A status screen sprang into my mind with an alerting ping, displaying in the same purple hue as my identification window.

Dungeon #395 Level 0 / 1 EXP 0 / 5 Expand Status Window by trial and error

It was... far more minimalist than I thought, to the point of being insulting. "A level cap of one? And I don't even have enough numbers to write home about, huh?" I interrogated.

The system gave me no reward for judging it. Who would have thought?

To take my mind off the numerical insults, I looked around my chamber of dark stone, noticing it was far smaller than the one I had come from. And, most likely thanks to no longer having eyes of flesh and blood, sharper. Blocks comprised its every surface in a perfect meter-cube grid, edges between them invisible but clearly known. I swept my vision around, measuring the chamber, and found it... wanting. 5 blocks wide, 7 long, 3 tall, with ragged edges. Some blocks were missing, others merely thrown on, giving an appearance of roundness within the squares. My mind recalled a single concept fit for this sort of thing.

Stoneblock.

Yet every problem with it I had melted away when I mentally swept over my own needs. No work tomorrow, no hunger or thirst, no need to look in a mirror for any reason. I had nothing but time, and a novel game-ish system to interact with. And who knows, I could discover something useful.

At least a way to change my name. I was done being a number.

"Ping!" The system chimed. "Discovered stat: Identity. Choose Name?"

"Scarlet" I thought loudly back. "Scarlet Brimstone."

This wasn't the first time I chose this name, and it wouldn't be the last. Mood sunnier, I began to work. If all I had were cubes, I'd at least want to make something nice to look at out of the cubes. I focused my desires on that closest, most extraneous block, and with all the willpower I could muster, bored into it. I had no teeth to grit, no arms to flex, no eyes to close sharply, but those desires had not vacated me yet as I mentally drilled away.

And... nothing. The block still stuck out of the wall as if it owned the place. If i didn't have the power to shape my own home, what could I even do?

An unknown amount of time passed in thought as I simmered at the status screen. And then, I began counting free spaces. Having no better options, I simply started sweeping across individual layers. The bottom was fairly flat, and the top only bore a few holes, but the middle is where I got stuck. My i moved my focus block by block, trying to triangulate it with the divots in the sides, but their uneven width made me lose track time and time again.

I needed a new plan.

I mentally spread my focus over an area. Five by seven for the floor, times three for the height of my chamber. And while I could feel my mind strain, the result at least nested within it.

"Skill learned: Selection. +1 EXP"

I felt a release of pressure as lines faintly glowed around the area of my choosing. I no longer had to math while aiming a crosshair I could hardly see. I simply counted the blocks sticking into this square of cyan lines, counted the spaces that could stick out, subtracted them, and found the area which I occupied.

A hundred blocks, even.

"Core Attribute unlocked: Area. +2 EXP"

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Pleased with how quickly I was advancing, I tightened my selection to myself. And while I could only look outwards from myself, my mind was inundated with understanding. I knew I wasn't human anymore, but my lack of anything close still sent a chill through me. I beheld a smooth, 8-sided shape, like two pyramids pressed together. My... skin? glass? membrane? was translucent grey, making me think of sunglasses. Inside, a cyan fluid faintly rippled, but thoughts on it seemed to fuzz out like spikes of visual static.

Not having the patience to break into my own anatomy, I looked outwards again. Towards the walls. Let my mind laze across them until I was alerted with another systemic chime.

"Skill learned: Patience. +1 EXP"

I jumped- as best as I could for an immobile d8. I could feel my form spin, floating in the air, yet strangely full of potential. If focusing too small wasn't going to do anything, I was going to do the opposite. Focus big. Expand my selection out as far as it had been before, and push harder on the boundaries.

My sight grew.

My vision swelled.

My awareness expanded.

"Skill learned: Observation. +1 EXP"

Dungeon: Scarlet Brimstone has risen to level 1. Perk point acquired. Maximum evolution reached.

Begin Evolution Selection.

Wood-tier Evolution Selection

Common: Mineshaft

Common: Desert well

Common: Monster Room

Dig a path to the treasures of the earth.

Enables blocks: Oak plank, treasure chest, rail.

Enables actions: Prospect, break block (stone), illuminate

Grants perk: tunneler. time and force cost of breaking stone is divided by three, but is unmodified for all other blocks

EXP gains: tiny when breaking blocks, medium when donating ore, large when donating rare ore

Supply water to those who travel the wastes

Enables blocks: Water, sandstone slab

Enables actions: Attract, hydrate, break block (basic)

Grants perk: heat gather. recharge from ambient heat

EXP gains: Small when a day passes, large when a creature drinks from you.

Spawn monsters with rapidity and strength.

Enables blocks: Mossy cobblestone

Enables actions: Spawn monster (chosen from skeleton, zombie, or spider), break block (wood)

Grants skill: Teamwork. Monsters attacking the same target work slightly better

EXP gains: Tiny when one of your monsters dies. Small when one of your monsters kills a creature. Large when you kill an invading sentient.

I stopped to ponder my choices. A shame they were all wood tier, but whatever I was looked even worse.

The mineshaft was the most straightforward one. I could sit here, accumulating ore an EXP and storing it away for whoever comes to find me.

I guess I was in a desert? That would explain the well. Less so for how creatures would find me, as I was locked in

As for dungeon... That drew me in the most. I didn't want to wait or donate, I wanted to rule over something for once.

So without hesitation

I picked Monster Room.

And began to black out.

My status window (before the blackout):

Scarlet Brimstone Core Attributes Skills Level 1 / 1 Selection 1/10 EXP MAX Patience 1/10 Perk points 1 Observation 1/10 Area 100 Blocks Expand Status Window by trial and error