Chapter 1
I faded slowly into consciousness slowly. So slowly in fact, I couldn’t even say when I realised I was an I. All I could see was the box floating before my eyes:
CONGRATULATIONS
YOU HAVE AWOKEN
You are a Dungeon Core. The heart and soul of any Dungeon, the Core controls all aspects of their Dungeon and anything dungeon spawned. The Core is a powerful, magical object that, under the right conditions, can be used to create powerful magical items or even spawn a new Dungeon, and as such must be protected.
Huh, I'm a Dungeon Core, although I didn’t like the part about me being used to create items, it sounded kind of...destructive. I also didn’t understand how I could read, or how I knew what reading was, but having read the notification, I just wished it would go away. As the thought crossed my mind the box disappeared, only to replaced by another:
CONGRATULATIONS
YOU HAVE RECEIVED A NEW TITLE
LEGACY REBORN
Having been centuries since the birth of the last Dungeon, this title allows others to see that you are an important piece of history.
Using this title provides:
+5% control over creature mutations
+10% chance creatures to gain intelligence
+250 renown in the eyes of others
Please note that titles can be combined to create new titles and combine buffs provided, but be warned, the new title may lose or lower buffs instead of enhancing them.
Awesome, it seemed that I was going to be an important guy, or core, as it were. Wishing away the second box I was greeted by darkness. That didn’t mean I couldn’t see, but rather see the darkness was a layer that didn’t effect my sight. Come to think of it, I didn’t have eyes so how could I see? And thinking about it, I wasn’t really seeing, but it was more like I knew everything happening in the area around me. The fact I knew of concepts like seeing or eyes seemed to hint at some intrinsic knowledge that was an inherent part of a core. That could prove useful.
Looking around, I could see I was in a brick lined tunnel, that sloped downward with a trough in the centre of the path and sludge built up on either side. I was laying on the small walkway alongside the channel. A faint trickle of some fluid slowly inched along the base of the trough. My ability to see stopped after a few meters, it was as if the world just ended, no sight, no sound, nothing. Interesting, was the world really that small, or could I just not see the rest of it? Examining the sludge a new notification appeared:
Sewage.
The excrement of animals, sewage can be turned into biomass which, in turn, maybe turned into fertilisers, plants and monsters.
Do you wish to absorb sewage?
Huh. What harm could absorbing it do? As I accepted the prompt, all the sludge surrounding me vanished, and I received yet another box:
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INVENTORY
Biomass – 10/100 units
Now that I had removed the sewage, the liquid flowing through the tunnel picked up speed, but not by much. It made sense to me that there was probably more sewage, outside of the area that I could affect, blocking the flow. Well, that was a project for the future, my current one was to figure out how this biomass worked. Examining it in my inventory seemed to only bring up the information I had already received. Deciding to try and place it down I found I yet another box, I was beginning to think that the world itself was a box at this point:
Biomass
Please select placement option
Fertile Soil
Sewage
Having already seen the sewage, of which I was not a fan, I selected the fertile soil option. The channel was suddenly blocked by a bunch of dirt. Playing around with the dirt, I realised I could remove and add the dirt as I wished. I also realised that the sewage I had absorbed turned into a lot more dirt than I would’ve expected, it appeared that a unit of dirt was different to a unit of sewage, which would be useful as I could fill the channel in dirt and still have biomass to play with.
While I'd been playing with my biomass, the liquid had begun to pool where the soil blocked its path. Examining the fluid I discovered it was called Water (Dirty). Choosing not to absorb it, I watched as the pool continued to fill. Reabsorbing the dirt allowed the water to flow downward again, where it crashed against something just outside of my vision. Slowly the water dispersed into the unknown. Interesting. Absorbing a little of the water and placing it back down unlocked a Water category.
Next on the list was the stone bricks used to create the tunnel itself. Absorbing some of the fallen stone I discovered Stone and Clay. It looked as though the bricks were held in place by hardened clay, an interesting technique, that I planned on “borrowing”.
Looking around for other stuff to absorb, I noticed some green growths peaking out of the cracks in the wall, providing me access to Moss, and mushrooms at the edge of the trough, providing Fungus.
I decided it was time to try to build something. While I was exploring my tunnel, I had been thinking on how to prevent people coming and attacking me and had come up with perfect plan. First I absorbed all the fallen brick in the tunnel and then placed small rocks in the base of trough. Next I placed even smaller stone over the top of the rock to fill in the gaps, allowing the water to flow though while allowing me to fill the rest of the channel with fertile soil. Using the last of the my biomass, I placed moss over the dirt. I couldn't create a lot of moss with my limited supplies of biomass, but I knew that over time the moss would spread. How do I know these things?
The final piece of my plan was to move my core from where it lay, into the patch of moss. Raising a small pedestal of stone under myself, I gently slid my core over to the greenery. Brilliant, I know. No one would think to look for me there.
Now that I was safe, I watched the moss grow. It sounds boring but it seemed that I couldn’t get bored, so I happily sat and watched my garden flourish. After some time had passed, and the moss had grown to cover two thirds to of the soil, something caught my attention. That something had just entered the edge of my awareness, and was leaking red. As the thing continued across my tunnel, I took a closer look.
Name: Unnamed
Race: Rat
Class: Scavenger
Level: 1
Title: None
Rats are small, short lived rodents, with long tails. Rats are hierarchical, with the stronger dominating the weaker. Exhibiting aggressive behaviour when threatened, Rats carry many diseases harmful to other creatures.
So the something was a Rat. Strangely, there was no absorb option, although when I tried on the red puddles left behind I discovered Blood, that was a type of biomass.
The rat continued its journey until it reached the moss, where it looked towards me. I began to worry. The rat slowly inched its way ever closer to my core. Oh Gods, if I survive this, I will do a much better job of protecting myself. Just as the rat’s claw was about to touch the edge on my core, it stopped moving.
NEW LEVEL
You have reached Level 1
You have begun the journey of a lifetime.
+5 Skill Points
Having absolutely no idea what skill points were, I decided I needed to upgrade my protections, apparently the moss didn't hide we at all. I started by absorbing the soil directly underneath my core, allowing it to fall in, next I replaced the soil above me. There, perfectly hidden. Until I started to suffocate.
I pushed the dirt out of the way, and expelled my breath...Wait, I can’t breath, I’m blue stone. Focusing on my core I couldn’t see where why breath was coming out of. I searched for any cracks or flaws on my surface but I couldn't find a single one. Replacing the dirt once again I began to experience the suffocating feeling again. Ok, I can’t close myself completely, good to know. I needed something to protect me.
Examining the rat again, I discovered I now had the option to absorb it, I guess when something wasn’t moving within my area I could absorb it. After choosing yes, I received a new notification:
CONGRATULATIONS
YOU HAVE DISCOVERED A NEW MONSTER
BROWN RAT
Monsters are often described as the protectors of a dungeon and drop experience when killed. Monsters can evolve naturally over time, be force evolved through mana or receive buffs through certain skill selections in the skill trees.