ã€ŠForged By The Apocalypse - A LitRPG With Draconic Potentialã€‹


 Chapter One - The Shift

    If there is one universal truth each and every being would say applies to themselves it would be this: ¡°If something can go wrong, it will.¡± Every being in existence does everything it can to mitigate this risk in every way they can, even down to how they evolved. Eventually, everything becomes a crab or a slime.

    What I¡¯m trying to say is that I wasn¡¯t particularly surprised that the apocalypse descended in the moments before I finally graduated from University. Twelve years of standard education, rolling right into seven years of much more expensive medical training. It¡¯d be easy enough to see the benefits of a surgeon in the apocalypse but immensely less-so for psychiatry.

    They¡¯d need me afterwards, I joked as I sprinted as far as I could from Saint Gerrard¡¯s University. We¡¯d all received the same, insane message in our heads at the same time but not everyone was reacting like me. They were all in shock, but I couldn¡¯t afford that.

    I needed to get home.

    All at once. the whole university and, I¡¯m assuming, the planet received an ominous warning. ¡°The end of the beginning starts in thirty.¡± A sonorous voice intoned, causing immediate halt to all proceedings and a lot of screaming. It was easy enough to figure out we had all heard the same thing when people started talking. ¡°Thirty what?¡± The most common and most important question.

    When the voice returned, not quite a minute later, and droned a simple ¡°Twenty nine¡±, the confusion only increased. People were looking around desperately for someone who could give them an answer, but there just wasn¡¯t one. A few other people started to look increasingly disturbed. Panic was setting in.

    I was already leaving.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Bless her heart, Professor Daniels was holding my diploma out to me, still. I had been next to receive the degree, but it obviously didn¡¯t matter now. Either I was completely insane and my psychiatry career was over before it began or¡­ the world had gone completely insane. We¡¯d see what that meant for me career-wise, if I survived.

    ¡°Twenty eight.¡±

    ¡°Ahh, piss off!¡± I shouted. Even though she had heard the voice too, the doddering woman looked offended. Hopefully I would get the chance to apologise, but how could it matter? I sprinted off the stage and made for the exit. Luckily, because of my haste and the relative spotlight on me, most people in attendance were too stunned to crowd the aisle yet.

    ¡°Twenty seven.¡±

    This particular announcement coincided with the deep ringing of the school bell. An actual bell, with a belfry. Someone was diligent, I thought as I made a beeline for the front doors of the university. The bell required a physical pull on a heavy rope to sound. I shook my head. ¡°British people¡­¡± I muttered under my panting breath.

    The chaos had started at this point, and my lungs were full of sharp blades. I cycled every now and then, but I was by no means in peak physical shape. I wanted to kick myself but I could hardly have expected some weird, magical armageddon to descend. The sky seemed to have been informed it was time to be dramatic, and rumbling red clouds were beginning to appear in the sky.

    Though still not entirely convinced I wasn¡¯t hallucinating, it was becoming more and more clear something serious was happening. Home was a small two bedroom house about three miles from the school. The hour or so it took to walk in the morning was a scenic walk through idyllic English suburbs and a park. Those pretty houses and lovely lanes were just obstacles.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± A vice grip literally stopped me in my tracks. I was stunned to see the ancient face of Mrs Naebol looking straight into my eyes. Her milky white sockets were useless, I thought. The intensity in those blank eyes was almost as terrifying as the ¡°Twenty six¡± which the deep voice intoned.

    There were people in disarray all around and I saw them all flinch. Everyone but Mrs Naebol, that is. ¡°The hell are you made of?¡± I asked under my breath. ¡°I¡¯m not sure Mrs Naebol, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s good. You should get home¡­¡± I tried to pull away but her grip was intense. I also didn¡¯t try too hard. I closed my eyes and sighed at myself. What am I doing? ¡°Can I get you somewhere safe quickly?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the Kaeron boy, aren¡¯t you?¡± I was pretty sure that Mrs Naebol was older than the original sin. She could often be seen in the various warm places around, getting a coffee and trying to find someone to talk to. I had taken the time to chat on a few occasions, which I was glad for right now. We needed to get somewhere safe, if that existed anymore.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Grant Kaeron. Will you walk with me?¡± She wasn¡¯t letting go and I couldn¡¯t blame her. Blind, quiet and tiny, what chance did she have if the world fell apart and no one helped her? I would grab the first person I could, too. She nodded and I flinched as the voice boomed again.

    ¡°Twenty four.¡±

    ¡°Jesus chr- Imeny.¡± I frowned. Best not to throw powerful names around in vain right now. ¡°You¡¯re hearing that too? Come on, let¡¯s get somewhere warm, at least.¡± Despite the promise of Summer around the corner, this particular week in May had been frigid as a witch¡¯s tit. Mrs Naebol had grabbed hold of me as I passed an alley leading to the local park. There was a caf¨¦ there where I could leave her without too much guilt.

    The voice told us another segment of time had passed. At around fifty second intervals, I judged that there were less than twenty minutes left. I could still make it, taking the short walk to catch my breath. ¡°Always knew this would happen.¡± Mrs Naebol was muttering strangeness, still vice gripped to my sleeve.

    ¡°Twenty two.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have the time to think about anything but getting free of the old dear. Still, I wouldn¡¯t be able to live with myself if I just pulled free. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t sure I could. Crazy old lady strength. ¡°We¡¯re nearly at Clive¡¯s. Is Sandra working today do you think?¡± Study kicked in. Keep talking about the mundane and fear can¡¯t set in as easily.

    Everyone in the room jumped as I opened the door. The voice spoke at the same time, and we received accusatory looks. ¡°Sorry,¡± I winced. Luckily, I didn¡¯t need to do much explaining as the owner came flapping over. Her husband Clive had passed away a few years ago, but the name of the business stuck. Like a mother hen, Sandra covered the elderly woman with her shawl. She released me and I turned for the not yet closed door behind me.

    ¡°Twenty. Integration initiated.¡±

    The door fell into my hand. Expecting physics to follow the rules I was used to, I was unprepared for the weight it swung closed with. Like it had been shoved shut with a huge finger, I was thrown back by the force. With presence of mind, I blocked my head with my left hand just before I collided with a nearby wall. Keeping myself conscious was great, but it meant the pain in my shoulder was inescapable.

    I screamed even as someone began to crowd me. ¡°Hey. Hey kid. Look at me. Don¡¯t look at your arm, look at me.¡± I found it hard to focus my eyes, but I managed to lock on to a pair of watery blue eyes. The man had short salt and pepper stubble and a ruddy redness in his bulbous nose. ¡°This is crazy, right?¡±

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Everything hurt. ¡°Yeah,¡± I mumbled. I hoped that agreeing with him would be enough and that he would leave me alone, but he didn¡¯t. He asked a few more rapid fire questions. Did I go to the university? Yup. Had I tried the sandwiches on sale here? Most lunchtimes I got free, yes sir. Could I take a deep breath? Well, sure, watch.

    ¡°Nineteen.¡±

    As the voice boomed in my ear, the man yanked my arm. It was like he pulled my consciousness back from the brink. The fog in my mind was blasted apart and suddenly I was back in the room. ¡°Ow¡­¡± I moaned.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯ll sting alright.¡± The man stood up. I¡¯d seen him around over the years, but we¡¯d never had reason to speak before. ¡°Can you get up?¡± His outstretched hand felt like a taunt as I gripped my right shoulder to stem the pain. I grunted and grabbed his arm with my left hand, letting myself be pulled to my feet. It felt like my back was being shredded against barbed wire.

    Now it was my turn to look at the door with accusation. Why had it swung back so hard? ¡°What the fuck is going on?¡± Though I basically whispered the question to myself, Sandra¡¯s head snapped my way so hard her earrings clattered loudly. I smothered an eye roll and turned my expression apologetic before gesturing my head to my shoulder.

    Struggling to be polite, I felt frustration rise as the sourceless voice spoke again. Eighteen by fifty was nine hundred. Fifteen minutes. I wasn¡¯t sprinting anywhere with my shoulder like this. Innocent as anything, I walked back up to the door. Once I was close, the rage I felt came forth and I planted my foot near the handle and pushed. Every action gets an equal reaction according to Newton, but the whiplash this time felt disproportional.

    Luckily, nothing dislocated, but I fell back into the caf¨¦ where multiple worried and confused faces were glaring at me. Oh, like you were all just enjoying a nice lunch before we came in. Mrs Naebol had been ushered to a chair and was seated with a look of deep consternation on her face. The pain in my shoulder had flared but I gritted my teeth and got to my feet.

    ¡°Seventeen.¡±

    Someone screamed. The pressure was mounting with each passing moment, people were bound to buckle eventually. In fact, I probably looked pretty frantic after nearly breaking myself on the front door twice in as many minutes. The scream had come from a bespectacled woman who brandished her laptop with two hands over her head. ¡°GET AWAY FROM ME!¡±

    No one had been approaching, and they definitely weren¡¯t now. ¡°It¡¯s okay, calm down.¡± The man who had relocated my shoulder spoke in an almost bored drawl. ¡°The scene¡¯s already being made, love, no one needs you getting all crazy, too.¡±

    ¡°Me? Crazy? That boy¡¯s the only one doing anything! We need to get out of here!¡± I shrank into a seat next to the still-frowning Mrs Naebol. Don¡¯t single me out, I¡¯m not on your side. A few looks my way were met with as close to a shrug as I could manage. I was done trying to shove my way out, at least. Someone else could come up with a plan.

    The laptop lady and the helpful man continued having a back and forth, but just like he had with me, the older man was trying to keep a lid on the situation. It wasn¡¯t working nearly as well with laptop lady, however. As the voice called out sixteen minutes (until the end of the beginning, whatever that meant), she only became more frantic.

    ¡°Get us OUT!¡±

    Despite the seriousness of my own injuries, which I felt a little disconnected from, it was easy to find the situation absurd rather than frightening. A mysterious voice was counting down to something unknown and I was stuck in a caf¨¦ with a bunch of strangers. The doors were blocked by some inexplicable means and no answers were forthcoming.

    Frustrated and scared, the woman got a running start and threw her laptop as hard as she could at a window. Intending to follow it out, I imagine she was quite surprised when a similar effect to the door caused the laptop to fling back towards her. I never learned her name. The laptop might have given me an answer if I were inclined to search, but things got rather hectic rather quickly after that.

    Much like the door had suddenly seemed to weigh a hundred times its norm, and my kick rebounded with astounding force, the laptop ricocheted like a hard plastic bullet. It disappeared from view. A crash behind me was followed by a slap of wind. Everything happened all at once.

    I reached up to my face, where the wind felt like it had left a mark. My fingers came away bloody. Panicking, I turned and saw the laptop smashed, half buried in the brick wall. ¡°Huh?¡± The woman asked. That was all I heard before the screaming started again. It wasn¡¯t her this time, and the older man who helped before joined in the chorus as people saw what had occurred.

    I had a small cut on my cheek, but there was blood all over my forehead. I returned my gaze to the woman just in time to see her fall. Her top half fell, that is. Her legs gruesomely remained standing for another few seconds before the knees buckled. I barely heard the evil voice in my head say fifteen.

    Blood pooled quickly. I absently noticed that much more blood was flowing from the top half than the bottom half. There wasn¡¯t much I could do about the shock at this point. Simply too many things had conspired at once. ¡°I was supposed to graduate today,¡± I chuckled.

    Mrs Naebol turned to me, and I quickly grabbed a napkin to get the splatter of blood from her face. ¡°So it¡¯s really happening?¡± She asked. My heart broke a little. Mrs Naebol didn¡¯t have any clue what was going on, and now she was just surrounded by screaming.

    ¡°Lots of bad stuff is happening. What do you mean, Mrs Naebol?¡±

    ¡°The System has come for Earth.¡±

    ¡°What system?¡± My head was still swimming but something pulled me into the moment. Despite the horror going on in the caf¨¦, this felt more important right now. There was nothing I could do for either half of Glasses Lady. Maybe I could help the people screaming, but I wasn¡¯t focusing on them.

    ¡°Fourteen.¡±

    ¡°Ugh, shut up. Can you not hear that, Mrs Naebol?¡± Each time the voice spoke it was louder than the time before. Deep, full of bass and terrifying, Mrs Naebol was the only person who didn¡¯t react to its countdown. She hadn¡¯t reacted once, now that I actively tried to think about it.

    She smiled a gentle smile, discordant somehow with the drama behind her. The air around us became noticeably calmer, the sounds of useless triage muted. ¡°This isn¡¯t my first go around, Grant.¡± She raised a hand to my cheek and I found myself unable to move away. ¡°And I¡¯m not looking for another.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± I said dumbly. The confusion only grew, as the sounds around us got even quieter. Somewhere in the mumble I heard the ominous voice whisper the word twelve. Astonished, I watched Mrs Naebol¡¯s eye clear. As though her cataracts had never stolen the sight, she looked at me.

    Two vibrant amethyst eyes burned into mine. Their intensity was greater than the sun, yet I couldn¡¯t look away. Around the purple orbs of power, Mrs Naebol¡¯s face became apologetic. ¡°I¡¯m truly, very sorry for this.¡±

    ¡°Wha-¡±

    My mind was bitch-slapped like a train had been shoved up my nostril. All senses except touch disappeared. I felt all of my muscles snap into positions they were not meant to move. I could feel nothing but my own body moving. I screamed in terror but had no idea if I was actually making the noise.

    The horrible, locked-in feeling of having no control over my own body was harrowing. I could almost feel various parts of my psyche being branded by the experience, though in the moment all I could truly feel was fear. What¡¯s happening to me? Mrs Naebol? Sandra? Anyone?

    As suddenly as the world disappeared, it returned. I could taste blood. My fingers were sticky and all of my muscles felt heavy. I was breathing like I had run a marathon, or more appropriately, gone twelve rounds with a heavyweight. ¡°What the fu-¡± I stopped talking, my throat apparently shredded. Maybe from my screaming?

    Sight was the final sense to return. I hadn¡¯t noticed that I could hear the room because it was so quiet but I heard my own voice, and the coughing thereafter. ¡°It¡¯s not fair,¡± came a voice to my right. I jolted, and my muscles reminded me they were in a lot of pain right now and such movements were not allowed. I groaned and fell onto my back with a splash. By that point, the blood was impossible to ignore. My mind had done its best, but reality forced its way into my perception whether I liked it or not.

    I did not like it.

    The walls were covered in blood. There was no sound because everyone had been torn apart. Like the room was secretly a giant blender which I had somehow avoided, everyone else was ripped to pieces by an unknown attacker. I looked down at my own, destroyed hands with numb, dreadful understanding.

    Finally, I looked down into the ankle deep puddle of blood. How many was it? Twelve? Eleven, I think. Glasses Lady was already dead. Grey, wiry hair was matted with the crimson clotting of the caf¨¦ goer¡¯s blood. Her yellowing cardigan and brown knee length skirt were stained nearly black with it. ¡°It¡¯s not fair,¡± she repeated.

    ¡°One.¡± The voice shook the world, forcing me to plunge my ruined hands into the blood for stability. The countdown was already over? Had I missed other statements after the last? I guessed it didn¡¯t matter.

    ¡°What¡¯s not fair?¡± I stared into her gemstone eyes. I was pretty sure the world was ending, I had also probably gone insane and it certainly seemed like I had killed this room full of people. I might as well humour the old lady.

    ¡°What the System does to people is cruel. Good people don¡¯t survive long. Ever.¡± Her eyes still seared into my own with unexplainable energy, and I felt that energy grasp hold of my mind. It was the same as before my blackout. Maybe I gained some kind of resistance to the control.

    Not enough, unfortunately.

    ¡°Zero. System online. Good luck.¡±

    As the countdown finished, Mrs Naebol used her strange power to move my limbs. I watched in confusion and then nauseous horror as my hands wrapped around her neck. One fierce squeeze, only a moment of strength, and the light was snuffed from her eyes. The control was immediately removed and I threw myself backwards, away from the body.

    Ding. ¡°Level up!¡±

    The same voice from the countdown shouted the words happily into my head. Then, it happened again. And again. Then something seemed to finally break because the volume jumped a magnitude, the words became a jumbled mess. ¡°Level-achieve-title unl-new ques- Level up!- Would you like- Level up!- to loot Naeboaroseax?-Level up!-gon Slayer, equi-Inventor- Level up!¡±

    The world was nothing but blood, loud noises and an altogether indescribable feeling somewhere between being hungry and inflating like a balloon. I slipped on the blood as I tried to take a shaky step towards the front door. As I fell, my head clipped the corner of a table. The questions and sounds from the System kept coming.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± I mumbled, not able to make any other words come to mind. ¡°Yeah.¡±

 Chapter Two - A Bloodstained Beginning

    I awoke to a world of darkness. The stink of blood filled the air. My eyelids were sealed shut and literally every muscle in my body felt torn in two. I groaned, and gagged as the scent of blood was joined by the taste. My mouth half filled and I spluttered, trying to sit up while spitting out the rank taste.

    It was impossible to move. I had taken some hits in a short period but whatever happened while I was blacked out had been more than I could handle. My back spasmed painfully and I groaned again. Left with nothing but my pain and the unceasing darkness behind my eyelids, I was forced to confront what had happened.

    The spasm became a shudder as I remembered the feeling of my mind ceding control of my body to an outside force, twice. Each time, I had been forced to kill. I managed to turn my head to the side as I evacuated the mostly empty contents of my stomach. Bile, thick with unconsciously swallowed blood, spewed forth violently. The pain forced me into a seated position and I slumped forward. I painfully brought my knees to my chest and hung my head between them.

    ¡°I killed them,¡± I wheezed. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. Sandra¡­ helpful guy¡­¡± Without knowing their names, apologising over the bloodbath felt disingenuous. Almost cruel. More bile rose but this time was forced down. With no little effort, I forced my eyes open. I was surprised to see the afternoon sun outside. The shadows of nearby trees cast the caf¨¦ in darkness.

    The scene was as awful as my imagination and memory expected, which put it within reason. My eyes also caught a still figure. Somewhere to direct my anger.I struggled, trying to remember the final moments before I passed out. This wasn¡¯t my fault, was it?

    No, I thought. Horror and fear could only exist in the psyche for so long before the mind¡¯s defences kick in. Disgust and terror quickly gave way to anger. ¡°This was your fault, crazy hag!¡± I petulantly kicked Mrs Naebol¡¯s lifeless body. My agonised muscles didn¡¯t thank me for it, but it still made me feel better overall. Anger was an easier feeling to embrace than guilt, after all.

    To my amazement, a sign started to float out of her dead body. Clear, legible writing was written large in white text on the black box. It completely obscured the world behind it, but even as I panicked and thought so, the box became transparent. With another thought, it was opaque again. Weird. The text was no less strange. Two words, only one of them I recognised.

    Naeboaroseax - Dead

    ¡°Naeboar¡­ oaze- ee-ax?¡±I sounded the word out. ¡°Haven¡¯t I heard that before? Something to do with looting?¡± The words on the textbox shifted in response to my second question.

    Would you like to loot Naeboaroseax?

    Context said that ridiculous string of letters was actually a name. Mrs Naebol- oh, that¡¯s just dumb.Despite feeling like it was becoming a catchphrase, I still couldn¡¯t stop myself from asking. ¡°What the fuck is going on?¡± What kind of name was that? How had she taken control of me, as I was sure she had?

    ¡°Calm down, try to think.¡± What did I know? It was May 23rd and I was supposed to get my degree today. Instead, I ended up in the small caf¨¦ in the park while an ominous voice counted down to the end. Not the end, I reminded myself, the end of the beginning. Mrs Naebol had been acting strange, until her eyes changed and everything was thankfully missing for a time. With time to think, I allowed myself to wonder at what it all meant.

    She had forced me to kill everyone in the room, and then kill her. Why? She had seemed genuinely upset, apologising and cursing the unfairness of things. There was a tiredness buried in that sadness. Had she simply not wanted to deal with whatever the ominous voice implied. If the beginning was ending, then what was starting?

    I looked back at the floating box and closed my eyes. There had been other announcements. Lots. So many my head had started to cook and it knocked me out. Something about levels?

    My thoughts triggered a surge of information, along with the appearance of new text boxes everywhere. They all read the same thing. I counted seventeen in total, before a mental command discarded all but one.

    Level up!

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    Like accessing a memory which had always been there, I knew that if I inspected the window with more intent, I would receive more information. The macabre massacre around me never once left my mind as I quickly tried to get all the information I could. I¡¯d had low hopes for the end times once I realised I was living them. There was still a chance that things weren¡¯t as dire outside. Until I went out, I couldn¡¯t know.

    Instead of facing a potentially devastated world, I decided to delve into the wellspring of information I found myself faced with. I focused on the floating text box. After a moment, the words started to continue.

    Level up! +4 attribute points

    It wasn¡¯t much, but it led to a new question. Attributes? Just like when I thought of the level up messages, thinking about attributes brought up a new page. One I gawked at.

    Name - Grant Kaeron   Race - Human (Grade 0) Level - 18

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 5  Speed - 6  Mental - 8   Will - 8

    Free attribute points: 68

    I was still sore, and staring wasn¡¯t going to explain anything for me. I mentally assigned five free points to fortitude. There was a moment where I confirmed the placement, which felt like letting go of a weight I didn¡¯t realise I was carrying on my soul.

    A burst of vitality seared through my body. It burned and itched and I was immediately certain that my various aches, bruises and wounds were being healed by the strange power. After the initial bout of discomfort, I felt like I was riding on a marshmallow roller coaster made of pure comfort. I waited, letting the euphoria wash through me.

    ¡°Holy fuck.¡± If everyone in the world can feel like this, everything is going to change. I looked around at the gore. The messages and level up hadn¡¯t appeared once the countdown finished, but when I killed Mrs Naebol. It¡¯s like a goddamn video game. Things were going to get really, really messy.

    Instead of splashing through all of my free points at once, I examined how I felt currently. I stretched one arm, then another. It took a moment before I realised there was absolutely no pain from the dislocation I had suffered earlier. I would have jumped for joy¡­ if my feet weren¡¯t sticking to the floor.

    ¡°Got to get out of here,¡± I told myself. ¡°It can¡¯t be worse out there.¡± Even taking a deep breath to calm myself was a bad idea, the foetid stick of the room reaching new heights of disgusting with each passing minute. ¡°But before I go¡­¡±

    I was familiar with video games, to a point. They weren¡¯t my particular hobby, but I had friends who loved them. I quickly shoved down any nostalgia, not wanting to think about anyone I cared about. Luckily, I had a pretty good distraction. Focusing not on my attribute page, I looked back at the first window I had seen.

    Naeboaroseax - Dead

    Would you like to loot?

    The two messages had joined into one, but I wanted a more specific detail. With my focus aimed, the information I was looking for appeared. Even though I was half-expecting what I saw, I still couldn¡¯t help exclaiming. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be absolutely taking the piss¡­¡±

    Naeboaroseax - Dead   Race - Dragon   Level - 89

    Yup. I looked at the dead body, then back to the text box, then at the dead body again. You¡¯ve definitely lost your mind. Fine then, let¡¯s exist in this new reality where I can change my physicality with a thought and Mrs Naebol is a dragon. Was a dragon. She was until I killed her. I laughed out loud. ¡°Sure,¡± I shrugged, ¡°nothing else makes any more sense anyway.¡±

    The alluring word floated on the text box - Mrs Naebol had said something about the System? Right there on the System message the word ¡°loot¡± tantalised me. How could I not? ¡°Yes,¡± I said aloud, and with my mind, pushing my intent out to the System¡¯s question.

    The text box closed and there was a rumble. The sound was far off, like impossibly distant thunder, but even the tiniest hint filled me with primal fear. I ducked under a table until the sound stopped, not caring about the blood I shared the space with. Eventually, the celestial growl stopped and I felt able to move again.

    ¡°I really, really hope that wasn¡¯t connected to me¡­¡± Nothing I could do about it now. With greedy eyes, I looked for the message which would tell me what I received, but there was nothing. Had it not worked? Was there some kind of hidden inv- Even before I finished thinking the word, the answer appeared.

    Inventory

    Aspect of the Dragon (Legendary)

    Guidance Stone of Mastery

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted) - 2758

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint) - 8543

    I blinked a few times at the screen. ¡°Surely not¡­¡± I said, tamping down my expectations. With a slight tug of my thoughts, I removed thirty standard gold coins from my invisible inventory. I gasped and had to catch them as the sizable coins started to fall from my hand. With both together, I could hold them all. If this was even partially real gold, I had just become very wealthy.

    Exciting, but an excitement that was eclipsed by everything else that was going on. I didn¡¯t want to spend any more time in this awful place, so I moved for the front door. I gave it a gentle, wary push and was surprised at how easily it opened. The pressure from before was gone, but my own strength was a shock, too. Just how much have I changed already?

    I left the caf¨¦, the goal of getting home my only one. My mistake was thinking I could just do things. The world wasn¡¯t so simple any more. As I stepped outside, the voice returned along with a large textbox. The voice was reading the words before me, giving them a level of pomp and import the other prompts had not received. Maybe because it was two prompts stuck together.

    Dungeon entered! As the first cultivator to challenge the dungeon, the surrounding area has been balanced to your current level. Others must be at least level 17 to enter the dungeon.

    Dungeon Quest received! - Main Event

    As the initial challenger to this dungeon, you (and your party) must defeat the dungeon bosses to leave.

    Bosses defeated 0/3.

    Reward: Claim on local area, creation of valuable (Grade 2) resource.

    Well, that¡¯s what I get for having a plan.

 Chapter Three - Attributes

    My mind ran red with rage as I swiped the System prompt away. I¡¯d felt the domineering power of the System and knew it wasn¡¯t fucking around. Three bosses before I could leave? I thought back to when I had free time to play video games and grimaced. Flashes in my mind of Game Over screens, villains laughing in the background, laid a deadly premonition.

    There was no continue option in real life. For all the casual wording, the System had just told me to kill three others. Not just that, it would reward me for it. Even if I considered myself an objectively good person, I felt the immediate draw. The feeling of placing my free points into my attributes was like a drug, and the idea of not completing this quest made me feel weak and clammy. Withdrawal symptoms.

    I felt frustration pile onto my already beleaguered mind. There were so many questions. So much I had no way of figuring out. So much blood. A waft of metallic tang caught my nose and I heaved into the bushes next to Clive¡¯s caf¨¦. A shockingly crimson flood of stale blood escaped my lips, acid mixed with blood burned my throat, even with my newly upgraded fortitude.

    ¡°Absolutely disgusting,¡± I lamented, rubbing my mouth pointlessly. My clothes were drenched in blood, too. Looking back at the door to Clive¡¯s, I set my jaw. Something unexplainable had happened inside, but the more time passed, the more I knew I had no control over the horrific events. Even knowing that, the scene I had just witnessed - just been a part of - was burned into my mind.

    I knew I would obsess over the events in there¡­ but did I have to? If my thoughts were a case of an uncontrolled mind, couldn¡¯t I give myself more control?

    Casting my eyes around, the park seemed unchanged. Wasn¡¯t it supposed to be a dungeon now? I wasn¡¯t complaining, but seeing the brisk Spring afternoon was just as jarring as anything else right now. It was impossible to tell whether my vomiting had alerted something waiting in the treeline, but for now I seemed alone. If what the System said was true, no one would be joining me until they were level 18 themselves. How long would that take?

    I flexed my fingers, the numbness of shock thankfully gone. My fingers felt strong. Turning to the other side of Clive¡¯s door, I wrapped my hand around a symmetrically placed bush to the one I had just ruined. I planted my feet near the base and gave it a solid heave. I yelped as the ground gave way underneath me, the roots of the shrub dislodging with my pull. I ended up on my back.

    ¡°What the fu- ¡° I started sputtering as dirt fell into my mouth. That was way too easy. I stood slowly, suddenly scared of my own strength. Was that really just double my previous strength? I had placed points in Fortitude, bringing me from five to ten, but two of me shouldn¡¯t have been enough to dislodge the deeply rooted bush. A big smile came to my face.

    It was tempting to shove every free point I had into Fortitude right there, but ignoring the three other options would be foolish. My smile grew as I looked at my attributes again. I guess this would be my character page? The 63 free points were basically screaming at me to spend them. Going even another step further into the unknown without doing so would be crazy. With a shrug, I threw the last of my caution to the wind and started experimenting.

    First, Speed. Boosting it to ten, I tried to pay attention to the changes I underwent. The process still felt like being given pure, undiluted delight. Upgrading Fortitude had felt like my blood became a flame which eclipsed and seared away the pain I felt. Speed was a different beast.

    My veins became completely frigid for a moment, all of my muscles locking in the worst cramps I had ever felt. Before my bunched muscles could scream out in pain, the sensation passed and I was once again left with the intoxicating feeling of power.

    If Fortitude could be described as strength and constitution rolled into one, then Speed was dexterity and perception. The world noticeably slowed down for a few moments before time resumed its standard march. I immediately saw a danger I had been close to tripping. While upgrading Fortitude would make me faster, I would need to keep Speed relative or I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up with my own movements.

    Four points into Speed and then four more split between Mental and Will. Placing points into Mental gave me a quick brain freeze, while Will made my chest burn like acid reflux. Both sensations were fleeting, and replacing them was a level of comfort I honestly felt bad for feeling. Unlike Fortitude and Speed, the advantages to these attributes were a little more esoteric.

    My mind felt clearer, though. It wasn¡¯t as though I had changed as a person immediately, but there was a strength of conviction behind my thoughts which pushed away lingering doubts. Quicker decision making from Mind and bravery from Will¡­ That was a part of it. With each free point placed into each, something else stirred within me. What the hell is that?

    While my attribute points were limited, there wasn¡¯t necessarily a right choice on what to upgrade. I still had fifty five points to allot, so I decided to take a gamble. With confidence, I slapped 10 points straight into Mental at once. My newly forged brain told me this was a bad idea even before the whiplash hit.

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    An icepick drove through my brain and out my eye. I clasped my face, but there was no actual damage and the pain disappeared quickly. Compared to the brain freeze which two points gave me, this was many magnitudes worse. Okay, noted. One attribute point at a time. Despite the distraction of pain, due to my strengthened faculties, I was more than able to focus on the other sensation within.

    Just like my heartbeat, there was another process unconsciously occurring inside my body. With each point into the Mental attribute, the automatic sensation became clearer and clearer. I mean, there¡¯s no way¡­ but¡­ The existence of a Mental attribute, or intelligence, suggested something I was scared to get my hopes up for.

    Punching stuff really hard, or being too quick to touch, seemed like cool superpowers for sure. Fifty points into Fortitude might make me into an absolute monster. I might even grow, turn green and rip all my clothes but the purple boxers underneath.

    It wasn¡¯t my ideal.

    The world had shattered, at least for myself. If, by some miracle, I was the only person affected and given these strange powers, then maybe things would be fine. I could let myself get locked up and experimented on, or just disappear into the wilderness. In the more likely circumstance that I was just one of many suddenly shoved into a world where killing could magically make you stronger¡­

    Maybe being locked in a System-made dungeon wasn¡¯t the worst thing which could have happened.

    Having godlike strength would be the standard, for certain. Even as I decided to risk it all on another path, I knew it was the sensible choice. Even without any further information, suddenly being able to lift a car over your head would always be helpful. Becoming so fast and dextrous I could escape any bad situation was tempting, too.

    Da-dump

    ¡°Nope.¡± I rejected those two paths, at least for now. Maybe at ten points of Mental, I could have ignored the feeling, but at twenty, I was certain. Underneath my heartbeat was a slightly weaker thumping. It had been almost silent before but I could tell it had been there since I awoke. Why was I even surprised? Its existence had been proven a dozen times over.

    Magic.

    Even knowing it was going to feel like swallowing burning coals, I still threw ten points into Will at once. If Fortitude and Speed were linked, each one needed to make full use of the other, then the same was likely true for Mental and Will. I was right on both counts. I burped as the heartburn came back, then screamed as it intensified into magma in my throat. My heart had turned into a small sun and I needed to claw it from my chest.

    My raised Mental attribute helped me keep my mind in check during this pain. I focused instead on the sensation of magic in my veins. If adding points to Mental had raised the volume of the beating, adding points to Will upped the tempo. Still, it wasn¡¯t enough. The sun winked out. I now knew with certainty there was something I was still missing.

    It was agonisingly frustrating.

    I had just told myself not to do this, but I was so close to understanding the strange feeling inside that I probably overdid it. Thirty points of my remaining thirty five went directly into Mental, and I placed the last five into Will. Then I braced.

    ¡°Oh sh-¡± I probably did swear, but I couldn¡¯t hear my own screaming. The immediate glacier that appeared where my brain had shut out everything but the pain in my head and chest. If my mind had frozen, my heart had ignited. The miniature sun came back and tripled in size.

    I wouldn¡¯t let this be a mistake. Pain was just a message from the body to the brain that something was wrong, so I focused on where the pain came from. Logically I knew I would be fine, as I had been each other time I added to my attributes. This helped me sequester the pain to one side and grab a hold of the river of flame and ice within.

    I wrested control away from the automatic flow it had followed and forced the strange feeling to work for me. My fifty points in Mental weren¡¯t for show. I could feel the synapses in my mind becoming sharper as the icy pain receded. All my new brain power and control was focused on understanding this new sixth sense.

    Da-DUMP

    There you are. I pinpointed the source of my new ¡°heartbeat¡±. Directly at the base of the sternum bone, a second heart was beating. This heart wasn¡¯t physical, but it was still cycling something through my body. Unknown pathways were highlighted by the sensation and I mapped them all without interfering with the river of power within. Once I felt confident I understood the strange flow within, I took action.

    The moment I became involved, the cycle ground to a painful halt. I started gasping, the process already as important to me as breathing. My new strength and speed disappeared and I almost fell to the floor. With a mental struggle and heave, I dragged the energy inside through the pathways I had just memorised. After a few revolutions, my new attribute baseline returned to normal. Then, curious, I pushed the river to go faster and faster. My muscles started to vibrate with energy.

    Skill Unlocked - Mana Control

    The foundation of any and all magical ability. Children born into the System are capable of this from a young age.

    With a ding, a new prompt appeared and caused me to lose concentration. Reading it wasn¡¯t strictly needed as a surge of information appeared right in my memory. Still, I was affronted.

    ¡°Wow, okay. That was unnecessary.¡± I didn¡¯t have anywhere to aim a middle finger, but I carried one in my heart. Fuck you, System. Actually, it was an interesting piece of information, but it felt like the System was telling me that my accomplishments weren¡¯t that impressive.

    The new understanding gained made controlling the mana within as natural as doing simple mathematics, even if the subject was completely new. I consciously repeated the important information to myself aloud.

    ¡°Mana exists everywhere. Actually controlling it isn¡¯t strictly necessary, but there is a clear advantage. If two people had the exact same attributes, the one with even rudimentary Mana Control would perform better than the one relying on their automatic mana. The river within was called mana. Mana Control was the conscious manipulation of the river within.

    ¡°And with Mana Control, I can do¡­ This.¡± Punctuating my last word, I surged my mana into my fist and swiped my hand at its trunk. It may have been a thin birch, but I was still shocked when my hand simply passed through the wood like butter. I leapt back, physically powerful even without using my mana to make me stronger. The tree fell slowly and with a loud slam.

    A dark shadow fell from the tree before it hit the ground. I froze, unprepared in a moment of pure exhilaration turning to terror. Before I could even think, the shape launched itself at me. I flew back into the wall of the caf¨¦, thankfully hitting brick rather than flying through the glass to my left. My breath was knocked out of me but I got a look at my assailant before it was on me again.

    Is that a goddamn ninja turtle?

 Chapter Four - Adolescent Amphibious Attack Animal

    Despite the danger and my newly enhanced mind, I was still slack-jawed at the sight in front of me. My chest felt like I¡¯d been hit by a cannonball, and breathing was difficult. My recent experiences controlling pain came in useful as I forced myself to take deep breaths past my cracked lungs.

    Concentrating on the flow of my mana helped.There was a whole new layer to my form which I could both feel and sense, existing as a perfect copy of my physical form. Tracing this layer was a river of power which I could now control. I would need to, as true danger was staring me down.

    It was hard to breathe, not just from the hit I had taken, but from the sight in front of me. Two stocky legs fed into a shell, around five feet across as the ¡®chest¡¯ area. A pair of strangely proportioned arms, almost like frogs legs, held a long stick forward like a staff. A squat, round head with a lipless, beakish mouth sat atop this gruesome mockery of a childhood staple. Two double-ringed eyes of yellow and red around large black irises bore into me.

    Over its head was a pair of underwear which came down to just over its mouth.

    Like a quickdraw moment in a samurai movie, we were both as still as ice. The moment a single muscle twitched on either of us, the spell would break and a life-or-death battle would ensue. I didn¡¯t need 50 points in Mental to tell me that. What I did need it for was the burst of inspiration I was flooded with. Instead of falling into shock, my mind was racing with ideas. I sent a wisp of mana to my eyes and locked it there, away from the flow.

    Monster - Adolescent Amphibious Attack Animal (Level 12)

    ¡°Oh that¡¯s just fu-¡± I couldn¡¯t help reacting to the name I saw float above the creature¡¯s head. The whole situation was completely absurd and just the changes to my own physicality was taking some getting used to. Having a knock-off ninja turtle bearing down on me was almost too much.

    Almost.

    I was level 18. Six levels higher than this mutant. Even if it was terrifying and stank of frogspawn, it was supposedly weaker than me. The turtle monster was clearly focused on Speed or Fortitude, which was intimidating but so what? With my physical attributes, going blow for blow wasn¡¯t going to work but I had never planned on that anyway.

    Bounding forward, the monster growled something before I could see it gathered strength in its legs. The turtle was nearly on me, so I feinted left. The mud underneath my feet betrayed me, but the turtle was fooled all the same. I didn¡¯t get the distance I wanted and shards of glass peppered me but I ignored the shrapnel and scrambled away. I needed to maintain some distance while I figured something out.

    The amphibious attack animal was already clambering out, but it hissed as its feet and hands were sliced by the broken glass. ¡°Good, you fucker.¡± My banter needed work, Peter Parker I was not. Its horrible eyes were full of rage as it threw itself clear of the caf¨¦. The blood from people inside was dripping from it, staining the white underwear on its head. ¡°Come on, then.¡±

    This was dangerous, for sure, but it was also a very valuable opportunity. I could feel the mana in my eyes fade, giving me a sense of how long the infusion would last. I realised how I could use this situation to my advantage. With no other enemies around and an incredibly simple attack pattern before me, I could use this creature as exercise equipment.

    How much of my mana pool did it cost to chop down the tree? I hadn¡¯t paid attention but as the slimy green staff-wielder came in close, I sent a similar amount to both hands. As the staff came down on my head, I brought my arms up to block. Like it had hit an airbag, the turtle was thrown back. At the same time, I suddenly felt like I¡¯d run a 100m sprint.

    ¡°Okay, I think I¡¯m starting to get it.¡± My arms stung a little, but that attack could have cracked concrete. A little numbness was an incredible result. I snorted as I saw the turtle sprawled on its back, struggling to get up. The evolution of such a creature didn¡¯t make a lick of sense. Whatever maniacal mind had created this thing hadn¡¯t designed it for actual existence. Had the System created them as a joke?

    With a scooping kick, I pushed the nasty thing onto its front. It scrambled to its feet, using the stick to help before looking at me warily. I felt a little like a bully, but I reminded myself that the mutated creature had attacked me first. I didn¡¯t have the luxury of kindness here, I needed to defeat three bosses before I could leave the dungeon. While I didn¡¯t know the limits of the place, the claustrophobia was still pressing onto me all the same.

    ¡°Come on,¡± I taunted, curling my fingers into my palm twice, ¡°I¡¯m not done with you yet.¡± The knock-off seemed to understand it was being made fun of, at least, as it roared and came for the next round. I took a deep breath, specifically noting how my ribs felt better.

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    God, magic is cool. Time to practise.

    ¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C

    One thing about the regenerative effect of magic was that you needed to have mana left to make use of it. Only once the flow was completely returned, my mana refilled, did I start to heal from the battle. I looked to my right and spat a mouthful of blood onto my fallen enemy.

    In total, the fight had probably only lasted five minutes, but I was exhausted down to my very soul. The bastard had gotten more than a few good hits in and each of them was like being punched with a cinder block or hit with a steel pole. The battle had not been enough to give me another level, but that made sense considering I was six levels clear to start with.

    My issue had been the life of comfort lived up until this point. When I had struck the turtle myself, I lacked the experience needed to make the hits do damage. Able to avoid most of the damage and recover, I had lacked the ability to finish the fight cleanly. Which is why I was currently covered in muck and drained to within an inch of my life.

    Mana Control could be used to create a few effects. The analysis ability I had used in my eyes was one, and the infusion of strength to a limb was another. Like my eyes, I was able to leave a portion of my total mana in my arms or legs to create a burst of power. Over the fight, I became more and more able to reliably move the front of my flowing mana to where I needed it.

    The result was basically controlling two bodies at once. As I moved my arm to block, my mana followed and reinforced the bones and muscle. A quick cycle sent the remaining mana to my other fist, already in motion. The turtle went flying as the punch caught its shell. My right hand was ruined because my mana hadn¡¯t moved quick enough.

    That was the epiphany moment. Pain, danger and a surprising amount of excitement all mixed into one inexorable driving force. Every fibre of my being was focused on one result. Survival. I knew what I had done wrong, and knowing it was a mistake meant there was a more correct way.

    The mana wasn¡¯t quick enough? No, that wasn¡¯t it. I wasn¡¯t quick enough. Did I need to make the mana flow from one area to the other? That was just mana use, right? My skill wasn¡¯t Mana Use, though. I was supposed to control it. Suddenly, all the inefficiencies of my actions to now were highlighted in the clearest light.

    The turtle had recovered, replacing the sodden underwear which had fallen from its face. It looked at me like I was a dead man walking. I was almost offended until the fist I tried to clench exploded with agony. Oh yeah. Fair enough then, I conceded mentally. One hand down, I definitely seemed like an easy target.

    It couldn¡¯t know I had just transformed.

    Despite the damage, I gritted my teeth and replicated my taunt from earlier. Two of the fingers didn¡¯t move, which actually made the gesture even more perfect. I thought the one with the stick was smart? The provocation worked yet again. The next few steps were choreographed by me, the amphibian an unwilling participant.

    First, give the enemy a target. When it swings and misses my hand, grab the staff. A burst of mana into my working hand and one in my knee. The staff stayed, while the turtle flew into the air from a devastating knee. I felt the bone creak, my control still not perfect, but the shell also buckled. Before it could land, I positioned myself for the kill.

    Stick in hand, I ignited the mana in my arm and brought it down on the falling shell. The ground all around buckled as the durability of the turtle fought against the strength of my blow. The sturdy staff was inexorable, falling more like a meat cleaver than a tree branch. Whatever the creature¡¯s durability, it was useless in the face of the meteoric impact.

    I fell to the wet floor next to my slain enemy. This was where I made the connection between my spent mana and my recovery. It took around two minutes for my mana to fully return, which it did so despite the state of my body. From there, I felt the mana start seeping into the different injuries on my body.

    So there I was, five minutes after killing the ninja turtle knock-off, a slight drizzle keeping cooling me down. I turned, I spat, and my eyes widened in surprise as words floated into view above the dead monster.

    Would you like to loot DaGuerre?

    ¡°That thing had a name? Oh god, isn¡¯t DaGuerre a photographer? Someone should try to hit the System with copyright infringement.¡± I doubted that was going to happen, but who knew what the lawyers of the world were up to? Probably trying their best to argue the monsters away. I chuckled at my dumb joke and accepted the prompt.

    Looted: Pepperoni Calzone, White Belt (Upgradeable)

    A few moments later, I was holding a steaming hot cheesy turnover. Perhaps I really was in shock because I couldn¡¯t help myself from taking a bite. The next thing I knew, I was licking my fingers. ¡°Holy¡­ that was the best thing I¡¯ve ever eaten.¡± Perfectly spiced, perfectly cooked, the impossibility of the calzone¡¯s existence was completely overshadowed by its immaculate preparation. It was so good, I almost forgot about the other reward.

    Item - White Belt (Upgradeable)

    The first step on the journey to martial mastery.

    Defeat the remaining Amphibious Attack Animals to upgrade.

    Effect: Attributes +2.5%

    That¡¯s both ominous and awesome. I slipped the belt around my waist and could immediately feel the effect. ¡°This is a crazy item¡­¡± I murmured, rubbing my thumb on the soft fabric. It really was just like a beginner¡¯s karate belt. Simply wearing this was going to give me even more power? And it could get stronger¡­

    My left hand was still messed up, but I could feel an itchy burn there which told me it was healing. I could already move all of the fingers now, when I couldn¡¯t before. Hopefully it wouldn¡¯t heal in a strange way, but there wasn¡¯t much I could do about it right now. If I was going to go turtle hunting, I couldn¡¯t just use my fists. I lifted the stick from out of the dead carcass, sending some mana into my eyes which in turn would let me analyse the weapon. Unsurprisingly, it was more than a simple stick.

    Item - Yo Staff (Rare)

    Once wielded by a gregarious monkey prince, this is a lesser version of a much more storied weapon.

    Effect: Infusing the Yo Staff with mana increases its weight exponentially

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I stretched my legs and back. From bruised and battered to pretty much fully healed in fifteen minutes? I reconfirmed my love of magic. The world might be insane, and it would probably kill me, but I had never felt so alive. I gave Clive¡¯s one last, mournful look before making for the treeline. I would honour those people by surviving as well as I could.

    ¡°Time to hunt some turtles.¡±

 Chapter Five - Miscalculations And Panic

    Though the immediate area around Clive¡¯s was unchanged, the truth of the System¡¯s words became more evident as I crossed through the treeline. A couple hundred feet of normal terrain suddenly slipped away. In a clean cut, a step dropped down after the first set of trees. The geography was completely unnatural, even ignoring the instant biome shift.

    The step was too perfect a cut. It was as though everything for a few miles was pressed with a giant stamp before being replaced. I frowned as I considered that might actually be what happened. There were still way too many unknowns, something my upgrade to the Mental attribute hadn¡¯t been able to alleviate. On one hand, having more information would be amazing, so it was a shame not to get more packets of knowledge from the System.

    The other hand said I had no reason to trust alien enlightenment. There was no doubt in my mind the System had been true in the education it had given me so far, but that wouldn¡¯t always be true. My Mana Control technique hadn¡¯t been completed by the System, but had grown more potent in battle, for example¡­

    Ultimately, there was no right answer or hopes to latch on to. The Earth I had known was gone. Was it better if people had survived the change like I had or were the poor snuffed souls in the caf¨¦ the lucky ones? That would be convenient, my logical mind taunted the hopeful heart, then it would actually be me that¡¯s being punished.

    ¡°Fuck it.¡± I¡¯d let the universe decide if I deserved to be taught a lesson. The System said Mrs Naebol was a dragon, and it really did seem like she used some form of mind control on me. How could I blame myself for being in an uncontrollable situation?

    I dropped down the step, four feet maximum. I could easily return to Clive¡¯s if I ran into too much danger, though that would just mean bringing it with me. I shrugged. ¡°No right answers,¡± I reminded myself. Pushing forward was better than being wracked with indecision.

    The green grass and european trees of the park on the layer above was jarringly displaced for a sandy area more like what I¡¯d expect in the Sahara. There were dunes of golden sand standing as high as trees slightly further in. I looked at the partition, where the world as I knew it broke. What would happen here? Would the dreary English weather overpower the magical desert or would it spread?

    As I stepped away from the park, the temperature of the air quickly rose. Perhaps the desert was here to stay, then. Each time the System reared its world-altering power in my face, I felt a little less connected to reality. An equatorial desert slapbang in the middle of the English countryside? Why not!

    It didn¡¯t take long before my next encounter, though it wasn¡¯t another Amphibious Attack Animal. Given the noticeable lack of liquids in the area, running into one of the mutated turtles would have been strange. I didn¡¯t put it past the System, so I was on guard all the same when the attack came.

    Even as I activated my mana, feeling my attributes rise, I recognised the issue. Without any kind of scouting skill, I was stuck wandering into fights that the creatures I found myself up against were ready for in a way I wasn¡¯t. It took time for my mana to reinforce my body fully. By the time I was ready, it might be too late.

    My eyes flickered to movement like a shimmer on the sand. I had been warily eyeing up a dune as I approached it. This was the right choice as some of the sand slipped. The fractional movement wouldn¡¯t have been on my radar a day ago, but I was getting used to the changes in my physicality. The vision was much sharper, and the small spout did not go unmissed.

    The world slowed down and I slipped intentionally to the ground to dodge the incoming projectile. I was lucky this time, a sigh escaping my lips. A flicker of mana to my eyes had given me a name and a level, which brought on my relief. My slow walk into the blistering heat was fraught with a specific worry up to now - would the monsters in the desert be stronger than the amphibian?

    It was apparently buried in the sand, but how could simple sand stop my magical gaze? A sheen covered the world and I got a sense of the creature¡¯s size along with its dumb name. A less prescient worry had been that the monsters would continue to be distractingly referential. It looked like that foible was going to stick.

    Monster - Scorepion (Level 4)

    I¡¯d have assumed the System made a mistake with the name if I hadn¡¯t got a half-decent look at the sizzling ball the creature had shot at me. A black and white ball, which looked to actually be made of leather, had whipped through the air like a cannonball. The air hissed from displacement along with an antiseptic smell. Did this thing just fire a poisonous football at me?

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    The scorepion was the size of a golden retriever. It shifted backwards into the sand as its surprise attack failed and the marker for its name vanished into the dune as well. I had no idea whether simply touching the football was enough to get poisoned, but the speed of the initial shot was the real danger. The sneaky thing had let me get close enough that retreat was a difficult option.

    I sent a steadier stream of mana to my eyes as I waited for the next shot. My mana was working in three states around my body. First, the bulk of my mana, my core, was cycling the strange energy like a heart or centrifuge. As the mana increased in tempo and pressure, the effect of its presence in my limbs increased.

    Then, a steady amount of the now charged mana was taken from the core and spread all around my body. This provided a general boost to my attributes. I didn¡¯t have much of a baseline, but I felt multiple times stronger. My attributes while using mana in this way were more than doubled but being more specific was difficult. I could probably use my energy in this way for half an hour before being completely drained.

    The last state of mana was the active packages used to enhance me in specific moments. Like opening a floodgate, more of the mana from my core could infuse a smaller area and drastically increase the enhancement. All that effort to be as strong as you would have at 50 Fortitude. ¡°Shut up, Voice of Regret,¡± I chastised myself.

    Strength was needed, but mine wasn¡¯t brute strength. I would need to work at it, but I had hope that more doors would be open to me in the future because of it. Surviving would have been impossible without Mana Control, and that had taken over 40 free attribute points to reach, the equivalent of ten levels worth of investment. How many would be following that path?

    How many would even survive to the starting line as I had?

    The System text appeared before the scorepion¡¯s spout and I reaffirmed my path in my mind. Wouldn¡¯t have the big floating words telling me where the thing is without Mana Control, the Voice of Hindsight replied to Regret smugly. I sent a surge of mana to my arms, already twenty percent of my maximum used even before the second shot was fired. ¡°I¡¯m definitely going crazy,¡± I accepted.

    I shook my left foot, burying it in the sand slightly. I would need the leverage. Slip the shot, smack it back. I thought I was ready, but knowing the scorepion was aiming at me was forcing a primal hesitation into my bones. I was reminded of the feeling of being threatened with an elastic band. I could swear the bastard held his shot, knowing the tension was part of its attack.

    Imagine my surprise when a second name popped up and wasted no time. Rigid as I was, there was no chance to reorient. I swung the Yo Staff, my infused muscles and perception at least able to keep up that much. Instead of sending the ball back into the sand dune, I was lucky to be able to deflect the high speed shot into the sand at my side.

    Clever girl, I conceded as the second shot, from the initial scorepion came searing through the air. I couldn¡¯t block this one, nor dodge it, off-balance as I was. The low level had given me a false sense of security. There was no question behind the explosive force of the scorepion¡¯s shot. This was going to kill me, no doubt.

    As if in rebellion with my defeatist thoughts, my mana boiled. The shot appeared to freeze in mid-air as mana turned my perception up to the very maximum. My mind didn¡¯t have to race far for an answer to my predicament. I would survive, but it would suck. The momentum of the first shot had sent me wobbling, and with my leg planted, I didn¡¯t have the range of movement to get out of the way. The angry, desperate mana within found my left ankle quickly.

    I pulled. The healing and fortifying effects of my mana were fantastic, but I needed the opposite here. Due to my own strength, my ankle was too solid to break like it had to so I could dodge. A howl was already ripping through the previously silent desert before I hit the sand. The football whistled passed, ruffling my hair. I was honestly surprised I noticed.

    The agony in my leg went far above a broken ankle. The nerves were screaming as they were supposed to, but there was a deeper pain currently blinding me. If there were more scorepions, I was a dead man. I needed to move.

    Blinking myself back into the real world, if you could call it that, I snarled and dug myself from the sand quickly. Even glancing brushes of my ankle caused an almost world-ending pain through my whole being. Both my physical body and my magical pathways cringed from the feeling. ¡°Should have let myself get hit,¡± I cursed.

    The Yo Staff became a walking stick as I hurried away from the sand dune. No more shots were fired from the scorepions, and they seemed content to stay in their sand dune. I cast wary eyes around at the uniform golden floor, in case one was sneaking around, but saw nothing. Only once I reached the space where the heat of the desert mixed with the cold of the English park did I relax a little.

    I hoisted myself up to the lip to look over my wound.

    The skin of my ankle was pierced with jagged bones. Sharp, they had been worn away by the magical damage I inflicted upon myself and then torn through the flesh. Strips of muscle were hanging loose around, barely keeping my foot connected to my leg. The strained cartilage and tendons looked like they¡¯d necrosed.

    After avoiding the sight for my hurried escape, the reveal nearly knocked me out. The level of pain I had felt was simply what couldn¡¯t be ignored. With the evidence of damage unavoidable, my brain screamed in terror. Frantic, I opened all my System windows to see if there was anything I could do.

    An array of screens opened at once. I had no free points to put into my attributes, so upgrading my Fortitude wouldn¡¯t help. My problems only increased as I noticed the damage to my leg was causing my mana to waver. It wasn¡¯t recovering at any real speed, which meant my body wasn¡¯t magically healing from that either. My character and quest pages were no help, but a glimmer of hope existed elsewhere.

    I could only hope with every fibre of my being one of the mysterious items in my Inventory could save me.

 Chapter Six - Mastering The Dragon

    I immediately removed the two unknown items from my inventory. In my left hand was a small, smooth orb of gold and silver colourations. Veins of silver ran through and around the primarily gold stone. The filigree of the silver altered from moment to moment, appearing as a flower in one spot and a sword in another, before changing to a diamond pattern, then shifting yet again.

    Under other circumstances I would have been lost in wonder at the sight of it, but the pain was too distracting. Also, in my right was a roaring beast.I flinched and dropped the second orb, which caused the sound to stop. This orb was larger than the first, and the colours changed from moment to moment. A kaleidoscope of intense magical energy was rumbling inside.

    While I was definitely lacking focus right now, it was still fairly easy to tell which was which and I picked up the Aspect of the Dragon. ¡°How the fuck do I use this thing?¡± Once it was in my hand again, the roar once again sounded. A mix between an atomic bomb¡¯s blast, a tiger and a rocket engine, the call of a dragon resounded in my very soul. I realised the sound wasn¡¯t actually audible, but felt through my magic.

    While the Aspect was brimming with power, the Guidance Stone of Mastery felt completely inert. Too panicked and desperate to worry about that, I returned it to my inventory and concentrated on the draconic sphere in my hands. Please, please, please, I begged, please help.

    Aspect - Dragon (Legendary)

    Aspects are formed when ambient mana in an area becomes charged with a specific type of energy. If you have unbound attributes, you may permanently bind an Aspect to an unbound attribute.

    Would you like to use the Aspect of the Dragon to bind an unbound attribute?

    ¡°Yes!¡± With my mind, my mouth and my soul, I cried out for relief. I couldn¡¯t believe my luck as the torture disappeared like a switch had been flicked. The tears of pain which had been flowing became a flood of happiness. I rubbed my eyes to clear them and laughed out loud. I was glowing with energy. I looked at the orb in my hand, now vibrating with power. The world around me had frozen to a complete standstill, a leaf hanging in the air before me.

    Despite that, the rumbling thunder of the dragon¡¯s roar had never stopped. With my acceptance, it reached a crescendo which felt like a threat and a challenge all at once. I gripped the orb tighter. ¡°Who do I think I am?¡± I replied. This frozen world was mine and the dragon¡¯s. The questioning aura of the dragon magic only intensified at my refusal to back down. It asked why it should bend to me.

    I had no idea what the arrival of the System meant for the wider world, and I hadn¡¯t yet discovered what it had taken from me. In my heart, I knew it wouldn¡¯t be nothing. The future I had planned for myself, the hard work I had invested in that path, that was definitely gone. My family, scattered around a different country? Who could say at this point.

    I need to get home.

    What I didn¡¯t need was a ball of magic telling me I wasn¡¯t good enough. Did all Aspects have an attitude or did I just get lucky? I wasn¡¯t blind to the fact the Aspect of the Dragon was legendary quality, usually the highest in most games. Maybe I literally wasn¡¯t strong enough for the magic to bind to my attributes?

    I stamped my good foot. ¡°My name is Grant Kaeron.¡± I almost stopped, embarrassed. Was I really talking to a magical dragon stone? Yes, yes I am. So do it properly. ¡°My name is Grant Kaeron and I won¡¯t die in this godforsaken System dungeon. I¡¯m going to survive this place, survive the changes to the world and make a place for myself.¡±

    The feeling of silliness didn¡¯t abate, but I also could have sworn the orb had quietened, so I dove right in. ¡°The System has given me a quest, and I¡¯ll complete that, use the rewards to further cement my hold and use it to get even stronger. The world has changed and while others are still getting their bearings in safety, I¡¯ll smash my way through this dungeon and claim my rewards.¡±

    The words fell from my mouth easily but the truth I felt when saying them was surprising. I truly wanted this. I reacted quicker than most when the System first spoke because¡­ I wanted it to be real. I wanted the world to shake, change and never return to the dull, grey, emotionless mess it had been yesterday. I might not know what was going on elsewhere, but I knew for sure it wasn¡¯t boring. Nothing would be boring again.

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    The roar had dimmed with each passionate word. I had aimed to say truths which would align with my idea of a dragon. I needed to convince the magic to work with me, even just to fix my foot. Time was still as ice, which was the only reason I wasn¡¯t screaming in pain still. My ankle wasn¡¯t healed yet, it was a trick of the Aspect magic. Now the roar had become little more than a growl.

    A dragon does not settle for safety. A voice, deeper than the core of the Earth, churned through my soul. My mana rippled and the change began. The river of my mana filled with crystalline pockets of power. A dragon does not settle for second best. I could feel the meaning in the dragon¡¯s words. As they reverberated through my soul, I could feel the weight of the power behind them. A dragon does not settle.

    ¡°The dragon reigns above all.¡± I spoke the words in tandem with the magic of the Aspect. They weren¡¯t the commandments of a higher power, but my own firm choices in view of the world I now faced. This was how I would now live my life. The mantra wasn¡¯t fully realised, but I felt the power resonate as I spoke alongside the dragon now within. The System was a nightmare, and I had no doubt that lives were being reaped in their thousands.

    That wouldn¡¯t be me. I would not just survive these trials, I would thrive.

    The magic began to settle, a less traumatic process than I was expecting honestly. I would have put up with anything to relieve the pain in my ankle, so I couldn¡¯t help but be grateful to the System for giving me a break for once. If the Aspect hadn¡¯t been a good fit, or if it had rejected me, I doubted I would be feeling so content.

    Attribute bound - Mental/Dragon

    The veil of weird time displacement fell and the happy smile was quickly wiped from my face. My ankle was still shattered, simply binding with the Aspect had not been enough to repair the damage. What it had done was show me why I was so damaged, and give me the tools to fix it.

    In my haste to get out of the way of the scorepion¡¯s football attack, I had not just drained all the mana from my ankle, I had shattered and destroyed my actual pathways. This was why my mana recovery had been damaged too, as the circuit was broken. Repairing the pathways was going to be fairly simple but it was going to hurt the whole time.

    I briefly considered hauling myself to Clive¡¯s, but it was hardly any more comfortable there than here. Better to just get the work started as soon as possible. My new level of understanding was due to the fusion of the Aspect of the Dragon with my Mental attribute. It wasn¡¯t quite the same as having new knowledge, like when the System placed a memory in my mind.

    My new capabilities were simply¡­ what they were. Knowing my capacity in this regard was as simple as knowing I could blink. Focusing, I started gathering the newly formed crystals within my mana stream and sending them towards my broken ankles. Into each crystal, I infused my intent to heal my wounded ankle. Formless, my mana would slowly fix the issue, but now I could consciously direct the process.

    I lay back and did my best to ignore the incredible itch in my leg. There were many, many more possibilities with my mana, both the unattuned energy and the draconic crystals. I fiddled with my control of the crystals. Moving them from place to place in my body was more difficult than controlling the river, but I soon had the crystals moving as fast as the river had before. In relation, my authority over the river had improved by leaps and bounds.

    My foot was still completely ruined, but I couldn¡¯t keep the smile from my face. More possibilities continued to come to mind. Mana could be infused into items, right? My staff was able to hold more than I could give, but what would a draconic mana filled stone do when thrown? I was excited to find out.

    ¡°Oh, right. While I¡¯m here¡­¡± I removed the guidance stone from my inventory once more, planning to give it another examination to discover its meaning. Except, things had changed, hadn¡¯t they? The dragon¡¯s roar returned in my soul and a choral chant seemed to come directly into being. Was that the sound of Mastery?

    Item - Guidance Stone of Mastery

    Guidance stones are sometimes called the lesser variant of Aspects. Each Aspect has a set amount of spaces to absorb a Guidance Stone. They can only be used by Aspect wielders.

    Use Guidance Stone of Mastery? This will consume one Guidance slot from your available Aspects.

    ¡°Absolutely yes,¡± I said, opening myself to the energies of the stone. It didn¡¯t matter how many slots my Aspect had if I only had the one Guidance Stone. The world didn¡¯t stop like with the Aspect, but instead a System message appeared. Oh, that¡­ wasn¡¯t what I expected. I had pictured a fireball.

    Skill Unlocked - Weapon Mastery (Dragon)

    There is no perfect weapon, only a perfect wielder.

    Weapons Mastered - 0/3

    I was shocked at the lack of input from the System after the skill was unlocked until I actually picked up the staff laying nearby. Once my hand found the weapon, another prompt appeared.

    Would you like to commit the staff to Weapon Mastery?

    Ah, so I wouldn¡¯t be learning how to use every weapon at once. I would need to be picky, but there wasn¡¯t a better option available to me at the moment. I accepted this last prompt and all the techniques and limitations of the staff surged into me. I had been using it as nothing more than a club or bat, but there was so much more to the versatile weapon.

    I took the time to slowly go over the information the System had provided me, making sure there were no obvious inefficiencies in the lessons it had given me. I didn¡¯t for a second think it had taught me everything there was to know about the staff. What the skill had done was give me a true foundation, like I had trained for years. Now the smile which appeared on my face was there to stay.

    Those damned scorepions wouldn¡¯t know what hit them.

 Chapter Seven - The Dungeon Fairy

    I didn¡¯t move onto the desert again until the next morning. I didn¡¯t make a conscious choice to wait so long, that was just how long my ankle took to heal. The passing of time was barely noticeable during my recovery, all my focus on slowly and perfectly rebuilding the pathways I had ruined. I only opened my eyes once the draconic crystals completely rewrote the magical circuits per my memorisation.

    I hesitated a moment, unsure of the difference in sunlight. I then noticed the dew on the ground further into the park behind me, which helped me put two and two together. The rumbling in my stomach and dryness in my throat were the second signal that more time had passed than I might have thought. Surviving on the strangely well-cooked food from defeated enemies wasn¡¯t going to work in the long or short term.

    I grimaced at the prospect of returning to Clive¡¯s, but steeled myself quickly. Survival came over mental wellbeing. Even as I made the choice, I sensed the changes to myself from just a single day ago. I was more glib about the idea of the dead than anything, really. Was it the newly bound Aspect of the Dragon changing my mentality? The 50 attribute points in the Mental stat? Simple shock?

    Whether it was the semi-permanent scarring of trauma or a more intrinsic change brought on by the mystical transformation I was undergoing, I couldn¡¯t look down on any  positive. Keeping my head straight, aiming myself at the ideals I still hadn¡¯t finished absorbing into my psyche, was all I could hope for over the coming days.

    I used the Yo Staff as a walking stick, though my ankle was as good as new. My new skill promised mastery of its use, and even in this casual instance, it proved true. Slight alterations in grip position, angles of leverage and even the specific landing spot for the base of the staff all slipped into incredibly natural perfection. Along with the grace granted to me by my raised attributes, the difference between myself now and a day before became even more strident. I opened my newest System page and signed with contentment.

    Aspects

    Fortitude - None

    Speed - None

    Mental - Dragon (1/4)

    Will - None

    The feeling of my own potential was intimidating and exciting at the same time. I knew I had barely scratched the surface of my dormant power, yet I doubted any human alive pre-System would be able to put up a fight against me. It looked like I could use three more Guidance Stones on just the Dragon Aspect alone. Just how powerful would I become with four Aspects?

    A flicker of the dragon¡¯s roar rumbled through my soul as I aligned further with the Aspect. God, this is addictive. As Clive¡¯s came into view, I also saw the crater I had made in the battle with the turtle. It was quite noticeably empty. I waited in the treeline. From this distance, I could see no groove had been tilled in the soft ground. It didn¡¯t seem like the failed assassin amphibian had been dragged somewhere. Something else was going on.

    I activated my mana, cycling power in preparation for danger. The effect of the Aspect on the flow was shocking. While binding had not increased the depth of my mana pool, it had massively improved its efficacy. The stimuli from my enhanced perception was overwhelming in its beauty. I almost forgot where I was in my excitement but a snapped twig drew me back to the situation at hand.

    A half second later I was in full sprint. Another rustle had given me the direction of the runner, and they were heading away. I had hesitated because up to now everything had tried to kill me on sight. Whatever was escaping from me was no mindless animal. The distance between us was further than I could see, but once I started crashing through the brush, my quarry gave up discretion, too.

    Whatever it was, it was escaping with the pace of an old-world athlete. Unfortunately for them, even olympians would be unable to compete with my speed. Using the Yo Staff to manoeuvre through the forest turned obstacles into opportunity and within moments, the gap between myself and the mysterious sounds close to nothing.

    It wasn¡¯t until I was right on top of the noise that I accepted my eyes weren¡¯t playing tricks on me. I watched as two bushes were pushed apart and then came back together, the leaves and dirt on the ground getting disturbed. Clearly, something had run through the foliage, but my eyes had been watching the source of the sounds the whole time.

    ¡°Are you invisible?¡±I asked, keeping a short distance with the sound. A noise of distress and increased desperation to get away from me was the only reply. Without a doubt, something was here, running away from me. It was also definitely invisible. ¡°I promise not to hurt you if you don¡¯t hurt me!¡±

    A second later, everything went dark. With mana coursing through me, even my own movements were more clearly highlighted. I could do nothing to stop my face from crumpling as all my momentum stopped at once. I bounced backwards and landed hard on my back. I opened my eyes and screamed, but wasn¡¯t quick enough to dodge the incoming Yo Staff.

    The heavy stick landed right on the bridge of my just broken nose and I howled in pain, stamping a foot onto the floor from my lying position. I swiped the staff to the side, ready to defend myself when I stopped in confusion. To my right, a few metres off, someone was doing everything they could to hide their laughter. I turned my eyes to the sound, blinking away the tears, but saw nothing.

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    ¡°It¡¯s yer own fault,¡± a distinctly Irish accented voice chuckled at me, ¡°you promised, then ya go an¡¯ nearly step on me! Yeh can¡¯t break yer promises that quickly, human.¡±

    ¡°What the- ack.¡± Speaking was out of the question for a minute. It seemed like I wasn¡¯t in immediate danger, or maybe so much danger it didn¡¯t matter how careful I was. Either way, I could afford to calm my mana and repair my nose. The process wasn¡¯t nearly as lengthy as my ankle the night before, but even I could tell that it was still just a sloppy use of powerful magic.

    My guest, whoever or whatever they were, seemed content to watch this proceed. Actually, they didn¡¯t just watch. ¡°That¡¯s pretty disgusting. Think a dragon¡¯d kill ya if they saw this.¡± I didn''t have any retort to the critique.

    ¡°I thought the same thing, actually.¡± I admitted in the vague direction of the voice. I couldn¡¯t help but shiver a little as I spoke to what might as well be a ghost. I did, however, recognise an opportunity to finally get some answers. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for my rudeness, I¡¯d bow if I weren¡¯t already on the ground.¡±

    Another giggle, this time at my joke rather than my expense. ¡°Have ta say, it¡¯s quite a lowly look for a human, I¡¯ll give ya that. You gonna get up anytime soon?¡± Even though I could see nothing but the clear sky above me, the voice was coming from directly in front of my face. An almost silent buzzing whistled a high pitch whine.

    Wings? ¡°Thinking about it. Weighing up my options.¡± I was tempted to reach up, but my politeness was not an accident. I had an inkling of what I might be dealing with here and while I didn¡¯t trust the System not to make strange, jarring changes, it was time to start using my head where I could. ¡°What would you suggest? Oh, and what are you?¡±

    ¡°Questions from thee, expecting answers from me? For free? Without fee?¡± The voice became charged with power and I felt the air become still. Nature no longer held sway over the space. The feminine voice barked a laugh and the pressure disappeared. ¡°Naea¡¯s me name and it¡¯s the best ye¡¯ll get for now, but don¡¯t go trying to guess the rest or I¡¯ll have yer knackers in a pouch before yeh can get the word out. Names are too important to share with just anyone.¡±

    ¡°Oh, right? I¡¯ve heard that before. Like the actual Fae?¡± I asked. Promises and the importance of names? This was all stuff I had studied in my spare time. Gaelic mythology.

    ¡°Ah, what would you know, human?¡± The invisible fairy snorted. ¡°Can you even turn your eyes on properly? And you think you know me? Not bloody likely.¡± Despite the derision in the words, the tone didn¡¯t match. They were clearly amused.

    Honesty was always the best policy with the fae. ¡°I have literally no clue what¡¯s going on beyond what I can see in front of my face. Right now, that¡¯s clouds and trees.¡±

    ¡°Like I said,¡± the voice was now to my left a few feet, ¡°yeh hent even turned your eyes on yet.¡±

    ¡°Right, yeah, what does that mean?¡± I was already sending mana of different compositions and strength to my eyes but clearly that wasn''t the answer. Neither my ¡®plain¡¯ mana nor the new draconic crystals changed my vision beyond sharpening it. ¡°Am I just being dumb?¡±

    ¡°Sooo many questions!¡± In complaint, I saw the ground get disturbed. Had the fairy flopped the floor? ¡°Ya did make quite a big promise though, so I suppose yeh deserve some real answers.¡± I felt two small hands touch my eyebrows. I tried not to flinch but didn¡¯t manage it. ¡°Don¡¯t send it to the eyes themselves, but here instead. Don¡¯t use the Dragon¡¯s mana.¡±

    I did as I was told, sending mana to the two spots the fairy highlighted. Apparently, being specific was important as I noticed a previously unseen pair of reservoirs. There were whole mana wells sitting just above my eyes which I had been completely unaware of. I couldn¡¯t help but feel embarrassed as I sent mana to the empty spots and they began to fill. The process was quick, only costing a fraction of my total mana. The effect was immediate and I was rewarded with a System prompt.

    Skill Unlocked - Manasight

    There are many layers to the world. Now, there is one less veil.

    The sharpness I had experienced with my crude use of mana up to now felt like a joke. The world around me danced with colours I had no name for, vibrations shimmered through the air and, of course, the mystery voice now had a face to go with it. I suppressed a deep shudder.

    Fair folk?! I forced a smile to my face as I tried to casually inch away from the insectoid woman. Large, multifaceted eyes were far too close to mine now she wasn¡¯t invisible. Long, dragonfly wings buzzed quickly and quietly behind her and her limbs were long and spindly. Sharp, wiry black hairs dotted some of her scalp. She wasn¡¯t grotesque, exactly, but it was shocking all the same.

    After a moment of calming myself, I was able to speak. ¡°You¡¯ve done me a great service, thank you very much.¡± I bowed my head and closed my eyes. I kept it bowed, and them closed, until I heard her move away slightly. Ready for round two, I opened my eyes and looked at the ¡®fairy¡¯.

    Not quite Tinkerbell, Naea looked like a small, emaciated woman. Her skin was a pale, shiny blue. Her large bug eyes were dark, though an amber tint could be seen where the light hit them. Just above a thin forehead, dark black hair offset her skin and sat above her wings in a frizz. She wore a small, flimsy looking blue dress which hugged her from her neck to her knees, a gap in the back for her wings.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t think humans were such grovelers. Now yeh can see properly, you can check for yourself what I am.¡± She was right, of course. Filling the small pools above my eyes had sequestered a tiny portion of my mana out of reach. I could deactivate the skill and get it back, but it was so tiny it didn¡¯t matter. The benefits were clear and I doubted I would ever recall that energy if I didn¡¯t have to. I turned my attention to the little alien woman properly.

    ¡°Naea¡± - Dungeon Fairy - Level 8

    Like with the other creatures, I didn¡¯t get any more information than a name. The System very clearly didn¡¯t call her a monster, which was probably why we were talking and not fighting. ¡°Well Naea, it¡¯s genuinely lovely to meet you. It¡¯s weird to say that seeing a fairy has made me feel less crazy but here we are. Crazy few days. My name is Grant.¡±

    ¡°A lifelong promise and a portion of your true name? You either don¡¯t know the rules or you must really fancy me.¡± The fairy spun around in the air and wiggled her tiny rear at me. I held back a wince and shrugged. I didn¡¯t know the rules, clearly. On her second revolution, Naea looked at me and a look of realisation hit her. ¡°Hold me wings, you¡¯re strong. That explains the Dragon in ya! It was you what killed the tortoise?¡±

    Huh. ¡°I guess they are tortoises, aren¡¯t they? Why do we call them turtles?¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s we?¡± Naea asked.

    ¡°People who grew up in the eighties or nineties, mostly. Don¡¯t worry about it, the System is getting to me. Yeah, it tried to kill me, so I put it down.¡± I heard myself hedging words, defending myself before I had been attacked. Sure sign of guilt there, Grant. I hardened my voice and stuck out my jaw. ¡°What about it?¡±

    Instead of becoming scared of me, like I worried, Naea¡¯s huge eyes lit up. She rubbed her tiny hands together and paced back and forth in the air while licking her lips. The result was undeniably sinister. She stopped her and slowly turned in the air, all the aura of a mediocre comic book villain coming over here.

    ¡°You and I,¡± she said ominously, ¡°are going to get along great.¡±

 Chapter Eight - Getting Familiar

    ¡°I don¡¯t like your smirk,¡± I muttered quietly. Scorepions were able to sense vibrations through sand, even down to a raised voice apparently. Naea was a font of useful information which I would have no way of finding out myself. She was also literally salivating.

    ¡°Ah ye¡¯re just being a baby. Go get us some levels.¡± I rolled my eyes at her words but bit back my reply. She wasn¡¯t exactly the ray of sunshine my psyche could have used, but a source of actionable information was exactly what I really needed. Feeding her the corpses of my enemies was an easy trade.

    Dungeon Fairies, as it happened, were the caretakers of such places. In every dungeon, a fairy would be spawned who flitted around and dealt with the bodies. I had been more than a little disturbed to return to Clive¡¯s and find it magically cleaned. Without the scene of the destruction, the event felt even more dreamlike. Had it even really happened? My levels proved it had, and I didn¡¯t entertain the thought.

    I didn¡¯t deserve that grace.

    After grabbing all the food and drink from the still-active fridges and freezers and stuffing it into my inventory, I draped myself in a booth somewhat comfortably while Naea explained a few important things. Once she realised I was the one who ¡°triggered¡± the dungeon in her words, she was very talkative.

    ¡°Most initial dungeons spawn at levels one to five, based on the first entrant to said dungeon. You, ya cheeky thing, started us off strong. That is amazing news. A Dungeon Fairy like myself gets stronger based on the bodies we clean up. That one,¡± she had pointed to the spot where Mrs Naebol had lain, ¡°jumped me to seven, the one outside pushed me to eight.¡± She had shaken her head and smiled at that, like we were discussing a happy shared nostalgia.

    Apparently, Naea had started off life completely starving. Normally, a fair amount of people would assault a dungeon together, with the number growing as more people met the conditions to enter. As I was the only non-monster here, it had taken her a while to find the bodies. ¡°Dungeon Fairies usually give out some hints here and there, so you lot don¡¯t kill us. Also helps you lot from getting killed, too, I guess.¡± She seemed much less bothered by the second option.

    ¡°Would the dungeon break if you died?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No, so don¡¯t get any ideas,¡± Naea wiggled a long, thin finger at me. ¡°It would just start to stink pretty quickly.¡± She was unwilling to continue sitting around and talk when we could be ¡°out killing,¡± so we had set out for the desert. Naea didn¡¯t eat food, but was sustained by the death of dungeon monsters. Finding the tortoises was just going to happen by accident if they really were ninja, so better to go for the sustenance I could guarantee. The scorepions had a good setup in the dunes, so they¡¯d probably still be there.

    On one hand, I wasn¡¯t a hunter or soldier - killing wasn¡¯t something I knew how to do. It wasn¡¯t something I was comfortable seeking the opportunity to perform. Yet, with Naea egging me on, making the decision to attack the scorepions, or anything for that matter, seemed more natural. If clearing out the dungeon¡¯s monsters was part of the ecosystem, who was I to question it?

    There was always the chance Naea was playing me for a fool, but I didn¡¯t see much benefit in it for her. Ultimately, I was going to get the lion share of experience and loot, so she wouldn¡¯t become stronger than me and therefore a danger. Without any reason to doubt her, I wouldn¡¯t let paranoia rob me of my only companion in this godforsaken place.

    Which brought us back to the dunes. I couldn¡¯t see any text boxes from the System to tell me where they were, but I would once they made their move.

    Now that Manasight was running passively, I didn¡¯t need to focus any attention on directing a flow of mana to my eyes. The result of that meant I could react quicker to incoming danger. While I may have come away injured in our last meeting, the scorepions were still weak and should be simple to defeat. Trudging through the sand towards the closest dune, I twirled my staff and prepared to defend myself.

    Right on cue, two names appeared on either side of the dune. A level four and a level six. You got this, I told myself to spur my confidence. The tension I had felt last time they locked onto me returned. If I had a soundtrack behind my actions, it would be rising in tempo with each passing moment. The rubber bands were aimed at me again.

    My mana was active and I was as prepared as I could reasonably be. I took a deep breath. My most recent gains weren¡¯t shown on an attributes page. Instead, they were felt in my movements and my pride. Even with danger bearing down on me, I puffed my chest out and continued forward.

    ¡°A dragon shouldn¡¯t back down to insects.¡± I could feel my mana resonate with the confidence I spoke into existence. The crystals within my mana flow all buzzed in agreement. The scorepions reacted to vibrations, Naea had said. They didn¡¯t stir at my words but I could give them something to react to.

    I roared, releasing a wave of pent-up anger. Frustration, fear and primal fucking rage combined into an almost physical force which kicked up sand around me. The scorepions weren¡¯t calmly watching any longer. I became a little light-headed from the force of my own voice, the volume amplified by my wired senses and the strength increased by my attributes.

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    There was no time to get dizzy though, as the scorepions retaliated, just like I expected them to. A screaming orb of poisonous football merchandise flashed past my head but I didn¡¯t react, waiting for the next. I had already judged the trajectory of the first and knew it wouldn¡¯t touch me. With a slight pause, the second projectile was fired and this one, deflected.

    I nodded in satisfaction as the ball spun its momentum away into the sand. One of my worries had been the durability of the Yo Staff but I now didn¡¯t believe anything I could put it through would break it. The force of the incoming footballs was fierce, but well within my estimations. I can do this. Even with all my power, the primaeval section of my mind was still recovering from the pain I had felt last time I was here. My yell and subsequent review of the scorepion¡¯s capabilities swept away the final cobwebs of doubt.

    ¡°Batter up,¡± I jeered, getting into a stance. Wrong ball, wrong shape stick but with the weight I could channel through the Yo Staff, it was the simplest choice. I still hadn¡¯t seen the full body of a scorepion and I wasn¡¯t desperate to get up close with them. Scorpions meant claws and poison, no need to tempt fate. My pride also demanded that I beat them at their own game. They wanted to hit me with ranged attacks? I¡¯d just hit them right back.

    My eyes widened as another pair of names appeared, meaning there were four scorepions in the single dune. Potentially more. Still, without the element of surprise they weren¡¯t that dangerous. Before they fired, the scorepion had to aimed its spout at me and the shot couldn¡¯t be altered afterwards.

    Basically, it was nothing but a fastball.

    Never much into sports as a whole, one thing I did find fascinating was the upper limits of human potential. The fastest pitch ever was supposedly around 108 miles per hour, and I doubted these balls were slower than that, if not faster by a small amount. Still, to my current senses, they might as well have been underhanded lobs. ¡°Swing batter, batter, better SWING!¡±

    A hop to my left moved me out of the trajectory of the first shot of the new volley and positioned me perfectly for the second. I waited, knowing my arms would move faster than they should, before swinging with all my might. The staff flew through the air but a quarter way through the movement I pushed a surge of mana into the magical item.

    Immediately, the weight of the staff became cataclysmic. I hadn¡¯t underestimated the potency of my mana but it was as though the staff were more attuned to the energy itself. A connection to my Dragon aspect? I didn¡¯t have space to think as the staff nearly slipped from my grip. Before I could be pulled off-balance by the surprising density, I found my target.

    With a sound like a boulder being hit with a steel beam, I thundered the football back toward the middle point of the dune. The scorepions were scattered around the top but I didn¡¯t want to miss the bulk of the sandy hill.

    I didn¡¯t.

    The dune exploded like a bomb had gone off in the middle. My arms creaked and my left shoulder throbbed in phantom pain from the dislocation I¡¯d suffered the day prior. Watching the four scorepions soar upwards in variously comical fashion, the surreality of the situation threatened to hit me like a truck.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think too hard,¡± I told myself, ¡°just go finish off the magical scorpions so the fairy won¡¯t get upset.¡± Shaking my head at the bizarre thought, and at the falling sand, I moved to intercept the falling arachnids.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The noises Naea was making were ones I thought reserved for the bedroom, so I moved a polite distance away and focused on consolidating my new understandings from the battle. The System¡¯s help was like a set of training wheels, not the pinnacle of what I could do. The lessons I received from it were essentially primers for the actual experiences formed in the fires of combat.

    Meditation was not something I felt connected to in the past, but if the alternative was interacting with Naea right now, I would say some ohms. Despite entering the process with a flippant attitude, the sensation of rightness which came over me when I settled was startling. Not shocking enough to shake my reverie, but enough to make me realise I had stumbled onto something important.

    For just a moment, I saw myself from a different perspective. Not metaphorically, but an actual different view of myself from a higher vantage flashed through my mind. I stayed with the feeling but the sight slipped away regardless. I tried to recover the trigger but couldn¡¯t settle my mind in the same way.

    Although I was sitting cross-legged, the vision of myself had been standing. I bore a staff and strange ethereal armour. Obviously the armour was alien to me, but so was the weapon. Instead of the Yo Staff, a gnarled length of wood seemed to sit even more comfortably in my grasp. The vision ended when the alternative version of myself raised their eyes to my vantage point. Before our eyes met, I was back in my body.

    ¡°Interesting¡­¡± My trance broken, I could hear the soft wind blowing through the quiet desert. A faint buzzing to my left told me where Naea was. ¡°You¡¯re finished being weird, then?¡±

    ¡°Ah, spin ya. Yer a right good kid, though.¡± Naea then hiccupped and I turned just in time to see her tumble from the air gracelessly. She spat out the sand in her mouth, not losing the goofy smile plastered on her face for a second. ¡°Ya ever try somethin¡¯ and think you don¡¯ like tha taste but ya can¡¯t stop eating? Ahh, that¡¯s the stuff.¡±

    Great, she¡¯s a stoner. The absorption of the scorepions had not just been sustenance for Naea, and I half-suspected it wasn¡¯t food at all. She looked drunk and high, her stomach puffing out a little. Considering her teensy size, it was like a thimble had been hidden under her dress. ¡°When in Rome,¡± I shrugged, opening my attribute page.

    Name - Grant Kaeron   Race - Human (Grade 0) Level - 19

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 10  Speed - 10  Mental - 50   Will - 25

    Free attribute points: 4

    ¡°What¡¯s Rome?¡± Naea asked, extending the O of Rome massively.

    ¡°One of our cities, on the other side of the continent.¡± Thinking about the rest of the world was a recipe for disaster, so I wasn¡¯t upset when Naea got distracted by a dust devil. While she chased it, I gave some thought to my goals and long term plans. Due to the amplifying effect of my mana, I wasn¡¯t worried about putting more points into Fortitude or Speed for the moment. Was it even the right choice to place my points now, or should I wait for a need to arise?

    My decision to place three points into Will was based on my experience binding with the Aspect of the Dragon. The Aspect itself had seemed to have a mind of its own at one point, actively debating whether I was worthy of wielding it. The deciding factor had been my high Mental attribute, but if I had been weaker, the Dragon might have rejected me.

    In hopeful preparation for my next Aspect, I would try to keep my Will attribute in line with Mental. Positioning my attributes around a 10:10:50:30 was an acceptable ratio in my mind, and I would see if it was possible to keep it this way. Ideally I would also have more information by the time my second binding came around but looking at Naea right now, I didn¡¯t have high hopes.

    ¡°How did you even get yourself stuck like that?¡± I asked, pulling her head from the sand. She gasped and looked at me with grateful, wide eyes that threatened tears. Her wings were slightly droopy and her wide, thin lip pushed out as much as it could in a pout. I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly what had happened. ¡°Your high run out, did it?¡±

    Naea nodded, pure sadness on her face. I chuckled and dropped her onto my shoulder. She barely weighed a pound. The bulge in her dress had entirely disappeared. ¡°Come on,¡± I sighed, getting up and setting off for another sand dune. ¡°there¡¯s more scorepions around here somewhere. Don¡¯t eat them all at once this time.¡±

 Chapter Nine - Hubris

    As part of my ongoing effort to keep myself alive, I stopped ignoring a glaring piece of information on my character page. I had, of course, noticed my glaringly named title but accepting its presence was to accept the truth. Mrs Naebol had been a dragon. The tiny doddering old woman I had passed a hundred times in the street, waved at and mostly ignored was a System confirmed dragon.

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Some lives weigh more than others, and few existences rival the dragon.

    You¡¯re one of the exceptions.

    Effect - Increased resistance against draconic attacks.

    Improved effectiveness against draconic enemies.

    While the wordage was fairly impressive, the effect wasn¡¯t too helpful. I¡¯d probably think different if I ran into another dragon, but I doubted some small increases would help me survive that situation. I sighed. I was overflowing with power right now, so it wasn¡¯t like I needed more advantages.

    A rumble from my core reminded me that I did, actually. I needed every advantage I could grasp with my grubby hands to survive the dungeon, let alone the world beyond it. As dangerous and frightening as my situation may be, I could also see it for the opportunity it was.

    It had been just over a day and a half since I awoke in the dungeon, so two days trying to understand the System at most for the world at large. In such a short time, I had become a completely different person, and I was only just scratching the surface of what was possible. Even without further levels, there were three Aspect slots for me to fill.

    So, we were hunting.

    Well, I was hunting and Naea was doing her best impression of a bull in a china shop. ¡°What¡¯s this thing?¡± She called, causing me to roll my eyes, drop my character page and wander over. We had found all sorts of things in the sand as we walked further into the dungeon. For the most part we were keeping to a perimeter, but the shiny things had brought up deeper and deeper.

    ¡°That appears to be a glasses case,¡± I patiently explained. ¡°Humans without perfect eyesight can get special glass made for them, so keeping them safe is important.¡± Naea frowned, but I anticipated her question. ¡°No magic before the Shift, remember?¡±

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right.¡± Immediately losing interest, Naea flitted away to scan for more oddities. She hadn¡¯t found anything useful or valuable, but it had passed the time while looking for another scorepion dune. The actual sand dunes were everywhere, but the enemies were less common. Out of the ten or so we had passed, only two of the sandy structures contained the weird insects.

    I¡¯d inspected one of the bodies before letting Naea dispose of them, and was fairly sure they couldn¡¯t survive in the old world. I saw no mouth on them at all. It seemed instead of a stinger, or pincers, the scorepions instead had a tail which ended in a funnel and a pair of short hooks which could bury into the sand. The labrador-sized scorpions were bulbous, but as I suspected from afar, their physiology didn¡¯t make sense when it came to firing the balls. The attack was magical in nature, and so was their feeding cycle probably.

    The battles had been nearly identical to the first, with even less inefficiencies. I practised on the final group, deflecting the high-speed projectiles from three level six scorepions for five minutes. By the end, I was able to accurately hit the ball straight back at the shooter, which was how the last three had perished. I was happy with my progress, but not as happy as Naea.

    ¡°Level ten!¡± Amidst her happy groaning over the dead scorepion bodies, I heard her glee and turned to see her shimmer with a silver light for a moment before it faded. I was edging closer to level twenty myself but I could tell the scorepions were giving less with each kill. They just weren¡¯t strong enough for me. Not true for the fairy. Naea hit the earlier benchmark with glee. ¡°I¡¯m the first!¡±

    ¡°The first?¡± I asked. She zipped through the air with more speed than I¡¯d seen her exhibit before. Definitely upgraded. Before I could stop her, the miniature wasp-woman kissed the bridge of my nose. She smelled of scorepion, and I swiped her away with an exasperated chuckle. ¡°First what?¡±

    ¡°The first fairy to reach level ten! Ooh ye¡¯re a good one, you are. Can¡¯t ye see how strong my wings are?¡± To prove her point, Naea shot off in a single direction until she was just a pinprick to even my impressive vision. Another few seconds later and she cannonned past me, flicking my ear. I swore loud and reached up, finding blood. She tried again, but I was ready.

    A mana-charged puff of breath knocked her out of the air and into the sand. ¡°Aspect of the Dragon, remember?¡± The exhale was hardly an attack, definitely not dragon breath, but it amused me to imagine them the same. Maybe one day, they would be. Naea wasn¡¯t upset, jumping back into the air with a frontflip.

    ¡°Fair,¡± she begrudged with a nod.

    ¡°What happens if you¡¯re the first to level ten? Is it a Dungeon Fairy thing?¡±

    ¡°Yes and no,¡± Naea answered, a desperate fire in here eyes. ¡°If I¡¯m the first level ten fairy, then you could get some achievements, too!¡± Well, I knew that word, but I didn¡¯t want to get too carried away.

    ¡°What achievements are there?¡± Did other people already know about them? Were they actively going for prizes that were meant to be mine? A surprising burst of anger flared within me at the idea and I smiled as I let it dissipate. I didn¡¯t own the changes to the world.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Tonnes, I bet! I don¡¯t really know, I only found out about them when I got one.¡± Ah, so Naea received information from the System just like I did? That was interesting, if nothing else. Naea was happy to discuss more, but ultimately the conversation was unhelpful. I felt a pressure hang above my head which wasn¡¯t there before, even as I told myself it didn¡¯t matter.

    The System¡¯s changes to my body, along with the various bouts of unconsciousness I had suffered in the last 48 hours had kept me mostly fueled, but I was started to feel tired. The idea of resting while there were potentially permanent, one-time gains for the taking was torture, however.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go find some more scorepions,¡± I told Naea. The nest I had found was different from the dunes I had destroyed earlier. Six sandy spires rose into the air, higher than any tree I had ever seen. Redwoods in America were meant to be something like this, I thought. I hoped they were still there. I pushed down my anger at the damage to the world I hadn¡¯t gotten to explore yet and approached the closest tower of sand.

    Once I was in range, a blanket of footballs rained down on me at once. Taking more than a fancy spin of my staff, I judged the flight of the incoming shots well enough to slip through the onslaught and close in on the first huge dune. Dozens of names appeared as I got closer, scorepions from levels one to nine. The other huge dunes would hold the same amount, no doubt, but the thought was worrying.

    Of course this fight wasn¡¯t the simple ranged back-and-forth I had been used to with the scorepions thus far. It was my fault for assuming. Of course I would accidentally find the boss, and of course it would have a stupid name. I should have been mad at the System for yet another joke at the expense of my ruined world, but this time I felt I should have expected it.

    Everything started well. The staggering amount of attacks from within the tall pile of sand was manageable, to the point that I began hitting back at the scorepions. Amongst my dodging and deflections, a few of the projectiles found their way back into the sand. My precision was increasing with each return. Right as I was beginning to feel confident, the ground beneath me literally shifted. At once, the huge sand dune tumbled, all structure lost.

    I was nearly trapped in the sandfall before I was lifted from below. I was hit with the full force of a bus as a massive leg hauled itself from the ground. Any pretence of control I thought I had went out the window and I was thrown helplessly through the air. Naea caught up with me, but as she couldn¡¯t help, it almost felt like a taunt. The ground was coming fast and the only thoughts running through my head were how much this was going to hurt and how much I wished I had wings.

    It was during my unplanned and failed journey to the stars that I saw the name of the huge beast hidden under the sand. Even screaming for my life, I couldn¡¯t stop the roll of my eyes.

    Boss Monster - Manager Scorepion - Level 40

    That doesn¡¯t even make sense. How is it a manager? Distracted by the name, I plummeted into the sand like a stone. Immediately, I knew the damage was too great. My legs spasmed in the sand but I couldn¡¯t feel them, nor could I control them. Nor my bladder. Pain threatened to send me unconscious but embarrassment and fury kept me going. Agonising sparks jumped through my back as I opened my character page and added a point to Fortitude. The sparks turned into lightning bolts as my spine knitted itself back together in seconds.

    The surge of healing energies which rushed through me faded quickly. The recovery speed was honestly jarring, but it wasn¡¯t my only issue. Shaking off the effects of pain itself also wasn¡¯t simple. My body was hesitant to move, even though it was technically fine, physically.

    My mana reserves were at half and dropping, without even an attack thrown. As disorientating as being launched into the air had been, it was impossible to lose sight of the gigantic scorepion still shaking sand from itself. I was in awe of the size, another prime example of something which could only exist due to the magic now flowing right across the world.

    ¡°Run!¡± An arrow shot past me, shouting a warning, but the sound was so shifted by the speed it took me a few seconds to understand what had happened. I realised the arrow was Naea at the same time I felt the ground rumble, which was in turn a second before the shadow appeared.

    I planted my staff in the ground and threw myself after Naea. The rumbling increased and the shadow loomed larger. Death from above and below. I chanced a spin as I bounded forward, not slowing down with a look over my shoulder. The absolute mess of scorepion name cards which was closing in on me was terrifying, but only the third scariest thing in my line of sight.

    Second was the colossal orb burning through the air towards me. Like an artillery cannon, the gargantuan scorepion had positioned itself to fire an actual boat-sized ball of poisonous death right at me.

    The most horrifying, of course, was the boss monster. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from marvelling at it, despite the overwhelming danger. The six pillars I had seen stretching high like ancient trees, were actually its impossibly long legs. Now, those legs were planted to give the scorepion stability. It had become a fortress. To help set it apart, the boss variant scorepion also waved a pair of huge pincers at me menacingly.

    Wonderful, I thought while fleeing for my life, just in case the army it controls and the meteor it shoots wasn¡¯t enough. With the pace I managed, I quickly began to outrace the stampede of impending insects. With maybe five seconds before the ball landed, I frowned. The allure of achievements rang in my ear.

    Am I really just going to run away?

    Hesitation was quickly becoming an alien concept to my increasingly fast mind. Working out whether my insane gambit would work was a different matter, but I decided to take the risk. There might be a reward for being the first person to run away from a dungeon boss but I was loath to find out.

    I didn¡¯t have the mana for a drawn out fight, but that was okay. I just wanted to land one good hit. ¡°Thank you,¡± I bellowed, my voice amplified by the amount of mana running through my body, ¡°for the target.¡±

    Every wisp of mana I had went into the swing of a lifetime. The staff had worked perfectly to vault me into the air, and with the distance I had gained from my initial sprint, I reached the apex of my jump at the perfect height. I started the downward arc just before I began pouring energy into the Yo Staff. The momentum of its fall doubled with every inch it moved.

    The staff collided with the ball. My skin burned as boiling hot poison splashed onto me and I found myself once again returning to the ground with a less than graceful landing awaiting me. It didn¡¯t matter, because for all the damage I had just taken, I had retaliated a hundred times over. Before I crashed into the sand, I saw the ball racing straight towards the boss scorepion.

    Although invisible through the cloud of sand I had kicked up in my landing, I knew my return serve was a thing of perfection. I couldn¡¯t tell exactly how many of the smaller scorepions had been killed by my attack, but it was a lot. A pressure built up inside me again and again, each time released a second later. Four, five¡­ six times. An earth shattering screech told me it was time to leave regardless of my gains and I heeded the message.

    I quickly put a single point from my level up into Fortitude, gasping with pleasure as most of the burning poison fell away from my body and my broken bones yet again repaired themselves.

    I didn¡¯t look back towards the scorepion nest once as I escaped. My arms hurt so badly, I returned the Yo Staff to my inventory for the first time in days. Not having the staff in hand felt strange, like I had just lost a limb, but there was nothing for it. I placed points into each of my attributes, almost haphazard, but nothing returned my stamina to me. I ran for hours, all the same.

    Everything hurt, down to my soul. Somehow, I found my way to the grass of the parkland. The tiniest sense of safety found its way into my heart at the sight. Too tired to form a single thought or fight back against the encroaching darkness, I fell into the dirt. One by one, my senses died to nothing until the only thing left was the sputtering embers of my mana.

 Chapter Ten - Naea

    What am I doing?

    The air around me became a shield, which in turn became a weapon as I rammed into the boar¡¯s snout. The beast squealed like a demon before running away in fear. ¡°Good!¡± I shouted after its fearful hide, ¡°I den¡¯t like the look of you either!¡± After a few seconds, the sounds of the boar crashing through the underbrush squealed out of range.

    The excitement over for now, I sighed and returned to my perch in the tree above Grant¡¯s head. ¡°What the hells am I gonna do with you?¡±

    I spun around on the branch with my legs, thinking hard. Not something I like doing, but the situation required it. What were my options? I could keep the wildlife away as long as he woke up soon, but if anything serious showed up, what then?

    It wasn¡¯t my nature to worry, so I didn¡¯t. What would be, would be. Going from non-existence to full blown life was mostly just disorientating but it also definitely created a certain mindset. The singular thing I was concerned with was surviving from minute to minute. Eventually, that might shift into day to day, but one thing at a time.

    ¡°Booooring,¡± I complained fruitlessly. Grant looked ragged, but his recovery was overpowering the damage. He would survive. I could tell just by looking, though why I knew wasn¡¯t clear. For the most part, my knowledge felt instinctual. When I needed to know something, I would. Until then, I mostly just thought about eating.

    For now, Grant still needed food and water. His body was mortal. Mine wasn¡¯t, so all I needed was the ambient mana released when a monster died. Something which would have been in abundance if Sleepyhead down there wasn¡¯t the only human in the place. I knew enough to understand this wasn¡¯t normal, and I was half-starved when I finally found the frog.

    I would probably never tell Grant how much I needed him, but that was okay. It wasn¡¯t lying not to share things. He clearly needed me just as much, if not more. The magic within him was rebuilding his body as quickly as it could, but it would be hours. Was there something I could do to speed it up?

    Oh!

    Apparently there was¡­ but I wasn¡¯t willing to tie myself down just to avoid a bit of boredom. Still, it was an interesting idea, and something to do, so I spent some time researching this Familiar Contract. The rules were long though, so I skimmed it a few times. When the tree I lounged in shook, I nearly screamed.

    Good job I didn¡¯t, as I had company. Proper company, which would have been deadly to me too if the dungeon was any stronger. My invisibility protected me, having upgraded with the rest of my abilities at level 10. I didn¡¯t have time to think, I had to act. A blade was aimed for Grant¡¯s sleeping face, it needed to be diverted.

    So, I didn¡¯t think. I diverted the blade. Steel ate through muscle, bone and sinew alike despite my magical shielding. The pain caused me to scream but the sound was dimmed to my ears as the heavy blanket of unconsciousness swaddled me. Before I fell, I managed to spit on the stupid frog.

    ¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C¨C

    In a world all of my own, I huddled over the waning flames of energy. Howling winds of poisonous fumes attacked the tiny spark of power and I screamed soundlessly as they seared my soul. The agony was unimaginable. Unlike physical pain, my scoured soul was my last bastion. There was nowhere further inside to run in avoidance.

    So I endured.

    I roared in anger and rejection. Anger that I would be subjected to this, rejection that this trial would defeat me. All around me, the pressure lessened just a bit. From within the flame I clutched to my chest, my roar echoed back. The Dragon added its strength to my own and together our shout became our weapon.

    One with the Dragon, I stomped and lashed and screamed in equal measures at the pain, yet never yielded an inch. Soul scarring wounds were created and discarded, replaced by steel as I went through each eternity filled moment of torture. I refused to let it bend me, refused to break. There were hidden reserves of will and desperation which I burned through with abandon.

    Somewhere in the pain, the balance started to shift. Unknown to me, I had hauled myself back from past the point of no return. The level 40 poison of the boss scorepion should have eaten through my bones due to its potency, but the Dragon¡¯s mana would not allow that. Where I should have had no recourse, I was instead able to pour all of my mana reserves into lessening the poison¡¯s damage.

    The flame I protected was my mana. The void I found myself in was a pale imitation of the true Nothing I had seen. It wasn¡¯t nothingness surrounding me, just the empty space of my drained core, seen from within. Each blast of poisonous wind stole the accumulated mana before it could refill the container. By guarding it as I could, the flame was able to survive and steal some of the strength away from the winds.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Of course, I knew none of this. It wasn¡¯t like I made a decision to fight, if there was a chance to choose I never saw it pass me by. All I knew was something external was demanding I cede to its will. I had no way of knowing whether I was fighting the tide or not, but I fought all the same. Better to rage against the dying of the light.

    I could feel it when I pressed through the threshold, though. The poison¡¯s efficacy dropped noticeably and sounds started returning to the world. My mana reserves had been completely emptied, and then I pushed every ounce of energy into my defence. I couldn¡¯t be sure, but I felt like I had strained my core and my pathways.

    Once upon a time, waking up to screaming would have frozen me in terror. Instead, I immediately burst into action. I clawed through the remaining flimsy veil of darkness and threw myself directly towards the danger. My body had recognised the voice crying out in pain before my mind did, so I was already in motion when I realised what was happening.

    Naea needed help.

    Bleary eyed and rubbery limbed, I was in no state to fight and expect to win, yet I had no choice. I quickly analysed the situation, jumping to my feet and leaning on a nearby tree. We were on the edge of the desert and it looked to be very early morning. The sun wouldn¡¯t rise over the trees for a while yet, though. Lacking light, the duochrome of a grey sky and dark foliage did its best to hide the scene from view.

    More importantly than the weather was the Adolescent Amphibious Attack Animal currently trying to assassinate me. Just like before, the mutated humanoid was as horrible to behold as anything I¡¯d seen. The same protective shell circled its torso, long arms brandishing a sword at me. It flicked blood from its blade, causing me to check myself. Nothing. Weird¡­

    Finally, my eyes saw it. What I had thought was another random twig released a small belch of blood onto the floor. A single, wasp-like wing was pinned under its weight. The whooshing of blood in my ears faded to nothing and I now heard the quiet sobbing of pain and loss on the floor. Shivering in a growing puddle, Naea clutched the severed stump of her right arm just below the shoulder.

