The room was silent, save for the faint dripping of water from stalactites above. Ethan Reed sat slumped against the cold stone wall, his breath shallow, his vision swimming. Around him lay the broken remains of his party, friends, comrades, and, in the end, sacrifices.
The Final Room. That's what the system had called it.
He gritted his teeth, glaring at the massive obsidian gate looming before him. Its surface pulsed with crimson veins, alive and malevolent. The whispers had started when they first entered the dungeon, faint and distant, but now they were deafening. Promises of power. Temptations of glory. Lies.
His trembling hand reached into his tattered inventory pouch and pulled out the last healing potion. As the warm liquid dulled the pain in his ribs, the reality of his situation hit him. He was alone. Out of supplies. And whatever lay beyond that gate was stronger than anything he'd faced before.
"This is it, huh?" he muttered, forcing himself to his feet. "No respawns. No retries. Just… game over."
But as his hand touched the gate, the whispers ceased. A cold, mechanical voice echoed in his mind, clear and emotionless.
"Congratulations, Player. You have reached the Final Room. Initiating Dungeon Core Integration Protocol."
Ethan froze. "Dungeon what?"
Before he could pull away, the gate erupted in light, consuming him. Pain tore through his body, sharper than anything he'd felt before. His vision blurred, and for a moment, he thought he was dying.
But then the voice returned, calm and inescapable.
"Integration complete. Welcome, Dungeon Core. Begin construction of your domain."
When the light faded, Ethan wasn't in the dungeon anymore. He was in a vast, endless void, floating above an intricate, glowing blueprint of the labyrinth he had just barely survived.
And at its center, a pulsing crystal radiated with power.
His power.
"No way…" Ethan whispered, staring at the map. "I'm the dungeon now?"
The system chimed in again, this time with an almost cheerful tone.
"Tutorial Quest: Construct your first trap. Reward: 10 Core Energy."
Ethan's lips curled into a dry, humorless smile. "Guess it's time to start playing the other side of the game."
And with that, the first step in his journey as a dungeon maker began.