Gods are... an interesting bunch.

Divine beings that exist entirely to bet on things that happen in the mortal realm so that they may eat and grow. So when a god of birds gave a 'gift' to Joulo, there were strings attached. She could have a new species of bird for her dungeon core if she distracted Sushi, god of feline curiosity and inventor of sushi. Unfortenately this meant playing a game with the god of cats, and their best friend, the god of luck.

It didn't go very well.

A holy champion (who was entirely unaware of his gift of immeasurably dumb luck) entered the dungeon and ignored all the danger present. Well the dungeon, having learned that if it just tries harder it's more likely to succeed kept trying until it succeeded. It did not succeed. The champion bled, but the effort pushed the Core over the edge. It had gone inert while its god bled. Joulo, already malnourished, became the first god to bleed.

With the dungeon in a coma, all the monsters banded together to try to keep it alive and safe. The warden of the core realized he was not enough, and had to give up his job so that his sister's light may respark the life of the dungeon. With the power of photosynthesis and a group hug, Shimmer was able to use her plant-slime powers to give just enough mana to the core to jump start its 'brain.'

As the dungeon woke, there was a god who still slumbered. Joulo dreamt of her childhood and of her older sister, the first Joulo, goddess of mountain peaks. A pleasant dream that reminded the dreaming god why her domain was the inheritor, and why she claimed name in the first place. She wasn't the type to let people suffer or be forgotten. As she awoke she was more than ready to tackle the issues of the world with her new friends Myriad, celestial of useless things, and Tyliana, god of birds.

Alive and well, the dungeon was upgrading a lot. Slimes became spell slimes, birds got even more cancer, the System was pissed that they almost died, etc, normal stuff. Upgrades that became of great use when a kid entered the dungeon with the goal of destroying it. It wasn't Baros' first time in the dungeon, but after running away the first time he was determined. He even stole a piece of the Necronomicon from his sister to make sure it would go well.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

It didn't go well.

With a wand of acid, and a potion of regeneration that cannibalizes the body he was able to make headway as he flooded the dungeon. The defenders of the dungeon, imbued with so much mana that the ant colony had outgrown the system, were immortal. The queen's body and mind was rebuilt every few seconds to try to find a weakness, looking from every angle and every thought. It was a time consuming process that the paragraon of cancer stricen birds was able to buy, for being so close to death he would respawn every few seconds. It became a dance of immortal monsters against an impossible challenge.

Good thing the dungeon was too stupid to know what "impossible" means, so turned it into an endurance match.

Baros failed when he lost his will to fight and landed in a "safe zone" the dungeon had accidentally created earlier. The battle was won, but in the chaos the piece of the Necronomicon was lost. Found by a nearby demon, it took the chance to have some fun. A spell was cast, and the 11th-hour chimera took form and immediately punted the half dead brat.

The chimera was bad news. It grew stronger with every kill, and the monsters that were supposed to stop it were ants and birds that died with every attack.

The monsters still had hope as the dungeon was calm during their battle. Admittedly, it was because it was too busy drooling over the thought of what a demon undead can do. So to save the day Shimmer, slime of sunlight stepped up, consumed by burning rage as she set the world on fire, but it wasn't enough. Her purifying touch had dimmed from the rage of seeing her friends suffer. It took a sacrifice from a certain noir detective consuming the darkness for them to survive that day.

To the survivors went the spoils, corrupted knowledge, and the ability to make undead monsters. The ants became undead, and the cancer birds were jealous. Ants got a debuff and became part moth with their undeath, while birds became part moss and were not undead. The dungeon was drunk with power when making these decisions. No higher intelligence could be found.

Despite the setbacks, and the stumbles the dungeon had survived several assassination attempts. And with every "success" System was there to take tally. The dungeon had managed to rise from an intelligence of 10 to 25, passing the sapience threshold. It is now capable of thinking and making its own mistakes unprompted.