“Nice one, Honey,” I said with a yawn as I trudged along the winding dirt road.

Bori grunted as she charged at a wild ruffalo. The construct she was using at the moment was a Porcusaurus. In the dungeon, she’d been limited to monsters she remembered from her previous life. Even though she was my daughter, her soul had been reincarnated from my home world of Earth. Porky, who she’d studied to take on the form, hunted alongside her, corralling the escaping ruffalo and driving it back into her range. Her one weakness when it came to monster hunting was the need to stay within ten feet of me. The porcusaurus, which was a cross between a velociraptor and a porcupine was incredibly agile. It wasn’t a good match for Bori’s limited mobility. Fortunately, she had Porky to help her.

Another thing she inherited from me was the ability to speak multiple languages. It allowed the dungeon core to talk to the rest of the group as well as Porky. The only limitation was she had to use the appropriate monster to speak the language. When in Human form, she could speak to our Human friends, and when she mimicked Porky, she could use the grunting language he did. Thanks to Pi, I was able to speak to her in all her forms. That included her core that only spoke Dungeonese.

I turned away as Bori went in for the kill. A horrifying crunch followed by a defeated bleat told me the battle was over. Porky wasted no time critiquing Bori’s performance. “You did well. However, if you wish to hunt as I do, you must learn the art of stealth. While we are swift, we are weak when outnumbered. The best strategy is to sneak up and take out your prey in a single strike.”

“I understand,” Bori droned, sounding bored.

I grinned as I made my way over to carve up the fallen monster. “You should pay close attention to Porky. He’s been hunting for longer than you’ve been alive.”

I wasn’t entirely sure that was true. How long did Porcusauruses live? As usual, Pi was quick to read my mind and supply an answer.

The average Porcusaurus lives anywhere between 20 and 50 years. They are usually hunted by adventurers as they are deemed threatening to civilized populations. Additionally, there are multiple Alchemical and Bonecrafting uses for their body parts.

“Good to know,” I muttered. “We can turn Porky into a potion.”

He stared at me in disbelief. Jericho walked over and patted me on the back a little harder than I appreciated. “Are you sure all that grunting is communication? You even got the dungeon doing it.”

Ceru leaned against a tree, watching the whole thing. “I can’t speak monster even if I turn into one. That must be a unique skill for Dungeons.”

It was true, with the Waru-nu, we could turn into any monster we could think of. The problem was, unlike Bori, we couldn’t move around as effectively as they could when we transformed ourselves. Our attributes were still those of our original forms when we used the artifact to change our appearance. On the other hand, Bori created fresh bodies for every monster she spawned. Her only limitation was that she couldn’t create monsters higher level than herself.

We continued her training as we made our way to Mount Pi. It loomed ahead of us in the distance as the tallest mountain in the range.

Mount Pi is a landmark in the Dabian Peninsula. As the tallest peak, it is known to spawn particularly high-level monsters. I recommend using all three of your golems for the ascent.

With two massive legs and very little in the way of mountain climbing skills, Porky struggled as we started to climb. We decided to leave him at the base while the rest of us went on. He roared as we left. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll find something to eat while you’re gone.”

Khi jumped up on the head of the first golem I created. Without the staff, I couldn’t make golems as big as a mountain anymore, but the ones I created were at least seven feet tall. Bori returned to her human form and gave me a curious look. “Are you going to fight the next monster, Daddy?”

I patted her on the head. “There might be some strong monsters on this mountain. It’s better to be prepared.”

Ceru looked nervous as we reached the mountain. She’d donned her new armor, a tight leather outfit that expanded and shrank as she grew. She traveled with us in her original Ogre form, with light blue skin and tiny fangs that protruded from her bottom lip. When I announced we’d fight tougher monsters, she grew until she was even bigger than my golems. Somehow, she managed to wield a pair of wicked-looking clubs she’d gotten from somewhere. When I inspected them, I wasn’t very impressed.

Ogre War Club

Rank

D

Attack

7

I walked close to her, my golems forming an honor guard around us. Jericho kept to the rear, taking out a drum and playing a steady beat that invigorated me. The path to the peak was a narrow ledge that wound its way up the mountain. We didn’t encounter our first monster until we were close to the summit, just after reaching the snow cap.

Yeti

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Level

41

Class

Rank C Monster

Affection Level

Freezing

The first one didn’t bother me so much. Pi sent a golem over to hold its attention while I lined up a finger gun to deal some damage. Bori chose to go with a large dog that resembled a wolf. I held Ceru back with me, which upset her. She tugged against my grip and whined. “What are you doing? I can fight.”

I sighed. “Sorry, let me deal with this one. I promise to help you train in the future.”

The truth was, I was scared of losing her the same way I’d lost Isa. I was careless and we bit off more than we could chew. The company was worthless when it came to keeping my companions alive, so I was going to have to get smarter. If that meant annoying the Ogre, that’s exactly what I was going to do.

“Pew!”

“Pew!”

“Pew!”

The yeti’s white fur quickly became matted red as it bled from my attacks. Still, it wasn’t enough to take it down. Pi held two golems back to guard us. Just when I was about to upgrade my tactics, a white blur pounced the yeti, pinning it to the floor and savagely mauling it. It was only after the monster was dead that I realized what had happened.

“Khi? Is that you?”