    I didn¡¯t know she had done so in defence of myself, but that didn¡¯t make my fury any less explosive. The poor level 14 Attack Animal¡¯s eyes bulged as I removed the Yo Staff from my inventory. As far as it was concerned, I had summoned the weapon of its fallen sibling from thin air, spinning it with a flourish. A grunt of indignation from the thing disgusted me, so I flew forward.

    My mana pool wasn¡¯t even nearly recovered since my ordeal, nor was my body in tip-top shape, but so what? I had less than 10% in the tank, but if it took even half of that to destroy the danger before me, I¡¯d be disappointed. Not that I attacked with reservation, however.

    The Yo Staff¡¯s magical ability was simple to describe, but there was a fair amount of nuance to its use. When there was no mana running through the weapon, it seemed a standard bo staff, though I suspected its magical nature reinforced its durability. Once mana entered the dark, lacquered wood, the Yo Staff gained weight. The effect was not uniform across the length, however. To now, I had used this effect like a caveman, launching uncontrolled attacks to create as much devastation as possible.

    I had just spent hours watching, kindling and containing the fraction of mana which continually formed. Sending a controlled flow of energy, less than my recovery rate, was a level of control I couldn¡¯t manage before. Unfortunately for the second knock-off ninja, this weakness had just been thoroughly expunged by my tortured hours of pure mana control.

    When the staff moved, it was weightless. To my strengthened body, the long stick was like a paper straw. Yet, when the blade of the amphibian met its wood, it became a mountain. Expertly, I planted the staff in the path of the short sword, right on the foot of the frog-thing. I couldn¡¯t hold back a vicious snarl as I surged a sizable chunk of my mana into the staff. The manoeuvre when I brought my own feet up and drop kicked the turtle with all the strength I could muster.

    I couldn¡¯t help being a little surprised as the creature flew away further than expected, but I chalked it down to anger at the time. I yanked the Yo Staff from the ground and used my boot to remove the payment for Naea¡¯s wound from its end. The staff wasn¡¯t sharp, but its weight had been more than enough to pierce the thin webbing of the frog-turtle-man¡¯s disfigured foot.

    I¡¯d have been alright with just the foot, but the whole frog leg had stayed, plucked from the creature. Easier than ripping the legs off a spider. I didn¡¯t revel in the intrusive thought, but I didn¡¯t shy from it either. I¡¯d been attacked by a bug. This was a simple extermination.

    I wasn¡¯t calm and collected, and I didn¡¯t approach the fallen enemy like the terminator. My shove had thrown the thing a fair distance into the sand, where it struggled and wailed, all fight removed from it. Wasting no time, I lifted the Yo Staff over my head and gave it the absolute best swing I could manage. Through the length of my weapon, my mana danced to the exact spots I wanted and the force of my hit was exponentially multiplied.

    The tension of the moment snapped and I yelled ¡°Fore!¡± Just like I imagined, the fucker looked exactly like a golf ball being launched from a bunker. The sight was hilarious if I did say so myself, but I didn¡¯t have time to watch. A shiver of pressure fell onto me, not enough for a level, confirming the kill and that was enough.

    I needed to help Naea.

    Within two seconds I covered the distance to her small frame and hovered overhead. Only then did I realise I had absolutely no idea how to help. There was nothing waiting in my inventory from looking random scorepions, just a bit more gold I couldn¡¯t use. ¡°What do I do?¡± I asked desperately.

    My heart broke as Naea chuckled bravely from below. ¡°Yeh couldn¡¯t o¡¯ woke up a pinch quicker?¡± I tore a lace free from my boot and tied off her arm. She hissed as pain contorted her face. She ground her tiny teeth together and her dark eyes met mine with fierce determination burning clear. ¡°I do have something.¡±

    ¡°Anything,¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Silly boy,¡± Naea whispered. ¡°Ye can¡¯t go telling girls such things.¡± Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath. She waved her remaining hand in my direction and a prompt appeared. For a moment, I was doubly confused because this wasn¡¯t how System messages normally looked for me.

    Instead of the simple floating white box with black text I was used to, a complex and detailed screen glittered into existence. Literally. While I doubted it was visible if someone else happened to be looking, to my eyes a gorgeous document had pulled itself from the air. I reached out to touch the page, and the more standard System prompt appeared.

    Familiar Contract - Dungeon Fairy ¡°Naea¡± has offered a familiar contract.

    Do you accept the terms?

 Chapter Eleven - Achievement Unlocked

    ¡°Make sure ye know wha-¡±

    ¡°Accepted,¡± I interrupted. I raised an eyebrow at Naea, trying to say who do you take me for? An ominous bubbling within my core was taking place, the magic flowing within taking on yet another new sensation. ¡°You said this would save you, right?¡± Naea¡¯s thin bottom lip pouted and she nodded. I chuckled and rolled my eyes. That¡¯s all I needed to know.

    The energies in the air came not from Naea or myself, which explained their power. I felt like I was sitting in the middle of a waterfall, only kept afloat by the fact it was a metaphor. I couldn¡¯t drown in the overwhelming river of mana, only endure it. The pair of us were lifted into the air, Naea in my arms.

    The small area of English parkside lit up like the sun for multiple reasons. Once again, if someone had the chance to watch, they wouldn¡¯t understand what had occurred, but to the two involved, the process was laid bare. The intricacies of a contract which bound souls couldn¡¯t be hidden in small print.

    Which was why I knew Naea had ceded nearly every inch of control she was able to in the forging of this contract. While the magic was settling, I returned many of her freedoms to her. As the patron of this contract, I was free to alter the arrangement while the bond was still young.

    The process was quick and painless, not costing me anything I couldn¡¯t live without. Naea had asked for a miniscule stream of my energy as her payment and I broadened the scope of this portion. ¡°Did ye really insert a bonus clause into the familiar contract?¡± Naea laughed happily. ¡°Jus¡¯ what kinda fool are ye, Grant?¡±

    I didn¡¯t answer, because I didn¡¯t need to. Naea could feel the truth of my thoughts. The same was true in reverse. Separate yet bound, it was like there was a viewing port from my soul to her¡¯s. I shrugged instead. ¡°A lucky one, apparently. The best kind of fool.¡±

    ¡°Well, the kind that survives,¡± Naea agreed easily and I laughed again. My feet found the floor and I released the fairy into the air. She flipped and twirled before coming to a rest at my eye level. She frowned at herself in confusion, though all I felt was excitement. Naea was right about the most important part - the quick ritual had healed her. ¡°Hold on¡­ What?!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± I exclaimed back, genuinely taken aback by the outburst. So, not everything is shared. That¡¯s probably good. If Naea could still surprise me, then I wasn¡¯t just reading all her thoughts and her mine.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Instead of answering, Naea asked another unhelpful question. Then, she spun at increasing speeds until I was sure I was going to throw up, let alone her. Her excitement kept growing. ¡°How? How?¡±

    ¡°Clearly you¡¯re all better.¡± I moved over to the leg I had severed and nudged it with my foot, grunting with satisfaction as it gave me the option to loot the whole monster. Convenient. This one had been called Monet. Instead of white briefs on its head, it had a large red stocking which I had ignored at the time. The sword it had been using was also dropped nearby, so I grabbed that too.

    Looted: Ham and Mushroom Calzone, White Belt (Upgradeable)

    Would you like to upgrade your currently equipped White Belt?

    I accepted and watched with interest as colour leaked into the fabric around my waist. Naea looked over and cackled. ¡°Ya wet yerself?¡± I gave her a withering look and checked out the upgraded stats of the item. I cracked my neck, feeling the effects before I knew what they were.

    Item - Yellow Belt (Upgradeable)

    It never gets easier. You just get better.

    Defeat the remaining Amphibious Attack Animals to upgrade.

    Effect: Attributes  +5%

    This was what I expected, but I still felt excitement bubble at the sight. Just how much stronger would the item grow as I cleared the dungeon? Naea buzzed back and forth, still giggling to herself. It was getting a little old, though I didn¡¯t want to ruin her fun, I wanted to join in. ¡°Seriously, what is going on?¡±

    She stopped in front of me and looked at me like I was an idiot. Her eyes narrowed, then opened again in surprise. ¡°Ah ye silly thing, you muted the System.¡±

    ¡°What? No, I didn¡¯t. Did I? How do I unmute-¡±

    You have performed a feat of wonder. Achievements Unlocked.

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Achievement Unlocked - Boss Combat (World First)

    The lords of the dungeons, even encountering dungeon bosses can be lethal. You fought and survived.

    Effect: Increased resilience to level disparity

    Achievement Unlocked - Kill Over Fifty Enemies In A Single Attack While Ungraded

    Facing a horde is no simple task. Decimating one even less so.

    Effect: Fortitude Attribute +5%, Will Attribute +5%

    Achievement Unlocked - Level 25 (World First)

    The journey to the top isn¡¯t a race¡­ but you¡¯re winning.

    Effect: Highest Attribute +10%, Other Attributes +5%

    Achievement Unlocked - Survivor

    Return from the very brink.

    Effect: Regenerative effects increased

    Aspect Achievement Unlocked - Draconic Legacy

    Pride. Power. Potential. Like the dragons of old, your actions embody these ideals

    Effect: Positive effects last longer with higher potency.

    Negative effects are weakened. You have a small chance to negate an incoming debuff.

    Achievement Unlocked - Familiar Contract (Region First)

    You are the first in your region (Europe) to bind with a familiar.

    Effect: Increased experience gained for familiars

    I was increasingly of the opinion that the System had a twisted sense of humour. Not only did it shout all of the following announcements at once directly into my head, it wasn¡¯t until I received the prompts that I acquired the benefits. I must have silenced the messages while fighting the scorepions, or some time during my poisoned escape.

    Instead of being sour, I wriggled with the pleasure of these new effects taking hold. My muscles felt firmed, my mind more at ease. I had just gained multiple levels worth of power, in ways which were multiplicative. Try as I might, I couldn¡¯t help turning to Naea with a slack jaw.

    ¡°Y¡¯see why I¡¯m so buzzy?¡± Naea opened her own achievements and showed them to me, a feature of our bond. She also had the region''s first familiar achievement, as well as survivor and one more. One I didn¡¯t have. Her version of the familiar achievement was slightly different and only said it improved the effect of skills based on the familiar contract. We hadn¡¯t got that far yet, but it was intriguing all the same. Her survivor achievement was the same as mine.

    Then there was the last one, which was definitely why she was so excited.

    Achievement Unlocked - Limit Break

    Dungeon monsters are bound to their container, mostly. You¡¯re the exception.

    Effect: Level cap removed. Attributes unlocked. Evolution unlocked.

    ¡°It¡¯s like I¡¯ve been freed, Grant! I didn¡¯t even know I was being held back but gods, it¡¯s like I can actually get a full breath!¡± Naea spoke quickly, her excitement bubbling up. ¡°My wing¡¯s fixed and I can tell there¡¯s so much more. Can we go find something to fight?¡±

    I laughed. ¡°Why don¡¯t you start on the frog guy? Most of him is over there somewhere.¡± I gestured into the sands of the desert area. I wasn¡¯t ready for another fight just yet, though I would be physically recovered quickly. My body had just changed a lot, and even before that I had haphazardly placed attribute points as I fled the scorepion horde.

    So, there were achievements available to me. More than that, it really was a race between myself and others. The messages had given me some information which I had desperately needed. I looked again at the Level 25 achievements and felt a little weak at the knees. There was a very real chance I was currently the strongest person on the planet. The implications were terrifying.

    More than anything, the information was fuel to my fire. I already had reasons to push myself against this dungeon and now I not only had more tools, I had competition. Something I had clearly been lacking.

    There was also the phase ¡°while ungraded¡± which I didn¡¯t have an explanation for, but felt important. Was it a rising scale, or would I land on Grade F once I got one? Perhaps there was some kind of leaderboard ongoing for all the people of the planet. I really had no clue, but it was another thing to aim towards. Was there another achievement for becoming the first graded individual, like with level 25?

    The possibilities were making me salivate, so I took a bite of the calzone, shaking my head at how good it was. I went to find Naea, giving her some of the cheesy meal to share. She loved it, clearly surprised at the quality of human cooking. I couldn¡¯t help being a little smug, even if I had never once made something of this level. I sat down in the warm sand, and Naea landed beside me.

    ¡°So,¡± I said, looking forward into the hazy golden landscape.

    ¡°So,¡± Naea replied. She matched my line of vision and the two of us were quiet for a while. I could feel the hummingbird buzz of Naea¡¯s frantic mana. She wasn¡¯t in distress, that was just the natural flow of her energy. It felt chaotic to me, but I knew it was dancing comfortably inside her skin. We were connected now.

    Intensely connected.

    ¡°This one¡¯s for you,¡± I proclaimed. Naea¡¯s look of confusion was priceless. Brandishing the weapon which had taken her arm and wing, I stood and moved it with a flourish. Not bad, I thought. The sword itself was in the style of a japanese short sword. It wasn¡¯t my area of study, but the description had named it a wakizashi blade and it was definitely gorgeous, if nothing else.

    The hilt was wrapped in dark green leather and a small crossguard in the shape of a flower adorned the base of the blade. The metal itself had a slightly blue sheen to its flash when the light caught it. It was sharp, though apparently not enough to get through the Yo Staff. As they were both rare items, that made sense.

    ¡°Ye might notice it¡¯s a lil¡¯ big for me?¡± At around the same height as Naea herself, she was obviously correct. She would need to wrap her arms around the hilt just to hold it.

    ¡°Ah, I thought you might say that.¡± Wielding a toothy smile, I held the sword forward and sent a surge of mana into the blade. I had to change my grip quickly as the magical properties changed the small blade into a tiny blade.

    Chibizashi

    Once held by a master swordsman, this cursed wakizashi was discarded after the sword itself seemed to run from an incoming blow.

    Effect: Infusing the Chibizashi with mana allows the wielder to change its size

    As I was hesitant to assign any weapons to my mastery for now, this was a perfect item to give to my new familiar. Naea grabbed the weapon with a huge smile and got some distance from me before going wild in the air. It wasn¡¯t fancy, or skillful in anyway, but her speed and size turned her into a complete blender. I shouted as she hovered closer, and she stopped, looking sheepish.

    The sword disappeared, and I raised my eyebrows in surprise. ¡°You have a storage space?¡±

    ¡°O¡¯ course I do,¡± Naea answered, looking at me like I was stupid again. ¡°Where do ye think the loot comes from when?¡±

    I squinted, thinking. Upset she made so much sense, I stood up and started walking. My mana had settled, my heart had calmed and while the morning had been dramatic so far, that didn¡¯t mean I could rest on my laurels. The achievement for meeting the boss would help me defeat it. ¡°Come on,¡± I called over my shoulder before breaking into a light jog, ¡°let¡¯s go find that fucking scorepion.¡±

 Chapter Twelve - Boss Battle

    Returning to the battlefield where we had first met the boss scorepion wasn¡¯t difficult. Getting Naea to move on instead of destroying every dune in sight was the real struggle at the moment. It wasn¡¯t like she was wasting time, so I was patient, but it was wearing thin. ¡°You¡¯re not even getting experience any more,¡± I sighed, mostly to myself. Louder, I shouted for Naea to loot the corpses and she said she would.

    We¡¯d received nothing valuable from looting the scorepions, but as Naea could do it, she might as well. The looting power was mine and so, the loot itself ended up in my inventory rather than her¡¯s. Neither of us needed the coins it was giving, but it was the principle. I didn¡¯t want to leave any money on the table. An image of myself over a hoard of gold was shoved away. Great, now I¡¯m even making fun of myself.

    The sun was starting to dip by the time we reached the six spires again. The giant scorepion had returned to its upside down position, but the damage of the previous battle was clear. Muddy chunks of sand could be seen in places where the blood of the scorepions I killed with my return shot had lain. The bodies were gone, which was strange.

    ¡°I thought dungeon fairies cleaned up the mess?¡± I asked Naea quietly. We were keeping our distance, knowing the hive was probably on edge. Naea had no answer, which troubled both of us. Unknowns were dangerous. I did one final check of my character page.

    Name - Grant Kaeron   Race - Human (Grade 0) Level - 25

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 20  Speed - 14  Mental - 51   Will - 30

    Free attribute points: 8

    The percentage based boosts to my attributes weren¡¯t shown on the screen for some reason I hadn¡¯t worked out yet. My effective stats were a fair bit higher, with everything at least 10% more than shown. My Mental attribute was closer to 70 in effect, but only showed 51 on the page.

    In my flight from the first battle with the scorepion boss, I had randomly dropped points wherever I could until the fugue of the situation caused me to become like a zombie. With eight points remaining from my six level ups, I decided to hold onto the free points for now. My short battle with Monet hadn¡¯t been enough to get a feel for my new level of strength and speed.

    I had no doubts this fight would push me much, much further.

    With no other preparations to make, we approached the boss. However, this time, we had a plan. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe it works like this,¡± I said, holding the Yo Staff horizontally above me. Naea held the top, cackling like a witch as we rose higher and higher. The abilities of the Chibizashi  had given me an idea I hadn¡¯t considered before.

    If I could change the weight, could I make it weigh less? Could I make the Yo Staff weigh less than air? The answer was yes, for an expensive continual mana cost. I could pay, but we needed to hurry. Knowing this, Naea didn¡¯t mess around. We reached our destination, directly in the middle of all six legs. ¡°Bombs away,¡± Naea cried with glee as she released me.

    From forty feet in the air, I dropped like a comet. The weight of the Yo Staff switched, becoming heavier than it had any right to be. I carefully moved the mass to the front of the staff so I wouldn¡¯t rip my arms off as I landed. Even having some idea of the result couldn¡¯t prepare me for the efficacy of our sneak attack, however.

    The scorepion boss didn¡¯t know what hit it.

    Instantly, the humongous arachnid buckled, its legs curling inwards. A shower of sand and scorepions rained down but most of the surprised insects were dissected before they hit the ground. A blue flash danced through the debris like the pixie of death. Are pixies real? Do they get along with fairies? Questions for later, as the battle wasn¡¯t nearly finished.

    While there were no health or mana bars in the real world, I must have done some real damage to the insides of the giant scorepion because it was reeling from the blow. It righted itself quickly, but it was clearly hurt and moving slower than last time.

    Good, I thought without remorse.I could admit killing the amphibian humanoids made me a little conflicted, but this monstrosity deserved no remorse. While it seemed that dungeon monsters didn¡¯t roam the outside world, based on Naea¡¯s achievement, if I didn¡¯t deal with this thing then someone else would have to.

    Someone else might steal my kill.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    Still, for all my bluster, how was I meant to attack this thing? I had pictured myself a mage, but without any spells or ranged attacks, I was more of a monk. ¡°Just me and you,¡± I said to the staff in my hand before starting my full sprint. While running, some of the less-stunned scorepions took some pot shots.

    I flipped and altered my speed so I could fire a few of the errant footballs right at the scorepion boss. The balls were solid, and with my strength now more than double the strength of yesterday, they were burying into the carapace and cracking it in points. The creature¡¯s nameplate was huge over its head, the large 40 not nearly as daunting just a day apart. ¡°Poor guy probably has no clue what¡¯s going on. Ah well.¡±

    Even I was surprised with the night and day difference, though it all made sense. Most of this creature¡¯s benefit had been the surprise in which it first attacked me and the range I had been at. With Naea more than capable of handling the clunky, smaller scorepions, I was able to focus on the big one. An earth-rumbling screech shook the battlefield as the Scorepion Manager wailed in rage.

    I shouted back, my voice amplified by the magic within. At some point, the use of mana to infuse my body with strength had become instinctual, requiring almost no care at all. A facet of both experience and a higher Mental attribute, no doubt, all of my upgrades were working in tandem to make me an absolute monster. I tried to imagine how the colossal scorepion saw me.

    I smirked. Like a tiny dragon, I decided. The small scorepions had given up attacking me, trying desperately to hit the fast moving Naea. They had no chance there either, but how could they ignore her? With almost every beat of her incessant wings, she found a new enemy to end. She made the Chibizashi slightly larger as she swung, the attacks both deceptive and lethal. Having never expected to be able to fight the other denizens of the dungeon, she was having lots of fun.

    I didn¡¯t judge. Despite the obvious life-threatening danger all around, I agreed. This was fun. It was everything I dreamed of as a child, with a few added pieces of uncomfortable reality. The pain I had suffered was real, and it would leave lasting marks on me. At the same time, it was hard not to equate that suffering with the joy I could now feel in every movement.

    I flew across the battlefield, my heart light. This was where I wanted to be. Hopefully in the future I¡¯d be launching a few magical attacks, but if my Mental attribute only increased the enhancing effect I currently received from my mana, I¡¯d still be happy. The light of the sun disappeared and I looked up, seeing a huge pincer coming to crush me. Fear was nowhere to be found as I laughed in the face of danger.

    ¡°Bring it on!¡± As the claw descended, I sent as much mana as my muscles could handle into my arms and legs. Before the attack from above landed, I leapt from the ground. A missile, I barely changed the weight of the staff, using only my own momentum and strength to send the blow flying. I¡¯m fighting a goddamn kaiju, I shook my head, amazed at my own strength, and I¡¯m winning.

    The assault on the Scorepion Manager was mostly done out of pride. I had half-expected to run away again, but things had gone well. I landed just as the scorepion did, its massive frame too large to dexterously catch itself. I bounced as its weight caused the battlefield to buckle once more.

    For Naea, it was yet another chance to sweep through the scorepions. She was able to defeat more than one a second, but there were simply hundreds. I sent a surge of mana through our connection, and saw her energy return. ¡°Focus on yerself!¡± I heard her shout, so I turned back to the big one.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get cocky, kid,¡± I reminded myself. Focusing, I let the seriousness of the situation remove extraneous thoughts. Taking this fight anything but deathly serious was a mistake. ¡°So, how do I kill you?¡±

    I had been searching for an obvious weak spot, some kind of big red target to aim for, but there wasn¡¯t one. I cursed the System for making things difficult and started cutting through the sand. My target was whichever leg I could reach first, but obviously the boss had other ideas. Until now, its tail had been irrelevant. Clearly, it wanted to change that. The huge beast lowered itself to the ground, confusing me for a second.

    Then, the thing disappeared and I was doubly confused. Once I felt the ground tremble, I looked to my left and saw that the Scorepion Manager had leapt away. All I could do was watch as it aimed the deadly cannon right towards me. Due to how it positioned itself, Naea and the rest of the battle was behind me.

    ¡°Did you do that on purpose?¡± I asked aloud. Whether it was planning or luck on the creature¡¯s part, I could no longer just dodge. If Naea ran, I would be between the army and the general. If I ran, Naea would get hit by the shed-sized projectile. ¡°You sure you want to do this again?¡±

    I saw the vision. The scorepion boss was confident in its offensive capabilities, enough to base it on one shot. Maybe it would work, or perhaps my achievements and growth since the first shot would have tipped the scales. The scorepion was closer than last time, another edge to the stand-off. I felt the rubber band feeling from before, magnified by a million.

    ¡°Come on,¡± I muttered to myself, moving my grip on the Yo Staff nervously. It was good I had forced myself to calm down, because the tension had immediately ratcheted up. The sun hadn¡¯t caused me to perspire up to now, yet I felt myself start to drip with sweat. ¡°Come on¡­ come on! COME ON!¡±

    My final shout surprised even me, and the fucker took advantage. I was back footed as I jumped forward, and I pulled out, turning the move into a hop. I spun forward, planted the Yo Staff in the ground and vaulted myself forward. A technique only available to me  thanks to Weapon Mastery, the move was perfect. I shot forward, spinning like a top.

    Staff connected with projectile. Stick with ball. Force against force, the immense weight of the fast moving football against the strength I could bring to the fore.

    It stood no chance. Poison drenched me, but I was prepared and put an attribute point into Speed. The poison sloughed off, and I nodded in satisfaction. I needed a chance to prove to myself it wasn¡¯t just Fortitude which would heal me. I landed calmly and looked at the scene of destruction I had wrought.

    Lying in a tangled heap, like a set of cranes had fallen on top of each other, the scorepion twitched a few times before it twitched no more. I closed my eyes and let the bursts of pressure wash over me, multiple level ups coming at once. The creature was not just 15 levels higher than me, it was a dungeon boss. The levels were just the tip of the iceberg.

    Before I could stop, I turned to help Naea finish the other, smaller scorepions. Instead of finding her needing assistance, I saw a quiet arena, with a singular, tiny victor. She hovered over to me, panting, and raised a tiny hand. I laughed and returned the gesture. Naea was strong enough that she could still give a satisfying high five, even with her small hand. ¡°Can¡¯t believe that worked.¡±

    ¡°Same, to be honest.¡± Silence followed my words for a short time before the pair of us were cracking up. The tension breaking, we both fell about with laughter at each other. Relief and absurdity together were a potent mixture, so it was a while before we calmed down. Lying in the sand, I clutched a fist and punched it into the air with a whoop.

    Maybe I wouldn¡¯t die in this dungeon after all.

 Chapter Thirteen - Infusion

    The quiet of the desert was broken by the uncomfortable noises Naea continued to make. I made the mistake of watching, curiosity getting the better of my common sense, and I doubted I¡¯d ever get the image out of my head. How does her mouth open that wide?

    I shook my head and turned instead to the prompts I had been putting off. I probably wouldn¡¯t get the drum roll it deserved, so it was time to check. I opened the achievement which had jingled for my attention when the boss died. My breath caught in my throat. ¡°This is-¡±

    Achievement Unlocked - Dungeon Boss Destruction (World First) (Solo)

    A dungeon boss does not fall idly. This opportunity does not fall into the lap of the weak. Congratulations. As the first to receive this achievement on your world, your gains are greater.

    Effect: +2 Attribute points per level, Attributes +10%

    Even the System was reverent about my actions, which made the whole situation sink in. I had done it. It wasn¡¯t a dream or hallucination. None of this was. I had fought, bled, howling in agony and dominated the dungeon until one of the three bosses fell. Naea¡¯s help couldn¡¯t be ignored, but as she was a familiar I guess the System counted her as part of my solo strength.

    ¡°Incredible¡­¡± I murmured. I checked quickly and felt my roll slow down a little. The points weren¡¯t retroactive, but the smile soon crept back onto my face. I flexed my fingers before curling my hand into a fist. Yep. Never going to stop chasing this feeling, I reconfirmed mentally.

    Muscles all through my body shivered, my eyesight sharpened. The heat in the air became more manageable yet also more acute. The smell and taste of poison in the air became pungent. The effect of all these changes were drastic. I was interested to see what it was like interacting with the old world. I¡¯d smash most tables just by bumping into them at this point.

    I looked over to the site of the scorepion massacre, but Naea wasn¡¯t even close to finished. There wasn¡¯t much sense in rushing while she was still getting experience from the clean up. She had shown me her character page earlier, but I would check again once she was finished. Looking at the huge, crushed mass of the Scorepion Manager, I shuddered again picturing Naea¡¯s feeding methods.

    Yuck. Fortunately for my working relationship with my familiar, I had other things to focus on. I had levelled from 25 to 29 in the battle against the dungeon boss, so I had some maintenance to perform. I had some left over from previous levels in case I needed healing, but I could sense the effects of the recovery were weakening as I levelled up. My Survivor achievement didn¡¯t balance it back out. I¡¯d still keep two on hand, but that left 25 points to allocate.

    My preferred attribute split wasn¡¯t being met, but I¡¯d do what I could. My initial plan still didn¡¯t feel wrong, though the temptation to throw all of my points into Fortitude and Speed was fierce. It was hard to argue with pure strength, and the System wasn¡¯t exactly handing me spells. However, Mana Control was a potent tool which hadn¡¯t let me down once.

    After taking ten minutes to get used to the raw strength flowing through every cell in my body, I found a flat space and sat down. My mind may have been enhanced by the System, but it was still human. I needed to calm down and I could feel it. I sat in silence, slowly blocking out the stimuli of the world from my physical senses.

    The arid burn of the desert sun became a blanket. The taste and smell of scorepion venom faded. The various moaning and cracking noises from Naea¡¯s feast dulled to nothing. There was no tracking of time, but in a suitably short order, I had found a state of zen. Comfortable and confident, I dove into the depths of my inner core.

    My first experience with the Scorepion Manager¡¯s poison had been enlightening in multiple ways. Of course, being humbled and nearly killed was an important lesson but it was surviving that very ordeal which had opened my mind and shown me the possibility. I remembered with intense clarity the feeling of swaddling my mana, protecting the wellspring of my core against the poison of the dungeon boss.

    I had stumbled onto the power of meditation slightly after my first battles, but I now had additional understanding. My eyes closed, the world ignored, I stepped into my inner world. I¡¯d heard the term ¡°mind palace¡± in the past, but always thought of it as a grandiose way of describing memory. Seeing a sprawling landscape within my own soul, I felt sheepish at my previous snobbery.

    I inspected the inner world with a contented sigh. The air in here smelled beautiful, hints of sage and the smoke of wood. I wasn¡¯t actually breathing, and the space around me wasn¡¯t really aflame. My perception was a visualisation of the different energies within me, how each detail fit together showed how the interwoven magicks interacted with each other.

    A rolling field of green, healthy grass lay before me. The field looked sunlit and comfortable, which was incongruous with the sky and smells. Above the landscape, the sky was roiling. Thick clouds of smoke were all I could see, the dark night sky you might see above a roaring flame. Occasionally, small areas of the grass would ignite, and the smoke would rise to the sky. Amongst the grass, yet somehow separate, were a growing assortment of random wildflowers.

    Before I began working, I simply took it all in. This was my magic¡­ and it was beautiful. I fell in love with the feeling all over again, vowing to fill this inner world with wonder after wonder. The more I inspected the beautiful surroundings the more glaring the empty spaces were. Just what Aspects could I fit in here?

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    The rolling grassland was my mana. The vastness of the space felt correct. I didn¡¯t know how I stacked up against other magic users, but I could burn my mana for days without running out at this point. As I looked around, daisies and dandelions, wildflowers of various species came to life. That was Naea¡¯s presence, pressing her way into my soul unconsciously. The burning gouts of flame and aromatic smokes floating around was my connection to the Aspect of the Dragon.

    Seeing it laid bare, there was an obvious separation between myself and the draconic magic. The idea was disturbing, but I hoped I could remedy the situation over time. Right now, the Dragon was draining my core mana to fuel itself, but the rate was slower than my recovery. Things were fine as it stands, but the situation could cascade if ignored. Instead of having two separate mana sources, as I seemed to, they needed to become one.

    I simply noted the issue and planned to deal with it later. I had no way to force that, and it¡¯s not why I was here. I was here for the sensation deep underground. It was this sensation which I had chased into my inner world. Putting my hand to the ground, I felt the warmth underneath. The real core of my soul and the pressure on top of it.

    I had arrived to this world, but it was also mine. The fields were just a metaphor, so was the smoke, it could just as easily have been an ocean with lightning streaking above. I closed my imagination, I couldn¡¯t let my mental image shift. I already had an idea in mind and if I distracted myself, I wouldn¡¯t be able to create it.

    Something which relieves pressure, I reminded myself. Connection to dragons, if possible.

    I had a few choices, but it was best to keep it simple. I leveraged every ounce of skill I had with Mana Control and began to shape the world. Function over form. Shaping and manipulating the energy from within was giving me some insights but they shifted into my memory while I focused. I pressed my intent upon the world, envisioning the geyser of power I wanted to see. The world, my core, resisted the change but I kept pushing.

    With a colossal crack, my inner world buckled. I felt my core pop, like a balloon with a puncture and my eyes went wide. ¡°Oh shit,¡± I cried, desperately trying to maintain a calm mental state. My core had broken. ¡°Wayyyy too much for function, not enough form.¡± Instead of my initial idea, I had essentially just created a massive vent in my mana pathways. The result was as dangerous as internal bleeding.

    I had to fix things. My hope had been to create a bridge for the power I gathered from battle, which I could feel locked in the centre of my inner world. I had pictured a geyser, shooting the charged energy into the sky and watering my inner world with strength. Every last drop of power I currently contained was lost, all progress to the next level thrown away with the mistake, but that was just the start.

    My strength was falling. If things stayed like this, I might even start losing levels. Was that possible? I didn¡¯t care to find out. I smashed my teeth together and set my jaw. The discomfort was turning into pain and I couldn¡¯t let myself be distracted. The idea of just giving up was worming its way into my head as my body started to flag.

    No. My mind rejected the principle. I would never give up when it came to survival. Fuck that. This way my world. It was my pathways which had broken and if magic was real then goddamnit, nothing was impossible. Even fixing my shattered core. With a rising shout, turning into a rebellious roar, I contained the puncture by sheer force of will. My hand was covering the faucet, but the pressure was building.

    I needed somewhere pressure could build up and release, without constant loss of power. My entire soul was a reservoir for my mana, but I needed another. My eyes went to the smoky sky and my design evolved immediately. Could I possibly solve two problems at once?

    The draconic mana in the sky was my own to wield, but intrinsically linked with the ideals of the Dragon. This meant that while I could use it, I needed to understand the facets of a dragon to truly understand the energies at play. I quickly thought of it as using high-tech equipment in the wrong way, like smashing a hard drive into a nail and calling it a hammer.

    As my understanding of the Aspect grew, my uses for it would, too. The first piece of the dragon I had taken for myself was power. Dragons were some of the strongest beings in most fantasy, and from the description of the Dragon Slayer title, the same was true in the System. This was the most simple, base level of understanding. Now, I needed to use another facet.

    The greed of a dragon. I was losing power which was rightfully mine and that simply would not do. My own greed was easily catching up to the feelings I got from the sky above. In sync with the potent mana rolling like the clouds, I forced my demands upon my inner world. I bent, moulded, sculpted and otherwise redesigned the very core of my being. My haste and lack of understanding had led me to this place, but that same intrepid experimentation would bring me out.

    I didn¡¯t need a geyser to expel power, I needed somewhere to gather it. At the same time, my draconic mana had no fuel of its own, taking from the fields instead. ¡°Let¡¯s fix that shall we?¡± Another great rumbling echoed about my soul but the sensation of wrongness, the pain of the mana leaking out, all of it vanished at once. A sense of pure bliss came over me. I gazed upon the inner world with wonder.

    A gargantuan mountain rose in the distance. Smoke leapt from its peak, the bubbling energies of battle burning away deep within. I sighed with relief. Everything was okay. More than that, I suspected. With a flick of my wrist, I pulled some power from the volcano. A mote of power danced in my grip, wriggling with energy as though it wanted to be free. I let it return to the source. I was done here.

    Opening my eyes to the real world, I blinked a few times. The sun hadn¡¯t travelled far at all, though I could swear I had been working for hours. I looked down at my lap and saw that Naea was sleeping in between my crossed legs and smiled. She must have eaten herself exhausted. Then I saw the System prompt. It seemed my inner world had more advantages than I had thought.

    I knew now that my first goal was impossible, and I had nearly paid the ultimate price in learning it. No more trying to break the System, at least not internally. While I hadn¡¯t succeeded in my initial goal, which was to essentially make it easier to level up, I had done something more important. Not only had it made me stronger, I had discovered a precedent I would need to stick to.

    Skill Unlocked - Infusion (Dragon) - Upgraded from skill Mana Control

    If you can picture wielding the power, you will.

    The System-given skill of Mana Control was gone, but I didn¡¯t need it. The System had taken the training wheels and given me a reward for using my Mana Control in the most complex way. The overall boost I received from cycling my mana was a constant at this point, so time to up the complexity. ¡°I like your style, System.¡±

    I tried poking Naea awake, standing and dropping her into the sand when she ignored me. ¡°Whuyadoin¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Come on, Wings.¡± I held out a hand, which Naea sleepily buzzed over to. Dropping her on my shoulder, I started moving. ¡°I¡¯ve got some upgrades to try out.¡±

 Chapter Fourteen - Home, Sweet Home

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, alright?!¡± Naea shouted, distraught. I rolled my eyes and gave her the most withering look I could manage. She groaned in response. ¡°There probably wasn¡¯t anything good anyway¡­¡±

    I ignored her excuses, content that my anger would stop this situation from arising again. It was partly my fault for getting caught up in my progression and forgetting to deal with the minutia. ¡°Seriously though. Not looting the boss?¡± Naea¡¯s pained exasperation behind me cheered me up.

    The smell of the boss scorepion had been too intoxicating for Naea to think straight, something I hadn¡¯t considered. I¡¯d forgive her soon, but the thought of what I may have missed as a reward kept me from letting her off the hook. It could have given you an Aspect, even¡­

    I took a deep breath. Having just conformed with the greed of a dragon, letting go of this frustration was challenging. Despite our injuries, to alleviate the damage to my heart, we were hunting. The pair of us still carried some cuts and bruises from the scorepion. As such I was hesitant to punch deeper into the desert, and we returned to the parkland. I was hoping a ridiculously named amphibian would show up. I checked Naea¡¯s character page to distract myself.

    Name - ¡°Naea¡±   Race - Dungeon Fairy Level - 18

    Grade - F

    Skills - Invisibility, Mana Control

    Patron: Grant Kaeron (Level 29)

    Naea had been level 10 before the fight, and received eight levels for the clean up afterwards. Due to her nature as a monster, her attributes didn¡¯t work like mine. She had no control over how her attributes were assigned as she grew while levelling. It was strange to think of her as a monster, which the System did. Naea was my only company, she was more of a person to me than anyone outside the invisible barrier keeping the outside world out.

    Her grade of F was interesting. Monsters could evolve, but exactly how wasn¡¯t knowledge given to the newly integrated and so, Naea didn¡¯t have much information on the subject. She was sure she would evolve into something supremely powerful, apparently.

    After a few hours of random wandering and cold shoulders, both the silence and the sights were wearing thin. The sun was falling in the sky, less than an hour of sunlight to go. I grabbed Naea suddenly, causing her to yell. Holding her like a doll, I quickly gave her a pat on the top of her head and released her. ¡°Let¡¯s find somewhere to rest,¡± I said, extending an olive branch.

    Naea glared and fixed her hair. ¡°Right,¡± she agreed. ¡°What about that building by where I met ye?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°No,¡± I said, too quickly, ¡°not there.¡± Naea gave me some side eye but didn¡¯t ask. I¡¯d rather sleep in the dirt again than spend any time in the sanitised scene of a massacre. ¡°There should be a few more buildings depending on how the layout here works.¡±

    While I could make some educated guesses about the geography of the place, I was working with outdated knowledge. The delineation between park and desert didn¡¯t make a lick of sense from a physics perspective, so the best bet was to explore. So far, I had been working in a mostly straight line, exploring only a small chunk of the dungeon. Even the last few hours had been within the general vicinity of the caf¨¦.

    Time to branch out. ¡°We¡¯ve only got a little daylight left. Let¡¯s see what we can find if we hurry.¡± Naea gave me a wide smile. We had been slowly walking until now, but she was a creature of speed at heart. She shot off like a bullet and I gave chase. After the fight with the scorepions, I had nearly thirty attribute points to place. Five had gone to speed, bringing the attribute in line with Fortitude at 20.

    Still wasn¡¯t nearly enough to keep up with Naea. Her translucent wings glittered in the growing twilight. She was a shooting star brought close, dancing through branches and leaves with unadulterated joy. The way she moved through the forest was mesmerising, and I had to force myself not to watch. After running into one tree, I wasn¡¯t going to do it again.

    For the first time, I saw the dungeon wall. A clear line of dead ground two metres wide ran for miles in either direction. I didn¡¯t bother to test whether I could leave, which felt like pushing my luck. It didn¡¯t take long before I was certain the System had just grabbed the general idea of a British park and stretched it out in a circle around the desert area. Until I saw it, I wouldn¡¯t be sure, but there was probably at least one more ring surrounded by the sands.

    ¡°Starting to think we¡¯re not going to find a hotel, you know?¡± I called to Naea, still somewhere ahead of me. I had been hoping to find a nature reserve which existed in the park I remembered, but I wasn¡¯t in that park. Clive¡¯s likely only existed because I had been inside at the time.

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    ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem likely, no¡­¡± Naea agreed. She returned to my shoulder, putting her elbow on top of my head and leaning on her hand. ¡°What¡¯s the plan then, boss?¡±

    ¡°Got a stupid idea that should work for now, but it¡¯ll be loud.¡± Making noise wasn¡¯t ideal but so what? I had beaten a dungeon boss and anything which decided to investigate the noise did so at its peril, not mine. I led Naea towards the dungeon¡¯s edge. The place we stopped was clear but there were some trees nearby which would serve my purpose. My muscles tingled in excitement as I approached the first tree.

    I was disappointed not to find another amphibian today but there were other ways to test my strength. The thought was ridiculous but so was the power housed within my body. There were easier ways to go about getting lumber, but I wasn¡¯t looking for easy. I was looking for strain.

    I didn¡¯t even activate my new skill yet. I wanted to know my baseline, and the thin tree in front of me was my first benchmark. I wrapped my arms around the trunk and planted my feet to either side. Naea watched from behind with barely muted amusement. Then I began to pull.

    My muscles tightened into steel cords and began to shake. For a breathless, unknown amount of time, there was no movement. My feet sank into the ground as I strained but the tree didn¡¯t move. With a shout, I slipped and the force threw me backwards. I gasped on the floor for a moment, ignoring Naea¡¯s howl of laughter and regained my grip.

    This time, I used my mana to bury my fingers in the wood, no more. The contest of strength was back on and I was determined. I slammed my feet into the ground and pulled. Calves, thighs, back, shoulders, arms, neck. I felt the strength in me extend from the soles of my feet to the top of my head and I yelled with exertion. Tiny imperceptible cracking turned into a groaning rip as I hauled the adolescent tree from the ground, roots and all. I quickly moved out of the way as it fell.

    Gasping on the floor, smiling to myself, I heard a slow clap. Naea hovered in the air, one leg over the other knee in a sitting position as she mockingly congratulated me. ¡°Well done there, yeh sure showed that piece o¡¯ nature who the strongest is¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, shut up, I¡¯m doing something.¡±

    ¡°Losing your mind?¡±

    ¡°That happened days ago,¡± I replied. Naea snorted. ¡°The rest of them will go a little faster.¡± I felt good, in the way that I expected athletes did after a workout. My body was limber and ready for more. Which was good, because I wanted to make myself a shelter. The idea of creating a home from scratch was strange, but after realising nothing was stopping me, the idea had become tantalising.

    The next tree I faced was a similar size but I wasn¡¯t going to hold back. For this one, I would use Infusion for the first time. I sent two bundles of draconic mana from my core to my arms. The two crystals hovered there, waiting until I needed to draw strength from them. Then, like before, I planted my feet and pulled. My muscles tightened, reaching the peak of my natural strength.

    Then the magic kicked in. I was on my back before I knew it, spitting away falling dirt and rolling to avoid the newly falling tree. ¡°Holy¡­ that was like pulling a carrot from the ground!¡± I laughed happily and stuck my tongue out at Naea, who looked at me with wide eyes. The crystals of energy in my arms were hardly even spent. The moment I had begun drawing strength from my mana instead of my muscles, the roots hadn¡¯t stood a chance. ¡°Yep,¡± I agreed, ¡°I¡¯m amazing.¡±

    In short order, I pulled another ten trees from the ground and arranged them near the dungeon wall. Four trees to a wall, three walls. As I wouldn¡¯t be able to cut a door out of the wood easily, I was going pretty rustic for now. Naea helped once I explained myself to her, and the canopy of leaves had become our roof. We made a good team. I looked at the shoddy construction with pride and went ¡°inside.¡±

    The System surprised me yet again. ¡°Does this thing ever shut up?¡± I asked, jokingly. Then I remember how I nearly died due to silencing my notifications. ¡°Not that I mind at all, keep the information coming at all times I say.¡± Naea was becoming more convinced by the minute of my insanity but I waved her away and rolled my eyes.

    Faction - Base Created

    As the first person to create a structure within the dungeon, you may claim this location as the home base.

    Would you like to upgrade the structure for 100 Gold Coins (Standard Mint)?

    A faction page? That¡¯s new. Also, finally somewhere to spend the golden coins burning a hole in my inventory.

    Inventory

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted) - 2758

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint) - 9114

    Yo Staff

    Assorted Earth food and drinks

    The System didn¡¯t offer an exchange rate on the Xaverion minted coins, but that was fine. After the amphibian battles and a few scorepion massacres I had gained a few hundred coins myself, so I wasn¡¯t even using the standard coins I received from Mrs Naebol yet. Not taking any chances, I got Naea and myself outside before I accepted the System¡¯s offer.

    With a whir of motion, the leaves and trees disappeared from view. I almost passed out as a cartoonish dust cloud appeared in their place, complete with the sounds of sawing and hammering. Naea looked at me, even more confused than I was. I shook my head and shrugged. ¡°I hope this doesn¡¯t take too-¡± Abruptly, the sounds stopped and the cloud of dust vanished as quickly as it arrived.

    The three walls made of trees had become four walls made of finely carved wood. I was no carpenter, but the deep brown, almost red wood was wonderful. The ceiling of leaves had grown upwards, creating a green witch¡¯s hat style roof. Two steps lead to the front door, which I hurried to open. All in all, I liked the design a lot.

    ¡°Welcome to Home Base,¡± I said grandly to Naea as I let her enter first. The inside was as lovely as outside. Pressing almost exactly to the boundary line of the dungeon, the building was mostly just a large room inside, but the space was perfect. A large, comfortable looking bed took up one corner, while a kitchenette stood ready on the other. There was even a working bathroom. I nearly cried with joy and told Naea to get comfortable.

    I emerged an hour or so later, smelling fresh and feeling clean for the first time in days. For some reason, the fact that the System installed electricity and plumbing was stranger to me than creating a house out of some base materials and gold.

    Naea was sleeping in an area seemingly made just for her. A shelf ran around the conical roof with platforms at intervals with a smaller bed, windows and places to lounge. ¡°This place is perfect, Grant.¡± Her voice floated down from above but I couldn¡¯t see her. I didn¡¯t bother flicking on the bedside lamp, simply crashing into the bed.

    It might not even have been comfortable. I wouldn¡¯t know until the morning as I was asleep without even finding a pillow. I had defeated a dungeon boss, integrated my gains and new understandings, gained levels, a skill evolution and even managed to secure a home. Pride, contentment and exhaustion did their work and I didn¡¯t open my eyes again until the morning.

    When my front door was blasted open.

 Chapter Fifteen - Difficulty Normal -> Hard

    I emerged from Home Base after a shower. An amphibian with a sledgehammer was not the alarm I had expected to wake up to, and it had received my ire in full. I actually didn¡¯t remember the battle. By the time my mind had truly woken up, I was already covered in blood. After looting the monster and upgrading my belt to an orange belt, I went to wash off.

    ¡°Suppose there¡¯s worse ways to get you breakfast.¡± Naea was sitting on the bannister just outside the house, picking her teeth. Despite the damage to the property, I wasn¡¯t in all that bad a mood. I had taken my shower as an opportunity to check out the new System page I had access to and had not been disappointed. ¡°We can do some cool stuff with this later, but for now¡­¡±

    I scooped Naea up and moved away before activating the Faction options I had chosen. The Faction screen was mostly obscured, which was interesting but not unexpected. A building wasn¡¯t a faction, after all. I would need to meet others before there was any kind of faction. Still, I was able to make some purchases. First, the repairs, costing me a measly 10 gold coins. Both of us oohed and aahed as the splinters recollected themselves, the wood unwarped and the door returned to normal. ¡°Not bad,¡± Naea remarked.

    ¡°And to stop this from happening again¡­¡± Now for the next option. For the low cost of 400 more gold coins, I purchased some security. At four times the cost of the building, I wasn¡¯t let down by the effect, even if it was described as ¡°Basic Defenses¡± by the System. A bubble appeared around the house and my inner child squealed.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a house with a forcefield¡­¡± For all the chaos of the System, it could be ridiculously cool when it wanted to be. Even better, this forcefield would obscure the sight of anyone not in the faction. As that was just me and Naea, it was basically invisible. We wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the place being ransacked while exploring the dungeon.

    The dead amphibian hadn¡¯t put up much of a fight, but I was quickly gaining power every day. With all of my levels and achievements, I was easily five times stronger than when the Shift had begun. I looked at the orange belt sitting comfortably around my waist and gave it a fond pat.

    Item - Orange Belt (Upgradable)

    It¡¯s not about being the best. It¡¯s about being better than you were yesterday.

    Effect: Attributes +7.5%

    I tried not to be too disappointed the effect had been additive rather than multiplicative. Another 2.5% boost was a great gift to wake up to. The warhammer was interesting, but the assassin had only had the chance to use it on my front door before I took him out.

    Item - Sorehammer (Rare)

    Once wielded by a strongman called Charles, leading to the confusing name Chuck the Hammer. Eventually he did, costing him his life.

    Effect: Infusing the Sorehammer with mana increases its effectiveness against inanimate objects.

    Maybe it would come in handy but for now, it was an inventory filler. Maybe I could sell it once I left the dungeon. Naea was happy with her sword and as the warhammer weighed about as much as I did, she had no chance to use it anyway. Thoughts of the outside world filled with equal parts anticipation and dread.

    What would I find when I finally escaped the dungeon? I had avoided thinking of home once it became clear I wasn¡¯t going to get there any time soon. Please be okay. Offering a rare prayer to an unknown higher being, I considered my options for the day ahead.

    I didn¡¯t once consider taking advantage of some of the more luxurious options in the Faction menu. Spending any more time than necessary at Home Base was wasting precious time. I felt a burning need to clear this dungeon, not just to get home, but to keep up my momentum. I had achievements to hunt, after all.

    While there were definitely achievements my situation kept me from getting, I was the first in the world to defeat a dungeon boss. I thought that was crazy, but then again, my own start was hardly likely to be common. Whatever was slowing others down, I was sure they weren¡¯t far behind. If there was an achievement for defeating a dungeon, I wanted the first one. The volcano within my chest bubbled happily at the idea.

    So, it was time to conquer this bitch.

    Of course, making a decision is the best way to get the universe¡¯s attention, or in this case, the System. I was barely ten steps from Home Base when the world shook, the dungeon bouncing up and down like a huge snowglobe. I grabbed Naea and held on, coming away bruised and sore from literally bouncing off a tree and back to the ground. I had managed to cushion Naea, though. ¡°Thanks,¡± she gasped after being released, ¡°but what the hells was that?¡±

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    Even as I shrugged, Naea¡¯s back went rigid. The low buzz of her wings stopped, yet she remained in the air. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I demanded, not really expecting an answer as I cast my eyes around.

    Dungeon recalibrating.

    What? Why?! I recognised the voice of the System and felt a surge of mana pass over me. The ground recommenced its colossal earthquake and I had to burn some mana to stay stable. I tried to grab Naea again, aiming to take her into the house, but it was as though she were locked in space. To avoid harming her or damage coming her way, I stayed nearby, hopping as the earth beneath my feet reformed itself.

    I swatted away a few falling branches from the nearby trees but the drama soon abated. Once the shaking stopped entirely, Naea blinked and resumed her flight. ¡°Did you move?¡± She asked, trying to make sense of the time she just lost. My hackles were still completely raised, so I didn¡¯t respond, which in turn had Naea on alert. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re both asking the same question,¡± I replied, ¡°the System just did something. Dungeon recalibration?¡± Naea¡¯s gasp into immediate silence was not a good sign. Due to her position as Dungeon caretaker, the System could feed Naea information, which was the case right now. The issue was, until I asked the question, she didn¡¯t have the knowledge.

    I waited as she received understanding from the System, still looking around warily. The immediate vicinity hadn¡¯t changed, but that was true last time, too. Luckily, I wasn¡¯t going to stumble around in the dark with Naea at my side. Before I could relax or get bored, she stirred back to her excitable and loud self.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± She shouted, scaring me half to death. I was on edge and the sudden shout in my ear caused me to squeak. Naea spat onto the ground, which for her was like a single raindrop. ¡°So, we¡¯ve got a problem, well I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s a problem, exactly but¡­ Did you just squeal?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Right. Well, the System¡¯s not happy with you, apparently.¡±

    ¡°What did I do?!¡± I asked, shouting with indignation. ¡°What? Did I kick the poor Dungeon¡¯s ass too hard and now it has to mix things up?¡± Naea¡¯s awkward expression was as much a grimace as a smile and I groaned. That¡¯s exactly what happened. ¡°Okay then, do you know what¡¯s changed?¡±

    Naea shook her small head. ¡°Not exactly. I feel like the place is smaller now?¡± She got a thoughtful look as her eyes scanned the trees. She kept the same look on her face as she rose into the air before her mood broke and she guffawed at something in the distance. ¡°Quick,¡± she shouted down, laughing, ¡°climb that tree and have a look.¡±

    I obliged, scaling the tree with ease. I resisted the urge to flip and jump my way up, but only barely. The memory of the way the Dungeon had just shaken was still buried in me. Once I reached the top, I immediately saw the four large structures arrayed at the edge of the trees about a kilometre away. ¡°Are you actually joking?¡±

    I wanted to be mad, but my inner child was having none of it. Outwardly, I rolled my eyes but internally, the Dragon and I crooned. I had no doubt the System had just made things harder for me in a bunch of nasty ways I was yet to find out, but that was okay. Each time I¡¯d come up against adversity I had gained something from it, this would be no different. Whatever dangers the four towers held, there were surely also riches.

    Four equally tall fortresses had appeared. I would have to get closer to understand what was happening, so I did. Wasting no time, I leapt from tree to tree until I had cleared the now smaller park area. To both the left and right of Home Base, a wedge of about 30 degrees had been cut. Everything outside the wedge was blurry, now outside the Dungeon wall. I¡¯d never been clear on its geography before, so I squashed my stray attempts to understand it now.

    ¡°It¡¯s become a Solo Dungeon,¡± Naea¡¯s voice floated over. She didn¡¯t look overly troubled. ¡°You¡¯re not being punished, the System just didn¡¯t know what to do with you at first. I can tell already the Dungeon¡¯s level has risen to challenge your¡¯s. What do you want to do?¡±

    I was already soaring past Naea as she asked her question. Hesitation was costly and patience was a virtue I was quickly losing. Using the tree, I vaulted forward, causing the fairy to yell and the wind to sing in my ears. The Dungeon changed to keep up with me? Great. Hopefully that meant more levels for me. Admittedly, I had been looking forward to an easier time, but the prideful core of my being shook the lamentation away.

    If the System itself wanted to challenge me, then so be it.

    I aimed myself directly for the left-most tower, as seen from Home Base. After a quick thought now I was closer, I decided it was the South tower based on the position and distance of the others. There was a distinct design to each tower and I picked this one on a whim. South Tower was austere, a bleak grey bar on the horizon. It was an eyesore, more than the others which at least were interesting.

    West tower, the second tower from the left, had a distinctly eastern design. A gorgeous pagoda, each floor had a sweeping roof structure adorned with statues. I couldn¡¯t make out the depictions from this far distance. However, if each tower had the same amount of floors as the eaves on the pagoda suggested, the towers were five floors and a smaller room at the pinnacle.

    North tower, the third in the line but the furthest from my base, was hard to look at. The sun caught on stained glass and threw bright colourful flashes of light at me in a way which honestly felt intentional. What I could see suggested pristine white walls. East tower was the opposite, covered in a fog which had appeared quickly. If I hadn¡¯t known there was a structure there before, I would have had no idea.

    I smirked. Not bad. It beats wandering around the desert or park circle. Hopefully the bosses are in there. I waited at the final tree of what remained of the English park. The previously large area had been sliced into a square mile wedge. The desert was where I expected it, but with the addition of a paved road some ten feet above. The road split further ahead, leading to the other towers hopefully.

    ¡°Okay.¡± I cracked my neck as I landed on the path. Naea alighted on my shoulder, gripping my dirty shirt with one hand and wrapping her other in my hair to hold on. I got into the stance of a runner¡¯s start. I was no athlete, but I¡¯d leave anyone in the old earth eating dust now. I planned to keep it that way when I got back to my world.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see what the apocalypse considers a challenge.¡±

 Chapter Sixteen - Weathering The Storm

    ¡°Oh fuck this,¡± I shouted, dodging the myriad projectiles which exploded from the walls of South tower the moment I got into range. Naea rolled off my shoulder quickly enough to avoid them, flying back. My own momentum made the arrows punch me even harder before I managed to stop. While I managed to dodge most, I had still been punched in the leg and shoulder hard.

    I fell to the sand below, snapping one of the arrows painfully. The barrage of arrows stopped once line of sight was broken. I hissed as I looked at my wounds, cursing at the tower. ¡°You okay?¡± Naea asked with worry clear in her voice.

    ¡°Nope,¡± I answered, ¡°but I will be. Come help.¡± The arrow in my leg had broken, while the one in my shoulder punched right through. Well, that¡¯s not good. These wounds would have been lethal just a few days prior, yet now I looked at them with little more than annoyance. Actually, those arrows would have shredded iron, only my increased attributes keeping me from being torn apart. Weird world, I decided.

    Starting high, Naea landed in the sand behind me. She grabbed the arrow right under the head while I did my best to relax the muscles. Pain was quickly becoming a choice for me, but there was no ignoring the scraping of wood against bone. As the shot had come from above, the angle was fairly awkward. Not so bad for a fairy, though. She put her feet against my back and ripped the arrow away without a countdown.

    I howled like a demon.

    I hurried to circulate mana in the area, numbing the pain and speeding up my regeneration. Behind me, Naea looked at the injury, her long finger tapping her lower lip. She had sensed something flicker in my magic and it had given her an idea, unbeknownst to me. ¡°I¡¯m going to try something¡­¡±

    ¡°Hold on, let¡¯s discuss-¡± Continuing a trend, I gasped. Naea¡¯s mana flowed into the wound like a cup being filled. My head was filled with birdsong, the heady smell of an undisturbed forest clearing. The pain vanished. Even the arrow sticking out my thigh felt like little more than an itch. In my excitement, I removed it carefully and easily. ¡°Wow!¡±

    Once the second arrow was gone, the pain returned and there was a small thump in the sand behind me. Naea was panting on her back, her tongue lolling out the side of her mouth. I scooped her up and removed a canned soft drink from my inventory. I had dozens from the fridges at the park caf¨¦. She sipped the carbonated lemon drink, reminding me of a hummingbird. Have her wings changed a little?

    For a moment, I could have sworn they were darker and less translucent but I looked closer and they looked normal again. ¡°Checking out the goods, are ye? Try this one for size.¡± Naea¡¯s smile was vibrant as she opened a System prompt before me. ¡°I could feel something bubbling since the contract. The hammer frog earlier pushed me to level twenty , so could be anything¡­¡±

    I was more than a little charmed by Naea¡¯s instant hesitation after excitement. ¡°It¡¯s okay to be proud when you get something right, Naea.¡± I smiled back at her, trying to encourage more confidence. My words did their work, judging by Naea¡¯s now-smug face. ¡°Is this how learning skills works in general? You reach a threshold and it¡¯ll come to you?¡±

    ¡°Maybe? The System isn¡¯t giving me much to go on when it comes to my own potential.¡± Naea shrugged, still recovering her mana. For myself, I had mostly just smashed into my mana randomly and come away with a way to use it. It felt like months since I pushed my Mental attribute to 50 and wrested control of the burning river within. Attributes stopped hurting once I managed that, I realised.

    Skill Unlocked - Healing Bond (Dragon)

    It is the nature of both dragon and fae to give and to take. This is the give.

    Effect: For a sizable mana cost per second, heal Patron¡¯s wounds.

    For a sizable mana cost per second, Patron may heal familiar.

    ¡°Huge fan. Seriously, well done, this is incredible.¡± I had nothing but genuine praise. Taking serious damage had been the most obvious worry in the Dungeon. While not life-threatening, the recovery time would have been frustrating and potentially dangerous. Anything which would alleviate danger was more than welcome. I hopped to my feet and gave Naea a light high five. It snapped wonderfully.

    ¡°Shall we?¡± I gestured upwards. Naea wisely let me go first, which I smirked at. The speed and power of the arrows above had scared me, planting hesitation in my psyche. Naea¡¯s breakthrough was absolutely perfect for clearing those dark clouds. We moved some distance back up the road before climbing back on top.

    The tower didn¡¯t immediately fire. The arrows it fired could easily hit me from here, only a few dozen metres farther away, yet no projectiles? ¡°This really is like a video game,¡± I muttered. I always hated tower defence games. ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡±

    As I began my sprint, Naea right behind me, I started sending mana into the Yo Staff. My weapon now lighter than usual, I became a whirling dervish. The staff was a helicopter rotor, punching the arrows away. Knowing they were coming made the situation trivial. I laughed wildly, confidently deciding this was the most fun I had ever had. The pain from before hadn¡¯t even landed in my short-term memory.

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    In short order, we reached the sheer grey walls of the tower. At the end of the path stood a singular stone door with a handle. I had spent around a tenth of my mana getting us to the large door. My fears of there being no entrance were cleared, at least. Which only made it feel more cruel when Naea shouted. ¡°It won¡¯t open!¡±

    Of course not. I was about to drop into the sand when a System prompt stopped me. I didn¡¯t abate the whirlwind with my staff as I quickly read the quest which appeared. I finished and shook the window away from my vision before growling and standing my ground. ¡°Get under the road!¡±

    Dungeon Quest Received! - Weather The Storm

    Trial Towers hold the opportunity for fate-changing rewards to those worthy. Prove yourself worthy to scale the Storm Dragon¡¯s tower.

    Remaining time: 14.49

    Reward: Guidance Stone

    Perhaps the vague wording was intended as part of the challenge, but it didn¡¯t take a genius to know what storm needed to be weathered. While I had to stay at the door, Naea didn¡¯t. However, she ignored me. To my horror, she started moving out of my sphere of protection. ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I got the quest, too!¡± Naea shouted over the clattering of arrows, ¡°but my timer isn¡¯t going down!¡± It was taking most of my concentration to avoid being punctured while keeping her safe, so I could do nothing more than trust her. She deserved it, even if it felt like letting a baby bird out of the nest.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare die!¡± I roared. ¡°Three¡­ Two¡­ One¡­ Now!¡± Second over second, the pressure was increasing. Protecting Naea was about to become impossible either way, so I stopped blocking the shots aimed for her and focused on my own. The pressure on me all but vanished. Between Staff Mastery, Infusion and the base strength my body now enjoyed, the speed could even be described as slow.

    A quick look at the quest timer told me it had been just over two minutes. Three minutes later, my shoulders were on fire and Naea returned. One of her wings was punctured and the other was ripped. I couldn¡¯t spare a hand, so I stuck out a cheek, knowing what she needed. She made a disgusted noise in her throat but pressed her hands onto my face all the same. I returned her earlier favour and activated Healing Bond for the first time. The mana drain felt like a brain freeze for a moment before it stopped.

    ¡°You¡¯re a bloody monster,¡± Naea whispered. I wasn¡¯t sure if I was even meant to hear it, so I let the comment pass. Then, louder. ¡°Two minutes left on the quest. We got this.¡± Without another word, she leapt back into the arrows. Was my drive for progression rubbing off on her? If so, I hoped it was a good thing.

    Also, it meant her quest was shorter than mine. I had little else to think about for the next two minutes, but there were only so many reasons for that. The System might  judge it based on level, strength, or some deeper potential. Maybe something to do with Naea being a familiar? It could be random for all I knew. Like many questions I had, there was no one to give me an answer.

    The two minutes passed and Naea returned. She looked more injured this time, and

    without asking slapped her hands onto the back of my neck. I obliged, sending a small crystal of draconic magic I had prepared through our connection to heal her. Her hands shot away from my skin like they¡¯d been slapped but I didn¡¯t have time to worry about that. Naea finally went underneath the road and I no longer had distractions.

    Just me, the tower and a never-ending storm of arrows.

    Minute over minute, the intensity had increased. This was why Naea looked worse after two minutes than the first three. More and more arrows poured down from above, a heavy and deadly shower. I slowly paced my mana out, avoiding its use where I could originally but finding no quarter any longer.

    I fell into a trance. I danced along with the rhythm of Weapon Mastery vibrating through my muscles. Half-conscious, I became a being of pure magic. My body existed, but it was only there as a protection for the magical self. I comfortably gave up parts of the outer self to protect my core, betting on myself against the flow of time and the inexorable weight above.

    My arms screamed. Mana worked to strengthen the muscles but overuse was overuse. The magic of Infusion acted primarily as a substantial overall boost to my physical attributes and senses. To counteract the damage this extra strength placed on my body, a portion of the river within dove into and soothed my damaged muscles.

    With more than five minutes to go, I felt the equilibrium shift.

    Understanding the limitations and capabilities of my own mana pool was becoming second nature. As the difficulty stepped up once more, the balance I had barely maintained began to slip. By allowing myself to take superficial damage over the last minute, I recovered some of my lost energy but not enough. With less than three quarters of my mana remaining, I grimaced.

    A high Mental attribute could apparently be a curse. Did those with high Fortitude worry about their stamina in this way? Probably not. A dozen calculations and a hundred possibilities danced in my mind, far away from my main concentration. They were simply whispers of certainty and doubt in the back of my mind.

    If it costs ten percent of my maximum energy between the sixth and fifth minutes, what level of difficulty can I manage in the final moments? The arrows themselves have been getting faster, so taking one full force will do more damage than before. If I retreat, assuming I even could, would I fail the quest or would it restart?

    Enough.

    I wrested control of my errant thoughts and focused them to task. If the capability to split thought into so many paths was a hallmark of the Mental attribute, the value of a high Will attribute was controlling them. Once my mind began to harbour doubts, it needed to be shut down. This was a trial, set down by a Storm Dragon, whatever that was. My pride wouldn¡¯t let me back down, and the Aspect of the Dragon within agreed.

    I gave up more and more of my body, conserving mana for the final two minutes. Naea¡¯s healing would have helped but reaching me would be impossible at this point. An ocean of arrows fell around and atop me, trying desperately to make me bend. Rage flared in my heart as I realised that was a lie. The ocean did not desperately do anything. It simply was.

    And I, a rock in the river, forcing the furious water to part. Spins, dodges, flips and many, many slices and punctures were my reward. The river eroded me second over second, shaving away anything I could allow. My skin was ragged and weeping but so what? When the skin rebelled, trying to avoid pain, I squashed the resistance and powered through on pure will alone.

    My mana reserves dwindled to nothing and I raged. The storm had not subsided. So? My arms began to sag and my legs lost strength, but I dodged all the same. Each sidestep or block was agony as I forced my body to maintain the strength for just another moment longer. A System prompt appeared in my periphery as the final dregs of my power waned.

    Dungeon Quest Completed! - Weather The Storm

    You have passed the entrance trial to the Tower of the Storm Dragon. Congratulations!

    Reward: Guidance Stone of Lightning

    Sweet, I managed to think, the final word before unconsciousness stole me away again.

 Chapter Seventeen - Start The Trial

    Thanks to Healing Bond, Naea was able to rouse me fairly quickly. Physically, I was doing okay, but I strained every mana channel I had keeping the infinite arrows from above away from my soft delicate organs. Instead of heading inside the tower, the pair of us were resting against the door. There were various wrappers and cans strewn about after we gorged our stamina back.

    Even if the insides were a complete bust, and I doubted that would be the case, I had received an incredibly valuable reward already. As soon as I saw the words Guidance Stone on the Dungeon Quest, I knew it was either victory or death for me.

    The allure of magic, and increased capabilities, was simply too great.

    ¡°Let¡¯s find out if all that danger was worth it, shall we?¡± I removed the Guidance Stone from my inventory. An orb of grey crystal crackled with energy in my hand, yellow and blue sparks flashing within. Before immediately using the stone, I admired the beautiful sphere. It really did seem to house a thunderstorm within.

    ¡°Let¡¯s,¡± Naea agreed. From her own inventory, which existed somewhere within my own, connected to mine, she produced a nearly identical stone. The only difference was the size, which Naea assured me was unimportant. I resisted the obvious joke, another sign of my heightened Will attribute.

    Experience told me Guidance Stones were not painful, as I didn¡¯t remember even a twinge upon using the stone of Mastery. I was proven mostly correct, though the stone of Thunder gave me a small electric shock as I accepted the prompt. My veins felt charged with lightning for a moment, which was unpleasant. Naea shrieked at my side, and I chuckled. ¡°At least it wasn¡¯t just me.¡±

    Skill Unlocked - Kirin Strikes

    Often guarding the hoards of Storm Dragons, Kirins are both beast and storm at once.

    As I hoped, the use of the Guidance Stone healed my charred mana pathways. If it were not for the flash of lightning currently zipping around my head, I would have focused on the luxurious feeling. Naea hollered with delight as she moved faster than I could hope to follow, then poked me on the thigh. My whole jolted like I¡¯d been tased, which of course Naea found even more hilarious.

    I flicked her out of the air. ¡°You¡¯re fast, but predictable.¡± The pair of us glared at each other, me rubbing my leg and Naea rubbing her forehead. Then we burst out laughing.

    ¡°Go on,¡± she said, ¡°what¡¯s yours?¡± Not for the first time, I thanked my good fortune to have met Naea. If the dungeon had been a little more brutal or I had been a little less hopeful, we might never have teamed up and I would have definitely gone insane or died.

    ¡°Something probably best saved until we¡¯re in a fight.¡± I rolled my eyes as Naea flopped over my shoulder. We were in no real rush, beyond the ever-looming competition outside my Dungeon. My own mana was still recovering and now Naea needed to rest again. Her new technique was expensive in both mana and stamina costs, and her maximum was lower than mine.

    I stood and started collecting arrows. I also picked up the litter Naea and I had made, which conveniently went into a catch-all category in my inventory called Trash. The arrows however, were special.

    Item - Storm Arrows

    Arrows forged under special conditions, they are perfectly capable of absorbing certain types of mana.

    On most, the arrowheads were damaged or the shafts had broken, leaving them useless. Like the food wrappers, these broken arrows went straight into the Trash. Given the colossal amount which had rained down, however, there were still hundreds of the interesting projectiles. I twirled one around my finger, holding my other hand out like a vacuum for the rest of the debris.

    I was unsurprised when my first attempt at injecting mana into the arrow was a failure. The sensation was similar to pushing air through a straw, only to find too much pressure on the other side. Even if something seems obvious, it¡¯s best to be sure. With a shove of my energy, I forced the mana within and the arrow burst. After picking a few splinters out of my hand, I retrieved another one. Naea didn¡¯t even offer to heal me, which was probably fair.

    My second attempt was a little more fruitful. I focused on the volcano within my mental world. While everything there was a representation of my mana, the volcano was specialised. I drew dragon-flavoured mana from the font and aimed it at the arrow in my hand. ¡°Watch out!¡± I shouted, flinging the arrow away as quickly as I could. This time, it exploded violently and I was thrown back due to the proximity with the blast.

    ¡°Are you desperate to maim yourself?¡± Naea asked rhetorically. I turned around sheepishly and held out my hand. The skin had been taken clean off most of it. With a groan, Naea used Healing Bond before returning to rest by the door. As she saw me pick up another arrow, she squawked in protest. ¡°Seriously?¡±

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    ¡°I think I know what I¡¯m doing this time,¡± I replied with a distinct lack of confidence in my voice.

    ¡°Sure you did last time, too.¡± Naea commented dryly, but said no more. I ignored her and began to gather more mana from the volcano. Instead of sending it towards the arrow, I moved the power slowly upwards. A stream of lava rose out of the fiery mountain and touched the smoky clouds above. A crackling rumble echoed throughout my soul and I memorised the feeling with a smile.

    Using abilities from Guidance Stones had at least two phases which I had discovered. The first was a surge of information entering the memory banks, waiting to be remembered. When using Staff Mastery, I had gained decent skill immediately and then used that to springboard me into higher levels of technique. These arrows had helped me do the same with Kirin Strikes.

    ¡°Got it!¡± With delight, I channelled the lightning in my soul straight into the Storm Arrow. The mana jumped into the expertly crafted projectile without resistance. The steel head began to glow blue and the wood vibrated. I whooped and heaved the arrow into the distance. The whole world went white for a moment.

    The arrow hadn¡¯t exploded again or anything, it had just sounded like a whip cracking right next to my ear. Unprepared, the sound had nearly knocked me out. I stabilised in time to see the arrow still arcing through the air. Naea was shouting at me but I couldn¡¯t hear her until she healed me, my eardrums were both burst. I didn¡¯t look away as the arrow buried itself in the sand. Naea returned my hearing just in time for me to hear the second immense noise.

    This one was the sound of glass cracking, because that¡¯s exactly what happened. A small but not insubstantial area of sand a hundred metres away had been flashed with the lightning contained inside the Storm Arrow. Despite her annoyance at me, Naea gawked with wide eyes while I looked smug. She slapped me, healing the last of the damage at the same time. I poked her belly, returning the favour.

    ¡°You won¡¯t have to get so up-close and personal all the time now, will ye?¡± She asked. I didn¡¯t answer immediately because I was too full of emotion. Mana cost, fine magical control and a material component? I¡¯m sure any self-respecting wizard worth their salt would be insulted but as far as I was concerned, I had just cast my first spell.

    ¡°Damn straight,¡± I nodded to Naea when I realised she had spoken. The mana cost for that single arrow had been expensive enough it couldn¡¯t become my bread-and-butter, even if I had an infinite supply of the arrows, which I didn¡¯t. Kirin Strikes wasn¡¯t limited to the Storm Arrows, though. Despite being slightly drained still, my energy was high. ¡°Are you ready?¡±

    Naea shrugged. ¡°Can¡¯t be worse than what we just survived.¡± I stifled a swear, opting for just a choking noise instead.

    ¡°Now why would you say something so obviously ominous?¡± I pushed the door open as I asked. If the universe, or System, wanted to punish me for Naea¡¯s words then so be it. When no immediate smite seemed incoming, we carefully moved inside. The door slammed shut behind us the moment I was out of range to hold it open. ¡°Of course.¡±

    I gave Naea a disappointed look. ¡°Nooo! Disappointed is worse than angry! Everyone knows that!¡± Her voice echoed around the space we found ourselves in. The barren design of the outer walls was not hiding opulence inside. Grey, dull stone stretched around from the door we entered to the far side of the single, massive room. A flat ceiling squatted above some seventy metres or so at an estimate. From the door to the opposite side could easily be a kilometre, the large distance hard to gauge.

    Naea made to speak and I held up a finger while raising an eyebrow. I knew what she was going to ask and I had no doubt an answer was incoming. On cue, the System obliged.

    Trial Tower Entered! - Frigid Winds

    To face the trial of the Storm Dragon is to defy nature at its most destructive and deadly.

    Survive the blizzard.

    Even as the System threatened death, I smiled. My obsession with achievements was only going to get worse. Another System prompt was waiting behind the Tower Quest. Fate-changing rewards came from the tower itself, but I¡¯d received two before even climbing a floor.

    Achievement Unlocked - (World First) Trial Taker

    For many, certain death. For you, a chance to rewrite destiny.

    Effect: Attributes +10%

    The System made more than a few references to fate and the like, and I couldn¡¯t help but wonder whether that was a translation of something else. Maybe it was just a concept which existed everywhere. The now familiar feeling of incremental power flowing into my veins was welcome as always. Mana moved through my pathways easier than ever. I looked down at my belt and did some very quick arithmetic, aided by my attributes.

    From my various attributes, I had accrued a thirty percent bonus to my Mental attribute, as well as Fortitude and Will. Speed was at twenty five percent, and all of these before the effect of the Orange Belt around my waist. I grunted. Whether the belt added attributes after the achievement or not, I would be just under an effective one hundred in Mental.

    Hungry for some extra attribute points to see me to the centennial attribute score, I stepped into the room. Despite the quest appearing in my face, I knew nothing would start until I walked forward. I had the vague sense that if I wanted to give up, I could, even now. How that worked, I wasn¡¯t sure. Some vague voice in the back of my head from the System I was going to ignore.

    I had finally reached the tower and I had a bone to pick with the Storm Dragon that ran the place. I just had to survive, how hard could that be? I almost complained when the System started speaking. That one was in my head!

    Trial Accepted - Floor One Commencing

    The floor at my feet became slick and the temperature of the room dropped immediately. Naea shivered immediately and gave up any pretence of joining me for this floor. She dove into my shirt and wrapped her arms around my neck. ¡°You heal me if I need it, try to stay warm.¡±

    ¡°I wish you had a hood,¡± she grumbled. I laughed and agreed, reaching the middle of the room with the Yo Staff in hand. I hit the long stick on the floor, channelling my new skill as I did so. The frozen ground around me was electrified and the frost in the immediate area was vaporised. Pleased with the effect, I could do nothing but wait. For just a single moment, I wondered whether the trial was more simple than I thought. Could the first wave just be the cold?

    All around, figures rose from the ground like snowmen melting in reverse. Most were humanoid in shape, but not all. I spotted some large cats forming, a bulky shape which might have been a rhinoceros or a hippo, and a few others I didn¡¯t immediately recognise. The bulk were human in shape, wielding various ice-made weaponry.

    I licked my lips. They cracked almost immediately but I ignored it. This was perfect. Up to now, I had been fighting almost nothing but scorepions. There wasn¡¯t an arachnid shape amongst the ice sculptures, I noted thankfully. They had been decent fodder for levels, but the scorepions were ultimately slow, ranged attackers. This was my chance to figure out how to really fight.

    I couldn¡¯t ask for a better army to sharpen myself upon.

 Chapter Eighteen - Battle Bonding

    A familiar tension returned as the final shapes formed from the ice. Instead of letting the pressure make me flinch, I allowed it to wash over me. This is nothing, I told myself, just the calm before the storm. I laughed at my own joke. The trial of the Storm Dragon had nearly cost my life just for entry, but I felt casually confident against the horde of ornery snowmen all the same.

    It occurred to me there was not going to be a starting bell, yet I waited all the same. My mana was flowing in perfect order, Infusion and Kirin Strikes ready to go. The cold air burned my nose and tried to freeze my eyes. I was as calm as the sculptures, a room of absolute stillness. From behind, the sound of shattering.

    Then all frozen hell broke loose.

    As the wave began in full, the temperature dropped again. Naea swore in my ear, her head buried in my shaggy hair for warmth. The first attacks began to come my way but I skated around them with ease. I let a ripple of mana course through me, a droplet from the well. Naea he sighed happily as my skin warmed. Frost which had accumulated on my joints steamed away as my blood started to boil in jubilation. I understood why down to my very bones.

    Staff Mastery had been missing a vital component up to now. The Yo Staff in my hand sang in harmony with my tempo as I used it like a ski stick, flickering through the onslaught at breakneck speed. The weapon drank from my mana perfectly, a constant shift to its weight allowing me to perform beautiful acrobatics.

    My attributes had never been so well used, down to even my mundane senses. The whole place was a gorgeous sight to behold. A strange light permeated the stone of the walls, illuminating them and the walls in a plain white light. I saw the genius of the minimal tower design as rainbows glittered across the walls, floor and ceiling. It¡¯s a work of art.

    I rose above the growing crowd with a vault. Two birds shot from above without a sound, casting blinding light from their wings. I laughed at the challenge, smashing one before it got close. The second caught my shoulder but I wanted its momentum. I pulled my legs to my chest to dodge a razor-sharp greataxe aimed for my jumping form. The Yo Staff became an immense weight and I flipped to the ground with a slam.

    ¡°Warm up finished. Hold on tight.¡± As much for myself as Naea, my solo ballet of the ice warrior had proven to us she wouldn¡¯t get thrown away if I cut loose. My scalp wasn¡¯t thanking me. Hopefully a sore head would be the worst of my worries. My heavy fall had buckled the nearby attackers, but more were on me in an instant. I span, extending the dense weapon.

    The Yo Staff gleamed with rime, the cacophony of clattering ice only increased. I became a tornado of pure energy and lost myself to the rhythm of battle. It wasn¡¯t all easy going once the army of ice¡¯s strategy came into play. I had taken note of the different forms, but once the melee descended to madness, the variation became more problematic. For each hit which landed on me, the battalion got thinned into small, snowy pieces.

    Hits were landing, which sucked. The ice weapons didn¡¯t cause bleeding, but the areas they slashed froze immediately. My blood became sluggish in my veins. Naea¡¯s hands thrummed with a discordantly peaceful energy and the blockages of chilled blood were dealt with as quickly as they came. I still avoided damage like the plague. For one, it really hurt, but more importantly Naea¡¯s mana wouldn¡¯t last forever. ¡°You hanging in there?¡±

    ¡°Is that a crap joke?¡± Naea shouted. She didn¡¯t need to as she was right next to my ear but the room was pretty loud, so I forgave her without comment. Also, it had been a pun, so I had no leg to stand on. ¡°If you would just share, then you could get sliced all day!¡±

    ¡°Share what?¡± The massive ice animal I saw earlier charged. Definitely a rhino. I hopped to the top of the staff, balancing on it straight up. I placed a healthy amount of mana into it and watched as the rhino ploughed right into the now impossibly heavy staff. The snowbeast was cleaved in two by its own momentum, pushing the staff just slightly. I rode it to the ground as it fell, careful to hop off as it made the tower shake with the weight.

    ¡°Your mana!¡± She replied with a kick to my back. ¡°You can pump that stick silly, but none for little, ¡®ol Naea? Typical boy, only interested in his stick.¡± Her admonishment was mostly jovial, but I could hear the exertion as she joked. I hadn¡¯t used Infusion or Kirin Strikes so far, pushing myself deeper into Staff Mastery but the cost wasn¡¯t just a few uncomfortable moments of pain.

    ¡°I can do that?¡± The inanimate object in my hands was one thing, but I instinctively recoiled from sharing it with Naea for some reason. The idea felt far more¡­ intimate. Mana was a representation of the soul in most of the ways which counted.

    I wouldn¡¯t blame Naea for distracting me, but I caught a heavy blow to the back of my knee. Instead of being crippled, the fairy on my back reacted instantly and I was able to dodge with time to spare. I jabbed the staff through the ice swordsman and it fell into a thousand pieces. The herd had thinned considerably, so I gained some breathing room.

    The fuck are you waiting for? I admonished myself. If I died, Naea would die. The Dungeon¡¯s creatures already saw her as an enemy but now she was in a trial with me. Because of me, I corrected. Baring my soul was the least I could do. ¡°I hope you like what you see.¡±

    The actual process was simple. Whether I could have done the same with words was a question for ex-girlfriends, but Naea was already connected to my soul through the familiar contract. My own hesitations weren¡¯t in the way, neither were preconceptions from her. A small lump sat quietly in my soulspace, her presence bringing wildflowers to my inner world. It was just a small change to create and open a door. A shiver deeper than any cold tickled over my soul.

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    Skill Upgrade - Healing Bond (Dragon) has upgraded to Battle Bond (Dragon)

    A bond forged in battle is as strong as they come.

    Effect: Patron and Familiar may share mana, for various effects.

    The System didn¡¯t like to hold hands, did it? It was better for it to be vague, I decided. The healing capability of the ability hadn¡¯t been impacted, but experimenting would have to wait. ¡°Is that better?¡± I asked. Naea would have the same ability evolution as I did. She just whooped loudly in response. A strange moment occurred as my own mana returned to me with a distinct flavour. Naea¡¯s touch tasted like fresh river water and smelled like pine sap. The healing was increased by volume, but I barely felt the difference to my reservoir.

    ¡°Monster,¡± Naea whispered. I was starting to agree. I knew for a fact I was ahead of the pack outside the Dungeon, but it was impossible to know by how much. I shuddered, picturing a world of people with strength like I was capable of. Historically, random people finding power with no oversight was not a good thing.

    Slowing down wasn¡¯t an option. Now that Naea had no complaints, I dove through the rest of the enemies. One use of Infusion made me unstoppable compared to the relatively slow ice creatures. Only as the last one fell did I notice something felt off. ¡°Hold on, where are there nameplates?¡± The floor rumbled and I groaned. ¡°Is comedic timing a setting I can turn off?¡±

    The temperature in the room jumped dramatically which felt nice for about two seconds. Sweat dropped from my skin and Naea peeled herself away, gagging. All the ice in the room became water, and that water was rushing to the centre of the room. Once it arrived, the temperature dropped again. My wet clothes froze in place from the dramatic shift.

    I expected Naea to run back under my shirt but she shimmered with heat and confidence. Being stealthy was one thing, but hiding like she had hurt her pride. Good, I nodded, let it push you, too. I stepped next to her, giving her a quick fist bump while we watched the ice smash itself together. ¡°Oh, this one has a nameplate.¡±

    Monster - Ice Elemental (Level 30)

    ¡°I think maybe they were all this one creature,¡± Naea chimed in.

    ¡°No way,¡± I yelled, though I immediately felt she was right. ¡°That¡¯s really, really cool.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but be impressed. Whatever controlled this creature had a crazy amount of control over its mana if the army I had just found were basically puppets. I wanted to study its technique, but there was the more important task of survival higher on the priority list.

    A massive fist smashed down. Naea and I dashed in opposite directions, easily avoiding the attack. We circled the massive amorphous form. Mostly, the Ice Elemental looked like the top half of a human, minus the head. A huge torso with two flailing limbs. It moved at surprising speed, but only compared to my old self. With Infusion running at full capacity, it really might as well have been frozen.

    My eyebrows shot open in surprise as the large arms shrank into the massive form. At once, long whips of snow and ice exploded from the base of the elemental. I retreated but Naea didn¡¯t have the same good sense as me. I shouted a warning which went ignored, but I acquiesced as my doubts were quickly proven wrong.

    The ¡°trick of the light¡± I had noticed when I healed Naea returned. I could sense her use my mana to perform an Infusion of her own. As she did so, her wings took on a more leathery appearance, ridges and spikes appearing. Her large eyes took on a cat¡¯s slitted quality and her form even looked to bulk out a few inches. The effects of my draconic mana were pronounced in her features.

    Naea dove into the shredder face first, and I followed. My movements were influenced by the advice of Staff Mastery, while the ability to perform the spins and flips suggested came from my attributes and Infusion.

    Unwilling to be outdone, even as I felt some pride of my own at the fairy, I activated my offence. If Staff Mastery and Infusion were my set up, then Kirin Strikes was the hammer which struck the nail. The violence of a storm coursed through my arms and into the weapon. For good measure, I placed my three free attribute points into Mental.

    The jump in acuity was just enough for me to realise my earlier arithmetic had been wrong. I opened and closed the System prompt which had appeared as my attribute reached the threshold. I howled with laughter against the gale of attacks, blowing them apart with a thunderclap from the Yo Staff. Yellow and blue light flashed all over, arcs of energy expelled between myself and the elemental. The collision would have smashed open a bank vault, but the elemental was barely phased. Without leverage, I flew backwards until I collided with the wall.

    I wasn¡¯t aiming to be the star of this show, anyway.

    Naea had drunk deeply from my well, and I encouraged it. Like a bloated mosquito, she approached the elemental. Unlike the mosquito, she moved faster than even my eye could follow. Free to use her new ability with abandon, Naea jolted past the attacks and closed in on the elemental. Sickles and projectiles raged around the Ice Elemental to no avail.

    The fairy, her form tinged with draconic features, rose to the ceiling and removed her trump card. The small sabre was comical, invisible from this distance, but I could feel the movement of mana from here. Naea was about to burst, even with her wanton use of my mana to this point. All of that pressure was countered happily by the Chibizashi.

    Finish it.

    The cold hadn¡¯t touched me while my mana was flowing but a shiver ran through me all the same as Naea lifted the sword in the air. I could feel every movement, although there was quite a distance from myself and the battle now. So I knew it was over, even if the Ice Elemental did not.

    The wording on the Chibizashi was similar to the Yo Staff. As the energy within the blade reached its peak, Naea slashed downwards. She wasn¡¯t anywhere near the elemental¡¯s form but that didn¡¯t matter. The magic of the sword was supercharged by the power coursing through it. A snikt sound overpowered all other noises, ushering a silence into the room. After a few heartbeats, the quiet was again broken.

    This time, it was the tinkaling of a chandelier falling to the ground, maximised by the enclosed space. The elemental split down the middle, the frozen blade of the Chibizashi shrinking back down to size. With her downward slash, Naea switched the shrinking aspect of her sword to the exact opposite. The elemental didn¡¯t know what hit it.

    She barreled into my unprotected chest, my hands protecting my ears from the sound. I looked down into the fairy¡¯s normal eyes. She was shaking with exertion and the comedown of adrenaline. ¡°See?¡± She spoke quietly into my chest. The words might not even have been meant for me. ¡°I¡¯m not deadweight. I won¡¯t slow you down.¡±

    Ah, I realised, the shattering sound is my heart. ¡°I couldn¡¯t have survived three days in this Dungeon without you, Naea. I promise,¡± I put emphasis on the word. An important word to the Fae. ¡°Promise with all my heart, wherever I go, you go.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± she whispered, still stretched across my torso like a particularly loveable limpet. We said nothing else as the room fell soundless yet again. The temperature returned to normal and all which was left of the Ice Elemental was a massive, undraining puddle. I brought my hand up to embrace Naea and fell back onto the damp floor.

    We couldn¡¯t stop here. ¡°Five minutes. Then, we move on.¡± My head fell into an icy puddle but I ignored it. I was tired, but smiling. I only had eyes for the achievement I had received mid-fight.

    Achievement Unlocked - Centennial

    A single mistake can bring death on the road to specialisation. Achieved for reaching 100 effective attribute points in a single attribute before gaining a Class or Race Evolution.

    Effect: Attributes +10%

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Name - Grant Kaeron   Race - Human (Grade 0) Level - 29

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 20  Speed - 20  Mental - 73   Will - 30

    Free attribute points: 0

 Chapter Nineteen - Taking The Tower

    The second floor of the Storm Dragon¡¯s trial tower was much like the first. Unlike the lower floor, there were plenty of walls here. The space was about the same size, but thick panes of ice created a maze which threw strange reflections around. There was no elemental this time, instead the maze was controlled in some way by a creature called a Visionary Of Violence. My reflections lashed out as I traversed the maze, giving me more than a few welts on the head. The visionary itself was little more than a ball of congealed mana, which was smashed easily once I reached the centre of the maze.

    The third floor held an opposite kind of storm. Seeing through the choking smoke was impossible, and intangible beings formed from the flames all around. The changes my body had undergone in the last week or so were on full display here as I barely took a breath the entire floor. My hair and clothes were singed and burned in places after I managed to engage the main enemy of this floor.

    I was calling them Floor bosses in my head. After the Ice Elemental came the Visionary Of Violence and then on the third floor was the Akashic Phoenix. A disgusting parody of the firebird from legend. Appearing as a tarry, molten vulture, the dangerous monster was hiding in the smoke, returning from the flames when destroyed. Each time, it returned stronger, but it had a finite amount of resurrections.

    We pushed through to the fifth floor quickly as the fourth was a joke. A blanket of powerful lightning strikes barred my way to the other side of the room where a weak looking creature sat chanting a hymn. Naea just laughed, turning into a bolt of lightning herself and appeared behind the creature. She couldn¡¯t easily kill it as it was faster than it looked, but once it stopped channelling the storm, I simply crossed the room and dashed its head with my staff.

    Floor five had no great surprises, which was fine with me. In fact, it was the most straightforward after the first. Clearly fashioned after the destructive force of a landslide, another elemental pit itself against us. The real challenge in this fight was keeping myself from getting stuck in the deepening mud. Each bulky form I destroyed only added to the quagmire.

    The first floor of the Trial Tower was also the hardest fight of the five. A large part of the change was my mood about the place. Initially, I had been filled with wonder and more than a little anticipation. The opportunity to battle creatures which weren¡¯t just names in a sand dune had been exciting. My mood soured after the end of the first battle. I hadn¡¯t forgotten to loot the Ice Elemental, it simply had no loot.

    After that point, I had no patience for the trial itself. I mostly smashed my way through the ice maze on floor two, overpowering the design with brute force. By the time the melting phoenix stopped reviving, it was just grateful to be done. One strike finished the lightning mage and the Bog Elemental was mostly just annoying and stank.

    By the time I finished, I had nearly forgotten the point of all this. Nothing in the tower had given me any levels. There hadn¡¯t been a single lootable enemy. Once I got serious and angry, even the challenge was muted. I had put in some thought between floors while Naea and I collected our breath about the design and layout of the tower.

    While the place was a potent trial, it was designed for general consumption. The enemies had all been level 29 on inspection but I had nearly 40% additional attributes when compared to my level. Naea also tipped the scale, punching well above her weight when needed. Our symbiotic combat style let me exchange my large mana pool for healing, completely invaluable.

    My own Aspect of the Dragon had trivialised most of the challenge. Each step of the way, the Yo Staff, Weapon Mastery and Infusion allowed me to push through the difficulty. Even my newly incorporated Kirin Strikes, though rarely needed, was the exact tool needed at various moments. Picturing the other Aspects there might be, I wondered if any would fare so well in the same position. Well, of course they wouldn¡¯t, I thought to myself, this is a trial for dragons.

    I blinked at the intrusive thought, confused. Aspects were still a mostly foreign concept, but with each Guidance Stone I felt a little closer to understanding the Dragon within. It wasn¡¯t actually sentient, but there was intelligence within the Aspect which judged my actions. I felt approval when my actions were decisive while anything broaching on cowardice brought disdain. Apparently it also means you¡¯re hearing voices.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    I shook my head for the death of my once aspired profession of therapy. I centred my sense of self. ¡°I am Grant Kaeron. I¡¯m twenty three years old in two months. The world has gone to shit around me, but I¡¯m still here. Everything is crazy, but I¡¯m not.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± said the fairy hovering at my side, ¡°you¡¯re as sane as anybody I¡¯ve ever met.¡±

    ¡°Sane like Alice,¡± I agreed. I may be through the looking glass, but I wouldn¡¯t let any of this break me. Had the Aspect of the Dragon infected my mind and changed my ways of thinking? Impossible to answer. My mentality seemed healthy enough considering the state of things. So long as I kept getting stronger, I could leave the dungeon and figure out my next steps. ¡°Speaking of next steps¡­¡±

    ¡°No one said anything about steps.¡± Naea muttered and I chose to ignore her. When the fifth floor was conquered, I expected to be finished with the tower. Instead, like on the previous floors, a wall simply disappeared. The opening had stairs leading upwards. Come to think of it, I had seen a smaller room atop one of the other towers. My eyes lit up.

    Treasure?

    Naea and I raced up the stairs. I maintained she was cheating by flying, she countered by saying the stairs were built for my lanky legs and I should just shut up. I ran for a few minutes before anything changed. First came a slight breeze which was heavenly. The air in the tower was stale, especially on the fifth floor where the bog stink still festered. Even if the tower smelled like fresh baked bread and black coffee, my two personal favourite smells, it wouldn¡¯t compare to the breeze from above.

    Soon, it wasn¡¯t just the sense of smell which was affected. There was no description of the sensation, no way to put its existence into words which could do it justice. All at once sense memories of nostalgic times, moments of peace and comfort from youth, pressed against my heart. Instead of scrambling to find the source, I took joy in the journey to get there.

    The indescribable scent impacted Naea, too. She was silent, having stopped flying. She was open-mouthed, gawking at the plains walls and stairs, even at me, with huge eyes full of wonder. I nudged her with my head and we both giggled at each other. Music echoed on the edge of my hearing and it seemed as though the beat matched with my own movements and thoughts.

    ¡°What is this?¡± I asked, though Naea¡¯s look of confused awe didn¡¯t exactly suggest her to be an expert. When she didn¡¯t answer, didn¡¯t even respond, it wasn¡¯t that she was ignoring me. Even speaking while the melody played was difficult, trying to consider anything other than the moment was nearly futile.

    Whatever was happening, it was something more defined than ¡°magic¡±. With each step higher, the same euphoric sensation which danced on my skin, sat on my tongue, in my ears or around my nose could be felt more clearly. The density of mana in the air was growing by the moment. I began to feel its effect within my very core itself. Even as my feet continued to move, my mind fell into my inner world.

    The harmony of my outer senses were magnified within. The space had never felt so actualised and complete, while at the same time being more malleable than ever. While trudging slowly up the stairs in the real world, I watched the ¡°natural¡± flow of my world with academic interest. Within moments, the discordance gave me a headache. Despite looking like a paradise, everything was fake.

    Why did the river flow where it did? What point did the volcano and storm have when nothing tried to interact with the other elements? Under the watchful inspiration of the divine sensation outside, I rewrote the rules for my inner world. The river didn¡¯t move because I willed it, the river moved because that¡¯s what rivers do. The volcano was not a reservoir of power to be tapped at will, nor were the smoky storm clouds.

    The issue was me and my perception of the energy within. Without the assistance of the mystical sensation, I wouldn¡¯t have known anything was wrong. To make such a small, yet drastic change to my mana was daunting. It might even have been impossible, had I not been exactly where I was. Everything clicked, both in my mind and soul.

    The change was subtle, enough to think nothing was different, yet as I opened my eyes in the real world I knew nothing could be further from the truth. Mana crashed through my pathways, a tsunami which would never stop again. I took a breath, taking a moment to harmonise my energy with the melody once more. Even Naea managed to pull herself from the stupor and give me an impressed look, though she made no comment.

    After a long time, yet all too soon, we reached the end of the stairwell. So enamoured by the wonderful sensation during the climb, this time I truly had forgotten what I was doing. When the stairs opened up I found myself at the top, open layer of the trial tower. Like waking up from a dream, I gazed out over the dungeon and took it in.

    It¡¯s so small. From up high, the area I was trapped in wasn¡¯t so daunting. If anything, I began to feel caged, which absolutely wouldn¡¯t do. My soul rumbled against the idea. I calmed myself, picturing my escape from the dungeon and the world of opportunity I would find outside. Before that, however¡­

    Tower Quest Received - Earn The Storm Dragon¡¯s Blessing

    Climbing the tower is impressive, but it only grants you an audience.

    Reward:Blessing of the Storm Dragon

    A single, large room was a little ways away from me. The waves of life-changing power were coming from within, even the thick solid walls unable to hold back the energies inside.Just the barest vapours of that power had started something inside my soul, changing my understanding and use of mana completely. What could possibly be so powerful? I wanted to find out.

    I wanted to make it mine.

 Chapter Twenty - An Unfair Fight

    The flat, circular lump on top of the trial tower was mundane in appearance. From afar, it would hardly register, seeming to be a simple mistake in the architecture. Without completing the tower, it would have been nothing more. Had the tower¡¯s challenge proven too much for the trialists within, the wondrous treasure within would have remained sealed.

    However, the tower had been bested. The Hurricane Heart was laid bare and its call drew me like a moth to the flame. I half-jogged, half-stumbled the distance remaining between me and the vault. As I approached, like the walls of the tower, a portion of the round wall disappeared like it was never there. I should have known it was all too simple.

    A rocket exploded in the sky above me. I flinched, looking left to right. A skyscraper crashed into a battleship. ¡°What the hell is that?¡± My shout might as well have been silent. A fleet of jets were colliding somewhere. Naea fell to the floor, the vibrations in the air stronger than her wings. Thunder echoed around the dungeon, growing louder with each moment instead of quieter. I huddled over the fallen fairy, cupping her head in my hands. A volcano erupted. I finally turned my eyes upwards.

    It took me a few addled moments to realise all of these sounds had come from a singular source. The same thing which was currently splitting the clouds. Lightning arced through the air for hundreds of miles. A primal, human survival instinct screamed at me to run, throw myself from the tower and hope for the best. From this height, it was almost certain death, but better to have a small chance than none at all.

    I wasn¡¯t a slave to my old instincts though. There was something else nesting in my soul and it hatched with a muted roar in opposition to the incoming threat. Defiant power flooded into muscles which had a moment ago run cold. I shared some of that strength with Naea, gifting her a packet of specific mana. She looked at me, her eyes taking on the telltale slit, her skin starting to look scaled.

    The entire climb had been nothing but a slog, hoping and frankly expecting a reward at the end. When the final battle had been no more challenging than the last, I had expected some final twist. I was prepared for it, even. Of course, I hadn¡¯t expected this but so what? I would claim my prize from this trial tower.

    I just needed to kill a dragon first.

    Dungeon Quest Received - Trial Of The Storm Dragon

    By climbing the tower of the Storm Dragon, you have proven yourself worthy to attempt its trial.

    Reward: The Storm Dragon¡¯s Boon

    The Storm Dragon¡¯s roar continued to pressure us. Naea rose into the air and nodded at me before turning her eyes skywards. I stoked my pride in her before following her gaze. I gave the Yo Staff a spin with my right hand and smashed it into the floor to make some noise of our own. I couldn¡¯t let the Storm Dragon make such a racket without replying. I stood ready. The Aspect of the Dragon purred at my actions.

    Currently bearing down on us with all the ferocity of a thousand hurricanes was the largest creature Earth had ever seen. If a spectacle of this size had been matched outside the dungeon, I¡¯d eat the Sorehammer whole. A head as wide as a cruise liner was coming straight for me. Entire thunderclouds billowed from its swimming-pool-sized nostrils, crackling with lightning. My eardrums had burst, the blood already drying in my ears but I could literally see the sound shaking the air at its approach.

    My brain gave up trying to understand its scale and set to work thinking about how to even survive. Surely the goal of this trial wasn¡¯t to kill any and all challengers. It was hard to grasp onto the hope of logic while something impossible happened, but I held on all the same. I set my jaw. If I¡¯m going to die, I¡¯m going to get the first hit in.

    I knew I couldn¡¯t match the Storm Dragon¡­ yet.

    I was still going to try. It was a thousand years too early for me to fight something like this, yet here I was. The nightmarish lizard finally came close enough for my analysis to activate but it told me nothing. The entire screen was a garbled mess, so I shook it from my sight. I had all the information I needed. It was close enough to start.

    I dove into my core and ripped out fistfuls of mana. Infusion went into overdrive, all my techniques and understanding used in tandem to overload my body. My bones groaned and my muscles bulged unevenly but I continued emptying my mana pool. Calling what I was doing a skill would be disrespectful to my actual system-given skills. Taking principles from Infusion and Kirin Strikes together, my body became the vessel for every ounce of power I could muster.

    To my right, Naea was doing similar. I could follow the flow of her energy due to our connection. She was moulding the mana I had given her. Naea was condensing it further and further, more intricate than anything I could do. There were principles to her control which I didn¡¯t understand, so I couldn¡¯t anticipate the result of her magic. The clear scent of healing mana was prevalent, which felt sensible.

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    My own mana had no such smell. I boiled with power, the acrid stink of smoke accompanying my own burning lifeforce. Everything would go into this blow. It didn¡¯t matter at all that I wouldn¡¯t survive the backlash, so long as I left a scar on the azure snout snarling at me. Jagged teeth the size of oak trees split and a blue whale of a tongue flicked outwards. It could wrap that tongue around the tower three times, I mused.

    With a flick of mana, the weight of the Yo Staff fluctuated perfectly. I took a single step, knowing it was necessary. I couldn¡¯t help but grimace as the bones snapped from the movement. I sacrificed my left leg and the leverage launched me forward. At its size, the dragon should have hardly noticed me, but I was both surprised and pleased to see an expression of shock appear on the leviathan¡¯s face.

    Like my legs, the bones of my arms shattered from the force I pushed through them. They were already little more than meat whips, clutching the impossibly heavy Yo Staff. With the weight of the staff, I was little more than a passenger for its flight than anything else. For a final good measure, I activated Kirin Strikes. My skin was being seared by proximity to the lightning bolts, so I wanted to jolt the Storm Dragon right back.

    I rose high, spinning like a roman candle. I dropped like a cannonball onto the very tip of the dragon¡¯s snout. The Yo Staff connected perfectly, the ultimate expression of my Weapon Mastery. I grunted with pride as the power in the collision blasted me into the distance. The tower shot into the sky quickly before I immediately stopped. I punched hard into the sand surrounding the Storm Dragon¡¯s tower.

    If I wasn¡¯t shattered to pieces, I would have punched a fist into the air. I managed to make you flinch, motherfucker.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Naea had died at some point. Either that or gone completely mad. She had been preparing the strongest healing burst she could. To her side, Grant should have been bolstering his defences in every way he could. When he fired off like a bullet, Naea had frozen and not known what to do next.

    Obviously, she had been expecting to die and made her peace with it. When death didn¡¯t immediately follow Grant¡¯s explosive vault, Naea simply continued empowering the healing charge within her mana. She briefly considered adding her strength to Grant¡¯s, but it would be like throwing a bucket next to a tidal wave. With no other humans to gauge his own progress on, Grant had no idea the potential he was carrying.

