It was night.Noah was still sitting in front of his computer, immersed in an online RPG session with two friends.
"Come on! We're almost at the final boss of this dungeon!" he exclaimed, excited.
On the screen, the three characters stood before a colossal stone door, adorned with red-glowing runic symbols. Noah's heart was racing; after countless failed attempts, he and his teammates had finally reached the ultimate challenge of one of the game's most feared dungeons — considered by many to be impossible to complete.
With a satisfied smile, he moved his avatar to the entrance. Together, they opened the door... but what followed was far from what they expected.
Suddenly, the image on the monitor began to distort. Lines of code danced across the screen, which spun as if turning into a digital vortex. A deep humming sound filled the room. Before Noah could scream for help, he was violently pulled into the screen.
He didn't know whether he was awake or dreaming.
The pain was gone — in fact, all physical sensation had vanished. It was as if he were floating in a void. There was no wind, no heat, no cold... yet he knew he still existed. His consciousness remained lit, suspended in the darkness.
Little by little, his senses returned. The darkness faded, and Noah found himself in a new place.
A gigantic room.
No — an ancient hall, worn by time. The moss-covered, cracked walls resembled the ruins of an ancestral castle. Rusty chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling, casting a dim, flickering light that barely fought off the shadows.
The place was so vast it could house an entire stadium.
Noah tried to move, to stand, to run — anything. But... nothing happened.
Confused, he looked at himself. Only then did he realize the absurdity: he had no arms. No legs. No human body. Instead, he floated at the center of the room like a crystal — a huge, blue, shimmering crystal pulsing with strange energy.
He couldn't feel panic. He no longer had a heart to race or lungs to sigh. But the terror was real. His consciousness screamed, trapped in that body of light.He was still Noah. But also... not anymore."W-what's happening...?" Noah murmured, his voice trembling — or at least that's what he thought. There was no sound, no echo. Only the feeling that he had spoken inside his own mind.
He had no eyes, but could see everything. The room around him revealed itself from all possible angles, as if he were present in every corner at the same time. It was as though he had become omniscient within that vast and silent space.
Suddenly, a soft metallic sound echoed like the ringing of a bell.
Ding!
A light flashed in his consciousness, and with it, a firm and neutral voice resounded directly in his mind:
"Welcome, Core Noah. You have been designated as the new Dungeon Administrator.Your objective: expand, protect, and transform this space into the most challenging and influential dungeon in the world.May death bring prosperity."
The voice vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving a dense silence in the air — or in what he now understood as "his perception."
"Administrator...? Core...? What does that even mean?! Where am I?!" he shouted in desperation, but realized no sound came out. He had no mouth, no body. And yet, he was there.
That's when he noticed the interface before him. It seemed to have always been there, floating in his mental field of vision:
[Dungeon Management System]Name: NoahRace: Dungeon CoreRole: Dungeon AdministratorCondition: StableLocation: Dungeon Central Hall (Level 0)Dungeon Level: 1Current Reach: 1 room
His non-existent heart couldn't beat faster, but the fear was real. The room — gigantic, ancient, made of worn stone and cracked columns — seemed to observe Noah as much as he observed it. As if the dungeon were alive… and he was its new heart.Noah had lost all sense of time.There was no sun, no moon, no hint of day or night. But one thing he knew for certain: many, many hours had already passed, and he was still there, motionless, lost in thought.
He accepted that he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.Now, he was the dungeon core — the very place he had so often destroyed in his games.What irony, he thought bitterly.
If he controlled everything here, at the very least he could explore his domain.With his body made of glowing blue crystal, he slowly floated toward the great gate at the end of the hall.
But upon crossing it, disappointment hit him like a blow.
His dungeon was tiny.Much smaller than he had expected.Even the most basic dungeons in the games he played were infinitely larger.
It was only a two-room dungeon: an entrance and the end.
"How the hell am I supposed to build a decent dungeon with just this?" he thought, a hint of despair piercing his mind.If he had eyes, a tear would certainly have fallen.
The entrance door was small, like an old castle gate, half open. Noah floated to it and tried to exit, but as he crossed it, he felt a strange sensation and, in a blink, was teleported back to the grand central hall.
Like an invisible prison, that space seemed to say it wasn't time to leave yet.Noah decided to explore the system interface more deeply. Focusing his will, a new tab opened before his consciousness:
[Dungeon Shop]Soul Essences available: 100
Common Chest – 50 Soul Essences
Zombie – 10 Soul Essences
Mutant Spider – 10 Soul Essences
Skeleton – 10 Soul Essences
Upon viewing the menu, Noah was surprised. Just like in a game, he had his own currency: Soul Essences. One hundred units, to be exact.
"Soul Essences... so this is the resource I'll use to buy monsters and strengthen the dungeon?" he thought.
But when the image of adventurers walking through his empty dungeon and reaching his core with ease appeared in his mind, a chill ran through his essence. The way things were, anyone could cross the hall without effort and destroy him.
"Damn it... I need defenses!" he thought, panicking.
Without hesitation, Noah opened the shop again and made his first purchases: two zombies, one mutant spider, and two skeletons. The moment he confirmed the purchase, his essence was consumed — and a bluish light began to glow in the shadows of the entrance hall.
With a dry snap, the two skeletons appeared among broken stones, as if just unearthed. Each walked to a fallen pillar and lay there, assuming an immobile position, pretending to be forgotten remains of the past.
The mutant spider came next. With quick, eerie movements, it climbed one of the entrance walls and began weaving a thick web, covering part of the ceiling and creating an almost invisible trap.
The two zombies... they just wandered. Slowly, dragging their feet, they moved from side to side, groaning softly, as if lost in their own rotten instincts.
"It's not much, but... it's a start," Noah thought, watching his new guardians.
Now, Noah could have some sense of time. Through the gap in the dungeon's entrance, he noticed when daylight lit the corridor or when the darkness of night took over. This allowed him to count the days since he awakened as a core.
In the first room, Noah spun slowly in circles, with nothing to do. Four days had passed. Four long days of absolute silence. Not a single living soul had come near.
"Maybe that's a good thing... I could live a peaceful life," he thought.
But he quickly contradicted himself.
"Peaceful, my ass! I'm gonna die of boredom here!" he yelled, echoing inside his own consciousness.
It was then, as if the universe had heard his complaint, that something made him stop.The dungeon gates creaked. Slowly, heavily… they opened.
Three figures stepped inside.
Noah felt his crystalline body being pulled back to the central hall, as if an invisible force dragged him to his original position. His consciousness, however, remained there, observing.
"Hm. So that's how it works... If someone enters, the core is automatically brought back to the hall," he murmured, intrigued.
The visitors appeared to be an inexperienced group of adventurers. The first to speak was a young girl, pretty-faced with anxious eyes. She gripped her staff tightly, visibly nervous.
"Kael, are you sure it's a good idea for us to enter this dungeon alone? I've never even heard of it..." she said, shrinking slightly, eyes scanning the dark corners as if expecting an ambush.
"Don't be foolish, Liah," replied the sturdy young man up front. He wore leather armor reinforced with metal plates and had a large sword strapped to his back. "The unknown dungeons are exactly the ones hiding the best treasures. Trust me."
The third member walked behind them in silence. A serious-faced archer, sharp-eyed and discreet in his movements. He said nothing, but his eyes scanned the room like he already knew something wasn't right.
Noah watched them intently, excited like a child about to get a new toy.
"Yes... come closer, adventurers. Welcome to my trap! Muahaha!" he exclaimed mentally, with an evil grin that existed only in his imagination.