"I still can't believe the Master didn't send me on the mission?" Light and Sophie are in the first Assassin's home. The house is mainly unused as Light is more often than not, anywhere other than here and only uses the abode to sleep in when he hasn't passed out in the retreat. His home is furnished, but without any personal touches it could easily be anyone's.

"I'm happy she didn't." Laying her head on his chest and tracing the contours of his muscles with her finger, Sophie is extremely grateful for the time they have together. They've spent the entire day locked up in the bedroom. Laid underneath the blanket, the ex-dungeon diver smiles blissfully at the blue-haired Assassin beside her.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying our time together very much so. It's just... It's strange not being called upon for something important. I've gotten so used to being relied on that I've grown accustomed to it. I feel like I should be going." Light really enjoys talking with Sophie. He can be open and honest with her regarding any subject. Hell, if she's willing to accept the fact that he was created by a dungeon, she's definitely a keeper.

"I rely on you now." Sophie's smiles playfully as she looks him in the eyes.

"More like lay," Light chuckles, earning himself an elbow to his ribs as she climbs on top of him. The blanket falling to her waist.

"Now I'm not lying on you." Light's heart thumps in his chest as Sophie saddles his waist. Neither are clothed and the sight of her body above his own causes many impulsive thoughts to enter the Assassin's mind.

"That's t-true, but in that case... What are you going to do up there?"

"Words won't do it justice. Let me show you instead." No one saw either Light or Sophie for the rest of the day. Locked away in his home, the ex-dungeon diver taught the Assassin a great many new techniques. None of which could be used on monsters however. Not unless said monster was a beast in the bedroom.

Dungeon Stories Volume 2

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"I thought it would have taken them longer to return than it did." Wiping saliva off the top of Colin's trunk, Me offers his thoughts on the recently returned Assassins.

The King Mimic, getting a good scrubbing, has managed to breathe life into every chest I left him yesterday. That means I now own over three-dozen Mimics.

Three dozen!

"I know, right. They even stayed overnight when they didn't need to. Maybe they were trying to present me in a better light? Although I'm surprised Noir didn't nag them about coming home. In fact, I'm even more shocked he didn't use The Syndicate's once a day Shadowport. " While picturing Prince Loudmouth destroying buildings just for the sake of it, a Golden Mimic licks itself clean beside me. Not that it was dirty in the first place, but I wonder what Colin's been teaching them?

"Apparently, the Space Mages were still exhausted and needed to replenish their mana before the Assassins could be sent back. That and the Lord wanted to throw his saviour a feast and it's not like you could attend yourself," he jabs, finishing up with Colin and moving on to the next drool-covered Mimic. Not that I haven't already heard the same information myself, but it's nice to hear Me backing them up. It's even been a while since he called the Assassins monsters.

"I suppose that makes sense. I forget that everyday Tironian have stats that are way below that my own family." Even though I used to be one of those regular, old Abi's, it's easy to get caught up in a power trip when you're constantly surrounded by powerhouses.

"I should try and get myself some of those Space Mages. I might earn another elemental affinity in doing so... Why are you cleaning the Mimics? They're just gonna slobber themselves in drool again the moment you're finished, you know? In fact, when did you even start liking Colin? I thought you said Mimics were dangerous and shit?" I'm quite shocked at my partner's turnabout attitude toward the world's most adorable legendary monster.

"I can only attribute it to you, Abi. Everything I am is a part of you. My mind was created by The System to aid yours and you created my body with your own two hands. If anything, I'm too much of you." His words cause me to pause, until the perfect reply pops up that is.

'I don't think you could ever have too much of me.' smiling brightly, Me returns my gaze with contempt.

"Please don't start that again."

"What? I didn't even say anything."

"You know that I can hear your thoughts just as well as your words." Finishing the smaller Mimic in less time than it took him to do Colin, Me moves on to the next.

"So... Do you like Mimics now then?" Giving up on the teasing I had in mind, I keep to topic and inspect the work my partner did on Colin's frame.

"Yeah." Me zones in on a particular spot, trying his best he just can't seem to buff out the mark. I take full advantage of that fact and throw some questions his way. The same ones that I once asked when he didn't possess a body.

"How do you feel about that?" Simple to start with, I ask a question he once rebuked by saying he didn't have feelings. Even though he was clearly annoyed at the time.

"It's OK, I suppose," still putting pressure on to buff out that shine, Me actually answers without thinking about it and I push a liitle deeper.

"And Hana and Mira are beautiful?" The question I asked just before the Catergoriser arrived. He answered accidentally back then, but immediately refuted us statement. I wonder what he think now.

