The majority of Varona's important buildings can be found around the fountain in the center of town. City Hall, The Mages Guild, The Academy of Dark Arts and The Towers of Torture are but a few that receive many visitors on a regular basis.

Today, however, the plaza is almost empty and a queue can be found running down the High Street. It stretches as far as the eye can see and doesn't show any signs of dispersing soon.

The line of bodies starts at the oddly-shaped cottage that sits just off the main street. The upper floor is larger than the one beneath and every now and then a purple cloud of smoke is released from the chimney on the side of the building.

The owner of the now-popular business is rushing back and forth trying to sell her wares. She is also brewing up new batches at the same time as serving in attempt to keep up with supply and demand.

Even though her latest potion is a major hit, Lucinda isn't happy about her current situation. 'I should have asked for an assistant too,' she thinks. 'I'll ask Master later. It's not like I have time now.'

She looks out of the window as her current customer leaves extremely satisfied. The queue that has been lined-up outside, ever since this morning, hasn't dropped off once. 'Crap!' Dashing over to her cauldron Lucinda stirs the gaseous mixture carefully as her next customer, a young farmer, enters.

"Welcome to Lucinda's Liquids," she shouts over the store. "What can I do for you today?"

"Hi, mam. Do you have any of that energy drink left? It's all I've heard about since yesterday and I can't not try it out after watching Seb in his field." The young farmer, anxious and worried that it may already be sold out, tries his best to keep his smile.

"I absolutely do!" Lucinda beams confidence as she scoops up a small amount of the formula before placing it in an empty vial. She turns around with an orange potion in her hand and places it on the counter. "Before I let you purchase it, you have to listen to the warning and possible side effects first."

"The side effects are real?" He gasps, shock written all over his face.

"Unfortunately, yes. At the moment the energy drink offers a 400% boost to not only stamina, but endurance also, and it lasts for 12 hours. So far it is the best potion I've ever created. The only problem though is that it has a 5% chance of turning you into a Goblin for 15 minutes." She grimaces at the end of her sentence and wonders if the animosity she's feeling toward the little green bastards stems from her Master.

"How does that even happen? I've never heard of a potion that might turn someone into a goblin. Honestly thought old Seb was pulling my leg when he said it happened to his wife. Said he was mortified when she shrunk into a little-green demon, he was. Before she turned back that is. Then he laughed his old ass at her. Or so he said." Lucinda is lost for words as the man laughs heartily.

"... Er, ok? Would you still like to purchase Abi's Energy Drink after hearing the possible side-effects?" She gets straight back on topic like a seasoned merchant. She's sold more potions in these last two days than she has in the last few months and the way she handles her customers has also improved due to that fact.

"Aye! 5% you said, right? That's not a bad gamble against the other 95. Even if I lose, I'll jus' hide away for quarter of an hour."

"That you could and absolutely, my skills are never wrong. The likelihood of transformation is no higher than 5%.There is still a chance of it happening, so be warned."

"Can I take two?" His eyebrows rise up as he waits for her response with baited breath. "Of course. It's always good to have a spare."

"It's not for me. It's for my old lady. I want to see what she'd look like as a goblin." The farmer chuckles to himself and slaps his leg as Lucinda fills another vial and hands them over.

"That's... Also another way to use it, I suppose?" Debating the man's intentions, she takes payment and watches him leave. It's not like there's anything significantly evil in transforming your partner into a Goblin just to ridicule them.

'I hope it turns out to be the opposite. Then she can laugh at him. That would be funny,' she thinks as the door opens and the next customer walks in.

"Welcome to Lucinda's Liquids. What can I do for you today?" She beams a smile at the young man knowing full well what he wants. 'There won't be any breaks today. Maybe I should have an energy drink too.'

After that day, Goblin sightings in Varona became a more frequent occurrence. Much to the dissatisfaction of a certain person.

Dungeon Stories Volume 2

Now that many more people live in Varona, I barely put any attention into watching the comings and goings of people crossing my borders. Unless they're got a certain amount of strength or malevolence that is.

For example, the man loitering in the alleyway across from Ali's establishment has a corrupted soul. The gear he's wearing gives off the impression that he's actually a well-seasoned adventurer. However, it isn't his strength that I noticed, but his aura. The evil emitting from his body was more than enough to alert me of his presence.

Just as I was about to spend some points too. Hmm, Me, you're about to get a visitor, I think.

Through the eyes of Soul Guide, the well-armoured man's entire body is clotted red. Definitely a bad guy, not that I couldn't already tell as his armour also looks quite dark. As I'm deciding on who to send and what to do with him, the man makes the choice for me. He dashes across the street, faster than any normal person should be able to while adorned in full-plate armour, and enters The Gourmet's restaurant.

