Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 1 (Patreon)

(Yes, I'll be posting this story here, as I write it. These posts will come down before publishing to Amazon.)

    

SYSTEM now fully initialized.

Local time suspended while individual   updates commencing.

Please choose a class.

Please choose a profession.

You have unspent ability points.

You have unspent skill points.

ERROR:   Due to population density of species [Human], some [Humans] in your area will   be converted into other species to help fill crucial roles and limit   environmental impact of SYSTEM integration.

CONGRATULATIONS! You have been randomly   chosen to begin a new life as a new species. Your race is now [Dungeon Core].   Due to the inconvenience, you have been granted 1 Greater, 1 Lesser, and 1   Least boon.

Please choose your boons now.

Dungeon core? What the hell? I’d read some books about this kind of thing in my spare time, and weren’t those just fancy rocks? Fuck, how am I going to get laid if I’m just a rock? Gah! Give me zombies over this shit any day, damnit!

I sighed, and then checked the screens that had come up. Maybe there would be something in these ‘boons’ that would help me out. Or at least take my mind off things for a while. There was a LOT of interesting things, especially in the greater boons, but I saw one in particular that I really liked. Seems as though it was tailor made for me, actually.

  

Manifest   Avatar

Greater Boon

You have gained the ability to manifest   a customizable avatar within your Dungeon. This avatar is able to attack and   defend as a normal creature of its race, allowing the Dungeon to act as its   own ‘final boss’ monster, or allowing dungeons to communicate with those not   under their influence. The avatar cannot leave the dungeon’s area of   influence, and if it is destroyed, it cannot be manifested again for 24   hours. This boon is only available to sentient dungeons.

I smiled as I picked that. Honestly, I couldn’t picture spending the next who knows how long only able to manipulate the world like a freaking game. I loved Madden as much as the next guy, but doing nothing but that for the rest of my life? Freaking nightmare.

  

Varied   Creatures

Lesser Boon

Most dungeons are limited to spawning   monsters from a single evolution tree (Goblins -> Hobgoblins -> Orks,   etc.). Any new species must be physically acquired before they can be   spawned. Dungeons with this boon are not so limited, and so have a greater   degree of variance within their dungeons, though all but the most chaotic   still have some kind of theme to them. Opens a category in the Dungeon Shop   where the dungeon can purchase new species to add to the dungeon.

Second   Tree

Least Boon

With this boon, you gain access to a   second evolution tree for monster spawns. Creatures in your dungeon’s   evolution tree(s) do not need to be purchased, and can be experimented on to   produce new evolutions or hybridizations. Note that some evolutions turn out   to be a dead end after all.

These two were pretty straightforward picks. Yeah, they might seem redundant, but they would allow me to create all kinds of crazy shit if I got my mad scientist on. More options meant more things for me to play with, which I was always happy for.

  

Choose your Class:

Note:   Due to being a dungeon, your class list has been modified accordingly. Your   class does not limit what skills or abilities you can gain, but does make   some choices more efficient than others.

Slayer   – The most common of dungeons, these dungeons thrive by having their   monsters hunt down and slay adventurers within their borders.

Puzzler   – These dungeons focus less on monsters to be defeated, and more on   puzzles and traps to be overcome, gaining increased sustenance from mana used   within their borders.

Crafter   – These dungeons are famed for producing high quality items as loot from   monsters and chests within their borders and are thus prized by those who   find them.

Temple   – These dungeons are devoted to one or more of the gods, and often   include shrines and other holy or unholy sites. 

Aligned   – These dungeons are dedicated to the principles of a certain alignment,   and often have moral tests to punish those who do not act according to that   alignment.

City   – The rarest type of dungeon, these places act as safe havens for their   residents. In return, they gain power from the number of residents within   their borders.

Mystic   – These dungeons are placed at the nexus of ley lines resulting in an   abundance of mana, which typically manifests itself in terms of rare   mutations in the creatures and items found within.

