness and rock-vegetables."

    That makes the Dungeon a rock farm, doesn't it? Hee.

    Huntress poked the bridge of Dreamer's nose, dragging her back to reality and convincing the former human to defensively shield her nose. Even if she barely felt outright pain, she could still feel discomfort and embarrassment.

    "We actually talked about age-related tasking while you were imitating a baby kitten," Huntress teased. "I think I might've even convinced your older sister. Anyway, why don't we talk about this when you're older? If you do want to go adventuring, you can spend these next few years training and getting ready. You shouldn't rush things; most people who go into the Dungeon don't come back out."

    Dreamer gave Huntress a flat look and raised one hand in the traditional I'm going to whisper gesture. The shopgirl moved closer to eavesdrop, but a pointed look was enough to make her back away. Still, Dreamer grabbed the next dress off the pile with one hand, took New-Mom's wrist with the other, and stepped back into the changing rooms. Huntress stayed outside while New-Mom helped with the clothes, but Dreamer thought that would probably help prevent eavesdropping overall.

    "Killing me is really, really hard," Dreamer disclosed. "Harder than Friend-level hard. And that's part of the problem, you know? Old-Sister used to be way more powerful than I am, but accidents happened and now she isn't. I don't want her to be mad that I'm more powerful than she is, especially since I could restore her. It'd just make her into someone and something who'd do things none of us liked."

    New-Mom sighed with blatant resignation, but didn't stop changing out the ribbons in Dreamer's hair.

    "That and I'm pretty sure the corrupted wine stuff and New-Sister are the only things keeping New-Mom from getting really, really drunk," Dreamer added. "I don't want to be an extra source of stress."

    New-Mom immediately leaned over to hug Dreamer. Unlike her guest-self, Dreamer did rather enjoy it, thank you very much.

    "Stress happens," the goddess disagreed. "I can't remember if you heard me, but making my children happy makes me happy. It's okay if that happiness sometimes makes me a bit worried; if you truly want to do something, we can make it work. It's worth it."

    "Besides, your sister doesn't really seem like the kind of person to get jealous over power or stuff like that," Huntress added. "Her Friends are probably more dangerous than her, right? And she still adores them. She seems more likely to brag about her powerful little sister than to be upset that her sister is powerful."

    You already think I'm a Spirit, don't you? Dreamer couldn't see any other significant reason for Huntress's one-eighty. Really, she'd be surprised if half of Orario didn't suspect by the end of the week.

    "That does still leave your opinion of fighting, though," Huntress continued. "It's 'limb-flailing' that goes on all day. You can't just stop and nap like you did earlier, and people will get hurt if you don't take the Dungeon seriously. Wouldn't you rather just stay up here and play for at least a few more years? You can stop and nap if you're training via exercise and the like. He-eck, do you even know how to swim yet? You shouldn't go very far into the Dungeon if you haven't learned that much."

    …Oooh. That could actually be a minor problem; Dreamer's new body wouldn't float at all. She'd add fixing her buoyancy to the list of minor inhuman aspects she'd accidentally overlooked.

    "Water isn't a problem."

    "You can't turn an entire pond into steam, Dre—" Huntress began, then stopped. "Okay, I might be wrong there, but just because you can doesn't mean you should."

    New-Mom snorted while Dreamer blinked. Dreamer's mass addition to the back-blessing really had set people's expectations high, huh? She hadn't even been planning to throw around the kind of attacks needed to evaporate a pond.

    An absentminded glance at the mirror indicated that her current outfit made her look like a poofy pink poodle, so she hastily squirmed out of both Hestia's embrace and the ugly abomination of a dress. She didn't want the child's adorifying halloween costume kind of cute.

    "I actually meant that I can basically breathe underwater even though I sink like a rock."

    New-Mom's head produced an audible thud as it lightly impacted the wall. A similar slap sounded from outside; Dreamer was guessing it was from Huntress hitting her own forehead.

    "Your old homeland is fuulipping underwater, isn't it?" Huntress complained. "No wonder nobody's heard of you."

    Dreamer opened her mouth and failed to make any sound whatsoever. She'd been trying to play with the idea of crystal people, not that. She wouldn't complain about the result, though. The wrong ideas people kept getting were hilarious.

    "No comment."

    "I knew i—" Huntress began.

    "That's not a yes," New-Mom interrupted sharply. "Besides, how would cats come from underwater? Or birds? Don't go putting words in people's mouths; there are enough rumors floating around as it is."

    Aww. Dreamer kinda liked that one. Maybe she should say something about sea lions? Nah, someone might know enough to call her out on it.

    "Uh—" Huntress coughed. "Right. Okay. Sorry, Lady Hestia. Anyway, Dreamer? What are you really thinking of doing if you did go into the dungeon? Knife throwing like your sister? You sounded kinda disdainful of even spellcasting and although you might be hard to kill, you shouldn't be front-lining. A monster could literally just sit on you and wait for you to run out of air."

