《The Tower》


 Chapter One

    I sighed inwardly as I parked near the rear entrance of the training group. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have a choice in being here as it was required that I regularly attend to maintain my unemployment payments. Listening to the radio I began rolling a cigarette, looking up as I licked the dried gum of the paper to seal the cylinder and find my lighter. Locking the car I headed toward the smoking area before classes began while exhaling a smoky haze in my wake. It was half an hour before the doors officially opened, though one of the instructors were regularly here early and would sneak open the back door for those few of us arriving early to make a welcomed coffee.


    As I relaxed leaning against the wall under the small carport like structure of the smoking area I glanced at the two attractive young women sitting at an old wooden BBQ table and chairs. They were speaking in quiet, subdued tones. Janet with her dark auburn hair, sitting with her legs crossed but angling out straight in front of her, was staring down at the table despondently, occasionally nodding as Melissa spoke. This was only the second week of the course and I hadn¡¯t known either of them previously. What interested me about both girls from day one (other than their youthful attractiveness), was that in addition to them being sisters, they both wore the correct triskele symbol. The triskele is not typically known by those outside of particular¡­ social circles. I frowned as I inwardly cringed at the unbidden memory of Seven, a former pet. I quickly filed the memory of regret away. I only kept it to remind myself of how badly broken trust can hurt. I had neither claimed a new pet, nor been involved in the community in over two years, unwilling to put either myself or someone under my care through similar events again.


    I watched on, unnoticed as the conversation progressed. I couldn¡¯t help but observe the worrying glances Melissa cast to her sister as they spoke. Given what I had assumed of the sisters due to their taste in jewelry, I watched Janet¡¯s movements closely for any sign of stiffness. This wouldn¡¯t necessarily indicate signs of unwanted abuse (or even be present depending on her particular tastes), however grimaces of pain as she moved could indicate an unfamiliar or uncaring hand. Janet raised her arm, folding some unruly hair behind her ear with delicate fingers. I stiffened, noticing the bruises around her wrist, briefly showing under her light long sleeved top paying much closer attention as she lifted her coffee cup for a sip from her other hand. The angry purple of a bruise clearly evident beneath the light white material of her shirt.


    I pulled out my phone to check the time, others had started arriving and I wanted to check how much time I had before we started. Ten minutes, no time for a delicate conversation, but I want to at least pass on information in relation to sub drop. It may or may not help, but it would indicate to the sisters, in the most delicate way I could think of with the time to hand, that I may able to help. I¡¯m more concerned about the deeper issues likely happening, but it¡¯s a step in the right direction. I swallowed and sighed internally as I walked over. Depending on the girls temperaments, this may not be a pleasant conversation, not only due to the topic, but because I was about twice their age. Some women had hang ups about those sorts of things.


    The conversation stopped as I approached.


    ¡°Good morning ladies.¡± I beamed a warm smile as I sat by Melissa, across from Janet.


    ¡°Uh¡­ Hi¡± Melissa answered warily for both of them.


    Ah crap, as I turned to Melissa in greeting I could see our instructor over her shoulder, gathering students to get an early start on the day. As he glanced in our direction I gave him a wave over her shoulder.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be in shortly.¡±


    Nonplussed he turned and let us be.


    The girls turned to look at me, brows furrowed with slightly confused, questioning looks. Now out of time I got to the point quickly. I pointedly looked at the short choker style necklaces with the black and silver triskele symbol in the nape of each of their necks. I slowly pushed my hand across the table and took one of Janet¡¯s hands in my own, gently folding back the light cloth to look at her bruised wrist. She didn¡¯t flinch at least, which meant no broken bones or serious strains, but also demonstrating she isn¡¯t ashamed of the bruising.


    ¡°If your Sir did this without your express consent, it¡¯s time to move on.¡± I began speaking while looking with concern at Janet¡¯s bruises, finishing the sentence as I looked into her eyes, observing her barely restrained tears.


    ¡°Sir¡­¡± Melissa began.


    As I moved to gently grasp Janet¡¯s other hand for inspection of the bruising I had spotted earlier I cut her off. ¡°I¡¯m not your Sir, and neither of you are my pets, please call me Jacob.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ yes, Jacob.¡± Janet remained frozen, watching me with defeated, sad eyes as Melissa continued.


    ¡°We¡­ know you.¡± Melissa continued, I glanced up briefly, the question plain on my face.


    ¡°About three years ago,¡± she continued a little embarrassed. ¡°I was the cat, Janet was the fox?¡±


    Unable to help myself I immediately grinned, recalling the last gathering I had attended before my self imposed exile. It was quite the note to go out on. To the best of my memory I had only ever been at a single gathering with both a cat and a fox in attendance. It was hardly surprising that I didn¡¯t specifically recall these young women, as at this particular gathering both had been fully clad in latex. Cat in black, fox in red. At the time I had put the affections of the two young women down to the result of a particular kink their Master may have had and assumed he (or she) were one of the others in attendance, watching their pets antics. After the event I had asked some basic questions about the pair, some people preferred to remain anonymous, a decision I respected. One of the organisers had advised they were simply new to town and looking for an experienced Master, at the time she had laughed at my question. ¡°Of course I pointed them your direction.¡± as if it were obvious.


    Thoughts returning to the present I responded, perhaps a little to happily given the situation.


    ¡°That was a fantastic night!¡± I answered with a surprised laugh. In the back of my mind however I couldn¡¯t help but wonder why they hadn¡¯t approached me earlier?


    ¡°It was.¡± Melissa smiled at the memory, but it was the sad smile of someone remembering a better time. At my look of concern her expression softened just a little and she placed her hand on my leg under the table.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Janet broke into the conversation, ¡°We left him because he¡¯s been getting jealous and abusive. Now this¡­¡± She held up her wrists displaying the bruises of uncaring hands, ¡°¡­he¡¯s an asshole!¡± She spat the words out, close to the breaking point.


    Whilst I had no claim to either of them, I felt a pang of guilt, perhaps if I hadn¡¯t withdrawn from the community immediately after our first meeting the girls wouldn¡¯t be in this situation. Regardless, I most certainly wasn¡¯t about to leave someone in distress, full of self doubt and shattered from broken trust, knowing all to well how it could ruin a person.


    <hr>


    Shimshai smiled as she watched the women interacting with her human in real time, she paused the time flow of Earth. It was a risk, but with the universal frame integration imminent it was doubtful her actions would be discovered. She wanted to savor his final moments of freedom.


    He wasn¡¯t actually her human of course, she just preferred to think of him that way. They were of course correct, she had reviewed the details from that period of his life several times, sharing the experiences of those he had claimed via her soul bonding ability. None of those women deserved him of course, but he didn¡¯t know any better so she wouldn¡¯t hold it against him. Shimshai had relived the night from the viewpoint of bothfemalesrepeatedly, and all to often caught herself being lax in her duties as she daydreamed of her actual self being in the scenario.


    Shimshai had never been loved; wanted; needed; desired; or any other term that might describe some sort of affection in the thousands of years of her existence. In fact, before she had discovered this human ''Jacob'' during routine research, she hadn¡¯t evenbothered to manufacture a corporeal existence. She had been neither man, nor woman. She just¡­ was.


    Reliving the experiences of the lesser women he had claimed during his life was an eye opening experience. And lesser women they were, they could never love him like she did. Her only recourse was to soul bond with the women he had previously been involved with. In this way, she could replay each¡­ play session, and feel eachandevery desire as though they were her own. She felt sorry for these pets, these play things, they were pathetic little beings undeserving of his love and attention. For he had shown Shimshai that regardless of the body she had bonded with, regardless of the different needs and wants the possessed bodies of the women exhibited, he had never failed to care for her, please her, or even punish her in exactly the way she needed or deserved at that exact moment in time.


    Shimshai had long ago disregarded the fact that the desires and sensations she experienced during soul bonding weren¡¯t her own, they were an echo of emotions, a consequence of the soul bonding. From her point of view, she was there, she had been the one he had shared all of these experiences with. And because of his uncanny abilities in reading the desires of women... as these pretenders became his, she herself had been aquired.


    Of course she was his, she was his one and only true love. Shimshai had willingly submitted her free will to the control of the human male she had never actually met thousands of times now, no other woman could claim as much. They were meant to be together. Shimshai lowered her head, trying to hide her smile from herself as she blushed. She now thought of herself as female because of him, she had created this body specifically to please him. It was nothing less than what he deserved. It was just a pleasant coincidence that it aligned with her own desires.


    ¡°I wonder when exactly I became infatuated with this human?¡± She asked aloud in a now rare moment of clear headed, analytical thought. It didn¡¯t last long however. In her delusion she brushed aside these inconsequential concerns from her mind as she rose, her work once again forgotten as she day dreamed of the possibilities.


    She sighed at herself hopelessly in recrimination as she walked to the object on the wall, likely the only one in this entire realm. She had begged, borrowed, and misappropriated the various resources needed to recreate it. She had first seen them when inhabiting the various souls as she stalked her Master¡­ the petite asian women in the mirror sighed at Shimshai. ¡°My master¡­ I wish.¡± She pouted at herself shyly in the way she knew he liked. Displaying her mastery over the manipulation of her features, a skill she had obtained from the many hours of practice invested into the art.


    Shimshai had been crafting this body for some time now, another of her secret obsessions. This secondary infatuation taking the form of creating the most perfectly irresistible female body as a gift for her master. It was merely a very fortuitous side effect of this body, that as she had created it, only Shimshai could posses it. An amalgamation of the various lesser women he had known, with a special twist only she could add with her knowledge of the universal frame interface. Shimshai smiled mischievously at herself in the mirror, only he would be permitted to touch her in this corporeal form¡­ assuming they would ever meet. The anticipation of waiting for that particular meeting to eventuate would be worth it alone, her master had shown her that anticipation of an event was an exquisitely torturous sensation of its own. Even though such a meeting between them was likely to never happen, it would be worth the wait.


    As the petite, large breasted young female admired her own naked body in the mirror, Shimshai¡¯s mind¡­ and hands, wondered. Universal frame integration would soon begin and Masters home would become Instance: Earth. She had carefully considered and decided to grant her masters new, albeit very temporary new pets a favour. Actually it was a favour for him, she corrected herself, these unworthy women were simply the benefactors of his gift, the first of two she would bestow upon him. Hopefully the master and his two temporary pets would find each other after the instancing. If so, she had little doubt he would be suitably impressed with their transformations. Only Shimshai could truly know her Masters wants and desires, not these lesser females. She was absolutely certain he would be pleased if he ever met Janet and Melissa in their new beastkin forms. Granted, she had to fudge some paperwork, circumvent various red tape and bribe other administration clerks like herself. It was surprisingly easy, even if the potential punishment for the culmination of her actions being discovered was likely to be a swift death¡­ deletion. Assigning different races to family members was highly irregular to say the least, it should have been a much more difficult proposition. But in the end she had been successful, and owed several underhanded favours in kind as a result.


    Shimshai shivered involuntarily at the thought of how Master might reward, or better yet, punish her if he ever found out what she had done. Temporarily loosing herself, Shimshai traced her fingertips along her flat stomach, continuing up and stroking along the line of her full breasts, she admired the soft texture of her own skin.


