The next three days were a blur of activity on my end. I spent every waking moment, aside from a few quick meals, creating smaller passageways throughout the Dungeon that the Kobolds could use. Firstly, it was for their safety; I had no idea whether Striders found Kobolds tasty, and no amount of mental poking would get the Records to spit it out.

Secondly, with the small passageways they could move around without being intercepted in case of intruders. And thus have an easier time setting up ambushes or rearming traps that the intruders might have disarmed. That would be a nasty surprise if they tried to retreat without recalling.

The best part was that since the Kobolds were so slim and small, there was no way in hell an armed and armored adventurer would fit inside their little tunnels. They were also designed in such a fashion as to be difficult to notice unless you were actively looking for them.

It had taken far longer than anticipated to do though, not to mention it was boring as all hell. But without any more Masteries and no more animals big enough to count as intruders. It was the best I got to kill time with outside of just sleeping.

Now all that remained was to wait as I was circling in the sky above my Labyrinth, looking for them, the sun had nearly set when I finally spotted them; they were moving fast, too fast for just eagerness. Something was chasing them, more wolves.

I couldn’t use Roar this time, I would likely kill the Kobolds as well as the Wolves if I did. But even the simple act of landing on top of the leader of the pack and crushed him under my sheer weight. That, combined with a vicious snarl, was enough to make the rest of the wolves back off.

“Great One!” Ssatassha rushed forward and threw herself on the ground in front of me. “Ssatassha humbly thanks Great One for the rescue of herself and the Tribe.” I smiled gently at her “If you are to serve me, then it is only right that I look after you in return.” I replied.

I took a look at the rest of her tribe. The first thing I noticed was that most of them showed clear signs of starvation. The second was that their gear was exceedingly ill maintained. Which meant they had been without a safe haven for quite some time.

“You must be tired and hungry, follow me and I will take you to your new den. However, before that, I will need an oath of fealty from your leader.” I had gotten some use out of the Akashic records during those boring days of nothing but making tunnels I could never hope to fit in. I had learned that Dungeon Cores taking in wandering monsters was far from unheard of. And that a simple oath of fealty from the leader of a group of monsters would be enough for them all to be recognized as Pact Monsters.

Pact Monsters would not trigger traps nor would they be hunted by the dungeons denizens. In return, the Pacted Monsters would not be able to harm the denizens of the dungeon. Or the Dungeon Core, and would have to follow the command of the Core itself. It was something that was quite sought after by certain monsters. Kobolds among them, as that would provide them with a rather safe haven, compared to other places.

The Kobolds looked at each other before Ssatassha hung her head. “Chief Garbatass died yesterday, killed by wolves. We have no leader, Great One.” I tilted my head. “Oh, it seems to me you do.” Ssatassha looked at me with a confused expression. “Did you not lead them here after your Chief’s death? Did you not keep them moving and safe despite all odds being against you and are you not now talking for your Tribe?” I asked the little Kobold.

“M-me? But I-” she turned to the rest of them. Almost 40 in all by my quick count, and after a brief moment they started to not slowly then more eagerly. Then one, quickly followed by another, then another started to chant. “Chief Ssatassha” over and over. While Ssatassha herself seemed somewhat overwhelmed by it all. She shook her head, her expression determined and her gaze filled with renewed purpose.

She knelt before me, her head bowed her head. “I Chief Ssatassha of the Red Scale Tribe, hereby pledges the loyalty of myself and my tribe to you Great One. As per the ancient traditions” there was a strange sensation flowing from me. And I noticed that I was slowly losing a bit of Essence. At the same time as every Kobold in front of me were suddenly sporting a mark on the back of their tiny palms. Upon closer examination would look like a small circular maze, the emblem I had used back in the Game.

By this point I was not even surprised at this occurrence and so just took it in stride. “Follow me, I shall take you to your new home” I said as I carefully stepped over the tribe who were still busy examining their new marks.

I led the little ones through the stone maze and to the dungeon entrance; it took way longer like this, as there were just too many of them to have them all fit on my back and none wished to be left behind. As we arrived in the entrance room, there was some groaning from the Kobolds as they noticed there was another maze to go through, but I smiled.

