I came to my senses, lying on my back in the midst of an expansive white expanse with basically nothing in it. The ceiling seemed endless with no limit whatsoever.

I clambered to my feet, noticing my body didn’t hurt in the slightest. Bleeding wounds that didn’t know the word “stop” had gone without a trace; even the arrow lodged on my side was gone like I was never injured in the first place. Except for the holes in my clothes to be evidence that it wasn’t just a dream.

As I surveyed my surroundings, I realized that the expanse was without end, basically just an endless, empty white space. Where was I?

“Am I in the afterlife? If so, then count me disappointed.” C’mon, think logically. This place must be somewhere else.

No one answered me, of course; maybe this was a dream within a dream, who knew since my injuries had all healed up. Thus, I pinched myself just like I did be— “Ouch!” Okay, this clearly isn’t a dream. But where am I exactly? No, wait. Is my backpack still here?

In haste, I moved my arms to feel my backpack and found that it was safe and sound on my back. Phew. Still, there was nothing in sight, and… it felt lonely. Was this true loneliness?

“A space void of anything… In the first place, why does this place itself need to be white? I mean, wouldn’t it make more sense for it to be black or somethin’?”

Like magic, as though to respond to my words, the space around me turned to pitch, abysmal black. The kind that didn’t reflect any light that even my own hands weren’t visible despite being placed only twenty centimeters in front of me.

“Hey, hey! Who turned off the lights?” I yelled.

It was then that the place lightened up and reverted back to white. The process wasn’t instantaneous but fast enough for me to freeze momentarily in shock.

“Uh… H-Hello? Is anyone there?!” Either way, there must be somebody responsible for doing all that.

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Eek! Whoa!” The reply was lightning quick that I almost stumbled backward.

Turning around to the voice’s origin, I saw a pretty girl barely the age of a middle-schooler sitting at an umbrella table with a tea set. Her existence was strangely not off-putting and tickled the sense of adoration within me. Maybe the word “pretty” wasn’t enough to describe her.

Upon closer inspection, she had silvery lilac hair that reached down to her waist, and a black ribbon adorned the side of her head. Her purplish-black dress had a wide white stripe down the middle that stretched from her neck to her waist. Plus, a necktie with a red gem below her collar.

Her face was doll-like, flawless, and expressionless. She wore thin black gloves and thigh-long black stockings and had porcelain-white, delicate skin and a pair of bright purple eyes that made me fall into a daze, yet they exuded some sort of ethereal charm like a pair of amethysts. Her appearance was fairy-esque, like a fairytale princess coming out of a picture book; I couldn’t even fathom how such an ethereal and perfect figure even existed. However, the figure in front of me proved otherwise.

“Who are you?” A question was automatically uttered from my mouth. Contrary to what I said, I checked her identity with [Developer Interface].

Name: -

Species: Dungeon Core (human)

Sex: Female (?)

Age: 1 year old

Height: 141 cm

Occupation: A Dungeon Core of an unknown dungeon

Vocation: None

Stats:

STR: F- (3) AGI: F- (2) VIT: F- (2) MAG: E (27) SPR: F- (2)

Accumulation Points: 8 [F]

Holy smoke! A Dungeon Core?! I instinctively had my guard up, searching for something inside my pockets that could be used as a weapon… Unfortunately, not finding anything.

“You!” Pointing my finger at her, I snapped, “You are that mindless object that tried to control me!” Since she had lower stats than me, I thought it would be possible to best her if we were to clash. Although, her high MAG made me a bit wary of her.

“Bingo. Even so, calling me an object and mindless at the same time is rude. While I had yet to attain sentience at the time, I was still a living creature.” She calmly slurped the tea on her hand, remaining nonchalant about all this. “But it was you yourself that forced me to try to control you; your tenacity to keep living attracted my interest.”

“Stop beating around the bush! Just what are you?” I knew that she was a Dungeon Core, but I felt that there was more to her than that.

“I didn’t beat any bush. Oh. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to take a seat first? I’ll serve you a drink, so stop being all restless.” She prompted me to sit across from her.

Seeing that we wouldn’t come to a consensus by just bantering around, I begrudgingly yielded to her offer and sat down. In almost an instant, the surrounding white space transformed into a big garden — a courtyard — as a matter of fact, a large mansion popped up not too far away. Jaw slack, I was shocked-speechless by the spectacle.

“Please drink, if you don’t mind.” One of the teacups moved toward me along with its saucer, like it was pushed by an invisible hand. Magic? The cup was filled with a brownish-yellow liquid, most likely tea. What kind? No idea. But the smell felt familiar somehow.

I didn’t bother with the tea, however, and went to demand for answers, “Where is this? And who are you, really?” I mean, the Dungeon Core I saw yesterday was just a crystal ball. For that to turn into her was absurd, to say the least.

“Me? Isn’t it rude to forget about me after the things that you did to me yesterday?” She remained expressionless despite her absurd answer, making me at a loss for words.

“Nonsense!” I hit the table hard, causing the tea-filled teacups to spill about. “I don’t even know you! If you keep playing around, then don’t blame me for being rude!”

She slurped the tea and calmly answered, “You’re no fun. Fine. Let me introduce myself: Right, I am a Dungeon Core, and I have no name; you may call me as you wish. As for where this is, we’re in an Artificial Realm located right within me. And…”

In conclusion, I got to know that she was just a Dungeon Core that had yet to gain any sort of intelligence; as a result, she was barely considered an “inanimate” object. But I must thank that state since that was the sole reason that I was able to win. A weak human like me, she said.

