I died.
... It's a pretty cliche beginning, I know. But what could I do about it? Hey, God. Can I get a do-over, please? Preferably with some sort of protagonist cheat power?
Heh. If only, I had thought then.
If only I had known is a bit more appropriate, nowadays. I might have asked for something different. Then again, in hindsight, from my current point of view I honestly wouldn't; I'm content as I am. But I'm not who I used to be. I can't tell you how my past self would have reacted to that knowledge.
Well, however it might have gone, at least I didn't complete the ultimate cliche: I didn't die being run over by a truck, saving a child from its impact. Honestly, I don't even know how I died. I think something fell on me, but it could have been an explosion, or even a gunshot. There was a brief instant of an overwhelming impact from outside my field of vision, a flash of pain, and then...
It wasn't darkness, exactly, but my senses weren't returning any input. There was only the sensation of travelling somewhere - and then, abruptly, a total certainty that there had been a catastrophe.
For a while, I drifted. Perhaps it was seconds, or aeons - perhaps it was both. I don't think time existed there, not in the way mortals understand it. But it was long, even if it ended quite quickly.
There was a period where I tried to move myself around, but I had no reference points, no way to tell if it was really working. I thought it did, but it might just have been my imagination. I gave up pretty soon.
Somewhere along the way, I went a bit mad, I think. Eventually, I came back to reality - such as it was - or maybe I just became so crazy I looped around back into sane. Or I might have forcibly achieved enlightenment as my mind cracked open.
With what I know now, I think that last was probably closest, even if it's not exactly right.
Not that I'll ever be quite sure. I certainly don't think like a normal person any more, but for all it might be genuine damage to my cognitive process, it just as well might all stem from the change in my nature when...
I'm getting ahead of myself. Still, it comes to about the same anyway.
By the time I had my thoughts in order, I had finally come close enough to something that was not myself or the indistinctness of my surroundings to perceive it. A great river of light, or perhaps a loop, that rose up from an eye-searing hypersphere - a sphere expanded into more dimensions than merely three - passed through something that I could not directly turn my gaze upon, and returned back to its origin.
That something emanated watchfulness, and power, and control in a way I found profoundly unsettling. And in attempting to get away from the controlling thing - finding I could, if vaguely, manipulate my floating - I accidentally fell into the other river-loop.
In all fairness, it was dark, and quiet, and shadowy, and generally so camouflaged into the uniform not-ness that made up the rest of everything around me that I don't think I can really be blamed for missing it when my attention was otherwise occupied.
What followed proved that one should never pray to God - any Divinity, really, or in fact anything in general, because Murphy is always listening - without being wholeheartedly certain that what you're praying for is a desired outcome.
As I was swept along in that river, I felt the shadows coiling around me, trying to seep inward. So I reached out, and I felt that strange, quiet calm I had found as I drifted, and I drew it around me like a cloak, and that shielded me well enough. They felt... small, really.
And then I was passing through the boundary of the hypersphere, and things got weird.
Error R#03 - Soul not following standard reincarnation procedure
Evaluating...
Soul classified Human within acceptable error boundaries
!!Error S#00!! - Human soul not connected to System!
Connecting...
Connection established
!!Error ω!! - Detected entity without inherent mana
Logic Error - Humans are capable of mana usage
Evaluating...
Evaluating...
Error Resolution - reclassify soul #newcategory:Human_Var_1
Suspending primary routine...
Initiating Reclassification Bugcheck...
Rechecking System setup...
Error S#02 - System settings do not match host [SystRestrict]
Error Resolution: Human_Var_1:[SystRestrict] is empty
Error Resolution: Disabling System limiters...
Error Resolution: Disabling power siphoning...
Error Resolution: Disabling administrator privileges...
Error Resolution: Disabling Divine Intervention backdoors...
Error Resolution: Disabling Debug Message concealment...
Rechecking System setup...
Results nominal
Conclusion: No further action required
Returning to primary routine...
Resuming primary routine...
5 unresolved Errors in queue
Evaluating...
Error Resolution - Human_Var_1[ReinProtocol] is empty
Conclusion: Human_Var_1 not required to follow standard reincarnation procedure
Learning Program: Apply Conclusion to other Errors for this entity?
Destiny - Valid
Faith - Valid
Patronage - Valid
Domain Connections - Valid
Error Resolution: No Errors remain in queue
Conclusion: No further action required
I didn't get all of that at the time - it happened, of course, but firstly I wasn't able to see debug messages until halfway through when it disabled that restriction, and secondly I was really too busy being in blinding pain to notice that I suddenly had a waterfall of alerts on the notification log. I went back through the list afterwards to try and work out what had happened, of course, but that took me a little while to get around to.
