My name—I could remember my name, but that's it. I can't recall anything else. The name of that woman, the reason she was there, or even why we were in that field. It's all a blur; I know nothing except for my name.
"Name confirmed!" The window read.
"Please pick the name of your dungeon," it asked.
"Dungeon?" I questioned
"Please pick a name." The window said again, it's white text, almost screaming at me.
"Damn, okay then," I replied, with slight irritation.
It seems like it's adamant; what should I name it? I close my eyes, thinking about what I could call this strange new place. My eyes drift around, looking from the ceiling to the walls and even the floor. I'm trying to think of something, anything, but my mind continues to wander. I look around again, my eyes locking on the sphere in front of me. As I gaze into the inner darkness of the orb, the name that I seek appears.
"The Abyss," I say, a name that fits the core of this place
"Name selected. Welcome to The Abyss Core Master Atlas," the text reads.
"You have unlocked the basic remedies of a dungeon."
-You have unlocked rusty spikes
-You have unlocked the rundown-down pitfall trap
-You have unlocked a basic door
-You have unlocked a small room
"A dungeon? What is a dungeon?" I yelled; I was confused and mad. My short life so far has been a mystery, and I wanted answers.
Question received: "A dungeon is an alternate dimension that contains a core. In this case, the Abyss holds yours. You are in charge of this dungeon, the one in control. This is your domain; you can build traps, summon minions, and expand the Abyss. The larger your dungeon, the stronger your defences, but beware; the people of this land fear dungeons and want to claim your treasure for themselves. Keep them out at all costs." The window popped up, the letters flowing in a systematic order.
"Do you want to start the creation of your dungeon?" It asks.
"Is that my only option?" I question the window.
"Yes," it says, somewhat sternly.
"Ok, fine, let's get started," I reply in a disapproving voice.
"Dungeon creation started."
The Abyss
- Number of rooms available: 0/1
- Number of traps available: 0/3
- Number of minions available: 0/1
- Number of souls: 10/10
"What would you like to purchase, Core Master?" The screen said.
"Well, to be able to start, I'll need a room," I say.
- Small room, cost: 2 souls
"Confirm: Yes/No," the screen asks.
"Yes," I respond.
- Number of souls: 8/10
In front of my eyes, where a small rocky wall had just been, appeared a bright light. The wall began to deform and break; the spikes and rivets shattered with a loud bang. Behind the rubble, a stone room began to form with a brilliant lustre. Piece by piece, each brick began to slide into place on its own. The light began to fade, and what was left behind was a small stone brick wall with a small door opening in the middle of it. Within was a well-lit room, the first light I had seen since I had first woken up. The room was bland, only having torches on the wall and a big empty gate standing strong in the middle. As I approached the gate, a giant flash of colour came spewing out of it, blinding me. I reopened my sore eyes and gasped at the sight in front of me. The gate that had just been empty now stood with a swirling mass of energy flowing within.
"What is that?" I asked, hoping that the screen would answer me.
Question Received: "Since this room is the first one of the Abyss, it has automatically become the gate room and the entrance to your dungeon. The only way that creatures or people from the land outside can enter is from here. At the moment, it is not activated, but it will open by itself in a day."
"Interesting," I mumbled to myself.
"Please prepare your defences once the gate has opened; the dungeon will call for challengers, or the challengers will find their way here on their own." The screen typed.
"Ok, so how do I build these defences?" I questioned the screen.
A screen popped up in front of me. "Open your management screen by speaking the word open within your mind, and then once the screen is up, you can see what you can build. To continue, after you select the item that you want to build, you can then build it wherever you want within the Abyss."
I listened to the words clearly and spoke the word "open" without actually vocalizing the word. In front of me, a screen appeared, one like the text boxes that appear with information, but unlike those, I can interact with it. It reads out the items that I can place down.
Rooms:
- Small Room, cost: 2 souls
Traps:
- Rusty spike, cost: 1 soul
- Run-down pitfall trap, cost: 2 souls, requires 1 soul to fix the trap after use.
Dungeon necessity:
- Basic door, cost: 2 souls
- Small chest, cost: 1 soul
Decorations:
-Vines, cost: Free, up to 5
- Skull, cost: 1/2 of a soul
- Shelf, cost: 1 soul
Books cost 1/2 of a soul.
