In the world of Belia, members of all the many races gather together where none normally would for the chance to be a part of a Dungeon.

Most of the people who travel to one have no interest in ever setting foot in those places, but they go anyway for the promise of a better life for them and their families in the Mana rich land the Dungeon produces. Those that do brave the depths of the Dungeons do so for many reasons, a chance for some quick coin, a chance for renown should they conquer the dungeon. Or, if they are foolish enough, a chance to become a 'Hero'.

There have been many Heroes over the years, with just as many Dungeons to help keep them in check. During the time of our fledgling Core's awakening, there are approximately 603 Heroes spread across Belia. It's no easy task to become a 'Hero' however, in order to become one a person has to complete their 'Life-long Quest'. The problem with these so-called Quests is that they almost always involve hassling a dungeon that was just minding its business.

Just between you, me, and the birds though...all the Cores agree that Heroes are, for the most part, a bunch of arrogant jerks.

The story begins where most great things happen, in between a rock and a hard place. Literally. Our Core at the moment is not much more than a large chunk of Mana trapped between, you guessed it, a rock and an even larger rock. If left unchecked the Mana would devour its surrounding prison until it eventually found its way to the surface where it would dissipate back into the air. Luckily, or unluckily depending on who you asked in the future, fate decided that it was time to even the scales of the world again. Having only 602 dungeons in the world just seems like too few now. Better add one more just to be sure.

Somewhere in the Endless Desert of Belia.

"Finally! It's finally my turn! I've waited so long and now it's finally my turn!" A small feminine voice calls out from between two large rocks in the middle of a barren wasteland.

"22 years of waiting and I finally get a Dungeon all to myself! The first thing I'm going to do once it's set up and established is tell that stuck up brat Tay how much better my dungeon is than his!" The small voice yelling at nobody, in particular, is attached to a body 4" in height. If you could even call it a body. Maybe a floating ball of grey light doesn't count as one, but she should have one of those soon enough anyway.

"Now where is it, Mom said I'd find the Core hiding in the rocks somewhere?" As the ball of light continued to talk to herself, the ground below her... feet? started to shake, and she knew that this was her partner trying to free themselves from the dirt. Which any self-respecting Dungeon Guide knows that if you let your future Core reach the surface before they accept you, they will promptly disappear into nothingness.

"Oh, no you don't! I've waited way too long to have to look for another Core to bond with." She yelled out as she dove into the cracks of the dusty earth to reach the Core before it could dig its way up to certain death.

Both she and the Core severely underestimated how far it was to the surface, though. After about four minutes straight of frantic searching, the Guide finally reached the Core's little mining expedition and could begin the bonding process before it attempted any more escape maneuvers.

The newborn looked about what the Guide had expected. As condensed Mana, the future Core looked like liquid silver, constantly shifting patterns with the consistency of molten magma. The very air shimmered around it, and the power condensed into such a small amalgamation made her non-existant skin crawl.

"Now you just stay right there while I work on catching you up to speed with the rest of those dungeons. Oh gosh I can't wait, I just know me and you are going to be perfect together!" The Guide felt a little silly talking to what, at the moment, equated to a high functioning rock. It was common Guide knowledge that you could imprint ideas onto the fledgling core to help develop their personality and further their education during the formative hours. How else was a Core supposed to understand the menu options and decide on starting locations if nobody ever taught them how to read?

"Mom gave me a special Memory Crystal that all the best Guides use to give their Cores a nice edge over the competition." While the Memory Crystal the Guide had was indeed a very powerful item, it wasn't exactly as miraculous as she was making it out to be. The Core didn't need to know that though.

What the Memory Crystal did was impart hundreds of memories from hundreds of different Sentients directly into the raw Mana that was the future Core, essentially transforming it into a functioning being with its own unique personality.

Next to the Guide, a large crystal the size of a golf ball appeared from thin air.

"Poof!" The Guide said as a way of bragging about her little magic trick.

She had the Crystal float over to where the raw Mana was. It seemed to be sulking, potentially contemplating why its prison breakout failed. She gently tapped the Memory Crystal to what she considered the Mana's head.

"Now this may not be a very nice experience, Mom said it's like if you went from being a newborn to an adult in seconds. I bet you'll be fine though! I just know me and you will become the best of friends during our time together." the Guide was spinning on the spot in excitement.

Our new Dungeon Core, now aware and confused.

Being able to suddenly understand everything around you is a bit jarring. Especially when until a moment ago your biggest concern was which way was up and which was down. Now the Core was going through information overload and was taking its time to process everything around itself.

Itself. It's an it now, neat.

While contemplating its newfound existence and the crushing amount of new concepts and ideas floating through its mind, it noticed something spinning really fast in the center of its room. So fast, that to the Core it looked like a whirling ball of energy capable of ripping a grown man's fingers clean off if one of those two-legs was ever dumb enough to stick their finger in it. Which the Core was sure they would if given the opportunity.

It looked beautiful.

How the Core knew of concepts like death, dismemberment and beauty confused it. That seemed like a problem for Tomorrow Core though, for now, it was just going to focus on the rapidly slowing ball of light in the center of its small hole in the world.

"Hello, can you hear me in there? You've made me wait long enough you better not go back to sleep!" The ball of light shouted towards the Core.

