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Core in an Apocolypse
Chapter 2: Start of the Dungeon

Chapter 2: Start of the Dungeon

[Tutorial starts]

After these words Allen found himself in an empty cavern. The stones of the cavern were a dark gray color. There was no moss or other plants to find, nor was there any life beside himself. There were some moist spots on the ground. ’Is there water nearby’ Allen thought before looking on. There were no exits anywhere and even thought there was no light in the cavern he could see everything as if it was daytime. The cavern was about 15 m (~49.2 feet) in diameter.

A short amount of time later the cavern was brightly illuminated by a portal that appeared in the center of the room. Out of the portal a young woman emerged. She looked to be about 18 years of age. She had white hair that reached her lower back. She had a small physique with medium sized breasts. She had an height of about 169 cm (~5’7”). Her skin tone was white, but it wasn’tan unnatural white. Her eyes where a deep violet. On her back you could see two gaseous wings. They looked like they were made of a sea of stars. She wore a gray dress which showed her form. But the longer you would look at the dress the more colors you would see. After looking around a bit she turns to Allen and begann speaking in an sweet and soft voice “You have to be Allen right. Nice to meet you I am Mia your partner. I hope you treat me well.”

“Mia, right? I am sorry if I sound like I have no idea what to do. Wait no, it is exactly that I have no idea what to do. A short while ago I was a human on an unintegrated World and now I am here as a Dungeon core. Could you explain a few things for me? Like what I have to do as a Dungeon core and how I get stronger. And what is the relationship between a Dungeon and his Fairy?” Allen starts to speak after a short amount of time. He needed the short pause to stop looking at her with wide eyes.

Mia was stunned for a short time before giggling “I know that you don’t have any idea what is happening. After I was chosen as your Fairy I got all your memories so I can help you as best as I can. And yes I got ALL of your memories.” Mia says with a wink before continuing ”But I must say your previous life was quite boring. I mean you did almost nothing other then your work. As for the relationship between us,“ Mia pauses a short amount of time to think, “you can say that we are the closest partners. As we are bound by the Soul. We can both feel the feelings of the other. I am here as a crutch for your mentality because you will have to do things you would never done as a human, and this could be dangerous for your mind without me. I will also help you design your dungeon and give you tips how to do certain things. In exchange you will provide me with a home and energy to get stronger. You will also be my protection from outside influences. You could say that we are the closest a pair could be.”

Allen needed some time to process this information before asking in concern “Are you ok with that. I mean we have never met before so how could you know that I was a good person. What if you don’t want to be near me after knowing me, can you leave?”

“No I can’t leave, or at least not normally. The system might grant me an opportunity to leave if I wanted to. But why would I, I have seen your memories and know almost everything about you and how you are as a person. Besides the system would have never given me the possibility to engage in this bound if we weren’t compatible with each other.” As Mia said this she paused a short amount of time before she began to blush before continuing ”Besides after seeing your memories I started to like you. So I’m happy with the choice of the System for my partner. You should also know there was not a lot to do for me from where I come from and I was a bit lonely, but with you everything will changes. But don’t think you can ignore me as you did with your family and friend every time you were engrossed in your work.”

Allen was overwhelmed for a short amount of time before beginning to think maybe it was not to bad to be a Dungeon core with a partner like her. He began to like her, maybe it was even love. But it could also have been the bond the two share that this feeling started to spring to live this fast. It could also have been the Systems influence. Or was it all of the above? But this was something to think about later now he needs to know what he has to do in the tutorial so he asks her. “Ok great. But what do we have to do now? How do we start our dungeon and what do I have to do in the tutorial?”

Mia thinks before starting to speak “First we should look at your quest the System provided you before beginning to create our dungeon. To open your quest you just have to think about it like you do with your status.”

‘[Quest]’

[Quests]

[One active Quest: [Begin your life as an Dungeon]

One tutorial Quest: [Tutorial Quest]]

[Begin your life as an Dungeon]

[Description: As you are a new Dungeon there are a few things that you have to do before people can enter your dungeon. For example you need a floor were the Adventurers can explore and you need some Defenders for your place. You also need an entrance so people can find your place.

Difficulty: Trivial

Conditions: Build a floor: 0/1

Create a Mob: 0/8

Create loot for your Dungeon: 0/1

Create a Boss: 0/1

Create traps: 0/1

Gather at least 2000 Mana: 0/2000

Reward: [Attraction scent], [Dungeon entrance]]

[Item]

[Name: Attraction scent

Item type: Incense

Function attracts other beings to the incense.

Description: This incense was created by some herbalist to attract other creatures to the place where the incense was lit.]

[Building]

[Name: Dungeon entrance

Type: Dungeon building

Description: This is the entrance to your very own Dungeon. You can design it however you want.]

[Tutorial Quest]

[Description: This is your Tutorial Quest.

