《Derelict Beginning.》 Chapter 1 - Awakening Dreams, endless and violent. I could not grasp a single thread as they wove their way through my slumbering mind. Each dream, more a nightmare, was filled with the sounds of battle. The clash of a sword, the firing of a gun, the explosion of a grenade and the high pitched whine of blaster fire. Within each dream I was present, I knew it was me only because I was always looking outward, never able actually to see my appearance. I just knew I was a warrior, a fighter, that I reveled in killing my enemies. In some cases bathing in their blood, or eating their hearts. I dreamed of learning how to kill better, of winning battles against those vastly superior to me only to meet my end at the hands of those my dream self-loved above all others. I swore I would learn from that, that none would be allowed close to me. Untold amounts of time passed while I dreamed, I could almost feel the passage of it, yet it remained elusive. I could catch glimpses, in between what I knew at heart were dreams. The passing of what I felt was my body, or something like it, from hand to hand and treated as something precious. Death seemed to follow me in those brief moments, not unlike my dreams. The only difference was I was not the one doing the killing. Instead, those that held my body killed to keep me or acquire me. This happened for an untold amount of time. I had grown bored of those brief glimpses, preferring instead to live within my dreams and absorb all they had to offer. A few times the dreams involved things beyond training or a battlefield. It was rare, but those brief glimpses made me understand why I might have allowed those close to me to be my downfall. They were filled with what I called love, compassion, things that seemed so distant and foreign to me at times. Only in those dreams did I understand them. They were in the blue eyes that seemed to brighten with every moment spent in a field. They were in the small wrinkles that appeared on a face,long use to smiling as they aged. They were in the tears they shed even while they betrayed me, too afraid to remain at my side. They were in the loss of light as they took their own life to join me. Those dreams became a nightmare in their way as I watched them replay, enjoying the happiness while dreading the inevitable ending. On and on it went until I realized I was no longer dreaming, but slowly returning to the world I had only truly caught glimpses of over the course of time. I felt disoriented and lost as I came into this world outside of my dreams. I could see, yet I knew almost instinctively I had no eyes, in fact, I had no actual body. Not like I had dreams at least. I was some sort of orb like object; my mind acquitted it to something called a ¡®marble.¡¯ It was apparently an object involved in a children''s game, whatever a child was. It was hard to think. My memories were disjointed and random. I had an influx of information, these strange boxes that seemed to throw themselves at me whenever I focused on them only to fade away when I ignored them. They were always present though, waiting for me to do something. I tried to move, only to realize I could not do so as I was. Even if I could, I likely would not be able to judging by how I was seemingly fused into an odd pedestal like protrusion in the center of wherever I was located. Around me were destroyed bits of machinery, computers my mind told me, panels along the wall were ripped free, and wires were hanging everywhere. It looked like some major battle had been fought here, the skeletal remains only added to that assumption as well. I thought for a moment, rather tried to think, my thoughts were still sluggish and confusing. It was almost painful to think without something to focus on, almost as if I had an inherent need to focus on an objective. I chose the odd boxes as a focus, to test my theory. They came into focus, and I felt the sluggish confusion ebb away slightly. Attention newly awakened Dungeon! You have been brought into existence by those wishing a return of your kind. You were once hunted to extinction, though cores remained ready to house the souls capable of becoming what you are. A brief tutorial has been made available to you, be aware that once you complete this tutorial, you will be on your own! I was confused again, Dungeon? Tutorial? I associated tutorial with training and focused on that rather than my confusion again. The boxes seemed to anticipate this and went on in a one-sided scrolling conversation. Welcome to consciousness! In this tutorial, you will learn all you need to learn about being a Dungeon Core and protecting yourself. This will include repairing your surroundings, creating your first traps and creatures, accumulating resources and proper use of your Mana. If you would be so kind as to think ¡®Status,¡¯ the tutorial may continue. I blanked for a moment, the message asking me to think of my status merely repeating itself every few minutes. Absorbing the information was proving a little more difficult than I thought. This tutorial had concepts that my dreams had not prepared me for. The basic idea, yes, but I don¡¯t think my understanding was the same as this things meaning. I thought of my status, prompting another box to appear that seemed simplified but informative. Name: None Level: Race: Dungeon Core Mana: 5,000/5,000 Minions: 0 Traps: 0 Environment: Derelict Ship (fighter model) As you can see from the displayed information, it states your name as none. You will have to be named or claim a name for that to change. Your level depicts how strong you are as a Dungeon Core. It affects your maximum Mana pool as well as what you can do as a whole. We do advise you never to empty your Mana completely unless necessary as it could lead to a fracturing event. Your Race is a given, Dungeon Core. Your kind was hunted to extinction several centuries ago as previously stated. You are advised to keep exactly what you are a secret until you are strong enough to combat all that would be thrown at you, be it to destroy you or control you. The Minions tab depicts the creatures, monster or otherwise, under your control. This could include beings you compel into your service or form from the ambient Mana you release as a Dungeon Core. More on Minions will come later. Traps are simple to explain. They are the constructs you place within your environ as a secondary means of protecting your body, your core. These are limited in size and danger based upon your level and area of influences size. Finally, your environment. This is where you are housed. You cannot be relocated or moved by any means outside of being conquered entirely by one stronger than you. This is extremely likely in the early stages, so we once again advise you to take care. Your current environment ¡®Derelict Ship - Fighter Model¡¯ appears to be a small sized spacecraft designed to hold three occupants and minimal firepower.