    A tremor of excitement tickled Naea¡¯s heart at the sight of Grant facing down the most impossible of odds. It was pure idiocy, and would likely only serve to see them put through more pain than if they were ignored, but Naea found herself cheering anyway. If there was one thing guaranteed to make the young fairy angry, it was to be ignored.

    Proving Naea had gone insane, Grant didn¡¯t bounce off the dragon like a flea. The exchange was not completely one-sided, however, as the Storm Dragon¡¯s incredibly large face was pushed down. He did bounce off, careening into the ground and causing a wall of sand to rise high in the air. As Grant¡¯s familiar, Naea knew he was still alive, but the bundle of rejuvenating mana became necessary for his survival. Her new instincts, written onto her soul by the contract, demanded she go and help her Patron immediately.

    Except she couldn¡¯t move. The oppressive aura of the Storm Dragon had intensified with Grant¡¯s strike. Before, the dragon had been content with washing over them like the storm in its name. A cyclone doesn¡¯t consider the land it destroys, after all. Most cyclones don¡¯t get a punch to the face, either, so clearly this was a day of firsts.

    Its advance had ceased. So had Naea¡¯s breathing. The dragon growled, tearing the world apart like the ripping of a million chainsaws. The sound was terrifying, but Naea¡¯s proud connection to Grant allowed her to keep eye contact. Wait, Naea realised, that¡¯s not a growl. Heaving up and down slowly, a lilting rise and fall to the noise, the dragon swayed as it hung the air.

    ¡°Rrrrr¡­ Hrrrr¡­ Rhhhrrrrh¡­ Hhhuuhhh¡­ Haww¡­ haww¡­ haww.¡± All at once, faster than her eyes could hope to follow, the dragon¡¯s mouth opened wide. ¡°Ha ha ha ha!¡± With a shockwave and snap, the toothy maw closed as quickly as it opened. An army could have fit within the primordial creature¡¯s laughing jaws.

    Naea snorted, and her eyes widened. Try as she might, there was no stifling herself and she joined the dragon in its laughter. Naea had never been to a funeral, but she would have been terrible at keeping a straight face there, too. Impossibly, and to her great display, the dragon seemed to hear her and put its focus on the tiny fairy in full for the first time.

    The joviality was punched out of Naea in an instant, along with an air in her lungs. The gaze of the Storm Dragon bore down her fledgling soul and stripped it bare. An iron grip tightened around her. All of Naea¡¯s movement froze, her wings, her mana, her terrified expression. She did not drop, the dragon¡¯s mana holding her in place.

    Naea was still very young. The System bridged a lot of gaps. It created the idea of memories, the baseline of a personality and shoved them into a walking encyclopaedia - her. She didn¡¯t need to learn how to use her mana, like a newly integrated human would, just like she was a natural at using her wings. Some things had to be experienced firsthand to see how she would react.

    The System handed Naea false recollections of how she had handled danger in the past. She might run, she might hide, she could even beg for mercy. Those were the only survival instincts she received from the System. They might work, Naea might even have tried them, if not for her Patron. He hadn¡¯t done any of those things, had he? What would Grant do?

    Naea spat out the thickest glob of phlegm she could manage. It didn¡¯t come close to hitting but the message was sent. The Storm Dragon saw. Naea hoped Grant would be proud of her last stand. Not that he would ever know. ¡°Go on, then?¡± She challenged the dragon. ¡°You got something to say?¡±

    For a long time, far too long for the health of Naea¡¯s psyche, there was silence. The dragon did not react, though Naea could feel its scrutiny. The seconds stretched on like eternity and Naea¡¯s agitation only increased. Grant was dying. She could feel the darkness encroaching upon him with every heartbeat. Continuing the day¡¯s impossibilities, Naea broke the silence herself with a yell before turning her back on the Storm Dragon and making to approach Grant. He needed healing. Now.

    Curious, the dragon had released its hold on Naea but that vice tightened more than ever as she was forcefully stopped and turned back to face the dragon. Slowly, the dragon spoke. Its words sounded like glaciers shattering, the howling of a tornado in every breath. ¡°Talk with me, fledgling.¡±

    Like a leaf in a gale, Naea shook, gathering her strength. ¡°He need help,¡± she asserted. Naea would have preferred to ignore the giant lizard and rush straight to Grant but that train of thought might as well have been suicide.

    Quieter, like the dragon had shrunk down to an appropriate size, it spoke again. ¡°Grant Kaeron is beyond your assistance for the moment. Whether he survives or not is up to him. Either he steps onto the path too early, or he falls to the way side. Talk with me. I insist.¡± The final word was spoken from the dragon¡¯s true mouth. Naea decided not to argue anymore.

    ¡°Okay,¡± she replied, trying to be chipper. ¡°Let¡¯s chat.¡±

 Chapter Twenty One - Dao Of The Dragon

    The void of death was marked by silence. It was a shame I had died but I struggled to feel the loss personally. The events of the last few days might have happened to someone else for all they mattered now. I vaguely recalled the dangers of the System Dungeon but I saw them as quickly fading dreams. It was impossible to hold onto the thread of the memory.

    Pieces of me fell away as I dropped the bundles of memory. The burden on my soul lessened with each hazy reliving of the past. I saw my parents and siblings, hopefully still living in Ireland. Their names slipped through my fingers. I remembered friends, only to forget what brought us together. Pets and music and holidays, romances and heartbreaks¡­ everything fell away. I was a shattered mirror, and the pieces of my mind fell from the frame like raindrops.

    The more I lost, the more a singular emotion invaded the sanctity of the void. My memories of love, happiness and safety were eroded. Harsher recollections, my moments of fear and doubt, were left in place, amplified by the absence. It wasn¡¯t long until I was screaming into the nothingness, silently sobbing against the unyielding expanse.

    I saw the day I had been sent to England to study, the sneer on my family¡¯s faces at my success and their happiness at my being gone. A carousel of each time I had been bullied for being too tall, for my eye colours or the state of my shoddy clothing spun maniacally through my head. Cheated on again and again, stumbling upon the proof over and over. My soul buckled at the pressure.

    Through it all I maintained a spark of lucidity.

    This was¡­ wrong. The nudge to my soul had been a step too far. Each battle I frayed my nerves and added a new mental scar. My mind was being held together by flimsy reasoning, hopeful naivety and duct tape so it was easy enough to fool. Whatever was happening to me had done an expert job at grilling away my positive memories. I sensed the pressure on my soul increase, likely in response to my attention.

    Unlike my mind, I had been strengthening my soul every waking minute of the previous days. The same events which had weakened my mind were spiritual lessons which I had taken to heart. The world tried to break me, and I broke everything the world tried to throw at me. Why should the void be any different?

    Impossibly, a ripple shuddered through the darkness. I looked around. For the first time, I realised it was strange that I could move. In the pitch black nothingness, the action had been irrelevant. Now I knew it was just empty, the action took on meaning again. My memory was still under assault. Why? What was happening to me?

    I know this place!

    How could I not? I was within my own soul. Something external was destroying my mind and body. Actually, the body situation was my own doing, I reminded myself. Hopefully, if I rectified the situation inside, my mortality would take care of itself. Either way, I was thoroughly knocked out, so dealing with my physical issues was impossible. I set myself to task.

    My inner world had been utterly ravaged, down to the tiniest molecules. I had done¡­ something and that something had cost every morsel of power I could feed into it. I nodded. That feels right. It was good to claw back some understanding, if nothing else. I scoured the vast expanse, gathering the scattered fragments. From my wide, open landscape, I found a tiny patch of dirt, all that remained of my magic. I managed to crush the dust remaining from the volcano into a single pebble.

    I had to rebuild. Without my inner world, my mana was stagnant. With my mana stale and unmoving, my body was dying. In my hands were my soul and the Aspect of the Dragon. Two pieces of my eventual whole, though there were still more aspects to bind. I would leave space for the other aspects to grow into but I could only work with what I had.

    The visualisation came first, and was the hardest part. Actually knowing where the foundations lay was of supreme importance. Working with my soul now was no different from working with my mana while awake. I could manipulate, experiment and improvise from moment to moment, fixing small mistakes later. The bedrock of my soul needed to be remade, and I had far more experience in doing so than before.

    First, the core.

    I fused the patch of dirt with the pebble before releasing it forward. The metaphorical forms faded and I watched as the two energies found equilibrium with each other. My soul was verdant green, the dragon¡¯s energy a deep purple. My previous understanding of mana had been haphazard and full of bad habits, something I had the chance to correct here. There was no split between my mana and the draconic energy. Such thinking was docile and timid. There was no such thing as the dragon¡¯s mana.

    Stolen story; please report.

    It¡¯s all mine.

    The void thrummed with energy. Green and purple fused into blinding white as the energies clashed. I worked to contain the power, acting as gravity for the forces which were trying to explode. I needed to create a shell, but to do that I needed mana. Unwilling to panic, I held the unstable magic in place. If I slipped, the result would be disastrous. Visualisation came with dangers and I was currently holding the equivalent of a neutron star in my grasp.

    Outside my soulspace, my body was twitching. Unknown to me, two sets of eyes were watching my form with desperate interest from one and curious amusement from the other. The Storm Dragon nodded and Naea immediately slammed the complex healing energy she had crafted into my chest.

    I wasn¡¯t confused when the packet of energy found its way to my soul because it came with a message. Naea had done similar to myself. She had put most of her own soul into the magical working, creating something new. Something much greater than the sum of its parts. I watched both amazed and excited as the bundle fell into my waiting hands. It was perfect.

    The blinding white light at the centre of my world increased. I began to unwrap the bundle of miracle magic. If what I previously created were "dragon crystals" within my mana, then Naea had made a "fairy dragon crystal". The power of the dragon, smothered in the healing nature of the fairy. I pulled the top layer of energy away and wrapped the core of my new inner world with it.

    Immediately, my embattled soul calmed. Like a baby wrapped in a comforter, the petulant mana became malleable. I carefully continued the process. Using my vague knowledge of geography, I created a core, a mantle, a crust and an atmosphere for my recovered inner world. Millions of years of formation occurred in moments. Yet, to my mind, the process was slow. I took my time. I did not hurry the natural, watching with interest as the mana interacted with itself to create something similar to life.

    After a peaceful eternity of creation, I looked out onto my world and was happy. It was next to impossible to avoid delusions of grandeur when you had actually just created a planet, but I did my best. I revelled in the pride, but never forgot my situation. All of this was to survive the damage I had taken in the real world.

    At some point during the rebuild, I had the sense my life had moved out of immediate danger. Any point afterwards I could have chosen to wake up, but it would have meant not guiding the process anymore. Now, the inner world was complete and secure. However, a few more minutes enjoying the place wasn¡¯t going to hurt. There were dramatic differences between my previous world and the new, after all.

    The volcano, the river, the fields and the flowers were all here. The marks of my own soul, the Aspect of the Dragon and Naea¡¯s influence were all more vibrant and defined than before. Instead of disjointed, awkward representations of my own idea for the powers within, the pieces of my soul worked in tandem.

    I took in a breath and looked to the sky. Clouds rumbled with thunder and power, but now I could see beyond them. Instead of an unending blanket of choking smoke, three stars could be seen. My previous world had been a child¡¯s sketch, and the new was a renaissance masterpiece. If I do say so myself. Waiting in the sky, along with the stars which represented mastery, were the three moons.

    Three aspects still to be bound, three satellites to the power I now held. There was a chance I would find an Aspect which would also be appropriate to build my soul around, but the dragon wouldn¡¯t allow it. I wouldn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t even consider the possibility. By making my inner world a combination of myself and the dragon only, I was setting myself on a path. Any further Aspects would be facets of the power I currently held, used in service to the Dragon.

    Whatever came later, my image of the dragon would be central. I would take what I wanted, gain enough power to protect what was mine and do as I pleased. I felt a sense of pure rightness as I made the decision to link myself more deeply with the dragon. Something intrinsic fell into place as I cemented the ambitions of a dragon as my own. A comfortable sense of accomplishment followed my success.

    If I had allowed myself to wake up when I first could, my soul would have guided the mana and returned my inner world to the state it had been beforehand. I had used every trick and technique stumbled upon since I discovered mana to push beyond that first basic attempt. Remembering the volatile power at the centre of my world, I shuddered at the danger had I failed.

    Instead, I had done something truly miraculous. At some point, my body had woken up, but I kept my eyes closed. Feeling like I was floating on a cloud, I was just revelling in the staggering waves of power and potential which were rippling through my body. I read the System messages I received upon my success with excitement.

    Aspect of the Dragon evolved to Dao Pool of the Dragon

    Dao Pool - Dragon

    Lesser beings claim your virtues as sins. Revel in your individuality. There is no doubt, there is only power.

    Effect: Mental +50, Will +30, Mental Attribute +15%, Will Attribute +5%

    Achievement Unlocked - The First Step (World First)

    A path can be walked by many, or a trail can be blazed. For the newly integrated, there is no difference. You are the first to grasp the Dao on your new world, proving yourself a trail blazer.

    Effect: +2 Attribute Points per Level, Attributes +10%

    Indeed, at the very depth of my soul lay a pool. Just like I could take mana from my core, I knew I could use this strange liquid to make me stronger. The fact it existed within my inner world at all had already started the process, but this was just the beginning. Each draconic urge and aspiration I had chased cultivated the pool, so I just had to keep following the path of the dragon, and the power would increase.

    Finally opening my eyes, all my work was nearly for nothing as I narrowly avoided a heart attack. Naea looked at me with a red-eyed, tearful smile before wrapping her arms around my neck and crying. I gently patted her head, but didn¡¯t take my eyes off the threat looming over me. My other hand closed around my staff.

    The Storm Dragon was still here. With a glance at my quest, I could see it had been neither completed nor failed.

    The trial was still ongoing.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Name - Grant Kaeron   Race - Human (Grade 0) Level - 29

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 20  Speed - 20  Mental - 123   Will - 60

    Free attribute points: 0

 Chapter Twenty Two - Chatting With An Elder

    Before my eyes, the sky converged on itself. The Storm Dragon and all of the accompanying weather it brought started to shrink. Its scales were flowing like water as the Storm Dragon transformed. Its massive teeth lost their points and became shorter. The two curled horns which adorned its massive head lost their hardness, falling back onto the dragon¡¯s neck and becoming a long tangle of hair. Clouds gathered around its lip before turning into a soft, aged beard.

    Within moments, the miles-long serpent had landed on the ground. Now it was smaller, I could see its body, a rolling mass of powerful muscle and scales. Like its facial features, the dragon¡¯s body was also shrinking and changing. Its four large legs took on new proportions. From unneeded vestigial limbs, the dragon¡¯s legs first extended. Even shrinking with each moment, it rose easily one hundred and fifty metres into the air, pushing itself onto now-powerful hind legs.

    Naea and I watched, mouths agape, as the incredible sight concluded. The scales of the Storm Dragon were various shades of greys, blues, flecks of white and splashes of yellow. All of these features were evident on the stylish business suit which now bedecked a handsome elderly gentleman. If I hadn¡¯t watched the whole thing, I might not even have known he was a dragon.

    Until he looked me in the eye.

    A shockwave rippled through my soul painfully the moment his two draconic yellow eyes found my own human, half blue, half brown eyes. I was born with a heterochromia which I avoided thinking about when I could. Trying to picture what this impossible being was seeing as they looked at me highlighted my insecurities.

    I¡¯m proud of my heritage, but would the dragon see my red hair and think it worth mocking? Would it understand that my clothes weren¡¯t just destroyed by the Dungeon¡¯s various dangers, but inexpensively made to begin with? That seemed like the kind of thing a dragon would notice. The man standing opposite me looked impeccably groomed and his features were cartoonishly handsome.

    So? The defiant whisper from within stilled the shockwave, even though the Storm Dragon¡¯s gaze never wavered. A source of inner strength rose to meet the doubts, sweeping them aside like dust. Why would I care what the dragon thought of my clothes? Even after transforming, I could see a cut on the old man¡¯s upper lip. That was probably just for me, but I understood what it meant.

    I had hurt the dragon. It was less than a bee sting of damage but I had done it. The look I saw wasn¡¯t the derision of a bully, but the appraisal of an admirer. The ripples within settled as my Dao pool found peace once more. I consciously felt like I had pushed away an outside influence, shaking my head. The man who had been the Storm Dragon smiled wide. When he spoke, his voice was deep and confident. ¡°You¡¯re a special one,¡± he said.

    The ripple returned. This time, for lack of a better explanation, it was rippling inwards rather than out. My soul drank in the complement. Every positive emotion I had felt in my life was second to this moment, even the prize on top of the tower. I still want it. Again, the influence was pushed away and the small font of power within calmed. I narrowed my eyes.

    The man¡¯s smile only grew. ¡°Fascinating,¡± he mumbled, those sharp eyes scanning me once more, ¡°quite the collection of Grace¡­¡± He wasn¡¯t talking to me, but I still wasn¡¯t going to interrupt. The situation had become almost casual but was all the more terrifying for it. All the power of the Storm Dragon was collected just metres away.

    Suddenly, he clapped. I think even he realised the mistake as he was making it, but I had just enough time to cover Naea¡¯s head with my hands before the world exploded. A dozen bursts of thunder sounded from his palms at once. The old man grimaced but there was nothing he could do except watch as I struggled to remain conscious.

    I used a charge of Infusion to enhance my natural recovery and another to heal Naea. Once she recovered from her own stun, she returned the favour. As a pair, we glared at the Storm Dragon. ¡°You said you¡¯d be careful,¡± Naea scolded. The whiplash of emotions since I awoke continued as the dragon with godlike power held up his hands in surrender.

    ¡°Sorry, fledgling. It had been many eras since I last had reason to emerge. I am¡­ rusty.¡± The old man, hands still raised, crossed his feet and then fell into a seated position on the sand. ¡°Please, young man, join me. There is a trial to complete.¡± My hesitation vanished at the mention of the trial and my own logical jump to the prize it offered.

    ¡°I am honoured to be given an audience.¡± That was how people in these situations spoke, right? I could hear my own words coming out disjointed and timid. That wouldn¡¯t do. I cleared my throat, sat down opposite the dragon and tried again. ¡°Hello. I hope the trial wasn¡¯t there just so you could kill me.¡±

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    My attempt at humour fell flat when the old man¡¯s face darkened. ¡°Not I, young man. Tell me, what do you know of The System?¡± I hadn¡¯t expected such a question right off the bat, but I was aware this could be part of the trial, so I considered my answer.

    ¡°For myself, the System has been nothing but a challenge to be met. I¡¯ve been stuck inside this dungeon for over a week, since all of this began. Other than Naea, you¡¯re the first person I¡¯ve talked to, and even you¡¯re not actually a person. It¡¯s hard to think of the System as a bad thing, though it¡¯s definitely put me through some terrible situations I wouldn¡¯t have been a part of otherwise.¡± My mind was invaded with the memory of Clive¡¯s caf¨¦, the massacre I had been forced to commit by Mrs Naebol. ¡°Actually¡­ you¡¯re not the first dragon I¡¯ve met.¡±

    ¡°Hmph,¡± the Storm Dragon grunted. Small puffs of cloud vapour came from his nostrils, complete with tiny lightning bolts which snapped like firecrackers. ¡°So I see. You smell of Naeboaroseax, and given your title I don¡¯t have to ask what happened to her.¡± An awkward pause followed. I turned my gaze down. I had killed her. The Storm Dragon knew. ¡°The wily old snake.¡±

    I looked up and saw a twinkle in the old man¡¯s glowing eyes. He didn¡¯t strike me as particularly upset. I didn¡¯t even know what question to ask, scared to be disrespectful. Naea didn¡¯t have such an issue. ¡°Why would a dragon get herself killed, it makes no sense. Aren¡¯t you all immortal unless someone does you in?¡±

    The Storm Dragon placed an elbow on his knee and leant his cheek on his fist. ¡°You¡¯re the dungeon fairy. Connected to the mighty System. You can tell us, why would a being of immense levels choose to enter the cycle at the moment of integration?¡± I could tell the dragon was using specific words to draw the System¡¯s attention. Naea gasped as the answers flooded her mind. ¡°Well, that is clever.¡±

    The old man nodded at the fairy, who just shook her head and rolled her eyes. ¡°Does anyone want to fill me in?¡± I asked, trying and failing not to get frustrated. Even though she¡¯s my familiar, Naea looked to the dragon for permission. He nodded. I let the moment wash off me like water from a duck¡¯s back.

    ¡°There are thousands of possibilities as to why she might, so I don¡¯t have an actual answer, but death isn¡¯t the end of the road for a being like her. She may have found herself bottlenecked and chosen to return to the wheel, maybe found some way to send her soul into a vessel elsewhere¡­ There really are too many possibilities.¡±

    ¡°Exactly my point.¡± The man made to clap again, clearly a habit, but Naea shouted and he stopped. Slowly, quietly, he clicked his middle finger and thumb instead. It still sounded like a cannon being fired. Once the echo stopped, he continued. ¡°Naeboaroseax saw an opportunity to ascend in some way, and at the same time, grant you - ha! Grant you! That¡¯s funny. She gave you a large head start to the game.¡±

    ¡°The game? You mean the integration? Why would she do that?¡± To a creature older as old as the Storm Dragon apparently was, the System was nothing more than a game? That was daunting. And exciting, I decided. Just how strong would I need to be to leave the System itself behind?

    ¡°Lots of questions. Isn¡¯t this my trial? Maybe we should go back to fighting¡­¡± The old man cackled as he saw true terror cross my features. ¡°Maybe not. I can¡¯t speak to another¡¯s reasons, of course, but I¡¯ll make a guess as a reward. This?¡± The old man touched his lip, and held up his thumb to show the blood upon it. ¡°This is an impossibility. Even now, my jaw throbs. It¡¯s that damned title from the System.¡±

    Without my prompt, one of my achievements and my title hovered in the air.

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Some lives weigh more than others, and few existences rival the dragon.

    You¡¯re one of the exceptions.

    Effect - Increased resistance against draconic attacks.

    Improved effectiveness against draconic enemies.

    Achievement Unlocked - Boss Combat (World First)

    The lords of the dungeons, even encountering dungeon bosses can be lethal. You fought and survived.

    Effect: Increased resilience to level disparity

    ¡°She turned you into a god-killer.¡± The old man sounded impressed, more than anything. ¡°The wording is vague, but the effects are potent. With the right conditions, you could threaten my life easily. Given a few thousand years.¡± To my ears, those were intoxicating words. I was also smart enough to see the danger there. If I were perceived as a threat, what would the dragon do?

    ¡°So¡­ what now?¡± The question was inadequate yet all I had the right to ask. The Storm Dragon knew me as a slayer of its kind, a potential threat to its life. The unrooted seed of a plot from a rival? The last hope of an old friend? I had no way to know.

    ¡°Now,¡± the Storm Dragon said, a crackle of energy underneath his words, ¡°we see if you¡¯re worthy of the strength my cousin gave to you.¡± I didn¡¯t see him move, but the old man was standing. He straightened his sharp suit, the sand behind him just now noticing it should have whipped up. Naea sensed something and dove into my arms. I felt her fear, so I protected her instinctively.

    A bolt dropped from the heavens and turned the world to white. Another moment later, the bolt shot back into the air. I had stood at some point, and my feet now found solid ground. I had just been teleported. By a lightning bolt. Kind of love it, I admitted to myself. I looked around, and saw a familiar sight.

    We were back atop the trial tower. The lump remained, but had closed once more. Standing in front of it was the old man. His business suit had undergone a shift to a more comfortable outfit. A karate gi? I patted my belt with a chuckle. I wish I found more of those karate frogs before doing this. ¡°You got my back?¡±

    ¡°Always,¡± Naea answered. I believed her. Without another word, I drew the Yo Staff from my inventory. I hadn¡¯t expected the chance to chat with a dragon, but the System was throwing me new experiences day after day. I had already tried this one once before, but hopefully it would go a little different now.

    Time for round two.

 Chapter Twenty Three - Using The Dao

    Sweat beading on my neck and forehead. My pupils dilated. Hairs all over my body stood on end. My balls shot into my stomach and bile rose in my throat. Storm clouds gathered overhead quickly, as though rushing to get prime location above the battle. Behind me, standing in the unbreakable walls of the trial tower, Naea waited on the outcome of the trial.

    Thirty feet away, the human form of the Storm Dragon was stretching his legs. Squatting with one knee, the other leg extended, the man¡¯s singular draconic features were trained on me. The eyes of an apex predator sizing up prey. There was a palpable pressure in the air, a sensation I had touched on since entering the dungeon.

    I had encountered this feeling each time my life had been threatened. The standoff moment which seemed to make seconds stretch on like minutes. Against the scorepions, it had been no more intense than someone pulling a rubber band in my direction but right now, it was a railgun. My limbs felt numb and alien under the sensation. Even my thoughts were defeatist.

    I hadn¡¯t blinked in over a minute but I forced my eyes to close. If the Storm Dragon wanted to sucker punch me, what good would having my eyes open do? This whole situation was a farce designed to kill me. I could just surrender¡­ I shook my head. These insidious thoughts were also an effect of the aura in the air. However, I had a defence.

    I submerged myself into the newest feature of my inner world. Outside, a pathetic aura pressed back against the dragon¡¯s and my thoughts were my own. I immediately felt the pool begin to drain. Another well to draw from, another reservoir to maintain. My eyes opened in the real one and I saw a confusing emotion on the face of the old man. Something like pride, perhaps? A hint of jealousy mixed in? It wasn¡¯t intimidation, that¡¯s for sure.

    My analysis skill hadn¡¯t worked on the humanoid form of the Storm Dragon but I didn¡¯t need to know its level. It was suppressing its power massively to not fry me where we stood. If the clap from earlier had been genuine, a mistake in that suppression would be instantly lethal. My face had become a mask in the face of danger but now it broke into a smile.

    Good.

    Like the thinnest layer of air, my aura - my Dao? - covered my body. My own pride and ambition were turned into armour. I looked at my own hand with interest, but there was no visible sign of the struggle. ¡°This is called the initiative battle.¡± The old man¡¯s voice was quiet but it carried on the wind like he was speaking into my ear. He inclined his head slightly, and I felt a mountain dropping on my head. I quickly plunged deeper into my Dao pool. The quality of my own aura rose a notch.

    ¡°Good instincts,¡± the dragon commended as the pressure landed on my soul. I was suddenly Atlas, attempting to hold up the sky. Considering my opponent, the metaphor was doubly apt. ¡°When a stronger Dao overpowers your own, you must fight back. I am expending much more energy to assault you like this than you are defending.¡±

    The man¡¯s casual voice was a taunt of its own. It made sense using the energy to attack felt like a step above my current method of existing within the Dao. Even if he was spending more power in his assault, the sources were different. My own Dao barely filled a small pond in my inner world. In contrast, the dragon¡¯s felt like a part of nature, something which had always been felt in the back of my mind.

    Like the cessation of rain, the Dao challenge abated. ¡°If you meet someone with the same level of Dao as you, this battle becomes much more dangerous. I may be an insurmountable monster, but others won¡¯t be.¡± The old man hadn¡¯t stopped stretching during his explanation and attack, but had now finished his preparation. ¡°Let the trial commence.¡±

    We hadn¡¯t started yet? The words came to mind but my body was already too busy dodging an incoming rain of blows. Acting on instinct and indignation alone, I was immediately forced to use every ounce of technique gifted to me by Staff Mastery and my own experiences. It was a strange moment where my first interaction with my own doubled Mental attribute was mathematics, instead of magic.

    Before I could use Infusion to somewhat level the physical playing field, I received eighteen blows. There was an argument the Storm Dragon was holding back, but the blasts of electric pain which exploded all over my torso would argue it didn¡¯t matter much. I was launched backwards, almost tumbling down the stairs into the tower.

    ¡°Ouch,¡± I moaned. I opened my eyes to see Naea hovering above me, looking worriedly from myself to the dragon. A glance showed me he hadn¡¯t moved, he even still had his fist outstretched from the final punch. ¡°You¡¯re my partner, aren¡¯t you? We come as a package, you aren¡¯t going to break the rules by healing me.¡± I chose to use the word partner instead of familiar intentionally, because it was more true. She didn¡¯t feel like some System-bound extension of myself, but the only comrade I had. A sentiment she seemed happy with.

    She dropped to the stair below my head, placing her hands on either side. A delightful wave of soothing tickles passed through me. ¡°You don¡¯t have to beat him,¡± she whispered, ¡°he told me he wouldn¡¯t kill you. You just have to survive.¡±

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    I smiled and booped her forehead with my index finger. ¡°Yeah, I figured. Still going to do it, though.¡± The Storm Dragon barked out a laugh, deep and true. There was no derision within the sound, unlike the one Naea made. She sounded like she¡¯d heard more believable stories from flying pigs, which was fair. It didn¡¯t look great on balance.

    I pounded the ground beneath me with my fists. The force sent me to my feet, without any conscious use of mana. I hadn¡¯t looked at my attribute screen since my latest upgrades, but it wouldn¡¯t tell the full story anyway. Much of my strength was bound to the percentage bonuses I had received from being an apex predator myself. This dungeon had literally been attempting to kill me, yet I still stood.

    I used a charge of Infusion before stepping to pick up my dropped staff and nearly flew off the roof. My eyes widened and I quickly stopped my momentum with a second step. The dragon was kind enough not to react violently to my movement. I wasn¡¯t dumbfounded for long, as the reason for my lack of control was simple and easily corrected.

    From the acquisition of my Dao pool and the world first achievement which came with it, my Mental and Will attributes had effectively doubled. The quality and depth of my mana pool had more than doubled alongside gaining the Dao pool. The ability which had been my way to bridge the physical gap was now much more potent, and not just in a simple one to one. The full extent was hard to know, but there was one way to find out. ¡°Thank you for your patience. I¡¯m ready now.¡±

    For the next encounter, I focused on understanding the limits of Infusion. A single use of the skill sent my attributes into overdrive. I was guessing but I would bet good money my Fortitude and Speed both raised to meet my Mental attribute with a single surge of Infusion. The enhancement lasted around a minute before quickly fading away but cost me nearly nothing to reapply. I could probably fight with Infusion at this level for hours.

    It wasn¡¯t enough to make me stronger or faster than the Storm Dragon, but it was a leap of hundreds of attribute points. Only hundreds. Assuming the dragon wasn¡¯t in the hundreds of thousands would be a mistake. I dodged the incoming punches and kicks as much as possible, blocking where I couldn¡¯t avoid them. I moved suboptimally until I managed to use the force of a kick to my advantage. As I bounced across the tower¡¯s roof, I grabbed the Yo Staff.

    I couldn¡¯t hope to match the Storm Dragon without my weapon. Nor would my current level of strength be enough to do anything meaningful, but the old man was having fun and taking his time. He wasn¡¯t trying to tear me apart, if anything he was training me. This was the opportunity of a lifetime and thankfully, I wasn¡¯t going all out either.

    Unlike the last time he blew me away, the dragon was on my neck the moment I retrieved the staff. I layered three Infusions on top of one another, swinging the staff like a bat. As I swung, the Yo Staff¡¯s weight increased and arcs of lightning danced along its length. There was a noise like two trains colliding in a sound-amplified tunnel and I soared backwards from the point of impact. Spinning with the momentum, I landed well, if sore.

    I was ecstatic at the result. Using multiple bursts of Infusion at a time was an incremental boost in power. Naturally, it meant the time spent with that strength was lower, too. With three at once, the energy faded in less than five seconds and the mana cost was at least five times higher. All of that was good information, filed away for later. My focus was on the old man and his half-ruined hand.

    ¡°You cheeky whelk!¡± With a flick of his wrist, the mangled fingers and broken skin simply was not. My brain couldn¡¯t comprehend the technique, but it felt like a manipulation of Dao at a level which made me emotional. ¡°Using my own techniques against me! Ha!¡± He looked at his hand, opening and closing the fingers. ¡°I can¡¯t remember the last time I felt the spark act against me.¡±

    The old man spoke like he was happy, even looking at the damage his form had taken with nostalgia, but the aura in the air became thick with truly murderous intent. Massive bolts of energy began arcing across the sky. When he spoke again, it was not the calm voice of an elderly man, but right from the mouth of the dragon. ¡°Try that again,¡± he challenged.

    If there was a single thing in this universe I desired less, it was to make the Storm Dragon angry. At the same time, I felt my own aura surge with delight even before I understood my own emotions. He¡¯s taking me seriously. In a battle like this, what more could I possibly ask for? Everything about the situation aligned perfectly with the Dao of the dragon within me.

    Elders are meant to be challenged and brought low. Respect is for sycophants and weaklings. Of course, I would use the lightning against a Storm Dragon. Insane as it was, I wanted to prove I could stand in any arena with my opponent, even their home court. I tapped the Yo Staff on the floor in front of me and spun in a quick circle. The magic of my Kirin Strikes leapt onto the tower¡¯s roof and a circle of lightning rose up around me.

    The Storm Dragon licked its lips, a forked tongue poking out through sharp fangs. Its human form was losing cohesion, which only served to get me more and more excited. Show me that true form again and I¡¯ll give you another cut. A competitiveness inherent to the dragons channelled through my veins. I laughed despite the tension. The Storm Dragon laughed, too.

    For the next twenty minutes, the sky was lit up constantly by the cataclysmic combat taking place upon the trial tower. Once the thunder stopped rumbling and the dust settled, I had run all of my tanks empty. Stamina, mana, even the Dao aura which protected me from the dragon¡¯s, all were spent. I grunted and fell to my knees as Naea zipped over to me. At some point, our battle had fallen to the sands in the shadow of the tower.

    The combat was finished. Every bone in my body was cracked or broken, my consciousness was only hanging on by a thread. Only Naea¡¯s quick healing and my own stubborn refusal to pass out again kept me from resting. On the ground in front of me was the bloody, beaten and defeated body of an old man. Not that I beat the actual Storm Dragon. The spirit within had left the Dungeon at some point during the fight, leaving me with just a fancy training dummy to finish off.

    A prompt appeared and I let out a sigh of tension. I raised my head to the sky and roared, amplifying my voice as much as possible. The shout contained my released frustrations, anger and relief that the trial was truly over. Mostly over, there was still the delicate subject of looting the place empty which I¡¯m sure the dragon wouldn¡¯t mind now.

    Dungeon Quest Complete! - Trial Of The Storm Dragon

    Against the storm, you stayed strong. You weathered the onslaught and remained standing, which is enough. For now.

    Reward: The Storm Dragon¡¯s Boon

 Chapter Twenty Four - Rewards and Domination

    ¡°You better be lootable¡­¡± I warned the body at my feet. It had previously housed the soul of the Storm Dragon, but during our battle the dragon had vanished. Perhaps the fight was on a timer from the start, or I managed to force the dragon into using enough power that the vessel got burned. I nudged the body with my foot and got butterflies in my stomach as a prompt appeared.

    Would you like to loot the Vessel of the Storm Dragon?

    Uhh, yes I would like to do that, please and thank you. A feeling I had received far too little swept through me as the gains from my victory were placed into my inventory. The entire tower had been an extension of the dragon¡¯s power and had given Naea and I no experience, which seemed to also mean no loot. Defeating the vessel had filled me with the almost-forgotten energy, which showed me a new issue.

    Naea¡¯s level had risen, she gained a full four levels bringing her to twenty four. For a moment, I thought I had broken my mana core again somehow but I quickly ensured this wasn¡¯t the case. The energy existed at the deepest part of my core, reaching thresholds which were translated into levels. The threshold for level thirty was met and cleared by a mile, yet the expected System prompt never appeared.

    I was left with a feeling quite similar to needing to sneeze.

    Frustrated at finding a bottleneck and potentially wasting some of my reward, I angrily looked at the new additions to my inventory. The first thing I noticed was the windfall of gold I had received. My Dao was nurtured slightly at the idea of pilfering from the Storm Dragon¡¯s hoard.

    Inventory

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted) - 5442

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint) - 19,249

    Yo Staff

    Sorehammer

    Assorted Earth foods

    Storm Arrows - 764

    Guidance Stone of Thunder

    Thunder Steppers

    A guidance stone! I was excited to use it, but held off for the moment. First, I had to check out the last item.

    Item - Thunder Steppers (Rare)

    A titan¡¯s stride is both loud and long. After infusing mana into the boots, your next step will be memorable.

    Effect: Once infused, the wearer can activate a thunder step, teleporting a short distance and releasing a shockwave at the first location.

    ¡°Oh hell yeah, that¡¯ll work.¡± I held in my hands a pair of steel-toed Doc Martens-style boots which rose just above the ankle. Wasting no time, I tossed my mostly destroyed dress shoes into my inventory to dispose of later and slipped my feet into the new shoes. I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised by the comfort but I actually ¡°ooh¡±ed as they went on.

    ¡°Fancy,¡± Naea quipped, ¡°you get anything for me?¡±

    ¡°Not exactly, but I¡¯ve got an idea for a surprise anyway. I did get a new guidance stone though, so you¡¯ll probably get another skill with me.¡± I ignored Naea as she whooped in fake excitement. New abilities are cool, I thought to myself. I removed the small orb from my inventory and gave it a look. Unsurprisingly, it was almost identical to the Guidance Stone of Lightning I had used before entering the tower. With a mental nudge, a prompt appeared.

    Use Guidance Stone of Thunder? This will consume one Guidance slot from your available Aspects.

    With Mastery, Lightning and now Thunder, I would have used three of my four available guidance slots. With Naea¡¯s help, I had worked out some basics. Most Aspects could hold two, maybe three Guidance Stones, however rarer Aspects could hold more. The reason for this is down to complexity. A sword, for example, can only become so complicated. A dragon has many more layers of potential.

    I urged the System to use the Guidance Stone. Binding with the Aspect of the Dragon had created a complex pattern within my mana pathways around my heart. It was within this pattern my mana was charged with the energy of Infusion. With the Guidance Stones previously, this formation was altered seamlessly like a knot being untangled. A lecture¡¯s worth of understanding would appear directly in my memory, and the skill appeared.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    The Aspect of Thunder disintegrated in my grip as the process started. The similarities ended there. Unlike the first two Guidance Stones, the magic froze once it reached the edge of the mana channels writ upon my soul by the Aspect of the Dragon. It wasn¡¯t hard to understand what was happening. The System¡¯s hand was no longer guiding the process to completion. Perhaps it couldn¡¯t now that my Aspect had changed.

    There was an icy moment of horror where I panicked. I¡¯m wasting it! The bundle of information-filled energy was losing integrity quickly, soon it might even lose potency. Would it become the Aspect of Sparks? Not interested in finding out, I banished my panic and set to installing the energy into my pathway. Squaring my shoulders, I dove into my inner world. The issue was immediately clear and I couldn¡¯t avoid missing another step.

    It was beautiful.

    Above the volcano a black, rumbling gloom filtered the energy from below and allowed me to produce the electrifying energy of Kirin Strikes. The clouds were stationary, while the rest of the world shook like a leaf in a strong breeze. The tumult I could feel within every heartbeat, every pulse of my mana, was visible everywhere. The land split, the rivers flooded outwards. The Dao pool at the centre of the planet bubbled dangerously.

    I didn¡¯t have time to stare in wonder or distress, I had to fix the broken physics of my world. I had already visualised the storm, and the facsimile was occupying the area the lightning wanted to go. The two powers were too similar, magnets with the same polarity. If I hadn¡¯t just rebuilt this imaginary universe from the ground up like a god, I would have been completely unable to, I would never have been able to fix this.

    A new base truth was attempting to write itself into the laws of my personal universe but there was an issue. My world already had storm clouds from the earlier Guidance Stone of Lightning. Its influence had been a large part of the formation of my Dao pool, which is why the System wouldn¡¯t just do the work for me. Like my soul, my Dao was only changeable by my own choices.

    I had unconsciously rewritten the pathways of my previous skills upon upgrading from Aspect to Dao pool but the capacity was comfortably within range. This time, I needed to do it myself. I grasped the new, unruly energy and began to bring it to heel. Though the complexity was magnitudes larger, I was reminded of the first time I tried to control my mana. In a lot of ways, this was the same principle. Through sheer force of will, I wrested control of my world back from the invasive Guidance Stone.

    Once the world had stilled, I ripped the sound from the clouds in the sky. On the outside, Naea jumped out of her skin as I seemed to randomly shriek for no reason. She had no way of knowing I was mutilating my soul, a novice surgeon performing surgery on themself. Kirin Strikes was crippled and the pain was mind blowing. I felt the skill die. A few days ago, the explosion of acute agony throughout my mana pathways would have killed me.

    But I was not the same man who accidentally entered a Dungeon a week before.

    In a real sense, I was breaking the bone so it would heal stronger. Pretty sure that¡¯s actually an old wives¡¯ tale. Maybe more like chopping off an infected finger? I ignored my unhelpful errant thoughts, my concentration stretched to the limit. Without my high Mental and Will attributes, the fragile balance of my inner world would have shattered already. Like each step before, I could feel how a fraction less power and I would fail.

    It was a knife¡¯s edge which was starting to feel uncomfortably natural.

    Despite my rush, in defiance of the indescribably pain of a rotting mana pathway, I slowly and carefully pressed the two bundles of energy in my grasp together. The magical electromagnetic force of the two was gargantuan but in here, I was stronger. It felt a little closer to my Dao as I concentrated on dominating the chaotic magics of thunder and lightning.

    With a snap, sound, life and motion returned to my inner world. The river returned to their natural flow, the ground healed its rifts. The change was instant, but as a representation of my mana, the land had never truly been under assault. The real difference was, obviously, in the sky. The night sky was calm, the stars and moons exactly where they were meant to be. With the new change, they were more easily

    No longer confined to the space above the volcano, I laughed as rain began to fall on the land. The downpour was immense, nourishing the entirety of my inner world as the clouds floated all over. The place took on a new level of realism as actual weather systems began to form. Satisfied I was no longer dying, I returned to my body. Before opening my eyes, I checked the System prompts I had felt appear during my work.

    Guidance Stone of Lightning and Guidance Stone of Thunder fused to create Guidance Stone of the Storm. Guidance Stone of the Storm, replacing Guidance Stone of Lightning and Guidance Stone of Thunder, bound to Dao Pool of the Dragon.

    Skill Unlocked - Harmony of the Storm

    Though dispersed, the power of a hurricane can be apocalyptic. Within you, it is concentrated. The storm runs through your veins and pathways, as it always has.

    Effect: Wielder may infuse their mana with Storm affinities.

    It was strange not receiving a batch of new information with the prompts, but it made sense. I knew how Harmony of the Storm worked as well as the System did. Taking facets from the ruined Kirin Strikes, Infusion and even some of the designs from Weapon Mastery, I had created something just for me. My understanding of storms had taken something of a leap in the last day or so, and it had allowed me to do something special.

    Feeling on top of the world, I opened my eyes and saw Naea. She was hovering close, her hands ready to slap me with healing. She was pouting. ¡°You went all silent there for a minute, and I don¡¯t mean with your mouth. You¡¯re not much of a talker to start with, but when the soul goes numb like that, it¡¯s a little spooky.¡± Worry creased her small face. ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    I smiled warmly and inclined my head. ¡°You tell me.¡± While the magic had run rampant in my soul, the pain had locked Naea out. The lock was thrown off and my smile only grew as her eyes widened. The new power was not mine alone, after all. The storm would nourish Naea¡¯s connection within my soul, too. ¡°It¡¯s okay, you can tell me how amazing I am.¡±

    ¡°Tell ya what a bloody monster you are, more like. That¡¯s a Dao pool an evolution too early, a dragon defeated and now that very same dragon¡¯s power seeded in your own. All in one afternoon. What¡¯s next?¡± Naea pretended to be exasperated, but she couldn¡¯t hide her excitement from me. We both grinned at each other like idiots before turning to the vault on top of the trial tower. The gains we had just received were only the scraps from looting a training dummy.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go get the real reward, then smash the rest of this dungeon to pieces.¡±

 Chapter Twenty Five - The Storm Dragonéˆ¥æªš Vault

    In a moment of curiosity, I placed the vessel of the Storm Dragon into my inventory. I wasn¡¯t sure it would work, and I immediately threw it back out onto the sand where it crumpled. Naea looked at me with venom in her eyes, a familiar look on her face. Her tongue was barely held back from slobbering over the body. Only my need to loot the body and subsequent developments with the Guidance Stone had stopped her from devouring the magic-rich body already. ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    While I had considered keeping the corpse, my own revulsion and Naea¡¯s disapproval were enough to tip the scales. There was something special about the homunculus for sure but I suspected the dungeon fairy would get more value from it. I was quickly proven correct as, for the first time, it was Naea who entered a state of meditation and not myself.

    The sounds of her strange eating method had stopped for some time when I finally chanced a look and saw her floating in the air. Her wings were frozen and I could feel an aura enveloping her form. An aura I now had a name for. It seemed like I wasn¡¯t going to be alone in my journey of understanding.

    A transparent egg of golden light obscured her from view, but I could see her silhouette dancing within the Dao like a music box figurine. She twirled, extending her wings wide before sweeping them around herself. Her arms and legs moved gracefully in intricate, weaving motions full of meaning. I fell comfortably into the sand and watched with rapt interest.

    After a while, yet far too short a time, the process completed and I beheld a remade fairy. I made a huge fuss over Naea, who was clearly proud of herself and happy with the changes. A palpable sense of power exuded from her confident features. I opened the Familiar page and my eyebrows shot straight up. Wasn¡¯t that really incredible? ¡°Evolution and a Dao?¡±

    ¡°Amazing, aren¡¯t I?¡± Naea preened. I agreed happily and loudly. Naea¡¯s appearance had changed in fairly dramatic ways. Her wings were wider in places, no longer pointed like a wasp¡¯s. Widest at the bottom, they much more closely resembled a butterfly¡¯s wing but with some of the wasp¡¯s sharpness remained. Her limbs were longer, more similar in proportion to myself and her black hair had grown in more comfortably. She no longer looked like a barbie doll that had its head shaved and then left in the sun too long.

    Name - ¡°Naea¡±   Race - Dungeon Fairy Level - 30

    Grade - E   Dao of the Fairy Dragon

    Skills - Invisibility, Mana Control, Sparkstep, Harmony of the Storm

    Patron: Grant Kaeron (Level 29)

    It had been a while since I last looked at her page and just like myself, she had come on leaps and bounds in such a short time. As evident in her new, finer features, she had evolved from grade F to grade E. A new section of the page had appeared to house her Dao. Sparkstep was the movement skill in which Naea turned into a streak of lightning, which I was happy to see she had not lost a skill like I had. I did have one question, though.

    ¡°Fairy dragons, huh? Is that because of me and him?¡± I gestured to the sky with my chin. Naea looked up thoughtfully before shrugging.

    ¡°Not really sure. When I started eati- cleaning up the body, it was like a new voice appeared in my head. Only, it was me, but a smarter version of myself. She asked me what I wanted, who I wanted to be.¡± I didn¡¯t ask Naea how she answered. It was her business, and it was private to a deeper level than even our soulbound contract. The implication was clear, and she groaned as I broke into a cheshire grin.

    ¡°You like me,¡± I crooned, pushing my face cheek towards her in a ridiculous fashion. She slapped me away, as she had done before. Except, Naea wasn¡¯t the fairy she had been even minutes ago. I bounced away like I had been punched by a brick wall. It didn¡¯t hurt, but it knocked me off balance and onto my butt. My wide smile was stolen and found its way to Naea¡¯s mouth instead while she looked at her hand.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go see if there¡¯s even more power to be had up there.¡± Both to move on and to distract Naea from the megalomania I could see forming behind her eyes, I pointed to the top of the tower. It worked, as Naea nodded and shot off ahead of me. She challenged me to a race, so I obliged.

    She absolutely smoked me.

    The short dash was a good proof of concept for the new energy within me but it made no difference. My skills lay in the manipulation of mana, while Naea was firmly in the Speed-based category. Plus she was a higher level than me now, even. I didn¡¯t voice these complaints because I realised how childish I sounded but I¡¯d have been lying if I said I didn¡¯t rankle against it a little. I soothed my Dao by reminding myself Naea¡¯s strengths were my strengths.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    It wasn¡¯t like the gains were over, in any case. The journey back to the top of the tower was fast. I had no sudden nostalgia for the dangerous rooms which had felt worthless at the time. The lack of experience as I climbed had bothered me more than getting no loot but with my current bottleneck, the missing valuables were the only real loss. Once I started up the final set of stairs, I forgot my gripes.

    The sensation of bliss I had experienced before was back. When the Storm Dragon had descended, the vault had closed, but it was now releasing its tantalising aroma and melody once more. I stopped early on the stairs as an idea came to me. The desire in my heart felt so natural and yet with a flex of my Dao, the feeling became muted. ¡°Of course.¡± With a flick of attention, I extended my aura to cover Naea as well. She rubbed her eyes.

    ¡°Were the walls always this boring?¡± She asked, letting me know it had worked. Without the Storm Dragon bearing down on me, moving my own aura around was quite natural. I allowed my control on the Dao to slip, and the feeling of ecstasy returned. Naea giggled like she had been tickled. Unlike with the Storm Dragon, fighting the feeling wasn¡¯t necessary. There was no reason not to experience these feelings. The mouthwatering senses which assault us were simply a powerful Dao. Without intent behind it, all that remained was beauty.

    The stairwell opened and we wasted no time heading over to the vault. ¡°Finally,¡± I said happily when we entered, ¡°a room befitting a dragon.¡± The plain nature of the tower was clear to me once I thought about it. Why waste wealth on a room meant for killing? My understanding of a dragon¡¯s actions was only a little less than understanding my own now that I had taken the first steps upon the path and created my Dao pool.

    Only a space in which the Storm Dragon themself would spend any amount of time was worth attention. The simple, almost boring trials below were crafted without care because the dragon had no interest in them. The vault was a different story altogether. My eyes didn¡¯t know where to look first, my heart ached knowing I wouldn¡¯t be able to stay here forever. Conscious of the addling effect, I used my aura to push back the Dao in the room.

    The small lump atop the trial tower held mysteries aplenty. First, it was much larger inside than out. My ears popped as I walked into the room but they cleared quickly, like a train going into a tunnel. An incredible marvel, but one of many. I was aware that the wonders of the universe were getting the cheerleader effect but there was nothing to be done. Keeping my attention on any one thing for too long meant potentially missing even greater sights.

    The room itself was large and circular, much like the levels of the tower below. The similarities stopped at the material of the walls, none of the mundanity of earlier showing on these clearly hallowed halls. Someone or something loved this place enough to carve impossibly detailed filigree and reliefs into every spot on the wall. Precious metals were melted into the grooves, gems placed in the nooks. A great, carved story of some kind was explained by the art.

    I wanted to take it with me, and the decadent space had given me some ideas of my own for some changes to my inner world. With the strength of the Dao in the vault, I was tempted to sit down and meditate right there. Instead I traced my fingers along the wall and took in the story the expressionstic carvings depicted.

    ¡°Pretty, I guess.¡± Naea¡¯s bored voice surprised me. Her eyes were scanning the centre of the room, which held the real treasures. ¡°I only know art from your world, but this isn¡¯t really my style. Not that I¡¯d judge someone for their taste. Ooh! Do you know Richard Dadd? Amazing painter and such a great name for someone who murdered their father.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about? Actually, I do know Dadd, his work is in the Tate¡­¡± I waved my hand at Naea, bidding her to be quiet and she obliged. To me, the overall theme was clear. A milky grey crystal was surrounded by sweeping curves and jagged cuts, used in masterful duality to show a young dragon embracing harsh weather. The journey of this cloudy gem flowed in magnificent stages all around the room. There were eight distinct stages of growth for the dragon.

    A single gem, overwhelmed by the swirls and bolts. A pair of gems, strong enough to face the multitudinous lines of gold and silver. Next, a set of four interlinked crystals, two new colours mixed in as single yellow and a single blue gem joined the bunch. These four were strong enough for the carved lattice to show signs of disruption for the first time.

    The next two were, predictably, eight gems and then sixteen. The first three stages were the rise of a dragon to its own strength. These next two stages showed the dragon starting to feed on the storms which surrounded it. Stage six was dominated by a large array of gemstones. Thirty two crystals of various mixtures. Some were entirely one colour, others held different ratios of blue, grey and yellow. The storm itself was completely overwhelmed and disjointed in this stage.

    Stage seven was a departure from form. The sight was jarring as the previously well-thought-out formation of thirty two gems were mashed together seemingly at random. My eyes, familiar as they were with the Dao of the dragon, understood the intent of the piece like looking at a photograph. The dragon had contained and stolen the entire storm, but it was left injured and imperfect. My heart fluttered as I came to the final stage.

    Like the first stage, the final section only held a singular gem. Of course, this was the most incredible jewel of the lot. This was the realisation of the Storm Dragon¡¯s journey. With more facets than even my improved mind could hope to count, each of the final gem¡¯s faces was a different shade of the previous three colours. Some were even green as the yellow and blue fused instead of battled.

    Even faced with the last gem, I had no inclination to try and remove any from the wall, even though they were doubtlessly rare. My analysis ability granted from Manasight was inactive here, so I couldn¡¯t know for sure but it was an educated guess. Naea, without the same reverence from her Dao, had to be slapped away. ¡°Nuh uh,¡± I warned, ¡°Cave of Wonders situation.¡±

    Naea¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°That stupid monkey,¡± she nodded sagely. I laughed, glad she was able to keep up with references to animated movies from the 90s. The System really was all-powerful. I took a deep breath, feeling the scent of the storm in the air. The slow circular walk admiring the artwork had mostly been to calm my mind down for the main event.

    I opened the Trial of the Storm Dragon quest prompt, still waiting for my final approval which I now gave. The vault around me seemed to release a tension of its own. Until then, there had been the spectre of the Storm Dragon¡¯s disapproval at us being within its vault. The ghost of a roar so distant it was hard to hear passed through the room. My ears even popped again.

    Finally, the Boon of the Storm Dragon was mine to receive.

 Chapter Twenty Six - Renovations

    Between the time I had spent climbing the tower, battling the Storm Dragon and the various bouts of meditation required to fix the foundations of my soul in the aftermath, a few days had passed. With my need for sleep waning by the level, my rhythm was completely messed up, but I was fairly sure I had now spent more time stuck at level twenty nine than I had climbing there. Soon, I would move on.

    The vault of the Storm Dragon in which I found myself was not the dragon¡¯s true horde. Were an F grade, or even E grader human to find themselves within his lair, the very magic in the air would be enough to kill them. While the Storm Dragon was naturally hostile to any intruders or thieves, such low level issues would be dealt with in short order by the items themselves.

    Only one such item existed in the vault, and it was this item which had sung to me even before I entered the room. The other items were likely legendary pieces of equipment or weaponry in their own right. There were even a few impressively bound and thick tomes which would undoubtedly help me learn the spells I had been craving since the arrival of the System. I ignored them all.

    I had eyes only for the smallest item in the room. There was no ignoring its place of import in the room, placed on the highest and most central pedestal. The strength of the magic within the tiny sphere was given pride of place, even amongst the myriad treasures which filled the vault. There was no need to circumstance, so I walked up and plucked the item from where it hovered above a fine looking pillow.

    Once the item was in hand, my senses returned in full and I found it could now be identified, along with everything else in the room. To avoid anything akin to buyer¡¯s remorse, I avoided the other items and made my way outside while reading the description before me. I definitely made the right choice.

    Item - Hurricane Heart (Legendary)

    As the Storm Dragon grew, like other lizards, it shed its skin. When the Storm Dragon finalised its rise to power, the last vestiges of mortality were cast off. Created in reverence by a pair of A rank alchemists, twins on the path of Thunder and Lightning, the Hurricane Heart was designed to mimic the dragon¡¯s insatiable ability to absorb energies. When imbibed the user¡¯s mana will undergo a complete transformation.

    The choice was made, and the trial tower was complete. A system prompt jingled as I grasped the supposed pill. It looked more like a pearl to me, but that wasn¡¯t very far from pill shaped, I guessed. I was more than happy with my choice. While a new weapon would be immediately useful, the Hurricane Heart was something else entirely.

    ¡°What do you know about pills?¡± I asked Naea upon leaving the vault. The temptation to remain within and study the markings on the walls kept growing stronger. Obviously, this only increased my desire to leave. The greed inside me was not my own, and I had no intention of pushing my luck. I kept Naea within my aura and we both left together. The opening was sealed behind us, like it was never there.

    At being asked the question, Naea would be able to provide me with knowledge a typical F grade anywhere else in the multiverse might know. When I reached E grade, the encyclopaedic library she drew from would increase. She was like a magical search engine. Incredibly useful, with the only issue being she didn¡¯t love the task.

    ¡°They¡¯re cultivation resources,¡± she intoned with a bored voice, ¡°generally consumed and then broken down within the cultivator - that¡¯s you. The most common pills are level pills which push you into higher levels without the need for combat.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so that exists? I guess not everyone¡¯s a fighter, but that doesn''t mean they need to get left behind. What about other pills?¡±

    ¡°Some pills grant attribute points, sometimes even efficiency. There¡¯s a limit to how many you can use, so you can¡¯t just eat a million pills and become insanely strong. Well, you could but you¡¯d have to be the richest being in the universe while also being dumb as a rock. The highest grade pills have more unique effects which can¡¯t be predicted so easily. In general, they¡¯re an amazing and valuable resource.¡±

    ¡°How do I know-¡±

    ¡°Just eat it and see,¡± Naea interrupted my string of questions with the obvious final answer. There was no way I wasn¡¯t going to throw this thing down my neck. She didn¡¯t say anything about pills being dangerous, just having a limit, so I should be fine. Even if I could only eat one of these things my whole life, the one described as legendary in big bold letters was probably a safe bet anyway.

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    Once bitten and twice shy, however. I had continually pressed the big red button since the world changed and the System had, more often than not, kicked my ass for it. Every precaution and boost I could give myself before doing so again was just good sense. The first step in that regard was to finally return back to Home Base. The journey was mostly uneventful, but once more useful for learning some of the ins-and-outs in using Harmony of the Storm.

    Mostly. I still had the System prompt I received upon grabbing the Hurricane Heart. As I opened it, a valve opened within and strength flowed into every fibre of my being. Naea jumped as she no doubt received a similar achievement. Like the Boss Combat into my Dungeon Boss Destruction achievement, I had received a reward for our haste.

    Achievement Unlocked - Trial Tower Triumph (World First)(Solo)

    Fate has been nudged with your victory over a Trial Tower. As the first to receive this achievement on your world, your gains are greater.

    Effect: Highest Attribute +15%, Other Attributes +10%

    I punched the air upon seeing another ¡°world first¡± achievement. Naea apparently didn¡¯t count as an extra person for the purposes of the System¡¯s judgement but it had given her the same achievement as myself so I suppose the same could be said for me. ¡°I¡¯m definitely your familiar at this point,¡± I joked.

    Naea looked at me with pity and patted my head with condescension. ¡°You always were,¡± she nodded. I shooed her away, again feeling how sturdy she was as my hand pushed her and met unexpected density. Her evolution had put her at a level where she could challenge me, a thought brought to life by her joke and my Dao. I squashed it quickly.

    The sight of Home Base was surprisingly emotional. The strongest emotion was relief, as the defences I purchased had kept the place safe. I smiled as the conical roof came into view, the rustic hut standing whole and secure. Due to my eyesight having improved massively along with pretty much all my other physical capabilities, it was still a way away.

    Time to spend some more money.

    Faction Page   Members: 2  Buildings: 1

    Home Base

    The landing page for my faction was currently abysmal. Without the ability to talk to others, there was no way for it to grow, which limited my options when it came to building options. With less than five followers, I could only have one faction building. With that said, I wasn¡¯t going to live in squalor, nor the past. This was a world with magic and, based on the Faction shop, I was filthy stinking rich.

    Turning my original affront to carpentry into a lovely little cottage had cost 100 gold coins, with most of the money placed into the building coming from the 400 gold spent on keeping it safe. Both of those were upgradeable, and there were a fair few options available to add interesting additions to the base. The security upgrade was a simple 4,000 gold cost to bring the quality from ¡°basic¡± to ¡°adequate¡±.

    The same was true for the main structure, but seeing my living arrangements described as basic or adequate wasn¡¯t enough. Each upgrade was ten times the cost of the last, so I chose the prompt twice. In the distance, a large dust cloud full of the sound of sawing, hammering, dropping, or otherwise working with, wood appeared. 11,000 of my 19,249 gold coins were removed from my inventory. ¡°Better do a good job¡­¡± I grumbled half-heartedly.

    Of course, the System completely outdid itself. For the low, low cost of money I had no other use for I received a fortress. The process was finished before our leisurely walk towards Home Base was finished but I tore into a sprint alongside Naea once we saw the high walls come into being.

    ¡°A chateau,¡± I said in wonder. A family holiday to France when I was younger had given me the chance to visit a historic French castle called Chateau Gaillard. The resemblance was striking, except my chateau wasn¡¯t on top of a hill. I bit my cheek and asked Naea her opinion. ¡°Would it be better on top of a hill?¡±

    We had some back and forth about the best placement of a castle while we entered and explored. The System didn¡¯t skimp, and it also didn¡¯t send me back to the middle ages either. A fully fitted kitchen, multiple bathrooms, multiple bedrooms, a wine cellar which actually had wine. I took my first alcoholic drink in months, not much of a drinker beforehand. It was awful, just how I remembered it. Each and every amenity I could think of was expertly layered throughout the house. A stocked pantry, a full linen closet, a full walk-in closet.

    ¡°First, though¡­¡± I found a bedroom at the back of the house which I decided wasn¡¯t going to be mine and crashed into the bed. It buckled slightly before adjusting to my weight. ¡°I love magic.¡± Murmuring the words, not for the first time, I fell into a deep and comfortable sleep.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Naea wandered the halls of the mansion without looking at her surroundings. Sometimes walking, sometimes flying, she was barely paying attention to herself, never mind the crap paintings on the wall. Her mind was upstairs, at the back of the house, watching over her patron with worry.

    Not worry for himself, at least not yet. Naea was full of information about humans, and being the biggest and toughest in the room was usually a good thing. Grant was definitely that. Naea¡¯s worries came from that truth. There were rules which had never been broken before that Grant simply ignored because he didn¡¯t know they were there.

    She herself had been forced to evolve just to keep up with him. She was happy with the power at her fingertips, but she had felt the challenge within Grant¡¯s soul as he fought the Storm Dragon. He would try to reach the peak of his impossible potential and bring the true form of the dragon to heel. She could feel it. She was scared he might be able to.

    Because while being a big fish in a small pond is great, Naea knew there were sharks waiting in the waters beyond. Standing out too much now would put the largest target on Grant¡¯s head his universe had ever seen, and then some. Naea bumped into a table as she absent-mindedly floated about with concern.

    ¡°Whatever,¡± she growled, rubbing her head. Did it really matter? There was always something bigger and badder around the corner waiting to kill them before they would reach the dragon. There was a murmur from the Dao within her as she decided to throw caution to the wind. ¡°Let¡¯s just go crazy.¡±

 Chapter Twenty Seven - Batten Down The Hatches!

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± I asked the question, though Naea was just a spectator. She couldn¡¯t hear me, she had just read my lips through the viewing window. She gave me a thumbs up and then rolled her wrist a few times. Hurry up, the gesture said. ¡°Yeah, yeah, you¡¯re not the one swallowing an entire hurricane.¡± After I had awoken, I had started preparations for using the Hurricane Heart.

    First, I had purchased a new room for Home Base, called an evolution room. Apparently, it could get quite messy when evolving your race, at least judging from the design of the place. A grate covered the floor below me, while above there was a huge pipe that would douse the room in magical water. It was expensive at a cost of 3,000 gold coins and I had actually been disappointed. I expected more from the room than an industrial shower. It served the main reason I had purchased it, anyway.

    I was stalling. Sure, there was excitement for what the pill would do but I had been stung more times by just accepting System prompts randomly than anything else since entering the Dungeon. Thinking back over the last week or so, I had really only been hurt by the scorepions. All my other damage had come from myself. Pack that thought away to analyse later, I told myself.

    However, with a nice breakfast cooked, a long shower taken and a decent bout of meditation to prepare, there wasn¡¯t anything else to do. I removed the pill from my inventory and quickly realised another facet of the evolution room, raising the space in my estimation. It was reactive to the power within. I could sense the walls containing the intense vibrations coming from the pill.

    I squared my shoulders and lowered myself into the Dao pool within my soul. I had indulged my anxieties for long enough, squashing them with a sliver of concentration. This pill was a tool, a rung on the ladder to power. A prize claimed. Power enough to smack around the Storm Dragon, one day. I hope you don¡¯t regret giving me this, Stormy.

    The small pearl reminded me of a gumball, but I had no interest in biting down. The moment my mouth closed around the pill, all my confident bravado returned back to anxious doubt.

    Oh shit. I had tried to swallow a nuclear explosion. Despite every nerve in my body suddenly screaming in pain and terror, I clamped my mouth shut. My instincts wept as I ignored them in what they clearly felt was our most dangerous moment. I managed to force out a growl through cracking teeth. The Dao within the pill was fighting me. Another goddamn trial?

    I levied the strength of my Dao pool to fight back while at the same time my mana was already in overdrive fighting back the more base magical energies. I needed to use a burst of Infusion in order to force myself to swallow. Different tiers of magic? I smiled, blood from my teeth trickling down my cheeks. I really am becoming a wizard. The errant thought was swept away like everything else as I was thrown forcibly into my inner world.

    ¡°Well there¡¯s your problem, Chief,¡± I said to myself, ¡°you¡¯ve sprung a leak.¡±

    My inner world was being destroyed by a storm of incalculable strength. The ¡°planet¡± which was both the source and the repository of my mana was mostly shattered. The description of the pill had said it would change me, but if I didn¡¯t control the change then¡­ Well, I didn¡¯t know, but my choice was made. The hurricane wasn¡¯t going to dominate me.

    When I had swallowed the pill, my subconscious had done all it could to contain the damage. The pill was simply too powerful for my passive mana to hold it back, so all that remained was the planetary core that housed my Dao. The storm pressured my Dao, but the foundations of my power were not so easily smashed apart. In the face of the unbelievable challenge, I simply smirked. Bring it on.

    My test was to try and govern the chaotic mana I had imbibed and bring it to heel. At least, I thought so. The System¡¯s helping hand was nowhere to be found as I faced the hurricane ravaging my soul. There was no manual or guide to help me understand what I needed to do, so I had to decide for myself. Pushing with the full force of my will, I started to gather the scattered pieces of my soul.

    With a single thought, my inner world returned to its former beauty. I had only formed it a day prior, so it wasn¡¯t difficult. The flowers returned and the rivers flowed, only for everything to be swept away. My inner world was a sandcastle, and the Hurricane Heart was the unstoppable tide. The pain I had felt upon putting the pill in my mouth returned as the planet was torn to shreds once more. I almost spat the demonic pearl out of my mouth, my instincts still panicking.

    I wondered how this would go for someone who wasn¡¯t me. I was fairly certain if I had tried taking the Hurricane Heart even two days prior, I would already be a burned out husk. However, my massive Mental attribute wasn¡¯t for showing off. With my newest gains and achievements, I had more than doubled in strength since entering the trial tower.

    At the centre of me, somewhere deeper than even my soul, my Dao was calm. As the world around me disintegrated, my core held firm. Despite the damage to my body, there was not a ripple upon my Dao pool. I pondered on my three layers of being as I weathered the attempt to erode my soul.

    My physical body was frozen, paralyzed by pain. I was covered in large pockmarks. Blasts of air exploded from my pores as the magic of the Hurricane Heart corrupted my own and made the mana within me dangerous. Arcs of electricity jumped between the various streams of blood which were pouring out of me.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Yikes, I thought, well, nothing I can do about that for now. I would die if the damage to my body continued to accrue, but the best solution there was to get the Hurricane Heart under control and absorbed. I turned my gaze from the physical to the magical. My mana channels weren¡¯t in a much better state than my body, with a feeling like frostbite creeping in. Yikes again.

    The pain reached a crescendo, which I endured stoically before I remade my inner world once more. Over and over, the cycle of destruction and creation tore me apart. My soul was a warzone, a field of battle I couldn¡¯t afford to lose upon. In the moments I wrestled control of the space, I used the controlled energy to repair my body.

    Within each painful strike from the Hurricane Heart, a vicious cackle could be felt. Even though it was never his real form, I saw the mischievous face of the old man which the Storm Dragon had become. The pill was no simple thunderstorm collected into a pearl, but the power of the Storm Dragon itself, right as it touched divinity. The magic inherently sought to overpower and reign.

    But I had fought the actual Storm Dragon and survived, so how could an homage made of its discarded skin defeat me?

    The pressure exerted by the storm was nothing compared to the weight of the dragon itself. A weight I, too, possessed. With a roar of its own, my Dao burst forth. For the hundredth time, I recreated my inner world but this time it had a new layer of protection. An atmosphere, born from the Dao of the dragon within me, shielded the lands from harm.

    The Hurricane Heart seemed to sense the change and fought back. No longer able to attack my core, the assault on my body redoubled. The remnant will of the Storm Dragon was not quick to let itself become subdued. Not that it mattered, as the damage to my physical form began to repair itself quicker than it was destroyed. The intensity had only doubled, after all. Once I had control of my mana again, sending it to strengthen my war-torn body was a simple task.

    The pill was soon locked in a futile battle between two walls. On one side, my Dao rebuffed any attempts to harm the flow of my mana. On the other, my mana regenerated and protected my physical form. Trapped, the Hurricane Heart was forced to spend its energy uselessly. Energy which I could now lap up at my leisure. Satisfied the process was contained and stable, I sighed in relief.

    For the first time in hours, I opened my eyes and fully returned to my body. Everything felt stiff, something which wasn¡¯t normally literal. Dry skin fell away in small sheets as I moved my aching muscles. Even my hair had been demolished by the energies I was still containing. It was quite shocking.

    What really surprised me was the smell currently doing a number on me. Luckily for me, I was in a room designed exactly for this occasion as I vomited. All pretence of pride vanished as I heaved and brought up my menu. A mental command through my Faction page turned the room into a sweet-smelling waterfall. As a surprise bonus for my haste, the heavy flood cleaned away the skin which had burned and died during my battle to control the pill.

    The pouring water stopped, and the foul stink was just a traumatic memory. ¡°Like a rotted fish stuck inside an old boot that someone then chose to wear for a month while they trudged through miles of maggot-filled-¡± I stopped my tangent, taking a deep breath of the pleasant air. ¡°It¡¯s over, the nasty smell can¡¯t hurt you anymore.¡±

    I patted the grate of the evolution room floor and stood up. Naea entered the room, sniffing carefully. ¡°Is all that yellow and orange stuff gone? Where did that even come from?¡± She looked me up and down with disgust, but I just laughed and found myself some clean clothes. I felt a familiar return of power lost as I placed the Orange Belt back on amongst the mundane jeans and shirt.

    I moved and a wave of gas rose to my throat. As I burned, a crackle of electricity emerge from my throat. A System prompt appeared at the same time. Unlike most, it didn¡¯t wait for me to open it.

    Conditions met for Race Upgrade.

    Race Evolved - Human -> Stormborn

    The Stormborn are humans born on a planet blessed by the Dao of the Storm. Due to the harsh conditions of their world, Stormborn have increased durability. As with all humans, their potential varies in each Attribute, though they tend to make for both powerful warriors and skilled mages, due to an inherent ability to sense mana.

    Thankfully, this prompt wasn¡¯t accompanied by pain. The sensation which pulsed through my body was like having a rumbling stomach, except everywhere. I barely had time to register there were words in the air before I had the worst gas in my life. There was no cleaning the smell from the room, which we both evacuated once the seal broke. Naea locked me inside until I was done.

    Which meant I had time to try and figure this out. Mostly, the next few minutes consisted of me reading and rereading the System prompt. Stormborn? The fuck? ¡°Do I look the same?¡± I asked Naea, worried. She told me other than the bald head, I was still ugly. I thanked her with a rude gesture before opening my character page.

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 0)  Level - 29

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 20  Speed - 20  Mental - 123   Will - 60

    The only difference which could be seen on the page was the name of my race, changed from human. I stepped outside the evolution room and my eyes widened. I tried to take everything in but the sights were so overwhelming I had to shut my eyes. It helped, but only a little. I was being bombarded with a sensory overload I had no preparation for. It was the Stormborn racial ability to sense mana and it was loud. The evolution room kept mana from outside from interfering, so I hadn¡¯t noticed.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Naea asked, causing me to look at her. It was a little like the world had a blue/red filter designed for 3-D glasses over it. I saw Naea clearly, more clearly maybe, but I could also see her mana. From toe to wingtip, she was buzzing with vibrant energies. I watched as a tiny flicker appeared in her wings, an instant before she zipped over to me.

    I blinked slowly, taking it in. ¡°I think so¡­¡± I had an idea. ¡°Hey, try and hit me.¡± Clearly I knew her well, as I managed to dodge her lazy attack. She had thrown it instantly, as though just waiting for a chance. I narrowed my eyes. ¡°Properly. Try and hit me fast. From over there.¡±

    Naea sighed but did as I asked. We both went to opposite ends of the long hallway and I counted down from three. Naea went on two, but I knew she would. I could see as mana gathered in her wings, shoulders and hips a moment before she turned into a streak of lightning. I avoided her flying kick and even grabbed her out of the air. The fact I caught her so gently was a testament to my precision.

    From my hand, Naea just gaped. I explained my new ability and what the pill had done. She had nothing to say but ¡°monster¡­¡± over and over while giving me dirty looks. Over the next hour, she randomly tried to attack me but my new sixth sense was powerful. She was left pouting, though I cheered her up by giving her a fair race outside. Happy she was still faster than me, Naea wandered back into the mansion while I surveyed the Dungeon.

    To my new eyesight, the whole place was awash with different energies. One of those signatures I immediately recognised as there was another just like it around my waist. I beamed and removed the Yo Staff from my inventory.

    I found another ninja frog!

 Chapter Twenty Eight - Claustrophobia

    I had found there was no better practice than the heat of battle when it came to learning my abilities in the past, so I took my time dismantling the troublesome turtle. The enemy was actually a level higher than me. Due to still being bottlenecked, I took that as a specific insult.

    Like the others, this one carried a typical ¡°ninja¡± weapon. I dodged the nunchucks with ease, not even using any mana to strengthen my attributes. Making full use of Staff Mastery, I focused on watching the mana move around within the monster¡¯s body. With the new layer to my sight, I could see the jumbled pathways inside the creature. From its neck down, every inch of its body was like tangled wool to my Stormborn senses.

    As the creature attacked, the dishevelled fairy lights of its soul lit up like a beacon. It will punch with the right fist, leading into a right elbow jab. Followed up with a knee to the dropped face. A good combo. Instead of allowing the turtle to hit me and move me around, I blocked its punch, slipped the elbow attack and then, its knee raised, I swept its now off-balance leg and jumped back. Naea clapped with enthusiasm and I nearly caught a nunchuck to my mouth when I turned to grin at her.

    Focus up, I told myself. The monster was no joke and that blow would have taken teeth, if now my whole lower jaw. Naea and I hadn¡¯t worked out the extent of our healing capabilities but I wasn¡¯t desperate to find out its limitations through human trials. Or would they be Stormborn trials now? This time, the thought slowed me enough to actually take a hit.

    Two knuckles on my left fist were pulverised. I swore and kicked the turtle high into the air. While it fell, I dashed over to Naea. ¡°What are you doing?¡± She asked, amused as she quickly healed the damage before the turtle even landed. ¡°You just wanted someone to wrestle, didn¡¯t you?¡± I waited while its impact rang out before replying.

    ¡°Gross,¡± I replied. ¡°Every time this thing touches me I shudder, lose my cool and nearly kill it. I¡¯m trying to see if I can read its movements from its mana.¡±

    Naea frowned before scoffing loudly so I could still hear her. ¡°Good luck.¡± She didn¡¯t sound optimistic. I didn¡¯t ask why because I didn¡¯t want to know. I was fairly sure more than half of my success since the Dungeon spawned around me was down to not knowing I couldn¡¯t do something. Within me, the Hurricane Heart was clear proof of this.

    It was slowly releasing the vast energy inside to nurture both my body and soul because I had overcome its nature and trapped it. The pill had been designed to rewrite my mana control at a base level but instead, I had turned it into fuel for a racial upgrade and even then, the power was barely tapped.

    I jumped forward and kicked the turtle as it landed, sending it crashing through some trees. I waited for it to return, portioning some of my energy away from containing the Hurricane Heart. My control was abysmal and I was reminded of my early uses of mana, even down to the amount I could wield. My opponent came back and its energy was flaring.

    The thing really was nightmare fuel of the highest order. Ignoring the dense mana snarl underneath its skin, I had to say these were definitely my most hated addition to the new world. Giant scorpions were pretty scary, and the strange elemental forms in the tower had been uncomfortably uncanny at points, but seeing a beloved cartoon brought into violent realism was the worst. There was no moral dilemma in ridding the world of this evil. I was probably doing the thing a favour.

    Uncomfortably human teeth underneath human eyes, with that being the extent of its likeness. Two nostrils sat atop a ridged beak-like forehead with the ridiculous headgear tangled around it. A filthy yellow-brown shell covered its top-half, long limbs with wiry muscles poking out of it. Its hands were like a tree frog¡¯s, while its feet were stumpy like a tortoise. The nunchuck in its hand was oddly pristine for all that.

    The ninja was done messing around, and so was I.

    All of its pathways ignited like a bonfire and it exploded forward. For all I could keep the thing under wraps, it was still at the same level as myself and could cause some serious damage in the right conditions. Such as if it burned its soul like I had against the Storm Dragon. For a tenth of a second, I was on the other side of the clash. It was perfect.

    I spun the Yo Staff defensively and threw the turtle¡¯s momentum to the side. With its very soul ignited, the persistent attack continued quickly. It moved like a wasp with the force of a cannonball, but the real danger wasn¡¯t the creature but the weapon it was holding. Since the start of the battle, each swing of the nunchucks had made it glow with more and more power. Right now, it was doing a good job of blinding me while I dodged it. Intrigued, I shoved the turtle right as it swung, causing it to hit a tree instead of me.

    The tree was pulverised. A four foot chunk was straight up deleted, only dust left of the sizable area carved from the chestnut tree¡¯s trunk. The blow continued and a terrifying eruption of earth followed when the nunchucks collided with the ground. My eyes widened and I immediately activated Infusion, tinged with everything I had learned from Harmony of the Storm.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I screamed over the noise to Naea, ¡°no more playing around.¡±

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    From the moment Harmony of the Storm had been unlocked, it had been different to my other skills. Instead of a simple activation like my previous skills had required, I needed to figure out its use on my own. The System¡¯s assistance when it came to my other abilities was noticeably lacking for this one, so it had taken me a while. More than information, I had felt like something was missing. A spark I had been unable to kindle properly.

    I couldn¡¯t help but smile. Battle really was the best teacher. The spike of adrenaline I had felt when a truly lethal attack was thrown my way forced my mind to race. The Hurricane Heart reacted as I used its mana, roaring in impotent outrage. Whatever vestige remained of the Storm Dragon was angry I had stolen its power. When I activated Infusion, I felt the difference immediately. My skin began to glow as white energy illuminated my mana pathways from within. ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s what it tastes like.¡±

    Storm mana.

    Like the crystals of power I recognised as draconic energy, the current properties of my mana were specialised. When my pure mana had been used for an Infusion, I had become stronger. When the draconic mana was the fuel, the Infusion effects were around five times more powerful, but drained my energy quicker. From the feel of the newest version, I had found the perfect mixture. Blue sparks appeared within my mana channels. It was when they danced in the air around me that I nearly squealed at the sight.

    If the addition of storm mana, which increased my speed and strength massively, weren¡¯t enough to completely dominate this thing then my overwhelming attribute advantage was. The turtle hadn¡¯t been idle but with my speed, it might as well have been. Between its first and second swings, I had activated Infusion. Before the second blow landed, I was behind the turtle-frog entirely.

    I said a silent thanks to the creature for being my latest training partner. Maybe calling it a whetstone would be more appropriate, but either way, it was dead the second I got serious. The turtle didn¡¯t even try to follow my movements, thrown by a feint. For extra good measure, I filled the Yo Staff¡¯s falling form with mana, curious what effect the new affinity would have.

    The staff became charged like myself, a bright glow at the end where the weight gathered. It fell like a thunderbolt, with the crashing force of a landslide and the screaming whip of a gale force wind. The turtle, shell and all, were bisected and then blown away by the following shockwave when the staff hit the ground. I allowed myself to be thrown away by the force too by shifting the weight of the Yo Staff instantly.

    Gliding through the air in a move I would call the Reverse Poppins, I marvelled at my own power. I had been thrown a good twenty feet into the air and the enemy had been defeated in essentially one blow. From up here, the two halves of the monster were easily visible, thrown in arcs much like myself. Interesting vantage point. You can see quite a lot fro-

    My blood ran cold and I dropped to the ground. I simply stored the Yo Staff and gravity did the rest. Sprinting, hyperventilating, denying what my eyes saw, I ran to the dark heap I spotted from above. Just a short distance away. Not far from the fight, and definitely not far from Home Base. I felt hollow, unable to reply to Naea¡¯s confusion.

    ¡°How?¡± I repeated the question over and over with each footfall. How? How did this happen? How did I not hear? How could I not have known? How did I not think this might happen? How could I let this happen? How could I fuck around and play games while this was happening?

    A dozen variations, slowly twisting the blame to myself. I slowed as I approached. Even as I came within mere feet of the mass, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to focus on it. I blinked, seeing only a black shape against the world. I blinked again, swallowing down the revulsion, intrusive thoughts and bile in one filthy gulp. I forced myself to see what I was ignoring.

    There, on the floor, broken and cold from the icy grip of death was a human.

    My eyes darted around at the nearby trees and I screamed in horror. Draped in the branches were people I recognised. In each of the surrounding trees, looming down over me like spectres, the individuals from the caf¨¦ were all boring holes into me. Sandra, the owner who had kept her husband¡¯s name on the place. The man who popped my shoulder back in when it dislocated. The lady who had thrown her laptop. Above them all, a gargoyle perched on high, the two violet eyes of Mrs Naebol stared down at me in accusation.

    Dark edges crowded my vision, the world closing around me. Every negative thought I had buried and every intrusive thought I had ignored pushed through the flimsy dam I had crafted to keep them at bay. Everything was over, the world was lost and I had already died. The body on the ground had my face. There was no point. I raised my eyes from the body to the shadows above, about to ask for forgiveness I didn¡¯t deserve from people who couldn¡¯t give it.

    As my breath rose in my throat, a hand touched my cheek.

    A tiny gesture, done by a minute woman. Into her touch, Naea poured every ounce of understanding and compassion she could muster. It wasn¡¯t like she didn¡¯t feel sad seeing the body, she just didn¡¯t see what I did. She saw a sad occurrence which could have happened to anyone, one which would happen to us and more if we let this stop us.

    ¡°The only way to stop this from happening is to get stronger and defeat the Dungeon bosses.¡± Naea didn¡¯t mince words, telling me what she thought I needed to hear. I flinched at the idea I could help, the heavy stares from the trees still keeping me cowed. Then, to emphasise her words, Naea pressed her Dao onto me, pressuring me like the Storm Dragon had. Of course, Naea¡¯s power was a droplet compared to the ocean, but I allowed her influence to shake my mind of shadows.

    I chanced a look towards the body at my feet once more. Naea¡¯s Dao of the Fairy Dragon pierced the illusion my mind had wrought. Of course it wasn¡¯t me. This person didn¡¯t look anything like me, under the blood. They wore a ramshackle collection of basic looking armours from various time periods and clutched a short sword in the grasp. They must have been level seventeen or higher, not that it mattered. Clearly they had run into the Adolescent Amphibian Attack Animal before I did.

    Had they died while I was infusing the Hurricane Heart? It seemed likely.

    I turned my eyes to the trees, seeing them clear of shades. The accusation in the eyes of the deceased remained with me as I sat quietly at the grisly scene. Naea collected the nunchucks and my belt even upgraded once more to a Green Belt which gave ten percent increased attributes. I hardly registered. At some point, I began tearing through the dirt like an animal so I could bury the person. They weren¡¯t carrying identification, so I didn¡¯t know their name to mark the grave.

    The charge levied by the furious eyes of the dead hadn¡¯t been because I let them die. It was because I wasn¡¯t doing enough with their memory. I had said it earlier, in the fight but the memory felt like ash in my mouth. ¡°No more playing around?¡± I asked myself.

    There were people out there dying, just like this man had died. The actions of the System were not mine to bear guilt for, but each person I could have helped and didn¡¯t weighed on me. I thought of a powerful quote, one which had stuck with me for a long time and guided many of my actions day to day.

    ¡°With great power¡­¡± I whispered, standing up. ¡°Let¡¯s move.¡± I turned away, stalking into the dungeon with heavy stomps and a heavy heart. There were three towers out there to claim, bosses to kill and a dungeon to escape. I reaffirmed myself, flexing my Dao. ¡°No more playing around.¡±

 Chapter Twenty Nine - Come At Me

    The next two days passed in a blur. I burned mana at the ideal rate, essentially removing any mana recovery I had to constantly strengthen myself. I used this strength to blast my way through the second and third trial towers. Only one remained, the pagoda. I started with the tower I had named East Tower before, one completely obscured by mist.

    The haze was actually slightly acidic, but easily dealt with by keeping an aura of Dao pressed outwards. I shielded Naea and myself through the fog and was rewarded with an ominous tower, both in appearance and name. Named the Trial of Flowing Waters. The burning smog was a harbinger for the bulk of the challenge within.

    Five levels, each of increasing difficulty, much like the Storm Dragon¡¯s. Just like then, the inside of the tower was much larger than the outside. Each floor had the same directive - reach the exit. The trial seemed simple but was actually a pain in the ass. Quite literally.

    Upon entering the tower, the scenery changed. The sun was bearing down on me, and water ran between my legs. I found myself standing above a reservoir of murky water which was half-filled. A path stretched around the massive container at a slight incline. The trial appeared as a System prompt and I arrogantly claimed it was dumb. Go from point A to point B, how hard could that be?

    As I began walking the path, water started trickling in the other direction. By the time I had jogged for a few minutes, the water was up to my ankles. Only once it reached my thighs did it become an impediment, around halfway up the path. By the time I was able to jump off the path and move to the next level, I was pushing back a waterfall¡¯s worth of water. Still, the actual difficulty of the first level was minimal, requiring less physical strength than I had fighting the Scorepion Manager.

    The second level was identical in its requirements, with a twist. The water was starting to sting my skin. By the time I finished level two, my skin was raw like it had been sunburned badly. I hadn¡¯t bothered using an Infusion to push away the effects. A few seconds with Naea cleared it up before I could tell her not to bother. It was only pain.

    The third and fourth levels continued this trend, with the acidity of the water increasing. At the end of the third level and for the entirety of the fourth, I needed to expend more mana than I recovered just to keep the liquid from burning me alive. Naea hovered nearby, doing flybys in which she slapped me with pulses of healing magic. It felt like an egg being cracked on top of my head, cooling down my heated skin.

    The potency of the acid in the liquid had become brutal by the fifth and final layer. Naea¡¯s healing was required the whole way but I didn¡¯t for even a moment consider backing out. Pain was nothing, so long as I could keep moving. Perseverance was rewarded halfway through the climb when the river abruptly ceased its assault. I had inhaled so many fumes and choked on so much acid I initially thought I had failed somehow, saved by the trial¡¯s magic. Naea looked over the edge and told me the reservoir had completely drained.

    Whoopee.

    Unlike the trial of the Storm Dragon, it seemed the others were not connected to a higher power in the same way. The rewards also weren¡¯t as potent as the Hurricane Heart, but I doubted I could handle any more strange and powerful energies inside. I walked away with the gains from the tower without giving them much more than a second glance.

    Then, it was time to move again.

    The third tower fell as quickly as the second, which is to say within a day. After the East Tower was North. We didn¡¯t bother heading back to Home Base. It was safe and I didn¡¯t need anything from there. The journey to the next tower was quick and required no great effort either. Our recent gains had come in very handy.

    The third trial tower was the Trial of Luminous Possibility, and it was the biggest pushover of the three. The challenges were made completely nonexistent by the presence of our Dao. More specifically Naea¡¯s, which once again proved especially useful at casting away illusions. Fairy Dragons were mischievous and often played tricks on unsuspecting travellers with their magic, so they were naturally potent when it came to dispelling them.

    This place would have been a joke, either way. A bad one. The trial started as aggressively as it could, which is to say, not at all. Naea stopped me from acting on the System prompt which appeared before she removed the glamour from it. The tower had even fudged the System message, which irked me. Just another thing I couldn¡¯t trust. Listening to Naea¡¯s instructions, I made my way through the increasingly complex mazes of each layer.

    The goal was to walk in a completely straight line to an exit I couldn¡¯t see, while promises of power and wealth whispered from all sides. Each layer increased the difficulty, of course, but the test of this tower was unfortunately too late. Naea and I had dealt with stronger temptations by far. Without my own Dao to protect my mind and then Naea¡¯s to invalidate the tricks, it might have been a different story.

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    I was sharp like a knife. I considered getting Naea to stop protecting me from the mind-altering effects but decided against it. Better to just get it done and move on. Once more we scaled a trial tower. The rewards from this tower were, ironically, even less interesting than the last. At least that one had given me another achievement.

    The sun had risen and fallen twice since I found the other person¡¯s body.

    On the third day, Naea hit me hard in the stomach, forcing me to my knees. Shocked, I flared my mana angrily. I looked up at her, surprised and enraged by her betrayal. Of course, when I saw the tears of frustration and pain on her own face, I managed to stop myself. ¡°Stop!¡± She begged, only able to choke out one word over her sobs.

    The fight fled from me. I blinked and it was like my eyes opened for the first time in days. I reached out my hand but it was slapped away, forcing me to look at it. The skin was blistered, torn and scarred from the punishment I had put it through. I could see Naea¡¯s laboured breathing and tired wingbeats. There were even punctures in them. When did that happen?

    Scared, like a timid house cat, I approached my own soul cautiously. I winced when I felt the damage I had done to my body but it was nothing compared to the mess I had cultivated within. My inner world was a tempestuous chaos, more so than usual. A decent force of will was needed to get back to peak form but there was a much more distressing sight.

    The storms were natural to my soul at this point, but the flowers were gone. My world was barren save for the grass which covered the visualisation of land.

    Naea¡¯s touch was gone.

    The tears were in my eyes before I opened them. Slowly, hopefully and thankfully, I wrapped the still weeping Naea into my arms. She allowed it, sniffling and breaking my heart as she punched my chest lightly. ¡°Big, goofy, bloody, stupid idiot,¡± she whimpered.

    ¡°Agreed,¡± I replied. ¡°I¡¯m the worst. Shit. I¡¯m so sorry. I¡¯m so sorry.¡± I repeated my apology gently, stroking Naea¡¯s small head. We were on the path to the final tower, West Tower, the one which looked like a pagoda. Even if I wanted to, I couldn¡¯t summon an ounce of urgency, so we just sat there on the path above the sand.

    Quietly, slowly, I felt the fractured bond mend. Like creases being smoothed out of paper, the ridges between my soul and Naea¡¯s fell away. The reverberations of her soul echoed my own. Without words, I confronted the damage to my own soul and the rebound it was having on the only friend I had in the world.

    Our quiet huddle continued, both of us crying quietly.

    I wept for the lives lost in my sphere and beyond. The people I had spoken to one minute and the dead bodies I had run away from as quickly as I could, not once looking back. Clearly the psychic damage from the caf¨¦ lingered under the surface. I could hear my soul speak through my connection to Naea and I cringed. It was like listening to myself complaining in a recording of my voice. No one likes the sound of their own voice in a recording at the best of times, let alone hearing themself whine.

    I wasn¡¯t haunted by ghosts, I reminded myself. Actually, that¡¯s probably possible, I realised unhelpfully. Well¡­ Maybe? Even if I were, it wouldn¡¯t be my fault. The accusation in the eyes of the dead wasn¡¯t aimed at my actions. I thought back to the piercing amethyst eyes of Mrs Naebol.

    My thoughts moved quicker and quicker as the molasses of melancholy were burned away in the heat of rage. She could have helped, I fumed. She could have explained¡­ anything. Instead she turned me into a murderer and her personal suicide machine. Fuck you, Mrs Naebol. Except, it wasn¡¯t Mrs Naebol, was it. Her name had been Naeboaroseax. A dragon. A coward at the same time. My Dao boiled at the idea of a cowardly dragon, suddenly glad I killed her.

    Once more, Naea¡¯s soul was the steel rod upon which mine balanced. Another violent and unnecessary emotion was cast away as she continued to lay flowers upon my soul with her forgiveness and patience. I chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re an incredible therapist, Naea. That was supposed to be my job, before all this started.¡±

    ¡°You?¡± She snorted. With the crying, it was a distinctly snotty sound. ¡°You¡¯re unhinged, though.¡± I laughed, glad she was comfortable enough to tease me. The impetus to smash myself against the Dungeon until one of us broke was gone, but this was no place to stay for long. I decided we would rest for a day, standing up and walking back to Home Base.

    ¡°Thank you for snapping me out of it. I went a little grimdark there for a minute. Let¡¯s go back and look through what those towers gave us. I¡¯ll make you some nice food and you can be as mean as you want the whole time.¡±

    ¡°That sounds good,¡± Naea said quietly into my chest. Together, we walked for hours of slow trek in simple conversation. I told Naea about my life before the System, about the world Earth had been before the craziness. I shared stories about my childhood, glossing over the strained memories and focusing on the fun ones. ¡°You have how many brothers?¡±

    ¡°Three,¡± I expressed with over the top disdain. ¡°My poor mother. Two sisters, too, but they¡¯re the youngest and enough of a change from the six of us that it gave me mam a new breath to her lungs.¡±

    ¡°You sounded like me for a second there.¡± Realising she didn¡¯t know her own history, as it were, I dove into tales of my homeland and its greatest legends, the fae. My knowledge was from old fairy tales, which was exactly the right name to say to Naea, who would randomly whisper the phrase as I spoke.

    ¡°Fairy tales,¡± she breathed. ¡°Are there dragon tales?¡±

    ¡°Dragons have them, but we don¡¯t.¡± I waited for a second. ¡°Get it? Tails? Tales?¡± I cackled at the fairy¡¯s deadpan expression and ran Naea through a few of my favourite stories. She liked the stories of T¨ªr na n¨®g, the basis for Neverland in the story of Peter Pan, the most. I told the story of Ois¨ªn and Niamh, a sad story which had her in tears.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I consoled, ¡°most of our stories are like that¡­¡±

    Naea didn¡¯t try to fly the whole, slow walk back. I didn¡¯t ask if she wanted to.

 Chapter Thirty - Burnout

    Upon returning home, I again thanked the System immensely for choosing to take modern facilities into its constructions. The shower was, as always, the perfect place to wash away grime and dark thoughts at once. By the time I got out, I felt like the weight had been lifted away. The Dungeon was a problem, but one I had just put a sizable dent in. I needed to slow down for Naea¡¯s sake, so I would.

    I found the little fairy snacking in the kitchen. She had been okay for two days after eating the Vessel of the Storm Dragon, but she was starting to get hungry again. Eating regular food scratched the itch, but didn¡¯t alleviate all her hunger either. Sympathetic, I began making a large breakfast meal while I checked through the items and System prompts I had been ignoring.

    Achievement Unlocked - Thick Skinned

    You have regrown more than your own body weight in skin many times over. Something¡¯s got to bend, either you or nature.

    Effect: Grants improved durability when facing burning or corrosive effects.

    So there were achievements like that, too? Maybe someone had a list of them all which I could look at to help me get more. Also, what was up with that description? It was way less reverent than some of the others. It wasn¡¯t something I was looking to test much, but holding my hand over the flame I was using to cook, the difference was noticeable. Nice.

    Not a huge upgrade, but any reward for my idiocy was appreciated. Unfortunately, and predictably, this was the only achievement I gained. You couldn¡¯t complete a tower for the first time again, after all. I was disappointed to see it wouldn¡¯t be additive, but there was no need to be picky. I had been spoiled already.

    Item - Stunchucks

    Once wielded by a master in the art of momentum, they were said to be like liquid themselves. Now their weapon carries the crashing force of their influence.

    Effect: With each revolution of the chain, the power within the Stunchucks increases.

    The most interesting thing about the Stunchucks, besides the immense destructive power which they could bring out, was the fact they didn¡¯t require an infusion of mana to create the effect. It was obviously why the latest one had been able to use its weapon properly, if only for one useless and missed attack. The others couldn¡¯t infuse their mana into their equipment. Interesting.

    I chose not to use Weapon Mastery for two reasons. Firstly, while the nunchucks were definitely cool and styled after Bruce Lee, they were ultimately not much different to my staff. I admired the beautiful yellow wood with red leather grips. As I held them, I could feel some of the Staff Mastery bleeding over through techniques which translated to both. It just wasn¡¯t needed.

    Secondly, with the lower mana requirement, I foresaw this being a more useful weapon for Naea. The size was a little uncomfortable, the weapon not able to shrink like the Chibizashi, but so long as she could swing one nunchuck, the effect would work. ¡°You¡¯ll be able to hit like I do sometimes,¡± I said, much to her delight. The next item was very much to my delight.

    Item - Adept¡¯s Bottoms

    Breathable, yet warm. Soft, yet durable. A young mage¡¯s favourite fabric, regeneweave clothing repairs itself and everything else you wear.

    Effect: Increase mana regeneration when fully repaired. Mana is used to repair any damage Adept¡¯s Bottoms receives. Additional mana may be spent to repair other items of clothing.

    The mana regeneration was a nice touch, but it was so negligible as to be nonexistent for myself. So, it was almost entirely a vanity item, but I really needed pants which were going to survive a fight. I had avoided the awkwardness for the most part by carrying dozens of spare trousers with me at all times. I still would, from habit, but I now wouldn¡¯t need them. Fixing my other clothes was an amazing bonus, which I used to repair my original graduation suit out of principle.

    They were also blue, which matched my new belt colour. ¡°I think the one after this is purple, so it shouldn¡¯t clash much until I get to red.¡± Naea couldn¡¯t care less about whether my clothes matched, and neither did I really. I let it go.

    Item - Blue Belt (Upgradable)

    There is little glory in training but without training, there can never be glory.

    Effect: Attributes +10%

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    The bottoms had come from the latest tower we took down, which fit with the illusionary aspect of the place. Kind of. In a much more resounding reference to its own trial, the final item I received had come from the Trial of Flowing Waters.

    Aspect - Water (Common)

    Aspects are formed when ambient mana in an area becomes charged with a specific type of energy. If you have unbound attributes, you may permanently bind an Aspect to an unbound attribute.

    Would you like to use the Aspect of Water to bind an unbound attribute?

    It was¡­ uninspiring. Even now, I was hesitant to use it and Naea herself couldn¡¯t. Without a doubt, having another Aspect within to draw power, inspiration and new techniques from would be a good thing. Half of the mental image I held of my own power was bound to rivers and rain, so it wasn¡¯t like it would be a terrible fit. And yet¡­

    The word ¡°common¡± blared like an alarm.

    My Dao of the dragon resisted the idea each time binding with the Aspect became a ponderance. I had no doubt the Aspect of Water was powerful, but my Dao required more than common rarity. Binding with this Aspect would hinder my path. Even knowing that, the desire to let the water in was palpable. Just like the dragon refused the low-rarity Aspect, the Aspect yearned to be something greater. Maybe one day, I mused.

    I soon placed it into my inventory and hoped I would figure out what to do with it later. Maybe I could give it to someone in trade, at least. It had to be valuable. Considering people likely didn¡¯t know much about the System than myself yet, the Aspect was likely the most valuable it would ever be.

    One more reason to smash my way out of this prison.

    I focused on the bacon, sausage and eggs in the frying pan before me instead of letting my mind get fixated on the Dungeon again. Within the walls of Home Base, it was easy enough to picture the park outside as open space, rather than the solitary confinement it truly was. I placed a plate in front of Naea and smiled.

    ¡°I¡¯d be crazy without you,¡± I told her, not for the first time. Through a mouth filled to the brim with eggs, she told me she was making no difference, I was still crazy. We were in my magical mansion where I had just cooked a meal for a fairy from food which appeared out of thin air. I had to admit, the world was doing its best to make me doubt myself.

    I snapped into a sausage and chewed thoughtfully. Was it worth questioning the reality I was presented with? The question was worth asking, but my answer was ¡°No¡±. If I had actually just lost my mind at some point, it was too late to go and pick it back up now. The pair of us ate our food in a comfortable silence only broken by the sounds of ravenous chewing. Rather than set my teeth on edge, the sound reminded me of home.

    ¡°Two bosses,¡± I finally said, unable to stop myself. All that remained between us and the rest of the world. That is, unless the outside world wanted to join me. Inadvisable, considering the last person who tried. I thought about the dead swordsman a lot, which inevitably made me think about everyone else. ¡°Two bosses. Then we go home.¡±

    ¡°Home?¡± Naea asked while still chewing on a piece of toast as big as her head. It was a quarter of a slice. ¡°Is it far?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, across the Irish Sea.¡±

    Naea¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Wow, a whole ocean named after your people? They must be strong.¡± I chuckled and explained the geography of Ireland and Great Britain to her. ¡°So it¡¯s more like ¡®that¡¯s the Irish Sea, where we go to get to Ireland¡¯? I see.¡±

    ¡°We need to stop saying see and sea, they don¡¯t feel like real words any more. See?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s stop. So, your family is over there and¡­ then what?¡± I didn¡¯t have an answer, but Naea accepted it as fair. ¡°Good! No point in planning out more than one step, everything will go wrong if you do.¡±

    I happened to agree. The System had a sense of comedic timing, so whatever hopes I might have would need to wait until it left me alone. For now, I felt like it¡¯s favourite plaything. Solo dungeons, trial towers, oh it was all fun and games for Grant, that¡¯s for sure. I nodded. ¡°One step at a time. I¡¯m going to go and sleep, see you in a bit.¡±

    With that, I gave Naea and myself some peace. Home Base was now easily large enough for us to stretch our legs a little and still keep out of each other''s way. I had taken a reconciliatory step but only a small one. There was a lot of trust to rebuild after my actions in the last forty eight hours or so.

    Not just with Naea, either.

    I had always thought of myself as more mature than others, a charge levied at me since I was a child. ¡°You¡¯re so grown up for your age,¡± had become ¡°Grant can be trusted, he¡¯s basically an adult.¡± I wasn¡¯t even the oldest of my brothers, but I was the one made to parent the others. Once I had gone into study of mental health, the damage this had caused to my psyche had become a bit of an inside joke.

    I saw the events of the last day through a lens, floating above my memory of what occurred. The sight of the dead man had not just reminded me of the grisly caf¨¦ massacre, but had thrown a wrench in the gears of my brain. I felt I had personally failed in my duties as an eternal protector by allowing someone to come to harm when I might have been able to save them.

    In the calm, it was easy to remind myself I wasn¡¯t a god. It wasn¡¯t my job to make sure everyone around me had a good life, or was even happy. I could only do those things for myself and hope the people around me were uplifted by it. The immediate example of this being Naea, who¡¯s soul had stopped vibrating once I snapped out of my negative headspace.

    Once the noise of my self-flagellating thoughts stopped, I was able to feel Naea¡¯s soul. It shivered, alone, because I was too in my own head and all but snapped our connection. I had treated her like a tool to progress, rather than an ally. Biting my lip hard enough to draw blood, I promised to never return to that dark place. The world might try to force it, but I would laugh first from now on. I could cry or scream later.

    I still hadn¡¯t slept and I felt jetlagged. Dungeonlagged. Now I had stopped, the spatial dissonance of the towers caught up to me along with the exertion required to keep going. Mana could fuel me for days, clearly, but eating real food had reminded my body I was still mortal. I washed myself and sat on the end of my bed in still silence while I dried. At some point, I forgave myself.

