Last week, the triplets and I accidentally crashed Cardinal Carn's mass. Not that he minded in any way. Plus, our interruption and appearance probably served to increase the number of his flock as opposed to reducing it. Also, it was actually quite nice to be praised by people who weren't created by my own two hands -or dungeon skills, but you know what I mean.

Violet had shown off her bear like it was the world's cutest puppy and somehow some people had even agreed with her. Amber ate at least a quarter of all the food that had been served, leaving less for the rest of the congregation, but satisfied her stomach in the process, and Blondie managed to gain a little more confidence while talking in groups.

I also gained a little confidence too, if we're being honest. Not enough to live up to the people's expectations of Lady Abi, but enough that I now don't feel as bad talking to large groups of people myself.

Overall it wasn't a bad experience.

Since then, I've spent the week acquiring the rest of the land between here and the fishing town of Tune as well as the city itself. The oceanside city is almost as large as Orad and provides another significant boost to my daily income, and the latter still provides the same amount of DP it did previously as the city hasn't changed much since it fell under my wing. Whereas the amount of DP I receive from my own citizens has increased dramatically. Partially because more and more people arrive in Varona every day, but the largest factor has to be the fact that a lot of the human population that live here are seeing a greater rise in level compared to that of people who live anywhere else.

When I had Me take control of the monster population in the forests around Varona, it was mainly so that the Adventurers Guild had some work to do. I hadn't considered the possibility that that plan would run hand in hand with my dungeon levelling groups. I only found out how well things were going after Me informed me of such and in doing so we decided to up his budget to 10,000DP a day. With our steadily growing population, more people testing the dungeon and joining the guard, he needed it to keep up.

I even had to make a start on the Troll floors inside the dungeon as the Adventurers are getting closer and closer to Obling. No one's reached his room yet, but it's only a matter of time until they do. That's a fight I'll have to watch, that Goblin Mage deserves a kicking for the way he keeps looking at me.

Either way, I went with the same design for the Trolls as I did with the Goblins. Twenty-one floors in total. The first ten floors are filled with Cave Troll Spawners (Me killed my buzz over Goblinators) with the next ten featuring Dungeon Troll Spawners. I'd call them Trolinators, but I doubt that it'd go down well. I left the last floor to a single Elemental Troll Boss who looks oddly similar to Obling, only much, much bigger and a lot scarier.

Other than that there hasn't been any other significant changes in my own city. Whereas in Tune, I didn't bother myself with getting into the political aspects of a city takeover, so I decided to let the mayor do his own thing. He was a steady yellow through the gaze of Soul Guide, but I'll swing back to him later. Instead of a forceful takeover, I inserted key figures into their society. For example, a highly levelled Assassin has just became their Adventurer's Guild's Guild Master. Which reminds me, I've still got to send something to congratulate his appointment. Maybe a few more subordinates would do the trick?

Another person to take note of that recently moved to Tune would be their new treasurer. Carrie suggested him, and Sacha agreed with her, and let's be honest, anything with Sacha's approval has my vote of confidence. So we sent Goode, the previous treasurer of Ishda - before he was caught embezzling by the cold Queen of night, Carrie - to see what was up with the finances in Tune. He managed to get the job quite easily with his skills and background. More so since the previous treasurer was taken captive by a group calling themselves The Syndicate.

Terrible business in Tune, I tell ya.

What was actually terrible was the shocking amount of yellow and orange souls that littered their streets. The whole city was full of corruption at every corner. The complete opposite of Orad, whose people lived side-by-side and helped each other out during hard times.

I also didn't have the space for all those corrupted souls that needed redeeming. I certainly hadn't thought that plan through and I definitely wasn't expecting to come across as many souls that needed redeeming

Sis said I should have killed them and that it would have been faster to send them on their way to reincarnation. I wasn't down for that though. Not after I went through the effort to make special locations for people that needed my help, even if they didn't know it yet. Granted, some people were past redemption and had to be sent back through cycle, but anyone who I could help avoid that fate, I would.

Although, after Samantula underwent her transformation, she just isn't as scary as she used to be. She's more like supermodel Sam now which threw a wrench in my plan for her to scare people into changing their ways. That didn't stop me from using her floor for orange-ranked souls though as the spider-infested area still serves its purpose well enough.

The Towers of Torture are also full but with yellow souls instead. The easiest to reform and the ones we process fastest. Some even stay and join the guard once they're back to neutral grey, but most opt to return where they came from.

