Chapter 2 - The Dungeon Core
I am a Dungeon Core.
I have no name. A Dungeon Core is just a Dungeon Core.
I am the embodiment of the dungeon’s will, created to determine its structure.
The dungeon I created myself is one where defeating the monsters inside yields gold, treasures, and occasionally food.
Humans have even nicknamed it the “No-Hunger Dungeon.”
Food drops.
This feature became quite popular, as dungeons that improve food supplies tend to keep adventurers staying for a long time.
The longer adventurers stay and fight in my dungeon, the more Dungeon Points I accumulate.
Because of this, I’ve been able to earn more Dungeon Points compared to other dungeons that only drop gold and treasures.
But that’s all.
Once the dungeon expanded to about eight layers, the profits and maintenance costs plateaued.
For the past 40 years, my dungeon hasn’t grown at all.
If I forced it to grow further, the maintenance costs would undoubtedly outweigh the gains...
So, even if I want to expand, I can’t...
A stagnant dungeon eventually loses its appeal as adventurers grow tired of the same old rewards, leading to a decline in visitors and, ultimately, the dungeon’s shrinkage.
On the other hand, if I try to change the drop items to avoid this, the number of adventurers often plummets to an unbearable level, and the dungeon collapses in no time.
The reason is simple.
We Dungeon Cores don’t truly understand what humans desire or what makes them happy.
For example, another dungeon might drop a certain gem that’s wildly popular, but if I mimic that and drop the same thing in my dungeon, it could suddenly become irrelevant.
Human Masters say it’s because the item loses its rarity value, but...
Honestly, we don’t really understand this concept of “rarity value.”
Anyway, to prevent mutual destruction among dungeons, there’s an unspoken rule among Dungeon Cores:
“Copying a popular dungeon’s features will lead to mutual ruin, so it’s forbidden.”
My dungeon has eight layers.
That’s slightly larger than average and can be considered a decent achievement, but it’s far from being a massive dungeon.
I want to become much, much bigger.
The desire to grow... it’s an instinctive, primal urge that all Dungeon Cores possess.
But after 100 years, all I’ve achieved is an eight-layer dungeon, followed by 40 years of stagnation...
This is the limit of what I can create with my own sense and abilities.
During those 40 years of stagnation, I saved up my points and decided to summon a human soul from another world to create a new dungeon.
Using humans as Masters is a method I borrowed from other large dungeons, but since I’m not copying their drop items or rewards, it shouldn’t be a problem... probably.
In fact, several dungeons have already adopted this method and achieved considerable success.
Yes... I just want a dungeon larger than eight layers.
I want to grow bigger... I want to grow so much bigger.
For that, I’m willing to hand over dungeon authority to a human.
Besides... even if I hand over all dungeon authority, I still hold the power of life and death over the summoned soul through the initial contract.
If the human fails to reach even five layers in 50 years, I can simply kill them.
I spent 40 years saving up points to purchase this human.
Don’t disappoint me, okay?
“Alright, I’m going to create a hot spring dungeon.”
...And then, the human I summoned suddenly says something like this.
Is this really going to be okay?
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