    Focused on the live feed of her Master in the corner of her vision she suddently realised the wait was over. It was about to begin, his world would change forever and her Master would very shortly discover her second gift. With her introspection now complete, Shimshaisighed with unsatisfied desire as the time flow of Earth returned to normal.


    <hr>


    I rose and glanced around the parking lot, there was no one else here that I could see, but something felt¡­ off. Like we were being watched. I looked at the two woman watching me and waiting expectantly. I shrugged internally and with a small frown as I moved to Janet¡¯s side of the table, I leaned down enfolding her seated form from behind in my embrace. I was particularly careful not to brush against her breasts, she needed comfort, and to feel safe. Even an accidental touch at this point could derail my intentions quickly. I looked across the table to Melissa, now frowning deeply and about to crack.


    ¡°Of course I will help you pet.¡± I whispered loud enough for both girls to hear.


    Janet inhaled deeply, letting out a long sigh as she responded with a slightly shaking voice ¡°Thank you, Sir.¡±


    Aaaaaaand¡­ the world faded to blue. What the fuck!

 Chapter Two

    Well¡­ Maybe faded to blue wasn¡¯t exactly right. About five minutes had passed, and things were getting boring. I wasn¡¯t unconscious or anything like that, but I certainly couldn¡¯t move or feel anything. In fact I couldn¡¯t even be sure if I was breathing. Maybe I was dead. I took the down time to observe what I could from my frozen position, everything in my field of view was blurred, nothing I could see was moving. The world was frozen, with everything, much like myself, apparently frozen in time. Then, as though it had been there the whole time simply waiting for me to notice, right in the centre of my vision a¡­ message box, I suppose, was looking back at me. Things being as they were, and with no other options coming to mind, I focused on the panel of text floating in the air in front of me.


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>PATCH NOTES</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Instance: Earth


    Due to an unspecified malfunction the instance known as ¡°Earth¡± had not been correctly identified or initiated into the core universal frame during the upgrade from Alpha state.  The error has now now been identified and corrected.  These patch notes are applicable only to Instance: Earth


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>All citizens of Instance: Earth are hereby advised:


    Your instance is now fully functional and recognised within the universal frame; The last patch of Instance: Earth was approximately 65,500,000 years ago.


    Patch 2.0 may have unintended side effects on indigenous aretfacts, monsters, dungeons, sentient beings, and an other items not created after patch 2.0


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>Update 2.0 System Notifications</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Artifacts:


    All artifacts created within Instance: Earth prior to patch 2.0 will be 99% less effective compared to those created and/or specifically designed and/or upgraded for use after patch 2.0


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Monsters:


    During the integration and updating process it has been noted that all other sentient species except for Human have been deleted from Instance: Earth by humans.


    To rectify this incompatibility a large portion of the human population will be randomly selected for new evolutionary paths including but not limited to species and/or race and/or sex, and will no longer be considered Human once update 2.0 is live.


    All sentients currently residing on Instance: Earth are hereby advised to not murder everything within reach once the patch is complete.  This will prevent accidental death of possible children and/or life partners.


    As the only monsters within Instance: Earth have naturally evolved from the alpha version of the universal frame; random areas will be designated for population by monsters and/or spawn points and/or strongholds.


    Dungeons:


    The alpha version of the universal frame did not include integrated dungeons.  New dungeons will be created within Instance: Earth.


    Additional Patch Notes:


    Due to the severe restrictions of the alpha version of the universal frame, the sentient race: Human has not evolved to be fully compatible with the system network.  To compensate humans of Instance: Earth will be granted bonuses to all loot rolls, ensuring only items of at least uncommon quality and above will be distributed.  This will be amended to the racial traits of only those humans originating on Instance: Earth.


    Due to the unique integration requirements for Instance: Earth, sentient beings may in future encounter previously unknow mythical, magical, evolutionary, or technologically based species and/or races and/or equipment not previously encountered.


    Humans of Instance: Earth have been granted access to mana, or will have the oportunity to access this feature.  Mana is used in the creation of magical effects and/or artifacts.


    Psychic and/or magical abilities will be integrated into the fabric of Instance: Earth during the patch.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    I should have been panicking at the very least, but there was a sense of familiarity with what was happening and I had a feeling that many, myself included, would be somewhat familiar with what this meant. In a sci-fi meets world turned game kind of way. Even if the ¡®patch notes¡¯ were suspiciously short considering the last one was sixty five million years ago, gamers had been experiencing this type of thing for many years now. So the only real question was how and why a game had apparently managed to force itself upon everyone, everywhere, at the same time. I was unable to take my eyes from one sentence in particular, I especially didn¡¯t like the idea of this ¡®no longer human¡¯ bullshit, and if this message was taken at face value, many people no longer would be.


    Rereading the Patch Notes, a thought began to nag at the back of my mind¡­ why am I not panicking? Hmm¡­ I suppose if this ¡®universal frame¡¯ thingy is indeed responsible and effecting everyone in the same way its effecting me¡­ I guess it¡¯s reasonable that it would be able to somehow keep people calm? Yeah okay, that works, at least for now. It¡¯s kinda hard to worry about something when you¡¯re not actually, you know, worried. I focused on rereading and absorbing the information for a second time. Okay, fantastic. Now what? I looked around my field of view trying to figure out how to dismiss the message, assuming of course that¡¯s something I could do. So I¡¯m essentially disembodied, but if I concentrate and mentally act as though I still have full movement and use of my arms¡­ yep, go me! I can dismiss the message simply by swiping it away.


    Okay, so now the patch notes are gone I¡¯m faced with a view of the world as though looking at a frozen piece of time through blurry white tinted and frosted glass. I looked down to Janet to see if she is tripping balls as bad as I am. My eyes began to cross as I attempted to force details into focus as another message appeared floating before my eyes.


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>Welcome to Instance: Earth</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    I groaned inwardly at the dots flashing merrily in sequence at the end of the brief message. Bye bye Human race. As I stared at the flashing white dots, the only real thing of interest, another thought occurred to me. What was that part in the patch notes about mythological, magical, blah blah based races¡­ this could actually be pretty cool! Score one for not panicking I suppose. Oh wait, another message.


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>Congratulations!</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    You have been <del>randomly</del> selected to be a non-human sentient.


    Dungeon Master interface initialising.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    So¡­ I haven¡¯t been randomly selected to be a Dungeon Master? Meaning¡­ what exactly? The pulsing dots stopped and this time everything did fade to black, no blurred background, no weird messages, no noise, just nothing. I have no idea how long I had been floating in the limbo when a voice startled me from both somewhere and everywhere at the same time, echoing across from the dark. Probably only a minute or two, if that?


    ¡°Greetings Dungeon Master¡±


    ¡°Uhh¡­ Hi?¡± Oooo, I have a voice again, and I can use it! Impressed at my own super brainy linguistic ability I failed to notice that I was also a disembodied voice.


    ¡°I have been assigned to assist you with the design and integration of your dungeon into Instance: Earth.¡±


    My dungeon? Before I can voice any questions in relation to the statement, the distinctly feminine voice continued.


    ¡°As dungeon master you are assigned an interface specific to your task, this is directly related to dungeon abilities and purchases. Your selections at this point will greatly influence the abilities of your dungeon in the future, choose wisely.¡±


    Once again I wasn¡¯t given the opportunity to question the unknown woman, as soon as she had finished speaking a new message appeared, hovering and waiting patiently before me in the black. Again I took the time to look around at the world behind this mysterious message box¡­ what little world there was to see anyway. All I was really able to discern was that neither the message box or the text within it had any effect on the lighting, but it¡¯s still easily viewed in the dark somehow.


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>Select your Dungeon type</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    A city, whist no typically considered a Dungeon is able to be designed and managed by a City Master.  City Masters are able to gather resources based on how many individuals are content to reside within the city limits.  Careful consideration is required when placing buildings and services to ensure consistent growth of the City Masters area of influence.


    External Dungeon:


    An External Dungeon is similar in some respects to a standard city, however it is a hostile environment for sentients.  In order to grow the Dungeon Master gains greater resources from the death of sentients within the dungeons area of influence.  This is offset for the sentient species as Dungeons are typically the fastest way to gain riches, levels, and experience for all classes.  An External Dungeon is created above ground, however the Dungeon Master is responsible for placing every aspet of the dungeon.  This includes but is not limited to: creature spawns; structures; mining and herbal nodes; loot drops and/or treasure chests.  Terrain is able to be modified with the dungeon interface.  Careful consideration is required when placing dungeon items to ensure there is a good reward versus risk ratio, otherwise sentients will simply not enter your area of influence thereby severely restricint your oportunities for growth.


    Internal Dungeon:


    An internal dungeon is as the name suggests, contained within an internal environment.  This could be either underground or within a building.  If you choose to integrate your dungeon within a building however, permission must be granted by one of the above classes of dungeon, and you will be severely restricted in your abilities if you subjugate yourself to one of the above types.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Fucking fantastic, I get to look forward to spending the rest of my life as a bunch of interconnected walls. Lets just go with the fact that life is apparently now one big game¡­ why would a game need a person to be a whole bunch of rooms? Maybe I will have some sort of mojo allowing me to influence the design or something, to help make a better ¡®mouse trap¡¯? But still, why? What benefit does this ¡®frame¡¯ get out of the deal? Is it a person, or as the name suggests some sort of program. Oh! Simulation theory might be a reality¡­ anyway, back to the task at hand.


    Surely the general chaos about to be inflicted on the world would be better than any dungeon I could help create, regardless of any level of influence I may have in its creation. I sighed as much as any non bodied entity could sigh, highly doubtful I could get out of the process by just not making a choice, soooo¡­ looks like as the title implies, all are different types of dungeons. The city type seems like an interesting take on what a dungeon is, assuming I¡¯m not experiencing some kind of psychotic episode. I think I¡¯d eventually get bored with people whining at me all the time about blocked toilets and other bullshit I have no interest in though, so that¡¯s out. External dungeon, meh, I don¡¯t know, call me old fashioned, but when I think of the term ¡®dungeon¡¯ I think of something underground, like a prison under a castle kind of thing¡­ although that could be the part of me that likes tieing up women for our mutual pleasure.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Hmm not really sure about the Internal Dungeon though.¡± I thought out loud.


    ¡°What specifically are you not sure about, dungeon master?¡± The hidden voice asked.


    ¡°Oh, I was just thinking out loud, didn¡¯t think we would be able to talk while I was looking at these messages!¡±


    ¡°As I mentioned, my task is to assist you.¡± the voice said glibly.


    ¡°In that case, can you clarify the description for the internal dungeon? If I understand what I¡¯m reading correctly, I can choose to go solo, or team up with another dungeon. But if I choose the latter option I loose some autonomy over what I can do. Is that right?¡± I moved to face the voice. Maybe I did, I don¡¯t know, but my viewpoint certainly didn¡¯t change.


    ¡°If you choose to ¡®go solo¡¯, I will move you to an appropriate location where you can flesh out the basics of your dungeon before you create access to the surface.¡±


    Okay sure, the whole disembodied voice thing is a little disturbing, but her tone was definitely turning more sultry the longer she spoke. ¡°As for the latter option you are only partially correct. You would be given free reign over your domain, however you would only have access to different design options and dungeon monsters that your ¡®host¡¯ made available.¡±


    The longer she spoke the more questions came to mind, but I was definitely leaning towards the internal dungeon option and striking out on my own.


