As I awoke I noticed several things: First I was now a clear gemstone. Second, I was able to perceive everything around me in a sphere centered on myself. Third, I now had a lot more knowledge from the System. It seemed like it was all filed away in a place I could freely access but I had to actively think about it to recall the knowledge. It was super convenient as I would know the answers to questions the minute I thought of them. First things first Status.

User: Mark Level: 1

Race: True Dungeon Core (System)

Base Mana Generation: 10,000

Total Mana Generation: 10,000

Current Mana: 150,000

Mythic Perks: none (1 available)

Legendary Perks: none (1 available)

Superior Perks: none (1 available)

Greater Perks: none (1 available)

Lesser Perks: none (2 available)

Well that’s a pretty good starter status. From what the system is telling me 10,000 mana is a lot, most dungeons have maybe 1000 at most as their base rate. More importantly the Base Rate mana generation is how much mana you generate per level. In other words I will generate 10,000 mana per level I have. Now onto the perks. Dungeon Cores get starting perks based on their rarity? Rarity isn’t exactly the right word for it, quality is a much better one.

Basically all things in this world are classified on the scale of Mundane to Mythic with Mundane being the lowest and Mythic the highest. The higher the quality the more powerful something is for its level. Dungeons get 1 free perk from each quality level up to their own quality level. So a Greater Dungeon Core would get 1 free greater perk and 1 free lesser perk. Mundane perks aren’t a thing because dungeons are an inherently magical entity and mundane is for non-magical things. As a True Core I’m actually above Mythic Quality and am instead listed as ‘System’ quality. But for the purposes of perks I’m a Mythic Quality dungeon.

Now to get my perks, best to start with the highest quality so I can build the rest of my perks around it.

Notice: you must possess at least 1 Legendary Perk before selecting a Mythic one

This is the first time I’m actually hearing the System since reincarnating and it's telling me terrible news. I have to go from the lowest to highest quality in order to pick my perks. WHY!? I scan through my downloaded knowledge trying to find an answer only to learn that it has to do with soul integrity and system integration followed by a bunch of things I can barely comprehend. Fine whatever I’ll pick my perks from lowest to highest.

I open up the menu to select my Lesser Perk, wait perks? Why do I have 2 of them? As soon as the question is asked the system knowledge answers. Dungeons don’t have skills, or abilities, or stats like most other things. Instead they get perks and mana from leveling up.

1 Lesser Perk every level, 1 Greater Perk every 5 levels, 1 Superior Perk every 10 levels, 1 Legendary Perk every 50 levels, and 1 Mythic Perk every 100 levels. There's no max level, but dungeons level incredibly slowly and after reaching level 100 it slows down even more. Most dungeons don’t even make it that far, getting soft-capped by the levels of their local sapient population. Well whatever, it's nothing I need to worry about now. I need to pick my perks so I can start building my dungeon.

I scan through the lesser perks and notice that they're all pretty underwhelming, most of them just give percentage bonuses ranging from 5% to something really general or 20% to something really specific. Why are these all so lame? Once again the system answers with knowledge.

Normal Dungeons are fresh souls without their memories, effectively babies with instincts, because of this about 95% of perks offer blueprints for things or certain rules to implement in order to help the dungeons make effective, well, dungeons. As a True Core I don’t need any of those since I could just pull blueprints from the system, make them myself, or copy them from things I’ve absorbed. Due to this the system decided not to show the options that I could just do myself.

“Hey system can you let me see all the perk options but separate the ones I can do myself into a separate tab? I want to be able to look at them to get ideas of what I’m able to do with the magic of this world.” I try speaking to the system and surprisingly it works! It seems that since I’m a local administrator I have some level of control over my own system. Very useful.

As I browse through the lesser perks once again I continue to question the system for information. I learn that perk points can be used to either gain new perks or upgrade ones you already have. Each perk also has a limit on how many times it can be upgraded and once it hits that limit it can sometimes be upgraded to a higher quality perk. I decided to go for a rather basic perk:

Lesser Perk: Enhanced Potency

Increases mana potency of all dungeon creatures and objects by 5%

However before purchasing it I wanted to know the exact mechanics of how it worked for myself. First I decided to increase the size of my core room to about a 25 foot radius sphere with me at the center. Second, I spent 100 mana to create a creature, my dungeon aura as a true core was positively massive even at level 1 so I just copied the first thing I could see outside. A large puma-like cat materialized out of pure mana forming a few feet in front of my core. I peered closely at it and saw a pop up above its head: Prowler (Lesser) Level 1.

Wow looks like 100 mana is enough to jump this species straight to its Lesser quality evolution. The Prowler in front of me is about 6 feet long and 3 feet tall to the shoulder making it about the size of a person, the prowler I copied from is only a level 6 mundane prowler and it's a little over half the size of its lesser variant. I order the tawny cat to guard my core as I go back into my menu and confirm the selection of my perk.

