Eric Highgrove tried rushing back to Orad as fast as his long legs could carry him.

Slipping on the wet mud before catching himself on the overgrowth, as his mind was occupied with the tale he was going to spin, he ended up face down eating dirt sliding along the fresh soil before crashing into a tree. Not letting this slow him down he quickly managed to regain his composure before setting off at a brisk, but more manageable, speed.

He had to report this to his father, the current Dungeon Categorisation Expert for Lord Aldar, the current Lord of the Ishda county. Currently there were ten knights stationed in Orad, commissioned by and escorting his father Elric, and he couldn't wait to inform them of the events that had just transpired.

He couldn't even believe what he had just witnessed himself.

"Oh shit, oh shit." He was repeating maniacally, with a hint of glee, as his feet beat the ground beneath him. The rain was still pouring. It had been for the last hour as he had stalked his prey through the forest between here and the village known as home.

The many musings of each different way he could rid himself of the obstacle to his destiny kept him behind her, until he almost lost sight of her once it had begun raining. Luckily, he had just caught a glimpse of her entering a hole on the north side of Mount Morte to seek shelter and he was about to set one of the many plans he had devised into motion.

That was when it happened.

As she put her pack down on the dry ground of the cave it was absorbed. That was when he turned and ran.

The young woman Katrina Kartova, the first apprentice for the position of Categorisation Expert under Eric's father himself, had left the village at dawn with what looked to be bare minimum supplies. Eric had been sitting behind his home wondering whether Ronda and Lisa, the mother and daughter from the bakery, would accept his perverted threeway fantasy. Even though Ronda was already married and Lisa was one of those older ladies that still looked fine for her age, he was still entertaining the delusional idea swimming around inside his mind as such people do.

That's when the lone apprentice, on her way out of the north exit of the village, caught his eye; causing Eric's chest to tighten itself. Curious at first over her destination, then with an even more perverted and devilish gleam to his eye, he hatched a scheme within his already twisted mind to take advantage of such a vulnerable woman. He proceeded to follow her at a distance he knew she wouldn't be able to notice him from.

Eric had hated Katrina ever since she was gifted with the apprenticeship over him. He was the Dungeon Categoriser’s son; the position should fall to him naturally, or so he believed. Most children take the test to ascertain whether or not they can distinguish between dungeon stones and regular rocks. The now prestigious but shamed apprentice shone brightly during her early years, all the way through to young adolescence, never missing the difference between the two different types of stone. Later in her teenage years when presented with challenges the current expert would conduct for himself, not only did she shine, she excelled and showed feats that Elric himself could not hold a candle to. With her success being known across all the Ishda county Lord Aldus gave her the apprenticeship beneath Elric Highgrove on her sixteenth birthday, ordering him to groom her to be the best categoriser the county has ever seen.

Not only Eric, but even his father began to despise Katrina for the shame she had unknowingly brought upon his household. The chance she had taken away from his son was but one reason. Of much more importance, the legacy he had created for his family would be lost once she took up his role. What would his family do then?

Eric resented her more than his father did though. He was the entitled child of an expert. Menageries surrounded him and certain obstacles were removed from his path. This never really aided in him in the long run though and only served to hinder his own progression. Bitterness and jealousy served to murder the last of his dreams.

Yet now, he could tell his father he had found a dungeon and that Katrina Kartova had entered it without it being given a classification first. Apprentice or not, Elric was still the only person officially allowed to enter any dungeon unchallenged and with no fee.

-Eric Highgrove, son of Dungeon Categoriser, Elric Highgrove

Extreme damages aside, as there is no lingering pain as a human would have, I'm actually quite fine.

Pun intended.

What happened, Me?

Once more you have ignored my advice but this time you almost killed us in the process.

I didn't mean to, I don't even know what I did.

I told you that you can not summon anything on the same floor as an adventurer.

Ahhh, realisation dawns over me again. I'd bite my lower lip if I could to look cuter and avoid this situation, however that has zero chance of working in this scenario.

Crap.

It was really bad, huh?

Really bad? Abi, if the statement before about the Goblin and the stick wasn't true, then it definitely is now.

Yeah, I know, who's a silly Dungeon Core?

It is not a joke this time Abi. You almost died. Again!

Okay!

I'm sorry. You're right it's not a joke, I don't want to die again.

I promise to try harder to understand my rules and to think about my actions to avoid both of our deaths.

Thank you. Also, what was that skill you unlocked?

How the hell am I supposed to know? You're my helper, you tell me!

As is the trend in your dungeon, I'm lost.

Ha...

Haha...

Hahahaha.

I burst out into a fit of laughter at Me's human-like response to our current situation.

Bringing up my new skill answers the question of what it is but not where it came from.

Divinities Presence:

Once a day you can create any object, feature or loot, on an inhabited floor.

