Barry is down on the eighth floor of the dungeon doing what he does best. Ploughing away. Even though his master no longer has a need for the loads he drops inside her, the Mythril Golem has found another way to be of use to his creator.

The passageways he has been creating, twist and turn around each other circling out from the center. Some short and others much longer, each one shares a certain similarity. They all lead to nowhere.

Dead ends.

Only one of the tunnels inside the large assortment of misleading corridors that now make up the eighth floor runs continuously from the stairway. It leads to a room that the golem has also created by himself and is the only one present on the entire floor as the maze begins at the entrance.

What Barry doesn't realise, or in fact know, is that each floor has a set number of rooms that it must hold in order to meet the system's requirements. What he doesn't know hasn't stopped him before, however, and he continues his work.

Carving an archway similar to where his master's door would be, Barry proceeds to hollow out a staircase and works his way down step by step. At what would be the ninth floor, he stops.

'Break time,' he thinks. His master told Barry to rest whenever he felt like it and ever since finding the magma bath, that's where the golem spends his downtime. Scraping his mythril frame through the man-sized maze, Barry returns to the entrance and heads up the dungeon.

Upon reaching the fourth floor, Barry takes one of the old tunnels to his own private room. There's only one feature inside, but that is all the golem needs. Knowing he's put the effort in makes his relaxation that much better as he steps into the molten liquid and lies back.

As one family member takes a load off, another one finds themselves pent up and pissed off. Inside the pleasure Palace, Veris is causing a large mess as she frantically searches for something.

"Where the fuck is my paddle!?" She screams. If it was any louder then the citizens outside the mountain would know about the missing spanking tool.

"Who used it last? Was it you, C? It was, wasn't it?" She rages at the newly promoted Assassin who has only just returned.

"It was, but that was a few days ago and it was you who actually used it if you remember?" Not taking the blame, Sweet C thrusts the accountability over the missing object back on its rightful owner. At her words Veris throws more objects about the room as a sadness wells up inside of her.

"Fuck! What did I do with it? Boss will be pissed if she has to make me a new one. She didn't even like that one!" Tears start to fall from her eyes before a large amount of pressure builds up around her. "I swear on the Core, whoever has my paddle is going to get it"

"Get what? The paddle?" C giggles, hoping to be on the receiving end of Veris' frustration.

"It's not fucking funny, C!" A, B and D's, shake their heads and begin searching for the missing object.

Dungeon Stories Volume 2

After Me disappeared to enjoy some of Ali's tasty food, Lucky Bastard, I went off to upgrade. In my annoyance, I ended up back at the Hay Bale of all places.

Why? I don't know. Frustration begets frustration if you need a reason. Anyway, after forking out the required DP with a few choice grumbles, the annoyingly-useless feature actually grew bigger! Unless my eyes are playing tricks on me that is.

Its growth wasn't by much, and nothing else changed, but the strangest thing happened after the light of creation had faded. The excitement that usually disappears after seeing no difference is still present. The description has also decided to start playing ball, although like usual it's ridiculous in its own right.

The Bale Of Fortune:

Any animal fed this Hay can keep running four-times longer than normal permanently

Any animal fed this Hay will be able to walk on water permanently

Any trade deals negotiated in or with your city will be 50% more beneficial to you

Those who offer a prayer to the Bale of Fortune before departing your city will be blessed with bountiful luck and see a 75% increase to their spoils

The Lord of Hay may grant wishes to the pure of heart

Unique Skill:

Immortality

Rewards:

Bale of Infinity 5DP

256 XP

Don't get me started on how the Hay Bale is now Immortal. That's obviously an amazing skill to have. It would be more beneficial if it was possessed by one of my family members and not an inanimate object however.

Even without Immorality, the Hay Bale's description is a plethora of beneficial buffs, yet all I can feel is annoyed. Where the fuck have these upgrades been and why have they taken so long to finally show up? Who the hell is the Lord of the Hay? I can't even assign anyone to this stupid feature. And what the hell is an Infinite Bale?

Endless fucking questions and unpredictable fucking features! How is this feature so good, but infuriating at the same time? How is that even possible? It would be like Ali making the best-looking dessert ever, but it tasting like Lobe shit. Not that I know what Lobe shit tastes like, but it just wouldn't happen. So how has this?

I know I say it all the time, and that I shouldn't be complaining over the sweet buffs, but isn't that what life is meant to be about? Or is the pursuit of knowledge just how humans live? Learn, grow, teach, record. Being a Dungeon Core is more of an exacerbating existence if anything.

