Finally separated from Light, Sophie is sat in the Retreat, nursing a full mug of ale in her hands. She's mulling over the startling secret that she was made privvy to the night before. Light explained the circumstances regarding his 'female' master and the reason why building construction happens so fast. It simultaneously put Sophie's mind at ease and made her heart race uncontrollably at the same time.

Sophie is, or was, a dungeon diver. An adventurer who has seen the insides of many a dungeon. Recently though, before unexpectedly arriving on Abi's doorstep for the first time, she had been taking jobs that required her to protect and escort clients to their destinations. It's for this reason that she happened to be with Wheeler and Aaron in the first place.

Not that she's complaining. She's found the man of her dreams, or least she thought she had. As it turns out that wondrously-beautiful man is actually a dungeon monster created by his master, the Dungeon Core. Not just the man of her dreams but everyone and everything else in sight has also been created by the same dungeon. Except for people Wheeler and Aaron shockingly returned with.

"Why? I don't understand, how?" Talking to herself gets her no answers, but instead catches the attention of the two Assassins next to her.

"Are you talking about our Master and Light? He informed everyone that he would be telling you about us. It seems he has taken a liking to you." One of the longest sentences Carrie has ever said is quickly shadowed by her boisterous partner's love for his home.

"My master is the best! Without her, we would not be here to experience all that there is to experience! We would not be able to make this world a better place as we have been doing. Our master is like no other. She is guiding humanity towards a better path so that she..." Noir's loose lips are quickly silenced as the master in question appears with a frown on her face.

"Master!" Noir bellows before grabbing his weapon from his spatial storage. He then salutes before standing statue still. To the eyes of Sophie, the red-head Assassin looks a little strange as she isn't able to see Abi unless she accepts the contract.

"Is your master here now? Or is he just a little... Crazy?" She faces Carrie and points to Noir's perfect impression of a King's Knight.

"I would like to say both," Carrie raises an eyebrow at her partner, before nodding to her master, "He's always eager to perform well so that he can please our master. I could have a worse partner."

Finishing her ale, Carrie stands up and grabs Noir by the collar.

"Partner? Like partner-partner?" Sophie's words don't receive an answer as Carrie salutes the empty air in front of them. She then drops into Noir's shadow and pulls the still-bowing male down with her. Sophie quickly downs her Ale before asking Talia for a refill.

"They seemed happy, right? In a weird kind of way. I want that! I wanna be happy too and Light makes me happy. That's good right? It doesn't matter that he's a dungeon monster... I don't think. I thought he was a vampire before so there's that as well. Why am I finding this so hard?" Sipping her ale, whilst debating her strangely-tempting situation, Sophie soon asks for a second refill, followed by a third and eventually a fourth. She keeps going until she loses count.

"I mean... He's probably got all the working parts, right? Hehe, (hic) I bet he's a beast. A beast, Talia! Where is he? I'm gonna tell (hic) him," Slipping off the stool, Sophie manages to keep herself from falling over.

"I'm gonna tell him, Talia. I (hic) love him and I don't care about anything else. All I want is Light!" Walking backwards as she calls over the Retreat to the proprietress, Sophie loses her footing in front of the door and she begins to fall. Luckily, the object of her affection catches her mid-way before she can hit the ground.

"You're like my angel," she smiles into the blurry sky-blue eyes of her saviour as he raises her back up.

"I think we should get you to bed," Light politely smiles after seeing how much the human has had to drink. Little did he know, Sophie took those words in a completely different way than how he had intended them.

"Did you hear that, Talia!? Let's go, Light," Light's eyes widen as Sophie grips his wrist with a renewed vigor and drags him out of the Retreat, into the hotel and upstairs to her room.

Talia laughs at Light's poor choice of words and the next day, Sophie accepts a contract with the dungeon.

Dungeon Stories Volume 2

At the stroke of midnight, just like Canderalla, something magical happened. I didn't meet a charming Prince, but instead I did have my world rocked by an enormous burst of over-inflated DP.

Seriously! I've never felt that good in either of my lives.

It was that much that Overstock even gained two levels. I mean, I should have expected it since Me had already told me how many points I would earn. To be honest though, I forgot that Stockpile evolved into Overstock. With the amount of DP that it needed to level up, I had put it to the back of my mind and forgotten about it. Stockpile 'was' all that I needed until this flashed before my eyes.

Overstock Level 3:

You are now able to retain 30% of any excess Dungeon Points that you have acquired

I'm not complaining, even though it might sound like I am, but doesn't that sound like a seriously-broken skill? What's going to happen when it reaches level 10? Will that mean that I can retain any amount of DP, no matter the size?

I could be a DaPillionaire!

Is that a special type of monster?

