The first time I tried to wake, I found nothing but darkness. I knew I wasn’t blind, but my eyes didn’t seem to...exist. I could feel myself churning, flowing, and moving through something, but I couldn’t identify what.

So I did the natural thing and went back to sleep. Being awake sucked.

As I slowly drifted to sleep, I had images flash before my eyes, memories? Maybe, I had no idea. Each one had something in common. The same things in common, actually. Beams strong enough to cause air to turn to plasma over a city, massive rods moving so fast eyes could barely comprehend the image before they impacted the ground.

It was… Endless destruction and death. So, so much death. And each person to die was me...yet also not me. I was all of them, but none of them.

This was so damn confusing… Why could this all not just… make sense? Who were these people I was seeing and why was it important to me. Hell, who even am I? Did I do that to those people?

No, that doesn’t make sense, I remember the pain of each and every one of those people, but I couldn’t be all of them. Right?

This is damn confusing, I’m going to go to sleep for real.

When I woke up again, everything was different. Instead of darkness, I could actually see.

I saw a planet, hanging in space, slowly spinning. A strange blue and green marble.

It reminded me of...somehting named Echo. I know they weren’t me, but something in me remembered it and hoped whoever it was was safe.

Whatever I am is confusing as fuck. I can remember a whole bunch of people dying, a thing called echo, but I can’t even remember my own name, what I am, or where I am.

With nothing else to do, I started moving towards the planet. I felt something pulling my back, but fuck that shit, I’m going to do something.

<『System Error』>

< A general system error has occurred.

Modification of the system code or a critical data structure was detected: external error.

Failed to retrieve updates from the server.

Driver error 11.>

The. Fuck?

What... What is that? Why is it in my face? Is this VR?!

That wouldn't make sense though... Still, that leaves the question up. Why is there an info box telling me about a system error?

No, I think I know what's going on...

<『system.message(welcome_header)』>

Well shit. This isn't very readable...

Whatever, let's go with uhh... choice 1. It looks like the spot you'd normally have the yes button.

Since I don't have any limbs, I focussed on the choice_1 text, and the box disappeared. And didn't come back. Awesome...

Well, I guess it’s time to wait.

『Debug Menu』

Start from scratch

Start from a memory

Modify your form

Random

Well… At least I didn’t have to wait? I don’t like how those buttons are set up though…

Regardless of questionable design decisions, choices must be made! Starting from scratch sounds like a pain in the ass, so that’s right out. And my only memories are of people getting killed, so likely not a good decision…

I’m not even sure where to start with modifying my form… So, random is the only choice? I don’t really see any other option…

So, I selected Random.

『Specialization selection』

「Debug Selection」

Magic Specialization

Tech Specialization

Both (Penalties apply)

[DEBUG] Both (No penalties)

Well, this isn’t even a choice, what kind of fool would pick anything other than the debug option? I get both paths, and I don’t have to sacrifice anything!

I focussed on the clearly labeled [DEBUG] box, and the window disappeared from my vision again. Now we play the wait or no waiting game.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

『Skill acquired!』

{Increase to learning rate of magical fields}

{Increase effect properties in magical fields}

{Increase Research speed in magical fields}

『Skill acquired!』

{Increase to learning rate of Technological and Scientific fields}

{Increase effect properties in Technological and Scientific fields}

{Increase Research speed in Technological and Scientific fields}

『Debug skill acquired!』

{All interference effects for learning Tech and Magic-based abilities have been mitigated}

Well, fuck me, that’s a lot of infoboxes.

I scrolled through the first two, which seemed normal, and then the third popped up. Odd flex to have that as a skill, but alright. The real question is...what’s next?

What felt like an hour passed before the next informational box popped up, this time with a little bell noise.

『User seyup completed!』

Continue

Make modifications

Well, it looks like this is it. I focused on the Continue button like before and was transferred somewhere else.

----------------------------------------

『Generating origin…』

Wait, Origin? Shouldn’t that be something that I make? It sounds way too important!

