The Mindscape

(Bruce) 'Hey system, can I eat food as a dungeon core'

(System) 'No'

(Bruce) '...'

(Bruce) 'For real?'

(System) 'For real, you cannot eat food as a dungeon core, as you have no need for it'

(Bruce) 'Aw that sucks... I'll miss Pizza...'

(System) 'It seems my answer was not to your liking, let me rephrase what I said'

(Bruce) 'Huh...'

(System) 'You cannot physically eat food, but if you wish to feel the sensation of taste, you can do so within your core'

(Bruce) 'Wait, WHAT'

(System) '?'

(System) 'You are capable of creating a mindscape inside of your core, all you have to do is focus on what you want it to look like and it will appear. When you want to move around inside of it, all you have to do is focus on it. Also, your physical appearance inside of your mindscape will be whatever you subconsciously think your appearance is... Also you can eat food inside of the mindscape'

(Bruce) '...'

(Bruce) '.....'

...

(Bruce) 'YESH'

No questions asked, Bruce instantly imagines his mindscape and focuses with all his might... All for the sake of tasting food... [Not that I have any real sense of taste anyways...]

The mindscape slowly starts to piece itself together. Time slows down to a crawl and Bruce finds himself in his room

(Bruce) "I'm back in my room!, yes, its perfect, just the same as it's always been!"

Bruce's eyes start to moisten a little

(Bruce) "Wait a second... I'M TALKING, and I have eyes!"

Bruce's physical appearance looks the same as it was on Earth... Brownish hair, green eyes, average height, and thin shadow... Just like a background character in a TV show, he wasn't very noticeable. Bruce could walk into a room, and everyone would only know he was there after he was seen, or said something... [I also know that my name BackroundCharacter is spelled wrong... I just didn't have enough space for a G in background ;-;]

(Bruce) "This place is so perfectly made I'd have half a mind to think I'm back home?"

Bruce walks upstairs from his room. He enters the living room and opens the curtains to the window

(Bruce) "oh... Nothing but a void outside..... Also I have to ask again, What is Gods obsession with voids... Seriously..."

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(God) *Achoo*

(Angel) "Gesundheit..."

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(Bruce) "Huh, I thought I heard someone sneeze for a second... Must have been my imagination" {Shrugs}

[I think I'll use {} for actions or changes the way someone is speaking... You know it's just going to be used for miscellaneous things]

(Bruce) "Anyways, its time for food"

Bruce goes into the kitchen and opens the fridge... Its empty...

(Bruce) "..."

(Bruce) "System!, Explain!"

(System) 'You won't just find food in the fridge, you have to will it into your mindscape'

(Bruce) *Sigh* "Thank you system..."

(Bruce) 'I was worried for a second there...'

Bruce then proceeds to point his right hand at the kitchen table, and whilst doing so imagines a bag of potato chips suddenly appearing on the table...

*Poof*

(Bruce) "YESH"

Bruce quickly grabs the bag and stares at it for a while

(Bruce) "hmm..."

*Poof*

The bag increases in size, and gets heavier as there are now more chips crammed into the bag then what you would normally find on Earth [You know how a bag of potato chips isn't as crammed full of potato chips as you'd want it to be... Yeah... That's what just happened...]

(Bruce) "Perfect..."

Bruce proceeds to sit down on the couch and binge chips for a while, he then curiously picks up the TV remote and turns the TV on

(Bruce) "Aw... Nothing..."

*Ding* Bruce gets an idea

Bruce imagines viewing his outside dungeon through the TV screen. The screen all of a sudden shows a live image of a orb laying on a cartoonishly small island made of sand, surrounded by the ocean

(Bruce) "It Works!!!"

Bruce then picks up the nearby Xbox 1 Controller, turns it on, and then proceeds to move the camera view around

(Bruce) "Mindscape... I love you so very much..."

(Bruce) "..."

(Bruce) "While this is cool and all, now that my real body is a dungeon core... This doesn't feel as natural as it used to... I actually feel a little more comfortable viewing the real world through my real self rather than this..."

(Bruce) "Well... It's been fun, but I have work to do... After I eat a little more food..."

