A Living Dungeon

At the southeastern border of the High Rock Kingdom, where the mountains met the swamplands.

Deep underground.

Within a spatial rift between reality and the void, a newborn dungeon was taking shape. In the deepest chamber of the dungeon's second floor, a sphere of light floated in midair.

Ripples spread across the sphere's surface as the smooth orb rotated irregularly, as though it had only just awakened and was still somewhat dazed.

In truth, Luo Ao was indeed confused.

His memories still lingered on the blinding headlights that had suddenly flared before him, accompanied by the BGM of "we're all trying our best to live." Yet the memories continuously surfacing in his mind made Luo Ao clearly understand his current situation.

He had transmigrated, and into another world at that.

The knowledge constantly appearing in his mind gave him a rough understanding of his current identity.

A dungeon.

One of the most classic settings in countless novels, anime, and games—a place that endlessly provided adventurers with wealth and adventure.

Passionate battles, lost treasures, encounters within dungeons, and more—the indispensable element of every classic adventure story... this was a dungeon.

But there was one problem: Luo Ao himself was now a newborn dungeon.

According to the knowledge surfacing in his mind, Luo Ao roughly understood that the outside world resembled a Western fantasy setting. Gods, the Abyss, and all kinds of fantastical races had together created a world filled with wonder.

In this world, ancient ruins, secret realms born from the void, and divine kingdoms that had fallen during the Age of Myth were all collectively called dungeons.

Dungeons contained vast amounts of treasure, resources, lost forbidden magic, legendary epic equipment, and even fragments of divine sparks and divine artifacts left behind after gods died.

Every dungeon represented limitless wealth and power, making them targets coveted by major factions and countless adventurers.

The many kingdoms, factions, and towns of this world had all been built around dungeons.

And he, Luo Ao, was now one such dungeon—a dungeon conceived and born from the void.

The entire dungeon was a part of Luo Ao, while the sphere of light at its deepest point was the dungeon core, where Luo Ao's consciousness and soul resided.

"Three days left?"

After adapting to his new identity, Luo Ao had no time to dwell on it. According to the information in his mind, he had three days before he, as a dungeon, would emerge into the world.

If he did not want all kinds of adventurers coming and going through his body, Luo Ao had to find a way to make the dungeon stronger. Otherwise, adventurers would force their way into the deepest part of the dungeon, seize control of the dungeon core, and turn him completely into an adventurer's plaything.

The next second, a pale blue magical interface appeared in his mind.

[Dungeon Name: None]

[Floor Level: lv2 (200/300)]

[Floor Creations: None]

[Special Resource: Adaptive Fungal Strain x1]

[Primordial Power: 500 (Dungeon level lv2, Primordial Power +20 per day)]

[Talents: Monster Creation (can consume Primordial Power and any materials to create various monsters), Flesh and Soul Absorption (can devour and digest the flesh and souls of all dead within the dungeon), Layer Shaping (consumes Primordial Power to alter floor layouts)]

[Notice: Three days remain until the dungeon emerges into the world.]

"Three days from now, whether I live or die will depend on this!"

Luo Ao stared at the dungeon control panel before him. It was an innate ability he possessed as a dungeon, and the Primordial Power displayed on the panel was one of a dungeon's core powers. Whether leveling up the dungeon to create new floors, creating monsters, or altering the dungeon all required Primordial Power.

Simply put, Primordial Power was the dungeon's lifeblood.

Without hesitation, Luo Ao first used 100 Primordial Power to make up the experience needed to raise the dungeon to level 3. As its level rose from 2 to 3, the entire dungeon began to shake violently, while a brand-new dungeon floor rapidly opened up within the void.

A passage connecting the second floor to the third grew into existence.

Luo Ao focused his mind, and the new dungeon appeared in his thoughts. Like the two floors above it, the new third floor was also cavernous in shape, but its total area was more than half again as large as the second floor.

The dungeon's first floor was only the size of an ordinary town, its low stone caverns filled with an oppressive atmosphere. The third floor, however, was already ten times larger than the first, its deep caves resembling maze-like passages.

But that alone was not enough. With a thought, Luo Ao began consuming Primordial Power to create numerous false passages and entrances across all three floors, while concealing the paths to the next floor in hidden locations.

The dungeon could not completely hide an entrance to the next floor. Otherwise, Luo Ao would have hidden those passages entirely.

The next second, the great sphere of light containing Luo Ao's consciousness and soul moved to the deepest part of the third floor. As the dungeon gained another floor, Luo Ao could clearly feel his own power grow considerably stronger.

The more floors a dungeon had, the stronger Luo Ao became as the dungeon itself.

"Next are the monsters to guard the dungeon."

As he spoke, Luo Ao looked at the dungeon's sole special resource, the "Adaptive Fungal Strain." Every treasure and source of wealth could help Luo Ao increase the accumulation rate of Primordial Power, while also serving as the best material for creating monsters.

Looking at the fist-sized Adaptive Fungal Strain before him, which pulsed continuously like a heart, Luo Ao mobilized Primordial Power and infused it into it.

"Monster Creation."

Pure white power symbolizing the primordial continuously flowed into it. The Primordial Power on the panel dropped directly to 280, while the fist-sized fungal strain rapidly expanded. Countless mycelia spread from it, creeping along the walls of the stone caverns.

One brightly colored mushroom after another grew. Once they reached the height of an adult's calf, round little legs sprouted from beneath them, and they pulled themselves out of the ground.

"Success!"

Luo Ao watched as Puchi after Puchi appeared—the low-level monsters commonly known as Ground Mushrooms.

[Name: Fungus Lord]

[Level: lv3]

[Skills: Adaptive Evolution lv3, Hive Mind lv3, Reproduction lv2, Neurotoxin lv2, Spore Spit lv2, Mycelial Network lv1]

[Description: A brand-new monster created by the dungeon. It possesses a Hive Mind and can adaptively evolve according to different growth environments, producing different kinds of offspring. Compared to those seemingly adorable Ground Mushrooms, the mycelia spread throughout every corner are the truly terrifying existence.]

"I struck gold!"

Luo Ao looked at the description of the monster he had created on the panel, and his first reaction was that he had struck gold. Adaptive Evolution allowed the Fungus Lord to adapt and evolve according to different environments, while Hive Mind allowed the Puchi it spawned to divide labor and cooperate like ants.

Just like the insectoid race of legend.