A cacophony of ticking gears and hissing steam filled his senses. His vision sharpened, revealing a dim chamber of riveted brass walls, cracked glass portholes leaking sunlight, and a labyrinth of pipes snaking across the ceiling. At the center of the room hovered a fist-sized orb—a glowing core of bronze and copper, pulsing like a heartbeat. His heartbeat.
“System initialized,” chimed a robotic voice. A hologram flickered to life, its ghostly blue text searing into his consciousness:
Dungeon Core V-01 Status
- Mana: 0/100
- Mobility: Basic Treads (0.5 mph)
- Minions: None
- Threat Level: “Trinket”
Victor’s mind reeled. Dungeon Core? He tried to speak, but no voice came. Instead, his thoughts echoed through the chamber, commanding the walls to shift, the pipes to hiss, the gears to turn. He willed himself to move, and the entire structure shuddered. Through a porthole, he glimpsed overgrown ferns and moss-caked trees—a forest, alien and ancient.
The hologram updated:
Assimilate materials to repair structural integrity.
Protruding from the walls were skeletal mechanical arms, rusted but functional. Victor flexed his newfound “muscles,” and the arms whirred to life, clawing at debris around his dungeon. The structure resembled a broken-down carriage, its brass plating dented and scorched, its wheels replaced with grinding treads.
The arms salvaged:
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Rusted Gears→ Repaired wall fractures.
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Copper Wiring→ Unlocked Spark Trap (stuns intruders).
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Broken Clockwork Toy→ Crafted 3 Ticktocks.
The Ticktocks were foot-tall soldiers, their bodies cobbled from tin and screws, swords replaced with wind-up needles. They twitched to life, marching in stiff circles. Victor pitied them. Wind-up toys defending a junkyard.
The forest was alive with sound. Birds chirped in the canopy, insects buzzed in the undergrowth, and the occasional rustle of leaves hinted at unseen creatures. Victor’s dungeon—a clattering, steam-belching anomaly—stood out like a sore thumb in this vibrant ecosystem. He had been stationary for hours, tinkering with his Ticktocks, when a low growl shattered the peace.
Victor’s core pulsed with alarm. Through a cracked porthole, he saw it: a Forest Warg, its antlered head lowered, amber eyes fixed on his dungeon. The beast was the size of a wolf but built like a predator, its fur matted with mud and its claws digging into the soft earth. Saliva dripped from its fangs as it circled the carriage, sniffing the air.
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What is that thing? Victor thought, his mind racing. The hologram flickered to life:
Threat Detected: Forest Warg (Level 1)
Recommended Action: Deploy Minions.
Victor hesitated. His Ticktocks were barely functional—tin soldiers with wind-up needles for swords. They looked more like toys than defenders. But he had no other options. With a mental command, he sent them clanking toward the entrance, their stiff movements betraying their fragility.
The warg’s ears twitched. It lunged, swatting one Ticktock into the wall with a sickening crunch. The little soldier crumpled, gears spilling onto the floor. The other two raised their needles, but the warg was faster. It snapped its jaws, reducing another Ticktock to scrap.
Panic surged through Victor. His core flared, casting the chamber in a harsh bronze light. Think. Think! He scanned the room, searching for anything he could use. His gaze landed on a loose gear hanging from the ceiling—a Pendulum Axe Trap, its blade dull but heavy.
If I can lure it in…
Victor activated a Whirring Decoy, a spinning gear that clattered like prey. The noise drew the warg’s attention. It prowled inside, its growl reverberating through the brass walls. Victor’s remaining Ticktock stood its ground, but the warg swatted it aside like a nuisance.
The beast stepped onto a pressure plate.
Crunch.
The pendulum dropped, its weight crushing the warg’s skull. The creature let out a final, guttural whine before collapsing. Mana—a shimmering blue mist—drifted from its corpse into Victor’s core.
Mana +50!
New Blueprint: “Wolfbone Reinforcement” (increases wall durability).
Victor felt a strange mix of relief and guilt. He hadn’t wanted to kill the creature, but survival left no room for hesitation.
The walls groaned, brass plates shifting and grinding as new sections materialized. Victor’s core chamber stretched, the ceiling rising to accommodate a second room. The air filled with the scent of hot metal and oil as pipes snaked across the walls, hissing with steam.
The new room was a workshop, cluttered with anvils, tool racks, and half-finished contraptions. A forge glowed in one corner, its flames fed by the Boiler’s steam. Victor’s Ticktocks—now four in number—marched in, their movements smoother, their bodies reinforced with salvaged scrap.
Victor turned his attention to the warg’s corpse. Using his mechanical arms, he stripped the beast of its bones, reforging them into support beams. The process was gruesome but efficient. The bones fused with the brass walls, their pale sheen contrasting with the dungeon’s steampunk aesthetic.
Structural Integrity Increased.
New Room Unlocked: Workshop.
The Ticktocks patrolled the hallways, their movements slightly smoother, needles gleaming in the dim light. Victor watched them, a flicker of pride mingling with unease. This is just the beginning, he thought. What else is out there?