It scares me. A way worse than my old man screaming at me when I was just a kid. Enough that I just shut my eyes, put my fingers in my ears, crunch down into a ball, and prepare for the worst to come. But as the first of the lashes don’t fall on my back, I respite for fresh air. And then, again and again, breathing deeply, letting the air take all the torturing emotions out of me.

Slowly, the mountain above me and the cave fall silent.

And I open my eyes again.

The layer of dirt has covered the elements there, but they still shine through. I feel my heart, and it’s still beating.

What a stupid ass I am. That came too close.

Should not do this… like… ever again.

I turn to the message that is still displayed in the air, now a way more relaxed and composed. But there is nothing else I can think about doing with it.

“Whatever says in it, I will figure it out later. I can just run all the options. I’ll figure it out.”

But then I remember, if it’s coded and important, it might have some limitations. “Do I have a limited number of password tries before I'm locked out, SAMS?”

[Yes. This message has been configured to self-destruct in either 20 standard days or after 20 failed attempts.]

So, twenty days, huh?

But then something else starts to bother me. Why did he have to code it like that? What if it was not to bother me, but could it be that he does not trust people within the system? And if he does not trust them, he who is all mighty and omnipotent, why should I?

Still, 19 attempts. That should be plenty. I can just list all the towns I ever lived in. I’m bound to guess it. But all of that can wait. Now that I am still alive, I have other pressing issues.

And the first of the intriguing issues starts to gleam in the air.

[Update:

Your Energy Converter has harvested 10 units of raw energy and is currently converting it to LIC Energy units.]

“Good,” I say as if I know what that actually means. “Does that have anything to do with how I defended this dungeon?”

SAMS is silent, and I grow frustrated again. Then I take in a few breaths again, and I start to accept that I get nothing if I blow a fuse again. Well, except the earth, rocks, and the whole mountain that almost came down on my head.

So, I’m just dealing with a basic model. Have to treat it so. That’s the only thing I can do now.

I think and decide to reformulate the question and ask, “SAMS, can you state where that energy came from?”

[Pure Emotions Harvested: 11

Fear: 4

Greed: 2

Pain: 2

Hatred: 1

Shame: 1

Total: 11]

Okay, so those are all emotions that the dwarfs must have experienced. There are no points for happiness or exuberance, the one I felt toward the end. So, it was gathering their emotions. Not mine.

Thus, it’s safe to conclude the energy harvester and converter cannot feed on my emotions, only those of others. That makes sense. If it could, it would imply that this dungeon could feed on itself. And how long can you survive if you do that? I would literally eat myself inside out.

I know there is a lot more information there I can look at, but my eyes are set on five different objects covered in gleaming diamonds and different precious stones.

“Can you tell me what these parts are? Is that my kidney there? Or my heart?”

SAMS says nothing.

“Can you give me the full name of the object I am holding now, SAMS?” I ask and place my hand on one of the smallest of them.

[Energy Harvester.]

“Okay. I guess we can play like that. Thank you for telling me, SAMS,” I say and scratch my head.

There is a jewelry box-sized unit that shines the brightest, and I’m guessing it must be because it is working. My guess that it’s a converter is soon confirmed by SAMS.

Getting some answers calms me down. But, if I’m going to run this place, I need more. “Does your basic model have a setting that I can change so it can give me more information without me having to ask for everything?

To my surprise, some options come out.

[The SAMS Basic Model Interactivity:

Direct Answers - Default

Advanced Explanations - Not Accessible (Level 2 Required)

Extensive Explanations - Not Accessible (Level 5 Required)

AI basic model - Disabled

AI advanced model - Not Accessible (Level 10 Required)

AI Extensive Explanations - Not Accessible (Level 20 Required)]

“Okay. So, let’s try the AI basic model. Let’s enable it and see what it does. I need to figure this out. Trial and error just won’t cut it now.”

[The SAMS AI Basic Model is activated]

Okay, here we go.

[The SAMS stands ready to serve you.]