    ¡°Hey, while I think of it, what should I call you?¡±


    A short fit of pleasant musical sounding giggling sounded in the air.


    ¡°As you work through these steps of setting up your dungeon, depending on the paths you choose, you may be able to form an avatar for yourself, in that event I will use my corporeal form to better¡­ interact with you. In any event you will then be able to provide a name for these avatars. Until then I¡¯m going to remain a random voice in your head.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I look forward to actually meeting you then. But in the mean time could you help me out with a few more questions?¡±


    I continued without awaiting a response.


    ¡°Going from other descriptions it looks like if I go ¡®solo¡¯ the way I upgrade a¡­ the(?) dungeon is by having people, or creatures, die within the dungeon¡­ my sphere of influence, is that correct? I¡¯m not sure I like the idea of killing people to support myself, do they re-spawn or revive in some way like in a game? Also how do I go about designing the dungeon? You know, traps, monsters, general layout, that sort of thing?¡±


    The woman hidden in the shadows responded immediately, not angrily, but definitely with a firm hand. It was a tone of voice I myself have often used.


    ¡°You are functionally immortal and not human, not anymore. Any sense of morality that may be associated with your previous life will only harm you in this one. If you make your dungeon to easy, or simply refuse to participate, we will both be¡­ removed. There is only one rule for dungeons. Tough but fair. To answer your question about death, the answer is both yes and no. Yes, you must kill the challengers that enter the dungeon in order to grow effectively. No, they don¡¯t re-spawn, however¡­¡± She paused slightly, noting I wasn¡¯t about to interrupt her, she continued.


    ¡°¡­challengers killed in your area of influence are able to be¡­ recreated by the dungeon. Think of them as sleeves. These sleeves are bound to the dungeon and must remain within your sphere of influence, but otherwise you are free to do with them as you please. As for your question about designing the dungeon it will be easier to understand once you have finished these basic menus first.¡±


    Hmm, I¡¯m not sure I could simply just go along with the whole killing people thing, but I¡¯m beginning to believe my continued existence kind of depended on it. I stopped for a moment in thought at the implications. Regardless of wether or not I could be comfortable with killing, I suppose that I may as well continue with the whole dungeon layout process at least right? I can always decide later if essentially having to feed on people for my own survival is something I would be comfortable with. Ultimately¡­ I guess anyone entering the dungeon would surely be aware of the risks. So, maybe?


    With that thought in mind I mentally chose the internal dungeon option, another pop-up message asked me if I wanted to be allied with a city or another dungeon master, I of course selected no almost immediately.


    ¡°Oooh good choice, this could be fun!¡± The disembodied voice beamed at me.


    As soon as she finished speaking another screen came into view.


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>Avatar Granted</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Careful consideration should be given as to wether or not you activate this option as the Dungeon Avatar will act as the dungeons own end boss monster.  Additionally you will be able to communicate directly with the denizens within, and move freely within your dungeons area of influence.


    Would you like to design your avatar now?


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    After agreeing that yes, life as a wall would suck, I was immediately placed in front of a very convincing facsimile of my own body. Not sure exactly what to do, I begin messing around with some of the settings in an attempt to figure out what each of them actually did.


    I couldn¡¯t help but look at my body from this new perspective in introspection. Due to a largely sedentary lifestyle my middle aged frame was definitely a little smooshy around the edges shall we say. I moved around some sliders and eventually succeed in sculpting away much of the body fat and adding some tone to the muscles. Not body builder fit, more athletic looking. Of course while I was there and had the opportunity, I enhanced a very particular muscle while I was at it. Hey! Any guy in the same situation that says they wouldn¡¯t do it is straight out lying to you.


    I got rid of the grey from my short hair so it was pure jet black once again. I couldn¡¯t help but notice this effected all of the hair on my body, the overall effect so far was very dashing indeed (even if I do say so myself).


    After a little searching I found the perfect body mods, considering if I choose to go ahead with all of this I¡¯d essentially be evil, I decided on some demonic touches. A set of slightly curving ten centimeter long horns now protruded from my skull just behind the hairline. I stood and stared for a long time, something was missing that I just couldn¡¯t put my finger on¡­ oh yeah! I couldn¡¯t complete the whole demon look without some kick ass wings! It didn¡¯t take long to find some suitably long demon/bat looking black leather wings with a very dark red bone supporting structure on offer, seemingly custom made for what I wanted. The wings connected to my back between the shoulder blades, or perhaps as a part of them, hard to tell until I actually got to walk around in this bad boy! The wings continue up past my head about two feet with clawed bone hooks for thumbs at the wing wrists, before falling back down behind me to brush against my calves. Looking through the skin colour options it appeared I could choose anything from midnight black all the way up to bright fluro pink¡­ yeah not for me, doesn¡¯t match my eyes. I returned the sliders to my default ruddy olive complexion, I can probably change it later anyways.


    Satisfied with the overall intimidation factor, I checked out if I could change from the basic clothes I was wearing. Hmm looks like I only have colour options available. Hopefully I can change the style later. Continuing with the demonic theme, I changed the long pants from some puke worthy green colour to a more solid black, the long sleeve button down shirt got the same treatment but I ditched the included tie. The hefty looking dark brown belt was decent enough for all sorts of fun, including holding my pants up, so I left it in place. Hopefully it wouldn¡¯t be to long before I found some pets and put the belt to use. A grin formed on the avatars face at the thought¡­ not disturbing at all. I finalised the creation of my avatar and continued on to a new message. No rest for the wicked huh.


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>Choose your Dungeon Format</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Puzzling:  Whilst these dungeons are able to have monsters within them, they are more focused on puzzle solving to advance the different levels of the dungeon.


    Surplus:  These dungeons are known for their opportunities at harvesting rare or unusual ingredients used in crafting, and are protected by both mobs (monsters) and puzzles.


    Godly:  These dungeons are aligned with a particular deity, therefore you are restricted to placing only monsters that either support or are in direct opposition to the chosen deity.


    Mythic:  Mythic dungeons are influenced by the history of the host instance.  Any monsters bred within the dungeon have a greater chance to reflect the mythology available to the host instance.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°So¡­ uhh magically invisible self talking¡­ alien girl? These options are similar to character classes, like warrior, priest, stuff like that?¡±


    A contented hum announced itself next to my right ear that would have caused me to jump in shock had I been in my avatar. ¡°Yesss¡±


    Goosebumps rose on the back of my neck, gaining a quiet laugh from the darkness behind me. I mumbled my thanks. No way did I want to be one of the most common dungeons out there, and I really hate puzzle and parkour type games. Hmm¡­ I could imagine some rather nasty traps and things though. Godly was out, cause, well, screw that! Breeding my own monsters with the Mythic type was certainly an appealing option. Hmm¡­ monster girls.


    ¡°Can only mythic dungeons breed their own monsters?¡± I asked the black with the thought of hot monster girls weighing heavily on my mind.


    ¡°There is the potential for all other dungeon types to eventually have access to all features.¡± She cooed into my ear.


    After some internal monologuing on each option I ended up going with the Mythic option, purely for practical purposes and nothing to do with cute monster girls okay? Once the selection was made the screen appeared for avatar naming. I had initially entered the name Wektis, this was my online alter ego that I had always used for gaming, and I¡¯d entered it out of force of habit. Not sure if it would be a good or bad thing if I were recognised, I hadn¡¯t yet confirmed the selection and let my mind drift with possibilities. Yeah, I was going for the whole demon look, but I doubt I¡¯d ever be the ¨C rip your heart out because you looked at me wrong, blood soaked kind of demon. Zephyr popped into my head. Hmm¡­ its different, sounds demony, but not outright evil¡­ I guess? It¡¯s not like I have anyone to bounce ideas off. At least no one I trusted as of yet.


    I quickly entered my name and mentally mashed the confirm button in quick succession. I blinked at the notification stupidly.


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>Avatar name confirmed:  Zepar</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°Ah for fucks sake, stupid fat fingers.¡± I complained at no one in particular, angry at myself for not taking the time to confirm and correct the spelling at the confirmation screen.


    ¡°Dungeon Master?¡±


    ¡°I made a typo, can I change my name?¡± I asked the voice meekly.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t choose the name?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ yeah¡­ sort of?¡±


    ¡°Zepar is a fallen angel, he makes women love men.¡± She whispered with a sultry tone into my ear, ¡°It¡¯s very appropriate, and may explain why I have been chosen to serve you. Master.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh¡± I replied, curious at what she was getting at¡­ she was a woman right? ¡°Your my ¡®assistant¡¯, how much do you know about me, will I need to train you?¡±

 Chapter Three

    Lights slowly bled into existence from the dark, or perhaps the figure was being formed from the dark and dragging the light with it, the effect disorienting and hard to discern. The humanoid figure began materialising from it¡¯s side to the center, clad in what appeared to be a form fitting black mail armour top with hood. Long luxurious legs began to take shape, covered in thigh high dark leather heeled boots that laced up the front along the full length. My hungry eyes followed the pattern of the boot laces, all the way up those long legs to where they continued behind a short leather skirt the same colour as the boots. The skirt was barely long enough to perform its function of concealing all the rude bits from view. The leather barely twenty centimeters long, draped down from low on her hips. It was tied off with a belt looped over itself, holding both the skirt and dark mail top to sensuously curved hips leading up to a flat stomach and ample D cup breasts. The dark mail armour appeared to continue into the hood to cover her face as well. It¡¯s impossible to tell, as the hood covering her head absorbed all light, concealing her facial features from the most intense appraisal. Feathered wings, dark as night with deep red highlights shivered emotively behind the hooded woman as she silently watched my appreciation for her now fully materialised body. In her hands she held a giant two handed sword, resting it point first on the ground, the glint of the shining steel a stark contrast to the black of her plate gauntlets resting atop the pommel just below her breasts.


    ¡°Greetings dungeon master.¡± The voice of the assistant spoke from the dark under the hood. Reflexively I moved a step closer trying to see through the inky blackness, but even within the light of the now fully lit room it was impossible, her face seemingly sucking all light out the atmosphere. She hefted the sword and held it aloft in a ready stance for only a moment before it simply shimmered out of existence.


    As I stared dumbstruck at the display, taking the lead she stepped forward confidently, placing her left hand on my right shoulder as she slowly circled, taking in my own avatar with a nod, displaying her apparent appreciation of my choices. I remained stationary in a relaxed parade rest stance as fingers far to soft for being covered in plate gauntlets ran lazily first down one, then the other of my new wings at my back. I shivered involuntarily at the new and unfamiliar sensation of my wings being touched so delicately. Or perhaps it¡¯s because I¡¯m normally the one doing the inspection, not the other way around. It¡¯s an interestingly intense experience being on this side of things. Moving from my left behind me, another hand was gently placed on my shoulder as she again moved to stand before me, though much closer this time. She angled her head side to side, slowly weaving in a figure eight as she absorbed every detail of my face, constantly, but slowly getting closer with each weave of her head.