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Your environ depicts what you are capable of as a Dungeon Core, and as you are the first of your kind to be brought into existence after so long we have no records to assist you on how to proceed correctly, you will have to learn on your own. We shall compensate you for this oversight with a bonus reward upon completing your Tutorial. Are you ready to begin claiming and repairing your surroundings? Focusing on the limited information given to me allowed my mind to clear somewhat further. I could think more coherently while considering the options available to me. Minions, I could grasp the concept now. They were soldiers I could command during combat. Traps made me think of many ideas, pitfalls being the simplest. I ignored the ¡®race¡¯ for the time being, nothing there would allow me to further my goal of a clear mind. The environment section was more interesting. I had no actual method of learning about this from the tutorial, and as a result, I would gain some sort of additional reward. With luck, it would give me a little more information as we went. I focused on the continuation of this tutorial. Congratulations on learning the basics of your status! Moving forward we will work on you claiming the entirety of the area you currently reside in otherwise known as the ¡®Engine Room.¡¯ To do this, you must expand your awareness, force your mental acuity to take in all of your surroundings and attempt to soak your will into every section of the room. Once you have done this, the tutorial will continue and aid you in modifying or repairing your current location. I frowned, or tried to, I wanted to frown but I couldn¡¯t. I settled for a constant glower at the box and the message it contained. It was evident what I had to do, but not clear on the how of it. Force my mental acuity to take in everything? Was it a thesaurus? Wait, what was a thesaurus? Nevermind, that isn¡¯t important. Alright, I can do this. I bent my will to the task at hand, feeling that it was the right thing to do and following that feeling. I took in my surroundings again. What I initially considered computers were, in fact, two monitoring stations, the display panels cracked and blank in its current state. The wire that hung from panels along the walls appeared to be a part of some sort of system that ran the length of the ship, judging by how it seemed to disappear somewhat and the small glimpse I could see into the paneling that led outside of where I was. Filtration was what my mind told me, though I had no real idea if that was accurate. The damage was rather extensive, and the more I focused on aspects of the room the clearer my mind became. It allowed me to take stock of more detail, cataloging it within my mind. The walls that were still intact had scorch marks from blaster fire. A few sections had what appeared to be blood that had long since dried into a brown smear. The floor was littered with scattered bits of metal and debris, likely the results of some explosion. There were also five skeletons spread throughout the room, rather the floor that surrounded my little pedestal. Two were clearly not Human, whatever Human was, and the other three seemed to share similarities with what my mind called Human, one even had the underlying structure of a female. It was clear from their positions around me that they had all decided to kill each other. Likely one threw a grenade of some sort killing them all. That wasn¡¯t surprising, such a confined space when mixed with explosives always leads to disaster. Finally, I focused intently on where my body, the Core that was my body, was placed. I was settled on a pedestal with a single damaged wire connecting me to the ceiling and the ship itself, it was damaged though and whatever my mind was trying to communicate with was outside of its sphere of influence right now. The pedestal was also separated from the rest of the floor. At least a foot wide gap was in place in a perfect circle, keeping me out of arm''s reach by anything save perhaps a giant. Something clicked after I had observed everything, forcing my mind to take it all in and acknowledge it as being present. That something had me feel as though my sphere of influence suddenly expanded tenfold as I filled the room, or whatever it was I was doing. With this came more knowledge. I instinctively knew I was indeed in the Engine Room now, and that my Core was functioning as the engine itself for this ship. I was not entirely sure how that had happened, but I felt it would do me well to understand that concept. I also knew the room was six hundred square feet, a relatively large room for what is supposedly a tiny ship. The knowledge that would tell me just how large this ship was was just out of reach as well, I could feel it. I simply knew that I had to connect with the rest of the vessel, to do that I needed everything in this room repaired, primarily that cable. I focused on the box that had popped up again, prompting me with more information. Congratulations! You have successfully claimed the Engine Room of the Derelict Ship - Fighter Model. You will no doubt feel some slight fatigue after this accomplishment, and it is perfectly normal as you would have spent your Mana to spread your influence and claim the room. Now we can begin teaching you how to repair your surroundings or otherwise change them. First, you must think of fixing an object while focusing in on it. It will give you a prompt telling you how much Mana is needed to repair the object as well as options to modify it for an increased Mana cost. I was unsure why the message said I should feel fatigued when I apparently did not, but it did not matter right now. I did as the message said, focusing on the thing I wanted to repair most, the cable that connected me with the rest of the ship. Name: Engine Cable Status: Extensive Damage Function: Provides power and access to the ship. Importance: Vital to ship functionality. The cost to Repair: 6000 Modifications: Increase Durability, Change Material used, Increase power output. I frowned, why was it so much? Was it because it was a vital component for the ship? That would make sense. It was one thousand Mana over my maximum supply at its base cost, let alone with the odd modification options. As you can see the provided details are limited but allow you the bare bones required to function. You have chosen an object outside of your ability to repair at your current level. Do not let this dissuade you; your maximum Mana will increase as you level and you will be able to restore the item in question. Repairs function on Mana because you are in effect repairing items that have pieces missing, destroyed, or are incomplete. Depending on the value and importance of the Object in question this could lead to very substantial costs. You may now begin repairing everything in the room that is affordable. Upon completion, the Tutorial will continue. I growled at the messages. I was surprised when the sound echoed in the empty room. I could project sound, was it useful right now? I had an almost instinctive desire to avoid doing that around others. I felt it was essential to my survival. I questioned the instinct. I knew I would ignore it for I was not one to hide in the face of danger. I thought about my dreams at that thought, feeling the dream me was once the real me. No, I was a warrior. Running and hiding had never been my style, I felt that to be true with every fiber of my being. I cracked my figurative neck, missing the sound that should have followed the ¡®action¡¯ and looked at something else within the room, choosing to focus on that instead of the goal I wanted most. In time I would repair that cable. Name: System Monitoring Stations. Status: Destroyed. Function: Allows the monitoring of power fluctuations. Importance: Minimal, aesthetically crucial to hiding your true nature. The cost to Repair: 500 Modifications: Increase