I awoke to Silence.

  That was strange. Somehow comforting, but nonetheless strange. In all my life I’d never heard anything quite like it. I’d been born in the city after all. The rushing of cars and the humming of a computer had been my constant companions throughout life. Even when I tried to get away from it all, diving into the heart of the sea, I could hear the beating of my heart and the whirring of my breath. Now; however? Silence.

  Irritatingly, it was accompanied by a feeling of emptiness from my other senses. I saw nothing but black, tasted nothing, smelled nothing, and felt nothing. In truth it was the last one that worried me most. There weren’t many logical reasons as to why I couldn’t feel the existence of my body; none of them were good.

  Having puzzled through the situation logically, I reacted how any sane, rational person would, avoiding panic at all costs and…

  AHHHHHHHHHHH! WHERE THE HELL AM I? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? Have I been kidnapped by aliens? I’ve been kidnapped by aliens! I’m going to get probed! Then they’re going to vivisect me and…

  I paused for a second, my train of thought screeching to a sudden halt as my frantic mind finally seizes onto a solution that explains all of my symptoms.

  Am I dead?

  Ding

  A noise resounded, shattering the fragile balance my mind had formed upon realizing my situation. Desperately hoping beyond hope, I glanced around to find what had disturbed the quiet.

  A single blue panel floated at eye level. It wasn’t decorated, It wasn’t ornate, it was just… blue.

  The text was a bland white color and almost slabbish. I didn’t understand the words on the first read through. They just slid out of my mind like water through a sieve. The second read retained the big ideas, and the third finally convinced me that this was real. I was dead. More importantly; however...

  A blue panel…? Oi!? What kind of cheap afterlife is this? Where are the pearly gates? The 47 virgins? The Eternal Feast? The Edgelord of a Boatman? I mean come on, I’d even take a chair and cheap magazines in some waiting room!

  The panel faded away, only to be replaced by a new one.

  YEAH! I think I’d…

  It was here that I finished reading the box.

  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE! ABORT! ABORT! MEETING CANCELLED! I DO NOT WANT TO MEET BOB THE REAPER WHO CAN ACCIDENTLY SHATTER MY SOUL!

  Ehem… I mean... Sorry for questioning you mysterious box voice! I think the blue boxes are more than fine. They’re perfect actually! What a brilliant idea? Who would ever complain about them?

  For a moment I was silent, shocked by the sudden change in what I assumed to be an automated System. As the box started to fade away; however, I was jolted into action. I had to say something! If I didn’t I’d be alone here forever!

  What can I say? How do I…? Argh there’s no time!

  THE MITOCHONDRIA IS THE POWERHOUSE OF THE CELL!

  …

  Did I just…? I did, didn’t I?

  In my rush to say something, I had blurted out what had been drilled into me thousands of times throughout my years of schooling. Now, as the silence returned and went on and on, I quickly came to terms with the fact that someone as awkward as me couldn’t possibly exist and resigned myself to an eternity in the void.

  Well Errr…. Sorry?

  Chaos?

  Questions flooded my mind as the box kept rambling on an on. Whereas the previous box voice had seemed curt and mechanical, Ace practically gushed words out at a nonstop pace. Text would simply flood across the textbox in an almost unruly scrawl, before fading almost instantly as the next line appeared. After a few moments of reading I finally managed to get a few words in.

  What Rebirth? And my name’s not Arden. It’s Daniel!

  Again my name is

  And with that, the box disappeared leaving me alone with my thoughts in the void.

  I… I was dead. My life was over. I’d never gone skydiving. I’d never driven off into the sunset. I’d never talked to her about … about that. I’d never seen my kids, or my grandkids… I’d never gotten to be an overprotective father, or give away my daughter… I’d never…

  Regrets continued to flash through mind. Some memories, both happy and sad, but mostly dreams. Dreams left unfulfilled. My own home. Eating a burger bigger than my head. My own family. Dancing under the stars wit…

  Wait. Starter World? Mana? Sea cucumbers? Magical Monsters? Questions darted across my mind as lifelong beliefs came crashing down around me.

  What… None of this makes any sense! That only happens in stories!

  Confused as to why this would convince me, I nonetheless dutifully looked down. There wasn’t anything there, just an empty eternal void like the one stretching out before me. Why would this persuade me?

  Oh.

