It's been a relatively quiet week since Hiroshi the elf rolled into town and met a swift death. No tears were shed, not after the dark-haired slave died at least, and not a single fuck was given.

Bad guys are bad guys. It's just that simple.

Even though it's been quiet, it's been a frustrating week.

Soul Guide is not the type of skill I thought it was. That doesn't mean it's useless but it's a far cry from the awesome move that I hyped it up to be in my mind.

Although now that I think about it, the name makes a lot more sense to me. Especially now that I've actually re-read the description.

Soul Guide:

Identify a soul's personal nature by viewing them as colours

Red: This soul is ready to enter the reincarnation cycle and no longer holds any value in this current life

Orange: This soul is is ready to enter the reincarnation cycle as not many situations can alter this colour

Yellow: This soul is acting out and needs course correction before it's too late

Grey: A neutral soul is not necessarily good or evil and has the potential to go either way but it will enter the reincarnation cycle regardless of this if it has not improved upon its death

Green: The first steps towards... Error... have been taken and with guidance this soul will progress to the next level but certain situations may still lower the colour of this soul

Blue: Continuously striving for... Error... this soul is almost ready for the next level and only extreme circumstances will lower this colour

Purple: Throughout continuous good deeds and/or self sacrifices this exemplary soul is ready to be harvested (at the earliest convenience) for the next level and sent to... Error...

Work hard to guide souls to their rightful destination and maybe your own soul will change one day

Basically, it lets me view people as colours and gives me a new job while it's at it. What's that about!?

I didn't ask for the new position of soul guide. I can barely keep up with what I'm taking on now. Creating a brand new city when you haven't attended the relevant classes is not an easy task. I say it all looks good and that everything is in the right place, or at least what I assume to be the right place, but that is most definitely a biased opinion on my part.

Once actual people arrive, I'll be able to use Divinities Creation once a day to alter Varona slightly to better cater for their needs.

Haha, that's right. They will be my architects and designers, how clever is that.

How will you stop them from noticing the sudden changes?

That's easy. I'll make them aware of it beforehand by putting up a sign.

A sign?

Yep. Signs do all the work for you. They inform people about what's happening with easy to understand words. For example, this building will be moving to the central market in two days. See, it's easy to understand and has all the information they need.

And what if they ask for a reason behind the move?

Again, that's another simple one. We'd say it's better for business and leave it at that. Merchants do whatever they want anyway and they're always trying to earn more than the next guy so it should sound believable.

Back to the original subject though, what am I going to do about Soul Guide? I don't want another job, Me.

If it benefits your own soul in the process I don't see what the problem is. You already take care of the red and orange souls as it is. Maybe it would be wise to just ignore it.

Ignore it? I suppose I do already take down people in those categories.

It just doesn't seem right though, why do I have to harvest green souls as well? Isn't that the same as killing a good guy? And where are they going? What's the Error in the status about and what's the next level? Was I not good enough during my first death that I didn't get to go to the error place?

If I knew, I would tell you Abi. I've told you the system implants us with knowledge so that we can help the dungeon cores begin their life. She doesn't give us all her knowledge, only what's relevant.

Aha! So you finally admit that it's a 'her'.

No... It's just that you say it all the time so it's more than likely rubbing off on me.

Ha. Haha. Hahahaha. Oh, it's been a while since you cracked a good one like that, Me.

What do you mean? I wasn't even trying. All I said was that it's rubbing off... on... me. Do you always have to be crass?

C'mon, Me. That was funny. Just wait, when you get a body, I'll have you crying with laughter.

It's unlikely. Also, you keep mentioning this body but I have to keep reminding you that I don't have a soul so what you're suggesting isn't even possible.

Yeah, I know what you said but I've got a plan now.

Abi. I mean this in the nicest possible way but your plans usually have a tendency to involve three steps back, two side jumps, a circular staircase with a chainsaw, a lot of swapping around, and at the best of times, a leap of faith.

Uff, that was pretty harsh, Me. I didn't mean to upset you over the whole joke thing. I'm sorry.

