Thunder roars
Intense thunder roars
The night sky turned blue, lightning tearing through the clouds as thunder rumbled above.
The roars grew louder, then more intense, until finally the sky began to cry with heavy, relentless rain.
"Ah..! The weather report did say there would be a storm incoming on the coast, and that heavy rain would pass through some cities in the country," said a young man, around six feet tall with a somewhat skinny build. He had black hair styled neatly, dark eyes behind glasses, and a bored expression on his face.
His name was Ron Black. Nineteen to maybe twenty years old, he was a new university student majoring in physics.
Headphones rested on his head as he stared outside at the downpour, lightning flashing across the sky.
When the rain grew heavier, he walked over to close the window. Afterward, he returned to his computer to play his game.
It was a new dungeon-building game, one that had become popular these days.
In it, you played as a Dungeon Master, building a dungeon filled with traps and monsters. Other Dungeon Masters could send troops—or groups of difficult NPC heroes—to raid your dungeon.
It was an online game where you needed to level up in order to unlock better traps, monsters, and props. The goal was to make your dungeon as difficult and tricky as possible.
That way, when players sent their troops or when heroes came to attack, you'd have the defenses to repel them.
When Ron first started playing, he became hooked, spending real money on it just like so many other games at the time.
Without spending money, progress was painfully slow—you couldn't unlock advanced features quickly.
After playing for a year and a half, he had climbed to the top.
Through countless struggles, he finally reached rank one this season, becoming one of the top Dungeon Walker players—"DW" for short—in the community.
Like any other day, today was no exception. Even as heavy rain fell outside and thunder shook the house, Ron played with intense focus, ignoring everything else.
But when he had closed the window earlier, he hadn't noticed the small gap that remained. Water slowly leaked through, pooling near his messy PC setup where cables and plugs tangled together.
Then it happened.
A deafening thunderclap split the air, and a stray bolt of lightning struck his house. The electricity surged into the leaking water, running straight into his PC.
"Boom!"
A violent explosion sounded, and in an instant Ron's vision went black.
When he finally regained consciousness, he found himself in a white room. Looking around confused. Then suddenly remember and shout out in loud voice.
"Damn. What just happened? Did my computer short circuit?! Shit, I was just about to build the next floor of my dungeon!"
"Aah..! I think I remember an explosion, then everything went dark… Where is this place? Did I die or something?" he muttered, looking around the empty room.
Then a message appeared before him—glowing letters on a golden screen.
[ Ding! Welcome to the New Dungeon. Congratulations!! You have been selected as a new Dungeon Master. ]
"What is this? Some kind of menu system? But what's with the Dungeon Master thing… Am I dreaming or what?" Ron pinched himself.
"Ouch. Guess not a dream. Then let's check it out and see what this thing can do."
He tapped the screen. It lit up again, and new words appeared, like another message.
[ If you are reading this, it means you have awakened in your new world. I am sorry for your early death—this was my mistake. While doing my daily work of weather-checking, I accidentally sneezed in your direction… and then lightning struck you. You were a Fortunate soul. You were supposed to live into your nineties without any problem.
So, to make up for this, I checked your life file to see your preferences. I saw you loved dungeon oriented games and novels, so I used my power to send you into the myriad universes. There, you'll find yourself in a world suited to your tastes, with dungeon settings where you can live a new life the way you'd like.
Yours truly, ROD. (Random Omipotent Deities)
P.S. While your soul was traveling, it should absorbs chaos energy from the universe. This wil gives you a chance of awakening a special or unique talent. The more energy your soul could absorbed, the more powerful this talent will be. Good luck in your new adventure! ]
Ron went silent after reading, trying to process the reason for his death and this strange new situation.
"…Hell yeaaah!! So I actually get to experience an isekai, just like the anime and novels I used to read and watch!
Even if there's no 'system,' I've still got a golden finger of sorts. Let's check out what talent I gained from this chaos energy."
He turned back to the screen. "Menu."
The screen shifted, showing him a new list:
[ Dungeon Master ]
[ Dungeon Shop]
[ Dungeon Floor ]
[ Dungeon Screen ]
[ DP: 1000 ]
[ DP Income: 1/hour ]
"Well, that's a lot of options. Let's check the descriptions…"
[ Dungeon Master ]: Lets the Dungeon Master view their stats.
[ Dungeon Shop ]: A shop where Dungeon Masters can buy items with DP (Dungeon Points). Spellbooks, monsters, servants, daily necessities, and more are available.
[ Dungeon Floor ]: A blueprint system for designing dungeon layouts. Dungeon Masters can edit trap placement, treasure spots, and even expand with new floors or outward growth.
[ Dungeon Screen ]: Allows the Dungeon Master to view everything happening inside their dungeon, anytime, anywhere.
[ DP Income ]: Dungeon Points can be earned in multiple ways:
1. From Earth's Ley Lines releasing mana into the world. (This dungeon has one floor, so it generates 1 DP/minute.)
2. By keeping people inside the dungeon. The more present, the more DP.
3. From corpses—enemies killed in the dungeon are converted into DP. (Dungeon monsters don't count.)
4. High-level bosses and mini-bosses generate additional DP depending on their level.
"Hm..! So this is just like the games I used to play. Easier and harder at the same time. Easier because there's no artificial level caps holding back progress. Harder because… this is real life now.
If I mess up, there's no resurrection option—I'll just die for real. Damn, this is going to be tougher than I thought."
Ron thought this as he finished reading through the system's descriptions.