Alice was glaring at him with narrow eyes, incredibly displeased. She looked like a kitten who had her breakfast taken away.

"Why did you stop petting me?! You're not allowed to pause! I need it to recover!"

"…"

Silence.

With yet another defeated sigh, Kaiden slowly resumed stroking her hair.

Alice practically melted into the pillow, getting visibly comfier by the second.

Minutes passed like that. The atmosphere was quiet and warm, incredibly soft.

A tender stillness wrapped around them, gentle and fragile.

At last, Alice spoke.

"I love you, big brother."

For once, there was no questionable undertone to what she said.

Just truth.

Kaiden smiled. "I love you too, Alice."

"I'm really sleepy…" she yawned.

"Then sleep," he whispered. "I'll stay until you do."

Her whole face lit with unfiltered joy.

"It's just like the old times…"

Peace settled in between the two of them; it felt like a very tender, familiar moment.

And then, the heaviness hit him.

Kaiden felt sluggish and tired, weirdly exhausted. He hadn't even gone for tonight's rodeo with his girls, yet he felt as if he had been drained of all his essence.

"Mm… maybe I got hit by the transformation too…" he muttered. "The girls did say I looked a bit more buff. And evidently I smelled better as well… Bastet was going places back there…" he couldn't help but chuckle at the memory of his awesome tanned kitten sniffing him as if he suddenly turned utterly irresistible.

Alice peeked at him from under the blanket, eyes warm.

"I noticed it too… The changes might be minuscule on the surface, but they're very easy to notice for someone like me." Her eyes sparkled proudly. "Those women might think they know you best, but that's only because I haven't revealed all my knowledge! They're living in a bubble, one that I can pop any moment should I choose to! Hehe!"

Kaiden snorted despite himself.

"Alice."

"Hm?" she mumbled, sleep tugging on her voice.

"I want you to get along with them."

His voice softened. "I love those women with all my heart. They're so important to me, I can't even begin to put my feelings into words. I hope you can accept that. I hope you can stop treating them like enemies to defeat in your evident crusade for my attention, and become good friends instead."

Alice blinked slowly, then turned more serious as she reached up, fingers brushing the hand that was not permitted to stop its petting motions all this while.

Her touch was small and soft, incredibly sincere.

"I know," she whispered. "You don't have to worry."

Her eyes softened. "I only spent a little time with them, but I can tell they're all great…"

She breathed in and pouted, "It's just, I wish they weren't doing 'it' with-"

"Alice," Kaiden interrupted immediately.

She pouted. "You didn't even let me finish."

"I didn't need to."

Alice giggled, releasing a tiny, mischievous sound.

"I'm just messing with you~"

She sank deeper under the sheets, getting ridiculously cozy, yawning so cutely it should've been illegal.

"I can tell that I'll have a lot of fun in the future," she whispered, then gave a grin.

A gremlin grin.

A Luna grin.

Kaiden's stomach dropped.

That was the face that meant:

He was not safe.

Despite her reassurances, headaches were coming.

He exhaled and tried to stand, thinking it was really time for him to head to bed.

His legs didn't listen.

The tiredness was too deep, as if his body had decided it no longer cared about verticality.

"…Screw it," he muttered, mentally shrugging.

He stayed seated and let sleep drag him under.

His eyes closed.

And the last thing he heard was Alice's drowsy murmur:

"By the way, big brother… I'm going to get a DNA test…"

Kaiden's brain shut down on the spot.

And sleep won.

…

Fresh dungeon light washed over the chamber as Kaiden stood at the entrance with Tessa and Thalia beside him. The two guild leaders flanked him on either side.

"Thank you both for letting me use this dungeon," Kaiden said sincerely.

Tessa nodded immediately.

Thalia also nodded.

… Until Thalia realized what she had just done.

"Wait," she said, turning to Tessa with a flat stare. "Why are you nodding like you own the place? This dungeon belongs to Runewoven, not Nova Circuit. Now that I think about it, why are you even here?"

Tessa shrugged, all teeth and mischief. "We're in a full alliance. What's yours is basically mine, comrade."

"That's not how…" Thalia started, then gave up mid-sentence, shoulders sagging. "…You know what? Fine. Whatever."

Their attention drifted past Kaiden.

And for good reason.

Behind him stood dozens of bronze-skinned warriors, armored in the style of ancient champions, eyes burning with disciplined zeal. The air around them thrummed with anticipation; they looked ready to test themselves.

At their front stood Taigi, the woman Kaiden had personally promoted. She was now captain of the Dungeon-Born forces.

Indeed, Kaiden had found that they could leave his dungeon's premises; they were not locked in there. Without any magical interference or anything like that, they could just step through the gate like normal humans.

Kaiden tested the same with his monsters as well and found the same. They were not restricted, which technically meant he had a great deal of high-level monsters, making him on the level of a strong guild leader.

But he did not wish to have his monsters leave the dungeon, as their absence would mean that the dungeon was undefended. If someone reached the throne and claimed it, Kaiden did not want to find out what happened.

And even if the dungeon couldn't be taken like that from him, which was questionable in itself - he didn't want filthy invaders to turn his home upside down and welcome them back with nasty surprises when they returned.

Anyhow. To keep it short.

Dungeon-Born were planned to be his mobile force, going where they were needed, while the monsters were his permanent defenders.

Now, it was time to test these new life forms that the Native Americans became.

To see how they performed in real combat.

To see if Dungeon-Born could level, grow, evolve, and in what manner.

And beyond than that…

Kaiden's gaze slid to the side.

Alice stood there, hopping giddily, cheeks flushed with excitement, glowing. Absolutely glowing.

The moment he met her eyes, she grinned.

A wicked, thrilled, way-too-eager grin.

She bounced on her toes, overjoyed that this was really happening.

Now, it was time to see just what their combination could do.

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