The darkness fades and I sit up. Still groggy and confused I look around and I see...stone? I’m in a stone room? Where the hell am I? I’m still in the Armour that I used to fight that thing so I’m not completely defenseless, even though my sword is nowhere to be seen.

“Hello? Is anybody here?” I yell to no avail, I look around me and spot the torch on the wall and a stack of papers next to my feet. I look around and realize in the wall behind me there is a fist-sized blue gem and a tiny Red Ruby embedded in the wall. I stared at the pair confused, I knew what the ruby was but what was the blue gem? Why are they on the wall?

I bend over and pick up the papers. I start to read

“Dear Alex,

  It seems you have awoken. Welcome to your new home, don’t worry you won’t be stuck in a tiny stone room for the rest of your life. No, your life is going to be much more entertaining. Let me tell you a little about your situation, You are in a room under the dungeon cores domain. If you don’t know, Dungeon cores are living stones and gems that make, well, dungeons. Where you adventurers or “Hunters” can kill monsters for riches. The core will grow and make monsters. Right now it’s just a rock but ill tell you how to talk to it soon.

  You are currently just above the liquid rock part of your planet. The only thing protecting you is the stone room, if you were to try to break the room, which is unlikely, and succeed, you will burn to death faster than you can say your name. This dungeon will slowly build upwards with each new floor being weaker than the last. Of course, these monsters and beings will grow stronger over time.

  You should also know that you are no longer human. You may look similar to a human but you are not. You are a Demi-God because of yours truly. What that means is that you will not die of old age, disease and plagues will not affect you, you have a higher resistance to the elements and poisons. You no longer need water, food, or air to survive. Your Status Screen has changed. Anything else? Ah yes the best part, and you can choose one signature element so choose wisely. This does not mean you can’t die. It just means that it will be harder to kill you.

  I have made it so that, as the Dungeon grows stronger so do you, you can also kill the monsters to grow stronger but beware, killing them means the dungeon will lose its defenders. You may also train but you can do that later, the dungeon will provide what you need. I will also be sending some gifts every once and awhile.

  Now to bond to the dungeon, Place a drop of blood on the blue gem and Say “I bind us together, let our souls intertwine” The old language will read your memories to understand you and understand what you are talking about.

Ps: To get you started just to say “Summon Sword”

Good luck and entertain me, Alex”

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I sit there for a few moments shocked by what I just read. My mind is a jumbled mess as I try to sort what I just read. I go back a few times to make sure I read it right.

After a few minutes, I try to summon the sword

“Summon Sword,” I feel something get pulled and suddenly a normal-looking sword appears. It looks new but nothing fancy. It’ll have to do. I cut my finger, a small drop of...golden blood. I stare and realize that I truly am no longer human.

I place my hand on the blue gem making sure my blood is on it.

“I bind us together, let our souls be bound together” a blue glow comes from the gem. It gets brighter and brighter until it blinds me. I place my hand over my eyes and keep my other hand on the gem. I feel the cold shackle of the contract and something else make a connection...it feels like a bridge to where the gem is. After a few more seconds the light is gone.

“Hello?” I hear a new voice, it sounds like a young woman.

“Hi? Are you the dungeon core?” I ask in a suspicious voice

“Yes, and I’m guessing that means we’re going to be together from now on”

“Yes, I guess so” I’m not sure how I feel about this, it’s nice to talk to someone but how is a gem talking to me?

“So do you have a name?” I ask Her?

“... It's Veronica,” She says after a small pause. Was she not always a Gem?

“My name is Alex Torres. Were you always a dungeon core?” I ask

“No, I used to be human but not from here” What did that mean? She was human?

“Before we talk more, I need to know if you were forced into the Gem” This was important if she was forced she could go insane. That would be dangerous, for me and her

“Yes, but I like it here. This is better than my old life” she stops talking, I won’t force her to talk but at least I know she won’t go insane for the time being.

“You said you human but not from here? Are you from the dynasty then?” I was more than a little curious

“I’m not from this planet or universe I think” My eyes go wide

“What?”

“ I can tell from your memories. My planet has a different geography and we were far more advanced but we didn’t have magic or real gods. I thought this was a fantasy world or something” Still in disbelief and confused I ask her

“What do you mean more advanced? And geography, how is it different? How did you survive without magic and… Gods” That last part made my tongue feel like lead

“Well we viewed science a lot better than how you do and we have so much more stuff, we had guns and TV and fast food and so much more,” Isn’t Science just a useless quack that some elders made up? I hold my question back as she keeps talking

“In my world, we had Seven major continents and I’m from or was from America...not that you would know where that is.”

I have so many questions, I wanted answers. But those weren’t important, they were just to satiate my curiosity.

”Do you have a Status?”

“Status?” only sentient beings have a status so she should have one

“Say Status Open and you should see your name, Class, and Level” I guess she didn’t have the Status Screen where she’s from. It must be because she doesn’t have mana or Gods in her world.

“Status Open” I hear a small yelp from her and can tell she sees the screen

“Wow that’s a lot of info, why’d you say there was only name and level? I can see my name, Class, level, skills, and the store.”

“What? No, Status only shows name and level and class if you have one.”