Core of Knowledge

Life as a dungeon core took some getting used to.

As a dungeon core, Xu Han could control his dungeon in different ways. For example, if he concentrated on an item, he could examine it. Xu Han could learn what it was, what it was made of and whether it was magical. In addition, Xu Han could also create new things. This includes walls, doors, furniture and creatures. Jemma insisted that the creatures should be called monsters, but there was no way Xu Han was going to call creatures he created that. Xu Han could also modify and remove things that he had created, and even manipulated the creatures in his dungeon. He was thinking of doing that right now. His dungeon fairy disagreed.

“Jemma, I have to change the creatures.”

“No, you do not.” The dungeon fairy pouted.

“Yes, I do. You heard what the adventurers said. They are too easy.”

“Core, that’s not a bad thing. They are monsters on the second floor of a dungeon. They are supposed to be easy!”

“Not that easy.” Xu Han grumbled.

The creatures in question were the creatures Xu Han had created for the Lake Room. They were supposed to appear and give the adventurers a challenge when one of them solved his jig-saw puzzles.

Xu Han wasn’t sure about the name the adventurers gave to his puzzles, but he wasn’t about to quip on it. The adventurers could call the puzzles what they wanted, which was why he also had no objection to them calling one of his rooms the Lake Room, but what the dungeon core could not stand was how easily the adventurers managed to dispatch his new creations. They weren’t supposed to be as difficult as the Boss Squid he created, but it was obvious to the new dungeon core that he had made them too easy to beat.

The creatures in the Lake Room were based on a monster found in the Crimson Lands, and while Xu Han was unable to imitate them perfectly, he thought he did a good enough job of it. So, it offended Xu Han when the adventurers went through his creatures like they did not exist. One adventurer even said that the new creatures were just a token effort on the dungeon core’s part to bring variety to his dungeon.

That was just insulting, and Xu Han had marked that adventurer for death. Unfortunately, his desire to modify and improve the creatures had been met with resistance.

“Core, there is no reason for you to waste your divine power to modify monsters on the second floor. It’s not worth it.” Jemma tried to reason with her dungeon. “The adventurers would barely notice; they are more interested in reaching the next floor of your dungeon.”

“Says you,” Xu Han grumbled. “Only one group of adventurers even attempted the third floor.”

“And they died there. Like all the adventurers who tried the other two rooms on the second floor. That’s what you should be concentrating on. Your floors might be too difficult, you could modify the rooms to make them easier.”

“Not everyone died. One of the adventurers escaped.” Xu Han said before adding, “Still can’t believe the Panda let him escape.”

“In the names of all the Gods, why do you call it a Panda instead of a bear?” Jemma put up a hand to stop Xu Han from answering. “Don’t answer that. It was a rhetorical question.”

“What’s a rhetorical question?” Xu Han asked in confusion.

“It’s a question that’s not meant to be answered. A question more to stimulate discussion and provide information.” Jemma explained. “Surely, you have that in your previous world.”

“We do,” Xu Han admitted. “But why ask a question you don’t want an answer to?”

“What?” Now, it was the dungeon fairy’s turn to be confused.

“When a cultivator asked a question, we seek an answer to it. Like when a cultivator once asked, ‘How high can I fly?’ He flew up till the air thinned and the temperature dropped so much that it froze him. Then, he came down and after months of experiments, study, and practice, he went back up. He got higher and higher over the years, till one day he saw the void beyond the sky, the darkness where the Gods and Great Demons roam, and the red sphere we lived on. That was why my former homeland was called the Crimson Lands, and how the Dao of the Void came into existence.”

Jemma looked at Xu Han blankly for a moment, before shaking her head and murmuring. “I just told him it’s a rhetorical question, and he gave me a history lesson.”

“I am but a humble scholar who wishes to spread knowledge.” The dungeon core said smugly.

“You are kind of bloodthirsty for someone who keeps saying that.” Jemma scoffed.

“What?”

“You heard me. If you are all about spreading knowledge and teaching people stuff, then why are you so fixated about some adventurers who escaped you? In case you don’t remember, the dead don’t learn.” Jemma stopped for a moment, before pulling back a bit. “Unless you have an undead class or worship one of the Gods of Death, but that’s another matter. Anyway, why are you so fixated about killing everyone who enters your dungeon? Even newly born dungeon cores aren’t like this.”