Minions:
- None
"Woah..." I exhaled in amazement.
I looked over all the options, and I had more than I thought I did. I scrolled toward the traps and clicked on the spikes.
Rusty Spikes
cost 1 soul
It is a simple trap that can be placed on roofs, floors, and walls. Once a target is in range, it will shoot out and impale anyone caught in its path.
I read the definition of the spikes and thought of their use. I wonder if these are the best choices; I scanned through the selection again and checked the pitfall trap. I looked at its cost and noticed its downside. It costs a soul to repair the trap once it is used... I noticed my limited number of souls and thought against using it. I return my focus to the spikes. I focus on them and envision them in my mind. I searched around the room, at the ceiling, the walls, and even the floor. I found a spot that I deemed perfect, right in the doorway between the entrance room and my core room. As I focused on where I wanted the trap to be placed, a shining blue light formed in that exact spot. I saw metal and electronic parts being placed together; the spike trap was forming in front of my eyes.
I stared in amazement at the self-building trap, my jaw hanging wide open in surprise. I don't have many memories from my past, but I had a feeling that things shouldn't be able to construct themselves. I watched a bit more, and when the light dissipated, I began to approach the trap with caution. The spike trap was placed on the roof between my core room and the gate room; it blended in with the wall, its only defining feature being the holes in the ceiling. "I wonder if I can hide those holes," I pondered. The massive holes seemed like a big giveaway, and if I wanted to keep my core safe, then I wanted to make sure my traps were set up to be effective
"I want to ensure my survival," I stated as I looked through my dungeon options once again.
Decorations:
-Vines, cost: Free, up to 5
I tapped on the vines instantly, envisioning them growing along the wall and over the ceiling. The vines then appeared from the bottom of the wall and began growing at a rapid speed until they covered the entire wall and partially concealed the ceiling spikes. I looked at them and smiled at my genius. "It's not perfect, but it's good enough for what I can do now."
I carefully put my hand underneath the spikes, seeing if I could activate my trap. To my relief, the trap stayed dormant, and I was able to walk past them without the worry of getting impaled; that would be a terrible way to die. I chuckled at the vivid image that popped into my head and then looked at the trap. To my surprise, a display screen appeared in my vision.
Rusty Spikes, Tier I
Kills: 0
Kills until upgrade: 10
Cost to upgrade immediately: 10 souls
"I see," so my traps can improve on their own, but if I have enough souls, I could forcibly upgrade them myself. I assume that will be a useful feature in the future, so I don't have to wait for my traps to slowly get kills to level up. Imagine if I had high-tier traps and I needed to wait forever for my new trap to catch up! It would take forever. I sighed mentally at the thought and continued my pondering. It is also nice to be able to see the number of kills my traps have; then I can see if certain ones are more effective than others or if they are in a better spot to catch intruders off guard.
"I'm starting to like the idea of this whole dungeon master thing!" I said excitedly.
I walked away from the trap, exploring my dungeon a bit more. It was small, but that was expected since it only had my core room and an entrance room. The place was bland, excluding the torches and some small foliage that was littered around the dungeon. I walked over to the swirling gate and tried to walk through, but not to anyone's surprise, I wasn't able to leave. It seemed like there was an invisible force that blocked me from traversing the gate, and it blocked off all attempts at forcing my way through it. I punched the gate in frustration, cursing as I gave up breaking out. I walked away from the entrance and towards the opposite end of my dungeon, heading for my core. I reached the pitch-black sphere and tapped on it to see if it would do anything. I poked and prodded, waiting for it to react. "Hello?"
There was no reaction. "Hmph, fine, be like that." I turned away, hoping that it would do something, but then I questioned myself. Aren't I the core? Was I tapping on myself? I laughed and started walking away; as I was about to leave the room, the black void began to hum. I frantically turned around, worried that I had tapped a little too hard. I ran over to see what was happening and to make sure things were okay. I reached the core and checked it for damage. There was nothing that I could see, so I let out a sigh of relief. "What's wrong with you?" I questioned the core
A screen appeared in front of me with a notification displayed across it. "Your first minion is now available to summon."
"My first minion?"