After Veris very quickly fled the scene, I was left speechless. For a brief moment, her usual demeanour was replaced by one of respect. Not that I mind Veris' normal attitude. I quite like her casualness and even the way she calls me Boss. Her ideology on life, however, could use a good intervention.

Looking back at what's sure to be the finest bar on the continent, I'm struggling with its name. As much as I like it, One For The Rogues doesn't make it easy to refer to.

So for now, I'll just call it Talia's.

It's what I do for most of the other features anyway and I'd feel silly pronouncing the full titles of each feature every time I talk about them. Plus, there isn't a chance in hell I'd ever say 'Hey, I'm just off to Towers of Torture. Do you want me to grab you anything on the way back?'

Don't change the name though!

Hoping The System will hear me this time, I think my thoughts as loud as possible until Me appears beside to me.

"I can't change the names of features. You know that." He answers as though I've been calling out to him which gives me a good laugh.

"Sorry. That was for Her benefit. I'm glad you're here though. Do you fancy a quick Jack?" Referring to my alcoholic drink of choice, Me sighs and shakes his head. He seems to do that a lot these days and every time he does, it makes me regret whatever the subject of conversation had been about.

"You have only just started spending points. Can't you get a little further before stopping for a break? Especially one that will potentially write off the rest of the day?" His words aren't wrong. If I start drinking this early and especially if it's Lightning Jack, I'm likely to end up catatonic somewhere in a state of terrorization. Which is certainly the last thing I want right now.

Not that I've suffered recently from the life-like reality. To be honest, I don't have a need for the meditative state during the day and instead, I use it to help me sleep through the night like a regular person.

"Yeah, OK. I know what I'm doing tonight though. In fact, you should join me." I smile as Me's face sours at the thought. He's only tried drinking once and no matter how many times I tell him that each spirit and ale has its own unique taste, he still refuses to partake in the activity. Which is partially my fault for starting him on the hard stuff.

"Quite. I will join you, but I'll have something non-alcoholic, thank you." Still, not one to turn down an invitation, Me happily accepts with conditions of his own. Maybe he'll try something different once he's in the mood. Atmosphere alone offers peer pressure sometimes.

With the plan for tonight set, I head off to do more early-morning upgrades. A few of the features that provide the food Varona's citizens need were first. Additions, touch ups and general renovations to the residential areas were after that. More parks and streets in empty locations came after that. Nothing big and flashy like the Retreat, but enough little details that people will appreciate.

Strangely, out of an odd force of habit, I find myself in front of the Bale of Fortune. Ready to hit confirm before I realize what I'm doing. It's not like the feature -which has finally become useful- needs an upgrade yet, but I'm so used to coming here that I didn't even think twice about it.

Do I really need to upgrade it again?

With how temperamental the feature has been I'm more inclined to think of it as a DP dumping ground than a good purchase. Not that I need to dump any points at the minute. There's still more to accomplish by spending them elsewhere today and the Lord of the Bale will have to wait his turn.

With that thought in mind, I take the short route and teleport inside my mountain. Now that the sun has risen over my city, the residents are also out and about. As they're ready to start their day, my next round of spending will be inside my home and I kick it off with floors. An additional ten to be specific and each one gets the latest Goblinator to be unlocked.

The Eldergoblinator.

Placing one on each floor, with great reluctance I might add, they look stronger than any of the Goblins I've ever seen. Hench, is a good way to describe them. Not just big like a regular Hob, these large-bastards are ridiculously lean and muscly. Also, I unlocked the next step in the horrendous line of child-eating monsters.

The Lordgoblinator.

Not only does its name worry me, but I'm also wondering why I seem to have missed a few Goblinators. The first-tier monsters don't bother me, but I'm wondering why I haven't unlocked a mage version of the self-spawning feature. I thought it might have come after the Hob, but the Eldergoblinator took that spot and now we've moved straight on to a lord.

Even though I don't know why they haven't unlocked, I'm not phased in the slightest and frankly couldn't care less. I dislike them enough as it is and I suppose one Goblin Mage is more than enough. If it was an Assassin we were missing... Well, then shit would be different, wouldn't it?

Anyway, I don't plan on placing any Lordgoblinators down here for the foreseeable future. No one's even managed to pass the Hobgoblins yet and the higher-tiered ones could end up becoming a problem that I don't want to deal with.

I already get a strange vibe from Obling. It's just the way he stares at me.

The Goblin Mage's intelligence is higher than that of the others. Plus, there's the way he acts. Obling looks like he's cooking up a scheme whenever he's deep in thought and I'd be lying if I said it didn't slightly freak me out. I'm hoping the awkward smile is out of respect to his master, but because of it I'm definitely not summoning a second Mage any time soon. Then again, I also said I'd never summon Goblins in the first place and look at me now. If it had been a bet, I would have lost that one every single time.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

After I'm satisfied that the amount of Goblins is sufficient to keep in line with the rise in level, I create an additional floor beneath Obling's and add a few Trolls to it. One, because I want to, and two, because dungeon monsters get stronger the further adventurers progress.

Cave Trolls and Dungeon Trolls are the only variants I add for the moment. I'm not sure the humans will be able to take on Berserker Trolls or those that come after. They'll need to keep smashing through Goblins until they're strong enough to reach that problem anyway.