"Yeah, Hana and Mira are actually very beautiful." His honesty is more shocking than the reply itself. Finally feeling satisfied with his work, Me moves on to the next Mimic as I double down and push even deeper.

"And Peaches is proper rocking that bod?"

"Abi!" Maybe I pushed a little too hard. This time he stops - taking his core-coloured eyes off the Mimic to scowl in my direction, Me's face says it all.

"OK. Ok. I'm sorry. I was just testing you. I couldn't help myself with that last one." Still, I'm rather pleased with how that went.

"Quite. Don't you have other things to attend to?" With the cloth hanging in his hand, Me stands up to take a quick break as he waits for me to leave. I just don't want to though. With his carrrot top and freckles, my no-longer-Voice-Activated User Notification System is just too cute. Even if he does pack enough punch to level the city.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"I suppose so. It's just nice being able to talk to you properly, Me." Honesty is the best policy these days. There's no point hiding my feelings from my family anyway as they're all basically a part of me.

"The sentiment is shared, however, point spending is a Dungeon Core's responsibility. As your aid I wouldn't be doing my job correctly if I wasn't pushing you to do yours." Even though he looks human, he's still the same subsystem underneath.

"So you're like the Kana to my Sacha then?" Portraying us as our city council leaders, Me looks a little confused by the reference.

"Don't you have them the wrong way round?"

"Nope. It won't be long before Mayor Kana relinquishes the position to her more-suited-to-the-job deputy. It must be the glasses, Sacha just has it going for her." Honestly, the deputy has an ocean load of confidence when compared to pale-faced, monotone utterings of her senior.

"It must be the glasses? Mayor Kana also has a pair of... Go and spend your points." Returning his focus to the Mimics, Me brushes me off and begins cleaning the accumulated saliva off one of the nearest chests with more gusto than before. Or maybe that's his frustration showing?

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going. You don't need to tell me five times." Getting my own jab in, although I'm not quite I benefited from insulting myself, I leave Me to his cleaning and decide to visit Anya instead. Tilly's Clinic, referred to that way, even though the feature is the size of a hospital and The System says it's a surgery, is quite busy. The building that I thought wouldn't see many visitors has more citizens inside than Ali's.

"Why are there so many people here? Is something wrong?" Sticking my head through the wall of an occupied room, I scare Tilly half to death in the process. She acts as though something other than her spiritual contractor scared the life out of her so to not alert her patient, and answers back through the dungeon channel.

'Please. Don't do that again. What would you have done if I'd been in the middle of surgery?' The man on the bed doesn't notice the Cleric throw an inquisitive look my way, nor her sigh or her shrug.

"Sorry, Tilly. I have a bad habit of doing that. I'll try my best not to do it again, but I can't make any promises." I'm certainly not crossing my fingers on my side of the wall as I say this. Nor am I trying my best to contain a smile.

'Honestly, Abi. I suppose there are worse things than the occasional fright. To answer your question, most people are just here for a checkup. A few people have been in with bumps and bruises with the worst case being a small cut while the lady was cooking.' So nothing is to blame for the entire reception area being packed other than a check up? It's unlikely, but I can roll with that. It's not like I'm brushing off another problem.

"Are you happy then?" Tilly doesn't just hesitate to answer, her entire body stops. Only momentarily, however, as she resumes scanning the man on table right after her blip. I've heard the story about how she was threatened into following the elf and what he did to his prisoners. Katrina explained it to me after she'd spoken to both of the survivors. She was determined to help them and that she did.

"You can get up now, sir. The examinaion's all done. You're as healthy as they come, I'm happy to say. It's always good to check though, just to be on the safe side so I'm glad you came in today. If you don't feel well at any point or you get injured at work, pop back and I'll fix you right up." Tilly writes down some notes on a pad as the man heads for the door. "Thanks, Miss Tilly, you're a good 'en."

Once the man's gone, Tilly turns to face me. "I am happy. I love helping people. It's what wakes me up in the morning. Seeing their smiles is what brightens my day and their words warm my heart. It's enough to fight away the demons that plague the mind, you know?" I know. I know all too well the demons that plague the mind. It's even worse when you don't have a body. Trust me.

"I know and it's good. I'm honestly glad you're happy. Is there anything I can do make it easier? Do you want a few more pairs of hands to help out? Sorry I didn't ask before." I didn't even think about staffing this place before I ran off, did I? It wasn't even once either. The conversation I had with Anya about what has happened and why, sounded like the drunken ramblings of the local psycho woman.

