Finally separated from Light, Sophie is sat in the Retreat, nursing a full mug of ale in her hands. She's mulling over the startling secret that she was made privvy to the night before. Light explained the circumstances regarding his 'female' master and the reason why building construction happens so fast. It simultaneously put Sophie's mind at ease and made her heart race uncontrollably at the same time.
Sophie is, or was, a dungeon diver. An adventurer who has seen the insides of many a dungeon. Recently though, before unexpectedly arriving on Abi's doorstep for the first time, she had been taking jobs that required her to protect and escort clients to their destinations. It's for this reason that she happened to be with Wheeler and Aaron in the first place.
Not that she's complaining. She's found the man of her dreams, or least she thought she had. As it turns out that wondrously-beautiful man is actually a dungeon monster created by his master, the Dungeon Core. Not just the man of her dreams but everyone and everything else in sight has also been created by the same dungeon. Except for people Wheeler and Aaron shockingly returned with.
"Why? I don't understand, how?" Talking to herself gets her no answers, but instead catches the attention of the two Assassins next to her.
"Are you talking about our Master and Light? He informed everyone that he would be telling you about us. It seems he has taken a liking to you." One of the longest sentences Carrie has ever said is quickly shadowed by her boisterous partner's love for his home.
"My master is the best! Without her, we would not be here to experience all that there is to experience! We would not be able to make this world a better place as we have been doing. Our master is like no other. She is guiding humanity towards a better path so that she..." Noir's loose lips are quickly silenced as the master in question appears with a frown on her face.
"Master!" Noir bellows before grabbing his weapon from his spatial storage. He then salutes before standing statue still. To the eyes of Sophie, the red-head Assassin looks a little strange as she isn't able to see Abi unless she accepts the contract.
"Is your master here now? Or is he just a little... Crazy?" She faces Carrie and points to Noir's perfect impression of a King's Knight.
"I would like to say both," Carrie raises an eyebrow at her partner, before nodding to her master, "He's always eager to perform well so that he can please our master. I could have a worse partner."
Finishing her ale, Carrie stands up and grabs Noir by the collar.
"Partner? Like partner-partner?" Sophie's words don't receive an answer as Carrie salutes the empty air in front of them. She then drops into Noir's shadow and pulls the still-bowing male down with her. Sophie quickly downs her Ale before asking Talia for a refill.
"They seemed happy, right? In a weird kind of way. I want that! I wanna be happy too and Light makes me happy. That's good right? It doesn't matter that he's a dungeon monster... I don't think. I thought he was a vampire before so there's that as well. Why am I finding this so hard?" Sipping her ale, whilst debating her strangely-tempting situation, Sophie soon asks for a second refill, followed by a third and eventually a fourth. She keeps going until she loses count.
"I mean... He's probably got all the working parts, right? Hehe, (hic) I bet he's a beast. A beast, Talia! Where is he? I'm gonna tell (hic) him," Slipping off the stool, Sophie manages to keep herself from falling over.
"I'm gonna tell him, Talia. I (hic) love him and I don't care about anything else. All I want is Light!" Walking backwards as she calls over the Retreat to the proprietress, Sophie loses her footing in front of the door and she begins to fall. Luckily, the object of her affection catches her mid-way before she can hit the ground.
"You're like my angel," she smiles into the blurry sky-blue eyes of her saviour as he raises her back up.
"I think we should get you to bed," Light politely smiles after seeing how much the human has had to drink. Little did he know, Sophie took those words in a completely different way than how he had intended them.
"Did you hear that, Talia!? Let's go, Light," Light's eyes widen as Sophie grips his wrist with a renewed vigor and drags him out of the Retreat, into the hotel and upstairs to her room.
Talia laughs at Light's poor choice of words and the next day, Sophie accepts a contract with the dungeon.
Dungeon Stories Volume 2
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At the stroke of midnight, just like Cinderballer, something magical happens. I don't meet a charming Prince, but I do have my world rocked by an enormous influx of over-inflated DP.
Seriously! I've never felt this good in either of my lives.
It's that much that Overstock even gained two levels. I mean, I should have expected it. Me did give me a rough estimate on the amount of points I should expect. To be honest though, I forgot that Stockpile evolved into Overstock. With the amount of DP needed to level the skill, I'd already thrown it to the back of my mind and forgotten about it.
Stockpile was all that I needed until this flashed before my eyes.
Overstock Level 3:
You are now able to retain 30% of any Dungeon Points that you acquire
Any Dungeon Points?
Any!
I'm not complaining, even though it might have seemed like I was, but doesn't that seem like a seriously-broken skill? What's going to happen when it reaches level 10? Will I be able retain any amount of DP, no matter the size?
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
I could be a DaPillionaire!
Is that a special type of monster?
Nope, just a rich Dungeon Core. It's another original Abi word.
I should have guessed.
It turns out that most of the people that relocated here are refugees from the north. Forced to leave their homes behind, they hope not to be killed or branded as traitors to the crown in doing so as the Lord of their province has revolted against the King of Tira.
The northeastern region is controlled by Lord Edward Gorn and from what I heard last night, he's actually a really kind-hearted person. So it begs the question, why would he rebel against the King? Has he been wronged in some way? Is there an evil mastermind pulling the strings behind the scenes?
Either way, none of that is my problem. Not yet anyway.
For now, I've got bigger fish to fry.