With eleven extra floors, giving me a grand total of thirty-nine, my Core is now well and truly removed from the surface. Not only am I safe, but the majority of my dungeon-dwelling family members also have a ridiculous amount of Goblins and a couple of Trolls separating them from the surface now that the Sanctuary is at the bottom of my dungeon.

Even if anyone truly dangerous arrives, by the time they reach Barry's maze, I will have already added more floors in between here and there. There are also lots of other options at my disposal, all earned through the awful elf. Although, I don't know why I even worry about my family. If anything, with how strong they are, it makes sense for them to be the last line of defence in my home.

Plus, there's that many of them now that I can barely keep track of who's who.

To be honest, I should limit summons to when they're required and need to stop whipping out people like they're rain and should only create them when needed.

Monsters are a little different, but not knowing which ones will turn out more human than others is a bit of a pain. However, I don't like to think of any of them as disposable. The Goblins are fine, but Trixie and the Wolves, Webster and the Willys, they're all part of the family. Even scary Sam, dodgy Ditto and the voluptuous Violet. The latter being a prime example of what I'm talking about. Someone who had a mixed appearance until recently and one you never would have expected to bloom so well.

Me's still denying it, but I'm definitely the dungeon of beauty. I've got to be with how the bar rises every day.

After creating the floors and the monsters to populate them, not much time has passed. With the midday sun hanging above Varona, I decided to take a break for lunch. At Ali's, I grab two take-out boxes and head off to Anya's. Dinner with my bestie is one of my favourite parts of the day.

Even if we were to sit there in complete silence, Anya's company alone is enough to fill the soundless void between us. That's just how much she means to me. Not that it ever goes that way. As we eat, she asks how my upgrades are going and I tell her to visit Talia's after work for a nice surprise. Other than that, we make small talk until she has to get back to work.

I suppose I have to get back to it as well. There's only so much hookey a Core can play. Saying goodbye, I head out to perform my last spending session of the day.

On the outskirts of town, because I didn't know where else to place the entrance to the city's underbelly, my latest acquisition is set and upgraded to keep in line with the others. My newest feature represents what the Syndicate does for a living, yet I've only just unlocked it.

The Assassin's Guild:

From shadows created by the Moon's grace, predators of the night take comfort in their embrace and use them to assist in their duty

Neither peasant, nor King, or any that lay between, are safe

Even locked away, there is no hiding from the shadows

Bonuses:

Attacks made in stealth are twice as lethal

Immediately following a stealth kill, all stats are increased by 25% for 90 seconds

DP is doubled on absorption if the target was killed with stealth

Upgrades:

The Door to Downstairs

The Well of Contracts

Upgraded network system beneath ground to encompass an ever expanding city

Multiple entry points in indiscreet locations

- Inactive until Guild Master has been set

Rewards:

32XP

This double DP seems to be a recurring trend at the minute. Not that I need it, but I also won't complain. Stockpile is due to hit max level very soon and if I'm right, I should be able to retain every point I get.

Long gone are the days when points were wasted because I didn't have the capacity to hold them or the features to build. Now I'm abundant on both counts and if anything it's the opposite way around. There aren't enough hours in the day to get through it all.

Looking at the small grey building, if I wasn't the Core who placed and upgraded it, I'd be more than a little dubious about the Door to Downstairs.

As it stands, the feature resembles an outhouse more than anything and after four upgrades it still hasn't gained the usual 'I look better than before' vibe. Probably because Assassins and matters surrounding them aren't meant to be flashy, but instead hidden and unnoticeable.

Instead of a toilet behind the door, stairs lead down to a large, complicated network of short, winding tunnels that now run beneath the city of Varona.

Branching off in many directions, slightly reminiscent of Barry's maze, but with actual brickwork rather than a dungeon wall, the different paths lead all over the city. In the middle, however, beneath the city center, is a large, open space surrounded by small rooms filled with beds. In the spacious room, tables and chairs run line middle while bookcases and weapon racks run the length of the walls.

The heart of the Assassin's Guild.

Decorated in black, black and more black, the trademark Assassin colours, this place is cool as hell. I mean, who doesn't want a secret hideout? I suppose I already have one when I think about it like that. My dungeon was hidden away so well that barely anyone turned up before I started creating Varona.

It was hard to see my dungeon as a secret hideout back then though. Especially when I was trapped inside, still worked up over dying and undergoing a full-on species change meltdown.

Anyway, the pathways under the city are a super-cool feature, one that I would have been more thrilled to have used myself back when I was still a lowly human Rogue, but one that is sadly not needed and seen as redundant. Every Assassin I know can teleport within the boundaries of the dungeon and when they're out of our range they move through the shadows.

Still, at least they have a guild now and I might have a wander through the tunnels at some point, just for curiosity's sake.

The Well of Contracts is also connected to the Assassin's labyrinth. No water is pooled at the bottom though and instead a large, wicker basket has been laid there to catch any requests that may be dropped inside.

Not that I see it getting many. For starters, people don't even know about it yet, and secondly, even if they did, it's a long way to travel just to drop a letter down a well with your details on it.

Either way, with a place to legitimately take contracts, or as legitimately as a non-functioning well can be. The Syndicate will probably get a boost to its level while further ridding Tironia of the plague that lies hidden inside the masses.

Or so I hope.