The world swam. Light greys, dark greys, and the soft-lit blue of stone blurred together for a well-deserved sleep. Rather than the standard loss of control one feels right before sleep rips them from life, I felt... Blissful. Peaceful.

  "Is this what it's like to have no obligations?" I remember thinking, a question that drew itself out over what might have been an hour

  I awoke again, feeling... larger. Feeling more. The walls had smoothed out, seeming to go as far back as they could before cragging themselves over with cobblestone. Looking downwards, I saw my floor was mossed over, this plant-covered cobblestone interspersed in equal density with the standard stone plus some more creeping up the first block of the walls. I swept over myself with Selection, counting the discrete jumps in area. Five blocks left to right, Six blocks front to back, Four blocks top to bottom, totaling to a hundred and twenty. Definitely more.

  "Skill: Selection has risen to level 2." The system chimed, reminding me of the numbers I liked raising a bit too much. I willed my status into existence, happily surprised at it's expansion.

  The mana stat interested me most. It replaced my old 'area' stat, and was suspiciously similar in magnitude. Judging by the mana gain stat, It didn't even take me an hour to rank up like this. Not like it mattered, as I wasn't exactly getting hungry, tired, or behind on rent.

  However, I had two choices on opposite corners of the status screen. One perk point and one spawnable monster. Deciding I knew how monsters operated already, I zeroed in on the perk selection

  I hadn't expected such a rich set, and mulled over the options for a while. I knew a hidden message when I saw one, and this was clearly it. The system, conscious or not, was asking me "Hey scarlet, what kind of dungeon do you want to be?"

  And I knew I had one chance to answer. Mana crystals I hoped to come back to later as I had much to spend mana on, albeit needed protectors of it more. Block breaker would be good for increasing my size, which all I knew felt good to have and increase my capacity of a resource. And farmer looked like a joke- I had no one to feed and no water to grow crops with.

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  As such, I turned to the monster room perks. The ones that made me more dangerous. The ones with meat on their bones. And quickly, I noticed they all had some form of disadvantage. Well-armed seemed to be the weakest in both directions, only having a 1 in 20 chance to do anything until I could find some equipment. Ambusher seemed to be the middle of the road, as it would allow for nightly raids and reward smart building... unless invaders brought light strong enough to scare the defenses. And swarm was the most punishing, allowing me to grow and replenish my stock of monsters quickly in exchange for individual weakness. The only synergies I could even see were well-armed + ambusher, though dubiously if equipment mostly meant armor; and mana crystals + swarm to facilitate the quicker spawning. Block breaker was only tangentially useful, and farmer looked like a trap

  I chose well-armed. I didn't know how tier worked, and was feeling adventurous with random equipment. As I focused my desire on it, the option glowed, shook, and took over the page, and while everything else disappeared Well-Armed compressed itself, sliding into a new list near the bottom.

  Right. My other choice. Monsters. I focused on summoning one, and a screen of Halloween-pumpkin orange emerged instead

  It presented three options, two extremes and a balance by their mana costs. Skeletons were objectively cooler than zombies, but somewhat pricey- and had no guarantee of acquiring any weapons to make use of their steady aim or proficiency. Despite being the best option for my build, they were the worst option for me as a being. Spiders seemed like they'd synergize well... with an option I didn't even choose. I mentally slapped myself for assuming, promising to search harder next time i had multiple choices at once-- if there was a next time.

  In spirit of that, I poured over each passive's description. Steady aim was only useful with a bow, and Weapon proficiency further underscored the gap between those who could find equipment and those who couldn't. Poison bite and wall climb seemed to compliment the spider's hunting style, where it only needed enough attacking power to land a bite and retreat to higher ground for another ambush. Zombies seemed alluring after I read their passive however. It was dicey, just like anything truly good, but served as a way to replenish my monster count without me having to spend mana on a compromise. I wrapped my will around the middle option, and my generic Spawn Monster action changed. Spawn Zombie, 20 mana.

  Just enough to try it.

  "And now to make some... sword zombies" I thought, looking at my mana balance. the total had risen to 21 in the minutes I spent considering, enough to summon my first.

  I focused my will on a point near the front of the dungeon. Dark intentions pooled together, swirling like water down a drain. I felt myself feel faint, light, ready to pass out again, but did the one thing I knew how to do from work and bared it. My mana ticked down with every passing second; sixteen, eleven, seven, four, two, one; until it solidified into my first soldier.

  I felt like I was looking at a magic eye. Not in terms of what I saw being incomprehensible, but in terms of how I saw two things at once. Looking at it as if I was a human, I saw a mere blocky green creature in blue clothing holding a pixelated stick in one of his forward-pointed arms. But looking at it as a dungeon, I saw a lurching, hunched-forward, decaying man; mercifully unable to smell like anything as I left my nose in my old world. His clothing was ragged, but still very much clothing, and one of his arms ended in a claw of almost-unnatural size. The other was broken off, leaving only a sharp, jagged length of bone that ended just before the elbow.

  Not only was he unarmed, but under-armed. I tried not to mourn for the bad roll, and admired my creation all the same. I had created life (or the distinct opposite), and should be proud.

  Until then, I considered my options.

  My status window: