On our trip to the capital we picked up a ride from a merchant making a return trip to the capital after making a delivery in Tobes. The trip has been pleasant even after the fact we discovered Denova is along for the ride as well.

She said her general store is ready to open now and she needs some more employees, so she is going to the capital shopping for some… She also said she is thinking of picking up a few more male employees.

Roc has proved very profitable for her, but quite a few of the women find him just too odd to handle and have requested a normal man.

After we reach the capital Scylla stays in the same inn as Belinda and me, but Roxy and Zoey go off on their own. The town leader meeting is not quite what I expected. I know just north of our dungeon the Gowen line cuts through the middle of the forest, and to the east just past the forest Kartova sits on the eastern border, but I thought maybe we were in the corner of the kingdom and didn’t realize Gowen was so small.

The only others at the meeting other than me is a very old lady that is responsible for Kartova, and three men that have been though quite a few years themselves. I learn the capital houses over 80% of the Gowen population and our towns have another 10% and the last 10% reside in small villages like Tobes was before the dungeon.

Tobes becomes the topic of discussion quite often causing the other men to seem to hold a grudge against me but the old lady seems indifferent about it. Some credit the growth of Tobes to Belinda taking up residence there, and others credit the dungeon.

The meetings prove to be very boring but they are over pretty early each day so Belinda and I get to spend quite a bit of time together in the capital. Scylla has been spending quite a bit of time with Kline but he has been rather busy as he and Logan have been personally handling the production and selling of the communication parchment.

Since they began selling them they have had to double their staff 3 times and move to a larger building twice just to keep up with the demand. Scylla has been helping out so she can spend time with Kline and she comes back to the inn late in a very tired state but she seems to be enjoying herself.

On the last day of the meetings Belinda’s sister Mindy proceeds over the meeting. She seems intent on making my day miserable, but it is the last day so I don’t let it get to me. Being our last night in the capital Belinda and I eat dinner at an overly fancy restaurant and then return to the park we went to before to watch the sunset again.

I remember thinking it was quite a sight last time, but this time I find it exceptionally beautiful. We don’t head back to the inn for hours after the sun has long past set. We however are not the last to arrive though as Scylla doesn’t appear to have made it back when we arrive at the inn.

It’s not till the next morning when we meet up with Zoey and Roxy for breakfast before making our return trip back to Tobes that Scylla sleepily makes her way back to the inn to collect her things then joins up with us. This fact doesn’t pass Zoey as she begins to tease Scylla.

Scylla: “It’s not like that! We don’t know how long it’s going to be till we can see each other again so we just didn’t want to part…”

Zoey: “I bet you didn’t “part” all night!”

Scylla: “He isn’t like that! We did no such thing!”

Zoey: “Why not? Is there something wrong with him?”

Scylla: “We aren’t ready for that!”

Roxy: “Ok Zoey that’s enough… Let her be.”

Scylla attempts to the change the conversation by asking how things are going back in Tobes.

“Bell is having a rough time, but she will be ok. Lilah said the dungeon is really picking up as well, but nobody has found the crystal since it has been moved. She said more and more of the adventurers that have begun to enter are foreigners.”

Belinda: “We are going to have to be really careful now. The crystal was pretty safe when most of the adventurers were Gowen residents, but foreigners might not respect our protection of the crystal.”

“Well they got to find it first.”

Scylla: “I know we have already been gone 2 weeks, and it’s still going to be 1 more before we make it home, but when are we going to begin our training again?”

“What’s the rush?”

Scylla: “Kline is just so far ahead of me… I just want to be of use to him someday…”

Zoey: “You don’t need a high level to be a use to him.”

Roxy: “I said let it be!”

“Well let’s make it back first… Make sure Lilah isn’t hiding anything again, and we got to make sure we got the xp for Roxy.”

Belinda: “I am sure Lilah won’t make that mistake again.”

After breakfast we begin our trip home. The first day is pretty rough on Scylla, but after that the remainder of the trip passes easily enough. Spring is officially over by the time we make it back to Tobes and the sights and smells of summer are in full swing.

