Megumi felt the warmth radiate out of the glowing dungeon core as it pulsed against her hand. A prompt window appeared after a moment of touching the thing.

Dungeon Core System Message Do you wish to take possession of the Northpost dungeon?

Yes / No

Note: You may reshape and cultivate this dungeon to your own whims and desires and you will receive 15% of the GP generated from monster kills. The current owner of the dungeon [Eldymire] will be notified that he no longer owns the dungeon.

The message gave her pause. Should Megu really turn over such a useful item to the guild? Why should they get filthy rich off of Megu's hard work? The quest reward is a mere pittance compared to what Megu could earn if she took ownership of this place. Megu could even help feed the thing by killing off adventurers here and there.

She knew of only two problems with this plan. Her guild would not be happy that she was keeping the place to herself, and the mayor of Northpost would issue a warrant for her arrest for taking ownership of the dungeon, which was forbidden as it belonged to the town.

Megumi took her hand away from the stone and paced around the chamber, which had already re-absorbed the monsters. She didn't know a ton about dungeons, but knew that it would be a little bit before the monsters could respawn. Poro-tan was staring at her with irritation showing on his face, but she didn't care. Poro-kun probably just has some more monster parts stuck in his body. Megu will rectify this later. What to do about the dungeon though?

It occurred to her that this dilemma is probably why none of the other members had taken on this quest. They were probably sitting down there having a laugh at her expense this very moment. Her face became red with anger. Megu has had enough of that guild's bullshit. She made her decision, which was to not take ownership of the dungeon at all. In fact, she wouldn't be giving the core to the guild, either. She reached over and grabbed the dungeon core, yanking it off of its pedestal.

The eerie light in the dungeon faded to black and the only light was that of the pulsing core she held in her hand. "You are coming with Megu, we're going to leave this shithole town soon and put you somewhere better. Let's go, Poro-tan, we have a lot to do and little time to do it."

The two of them made their way through the dark hallways and rooms of the deactivated dungeon at a run. There wouldn't be a lot of time to get out of the dungeon before the guards come looking for whoever had taken the core. She willed herself to run as fast as she could, something she was not accustomed to having to do, and within fifteen minutes they dashed out of the entrance and into the mid-afternoon sun.

Megumi shoved the core and her staff into her magical inventory bag and the two of them hid a short distance away from the dungeon entrance. Just as she had expected a group of fifteen armored guards came trotting into sight a little later. Poro-tan smelled like shit and she had him hide a little ways away from her so she could avoid the stench. It was time to initiate her plan. When the guards descended into the dark dungeon, she and her pet quietly escaped into Northpost.

"We need to get you cleaned up, Poro-tan. We'll go to Megu's house." She led him down some back alleys and to a small hut in the slums of town. When they entered she took a moment to stretch and admire her safe haven. Her house was decorated plainly, but she had dozens upon dozens of cute plush stuffed toys around. She directed Poro-tan to go to the wash room.

Her home had magical plumbing, a necessity for nice warm showers after a day of evil-doing. She instructed Poro-tan mentally to clean himself up while she sat down on her sofa and solidified her plans. Since Megu didn't take ownership of the dungeon, they won't know who took it, just that it's gone. The city will be on high alert, so Megu needs to be careful.

A few minutes later Poro-kun came out clean and then they left again. "Time for us to do some good, Poro-tan. Megu is sure that this will make you very happy!" She grinned as they made their way to the Adventurer's Guild. She filled her pawn in on her plan and for once, he didn't offer objections. Megumi was pretty sure that he wouldn't in the case of her current scheme.

The two of them burst through the doors to the guild and a shocked Lucien stared at them. "Megu just saw a horrible, bad man enter the toy store!" she yelled.

"What is she talking about, Hideki?" the stern man asked.

"I was taking her to get a toy from the 'Toys for Orphaned Children' shop before taking her to her family, and we saw a grey-skinned demon slink around the corner and enter before we did! I thought it was going to kill the owner, so naturally I gave chase, and when I looked through the window, I saw the old man at the counter pull some sort of lever, and a secret stairway opened up. The demon went down and we ran straight here."

"A demon, right here in Northpost? There must be something sinister happening at that toy store. All members, assemble! We're going on a raid!" The tall man came over and bent down next to Megu. "How about you stay here where it's safe? I don't want you to get into any trouble."

"You won't let any of the bad men get away, right?" she asked in her cutesy voice. "Megu is scared! Please, leave Poro-kun here with me!" she grabbed onto her pet's arm and pretended to cower in fear.

"Sure. Don't worry, rooting out and destroying evil is what the adventurer's guild is all about. Hideki, Jean, and Oliver, you three will stay here and hold down the fort. Renak, go inform the city watch. The rest of you, with me!" the group of forty adventurers charged out the doors of the building with a roar.

Megu couldn't stop a small grin from appearing on her face as she watched them go. Her guild had less than half as many members, and most of them amounted to little more than thugs. A few of them might be out on quests at the moment, but when she was there earlier, she noted that the vast majority of the villains had been present.

Tylus would be in for the surprise of his ancient lifetime when the large group of soldiers kicked in the doors to the place and slaughtered the lot of them. Megumi just loved it when a plan came together. Once they are gone, the city will blame the loss of the dungeon core on them and send out soldiers to look for villainous looking people. Megu and Poro-kun will be in the clear and can slip away tomorrow morning. We'll head for Bridgeport to the East and leave this low-level hell-hole behind us. All Megu has to do now is wait.

Spoiler: Poro-kun's Stats Name Hideki Level 011 (3001/3694 EXP to next Level) Class Warrior HP 425/425 MP 50/50 TP 1 Adventurer Rank D Attributes Vitality 17 Magic 2 Endurance 15 Magic Resistance 5 Strength 15 Luck 4 Agility 11 Dexterity 11 Passive Skills • Warrior's Essence - Level 3 (+30 HP regeneration/min)

• Sword Mastery - Level 2 (+20% proficiency with swords)

• Tiger Style - Level 1

• Stalwart - Level 1 (+5% natural defense) Active Skills • Holy Blade - Level 1 (Envelope blade in holy aura for 15 seconds)

• Shockwave - Level 2 (Release shockwave from blade) Spoiler: Megumi's Stats Name Megumi Level 016 (9539/10752 EXP to next Level) Class Necromancer HP 325/325 MP 600/600 TP 0 Villain Rank C Attributes Vitality 13 Magic 50 Endurance 7 Magic Resistance 38 Strength 5 Luck 13 Agility 6 Dexterity 9 Passive Skills • Mage's Essence - Level 4 (+120 MP regeneration/min) Active Skills • None Necromancer Magic

• Sanguine Infusion (50 MP) - Level 6 (Absorb life essence of recently deceased, 6% chance to gain +1 TP from human victims)

• Corpse Explosion (30 MP) - Level 6 - (+60% damage from explosion)

• Corpse Absorbtion (10 MP) - Level 1 (Absorb a corpse's essence. Recover 80 MP)

• Raise Undead (20 MP) - Level 10 (Raise weak undead to fight for you. Max: 50)

• Soul Trap (350 MP) - Level 1 (Trap soul of a recently defeated foe. Max: 1)

• Eldritch Blast (75 MP) - Level 10 (Unleashes a roiling ball of Eldritch energy that burns its subject on contact for 5 seconds)