In a small dungeon to young to even have been given a name. A young man was drawing a rough goat hide map of the cramped tuneless he found himself in. He had never done anything like this before, no one from his village had. When his village had first found this place, they knew they would need to destroy it immediately. Or else it would be able to become a threat to their village.
With no one wanting to be the first to enter, lots were drawn and he came up short. And so, it was decided that he would be the one to map it out. And while he was doing this, the rest of the village was getting ready to launch their assault.
The fact that his friends and family were still close brought him little comfort. Even with the fact that he was to run the second he saw a monster. The idea of being in a place like this still terrified him. So as he walked he did his best to silence his foot and check every passage before he entered.
And it was like this that he moved until he came across the first junction in the cave. Looking at the split he quickly drew it on his map and tried to figure out which way to go. But, seeing no obvious sign on which way to go, he started to head down the left path.
This walk did not last long though. As he quickly came across a sharp right turn that quickly leads into a dead end.
Seeing no way to advance further down this path, a little confused, he turned around and started to walk back to the junction. This time talking the right path and continuing his map.
This processes repeated a few more times. With them sometimes taking the correct path on their first try. Only for them to backtrack to confirm that the other path was a dead end. Each time getting the same results.
With no opposition, even with a large number of dead ends, it did not take them long before they reached the last room.
In this room sat a single blue crystal, the core of the dungeon. It was a smooth sphere that let off a faint blue light. It was covered in strange symbols the man could not ready.
Seeing the core in front of him, the man wondered what he should do. He was not given the task of destroying the core. But he knew that there were great rewards for doing so.
He knew that he was already in his 30s and only a level 15 farmer. He would most likely never be able to go beyond level 25. And without this, he would never get a chance to live a longer life or ever truly make something of himself. But if he were to take this core right now, he would get the first boon of his life and the chance to make something more of himself.
While thinking to himself he took one last look around the room, seeing nothing but the core and some stalactites hanging from the roof. He knew this would be his only chance and stepped forward into the room. Holding up the scythe he had used so many time back on the farm.
As he entered, the monster above him opened its single eye and stared down at him. The monster, a creature known as a Sopel, was a small monster with skin made of rock. Meant to disguise itself as a stalactite and fall on unsuspecting adventurers. And the man below it was about to become its first victim. And so it started to fall.
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The man looked up just in time to see a mass of rock with an eye and teeth falling towards him as it bit into his shoulder. Letting out a cry of pain, the man tried to raise his scythe up to the creature. He is to slow though as it simply applied more force to its bite. Causing a loud crunch as the man's arm fell limp as the man's weapon falls to the floor.
The creature lets go of the man's shoulder, falling to the floor as the man tries to flee. Only for another creature to dislodge itself from the ceiling. Before falling a short distance and striking the mans skull, creaking it and forcing the man onto the floor.
Seeing their opportunity, the other creatures quickly moved across the roof and position themselves. Falling as soon ass they are ready. Striking the man all over his body to ensure that he has died.
Once they are sure the man would no longer be getting up, they returned to the roof of the cave in wait for their next victim.
As for the dungeon core that had been watching its minions attack the man, it quickly got to work before the next challengers arrive. Absorbing the man's blood into itself, both to hide the trap from the next people to come and generate some more Ather.
It was about to do the same with the body when it had an idea. While the Sopels were good at killing their targets, a better distraction would greatly help out. Giving them more time to move into position and make sure to land the killing blow in a single hit. So it decided to reuse the body to make its newest minion, a Shifter. A creature able to take on the appearance of anyone it has seen. Giving it the ability to distract invaders as the Sopels got into position.
But it quickly noticed a problem right before it started the animation process. It did not possess enough Ather to properly create a Shifter.
This was a large problem to the dungeon, as normally it would just wait for more to gather naturally. A group of invaders was gathering at its entrance, ready to attack at any moment. So, with little other options, it decided to compromise.
Instead of making it a Shifter, it would reanimate the body and give it the skill Flesh Molding. A weaker version of Shape-Shifting skill that only allowed for the modification of skin and muscle.
But even with this Ather save, reanimating was still a very expensive process. So the dungeon opted to instead manually repair as much of the body as it could. As doing something manually always cost less than having the system do it.
So it set about fixing the broken skull as well as the torn mussel and skin first. Reconnecting what it could and pulling mass from other parts of the body when what it had was not enough. This caused the body to be Skinner and shorter than before. Though it would most likely still be able to carry out its purpose.
It then moved onto doing its best to fix the brain. Which, with its very limited knowledge of where things should go, proved to be the most difficult task. And with nothing else to use as a reference. It decided to base the missing parts of the Sopels. The only other brains it had aces too. So whenever it got stuck it would just copy what it saw in its other minion's heads.
Once it was satisfied with its work, it brought the creature back to life and gave them the Flesh Molding sill. Using up most of its remaining Ather.
Seeing the creature start to rise to their feet, the core gave them the command to node their head. It then waited with no result. Something that had never happened before. Since its minions had always acted the moment they were given commands.
Worried that something might be wrong it gave the command again. Seeing its head move, it was relieved that everything seemed to be working properly.
Giving the creature the command to stand guard and to distract anything that entered the room. It went back to planning what to do during the inevitable attack.