There were a brief few seconds which Teaghan couldn’t feel or see anything. She found herself falling, dropping towards a planet that looked very much different from Earth. This made it real for Teaghan that her life on Earth was done and that this was not a hallucination or a fragment of her imagination.

As Teaghan descended onto the planet, she tried to take in everything that she could see, so she could have some information about her new environment. From the brief glances that she was able to sneak, Teaghan was able to see four large continents and maybe some islands. But Teaghan could not know if what she saw was the only masses of land on the planet. But she figured whatever help she could get could help her survive in her new life. Even though Teaghan could make out these masses of land, she could not even begin to imagine what environments these places could hold.

She kept on freefalling, and she finally made it into the atmosphere. But once she made it into the atmosphere, she was finally able to look at what was directing her, and Teaghan was finally able to look at her new body. She looked around the tube directing her descent and saw a jewel falling with her. The jewel looked like a rough, uncut spherical, mixed colouring of violet, blue, green, and red ammolite. Teaghan looked closer at this jewel, and she felt a sort of attachment to it. She felt a tether connecting her soul to the gem.

After Teaghan finished looking at the gem, she focused on the tube. The tube was fascinating to her. The tube seemed to be made of some sort of energy.

‘Ya, an energy that seems to be guiding me, I think?’ thought Teaghan.

She studied this column and the energy’s effect. Teaghan reached out and touched the energy, and suddenly a blue box appeared in her line of sight, declaring what the energy was.

Ethereal Mana

When Teaghan touched the ethereal mana, a small part of the energy that made up the column seeped into her body, well, her new body, her core. When it entered her, she felt the ethereal mana being added and mixed to her own energy.

As she was playing and figuring out every, she once again heard the voice of that annoying red-eyed goddess.

« Hello everyone, I hope you’re enjoying your descent. In the next couple of seconds, you will hit the planets’ surface and be locked into that area. »

Teaghan tried to focus on her voice, but she could feel her body shifting in the direction that the column led to. When she tried to see this new world and environment, it felt like she was looking through a broken telescope. It seemed to Teaghan that the energy was blocking her vision outside the column.

« Ah, ah, ah, little core. No cheating until you get settled down. »

Teaghan startled, the goddess spoke directly to her. It kind of scared Teaghan that Zealla was watching her movement.

‘Oh well, I guess I won’t be able to see outside this column’ sighed Teaghan in response to Zealla speaking directly to her.

When Teaghan stopped directly looking for a way to see outside of the column, she saw something in the corner of her eye. At the very edge of the column of energy, mana, whatever it’s called, was what seemed to be a broken piece allowing a small window to the outside world. A small portion of the column was open, and Teaghan figured that maybe it happened when she absorbed a small part of the mana. But now, she could look through the broken piece and could see the outside of the environment without Zealla bothering her.

When Teaghan looked through the broken piece, she saw that her path led to an area between an extensive mountain range, a large forest of some type, and the ocean. She was even able to feel the temperature through the opening, giving Teaghan the thought that if this world was like Earth, then she may be close to the equator.

But before Teaghan could look for more information, she had reached the intended destination and started speeding up. Her rate of descent increased until she was a couple of metres above the land, then plummeted. She was a couple of centimetres above ground before she blacked out.

* * *

When Teaghan woke, she was in a dark room. She could feel that this room was like a cave, but it was strange. Teaghan did not know how she could tell that this place was a cave. And strangely enough, she could still see the area around her. She could feel the walls, floor, ceiling, everything. She could feel everything in this room.

Before she could even ponder about her circumstance or act, the goddess, Zealla, she believed that was her name, started speaking.

« Hello, my dear. You have been placed between the mountain range - aptly named the Everlasting Chain - which dissected the two continents of Rohas and Ekesh, Parthian Lake and the vast Outray Forest. »

« Your job will be to build your dungeon and gain control of the area around you. What you do after that, I do not care. »

‘Huh, I wonder why she is telling me this,’ thought Teaghan.

« You will be given a choice of biome and a starting monster. To access control of the dungeon, say or think the word “status” and you will be able to access everything else through it. To gain control of the surrounding area, you have to push your mana into the place you want to claim. Every one metre costs two mana. I wish you good luck, baby dungeon core. Oh, and before I forget, there is a little present on the way for you. »

Teaghan listened to what Zealla said and just could not think for a couple minutes. It took her a long time to take everything that she said in. ‘Oh god,’ thought Teaghan, ‘did she honestly have to spring that on me now?’