It's been a relatively quiet week since Hiroshi the elf rolled into town and met a swift death without handing XP my way No tears were shed for the shady bastard, not after the dark-haired slave blew up at least, and not a single fuck was given.

Bad guys are bad guys. It's just that simple.

Especially when they don't give out XP.

Are you still going on about that?

Even though it's been a quiet week, it's certainly been a frustrating one. Soul Guide is not the type of skill I expected it to be. That doesn't mean it's useless, but it's a far cry from the awesome move that I was hyping it up to be in my mind.

Although now that I think about it, the name makes a lot more sense to me. More so since I took the time to read the lengthy description.

Soul Guide:

Determine whether an individual is worth redeeming by assessing their true nature

Reflected by the actions taken in life, the colour of an individual's soul dictates the potential outcome when undergoing the Cycle of Reincarnation

These are not set in stone as outside source are able to interfere with this program

Souls are measured on a scale and everyone starts neutral

Exemplary souls are sent to... Error#... With their memories in tact, they can... Error#... To further better themselves

On the other hand, Souls who find themselves on the opposite end of the scale have a 75% chance to be reincarnated as dung whilst retaining all their memories

Red: Destined to be dung in their next life, this soul holds no value and should be immediately sent to the reincarnation cycle

Orange: With a 50/50 chance of ending up like the reds, a complete overhaul in life needs to be carried out before they move on to the next

Yellow: By far the best of the worse, these souls are acting out for juvenile reasons and need course correction before they undertake the cycle

Grey: A neutral soul is not classed good or bad and is the baseline for every living thing on Tironia

Grey souls have the potential to go either way but will still enter the reincarnation cycle even if the colour has not improved upon death

Green: The first steps towards... Error#... have been taken and with guidance this soul will progress to the next level

-Certain actions may still lower the colour of green souls

Blue: Continuously striving to reach... Error#... this soul is almost ready for the next level

-Only extreme actions will lower the colour of this soul

Purple: Continuously performing deeds worth merit, and/or self sacrifice, this exemplary soul is ready to be harvested (at the earliest convenience) and is guaranteed to the reach the next level and sent to... Error#...

Work hard to guide souls to their rightful destination and maybe your own soul will... Error#... One day

I'm getting sick of these skills, you know? Why is half of the description missing? And why do they have to be the pieces that I actually want to know?

So yeah, Soul Guide lets me view the colour of a person's soul and also throws a new job my way while it's at it.

Awesome...

Not that I asked for the new position. Let's be honest, I can barely keep up with what I've got going on now. Creating a brand new city when you haven't attended the relevant classes is not an easy task. I say it all looks good and that everything is in the right place, but that is most definitely a biased opinion on my part. Once people start arriving, I'll have to listen in on their conversations to find out what they think. Then I'll use Divinities Creation to alter things here and there in Varona to better cater their needs.

Haha, that's right. They will be my architects and city planners. How clever is that?

How will you stop them from noticing the sudden changes?

That's easy. Companies change their location from time to time so I'll make them aware beforehand by putting a sign up.

A sign?

Yep. Signs do all the work for you. They tell people what's going down in easy to understand sentences. For example, this building will be moving to the central market in two days. See, it's easy to understand and has all the information they need.

And what if they ask for a reason behind the move?

Again, that's another simple one. We say it's better for business and leave it at that. Merchants do whatever they want anyway and they're always trying to earn more than the next guy so it should sound plausible.

Back to the original subject though, what am I going to do about Soul Guide? I don't want another job, Me.

If it benefits your own soul in the process, I don't see what the problem is. You already take care of the red and orange souls as it is. Maybe it would be wise to just ignore it.

I suppose I do already take down people in those categories.

Ignore it, huh?

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

It just doesn't seem right though. Why do I have to harvest green-to-purple souls too? And at their earliest convince? What's that about? Isn't that the same as killing a great figure? I'll definitely earn the Villainous Dictator title after that. What I want to know the most though is, where are they going? What's the Error in the status about and what's the next level? Was I not good enough during my first life that I didn't get to go to the error place? I know I didn't live the best, but still...

If I knew any of those answers, I would tell you, Abi. I've told you The System grants us knowledge so that we can help the Dungeon Core begin their life. She doesn't give us all her knowledge, only what's relevant.

Aha! So you finally admit that it's a 'her'.

No... It's just that you say it all the time so it's more than likely rubbing off on me.

Ha. Haha. Hahahaha. Oh, it's been a while since you cracked a good one like that, Me.

What do you mean? I wasn't even trying. All I said was that it's rubbing off... On... Me. Do you always have to be crass?

C'mon, Me. That was funny. Just wait, when you get that body, I'll have you crying with laughter.

It's unlikely. Also, you keep mentioning this body but I have to keep reminding you that I don't have a soul so what you're suggesting isn't even possible.

Yeah, I know what you said, but I've got a plan now.

