Note: If I miss any discrepancies in the writing, let me know! I'd appreciate it.

Hey guys, this is my first attempt at fiction here. I was really interested in a story about a Dungeon growing and expanding, so i decided to make one myself. I'm not exactly happy with the description/title and beginning of this story, but I find it acceptable. I've already got a vision of how this story will progress and end and, frankly, I'm pretty excited about it. Let's see how this goes.

Thanks for reading!

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Long ago two gods battled each other for dominance. The Dragon God, Luna, and the Phoenix God, Freya. However the battle always ended in a draw. The two powers were equals in all aspects. Frustrated with this result, the prideful Gods devised a different sort of battle. This battle would take place on the planet called Yggdrasil. Teeming with life, this planet was perfect because of its distance from the rest of the universe, and its lack of sentient life. The Gods spent 9 days and 9 nights creating the rules and players of this battle. Finally it was decided.

The Dragon God created Humans. These creatures at first seemed weak, but intelligent and innovative they would quickly ascend to the top of the food chain. They would multiply greatly, until they covered almost the entire Earth.

The Phoenix God created Dungeons. Rare, and extremely weak in its origin, its strength lay in its ability to evolve. To gain strength. They far exceeded humans in this regard.

The battle was between these two races. Humans had to eradicate dungeons, and dungeons simply had to survive. Because neither humans nor dungeons were allowed knowledge of the reason they exist, world rules were put into place:

1. Dungeons cores contain a unique power called Lumite. Manipulating Lumite allows you to use Magic. Lumite only exists within Dungeon cores.

2. Dungeon cores have knowledge of this danger, whether conscious or instinctual.

3. Humans will have multiple desires, such as Greed, instilled in them at birth

These three rules imposed on the world meant that Humans and Dungeons would inevitably clash. 10,000 years was the time limit of this battle. In accordance with these rules, the Gods agreed to have no intervention regardless of the result. The winner was considered the stronger of the two, with no exception.

It was in the 9203rd Year that a certain Dungeon was created. Not through the system, but through the scheming of humans. Yes, in 9203 the first and last artificially made Dungeon was made. The story follows this Dungeon, from its birth to its death. Or perhaps simply to what could be considered death.

Its name, Lucifer.

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“It worked! We’ve done it! I’d scream Eureka if I wasn’t so cynical. Gentleman, this is a momentous step in our study. We’ve actually done it. We created a dungeon core.”

These were the first words that I heard after my birth. Darkness consumed me as I writhed in agony, but slowly the pain subsided. With the pains disappearance, I started to gain vision. It expanded until I could clearly see the entire room.

I was situated in a cave. The cave itself was nothing spectacular. A small room molded from dirt. A couple of bugs crawled through the cracks and, more notably, multiple human shapes could be seen eyeing me.

Bug? Human?

I didn’t understand what either meant, but they appeared to classify the two different lifeforms. The humans, still excited, started asking me questions. I couldn’t answer of course, as I had no way to project my voice, but that didn’t deter them.

While they blabbered, I focused on discerning myself. I appeared to be a small crystal-like object embedded into the middle of the floor. My function was unknown, besides my instincts telling me to protect myself. I ignored it. Instead I focused my attention on the humans.

The humans were still enjoying themselves, reveling in their success. Gathering from their conversation, they created me and are now planning to control me. Fat chance. I sought a solution, but my mind struggled to form one. I was incapable of it. It seems they hadn’t created me to be very intelligent. No matter, I turned to my instincts instead. They told me three things:

1. The door to the outside world can close

2. I require energy to do anything. Consuming lifeforms gives me their energy (life-force)

3. I can create using energy

Ok so how do I consume lifeforms? Well I imagine my instincts will kick in tat that time. I tried to make a plan in my head but once again the process eluded me. I worked on each individual step instead and ground it into three simple tasks.

Close. Create. Consume.

I looked once more at the three humans having a leisurely conversation, grinning with a mix of anticipation, fear and excitement. They celebrated too early. Jumping into action, I started the first step. Suddenly the door leading outside closed. The humans noticed this, quickly jumping up with fear evident in their eyes. They had realized their mistake, but it was too late.

Before they could react, I enclosed their items in stone, just in case they thought of resisting. Gathering myself, my body started pulsing with light. Suddenly I flung that light out in strands that latched onto the nearest human. Slowly those strands surrounded his body until he was completely covered. Then they consumed him. The screams from the human made the others turn white with fear. They knew they were next.  I did this again, consuming another entirely before it could run away. I went to consume the last human before I paused. Something occurred to me.

They created me.

It must have some advantage over me. As I am right now, with no knowledge, intelligence nor strength, I was going to die. I took a risk. I gathered myself for a different purpose this time. When I latched myself onto it, I didn’t absorb it. Instead I used my grip to throw my entire self at him. Surprised, he could not react in time. Before he knew it, I bore a hole straight through his chest and entered his heart. I crushed it, consuming it whole, before replacing the entity.

Suddenly he started gasping, and I felt the life drain out of the body. I panicked. I realized the importance on what I had replaced. Acting quickly I attempted to recreate the hearts functions using my own body. It took too long, the guy had shutdown. Officially dead. But it wasn’t over. I started re-attaching the heart to the other parts of the body. Finally I figured out how everything worked and started pulsing, copying the pulse of a beating heart. Seconds passed. I waited impatiently. Seconds turned to minutes before finally the man gasped, coming back to the world of the living. Excited, I tried to move my body.

