First step to become a Dungeon Master

Previously when he looked around the room he was currently in, his body was in a very bad state so he couldn't see everything clearly, but now that he could move around and look at the architecture up close he started to notice many details that he had previously overlooked.

The first thing is that this peculiar architecture, now that he knows that it isn't from Earth, has become another source of information, as he could see a few worn out carvings and paintings that he could try to decipher in order to reveal a bit more about this place.

But it wasn't an easy task to discover something just from that, especially when everything seemed so damaged, maybe if he was an historian he could extract a lot more, but unfortunately he isn't so all he could identify were the carvings of various creatures that could either be real beings in this world or part of some folklore as mystical beasts or guardian deities. Meanwhile the paintings showed various Dark Elves depicted in various different day-to-day activities and events, which he couldn't recognize the majority of.

But in regards to the room itself, it seemed to be quite large with an circular shape, the ceiling was high and contained the same paintings but it was completely faded.

But other than that, the room was very empty, save for the stone throne that he had been seated on when he came to this world.

There was two exits to this room, one was directly opposite to the throne which he had already identified before but he also found another that was directly behind the throne and was harder to find as a result.

He opened the dungeon overview once again and looked at it to try and see which room he was currently in a cording to the Map.

Since the rooms were arranged in a straight line, then of the 4 there was only 2 that could be the one he's currently in.

Then he remembered that earlier, when he was browsing the system options, he found one that he thinks would help him now.

'Let's see... Where is it?... Here!" After a brief search, he found the option labeled 'Toggle visual room indicators on map' which was 'Off' by default and enabled it to try it out.

And the effect it had was that now the rooms had a little symbol when displayed on the map, it didn't really explain the function of each room but now he could at least try to guess.

Between the two rooms that he is likely to be, one had many '+' sings which is usually used to represent 'healing' and the other had a skull with horns which from his experience would mean an 'boss room'.

Considering the throne and the fact that 'He' is the boss, it became very clear that he was currently standing on the 'boss room', so he now had an better idea of where he is but he still didn't know where each of the two exits of the room would lead him.

But he decided to go through the concealed passage behind the throne first, as it was from that direction that he felt the strange connection that gave him energy to first move and is even now providing him with a steady supply of energy.

With his curiosity as his guide, he went through the narrow passage which was completely dark, but he had no problem orienting himself strangely enough, it's as if his eyes had completely adapted to the dark.

'Do I now have night vision of the sort? If that's so then I'm starting to like this new body more and more.'

Another thing he noticed is that the passage just the right height and width to fit him perfectly, and it wasn't a coincidence considering how tall and lean he is. It's as if the passage was exclusively made for him.

But after a brief walk, he could see an light at the end of the passage, and as he aproached it, he had to cover his eyes that had become acostumed to the darkness.

After a brief moment to recover himself, he could finally see what was ahead of him.

There was a room, much smaller than the previous one and in the very center of it, an object that looked like an altar. But floating above it was the source of light and the other side of the connection that he was feeling all this time.

It looked like a maelstrom of energy that converged into a single point, but not chaotic and uncontrolled, but very harmonious and with a bewitching dark purple color.

"There is no need to try and guess it. This is the 'Dungeon Core' that the message mentioned earlier, the source of my strength and what gives me authority over the dungeon."

With slow steps, he made his way closer to it and as he did, he could feel the connection strengthening and through it, he started to feel its intentions.

Not a living conscience, but a strong preprogrammed purpose that it was given upon its creation. After receiving it, many of his questions were now finally answered.

The function of the Core is primarily 'mana absorption' but also creation and spacial manipulation. It's primary goal is to absorb the energy called mana that permeates on the atmosphere and on living beings then using this mana to expand and strengthen the dungeon.

The dungeon itself is both the core's means of defence from any who may try to steal or destroy it and its way to absorb mana. The dungeon he's currently in is actually not in a physically accessible place but instead sort of a pocket dimension, therefore it needs to be connected to a world that has mana to absorb it.

So the entrance of the dungeon is a portal that connects the dungeon and the wider world, without the mana from the other side, the core wouldn't be able to sustain this pocket dimension and the dungeon would collapse.

And the time that it would take for the dungeon to start to collapse after having the flow of mana blocked? 10 days, the exact same duration as the Beginner Protection Period.

So a Dungeon Master can't just barricade the core or make it completely inaccessible, there must be a clear connection of the core to the entrance. Even if that means giving an opportunity for intruders to invade.