But I was given no choice but the wit as the dots at the end cycled slowly from none at all to the 3 and back again for what felt like hours.

It was actually two minutes…but not being able to move my vision or see anything really didn’t help my mental perception of time.

『Origin generation completed!』

『Select spawn type』

A higher risk spawn may lead to more opportunities, but also more dangerous encounters.

Safer Spawn

Risky Spawn

More opportunities huh…

I started thinking about my two choices, on one hand, safety would let me probably survive longer… But the possibility of stuff was singing such a sweet, alluring tune…

Then again, I don’t know what the stuff would be, or for that matter what it means by danger. Danger could mean something like wolves, or it could mean I would spawn in under fire with hostiles that have total air superiority. I also don’t know what ‘safe’ means, this whole system is far too vague.

With a mental sigh, I selected the ‘safer’ option, my vision fading to black in moments, only to be met by a flash and then…yup…more black.

On some brand new instinct, I waved a hand and a wire mesh started forming on otherwise unseeable surfaces around me, giving me some kind of vision, even if it wasn’t what I was wanting. I started forwards and spun myself around once, getting a good feeling of my surroundings.

I was…underground? I guess that’s what I should have expected being a ‘dungeon core’ I think it said. I pressed on some unseen muscle in the back of my head and a single display popped up in front of me.

『Starter package!』

To help you begin the following patterns have been uploaded into your database.

Neat…That’s…a lot of stuff though? I looked into what was considered ‘low quality for ores and… I could create regenerating deposits of just about anything you would normally be able to mine and…many things that you couldn’t by everything I knew. With some closer inspection, it looked like as the elements of the ore involved got heavier, the less of it that you would get on average per cubic meter, with the last element that you would get anything outside of a rounding error per hundred cubic meters being germanium.

Not that anything was stopping me from just making a pile of low-purity uranite.

While I was distracted, the mapping out of the cave I was in was completed, and a full 3d map appeared in my head, showing me that through all the twists and turns, this cave I was in had 3 natural entrances, all that met up into a single chamber before starting to head deeper down.

Which was great and all, choke points are good… But I don’t know what I’m doing right now. I mentally marked the room I was in as my command room, and a soft ping rang through my head, the 3d map updating to show that room's new name.

I stared at that change for longer than I would like to admit, and to be fair I had no way to tell the time anyways. But it gave me an idea.

If all it took was my thoughts to change a name…what about changing the terrain? Or…making things?

I focussed on that first chamber I had found, just trying to make it more…square, and after a few minutes, I managed to make it much worse. My gott, it was worse. Fragile spikes littered the floor and ceiling, the walls couldn’t agree on which plane of existence they were in, and the maneuverable space had shrunk to almost nothing.

Which was the exact opposite of my intention. And also happened to be what I was thinking of trying not to make.

So…maybe I need only to visualize what I want?

I pushed the thoughts of the strange, broken room from my head and focussed on just one thing, a plain room, with flat walls, a central round pillar, a door on each side, centrally located, and no other features. Immediately, the room started to shift like it had turned to slime, smoothing out into what my strange sense was calling near-atomic smoothness. The room was flat, with perfect 90-degree angles, and the pillar in the center was entirely smooth, without flaw.

It was by all means, artificial when compared to the caves leading into, and for that matter, out of it, but for a first room, it was sufficient. Though why I felt the need for making rooms was unknown to me, tugging deep inside and telling me to continue.

With no reason to not listen to it, I went right on, adding little protruding bases to the top and bottom of the pillar, some trimming for the walls, and little doorways for the entrances. The floor soon started to change shape as well, having grooves for any fluids to flow through into a collection area, for easy exploitation later on.

With this sense of pride and accomplishment of having created my first room, it was only natural that something needed to interrupt me, and today that something would be yet another status window.

『Progress Alert!』

With the completion of your first room, your dungeon will automatically open in 24 hours.

<23:59:59 remain>

Ah, that would be problematic.