Thane stood inside the new cavern, his index finger rubbing his chin.
"…So this is my first dungeon, huh?"
The cave was a hollow, empty room, with dark walls stretching about forty meters, the only thing breaking the monotony being the softly pulsing heart-shaped Dungeon Core floating in the center. It beat slowly, like a faint drum, as though the whole place was asleep.
As soon as Thane's gaze lingered on the Core, glowing text appeared before him.
[Groundling Dungeon Channel: Setup Instructions]
Item Placement – You may insert objects from your inventory into the Terrarium. Select an item, drag, and drop its icon into the dungeon map. Placement is semi-virtual; you can move items around before confirming.
Ecosystem Growth – The dungeon develops based on resource balance. Find out what resource to put in the dungeon to help it grow.
Mana Flow – Position mana sources carefully. They serve as the lifeblood for creatures and structures inside.
Offerings – Corpses of Dungeon Breaked Monsters may be absorbed into the Dungeon Core. (Warning: May spawn slime infestations.)
Authority – As the Dungeon Master, all monsters spawned will obey you and will follow your commands at your thought.
Thane rubbed his chin.
"So basically… It's like playing Dungeon Keeper, except I'm also the janitor and the food supplier. Nice!"
Another overlay appeared:
[Item Storage: Dungeon Channel Access]
- Emergent Mana Vein x1
"Oh! The Mana Vein!"
He clicked it. Immediately, a glowing 3D projection appeared above the ground. A massive stony crucible, cracked but thrumming with power, rotated in midair like an object waiting to be slotted in. At its center swirled liquid light, mana pooling like quicksilver in the hollow bowl.
"…It's like I'm playing a Sims game... This looks fun! I get a TV and a video game! Man! I truly am blessed." Thane's eyes became wet with tears.
Thane dragged the floating Mana Vein with his mind. It drifted over the cavern like a ghostly hologram. Instinctively, he lowered it beneath the Dungeon Core, just as he remembered it had been in the original dungeon.
[Placement Confirmed.]
The crucible sank into the ground, merging seamlessly with the dungeon floor. Mana began to spill out in gentle streams, forming a shallow glowing pool directly under the Core.
The Dungeon Core's pulsing immediately quickened.
Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.
Its heartbeat shook the cavern walls as life slowly began to form.
"So the Dungeon becomes a living organism... Then those Dungeon Kings are basically lord over their dungeons..." Thane analyzed.
[Dungeon Core Vitality Increased.]
[Dungeon Development Pathway Unlocked.]
"Ok... So, like this, the Dungeon can start to grow. Hmm... The TV doesn't give me more hints than it should. I guess I should just keep exploring and testing. I guess with the core and the mana vein, all I can do is wait. Alright! Dungeon settled. Now what do I do?" Thane thought.
He then smirked.
"Obviously… binge-watch TV!"
Back in his overlay, he flicked open the [History Fantasy Channel] and saw the list of shows. He began to queue up a few episodes, but soon ended up adding a lot of shows.
Velithra: First Song of the Beasts
Forest of Legends: The Living Labyrinth
Orcs: Brutality or Brotherhood?
Forest Finds! Food and Fiends
Thane sat next to the Dungeon Core, which had a little lump that was comfortable to sit on.
"Alright, let's start learning about this world... Through TV!"
Thane decided that he needed to understand more about the world. Especially the Dungeons!
The first episode began: sweeping vistas of ancient Velithra, a silver-haired elf narrating how the Forest of a Thousand Form Beasts is a place of potentially thousands and thousands of dungeons. Thane learned that a Dungeon is created when mana gathers and spurs life to the environment.
Depending on the environment, the history, and the legacies of the land itself, it can create dungeon cores of many forms.
As a Dungeon grows, the creatures inside the dungeon may soon create creatures that are no longer bound to it, and the beasts wander outside.
Thane learned a lot about it and soon watched several episodes of Forest of Legends: The Living Labyrinth.
Thane watched several episodes that showcased a Goblin dungeon. This was a Dungeon that had evolved from a Groundling Dungeon!
A Groundling Dungeon would form when the ground, with the right combination of blood, life, and the core, becomes sentient.
