CONQUEST: The Dungeon Core Gambit Book One Read online

  Conquest:

  The Dungeon Core

  Gambit

  Book One

  By Antony W. F. Chow

  Kindle Edition. Copyright © 2018 by Antony W.F. Chow, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without prior written permission of the author. Certain names were created using Fantasynamegenerators.com. Book cover by Sid Ceaser of Sid Ceaser Photography, based on Dreamstime.com stock image ID 21568302, "Enjoy the last Sunbeams," copyrighted © 2018 by Ateliersommerland. Image used under Dreamstime.com’s Royalty-Free license. Book formatted by Jesse Gordon at adarnedgoodbook.com.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters and events portrayed in this work are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Chapter 1

  Untimely Demise

  He never expected to be a snitch. But then again, he never expected to be hogtied and naked in his apartment either. Both courtesy of his nemesis, Bobbi Nox.

  The current predicament of thirty-one-year-old Markos Turloch began when the owner of a local community bank decided to put his twenty-six-year-old niece in charge of the Internal Audit Department where Markos worked.

  Obvious nepotism aside, this blue-eyed, blonde-haired beauty had a freshly minted MBA in Accounting. And it was clear that Bobbi was being groomed to become the CEO of the company one day.

  Unfortunately, Bobbi also proved to be a two-faced bitch. Oh, whenever she turned on the charm, she was gregarious and everyone (aside from Markos) loved her. But when she flipped over to bitch mode, watch out!

  Since Bobbi was Markos' immediate supervisor, she often vented her frustration on him. She would call him into the office for any real or imaginary mistake in his report. Sometimes, she would even pretend to be an English professor and made grammatical corrections in his reports.

  Markos never understood why she singled him out for harassment. Perhaps she was physically repulsed by him. After all, he stood just a shade over five feet tall, with a thin build and a receding hairline (already). Yes, Markos will be the first to admit that he was not physically attractive. But he was always polite to his co-workers and no one ever had any complaint about him besides Bobbi.

  Since the two worked in the same department, Bobbi had to walk by his cubicle every day in order to reach her office. She would often make rude or snide comments within his earshot.

  Furthermore, Bobbie belittled him and made derogatory comments about him to his co-workers at the bank. She even pondered aloud if Markos was gay.

  Sure enough, the daily innuendo and gossip against Markos slowly but surely turned the company's opinion of him from favorable to unfavorable. Even worse, Bobbie exploited the annual performance review in mid-December and made false but critical comments in his file regarding his work performance.

  When Markos receive a copy of his annual performance report, he was livid. He almost stormed into her office to strangle the little witch. But what saved her that day was happenstance--the owner of the bank visited Bobbie's office and they were having a casual, but happy conversation.

  From that day forward, Markos decided to dig deeper into certain, suspicious accounts that he came across during his internal audit work. As his supervisor, Bobbi told him which client accounts to audit. However, during his frequent trips to her office, he saw very suspicious accounts on her computer screen.

  The clients were LLCs located in infamous tax havens countries such as Panama and Barbados, to name two. Even worse, the accounts had transactions which involved huge sums of money; millions of dollars were deposited one day and transferred out the next day.

  Markos began to suspect that the bank was involved in illegal money laundering. If so, then it made sense for the owner to insert his own family member to keep an eye on the Internal Audit Department, which could unravel these illegal transactions.

  Markos spent the next few months making secret copies of these suspicious transactions. Additionally, he checked to see if anyone at the bank had filed suspicious activity reports regarding these transactions, as required by federal law. Yet, he found no such filings by anyone at the bank.

  Thus, Markos endured the daily torment from his boss while secretly gathering documents. The next spring, he called in sick one morning and then drove to the local FBI office with copies of these documents. After several interviews, the FBI launched a raid against the bank.

  In the meantime, he never returned to work ever since the day he called in sick. Markos asked for and received a sabbatical from the Human Resources Department. He used this time off to move to another place. The Feds offered to put him in witness protection but he declined. After all, why would anyone from the bank go after his life?

  In hindsight, Markos made two errors in judgment. First, he was absent during the FBI raid of the office and he never returned to work, thereby raising suspicion that he was the one who had whistleblown on the bank. Second, he declined to join witness protection.

  These errors in judgment came to light some two weeks after the FBI raid. One evening, he had opened the front door and entered his apartment building when someone rushed up behind him. He felt the cold barrel of a gun pressed against the base of his neck.

  "Go to your apartment," a female voice said.

  A cold shiver crept up his spine when Markos recognized the voice. He heard it every day at work for the past 15 months. It was his tormentor, Bobbie Nox.

  Markos obeyed. He crossed the hallway and unlocked the door at the end; his apartment was on the ground floor. Once the door was opened, he was roughly shoved inside. The door soon closed and locked behind him with a loud click.

  When Markos turned around, his eyes were drawn to the gun pointed at his head. The one holding the gun was, indeed, Bobbie Nox. She was dressed in tight-fitting black leather. She wore a tank top that ended above her navel, revealing a smooth, muscular abdomen. She wore a short skirt that ended above mid-thigh. She also had black boots that rose above her calves.