Durability, Change Material Used, Change Design. I didn¡¯t care about the modifications for something deemed useless for me, instead of being meant to further aid in hiding what I really was. Perhaps in time, I would change them, for now, I checked my Status once again. Name: None Level: Race: Dungeon Core Mana: 3,352/5,000 Minions: 0 Traps: 0 Environment: Derelict Ship (fighter model) My Mana had dropped considerably, but for some reason, I felt I had more than a ¡®level 1¡¯ Dungeon Core should have access to. I¡¯d call it a boon for now and begin working. Looking around my Core, the Engine Room, and realized how much work was ahead of me. I could feel myself trying to smile, or my mind smiling, whatever I was now I was smiling. I was thrilled with the concept of something to focus on, to keep me busy. The fact I was thinking clearer and felt more like ¡®me¡¯ only furthered that desire. It was time to get to work, repair the Engine Room, then go further into this Tutorial. Chapter 2 - Green Cuteness I began my work repairing the System Monitoring Stations. The plural wording turned out to be correct as well. Both of the odd little stations by the door leading out of my room went through a visible and slow transformation. The scattered and broken bits all over the ground, as well as some that were seemingly fused with the wall, began to almost flow back into the stations themselves. I was transfixed by the scene before my eyes. The metal flowing back into the monitoring stations like it was water, seeing the destroyed objects reform into what once was reality. When it finished, I saw the screens flair to life, an otherwise unblemished oddity amidst the destruction. The screen displayed multiple aspects of what a typical ¡®power core¡¯ should present. With a bit of tweaking, I was able to figure out a method of altering what is displayed. Knowing that it would be useful, I felt excited at the new knowledge and the clarity of thought it brought me. I took a moment to relish the feeling before moving on to the next project. I looked around my area in an attempt to see what might be the highest use of my Mana at this time. I focused in on the walls and was surprised to see it had two boxes and options for the room. Name: Wall Paneling. Status: Destroyed. Function: Provides structural integrity and additional protection of crucial systems. Importance: Large Cost to Repair: 900 Modifications: Increase Durability, Change Material Used, Change Design. Name: Internal Ship Wiring Status: Destroyed. Function: Provides access to power to multiple vital roles throughout the ship. Importance: Large Cost to Repair: 1200 Modifications: Increase Durability, Change Material Used, Change placement. Both were labeled ¡®large¡¯ in matter of importance. I could even see why. The ship wiring would provide power to the systems such as life support, artificial gravity, and air filtration to name a few. The paneling protected said wires and allowed the ship to continue being structurally sound. I was thankful for the small descriptions in each object because it seemed to stimulate my mind into suitable logic I did not know I possessed where needed. I felt joy at that and noticed something strange with the sense of elation. The room seemed to brighten, and I turned my focus from those boxes and saw that my ¡®body¡¯ was glowing brighter. Did it display emotions based on my mood? I wanted to curtail that for some reason though. I felt displaying emotions so openly was a sign of weakness and should not do it publicly or often. That train of thought made me pause for a few moments as I chased after it, trying with all my might to locate the source. I ultimately had to give it up as the harder I hunted, the further it drifted away. Name: None Level: Race: Dungeon Core Mana: 2,852/5,000 Minions: 0 Traps: 0 Environment: Derelict Ship (fighter model) A quick look at my status again showed me with precisely 2,852 Mana left. I stared at it for a bit, feeling I needed to see something. There it was! My Mana increased by ten after twenty-five seconds. I waited another twenty-five seconds, and it rose again. Good, I had a frame of reference for how long it would take to regenerate my Mana to full. Honestly, I had no clue how long exactly I ended up doing some poor calculations in a vain attempt to figure it out and just kept coming up with something like twenty hours. I finally decided to ignore that and wait until my mind was clearer. Or I had someone more intelligent to question. Regardless, at least I now knew it actually did regenerate. I selected the wiring first and repaired it. This part confused me a little because it seemed to encompass all the wiring throughout the room. At least the wiring in the wall. It was a good thing, I figured, seeing as it would cut down on the exact cost of Mana as I went about my repairs. It confused me because I had a feeling some of that wiring wasn¡¯t even connected to what I initially selected to repair. Choosing not to look a gift horse in the mouth, an odd turn of phrase, I accepted it and then decided to repair the paneling next. It was at this point I felt the exhaustion the tutorial had mentioned as my Mana dropped all the way down to seven hundred seventy-two. I felt a little woozy, in truth, kind of like I had just spun around in circles for half an hour and needed to vomit everything I had eaten that day. Trying to figure out exactly how I even knew that just made me want to vomit more. I stubbornly followed the thoughts though, desperate for some clue as to exactly who I was before I had become this strange marble thing that had boxes show up everytime I focused on something. The result was me growing more disoriented and confused until I finally stopped and was forced to ride out nausea and sudden spikes of pain caused by my attempts. An hour passed by at a slow crawl as I combated nausea. It finally abated after that hour, thankfully. My Mana had regained one hundred forty-four back as well. I frowned a bit at the odd regeneration and wondered if it was slow or fast for a Dungeon Core. Shaking the thought away for the moment, I went back to work. The walls had been included in the paneling repair because every square inch of the walls were bare of any scorch marks from blaster fire, dents, and shrapnel from whatever the hell else was destroyed in the explosion. That left the floor, and it only cost five hundred mana, oddly enough. It was labeled as ¡®basic¡¯ for importance which I found odd. Wouldn¡¯t anything I created or dominated need a floor? I was beginning to wonder about the ranking of importance, but I chose to repair the floor anyway. My Mana dipped dangerously low then leaving me at four hundred sixteen and another bout of nausea. The confusion didn¡¯t come this time at least. I fought my way through the nausea feeling and waited. I spent the time it would take my Mana to regenerate to some degree looking at the skeletons again. They drew me like a moth to the flame, another odd phrase, it still fit, however. I closed in on one of the large bulky skeletons that I thought of as male and was clearly not Human. One reason was that the frame itself had four arms and they seemed elongated and disjointed at strange places. The skull was also somewhat unusual, it had two eyes sockets and what I believed to be a nose area, but the holes were larger than I felt was typical for a human. The other factor was the sheer size of the skeleton. It was easily twelve feet tall. I shuddered internally at that as well. It was just the right size just to reach up and pluck me free from where I lay.