    Tomorrow is a day of rest, I promised myself as I got comfortable in the System-made bed. The powers within me rolled about around each other, the Dao of the dragon slowly picking apart the Hurricane Heart, allowing the chipped fragments to fertilise my body and soul. My mana was uncomfortable as it slowly churned through damaged pathways. I had pushed myself hard and while my body was mostly recovered, my spirit was still in bad shape.

    Yeah, I confirmed, drifting away, tomorrow¡­ I didn¡¯t finish the thought, the embrace of sleep taking me too quick. I had faced all of the issues my choices had caused and done what I could to repair the damage. I had even cleared two towers. Despite the way I did it, the progress was still a good thing. I faded away thinking I had righted all my wrongs.

    I should have known better.

 Chapter Thirty One - Evolutionary Tempest

    The cost of overspending mana can vary wildly. I wasn¡¯t privy to this information, locked in my own personal dungeon, but around the world many were learning the ins-and-outs of magic just as I was. For them, taxing themselves beyond their capabilities had varying degrees of damage. Almost every aspirant mage on Earth had burned one or two mana pathways since trying to control the strange new possibilities given by the System.

    Exactly one (1) of these mages had seared their entire mana circuit multiple times. Being the forerunner of this particular achievement didn¡¯t come with a System-wrapped buff or even a message, but it was an achievement nonetheless. More specifically, surviving a severe overtaxing, recovering and going on to scour the channels once more was unheard of almost anywhere in the entirety of the System.

    You either died, were crippled or a masterful teacher saved you from yourself.

    I had none of these things. I hadn¡¯t died, as far as I knew. I was definitely close to permanent damage in my battle with the Storm Dragon, and I suspected the dragon had helped me avoid disabling myself entirely. Arguably, the dragon had been a teacher and to say he was a master would be a disservice. It didn¡¯t quite feel like it had saved me though.

    More like it had helped me stick the sun in my chest.

    As I slept, my body froze. Another unknown to myself, the visualisation of my mana, my inner world, and the place in which dreams occur are layered close together. For most, this is why sleeping and dreaming in particular can soothe their troubled mind. The psyche brushes up against the soul in a profound way, creating dreams. For me, there was something in the way, stopping my mind from reaching my spirit.

    I floated, disconnected, far above my inner world. I had never seen it from this perspective, though I always had the ability to do so. Existing within my mana was more natural than analysing it from a distance, but I could see the value. The planet was much more barren than I expected, only a small patch of green and blue marking the otherwise desolate world.

    In the sky above that world, shining like a sun, was the Hurricane Heart.

    The Hurricane Heart rumbled. Kept at bay during my waking hours, I naively thought my control over the immensely powerful pill had won a contest. I realised now I had simply taken a single round, and the Hurricane Heart had been biding its time. ¡°Round two?¡± It seemed to say in delight, ¡°this one won¡¯t be so simple.¡±

    There¡¯s that bastard teacher of mine.

    Within the Hurricane Heart, the will of the Storm Dragon reared its head angrily. I challenged its power and prevailed but a battle is not the war. In a combined state of lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis, I could do nothing to control my soul. All I could do was watch as my magic was assaulted by the unending storm from space.

    Still, that didn¡¯t mean my soul was helpless. The world below me fought back fiercely. Someone else might be at the mercy of the pill, but my soul had been cast in steel over the past two weeks. The will of the Storm Dragon was not facing some blank slate of mana it could simply colour with its own energy as it wished. It faced a dragon all of my own creation.

    From within my soul, a world-shattering bellow roared out louder than the storm. The volcano, the representation of a dragon¡¯s power, didn¡¯t just erupt, it exploded. Deep beneath the volcano¡¯s spout, my Dao pool fed into the power of mana. Dao and mana mixed into a greater whole, truly becoming the dragon I had heard whispering in my mind.

    Huge arms emerged from the magma first, followed by shoulders connected to immense wings. A lithe head came next, the eyes of a furious predator visible through the smoke and glow from the lava. I could feel its movements as though they were my own, probably because they were. The dragon was me, after all. At the same time, the power itself was arrogant, and I felt it pick my pocket. Now what are you doing with that?

    The dragon took something from my inventory and crawled out of the destroyed volcano it had been birthed from. The sight of it was obscured by the dust and debris in the air, only a shadow visible to me. Its silhouette soon detached from the planet and took to the skies. Rage and desire fueled its movements as the relatively small figure shot out of the atmosphere faster than I could follow.

    The shadow plunged into the Hurricane Heart and disappeared. My soul retaliated against the onslaught. I felt fangs lock around an exposed neck, my mouth seemed to fill with electrified blood. I shouted and the dragon roared in sync with me, demanding subjugation from the heart. Carried into the centre of the storm, the dragon released its payload.

    Within the power of the Hurricane Heart, an Aspect was released. I honestly couldn¡¯t tell if the dragon knew what was going to happen, or if it just wanted to deal with two annoyances at once. It really hadn¡¯t liked the idea of a common Aspect joining the ranks, after all. Either way, the result was potent.

    I awoke with a start. My body felt hot, but instead of sweat, a thick substance was clamming up my skin. Quickly searching for the System prompts to explain what was happening to me, I barely had time to read the blocks of text before it was replaced by a much more succinct message. The newest prompt opened at the same time the smell hit my nose. ¡°No,¡± I moaned, ¡°I like this bedroom!¡±

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    Race Evolution

    Conditions met to evolve race from Grade 0 to Grade 1.

    Evolution commencing.

    I wasn¡¯t entirely clear on what part of the process going on in my soul had triggered the evolution. I would see when the abhorrent sensations rocking through my body finally stopped. Until then, the best I could do was slip and tumble my way to the next room, clambering into the bath. I gnashed my teeth in anger and swiped away the message, leaving only the first two messages.

    Aspect Evolved - Water -> Tempests

    Through exposure to the magic of the Hurricane Heart, the magical quality of the Aspect of Water has improved. Aspect of Water (Common) evolved to Aspect of Tempests.

    Aspect - Tempest (Legendary)

    Aspects are formed when ambient mana in an area becomes charged with a specific type of energy. This particular Aspect formed when an Aspect of Water was brought into contact with a much higher quality concept. If you have unbound attributes, you may permanently bind an Aspect to an unbound attribute.

    Would you like to use the Aspect of Tempests to bind an unbound attribute?

    I can¡¯t even sleep without the System doing some crazy stuff, I lamented. I was conscious enough to recognise this was my fault for biting off more than I could chew at once with the Hurricane Heart. Ultimately, the actions of my Dao were my choices. Knowing this didn¡¯t help my mood much as electricity started lighting up my skin. Oh lovely, I noticed, the oil on my skin is conductive. That¡¯s just wonderful.

    There was nothing to do but bear the discomfort and pain. Over and over my body heaved uncontrollably. I could only move to twitch as my nerves fired with agony. I tried to bind the Aspect of Tempests but was unable. Not willing to do nothing, I threw all reason aside and dove into the feeling instead. There was magic going on inside my body, and even for the System, I was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t the standard fare.

    If I had to endure it, I would also learn.

    Focusing on what the evolution was doing to my body was eye-opening. I had cracked my soul once, releasing a level¡¯s worth of experience. It felt like rubbing sandpaper through the inside of my veins. The mashed up repair job I had done on my soul was a single bandage over a gaping wound since. I wasn¡¯t happy to say I was experiencing a similar feeling.

    Similar, but foundationally opposite. I gasped when I realised what was happening and any fight I was fielding against the evolution vanished. The process was pouring gold onto the cracks covering my soul, filling them in and making them glow with purity. It was almost identical to the feeling of levelling up, except far more potent. The reason it hurt was down to my lackadaisical care of my own soul.

    The hours passed as my pathways were rewritten, the language of my magic growing from the level of a child¡¯s first handwriting to masterful cursive. I followed the feelings, using the uncomfortable to firmly memorise the more intricate map of my mana channels. The definition within the patterns was much clearer. I could now actually feel the spaces in my soul waiting for Aspects. A smaller version of this occurred around the complicated jumble which expressed the dragon.

    At some point, Naea found me but she made the sensible decision to send positivity through our link from as far away as she could. Her moral support was appreciated, dealing with doubts before they could fully form. I had no idea what an evolution was supposed to feel or look like but as she wasn¡¯t worried, neither was I. Her soothing aura came through our connection like a lullaby.

    With Naea¡¯s help, I bore the procedure to its end, culminating in a simple System message for my troubles. It was a prompt I had seen many times, possibly the most of any. Only one thing had changed, but it was enough to make my eyes bulge. The maths behind the numbers started bouncing around in my brain but there was no simple equation for it. I decided I didn¡¯t care one bit.

    Level up! +20 attribute points

    I had broken through the bottleneck! My achievements gave me an extra four attribute points, so I didn¡¯t have an adequate explanation for receiving twenty points, but I was over the moon either way. The best guess was some additional points per level for being a Stormborn, which then doubled as I rose a grade. My stagnant character sheet was looking much more interesting now.

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 30

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 20  Speed - 20  Mental - 123   Will - 60

    Free attribute points: 20

    It may not have been efficient or perfectly placed, but I dropped five points into each attribute and wriggled as the increase took hold. Muscles tightened, joints became more flexible. I cracked my neck theatrically. Initially hesitant to begin manipulating my mana, the level up gave me the confidence of a conqueror.

    Speaking of achievements, I had gained another ridiculous boost in power from the System.

    Achievement Unlocked - Planetary Forerunner

    The barrier between grades is the true watershed for potential. You are blazing your path faster than any others of your generation. Congratulations.

    Effect: Attributes +10%

    This one wasn¡¯t a world first, but maybe it was a given in the name of the achievement. The extra burst of power settled along with the rest of my gains. My body felt magma hot and frozen cold at the same time, but the opposing sensations slowly mixed together into a pleasant warmth all over my skin. ¡°Incredible,¡± I whispered at the power running through my veins. I smiled.

    Unleashing the sea of mana waiting within my core, I almost purring as the floodgates opened. More power than I had been able to wield before was now slamming through my mana channels with ease. I revelled in the magical feeling for around three seconds before I could handle the stink of evolution goop any longer.

    I stomped back through the mess I had made on my way to the bathroom and covered myself in bed clothes as I quickly ran to the evolution room. I would burn the blanket and covers. While the waterfall drained onto my head, I considered the pros and cons of just ripping the room away from the house and paying for the repairs instead of cleaning.

    Once I was clean, I found a bedroom on the opposite side of the house. I dared the System to give me another nightmare, vowing to bring absolute and unstoppable ruin to whatever power governed the damned thing if it didn¡¯t let me get a decent sleep. I had been exhausted before my evolution, now I was a dead man walking. Even if the System upgraded my race again, I doubt I would have woken up.

    I dreamed fantastic visions without any control, a passenger to the nonsensical happenings. I slept well, barely moving an inch throughout the night. When the morning came, I met it with excitement. I would let Naea rest like I had originally planned, but how could I sit still? My fingers tingled with power as I started revving my mana through my body.

    My body had changed on me, holding immense power. More importantly than any of that, though, was the most material of last night¡¯s gains. I removed the Aspect of Tempests from my inventory. It was absolutely beautiful, and exactly what I had wanted from the trial tower. The dragon within approved of its own creation as I admired it, a growing smile on my face. I immediately left Home Base in search of something to fight. ¡°No time to waste,¡± I told myself.

    There was magic to learn.

 Chapter Thirty Two - Runners High

    I didn¡¯t immediately bind to the Aspect of Tempests even though all of my instincts were desperate for me to. I had experienced more than enough bursts of alien mana through my system at the hands of the System and I wasn¡¯t keen to dive headfirst into another one. The allure of the power which a second legendary Aspect would give me itched at the back of my mind, but I ignored it.

    I was plenty powerful enough as it was. The Dungeon might rearrange if I jumped in power too far, so I felt more comfortable getting to grips with my new body. The strange interactions between the Aspect of Water and the Hurricane Heart which led to my race upgrade had subsided but there was still some work to do.

    There was a dragon roaming around my soul which I needed to tame. I would do so with action rather than meditation, so I set off. My plan was to jog to the sands of the desert and avoid the paths entirely. I had unconsciously avoided walking on the loose ground below the raised paths to the towers. Some quiet whisper inside had always told me it would be a bad idea. An aversion which had flipped on its head. Now, I wanted to tempt the danger which had tickled my instincts before.

    Before I went to the desert, getting used to the changes in my body took precedence. When my race had changed from human to stormborn, I had been assaulted by the confusing input of a new sixth sense. This mana sense placed a new layer over the world, not dissimilar to having a UV filter on a camera. It was both always active and quite easy to ignore once I got used to it.

    As with my race change, my second evolution was much the same. The clarity with which I viewed the world had taken another quantitative leap. I expected the new ability to shine in battle but the peaceful parkland reminded me of something I was at risk of forgetting.

    Magic is beautiful.

    Every leaf, blade of grass, insect and bird which caught my eye had its own colours and rhythm. With each footfall, my own energy became more a part of the natural world. Instead of heading straight into combat, I took a while to just exist. I became a part of the song the mana was singing, adding my voice to the choir. I had spent too much time visualising and overthinking my magic when all I really needed to do was live it.

    My inner world, chaotic and fractured in form since the first battering by the Hurricane Heart, was reforged easily. I could tell there were new layers of understanding and form waiting within my conceptualisations but for now, I put things back where they were. The mostly calm world returned. The rivers and flowers, storms and the volcano were as I remembered them. Within the volcano, the dragon grumbled at being held back but I ignored it.

    The power my soul had been able to wield against the Hurricane Heart was something similar to hysterical strength. The phantasmal dragon made of both Dao and magic still existed but I wasn¡¯t ready to wield its power. However, even though I could sense the Dao¡¯s complaints at being caged once more, I couldn¡¯t handle the power yet. A fair chunk of the damage my evolution repaired was from the overexertion in the moment.

    I continued pushing my body, struggling to reach my limits within the small area I contained myself. Extending my range, I began running to the trial towers. The paths were winding and a little thin but maintaining my pace and balance against those conditions was a welcome challenge.

    It was hard not to marvel at the whole situation. My profession was definitely dead in the water, I realised with a wry smirk. The evolution had not just remade my body, it had reinvigorated my soul beyond its old bounds. The damage to my soul had presented in doubts, anxieties and negative thoughts. Now, those dark shadows behind my emotions were gone.

    It had been early morning when my mad race around the Dungeon began. Any plans I had of assaulting the mysteries of the desert beyond the towers were cast aside. By the time I collapsed, drenched in sweat and all my energy spent for the day, the sun was lazily dipping below the treeline in the vague distance. It would get cold and dark soon.

    Neither affected me much, but I began a slow traipsing back towards Home Base. Naea had been increasingly tugging on our connection, letting me know she was bored. I decided to play a prank while indulging myself a little and opened up the faction page. Spending eight hundred coins, I purchased a completely unnecessary addition to Home Base.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    Naea¡¯s following emotions were fear, annoyance, confusion and then glee in that order. She began to explore the changes and her weight on our connection lessened, her attention elsewhere. I smiled, excited to see the place myself. Placing it from my mind, I decided it was time. My mana agreed, leaping to attention.

    I activated Infusion, my first skill activation since my evolution.

    The skill was as simple as could be. My mana already moved around my body a little like blood, Infusion simply concentrated the energy. The effect of the skill was always partially active due to my unconscious cycling of mana through my pathways. Instead of passively saturating my body, a use of Infusion caused the mana to be expended, essentially burning the fuel and revving up my engine.

    All of this was still true with the use of the skill in this instance. The difference which appeared wasn¡¯t down to technique on my part, or even a much higher mana capacity. The contrast from my previous uses and current was down to the efficiency by which my mana moved. The process which used to feel like blowing water through a straw was now more like drinking that same water.

    Instead of overcharging myself, my limbs were now waiting for the explosive power of Infusion to bring them to their natural level. My bones didn¡¯t creak with the extra strength moving them, my muscles didn¡¯t rip due to the forces contained within. Perception increased massively, but without the whiplash of too much information at once. Instead of sensory overload, it was the feeling of suddenly cleared sinuses.

    This was how the evolution had changed me down the line, actually. When I had been a Grade 0, I had actively felt myself press against the limits of the container. The bottleneck was now gone, welcome to the next container. Be it the strength I could output without damaging myself in return, the amount of mana I could force through my pathways at once or the analysis I could handle from improved senses, all were massively expanded.

    ¡°Damn,¡± I said to myself, ¡°I was stronger than most before my evolution but now?¡± I didn¡¯t answer my own rhetorical question as I felt that was a step too far. Instead I punctuated the examination with a casual swing of the Yo Staff. Like everything else, the magic of Staff Mastery had evolved and the weapon had never felt more like it belonged. The magic in the air chanted my name as I spun, the balance changing.

    I had become one with the ambient magic and mana of the Dungeon, but now I forced the magic of the world to bend for me. Nearby trees groaned and sand blown onto the grass from the desert floated in the air, glittering like motes of crystal. I concentrated and impressed my Dao upon the area. An inaudible snarl caused the world to buckle.

    I felt everything snap into place and I smashed the Yo Staff into the soft earth. From deep within the core of my inner world, the dragon shifted. The Dao Pool drained by a few cupfuls. My mana latched onto the Dao in the air and rejected any truth but my own. The staff fell, daring any force in existence to challenge its descent.

    The attack was the first time I had used Dao offensively instead of as a shield and the surrounding area paid the price for my experiment. I laughed wildly as the ground beneath my feet gave way. The power of Infusion made my fall almost boringly slow. I bounced from pieces of falling rocks and mounds of earth to avoid the sinkhole I created with my attack.

    I landed at the edge of a wide hole, twenty five feet across easily. Looking into it, I couldn¡¯t see the bottom but what I could see shocked me. There¡¯s a goddamn underground to this- Dungeon. There was no one around to see my deadpan expression, but I should have known. I suspected a boss would be waiting for me at the final trial tower. Or, perhaps, one would appear once the final tower was defeated.

    I had then hoped the final of the three dungeon bosses were deeper in the sands. My sense of danger in that direction felt like a clue, but now I didn¡¯t know what to think. There was an entire subterranean level to this place I had no knowledge of until now. Were there entrances to the underground somewhere? Maybe that¡¯s what I sensed in the desert.

    This was important but, ultimately, a distraction from something much more interesting. Uncomfortably aware the ground was not as firm as it looked, I put some distance between myself and the hole. Then, I could look at my newest System prompt.

    Dao Skill Unlocked - Infused Strike

    Mana is the fuel by which we alter the world. Dao is the truth we enforce upon reality. Together, they are the strike which alters reality to your whim.

    I was surprised to receive a burst of information from the System, shoring up my understanding at the edges. It had been silent when I created Harmony of the Storm, so I almost forgot the System seemed to be a training module first and foremost. The next time I tried to use the skill, it would come easier, without the interpretive staff dance beforehand. I hadn¡¯t left trying to gain or learn anything, but I was over the moon with this.

    My other skills were shades of the same effect, bequeathing me strength or electrical aura, but the rest was up to me. This was my first truly offensive skill and I couldn¡¯t wait to see its effectiveness against one of the many things trying to kill me at any point. Making a note of the hole, I shrugged and turned back to Home Base.

    I had bought Naea a literal fairy garden, and I was excited to see what the System had come up with for it. She was certainly happy, so I couldn¡¯t wait. I sighed happily. My body felt tired, but like my own again. My mana moved without issue. Whistling, feeling like I didn¡¯t have a care in the world, I made my way home.

    If I had stayed to make sure the sinkhole was safe, I wouldn¡¯t have been so carefree. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t there to see the creature pull itself from the dark and sniff the air, snapping its head in the direction of Home Base. I hadn¡¯t even considered the idea of a monster which could smell the Dao, or how dangerous something like that might be.

    It wouldn¡¯t take long until I found out.

 Chapter Thirty Three - Elsewhere

    The vistas of Grenath were once considered a wonder of the world. Due to the particularly powerful storms of the planet Tempus, erosion is a simple fact of life across the world. Thanks to the specific interaction of the chemicals in the rain and the most populous rock of the country, Grenath, the land was more affected than most.

    It was said that from any given point amongst the thin peaks of the Draynspire mountain range the view was so beautiful one would develop an understanding of the Dao without fail. Plateaus and valleys ran permanently with crystal clear waters from the mountains surrounding them. Whole ecosystems thrived in the various suspended rivers and waterfalls of the land.

    Of course, the mountains were long flattened and the entire world covered in pockmarks which had long run dry. Grenath, along with all other countries of Tempus, had been desiccated millennia ago. The parched world was one of many such planets, sucked clean of magic and life by the insatiable hunger of the Storm Dragon. I looked out over the devastated world with duelling beasts in my heart.

    Hatred and regret.

    With a stamp, I left the world behind, shattering the dusty shell like a pebble. Stopping at Tempus had been the final indulgence before the battle. The step was a simple one, the same step I had taken countless times to get to this place. I burned through the cosmos, tearing reality apart with the speed of my ascent.

    I had finally caught the slipstream of the demon. The rage of a thousand murdered worlds and the hopes of the millions more in need of protection swaddled my armour from the world-ending lightning strikes seeking to halt my advance. Thunder which would have shaken a planet¡¯s life from it rumbled impossibly in the void of space, but I ignored it all.

    There was no stopping me. The challenge I roared was not a single voice shouting into the tempest but a battle cry fueled by a trillion stolen lives. The zealotry which guided me through the storm was as much a part of me as the Dao which I used to fend off the dragon¡¯s. My aim was true, my destiny aligned. The dragon appeared in my sight for the first time since it had set us on this path.

    Fury guided my hands as the Dao bent to my will. ¡°Now you notice me?¡± I asked the Storm Dragon. It¡¯s mind was long lost to the power it supposedly contained in its body. The hurricane of apocalyptic energy swirling through space around me begged to differ on the definition of containment.

    My skin was ruined long before my hand clenched around one of the dragon¡¯s scales for purchase. The pain was blinding. My muscles tried to seize but my frenzied mana moved my body in spite of the lightning¡¯s paralytic effects. Swinging my arms automatically, my blade finally drank the blood of my mortal enemy. With cataclysmic force and furious determination, the weapon swept through the beast. The glaive sliced through the tough hide easily and my resolve hardened.

    I can do this, I reaffirmed. Fervent need for vengeance doesn¡¯t require proof of possibility but the small part of my mind which contained my ego was satisfied. The insidious whispers which said I wasn¡¯t ready were silenced by the scream of pain the lightning lizard loosed. A river of purple blood drained from the wound, each drop containing a typhoon¡¯s worth of energy.

    I had trained for centuries, planned for many more and done all I could to face the Storm Dragon in combat. Alone, I had chased and avoided the creature in equal measures over the centuries, gathering strength and deepening my understanding of the Dao. My glaive, a masterpiece worth more than most galaxies, sang with delight as the Dao of the Dying Star rippled along its blade.

    A weapon created by someone as desperate for revenge as myself. A Dao born from the aftermath of the dragon¡¯s actions. The final survivor of the planet the dragon first drained for power. A culmination of entropy cultivated entirely by myself and the Storm Dragon which I aimed to kill.

    Locked in battle for thousands of years, the deadlock remained. The dragon could gain no more power with me harrying its every movement, occupying its every thought. I had long reached the peak of my potential, the only changes available to me were in technique. Once the dragon and I found equilibrium, determination was left to hold back dismay.

    The answer had been obvious from the first impact with the creature. We were too evenly matched and both far too hard to kill. For each near-lethal wound the monster scored my form with, it received a brutal retaliation. Both would then recover to a healthy point and the clash would occur again. On and on, their battle would last until one of them gave up or, more likely, the universe collapsed on them.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    The trance of my battle with the Storm Dragon was all-encompassing. The tiny sliver of ego which could form thought was happy with the deadlock. The potency of our attacks fell at the same rate as we both starved, neither of us able to mount the defence we had when the battle began. The cosmos at large nearly forgot the Storm Dragon ever plagued its skies.

    A new iteration was added and everything changed. ¡°Why?¡± I screamed. The rage inside me had all but been spent. I had been kindling the final embers for the last era, still needing fury to fuel my bones but for the first time in an eternity, something changed. The Storm Dragon laughed and fear found my soul for the second time I could remember.

    Then it happened. ¡°How?¡± The dragon didn¡¯t reply. It simply redoubled its offence as a massive drain stole my strength. I became a plaything, smashed through the fabric of the universe to the dragon¡¯s whim. The answer was clear, if impossible. ¡°Another Stormborn?¡±

    The flames of anger sputtered out and I knew they could never reignite. The fire had made charcoal of my soul and been one of my oldest companions. Rage was no longer necessary. The black and red shadows of hate were cast away by golden rays of hope. There is another!

    I had been the last Stormborn for longer than the memory of most planets. I was an ancient force of will before the universe which had been stapled onto the rest was even born. The title granted by the System for my place as the final bastion for the Stormborn people was incredibly potent. Gaining it had been the penultimate step before I assaulted the beast itself. The most costly by far.

    I laughed wildly, happily expending some strength to find out more about this fledgling member of my dead race. The cost was great, further upsetting the balance between myself and the dragon. I was already losing, and there was no purchase to find to stop the slide, so I might as well spoil myself a little. Oh, I see. How did this human become Stormborn? Is that the Dao of the Dragon? And this power within his core¡­

    In spite of the endless agony the battle had been, I began to chuckle as I looked at the boy¡¯s attributes, his achievements and his title. How had this maniac killed a dragon already? My own achievements paled in comparison by far, since you could only develop them before the evolution to grade 2. The pill he had swallowed! The Hurricane Heart itself! The dragon had stolen the pill so it could never be used against it, and maybe it had succeeded¡­ but maybe not. The boy¡¯s heart spoke of conquest. I erupted with laughter.

    The howling of our battle had long quietened. The great Tree had shaken with its force at one point but the power of the pair had waned massively over time. They were just two old immortal shades in a forgotten corner of a lowly branch on the Tree. It would definitely be surprising to hear my joy ring out louder than the storm had been in aeons.

    ¡°So this is it!¡± I guffawed at my ancient nemesis. ¡°A gamble? Good luck, primordial lizard of lightning.¡± I would give the boy as much time as I could. Creaking muscles and bones which should have long turned to dust roused themselves once more. My title had vanished as I was no longer the last of my race, but the desire to persevere almost made up the difference.

    Almost.

    ¡°Train well, young Grant,¡± I whispered, loading my memories in a packet. The sliver of ego I had maintained was finally serving a true purpose as I fired it towards the sleeping boy. How much he would understand was up to a few factors, but it was mostly up to him. This would all appear as nothing more than a vivid dream to him, after all.

    At least until he got the title. I would hold on as long as I could before that target landed on his back. He didn¡¯t need it right now and the power it would force onto his shoulders was far too much for someone who hadn¡¯t even created a Dao System yet. Hopefully the boy would reach Grade 2 by the time I died.

    Gently, I let the memories cross the astral to Grant¡¯s mind. No more thought in my body. I was a bonfire, all there was left to do was burn. The Dao of the Dying Star swelled in delight as I became a supernova. The Storm Dragon tried to flee but it was no longer facing a man, it was facing inevitability. I would inevitably die, and it would win.

    Grant Kaeron would inevitably become too powerful for his newly-joined planet to contain and would take his first steps onto the boughs of the Tree. The Storm Dragon would hunt for him. I had no words of advice. It was a harder path than mine. I thought back to the mistakes and tribulations I had faced to reach this point, all the regrets and things I would do differently. He still had that ahead of him.

    I was jealous.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    I woke up to an alarm blaring. That had been some dream, but I shook it off quickly. Stupid dragon. In each corner of the room, indeed every room as I started towards the front door, lights were flickering. Red then green, the lights were joined by a siren. Naea flew into my chest at pace, screaming in both fear and anger. She had been sleeping, too.

    ¡°Never a dull moment,¡± I shouted, ¡°I don''t know how to get the alarm to stop!¡± Silence followed my words as though Home Base itself was telling me I¡¯m stupid. It¡¯s magic, idiot. ¡°Okay, great. Still don¡¯t know what triggered it, you ready for a fight?¡±

    Honestly, I had never seen her more ready. Instead of the Chibizashi, Naea removed the Stunchucks from her inventory and began slowly spinning one end. ¡°You just find the bastard that woke me up and I¡¯ll show you what a fight looks like.¡± I smirked, but this was no laughing matter. The range for the defences had risen, but I could feel the barrier now it was under pressure.

    Under pressure from all sides.

 Chapter Thirty Four - The Surge

    Naea and I were quite different individuals. Due to our connection as Familiar and Patron, the parts of our personalities which aligned were often heightened by each other. When we both found something funny, the reverberation of that humour through our connection caused the joke to tickle all the more. If we agreed something was disgusting, the revulsion was doubled.

    Apparently, neither of us enjoyed being awoken by attackers in the middle of the night. I found it hard to calm myself down as we both egged each other on spiritually. Naea was doubly protective of Home Base since the addition of her new Fairy Garden, so we moved to the barrier closest to the beautiful garden.

    I had spent a short time there the previous night, having a meal with Naea. The area was small, a patch of only around fifty square feet but it was idyllic. There were toadstools for Naea to sit on, and a gnarled tree stump for myself. A tiny stream started and ended curiously, running through the garden but nowhere else. Strange glimmers could be seen in the water, but they were just tricks of the light. The air itself seemed to be more wild there, and Naea loved it.

    The pressure on the barrier varied in places but the assault was from all sides. A hazy shimmer like a heat mirage made it difficult to see the attackers until we were close. Stopping around ten yards away, I hesitated for the first time. My Manasight picked up their levels, but nothing else. My normal eyes couldn¡¯t help but avert. These things are nasty, I whined mentally.

    Monster - ??? - Level 32

    Monster - ??? - Level 36

    Monster - ??? - Level 35

    Monster - ??? - Level 39

    ¡°What the hell am I looking at, Naea?¡± The monsters were all clearly the same base creature, but there were dozens of bizarre variations to the group. I¡¯d never seen anything like it. Due to her connection to the System as a Dungeon Fairy, Naea received encyclopaedic information when asked questions, but not before. Her face scrunched up like she had swallowed a mouthful of lemon juice.

    ¡°No information?¡± She growled, tearing her eyes away from the strange creatures to look  skywards. She shook her head and we took a calming breath simultaneously. ¡°Nothing. I have no information.¡±

    ¡°Well, not from the System,¡± I agreed, disappointed, ¡°but my eyes and Dao are telling me these things are bad news.¡± The closest description physically for the creatures were spider monkeys, but without a head. Ranging from the size of a large dog to a hulking monstrosity as big as a shed, most were about the same height as myself. If it was just their general masses separating them, I¡¯d have already jumped in.

    I struggled to make heads-or-tails of their physical form. They weren¡¯t moving naturally, the limbs which pounded on the barrier of Home Base emerging from and disappearing  into their bodies at random. The lovecraftian, unnatural forms held something scarier than their appearance. My Dao creased in rage at the realisation.

    Each of these creatures contained a whisper of Dao, mutated to give life to something evil. I doubted I was actually seeing what they really looked like, but I had no desire to remove the veil. With a flex, my aura spread over my body. Naea saw me and did the same with a nod. ¡°You should go first, quick hit and run.¡±

    Her expression hardened. She hadn¡¯t stopped twirling the Stunchucks since we left the building and the tension was getting uncomfortable even for me. If she slipped and glanced at me with the nunchuck I would be annihilated. She glanced at me, and I gestured to the largest one. ¡°Go big or go home.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m already at home!¡± Naea had to shout to be heard as she sped off towards the massive variant. Hammering at the barrier constantly, it was a great target for Naea¡¯s first use of the stunchucks. I suspected the attack might not be effective on its own but I had high confidence in Infused Strike being able to deal with the creatures.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Some of my skills translated through to Naea like Harmony of the Storm had, and some didn¡¯t like Weapon Mastery. Infused Strike was one which translated through to her. The air around Naea sang with the Dao of the Fairy Dragon, sounds of burbling streams and early morning birdsong filled the air. She slashed through the air, the charged length of wood trailing behind her, the tail of her comet.

    She smashed into and through the creature like a meteor. It was the highest level of the lot at level 41, but she tore through it like sandpaper. I almost shivered as the feeling of progression returned, the kill bringing me closer to my own next level. It had been a while since I felt it. With a whoop, she returned, swapping the stunchucks for her half-sized katana. I gave her a high five and we got to work.

    With Naea at my back, I left the protection of Home Base¡¯s and attacked. As one, the creatures ceased their attack on the barrier. Even ones which were on the far side stopped and I felt the ground tremble a little as dozens of the nameless monsters began making their way towards me. I looked back to safety a single time before abandoning it. Naea wouldn¡¯t forgive me if her garden got damaged.

    ¡°Come on! I¡¯m the target!¡± As I shouted, I released a wisp of Dao into the air. A mistake. Dozens of techniques were unleashed at once, all in my direction. I yelped and thanked my stars I had activated Infusion along with my shout. The world slowed to a crawl and I shot away quickly. The spot I had just been was variously vaporised, demolished or exterminated by the slew of attacks.

    Balls of flame, boulders, metal spikes, you name it. It was as though the core of the earth had decided to attack me from beneath and above at once. Each attack landed short but the danger I felt from them was unmatched by anything but the Storm Dragon. These things were truly nothing next to its power, but underestimating them would still get me killed. I doubted I¡¯d heal so easily from the burns and lacerations caused by a Dao strengthened attack.

    The stampede was on my trail the moment I broke away. They were already after me, and I had just wafted my tasty scent in all of their faces. ¡°They can smell my Dao!¡± I had to shout as ungodly noises had begun retching and heaving from behind. I hadn¡¯t seen any mouths, yet horrific screeching was all around me. I tried not to think about it.

    Keeping a pace, I led the group of around fifty enemies on a chase while I studied their capabilities. Before long, I was able to pick out the particular attack which was coming my way just from the ability of my new race, the Stormborn. Sensing the affinity of mana in the air, I began to understand the ¡°flavour¡± of the attacks.

    The Dao of Fire stank like smoke and sizzled my nostrils, despite being downwind. The Dao of Earth made the world feel dull as the boulders flew towards me, colour returning as the heavy attacks smashed against the ground or trees. Attacks created by the Dao of Metal were preceded by the mana in the air screaming like rusty nails on a chalkboard.

    My speed was higher than any of the monsters, so I slowed to let the fastest catch up. Picking it off, I repeated the process. I was voracious in developing my understanding and took way more damage than I had to. When a creature came close enough, I watched its pathways and allowed one use of their technique. The paths were murky and hidden by the shadowy forms, but it was still insightful.

    Hurt, too.

    My legs were the worst off as more than a few spikes had shredded the skin. It also had the unfortunate effect of ripping my new bottoms, removing a portion of my mana regeneration. I was burning more than I was recovering to keep ahead of the pack but it was too slow. Naea was starting to pant from exertion, most of her mana being used to heal me. Using her own mana was important to her growth, but it was time to use everything at our disposal.

    The first step was one we hadn¡¯t leaned on much as it hadn¡¯t been needed up to now. It had seen some use in the trial tower of the Storm Dragon, but that was a whole evolution ago. Battle Bond was vague in its description which really meant it had a wide range of uses.

    Skill - Battle Bond (Dragon)

    A bond forged in battle is as strong as they come.

    Effect: Patron and Familiar may share mana, for various effects.

    Harmony of the Storm allowed me to charge my energy with storm affinities. For myself, this presented as attacks coated in lightning, thunderous strikes which caused shockwaves and, less noticeably, a more fluid ability to dodge incoming attacks. When activated together, Battle Bond had a pronounced effect on Naea. Her form was slightly changed from when I met her, her evolution to Grade 1 to thank.

    When my magic coursed through her, it was a whole different story. The changes which had been only hinted at before became focal. Her eyes narrowed and took on the slitted lizard shape of a dragon. Her hair slicked against her back and became ridges while her wings took on a leathery batlike appearance. I recognised her as looking more like the dragon created by my Dao visualisation than the Storm Dragon itself, which made sense.

    Naea¡¯s pool of energy was shallow enough I couldn¡¯t take the same, form-altering amount of energy. For her sake, I drained her well enough that my power wouldn¡¯t shatter the container. Naea being the container, this seemed sensible. The colours of nature became more pronounced, mostly. If there were illusion or trickery afoot, I¡¯d be able to see through it, but the enemy was simply to a fault.

    They were raw power. Misshapen Dao grown into a monstrous form, desperately hunting for any more. Mindless chunks of energy chasing after me on instinct. Their movements were unnatural but simple, already well understood. I spun the Yo Staff and planted it into the ground. Using its flexibility, I vaulted backwards as a human sized cannonball. The first attack didn¡¯t kill the creature I collided with, but the second did, infused with Dao. My eyes glimmered. These things really were monsters. Which meant they were something else, as well.

    They were levels.

 Chapter Thirty Five - Take Me To Your Leader

    The combat was fairly simple once the conditions had been met. The capabilities of the enemy were understood, the chaotic energy at the start of the combat had waned massively. We continued our jagged, pinball bounce around the parkland area of the Dungeon, whittling away the numbers of the crowd. The added quirk which made the battle turn from attrition to destruction was the charges I began to make through their ranks.

    I allowed myself to take more damage than necessary which in turn left me inflict far more devastation than I otherwise would. Unlike the monsters, which were admittedly higher level, I was also growing in power as the fight continued. Swells of energy burst over and over as System prompts told me I was levelling up again. The prompts came with a burst of rejuvenating energies which made staying in the battle easier.

    Each time I grabbed some distance, I added the free attribute points equally to Fortitude and Speed. The impact of Infusion increased by virtue of physics, rather than magic. Being able to hit harder and faster as a base meant the multiplicative function of Infusion on my attributes was all the more effective. In three levels, the two attributes more than doubled.

    The enemies were being destroyed in one or two hits to begin with and by the time the slowest of them fell, I could only marvel at the speed of my growth. Jumping up a grade was no joke. Of course, I had a few additional benefits to go with the evolution in the form of potent achievements. Those points alone were worth nearly a whole level up to now, more when my hidden efficiency was factored in.

    Basically, I was a problem.

    The dungeon was built with me in mind, but I was outscaling it by leaps and bounds thanks to my earliest gains. The efficacy of the Yo Staff and my Dao of the Dragon were also immense and I had basically lucked into them. The concept of luck wasn¡¯t much of a factor in my old life, but it was hard not to think about it now.

    Good luck wasn¡¯t far removed from a good destiny. Fate was a subject one could get themselves wrapped up in but I had a simple solution. To stop my mind from running in circles about my place in the universe, I made the decision to believe there was no such thing. If ¡°destiny¡± really did exist, I would find a way to slip outside of its threads. Grandiose and juvenile maybe, but riding the high of battle and level ups, I felt like I could face anything. Even the forces which bind reality.

    The small stuff.

    Magic had proven reality wasn¡¯t set. With enough power and understanding, the rules of the world became malleable. I crackled some lightning on my fingers before wrapping them around my staff. I used it to haul myself to my feet. The battle had taken hours, the sun was beginning to rise, and I wanted nothing more than to crawl back to bed. Instead, I tapped the closest monster corpse hopefully.

    Would you like to loot Dark Young?

    Well, there¡¯s the name, at least. Pretty ominous. ¡°Naea, what do we know about the Dark Young? Anything new now we have a name?¡± I confirmed the looting process while watching my inventory. ¡°Oh wow. That was like fifty coins.¡± A quick calculation had this group as two and a half thousand coins. They were much more valuable than the scorepions, which were the only other enemy I had killed in bulk.

    Inventory

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted) - 5442

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint) - 5,562

    Yo Staff

    Sorehammer

    Storm Arrows

    Assorted Earth foods

    Aspect of the Tempest

    I pointedly ignored the Aspect sitting tantalisingly in my inventory. If my current power proved lacking, I would consider putting my soul through more stress, but for now I was comfortable with the magic inside. The Hurricane Heart was more contained than ever after some of its power was stripped to create the Aspect of the Tempest. There was every chance binding to a new Aspect would make everything go crazy again. I quickly tapped the remaining corpses in the area. Some were strewn about the parkland and would need to be collected later.

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    ¡°Dark Young?¡± Naea asked. Her tone caused me to snap my head away from the inventory. The disgust was clear and natural but it came with an exasperation which surprised me. ¡°No wonder they stink. They¡¯re not made of magic like other monsters, they¡¯re also a sign of a bigger problem.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, the Young part got me thinking the same thing. Does that mean there¡¯s a Dark Mother down there or something?¡± I joked, but Naea actually nodded at me. I frowned, not willing to engage on how those things were actually born.

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly it. A big clump of filthy mana and Dao managed to gain something close to intelligence and is ripping these pieces off of it. They steal whatever Dao they can find and bring it back to the broodmother.¡±

    ¡°They eat Dao?¡±

    ¡°The mother does. These things being so strong means the thing spawning them is nearly at Grade 2. If it gets that strong¡­ Well, we¡¯ll probably be fine, but let¡¯s not risk it.¡± There wasn¡¯t much point in lying to each other, but Naea lied to herself, so I reinforced it.

    ¡°Damn right. You¡¯re saying we shouldn¡¯t wait on this one, so let¡¯s go. First things first though¡­¡± I looked pointedly at the bodies. Naea was uncharacteristically calm while surrounded by a potential feast. Not only did the act give her lots of experience towards levels, it was basically a high. This time, she grimaced as I suggested she get to eating. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    She sniffed one of the bodies performatively before holding her nose and gagging. ¡°They stink like pigshit, that¡¯s the problem. Like I said, not normal monsters. They¡¯ll disappear after a few hours without energy to animate them. Let¡¯s just go.¡± Not being a huge fan of Naea¡¯s eating habits to start with, I wasn¡¯t going to argue even if a part of me lamented leaving experience on the ground.

    We did a quick loop and collected the gains from the other fallen enemies before making our way to the hole I had smashed the day before. The claw marks from the creatures dragging themselves out from underground was obvious. Naea looked at me with a heavy coat of judgement which I took in stride. ¡°My bad,¡± I conceded. Naea didn¡¯t argue but she did roll her eyes.

    The sun had risen enough to see inside now, but there wasn¡¯t much to see to start with. I had caved in the roof of a small cavern which I could now see had a few tunnels leading away. I dropped down quietly and closed my eyes. My sight here would be based on mana anyway. Above, the grass and trees were glittering with sparks of life mana. Below, the earth had its own heartbeat.

    Waves of energy slowly passed through the hard stone walls. I tapped a finger against the wall and watched the energy pass through. Repeating the process with some mana at the top of my finger caused a bright flash all over. ¡°Cool, it¡¯s like echolocation.¡± I consciously noticed how adept my use of mana had become. To overcome a new problem in the moment I found it was quite impressive. The benefits of a high Mental attribute were more subtle than just improved mana control.

    I proffered my shoulder for Naea to sit. She could see mana as well as I could, my recent gains only catching up to her natural skill but the walls were tight enough to make flying a hassle. ¡°No breeze to catch underground either,¡± Naea grumbled. She was grumpy from being awoken in the night, let alone attacked. I pat her on the head and chuckled slightly.

    Pounding through the tunnels seemed like a terrible idea, so I focused on keeping my step light. I also restrained my Dao completely, strangling it so it wouldn¡¯t draw any attention. It was a frustrating feeling to have power and be required to hide it. The Dao of the Dragon was at odds with the need to hide. It demanded I simply be stronger.

    Would that it were so simple. The Aspect in my inventory would only make the Dao inside me more powerful. Aspects were the starting seed for a Dao, and further understanding with the Aspect would give it a Dao form, like the Dao Pool in my soul. With my recent extensive study of storms, I would no doubt evolve the Aspect quickly. Amazing for power, terrible for stealth. Soon, I calmed myself.

    The monster was gaining power underground and Naea seemed confident it would be way worse if left to do as it wanted. Taking an Aspect right now could give it the time it needed to evolve. Unconsciously, my pace quickened. The halls felt tighter with each step. After a while, that was true, the path we had taken was getting too compact for me to continue.

    There was no doubt the broodmother was in this direction. The rotten cloy of its Dao was getting stronger, and the remnants of its Dark Young¡¯s passage were clear. Scratches in the rock, filled with whispers of tainted magic. The revulsion Naea had felt earlier was getting easier to understand. These things were an unnatural blight.

    The rocks of the underground felt¡­ empty. Somehow less like a stone than they should. I pressed my hand more firmly into it and felt it crumble easily. The Dao has been drained. If I could see with my eyes, I would probably see grey, mineral-dry stone. However the broodmother did it, the very earth had lost its understanding of what it was meant to be. My mind shied away from trying to grasp the concepts at play. I cracked my neck and rolled my shoulders.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a small gap before it widens,¡± Naea whispered to me. She had flit ahead to scout and come back nearly instantly. Drawing the Yo Staff, I pressed the magical weapon into the rock ahead. I pushed my arm through the gap while using the sturdy staff to carve the flimsy rock away gently. With a few pushes, enough rock was removed for me to squeeze through.

    The space beyond the tunnel was a much larger cavern than the first. I froze the moment I entered. No amount of hiding was keeping the eyes I felt land on me at bay. ¡°Oh sh-¡± I grabbed Naea and threw myself to the side. The Yo Staff dropped, it was caught in the explosion of rock where we had just been. The tight exit was blocked as a huge slab of stone crashed into it and plugged our escape route.

    We miscalculated.

    Dozens of shapes appeared to my Manasense. Dark Young started surging forward in the dark. I stamped my foot hard, sending a blast of mana into the surroundings. The world lit up, dark silhouettes of nothing where the Dark Young were. The sight lasted for a few seconds and I started bounding around the room, getting a rhythm. ¡°She¡¯s not here, but she¡¯s going to know we are now!¡±

    Good, my Dao taunted. I removed the tethers from the dragon and the blank spots in the universe became even more clear. Even without my eyes, the whole cavern was within my capability to watch. ¡°Same as before, stick behind me. Mother dearest gave us some more levels to grind before we reach her.¡±

 Chapter Thirty Six - The Hive Queen

    The first cavern of enemies was only enough to get me a single level. Naea was better off with my achievement increasing her experience gains. For the most part, she stuck as support but I had no worries about her ability to look after herself. Even with my various buffs, she was by no means lagging behind. When we used Battle Bond, the gap shrunk to basically nothing.

    We became two purifiers, scouring a disease from the land beneath our home. Respite became harder and harder to find as we pushed on. The unknowable complex of bulbous caverns continued deeper into the earth, the floors and tunnels sloping downwards without fail. The paths between caverns were thankfully short compared to the first we had taken.

    My rate of personal progress started to slow after I gained another level. This time, all twenty points went into Mental. In just under an hour, I had filled the vessel within my core over and over. The speed had quickly diminished, however. Were enemy levels not the be all and end all for experience gained? Well, it¡¯s called experience. Trying not to forget I had a search engine on wings around, I asked Naea.

    She looked thoughtful before nodding. ¡°The higher we go in levels, the more the effort of the fight matters compared to the enemy itself.¡± We were taking a break to catch our breath in a small bubble between caverns. On either side were defeated groups of Dark Young. The twisted Dao within the creatures was putrid to Naea¡¯s senses. Rather than sit in the nasty smells, we backtracked slightly.

    We discussed the mechanisms behind growth for a while. I took the time to get a fair few questions out of my system, even though most didn¡¯t receive complete answers. Naea wasn¡¯t sure what the level distinctions between grades were. Neither did she know whether everyone received the same free points from levelling. Monsters gained wildly variable attributes when they levelled up.

    ¡°What about moving up a grade? My free points per level jumped quite a lot. How do they get worked out?¡± I didn¡¯t expect a System-based response, so I was surprised when Naea¡¯s eye lit up as they usually did when receiving new information.

    ¡°Every creature has a base attribute level. They¡¯re personal, but each species has an average. For humans, it¡¯s four. Stormborn, probably the same, because,¡± Naea leaned in. ¡°Each grade doubles the free points per level. Your base is ten because of achievements, so you get twenty. You lucky boy, you.¡±

    I frowned and nodded. I wasn¡¯t displeased, just thoughtful. ¡°Without my achievements, I¡¯d have only gained¡­ twenty four points since moving up a grade. Instead, I¡¯ve had eighty. With all the hidden percentages, my Mental attribute is twice as potent as it says on paper, with the rest not far behind.¡±

    ¡°Mhm,¡± Naea mumbled. Her mouth was full with a protein bar. I still had a bunch of food from the caf¨¦ as I didn¡¯t need to eat nearly as much to stay full. Naea just snacked because she was bored, a trait I¡¯d never developed myself. Still full, she spoke through the food. ¡°Monthsta.¡±

    ¡°Chew your food and shut up,¡± I teased. With my attributes as high as they were, it had been a while since I jumped in capability like I just had. When I had raised my Fortitude and Speed earlier, the jump wasn¡¯t as noticeable because I had already been working with equivalent abilities due to Infusion. However, I had just added an extra fifteen percent or so to my primary attribute and it felt damn good.

    My pathways felt lined with porcelain, the mana which raced through them a velvet river under my skin. My inner world was all storms and smoke, but that¡¯s what it was supposed to look like. Slowly, I was covering the entirety with fertile ground as the rains brought flowery fields to life all over. The crackling energy of the Hurricane Heart hung high above the planet, a facsimile sun made of lightning and thunder. My soul would soon be ready. A growl from within the volcano suggested I hurry.

    I opened my eyes and shook my head. The impatience characterised by the dragon was my own and controlling it was as simple as changing my mindset. Getting ahead of myself would only get me killed or tortured by the System again. I reached a new balance with my abilities after the level up quickly, old hat at the feeling now. ¡°Ready?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do this,¡± Naea replied, drawing the Chibizashi. The Yo Staff rarely left my side these days and I gathered it from across my legs. The magical item was an interesting creation and using it as a kind of resistor for my mana was a part of my exercises and meditations. Being able to perfectly move mana through the weapon was as much a part of my fighting style as Infusion.

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    The next cavern was much like the previous four. As we pushed through the terrible monsters, I was never so glad for my lack of eyesight. Being able to sense mana meant the creatures appeared as a smudge of dirty magic. Much preferred to getting a headache when my eyes tried to work out what they were supposed to look like. The Dark Young weren¡¯t supposed to look like anything. They weren¡¯t supposed to exist.

    I didn¡¯t have high hopes for an attractive mother behind the scenes.

    After the fifth cavern, the stench was becoming uncomfortable even for me. We were definitely getting close. There were two entrances to this space, the way we came in and the next tunnel. From the waves of foetid Dao belching out of the room, you¡¯d get no prizes for guessing it was our destination. I rolled my neck. ¡°Highway to hell, baby.¡±

    ¡°Ooh! Why do I know about a band called Acey deecy?¡±

    ¡°I could literally hear you say that wrong somehow. I¡¯ll show you when I can.¡± I looked at Naea with a wry smirk. I wouldn¡¯t be able to see it, but she could. ¡°I promise.¡± Naea smacked my arm for making fun. Promises are serious stuff to fairies after all. I meant it, though. Having something to look forward to made it possible to step into the dark in the first place. Sin¨¨ad will love her.

    Thinking of my youngest sister ignited the fire. The careful containment of my Dao was shattered and my aura pushed out like a roar. ¡°Weren¡¯t we being quiet?¡± Naea asked with amusement and relief, finally using her Dao to block out the sinister whispers and stink of the broodmother. My slip of concentration had ruined our careful planning but we were close enough it didn¡¯t matter. The previous battles had been fought with a hand behind our backs, unwilling to use too much Dao in case we incited the big lady herself.

    Our tandem auras rang out in concert now. In a heckling retort, a foul mixture of broken Dao was thrown back at us. We both gagged. Even heading in the creature¡¯s direction was a fight. My semi-permanent smirk became a snarl. Naea and I didn¡¯t back down from fights. You can ask the Storm Dragon.

    Mercifully, or perhaps not, the tunnel was another short one. We emerged into an absolutely massive space. We must be under the desert somewhere, I mused. Was this place the source of the danger I had sensed out in the sands? There were multiple Dark Young in the huge bowl of the room. I stamped hard and tried to get a full look at the place.

    No chance. Even with my monstrous Mental attribute fueling my mana, there was a limit to its strength. The huge room was over a kilometre of empty space like a hill¡¯s worth of dirt and rock had simply vanished to make space. There was no time to scout further as the first of the Dark Young came crashing through the darkness in search of my delicious Dao.

    Monster - Dark Young - Level 42

    Monster - Dark Young - Level 43

    Monster - Dark Young - Level 46

    Each and every minion in the place was stronger than any we had seen before. Naea took the initiative and true light appeared in the cave. The sharp contrast might have been blinding before the System, but my faculties were made of sturdy stuff these days. Magic stuff. As a streak of lightning, Naea chained between the incoming Dark Young.

    With each swing of the Chibizashi, multiple enemies suffered. The creatures weren¡¯t completely mindless but their clumsy dodges weren¡¯t enough to deal with the uncertain length of the sword. After stunning a group with a lightning-covered charge of her body, she began slicing away with abandon. Her skill in swordplay hadn¡¯t improved much, but her attributes had and they more than covered the gaps in her form.

    I leapt into the air to join Naea, planning to smash the largest Dark Young I could see with my initial attack. The first of Naea¡¯s enemies was defeated before I landed. There was a scream from deeper in the cavern as the progeny fell. It wasn¡¯t audible to the ears but my very soul shuddered away from its rage. For an instant, I was completely removed from the System¡¯s power as the connection between my body and soul slipped.

    The moment passed quickly but it was enough to put me in a bad spot. The massive lump of energy which grabbed me felt like maggots crawling on the skin of my neck. I blasted my body with Infusion, stacking three on top of each other quickly before whipping my Dao through the creature. Whatever limb it grabbed me with exploded, the higher quality of my Dao both a fuel and anathema to the creature at the same time.

    I slew this one, and another screech rocked my spirit. I jumped over to Naea, using a thick Dao aura to defend the pair of us. For the first time in a long time, I drew a ranged projectile. I hadn¡¯t found much use for the Storm Arrows so far as they didn¡¯t fit with my fighting style. With the huge space and large numbers, I thought it made sense to give them a try.

    I channelled mana into the arrow, colouring the magic with Harmony of the Storm. The sturdy yet mundane arrow suddenly lived up to its namesake as it buzzed with voltaic energies. It lit up the room as I launched it, illuminating the many dozens of Dark Young still shambling towards us. When the arrow landed, a colossal explosion ripped into the rock of the wall and I flinched a little. The cavern held firm as an electrical whirlwind tore against the side opposite.

    While my mana wasn¡¯t able to see all the way across the underground space, my eyes could. I desperately wished to be mistaken as my eyes fought to make sense of what was clearly the progenitor of these foul abominations. A gargantuan mass of flesh, pitch black in places, bright violet in others, extricated itself from a wall like a bruise ripping itself from skin. The broodmother itself, I presumed. As much as I didn¡¯t want to, I needed to know.

    Boss Monster - Shub-Nagorath, Mother Of Gluttony - Level 69

    The thing was big. At least as big as the Scorepion Manager, probably even larger than that. Where light hit the creature, orifices of every shape and function could be spotted. They variously performed their main function, or violently flouted biological norms to do otherwise. Mouths screamed and vomited while the¡­ other holes did their thing. Long spindles and jowls hung from its body, dripping fluids. If these are her babies then are those-

    ¡°Nope.¡± I decided.

    ¡°Nope,¡± Naea agreed.

 Chapter Thirty Seven - Naeaéˆ¥æªš Nature

    The desire to turn on my heel and run was palpable, but ignored. This monstrosity got stronger by the day and I could feel how close it was to evolving. The jump from 0 to 1 was a large leap in power, but grade 2 would be another insane burst of power. Even though I desperately wanted to go, leaving wasn¡¯t an option. This was do or die.

    Naea hadn¡¯t been able to tell me what the grade limits were but Shub-Nagorath both looked and felt close to bursting. The gruesome pile of screaming, ululating mouths, bubbling sections roiling with limbs was slowly moving along the ceiling, tassels of abhorrent skin and muscle hanging down and brushing the floor.

    The closest Dark Young attached themselves to the end of the tassels and made a noise uncomfortably similar to my own familiar when she ate bodies. ¡°Do I sound-¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I cut Naea off. She could feel the lie in my reply and barked a laugh. I threw her a quick glance and felt my wellspring of pride become renewed. She looked fierce. The blade in her hand fit perfectly. Her wings were sharp, whipping quickly to keep her hovering in the air. Her musculature looked more defined than even a few days before. Confidence, both in herself and me, straightened her back and hardened her wide eyes.

    Those features would change once the fight started and Battle Bond altered her appearance. Slower and more powerful wings, quicker and more predatory eyes, along with a similar upgrade in strength I received from Infusion. She wouldn¡¯t be a great match up, but I would bet at her current peak, she could face the Scorepion Manager on her own.

    Of course, all of this growth culminated in the shimmering aura which surrounded her. She glittered like a jewel in the darkness, a literally diamond in the muck right now. The Dao of the Fairy Dragon was a sister Dao to my own, and the two crooned as my own aura rode out to meet Naea¡¯s. Together our Dao illuminated the filthy gloom.

    At our show of force, the Mother of Gluttony raged. The Dark Young which had begun suckling at her tainted teets were flung like bullets as she began to spin in place like a top. Some smashed into walls, but more than a few flew straight for us. ¡°What the fuck?¡± I asked the question once, while dodging, and left it in the air for the rest of the fight. With a smooth movement, I pulled a Storm Arrow from my inventory.

    Like a drumstick, I spun the arrow around my fingers, charging it with mana. If she wanted to fight from a distance, I was more than happy to try and meet her there. Closing in on the thing physically was so awful an idea I wouldn¡¯t do it if I could avoid it. Once the arrow was heavy with magic, I stacked four Infusion charges on top of each other. My muscles bulged and the air around me became heavy with the excess mana of my actions.

    Storm Arrows being over a metre long, I took a single step back. Two steps forward, crushing the rotten rock at my feet before I launched the projectile. I¡¯m goddamn Zeus, I marvelled, watching the lightning bolt seek its target like a laser. My Infusion ran out in seconds and the manoeuvre cost me a sixth of my total mana, but it was worth it.

    A magical flare, the cave was bathed in yellow and blue lights as the arrow made its way to the ceiling. With all the speed and force the return stroke of a lightning bolt creates, the Storm Arrow flew true. The comparatively tiny projectile sunk into half-real, half-nightmare flesh. An instant later, a tiny sun was born from the collision. A hundred mouths moaned at once, some with pain and others with pleasure.

    ¡°Seriously, fuck this thing. It¡¯s the worst.¡± I began charging arrow after arrow. It seemed to be working, at least. Naea created a zone of death around me so I could become an artillery. Despite the dire surroundings, and they were dire, I had finally done it. Through a confluence of good luck, bad luck, and a complete disregard for sense, my transformation was complete.

    I stood stationary, gathering magic fuel into magic lightning arrows, while my familiar fought off twisted abominations from my nightmares. My familiar, a fairy, who carved through the air as a sword wielding lightning bolt and had the slightly draconic features of my own personal flavour of magic. All of this so I could hurl multiple javelins of lightning as a monstrosity Lovecraft would be happy with but name uncomfortably.

    I had made it. I couldn¡¯t feel more like a wizard if I tried. All I needed was a robe and a silly hat. My chuckle was lost in the cacophony of the underground lair. Naea¡¯s movements sound like the crack of a whip and in spite of the damage she was taking, Shub-Nagorth¡¯s many mouths were cackling ominously.

    Loath as I was to stop playing lightning launcher, the second boss of the dungeon was no longer willing to just take the damage. ¡°Move!¡± I roared, using the vestiges of another Infusion charge to throw myself backwards towards the tunnel we had entered through. The spot I had just been standing became a zone of death as black spikes of metal punched out of the ground. The insidious Dao within the attack felt especially deadly.

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    A scream caused my blood to freeze in my veins. I watched as Naea fell and shadows began to converge on her. Of course, they were swept away by my anger. Anger and the inexorable advance of the Yo Staff at full strength, that is. She was hissing in pain on the ground, so I scooped her up and made some space. Instead of calming, Naea¡¯s agonised howling increased by the second. Her left wing had been torn in half by a jagged spike.

    I opened my soul to her through Battle Bond, flooding her with mana. Doing so while avoiding the strange attacks of the Mother of Gluttony was costly on my reserves. It was easy to see my mana wasn¡¯t helping Naea, as it seemed to be devoured by the wound. She needed something else.

    The damage had been caused by an attack created by Dao, not magic. The Dao itself was doubly dangerous because of the poisonous nature Shub-Nagorath cultivated. She was a diametric opposite to the purity of life, and it showed in everything she did.

    Frantically avoiding attacks, lashing out with a swipe or a jab with the staff as I did so, I threw my Dao over Naea. Instead of protective me from the ghastly aura of the boss monster, I wrapped Naea in it like a blanket. The pitch blackness of the room became terrifying, the horrible sounds from all around me ate at my psyche.

    I had nowhere near the skill at manipulating the strange energies of Dao as I did with mana. This was all I could do for Naea. It wasn¡¯t the same as healing her with Dao. I knew immediately this was something my magic was not capable of. Instead, I was going to overwhelm the infecting Dao and force it to either flee or be destroyed. That was within my purview.

    All the while, I clumsily ran around the room like a headless chicken. Without my Dao to protect me, the intent behind the foul magic in the room became pervasive. Doubts, anxieties and phobias sprang into being constantly.

    I didn¡¯t avoid attacks through skill, but luck and pure speed. I slammed into a wall, surprised to see that it was made of fire. The Dao within the flames was earthen and something about looking at the flames made me feel nauseous. They barely gave off light, clumpy perversions of what fire is meant to be.

    Naea¡¯s body was a battlefield. Her wing had an encroaching army upon it and the Dao of the Fairy Dragon didn¡¯t have the strength to fight it back. Naea¡¯s Dao was one of support and trickery. She could not hold back the advance of mutated and aggressive forms of earth, fire and metal. Her whole left wing had turned black and hard like slate. However, Naea¡¯s Dao was also uniquely perfect at receiving aid from my own.

    Like a protective parent, my Dao planted itself between Naea and the damage. Without any kind of control, I had to just let my Dao run rampant in the same way the invasive energy did. However, where the unnatural venom met the draconic defence, it was broken against it like waves on rock. As the injury was dealt with, Naea¡¯s mana could take over recovery.

    It was sloppy and painful for Naea. The wound was essentially being cauterised by oppressive Dao but she weathered it. I was beginning to pant from stress when she tapped my face. I looked down and saw gratitude in abundance. ¡°I won¡¯t get hit again,¡± she nodded. ¡°I promise.¡±

    ¡°Oh damn.¡± I let her go, shocked. We hadn¡¯t discussed what happens when a promise to a fairy is broken. Naea had just given me her first, and I didn¡¯t see how it could be a certainty until something shifted. There was a pulse, visible as a warping of everything in sight. A wave passed through the world, with Naea at the epicentre. The Dark Young started to flee.

    I took the small break to watch in amazement while catching my breath. Naea¡¯s Dao had been drowned by Shub-Nagorath since we entered the underground, but the script had been flipped. The dragon part of her Dao was expressed in full as she took to the air and flew straight at the Mother of Gluttony. She moved faster than the Storm Arrows I had been peppering it with before.

    She began immediately getting to work, slicing away at the boss monster. Chunks of flesh and sheaves of muscle fell away as Naea arced across the bruise-coloured blimp. Some of the pieces screamed as they fell, groaning while the magic inside them died. The Chibizashi in her hand grew to ridiculous proportions each time it fell or stabbed into the half-shadow flesh.

    Screw this thing, seriously. The damage was mostly superficial, but also impossible to ignore. Naea became the most annoying mosquito ever, the cosmic horror unable to swat her for all it tried. Even though I was tired, her actions inspired me to move. Couldn¡¯t let my familiar do all the work, after all. ¡°Pull back!¡±

    Naea had done a fantastic job of shearing the outer layers of Shub-Nagorath¡¯s form away. Along with the charred blobs still dropping to the ground from my earlier lightning storm of attacks, a solid mass was starting to show. Unlike the rest of its undulating body, this portion was firm and never seemed to change. The flesh tried to cover it, but enough had been lost it couldn¡¯t hide it any longer.

    It might as well have been glowing red, screaming ¡°hit me, I¡¯m the boss¡¯ weak spot!¡±

    I obliged. I layered Infusion after Infusion on top of one another. The first surge of power had drained before I stopped. I started moving, continually applying the skill over and over. My mana reserves were vanishing quicker than I had ever used them before. My body vibrated and my skin tore, unable to contain the magic to only my mana pathways.

    My magic had been altered by a racial change born of the Hurricane Heart. My pathways were forged anew by evolution to grade 1. Mana of an entire grade quality higher smashed through me, fuel to my greedy technique. A foolish enemy tried to intercept me and was thrown to the ground by a lightning bolt, Harmony of the Storm boosted to maximum as well.

    The rock was closer to clay than stone and disappeared with every step. A crater formed from the pressure of my leap. Like the javelins of lightning before, I became a laser-guided missile straight for the heart of the beast. I had avoided physical contact until now, so it wasn¡¯t on guard even though its many eyes could certainly see me. Naea¡¯s attack was too distracting.

    The fairy disengaged right as I channelled Infused Strike to its utmost maximum. The Yo Staff swelled as my Dao filled it with intent. Golden filigree danced up its length but I didn¡¯t have time to inspect. Less than a second had passed since I took to the air. I crossed the half kilometre distance in an instant, smashing the sound barrier and swinging the staff with all the might my attributes and achievements had granted me.

    The guttural grunts, insane whooping and disgusting weeping all stopped as one. The silence was like an attack all of its own. Every available area of flesh on Shub-Nagorath¡¯s huge form became an eye, all of them looking at me with fury. I kept pushing, facing her horrid gaze down and roaring in her face. No time for words, no energy to banter with a wannabe old god, I completed the swing.

    The sudden quiet which had descended was broken just as quickly by an incredible shattering sound. A burst of energy filled me once, twice¡­ five times in total. I accepted one of the level up prompts before I even landed, rejuvenated by its effects. We did it. I wasn¡¯t sure now if I had actually believed we would be able to. I checked my quest progress and confirmed it.

    After a hard fought battle, the second boss of the dungeon had fallen.

 Chapter Thirty Eight - Elsewhere II

    Away Grant''s dungeon, the world still exists. Meet Ewan.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The world had gone to complete shit and it felt like I was the only person able to see it. London was literally burning, who knew about the rest of the world? Running theory was that Earth itself had moved, and while most said it was crazy, who could argue when someone else replied ¡°magic¡±?

    The System had ruined everything, down to my marriage. Those thirty minutes where everyone thought the world was ending had been¡­ damaging to their relationship. When the flames of hell hadn¡¯t appeared, things turned awkward. She was gone now, so it didn¡¯t matter.

    Everyone was gone. Either physically, running off to poke their heads in dungeons and die or mentally, zoning out to stare at the stupid floating messages appearing all the time. ¡°Go here, do this thing,¡± and you get rewarded. I¡¯m no sheep and I was never very good with authority, so the magic voices in my head weren¡¯t welcome.

    Getting out of London had been a struggle. First there were the neighbours wanting to know what happened, but it was easily dealt with. Getting the train covered in blood hadn¡¯t even seemed that strange to people considering monsters were now a thing.

    Once I was in the countryside, I could breathe. The stink of pollution in the city had always bothered me. We stayed because Nancy worked somewhere. I don¡¯t know, it wasn¡¯t worth thinking about. All done now. I had relied on her quite a lot towards the end there, but I had found my own way in this new world. A path I could follow.

    Apparently that was important these days. The System blew up at me one night, two weeks after it arrived. Everything became sharper. I stopped ignoring the beeps and blinks, losing myself entirely to the high which was levelling up. I was finally able to sleep that night. As was often the case, I needed to experience the effects of a thing before I could understand it. Empathy had always been a skill I lacked.

    Once the slew of levels stopped, I became a little frantic. I hadn¡¯t thought to save one for the next night, blowing the lot at once. Another fairly simple fix, though harder in the countryside. Finding and exploring a dungeon was an option but people who I had seen go into the terrifying domes hadn¡¯t come out. There was more than enough monsters outside to be getting on with.

    Killing a few of them showed me it really wasn¡¯t for me. I didn¡¯t get the same thrill, and the System didn¡¯t reward me as much. A group found me nursing an injury and immediately set to helping me. I let them, told them my name and they told me their¡¯s, even though it didn¡¯t matter. One of them had actual magic to make the pain go away, which was absolutely insane.

    My only magic was a type of poison. I didn¡¯t even have to hurt someone to apply it, just touch them. I didn¡¯t completely understand it but it was called Dao and it made me stronger than just about everyone. The two had been higher level than me, and both had given me two levels each when they died, not even knowing it was me. I held the hand of the man as he choked on his own vomit.

    The look of hate which passed over the man¡¯s features suggested he knew it was my fault in the end, but so? People were dying all over and all the rules had disappeared. Apparently, for me that meant the blinders were off. Everyone else could kill the monsters and I would, in turn, take the fruits of their hard work for myself. Looking back, it was entirely in character.

    I¡¯d always let others put the effort in while reaping whatever benefits I could. An innocent symbiote. The System had unleashed the beast within, and I had no desire to keep it restrained. The Dao of Murder was an easy itch to scratch, after all. Especially once I found Newtown.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Something awful is going to happen.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been saying that for two weeks now, Julianna.¡± There was a slight pause while Frederick saw my expression. ¡°Sorry¡­¡±

    ¡°You will be. Twat.¡± With that light insult, I stormed from the office. Quite literally, since my last quest reward. My emotions were harder to calm now that there was a literal inferno in my chest. The Aspect of Fire was common, but that didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t as strong as some of the rarer ones I¡¯d seen. As with most, it seemed to fit me perfectly.

    But that was just the problem. The System wasn¡¯t super charitable but most people had an Aspect or a quest for one at this point. A few naturally occurring ones had even appeared in the surrounding area. Those seemed more potent than others, so when the fire I had been staring at seemed to solidify, I shoved my hand into it quickly, before anyone else could.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Now, I had been reformed. Reforged. I had reached level twenty one and gained the eight or so attribute points which went with it but the Aspect had unlocked so much more. My emotions felt more like my own than they ever had in the old world. It meant the things I found beautiful were all the more gorgeous, but the reverse was true as well. Try as I might, the smouldering anxiety smoked away in my gut.

    I barely trusted herself with her new powers, so why was everyone so trusting of everyone else? I had seen a man lift a car over his head in an altercation earlier. It had been settled without bloodshed, thankfully, but what about next time? What about when someone ripped the ground from underneath your feet and turned it into a weapon? Never mind the actual weapons.

    ¡°Augh!¡± My shout scared a pair of children and I apologised, laughing. I took a breath and tried to calm myself. It wasn¡¯t a bad thing people weren¡¯t more scared, even if I felt they should be. Maybe I just wasn¡¯t cut out for leading. Maybe I never had been. It hadn¡¯t been my idea to begin with, but then Fred and I both received quests to found a town together.

    Pretty simple given there were already buildings here. We were firmly in the rural side of things, but a small village centre became the base of operations. Getting people on board with the new world was easy enough once they saw their first monster. Being the only people willing to fight them made her and Fred look like superheroes. I¡¯d seen the huge rat going for a little boy, and moved without thinking, but that didn¡¯t matter afterwards. It just became part of the legend.

    So, Newtown came into being on the edge of Oxford.

    Once the System decided enough people considered themselves residents of Newtown, instead of unaffiliated, the benefits started pouring in. For pretty much everyone. For the general populace, it had brought the safety of System-built walls. Something about having solid stone between them and the increasingly dangerous world helped. Monsters not appearing under their beds also might have been a factor.

    For Fred and I, it had signalled a divergence. The System reward felt random at the time, but had been right for both of us. Fred became leader of the town, with me as deputy. I got less responsibility and gnarly bow. Without noticing it, I was suddenly the protector of over a hundred people. Including children.

    It was no wonder I was stressed.

    The gate opened, which was strange for this time of night. I went to see what was happening and found a lone wanderer being allowed entry. I threw a silent look of questioning at Darren who shrugged. ¡°He¡¯s hurt,¡± he said from atop the wall unhelpfully.

    ¡°Cheer, Daz, I can see that.¡± Stephanie was already tending to his wounds but because I had been in the area, I managed to see the wounds. I hadn¡¯t been a police officer for long before everything went crazy but that wasn¡¯t the only reason I could tell the injuries were from another human. I had various reasons for seeing bite marks on others over the years.

    ¡°Where you from, mate? What hurt you?¡± I asked with a demeanor learned on the job. Polite but forceful. Being the de facto leader of the guards could be seen as a promotion. At least a sideways career move. I found the man¡¯s eyes and was met with¡­ nothing. I suppressed a shiver.

    ¡°Came from London. Name¡¯s Ewan. A monster attacked me on the road. Strange badger looking thing. I¡¯m not a fighter, so I ran. Lucky it wasn¡¯t very fast.¡± Rote. like every word was a chore, read from a script in his head. I looked over his disheveled form. Black jeans, ratty running shoes, a button-up shirt with all the buttons and a leather jacket too big for him. Very short hair, probably bald when the System arrived. He was dirty, but not dirty enough to have tumbled with a monster.

    But there¡¯s no goddamn protocol to follow. We didn¡¯t even have a jail, despite me asking. We hadn¡¯t turned anyone away yet, and doing so just because the guy gave me the willies wasn¡¯t a good way to start. Stephanie would show him to one of the barracks we had built for new arrivals before he was put to work and assigned a home tomorrow.

    I jumped up to the parapet with a single leap. Fortitude was my main attribute - who¡¯s wasn¡¯t? - and it felt good to use it properly sometimes. ¡°Keep an eye on him tonight, Daz. Seeing as you let him in.¡± He squawked in protest but I shook my head and smiled. ¡°I¡¯m joking, got to keep letting people in or everything falls apart. We have to trust people. That said, I don¡¯t trust that fucker for a second. Keep an eye.¡±

    I had nothing else to do anyway, so I drew my bow from its space in my soul and sat down in the guard¡¯s chair. Darren knew what he was doing.No one would bother me tonight, hopefully, so I just looked out over the fields and hills surrounding our little attempt at creating a safe haven.

    I kept a vigilant eye, praying I saw a monster which looked like a badger, but knowing there was no chance.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    It was time. They were ready. Out of everyone they had met, they were the strongest. Harry was even pushing against the bottleneck of evolution, which was the coolest thing I had ever heard. I was only level 24, but I wasn¡¯t worried. If push came to shove, I was probably the most important member of the team.

    Harry walked to the front of the group and I had to control my face. No one needs you to give a speech, Haz. We had done all the planning and preparation we possibly could. I said nothing, as I wouldn¡¯t be heard over the clatter of platemail anyway. Let him get it out of his system, I told myself.

    ¡°Alright guys and girl, we¡¯re here. This is the only dungeon we¡¯ve seen which didn¡¯t let anyone in to start with. Jason went inside and hasn¡¯t come out, which probably means you can¡¯t leave once you¡¯re in. We used that first dungeon to get levels and gear so we could help him, which is what we¡¯re going to do.¡±

    Right. Only option is he¡¯s stuck, sure. Considering the other dungeon they had used let them go without hassle, it seemed like there might be another option for the loss of Harry¡¯s brother. I was smart enough not to say anything. It was sad, but hopefully we could find his body at least. Holding onto hope let Harry do what he needed to do.

    ¡°We¡¯re with you, Haz,¡± Ellie chimed, ¡°let¡¯s fucking do it.¡± The lone woman of the group, Ellie had always been ¡®one of the boys¡¯. Friends for years, the five of them had tackled the new world together. Myself, Harry, Ellie, Aaron and Luke made up a solid team, covering all the classic bases. Harry was the tank, with Aaron able to cover the role on occasion. Aaron was better off doing damage where possible, like Ellie and Luke. All three of them had more Speed than Fortitude, and Aspects which leaned towards aggression rather than defence, like Harry.

    Then there was me, the healer. Absolutely no clue how it worked beyond using the skills the System gave me, but it was potent stuff. I might¡¯ve felt like I jogged a mile, but the results were honestly just too damn cool. Being able to repair a broken arm in minutes was a trip. I still had a large mace to hit things with but it was more for show really. No other words were spoken. Harry turned and walked into the dungeon, with the rest of us in tow.

 Chapter Thirty Nine - Elsewhere III

    On a landmass, away from London, Grant or his Dungeon... We look now to the East, not too far but not close...

    --------------------------------------------------------

    As the executioner¡¯s blade fell through the air, I realised I wanted it to stop. My desires hadn¡¯t been able to change the world so far and unfortunately for the criminal, today was no different. I flinched as the sword smacked into the wood. It didn¡¯t help avoiding the moment, the thud of a skull hitting the stage magnified by the darkness.

    Already on the side of the crowd, I found a clear spot of grass to evacuate my stomach. I painted the green ground with the day¡¯s breakfast and a hand alternated between firm smacks and quick rubs. ¡°Get it out,¡± a deep, gentle voice said, ¡°it was never going to be easy.¡±

    I collected myself pretty quickly, I thought. There were others who reacted similarly, but I met the eyes of the family who had been wronged and my reaction suddenly felt indulgent. The dead man had attacked two of them in the night. Why did I feel bad for him? Walking away, I grumbled to my father. ¡°I said I didn¡¯t want to watch.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t though, did you?¡± I held the retort on my tongue as my face turned red. Toughening me up was the whole excuse for coming. Admonishment never came, however. My father¡¯s voice was gentle when he spoke. ¡°It¡¯s okay. You weren¡¯t here to get thrills. We came so we could find out whether you would watch or you would look away. I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t want to watch.¡±

    I looked up from my feet and saw hard eyes looking ahead. His father hadn¡¯t closed his eyes, of course. ¡°What does it mean?¡± I asked, terrified. I failed the test, but I didn¡¯t know it was happening.

    He laughed, the sound of safety. ¡°It means you¡¯ll listen when I tell you to stay home and work on a Profession like Sean will. Leave the dungeoneering to the rest of us, Sinead.¡± A huge arm wrapped around me and pulled me into a hug. The shadows of death in my mind were whisked away and I conceded the point.

    When the System had arrived, none of us knew what to do. Grant would be okay, because he was always okay, but what about the rest of them? People were getting stronger, monsters were appearing. Technically they were a part of the local township but they were too far away for any help to arrive. Once night fell, demons began walking the Earth.

    Everything had been quiet in the minutes leading up to the attack. It was as though we could all sense the change in the air, a storm brewing. The silence was broken by a long, loud groan born straight in the pits of hell. The night exploded into an awful tumult as monsters pulled themselves from the ground itself to attack.

    Things were scary, until the man of the house stepped up to protect them. Using a ball peen hammer, he had slain the first monster to break in predictably gruesome fashion. Her older brothers were quick to follow suit. Well, except for Sean. Their father, her oldest brother Liam and the third oldest Conor had all received their first levels from defeating the creatures which attacked their home on the edge of nowhere.

    It had been over two weeks since that night. I could still smell the evil stench of monster blood whenever I closed my eyes to sleep. To counter the fear, I had asked the boys if they would help me learn how to fight, but of course they hadn¡¯t. Today was the final nail in that coffin and I couldn¡¯t find any words to rally against the verdict. Maybe fighting wasn¡¯t for me. Would I be okay with that?

    No. Sean¡¯s a coward but I¡¯m not like that.

    ¡°It¡¯s the only way to keep you safe.¡± I blinked, coming out of my own thoughts and realising that dad was talking. I also gathered quickly that he hadn¡¯t quite read my mind. His ramblings were about the criminal. ¡°Prisons aren¡¯t strong enough to hold people now. Hopefully people like Sean will figure out how to build things stronger than we used to. Until we can actually hold these people there¡¯s no other choice. I guess they¡¯re also monsters.¡±

    His face was dark. I didn¡¯t have anything to say, but I got it. The System had brought to life some of our worst nightmares, but it had done more than that. It allowed people to be more than they used to be, which for some meant becoming unchained from morals. It was much easier to deal with a cow-sized lizard than the previously hidden thoughts of a neighbour.

    More than any of them, my father was trying to deal with the changes of the world and finding it impossible. I think if it were up to him, he would find some way to avoid the rest of the world entirely until everything had blown over. As it wasn¡¯t looking like things were going to suddenly snap back to the way they were, he was doing his best. Of course, half his time was spent trying to wake up his wife from her haze.

    Mother reacted fairly normally to the appearance of the System, at least for her, which is to say she had been shut down completely for two weeks. It was her natural response to any actual emotion. She could eat or drink if food and water were given to her but beyond that? Almost nothing. She had muttered a few times about Grant here or there, asking when he was coming home, but not much more. Who had the heart to tell her he probably wasn¡¯t?

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    Even if he was surviving, even if he thrived, how would he get here? Swim? It¡¯s not like he was a sailor and there was a fairly dangerous sea between Ireland and England, especially this time of year. I held onto hope that Grant was alive and well, but thinking about him for too long made me sad.

    When I didn¡¯t respond, Dad had just stopped talking. The journey home in silence was uninterrupted, and I went straight to my room as soon as I could. Obviously, it wasn¡¯t only my room, so I couldn¡¯t avoid the depressed thoughts weighing me down. One half of the double bedroom was mine, lilac walls and simple decoration. The other side of the room was a pink glittery mess at all times, no exceptions. ¡°Did you watch?¡± Niamh asked immediately as I opened the door.

    I tried to wither her with my eyes but instead of dying like a good sister, she bounced around the room. Niamh had the general energy level of a puppy full of energy drinks, except without the inevitably tragic ending to the metaphor. ¡°Ooh, that bad? Did daddy tell you off or did you get away with it like always? Oh, Naedie, it was a joke!¡± I didn¡¯t shout anything back as I turned away.

    Spending around three seconds in the room before tears started threatening to fall was good going, really. I dashed straight back out the front door. I didn¡¯t care where, I just wanted to get away. I had to push past Liam, who shouted, but thankfully he let me go. Another reminder about the changed world. Liam was like a castle wall for all I could make him move.

    I got some distance from the house I had grown up in and screamed. I howled with all the strength I could muster. I tore at the grass around my feet, even ripping out some flowers which wasn¡¯t like me. I screamed some more. A pitch black tar sat on my soul and no amount of flailing was making it move.

    I just hated everything. The whole world had gone crazy and no one had slowed down to explain it to me. I pulled the mobile phone from my pocket and dashed it off a tree. None of the features worked, unless I wanted to play a stupid game which had come with the device. ¡°Whoa,¡± a voice surprised me, ¡°nearly hit me.¡±

    I had already been screaming, but I was still red faced after my shriek of fright. ¡°Sean?¡± I demanded angrily. ¡°Why are you hiding behind a tree?¡±

    ¡°Avoiding falling galaxies, apparently.¡± He looked at my destroyed phone with a smirk all the boys carried. When Liam and Conor smiled, they looked like each other. When Sean smiled, he looked like Grant. I gave up on anger and threw myself into his arms and wept. He didn¡¯t say anything because Sean was nice like that. After a fairly long hug, he pulled away. ¡°Also, this little guy.¡±

    Sean lead me around the tree and I gasped. ¡°Is that- Why do you have a baby monster?¡± I could feel the magic of the creature. Unfortunately all trepidation vanished when the little kitten squealed at me. I looked at Sean who shrugged and nodded.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say monster, though it¡¯s got some appetite, I¡¯ll tell you.¡± Sean just watched as I made first contact with the adorable thing. It was avoiding any weight on its back right leg and watched me intently. The most interesting thing was obviously the colouration of the feline. Its fur was the faintest baby pink colour, mostly looking white. In seemingly random swirls and lines, blue energy pulsed gently. ¡°Reckon Da¡¯ll let me keep it?¡±

    ¡°Magic¡¯s real, but not that strong,¡± I whispered. I didn¡¯t want to spook the small thing more than I had. I felt terribly about my outburst now. ¡°Seriously, Sean, what¡¯s going on?¡± I showed the kitten the back of my hand and it sniffed me. I passed the test and it nuzzled my hand. My life was complete.

    ¡°I said I¡¯d find a way to level up without fighting¡­ and I have.¡± Sean opened his System page and showed me his level. He was now at level three! Nothing compared to the other men of the family, but it was a start. ¡°Play with it a bit, the System will explain better than I could.¡±

    I was confused but playing with a magic cat wasn¡¯t a hard directive to follow. I barely noticed the memories of the day becoming softer as the minutes passed. Despite the damage to its back paw, the kitten was happy to flop onto its back and play fight. It had a lot of personality, sometimes stopping sharply and analysing me before returning to its more catlike behaviours.

    There was an intelligence in those eyes which shocked me. After around ten minutes, the cat allowed me to brush its bad leg. I heard Sean suck in a breath and worried I might get a scratch but I touched the injury all the same. The System blinked into life for the first time since all this had started. I hadn¡¯t received a prompt before, but now I had two.

    Manaphyte Kitten has drained some mana.

    The weird cat had taken some mana. Whatever that was, it felt like I had just swam ten laps of a big swimming pool. I nearly passed out, and Sean held me up. ¡°I¡¯m going to throw up¡­¡± Luckily, I had another prompt which flipped the script.

    Level up! +5 attribute points.

    All the energy I had just lost and then some came flooding through me. I felt amazing. I looked between Sean and the kitten with eyes wide in wonder. I could sense where the energy the kitten had just taken - mana - moved through me and refilled the slightly empty spaces inside. ¡°Sean!¡±

    ¡°I know!¡± We jumped together, and the kitten clearly wanted to join. It clambered up my back, which is when I noticed its paw was healed. ¡°Yeah, that makes sense. Its leg was worse when I got here, so I was going to wait until I could give it some more mana. Clearly, you did the job just as good.¡±

    I beamed at him, enamoured by the kitten currently nuzzling the side of my head. ¡°We have to keep her,¡± I told Sean solemnly. He laughed and shook his head at me for claiming the kitten. He had to know this would happen. There was still an important question. ¡°But why did we level up?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but you know how Liam said the System tells him things, like how to swing a sword properly? It¡¯s a bit like that. I think it¡¯s just because we¡¯re actually doing a System thing, you know? We healed the cat with magic. Technically I think it¡¯s the cat¡¯s magic, but it still counts.¡±

    Healing was a System thing? Wasn¡¯t the System just about monsters and killing?

    The dark clouds which had gathered around me for weeks were dispelled. The System had felt like an apocalypse, but it wasn¡¯t. Gaining a level meant I wasn¡¯t stuck, meant none of us were. Maybe even Mama would get better. I took a deep breath, taking Salmon - the name I had just decided for the kitten - off my shoulder. She batted my nose with her paw.

    No, I realised. The System isn¡¯t the end of the world¡­ It''s just the start of a new one.

 Chapter Forty - Consolidation

    The world had ended. There was no point going on, for the worst had happened. Truly, there was no more beleaguered existence than mine, I knew. The shards of a fallen ally fell from my fingers once more as I lamented the loss. It had been two days since their thread was cut short and I was still in mourning.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about your fancy stick, Grant.¡± Naea had humoured me for a while, but even I no longer truly felt devastated.

    ¡°How dare you?¡± I replied, playing up the despair. ¡°Yoh¡¯ee was with me longer than you. He was a good boy.¡± I pushed out my lower lip and patted the pile of wood, shaking my head. The staff had been with me since my first fight in this new world. In no uncertain terms, I would be dead a dozen times over without it. Its ability punched far above its weight class, allowing me to defeat enemies I stood no chance against otherwise.

    I sighed and returned the mess to its box in Home Base. I didn¡¯t like keeping it in my inventory as it was now called Yo Staff (Broken). The constant reminder was painful. I was hoping that I could maybe repair it or make use of the materials in some other way later. The System hadn¡¯t given me any hint of crafting abilities, but maybe I was just missing something.

    ¡°Did you just call the staff ¡®Yoh¡¯ee¡¯? I¡¯m not making that up, am I?¡± Naea was floating in the air, not moving her wings. Despite there being nothing holding her, nor any danger of her falling, she looked¡­ precarious. She had discovered that her Dao and mana could let her fly without using her wings. You would think as she could fly normally, this wouldn¡¯t be a big deal, but it apparently was.

    I didn¡¯t get what the fuss was about. I also couldn¡¯t do it, so I was being a bit petulant. She said it was something to do with enforcing the intent of the Dao onto the world but the explanation didn¡¯t help much. There was a lot of power to consolidate and understand, so I didn¡¯t focus too hard on what I could not do.

    Defeating Shub-Nagorath had come at the expensive cost of the Yo Staff. However, there were gains aplenty to shore up the loss. I pulled up my character page and felt my spirit lift a little.

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 39

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 55  Speed - 55  Mental - 148   Will - 65

    Free attribute points: 100

    Between the defeat of the boss monster and the subsequent clear up of its foul offspring, I gained five whole levels. Each level required around fifty percent more than the last, so the gains were going to get slower. Getting one hundred attribute points at once was novel and probably wouldn¡¯t happen again for a while.

    Inventory

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted) - 5442

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint) - 13,216

    Sorehammer

    Storm Arrows

    Assorted Earth foods

    Aspect of the Tempest

    Aspect of Gluttony

    Guidance Stone Of Desecration

    Nearly six thousand gold coins of somewhat indeterminable worth, an Aspect and a Guidance Stone. Their descriptions were the same as previous ones, the Aspect could bind to an attribute and the Guidance Stone could bind to an Aspect. When I thought of them as nothing more than magical gems, simply slotting them into the available places made sense.

    Now, I knew Aspects were a larger part of my being. They were the entryway to understanding Dao, and binding an Aspect was like choosing your method of transport. Without the right vehicle, you would only go so far.

    Aspect - Gluttony (Rare)

    I would have to consider long and hard whether Gluttony fit with anything I wanted to be doing with the System. There was an argument to be made that it fit with being draconic, but that was just a thought experiment more than anything. I ignored it for now, mostly.

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    Item - Guidance Stone of Desecration

    Guidance stones are sometimes called the lesser variant of Aspects. Each Aspect has a set amount of spaces to absorb a Guidance Stone. They can only be used by Aspect wielders.

    Use Guidance Stone of Desecration? This will consume one Guidance slot from your available Aspects.

    I had used three stones, but two of them fused to become a Guidance Stone of the Storm. My legendary Dragon Aspect, now Dao, could contain two more Guidance Stones. I still planned to use the Aspect of the Tempest but did I want anything to do with gluttony or desecration as concepts? It was all more than a little daunting. While I found myself with enough strength, I didn¡¯t see any reason to muddy the waters just yet.

    The battle Shub-Nagorath and her brood had taken it out of me due to their foul nature and the constant sense of danger disallowing me from rest. Now I had a genuine chance for downtime for the first time since evolving to Grade 1, my first port of call was to start applying my free attribute points and developing a whole new fighting style. I still had more than enough learning to do with my current situation without adding new Aspects and abilities to the mix.

    Our third day of ¡°rest¡± was actually exhausting. Naea had, of course, kept up with me in levels. She was currently at a healthy forty five and the additional attributes from each level up were showing massive dividends. Naea used the Stunchucks and Chibizashi to full effect in our ¡°sparring¡±. She gave me more than a few broken bones and deep cuts which she then had to heal. I wasn¡¯t bitter, nor was she sorry.

    I could have added one of the three available weapons to my own repertoire but there were a few reasons not to. I couldn¡¯t remove Staff Mastery from the Weapon Mastery ability, it was ingrained as part of it now. While I was more than happy with how the staff had helped me, adding another weapon was a big decision. Hammers and nunchucks seemed like non-starters, one being too basic and one being too exotic. I expected swords were likely to be fairly common outside the dungeon, but the Chibizashi was perfect for her own style.

    All that to say, I was trying to learn some form of unarmed combat which would work against Naea. If I could deal with her, then I wouldn¡¯t have any problems with what the Dungeon had shown so far. The breakthrough came, as usual, when I was pushed the furthest.

    Throughout the day, Naea and I clashed violently until I gave up. To start, I had been forced to concede due to damage. A particularly clever feint caught me off guard and the Stunchucks lived up to their name as they collided with my jaw. One moment we were fighting, the next I was waking up spitting out teeth. Naea¡¯s healing had repaired the damage while I was unconscious.

    After that, I improved. Naea still gave me some vicious injuries but I considered it part of the training. If I could fight through half my guy getting torn away, I might survive a fight I otherwise wouldn¡¯t. Surviving such an injury was honestly easy. My vital organs were definitely a lot less vital these days. Each time Naea defeated me, I added five of my free points to my attributes.

    I had originally envisioned a ten-ten-sixty-twenty split for my attributes, a ratio I had completely ignored for what was necessary in the moment. I didn¡¯t have the attributes to bring myself back to exactly that balance but I was happy by the end. Forty five points into Will, bringing the attribute to 110 before additional effects. The rest into Mental, which finished at 203.

    Each bout lasted longer as my mana regeneration increased alongside my Will attribute, while I pushed Naea more and more with the improved quality of mana from rising Mental stat. The final culmination occurred as Naea began mingling her use of Dao into her attacks.

    Like all the progress I had made so far was for naught, she seemed to redouble in speed and strength all at once. All over again, my attacks began to miss their mark. In my head I knew Naea had me beat in the Speed attribute by far, but I could feel frustration in my Dao all the same. It shouldn¡¯t matter if she¡¯s faster, I should be hitting all the same.

    Impotent energy dissipated at the end of each missed blow. Mana and wisps of Dao which flicked out from my snapped movements and were shed without use. The waste of my energy prickled at my nearly draconic greed. Waste was an expenditure without gain, something which could not stand. Unwilling to continue discharging my valuable energy redundantly, I snarled.

    I twisted my wrist and forced the energy to gather. My hand was the stick and the expelled mana and Dao were cotton candy. Naea¡¯s eyes widened and she flashed backwards at maximum speed. She could sense the august power I grasped but hadn¡¯t grasped its nature. Distance was as irrelevant as my fist became heavy with intent.

    The intent to retaliate.

    I brought my hand down in a chop and Naea cursed. She was easily sixty feet away from me, but the blow landed all the same. It was just a tap, all the force gone as I lazily dropped my hand. She was slapped into the ground and I had to stop her from charging right at me in anger. Holding up my hands, I shouted for calm. ¡°Whoa, whoa, whoa, you smashed me to hell, stop. I barely touched you.¡±

    Naea did stop, throwing me a glare. ¡°Figured it out then?¡± She asked, rubbing her shoulder dramatically. Wimp, I thought to myself while nodding to the fairy. Even if I didn¡¯t have a System message blinking for my attention, I would have been certain a threshold was passed. I did everything I could to capture the feeling I had when throwing the attack. Once the well of inspiration was dry, I turned to the System message.

    Skill Unlocked - Retribution (Dragon)

    Few creatures are as fearsome in their revenge than a dragon. Anyone brave or foolish enough to stand against them faces destruction.

    The skill¡¯s knowledge worked its way into my mind quickly and easily. The principle and execution was very similar to Infused Strike, so much so I was honestly surprised the skill wasn¡¯t an evolution. The difference was in the expense required to perform the attack mostly, with Retribution able to hit from range but devouring my mana at a prodigious rate. Infused Strikes were far more efficient, so long as I could hit.

    We called it a day on our training soon after. Neither of us were interested in getting hit any more than we already had, so I suggested tea in the garden. Naea took it upon herself to make the batch, a first, and I relaxed against the tree stump chair outside Home Base. We enjoyed a night of calm, relaxed conversation and food before both going to bed ready to face the coming day.

    As long as nothing unexpected happened, the Dungeon could be cleared by the same time tomorrow.

 Chapter Forty One - The Unexpected

    My eyes snapped open and I instinctively reached out for the Yo Staff. Of course, my hands found nothing, bunching into a fist instead. Strange noises had awoken me and put me immediately on edge, so I quietly made my way to the front door. It was still early morning, the sun barely risen. I could sense Naea sleeping in one of the rafters somewhere with some pillows and a blanket.

    So, it was odd to hear people talking.

    My hearing was on a completely different scale than before the System arrived. With my evolution to Grade 1, the change was all the more pronounced. It wasn¡¯t like I could hear everything for miles around, but I could feel the vibrations in the air. Focusing on those, the words became as clear as though they were next to me.

    ¡°It looks like the park that used to be here before everything moved,¡± a male voice said casually, not aiming for stealth in the slightest. Any muffling stopped the second I left Home Base, moving closer to the barrier. Concentrating, I could hear multiple sets of feet. Four or five, but one of them was a loud bastard in some kind of armour.

    ¡°Where do you think we¡¯ll find Jason? I thought dungeons were all caves and stuff¡­¡± A woman¡¯s voice this time. I frowned, working through my memories to try and work out what was going on. Everything from before my evolution felt grainy, like outdated movie reel. They were looking for someone in the dungeon? Well, there was only me and Naea. Unless you counted-

    Ah.

    ¡°Hopefully somewhere safe. Why are there no monsters, do you think?¡± Third voice. Another guy. They all sounded around my age, maybe a little younger even. I remained inside the barrier for now as they were approaching and I was curious more than anything. I had the answer to their question, I was pretty sure.

    Jason¡¯s buried in the woods somewhere. I knew where, but it wasn¡¯t anything special. Actually, it was a pretty shallow grave with no embalming or care taken beyond simple burial. At least I hadn¡¯t taken anything from the guy¡¯s body. He was even buried with his sword. I shrugged to myself. Nothing I can do about it now.

    ¡°Maybe he killed them all!¡± The first voice suggested hopefully. Very hopefully. This Jason guy had bitten off way more than he could chew coming in here and got himself killed against the first enemy he ran into. By now, the group was vaguely visible through the scattered tree cover. Five which I could see.

    They weren¡¯t walking directly towards me, but fairly close. They would definitely interact with the barrier to Home Base at their current angle. I scanned them, raising an eyebrow at the information. All between levels 24 and 29? Not bad at all. My ten levels above them were equivalent to hundreds of grade 0 level ups, but these guys were basically a group of superheroes compared to ¡°average humans¡± from before the Shift.

    None of them noticed themselves being analysed, so they couldn¡¯t be too good. At the front of their group was the tallest man of the bunch. He had one hand on the pommel of a sword, currently in a scabbard and another swinging merrily at his side. He was the one wearing armour, and honestly he looked pretty cool. There was a lion¡¯s face etched into his breastplate which spoke to my inner child.

    Close behind were two guys and a girl, with one boy at the back. I guessed them all to be about eighteen or nineteen, but the one at the back had features puberty had yet to fully iron out. A few pimples and a terribly thin beard/moustache combo. He did himself no favours walking with the slouch he did, but I focused on him specifically because of his clothing. He looked straight out of an old animated movie about a wizard¡¯s intern.

    Red robes, a blue hat with stars and a wonderfully intact staff. Unlike my fallen friend, Yo Staff, his was alive and well. Looking over their equipment, it was all nicely made and high quality. The System had given them some items like my belt and trousers, then. Where they didn¡¯t have new magical clothing, they wore standard clothes for their age.

    The girl had a cloak over her head, covering most of her body. Where it moved, I spotted the leggings and top of a runner, along with some nice trainers. The two guys on either side of her were talking about who would win in a fight, Aaron or Batman. Aaron was the one saying he could beat Batman, casually twirling a chain around as he emoted. With the black leather jacket and blue jeans combination, he could have stepped out of a 1970s car garage to sing a song and it would have seemed natural.

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    The other guy looked like a classic fantasy elf, without the pointed ears, down to the longbow he held. Long blonde hair randomly fell into the quiver at his back and he had a look of pure disgust on his face. I silently agreed with him and decided he was my favourite, after the sorcerer¡¯s apprentice at the back. I picked up that his name was Luke.

    ¡°Tom, you agree with me, right? I could definitely beat Batman in a fight.¡± Aaron turned to the one trailing behind and tried to get him on side. ¡°Honestly, you could! We all could!¡± It took all of my restraint not to jump out of the barrier to correct him right here. The caped crusader would be able to knock me silly, let alone these guys. Thankfully, Tom was on my side.

    ¡°No, we¡¯d all get demolished. The guy can beat the justice league in like¡­ every universe.¡± I nodded. Everyone else seems to be in consensus too, as they all told Aaron to shut up. ¡°We¡¯re here to look for Harry¡¯s brother, Aaron. Stop messing around.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Aaron. Stop messing.¡± I chose that moment to make myself known. It was just too good, and they were right about to step into the barrier of Home Base. I didn¡¯t know if they¡¯d bounce off like a forcefield, but they clearly couldn¡¯t see it or me. Walking straight out of thin air made my appearance all the more impressive.

    Which, if I¡¯d thought about it, might not have been the right choice.

    The group immediately went into a practised battle formation. I held my hands up, waiting for them to finish. The whole thing took about seven or eight seconds before they were in their obviously tried-and-tested setup. ¡°Who are you?¡± The girl half-shouted, half-screamed. I really had given them a fright. The big guy jutted out his chin and repeated her question when I didn¡¯t immediately answer. I tilted my head casually to dodge an arrow accidentally released from Luke¡¯s bow.

    I was irked. The first living people I had seen in weeks and they were aggressive from the jump. If I wasn''t at such a high level, that arrow would have killed me, accident or not. He didn¡¯t even say sorry, he just nocked another arrow. Keeping my head slightly tilted, I blinked at the leader. ¡°We seem to have got off on the wrong foot.¡± I held out my hand for a handshake.

    Pain.

    ¡°Mother¡­ FU-¡± I didn¡¯t finish my words, my stamp coming first. The ground exploded and I looked at the damage as the swordsman was flung away. In a single, insanely fast motion, the guy had drawn his sword and sliced my fingers. Two of them were chopped to the bone, barely hanging on. I could recognise my misstep in spooking them with a joke, but I had clearly misjudged how on edge the group were based on their conversation. I saw five pairs of terrified eyes, with reason difficult to spot.

    Apparently, we were fighting.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The worst nightmares I have are the ones where I¡¯m being chased. I get that mushy leg feeling and I never seem to get anywhere despite trying to run as fast as I can. Like slipping on a wood floor with socks, I struggle in place while the monster closes in. Since the System arrived, I¡¯ve had this nightmare a few times, mostly about the giant rats we fought in the first dungeon.

    Standing in front of the level 39 man who had just stepped out of nowhere, I had the exact same feeling. Just the same as in those dreams, my voice wouldn¡¯t work either. A croaked whisper to stop, not do anything to upset the guy, was all I could manage. It would have been ignored even if it had been heard. I almost heard the bells of death as Harry slashed the guy with his skill.

    The world shattered. Unlike the others, I had a pretty good grasp on mana and things of that nature. We had all gained Aspects from tutorial quests, but mine was special. The Aspect of Magic itself. My Mental attribute was in the fifties and I could almost hear the whisper of mana within others if I focused while they did a skill. Right now?

    All I could hear was boss music.

    The first phase of the fight moved in much the same way as it usually went. Harry initiated, using his taunt to enrage the enemy and keep its focus on him. Aaron threw out his chains, the skill given by the System allowing them to bind a target in unbreakable steel. Luke jumped high into the air and lazily shot an arrow at the man while Ellie got into position for a hit-and-run. Her daggers dripped with comically green poison from her Aspect.

    Harry had Protection, Aaron Control, Ellie the Aspect of Poison and Luke with the real star of the show. Despite Harry¡¯s higher levels, Luke had the most potent Aspect of us all. His arrow moved slowly but struck like a train when it collided all the same, the Aspect of Force making the attack confusingly powerful.

    The only thing missing was my own Mana Bolts added in, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to summon them. They were intangible, couldn¡¯t miss once a target had been chosen and at least as powerful as a magnum bullet from the old days. I had seen the guy bleed, so they would probably actually help, but the waves of energy flowing from the empty-handed man stopped me.

    In most fights to now, the opening barrage was also the coup de grace. The enemy, confused by the taunt, would be hit by a meteor¡¯s worth of damage from Luke. While reeling from that, the chains would lock the enemy up as Ellie filled it full of poison. Aimed for the weak points, my Mana Bolts would keep them stunned until another barrage arrived.

    This wasn¡¯t like most fights. A deep rumble blanketed all the mana in the area. My voice returned as Harry¡¯s taunt activated. ¡°No!¡± I shouted, too late. Why? Why would that make this thing angry on purpose? We could all see the levels, but I was the only one who felt the true danger. An invisible palm slammed me down to the ground. The others screamed as the same happened to them. The weight of the world held me to the floor and I forced my face forward to keep watching the man.

