Leon

I turn to the pile of paperwork on my desk.

Might as well get started.

The second I reach out for the first document; a knock can be heard from my office door.

Seriously?!

Who is it now?!

"Come in," I call out to whoever is on the other side of the door.

The door opens, revealing Aidan on the other side with his signature clipboard.

"What's up?" I ask Aidan as I finish reaching for the first document before setting it in front of me.

Aidan glances at his clipboard before looking up at me again and saying, "The Guildmaster sent a runner to update you on that orb thief situation."

"Oh?" I ask, looking up from the document.

I would rather not deal with thieves in my city. Especially when it is just starting up.

Best to deal with them early on.

"The Guild was notified by a party of mercenaries who left the dungeon with three of their original six members. They mentioned that when one of their party members died, the dungeon took a strange looking orb with a dark energy from his body," Aidan says in explanation.

My eyebrows raise in surprise as I say, "Interesting."

So, the thief died within the dungeon, then?

"Why would the thief enter the dungeon with the stolen orb though..." I mutter before looking down at my desk.

"Not only that, but why would the dungeon be interested in the orb?" I hear Aidan ask from across the desk.

I raise my head to look at him as I say, "That's true."

Could the dungeon just be curious?

Or maybe it wants to make its own orbs?

"Maybe the unknown element in the orb is the same element that the dungeon uses?" Aidan points out.

I look back down at my desk in contemplation.

"That's possible..." I mutter as I think back to the orb's appearance.

The energy inside of the orb looked like a mixture of black flame and electricity within a dark fog...

"Black flame and electricity..." I mutter, "Why does that ring a bell..."

Images of the mini-bosses and mana infused monsters within the dungeon flash in my mind.

My eyes widen in realization.

"I think you are right, Aidan," I say to him.

Aidan's eyes widen in surprise at my response, apparently not expecting me to agree, before he says, "Wait, but if that's true..."

"Yeah, if it is true, then that would mean that the dungeon here uses a never-before-seen element," I confirm.

"But if that's true, then it could cause problems for us," Aidan says in a worried tone.

I nod my head in agreement.

"That's true. If other nations knew of this, then they might try to force us into submission to their nation, if only to learn about the new element," I say, frustrated with the situation before looking down at my desk.

My office falls silent as we both think about the problem.

They would want to take the dungeon either out of its unique aspects, or as a way to learn how to deal with the new element.

Some nations or groups might even want it just to study the element in and of itself.

I groan in frustration before looking up at Aidan.

"We should keep this a secret from everyone," I eventually say to Aidan.

Aidan immediately nods his head in agreement and says, "Good idea."

I reach into my pocket and pull out the lightning orb to begin absorbing the energy in it.

Aidan raises an eyebrow at this.

"What?" I ask as I begin to feel the lightning World Energy surge into me.

"Nothing," he says as he pulls out an orb of his own and begins doing the same thing.

I raise an eyebrow at this, only for him to turn my question back around on me.

"What?" He asks with a smirk on his face.

I smile in amusement before checking my status to see what my cultivation is before using the orb.

Name: Leon Raizel

Race: Human/Elf Hybrid

Element: Lightning

EXP Level: 6

EXP: 34/60

Cultivation Level: 4

Cultivation to next Level: 11%

Mana: 50/50

Secondary Tabs: Skills List, Talents List, Achievements List

I have to admit; at least Luke is useful if you ignore how annoying he is.

I glance at the orb in Aidan's hand.

So, he uses the ice element then?

Interesting.

I turn to my paperwork while absorbing the energy from the orb.

Time to finally get started on this paperwork.

Fenrir

Two weeks after the orb was stolen

I am interrupted from my cultivation when my soul begins trembling.

The trembling increases more and more until my core itself starts to tremble as well.

This continues for a few minutes until a loud snap can be heard throughout my fourth floor, startling my monsters.

"Fenrir?" Dawn calls out before asking, "Did you reach CL 4?"

I briefly check my status just to make sure.

Name: Fenrir

Race: Dungeon Core

Element: Void

EXP Level: 5

EXP: 34/60

Cultivation Level: 4

Cultivation to next Level: 0%

Mana: 53.24/55

Secondary Tabs: Dungeon Status, Skills List, Talents List, Achievements List

"Yep," I answer Dawn, "It's finally time to start on my fifth floor!"

Dawn flares outwards and flashes a vivid red out of excitement as she says, "It's about time!"

I take a brief glance throughout my dungeon, finding a small group of four intruders in the labyrinth, before focusing on the place designated as the exit of the fourth floor.

"Do you know which monster you will be using as the boss of the fifth floor?" Dawn asks me, brimming with curiosity and excitement as she floats circles around my core.

I answer her while building the stairs to the fifth floor, "I am going to use my new bipedal wolf monster as the boss monster."

Dawn looks confused for a moment as she asks in a slightly disappointed tone, "Not Fang?"

"Nope. I won't be able to use him until people actually start making it to the third floor to fight him enough for him to level up," I explain.

"Oh," Dawn says before looking at the intruders who just ran into Leo on the second floor.

I quickly finish up the staircase, making it slightly more fancy looking than the previous staircases, before beginning to dig out an open area.

This is going to be fun!