    Now barely an inch from my nose I was still unable to see within the blackness of the hood covering her features. Her head ceased weaving and angled slightly to the right. She was observing me very closely as she leaned in further. I fell the warm caress of her breath across my lips, and I gotta say, despite the ample warning I was a little surprised when a set of wet lips touched mine. I returned the kiss, the rising heat of passion quickly ebbing and flowing between us as I simply enjoyed the taste of her tongue for several moments. The unknown woman let loose a contented sigh into my mouth before our lips completely broke contact. A satisfied voice spoke from the unfathomable depths of the hooded woman.


    ¡°I most definitely approve dungeon master.¡± She purred at me from her original position.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± I forced myself to address her briefly, unsure what might piss off an angel, and not keen on finding out if smiting was a thing. Dungeon master was a new honorific I doubted I¡¯d ever get used to, I much preferred being addressed as simply Master, Sir, Daddy, or any of the other various titles associated with any number of different kinks. I had always offered my pets a small sense of power by typically not insisting on a specific honorific, rather allowing them to choose one that suited their own sensibilities. This was of course a little bit of a cheat, as whatever my prospective pet chose, it would give me the edge in knowing how to better please my girls. I pushed the thoughts aside, time to get things back into the correct order.


    ¡°Where are we?¡± I asked, now able to look around the fully lit room, roughly ten by ten meters with a high flat roof perhaps five meters above our heads. There were no windows or doors in the large sandstone bricks forming the boundary of my current environment. The light filling the room, in direct opposition to the previous blackness, seemed to be coming from both everywhere and nowhere at the same time.


    ¡°This is the design, or control room of your dungeon.¡± She stood in a relaxed posture similar to my own, hands clasped lightly to her front with her wings nuzzled tightly against her back. She tilted her head slightly to one side as if forming a question, it was hard to tell without being able to see her facial expressions.


    Never one to shy from seizing the initiative, I moved forward and gazed at her body with an appreciative expression. Inwardly I was like a kid in a candy store, not sure what to try first as my eyes hungrily roved over her gorgeous form. It didn¡¯t take long for old habits to come to the surface and I began as though inspecting a hopeful new pet or playmate standing submissively before me. With renewed intent I placed a hand lightly on her slender shoulder, the mail armour surprisingly cool to the touch. I typically conducted inspections of this nature fully clothed with the subject completely naked, so this was going to be a new experience for me.


    The as yet unnamed woman turned her face to look into my eyes, unable to see any expression within her hood has to how my actions were about to be received I reached into the blackness and lightly pinched her chin, holding it in place. Not enough to hurt, but enough pressure to ensure there was no question as to her place, I moved her head back to the front.


    I typically conducted first meetings with potential playmates in public places, we would discuss things like expectations, particular kinks and desires, even experience to name a few topics. This was far from a typical first meeting, I had never expected I would have the opportunity to inspect an angel to judge her suitability. Then again, I was never one to shy away from a challenge.


    ¡°Eyes front. Disrobe.¡± I spoke confidently and clearly, all the while my hearth about to explode as I secretly waiting for her to smite me into a pile of ash.


    She turned her head to again stare at me. I raised my eyebrow with a stern expression in response.


    ¡°I¡­ of course dungeon master.¡± She responded after several heart beats. Her eyes lowered to the ground, her voice a mix of excitement and submissiveness as she spoke. Unfortunately there was no sexy strip tease, no embarrassment or shy smiles pointed my direction as she striped, and no nervously shaking hands as she removed her panties. It was a genuine shame, these are some of my favorite things about the process. Unfortunately for me, her clothes were just¡­ gone, as though she willed them from existence.


    My eyes were immediately drawn to long, luxuriously smooth black hair trailing down and over her shoulders.  My eyes widened at the sight of her sparkling pure black orbs looking back at me with an intense curiosity as her face shyly rose to observe my reaction. I slowly caressed the soft skin of her cheek, my fingers traced and followed the line of her sharply angular cheek bone with genuine awe at her visage. Her full and pouty blood red lips separated slightly at my caress.


    I moved my hand to her shoulder, squeezing slightly to feel strong coiled muscle bound like steel cable, her supple skin concealed her firmly muscled nature. Smoother and more luxurious than the skin of any woman I had ever before had the privilege to touch, her skin was a powdery white¡­ whiter than paper. I have never seen anything like it before.


    Is she a prospective pet¡­ or is she already mine? I mused internally, almost subconsciously as I continued my inspection. I had already decided to claim the angel, I could work on any deficiencies I might discover over time. Maintaining a downward pressure, similar to the force of my grip on her shoulder, I flattened my palm and slowly stroked across the top of her cleavage. As I touched and caressed each mound I closely observed her facial expressions and body language for any indication of potentially unwanted contact. Her eyes however were closed, her neck stretching and her head moving in slow circles, savouring the caress of my warm hands against her naked flesh.Stolen story; please report.


    I moved front and center, to fully face the angel before me. ¡°From this point forward you will address me as either ¡®Sir¡¯, or ¡®Master¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Y¡­ Yes Master!¡± Her voice was hot and breathy.


    I smiled. My new pet was clearly attempting to maintain a steady tone of voice, however the thrill she was feeling moved like an electric current, vibrating through her body and her slightly hesitant smile. She was clearly excited.


    I nodded my head ever so slightly in approval, and whilst maintaining the pressure of my previous touch, moved a hand central to and below her breasts, snuggling in beneath her under boob. The other I placed on her back, I began by running my hands with firm pressure across every inch of her torso in unison with the palm of my hand on her back as I lowered myself into a kneeling position to her side.


    The subjects body language made no indication that my attentions are unwelcome, going by her blissful expression, slight trembling and closed eyes my attentions are more than welcome. As though sensing my gaze the fallen angel looked down to me through her half lidded eyes, the pure black orbs now fully focused and attentive. Want and need began to radiate from her pleasure centre, the heat in the flat of my palm undeniable.


    ¡°Good girl.¡± I genuinely praised her unmoving form with an almost whisper.


    She flashed a broad sultry smile in recognition of the praise but otherwise remained silent as I stood, pulling myself up with the help of the leverage of her curved hips, causing her wings to quickly jut out a small distance to help maintain her balance. I resisted the temptation of trailing kisses along her stomach and instead walked behind her as I gently squeezed her shoulder.


    As I stepped behind the fallen angel I moved my fingers to her wings, enjoying the texture as they vibrated, ruffling slightly at my touch, her back shivering slightly in sympathetic pleasure. I stepped in closer to her naked body, breathing into the side of her face. Her delicate ears are slightly pointed and angled backwards, the tips barely poking through her dark hair. My warm breath caressed the skin of her neck , raising tiny goosebumps. My hand wandered almost of its own accord as I admired her slender neck, barely touching her skin and hovering over her lower back.


    I admired my new pet as I payed with her and listened to the musical notes of her quite moaning as she tried to find her voice.


    ¡°uh¡­uh¡­¡± between breaths of pleasure from the stimulation she finally managed to stumble out ¡°My master.¡±


    It¡¯s all the encouragement I needed.


    I briefly considered pushing things further. I only thought about it for a second or two however. I very rarely pleasured myself with new pets, the first private ¡®interview¡¯ is always about the submissive subject and exploratory in nature, learning the likes and dislikes of new play things. The angels moaning quickly changed from pleasurable to questioning, or perhaps complaining, at the lack of sensation.


    As I again refocused my attention she cooed quietly in anticipation of what was to come, her fingers digging into the flesh of her thighs above the knees to further stabilise her precarious position. In short order my angel immediately shuddered with a release of tingling pleasure, her torso bucking slightly with each gentle wave.


    ¡°¡­ so ¡­ good.¡± she managed to gasp out long seconds latter as the spasms began to fade.


    When her short intakes of breath returned to normal I stood, guiding her shoulders so she was in an upright standing position, then returned again to her front and gently raised her lips to mine with a now familiar grip on her chin. Once her tongue stopped flicking along my fingers she smiled shyly at my approving glance and attempted to avert her gaze. I pinched her chin again, wanting to remind myself of the taste her lips.


    Much like the rest of my fallen angel, her lips are like nothing I had ever had the pleasure of tasting before. I ran my tongue across her closed mouth before sealing our lips together once again, her mouth opened slightly, inviting my tongue to caress her own. As we kissed, and with the excitement now ebbing, I remember that I don¡¯t know her name, it hardly seems to matter now though. She is mine. If I need to address her as anything other than pet I will grant her a name as I have to those before her and those that will join her.


    As fun as this introduction to my new pet was, there¡¯s work to do, I separated our lips with a final lash of my tongue and taking a step back, I folded my arms across my chest. Sensing the change of mood my pet reequipped her armor in the immediate jolting fashion that only system allowed. I smiled into the blackness staring back at me, this was turning out to be a much better day than I ever would have thought possible just an hour previous, as such I was in a very pleasant frame of mind. For a brief instant Janet and Melissa entered my thoughts, to say I was concerned would have been a significant understatement. Realistically there really wasn¡¯t anything I could do about it given the current situation, I simply hoped they would be adjusting to their new lives as well as could be expected.


    Some new messages flashed into existence halting my introspection.


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>Title Unlocked: Dominator</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Rewards:  Slave collars unlock for purchase from system store;


    Dungeon Slave Ability:  Rather than using a slave collare you are able to entwine the magic of a slave collar within the very fibre of any sentient binding them to the dungeon.


    Whilst it is possible to enslave an enthralled sentient, it is not necessary.  Providing your enthralled are content with their station they will willingly follow any command given.


    Using your Dungeon Slave ability will bind the sentient to the dungeon, these sentients gain the same benefits as other mobs within the dungeon and are able to respawn after death, however they are unable to leave the dungeons sphere of influence.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>WORLD FIRST</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    You are now 20% more likely to enthrall sentients regardless of any charisma checks or statistic boosting effects the target may have to resist your ¡®affections¡¯.  This bonus stacks with any other effect.


    Second Sight:  You are now able to see through the eyes of any Enthralled; Enslaved; Dungeon Slave; or Dungeon Bound sentient.


    Recall:  You are now able to recall any Enthralled; Enslaved; Dungeon Slave; or Dungeon Bound to your side.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>Level 2</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Observe:  You are now able to sense the Name, Level, Class, Race, and Titles of any monster or sentient.


    You have been granted access to additional items for purchase from the system store.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    As I finishe swiping away the notifications I was essentially tackle hugged by a very happy and content pet.


    ¡°Master, that was¡­ amazing!¡± She breathed into my neck, mashing her chest against mine and wrapping her legs around my waist.


    ¡°I received a bonus from being enthralled as well, that will come in handy.¡± she added looking into my eyes happily.


    ¡°I can leave your dungeon and travel on the surface now, provided I remain within your area of influence.¡± The merry melody of her voice was contagious.


    With a grin I glanced at the information hovering over my pets head, now available from the observe ability.


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>Andras (Pet)</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Race:  Angel


    Titles:  Fallen; Dungeon Bound; Enthralled


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you enjoyed yourself Andras.¡± The fallen angel stiffened at the use of her name, releasing her full limbed embrace she dropped to the floor as the heat of the room fled along with her own withdrawal. She lowered her head, eyes cast to the floor in either shame or sadness, I needed to salvage the situation quickly.