I'm not upset. I was merely making a joke of my own.

Ohh. Yeah, I didn't get it. I don't get roasted too often these days.

"I'll be ready for the next time you want to roast me though," my ghostly body winks in the air but I doubt Me saw it so I move and ignore my failed attempt.

The plan I mentioned actually involves the three other skills I earned from the remnants of the other cores. For some crazy reason, that I can only attribute to my previous sanity breakdown, I think that if I combine a skill from all eight aspects of magic then I might be able to create a body without a soul.

Temptress of the Wind, The Earth Sculptor and Forger of Fire are the second step towards helping Me and hopefully myself. I already have Desecrator of The Dark which puts me at the halfway point towards my goal. This means that I only have four skills left to obtain.

I'm not worried. I've been a Dungeon Core for over two months now so all-in-all that's not a bad time frame to base my decision on. If I say that I could earn the other half of the skills I need in the next two month then the prospect of creating a physical body isn't too far away.

As I mull over the fact that it could take longer than I had anticipated, which isn't as daunting of a thought as it was before, I look down at the city from my spot on the tower of the academy. A full residential district now sits to my right. Rows of Hospitable Homes are spaced out evenly and paved pathways lead into the centre of town. There are parks between every second row of homes which add beauty to the area that even I can see from up here.

To my left is what I have dubbed 'the artisan district', now featuring a few new craft buildings including but not limited to, a sawmill, a textile factory, a woodcutter hut and the forge. It doesn't look as neat and presentable as the residential area so I'll have to spruce this section up at some point in the foreseeable future.

Further up from the artisan district, The High Cultivator and his men can be seen tending the fields, even from up here.

Closer to me, there are various groups making their way along the streets with varying types of conversations. Some are talking about what they have brought back for absorption after being outside the dungeon. Some are on their way to Ali's for a meal and others are leaving the same establishment in high spirits before heading to Talia's to wash down their food with her special ale.

Scouts are coming and going from the city, I've got that many of them now that I gave full control of their rota to the commanders, Hana and Mira. With my city constantly expanding, and my attention and focus already divided on a high level, it made sense to put them in charge of the scouts' missions.

I know it might not seem like it, whilst I sit here in my tower watching them live their lives, but there's been a lot to do around here. Especially since I now have four actual people living on my land.

It took some time but Kat managed to bring the two damaged women around to the idea of a brighter future with us and both of them have decided to stay in Varona for the foreseeable future. I've got no complaints. As they're not contracted to me I make a nice amount of DP from them and even if they did arrive with the hate-filled elf, it's not as though they share his feelings.

With Kat, Sophie, Tilly and Aura, I've just realised that I've never had this many Tironians inside me at once.

I can't tell if that was a joke or not. Although, they're not technically inside you.

In me, on me, same difference.

Quite. However, I believe it's time to spend some of your accumulated points.

Yeah, I suppose it is. What should I do this time though?

As I look down to my expanding town, I feel reluctant to continue adding to it as there's less than a handful of people and many unoccupied buildings.

I should wait to add more buildings out here. I could do more features or improve the park areas but with Tilly and Aura in the residential area, I'll wait till they go into town so I don't have to use Divinities Presence.

I disappear from the top of my tower and reappear inside the Boss Room on the sixth floor. My Bronze Golem is sat against the wall at the back of the room and if I didn't know he was the boss, I could easily mistake him for a strangely-constructed statue.

"I've been neglecting this place recently, huh?" My question is mainly rhetorical but it also serves to announce my presence to the metal man. Rising from his place on the floor my guardian bows before me and mumbles garbled words that I fail to understand. As always though, his feelings flow with them and I know he's happy to see me.

I'm struggling to say yes as your dungeon is by far deeper than any other Dungeon Core of your age.

I've just been so focused on the town. I really want it to work so I've been giving it my full attention. Now that it's complete for the moment though, it's time to get back to what kicked off my idea in the first place.

My dungeon.

It's been a few weeks since I added any internal features to my mountain home. I'm already 6 floors deep and have a small variety of monsters making their home inside me.

I think it's time for a new floor.