The Core winced at the ball of lights words, but then it realized it could understand what it was saying.

Double neat!

Now for the hard part, trying to respond.

Well, no time like the present. It thought.

"I can hear you stop yelling, please...Who are you? Who am I? Where am I? What am I? What are yo-" once the Core managed to get a few words out all the pent up questions in the back of its mind came to the forefront and came out in a mad rush. The ball of light shone brighter for a brief moment, it would have blinded the new Core if not for the fact that it could now see in all levels of light with perfect clarity.

"Yeesh, stop asking so many questions and just listen, okay?" The ball of light scolded. A little rude for a ball of light. The Core thought. The ball seemed like they were waiting for an answer so the Core took a page from their book and tried to shine brightly as an affirmative. Turns out it worked. Take that ball of light! I've already mastered your secret technique and used it for myself. The Core thought smugly.

"My name, for now, is Guide. I am...your Guide." The ball of light giggled at what amounted to, at best, a mediocre joke. The Guide had a distinctly feminine voice so the Core decided it was a girl. Even if it wasn't quite sure what a girl was just yet.

"You are a Core, more specifically, a Dungeon Core. We can go over what that means later, but let's just say that your job is to take in the excess Mana throughout the world and disperse it back into it. Kind of like how a tree makes breathable air, you make useable Mana. Now if you asked any two-legs they would just say a Dungeon is a way to earn; fame, glory, wealth and everything in between. All they want is to find you and fight whatever Monsters you make." At that last statement, the Guide took on a distinctly darker shade of grey.

Monsters? I get Monsters?! The Core thought to itself. How cool is that?!

The Core understood what she was saying too, who would want to just be minding their own business when out of nowhere some jerk comes around and starts demanding money and powerful Monsters to fight. However, "I don't mind the idea of fighting...Two-legs? It doesn't sound that bad." The Core replied a little sheepishly.

It was true, something inside the Core screamed that this was how things ought to be, sending out hordes of powerful beasts to kill the weak and strong alike. Should it have been worried that these thoughts seemed to be a part of who it was as a person...rock...Core? It wasn't a person, even though some of the memories it received may have been from people, that much was obvious. It decided to dump the introspective thoughts onto trusty Tomorrow Core and move on for now.

At this small outburst, the Guide took on a soothing tone and softly said, "I thought you would, it's in your nature to seek out the strong and challenge them. It wasn't always like that though, but we can save the sad history lessons for after we get ourselves into a safe and defensible position. That Memory Crystal I gave you should have given you the mental capacity of a fully grown Sentient being. We Guides give them to developing Cores to help speed along the process of Dungeon creating as well as to make you fluent in the Common Language so we don't have to charades our way through the Torial."

Torial?

The Core took all of this information in, and while it felt conflicted that its entire existence seems to have just been random chance, it was taking it in stride. "I understand, I think. Before the memories, I don't think I would have ever gotten to enjoy things like I do now. I feel so many different emotions, and sometimes more than one at a time!" The Core began to take on a feverish pitch as it sorted through its new thoughts.

"I'm not too sure what to do as a Dungeon, but I'm guessing it's why you're here, and now I just feel ready to do my best at whatever this Dungeon stuff is. I'm going to be the best one there is, just you wait and see! Also, what's a Torial?" By the end of its impromptu speech, the Core was glowing as brightly as the ball of light had when it first interrupted him.

"Ahhh!! I just knew we would get along together, you have no idea how much I've wanted to hear those words coming from my very own Dungeon." The fledgling Core took an unusual amount of satisfaction from being called her dungeon specifically.

"To answer your question though, what you do as a Dungeon is process raw Mana and convert it into useable Mana for the Sentient Races. You also provide challenges in the form of Traps and Monsters, and give rewards based on the level of difficulty of either that you have in your Dungeon. The Torial is where we choose what kind of dungeon you are going to be! I'll do my best to help you pick the right choices that compliment both of our personalities. So make sure you ask any questions you have okay?"

The Guide, which the Core figured was the proper title for her now, instead of 'ball of light', had taken on a tone of a strict instructor by the time she was done talking. The Core couldn't be more thankful though, who knew what weird choices it may have picked if it didn't have a guiding hand. What if it accidentally chose an underwater Dungeon?! Who would want that kind of hassle?

While the Core had a few ideas on what to do with a Dungeon, they were basic impulses at best. Mainly to just devour and create fearsome beasts, as well as digging as far down into the ground as it physically can. The rest was all just a little overwhelming. Also, did the Guide say it had a personality? Did it need to get one or did it already have one? No time like the present to find out.

"Alright, first things first, it's time we bonded! All you need to do is say, "I accept you as my Guide."" At this the Guide looked expectantly over at the Core. Considering they just met this seemed to be going a little fast for the Core's liking. Also considering until five minutes ago it was just a bunch of raw Mana destined for nothing, this seemed like a good deal anyways.

She was also the reason it was now able to understand things, and it really liked doing that. After a few moments of thinking. What a novel thing! The Core made up its mind.

"I accept you as my Guide."

"I accept you as my Core."

Then all went blank and both Guide and Core were transported high above the clouds, the Guide had heard about the Torial from her Mother but she never knew how incredible it felt to stare down at Belia from high up. Until a giant screen blocked her vision anyways