I woke up in a cave. As I could see all the corners of the cave at the same time, I quickly noticed that it had no opening. Which was good. I was defenseless and with no opening no one could threaten me. The room had the standard dimensions of 5 meters in length, width, and height.

Wait. How did I know the dimensions of the room? How did I know it was the standard dimensions? The standard of what? Why could I see everything at once? And why couldn't I panic about the fact that I was trapped in here with no way out?

My instincts told me to dig but when I tried to move closer to a wall, I found I couldn't move! Yet I still didn't panic. There wasn't anything wrong after all!

Wait. Why did I think I could move when obviously I couldn't? Humans can move and I'm human. But I wasn't human. Not anymore at least. But what was I then?

And how was I meant to dig if I couldn't move?

In the middle of the room there was a diamond looking octahedron on top of a pedestal. That's me. I knew this with absolute certainty. Does that mean I'm a Dungeon Core now? That felt right. That must mean I can make monsters and manipulate my surroundings with mana! I immediately wanted to make a monster, but my instincts again told me to dig. Maybe I'm meant to make a room before making a monster? I tried to imagine that one wall lost a 1 m³ square with the dimensions of 1×1×1, no longer questioning why I knew the exact dimensions. One moment the wall was whole the next it had a hole. I mentally giggled at that thought.

Then, exactly 5 minutes after I woke up - and I was absolutely sure that's how long it took -, a blue box appeared in front of me.

Welcome Dungeon Core! Information windows have been added to you to help you navigate your new life as a Dungeon Core with the soul of a sapient. This includes the Personal Status window, alert windows, and general information windows.

I was right! I am a Dungeon Core now! Before I could consider the message more, a new one replaced it.

New Achievement:

First of Your Kind: As one of the first of your kind, it's your duty to ensure that your kind prosper. Condition: Be among the first 10 members of a new species, subspecies, or race. Reward: 200% EXP gain for 5 years. 200% fertility and Toughness for the first 3 generations of your kind. This is lost when you die. [200% EXP gain: Your species already has enhanced growth. Changed to 120% EXP gain: 5 years left. 200% fertility and Toughness Not available for your species. Changed to: 120% levels worth of creatures per Floor and the Ability to give all your creatures 200% Toughness on command: 75 years left]

Does that mean I'm the only Dungeon Core with… what did it call me again? With that thought the first message popped up again. The soul of a sapient? Or am I simply the first? Thinking for a bit I decided it probably depended on whether it happened on purpose or by accident. Of which I had no way of knowing.

I'm dead?! The thought shook me for a moment. No. I was dead. Now I'm a living Dungeon Core. My new Dungeon Core instincts told me not to worry about it. It didn't matter that I had lived before. Only what I did now. After a moment's thought I agreed with it. It's not like I can do anything about it anyway. Or remember much from my past life…

…

What about this Status window?

Personal Status Level: 0 EXP needed for level up: 0/0 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/0 Mana: 49.75/50 Mana regeneration: 5 per hour Floors: 0/1 Creature Theme Selection Starter Environment Selection Achievements Mission

I start at level 0? And what's up with the requirements for level up?

All beings are level 0 until they reach adulthood. When someone becomes an adult depends on the species. Dungeon Cores are adults when they have 10 rooms, at least 30 creatures and an opening to the Surface World. Dungeon Cores can't earn EXP at level 0.

The Surface World?

Dungeons exist in their own dimension which gets bigger as the Dungeon does. The Surface World is the main dimension, and it's where the sapients live.

The "main" dimension of what? But the info windows had nothing to say about that. Perhaps it's not 'general' information…

What's my mission then?

Mission

Too many sapients have karma levels of 25% or lower. The System created Dungeon Cores with the intention of having them kill off these bad people while making good people stronger. Dungeon Cores are given loot to lure greedy people to their death, while the promise of more power will lure the power hungry.

25% or lower? Is that on a scale from 0% to 100% where 0 means supervillain and 100 means saint?

The very worst of sapients have a karma level of 0% while the very best have a karma level of 100%. Karma levels are calculated based on a sapient’s most recent actions while considering things like their situation, surroundings and so on. ‘Most recent’ is based on the sapient’s species' expected lifespan. Children are therefore more likely to rise or lower their karma level based on a single action. Children can not gain karma-based Achievements before they have done at least 100 actions.

And how do I know what karma level people have? So I know if I should kill them or not…?

Karma level is a hidden Score. As such, only those with a related Skill or Ability can see it.

Skill or Ability? What’s the difference?

Skills are gained as a child through training or as an adult through leveling up after training for it. Class Skills are granted with tier ups. Dungeons can not get Skills. Abilities are gained through Achievements.

Okay then… At least that's a mission I can agree with! Pleased with my mission I decided to get started immediately. Okay, I guess I need to do the Creature Theme Selection…

Creature Theme Selection Avian Bipedal Corrupted Draconic Elementals Fey Golems Landbound beasts Water creatures Undead Vegetation

And so, I pondered for a long time. I considered all my options. But in the end dragons was obviously the right answer.