    He shook his hand clean of blood and blew on the wound. He flexed his fingers with a wince and a hissing suck of breath through clenched teeth. ¡°Ouch,¡± he said, the word dripping sarcasm. The bleeding had already stopped when he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. The pressure stopped and everyone got to their feet slowly, cautious beyond belief.

    Like an unimpressed teacher, the man raised his eyebrows and tutted at us all. ¡°Let¡¯s try this one more time, shall we?¡±

 Chapter Forty Two - Answer

    The group got to their feet with a variety of expressions on their faces. Fear, a bit of anger and hurt pride, but the most interesting was the wonder in the eyes of the guy at the back. Tom, was it? ¡°Tom,¡± I said, enjoying the flinch which passed through the five of them as I spoke, ¡°you seem more reasonable than this one. What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    Put on the spot, the guy¡¯s starry eyes became frightful once more. He almost seemed more bothered by the pressure of the others in his group turning to him than from me. Weird dynamic. While the archer had used the strongest attack, it was obvious to me Tom was the strongest in the group. The sense I got from his Aspect suggested as much, anyway.

    ¡°W-wuh- we were just looking f-f-fuhhh,¡± he paused, holding up a finger while he covered his mouth and swallowed. Making a face, he took a breath and started over. ¡°Our friend, Harry¡¯s brother, came into this dungeon a few days ago. We¡¯re looking for him.¡±

    He smiled, looking relieved as everyone turned back to me. ¡°Yeah? Your brother?¡± I turned to the armoured one. The body I had found was mangled, but his face and hair bore some resemblance now it was bloodied. A grim thought. ¡°Did he have a sword like you?¡± The warrior seemingly couldn¡¯t decide between fear and anger as he growled a confirmation back to me.

    I gave a large solemn sigh, my lips doing a percussive trill as the air was forced between them. I answered his questioning look with a shake of my head. ¡°Follow me.¡± I led the group to the makeshift grave I had made and received a look of appreciation I didn¡¯t really deserve. I had let this guy¡¯s brother down by not taking things as seriously as I should. A mistake I nearly repeated. Must be a character flaw, I mused.

    Admittedly, the area he had passed away in had become quite beautiful. Looking at the spot, there were roses budding to life in spots. The thorns on the stem drew the eye. This close, I realised I could sense Dao upon the flowers. The whole space had been fixed in various ways. The recently disturbed earth looked like a cared-for lawn, the arrangement of the flora around felt intentional in a way I couldn¡¯t begin to understand.

    No wonder they were so grateful. Was this because the man who died was magical? I wanted to ask if he had an Aspect but I let the group mourn, as they had all known the deceased. It wasn¡¯t long before my quiet leaning against a nearby tree was interrupted. Timid, the mage approached me. I turned and gave him a smile and nod to indicate it was okay. He gulped hard. ¡°Am I that scary?¡± I asked, genuinely concerned.

    Intimidating was good. Terrifying? That should be reserved for actual enemies. The younger man, Tom, looked sheepish as he nodded. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve never seen anyone as strong as Luke or maybe Harry before, but you¡¯re something else.¡± I felt my Dao preen a little at the praise and chided myself. I¡¯m not so easily swayed that a single compliment would break my aura.

    He pointedly looked from me to the grave and back. ¡°You didn¡¯t have anything¡­?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s why you¡¯re scared. No good outcome if I say yes, but I promise, when I found Jason he was already gone.¡± My education was paying off. Talking to people about difficult subjects was something I was more than practised in, it was literally my job. Or it was going to be, before I became a magical dragon monk. I shook my head, clearing the silly thoughts. ¡°That¡¯s a cool staff, where¡¯d you get it?¡±

    I must have been a little too obvious in my greed on that one because Tom clutched the staff close. Well, one of my eyes is green. I smirked at his reaction and my own inside joke. Up close, it really was a work of art though. As tall as myself, the wood was a lovely shade of darkest blue, almost black except where the light hit to show the truth. At the head, it twisted into a knot, carved into an empty cage.

    ¡°Can you shoot energy from here?¡± I poked my finger towards the open spot and hopped backwards into a more open area. My genuine excitement must have broken the fear a bit because while he looked taken back a little, Tom smiled and matched my energy.

    ¡°A good magician,¡± he effused, a spark in his eye, ¡°doesn¡¯t reveal their secrets.¡± I watched intently as his mana moved through his body. Or rather, how it didn¡¯t move. Focused on the energy in Tom¡¯s body, I didn¡¯t have time to register the huge flash of mana which appeared at the end of the staff. Despite all my levels and readiness, my head snapped back at the force of the ultra-quick attack.

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    ¡°Sonofabitch,¡± I shouted. ¡°Sorry, sorry,¡± I panicked towards Harry and the group still in mourning. They were reproachful, but I had already taken my welt for it. I gave Tom an exaggerated glare. ¡°We¡¯re doing this again later,¡± I demanded while pointing at the admonished Tom.

    I could barely see the mana coming before it hit me. There were two flashes, one in Tom¡¯s mana channels and one at the end of his staff, then the attack landed. It wasn¡¯t instant, but it might as well have been. I need one of those staves. I promised myself I would get one somehow, before returning to the group.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about your brother, Harry. If it helps, I killed the monster that killed him.¡± With a flash of inspiration, I drew an up-to-now unused weapon from my inventory. The general lack of reaction as I made a hammer appear out of thin air was almost as interesting as the act. ¡°This is a weapon dropped by the creature. Maybe you can make some use of it in his memory. I¡¯ll throw these in, too.¡± I tilted my hand and some snacks fell to the ground along with cans of soft drink.

    The sweets helped. Luke dove for a specific drink, cracking it open immediately. He chugged half the can quickly. ¡°Ahhhh,¡± he sighed happily as others took their pick and Harry took the Sorehammer. ¡°What are you? Since everything changed, it¡¯s been impossible to find stuff like this. It¡¯s even cold, what the fuck, dude? Why did I never think about putting food in my inventory? Also, what¡¯s your name?¡±

    Answering Stormborn would do us no favours. Thinking of the markings on my skin, I realised it was fairly obvious actually. Still, I wasn¡¯t explaining anything. ¡°I¡¯m just a normal guy. I basically started inside the dungeon and have been running around like a headless chicken just trying to survive. Getting stronger is the only thing which made sense. And my name is Grant.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t just leave?¡± Aaron asked. I gave him a flat look.

    ¡°No, Aaron. I can¡¯t just leave. I¡¯ve got a quest which says I need to kill three dungeon bosses before I can. Wait, can you all just leave?¡± Unapologetic nods came my way. Everyone looked a little smug, like they were happy to have one over on me. ¡°Well, whatever. Good, that means you can¡­ leave.¡± Over the time the group had been here, probably less than two hours, I had realised a pretty important thing.

    I didn¡¯t want them here. It was interesting to have others around, but I would get plenty of that when I broke the dungeon. Until then, at best these guys were houseguests. In most cases, they¡¯d eat up some of my experience. The worst which could happen would be following poor Jason to the grave. With their levels and the scaling nature of the dungeon? It was honestly more likely they just got in my way.

    The group looked suitably affronted, though there was no real reason for them to stay. I understood why they felt flatfooted in this situation. They had expected to find their friend, hoping he was trapped in the dungeon like I was. In their minds, they had been expecting a fight to save Jason. What they got was a bit of a beatdown and a much quicker, sadder resolution than they wanted.

    ¡°We should stay, help you finish the dungeon¡­¡± Each word quieter than the last, Luke trailed off. The four gathered around the grave looked defeated. Breaking the trend, it was Tom who spoke his piece instead.

    ¡°I want to stay. You¡¯re absolute layers stronger than all of us combined, and it¡¯s not just levels. Something about this place - or something you found here - made you way stronger than we are.¡± He had fire in his eyes, the spark from earlier ignited in full. ¡°Unless you throw us out yourself, I¡¯m not going anywhere.¡±

    Damn. I know those eyes. How could I refuse someone with the same dream as myself. Any of the others wouldn¡¯t have changed my mind so much but Tom¡¯s Aspect was on full display. It¡¯s just¡­ Magic? Lucky bastard. A System prompt appeared to just drive the nail in. My resolve was pretty flimsy and his argument was more than fair. I sighed, reading through the prompt.

    Quest Received - Establish A Guild

    Due to your status as a higher grade, you can bring others under your wing. A guild is a joinable faction which creates various benefits for its members. As guild leader, any members at lower level will receive increased levelling speeds. A portion of their gains are given to you.

    Build A Guild Hall.

    Reward: Guidance Stone For Each Initial Member

    Other Rewards Based On Strength Of Members.

    Ugh. I never liked management games.

    The reward was too good, the opportunity too enticing. A Guidance Stone was valuable enough, but then the System had to add a bloody mystery prize, too. Coupled with the abstract guilt I had for the death of Harry¡¯s brother, I conceded to the System¡¯s whims. Tom, who had been ready for a prolonged argument, now had nowhere to direct his steam. ¡°So there.¡± He bookmarked his nice little line in the sand with a crap two-worder and everyone cracked up.

    I couldn¡¯t stop my lip from twitching a bit as I tried to smile. ¡°Fine,¡± I spoke through my teeth, ¡°but you¡¯re not staying in my house.¡± I scratched my head and ignored their questions about Home Base. I¡¯d show it off eventually but for now I wanted to maintain some mystery. Also, I had a roommate to consider.

    Explaining this to Naea was going to be interesting.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Naea found the idea of building homes for other people ridiculous, but had no issue with the idea of having more ¡°workers¡± around. I truly saw the dragon half of her Fairy Dragon nature when she began immediately planning to make her own life easier now others were around to do things. I let her dream of the supposed servants she would now have, planning to introduce her to them all at some point.

    In fairness, I couldn¡¯t judge Naea. I had been left with directions to put together a few makeshift buildings. I could already see the guild hall option in my buildings tab, which had only contained Home Base to now. Between the guild hall and the eventual housing for the others, the project was going to cost a whopping seven and a half thousand of my total coins. One hundred each for their houses and seven for the hall itself. ¡°Better be worth it,¡± I grumbled to myself.

    I looked out a window in the direction of the dungeon¡¯s final tower. I could feel the pull of the final boss getting stronger as my power grew. As its power grew to meet mine. Soon, I promised. The universe could only get in the way for so long, surely.

    Surely.

 Chapter Forty Three - Guild

    A heavy decision sat upon my shoulders and despite all my new strength, confidence and general joie de vivre, I found myself arrested at the implications. To make the wrong choice at this juncture would set a limiter on my path to glory. With the way I planned to live, such an outcome was genuinely life-or-death stuff.

    ¡°Why does it matter?¡± Naea asked like a heathen. My only answer was a glare of viscous proportions. I had made the mistake of showing it to Naea, a trick I picked up from the new group. I never really had cause to show my details before. The fairy had made a nauseous face at my attributes, so I didn¡¯t mention the multiplicative effects of my attributes as well. Her flippant reaction to this momentous question was further proof she simply wasn¡¯t as mature as I. I turned back to the System message.

    Guild - Name?

    Two simple words had kept me occupied for hours. Other than cycling my mana and pacing back and forth between Home Base and the new neighbourhood, I had done nothing. The guildhall and houses spaced out around it were gorgeous, but I had barely given them a look as the prompt had burst to life the moment I purchased the final building. My lip twitched and I swept the message away for now.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got to clear my head.¡± Naea agreed with my statement and we went wandering towards the new members of the dungeon once more. Alongside purchasing the buildings, I had splurged on security for each place too. There had been no monster activity since my assault on Shub-Nagorath but I had warned the group of the possibility of danger.

    Instead of a lone level 17 or 18 like Jason had been, this group were all close to their grade 1 evolution. None of them had evolved their Aspect to a Dao yet but they didn¡¯t even know how to control their mana properly so baby steps were needed. I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d have trouble with a single random monster but the security was cheap enough once I explained what I was doing to the others.

    When their ramshackle piles of wood had been turned to houses, they hadn¡¯t known what to think. After I explained it was a System thing, they all looked excited. They showed me another thing I¡¯d had no need for before now, one I approved of greatly. A System controlled trading menu appeared and was quickly filled with credits.

    Just like myself, others could loot. Unlike myself, most people barely had 2,000 coins between them. The monsters I had battled were much higher level, and therefore valuable. Plus I had two draconic cash infusions since the Shift, but those were my secret. As far as the others were concerned, I had grinded out my levels and cash fair and square.

    I said nothing but a genuine ¡°Thank you all very much for contributing¡± as the others dumped the contents of their inventories into my own. There simply wasn¡¯t much practical use for the coinage at the moment, even outside the Dungeon where people were mostly just trying to survive. If you weren¡¯t bartering something useful, they didn¡¯t care. We¡¯ll see what we can do with that attitude.

    Evil plans of conquering a burgeoning market aside, I was pleasantly surprised to see more than the full cost of the group¡¯s living arrangements dealt with and then some. After all the money was finished moving around, I had spent around six thousand coins in total. I couldn¡¯t even be jokingly upset with the investment because wow, the System decided to show off.

    Just five buildings, the fairly wide space which contained them was completely remade. The ground had buckled and rippled like it had turned into pure water. A swirling mass of clay, wood, rock and copious amounts of mana writ change upon the land in a scale which blew me away. With my heightened sense of the mana in the air, it was both decadent to behold and supremely helpful to my own understanding of magic.

    The five others were also spellbound by the process but none so much as Tom. I sidled up to my fellow aspirant of the magical arts and nudged him. He barely registered me, nodding but not looking away from the show. Loud enough for all to hear, I gave some advice. ¡°This isn¡¯t as simple as just magic. Everyone pay attention.¡±

    Aaron, Ellie, Harry and Luke all looked at me like I was talking gibberish, but Tom gasped and I knew he¡¯d figured it out. More than mana, the air was filled with a truly miraculous Dao. I could sense shades of the most prominent portions but even the fraction I could wrap my head around was mind-boggling. When combined, was there anything Dao and mana couldn¡¯t accomplish together?

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    Each of the five homes which came to being were custom built masterworks. I had blasted straight past this level with Home Base but each building became a full detached house with a fair amount of rooms in each. Home Base was perfectly made for Naea and myself, with spots for her to lounge nearly everywhere and a touch of fantasy opulence which was all I needed in a magic house.

    Letting everyone keep their privacy, I hadn¡¯t been inside one of them yet. I had been wanting to explore the guildhall but the doors were locked. As my hands touched them, the System prompt of my nightmares appeared and my executive function was shot from then on. Only now that I returned with Naea did I take the time to look around. With a deep, calming breath, I decided on the name of the guild.

    It doesn¡¯t matter, I convinced myself, trying to agree with Naea, it¡¯s just a name.

    No one else was here yet. They had likely all found their favourite beds at this point. With the ability to make their houses invisible to each other, the safety of the barriers weren¡¯t questioned. They probably would have taken any excuse to relax, really. I doubted they had spent more than four hours asleep since the Shift occurred. Luckily for me, I kept getting knocked out so I didn¡¯t have that problem. Doubly true since my grade evolved.

    The large building echoed in a stately manner as I entered. It had been a miraculous discovery the day after my evolution in which I saw I could ¡®repair¡¯ the home of a mess just like I could damage. The cost was miniscule, even with the grotesque sludge from my evolution. So, I wasn¡¯t worried about my muddy boots on the nice new flooring, which was lovely.

    As I wandered the various corridors and additional levels of the guildhall, I saw its primary purposes. There were barracks with comfortable bunk beds, three large spaces at the back of the building which could fit over one hundred people easily. These people would be well looked after with another stocked pantry of food and a large modern kitchen to cook it in. Not exactly my forte, but maybe someone had cooking magic?

    ¡°Naea,¡± I called across the room, ¡°we should find someone who had cooking magic.¡± She squealed in agreement while I threw together a simple, large pasta. There was no inherent magic in the meal, though I did try to infuse mana into the mixture. It had just melted the end of the spoon, so I gave up and focused on getting the spices right. It was passable, but nice and filling. What organ did it fill now my stomach was unneeded? Who knows!

    I didn¡¯t have much interest in running a guild, so the offices and storage rooms in the upper levels didn¡¯t hold my attention for long. I unofficially claimed the largest study all the same because unlike other rooms, this one had books inside of it. Naea groaned and practically ran away as I started leafing through one of them. My stomach filled with butterflies as I realised what I was holding.

    Item - Book (History Of The System, part 1)

    I hadn¡¯t expected the prompt to appear and swept it away. There were words on the cover which I couldn¡¯t read, a language cipher which was far different from anything on Earth. The closest I could guess was forms of ancient hieroglyphics I had seen. As I struggled to understand the words inside the book, I felt a slight empty space inside. Curious, I sent a small burst of mana into the pages.

    The book fluttered and within a blink of an eye, the letters were legible. Childhood wonder overpowered my more mature curiosity and I was happy no one could hear me squeak in delight. A magical library? There¡¯s one bucket list item checked off. I might have been pushing it, three large bookcases does not a library make but I was happy enough. I decided to read through the important information when I took time to rest.

    I could have quite happily sat down and started studying right then but there were more important things to be getting on with. From the large floor to ceiling window in the guildhall study, the top of the pagoda tower was visible. Everyone was sleeping or busy, and there wasn¡¯t much else to do.

    I called Naea over with a mental nudge through our connection and met her outside. I had felt the magic move as I completed the quest and looked up to see the name of the guild on a sign above the main entrance. ¡°Ah, so you did pick one then! Good! Though, what kind of a name is that?¡±

    My glare from earlier returned and the air drew heavy with my Dao. Naea giggled and pushed her own power against mine in a kind of magical play fighting only possible through Dao. A genuine choke from behind us caused us to stop. Tom was there, looking like he had just been throttled. ¡°Oops,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oops?!¡± Tom¡¯s anger was surprising only because of the man¡¯s timid nature to this point. I didn¡¯t begrudge it. Together, Naea and myself had just given his soul and psyche a beating by accident. ¡°What the bloody hell was that? It was that other magic you talked about earlier, wasn¡¯t it? That¡¯s why I was looking for you.¡±

    My eyes darted to the tower once more before giving Tom my full attention. Even figuring out there was a difference between mana and Dao so quickly was impressive. His medium length hair was a complete tangle and his eyes, brown like the hair, were manic and tired at the same time. He definitely hadn¡¯t slept. ¡°How can I help you, Tom?¡±

    His fervent eyes found mine with desperation, hope and excitement clear within them. With all the earnesty in the world, he asked a question I didn¡¯t realise I had always wanted to hear. In me, Tom saw the teachers of mysticism from legends. I¡¯m like Merlin. ¡°Can you teach me how to do real magic?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I answered immediately. I looked at the guild¡¯s name above the door. The Ascent. Not The Dragon¡¯s Ascent, because this place wasn¡¯t going to just be for me to get stronger. A journey walked alone was bound to get lonely eventually. Let everyone else climb with me, if they could keep up. ¡°Yes, I can.¡±

 Chapter Forty Four - Real Magic

    I had learned quickly many things I had never considered about fighting over my time in the dungeon. The way to move my muscles so damage was lessened. How to hit something in such a way it won¡¯t get back up, regardless of physiology. What kind of damage it takes to put something truly powerful down. Today, something new. You could get performance anxiety.

    An unsightly scream peeled away from me unbidden as I fell through the air before landing with a splat. Egging the others on, Naea started a raucous cackling at my expense. Doing my best to ignore the peanut gallery, I tried once more to activate my new ability. The latest Guidance Stone to my draconic repertoire was the first to require specific timing to use correctly.

    Infusion was a general boost in power for the cost of mana. Harmony of the Storm acted mostly as an additional expense or way to spend mana which changed the energy into the thunderous power of a raging tempest. Obviously, Weapon Mastery was as passive as they come, inert even. I was more than glad with the supposed effect of my new ability, I just needed to make it work.

    I had two new Guidance Stones since the start of the day, but had only used one so far. Both had come from the completion of the guild quest. I claimed one before offering the rest to the party of friends. Ellie¡¯s Aspect of Poison was a better fit with the Guidance Stone of Desecration I had received from Shub-Nagorath than any of the others on offer, so I traded for another of the new ones.

    With only two Guidance Stones left to fuse with my draconic attribute, along with my understanding of Dao, I knew I needed to be picky with my choices. My decision to use the Guidance Stone of Absorption was an easy one, even with the permanence of the choice weighing heavy. Absorption as a concept was completely in line with my knowledge of dragonkind.

    The Storm Dragon had devoured whole planets on its path to godhood, taking the vitality and power of both worlds and their star for itself. The pride of the ancient, regal power within me had hungered for the ability to do similar. Out of the six stones to choose from, this was the only one which had been certain.

    Again, I liked the sound of how it worked.

    I was once more launched across the room as my opponent¡¯s frustration reached a fever pitch. The huge figure looked back and forth between me and the others before stomping its foot like a child. ¡°I agree. Their laughing isn¡¯t helping. I nearly had it that time though, so don¡¯t give up.¡±

    Monster - Adult Amphibian Attack Animal - Level 36

    This one had evolved compared to the brethren I had fought before. It was, of course, the first mini-boss of the pagoda tower. Finally finding a way to mix the current situation with my own plans, I gathered up the others and told them to follow me. Into the trial tower we went. I didn¡¯t plan on letting anyone else get involved as these were my towers to claim but allowing them to spectate would be¡­ enlightening.

    I had thought it would show the new people how impressive I was, how seamlessly I controlled a battle and dealt with my opponents one after the other. Recency bias aside, I could argue I had succeeded at this in the first phase of the fight. Before the twelve foot turtle-frog-man got involved, I had torn through a wave of the unevolved versions. These adolescents didn¡¯t have magical weapons like the ones I had faced outside unfortunately, but it meant I just swept through them without care.

    The big guy was my opportunity to show off what I could do. Instead I was just being ragdolled due to the creature¡¯s strength. I spat out a mouthful of blood. ¡°Okay, last fucking chance. You better hope it works or I¡¯m just going to crush you instead.¡± The monsters seemed to understand speech, which was kind of fun and kind of messed up at the same time. Trying to measure their intelligence was a dangerous game leading to dark moral questions better reserved for philosophers.

    I stared down the mini-boss as it charged, enraged by my casual taunt. I tried one last time to get the feeling right within as I tried to activate the very simply named Drain.

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    Skill - Drain (Dragon/Absorption)

    The greed of the dragons is legendary. Like every race, each dragon is different but all possess the ability to take without return.

    Thank you System, very cool description and trickle of lore but how the fuck do I do it? I had received a burst of information when I used the stone, just like I had before, but there were intrinsic differences with how the energy needed to move. Figuring it out mid-battle with an enemy who wanted, perhaps even needed, to kill me was not wise. My previous breakthroughs had all come in battle, so I hadn¡¯t planned for what to do if it didn¡¯t happen.

    I scrunched my eyes shut and tensed as the moped-sized fist sent me crashing into the wall of the tower. The energy had failed at the last moment yet again. Pulling myself from the wooden wreckage, I nearly gave in. We had been doing this song and dance for over fifteen minutes and even I was getting bored of it now. The tension in the other five had long vanished.

    The loss of interest was nearly as frustrating as my inability to grasp the new power. Grasping it was entirely the problem, actually. Stubborn, I threw myself at the creature. My basic attributes were the only things used here as I didn¡¯t want to muddy the waters of my technique by using Infusion. The pathways which Infusion filled with energy needed to be empty.

    They needed to be more than dried up, though. The real issue with using this skill was the lack of control I was forced to chase for it to work. Since the moment I had sensed the energy within, I had been constantly moving, moulding and experimenting with its properties. Even in my sleep, my mana twisted through the channels within myself automatically.

    It¡¯s impossible for a human to hold their breath until they die. The act of breathing itself was an involuntary reflex. Once my body had been changed by the System, breathing became less and less necessary. At this point, I was only doing it out of reflex and comfort more than needed. The permanent automatic act of breathing had been replaced by the perpetual churn of mana within my core and pathways.

    In essence, I was attempting something similar to forcing my heart to beat in the other direction. It was nonsensical but all the more annoying because I knew it was possible. The System had shown me as much. I was obstinate, determined to make it work even as I accrued some avoidable damages. Even though I hadn¡¯t fought back much, the mini-boss itself was becoming lethargic. It¡¯s strongest moves weren¡¯t putting me down and it was getting tired.

    It wasn¡¯t that slow though.

    I slipped, the weakness of having no mana running through my muscles. My lucky opponent happened to swing a huge kick my way at the same moment and, unlike our previous collisions, this one caught me dead on. My shit got thoroughly rocked and I bounced around the edge of the circular room from the force. Naea zapped over to me as I lay on the ground hurt. ¡°Ffffffffuuurgh.¡± I turned my curse into a growl as I came to a stop. ¡°My arm feels funny,¡± I mumbled.

    ¡°Yep, it¡¯s super broken. Don¡¯t worry, no one can see. Listen,¡± she slapped me as she spoke, stopping me from losing consciousness. ¡°Get it together. You¡¯re making us look bad in front of the servants.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still calling them that? I thought we were over that.¡± I had caught Naea bossing the group around and cracking an imaginary whip. She was getting them all to plant different flowers in the gardens and lawns around the guildhall.

    ¡°They like it,¡± Naea lied unconvincingly. I was too out of it to care, only able to focus on her first point. This was not a good showing of my skills at all. Naea channelled my mana through herself and sent it back, full of healing potential. I hissed as my arm snapped back into place. She looked at me seriously. ¡°Are you going to win?¡±

    I blinked. ¡°Naea, you¡¯re a genius. Yes, I¡¯m going to win.¡± Was it that simple? Couldn¡¯t be, but nothing else was working. The fairy preened at my compliment, though she had no idea what I meant. I held out a hand for a fist bump, one she happily gave me. As she did I activated an ability I had never actually used before. Naea¡¯s energy flowed into me easily through Battle Bond. Before her evolution, the technique was a detriment more than a help when I used it. Now, it was the key to understanding the trick.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Naea shouted after me, but I was already moving. I channelled the bundle of energy I had taken into an Infusion and enjoyed the differences in how the technique resolved. I was faster than when I used the technique with my own power. I felt lighter and everything was just a little funnier. No wonder she¡¯s never serious, I thought. My mind went to a specific moment underground. Naea¡¯s promise to avoid damage and the weight of her saying it. I¡¯m such a hypocrite.

    With my attributes soaring, I engaged the creature again. Due to its size, it should have been unwieldy but all of these ninja turtle knock-offs had been annoyingly dextrous. Even twice the size it should be, the nasty green-grey monstrosity was whipping around like a masterful practitioner of martial arts. It had a glove on each hand which magically extended the range of its attacks.

    First I had been hit because I was surprised, then because I was tired and intentionally weakening myself but no more. I was levels higher than this thing¡¯s and twice as strong as someone without my achievements would be. This thing was just supposed to be a training dummy, not an actual challenge.

    I could tell the others were returning their focus to me. It was the first time in a while I hadn¡¯t immediately been sent flying so the progress was clear. Instead of clumsily avoiding big hits, I was effortless in my movements. The huge thing was quick, sure, but only relative to other things. Compared to myself, especially with Naea¡¯s speed-heavy Infusion, it might as well have been in slow motion.

    Having a high Mental attribute doesn¡¯t stop one from over-thinking. If anything, it probably makes it easier. A decent Will attribute is necessary to keep things in line, a trapping I had just been a victim of. Rather than beat myself up for being slow, I would beat up the slow ass turtle dude. Stepping around a hammer blow, I moved in close to end things.

 Chapter Forty Five - Drain

    An arm the size of a canoe smashed the wooden flooring of the first layer of the pagoda Trial Tower. The battle had been ongoing for nearly half an hour, but the last thirty seconds had been the real start of things. Now a switch had been flicked and the control had shifted from the larger combatant to the smaller. While the audience was glad for this, the gigantic turtle man was not.

    I didn¡¯t care what it wanted. Its desires and dreams were irrelevant, if they even existed in the first place. I was a speck of dust in the cosmos so worrying about the hopes of a magical creature trying to kill me was a special kind of trivial. Especially considering what I had planned. The System was brutal but at least it was impersonal.

    My own treatment was probably going to feel targeted.

    I had made a simple thing very complicated by overreaching. The packet of knowledge received by the System had pushed me further into the complexity as I had assumed only one way to use the new technique. Instead of following the System¡¯s newest blueprint, I had recognised an earlier version which should work just as well. As my palm fell flat on the turtle¡¯s shell, I activated Drain.

    It was so simple. I opened an internal gate and a dense bundle of energy slipped into a waiting space I hadn¡¯t been able to sense until now. Immediately the difference was clear. I wanted to slap myself but doing so might take my jaw off. My attributes were multiplied again on top of the Infusion which was still running. I curled my palm into a fist and jabbed it forward.

    I was no martial artist before¡­ but I was right now.

    A one inch punch, thrown with the skill of a true master, sent the large creature right into the far wall. The force of the blow was incredible in its own right but it was the skill with which the attack was thrown which made the effect so pronounced. My muscles had never worked in such perfect tandem with each other. I looked at my own fist instead of worrying about the enemy.

    It returned with massive haste but the fight was over already. A barrage of attacks, thrown with varying distances and range to make the blows more complex were completely ineffectual. Absent-minded, I blocked and dodged the mini-boss¡¯ attacks while focusing on the energy within and how it worked. I¡¯m just filling up with batteries, I chuckled.

    With each passing second, the container emptied of this new power. It wasn¡¯t mine, so there was no method to hold on to the magic I had stolen. This energy wasn¡¯t quite mana, nor was it Dao. It was a combination of everything the creature was, had experience and could become, all at once. The quality of this energy was so pristine, I was in genuine awe of it.

    I was also burning it into nothingness.

    There was no stopping the process, it was simply a part of the skill. I mourned as the power slipped through my fingers. As a eulogy to the wondrous feeling, I would use it to full effect. I met the impending giant with a violent smile on my face. Each time Drain emptied, I plunged my bucket back into the turtle¡¯s well. I absorbed exchange after exchange, becoming stronger while my enemy withered.

    Once my attacks started to leave pudgy dents in the turtle¡¯s shell, it was time to end things. Although I had dominated the fight once I became truly serious, I had still yet to delve into my own mana during the battle. Naea¡¯s contribution had faded but not before I became a vampiric limpet, sticking to the monster while sapping its strength. In spite of its obvious loss, the mini-boss had not once backed down from me. Even now, it was still a grade 1 and could kill me if it landed the right attack. It wouldn¡¯t give up on the chance. An attitude worthy of respect.

    Throughout the combat, the mini-boss had known its lot. From the very first attack thrown, against a different creature entirely, I had seen a hardness in its eyes. It hadn¡¯t given up, but it had known how the fight would go. The sense of a martial artist or the instincts of prey? Either way, it hadn¡¯t avoided me. My Dao rippled in admiration.

    So, I gave the creature my true maximum output.

    The quick and powerful specimen which had stared me down while I slew dozens of its lesser¡¯s was a thing of the past. More grey than green now, the pallid kung fu amphibian limped towards me. I bowed slightly, thankful to my opponent for being a perfect whetstone to sharpen myself on. Gathering every ounce of the turtle¡¯s energy into my fist, I supercharged the impending blow.

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    The strange power from Drain was joined by a sizable chunk of my own mana. As the two mingled within my arm, I lowered my centre of gravity. Almost squatting, I used my left hand to help contain the exuberant magic in my right. For a single instant I considered whether I had overdone it but stopping now would be disastrous. The attack needed to be thrown.

    Infusion. Infusion. Infusion. Infusion.

    My maximum layering of the skill was four before the gains were outweighed by the damage I would do to myself in its use but I wasn¡¯t done. More than additional strength to my attack, I needed the increased durability which came with magnified attributes or just throwing the punch I was charging up would blow my arm off. An equilibrium came over me as my body was temporarily pushed to the level needed.

    Harmony of the Storm.

    I couldn¡¯t help myself. I had never been so powerful and I wanted to see the limit, if there was one. Tiny explosions of sound and light glittered around me as thunder and lightning coated my body. A white light gathered in my hand as the affinity of the magic within became tempestuous. Yep, I conceded, definitely too much power.

    There¡¯s never too much power.

    The thought was my own but it resonated with my Dao to the deepest core of understanding. Drain itself was a representation of this ideal. From within my quiet inner world, a shadow appeared within the smoke of the volcano, illuminated by the light of the Hurricane Heart. The Dao of the Dragon took command of the attack and I became nothing more than a vessel for the attack.

    Finally, the punch was thrown. The turtle was still metres away but I had already decided distance was not an issue, so it wasn¡¯t. The attack landed instantly and a blinding light devoured the mini-boss¡¯ form completely. I covered my eyes even as the surge of experience flooded into my core.

    Ding! Level up! +20 Attribute points.

    Accepting the prompt, I felt a little sad. Gone were the days of being completely reforged by the energy of a level up. My panting stopped and most of the aches ceased their throbs but damage still lingered. The healing wasn¡¯t worse, I was the one who had changed. There was just more of me to heal now. I had to admit it was a good thing. I pictured being in a fight with someone who had dozens of level ups waiting to keep them full strength. That could still be done, but it wouldn¡¯t be effective at higher levels. Anyway, I had another System message to check, so I moved on quickly.

    Skill Upgrade - Infused Strike has upgraded to Strike Of The Ruler (Dragon)

    The strength to dominate, impose one¡¯s will and destroy one¡¯s enemies.

    Some skills explained their effect in words, some were apparently pure vibes. Strike Of The Ruler wasn¡¯t much different to Infused Strike anyway, it was more of an updated description for what I was already doing. However, like Infused Strike, the new version of the skill had unknown possibilities and evolutions possible. I smiled at my fist while the others tentatively gathered around me. Well, Naea wasn¡¯t timid, of course.

    ¡°Told you all he was just messing around,¡± Naea crooned. She flitted around my head proudly, wiggling her small head back and forth. The others all had expressions of either wide-eyed uncertainty or wonder. Luke and Tom were looking at me like I was made of stars which was quite nice. Aaron, Ellie and Harry not so much. To them, I was suddenly scarier than the level 36 mini-boss.

    ¡°Sorry about that. New Guidance Stone took some working out. Naea, would you?¡± I gestured to the bodies and I saw her start to open her mouth a little too wide. ¡°Just loot for now, I think?¡± Her disappointment was measurable but as close as things were with the guild members of The Ascent, showing them her eating habits could wait. Maybe I should add a trigger warning for them?

    Naea bounced around the fallen bodies, now able to tap them all without distracting me. After a minute, I accepted the prompt to loot the lot of them, snorting at the mini-boss¡¯ name. ¡°The System has a twisted sense of humour. The big guy was called Pollock.¡± I threw a point at the splattered body as I walked over to grab the gloves it had been wearing. Demolished by the final attack, the monster¡¯s remains could have been a work by Pollock himself.

    Elli, Luke and Tom laughed quickly, with the others following suit. They¡¯ve got no clue who Jackson Pollock is, bless them. I didn¡¯t judge, most of my general knowledge was stolen entirely from movies and pub quizzes. I had a quick glance at the gains but as usual, it was just coins. A few thousand for the whole room wasn¡¯t bad, but like my experience, it had been less than expected. The mob which were lower level than me hardly gave me a notch towards my next level, the bulk coming from The Turtle Formerly Known As Pollock.

    Item - Telekinetic Arm Wraps (Rare)

    A master of fighting was challenged from afar but did not want to leave the restaurant they were currently patronising. With a masterful command over the universe, he decided to hit the man from where he was sitting.

    Effect: Punches thrown while wearing these wraps have massively extended range.

    ¡°Think fast,¡± I warned as I gently tossed the wrappings over to Aaron. Everyone else used weapons, but there was no reason he couldn¡¯t add these to his current fighting style. The guy didn¡¯t seem to like me very much and while I didn¡¯t care, I cared less about these gloves. I had literally just learned how to do the same myself by my own power. I was beyond training wheels like these.

    ¡°Wow,¡± he said, looking over the description and tying them on, ¡°thank you. Seriously.¡± He was obviously more moved by the exchange than I was, but all the better. I was coming around to the idea of teaching these guys some stuff. When he was finished, he looked at me with a respect I hadn¡¯t seen there before. That was easy. ¡°What now?¡± He asked.

    The others nodded. I could tell Tom was bursting to talk my ear off, but he was waiting for my answer. The options were rest or continue, but I wasn¡¯t even out of breath. Plus, I wasn¡¯t planning on doing as much on the next floor as long as this tower continued being battles. I had shown my strength and cemented my place in their minds as a step above. There was only one thing left to find out.

    It was time to see what this guild of mine could do.

 Chapter Forty Six - Teaching Moment

    I was pleased to see higher levels on everything on the second floor of the pagoda tower while the completion requirement remained the same. Defeat the small army of weird karate frogmen and then defeat the boss of the floor. The mini-boss was more true to the title this time, only being at around eight feet tall. Still big, but not the goliath I had just defeated. It was stronger, though.

    Monster - Adult Amphibian Attack Animal - Level 42

    The little ones were between level 25 and 30, making them fantastic practice and experience for the newbies. Clearly an unfair way to describe them, once they were in action. Naea was on the sidelines with myself this time as we let them go to work. There was a clear and obvious desire to prove themselves within the group.

    In some ways, the band of allies were better suited to fighting the enemies before them than I was. None of the grade 0 amphibians had magical weapons, so it became about technique and capability. I had yet to see any true skills from the turtlemen but their attributes were impressive. Against myself, they had the chance to overwhelm with numbers, but not against the party.

    I tried to follow the sensation of their abilities but the melodies were too complex and interwoven. The whispers of what would become their Daos were all linked together. Almost like mine and Naea¡¯s, but not nearly as close. Five clearly separate instruments working in concert to aim towards the same goal.

    Victory.

    I was more than a little impressed with the certainty their movements held. An exposed back for me was a mortal danger but for the party, it was an opportunity. What should have been blindspots were actually traps. Any enemy which tried to take advantage of a slip or a supposed overreach by one of the group was brutally dealt with by another member.

    The battle was methodical from the start, even if the ninja¡¯s basic fighting style was a little chaotic. Harry stepped forward, drawing attention. A tower shield appeared in his hand. The same skill which summoned the shield enraged his enemies, making them desperate to put him down first. He had no specific love for the sword he had been carrying, a simple weapon with improved durability compared to the natural steel, so he¡¯d swapped to a new one. The Sorehammer finally found flesh, surprisingly effective against the turtle¡¯s shells. Go figure.

    To his immediate side was Aaron. I didn¡¯t have much to say about his powers. They wouldn¡¯t work on me, but they were effective enough. They could hold one of the grade 0 turtles for a short while, which was alright. Of course, they would be more potent if he had put any of his attribute points into Mental. ¡°Fortitude just feels better,¡± he had said. I dropped it. Perhaps his first Aspect didn¡¯t need to be his main one? He completely misused his attributes, but with the new arm wraps, his effectiveness was more than enough for this battle.

    Taking quick advantage of Harry¡¯s stuns and Aaron¡¯s bindings were Ellie and Luke. The archer was more immediately effective, while Ellie¡¯s influence was felt slower. It was hard to say who was more deadly once the poison started taking effect. None of the creatures actually died to Ellie¡¯s magic but it was the reason they could take the turtles out so easily.

    Splitting my attention was easier than ever since my evolution so while I was watching those four, most of my focus was on Tom. At the back of the formation, the turtles hadn¡¯t seemed to notice him at all. Which made sense because Tom hadn¡¯t done a damn thing as far as they were concerned. Something was brewing, but would it formalise before the fight was over?

    ¡°Where¡¯s the Mana Bolts, Tom?¡± Harry shouted. They didn¡¯t need his help, but not having his input was throwing them off their rhythm somewhat. I had to concede that this was my fault as I could tell it was my influence which had caused a change in the mage. Ah well, I shrugged, pressure will help them grow, too.

    Poor Tom had got into his own head a little. I could feel that his Aspect was pressing against a boundary but how was I supposed to help him? Unlike the others, he could feel my Dao when it was used. He was chasing that feeling, unable to even move his mana properly through his channels at this point. The best I could do for him was reset his thoughts.

    I slowed my mana and intentionally let it out of my control a little. Distracted as he was by his frantic mind, he didn¡¯t even notice me walk up beside him. I also chose this moment to intervene because a turtle was slipping through the net. Tom would likely have been fine, but it helped to prove my point.

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    I activated an earlier version of Infusion. While the skill hadn¡¯t upgraded or anything, I had changed massively since receiving my Dao. Everything I did had small echoes of it, making me more graceful, powerful or intimidating. That¡¯s what my Dao was. Imperious, overwhelming and avaricious. Tom¡¯s shaky legs and general demeanour told me he was meant to walk a different path.

    ¡°Watch this,¡± I said, spooking him. Tom turned to me just in time to see me kick the incoming turtle warrior into the air like a ball. It had launched itself, tucked its limbs and head into the shell and shot at the distracting mage with the force of a speeding car. With one touch, I stole its momentum and sent it spinning in the air. Arms and legs came out of the shell, flailing wildly. With a spin, I planted my heel into the monster¡¯s falling form and sent it bowling through some of the others to give the party breathing room.

    I had strangled my Dao while performing the move, and it should have shown. ¡°Can you tell the difference?¡± Aaron and Harry stopped protecting Tom and the four of them continued battling while I gave a quick lesson. Tom shook his head, pointy blue hat wobbling. ¡°Okay, show me a Mana Bolt. Do it properly.¡±

    The young man¡¯s eyes hardened. He nodded, squaring his jaw. Tom had almost immediately unlocked Mana Control once I showed him how, so I was now able to watch his mana mould in real time. Unlike before, the skill didn¡¯t activate in his hand or at the end of the staff, but rolled up his arm like a snowball, gathering mass. The process was still lightning quick, but I followed it easily.

    A powerful orb of mana came to life at the end of Tom¡¯s staff, where he kept it. I smiled at the fast progress on show now he wasn¡¯t trying too hard to perform. From the multicoloured mass at the end of his weapon, he began firing his signature skill. Tiny bursts of energy flickered through his pathways. Once they met the staff they were released as homing bullets. Attack after attack shot out of the orb, firmly placing the momentum in the party¡¯s hands.

    Oh, so it¡¯s like¡­ this.

    Skill Unlocked - Mana Bolt

    Simple. Effective. Unerring.

    ¡°Wow,¡± I said, holding my own smaller ball of power, ¡°high Mental really is the way to go.¡± I had been practising myself, but I hadn¡¯t expected to acquire the skill so quickly. I let the small trickle of knowledge shore up the fallacies in my technique before sending it into the nearest turtle. The numbers were really thinning now, and my attack knocked them down by one. ¡°Oops. My bad, didn¡¯t mean to kill-steal.¡±

    Tom just looked at me like I had two heads. Or like I had just used his main bread-and-butter without much more challenge than actually trying. He didn¡¯t know my main advantage, which was being able to watch the magic of the skill beforehand. I myself hadn¡¯t realised the potency of that particular feature of my race until now either. I summoned the orb again. ¡°See the difference now?¡±

    I assumed with it being his skill instead of my own, he would more easily pick up what I was trying to explain. Even though I had created the same effect, down to the System calling it a Mana Bolt, there were clear differences between my projectile and Tom¡¯s. If I were being generous, I would say mine was¡­ clouded with power. Someone who wanted a punch might describe my orb as less pure. Tom¡¯s eyes widened slowly.

    He turned back to the last dregs of the battle. None of the fodder ninjas were uninjured at this point and I could see disappointment on Tom¡¯s face. I liked that. He should want to face enemies at their full strength, but I conceded the value of a team at the same time Tom smiled. ¡°No, actually,¡± I heard him whisper, ¡°this works. Perfect output for each.¡±

    The aspirant magician¡¯s eyes scouted the remaining enemies as I returned to Naea¡¯s side. She was happily munching on a snack bar, not looking like she wanted to help in the slightest. ¡°Did he figure it out?¡± She asked through a full mouth.

    ¡°Chew your food and watch.¡± I didn¡¯t need to spoil Tom¡¯s surprise and Naea would be able to tell in a minute anyway. I didn¡¯t take my eyes off his mana as it started to take on a powerful new momentum. Each member of the party burned with their own spark. Protection, Control, Force, Poison and Magic. My race change had been mostly cosmetic up to now but I could tell what I was seeing was special. Their Aspects were written across their entire soul and present in every use of their mana, so they were all visible to me. I was able to see as Tom¡¯s spark, the Aspect of Magic, began to flare.

    I jumped over the crowd, causing the mini-boss turtleman of the floor to flinch when I landed in front of him. He hesitated, which was good because I put up my hands. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you can understand me, but I¡¯m not trying to fight you.¡± Judging from how the creature¡¯s shoulders relaxed slightly, it understood enough. I smirked. ¡°I¡¯m just making sure you don¡¯t interrupt.¡±

    The creature¡¯s weapon was a pair of brutal looking tonfa with bladed edges. Those are sick as fuck, I nodded, already giving them over to Ellie in my head. I watched the ongoing magic show behind me through my manasense while keeping the boss fixed in place with my eyes.

    Mana started appearing in the air, intricate patterns like glyphs. They existed for a moment and then disappeared but each lasted just a moment longer than the one previous. Once they reached a threshold, all hell broke loose. The sound of glass shattering a hundred times over clattered through the massive room. I breathed in the Dao as the crashing, like chandelier¡¯s falling, slowly faded. I nodded at the mini-boss and jumped right back over the group.

    Only the party was left standing, with everyone but Tom a little stunned. The floor was marked with a hundred notches where his Mana Bolt had dropped down like rain. A dozen bodies lay shattered as a result of his explosive leap. I could sense the power on him as Tom turned to me, eyes full of gratitude.

    ¡°No time for that,¡± I pointed back in the other direction, ¡°he looks pissed.¡±

 Chapter Forty Seven - Boredom

    The final trial tower of the dungeon was easily the most gorgeous of the lot. The walls, floors and ceilings were all panelled with lavish, soft wood. Curtains and cushions adorned side rooms as we climbed the inexplicable staircases between levels. Incredible vistas were visible through the open climb, changing from floor to floor. Discounting the vault of the Storm Dragon, which had been tantamount to breathing in pure Dao, it was the nicest place in the dungeon by far.

    As long as you ignored the murderous army of increasingly powerful bastardizations of a childhood staple.

    The party had taken care of the mini-boss on the second floor, though it wasn¡¯t easy even with their group¡¯s sudden burst of power. Mostly, it was a clumsy series of chases as the frogman kicked Harry away and tried to attack one of the others. They won, Ellie got her Tonfas and I got another upgrade to my belt, the second since entering the tower. From blue, to purple to the current brown.

    Item - Attun-fas (Rare)

    An ancient master of defence realised that his fights would end a lot faster if enemies broke themselves on a sharp surface, rather than a flat one.

    Effect: The blades of these tonfas conduct mana and skills with increased efficiency

    Item - Brown Belt (Upgradeable)

    Importance does not lie in the colour of the belt, but what you do while wearing it.

    Effect: Attributes +15%

    We took our time moving from the second to third floors as I explained my own grasp of Dao in the loosest terms possible. I had already seen what trying to force a specific mindset could do to one¡¯s mana in Tom, so I wanted to make sure they came to the truth on their own. ¡°Tom has touched on something I¡¯ve also discovered. We can all do incredible things with mana and the System literally makes us superhuman¡­ but there¡¯s a truer magic underneath it all.¡±

    With everyone¡¯s attention on me, I allowed the Dragon within my Dao to roar. It was cooped up, being held down so I didn¡¯t overwhelm the group¡¯s senses. Without any Dao themselves, they were completely at the mercy of my own if I chose to let it run rampant. I was satisfied as they all flinched and restrained my Dao once more. ¡°Don¡¯t overthink it,¡± I warned, ¡°I definitely got lucky breaking through how and when I did. Tom¡¯s more receptive because of his Aspect of Magic but I believe you¡¯ll all figure it out.¡±

    No one replied after I spoke, and I later realised they were more stunned by my Dao than I had noticed. Being in the thick of things as Tom¡¯s Dao evolved had heightened their senses. They were in the zone when it came to recognizing Dao right now, but my light had been a little blinding. We rested in a sitting room covered in teal and gold fabrics before moving on to the third round of combat.

    This was where the group used their Guidance Stones. Each of them had been holding onto them at my suggestion. I wasn¡¯t in much of a position to place myself as their teacher but they had listened all the same. Until now, they had been using the absolute baseline of their Aspects. It was time to kick it up a level.

    I didn¡¯t get involved in the initial battle, which played out much like the first and second floors with new, additional spice. Naea zipped around and alleviated some pressure from the bunch, but for the most part she was taking it quite easy this tower. I was glad for that. I had pushed her harder than necessary when I had my little mental break and rushed the other two. She was gaining levels either way by cleaning up the fallen enemies once we left.

    The largest change was obviously within the party. Tom¡¯s Dao evolution had made them all more potent in a way, as their general strategy stayed the same while taking advantage of their new gains. Instead of stunning for openings, Tom¡¯s Mana Bolts were devastating in their own right. This meant the enemy tried to focus him more.

    Now, Harry¡¯s newest ability could come into play. ¡°Don¡¯t ignore me!¡± He slammed his foot down and buckled the wood beneath his feet. The Guidance Stone of Thorns was made for him. It had actually been Luke who pointed out how it would likely match up well, and he was damn right. Spectral attacks rebounded from his shield any enemy attacking the bulwark of a man.

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    Painful lacerations appeared on the ninjas trying to face the damage dealers of the party. Many of these were also being held firm by the clinging chains of Aaron. The Guidance Stones had all been given out well in my opinion, and I suspected the System had a hand in making sure the rewards fit each member. To Aaron went the Guidance Stone of Repair. It was this stone specifically which made me feel the rewards were a little too specific to be random. Every time his chains were broken, they came back just a bit stronger and rebound their target.

    Ellie and Luke took full advantage of the freedom given by their allies¡¯ techniques. Luke was a railgun, his attacks now multi-targeted due to the Guidance Stone of Ricochet. From behind the battle line of Harry and Aaron, he launched powerful bolt after bolt which punched through one enemy and then found another. It was almost a shame he didn¡¯t have the Aspect of Poison but Ellie was making it work.

    Her attacks had also gained an area of effect due to the castaway Guidance Stone of Desecration. It was no surprise the effect it had given the Aspect of Poison was potent, but even Ellie seemed a little put off by its efficiency. Victory was victory, but at least when myself or the others killed something, it didn¡¯t scream for mercy. Silence those lambs, Clarice, I joked. The monsters would kill you whether you were nice about fighting them or not, so use what you got.

    For myself, I stood before the mini-boss, waiting for it to attack. Level 49 wasn¡¯t bad at all, it was the same as Naea¡¯s had risen to since the trial tower started. At level 40 myself, with my achievements and other gains, I was much stronger than this creature. It knew this, and waited to see what I did. Happy with the stalemate, I let the others fight it out with the fodder ninja.

    By the time the noises had stopped, the mini-boss was looking more than a little perturbed. It¡¯s skin had turned a violet colour which I assumed was due to anger. Seeing its brethren slain was not something it enjoyed, but there was nothing it could do. My eyes were staring it down and what frog would make a move under the watchful gaze of a snake?

    I followed Naea¡¯s movement through my connection to her, as well as the eyes of the ninja frog mini-boss. She landed on my shoulder, yawning. ¡°They¡¯ll be finished up in a minute,¡± she droned, ¡°they¡¯ve all reached level 29 now by the way. The wizard man will be the first to evolve, probably, because he¡¯s the only one taking it seriously.¡±

    ¡°Is it worth us being serious for a minute?¡± I asked, nudging her with my head. She shrugged and I laughed as the noises from behind me stopped. I listened to the panting and groaning from the members of The Ascent behind me. ¡°They¡¯re all at the bottleneck? Then it¡¯s time to pull away again.¡±

    I wanted to remain firm on my stance. This was my dungeon, my challenge and the bulk of the rewards were mine. That I had others attach themselves to my chariot was just a natural part of being stronger. They had all received various boons and generous help on the path to greater power. I was happy to give them the chance, it alleviated my guilt over the swordsman, Jason¡¯s, untimely demise.

    I had finished sharing now.

    Multiple days had been spent getting The Ascent off the ground. From building homes to establishing the guild and the time spent getting to know the new people, I had begun to itch from the lack of progress. I wanted to leave the dungeon days ago, and had been ready to before my five new allies shook things up.

    I bounced Naea off my shoulder and she began hovering while the air around me became alive with energy. The dungeon which had become too weak for myself was in the goldilocks zone for the members of The Ascent. It was time to move on. ¡°We¡¯re moving at my pace now, let¡¯s see if the others can keep up.¡±

    Infusion. Harmony of the Storm. I became the storm, my blows raining down like thunder on the unprepared mini-boss. Lightning coated my fists as I slipped low and aimed a flurry of punches upwards into the hard shell. Drain. Weaving my newest technique into the flow, I gained strength with each punch while the turtle literally withered under the assault. Alone, a single skill would have been enough for me to defeat the mini-boss with ease.

    Together, it became trivial.

    The current mini-boss should have tried to fight me while its allies were alive, but it was too late for regret now. With no distractions and an audience to impress, I let loose everything I could. A Strike of the Ruler landed as the final attack in my combination, sending the turtle rocketing into the ceiling of the massive room. I wasn¡¯t done, so I gave chase.

    I attacked the very air itself, laden with gravity, which tried to pull me back down before my climb was finished. I infused my kicks with Dao which rejected anything but my own ideals. The ideal right now was to catch the falling target, so I rose higher and higher impossibly. I was burning more resources than necessary to show off but it still wasn¡¯t enough to dent my reserves.

    I snarled as I realised I was angry the tower wasn¡¯t putting up a challenge. Survival wasn¡¯t enough for me any more, I wanted to prove how strong I was. I found myself annoyed because I had already proven I could dominate a weaker opponent over and over. Even though I had lost my weapon, I hadn¡¯t lost a step of strength in comparison. It was all just¡­

    Boring.

    The turtle¡¯s shell had been lodged in the ceiling, but it fell as I got close. I spun in the air and layered three Infusions atop one another. The return journey to the ground was much quicker. I punched hard, sending the pathetic creature shooting towards the hard wood. A stamped on the air above me and caught up, punching again. A few seconds and a dozen jet-speed punches later, we crashed hard.

    The incoming flow of energy from the kill started before we hit the floor. I landed hard, smashing the wood and kicking up a mess of splinters. The tower was immeasurably sturdy, so even the slight cosmetic damage was impressive. The completely splattered turtle-frog-man was less decorative, but I supposed that depended on your preference. My mouth tilted in a disappointed pout.

    I hadn¡¯t even broken a sweat.

 Chapter Forty Eight - Ending This

    As before, the boss of the third floor had another few hundred gold coins, a magical weapon and a belt upgrade. I hadn¡¯t paid much attention to style since entering the dungeon because all my clothes got destroyed during most fights. Home Base had come with a few stocked wardrobes which was nice, but the fabric was nothing special. I had a stack of random clothing to throw on whenever I ended up disrobed by an attack.

    Since receiving my special magic trousers, I hadn¡¯t changed this habit much. I could use mana regeneration to repair clothing of all kinds due to the effect of the Adept¡¯s Trousers but it just wasn¡¯t worth it. Once I had better gear, or even just my own clothes, I would care a little more. All of these thoughts leading to me firmly deciding that red was not my colour. Of all the belts, this one looked the gaudiest.

    Item - Red Belt (Upgradable)

    If there is no challenge, there will be no change.

    Effect: Attributes +17.5%

    I did like the inspirational quote on this one though. It felt particularly poignant after my realisation in the previous fight. The whole dungeon felt stale and I was ready to be done with it. I still found myself hoping for something in the next two floors which might feel worth my time. Once I saw the layout of floor four, the same as the previous three, I began to lose even that hope.

    The fourth floor was the first where I fought alongside the party. For them to be in the fight at all meant I needed to run interference. The weakest of the other side was level 35 and the mini-boss was feeling less mini. Standing somewhere between the gigantic first boss and the rest, this ten-foot creature was imposing. Whether it was just mirroring my actions or whether this floor was always going to be different, the boss monster jumped into the fray early.

    This led to two battles occurring at the same time. One was a thrilling clash of two unequal forces, pitched and dramatic, pushing the survivors to greater heights having lived through it. For each enemy which fell, another took their place. For each ally who found themselves in danger, a saving grace appeared. Phantom shields, clasping chains, even the odd arrow was seen blocking incoming attacks and setting up retaliation.

    The second fight was arguably more exciting. The combatants of the first melee could hardly register the higher level clashes which were happening. Shockwaves ruptured the otherwise structured battle lines of the opposing force as their commander fought desperately to stop the monster in their midst. For the beleaguered tower boss, the situation was as life-or-death as it had ever experienced. It had entered a state akin to enlightenment just to keep up.

    Good for you, I thought venomously. I lazily probed into the enemy lines, allowing myself to be pushed back. At level 67, the boss of this floor was easily as troublesome as Shub-Nagorath had been once true combat started. Her real threat had been in the children she produced and the strength she would eventually reach. I cut her growth short, and didn¡¯t regret it for a moment.

    The only reason I wasn¡¯t doing the same to this boss as I did to the last was because it had attacked first. Initially I was on the defensive, having to keep the destructive power of the turtle-boss away from the party and help out where I could with the slightly overwhelming amount of fodder enemies. Once the herd thinned a little, the balance began to overtly shift in my favour. Naea soon joined the others to make their lives even easier.

    The magical weapon wielded by this variation of amphibian was at least a little interesting. A sickle and chain combination, it¡¯s skill with the alternating range and weird angles of attack possible only with the strange tool made me consider using the weapon long term. Until I left the dungeon, it was hard to know which equipment was common enough to add to my Weapon Mastery.

    Our exchanges were both fast as lightning and charged by it. My movements were sharper when the mana running through my veins was charged with Harmony of the Storm and my attacks were more potent. Each clash caused the mini-boss new burns on its shell, new scorch marks across its flesh. I took a few cuts and bruises as I learned how to dodge the blade on a string but the difference in strength was obvious quickly.

    I found my moment and I took it. Instead of dodging, I let the ball at the end of the chain hit me. It weighed a tonne, maybe literally, and I smashed backwards into some unsuspecting turtles who were dispatched by the others quickly. I never let go of the weapon, however. The chain taut, I heaved with all my strength, layering Infusions together. Unwilling or unable to let go of its equipment quickly, the creature came right towards me.

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    Not finished, I started to run. Full speed and against the intense weight of the swinging mini-boss, my magically augmented muscles burned and my bones creaked under the strain. Must have been worse for the mini-boss because I¡¯m fairly sure the force of the swing knocked it out for a few seconds. It definitely knocked out some of the other turtle men, shell hitting shell and pinging the smaller, weaker ones across the room. They died from the various impacts into unyielding ground, wall or ceiling.

    I looked to the end of the chain and saw an angry face. ¡°Two choices, let go of the weapon or continue being slammed like a ball on a string.¡± I gave it a try but my quip was lost to the sounds of battle all around. How did Spider-man banter with his enemies when fighting was so loud? Comics were dumb.

    I made the choice for the floor boss with a burst of mana right along the chain. The energy bolted up the metal with all the properties of lightning. Storm affinity mana¡¯s natural state was destructive offence and I had an abundance. I started jumping and spinning the chain, sending the creature at the end slamming to the ground hard and fast, over and over again. My mana fried its wrist the chain was currently wrapped around.

    The hand was severed and the creature removed. I looked down at the weapon and shrugged, putting it into my inventory for now. So it¡¯s called a kusarigama, I noted. Again, unless I instantly added it to my Weapon Mastery repertoire, it was nearly useless for me. Removing it from the hands - hand - of the one actually skilled with it was valuable enough for now.

    I turned, sensing eyes on my back. Both the party and the turtles they fought were watching me warily. I had interrupted the flow of their battle massively, to the point where no one knew what to do. More than ten of the fodder mutants remained, so I quickly booted the nearest one into another before jumping away. ¡°As you were! I¡¯ll stay over here!¡±

    Naea joined me now, clearing away what little damage I had accumulated quickly. ¡°Did I get carried away?¡± I asked, only half-joking. I had lost myself for a second there, thinking only about my own disappointment and taking out on the whole room around me. I could easily have hit the others, and the only reason I didn¡¯t was pure luck. I certainly wasn¡¯t consciously avoiding it. She shook her head either way.

    ¡°You¡¯re strong, Grant,¡± she reminded me while we stalked down the mini-boss. She gestured towards the creature, currently scrambling and crawling on broken bones to try and get away from me. ¡°See? Making it obvious is a good thing, otherwise people start getting ideas.¡±

    I stood over the mini-boss and found its attempts at survival mostly just sad. For the first time in the fight, I activated Drain for the first time. The struggle stopped entirely at that point, not because the creature had died but because its hope had. I stole its power and its chance at survival with one hidden trump card. It knew in that moment it had never stood a chance.

    I finished the creature with a powerful kick to the side of the head. In a rare turn, I used my boots¡¯ special ability to further increase the damage. The Thunder Steppers were overkill in combat where I might end up hurting the party with the extra damage but we had moved a distance away from the group with my few attacks. They were finishing the other enemies as a cataclysmic thunderclap shook the floor violently.

    It signalled the end of the battle for everyone. I found myself surprised when every member of The Ascent apart from myself and Naea collapsed. There was an aura of pride and accomplishment in all of them, but they were completely spent. ¡°Wow,¡± I said, ¡°I guess I forgot how easy it was to get tired before I evolved.¡±

    I had expected to push on with the group almost immediately. With my late Drain, I was honestly feeling as strong as I had when I started the battle, if not a little more powerful even. I hadn¡¯t used the level up prompt yet, as I figured it was worth saving at least one. The burst of healing energy wasn¡¯t enough to fully heal me anymore but I could foresee it coming in handy at some point. The additional attribute points were somewhat negligible.

    Naea and I looted the bodies, I upgraded my belt one more time and inspected the kusarigama while waiting for the others to catch enough breath to move somewhere more comfortable.

    Item - Crescent Moon Kusarigama

    A sect of cultists turned assassins refused to remove the telltale mark of their beliefs. These stylised sickles have a heavy weight attached via chain. As they¡¯re obviously incredibly conspicuous, the order of assassins was quickly routed out.

    Effect: When infused with mana, the chain of this weapon becomes much more controllable.

    Not for nothing, I gave the weapon to Luke. Other than Tom, he was the only one who had yet to receive a weapon from the tower and I could see the applications between his Aspect and the changing momentum of the exotic tool. Unfortunately, Luke was weirdly difficult about it.

    ¡°But I use a bow.¡± He said, dumbly. He looked to the others for support, with Harry and Aaron nodding in agreement. Tom looked like he was trying to stifle a laugh from the other side of the conversation and Ellie had one of her eyebrows raised, waiting for my reply. She seemed to be on my side though.

    ¡°He does use a bow,¡± Harry added helpfully. I was a little stunned at the refusal and couldn¡¯t help huff out a laugh when Aaron once again nodded like something was being explained to me. They were actually serious, too.

    I held up my hand. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m wrong, but none of your skills need a projectile to work, right?¡± Tom shook his head and I had to stop my eyes from rolling. ¡°And you never held a bow before the System came along?¡± Another agreement. ¡°So, you¡¯re just using a bow because it was the first thing you found that seemed to work?¡±

    I don¡¯t know when I truly fell into the role of teacher, but it happened without me knowing it. I doubted I would ever stop raging against the thought of needing to help people on their path, but I would also never stop doing it either. It felt too good to see someone succeed for me to let them fail. I sighed and began a long, winding argument about the need to actually experiment with things in this new world.

    It¡¯s going to be like teaching mana control all over again, I lamented.

 Chapter Forty Nine - My Floor

    It was a good thing we ended up sidetracked on the fourth floor. It allowed us to all take the time to really talk about our experiences since the System arrived. Well, mostly it was me talking. The others had been together since everything started so once their story reached the edge of the dungeon, there wasn¡¯t much more to say.

    The outside world had obviously changed a lot, but it wasn¡¯t solidified yet. One town might be completely fine, with people going about their days as if nothing had changed while another was now more like an apocalyptic reference to Australian movies about men with cars and not much else. For the most part, their advice was to judge it when I saw it, which seemed fair.

    For my part, I explained what I felt they were lacking and why it seemed important. Everyone now had mana within their body but other than Tom, none of them even tried to use it outside of skills. Before I gained an Aspect, I had learned Mana Control. Even the System said it was essentially something learned as a child throughout the multiverse. With that control I had essentially created Infusion by myself.

    ¡°Guidance Stones are just that. Guidance. I don¡¯t think they¡¯re letting you do something you couldn¡¯t do before, it¡¯s just that the System makes it insanely simple once you¡¯ve used one. Too simple, maybe.¡± I flexed my fingers, activating Drain and watching the magic move through my channels. The technique was anything but simple, yet its use was like blinking, it required no thought. ¡°Something to work on.¡±

    I was met consistently with embarrassed or confused looks as the others repeatedly realised they had either ignored or just misunderstood different things. Aaron spoke up, asking who made me the king of magic. I raised an eyebrow and created an orb of Mana Bolts, Tom¡¯s peak skill. ¡°Actually knowing what I¡¯m talking about makes me king, Aaron.¡± The younger man flinched away until I dispelled the ball. I shrugged. ¡°I can¡¯t force you to care,¡± I said with finality as I walked towards the fifth floor.

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 40

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 55  Speed - 55  Mental - 203   Will - 110

    Free attribute points: 20

    I showed Naea my character page, realising this was the first time she had seen it officially. Her eyes bulged but she kept her cool while a decidedly evil grin appeared on her face. She rubbed her hands together and tilted her head, making sure the numbers stayed the same at all angles. ¡°Your Will is nearly as high as my Speed, Grant.¡±

    Name - ¡°Naea¡±   Race - Dungeon Fairy Level - 48

    Grade - E

    Skills - Invisibility, Mana Control, Sparkstep, Harmony of the Storm

    Patron: Grant Kaeron (Level 40)

    I looked over the familiar page, which only told me so much. I let her statement remain vague. It was impolite to ask a woman her attributes, after all. I wriggled my eyebrows at her. ¡°Yep, I¡¯m impressive, I know.¡± Naea was gracious and played along, pretending to fawn over me. I placed the twenty floating points into Mental. Now that I had no weapon and new abilities, I could lean even less on the physical attributes. With all of my modifiers, it was actually equivalent to more than 40 points into the attribute. I was approaching 500 effective points in the stat.

    Tom¡¯s head snapped in my direction as I gained more strength in a moment than he had in half of his levels. If he were receiving the standard four points per level, his mental attribute was likely still less than one hundred in total. I just winked at him from a distance and surged my mana. His eyes went from squints to wide open. I began showing off, unable to help myself. Damned Dao of the Dragon, I thought jokingly.

    Everything was fun and games until the boss of the tower decided to swing its own weight.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Stood at the door leading to the fifth floor, a wind began to push against my back. The Grade 0 members of The Ascent began to choke on the dense energy pervading the fourth floor. My Dao was already flaring, so I was okay. I curled my lip and extended the protection over the others as I returned to the group. Naea activated a Dao barrier and looked at me with worry in her eyes, all joviality replaced. Whatever waited on the fifth floor was serious business.

    I couldn¡¯t hide my smile as a bead of sweat ran down my neck. Thank you, System, I managed to keep my thoughts to myself, an actual challenge. I turned to Tom. ¡°Hey. Oi. Over here. Yep, you¡¯re okay. All of you are fine. Tom, look at me. Do you feel what I¡¯m doing?¡± He was addled by the blast of Dao. I hadn¡¯t felt the full force of it, and even my ears were ringing. These poor guys had basically been sledgehammered in the head. Once his eyes cleared, he looked at me and nodded.

    ¡°Right, good, you¡¯re going to do the same.¡± He looked at me like my head had grown five times the size. ¡°No, seriously, it¡¯s easy. Take a breath, clench your thighs and push the energy out like you¡¯re blowing up a balloon.¡± While I was sure my directions weren¡¯t perfect, Tom grasped the idea extremely quickly. He might genuinely be better at magic than me. The thought made me grumpy but it wasn¡¯t the time. It took a few tries until Tom was able to hold his Dao extended without the bubble popping.

    I gently removed mine until Tom¡¯s was the only thing protecting the group from the gale forces of the Tower boss¡¯ Dao. It was a little like walking away from a house of cards and hoping it wouldn¡¯t fall. Once I was sure he had the feeling down, I threw my protection over them again. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to hold that while I deal with buddy boy up there.¡± Tom grimaced but nodded, looking at me with determination.

    ¡°Please hurry,¡± Tom said through gritted teeth. I nodded, turning on my heel. I hoped the others would get the tower completion rewards even if they didn¡¯t come to the fifth floor but if they didn¡¯t, such was life. I had done all I could for them and more. Each of them was on the cusp of understanding Dao, which in turn would let them evolve once the bottleneck was broken. Any more assistance and I would hinder their paths and my own, forever becoming teacher and students.

    As soon as my foot entered the stairway to the fifth floor, the pressure increased tenfold. Naea nudged me and we both looked at each other with begrudging admiration for our upcoming enemy. Something about the entrance to the stairwell had blocked most of the Dao from entering. Now it was an actual challenge, even for myself. We made our way up the passageway quickly.

    With a layout like the floors below, the fifth floor was not a surprise architecturally. Beautiful lacquered wood made up the bulk of the space, with impossibly detailed carvings all throughout. The walls were decorated with paintings and tapestries, while statues made of incredibly solid stone were dotted around. They were in the form of heroic looking amphibians. The only real difference was the number of enemies on this floor.

    A singular figure stood waiting near the middle of the room. All around it, energies swirled like a nebula brought to Earth. Instead of a small army, there was one creature. I began to use analysis and it brought its eyes to meet mine in response. Why? I couldn¡¯t help the shiver which ran through me. My temper flared as the tower boss scoffed in response, taking my revulsion as fear. Why did it have to be a goddamn rat?

    Sneering at me from a few hundred metres away was a humanoid rat. It was wearing a robe which covered most of its hunched form. Covered in brown and grey fur, it¡¯s face was gruesome, elongated and wrong. Its eyes, pinkish in colour, looked too human, both intelligent and feral at once. As we surveyed each other, the spirals of mana and Dao surrounding the thing became increasingly energetic. Angry, challenging and proud, the ratman¡¯s Dao tried to assault me like a weapon.

    I was excited.

    Unlike my clashes with Naea, this was a serious life-or-death situation. The creature had done me a service in its insult. It had tried to insult my pride. As my own Dao flared out, no longer just protective but offensive in its own right, the ratman began to chitter in outrage. A mostly invisible battle was being fought as I stepped closer and closer to the creature. Each step increased the weight on my back by double but I didn¡¯t stop. The dungeon boss would be feeling the same from me.

    It screamed and launched itself backwards as I came within twenty feet. A horrible, broken howl rippled through the air as the monster¡¯s Dao influenced the space. As it landed against the back wall, I stamped a foot down. ¡°Naea, if you would join me.¡± She nodded and together, we blanketed the whole floor with our Dao. The creature had made a miscalculation. It had tried to stake its claim on the area with its Dao. It would have been difficult to fight under those conditions. It was an interesting application of Dao.

    Unfortunately for it, this was our floor now.

    Its control broken, the monster pulled out a weapon and leapt to attack. Its rage was real. Naea fell back a little and focused on covering the fight with the Dao of the Fairy Dragon. I dodged the incoming attacks and tried once more to analyse the monster. Without its Dao in the way, I could see its name and level.

    Boss Monster - Master Thorn - Level 79

    A full 10 levels higher than Shub¡¯Nagorath. Stronger by a huge margin due to having actual control of Dao, as well as a fighting style not focused on its progeny. As I dodged, I reaffirmed my decision to leave the party behind. Not only could they not have completed the tower alone, but they would have been destroyed by this guy. If I had to protect them, I¡¯d probably get myself killed, too.

    It wasn¡¯t a lack of power, they just weren¡¯t blessed with a familiar who could turn their own vast mana reserve into pure healing energy. I had used the perfect concoction of abilities and circumstance to push further than others possibly could in a much shorter time. So it was just us. Naea and me. Against the most lethal enemy I had yet to fight.

    Finally, I might have found something interesting.

 Chapter Fifty - The Final Trial

    On the top floor of the final Trial Tower within the Dungeon that had trapped me, battle raged quietly. Naea kept the area blanketed in her aura, giving me a slight advantage which I sorely needed. Below, the members of The Ascent were making a choice, but it didn¡¯t matter to me. The only thing which existed was myself and the enemy opposite.

    Life on the speartip.

    Not quite, as the weapon wasn¡¯t as simple as a spear, nor as easy to dodge. The ratman boss monster engaged with me and within seconds, I was being cut to ribbons. Due to the shape of its weapon, I had some understanding of its attack patterns, but there were other factors at play.

    The creature was just under twice my level and definitely on the cusp of evolution. It held a Dao, powerful and complex enough I couldn¡¯t immediately understand it. Attribute-wise it probably had me beaten given the heavier array which monsters benefitted from. I knew Naea received nearly as many attributes as myself even before her grade evolution, mostly randomly assigned.

    If I had to guess, boss monsters got way more. Maybe they even had achievements? Either way, it was a struggle just to keep my head as the beautiful weapon swung horizontally. I dropped low, my flexibility also greatly increased by the System. With my first attack of the fight, I tried to kick the ratman¡¯s hand and disarm him.

    A brick wall.

    I flew away as all of my incoming force ricocheted back onto my own leg. I spun randomly in the air before landing in a heap. No time to groan, I threw myself aside instinctively and dodged the impaling strike aimed for my back. A lightning bolt smashed into the boss monster¡¯s face and gave me some space. ¡°You alive?¡± Naea asked, her form returning to normal.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I¡¯m alive.¡± I held out a hand and Naea hauled me to my feet by my finger. Her strength wasn¡¯t surprising to me, but we were a long way from when she needed help to lift me. She could probably fly me around with ease. ¡°I¡¯ve got something important we need to try after this.¡±

    ¡°After?¡± Naea held my hand, healing energy flowing from her to me. ¡°I¡¯ll just say the first clash wasn¡¯t promising and let you work out the rest, then.¡± I smiled and activated Battle Bond. Naea¡¯s eyes rolled a little as I more than doubled her maximum mana in an instant. Her features became slightly draconic, a thinner tongue than normal licking slightly sharper teeth. ¡°Keep up the suppression. Round 2.¡±

    Even our conversations were faster now the System had changed everything. Naea and I could move and perceive at high speeds, so conversations which might have taken a minute now happened in a few seconds. So, too, was the ratman¡¯s recovery. Naea¡¯s tackle had been akin to a swift jab in the mouth. I took up a battle stance again.

    The next exchange was still less uneven, with the ratman taking some blows in order to land attacks which had hit only moments before. Indignation flashed across its almost human features and a snarl deepened by Dao came from its furry lips. I was starting to get an image of its specific Dao and it only made me more ready for the fight. It¡¯s a damn shame I don¡¯t still have the Yo Staff, I whined internally.

    Our following trade was back to the original unevenness. My stomach was pierced by a stab I didn¡¯t fully dodge. I lost half a finger down the middle to a clever feint. It stamped the blunt end of the long-bladed spear onto my foot and cracked bone. For each movement I was able to read due to Staff Mastery, the creature had another trick to capitalise.

    ¡°Are you going to mess around the whole time?¡± Naea shouted. Her voice whizzed past me like a racecar as she slapped my shoulder, releasing a burst of healing energy. Another angry yelp from the ratman who was clearly upset I was receiving aid mid-fight.

    ¡°Whatever, you should have trained a few of those frogs to be healers.¡± My words were said into the face of the rat as it got up close once more. I fought the urge to close my eyes and shy away. I really hated rats. Especially ones with glaives, which I was pretty sure the weapon it wielded was called. ¡°Fine!¡± I shouted back towards Naea.

    Infusion.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    The ratman had just enough time for its eyes to widen in surprise before my fist met its chest. A cannonball of fur in a cloth robe skipped along the floor a few times. It managed to keep hold of its weapon, which was impressive. The ratman stabbed the glaive into the wooden floor to cease its movement, using the momentum of the blow to its advantage in a way I had done many times. You¡¯re only making me want the glaive more, I warned.

    Once I had a layer of Infusion fueling my movements, control was all mine. To say I was toying with the creature would be incorrect, as I was still dancing on the glaive-edge. Literally at one point as I jumped onto the extended shaft to dodge a stab. I stepped lightly and kicked the ratman¡¯s snout down. I was holding back, which to Naea was messing, but I had a reason.

    I wasn¡¯t the only one holding back.

    Master Thorn was as clich¨¦ as they came. It saw my level and assumed the fight would be simple. It had first tried to intimidate us into leaving through pure pressure. We had stood before the Storm Dragon, so that was never going to work. A modicum of respect had been shown when the so-called master had started the battle using a weapon but my own Dao growled when it came into contact with the rat¡¯s. Not just because it belonged to a rodent, either.

    My Dao was on the cusp of an evolution. In fact, it had been since my evolution to Grade 1. A true dragon was waiting within my inner world, ready to be birthed from the volcano of power. I tamped down on that power instinctually at first, but consciously now. I wasn¡¯t harming myself, on the contrary, I could feel the power of my Dao solidifying and purifying as the base concepts were more deeply understood.

    The reason I had yet to let my Dao evolve was because while the Dragon might be, I wasn¡¯t even close to ready. An Aspect was essentially a Guidance Stone for the Dao itself. I had understood the Dragon intimately due to the Aspect¡¯s presence and that understanding in turn became the Dao itself. If I let the Dragon evolve now, I would never be able to connect other Aspects to it. Three subordinate powers with the Dragon above them as the vessel. That was my plan and I was sticking to it.

    All of that to say I could tell when someone else was restraining their Dao for some reason. I doubted it was the same as mine, but the ratman was holding back against me, too. Wait, maybe¡­ Maybe it wasn¡¯t holding back, maybe it was building up? Either way, the dragon within was affronted. Anything less than full strength against us was an insult, wasn¡¯t it?

    So my movements were slightly less perfect than I could make them, slightly more insulting in nature. A kick to the rear, a stamp on the end of the tail. Tufts of fur ripped out of its face fur. All in the effort of breaking the control it kept over its Dao. Naea wasn¡¯t wrong when she said I was messing around, but I was looking for something in the tower more important than loot. If I was just here for the shinies, I would have kept the earlier weapons.

    From the moment I entered the dungeon, the difficulty was completely thrown off. Each time I met a wall, I had casually broken through my limits, almost by accident. The Storm Dragon could have annihilated me, but it wasn¡¯t really here. All the pain I had felt was real, the effort I had put in was true and yet, something had been missing. Something I could sense within a filthy ratman of all creatures. The goal I had searched for from the moment the System descended was right there.

    A genuine fight against someone stronger than me.

    Except, until the stubborn bastard unleashed its Dao, I wouldn¡¯t get that. ¡°Take me seriously, you fuck.¡± Despite my insulting fighting style, despite me actually dropping my Infusion and continuing to keep up, it held back. Why? What is that Dao? In the end it was me who lost my cool first. Fine, I decided, be another disappointment.

    Infusion. Infusion. Infusion.

    I locked eyes with the ratman and roared, my voice empowered by the power flowing through the body¡¯s every cell. My shout was draconic, both in its anger and the force of it. Naea whooped her support for my aggression and I lost just a little of the edge in my mood. I went on the offensive.

    Harmony of the Storm. Mana Bolt.

    I moved like a fluid, using the energy from my dodges to flow unstoppably into heavy strikes. When the creature tried to dodge, it was slapped back into my attacks by powerful magic projectiles. Each of the Mana Bolts appeared in the air, impossible to expect, especially as my every move became charged with storm affinity. Both my fists and the orbs of mana left a stinging electrical build-up, tasing the ratman and causing muscles to spasm.

    I saw determination appear in the rat¡¯s all-too-human eyes and my heart leapt. In contrast, I myself dropped to the floor. I had also seen mana snake through the glaive for the first time as Master Thorn¡¯s Dao punched out. Naea shot upwards. In a horizontal line directly from the rat¡¯s glaive space split. For a singular instant, natural order disappeared. I smashed into a wall at incredible speed as I became untethered from the gravity of the Earth.

    I felt the threat of death.

    ¡°There ya go, you got your answer. It¡¯s the bloody Dao of Space!¡± Naea shouted down from somewhere above. I had taken the brunt of the attack, even mostly dodged. My mind raced while I pulled myself from the wall. Even the impossibly sturdy wood of the Trial Tower had been cratered by my impact. With the level of Infusion I was burning, it would just about bruise me.

    I looked at Master Thorn, who was definitely done messing around. My second attempt at bringing out its true power had worked. The air around the ratman was fracturing and warping in my vision. The glaive in its hand was thrumming with power still yet to unleash. The previous attack was the rat¡¯s Dao, not a technique of the weapon. So there was more to come. My Dao was absolutely purring with pleasure.

    Time to fight for real.

 Chapter Fifty One - Dragon Vs Space

    Two blessed beings clashed in the Trial Tower, releasing shockwaves of pure Dao. Ripples of bizarre energy churned the very building blocks of existence for a mile around. Space was crippled and stunted at random, while a terrifying force of will swept over the area like the shadow of an apex predator.

    On the fourth floor of that very tower, the group of five were weathering a dangerous storm. The combined pressure of the two combatants above would have been far too much for the mage to defend against alone. Even before the battle had started in full, the newly evolved Dao of Magic was not built to withstand an onslaught like this. Fortunately, there were others facing this adversity, too.

    And pressure can create diamonds.

    Harry yelled out and Tom felt the weight on his shoulders, the pain behind his eyes and the ache in his neck alleviate all at once. A choral melody replaced the discordant sounds of battle from above. Unlike the barrier created by the Dao of Magic, the Dao of Protection was a little more ostentatious. A golden bubble appeared from the ground up, covering the group like an igloo. Tom looked at the group¡¯s defender with eyes holding back tears. ¡°Not over yet,¡± Harry grunted. ¡°You¡¯ve got to teach me to move with this thing.¡±

    Everyone but Tom was confused. The mage simply closed his eyes, caught his breath, nodded and got to work. He extended his own Dao and the aureate power began to fill slightly, the gaps in the protective barrier gleaming with a beautiful cyan. There was a general look of epiphany about the group, a sense of desire in each of them which they all knew aimed the same way.

    Upwards.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    It¡¯s a bloody good job the others stayed downstairs, I thought while weaving between attacks. Master Thorn¡¯s glaive rose, fell, slashed and stabbed at impossible to predict angles. The Dao of Space made its attacks linger in the air, extend further than they should or simply hit when they clearly should have missed.

    It was exhilarating.

    Each time I was sure I had a truly solid hit about to smash into the ratman¡¯s stupid face, my attack would slip. Space would stretch, slowing my momentum or stealing it altogether, leaving me open to a rebuke. Small taps which should have done little were instead full of weight, and incredible flashes of speed as the ratman ignored silly things like distance completely threw me off. I was wide open in the face of such a high-level Dao used in such a way. Exhilarating.

    Okay, so it was definitely also frustrating, but the uncertainty of my own victory was like a drug. Each time the wounds accrued too heavily, I threaded my way back to Naea. A simple touch between us was enough to release a burst of rejuvenating mana and send me back into the fight. The battle was uneven, leaving me with three dangerous wounds to land one simple blow. A lot of arithmetic went into the gamble I was making.

    How long could my mana last, fighting at this level? I needed at least two layers of Infusion to actually keep up with the creature¡¯s movements without losing limbs. Naea¡¯s Dao could only dominate Master Thorn¡¯s for so long, too. Was that the timer we existed under? Or¡­ perhaps¡­

    There is certainly an irritation in being unable to reach the heights of a stronger opponent. I was feeling the itch to create a change, but it was not me who upset the equilibrium this time. Mana had been passively bouncing around Master Thorn¡¯s body, the uncontrollable hint of action appearing as a visible spark within to my Stormborn eyes. The mana¡¯s power increased in intensity, slowing as the rat gathered and moulded the energy into an attack.

    Should have stuck to just Dao, buddy.

    When it came to mana-based attacks, I had a ridiculously unfair advantage. While I couldn¡¯t guess the form its ability would take, I could watch down to the exact moment the effect was unleashed. While it may not seem like profound information, in practice, it was like seeing a huge warning sign floating in the air. The more complex the magic, the harder to know what was coming.

    Every ounce of the charged mana went into the glaive, leaving nothing to the imagination. An attack was coming. Master Thorn was going to use the glaive¡¯s special ability. Without a doubt, I was entering the most dangerous moment of the fight. A scream of danger to both my left and right brought me to the only sensible choice. My legs gathered strength in an instant and I leapt.

    If I were wearing non-magical shoes, a thin layer would have been sliced away by the ¡°surprise¡± attack. As I had the Thunder Steppers on my feet, what happened was more like a pinwheel being struck by a strong wind. I cartwheeled through the air, desperately trying to return my gaze to Master Thorn but finding it impossible. The reason why became clear when he appeared in the air above me, his weapon still glowing with magic.

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    Slam.

    My arm was pulverised as a hammer blow came from above. My arm was pulverised and my back didn¡¯t fare much better as I scraped across the wooden floor. The attack description was literal. The boss monster landed with a hammer in hand, a hammer which could easily be the brother of the glaive it had been fighting with before. A shaft of brick-red wood, filigreed with black and gold inlaid metals up to the sharp, white metal tip of the glaive. Except now, it was a large, heavy looking weight instead.

    I could hardly form breaths, let alone words, so I couldn¡¯t ask Naea if what I was seeing was correct. Naea! I had to reach her, I realised. My brain wasn¡¯t all the way there yet, so I couldn¡¯t quite remember why I had to get over to her, but I knew it was important. Was my head damaged? It was leaking¡­

    I slipped on something wet, which was good because the terrifying ratman had tried to take my head off with an axe. An axe with a white metal head and a long red handle. Not very nice of it, but then, I was pretty sure we were trying to kill each other. Why couldn¡¯t I remember? All at once, the world lit up as a streak of light shot straight at me.

    A lightning bolt hit me in the stomach and I was sure I was going to die. The force of the blow sent me flying, saving my unknowing ass from being decapitated. Wave after wave of healing magic knitted my body back together a little too quick for comfort. I ignored the itching and burning throughout and began dodging on my own. That was a close one.

    I had been hit hard enough to receive a serious concussion, at least, but I bet it had been worse than that. I hadn¡¯t been able to think properly, the damage to my brain was too great. Was that something natural regeneration would fix or was Naea¡¯s timely intervention even more prescient than she thought? Either way, I needed to avoid anything like that damage in the future.

    Which should be easier. ¡°Thank you,¡± I returned a good amount of mana to Naea, who had dipped into her own reserves. Her only-just-returned fairy features were once again hardened into draconic ones. ¡°Seriously. Lifesafer. I¡¯ve seen how it works now, though.¡± Releasing Naea, she held my finger for a half second longer before zipping away. Her domination of the Dao in the area was over, but neither was Master Thorn able to lay his presence over the fight either. This meant he was stronger than before, but only in that he was back to full power. Yet, I had seen his tricks now. ¡°I promise, I won¡¯t need any more healing.¡±

    Naea smiled at me, her expression almost a sad one. ¡°Don¡¯t you break that promise, Grant.¡± I cracked my neck, rolled my shoulders and got back into the fight. I remained cautious, but more willing to take risks at the same time. I doubted the boss monster had any more tricks up its sleeves, not that it should matter either way.

    The Dao of Space was an incredibly potent weapon, one I desired. It wasn¡¯t possible to strip a Dao from another being, at least not that I knew of, but for me? It was possible to steal some power. The constant return to health of its enemy was driving the ratman to desperation, which worked in my favour. It couldn¡¯t know how long we might last, and it had decided attrition wasn¡¯t going to work.

    In an attempt to end me quickly, Master Thorn had shown his trump card. The weapon he wielded was probably a glaive at its base, but who could say? It was a malleable item, able to transform with the flick of a wrist. Glaive, to hammer, to axe and now back to glaive. Maybe it wasn¡¯t the base, but just the form Master Thorn was most comfortable with. It didn¡¯t matter. The Dao and the weapon. I wanted both. I would settle for just one of them until the battle finished though.

    The area around me stabilised as my will took hold of it. The Dao of the Dragon was unleashed in full, with no return possible. From deep within the core of my inner world, from the Dao Pool, a silhouette began to rise. My Dao solidified, its quality ascending to the new height shown to me. My self-assigned shackles were released. Infused Strike and Retribution were ready, hidden weapons I had been holding on to in preparation for the end.

    Infusion. Infusion. Infusion. Infusion. Mana Bolt. Harmony of the Storm.

    Drain.

    I almost felt like I should bow to Master Thorn. While definitely an enemy, it had ended up teaching me a lot. While I had no genuine desire to give the creature thanks, I could grant it my respect. In spite of the curse of its birth, I held the ratman in high regard. Its Dao had been more potent than mine, and its skill with its weapon was high. The most respectful move available to me was to attack with nothing held back.

    Time to see how my tricks do.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    It had been the hardest fight of their lives, and they had seen no shortage of life-threatening battles since the System arrived. For each of them, the story of their first battle was one of terror, panic and pure dumb luck. The System had allowed them to survive when the dangers came.

    For Tom, it had been an elemental born from a house fire. His fight or flight response had proven itself a fighter, and he saved the lives of a family that day. His Aspect of Magic, now a full blown Dao Pool, was the lifeline he had found which kept him going. Magic was beautiful, and even if the world was scary, Tom could battle away that dread by delving into the wonders of the new.

    He was now questioning the impulse which had drawn him along for the first time. The dense blasts of imperial power which rocked the stairwell caused his stride to shorten, his back to bend. Yet, he pressed on. He suffused the barrier around himself with energy, sucking in a deep breath and fighting with the atmosphere itself to do so. Having never experienced the feeling before, the group didn¡¯t know to compare their situation to an open air-lock.

    All each of them knew was that a higher level of power existed on the top floor of this tower. They had caught a glimpse of it, only barely, whenever the mysteriously powerful Grant had fought. Tom had grasped an edge of that power as he evolved his Dao, Harry the same. Due to the corrosion of the barrier, the weight of the energy amassed above and the way it locked them in place at times, the other three were likely on their way to a deeper understanding.

    Finally, after what felt like hours of pushing through jelly, the party breached the fifth floor just in time. Arriving any time after now, they would have found it much easier to climb, but it would have been too late. They would have missed the spectacle Grant was putting on. Two Dao Pools of the highest quality, with one being completely torn apart. Tom shivered, not knowing whether from fear or excitement.

    Either way, his eyes were glued to the finale.

 Chapter Fifty Two - Dungeon Clear

    Something which was becoming more and more obvious to me was how little an advantage was needed to become overwhelming. If all things were equal, and my strength the only thing slightly higher, the accumulation of damage from the difference could end the fight quickly. Of course, once reaching Grade 1, the chance of instant death was less and less.

    The body would naturally recover from grievous injuries which would have been lethal before. I, myself, had regrown whole limbs since the System had arrived. I had stopped needing to eat, nearly at all. Drinking was still necessary, but only barely. The organs which required those functions had seen their needs met with mana. Some of them were just straight up missing, a fact I had discovered due to being disembowelled on more than one occasion. I was able to compare between different stages.

    All very bizarre, upon reflection.

    My enemy wasn¡¯t falling particularly quickly, but it wasn¡¯t recovering either. Once your attributes started to get into the triple digits, it became rare not to have some countermeasure for danger. For Shub-Nagorath, it was her brood. For myself, it was Naea and her healing magic. I wouldn¡¯t have survived half of the dungeon without her. I¡¯d be maimed beyond belief by now, if even alive.

    For Master Thorn, I couldn¡¯t see one. This creature didn¡¯t rely on any kind of attrition to defeat its foes, if it had ever had any before me. Decisive victory through speed and maybe an ultimate escape ability hidden away somewhere. That¡¯s what the ratman had as its survival options. Unfortunately, it was the boss monster of the Trial Tower. Escape was probably never an option to begin with.

    Nothing I could do about that. The ratman sensed the shift in my own energy as I decided to end things. I could see it in its eyes. Uncomfortably human. Uncomfortably intelligent. There was a rage within this boss monster towards me which was entirely justified. The System had created these things, in one way or another, but to them, their backstory was real. I had slaughtered its students on the way here. I wore their belts. Now I had come for him.

    It was easy to feel sorry for the creature, and I allowed it. Pitying the weak was something my Dao felt very comfortable with. It strengthened my own resolve to finish things. I was never the type to pick the wings off bugs and nothing had changed. A dragon didn¡¯t have to take pleasure in destruction.

    They simply had to be destruction.

    So I was. When Master Thorn tried to attack, I dodged and countered. When it tried to block my attacks, its very vitality was taken instead. Drain waited hungrily on my fingertips for each mistake I could force. Further and further, the scales slipped in my favour. To its credit, the boss monster was not going down without as much of a fight as possible.

    Its weapon danced through forms, sometimes appearing as multiple implements within the same combination. A spear thrust might become a sword swing straight after, then returning to the glaive as the ratman gave himself room with a sweeping slash. I burned my resources freely, avoiding the chaotic fighting style easily as I robbed more and more strength from the creature.

    ¡°Oh that¡¯s not a good-¡± Idea. I had seen the flicker of attention in Master Thorn¡¯s eyes and read his intent correctly. I didn¡¯t need to shout a warning to Naea as the rat chose to go for my support instead of myself. Yeah, good luck with that. I myself had a hard enough time hitting Naea during our spars, and I literally knew all her tricks. This idiot had no chance.

    Proving my point, Naea used her Invisibility to first throw the attacker off. Suddenly in the air without a target, it must have sensed the incoming blow because it changed the weapon in its hand to a flat-headed axe and blocked to the side. He was still punted into the roof by Naea¡¯s invisible tackle but the damage had been lessened. ¡°I think he thought you¡¯d be easier to fight than me, Naea!¡±

    ¡°He should have known you were my familiar. Doing all the fighting for me.¡± We bantered as Master Thorn removed himself from the small crater he made near the ceiling on the far side of the room. I took control of the Dao in the air, letting Naea relax and focus on the fight which was apparently her¡¯s now.

    The thing is¡­ unlike myself, Naea had no issues ripping wings off butterflies. The next twenty seconds or so were a lesson in brutality. Naea drew on Battle Bond over and over, keeping herself overfilled with mana. Her tiny fists landed like comets as the strength of Infusion powered her blows. I was happy enough to take a breather. I hadn¡¯t used my Dao skills Infused Strike or Retribution up to now so my Dao itself was plentiful, excited and ready to lay down its dominance.

    The small fairy crashed into the ratman again and again, the force of her blows keeping him in the air. With my Dao holding the boss¡¯ down, his space warping defences were weakened. He was pinballed around violently as Naea used Sparkstep and Harmony of the Storm in tandem. Her clashes with the shifting weapon, or the bones of Master Thorn, were thunderous. If I had to point out one problem Naea had it was-

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    Clang.

    Three things happened in quick succession. The expected one first, then the natural reaction and finally something completely out of left field. To start, Naea was finally caught with the wide paddle the ratman was flailing around. It was bound to happen eventually, and was the main weakness to Naea¡¯s style. She was a glass cannon of the highest proportions.

    After she was hit, my natural response was to pounce, catch her out of the air and move her to safety. Master Thorn took the chance to create some distance. I breathed a fast sigh of relief when I saw that Naea was just knocked out and not hurt worse. Her vessel happily absorbed the mana I sent through our connection. Battle Bond allowed for Naea to hold her own, but its original use had been healing. She would be fine.

    I returned my gaze to the ratman boss monster just in time to see the twist in the tale. Due to the shape of the place, it hadn¡¯t mattered where I was in relation to the entrance. Or so I thought. Rage became my world as I was forced to leave Naea where I was standing, near the wall of the circular room. The balance of the fight had been thrown off once more, the gameboard flipped.

    A quirk of the stairwells between trial tower floors was the inability to turn around once using them. Once you decided to go to the next floor, you were locked in until defeating it. With confusion, I saw the large doorway from the fourth floor stairs to the room I was in was briefly filled with a golden bubble. Confusion turned to the aforementioned rage when I realised it was the members of The Ascent.

    Is it my fault because of the name? For whatever reason, they had pushed through the molasses of a higher level battle and arrived at exactly the wrong time. While I was fast, I wasn¡¯t Dao of Space and desperation-to-survive fast. Master Thorn crossed the distance to my idiot prot¨¦g¨¦s in record time, vanishing between strides and appearing even closer to the group. Before they could even react, they were set upon.

    I wasn¡¯t close enough to do anything. Sprinting forward, I unleashed everything I had. Mana gathered in the air, forming Mana Bolts, but it wasn¡¯t fast enough. The golden bubble smashed as the robed ratman brought a hammer into it. Harry screamed and blood erupted from his nose as he fell. My anger redoubled and I threw out a hand. Dao, mana and every other fibre of my being pulsed with the same desire.

    Retribution.

    Master Thorn had ominously reared back with his weapon, the metal melting to reform as a long scythe head. He was going for a quick four-in-one blow, but it would never land. My technique dropped onto its head, crushing it into the ground. A huge pressure caused the whole floor to creak loudly as an invisible hand smacked the boss down repeatedly.

    Skill - Retribution (Dragon)

    Few creatures are as fearsome in their revenge than a dragon. Anyone brave or foolish enough to stand against them faces destruction.

    Invisible blows rained down like the wrath of god, keeping the ratman pinned as I approached. The party flinched with each blow, dragging the fallen bulwark away from my punishment. In each echoed thud, they could hear admonishment. This creature didn¡¯t deserve to be treated like this, but I had no other answer to its actions. Fun¡¯s over, friend.

    By the time I stood over Master Thorn, he was in no state to fight back. The unfortunate side effect of being much harder to kill was the pain you would face if something did kill you. My anger had cooled through the use of Retribution. Unsurprisingly, the skill was cathartic to employ. Gathering power, I turned my eyes to the party. ¡°Unless you can do this, you¡¯re not allowed to ignore me when I tell you what to do.¡±

    By ¡°this¡±, I meant a lot of things. Whatever they took from the lesson was up to them. ¡°This¡± meant creating an attack which used both Dao and mana to its fullest expression. In my case, Strike of the Ruler. ¡°This¡± also meant the complete control of a creature supposedly twice my strength. Until the individuals could defend themselves, they would be treated like the children they clearly were.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Grant dropped his boot onto the head of the broken Master Thorn. An explosion of light, sound and devastation appeared where his foot fell. It had been nearly impossible to follow the action for myself and the others, but one thing was abundantly clear.

    We¡¯d fucked up.

    As the five of us got closer to the battle, our hubris had grown. We could weather the pressure from the boss¡¯ Dao, so we had mistakenly thought we could help turn the tide, if needed. Of course, within seconds Harry had fallen, the horrifying ratman was nearly upon us and without Grant¡¯s timely save we would all be sliced in two. Still, we had survived and-

    ¡°Oh shit,¡± Aaron whispered, ¡°he¡¯s big mad.¡± I looked at the glowering face of Grant and was suddenly unsure of our surviving the trial tower. I realised the weight of the oppressive Dao had not alleviated. If anything, it was more focused now. In my peripheral vision, I saw a heap on the floor and understanding smacked me over the head.

    ¡°Why did you come?¡± Grant¡¯s words each caused a ringing in my ears. He was burning with malice, misplaced but easy to understand. I was still the only one who could truly push back against the bullying aura Grant was pushing out so I got in front of him. His lip curled back in an angry snarl.

    ¡°You¡¯re not our king, as much as you might want to be.¡± My legs were shaking, but it needed to be said. Grant was stronger than us, further ahead in his understanding of the System, but he was also wrong. ¡°You never told us to stay below.¡± I took a deep breath. ¡°I¡¯m sorry we got in the way, but you don¡¯t decide our path.¡±

    We had taken the risk and nearly died because of it, but Grant had saved us. It was perhaps a little backwards to claim his assistance as part of our journey, but it was. Within days of meeting him, we had all learned more about mana, the new way of the world and even breached the strange possibilities of Dao. Even then, he was wrong to be angry.

    Luckily, Grant was not the type of person to continue lashing out. Logic did work to make him think. He looked down at his own hands, seeming surprised to find them clenched in fury. At once, the pressure disappeared. ¡°I¡¯m really sorry. You¡¯re right.¡± Grant took a step and stumbled to his knee. He smiled and took my hand, his expression tinged with remorse.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± I asked, pulling him to his feet. He didn¡¯t look it, but I would give him the chance to lie if he needed to. Thankfully he didn¡¯t, shaking his head while taking his own calming breaths.

    ¡°No,¡± he answered truthfully, ¡°I¡¯m not. I pushed myself to the edge just to keep up with that thing. I think I might have gone a step too far, though.¡± To emphasise his point, his aura once again blanketed the floor. He winced, the effort to restrain his power evident on his face. His whole body was visibly vibrating. The movement clearly pained him but he threw himself over to the fallen boss monster, slapped a hand onto it and then sprinted out of the room.

    I looked at the three still-standing members of the party, then to the fairy slowly sitting up across the room. Harry was still down, but other than the blood, he seemed fine. The flow had stopped quickly, and now he was basically resting. Not knowing what else to do, I shrugged and went to explain things to the groggy fairy.

    My life is weird, I mused.

 Chapter Fifty Three - Storm

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry again for Grant. He¡¯ll be fine, he was just scared that you were hurt.¡± I wasn¡¯t used to apologising, much less for someone else¡¯s actions, but Grant¡¯s influence was unavoidable. He was currently fighting to stop himself from exploding while racing back to Home Base, yet the primary thing he wanted her to know was that he was sorry.

    He¡¯s adorable, I joked privately. No point in giving the workers any ammunition to be disrespectful, after all. Grant had told me to stop calling them slaves, but hadn¡¯t said anything against workers, so that¡¯s what they were for now. Even if it was me putting in the effort at the moment.

    The square-looking human with the cat on his armour woke up with a start. He¡¯d been knocked out by a Dao rebound as his barrier was shattered, but he was right as rain after a little healing magic. He looked shocked to see my beautiful face upon waking up, which only made sense. Not many start their day with the best sight they¡¯d see for the rest of it.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I nodded and zipped into the air. There wasn¡¯t anything I could do for Grant right now, but I still wanted to hurry. ¡°That¡¯s almost everything. You said you got an achievement? What about you?¡± The ones who were awake had received the achievement for completing the trial tower once Grant looted the final boss. The one who had been knocked out looked into the air for a few seconds before nodding dumbly. Humans always looked so stupid reading their System messages.

    ¡°Great,¡± I said, my voice full of fake enthusiasm. ¡°Time to leave then. Now.¡± The humans all looked confused but Grant had been crystal clear about when I was allowed to eat. The whole time I had been awake, I had been holding myself back but no more.

    I devoured the Dao-filled body of the tower boss with enthusiasm. The fight itself had given me a level but this was something else entirely. Grant would be pleased. As long as he survived his Dao breaking, that is. It was hard to worry about him as I slowly made my way out of the tower towards home.

    Life was just great, you know?

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Did that fairy just eat the ratman whole while moaning? And is she high now?¡± As a group, we collectively agreed to never talk about the heinous act we had seen. It was our fault. Curiosity killed the cat brutally.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    I burst through the front door of Home Base, not even bothering to open it. I just smashed through the wood, knowing I could repair it later. There was no time for anything else, I needed to contain myself in the one place I thought could handle it. There was no ripping the hinges off the evolution room door, which I threw closed behind me.

    My Dao boiled with power, cooking me alive from the soul outwards.

    I knew what was happening, and while I could easily have been happy, I wasn¡¯t ready. The Dao of the Dragon was trying to evolve from a Pool to something else. I removed a beautiful gemstone from my inventory and pressed it to my chest. There were still steps I needed to complete before letting the dragon get loose.

    Aspect - Tempest (Legendary)

    Aspects are formed when ambient mana in an area becomes charged with a specific type of energy. If you have unbound attributes, you may permanently bind an Aspect to an unbound attribute.

    Would you like to use the Aspect of the Tempest to bind an unbound attribute?

