Ashen rose stiffly from the cold stone floor, the grinding of his bones echoing faintly in the cavernous chamber. The air was thick with dampness and ancient magic. His hollow eye sockets scanned the darkness, eyes slowly adjusting to the faint, eerie glow emanating from the pulsing Dungeon Core embedded in the wall.
The Core was his lifeline, the source of his power — and the only voice that spoke to him now.
"Hunger detected. Nearby prey. Initiate hunt protocol." the Core whispered in his mind, calm but firm.
The dungeon walls seemed to breathe as if alive, shadows shifting. Ashen's skeletal form, awkward yet purposeful, began to move forward. His joints, still unfamiliar with motion without flesh, creaked with effort, but the core's power pulsed in his bones, urging him on.
From the darkened corner, a faint rustling caught his attention. Two glowing eyes peered from the shadows — a goblin, small and vicious, but a threat to one as vulnerable as Ashen.
"Target: Goblin. Threat Level: Low. Experience Reward: 15 points."
The goblin snarled and charged, claws slashing through the stale air. Ashen dodged, his movements jerky but deliberate. He had no flesh to protect him, no nerves to feel pain — only raw determination.
Gathering strength, Ashen's hand shot out, fingers wrapping around the goblin's arm. Bone grinding against bone, his skeletal grip tightened until the goblin's struggles ceased. With a swift snap, the creature's arm broke, followed quickly by its neck as Ashen squeezed with terrifying strength.
The goblin collapsed in a heap.
"Target defeated. Experience gained: 15."
A strange warmth radiated through Ashen's frame — the Dungeon Core's energy knitting his bones, filling him with new power.
"Level Up Available. Current Level: 1. Experience: 15/50."
The Core's voice echoed inside his mind again.
"Distribute skill points."
Ashen's mind grasped the options — skills born of bone, of death, of power over this dark realm.
Instinctively, he chose:
Skill: Bone Reinforcement Lv.1 — Harden skeletal frame to increase defense and strength.
"Skill acquired."
Suddenly, Ashen felt sturdier, his movements less clumsy. The core pulsed brighter.
"New ability unlocked: Skeleton's Grasp. Bone damage increased by 10%."
The skeletal warrior tested his new skill, crushing a broken rock in his hand as his grip tightened with ease.
As Ashen moved deeper, the Dungeon Core's presence grew stronger. It whispered secrets about the place — ancient corridors, untapped floors, and the creatures lurking within.
"Dungeon status: 1 floor active. Expansion recommended. Monster taming essential for dungeon evolution."
Ashen paused before a cracked wall with ancient runes glowing faintly. The Core instructed:
"This wall marks a sealing barrier to the second floor. Expand the dungeon by breaking this seal and creating a new floor."
Ashen focused the Core's energy, channeling it through his hands. The runes pulsed violently, then shattered with a burst of magical energy, revealing a descending stairway swallowed by darkness.
The Core's voice became a guide.
"Dungeon floor expansion will increase core energy. Place dungeon cores on new floors to stabilize mana flow."
Ashen dropped to his knees, feeling the ground beneath the stairwell pulse. Reaching into his ribcage, he grasped a small fragment of the Dungeon Core's power — an orb of glowing energy. Placing it carefully in a hollow niche at the stair's base, the orb floated and then emitted a soft, steady light.
"Secondary Core activated. Mana flow increased by 10%. Dungeon stability improving."
A faint glow spread through the stairway, inviting Ashen forward.
As he descended, he heard guttural noises — the sounds of creatures disturbed by the seal's breaking. Emerging into a larger chamber, Ashen faced two snarling goblins and a larger, shadowy beast — a young dungeon wolf, eyes gleaming with wild intelligence.
The Core's message was immediate.
"Target priority: Dungeon wolf. Taming potential: High. Subdue for control."
Ashen's bones tensed, but this time he didn't seek to kill. Instead, he focused the Core's energy into a binding aura, encasing the wolf in glowing chains of blue mana.
The beast struggled but gradually calmed, its eyes locking with Ashen's hollow sockets. The connection was fragile but growing stronger.
"Taming successful. Dungeon Wolf added to command."
A sense of triumph surged through Ashen's frame.
"Experience gained: 40. Level Up Available."
Leveling Up
Back in the first chamber, Ashen concentrated again on the Core's guidance.
"Distribute skill points."
He chose:
Skill: Summoning Lv.1 — Ability to summon and command tamed monsters.
Skill: Bone Regeneration Lv.1 — Accelerate repair of skeletal structure.
"Skills acquired."
The warmth of the Core flowed through Ashen, knitting fractures in his bones and awakening a power beyond death.
The Dungeon Core pulsed steadily.
"Dungeon evolution condition initiated: Expansion and monster taming. Progress will unlock further evolution stages and new abilities."
Ashen looked upward toward the sealed stairwell — a gateway to power, challenge, and the unknown.
His journey to reclaim existence, to rise from nothing but bones to sovereign of the dungeon, had truly begun.