Okay, so I didn't consider it for that long! I just really wanted dragons! I did try to consider the other choices, but dragons just always seemed better!

With that decided I then needed to choose my Starter Environment.

Starter Environment Desert Forest Mountain River and lake Volcano

Well, that was a much shorter list. Maybe it's so short 'cause no other environment fits my chosen creature? Hmm. Magma in the environment would be nice as I could use it in several different defensive ways. But the hiding and sneak attack capabilities the forest would give is really nice too. The desert and mountain didn't speak to me at all, and 'river and lake' wasn't as interesting as the remaining 2. My goal isn't to kill everyone though so magma might be too much. Hiding is more my style anyway. Forest it is!

Draconic and forest selected. Dragonet pattern obtained. You can now create creatures of level 1

Dragonet?

Dragonets are small green dragons with an average wingspan of 40 cm. They can breathe fire only once per day or respawn, so they only use it as a last defense. Their main attack is their long sharp claws. They are social creatures which live in burrows in forests and mainly eat fruits.

They eat fruit? I hadn't ever considered that there might be a dragon which preferred fruit to meat.

While I really wanted to spawn one, I didn't feel comfortable doing so before I had made a forest for it. So, I went back to digging. First, I made a 1 meter wide and long 4 meter high opening. Then I began on the actual room. But soon I had to ask: How big should I make the room? Is there any limit to it?

Dungeon rooms have a standard size of 10×10×5 meters with the exception of the Core Room, which has a standard size of 5×5×5 meters. The dimensions of a Dungeon room may change without penalty as long as the room is 500 m³ or less. Making a room larger than 500 m³ makes the room count as more than one room.

"Count as more than one room"? Sounds like I'm only allowed to make a certain amount of rooms. I waited for a bit thinking the blue boxes would confirm my thought. But nothing happened. Maybe I need to phrase it as a question? Do I have a max. number of rooms I can make?

Tier 1 Floors have 10 rooms each.

Tier 2's have 20 rooms each.

Tier 3' have 30 rooms each.

And so on.

… What's the different Floor tiers?

Tier 1 Floors are Floor 1-5.

Tier 2 is 6-10.

Tier 3 is 11-15.

And so on.

Pleased I had both gotten the answer to my original question and learned more about the system I returned to my digging. With only one type of creature there wasn't much reason yet to make the rooms anything but standard. I did briefly consider making one giant room but discarded the idea as I thought people might end up walking past a lot of the danger.

Huh?! Why can't I dig anymore?

Personal Status Level: 0 EXP needed for level up: 0/0 Mana payment needed for level up: 0/0 Mana: 0/50 Mana regeneration: 5 per hour Floors: 0/1 Creature Theme Selection Starter Environment Selection Achievements Mission

Uh… I've run out of mana. Might as well look at these Floor Details, while I wait for it to recharge.

Floor Details for the 1st Floor 0/90 levels worth of creatures 0/2 puzzles 0/10 traps Creatures Puzzles Traps

Hm… Creatures.

Creatures

Creatures give you a little EXP when killed and can kill sapients which earns you much more EXP.

Dragonet: 20 mana + 10 mana

20 + 10 mana? What does that mean?

Creatures have a base cost and a cost for each extra level.

Ah. Got it! So I can use 50 mana to get a level 4 dragonet. No response. Right. Can I use 50 mana to get a level 4 dragonet?

A Dungeon Core has to be level 4 or more to make a level 4 creature. Level 0 and level 1 Dungeon Cores can only make level 1 creatures. A level 4 creature can only belong to the 2nd Floor or deeper. The 1st Floor can only support level 1-2 creatures.

Uh, alright. Later then. Let's look at Puzzles.

Puzzles

Puzzles earn you EXP when attempted.

The mana cost depends on the Floor level and the difficulty level.

No puzzle has been designed

So I have to design the puzzles myself. Nice. That will give me something to do while waiting for my mana to come back. Are Traps the same way?

Traps

Traps can kill sapients which earns you a lot of EXP.

The mana cost depends on the size of the trap and how deadly it is.

No trap has been designed

Thought as much. And so I began to design puzzles for a bit before a thought hit me.

I got distracted earlier but wasn't there mentioned something about Dungeon Cores already having enhanced growth? Why is that?

Unlike most other beings, Dungeon Cores have no parents to take care of them before adulthood. To protect level 0 Dungeon Cores, they are placed in their own dimension until they are ready for sapients. This means a Dungeon Core can not earn EXP before becoming an adult. The sapients can and do and therefore often jump from level 0 to 5 or so when they become adults. To make it more equal for Dungeon Cores they instead need less EXP to level up in their youth. This gives Dungeon Cores enhanced growth while young.

Uh… Neat! I went back to designing puzzles and ended up switching between digging and designing.