“You think she’s low level?” I asked, surprised, then remembered who I was talking to and chuckled. “Oh, right, I forgot that you’re used to seeing Level 100 cultivators. Well, she’s far beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. To be honest, I was a little afraid of her when I first met her. She can be pretty brutal.” I recalled how she’d slaughtered the PentaTech soldiers. It had been incredible to witness power at that level. I could only imagine what even higher levels would look like.

“Brutality in battle is a trait we both share,” Kyrine said. “It’s a pity that Astrid fears me so.”

“She did seem a little scared of you earlier,” I said. “Did you do something to her?”

“I may have caused her a... slight injury when she first entered my depths,” Kyrine said with a slight hint of embarrassment in her voice. “But only because I believed her to be an intruder. I would never have harmed her if she had simply informed me of her intentions. They came as a group, she and her tentacle-haired accomplice and the one with ears of a feline. Once they had established communication with me, they promised to find me a Keeper. Even after I agreed to their proposition, the wolf-like one, Astrid, continues to fear me.”

“You’re a dungeon,” I said. “An ancient being of incredible latent power. It’s no wonder she was afraid of you. Hell, I’m still a little scared of you, despite the fact that we’ve created a powerful bond.”

“You need not fear me,” she said, with a smile in her voice. “And now that I am bound to you, Jeremy, we may find that the others can learn to enjoy my presence a little more. I can be quite abrasive, I readily admit that. But now I have a Keeper such as you to guide me, I expect I’ll manage to be better behaved.”

“Let’s hope so,” I said. “No killing curious people who accidentally walk inside your mansion, ok?”

“Oh, we shall kill together.”

She seemed so pleased with the idea of killing that I didn’t want to tell her that I had no intentions of killing anyone. Unless they tried to harm her. Wait, why had that thought come so easily to me? Was this also part of the bonding process, an incredible desire to give a swift and violent end to anyone who even considered harming Kyrine?

I put the thought aside for now and checked out the mansion’s second floor. There were four bedrooms and a vast library that looked out onto the rear gardens.