The flames were beautiful.
They licked the ceiling with orange fingers, dancing across steel beams and shattered glass, painting the world in a flickering kaleidoscope of crimson and ruin. Kaelen Yurei lay on the floor, blood seeping from a wound he couldn't feel, his back pinned under a collapsed support beam.
The building—once the pride of his life's work—was dying around him.
The air stank of burnt plastic, scorched circuitry, and betrayal.
His vision blurred, but his mind was sharp. Too sharp. Even as death crept in, numbers floated in his consciousness. Code. Algorithms. System logic. And faces—those of the men and women who once called him friend, partner, or brother—now distorted by greed.
"You're too dangerous, Kaelen. You think like a machine."
"He doesn't get it. We can't let him keep control."
"Accident or not, the fire will wipe it all."
They had set him up. Or rather, shut him down—one final debug, courtesy of arson.
He could've built nations. Created digital gods. His AI frameworks and world engines had revolutionized immersive VR, strategy sims, and real-time evolution games. His genius terrified them. His lack of obedience sealed his fate.
Kaelen coughed, blood bubbling at his lips. "Idiots," he whispered. "You only feared me because you knew I was right."
As his vision narrowed to a pinhole of light, the world seemed to glitch.
No, not the world. Reality.
A shimmer of static coursed across his field of view, like a corrupted HUD overlay. His pulse slowed, his breathing faltered… and then—
[ERROR – HOST VESSEL TERMINATED]
[Searching for viable data transplant zone…]
[Biomass compromised. Rerouting consciousness…]
[New Core Detected: Classification – PRIMORDIAL DUNGEON SEED]
[Transfer Protocols Initiated]
Kaelen's final thought before blacking out wasn't of revenge.It was curiosity.
What kind of system are you…?
…Loading Consciousness…
There was no warmth. No breath. No skin. Just awareness—raw and weightless.
A heartbeat? No.A pulse? Yes—mechanical and deep, like a bassline echoing through stone.
Kaelen felt… contained. Buried. Surrounded by rock and soil. The silence was oppressive, yet strangely serene.
And then, like a dormant circuit snapping awake:
[Welcome, Kaelen Yurei – You are now: DUNGEON CORE – Designation: Null-Zero]
[You may summon: Goblin, Skeleton, Slime]
[You may evolve units based on environmental energy, tactical synergy, and host intellect.]
[World Threat Rating: 0.01 – You are insignificant.]
[Objective: SURVIVE.]
He didn't scream. Didn't panic. He analyzed.
"Dungeon Core? A primitive framework. Organic fusion architecture. Tethered to terrain control, mana economy, and bioconstruct evolution…"
He processed it like he always did—like a game.
But this wasn't a game.
He had no limbs. No eyes. No mouth.
Just mana.Just logic.Just rage.
He could feel ancient bones buried around him. Fungal growth in a nearby shaft. Stale magic lingering like old perfume.
He was the heart of this place now. A sealed tomb beneath a forgotten mountain.
And in that cold, dark hollow, Kaelen Yurei smiled.
If this world dares to laugh at goblins, skeletons, and slimes… then I will make them gods.
Let's begin from zero.