The figure of the voice quickly came into view from underneath where the ceiling drops. He was a buff teen, only around 15 or 16 with a mop of black hair reflecting the orange light of his torch as he walked through the cave. If I hadn’t already figured out the fantasy setting this kid’s clothing would have done so for me. Such traditional brown and red leather with far too many belts and laces to be practical made me roll my eyes. In his right hand he held a longsword and in his left a blazing torch. With a creeping sense of guilt I noticed the kid held some resemblance to the old man I’d absorbed.

“Uncle Ford? Are you in here?” he said with a worried look on his face.

If I had to guess “Uncle Ford” was probably the dead man who I absorbed originally. But that doesn’t really matter. This is a chance for human contact! Explanations can be given later once I’m discovered.

The young man continued making his way into the cave and eventually crouched down to crawl under the lowered portion of the ceiling. Of course, I had no way of warning him about my little trap, so when he made it to the pond he proceeded to fall headfirst into the water. While I have expanded the dungeon boundary past the drop I haven’t done anything with that space, focusing instead on the fish farm.

His torch immediately extinguished as he fell in, plunging the cave into darkness. Then something unexpected to both me and the kid happened. My Fanged Shiners immediately started attacking him! They didn’t do much besides break skin but I’m sure it didn’t feel good to have almost a hundred bait fish biting away at his limbs.

Soon as they started biting the kid began flailing around even more frantically, eventually breaking the surface and spotting the shack illuminated by the Luminous Shrooms. Seeing his chance he began to half tip toe, half swim his way towards the shack while frantically scanning the water for movement. Crawling onto the shore of glowing mushrooms he began heaving out the water he had accidently inhaled. Falling into a pond of aggressive fish and then swimming around in total darkness had definitely caught him off guard.

“Bloody hell!” said the boy while he gathered himself. “All that wasn’t here last time...”

So he had been here previously? It would be great if he knew a bit about where I was. Despite spending over a week inside it I don’t really understand the purpose of this little home. Perhaps it was a simple research station the old man was in charge of?

Slightly more cautious the kid began making his way towards the shack, his longsword held in front ready for the first sign of attack. Leaning his head into the shack through the open door he asked again in a hushed voice “Uncle Ford?”

Once obvious no response would be given he began inspecting the shack. After checking under the bed, and in the cabinets, he focused in on my core. His eyes widened completely locked onto the glowing orb and a smirk played across his lips.

“There’s no way... Did you manage to do it old man?” he whispered in awe.

Bit more eagerly than I would have liked the boy began approaching me. Stepping onto my Slime Shrooms, which didn’t even slow his movements. His feet even crushed my Vampiric Shrooms which couldn’t deal damage through his leather shoes. But when his hand reached out to grab me every single instinct in my mind howled in protest. It was more painful than anything I’d ever experienced. Every fiber of my being was warning me of what would happen if he touched me. In my anguish I called out to the dungeon inhabitants for help without thinking of the repercussions.

“Hey! Who’s in there!” came a gruff old voice from outside the shack.

The boy jumped in surprise but relief quickly flooded his face while his shoulders slumped down and the adrenaline fell away.

“Don’t worry uncle it’s just Shane” he called over his shoulder while leaving my orb and turning towards the door “Uncle! Did you manage it? Were you finally able to bind a soul to the dead core?”

“Aye lad come look at what else I’ve done.” Called “Ford” in a joyful tone.

Walking out the door Shane looked around expectantly only to put on a confused expression.

“Uncle where ar- “

She moved so quickly Shane didn’t even have a chance to register her dark figure as she rose from the ground behind him. With her reaching claws my Apparition thrust through his back and tore out whatever organs she was able to grab on the way back out. While Shane fumbled with his limply gripped sword he could barely manage to scream in pain and surprise.

Eyes going wide as he looked at the monster over his shoulder Shane collapsed to the wet stone floor as he bled out. In a desperate effort to survive, Shane grasped his remaining intestines and attempted to push them back into his fresh chest cavity. But without any armor the Apparition’s attack had done too much internal damage. Meaning I was forced to watch in horror as the young man bled out on the dungeon floor.

Job done, my Apparition went back into her shadow not even needing to feed on her victim. For the first time I could honestly attribute the word “Monster” to one of my creations. What just happened was... awful. No one should have to die like that.

A sense of safety and disgust overcame me as the pain subsided. I had just killed that boy, no... Shane. While he wouldn’t be my first human absorption this was the first time my actions had actually killed another person. If I had hands they’d be shaking right now. I-I mean I had to do it! The voice sent me a new message that told me what would happen if he touched me. If I’d known before I never would have let him in the dungeon!

*WARNING! IF DUNGEON CORE IS TOUCHED BY A SAPIENT BEING, THE DUNGEON WILL BECOME THAT BEINGS PROPERTY LOSING ALL GRANTED ABILITIES!

In short if a human touches me I become a slave.

I’ve only been a dungeon for a short time, but I can already see how valuable a dungeon core would be. If a human controlled me, they could create whatever creatures or materials they wanted within the boundaries. With enough sacrifices to the owner, one could feasibly cover an entire country within a dungeon’s borders. Food, crops, livestock, and shelter could all be produced with mana alone. Assuming the native people of this world produce mana just like me that’s potentially an infinite supply. Hell, if monsters can leave the dungeon at higher levels, even a monstrous military could become tangible. All that is to say, I’d be a valuable slave.

A fate enslaved to generations of kings and queens would be worse than death to me. From my observations so far dungeon cores don’t function like normal living beings. So far I haven’t needed to eat, drink, sleep, or even had the urge to do so. Given those properties I wonder if dungeons even have life spans? Worst case scenario I would be passed from country to country over centuries of war not allowed to die as an immortal heirloom.

While absorbing Shane I worked to harden my heart. Needless death of human life is something I’d rather avoid but if people come from me, I’ll act in self-defense. So for now it’s time to grind some levels.