I'm not going to worry too much about where my new cheat-skill came from, it shouldn't be long now until the expert wakes up and I want to give myself a good seeing to. After what happened to me, I need to make sure I'm ok.

Obviously, I'm not, but it's still happening.

It was all too brief and sudden, like a head rush but with excruciating pain and it had knocked me for a moment. Now that I know the cause, which again turned out to have been brought on by my own foolishness and lack of attention, it's time to check what actually happened when I tried to place The Syndicate.

Looking at the notification standing out at me, it appears that I was successful after all, even if it was only by a thin margin.

The Syndicate:

Level 1

All associates earn a 10% boost to all stats regardless of location

Contracts remaining until next level:

1

Contracts can be acquired from Taskmaster Talia

That's not what I was expecting.

When it said organisation, I was picturing an administrative building of sorts. Not contracts from a Rogue who has only just been upgraded to her position in the last few hours, the boost is fantastic however and I'll take that happily to stack with the one from The Retreat.

Popping up in the tavern, I have a quick look at Talia's contracts being the ever-curious Dungeon Core that I am.

Contracts:

Obtain new types of ale: 100XP

Obtain bar snacks: 100XP

Kill the village chief of Tor: 20DP

I'm shocked at the last contract on the list. The first two seem to be for my scouting parties to complete so that they can earn extra XP but the last one is certainly for me. A quick Examine brings up more details putting my brittle pulsing core at ease and setting it off again straight after causing me to worry more than I should have too.

Kill the village chief of Tor:

The village chief or Tor is relishing in the diabolical torture of young children hindering them from reach their full potential in life

Rid Tironia of this scourge to humanity and benefit the human race to complete this contract

Rewards:

1 contract point

300XP

300DP

Return the body to the dungeon to unlock more rewards

So, the village chief is an evil bastard?

Who would have thought it?

I'm glad it didn't say Orad, I can't imagine Galdon taking part in that sort of practice.

Putting aside chiefs and villages for the moment, look at that XP.

Me, why didn't you tell me about this building before?

Really Abi? It is not a building and that was all you asked me to list for you.

Damn, you're right, that is what I said. Still, give a girl a little leeway won't ya.

Syndicate aside, the room is another pressing matter.

Room?

Look outside.

I spin my peripheral view 180 degrees and float outside through the door into a glorious day.

Beauty at its finest.

It appears that the system has used the new feature I just unlocked from acquiring the fifth floor, to fill out most of my first floor in one single room. I'll be really honest here, even though it's done by her, it looks absolutely spectacular and even stays true to my original plan.

I had planned to purchase a large room, which would have been just off centre to the right, in the middle of all the rooms on my first floor. Then I was going to use the feature I'd unlocked to double the size of that room twice, opening up a large market type/sparring area room for lots more different features.

I had envisioned that to be my plan.

Why had she done this and more for me?

However, the system seems to have done the job a lot better than I could have as I find myself staring up at what should be my ceiling. Instead of the dark stone that I have grown accustomed to seeing, this room has a light blue sky and a soft shining sun.

I can actually see the sun!

What a babe!

My new large room has absorbed most of my first floor. It manages to stretch from the Guard House at the north, all the way to the old empty room at the south.

This causes a great deal of light to finally enter my dungeon. More than any amount of Clusters could ever perform.

Thankfully the Mini-Bosses and Veris's room have been left alone as I wouldn't have wanted to give people shortcuts there. She even left them connected by the lone tunnel at the south attached to the 'not' empty room. Both tunnels on Rogues Corner have been replaced with adjoining rooms and the wall-less feature has been added to create more space. The same happened to the Sparring grounds in the southeast. The walls from each of the rooms that were attached to the large open area are gone. The tunnels, if you can even still call them that, are still in place between what used to be rooms but they only serve to widen the whole area further.

Why didn't she just remove them?

Zen, Ang, and Avos have all been moved with the Shed of Salvation to the empty space in the new southwest corner of my room. The dungeon priests were the monsters I had originally planned to use to dissuade people from venturing further and The Shed of Salvation is now directly in front of the tunnel that leads to the rest of the first floor. Anyone wishing to travel further in would have to get past the priests before getting to the first of my Mini-Bosses, Webster and the Willies, in The Wonderful Womb of Web.

Frankly, I'm shocked.

I know that new and wondrous things happen quite often but the sunshine that is shining down on my manifested form as I float in the middle of my extremely large room is absolutely wonderful and all I can feel in this moment is joy.

I can't actually feel the warmth or the rays themself, but I'm happy nonetheless.

Reciting words I never thought I'd hear myself say, I let them out gratefully.

"Thank you, system."

I love my dungeon.