  Well…

  Wha… What? What exactly is the alternative? Going back to my life with my girlfriend right where it left off?

  Cough Cough

  Setting aside his little rhyme, I thought about my choices for a second. A new life, or something that scared Ace, the Blue box man. When I put it that way, the choice was rather easy. I probably shouldn’t do the thing that terrifies a being like Ace. A being strong enough to read my mind. And make blue boxes.

  Yeah, sure I suppose. It’s not like there’s anything better to do here. You really ought to renovate this place a little. Make it a bit less… empty.

  Again… why are you talking about Chaos as if he’s a person? How exactly am I going to make him proud? And I wasn’t kidding about the renovations either…

  In a flash, the void disappeared. The silence was shattered by the crackling of a fire and the general nothingness I had been feeling faded with it. Regaining a body was a disorienting experience, especially considering it wasn’t even my body. Looking down at myself, I felt as if I had been roughly molded from clay. My body was gray and featureless, maintaining the general limbs of a human but lacking finer details like toes and… and… well...

  It took me a moment, but considering I hadn’t even had a body until a moment ago and I’d experienced far greater shocks in the past few minutes, it wasn’t too hard to move on. After all, we were going to be reborn soon anyways! We’ll definitely meet again in the next life… Yeah… This is fine… I’m not bothered at all… I’ll be fine…

  After taking a sentimental moment of silence for my longtime partner in crime, I looked around the room, trying to distract myself from the sudden, tragic loss.

  I… was in a library. The walls of the library were rounded, forming a cylinder about ten meters across. Above me, the roof formed a cone, with thick, heavy timbers of dark wood forming a sturdy framework far above my head. The walls themselves were cobblestone, but were covered completely by bookshelves. Thousands of leather-bound tomes lay upon the mahogany shelves, lovingly arranged and carefully maintained to the point where there was not a speck of dust upon any of them, even those on the highest racks. There were only two points where the shelves were interrupted: A grand stained glass window framed by thick burgundy drapes, and a fireplace lined with carved red marble. Two serpentine dragons coiled around the pillars of the mantlepiece with thin lines of gold detailing their scales and eyes to give them an air of realism and sophistication. Their maws opened inward, towards the fire, as if the dancing flame within was of their own creation. The floor was thickly carpeted, allowing my incomplete feet to sink deeply into the dancing patterns below. I was sitting in a leather armchair, sunken deep into its opulent cushions. Beside me, a small mahogany table held a single book. The title was definitely in English, yet try as I might, I couldn’t seem to read it. The letters all seemed to take on wild, foreign forms whenever I focused on them. Even if I did manage to discern a letter, it faded from my mind as soon as I moved along to the next, leaving nothing but confusion in my mind and another realization that this wasn’t real. Of course it wasn’t, it was my dream room after all. It was exactly as I hoped it would be, had everything I could have thought to include in it, but was just too… perfect.

  Ye...Yes. Thank You Ace. I never thought I’d manage to see this place…

  Could you maybe give me a second?

  Ace was silent. I took that as a yes.

  I closed my eyes. Family members had tried to teach me meditation once. They had told me it could lead to me controlling my dreams, or even projecting my spirit out into the world, but I had never really gotten that far. I was too grounded, too focused on the world I could see, and looking back as a dead man, probably a bit too cowardly about it. What I had gained from it; however, was an ability to calm myself, letting go of all the frantic thoughts and stress that had built up in me. I always focused on a simple scene, a pond with a single leaf above it. Droplets would slowly rain from the leaf into the pond, one at a time, forming ripples that slowly subsided before the next drop arrived. There was nothing else in the background, nothing else in the foreground, nothing in my world but that pond and the dripping leaf.

  I was dead.

  Drip

  My life was over.

  Drip

  I would never live the future I had dreamed of living.

  Drip

  She would never know of my feelings.

  Drip

  My world was a lie.

  Drip

  I was a soul.

  Drip

  A new life awaited me

  ...

  I opened my eyes, and the library returned into focus. I took a deep breath in, letting the smoke of the fire and the scent of the books around me fill my lungs. Breathing out, I stood up and walked over to the shelves, letting my hands run over the leather bindings and slam into the heavy oaken boards at the end of each shelf. When I reached the window, I stroked the nearest curtain once, pinching the fabric with my fingers before rapping my knuckles on the glass. It felt good to touch, good to feel, but… it had to end. The library was wonderful, but… once I had realized it wasn’t real, it lost its charm. I couldn't say I was alright, hell I couldn't even remember how I died, but I knew staying here wouldn't help me any. It was time to move on.

