Dungeon Master (Karma System)

Max opened his eyes. He felt a little stiff. Sitting up, he was puzzled. This was not what he expected at all.

He had expected to be reborn as a baby and live another life, but now...

He was in a 5 by 5 meter cave that held no exit. The only reason he could see was because a small sphere was floating in the center of the room.

Getting to his feet he stretched his sore muscles. It felt like he had been laying on the cold stone ground for a while.

*Crash*

Max hand tried bouncing on his toes to stretch out his calves, but he smacked into the ceiling and the fell to the ground. Surprisingly, he wasn’t hurt. Max carefully picked himself up.

”That was strange.”

He raised his hand, clenched it into a fist and threw it out.

He gasped when his arm extended fully in an instant. It was as if his fist had teleported.

”Woah. Did I get stronger?”

Max carefully took a step forward. This time his strength was easier to control.

He had no idea what was going on, but this was definitely not the reincarnation he had imagined.

”System.” He called out.

Nothing happened.

”System!” He tried again but was once again met with silence.

”Damn it. Where is my family, my wealth and my success?” He huffed.

Max the let out a sigh. He would have to figure that out later. He had more important things to worry about. He was stuck in a hole in the ground with no food or water. Pretty soon he wouldn’t have any air to breath.

With nothing but the floating sphere to keep him company, he approached it.

Looking at it from all angles, Max still had no idea what the floating and glowing sphere was.

Cautiously he reached out and touched it.

With a jolt, information began to flood into his mind.

Max was in the prime universe. A dangerous but magnificent place. The world was filled with all sorts of races and monsters. The people here lived in a medieval sword and magic type world. It was a world filled with adventure.

He fell to his butt as his mind processed what he was learning.

Unlike in his old world, every sentient being had a system. To him it sounded less like a system and more like an information panel. Beings could choose a class on their 10th birthday and then begin to level that class.

The classes ranged from warrior to wizard from assassin to healer. And there were a thousand more options between them. Each person embarked on their own unique path. As they accumulated experience the system would give them new skills and abilities.

A person only needed to say or think ’Info’ to pull up their system.

Max gave it a try. ”Info.”

Once again nothing happened.

”What the hell?” Max cursed after trying several more times.

Shaking his head, he went back to sorting through the information.

He realized that the sphere floating in the center of the room was a dungeon core. It was the source of power for dungeons.

Dungeons were cruel and violent places that were filled with rewards for those who triumphed. A dungeon core was linked to a dungeon master. The master designed and controlled the dungeon while the core would facilitate their demands.

While focusing Max could feel the dungeon core resonating with him.

He frowned and wanted to spit in disgust. He had spent his last life helping anyone and everyone. Now he was in an amazing but harsh world. It didn’t take much logic to conclude that he was now a dungeon master.

But to grow stronger, a dungeon had to feed on those it claimed. The dungeon would consume those it killed along with their equipment if it wasn’t retrieved.

Was he really expected to go down the path of slaughter?

Max wanted to yell and scream at whoever’s bright idea this was. Because it certainly wasn’t what he was promised.

Hoping he was wrong; he spoke the word that enabled a Dungeon Master to access the core.

”Menu.”

[Maxwell Clarkson]

[Dungeon Master Lvl: X]

His heart sank as the menu appeared. The information began to display but he noticed the window only he could see began to glitch out. His level wasn’t listed. The whole thing was crossed out with an X.

It began to display more text but then the screen started to shake. Max instinctively backed up, but the screen continued to stay a foot in front of him.

The next thing he knew, the display cracked and began to reform.

[Override complete]

[You have full user permission and are able to access everything.]

Max waited for more information to display.

He even closed and opened the menu several times but wasn’t given any hints.

”I don’t even know my level.” Max said while sighing to himself.

[Level isn’t important when you can buy whatever you want. You can spend DP (Dungeon points) To improve your ability points. You can use DP to by skills. You can use DP to buy spells. With full permissions granted you can be every class and no class.]

Max liked the sound of that. It was a bit of a bummer that he couldn’t level up. But after he thought for a moment, he decided that it wasn’t a bad thing. Leveling up required him to kill monsters. That sounded dangerous.

”Okay, that sounds good. Do I have any DP and how can I earn DP?”

[Current DP: 1,000,000,000]

[Killing intruders will earn you DP based on there level and class. You also earn a few percent of the kill value for every hour an adventure spends inside.]

Max was surprised to see that he actually was a billionaire. It seemed that he had a decent amount of power to work with. For that is what DP truly was. It was the dungeon’s power. When the dungeon killed an adventure, it would generate power and that power could be spent on things.

”Oh? That’s interesting. How does the dungeon grow from people being inside of it?”

[Beings naturally discharge power over time while the body produces new power. The dungeon is able to absorb this.]

”Ah I see.”

