The master bedroom of the obsidian manor was completely quiet, filled only with the sound of heavy, satisfied breathing.

Kaelen lay on his back on the dark silk sheets. The intense, burning heat of the magical ritual had finally faded. Lyriel, the Level 60 Elven Royal Assassin, was curled up tightly against his side. Her flawless pale skin was pressed directly against his chest. Her pure silver hair fell over his shoulder like a beautiful blanket.

She was completely relaxed. The agonizing Blood Curse that had tortured her for days was permanently destroyed. Her glowing silver eyes looked up at Kaelen, completely filled with deep, submissive adoration.

However, the heavy iron chains from the Midnight Market were still locked tightly around her slender neck and wrists. They had completely forgotten about them during the wild, aggressive passion of the Deep Resonance.

Kaelen sat up slightly. He reached out with his large, bare hands and grabbed the thick iron chains on her wrists.

"Hold still, my assassin," Kaelen commanded softly.

Lyriel did not flinch. She trusted him completely now. Kaelen activated a fraction of his monstrous, Level 85 physical strength. He squeezed his hands into tight fists and pulled outward. The thick iron links instantly snapped and shattered into pieces.

He repeated the process, breaking the heavy collar around her neck. The broken iron fell onto the stone floor with a loud crash. Lyriel was finally, completely free. She rubbed her sore, pale wrists and smiled up at him.

Just then, the heavy wooden door to the master bedroom slowly pushed open.

Seraphina stepped into the room. The golden-haired Vanguard was fully dressed in her heavy silver chainmail. Her golden eyes immediately locked onto the beautiful, naked Elven woman lying in her Dungeon Master’s bed.

Lyriel tensed instinctively. Her long, pointed ears twitched. As an assassin, she could feel the terrifying, raw holy power radiating from Seraphina’s body.

"Master," Seraphina said with a calm, even voice. She walked over to the edge of the large bed. She looked down at Lyriel. "I felt a massive surge of void mana. I see you have claimed our new prisoner."

"She is not a prisoner anymore, Seraphina," Kaelen said smoothly. He wrapped his arm around Lyriel’s bare waist. "Her name is Lyriel. She is a Royal Assassin, and she is bound to our Sanctuary now. You are my Vanguard, the shield that guards my front. She will be my shadow, the blade that strikes from the dark."

Seraphina did not look jealous or angry. Because she was deeply Mana-Bound to Kaelen, she only cared about his strength and his safety. If this Elven woman made her King stronger, then Seraphina accepted her.

Seraphina reached out and gently touched Lyriel’s silver hair. "Welcome to the Abyss, little shadow. Serve our King well, or I will cut your head off."

Lyriel smirked, her fierce elven pride returning just a little bit. "I am much faster than you, human knight. You would never catch me."

Kaelen laughed. He loved the tension between his two powerful women. He climbed out of the giant bed and put his dark trousers back on.

"Rest your body, Lyriel," Kaelen ordered. "I need to go to the Primordial Core. Our empire is growing, and we need better supplies."

Kaelen walked out of the master bedroom. He left his two beautiful guards alone and walked down the dark hallway of the manor. He felt incredible. His body was almost trembling from the +50 Agility he had just absorbed from Lyriel. His footsteps were silent on the stone floor. He moved with a terrifying, liquid grace that he had never possessed before.

He reached the center of the Sanctuary. The massive Primordial Core pulsed with a deep and rhythmic violet light, illuminating the dark cavern.

Kaelen opened his system interface.

[Dungeon Master Status] [Level: 52]

[Current DP: 40,000]

He had spent all of his surface gold to buy Lyriel at the Midnight Market. However, gold was not the only currency the system accepted.

Kaelen opened his hidden inventory and pulled out fifty small, glowing purple stones. They were the Level 30 Abyssal Hound cores he had harvested during his long descent into the Chasm. He had hundreds of them left.

"System," Kaelen commanded. "Absorb these monster cores."

He dumped the fifty purple stones directly onto the base of the giant crystal. The Primordial Core flashed brightly. The stones instantly dissolved into a thick purple mist and were sucked inside the crystal.

[50 Abyssal Cores absorbed. +50,000 DP.] |

[Current DP: 90,000]

Kaelen smiled. He immediately opened the construction menu. His underground empire needed basic survival supplies. He could not feed his beautiful women rotten monster meat forever.

With some quick thinking, he spent his points. He bought a fully eqipped kitchen and an underground water well for the manor. He spent more points to create a large and incredibly sturdy training room. Finally, he purchased a magical armory that could slowly repair and sharpen weapons using the dungeon’s ambient mana.

The earth rumbled heavily beneath his feet. New rooms seamlessly carved themselves into the dark obsidian manor. The Sanctuary was slowly becoming a true, impenetrable fortress.

Kaelen closed the interface. It was time to test his new power.

He focused his mind on the new passive trait he had stolen from Lyriel: Shadow Step.

Kaelen looked at a dark shadow cast by one of the giant gargoyle statues across the cavern. He channeled a tiny drop of void mana into his legs.

Instantly, the world around him turned completely black. There was no sound, no wind, no feeling. Less than half a second later, he instantly materialized directly inside the gargoyle’s shadow, fifty feet away from where he had just been standing.

Kaelen gasped slightly, stepping out of the dark shadow. It was true teleportation. It was completely instantaneous. With his Level 85 raw strength, Seraphina’s master swordsmanship, and now Lyriel’s teleporting shadows, Kaelen was becoming an absolutely unstoppable monster. No Iron-rank, Silver-rank, or even Gold-rank mercenary on the surface could possibly match his speed and power now.

"Master?" a sharp voice called out.

Kaelen turned around. Lyriel was standing at the entrance of the manor. She had found a spare set of tight black leather clothes in his inventory and put them on. The dark fabric hugged her perfect curves beautifully. She watched him teleport with wide silver eyes.

"You actually stole my magic," Lyriel whispered in awe.

"I told you I was a Heretic," Kaelen smirked darkly. He walked back toward her. "Are you fully recovered?"

"Yes, my King," she nodded respectfully. Her Elven body healed incredibly fast now that the curse was gone.

"Good," Kaelen said, his brown eyes turning cold and serious. "Because tomorrow, we are going to use the Abyssal Waypoint. We are returning to the surface."

"To the capital city?" Lyriel asked, her hand instinctively reaching for a dagger that wasn’t there.

"Yes," Kaelen answered. "I have my Bronze-rank guild badge. We need to register you and Seraphina as my official mercenary party. It is time to start taking high-level quests, making real money, and hunting down the knights who threw me in this pit."