1537 years ago

The day when the first dungeon core fell to Almos started out like any other day. The various civilised races were going about their daily lives, some trying to survive the monster infested wilderness while others lived another day of lavish luxury in stone castles and keeps.

Even the monsters didn’t feel any different at first, all of them content to go about their normal routine no matter how intelligent or stupid they were.

That all changed when the sky began to burn.

Like a demonic comet falling from the void the red gem streaked its way through the atmosphere, leaving a bright red mana trail behind it that to mortal eyes made it look like the sky itself had been set ablaze.

Even the dumbest of monsters watched with awe and reverence as the dungeon core descended upon Almos. The civilised races could only stop and stare as they felt something very fundamental in the flow of the world change.

Perhaps however, if Faumel had been watching where it was aiming its dungeon core, what happened next would not have occurred.

The red gem descended down, down, down into an opening that stood at the top of a mountain. To prevent itself from crashing, the gem automatically extended a ludicrous amount of mana to stop its fall.

The true problem with that however, was that to counter the power of the fall, the gem threw the mana downwards. The danger with that was the mountain the core had landed in was in fact a volcano that was close to eruption.

The volatile mana from the dungeon core was the straw that broke the camel’s back, pressure in the volcano only built and built until…

Dungeon core landing success.

Establishing connection with DUNCORE NETWORK v-1.0…

The volcano erupted.

All that heat, all that pressure, all that energy.

Sitting on a ledge of rock in the middle of all that?

The dungeon core didn’t stand a chance.

After only a second of exposure to those primal elements, the dungeon core exploded.

Its red shards were thrown into the magma, as the cores remaining mana blasted outwards in a single last hurrah that shook the entire mountain.

The core was destroyed.

The only sliver of its magic that remained was a glowing red light, the phantom of power that Faumel had blessed its dungeon core with.

cRitiCle D-mEege sUStained

Hiber-tion mOdE ACtiVa---

Present day

After centuries of waiting, building its mana stores and biding its time, the diming red light that contained the power of Faumel had finally managed to reconstruct the original bright red sphere-gem of a dungeon core that was its form.

In the bowels of the now long extinct volcano, a beautiful gem of near limitless potential finished taking shape.

Dungeon core reconstruction complete.

Establishing connection with DUNCORE NETWORK v-1.0…

The dungeon cores automated system continued to whir away, expending magical energy as it sought to fulfil its purpose.

ERROR CODE: 341

DUNCORE NETWORK v-1.0 has been supplanted by DUNCORE NETWORK v-6.73.

Attempting connection with new network.

After a few seconds, an unheard ping echoed through the mountain.

Connection success.

Proceeding to activation of DUNCORE NETWORK v-6.73 [core boot protocol]

Dungeon core status: 100%

Mana corruption: 0%

Magical density: Healthy

Devine patron connection: …ERROR, cannot locate patron deity [Faumel]

75% of [core boot protocol] checks passed successfully, activating primary dungeon core abilities in 3, 2, 1…

In a single moment that seemed to stretch on for eternity, ‘it’ awoke.

‘It’ was not exactly sure what ‘it’ was, yet somehow ‘it’ was connected to ‘dungeon core’ and ‘self’.

‘Dungeon core’ was the definition of what ‘it’ was, yet ‘self’ was also the definition ‘it’. ‘Dungeon core’ and ‘self’ were ‘same/not same’, truly a conundrum that the newly awakened core had no chance of solving.

Greetings dungeon core #0000!

The core mentally recoiled away from the strange words that seemed to be projected directly into its mind. It could do nothing but watch in insure silence as the words continued to flow from… somewhere.

Congratulations on being the first dungeon core in the world of Almos to achieve a true sense of self! This guide [Faumel’s dungeon construction 101] is designed to allow you to survive as a dungeon in this dangerous world.

This flood of information was overwhelming to the new-born core. The words referred to it as ‘dungeon core’ so surely ‘it’ was a ‘dungeon core’. Yet the words also implied ‘self’, so which was the true definition of ‘it’?

When you are ready to begin the tutorial, think ‘yes’. If you wish to repeat the introduction, think ‘no’.

For a moment the core toyed with the idea of not responding to the strange messages at all, but before it could truly give that idea consideration the core found itself struck with a vast sense of need.

‘It’ absolutely needed to know what the definition of ‘it’ was. The messages had already referred to ‘dungeon core’ and ‘self’, given time surely the messages would also speak of ‘it’.

‘Yes’ the dungeon core thought, giving the signal for the tutorial to continue.

First you must cement your sense of self in relation to other creatures on Almos. Most sentient beings, whether civilised or monsters, refer to themselves as he, she or it. As a dungeon core this will have no physical or magical effects on you, but one must be picked to help cement your sense of self.

As the thoughts continued to flow, the core immediately shied away from continuing to refer to itself as ‘it’. [Faumel] was an ‘it’ and ‘dungeon core’ was not [Faumel]. ‘Dungeon core’ was not sure how it knew this, but much like it’s earlier feeling of need the ‘dungeon core’ felt like it had to discard that option.

So ‘he’ or ‘she’, truly the dungeon core did not know the difference. With no frame of reference to work with, the dungeon core simply selected one of the two seemingly near identical options.

Dungeon core identity set: She

With that decision made the ‘dungeon core’ felt a sense of… stability. It was a strange sense of satisfaction that flowed through it, now that she was no longer an ‘it’ but rather, a ‘she’.

Most if not all creatures of either great intelligence or importance in the world of Almos are entitled to an identifier that sets them apart from others. This is known as a name, having a name is one of the largest signs of a creature also having a sense of self.

To simplify the naming process, a number of words based on the dungeon cores surroundings will be displayed, select one to be your name.

Stone, Mountain, Volcano, Deep, Hidden, Magma, Extinction, Crucible…

She needed this, the feeling of want and desire was far stronger than she had ever felt before. In a single moment she went from lost and confused to knowing exactly what she had to have.

She needed a name.

So she chose one.

Dungeon core name set: Crucible

It was as if the stars had aligned. Pieces of the puzzle that she had been trying to solve began to snap together like a psychological jigsaw.

‘I am she.’

*Click*

‘I am dungeon core.’

*Click*

‘I am self.’

*Click*

‘They are all me.’

‘I am Crucible.’

Mana rushed in and out of Crucible in waves as her thoughts became more certain and clear. A distinct sense of purposefulness washed over her as she bathed in the reality that she existed.

She did not know who had placed her here, or what they had intended for her, yet she knew what she wanted now.

‘I will be the best self, no, the best Crucible I can be.’

Her mental proclamation went unheard of by any but herself.

That was fine though, the world would know about her soon enough…

‘As soon as I figure out how to get out of this rock.’ Crucible’s thoughts piped up optimistically.

Yes, it was only a matter of time.

Authors Notes: The core awakens, a name is chosen and the gods stand ready, yet so unprepared…

Thanks for all the comments and feedback in the prologue, the overwhelming positive response was beyond my wildest expectations. I hope that this chapter has continued to maintain the same level of quality as its predecessor.

I’m looking forward to seeing more reviews, comments and criticisms!