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“Yeah, sure you do. Could have told me that crying would flood the gate. Imagine what would have happened if I knew. I could have pissed. It would have been Niagara Falls. It would have catapulted them all the way to the freaking river!”

[Negative

Wrong assumption.

You cannot piss.

The water did not come because you think you cried.

It came from the crack because the tantrum you threw caused the ceiling in the cave R7 to open up and the large body of water that was accumulated above it washed down the tunnel.]

“Oh, that’s good to know. Now, I do not have to go pissing down on me, do I?”

[No. You do not need to go pissing down on yourself.]

“Yeah, that’s always really good to know.”

I go back to looking at the objects. It takes me only a few moments to figure them out. A long one is a Soul Holder.

“And how many souls can we pack in there, SAMs?”

[This unit can store fifty thousand souls.]

"Wow!" is all I can say. But then, if a soul weighs only a few grams, and its essence can be stored on the size of a playing card like the one I have, that would make sense.

Then there is a Constructor, basically, a thing that is supposed to construct something, anything. I do not have a manual, so I am guessing it might be like a 3D bio-printer but probably just for the stuff I could use here in the dungeon. I am not sure. I need to try it out. Maybe the first thing I need to try out.

The funny thing is, there is also a Soul Transmitter. It could almost work like this, I capture a soul, then store it, then let the constructor build me some monsters, and then I can just transmit it inside the body of the monsters.

It almost makes sense. Except... There are millions of other questions, like, why would a monster need a soul, what do I get from capturing souls, and so many more.

With so many questions popping up and swarming inside my head, I need to calm down and start with the most basic ones.

“SAMS, please inform me, what are my options to do when I capture a soul?”

[Three options exist.

Hold a soul in the Soul Keeper.

Induce a soul in the soul-free but soul-capable body.

Sell a soul on Galactic Marketplace.]

Okay, so that almost makes sense. If souls can be captured and stored, why would they not be available to sell? “And how much can a soul bring me?”

[It depends on a soul. Would you like to see some of the most recent Galactic Marketplace Prices?

Connection to the Network and Retrieval of Information cost: 1 coin]

“I see, so I would just get charged. No, just give me a ballpark, please, just someone who is not famous, just an average Joe.”

[The lowest the souls of humanoids are known to be sold for is 152,000 coins, but some souls reach the price of millions of coins. I do not have the information for the maximum.]

“So, can I buy souls too?”

[Of course. But you need to get licensed first. Would you like to see the conditions for becoming a Licensed Soul Purchaser?]

“We’ll worry about that later. But it’s good to know. So, theoretically speaking, if someone dies, like on Earth, and someone harvests their souls and puts them on the marketplace, I can buy that soul and bring them here? Did I get that right?”

[Yes. If you are a Licensed Soul Purchaser.]

“Okay, so I got that right. Obviously, I will need a lot of coins. So, am I a Licensed Soul Seller?”

[All dungeons are automatically granted a license to sell souls. The souls and the LIC energy they sell are the primary reasons why they exist and why people invest in them.]

“I see. Now it makes sense. So, there are two ways I can earn a coin,” I say, but it takes me a long while to process one part of it. One marketplace where you can buy souls.

It seems unreal. Maybe... Maybe I did not hear it right.

“Let me get this straight, SAMs, I’m really having trouble with it. Are all souls available for purchase?”

[Of course not. Only those that enter the Galactic Marketplace.]

“And you cannot purchase the soul from anywhere else?”

[LIP Corp strictly prohibits the trading of souls out of a fully licensed marketplace.]

Maybe it forbids it. But I bet my knickers that it does happen.

“Was my soul placed in a marketplace?”

[I do not have access to that information.]

“If you had to guess?”

[I cannot guess. However, I can state that 99.954 percent of all souls from your planet end up on the Grand Storage Holding in the Galactic Marketplace.]

“And why do some not?”

[I cannot guess]

Frustration. Calm down. Count your breaths. To five. Okay, here we go again. “Can you list possibilities then? If not on a marketplace, where can they end up?”

