Silence permeated Yroa's conscious soul, and vessel?
He felt cold liquid wrapping him, ensnaring him as if he was drawing.
But then there was a bubble? Instead of going up to the surface, however, it descended down to the perpetual abyss.
It didn't take a long two-plus-two to deduce that he was indeed drawing in some kind of large body of water, so he swam towards where the light could be faintly seen, and not the direction where his bubble went.
"Gah!" His water-lubed eyes were blinking erratically to cast the irritation away, as he coughed out all of the liquid that nearly entered his lungs. "What in the world…?
The dawn of this world flashbanged him, as the sun could visibly be seen ascending in a reversed manner? It didn't go up, but it went down!
"... It appeared that I have arrived," Yroa chuckled, still amidst the coughing and distress of nearly drowning to death "What a dramatic beginning for an entrance.".
And lo he was, as he popped out from a 'reversed' grand lake that was attached to the bottom of a floating mountain. The mysterious gravity kept him hanging as he beheld the illustrious beauty of epic glade piercing a forestry alongside other tall mountains and multiple lakes of different color, heightened by the prismic formation of reflected sunlight from all of the magical things that exist in his peripheral vision.
Avian beasts soared through the sky, some of them appeared like a brightly colored eagle with a head two times the size of its body, while some of them flew the sky with no wings like they were snakes on the ground.
And then there were the absurd amount of unique herbivores with some having a pair of wack googly eyes, while others were armored like magical steampunk beasts. And then some of them had their sheer size kept the actual predator at bay.
All of this was beheld in a reversed frame through yroa's eyes.
"... I want to eat them," he said as he drooled. "How long have I been craving to eat something other than poisonous tar oil and hellspawn rotten flesh again?"
The joy that he felt knowing that he was no longer in Hell was out of this world.
After performing a 'dolphin' maneuver, Yroa managed to jump out of the reversed grand lake and onto other large bodies of shadowy water on the actual 'ground', just a few meters away from where he jumped.
He felt no abnormality on his body outside of the same stinging sensation on his throat and tongue. Likewise, he glanced around on his body and saw that it was still the same one that he had before he died on that taxi, as his sinner form maintained the very same appearance throughout his damnation in Hell.
Yroa then glanced up where the reversed lake resided, as small currents and waves could be visibly highlighted from the angles where the sunlight was coming from. There, he could see his face on the reflection, the very same face that felt like a curse and a blessing at the same time for him.
But regardless of what he had gone through, it was still him.
"You little bastard," He put on a shit-eating smug. "You look the goddamn same after a thousand years of torment, you monster!"
Playfully in celebration, Yroa swam to exit the enigmatic lake. He could feel that something was living underneath the surface of this water, but it seemed to be dormant enough to barely care for his presence.
It wasn't long until he exited the lake and stood on both feet with his giant willy hanging, letting the sunshine enter every skinpores of his front.
But before he took any step further, he reached for the section of the pristine-clear lake that was more exposed to the sunlight. He then faced it to see his own clear reflection.
Yroa shoved his index finger and dragged his cheek to the side as he opened his mouth, revealing more view of the inside. Simultaneously, he stuck out his tongue.
There on the middle surface of his healthy pink tongue was a mark—a maddeningly evil and impure metaphysical manifestation of a symbol that seemed to be there and not at the same time.
"Iws thwis my Qliphwoth Spweech Orgwan?"
The symbol could physically be perceived as an intricate knot or tangle, woven together in an endless loop without beginning or end. Its lines were jagged and irregular, resembling twisted vines writhing around themselves, forming a labyrinthine pattern that seems maddening when looked for too long.
At times it appeared ordered and symmetrical, but upon closer inspection, one could see how it had been deliberately manipulated by some force, causing it to shift and morph randomly and erratically.
Yroa played around with it, he even took the dusty dirt beside him and tasted it to see if there was any difference.
"Hmm, aside from looking scary and stinging my tongue and voice box, there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. Then again, what is this 'Qliphoth Speech' anyway?" Yroa grumbled. "I should have asked the Worldsmith about it ahead of time, but I also kinda forgot about its existence amidst the overwhelming pain and sensation after the tempering was finished.
"Well, a spilled milk is a spilled milk. A porridge can't be turned back to rice, and I can't go back to that starlight realm and say 'Yo!' to the Worldsmith and asked how in the hell does this 'transcendent organ' work.
"Then again, since he didn't even mention it to me nor reminded me if I want to know about it, he either doesn't want me to know it or there will be a time where I know the true functionality of this thing."