The lack of normal classes was annoying, but it made sense, since I was a glorified rock, with a manifested body to help out. So the ‘normal’ rules wouldn’t apply to me here. As I looked over the different options, I quickly narrowed it down to Puzzler, City, or Mystic. The Slayer was the most common, and I knew I didn’t want to be ‘common’, and the other three were just not interesting to me. Puzzler would allow me to make some clever traps and puzzles that would injure or otherwise discomfit my ‘playmates’ allowing whatever monsters I made have a better shot at them, but if they had someone who was good at those things, then the dungeon would be a breeze. City appealed to me because I enjoyed the idea of having an entire city to rule as I wished, but having to actually listen to people’s complaints would be hell. In the end, I went with Mystic, because that looked like it would provide the most fun. Rare mutations could prove a nasty surprise to whoever found them.

  

You have chosen the Mystic class.

Mystic

+10 INT

+2 INT per level

+100% to MP recovery rate

+25% chance to rare variants of   monsters from your Evolution Tree(s) being spawned normally.

+10% to experimentation on creatures   within your Evolution Tree(s).

You may now experiment on creatures not   within your Evolution Tree(s).

  

Choose your Profession:

Note:   As a Mystic Dungeon, Magic and Crafting professions have been added to   the list. Due to the arcane energies surrounding you, a Random option is also   added, allowing for obscure or unusual possibilities. Your profession does   not limit your ability to learn skills in other fields, but you will not gain   the unique benefits the relevant profession gives you. For instance, an   Alchemist would have certain abilities that someone who simply learned   Alchemy would not.

Alchemist

Blacksmith

Enchanter

Leatherworker

Monster Breeder

Scholar

Tailor

*Random*

It was an impulse move, I know, but none of the options really spoke to me. I could do fun things with all of them, I was sure, but did I really need a whole profession for them? So without giving myself a chance to second guess, I picked Random.

  

You have chosen *Random*.

Generating profession…

Slave   Master

+10 CHA

+2 CHA per level

ERROR:   Unique abilities of chosen profession incompatible with Dungeon race.   Recalculating…

Slave   Master

+10 CHA

+2 CHA per level

Slave Brand – Gain the ability to   enslave creatures, binding them to your dungeon.

Slave Breeder – Slaves treated as   though they are part of your Evolution Tree(s), regardless of race.

Dungeon Slaves – If the dungeon has the   ability, Slaves of your dungeon gain the ability to respawn like Named   monsters in your dungeon when slain.

Oh. Oh my. That was good! That was so very, very good! I was going to have a lot of fun with this, I could tell. I already had visions of what I’d do to those poor adventuresses who came to my dungeon seeking riches, only to fall into my clutches. I was going to enjoy this new life!

  

Available Evolution Trees:

Goblin

Demon

Plant

Undead

Beast

Slime

Well, this was another choice that wasn’t as hard as you might think. Undead and Beast were out because of the smell. Goblins and Demons were OK, but I had a feeling I could grab some of them later from the shop if I needed to spawn them. So I started with Plant and Slime trees. I already had several ideas about what to do with them.

That done, I decided to check my Status, so I could assign my ability and skill points.

  

Name: <none>

Race: Dungeon Core

Class: Mystic

Profession: Slave Master

Level: 1

XP: 0/100

MP: 2200/2200

MP Regen: 2 per hour

Anima: 100

Evolution Tree(s):

Plant

Slime

 

Titles:

Attributes

INT 22

WIS 10

CHA 22

Luck 10

Note: When manifesting Avatar, STR =   CHA, DEX = INT, CON = WIS.

2 Attribute points remaining

  

Boons

 Manifest Avatar

Varied Creatures

Second Tree

  

Abilities

 Racial Abilities

Dungeon Mind

Found Dungeon

Dungeon Management (Locked until   dungeon founded)

Spawn Monsters (Locked until dungeon   founded)

Class Abilities

+10 INT

+2 INT per level

+100% to MP recovery rate

+25% chance to rare variants of   monsters from your Evolution Tree(s) being spawned normally.