Bell is tremendously relieved when we finally make it back, and it will a few days for me to manage to catch back up. Lilah seems to be glad we are back but it is just business as usual for her. She didn’t hide anything from us this time, and we have roughly the same amount of xp we had when we left.

She has however made quite a few changes in the dungeon… The first room on the fourth floor is now sporting a rift of golems.

“Lilah that’s over 10,000xp did you really make that much xp while I was gone?”

Lilah: “Lilah used Master’s skills, and bunches of the magic crystals Belinda brought back from The Tower of the Gods, and saved bunches of xp.”

“Wait you can use MY skills when summoning monsters?”

Lilah: “The ones that affect the dungeon, of course.”

“Then how much did it cost for the rift?”

Lilah: “Lilah made the rift for 4500xp, but it took 20 of the magic crystals. We have enough for one more, but Lilah wanted to make sure we had enough xp for Roxy when Master made it back.”

“We should have used the golems all along at that price… The kobolds are quite a bit cheaper but they aren’t near as strong and we have to worry about their gear getting stolen…”

Lilah: “Oh oh! Lilah also unlocked a new monster!”

“Really?” –I quickly open [Menu].-

Unfortunately the only new monster available is a new evolution of the slime…

Lilah: “Lilah wanted to try it out, but she thought she better ask Master first.”

“Has anyone even fought the red ones at the bottom of the pit in the last room?”

Lilah: “One of the adventurers fell on one when he was knocked off the platform. It killed it and he managed to kill two more in the dark, but the rest managed to eat him after that.”

“They ate him?”

Lilah: “Well they covered him up, and he dissolved.”

“… The blue ones never did anything like that…”

Lilah: “So can Lilah try out one of the silver ones?”

“Let’s wait till we add another room then we can just use them like we did with the red ones.”

Lilah: “…Ok…”

We wait a few days till things return back to normal before I bring Zoey and Roxy to the core room so I can add Roxy to the dungeon.

Roxy: “It’s kind of dark here…What is this place?”

Zoey: “Well once you are part of the dungeon you can see everything that goes on in the dungeon from here.”

Roxy: “Why is there a bed?”

Zoey: “This is where Boss lived before the house. Now it is more like Lilah’s office.”

“Are you ready?”

Roxy: “I guess…”

“Now this is only the second time I have done this, and Belinda seemed to have some special circumstances, so I am not quite sure what to expect.”

Roxy: “It’s safe right?”

“Of course it won’t hurt, but I just wanted to warn you. Belinda was covered in light, kind of floated above the ground, her body went through a few changes, but her race changed and from what I understand that isn’t normal.”

Roxy: “What if I change into some kind of monster?”

Zoey: “I will still love you no matter what!” –She says and kisses her. - “No but seriously, you will be ok you won’t change.”

Roxy: “Ok…”

Zoey: “Oh and all your stuff will be added to the dungeon inventory, so you will be naked afterwards.”

Roxy: “Here in front of Two-Twelve and Lilah?”

Zoey: “It’s not like the perverts haven’t peeked on you before, but it will only be for a minute until I reequip your things with the dungeon magic.”

“Ok, I am starting. You have seen the adventurer’s guild magic when they do the IDs, a screen like that will appear to you and ask you for approval, after accepting it, it will start.”

I set everything up in [Menu] and hit accept. Roxy is slightly startled when the screen popped up in front of her, she looks to be reading it over a few times she seems a little hesitant, but after Zoey kisses her cheek she closes her eyes tight and press in front on her.

Light covers Roxy and she is lifted from the ground, and a message appears in front of me.

Due to the unique nature of Small Polychromatic Diamond crystal, and the creation of a Secondary Dungeon, Boss Monster [Roxanne] will have their favored element removed, and be granted the [Gifted] skill.

Evolution has occurred in Boss Monster [Roxanne] Race has changed from Beastkin (Wolf) to Divine Beastkin (Wolf) Level has been reset to 1.