“I anticipated that your small stature would make trying to navigate this place somewhat difficult. So, I had these prepared in advance.” I pointed out the small tunnel coming out next to the main entrance to the labyrinth proper. It was cleverly hidden in the shadows created by the light shining down the stairs.

“These little tunnels are for your use and run underneath the labyrinth itself with exits leading up near traps. And if you follow this tunnel straight ahead with no deviation, you will get to the stairs to the 2nd floor. Each intersection has even been marked, red stairs means stairs going up, blue down, you can’t miss it.”

Ssatassha and the rest of the Kobolds looked at me with renewed respect. Then as one they started towards the tunnel and disappeared inside. “I will meet you at the stairs to the 2nd floor!” I called after them, then dissolved myself and flew through the floor before reforming. This was so much better than having to return to my pillar.

Soon the Kobolds arrived at the other side, and once all of them were accounted for. I led them down to the floor below “Ssatassha know this place, this is the floor where Ssatassha was saved by Great One”

Ssatassha was regaling her fellow Kobolds with the tale of how we met as I led them down the cavernous corridors. Not even stopping for anything. Finally, they were at the tunnel leading to their new home. The trip had been mostly uneventful. And the parts of the floor that would be difficult to traverse for the little guys had been given a small Kobold Tunnel to aid them in running around.

It is difficult to describe their reaction when they saw their new home. The Kobold Village waiting for them in that mushroom forest, I could say they were grateful. But that would be such a gross understatement, it would be borderline a lie. A few of the Kobolds literally fell to their knees and cried from sheer happiness, others were pinching themselves to be sure they were not dreaming.

Even Ssatassha, who had been talking nonstop to the Kobold beside her. A friend of hers, called Lienru, was rendered speechless at the sight. Though it took her a few moments to realize something was up due to how into the conversation she was. She hadn’t stopped to look until Lienru just fainted in front of her, unable to take the sudden shock of everything.

At which point she had just stood there in mute disbelief for a good 20 seconds, before she hesitantly approached me. Looking down and seemed almost afraid to speak as she asked. “Is this really for us, Great One, is this… really our home?”

Just what in the world had these poor Kobolds been through to warrant such reactions? I nodded, “This village is yours, and you may hunt freely in the woods for food. There is also a beast in this wood that supplies a rather tasty milk if you use them as livestock. Once you have settled in, I will teach you how to milk them, as well as a few other things.

If the tribe had looked at me with respect before, it now bordered on literal worship as they all fell to their knees and thanked me over and over. They then, at first with a bit of hesitation, then with more and more eagerness, started to explore every nook and cranny of their new home.

As they were busy with that I flew off and returned a bit later with the strange cow and 4 rabbits I had been able to hunt down. “You all look more than half dead from starvation, no servant of mine will starve while living in abundance. Eat and recover tonight and rest and recover tomorrow, that’s an order.” I said as I delivered the meat to them, along with some mushrooms the Records said were popular with Kobolds.

I left them there, as they were happily dividing the food among themselves, each one carrying way more than they could ever hope to eat at once. As I entered the tunnel leading back to the dungeon proper, I could hear singing.

The entrance to the forest was inside a tunnel big enough for a Pharos wing to fly through. But to get up to it, you had to either climb almost 20 meters or make use of the small tunnel I made for the Kobolds. So, the little ones would be safe in the case of a sudden assault.

I returned to my Core room and curled up for the night, ready to sleep soundly.

Another dream? No… this was different somehow, not a dream, I could see things I should not. A great city with grand spires and walls made of quartz, seagulls flying in the wind. Slyvanport, home of the elves, how did I know that, also didn’t elves live in forests? Not in this world, apparently. I flew into the city, unable to control where I was going. As I approached a window in the greatest spire and flew right through it as if it didn’t exist.

An ancient elf was sitting at a table, looking like he was focusing hard, before sighing and tossing his arms up in frustration. “Nothing, the answers elude me Aluna, the Records refuse to answer and scrying does nothing. What is this Core anyway, to be able to elude all attempts at viewing it from a distance or learning about it from the records?” The Owl sitting next to him hooted softly and nudged his arm playfully.

