If I were to choose a beginning to all of this, it would be that we died. As we did, we were brought to an infernal place that can only be described as hell. We remained there for God only knows how long. Eventually, we began to imagine spending the rest of eternity there, as that was what most faiths in our world believed: a place of eternal damnation. But no, that did not what ultimately happened for we were saved by a being that the clueless man we once were could only describe as a God. However, by its own words, it was not a god, merely a tool that wished to help the God it was created to serve. In its boundless generosity, this entity not only granted us, lowly beings that we were and still are, salvation from that place of eternal scorching torment but also granted us the opportunity to repay or at the very least attempt to repay him and the God it served by reincarnating us into the sentient entity behind the Dungeon, a Dungeon Core.

  We quickly got the hang of what was expected of us: harvesting as much GP as possible. GP can only be harvested the same way experience can be harvested, by claiming it from living beings, be they monsters, humans, or any other sentient creatures that had the folly to enter our domain. As Dungeon Masters, we did our best, upgrading our spawns by either leveling them up or replacing them entirely, increasing the size of our domain, and implementing traps.

  For thousands of years, arguably tens of thousands of years, our world was limited to our domain, which, as Dungeon Masters, felt like what a body would feel like to a human. Having once been human, it was not an easy experience, as we knew there was something else to the world. But we wouldn’t go as far as to say it was hard. Even if it were, we would only be doing our part in attempting to repay our savior for his benevolence.

  Unfortunately, as a Dungeon Core, an entity that controls the dungeon and has control over nothing beyond the bounds of its domain, our means to repay their benevolence were limited. At least they were until we made contact with authorities, powerful remnants that we know belong to the God our savior was created to serve, A42675, the Great Outer God of Corruption.

  As we made contact with these powerful remnants, we came to understand that we were not alone when saved from that place. There were others as well, but unlike us, they were given authority and were reincarnated as humans into this world known as Fiendfell. They were given salvation and the means to repay the God thanks to whom we were saved. Yet among those reincarnated, some ungrateful fools did nothing with the power and opportunity granted to them or, worse, went as far as to betray them by surrendering the power they were granted to the known enemies of the Gods we serve. The one through whom we acquired Greed and Resurgence, the authority that allows us to reincarnate again and again, was one such fool, someone who’d forgotten the purpose he was in this world for.

  Before that fool, there was another reincarnate from whom we acquired the authority that made us into what we currently are. The single-conscienced entity we once were became multiple, and upon securing three authorities, the last one allowing its wielder to reincarnate again and again into Fiendfell and gain a heightened understanding of the world that is Fiendfell and the reincarnates into the hands of whom most authorities ended up in, we decided to send one of us out here. The one chosen for this mission was him, Dungeon Master 07.

  Under his suggestion as he paved the way for us, I, Dungeon Master 08, along with two other Dungeon Masters, were sent into Fiendfell.

  One thing about the Greed and Resurgence authority is that it doesn’t tell you where to reincarnate; it just does. Thus, when reincarnated, Dungeon Masters have no means to find one another. To tackle that problem, Dungeon Master 07 came up with a solution: a set rendezvous point every 10 years on the 80th day of the second moon of a year ending in 6, in Miriandelle, the city at the edge of the sea separating the continent in two, at the plaza known as the Path of Convergence, in the middle of which is a fountain, the same one I and the man who introduced himself as Dungeon Master 07 sat at, waiting for another Dungeon Master to join us.

  I glanced toward him. He was tall and imposing, with a distinguished and commanding presence. His angular face featured sharp, stern expressions, exuding a sense of authority and experience. His green eyes, filled with a knowing wisdom, hinted at a depth of knowledge and a life rich with significant experiences. His golden but mostly graying hair was neatly styled, adding to his dignified appearance. He wore a richly textured, dark blue garment with intricate patterns, suggesting high status and refined taste.

  I was still there staring, seizing at the man when he asked, "What?"

  "You look, no you're old." I replied frankly.

  He chuckled. "You're one to talk about my appearance. Look at yourself."

  I looked at myself and found nothing weird about it, yet I instantly understood what he was talking about. "Did it surprise you?"

  "Of course it did. Had it not been for the fact that Dungeon Master 10 once personally told me it was possible for us to get reincarnated as a girl, as happened to you, I wouldn't have believed you are one of us."

  "Even if I used the code words?"

  "What guarantee do you have that you're not just someone who captured the real Dungeon Master 08, siphoned all his memories, and is now pretending to be him?"

  As he uttered these words, he looked at me with an expression that made me feel he had considered that possibility earlier.

  Talk about being paranoid.