The Cabbit was no longer the tiny cat-like creature I was used to. Khi had grown until he was six feet long and very muscular. He kind of reminded me of a lion without its mane. His rabbit legs gave me the impression he could jump to great heights if he wanted to.

“This is my battle form. It’s similar to the magic item Ceru uses, but it's just what happens when I infuse Ki into my body. My normal form is condensed for convenience, so you can consider this my true form.”

“Good to know,” I said, grateful to have another strong companion.

We huffed along in the snow for a bit before I realized Ceru was starting to get cold. I rummaged through my bag until I found an old Carolina Panthers jacket I used to wear to Football games. She still had to adjust her size to make it fit properly. Once she realized how warm it was, she hugged me. “Thank you. This is very cozy.”

“No problem,” I muttered, slightly embarrassed.

Over the next several hours, we encountered several more yeti. They weren’t very bright, so the tactic we employed on the first one worked for all of them. As we neared the peak, we encounter a problem.

Blizzard Dragon

Level

99

Class

Rank A Monster

Affection Level

Bored

“That’s a dragon,” Jericho announced in a loud whisper. “If you’re fighting that, I’m leaving.”

“I don’t think we can beat that,” I replied. “Do you think we can sneak around it?”

“Don’t even think about it,” Jericho warned.

“I can hear you, you know?” The Dragon spoke in a casual voice that boomed and echoed against the distant mountains.

I froze. It was too late to consider running. If the dragon wanted to eat us, he could have easily done so. Jericho nudged me. “Well, what do you want to do? Should we go back?”

I turned to stare at him. “What about what he…”

I cut myself off.

Pi, what language did the Dragon speak to me in?

The dragon spoke in an ancient tongue known as Draconian. Your companions wouldn’t have even heard the sound.

Is the dragon the thing I’m supposed to talk to up here?

That is unlikely. This Dragon is beholden.

Beholden?

Before Pi could reply, the clouds opened up in the sky and a black ball floated down. It dropped until it hovered just above the Dragon. It didn’t seem to notice as it kept its gaze on me. Slowly, the blob transformed until it was a woman. In stark contrast to the black blob, the woman wore a glittery dress that sparkled in every color of the rainbow. She had silky blonde hair and was more beautiful than any woman I’d ever seen before. My heart skipped a beat when she turned her radiant smile on me. “Greetings, Mortal. I’ve heard much about you from my sister.”

“Elysiana?” I asked hopefully.

She tutted. “Tisk tisk. Don’t go getting me confused with her. My name is Lyria.”

“Can you help me?” I asked, realizing it’d probably just wasted my time. “I need help bringing a soul back from the other side.”

“I can help you,” the Goddess replied with a bubbly laugh. “Only, you must do something for me first.”

“How can you help me?” I asked, ignoring the request.

Lyria floated over to me, causing the rest of the group to back away. The Dragon yawned and buried its head in its claws. Jericho nudged me again. “Can you understand any of what’s going on? It looked like you were saying something. Either that or you were whimpering. I can’t tell. Should we run?”

I shrugged. “You can run if you’d like. I’m talking to a Goddess.”

By that point, Lyria had arrived. Her beauty was overwhelming. Up close I could tell she even smelled good. I wondered how she tasted.

Focus, Alex. She is using her charm on you.

Pi had to zap me with mana to get me to snap out of it. Lyria frowned. “That’s odd. That normally works on Humans.”

“I’m not normal,” I replied as cooly as I could given the circumstances. “How can you help me resurrect Isa? Iris sent me to find Elysiana. She can help me get her soul back from the other side.”

“Good news,” Lyria chirped gleefully. “Your beloved hasn’t crossed over. Something is keeping her from doing so. Her parents' souls are in an even worse state. You can free them and cleanse her body at the same time by carrying out my decree.”

“I can?” I asked, before clearing my throat and asking. “What is your decree?”

Lyria smiled, happy that I was finally getting with the program. “You are going to infiltrate the church of the Dark One. They impersonate the gods and mislead the faithful. It is the dark ones who claim the souls dislodged by Necromancers.”

“Doesn’t that mean they have Isa’s soul?” I asked, horrified.

She shook her head. “Fortunately no. You killed the dungeon before it could carry out that particular task.”

Pi decided to butt in.

Do you wish to accept Lyria, The Goddess of Love’s Decree? Y/N? Warning: You will become one of her followers if you choose to begin this quest chain.

I sighed, resigning myself to servitude to yet another goddess. “Tell me more about what exactly you want me to do.”

The goddess leaned in close to me and smiled, making my heart throb again. Pi sent another jolt of mana up my spine. I grimaced, making her recoil. “Peculiar. What must I do to gain your affection? No, don’t tell me. I’ll test your resolve later. As for my decree, as I said, I want you to infiltrate the church.”

“And then?” I asked.

The smile reappeared. Only this time it wasn't intended to charm me. Instead, she seemed to be toying with me. “Succeed at your first decree and I will issue another. A man of your proficiency should have no problem doing that much.”

I wanted to ask a thousand more questions. How was she going to bring Isa back to me? Could she do it now so I could take Isa with me? She vanished before I could ask anything. The dragon stood abruptly, towering over us. “The goddess has dismissed you. Begone before I decide I want a snack.”

I turned to the others. “That’s our cue to leave.”

“Thank the gods!” Jericho explained, beating us a hasty retreat on his drums.