The Prologue: Are You Bored?
Sitting in a darkly lit room, where the only source of light was from the slight glares, coming off from the laptop screen and monitor.
Tap! Tap!
As the sounds of my index finger tapping on the downwards keyboard of the laptop, which immediately scrolls down the web page that I'm currently on.
Numerous covers of fiction and stories posted on the website, passing by me in the blink of an eye, but nothing has caught my interest.
I then sigh out of boredom, showcasing my sense of interest.
I thought to myself, 'There really is nothing else to do and nothing that is quite interesting to read.
"And also, none of the fictions that I've bookmarked and favourited has updated yet... I'm bored!' I thought, whilst expressing my sense of dissatisfaction.
I then yarn, stretching my tired arms out, reaching way pass over my head, and leaning back against my gaming chair.
I twisted my neck, back and forth, side to side slightly, and hearing a slight crack.
I then looked at the stationery digital clock that is placed adjacent to me, right beside the single bed, and checking the time on the clock.
The neon green numbers that are shown the digital alarm clock, indicated that it was already half past three in the early morning.
'It's 3:34 AM, huh? So it's already morning, huh?' I thought so to myself, and then came to a sudden realisation that I've spent the whole night surfing the internet; reading Japanese light novels, playing video games, watching anime, etc.
So much so, that dark rings are beginning to permanently form around the areas that are under my eyes.
Despite living this sort of lifestyle daily for years, I'm not that surprised if I have gained weight, or become obese.
However, I am the exact opposite, a short scrawny, late twenty years old something man.
Plop!
The sounds of a popup ad appearing on my laptop screen.
[Are you bored with your life? Nothing else to do? Why not seek some sort of Entertainment in ??????????]
The popup ads literally covered the whole laptop screen, and there is no exit or [×] close down button in sight, to be seen, which was quite alarming and an obvious sign that something was not right.
The first thing that I thought, 'There is no close down button in sight. So how am I supposed to close down the popup ad, or is it a computer virus?'
'There is always an alternative. I could just press F5 to refresh the webpage to get rid of the popup ad, or just simply turn off my laptop, and that will be the immediate end of it. I hope so.' I thought.
Before I could even press the F5 button on the laptop keyboard to refresh the page, the popup ad then changes, shifting to the next ad phase.
[Do you wish to start a new life in Another World? It's your choice to make...]
[Do you want to become a Game Master? [Y]Accept or [N]Decline ]
The contents of the popup ad have certainly caught my interest.
'Another World? Do you mean being Isekai-ed.' I thought, whilst showcasing a visible look of interest.
I am indeed an avid fan of anime and manga, especially those of the isekai genre.
I've read so many manga or light novels where the main protagonist dies and is then reincarnated into another world, or was forcibly summoned to another world through magic to be a hero of some sorts.
'Hmmm...' I thought, 'Is this some sort of an advertisement for an Isekai novel or an anime perhaps. Possibly a new JRPG game.'
'It's really a pretty odd way to advertise it.' I thought so to myself.
I grew more interested, and more engaged in the subject matter.
However, in the back of my mind, a thought inside of my head, 'But what if maybe if I pressed on the accept button, then maybe possibly I will be transferred to another world, like all of the isekai novels that I've read.'
I then grew all the more delusional, trying to escape the reality that which is my life that I have been living this past couple of years, but the more functional side of my brain didn't like that. He was relentless, forcing me right back to reality.
"Hahaha! Who am I kidding?" I then laughed crazily at myself, having broken down mentally.
I slammed my left hand down on the desk table hardly, causing a strong intense shockwave of pain to reverberate throughout my left hand. Thereby, loudly breaking the quiet silence of the night.
I then screamed out seemingly at the top of my lungs, having a mental breakdown, "Being Isekai-ed to another world! Who am I kidding! That sort of thing only exists in work of fictions, and not real life..."
"Hahaha..." I continued to laugh crazily at myself.
The sounds of my maniacal laughter echoing, it began to fill every nook and cranny of the room that I was currently in until the only sound that I could hear was from my overbearing laughter.