Mana Memory had allowed numerous beasts to form, and those with humanoid form had a higher intelligence.
They would copy other cultures and take inspiration from things, allowing even newly formed Groundling Dungeons to develop and acquire weapons and armor, making humanoid Dungeons the most dangerous Dungeon Types.
In the show, the Goblin Dungeon had evolved to a frightening level that it had a large territory and used the underground world to spread its reach even to the nearby kingdoms, making it a constant pest.
It showed that the dungeon of goblins would be 'built' in several rooms with various rooms for food, water, and even weaponry.
"So that's how these goblins had spears! I'd better look for those items!" Thane decided and had the urge to go out and explore the Groundling dungeon.
"...But after one more episode." Thane continued to watch the next episode.
...
...
As expected, Thane did not stick to his promise and watched three more episodes of groundlings and goblins. It wasn't until an episode detailing their battles with the orcs that Thane recalled the prelude he saw in Dunkar and the Holy Dragon Slayer, where he would be fighting orcs.
"Right! Orcs! I'll be fighting them!" Thane exclaimed.
He had already learned a lot about the orc region, which is created by a dungeon that has reached a level that the core has become a living beast, which is the Dungeon King.
Thane watched a detailed episode on the History Fantasy Channel of the oldest Dungeon King.
It was a level 43 Orc Over King and was one of the strongest beings in the Forest!
It had an army of Orcs that had relocated up in the mountains and built one of the major kingdoms in the Forest of a Thousand Form Beast, which was also one of the biggest problems of the three kingdoms.
"And I will fight them... Right. I have to prepare! Oh... I wonder how to harvest their cores..."
With this, Thane searched for the Orc episode of Monster Core Harvesting —From Slimes to Serpents! He observed the methods used for harvesting the core and was amazed at how unique the orcs were.
The particular episode Thane watched explained that the orcs were dual-core beasts. And Spirit Strikes won't be effective unless the orc's skin is practically stripped away.
The impressive vitality of the orc to add layers of skin made it difficult to attack, and even the Orc King was said to have withstood the Dragon's breath and survived!
Thane found out that as all beasts grew, they would evolve, and the Orc was already a mid-rank creature, averaging levels 15-29!
Thane went back to the orc shows of Orcs: Brutality or Brotherhood?
Thane was so engrossed and saw that the Orc kingdom had a slime farm.
The slime channel was so intriguing that Thane switched channels to a slime documentary. He stumbled into an oddly cheerful program: Slimes: Nature's Limitless Experiment.
The upbeat host enthusiastically explained how slimes could absorb elements and mutate into endless variants. The Fire Slimes, Ice Slimes, Metal Slimes, and how endless a slime could be.
Soon, it showed how Slimes were delicious delicacies that could be cultivated as spices!
Thane drifted into the Food Fantasy Network. There, animated chefs demonstrated how to grill a variety of beasts, including cockatrices, Growl Gators, Basilisks, eggs, brew mushroom stews, and many more. Forest Finds! Food and Fiends became one of Thane's favorite shows, and he couldn't wait to try out the new recipes he saw.
Thane watched and indulged on all the shows. Until finally...
[Effects of the Ambrosia Fruit have ended. Celestial TV Time Dilation has reverted to double speed.]
Thane's brain didn't quite register the notification at first until he read it the third time.
But then the horrifying hunger got to him, and he realized he was watching for 13 hours straight!
"The fragment?! It happened again! I should really stop this! I missed several Bible studies like this in my past life!" Thane cursed and, despite the desire to keep watching, Thane forced his finger on the remote to shut down the Celestial TV.
Upon shutting down the television, Thane noticed a small, impish creature that was lying on the ground.
"Oh? The Dungeon has started to make its first Groundling!" Thane was excited and approached it.
The small creature was frail, thin, and lying on the ground as though it was on the verge of death.
It was trying to crawl, seeking anything around it.
Thane frowned and couldn't understand why the Groundling was like this.
GRRRRR...
Suddenly, Thane's stomach gurgled, and he realized he was hungry as the Ambrosia Fruit had lost its effect.
"...Wait! Hunger! Thirst! This poor Groundling has nothing to eat and drink!" Thane quickly opened the portal and left the Groundling Dungeon Channel.