What did I come here for again?

Currently, I'm on one of the floors filled with Goblins and I'm holding one of the little runts in front of me. Looking it over, the Goblin doesn't appear to be as ugly as it was before.

"Is that a Goblin, Abi?" Blondie asks beside me and I'm not even confused by her question. In fact, I was just thinking the same thing myself.

A cute, button nose sits in the center of its pudgy face as the Goblin stares at me in puzzlement. Probably because I'm sporting the same look. That doesn't help me understand though.

That was when an old memory resurfaced. I had been partially joking at the time, but it wasn't wrong to say what I laughed about was true.

"Come visit Abi. Become beautiful just by being inside her," I had joked. The Goblin, however, is no joking matter. How can I keep hating them if they're going to end up better looking? This one almost resembles a young boy rather than it does a gob.

I can't have adventurers killing kids. Then again, it's only this one that resembles a child. The others look like little old men with green skin. But still, it's just wrong.

How are the Goblins even capable of turning into people anyway? What sort of bullshit is that? Trixie isn't a human yet and she's been with us for a lot longer than these little shits have and Barry's still made of mythril. Although, both of them are beautiful in their own way. The same goes for Colin and his gorgeous chest. Even when he's covered in drool, the King Mimic still manages to pull off a strange type of majesty that draws attention.

Still, this completely throws my dungeon out of sync. People won't want to and probably shouldn't be killing short old men and children. Not that that's what they are, but regardless that's not what we're about. That said, though, what I'm going to do with twenty thousand, human-looking Goblins?

That's right! That's how many there are. Each floor can hold up to one thousand Goblins and the Goblinator spits them out until they reach capacity. Ten-thousand Goblins from floors one to ten and the same number of hobs from eleven to twenty.

Yep, I can't use the hobs either. They don't look like short old men, and instead are more like jacked-up adventurers in loincloths with green skin. Gods damned hunky Hobgoblins. They'll be hell to pay if adventurers come across these guys. Some will still want to kill the monsters to continue levelling up. Others will be curious, wanting to befriend them to find out why they're so different to any other Hobgoblins anywhere else in the history of ever. And worst of all, some will probably fall for their ridiculously good bodies.

I can already see it!

I shake my head while trying to think of a solution for my problem. Then, another problem screams in my face and I quickly look in on the Trolls. None of the adventurers or guard parties have managed to make it past Obling yet which means the normally-ugly Trolls have had longer to suck up my good-looking juices.

Bastard!

After a quick look, I'm left at a loss.

Stupid, good-looking Trolls and Goblins. Why isn't anything ever easy?

Me!

Yes?

Why does all these monsters look so good? Why aren't the Goblins ugly? Or smelly, for that matter?

They even smell nice. How? It's not like there's a bath or even any water on any of their floors. Should I be complaining, though? Those are usually the biggest complaints I have when it comes to Goblins and if they're surpassing my hate for them by changing everything I dislike about them, I should keep putting them down.

You're always the one harping on about making things beautiful.

Yeah, but... damn. I never saw that coming.

Stupid Goblins and Trolls.

"I suppose I do." My answer couldn't have sounded less confident if I had tried and was grumbled out miserably. I knew the kid in my hand was a Goblin, I was just having a hard time categorising it as one.

Turning off the auto-spawners, I created a new floor for the good-looking group of monsters. Floor 43, which is almost the same size as Varona, only underground, is now the new home of twenty thousand Goblin people and a small number of Trolls.

I summoned Huts which lead to Dwellings, Dwellings that lead to Longhouses, Longhouses that changed to Reinforced Longhouses and everything in between. Tanneries, Cramped Coops, Meat Shacks, and I littered their forest with an abundance of cheap animal spawners that would provide them with enough meat to keep them fed.

I still couldn't believe I was catering to Goblins and Trolls, but I went with it due to my feelings on change. If I'm coming out then I need to be prepared to change. Even if that means getting over my aversion towards the little green devils, that's what I'll do.

Although, once the adventurers and guards return to levelling up, I'll be able to reactivate the Goblinators. Then we'll be back to good, old-fashioned, ugly and smell Goblins fresh for harvesting. Not that will change the fact that a city's worth of Goblins lives in lower depths, but still it's a nice thought.

Until then, which will hopefully and more likely be sooner rather than later, I don't have to worry because that's a problem for me of the future. The easiest person to delegate things to. The one person I know that won't shirk her duties unless she's delegating them to someone else. Miss reliable.

It's also very easy because I'm always here and can't get away from myself. That said, I don't even remember why I came here in the first place.

"Are we done now? I'm getting hungry." As I'm frowning at one of the hobs, Amber states the obvious. We haven't actually been here that long, and to be honest it doesn't matter what time of the day it is. Amber is always hungry. Violet and Bear look bored, whereas Blondie seems to be having a pleasant conversation with someone through the dungeon link.

After a brief, but filling lunch, we port over to the Coliseum. I wouldn't normally force little girls to fight monsters, but everyone is going to have to spend some time here now. The fight with King Aldus showed me our weaknesses. Even though I didn't think we had any, we did and it was glaringly obvious.

