“Considering I almost died out there.” David said. He was surprised himself. He felt like crap, but considering that he had just been in a car crash and it was a miracle that he hadn't died. He saw the Doctor hesitate and go to examine his chart.
She was trying very hard not to freak out. She had just seen a man vomit up a few very large ants and things that she wasn't about to repeat aloud. She kept glancing back and forth between David and his chart, trying to understand what had just happened.
“Mr Mascoff. There is no easy way to say this but you have been in a coma for some while now,” Glover said.
David didn't know how to feel about that. Coma? Wasn't that just some stupid plot device that bad drama movies used so they didn't have to pay their actors for a season? He looked at his stomach again. It hadn't been his imagination, he had lost some weight. Another wave of tiredness hit him. He felt drained. He was frightened to ask, “How long?”
Her hesitation told him that it was more than a week and he inwardly groaned.
After bracing herself for the inevitable crying, screaming, anger, and denial that was about to come, the doctor said, “Two years.”
Something happened then that David did not expect, a line of text appeared at the top right hand corner of his vision.
Quest completed. Wake up.
You have survived a complete configuration change.
Reward: New game-like configuration. Your species has been changed to Dungeon Core.
***
David woke up. He didn't so much feel pain but a sense that he had spent an all-nighter writing a detailed report about something meaningless, like his entire life. He was emotionally drained, his mind functioning on autopilot. He didn't know how much time passed but he existed in a state of wanting to do nothing but stare at an empty wall.
Was he standing or lying down? Was he dead? Was he dying? Was he hungry or thirsty? David couldn't work up the power to give a rat's arse, so he did what many people did when they couldn't get to sleep; he stared at the ceiling and thought about nothing.
Eventually, he got bored and managed to scan his surroundings. He appeared to be in a small security room, the type of which you would expect to find in a supermarket or department store. Nothing too grand, just a few monitors and a smell of coffee hanging in the air. It was the type of place where varicose veins were born, grew up, and had little babies of their own.
The dungeon looked down and discovered that he appeared to have lost a bit of weight and that he was wearing his favourite and only real suit. He was unable to get over it, he must have lost over nine or ten kilograms. He was far from skinny but his beer gut had definitely receded. He was also amazed to discover that he was sitting in his favourite computer chair.
“What happened?” David asked himself.
In front of him were five computer monitors all displaying various screens and diagnostic tools. To David's left was a door, and to his right there was a coffee pot with a sign on it saying in big bold letters DEATH FOR COFFEE. It was all rather weird.
David groggily got out of the seat and approached the only door, “Hello?” he called out. When no answer came, the dungeon let himself out and found himself back in the cave. “Crap.” he spat. He was still a God damn cave. Only now his truck was gone. Just what the hell had happened?
He continued to look around and noticed something. Was the cave bigger than it had been before? The decor hadn't changed, except of course for the security office add-on, which was nice if a little simplistic. It wasn’t like NASA control room big, but it was better than being in a dingy cave.
There came a buzzing noise from David's pocket, “Is that...” he checked and sure enough it was his phone. To his further astonishment he discovered that he had mail.
| To: DungeonMaster@dungeon |
| Subject: Version 2.0.0.0 |
| Dear David Mascoff Thank you for choosing to become the first dungeon in your area. Your current configuration includes; A private sanctuary where you can monitor and interact with your environment, manage your subordinates, and manage your current storage. Limited building abilities. Limited domain expansion. Nullified instinctual abilities. New mutation utilities. New storage system. New manuals. New tutorials. New resources to dungeon points coffee machine. New dungeon points bar. A phone that allows access to functions outside of sanctuary. Sleep mode. Autopilot mode. Warning and notification system. Maintenance bar Internal storage Reports Keep in mind that due to maintenance costs you are only given the very basics of dungeon abilities. As you increase your base dungeon points/DP you can upgrade functions. Enjoy. |
David read and reread the email. It looked like a game update rundown rather than anything else. He looked around at his domain and then back at his phone. There were application shortcuts on the desktop showing various abilities
Out of curiosity he tapped on the button that looked like a sheet of paper with lines on it. It was his stats page.
| Dungeon name: Unnamed Dungeon Master: David Mascoff Dungeon type: Rogue Dungeon fairy: N/A Current dungeon points: 53 Achievements: I'm my own boss Unexpected guests Earth based Highest level monster: Komai Oatzzi Kills: 2 Time since dungeon start: 2 years, 4 months, 16 days, 4 hours, 9 minutes |
It was then that David stopped reading and turned his attention to the clock, “You're shitting me?” he said to himself. It really had been two years since his crash. That sucked. That had to be the longest update in history. What did he have, friggin' dial-up?
He wondered how his body was doing. Had he died of a heart attack? Was he still working in a call centre? Had he gotten himself a girlfriend? That last one was improbable but so was him being a dungeon.
Getting more curious, David turned to the button with what looked like a goblin.
It appeared as if this was some kind of database with all the creatures he killed, owned, or had on file. He looked at the buttons.
| Australian species: European Wasp Bull Ant Blow Fly Insect Race: European Wasp Bull Ant Blow Fly Hell Butterfly Demon Race: Hell Butterfly Exotic: Komai Oatzzi |
Komai oatzzi? That was what Morgan was? David clicked on her name and read her stats.
Monster species: Komai oatzzi
Native homeland: Alora
Type: Exotic
Rarity: Scarce
Special contract powers: Larger storage bank, ravenous hunger, space folding.
Description: Komai oatzza started off as bags of holding. Through experimentations by wizards they turned into a sentient race of beings who exist only to eat. Eventually one of these creatures was destroyed by a dungeon, that dungeon then manufactured hundreds of these monsters.
When the dungeon was destroyed these creatures were set free to devour the world.
Komai oatzza are considered both a calamity and a sign of prosperity, as killing this creature results in its body expelling all of its contents. Entire mountains have been eaten and later expelled by the death of a family of komai oatzza.
“Son of a bitch.” David said aloud. It was starting to sound like killing Morgan had been the right call after all. If he had let her go she could have eaten half the planet before somebody