Abi. I mean this in the nicest possible way, but your plans usually have a tendency to involve three steps back, two side jumps, a circular staircase with a chainsaw, a lot of swapping around, and at best of times, a leap of faith.

Uff, that was pretty harsh, Me. I didn't mean to upset you over the whole joke thing. I'm sorry.

I'm not upset. I was merely making a joke of my own.

Ohh. Yeah, I didn't get it. I don't get roasted too often these days.

"I'll be ready for the next time you want to roast me though," my spirit form winks, but I doubt Me saw it and ignore the failed attempt.

The plan I mentioned actually involves the three other skills I earned from the remnants Cores. Cause that's what we're calling them. For some crazy reason, that can only be attribute to my previous breakdown in sanity, I reckon a skill can be created by combining all eight aspects of magic. One that I can use to create a body without a soul.

Temptress of the Wind, The Earth Sculptor and Forger of Fire are the second step towards helping Me and hopefully myself. I already have Desecrator of The Dark which is fantastic because it means there are only four aspects left to collect.

I'm not even worried about when I'll get them really. I mean, I've been a Dungeon Core for just-over two months now and I've already got four. All-in-all that's not a bad time frame to base my calculations on. Saying that I could earn the second half of skills in another two months isn't just a pipedream.

Which means the prospect of creating a physical body isn't too far away.

I can almost taste it.

What?

Ali's!

As I act daft and put off the fact that obtaining those skills will probably take longer than I anticipate, which is starting to seem more daunting than it did a minute ago, I look out at the town from the tower of the academy.

The residential district sits off to my right. Rows of Hospitable Homes are spaced out evenly and paved pathways lead into the centre of town. There are parks between every second row of homes which add beauty to the area that I look down on from above.

To my left is what I have dubbed 'The Artisan District'. Now featuring a few new craft buildings including but not limited to, a sawmill, a textile factory, a woodcutter hut and the forge. It doesn't look as neat and presentable as the residential area. I'll have to spruce it up and move things around again at some point in the foreseeable future.

Past the artisan district, The High Cultivator and his men can be seen tending the fields. Even though they're two plots of land away, I can still see them here and it just shows how tall the tower is.

Closer to me, there are various groups milling around the streets engaged in all types of varied conversations. Some boast about the tributes they've brought back for me to absorb. Others talk about good night's at Talia's or new items they've picked up from Tara and Lara. Winning rhe popularity contest by a mile though, are discussions about Ali's.

It's a killer.

Scouts are coming and going from the city. There are that many of them now that I gave full control over the rota to Hana and Mira. They are The Commanders after all, it made sense to pit them in charge the parties.. With the town constantly expanding, my attention and focus is split between that many projects, it won't be long before this place is a city.

A small one maybe, but it's still not far away.

Unlike those skills.

I know it might not seem like it, whilst I regally sit in my tower watching my subject live their lives, but there's been a lot to do around here. There are even four humans living on my dungeon land currently. Well, three humans and an elf.

It took some time but Kat managed to bring the two women around to her idea of a brighter future. That future meant sticking together and both of them decided to stay in Varona. I've got no complaints about it either. Other than having somebody move them every now and then so I do my thing, they're not that bad. Since they're not contracted to me either, I even earn a nice amount of DP from them.

And even if they did arrive with that hate-filled elf, it's not like they share his feelings.

With Kat, Sophie, Tilly and Aura, I've just realised... I've never had this many Tironians inside me at once.

I can't tell if that was a joke or not. Although, they're not technically inside you.

In me, on me, same difference when it's all said and done.

Quite. However, I believe it's time to spend some of your points.

Yeah, I suppose it is. What should I do this time though?

As I look upon the to-be-expanded town, I feel reluctant to continue adding to it right now. It's just a bummer that there's less than a handful of people and so many unoccupied buildings. Some of the carpentry features don't even have dungeon workers yet.

I should wait to add more buildings out here. I could do more features or improve the park areas, but Tilly and Aura in the residential area so I'll wait till they go into town.

Disappearing from the top of the tower, I manifest inside the Boss Room on the sixth floor. My Bronze Golem is sat against the wall at the back of the room and if I didn't know he was the boss, I could easily mistake him for a strangely-constructed statue.

"I've been neglecting this place recently, huh?" My question is mainly rhetorical but it also serves to announce my presence to the metal man. Rising from his place on the floor my guardian bows before me and mumbles garbled words that I fail to understand. As always though, his feelings carry through the dungeon connection and I know he's happy to see me.

I'm struggling to say yes, even though I want too, since your dungeon is by far deeper than any other Dungeon Core of your age.

I've just been so focused on the town. I really want it to work so I've been giving it my full attention. Now that it's amfoimg well for the moment, it's time to get back to what kicked off my idea in the first place.

My dungeon.

It's been a few weeks since I added any internal features to my mountain home. Six floors deep and with a small variety of monsters making their home inside me, I think it's time for a new floor.