  I moved back to the armchair and sat down, ignoring the urge to play with the book on the table beside me.

  Alright Ace, sorry for taking so long but… I’m Ready.

  Corny game-show music flooded my mind, as the library faded and three pillars rose from the inky void that replaced. Still seated in my armchair, I watched as they slowed and stopped once they were level with my feet. The two leftmost pillars were both black, with red cracks running through them, giving off a rough, almost volcanic feel. The rightmost pillar; however was a simple gray slab. There was no detailing, no distinguishing factors… it almost seemed machined or thrust into existence by some higher being. Well I suppose all of them technically were, but… well it was strangely precise I’ll leave it at that.

  As Ace first named the creature upon the pillar, it flashed into existence. The plague demon was a strange beast. Roughly humanoid, it stood on two furry almost goat-like legs. Unlike goat legs; however, its feet were raptor-like, ending in viciously sharp claws. It’s torso was scaled, but had six gill-like vents coming out between its ribs, three on each side. From these vents, a sickly green miasma poured out with each breath, likely containing the diseases that give the creature its namesake. Its head was crowned by small, curling horns, but it had a surprisingly humanoid face. That is, if you could ignore the incisors sliding out of its mouth and the forked tongue the slipped out to taste the air every now and then. It made me shudder, just to look at it, as the beast exuded an aura of terror around it.

  A demon? I... I think I’ll pass.

  I went with my gut instinct on this one. There’s not that many stories were the demon king lives happily ever after once he tangles with the heroes. That’s doubly true if said demon can’t get himself a proper army of evil because LITERALLY everyone hates him. I’d much rather try my odds with something less likely to end with my head on a pike.

  Turning right, I fixed my gaze upon the second choice. It was a short stunted creature with wobbly green ears and vicious fangs Clad in only a loincloth and holding a tattered banner over its shoulder, it didn’t inspire the same primal fear as the demon, yet nonetheless exuded a feral aura.

  Yet again, I didn’t particularly enjoy this option. I’d never been much of a leader and had no confidence in my capabilities to gather a massive horde of idiotic minions around myself. Besides, I greatly disliked the whole “short-lived” bit and the “hunted down like pests”. Why did all my options look like I’d end up with my head on a pike?

  Hey why are these choices all so vicious? Wasn’t the goal of Reincarnation to get progressively better Karma and all the spiritual mumbo jumbo? And why are they all so strong? Where are all the ants and vanilla humans with debilitating conditions?

  I sat back in my armchair. So that’s how this whole thing works. I was apparently right on the upper edge of starter worlds, as he called them. Thinking carefully, I looked over what I’d been told for any sign of deception. None of the information contradicted itself and, after all, would it even matter if it did? My life was in Ace’s hands, and there was nothing I could do about it. At best I could try some research in my next life before a hero came about and casually ended me as a side-quest. With that thought in mind, I accepted the inevitable and turned to see my third choice.

  It was rather underwhelming to say the least. A simple gray gem, it was perfectly spherical and sat unmoving on a metallic pedestal. It didn’t get any big reveal. It didn’t have limbs. It didn’t have a face. It didn’t have any… equipment. It was just a rock.

  Er… Ace? Is that a rock?

  Ace? Mysterious Box Voice? You okay up there?

  And I suppose that’s better?

  Why, is that important? Wouldn’t it be better to be less well known to keep anyone from getting ideas about “cleansing” me from the face of the Earth?

  It took me an embarrassing amount of time to translate his message, but it left me feeling encouraged. I was planning on picking the core anyways, it seemed to best match my shut-in ways, but it was nice to know that it was good enough for Ace to stick his neck out for me. The fact that he had to leave that in code, brought up a whole mess of disturbing thoughts, but I decided I’ll save them for later, when I actually had a proper body.

  If you… I mean… Dang it Ace, I wish you’d help me more! You’re supposed to be my assistant aren’t you? I suppose I’ll take the Dungeon core.

  The choices ended up being extremely overwhelming. Sitting back, for a moment, I thought through what I could do. Ultimately, I was deciding who and what I wanted to be. The expansionist Swarm, the Artistic storyteller, the Deathtrap? The possibilities were endless.