The triplets being wiped in one shot was a stark eye opener and that had been my fault for keeping them with me at all times. Hence our current visit to the Coliseum. Also, the monstrous element of my family were stronger than the human army and had won with a few casualties, but they too needed levelling. Best to prevent casualties of any kind because if they would have been the ones fighting the demons instead of my Assassins, they would have fared much worse.

"Are you ready girls?" This will be their fight and I'm a little worried. Not that they can die inside the Coliseum due its Immortality feature, but I still can't help but feel nervous.

The Triplets seem quite excited to finally level up. Once more making me feel bad for not letting them do this earlier and I join the Ringmaster in his booth, leaving the girls on the arena floor. They need this and so too do I for peace of mind, the girls just need the levels.

Golems rise from the floor and stand idle until they're given the command to begin.

I can't help but think about Marie as I watch the triplets evade and dodge their opponents. The fact that I only have one specified Space Mage is a huge problem and it's not as though there's much I can do on that front either as I don't know how to teach. I have access to that type of magic and my dungeon uses it in certain capacities, but it's not like I know anything about it.

Before absorbing my Core, Marie wanted to spend as little time teaching as possible. She's been more proactive since then, though, and has been holding three classes per day. If Marie can manage to shape a few other people into Space Mages then she can finally pursue her dream of going full time at the Syndicate.

I'm not opposed to her being an Assassin, not if that's really what she wants to do. I just don't want to lose such an important member of my family. Marie was vital in closing the portal to the demon realm and if she would have never come to Varona, I don't know if we would have won that war.

The Assassins had been beginning to run low on stamina, and if the oversized demons hadn't been stopped from crossing planes, that would have been the end. Even I wouldn't have been able to continue once my points ran out and that would have been the end.

Before l can ruminate any further, Amber appears beside me and Randy, signalling the end of her fight. She lost. The gluttonous redhead isn't alone for long as she's shortly followed by Blondie. Not long after that Violet and Bear are wiped out also, the Golems ganging up on the last remaining Oblivion Dragon.

I know they're only level 1, but being an Oblivion Dragon should mean something, right?

Apparently not, as the triplets got whooped.

"Why are they so strong, Randy!?" Blondie fumes at the Ringmaster beside me.

"That's what I was about to say. Bear couldn't even scratch them," Violet pouts.

"And they tasted horrible."

I have nothing for that one. Why she was just trying to eat a Golem after we just came from lunch is beyond me. Why she tried to do it in her human form is even stupider. Not one of the triplets used their transformation skill so I was not surprised that three little girls lost to a bunch of Golems.

"Never mind. We'll be back tomorrow," I break their little hearts.

"What?" all three answered in unison. That was a first. Usually the triplets hold down their characters to a tee and never speak over each other. The idea of fighting Golems must have been enough to shatter the illusion of individuality.

"Hey, I don't want you to die again." I tell them lovingly.

"But... you can always bring us back like last time," Violet counters with a surprisingly-good argument. If she knew the cost, she might think differently.

"Doing that cost me 30,000 DP for the three of you and 10,000 for Bear. That's why he's not with you." Violet only just notices that Bear is still in the ring with the Golems. He's not big enough to cause them any damage, but he's tough enough to outlast a bunch of stone Golems. 10,000 DP is a large bloody amount for a little bear cub, evident by the autonomous monsters stomping on him and getting nowhere. Until one their feet breaks on the cub's back and the Golem hits the deck, that is.

Well shit. Would you look at that?

"It's not a bad deal to avoid death, Violet. I agree, but you can't guarantee I'll always have the points to do that. No. It's a much better idea for you three to level up."

"But I don't wanna." Violet cries, watching her cub take a beating.

"Please don't make me do this either, Abi." Blondie begs.

"I'm so hungry I could die." And Amber states the obvious.

I feel awful. Don't beg me like that. You've got to get strong. I've got to get strong. Hell, we all have to get stronger.

"Why didn't any of you transform? The Golems basically crushed you, but you could have done the same thing if you changed into Dragons." The girls look at me as though I've just spoken heresy.

"Don't you like us like this, Abi?" Blondie twirls on the spot.

"What? Of course I do. I like you alive more though. Who said I didn't like your Dragon form?"

"No one. It's just that we've been this way since you summoned us. We thought you wanted us to stay this way?"

"No. I just... if you need to, then transform. I don't mind either way. I just want you to survive. Anyway..." As I give the triplets a few pointers on their battle, with the Ringmaster nodding along in the background, and a very excited cub who has just earned his first kill after chomping through the core of the downed Golem.

Bear had climbed on to the body of the footless Golem as its buddies continued to attack. This kept the down Golem down, damaging it more and opened it up for the cub to claim victory. A second stone foot shattered on his head right after, and a second Golem hit the floor.

Bear jumped over to his now opponent as I watched in surprise. I had stopped talking to the girls and was giving Violet's cub my full attention.

"Huh? I wonder if Bear's going to be stronger than triplets?"