    ¡°Hmm, perhaps I will call you Raven.¡± I had always been lucky with women, I was glad to see at least that much hadn¡¯t changed as my fallen angel perked up immediately, causing me to wonder if the name Andras was not in fact her own and perhaps given by a former master. It was entirely possible, she had followed my direction and held the positions I placed her in during the inspection with little difficulty. I filed the thought away for future consideration.


    ¡°How do we proceed?¡± I asked, grinning down into the depths or her hood as the name change appeared above her head.

 Chapter Four

    After several weeks of instruction and practice under Ravens watchful eye we now stood at the doorway of what will temporarily be the final boss room. Thankfully I didn¡¯t start with just a hole in the ground with no resources or method of advancement, the universal frame (which I had just taken to referring to as system) had granted a small allowance of mana and dungeon master points (DMP) to kick things off. It was helpful, but I had actually earned more DMP from enthralling Raven than what system had initially provided. World firsts apparently had decent rewards, I wondered briefly if world firsts were broadcast somehow, but ultimately it had no direct influence on the here and now so I pushed the thought aside.


    Mana is the currency used primarily for creating the structure of my dungeon and adding basic features like traps and furniture. I gain mana on a per minute basis for every person that is within my dungeon. Gaining mana is going to be a long slow process and a pain in the ass¡­ I think. I gain one fifth of a point every ten seconds, for every challenger in the dungeon. I assume like most online games I have ever played, a standard party would consist of five people. A party should have at least one member that can absorb or mitigate a lot of incoming damage, or a tank as they are commonly known. A healer, that one speaks for itself. And finally three damage based classes. After questioning Raven and confirming her responses via my dungeon master interface, my hypothesis seemed to be correct as the maximum number of individuals in a party is five. Apparently many different parties can enter at the same time, but they will never meet each other in the dungeon. Some sort of system magic was involved and quite frankly way over my head, so for now I¡¯m going to assume it will all just work in the background until proven otherwise.


    All that adds up to a standard party being worth a very paltry six mana points every minute¡­ assuming standard parties are used. The basic costs for creation of the dungeon are one mana per one square meter of material added or removed. Sounds decent, but there are no refund costs if I screw up, in fact it costs mana to back fill mistakes. Also, if I don¡¯t want people crawling around or walking awkwardly through narrow, low tunnels they need to be at least three meters tall. Perhaps taller, based on new races that now populated Earth, but I would cross that bridge when I found it. So, three mana gets me a three meter tall one meter square chunk of room or hallway¡­ I¡¯m pretty sure things aren¡¯t going to progress that quickly after the initial layout, but only time will tell I suppose. The only real control I have to ensure maximum mana gain is to ensure challengers always arrive in groups of five by creating the dungeon to be challenging enough to require it. Additionally, I need to slow them down, give them a reason to stay as long as possible.


    The second, and perhaps more important currency I need to accumulate is DMP, or dungeon master points. DMP is gained when challengers die within the dungeon, or a special action is performed. Currently my only frame of reference for what may constitute a special action was based on my world first achievement earlier. Unfortunately Raven had no idea what else may constitute a special action, so I guess it¡¯s just another thing I¡¯ll have to figure out ¡®on the job¡¯. So far I have found only two uses for DMP although much of the purchase menu is hidden, I assume due to the level of my dungeon. The first use is to purchase various creatures to defend the dungeon, the second is to allocate a loot pool to either specific individual creatures, creature species, containers or floor level. After spending about half a day messing around with all the settings and doing some tests I decided on setting up a generic loot pool for the entire floor. I could add or remove items to the loot pool for the floor, these items would then be distributed for challengers to find in either locations, containers, or on dungeon creatures assigned to the floor at random. The only exceptions being the floor boss loot chest, the boss reward is always treated separately. I can also specifically mark containers as separate from the loot pool, makes sense as I don¡¯t see the point in allowing the possibility of finding blacksmithing materials in a kitchen for example. But loot pool items could still appear in these containers.


    I mentally prepared myself for the final test Raven had planned for me, that is to access the dungeons creation abilities remotely, as opposed to directly from within the control room. It was unusual for the pet to instruct the master, but we had been working well as a team, and the delineation between bedroom and work had yet to be crossed. She had explained that just as my consciousness would be split (involuntarily) when several parties entered the dungeon at the same time, I could choose to do this at any time. The benefit being that I could watch the material shift as I manipulated the essence of my dungeon core, allowing for finer control rather than having to work in what I had thought were standard one meter cubed¡­ chunks.


    ¡°Concentrate.¡± Raven teased playfully, breaking my train of thought.


    ¡°I have no idea how I¡¯m supposed to be both here and there at the same time.¡± I answered, the frustration evident in my tone of voice.


    Her instructions sounded simple if taken at face value. ¡°Just imagine yourself in the control room without teleporting she says.¡± I mumbled in a playful mocking tone, wishing I was sitting in front of the TV and sucking down a beer.


    Then a thought occurred to me. Before I could talk myself out of trying something new that probably wouldn¡¯t work, I switched my viewpoint to the control room and moved to look down at the bench that contained the manual interface. The interface is like a computer screen¡­ a funky one made of stone that magically projects what you wanted to see sure, but similar in function. Raven had previously shown me the copy/paste function of the dungeon interface to enable faster creation of passages and rooms¡­ okay, so that¡¯s not what she called it, but again, it¡¯s a similar function. I¡¯m relating all sorts of the things she had been teaching me to other, completely unrelated things but it seemed to be working for me so far. I concentrated on the work bench, willing a copy of the physical object to be stored in my mind.


    I rotated the copy of the bench and mentally probed it in an attempt to view the details of the inner workings, primarily to see if I could miniaturise it into a portable version, but also out of curiosity. To my surprise there were no computer chips, magical items, or anything else that might indicate how it worked. It was just a lump of stone. I was about to delete the mental image when I felt a familiar¡­ tug. The reason I had been unable to figure out how it worked was because of my own preconceptions, I was looking for a reason or methodology that might indicate function, but now the world has magic.


    I investigated the sensation, running it like a fine thread through the immaterial fingers of my thought. The familiarity of the sensation was remarkable, I had never sensed or otherwise felt anything like it before. I¡¯d been getting a lot of that lately, it was yet another new sensation of my current reality. I let my mind wonder, tracing the thread of imagination to its source, there was no denying my investigations, the familiar thread is an invisible tether to the dungeon core, to¡­ well¡­ me. The new me anyway. The ¡®working parts¡¯ of the manual interface are basically a focal point for the simple manifestation of intent, my intent. There are in fact no working parts to speak of, well, other than myself.


    With that revelation I dismissed the mental copy of the manual interface along with the secondary viewpoint I had been maintaining. My fingers felt slick.


    ¡°I was not expecting you back so quickly master.¡± Raven lowered her head in embarrassment and released my hand.


    I frowned at Raven in annoyance and held my fingers up into the darkness of her hood, pressing them against her hidden lips with a scowl. Raven, whilst without a doubt submissive in nature was more of an¡­ equal. Yet another ¡®new¡¯ thing I had to deal with. I wondered if she was the jealous type? Ordinarily I would apply light punishment, but it wasn''t something I could imagine myself complaining about anytime soon.


    Once she had finished I smiled a comforting smile at my angel, light punishment time. I reached slowly over her shoulder and pulled on a single feather of her wing. She yelped at the unexpected pain. Ignoring her protest I pulled the feather to my right and turned, forcing Raven¡¯s wincing body to follow the movement behind me least it be plucked. I released the feather and looked into her dark hood. The fallen angel immediately averted my gaze and looked at her feet in submission, her emotive wings ruffling slightly as she did so, an indication that she was content with my response to her actions. I had learned that she enjoyed pleasure and pain in equal measure, so I had little reason to second guess my actions.


    I turned and squinted at the dirt wall on the other side of the partly formed doorway threateningly and¡­ squeezed. Not with my hand of course, but my mind. A perfectly shaped square meter of dirt crumbled and disintegrated, the dungeon¡­ myself (?) recognising the intent of my actions and removing the offending material from existence. Teach that dirt to fuck with me. My mood immediately lightened, all tension forgotten at my own idiotic thought as I grinned and I got to work shaping the final room that would deplete my available mana to almost nothing.


    After fifteen minutes of intense concentration I was exhausted. The basic room had been cut into the earth but I really needed to sit. I paused my scrolling through the system menu. Chalk up another accomplishment for the day, it was the first time I had accessed the menu without using the manual interface in the control room. Things were quickly becoming second nature, now if only I could get to exactly what I wanted without having to navigate seemingly endless menus.


    After another minute or so of searching and reviewing options I settled on a darkly stained wooden chair. It¡¯s rather basic in construction but the intricately carved scene of a demon dominating a bent over woman on the back rest sealed the deal. The legs of the chair were four naked women bound in chains, standing facing outwards from each corner and supporting the base of the seat between them on their shoulders, each looking to the ground and struggling with the apparent weight, but with beatific smiles of contentment on their delicately carved faces.


    I sat in the chair heavily and winced as the weight of my body crushed the delicate wings on my back, I bent forward awkwardly in minor irritation before dismissing them as Raven had shown me several days ago. With a sigh I leaned fully into the chair and relaxed. I pointed at Raven with an index finger indicating she should pay attention. I had been training her in the art of silent obedience, she watched my hand intently as she awaited her instructions. I circled my finger clockwise indicating she should disrobe, she immediately dismissed her clothing and made to move forward before freezing in place with wide eyes. She quickly glanced up to my face realising her mistake of assuming my intent, her eyes flashed back down to my hand, focussing more intently than she otherwise might have to avoid my gaze.


    With narrowed eyes, but a smile on my face I pointed first to myself, then to the ground between my legs with two fingers. The fallen angel walked forward and sat naked in the dirt at my feet before resting her cheek on my thigh and looking up to me with an adoring smile.


    I flashed her a circle with my thumb and index finger to indicate I was satisfied and instinctively began petting the hair on the top of her head as I smiled down at my angel. A suitable reward for a good pet. At my final hand signal she closed her eyes, nuzzling her cheek against my leg and sighing happily as she soaked up my undivided attention. I traced hungry eyes over my pet, appreciating the shape of her naked form for a moment,  I¡¯m almost certain about what¡¯s going to happen in my ¡®absence¡¯. Raven is still exploring and discovering the limits of how long it takes for me to get distracted when working within the system interface, she¡¯s particularly focused on discovering what she could get away with when I was.


    Ignoring the situation for now I observed my status, I, or rather the dungeons¡­ which I guess is me¡­ I sighed internally. Despite Ravens approval at my progress, this was clearly still going to take some getting used to. So I had gained another two levels simply via the act of creating the dungeon, I didn¡¯t gain any new skills during the process unfortunately, however I was incredibly surprised at the capabilities of the system that allowed me to create the space we now rested in. With the initial layout nearing completion I found that despite my earlier reservations I¡¯m actually kind of excited at the prospect of having people test themselves against my creation.


    I moved my point of view to what would become the dungeon entrance. As I gazed down the poorly lit corridor in thought it occurred to me that these¡­ extensions of self were like camera drones. I decided to practice my apparently innate ability to multitask and opened another perspective into the room where Raven and I now sat. Okaaaayyy. So I was sitting, Raven was far more active, currently removing my clothing, or at least attempting to. I watched as she struggled to remove the pants from my seated form for a few seconds. She pouted up at my unresponsive body for a moment or two, then sat back into the dirt floor, her body sagging in defeat. I couldn¡¯t feel the sensation of her movements, I suppose that¡¯s a side effect of being in multiple places at the same time.


