Elian and Albrot were sitting in her office, looking over reports from the local area, when the door suddenly opened. A woman with far western features and violet eyes walked into the room without a single shred of fear or concern. Behind her came a flustered receptionist trying to stop her.

  "Gods send me to the seven hells!" Albrot exclaimed as it seemed he knew the woman.

  "Who in the hells…" Elian started, shocked at the brazen entry.

  "Thank you. We will deal with this." Albrot quickly rose and blocked the receptionist from entering, turning her away and closing the door. Elian, what's now, is just confused as she had cut her off.

  "So, you're Elian Woodland? "The woman asked as she crossed the room, sat where Albrot had been, and put her feet on Elian's desk. Elian was unsure how to deal with this intruder in her office.

  "When did you get here?" Albrot asked. Elian noted the edge of concern in his voice and wondered who this woman was. If he was acting this way, she was dangerous, and she knew she had to be careful of how she spoke and what she said. She, however, realised she knew who the intruder was the longer she looked at her.

  "From the look on your face, the boy hasn't told you who I am, I suspect. He told you I was on the way." The woman smiled as she spoke, and the smile made Elian want to run for some strange reason. She ignored Albrot.

  "High Guild Master Averance, we have met before," Elian uttered the name.

  The woman's smile never changed. "Have we? Very good. Now, you boy, I want have a word with you."

  As she turned and faced Albrot, her smile left her face. Elian had never seen her mentor and superior go so pale so fast in her life. If even a fraction of the stories about the woman before her were true, she understood why. She was the most powerful human in terms of steps along a Path on the continent.

  "You should have sent for me earlier. Trying to handle things like this on your own. Sometimes, I wonder where I went wrong with you. But I'm here now, and we shall address our problems."

  "The situation here was still developing, and we were containing it. You were kept informed of everything that was happening, so don't you try to guilt trip me into saying that I had made a mistake here as I had not, and you know it." His tone had become a bit combative.

  "Yes, I will admit you kept me informed. But let us be honest: You needed my help far sooner than this." Her tone had not changed, but Elian suspected her superior was not going to push the argument far.

  "That is not true, and you know it!" Albrot was getting frustrated.

  "High Guild Master Averance, are you planning to visit the dungeon?" Elian sought to head off an argument before it began. Averance turned her attention back to Elian.

  "I have just come from there. I ignored most of the floors and just went straight to the 7th. The ogre is an interesting challenge, but I was there to see the Core."

  "You found it then?" Elian asked, slightly concerned.

  "Yes, your reports were quite accurate. The Core is hiding itself. I was quite impressed by its use of wind through the Dungeon to confuse the essence flows. That clearly shows a higher level of intelligence for such a young core."

  "What are your thoughts on the core?" Albrot asked.

  "Now that is the question. Everything that happens here revolves around the Core. I inspected it in the Dungeon, and your reports, Elian, were well written. I have never encountered or heard of such a core." Averance became thoughtful. "I have been thinking about the specs of light in the Core. At first, I was unsure what they were, but suddenly, when I was leaving, it dawned on me. Each speck of light is a different type of mana that the core can access."

  "That strangely makes sense. The Dungeon has demonstrated the ability to use different types of mana, that would explain why." Elian thought out loud.

  "Ranus has just supplied the core with two mana stones with wind and fire." Albrot reminded them. "This means we might see Dungeon monsters with these abilities appearing on the new floors."

  "It's not a case of if but when," Averance confirmed.

  "Should we have Ranus stop supplying the dungeon with the materials it requested?" Elian asked, now becoming concerned with the direction the conversation was taking.

  "No." Averance was adamant. "A deal was made, and the young Lord should honour it. I can guarantee that him breaking it would be a disaster for both us and the city, let alone the rest of the continent."

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  "What do you think of the list?" Albrot inquired.

  "I read over it before descending this morning. I know that the Dungeon is planning something. What that is exactly, I do not know, but what it's asking for is too specific if you pay attention. It is trying to hide it within the list, but there are certain items that it seems more interested in that are unusual and technically not known about."

  "If that is true, shouldn't we try to prevent him from achieving his goals?"

  "Him?" Averance asked.

  "We were part of Ranus's conversation with the Core through his speaking crystal. Clearly, the Core identifies itself as a male through language and voice." Albrot clarified.

  "Well, that's not unknown. They normally identify as one gender or the other in time. How was that interaction?"

  "The Core is slightly combative and extremely rude. But if you catch its attention, it's willing to negotiate, it seems." Albrot thought back over the interaction he had heard.

  "Is that normal?" Averance asked.