“Do not give up eh, easy for you to say girl. If it wasn’t for the fact that this had the seal of the guildmaster himself attached. I would have thought this entire thing was a bad joke.” He stood and walked around the room as if deep in thought. Then he suddenly stopped and looked right at me. “Who are you to attempt to spy on me?” He started to say more. But the world was growing fuzzy and distant. Someone was calling out to me from somewhere. “-ne, Great One, please wake up Great One!” I opened my eyes, Ssatassha was looking at me.

I looked at her. She seemed worried? “What’s wrong Ssatassha?” the newly elected Chieftess looked up at me, suddenly seeming very unsure of herself. “Ssatassha… are sorry to disturb your rest, Great One, but… Ssatassha needs your wisdom.” Oh, I see no issue with lending her an ear if she needs someone to talk to. It’s a nice change of pace after being alone with no one to talk to but humans who want me either captured or dead.

“Come, let us find a better place to sit and you can tell me what’s on your mind on the way there.” I knew exactly where to take her, as I led her to the lower entrance to the Crags. Meanwhile, Ssatassha slowly but surely laid out her insecurity and discomfort at the sudden change of having been a nobody to being a Chieftess and how she was internally panicking. Though her explanation stopped once the Crag came into proper view, she was too busy staring wide-eyed at the sight.

“Beautiful is it not?” Ssatassha nodded, “I find that sights like this can be quite nice to help calm yourself down in times of stress or internal turmoil. As for your new station in life, indeed being thrust into a situation you are not ready for can indeed be stressful and panic inducing.” I smiled down at her and carefully lowered a palm onto her head to give her a soft pat.

“What you should take into consideration here is that your tribe is behind you all the way. They believe in you, they would not have made you Chieftess if they did not think you could do it. And while the sudden responsibility can be tough, you need not shoulder that burden alone. Your tribe knows you are new to this, so don’t be afraid to ask for input or advice. Show you are willing to step up to the challenge and actually lead. You have the courage to do so, Little One, you just need to find it within yourself.”

Ssatassha looked at me for a long while, so long I feared my words had gone way over her head. Then she slowly nodded, barely noticeable, before she seemed to regain her earlier spirited self. “Ssatassha thanks Great One. Her advice has been wise indeed. You reminded Ssatassha about the biggest truth of all. That the Tribe always helps each other, Ssatassha was so worried about being Chieftess for the tribe. She forgot that a chief that does not listen to the tribe is no chief at all.” she bowed her head and scampered off after another gaze at the crag. Clearly she was in a better mood and feeling more confident now.

It felt weird to be giving out sage advice like this. By human standards I would be barely old enough to drink, let alone by Core standards where I was barely past a week old. I had no clue how old I would be by Sphinx standards though, was this body an adult or a juvenile, heck was I nearing senior years? I had no idea.

. So, essentially the same as my human self, fair enough. Speaking of, how old could I expect to live, anyway? . I am sorry, what? .

Well, that explains a lot. No wonder they had gone into utter overkill on me the moment they learned of my existence. I was starting to regret being so merciful earlier now; I had practically painted a giant target on my ass by doing so. Argh, no point in dwelling on past mistakes. What was done, was done. Now I just had to hunker down and get ready for the inevitable storm that would be arriving sooner or later.

If I was that valuable, then the adventurers would try again. It was no doubt about that; I was the shiny treasure at the end of the dungeon that was worth… huh… how much would my core be worth in monetary value?

.

A gilded cage is still a cage, screw that! And I would rather not have someone rooting around in my skull telling me what to think and feel every moment of the day. That being said, that much gold would make even dragons view me as a potential prize. I did not fancy spending my days as a shiny little bauble in a dragon’s hoard. Better not tell anyone about the Records, EVER.

I returned to the Core Room in a much darker mood than when I left; I was in far more danger than I had originally anticipated. Had I known how valuable I was in the eyes of the humans I would have annihilated every last one of the past intruders or would I?