Ali doesn't like to leave the dungeon's proximity, but by no means does that imply that she's weak. The Rogue-turned-chef should still be considered deadly, especially when it comes down to small, bladed weapons.

The armoured man doesn't know that fact as he barges through her front door. He also doesn't know that a certain dungeon resident, one who has only just acquired a body, is not feeling the best that he can right now. He has eaten far too many sugary treats and is regretting his decision completely as the door slams open. The contents of his stomach threaten to release themselves as Me glares at the source of the noise.

The red-souled man couldn't look any more scared and is in a state of shock as he's unable to move his body. Time slows itself down, but not for his benefit, as seven extremely-beautiful women dressed in aprons appear from nowhere before his very eyes. Each one is holding a different-sized knife or utensil and is moving towards an area of his body that will bring about his death. 'What...' Is the only word that his mind can produce before he's disintegrated, along with the front half on Ali's building and half of the building across the street.

"What the hell, Me!? Why didn't you just let the girls take care of him?" Ali screams in horror, the front of her establishment now non-existent.

I was actually thinking about reformation until Me let off a power attack unlike anything else I've ever seen. Not for the guy who has been erased by a flick of Me's hand, but the lesser-gone orange and yellow souls maybe.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't... mean to do that?" Me is more shocked than the Gourmet at the level of his own power. As a dungeon system bestowed with knowledge, no one knows more about the powerful creatures that a dungeon can summon to aid itself in its pursuit of growth. After his own accidental display, he's struggling to think if anything would even be a match for himself. An existence in all rights that shouldn't exist.

"It's OK. I'm sure you didn't mean to. You have to be careful though, Me. You don't want to accidentally destroy Varona, do you?" She asks and his green eyes meet her own.

"What!? No! I'm just... How did she even make me this powerful? It doesn't make sense." Me looks through the dungeon information log and finds put that I invested 10,000DP in order to strengthen his body. I also added the elemental properties that I was originally going to use to create a body for him afterwards. The multiplication of strength that Me has gone through in his creation is unfathomable to him and his jaw drops open.

"Did you find out why you're so strong?" Ali asks after seeing his face turn white.

"Y-Yes. Although as usual it makes no sense because Abi is involved. The 10,000DP she used on me was multiplied by four. Probably because of the tier bonus. That's understandable. What's not, is that number was then multiplied again by the amount of elemental blessings that I possess!" Ali looks at Me blankly. She's not he best with figures and rarely handles payments because she finds numbers difficult. "I'm sorry, Me. I don't understand what you're saying."

"It means that I'm the monster now. That's all. I didn't intend to attack that person yet so much energy was discharged. You are right, Ali. I will have to be careful" Staring at his hands, Me has a serious look on his face.

I watch as Me tries to understand his own power while still thinking about reformation. There has got to be a better way than just killing everybody. Going through the reincarnation cycle means nothing if they're just reborn into one of the many disadvantageous societies that will surely corrupt them again.

Some cities have too many mouths to feed to start with and people who are only trying to survive in this already fucked-up world end up classified as red by the system's flawed logic. Stealing a loaf of bread to feed your starving family would get you bumped up a colour according to the same shitty logic.

How is killing people and sending them through the reincarnation cycle going to help anyone? Especially when they're spat back out into an almost identical situation to their previous one. Hell, if they were allowed to keep their memories then they might take a different approach to life. There are too many variables to think of when it comes to this skill and what it wants from me.

The next time a lost soul enters Varona, I'm going to try to reform them instead. It makes more sense to correct their behaviours, instead of having to start them fresh. Plus the latter is a much longer process and can't be skipped.

There's also the green-to-purple souls to think about. I'm already determined not to kill good people, but again this fucking skill says that I should. So that they can ascend to somewhere I'm not allowed to know about apparently.

Already in a sour mood over dodgy descriptions and requirements, I teleport to the Shimmering Stable. A single one of my stables can hold 100 horses and I now have three of them. They're not why I'm here though. I'm hoping, against all hope, that this is going to be the time when the Hay Bale shines.

With no one around on the land out here, that means I don't need to use Divinities Creation. Which is quite rare on it's own. There's normally always someone out here and I wonder what I did to earn this type of luck. Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I spend 1280DP on the solitary and rubbish feature's sixth upgrade. It begins to shine and I can't help but feel excited as I usually do. Even though I know it isn't likely to become much more than it already is, the fact that it hasn't changed ever since I placed it has been a plague on my mind, a knife in my heart and smear of embarrasment against my name.

The light recedes and the smile is washed off my face. What am I feeling right now? Humiliation? Disappointment? No. Rage.

"Fucking shitty System and your stupid shitty dungeon feature! Why won't you change!?"