I am a Dungeon Core.
I have no name. A Dungeon Core is simply a Dungeon Core.
I am nothing more than the dungeon's will given form, created solely to determine its structure.
The dungeon I created myself is one where, if you defeat the monsters that spawn inside, gold, goods, and occasionally food will come out. Humans came to call it something like the "Never-Go-Hungry Dungeon."
There are food drops.
That feature proved rather popular, dungeons that help with the food supply tend to attract adventurers who stick around for a long time.
The longer adventurers stay and keep fighting in my dungeon, the more Dungeon Points I accumulate.
Because of that, I was able to earn more Dungeon Points than dungeons that only drop gold or valuables.
But that's all.
Once the dungeon expanded to about eight floors, the income and maintenance costs reached a standstill.
For the past forty years since then, the dungeon I created hasn't grown at all.
If I forced it to grow any further, the upkeep costs would definitely outweigh the gains. So even if I wanted to expand, I couldn't…
When a stagnant dungeon's item drops grow stale, adventurers begin to leave, and eventually, the dungeon has no choice but to shrink.
But if I try to change the drops just to avoid that outcome, the number of adventurers might plummet beyond saving, and the dungeon could collapse in the blink of an eye.
The reason is simple.
We Dungeon Cores don't truly understand what humans want or what makes them happy.
Just because another dungeon becomes wildly popular for dropping a certain gem doesn't mean the same gem will succeed in mine. Trying to imitate it can cause my dungeon to decline all at once.
Human masters say it's because the item loses its rarity value. But to be honest, we Dungeon Cores don't really grasp what "rarity value" even means.
In any case, there is a general agreement because of these factors, and to avoid mutual destruction: "Imitating a popular dungeon will lead to mutual ruin. It is forbidden."
Such rules have been established within the community of Dungeon Cores.
My dungeon has eight floors. It's a little bigger than average and a decent result overall, but it can't be called a "giant" dungeon by any means.
I want to become a far greater, far grander dungeon. To grow larger… That is the primal, instinctive desire that all Dungeon Cores possess.
Yet after one hundred years, all I've built is an eight-floor dungeon, followed by forty years of stagnation… That was the limit of what I could create with my own sensibilities.
So during these forty stagnant years, I quietly saved up Dungeon Points and used them to summon a human soul from another world, to have them create a new dungeon for me.
Making a human the dungeon's master is a method borrowed from other giant dungeons, but since I'm not copying their drops or rewards, it shouldn't be a problem… probably.
In fact, several dungeons have already used this method and achieved respectable results.
Yes… All I want is a dungeon bigger than eight floors.
I want to grow… I want to grow so badly.
If that's what it takes, then I'm willing to hand over dungeon authority to a human.
Besides… Even if I hand over dungeon authority, I still hold the right of life and death from the initial soul contract.
If they can't even build five floors in fifty years, which would be a result inferior to mine, then I'll just kill them.
They're a human I bought by pouring in forty years' worth of saved up points.
Don't disappoint me, alright?
"Alright, I'm gonna make a hot spring dungeon."
…And the human I finally obtained said something like right away.
Is this really going to be okay…?