The bait had to be perfect. Not a command, but a whisper. A seed of an idea planted in the fertile soil of desperation. Jack found his targets that evening, huddled in a corner of the common hall, radiating an aura of bitter despair. It was Aaron, the boy with the sick sister, and two others whose names Jack hadn't bothered to learn. They were the bottom of the barrel, the assets the state had already written off. They were perfect.
Jack approached them not as a predator, but as a fellow sheep. He slumped his shoulders, kept his eyes downcast, and let out a practiced sigh of frustration. "This is hopeless," he muttered, just loud enough for them to hear.
Aaron looked up, his eyes narrowed. "What do you want?"
"Nothing," Jack said, shaking his head. "It's just... that proctor. The way they dragged Mark away. We're just cogs in their machine, aren't we?" He had successfully framed himself as one of them, a fellow victim of the system. Therefore, they lowered their guard.
"Tell me something I don't know," one of the other boys scoffed.
"I was just thinking," Jack continued, his voice a conspiratorial whisper, "we need a way out. Some quick cash, some easy XP, something to make us look better than our scores." He paused, letting the hook sink in. "I... I probably shouldn't even be saying this."
"Say what?" Aaron pressed, leaning in.
"I heard a rumor," Jack said, performing reluctance. "From some of the older kids before they got assigned last year. There's a gate, an unregistered one, in that big drainage culvert outside the west wall. They said it spawned after the big rains and no guild ever bothered to claim it. F-rank spawns. Giant Rats, mostly. Easy stuff."
He then delivered the final, critical piece of the manipulation. "I was thinking of checking it out myself, but... look at me." He gestured to his own thin frame. "I've got an E-rank talent, but my mana is pathetic. I'd be useless in there alone." He looked at them with wide, feigned eyes. "I'm too scared to try it."
He saw the spark ignite in Aaron's eyes. It was a cocktail of greed, desperation, and the intoxicating idea that they had found a secret loophole. An unclaimed dungeon meant unclaimed loot. Jack had not pushed them. He had simply painted a picture of a door and trusted their own desperation to turn the key. He then made his excuses and retreated to his dorm, his work done. The shepherd had pointed the way. Now he just had to wait for the sheep to wander into the pen.
Hours later, lying on his lumpy mattress, Jack closed his eyes and focused. The ghostly white interface of his dungeon bloomed in his mind's eye. It was a top-down, schematic view, a blueprint of cold, hard data. He was the administrator, the god of this tiny, man-made world. He saw the three dormant monster icons, waiting for a trigger. He saw the empty population counter. The factory was silent. But he knew, with the cold certainty of a patient predator, that the silence would not last.
A faint tremor in the interface signaled the change. Three small, green dots appeared at the entrance of the schematic.
[Dungeon Population: 3/6]
They were in. The factory was live.
He watched their green icons move through the first corridor. They were clumsy, their formation a chaotic mess. Aaron was in the front, his [Minor Toughness] talent giving him a false sense of security. They stumbled into the first chamber, and two red dots—Goblins—activated and charged.
The interface became a stream of cold data. He saw their health bars flicker and drop. He saw their clumsy sword swings and panicked dodges. One of the boys, a kid with a useless [Glow] talent, screamed as a Goblin's rusty knife sliced his arm. The green dot representing him flashed red.
Then, a notification. The first trickle of profit. Aaron, in a surge of adrenaline, managed to land a fatal blow on one of the Goblins.
[Tenant Aaron has slain Goblin. +0.2 XP acquired through Experience Tithe.]
It was a pathetic amount. But it was proof. The system worked. His tenants were paying their tax.
But the farm was also a slaughterhouse. The injured boy with the Glow talent tried to run, but he tripped and fell. The second Goblin was on him in an instant. The boy's green dot flickered violently, then extinguished. His body, in the real space of the dungeon, dissolved into shimmering blue motes of light. The System was cleaning up. And in the safety of his bed, Jack felt a warm, invigorating tingle spread through his body.
A new notification appeared, stark and beautiful in its efficiency.
[Tenant has died. Essence Absorbed: +1 Strength.]
Jack focused on the feeling. It was a subtle but undeniable shift, a new strand of power weaving itself into the fabric of his muscles. Their grief is my growth, he thought, a cold, serene satisfaction washing over him. Their panic is my harvest.
The two survivors, Aaron and the third boy, were screaming now. Their green dots flashed erratically on his map as they scrambled away from the remaining monsters, deeper into the dungeon. He could hear their terror as a series of abstract data points: morale critical, stamina low. Aaron, torn between grief for his dead friend and a desperate need for the loot that would save his sister, made a fatal choice. He pushed forward.
The last thing Jack saw on the interface before closing it was Aaron's green dot, flashing red, cornered by two Giant Rats. Whether he lived or died was irrelevant. Either he would become another point of Strength, or he would escape, terrified, and spread the rumor of a dangerous but rewarding new dungeon. Either outcome was profitable.
He had won. The system was flawless. He felt the small surge of power from his single stat point and the trickle of XP. He began sketching out future plans in his mind. He needed more tenants. A better lure. He needed to balance the bait against the danger to maximize his tenant turnover.
Just as he was about to drift into a state of contented planning, a new notification flashed in his vision. It was a different color. A burning, cautionary orange.
[Warning: Mana Saturation in Dungeon #1 has increased by 15%. Saturation is generated by combat and death. Estimated time until Dungeon Break at current rate: 72 hours.]