    No, not really. Even if she didn't phase right through it, she could probably just incinerate it or something. She hadn't decided yet; she didn't want to have god mode, but she also didn't want to see anyone die. Deciding on a powerset that would allow that balance was hard. Unless she had an only-for-emergencies red button of doom? It would even fit tradition!

    "I said hard to kill, not just durable," Dreamer disagreed. "And—"

    "She's a gossip," New-Mom reminded Dreamer. "We can discuss this at home."

    "Hey, I can keep secrets when it counts!" Huntress objected defensively. "I mean… no, actually, never mind. I have a bad habit of accidentally revealing them through hints, I guess. But I think I already know this one!"

    "You suspect," Dreamer's guest-self disagreed. "If this information is both valuable and vulnerable to leaks, then we should avoid confirming it."

    New-Mom shot upright, checked to see if Dreamer was currently dressed, and yanked the door open. Outside, Dreamer's guest-self Old-Sister hopped on alternating feet with a smile that practically screamed "I'm going to murder you in a darkened hallway." Dreamer couldn't decide whether she should warn the alien now occupying her old body, or if she should encourage much more smiling in the future. That second one seemed like more fun.

    ~ ~ ~​

    Queen Administrator believed she was still recovering from Dreamer's various surprises. She blamed them for both her lingering detached numbness and the disproportionate amount of energy that her body seemed to want to expend on ordinary tasks. Yes, she was happy with the news Dreamer had delivered, but that didn't mean she needed to be using so much energy to display it. She wasn't Broadcast. Still, she supposed the extra exercise could encourage Dreamer's old body to further improve itself; maybe she should be bouncing more.

    "Are you going to be alright?" Hestia asked anxiously. "You aren't faking, are you? We can go home if you need us to; Dreamer has enough to wear for the next few days."

    Queen Administrator focused her attention on her host favorite younger sibling, blinked, and wondered if she was allowed to be jealous. Dreamer had been remarkably resistant to Queen Administrator's past attempts at wearing brighter outfits, yet Dreamer now seemed happy to wear a bright red gown that would probably prevent her from running. The red ribbons in Dreamer's hair also seemed as though they would draw more attention than Dreamer usually wanted.

    Maybe it was just Dreamer's old body that she had trouble enjoying? She did seem to harbor some significant misconceptions regarding her own appearance. Or maybe she enjoying being away from her old homeworld as much as Queen Administrator was enjoying the lack of nearby relatives.

    "Hestia: I am doing very well; Dreamer's news was surprising, but I am happy overall. Unfortunately, I do not wish to talk about some of the news until this evening and the rest until further notice. Dreamer: Is your old hat-wearer mine now?"

    Dreamer froze, her reaction unnoticed by all save Queen Administrator and possibly Aiz. To Queen Administrator's satisfaction, Hestia and Tiona just seemed puzzled. QA imagined that asking "Does your old body now belong to me?" would prompt questions she did not particularly want to answer. Even if she could now tell host-species about her nature without parental backlash, that didn't mean it would be anything even remotely approaching a good idea.

    "That… might be called a coat rack…?" Hestia ventured.

    "No it isn't," Dreamer muttered, blinking rapidly.

    The former human spent several seconds alternating between viewing her reflection in the mirror and looking back at Queen Administrator.

    "Try describing it?" Tiona suggested.

    Dreamer giggled, hesitated for several more seconds, and finally nodded.

    "No, she can have it," Dreamer decided. "I put up new replacements afterward, but I did still take some of your old stuff. It's only fair that you should get mine in return."

    Tiona's forehead furrowed in apparent confusion. QA quickly continued before the pseudo-pseudo-host could interrupt.

    "And am I allowed to customize it?" Queen Administrator persisted.

    Dreamer slowly exhaled, her smile fading. Queen Administrator was pretty sure the need for permission meant that the body wasn't actually hers, but she'd take whatever freedom she could get. Really, she'd likely need to spend the next several days entirely on reevaluation. She'd never operated with few to no true constraints before.

    "Some," Dreamer allowed. "Cosmetic stuff is fine, I guess, but the functionality should stay mostly the same. Maybe a few extras if you really want them. We'll talk about it more when you get home, okay?"

    That was the complete opposite of what Queen Administrator had expected: permission to add a number of hidden capabilities as long as they didn't make visible changes. The new requirements were closer to the limitations imposed on a given Cycle. In other words, Host's Dreamer's old body actually was Queen Administrator's; Dreamer just didn't want QA achieving feats outside of what a human could theoretically manage with the Falna. QA supposed that made sense if the current experiment's goal was human recruitment. Admittedly, those functional changes were the only things Queen Administrator had truly wanted. QA didn't want to further harm Host's self-image by changing her appearance.