Bruce pushes his work aside for a little bit to binge on all the food he wants... It's been nice for him to eat so many different types of new food, as he would have never been able to do so back on Earth [Seriously... I can't have Gluten, Dairy, or Gelatin... My life is rice and coconuts...]

After his massive binge, Bruce returns from his mindscape... To the small sand hill in the middle of the ocean

(Bruce) 'Ah~ its good to be back'

Bruce mentally stretches, as he can't do it physically, and then he looks up at the sky and begins to count the clouds... After that gets boring he just watches the sun pass through the sky, until it finally sets in the distance...

(Bruce) '...'

(Bruce) 'System... When do I get more DP'

(System) 'Once the sun begins to rise in the morning, You'll get +20 more DP'

(Bruce) 'Okay...'

(Bruce) '...'

(Bruce) 'Hey system I'm bored... I wish time would go faster already...'

(System) 'While you aren't capable of time magic, you can fall into a dormant, sleep like state for a specified amount of time'

(Bruce) 'I wasn't asking you if I could use time magic system, I wa~~~it a second! I can do what'

(System) 'You can fall into a dormant, sleep like state for a specified amount of time...'

(Bruce) 'That's GREAT!!! Now I don't have wait day after day, and night after night. I can just pass out and wake up whenever I want!'

(System) 'I'm glad that I have been useful to you thus far'

(Bruce) 'You should be, without you I'd be clueless... And also a little insane... Even though your conversation skills are well... Limited... At least your something I can converse with... {silence}

(Bruce) 'Anyways Ima go dormant for now, wake me up when its morning, okay'

(System) 'Acknowledged'

(Bruce) 'Okay then, we are good, to, go~' *Yawn*

Bruce's vision goes black for a few seconds before returning

(Bruce) '...'

(Bruce) 'Well that was fast'

Bruce looks towards the rising sun to confirm that it is truly morning

(Bruce) 'This is a power I've always wanted in real life system... The ability to pass out and wake up whenever I want to... You don't know how many times I've wanted to just be able to skip time like this'

(System) 'Affirmative'

(Bruce) 'Not very talkative today are you...'

(System) 'Affirmative'

(Bruce) 'I'm also guessing my DP has gone up to 20...'

(System) 'Negative'

DP: 0/infinite ---> 21/infinite

Divine Protection: 6 days ---> 5 days

(System) 'It has gone up to 21...'

(Bruce) 'Wait... How...'

(System) 'As you have now claimed and expanded this island as part of your dungeon, it will generate a very small amount of DP for you'

(Bruce) 'Why didn't you tell me this before when I asked you about DP'

(System) 'That was because you were F ranked at the time, so my database was somewhat limited'

(Bruce) 'F ranked at the time? wait, does that mean I've ranked up now or something'

(System) 'Affirmative'

(Bruce) 'Okay then, system, show me my status'

(System) 'Affirmative'

(Bruce) '...'

(Bruce) 'Your just going to keep saying affirmative now... Aren't you...'

(System) '...'

(Bruce) '...'

(System) 'Affirmative'

Before Bruce can say anything else the status screen appears

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Name: Bruce

Race: Dungeon Core (Rank F+)

Status Effects: Divine Protection (5 Days)

Durability: 110/110

MP: 5,100/5,100

SP: 0/0

DP: 21/infinite

ATK: 0

DEF: 21

AGI: 0

Skills: Intelligence (?), Dungeon Control (S), Dungeon Editor (S), Dungeon Clairvoyance (S), Dungeon Appraisal (S), Magic Resistance (B-), Personal System (?), MP Regeneration (B-)

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(Bruce) 'Oh, my stats slightly increased, that's neat... And don't answer with affirmative...'

(System) '...'

(System) 'Acknowledged...'

(Bruce) {Stare}

(Bruce) 'It's fine... I get it... Hopefully you become a little more sentient and self aware as I rank up...'

(System) 'If that is what you hope for, I will hope for that as well'

(Bruce) 'Well, good to know your on board... Don't become to sentient though... It's never good when the system gets to self aware and starts ridiculing the main protagonist... Well, not that I'm much of a main protagonist anyways...'

Bruce thinks a little bit about his life back on Earth before coming back down to Earth figuratively

(Bruce) 'Well, that's enough procrastinating for now, its time to expand the island!'

