"whaa.. where am I?" I found myself floating in a void. Nothing all around me. I tried to open my eyes and nothing, moving a limb and nothing. "Where is my glorious creation?" I panic.
"But wait, what are limbs again? What was my 'glorious creation'? Right!! My dungeon! But how would a halfbreed have a dungeon of their own creation?!" I tried to remember what was happening. I felt vision of pain, crying, laughing, shuffling of chains, and....and... and a huge headache. Something then blinks into my vision from nothingness.
> Welcome, (Unnamed) to the System.
>
> You are being initialised please stand by.......
>
> Congratulations! (Unnamed) has been initialised!
>
> Do you wish to proceed to summoning a Dungeon Sprite to help you? Y/N
I was confused again as I should already be initialised into the system! "These are not making sense! And why would I summon a Dungeon Sprite? What are they?!" Yet I selected yes as the Sprite might help me in this situation.
Then the notification went away, and in its place, a small (or large, I couldn't tell as I had no reference for size) portal opened, and a blue wisp floated through.
"So, at last, I get assigned a Dungeon! Now let's see what we have here." I heard a girl's voice from the wisp. Then I heard a shriek. "What! Your core should not be like that! And can you talk to me core?"
I couldn't see what she was seeing, but it felt like I should be alarmed as she said something was wrong with a core and addressed me as the said core. "Can you talk core?" She asked again. This time I answered, "Yes. I can hear and talk to you but cannot see anything."
"Yes! I got a sentient Dungeon! And you can't see anything because there isn't anything here for you to see. As a rift-type Dungeon, you are inside of a sub-dimension where there is nothing." She said. I was a Dungeon Core? I was a halfbreed of somekind! I remember to... to...Aaahh!
I felt a sharp pain as I tried to remember my life again. The Sprite also shrieked. "What happened? Why did you suddenly take damage? Mr. Dungeon are you ok?!"
"I should not be a Dungeon Core... I was a mageling... Or was I an Alchemist? Oh! You asked what happened right? I just tried to remember what I was and I felt a pain and..." I started to spiral out again when I felt a tug on my mind and found my focus going to the blue wisp. "Ok, something is going on with your mind as you were not answering me for 4 hours until I used our connection to draw your focus. So as your assistant, I am telling you not to try to remember your past until we get your first floor running, ok?" She calmly told me. I found her words soothing and agreed with her.
"So what do I do now?" I asked her. "Now you will open your status and we will see from there." She told me. I followed her instructions and summoned my status.
> Name: (unnamed)
>
> Race: Dungeon Core
>
> Subrace: Dimensional Rift
>
> Level: 1
>
> Integrity: 88%
>
> Mana: 100/100
>
> Mana regen: 10/h
>
> Title: Soul Devourer
>
> Achievement: Ritual Spawn
>
> Class: (Available to choose)
>
> Theme: (Available to choose)
>
> Gift: [open tab]
>
> Skills: [open tab]
What! Why do I have Soul Devourer as my Title? Where is my name? I have a name! My name is... My name is... "Stop!" Suddenly, the Sprite shouted at me, and my spiralling stopped. "Stop trying to remember your past! And open your Gifts tab, I need to see something."
I did as she said and opened the Gift tab as I was also feeling a bit curious.
> Gifts:
>
> You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
>
> 1. Jack of All Trades: Can learn Skills faster or by observing the Skill in effect. Skill restrictions unlocked.
>
> 2. Master of none: Skills capped at level 50.
>
> 3. Synthesis: Combine Skills and Abilities. Skills and abilities cannot naturally combine.
>
> 4. Archmage Seed: Element Affinity restrictions unlocked. Scholar and Magic type Skill inclination. Physical and Martial type Skill declination.
>
> 5. Ooze Soul: The Soul cannot be fragmented or separated. Foreign Soul fragments are easier to absorb.
>
> 6. Biomes o' Plenty: Five floors will be combined into a Mega Floor. May not designate Rooms. Must only use Mega Floors.
"Wow! You have a lot of Gifts. One complete set, a seed and a Dungeon Mutation. Now I am sure of my suspicions, I need to return to Gilspire to report them and get you some help. I will be back in a jiffy and don't pick class or theme yet!" She then opened a shimmering portal and zipped through it.