  Without warning, Bobbie rushed toward him and slapped him across the face. "You rat!" she spat out with dark venom. She kneed him in the stomach and then slammed her gun against the back of his head.

  Markos dropped to the ground and lost consciousness. When he came to, he was naked and hogtied behind his back. He was laid on his belly. He struggled to break free of the duck tape but couldn't. He glanced at his surroundings and saw the contents of his fridge scattered about on the floor. Why?

  Suddenly, his body was turned over. Something pulled him by his hair and dragged his body along the floor. Bobbi then stood over him and shoved his body into the open fridge. Cold air blew on his bare skin. Markos tried to scream but his mouth was gagged and covered with duck tape.

  Bobbie drew closer to him. She caressed her breasts and swayed her hips before him. "You think I'm hot, don't you?" she cooed innocently.

  The captive nodded.

  "If you can make me horny, I'll let you go." She reached for his penis and started stroking it.

  Despite the cold air from the fridge, his member burned with desire and blood rushed in.

  Bobbie smiled sweetly at him as she stroked him and he became harder and harder. When she saw that his dick was fully erect, she pulled out a butcher knife from behind her back and chopped off his penis. "To hell," she said and slammed the door shut.

  Markos was delirious with agony as blood poured out like a water fountain. He frantically slammed his head against the door to push it open. But something was blocking it. He was trapped in the fridge and he was quickly bleeding to death.

  In the darkness, in the cold, he felt his
life slowly drain out of his body. With the last of his thoughts, he cursed Bobbie Nox.

  * * *

  Markos slowly regained awareness. He tried to open his eyes but couldn't. Where am I? He tried to open his eyes again. And failed. It was as if his eyes no longer existed. He tried to flex his fingers. Again, nothing happened. His mind panicking now, he tried to move his body. Yet, he felt nothing. He screamed. He heard nothing. What happened to me?

  When his panic left his body sometime later, Markos reached out with his mind. He soon discovered his thoughts were floating in a dark pool teeming with energy. It felt cold and warm at the same time. His existence had changed. He slowly remembered the last thing he felt--overwhelming pain from having his erect dick cut off by that bitch, Bobbi Nox.

  Markos had died inside that fridge in his new apartment. He was no longer on Earth. He felt sadness at his passing. He had so much to live for. He was only 31 for God's sakes! He had worked so hard to build a stable life for himself. But that life was cruelly snatched away from him by that nasty woman. He felt anger and resentment at the unfairness of it all.

  What are you going to do about it?

  Markos froze. The thought was not his own. Something had entered his consciousness. It was a metallic voice devoid of emotion. It sounded like a robocall. Who are you?

  A friend.

  Do you know what happened to me?

  You were reincarnated.

  Markos took a moment to consider the answer. It made sense. When people died, it was assumed that they were either reborn in the same form of existence or reincarnated in a different form. They reappeared either in the same world as before or in a different world altogether. The answer from the unknown entity had confirmed that he was no longer a human being. And he had a suspicion that he was not on Earth either. But his current location was secondary. The other question was of primary importance: What am I?

  You are a dungeon core.

  Chapter 2

  Dungeon Core

  Markos took a moment to absorb this revelation. While a part of him knew that he had changed and he felt different from before, another part of him stubbornly refused to accept reality. How do you know that I'm a dungeon core? Who are you, anyway?

  I am the Dungeon Core Helper and I was born the moment you were reincarnated. Master, I know this is hard to believe but you must find a way to accept your current situation. A dungeon core is extremely rare and valuable and your birth into this world will be noticed. Creatures of this world will seek you out and use you to further their own agendas. You must protect yourself by constructing a dungeon soon!

  Upon hearing this warning, Markos' disbelief and confusion turned into fear. While he was still skeptical, he did not want to lose his life if the voice was telling the truth. Yet, he couldn't deny the fact that he lacked a human body. Everything felt too . . . real. Somehow, he felt that the voice was truthful and trustworthy. Thus, Markos decided to go with his gut and believe the helper. How do I build a dungeon?

  The first thing you need to do is to complete our bond by giving me a name. This will personalize my program for use by you only.

  Markos pondered the response. The helper was really a program? And he was stuck in another world? Yet, the reincarnated entity set aside his questions. There will be ample time for those once the current task was completed. Hmm. You want a name? Are you male or female?

  I am genderless. However, you may choose a gender for me as well.

  Markos wasn't sure what to pick. The voice sounded young and female. That was why he had originally assumed the voice was a she. He decided to turn this presumption into reality. I name you "Jessica." But I may shorten it to "Jess" whenever it's more convenient to do so.

  A message appeared before him: "Confirmed: dungeon core helper has been named 'Jessica.'"

  A translucent figure of a young woman appeared before Markos. She had light olive hair in the style of a pixie cut and bright blue eyes. She wore a matching light-olive dress with gold trimmings and one strap over her rather delicate looking left shoulder. Large yellow-orange colored wings which resembled those of dragonflies were attached to her back. She hovered in the air and bowed deeply to Markos. "Master, do I look presentable to you?"

