The Morality System

I came over to where Abigail was staring at an open chest full of clearly magic crystals. They were obviously the most powerful things in this entire dungeon, because they had power just radiating off them.

Sparks of different colored lightning arced back and forth across the trove and lights pulsed and glowed.

"Holy shit!" I said. "I don't know whether to take this or destroy it."

"Why would we destroy it?" Abigail said.

"You saw what these crystals did to that miner and the giant canine. I wonder what they would do to other people," I said.

"Yeah, but this is a dungeon. Logic doesn't always follow between enemies and rewards. The crystals might have no actual negative effects," she said.

"Yeah, but how would we know for sure?" I said. "Wait, a second. I'm an evil wizard. Maybe there's some kind of magic I can do to detect if they have negative effects."

"Yeah, that's a great idea. Do magic about it," she said.

"Ok, here I go," I said. I put my hands out over the crystals like I was going to perform a spell, but then I just asked the system a question.

'Can you detect if these crystals have negative effects?'

[Yes. They do, but it's temporary. As long as you give proper recovery time between uses or after multiple uses, you will be fine]

'Ok. Give me exact figures. Explain it in numbers so I can understand it better.'

[Ok. Common crystals give 0.1% corruption per use. Uncommon, 0.2%, rare, 0.3%, epic 0.5%, and legendary 1%. The average person, meaning someone with C-rank potential, can recover 1% corruption per day, but the corruption is cumulative. The higher your cumulative corruption, the more side effects you will have. When you reach 100% you lose control of your mind and become a mindless enemy NPC. Like Carl]

'I'm assuming that means the potential rank multiplier applies the same to corruption recovery as it does to core absorption?'

[Yes. The N-rank potential multiplier of 10x applies the same to cores and corruption recovery. Meaning, an N-rank potential can recover 10% corruption per day]

'Ok, good. What are the side effects and when do they happen?'

[25% corruption: Mild behavioral changes such as increased aggression, and reduced impulse control]

[50% corruption: Moderate behavioral changes such as significantly increased aggression, violent tendencies, and periodic confusion. Mild physical changes such as increased muscle tension, muscle spasms, and twitching]

[75% corruption: Severe behavioral and physical changes. Severe uncontrollable aggression, constant violence, and delirium. Crystal body growths, asymmetrical muscle growth, and dark bulging veins]

[100% corruption: Full loss of control and personality wipe]

'Good to know. I'll make sure to be careful about their use if I use them at all.'

[While I'm not condoning their use, you'll find that some of the crystals' effects are almost too good to pass up. For example, the intelligence and learning boosting crystals allow a mage like you to perform magic at a significantly higher level and learn new magic at a much faster rate. If you are smart about it, you could walk away with no negative effects and significant developmental rewards]

'Thank you for the advice. I will take it into consideration. Can you tell me what rarity the crystals in the chest are?'

[They are all of the rare quality]

'Only rare? Almost doesn't seem worth the effort.'

[Anything higher than rare quality would be a disproportionate reward. This was only a blue dungeon. There are still yellow, orange, red, purple, and black difficulty dungeons above that]

'With that many difficulty tiers, are there rewards above legendary?'

[There are, but you aren't supposed to know that yet. I will not explain or identify those higher rarities until you encounter them]

'Ok. Like a game.'

[Like a game]

'Ok, I'm out. I'm going to talk to Abigail now.'

[Affirmative]

I told Abigail what I learned but said that I learned it through a magic detection spell rather than through my system. It was only logical to keep the system a secret, unless I absolutely had to reveal it for a very important reason, and only to someone I trusted with my life.

"I think we should sell all the crystals except for the ones we think we really need. I only plan to keep intelligence and learning boosting crystals. I figure we could split those down the middle and then sell the rest since we're both magic types. What do you think?" I said.

"I don't want any of the learning boosting crystals. I'll take as many of the intelligence ones you're willing to give up though," Abigail said.

"Ok. How about you just take all the intelligence crystals and I'll take all the learning ones," I said.

"Ok! Sounds good to me!" She said.

"Alright, let's separate out all the intelligence and learning crystals and then put the rest into the chest," I said.

"Deal. You'll have to show me what the intelligence and learning crystals look like first though," she said.

I showed Abby what the crystals looked like and then we separated them out. All the intelligence and learning crystals fit into one of the packs I was carrying. I gave her the intelligence pack and I took the learning pack.

Then we poured all the common and uncommon crystals we had gathered on the way down the dungeon into the treasure chest, closed it, and put it in one of Abby's carrying bubbles.

I dug out the core of the Crystal Canine. "Who do you think should pop it?" I said. "The power hungry guy in me wants to take it myself, but if you really think you need it, I'll give it to you."

"What's his name?" Abigail said, smiling and struggling not to giggle.

"What's whose name?" I said.

"The guy who's inside you. What's his name?" Abigail said, bursting into laughter.

"Haha, very funny," I said. "His name is Steve if you must know."

"Ooo Steve. I like that name!" She said.

"I'm glad you like Steve, but who is going to take this core?" I said.

"You have higher potential, so you'll get more out of it. And I like the idea of my man being stronger than me and protecting me, rather than the other way around," she said.

"Oh, I'm your man now, am I?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"B-but, you kissed me. I kissed you. We kissed. Doesn't that mean we're together now?" She said.

"Exclusively?" I said.

"Well, yeah. Isn't that how everyone gets together? Exclusively?" She said.

"Not necessarily. I've never been in a relationship myself, but I've met people who have dated multiple people at the same time. I'm not saying that's what I want or don't want. I'm not sure what I want yet, and don't want to jump into a commitment without thinking about it first," I said, holding my hands up.

"Hmm. Well, with the knowledge that exclusive isn't the only option, I don't know which one I'd prefer. I just know I want to be with you and only you. Whether I want to prevent you from being with other people is something my mind hasn't decided yet," she said.

"Ok. Well, I'm happy to commit to being with you in an ambiguously nonexclusive way. I like you," I said.

"Good, because I like you too," she said.

"Good. I'll just pop this core real quick, and we can go find that teleportation platform, and meet up with Henry and Stu," I said.

"Ok!" She said.

I popped the huge red core in my hand.

[You have absorbed a +25 Strength core. N-Tier 10x multiplier applied. +25 Strength (165)]

We wandered around until we found the teleportation platform in the corner of the room behind some equipment and used it. We appeared about 20 feet away from the dungeon entrance. Henry and Stu were waiting for us.