Excerpt from the Encyclopaedia Multiverca:

CoreNet: The darkweb archive for Dungeon Code. This repository of information has long eluded

authorities and researchers trying to garner more information about dungeons and how

they work. Some have even gone so far as to say it does not exist, citing lack of

evidence.

Nova had nodded off by the time Cable got the major kinks out of the system. The Core was now capable of generating slightly more power than the HUD took to display, and the room glowed as it showed the outside world. The battery indicator had changed, and no longer had a percentile display. It now showed units, which Cable had arbitrarily calibrated as the power to run the HUD for one second in its current jury rigged state. A toggle switched between a number and a graphic – a clock showing how much time the display could run without further power made available.

With that done, Cable now faced the dilemma of what to do about the outside world. For now, the dungeon could slowly accumulate mana, but that wouldn’t be enough in the long run. Sure, if the world left them alone, they would be superpowers in a few millennia. However, once they flexed their figurative superpower muscles a few times, it would all be gone and they would have to start from the beginning.

Either Cable had to code a more efficient kernel, or they would have to consume more outside resources to get the dungeon running and keep it that way. While zero defenses would be harder to spot, Cable had no idea if or when core detecting technology would be developed. Once that happened, they would be sitting ducks for any adventurer that happened by.

Fortunately, the current core system was a micro kernel. This made life easy to code on a module by module basis, and drastically decreased the chances of bricking the system.

Still, it would be a challenge to work out the optics for the double tetrahedron to show anything resembling a normal view window. Cable’s mental gymnastics weren’t quite keeping up with the distorted view from the crystal facets. Having sudden lines where the view angle of the image changes makes for a picture as useful as a modern art piece. In other words, the big picture was impossible to decipher, or simply junk as far as interpretable representation of the surroundings goes.

The simplest solution to the problem would probably be to fill in the gaps in the double tetrahedron with more crystal to make a round Core. Cable decided to ask Nova about it when they were both awake. After all, there were two of them in this show, and he felt the other party should get a say in how they end up. In the mean time, he decided to reset the system to permanently load the changes into the kernel.

“Menu”

Main Menu:

Status

Inventory

Dungeon Management

HUD

Debug Console

“Dungeon Management”

Dungeon Management Menu

Creatures

Items

Drops

Layout

Dungeon Code

Sandbox

Scheduled Maintenance

Cable chose the scheduled maintenance option, and then chose to reboot with the new configuration.

Are you sure? You will lose any unsaved changes to the kernel. You can save now if you like?

Y / N / S

“S”

Uploading update patches to the CoreNet repository...

Rebooting…

Windhurts is shutting down…

Windhurts is installing updates…

Do not turn off your core…

Install complete.

Turning off core...

A few seconds later, the core went dark.