  Though I suppose that's not completely groundless, knowing ourselves, I was confident that when put in such a position, such a dead end, we'd most likely find a way to make an escape—aka dying, which equates to escaping that situation. Having once been cornered to such a dead end, though back then it was no to the threat of having my memories stolen but rather something else, I was confident about my ability to pull that off."

  "I guess you're right."

  "See?"

  Turning toward Dungeon Master 07, I asked, earnestly curious, "You mentioned hearing from Dungeon Master 10 that I was once a girl. Does that mean you two are in contact?"

  "We were. We met here on this very day 20, 30, and 50 years ago."

  Hearing these words, I couldn't help but feel ashamed when comparing myself to Dungeon Master 10. To think he did three times over what took me seventy years to do once, I was ashamed. If I could crawl, I would've hid under a rock.

  Dungeon Master 07 then sighed. "But I've lost contact since, and frankly, I don't expect him to show up this time."

  "Why?"

  He cast a glance to our left where a man sat. Not even for a second did we assume he could be one of us, for the simple reason that the man was a peon. Turning back to me, he said, "I'll explain later. For now, just don't expect him to come."

  "I see," I nodded, then asked, "What about him then?"

  Since Dungeon Master 10 was out of the way for today’s meeting, there was only one of us missing. As it is, only the four of us had been chosen for the mission: Dungeon Master 07—him, Dungeon Master 08—me, Dungeon Master 10, who, as Dungeon Master 07 just warned me, wouldn't be able to join us. And last but not least Dungeon Master 09.

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  "Him, huh? To tell you the truth, he's just like you."

  "Just like me..."

  At first, I was confused as to what he was referring to, but I quickly understood. "You've never met him?"

  "He's never made it here, and for the past seventy years, I've never missed being here on this day every ten years."

  "I see."

  Having reincarnated again and again for half a dozen decades, I couldn't help but wonder what Dungeon Master 09 could've gotten into. I know what it is, so even though I wasn't aware of his current whereabouts, I couldn't help but sympathize with him. I also have to admit there was a certain relief in my heart when hearing that I wasn't the only failure. At least, I now shared that shameful spot with someone else. I couldn't wait for him to be here, for I really wanted him to be here, more than I wanted Dungeon Master 10. Sorry brother, I hate feeling inferior to anyone

  After a short silence, broken by the peon sitting beside us standing up and taking his leave, I remembered an earlier part of our discussion and said, "To tell you the truth, Dungeon Master 07, I too was taken by surprise. You never told me it was possible to reincarnate as a female."

  "How would I know?"

  "Mph, how would you know, huh?" I mused, reflecting on the journey that had brought us here.

  Out of the four Dungeon Masters, he was the first one to make it to Fiendfell. He did so on his own.

  "You made three attempts before we joined you in this endeavor," I began, reflecting on his words. From his age and the years that had added up, I could tell he was in his fourth incarnation. This meant that since I began this cycle of death and reincarnation, he had never died. And from the way he voiced it, he hadn't missed this once-in-a-decade event for at least the past seventy years. This realization made me feel even more ashamed.

  As I writhed in my own shame, Dungeon Master 07 asked, "How is it? To be a girl?"

  At first, hearing these words, I expected them to be a mocking jab, something I could easily imagine myself doing should’ve I been in his place. However when I glanced at him with a scornful glare already on my face, I was only to be met with a serious and somewhat curious expression.

  I sighed and replied, "What do you want me to say? At first, it was, as I said, a surprise. I didn't expect to be reincarnated as a girl. I expected to be reincarnated as a male like you were or that "fool" from back then was. Having nothing that I could do about it, I had no choice but to live on with the body I was incarnated in."

  I continued, as he took in all of this in with a serious expression, "then, some years later, I died. When I did, I came back again into Fiendfell. You have no idea how much, in that second time and very particularly the third time, I prayed to be reborn as a boy. But there seemed to be no helping it; again and again, I kept reincarnating as a girl. I believe I should've understood it from my third or, at worst, my fourth incarnation, there is something about the authority that makes it so I keep reincarnating, without exception, as a girl."

  "Something about [Greed and Resurgence], huh?" he mused, giving it consideration.

  "You've never thought about it, did you? And I can't blame you. The authority has only ever reincarnated you as a man. To you, there was never anything special about it. You thought you were reincarnated as a male because you were a male, just like the previous wielder of Greed and Resurgence thought he was reincarnated as a male because the authority considered something like gender. But what if it never did? What if you just happened to reincarnate into a male the first time you did?"

  Unlike the common system and the one granted to us Dungeon Masters, which grants us access to otherworldly power, the authorities, each unique and different from one another, grant us access to another type of power. One that is interfaceless, making it feel much more unique and godlike than the power granted by the two systems. The power they grant tends to bypass, ignore, if not outright rewrite, the rules established by the two systems. That being said, it being interfaceless comes with a unique set of problems, one being that the wielder can be completely clueless as to how concretely the authorities operate and what their effects are. Heck, our very birth as "us," as in more than one, was a byproduct of an authority. The "one" that we were became many because we did not understand the use of that authority.

