I was lying in bed, staring through the window at the stars. They were the same as always — cold little pinpricks of light in a black ocean — but they felt closer tonight.
"Oh, I think it's too late to regret that I never traveled to space again," I muttered, my voice rough with age. The air in my throat felt like sandpaper.
Tomorrow I'd turn one hundred thirty-three. The oldest person alive. The oldest person who'd ever lived, apparently. My reward? A creaky bed, a chest that wheezed like an old accordion, and a night sky I could only visit in memory.
I shut my eyes.
Weightless darkness. A blue curve of Earth far below. The steady hum of the ship beneath my boots. I could almost smell the metallic tang of recycled air—
Tick.
The pendulum clock beside my bed clunked forward. My chest loosened, and sleep pulled at me like a tide. My last thought was a quiet, "Good night."
I drifted. Not in water, not in air. In nothing. No sound, no touch, no up or down.
Then—light. A pulse of white so sudden it made my mind flinch.
I was… in a cave? At least, that's what the walls looked like: damp, uneven, shadows twitching where no torch burned. Strangely, I could see everything perfectly, even though it was dark.
I tried to move — nothing happened. Not so strange, I'd been stuck in bed for twenty years — but this was different. My body wasn't even there.
[You awakened as a Dungeon Core]
The words appeared both in my head and in front of me, like someone had projected them into reality.
"…What?"
[Choose two characteristics:
• Earth
• Water
• Air
• Fire
…
• Space (unique)
• Time (unique)]
"Uh… is this the new antidepressants talking?" My voice felt like it was inside me now, echoing without air. "Because if so, the side effects are… creative."
[Please make your choice]
I snorted. "This is one of those isekai things, isn't it? My grandson mentioned them. Usually you die first."
Laughing at my thoughts; me dying? I guess — The probability is higher, than seeing hallucinations of the new meds.
[Please make your choice]
"Well, if this is like a game, I'm picking the only two that sound exciting."
[You have successfully chosen:
• Space (unique)
• Time (unique)]
[Please place your Dungeon:
• In the depth
• To the sky]
I grinned — or at least I thought I did. "To the sky!"
The ground trembled. Pebbles rattled. A crack split the cave roof, spilling sunlight like a flood. It was too bright. I felt myself fade, as if the light had carried me away.
White.
Not blank, not empty — white walls, smooth and clean, ten meters on each side. The air didn't move, but I could see everything, everywhere.
And in the middle floated… me.
I didn't have hands or legs — just a sphere the size of a football, glassy and flawless. Its depths were black with a sheen of blue, like deep ocean water.
Inside, countless lights drifted in spirals, as if someone had poured an entire galaxy into the glass. The lights formed a circle. Two hands — one short, one long — moved around the center.
A clock. A galaxy-clock.
I stared at myself for a long time, caught between awe and the creeping thought that I'd finally gone insane.
Memories I didn't recognize poured into my head. A trickle at first, then a steady stream. I didn't see who gave them, but they settled into my mind like they'd always been there.
A "Dungeon Core." That's what I was. Alive, somehow. A brain and a heart rolled into a marble. No lungs, no blood, no body. But alive.
And I could build.
I tried thinking about this "Mana" (kind of the stuff I could build with) and instantly knew it — a tingling warmth that filled the air like invisible sunlight. I didn't understand how it worked, but I felt it, like a current waiting for my touch.
Experimentally, I focused on the ground. A small spark of warmth left me, and a pebble appeared. Just a pebble, but it felt good!
I almost laughed. "Magic rock-making. I've peaked."
A pulse of new knowledge flickered through me: living things leaked tiny bits of Mana, just by existing. When they died, they released it all at once.
Dungeons like me could use that energy — Dungeon Essence — to build, grow, and defend ourselves.
I paused at that word: defend.
Because apparently, people hunted Dungeon Cores. To them, we were dangerous, evil even. All because we fought back when they tried to smash us apart and take our Essence.
"Ah," I muttered. "So I'm a monster now. Wonderful."
Still, curiosity burned brighter than fear. Somewhere in this bright white room, the word rose up in my mind like a button waiting to be pressed.
Status.