Lesser Perk Selected: Enhanced Potency 1

Increases mana potency of all dungeon creatures and objects by 5%

With my new 5% increase to mana potency I take another 100 points of mana and create another prowler. As my new one forms it seems to be slightly more powerful than the old one so I check its tag just in case. Prowler (Lesser) Level 1. Ok so it wasn’t enough for another level but it's still a bonus.

I place my second lesser perk point into upgrading Enhanced Potency to level 2 giving me a 10% increase to mana potency. With this new upgrade I make yet another prowler with 100 mana and check its tag. Prowler (Lesser) Level 2. Success!

I try another experiment after my successful one. I lower the amount of mana I use to make a prowler until it reaches level 1 again. It seems that mana potency increases how effective my mana is, meaning that I can either use the same amount of mana to create a stronger effect or use less mana for the same effect. This is fun, I’m going to try to limit how much system knowledge I use since learning things on my own is so much more fulfilling.

“Hey System, can you limit the system information until I directly ask for it? With an exception for if the info is eminently important for some reason.” I once again project my thoughts at the entity. While the system voice doesn’t directly speak to me I can feel its acknowledgement of my request.

Now with all that out of the way and with my lesser perk now selected I can move on to the Greater Perk. I check through the Greater Perks and quickly notice a common theme. All of the Greater Perks give me access to a specific mana affinity as opposed to the neutral ‘arcane’ mana I’ve been using. I directly query the system to learn that choosing an affinity doesn’t override any existing control I have; it just gives me a new tool to work with. This leaves me with the important decision of picking my first affinity. The problem is that all of them sound interesting.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

There's the standard Water, Earth, Fire and Air affinities as well as Light and Dark affinities. Then you get to the stranger ones such as Aether which is control of time and space. Scourge which is basically necromancy/death magic. Then there's Wyld which is basically life magic. This was a tough choice for me, whichever affinity I picked would be the only one I would have access to until I hit level 5 and got another greater perk.

I decided to think about what my actual plans were. Right now the only thing I could see above ground was the mountainside I was built into and some of the forest surrounding it. In theory I could make my own blueprints from scratch or get them from the system knowledge I was given, However I really wanted to try and only use what a normal dungeon would have access to. I could always borrow from the system or craft my own creatures later.

I thought about what I wanted to do for my theme. In my memories of my past life I remember always loving nature, walking through the forest was one of my favorite things and when I ran DnD for my friends magical forests were a staple in every one of my games. Honestly the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of a magical enchanted forest filled with strange beasts and powerful fey. I’d have to work on the fey thing, not sure if I’ll have to make that one myself or not. For now with the theme of my first few floors decided I chose the only affinity that would make sense.

Greater Perk Selected: Wyld Affinity

Gain access to Wyld Affinity Mana and Wyld Magic

10% Increase in mana potency to all dungeon creatures and objects that use the Wyld affinity

15% Increase in experience gained to all creatures with a matching affinity while inside your dungeon.

Interesting, does that experience modifier apply to me? An immediate no from the system sadly. However this does bring up questions as to how I level so I question the system on it to learn more. Apparently I gain experience anytime another creature gains it while inside my dungeon I also gain experience anytime a creature dies in my dungeon. Unfortunately my own creations don’t count for this so I can’t just farm them for xp.

According to the system knowledge the fastest experience gains are from deaths since whenever a foreign creature dies in my dungeon I get a percentage of its total experience which can be quite a lot based on how long the creature has lived and how strong it is. Whenever a creature gets killed inside my dungeon I get about 80% of its total experience with the remaining 20% being split among the creatures that did the actual killing, which means that my dungeon creatures can level both from me directly empowering them or they can level on their own from defeating foes.

While all of this is good to know, none of it will matter if I don’t finish picking my perks and get my dungeon set up for adventurers, or delvers, or whatever they're called in this world. I’ll have to place learning more about the outside world onto my to-do list. Anyways time for a look at the Superior Perks. As I open up the menu I’m quick to make a selection with my new theme idea.

Superior Perk Selected: Aspect of Beasts

Increases mana potency of all beast type dungeon creatures by 20%

Increases experience gained by all beast type dungeon creatures by 20%

All of the Superior perks seemed to revolve around empowering specific dungeon creatures. With the most general perks giving a 20% bonus to a large group such as beasts. There were also more specific ones that gave higher bonuses such as Aspect of Felines, which gave a 40% bonus to all cat type creatures and an even more specific Aspect of Prowlers, which gave a huge 80% bonus to only prowlers.