    There was a battle as I fought resistance to the binding. On a scale, Tempest would be above Storm. It might even be the highest class of Aspect in that zone. That didn¡¯t mean anything to the Dao of the Dragon, which considered itself above all others. I had laid down groundwork for this process but I also hoped for more time to prepare.

    My inner world needed guidance.

    The Hurricane Heart was still an absolute eyesore. It was hard to focus on and best left in its mostly contained state as the ¡°sun¡± of this realm for now. Still brimming with power, if noticeably dimmer than when I first attained it, its true potential had yet to be revealed. It was a challenge I would need to face later, but one I was about to become especially equipped for.

    My inner world was in flux as a new power tried to join the draconic. The base of the world, my mana, was calm but both underneath the surface and high in the air, dual powers were set to clash. A slithering, stretching beast was moving under the ground while an immense, all-encompassing storm snaked its way to the ground below.

    Oh no, you don¡¯t. I needed to control this process. I could already feel the Dao of the Dragon ready to attack the incoming power. But we don¡¯t want to attack it. We need it. Gently, I contained the Aspect of the Tempest where it was hanging in the sky. There was room for it already, so once I took hold, it fell into place easily.

    Three celestial bodies, surrounding one more powerful than themselves. There was no old hand here to help me define my path, so I was doing whatever worked. This has been my plan once I began to understand the Dao of the Dragon. It would never play nice with other Dao at the same level but it could be strengthened from below. Three Aspects would become the moons of this world. They would be fonts of power and capability for the main focal Dao of the Dragon.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    The Aspect of the Tempest could honestly have become a Dao within moments of its absorption. I had insights into lightning, thunder, storms and more thanks to the trial tower of the Storm Dragon, as well as some of my items and Guidance Stones. We weren¡¯t here for that. I focused my mental image and the Aspect of the Tempest slotted into place.

    Beginning its slow orbit of my inner world, the Tempest Moon began to immediately syphon energy directly from the Hurricane Heart. Two skills unlocked, one from the Aspect itself, and another from the combination of being Stormborn, the Hurricane Heart and the Guidance Stone of Storms all at once. I gave them both a quick glance.

    Skill Unlocked - Tempest Form

    For extreme mana cost, transform the body, or a portion of the body, into the form of a tempest elemental.

    Not too dissimilar to Naea¡¯s Sparkstep but more costly and with far more utility. Something to experiment with, but it wasn¡¯t lying when it called it costly.

    Conflux Skill Unlocked - Dragon¡¯s Tempest

    Snap, crackle, drop. The Dragon¡¯s Tempest doesn¡¯t stop.

    That was unexpected. But honestly? Cool as hell. Whispers of understanding flickered through my mind but I had to ignore it mostly. It was all fun stuff for later.

    Attribute bound - Will/Tempest

    The Aspect bound to the Will attribute, which made sense as it was my second highest stat. Aspects boost a part of the personality. Am I tempestuous? Maybe I was the eye of the storm? I could be both. I had to be. Like the Dao of the Dragon, I would choose what parts of the Tempest belonged to me, and what didn¡¯t. Another task for later.

    The main event was starting. I had a foundation for the Aspects to come. If my Dao had evolved before binding to the Aspect first, I knew I wouldn¡¯t be able to connect them in the future. Now there was a designated space in orbit around my inner world for the future Aspects to fill, the Dao Pool could finally take the next step.

    The dragon needed to stretch its wings.

    Silhouette no longer, it clawed its way from the volcano, never to be contained again. While the power which threatened to tear me apart was vast, it was ultimately my power. It came under my control and the next phases of change were quick and fluid. Once more, a new layer of realism painted over my inner world.

    Mountains formed, unseen but known. Deep seas were gouged to create room for the rains brought by the Aspect of the Tempest and its connection to the Hurricane Heart. The grasslands returned, flowered by my connection to Naea, but also studded with woodlands and mangroves. Complexity, vibrant and beautiful, flooded my inner world with meaning. Above the reforming world, the Dao of the Dragon roared with pleasure.

    This will do, it said, looking out upon the world which would be its home. The Dao existed within me, through me, but the vessel for its use was and would always be my mana. So, the dragon roamed within. I meditated, allowing the changes within my body and soul to slowly reach their finish lines. The ¡°danger¡±, the possibility my path would be severed, had passed.

    The passage of time was vague over this period. I sensed Naea check on me and leave satisfied. If she was okay, then everything else was fine. Drifting away, I let the hours meld together as peace fell about my inner world. Only once the land settled did the dragon land. It began sleeping to the sounds of a heavy storm in a cave formed by its own will.

    My soul became tranquil and I was finally able to open my eyes. I had some System prompts to work through but I first had to wake my muscles up. The moment I tried to move, everything screamed. How long have I been sitting here? I wondered. The evolution room itself was my first sight, blearily blinking into existence each time I tried to open my eyes.

    ¡°Graaaaaant!¡± A solid lump of healing energy collided with me. I couldn¡¯t see her, but Naea¡¯s whimpering voice was unmistakable. My heart wobbled as I patted her small head. She hugged my neck tightly and continued to release waves of recuperating energy into my system. I drank it up happily, now able to see. The pain in my muscles faded and I started to stretch.

    ¡°How long was I out?¡± I asked. Naea sniffled and told me I had been sitting in the evolution room for three days. No wonder I was so stiff. ¡°Wow. Did anything happen? We finished the dungeon, right?¡± I had no time to pay attention to anything outside of my own self, so the world could have ended a second time for all I knew.

    ¡°No, but the others are getting bored. They think maybe you have to do something before it finishes. Oh, but they did get achievements for completing a trial tower! And they¡¯ve all got a Dao Pool now. Not that that¡¯s impressive¡­¡± I smirked as Naea nudged the side of my head. I wasn¡¯t the only one who¡¯s Dao had evolved. I could tell it wasn¡¯t in the same direction as my own evolution, but that was to be expected. She didn¡¯t bind to Aspects like I did.

    She caught me up on the few things which had changed, but mostly complained about how things had gotten boring. There were no monsters to fight, no more towers to complete and apparently no hidden treasures the group of five plus Naea could find. Everything was just waiting for me to complete the dungeon and then we could leave. I had to stop my hands from shaking as I went through the System messages, leaving the best for last.

    Ding! Level up! +20 Attribute Points

    Ding! Level up! +20 Attribute Points

    Achievement Unlocked - Planetary Forerunner II

    As before, you have succeeded at a task most don¡¯t even know to undertake, far before others would be ready. Forming a Dao Avatar at Grade 1 is the mark of a true genius.

    Effect: Attributes +15%

    Item - Black Belt (Legendary)

    The ultimate goal of martial arts is to never use them.

    Effect: Attributes +25%

    Swells of power rose up inside me over and over, tickling and settling into place. Even before placing attribute points, the growth I had experienced was massive. The original achievement was still there, so I received a huge twenty percent boost to my attributes from the new achievement and final upgrade to my belt. Next were the gains from my new form of Dao. They were a little more dramatic.

    Dao Pool of the Dragon evolved to Dao Avatar of the Dragon

    Dao Avatar - Dragon

    Worlds struggle to contain one such as you, boundaries and rules are made for the protection of others. Not for you. Reach for the stars and claim the cosmos.

    Effect: Mental +250, Will +100, Mental Attribute +25%, Will Attribute +15%

    I screamed and held my head as this latest surge of capacity took hold. An additional ten percent for each attribute and almost doubling each was almost too much, and I nearly passed out. The pain and confusion only lasted for a moment but I opened my eyes as I was now completely reforged. My Dao suddenly felt more comfortable as my attributes had risen to meet its new demands. ¡°Holy shit,¡± I gasped.

    ¡°Holy shit,¡± a wide-eyed Naea agreed. I flashed her a smile to show her I was still okay, no more trips to the evolution room needed for now. It did take some time before my mana stopped screaming through my body faster than ever but I soon got my body under control. Luckily, that was the penultimate prompt. I gave my attribute page a look and couldn¡¯t help shaking my head.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go gather the others. I should apologise one more time before we finish this dungeon.¡±

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 42

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 55  Speed - 55  Mental - 473   Will - 210

    Free attribute points: 40

    Name - ¡°Naea¡±   Race - Dungeon Fairy Level - 51

    Grade - E

    Skills - Invisibility, Mana Control, Sparkstep, Harmony of the Storm

    Dao: Fairy Dragon (River)

    Patron: Grant Kaeron (Level 42)

 Chapter Fifty Four - The End

    The group gathered in a communal area I had purchased, specifically for the occasion. There weren¡¯t many I¡¯s left to dot or T¡¯s left to cross but I hesitated all the same. I had yet to see the world and its changes. Nearly a month had passed. My hopes weren¡¯t high, and the only thing separating me from finding out was the prompt waiting to be read. I did a quick run of my screens, but it was just procrastination.

    Inventory

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted) - 5442

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint) - 15,423

    Storm Arrows

    Assorted Earth foods

    Aspect of Gluttony

    Guidance Stone Of Breaching

    Alternating Armament (Epic)

    Item - Alternating Armament

    Surprisingly created by a wandering powerhouse, the original form of this weapon is unknown. The madman or genius that created this weapon somehow fused the slime to the original form, creating a weapon which might fit every situation.

    Effect: By infusing mana into the weapon, the shape and form may be changed into any other equipment the wielder is familiar with.

    A supreme feeling of comfort sat within my grasp. I looked at the fine, crimson wood with adoration. At either end was a weight with a surprising amount of mass, steel grey and reflective while all along its length, a pattern of gold and silver metal shifted slowly. I was very fond of my new weapon and grateful to Naea for collecting it for me. The guidance stone had come from earlier, and I thought to use it with my new Aspect of the Tempest, but now I wasn¡¯t sure.

    Dao

    Fortitude - None

    Speed - None

    Mental - Dragon (2/4)

    Will - Tempest (0/2)

    The previously-named Aspects page, now Dao, told me the limits of my Aspects. I had found out after asking that none of the others had more than two slots on their Aspects, so it was the Dao of the Dragon which was the outlier. I didn¡¯t see how useful Breaching could be. Wasn¡¯t it just something I could do regardless? I planned to wait for Guidance Stone which seemed like they would allow me to do things I absolutely couldn¡¯t.

    Naea nudged my head and tugged on a tuft of hair. ¡°Are you waiting for us to all turn to dust or what?¡± Of course, Naea could feel my hesitation through the familiar bond but that was entirely the reason she pushed me. I gave her a thankful smile, took a big sigh and opened the prompt which would free me from this dungeon.

    I clapped my hands together. ¡°Alright everyone, can¡¯t tell you what¡¯s going to happen but it¡¯s probably going to be weird! Without further ado¡­¡± I opened the System prompt. Immediately, I could tell there was a huge influx of mana moving into the area. Dao of various types also filled the air, but none of it held intent. It wasn¡¯t a pressure, but a delight, and the others all gasped in wonder. I gave the quest a final look before joining everyone else in their amazement.

    Dungeon Quest received! - Main Event

    As the initial challenger to this dungeon, you (and your party) must defeat the dungeon bosses to leave.

    Bosses defeated 3/3.

    Reward: Claim on local area, creation of valuable (Grade 2) resource.

    Our meeting place was a lovely gazebo. The System¡¯s faction menu had let me build it once there were more than two people, so I threw a few hundred gold into the pot and the result was more than acceptable. Comfortable benches, a wide swing and a veritable parkland to surround it all, it was a gorgeous space. I was all the more thankful for the open views as the world around us was rewritten.

    I tried for a short while to unravel the mysteries unfolding, but I soon gave up and just enjoyed the show. The dungeon was collapsing in on itself, starting with the furthest points. I squinted, and fixed my gaze upon a far off landmark. Easily the most important place in the dungeon. A plain spire of white stone in the distance which made my heart flutter.

    The trial tower of the Storm Dragon.

    I watched as it began to shimmer like a heat mirage. In no uncertain terms, the tower was where my path began. Clive¡¯s was where power was given to me, forced upon me by a crazy dragon, but the tower was where I made choices for my future. It was the location I began to make choices in the System-changed world. Where I stood against the first true challenges the System could throw at me.

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    It faded away along with the desert which surrounded it. There was a strange motion at the edge of the dungeon, looking like the furthest spots were being sucked up into the air. Sand, rock, the towers themselves, all disintegrated and disappeared. Naea¡¯s hand found mine and I smiled. I squeezed her tiny, shaking palm and she squeezed back. It might be all I know of the System, but the dungeon was all Naea knew full stop.

    ¡°We got this, girlie,¡± I whispered. The words were all but silent, mostly sent through our connection. She slipped my grip and wrapped her arms around my right one instead. Together we quietly watched the small mystical prison in which we met melt away, slowly yet somehow far too quickly all at once. I realised I had never considered something fairly important, turning to the others. ¡°Oh, that reminds me. What does the dungeon look like from the outside?¡±

    Harry was the one to tear his eyes away from the kaleidoscopic sights and give me an answer. ¡°It was a weird bubble, about five hundred metres wide. I guess you never saw one from the outside, did you?¡±

    ¡°Nope. The dungeon basically landed right on top of me. So it¡¯s bigger on the inside. That¡¯s what I guessed, I think. Not sure it matters now. Who knows?¡± I would find out soon. No doubt there was about to be a whole slew of complications and new balls to juggle. The ¡°reward¡± from the dungeon quest held ominous wording about claiming the local area, after all. It was the valuable resource I was most excited for.

    The dungeon finished receding until it came to the edge of the area housing the buildings of my faction. I turned to see what happened to Home Base in the near distance, and was surprised to see it stay just as it was. I don¡¯t know what I expected, but picturing a few buildings arriving in the middle of a british park was quite funny. Once the imploding world¡¯s edge had removed everything but the faction neighbourhood, the process started moving in reverse.

    ¡°We can leave,¡± Tom said, not moving. He was clearly going through a powerful experience and didn¡¯t want to miss a thing. However, he was correct. I felt it, as well. A release upon my soul of a binding I hadn¡¯t known was there. I could walk right out of the gazebo and into the chaos. I decided Tom¡¯s choice was the right one, and stayed with the others.

    The outside could wait.

    Especially as I apparently had things to do here. All around us was a strange void, flickering with various high concept Dao. The dungeon had well and truly disappeared. However, an area of around two kilometres in a circle was highlighted to my eyes. Kind of a white on white situation, but the System made the boundary distances clear. It also popped up with a new prompt, one I quickly accepted without overthinking it.

    Dungeon Cleared! Claim local area and resource?

    Achievement Unlocked - Dungeon Demolisher (World First)

    Special Dungeons have their own rules, challenges and dangers not shared by others. One thing Special Dungeons have in common is their difficulty. Defeating one is a feat all on its own. Being the first is even more impressive.

    Effect: +5 free points per level, Attributes +10%

    From the gasps and whoops around me, the others apparently got this achievement, too. It arrived as I claimed the area. Good for them, I thought, smiling. While they had obviously not done as much as I had to clear the dungeon, I was glad they could share in the reward. At least that part.

    The ground rumbled, and the infinite void started to flake away. Or was the real world loading in, piece by piece? Either way, the ground started to change in the zone which was highlighted as my claimed area. Perspective was impossible to understand at the edges as existence peeled away, especially as it left a park in daytime showing behind the tears.

    There was a clear partition of open land around Home Base and the guildhall of The Ascent. After the two kilometre mark, the parkland which had existed in the area beforehand was still standing. Another three or four minutes later, and the dungeon had finally vanished. Like that, I was free.

    It was over.

    The desire to run and hide in Home Base until I was forced to leave was high, but I ignored it in favour of the other feelings inside. Excitement. Everything was different, and while that inspired some dread, how many things would be more changed than myself? Anticipation. My strength was real, and I knew it was higher than this world was ready for. Even a little avarice was mixed in. Surely, there were more treasures to be found in this new, changed world.

    I stood, using the Alternating Armament in staff-mode to pull myself to my feet. I missed the weight-changing enchantment from the Yo Staff, but the new weapon had its advantages too. It was just one more thing I would have to study and practise with as I made my way from now on. Tempest Form, Dragon¡¯s Tempest, new skills from the Aspect of the Tempest and its effect on me. The Dao Avatar of the Dragon and its untapped potential.

    Naea was looking around with wide, half-fearful eyes. Her emotions were confused. How could they not be? ¡°Welcome to the outside world, Naea. I¡¯ve got lots I want to show you. Let¡¯s go see what trouble we can get into, shall we?¡± The fairy looked up into my eyes and gave her bravest smile.

    ¡°Mmm,¡± she nodded, raising her right hand, ¡°let¡¯s go cause an uproar.¡± I beamed at my partner-in-crime and gave her a solid high five. With nothing left to do, we walked out of the gazebo.

    ¡°Wait,¡± Aaron¡¯s voice called from behind, ¡°where are you going? What about us?¡± I turned around, blinking. Five sets of eyes looked at me expectantly, as though I had work to hand out for all of them. Put on the spot, I shrugged and said the first thing which came to mind.

    ¡°Do whatever you want. Protect Home Base, or don¡¯t. Recruit more people to the guild, maybe. It¡¯s yours as far as I¡¯m concerned. I need to find my family and make sure they¡¯re okay, but I¡¯ve decided not to rush. There¡¯s a resource nearby I need to check out, but after that, I don¡¯t know what I¡¯ll do.¡± I gave no more explanation or direction than that, spinning on my heels and walking off. I rolled my shoulders and stretched my muscles. I would come back to check on The Ascent soon but for now, I needed to go. I needed to run. In a straight line. For as long as possible. Everything else could wait.

    My legs started pounding the floor, with Naea shouting after me but soon catching up. Finally, I had broken out of my prison. I had won. I tore across the English countryside like a ground-level jet fighter, laughing and whooping as I went. I passed buildings which I recognised, landmarks I remembered and as far as I could see, there wasn¡¯t a speck of goddamned sand. It was beautiful. With tears in my eyes, I ran until the sun fell in the sky and finally fell onto my back, looking up at the stars. Naea landed next to me and nestled into the crook of my neck, quickly falling asleep.

    I breathed in the scent of the natural world, listening to Naea¡¯s ridiculously sweet snoring which had started almost immediately. We had run for hours, and I was finally starting to believe there were no walls about to jump up around me. At some point, I had stopped being able to imagine a world beyond the dungeon. Yet, here I was. Outside. I had done it.

    I was free.

    End of Book 1

 Author Note! - Prologue for Book 2!

    The boughs of the Tree shiver with the tremors of war. Wars fought within its branches, roots and upon its leaves. Each battle leaves existence with the fertiliser of strength, and so the Tree grows. Every ending, from the most minute rodent, hunted until its demise, to the true death of an everlasting god, fuels and feeds the Tree.

    As the cradle of all creation, the Tree guides life within its dimension-spanning boundaries through the nigh-omnipotent System. The parched and choked worlds yet to be graced by the Tree¡¯s touch are tragic places, but integrations occurred regularly. With each new root or branch, a multitude of worlds would be brought into the Great Connection, and become stronger for it. These were times of great potential and upheaval, where the stagnant states upon Yggdrasil were forced into action by the most valuable commodity imaginable.

    Potential.

    As with any uncertainty, the newly bound worlds could easily bring ruin to the established orders. Like scavengers waiting for the apex predator to leave, the Tree¡¯s inhabitants stood ready to pounce on the new frontier. The infusion of power from the Tree to kick-start the previously mundane universes could create previously unseen wonders. Treasures and technologies completely unique to the new branch or root were worth empires.

    While the hungry and desperate masses waited for their chance to invade, those more secure in their power watched the scramble with varying degrees of interest. Some watched over their factions like benevolent guides, others were directing specific individuals and more still were paying attention due to simple boredom.

    A simple stool was the only furnishing within a small room. The unassuming seat was occupied by an equally dull-looking individual. Dozens of similar homes dotted the surrounding area of barely liveable land. Most of the others were vibrant, the signs of lives lived marking them all. From the smells of cooking to the sounds of children laughing, each home was as important as the universe which surrounded it.

    The home of the ancient wildling had none of these things, despite having been there long before the others. At some point, people had simply started choosing to live nearby seemingly without much thought. The local ground was rocky and food grew poorly, hardly worth the effort. The weather was abysmal, freezing for months and sweltering others.

    Yet they chose to live here.

    The pensive elder was barely a thought in their minds, but they were the reason the people came all the same. Some of them told stories of the ¡°witch in the woods¡± or the ¡°old man of the mountain¡± but they were just fragments of the truth. Their innocent minds could not understand the watcher¡¯s entirety even if it was explained but the protection received by living nearby was palpable.

    Monsters didn¡¯t hunt nearby. Somehow, just enough food would be gathered in times of strife so that none were truly in danger. Despite lacking civilization, the locals were intelligent and curious, except when it came to the quiet house deep in the wooded hills. The diseases which ravaged the further countryside were rarely found here. It was a quaint, peaceful place.

    Protected by a tired god of war¡¯s presence.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± the armoured ancient murmured, humming power into the surrounding world, ¡°the Storm Dragon gains much from the new integration. They will soon be free of their eternal battle.¡± Someone of the world they inhabited watching would just see an old man or crone talking to themself in a hut, but in truth the space was filled with retainers.

    ¡°Do we take action, Harbinger?¡± A powerful voice asked the important question, quieting the clamour which had ascended from Harbinger¡¯s words. A dragon moving free was dangerous, and the established factions would prefer to keep things in the balance. Unfortunately, certain aspirational hopes were dashed as the ancient war god laughed hoarsely.

    Their hacking laughter sounded like an axe being sharpened. ¡°Do what you like.¡± They stood from their stool and the wood crumbled. It had only been held together by Harbinger¡¯s will but that will was now focused elsewhere. The pleasant world they lived upon started to buckle as the weight of the war god¡¯s steps shook the mantle loose. ¡°Just don¡¯t get in my way.¡±

    The ancient visage started melting away as more and more power began to fill Harbinger¡¯s form. From frail to majestic in a moment, the growth wasn¡¯t done. A huge smile broke out onto the face of the prime god of war as feeling returned to his fingers. ¡°The Storm Dragon will break free soon. Whether you want it or not,¡± Harbinger said, they voice rich and full of energy, ¡°war is coming. The dragon will remember those who hindered its escape from Galvanor.¡±

    Harbinger rolled their neck and held out their arm. If they hadn¡¯t left already, the weaker gods in attendance began to flee, while the strongest remained to bear witness. The world of Hoam shattered and the weapon in its core flew to the hand it belonged within. A trillion lives returned to the cycle, the protection rescinded firmly. At that point, only four being remained, Harbinger included.

    ¡°You know what this means.¡± Harbinger told the other three riders. Letting the waves of immeasurable power wash out over the Tree, Harbinger continued to stretch their tired muscles. Thousands of worlds began to run red as bloodlust and warmongering overcame the populaces. From the other corners of existence, three equivalent powers rose like beacons. Harbinger smiled. ¡°Thank you, siblings.¡±

    The connection snapped and the timeless warrior took a moment to experience the joy of strength in their hands once more. Too long spent flagging as proxy battles and peace sapped their power had made them even more dangerous than ever before. The weapon in their hand purred with excitement and nostalgia. ¡°Yes, dearest. It¡¯s time to wage the true war.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The grove was being quietly tended to by the four sisters when the branch fell. Each of them gasped in fright at the movement. The eldest moved over to the fallen limb and looked up to the cherry tree fearfully. With a fluid movement, she removed the tree. It was shredded down to its base components and then beyond as her power took hold.

    ¡°Why?¡± The youngest asked. Actions which occurred here rippled through the weave of existence, so the question was fair. The sisters were each separated by only a fraction of a moment, quadruplets, but each was opposite to another. Together, they formed an intrinsic cycle of life and their place of import near the peak of creation was due to this.

    ¡°Rot sets in, sisters.¡± Spring blinked at the empty space left by the destruction of the fruit tree. She had always loved cherries. Her essence was of rebirth and change, yet this still hurt. Autumn placed a hand on her back and said nothing. She was more at peace with the fading of things than Spring.

    Of course, the most frantic and energetic of their group was incensed. Summer tore through the orchards and returned before the other three could even finish their sighs. ¡°No other rot, but we have to get the arbiters moving. Win, help me?¡± The youngest sister cast a quick look to Spring, who shrugged, to which Winter nodded.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± And they did, leaving just Spring and Autumn. They walked between the trees more calmly than the fiery Summer had, repairing the slight damage she had caused. She had known they would, but it still caused a few eye rolls.

    ¡°It¡¯s serious.¡± Spring¡¯s head snapped around fast, her brown curls flying wildly. Autumn was not one for words, so Spring gave her full attention to the quietest of them. The grey eyes of the third sister were darting quickly from tree to tree, sensing the truth more deeply than Spring could. Autumn¡¯s eyes became sad. ¡°The Tree shivers as true change rears its chaotic head.¡±

    Silence followed as Spring waited to see if Autumn would say more. After a while, Spring simply lay her head on her sister¡¯s shoulder and sighed once more. ¡°May these tumultuous times bring growth,¡± Spring intoned, a practised prayer. Autumn smirked at this, but her eyes remained sad. Together, they continued tending to their gardens.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Across the all-encompassing expanse of the Tree and its System, the truth was settling in slowly. The arrival of the new worlds had brought far more changes to the wider Tree than any before, to the point many forgot about the new worlds altogether. Something had happened within the myriad planets, but discovering what would be nearly impossible, even for gods. The truth was more important.

    In their caverns and hideaways, powerful creatures stirred and stretched. Felt within their very Dao, each and every member of the imperial race began to shake off the dust of ages. Whole universes trembled in horror as the ancient terrors returned. The Tree had grown fat with treasure and the protections were lax.

    The equilibrium had been set for far, far too long.

    All across the Tree and throughout the System, one thing becomes clear to those with the perception to see it. Grand vaults were raided, their wards and protections melted away like kindling. Worlds were swept clean of life as avarice itself seemed to be given scales, wings and the power to destroy anything in its way. Within months of the integration of the latest batch of worlds, there was no question.

    The dragons were returning.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Galvanor was the last of the Stormborn. As far as races upon the Tree go, they were considered a peak existence. Not on the same level as some, perhaps, but as a race with no discernable drawbacks and unique advantages, they thrived within the System. Their innate ability to see mana in a way others couldn¡¯t made them potent in its use. At the height of their civilisation, the Stormborn were considered a peaceful people who tended to love magic.

    That was a long time ago now. There were terribly few who remembered the Stormborn in such a way anymore. The Tree itself had only been fledgling at that point, a scant dozen universes existing under its canopy. It would grow to many hundreds of thousands, but the Stormborn had been destroyed by then. All but one.

    Galvanor had long abandoned his family name. Galvanor the Stormborn worked just as well once the Storm Dragon came to their world. When it arrived, it had been noteworthy, but only along the lines of a meteor passing being worth making a note of. For many ages, the Storm Dragon waited, absorbing the potent mana of the Stormborn homeworld before eventually making its move.

    The signature skill of all dragons is to drain their target. Wealth, vitality, power, a dragon¡¯s magic could allow them to steal whatever they chose as long as they had the strength to take it. The ancient Storm Dragon had strength to spare when it came to claiming the heart of Tempus, enough to completely ravage the world above while it did so.

    Every treasure was claimed and almost every life upon Tempus was snuffed out.

    Except Galvanor. Through luck, determination and pure, unstoppable, unfathomable rage, Galvanor survived the scouring of his world and claimed power from it. The System encourages struggle in all forms and struggle was all Galvanor could do. A staggering amount of boons were placed onto his shoulders by the Tree itself, as though he were being given the strength to chase his goal.

    Slaughtering the Storm Dragon in revenge for his burned world.

    Space screamed with impossible noises as Galvanor continued his losing clash with the Storm Dragon. Perpetual battle had been sufficient to Galvanor, but the System was cruel. As it had given, so had it taken. The most powerful boon and Galvanor¡¯s reason for existing all in one, shattered by a single truth.

    He was no longer alone.

    A new Stormborn had, impossibly, come to exist in the newly integrated universe. A confused and scared young man who was barely old enough to shave, just starting his journey into the mysteries of the System and its foul grip upon all the life within its clutches.

    The Storm Dragon roared, and Galvanor continued to fight against his slow, inevitable defeat. ¡°One day,¡± he promised, ¡°you¡¯ll be destroyed.¡± Not entirely sure if he was cursing the Storm Dragon or something more, Galvanor fell into the throes of battle and lost himself. There was no time to think anymore and no more strength in him to consider possibilities. What would be would be.

    He would fight until he could fight no more, and then his time would pass. The longer he could hold the Storm Dragon¡¯s attention, the less time it would have to wreak havoc and gain power before another force engaged it. The destruction would be like nothing the Tree had ever seen. Yet, there was a gentleness within Galvanor¡¯s Dao which had not been there for countless millennia.

    He was no longer alone.

    Every precious moment he could give to the Stormborn of Earth was worth its weight in jewels. Even locked in ferocious battle, Galvanor could sense the shifts in the power balance. The powerhouses were rearing their heads. Once he fell, true chaos would descend. Grant needed to be as strong as possible before then. Without strength, the tide of fate would sweep the child away.

    A shriek pierced the void in which Galvanor and the Storm Dragon wrestled and all thought of the Great Connection, Grant or anything besides was blasted away. A thousand bolts of inexorably powerful lightning rained down on his position, the small pause in the onslaught over. Their battle renewed with vigour as Galvanor¡¯s lip curled back into a snarl.

    Both the Stormborn and the dragon roared at each other in utter hatred as they continued to tear each other apart while the Tree¡¯s inhabitants watched in fear.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    It had been approximately five weeks since the System touched planet Earth and threw everything into disarray. Normal operating procedures lasted right up until people realised they could gain strength from pursuing a more dangerous life. While many were slow to react, over a month on, the demarcation between the old world and the new one had become more and more defined.

    Ironically, this happened by taking Earth backwards in its history first.

    Connection to the System and the wider multiverse beyond it had caused great changes. However, these changes were not simply in sociology, but to every facet of life. Wildlife had become far more fearsome with the introduction of magic to the world. The forests, oceans and skies, once considered conquered, were again the domain of predators the earthbound humans were ill-equipped to handle.

    The previously mapped world had grown immensely. All of its land masses stretched, lakes became entire seas and, for the technologically powered civilisations of Earth, the sky and space seemed to explode in size. Most importantly in this case, as the world grew, the satellites orbiting the planet crashed into the world and almost all other technology quickly fell to the wayside. With power lines suddenly running to nowhere, sewers in the wrong place and other such ruined infrastructures, the old political power structures crumbled quickly.

    To many, these wider changes were most inconsequential outside of their own existence. For them, it was the lack of electricity, their now useless phones and maps which no longer described the area that affected them most. These changes lead to people quickly gathering around anyone or anything which seemed to have a semblance of control.

    Be it food, shelter, power or knowledge, those who had more than others began to use these advantages to cement a place in the new world. As pioneers to an immense and dangerous frontier, the bravest placed themselves on the first steps to power much quicker than the sheep. Those individuals grasped at the threads of strength which the System offered and many did not reach the mark.

    The ones who did manage to survive found themselves as claimants to areas of power. These places were variously changed in large or small ways. One such location had destroyed a small area of land in the southern half of what used to be England. Totaling a few square miles, most of the space wasn¡¯t changed physically, but anyone with magical senses would feel the ownership all over the magic in the area.

    This particular area was not far removed from how it used to seem. For the most part, a park was simply returned from where it had locked away to form the dungeon which had trapped a certain individual. The surrounding land had already started transforming, reaching towards the new normal the world was settling into. This meant there was now mostly pristine lawn and a swathe of desert randomly set within an increasingly wild and dangerous terrain.

    A few of the braver locals, wildlife and human, were close enough to feel when the dungeon popped. A burst of mana and Dao filled the air as the power which had grown and collected within the dungeon was released. The beasts felt their primal fears erupt from all angles and quickly made themselves scarce, with humans not far behind. It immediately began to feel like they were encroaching upon the territory of something much more powerful than they could understand.

    Imperceptible changes in the air rippled out, proclaiming that a true monster had just been released from its shackles. A collection of more potent Dao than could be found anywhere else on the new planet was no longer hidden behind the veil of a dungeon. There were very few in the world sensitive enough to feel this new, minute shift but those who did could not hold back the shiver down their spine.

    They could do nothing but hope whatever power was growing was a benevolent one.

 Book 2 - Chapter One - Back To It

    ¡°Can¡¯t we just stop and take a break?¡± Aaron moaned for the eighth time in twenty minutes. The curse of a high Mental attribute meant keeping track of small numbers like that started to happen subconsciously. Eight felt like far too high a number to ignore, so I was glad when Luke decided he had also had enough. Turning on the denim and leather-clad brawler, the slightly taller Luke leaned in angrily.

    ¡°Literally no one is forcing you to come, shut the fuck up or fuck off.¡± As he spoke, Luke¡¯s Dao added actual weight to his words, making Aaron flinch away. Luke was forceful now, while Aaron wanted more control. It seemed that the Dao became part of one¡¯s personality quickly. ¡°If you want to stop getting better then that¡¯s your choice but I¡¯m in this properly. I don¡¯t even understand why you¡¯re bitching, you can¡¯t be tired already.¡±

    Aaron grit his teeth and stuck out a lip while glaring at Luke but with a sigh, he brought himself under control. Tom chuckled this time, as the follow-up pun about Aaron¡¯s Dao went through his mind. Force and Control weren¡¯t quite opposites, but it made sense that the two had started butting heads more and more.

    The System had brought chaos, but it had also given their small group a purpose far more serious than anything they had experienced before. Before all of this started, none of them had even finished college. When Harry¡¯s brother had vanished into the dungeon which had just faded away, he became the new goal. They had pushed themselves, fighting actual monsters and gained a fair amount of levels. Enough to enter the mysterious place that Jason disappeared into. There had been a danger in their momentum failing when their self-assigned quest was completed, or failed depending on your perspective.

    Luckily, that was where the dungeon had changed things for them all. Instead of letting their group wallow in sorrow, it had given them a path. It was there they met me, after all. In a single moment, I had dominated them and held them at my mercy. Instead of crushing them, like my power had been desperate and ready to do, I had offered them grace and offered them shelter. In me, the group saw a person who had embraced the System entirely, and soon found themselves doing the same.

    ¡°Both of you should shut up. Trouble ahead.¡± A whispered suggestion echoed gently through the trees they stalked through. Each of them had been practising with mana control and casting their voices was quite simple at this stage. Ellie¡¯s words came just before a ripping noise broke the relative silence. It was swiftly followed by an earth-shaking crash as a reasonably far-off tree fell heavily.

    Harry was already in front of the party, his eyes scanning the forest. Massive trees surrounded them and stretched onwards and their defender had been on edge for the past thirty minutes. No wonder then, when he activated his skills and started burning mana. I watched as the nearly invisible aura around him hardened. The Dao of Protection required a level of earnestness and diligence which made him serious at all times.

    More than just making him as solid as a tank, there was a provocation effect being thrown towards the creature which had knocked down the massive tree in the distance. ¡°It¡¯s coming,¡± Tom shouted in warning. Normally, randomly throwing out taunting skills would be a stupid idea. It still was this time, but marginally less so because this was technically the plan. It just didn¡¯t seem like a very good one when faced with the beast in question.

    Grasping at the weave of magic all around, Tom began preparing for the battle being forced on them. The location had been chosen carefully, and full sight of the approach was one of the benefits. The charging monster was the scariest thing Tom had ever seen in his life, but that was largely due to the fact it was rushing right at him. If it was minding its own business and not feral, it might even have been cute.

    From my vantage point out of the way, I analysed the creature.

    Boss Monster - Valleycarver Beaver Lord - Lvl 56

    Like a train hitting an immovable object, the immense furry creature¡¯s momentum was stolen as it slammed into Harry¡¯s shield and the true battle commenced. Within moments, the opening salvo started. Tom sprayed arcane bullets strong enough to puncture a bank vault at the big rodent¡¯s face, the potent attacks joined by less plentiful but even more powerful arrows courtesy of Luke. Ellie and Aaron closed in and began to run interference as Harry continued to distract the massive rodent.

    The monster¡¯s face took most of the damage, losing the classic teeth and most of the upper jaw to the assault. In a fascinating but gruesome display, the damage healed within a few seconds. It didn¡¯t seem pleasant for the beaver, but two dinner plate sized chompers shot out from its gums, accompanied by a screech of pain. It was stunning enough that it managed to bite down on Harry, who was suddenly fighting for his life to stop the jaws from closing. He scrambled free, slimy and angry.

    The fight continued in this panicky, uncoordinated way for a while. ¡°They¡¯re not hopeless, but it¡¯s not great, either.¡± I couldn¡¯t argue with my companion¡¯s assessment of the scrappy and chaotic combat ensuing close by. The Ascent was ostensibly my faction, and therefore their performance reflected on me, hence the training exercise. Now, was a giant beaver which could easily slaughter a small town the best option?

    Absolutely, I thought, considering it would apparently be my town it destroyed.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    I sighed and opened the System menu for my faction once more.

    Faction Page   Members: 7  Buildings: 7

    Home Base

    Guild Hall

    I had hidden the names of everyone else¡¯s homes once Aaron had called his the Love Shack, not knowing I could see. I didn¡¯t have the heart to tease him about it, especially since I was pretty sure he didn¡¯t like me very much. I probably riled against his sense of control or something. I was still getting a handle on Dao, and I got the sense mine was pretty domineering. Considering Aaron¡¯s Dao was literally one of control, it wasn¡¯t a great mix.

    Still, control was something I¡¯d want in a sensible subordinate, so hopefully the party of five could figure out how to continue working as a team while their powers continued to grow. Each of them had managed to grasp their own Dao and continue on the path of power, even if all of them combined still couldn¡¯t match myself. Letting them - making them? - fight the beaver was a decent way to gauge the power level of the group outside of a dungeon.

    Considering the dungeon had been aiming to kill me specifically, they had done well enough against the heightened opposition. It quickly became clear, though, that outside of the dungeon there was almost no way to level up through combat. While we hadn¡¯t travelled far from our new hub, the pickings seemed slim. I sighed and pulled up the quest I had received.

    Quest received! - Lording It

    A claim is not the final step towards ownership. All other claims must now be removed, too. Four local creatures have found strength of their own, enough to challenge your¡¯s, perhaps. Defeat these false claimants and cement your place as Lord.

    Ulterior claims remaining - 4.

    Reward: Lord Title, Ownership of valuable (Grade 2) resource.

    ¡°It could obviously be harder,¡± I quipped to the fairy sitting on my shoulder, throwing her away indignantly as I gesticulated with abandon, ¡°but it¡¯s still bullshit that creating the resource didn¡¯t also give it to me.¡± I hadn¡¯t actually found the supposedly valuable asset yet but I was still upset. My working theory was that these creatures were using it to get so far ahead of the curve. I was shaken from my random train of thought as the tree I was sitting in began to crumple.

    ¡°Timber!¡± Naea shouted below, though the crashing battle was definitely too loud for her to be heard. With a hop, I soared thirty feet away to a different tree in the opposite direction. The fairy turned to me with a smirk. ¡°Harder? More than this and that big lug in the armour would be a pancake.¡±

    ¡°Harry knows what he¡¯s doing, I¡¯m pretty sure. The fact that he¡¯s not a pancake probably means there¡¯s some kind of plan. No clue what it could be though.¡± Unless impromptu deforestation was the idea, in which case using a giant beaver to do it was inspired. The rest of the team were left playing chase as the heavily armoured tank was pushed further and further away by the beaver¡¯s attacks.

    Unlike with my own technique, Drain, Harry had no ability to make himself stronger as the fight continued. What he did have was good ol¡¯ human ingenuity, which eventually allowed him to place his back to a more solid structure than a tree. A solid wall of rock rose high in the air, an eyesore when compared to the geography before the Shift but right now, a perfect way to stop the pushing.

    Once the runaway train of fur and muscle was kept in a single area for long enough, the others were able to catch up. Naea had been cackling the whole time, giving a running colour commentary which did not leave The Ascent in a positive light. I cringed at some of her more brutal barbs but couldn¡¯t argue against it.

    There were definite kinks to work out.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ sad, now,¡± Luke whispered. Tom nodded silently as the others whittled down the bulky boss monster. It clearly had a heavy leaning towards vitality, and Tom swore he could even hear the whispers of a Dao occasionally, but it never materialised into anything. The group struck as hard and as fast as they could, redoubling their efforts once the beaver started to scream and fill the air with a feeble attempt at magic. From the trees above it was honestly kind of pitiful all round.

    Once Harry had figured out that placing his back on something that wouldn¡¯t break was the answer, the fight became trivial. They were all freshly minted level 30s, sure, but the difference between Grade 0 and Grade 1 was indescribable. Even without going all out, each of them could sail through the foliage at ground level like it wasn¡¯t there. When they did go all out?

    I grimaced down at the massive limb still smouldering off to one side, the beavers massive haunch cleaved away by a single Mana Bolt, empowered by Dao and the upgrade to Grade One. If I had been the first to engage with the creature, I might have been able to finish it with one solid hit to the brain. Now, it was suffering. I¡¯d had enough. Thankfully, so had Tom. ¡°There¡¯s such a thing as being too careful,¡± he said to Luke before stepping forward.

    With Aaron¡¯s chains seizing its movements and Ellie¡¯s devastating poisons doing their work, the wounded animal had clearly worked out that the best it could do was take someone down with it. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t able to break the effect of Harry¡¯s taunt, nor the hardness of his defence. They weren¡¯t wrong in their approach, but the way that the three of them seemed slightly gleeful at the battle wasn¡¯t a great sign. ¡°Move!¡± Tom shouted from behind Aaron.

    He reacted petulantly, in my opinion. ¡°You fucking move,¡± he threw back while turning on Tom. Chains were hanging from his wrists, snaking into the ground and then around the large boss monsters, still screaming at Harry on the other side. The metal tinkled as Aaron took another step and squared up to Tom.

    I wasn¡¯t too surprised he would go so far, though a part of me was angry for Tom, it was his problem. During our time in the dungeon, I had spoken to each of them a bit, but Tom the most. It was clear as an outsider that he was the least integral part of their group. He had told me that Aaron had always been a bully, even before the Shift. They weren¡¯t a friendship group before this, not really. It had been Harry and Aaron as a pair, Luke followed them out of boredom, Ellie following Harry out of something closer to desperation. Tom had been closest to Harry¡¯s brother, Jason, who had passed away in the dungeon.

    I watched as Tom¡¯s Dao flickered to life. Aaron took a step back, seeing something in the other young man¡¯s eyes that he didn¡¯t feel like poking further. ¡°I wasn¡¯t asking,¡± Tom said simply. In the time it took Aaron to blink hard at his words, Mana Bolts appeared in the air. Whatever their dynamics were before they entered the dungeon, they had changed now. The other four were strong, but Tom had the ability to be powerful in a different way. With a click of his finger, the magical projectiles shot forward. One of them brushed Aaron¡¯s hair slightly before a few, loud screeches of pain signalled a permanent silence for the beaver lord.

    Before the antagonism could turn into a fight, Tom spun on his heel. He might have heard Harry asking what had happened, and Ellie shouted something after him but he didn¡¯t seem to care. He stalked away, giving Luke an eye roll to show he was just pissed off and not going to do something stupid. Looking up, Tom noticed me sitting in a nearby tree. I waved, but apparently I was also on the naughty list for now and was ignored. That was fine.

    He just needed to be alone for a minute.

 Book 2 - Chapter Two - Normal Days

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s not good.¡± Naea muttered, her words sounding like a question more than a statement. I wasn¡¯t sure myself, to be honest. There was a fairly clear fracturing in the party down below, and this was literally the first combat since the dungeon. It was possible the pressure of the magical prison was the only thing keeping them together. Although¡­

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m going to see it as a positive.¡± I shrugged and dropped down in front of Aaron. He was making to follow Tom and there was no need for that. The mage just needed to clear his head, and Aaron was a prick. Having met them all as a group, I could easily say he was my least liked of the bunch. Despite my general disdain, he was still useful and had been able to grasp the edges of his Dao.

    I threw him a wink as I shook my head towards the mess the group had made, throwing off his anger, still bubbling from his interaction with the mage. He hadn¡¯t really done anything wrong, though I sided with Tom¡¯s sensibilities when it came to brutality. It wasn¡¯t Aaron¡¯s fault that Luke and Tom had been having a bit of a moment themselves. Unlike the other three, the archer and the mage seemed to be getting hit with something I was calling real-world vertigo.

    It was something I had been feeling myself. Since the first moment of the Shift, I had been thrown into chaos. The dungeon which I had left felt like it would be my entire life, though in actuality, it had been less than six weeks. Coming back to the ¡°real world¡± had its own challenges, one of which was simply believing it was the genuine article. Not recognising any of the local flora, fauna or landmarks didn¡¯t help.

    I waved dismissively in the direction Tom had stomped off in. ¡°Let¡¯s just leave Sparkles to his meditations. Congrats! You killed the big beastie. Technically I guess that¡¯s a completed quest from me to you all? That¡¯s a thing guild leaders do, I think.¡±

    ¡°Yup,¡± Naea confirmed at my side. Since her evolution to Grade One, Naea had become even more confident than ever. I knew that without the connection to the dungeon, she was feeling a little worried about her ability to remain useful. I rejected the idea she had to be useful to be happy but it was good to see she hadn¡¯t lost an inch from her forthright energy.

    ¡°See?¡± I nodded back to Naea in thanks. ¡°Quest rewards and all that.¡± While I hadn¡¯t received my qualification, I still had the instincts of a psychiatrist. My reaction was impromptu, brought on by the bad energy of the group and the desire to give them back some form of social adhesive. Given that I didn¡¯t actually have a plan in mind when I started speaking, I quickly opened my inventory to see what I could do.

    Inventory

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted) - 5442

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint) - 15,423

    Storm Arrows

    Assorted Earth foods

    Guidance Stone Of Breaching

    Alternating Armament (Epic)

    Various Furniture

    Aside from my amazing new weapon, which remained a staff for now, I was kind of flailing for ideas. The Guidance Stone was still calling my name, but I hadn¡¯t had the chance to use it yet. The chairs and stuff I had decided to shove in there from Home Base were hardly appropriate. Not wanting to make it seem especially unplanned, I ran with the first idea that came to mind. Thankfully, the System had my back for once and as the decision to give out some coinage came to mind, a Guild notification pinged into existence.

    Guild - Quest Complete

    Choose rewards for participants?

    Instead of awkwardly producing the fifty coins I arbitrated to each of them as a random number, I just had to think about it with intent and the System did the rest. I knew through the System¡¯s wonderfully intuitive ability to implant memories and understanding that the items I chose would simply appear in their inventories. The group were reacting to their own new notifications - from me - as I pulled out one of the coins.

    I had never paid special attention to the currency at my disposal during my stay in the dungeon, mostly because I had bigger things on my mind. I had, of course, inspected both for any discernible markings that could help me but found nothing but general confusion. Each of the four were now looking at a coin of their own with varying levels of wonder.

    The standard mint coins had a more simple design than the Xaverion ones. At around an inch across, there was a decent weight to the gold circles. On one side, which I decided was the heads side, a pair of wings lay in front of a staircase. On the reverse, tails side, was a concentric set of six circles. Without anything else to go off, the iconography meant next to nothing.

    The Xaverion ones were a little more on the nose, with one side being a literal spiked tail and the other a roaring dragon''s head. In mine and everyone¡¯s opinion, they were much cooler, but ultimately they were just a different style of coin for now. Still, they were shiny enough to distract these guys long enough to get them back home. Once everyone had separated, Naea also decided to do something on her own. She clearly had no interest in joining me for this next part.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    She wouldn¡¯t tell me what it was she had planned, which I found both slightly adorable and ever so slightly annoying. It was only a slight bother because I could feel her excitement through our familiar bond. I felt like my brain was being itched from the inside, but it was manageable, mostly due to Naea¡¯s happy eagerness. Her mood was a helpful ballast to the uncomfortable energy I found waiting for me at Tom¡¯s home.

    Each of the houses has been personalised somewhat through the use of the Guild and Building tabs. I had the choice of keeping my own control, but that was just about the weirdest idea I could think of, so it was nice to see he had made it his own a little. A set of windchime-like batteries were hanging, collecting ambient mana in the air and funnelling it into the home. I knocked, and there was no answer, so I decided to sit outside.

    Within the dungeon, our six homes along with the larger guild hall had made something of a little neighbourhood, which had been transplanted outside. Well kept lawns and defined boundaries against the changing natural world kept the shape of our little slice of this new Earth nicely. In every direction, the new chaotic growth fought for dominance, but stopped where it met the area which was considered under my control. I pondered a few theories on why this might be while I waited for Tom to answer his door.

    I could sense him inside, and he had no doubt felt me coming long before I knocked the door. The common courtesy had simply never had the time to fall away, but as I rested on the grass outside Tom¡¯s house, I had discovered a better way to get attention. Every two or three minutes I released a heavy thump of Dao. It was an interesting application, and definitely a part of Naea¡¯s influence on me. It was almost nostalgic, like annoying a sibling.

    As much as I would give someone their space when needed, I wouldn¡¯t let Tom brood just for the sake of being upset. ¡°What?¡± His shout as the door flung open, himself still a few strides behind, made me beam up towards the sky. ¡°What is it, Grant? You can¡¯t leave me alone for five minutes?¡±

    I turned my head towards him slowly, leveraging my calm demeanour and genuine understanding while leaning on the weight of my Dao. I was tempted to police his tone towards me but instead I just let my gaze linger, no words needed. The air all around me calmed down as Tom¡¯s own Dao settled and his expression turned from anger to sadness. I just smiled slightly and gave a small nod. ¡°You¡¯ve got as long as you want,¡± I smirked, completely strangling my energy and giving the man some silence.

    His expression softened even more, until his bottom lip quivered slightly. We were all creatures of a higher nature than humans of the past, yet his knees were shaking the same as they would have three months ago. I silently thanked Tom for his human nature. My heart needed to know that we hadn¡¯t lost it all quite yet. ¡°Was I wrong?¡± He asked quietly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you know in five minutes, go make us a drink and take a deep breath.¡± I simply put my head back down on the grass and looked at the clouds. My senses had all been upgraded massively and there was a new level of breathtaking views available because of it. I watched the frost around a small wisp of white in the sky glitter in the evening sun and a peaceful tranquillity blanketed my thoughts.

    Tom joined me within two minutes, a pair of steaming mugs in his hand. He realised belated there was no real place to put them, the area on a slight incline. I chuckled and raised an eyebrow while standing. ¡°You can¡¯t just¡­ make a table or something?¡± I half-joked, half-suggested. Tom¡¯s own eyes widened, before a line appeared between his eyebrows and his face furrowed.

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think so¡­¡± Tom¡¯s face was almost horrified and I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. I removed a pair of ornate chairs from a sitting room in my Chateau along with a bedside table. I pushed them all into the dirt a little before sitting down. Tom looked like he¡¯d been tricked as he realised he was overthinking things. He sat down with a sheepish look on his face. ¡°Oh yeah, the inventories.¡±

    ¡°There should be a few coins in your¡¯s, but they¡¯re not important right now.¡± I didn¡¯t continue for a while, choosing to take a few sips of my tea first. ¡°It¡¯s weird. This should be way too hot to drink, but I could chug something twice this temperature and come out completely fine.¡±

    Tom blinked, but smiled. ¡°I stubbed my toe earlier when I went into the house and instead of hurting myself, I kicked through the floorboard. Cost me two gold to fix the flooring.¡± I tried to keep a straight face, but within seconds the two of us were absolutely howling with laughter. We eventually calmed down, but it took not looking at each other for a few minutes to reach normality again. The world had become completely ridiculous. Not laughing at it would be a strange choice, really.

    ¡°God, I needed that. Everything has been so fucking serious for the last month and a half.¡± I sighed, long and deep. I forced myself to think back on the trauma I had faced in the dungeon but even then, the worst of it was locked off even from me. The lives I had been forced to take by the dragon Naeboroseax, then in the form of an old woman, were both blood on my hands and not. I couldn¡¯t forget them, either way.

    I took my teacup in hand and raised it high above my head. ¡°To the ones who aren¡¯t here, and the ones we can¡¯t help.¡± I had not for one moment forgotten the reason the members of The Ascent had come into my dungeon. The fallen brother of Harry, best friend to Tom. ¡°To Jason and the, hopefully, not many others like him.¡±

    Looking slightly touched, Harry raised his cup slightly and nodded. ¡°To the others,¡± he intoned. His gaze returned to me, confusion on his face. ¡°So? Was I wrong?¡± I looked at the slightly younger man and did not answer immediately. In his red robes and blue hat, he was not an easy person to take seriously, but I forced myself to. It wasn¡¯t Tom¡¯s fault that his magical items looked a little goofy.

    ¡°I can¡¯t say. Not because I don¡¯t have an opinion, but because it doesn¡¯t matter. You didn¡¯t like it, so that¡¯s enough, right? Just don¡¯t work with those guys again if you don¡¯t want to.¡± When Tom¡¯s confusion only seemed to grow, I continued. ¡°You¡¯re not a married¡­ quintuple, Tom. You don¡¯t owe them anything, and honestly, they¡¯re not that nice to you. My advice would be to find something else, a different path or just another group.¡±

    That quivering lip returned. ¡°Do you-¡±

    I cut that shit out at the bud. ¡°Stop. No, Tom, I¡¯m not saying to leave the guild. You¡¯re a member of The Ascent and while I¡¯m not completely sure what that will mean in the future, for right now it means you have a place. You have a home,¡± I gestured towards his house, then to myself, ¡°and you have at least two friends. Naea counts, too.¡±

    ¡°Then?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying go exploring, go find other people who you actually like and then invite them to the guild, obviously. I guess you could make your own if you wanted, but if I¡¯m being honest, I¡¯d love to share the burden a little.¡±

    Guild

    Create a deputy guild leader?

    Yes. Oh, System, I do enjoy you sometimes.

    Tom hesitated, just for a moment, before accepting the prompt. I smiled. He smiled. I didn¡¯t have all the answers, not least of all for what comes next, but I was pretty good at dealing with them now. For right now? This was enough. Peace in a garden, talking about magic, thinking about how to save my family from the already ended world.

    All completely normal things, these days.

 Book Two - Chapter Three - The Real World

    ¡°Just say it, and we can move on.¡± Naea¡¯s voice in my ear was sweet like a cloying corpse. I could feel the anticipation through our bond and it only made me more stubborn. She didn¡¯t mind, because not only did she know she was right, she knew me. I would break and give her what she wanted and she knew it.

    After another mile or two of hopeful sprinting, I had to stop and sigh. Talking past the bile in my throat, I choke out the two words that would free us from the spiral we were in. ¡°We¡¯re lost,¡± I moaned quietly.

    ¡°WE?!¡± Naea burst into energy, full of excitement to bully me. ¡°What¡¯s this ¡®we¡¯ nonsense? As I recall, you told me you knew exactly what you were doing and which way to go, that it would be easy and that I was being silly.¡± I winced. I had been making light of her advice, but I¡¯d also been joking. An excuse which would only leave me more roasted than I already was.

    ¡°Alright,¡± I told her after she seemingly ran out of steam, ¡°focus up. Go, check the sky.¡± I had been forced to endure over ten minutes of constant ribbing about getting the pair of us lost but released the fairy to get a vantage. I had put her off due to being hard-headed, but if I got us any more turned around we¡¯d never get home.

    I wasn¡¯t completely stupid, though I would take my welts about this blunder. I had consulted a map, and had a compass with me that Luke had been kind enough to lend me. Unfortunately, it seemed like just about anything could have a magnetic pull strong enough to make it useless. The first time I had been turned around by the compass, my heart dropped. The third time was not long before my final admission of guilt.

    Although tempted to smash the useless thing, I stowed the compass and waited for Naea to return. I lazily climbed into the branches of a nearby tree, admiring how magic looked on the countryside. As far as I could tell, the whole world was getting bigger and that increase wasn¡¯t limited to just the landmasses. It wasn¡¯t just humans and animals on the path of power and I smiled as I felt the tree beneath me cycling its mana.

    It was almost painfully slow, and the amount was miniscule to the point of near non-existence, but it was there. Even with such a small amount, the tree was massive and clearly fighting for dominance in this fairly compact little forest. I realised that was actually the common layout we had passed, and I had taken little notice. I patted the tree, and on a whim tried to feed it some mana.

    I almost jumped when the chunk of energy I had carelessly waved towards the plant was immediately absorbed. I felt as though I¡¯d just done a pre-System marathon and I looked at my hand with a mixture of chagrin and surprise. ¡°You sneaky thing,¡± I murmured at the thieving tree. Naea returned just as I was weighing up whether to uproot the thing for its unintended insolence. I decided to leave it and focused on the fairy. Stupid tree could have the stupid mana. ¡°Well?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re lost,¡± Naea said, nodding like she was solemn and wise. I resisted the urge to swat her out of the air, knowing she felt my desire to do so was enough. She grinned at me and carried on. ¡°So, I¡¯m pretty sure - as in, much more sure than you were - that if we go back that way we¡¯ll find Home Base. I had to go pretty high, though, so I couldn¡¯t see that well. Plus! A fucking bird tried to eat me!¡±

    ¡°Did you kill it?¡±

    ¡°Killed it good.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I nodded. No need to take disrespect, and anything stupid enough to attack Naea deserved it. She was a higher level than myself, after all. ¡°Sounds like maybe you saw something else, too?¡±

    ¡°I did!¡± Naea exclaimed, drawing out the ¡°I¡± sound. ¡°If we went that way instead, we¡¯d reach an actual human city. I could see buildings. Considering that¡¯s why we¡¯re out here, I thought we might as well go.¡± Naea looked proud of herself, and I knew she was excited to meet more humans and see what was left of our world from before.

    Still, my heart rate increased. Other humans, and they were fairly close to the area I had claimed. ¡°Awesome,¡± I lied, dropping out of the tree. I gave its bark a glare, and with a few swipes of my finger, carved its trunk a little. I wrote the word ¡®Cherry¡¯ and nodded. It was an oak, so I felt the insult was appropriately meted out.

    ¡°You can kill trees like that, you know.¡± Naea chastised me as we moved on, while I explained that it had stolen my mana and that, yes, I knew it wasn¡¯t a cherry tree, that was the point. We bantered back and forth about the importance of names as we made our way to the town. I wasn¡¯t planning on making an appearance today, but it was the first real landmark we¡¯d found in the new world.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Naea flitted through the air, careful not to hit any of the humans wandering around. There were just so many! None of them could see her, of course. Her invisibility wasn¡¯t even second nature, it was first, so avoiding the senses of these low level humans was genuinely as simple as breathing. Grant was staying out of the city for now because unlike Naea, he was not blessed with the incredible powers of the fae.

    Maybe he could learn, though. He may have lacked when it came to natural prowess but Grant more than made up for it with his terrifying ability to claim his potential. Naea was happy that at least he was pushing her along with him. After almost flying into a particularly clean window due to her distraction, Naea was glad that Grant had warned her about the pesky, near-invisible barriers.

    She smiled, thinking back to their meeting in the dungeon and how the Rules had worked in Grant¡¯s favour. What was new and exciting for the people of Earth was, for a dungeon-born creature like herself, something intrinsic. It was as understood by Naea as her own wings or hair. The Rules were a set of ¡°truths¡± given to a System-born creature like herself. In the case of a dungeon fairy, the Rules of the Fae were in place. By shouting out a promise to a fairy, he had triggered the Rules of The System.

    These Rules were often portrayed in myth and legends upon those worlds not yet infused with power. For thousands of years beforehand, the System would trickle fractured information into the minds of dreamers and poets. Then, when the System inevitably arrived, and the monsters with it, people would be able to fight back with the methods that made most sense to them. Fae could be hurt badly with ¡°cold iron¡± and salt, two of the most common items to be found on most worlds, for example.

    It was a lot of power. Far too much for a greedy thing like Grant to learn about, so best to let him figure things out as he would. Naea wasn¡¯t in the business of spoon feeding him any answers, especially not ones which could potentially rip the world in two. If he knew that wording things correctly could cause the System itself to react, he would get obsessed. Naea decided to cast it from her mind until it came up again.

    Better to give him something fun, and less apocalyptic to play with, like other humans.

    The buildings were quite nice, Naea decided. They weren¡¯t as lovely as Home Base or the guildhall, but then, these were mundane brick and mortar. The design of the System-built mansion was wonderful, but Naea found herself surprised and entranced by the purely physical creation of a massive building. Looking at its stone walls, reaching upwards to the sky, she shivered, surprised to feel very small in the face of a new unknown.

    She floated inside the building which she had nearly crashed into, purely on a whim. She didn¡¯t have a specific mission, just scouting. Naea would argue this technically counted. ¡°Grant? What is this place?¡± With more control than her partner, the fairy threw her question down their bond along with what she was seeing. It would take him a moment to understand the message and then even longer to form an answer. Fine with her, staring with wide eyes at the building around me.

    Upon entering, Naea was in a small foyer. It smelled of cloves and lavender, the pair of scents trampled into the carpet over what must have been years of use. Beyond this room was another space, a second room with very high ceilings. Someone walked in, touching a bowl of water to the side of the door before making a gesture across their chest and then entering. She shrugged, quickly copying the man¡¯s movements with the water. Water, forehead, belly, left shoulder, right shoulder. With a tiny gasp, she slipped inside before the closing door after the man.

    Row after row of long wooden benches were lined up in this big main room, facing a gorgeous altar adorned with marble, gold and, far more importantly, statues. Naea didn¡¯t personally see the difference between gold, silver, brass or anything when it came to decoration. Gold had been given its value by dragons and then everyone else copied them, but she supposed she could admit the humans had used it well here.

    ¡°It¡¯s called a church,¡± Grant¡¯s slow and careful reply found her at last, ¡°please, be respectful. It¡¯s a holy place for some.¡± His voice was slurred when they spoke through the familiar bond, the poor thing. He was still such a baby when it came to his magic. A baby suneater, maybe, but an untrained thing regardless of his destructive capability. It was quite sweet, Naea decided.

    ¡°Ohhhhh, temples!¡± She replied to Grant simply. Naea knew all about temples. Mosques, synagogues, gurdwaras, pagodas and that stuff. The information was there in her mind already, but only unlocked as she interacted and learned what she was seeing. ¡°So, this is a church,¡± the invisible fairy whispered. Not quiet enough, it seemed. The acoustics in here were devilish. As one of the seated threw a glance in her direction, it took all of Naea¡¯s willpower not to appear before them for a moment and then vanish, which was always a good trick.

    Instead she did as Grant asked and tried to be respectful. Flitting around, Naea gave the tall handsome sculpture on the cross a once over. This was their god, right? He was quite buff, and she was a particular fan of the crown of thorns, though she might have put them on a little more gently. He was cool-looking, and right there, Naea thought she  understood why humans were religious.

    Still dumb, she decided.

    Pretty building, but ultimately boring. Anything which doesn¡¯t change is bo-RING. That¡¯s why Grant was so much fun. Every day was different and new, or if not novel then at least¡­ more. There was always another level to go after, another layer of power to add to his already monstrous strength. It was exhilarating. To that end, Naea had already decided that the most important thing to do was find the strongest person in the city. Grant could beat them up if he wanted. He always enjoyed that.

    It wasn¡¯t hard to find them.

    After ten minutes of flying around the city at high speeds, Naea felt a pulse of energy. In a fairly large building which reminded me a little of the guildhall, there were three bundles of power. They weren¡¯t quite Dao yet, but their concepts were firm. The weakest one she sensed was a nearly silent melody in the air, while another was¡­ fuzzy, like fur or mist but she wasn¡¯t sure which. The strongest was like a small campfire, heat and energy. Naea liked that one, so she went to figure out who it was.

    Except, she froze. The world around her seemed to still, a sucking breath before -

    There was a scream, somewhere far off. Naea only heard it because it came with the filthiest surge of rotten Dao she had sensed since the broodmother in the dungeon. That thing was an abomination, a mutation of pure Dao into something monstrous.

    So what the fuck was making a similar feeling in the city?

 Book Two - Chapter Four - Kindling Relations

    The moment of the Shift, Julianna had been forced into a position of command and the pressure had never stopped cooking her. She had been working as a manager in a fairly popular pub as the countdown began. Panic set in and the place cleared out quickly. So quickly, in fact, that appliances were left burning. She had seen no better place to wait out the end of the world than behind a bar, but it was a moment of hunger which changed everything.

    Right as the world was changing, Julianna opened the door to the kitchen. She knew now that the sudden influx of mana, power and other, stranger energies to the world had likely saved her life. In the moment, all she knew were flames. What should have been her death was instead a firestorm which scoured away everything which came before. With brutal clarity, Julianna saw the foundations which the new world would be built upon. Instead of dying in the conflagration, the flames were gathered into a magical crystal and Julianna claimed the Aspect of Fire for herself.

    The next few weeks had been chaotic. The small pocket of civilization which had been brought with the people had middling infrastructure and an unsure populace. Somehow, despite her best efforts, Julianna fell into a leadership role. Mostly due to the fact that she couldn¡¯t handle being told what to do by passive observers. She remade herself multiple times over in that period, trying to cement her path forward in a confusing new reality.

    Newtown was the constant. A small chunk of an English city, randomly pulled to another part of the country. When the first of the monster attacks came, any semblance of normality fell away. Having risen to the occasion alongside very few others - Frederick, Gaz, Stephanie, - the fire mage found all eyes on her for direction. She and Frederick received a quest, and the rest was history.

    Quest - Make Your Mark

    The Shift is a time of confusion and doubt for all, but those who are quickest to embrace change are the best leaders. Having shown yourself capable of adapting, you may now prove you have the ability to help others adapt.

    Create, maintain and defend a town with a population of over 3000

    Reward: Random Aspect based on performance

    Valuable resources generated in the area, based on performance

    Random equipment awarded based on performance

    It hadn¡¯t been easy, but it had been exhilarating in so many ways. She could shoot fireballs from her hands, for god''s sake. Unlike most, she put some of her attribute points into Mental and Will, which not just made her fire skills more potent, but her own thoughts also. There were definitely benefits to the new way of things, it was just also a lot of stress. The town creation had been simple enough, and the population was already over the needed amount for the next upgrade.

    One issue plagued her, however. A single level twenty could easily tear through whatever walls or defences they had set up to protect the population of Newtown. It was expensive to use the System interface for anything, especially things which were previously undeveloped on Earth. Walls were simple, and could be easily rearranged afterwards. Force Fields to defend against magical attacks? Not so cheap or easy.

    Things weren¡¯t perfect, but of course when it rains, it pours. It was bound to happen eventually, but someone had been murdered in Newtown. For a brief, hopeful moment, Julianna had tricked herself into thinking that humanity could focus on the larger issues at hand but that had clearly been childish. Just as she was dealing with the first actual murder in her small town for the first time, a new issue reared its head.

    This one was even closer to her largest fear. Someone was fighting Gaz? She certainly didn¡¯t need whatever this was. Some random kid had come running to tell her that there was a fight happening at the East entrance, and that Gaz had been stopped in some way. Julianna decided to see it with her own eyes rather than waiting. Leaving Frederick with the task of figuring something out about the murder, Julianna went to the commotion.

    The scene she found was immediately worrying. Three guardsmen were laid out, clearly unconscious while Gaz, the second or third strongest fighter in Newtown, was bound by ropes which seemed to be made of uncontained neon. She decided to be forceful, but had to be careful not to make things worse. Her bow appeared in her hand all the same, an arrow of flame flickering between her fingers.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to hurt anyone. Let him go or we¡¯re going to have to get a little more serious,¡± Julianna warned, fingering the bowstring. A man in a plain cloak had entered the town, ignoring the guard¡¯s calls to stop. When he had completely brushed off their attempts to stop him, she had been called. The guards were all at least level fifteen at this point, so the danger was clear.

    ¡°I¡¯m not here for a fight, I¡¯m just trying to help.¡± The voice was softer than Julianna expected given the dangerous bundles of energy floating in the air around him. ¡°I believe you¡¯ve had some bloodshed here?¡± Wishing she wasn¡¯t the one who had to deal with this shit, Julianna forced a smile to her face, practice from working in customer service.

    Suddenly, there were far too many eyes. The event from last night hadn¡¯t been made public. Her every instinct was telling her that this pale young man with his wizardly clothing was dangerous in a way that made the murder yesterday seem paltry by comparison. ¡°Sounds like people jumped the gun here, shall we go somewhere to speak?¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Julianna was shivering, something she hadn¡¯t done since she had embraced the flame. Confidence had rarely been a problem for her throughout her twenty seven years on Earth, but right now she was shaken. She felt small, as she had in those first days before the way forward became clear. The man before her was like a giant monolith, dredging up every feeling of uncertainty and fear from those early days in his shadow.

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    He was calm, but she had seen a trickle of what he was capable of. From the energy which surrounded him, the only thing stopping him from ripping the fledgling town apart was his own whims. There was a density and a¡­ reality to his power which made her own strength feel like a sputtering ember.

    Julianna was sitting in her large chair in what had been the main office of some now abandoned enterprise. It felt far too big for her, right now. She winced as she realised this monster''s first look at her city had been a failure of the guards, and apparently he also knew about the murder. Professionalism was still the way to go. ¡°What can you do for me?¡±

    Two hopeful eyes look at her from underneath messy dark hair. Damn, Julianna started, he can¡¯t be much more than twenty one. How hard have the last few weeks been for him? Yet, that thought seemed completely at odds with the ancient power which seeped from his every moment. There was a thrill in his voice as he answered. ¡°Oh, so much.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    I have to give it to Grant, he was right, these people would have completely shit themselves if he walked in. It was decided that Tom should be the liaison between The Ascent and Newtown, as his Dao and demeanour would be the least threatening. He doubted it would matter now that he saw Newtown. As no one here had a Dao of their own, all they could sense was the strength, not the flavour. Tom couldn¡¯t help shaking his head as he wandered into the town. He had to stop himself from chuckling at the ineffectual barriers placed to stop intruders, and how much less they would help against the actual leader of The Ascent.

    That made him a little sad, but he promised himself he would get the chance to make people here smile with his magic later. The task for now was more important. While The Ascent may very well be the strongest collection of people on the planet, that wasn¡¯t a guarantee, nor would it last forever. No matter Grant¡¯s trajectory, an individual was only as powerful as their foundations. Without a support base, The Ascent would never grow.

    Tom didn¡¯t know where he wanted his path to take him, but he was sure he wanted it to be parallel to Grant¡¯s. Grant had shown Tom a future when he had been content with simply existing. For that, Tom would be forever grateful. His time in the dungeon had not only made me powerful, it had moulded him anew. He could be confident. He could help. Finally, he thought.

    Tom would never forget Jason, and the fact that he had simply got stir-crazy before he was ready to join him. Would Tom have been able to keep him safe if he had joined him upon entering the dungeon, or would he have just been another body for Grant to eventually find? He didn¡¯t know, and the question would always eat at his mind a little. If Tom could make it safer for other people to find their path and reach at least the wonder of being a Grade One, the aspirant mage would do whatever he was able to.

    Can¡¯t leave any rats in the basement, though. The wonders of a high Mental attribute meant that Tom could easily let my thoughts wander without a break in conversation. After entering Newtown, he had sought out the woman Grant had told him to find, Julianna. ¡°Before we get into some of the things I can offer, we should focus on the most serious matter. There was a murder here yesterday.¡±

    The woman sitting opposite Tom looked exhausted in a way that only powerful women deserved to look. Her dark skin contrasted nicely with the white shirt she wore and Tom was once again glad he was no longer so easily distracted. She sighed, that weariness Tom felt increasing. ¡°How do you even know about that? Who are you people?¡±

    ¡°My name is Tom, and if you really want to know how I know, a fairy told me.¡± The smirked as she gave me the exact look he expected. She wouldn¡¯t believe that story until she met Naea herself, most likely, but it was entirely worth the credibility hit. It had surprised Grant almost as much as Tom when the quest had appeared in Tom¡¯s vision instead of his.

    Quest - Save the Town

    A monster lies in the shadows of Newtown, and the populace is unprepared and unable to deal with it. Protect them from this menace.

    Reward: Random Aspect based on performance

    There was no question on whether he would do it, but the mere fact the System was pushing him towards something he had no business with beyond curiosity was, in itself, curious. Tom wanted to learn more about the System, and this was at least a chance to get another data point, and he could help people at the same time.

    ¡°It¡¯s true but I can see you won¡¯t believe me.¡± He shrugged. ¡°It doesn¡¯t really matter how I know, does it?¡±

    ¡°It does if you were the one that committed the murder,¡± the woman retorted. Tom blinked. So much for a high Mental attribute, he walked himself right into that one. Tom threw his hands up in defeat while showing the quest screen to her. Now it was her turn to blink in surprise. ¡°I had only learned how to do that yesterday,¡± Tom said, before adding, ¡°I learned that from a fairy, too, actually.¡±

    This time, Julianna was markedly less dismissive, which was good. Naea had asked very nicely whether Tom would try to make friends for her. He had told her it was best to make them herself, but that he would put in a good word. The town leader, at least Tom assumed that¡¯s who she was, seemed to relax a little. ¡°You¡¯re really here to help?¡±

    The question seemed to hold a weight he couldn¡¯t quite understand, though if he tried, Tom thought he could guess at its origin. ¡°It¡¯s been stressful and tough since everything changed, hasn¡¯t it?¡± Taking a page from Grant¡¯s book, Tom mentally reached into his inventory and produced a warm pot of tea, two mugs and poured one for himself. Grant used the System like it had always been there, and it made him seem more knowledgeable than he maybe was. Tom would mimic that. ¡°Would you like one?¡±

    The woman frowned for a moment, apparently not believing what she was seeing, before laughing loudly. She laughed for so long and so hard that even Tom was able to figure out it wasn¡¯t his joke that set her off. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry,¡± she apologised while catching her breath, ¡°it¡¯s just¡­ so simple.¡±

    The tea in front of Tom started to boil within the cup, and his Dao reacted to the rising temperature in the room. There was no thermostat malfunction, this was something grander. He wasn¡¯t sure what exactly had inspired it, but knew right away what was happening. Tom made a promise to himself and to Julianna silently that he wouldn¡¯t let anyone know her Dao breakthrough had been inspired by a cup of tea.

    ¡°I am the flame,¡± she whispered before igniting like she had been covered in accelerant. Tom flinched and moved to assist by instinct but then his own Dao whispered that everything was alright. Her lack of screams wasn¡¯t because the oxygen had ignited already, but because she was fine. Energy surged from the woman, reaching closer towards where Tom¡¯s sat, and he smiled. She had unlocked her Dao, and become a Grade One, just like that.

    That should make things easier, hopefully.

    It was not quite how they had planned to help Newtown, but it was a brilliant start. Tom might not be sure what he wanted from The Ascent, but he knew what he owed Grant. While Grant was away, it was up to Tom and the others to make the guild a place worth returning to. Creating good relations with the closest town was necessary.

    Along with making sure that town didn¡¯t fall apart before he got back.

 Book Two - Chapter Five - The Beat

    The best thing about having no set destination? You can¡¯t get lost. No matter what Naea might say to the contrary. We had food, drink, shelter stored in our inventories and all the gumption one could need to start exploring. There were four beast lords in the area that could apparently mess with my base of operations, and the mostly slumbering dragon within did not like that.

    Dao Avatar - Dragon

    Worlds struggle to contain one such as you, boundaries and rules are made for the protection of others. Not for you. Reach for the stars and claim the cosmos.

    Effect: Mental +250, Will +100, Mental Attribute +25%, Will Attribute +15%

    This single effect probably made me the strongest human on Earth, unless someone else had evolved their Dao beyond a simple Pool. I still had such little information about every aspect of this new world, pun not intended. Did a Dao Pool always become an Avatar or was that due to the Aspect? It was possible the Aspect of the Dragon would always become an Avatar, while another Aspect became something else entirely.

    Dao was only one area in which my knowledge was lacking, and while it felt the most important in the long term, it wasn¡¯t the most pressing in the immediate. I had some books from the guild which explained some of the basics but I would learn best by doing, as I had from the start. ¡°Do you think the lord monster things will all be the same strength?¡±

    Naea shrugged. ¡°How am I meant to know?¡±

    ¡°I dunno. You were more helpful when we were in the dungeon.¡± She could feel my good humour through our bond but that also meant I could feel her genuine affront. The connection snapped shut as she gave me a hurt expression and flitted further away, though still keeping pace.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she whispered after a short while in silence. I held my arm out and she took a perch on my shoulder, her elbows crossed atop my head and her own head laying on those. ¡°It¡¯s scary being out here without the connection, and I do feel less useful. So it¡¯s not funny to joke about.¡± Naea emphasised her frustration by smacking her fist down on my skull. It was like being hit by a ball peen hammer. She just giggled when I squawked in pain.

    ¡°You know I don¡¯t just keep you around because you know things, right? I¡¯m pretty fond of you, even if you¡¯re ridiculous all the time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why you love me,¡± Naea retorted. I nodded, which threw her around and she tumbled from my shoulder, still laughing. We bantered back and forth as we continued exploring the general vicinity around The Ascent¡¯s claimed area. It wasn¡¯t huge, but it would take a few days to go around the whole place, hopefully finding my quest targets while we did.

    ¡°I¡¯m the one who should apologise, it was a bad joke to make. We¡¯re both going to figure out this crazy stuff together, yeah?¡± I held out a fist, and Naea¡¯s tiny one gave mine a bump. We nodded to each other and said nothing more on that subject. Instead, we both sensed the other¡¯s restless energy. We didn¡¯t even need to say anything, the familiar bond enough to start the competition.

    The Dungeon wasn¡¯t a small place by any means, but there was always a level of danger over my head which stopped me from relaxing. After watching The Ascent take down a boss which was supposed to be a challenge for myself, a lot of tension had vanished. The difficulty level had dropped back to the normal. Which, granted, I had yet to see, but I could tell it wouldn¡¯t be so easy to find a challenge out here. Good, I thought with an audible grunt.

    A level of control I had been restraining myself to since my Dao evolved dropped. The dragon within roared with pleasure. Mana careened through my channels like never before, a limiter falling away. I wasn¡¯t scared to show my full strength to the guild, but I had subconsciously strangled the power which I showed massively. There was no need for that now we were so far away.

    Plus, I had a race to win. ¡°Ready?¡± I asked.

    Naea had already bolted, of course.

    I snorted and tore off, literally. Mana Control had become the skill Infusion, the draconic magic at the base of my power altering the way I used said magic. With a healthy expenditure of mana, I crystallised the energy inside and then let it burst throughout my whole body. The ground under my feet exploded into a cloud of debris which I left in the dust, Naea already ahead of me.

    The fairy felt the air fill up with my power and her laughter picked up, disjointed as she began to make liberal use of Sparkstep. Her own impressive strength began to blast out in unison with my own. Every few seconds, the already speedy fairy would turn into a burst of pure electrical energy and increase her lead. So, she had me beat in acceleration, but what about top speed?

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    I layed another Infusion on top of the last, feeling my muscles and bones begin to strain as my magic pushed my strength beyond its natural capabilities. The effect wasn¡¯t quite multiplicative, but it was close enough. I didn¡¯t want to do any kind of lasting damage on a meaningless race, but I was frustrated to see the gap wasn¡¯t shrinking. With two levels of Infusion, she wasn¡¯t able to keep pulling away, but neither could I get closer. Damn, girl, you¡¯re impressive.

    I knew that even at that speed, Naea could hit hard without breaking herself. A lot of her magic use was instinctive, rather than a pure skill like Sparkstep. She hardened her body in the moment she collided with something, becoming like a bullet. At the same time, her grace was such that if she did not choose to hit an obstacle, she wouldn¡¯t. No matter what speed, even if she wasn¡¯t looking, she moved like the wind itself. I was strangely proud as I watched her beat me.

    Then, my heart and Dao pulsed in unison.

    That wasn¡¯t the kind of pride we wanted right now. ¡°Sorry, little one,¡± I whispered, ¡°but I¡¯m a really sore loser.¡±

    Tempest Form.

    I activated my new skill. If there was anything in the area that wasn¡¯t paying attention to the two of us screaming through the countryside like two very low-flying jets, they couldn¡¯t ignore it now. I hadn¡¯t used the ability in this way yet, but I thought I had some idea what to expect.

    Obviously, I was wrong.

    The world as I knew it disappeared and a new one fell into place. All pretence of physical sight vanished and my senses extended massively. I stopped moving for a few heartbeats, immediately ceasing momentum as I looked at myself. If I was a ¡°Stormborn¡± before? Now, I was the storm. With a rumble, the Dao Pool of Tempests stirred. Within my inner world, it was as though the moon rose.

    I had a witness to this moment in the form of a fox. With nerves of absolute steel, the vulpine observer had felt the coming cataclysm and decided to face it head-on. I tilted my head as I saw it, a large and complex bundle of electrical impulses in a world of magic and lights. Beautiful. The pair of us observed the other, each of us learning in our own ways.

    Then, I shot off again.

    It was nearly impossible to keep my thoughts straight while using Tempest Form, but it was also hard for me to know why this was a problem. I was energy, and power and destruction. What else could matter? A laugh of my own scorched the world, arcs of true lightning blasting from me as my speed continued to increase.

    STOP.

    Clear as crystal, Naea¡¯s voice snapped me out of it. I lost control of Tempest Form and didn¡¯t have time to brace myself before eating the dirt. My feet, which had been weightless, suddenly weren¡¯t. Deep grooves were dug in the ground before I flipped head over heels multiple times, only stopping when I buried myself in a huge sturdy tree. The two snapped trunks I spotted when I cracked my eye open suggested this wasn¡¯t the first I had hit.

    ¡°Ouch,¡± I moaned.

    ¡°Ouch,¡± Naea agreed, not a lot of sympathy present in her voice as she began using Battle Bond in its original form, Healing Bond. The skill was costly, supposedly, but between my massive mana pool and Naea¡¯s ability to heal, the damage was fixed without much hassle. I did have to find a pinky finger which had been ripped off and ask Naea to put it back on. She threatened not to unless I was more careful in the future, which I assured her I would be.

    All in all, a fairly embarrassing first test run. ¡°You won the race, I think.¡± I hoped that if I conceded that, Naea might move on from this much more upsetting event. Anyone could have told me it was the height of folly, hopeful bordering on insanity, but I still would have tried. It didn¡¯t work.

    ¡°Bonk, smash, ouch, whack, bang, boing-doing, splat.¡±

    ¡°...And that was?¡±

    ¡°An auditory representation of how much shit you just ate,¡± Naea cackled. I playfully swatted at her with my repaired hand, letting her get her fun in while I had a look around. We had cleared a vast distance in that sprint, more than I had planned, but that was fine. After I got lost the first time, I had taken the time to memorise the specific feel of the members of The Ascent¡¯s Daos. While I couldn¡¯t tell where they were exactly, I could feel the general direction. No more losing home.

    Not bad. This would be a good place to start from, just outside the perimeter of my claimed area, which I could also feel, like a lesser version of my guildmate¡¯s Dao, but wider. With a small hike further from where I splatted, Naea and I were atop the tallest hill in the area, creating a scouting camp in an alcove. It wasn¡¯t so perfect as to be a cave, but it worked to keep most of the wind away.

    Using materials and equipment from the Guildhall¡¯s storage rooms, we soon had a large tent, table and other camping supplies ready and available. Naea was very excited to make a mug of coffee, so I left her to it while I tried to figure out how the hell to find four random monsters in the general area I had just left. The beaver had been easy, because it was destroying half a forest.

    I could only hope the others were stupid enough to make themselves known.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    A hurricane in mortal form had come to Earth. The trees shivered as the man blasted across the landscape, most creatures went to ground. A bolt of lightning slashed through the air before the Storm-Person and the very land itself shuddered with their passing. Every creature within miles of their position went to ground, fearful and silent.

    Almost every creature.

    From their positions atop the food chain, the four claimant beasts were roused. Their power had grown quickly, and then stagnated as they reached an artificial peak created by a dearth of worthy opponents. Unlike the more simple-minded beasts, who ran from the pressure and power of the storm, they moved to watch its passing. To their senses, it was impossible to miss how the world was fertilised by the Storm-Person¡¯s journey.

    There would be growth left in its wake. Their path was no longer stopped by a System they didn¡¯t understand, and the beast lords roared, screeched and bellowed their excitement. Change had come to the world again, this time in the form of a wellspring of power so strong it passively encouraged the growth of things around it. The very pressure from its passing would create diamonds. Unknown to the storm-person, a true tempest had been kicked up behind them.

    Noticed by many.

 Book Two - Chapter Six - Spiders!

    Our first day of what I was unhealthily calling ¡°freedom¡± was spent stretching our legs, so to speak. After our sprint and my unceremonial finish, we took it a little easier. While neither of us were in any way skilled with the blade, we clashed for hours, Naea using the Chibizashi, her size-changing katana, and me with my Alternating Armament in different forms.

    As long as I wasn¡¯t using its staff form, and the accompanying Weapon Mastery skill, the battles were even enough. Naea¡¯s speed and higher level meant she kept up with me, her more continued use of the sword allowing her to reach a journeyman level of skill compared to my complete novice. Once we added skills, it became less fun for the fairy.

    ¡°I get the next guidance stone,¡± she grumbled when we stopped for the night. I conceded that, considering I had already claimed the one sitting in my inventory. It wasn¡¯t like I was hoarding it, I had offered it to Naea, but just like my instincts told me the stone was better with me, Naea said the same. ¡°You¡¯re the big, loud, smashy one, not me.¡±

    Using her full strength, leaning on Battle Bond to give her access to my larger mana pool, the fairy was able to stay in the fight against a single level of Infusion but any more than that was a step too far. In fact, the amount which I had to hold myself back when we went all out was eye-opening and I firmly agreed that Naea was getting whatever next upgrade we could find her. I had multiple ways to hit hard, but Naea relied mostly on speed and her weapon.

    My heart hurt as I remembered the beautiful Yo Staff and its devastating effect. The Chibizashi had served Naea well, but it likely wouldn¡¯t last forever. I added some new tasks to my personal checklist, all aimed at making Naea more capable on her own. Still, there was no rush. I would need to find something to gauge my strength soon, but I would put all of those weird Xaverion coins on the idea that nothing around was stronger than we were.

    With thoughts of the future, full of confidence, I found sleep for the night.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Fucking HELP me!¡± I screamed in terror. Hubris, that¡¯s what it was. Pure, unabashed hubris. My confidence had got not just myself killed, but Naea as well, for certain. I was awash with dread, long after the actual danger had been dealt with. I managed to stop screaming and cracked my eye open to see Naea giving me the stink eye.

    ¡°They¡¯re just spiders, Grant.¡± Her gaze, withering, her voice tired, Naea sighed and kicked a few of the dead bodies away from me. I flinched. She had used Harmony of the Storm and Sparkstep together to try the nasty bastards, which is something I absolutely could have done if I was not a whimpering mess. Even my Dao seemed to snort at me from within.

    ¡°Fuck off,¡± I told them both, ¡°those things are horrible. Like¡­ couldn¡¯t the universe just not have made giant spiders?¡± Naea helped nothing by saying that apparently they were as common as anything in the greater multiverse. There were even intelligent spiders out there with solar-system-spanning web-systems. I didn¡¯t want to know any more about space after that.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t even level 10!¡± Naea continued her bullying.

    ¡°That probably makes it as strong as a tank from the old world.¡± I just really didn¡¯t like spiders. Once you could hear their goddamn footsteps? No thank you.

    Naea flitted in front of my face, genuine curiosity clear. ¡°You didn¡¯t have a problem with the scorpions? They have the same amount of legs, and they actually were like a tank.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just different. Are you eating them or what?¡± I found the idea a bit rank, and luckily, if a bit surprisingly, so did Naea.

    ¡°Ew, no, that thing¡¯s disgusting.¡± I was going to continue, but decided to just leave the point in the air. Her attention had wandered, and I¡¯d let it. ¡°There¡¯s that noise again¡­¡± I didn¡¯t bother telling her I couldn¡¯t hear whatever she could, she knew. I also wasn¡¯t going to assume she was wrong, either. If anything, I was happy to follow - until we went into the tunnels.

    Whatever the noise was, Naea couldn¡¯t describe it. ¡°Somewhere between a song and a scream,¡± she had said. Given we were wandering mostly without aim, I wasn¡¯t wholly against following a random siren cell to begin with. As we descended ever deeper into the bowels of the planet, I was becoming less confident. Memories of the nightmare broodmother Shub-Naggorath came to mind.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just get this done, Nae?¡± I picked up my pace slightly, and she obliged. She had only been slow because I was being a baby about the cobwebs and spiders. Seriously, nasty shits. Still, they couldn¡¯t even hurt me. They were so light that I barely felt them when they crawled on me and next time, I wouldn¡¯t panic.

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    A sliver of my pants, torn in the panic, repaired itself against my leg and I shrieked again.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Dirty, horrible, nasty, disgusting things.¡± Each word was punctuated with a blast of pure mana which swept the filthy things from the land. At some point during our delve, I had realised there was a purpose to be found here. While I knew that spiders were ultimately a positive for an ecosystem, so was fertilisation. By turning the spiders to ash, I was giving back to the planet.

    There was no actual difficulty to speak of, nor was there anything worth stopping for. So, in quick order we ploughed through the thinning mass of spiders. I had tried blasting out my Dao as a way to scare them off but there was no intelligence in these arachnids, so it was pointless. Once I began using my Mana Bolts the clearance sped up massively.

    The tight tunnels opened into a wider space. It wasn¡¯t much bigger than a small house, but compared to the claustrophobic walls around, it was a breath of fresh air. ¡°There you are, you little beautiful thing,¡± Naea crooned, crossing the room. Before I could say anything, she plucked a familiar looking orb from the ground. I was just about to tell her to be careful when I was rudely interrupted by a horrible whirring noise from above.

    Oh god.

    My eyes moved upwards just as a large mass of fur and chitin dropped to the floor of the cavern, only feet away. Despite my bravado, a phobia is a phobia, and seeing a truly spider the size of a horse suddenly baring down was a lot. My mana shivered and slipped from my grasp. I tried to reach for my Dao and I heard as the dragon within  snorted at me, pulling away.

    Boss Monster - Giant Great Fox Spider - Level 42

    I wouldn¡¯t call it great, I thought absently. It should have been a complete pushover fight, not even worth the use of an Infusion. Instead, I slipped to the floor and found myself blocking fangs dripping with venom. My armament was a shield, and the massive pincers were trying to rip it from around my arm and get at my juicy bits. ¡°Literally whenever you¡¯re ready, Nae?!¡±

    The massive thing was smashed in the side and I turned the shield into a staff, letting the monster slip away into the cave way. ¡°I can¡¯t get any speed in here! It¡¯s tough, too!¡± With an uncomfortable level of speed, the spider scuttled upwards. A set of horrible pitch black eyes never left the pair of us. ¡°I think maybe it¡¯s got a lair buff.¡±

    Reacting to Naea¡¯s words, the huge grey spider launched at her. I intercepted, less than happy with my lot in life. A heavy staff smack changed the spider¡¯s direction, and confirmed Naea right. Damn thing is tough. ¡°What the hell is a lair buff, Naea?¡± I couldn¡¯t help noticing how far away her voice sounded when she responded. ¡°Are you back in the tunnel?!¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡± Her chastised voice sounded from the tunnel entrance, while I batted away the spider. Liar. ¡°A lair buff can be anything, but we¡¯re way more scared than we should be.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sca-¡±

    ¡°Shut up, Grant. Living here while it grew stronger, the spider basically made this place its domain. Whatever effects it''s getting is making it more powerful here, and us more scared.¡± I grunted that she should continue while I kept the damn thing busy. ¡°Either you overpower its Dao or kill it.¡±

    Easy choice. Dao was not as simple as mana, it didn¡¯t exist as a power source contained in a battery. Mana could be described as such, but Dao was more like having a good flow while working or crafting. Actions that aligned with the Dao made one feel closer to its power, and therefore more powerful themself. I hadn¡¯t noticed the fear effect of the spider¡¯s lair until too late, and the Dao of the Dragon had given me its answer. It wouldn¡¯t help me be brave. So, I dove into the Dao of the Tempest.

    I am the storm. Enter my range and feel my wrath.

    The staff in my hand became a conduit for the force, reacting to movement with blinding speeds. Each time the spider tried to lash out or move past me, it found the strike of lightning stopping its progress. With a sound like crashing thunder, the Alternating Armament smashed against the hard exoskeleton of the spider. I had absolutely no idea what went on inside a spider¡¯s shell, but I hoped it was taking some lasting damage.

    I had neglected my newest Aspect somewhat, as I already embodied many of the ideals of the tempest without intentional thought. It had evolved from Aspect to Dao Pool nearly immediately, and found its place in my inner world already waiting for it as one of three sub-aspects to my main power. All of this did not make it lesser, however, and I coursed with its power.

    When a violent storm passes, the correct choice is to hide and hope it misses you. The spider didn¡¯t get such a chance. My style changed, no more the overpowering dragon, but an inexorable storm. Every move it made was met with pain. I swatted it again and again, pushing it further back into a corner. If it tried to go to my right, it would be stopped. My left? Another smack. If it began to turn, to go higher on the walls, it was bashed down.

    It roared in frustration, and I felt something twitch inside. I had overcome whatever fear was being forced upon me, and the dragon was watching. My more potent Dao itched, but I pushed it down. Ironically, that was a move more in keeping with the Dao, but I ignored the dragon for the tempest.

    A storm didn¡¯t rush, or focus, or get scared. It simply was. The world was forced to exist alongside it until the storm was spent. I kept the pressure up, increasing my speed of reaction until the spider couldn¡¯t even twitch without getting a reaction. Something clicked, and I smiled. I ignored the System ping and brought down the lightning strike.

    Infused Strike had become Strike of the Ruler, but that was more of a System-given name for the same technique. Instead of the Dao of the Dragon filling my body and staff, it was the Tempest which bore down. The ability wasn¡¯t fit for purpose and had become something slightly different. Not that it mattered to the spider. The cavern shook as a thunderous impact ripped through all defence, destroying the brain and most of the torso with a crunching smash.

    I was breathing heavily, but satisfied with the outcome. It was good to be reminded that I didn¡¯t know everything, and if I hadn¡¯t had Naea to explain, I would never have calmed down enough to rely on the Dao of the Tempest. I flicked open the System message now the fight was over and a packet of information flooded in, as I unlocked a new skill.

    Skill Upgrade - Infused Strike has upgraded to Tempest Strike (Tempest)

    Erratic, but unstoppable. Arbitrary but all-powerful.

    I left Naea to loot everything and got myself out of those godforsaken tunnels as quickly as possible. My body, still burning with the power of the tempest, delighted in the fresh air once I found it. I could only chastise myself and breathe in the new flavour of the world, looking at it through a new lens.

    Magic is damn cool, I confirmed in satisfaction.

 Book Two - Chapter Seven - Nomad

    Inventory

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted) - 5192

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint) - 15,668

    Storm Arrows

    Assorted Earth foods

    Guidance Stone Of Breaching

    Alternating Armament (Epic)

    Various Furniture

    Alchemical Supplies

    I perused the new section of my inventory, simply named alchemical supplies, while Naea experimented with her new skill. I wondered why nothing in the Dungeon had been giving me alchemy ingredients, and the only answer my immense Mental attribute could come up with was that the System is weird. It was possible that something about the ¡°real world¡± made the creatures more valuable or something. Two hundred and forty five gold coins, too, which was¡­ something.

    My values were likely skewed a little.

    ¡°Watch out!¡± Naea shouted, and I did manage to dodge the globule which shot past my head. I gave her a glare while she threw her hands up in apology. The projectile moved fast through the air before exploding on a tree. Naea had managed to add a new gross sound to her repertoire. There was a splorshing noise as the webs extended out to the nearby area, an intricate web-system forming in seconds.

    Skill - Fae Web Shot (Fairy Dragon)

    Confusion, panic, struggle and finally, death. The fate of those who fall into the clutch of the webspinner.

    I hadn¡¯t quite begged Naea not to use the Guidance Stone, but I was getting over my aversion to the technique. At least, as long as Naea didn¡¯t aim it at me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she whined, extending O of sorry for far too long. ¡°It¡¯s a weird new skill, but I like it. Do you like it?¡±

    ¡°Of course I like it, Nae. I don¡¯t like spiders, but you¡¯re okay sometimes, so I¡¯ll get over it, I promise.¡± We grinned at each other. I knew she was excited to have a new way to use her magic, and I hoped it would give her a better general understanding as well. Maybe having a guide on how to shoot projectiles would let her unlock skills like Mana Bolt, like I did.

    Then again, maybe I¡¯m just that good.

    I didn¡¯t mind either way, and encouraged Naea to continue. ¡°Try mixing your Dao into its use, slowly.¡± A part of me couldn¡¯t help treat her like I would my younger siblings, an instinct which sent a dagger through my heart each time I recognised it. While I was here practising magic with my fairy friend, anything could be happening to them. I had to remind myself I genuinely had no idea how or even where they were right now.

    Strength, then I can do anything.

    My path continued to be confirmed as barriers of different kinds appeared. First, I needed strength to beat the dungeon. Now, I needed power so I could wrest control of the world around me, make it safe for others and then find my family and bring them here. That was the plan. As long as I didn¡¯t lose sight of that and kept pushing forward, I had confidence things would be okay.

    I ducked under another errant web-ball and sighed.

    I stared the fairy down for a second before rolling my eyes, rolling my shoulders and starting to walk. ¡°Let¡¯s get moving. How does it feel? Learn anything cool?¡± While the System blasted the mind with information when unlocking a new skill, using a guidance stone or Aspect, only by actually using the skill could one figure out its tricks. Once you added the Dao within to the technique, you made the skill unique and your own.

    ¡°If I use my Fairy Dragon Dao, the webs are harder to see. I¡¯m still getting used to the Dao of the River, but you¡¯re making it easier. I think the webs go further or something, but I can¡¯t quite feel why or how.¡± I nodded as she explained. While magic felt different to everyone, as far as I could tell, my power and Naea¡¯s were linked. She was able to give gestures and make sounds that should have been unintelligible, but which made sense to me. ¡°If I make it go swoosh, then I can¡¯t quite get the snap I need to make it go bing.¡±

    ¡°If you push the mana in time with the pulsing of your Dao, does it make it better or worse?¡±

    ¡°Worse.¡±

    ¡°Gotta try fizzling it, then. Later, though.¡± With my sage advice on mana control given and her practice done, we continued moving along the perimeter of my quest area. With a radius of around seven or eight miles, it wasn¡¯t a simple space. Isn¡¯t that like one hundred and sixty miles? That¡¯s nuts.

    A couple of months ago, I would have baulked at the idea that such a large swath of land could be ¡°mine¡±, but with the desires of a dragon subtly weaving through my soul, the thought fell into place quite nicely. I was already consciously picturing where certain operations could be established, forward bases and mineral outposts. It seems that I likely would end up doing some city management, after all.

    The rest of our journey around the circumference was uneventful, until we started to head back.

    ¡°There you are.¡±

    Three words cut through every sound, thought and perception I was experiencing. The whole world became those words and I felt the weight of a gaze upon me that rattled my bones. I had faced the Storm Dragon¡¯s avatar and it was nothing compared to this. I grabbed Naea and covered her mouth for a moment. She was about to scream.

    I turned and my eyes landed on a humanoid form. Their features were clearly not human, more typical of a fantasy elf. Its features were masculine, but more graceful than any man I had ever seen. A full robe of brown wrapped its body, and even the garments made my heart stop at their intricate beauty. It had skin the colour of a pale orange sunset, and a smile that could slice steel. Almost feline, the figure approached slowly, like I was a mouse they were scared to spook. At least, that¡¯s how I felt.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    The whole world seemed to shake with their footsteps and the trees around us bent in its direction. The breeze which hadn¡¯t been there before kicked up and wind howled. Green leaves browned on the branch and fell, so that each footfall landed on dead, crunchy ground. It was as though a new season descended upon the world, like Halloween mixed with the death of Winter.

    Survival was all that mattered here. ¡°To what do we owe the pleasure, Sir¡­?¡± My every word came through gritted teeth, and if it wasn¡¯t for the very specific set of achievements, Dao and character that let me stand against the aforementioned dragon, I would be crumpled to my knees. Except, this wasn¡¯t the lair of some tricky spider. If anything, it was my lair. Power flared and I contained Naea and myself within a bubble of Dao. The pressure was too much to bear without it.

    ¡°Two Dao, one an avatar and a familiar, how impressive in only two revolutions!¡± The voice, male, seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. It held a gothic, nasal tone that would have put me on edge even without the overwhelming power bearing down. ¡°It¡¯s an interesting Dao to have on such a newly connected planet, though¡­ Reminds me of someone I knew. That¡¯s who I thought you were.¡±

    Damn.

    I knew this already, didn¡¯t I? There were others on the planet from the greater universe. Running around, thinking I was the strongest there is? Wasn¡¯t the base of my power from a damned dragon that had forced me to throttle it? I managed to keep my cool outwardly, but inside I was kicking myself for not being more careful. ¡°You seem to know a lot more than I do,¡± I said cagily. Standing around twenty feet from me was an uncomfortably ordinary looking person.

    I tried to scan the man in front of me, but it was as though the mana to do so didn¡¯t want to touch him. He tilted his head slightly, his average length brown hair flopping just a little as a faint smile appeared on his face. I felt the veil move, and my analysis worked this time. At least, partially.

    Name - ??? Level - ????

    Not helpful. Terrifying, if anything. Was this person¡¯s level in the thousands? I gulped, trying to get some saliva into my mouth so I could speak. Naea had been mostly frozen on my shoulder after I protected her with my Dao, but she managed to beat me to it. ¡°You¡¯re one of the nomads, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Part of me flinched, not wanting to imply, question or do anything which might upset the being across from us. Another part thrummed with pride as she didn¡¯t let the pressure get to her. I rolled my shoulders and did the same. If this being wanted us dead, we¡¯d be dead.

    ¡°Ah! A dungeon fairy? What a delight!¡± Like the man¡¯s unassuming appearance, his voice began to match, losing its overbearing aura. ¡°A nomad! Yes, yes I suppose I am one of those, now. Tell me, how much do you know about us? Other than we can be killed?¡± My throat tightened but I simply reminded myself that there was not a lot I could do in this situation.

    ¡°You¡¯re not human,¡± I answered. Nothing in my senses said ¡®dragon¡¯, but I could feel something other, at least. Something ancient and potent lay beneath the mundane skin which my eyes could perceive. I could see the difference in how mana moved through their body. The man¡¯s core was in a different area, just under the left clavicle. I also knew this was only what was being shown to me, not the fullness of the man.

    ¡°Neither are you,¡± They replied with a wide smile. My instincts were no longer being shaken with every movement, allowing me to see something other than just power. ¡°She couldn¡¯t have known what you would become when she put you on this path.¡±

    ¡°Is there something special about being a Stormborn? Beside the natural tattooing?¡± Now that I didn¡¯t think I was going to die, I could see this for the opportunity that it was. My body had undergone changes far deeper than most after the System arrived.

    ¡°That would be a spoiler,¡± the man answered with a chuckle, looking upwards. He sighed, and that immemorial weariness I sensed returned in full. The man visibly aged, his brown hair becoming grey and his skin sagging into slight wrinkles. ¡°An interesting woman, Naeboroseax.¡±

    ¡°I bet. I¡¯m sorry?¡± I didn¡¯t know what else to say. It felt far too small an apology, from someone far too unimportant to mean anything.

    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault. There¡¯s no way it could be. I had hoped to meet her before she chose the ending to her story, but alas. I apologise that I cannot give you any information about yourself, there are rules in place. May I have your name?¡± I almost answered, opening my mouth as Naea gave me a sharp jab. I was confused until she spoke.

    ¡°No, you may not have our names, though you can call us Grant and Naea.¡± Her tone and her gaze were as serious as I had ever seen them. Turning back to the man, my skin became tight with goosebumps. His smile had gone from wide to uncomfortable, a cheshire grin revealing far too many teeth. A pretence had dropped.