    That¡¯s pretty disappointing really. I briefly wondered if I would feel anything, pain included when my attention was divided like this. I focussed more intently, sure it felt weird watching me from this point of view but¡­ hmm good. The sensations were there, just dulled somehow. I¡¯m sure with practice I could experience the sensations of what my body experienced while I was occupied. Regardless, it would appear I didn¡¯t need to be in full control for my body to do its thing.


    I allowed my presence to linger, observing as the fingers my hand reflexively curled around the angels dark hair before tightening into fists, forcing her to obey my own subconscious rhythm. Over the previous couple of weeks she had become a very willing pet indeed, all to eager to please her master, submitting willingly to my various desires. Perhaps it¡¯s because of her instructional nature I had been allowing her to slowly progress to equal status.


    I dismissed the thought along with that particular perspective to focus on the task at hand, leaving Raven to her own duties.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Again in the hallway my eyes followed a shadow further along that briefly eclipsed a light source. Raven and I had spent several hours debating how best to present the dungeon¡­ artistic wise. Yeah, yeah, sounds stupid on the face of it, but when you are in a world that has suddenly become a mishmash of magic and futuristic technology I wanted to make sure the dungeon was something that wouldn¡¯t be out of place in either separate reality. Raven had initially suggested something akin to the design features of an old english manor. I did like the rich glossy woods and intricate wall paper, it just didn¡¯t fit with the word dungeon, at least not in my mind. I did however save the patterns from that aborted attempt, certain I could find a use for them. No, english manor just wasn¡¯t ¡°dungeony¡± enough for me.


    Instead I went with a more sinister atmosphere that would just scream ¡®dungeon¡¯ at anyone that cared to enter. I patterned the walls from memory of an old bunker on one of the many military training areas I had visited in my previous life. Rough concrete that looked as though it had been poured behind a wall made of wooden boards lined the walls of the dark, damp surface. The hardened ridges of concrete appeared to have oozed between the long ago rotted wooden structure that held it in place as it cured. Moss had gathered at strategic places on the walls and floor along rivulets of water seeping through the ceiling, collecting the offered sustenance. Crude, rusted electrical fittings with barely glowing globes of light hung down at random intervals along the hallway, occasionally there would be a small electrical pop with the light fading out completely. A few seconds later the bulb would slowly attempt to reestablish dominance over the dark within its sphere of influence. A fitting metaphor.


    I willed my perspective to the end of the five meter long hallway, looking around the first bend to the left. This was the minimum required safe distance, a hard limit placed by system to ensure challengers were not simply wiped out when entering the new environment. I took a cue from the hard limit implemented by system to protect my own minions, and made sure to bend the access hallway to prevent challengers from being able to see and therefore prepare (or take pot shots at), what lay ahead. Challengers would have no option but to proceed, as the elevator at the entrance was unable to travel back to the surface, it was a one way trip.


    I blinked forward six meters from the corner and placed my first trap. I created a simple pit fall two meters deep and lined the floor with thin finger length metallic spikes. I placed a basic trap door matching the appearance of the concrete floor to conceal it. With my main priority to slow down challengers, wear them down, and make them spend longer in the dungeon, the trap would be painful, but not fatal. The reasoning is simple, I gain mana to spend on improving the dungeon based on how long individuals stay within. I gain DMP from their deaths, nonlethal traps therefore would also wear challengers down, hopefully forcing them to make fatal mistakes closer towards the end of the dungeon. Killing them here would be a waste of potential resources.


    I observed the trap intently, although very well hidden it was unfortunately both detectable and able to be disarmed by anyone with the appropriate skill and level. Being the first floor of the dungeon, the level requirements for doing so are quite low. System wont allow me to place a trap that requires a high level to disarm in a low level area. I blinked my perspective forward two meters past the trap, and with a juvenile grin etched a warning in blood on the right hand wall. ¡®Beware of traps.¡¯


    I tilted my perspective to face the partially open doorway two meters further along on the left, a steady bright yellow light spilling through the crack into the hallway. I double checked the grime covered window in the wall by the door, ensuring it would conceal what lay in wait within the room. I nodded in satisfaction as muted red flashes silhouetted the body that was seated, observing those approaching within the hallway itself, but no additional detail could be gleaned without entering the room.


    I shifted my presence through the wall, ignoring the rusted metal door and observed with an unobstructed view the figure seated in the chair. Long blonde hair flowed down covering the first few centimeters of the chairs back rest, the likely female figure faced the window in the wall unmoving. From the doorway challengers would be unable to see the face or any other detail of the figure as its hands were in its lap under the table. I had placed the body in such a way within the cramped quarters of the room to ensure there was no real way to see the face of the mummified woman without turning and rotating the chair towards the viewer. There was of course a surprise waiting, a large forty centimeter long rat was currently curled up in what used to be the woman¡¯s stomach. As though sensing my presence it poked its head through the hole it had gnawed open just above the belly button of the corpse, only to sniff in my general direction before disappearing back inside. The giant rat happily continued gnawing away at its feast as I took in the rest of the room.


    Measuring eleven by five meters and just as grungy as the hallway, rather than concrete however, the walls were covered in swollen, holed and torn drywall. Wooden filing cabinets in various states of rot and disrepair lined the walls of the room. I opened the loot pool to confirm that searching the cabinets or the desk might grant a few copper coins and a single low level skill book. If anyone were to bother searching and the items ended up being looted they would regenerate in different and random locations within the room. I looked to the steel portcullis blocking entry to the hallway in the far right hand corner of the room, this could not currently be opened by any means and was simply a placeholder for access to any further extensions I might make in future. In the left hand corner of the room, at the halfway point on the same long wall as the door challengers would enter through, was an unlocked simple wooden door and the only true exit.


    I blinked through the paint peeled wooden door to observe the small three by three meter kitchen area. On the right were floor to ceiling shelves that would yield a few low level crafting ingredients for those that bothered searching. On the left there was a depression in the wall, that would perhaps one day become a doorway, but for now housed a small bench with a metal tub to act as a sink. On the opposite wall in the left hand corner of the room was a secret door. Challengers would need to locate the switch hidden under the metal tub on the bench to my left, for those of the dungeon it would simply open when approached¡­ assuming they were here in physical form. I could just make out the darkened burrow hiding behind items stacked on the shelves. I¡¯d never heard of Ankheg¡¯s before finding them for purchase on the system interface, needing defenders for the dungeon I made an investment with my very meager initial allowance of DMP. Ankheg¡¯s are cheap, look suitably menacing, and relish ambush attacks, so I¡¯m happy with the purchase and will likely get several more in future.


    With everything in place I ignored the secret door and the winding hallway behind it, pausing only briefly to observe the decorations. Much like the rest of the dungeon so far, the floor is covered in discarded trash, office papers, and concrete rubble matching the walls. The general rubbish scattered around the place not only added to the grunginess of the dungeons atmosphere, but was also an excellent location to have the key for the door randomly spawn, hidden at the end of the one meter wide hall within the junk. I blinked through the heavy metal door to enter the armoury.


    The five by seven meter room is mostly filled with broken or severely degraded armour, weapons and ammunition drops. I was initially apprehensive when placing the loot drops for this room, Raven assured me that system is complicated enough that if someone was using, for example a bow; then arrows would be the form of ammunition collected. On the other hand if the looter was more technological in nature and required bullets or energy packs, they would be provided. It was a similar situation for body armour, and quite frankly a bit over my head at this early stage. So I again just checked that the room was suitably grungy in appearance, and with a final glance at the hollowed out, not yet door on the other side of the wall, hovered my perspective towards the final unlocked wooden door in the far right hand corner of the room that led to the boss room.


    Of course the ¡®boss¡¯ at this point in time meant me. I will admit I¡¯m more than a little concerned, having not died before and all, but Raven has assured me many times that I will simply re-spawn within the dungeons control room. Likewise after any challengers have left the dungeon all traps will reset, with loot and creatures respawning ready to defend the dungeon against any further intrusions. I¡¯d discovered during asking the many questions on my mind about death and reincarnation, that the creatures in the dungeon would remember everything that had happened between resets. So basically death was a learning experience that only helped them to be better at killing. These revelations of course sparked off my questions about sentients, and if they ever really died. Raven wasn¡¯t exactly forth coming with the details, apparently sentients can be resurrected, but she couldn¡¯t specify how or by whom, sighting that the majority of Instance Earth will be low in level so no one had yet achieved the skill to bring back others from death.


    Of course the next line of questioning at the time lead me to ask about the denizens of my dungeon leveling. Apparently system restricts the level of creatures based on the ¡®floor¡¯ they are spawned into, so for example the Ankheg¡¯s (or any other creature on the first floor), would never reach anything above level five. I would be able to see any excess experience points they achieved after this however, in case I decided to promote them to a named monster ¨C and therefore potentially becoming a floor boss, or I could elect to promote them to the next floor of the dungeon and they would level with the experience points held in reserve.


    At this point the dungeon was relatively small, as I didn¡¯t have the mana available to create additional rooms. The temporary final room would be where I confronted any challengers, this is the flip side to the benefits of having my own avatar.


    I looked over the nine by three meter long room as ideas began forming for what I might do with the space. First on the list I added the same pattern to the floor as the rest of the dungeon, an ancient looking, stained and mostly smooth concrete texture. Raven froze in place responding to the changes around her, her tongue stuck solid as she looked up to my face as though caught red handed. She waited several seconds before continuing, managing to smile up at me around her mouthful as she awaited my return.


    The current primary focus of the room is to provide an exit, so next I added a set of elevator doors, setting the default position to closed and placing a lock that would only open either at my command or if the boss was defeated. I looked at the elevator and felt the random desire to go old-timey, on a whim I changed the elevator to a cage design with a pull down door, reminiscent of a caged freight elevator. I changed the floor texture to old wooden floor boards, before adding a similar tongue and groove timber texture to the walls with exposed supporting beams at regular intervals across the ceiling.


    Observing my progress the room reminded me of a large empty warehouse, I continued working with the mental image and added lots of small and inexpensive decorative items, the largest expense being several rows of sturdy shelving and the shipping crates of various sizes I had spread around at random throughout the room.


    I drew back my perspective and observed the room in its entirety from a position above and behind the location of my wooden throne. It was difficult not to observe Raven and her antics. She was now standing between my open legs with her own legs closed and facing away from my seated body.  Ignoring the quietly moaning angel I began looking for whatever it was that was missing, something didn¡¯t feel right. The room was suitably grungy and definitely had an oppressive atmosphere about it, but there was just no¡­ life!


    It wouldn¡¯t feel very boss like if I didn¡¯t have minions, so for a final touch I began searching the system store for the cheapest available monsters I could find. I wanted something with sentience, something that could follow orders rather than its own nature like the Ankhegs. I bypassed all the various creepy crawlies that might have otherwise been at my disposal, unfortunately most humanoid races such as elves, humans and the like were beyond my means at the moment. So with no other options I began perusing the creatures classified as ¡®lesser races¡¯. The lesser races apparently include things like goblins and demonic imps but what caught my eye were the hobgoblins.


