In a distant world five times the size of planet Earth, dungeons and their dungeon cores have become the top of the food chain.
Millions of dungeons inhabit the planet, utilizing the various human kingdoms as a source of much-needed mana to facilitate their own growth; in turn, the humans delve into the dungeons and acquire their own power in the form of Essence, which allows them to develop and enhance themselves in a multitude of different ways. It is a symbiotic relationship that has lasted centuries and has brought about a measure of peace.
Far in the northern wilds where no humans (and therefore – no dungeons) regularly frequent, a young man is left alone when his parents are murdered suddenly and unexpectedly. Now, without friends, family, or even supplies, he embarks on a journey to find out who targeted his parents – and who he needs to enact his revenge upon. Along the way, he discovers something about himself that his parents said was impossible from the moment he was born.
Will he learn to control the new powers he has gained, or will his newly awakened dungeon core abilities consume him?
Contains LitRPG elements such as statistics and leveling. No harems and no profanity.
My Opinion: 319 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
There are some really interesting concepts here but some feel like they have unfulfilled potential. The main character is a being that was born of two dungeon cores and while he looks human, he has the creation powers of a dungeon core, only without even needing a dungeon. This seems like it could be a pretty cool concept except culturally the MC is raised like a human with their same values instead of a murderous dungeon whose life depends on killing adventurers. Additionally, the MCs ability to recreate anything he learns the pattern for leads to the most OP ability ever, infinite money. Which he eventually uses to solve his problems.
Oddly, as a dungeon core I’d expected him to instinctively want to make a dungeon but that doesn’t happen in this book. Instead, he’s trying to become strong enough to question another dungeon to figure out why his parents were killed. So, he goes dungeon diving. The dungeon dives are actually pretty good when they’re not summarized, but after that’s kind of the problem. The story tends to shift directions after building up characters or story paths. Characters are developed, given history, personality, then just kind of abandoned as events get summarized and the story focus shifts.
On the game mechanics, things are a mix of dungeon core and adventurer status screens and there are some neat mechanics for several classes. But you can tell the emphasis isn’t on creating a balanced system, but something fun for the story.
Overall, not a bad story. A very interesting premise. But the OP ability to make infinite amounts of money made the big wins for the MC feel a little cheap. Still, there are some good action scenes, neat character builds, and I liked the idea of a dungeon adventurer, it just didn’t unfold well for me.
Score: 6 out of 10