Introspection aside, there was a huge wave of foreign information surging inside his brain like an unavoidable info dumps. Yroa guessed that this was due to him being quoted, newborn 'Living Dungeon Core'.
It should be overwhelming enough to knock someone unconscious, but it was a child play for Yroa compared to everything he had experienced so far.
"This feels like having an omniscient narration pestering you like an unskippable cutscene, not gonna lie."
The infodumps included the understanding and knowledge of what it is to be a Dungeon Core, and also numerous minor facts about the surrounding of the place where Yroa spawned.
"Ah, so it's personalized too. They definitely didn't slack off in this department."
Following the guidance of the surging knowledge inside his mind, Yroa, nakedly traversed the otherworldly terrain of flora and natural sediments. Little creatures that resembled that of hamsters dispersed at lightning speed every time he was standing near the bushes, as some flowers coincidentally were mature enough to blow all of their pollen to the sky like it was sneezing, making the experience much more heart-pumping and hopeful.
"Looks like I have arrived."
Somewhere on the lower slope from the hill where the Reversed Lake Mountain waft undaunted, was a run down derelict of an altar. The ruinations consisted of a stone-like material with a rather consistent pattern of intricate texture like it was printed into existence.
This place was a former shrine devoted to the Goddess of Value.
"Oh right, it says that there is something I can wear around here."
Yroa tampered with an otherworldly stone mechanism near the ruin. The hidden linkage released a magnetic pressure to the lid of a barely-noticable compartment. He picked up the lid and found a set of apprentice clothing, alongside a pair of thick leather gloves on the side.
The apprentice clothing set consisted of a dark-brown leather short and a light tortilla-brown shirt made from a rather coarse yet firm textile, with darker streak on the middle and the shoulders, something that one would find in a fantasy setting with how durably appearing it was. The pants however, felt rather heavy and baggy, even though it would only cover the thighs if Yroa were to wear it.
Without missing a beat, Yroa inspected the goodies as he hummed, firstly ensuring that there is no funny trickery behind these clothes even though it's stated otherwise.
"No funny smells, outside of the otherworldly one. There might be some magicky thing going on but a risk is a risk, and I don't want to run around naked and make an apparel from itchy leaves and grasses."
Yroa excitedly put on his first clothing in this world, alongside the pair of thick leather gloves beside it.
It was a perfect fit.
"It's surprisingly snug!" He closed his hands and opened his fingers again and again to feel all of the texture on the gloves. His feet were still bare as there weren't any footwears but he could just craft them later.
He also noticed that the gloves allowed him to use his sense of touch through it as if it was an extension of his skin.
"Now that I'm no longer looking like a profane sinner." Yroa glanced at the center of the ruinous altar with a smug. "I guess I can start praying."
Within the surging information that was nagging Yroa like an annoying neighbor, it was said that by kneeling and molding a belief that all things can be conceptually jotted down into comprehensive value, any soul will be blessed with the Early Blessing of Value Comprehension.
"To be a mortal is to kneel and defy fate, huh."
And so Yroa proudly kneeled one of his legs as he cast down his gaze, tempering his belief. In his heart, he was also giving his thanks to the Goddess of Value for allowing him to wear the apprentice clothing set.
[Boundless shall be, Yassimhre and her intellectual children! Boundless shall be, the comprehension of their brethren and limitless light!]
A mysterious translucent word conceptually emerged inside Yroa's mind.
And then.
[You have been blessed, my child]
A set of knowledge was inserted into his consciousness, enough for him to utilize the blessing given by the Goddess of Value.
"... Basic Appraisal."
A metaphysical screen appeared right in front of him.
[Name: Yroa Ingram]
[Lvl: 6 Malkuth]
[Domain: Physical]
[STR: 1.2]
[DEX: 1.4]
[CON: 2.9]
[INT: 56.2]
[WIS: 10.1]
[CHA: 40.7]
The screen appeared like a translucent piece of ethereal paper, while the words and numbers contained in it were glowing in bright blue.
"Haah," Yroa sighed. Even then, he was still brimming with smugness while doing it. "Aside from it looking like a character stats sheet for a tabletop-game, I have been given absolutely no clue on what all of these mean."
Not even the still-surging information given to him for being a newborn Living Dungeon Core even covered the basic knowledge for these terms and numbers.
