A Dearth of Choice (Dungeon Core)

A young dungeon core awakens beside a peaceful village, brimming with kind souls it would gladly protect—if only it could communicate. Without a voice, its attempts at benevolence spiral into disaster. Panic isn’t supposed to be possible for a crystal, yet here it is, frantically selecting life-affirming perks to nurture the village. But every choice backfires. Instead of gardens and healing, it spawns shambling undead and death-aligned mana surges. The more it struggles to fix its mistakes, the deeper the chaos grows. This is the story of a dungeon that only wanted to give light and laughter, now trapped in a nightmare of its own making—and the village caught in the crossfire. Can it undo the horror before the first adventurers arrive?