2 Starting a Dungeon
Stephen appeared in a dimly lit room, the perpetual wooden torch lazily burning in a corner of the room casting shadows against the rocky walls and uneven ground.
"well, that was scary," said Stephen while dusting off his actually clean robe. He had never been a fighter, or a mage, or someone brave in general. Since the moment Bossman had called him into his office, Stephen held the teleport device in his sweaty hands ready to use it at any moment. That was the only reason he was able to converse without stuttering.
He looked around, his new house made of rocks, dirt, more rocks, and even more dirt. On one side of the room, a desk brimming with high tech equipment Stephen had happily embezzled. Since the moment he had summoned a pet rabbit for him he had steadily deposited his loot inside this rocky space.
"Xiao? come out, little buddy!" He called with his hands around his mouth, suddenly from a dark corner of the room came out a white beast in all its 2-foot long glory. The little rabbit sniffed the air once before pouncing on its master and kissing its neck gently.
"Aww, who's the most adorable dungeon boss? you are!" he said kissing his rabbit on the head. Then he placed it on the ground and rummaged amongst the tools in the desk, picking up a little orb he nodded satisfied and threw it on the air.
the orb suddenly lit up like a small sun and grew to the size of a basketball. Hoovering in the air it suddenly spoke up.
[Supreme grade dungeon core booting up, please wait....]
"that's gonna take a while," he looked around and activated his terrain manipulator. the hologram around his arm appeared again displaying an 89% charge. "let's start with some housework."
With a wave of his hand, all the six surfaces of the room became smooth, then he pointed to one wall and a tunnel appeared, with some more work he built a second cylindrical room and a third huge cavern-like room.
Satisfied by his first draft he created a fake wall to hide the room with all the tools and called it his personal office, then moved the still booting core to the cylindrical room and called it the dungeon's heart and after placing a sturdy metal gate between it and the huge cavern he called it a day's work he went to sleep in his office while hugging the rabbit.
The day after he went to check on the core, during the 'night' the core had finally booted up.
[Supreme grade dungeon ready for use, please register user:______]
"I can't give my real name, they are looking for me... meh, I'll use grandad's name: Adriano Meis." With a nod, he vocally inputted the name.
[user registered, would you like to register for our newsletter? We will keep you updated on new products and helpful tips for all your dungeon master activities.]
"No, thanks." fucking spam had ruined even dungeon building these days.
[Confirming. Welcome to Dungeon XP, would you like to receive an introduction on how to use your new dungeon core?]
"Oh god, skip all, just give me access to the UI, please." already exasperated he kept refusing all helpful windows until the dungeon core finally started working as intended.
[Hello Adriano, how can I be of assistance today?] spoke the dungeon core with a feminine voice. According to research, hearing a dungeon core speaking with a female voice helped reduce stress from dungeon master. No one really knew if it was because female voice is better or dungeon masters are simply a bunch of pervs enjoying ordering women around.
"Give me an analysis of my dungeon," he spoke coldly to the IA governing the core.
[I detect three rooms, one monster, zero invaders, zero traps. Are there any mistakes or elements you want me to add?] Spoke the core in a professional tone that for some reasons made Adriano mad.
"No, it's okay like this, give me an insight about my next step."
[I suggest adding monsters, would you like to consult a guide about monsters?]
"NO!" he then faked a cough to regain his composure, "Open the market and show me the cheapest options."
[before that, with your purchase of a supreme grade dungeon core you received a starting monster pack, would you like to use it now?] In front o the core appeared a small translucent window with information.
Apparently, he had received a team of high-quality rank E+ goblin warriors. One might be thinking they were worthless and not be too far away from the truth, goblins were amongst the physically and mentally weakest creatures and usually were classified as F and F- rank.
However this was a team of E+ goblin warriors, examples of E rank monsters were dire wolves and even bandits were around the same degree of danger. Besides, being a team of humanoid creatures their actual battle strength would naturally be higher. Things like teamwork and equipment weren't naturally counted in the rank.
"Yes please!" suddenly in front of him three short burly men appeared. Adriano had seen countless goblins ranging from their base green/grey color to rarer blue and red varieties, however, he had never seen jet-black goblins.
Usually, the more monochromatic a monster was, the stronger it was. He observed the little men in front of him, strong muscles bulging under their furry rags, sharp short-swords on their back, (which looked like claymores on their small bodies.) and sharp eyes.
[Thanks for your purchase, your goblin team comes with a lifelong insurance and replacement program. In case of death, their bodies will get automatically replaced while maintaining their old memories. Care of Rou's goblin farm.]
Adriano looked at his new little servants, their loyalty assured thanks to the supreme grade core that boasted a 99% rate of safety for any monster. "My name is Adriano, from now on call me master or boss. Do you already have names?" he asked interestedly.
The biggest of them, around 4'10 maybe 5 foot tall, took a step forward. "My name is Frank, the one missing an ear is Luigi and the one with a scar on his lip is Joe." Against most misconceptions, goblins could talk human normally, it's just that jungle dweller populations had low literacy rates.
"Good, your job is simple, stand guard in that room," Said Adriano pointing to the biggest room," and kill anyone who comes through." he completed his orders with a wicked smile.
"""Yes, boss.""" all three goblins spoke at the same time with a weird Italian accent before leaving the room. Once inside the big cavern which lacked any kind of illumination they took out a cigarette pack and started smoking giving away their hiding spots.
Adriano could only facepalm before asking the core to add torches to the whole dungeon.
[I'm sorry Adriano, unfortunately, your payment method has been declined, would you like to try again?] replied the core.
"D-declined?" suddenly he remembered, he was a fugitive on the loose, the fact his bank account would be locked was naturally something he should have considered.
Now he was locked in a dungeon without money and with only three goblins and some stolen loot that he could not sell. "what other methods of payment can I use?" he asked, maybe the core had a solution, by itself the thing had costed more than a few dungeons.
[You can recharge your store credit by selling adventurer's loot, would you like to know what can be considered adventurer's loot?] she asked with a voice that for some reason sounded contemptuous to him.
"yes, please." he said in his lowest voice.
[sorry Adriano, I could not hear that, may I ask you to try again?] Now he was sure the dungeon core was pulling his leg, she had the tools to hear an atom splitting on the other side of a planet but could not hear a whisper?
"YES PLEASE." yet, he still swallowed his pride and spoke louder.
[adventurer's loot can be defined as anything that comes from outside the dungeon, examples: weapons, armors, potions, corpses, alchemical ingredients, etc.]
"that was... very clear, thank you."
[You are welcome Adriano.] For some reason this time the IA's voice didn't make him mad, still, it contained a hint of superiority, had he really done the right choice in choosing such an advanced core? words on the street said that supreme grade cores were actually able of sentience. even if he never believed any of it he was starting to change idea.
Thankfully for him, beside a small setback, his original plan could proceed. digging in the pile of tools he found what he was looking for a multi-access entrance generator.
The little cube-like trinket was a must for any dungeon, it would randomly create entrances for the dungeon throughout the universe in the proximity of life signs. He set it for low ranked life signs; After all, his plan would go in smoke if a dragon or a hero were to come bursting through his door. And then observed the cube do his magic.
On the hall of goblins, a giant light gate appeared, its blue light finally revealing the room's interior.
"Now we just wait for the money to come visit us. heheheh."