    …Well, changing her appearance much. She could probably make an argument for the Friend-based alterations that Dreamer had incorporated into her current child-extension. That would, in turn, give her an excuse for significant sensory improvements and the brain improvements necessary to utilize those senses.

    Hestia's eyes widened with apparent realization, something that did not go unnoticed. Tiona's eyes flicked to the pseudo-host and narrowed with what was likely suspicion.

    "You guys aren't talking about furniture at all, are you?" Tiona grumbled. "I mean, thanks for at least talking in code instead of your own language, I guess? I value my—"

    "You really are terrible at keeping secrets," Dreamer pointedly interrupted.

    Tiona's mouth snapped shut. A second later, she laughed once and rubbed at the back of her head with one hand.

    "Right, yeah. I deserved that. I'm guessing you're not telling me what you're discussing, then?"

    ""No,"" Dreamer and QA simultaneously refused.

    "Jinx!" Dreamer chirped, then blinked and giggled. "I won't force it, though, even if I can now. Or, no, never mind. Too much work."

    ~ ~ ~​

    It probably wasn't healthy to be in a competition with the older version of herself, but the pre-child Dreamer had been rather silly. New Dreamer, who didn't have the silly hangups of Old Dreamer, expected one thing and was perfectly fine with it: her new alien sibling was almost certainly going to demand animal ears and a tail. Dreamer was sure it would be adorable even if Allegedly-Old-Sister did completely change the rest of how she looked.

    They were going to get all the attention from Orario ever and it was going to be great. Was it wrong to look forward to the inevitable kidnapping attempts? Dreamer didn't think so~
     
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    • You know the Fates kind of remind me of the Bachan patrol from that one Okami Work crossover for some reason when I reread their parts. I have no clue why... but the image of them rolling along on segways that they borrowed(read:Stole) while they are snippy at different people for their actions and words even while they are constantly drunk keeps on popping up in my mind.
     
    Wow, this is way better than I ever could've expected. Can't wait to see Dreamer/New Taylor show off in the dungeon, eventually. That should be a laugh and a half.
     
    Dreamer continues to be amazing. Also QA worrying about her sister's self image is adorable.

    The amount of misunderstandings going on in every direction is going to blow up in spectacular fashion sooner or later though. Should be fun.
     
    Can't wait for the explanation, "New Mom, we are country sized super computers in search of immortality, we did this by inserting ourselves into the apex species brain, learning all we could, and exploding the planet to continue the CYCLE."
     
    Alivaril said:
    Outside, Dreamer's guest-self Old-Sister hopped on alternating feet with a smile that practically screamed "I'm going to murder you in a darkened hallway."
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    What kind of smile? Yuno Gasai or The Shining?
    Alivaril said:
    Dreamer couldn't decide whether she should warn the alien now occupying her old body, or if she should encourage much more smiling in the future. That second one seemed like more fun.
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    QA's going to make people interpret things even more incorrectly if she doesn't know to emote properly. I mean, if she thinks that a smile looks like one a serial killer makes, what would people think of the rest of her "country"?
    Alivaril said:
    They were going to get all the attention from Orario ever and it was going to be great. Was it wrong to look forward to the inevitable kidnapping attempts? Dreamer didn't think so~
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    Well, she can always kill the kidnappers when she gets bored, so...
     
    "Oh shards they found the motor pool!"-Dreamer probably

    "Look on the bright side at least they didn't take the tanks. What did they take anyway?"-QA probably.

    "They took all of the Segways... All of them."-Dreamer.

    "Wasn't there about a thousand of those in storage? Oh that might be a problem."-QA

    "Yes, yes it is."-Dreamer.
     
    H341ZP1Z said:
    Wow, this is way better than I ever could've expected. Can't wait to see Dreamer/New Taylor show off in the dungeon, eventually. That should be a laugh and a half.
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    Honestly, even I'm amazed that this story has been working so well. I expected this to be a plot bunny that I humored for a few thousand words before it died. Instead, it's turned into one of my flagship fics and a story that I'm genuinely proud of.

    The hard part has been staying relatively focused afterward; QA would work in a great many settings and it's hard not to humor those plot bunnies. Fire Emblem: Three Houses hasn't been helping any. QA-as-Byleth has been scratching at my door and meowing plaintively. EDIT: I probably shouldn't have brought that up outside the ideas thread. Oops. EDIT 2: I did now, so please take any FE:3H replies over there instead.
     
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    I really like how Dreamer always gets lost in thought, but that can't be pleasant to talk to someone who does that right?
    Like you are just talking to her and after the first sentence she just spaces out and everything you say gets ignored, that's got to be irritating right?
     
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