[Some of the options are:

The soul can have a prior arrangement such as purchasing a Soul Residency Location.

The soul can have an exclusivity right.

The soul can be of a Master Lord class or higher.

Also, there might be other options that this system is not aware of.]

“I see. A lot of options and information. Interesting. Do you realize you just explained to me the whole existence thing? I mean, if people on Earth knew about this, it would blow them away. They're nothing but living in a dungeon-type thing, and do not even know about it.”

I am ready to laugh, but then I think of my family and the laugh gets choked up somewhere in my throat before it gets out.

I space around, not fully able to comprehend it all.

But one thing is certain. I need to build up my cash reserves. I need to have... like millions. If my wife and kids die, I want to take care of them. Not let them just linger in some dark space somewhere until they are sold to someone like my buddy Baron Elf the Asshole.

As I’m looking over and contemplating my long-term strategy, my new numbers come in. And I’m liking what I’m seeing.

[Update:

Standings:

Class: 5 Dungeon

Level: 1

Reputation: -1,050

Karma: -9,960

Experience: 40

Type: Extirpating - Putrefying - Consuming]

One thing is disappointing. I was hoping that I would level up. But nothing changed there. Bummer. I need to figure out how that works.

It means this is not some ridiculous progression where you kill a rat or bang something on the head or chase away a butterfly and you automatically jump up in class and level. I need to figure it out fast because I'm sure higher classes and levels would permit me more options.

But, at least my karma went up. Must be because I did not kill those dwarfs, what else could it be? It certainly was not for lack of trying, but I guess it’s the outcome that counts. So, yeah, I’ll take it.

It kind of gets me thinking, how much pain must have existed in this dungeon before I came here for it to be with such negative karma? It had people hurting here. I am not sure I want to go that route. But, do I have a choice?

Maybe if I had captured those dwarfs and tortured them, I would have leveled up? Huh. Interesting. I would need to wash them down first. Hose them down really good. Make them scrub each other till they bleed. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

“I got some experience too. Can you give me more information about that number?”

[You defended the Dungeon against 4 intruders, thus gaining 40 Experience Points.]

“Okay, I can work with that. Anything else that changed, SAM?”

[Holdings:

The Dungeon of Blackins Mountain, Sector 23XL32nn: 800,000 coins

Land Size: 10,000 square meters

Souls: 0

Denizens: 0

Equipment: 40,000 coins

LIC (Life Inducing and Constructing) Energy: 11 Unit

Coins: 10,000

Other: 0

Note: the values of your property have risen since you neutralized the immediate threat to its existence.]

[Attributes

Total Health: 5

Total Strength: 2

Total Power: 1]

My health is down. From 15 to 5!? It seems I’m just clinging to life. I do not feel so strong either. Dizzy. I bet those numbers are really bad.

It seems all those numbers are easy to drop but harder to move up, much harder than what some games made me think was possible. Too late to cry over that.

So, I turn to the objects in my Core.

Clearly, the very first thing I need to do is to shore up defenses. Can’t plan for the future if a few short, stink-suffocating dwarfs can take me out. If they only knew, with my health down, they could just waltz in here and take me out.

I got lucky the last time. I accept that. Maybe the Baron dude would say it was intuition, that he knew I could do it, how I’ve done this before, that I would be fine no matter what. But I think that is just a bunch of BS, his selling ice to Eskimos. And, no matter what I said before, you can easily guess who is an Eskimo here.

I need a monster. Basically, one to repair the walls, build a gate so my doors are not wide open for anyone to come in, and occasionally shoot an arrow or throw poisonous acid in the face of the intruders. Scare the shit out of them first so I get some Fear Energy as well. Wouldn’t that be lovely? Or capture them and put them on a spit to roast over the slow-burning flame. All the pain that would cause? And then, when they are dead, I harvest their souls. And sell them.

I just need to get people to come here. And then… I can get rich. Filthy, stinking rich. And then I'll buy the whole freaken’ Earth. He-he-he.