Even with his common knowledge in gaming and fantasy literature terms, Yroa had no idea what the word 'Malkuth' implies right beside the number of his Lvl. Although it was obvious enough for him that STR stands for Strength, while DEX stands for Dexterity and et cetera.
On the side note, he felt a slight joy for his high numbers at Intelligence and Charisma, especially since he took pride in both of those aspects.
"Wait, what if I cast a Basic Appraisal on the status screen?"
[This action has been rendered null due to the lack of belief inside the User's heart]
"My esteemed Goddess of Value, I have firmly molded my belief, what should I even do to temper it further than this??"
Yroa was expecting an answer coming straight down from the realm of Gods. However, there was nothing but the breezy wind of the summer morning.
"I wonder if I can cast Basic Appraisal to my newfound clothes, at least."
[This action has been rendered null due to the lack of belief inside the User's heart]
"Guess I'm not devout enough."
Regardless, Yroa had finished one of the 'side quests' that was laid in front of him.
Now all he needs to do as a proper Dungeon Core is to settle somewhere and build his own dungeon from the ground!
"Thankfully, if what the information given to me is true, I was given some privilege to access a higher level of 'emanation' despite my current domain of existence as part of my power as a Dungeon Core!"
It would only take a snap of a finger to build a Tier 1 Simple Dungeon for him, with the power given by the Chaos God directly since Dungeon Cores was much more closely related to the force of chaos than anything in existence.
But to even do that, Yroa needed a certain amount of currency that was only uniquely accessible and attainable to him as a Dungeon Core called 'EXP'.
As for the lowest priced one which is Tier 1 Simple Dungeon, it costs 100,000 EXP. It was quite the heavy price compared to many of the features that was accessible to Yroa as a Dungeon Core himself, albeit with a sapient body instead of the metaphysical sphere physicality that a Dungeon Core possessed.
Then again, most if not all of the features could only be accessed when the Dungeon Core settled for a dungeon. But this problem was counteracted by the fact that all newborn Dungeon Core was given an initial currency of 150,000 EXP points, which was enough for one to settle and strengthen their foundation.
"... What the fuck."
However, something appeared to go wrong in Yroa's case.
[EXP: -50,000]
"There must be a mistake." Yroa annoyedly snickered, with tightened veins reigned visible on his face. "Right, there is a feature that allows me to see the history of the fluctuation on the EXP points, it should appear if I willed it like this…"
[EXP points transaction history_]
[Living Vessel {Dungeon Core}: -200,000 EXP points]
"It doesn't come in one package!??"
Yroa was beyond flabbergasted at this point. However, it was certainly not the end of everything, so he was still processing all of this casually.
After all, EXP points could still be attained even without access to a proper dungeon.
But since the dungeon itself acted as a catalyst and the ultimate medium for all things that a Dungeon Core could achieve, there was a 50% reduction in EXP acquisition whenever the points were acquired outside the dungeon's domain of influence.
Yroa hoped that he could complain, but there wasn't any customer service.
"... Welp, no biggie!" Yroa masked his disappointment with a jovial attitude and a simple big smile. "On the bright side, it's still ten times better than dwelling in Hell in any kind of scenario! I can just farm these EXP points without any constraint in the form of a time limit! Oh right, according to the instilled knowledge, I can also do this too."
[Living Vessel {Dungeon Core}: A special ageless vessel that acts similarly to the physicality of a mortal while also accommodating the proper capability of every functionality as a Dungeon Core. It has a 200% increase of result on any attempt to temper and improve the bodily physique of the Living Vessel. The appearance of the Living Vessel is automatically tailored to the individual soul of the Dungeon Core]
"Mmm~ I wonder if that extends to all of the stats values shown on the screen of the Basic Appraisal?" Yroa seemed to be quite pleased with the core value of his Living Vessel, since he would prefer to have his human body than being a metaphysical sphere that can't eat nor feel any basic gratification that a proper mortal can. "Maybe I should try working out and do some brain exercise later to see if the numbers even change."
Since the power of a Dungeon Core wasn't coming from the same source as the Early Blessing of Value Comprehension, Yroa was able to decipher everything that he gained from the system perk of being a Dungeon Core without any constraint whatsoever.
"Right, before I start farming for EXP points and experiment the passive ability of this Living Vessel, it's probably best to comfily settle and make myself a native in this region, since it might probably take a while before I can get enough of the points to build my first dungeon."
Yroa kneeled in front of the altar once again, bidding a goodbye and gratitude for the blessing that was given to him, before readying himself for a brand new adventure that awaits him on the rich surface of Yassimhre.