There are that many buffs on the Bale of Fortune, I can only assume they're from previous upgrades which I'm only now receiving. For reasons beyond my level of comprehension, the System has decided to finally let my frustrating feature undergo change. Not that it shouldn't have already done so long ago, if the standards of my city are anything to go by.

Upgrading and evolution go hand in hand and this pile of, what I'm hoping now isn't useless, hay has been a stubborn bastard. The Bale of Fortune better be damn well be worth its cost.

Inside the stable, I summon an Infinite Bale into one of the horse pens. It immediately picks up on the new source of food and begins eating. With every bite, however, the small bundle of hay never changes shape. When the horse pulls away, the biten location fills in as though it had never been missing in the first place.

Infinite Bale. Fair enough. Does exactly what it says on the Hay.

Summoning another 99, I place one in each pen and the rest around the Bale of Fortune. The awkward feature has been solitary for far too long and even though there's no need for the extra bales, the semi-circle stack they form around it pleases me immensely.

It's about damn time!

Even though it isn't a categorising egoist, or a maniacal dungeon-absorbing elf, it's still a weight lifted off my shoulders. I remember when Katrina laughed at the small yet-expensive feature and I made that stupid vow that it would be the best piece of Hay she'd even seen. Well, wait till I see her later.

Giggling to myself, I realise everything seems to be going right for me. Or well, should I say. Not that I want to jinx it or set off any flags, but shit is good right now!

The self-sufficiency of my city is almost at 100%. Other than a bit more gold that I'm yet to drop in our treasury everything is controlled by the people. As soon as I've finished donating the amount Deputy Mayor Sacha requested of me, commerce will commence in Varona. Right now, most of the activities, food, training, all of them are free.

I'm pretty sure the city council already pays wages to the working citizens and that they can buy specialised goods here and there with their money so I'm not sure why we haven't already started, but Sacha does seem to know her stuff. If anything her shit is that together, she could probably run this place on her own. I'm lucky to have her.

With what's left of today's DP, I'll use it to finish off her requests as well as a few of Mayor Kana's. Small purchases barely make a dent in my daily amount anymore so requests like benches and greenery can be bought on unoccupied land and transported to where it needs to go. Upgrades on the other hand take much longer due to the restrictive nature of Divinities Creation.

"I wish that skill would level up! I've had it for who knows how long now and it's still level one. What's a Core gotta do to get some help around here?" Answering her question, the Bale of Fortune begins to glow yellow.

Divinities Creation has reached Level MAX:

Create Create Create

Unbound to the limitations placed upon your soul you become one with the powers of creation

No Dungeon Core has ever obtained a System-owned skill before let alone raised the level

With this your powers may even rival that of the gods

Creation is no longer being restricted due to local populace

Creations can be altered at no extra cost

Holy Shit!

Is today my birthday? Seriously! There's got to be a limit to my luck, right?

As if on cue, the presence of domination enters my boundaries. Not complete domination, or even a mild version of the act, but just the feeling. Unlike the un-fledged apprentice that's still with Katrina, this time it's a fully-qualified Categoriser that has entered me.

Fortunately, the strength of his will is nothing compared to Elric's. It could be to do with the fact that I'm a higher level than I was when the insane man attacked Katrina, but I don't want to put too much faith in myself yet. My family, however, have all my trust and after a quick message to Light he appears quickly. Almost too quickly as he hasn't taken the time to dress.

"What the hell, Light? Clothes!" Embarrassed, and also a little envious of Sophie after seeing the Assassin's abs, a quick shout at the lady killer is all it takes for clothing to appear on his body.

"If it was that easy, then next time don't arrive half naked! That's not the point though, see that guy?" I point at the man wearing a full set of white clothes. He could easily pass as a priest if people were ignorant to Categorisers and their profession. The Assassin nods and a jeweled dagger appears in his hand. It's my first time seeing Light's weapon since he advanced in tier.

The blade is slightly curved and there's an ominous-green tint to the metal. Maybe a poison attribute? The handle and grip are embedded in that many jewels that it looks hard to hold, but the weapon seems to fit perfectly into his hand. He notices me staring and a smile spreads across his face.

"What do you think, Master? This will be the first time I've used it?" I can't deny the quality of his weapon, even if it is smaller than everyone else's. No puns intended, but that's not what I called him for. I should really update those rules soon.

"Have you been following Noir around lately? Did I say I wanted him dead? No. What is with you lot assuming that I want everyone dead all the time? Unless it's Ali there's usually a weapon being thrown about," I sigh. "Yes. Your dagger is beautiful, Light. Now put it away. The first thing I want you to do is talk to him." I know that sounds like a repeat of the last time a Categoriser turned up, but Light was only a low level Vagabond back then. Now that I'm decked out in Assassin's this should go completely different.