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. I would try to find other defenses to defend myself against things this giant in the future, somehow. Another was clearly strange because the bones seemed hallow, lacking any real size or weight with a skull like some kind of birds and the lower body of a snake. I was unsure where I got those animals from, or how I knew they were animals but I was slowly getting used to the strange fits of knowledge that assaulted me. The other three were more Human in shape and size, though one seemed to have an additional pair of holes higher on the skull, at the sides, rather than where I felt ears should be. Judging by their positioning throughout the room, it appeared that it was two against three and they had come to blows over something both parties wanted to obtain. I had a strong feeling that it was me they were killing each other over and decided it was a good thing they were all dead. What really drew my attention though was the strangest desire to eat them. For the first time, I felt hunger beyond anything I had felt since awakening, and they all looked like something I wanted to call a chocolate shake. I imagined myself licking my lips and tasting something sickeningly sweet and cold. The image was gone as fast as it came but I decided I wanted to feel that again and moved toward one of the skeletons and started to try and drink it. My attempt failed miserably. Partly because I couldn¡¯t actually drink anything without a body and partly because whatever it was that preserved them here seemed to be fighting me. In my frustration I forced every fiber of my will into the act I wanted to do and heard an odd little shattering sound and then the single most amazing thing I had ever felt suffused my being. I remembered things, images, touch, taste. Most importantly I remembered that chocolate shake thing and I sucked down the energy or whatever it was that this skeleton had until it was gone in a frantic fervor to continue tasting it. I did it again and again with each corpse. It took all five until I felt bloated and satiated beyond believe. I felt like burping but had absolutely no way to really do that so I luxuriated in the feeling before realizing my Mana had been filled to completion long before it should have regenerated. The skeletons? It was the only logical thing that I could think of. Thinking of the tasty, no gone, skeletons I craved more and felt true regret I had given into my gluttony. I swore I would savor such things in the future, make them last so I could enjoy them beyond a rushed pleasure. I had more boxes popping up, but I wanted to finish this section of the tutorial before I truly began looking at all of those. Call it foolish, but I had a single-minded focus I knew served me well in the dream versions of me, and I would follow it. I completed the repairs for two thousand more Mana. The remaining repairs had been more monitors along the wall, an odd catwalk that led to a panel in the pillar I resided on, and the door itself that apparently had broken gears that prevented the thing from opening. I looked around my now fully repaired, oddly clean, looking home and smiled. I felt an odd sense of pleasure at having finished my ¡®cleaning.¡¯ I could not explain it, but I greatly liked it. That did it. I would ensure this room was always clean and orderly no matter what it took. An odd dinging sound resounded within my mind, and I saw the tutorial place itself within my vision, consuming everything I could see. Congratulations on completely repairing all you could within the Engine Room, or Core Room! According to time records, it took you precisely three hours and twenty-two minutes to complete this section of the tutorial, a record! You will be granted an additional reward at the end if you manage to break another time record in my database. Now we may move on toward trap making. Your current environment prevents most basic traps such as the pitfall or spike trap most prevalent within Dungeons. We have no records within the tutorial to assist you and request you figure something that could be construed as a trap through your effort. The way you make a trap is by focusing on an area and thinking of possibilities and using your knowledge so your Mana may create the trap. Be advised the more advanced the trap, the more Mana it will cost, as well as the fact your level prevents multiple traps from being constructed at this time. You will be granted an additional reward at the end of the tutorial based for not gaining the proper help from the tutorial. I frowned at the messages and decided that the tutorial was utterly useless, but I wanted whatever those rewards were. So I thought for a time, trying to remember everything I could from my dreams and thinking only of a basic tripwire like trap. Focusing on the floor just before the door I saw the ability to make the wire was possible, but I could not actually create anything to attach to it. Everything else I attempted gave me the prompt ¡®Unacceptable trap.¡¯ I scanned the room, fighting the rising panic down when I spotted the blaster pistols that had been used still laying on the ground. I felt the overwhelming desire to devour them but fought it down. Eating them like the skeletons may ruin my future and prevent me from continuing the tutorial. I spent a good thirty minutes figuring out how to infuse my Mana into a blaster, so it became ¡®mine.¡¯ Another twenty minutes figuring out how to mold and morph my Mana into something tangible and move the blaster into position just below my core, roughly head height with the door. The rest was easier, I just attached a wire to the trigger and connected it with the tripwire at the door. Anyone that stepped into the room and hit that wire would get a face full of plasma. I heard another sound and was feeling downright proud of myself for completing the trap section as I had. With luck, I would improve that in the future though. Congratulations on completing the Trap portion of the tutorial! You have broken another time record at fifty-six minutes! This combined with figuring out how to make a trap in your environment without tutorial aid has granted you an additional two rewards from the reward pool at the end of the tutorial. Now we may begin the final portion of the tutorial, Minions. This will be the final portion of your tutorial and is by far the most important because no matter your disrepair, your lack of traps or abundance, it will always be your minions that fight and die so you may survive. You are granted the choice between three possible beginning Minions breeds; lizard, bat, spider. Please think, hard, about your choice, and we may begin. Oooook. Well then, what the fuck kind of training was so short and lacking in more detailed information? Fuck it, I wasn''t entirely sure about that word, but I knew I liked it a lot. Lizard, bat, spider. Three choices that I didn¡¯t fully understand but I knew what each of them was instinctively. Thinking about them for a moment brought images to me. Spider showed me an eight-legged furry creature with fangs and a multitude of eyes. I knew they held poison, deadly or otherwise, were ambush and trap based creatures and laid eggs in large numbers. Bats, NOPE! FUCK NO, NO, NO, NO! I did not understand the abject terror