Gaseous eruptions explode as the cackling brewer stirs in delight. The brim of a crooked hat casts a shadow over her face yet a maniacal grin can still be seen within.

"This time! This time it will be perfect, no? The master will be so pleased with me, yes?" Lucinda squeals and shakes her legs as the luminous green liquid continues to boil.

One at a time from the table behind her, Lucinda places three boar tusks, one wolf liver and six Goblin eyes into the cauldron without any breaks in stirring. She has only recently acquired these ingredients after one of the scouting parties accepted her quest and they must be continuously stirred while they all blend together to avoid becoming a different potion entirely.

Knowledge of her craft was embedded into her brain when she received the title of Potion Master. Since then she has been trying to create one of the recipes but has not had a single potion brew perfectly. Each one has a different side effect that Lucinda is unable to remove. None of her recipes mention these side effects but every single potion seems to come with one.

From sporadic diarrhoea to projectile vomit, blindness to paralysis, each one with a different crux. Even a potion that restores health completely if one was on the verge of death would be a gamble as the stronger the potion the harsher the debility.

"This time I'll do it!" determined, Lucinda grabs the remaining ingredient. She throws three chicken eggs into the now purple solution that is bubbling and popping like veg on the stove. The eggs dissolve instantly before the liquid turns yellow and stops boiling completely, almost as though time has frozen inside the cauldron.

Her eyes widen and her smile reaches ear-to-ear as stares in excitement at the finished concoction. Lucinda races across the room and grabs her vials before dashing back, giggling all the way.

"This is it. This is it. This is it."

Wasting no time, Lucinda immediately fills one of the small vials before moving over to her desk where she sits down in excitement. She turns the small container over and over checking the contents meticulously. Once she is finally satisfied, Lucinda opens the top drawer of her desk and removes the only object inside. The dagger that she was gifted upon creation by the master she adores, now rests in her hand. It is stained in blood from repeated use, even though she has never left the dungeon herself.

She places the vial in her pocket and takes a few deep breaths. Then with no hesitation she plunges the dagger through her now free hand and into the desk underneath it before ripping it straight back out. As this scenario has happened a few times recently, Lucinda felt that she would be able to handle the pain this time.

Unfortunately, she was wrong and the pain feels even worse than the last. As it spikes through her system as she falls back off the chair and clutches her hand whilst rolling around on the floor. Releasing her hand, Lucinda fumbles in her pocket for her new healing potion but finds the vial broken after her fall and subsequent rolling.

"No!" she screams, getting to get feet and grabbing a cup from off the side. Dropping blood from the wound on her hand, she moves over to the cauldron and fills her mug before instantly downing it.

Within seconds, Lucinda's wound has closed and all traces of pain from before are gone as though they were never there to begin with. Letting out a deep sigh she waits patiently for any side effects to kick in.

After a few moments pass and nothing happens, her eyes glaze over and screams in jubilation.

"I did it. I did it. I did it. I can't believe it. I need to show the master what I've created. With this potion we'll be able to... Now we'll be able to... We'll be able to..." unable to finish her sentence, Lucinda runs off to the toilet to see which end her misery would be coming out of this time.

Dungeon Stories Volume 1

I left the Boss Room in disbelief.

Veris, on the other hand, didn't stop rambling until after I had managed to escape, closing both of her doors and sealing the sound inside.

"I just don't... I didn't mean to... It's very..." I stutter my way through unfinished questions before Me finishes them off for me.

Understand? Do that? Purple?

"It's not funny, Me. Veris is already stranger than most as it is. This might push her over the edge," I comment whilst worrying over the lewdness of the Boss Room.

What edge? She's just... different. That isn't a bad thing, is it?

As I move toward the next location on my to do list, I contemplate Me's question. I rather enjoy floating through my own halls whilst debating answers like this, it soothes my mind in a strange way and calms my soul. It's super peaceful.

"Of course not. 'Different' is great. 'Different' I can handle. Veris turning into some crazy version of a nymphomaniac, if that's even possible, is something I wish I had never imagined." I eventually answer.

Midway to my destination, I feel the familiar presence of being entered. This time however, instead of inside me, the three life forms that I picked up are outside on my newly acquired Tironian body.

I can feel visitors much better now that I have levelled up. I've gained more control over my own functions and I can even sense their will through my own. It conveys their feelings and emotions to me in ways that I can easily understand.

These guys feel scared. In fact, terrified may be a word to describe the stream of emotion coming from them.

Stopping my free flowing motion midway through the tunnel, I teleport to my entrance out of habit and observe the three people outside. Currently, they are checking out the cottage that comes with the Field of Fertility.

Their party consists of two men and a woman. They all appear to be slightly shocked at the odd location they have stumbled into. One of the men, dressed in fine light blue garments, heads up the two wooden steps before he looks through the window of the unoccupied abode. My other two visitors are dressed for defence and fresh blood covers their armour. They are clearly on guard and appear to be the wealthier man's escort, or what's left of it anyway. From their clothing, and the fact that all three are on foot, something must have happened to them as they were passing my mountain which I find strange. The monsters surrounding my mountain have been thinned out according to my scouting parties.