It was getting harder and harder to be sure my past self would have reacted; the memories were there, but the same care and emotions that my fellow monsters evoked in me were, while not gone, suppressed? Yes. Suppressed was a fitting word. It was as if when it came to humans I had a bias against mercy, be it instinctual or otherwise. A bias that had been strengthened further by this new knowledge.

It was not that I didn’t want to show mercy; it was that I simply could not afford to unless I wanted to live the rest of my existence on a leash which. If the Records were to be believed, it would be a very long time indeed.

If the suppression against mercy were added into the equation, my sense of showing mercy was now teetering on the edge, I had been far too lenient in the past; I realized that now, but I don’t think I would have done it differently. The circumstances of the different back then, but even if I had known I would still ha-

. Merchant who? . Now I was curious, I dispersed myself and then willed myself to the surface, then took in the situation. The Merchant was there with 2 other people, who were clearly her bodyguards given how they were looking around with tense expressions.

“Ma’am, with all due respect, what are we doing here? The guild has declared this an S-rank Raid dungeon. We are nowhere near powerful enough to deal with this.” the woman looked at him “I am settling a life debt, Mandol. You of all people should appreciate that.” the guard was still tense, but nodded. So did his partner.

Well now, if she was here to settle a debt, then there could only be to one individual. I reformed and landed right in front of them. The guards immediately stepped forwards, weapons ready. “Lower your weapons, Humans, I have business with your employer. Unless you wish to repay her debt with violence?” The 2 bodyguards exchanged glances, then looked and Yndali, who nodded.

They stepped back, and she stepped forwards. “Your dungeon has attracted a lot of attention of late, I give you my word none of that was my doing. My family never betrays our benefactors or rescuers, and you have done nothing but good for me.” I nodded, she seemed sincere, besides if she was here to repay a life debt to me because of my rescue of her. Then siccing the adventurer’s guild on me seemed somewhat counterproductive to repaying that debt.

She held out a purse to me. I opened it, gems? . I WOULD WHAT NOW?! Even my “Unbreakable Will” couldn’t stop my head from momentarily spinning, but I regained my composure quickly.

I looked at the merchant. “This is a precious gift you have given me, Miss Yndali, more precious than you can imagine. Your debt has been repaid several times over, thank you.” I nodded respectfully at the Merchant. This woman seemed quite reasonable indeed. If only the guild would be as open to talking rather than just attacking.

I don’t know who seemed more surprised, Yndali or her bodyguards “How did you know my name?” I gave a crooked smile, “I have a warning system set up around the surface area of my domain. And it turns out it uses names when someone who has already intruded into the dungeon returns once more.” Yndali blink a few times. “Oh, that’s rather useful isn’t it.” I nodded in agreement. “Well then Miss Yndali if there was nothing else I will be returning to my dungeon. It is late, and I am certain you wish to return to the city before sunrise as to not arouse suspicion of where you have gone tonight.”

This time it was Yndali that paused for a moment. “Indeed, it was nice to see you again, you are quite… cordial, for a Core.” I tilted my head a bit. “I prefer words to violence if possible, Miss Yndali. Though I will fight to protect myself against those who would do me harm.” She nodded once, signalling that she understood my reasoning, before pausing again. “Core… you said this has repaid the debt in full because those dead cores were valuable to you. In that case, maybe we could make a deal?” I paused, this was interesting. “If your dungeon has access to proper compensation for delivery and the risk involved, I would be more than happy to, you know...” she trailed off. Clearly she was hoping for a positive answer, I would be a fool to not pounce on this opportunity with both paws.

“A merchant to the very soul I see, I am certain that getting cores are not cheap for you and smuggling them out here holds great risk. Despite this I think I have a way to compensate you for more. If you would but give me one moment to fetch the possible payment.”

I closed my eyes and ordered some Striders in the Geode Cavern to knock out a bunch of gems of varying types and drop them on the floor. The dungeon happily placed the dropped gems in my inventory afterwards, quite handy if I did say so myself.

The look on Yndali’s expression when I presented the uncut gems to her was one of absolute joy and poorly disguised greed. “I do believe, Core, that we can indeed do business. How should we handle transactions and what is the price you are willing to pay?”

