Chapter 10: System Activation

Words : 1160 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

Chapter 10: System Activation "Finally! I thought I'd never see the light of day!" A childlike voice sounded in his head, causing Luca to fall off his bed. "Ow!" Luca rubbed his head while looking around for the source of the voice but saw no one and nothing new. "Host! I...I don't have a physical body, especially outside the Dungeon." Luca couldn't see it, but he felt like this entity was somewhat embarrassed about not having a body. Then Luca remembered the weird prompts he got before he was booted out. "Was that your doing? What's that about a system integration?" "Ah yes, Host. I suppose I owe you a proper introduction. I'm D-29, the system manager of the Mutated Dungeon 29. And I'm here to support you as the current Dungeon Master." D-29 sounded proud, but Luca was just lost. Luca normally referred to his dungeon as "space" because he still felt chills every time the word "dungeon" was mentioned. However, for a time, it was because he had no idea it used to be an active dungeon. And it would've remained that way had he not discovered the gate-like structure in his sea of consciousness. But even as he explored his space, he's never once seen or heard D-29. And he was sure he had explored his space like crazy because he hid there from the time he was imprisoned until his eventual death. "How come I've never seen or heard you before?" Luca felt the need to be guarded, though he wasn't sure how effective that would be, considering it had already invaded his mind. "That's because the integration conditions haven't been met back then. But now that we've fixed that, I'm now able to assist you!" Luca found this a bit skeptical and couldn't help but ask about these conditions. "What conditions were suddenly met for you to activate out of nowhere?" "Uh...Host, I'm also not entirely sure, but what I know is that it's largely because of our old location as well as your compromised spiritual powers." "You realize that's not exactly helpful, right?" D-29 panicked as its new Host seemed wary of it. But D-29 really had no idea. It had also been waiting for so long, only able to use its energy system to keep the Dungeon functioning. Realizing that this would get him nowhere, Luca decided to ask D-29 about its functions. After receiving a vague explanation, Luca felt a headache coming on. "So, you're telling me I've never been into the actual dungeon proper all this time?" "Yes, host. You've only stayed by the mouth of the Dungeon. But with me here, we can remedy that issue!" D-29 sounded a bit happier as he mentioned his use. "Then, all along, the entire area was just the entrance?" He knew the relationship between his access to the dungeon and his spiritual powers, but apparently he didn't know the full extent of it. D-29 affirmed his question, but that just gave rise to more issues. Luca wasn't exactly crazy. Why would a sane person even want to venture into a sleeping dungeon? All the while, he's been trying to evade death. So, why would he willingly interact with a dungeon that just activated? Sensing the souring mood of its host, D-29 hurriedly explained the advantages of accessing the originally inaccessible parts of the dungeon. "Host, this dungeon isn't active like the other dungeons! And by unlocking the dungeon's capabilities, you could also improve your constitution!" That caught Luca's attention. He was so desperate for improvement that he was willing to hear about this very shady system. "Explain." He said as he squinted in scrutiny. Feeling threatened, D-29 decided to appeal to the Host's needs instead. "Improving and unlocking the dungeon would increase the generation of spiritual power. The water would be more potent, and the flora and fauna would grow faster and yield better." "Then you could also access the Trove. With that, you can get rare materials and other cool things." Now, he just sounded like a scammer, but Luca wasn't exactly great against scammers. Why else would he end up imprisoned when he was much stronger than those people stacked together? It was because he was gullible. D-29 was lucky enough to encounter someone like him, but Luca still had to ask questions that he deemed necessary. "What's the catch?" Good things just don't happen to people like him. There was normally something with anything remotely nice. "None, really! It's just that we need to hit a few milestones to get started." D-29 offered immediately. Luca wasn't one to believe that it was just that. But there was really no point in dwelling on it when the dungeon was attached to his sea of consciousness. Even if it was a timebomb, there wasn't really much that he could do. So, if there were benefits to this, then we might as well just get those, too. "Then what should we do first?" "I suggest lifting the entrance barrier so that you can access your cabin." "So there's a particular method?" Luca's original plan was to just to get as close to his original rank before, but there seems to be a more direct approach. "By inputting enough Spiritual Energy into the lock." "Isn't that just going to take what little power I've managed to recover?" prodded Luca, who didn't like the idea of losing something he almost died gaining back. "Maybe we could try to improve your energy first before unlocking the barrier?" D-29 said as he shrunk in fear. It was then that Luca realized he'd have to work even harder than before. Everything seemed to depend on his struggling spiritual powers, and he had no more time to play around. He really needed the other side of his cabin unlocked. And to do that, he'd have to further improve his current constitution. That night, D-29 had to deal with the shock of his new host spurting blood everywhere. The poor system panicked once he realized Luca's plan. Submerged in a wooden tub, Luca decided he'd power through the pain. His goal was to ingest the remaining recovery pill before the medical staff re-evaluated his spiritual power assessment. Luca's efforts eventually paid off. By the time he left his room for lunch, Luca had already evaporated three tubs of spiritual water. D-29 paid for it with what little sanity he had remaining after realizing that his Host seemed to be a little too unhinged. But it was too late to be regretting things now. He was bound to serve his new Host diligently. After all, he didn't want to explode like his seniors.

Chapter 10: System Activation

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