There’s no use hesitating here. Although I had no idea this would be the reward, there’s no point in throwing away the thing I’d been pursuing this whole time.
Some answers, hopefully.
Yes, I’d like to link to the System.
Initializing user interface…
Upgrading authority level…
Scanning entity…
…
System initialized
Here’s your initial System status:
Name: ---
Dungeon name: Verdant Hell (temporary)
Age: 0
Species: Mystic phenomenon
Subspecies: Dungeon Core
Body: 10…
Soul: 10…
Skills: …
Traits: …
Huh, is that it? Wait, no. A couple of those seem to have drop down menus.
Leftover aether portal opening energy detected…
Searching for outlets…
Oh, what now? Wait, this seems important. Hmm, would this energy left over from the portal opening have hurt me if I hadn’t accepted the System?
One-way divine bond found. Annul? Y/N
Oh, those fuckers! I should have known they’d try something like this. Who knows what that even does. Yea, destroy that garbage please.
…
Modify Monster patterns to increase synchronicity? Y/N
Really? There’s still more of that energy even after destroying a literal divine bond? Anyway, yes. I can always use an upgrade to my creatures. Though… does synchronicity mean they’ll be more complementary to each other or something else? I’d think the former, but who knows.
…
Provide extra assistance in advancement to next Tier? Y/N
Okay, this is getting ridiculous now. How much energy did just the opening of that so called aether portal produce? And that’s not even counting the mana that’s pouring from it since it opened. Then again, that’s mana and not this mystery energy the System mentioned.
All that aside, advancement? Tier?
Is that something like levels in this System? Or maybe the equivalent of a Class evolution?
No idea, but the very fact that it’s offering to assist me makes me think it’ll be dangerous. Or, at the very least, it’ll get me a better advancement, whatever that means.
Ugh, I never liked going into all the nitty-gritty of min-maxing. Sure, why the hell not, give me some assistance.
Suddenly, something reaches out from beyond the aether portal (at the centre of my core) and grabs the undulating walls of my shapeless core.
Oh, I’d forgotten about that.
The force, or is it energy? I’m not sure, but it seems to have a very faint trace of mana as a part of it. It grabs what remains of the walls of my core and twists it.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Language has no proper descriptor for these things, supernatural as they are, but the shapeless blob that is my core untwists, like a knot coming apart, gaining more and more definition.
And soon enough, my core once again assumes a shape you’d expect from standard geometry. Except it’s no longer a pyramid, but a cube. Or hexahedron, if we’re being fancy.
The best thing about having a cube shaped core is that while four of the walls still have monster patters in them, the other two don’t. Yes, my dungeon is once again being fed by a steady stream of mana.
Two streams of mana, to be exact. One, the old reliable, runs through my whole dungeon and (presumably) collects mana from the outside world. The other, new, one appears right in my core from the portal to the aether. Which I still don’t know what that is.
But before that, the System wants to tell me something.
Advancement successful.
As a Tier 2 Dungeon Core you now have 6 Guardian slots.
That’s nice, but that’s not the main thing it wanted my attention for.
You have now become fully integrated into the System.
Please check your full System status.
Further contact imminent.
Well, that’s a bit ominous.
Anyway, I can finally do the thing I’d dreaming of my whole life. Status!
Name: ---
Dungeon name: Verdant Hell (temporary)
Age: 0
Species: Mystic phenomenon
Subspecies: Dungeon Core 4/6
Body: 20…
Soul: 20…
Skills: …
Traits: …
Perks: …
Right, not much change at first glance. Just the addition of the 4/6 next my subspecies and a new dropdown menu. Both of which raise questions.
Why is Dungeon Core a subspecies? And what even is a Mystic phenomenon?
And similarly, how are Perks different from Traits?
Well, there’s only one way to find out. And subspecies doesn’t appear to be expandable, might as well check my Perks.
Perks:
[System Preservation]
You are one of the last few entities with access to the System. Help preserve and expand it, and gain benefits.
Increases authority level of user.
That’s… a rather ominous sounding one. Is this why the System begged me to accept it? Actually, why was it even in that space, the aether?
There’s something afoot here, but it can wait until I check the rest of my status.
Traits:
[Aether Portal]
Your very being serves as a portal to the aether. Reach out and grasp almost any energy you need. Shape and transform this connection to suit your needs.
[Partial Soul-Body Unity]
Your existence is a partial fusion of your body and soul into one entity. Not quite there to consider both as one, but enough for one to benefit from the other.
[Immobile]
Due to your very nature, you cannot move. But reality has a way of balancing things, enhancing your ability to endure in compensation.
That’s considerably more. And also, much better than the Perks. Especially since I don’t actually know what an increase in my authority level grants me.
Well, except for the last one. I guess it’s nice to be harder to destroy, but moving is also nice. Maybe that’s why Dungeon Core became basically living fortresses. Or maybe they gave up mobility to complement being a fortress?
Anyway, let’s check out my skills.
Skills:
…
Are you serious!? No Skills!
This is a disgrace! How come I have no Skills?
No, seriously. How?
At the very least I would have expected some of the innate dungeon abilities to be here. But noooo, apparently not.
Whatever, I’ll figure it out later. It’s time to see what this body and soul thing is about. I’d expect more stats. And a mind stat too. Usually, in the stories I read, soul would even be a hidden stat, so I wonder why it’s just there.
Body: 20
> Give …
> Take 40…
Alright, this is extra unusual. Let me just expand it more, to confirm my theory.
Body: 20
> Give
-> Force …
-> Fidelity …
-> Recovery …
> Take 40
-> Durability 70 …
-> Recovery 10 …
Yeah, I see how it is. And a quick check in the soul stats confirms it. They are more or less the same, with the only difference being soul doesn’t have the give section crossed out.
So apparently, I can have some pretty specific stats. And the overall is calculated on the average of all the sub-stats it contains.
Honestly, a pretty genius solution to the whole “what does x points in strength actually mean?” problem. Though I’m still not sure what says how deep I’m allowed to go. There are obviously more dropdown menus, but they’re greyed out for now. I can’t even look at it.
Oh well, it’s not as if I could do much with this anyway. I’ll worry about it when I have some points to assign.
Alright, it’s time to see what I can do now that I have the support of the System.