The Core surveyed its domain again. The axolotls were…dancing? Writhing around in the water, to the beat of the crayfish claws snapping. The Assimilator watched with equal confusion. The pale creature ‘shrugged’, and returned to the Core, resting.

An average day. But the Core had work to do.

{Prepare. We shall assault the new caves} it ordered its creations, conjuring another Fanged Axolotl to help protect the squishier creatures. The crayfish stopped snapping quickly, marching toward the new entrance. It turned out the Core could excavate rock using its mildly acidic flesh-influence, but it took a long time. The older axolotls seemed sullen about their entertainment being taken away, but a firm order sent them scrambling into the excavated opening.

Then the Core realized it hadn’t spread any influence into the cave…

The Core’s creatures instantly went wild, thrashing about, as their bodies began to dissolve. They weren’t being sustained by mana anymore!

Peering into the darkness, the Core saw a flash of silver, blocking the whole tunnel, and when it subsided, its creatures were gone. Fear filled the Core, but whatever had consumed the poor mobs hadn’t come back.

The Hivemind sent an urgent notification, ‘flashing’ in the core’s mind.

{DANGEROUS LIFEFORM DETECTED NEARBY CORE}

{ADVICE: CONSUME LIFEFORM’S BLUEPRINT}

{ADDITIONAL KNOWLEDGE GRANTED BASED ON MATURITY}

Dungeon Cores are crystalline mana constructs created by the Eternal System to manage sentient populations, and control the balance of power. Your purpose differs. You must masquerade as a Dungeon Core, slowly gaining power as you mimic proper Dungeon behavior, until you are ready to spread outside your ‘Dungeon’, and claim Kairos for {ERROR_REDACTED66666666666}. To accomplish this, creativity has been infused with your developing consciousness.

The Core roared in pain, as energy coursed through, warping its thoughts. Now, it wanted to develop ‘Floors’ for adventurers, each with a different ‘Theme’, and unique challenges, and got progressively harder as they went deeper. The Core was filled with the uncontrollable urge to create…and it hated this forced intrusion. The Core’s resentment for the Hivemind grew silently. However, it could this time feel the carefully monitoring presence of the Hivemind, and erected a facade of false, desired thoughts, shielding the Core’s dark imaginings.

The Core began to rebuild its army, as its mana replenished over time. First came four Fanged Axolotls, and two Lesser Psychic ones. 10 of the Crayfish Sentinels were grown from the spawning pods, and three Assimilators were sent as scouts into the tunnel, carefully feeling the ground for vibrations. They would not be taken by surprise again.

However, the Core felt it needed more. Much more. Perhaps it was the forced creativity that the Hivemind had implanted. Perhaps it was the thought that the Sentinels needed partners like the axolotls. It hardly mattered.

The lesser crayfish were modified in the Core’s mindscape, focusing on the unique traits detected in the creature’s organs. They spit up the prey they consume. Modified enough, this digested prey could become an acidic nightmare. Chemicals were introduced subconsciously into the crayfish’s glands, and the armor was consumed to provide both more speed, and additional biomass. Finally, it was done.

{CAVE CRAYFISH BLUEPRINT MODIFIED: CRAYFISH SPITTER}

Cavefish Spitters are Core-spawned creatures that are more agile and dangerous than their natural counterparts. The chitin of the Spitters have been cannibalized, but their speed is unmatched among crayfish. Spitters have the ability to regurgitate consumed prey as acidic goo, ‘spitting’ them long distances. This variant has high evolutionary potential.

The Core was pleased with this result. They would complement the Sentinels, which in turn protected the Spitters. The Core thought about the Fanged Axolotls, and the ‘evolutionary potential’ referenced by the Hivemind. Clearly, some creatures would change over time in response to actions they took. Unlike the Sentinel, this one could evolve greatly on its own.

The menagerie of creatures followed the Assimilators into the abyss. Thankfully, the little chunks of influence that they dropped helped to reveal the passage. The tunnel created by the large monster that had killed the previous mobs was passed quickly, and the Core wasn’t keen on exploring it further.

Soon, the exit loomed ahead, revealing a gaping ravine. Exotic mushrooms throbbed in crevices, and monstrous bats eyed the newcomers hungrily.

The Core could tell it wasn’t ready for this challenge. It could sense the mana coursing through even the lowliest fungus, unlike any creature the Core had ever encountered. Whatever existed in this cavern that had empowered them so, it was powerful.

The Core ordered the mobs to retreat, and decided to follow the prompting of the Hivemind. It would play along for now. Adventurers would come, and it would be their gauntlet.

Preparations began, as the Core bent more mana than it had ever used at once, and the caves quaked.