  After a few moments of introspection, I quickly decided to weed out the useless perks, at least at the moment. Pulling out Architect, Environmentalist, Interior Decorator, One With The Elements, Historian, and Crazed Tourist felt awful, but ultimately, none of those could help me for a while to come. Furthermore, Ace did say I could get more of these later on.

  That left me with Mana Void, Assistant, Wild Growth, Perfectionist, Mad Scientist, Generous Host, Mastermind, Manifest Destiny, I Am The Power, Swarm Rush, and Diversity.

  Of those, the only one I could instantly pick was Mana Void. Having more resources would certainly synergize well with any of the other perks and speed my growth along greatly. With that, I would have many more viable options to choose from in my life.

  After picking up mana void, I chose Assistant with a small amount of trepidation. Unlike mana void, this could go terribly wrong. The Assistant could be useless or distracting like the irritating tutorials in games. But ultimately, the benefits far outweighed the risks. At worst, this little helper was a waste of a perk. At best; however, it would be a helpful companion that could stave off boredom and help develop my dungeon.

  Then finally with two slots filled, I was left with my final, and hardest choice: my third perk.

  On one hand, Manifest Destiny would Synergize extraordinarily well with Mana Void. The decreased costs and boosted mana would allow me to rapidly expand, potentially gaining more perks if Ace was right about my… landmarks I think he called them. However; it didn’t sit well with me to have no defense whatsoever. If any of the books I read in my life are somewhat close to truth, a dungeon’s core is incredibly valuable for enchantments or the like.

  Exactly. Manifest Destiny, Mad Scientist, Perfectionist, Wild Growth, and Mastermind are too slow for this. If I’m discovered immediately, I won’t have time to carefully design traps or evolve my species.

  Generous host would help convince the kingdom I find myself in that I’m worth actually keeping, but nonetheless it wouldn’t protect me from greedy individuals or help me kill adventurers.

  With those Eliminated, that left three choices: Power Overwhelming, Swarm Rush, and Diversity.

  Sigh I don’t suppose I could get some help here could I?

  I hadn’t expected any from him anyways. Turning my focus back from the unhelpful assistant, I ponder the choices.

  Power overwhelming would certainly be strong, but it would also be punishingly hard for weak adventurers, exactly the kind I want to enter my dungeon. It would; however defend me from greedy beings who want my core.

  Swarm Rush holds similar issues and benefits although it does present a different path for development, allowing to build packs of weak monsters instead of individual strong beasts.

  Diversity; however was a wildcard, Allowing an extra main species form would most likely be beneficial at all stages, early or later on into the future. It would actually make the Mad Scientist perk useful later on, while granting me two types of defenders to grow and establish rather than just one. It is a gamble; however, as it’s not nearly as effective at protecting me as the straight buffs would be.

  Steeling myself with a deep breath, metaphorically speaking of course, I did choose it in the end. Diversity now would allow me to pick either of the other two later on, depending on what style of dungeon I decided to develop into and which seemed to work better then. Locking myself into a lifestyle now, before I’ve even picked a race to populate my armies would be simply counterproductive. Imagine having to give up dragons because you picked Swarm Rush!

  Hey Ace! I want Mana Void, Assistant, and Diversity as my three perks.

  This choice was both simpler and more difficult than the previous one.

  My first instinct was to just grab the Crystalline along with the Spirits and be done with it, having chosen the two strongest races I could. On second thought; however, that brought up a whole host of issues.

  Firstly, both races were slow growers. The spirits were quite literally the slowest tree to develop, and judging by what I knew of their namesake the crystalline couldn’t be much faster. I’d chosen diversity to help defend myself early on, and taking on both of them wouldn’t help that goal at all. I’d be left with a few weak, expensive, and rather useless minions to face the adventurers.

  Furthermore, Just choosing the crystalline race was a significant commitment. It had quite a few requirements that I had no idea how I’d met, liking having a perfect grade core and maintaining a supply of pure mana, as well as a few I had no idea how difficult it was to keep such as maintaining a neutral karmic affinity and 20% mana saturation. Furthermore, it would limit my future development, precluding me from unlocking any legendary race except dragons.

  …

  …

  Who was I kidding? Of course I was going to pick dragons as my legendary race anyways. They’re dragons after all.

