Dear Diary,

Kimi has agreed to be my test subject for cocaine cupcakes. She guesses that it’ll just be a delayed reaction; since the drug has to go through food it’ll take longer to get into the bloodstream. But that might mean the effect will last longer and wear off not as suddenly. Which would be good.

We’re excited to try!

Avi thinks it’s a horrible idea. Which, yes, it is.

Y says it’s a horrible idea, but he was grinning like a supervillain as he said it, so I take that as him wanting me to do it.

Oh yeah, without trying, Avi and I are going at the same pace as Kimi and Y. We didn’t plan to, but every night we’ve ended up at the same Floor. Or, campsite between Floors. So that’s fun.

I think the Sams are behind us. Aya and Staab are ahead, and Mika and Lily are a Floor or two behind. Mika and Lily so far have caught up to us at all the catgirl floors, but they arrive later than we do.

I’m optimistic about my chances of pushing the button this cycle. Yes, there are other players around, but if we push through the last ten Floors without sleeping I think we’ll make it.

Well, our plan is to spend the night on Floor 50, then try to speedrun through to Floor 60. We should make it after dark, but not too stupidly late. That does mean we won’t be able to stop and talk with the kobolds, though. Which will be sad. But we know we’re falling behind in the ratings and need another couple of wins.

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It feels almost sacrilegious to say winning is more important than friendship, but we don’t have too many cycles left. If we want to win, we have to push through. And we really want to win.

I mean, if we don't win, then getting into the top three is even more important. So we have to try as hard as we can.

I still kinda wonder about the “absolutely not” I got when I asked the Admin if the winners will be given kingdoms because the Director thinks players will do a good job at ruling. I mean, it wasn't just a “no”. Like, “no” or “nope” would just mean I guessed kinda wrong. But “absolutely not” implies… It implies I'm so wrong it’s alarming.

I kinda want to ask if she’s gonna give kingdoms to players because she thinks they’ll do a bad job. Just guess the opposite and see what he has to say.

But why would she specifically give kingdoms to people who were going to do a bad job? That’s a bad guess. And if it happens to get a “yes”, then that’ll lead to like a dozen more questions.

I don't know. I think I'll just not ask.

Oh, I should add for clarification that we’re not on Floor 50 yet. We should get there tomorrow.

So day after tomorrow a new cycle will probably start. We’ll be… I think hobgoblins are next? So I'll be a green hobgoblin.

Everyone had fun being silver, but next cycle I think everyone except Mika will go back to normal. She’s having a super fun time. It’s not offensive magic, so she did have to change her attack style a bit, but radiating beauty is a pretty good trade-off.

Well, Avi is normally silver, so he’ll be silver too. That won't change.

Anyways, I should probably get some sleep.

Goodnight, Dungeon!

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