Max was starting to feel better about this. He had a decent bank account to rely on. He knew he had to find a way to generate income but perhaps he didn’t have to become a cruel master of slaughter who destroyed anyone who entered his territory.

But first he wanted to know what was up with his improved strength.

”Show me my ability points.”

The dungeon core did as directed. Max had 100 points in all 6 categories, but he had no reference for what that meant. So he asked.

[The average level 1 human has 10 in each stat. The real numbers vary from person to person but generally humans start with 60 ability points. They receive between 2 to 4 points every time they increase level.]

”Then my level should be...” Max began to calculate.

[You are a unique case.]

The dungeon core interrupted him.

”What do you mean?”

[Scanning...]

[Scanning complete.]

[A normal human’s health points is determined by their endurance multiplied by 10. Yours seems to be multiplied by 100.]

[A normal caster’s mana pool is their wisdom multiplied by 10. Yours seems to be multiplied by 100.]

[You appear to have an enhanced intellect. You will be able to remember and comprehend things quicker and in times of distress your thinking ability will accelerate.]

[These anomalies apply to your other stats as well.]

”Ah, okay. So I am some sort of super human?”

[I don’t know. Are you?]

Max shrugged.

”You didn’t sound positive of your conjectures. Why is that?”

[They are inferences based on the data I have received. If you were to raise your ability points it may prove or disprove the current theories.]

”Okay, then how much to raise each stat by 10?”

[1,200 DP]

”Sounds pretty cheap. Do it.”

Max suddenly glowed with light. He felt a power course through him. It felt like he was truly alive. The glow subsided and Max moved around a little bit. He quickly acclimated to his new strength.

[My conjecture holds true.]

”Good. Good. Why was it so cheap to raise my ability points. I thought it would be more.”

[...]

[It isn’t cheap. The amount of DP you have is obscene.]

Max chuckled to himself. That was the life of a billionaire. He then frowned. Technically he wasn’t a billionaire anymore. He would obviously need to spend DP to set up his dungeon, but he couldn’t go completely crazy.

He then began to perform some calculations in his mind.

”So... I need 5,340 ability points to reach 1,000 in every category. That means I need to spend 106,800 DP.”

[Incorrect, the higher your ability points. The more expensive they become. To reach 1,000 in each category it is just below 15 million DP.]

”Damn, that’s a lot more than I expected.”

Max rubbed his chin as he pondered.

”How safe am I with my current ability score?”

[It will be hard for a human beneath level 50 to hurt you.]

[If you perish inside the dungeon, you will be revived. However, the cost of your revival is dependent on your ability score.]

”So if I am stronger, I will be less likely to die, but it is more expensive to revive me.”

[Correct.]

”Let’s table the ability scores for now. I am sure I have a lot of things I need to spend DP on. I imagine there is a shop. Show me what I can buy.”

The lists that appeared were blinding. There was too much.

”Stop! Stop!”

The speeding light vanished as Max shook his head.

[Reminder]

[You have full permissions available. No one knows what the stores hold better than I do. You can ask for suggestions and advice. I will do everything in my power to help you succeed.]

Max’s eyes lit up. This dungeon core was much more helpful than the system he previously had.

”Great. Why don’t I tell you what I have in mind, and you can help me from there. Or at least point me in the right direction.”

[Agreed.]

Max sat down and began talking to the core. As he brought up ideas the core would tell him if they were feasible or not.

He didn’t realize it, but he spent almost 18 hours conversing with the core. They paused a few times as Max bought a few necessities. (Bathroom, food, comfy chair and so on.)

As the two talked it soon became clear that the Dungeon core, with the DP Max had, was capable of a lot.

[It is impractical and goes against social norms. It is unknown if you will ever recoup your investment. There is no data to suggest that such a formation would succeed.]

”Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it won’t work. In fact, I think it will bring in even more adventures than the standard format. I know it’s hard for you to see it as such. But first and foremost, we are a business. Killing our customers is just bad business.”

[It is true that killing customers is bad business. This proves that a dungeon is not a business. It is a predator.]

”The other dungeons are only predators because they lack the start up funds that we already have. Just try to think of it like a business. With my plan we will have a unique service. Our customers will be happy. And if we are successful then we will be guaranteed repeat business.”

[Calculating...]

[Repeat business is not guaranteed.]

Max laughed. ”Okay, sure. There is no way to guarantee repeat business. But don’t you see the possibility? This could work.”

[Reminder]

[I am a dungeon core that facilitates its Master’s desires. You do not need my permission to do anything. I only provide advice based on the data I have gathered.]

Max yawned. ”That’s true. I will think about my plan, but it’s time for bed.”

He stood from his chair and moved to the other side of the room where he had a bed waiting. Max stripped down to his boxers. He was about to climb into bed when he stopped. He felt something strange.

He pulled the front of his boxers away from his waist and looked down.

His eyes widened. ”I don’t think I can call you little Max anymore.”

Max, with a large smile on his face, crawled into his bed.