Again, I was alone in the void with my mind. I guess now I have my status to fiddle around with. To not let my mind wander I opened the description of my Title.
> Soul Devourer: You have torn, eaten and assimilated the soul of another creature. From that, a mark has been left. Now, Every soul shivers from your presence, yet some parts are drawn to you, much like a moth to a flame. (This is a special Title. This doesn't take a title equip slot. This Title is always active.)
Yeah..... A creepy one. How did I even get this? Could this be related to my sudden amnesia? What was that again? Before I could spiral trying to remember something I opened the description of my Achievement, or at least was going to. Because a notification popped up.
> Congratulations! You have gained Skill Self-discipline level 1.
Huh! From what I remember, Skills were a bit harder to gain than that, but I guess I have a Gift related to getting Skills, so that might have made the difference. I again went to open the description of my Achievement and was successful!
> Ritual Spawn: Born from magic, magic knows you. Magic will help you, it might even punish you, just like a parent. Just remember that magic is wild, oh Spawn of the Wild.
Before I could parse through what it meant I got hit with another notification.
> Congratulations! You have gained a Moniker (Spawn of the Wild)
>
> Congratulations! You have gained the Achievement (Fame before Name)
I tried to open a description of the Moniker but found that it didn't have any. I then opened the description of the new Achievement.
> Fame before Name: When the essence of magic whispers your tale before the world knows your name, a title borne from chaos and magic marks your existence. Such is the fate of the nameless, whose moniker precedes their identity. Now, oh little Spawn, will you claim your place?
Okkkk.. Now more cryptic and it didn't even give a hint of its effect. And who is talking through the last lines of the notification? Urhh.. Ok, calm down, spin the storm, draw the wave, breathe in, spin the storm, crash the wave, breathe out.........
After some unknown amount of time, I came out of my meditative state. I immediately got hit with notifications.
> You have gained the Skill Meditation level 1 > 21.
>
> You have gained the Skill Visualisation level 1 > 17.
>
> Skill Self-Discipline progressed to level 11.
I also noticed a blue portal shimmering into existence with more distance than before. Through it, two wisps came out, one blue and the other a silver colour, where the blue one would be seen like a candle fire, and the silver one shone like a torch. I tried to find out more about that one and a window popped up.
> Wokazo — Greater Sprite — ???
> You have gained Skill Identify 1 > 5
"Yes, you did right by calling me while the case was less severe. If left alone this could have turned bad. Lily, now please ask the Core if I have its permission to heal its injury. I will say that I cannot repair its integrity or mind, I will stabilise the soul so it may compound together into harmony. That will likely take around 4 - 6 months; during this time, your memories might return but don't try to forcibly recall anything about before your current initialisation. And your integrity will slowly heal on your own. So do I have your permission?" The Silver one said all of that in a single breath, or do sprites not have that problem? Whatever! I gave him my permission through blue.
With my permission, the silver wisp started to swirl around my POV, which I realised was a 360 view. While he was swirling he started to sing in an ethereal tune. I felt a squirming within me that I had not realised started to settle down little by little. The way the silver wisp moved it looked almost familiar; suddenly, I was hit with flashes of emotions, joy, fear, and apathy.. just as suddenly it came, it went away. Yet I was left in its wake a bit more confused, but what was a bit more to a bucket.
While Silver was doing that I tried my new Skill at Blue.
> Lily — Greater Sprite — 13
So what did these mean I had no clue. When silver came to a stop near blue. The uncomfortable feeling that I had fully subsided, and in its place, a fuzzy, almost itchy, yet soothing feeling was left. "My estimate for your recovery was wrong. I will tell you my current estimate: your soul will stabilise after 1-2 months, but your mind will never be the same again. Your main soul had some of it damaged and it is actively assimilating the other fragments to fill in the gaps. Some things about your past you will never remember. I will come back two weeks later to check up on your condition. Now please create a portal to Gilspire for my travel." Silver just droned.
I was getting a feeling that Silver just liked to talk about their interests and gave lengthy explanations yet remained silent most of the other time. At least they were serious about their business, I guess. Cause, I like my healer to be a serious person who does his job right rather than a personable goofball who messes things up. Blue also opened the portal again and silver went through.
> You have gained the Skill Insight level 1 > 6