"It's OK. You had just combined broken fragments of your friend's soul after all. Ha. Haha. And then the Lord turned up! What was that all about?" Tilly's nervous laughter show she's not back to full confidence yet, but who expects her to be? I'm grateful she wants to work and even happier that it benefits her, but maybe she should have waited a little while longer.

I grumble, "You don't want to know. He's got almost as many problems as I do... Or he did have." Why can't my issues be solved that easily. I've got hundreds upon hundreds of Assassins right here in the city yet shit still manages to catch me out.

"What do you mean?" I suppose it doesn't do her any harm in knowing. Plus, she's family at this point, her and Aura may aswell have been adopted by Kat, even though they're all roughly the same age. Although, I'm not sure about elf? They genealogy is completely different than humans and for I k ow she could be 400 years old.

"I sent a few dozen Assassins over to Ishda to help him out. Why is it that they can sort out his problems, but there's no magical summon to mine?" I wonder if the Head Cultivator will be able to do anything for the Hay Bale if I ask him.

"You sent Assassins to Ishda? Isn't that like... Extremely dangerous?" She's shocked that I would send my summons into the heart of any other city.

"Probably, but he asked for the help and I got to benefit from it in the end so I'm also happy." If anything the blame would have fallen on the foolish lord for allowing dungeon creations into his city. It's not as though I send my family out to pillage and plunder, is it?

"Well... I suppose... That's alright then?" At a loss for words over another situation that regular people just aren't meant to be a part of, Tilly answers the best she can.

"Don't worry, Tilly. I know. I know." I hold my hand just above her shoulder to try and show some type of empathy for her mental state. "Anyway, do you have a preference on staff members, or are Assassins OK?"

"I'd prefer some Magi if possible, but if not, the Assassins will be fine. Why do you have so many of them compared to the others?" Why magi? Is it because they're better suited to this type of work? Probably, Assassins generally skip the hospital trip and send people straight to the morgue.

"They're my highest tier out of the human-classes. Magi are third-tier Mages, whereas Assassins are fourth-goer Rogues. If Anya reaches level 80, she'll be able to advance again. I have no idea what comes after Rainbow Mage? Is she still a Magus? She should be, right?" Ending worse than I started, my honesty was going well until I got confused. Confusing Tilly in doing so.

"Level 80!? How do you expect her to do that? Do you know how hard it is to level up... S-Sorry. You do know. I forgot. I'm sorry, Abi." They all know my story now. More so since Anya... Reincarnated? It's definitely not revival. Reborn?

"It's OK. I'm over it now anyway. Almost. It is OK though, really. And yeah, level 80. That sounds long and hard, right? It is possible though, believe it or not. What would you say if I told you Light was level 94?" Levels like that don't usually get dropped off-handedly like that and her face says it all. Disbelief, shock and a slight hint of partial-belief are what I catch as she struggles to find the words to respond with. When she does, I'm almost as shocked as she is.

"The highest-leveled person I ever met was level 44 and he was the strongest in the capital. No one could match his speed with a sword or his skills in a fight. Yet you're telling me that Light, the same Light who can be found in Talia's night-after-night, is level 94?" The winning emotion of the three was disbelief. Kicking shock to the curb and bitch-slapping belief into the middle of nowhere, Prince Sillybollocks was certainly not the best example I could have chosen.

The Ice Queen would have been a better choice. Even though she's cruel and distant, no one sets the bar for confidence like Carrie. Her name is a testament to the willpower needed to carry Prince Loudmouth through whatever dribble he's going to blurt out next. Still, Light always seems to come to mind first for whatever reason.

"Funny, right?" Summoning the staff for Tilly's Clinic, I go with two Assassins and ten Magi. Luckily for us, Necromancers have some pretty good skills when it comes to healing. Which is good, since all she's going to be getting from them is necromancy.

Ain't no Clerics in this dungeon but you, babe.

"No! It's not. It's anything but funny. How did he even get that strong? How old is he? How old are you? Why is everything around here all questions?" Pffft. You're preaching to the choir here. I would also like an answer to that question specifically.

Unfortunately, someone is always pretending not to be home whenever I come knocking!

"You would have to ask him that yourself. I know the most of it but it still confuses me to think about. Him and Dropper are... For lack of better words, something else. And my age? That's the last thing you want to try and understand, but if you're that curious... Anya knows. I suppose you could ask her later. On that note, I'm going to go say hi to the soul-weaved Rainbow Mage."

And avoid another wtf moment. There have been more of them than I can count recently and I could really do with today going well. I feel like I deserve it. I need it. More so, I want it. I just want a placid day where shit doesn't go wrong once in a while.

That's not too much to ask for, is it?

Is it?