I decided on the more general Aspect of Beasts because I wanted my magical forests to have a wide array of creatures so that it felt more like a real ecosystem with diversity. I wanted anyone who walked into my dungeon to feel like they were stepping into a whole new world.

Now onto the second to last pick, the Legendary Perk. As I opened up the menu to look at the legendary perks I was immediately drawn to one.

Legendary Perk: Combined Core

Gain the Ability to combine Affinities into new ones

Gain the Aspect of All Superior Perk which absorbs all other Aspect perks

Receive a bonus Greater perk at levels 2, 4, 6, and 8

Receive a bonus Superior perk at levels 3 and 7

This Perk would let me do exactly what I wanted. It would give me access to potentially countless different types of magic and allow me to diversify my creature types without sacrificing too much power. The other legendary perks were also quite powerful, but I wanted the diversity more than anything else. Having access to new things constantly would ensure I would never run out of things to do.

Plus it had the advantage of allowing me to create a wide array of different adventures and landscapes to cater to all the adventurers that would be diving my dungeon. I had to plan for both the future and the now and this perk seemed like the best one. I might also just be a bit impulsive because I wanted to get started on my magical forest, but it's not like this was a bad choice. Deciding on not overthinking things I just picked the perk.

Legendary Perk Selected: Combined Core

Superior Perk: Aspect of All had Absorbed Superior Perk: Aspect of Beasts

Superior Perk Gained: Aspect of All

Aspect of All absorbs all other aspect types and brings them under its fold. Superior Perk Points may be used to either add new Aspects or to increase the base bonus of Aspect of All

Base Bonus: 20% to mana potency and experience

Aspect of Beasts: 5% Bonus to Aspect of All

Total Bonus: 25% to mana potency and experience

I felt pretty good about my choice. My legendary perk is already helping with my aspect bonuses and it will only improve things as I level. The fact that it would give me an extra 4 Greater Perks and an extra 2 Superior Perks was honestly just icing on the cake. The main thing I was after was the ability to combine my affinities into new ones and the Aspect of All which would allow me to have both variety and power in my creatures. Now all that was left was to pick my Mythical Perk.

The first thing on the menu stunned me.

Mythical Perk: Wellspring Dungeon

Gain a connection to the World Core which increases your base mana generation by 5,000

Increase base Maximum Mana by 500,000

That was it. That’s all it did and that alone spoke volumes for how insane my mana generation was. I mean if a MYTHICAL PERK was giving half of my base rate that means that my 10,000 mana base rate is just ludicrous. What also stood out was the fact that it affected a stat that I didn’t even have. Apparently normal dungeons had a maximum mana whereas mine could just build up indefinitely, yeah being a True Core is definitely worth the effectively infinite contract.

I continued to look through the Mythical perks until I saw one that I really wanted

Mythical Perk: Instanced Dungeon

Gain the ability to create multiple instances of your dungeon that separate groups can explore simultaneously. Each Floor gains a number of instances equal to your Level+1. Dungeon creatures will be generated across all instances or have the ability to hop between instances depending on their level of sentience.

*Requires Aether Affinity*

NOOOOOO! I couldn’t get this perk because I already chose Wyld as my Affinity! THIS IS WHY YOU PICK FROM HIGHEST TO LOWEST! I spent several minutes having a tantrum to release my pent up anger at my situation before finally calming down. Ok no problem, I get another Greater Perk at level 2 thanks to my Legendary Perk.

“System notice of eminent importance. Experience cannot be gained until all starter perks have been selected.” The voice of the system spoke into my head bringing with it another mental breakdown in which I simulated crying by creating a cloud at the top of my core room and making it rain.

After recollecting myself and spending several moments making peace with my situation I decided to look on the bright side. I now had a goal, to reach level 100 and pick the Instance Dungeon as my second Mythical perk. Also I learned how to make weather effects, so, 2 good things. With my emotional experience completed I decided to see what the Mythical Perk for the Wyld Affinity was and I was not disappointed.

Mythical Perk: Deathless Dungeon

The Dungeon gains the ability to resurrect any creatures that die inside of it for an experience penalty which it collects.

The Dungeon may choose when to apply this ability and when to withhold it. It can also choose the level of the penalty that the death incurs.

Gaining this ability allows Sapient Dungeon Creatures to respawn without any penalties other than the ones imposed by The Dungeon itself.

Holy mother of Mary, this was a fantastic perk! This would make me incredibly popular as a dungeon! I would be the perfect training tool since dying just means losing some experience instead of losing your life. Plus then I could harvest divers for experience multiple times as opposed to just once when they die. I was getting excited just thinking about all of the possibilities, I really wanted to get started on my dungeon now. I decided that this would be my Mythical Perk and selected it.

Mythical Perk Selected: Deathless Dungeon

With that done it was time to get started on my dungeon!