“They’re not?” Xu Han asked in surprise.

“No, they are usually glad when adventurers are no longer in their dungeon. Whether the adventurers are killed or not is a secondary concern to most dungeon cores. As long as the adventurers are gone, that’s good enough.”

Xu Han couldn’t help but to agree with Jemma. That sounded very different from how it was to him. Every time Xu Han saw an adventurer escape one of his traps or Boss creatures, he would feel a deep sense of frustration. He thought this was normal for dungeon cores, that it was part of his instinct, but it seems that he was mistaken. Xu Han could easily guess why.

It was him.

Xu Han was a former cultivator, a Soul Emperor who had lived for ten thousand years. When you lived that long, and reached that level of cultivation, you gained a certain amount of pride. Pride that often went into the realm of arrogance. Xu Han sighed. It looked that being a failure of a scholar did not totally destroy that arrogance.

“You are right, Jemma. I am sorry. I shall strive to do better in the future.”

“Do or do not. There is no try. Or strive in your case, but the meaning is the same.” Jemma replied with a chuckle.

“Do or do what? Is that some saying in this world?” Xu Han asked.

“Yes, it is. Well, it was originally a saying on another world, but a reincarnator introduced it and it has since caught on.”

“Interesting,” Xu Han said. “This means I am not the first to bring knowledge from other worlds to-”

Xu Han immediately stopped talking as a portal appeared. This had happened once before when a Goddess visited. Xu Han had changed the location of his core since then, but the portal appeared at his new location without any problem. Xu Han was not surprised. Even if he wanted to, he never believed he could hide from a god. Xu Han believed he knew who was coming.

The dungeon core was wrong.

Instead of Gressian, a strange man walked out of the portal. He was a tall stout man with a shaven head and wispy beard. He was also wearing a strange ensemble; a green jacket over a white shirt with a collar that had a small piece of black cloth tied in an elaborate bow. The strange man’s pants were black and made of a strange material. The strange man raised his hands in a soothing gesture, but Xu Han immediately noticed the power behind the gesture. It was as if time had stopped, that time had slowed.

This was no man.

“Don’t worry. No need to panic. Sorry to frighten you, but I heard whispers of a strange dungeon core and thought to check ypu out.”

The man was smiling kindly, but Xu Han was not fooled. He knew the strange being could strike him down with a flick of a finger. Xu Han was not the only one who noticed.

“A God.”

Xu Han heard Jemma’s awed whisper that confirmed he was facing a God. He had met Gods before, and knew it was always safer and smarter to be humble in their presence.

“Great God, I humbly welcome you to my dungeon.”

The god tilted its head at the greeting, and for a moment Xu Han feared that he had caused offence in some way. Then, the god replied with a chuckle.

“You can breathe easy. Wait, do dungeon cores breathe? Never mind, I am not here to kill you. It would be bad form for me to kill the first being I meet on my first trip on a new world.”

Xu Han’s mind tried to take in as much information as he could from the words of the god. His dungeon fairy recovered faster than he did.

“First trip? You are a new god?”

“Oh no, I have been around for some time now. I just never came to this world before. I have no presence here,” the strange god raised an eyebrow as if he was listening to his own words. “Well, I guess you’re right. To you and the people of this world, I am a new god.”

The god laughed. A deep, powerful laugh that shook the soul of Xu Han. Despite being a dungeon core, Xu Han felt a shiver of fear going through him. He wondered just how powerful this God truly was.

Xu Han knew the god was telling the truth. The god had no reason to lie. When he finally finished laughing, the god asked a simple question.

“You don’t know who, or what I am, do you?”

“I must admit my ignorance, Great One.” Xu Han humbly admitted.

“I am known by many names in the many worlds of this universe. You may call me Carda. I am a God of Luck, the Lord of Cards, the Cat of Chance.”

A deck of cards suddenly appeared in the god’s hands, and he began shuffling them. This lasted for several moments before Xu Han realized the god wanted him to ask a question.

“Great Carda, why are you here?”

“Well, I was hoping to set up a little cult on this world, and make my presence known here. I heard you have your own plans as well.” Carda released the cards in his hand, and they began floating in the air. “Pick a card, any card. Let me share a little of my knowledge and maybe, we can help each other?”

End of Book 1