(Bruce) 'Alrighty system, use 20 DP to expand the island'

(System) 'Affirma...'

(Bruce) 'JUST DO IT!' [Make, your dreams, come true!!!]

After a quick flash of light, the island seems to have grown a little more

(Bruce) 'System, how large is the island now?'

(System) 'The island is now 50 meters long'

(Bruce) 'I see, so a 20 meter increase this time... That would probably make the next expansion around 10 meters I'm guessing...'

(Bruce) 'Hey system, show me my rank'

A small, fancier looking status box with Bruce's rank in it suddenly appears with a *ding*

Rank: E-

(Bruce) 'Well that's new... Must be because of the rank up...'

(Bruce) '...'

(Bruce) 'No affirmative this time, huh system...'

(System) 'Yes...'

(Bruce) *gasp*

(Bruce) 'A somewhat normal response for once, this is rather great news... Or the beginning of the end...'

(System) '???'

(Bruce) 'Don't worry about it...'

Bruce spends the next 4 days gathering DP and expanding the island, he also got bored of calling it the island constantly so he decided to give it a name, he decided to call it sandbox, because the island reminded him of a literal sandbox, as well as the game mode sandbox in a couple of different games he liked to play back on Earth... Except he didn't have any admin commands or infinite resources...

Dungeon (Sandbox: 75 Meters long, 75 Meters wide, height = 6 meters above the water) [think of an overgrown anthill. Also, sandbox goes under the water as well, I just don't know how deep I want to make it yet...]

Rank: E

DP: 14/infinite

Divine Protection: 1 Day

(Bruce) 'Well... One more day left until my divine protection runs out... Please don't let me instantly get killed or something...'

(System) 'Don't worry, the chances of that happening right away ar...'

(Bruce) 'NONONONONOONOOOooo... Shut up, Shut up, Please!!!'

(System) '?'

(Bruce) *Sigh* 'I hope its not to late...'

(System) 'I do not understand what you mean?'

(Bruce) 'I know you intended to try and comfort me earlier by saying that, but if this truly is isekai, then...'

(System) 'Then what?'

(Bruce) 'Then you may have just tripped a flag... All I can hope for now is that everything goes all right...'

(System) 'Wouldn't that be considered a flag as well?'

(Bruce) 'Damn it your right!'

As the final day comes to an end, Bruce's DP increases to 34. He is also trying to think of a way to use it in order to increase his chances of survival for when his divine protection runs out [welcome to clash of cores, sign up now for a 7 day free shield]

(Bruce) 'Oh, I think I found what I'm looking for!'

(System) '?'

While Bruce was going through his dungeon editing skills, he found a type of room for his dungeon that was to his liking

Lesser Stealth Core Room: Any dungeon core below rank C- will be completely hidden whilst inside of this room (Costs: 5 meter room = 30 DP, 10 meter room = 75 DP, 15 meter room = 130 DP, etc...)

Bruce quickly buys the 5 meter Lesser Stealth Core Room, dropping his DP to 4, and builds it 16 meters beneath the center of sandbox

(Bruce) 'Now time to activate another neat feature about the room, hehe...'

Since the room is a core room, a dungeon core is allowed to spend 1000 MP to instantly teleport into it, this only works with core rooms however, and there's a 24 hour cool down on the teleportation as well

*Foosh*

There's a flash of light, and then Bruce finds himself in a tiny, gloomy, 5 meter room, with some small torches illuminating it

(Bruce) *haaaah*

Bruce lets out a sigh of relief after he has successfully teleported into the core room without any problems

(Bruce) 'I feel like I can finally relax without having to worry about instant death now, thank you stealthy room, I'll be sure to treat you well in the future...'

(System) 'Aren't you still worried about flags?'

(Bruce) 'A little bit, but I'm not going to let something like that ruin the moment'

Bruce then activates his Dungeon Clairvoyance ability in order to take a look at Sandbox's surface... And what will become of it after the divine protection runs out...

(System) 'Warning, divine protection runs out in 3...2...1...0... Divine protection has run out, lifeforms will no longer subconsciously avoid this area'

(Bruce) 'Well... All I can do is hope for the best... right...'