Chapter 2: The first room
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; text-align: center">[Quest: Open the Status screen 0/1]</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Reading the prompt, Lethe was bewildered. "Status screen? Umm...so I guess I just say it again? Come to think of it, I don''t really have a mouth so how am I talking? I mean, I can hear myself, but at the same time I know I''m not broadcasting my voice to the surroundings. Is it a sort of telepathy or...you know what never mind."
"Let''s see. Show status!"
"Status screen!"
"How do I view my status?"
"..."
"..."
"[Status]!"
<div>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; border-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1); margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" border="1">
<thead>
<tr style="text-align: center">
<td style="width: 25%">STATUS</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%">
NAME: Lethe
RACE: Dungeon Core
CLASS: Locked
LEVEL: 1
EXP: 0 / 100 (Earned EXP/Required EXP)
MOB POINTS: 00/25 (Used/Total)
ROOMS: 6 (60m^3 total volume of control)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%">
SKILLS
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%">
???
???
???
???
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%">
TEMPLATES
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%">
???
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%">
MOB TYPES
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%">
???
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%">
RULES
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%">
???
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%">
QUESTS
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%; text-align: center">Main Quest: Open the status screen 1/1
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%">
[Ding!]
[Quest: Open the Status screen 1/1]
[Quest complete! Reward: Unlocked skills [Creation - Floor 1], [Territory Control 1]]
[Receive Rewards? Yes/No]
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
This was the first time that Lethe saw a choice from the system. He wondered what would happen if he chose not to receive the rewards. Would he forever lose access to those skills or would they simply stay in the background for him to receive in the future. However curious he might be, he did not want to risk losing access to essential skills. This time, Lethe focused on the prompt and selected [Yes].
The instant he did so, he felt a swathe of information relating to the skills become available to his consciousness. The new skills that were just...rewarded(?) to him now allowed him to expand his territory of control, gave him the ability to customize his floors with rooms, and make new floors when he had the ability to. He also realized that the phantasmal hands that created the entrance by the system were also in his control! It dawned on him then that the system had actually taken control of him when it had made the entrance, yet for some reason...it felt natural? Taking some time to review what he knew about dungeon cores, he understood that the phantasmal hands were what he needed to use to interact with his environment and mobs. He also realized that if he concentrated, he could break down everything in his territory. He wondered where the destroyed substances actually went as he wasn''t aware of any form of storage.
<div>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%">
[Creation - Floor 1 | Rank: 1/5 | Allows user to designate and shape a room with maximum volume of 10m^3 as a single room.]
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; text-align: center">[Territory Control 1 | Rank: 1/10 | Allows user to expand his territory.]</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%">
[Ding!]
[New Quest: Use your skills and create 1 room 0/1]
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Reading the new quest, Lethe understood that the system had been set up to guide him in setting up his first floor. For now, he reviewed the information he had for [Territory Control 1]. The skill allowed him to control his territory, specifically where the bounds of his consciousness were. There seemed to be a limit to the size of his territory, which expanded every time he would level up. Going by that logic, he also understood that he received a new floor with every increase in level. So the idea was that each level corresponded to larger floors and a larger territory.
After he refocused his thoughts, Lethe sent intent to enable the skill, [Territory Control 1], and instantly felt that small particles of brown, green, and yellow dots of light had gathered from thin air start to surround and rotate around his core. He knew that these particles represented the mana in the surroundings, which is a basic element of the world. He didn''t know what else mana could do, but he felt that a large part of his powers would involve it.
With [Territory Control], he was essentially allowed to use the particles to soak his consciousness into his surroundings. As the particles continued to gather, he felt his awareness shifting to a larger area and spread out, pushing against the walls of the cave, seeping in, claiming the wet dirt, soil, and stone as his, and expanding his zone of control in a sphere centered around him. He debated whether he could change the shape of his territory, a sphere hardly seemed practical for expansion as he wouldn''t be going up into the ceiling of the small cave.
Gathering the edges of his territory, he mentally willed for the expansion to only go down into the floor of the cavern and away from the entrance and the top of the chamber. As he concentrated, a headache started to develop but he could sense that his control slowly shifted focus to the designated area below the cavern. However, his previously gathered territory didn''t seem to retract, just staying there as if it would forever be under his purview.
<div>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%">
[Ding! Skill Rank Up! Territory Control 2]
[Territory Control 2 | Rank 2/10 | Allows user to expand his territory. Direction of expansion can be specified.]
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Is that the only way to rank up?'', he idly wondered. Perhaps, perhaps not.
What is that?''...
<div>
<div>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%">
[Ding! Skill Rank Up! Creation - Floor 2]
[Creation - Floor 2 | Rank: 2/5 | Allows user to designate a room with maximum volume of 10m^3 as a single room. Allows user to set up design templates.]
[Ding! Saved Template: Cavernous Room]
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%">
[Ding!]
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.[Quest: Use your skills and create 1 room 1/1]
[Quest complete! Reward: Unlocked skills [Creation - Mob 1], [Design Structures 1]]
[Receive Rewards? Yes/No]
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div>
<div>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%">
[Creation - Mob 1 | Rank: 1/10 | Allows user to generate mobs based on mob points.]
[Mob Types Available: -- Select 0/1 --]
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; text-align: center">[Design Structures 1 | Rank: 1/10 | Allows user to create and design various structures (traps, buildings, objects, etc.) inside rooms.]</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%">
[Ding!]
[New Quest: Generate and spawn mobs 0/25]
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>