I felt, but I stopped thinking about the creepy rat things with wings. Resisting the shudder, I moved on toward the lizards. Lizard ejected an image of a cute little green thing that I knew was called an anole. The Lizard, like the spider and the big pile of ¡®fuck no,¡¯ had a multitude of different kinds within the species. Images of something called a Bearded Dragon, Komodo Dragon, and desert monitors were some of the more interesting looking ones. Oddly the Gekko was the single most clear image I had, and it continued talking about car insurance, whatever that was. Making my choice, I chose the lizard. I figured I¡¯d go with something I thought were cute, no matter the kind, and go from there. You have chosen the lizard as your starting Minions. You must now create a lizard from your Mana. This will bind the creature to your will. Your Minion feeds off of your Mana and is capable of evolving depending on how much Mana you infuse into the beast. Your very first Minion is even more important. It is designed to be female and will create more of its kind through whatever means it reproduces by gathering your Mana into its womb. This allows you a sustainable population without needing to continually make more as time goes on. As the first Minion, it may also always be brought back with its memories and personality intact after a set amount of time. This only applies to Minions that are the very first of the species you create, as you have chosen lizard that will be the case for them. You are limited to creating a simple green anole at this time because of your level. Think about your creature and invest the amount of Mana you wish into it. The more Mana you invest during the initial creation of your first lizard will dictate how much it may grow and even its possible evolutions in the future. Please begin now and then we shall continue and complete your tutorial. Well, that was a little confusing, but I got the basics of it. Basically the first would be a female and also become something like an eternal little companion I could talk at or think at. I looked at my Mana and saw I had five thousand Mana again. I frowned at that. What in the fuck? I had not waited that long, nor had I eaten anything else. It made no sense, I tried thinking of possible solutions and could only assume that maybe those skeleton tasties had, in fact, filled me to capacity and beyond but because I could not hold all that Mana it did not register into my Mana Pool. I frowned a bit more at that, it was weak reasoning, but it would have to do for now. The tutorial was no help and thinking at it wasn¡¯t doing anything either. I focused instead on my coming Minion and thought very hard about the little anole that was going to be cute as hell. I decided that I wanted it to have as much of a chance to grow as I could give it and shoved over four thousand five hundred Mana into the faint image of my anole. The image grew so bright it was almost blinding, but I could see the anole now. I thought she would be cuter with larger eyes and I saw the eyes grow a few centimeters larger all around. I stared at that and decided I wanted to see the green anole have a single purple streak going from the tip of her nose all the way toward the end of her tail. The strip of deep purple appeared, and I could feel something inside me trying to fight its way out. Curious I allowed it to come out and it turned out to be the most high pitched girly squee sound I had ever heard. Considering I had not heard it before that made it the only one, and I chose to ignore the fact that my decidedly male personality had created such a sound. I thought that she was perfect and then the everything turned into a blinding white light and then I felt heard something plop onto the floor just below where my anole would have formed. I looked down at her once the light faded and saw two big round anime eyes blink around and then look up at me. ¡®So adorable,¡¯ I thought, and then I was astounded to hear a very high pitched, feminine voice bark at me while the little anole jumped up and down cutely. ¡®Not cute! Ferocious! I go rawr and protect Papa!¡¯ Chapter 3 - Rewards, Boob, Assault Rawr? She actually said rawr? That¡¯s so fucking cute! Oh my God, I wanna just scoop up that little cutie and run my beard against her scales! Wait, beard? Why am I associating myself with having a beard? Further along, that did she call me ¡®Papa?¡¯ Did she speak? How the hell did she manage that? The fact she sounded like a high pitched five-year-old girl had made it utterly adorable of course, but still. Did it have to do with the amount of Mana I placed into her during her birth, forming, creation, whatever it was I did to bring her into reality. I was distracted from the little anole. Currently, she was jumping around the room like a rabbit at high speed, by the tutorial boxes. Congratulations on the creation of your first Minion! Preliminary scans show this creature as a legendary tiered Minion! For more information you need only look at the minions status page. To do that you must focus on the Minion and call it up, much like you would your status page. For managing the impossible in creating a legendary tiered Minion as a level one Dungeon, you have been granted one final addition to your rewards. For completing the tutorial ensuring you have grasped the very basics of being a Dungeon you are congratulated, and you may now be given your rewards. Because the Tutorial was unable to assist you correctly, you have been given two additional rewards, for breaking two-time records you have been granted two additional rewards. For creating a legendary tiered minion, you have been granted one additional reward. For completing the Tutorial, you have been granted one reward. You are eligible for six rewards in total and the Dungeon Prize Counter, or DPC will now be opened. This will occur only once, and further access to the DPC will be restricted for the remained of your existence. For being the only Dungeon in existence at this time, all previous rewards that had been claimed are once again active within the DPC. You may now select three of your rewards, two for the Tutorial being unable to properly assist you and one for creating a legendary tiered minion. The other three shall be granted via lottery. I read through the boxes, a little confused. I could not deny their claim my little cute Anole was legendary tiered. I briefly focused on the still jumping lizard. She was currently hopping up and down in front of one of the monitoring station while hissing and repeating the words ¡®Rawr! I protect Papa! I destroy you!¡¯ It was fucking adorable! The fact she would stop every second or so, tilting her head to regard the monitor only to begin again when a light lit up was even cuter. I looked at the newest box that appeared. The Tutorial was giving me the ¡®lottery¡¯ rewards first. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure why I felt that word meant scam, or what a scam was, but I wanted to see regardless. I enjoyed the idea of earning rewards for my efforts. Lottery rewards are being generated from the available pool of five hundred million available rewards in the DPC. Generation completed, you may see these rewards at any time in your status should you need a refresher. Night Strike - All Minions under your control have a higher attack at night. (Usable only on a planet) Limiter - All Minions created by you may be granted a limiter. This will act as a limitation and assist in tricking enemies by displaying weaknesses they may overcome at any time. (Only created Minions are affected. Minions that were birthed from a mother Minion cannot be limited unless the Mother Minion was limited. ) Unbound - You are an Unbound Dungeon. You and your Minions are not bound by typical Dungeon Law. Your Minions may freely leave you and survive without your mana as long as they have some form of sustenance. You, as the Core, may perform acts that would otherwise destroy a typical Dungeon. (Not all rules are affected, consult your Dungeon Assistant, should you have one, for more information.) I liked them all! Night Strike was utterly useless for me at the moment. I mean, I was a ship and supposedly floating in the depths of space. This could be wrong, but I would need to control the rest of the vessel to know for sure. Regardless it would make night operations fun! The Limiter spoke to me on a fundamental level. It would make all of my Minions easily underestimated. I could place a limiter within each of them that could only be broken in certain situations and catch enemies with their pants down. I was unsure why you would want to do that exactly, but it seemed amusing, so I went with it. The fact that anything my cute little hopping baby over there birthed would not be limited because she was not limited was fine. I knew I¡¯d make other species sometime and they would have a Limiter placed within them. The final one, Unbound, seemed really interesting. Apparently, under normal circumstances, my Minions would be unable to actually leave wherever I controlled. Something I am glad I now know but had otherwise not. Thankfully I had obtained this, and that was no longer an issue. The fact I was no longer bound by most constraints was helpful as well. Now if only I knew what those constraints were precisely. The ending note mentioned a Dungeon Assistant, but I didn¡¯t seem to have one of those. Even thing the word didn¡¯t work, nor did anything else I did. I would have to decide how I¡¯d manage that in the future and merely play things very safe for a time. The final box appeared after the lottery winnings, regardless of the ¡®scam¡¯ feeling I¡¯d had I felt I lucked out with my three rewards. This box though was different. The rewards were stated to be from all of the available Dungeon Rewards. Since I was the first to be reborn into the Universe that meant I could pick any of them I wished, the fact I could choose three was even better! I only felt that way because of an odd sense of greed. Not for the amount, but for ¡®power,¡¯ ¡®strength,¡¯ odd terms that I felt I needed to ensure my survival. They were all listed from strongest to weakest in a massive list. Things like ¡®Living Dungeon,¡¯ ¡®Demonic Circles,¡¯ ¡®Heavenly Call,¡¯ were at the top. None of them really seemed to speak to me though. They sounded neat, and a part of me seemed to want the Demon thing, but I had no idea how I¡¯d use it, even with the odd message stating it allowed me to summon Demonic entities. The whole ¡®they may turn on you,¡¯ made it an even less likely choice. Instead, I scrolled through them all, reading them and losing track of time. I stopped only once when I felt something scampering up my ¡®body.¡¯ I turned my attention toward it briefly and saw my cute little lizard crawling up the side of my orb, looking exhausted. She was still murmuring things like ¡®Protect Papa, sleepy...NO! Rawr! Protect¡­¡¯ even as she curled into the cutest little ball in the world, flashing that purple stripe down her back and closing those big eyes so she could sleep. I felt myself grinning, it felt like the right word, as I watched her. I¡¯d name her later. I thought she deserved a name, in fact, the more I thought about it, the more I desired it. It was something instinctual, and I had to exert massive amounts of willpower to pull myself from the odd tunnel-like focus I had been going into. That instinctual response had happened again. It was strange and somewhat frightening. The idea of not having control was scary. I didn¡¯t like it at all. I focused back on the list of reward choices and tried to ignore the nagging desire to ¡®name¡¯ my first creation so I could choose what I wished. The feeling never left me, but I was able to focus long enough to go through the list and choose my three rewards. One of them was in the middle in terms of the DPC¡¯s rewarding sense, the other two had been higher ranked rewards, in the top fifteen. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it The middling ranked reward I chose was the actual ¡®Dungeon Assistant.¡¯ I felt I would need that. The realization that I was the first, and only, Dungeon alive made me think that there may not be any more of whatever the fuck a Dungeon Assistant was. That made it logical in my mind. The other two were ¡®Humanoid,¡¯ and ¡®Eternal Mana.¡¯ Dungeon Assistant - Will bring into being a creature or object that will act as your guide in all things Dungeon. This being will have access to the hidden depths of the Universe, though it will be limited in what it can tell you. Humanoid - All of your Minions will evolve into beings resembling humans in some way, shape, or form. You may now create Humanoid shaped Minions based on available Minion Blueprints. Mother Minions may assume either their original form or Humanoid form at will. Eternal Mana- Your Mana is endless, your mana is eternal. You shall never run out of Mana. You are still limited by your total available pool, but it shall never empty. Humanoid was so I could begin creating a force of Lizardmen to crew and pilot my body, as well as defend me. I was not entirely sure about the different forms, but I would learn in time. Dungeon Assistant I had already gone over. The one I had snatched up like it was a precious jewel was Eternal Mana. They had the option to double, triple, or even multiple my current Mann by ten. I felt that I already had a massive Mana Pool compared to an average level one Dungeon though and it would only grow as I leveled. Instead, I wanted never to fear running out of Mana. I was unsure about the exact reasoning behind my choice. I only knew that it would ensure my success in difficult moments. I even had the oddest desire. I wanted to flood a world with my adorable Lizards and let them grow away from me. My instincts seemed to balk at that idea, but that only made me desire it more. I swore to myself that I would do exactly that one day. Confirming my choices a final box appeared within my mind. You have finished choosing your rewards, and we congratulate you! No other Dungeon may acquire your rewards unless you are conquered and destroyed. All physical rewards will no be generated. You will no longer receive messages from the Tutorial. The box was short, and I felt an odd pang of sadness that I would not have the boxes that had been a brief companion to me since I awoke. I had my little lizard though at least. I chose to focus on her then, looking at her Status at last. Honestly, I was looking at the little thing as she moved from a curled up ball onto her back and a little bubble was slowly deflating and inflating with each breath. Her body had stuck to my oval surface without her slipping along my smoothness and onto the ground. I internally smiled once more while staring at her Status. Name: None Level: Race: Anole Matriarch Mana: 4,500/4,500 Tier: Legendary Titles: Cutest One, First