However, the laughter began to slowly dissipate, becoming all the more quieter, until it completely subsided.
A fluctuation of emotions then floods my mind, and I soon then felt sad and a bit depressed. As old 'wounds' soon began to resurface.
Looking at the slight reflection of myself on the laptop's screen, I could see myself beginning to start crying, as I get a bit teary-eyed.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Who am I kidding? Being transferred to another world is a whole lot better than living this sort of life." I've voiced out my strong sense of frustration.
'I'm already twenty-seven years something old, and I've done nothing at all with my life. I have no money, nor job, and I've only been leeching off the comforts and care of my older brother.' The more that I talk to myself, the angrier the tone of speaking did I get.
'Whilst, all of my friends and classmates from high school, they have already moved on and make a living for themselves... and I, nothing?' After I've vented out all of my frustration, I then grew all the more tired.
I then heaved a long depressing sigh of relief.
In the quietness, I could hear the slight sounds of my heart beating rather rhythmically, palpitating, and steadily getting faster.
Even though, I could not truly see my face at this moment. I could instinctively tell that my cheeks and face have turned slightly red, not out of anger, but out of embarrassment for making a mockery of myself.
I could instinctively feel the faint sensation of heat radiating off my face and cheeks, as I felt a bit light-hearted.
Whilst, my ears were bright red (pink) in embarrassment and is strongly emitting off heat, as it took me some time to cool down my head.
The sense of self-loathing for myself has yet to disappear, but it has somewhat subsided, enough for me think clearly by myself and be able to make clear enough decision.
'Now that really was a roller coaster of emotions.' I thought so to myself.
'Was I always this emotional, or has spent all of that time alone by myself has caused my mentality to be unstable.' I thought so to myself, whilst feeling slightly saddened over the matter.
I slowly raised my head, and my eyes immediately focused on the laptop screen that stood before me.
'The pop-up ad is still there.' I thought to myself.
I thought, 'It won't hurt to try. If it turns out to be a computer virus, then the anti-virus software that is pre-install on this laptop will certainly detect it and detain it in the virus box. Thereby, preventing the computer virus from causing any further harm to the pc.'
'Hmmm...' I thought so to myself, as I moved the mouse cursor over towards the accept button.
The mouse cursor lightly hovers above the accept button.
And with a single click of the computer mouse, the mouse cursor on the laptop then presses the accept button.
[You have accepted the gracious offer that was granted by the World System: Yggdrassil! ]
[Congratulations, Alexandre Lee! And Welcome to the world of Tetraeus! ]
[You are hereby reborn as a Dungeon Lord! ]
[Your life essence and soul is hereby bound to the dungeon and it's core! If the Dungeon Core is destroyed you will be killed along with it! If your body is destroyed, so long as the Dungeon Core is intact, a new body will be created to replace the destroyed one! ]
The moment that I let go of the computer mouse and the mouse cursor then presses the accept button.
The popup ad then underwent an unbelievable transformation, the originally 2d blue rectangular shaped popup ad then started to change. It immediately popped out from the laptop screen and is in plain sight.
It fully materialised into the 3d world, where I'm currently am.
It has transformed from a simple rectangular shaped popup ad into a notification popup, like one of those that are commonly seen in MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing game) type of video games.
"Huh," I uttered out, at a slight loss for words.
I didn't have that much time to react, as my field of vision is thereby covered up with numerous popup notification screens before I was suddenly assaulted by an intensely bright light.
A bright beam of white light then struct out from the ground, it struck me dead centre, like a homing missile.
The dimly lit bedroom is suddenly lit up intensely, with rays of bright light escaping from the windows, in the middle of the night.
As the feeling is akin to getting an electric shock, immediate pain started coursing throughout my veins and quickly spread out towards my entire being.
My body froze and can't move, as if I was completely paralysed, something is definitely been interfering with the electrical signal that is being conveyed through my central nervous system.
I steadily watched as my own body began to disintegrate right before my very eyes, becoming nothing more than mere particles of light.