  Markos was surprised by the sudden appearance of the young woman, who looked like a faery. Even more surprising was the fact that he felt no apprehension at her appearance or closeness. For some reason, he felt protective of her akin to the way a father felt for his daughter.

  "Master?" The faery's pretty face flew closer to his. She waved a hand over his eyes.

  Oh, I'm sorry. I was surprised to see you appear so suddenly. Weren't you speaking directly in my mind before?

  "Yes, master. The initial state of my program required direct mind-to-mind communication. My voice and my physical form are manifestations of the successful customization of my program to you as my sole user."

  Can I take up a physical form like the way you did?

  A sad expression appeared on Jessica's face. "I'm sorry, master. You can't create a physical manifestation at this time," she announced.

  But I can eventually, right?

  The faery nodded. "When you reach Level 5. You will unlock this ability at that time."

  That's fine. Good things come to those who wait.

  A puzzled expression appeared on the helper's face. She had never heard of this expression before.

  Nevermind. It's an expression from my old life. Now please tell me how to make a dungeon.

  "Yes, master! The first thing we will do is to access your User Interface or 'UI' for short."

  A screen appeared in front of Markos:

  Name: Markos Turloch

  Class: Dungeon Core, Level 1

  Experience: 0/1,000

  Helper: Jessica, Dungeon Faery

  Health: 500/500

  Mana: 500/500

  Domain: 0 Feet

  Minions: 0

  Keeper Abilities: Convert raw materials

  "The UI is a summary of your current status. At Level 1, you have only one function: Convert raw materials. It costs one mana point to convert your current surroundings into one square foot of building material for your dungeon. When you reach Level 2, you unlock the ability to Create walls."

  Markos studied the UI closely. How much experience will I get from converting one square foot of material?

  "At Level 1, you will gain 1 XP per square foot converted."

  What is my rate of mana regeneration?

  "One mana per minute."

  If I need to regenerate 500 mana to convert 1,000 square feet, then it will take me over 8 hours to reach Level 2.

  "Correct."

  How do I start converting the raw material?

  "Just give me the order," the faery smiled.

  Let's get started!

  "Yes, sir!" Jessica saluted.

  Markos felt a slight vibration in his environment. Suddenly, the area surrounding him was cleared. He checked his UI and saw that he had spent 10 mana and converted 10 units of raw material. In addition, he received 10 XP for this activity. Suddenly, Markos remembered something important and immediately asked his helper. Jessica, what do I look like?

  An image appeared in his mind. It was a large, sparkling white diamond embedded in rocks. Oh, great! I've been turned into a rock!

  Despite his shock at turning into a diamond, Markos focused on the task at hand. The empty space continued to grow as Jessica helped Markos convert the rocks around him into raw materials for the dungeon. Suddenly, he felt extremely tired and fell asleep. Exactly one minute later, Markos awoke. Jessica, what just happened?

  The faery appeared before the dungeon core. "You emptied out your mana pool and lost consciousness."

  Markos became upset at this revelation. The last thing he wanted was to fall asleep when he was so vulnerable. He quickly reprimanded her. You should have warned me. I would have instructed you to save at least one mana.

  "Oops!" Jessica punched h
erself lightly on the head. "I forgot."

  Markos wished he still had eyes to roll at her. New order: Never empty my mana pool unless I specifically order you to do so. If that ever happens in the future, you will ask for a confirmation before emptying out my mana.

  The faery saluted. "Yes, master!" She blinked her eyes as a thought popped into her head. "You now have 500 units of raw material. When should I resume converting the remaining 500 units?"

  The dungeon core thought for a moment. How soon did he want to resume the conversion? This was turning into the proverbial Goldilocks situation--not too fast and not too slow. Markos sighed inwardly and gave his response. Let's do it in stages of 100 units. When I have regenerated 101 mana, then start the conversion again. While we're waiting for my mana to regenerate, can you tell me what ability I will unlock at Level 2?

  "You get to build walls," Jessica smiled.

  How logical. Again, Markos wished he could roll his eyes. He couldn't wait to create a body. What can you tell me about this world?

  The helper pouted. "I'm sorry, master. I know as much as you do. Until I can explore the world above us, I don't know anything about where we are."

  Curses! Markos did not like the answer. Not one bit. Until he gained some levels, he was vulnerable. Right now, he was a sitting duck. If a miner happened to dig a tunnel into his current location, his core will be extracted because it was indistinguishable from a beautiful diamond. Markos had to figure out a way to defend himself. Or get minions to fight for him. How do I get minions?

  "You unlock the ability to create them at Level 5."

  Huh? I thought I could create a body for myself at Level 5.

  Jessica hit herself on the head again. "Sorry, master. What I meant was that you can directly control any minion you create as long as the minion is located within your dungeon."

  Ah! That makes sense. Is it possible for my minion to leave my dungeon?

  "Yes. But only if a piece of your dungeon core is placed inside your minion. It would then be considered a 'puppet.' But the further your puppet moves away from your dungeon core, the harder it will be to control the puppet."