I understand why people would head toward the multicoloured mountain if they found themselves trouble whilst travelling through the forest. My home is quite the spectacle now. It's not as though I'm advertising for people to start coming my way yet. I am ready to receive visitors, I just feel like I could prepare more.

With that thought, let's do the best we can to not scare the shit out of these guys.

Hell, they might not even enter because I'm uncategorised. Not that I'm likely to ever be categorised now either.

The old man took it rather well, although he dreamed of us before even coming so that means he knew what he was walking into.

I need to try a different approach this time, Me. Well... to begin with at least.

What are you thinking?

After a quick discussion with Me, Light is teleported into my entrance and he still has a mug of ale in his hand.

"Perfect. That will do nicely," I chuckle to the panicking Shadow Walker who has been relaxing since yesterday. He looks at me in shock after his sudden teleportation, it's almost as though he thinks he's here for some ulterior reasons.

"W-what's up, Boss? You never summon me," he asks in confusion whilst taking another swig of ale.

Apparently, being nervous around the 'Boss' isn't enough to deter him from drinking in front of her.

"You're right, Light. I don't. With that said, I've decided that for our next visitors, a male hello might be better than an eye-boggling female one. Don't get me wrong, the ladies are unavoidable once they've entered but if you explain the details before the eye catching assets appear, then maybe, we might have a chance of them remembering at least some of the information you tell them," as I dump the task of greeting our first 'actual' guests on to Light's shoulders, he tilts his head and looks at me in shock.

"R-really? M-me? You want me to do this? W-what do I say?" he questions whilst draining more of his ale.

"Ask if they're okay. Tell them we can help them and then bring them to Talia's." I give him easy to understand orders. Everyone loves a good drink and if they're in trouble, then I doubt they will refuse the offer of help.

Light looks over at our uninvited guests before he looks back at me one last time. He then slumps his shoulders and then hangs his head low with a sigh. Accepting his role in the mission I've given him, he begrudgingly trudges out from the entrance and makes his way over towards the worried looking humans. The ale in his hand doesn't seem to help lighten the mood as the male guard raises his sword towards Light and yells "Halt."

Doing as commanded by his master, Light ignores the clear order as he makes his way closer over the open land sipping ale and wobbling slightly.

Is he drunk?

It would appear that he is slightly more intoxicated than usual.

I should have just stuck with the females.

"I said stop!" as Light closes the distance to almost nothing, the male swordsman rushes at him. He attempts to end his life in one swing by trying to remove the head of the ignorant drunk that's ignoring his warning.

Light ducks under the oncoming blade with ease and proceeds to gracefully evade each subsequent attack that follows.

Woah! So even when he's drunk he's got skill? Damn Light.

Why is it that you find it so interesting? Were you not that skillful in your previous life?

I don't want to talk about it.

Me delivers a killing blow to my heart as I was nowhere near as fast as Light is. I hadn't even hit level 20 back then.

With impeccable reactions, Light evades a barrage of well executed attacks. One after the other, he skillfully moves out of the way of each strike without spilling a single drop of his drink.

Unfortunately for the male guard, their tiresome and hard fought escape from earlier danger has him at his limit. After throwing everything he has at the newest opponent to happen upon them, the guard has pushed past his own limits and exhausted himself. With no strength left he lands on the floor in front Light.

"Run, defend Wheeler!" The female guard, and their client, look on in worried suspense as their fallen ally uses the last of his energy to cry out from the ground.

"Wait a minute. You don't need to run. I'm not here to hurt you. My master sent me to see if you are OK." No one says a word or makes a move as Light stands there waiting for a response. They just stare blankly at the man with the drink in hand, apparently he didn't even bring a weapon.

"I am also to offer help, if you need it and..." Light taps his head as he tries to recall the Master's words. As he does this, neither of the three humans make a move.

How is he so dense, yet so strong?

I would assume that those are the main traits he has attained from you once being human.

"The Retreat, Light!" I yell at him, ignoring Me's clever way of saying I'm stupid.

"Oh yeah. I'm supposed to take you to Talia's. It's the bar inside and I need another drink anyway," downing the last contents of his mug, Light turns and starts walking towards the dungeon entrance.

"How do we know you're not with them?" the man in the blue suit calls out from his spot on the porch.

Light sighs and stops before turning round again, "Who are them?" he asks in a uninterested tone.

As the words leave his mouth, a dozen well armed, shady-looking bandits emerge from the tree line. They arrive from the same direction my first three visitors came from. There's a big difference being this group and the first three visitors who entered my land.

"They are them!" the overweight man cries out as their escape has failed.

Light looks toward the 12 well-armed men who have just arrived under the shadow of the trees. Still holding the empty mug he raises his free hand towards the bandits. Everyone watches in silent anticipation as a dark miasma forms around his palm before he slowly clenched his fist. As soon as it shuts, death-bringing spikes shoot out from shadows beneath the feet of the newcomers. They penetrate through everything they touch and leave no room for evasion, branching off from each other in multiple directions.

Releasing his skill, the blood-stained deathtrap submerges back into the shadows. All the bodies land on the floor, each features multiple entry and exit holes.

"So, to Talia's for another drink then, yeah?" he turns back to the three gobsmacked people and chuckles to them before heading toward the entrance, empty mug in hand.