Records? .

“I will offer you 2.2 times the value you would get for reselling the cores elsewhere. That should cover the risk involved and give you a tidy profit without it being so much people would start to take notice. As for handling the transactions, send one of your bodyguards. You trust them with your life, you can trust them with this and since they have already entered my domain, I will know them by name.”

Yndali looked at the two of them. “I don’t mind, but I cannot order them to do this, are you two willing?” They both looked at each other. They were clearly reluctant. Time for an incentive. “You are reluctant because there is nothing in it for the two of you. That's completely understandable, doing something dangerous like this for no compensation is a thankless thing indeed. I am willing to pay you one uncut gem of any type of your choosing from the ones I have shown you here as hazard pay one for each transaction. That is, should you decide to undertake this task for us. Of course, this also requires your complete silence on the matter to everyone.” .

The bodyguards looked at each other again and nodded. This time far more eagerly. “Very well, Ma’am, Lady Core, we are willing with that as incentive, I would like diamonds.” Mandol said, eagerly, “And I would like emeralds” his companion replied almost immediately after, ah, the power of proper motivation. “Then we have an accord, I suggest you come after sunset and step into the surface labyrinth itself to announce your presence. I will arrive shortly after with the payment” the three nodded. Undisguised greed shining in their eyes. All sides of this bargain had something to gain from this now. They would become rich, I would get more powerful and be able to expand my dungeon, a win-win situation.

“Then I bid you three good night, and safe travels, consider those gems yours, as a gift to celebrate our new partnership.” I nodded to the uncut gems I had left on the ground. I had placed a decently sized diamond and emerald off to the side, clearly indicating who they were for. The trio eagerly took their stones and then took their leave. If this could work, then things were looking up for me.

Once back in the dungeon I took out the Cores. Now how did I use these things? Seriously? Well, nothing to it then, I took out one of the cores and tossed it into my mouth. It tasted… absolutely horrible, despite the horrible taste I attempted to bite it. No dice, this thing was rock hard. Guess that meant I had to swallow it whole. I did so and the moment I did I felt POWER. No other word could describe it. It was a surge of sheer unbridled power flowing through my body; it was almost overwhelming in intensity.

Unbidden, my status menu opened.

Dungeon Name: Labyrinthia

Dungeon Biomes: Magical Maze, The Depths

Dungeon Level: 2

DEXP: 2/30

Depth: 2/2

Rooms: 24

Essence: 327/600

EP: 40

TP: 40

M: 42

Avatar Attributes

Avatar Race: Sage Sphinx (Legendary Unique Variant)

Avatar Gender: Female

Avatar Level: 5

EXP: 223/1500

HP: 7500/7500

MP: 12750/12750

Attack: 2300

Defense: 2500

Magic Attack: 2900

Magic Defense: 2900

Strength: 450

Dexterity: 450

Endurance: 500

Intelligence: 905

Wisdom: 900

Charisma: 900

Synchronization: ∞

Cores Eaten: 1

Titles: “Taken from an Other World”, “Cult Hater”, “Bringer of Justice”, “Helpful”, “Riddle Smith”, “Merciful”, “Mastermind”, “Fisherwoman”, “Dominatrix”, “Devious”, “Taboo Breaker” “Mistress of the Depths” “A True Sphinx” “Negotiator” “Trader” “Schemer” “Tempter” “Core Eater”

Skills: Unbreakable Will(Racial), Labyrinth Sense(Racial), Flight LvMAX(Racial), Cleaving Swipe Lv4(Racial), Roar Lv4(Racial), Telepathy LvMAX(Racial), Akashic Records(Unique), Magical Labyrinth(Unique), Core Master (Compound), Blessing of Inlas(Mythical), Will Binder LvMAX(Special), Mind Reader LvMAX(Racial), Enigmatic Mind LvMAX(Racial), Forbidden Knowledge Lv1(Demonic), Babel(Unique), Physical Resistance Lv1(Core), Magic Resistance Lv1(Core), Mud Golem Immunities(Core), Siege Lv1(Core)

That was a lot. This poor golem was probably used for all manner of violent stuff considering the number of points it had. Though they clearly had not let it expand its dungeon seeing as it did have all those points in reserve. Well, I would put these points to good use, very good use.