As the Dungeon Categoriser awakens, I am informed of the event by Me. I find it hard to peel myself away from the beauty that is my new room. It’s not even a monster, just a stone constructed feature, but I still find myself mesmerised by the lights of the sun's rays falling down to my floor below.

Even after being told by Me repeatedly that it is not the real sun, I just can't get over it.

I successfully manage to escape the natural beauty and float on over to the Rogues' Retreat in a straight line, you know, because I can do that now.

Swerving around the serene rays of intangible light, I arrive at my destination in the shortest time it has ever taken me.

Upon entering the occupied suite upstairs the first thing I notice is that Dropper, who has yet to give me an answer on the naming situation, is being tightly embraced by the now awake Dungeon Categoriser.

Huh?

I'll be honest. I was expecting a nervous standoff where I would have to talk her around to my way of seeing things, although I wasn't feeling very confident about that last part. I don't have many qualities that she might deem me worth saving over, none that I can recall anyway, but I was going to try my best with the whole ‘not killing people unless they go too far' speech. Regardless of that, the only person that seems nervous in this situation is Dropper. She has one hand clutching her weapon and the other is held out stiff as a board for some strange reason. Light is rolling on the floor, laughing his head off at his partner's awkward face until he notices my arrival and stands up, composing himself in the process.

"Master," he says with a bow.

Dropper looks at me with hope pleading within her eyes. Not being one to deny my monster's requests, I ask her partner to relay my words.

"Light, tell her to release Dropper please." Light complies happily. Except, unlike Mira, he doesn't follow the words I have provided. "My master wishes for you to release her monster."

Suddenly remembering that she is in a dungeon, on unfamiliar ground, worry flashes across her face before her warm embrace of my Vagabond intensifies into a bone-crushing hug.

"Please save me again." She whimpers to her, even though it's audible for all to hear, somehow overlooking that the person she is holding so tightly is the monster in question.

Again?

"Is this the person from before, the one that you two saved from the defiler guy?" I ask my monsters, getting a light nod from Light and catching an eye roll from Dropper.

What's that about?

Does she already hate the poor girl for the act of physical contact or is it another problem I have yet to identify within my monsters?

"Ask her if she's ok." I make a simple request from either one of my monsters.

"Hey, are you ok?" Dropper asks in a relatively stern voice whilst staring down at the person clutching her waist.

Is it just her personality, or is it because I called her Dropper?

"It's very dangerous here," she whispers, not returning the look as her eyes are closed tightly.

Using the people she regards as heroes, we begin a conversation between a human and a human-dungeon.

Just a dungeon.

Yeah, yeah.

"Only if I say so though and I don't intend on being dangerous. I need those guys to defend me because, well… people are dangerous too ya know." I try to explain myself the best I can.

"That … is true I suppose. Why aren't you attacking me?" She questions me, as though it's my natural born duty to murder her.

"Well, I found out that I can regenerate my points, which are like mana by the way, by having people come inside me." I let out a little dungeon secrecy.

"I don't want to say that one, master." Both my Vagabonds seem set against the phrasing of my last sentence for some strange reason?

"What did she say?" Curiosity overloaded by having an actual conversation with a dungeon, she asks the question that's on her mind. Even if she doesn't become a Categorisation Expert she will still be famous in some way in the future.

"She said ... She said she can regenerate her points by having people ... come inside her," my female finally manages to get out turning as red as a tomato, I didn't realise they could be embarrassed like that.

Hehe. Nice work Dropper. Light found that hilarious and is trying his best to contain his grin whilst receiving a cold stare from his partner.

The female Catergoriser seems lost for words as the vulgar talk and her previous circumstances clash for a moment.

"Light, ask her if she's here to categorise me?" Composing himself a little he poses the question to the less edgy female in the room.

He asks my question and she shakes her head. The fear inside her must not be as strong as before as she begins to gather a sparkle in her eye and a longing gaze across her face.

"Okay Dropper, tell her that we're all really sorry for what happened to her but if she's not here to categorise me then, why is she here? Also, what's her name?" I finally remember to ask what she's called as I've just been referring to her as the Categorisation Expert.

"My name is Katrina and I'm not actually the Dungeon Categoriser, I'm his apprentice. I was out here searching for the two Rogues that saved me when it started to rain so I ran towards the mountain for shelter and then ... well, I ended up here and I did find them but, it would appear that they've changed somehow?" She says whilst giving both the other 'people' in the room a good check over.

The mountain?

"Hehe, yeah we ranked up to the next tier," Light boastfully responds, throwing his dagger in the air before catching it again, chuckling away at someone else noticing his growth before Dropper shuts him down. "Be quiet you fool, the master will decide what we should say to her!"

Attracting my attention from unnecessary thoughts of my location, the Vagabonds before me are giving me a glimpse of their true nature.