HP bonus +50, MP bonus +50, Ability bonus +5 granted to Strength, Agility, Endurance, Mace Arts, and Defensive Arts, Ability bonus +10 granted to Spell Power, Concentration, Mental Defense, and Spell Arts.

Status Resistances Acquired: Confusion immunity, Charm immunity, and Fear immunity.

New Monster Avaliable

Divine Beastkin (Wolf) Cost: 100,000xp

“Uh-oh…”

Zoey: “Don’t say that Boss!”

When the light surrounding Roxy fades she lands back on her feet. Her once short dark hair now flows down to her waist and is lustrous silver in color, the fur on her large wolf ears and fluffy tail has also turned to the silver color.

Her tanned skin to now has a sheen to it. Her body was healthy before but now is extremely fit resembling Bell’s muscles however in a smaller package. Her hands and feet before appeared like a normal human’s, but now although their shape is the same she has elongated claws similar to Zoey’s.

Her teeth too seem to have grown resembling more of a feral beastkin. The scar on her face is still there however it has faded enough that she could probably cover it with make-up like Belinda wears at parties if she wanted to.

Roxy: “That wasn’t so bad… I feel lighter… Wait what’s that…?” –She bobs her head noticing the extra weight and feel of her new hair.-

Roxy then reaches back pull it to look at it. “Is this my hair? Wait my nails! My toes are the same…But look at them abs… Even the hair there is silver?”

Zoey: “Hey Boss! Quit ogling my wife like that!”

I clear my throat and turn my head blushing. Zoey uses [Menu] to put Roxy’s clothes back on.

Roxy: “My ring! Where is my ring?”

Zoey: “Hold on…There it is…”

Roxy: “It even fits better now…”

“That’s because it was equipped with [Menu]. Clothes, and equipment change to fit perfectly when you use it.”

Roxy: “So that was how you changed those clothes for Lilah last winter! I thought there was no way you were some secret tailor… Then Belinda’s necklace you used [Menu] for that too?”

Zoey: “That actually was quite impressive… Even with [Menu] that was amazing.”

Roxy: “So what do you think Zoey?” –She says while twirling.-

Zoey takes her hand while she twirls and then pulls her close embracing her. “I can’t wait to give this new you a “Complete” inspection.”

Roxy: “I don’t know, I feel pretty strong, and maybe I will just pin you to the bed for a change and ravage you.”

Zoey: “Hmm. I’m looking forward to it.” –She says then kisses her while wrapping her hands around her squeezing Roxy’s new firmer butt.-

“Alright… Save it for later. Lilah and I don’t want to see this.”

Lilah: “Lilah doesn’t mind!”

Zoey and Roxy laugh.

Zoey: “Ok Boss… But how are we going to explain the change to Roxy in town?”

“For Belinda we said she ran into something strange in the dungeon. It seemed pretty thin at the time, but maybe it’s time for the commission for the “Mysterious trap” to return. It adds a little bit of credibility to it if we say it happened to someone else.”

Zoey: “But if it keeps happening only to people close to you it will still get suspicious.”

“I can’t summon boss monsters like other dungeons, instead when it would be available the next Boss monster I guess this happens. Roxy didn’t become a normal boss monster because of me placing the imitation crystal. So it should be a long time before I can make another special boss monster.”

Zoey: “You reached level 13 a few weeks ago didn’t you? That means 2 more levels and it will happen again.”

“Really?”

Zoey: “Of course Boss. You get a boss monster at 1, 15,50, 100, and so on.”

“If you know all that how did you not know Roxy was going to change?”

Zoey: “Because I didn’t know it happened with a new boss monster would be available to summon.”

“It also concerns me you know more about dungeon cores then I do as well…”

Zoey: “Every monster and dungeon core knows that. Boss is just weird.”

I sigh…

Zoey: “That is also when your crystal grows in size if you didn’t know…”

“Anything else?”