+10% to experimentation on creatures   within your Evolution Tree(s).

You may now experiment on creatures not   within your Evolution Tree(s).

Profession Abilities

+10 CHA

+2 CHA per level

Slave Brand – Gain the ability to   enslave creatures, binding them to your dungeon.

Slave Breeder – Slaves treated as   though they are part of your Evolution Tree(s), regardless of race.

Dungeon Slaves – If the dungeon has the   ability, Slaves of your dungeon gain the ability to respawn like Named   monsters in your dungeon when slain.

 

 Skills

 Racial Skills

Class Skills

Profession Skills

General Skills

 2 Skill points remaining

OK, so fairly average, except for the INT and CHA which got the boost from my class and profession. Not bad, nod bad. Still, since I was basically just a crystal, not having the other attributes made sense. OK, so now I had two attribute points to play with. Might as well put one in WIS and one in Luck. When I checked my status again, I saw my mana regen had bumped up to 2.2 per hour. So the default rate was 1/10 my WIS, but the doubling of my recovery rate brought it to 1/5. I could deal with that. Of course, what that really meant for me would depend on how much the actual stuff for my dungeon cost in MP.

And what was this anima thing?

  

Anima

Anima is the currency of dungeons, and   is used for purchases in the Dungeon Store. The most common method to gain   anima is to have creatures perish within your dungeon. Different dungeon   types may have additional means of gaining Anima.

Right, I was a dungeon, and I’d eventually be able to make loot. Guess it would be obvious that normal gold wouldn’t work for buying things from the SYSTEM for my dungeon.

You know, it just occurred to me that I’ve been pretty laid back about this whole ‘becoming a rock’ thing. Wait, what was that ‘Dungeon Mind’ ability again?

  

Dungeon Mind

Dungeons rarely, if ever, freak out   emotionally. Only true threats to their core, or other significant events,   can cause a Dungeon Core to lose its composure. Finding out that they have   suddenly been turned into a dungeon core does not count as a significant   event. Extreme resistance to mental effects.

So in other words, this ability was doing some kind of juju to calm me down. Well, fine, not like I can change it now, right? So, forget that, and let’s see what skills I can pick. I have two skill points, and it looks like I have three skills I can pick from my race, class, and profession.

  

Available Skills

Racial Skills:

Respawn – Monsters cost 400% of normal   for initial summoning, but respawn after 1 hour for no MP cost. Named   Creatures respawn with their memories intact.

Trapmaking – Able to create mechanical   traps to confuse, injure, maim, and kill intruders.

Name Monster – Name a monster, giving   it extra abilities, and potentially turning it into a boss or miniboss   monster. You may only have as many Named monsters as  0.5*(Level + Number of floors), rounded up.

Class Skills:

Dungeon Magic – Able to set triggered   spell traps or other conditional spells. Monsters in dungeon more likely to   gain magic abilities.

Monster Index – Gain knowledge of species   observed in your dungeon. Dungeon monsters do 10% more damage to species in   the Monster Index.

Arcane Sight – Identify magic items and   auras that you see. Affected by Stealth.

Profession Skills:

Training – Able to enhance a slave’s learning   speed for skills, or teach the slave new skills.

Taming – Better able to calm emotional   slaves, and prevent aggressive slaves from inciting rebellion. Also known as   breaking or domesticating.

Appraise Value – Able to see the level,   race, class, and profession of potential slaves, giving you an idea of their potential   value. More information provided at higher ranks.

All of those were useful as hell, eventually. But let’s face it, I was still just a level 1 dungeon, and I didn’t have any slaves to my name. With that thought in mind, Respawn became key, since I didn’t want to have to spend MP to summon my creatures over and over. And then Dungeon Magic was the second, because I figured some illusions would help drive enemies into the plants and slimes I was going to create.

  

Initial Setup complete.

Current location unacceptable for Mystic   class dungeon.

Teleport to acceptable location?

Yes/No

Well, duh. I clicked yes.