The beam of white light gradually shrinks down until there was nothing left, everything soon returns to the quiet and peaceful atmosphere it once was, except for an entirely missing person.
• • •
Someplace else, in an entirely different world completely different to our own, presumably, it is called Tetraeus.
[Mysterious Voice: Rise and shine, sleepyhead! Alex, you have to wake up! You're an idiot! ]
The sounds of a loud male's voices soon then made their way towards my ear, and I momentarily woke up from my slumbering state.
"I'm up! I'm up already! So stop yelling at me, David!" I woke up to being annoyingly screamed at, so I retaliated by shouting back at him.
I assumed that it was my older brother David since he is the only other person that I would actually talk to, besides my parents that is. And every day, he would scream at me to get up and eat breakfast, so immediately assumed that the male voice was him.
[Mysterious Voice: I am not your older brother at all. You stupid nincompoop. Now get up... ]
The mysterious voice loudly lectures, immediately telling me, he is not who I think he is.
"If you are not David then who the fuck are you?" I asked the mysterious voice, as I then groggily opened up my tired closed eyes.
When I finally opened up my eyes, I was then immediately greeted with an unfamiliar stone ceiling. And right before my very eyes, a tiny holographic version of me then appears floating in front of my face, closed up.
"Huh?" I uttered, slightly confused, but still retaining my sense of rationality.
[Mysterious Voice: Boo! ]
The miniature holographic version of me then made a slight loud sound in an attempt to scare me.
However, I wasn't really frightened by it at all, but slightly surprised by it all.
It indeed took me some time for my brain to process all of the things that I've been through.
And an immediate question soon arises, appearing inside of my head, 'Have I truly been Isekai-ed to another world.' I asked myself.
[Mysterious Voice: Well, of fucking course you have! You have been transferred to another world! If you just looked around you, did you not see that this is no longer your bedroom! ]
The miniature holographic version of me then shouted at me, lecturing me, nonstop. And it was quite literally beginning to start to annoy me.
Adhering to the instructions of the miniature holographic version of me, I then had a look at my surroundings.
It would seem that I'm trapped within a closed cave room, roughly about 3×3 meters approximately in terms of size, which is indeed quite cramped in here.
Where the only source of light within this small 3×3 meters cave room, was the ambient gentle blue light that is emitting off from the dungeon core crystal, which is located at the centre of the cave room.
A dungeon core crystal is the heart of the dungeon itself. It is directly linked to the soul and body of the Dungeon Lord.
If it is ever destroyed or broken, the dungeon itself will be completely eviscerated in the blink of an eye, and the Dungeon Lord will die vanishing alongside it.
However, if the Dungeon Lord is ever killed in action. So long as the dungeon core crystal is still intact, with plentiful mana it is possible to Respawn with a new body.
The fallen Dungeon Lord is fully resurrected in an entire new completely identical to the one before it was killed, or even possibly create an entirely new different physical body, completely different from the original race or gender, but at the cost of a large expense Dungeon/Magical Points.
And then it suddenly hit me, I thought, 'Wait a minute! I don't remember actually asking the miniature hologram if I actually have been transferred to another world. I just thought of it.'
'Can he read my mind...' I asked inside my head, and the miniature holographic version of me then nodded his head, thereby confirming my suspicion.
[Mysterious Voice: Yes, I can read your mind. ]
The miniature holographic version of me spoke to me, which seems to only further arouse my suspicions and add more questions to the previous one.
I then looked coldly at the miniature holographic version of me, and asked with a stern-looking cold serious voice, "Who are you?"
The miniature holographic version of me then smiles, as he lightly shrugs his shoulder, almost as if it was implying 'who knows?'
But later, he confesses.
[Mysterious Voice: I am you, whilst at the same time I'm not you... ]
"Huh?" I uttered, with an extremely convincing confusing look, plastered on top of my face.
And that is because I am confused.
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This chapter was written and edited on a Mobile Phone.
The story is based on Vrdraco's 《Mystery of the Dungeon》which is originally based on Komanchi's discontinued novel《I’m Another World’s Dungeon! After reincarnating, my body became that of a dungeon.》