Zoey: “I don’t know…”

“I want to try one more thing. It worked for Belinda.”

I use [Menu] to teach Roxy the [Heal Wounds] spell

“It worked. I guess it is just the special boss monsters.”

Roxy: “What did you do?”

“I taught you a healing spell.”

Roxy: “But I barely can use magic. I had to train to learn [Clean] while I was a slave, but that’s it”

“Well not any more. I guess the accurate way to look at the power you just gained was like becoming a hero. That was about what Belinda and I figured after she joined the dungeon.”

Roxy: “Really?”

“It also does hold a disadvantage though. You can still learn spells the hard way like you did [Clean] but you won’t learn any new skills or spells when you level like normal monsters or adventurers.”

Roxy: “I didn’t know they did…”

I show Roxy how to open [Menu] and show her, her status page.

Name: Roxanne (Roxy) Race: Divine Beastkin (Wolf) Class: Knight

Level: 1 XP till next Level: 10 Favored Element: N/A

HP: 540/540 MP: 260/260

Strength: 45

Agility: 39

Endurance: 49

Mace Arts: 41

Defensive Arts: 41

Spell Power: 27

Spell Arts: 32

Mental Defense 31

Resistances: Confusion immunity, Charm immunity, Fear immunity

Armor:

Equipment: [Gold Ring], [Well-made Clothes]

Skills:

[Gifted] (Rank 1): Most creatures favor one element above all others, and are unable to cast spells from the opposing element. You however do not, thus granting you a 5 bonus to spell power and 10 additional MP. The more magic is used the greater the bonus that will be granted from [Gifted]

[Dungeon Training] (Rank 2): Starting your combat training in the depths of a dungeon has giving you the ability to learn at a quicker pace. Any skills or spells learned though leveling are gained 1 level sooner, Any skills or spells learned through training are learned in half the time, and +2 ability point per level

[Guardian] (Rank 1): Your greatest strength lies in the ability to defend others. +5 Defensive Arts, Endurance, and Mental Defense

Spells:

Clean (Water) (Cost 1mp): summons water to clean items and objects up to ten feet away. This spell can be kept active by repaying its original casting cost once per second.

Cool (Wind) (Cost 1mp): Summoning your mana with the power of wind you can cool items and objects up to ten feet away. This spell can be kept active by repaying its original casting cost once per second.

Wind Blade (Wind) (5mp): Summons a force of wind like a small knife cutting objects up to 30ft away. Causes minor wind damage and minor slashing damage.

Heal Wounds (Light) (Cost 10mp): A minor healing spell cast up to 20ft away, it heals small amounts of damage. This spell can heal more damage by being kept active, repaying its original casting cost once every 5 seconds.

Roxy: “What do all these numbers mean? Wait why is my level only 1?”

“Don’t worry it didn’t affect your ability Belinda was worried at first as well. I don’t really know how to gauge the numbers. Most of them start between 10 and 25 though.”

Zoey sighs. “Well he isn’t wrong basic human ability ranges from 10 to 25 ability points, so as your ability points increases it shows your progress. Use the first one Strength a 10 for strength would be about a young human while 25 is a full grown sturdy man. So take mine as an example I have 38 strength so I am as strong and 1 and a half men” –She says while puffing out her chest.-

Roxy: “But that can’t be right… Mine says 45.”

Zoey: “Hu…? Boss! That’s not fair!”

Zoey quickly opens a screen messing with it a minute. “What about agility?”

Roxy: “39.”

Zoey looks frustrated. “Endurance?”

Roxy: “49…”

Zoey: “Well I have bow arts at 38 and sword arts at 36!”

Roxy: “Well I don’t have them but I have mace arts and defensive arts they are both 41…”

Zoey: “Boss! I wanta be one of your boss monsters! When you reach 15 upgrade me to your boss monster!”

“I can’t… With my crystal only those from the outside can become my boss monsters. I have even tried Lilah, because she came from another dungeon, but I had already transferred ownership of her so it wouldn’t let me.”

