"How a Tentacle Monster Became the Lord of a Dungeon

I'm dead? Well, it was a good run, I guess. I would have liked to actually graduate from college…

>Foreign soul arrival confirmed. Launching integration process.

Huh? The heck is going on?

>Species selection. Randomizing species suggestions. Would you like to be a dragon? Yes or no?

It's like my own voice is talking right into my head, but I don't even have a head. This might be very important so I better pay attention. A dragon? Being a dragon sounds cool, but if I might have another chance at life, I'd rather be something a little more normal like, say, a human? An elf wouldn't be too bad, I think? At a minimum, let me make sure I remain male, if at all possible. Being female would be weird.

"No."

>Confirmed. Narrowing down alternatives. 1,693 species selections available. Randomizing property filters. Would you like the property 'man eater'? Yes or no?

"What? No!"

>Confirmed. Randomizing species suggestions. Would you like to be a minotaur? Yes or no?

"No!"

>Confirmed. Narrowing down alternatives. 538 species selections available. Randomizing property filters. Would you like the property 'inherent violence'? Yes or no?

That isn't quite as bad as being a man eater, but I don't think so. "No."

>Confirmed. Randomizing species suggestions. Would you like to be a tentacle monster? Yes or no?

Tentacle monster!? That would be pretty crazy. It reminds me of—

>Confirmed. Species selection complete. Woul—

Wait, what? "No!"

>Confirmed.

Shit, did I just skip something!? "Go back!"

>Dungeon Master vacancy confirmed. Randomizing dungeon location. Complete. Inserting soul.

The newly-created being looked around the interior of a chamber.

"Am I really a tentacle monster?"

He didn't rely on eyes to see, so it didn't take him long to realize that he was, in fact, a 3-meter tall tentacle monster. His purple skin covered tentacle-like appendages. Not only could he move them around at will, but he managed to sprout new ones from his body on command.

The chamber was large, easily 20-meters to a side. Decorations were nonexistent. Other than stone walls all around, the only thing visible was a strange console that extended from the floor in the back of the room.

At least, he assumed it was the back. There was one large doorway opposite him but the doors were shut. He moved across the room easily enough, despite having a very weird physiology. Shocked as he was, the idea of being a tentacle monster didn't feel quite as strange to him as one might expect, due to him actually being one.

After a few minutes of emotionally catching his breath, he decided to make the best of his situation. He didn't have a mouth, but when he crafted thoughts as though he was actually speaking, it felt natural.

"I know I heard the word dungeon before. Wait, didn't it say I'm a dungeon master? I guess this is the final chamber of a dungeon? Let me figure it out."

He pressed a slimy appendage to the console. All at once, information flowed into his mind (or whatever tentacle monsters use to think). He was the Dungeon Master. He had full control over everything that could be adjusted within the dungeon. His fate was tied to the dungeon's. So the console told him.

Just by thinking it, he navigated to the first menu, not knowing what its theme was. As his appendage maintained physical contact with the console, he succeeded in making selections with his mind.

If this was a dungeon, then he was in some type of alternate world with game-like features. If that was true, then perhaps he was the equivalent of a non-playable character?

He let go of the console and then focused his mind on his own body. Perhaps the many hours he'd spent playing videogames in his previous life would help him here. Just by thinking he wanted to see them, his stats popped into his mind.

Name Dungeon Master

Species Tentacle Monster (Tier 2)

LVL 1

HP 50

MP 50

STR 4

DEF 4

MAG 3

MDEF 3

AGI 3

LUCK 0

That luck value was about right. Analyzing the rest of the information, his name was officially Dungeon Master. He figured he may as well mentally change his nickname to DM. The old him was dead.

His magic and magic defense stats seemed to be nonzero, so at least he would be able to cast magic at some point, hopefully. He had no way of knowing if 50 HP was a lot or if 4 STR could do any real damage. Being level 1 kind of sucked.

"I wonder how I level up. Can I kill other LVL 1 monsters in this dungeon? Wait, if I'm the Dungeon Master, they're probably my subordinates, so I may not get anything. Oh, do I have my own monsters!?"

DM returned his appendage to the console. He cycled through several menus until he found one with a dungeon layout that also listed monsters. Indeed, he had the ability to scan the status of all dungeon monsters by mentally clicking on them. All… three of them.

"Two LVL 1 spiders and a dog?"

Well, that was a letdown. He refocused his attention to the dungeon layout as a whole:

"Is it just me or is that kind of a crappy map? It looks like the dungeon entrance is at the bottom, there are three creatures, and three doors. The chamber I'm in seems to be the upper half of the entire dungeon. Jeez."

DM wondered if he could issue commands to the monsters. "Dog, come here," he attempted to command the dog by pushing the thought through his appendage into the console. As he watched, the dog marker transited to his location, pushing doors open as it ran. "Good dog! You're surprisingly normal for a dungeon monster."