Difficulty: True Nightmare

Conditions: Reach early D-Rank

*Hidden*

Time limit: 50 Years

Reward: *hidden*

Failure: Death, Soul destruction]

Allen and Mia stared at the screen of the Quest before Mia speaks in an uncertain tone “The first quest look easy,” before continuing outraged, “but what have you done to get a Tutorial Quest like that. I have never heard of the difficulty True Nightmare and what is with the time limit and the failure penalty, they are outrageous. And then there are hidden conditions you have to fulfill, how do you even know what to do. Maybe the System gives them after a certain amount of time ,but still this is unbelievable.”

Allen just sighs, which he does a lot lately, before speaking “We can’t change anything about it but we should start the first quest so that we can get stronger so that we are prepared for anything that comes for us.”

After a short amount of time while continuing ranting, Mia calms down before agreeing with Allen “You are right. Sorry that I lost my cool, but I have never heard of something like that. But yeah lets ignore the Tutorial Quest for now and start the other Quest because this should be easy. Lets first create the floor, this should be the easiest before we make some traps and loot after that we can create the Mobs and our first Boss. As for Mana gathering I will send you a skill that you will need to gather Mana.” With these words Mia touches Allen on the head before concentrating. After a short while Allen receives a notification.

[New Skill acquired]

[Skill

Name: Mana gathering

Type: Passive/ Active

Rank: G-0

Description: With this Skill you can gather Mana automatically from your surrounding. You can also actively concentrate on the skill to increase the amount of Mana per minute. Increase the rank of the skill to get more Mana per minute.

Effect: Passive 1 Mana/minute

Active 2 Mana/Minute]

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“To Build your floor you first have to get influence over your surroundings. For this you will need Mana. For everything you will need Mana to work. To get influence over your surroundings you will have to manipulate your Mana and gather it outside of your body. After this you just have to expand it. You will probably feel what I mean after you have some Mana. When you are at the walls of the cavern you can push your influence into the wall to make it yours. With this you can absorb the stone and other materials you find. After you have absorb things you can recreate them with Mana. You will have to find some ores for the loot, because in the beginning we have no other loot. If we are unlucky it can happen that there are no minerals near us. If this happens our loot can only be stones or dirt.”

“I have a question about skills. How can I increase the Rank of the skill, is it just how often I use it. And how much Mana do you think we need to create our first floor.” Allen asks Mia with a shine in his eyes.

“Yes to increase a Skill you just have to use it. Mana gathering will increase automatically but if you use the active effect it will increase faster. Skills can also evolve but this is for another time. There are two different type of skills active and passive. To increase skills you have to use them, for example the active skill [Leap] which helps you jump further you just have to use it for it to grow stronger. For passive skills lets use [Regeneration] as an example this skill helps you to regenerate faster from wounds, this skill will only increase if it is in use. Which means you have to be hurt for it to increase in strength. As for how much Mana you will need for the fist floor lets begin with 240 Mana. This should be enough for the beginning it will also most likely rank up your [Mana Gathering] skill. I can also use the Skill to help you gather the Mana you need so that you only need half the time you normally would need.”

“Ok lets do it.” Allen says before activating the [Mana Gathering] skill. Shortly after Mia sits in front of Allen and takes his hands in hers before activating her skill to gather Mana.

*1 hour later

*Ding*

[Skill Rank-up]

[Skill

Name: Mana gathering

Type: Passive/ Active

Rank: G-1

Description: With this Skill you can gather Mana automatically from your surrounding. You can also actively concentrate on the skill to increase the amount of Mana per minute. Increase the rank of the skill to get more Mana per minute.

Effect:

Passive 1.5 Mana/minute

Active 3 Mana/Minute]

“So, this should be enough for the beginning”, Mia says with a sweet voice And Allen can’t help himself but smile. “So, to expand your influence you should feel the Mana inside you extract it out of you after it is outside, you should be able to push it in a direction.”

With these words Allen started to look inside of him and finds the Mana unorganized inside him. Before taking a strand of Mana and pushing it out of himself. After it is outside he noticed a sphere around him which is about 2 meters (~6.5 feet) in diameter. This is probably his influence after pushing his Mana into this sphere it started to grow in the direction where he put his Mana. This one strand of Mana increased the size of his influence by about 0.5 m (~1.6 feet) in the direction. Then he noticed that he could feel everything in his influence it was as if he was omniscient about everything in his influence. How it tastes how it smells, how the parts are made of and many more.

“Great!” Mia exclaims ”You did it. Now expand your influence to the wall.”

But Allen was distracted with the screens that came in front of him.

[New Skills acquired]

[Skill

Name: Mana Control

Type: Passive

Rank: G-0

Description: This is the most basic control skill for Mana.

Effect: Better control of Mana.]

[Skill

Name: Influence expansion

Type: Active

Rank: G-0

Description: A skill essential for Dungeon Cores. With this skill the expansion of Influence will be easier and it will grow more the higher the rank.