Is it not possible to discover her true agenda? There are still tons of things I’ve yet to know about [Developer Interface], after all. And thus, I went ahead and messed around with her status screen. One thing that bugged me was the question mark beside her gender… What was that supposed to mean?

Whatever it was, I got the feeling that much of the information presented on the status screen was redundant, so I decided to mess things up a bit. Making it more dynamic was one example; it would surely make processing information more quickly as it now only showed those that were most necessary and needed, and here was the result:

Name: -

Emotion: Intrigued, resentful, appreciative

Species: Dungeon Core (human)

Sex: Female (?)

Age: 1 year old (12)

Height: 141 cm

Occupation: A Dungeon Core of an unknown dungeon

Stats:

STR: F- (3) AGI: F- (2) VIT: F- (2) MAG: E (27) SPR: F- (2)

Accumulation Points: 8 [F]

There was more to this ability than what it appeared at first, but I should probably mess more with the interface later. This would make do for now. I also found out that I could manipulate the status screen with just a thought — no physical interaction was needed.

“Why are you staring at the air? Ah, must be because of your Vocation, right?” said the humanoid Dungeon Core with a certain tone like it was a matter of course. “[Developer Interface], was it? Isn’t it rude to pry into someone else’s identity? You’re such a vulgar man, I say.”

“How? Wait, can you even see this?” From her reaction, it seemed that the status screen was invisible to her. Still, I hadn’t even told a single soul about my Vocations. Actually, I had only been in this world for about a day… if what she said were true.

“Is it that surprising…? Vincent… Or should I call you, ‘Mr. Otherworlder’?” she said with a rather sarcastic remark.

“What? So it’s all true…”

Still expressionless, the no-name Dungeon Core replied, “I hate to tell you this, but it’s the result of taking control of me. Your previous action made you the Dungeon Master of this dungeon — me — and a connection was established.”

“Whoa-whoa-whoa! Slow down! I can’t wrap my mind around this yet.” I wasn’t sure what she meant by becoming a “Dungeon Master”… “But that doesn’t explain why you know I come from another world… Does it have anything to do with the ‘connection’?”

“Correct. You may be my Dungeon Master, but I won’t acknowledge you as my master! I may be grateful for the knowledge you bestowed me, but at the same time, I’m resentful,” she stated.

“Knowledge…? My memories?”

She responded with a nod. “I was told that this was a necessary process to become a Dungeon Master — sharing knowledge with the Dungeon Core.”

“Are you speaking the truth? Just how much about me do you know? And by whom were you told that?” Just thinking of her knowing full well about all my memories and secrets made me sweat to no end…

“You need not worry. Most that I got were superficial knowledge.” Whew. “And… I don’t feel like telling you.”

Does she hate me? Well, it’s understandable to suddenly have someone lording over her. I’m glad that it’s not the other way around, I thought, feeling good that I won that battle.

“My, I change my mind. Might as well tell you: The closest term that you will understand is the ‘World Will.’”

The World Will, huh? Understandable. World… Gaia theory… Simulated existence… Somehow, what she said led me to a chaotic notion about something terrifying, but I denied it quickly— Or more like, I didn’t want that to be the case.

For now, I didn’t doubt the information and decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Above all, I was just a clueless bum here… and every piece of knowledge would help. Still…

“Anywho. Y’know, I just got tossed into this world without a single idea of why and how. By all means, I’m looking forward to finding my way back home… maybe.” I scratched my cheek.

“And?” she asked, tilting her head.

I decided to just stop beating around the bush and get to the point. “I might not stay here for long and need to hit the road soon. Is there a way to sever the connection?” Of course, I wouldn’t mind exploring the world… but… getting involved in dungeon stuff seemed a pain in the ass.

“Then die.” Despite her outward appearance not moving, her face was dead serious. “If you die, the connection we share will lapse by itself.”

“Be serious, or I…!”

“Fufufu. Well, alright.” She explained, “What I said is just one of the options.” She slurped her tea again before putting the cup in its saucer, and then continued, “To be honest with you, if it wasn’t for the connection, you would have died, being shattered to pieces from the overwhelming stress on your body. By becoming a Dungeon Master, you’re technically reborn anew, no longer of the human race that you formerly were.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“No, I’m dead serious.” There was no reaction in her outward expression; she was indeed serious.

Am I… no longer a human? Feeling a shiver run down my spine, I immediately checked my status and found nothing different whatsoever on my species except the addition of title and—

Title: [Humanoid] Dungeon Master

MAG: F (10)

Accumulation Points: 7 [F]

Yahoo! I was exhilarated to find that it was no longer zero, and my evaluation had ranked up. Can I use magic now? Wait, does MAG stand for magic or…

MAG (magical power)

Accumulation of magical energy’s (mana…) limit within the body and an ability to perform magic thereof.

Eh, the explanation is simple enough. Though it probably meant that someone with high MAG didn’t always indicate that they could use magic it seemed. And it appeared that “Accumulation Points,” or simply “AP,” weren’t the sum of all stats, though I didn’t know what made them up.

“Rest assured, whether physically or mentally, you’re no different than before. Don't take what I just said seriously; I'm only half-joking—” She stared at me blankly and remarked, “Hm? What are you grinning silly for? Are you thinking something naughty about me? You pervert.” She acted shy and covered her body with her hands, albeit with little expression change.

I facepalmed; the way she spoke and acted wasn’t like how “typical” humans were supposed to be, nor was she human. Just that, how did she even come to that conclusion? This little rascal.