Damn, I didn't realise she was quite so...domineering?

Light has it rough huh, Me?

I do not know what to say anymore. The human type monsters in your dungeon are certainly on a different plane of existence to the regular ones. Feelings, emotions, wants and needs. It's all very ... un-dungeon like.

I don't suppose I can disagree with your statement. It's been that way since Barry started drilling me out and I don't intend it to stop now.

Which one, the behaviour...or the drilling?

Oh Me, you're so bad.

Either one of them.

Turning my attention back to Katrina, the threat of destruction is a thing of the past even though the danger of an apprentice Dungeon Categorizer is still the present, I ask why she sought out my two former Rogues. I manage to do this spectacularly whilst making sure to firmly ignore both Light and Dropper's outbursts.

The sparkle in her eyes flickers and dies out as she stands there silently, still holding onto my Vagabond with no intention of letting go. A sour look spreads across her face and an overwhelming misery seems to begin emitting from her.

Can I sense her feelings, or is she making me feel them?

The painful experience caused by the events I was informed of is being sent directly to me through Katrina's will.

How can she do that? It should be impossible for someone of her age.

I can't even ask my partner what he means as the touch of death is so strong within the bond shared by the apprentice and myself that I can clearly empathise with what she felt yesterday, what continues to invade her thoughts every waking second. I understand what she went through and what she has contemplated, even during such an ordeal.

Now I know why she is here.

She wishes to be released from the horror that follows her and dominates her thoughts.

Well, what do I say to that?

She just unburdened herself on me through feelings, without words or trickery, just unbridled emotion.

Even though I don't actually possess a heart, I feel my heart break as my very soul cries for her. Not as much as it cried for myself, or even for Anya when Kal took her life. Nonetheless, a small number of imaginary tears fall for her. Our situations are almost similar. Only, I had no heroic Rogues swoop in and save me from a fate I assume was as bad as hers.

The atmosphere in the room has turned sorrowful and gloomy after Katrina shared her feelings with me. Still connected to the lingering effects of Katrina's sorrow I try to visualize her will. If she could send her feelings to me, then I might be able to do the same. I start to see an aura about her glowing a light mellow purple. Purple was always the colour that I thought represented sadness.

I focus on the aura I see around her and push my own will out towards it. A brilliant green tether which is the same colour as my own Core is sent toward her carrying a large amount of reassurance and compassion. After I feel like I have given enough, I look and see that Katrina has managed to form a smile on her once sorrowful face. My will informs her that she isn't alone in what she went through and there are others like her that share a similar burden. As long as she doesn't pose a threat to me or my monsters then she can stay for a while longer, provided that she stays on her best behaviour.

Feeling more positive over the future, I inform my Vagabonds that their new found position will last longer than anticipated and send all three off for a nice meal made by our own gourmet chef, Ali.

Maybe she might have a better outlook after some food or a little of Talia's Ale?

Once they've left the room I find myself feeling a little angry so I return to my overview to try and gain some clarity.

I went through all that effort to speed up the plan of my first floor, almost dying in the process, just because I thought it might help my chances of explaining what will happen in the future to come. Yet, as it turns out, she's not even the Expert I was worried about and the 160DP that the system used could have been spent on something more beneficial for the moment.

Not that the living arrangements of my created beings aren't important.

Nevermind, what's done is done.

It does look better than anything I might have done, so I shouldn't really complain.

I can keep a constant eye on Katrina in my overview as well as the rest of my monsters whilst upgrading my features and pondering what to do next.

Sure she was dealt a rough hand by life, as are a lot of people myself included; but as I've said before, sometimes you gotta stop wailing and just get on with it.

I watch as they eat their meals in silence, which just doesn't feel the same after the hustle and bustle of my monsters the last time I was in here. Katrina appears as though she wants to speak as she keeps curiously glancing at the two bodyguards sat beside her, but refrains and finishes her meal off completely.

She must have been starving as before I could even start my manifestation to request that Ali ask her if she would like seconds, the cutesy chef is already two steps ahead of me and is pouring another bowl full.

Damn, she's good.

Once the apprentice in my Retreat has finished her second bowl she appears to be feeling quite content as she is holding her stomach in appreciation.

She approaches Ali, less timidly than you would imagine from someone in a room full of monsters, before complimenting her food multiple times.

She must really have enjoyed that meal. I'm kind of jealous now to see what Ali's food tastes like but I doubt the experience will ever happen. So I move on to the next phase of the plan, or at least what the plan would have been for a full-fledged categoriser.

It's good practice, you can never be too prepared.

I pop manifestation mode back on and I'm formed in the Retreat with Talia and the gang.

"Who's ready for a tour?" I boldly pronounce, before remembering that Katrina still can't hear or see me.

Damn, that would have been such a cool entrance.