After a period of time that can not be determined, I started to start to feel the world around me, different than how it would feel looking at it with eyes, it kinda felt like divine sense that a mage unlocks at rank 4, but it was in gray scale and there were many more things I could feel, I could feel the dirt and stone around me as if I was touching and tasting, and seeing it at the same time, Even though I never ate either of those things when I was not a shiny crystal, I can intuitively taste it, more specifically, it taste like granite.
How I know that, I do not know. As I start to contemplate the meaning of life, or rock life. I feel a massive existence touch me, warmly, and pass me some information with a touch of sadness. It was the God of Adventure and Challenge, Trephases. Once a dungeon core like myself, ascended to godhood and laid down rules to protect and dungeons such as myself, from the information passed to myself, as a newborn dungeon I should have received a dungeon fairy to help guide me, but due to my unique circumstances I cannot receive one.
I still have many of the protections and abilities of dungeons, but I am almost blind as to what they are, He mentioned I had less restrictions, but as to what those are, I would have to explore it all on my own. Depressing, but I always loved new things, and being a shiny clear rock certainly is new. I decide to meditate to calm myself down. I follow the breathing method taught by the soul cultivation technique I learned while the glow of my rock body dims and brightens as I go.
The apprentice level is the foundation of both the warrior path, which uses Aura, and the Mage path, which uses mana, you take in world energy and accumulate it then eventually change it into either mana or aura which reject each other reaching rank one. As a dungeon core, I am a bit different, I cannot use either Aura or Mana, only world energy, but a good breathing method can set a good foundation for any man, beast, or rock.
Most dungeons can accumulate world energy instinctually like some beast, but it is much worse and takes much longer, which normally would not matter because dungeons are Immortal Rocks. But most naturally born dungeon cores are not sentient, not until they reach overlord rank, which is very rare. So time does not matter for them as much. I want to dig myself a nice house in the ground, and reach the surface.
All dungeons, myself included, feel a slight pull to be connected up top, that will only get worse as time goes on. My Core shines brightly and dims faster at an ever increasing pace, until eventually, a slight popping noise is heard, only in myself can feel it though, and my core takes on a slight tinge of purple, the telltale sign of the soul attribute. I reached a rank one dungeon core.
By my weird dungeon sense, I can feel only four hours have passed making me envy on how easy it is for dungeon cores to get passed the apprentice stage, being able to generate world energy directly from myself, but that will not work any longer, because the only way I can increase in rank now is absorbing the natural energy coming of creatures not connected to my core, the energy release upon death, or occupying more area under my dungeon influence to draw in more world energy.
Breathing methods can only take in world energy in the area you can directly influence, cultivation techniques can draw in world energy from a distance away like a black hole, but it is immediately tainted in this way, becoming mana, or aura, depending on the technique. Only a rare few people and giant monster can rely on breathing techniques to rise in rank, dungeons can only use instinctual or learned breathing methods, but a dungeons influence can increase massively beyond any type of known creature.
After reaching rank one, my yearning to reach the surface increases. It is time to start digging, I "eat" up the surrounding stone and dirt and eventually hollow out a 10x10x10 meter room, and I know its exact measurements according to the dungeon sense, let me tell you, it is weird to taste distance. My rock body floats in the center of it.
Most dungeons can start with a few monster patterns once they reach rank one and their attributes is determined. Because yet again my unique circumstances, I can only do method two, which is get the patterns of anything that dies in my dungeon, or that I can absorb, anything below apprentice can be killed directly by me in my dungeon influence. Anything above those ranks, interferes directly with my dungeon influence.
According to laws and rules created by Trephases when he ascended to godhood, a dungeon core cannot be destroyed by anyone exceeding their level, and everyone exceeding the level of the dungeon core, takes a massive decrease in ability once they enter a dungeons influence. In my core room, my influence is the strongest, so if someone does want to destroy me, according to dungeon law, I can fight back, and since I have the knowledge and experience of a soul mage, with just a little tweaking to change and use world energy, it would be a bad idea.
Higher ranked people can still go into a dungeon and escort lower ranking people and just break directly through walls and floors and have the lower ranking people take the dungeon core while they suppress it, but those cases are rare, because you have to be at least an overlord level character to do so. To prevent that I need to get stronger, I reinforce the walls with dense granite, being the hardest non-magical stone I have access too.
I reinforce it with my self created earth stabilizing enchantments, but they are only rank one right now, which can block off an average rank 3 beings at most. I make a hallway and make another room, which is a half cylinder half square, about 10x10x10 meters in size. The hallways on each side are about five meters off the floor, connecting each side a granite cylinder with grease enchantments and frictionless enchantments in the pegs, making bearings, spikes on the ground with sticky enchantments and on the tip a piercing enchantment.
A high level danger trap for most warriors rank 2 and below, and most mages who do not know a spell to get pass. Rank three warriors can jump it and most mages learn the levitate spell at rank 3. And with dungeon law, I have to put a reward equal to the danger, I place a stone chest… with some pointy stone rods with piercing enchantments… I have not learned any type of patterns for gold, silver, or copper. So low level magic items will have to suffice.
As I was digging out another room I managed to learn the pattern for a worm… Next room will use amazing worm creatures, the good thing about dungeons is that they can inject mana into things to make them evolve, I make another room that is a sphere with a 10 meter diameter, with the hallways leading in the center, covering the bottom is worms, not just any worm though, mana worms! They are only at the apprentice level, because if I try to pour any more world energy in, they pop.certainly disgusting, and they have acid that will be a problem to any apprentice level creature.
Again, I put some more pointer spikes in a chest, just less. My two levels have wildly different danger levels. I can feel myself getting closer to the surface, which I have only been going straight, not up or down, so I'll probably come out on the side of a mountain or cliff.I know once I will be able to reach rank two when I open up to the surface. Which will then let me get more monsters. At rank two I can perform summoning rituals.
Eventually, I break through the side of the mountain while building my third room, and the feeling that describes it was… like my soul finally took a breath I hadn't known I been holding, or a satisfying fart that was held too long. It was amazing, world energy rushed into my dungeon filling the void I left from reaching rank one. I reached rank two on the spot, with my core turning a little bit darker. I now can have more monster variety than worms! I immediately form a summoning circle.