Apart from things that actually matter on a higher level, Ali talked me into building her a restaurant there. Well, not so much talked me into it, but when she brought it up she got her own quest to commission one being built. I asked Sis about that too, but she shrugged me off with a weak excuse about not knowing everything. Which I've got to say left me a little surprised because I thought she literally knew everything regarding herself.

I also met with the Lord of Gorn this week. Or should I say the ex-lord? The City Council had been taking care of Edward while I was inundated with other tasks, but as soon as I had the chance we sat down to talk. He also seems like a good guy, which only made me more curious as to why the King of Tira attacked his city in the first place. It makes no sense.

Anyway, that was that and Edward decided to stay here. As an ex-Lord, I think he was expecting a larger house than the one I gave him. All my homes are the same though, unless I make them personally, and if I'm being honest, I like it that way. Everyone is equal in Varona. Whether you're rich or poor, man or woman, tall or short, everyone is the same here. There is only one goal. One future to work towards and I still don't even know what it is!

Sis couldn't even tell me what that was because apparently, she doesn't know. How can one woman be so frustrating? I even built her a pretty sweet tower right next to the daycare. You can even see it from Varona, although I made sure it was just smaller than mine by a few inches. I did, however, offer to double the size of Sis' new home if she somehow managed to remember anything.

Soul Guide's description still leaves me wanting. My soul is on the line as well if the description is to be believed, and I would rather know where I'm going before I get there. Even if it's paradise. The fact that Varona is a sea of green souls, with a few dots of blue kicking around, has me a little nervous. I'm actually doing quite well in regards to helping people grow into their best selves.

I hadn't really thought about the state of the world before. I knew that for most people, life was hard. That's the same everywhere. I didn't have a grand plan to become a great adventurer, saving the world from corruption and greed. Hell, if anything my soul would have been yellow at least, potentially even orange. There was no way I was red though. I was sly, money hungry, and maybe a little crazy, but I still had Anya. Kal on the other hand, he probably turned red the moment his sword ran though our Cleric and his name still leaves a foul taste in my mouth.

Other than using Soul Guide to clean up Tune and placing key individuals into the society, this week has been a rather peaceful one. Which is great because I feel as though I deserved it this time. After the Dragons, the Lazy God and Sis, I was just about wrung out. Then Becca, the Dragon, drummer and disobedient little bugger, was thrown into the mix. It was too much.

The nicest part of the week though was when I was using Land Acquisition. It reminded me of why I enjoyed being an adventurer and why I'm sure other people still take up that mantle. Getting to travel the world is amazing and when you're being paid at the same time, it's even better.

I thoroughly enjoyed moving through the forest, countryside, and even the roads, as me and the triplets walked our way there, piece by piece. Violet almost lost her cub after she decided to let it walk beside her, but she kept a keen eye on it after that and Amber complained more than usual about being hungry. Fortunately, Blondie had nothing but nice things to say the entire journey.

It was bliss.

Yet somehow, things always seem to take a turn for the worst around here when things finally start going well. An elf, evident by his ears and his canny resemblance to our resident agony aunt Aura, stumbled into my territory covered in blood.

Unlike the last time an elf arrived at my Borders, I now control a significant part of the forest that surrounds Varona. Not to mention two other cities and the roads that lead to them, but that wasn't important. What was important was that the elf was dying so the triplets and I took him to the Royal Halls of Regeneration and left him in the care of Tilly, and the Black Dragon Lola.

I'm a lot wiser than before, or so I like to think as the passing of time means I'm growing and acquiring more knowledge, but who in the hell was it that decided Dragons could use healing magic on people?

I kept my rant to myself and asked them to contact me when he awoke. They could have woken him up there and then, but I didn't want to deal with that right now. I just watched Lola heal that elf's ear and was in a little shock.

Outside I looked at the triplets and wondered if they would be able to do the same thing for me before realising that I hadn't actually gotten any smarter than before. I was a Dungeon Core. I could just create myself a new body. Slapping my cheeks I ask, "Who wants some lunch?"

Violet tilts her head, the universal symbol for meh. Blondie agreed as usual because that's just kind of her thing. That and making sure to say the exact person's name of whom she's talking to at the end of her sentence. Amber was already running down the road in the direction of Ali's closest building after she had heard the word lunch. She must have memorised where every single one was because she was heading in the right direction too.

These girls.