The Core surveyed what it had done. The natural caves had been obliterated, fashioned into a dangerous series of ‘rooms’. It missed the old caves, where the axolotls had played, and where the Assimilators slept, but the Hivemind had given it no choice.

As it had begun, a new notification emerged.

{DUNGEON CREATION INITIATED}

{NOTE: DUNGEON MUST HAVE SURFACE ACCESS (FOR ADVENTURERS)}

{NOTE: A MINIMUM OF 3 ROOMS IS REQUIRED AT CURRENT RANK}

{NOTE: A MINIMUM OF 6 MOBS IS REQUIRED AT CURRENT RANK}

{NOTE: CURRENT ROOM MAXIMUM: 6}

{NOTE: CURRENT MOB MAXIMUM: 9}

A Dungeon Core’s Rank is the value that dictates their power. Higher ranked Dungeons can have more rooms, and more mobs to fill them. Abilities are unlocked at higher ranks, as well.

{YOUR CURRENT RANK: 1}

That had helped greatly in the Core’s work.

The entrance was the reworked pool room, the crack in the ceiling repurposed into a rough stairway downward. The flexible axolotls were used to spread the Core’s influence that far, and it took a long time for the influence to warp the stone to its whims. The pool remained, but was darkened greatly using extracted kelp juices, an excellent place for the axolotls to lurk. The fanged ones lurked just below the surface, while the psychic ones remained at the bottom, hindering adventurers far from sight. The opening to the Core was closed, as was the excavated tunnel. A new entrance was forced in the northern side, leading into the second ‘room’.

The second room was a warren of tunnels, sized using guidance provided by the Hivemind. Smaller tunnels webbed the entire area, housing swarms of Crayfish Sentinels and Spitters. The mobs could quickly travel through the smaller tunnels, setting up ambushes, and retreating if they take too much damage. Another entrance led to another room, containing a concentrated application of influence and mana. The flesh throbbed and pulsed, and two unique structures had developed during creation. A lesser spawning pod, that created Assimilators every few hours. Additionally, tendrils of flesh lashed out at any nearby hostile creatures, choking them in the fleshy walls. At last, the room opened up to the Core.

It now sat on a pedestal of influence-flesh, surrounded by a protective barrier of chitin. Five Crayfish Sentinels and paired Spitters, along with three Assimilators guarded the room. According to the Hivemind…

{DUNGEON BEHAVIOR INFORMATION}

Dungeon Cores are not supposed to have access to their core itself. However, some opening must exist to allow control over the Dungeon.

Thus, the Core was separated from the main rooms by a thick wall of flesh, blending in with the third room. The Core was mildly satisfied with its Dungeon, but felt it needed…something more.

A name.

However, it didn’t really know what a name was. It could only think of itself as ‘Core’. That had been the way it was designed. So the Hivemind helped.

{RANDOM NAME GENERATOR INITIALIZED}

{SELECTING 100 NAMES}

{CROSSING NAMES WITH INVASION CORE PERSONA}

{2 NAMES REMAINING}

{NAME: SUARON}

{NAME: VORINUS}

The Core was confused. It didn’t feel an opinion either way. It just stared at the names blankly.

{ERROR_SYSTEM/TIMEOUT (WAITED 120 MINUTES)}

{NAME PERCENTAGE CHANCE TO BE SELECTED: 50%}

{CALCULATING…}

{NAME VORINUS CHOSEN}

{IMPLANTING NAME INTO INVASION CORE PERSONA}

Pain once again filled the Core’s mind, and its vision darkened. The pain became unbearable, and it fell into unconsciousness.

Vorinus awoke again, feeling different…but whole. It felt complete. It analyzed each room one last time.

The axolotls were playing with each other, swimming happily in a never ending chase. The psychic ones would occasionally mess with their brethren, causing them to careen into walls, or turn around. They would narrowly avoid being snapped at for their mischief.

The crayfish were…building? Mining loose stone from the room, and gathering it into a central chamber they had dug out recently. They were careful not to damage Vorinus’s influence, however. The structure taking shape vaguely resembled a fort, albeit a rough one. A narrow opening for a gate, longer pieces for towers, and the rest used to build huge walls (for the crayfish’s size). How they got these ideas was unknown, but something about it seemed familiar to Vorinus…

The Assimilator room was a hive of activity, each unit taking turns to sleep (a common hobby for the flesh blobs), or guard the group, chirping at the slightest noise. Of all of Vorinus’s mobs, it liked the Assimilators the most. Likely due to their kinship-creation by an unknowable entity, for the purpose of consuming the world. A united goal. The mobs were slaves ultimately, even if they didn’t realize it.

Finally, Vorinus turned to its current project. The Mimics it had received so long ago. They had great potential, but it could sense the enormous mana cost to create it. It would need to grow, much, much more than it was.

Pleased with its current set up, Vorinus went dormant once more.