Chapter 2: The first room
[Quest: Open the Status screen 0/1]
Reading the prompt, Lethe was bewildered. "Status screen? Umm...so I guess I just say it again? Come to think of it, I don't really have a mouth so how am I talking? I mean, I can hear myself, but at the same time I know I'm not broadcasting my voice to the surroundings. Is it a sort of telepathy or...you know what never mind."
"Let's see. Show status!"
"Status screen!"
"How do I view my status?"
"..."
"..."
"[Status]!"
STATUS
NAME: Lethe
RACE: Dungeon Core
CLASS: Locked
LEVEL: 1
EXP: 0 / 100 (Earned EXP/Required EXP)
MOB POINTS: 00/25 (Used/Total)
ROOMS: 6 (60m^3 total volume of control)
SKILLS
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TEMPLATES
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MOB TYPES
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RULES
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QUESTS
Main Quest: Open the status screen 1/1
A large box presented itself in front of his vision. Lethe celebrated to himself that he was able to figure out how to open the status screen. Reviewing his actions, he understood that to use the system, he needed to use his will and focus. He couldn't activate any of the system's features if he did not will it to be. Also, the status screen let Lethe know that he actually had skills but they seemed to be locked. Thinking on it further, he realized that the tutorial had locked them out and he needed to finish the quests.
[Ding!]
[Quest: Open the Status screen 1/1]
[Quest complete! Reward: Unlocked skills [Creation - Floor 1], [Territory Control 1]]
[Receive Rewards? Yes/No]
This was the first time that Lethe saw a choice from the system. He wondered what would happen if he chose not to receive the rewards. Would he forever lose access to those skills or would they simply stay in the background for him to receive in the future. However curious he might be, he did not want to risk losing access to essential skills. This time, Lethe focused on the prompt and selected [Yes].
The instant he did so, he felt a swathe of information relating to the skills become available to his consciousness. The new skills that were just...rewarded(?) to him now allowed him to expand his territory of control, gave him the ability to customize his floors with rooms, and make new floors when he had the ability to. He also realized that the phantasmal hands that created the entrance by the system were also in his control! It dawned on him then that the system had actually taken control of him when it had made the entrance, yet for some reason...it felt natural? Taking some time to review what he knew about dungeon cores, he understood that the phantasmal hands were what he needed to use to interact with his environment and mobs. He also realized that if he concentrated, he could break down everything in his territory. He wondered where the destroyed substances actually went as he wasn't aware of any form of storage.
[Creation - Floor 1 | Rank: 1/5 | Allows user to designate and shape a room with maximum volume of 10m^3 as a single room.]
[Territory Control 1 | Rank: 1/10 | Allows user to expand his territory.]
[Ding!]
[New Quest: Use your skills and create 1 room 0/1]
Reading the new quest, Lethe understood that the system had been set up to guide him in setting up his first floor. For now, he reviewed the information he had for [Territory Control 1]. The skill allowed him to control his territory, specifically where the bounds of his consciousness were. There seemed to be a limit to the size of his territory, which expanded every time he would level up. Going by that logic, he also understood that he received a new floor with every increase in level. So the idea was that each level corresponded to larger floors and a larger territory.
After he refocused his thoughts, Lethe sent intent to enable the skill, [Territory Control 1], and instantly felt that small particles of brown, green, and yellow dots of light had gathered from thin air start to surround and rotate around his core. He knew that these particles represented the mana in the surroundings, which is a basic element of the world. He didn't know what else mana could do, but he felt that a large part of his powers would involve it.
With [Territory Control], he was essentially allowed to use the particles to soak his consciousness into his surroundings. As the particles continued to gather, he felt his awareness shifting to a larger area and spread out, pushing against the walls of the cave, seeping in, claiming the wet dirt, soil, and stone as his, and expanding his zone of control in a sphere centered around him. He debated whether he could change the shape of his territory, a sphere hardly seemed practical for expansion as he wouldn't be going up into the ceiling of the small cave.
Gathering the edges of his territory, he mentally willed for the expansion to only go down into the floor of the cavern and away from the entrance and the top of the chamber. As he concentrated, a headache started to develop but he could sense that his control slowly shifted focus to the designated area below the cavern. However, his previously gathered territory didn't seem to retract, just staying there as if it would forever be under his purview.
[Ding! Skill Rank Up! Territory Control 2]
[Territory Control 2 | Rank 2/10 | Allows user to expand his territory. Direction of expansion can be specified.]
Startled from the new notifications, Lethe's attention wavered from expanding his territory to the blue boxes. He understood that his [Territory Control] skill had somehow improved after he went outside of the limits of what it could initially do. 'Is that the only way to rank up?', he idly wondered. Perhaps, perhaps not.
Returning his focus, Lethe continued to expand his territory over a large area below him until he felt a form of pressure settle into his head that made him stop, guessing that he had hit his current limit. Reviewing his territory, for some odd reason, an image of a creature made out of globes of soft flaky ice with an orange stick as its nose and onyx pebbles as its eyes came to his mind. 'What is that?'...