Born Abilities: Acidic Saliva, Trance, Birthing, Tongue Whip, Morph. Cutest One - A title granted by the intense feelings aroused during creation. She is adorable in every way, and all that see her will know this. First Born - First Born Minion of the first Dungeon brought back into the Universe. She shall rule by right of birth! Acidic Saliva - All attacks that involve her spittle hitting her target will cause minor acidic like burns. (Grows stronger based on level.) Trance - All who look into her eyes are entranced by her cuteness. Provides a three-second stun where the enemy cannot move. It will break when the enemy is damaged. (Subject to change as the skill user levels. Dependent on shape.) Birthing - She is capable of giving birth to more of her kind. Requires Dungeon Mana to birth a new generation. (A male of her species will also work.) Tongue Whip - An attack that will cause blunt force trauma. Applies Acidic Saliva to any struck by the attack. (Damage increases based on level.) Morph - She may assume Humanoid form at will. I momentarily lost focus while reading over precisely what her ¡®Titles¡¯ and ¡®Skills¡¯ did when my instincts struck again. I was beginning to attribute them to some sort of beast hidden within me. In a way, I was right because when they hit, they hit hard and left me little to no time to react. I focused in on her name and poured all of the mana I could into that single action. It was as though the act of naming a Minion took Mana and would typically drain me. I was very, very happy that I had taken the Eternal Mana rewards. I could feel the drain, and though it would not actually run dry now, it still exhausted me after a period of constant usage. I didn¡¯t want to stop though. I had a feeling that stopping during this odd naming process would end horribly for me. ¡®Elisabetta!¡¯ was the name that suddenly flickered into reality where her name was. The ¡®none¡¯ changed slowly into that. I was not entirely sure about the name, but I chose to allow it because I could call her Lizzy if I wished. It¡¯d be my pet name for her! My instincts slowly calmed, and I focused on her status once again, only to find a few changes. Nothing major, but changes all the same. Name: Elisabetta Level: Race: Anole Matriarch Class: Boss Mana: 5,500/5,500 Tier: Legendary Titles: Cutest One, First Born, Named One Abilities: Acidic Saliva, Trance, Birthing, Tongue Whip, Morph. She had gained a class, something called ¡®Boss.¡¯ When I inspected it, the message only told me she was a creature stronger than the norm. Her Mana increased by a thousand, and she had gained a title. ¡®Named One¡¯ was pretty self-explanatory as well. I was looking at my little Lizzy, who was sleeping through all of this without a care in the world and marveling at everything. That was when I heard a small cough. I was instantly on alert and gathered my power, something my instincts tried to stop. I did it regardless, intending to shove all of this power, mana, whatever, down whatever else was in this rooms throat. I felt it gathering around my Core, waking Lizzy who jumped up and started hissing and looking around in a panicked manner. A small voice started yelling at me, it was difficult to hear it for some reason, but I managed. ¡°Stop! Don¡¯t gather your power to attack. It will kill you! You must calm down!¡± I saw what was causing the noise at that point. It was a tiny little creature that looked like a human in shape, if a human were to be five inches tall, and had little wings flapping like crazy to keep the thing in the air. The fact it seemed to be frantically trying to fly toward me yet was unable to do so was a bit funny. I realized that the mana I was exuded was acting like a physical buffer for me. Something I could use in the future perhaps. I slowly withdrew the amount of mana I was pouring into it, allowing the creature to be steady if with difficulty, make its way toward my core. I figured it might be the ¡®Dungeon Assistant.¡¯ I also managed to get a better look at it this way as well. It was a female, whatever the little thing was. She wore a sheer blue dress that seemed to be made out of the water and had odd little bug like antenna on her forehead. Her eyes were massive compared to her actual face. They also had no irises. They were pools of crystal blue. I was momentarily fascinated by it and instinctively reached out with a tendril of my mana so I could ¡®feel¡¯ her. It was soft, squishy. What was this? My memories, the little I had, told me it was a boob. I liked it. I was about to touch the other one when I felt something hard smack the tendril of mana. I recoiled, that had fucking hurt! ¡°That is not a proper way to greet someone!!!!¡± I turned my attention toward the woman, not her breasts, and tried to shrug at her. She hovered before me and crossed her arms under her breasts while taking in a lungful of air. I was genuinely curious about where this was going when suddenly I saw a purple streak slam into her and then I heard her scream out in pain and shock. Lizzy had launched herself from the top of my Core, tackled her to the floor, and was hissing while screaming something that I couldn¡¯t make out over the odd little creatures own screams of pain. I wasn¡¯t shocked she was hurting, Lizzy was dribbling saliva on her shoulders and chest. The fall had also hurt her. Eight feet was a long way to fall when you were about three inches tall. Eventually, the little woman threw my adorable Lizzy off of her and got up, one of her wings was bent oddly, and I could have sworn her blue eyes were glowing red. The fact she wasn¡¯t screaming anymore let me hear what Lizzy was actually yelling while she zoomed around on the floor, hopping about while she hissed. ¡®Hussy! No touch Papa! Hussy, hussy, hussy, hussy, hussy. Papa is mine! Rawr!¡¯ Chapter 4 - Binding the Fairy ¡°You little brat!¡± the currently crippled little woman screamed. Her eyes were indeed glowing a red hue. Fascinating! I wasn¡¯t sure why I found it so, but I did. She raised her hand and a ball of pure energy formed. It looked so delicious! I couldn¡¯t resist the urge to taste it, so I did. I devoured her ball and groaned in pleasure. It tasted like bacon! I had no idea what that was, but I wanted more of it! She squawked in what appeared to be both shock and fear while Lizzy darted forward yelling out ¡®Papa is the best!¡¯ I realized a moment after I finished my little foodgasm that I should probably stop them from continuing their fight and figure out what the tiny woman wanted. She was my Dungeon Assistant, I believed. It was a logical assumption, and it made me feel, embarrassed? A strange emotion. Regardless I didn¡¯t want my cute little Lizzy killing someone that could help me figure out more about my situation. At this point, Lizzy had already tackled the shocked little woman again and was dripping her acidic saliva onto her face. I needed to stop this as quickly as possible. I gathered my mana and yelled out in as commanding a voice as I could. ¡°Stop that right now Elisabetta! You will be a good girl!¡± She froze, jumping off the little woman before her tiny fists could strike her in the head and looked up at my body. Those great big eyes started getting shinier, tears beginning to form. I saw her scale covered mouth begin to quiver. I wasn''t sure how a lizard could begin quivering her lips like that. Regardless I was suddenly feeling trepidation over her actions. A loud waaaah! Echoed out a moment later and tears as large as her adorable eyes started to fall toward the ground while she blubbered out incoherent words. ¡®Papa....mean...Papa h-h-h-hates meeeee! P-p-papa...hussy.