[ Dungeon: Starter Dungeon ]
[ Dungeon Level: 0 ]
[ Gold: 1,000 ]
[ Master: Gill ]
[ Master level: 10 ]
[ Recommended action: Hire minions, setup traps, place treasure and lure adventurers to their deaths! ]
Gill had just 'spawned' as the dungeon master of a newly created maze deep underground due to an ancient mana crystal somehow generating enough energy to manifest as a dungeon core after several millenia. From the faint ambient mana in the great depths of the earth, a few thousand years could be considered fast when it comes to the natural creation of such cores.
In this world, it was wildly acknowledged that mana cores were the ultimate treasures in and of themselves, greatly boosting the strength and life expectancy of any would be owner. Every year there would be news of brilliant mages or masterful warriors obtaining a mana core, greatly increasing their power and living for several hundred, if not thousands of years.
Other masterful adventurers that had conquered several dungeons in their lifetimes with many dungeon cores in their possession would even setup their own dungeons, manifesting endless treasures through its use by making 'theme park' dungeons. Special establishments where they took gold and treasures from others to brave them for entertainment and minor prizes with safety ensured. It was the most optimal way to earn experience for beginner warriors and mages, teaching them of all the treacherous ways dungeon masters might kill them.
Gill stood dazedly in place for a good while before his body shook. Sensing the world around himself and gleaning through the quick tutorial from the dungeon core, Gill realized he must've reincarnated into some sort of monstrosity. Just a minute prior he was eating a meal with his family back on earth, when he suddenly felt like he was choking on nothing in particular.
As his face turned green and then purple, looking over at his brother to his right for aid, all he saw was an extremely malicious grin. Clearly, he had been poisoned by the very person he trusted most, and there was nothing he could do about the situation!
Furious rage overtook him, and before everything turned black before his eyes, he grabbed his fork and rammed it into the throat of said family member. Seeing the horror from his so-called brother that was choking on his own blood and viscera, satisfaction overtook him before everything faded away. It felt like just an instant ago he was still fighting for the position of heir of the family, eating a meal under the façade of familial joy.
After all was said and done, he couldn't help but feel greatly relieved. Never again would he have to fight for anything other than his own survial and not take others into his consideration. He had turned into a malicious dungeon demon with endless potential in a world of warriors and wizards! Murder! Death! Killing! All these things that were vehemently forbidden during his life on earth was the day to day life and norm in this new world. Never again must he pretend, scheme and keep people both close and afar within his grasp.
Settling his bubbling emotions, Gill quickly looked over at the dungeon core that had given him new life. Whatever it takes, he must protect the core. Without it, he would perish like a cloud of smoke.
Noticing a red timer slowly counting down, and looking through the basic information once more, Gill realized he had to quickly assemble some sort of defense. Once that timer ran out, a minor earthquake would hit and create the entrance to his dungeon, making public entry possible for any and all would be adventurers. All he had was 23 hours and 55 minutes to setup some sort of resistance. If he failed and his dungeon perished to the very first party of adventurers, he wouldn't be able to accept it.
"Map", Gill said to himself aloud with a voice that sounded like the twisting of metalic chains. Slightly surprised over his demonic voice, but quite thrilled all the same, a three dimensional map made entirely out of ambient mana appeared. Looking through the basic structure of his dungeon, he couldn't help but frown.
"How can this be considered a dungeon? It's a bloody straight corridor, with this single room at the end!", Gill cursed under his breath. "Even the underground subway back on earth was more complex in comparison, what the hell can I do with this!?", Gill shouted, spreading out demonic energy in all directions. Infuriated, a 'ping' noise sounded and a 'Tips and Tricks' screen appeared next to the map.
[ New Dungeon Master, welcome to the Old World! ]
[ As a new master for a new dungeon, your dungeon happens to be in a 'beginners' area. No seasoned adventurers above the level of 10 has been located within the span of 100 kilometers. ]
[ You can use gold to buy traps, monsters, dungeon structures, dungeon schematics and fabled treasures. ]
[ Every dead aventurer grants experience points and gold for your use. ]
[ There's a ranking to the rewards you can gain - traps and structures granting the most while monsters and yourself taking action giving the least. ]
[ Good luck out there, Dungeon Master Gill! ]
Staring daggers at the so-called 'tips and tricks', Gill muttered under his breath before calling up the storefront. Looking at dungeon schematics first, as this linear corridor truly was too horrible to do any sort of proper planning in, Gill quickly drew in a sharp cold breath. The prices of any sort of schematic, even the most simple maze with 5 dead ends went for atleast 10,000 gold! Looking over his own stash and seeing his meager 1,000 gold, he couldn't help but curse some more while stomping his feet.
Scrolling through the options merely out of curiosity, the most high-end of dungeons schematics went for several billions! And that was without traps, monsters or anything else added! What a rip-off.
Sighing in his heart that things wouldn't be easy, he went over to the section for traps. Even those prices were horrendous for his seemingly beggars allowance. The only few things he could afford was tops 10 arrow traps for 50 gold a piece, two pitfall traps at 200 gold each and one spike trap for another 100 gold. Truly, how in the world was he supposed to do anything with this!
Glaring with his demonic eyes until the menu itself seemed to be shivering in fear, Gill let out another mournful sigh. Closing the menu, he took a few steps with his new body to aquaint himself with the newfound strength he wasn't used to. Looking down at himself, all he had for wear was a pair of sackcloth pants and a bare, red, muscular chest. Gill figured he should atleast explore and see with his own two eyes what the situation was with his corridor dungeon.