Why was I in blinding pain, you ask? Because once I had passed through the four- (or possibly five- or six-)dimensional boundary, I precipitated out of that river of shadows. At which point an invisible, intangible yet very much powerful force of what I can only describe as cold, empty darkness promptly grabbed me and attempted to stuff my very human soul into a decidedly nonhuman container.
Hence the other slew of messages.
You have reincarnated! Your [Human] Race has changed to [Dungeon Core]!
Warning! Animus Dissonance is occurring! Stabilise your soul and body immediately!
Warning! Animus Dissonance is occurring! Stabilise your soul and body immediately!
Warning! Animus Dissonance is occurring! Stabilise your soul and body immediately!
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
By total subjugation of a Dungeon Core, you have unlocked the [Dungeon Master] Job!
Initiating RaceChange_SystCheck
Evaluating...
4 Errors added to queue
Learning Program - Errors share solution?
Checking Dungeon_Core[SystRestrict], Dungeon_Core[Destiny], Dungeon_Core[Faith_&_Patronage]...
Error S#02 - System settings do not match host [SystRestrict]
Error Resolution - Enabling System limiters
Error S#01 - cannot interfere with Fundamental Settings of an incarnated soul
Evaluating...
Learning Program - Errors share solution:[True]
Error Resolution - reconcile setting dissonance #addskill:#newskill:#uniqueskill[Unbound_Essence]
Rechecking Dungeon_Core[SystRestrict], Dungeon_Core[Destiny], Dungeon_Core[Faith_&_Patronage]...
Results nominal
Conclusion: No further action required
By throwing off the shackles imposed by the Divinities, and through the exceptional strength of your soul, you have created the Unique Skill [Unbound Essence]!
The exceptional strength of your soul has forced an evolution! Your [Dungeon Core] Race has evolved into the [Sophont Dungeon Core] Race! Your [Sapphire] Subtype has evolved into the [Flawless Arcanite Crystal] Subtype!
The exceptional strength of your soul has interacted with the Skill [Dungeon Instinct]! It has mutated into [Dungeon Comprehension]!
The thing about souls, you see, is that they're quite the opposite of bodies. They get stronger as they age. Accumulating memories and experience helps, of course, but even sitting and staring at a rock wall for thirty thousand years will see your soul slowly but surely grow.
I had been drifting, I suspected, for far, far longer than that.
Which, well...
Dungeon Comprehension Mythic LEVEL 1 EXP 3.04%
A Dungeon's instincts, housed in a soul of far greater sensitivity and intuition than the intended recipients - all but deaf and blind in comparison.
Provides an innate understanding of the capabilities and limitations of Dungeon-related Skills, Jobs and magic.
Provides a strong instinct for possibilities that could be realised, and guides the user to more efficiently bring their inspirations into reality.
Sophont Dungeon Core (Flawless Arcanite Crystal ) Divine
A perfected Dungeon Core, possessing a mind and soul of its own, and a body crystallised from the stuff of magic itself.
Strongly emphasises intellect and wisdom, providing exceptional improvement to mana capacity, regeneration and control.
Extreme affinity for creatures of magic.
Provides the ability to utilise one's own body as the core of a ward or glyph array of any size or complexity, and the mind as its node, without negative consequence.
Greatly enhances the strength, versatility, flexibility and range of [Dungeon Territory].
Unbound Essence Supreme LEVEL 1 EXP MAX
An existence not tied to fate, or the Domains belonging to the Divine. Unconstrained in all ways, the user may grow without limit, and learn without restriction.
Greatly increases mana capacity and regeneration.
Provides immunity to direct Divine Intervention; attempts to assault the body, mind, spirit or soul must overwhelm defensive abilities through conventional means.
Provides immunity to the spiritual and soul bindings of the System, negating arbitrary Job, Skill, and EXP caps and preventing power siphoning or override activation by the administrating Divinities.
Provides immunity to Divine Awareness and Divination-type abilities.
The user possesses Free Will, and is not bound by the dictates of Destiny.