I couldn’t.

He still had control. Quickly I tried to figure out why, before it suddenly connected to me. My body is my mind, but it must be different for these human creatures. I quickly located where else the body could store the mind, and found something I automatically classified as a brain at the top of his head. Using my new found foothold in his body, I snaked some tendrils upwards attempting to reach his brain. Finally, they reached it. But by then, the man was already fully conscious and comprehending the situation.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

This was a gamble. I’m obviously less intelligent then this creature. If he wins the mental battle, I will die. However, if I don’t do something about my situation, I will inevitable die anyways. The gamble must be taken. I latch myself onto his brain, and enter.

First, nothing. Slowly, however, I feel myself entering. Something tried to block me, but I pushed through. It was then that the real battle began. The human was furious. His rage mixed with sadness and grief, surrounded with a bottomless fear, overwhelmed me. This was a mistake. I panicked, attempting to back out. But it was too late, he had already taken hold of me. I felt myself drain away, my existence disappearing.

I’m going to die.

The thought resounded in my head, but no feeling came from it. I lacked the ability to hold emotions. All I knew was that I didn’t want to die. I was almost ready to resign myself to the inevitable, but as it so happens luck, or design, gave me an opportunity.

I’m not sure whether it was his morals, or if he didn’t want to see his creation die, or what. But the human hesitated for the briefest moments, creating a vulnerability for the first and last chance to counter-attack. I pounced. Before he realized his mistake, I had swallowed him whole. No hesitation, no remorse. I wasn’t human. Suddenly my view changed. I looked down, and saw the hands and feet that the human must’ve once looked at.

Success.

I was the human now. I flexed my muscles, testing out the new body I had gained. Stretching myself as much as possible, I explored how the body function. I disliked it a lot, almost worthless, but I’m sure it can be modified later. Now, the mental aspect.

I focused, formulating a complicated plan for the previous plan. It worked, I was able to form not just one but multiple different ways of success. I grinned in triumph. I had intelligence. The reward was worth the risk. I mused for a second, noticing a part of my mind that is not my own. I looked inside and found a bunch of memories. They must’ve been the memories of the previous owner. This should be useful. A lot of them were black, or broken in some form however. Must’ve happened when the guy died for those few minutes. Must’ve damaged him. Putting it aside, I stretch myself again; grinning from ear to ear. It’s time to figure out just what I am and what I can do. I need to become stronger. That instinct was built in me from the start. Forged into my very soul. I can hear it even now. Whether the humans instilled it into me, or someone else, I don’t know. All I knew was I wanted to follow it, and see where it leads.

Seek Knowledge. Seek intelligence. Seek power. Protect yourself. Further yourself. Evolve. This is your one and only decree, dungeon core. Survive.

I sat down and assumed a form that this mind knew as meditation. I focused entirely on discovering myself. Besides that decree, my instincts told me other things. Focusing, I picked it all apart until I figured out just what information I had.

* All actions require energy

* Energy is gained from consuming a life-form. The amount depends on the life-form

* There are three ways to create things:

1. There are a few creations that are instinctual. All require a large amount of mana. Goblin, Queen, King, Butler, Death. Death requires an unquantifiable amount of energy. No known information about any of them

2. Consuming a life-form gives you the knowledge required to recreate them. Currently having only consumed humans, I can only create humans using this method

3. As your core evolves, more instinctual creations will come to you. Evolving is the only method to increase what you can create naturally

* Creating life-forms gives you control over them. Some Variants can defy this

* Variants are created creatures that are different from normal. This can happen randomly, or by design. Variants are always stronger than the normal version

* The dungeon core cannot leave the dungeon

* Running out of energy does not kill you, but forces you into an unconscious state. While in this state you will automatically consume any life-form near you that is weak or dead

I frowned, beyond this there seemed to be some sort of warning. Something about Lumite? I couldn't quite grasp its meaning, but it seems to suggest that I'm made out of a material that's highly sought after by Humans. Which means I need to be careful. I'm still very weak. Shaking my head, I focus on the task it hand.

The system seems simple enough, even if it doesn't really explain much. Right now I have just enough to create 1 human. I gather my energy, focusing it in one spot. Slowly, the energy forms into a shape and a human starts building out of it. It took 2 hours before it was completed. Before me stood a creature that looked the same as the previous humans. A man. It was a success. Now, time to find out what it can do. I remove the stone covering the items on the ground.

“Find a weapon you can use out of those items.” The man instantly responds, walking over to the equipment on the ground. He walks past various staffs of some form and reaches down for the sword in the middle. I’ll have to figure out what the rest of the stuff does later. Using part of the small energy reserve I had left, I opened the entrance back up.

“Go outside and kill anything you find. Then bring them to me.” He responds by immediately walk away. I suddenly panic as I realized I made a mistake. I wouldn’t have a second chance.

“Wait! Don’t attack anything stronger then you. If you can’t kill it, run.”

He nods his head this time as he heads to the entrance. He won’t talk, and he doesn’t seem very intelligent. Seems he’s a weak version of the previous humans. I sigh, sitting down. I couldn’t sleep, but I decided to drift off for a while and think. I needed to figure out a way to access information about my current status and knowledge. I close my eyes, accessing the memories of the human. Hopefully the humans that created me knew a way.