Effect: Increase Influence by 0.5 meters (~1.6 feet)/1 Mana.]

“Oh, did you get new skills. These are just the basic version and almost everyone has them so lets continue with increasing your influence.” Mia says while rolling her eyes.

So Allen started working again. Slowly but surely his influence grew in the direction of the nearest wall. After he reached the wall he pushed his influence through the wall. This was harder as trough the air, but with a bit of practice it became easy. He noticed faint traces of iron in the wall where he pushed his influence into.

“Great you reached the wall now you can absorb the material inside your influence, you just have to will it and it will be absorbed. This absorption can take a while in the beginning but it will go faster after a certain amount of time. Moreover you will not be able to absorb everything in your influence there will be a sliver of material left with your influence. This material will be a lot more sturdy then the rest of the stone around it. You can also make it a lot more sturdy if you add more Mana in the material.” Mia informs Allen with a smile on her face as if what Allen did was a great accomplishment.

So Allen started to will the absorption and was surprised how easy and fast it was. He got a bit of Mana for absorbing the material the wall is made of, but it was not a lot of Mana. ‘Maybe I get more Mana the more Mana an object has.’ Allen thinks to himself. As he absorbed the materials he started to learn how to make them. He was so preoccupied with what he does that he didn’t noticed Mia’s shock as he absorbed the Wall. ‘How is it so fast, normally it is only 1/10 of the speed he currently has!’

After Allen has absorbed everything he could he looks to Mia who has come out of her shock. Mia speaks with a big smile on her face “Great you are faster then I thought lets make the first floor 30 meter (~98.4 feet) in diameter in the beginning. We can increase the size later on.”

And so Allen started to work. A few hours later they were in a square cavern with 30 meters (~98.4 feet) per side with an height of 5 meters (~16.4 feet) and the walls were slightly glowing from the Mana Allen put into the wall to make it sturdier.

“Great now let’s create some rooms and tunnels to connect the rooms. We also need a bigger room for the boss. Also we have to decorate the room. Also ..” Mia began to speak with an excited voice before Allen stopped her. “Mia, not so fast go a bit slower. And I have a question can you help me decorate the rooms after they are finished. I was never good with decorating things.”

Mia had an ever more excited look on her face and speaks “You want me to help you? YES I will help you decorate so make the rooms fast.”

And so the two began to work with Allen creating the rooms and the tunnels. He had 5 rooms for now with the last room for the boss as it had the greatest size. The rest of the cavern he filled with loose dirt because it was cheaper to make while thinking ‘I should have not hollowed everything out. I should have just made the rooms. But I was to excited to learn new things and I stopped thinking after a while until all was done.’ Meanwhile Mia was creating the decoration even thought there was not a lot to do. She added some pile of dirt and stone here and there. She also added some stalagmites and stalactites. She made some cracks in the Wall and other things you might find in a cave. After they were finished they got a notification from the System.

[Congratulations for creating a floor.]

“So what do we do now traps or loot?” Allen asked Mia thoughtful.

Mia thinks for a while and says “Both can be done really fast. For loot you only need to assign an item as an loot item later we can give it to the mobs. As for traps we can use basic pitfalls for now later we can upgrade.”

And so they began to work again, Allen quickly assigned iron ore clumps as an loot item and then they put some pitfalls in some places like the middle of the first room.

[Quest updated]

[Begin your life as a Dungeon]

[Conditions: Build a floor: 1/1

Create a Mob: 0/8

Create loot for your Dungeon: 1/1

Create a Boss: 0/1

Create traps: 1/1

Gather at least 2000 Mana: 518/2000]

“So now we have to create the mobs. How do we do that Mia?”, Allen asks Mia hopefully, that it will be as easy as the rest.

“You should have some designs in your mind. After you found the design you just have to put Mana into it and a Mob or Defender will spawn. Later we can automate this but in the beginning it will be to expensive.” Mia informs Allen with an excited look. She really wanted to know which type of mob they have.

Allen was also very excited to find which mobs he has, so he began to look through his mind. After a while his excited look faded and he started to frown.

As Mia saw that she could not help but ask “Is there a problem with the type of mob, Allen?” She started to think, ‘Are the mobs not suitable for the environment or maybe they are to big.’

“Mia I think we have a big problem. How do we get more mobs?”

“If you kill a creature and absorb it you can spawn it as a mob. You can also create mobs but this is not recommended in the beginning because it is hard and needs a lot of Mana. So what is the problem? Could it be that the Mobs are aquatic. Please don’t let the mobs be aquatic, almost every one hates water dungeons.”

“No I don’t have aquatic mob’s. It is worse. ”Allen stops before looking Mia into the eyes ”Mia I don’t have any Mobs. How could that even be?” Allen ask Mia with a confused look in his eyes. As Mia hears the beginning she began to relax but as she heard the last part she could only shriek.

“WHAT!”

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