Darkness, that was all he could see. It was everywhere he looked, darkness with small white specks flying around. He tried to move around, but he was unsure if it was working. As there was nothing but the dots to orient himself with. And with nothing else to do, he just began to try chasing after the dots. But he seemed to be unable to move. So, he just stared at the little dots, as they moved around. And just thought about different things like, what was he, who was he? He spends the time asking himself questions and trying to understand what was happening.

A long-time after, or maybe it was just seconds that went by. There was no way for him to determine it. A new thing suddenly appeared. A flash and suddenly a massive amount of knowledge and images. They flashed through his mind so quickly that he had a hard time retaining it all. But there were a few images that burned themselves into him, images of mighty beast shattering mountains in their godly battles for dominance. He desired it, something in him burned to create these mighty beasts. God's among their kind.

It took a while before he noticed that something new was in his vision.

Initiating dungeon core system

“System what is that?” he thought.

Sentience detected

Rerouting to Tutorial

Welcome new dungeon core

I am the tutorial, and I will guide you through the steps to become a great dungeon core.

“A dungeon core? What is that?” he asked.

A dungeon core is the heart of a dungeon.

A dungeon is an underground complex of rooms and tunnels. Which it then fills with monsters and treasure, to lure in adventures, in order to siphon off some of their mana which it the purifies, and then uses to grow and dig ever deeper.

“Well that sounds mighty interesting,” he said.

“Well there is nothing else I can do so I might as well do this,” he thought as he looked around the forever spreading blackness

“How do I begin?” he asked.

First, you are going to select what type of dungeon you want to be. Normally this process would be randomized, as it rarely happens that dungeons are born with full intelligence, instead of being fully driven by their ingrained instincts.

And before his eyes came, a seemingly infinite list of different types of dungeon cores, with different tiers and bonuses. It was almost too much, but he needed to focus. He only got one chance to choose correctly.

“What do these tiers mean, do a higher tier mean that it is stronger?” He asked the blue box

The tiers are a way to measure a types of growth potential. The tiers go “common”,” uncommon”, “rare”, "epic”, “legendary”, “mythical”, “demi-god”, “godlike”

Demi-god and godlike tiers are only available through the randomized type selection, or the intervention of a God. As they are too powerful for the world to handle.

While having a high tier may sound like a good idea, the high growth potential might leave you with a shaky foundation. Where the more common type might not have the same speed of growth, but their foundation is solid.

That was good to know and so he continued to look through the list. Some of the options would make him connected to a specific element like fire, water, earth or air. Which would increase the power of the creatures of that element. While others would increase his ability to create a specific type of monster, without elemental restrictions, like spiders, goblins, and trolls. A few of them even increased his ability to create treasure for the adventures that entered his dungeon.

He looked through the list and while they all seemed good, they were all kind of restrictive too. For example, the elemental cores would only allow him to summon creatures of that specific element or a neutral element. Which the blue box informed him would later evolve into that specific element.

“Wait evolve?” He asked. He didn't know what but something about that word resonated with something in the core of his being.

Yes, the monsters inside your dungeon can, after fulfilling a specific condition, and growing strong enough, undergo a type metamorphosis which is commonly known as evolution among the intelligent races, this is where a monster transforms into a more powerful form. For example, a “common” evolution for a goblin would be a hobgoblin.

“That sounds interesting, are there any core types that I am compatible with, that specializes in different forms of evolution, that aren’t element-specific?” He asked.

Yes, there are, several. I will bring up the most optimal for you.

“General Evolution specialist” (rare tier)

“Evolution, it is the process that can allow creatures to surpass the limits of their species, and become something new”

This core type will increase the chance for all your monsters to advance into rare evolution paths.

You may also slightly influence the path of the evolution, Unique evolutions may become available.

Start bonus: 3 rare evolution tokens, 2 free “common” monsters unlock.

Core type bonus: 1 rare evolution token every 5 floors.

“Chimeras evolution” (Legendary tier)

“Dungeons with this core type seek to birth a new chimera king, a creature of legend. Who commands all chimeras to war”

Chimeras are creatures that have body parts from different monsters, this type will allow the chimeras in your dungeon to gain the ability from the monster that they consume. It will also increase the reproduction rate and general combat strength of chimeras in your dungeon.

Start bonus: 2 “rare” chimera’s, 1 free “common” monster unlock.

Core type bonus: 1 free chimera every 5 floors.

“Predators evolution” (Mythical tier)

“All dungeon cores create monsters, but dungeons with this core type have an innate desire to create the ultimate monsters. Creatures that can crush mountains under their feet and bring with them a sea of destruction.”

This core type gives all the monsters in your dungeon the natural ability, of absorbing the abilities and physical attributes, of what they consume in your dungeon. This can unlock unique evolutions. The monsters in the dungeon will rapidly adapt to fit a new environment. The dungeon core will lose the ability to directly control the monsters in its dungeon, and will only be able to set, some rules that the monsters will instinctively follow.

Every year an event will unfold where all monsters, except the bosses, in the dungeon enter an enraged state, where the level caps of the floor are removed. they seek to grow stronger and reach the lowest floor, whereupon they will be released from the dungeon and teleported to a location perfect for its habitation.

Start bonus: 2 self-designed monsters, 2 free “common” monsters unlock.

Core type bonus: 1 free self-designed monster every 3 floors, 1 free “common” monster every 2 floors (this bonus scales up the rank of the monster, every 10 floors, up to Legendary).

When he saw the last one, he felt it in his very core, this is the core type that most suited him. It was everything that he desired. But he still needed some clarification about it.

“They all sound interesting, but what is the difference between “Chimera's evolution” and “Predators evolution” as their effects are very similar, and won't it influence the evolution you mentioned earlier?” he asked.

The foundational difference between them lies in the potential of your monsters. For “ Chimeras evolution” it will only give the absorption ability to creatures designated as chimeras, but these all have an elemental weakness that can be explored, and no matter how many times it consumes a creature that has a resistance to that element it won't gain a resistance to it, but in return they start strong and only grow stronger. While “Predators evolution” gives this ability to all creatures in your dungeon, no matter what they are, enabling them to become pseudo chimeras without their weaknesses, but they can start much weaker. But they can potentially grow stronger than the Chimeras. This strengthens the entirety of your dungeon. And gives you a much higher variety of monsters, which in turn increases the possibility for them to grow.

Both core types will not remove the normal evolution system. The monsters that have been changed by it, will just become variants of that evolution. But it could also cause a special evolution to appear.

Okay, that's good, and are there other ways to get monsters in my dungeon then through the bonuses? He asked.

Yes, you can purchase more monsters, though the dungeon store, with dungeon points. These points you can get daily, depending on the size of your dungeon, or by killing intruders in your dungeon. You can then summon those monsters with mana. But the monster can also naturally breed, the monsters born will still listen to your commands, while enabling you to siphon mana from them.

That was good to know. And none of these choices have any serious restrictions, that I couldn't live without. But then suddenly a question came to mind.

“Wait you said earlier that higher tiers could get a shaky foundation, so if I am careful, and take it slow. Then that won't happen to me?”

Correct. Some dungeons with high tiers are so busy building more floors, and getting their bonuses, that they leave some of them half-finished. So yes, if you take a steady pace in your dungeon building then you won't be in any risk of that happening.

“Well then I have decided,” he said as he selected his choice.