And lastly he got to understand the relationship between the core and the Dungeon Master.

The cores are extremely powerful due to their innate characteristics, but they lack sentience or creativity to properly use it, so within the limitations of a dungeon they can't really build a suitable defense on their own, therefore they use Dungeon Masters as proxies.

It's a symbiotic relationship. The core bestows complete control over the dungeon and a portion of the mana it gathers to sustain and strengthen the Dungeon Master while the Dungeon Master must build a impenetrable dungeon and protect the cores with their very lives. Since if the core is destroyed, the Dungeon Master also dies.

Of course, this doesn't answer all the questions he currently has, such as who created the dungeons or for what purpose, but he can't exactly interrogate the completely inanimate dungeon core, so he decided to just be thankful with what he got.

Looking towards the map and noticing that this room didn't have another exit, he immediately figured out witch room he was currently in, in the map the 'core room' was represented by the image of a whirlpool with a few sparkling effects.

So, with his brief look around the room yielding no more results, he decided to turn back and go the other way in order to explore the two remaining rooms.

Returning through the dark corridor and traversing the boss room, he quickly arrived at the second passage and without any hesitation he went through it, arriving in yet another corridor.

But this one was much wider and had actual illumination in the form of a few torches, this corridor unlike the other one was made to be able to fit multiple individuals instead of just himself.

At the end of it, he saw an enormous door that seemed to be made out of stone that blocked the passage. He aproached and touched it, feeling that this door was indeed real stone, he started racking his head trying to find an opening mechanism that seemed to be missing, he eventually decided to just try his luck at forcing it open with his new body, He expected it to be a very arduous task but to his surprise it was actually effortless. The door opened on its own as soon as he started pushing it.

Arriving at the room in the other side of it, he was immediately able to see a big fountain in the middle of the room with a sparkling water that flowed from it.

Taking this into consideration and combining with the symbol that this room was depicted in the map and its particular location, Luiz was able to make a rough guess in regards to the purpose of the room.

In games, right before a confrontation with a boss is quite common for there to be a resting area for one to be able to recover and prepare himself for what's ahead. It is necessary for one to have an opportunity to release all the tension built exploring the dungeon and build up this 'climax'.

So he guessed that this was some kind of healing fountain or something similar, otherwise the confrontation of the beaten and exhausted heroes and the fresh Dungeon Master would be quite a one-sided one.

So he decided to test out this theory. Since he didn't have any sharp objects with him, he had to settle with biting his own arm to test out the fountains healing capabilities.

But it seemed that this new body still had many hidden features, as he didn't expect that his jaws could create such great force and combined with very sharp canines that he now had, resulted in him accidently creating a much bigger wound than intended.

"Hisss.. this fountain better have the healing properties that I think it does, otherwise this might cause an infection. Dying of an wound I inflicted on myself would be simply too pathetic."

He then submerged his arm on the waters, he felt a sharp painful sensation like he had poured pure alcohol on the wound to clean it. But other than that, his arm had no visible changes even after he left it submerged and drank a bit of the water.

'It seems that the fountain can only clean my wounds, but I can feel a strong and warm energy emanating from the waters, it's just that it is rejecting me.'

With this test, he was able to confirm the fountain's use but on the other hand it left him a bit sullen.

'I can understand the idea behind it, but I just don't like the idea of there being a room meant to solely benefit the intruder when my objective is to defend the dungeon from them.'

Taking a piece of the bandage that was wrapped around his hands, he cleansed it in the water before using it to wrap the wound.

Seeing no more use for the fountain at the moment, he then moved on to the last room that he was yet to see. This one had the symbol of a door on the map.

This room was different from the others since its shape was like a corridor, just much larger and with several torches arranged in a line illuminating it, instead of just a scattered few like in the rest of the dungeon.

This was the entrance of the dungeon, though there was something like a barrier in the end of the large corridor blocking the entrance as it was stated in the description of the 'Novice Protection Period'

But other than that, there was nothing else of interest in this room, as it was completely empty.

So, satisfied with all the insights that this little trip has provided him, he returned to the Throne room and took a seat in the throne, ready to continue to explore all the systems functions.

"Let's open the storage now, I want to see what I was given to work with. I just hope that I won't be as poverty-stricken as in my past life."

With a lot of anticipation, opened the storage space. Bracing himself for what he would see only to be greeted by...