  With that end goal in mind, I could keep the crystalline, but should probably grab one of the races that would lead up to dragons since I didn’t want to divert too many of my future perks to improving my dungeon’s diversity. That left me with animals and hominids, which in turn left me with two strategies.

  I could hope that the crystalline would be sufficiently powerful early on to be the main body of my forces and supplement their weaknesses with a diverse complement of animals, or choose to use hominids as my centerpiece with the crystalline taking over once they were sufficiently powerful. That; however, didn’t quite sit right with me. I didn’t have any idea of just how intelligent hominids would be and I had no desire to deal with uppity minions, especially when I would hardly have any means to reign them back in. Furthermore, I have to admit that it did strike at my pride a bit. I was a unique dungeon! I couldn’t just have a basic race as my core race! No… I would be the crystalline dungeon!

  With my decision made, I spoke up to announce it to Ace.

  I’ll take the crystalline and animals please!

  The hidden message was clear, but I refrained from thanking Ace. If his oversight was major enough that he needed to hide like that, he probably wouldn’t appreciate me giving him away by expressing gratitude.

  The map before me was fairly simplistic, showing a single massive continent surrounded by an endless sea. Dotted throughout the waters, thin chains of islands jutted out as a reminder of the tectonic activity undoubtedly occurring below. They; however, were few and far between. Even though I had no effective way to measure scale,I did eliminate them immediately since I couldn’t risk potentially getting stranded on a deserted island

  The Continent was clearly divided into hundreds of colored blocks, most likely the kingdoms Ace didn’t tell me about. One immediately drew my attention. Sticking out from the continent like a sore thumb, the peninsula this Kingdom occupied was cut off from the rest of the world by what appeared to be a massive mountain range. The map didn’t show any useful information about this place except for one fascinating tidbit: there were no Spots.

  While there were other kingdoms without white spots, the abundance of red in those lands made me very wary of going anywhere near them. Luckily my empty Kingdom was exactly opposite those three, on the far Western Side of the landmass.

  Their sheer bad luck at not previously receiving a dungeon was about to end!

  Here. This is where I’ll start, I told Ace as I tapped near a mountain that stuck out from the remainder of the range that separated the Kingdom from the remainder of the world.

  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -   -    -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -

  The night was beautiful, as it always was in the city of Ricad. The fresh aroma of the sea wafted up from the port as brisk winds blew away any clouds who dared cover the splendor of the starry night sky.

  One man; however, could not enjoy such a night. Standing on the tallest balcony of his palace, the young King looked out over his lands with a sad smile. This peninsula had been held by his family for generations, ever since the collapse of the Solari Empire.

  They had been stubborn with their new freedom, refusing to bend a knee to the waves of new countries rising to power outside their borders. For centuries, they had held their mountain defenses and lived peacefully upon the fertile peninsular land. Now; however, new forces were rising throughout the land, and King Alexandros was worried.

  The current Empires had been stable for years, fortifying and preparing themselves. He had read the Histories of his people. He knew of the calm before the storm. Yet even with all this knowledge, he was unable to prepare for the war that would inevitably come for one simple reason: he had no dungeons.

  Dungeons were the forges of Empires, providing resources, training, gold, recipes, and everything else a burgeoning society would need require for almost no cost. Furthermore, powerful dungeons attracted swarms of wandering adventurers from other lands who would bring in hoards of riches to line his coffers and act as a first line of defense against foreign aggression. Unfortunately, through a cruel trick of fate, his kingdom of Ricadon was the one and only land that lacked one.

  His ancestors had tried everything the mages college had suggested, but to no avail. Every year, the most talented young adventurers left the kingdom to seek their fortune in the dungeons of neighboring lands. Only about a quarter of them returned to Ricadon to settle down and fight off the monsters that continued to arise from the dark corners of the land.

  This left him in a painful position, forced to spend a large part of his limited budget on maintaining a royal army to defend his people at all times instead of working to build trade and infrastructure that would improve his people’s lot in life. Nonetheless, it was what he had to do up until the day his lands were invaded and he lost everything anyways.

  Oh if only he had a dungeon!

  He shook his head. Thoughts like that wouldn’t help anything. Sighing regretfully, he turned away from his balcony, walking inside to retire for the night.

  Unbeknownst to him, far away under the foothillsof the great mountain Krieghold at the edge of his kingdom, the answer to his problems glittered silently in the darkness.