Zoey: “But if Roxy is back at Level 1 and already stronger than me. When she catches up with me she will be twice as strong as me!”

Roxy: “That just means I can better protect you so nothing can hurt “My” Zoey.”

Zoey: “Oh I know, Boss there has to be at least one other dungeon core you hate. How about I go smash their crystal?”

“There are no dungeons I dislike that much…But even if there was we are not near strong enough to challenge another dungeon.”

Roxy looks to be thinking for a moment then has a sly smile. It quickly turns into a frown and she has a concerned expression and grabs Zoey’s hand.

Roxy: “I knew I shouldn’t have done this! You don’t love me anymore!” –After she says it she looks like she is about to cry.-

Zoey: “Of course I still love you!” –She quickly wraps her arms around Roxy hugging her.-

From over Zoey’s shoulder Roxy has a smile again and flashes a thumb up. She sniffles a few more times and Zoey continues to comfort her, until the conversation is forgotten. We then move on discussing on how to cover Roxy’s new appearance.

“I can’t be for certain, so I need to ask. Do you mind cutting the hair?”

Roxy: “Well I prefer is short like I had it before, so I was going to do it anyway.”

“Oh… Then this is going to be bad news. It will probably grow back to this length by tomorrow, or if you have a healing spell cast on you it will grow back.”

Roxy: “My hair is going to be this long from now on?”

“Belinda used to wear hers very short… She tried cutting it several times it was always back by the next morning…”

Roxy: “I would have to cut it off every day…?”

“Or if you get healed by a spell…”

Roxy: “But it’s all the way to my waist!”

Zoey: “I like it.”

Roxy: “…”

“Well what I was going to suggest was we cut it for now, cover your ears and hair with a hat or something, and cover your tail or color it… Then we will have you go to the adventurer’s guild and make sure quite a few people see you. Then you, Zoey, and Scylla head up to the dungeon. After some time passes cast a cleaning and healing spell on you then it will return to this, then you go back to Tobes and say it was the “Spray trap” like Belinda did.”

Roxy: “We could do without the hat completely and just color it all that would give it more credibility.”

“But how are you going to color it?”

Roxy: “We can get some dye easily… We might not be able to match the color like it was perfectly but close enough.”

Zoey: “I will go get some, and we could probably be ready by morning.”

Lilah: “What if they take an adventurer or two with them like they used to do. We can put a trip wire that isn’t attached to anything and when Roxy sets it off hit her with a [Clean] and [Heal Wounds].”

“That way they could watch the hair grow and change color… The other adventurers could spread what they seen it happen and nobody would have trouble believing it then…”

Roxy: “We would have to time it just right…”

“You could use a magic stone for one spell and cast the other at the same time.”

Zoey: “It sounds like we have a plan…”

After filling in the blanks and choosing a place for the trip wire, we make sure we have everything covered then Zoey goes out to get the dye, and I show Roxy a little more on how to use [Menu], and while do that I notice the observation screen light up.

It doesn’t appear to be displaying elder Fredrick’s dungeon anymore, but another dungeon core. I haven’t seen this core before but they look to be pretty well established. While Roxy plays with her [Menu] I continue to watch…

After a few minutes of following the core itself the screen then starts traveling the dungeon looking it over… I can’t quite be sure what is going up but it looks like if this really is Dyson he is sizing this dungeon up… I keep watching even after Zoey returns and Zoey and Roxy head back to the house.

The screen has been “sizing up” at least a dozen different cores most of them seemed well established but not huge ones if I had to guess I would say they are all between 20 and 100 years old. It then hits a dungeon I wasn’t expecting.

It displays Queen’s dungeon… it doesn’t take it long to cover the entire thing Queen doesn’t seem to be focusing on making the dungeon bigger as she is summoning the beastkin. I see that she has Jack hard at work… When it focuses on her she seems to be writing a letter on a communication paper.