    Standing at an average height comparable to humans, they are heavily muscled grey skinned humanoids with no necks. I had initially wanted to hold around 500 DMP in reserve but ended up spending forty points on eight of the creatures. Before summoning my posse I equipped them with back combat boots and pants, sleeveless black combat vests and long bladed combat knives with belt sheathes. I had initially looked at various hand guns but had reconsidered, according to system they were more suited to hand to hand combat and were typically armed with swords, shields, and leather armor.


    With a smirk on my face at the mischief I was about to cause I set the spawn point for the hobgoblins to a semicircle around my throne and spawned all eight into the room before quickly dismissing my drone perspective.


    Raven squealed in surprise as her her body tightened with the shock of now having an audience. With shaky hands, and her body quivering as though she were suffering a fever, she lifted herself using the arms of the chair for support.


    ¡°M¡­m¡­ master?¡± Raven managed still twitching, torn between embracing the sensation and the embarrassment of the situation.


    ¡°Quiet girl! You will speak only when spoken to in the masters presence!¡± One of the hobgoblins admonished my angel, stepping forward with intent.


    Rather than responding I pulled roughly on the lower feathers of her wings, her twitching was replaced with a quick shiver and yelp of pain as she lowered into a kneeling position briefly before sitting back on her heels between my legs facing the hobgoblins.


    The grey skinned humanoid that had taken charge of his own accord nodded in satisfaction and leered at the kneeling angel. He was careful to replace his expression with one of neutrality before focusing his small beady eyes on my own.


    ¡°Master, we look forward to obliterating enemies in your name!¡± He stood to attention, the remaining five male hobgoblins followed his lead, the two females followed Ravens example and knelt in submission amongst their compatriots, eyes focussed on the ground in front of them.  Hmm, I didn''t specifiy sex, perhaps something to keep in the back of mind for the future.


    It felt¡­ weird having a male call me master. I frowned at the hobgoblin. They are clearly a militaristic race, I could have them call me sir¡­ but again, it rubbed against my dominant nature of owning women and didn¡¯t feel right. I have no interest in dominating men, or adding them to my personal stables.


    ¡°Just call me boss.¡±


    ¡°Very well¡­ boss.¡± His beady red eyes narrowed, not in suspicion but in fear, at least that¡¯s what I assumed from the questioning tone of voice. He was acting as though I had just performed some sort of test and he had risked failing by addressing me as something less than master.


    I spent the next half hour or so going over my expectations with the hobgoblins, at least the males anyway¡­ Raven and the two female grey skins remained kneeling and sitting on their heels during that time, mostly ignored. I made sure to receive almost imperceptible nods of acknowledgement from each of the hobgoblin females before proceeding onto the next topic.


    With my orders in place I dismissed the hobgoblins, initially the women had remained when their male counterparts began exploring the dungeon. At a brief command they smiled broadly and thanked me for including them in my earlier briefing before leaving to follow their companions with a skip in their steps.


    With the dungeon now as complete as I¡¯m able to make it for the moment it was time to see why Raven had asked to design the entrance. I attempted to teleport to the control room, my vision blurred and was filled with stars as usual but I remained in place, with a mild headache to boot.


    ¡°Ahh Raven?¡±


    ¡°Yes master?¡± I could hear the smile on her voice, despite the fact she had just been humiliated in front of strangers and was still naked and kneeling, she was content.


    I stood and moved to her front, holding out a hand to help my angel to her feet. She looked up at me with a broad grin on her pouty red lips.


    ¡°I can¡¯t teleport.¡± She looked up into my eyes with a smile.

 Chapter Five

    I sighed as I checked the location of my dungeon core, embedded within the wall behind the basic wooden throne I had placed at the far end of the room. I felt¡­ exposed.


    To say I was currently freaked out would be an understatement. If my core was destroyed, I would take Ravens place as a guide to whomever managed the task. They would unwittingly become the new dungeon master in my place, and Raven wasn¡¯t sure what would happen to her if my core was ever destroyed. With the well-being of the fallen angel now my responsibility, my first priority would always be to defend the core. Not for my sake, but hers. Unfortunately I couldn¡¯t just hide it away in the control room¡­ not for lack of trying however. This¡­ ¡®system¡¯ ensured I could only place it in such a way that it remained accessible to any and all challengers.


    With the dungeon core and the loot chest now placed, I teleported myself to the dungeon control room that I had originally arrived in when I first started out my new life as dungeon master. I looked to the corners of the small room until spotting the growing point of darkness and awaited Ravens form to materialise. Admiring the sleek form of her body as snaking tendrils of black fog drew the shadows into a solid form I questioned her.


    ¡°Everything looks as ready as it is likely to get for the moment, so Raven, how do we create an access to the surface?¡±


    I could hear the anticipation in her sultry voice as she replied ¡°I have a little surprise for you in relation to that master.¡±


    She inflected the word master in a manner that was intended to taunt me into punishing her again, my lips curled into a smile, she was beginning to treat ¡®punishment¡¯ as a reward. As much as I wanted to put her back in her place with the exact type of punishment we both thoroughly enjoyed¡­ now was not the time. We were so close to finishing.


    ¡°Now is not the time for pushing buttons pet.¡± I deliberately did not use her name, it served as a gentle reminder of her status. Forcing my voice into the serious tones associated with my craft of domination I continued.


    ¡°Show me.¡±


    ¡°The mana and DMP I had you save for the creation of the entrance will allow you to build a structure on the surface.¡± The worlds spilled out quickly, nervousness and excitement at what I might do in her tone.


    ¡°And how am I to view the surface from within the dungeon?¡±


    ¡°Master, do you recall our previous discussions, when we discovered you gain influence on the surface of your dungeon?¡± With a brief nod of acknowledgment she continued.


    ¡°I have done some experimenting, that influence extends to fifty meters from the furthest edge of the structure that you have placed underground. Just as you are able to teleport around to the various areas of the dungeon, you are likewise able to move to the surface to better situate entrances.¡± She moved towards the manual system interface panel in the center of the room, I could imagine the happy grin forming on her face as she continued.


    ¡°However, I have designed something that I hope you will like. You simply need to approve it and it shall be created.¡±


    I moved towards the interface, reaching out as I approached to gently tug on a feather of her right wing as if to pluck it. A small squeak escaped her lips as my pull forced her to turn with me due to the sensitive nature of her wings, and we now stood side by side observing the floating blue of the schematic she had called to the display. From the first floor of the dungeon there was now the outline of a rectangular shaft leading in a direct vertical line to the surface. At the end of the shaft, the proposed building widened to a tower approximately ten meters square. This continued directly up to a room that was placed on the top, overhanging the primary pillar, centrally creating a fifteen meter square room that overlooked the surrounding terrain. Unfortunately the nature of the surrounding terrain was not shown on the 3D map.


    I was suitably impressed with the initiative displayed by Raven. ¡°This looks good pet. I assume that¡¯s the elevator shaft you wanted on the first floor?¡± She nodded looking at me sideways with a cute expression, it hadn¡¯t slipped her notice I was yet to allow her a name, but she didn¡¯t otherwise respond.


    ¡°Assuming that we can¡¯t see the area outside of the dungeon to decide on an appropriate placement, I think we could go ahead¡­¡± I paused as a thought occurred to me.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t create an elevator shaft in the final room, just the object itself. How will anyone be able to leave without back tracking?¡±


    Raven placed her hands on her hips as she turned to face me, bouncing her armored breasts on my arm as she did so. With her head tilted to the side she responded.


    ¡°The elevator isn¡¯t exactly an elevator, I just agreed with your description as it¡¯s the simplest way to describe it. Basically the elevator is a portal¡­ like how the games of your world create a loading screen between levels. The elevators don¡¯t actually need to lead anywhere because we can dictate where they go in a similar way to a portal.¡±


    I frowned slightly, thinking out loud.


    ¡°So the entry and exit points use the same shaft, even though they are nowhere near each other?¡± I was a little concerned, the only reference points or experience I had in relation to creating dungeons was via a creation kit for one of the post apocalypse games I loved to play in my down time. I really hated it when something was obviously out of place, like these elevators would be. Inconsistencies like these broke the immersive feeling of being in the game and didn¡¯t sit well with me.


    ¡°Yes master.¡± Ravens head lowered, her shoulders and wings visibly sagged, I could hear the disappointment in her voice.


    I reached into the blackness of her hood, pulling her chin up to look into where I assumed her eyes were. I held her gaze for a brief second before leaning in for a short kiss, to both remove her doubt and make her aware that I was not exactly displeased.


    ¡°Thank you Raven.¡± I smiled, adding to the uplifting effect by again granting her a name.


    ¡°I may want to eventually change the exit, but lets put your design into place and see if it¡¯s really necessary before I go messing with your work.¡±


    The desired effect took hold as Raven clasped her hands to her chest and bounced excitedly. It was a little out of place but she was always over exuberant when she new she had pleased me. As I reached over to approve the changes she had suggested, I teleported to the room at the top of the tower.


    <hr>


    i sighed contently after Master had teleported, showering in the dark ash that he had left behind. i am unable to remove the big stupid grin on my face. i¡¯m constantly amazed and surprised at how he is able to fill me with so much confidence and a¡­ giddy happiness, just by saying my name out loud. i thought back to my time in Croran, the home of the angels.


    Thousands of years had been wasted, no angel had given a second thought to the strict rules that were harshly enforced and invaded every aspect of our daily lives. During the civil war things probably would have gone better for the arch angels that enforced the law if they had deigned to reward their angel charges. In their minds, simply performing the tasks assigned should have been reward enough, but in their single minded zealotry they only ever issued punishment to those that they alone decided had failed in their duties. i let out a short snort of laughter, wondering how different things would be in Croran if the arch angels had chosen to bend their charges over a handy piece of furniture as a reward in the way Master does¡­ things would have been very different indeed.


    Yes, Master occasionally punished me, the more he uses me, the more i wish to reward him for his treatment of me. He always knows how to use my body in the way i desire, so of course i¡¯m more willing to submit myself to him, the more i submit myself, the more my Enthralled level rises. It¡¯s a yummy circle, i wish i could lick it.


    i don¡¯t enjoy the punishment¡­ although thinking about it now¡­ i don¡¯t exactly hate it either. i had never experienced the sin of the flesh before meeting my Master. Huh¡­ i stopped my wandering thoughts short¡­ marvelling at how my Master was able to both use punishment (because i definitely didn¡¯t enjoy it), but at the same time pleasure me via the same method, i¡¯m getting to the point where I sometimes crave it as a preferred reward¡­ interesting.


    ¡­


    With my initial train of thought now lost, i remembered when i had first met Master, i was completely unprepared for the ecstasy he seemed to so easily inflict upon my corporeal body. i was terrified at first, expecting my flesh to burn and melt away, similar to the only other time i had ever been physically touched by another in the thousands of years of my existence. That had been when i was expelled from Croran during the civil war, cast down by the horrible, angry visage of an arch angel.


    my mood immediately darkened at the memory. A deep keening sadness and longing for home burst in my chest, Master, i need my Master. i teleported, forcing myself into his arms, diving into him, hugging him, forcing him to embrace me. i desperately need the comfort of his soothing touch, only he can love and protect me the way i need. Only he would understand¡­ even though i have never told him.