Dungeon Core Abi Level 33:
1557/4600XP until next level
7 Floors
69 Rooms
72 Tunnels
457 Monsters
4 Contract Monsters
138 Traps
10,600/1800DP Available
I can't get my head around that DP. Long gone are the days where Barry was the main source of my income. Ever since I created him, he's been dropping loads in me nonstop. Now that I receive 25,000DP a night, I'll never have to worry about having points to spend again.
As the days pass by eventfully, my time is always occupied and there's always something else that requires my attention. Because of that, I ended up building the Filing Hut. The feature was unlocked weeks ago, but its description was beyond stupid so I hadn't even bothered to place it.
A place for Rogues to store documents, if they ever need them?
Come on. How stupid is that?
Well, the joke was on me there because after several upgrades, the feature became the Hall of Inquires and allows me to create a psuedo government of sorts. Coincidentally, it was just what I needed since we have a full-functioning city to manage. However, I suppose it's more of a proper government now opposed to a psuedo one. Even if it is created by a dungeon feature.
Due to it be in better than I imagined, time and effort was put in setting up governing bodies to do my work for me. It wasn't too difficult, since Assassins seem to be the perfect fit for most jobs, but I was still dubious about leaving others in charge. Even if passing the buck is second nature in my dungeon.
That said, the first person I summoned came dressed for the job. I've almost given up asking why things go they way they do, unless they're too out there that I can't help myself, since I never get any the answers I desire. Instead, I just have to keep cracking on.
With her hair tied up in a bun, the Assassin has red glasses, a white shirt and a black, pencil skirt that stops above her knees. She looks extremely official and I immediately assigned her as the Mayor of Varona.
Mayor Kana.
I couldn't just leave Kana on her own to look after all these people, so I created more Assassins and formed a council. I also added a few Wood Walkers and Mages, just so I couldn't be called out on being biased. Even if Assassins do murder any job given to them, variety is the spice of life so they say.
With twenty Mages, twenty Wood Walkers and twenty Assassins, Varona's city council was up and running in less than a day. Obviously, I left naming the aids in the capable hands of Mayor Kana and poofed away, leaving her to settle into her new role. Sixty people should be a good start for a government.
I spent most of my newfound freedom, walking through the streets in my Spiritual Presence. Still unnoticeable to the masses as I don't have a physical form, I eavesdrop on conversations as people go about their daily business to find out what they're thinking.
Most of it isn't good right now. The topic on almost everyone's mind is the King and their Lord. What's going to happen? Is everything going to be OK? Will they be able to return home in the future? I have no idea about the first two, but I really hope the latter doesn't come to fruition any time soon. My farm has only just started to take off and I want to utilise this DP for aslong as I can.
Thanks to Soul Guide, sifting through the extremely-large influx of Tironians for people we don't want living in town, my life has become even easier than I thought possible. The skill I instantly took a disliking too, because of the job requirement, turned out to be a blessing in disguise rather than a work commitment.
I haven't heard a single justifiable complaint from anyone that's arrived yet either. Other than those that find themselves to on the wrong end of Soul Guide's colour spectrum, which is downright shocking considering how many of them arrived here all at once, the majority seem quite placid.
Most of the negatives reverted from yellow back to grey as they arrived, landing them directly in the neutral zone. I don't know if that had anything to do with me possessing the job-given skill, or if they're just committed to restarting life with a fresh slate. Either way, less trouble is a win-win scenario for everyone and much less work for me.
The rowdy red and awful orange trouble makers however didn't turn grey. Instead, they were quickly dealt with in a silent, but humane, manner. Disappearing in various alleyways, side streets, lavatories and other places where prying eyes aren't around, when the time was right their hate-filled voices were ceased. Never to be heard from again.
I'm not happy with how it played out, but it was an immediate fix for a large scale problem that I didn't want to sweep under the rug and ignore. Not that it's easy to ignore loudmouth nobles, but I'll do better from now.
Deallng with troublemakers and spying on the residents are not the only tasks I've been taking care of. Varona is now five times the size it was before Wheeler returned. I've been buying land like there's no tomorrow with the most of Overstock's retained DP. The rest has been put into housing and places of work for the growing population.
Maths aside, the Hospitable Homes come with everything a person needs to be able to live sufficiently. A magical cooker, their own bathroom, the house is even furnished. It's not up to the standards of a noble, but it's enough for someone to start life over from scratch. Especially when I haven't asked for anything in return. Although I do need to get on that soon, or I could pass it over to Kana. As mayor it's kind of her job to deal with rents and tenants, right? Or at least one the officials below her should do it.
I'm a busy Dungeon Core these days and am certainly not trying to shirk out of responsibilities.
Plus, these homes weren't cheap, not that I spent any actual money, and I've used more DP here than the cost of the land they're built on. In fairness, I suppose that they've paid for themselves really since the points I used came from the people that are here. And thanks to them, Overstock has reached Level 6 in just a single week. The skill has already accumulated 20,000DP and needs another 140,000 to reach Level 7.
The number itself horrifies me when I think about how much it requires. I know I joke around about being a big Lobe Hound from time to time, but I'm seriously in the big leagues now. Like everything else in my dungeon, the required amount of DP for the skill to level up doubles each time. That means that Overstock will eventually have to accumulate 1,280,000DP to advance from Level 9 to 10.
I need to stop thinking about that skill.
Getting to keep 60% of what I earn over night is already amazing. There's no point in musing over what I will eventually have, hehe.
"Abi?" As usual, the voice of Anya calls out to me from nowhere and everywhere all at once, pulling me out of my thoughts. I've got a plan for my bestie, or the beginning-of-a-plan at least. I'm just waiting on one more piece to be ready.
Hopefully it won't be too long, but only time will tell.