    ¡°As I said,¡± the man¡¯s words now dripped with a previously hidden venom, ¡°Dungeon fairies are a delight.¡±

    My muscles were stiff all over, and I had to fight my jaw to ask, ¡°What now?¡±

    A theatrical bow from the man, his hair falling over his eyes as he extended his right arm out, left hand on his breast. ¡°Now our paths diverge. May fate bless your steps, young Stormborn. I wonder if we shall meet again?¡± The world flickered. Not my sight, but the world itself, like there was an editing mistake. A wave of intense vertigo caused me to sway, closing my eyes and holding my head. I opened them after a blink, of course, but the man was already gone along with his pressure.

    ¡°What the fuck was that?¡± I asked after falling to my hands and knees, heaving.

    ¡°That,¡± Naea said, with a seriousness that matched her previous words, ¡°was weird.¡± I tried to stop the exasperated noise that escaped me, but failed, causing Naea to cackle. ¡°I don¡¯t know any more than you about whoever that was, Grant. I just know something bad would have happened if you had given it your name.¡±

    ¡°It, huh?¡± That made sense. I was still learning, and if the last two days had shown me anything, it was that I needed to sharpen up. Things weren¡¯t even almost what they seemed in this new world, and the situation could change in an instant if I wasn¡¯t careful. Except, it seemed impossible to be careful enough. It was frustrating.

    But somehow¡­ It was also nice. If not quite nice, maybe, perhaps necessary. I felt a weight fall off my shoulders. I¡¯d subconsciously been putting myself on a pedestal due to how much stronger I was than others, how much more I seemed to know even than Naea. Knowing there were untouchable monsters I needed to manoeuvre around should have been horrifying but instead, I was weirdly comforted.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    I returned to the guildhall of The Ascent alone after a quick stop at Home Base first to clean up and relax for a few hours. It had been four days, entering the fourth night, when we made it back. The return journey was much faster than it might have been if we hadn¡¯t met the man in the woods. Naea said she was going to boil herself and went into one of the bathrooms. I decided she could find me if she didn¡¯t drown, or cook in the hot water.

    Not a lot had changed in my time away, but I could see that wasn¡¯t going to be the case for long. There were signs of preparation, rooms of the guild hall starting to see some use. The most overt difference was the new face who I nearly physically bumped into as I turned a corner from the main staircase towards my office.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said cheerily, ¡°you¡¯re new?¡± The statement was a question and I saw confusion turn into shock and then something like fear mixed with excitement, every emotion on her face as plain as a playing card.

    ¡°Oh,¡± she mirrored, her voice bubbly and high-pitched. ¡°I¡¯m from Newtown. I¡¯m Stephanie, sort of like a liaison?¡± Tom appeared from behind her, arms full of papers. ¡°Tom was just showing me some of your library and stuff? You¡¯re so advanced?¡± Both of her statements had an inflection on the end, like she was looking for permission. From the way Tom was looking at her, he was hoping she would liaison his face.

    ¡°Have fun, you two, I¡¯m just going to check some things out. Tom, come find me when you¡¯re done.¡± I gave him a wink, which brought redness to his cheeks. He raised the stack of papers to hide it, and I laughed as I bounded down the hallway. Good for you, Tom, hope it works out. She¡¯s pretty. Apparently romance had blossomed in my time away. That was sweet, but I had my mind on other things entirely.

    I found the room I was looking for and immediately got to work. I bet there was a skill to make this easier but, with a Mental attribute bordering on the insane for my grade, remembering where I had been wasn¡¯t too much of a challenge. In the map room of The Ascent¡¯s guildhall, I began to work. I lay each landmark I had found on the large parchment, every potential portion of valuable land and even notes on what might best work in what area. Logging camps, a quarry, potential mines and more.

    I couldn¡¯t help getting excited as more and more plans were laid down. I could see not just my own path, but a potential avenue for others to follow me using resources I could allocate. I worked frantically through the night, caught in a fervour to place every piece of my memory onto paper, lest I forget the tiniest fragment of information. Anything could be important, going forward. However, once I finished I still had to concede with the voice that had nagged at me towards the finish line.

    I had some bosses to kill, first.

 Book Two - Chapter Eight - You Missed It

    ¡°So, that¡¯s the plan,¡± I finished, finally coming up for air. I had just spent the better part of two hours going over the upcoming logistics and operations I saw taking place. The map I had made was as complete as I could make it, which is to say, very. It was quite nice to use my new System-given abilities for something other than dealing with the changes of the new world.

    In a way, this was still that, but mapmaking was a task humans had undertaken since the dawn of our race. Their race, I reminded myself, my meeting with the nomad weighing heavy on my mind. The whole night I had been working, my eyes kept wandering back to the spot where we had met the strange and powerful being.

    ¡°Well, the situation in Newtown is strange, people are definitely interested in leaving.¡± Tom was my man on the ground and he had handled things well enough as far as I could tell. Given he had no remit or tasks to perform beyond general mingling with the local players, anything was better than nothing. ¡°I have an actual quest to help catch the murderer now, so I¡¯m definitely focused on that, but with these plans I think moving people here should start to become simple either way.¡±

    Until I had taken care of the four claimant monsters, I was unable to use the System to build anything on my land. That didn¡¯t mean nothing could be constructed, only that it would need to be built with old fashioned elbow grease. Apparently there were people completely focused on a trade or profession, finding their levels increasing when carrying out their previously less-fulfilling jobs. There was quite a productivity boom going on, which I wanted to be a part of.

    Wholesale construction of what I was aspirationally thinking of as the most powerful city on Earth would surely be an easy sell.

    ¡°By the way, Grant, could I talk to you about something?¡± We were having a meeting of The Ascent but almost everything had just been myself and Tom talking back and forth. Harry and Ellie had been whispering occasionally and Aaron was actually asleep, I was pretty sure. His head had been in his hands for fifteen minutes. Before I got angry, I had to leave.

    ¡°Actually Tom, if I¡¯m ever going to be able to leave this place for an extended period and find my family, then I can¡¯t stop. Same for you, all, right?¡± I was already standing before I asked my question. There was a lot on my shoulders, but if I had known the future right then, I would have listened to Tom. If I was an actual leader, I might have noticed the disgruntled looks of the others before I left the room or heard the mutinous words said once I was gone.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°And there he goes again, our fearless leader.¡±

    ¡°For someone who slept for half the meeting, you¡¯ve got a lot to say.¡± Tom didn¡¯t like the way the others talked about Grant behind his back. In the past, he found it easier to ignore the comments said around me, but Tom didn¡¯t want to be that person anymore. He especially wasn¡¯t going to let Aaron talk shit.

    ¡°I mean¡­¡± Tom cringed as Harry spoke up, knowing it would be harder to ignore his words, ¡°Az isn¡¯t completely wrong, though. We¡¯re all meant to stay here and set up his city?¡± He gestured to the way-too-detailed map on the table and scoffed. ¡°Do any of you know the first thing about getting something like this done? Els? Do you know how to make a water wheel?¡± She shook her head.

    Feeling ganged up on, Tom held up his hands in defeat. Somehow he had ended up a middleman for two different groups. His old friends or Grant and Naea. ¡°I¡¯ll try and speak to him again. Obviously, there¡¯s a lot going on for everyone, but we would all be dead without Grant. If not dead, then nowhere near as strong as we are now.¡± Tom truly believed that. The world was dangerous even outside that crazy dungeon.

    ¡°How much did he really do?¡± Aaron asked the question under his breath, quiet enough it could be ignored, if one wanted. The sting of an almost closed wound showed on all five of our faces. Tom saw an echo of loss ripple across Harry, Luke and Ellie, knowing it was reflected on his own face. Jason. In many ways, Grant was similar to their lost friend and those similarities made the differences chafe harder.

    Tom eventually managed to pin down a few tasks for the others but they were less than enthusiastic about fulfilling them. Did they not realise that they would need to settle down and actually live in this new world at some point? Without a lost person to search for, it was up to each of them to find a way forward on paths no one else had walked yet. It was daunting, sure, but Tom was hopeful he could rise to the challenge, as Grant had.

    The helpful mage already had the information of dozens of men and women that were looking to move away from Newtown. While many were looking to claim whatever normalcy remained in this world, not everyone felt the same. The prospect of joining a System-sanctioned guild, and whatever might come later, was enough for some. The chance to start something completely fresh was a powerful selling point. Given they needed everything? Anyone who wanted to work was valuable.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    The hardest part was going to be making sure everyone felt compensated, though for now, the System smoothed that out. People weren¡¯t worried about a few coins when they were levelling up and getting stronger than they thought possible. Plus, they had almost nothing to spend it on yet. A completely new economy was forming overnight and it was either pure chaos or absolute goldmine, depending on how you looked at it. If one got lucky and ended up with a profession of extreme value in the new world, or just made a good deal now that paid off later, the gains could get crazy.

    Aaron decided he was going to be in charge of home construction, which was an unexpectedly great fit. He had done some contracting work over a few summers and at least knew what it should look like. Ellie and Harry said they would focus on the marketplace plans Grant had laid out, which Tom agreed was a large task but would help them where he could. Everything was going to become more structured once more experience was gained and more hands were available. Luke, who seemed even more bored than the others, asked to go scouting.

    ¡°Of¡­ course you can?¡± Tom answered, falling onto the backfoot in the conversation. ¡°I¡¯m not the boss. Even Grant isn¡¯t the boss. We should all just do what we feel like we can do, not force something that isn¡¯t there.¡± Luke had a grateful expression before it shifted to almost apologetic before leaving. Once he did, Tom turned to the others. ¡°You¡¯re all good with what you¡¯re doing?¡± He asked, worried. The others waved him away with a chorus of yeses but his confidence wasn¡¯t high.

    He knew there was nothing to do but trust his guildmates and do whatever else he could do. ¡°I¡¯ll go back over to Newtown and start moving some people along, then.¡± Tom was intimidated by the task ahead but unwilling to let someone else do it. Why not me? He thought, And why wouldn¡¯t I do it well? Trying to brute force some confidence, Tom left and started towards Newtown.

    This was going to be easy, he was sure.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Brewers, traders, farmers and anyone with some engineering knowledge is ideal and will receive a stipend for moving, along with a property that they can pay off simply by living and working in the new city.¡± Tom finished with a smile. Julianna and Stephanie were listening patiently along with the two other controlling members of Newtown. They were more of a council than a guild, and he hadn¡¯t had much dealing with the men in the room.

    ¡°Oh, fair enough,¡± the larger of the two men said with a tone that suggested it very much was not fair enough, ¡°we¡¯ll just pass over all of the most useful people to another, nearby city and say ¡®see ya later¡¯, shall we? Is this kid taking the piss?¡±

    ¡°Chill out, Gaz,¡± the shorter man said. He wasn¡¯t short, just that Gaz wouldn¡¯t have looked out of place on a world cup rugby pitch. ¡°My name¡¯s Fred, by the way. Tom, right?¡± He stood, placing a hand on the more heated man¡¯s shoulder and calming him down. Tom nodded and the man smiled, bright white and perfect teeth beaming out. ¡°It¡¯s really cool to meet you man, Julz has told me a lot. I have to say, it¡¯s special.¡±

    Tom didn¡¯t follow. ¡°Wh- what¡¯s special?¡± Stephanie giggled at the question and Tom had to hold back a blush. She was pretty in a disarming fashion that he wasn¡¯t used to, and nice to him in an ever more unfamiliar way. He focused on not blushing, concentrating on Fred.

    ¡°You! You¡¯re special, big man. Lemme guess, you were always a bit of a wallflower growing up? At least until the System came along, for sure.¡± Tom nodded again, wondering where he was going with this. Fred¡¯s face became serious. ¡°You do realise, Gaz'''' he said, his voice now grave, ¡°that Tom here could tear through all four of us without blinking, yeah?¡±

    Gaz stiffened, as though fighting the nod that he was forced to give. ¡°I am aware,¡± the huge man said through gritted teeth. Julianna looked uncomfortable but stayed quiet. A sigh befitting his size was released and Gaz seemed to sag. ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Gaz agreed again, ¡°and that¡¯s why what I think doesn¡¯t really matter.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be a baby, Gaz,¡± Julianna chided, ¡°the things that used to matter don¡¯t anymore, and everyone needs more room than we thought they did.¡± Apparently the boom in professional work, which didn¡¯t necessitate going into danger, was being stifled by the very thing we could promise. Space to work and eventual System assistance to do so. Experience wasn¡¯t only found in defeating monsters, but pretty much every task in this new world gave a trickle, at least.

    Over the next few hours the five of them hashed out a general plan for Newtown and how it could exist in and amongst The Ascent. The general idea was for Newtown to exist as a sort of suburb and artisan area while whatever became of The Ascent was more industrial. ¡°We¡¯re going to keep running into this problem,¡± Fred said after a while of talking in circles.

    ¡°Yep,¡± Stephanie sighed, leaning her head on my shoulder. ¡°Can¡¯t really make an decisions without Grant.¡± She playfully copied Tom¡¯s voice but even he was getting tired of hearing his excuses at this point. It was hard to ignore the frustration but what else was there to do?

    ¡°Look, we¡¯ll get people moving either way because it¡¯s the best thing for them. Offering someone hard labour isn¡¯t exactly full of appeal for most so anyone who wants to go should be given our blessing more than anything.¡± Fred smiled warmly, and there was a clear desire to wrap up the meeting. There wasn¡¯t anything more to do. It was a hard day''s work, but Tom had kind of loved it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll walk you some of the way?¡± Stephanie asked with hope in her voice. Tom happily agreed and they started making our way out of Newtown. The pair talked about little more than the weather and other meaningless things but it was nice. Just as they were about to leave the bounds of Newtown, and the walls which defended it, a siren started blaring loudly.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡± Tom had to shout to be heard, and people all over were running around like headless chickens. His mind immediately went to the murders which had occurred, thinking this was a warning for one of them. Except, that didn¡¯t make sense? Stephanie looked shaken, and Tom thought he saw a look of disgust on her face as she slashed away a System prompt only she could see.

    ¡°It¡¯s a goddamn trial wave,¡± she snarled. Tom didn¡¯t know what was happening but he unleashed his Dao all the same. Actual sparkles filled the air around him, but his senses extended far. All over Newtown, small bubbles of energy could be felt being gathered. They tickled his magical sense and it took a moment to realise what they were. People wielding their Aspects, he realised. ¡°The monsters are coming.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Nine - Proving Oneself

    ¡°What¡¯s a trial wave?¡± Tom shouted, using mana to strengthen his voice and be heard over the klaxons. Stephanie held up a hand, four fingers raised and dropped one every second. When she finished, the sirens stopped. His ears were ringing but that also quickly subsided. The frustrated woman shook her head, blonde hair tumbling out of a bun as the air around them became noticeably colder.

    Stephanie took a calming breath before turning to face Tom. ¡°A trial wave is a way for the System to keep things interesting for people who don¡¯t go into dungeons, I guess?¡± Stephanie was moving with confidence Tom had rarely seen her with, and anger which was definitely new. The combination was working for him in a weird way, but now was not the time. ¡°Except we¡¯re not even close to ready.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll help. What¡¯s going to happen?¡± Tom felt his own energy change, almost subconscious in how it shifted. He went into Dungeon-mode, and the mana in the air came under his direct control. Manasight was a basic skill almost anyone would have by the time they reached level 30, but for Tom? It was like becoming omnipresent in a small area. He could see and feel through every strand of magically made building in his vicinity.

    System-given skills were like tutorials uploaded directly to the brain on a specific movement of mana. With the Dao of Magic guiding the energy within, Tom was capable of so much more than the System had taught him. It was likely possible for someone to learn this level of control without the assistance of a Dao, but it set him apart for now. He loved it.

    With an all-seeing Manasight, Tom watched as Stephanie reacted to his magic. The wonder in her eyes caused his Dao to flutter like moths had appeared in his chest. That was what magic was for. He couldn¡¯t allow himself to be distracted, however. The chaos of Newtown¡¯s response was immediately visible as his perception shifted. ¡°You said you weren¡¯t ready. Why?¡±

    It took Stephanie a moment to react, and Tom felt irritation rise before stamping it down. Not everyone had seen how dangerous this world could be. Not everyone was prepared for anything and it showed. ¡°The trial wave will spawn monsters meant to challenge the town, meaning they¡¯ll be as strong as the strongest people here. Almost no one can fight on that level.¡±

    Tom almost chuckled as he realised what she was saying, but managed to remain serious. He could feel a pressure upon the mana in the area, like a shadow given weight and cast across the town. Damn, he thought, that¡¯s annoying. The attack was coming from all sides. Tom didn¡¯t have a great answer for that, especially without knowing the town¡¯s capabilities.He shook his head as he realised the mistake he was making. Stephanie was more useful elsewhere. ¡°You go! I¡¯m just going to get in your way. I¡¯ll find some way to help, you go and organise the others.¡±

    They may not have been ready, but Newtown was reacting as they knew how. He was able to get a sense for how many combatants they had, which was only around one in fifteen. The number surprised him, but I chalked it up to slow adoption of the System. He tsked a healthy amount as he got into position. The impending monster wave was coming from all directions, but Tom could feel a swell to the north side. He would start there.

    Bursting from the city in a blast of mana that destroyed some cobblestones, Tom launched towards the trial wave and hoped it would be enough.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Quest complete?¡± Gaz asked, confusion and more than a little disappointment apparent in his voice. He and his guards had barely reached their defensive positions when the System told him the fight was already over. ¡°What the hell is going on?¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Oh.

    Lost in thought and worry for the people of Newtown, Tom realised he may have gone a little¡­ overboard. The fight had been more simple than he could have imagined. Between a higher level, a Dao and his panic to make sure no one got hurt, Tom had absolutely destroyed the entire so-called trial wave. His aching mana channels said it wasn¡¯t quite without a sweat, but it wasn¡¯t a real, desperate challenge.

    Mana Bolts cast even without using his staff were enough to annihilate pretty much anything without a Dao to protect itself. The simple magical creatures fell before his might like somewhat sturdy weeds.

    My might? Tom asked himself in wonder.

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    Surprised for a few reasons, Tom looked around the battlefield and saw the opportunity laid clear. He had spent so much time in the shadow of Grant and his crazy ability to understand the System and take from it that he had missed an important fact. The level up he had received at the tail end of the battle only made it even more clear. All of those weak monsters would have been barely worth the effort, if it wasn¡¯t to protect people.

    He was damn strong, now.

    From the amount of people who didn¡¯t rush to prepare for battle, Newtown was not a soldier¡¯s town full of fighters. Most of the people living there did so for the sense of safety it provided. A sense of safety that would be much stronger given Tom¡¯s strength, not even taking into account the other members of The Ascent. He had accidentally created a powerful bargaining chip.

    It was time to do some politicking.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Enough of that, pay attention to me.¡± I rolled my eyes and looked away from the massive tree. There had been a burst of energy in this direction and I suspected we would find one of the four claimant monsters here. The huge fir tree was visible from miles away, so large I thought the tree itself was a forest-covered hill.

    ¡°Yes, Naea Darling, is there something I can help you with?¡± The pair of us were sitting in our own, normal-sized tree a few miles away from the huge one. We had been discussing whether the tree itself could be the Grade Two resources my quest spoke of. It gave off a vast amount of energy, mana which could be harvested no doubt. Yet, it didn¡¯t feel like a higher Grade.

    ¡°We have to find a Dungeon! I¡¯ll do it myself if I have to, but I¡¯m starving, Grant.¡± Naea¡¯s plea was suitably pitiful, and I did genuinely feel sorry for her. ¡°I¡¯m wasting away, Grant. Seriously, I need some dungeon monsters or I might actually die.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t entirely sure of that, given the amount of food I had seen her eat. Then again, we¡¯d killed a few things and she had turned her nose up to all of them. The spiders had made sense to me, but given I had seen her eat some weird stuff at this point, it was becoming noticeable. Even if she didn¡¯t need dungeon monsters to survive, they made her stronger. Still, I shrugged. ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll find one at some point, I¡¯m sure, why do you bring it up now?¡±

    Naea¡¯s expression turned sheepish, as though she were embarrassed. ¡°I may have been practising something. You¡¯ll think it¡¯s dumb¡­¡± Instead of contradicting her verbally, I simply blasted our connection with all the acceptance, love and excitement I genuinely felt. The idea that Naea was doing anything other than generally goofing around was astonishing enough. ¡°Alright, you big softie, stop it. Bloody tickles.¡±

    A change in the aura around Naea caused my eyebrows to raise. When was she figuring this out? I wondered, keeping my question to myself as she worked. The air began to move in patterns I could feel through my own Dao, very specifically the Tempest. There was a flow to the mana in the air, circling around Naea as she gathered energy. I opened the sluice gate of Battle Bond and saw a small smirk appear on Naea¡¯s concentrating face.

    A bundle of mana rose from her shoulders and floated above her head. ¡°It¡¯s called Find The Path,¡± she said quietly, looking at the energy. I could see patterns within the mana, giving the magic its purpose. It was beautiful. Naea coughed, her embarrassment returning. ¡°Find the path, find the path, take me to the dungeon or face my wrath.¡±

    I snorted in surprise more than anything but Naea still gave me a hard slap. ¡°It¡¯s Fairy magic! And it¡¯s your fault because of the stupid Dragon stuff, it makes the magic more¡­ stubborn.¡± I laughed again, holding my hands up in surrender.

    ¡°Sure, sure, that makes sense,¡± I chuckled. I could actually sense both the Dao of the Fairy Dragon and the Dao of Rivers in the spell Naea had cast. ¡°You¡¯re a proper little witchy fairy, aren¡¯t you? Double double, toil and trouble.¡±

    ¡°Is that another spell?¡± Naea asked, full of innocence and curiosity. I envied how her mood could change in a heartbeat, sometimes.

    ¡°Kind of. You¡¯ll have to read the Scottish play at some point.¡±

    ¡°Is that it¡¯s name?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a description.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s only one Scottish play?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s only one ¡®The Scottish play¡¯.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re being intentionally confusing, now.¡±

    ¡°Agreed, let¡¯s move on.¡± The bundle of energy had floated towards the top of the massive tree. We jumped out of ours and started towards the big one. ¡°So, there¡¯s a dungeon up there then. All the more reason to go. Maybe that¡¯s why the tree is so big. Do you think you could use that spell to search for more than just Dungeons or is it that specific?¡±

    I was, of course, going to learn how to use the skill myself, but I would let it be Naea¡¯s speciality for now. I was aware of how it made Tom feel when I replicated his Mana Bolt so quickly, and Naea¡¯s feelings were more important than getting a new skill. For now. I was already questioning my decision when she spoke.

    ¡°Probably? I¡¯m a Dungeon fairy so it was easy for me to hunt for that specific type of magic again. I do think I genuinely need to go into Dungeons, I¡¯m not lying about that. The monsters are one thing, but something¡¯s telling me that I need them for some reason.¡± I couldn¡¯t help myself and I wrapped Naea into a hug. She yelped and pulled away.

    ¡°If you feel like you need to do something, that¡¯s enough of a reason to do anything. I¡¯m sorry for making fun, or making it harder to do that. I¡¯m just scared for my family, so anything that helps me get to them faster is important to do.¡±

    ¡°I know! That¡¯s¡­ also why I made the spell. It was meant to be a surprise for that, but I couldn¡¯t help myself. So, surprise.¡± This time when I hugged her, I didn¡¯t let her shake free. My heart genuinely shuddered as I realised that, of course, this spell would be able to help give us a direction to them.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said with tears in my eyes. Surprised at my emotion, I let her go and strode a few steps ahead to hide my red eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s go see if there¡¯s a boss up there and kill it, then we¡¯ll do the dungeon.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Ten - Eye Off The Ball

    I was right!

    One of the claimant beasts had taken up residence in the tree. I cursed my luck as the climb dragged on. The entire tree was invested with snakes, lizards and other nasty things with sharp teeth and a penchant for stealth. Naea could fly, but I had to fight for every step up the tree. With the low level of the monsters, I wasn¡¯t getting much experience. However, that didn¡¯t mean the creatures were simple.

    Monster - Treeglider Adder - Level 34

    One of many, the impossibly large snake moved like it was its more traditional size. Grey scaled with a think line of black starting from its snout down to its tail, large brown eyes with slits as long as my forearm watched me carefully. As it was a Grade One monster, it had a Dao, one I was becoming more than familiar with.

    Natural Treasure - Everbloom Evergreen - Grade One

    The tree was a recognisable item as far as the System was concerned. Its existence was turning these once ordinary beasts into powerhouses. The tree absolutely blasted mana out at a staggering rate compared to anything else I had seen and it was only Grade One. The magical energy in the air was dense with the same Dao which the creatures here shared. ¡°What do you think, Nae? It¡¯s the Dao of Growth, right?¡±

    I had no comparison to understand how valuable this treasure was but given the strength of the creatures here? I could feel my understanding of nature and life changing already. How long would it take for me to naturally form a Dao here? Spending a month here might well be equivalent to the same time in the Dungeon which had nearly killed me. Plus? Somewhere out there was a resource at a completely higher level. I almost salivated at the thought.

    I jammed the Alternating Armament in my hands forward at the same time the adder chose to strike. As its uncomfortably large jaws tried to snap shut, I twisted the length of amorphous material into the perfect angle. Due to the skill Weapon Mastery, it was only in the form of a staff that I could utilise all my attributes in combat. Except, a staff isn¡¯t much more than a sturdy stick, and it did little to the snake except piss it off.

    Until I morphed the armament.

    A strand of mana, invisible and unbreakable by anything the snake could do, connected me to my weapon. The armament felt my intent and shifted, both ends becoming sharp glaive blades. Screaming in pain, the blade stuck in its brain and skull, the adder thrashed wildly on the branch it was wrapped around. ¡°Do the honours?¡± I asked over my shoulder.

    A streak of lightning burst passed my ear and there was a sharp swish of the air as the beast¡¯s life was severed. Distracted as it was, Naea was more than capable of decapitating the creature. I dashed forward as well, catching the weighty head with a grimace. I pulled my weapon into my hand, the double-ended glaive becoming a gauntlet to save me any yanking. I looted the snake and let the head drop down below.

    Inventory

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted) - 5192

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint) - 15,919

    Storm Arrows

    Assorted Earth foods

    Guidance Stone Of Breaching

    Alternating Armament (Epic)

    Various Furnitures

    Alchemical Supplies

    Leatherworking Supplies

    Much like the materials collected from the spiders in the cave beforehand, I had found myself with a growing number of resources which could be crafted into something. There were also multiple venom sacs and even things like tongues and eyeballs going into alchemical supplies. I decided right then, I would never touch the craft of alchemy.

    ¡°Easy peasy.¡± Naea fluttered back over to me, dusting her hands. She had been quick enough and extended the weapon long enough that she hadn¡¯t got a bit of blood on her, but Naea was nothing if not theatrical. She looked over the edge that I had dropped the head and whistled. ¡°Quite a way down, now.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, please stop reminding me, would you? You¡¯re making me hope I can get some kind of flying ability from a Guidance Stone. That would be a pretty easy get between Dragon and Tempest, you¡¯d think.¡± I had tried to see if my Tempest Form ability would let me fly in any real way, but I was a heavy bolt of lightning. Able to fling myself like a strike, but I fell at my normal speed regardless.

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    ¡°Must suck,¡± Naea nodded, slapping me in the face with her wing as she landed on my shoulder. She pointed upwards. ¡°Onwards, earthbound steed!¡± Naea had used Find The Path twice since we entered the tree to pinpoint the dungeon¡¯s location. Instead of being helpfully near the top, it was somewhere in the middle heights of densely packed fir branches. Pines as long as me were covering most of the branches, and I used a machete variant for the armament to clear our way.

    ¡°We¡¯re getting close,¡± Naea whispered after another hour of travel. She could sense the dungeon¡¯s magic at this range, and no longer needed her new spell to lead us towards the relatively small entrance.

    ¡°I know,¡± I responded, not being facetious. I was sensing something of my own, a subtle scent on the wind of magic. The Dao of Growth was ever present, but a new and much more familiar power was rumbling further ahead. Within the inner world of my Dao, a growling anger began to rise. Ahead of us, the power I had felt grew as it in turn sensed me.

    A challenge.

    ¡°Ohh,¡± Naea nodded as she felt the Dao as well, causing her to understand my words. ¡°What the hell is that thing doing here?¡±

    ¡°Lizards, growth¡­ I can see how it could occur. Focus.¡± Primal warning bells exploded in me as a portion of the tree seemed to peel away. Deep brown scales covered a truly huge body and four powerful limbs, the colossal creature dropping down onto the branch Naea and I were currently on. Two leathery wings pulled away from its body as the beast rose to its full imposing size before roaring. As the branch below me shuddered, I was suddenly very aware that I couldn¡¯t fly, once again.

    Boss Monster - Wood Drake - Level 46 (Claimant)

    A fake dragon, with the Dao of the Dragon, challenging me? It even had the audacity to try and claim my land. It was a wonder I didn¡¯t start breathing fire. I felt a surprising amount of genuine anger begin to overtake me before I wrested control of my Dao and focused. It was time for a real fight, the first one since returning to Earth. ¡°This one¡¯s mine!¡±

    ¡°I figured that out from the shape of it,¡± Naea shouted after me as I shot forward. Infusion after Infusion layered onto each other as my strength rose to a terrifying level, far surpassing anything I had been able to pull out before now. I pushed my Dao into the staff gripped in my hands and readied the heaviest Strike of the Ruler I could gather. All of my magic, all of my Dao and all of my focus were aimed at this pretender¡¯s swiping claw.

    The Everbloom Evergreen rocked with the force of our collision. I smashed the staff into the branch beneath me, slicing a huge groove as I stopped myself from being thrown into the open sky. The next roar from the drake was agonised, and I looked up to see it nursing a mangled hand. All confidence had fled the monster and it even looked ready to run.

    I wouldn¡¯t give it that chance. I was pissed, not just from running into another Dao of the Dragon wielder, but because I realised this wasn¡¯t the challenge I was looking for after all. Courtesy of the wonderful Naeboroseax, aka Mrs Naebol.

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Some lives weigh more than others, and few existences rival the dragon.

    You¡¯re one of the exceptions.

    Effect - Increased resistance against draconic attacks.

    Improved effectiveness against draconic enemies.

    I levelled my weapon before me, letting it transform into a heavy battle axe. ¡°Fuck it, then,¡± I shrugged, ¡°I guess you¡¯re just practice for the big one later.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    I turned my attention from the shimmering portal and looked at Naea. We had found a dungeon, and I wanted to do some research first, but Naea was trying to convince me to just jump in headfirst.

    Naea¡¯s strength continuing to rise along with my own was important in its own right. We were both still nothing more than dust compared to some of the powers out there. Getting my family to a safe place was important, but was anywhere safe until I was as strong as I could be? The opportunity to punch through a dungeon, gain some levels and blow off some steam was tempting. Then, you had the rewards which would undoubtedly be inside to consider as well.

    I chewed my lip a little. ¡°Dungeons are just straight up dangerous, Naea. We don¡¯t know what¡¯s behind there except that it¡¯ll definitely try to kill us.¡± I looked at the blown apart body of the snake and couldn¡¯t help feeling like I shouldn¡¯t be too worried.

    ¡°Puh-leeeeeeease?¡± Naea asked for the dozenth time. I felt myself buckled and threw away my stubbornness. There was no point going through all the arguments against such a risk, not when she was making those weird bug-like puppy dog eyes. Anything to make her stop doing that. Sighing, I drew up my character page for the first time in a while just to centre myself.

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 42

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 65  Speed - 65  Mental - 473   Will - 230

    Free attribute points: 0

    Dao

    Fortitude - None

    Speed - None

    Mental - Dragon (2/4)

    Will - Tempest (0/2)

    The points I had received for the two levels I gained in the final battle of the dungeon went in a twenty-ten-ten split to Will, Speed and Fortitude. None of the attributes were useless for me and my fighting style, and while I would always focus on my Mental attribute I knew that my Will specifically was lacking from my experience in the spider¡¯s lair. I had expected the drake to give me the final push to level 43, but alas. I felt pretty close, though.

    My mind could still be affected by effects I did not understand or was unprepared for. Will was the defence against such things, and increasing it also made my mana feel all the more malleable. It was nice, and the Tempest moon within my inner world swelled with power. ¡°Fine,¡± I gestured forwards, ¡°let¡¯s see what happens. Have I mentioned how beleaguered I feel at times?¡±

    My final words were only to myself, as Naea had already vanished into the Dungeon. I knew that ultimately this was probably a selfish decision but in the week or so outside of the Dungeon I had been nothing but bored. The only excitement I had felt was when threatened by the presence of the mysterious nomad.

    As the magic of the Dungeon took hold of my body, as space itself began to lose meaning, I smiled. The allure of the unknown was very more overpowering than the fear of it. Despite myself, I marvelled at the magic at work. I fell through a kaleidoscope of twisting patterns, tumbling through the portal

    I arrogantly hoped there would be some challenge within.

 Book Two - Chapter Eleven - Stakes

    Dungeon Entered - Land of Death

    ¡°That¡¯s ominous,¡± Naea quipped as we both got our bearings once the Dungeon claimed us, ¡°but I¡¯m sure it¡¯s just a funny name. Like Tiny for a big dog?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± I answered, my voice laden with sarcasm, ¡°it definitely seems to be a misnomer.¡± As far as the eye could see, a dead planet stretched. By instinct, I began cycling the Dao of Tempests to stave off any ambient energies. Mana began to move around me in currents, protecting me from the strange elements of the planet. Naea did the same, the Dao of Rivers acting similarly.

    Desiccated, black trees dotted the landscape of grey plains, a pallid green colouration to the sky. Even the mana in the air was tainted. I could see flecks of voidblack energy dancing in the flow of magic. ¡°Try not to absorb any ambient mana here. It looks¡­ oily.¡± I felt a touch of pride as my fairy companion nodded. She was maturing quickly, now able to take a grave situation seriously.

    There was nothing special about our starting location as far as I could tell, so we began moving in a random direction chosen by Naea. My eyes were powerful little orbs, and even with my impressive vision, there was nothing but empty and depressing vistas in every direction. It wasn¡¯t too long after we began our wander that the System popped up.

    Dungeon Quest - Rekindle The Land

    A great tragedy befell these lands long ago and the stain of death remains. The devastation wrought here left scars that could never heal on their own, wounds that refuse to close. Become the salve to this land¡¯s trauma and prove yourself more than a destroyer.

    Reward: Ownership of nearby Everbloom Evergreen

    I flipped the quest screen, showing it to Naea. She smiled, though couldn¡¯t hide the disappointment she was feeling. ¡°Not quite what you hoped for?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I thought I would feel connected like I did in our Dungeon, but this one feels wrong. Surprising no one, I suppose, considering the state of it.¡± To emphasise her distress, Naea landed on the floor and kicked a rock. I sized up my miniature, morose lady for the first time in a while.

    We were still on the lookout for some actual magical equipment for her, but Naea had upgraded from the general nakedness of when I met her. After spending some alone time with Ellie during our time in the Dungeon, the pair had torn through all the fabrics in one of the rooms of Home Base and created some outfits. She had her hands stuck in the pockets of a simple white dress - all her clothes had to have pockets - and continued booting pebbles away.

    ¡°Any ideas for the quest?¡± It was a little more oblique than the previous quests of just ¡®kill x amount of monsters.¡¯ If I were a gamer, I¡¯d probably argue that this was better, but as the person on the ground, I would much rather have been given an easy-to-understand task. As it stood, I was still half-looking for a big monster to kill and get it over with.

    It wasn¡¯t likely to be so simple.

    As we traversed the land, more and more of the black mana gathered around us. It clung to our Dao and mana we used like a thick smog. ¡°It¡¯s a little like the rotten Dao of that horrible thing in the caves underneath our dungeon. Except¡­¡± I pushed out a hand, forming a Mana Bolt with only the mana in the air. The mana struggled against my control but I forced the issue and the orb appeared. I quickly flung it away randomly, where instead of exploding on impact, it fizzled like acid. ¡°This stuff is way stronger than that corrupted energy.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ should we try to use it?¡± Naea asked. Without her connection to the Dungeon and the powerful System beyond, she was as in the dark as I was about how to solve the planet¡¯s problem. The issue just seemed far too grand for two people to fix.

    Tharump.

    I smirked as my primary Dao jostled within. That¡¯s right, I¡¯m not just a person. ¡°I am Grant Kaeron,¡± I spoke aloud, reaffirming myself, ¡°I have claimed both the power of the dragon and the tempest.¡± As I spoke, power surged around me. Both variations of my Dao were roaring from me in defiance of this world. Separate from the conscious movement of mana or Dao, which were more like muscles, something more potent by far began to churn. The black mana began gathering in noticeable clumps, moving in my direction.

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    Naea hovered in the air, mouth agape for a few moments before shaking her head and rolling her eyes. ¡°I only asked if we should use the energy, Grant. Massive drama queen.¡± I didn¡¯t let her distract me, focusing on the unfamiliar magic all around. Understanding the taint on the world would only help when it came to clearing it. As the dark energy continued to mass together, a sense of danger started to creep up my neck.

    ¡°Might have made a mistake there, Nae,¡± I muttered. Something about my words or my Dao had incited something in the ambient mana. An overwhelming aura of anger congealed into a physical form before me, then they were many nearly-human forms, all ambling towards Naea and I. ¡°Let¡¯s backtrack,¡± I said calmly.

    ¡°Not likely,¡± Naea replied. Already facing the other way, she had seen the veritable army appearing out of the tainted mana.

    Dungeon Quest Updated - Rekindle The Land

    The life which was stolen from this planet left behind only a hope for vengeance, a possibility they unexpectedly find within you. This world demands your death as a penance for its own and will expend its rage against you.

    Wave One - Start

    ¡°Oh goddamn, I hate survival missions,¡± I moaned, ¡°conserve energy for now. Let me figure out what works.¡± It wasn¡¯t like ghosts were an enemy we had much experience against, so I hoped they worked like the Dark Young and mostly died when in contact with Dao. Moving forward with my potent base attributes alone, I jabbed out at the nearest ambling shape.

    As they approached from all sides, and we had found nothing even close to shelter, retreat wasn¡¯t an option. I tried to use Manasight to scan the monsters but even though I could see mana channels forming within the inky black shapes, I couldn¡¯t lock onto their spirit. My sense of unease only grew as the more fully-formed ones started to make noises.

    The edge of my stave was brimming with power as I activated my newest skill, Tempest Strike. Into the centre mass, the head of my weapon punched out, a rapturous boom sounding from the force of the attack. Black mana exploded and scattered, falling to the ground around like ash. ¡°Damn,¡± I cursed.

    ¡°Pretty sure all that did was spread it around!¡± Naea shouted so she could be heard over the rising wail coming from the increasing number of enemies. A chorus of the damned became the soundtrack to a chaotic and desperate flurry of activity. Every instinct I had screamed that letting these things touch me was a terrible idea, but the numbers continued to rise.

    Naea took to the air more, removing my need to protect her. Or so we thought. She screamed, not in fear but in more of an affronted rage. Bat-sized clumps of sooty energy harassed her in the air which she began spearing through with a combination of the Dao of Rivers and Sparkstep. She became a flash of yellow and blue, chaining her way through the never-ending flurry of aerial attackers.

    Naea above, me below.

    After a time, not long enough for Naea and I to start truly sweating, I began to see the nameplates I had been looking for. I didn¡¯t expect to be insulted when I did. Enough strange, ashen mana had gathered together to create more than just a black absence upon the world. As I expected, the form was that of a humanoid, though it was taller than me by at least a head.

    Monster - Revenant of Badaila - Level 01

    ¡°Fucking level one?! What? How does that make any sense?¡± Perhaps it was the eerie appearance of the planet and enemies here, along with the awful noise they were making which was like nails on a chalkboard, but seeing the creature¡¯s low level did nothing to assuage any fears. Between Naea and I, we weren¡¯t losing more energy than our base recovery, but how long would that last? Glad I had put some extra points into Will, I pressed forward.

    I needed to keep gathering information if I wanted to complete the quest and get us out of here. With a swipe of a Dao-laden staff, I bisected the revenant. Those extra points were meaningless against the onslaught that came next. Expecting the tiniest of kill experience, I had luckily not been opening myself to the flow that came next. A torrent of negative energy blasted into my spirit. A visible stream of black mana snaked up the Alternating Armament, which I shook clear as I launched myself into the air.

    I heaved even as I threw myself away. When I landed, I smashed the ground, shifting my armament into a warhammer last second. A shockwave of pure force erupted from the strike, dispersing the nearest cloying mana and I grabbed my head. Memories tried to press their way into my brain but I didn¡¯t let them. I gathered everything which was Grant Kaeron and wrapped it in a tight embrace of Dao and mana before the same thing could happen again. ¡°They¡¯ve got a mental attack, get to me.¡±

    Naea appeared in a flash of light and a zapping noise. Ha, she¡¯s a bug zapper. Glad I was still hilarious, I shook my head clear. ¡°No clue what that was, but let¡¯s get some space for now. Full sprint, cover yourself in Dao and just punch through if you have to.¡± The fairy looked more excited than the situation warranted but I wasn¡¯t going to rain on her parade. While we moved from the growing lake of black mana, I gave Naea a rundown of exactly what had happened and what I had seen.

    ¡°I smashed the form of the revenant and it was like it tried to possess me or something. It physically tried to get onto me, and at the same time, I saw a flash of memory which wasn¡¯t mine.¡±

    ¡°Creepy,¡± Naea replied, sagely.

    ¡°Wonderful, thanks for your input. The point is, I don¡¯t think you can fight it off like I can, so you¡¯re going to have to leave this to me.¡± I saw the rising horror on Naea¡¯s face and before she could start arguing, I held up a hand. ¡°This is a Dungeon, it¡¯s meant to be defeated, right? I got this.¡±

    ¡°I can literally feel that you¡¯re lying, Grant.¡± Naea¡¯s voice was a whisper as she crossed her arms on my head. At the same time, she activated Battle Bond and all of the power she could share with me came under my control. I hadn¡¯t played around with the Dao of Rivers yet. I smiled while letting mana flow around my skin and ruffle her wispy hair.

    ¡°It suits you, Nae. I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ve got you after all.¡± I turned back towards the mass of black mana we had outrun for a while. We were acting like magnets to the stuff, and it was gathering in the vicinity, but in the near distance was a small army. Most of the revenants had formed now, and I saw multiple level ones and twos at this point. ¡°Nothing ventured, nothing gained.¡±

    Those words felt appropriate as I dove headfirst into the darkness and prepared to weather the rage of a dead planet.

 Book Two - Chapter Twelve - It Comes Crashing

    Hours of pitched battle upon the plains of a long forgotten world had finally given it some character. Instead of endless, dead and barren flatlands, the general vicinity at least looked a lot more interesting. With the craters and shattered firmament spanning dozens of kilometres at this point, the resilience of our opposition was getting tired.

    It wasn¡¯t the only thing. ¡°Aghhh! Just stop for a minute, would you?¡± Naea had reached the pleading phase of the attrition battle and it was all I could do to shore up her confidence with my own. We still weren¡¯t taking damage, at least. I smashed a particularly large revenant which had entered my range. As with every attack for the last three hours, it was ineffectual against anything but the rock beneath the spirit¡¯s half-formed feet.

    More than the expenditure of mana and the strain of using our Dao, which we were well equipped to deal with, the stamina cost of the marathon we had been forced into was the real danger. ¡°Agreed, but for now, you just hop in here.¡± The only magical equipment I had, armour-wise, was my Adept¡¯s Bottoms, but they helped in keeping my other clothes from being destroyed due to their regenerative effects extending to other items at the cost of mana. The mana regeneration effect it gave to myself was negligible at this point, but I would remain forever fond of the self-repairing trousers.

    Naea hesitated for a moment but gave in and rested her wings inside my jacket pocket. We had considered a sling of sorts, but it made me feel like I was carrying a baby, which in turn completely threw off my ability to move around. A jacket pocket was better than clinging around my neck, and I was more than capable of keeping my familiar safe in this scenario. However, without her interference, the flying lumps of mana began to descend towards me.

    Monster - Flying Revenant of Badaila - Level 05

    Swooping like bats, dozens of level four and five flying revenants dive bombed me. Unlike the larger, landlocked ghosts of black mana, these fast variants were impossible to fully keep away with just my staff. A began lacing Mana Bolts with the Dao of Tempests, giving them the punch needed to dissipate the fluttering remnants of hate. The mana then at least needed to spend some time reforming.

    I still had two skills I hadn¡¯t used in this scenario. I saw no outcome where punching out with my conflux skill right now would be the right choice, but there was a chance that my remaining ability would serve here. ¡°Naea.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°You got me if this goes wrong?¡±

    ¡°Always.¡± I nodded and took a breath. She knew the plan, because it was the only option left. A deep one, not worrying about the mana in the air. I felt my mana channels start to become chalky but it was about to get way worse. With an Infusion-boosted sprint, I cleared some space between myself and the encroaching mana. ¡°That is a lot of ancient, furious magic right there.¡±

    Despite its voidblack nature, the black mana held beauty of its own. To my Stormborn eyes, each revenant was their own nebula of violent mana. Each particle of voidlike energy in the air carried the faintest parcel of intent, and while separate weren¡¯t dangerous. With a target drawing them together, the anger acted as a binding agent and created the revenants. Once enough gathered, a visible set of mana circuits appeared in the form, gaining definition as more and more hate-filled mana found a home.

    A home, is it? Come on then.

    I held up my hand as the first flying revenants caught up to Naea and I. The fairy in my pocket tensed, activating Battle Bond and sharing all of the power and confidence she could muster. This would be a piece of cake with her here, surely. I smiled even as I activated Drain.

    Skill - Drain (Dragon/Absorption)

    The greed of the dragons is legendary. Like every race, each dragon is different but all possess the ability to take without return.

    ¡°Uh oh¡­¡± I murmured. The creature hadn¡¯t even reached me, but the ambient stink in the air wasted no time. The traditional effects of Drain were still there, as well. A burst of power, a new energy to control within and not much time to do so as the revenant ran directly into my hand. I didn¡¯t have time to consider whether it was worrying that the mana wanted to be absorbed before it was happening.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    My hand, then whole arm, froze from the inside. The skin literally cracked on my fingers, blood forced out from the inside. I grit my teeth and tried to thank Naea for healing me. I found that I couldn¡¯t unclench my jaw to do so, but her look of understanding cleared my mind slightly. I can do this, I told myself.

    No, you can¡¯t, the world of Badaila replied with force. For a moment, I wasn¡¯t me. I had never been Grant Kaeron, actually, but a denizen of Badaila¡¯s capital city. I stood upon what used to be its grounds, even now. As quickly as the flash of memory took me, it vanished, leaving me with an alien nostalgia for a world which wasn¡¯t my own.

    ¡°Okay, that wasn¡¯t so bad¡­¡± The revenant which I had drained was destroyed, confirmed by a morsel of experience entering my spirit. It was almost invisible amongst the taint that came with it. I gathered some distance while expelling the dark, sticky energy as best I could. I released a thin stream of mana from my hands to wash the nasty mana from my channels and give the stuff an avenue to leave my body.

    ¡°That stinks,¡± Naea gagged, referring to the scent of my mana, ¡°it¡¯s like rotten mana and Dao.¡± Despite her nose wrinkling, she didn¡¯t cease using Battle Bond, adding her Dao of Rivers to my cleaning efforts and making them run smoother. Together, we should be able to handle this fairly easily. We repeated the process with another three revenants to ensure we had the process down.

    Each time, I fought harder to keep my mental faculties as memories which weren¡¯t my own tried to force their way into my mind. I was a baker, experimenting with new recipes, except no, I was Grant Kaeron. Then, I became a guardsman, depended upon to stand on the walls and keep away the darkness. Something which I couldn¡¯t do. ¡°No,¡± I spat, speaking the words aloud, ¡°I am Grant Kaeron. I command the power of both dragons and tempests.¡±

    My words were an affirmation of the self, the version of me that I had decided to become within the dungeon which had been my entry to the System. However¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t think they liked that, Grant!¡± Naea¡¯s panic was infectious but I forced it away. The mass of revenants and the ebony mist which clung to them ceased their shambling. The entire army began to sprint.

    ¡°Tempests and rivers, right, Nae? We weather and endure, right?¡± Attempting to inspire confidence in the face of an intimidating force, I began stamping my feet in preparation. The Alternating Armament became a tower shield and I slammed it hard into the ground before me. The open wastes of Badaila lay behind me, its revenants bearing down from the front. ¡°We won¡¯t be stopped here!¡±

    Naea roared, bringing her mana and Dao forward like a dam. I howled and added my own strength to hers, our powers multiplicative. I pushed out with Dao, and moulded mana alongside it. A dome of power, mana running like a thousand rivers from my body and forming a dense cloud of defensive magic against the revenants. Not a skill as far as the System was concerned, but by far the most complex working of magic I had performed.

    A tidal wave of pitch dark hate descended upon our little igloo of defiance and tried everything in its considerable might to wash us away. The weight of this empty world pressed down, as heavy as if a mountain had dropped on top of us. I felt Naea take as much of the burden as she could, but a flare of pride ignited inside of me and I stood even stronger than before. Maybe even more than the magic we shared, our confidence in each other kept us from buckling.

    Somehow, though it felt impossible, the growing pressure reached a peak. I groaned along with my aching bones but held firm. My mana channels felt charred and raw, no doubt Naea wasn¡¯t feeling much better. At least for her, the work was basically done. Holding up the sky was no easy feat, but now that we had, it was only going to get easier. ¡°You know,¡± I said with as much humour as possible, ¡°still not sure this is a great idea.¡±

    Before Naea could fully register what I¡¯d said, I began to activate Drain. The broken world of Badaila needed to share its pain, and damn it, wasn¡¯t I supposed to be a therapist at one point? ¡°I should have one of those leather chairs,¡± I growled. Never thought to find one and put it in my inventory. Surely, Newtown had one around. Seeing Naea¡¯s confusion, I shrugged against the pain. ¡°It would have been a good bit.¡±

    It was then that my consciousness faded to a pinprick in response to the legion of voices which had just exploded into my head. It was so much information, and once upon a time, this amount would have easily knocked me out. With an effective Mental attribute of over one thousand, I was able to keep myself sane and standing, though I could barely form a thought.

    Revenant after revenant, trauma after trauma, I absorbed the wounded soul of Badaila. I felt the loss of the world more and more, until I was distraught and weeping for the planet I had never been able to know. I began to cherish the memories of Gera City, a wondrous place of magic and abundance, although I had never, and would never see the place.

    Mounting dread filled my throat. Rising through all of the somewhat pleasant memories was the idea that this was all being shown to me to make it hurt more. Whatever had happened to Badaila was important in knowing how to break the cursed bindings on these poor souls. The concept that a dungeon might not be a real place had long since disappeared from my mind. I barely knew what a dungeon at this point.

    I only stopped using Drain when Naea slapped the back of my hand. I still wasn¡¯t completely myself, but I trusted her enough to know to stop. I must have looked rough because Naea said nothing, just getting immediately to work. ¡°Grant? You need to cycle your mana, Grant.¡±

    Smart use of my name. Did I teach her that? Slowly, my consciousness floated back to the front of my mind as Naea and I purged the tainted black energy from my system. The fairy continued talking about absolutely anything as she brought be back from a strangely alluring brink. How easy it would be if I simply¡­

    ¡°God damn. That stuff doesn¡¯t mess around. Potent.¡± I spat out blood and tongued the inside of my cheek which I had bitten clean through. I¡¯d be fine after a bit of healing energy, but there wasn¡¯t time.

    Wave Two - Start

 Book Two - Chapter Thirteen - So, What Did We Miss?

    It had been just over a week since anyone had last seen Grant or Naea, the fairy which shadowed him, and tensions were rising. The issue, as Tom saw it, was growth. Both too much and too little, depending on the angle you viewed the problem. When it came to population, Ascentown was growing wonderfully. When it came to infrastructure, though?

    ¡°Move, dickhead!¡± A labourer¡¯s shout from behind Tom¡¯s back, causing him to flinch, duck and scramble in that order. Being the de facto leader of the town meant nothing when you were physically in the way. The man shook his head at Tom, who nodded heartily in agreement with his disdain. Quickly extricating himself from the path of the actual honest workers, he turned to find Stephanie smirking at him.

    ¡°What?¡± He asked sheepishly. She¡¯d definitely seen him making an ass of himself, but what had she taken from it? The beautiful councilmember of Newtown brushed her hair behind an ear as Tom approached, her snow coloured skin visible in a low-cut top. Tom gulped and kept his attention on her sapphire blue eyes instead. It wasn¡¯t very difficult.

    ¡°You. You¡¯re a mess.¡± Tom winced at her words, even as she laughed again. ¡±It¡¯s sweet, Tom. You¡¯re just such a powerful fighter but any social situation can turn you into a sponge. It¡¯s cute.¡± He looked up from the ground into a face full of acceptance and joy. Tom thanked her for her input and asked if there was anything he could help with. ¡°Actually, there is one thing¡­¡± Stephanie said, a touch of excitement in her voice.

    An hour later, Tom found himself standing in front of a computer. ¡°Is it weird that this feels antiquated?¡± The world had essentially been taken over by an omnipotent supercomputer which had permanently activated an augmented reality system. That was one of the ways Tom¡¯s mind had found to explain the insanity of life now. Although, he had long discarded that explanation in favour of a more simple explanation. ¡°Magic¡± worked well enough, these days, especially for Tom.

    ¡°I get it, there¡¯s basically no point in them now.¡± Stephanie nodded but gestured for him to sit anyway. Computers had their place, but they were now very much just the machine and nothing more. Where the computers still worked, they were being used for bookkeeping or calculating, but not a lot else. While there was still not much known about the Shift and its effects on the planet, the changes had at the very least stripped us of the internet. If the planet was larger now, it should have more gravity, so that could have explained what happened to the satellites.

    Alternatively, ¡°magic.¡±

    Maybe somewhere still had access to a version of the world-wide web, but Tom doubted it would ever come back in the way it was before. There was just no need with the System filling most of its roles and more importantly, most of everyone¡¯s time. When there were potential levels to chase, a deferred wage to collect and actual monsters lurking around, keeping people motivated to work was simple. The idea of sitting at a computer was a little bizarre.

    Still, he did as he was told. Stephanie turned the machine on and it whirred to life. Once the computer had booted up, Tom sat back as the Newtown rep clicked around a few times. She leaned over his shoulder to get closer to the screen and her perfume sent Tom¡¯s head spinning. ¡°There we go,¡± she said after a program loaded up. It was little more than a barebones bit of code waiting for an input. ¡°Grab the mouse, and put some mana in.¡±

    Tom raised his eyebrows but again followed the command. Instead of burning up with energy as he expected, Tom was surprised when the mana was absorbed without issue. The computer reacted quickly, and the program began to change. As soon as his magic began flowing into the machine, the code on the program began to explode. Dozens of lines were being written a second, though Tom only knew enough about coding to know what it was, not what it did.

    Awkwardness set in after about thirty seconds but the drain wasn¡¯t bad, so Tom turned to Stephanie. Her face was rapt with excitement at the screen, a mask of pure delight. ¡°So, what is this doing?¡±

    ¡°No clue!¡± Stephanie answered quickly and without shame. ¡°A woman named Vanna has been working on this thing since the System dropped. She was a game designer before all this, I think? Either way, the Aspect of Technology appeared in front of her nearly as soon as the Shift happened. Since then, she¡¯s been working on this, though she¡¯ll tell you herself she doesn¡¯t know how it works. According to Vanna, it needs higher level information than she had. Dao stuff. Aside from Julz who is really busy, your group are still the only people with a Dao, and your aura is the only one that feels beautiful, so you were the only choice.¡±

    Tom didn¡¯t bother trying to hide the massive smile that came to his face. ¡°You think my magic is beautiful?¡± There was a teasing tone in his words, an offer for Stephanie to turn her own words into a joke. Instead, he gulped again, harder this time as her eyes bore into his own. Tom was suddenly acutely aware that they were alone in the building which housed the special computer.

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    ¡°It is, Tom.¡± Her voice was husky, wasn¡¯t it? He wasn¡¯t just imagining it, as she maintained the close distance between them. ¡°This changed world keeps throwing up new challenges and every day is terrifying¡­ Well, it was.¡± Her hand grasped his free one, working her fingers between his own as Tom watched in wonder. ¡°Then I met you.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± He asked, dumbly.

    ¡°You are ridiculously cute, Tom.¡± His thoughts froze as time slowed to an absolute crawl. He had a powerful Mental stat, which with achievements and boosts sat at around an effective four hundred attribute points, and all of it was being used to memorise Stephanie¡¯s every movement.

    The approach of her lips towards him, a slight upwards curl at the edges. The way her eyes flickered between his own and lower, towards his immobilised mouth. The hot breath from her nose and the way it brushed against his skin. There was a final permission asked and given as his face tilted upward and they met in our first kiss. Tom¡¯s shock left quickly, and he decided he very much needed his other hand for this, letting go of the computer mouse.

    Tom certainly wasn¡¯t as petrified for their second kiss, which was much more mobile and active. There was a chance they might have even gone onto a third kiss, but of course, the System couldn¡¯t let people enjoy a single moment. Cursing the System for interrupting, Grant for leaving him with the responsibility of The Ascent, the other members of the guild for being useless and lazy and just about everything else in the world, Tom opened the System prompt.

    Population Threshold Reached For Ascentown

    The community known as Ascentown has reached the needed populace to become an Outpost. As the location of Ascentown contains a Guild Hall, permission must be granted by the Guild Leader to upgrade.

    The Guild Leader is unavailable. You are designated second-in-command, and as such, the choice is your¡¯s.

    Accept? (Cost 500 gold)

    Tom groaned, which caused Stephanie to wiggle her eyebrows. Tom laughed, kissing her again gently before pushing away from the table they had fallen across. ¡°Got a System message,¡± he began to explain.

    ¡°Did you just get an achievement for having your first kiss?¡± Stephanie asked, her face a picture of genuine, innocent curiosity. Tom snorted and stuck out my tongue while straightening his collar.

    ¡°Hardee har, hilarious. I wonder if there¡¯s an achievement for some other things¡­¡± Both of them bit their lips in near unison, clearly on the same wavelength. Before they could get carried away, Tom needed to get back to Ascentown. ¡°Oh right, did the computer do something? Or was that just a clever way to get me alone, Ms Carmichael?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m devious, but not that talented. Look yourself.¡± Tom struggled to move his eyes to the computer screen, because Stephanie pointedly kept her blouse unbuttoned. At first, he thought it had cycled onto one of those old visualiser screensavers, but that wasn¡¯t it. The program which had just been black letters of code on a white background had gone through a complete version shift.

    ¡°What¡¯s that going to do?¡± Tom asked, a little afraid of the potential. Two slender arms wrapped around his chest and pulled him in. Since the System was making everyone stronger, she easily kept Tom still as she planted a kiss on his cheek.

    ¡°Again, no clue. We¡¯ll have to come back and check as soon as you¡¯re done with your silly System messages. No one ever comes in here.¡± Stephanie winked before following me out. Tom explained what the System prompt was, and she in turn talked him through what to expect. An Outpost was the stage before a town, which is where Newtown was now. It was another large leap in population until you could create a city. Instead of paying gold like Tom had to, Frederick had been given the town upgrade as a quest reward, and was working towards the city quest.

    ¡°I like that¡­ but should I even mess with the outpost? It¡¯s not really my place.¡± Tom wasn¡¯t displeased with the level of control he had, but it was daunting to make such a large choice. At the same time, he had system currency to spend and nowhere to spend it. He wasn¡¯t the only one. Luke was the member of The Ascent who had made the most, heading out of civilization and becoming something of a trapper, and he complained that he couldn¡¯t upgrade his house with Grant gone.

    Stephanie said nothing, but Tom knew what the following shrug meant. Buck up, Tom. Firming up his resolve, he accepted the System prompt, and let himself feel like the one in charge of The Ascent for the foreseeable future. Grant was gone, and while he had some roots here, it would probably be easy to set up elsewhere, too. He might not ever come back, though Tom crushed the thought as soon as he had it. Grant wasn¡¯t like that. There was just lots to do in a short time, so Tom could see this as taking the load off Grant¡¯s shoulders. That¡¯s what he wanted Tom to do, anyway, right?

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    With Ascentown now officially an Outpost, the growth problems were once again switched. New options, including a tax on loot, were available and the coffers began to grow slowly. The wages which were offered to early settlers were given out and it was possible to see the vision for what the place could be. Already, an academy was being built along with a slew of other, more industrial-leaning properties.

    Homes were built, camps and resource operations were started in the surrounding areas, using Grant¡¯s map and plans. A vein of slightly mana-rich copper had been found, a few new kinds of herb were being farmed, trade was becoming possible between Ascentown and Newtown. With both places now creating things the other did not, an economy was beginning to form.

    The days turned into weeks, and weeks into a month. The difference between what was essentially a bare plot of land with a few buildings on it and the burgeoning town it had become was like night and day. It could fill one with confidence, so long as they didn¡¯t know about the cracks in the foundations.

 Book Two - Chapter Fourteen - The Desolation Power Brings

    Badaila was an old planet by cosmological standards. Its people had been cultivated within the System for many, many generations. The bedrock of the world was deeply infused with its own unique mana, as any planet seeded with life will create. Natural wonders which could only be found upon its silver shores were sought by the aspirational beings which aimed for the highest tiers of existence.

    It was said that even the lowest child, born in a pleasure house to an uncaring mother and absent father, would be as a king to someone born elsewhere. Such was the abundance and potential that one could find in its luscious jungles or massive mountain ranges. A youth might only need to sit in a stream for a few hours and they would no doubt collect many gems or crystals as they casually floated along.

    When the world was threatened, and such a thing happened often, it was defended not just by the stalwart protectors from the planet itself, but others who would not see its gifts fall into the hands of an opposing faction. In fact, most wars that aimed to reach Badaila were fought on planets far away from even the jewelworld¡¯s solar system, let alone within its pristine atmosphere.

    So when the sky became alight with colours, the people of Badaila watched in wonder, not fear. They didn¡¯t know how to be afraid, or why they would need to be. With excitement in their hearts, they saw the lightning arc across the vast expanses. It wasn¡¯t until the bolts began to descend through the clouds, tearing apart that perfect atmosphere that the screams started.

    The mountains were ground to dust, the seas incinerated by the heat of the Storm Dragon¡¯s descent. Its colossal shape landed upon the world with a heave. It hadn¡¯t even attacked Badaila, it had simply arrived. That was enough. Scant days later, the planet was stripped bare of its mana-rich core. Its natural wonders would never be seen again, and the loss of Badaila was a warcry to those who would attempt to slay the Storm Dragon.

    A task not yet complete.

    I stumbled free from the haze of memory which clouded my mind, waking up, though I hadn¡¯t truly been asleep. ¡°Which wave? Another one?¡± I didn¡¯t have the energy to talk, to explain what I was seeing and what was going on. There would be time for that later. I organised my mind, recalling my own name and working from there.

    ¡°That was the fourth wave. It said this was the final one.¡± Despite her words, there was no hope to be found in Naea¡¯s voice. ¡°We can leave, Grant. The quest just says these are for extra rewards, let¡¯s go.¡± I couldn¡¯t quite muster the strength to speak right away, so I unfettered our connection. I had to snap it shut when the revenants were assaulting, or she would be affected too.

    Instead of malice and hate coursing down the line, she received contrition and apology. ¡°Stupid idiot,¡± she sniffled. It broke my heart to make her sad or to worry her but I couldn¡¯t stop now. The System had placed me onto this planet, whether by accident or by fate, and the fate of this world was now desperately important to me. It had already been destroyed, by a power that I sought to claim and call my own, and I wanted to do all I could.

    The pure black mana and I had become intimately acquainted at this point. Each fluttering particle contained a fragment of the world¡¯s history. The first wave held the joy and wonder which the people of the planet held for life. The next wave, and each after that, had been examples of desolation. Finally, I had seen the culprit. Deep was the hatred for this loss, felt not just by the people of the world, but those who had left it for further gains and those who hoped to journey there one day.

    For some arrogant and personal reason, I had decided to face that anger headfirst. Maybe it¡¯s the greed of a dragon. I¡¯ll even take guilt which isn¡¯t mine. For whatever reason, even that glib thought felt like an excuse. In so many ways, I had the Storm Dragon to thank for my own power. I had faced a remnant version of its strength, a whisper of its shadow, and it had nearly killed me for a joke. That experience, along with the insights into Dao that it had afforded me, was the foundation of my current strength.

    Strength which meant next to nothing in the face of what had happened to this world. Not only was the Storm Dragon inevitably stronger now than it had been when destroying Badaila, the strength to oppose such despicable might was far beyond the realms of my understanding. How many points into Fortitude did the Storm Dragon have? Or Will? Did a being like that truly work in numbers, adding points to its character page?

    I didn¡¯t have answers, but my insights from the experiences of Badaila suggested no. The way even those most common of people upon Badaila used the System was different to how it worked for me. Whether these were either different iterations, or it literally changed from person to person, I wasn¡¯t entirely sure. Planet to planet, perhaps? For now, it was just an interesting piece of information to add to the mountain I was already struggling to understand.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do this,¡± I breathed. When the barrier didn¡¯t drop, I had to expend some energy glaring at Naea. If I wasn¡¯t being smashed with the pressure and malaise, then she was bearing it for me. She relented under my truly angry gaze. With tears in her eyes, born of anger and fear, she released the deluge.

    As I had before, I faced the revenants without flinching. I had spent hours of time and far too much energy trying to meet the energy with aggression. Falling into the patterns which had worked against physical beings, I forgot how to deal with emotions. ¡°Some therapist,¡± I joked, wincing. Throat feeling like sandpaper, my skin cracked all over, I raised my hand. The pitch black ocean blotted out the green sun.

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    Monster - Flying Revenant of Badaila - Level 25

    Drain.

    With each wave, the power of the revenants increased alongside the vitriol they contained. While my mind was harassed by the memories of Badaila, my body had increasingly felt like a balloon being inflated too far. I shunted the energy from my mana channels with ever-increasing speed, Naea¡¯s assistance also improving with every vengeful spirit we laid to rest. I battled to keep my mind my own while Naea and I continued to purge as much black mana as possible.

    Finally, the clamouring in my mind was too much and I fell into the grasp of the hateful, unending darkness of the destroyed word. I tumbled through vivid memories, each and every one the same event, played a billion times from every perspective possible. In the hours before the Storm Dragon¡¯s immense form touched down on the planet, its mana had been destroying the world in preparation.

    Bolts of draconic lightning scorched entire cities away in a single thunderclap. Yet, what was an instant in time for those lives lost played out to me thousands of times. Millions, perhaps. Each death was mine, and I felt every terrifying moment. I became intimate with the regrets and unfinished business of an entire world taken before its time.

    My skin melted, my synapses and nerves exploding as everything I was got stripped away in an instant. A fragment of a portion of a morsel for the Storm Dragon. Multiplied a billion times over as all life on the planet was snuffed out. Rich or poor, powerful or not, no one survived. Not one single soul. Instead they festered on this planet, so devoid of life and power that even their spirits could not find peace.

    A planet¡¯s worth of life and an apocalypse worth of death channelled through me. Before, defeating the Storm Dragon was a goal born of aspiration and hubris. After seeing, feeling and overcoming the events of Badaila, it was far more personal than that. Thanks to Naea, I didn¡¯t dissociate and lose myself, but it would take a long time for me to process the fullness of what the System had just shown me. What Badaila had shown. For better or worse, it would be impossible to forget what happened here.

    I was certain there was no end to the agonising death of the planet. Yet, I was learning more and more that all things come to an end. Even Armageddon, apparently. Slowly, agonisingly slowly, I returned to my own body. My eyes opened slowly, squinting against a sky that felt far too bright. ¡°Who turned up the sun?¡± I moaned, throwing my arm over my face.

    ¡°Actually, that was you.¡±

    ¡°Me? How did I make the sun brighter?¡± I flooded the connection between Naea and myself with gratitude, more potent than saying thank you out loud would be.

    ¡°Turned all that tainted mana into natural mana, didn¡¯t we? Got myself a skill out of it.¡± She had bravado, but Naea¡¯s shaky voice was hard to hear. Almost as a whisper, she asked ¡°Did we really need to do this, Grant?¡±

    I sighed, opening my eyes and giving her a smile. ¡°Yeah, Nae. At least, I did. So, thank you for helping me. I promise, we¡¯ll do anything you want for the next couple of days after we get some rest.¡± That seemed to placate her and I got her to explain her new skill to me while I was getting a little more energy back. It was simply called Cleanse and it made purging nasty effects easier. Very nice.

    Final Wave Defeated

    I turned to my own System messages when I could. There wasn¡¯t much fanfare, but that was okay. I felt incredibly sombre, and any pomp or circumstance right now had the fair chance of making me vomit. That wasn¡¯t to say that I would ignore my rightfully earned rewards, however.

    Dungeon Quest Completed - Rekindle The Land

    Though the scars of tragedy will never fade completely, a healing has occurred. The screaming souls of Badaila have quietened. The Tree thanks you.

    Reward: Ownership of nearby Everbloom Evergreen

    I had almost forgotten the reason I had entered the dungeon in the first place. I needed to recover, but remembering that this had not just been to punish myself helped a little. A crackling slash in the universe opened up, revealing the massive tree which had led to this place. ¡°Why would the Evergreen thank me?¡± I asked, to which Naea just looked confused and shrugged.

    With amusement, enjoying the irony in it, I mass-closed a certain System prompt. The achievement Draconic Legacy had apparently activated over and over again. Rarely noticeable, the achievement increased the duration of positive effects on me, while lowering the potency of negative ones. I was almost apologetic that the power of a dragon had allowed me to defeat a curse created by a dragon, but I was starting to get dizzy with the confusing feelings. Ignoring them, I moved onto the other System prompts.

    Achievement Unlocked - Cursebreaker

    Though you were not afflicted by it yourself, you chose to destroy an immensely powerful curse. By casting off a curse of a higher grade than yourself, your resistance to such effects has increased.

    Effect: Increased Curse Resistance

    I mostly hoped that it wouldn¡¯t be an issue in the future, but I was glad for any additional protections, I supposed. As with most achievements in this way, like Survivor which increased my regenerative effects, it would have been more helpful before gaining it. I moved on.

    Title Unlocked - Savior of Badaila

    The Jewelworld Badaila was not just loved, but incredibly powerful. Even after destruction, it did not become a dead world, but a cursed one. This high grade curse was purified through you, and the planet itself rewards.

    Effect: Your presence increases duration and potency of positive effects in the area.

    ¡°Well, damn. That one sounds good, you didn¡¯t get this did you Naea?¡± I flipped the screen and Naea gave me a toothy, over-the-top grin. She showed me her version, which had the same wording. We spent a short while recuperating before I planned to drag myself from the still desolate Badaila and back to Earth. Naea spent the time in a kind of meditation, connecting with the now healed Dungeon and expanding her understanding of the System a fair amount. She said we could talk about it later.

    I took one last look at the planet before leaving. The green hue in the sky had changed, becoming softer. Without the revenant mana flowing through the air, it was possible to see some form of beauty here. At least, it was when I looked into the night sky. A beautiful nebula danced across the cosmos above, visible even in the relatively bright light of Badaila¡¯s daytime. A truly alien sight.

    As the dungeon closed behind me, I made a promise to myself. ¡°That will never happen to Earth, not as long as I can help it.¡± I knew that I couldn¡¯t help right now. If the Storm Dragon appeared tomorrow, Earth and everyone on it was gone in the blink of an eye. I needed to get stronger.

    Much stronger.

 Book Two - Chapter Fifteen - Damn, Guess I Have To Do Everything

    Stepping back onto the immense Everbloom Evergreen, I immediately connected with the lands under my control. Before, I had felt the very passively, but absence had made the sensation much more prominent. The fact it felt like everything was on fire may have had something to do with it. I glanced at Naea, who could sense the same chaotic mana as me no doubt. ¡°The hell is that?¡± I grumbled.

    A few System messages arrived as I appeared back on Earth, and they told a story. First was a prompt to name the area around The Ascent guildhall. I twitched my eye at the name Ascentown, and all of my confidence in Tom plummeted. The next few messages were minutia mostly, a blacksmith had been built, as had a waterwheel and mill. Then we had grown to a large enough size to become an Outpost, which Tom had done. Aside from the name, not too bad.

    ¡°We haven¡¯t done this in a while.¡± I held out the Alternating Armament towards Naea. She didn¡¯t immediately catch my meaning, which made it all the funnier when I walked off the edge of the tree branch. She gasped and chased me over the edge, only to stop when she saw me laughing as I fell. ¡°Please don¡¯t let me smash into the ground!¡±

    I had faith she wouldn¡¯t let me die, but she made it feel close. Allowing me only a few metres before she caught me, Naea got her revenge for my prank. I tried to pretend like my heart wasn¡¯t racing, but I had been about to activate Tempest Form and hope for the best. She winked at me and we chuckled together, heading towards Home Base. I opened my rarely used Faction menu to see if there was any hint as to the strange, itchy sensation I was feeling.

    Faction Page   Members: 428 Buildings: 12

    Home Base

    Guild Hall

    Only my lavish chateau and the Guild Hall were considered my buildings, but I was able to see the rest that had been built. The blacksmith, the mill, there were two barracks, two storage warehouses, a canteen, and five taverns? Who had built five bars before proper sanitation had been installed?

    ¡°Oho, Naea,¡± I growled, hands wringing together, ¡°some heads are going to roll.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Today was the day Ewan made his move. He was positively throbbing with anticipation. Patience, delicate and agonising, had been necessary to make sure he was in the exact right place at the right time. Dancing around the investigations was child¡¯s play for him thanks to the magic which obfuscated his every movement. The Dao of Murder was incredibly versatile when it came to subterfuge.

    Life within the System was good, wondrous even. For over three decades, Ewan had been a shell of a human. Survival in the old world meant playing by rules that were never explained, and often broken by others with abandon. Guilt, regret and shame were completely foreign ideals to Ewan, but the assumption of them brought so much confusion. Avoiding the supposed triggers for them was nearly impossible in the past. Now, the world rewarded him for being himself. His true self.

    It was bliss, for a while.

    That had changed with the arrival of new people. When he had been the only special one, Ewan had felt safe. Knowing he was stronger than all of the imbecilic shamblers stumbling around was both a security blanket and a gift all in one. Picking a person, slicing their thread of fate and taking whatever meagre power they had garnered was like taking candy from a baby. Which Ewan had tried once. The child had cried, but no one was any the wiser as he left with the sweets.

    He smiled at the memory. A simpler time, much like things had been before the new town had appeared a few miles away. Except, it wasn¡¯t even a town, was it? It was just a tiny piece of one. Then those five awful people showed up. Each of them had a blazing sun of power which threatened to illuminate Ewan¡¯s own. He had been forced to completely squash my perfect Dao to avoid their gaze. At least he had been able to breathe when they left.

    Then that bitch Julianna had got a Dao and just living in Newtown became its own problem. The Dao problem became permanent. She had gone off into the wilderness to start forest fires or something, but she would be coming back. The mundane murders he had performed to scratch the itch barely slaked his thirst for a day before he was biting my nails to the quick again. Something needed to be done. Luckily, Ewan had the perfect plan of action.

    Due to spending so much time with them, one of the other leaders of Newtown, Stephanie, had been edging closer and closer to a Dao. Ewan knew that if he could kill her right in the moment she was unlocking it, something truly special would occur. It didn¡¯t have to be her, but none of the other knuckleheads were even close as far as he could tell.

    Living in safety dampened their ability to feel the magic. Ewan didn¡¯t have such a problem, because the same security that kept them safe, made him feel attacked. It was for this reason that he stayed in Newtown as long as he did. Except even he knew when the game was up. It was time to get a final treat and then find greener pastures. Luckily, it wasn¡¯t even hard to find her. Outside of Newtown, her flourishing Dao was coming to life, all on her own.

    How stupid could she be?

    Stolen story; please report.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Over the last month, Tom had two problems. Not that it was all bad, he had mostly had successes, if he was being fair to himself. However, Tom didn¡¯t want to be fair, he wanted to have these issues gone. To that end, he had at least been able to figure out one of them. From high above the clearing that Stephanie sat meditating, Tom watched. His lip curled as a familiar face started heading in her direction.

    Skill - Magical Flight

    Air is just a collection of particles. Flying through it is simply a matter of perspective.

    Skill - Arcane Eye

    The mundane senses can be tricked, but the arcane eye sees more than simple shapes and colours.

    The horrifying little thing could only be seen by Tom, thankfully. After experimenting with his mana and Dao for a while, and doing so while uncomfortably fixated on finding the killer in Newtown, Arcane Eye had been born. More correctly, Gazer had been born. The little eyeball fluttered on four wings and somehow managed to convey a wink every time it caught Tom¡¯s eye. The weird little flirt would scout as he told it to, but it came to something when Tom found my own magic weird.

    Flying felt surprisingly natural, and the thrill quickly wore off once Tom started to sweat because of the exertion. It cost a lot of energy, but it was worth it for the look on someone¡¯s face when he took off into the air.

    The killer¡¯s pattern had been easy enough to find, but the actual man himself had been like a ghost. Initially Tom had assumed someone was entering the town and then leaving, but the wolf never left the sheep¡¯s enclosure. Known only as Ewan, this freakish loner kept to themself and basically slipped under the radar. The world rewarded violence disproportionately these days, so it was impossible to avoid everyone with a hard edge, but looking at Ewan now? Tom thought that Newtown¡¯s guards should probably have been able to tell when they let him in.

    Wiry muscles and a thin frame made him fairly unassuming, but something about Ewan¡¯s gait was so feline as he stalked towards Stephanie that Tom really felt it should have been noticeable about town. Maybe Tom was just on edge. It would be okay, he promised himself. He was ready. The man stepped into the trap he had placed two nights before and Tom finally let himself breathe again.

    Skill - Arcane Trap

    Intent and power are all that is needed to create wonders. With the intent to capture, the Arcane Trap is born.

    A purple cage of energy shot up ten feet into the air before closing in an instant. Like a feral animal, the man started smashing into the walls. Having tested it himself first, Tom knew it wasn¡¯t pleasant. Tom didn¡¯t mind that it hurt, though. He looked over from his position above the treetops and saw that the noise hadn¡¯t disturbed Stephanie. ¡°Good,¡± He said quietly to himself as he landed before Ewan, ¡°I think it¡¯s time we had a chat-¡±

    Sirens. Distant, but familiar. Tom frowned as the System pushed a message into his vision.

    Trial Wave initiated - Level 34 - Ascentown

    Tom¡¯s heart dropped into his stomach and then out of his ass. A trial wave¡­ based on his level. He looked between the caged murderer, still attacking the walls of the trap, and over towards the Outpost where the horns were blaring. It was an automated System warning for the trial wave. ¡°Oh¡­ fuck.¡±

    They weren¡¯t prepared for this. While Ewan was one of the main problems, in that not dealing with him was costing people their lives, Tom¡¯s other main issue was going to be far worse now. Without anything to push them, and the power to lord over others, Aaron, Ellie and Harry had become¡­ hard to deal with.

    Aaron had spent all of his money on opening a tavern through the System, which had locked out my ability to buy defences both because of a building type limit and not having the funds. Of course, he had bought more afterwards because he seemed to be absolutely set on being not just useless, but detrimental. A bunch of drunk people were no help. Ellie and Harry were in charge of getting people into accommodations but complaints were coming in about the speed at which it was happening. There were also rent complaints, but it seemed more like poor management than greed.

    The fact they were charging anything at all was a surprise to me, one Tom had been planning to fix once he dealt with Ewan. Now he was panicking, and stuck with indecision. Why was this all down to me? He lamented, How did I end up in charge of anything? To add to the chaos, Tom felt a wonderful burst of cold air as Stephanie¡¯s Dao became fully formed. Not knowing which way to turn first, it was no surprise that Tom fucked up again.

    Looking down at the knife buried in his side, Tom stumbled. His concentration had slipped on the Arcane Trap. Whatever magic Ewan possessed had been enough to get out. ¡°Ouch¡­¡± Tom mumbled dumbly, feeling blood on his lips. The knife was pulled away and reinserted somewhere else and he fell to the floor. Everything started to go dark as the knife came away again.

    Pressure seemed to expand across the whole world, as dangerous and deadly as the most powerful hurricane. Tom thought he heard some screaming, which made sense, but he wasn¡¯t sure who was doing it. The last thing Tom knew before everything went black was that he had failed.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Trial Wave initiated - Level 34

    I scoffed at the low level of the wave but raised my eyebrow. ¡°Does the System think that Tom is the leader of the guild?¡± I asked Naea, completely affronted. We were close now, having sprinted straight back to the guild hall, passing Home Base entirely. ¡°If it¡¯s basing the incoming monster wave off of Tom¡¯s level, I¡¯m guessing, then it¡¯s definitely saying-¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s the time to be worried about that, Grant.¡± If Naea was being the voice of reason, then things really were as bad as they could get. At least it seemed most people were heading into the fortified guild hall of The Ascent. Harry was at the front door, beckoning people inside so I moved over to him.

    ¡°There¡¯s our fearless leader,¡± Harry said when he saw me, ¡°where have you been?¡± He quickly reigned in his attitude upon seeing my face. Naea even backed away from me as actual heat started coming off my body.

    ¡°As you can see, Haz, I¡¯m not in the mood to explain things right now. Where¡¯s Tom?¡± The edge in my voice forced Harry into giving me a stumbling answer and shutting up immediately afterwards. Tom was in Newtown right now. Annoying. ¡°Fine. Make sure everyone¡¯s safe. Aaron and Ellie?¡±

    ¡°I think Aaron is protecting his taverns and Ellie is¡­¡± Harry didn¡¯t seem to want to answer and I really didn¡¯t have time to care. The burning sensation I had felt was a magical warning. The sheer amount of mana being manipulated to create the impending swarm was irritating my skin.

    ¡°Do you guys not feel that?¡± I asked, scratching my neck. Harry and Naea both shook their heads and I growled, frustrations only growing. It was a good job there would soon be a lot of monsters to get my frustrations out on. ¡°I¡¯ll go find Tom, someone else can hold the door open, you go and get the other two.¡±

    ¡°What are we-¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re supposed to protect these people, so figure out how to do it. Isn¡¯t that your whole thing?¡± It was possible that no one on Earth had faced dangers at the level I had, even before the latest dungeon. Even if it wasn¡¯t fair for me to expect others to be as serious as I felt they needed to be, I didn¡¯t care. ¡°Get your shit together.¡±

    Saying nothing else, I took off to the nearby Newtown to find my lieutenant. I would deal with the more sedentary members of The Ascent once the trial wave was dealt with. I ignored Naea remaining behind for a few seconds to apologise for my energy, taking off in the direction of the town. She caught up, saying nothing. We nodded to each other, and picked up the pace.

 Book Two - Chapter Sixteen - War Of The World

    Trial Wave Spawned

    Faction Quest - Survive The Trial Wave - 428/428

    Ascentown has reached the threshold to be declared an Outpost, which means becoming a bastion against the dangers outside. Protect the population and drive back the assault.

    Reward: Passive income to Ascentown coffers +250 gold per day

    ¡°That¡­ cheered me up a bit actually,¡± I confessed to Naea, showing her the quest screen. ¡°Remind me to check out the faction inventory at some point.¡± I knew that if I checked right now, I would either get lost in thought or excitement and there were more pressing matters.

    First on my list was the clash of energies I could feel somewhere on the outskirts of Newtown. Neither of the Dao were ones I recognised, which was interesting on its own. The fact they were clearly fighting made it worth checking out all the more. I burst onto the scene without caring for any kind of etiquette. If whoever it was wanted a fair fight, they could do it another time.

    Of course, my humour died upon seeing the scene. Encased in what seemed to be a protective layer of ice, a heavily bleeding Tom lay shivering. Defending him, with a sledgehammer made of compacted snow, was a pretty blonde woman I hadn¡¯t met before. She looked terrified of both me and the bald man standing against her. ¡°Naea, can you go help Tom?¡± I asked quietly. She did so as I held up my hand to the woman, who looked ready to swat the fairy with her hammer. ¡°Don¡¯t do that. Tom¡¯s my friend.¡±

    Glad that she listened quickly, I turned to the man. ¡°If I remember right, there was some nasty Dao on show the last time I was here. I thought Tom could handle it without too much trouble but it looks like I miscalculated there.¡± I was talking to myself at this point, as the man had turned to sprint away. He was surprisingly fast, which I guessed was the result of a skill.

    ¡°Had to use Cleanse,¡± Naea said from behind me, tending to Tom. ¡°There must be some poison on his knife or something.¡± I wasn¡¯t planning to let it touch me. I¡¯m sure there was an interesting story behind all this but Newtown wasn¡¯t my problem. There was no impulse to find out his tale, or help him come back to the path of good. I had foisted a lot of my responsibilities onto Tom and it had gotten him hurt. This world was dangerous, and half-measures were akin to cowardice.

    This guy wasn¡¯t going to stand a chance.

    Quite thematically, I landed in front of the knife-wielding man while he darted through an alley. Having to resist making my voice deep and gravelly, I simply held up my finger like a gun. I smirked as he raised his hands. ¡°Relic of the past,¡± I muttered. I wasn¡¯t sure if it would work when I activated Retribution and pulled my imaginary trigger. I needn¡¯t have worried.

    Skill - Retribution (Dragon)

    Few creatures are as fearsome in their revenge than a dragon. Anyone brave or foolish enough to stand against them faces destruction.

    All I needed to use the skill was to feel like I was taking some form of retaliation against a slight. The invisible impact caught the bald man in the chest and pressed him into the concrete paved floor like a thumb pressing into dirt. The immediate sense of catharsis that ran through me was hard to describe. Like I had cut off a really annoying problem before it even began. I debated cleaning up the mess but decided it was ultimately Newtown¡¯s problem and I had more important things to do.

    ¡°He¡¯s in an alley behind a bakery and a pizza place?¡± I told the woman where the body was, my words a question as I hoped she knew where I meant. She nodded and looked between Tom and the direction of the scene. ¡°No rush whatsoever, unless you think someone¡¯s going to freak out after finding the body¡­¡±

    I hadn¡¯t considered that when I left him. I was mostly in a rage and a hurry. ¡°You feeling okay there, bud?¡± I knelt down next to Tom, who was still receiving ministrations from Naea. ¡°Sorry you got stabbed.¡±

    ¡°¡®S my fault,¡± he grumbled. With Naea¡¯s healing magic and the natural recovery of being a Grade One, Tom would be absolutely fine. I still felt guilty seeing him lying next to a pool of his own blood. ¡°Did you get all of those boss monsters? You¡¯ve been gone for nearly a month.¡±

    ¡°A MONTH?!¡± I shouted, causing everyone around to wince. ¡°Sorry, Naea. Sorry, new lady.¡±

    ¡°Stephanie,¡± she said with an awkward smile and wave.

    ¡°Sorry Stephanie. I only got one of them, so far, still three to go. We¡¯ve been gone a month?¡± I wanted to smash my head into a wall, but there was nothing I could do about it now. Anxieties and dark thoughts about what could have happened to my family in that time rose up and I cast them away. There were people to help here that needed me first. ¡°That explains the progress, I suppose.¡± Now I had even more to apologise for. Even Harry, who I had been a bit shitty to, might deserve one. Okay, so I wouldn¡¯t go that far, but I had some work to do for sure.

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    ¡°Can you take care of him?¡± I pointed to Tom while looking at Stephanie. She seemed flustered but mostly nodded so I turned to Naea. ¡°Got a whole Outpost to save over there. Will you make sure he¡¯s alright? I¡¯m sure I can handle things there.¡±

    Naea laughed, sensing the hidden reason underneath my words. ¡°Go have fun and blow off some steam.¡± I smiled, having been caught. The battles against revenants on Badaila were not the fights I had been looking for, and I had a lot of leftover emotions to get out of me before I felt normal again. ¡°Grant, you did really well in that dungeon. I¡¯m proud to be your familiar.¡±

    I walked back over to her and held up my fist. ¡°Partner,¡± I corrected. Naea smiled and nodded, giving me a fist bump back. With that sorted, I began my run back to the awfully named Ascentown. Tom was almost lucky he had been stabbed, it meant I couldn¡¯t lay into him about his awful naming. I considered what I¡¯d call the place in my head while I quickly cleared the miles between the two towns.

    Before the arrival of the System, the idea of running for miles for pretty much any reason was so far outside of my worldview I¡¯d have laughed if you suggested it. Now, with the strength I could wield casually, clearing such distances was a thing of minutes, not hours. I consistently marvelled at my new prowess, exhilarated constantly by my abilities.

    I soared across the new English countryside, if that¡¯s even where we were anymore. Arriving at Ascentown, I was pleased to see that there wasn¡¯t much movement going on. From the noise inside the guild hall, almost everyone must be inside. ¡°Harry!¡± I called, seeing him gathering up an elderly woman and running her inside. ¡°Good job, man. Sorry about my energy earlier.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, same.¡± We both nodded at each other, two manly men. Him, a six foot four mountain of muscle in a suit of awesome lion motif armour, holding a huge shield and a hefty warhammer. Me, a few inches shorter, wearing flowy mage¡¯s bottoms with a simple t-shirt and a leather jacket on top. With a big stick. His tight cut of blonde hair somehow looked good still a few months into the apocalypse, while I had an absolute bird¡¯s nest of brown knots.

    We didn¡¯t quite cut the same silhouette, now that I thought about it.

    Still, I could be far more impressive. ¡°Anyone who can protect themselves can come and watch the lightshow. I won¡¯t let the wave get anywhere near the guild hall.¡± Harry didn¡¯t question my capabilities, just nodded with a slightly confused look on his face. I had just told him to get everyone to safety, after all. ¡°Like I said, the ones who aren¡¯t scared. There¡¯s going to be a lot of Dao on show, they could learn something.¡±

    Realisation ignited in Harry¡¯s eyes and his expression tightened. ¡°Got it. Fighters.¡± That was pretty much what I meant, so I nodded. I could leave the rest up to him now that he was serious. I still hadn¡¯t seen Aaron or Ellie but it didn¡¯t matter. It was time to let loose.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Harry did as Grant asked, gathering up only seventeen of the over four hundred people. Everyone else looked at him like he was insane for asking if they wanted to go back outside. It wasn¡¯t like Harry didn¡¯t understand, but he also knew if he could just figure out the words to explain why they should, he would have everyone sprinting for a look.

    In the end, it was a pretty small group compared to the people in the guild hall. Sanjay, a fierce looking man originally from Pakistan pointed towards a dust cloud in the distance. ¡°Is that your man¡¯s work?¡± He aimed his point with a spear he had received from a dungeon before arriving in Newtown and eventually moving here. He was one of the few people who seemed to actually enjoy the fighting the new world entailed.

    ¡°No, I think that¡¯s probably the stampede of monsters.¡± Harry put a spring in my step and made sure he was in front of everyone. The trial wave was a level lower than himself, but that meant potentially dozens of monsters or more, all with Dao of their own. A valuable experience to see and be near, but worryingly dangerous all the same. If he made sure that he was between these people and the horde, they could at least get back to the guild hall if things went wrong.

    That thought resonated like a church bell at a funeral in Harry¡¯s head. Damn¡­ if Grant can¡¯t hold this back, then I definitely can¡¯t¡­ and if I can¡¯t then everyone behind me is dead, aren¡¯t they? His thoughts threatened to become very morbid, but before he could spiral too far, the lightshow which Grant had promised began.

    The air became heavy with magic, his magic, and Harry buckled slightly, his approach stopped. A few of the men and one of the women joining me outright collapsed to their knees, but they would be okay. Harry couldn¡¯t help feeling proud as the world started to break for Grant. ¡°Yeah,¡± Harry nodded, ¡°That¡¯s the guy I was talking about.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    As my mana gathered, the skies themselves darkened. What had been a clear night turned into inclement weather within moments, a vicious downpour kicking up. The world itself reacted to my power, because for right now, I was stronger than the world. That wouldn¡¯t last forever, but I needed to use my strength while I could, overpower the System and use it to keep myself and those I cared about safe. While this wasn¡¯t the lesson I internalised from Badaila, I did learn one thing about the Storm Dragon.

    One way to keep yourself safe was to destroy everything that rose against you.

    A typhoon of mana descended upon the trial wave intended for Ascentown. Like a localised hurricane, a cloud of mist and electrical energies exploded into being from the end of my hand, engulfing the wave completely. Within the massive sphere, my mana was running rampant. Both of my Dao coursed through each strike, each buffet of wind and each biting slice of hail. Every hit was intentional, destructive and ultimately final.

    Conflux Skill - Dragon¡¯s Tempest

    Snap, crackle, drop. The Dragon¡¯s Tempest doesn¡¯t stop.

    The System had clearly taken my dumb sense of humour for the description to this one. The wording wasn¡¯t important. I knew how potent the skill was, which is the reason I hadn¡¯t even tried to practise with it. Just keeping the arcing energy from hitting the small crowd Harry had gathered took all of my attention.

    Luckily, I didn¡¯t need attention for the storm to do its work. With mixed emotions, I watched as my magical cyclone stripped skin from bone and scorched the earth with its blisteringly hot strikes. Of course, with every monster being above level thirty, none of them went down easily.

    With Dragon¡¯s Tempest forming a zone of control and ruination, I stepped into the cloud. I doubted the wave could challenge me, but I would treat it seriously all the same. I would not let what happened to Badaila happen to my home. My heart tightened as vivid memories of the lost planet surfaced. I pushed the thoughts of the looming threats from my mind. They were real, but I could only do one thing. No doubt great powers were already waiting for the chance to take whatever tiny portion of power Earth had to offer.

    I simply had to be strong enough to stop them.

 Book Two - Chapter Seventeen - Bootcamp

    Faction Quest Complete - Survive The Trial Wave - 428/428

    The assault has been rebuffed and the people protected. Take the lessons learned from this dangerous event and use them to become stronger.

    Reward: Passive income to Ascentown coffers +250 gold per day

    Bonus 100% Completion Reward: Free new building purchase from Faction Menu

    Bravado and gumption aside, the trial wave wasn¡¯t easy. It took all of my skill, desperation and magical power to keep the swarm of monsters away from the Outpost. If I had Naea at my side, I wouldn¡¯t have had a problem at all, but I was only one man. Powerful, but limited. It was for this reason exactly that things couldn¡¯t stay how they were.

    The first person who needed to change was me.

    I had shirked responsibility. I had not made a wonderful impression with the leaders of Newtown by walking into their settlement and turning a man to paste, so I was going to leave the politics and background stuff to Tom. However, it was past time for me to make my presence truly known. The people who had flocked to the Outpost from Newtown hadn¡¯t come to learn how to fight.

    That didn¡¯t matter. They would need to, regardless. I made it clear that my assistance would not be so prominent on following trial waves, or any other sudden dangers which might arise. I was not going to babysit the Outpost or its people forever, but I couldn¡¯t pretend this isn''t a problem I had created. At least partially.

    I put the wave rewards to use quickly, along with money from my own coffers and the growing wealth of the town itself. I was disappointed to see that the town¡¯s inventory was far less full than even my own, but I knew that would change in time. One way to speed up that process was to whip The Ascent into shape.

    The training area I had purchased was perfect for that.

    At a truly exorbitant two hundred thousand coins, even I couldn¡¯t have hoped to afford this extremely interesting building. Luckily, the System couldn¡¯t have known I would go for the most expensive and obvious option when it gave me the random reward¡­ Could it?

    With questions of predetermination and free will on my mind, I activated the magical array again, ignoring the moans from below. ¡°You all said that you wanted to get stronger, didn¡¯t you?¡± A tepid chorus of assent came back to me. ¡°We can all just go and wait for the next trial wave if you want? Show me some excitement, people! Are you ready?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Eighteen voices shouted at once. ¡°We want to get stronger!¡± The mantra was simple, but hearing all of the would-be guild members yell together like a unit caused my blood to pump quicker. Tom, surprisingly, was doing a good job of guiding that energy from below. Out of everyone, he was the most disappointed in himself and his level of growth since the dungeon. While I had perhaps failed him by disappearing for a month, he faulted himself far more.

    To Tom, the inability to raise a response other than ¡°throw Grant at it¡± had bothered him. Given that it should always have been a valid option and that I was the one who disappeared for a month, he was being a little hard on himself. I didn¡¯t discourage the desperate energy however. Things went well enough in the end, but it had been close.

    I had only been away a month, and if I hadn¡¯t returned when I did? Well, that¡¯s why we were preparing now. It was the first day since the trial wave, but I wasn¡¯t worried about the group¡¯s energy dropping. If anything, my tough guy facade would break way earlier. Fortunately, I didn¡¯t need to be the brutal taskmaster when someone else enjoyed it far more.

    ¡°ALRIGHT MAGGOTS, LINE UP!¡± Naea¡¯s sharp voice was infused with mana and it immediately arrested attention. She and the trainees were in a large circular pit, while I watched on from in a viewing stand. The System blew me away with the natural appearance of such a strange addition to our little Outpost. Mostly fit into the ground, the wholly wooden structure looked like a natural amphitheatre with four large gates leading in.

    The Danger Room, as it was being called, was like our own little colosseum. With a few interesting additions. Once all four gates were closed, the functions of the System-made space became active. By channelling mana, using some ingredients and spending some coins, it was possible to summon real monsters. I had tried it out alone with some of the snake skins I looted on the Everbloom Evergreen and handled the level twenty five versions the room created easily.

    After confirming that whatever ingredients I used spat out a creature of the same type, it was time to sharpen the newbies up.

    And I had the perfect enemies to do it.

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    I had to actively hide my glee when one of the new recruits stepped out of line and threw up his hands. I sized him up. Short brown hair, a nose that had been broken a few times before the System would let it heal perfectly and apparently, more muscles than brains. Probably killed a few monsters, but doesn¡¯t even know how to use mana. ¡°Why would we listen to this thing?¡± The idiot asks.

    Naea shows him and everyone else exactly why.

    In a literal flash, she became a bolt of lightning and shot to the other side of the arena. Before even the fastest could turn to find her, she began firing thick globules of web at their feet. Exploding like smoke grenades and then immediately hardening, she contained almost the entire group of nearly twenty in less than ten seconds. Only Tom and one other man were able to escape her quick onslaught.

    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re definitely going to need to do better than that. You better hope that these two can protect you while you get yourselves free¡­¡± Naea looked up to me, insectoid eyes attempting to look cute. Fluttering her eyelids, she asked me to start the first wave.

    Are you nuts?

    Grant, it¡¯s just a few spiders. They¡¯ll be fine, I¡¯ve got Cleanse.

    I stifled a chuckle and paid the cost of the training area. From above, I couldn¡¯t suppress my shudder as the sound of clicking footfalls approached. Far too many feet. The panic down below was something to behold, but I remembered how I felt when those mandibles got close to my face. The spiders spawned here were only around level five, but that was still enough to be lethal.

    Tom and the only other free fighter were doing well. For Tom it was simple enough, he just blasted anything that was dark, furry and moved with his Mana Bolts from afar. I nodded in agreement with his methods. Definitely the sensible way to deal with spiders. Of course, the amount of enemies combined with a large mass of allied force which he didn¡¯t want to hit meant Tom required precision as well as endurance.

    The other fighter was a new face to me, but was clearly the most capable of the bunch. He had no Dao, but from the way he moved that would only be a matter of time. The spear in his hand was ornate in that way only System-made items were, so it would be a quest or dungeon reward. I found myself wishing I could hear the stories of everyone that survived this long. Mine might be a little more dramatic than most, but all would be interesting.

    I focused, as it was my mana controlling the creatures. I wasn¡¯t actively commanding the spiders, but if I wanted more to spawn then I simply had to keep giving mana to the crystal at my side. Working as a mana syphon, there were multiple available to power the training. My pride and huge mana pool meant no one else was allowed to use it alongside me. With the System doing most of the heavy lifting, and the low levels of the creatures, the cost was only slightly more than my natural regeneration right now.

    So we could go for quite a while.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Alright, see you all tomorrow then.¡± The pure wave of hate which was aimed at me from my words could have been a Dao attack. The whole group had gone up multiple levels as I increased the difficulty through the day, and this was a clear sign of that. I still raised an eyebrow and squashed their animosity with an actual Dao. Without opening my mouth, the roar of a dragon and the scream of a tempest was all that could be heard. ¡°Oh? Did anyone have something to say?¡±

    Idiot from earlier clearly hadn¡¯t learned his lesson. ¡°Just who the fuck died and made you king?¡± He strode forward, and everyone stepped back. I chuckled in his face, which of course made him even more irate. I did note that he seemed unaffected by my Dao at all. He hadn¡¯t reacted to Naea, either.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± I was going to make an example out of him, but there was clearly something interesting about him. Either he was completely deaf to Dao and mana, which would be a certain kind of tragic, or he was resilient in a way that even I wasn¡¯t confident of.

    ¡°Ben,¡± he answered, sticking his chin out and curling a lip. Ben really didn¡¯t like me. Or maybe Ben really didn¡¯t like spiders, which would then translate to not liking me much.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how many people have died in the months since the System came to Earth, but I¡¯d say that my place on the food chain is because of them.¡± I suppressed a flinch as a sharp memory jabbed me. Clive¡¯s caf¨¦. Blood on the walls. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. ¡°I¡¯m king because I can do whatever I want and no one - no one - could stop me.¡±

    ¡°Pff¡±, he scoffed. I didn¡¯t waste a moment and activated Retribution. I felt insulted enough for this situation to count. An invisible fist smashed Ben into the dirt and pushed him down. It shouldn¡¯t hurt, but I didn¡¯t mind if it did. It was mostly to show force, and Ben had happily volunteered.

    ¡°As I said, I shall see you all tomorrow.¡± I stepped over the groaning body, intentionally flexing my aura to let the less sensitive among them feel the power. ¡°Let me explain something while I have you all here. For the most part, you are going to become the most important people in this town. We all know that things have changed, but none of you have seen the things that I have seen.¡±

    To further illustrate my point, I had Naea attack me. She was more than happy. As I dodged her genuine attempt on my life, I continued talking. ¡°Earth is the tiniest speck of dust you can imagine, and greedy monsters from your nightmares are waiting in the shadows to take everything you hold dear.¡± I managed to sound composed but Naea had gone extra hard, trying to make me look stupid, and I was nearly out of mana and breath at the same time.

    ¡°Naea will be taking over training for the next few days. Not only does she enjoy it more than me, she will push you harder than I did today. If any of you have an issue with that, and want to give up, leave now.¡± I released the pressure on Ben, even as I continued bouncing around the arena to avoid Naea. ¡°I¡¯m being genuine, I don¡¯t want you if you can¡¯t handle this and worse.¡±

    ¡°When will we know that we¡¯re strong enough?¡± The man with the spear and the turban spoke. His deep voice was delightful to listen to but he had to shout to be heard over the thumping and crashing from the fairy and I.

    ¡°When you can land a single hit on me.¡± Naea and I stopped as one in front of the group. ¡°One single attack, however you attack, and you pass. You can join The Ascent proper and become someone I actually care about. Until then, you¡¯re deadweight for Naea to fuck with. Any questions?¡±

    Shockingly, no one spoke up.

 Book Two - Chapter Eighteen - Peak

    With Naea handling the training of what I was lovingly calling the Fledglings, I had some time to myself. It felt¡­ strange. Naea was a constant companion for the past weeks and months, and though we had a constant connection, this was the first time we intentionally chose to work separately. Even knowing it made sense, and it was important for Naea to find a solo identity that could exist without me¡­

    It was weird.

    I gladly threw myself into a task I had accidentally procrastinated upon. I had to promise Naea ¡°officially¡± not to poke my head into any more portals. Even if they looked really cool. Or valuable. Or if there was a time limit. She had been quite specific. I had signed multiple printed documents. When I asked where she had got them from, she merely winked and told me ¡°a lady must have her secrets.¡±

    I conceded the point, and the promise.

    No portals, just me and the three claimant monsters stopping me from getting at the full System faction menu. If I let my mind wander and my feet do as they wished while simultaneously focusing on the quest, I was able to get a vague sense of their direction. Which is to say, I had the absolute worst and least helpful hot-and-cold direction finder possible. Naea had genuinely tried to teach me Find The Path but I just couldn¡¯t get it.