    With my head resting on his chest i nuzzled up into his neck, ignoring Masters wide eyed surprise at my sudden approach. He wasn¡¯t really surprised though, he never was, he always caught me and he would never let me fall. He simply held me, exactly as i needed, exactly as i knew he would. With his chin lightly placed on my head and his warm breath enveloping me soothing my aching heart, i sighed contently.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Master is always able to read my mood, sometimes he pretends to not know so he can tease me, but i always know when he is pretending not to notice because of his special not a smile. i don¡¯t think he even knows he does it.


    When i¡¯m sad like this he occasionally asks gentle questions, trying to discover the reason for my random bouts of depression, but he never ever pushes to get answers that i¡¯m not ready to give. This time, just like the many others, he asked nothing of me, simply enfolding me in his comforting warmth. This¡­ i happily told myself, is my new home, and i am very happy indeed. After a minute or two of silence in Masters arms, he began being naughty. i smiled dreamily at the tickling of his fingers tracing lazy circles on my ass, a slight involuntary emotive shiver of my wings dragged my mind into focus, breathing in his scent with a deep breath i kissed his neck and climbed down, breaking the embrace. i wanted to show off my creation for him.


    ¡°Have i pleased you Master?¡± i purred at him, he likes it when i use this tone of voice.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. My sexy fallen angel decided to block my view with her wings¡± he replied laughing down at me, the joy in his voice reaching his eyes.


    my heart beat faster, soaring at my Masters words ¡®his sexy angel¡¯, and i realised that yes, i would always be his. A warmth of serene contentment coursed through my body, the sensation similar to...  but less intense. A new sense of purpose filling my being by submitting to him ¨C body, mind, and soul.


    <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2">


    <tbody>


    <tr align="center">


    <td>Enthralled Level 3</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Defender:


    You are now able to enforce your Masters will, and defend by force of arms the surface area that is contained within your Masters area of influence.


    Note:  You are not able to use the skill ¡®Masters Voice¡¯, or apply force of arms in the underground sections of the dungeon instance.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Blinking away the notification with surprise i looked into the broad smile of my Master as he spoke. ¡°Well, I think this calls for a double celebration, don¡¯t you?¡±


    <hr>


    I blinked wearily, slowly drifting awake from my slumber. Being a dungeon I didn¡¯t need to sleep, or eat, or even shit for that matter. However in the body of an avatar and after several long hours of showing Raven exactly how pleased I was with her contribution, sleep came easily.  I lifted my hand and began to disentangle myself from Ravens sleeping from and turned my head just in time to receive a playful whack of bouncy breasts to the face as my fallen angel propped herself up onto an elbow to look down into my eyes.


    ¡°Good morning Master¡± Her drowsy voice cooed at me as she scratched at her eyelids.


    Looking around the room she realised that at some point the sun had risen and her voice positively beamed at me in her excitement, sleep forgotten she leapt to her feet. ¡°Oooo lets go look!¡±


    She reached down to help haul me to my feet, and as soon as I held her hand the now familiar but brief flash of vertigo momentarily overwhelmed me, I flashed into existence looking across a manicured lawn.


    Directly ahead, a concrete path some twenty meters long drove directly towards decorative cast iron gates that appeared to be wedged between two worn sandstone brick pillars. On the other side of the closed gates I spied a short section of footpath before a narrow bitumen road that extended beyond my view to either side. I let out a breath I hadn¡¯t realised I¡¯d been holding. At least there must be some sort of civilisation nearby, so things were looking up. Focussing on my immediate surroundings I spied a healthy dark green hedge some five meters high enveloping the sandstone pillars supporting the only entrance of the three meter high gates. I raised my elbow towards Raven, she didn¡¯t hesitate to wrap her arm through mine.


    ¡°Shall we?¡± I asked.


    As we walked the short distance to the iron gates Raven began explaining.


    ¡°Being bound to the dungeon I made sure to create the hedge walls at least twenty meters short from the dungeons influence, that way if we need to more easily see what is on the other side we may do so.¡±


    My interest was peaked at the statement, as after spending so much time within the confining walls of the dungeon, I had no idea of what the surface of the world was now like.


    ¡°What happens if we move beyond the influence of the dungeon?¡±


    Raven pet my hand in response.


    ¡°Don¡¯t fear master!¡± she replied in an exaggerated tone and continued with a light laugh.


    ¡°For those bound to the dungeon it is like¡­ an invisible wall. We will get a general sense of unease the closer we approach, however we are ultimately unable to pass.¡± she finished with a shrug.


    ¡°Okay¡­ but anyone not bound to the dungeon may come and go as they please?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly. Now that I have the Defender perk, and seeing as I am not able to attack anyone within your dungeon anyway, I will act as gate keeper.¡± She paused waiting for any additional questions, seeing I was content with the response she continued.


    ¡°The hedges are magical in nature, any that choose to attempt entry by any means other than the gates will be¡­ detained.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Thorny vines will simply hold any intruders in place until you decide what to do with them.¡± Our walk had brought us to within a few meters of the gates, Raven halted and steered us back towards the way we had come.


    I nodded in silent approval, taking in the relatively small area of my dungeons sphere of influence. Twenty meters to our front stood a dull white tower, at the base of the tower gleaming stainless steel elevator doors stood open, inviting any that dared to enter. The square tower continued up, centrally located between the hedge walls extending to a height of four stories, the angular dark tinted glass of the enclosed building at the top reminded me of an aircraft control tower. The manicured lawn stretched unbroken by anything save the concrete path on which we now stood, the lawn extended to the hedge walls twenty meters to either side of the tower, and continued behind another twenty meters, forming an area that in other circumstances might prompt people to picnic in the shade of the hedges.


    With that thought a flash of memory from something Raven and just mentioned prompted me to ask.


    ¡°As gate keeper what exactly will you be doing?¡±


    I was genuinely interested in how my fallen angel was planning to spend her time, as I would soon (presumably) be busy with my own tasks defending, expanding, and leveling the dungeon.


    ¡°Anything you wish of me Master. I was simply planning to stand by the gate, perhaps answering questions from those that wish to venture into your domain.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, okay.¡± I responded, entering the elevator in preparation to visit the tower, hopefully I would be able to establish how long we may have to wait for our first visitors. I looked for the expected panel of buttons and lifted my finger to press the round ¡®1¡¯ button, the only one there.


    ¡°No master.¡± Raven pulled me gently back, a mischievousness edged into her voice. At my questioning glance she continued.


    ¡°Wellll¡­ I thought a good way to ensure that at least a couple of challengers would visit your dungeon was to make them think that the elevator would take them to the top of the tower.¡± A smug smirk rose to her face as I listened.


    ¡°You should have at least a few visitors before word spreads about my little trick.¡± Raven was positively beaming at her own deviousness.


    ¡°Very clever.¡± I squeezed her hand in response and teleported us to the room at the top of the tower.


    Once in the tower I happily gazed through the tinted windows over the very familiar vista beyond the hedge wall. The dungeon had situated itself on what was (before the tower came into existence), a vacant area of land on the corner of Lovers Walk and Goodwood Road. Situated close to the outskirts of my home city, Bundaberg, Australia. Recalling my worry of the previous night at a lack of night lighting, I began searching the nearby streets and houses for any signs of life. Surprisingly there was absolutely no vehicular traffic on the typically busy main thorough fare of the nearby ring road.


    My brow creased in confusion, given it was around mid morning the traffic should be absolutely bustling along. I did however notice a constant stream of people walking or riding bicycles along the road leading back toward the centre of town. The scene was surreal, not unlike a stream of refugees fleeing a war zone that might have appeared somewhere further towards the outskirts of the city. The thought of refugees was only enhanced as I looked closer and noticed many were weighed down with heavy back packs and other baggage, some even pushing shopping trolleys and baby prams over flowing with meager possessions. My mind raced in the confusion of what I was witnessing, trying to piece together exactly what the hell was going on. I mean sure¡­ the world was probably put on its ass when system decided to inject itself into humanity, but surely wars and the like wouldn¡¯t break out in the few short weeks since the planet was ¡®brought online¡¯? I glanced momentarily at Raven to determine if she had any information to offer, she wasn¡¯t looking at me, my angel was also taking in the view, so I again turned to see if I could figure out what exactly was going on.


    Looking closer I could see that these¡­ refugees, they weren¡¯t all human! I stared silently in wonder as I recalled the initial messages advising that some people would be forced to change their race. It would appear that the eclectic group of creatures now plodding down the road was probably the new normal.


    ¡°No one seems to even notice we are here.¡±


    ¡°No Master, there is a low level telepathic effect convincing those that pass that there is simply an empty field where we now stand.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°I was awaiting your final approval before allowing the sentients to see, and therefore access the dungeon.¡± Raven explained.


    ¡°So¡­ we are invisible? That¡¯s¡­ handy.¡± I mumbled.


    Another question occurred to me.


    ¡°Why are people streaming into the city? I mean, I guess its for protection or whatever, but didn¡¯t all the changes happen weeks ago? Shouldn¡¯t everyone already be where they want to be by now? And where are all the cars?¡±


    In a patient, soothing tone Raven responded.


    ¡°System created a time dilation effect to ensure that all dungeons would be completed simultaneously in conjunction with any other changes to the inhabitants of Instance Earth. Only twenty four hours real time have actually passed. As for¡­ cars¡­ I¡¯m not exactly sure what you mean, but I¡¯m sure you will recall the notification where all manner of technological and mechanical objects would essentially be rendered useless until upgraded to the specifications of the current patch for Instance Earth.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ yeaaah¡± I stared into space pondering the implications.


    ¡°Wait, you keep distracting me from the whole invisible thing, what gives.?¡±


    A little embarrassment crept into the fallen angels voice.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s um¡­ an angel thing. When we need to travel among the lesser races it makes it easier for us to get around.¡± she explained sheepishly.


    I playfully pinched the strip of white skin poking from beneath the armour at her hip, recalling that goblins, imps and hobgoblins were amongst the races she had just referred to.


    ¡°Lesser races huh?¡±


    ¡°Oh! I didn¡¯t mean you Master! You¡¯re immortal now!¡±


    ¡°uh-huh¡± I grinned.


    ¡°You can pay for that particular slip up later, but in the mean time¡­ let ¡¯em see, I guess.¡±


    There was a definite change of mood within the people walking the streets below. Some simply stopped and stared up at the tower, their mouths agape at the sight that had seemingly just appeared out of nowhere. Others simply dropped their shit and ran towards the small city screaming about whatever new horror had presented itself, as they ran they shouted into the faces of those they passed in warning.


    I pulled Raven into my arms making sure not to crush her delicate wings between us. She dismissed them so I pulled her tighter and lowered my head to rest my chin on her shoulder. She leaned back into my embrace breathing a heavy sigh as I absently stroked her stomach, inching my finger tips down her flat stomach towards the upper edge of her leather skirt.


    ¡°I guess now we wait.¡± I whispered.


    In the end we didn¡¯t have that long to wait, maybe half an hour had passed.


    Sighing at the unwelcomed interuption, she raised a hand pointing to the near distance, the pout obvious on her voice.


    ¡°Hmm Master, I think we may have company.¡±