Literature / No Need for a Core?

No Need For A Core? is a Dungeon Core story published on Royal Road starting in September of 2022, written by Zagaroth.

The title is a reference to an 80's anime title, specifically Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki, though there are other anime of the time with similar naming styles.

This is a character-driven story following three main characters:

Mordecai, an ancient 'Sealed Evil' (though not really, he just had a Very Bad Day once) Dungeon Core.

Kazue, a young kitsune woman who had recently been reincarnated as a dungeon.

And Moriko, a half-elf monk who accidentally set off the chain of events that led to Mordecai's unsealing and the eventual merger of the two dungeon cores, along with a three-way marriage due to pure convenience of using a bonding ritual to give a mutual boost of power for a critical time period.

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• A Dungeon Is You: The premise of the story, using both the Dungeon Core and Dungeon Avatar concepts.

• Action Mom: Turns out that Kazue's mother was one of these all along. She just wanted to see her daughter safely raised before adventuring again.

• Action Dad: This would also apply to Kazue's father. Which makes them a Battle Couple.

• Action Dress Rip: Averted. The dress Moriko was traveling in was not restricting in any way, and when she does need to get into a fancy dress, has it tailored specifically so that she wouldn't need to do that if fighting did come up. It helps that all of the local princesses are ActionGirls

• All Myths Are True: Not in specific detail, as this is not an alternative Earth, but almost every sort of magic or creature can be found somewhere. Also, technically Earth and its many alternatives are technically reachable via planar travel

• Alternative Turing Test: Due to the provable existence of spirits and souls, and the connection of souls to minds, anything that appears to have a mind is presumed to have a true mind and soul. This is a religious doctrine handed down by the deities who created this universe and has carried over into secular law and been incorporated into doctrine by most deities that either arrived later or have risen from mortal origins.

• Ambadassador: Princess Orchid would undoubtably accept the title with a matter-of-fact "Well, of course."

• Anatomy of the Soul: Souls are explicitly the result of True Minds, and once formed can become the matrix in which the mind exists after the body is no longer functioning. The outermost layer of the soul is the Spirit, which is also possed by all living and some non-living creatures that do not have souls. The soul also contains a Soul Core, which acts as a reinforced live-updated backup of the soul, and can wait in a dormant state if the active soul is damaged or destroyed.

• Animate Inanimate Object: Initially the Bookwyrms and Biting Words are just programmed automatons, but due to a dungeon upgrade they gain true sentience/minds, and thus souls.

• Balance Between Good and Evil: Averted. While evil may be an inevitable result of an unlimited number of mortal beings having Free Will, that does not mean it is welcome, and the universe is explicitly tilted towards good eventually triumphing over evil. You still have to work for it, but the deities who created this universe have given an edge of karmic luck to benign creatures, and karmic bad luck to malign creatures. This means that those who are most successful at being evil are also those who are careful and crafty, but it also means that they have a well-developed sense of enlightened self-interest.

• Battle Couple: In addition to the above pairing; Mordecai, Moriko, and Kazue make a battle trio, though Kazue is still being trained and is not particularly eager to participate in actual fights if she doesn't have to.

• Bigger on the Inside: Dungeon space is malleable; upgrading a room will frequently make it larger on the inside, without changing the amount of space it occupies on a map. The first specific incidence of this is the creation of the Library level, whose ceiling goes much higher than the floor above it would be in normal space.

• Black Magician Girl: Kazue is a burgeoning example of this, but her training for the past several months has only just started being put to the test. She's also The Cutie, but she's been training with two certified badasses. So don't expect 'helpless' from this one. An even better example is found in the form of the three-tailed kitsune witch, Shizoku

• Books That Bite: The Biting Words that occupy the library section of the dungeon's battle path were created in part for Mordecai's amusement.

• Casts No Shadow: Masters of shadow magic, such as Mordecai, can turn their shadows into familiars. Doing so causes them to not cast a shadow so long as their familiar is separated from them.

• Color-Coded Characters: Mordecai's core half is Purple in color, and he deliberately gives his avatars dark purple hair. Kazue's core half is gold, and while she keeps her original hair color (Red) she does tend to add gold themes into her clothing. And the clothes of her husband and wife.

• Creation Myth: Only referenced in-story, but it also exists as a written work separate from this story.

• Curb-Stomp Battle: A surprise for how bad it was for the dungeon's side when it turns out that Kazue's mother is a seven-tail druid. A few volumes later and the dungeon is able to deliver a remarkably one-sided battle against an army and come out with plenty of resources that hadn't been given a chance to participate.

• Dark Is Not Evil: Mordecai's patron deity is the lawful good Lord of Shadows. Kazue's patron deity is the mercurial but well-meaning goddess of the moon and night. And their first-floor boss is a giant fluffy rabbit empowered with void/shadow energy.

