A stoic man is sitting at the table inside the tavern. Decked out in a full set of flame armour, his black cloak sways behind him. He's surrounded by a crowd of people, who listen intently, as he regales a tale from his days as an adventurer.

The story is about how he defeated the Goblin King and his army, with nothing but a broken sword and a handful of arrows.

The crowd grows slowly, until the whole tavern is packed, yet not one person makes a sound. Everyone is hunched over on edge, those at the back are trying their best to lean closer as to not miss any crucial element.

The storyteller has the crowd in the palm of his hand yet as he nears the climactic conclusion of his story, he suddenly stops.

"I will finish the story tomorrow. I'm feeling very tired all of a sudden," eyeing up two similar looking females, a smile spreads across the chiseled features of his face.

Boo's and jeers come from the crowd even though they all disperse in good spirits, anxiously anticipating how the story will end.

Once the bar has quietened, the two female warriors approach the storyteller and offer to tell him a few stories of their own in private if he would be interested.

With his primary motive for telling the story being a pick-up line for women, the storyteller is more than interested. He and the two ladies head upstairs to one of the empty tavern rooms.

A short while later, inside the warm and sweaty room, the adventurer is laying on the bed and the two women are laid on each side of him.

"That could have been classed as an adventure all on its own," he smiles at the two ladies who are tracing his muscles with their fingers.

"When are you due to leave, Sir Aaron? That was magical," one of the women let's loose a tear knowing that all good things come to an end.

"After that? I'm never leaving! I'm going to stay here forever," Aaron laughs at her silly question, losing his stoic demeanour.

"Silly. You can't stay here. What about your friends?" the second woman looks confused.

"What? What friends?" with this thought, a sinking feeling comes over Aaron. The world around him darkens as he is sucked down through the bed sheets and into a black oblivion. Down he goes as sheets continuously wrap around his body, turning his amazing dream into a hellish nightmare that he can't escape. Struggling gets him nowhere as water pours down but unwilling to die, Aaron wrestles and grasps at whatever he can with all his remaining might.

Opening his eyes, the young guard Aaron is drenched in sweat as he jumps out of the bed he's in. The sheet below is also drenched in sweat as is the mattress that lays beneath it. The window to the room is wide open and a chilling breeze brushes against his damp skin. However, Aaron doesn't notice any of this as the two startled females that are attending to his room look exactly like those from his dream.

"Am I still dreaming?"

Dungeon Stories Volume 1

Is that magic?

No. That's what you would call greedy.

Since arriving at Ali's, Wheeler has ordered every single dish that the gourmet has to offer and he now looks to be twice his original size.

It's not just myself and Me, but Light, Sophie, Ali and the rest of the catering staff are all in their own shocked state at how much food the large man has stuffed himself with.

"Ahh. I must say that I have never eaten quite so much in one sitting before," holding his belly, as though he will explode at any moment, Wheeler leans back in his chair and smiles.

"Beautiful women. Amazing food. This place is truly a paradise for the weary traveller. The buildings outside, are you expanding out there?" putting two and two together, Wheeler questions our future development plans and I explain it the best I can through Light.

Scratching his head whilst he stares out the window, Wheeler thinks about how hard it would usually be to get a new town up and running from scratch. He knows that skilled workers are needed for such a project, however, when looking at the buildings that are already constructed in the dungeon, it would appear that this group already has enough of them. From the Barracks to The Retreat, each one is well crafted and designed.

He also knows that workers would need temporary living quarters on site, but again, after seeing the houses inside the mountain he knows that they're already here too. Most of all though, what a new village or town needs more than anything else is a financial backer. Someone to pay for the materials, the wages and any other cost that may accrue.

As Wheeler mulls over his thoughts, the trio leave Ali's and move to the recently-built hotel. It's not far to travel as it's right next door and the employee at reception books the two guests in. Sophie, who has barely moved two feet away from Light all evening, is reluctant to leave his side. It's only when the room description is revealed that she hesitantly parts from him, the lure of a bath is something she cannot withstand.

"I have lots of ideas about what you're going to need to accomplish your goals here. If possible, I would really like to talk to your master about those matters in more detail. Can we arrange a meeting for when she is back perhaps?" Before retiring for the night, Wheeler puts on his best merchant's smile and asks for another meeting, but this time he catches my interest. I let him know, through Light, that we will arrange something over the upcoming days and I leave the hotel to let our guests settle in.

Floating across the floor, my own mind is full of ideas on how my town could develop. What started with Me's harsh description of a bandit hideout has flourished into something beautiful. Something I would have never thought possible.

Before I know it, I'm back outside for the third time today. Forth if you want to include the test I ran on the pond earlier. The sun has set and the light of the moon is all that remains to illuminate the buildings outside my mountain. Seeing how this is where I've ended up I may as well invest some of the points that Light earned.