It focuses quite closely on the parchment and what she is writing and I find out a little more about Logan and her relationship then I cared to know… The screen spends quite a while focused on the letter even after Logan and Queen quit writing to each other and have cleared off the parchment…

The screen the changes again…Wait I know this place… It’s my dungeon! The screen is following my dungeon. It seems to follow my entire dungeon twice before it then shows the house… It goes through the house… Well no big surprise what Roxy and Zoey are up to already…

Alright… How long you going to focus here it watches Roxy and Zoey for at least 5 minutes… finally its moving on… I will have to apologize to them later… Bell seems to have made it home already… Well at least I can still say I haven’t seen Scylla naked yet.

The screen looks Bell over pretty well while she takes a bath, but it doesn’t linger on her like it did Roxy and Zoey at least… Luckily they appear to be the only three that have made it home so far. After traveling the rest of the way through the house heads out looking over the area covered by the dungeon.

It enters the inn checking each room but quickly moves on. It checks the other few buildings I have managed to cover it seems to be trying to push the limits of the screen to see how much ground I have covered. I guess my dungeon has no secrets from whoever is on the other side of the screen.

I should have guessed the next place it goes. I can see the top of my head and Lilah over to the side it circles the room moving in on Lilah she is looking over the dungeon. As it starts to circle the room back towards me I debate on closing the screen.

I don’t want him looking in on my girls though… I let my emotions get ahead of me while quickly grabbing a piece of parchment as the screen circles my shoulder I simply write “Like what you see?” from the screen I can now see the parchment, and me looking at the screen of the parchment and me, and so on an so forth.

The screen quickly goes black…

I wait for at least 20 minutes but the screen doesn’t come back on… That was stupid of me… I am going to have to keep a close eye on things for a while. I am going to leave the screen open at all times just in case.

The rest of the evening the screen never lights back up. I tell the girls about what happened and they seem rather concerned but I guess I can’t blame them. Roxy and Zoey are pretty easy to apologize to, but Bell takes a bit of work…

Bell: “You promised... you wouldn’t look into the bedrooms and bathrooms…!”

“I said I was sorry… I didn’t do it…”

Bell: “…That means… Someone else… Saw me naked as well…”

“I am sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”

Belinda: “How can we prevent them from looking in on us again?”

“I don’t think we can, but I am going to keep a close eye on it for a while. Maybe just the fact they know I know will make them leave us alone.”

Belinda: “Or it will make them mad and they will come after us.”

“We will just have to be careful.”

Even as we are finished up breakfast the following morning the screen has yet to display another image… Roxy and Zoey got up early to cut and dye Roxy’s hair… It looks kind of strange, but as long as you aren’t focusing on it I don’t think you would notice…

Lilah heads to the core room, Bell and I prepare to head to the office, while everyone else prepares to head to the adventurer’s guild.

Belinda: “Are you sure you should be heading in to the office?”

“I can’t leave everything to Bell. The observation screen is just that they can only look. I am actually more worried about when we are there not when we are gone…”

Belinda: “I guess…”

It’s not long after Bell and I arrive at the office however I receive a message.

The elders have chosen you to take part in a meeting held on this day at noon. A representative of the elders will arrive at your dungeon a little before to collect you. If you refuse to attend no consequences will be given, however future assistance from the elders might not be readily available.

Dungeon Core #400 Dyson

“Well I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Bell: “What’s wrong?”

“Dyson has requested a meeting.”

Bell: “What are you going to do?”

“Nothing much I can do. If an elder requests a meeting you pretty much have to go.”

Bell: “You don’t think he will hurt you do you?”

“If he wants to hurt me he doesn’t need to send a message.”

I send Belinda a message telling her what has happened. I have almost the same conversation with her as I just had with Bell. I decide I got a few hours so I might as well get some work done before then, so I just return to my paperwork…

I don’t manage to get much work done… I thought I would just try to put it out of my mind, but it was easier said than done…

“I don’t know how long I will be gone, but I will be back as soon as I can.”

Bell: “Be careful…”