It looked like there was a treasure chest of some type in the bottom-left room. DM wondered if he could even go there. He removed his appendage from the console and attempted to issue a mental command to the dog directly. "Follow me." It seemed to work; the dog walked alongside him.

He pushed his way through the first door. A small spider-type monster guarded the room but did not react much to his arrival. He pushed open a second door. An identical spider hid in the corner. Sure enough, off to the left was a treasure chest. He tried opening it. Success!

"I wonder what happens if I remove the items?" He looked down at the single small potion and leather band. "Worth a try."

>Received minor healing potion, leather wrist guard (Tier 1).

He shut the lid of the treasure chest, waited a moment, and re-opened it. It was empty.

"Do I have an inventory?" Sure enough, when he tried to put the items into his inventory with a thought, they disappeared. He probably wasn't supposed to loot the chest, but who was going to stop him?

He received a mental alert somehow that intruders were nearby, as though the thought was directly injected into his mind. DM rushed back to his chamber and sent the dog to its original room. Maybe that last part wasn't necessary… he wasn't sure. He flipped from menu to menu in the console but couldn't find any information about who or what was outside.

After a few minutes, the dungeon map updated. Four new icons appeared on the screen. They looked like people, probably adventurers or something like that. The spider engaged them but was defeated after a few moments of battle.

"Crap, this could be bad. What level are they?"

DM peered at the icons, trying to discern as much information as he could. All he could see was their race and LVL. They were all LVL 2 humans. He couldn't see their stats, class, or anything else.

"Wait, what abilities do I even have to attack them with?" He concentrated on himself, requesting the information with a mental command.

Abilities Tentacle Slap (Tier 1), Regenerate (Tier 1), Absorb Equipment (Tier 1)

While he gathered this information, the party proceeded to the room on the left and killed the second spider. They then looted the treasure chest. The party received a minor healing potion and a leather wrist guard (Tier 1), or so DM learned from status updates on the console's dungeon map.

The party loitered for a while, but eventually proceeded back to the entryway. Perhaps they had been arguing over what to do with the loot. They entered the room on the right. The dog engaged them but was quickly slain.

"Damn! I liked that dog! I should have kept him here…"

The party patrolled the room once and then returned to the entryway. DM looked around his chamber. There was nowhere to hide. His only choices were to engage them or try to befriend them. He wasn't sure how to do the latter, though.

The door to his chamber squeaked open. "There it is!"

"What IS that!?"

"I think it's a… tentacle monster? I've never seen one."

It was a party of young teenagers. The swordsman led from the front, flanked by a girl with a spear and another girl in black robes carrying a staff. The boy in the back wore white robes and bore a staff as well. They maintained their formation as they closed on DM.

"Can you understand me!?"

The party did not react. DM tried waving his tentacle at them.

"Ew, look at it!"

"Don't let it trick you! Take it down!"

DM didn't like where this was going. He moved to the far corner of the room.

"It's running away!"

"Don't rush! Corner it!"

DM wasn't sure what to do. Maybe his stats were actually fairly high and he could defeat them with his slap ability. He didn't want to slaughter innocent kids, though. Maybe if he didn't resist, they'd stop attacking him? Could he disarm them? He figured he'd try that.

"Ready, now!" the boy at the front declared.

The black mage pointed her staff at DM, chanted fireball, and launched a small puff of flame directly at him.

>7 damage.

Holy hell that hurt. Still, DM had over 40 HP remaining. The swordsman moved in to slash DM. DM attempted to meet the slash with an appendage. Success! He stopped the attack by grabbing the boy's wrist.

"Damn it!" the swordsman yelled. While he struggled against the appendage, DM took a spear to the side.

>8 damage.

That hurt too!

DM managed to wrestle the sword out of the swordsman's hand.

"It took my sword!"

"It's probably trying to destroy it! Is it an acid-type creature!?"

>8 damage.

DM had taken a second fireball to the face. He could sense through his appendage that the sword was degrading as a result of his absorb equipment ability, but it would probably take some time to complete. He attempted to deflect the incoming spear using the sword. The spear only deflected a small amount and still struck him.

>7 damage.

It hurts! It freaking hurts!

DM was running out of patience. And HP. The swordsman attempted a punch.

>2 damage.

DM was down to 18 HP. His regeneration ability hadn't even recovered 1 HP yet. The white mage stepped up and took a big swing with his staff from the other side. DM brought the sword over to block it. The block was successful, but the spear dug into his body again.

>9 damage.

God dammit! DM noticed the white mage return to the back line, likely judging that it was too dangerous to stay up front. DM noticed the fireball approaching.

>9 damage.

>You're dead.

Everything went black.