Opening the two doors out of the core room, Gill peered outside and saw nothing but darkness. Looking over the menu again, he noticed that his current freebie dungeon atleast came with free torches. Muttering under his breath, he slowly cast an incantation according to the tips window and voilá, the walls along the corridor lit up with bright flames. Although it was a corridor, it still had many pillars of support running along the walls that could be used for cover.
Every section of pillar had a holding for torches. Looking from afar the dungeon seemed quite majestic, even though it was nothing but a straight pathway. Walking through the corridor and reaching the end, there was only a large gate made out of some sort of metal. It looked like an ancient castle portcullis. Taking a look beneath the closed gate, Gill couldn't help but suck in a cold breath.
The portcullis that was jammed into the ground looked incredibly sharp, as if made out of spikes by some sort of master blacksmith. Nodding his head somewhat in approval, Gill opened the shop menu to see what other kinds of traps he could buy. Perhaps he should do a somewhat stupid move, 'putting all the eggs in one basket', instead of placing a decent amount of traps all the way through the corridor and instead just making it big with one fell swoop?
Looking at the sharper than blades portcullis and scanning through the trap shop with a glance, a macabre glimmer sparked in Gill's eyes. There actually was a particularily fitting trap for his dungeon. It was called 'Spike Wall', it looked like a flyswatter that was attached to a wall, ceiling or floor. Like a mousetrap, once the trap was triggered it would swing with immense momentum, impaling the unlucky to death while pushing others backwards with great force. The price of the trap was precisely 850 gold, which was almost everything he had on hand.
'With this Spike Wall and three arrow traps, I should be able to keep a few rounds of adventurers at bay', Gill thought to himself while rubbing his chin. 'If I calculate the force and added it to the mechanism properly, I could keep the gate open, swat some adventurers to death and then have the rest land under the gate portcullis. As they're struggling on the ground, lower the gates and.. Haha, minced meat adventurers would be all that's left!', snickering to himself in delight, Gill immedietly started implementing his idea.
After careful calculation, 4 hours went by in a blink. The Spike Wall was placed on the ceiling at an angle that made it impossible to spot from the gate, and thanks to his immaculate mathematical calculations it would throw any adventurer exactly beneath the opened portcullis. Snickering to himself and planning to spend the last 150 gold to buy some arrow traps just in case, the Tips window flashed in front of his face with a bright red font.
[ Dungeon Master, remember to buy a treasure! Without treasure, no adventurer would brave your dungeon for a mere level 0 core! ]
"What's this? How could any trespasser possibly know if there's treasure or not at my place? Also, the core being level 0, how could they tell and possibly ignore it without scouting it out?", as if the menu could understand him, it immedietly updated;
[ The mana signature of your dungeon is at its absolutely lowest point. After spawning a Great Dungeon Master such as yourself, it's basically empty. All adventurers have scanning equipment, as it's mandatory for any would-be explorers. Your dungeon could be mistaken as empty due to no mana signature, which means you need a treasure to glimmer up the place to lure in some idiots! ]
Snorting a reply, Gill opened up the shop again to take a look at the so-called treasures menu. Who the hell would want to spend their hard earned gold for some random stranger to pick it up at your place? They're basically daylight robbers, running inside someone else's house to steal their belongings. Looking through the treasures, Gill's pupils narrowed into two slits like a vipers.
"How in the goddamn hell can the treasures cost so much!? A thousand gold for some trashy iron armor, five hundred for a shoddy copper sword, a hundred gold for a random assortment of potions!?" Bellowing like a beast, Gill roared until the walls of the corridor started rattling and dust fell from the ceiling. Enraged by the scamming ways of the dungeonshop, the worst was yet to come;
"EVEN THE CONTAINER FOR SAID TREASURES COSTS GOLD!!", opening his eyes so wide they were about to pop out of their sockets, Gill almost couldn't help himself from directly smashing the menu to pieces. With bloodshot rage in his gaze, he looked through what he could afford and came to the conclusion that the only thing he could purchase was a chest with some potions in it. Deflating like a balloon without enough air, Gill sat down on the floor in exasperation.
Blankly staring at the shopwindow, Gill noticed a few descriptions of the containers. Some were just wooden cargo crates for foodstuff, others were glamorous chests made of steel and another type was basically a large sarcophogus coffin made entirely out of gold! Glancing through what he could afford, an idea suddenly sprung to mind. There was actually one chest that cost a hundred gold with the effect to feign great riches within. Even if it was empty, it would give out a signature as if it was filled with innumerable treasure.
Hesitating for a moment, Gill gritted his teeth and bought it. Along with this single 'treasure' chest he bought one simple arrow trap as condiment. Looking over his single masterpiece Spike Wall on the ceiling and empty bank account, Gill felt dejected and walked over to the door to the core room. Placing the arrowtrap straight on the ground in front of the core doors, and then placing the chest straight ontop he figured this was the best that he could do. Dejectedly looking over his corridor dungeon, Gill muttered another incantation and all the torches on the walls, except the ones next to the chest slowly extinguished.
Once any adventurers were to enter over by the entrance, it would be pitch darkness all the way through the corridor. The only thing they would be able to see was that single sparkling treasure chest at the end of the hallway. Unable to hold back a snicker, Gill felt this wasn't all too shabby after all. Opening the giant doors to the core room, he walked inside and laid down on the floor while waiting for the countdown to finish. 15 hours 42 minutes until showtime!