• Death from Above: Used multiple times, generally by dropping a specific raid boss on the target(s): Zushi, a giant fluffy ball of life-absorbing void energy in the form of a black rabbit.

• Deconfirmed Bachelor: Bachelorette actually. Moriko has a very healthy sexual appetite, and previous to the Marriage of Convenience she had no interest in limiting her explorations of all the wonderful options available in a fantasy world. And all the protection from unwanted consequences that magic can make happen very conveniently.

• Dhampyr: They exist, and Mordecai has explicitly incorporated abilities from them into his current over-clock avatar.

• Dominant Species Genes: Kitsune, at least when they are the mother. In general, mothers have a slightly stronger impact than fathers for mixed traits, but kitsune breed almost true through the maternal line. Sufficient human/elf dilution can cause their base forms to have hybrid traits instead of being anthropomorphic foxes.

• Down the Rabbit Hole: Played with. One of the dungeon cores adores cute creatures such as rabbits, so rabbits (and cuteness in general) are a common theme in the dungeon, which is technically a hole in the ground.

• Dungeon Crawling: They are the dungeon to be crawled. Just don't say that to Kazue, you'll creep her out.

• Education Through Pyrotechnics: After being on the receiving end of a fortunately friendly Curb-Stomp Battle, the dungeon has implemented some explosive measures to counter anyone trying to brute force their way past certain challenges. Just walk your way through the hedge maze, okay?

• Extreme Omnivore: A dungeon can absorb and analyze any materials from outside the dungeon, allowing the dungeon to recreate it given that the dungeon has the processing capability and power to do so. Both of these increase as a dungeon grows, and it can later reach the point of being able to reproduce things it initially could only analyze.

• Exotic Weapon Supremacy: Played with. While Mordecai prefers to use a mixture of unarmed attacks and magic, he is aware of the showmanship of a Nine Ring Sword, and uses one for effect when needed.

• Familiar: referenced several times, plus a side character has a small slime as a familiar, and both Mordecai and another side character have a familiar-adjacent creature called an Eidolon, though it is more combat focused than a typical familiar.

• Feathered Fiend: There's a seven-tailed kitsune druid with a cassowary animal companion. Do not mess with the protective fox mama.

• Fantastic Arousal: Kitsune tails, though emotional context matters as to what type of sensitive they are. Unwanted contact/stimulation would be irritating and possibly mildly painful.

• Fantasy Pantheon: A plethora of them, though only one is show cased so far in this specific story.

• Functional Magic: Several varieties exist.

• Gratuitous Princess: Five of the seven royal children are princesses. But each of them kicks ass in their own way.

• Half-Human Hybrid: Applies to more than just humans, enabled thanks to Divine Law and the presence of magic everywhere. Love improves the odds of cross-species copulation producing offspring, and is the reason the gods made sure that it could happen to begin with.

• Happily Married: Our primary thruple has this in spades, once they do fall in love.

• Healing Magic: This is a high fantasy story, we have All the magics.

• Hollywood Acid: More like fantasy/magic acid, so it has a reasonable cause, but the concept still applies.

• Hollywood Healing: Applies to almost everyone who cares, thanks to the application of Healing Magic

• Homosexual Reproduction: Explicitly described as possible thanks to magic, though there are no examples in-story.

• Hot Consort: The queen of the nearby kingdom is a very attractive older woman, despite having seven children, the youngest of which is sixteen.

• Hybrid Monster: Rabbit-Bees and Rabbit-Bats are the first hybrids, and begin on the second floor. 'Bunyips' that are actually mer-rabbits are created on the 6th floor

• Immortality: Some creatures, such as Living Dungeons, are ageless-immortal from creation/birth, but it is technically possible for most mortals to find a mystic path to immortality. It is not an easy path however, and the afterlife is both verified to exist and generally pleasant for most people, so there is less incentive to pursue it than you might think.

• Ineffectual Death Threats: Avoided. The threats in question were conditional, and the conditions were not met to invoke them. Everyone on both sides believes the person who gave the threat would have carried them out if conditions had been met.

• Just a Kid: Averted. The thirteen-year-old kid is a secondary character, but she's also a three-tailed kitsune who is being groomed to become the next Clan Matriarch. No one underestimates her.

• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Played with. Said finery has been prepared to be quite battle ready if needed, but has not yet been called upon to fulfill that duty.

• Killer Rabbit: Quite literally in the form of Dire Rabbits. Sharp-horned rabbits to pierce, blunt-horned rabbits for bludgeoning damage, and rabbits with extra long and sharp teeth. And that's before we get into the ones that have breath weapons.

• Lady of Black Magic: While many could technically fall into this category, the prime example would be Aia, Matriach of the Azeria clan, and a nine-tailed kitsune.

• Life Energy: Vitality/Vitalizing energy, contrasted by Void Energy. Neither are good or bad, they are just part of the cycle of life and death.

