The precise nature of how a dungeon core comes to be is subject to rampant speculation, but the common consensus agreed that whatever the process was, it ended in a moment, as though a switch were being flicked, and the core comes alive. In this case, the nameless core realized that it was awake when it heard the first mutterings and musings from above, and knew it was not alone. It heard the debate, the love, and the genius of those above it, but knew that none was directed towards it. Not yet.

  At first, it was jealous, but it knew the Others were not cruel, they did not hate the core, they simply did not know of it. If it wished to be acknowledged, it had to earn that acknowledgement. And so it began to learn its surroundings.

  The core, a simple thing, was a small red gem, set into the rock wall at the back of a simple cave chamber. By focusing ahead of itself, it was able to discern that the room was quite large- while it did not know formal measurements, it knew that three men could lie down in this chamber in a line, and not reach from one side to the other. It appeared almost entirely natural, except that the chamber was a near perfect circle, arching to a high dome for a roof. The chamber had a single entrance, which curved twice before arriving at the outside. The core could feel that anything from outside was dangerous, and had to be kept out. It also could feel that anything from outside was valuable, and had to be tempted in.

  It took some time to consider these contradictions, and decided it had to trap or kill anything which entered, in order to gain... something. It would find out what when it succeeded. But, the thought of defeating intruders felt right, and it could feel that it had two ways of doing that- by creating traps that would stop intruders when they entered, or by creating defenders. As it focused on the idea of both, an unfamiliar feeling came, something shifted, and it felt its options laid out before it.

  The core spent time marvelling over the many options it had- Eight!- before considering the choice. It could feel that the choice of monster was important, and could only be made once. It could also feel that some choices were opposed to each other, and would prevent the other from ever appearing. Goblin and Viper, Giant Rat and Skeleton, these would block off one another.

  Traps, on the other hand, felt more safe, the core knew it could make as many of these as it could afford, and that idea caused the twisting sensation again, and the core knew new things

  These were all interesting, and the core was especially interested in the Cave In trap, but it didn't know how much it had to work with, nor how much a trigger would cost. This thought also brought the twisting, and the core thought it was beginning to understand what that feeling meant.

  The sensation came again, almost immediately, and brought more information.

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  The core knew immediately it couldn't afford the Cave In trap, or atleast not while using other traps, and so it stopped to consider its options. Eventually, it decided to install a pit trap in the center of its single room, spending 2mp. It then began planning how to use its arrow traps, and placed a pressure plate between the two curves in the corridor leading out.

  It considered for a time how best to place its arrow traps, before deciding that one firing from the front while the other fired from behind would ensure that if there was more than one intruder, the same intruder would not be hit twice unnecessarily, while also reducing their ability to dodge. The core was quite proud of itself, and couldn't wait for an intruder to enter its dungeon and face its traps!

  The core then decided to learn more about the monsters it could summon, even if it had resolved to wait before summoning them, and it was delighted when its expected twisting sensation came, proving its theory correct.

  The core practically thrummed with excitement reading each description. Viper and Goblin both brought new strength to its traps, of which it already felt innordinately proud, so it was excited to try them. On the other hand, the giant rat might serve as the perfect distraction for those traps, and was most likely to be able to defeat enemies on its own, while the skeleton sounded dangerous and, perhaps most importantly, the sheer number of them could be an asset all its own. It had no idea which to choose, but was sure whatever it chose would be powerful and help it grow as much as it needed to!

  However, the dungeon did not have enough mp to summon any monsters yet, and there was one more phrase which excited the dungeon.

  Trap Combinations.

  The core was somewhat put out that this thought did not bring the twisting, but it thought it could do this on its own. It still had a single mp to work with, and a trap that cost a single mp. It considered trying to combine the spikes with the arrows, but that didn't make any sense to the core, so instead, it attempted ot install the foot spikes in the bottom of the pit. As it hoped, the twisting sensation came, and with it, new knowledge!

  As the core celebrated its new creation, a sense of lethargy overtook it, and a final twisting came before it lost focus and could no longer perceive the world around it.