I still can't get over that crazy-shadow-spike-move but I've got a bigger fish to fry right now.

The Hay Bale!

I don't understand why it bothers you? Like everything else so far, it will transform into something much better after an upgrade or two.

And that's why we're here, Me.

I'm used to the buildings and features being terrible upon their initial construction but I can still hear Kat laughing in my mind. I haven't felt embarrassed in a while and I'm not even upset over it. In fact, it was nice to feel something different.

It made me feel human again.

Yes but you're not...

Yes, I know, I know. But I was! I know how feelings and emotions work. I understand the wants and desires of people because I used to be one.

All I'm saying is that it felt nice to be embarrassed. That's all.

Now, time to do some upgrading.

160DP is a shocking amount to have to spend on the single bale of hay beside the stable. I'm not any happier once the upgrade has finished either as the solitary feature hasn't changed in any way at all. Not even its name is different.

What the hell?

Bringing up the status sheet of the awkward feature, I finally find one detail that has changed.

It now costs 320DP if I want to upgrade it again.

Seriously? What the hell!? Where are the reins in this dungeon? Every time, Me. Every time. I get into the groove and then bam! Didn't expect that did ya? Why? Why? I know who's to blame for this. I do!

Before you say it, you can know that this is the System's fault. Why don't you upgrade it again and see if it changes this time?

Upgrade it again? Are you serious? What if it still doesn't do anything? Well then I will have wasted almost 500DP on nothing but a bale of hay. The forge only cost me 40DP to place, I knew I should have done that first.

Then how come we started here?

The embarrassment, Me. Kat was laughing at me and Ali was looking everywhere except for at the bale. I know I said I wasn't bothered by it but I was OK? Then for some daft reason I declared that it would be the best Hay Bale they'd ever seen. That's why we started here but I'm not wanna waste any more DP if it's not gonna change.

Instead, I add the sixth building to my outside area and I upgrade it twice. Starting from nothing until it is the size of a house, the building continues to fill out until it reaches the size of a large Manor and after the second upgrade it barely fits length ways across the entire plot of land that I purchased. This is now the largest building I own by far.

A large stone wall, with metal fencing on top, surrounds the entire property and a solid metal gate is the only entrance to the grounds.

Large courtyards separate the main building from the outer wall and another smaller building has formed onto its side. Benches are arranged neatly on many different paths for rest or work and the entire place looks charming.

I... I wasn't expecting it to be like that.

Stairs lead up to a pair of gorgeously-decorated doors. The moon and stars are engraved on both sides in symmetrical design. As I float through them and into the magnificent building, I'm greeted by a stunning reception hall. The floors are made from marble, as are the supporting columns that stretch to the roof. The walls are lined with shelves, bookcases and many other decorations, all made from the same dark oak. A large spiral staircase, reminiscent of the one's that travel between my floors only without the outer wall, sits in the centre of the room. It leads up to a long balcony that heads off to both sides of the building.

How is it that I've only spent 280DP on this piece of art, yet the Hay Bale looks as though it's worth 5DP and is laughing at me?

It all depends on you, Abi.

Yeah, I know, Me. It would probably help if I knew how I worked first though right?

Why are my builds either 'the best ever' or 'shady as shit'?

You would think I'm used to this by now but how can I be? It's only been ten days since I woke up as a Dungeon Core, I still need more time to familiarise myself with the ins and outs.

My new building, The Academy of Dark Arts is an absolute beauty.

As I continue to float around from room to room, I forget what I was complaining about in the first place and count myself grateful that I was able to create a building like this at all.

This will definitely bring people to Varona. It's a school where people can study dark magic! Combine that with teachers that are drop-dead-gorgeous and I've got a recipe for success.

Who is going to teach in this school of yours?

My Shadow Walkers of course. Noir has amazing control over his magic and he'll do anything I ask him to. Couple him up with Carrie and a few more new female additions and we've got ourselves a staff.

I believe you have missed a significant detail from the status screen.

What do you mean?

The Academy of Dark Arts:

The dark arts care little for titles or trivialities and only serves those strong enough to wield it

Courses are available for those wishing to aspire to greater heights

Novice Teachers: 0

Intermediate Teachers: 0

Advanced Teachers: 0

Masters: 0

Students: 0

Requires 4 Intermediary Teachers to operate effectively

Well crap.

We'll leave that as it is for now and I'll summon some shadow-farmers instead. Can I call them that? I quite like it. Whatever, that's what I'm calling them.

Noir and Carrie had gotten back just before the guard, Aaron, face-smashed my floor. Poor guy. On their return, I unlocked the much-needed worker class for the Field of Fertility and I have decided to summon five of them.

It's an nice round 200DP and even if I only end up needing one, it's more numbers for my secret army.