Somewhere far away in a dimly lit room.

Hundreds of candles flickered across the floor. Some of them were nearing the end of their life while others stood fresh and tall. At the room’s center hung a chandelier made purely out of white quartz.

From the chandelier, a rope dangled, stopping just a centimeter above the ground. At its end rested a diamond-shaped crystal about the size of a golf ball.

Crack!!

With a crack, the crystal crumbled into white ash.

The ash drifted across the room, snuffing out a quarter of the candles. As the flames died, shadows spread around the chandelier, leaving a five-meter-wide circle of pure darkness.

Despite the other candles burning in the room, the center remained completely dark.

Creeeak!

With a long creak, the door opened, and a few men wearing white cleric robes entered the room. An upside-down cross hung from their necks.

Looking at the center of the room, one of them, an old man in his sixties, brought his cross toward his glabella and closed his eyes.

When he opened them, they dilated a bit. A drop of sweat appeared on his forehead as he moved toward the center with cautious steps.

Reaching the center, he examined the area around the dangling rope.

’Oh! Dear lord!...’ With a hint of worry, he moved toward the group and got out of the room. Closing the door behind him, he frowned and looked at the others.

Shaking his head, he announced, "A new dungeon has appeared... here? Near us." Remembering the number of extinguished candles, he added.

"It’s probably... no, it must be of a high rank... but the master shouldn’t be that strong... yet." After thinking for a while, the old man added, "Send the inquisitors to eradicate it as soon as possible."

Listening to his words, the others nodded their heads, "As you wish, sir."

Following the order, they were about to move on when the bishop’s voice rang in the empty hall once again.

"The master is probably of a demonic nature, so make sure to send a priest with the inquisitors as well... and yes! Tell Kite to change the crystal and light the candles."

Nodding their heads, the others vanished into the dark hallway. Looking toward the door for a few more seconds, the bishop shook his head.

"May you be the light in this everlasting darkness, my lord." Whispering, he once again put the inverted cross to his glabella and disappeared into the darkness as well.

Sitting cross-legged on his throne, Dhruv looked at the panel with anticipation.

’So how do I open it...’ At first, he had thought that there might be some voice command that activated the status, but to his surprise, a mere thought was enough to show him the desired information.

’Is it actively reading my mind...’

Turning his head upward, Dhruv couldn’t help but feel his privacy was at risk. If the cube or whatever had granted him this power, was actively listening to his thoughts and desires, then how could he hide from it?

’If someday I had to fight it... wouldn’t I be out of cards...’

Being sly was one of his areas of expertise, and if the enemy knows everything about you, then there is no point in going to fight in the first place. Might as well present your head on a silver platter and spare yourself the misery.

Sighing, he thought of a few things before bringing his attention back to the panel, showing his status.

[Name: Dhruv]

[Species: Human (Former)]

[Level: 0 [0%] [Tier: I]]

[Stats: Strength: 5, Agility: 6, Stamina: 4, Spirit: 7]

There were still a few things left on the status, but instead of looking at them, Dhruv stopped and continued to stare at one particular section of the panel.

’Former... human... what does it mean by that? After dying... have I become a ghost..’

Thinking so, he touched his body, but nothing had changed. Frowning, he tried clicking on the section. Remembering his previous interaction with the system and its one-way communication, Dhruv wasn’t expecting much, but to his surprise, a new panel opened beside this one.

[Species: Due to the Authority of ’Dungeon Master’ and being bound to the ’Dungeon of Greed’, you are stripped of the race of ’Human’. It is advised to evolve to the next tier and become a member of another species, or else your existence could be in danger.

Time Limit: 30 Days.]

Dhruv’s eyes widened as he read the horrifying truth.

’Existence in danger... what the fuck is this bullshit... it hasn’t been an hour and my existence is already in danger. And what is this evolve to next tier... how do I do that... hey, hello... can you guide me.. give me anything, you fucking buffoon...’

No matter how much he asked, there was no reply from above. There was an anger rising within him, but knowing he couldn’t do anything, Dhruv calmed himself down.

Trying to lighten the mood, he muttered sarcastically.

’Let’s get out of this world, the customer support is awful here...’

Being forced to do one thing after another, his idea of getting out of this world was only growing stronger each moment. He couldn’t help but reminisce about how simple his world was.

’First, I got transported... then became dungeon master against my will...’ Finding himself sitting on the throne, he coughed... ’not complaining about this one... but... now my existence is in danger.’

’What now... will I be hunted by some organization or what?...’ Trying to cope with his erasure, he tried being sarcastic for once.

Let’s not jinx myself...

Nodding his head, he tried forgetting about the erasure and moved to the next part of the status.

Authority: [Greed],[Dungeon Master]

[Quirk: None]

[Skills: Covetous Tongue Lv. 1, Pick-Pocket Lv. 1, Summon Lv. 5]

[Dungeon: Dungeon Of Greed]

’Hmm! So the upgrade didn’t remove the Dungeon Master authority... Hmm! So what exactly are these...’ Curious, Dhruv clicked on each of them, prompting a panel with their description.

[Authority: Born from the cosmos itself, each being holds an affinity with something. Authority is the power that grants you the right to wield that affinity. Everyone is bestowed with some share of the authority. You can hunt others with the same authority as yours to increase your own.]

[Dungeon Master: Chosen by the cosmos, you wield the power to rule over the dungeons.

Own: 0.02%

Skill Granted: Summon Lv. 1 ]

[Greed: It’s in your nature to covet what is yours as well as others’.

Own: 0.0001%

Skill Granted: Covetous Tongue Lv. 1, Pick-Pocket Lv. 1]

Strangely, Dhruv didn’t know what to feel about this information. Should he be delighted that the cosmos had considered him worthy of holding power over dungeons?

Or, should he be mad that it had labeled him as ’Greedy’?

"Quite low my shares are, and I’ve to kill others for their share. Isn’t this promoting killing among the inhabitants of the planet?"

Dhruv had an idea, forget that, he personally knew people who wouldn’t think twice before killing people if it meant gaining power.

He wasn’t at their level, but even Dhruv couldn’t say he was innocent either. If the deal were sweet enough, he wouldn’t mind sinking his teeth into it. Still, it wasn’t at the level where he would just kill someone to increase some measly numbers.

’Ahh! There are too many ifs and whys, can’t it be simpler...’ Dhruv thought before realizing something, ’...what am I talking about... It’s already this simple... all I have to do is kill someone.’

Sighing, he moved and clicked on the skills.

[Summon: Lets you summon monsters to manage the Dungeon.]

Looking at the word ’monster,’ the final nail in the coffin hit. It became certain this world was going to be quite a weird one.

Not much to contemplate here, he moved forward.

[Covetous Tongue: Using your sharp tongue, you can incite the greed of others]

[Pick-Pocket: Such a flexible hand... I should use it to steal.]

"Sure, why not?"

Dhruv looked at the description with a straight face.

Moving forward, he clicked on the dungeon. The moment he did so, a long screen appeared, drawing his attention entirely to it. Along with the screen, a great amount of information began filling up his brain.

They were the knowledge he needed to run a dungeon.

’Hmmm!... this is gonna be fun...’ Smiling, Dhruv began understanding everything about them with great care.