  "From what Ranus has told us, yes. There are long periods of time where the Core doesn't even respond to requests for communication."

  "Yes, I noticed that when I arrived and during my first look over the Dungeon before entering. I notice that it was busy shifting its internal energies around."

  "Do you know to what end?" Elian inquired.

  "I don't know to what extent or to what end. But I noticed that the essence flows through the Dungeon, seemed to be moving a bit faster. This happened over the last few days as I watched it."

  "Now that you're here, High Guild Master, what do you want us to do?" Albrot asked.

  "We start by meeting the young Lord of these lands. Then, we must speak to the church leaders and the other Guild leaders. The next few weeks are going to be busy."

  ## ## ## ## ##

  A sickly crunching sound followed the mace, collapsing the adventurer's chest and shoulder. The other adventurers' cries of shock and horror were not the first in this fight. I suspected they would be breaking soon. If they did not, they were most likely dead.

  Today, this was the second team to challenge Krag. The first had been annihilated, and this one was going to the same fate. I shook my head at the greed involved. They were all looking for the moonlight rose but would be far from competent enough as combatants to defeat the ogre.

  It seemed that the death of the second member of their group had been enough to change the others' mindsets, and they quickly turned tail and ran. Krag watched them go and then slowly walked forward and closed his doors.

  "Weak." He snorted as he returned to his throne.

  I looked around at the now twenty bodies that were strewn around the hall. This group at least tried something different in distracting Krag while a rogue sought to get the Rose. Unfortunately, they didn't count on him being able to cast spells, and the tentacles ensnared the rogue. She was the first to die.

  I immediately took some of my CP to cover the new bodies with moss. I had checked them over, and their gear was pretty bad. There were a few items of interest, which I took, but the rest were too severely damaged or of too low quality for me to be interested in.

  Krag's fighting style continued to improve. He was learning from each encounter even after he died. His essence bar was slowly filling as he had not been killed in some time, and I wondered if he would make it to the next step or level. Now, that would be an interesting thing. So far, Larry and Puck were the only ones who had progressed, and both were slowly moving towards the next level.

  I had put some thought into concentrating on getting as many minions as I could to level up. Ultimately, I opted against it as I realised it would cause too many issues with the ramped danger level for each one that had gone up a level. Many adventurer groups were barely handling what they had available now, let alone an improved version.

  I focused instead on finalising my plans for the next floor. They would be a mixture of boars and rats. The environment will be caves or caverns with large patches of tall grass to help hide the rats while the adventurers are focused on the boars. My experimentation with the rats produced interesting results, and I looked forward to making the final designs or at least getting close to them. The boars would be next, and I had already decided not to use shadow mana in their creation. I planned to use the base design of the third-floor boss but alter the design by using different types of mana. I was looking forward to seeing the results of my experimentation.

  Looking at my own essence bar, I knew that I was still some time away from this. At least Ranus was supplying me with the agreed-upon materials at a timely speed. The last thing I'd gotten was a book that covered the various monsters of the continent and gave me an idea of what was out there. I have seen several exciting things that were downright strange, and a few I might have been able to replicate in some manner.

  However, I did notice a missing monster from my world—a creature of legend, really—and I wondered if I could recreate it here. I had been thinking about it for some time and planned to have it on the 10th floor. I already had quite a few ideas for the 9th, but I would have to concentrate on them later once I had finished the eighth.

  I forced my attention back to the eighth floor's mana-infused boars and rats. Should I spend more on the rats or go for numbers? I was leaning towards numbers but not excessive amounts. Maybe half a dozen rats per boar. And these would be enhanced rats, not basic ones. I wanted to go big as always, but I had to pace myself as my resources were not infinite. I did not want a replay of what happened on the 6th when I almost screwed myself over. No, I will have to be far more careful.

  The team that had fought Krag and ran was now long gone. Another team had entered and made their way to the third floor. I knew them as a regular group that farmed the third. They occasionally went for the guardian but spent most of their time killing the boars and harvesting everything they could.

  I did not expect any other teams to make a run at the 7th today. I expect the last group's tale to spread quite quickly amongst the adventurers by now, and this would dissuade even the greedy for a while—not forever, but a few days at least or a few weeks, depending on their desperation or greed.

  I could refine my Core more, but I've been focused on that for the last few weeks and decided to take a break. So, I opened up my creation screens, reviewed what I had done so far with the rats, and started making plans for the boars. When I finally reached my next level, I wanted to be ready and able to roll the floor out quickly.

  It was both invigorating and frustrating to have such options now. In many ways, it was easier when I started with almost none.

  I sighed to myself and got to work.