¡¯ It quickly became fully incoherent as she took these great big wracking sobs that seemed far louder than her tiny little body should have allowed her to make. I was about to try and comfort her when she zipped away, behind the monitoring stations, a small crevice allowing her to hide there. I still heard her crying, but when I tried to move my presence toward her, she started screaming at me while crying. It startled me enough I just backed off and left her alone. A bit at a loss for words about the entire situation I decided to ignore it for now and focused on the injured little woman who was muttering something while trying to straighten her crippled wing. Judging by the amount of cursing and her winces it hurt a lot. ¡°What are you?¡± I asked, ignoring her plight for now. She looked at where my mental presence was and humphed, before crying out a bit in pain and focused on her wing. She had a glowing orb in her hands again, and I moved in to eat it, I wanted that bacon taste again. ¡°No! If you do that I can¡¯t heal!¡± Her voice was panicked, and I felt the energy increase as she seemed to be rushing the process. I did resist, if only barely, from eating it. I made a promise to myself that she would make more energy though. Licking my figurative lips at the idea of more bacon flavored stuff I allowed her to finish her healing before I asked her again. ¡°What are you?¡± She gave me a long level look. It felt like she was questioning my intelligence for a moment. She still answered me though. ¡°I am not a ¡®what,¡¯ I and a ¡®who.¡¯ My name is Cecilia, and I am of the Butterfly-Fairy race. I am also your Dungeon Assistance as rewarded by the Dungeon Gods System of rewards.¡± She didn''t have to be so hateful when answering me. It wasn''t my fault my little baby decided to attack her. At least my guess had been correct. She was my Dungeon Assistant. I had no idea what the fuck a Butterfly-Fairy was though. It sounded weird and different. Something to do with her patterned wings and bug antenna? Not that it mattered in the end. ¡°Ok, what do you do, exactly? The...Tutorial thing wasn¡¯t exactly clear on anything.¡± She rolled her eyes and after a testing flap of her wings lifted herself into the air. She was also ignoring the sobbing Lizzy, as I was. ¡°I assist you in all matters related to your Dungeon, Minions, and Mana Usage. I am allowed in-depth access to the Dungeon Gods System through our connection and can allow more in-depth data screens for your use. That is, of course, only after we bond. This should be basic knowledge for a new Core. Why don¡¯t you know it?¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The last was asked more as a muttered afterthought, and she seemed to be confused about the matter. That made two of us. ¡°I don¡¯t? Know that is. The Tutorial didn''t explain a whole lot, and when I woke up, I had no memories. I get spurts here and there, but if I chase after them, it hurts.¡± She let out a little hmmm sound before shrugging. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll know more when you bind me to you anyway. I¡¯m going to assume you¡¯re not able to do that with your lack of knowledge. You need to infuse me with your Mana slowly. The more you infuse me with, the stronger our bond and the more information I can access. You should still be a level one Dungeon, and your Mana shouldn¡¯t exceed one-thousand, based on my knowledge and memories. Even if you got lucky with your rewards, it should still top out at about two thousand.¡± She paused, and I was tempted to correct her. I didn¡¯t, mostly because I was blaming her for Lizzy running from me. I wanted my cute little baby back. It was irrational and stupid. I knew it, yet I still felt that way. Instead of answering her I went ahead and slowly moved my Mana, error, myself toward her and began trying to fill her up. I admit that was a bit of a trial and error moment. Was I supposed to slip it into an opening in her body? Through her skin? In the end, I decided to surround her little body in my Mana and just seep it in through every possible opening. The fact I had five-thousand Mana that wouldn¡¯t deplete no matter how much I used it was something she could learn for herself. Smiling a bit, I poured more and more mana into her. I felt the connection after about fifteen minutes. It felt strong, and I could see her pull up something that looked like my status window. I saw her eyes widen further, an impressive feat, and then she looked at me, my core, in shock when she realized I was still pouring the Mana into her. She started struggling then. Random gasps and high pitched yelps began coming from her after an hour of me infusing her with more and more Mana. Another hour into the infusion she started secreting an odd liquid from between her legs that I absorbed when it left her body, I didn¡¯t anything touching my freshly cleaned floors. It tasted like flowers. After an additional hour, she started panting harder, letting out ear piercing screams while her little body shuddered over and over, droll falling from her lips and more of that liquid pouring out from between her legs. Her body was also starting to spasm uncontrollably, and I heard her whispering ¡°no more, no more, too much.¡± She said other things but after I just continued going. Revenge for making my adorable Lizzy cry! It was all her fault. That was my story, and I was sticking to it! It took another three hours, a total of six hours before her eyes rolled back into her head and she let out one final, massive scream and her body went utterly limp, her head lolling to the side with her mouth open. Her body still spasmed uncontrollably, but she was entirely out at this point. I grinned, feeling I had taken my revenge at last! I¡¯d made her cry like she¡¯d made my Lizzy cry. The fact the word ¡®erotic¡¯ continued to float around in my mind was an interesting concept, but I chose to ignore it as a whole for now. I slowly lowered her onto the ground, absorbing all the flowery tasting liquid, so it didn¡¯t stain my floors and then chose to look at my status once more. I wanted to see if I had obtained any changes after binding the little woman. Name: None Title: Unbound One Level:2 Race: Dungeon Core Mana: 10,000/10,000 DA: Cecilia Races: Lizards Boss M: Elizabeta Minions: 2 Traps: 1 Environment: Derelict Ship (fighter model) Perks: Eternal Mana, Humanoid, Night Strike, Limiter, Unbound I blinked, looking at my Mana pool in confusion. It had doubled? I had also leveled, and I had a title now. I knew what the fairy, Cecilia, had said about one-thousand being the norm for a new Dungeon. Did this mean I had something unique to me alone causing that insane increase in Mana? I was also wondering how and why I even leveled. A lot of questions I needed answered, yet the one who could answer was currently conked out while muttering in her sleep about chains for some reason. I tried moving toward Lizzy again, hoping she had calmed down. Judging by the lack of crying, I assumed she had. Moving over to her little hiding spot I saw her on the other side, entirely focused on the unconscious fairy. What she said caused a figurative shudder to go down my figurative spine. ¡®Not fair...Papa hasn¡¯t even filled me up yet.¡¯