A small spherical area reaching to the top and past the cavern originating from his core and a much larger sphere below him digging into the soil, his current territory seemed to be two disjointed spheres attached halfway into each other centered around him with the tunnel acting as a long...nose?
Understanding that he had reached the limit of what he could expand to for now, he started to imagine the room that he should make. Invoking the skill, [Creation - Floor 1], he saw the ephemeral hands pinch their fingers and create a ghostly cube. Mentally willing the hands, he started to spread the cube and manipulate it around himself until he once again felt a form of pressure, signaling to him that he had reached the current size limit for one room, much smaller than the size of his total territory. Looking at the transparent cube he created, he felt that he could also alter the dimensions of each side freely till the limit. Adjusting with the hands, he made a squat pyramidal shape with a large base and a small flat top. Placing the shape around his core and leading one edge into the end of the 10 m tunnel entrance, Lethe designated the area as a room.
As soon as his will was conveyed the command, he felt the stone give way as it expanded, shrank, and shifted to fit to the given dimensions. The tunnel and entrance was also a part of his territory, which he felt had attached to the room after it finished adjusting.
Lethe for some reason suddenly felt restless, the walls and ceiling of the room were too flat now. It looked artificial and completely unlike what a natural cave should be. He started to use the ephemeral hands to stylize and shape the inside of the room. He shaped the somewhat flat ceiling into cracks and fissures with small stalactites and bulging areas of stone. The slanted flat walls of the room, he shifted to look more natural, with pillars of stone rising and arching from the ground, placing mossy rocks in pockets and grey-brown stone at the base of the floor. The ground, he covered with pebbles and dirt, strands of grass growing in the cracks with his will and a stretch of loosely packed soil leading towards the entrance. After a few finishing touches, Lethe looked at his first room once more. It looked.....like a cavern. Lethe was satisfied. He didn't feel like he wanted something special, a normal cavern is great as is!
[Ding! Skill Rank Up! Creation - Floor 2]
[Creation - Floor 2 | Rank: 2/5 | Allows user to designate a room with maximum volume of 10m^3 as a single room. Allows user to set up design templates.]
[Ding! Saved Template: Cavernous Room]
[Ding!]
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
[Quest: Use your skills and create 1 room 1/1]
[Quest complete! Reward: Unlocked skills [Creation - Mob 1], [Design Structures 1]]
[Receive Rewards? Yes/No]
Reading the new prompt, Lethe confirmed with a [Yes] and prepared himself to receive another influx of new information. He felt parts of his mind 'unlock' as new instincts and controls from his new skills assimilated into his consciousness.
[Creation - Mob 1 | Rank: 1/10 | Allows user to generate mobs based on mob points.]
[Mob Types Available: -- Select 0/1 --]
[Design Structures 1 | Rank: 1/10 | Allows user to create and design various structures (traps, buildings, objects, etc.) inside rooms.]
Once more, Lethe started to review what he could do with his new skills. [Creation - Mob] seemed to allow him to generate a mob from an available type. Going through the mob types available to him, Lethe saw a few interesting choices but held off for now. The skill seemed to be limited to his mob points though, which he realized would increase by a certain amount every level and floor. Probing the information further, he determined that his total mob points only applied to the current floor as well. How it would increase though seemed to still be unavailable to him.
Looking into the other skill, [Design Structures], he realized that it basically allowed him to make areas for his mobs to spawn in as well as set up traps. At least for now. It seemed there was still a lot he should be able to do that would fit under this skill according to the information he received on dungeon cores. Relating to the skill though, Lethe understood that the spawn points for his mobs were where they would be created. They would also refresh after a group of adventurers leave the dungeon. He could also design traps now for his rooms but the information on it seemed to be quite sparse.
Thinking back, when Lethe was initially made aware that he was a dungeon core, he had also been given information about what it is dungeon cores could usually do. As far as he knew, dungeon cores would create massive labyrinths filled with traps, treasures, and monsters (mobs). The other sentient races of this world delve into these dungeons for the treasures within and the usually bountiful experience provided by the monsters compared to the ones in the outside world. In return though, adventurers that die within dungeons provide experience to the core from their souls, which also helps the system. Another lure for adventurers are the rewards bestowed by the dungeon itself for clearing a certain amount of floors or completing achievements. These are set up by the dungeon cores themselves, although Lethe realized that he did not have the ability to do so quite yet at his current level.
On a side note, a reason for why there were so many dungeons in the world seems to be due to how they interact with groups of adventurers. Once an adventuring team is in the dungeon, it would be locked out from other teams. Groups or teams outside wouldn't be able to enter the dungeon and to prevent further abuse, the system has also allowed dungeon cores to set up time limits and group sizes using the rules, which the adventurers would know once they interacted with his entrance.
In hindsight, Lethe realized that he had a lot to do to get his dungeon ready for adventurers.
[Ding!]
[New Quest: Generate and spawn mobs 0/25]
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