  Dungeon Master 07 silently pondered this for a moment before saying, "I admit, I've never thought about it like that. So how do you explain that you've kept reincarnating the following times, if the authority doesn't care about our initial gender?"

  "That's the only part where I'm still looking for confirmation. The only theory I can formulate on that matter is that the authority simply locks us into the first gender we reincarnate into. I mean, it was the case for you, me, Dungeon Master 10, and even Dungeon Master 09, who, from what you told me, has died at least as many times as I have over the past century."

  At the latter part of my sentence, Dungeon Master 07 unveiled a look of concern toward Dungeon Master 09 before nodding in agreement with my assessment. "The ideal way to confirm that theory would be for one of us, other than myself, to reincarnate as a girl and then observe what they reincarnate into in their subsequent incarnation," I surmised.

  Hearing these words, Dungeon Master 07 looked at me with an expression of disbelief, so I immediately added, "Of course, I don't wish that for any of us. Though there isn't anything particularly wrong with being a girl," I said, tossing sassily my short black hair back. "Except perhaps the initial shock you would have upon realizing for the first time that you're missing your manhood. But you quickly get over that. Despite the many disadvantages of being a girl in this utterly messed-up world, there are actually quite a few advantages to being a girl."

  "Like?"

  "I don't know, like being this suave and beautiful," I said with a grin.

  He chuckled. "Is that what explains the outfit?"

  I looked down at my outfit, a striking ensemble in a deep red hue. The top was a strapless piece that hugged my torso, flowing into high-waisted, wide-legged pants that gave an air of effortless elegance. A long, matching cape billowed behind me, adding a dramatic flair to my movements. Despite all this, the outfit granted me as much mobility as my knight training outfit, which I always wore under a cloak at the beginning of my journey. But over time, I gave up using a cloak when inside the city, realizing that the cloak made me stand out even more. If I were to stand out anyway, it was best to do it in style.

  From the world we came from, I had always loved the corporate attire, a suit, a tie, trousers. For the child that we were back then and to the adult we grew up to be, that outfit was synonymous with success. So once I got the means to purchase one, I bought one, then another, and then another again. Despite it not being tailored for the kind of work we were in, it was the style I fancied the most. Unfortunately, it wasn't available in this world. I mean I could always have one tailored, but I didn't dare to, for that would be akin to holding a sign screaming "Hey I’m here!" to our fellow incarnates, fellow reincarnates who I’d like to remind are guilty of treason until proven innocent, which means that for the time being they were our enemies. So all I was left with were outfits that are the equivalent of a suit in this world.

  I didn't like them, same for its female counterpart. In fact, I hated it even more. That's why, for the most part, I dressed in either a simple tunic or my usual knight training outfit. It was a quarter way through my journey when I discovered this style of outfit that tickled my fancy. I loved how the girl in the mirror looked.

  "It's very comfortable, just so you know. You should try it someday. I have one that might suit you, given how we're about the same height."

  He let out a small chuckle. "In another incarnation, perhaps."

  We sat waiting for the missing member of our reunion, engaging in light conversation. Dungeon Master 07 explained that our discussions should stay light, avoiding topics that would need re-explanation when Dungeon Master 09 arrived. It was during this conversation that he finally asked the question I believed we should've first discussed.

  "I forgot to ask, what's your name in this incarnation?"

  "My name?" I repeated, a bit taken aback.

  "I can't just go around calling you Dungeon Master 08, right?"

  At first, I considered mentioning the name I thought of as my own. But then, seeing no reason to hide the name given to me at birth in this incarnation, I said, "The family I was born into named me Faye, but I'm not particularly fond of it. If a name is necessary, I would appreciate it if you called me Arianna. Arianna, the magician."

  He mumbled, "Faye... Arianna... the magician."

  "Is there a problem with those names?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "No, it's just that for some reason, I feel like I've heard that name somewhere."

  "Oh, is that so. And you?"

  Putting aside the matter of my name's familiarity, which brought a frown to his face, Dungeon Master 07 took a solemn tone, most likely out of habit, and introduced his current incarnation. "Vittorio," he said. I felt there was more to his introduction, but he refrained from saying anything further. "That is the name I was given, and still bear."

  "Vittorio," I repeated, testing the name on my tongue. "Quite the unique name."

  He nodded. "Indeed."

  Our conversation continued in a similar vein, discussing various non-essential topics as we waited for Dungeon Master 09, minutes went by, then hours and soon it was the evening and yet no signs of our fellow Dungeon Master.