Nope. It's just a rich Dungeon Core. It's another original Abi word.

I should have guessed.

My ghost form fist pumps the air before I turn my attention back to the people in the new Camping Grounds.

It turns out that most of them are refugees. They've fled their own cities, which are mainly northwest of me, in hopes they won't be branded traitors to the crown. The Lord of that province has revolted against the King of Tira. The Lord of Gorn controls the entire north-western section of the continent and from what I heard last night, he's actually a really kind-hearted person.

So it begs the question, why would he go to war with the King? Has he wronged him in some way? Is there an evil mastermind pulling the strings behind the scenes? Either way, none of that is my problem. Not yet anyway.

For now, I've got bigger fish to fry.

Dungeon Core Abi Level 33:

1557/4600XP until next level

7 Floors

69 Rooms

72 Tunnels

457 Monsters

4 Contract Monsters

138 Traps

10,600/1800DP Available

I can't get my head around that DP. Long gone are the days where Barry was the main source of my income. Ever since I created him he's been dropping loads in me nonstop. Now that I receive 25,000DP a night, I will never have to worry about having points to spend again.

As the days pass by peacefully, my time is always occupied and there is always something to do. I built the Filing Hut and upgraded it until it became The Hall of Inquiries. I had to spend some time setting up a government of sorts and as it stands, it was relatively easy.

Assassins seem to be the perfect type of summon for any job. With that in mind, I summoned a new female and named her Kana. Dressed in a short black skirt and a white shirt, the way she stood gave off the feeling of importance. Red glasses sat above her nose and small brown eyes stared out through them. Chestnut hair, tied up in a bun, finished off her appearance. looking very mayory.

I couldn't just leave Kana on her own to look after all these people, so I created more assassins to form a council of sorts as well as adding some Wood Walkers and mages, just so I didn't feel biased.

With twenty Mages, twenty Wood Walkers and twenty Assassins, I left naming them to Mayor Kana and poofed away leaving her to settle into her new role. Sixty people should be a good start for a government.

I spent most of my newfound freedom, walking through the streets in my ghostly presence. Still unnoticeable, as I don't have a physical form, I listen to conversations as people go about their daily business.

Thanks to Soul Guide, sifting through the extremely large crowd of newcomers for people that we don't want living in town, my life has become even easier than I thought possible. The skill I instantly took a disliking too, because of the job requirement, turned out to be a blessing in disguise rather than a work commitment.

I haven't heard a single justifiable complaint from anyone that's arrived yet either, except from the type of people to be on the wrong end of Soul Guide's colour spectrum, which is downright shocking considering how many of them arrived here all at once. Most of them turned from green and yellow back to grey as they arrived, landing them directly in the neutral zone. I don't know if that had anything to do with me possessing the strange skill, or if they were just committed to starting life again with a fresh slate. Either way, less trouble is a win-win scenario for everyone.

The rowdy red and orange trouble makers however didn't turn grey. Instead, they were quickly dealt with in a silent, but humane, manner. Disappearing in various alleyways, side streets, and parks, when the times were right, their hate-filled voices will never be heard from again.

Dealing with troublemakers and spying on the residents are not the only tasks I've been taking care of. Varona is now five times the size it was before Wheeler returned. I've been buying up land like there's no tomorrow with the most of my newly-retained DP. The rest has been spent on housing and places of work for the growing population.

Maths aside, the Hospitable Homes come with everything that people need to be able to live sufficiently. A magical cooker, their own bathroom, the house is even furnished. It's not up to the standards of a noble, but it's enough for someone to start life over from scratch. Especially when I haven't asked for anything in return. Although I do need to get on that soon, or I could pass it on to Kana. As mayor it's kind of her job to deal with rents and money right?

These homes were not cheap, not that I spent any actual money, and I've used almost as much DP here as the cost of the land they're built on. In fairness, I suppose that they've paid for themselves really, the DP comes from the people that now live in them. And thanks to them, Overstock has reached Level 6 in just a single week. The skill has already accumulated 20,000DP and needs another 140,000 to reach Level 7.

The number itself horrifies me when I think about how much it requires. I know I joke about being a big Lobe Hound sometimes, but I'm seriously in the big leagues now. Like everything else in my dungeon, the required amount of DP for the skill to level up doubles each time. That means that Overstock will eventually have to earn 1,280,000DP to advance from Level 9 to 10.

I need to stop thinking about that skill.

Getting to keep 60% of what I earn over night is already amazing. There's no point in musing over what I will eventually have, hehe.

"Abi?" As usual, the voice of Anya calls out to me from nowhere and everywhere all at once, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I've got a plan for Anya, or the beginning-of-a-plan at least. I'm just waiting on one more piece to be ready.

Hopefully it won't be too long, but only time will tell.