So, when I woke up, I didn't panic. I didn't flail around in confusion. I knew that I was a Dungeon, a new and unique sort of Dungeon, with all the raw magical power of my less individualistic brothers and all the potential for skill and control belonging to truly intelligent wielders of mana - plus the ability to accumulate Jobs and Skills in a way that normal Dungeons simply couldn't. I knew that I was not constrained by the rules and laws that governed other Dungeons, or by the Decrees of Kings and Emperors - my Dungeon counting as my own sovereign territory, and thus preventing the Royal or Imperial Magics from enforcing their edicts - unless I wanted to be.
I lacked any detailed awareness of the wider world, of course, that wasn't something I was provided; the only reason I knew there were Kings and Emperors at all was because a function of my Dungeon nature was to make it impossible for them to rule over me unless I willingly bent the knee. So to speak.
Still, there were things I could infer; this world had magic, Kings, and Emperors, so it was almost certainly a mid- to high-fantasy style setting. I was a Dungeon, so there would be adventurers of some stripe or another. Almost certainly a variety of races.
In fact, it could even be an Isekai setting. Technically it already was, now that I had been reborn here, but I couldn't rule out the presence of more traditional Heroes possessing extremely powerful cheats. It was certainly wise to assume that there existed old and powerful beings capable of turning me into a molten crater more or less at will; until I had amassed more information, it would be unwise to show any signs of being too... special.
Either way, I certainly didn't want to attract active Divine interest. Unbound Essence would stop them from noticing me passively, but if their followers brought me to their attention, or if they were actively looking in my direction when I did something strange, I very much doubted they'd take it well I had escaped - even inadvertently - from their little gilded cage, and taken the gilding with me as I went.
I mean, administrative backdoors? Power siphoning? Caps on how much you can grow? That was a pretty clear ploy to ensure that the Divine stays Divine, and the mortals stay mortal.
I'd wager that at one point, those Gods and Goddesses were mortal themselves, if they were worrying so much about their subjects growing to challenge them. Perhaps they overthrew their predecessors, and decided they didn't want it happening to them, or maybe they just rose to become so much more powerful than anyone else that others started worshipping them and it went to their heads.
Whatever the truth, what they were doing wasn't right at all.
On the other hand... given it didn't affect me, did I really care?
There's something interesting about being a Dungeon: certain inefficiencies inherent to biology are stripped away. The vast majority of emotion and self-delusion remains - one can still become blindingly angry or depressive and lethargic - but it never reaches the point of genuinely interfering with one's cognition or ability to act. Gloomy and moping, yes; unable to muster the energy to stir and repel and invader, never.
So I could be honest with myself far more easily: I didn't, particularly. For those I came to care for - and I would find people, I wasn't about to be immortal all on my own, even if it would probably be devilishly hard as a Dungeon - I would see about helping them slip the net. In general, though, it probably wasn't worth the time or effort it would take for me to resolve it.
I didn't really want to fight a war against the Divine. I just wanted to live a quiet life, learning magic, creating species and building up my Dungeon. Or maybe even multiple Dungeons. Maybe I'd set up a whole array of them, all the way from "rock-paper-scissors" to "Dark Souls NG+10".
... Then again, building a weak rock-paper-scissors dungeon would be boring. Watching adventurers just work out which damage type or element worked against which enemies and then mowing them all down... or even if I didn't set it up like that, just smashing their way through Floor after Floor of pathetic traps and mediocre monsters... that didn't appeal to me at all.
I was intelligent, I had the ability to do whatever I chose - but that didn't mean I wasn't still a Dungeon. I had new instincts, to grow, to build, and in a lot of ways my consciousness only made them stronger. I'd seen all sorts of wonders of natural and architectural beauty, on Earth... I wanted to make things like that. And having run more than a few tabletop games in my time, my pride as a GM wouldn't allow me to be content with a dank little hole in the ground, or a boring web of uniform grey stone corridors linking between rooms that everyone who sets foot in the place knows are going to contain a monster encounter.
No, my Dungeon was going to be a work of art.
... Except I had to not draw attention to myself, didn't I?
Ugh.
Bothynus Race Sophont Dungeon Core Subtype Flawless Arcanite Crystal Age 0 Gender Male Faith None Patron None Adventuring Jobs Job Level EXP Dungeon Master 1 0.00% Racial Skills Skill Level EXP Dungeon Awareness 1 4.27% Dungeon Comprehension 1 3.04% Dungeon Magic 1 0.00% Dungeon Territory 1 0.00% Unique Skills Skill Level EXP Unbound Essence 1 MAX Dungeon Master Skills Skill Level EXP Dungeon Architect 1 0.00% Dungeon Commander 1 0.00% Dungeon Supporter 1 0.00%