I eyed the 2nd Core, took it out. “Thank you for your gifts” I swallowed it.

. Well, fuck me, I had just eaten the remains of my new Kobold tribe's original Master. Wait, did that mean the tribe were dungeon monsters once upon a time?

. Ouch, that had to be traumatic for the lil guys. One moment you are safe in your dungeon. The next you are without a proper home anymore and those that were your friends are suddenly hostile. Before I could contemplate further on the issue, my status popped up once again.

Dungeon Name: Labyrinthia

Dungeon Biomes: Magical Maze, The Depths

Dungeon Level: 2

DEXP: 2/30

Depth: 2/2

Rooms: 24

Essence: 600/600

EP: 49

TP: 40

M: 45

Avatar Attributes

Avatar Race: Sage Sphinx (Legendary Unique Variant)

Avatar Gender: Female

Avatar Level: 8

EXP: 723/3500

HP: 9500/9500

MP: 18000/18000

Attack: 2800

Defense: 2900

Magic Attack: 3400

Magic Defense: 3400

Strength: 550

Dexterity: 550

Endurance: 700

Intelligence: 1200

Wisdom: 1200

Charisma: 1200

Synchronization: ∞

Cores Eaten: 2

Titles: “Taken from an Other World”, “Cult Hater”, “Bringer of Justice”, “Helpful”, “Riddle Smith”, “Merciful”, “Mastermind”, “Fisherwoman”, “Dominatrix”, “Devious”, “Taboo Breaker” “Mistress of the Depths” “A True Sphinx” “Negotiator” “Trader” “Schemer” “Tempter” “Core Eater”

Skills: Unbreakable Will(Racial), Labyrinth Sense(Racial), Flight LvMAX(Racial), Cleaving Swipe LvMAX(Racial), Roar LvMAX(Racial), Telepathy LvMAX(Racial), Akashic Records(Unique), Magical Labyrinth(Unique), Core Master (Compound), Blessing of Inlas(Mythical), Will Binder LvMAX(Special), Mind Reader LvMAX(Racial), Enigmatic Mind LvMAX(Racial), Forbidden Knowledge Lv1(Demonic), Babel(Unique), Physical Resistance Lv1(Core), Magic Resistance Lv1(Core), Mud Golem Status Immunities(Core), Siege Lv1(Core), Fire Resistance Lv1(Core), Trap Maker(Core), Trap Enhancer(Core), Kobold Trap Master(Core), Stealth Lv1(Core), Alert Lv1(Core), Leadership Lv1(Core), Deception Lv1(Core)

Well, that was a thing. The surge was less intense this time, though no less powerful. There was no TP this time, which made sense given the lil guy’s skills. He probably unlocked every trap he could enhance and used them to defend his Dungeon.

To call these 2 cores precious had been a VAST understatement, that’s for sure. Boy, was I glad I had waited to consume these until after I was safely back inside. Had the trio realized just how valuable these things were… well, they had not, and I was sure as hell not going to tell.

That aside there were many new things he- . The moment this fusion happened, I got a searing headache as my mind was suddenly flooded with thoughts. Mind Reader Lv3 had let me detect thoughts if I wanted to. But this compound skill seemed far more powerful. I was picking up thoughts from Kobolds in the Village, even though I was in the Core Room. That was far beyond the range of Mind Reader Lv3 and Lv5 too, since I had that for almost a full minute without this happening.

It took a few minutes, but slowly I managed to figure out how to turn that off. So, I would not be picking up every mind around me at all times, I would have been driven insane if that continued for too long. Still, this allowed me to effortlessly read minds now. In fact, I was certain that few, if any, of the creatures in the dungeon could even feel me touch their minds to read them.

With that in mind, I curled back up to sleep once more. This day had been quite eventful and extremely profitable, I was in such a good mood my smile remained even after I had fallen asleep.