The Grand Dungeon was never meant to be a simple experiment. It was not just a prison, nor was it merely a laboratory. It was a crucible—a place where humanity would be reforged through pain, knowledge, and adaptation. Elias did not see himself as a villain. He was not a mere scientist. He was an architect, designing a world in which only those who deserved to thrive would be allowed to progress.
The first iteration was a disaster.
At first, he merely created a labyrinth, a self-sustaining biome beneath the Earth's crust, populated by his early experiments—creatures designed to test, to hunt, to push the limits of human endurance. But the problem with artificial evolution was stagnation. Without true unpredictability, without chaos, the system would become nothing more than another failed experiment.
So he changed the rules.
He introduced randomized mutations into his test subjects, ensuring that no two encounters would ever be the same. He designed living floors—environments that shifted, adapted, and responded to the ones who dared to enter. He seeded the dungeon with legendary horrors, recreations of mythical creatures born from spliced DNA and eldritch sciences.
And most importantly, he opened the doors.
The world believed Elias Nephrem was dead. His name was erased from the records, his research buried beneath layers of misinformation. But the invitations still found their way to the desperate, the reckless, the power-hungry.
One of those invitations would find Simon Carter.