• Little Miss Badass: Shizoku is a side character who is a thirteen-year-old prodigy and a three-tailed kitsune. A trained witch and alchemist and heir presumptive to the clan's Matriarch, she can hit you with a fireball or a flask of acid. Don't mess with the white-haired kitsune witch.

• Matriarchy: How the Azeria kitsune clan is ruled. Also explicitly implemented in a way to balance the encoded patriarchy of the Kingdom that the clan is part of. They are to be judge, jury, and if needed, executioners should the ruling king fail to abide by the laws of the kingdom's establishing charter. And a nine-tail kitsune is always present as an advisor to the king, and tutor to the king's children.

• Magical Counterfeiting: Dungeons that have unlocked the relevant metals can make coins from mana quite easily. However, previous experience has taught Mordecai that upsetting local economies is a bad idea, and only reproduces raw materials or jewelry, never coins. And they also avoid competing with certain rare items that are normally very difficult to reproduce, and otherwise only have a single source.

• Mama Bear: Well, Momma Fox actually, when she finds out her daughter has been reincarnated a mere two days walk away from the clan.

• Marriage Before Romance: Done for practical reasons, but as all involved agreed to the situation, there was no resentment and they could work on building affection. Having a ritual-created Psychic Link that carried sincere emotions helps a lot.

• Marriage of Convenience: Arranged and completed in the opening act due to very immediate circumstances.

• Martial Pacifist: In addition to the combat challenges specifically doing their best to be not lethal, the dungeon has two paths to choose from. Or the hidden third route if the dungeon judges a lethal route to be the only available path, though to date it has not been needed as more than a threat if anyone tried to be belligerent about the dungeon's rate-limiting rules. If you don't want to play by the rules, you can always take the third option.

• No One Should Survive That!!: A testament to how much power Mordecai had accumulated. Even in a dormant state, most sealed dungeons would have mana-starved in a period of decades, maybe centuries. Mordecai lasted over two thousand years.

• Pass the Popcorn: The dungeon eventually develops a War Room, where not only can their favored guests watch other challengers along with the dungeon's avatars, but their more tactically minded inhabitants can watch and take notes on more challenging delving parties. Also, the kitchens are nearby and refreshments are served during the viewing.

• The Power of Trust: In a way, the entire story depends on the protagonists deciding to gamble on trusting each other at the very beginning.

• Pretty Princess Powerhouse: To be expected of any of the local princesses, but by appearance applies most strongly to Princess Orchid.

• Pun: Used intermittently in the naming of some of the dungeon creatures, and in some chapter titles.

• Red Oni, Blue Oni: While not as extreme as some examples, Kazue is definitely the softy and runs the pacifist path while Mordecai runs the combat path. Moriko is less battle-hardened than Mordecai but is far more willing to solve problems with violence than Kazue. And both are willing to go full Red Oni to protect Kazue. Don't make the Cutie Cry.

• Remote Body: Technically true of all Living Dungeon stories that have both an Avatar and a Core

• Ruling Couple: Technically Mordecai and Kazue, as they are the cores controlling the dungeon's territory. Moriko is happy to be the Royal Consort. Also applies to the king and queen of the kingdom adjacent to the dungeon's territory.

• Seduction-Proof Marriage: Even Moriko ends up seduction-proof, once she decides she does want to actually commit to the Marriage of Convenience.

• Supernatural Martial Arts: Most dedicated warriors can achieve some level of this, but warrior monks are especially adept at pulling off supernatural feats.

• Sword and Gun: One of the secondary characters specifically uses this as his primary fighting style, in part because of the limited range of black powder weapons, and to give himself cover while he reloads. To then fire from point-blank range.

• Trauma Button: The entire reason Mordecai was sealed away to begin with.

• Tsundere: The mercurial-tempered Goddess of the Moons, Mericume, is a tsundere who refuses to admit her feelings for the dragon god who is the father of her son. Who also sired a daughter with her Yin-Yang Twin Amirume, the Goddess of the Sun. Given that the two goddess are nine-tailed kitsune, they may well have been the ones doing the seducing in this scenario. Just don't bring that up to Mericume.

• Warrior Princess: All of the royalty for the local kingdom follows this trope. Results may vary in other nations.

• World of Badass: While not quite literally everybody, it could be anybody. Your local alchemy shopkeepers also know how to whip up alchemical bombs, drugs, or other useful items on the fly. The seamstress might know how to use her enchanted needles to sew your limbs to your body. And a harmless gardener may turn out to be a seven-tailed kitsune druid with a cassowary companion.

• Your Mom: Kazue is a kitsune, like her mother before her. Foxes are a type of canine. The B-word is verboten in all its forms and phrases.

• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Look, the ancient dungeon core was sealed away instead of killed because they couldn't kill him. And it only worked because he wasn't resisting. It took over 2000 years to starve him to the point where circumstances could force him to start over by binding himself to a first-floor dungeon. Do you really want to find out why even his own patron deity helped seal him away?