I nodded. This sounded a bit like the way that environments such as the forest I’d passed through absorbed expended mana to become magical hotspots. Kyrine’s mansion operated like any other natural environment, benefitting when cultivators practiced magic within her walls.

This was hopeful. It sounded like there might be ways around just murdering folks who entered the mansion, which was good. I might have killed those soldiers, but that had been an act of self-defense. I was aware of the mythology of dungeons, and I wouldn’t want to participate in the work of one that just wantonly killed anyone who entered it.

From the sounds of it, it would actually be better if powerful cultivators didn’t die in the mansion, because then they might return again and again to expend more mana. If, of course, the rewards were right.

“That sounds reasonable to me,” I said, nodding.

“Good. We can go into more detail later,” Kyrine continued. “For the moment it should be sufficient for you to know that you will be capable of changing the mansion’s form in whatever way you please, within the limits of the resources available. Dungeons are also adept at spells in the Summoning class.”

Summoning spells? I took a moment to lift my jaw off the floor. The Summoning class was some of the rarest magic on Earth. I would have been lying if I’d said the prospect of having access to that didn’t excite me.

I sat back in my chair, smiling warmly at Kyrine. If things kept moving in this direction, I could almost find my way to forgiving her for her murderous “test.”

“So, this is like some kind of job interview?” I asked.

She nodded, smiling back at me. “As I said, this interview will determine your skill pathways, the pathways along which your magical abilities progress once we merge. You see, when the first Keepers merged with dungeon cores, there were no aptitude tests. Because of this, their progression was slow. To fix this, it was decided best to have the prospective Keeper answer a series of questions, and then provide them with presets based on their answers.”

“That sounds basically like the aptitude tests you take in video games where the NPC asks you a bunch of questions about various scenarios and then bases your starting build on your answers.”

She blinked at me a couple of times, looking blank, before she grinned. “Oh, yes, video games! I have watched a resident operate them on a number of occasions. They do indeed seem enjoyable, although I have never had the opportunity to sample them.”