    ¡°You have to get your mana like¡­ this,¡± she had given bunk advice while gesturing unhelpfully, ¡°and then you make it spin while colouring it with the thing you want to find¡¯s scent. Magically.¡±

    I had been frustrated by both her explanation and my inability to just figure it out anyway. It was the first time I had encountered something magical that I couldn¡¯t replicate and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Instead of a handy and pretty stream of glittering mana to follow, I had to stand still for a few minutes every hour of travel and reorient myself. Thankfully, the claimant beast seemed to enjoy hanging around fairly obvious landmarks.

    The drake had set up in the Evergreen Everbloom, and my next victim was apparently in the only true mountain around. It was hard to tell as it had been in the distance for the most part, but I could have sworn the peak was getting higher. It seemed higher than the last time I saw it, which would have been a month ago. I¡¯d bet all of those weird dragon coins I had on the mountain being a resource.

    But was it the famous and elusive grade two resource?

    My senses said no, though it was definitely ¡°loud¡± magically. The energy felt grade one, but on a literally mountainous scale, it was making my head spin a little. The grassland dotted with small woods and larger forests gave way to hard stone and the moment my foot touched it, I had to step back. To my Stormborn eyes, the rock was vibrating with mana. It made my vision feel fuzzy, like I had motion sickness.

    With a flex of Dao, I took control of the mana in my vicinity. For a wide area around myself, the excited energy of the mountain froze, a mouse under my snake¡¯s gaze. There was an expenditure of willpower and mana, but it was negligible enough. I began my climb of the rocky mountain, trying to get used to the strange energy it held.

    The pace in which I was scaling to the top would put any old-world rock climber to shame. Throwing myself from hand hold to hand hold without a care, transforming the Alternating Armament into just the right shape to attack the rock. I hauled myself onto a plataeu and took in the view. I could see Newtown more easily than my Outpost from here, though both were in the same direction.

    It was at this point in my trek that I was first beset by the denizens of the mountain.

    They did not disappoint at all. After the ¡°normal animals but larger¡± Everbloom Evergreen, I was hoping for something with a bit more flair to battle. There had been a lot of monsters in the trial wave, but I had barely spent time looking at them before tearing them apart. When I saw the level of the strange creature that decided I was unwelcome, I paused.

    Monster - Shaleborn Kalar - Level 47

    So, apparently a Kalar had the proportions of a monkey with no head and four arms. I assumed being Shaleborn was why it was made entirely of stone, but maybe that was a Kalar thing, too. I had time to consider this as I soared through the air, off the mountain. The rock was steep where I had been climbing, so there was quite the drop.

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    I fell through the air, glaring daggers at the Kalar which seemed to be waving its fists at me. You motherfu-

    Terminal velocity and rocks weren¡¯t enough to kill me anymore, but it was the principle of the thing. I decided to test something, and used Tempest Form when I neared the ground, hoping to disperse the impact. It wasn¡¯t a complete failure. Instead of landing awkwardly, I landed wide. My essence scattered for a few uncomfortable seconds, making me black out. As enough of myself pulled together, I deactivated the skill with a gasp. Instead of broken bones, I had drained nearly my entire mana pool and left myself with a migraine.

    I decided to place all of the blame onto the Kalar which had thrown me. Without waiting for my stamina and mana to recover, I launched myself back at the rocky expanse without pause. Before too long, I was back on the exact same plateau, and this time I was ready. The reason I had been so mercilessly tossed last time was because despite being made entirely of loose rocks, the Shaleborn Kalar was silent as it moved up the mountain.

    However, knowing it was coming allowed me to react. I definitely saw its arm appear from the rock, already around my ankle. I smashed the hand, but two more grabbed my other leg and I was again kissing the clouds. The fall gave me some time to consider, and in that descent, I decided I didn¡¯t want to fall anymore. I didn¡¯t actually have a choice this time, but I promised myself it would never happen again.

    Within my soul, an unfamiliar rumble crackled. I hit the ground with a solid thump. By channelling three layers of Infusion and making the Alternating Armament into a kite shield, I merely dislocated my shoulder. The pain was still explosive, like I recalled from the first day everything changed. I tried to remember the face of the man who had helped me back then, but my mind had not been remade by the System¡¯s potential at that point.

    All I could recall was facts, not features. He was bald, but I didn¡¯t remember the shape of his head. He had been wearing general labourer¡¯s clothes, but were they covered in paint or were they clean?

    I hadn¡¯t lucked into a forward dislocation and my arm bone was scraping uncomfortably against my shoulder blade. The limb looked funny, my left arm a few inches shorter than my right. I giggled and that¡¯s when I knew that I was going into shock. Even my thoughts wandering to Helpful Bald Man was a sign of that. I blinked tears from my eyes and took a deep breath.

    ¡°Hup!¡± I positioned myself under an outcrop of stone and jumped. Not the most medically sound method for fixing a dislocated shoulder, but I had confidence that a bit of healing magic and my body¡¯s natural recovery would stop the injury from healing wrong. ¡°Definitely should have brought Naea,¡± I cursed. Not only did she hold the true healing magic between us, she could fly.

    I had a fluttery feeling in my chest that came from the Dao of Tempests. When the Dao of the Dragon made itself known, it was a fiery and snarling predator which would not back down. The tempest was different. It had been roused by my last tumble through the open air, and I let my mana dance to its rhythmic suggestions. The adversity of pain and climbing put me in a thoughtful mood, as I swayed with the feeling.

    The full meaning behind where an Aspect became bound, be it Fortitude, Speed, Mental or Will, I didn¡¯t know. Did the Aspect, and eventual Dao, alter the mentality of the wielder? Even the method of developing my Dao was confusing, a process I had fumbled through up to now. For the most part, I had been ascribing ideals to the Aspects, and then finding myself choosing to live up to those ideals.

    It was working for me, so it was easy not to question, but I didn¡¯t want to get stuck in a bad mindset. This mountain was uncomfortably metaphorical all of a sudden, but I ignored that to focus on the magic within me. For the first time in a while, I did a true delve into my inner world.

    The sight was not encouraging.

    I had been neglecting my psyche, but how could I hide from my very soul? I couldn¡¯t avert my eyes when it was the universe around me, so I faced the damage head on. I had taken on a role, simply by being powerful and not recognising the importance of that in the new world. The pressure I felt from this was represented in a chain around my Dao Avatar.

    The way I interacted with my inner world had also changed over time. Initially, it had been a pure visualisation based on my fragmented understanding of magic. When my first Dao Pool formed, a more physical interpretation formed. My starting location was generally the same. Normally, I would appear on a wide open plain, as though I were a denizen of the imaginary planet on a stroll through the well kept wilderness. The sky was  dotted with stars, and the brightest two represented the Guidance Stones I had used.

    I frowned at the chained dragon to my left. I took in the scene of the heavy metal links holding down the tail, limbs and wings of my mind¡¯s depiction of the draconic power I held. It snorted at me with a glare, so I glared back. Given that it was my soul, I knew what the issue was but I could hardly believe myself. Was my Dao being childish?

    ¡°Oh grow up, I¡¯ll play with you more later.¡± I swatted the air in the direction of the dragon. It¡¯s ever changing form growled and now it was my turn to grunt. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m having an argument with my own subconscious. I need so much therapy. No way I¡¯m qualified for that. Listen, you. Power is power, whether I use your¡¯s or¡­¡±

    I gestured to the moon in the sky. I had envisioned my later powers being used to raise up the incredible potent strengths of the dragon, and the Tempest Moon was the first of those. There were two strange blank spots in the sky that I knew my next Aspects would fit into, but feeling the void there was an itch I couldn¡¯t wait to fix. ¡°Only with the right Aspects,¡± I calmed the dragon, who knew my thoughts and voiced my own prideful thoughts back to me. Anything less than a legendary Aspect would be a no from me at this point, whether I had the option or not.

    I faced the Tempest Moon. Its presence in my soul space had been a nourishing influence. Instead of the domineering energy that the Dragon demanded, the tempest did not qualify the use of its power. The exude strength was the domain of the storm, after all. The Tempest did not oppress, or dominate. Those actions required intent, and the storm was nothing but pure power.

    It overwhelmed.

    Tha-Dump.

    My eyes opened, and the air around me moved to my thoughts. A system message filled me with my information and understanding, a new skill unlocked. More than that, I had been spending a lot of time pondering the nature of storms, my time on Badaila being a crash course I would never forget. The ability was just waiting for me to realise it was there.

    Skill Unlocked - Air Manipulation (Tempest)

    By infusing the surrounding atmosphere with mana, you bring it under your command.

 Book Two - Chapter Nineteen - The Climb

    I floated upwards carefully, cocooned in a pillow of magically commanded wind. I was in the perfect location to train my control and I took advantage of that fact. Slower than if I used my arms and legs, I found the cliff which I had been thrown from twice. However, this time my approach had been silent, at least as far as the Shaleborn Kalar was concerned. Using gales of wind to approximate flying wasn¡¯t exactly quiet.

    However, my current enemy had no ears. My theory was that the Kalar protected the peaks from trespassers so it could continue cultivating its power by absorbing power from the mountain itself. The buzzing mana underneath the rock of the mountain had remained antagonistic to my own energies. Now that I was more connected with the breeze than ever, I understood why.

    The whole mountain was like a giant battery filled with earth-aspected mana. A fair number of Dao could be felt here, unlike on the Everbloom Evergreen. The Daos of Earth, Rock and something else I couldn¡¯t name as specifically were the most common. The mystery Dao felt similar to the Growth I had felt upon the massive tree to the north, with the except that said growth had already happened. Maybe it was the Dao of Size? Or Vastness, more likely.

    Sensing the Dao of Space was the biggest surprise. I immediately had a strangely fond recollection of the previous wielder of my weapon. Master Thorn had been a true warrior, and I wouldn¡¯t have noticed this potent Dao without having our final battle in the dungeon. I had thought some of the climbs felt longer than they should have. By rising up the mountain without physically touching it, I avoided the stretched areas of space.

    ¡°Cool mountain,¡± I confirmed to myself before dropping onto my least favourite plateau in the world. ¡°Not this time, fucker.¡± I jumped and landed on a hard air platform right as the Kalar tore from the ground to grab me again. Physically, the weird little golem was way stronger than me due to attributes and the Dao is used.

    It was my first time experiencing the rock-paper-scissors effect that a Dao could have. The Kalar used the incredibly simple and assumedly common Dao of Earth, but it completely grounded the Dao of Tempests. My new Air Manipulation was next to useless as an attack for now, doubly so against a literal rock. I had to exert increasing amounts of effort, mana and willpower to continue using the new skill.

    The Kalar, knowing I was in the area, tried to use its Dao to lock down the other mana in the area. I lost a step and became heavier as its surprisingly potent Dao took over. I would have to relook at my prejudice against the common Aspects. The Kalar was doubtlessly unintelligent, yet it shouldn¡¯t have been a shock that it could grasp the very Dao of its creation to a high level.

    Of course, I was stubborn, proud and knew this was ideal training, so I used it anyway. Determined to beat the Shaleborn Kalar using the explicit worst tools at my disposal, I flipped over a grasping clutch. Alternating Armament in staff form, I didn¡¯t land, instead bouncing on the tip of the weapon to avoid the second pair of reaching arms. Using the momentum of the bounce and my new control, I spun high into the air.

    I rose like a discus thrown straight up, then I redirected the wind and fell at a greater speed than gravity would normally accept. I brushed away such ambient concepts, along with the Kalar¡¯s decent attempt at exerting control with a thunderclap of my own energy. With a crash, I connected my staff to the Kalar at the perfect moment. Only the shifting nature of the Alternating Armament stopped the rebounding force from shattering my arms.

    Instead, I was thrown back like a pebble against a boulder. The staff became a pair of gauntlets as I tumbled through the air, landing happily onto the solid rock. I couldn¡¯t stop to recover, so I rolled and scrambled away from the Kalar¡¯s attempts at grappling. By focusing on the changes in the air under my control, I was able to receive slightly advanced warnings on its attacks. Damn, this ability is useful, I thought happily.

    It is famously said that ¡°Necessity is the mother of invention,¡± to which I felt comfortable saying ¡°and desperation is the father of possibility.¡± As two disgustingly solid and powerful hands wrapped around my leg, I was desperate not to be removed from the mountain again. I tensed every muscle, clenched every avenue of power and threw them at the Kalar all at once.

    ¡°NO!¡± I yelled, power exploding from me. Magic is intent, and my intentions were all mixed together. I wanted to win, only using Air Manipulation and my Dao to strengthen it. I also wanted to smash this stupid thing to tiny pieces and punish it for casually tossing me from the mountain. Twice. I desperately didn¡¯t want to fall again.

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    More mana than I had ever output into a single skill or ability screamed from me. With a vicious whipping sound, a visible lash of air sliced one of the offending limbs from the Kalar. The form of the arm fell apart as soon as it was detached, becoming a collection of brittle shale chips. The Armament followed my will and even as I threw a gauntleted fist, my hand filled with the handle of a pickaxe.

    I threw myself into the air, three platforms all arranged for me to grab and stand on above the ground. The Kalar tried to grab at me with its two remaining arms, but I was heartened to see that it at least didn¡¯t regrow the others. If it could, it wouldn''t be able to do so immediately. That clash had cost both of us. With the mountain strengthening the Kalar¡¯s Dao, I had needed to swing all of the willpower I could muster for that high-pressure air slice.

    Myself running low on mana, the Kalar losing limbs, this could be interesting. The creature had slipped into the rock like it was sinking underwater. I wondered if it was smart enough to consider running. I laughed at myself, knowing that I certainly wasn¡¯t. Leaving now, even to climb higher, would be like admitting defeat.

    Absolutely not.

    With the restrictions I had on myself, the battle was closer than I had ever expected it to be. Both my assumptions that a common Dao wouldn¡¯t be a problem, and that my attributes would always carry me, were shaken and firmly destroyed. Without using Infusion to increase my strength and speed, I wasn¡¯t much stronger than a fresh Grade one fighter. Sweat had begun to form now that my mana was running low, and I embraced the feeling.

    If I got tossed from the cliff again, I wouldn¡¯t have the mana to make the fall suck less. My still throbbing shoulder had only worsened in the fight. Even with the lost limbs, I didn¡¯t know if I was much closer to actually killing the Kalar or not. My initial strategy had proven inadequate, and even if I wanted to break my bonds and use the Dao of the Dragon, the Dao itself would refuse.

    I smiled, wide and wild. That extra month away had done wonders for the world¡¯s ability to challenge me. It was because of that month, spent weathering Badaila¡¯s rage, that I felt the pressure on myself not to just grow, but to become stronger than anyone else. I thanked the System for not letting me rot in boredom for any longer. It might be dancing on the knife¡¯s edge, but this was the only way I knew how to face this new world.

    I decided not to analyse what that meant for my psyche and dove back into the fight.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Would you like to loot Shaleborn Kalar (Level 47)?

    ¡°Give. Me. That. Junk.¡± I gladly accepted my reward for a battle well won. I raised my eyebrows as I felt the weight of new materials appearing in my inventory. I had more than enough space within the strange invisible backpack in my soul, but this was one of the first times I noticed something entering. The other times¡­

    Inventory

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted) - 5192

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint) - 15,199

    Storm Arrows

    Assorted Earth foods

    Guidance Stone Of Breaching

    Various Furnitures

    Alchemical Supplies

    Leatherworking Supplies

    Metalworking Supplies

    I had recovered some of the costs I had put into the Outpost during the trial wave, but I barely looked at the money. A part of me had been tempted to take the coins out and fill a bath with them but I avoided being ridiculous when I could. Naea was usually the source of that energy. I removed the culprit of the increased weight, hidden in the newest section - metalworking supplies.

    Item - Infused Ore (Grade One)

    Used in the creation of grade one metals for crafting

    ¡°Oh wow,¡± I nudged some of the crushed shale at my feet, ¡°you were extra valuable.¡± I doubted the Kalar cared, but without Naea¡¯s constant companionship, I found myself talking to anything and everything that I could pretend might listen. The rock in my hand was quite pretty. The bulk of the stone, I couldn¡¯t place but was a pleasant dark grey. Most importantly, I assumed, were the silver shards of magically charged metal within. ¡°Neat.¡±

    Wary of an ambush, I stole a short rest to recover some of my mana pool and stamina before continuing to make my way up the mountain. Each time I focused on my quarry of the claimant beasts, I found myself looking up to the peak of the mountain. My target was up there. I craned my neck, jumping out from the cliff and landing on a cushion of air. I couldn¡¯t quite make a cloud, but I was going to practise until I could for sure. If the Dao of Tempests didn¡¯t let me make clouds, I was trading in my magic.

    The top of the mountain was easily another mile away, due to various spatial magic weirdness along with the explosive scale of the whole world these days. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from sighing slightly as I coaxed the wind to push me skywards. If I got thrown off again, it was going to take so long to get back.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    From their throne atop Cloudslash Horn, the golem waited. It could feel the tremors from below, battle upon on the mountain, but it did not move to intervene. While the mountain was its domain, it cared little for ruling. As an avatar of the planet, a being created to express existence itself, such snap decisions were not in its nature.

    Changing course was something only to be done after great consideration, and while the golem¡¯s mind was by no means slow, it was so close. To expend any energy now, when evolution was only hours away, was a loss of efficiency that the golem could not accept. The evolution to grade two would mean a far greater ability to grow, and thus needed to occur as soon as possible.

    Like impulsivity, doubt was not a common emotion for the golem to shoulder. As the tremors approached, increasing in severity and regularity, the alien sentiment took hold. Perhaps¡­

    Perhaps it should request some assistance.

 Book Two - Chapter Twenty - Preparations For Battle

    Two times. Two times I had been caught unaware by one of the denizens of the mountain and my progress was stolen. The first time was the worst, the second just a nuisance. I had faced a few variant creatures, almost all of them some kind of rock creature. What little vegetation I did find was no less aggressive than the stone it bore through.

    That was where the first fall came in. A plant monster, which I had mistakenly assumed to be just a previously unknown-to-me type of vine, grabbed me as I passed. Before I even knew to struggle, the whole vine had separated from the wall and taken me for a tumble. My head collided with an incredibly obstinate rock, and the next thing I knew I was much further down the mountain and being choked to death.

    A quick Infusion and I was able to tear the plant away but I was yet again forced to climb back the way I had come, cursing my carelessness. I tried to avoid thinking of the luck it must have taken for me to only have a splitting headache and some already dried blood on my head. Right as I began to climb again, it was the mountain¡¯s turn to piss me off.

    A shudder, strong as an earthquake, shook the whole world around me. The massive, miles tall mountain began to thrum with power. As though it had been dormant before, the entire range was now awake and angry. A more conscious version of the ambient Dao all around me took hold. The battle I had been fighting to keep my control over the air around me became magnitudes harder, and thus, my second fall. I tumbled another fifteen feet, catching my knee on a shard of stone and howling at the pain.

    I stopped trying to take deep breaths and calm myself. For the dozenth time since I began attempting to scale this overgrown hill from hell, I cursed at a setback. ¡°Fine, fuck it.¡± I had pushed as far as I could go with the skills I currently had. It was no longer possible to climb with the air manipulation, everything was locked down by a Dao which had to be at least on the level of an Avatar. It felt all encompassing, due to the mountain acting as a resonating device.

    I removed a small, spherical crystal from my inventory. The load on my spirit noticeably lightened as I took in its appearance. The Guidance Stone of Breaching had been burning a hole in my inventory for quite a while now. Something akin to intuition had caused me to wait in absorbing the information within, something which now said ¡°use it.¡±

    Before now, I had been fairly removed from the Dao of Tempests. Relying on the power which started my path wasn¡¯t a mistake, and the Dragon would always be the foundation of my strength, but I knew now how strangled my growth was becoming. Despite the setbacks in ascending the mountain, I was having fun. A small part of me felt guilty at that, but I was sure that Naea at least was enjoying herself, even if most of humanity probably wasn¡¯t.

    It was no accident that this was where I centred myself. I had called my guild The Ascent for a reason, and that reasoning was laid bare here. If there was a meaning to life in this new world, to not just surviving but thriving within the System, it was to climb. To challenge oneself and push through every barrier that fell before you. That was how to do more than live. That was how one climbed.

    I activated the small crystal and felt it crumble into dust in my grasp. Blasting wind spun around me, though I wasn¡¯t thrown around at all. I was the eye of this storm, and any influence the heavy Dao in the area had was banished. I felt as free as a tornado and my mana drank in the new methods that the Guidance Stone taught me, written directly into the flow of magic within my core.

    Skill Unlocked - Blast (Tempest/Breaching)

    What happens to the target of a lightning bolt? The same that happens to everything else.

    Did the System just¡­

    I shook my head, ignoring the wording of the prompt for the feeling it pushed through my mana. The succinct name for the skill was matched by its utility. Curious and excited, I scrambled up to the nearest safe place to test and levelled my palm out into the open sky. Not worried about seeming silly, I took the opportunity to match the System¡¯s silliness.

    ¡°Kaaaaa¡­¡± I brought my hands together in front of myself, wrists bent perpendicular. ¡°Meeee¡­¡± I drew my cupped hands together, using the space between my fingers as a cage for the energy. Burning electric sparks by the thousand danced between my palms. Without the Guidance Stone, I couldn¡¯t have contained this amount of power in one attack. One Blast.

    ¡°Haaaa¡­¡± I twisted my hands, moulding the energy into a sphere of pure destruction. My breath came in sharp gasps as exhilaration gathered alongside the blue mana in my hand. Damn, it¡¯s really just missing the sound effects. ¡°Meeeee¡­¡± My voice rose and I continued to pour as much mana into the skill as it would let me. The balloon in my hand expanded and I struggled to even lift my hands. With an almighty shout, I threw the energy forward.

    Stolen story; please report.

    ¡°HAAAAA!¡± I shouted a battle cry against the universe above and, hoping wildly that I was aiming right at the Storm Dragon itself, wherever it was, I launched the beam. An incredibly impressive display was my reward as the attack scored a rend in the sky itself. A nearby cloud, and one not-so-nearby were ripped apart and lightning bolts fell to the earth as they blasted apart.

    ¡°God. Damn.¡± I looked at my hands with wonder. For my next break, I simply stared into the clear expanse of sky I had created, mostly shaking my head. My own power was terrifying to me. I reconfirmed my decision to immediately destroy the murderer in Newtown. With a month of time, they could have been at a similar level of power. I was only a low tiered Grade One. With my achievements, I probably reached the echelons of Grade Two. I highly doubted that¡¯s where the scale stopped. Whether the world was ready or not, people with strength like mine were going to become normal, if not common.

    ¡°Nothing to do but stay ahead of them.¡± With my mana recovered and my mind settled, I began to rise once more. As though in response to my return to the mountain, or maybe my challenge to the skies in this case, a shriek of epic proportions rattled both my grip and my teeth. The world-shaking screech made me jump in fright. Given my previous slips, I was prepared for pretty much anything. Even then, the descriptor wasn¡¯t for nothing and my handheld shivered free of the mountain. It created a headache due to the willpower needed but I just about managed to create a single platform of solid air to jump off and reattach myself to the mountain.

    Up to now, the peaks had been eerily quiet, except for during the battles with the rock monsters that kept assaulting me. Only when I heard the scream of what could only be a huge bird did I realise how strange that was. If there were an apex predator stalking about, though¡­ ¡°Definitely a claimant.¡± A tiny flicker of doubt disappeared. It would have been really annoying to do all this clambering and falling to find that my quarry wasn¡¯t even here.

    Finally, I found myself within spitting distance of the very top of the mountain. I half-expected to see a massive roost at the top, but no such luck. A jagged spire rose up, sheer and imposing. The tower of rock was wide, but not as large as the arena I found myself climbing into. In a final attempt by the mountain to be as obnoxious as possible, the wide flat table of rock housed multiple level fifty and higher enemies.

    Monster - Graniteborn Kalar - Level 51

    Monster - Shaleborn Drainer - Level 53

    Monster - Gravel Ent - Level 52

    Instead of despair, I broke into a wide smile. It had been way too long since I felt that mystical feeling of growth that came with a level up. I just happened to be right on the cusp, a fact that had been bothering me until now. The scaling amount of energy needed to level up meant despite the numerous battles against foes of higher level than myself, I hadn¡¯t managed to level once since leaving the Dungeon. Or, I guessed the first Dungeon, after Badaila.

    It was time to change that.

    The Leadborn Kalar was a gorilla-sized version of the Shaleborn variant. Four thick arms, two sturdy legs and a wide barrel chest, it plunged its arms into the rock around it as I approached. The Shaleborn creatures were the ¡°dextrous¡± versions found on the mountain, shifting their form and falling into the ground with impossible ease. Leadborn creatures were tanky juggernauts.

    The Shaleborn Drainer had the most humanoid of the three forms on show, with porous gaps in its shape. Wind whistled through it as it sprinted at me, the rock itself shoving it forward. Its arms were elongated poles that I had no interest in meeting the business end of. Approaching with the force of a train, I avoided its wild charge easily enough.

    However, my attention was taken mostly by the Granite Ent. At first, I thought it was just a strange rock formation, until the massive thing stood. Two tree trunk wide legs rose into a mass of rock and stone which shuffled loudly. The top half looked like the branches of an oak, and from the way the bulbous limbs slithered was ominous. In two huge strides, it cleared the distance between us and tried to kick me off the mountain.

    ¡°No way, pal,¡± I danced around the wrecking ball of a foot. As it slammed the pillar of rock back down, it threw its top half over me. Dozens of sharp spikes began to attack me. The clump of malleable rock jabbed me with spears, attempting to destroy my eyes and throat mostly. It was a vicious attack that I was unprepared for.

    I wasn¡¯t idle through this, however. I roared in outrage and created as many Mana Bolts as I could within the Granite Ent¡¯s upper body. All of them fired off like sniper bullets, tearing chunks from the impassive mass and giving me the room to jump away. I managed to get the Alternating Armament up in time to block the Shaleborn Drainer¡¯s attack. The flowing metal lost its shape due to the impact and I tried to create some room.

    Two massive boulders were barely dodged as I jumped like a needle between them, activating Tempest Form for an instant. Without a true physical shape, I was able to slip between the well-aimed attack. The Kalar dunked its arms up the elbows in the rock again, before its projectiles had even missed, and prepared two more. If they managed to hit me with one of those boulders, I was done.

    So, first, I needed to deal with the crowd control.

    Blood trickled over my right eyebrow and settled my choice. The Ent was first. Intrigued to see how the attack worked in a combat situation, I began to charge up a Blast. The showy, over-the-top attack I had done previously was not viable in most battles and especially not this one. Dodging two more salvos of thrown rock, as well as the Shaleborn Drainer, the Ent couldn¡¯t keep up. I created the smallest breathing room and I fired off the energy.

    Without my feet planted, the recoil of the Blast caused me to spin in the air. The shot smashed approximately where the Ent¡¯s knee would be and sheared straight through, unbalancing it and causing the twenty-foot tall elemental to fall. I didn¡¯t doubt it could repair itself, but I hoped that it would take a while. ¡°Your turn,¡± I muttered. With a swipe, the armament in my hand became a hammer which in turn collided with the Shaleborn Drainer.

    As my arm jarred upon the impact, I thought back to the weapon I had given to Harry. The warhammer fit him, but damn what I wouldn¡¯t give for a magical item which literally destroyed inanimate objects. ¡°Then again,¡± I laughed to myself, ¡°you¡¯re definitely animate.¡± Instead of wishing I had access to tools which I didn¡¯t, I would use what I had even better. I would use these enemies, as the ones before, as training.

    I would climb, one defeated foe at a time, until I could touch the peak.

 Book Two - Chapter Twenty One - A Higher Level Of Combat

    Once the Granite Ent was hobbled, the rest of the fight was supposed to play out like clockwork. Blast used a surprising amount of energy, enough that I couldn¡¯t simply spray out attacks without care. Patiently, I excavated each of the enemies with the much cheaper Mana Bolts at my disposal.

    Normally, the rock monsters of the mountain would face me in this battle of attrition happily. They didn¡¯t seem to feel pain, they were tireless, and without an ego. Due to this, the elementals had shown incredibly lacking cooperation. This changed when, once again, the mountain seemed to wake up. More than the previous rumbles of power, this one felt targeted. Right at me. My hairs stood on end and a shiver crawled up my spine at the feeling of being watched.

    Dao and intent rose up against me, and the Shaleborn Drainer moved with remarkable proprioception. No more the janky and disjointed movements of a facade, it moved like a real human being and a masterful martial artist at that. Instead of flitting around the battlefield and taking my time, I was now being pushed towards the fallen Granite Ent.

    At the same time, the Kalar apparently received a burst of inspiration. ¡°If two big rocks don¡¯t work,¡± its slow brain must have thought, ¡°why not try four medium rocks?¡± I had to concede, it was a genius tactic. Doubly so when the Kalar didn¡¯t throw all the rocks at once, but staggered the attacks. I dodged one, blocked the second and third with the staff form of the armament. The fourth rock caught me on the right elbow and broke something important.

    My only saving grace was that the Ent was down for the count, regardless of the change, and that I wasn¡¯t in the business of taking damage without retaliating. The energy threatened to falter as the pain ripped through my concentration, but the Blast I had gathered in my empty left hand was ready. ¡°This is gonna suck,¡± I warned the Drainer as well as myself.

    My hand fell onto its exposed core. The shower of Mana Bolts had done its job in opening up the solid shell of its exterior to the mana-filled crystal which was the true form of the elemental creatures. With a flash of blue, the Shaleborn Drainer fell apart, thousands of strings cut at once. I felt like I had just closed my fist around a grenade, and my fingers were ruined as payment. ¡°Still all there,¡± I choked out defiantly as I counted the digits.

    I had crippled the Granite Ent, so my only remaining danger was the Leadborn Kalar. When it came to a ranged battle, I wasn¡¯t going to lose to this thing. I would Overwhelm. The word in my mind caused a ripple through my Dao Pool, the centre of the moon in the sky of my inner world. With that quiver came energy, the power of the Tempest in full. I took full control of the air around me, the entire flat arena under my command.

    The elemental¡¯s biology - or rather, geology - meant the specific nature of my attack would lose some effect but not enough to save the Kalar. I forced the air to surround me, while creating a vacuum elsewhere. This alone would be a devastating attack against biological beings, but the elementals obviously didn¡¯t even notice. Still, there was a purpose.

    Blast.

    The arc of concentrated lightning leapt across the expanse between us. Compared to the speeds the skill normally travelled, this was a magnitude above and the resulting impact was magnified in turn. I was gathering a second burst to launch, but the single shot had done it. The battlefield instantly quieted, with only the Ent left standing and no more boulders being thrown.

    I looked at my own hand. Not the mangled one. ¡°It¡¯s like a goddamn railgun. So sick.¡± I enjoyed keeping up an aura of flippant dominance and prestige around the members of The Ascent and later the population of the soon-to-be-renamed Ascentown. Having a grand chateau helped with that, but not as much as remaining stoic. I needed to have fun when I could otherwise that mask would crack.

    So I revelled in being able to launch lightning from my hands, control the wind and generally act a menace in solitude. The Ent faced a barrage of Mana Bolts as I whittled away its layers of moving rock. I almost felt bad for it until I remembered it had nearly taken my eye with the only attack it landed. Once its crystal core was visible, I ended the fight and fell to my back.

    I knew I couldn¡¯t rest long. The feeling of being watched since the elementals jumped up a level in skill had not gone anywhere. I took deep breaths while watching the peak still above me. With the threat of the claimant still hanging over my head, it was difficult to feel the victory for what it was. It would have been impossible if not for the notification which finally came with the final skill.

    Ding! Level up! +25 Attribute Points

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    I moaned in relief as the pain my left arm and right hand receded to nothing. The damage visibly healed at a rate which looked and felt uncomfortable, however the fresh and unmarked skin made it all worth it. Ambient mana from all over flowed into me without effort, refilling my mana and rejuvenating my stamina. Within seconds, I was fresh like I had taken a nap. ¡°Damn, I missed that. I¡¯m definitely saving the next one for a special occasion.¡±

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 43

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 65  Speed - 65  Mental - 473   Will - 230

    Free attribute points: 25

    Finally, level 43. The only question I needed to answer before finishing up here was where to place my attribute points. Did I continue to lean on my already prodigious Mental attribute or shore up my stats as I had been doing? With percentages added, including the 25% from the legendary Black Belt, my Fortitude and Speed were around 130, Will was at 550 and Mental was well over 1000. With the specifics being private, I didn¡¯t know how this stacked up against others fully, but I knew it was a lot.

    I doubted most people¡¯s main attributes were at the level of even my tertiaries. If an individual in the area had over 400 in a stat, it would have been noticeable. They would have been forged in the same fires as I had, and no one so special had turned up since the arrival of the System. Except for me. I decided to treat myself.

    It had been a while since my Mental attribute got stronger.

    I dropped all 25 points into my main attribute and a cooling sensation flowed through my body. Certainly, the gains could have been felt more clearly if I placed the points into Fortitude or Speed but nothing compared to the 60 effective points I had just added at once. My mana felt like it had been remade, as though I had never used it properly until now.

    Perhaps able to feel my elation, or just the shifts in mana upon my levelling, the world bucked. The mountain had truly woken up and I hastily activated my analysis to confirm my suspicions. Walking out of the spire like the rock was an illusion was the biggest moving shape I had seen on the mountain yet. Also, the most clearly defined in terms of appearance. There were two clear layers of rock, one for armour and the other it¡¯s ¡°skin¡±.

    Boss Monster - Golem Prince - Level 79 (Claimant)

    Wait, then what was the-

    I stumbled as my question was answered by a piercing cry. I physically felt the vibrations through my bones, my teeth rattling in my skull. The sound could easily have been a rocket taking off next to my ear. I could only tell it was a bird¡¯s cry from this close because the shadow fell over me as it descended from the spire.

    Boss Monster - Flarehawk Monarch - Level 79 (Claimant)

    Oh, how sweet for them. They teamed up. And here I am without Naea.

    The Flarehawk had gorgeous plumage, oranges, reds and yellows, easily visible as it hovered in the air. It moved at impossible speeds, flitting like a hummingbird despite its body being the size of a buffalo. As far as wingspan, the Flarehawk would have been able to cover a city bus from end to end, easily reaching forty feet from tip to tip. Out of all the creatures I had seen, it was perhaps the one I found the most beautiful. Huge shame that it is trying to kill me, I mourned privately.

    Unwilling to retreat just because the situation was dangerous, I decided to take this as a positive. ¡°At least now I won¡¯t have to do so many hunts!¡± The most difficult decision was where to start. I knew the golem would be wildly durable, but the Flarehawk could be just as problematic. For all I knew, it would be harder to put down than the rockman. Phoenix rules and all that.

    High on the feeling of levelling up and excited to test myself against the very highest level of opponent, I rushed forward.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Are you ready, Fledglings?¡±

    ¡°WE ARE ALWAYS READY, MA¡¯AM!¡±

    I nodded, proud of the instant response. While I wouldn¡¯t admit it, I had been worried that I wouldn¡¯t inspire the same confidence or obedience as Grant was able to. Sure, I knew he wasn¡¯t a human anymore but he looked like one, for the most part. So long as you ignored the glowing lines when he cast spells. A tiny part of me feared that not being human, or the ¡°right size¡±, it would be hard to command respect.

    I needn¡¯t have worried.

    Power was all that really mattered. After a few sparring sessions in which I held back, and then specifically didn¡¯t hold back, the point was well-made. Even fifteen on one, no one could land a spot of dust on me. I had mostly just done it for fun, but afterwards, I saw the respect I had wanted in the eyes of my charges.

    Surprisingly, the number of trainees had actually risen since then.

    Three squads of ten now stood at my command. One was the mage squad, led by Tom. He¡¯d been a real standout over the last couple of days, losing all of his baby fat and refining his combat style. While Tom learned his skills quicker than others, Mana Bolt was simple enough that anyone who tried could learn it after a while. For the most part, the group was long-range and used their Aspects to accent the damage of their Mana Bolts. It was surprisingly effective.

    Next was the bruisers, headed up by Harry. Him and nine other knuckleheads who were happy standing at the front and taking as much damage as possible. Some of them had learned types of healing magics to make themselves hardier, but for the most part they relied on shields and dodging. It was still coming together, but so long as they were supported, they were fine.

    Which led to the final group. The healers were not damage dealers, but they were still the wildest of the three teams. In a lot of ways, I felt like healing was my role, so I moulded that group after me. ¡°Healing isn¡¯t just something to do after the fight,¡± I impressed upon them, ¡°sometimes you need to get in, patch someone up and then get out without causing more work for others.¡± Each healer had a bruiser and a mage who would give their life for them before letting the healer fall, ideally.

    I was still working that die-for-each-other attitude into them.

    I wondered what Grant was up to, but didn¡¯t distract him by asking. With how involved I had been planning and training the troops, as well as the drain it took on my mana to do so, I had barely been paying attention to the connection between me and Grant. He¡¯d call if he found a claimant, anyway. ¡°Let¡¯s see if you¡¯re ready for this,¡± I whispered gleefully while pouring mana into the training crystal. Every healer¡¯s feet were suddenly dropped into the earth as elementals began to rise.

    For some reason, they were the flavour of the day.

 Book Two - Chapter Twenty Two - Claimant Battle, Round Two

    ¡°This suuucks,¡± I complained aloud, though I couldn¡¯t hear my own voice, ¡°I¡¯m so damn tired.¡± With my griping out of the way, I pulled myself to my feet. I had been thrown, beaten, smashed, harassed, walloped, whacked, beset upon and altogether thoroughly assaulted since I set foot on this mountain. Now, it was even cheating.

    This is nuts, I decided. The month I had spent in Badaila was transformative for me, but I wasn¡¯t the only one who had gained a lot from the time. Both of these creatures felt like they were the very peak of strength for a Grade One, each of them capable of matching my own pressure. The Golem made sense, but no way was the bird meant to be here.

    They were both impressive to look at, I conceded. The Golem Prince was taller than a two storey house, and its rock armour reflected both the sunlight and the light from the false phoenix in a way which felt intentional to aim glare at me. The inner rock had a pinkish hue while the outer was darker red with an evil crimson sheen. Within its helmet, that doubled as a crown, were two glowing orbs of purple to complete the evil overlord look. Its ornately spiked head was easily over ten metres higher than mine.

    Above even that lofty head hovered the Firehawk Monarch in its own supposed glory. In my imaginations, I would have guessed a phoenix to look a bit like a peacock, its long feathers made of flame trailing behind it as it flies. A thing of beauty. To my dismay, the volcanic bird of prey sitting comfortably on an updraft was a consummate predator.

    Not for the first time, I felt the aura of a standoff come over the scene. The deafening scream of the Firehawk Monarch was my first hurdle to overcome, but not a simple one. The fact it hadn¡¯t unleashed its cry already made me think there was a cooldown, or maybe I was just hoping. Either way, the battle began at the bird¡¯s behest.

    A conflagration of flaming arrows dropped from above while spikes shot up from the floor. The entire sky was turned into an inferno. With the raging Dao in the air, both fire and earth overwhelming, controlling enough air to fly was out of the question. Trying to match the power from above with Mana Bolts and coating myself with the densest layers of air I could manage. I had to grit my teeth at the physicality of the fiery spears as they pushed me down.

    Landing, there was a moment of calm as all three of us seemed to get the measure of each other. They may have teamed up for the moment, but I doubted the claimant beasts would remain allies if they got rid of me. My eyes widened. They¡¯re trying to hold back, I realised.

    ¡°Nope.¡± I would now allow that, and the still dormant Dao of the Dragon vigorously agreed. That was an insult. The monsters were already marked for death, but now it was personal. I dumped a hefty portion of my mana pool into one arm, and matched the process in the other. Electric sparks danced around my arms as the power gathered in each hand.

    Harmony Of The Storm had seen less use in my recent battles due to a few reasons. For most fights, it was simply unnecessary to transform my mana into a more volatile version. There was a slight loss in efficiency that I had begun to avoid, but I wasn¡¯t concerned with that now. By using the Dao of Tempests, the excited and hard to control power of Storm Mana was like a willing and loyal subject. I had avoided its use most recently because the rock elementals were resistant to most aspects contained within the Storm Mana.

    Another barrage of flaming arrows appeared in the air but I was quicker. Harmony Of The Storm. Blast. Blast. I threw my arms back and forth, using the two wide beams of arcane and electric power to smash the Firehawk¡¯s attacks to smithereens. It abandoned its magic as I turned those beams toward itself. Slow to react, the Golem finally interrupted me with a stamp that threw me skyward, a pillar of stone jutting up from my position.

    I cartwheeled through the air and the Firehawk tried to take advantage. It saw me enter its domain and thought I would be an easy target. However, the sky is not the property of the bird which dwells within its expanse. The sky belongs to the tempest. Bad-dump. My heart flew as my Dao now took centre stage, my deep understanding of the Tempest becoming more solidified. The Dao Pool was close to evolving.

    The huge wings of the Firehawk beat heavily once, enough to launch it straight at me, talons bared. The heat from the creature was most concentrated there. No good would come from being grabbed in those molten claws. Thinking I was without options, the opportunistic hunter tried to clutch me.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Tempest Form. Air Manipulation.

    The weighty physicality of Tempest Form made me more like a storm elemental than an actual bolt of lightning. However, my dexterity increased manifold and I no longer needed to keep my traditional shape. I shifted and zipped out of the Firehawk¡¯s grasping talons, falling to the ground. I dropped the transformation with a forward spin, gathering momentum to smash the Alternating Armament¡¯s current hammer flail form into the mouth of the waiting Golem Prince below.

    My mana went haywire as the sonic attack hit me unawares. Coming off cooldown, the cataclysmic sound pierced every defence I had, leaving me open to the annoyingly telegraphed haymaker from the Golem. A bloody spray covered its rocky gauntlet at the impact and I was thrown back into the air. More stunned than before, I was an easy target for the strafing Firehawk Monarch. The leather of my coat melted onto my arms before I could use Tempest Form to escape its clutches. I tumbled to the ground in a smoking heap, rolling and throwing myself to my feet.

    My vision still swam but I had made my decision. The choice had been there, but I hoped I wouldn¡¯t need to use it. If I don¡¯t get a level up from this fight, it¡¯s going to be really annoying to walk around deaf. Knowing my mind, the Alternating Armament becomes a glove with a needle. Quick stab to puncture the eardrums. ¡°ARGH,¡± I barely heard myself to begin with, but hearing in mono was disorientating in itself. Putting the sides of my hands together, the armament swapped hands and I repeated the process.

    Now I was truly deafened, which wasn¡¯t great, but it was better than being murdered by the screech of a stupid overgrown pigeon. Now able to walk straight at least, it didn¡¯t make things easier but I quickly adapted. That¡¯d be System hardened Fortitude and Mental getting to work, which I appreciated. I was less grateful that the ground I landed on now felt like wet cement. I could swear the Golem chuckled as I landed in the goop, but of course I couldn¡¯t hear to know for sure.

    My saving grace was the lack of teamwork between the two. The bird was furious I had escaped its grip and dove down to pluck me from the ground. It was near the peak of Grade One, but a monster¡¯s intelligence stayed the same until it evolved. The hawk might have some ability to strategize, but there¡¯s a reason birdbrain was a common insult. I steeled my resolve and stared down the now-silently screaming enemy.

    A well-timed Blast to the top of the head sent the bird face first into the wet stone. A pair of Mana Bolts released my feet and my next stamp contained enough force to send me forward, right onto the bird¡¯s back. My skin sizzled angrily, but pain was nothing to me at the moment. So many bones were demanding attention that I had shut that part of the brain up long ago.

    Glad that I didn¡¯t need to breath so much, I shifted the Alternating Armament into a hookblade I had seen in a video game. Applying it to the bird¡¯s wing worked brutally well. From the way the air around me visibly shivered, I knew deafening myself was the right choice. The bird¡¯s attacks should have demolished my eardrums instantly, but some property allowed the damage to be done, while letting me hear the next squawk, too.

    Hooked into its shoulder, I drew my hand back, filling my fist with all the fury of a thunderstorm. ¡°One down,¡± I told myself. My muted voice felt strange, but not as strange as this would. My hand fell onto the skull of the Firehawk Monarch. I didn¡¯t immediately receive energy for the kill, so I gathered the power once more, but lost control as we began a nosedive.

    To my immense gratitude, we were falling right towards the peak of the mountain and the Golem Prince I still wanted to finish off. I was so grateful not to be missing the mountain, I didn¡¯t think about why it would aim there. I shifted the hookblade into a staff and threw myself from the back of the fallen avian king to lessen the impact, but we both slammed into the plateau atop the mountain.

    Okay, now this is my least favourite plateau in the world. Ignoring pain is one thing, but bones broke with that final collision and moving was difficult. I decided to quickly finish off the Firehawk Monarch. Please don¡¯t be phoenix rules. There was a suspicious looking blaze where I had hit the bird¡¯s head with my hand. A hand I know saw was mangled as I raised it for one final Blast. Dropping it, letting the mana move to my other arm, I didn¡¯t have time to realise my mistake until too late.

    With all the irony in the world, a birdcage made of solid stone began to constrict around me. I attempted to use Tempest Form but the Golem Prince was controlling the Dao and mana between the gaps, making it impossible. Earth just trumped storms in certain ways, and escaping was one of them. I began to hyperventilate, lack of need be damned. My throat scorched due to proximity with the Firehawk Monarch.

    Claustrophobia reared. I was going to be crushed. I barely had time to swing my hammer twice before the walls got too close. I struggled. Oh, how I struggled. I fired off Blast after Blast but any damage to the cage was immediately repaired by the Golem. Within seconds, the Golem had trapped me. I was at its mercy, and being crushed to death. To add insult to injury, the heat rose as the Firehawk did the same. Not content to bury me in a coffin, they had to turn it into a furnace.

    I raged and fought but darkness began to encroach on my vision. A welcoming darkness. A darkness which I faded into slowly. My fingers brushed against the Dao of the Dragon it pulled away. I nodded, accepting the magic¡¯s decision. I had made my choice. Now I had to live with the consequences.

    Which meant dying.

 Book Two - Chapter Twenty Three - Dao Of The Tempest

    ¡°No!¡±

    Though I could not hear the words, I shouted them anyway. I refused the power at the edge of my grasp. The Dragon snorted within, but I knew that it approved. We were one and the same, after all. The Dao Avatar was simply an extension of my own will, combined with something greater. A power more ancient than I could understand. Power with gleaming, predator¡¯s eyes and flames behind its tongue.

    However, you have to dance with the one who brought you to the ball. I had started this battle with the Tempest, and either the mountain would scatter the storm, or I would gather my strength and ravage everything I found before me. The former seemed much more likely as my bones continued to creak and crush from the pressure of the Golem Prince¡¯s cage. The giant firebird nearby continued to increase in temperature, scaling my skin.

    The darkness of a blackout took me, and I tumbled weightlessly into its inky embrace. I fell into thought, no doubt accelerated massively as I strove for a way to survive. My thoughts were coloured by the Storm Dragon which hung its impossibly large shadow over my every decision. It was impossible not to think of the armageddon of electricity and gales which tore life from the planet, difficult to see my own strength and ignore the parallels. Perhaps I was just another Storm Dragon waiting to happen, or something even worse. Maybe it would be best for everyone if I just faded.

    No, I rejected my doubts.

    I was not the Storm Dragon. I didn¡¯t attempt to absorb and devour the power of a planet, I wanted to make that power mine in a different way. In fact, following in its footsteps was the opposite of what my own personal beast demanded. The Dao of the Dragon did not ask that I do as other dragons do, it told me to become as a dragon myself. Unbending, unbreaking. Unstoppable.

    Badaila was a warning, one I would heed. There were forces out there that did not stand a chance against the Storm Dragon, beings and clans and organisations which had no doubt existed for millennia or more. Within the blink of an eye, everything you have can be taken or destroyed, just by the whims of such a being. This knowledge might trickle into the minds of others, but it was likely no one on Earth knew this as well as I did.

    Unbending. Unbreakable. Unstoppable.

    To forge my own path, through the fires of the apocalypse, that was my goal. My task. Creating a safe place for my family to live - if they lived - and for others like them, somewhere I could protect whether it be a small town, a country or a whole planet. I would take control of whatever I needed to, do whatever was required of me. Anything to produce a modicum of protection to those who needed it.

    I am the Tempest, and the shelter from the storm.

    My magic and Dao shook so hard it woke me up. My neck was about to snap, twisting to the left from the closing egg of rock around me. The world shook, no doubt the Firehawk Monarch voicing its displeasure as the wound I had given it. The Golem Prince loomed over me, huge and ready to drop its half-raised foot onto the shell I was forced into.

    I ignored them, focusing on the power running through my veins. Guide the formation of the fixture within the inner world, I told myself. The Dao of Tempests was changing, my situation, my drive and my attitude all aligning to a perfect point. Opposition was required for growth within the System. I hoped to one day get the chance to work with my hands, taking essence from the System through creation rather than destruction, but that was a far off ideal. One that my Tempest could embody.

    The Dragon, glorious, powerful and proud, did not need a partner. I would not create a second Dao Avatar to manage. Instead, I needed a source to draw from. A wellspring of power, keeping the purpose already found and vastly extending its reach. Not just peppering my other techniques with power, but a true infusion of strength straight from the primal source.

    All of this happened in mere seconds, I hadn¡¯t been blacked out for more than three. The massive leg of the Golem Prince rose higher. It was going to stamp on me. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care, I was already dying. I couldn¡¯t rush this process either way, all I could do was be grateful to my Mental attribute for compressing my perception of time. It allowed me to break through.

    The Dao Avatar of the Dragon flew around my inner world with increasing speed. However, no matter what the dragon was doing, its true position within my soul was at the core of the large planet. As my connection to the Dragon grew, so did the features of this inner world. As a representation of my mana pool, the massive world required nothing but fertilisation.

    I felt connected to the Dao. Not my Dao, The Dao. A larger, more complex and impossibly powerful force which housed all possibility in the universe. I made the choice. I didn¡¯t need another fire, I needed the storm. I wrapped a godlike hand around the moon of Tempest, and I crushed it. Not finished, I spread the debris of the now shattered satellite around the world of the Dragon.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    Instead of a moon, trickling power to the world below from a single space, I created an asteroid field. A storm of rock in space, to protect and shower my inner world with potential. I felt the cosmos of my inner world rupture and reform as more power than ever before coursed through me. Opening my eyes, I saw that even less time seemed to be passing.

    Ah, this is one of those life-flashing-before-eyes moments. I was still dying, after all, though I felt far more calm about it now. The System prompt which opened and closed quickly cemented the power within my core as mine and I nodded. Well, my neck broke, but I might as well have considered it a nod.

    Dao Font - Tempests

    No equal force can match the storm, but a larger Tempest can devour all. Inexorable and terrifying, yet also the primal source of life. For without destruction, there is no rebirth.

    Effect: Will Attribute +200, Will Attribute +25%, Fortitude, Speed & Mental Attributes +30, Fortitude, Speed & Mental Attribute +15%

    Even a snapped spine couldn¡¯t stop what was coming, however. I did not take control of the Dao in the area, I became the Dao in the area. My entire body overflowed with power, but I did not stop the river. The energy in use was immediately replenished. If my quick arithmetic was correct, I had just jumped from less than 500 effective Will, to exactly 1000. My mana recovery had undergone a leap of incredible magnitudes.

    I knew Tempest Form was not enough for me to break out of this prison, but I activated it in preparation while I gathered power. For two hundred metres, I snatched control over the air with Air Manipulation, using it to throw the Firehawk Monarch into the mountain. It struggled as I pressed down on it hard. No bird could fly if the sky itself refused them.

    And, oho boy, did I refuse.

    The dangling boot of damocles dropped, but not in time. Alongside the massive amounts of mana I was already pouring out with my two skills, I gathered even more. Powering the most unholy and revenge-filled Blast I could muster. The change to my Will attribute came with more control than I knew what to do with, so I lashed Mana Bolts from everywhere I could, dozens of them appearing in the air around and firing straight at the claimants.

    ¡°Blast!¡± I screamed, still deaf, but not caring either way. A powerful explosion tore apart the final arena, sending the Golem Prince flying backwards like a ragdoll. Rock was flung in every direction, including huge pieces of shrapnel into the Firehawk Monarch. In Tempest Form, I didn¡¯t have lips but if I did they would have been snarling. This fight would have been easy if it was just a one on one.

    Rather than give the bird the change to recover and get revenge somehow, I took it down first. ¡°Fire needs oxygen to burn,¡± I whispered, ripping away the air and dousing the flames instantly. I had created a vacuum earlier, lower on the mountain, but this one was larger enough to cover the entire Firehawk Monarch. Not forgetting the main benefit of removing air resistance, I charged and fired another, truly final Blast. The attack took the almost piteous bird in the underside of its beak.

    I hadn¡¯t meant to annihilate the thing¡¯s whole head, flaming crown and all, but honestly? It might have been the only way. Familiar kill energy seeped into my bones and bloodstream to which I was so grateful. The adrenaline and euphoria of the stat boost I had just got was wearing off. That tiredness I had felt at the start of the fight had doubled. I tapped the dead claimant once before turning to finish off the Golem Prince.

    ¡°You¡¯ll get everything.¡± My Blast had taken off its falling foot, up to where it¡¯s shin would be. Thrown back into the large spire it had entered the battlefield from, I simply stared at it while my hands grew heavy. Dense mana collected in both of my hands and I took a deep, calming breath now that the air around me was back to a normal temperature.

    I was so sure I wouldn¡¯t get the chance to do this¡­

    ¡°Spirit¡­¡± My wrists pushed together, blue energy gathering in my hands, I beamed a smile while charging up my laser. The Golem Prince¡¯s leg was reforming at a rate visible to the naked eye, the elemental absorbing the rock it sat upon through its body. The pink rock underneath looked raw, and I even saw toes form before being covered in the more solid armour of a boot. It didn¡¯t matter. It wasn¡¯t quick enough to stop me.

    ¡°Gun.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    And so the other claimants fell. Unsurprising, given their bestial nature, but disappointing all the same. There was no benefit to hunting a creature a Grade beneath me, but if the golem had managed to evolve into a king, then it might have been an interesting battle. If the Firehawk had kept the human busy on the mountain then maybe the prince would have had time.

    ¡°No matter,¡± I spoke, taking every chance I had to practice with the human tongue. I shattered the mana shard keeping watch over their battle as the human tore the mountain asunder, Golem Prince along with it. The peak of Cloudslash Horn did not survive, tumbling to the rock below. ¡°To tear down the pinnacle¡­¡±

    I mused, well aware of how dreadfully human the action was. Theatricality was going to be important in the upcoming conversation. ¡°I¡¯ll give the human some time. A few days of rest after this would be within reason.¡± I dipped my finger into the cool water, the molten metal at my fingertip solidifying. I hissed as my mana was syphoned to create the new observer. Spy Shard was a simple technique, but I felt discomfort at my maximum mana pool being limited while they were in use.

    ¡°Flutter on, little shard.¡± The near invisible fragment sped away towards the population centre, at my direction. Once it reached the target, I would know what the human¡¯s movements were from now. Portioning away some mana is a small price to pay, I reminded myself. I followed the shard¡¯s path to the open window and sat at the ledge. Of all the quirks of humanity, housing was one I agreed with.

    My body clattered wonderfully as I settled into the window. While humans used mud, brick or wood to build their domiciles for the most part, I had found a fantastic vehicle with a house attached. A few alterations with Metal Manipulation later and it was my own private sanctuary. A sacred place for the creatures around, and directly on top of the wondrous grade two resource.

    The field of blades went on for more than a kilometre around, and was growing. The human would find out about me soon, whether I introduced myself or not. Humming, a sound like a pipe organ, I simply waited. Three days would be enough, and then?

    ¡°Well,¡± I chortled, my razor wire throat tingling like a bell, ¡°then everything changes once again.

 Book Two - Chapter Twenty Four - Homecoming

    ¡°Push it to the limit, walk along the razor¡¯s edge but don¡¯t look down, just keep your head or you¡¯re finished.¡±

    I bopped myself to the music, using one hard wingbeat to bounce myself in the air in time with the beat. One of the Fledglings had traded for some old-world devices, and the music from Earth was something else. I hoped Grant and I could get a sound system for our home somehow. Work on translating electric power to mana was underway but it was a development that would take time.

    For now, the ¡°jams¡± were enough. There were no soft eyes left in the group, and the music was more for the people watching than the participants in the battles. Our training had drawn quite a crowd. Grant was sure to be pleased that I found something for whole families to enjoy, with people in the crowd screaming with joy when their loved ones fought. Good, wholesome fun.

    The music worked as a theme song for each combatant. For the crowd, this was a way to identify the person fighting. Depending on the music they used, certain impressions were made. The fighters variously ignored the music, kept time to it while fighting or just liked the song they chose. With most songs chosen ranging from three to five minutes, people weren¡¯t burning out. Unlike Grant - the monster - these people had what would be considered a normal mana pool and stamina pool. They needed to rest, even with my healing to top them up from damage.

    Psychologically, the first day had been the hardest. First, the little birdies hadn¡¯t wanted to get back in the ring with the spiders. I disavowed them of that choice by searching quickly for something worse. Humans might not like spiders, but when I found what I had in mind, they were much more ready to face the arachnids again.

    Sanjay, the spear wielding fighter who had chosen the current song, sang along while he fought against three large mantises. Each was the size of a small human, which meant they were nice and deadly. These, of course, were the enemy I had made them face. In the first engagement, a single one of these had caused wounds on a group, but within just a few days, members were starting to show off and specialise.

    ¡°Welcome to the limit,¡± Sanjay could be heard in the wide space due to interesting acoustics and the effects of mana on the body. He also held a newly evolved Dao Pool of Piercing, causing his words to strangely punch through distance as though it didn¡¯t matter. ¡°Take it baby, one step more, the power game''s still playing so you better win it.¡±

    A contingent of the women in the crowd gave whoops. Sanjay was popular. He received a round of applause which he met with a bow. The System didn¡¯t allow for people to remain humble for long and continue to get stronger. Sanjay was no exception to that rule, but perhaps the biggest sign of it was in Tom. The two had stood out from the first day due to their willingness to take more damage, and ability to deal more than anyone else either.

    Tom had even absorbed another Aspect on top of his Dao of Magic. I hadn¡¯t asked him what it was, but it felt ominous. His fighting style didn¡¯t change much, but the spells at his disposal took on a brutal quality. It was only a positive as far as I could tell, even if his music was a bit¡­ different. Just a loud and angry man screaming about a puppet master.

    By the time Sanjay¡¯s song played the final notes, he was already bounding away to the side for the next challenger. The day was winding down, and Tom was looking to step in. I was weighing up my options and wondering if I could even push the mage without getting into the ring myself when I felt it. A tug which turned my head to a blank section of the woods. ¡°Grant!¡± I shouted, forgetting all about these boring people and shooting off. I even used Sparkstep to hurry my speed.

    I had just missed him so much.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Naea was more than just a sight for sore eyes, she was a boon for sore everything. She met me a few miles outside of Ascentown, mere minutes after our connection came back online. I was too tired to even worry about the name anymore. I talked Naea through what had happened while I had been away. She listened in uncharacteristic silence. I was sure that meant bad things.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    The pair of claimant bosses had given me a level up, which had repaired my hearing. However, my stronger body was becoming increasingly difficult to heal. I dumped all of the points into Fortitude, but my mangled body was only just healthy enough for me to climb down from the mountain. The extra strength helped against the elementals, at least. I opened a System prompt and showed it to Naea.

    She scanned it with a look of disgust on her face. ¡°Why would you want to claim a smelly mountain? Is it a dragon thing? I don¡¯t see the point.¡± I could only smirk at Naea¡¯s instinctual and sensible disdain of the idea of such a place. The heavy Dao all over the mountain would have wrought havoc on her ability to fly and cast spells.

    ¡°Still, we¡¯re going back whether we want to or not. Not right now though.¡± I didn¡¯t mention that to receive the quest, I hadn¡¯t needed to poke my hand into the dungeon which appeared atop what I now knew was Cloudslash Horn. Simply waiting around the portal¡¯s edge for a few minutes was enough, which was good intel to receive. I had run face first into the first dungeon I found before, not thinking of the consequences. This one, at least, seemed simple.

    Dungeon Quest - Descend The Mountain

    Sometimes the climb is not the struggle. Sometimes, it is the opposite.

    Reward: Ownership of nearby mountain, Cloudslash Horn

    Ominous wording, but I was basically an expert at falling down mountains at this point. How tough could the dungeon be, really? ¡°I¡¯ve just jinxed us,¡± I told Naea. She glared at me, but continued healing. Her happy energy had faded into a quiet one as I told her about my fight. ¡°I¡¯m okay, you know?¡±

    ¡°Are you?!¡± Naea exploded at me, and I held her gaze. I definitely deserved this. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you run away, Grant? Why didn¡¯t you use your much stronger Dao rather than attacking the strongest enemies you¡¯ve faced with a weaker one? You said you would come back and get me, Grant! You lied to me! And if you had died? Then you would have died having told me a lie, Grant. If you died then so would-¡±

    Her breathing hitched, and a sob wracked her body silently. We were currently both sat cross-legged, Naea¡¯s hands on my legs. She dropped her head and cried quietly on my leg. I didn¡¯t know what to say, so I put my hand near her and brushed her hair. She didn¡¯t push me away, so I figured it was appreciated. I didn¡¯t miss the very important end to her panic.

    ¡°Hey. Hey, little one. Can you look at me when you¡¯re ready? No rush.¡± I waited after whispering gently. When she eventually looked up to me, her eyes were bloodshot. That looks extra uncomfortable on her big eyes¡­ I gave her a sad smile. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ve said it to you a few times, and I am. I¡¯m so scared for my family, and so excited for you to meet them, I didn¡¯t think¡­ I didn¡¯t think it would be nearly so hard.¡±

    Unable to hide from the truth, I had to accept my mortality. I had come within inches of death, maybe closer than at any point before. If not for my Dao evolving, would I have survived? Would the Dragon I created in my soul have let me die rather than be a second choice power? I didn¡¯t have a good answer. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t think I¡¯m okay, Naea.¡±

    The edges had been raw for a while, but what was wrong with me? I had so many grand ideas, plans and people counting on me, and I had nearly died¡­ for a challenge. I was staggered by my own selfishness. ¡°With great power comes unbelievable stupidity,¡± I mocked myself.

    ¡°Stop,¡± Naea said gently, floating to my shoulder and applying her healing touch directly to my forehead. It cooled my migraine and my rushing thoughts. ¡°The System has pushed you from the start, and you have shown time and time again that it¡¯ll be the System that backs down before you.¡± The fairy chuckled and rested her head against mine. ¡°You have a tendency to get obsessive once you have a plan in mind. The reason you keep falling into the pattern is because, despite the stupidity, it has worked for you. You get stronger and you win.¡±

    I sat with Naea¡¯s statement for a while, the two of us quietly funnelling mana to each other. My mana became Naea¡¯s power, which returned to me as healing magic. Bruises soothed, bones were repaired, internal damage swept away with the magic of Battle Bond. ¡°I won¡¯t always win, though, will I?¡± My voice was quiet.

    ¡°No. Up to now, we¡¯ve done well, but that¡¯s not going to last forever.¡± Though her words were negative, I found myself relaxing anyway. While Naea¡¯s arcane healing did its magic, a more mundane recovery was happening, too. I was okay. Or, I would be. ¡°Stop doing things on your own.¡±

    ¡°Yep, no, for sure, you¡¯re right,¡± I agreed quickly. The mountain might have been a struggle for Naea, but it would have been her choice to continue. It shouldn¡¯t have been mine. ¡°We¡¯re a team,¡± I nodded, reminding myself.

    ¡°Not just us.¡± Naea¡¯s smile was somewhere between wickedness and pride, a sinister combination on the semi-insectoid face. ¡°Before I knew you found two claimants, I was thinking we could start sending the Fledglings out to look for signs of them. Come on, stop moping. You¡¯re all healed, let¡¯s go see the troops.¡±

    I laughed. ¡°Fledglings wasn¡¯t enough, now they¡¯re troops? What have you done to those poor people, Naea?¡± I was joking, but I stood up and decided that she was right. I definitely should check in on the town and make sure things were okay. The pressure of the world had gotten too much for me for a second there, but my head was clearer now. There was a good chance I needed to do the same for the Fledglings after what Naea had put them through.

    Naea¡¯s response was only another wide smile, a cheshire grin in the falling daylight of the afternoon.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 44

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 120  Speed - 95   Mental - 528   Will - 430

    Free attribute points: 0

    Dao

    Fortitude - None

    Speed - None

    Mental - Dragon (2/4)

    Will - Tempest (1/2)

 Book Two - Chapter Twenty Five - Fledgling

    I couldn¡¯t help but wince at the beatdown Naea doled out so casually. Her ability to fight humans had jumped while I was away. More impressive was the immediacy of the Fledgling¡¯s recovery. Even before Naea used her healing magic on them, the men and women she tossed around the training grounds were picking themselves up. Injured legs were ignored, broken bones were pointed to and laughed at.

    From my viewpoint in a raised box, it was quite ghoulish to behold. I had seen gruesome wounds on myself over the past few months but aside from right at the start, when the memories were still hazy, seeing them on others was new. I wondered why it bothered me to see, and found that it was simple. Earth was moving further from its previously mundane existence, shown clear in snapped cartilage and spilled crimson blood.

    My resolve firmed as Naea¡¯s healing took over. This was how we would move forward as a people, how I had progressed since the start. Upon a path forged in pain and desperation, straight through the heart of the System. Naea had clearly understood this more than me, to no surprise, and the Fledglings were proof of this. As the last of the fifteen that had jumped into the ring with Naea were given a burst of healing, I dropped down.

    ¡°Not bad! A few more weeks of growth like this and they¡¯ll all surpass me.¡± I made sure that my voice carried and smiled as I saw pride blossom in the less stoic-looking Fledglings. I didn¡¯t mention that I was picturing the version of me that walked out of the dungeon. Without my achievements. Or my weapon. Nor Naea.

    And that it would take all of them.

    ¡°Please show us your skills, sir.¡± Unsurprisingly, it was the most promising of the recruits who stepped forward. As the most adept at wielding his Dao alongside his weapon, Sanjay was potent. More than one he caught Naea¡¯s charge with his spear, only a quick twist allowing her to dodge. It might not sound like a lot, but forcing Naea to change directions was challenging. I should know.

    ¡°Sir? Wow, that¡¯s weird. I¡¯m not sure about being called sir, or all of the respect stuff. I just got the best combination of good and bad luck you can imagine when this all went down. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.¡± The hard look in my eye seems to slow the man¡¯s roll, freezing his smile awkwardly. I held my hands up and shook my head, diffusing the energy. ¡°You want to play with me? I¡¯m not sure I hold back as much as Naea.¡±

    I was lying through my teeth. That little hellion enjoyed exercising her strength on the willing Fledglings. My words were met with a grin in any case, leading me to wonder just what Naea had put these people through. The next hour was spent showing exactly what an attribute deficit truly looked like. When I focused, it made everyone else look like characters in a photograph.

    To them, I was the wind, a flicker in their vision that disappeared before they turned their head. Unfortunately, the wind also hit harder than a truck when it wanted to. I kept it to small moped levels, but there was still a pile of bodies groaning and waiting to be healed by the time I was done. For me, it was decent practice against opponents with different skills, something that would probably be important in the future.

    I also weighed up my next Weapon Mastery option. There were only three chances, and while I didn¡¯t regret the staff, I wasn¡¯t sure about my next choice. When I held any weapon, the skill hummed in the background of my head, waiting for me to choose it. I knew that at any moment, I could completely skip any learning needed and become a master. The sword was tempting, of course. Watching Sanjay with his spear pulled me in that direction, while the idea of an more exotic option was still enticing. I didn¡¯t need more ranged options, really, but becoming a master with a bow might be useful.

    Until I found a new weapon that I resonated with, I didn¡¯t see the benefit in locking myself down for now. To that end, I bid everyone goodbye and left Naea to her nursing. The Fledglings had been operating on 48-hour days, getting a break in the middle for an hour and four hours of sleep at the end. As such, they¡¯d still be at it for another day or so.

    Not allowing myself to feel guilty, I took a day of rest. I definitely rested. During which I did nothing but meet the people of Ascentown and make myself known to them. I memorised faces and names, committing everyone to a level of importance I had stopped myself from before. I still wasn¡¯t sure how much I could let myself get attached to people who didn¡¯t exist in my realm. The idea that I could accidentally hurt them with a thoughtless gesture wasn¡¯t an easy hurdle to get over, for myself or anyone who had seen me cut loose.

    Most people didn¡¯t want to introduce themself to me fully, but one who did helped me with the rest. She was just so much like Niahm, even down to having the same chestnut-auburn hair. With Naea¡¯s tendency to wear her heart on her sleeve like Sinead, both my sisters were now represented and thoughts of my family were hard to ignore. The talkative teenager had almost tackled me as I left the training ground. Almost, because while she did run into me at full speed, I hadn¡¯t moved an inch. While healing her broken nose with an application of Naea¡¯s magic through Battle Bond, we started talking. Or, she did.

    ¡°So that¡¯s Lana N, who has apparently started on actual real life alchemy. Making potions and stuff. Over there is Calum P¡¯s stall, he¡¯s doing good things with magical cooking. As in, his food is fucking magical. Those two twins are your armourers, and their dad is a blacksmith. The Richter family. Wait, did he call himself a blacksmith or a forgemaster?¡± Putting a finger to her lip, Melissa finally paused as she tried to remember their name. Talking a mile a minute, she had been going non-stop, and a great help in knowing who everyone was.

    I had to admit, though, walking through the central plaza of Ascentown was strange. We were only feet from where the dungeon had swallowed me and changed my life. The area that blossomed like a plant once completed had been taken over by merchants. It had become a busy market. ¡°If he¡¯s making metals, a smith of some kind. I¡¯m not sure forgemaster is a real thing, though what do I know?¡±

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    I let her ramble as we walked and she continued to point out places of note to me. She seemed to finally work up the courage to talk her true motives. ¡°So, you¡¯re really good at this System stuff¡­¡±

    I laughed. ¡°I¡¯m not going to lie to you, I have pretty much just run face first as everything that¡¯s tried to kill me. Me surviving is almost one hundred percent luck if you add up all the ways I should have died.¡± I remembered that my audience was a teenager and worried if I should be even as graphic as I had been but she seemed enraptured. Figuring it couldn¡¯t do much harm, I told her the story of my dungeon while we wandered. My hope was that it would come across as a warning, but when I finished I wasn¡¯t sure if that had been quite the effect.

    Not long after, I excused myself from Melissa and found my guildmates. Well, most of them. Luke was apparently still off hunting. He should be fine, but it was probably about time to go looking for him. Gathering the others, I decided to take them to one of the restaurants that had popped up and have a serious chat with The Ascent. By pure coincidence, they had ended up in my dungeon and then in short order, that rolled into leadership of a town. The System¡¯s way of choosing, as in ¡°the strongest decides the rules,¡± left much to be desired but wanting a situation to be different didn¡¯t make it so.

    The conversation was light, if a little faltering between everyone. Harry and Tom both looked exhausted yet at the same time seemed desperate to get back to training. On the complete opposite side of things, Aaron and Ellie looked like they had been doing nothing but relaxing since leaving the dungeon. I supposed that was their right, but it was time to have a serious talk. ¡°The future of this place depends on me.¡± Everyone nodded along, their faces full of chinese food. ¡°You¡¯re all important but even now I could tear through the whole of this town without anyone being able to stop me. I need you guys to step up.¡±

    ¡°Pfft.¡± There was a frozen moment as everyone looked at Tom. I just raised an eyebrow. ¡°I know you¡¯re strong, Grant, but you¡¯re not that strong. You''re not the most important person in the world.¡± This felt unlike Tom, but I wasn¡¯t in the mood. Unable to help myself, I flexed the Dao that I had been keeping suppressed since Cloudslash Peak. The Dao Font of Tempests fed all of the power it had into my Dao Avatar of Dragons. Within the centre of my very soul, thunder and lightning crashed into ancient scales and a primal roar rang out. Not audible, but felt in the souls of any who had grasped the Dao.

    A grip of pure electric steel wrapped around Tom¡¯s throat, and held a finger to the others. ¡°I might be,¡± I said truthfully. The scenes, the lives, I had lived upon the planet of Badaila had changed me. The dungeon itself might not even have ever been a real place, but I knew for a fact the Storm Dragon was out there, gorging itself on galaxies. How many set themselves against such a foe? I didn¡¯t pretend that I had the power to stop it right now, but one day¡­

    Finding my food no longer as enjoyable, I decided it was time to leave. I stood and shrugged. ¡°I have had the realisation that I can¡¯t fix everyone¡¯s shit for them. You¡¯re not here for me, I¡¯m not here for you, but this town can be something special. Think about what you want to do in this place.¡± I gave everyone a final look. Aaron¡¯s face made me want to punch him, a mocking expression as though my words were over the top. Elli and Harry both looked different kinds of distraught but they¡¯d be fine. It was Tom that I gave the hardest look towards. It was almost easier to understand his mana than his headspace at the moment. Was he scared of me? Angry about something I had done? I didn¡¯t care any more.

    Whatever.

    Naea found me before I even left the boundary of Ascentown, a compound of judgement and worry on her face. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I told her, ¡°let¡¯s go do something fun.¡± I had thought of something on my way back from the mountain and wanted to see if it would work. ¡°You get abilities based on mine, right?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes. Not all of them, and I¡¯m not entirely sure why.¡± She bobbed in the air with a thoughtful expression. She didn¡¯t catch my proud smile in her peripheral vision. Naea was a free spirit in all ways, but the seriousness to which she had started to take the things that mattered to me was always going to make my heart melt.

    My eyes glittered. ¡°So, I have a theory that you couldn¡¯t get Mana Bolt easily because it wasn¡¯t a System learned skill, but what about this one?¡± Held back in the fighting earlier, I flicked my wrist. I hadn¡¯t planned it as much of a surprise, it just would have killed anyone it hit without fail. As the energy gathered in my hand and Naea¡¯s eyes grew wider, I found even myself becoming alarmed.

    Up to now, I had only used Blast through what was the Dao Pool of Tempests. Not only had the Dao Pool become a Font, it was also now mainly feeding the Dao Avatar at the very centre of my soul. My hand got heavier and heavier as mana fell into it. Five percent, ten percent, twenty¡­ Only when half of my full mana pool fell into the skill did it stop gathering power. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from smiling.

    The Dragon wanted to play, too.

    The air began to fill with the smell of ozone and a sphere of energy appeared in my hand. Naea whooped loudly, egging me on but whether she did or not, there was no stopping this process. Relenting on my nerdom, I didn¡¯t make an anime reference this time. Instead, I just shouted the attack with all of my force. ¡°Blast!¡±

    Night was replaced with day as a new sun was born. A corona of electric blue and fiery red energy followed the bright white ball of power into the sky where it exploded. Consisting of the most powerful dao and mana the world had yet to see, the resulting shockwave seemed to carry not just force, but intent.

    My intent.

    Satisfied, I turned to my slack-jawed fairy companion. ¡°So, wanna learn?¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Paul watched the magical comet rise and burst like a firework. ¡°That¡¯s him, right?¡± The excitement caught, the whole mage squad vibrating with energy. They could do that, too, if they got stronger. That was the promise of the System, and it drove them into any danger the world could throw at them. The second-in-command of Ascentown had mixed feelings. He looked at the wanton display of power and once again felt the pressure of the future weigh him down.

    As the light faded, and the echoes of unattainable power died, Tom heard something else. Before he could react, a whip of steel crashed into his chest. Ribs broke, but the attack wasn¡¯t over and without even firing a single Mana Bolt, the squad was beaten. Frustrating welled up in Tom¡¯s chest, almost outweighing the fear.

    Almost.

    A mangled voice spoke from behind Tom¡¯s ear. The sound was not mortal, not created by anything resembling traditional biology. With words that sounded like they came from a pipe organ more than a throat, the metallic voice sent a chill through the six now-captive mages. Stepping into view, limbs ticking like gears as it moved, an awful homunculus could be seen. Then, it bowed.

    ¡°Greetings humans, I would like a chance to talk.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Twenty Six - Look At Them Go!

    As Naea gave a final look over her crop of Fledglings, I took a look at her character page. She hadn¡¯t been out levelling with me for a while but as she gained more experience than myself for the same acts, it was fine for me to catch up a bit. She¡¯d charge ahead in levels again no doubt. I had to admit, I was interested to see what a Grade Two monster would look like. Or, I guess a D-grade?

    Name - ¡°Naea¡±   Race - Dungeon Fairy Level - 55

    Grade - E

    Skills - Invisibility, Mana Control, Sparkstep, Harmony of the Storm, Beam

    Dao: Fairy Dragon (River)

    Patron: Grant Kaeron (Level 44)

    Naea¡¯s Dao and magic were not identical to my own, so her skills translated slightly differently. Even her character page was nothing like mine, and her attributes weren¡¯t freely distributable. In any case, she now had a true use for Harmony of the Storm herself. Her own form of Mana Bolt more than the original Blast, she was able to shoot thin needles of piercing power. Her¡¯s was called Beam, and she was very happy with it.

    While my Blast was impressive, Naea¡¯s skill was deadly in a much more potent way. I could liken my attack as a spear, which grew stronger, attacked for longer and shot further depending on how much mana I pushed into the skill. Naea¡¯s activated much quicker, had a lower maximum amount but could be maintained for far more time. If my Blast was a spear, her Beam was a diamond drill.

    ¡°Now remember,¡± Naea said, ¡°Don¡¯t take damage out of order. Stand behind the defenders, they¡¯ve been trained well.¡± A cheer went up from the heavier members. The Fledglings were in groups of six for now, with command given to the best leaders within each group. They were fairly balanced, with a solid defender in each, at least one good damage dealer and then either more damage or some supporting roles.

    ¡°And you, remember you can¡¯t fight forever and without the damage dealers killing the thing, you¡¯re screwed. Use your consumables. Valkyries, don¡¯t die. Ever.¡± This time, a larger cheer went up from all of the gathered Fledglings. Each group also had a healer, or Valkyries as they were calling themselves. Naea was quietly considering herself one, too, to which I admit worked. She had brought me back from the brink before. ¡°We jump in and get the warriors back on their feet, but we¡¯ve got to be alive to do it.¡±

    When I asked where the name came from, one of the Valkyries themselves spoke up. ¡°A few of us have got some really fantasy-novel sounding abilities and one of them was something called Frigg¡¯s Banner. Then, Oonagh mentioned Norse mythology and all the men decided on the name.¡± Despite the Valkyrie¡¯s teasing, it was clearly a title worn with pride.

    ¡°We sometimes call ¡®em guardian angels,¡± another one of the men said to a few grunts of agreement.

    ¡°Mu''aqqibat,¡± the spear-wielding Sanjay says with a nod. ¡°Watcher Angels in my faith. Life, death, resurrection¡­ I was never truly religious but now I wonder if that was a mistake.¡± That brought up a conversation that no one knew how to answer so I avoided it and left Naea to the blustering and mustering.

    I couldn¡¯t help but be impressed with the speed at which things were moving. We now had three teams of fighters, with another one to maintain defence. In their groups of six, they could probably do what Naea and I could, if we were limited to just Dao Pools. Our abilities were much greater than others for now, but Tom had felt close to something last time I saw him, and not just the edge of his wits.

    Now, he was leading a group with a focus on magical damage. He seemed distracted but until he came and told me he had an issue, I wasn¡¯t going to pry. Everyone had things on their mind these days, and I wasn¡¯t looking to add more. His squad were probably the weakest overall if all of the leaders were removed, but with Tom they were a tier above the rest. Their weaknesses were shored up together and one of them even had a Dao that made skills less costly to use.

    All in all, I felt like things were on the right track in Ascentown. God, the name is becoming normal to my ears now.  With us being in England, or at least originally, weird names weren¡¯t uncommon. I sighed and looked around. With shopfronts putting up names like Ascentown Apothecary and an inn called Jewel of Ascentown, it wasn¡¯t going away. I had become used to stranger things than a weird name, so I would roll with this punch, too.

    Still, businesses were technically booming, though currency was still up in the air. Most people had access to some of the standard mint gold coins, but I had also spotted a few of the draconic Xaverion mint being traded around as a higher value option. They must have entered the market from one of the other members of The Ascent. Distracted, I missed the first two squads leaving the town.

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    The last squad was getting ready now. Harry¡¯s crew were easily the most reliable. I had no doubt that Harry would be able to get everyone back safe, even if their destination was problematic for me. They were going to go to Cloudslash Peak and continue exploring that area. ¡°Good luck. It¡¯s not impossible that something has reached the peak and begun trying to syphon some power, so be careful.¡± The group nodded seriously but Harry waved and took me to one side.

    Awkward but clearly hopeful, he asked for a favour. ¡°Can you help Ellie? Her magic is messing with her a bit, maybe you could talk to her? Ellie has the aspect of Poison and it¡¯s making her poisonous. I know you said you weren¡¯t going to help people with their problems but¡­¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I sighed, ¡°it¡¯s okay to ask and I will see what I can do. I¡¯ve already got an idea.¡± The relief on Harry¡¯s face was powerful. I reminded myself it was okay to be a hypocrite if it meant you helped people. There was no benefit to being stubborn in this situation. ¡°Good luck out there. You¡¯re the best judge of it on site, so you decide whether you want to clear the dungeon at the top or not.¡± Nodding like a soldier, Harry went and gathered his squad before heading off.

    Naea sniffled as she flittered over to my shoulder. ¡°You¡¯ve done an incredible job,¡± I told the emotional fairy. I didn¡¯t need to say more to be effusive when our bond existed, so I sent every turbulent and grateful emotion I was feeling right down the connection. She had done this for me, I knew, and more than that, she had taken over a role that I found myself breaking under. ¡°I got so lucky with our contract, little one.¡±

    ¡°Oh shush,¡± Naea whispered, giving me a slap. We sat together for a while. Naea had raised a complete demon of a drill sergeant to continue her regiment of creating fighters. By completely forgoing all else with her attributes, a Dao Pool of Water, which somehow became a reservoir of mana, the severe woman had a total pool able to compete with Naea¡¯s. It was interesting how far one could go by specialising. The woman, Joanne, was already fiercely respected by what would be the next batch of fledglings. ¡°They grow up so fast,¡± Naea said, wiping a genuine tear from her eye. We had scouts now, and more people were training.

    Having scouts, and the ability to train more, meant that we could start really mapping out the world. We could start to spread out influence until finding my family was as simple as following directions to them. I let myself be hopeful, and allowed that hope to flow to Naea, though ultimately I knew it wouldn¡¯t be that easy.

    I had eschewed the idea of becoming a leader, but became one anyway. I desperately didn¡¯t want to run a city, yet here I was, hoping for more System options to make life easier. Purchasing power wasn¡¯t high in Ascentown yet, and without defeating the final claimant, I couldn¡¯t buy the System stores waiting to be unlocked. ¡°Weird life we lead,¡± I commented.

    ¡°Don¡¯t know what you mean,¡± said the fairy. She was mostly distracted by the web she had somehow managed to get herself stuck in during our walk. I didn¡¯t even feel her gather mana to use the skill.

    ¡°That¡¯s your web, how did you even do that?¡± Helping her free herself, I smiled. Maybe this world wasn¡¯t so bad. ¡°Come help me talk Ellie into becoming an alchemist, would you?¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Alchemy, as it turns out, was quite simple. Like any cooking or baking, there was a recipe and if you followed it, you got the product. Et voila. I found it incredibly tedious, the fumes were messing with my senses and if I was being completely honest, I had no real talent at the task. Luckily, we weren¡¯t sitting in a dank underground chamber for me. As we worked, Ellie and I spoke.

    ¡°I¡­ think I kind of hate it,¡± she said after her second concoction became a thick sludge of waste product. I was about to agree and dump out my own pathetic attempt when she continued. ¡°The monster killing, I mean. It¡¯s scary in a way I don¡¯t like, not just because of the monsters themselves, but what it does to me. I like it when they fall over and stop working, but afterwards I think about the effects and¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s completely fine, you know?¡± I realised I needed to ask. In dodging some of my own responsibilities, I had let them fall to the other members of the guild. Were they all trying to shoulder the same burden as me, in their own ways? ¡°None of you are me and I don¡¯t expect you to be. The world has monsters in it, and you¡¯ll have to fight them one way or another, but that doesn¡¯t have to be face to face.¡±

    Over our time in the veritable dungeon beneath the Outpost¡¯s apothecary, Ellie and I spoke more than we had since meeting. She wasn¡¯t worried about her own family, but didn¡¯t elaborate why. She had taken the Aspect of Poison on a whim, and feeling like she needed to use that power while not actually wanting to herself was causing some spiritual friction. Thankfully, and finally¡­

    ¡°I did it! Oh, and I got the skill!¡± After only three brews, eating a miniscule six hours of my life, the task was complete. I think I could have left after giving Ellie a mortar and pestle from the way she took to it, but I wanted to actively support the growth of Ascentown. Alongside Ellie and I was the Outposts only other alchemist, Gerry.

    Gerry looked green with envy at the speed Ellie had learned the Potioncraft skill. By using mana to burn away unwanted effects in the potion, the ingredients used could be given some actual potency. Gerry had opened Ascentown Apothecary and begun to produce some real results. Under his tutelage, enforced by myself, Ellie had successfully picked up the trade.

    ¡°Did you get some experience?¡± I asked, trying to seem interested in at least one aspect of potion making. Ellie said that she did, and it was apparently quite a fair amount judging from her excitement. Maybe one day I would find a craft that worked for me but for now, honing myself was the only task that made me feel fulfilled. Still, I was glad that Ellie had so quickly found her outlet, though not surprised. The throughline from poisons to potions wasn¡¯t much of a leap, to be honest.

    Leaving the new apprentice with Gerry and dumping a copious amount of supplies with the two of them, I took my leave. As I did, I saw Aaron entering the Jewel of Ascentown to a raucous round of applause and shook my head. He had set up a few taverns and if he was happy doing it, then I would let him. People needed a place to have some fun that wasn¡¯t just watching me and the Fledglings get beaten up in the training ground. So, that was Aaron, Ellie and Harry taken care of¡­

    Where were Luke and Tom, though?

 Book Two - Chapter Twenty Seven - Off Course

    Fuck. My thoughts were racing as I awoke and tried to take in the scene before me. Everything was blindingly bright due to the chrome appearance of everything. The walls, the floor, the ceilings, even the visible ground through windows outside showed blades of razor sharp grass. My eyes were focused more on the others in the room with me. Five people in tight metal cages. My panic calmed slightly as I saw them all alive. Derringer, Francine, Garland, Paul and Samson. My squad. Thanking whatever god might be listening that they weren¡¯t dead, I almost slipped. Unlike the others, I was not caged. I found myself on a small platform just large enough for my feet.

    I struggled to think clearly. ¡°How did we-¡± Before I could say or think anything else, a cord of metal slithered up from the podium. The thin but powerful thread, moving at impossible speeds, wrapped around my neck while two more grabbed my wrists and pulled. I contained the gasp of pain as each of them cut into my skin slightly.

    ¡°Good, you¡¯re awake. You can go into one of the cages if you like,¡± a terrible metal voice said, ¡°but then someone will take your spot.¡± Rising from the ground, headfirst was the creature that had captured us as we left Ascentown.

    The body which formed was mostly human. There was a liquidity to the metal which it was made of that meant the limbs morphed as it moved and interacted with the world. Pulling itself from the metal of the ground theatrically, the monster turned to face me. Its two muscular-looking arms crossed and the flat plane of its face opened into an approximation of eyes and a mouth.

    I tried to sense its level or name, but there was a veil in the way. Pain joined the frustration which had been building for weeks and I found myself unable to be as scared as I should be. Instead, I was furious. ¡°You said you wanted to talk, didn¡¯t you? So, what is this?¡± I screamed my words as much as I could while being garotted. I could take this.

    My reward for saving Newtown from its trial wave was showing its value here. The effects of my newest Aspect were definitely making me stubborn, but it also allowed me to keep my squad from danger. The Aspect of Enduring had bound, thankfully, to my Fortitude. It allowed my spells to hit harder, as the mana existed for longer and with more force. More importantly, right now, it meant I could spend mana to stop my muscles from fatiguing. If I fell right now¡­

    ¡°This is insurance, so that you will not attack me. I would be forced to kill you, rather than simply risk it by keeping you contained.¡± The voice was melodious in the way a funeral dirge had rhythm. Each lilted oscillation of air escaping its twisted human form warbled brutally against my ears.

    ¡°What are you?¡± Okay, I spoke to myself while reaching for time and information, suspended in the middle of a small room. Below me, a bed of knives rose from the floor, all aimed towards me. I looked from the blades to the creature and it shrugged. This fucker is just showing off how in control it is. All my thoughts bent towards survival, if not for me then for the others.

    ¡°A natural occurrence? A deviation from the plan? Hard to say. The System is just one big game really, but what the game master decides is so unknowable there¡¯s no reason to guess.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised by its tone. While its voice was like rusty nails against steel, its words were casual, almost playful. ¡°You may call me Steel Sovereign.¡± I resisted the urge to spit instead. Looking at the monster, I felt the air shift as it removed a barrier, showing me its name and level. Or, part of it.

    Steel Sovereign - Level ???

    Does three question marks mean¡­ I found my throat constricting from that idea, more than the piano wire. Level one hundred? Over? Any thoughts of fighting vanished, the monster¡¯s intention no doubt. As though taunting me, a section of the wall opened and someone walked into the room. If I hadn¡¯t just seen how futile the effort would be, I would have gathered my mana and prayed I could end things before my head was removed from my body.

    ¡°What did you do to him?!¡± Luke had walked into the room, but his movements were janky. Robotic. His eyes were terrified and terrifying, the pain and fear clear upon them chilling any remaining embers of rebellion within. ¡°This one didn¡¯t get an offer, I wasn¡¯t as refined when we met. Maybe you can change that. I wouldn¡¯t need to hold onto his nervous system so tightly if you worked with me.¡±

    ¡°Fucking monster.¡± Clearly intent on rubbing in just how much power it commanded, Steel Sovereign had Luke performing dangerous movements while surrounded by sharp objects. If he flinched an inch, the axes that sprang from the walls would bisect him. The pressure this thing gave off was intense, stronger than Grant¡¯s, though it was hard to even think such a thing.

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    Completely sociopathic, the creature nodded at my words. ¡°Monstrous world we¡¯ve got here now. I find myself on a collision course with the most dangerous monster around. I don¡¯t want to die. While I¡¯m quietly confident if we had to fight, I¡¯m not sure I would walk away unscathed. Better to make an ally, if possible.¡± By this point, Steel Sovereign had created itself a throne to sit on as we spoke. The others in the cages were waking up and panicking. I didn¡¯t blame them, but I also couldn¡¯t look away from the danger below.

    ¡°An ally? You?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve done nothing that can¡¯t be forgiven, surely.¡± With a flourish of its left hand, the restrictions on my limbs lessened. It almost made it harder to stay standing, but I managed. The squeezing metal cages widened, too. ¡°Even without you all, I could arrive and make my case as though I had never performed a single slight. From what I¡¯ve gathered, that could work.¡± So this thing was spying on us? Not unsurprising given the speed of its ambush.

    Still, I couldn¡¯t help being defiant. It felt like the right angle for now. ¡°I haven¡¯t told you anything.¡±

    ¡°Luke,¡± Steel Soveriegn spoke the name quietly, but Luke whimpered, the first noise he had made since entering the room. Not even grunts of exertion had escaped yet. ¡°What¡¯s your mother¡¯s name?¡±

    A horrible sucking of air rattled for a moment, like his lungs had been parched for hours, before Luke shouted. ¡°SHARON! HER NAME IS SHARON PLEASE LET ME GO-¡± Steel Sovereign closed its still open left hand and Luke immediately fell silent and slack once more. It was the most horrific thing I had ever seen.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough. Complete control over the nervous system is potent, but the cost is somewhat prohibitive to maintain on a powerful body.¡±

    Leaders make hard decisions, including knowing when to admit defeat. ¡°Let them go, and I¡¯ll help you. What do you want from me?¡± The monster¡¯s face became a wide grin. I suppressed my worries. I had my problems with Grant¡¯s existence, but not with the man himself. His power scared me so much I found myself chasing it, too. Blindly, I sprinted to try and catch up with a man I had no chance to, apparently. Even my Dao, the image of magic which lived inside of me, was shaped by him. Grant was powerful due to magic, therefore my magic was power.

    Even then, that power which frightened me down to my ideals and shaped my own strength was enough to make this higher Grade monster pause. Grant would win, no matter what this thing did. As long as it freed its captives, Grant would handle the rest. The cheshire grin on Steel Sovereign remained frozen for an uncomfortable amount of time before it finally spoke.

    ¡°I would like you to take me to your leader.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    As the hammer fell and a surge of energy filled Harry¡¯s muscles with power, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from hollering in delight. He would have to thank Grant again when he returned from the mountain, this weapon was perfect. Even if it sort of had a dumb name.

    Item - Sorehammer (Rare)

    Once wielded by a strongman called Charles, leading to the confusing name Chuck the Hammer. Eventually he did, costing him his life.

    Effect: Infusing the Sorehammer with mana increases its effectiveness against inanimate objects.

    While Cassadee, one of Harry¡¯s squad, had made the argument that these were technically very animated objects, the System didn¡¯t seem to care and neither did Harry. With each swing, the rock was pulverised like styrofoam whether there was a golem within it or not. For all their griping that he had it easy, the squad were earning just as much experience as if it were an all-out brawl, so who cared?

    This mountain was a wonderland. Even the air itself seemed to resonate with Harry¡¯s Dao. The rock gave off the idea of being an immovable object. When Dao was first explained to him, in the vague way that people seemed to think was the only way to talk about it, Harry had thought it was kind of dumb. He was grateful to the System for giving him more strength to defend the ones he cared about from that same System, but that¡¯s all it was to him.

    Here, on Cloudslash Peak, he finally got it.

    As they rose higher and higher upon the mountain, the entire squad was challenged time and again. Reaching the peak was not going to be easy, even with the warhammer of golem destruction itself at their side. Harry wasn¡¯t an endless fountain of mana like Grant, so he had to pick and choose where to drop a Precise Attack.

    Skill - Precise Attack

    Experience has taught you many things. Where your enemy will be, how they will attack and finally, how you should attack.

    Harry¡¯s first and only learned skill, not counting the one from the Guidance Stone of Thorns. Due specifically to wanting to swat ¡°that stupid fairy,¡± he had lashed out with his whole being at exactly the moment he had intended. The attack had scored Harry his singular win against Naea in the tag tournament and was a moment of great pride for him. The issue for Harry was that it sucked a lot of his mana away and needed to be used sparingly.

    Looking up, all he could see was more mountain. They weren''t sure they could beat it all in one go, but the group was going to try. The place wasn¡¯t where Grant had been turned into a monster, but, Harry realised with a start, he was now stronger than Grant had been when they met. The gains were visible in the increasing levels on his character page and the enemies he could now defeat.

    Ever since his older brother passed away, he had been aimless except for when directed by Grant. In a lot of ways, the man had saved him from becoming a useless screaming heap. Looking skywards and finding the clouds blocked by the rock above, Harry signed with something close to contentment. Grant had climbed the mountain, bested it and returned with tales of its dangers. In a real sense, this place was a benchmark for that man¡¯s progress. Harry liked that thought.

    He continued rising with his fellow Fledglings, hoping he might be able to see his own peak if he found his way to the top of Cloudslash Peak.

 Book Two - Chapter Twenty Eight - Bedfellows

    There was a foul energy about the day even before I awoke. Though I could go without rest for days now, sleeping still felt natural and came easily enough when I wanted it. Except, nightmares decided to plague my unconscious moments, not that I was surprised. Dreams, and even nightmares, were necessary for the mind to comprehend its recent stresses. The System did a lot of heavy lifting when it came to mental health as well as physical, otherwise myself and everyone else would all be raving lunatics by now.

    When I finally gave up and got out of bed, I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Unfortunately, no immediate issue arose. I chastised myself for hoping for such a thing, and then spent the day prowling Ascentown making other people uncomfortable. All of the Fledgling squads were out of the city, so Naea and I were its defenders today. Sanjay¡¯s squad had remained initially but I had excused them from their post so they could go explore like the other Fledglings. That wouldn¡¯t have been enough to put me on edge normally, so I struggled to locate my own issue.

    I threw myself at anything I could find to distract myself. I tried meditation in the Fairy Circle of Home Base, but that didn¡¯t work. The area definitely had some calming qualities, but they were magical in nature and I could feel the mana of the area trying to influence my emotions. Even though I wanted them to be swayed right now, the intention of it was distracting.

    Neither did the Evolution Chamber, though the effect of being inside was similar to sensory deprivation. Any other time I might have enjoyed it, but being cut off was the last thing I needed. I was receptive on a hyper aware level right now, so when the mana in the air felt stagnant, I felt close to blind.

    My physical attributes were staggering at this point, and almost by accident I arrived at the neighbouring town in what felt like minutes. I was searching for something here but I didn¡¯t know what. Newtown was so different from our little outpost town. Even now it grew as people who were further afield and alone gathered at the population centre. The world outside was unkind, but survivors were out there, still trickling in. Some would likely continue to Ascentown, I realised. Then, I found something important. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was the reason, but it became one.

    The children. I passed a school building and instead of it being silent, a bell rang. I was surprised and tears formed as I realised the crowd in front of me wasn¡¯t loitering, they were waiting for their kids. Stepping from the doors of the school alongside a sniffling child was one of the leaders of Newtown. Julianna guided the child over to their parents and explained something to them, but her eyes found me while she did. I waited, and she approached once she was finished.

    ¡°You alright?¡± She asked, seeing my red eyes no doubt.

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t realised¡­ I didn¡¯t-¡± The words died in my throat. It was just such an important part of life that I hadn¡¯t noticed was missing. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were a teacher,¡± I finally choked out.

    Julianna chuckled at my obvious deflection but allowed it. ¡°We¡¯re helping kids learn about magic. It¡¯s safer than the physical side of things, though of course most of the boys want to learn how to use swords and stuff. It¡¯s crazy that swords are a daily thing again now. Do you think they were a daily thing in the past? Not for most, I¡¯d bet. Any soldier, obviously¡­¡± She trailed off and I felt the silence slap me in the face.

    ¡°Sorry it¡¯s just¡­ I needed that. Massively.¡± Children. The future. It was possible, even if we didn¡¯t know what it looked like right now. The terrifying thought that it would be myself and others like me shaping that vision was enough to make me shudder. Not enough, though, to remove my smile. Maybe if people like Julianna were involved they¡¯d be okay. For the first time since the System descended upon Earth, I felt true hope blossom in my chest.

    My family are safe, I finally decided. I was searching for an intact family unit, not news of their demise. As soon as the scouts found the claimant beast, I would find them and bring them to the safety a place like Newtown could promise. My family could actually be safe, and not just in the way I lied to myself. Maybe they were living comfortable lives in a new normal. I hadn¡¯t done much for Newtown, and it was thriving in its own way. It had its own story, separate from my own. Maybe their¡¯s was one of wonder.

    It was okay to hope.

    Some tethers fell away. The responsibility was there, but the urgency calmed slightly. Two almond coloured eyes set wonderfully in a beautiful dark-skinned face were gazing at me from under fluttering eyelids. Then, she made my day. ¡°Would you like a drink?¡±

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Maybe this was what I was anticipating? I smiled. ¡°Yes, actually, do you guys have bars?¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°No, no, no, no, that¡¯s so cool!¡± I shouted with excitement as Julianna released another plume of fire after inhaling a cigarette. It was a party trick of her Dao and mana, but right now, it was the most intense thing I had ever seen. When a house-sized hawk creates thirty spears of flame, solid golden form within wreathed in oranges, reds, and yellows like I had never seen¡­ well that was to be expected. A monster called a Firehawk Monarch was supposed to do the unbelievable.

    When it was a human, and a beautiful woman that was doing it to flirt with me at that? It was different. ¡°This stuff is great,¡± I chuckled, taking a big swig of the bottled alcohol. ¡°I should go and find out who makes this stuff and learn how they do it.¡± The beverage I was enjoying could be characterised as strong and potent. Pretty much nothing else.

    ¡°Noo, you should come and sit next to me.¡± I liked that look in her eye, and did as she suggested. I used Air Manipulation to flutter her hair, not confident in my control to do more. Magic made flirting so much easier. She climbed on top of me, the fabric of our clothing thin enough that nothing was left to the imagination. With perfect timing as always, a System message appeared right at that moment, and I swept it away.

    I had been looking for a distraction all day, and had found one. A perfect diversion which I desperately wanted to continue with. It would be so easy. Just use my System given strength to pick up Julianna and move her to the much more comfortable bed she kept looking at between kisses. Focus on her and find out just how much the System had changed that primal part of life¡­

    Except I knew.

    I knew I had seen the words ¡°Outpost¡± and ¡°Quest¡±. That tension I had been holding tightened around my mind and I groaned. Julianna could tell, even addled by the drink as we both were, that something was wrong. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, but something¡¯s happening.¡±

    ¡°Well, I thought so, but clearly not.¡± The look of disappointment and disapproval on her face was obvious. I almost wanted to roll my eyes at walking into a clich¨¦ like this, but I was sobering up quickly and wise enough not to make myself look worse.

    ¡°No, I wish this was happening, but something¡¯s going on at the town.¡± I flicked open the System prompt and finally gave it my proper attention. Julianna raised her eyebrow, but I held up a finger. ¡°What the¡­ fuck?¡±

    Outpost Quest - Claimant¡¯s Parley

    The Steel Sovereign has entered your Outpost and is waiting for you to arrive. There is no strict time limit, but it may be of the essence all the same.

    Reward: ???

    ¡°You coming?¡± I asked. Julianna snorted, and it took me a second but I did the same. ¡°Stop it, weirdo, this is serious.¡± The leader of Newtown looked me in the face, a quick mask thrown on. She looked the picture of severity. Her brown eyes were silhouetted beautifully by a wide, loose ponytail. I had not yet dared to run my hands through the thick, frizzy hair but damn did I want to. I poked her collarbone, my pale skin contrasting fiercely with the varnished mahogany of her slightly sweat covered chest. ¡°Do you want to come and save Ascentown from some disaster with me?¡±

    She nodded, but was clearly trying and failing to keep a straight face. ¡°Still can¡¯t believe we convinced Tom to call it that.¡±

    ¡°That was you?!¡± Feeling the stab of betrayal, I rushed to the Outpost. Between my body¡¯s new physiology, a conscious use of mana to purge the effects of alcohol, and this brutal betrayal, it was easy to sober up. ¡°That¡¯s genuinely a source of stress for me, you know. They¡¯re naming their stores with it in the title!¡±

    Julianna howled with laughter even as we blazed a path towards my awfully named town. ¡°Well, you guys intentionally called your place Newtown, so I¡¯m not taking any of that grief from you. Can you go faster?¡± Julianna didn¡¯t deign to reply, nor did I get an answer. Instead, the area around us lit up as her feet ignited in flame. Her speed increased massively and I laughed. I like this woman, I thought.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The general bustle of Ascentown did not stop when the sun fell. Nearly everyone who lived there had some levels, with many either at the bottleneck or just breaking through. As night took over, improved eyesight and torches were more than enough for people to continue working or socialising. It also meant that some people had ended up on strange sleep schedules.

    Austin awoke with a start and struggled for a moment to understand why he felt unsettled. He stood from his bed and explored his one bedroom house for the cause. Nothing was making noise, and it would be weird if it did, but the possibility of monsters kept him jumpy. He had put most of his points into Speed, so as long as he noticed the danger first he would be able to get away. When his exploration of the newly built, decently made house bore no fruit, he stepped outside.

    He had gotten lucky, his house was at the end of a row, meaning his garden at the back was large - for now, he reminded himself - and it was quiet outside his front door. So, when no one was around as he stepped outside into the warm evening, he didn¡¯t think it was strange. However, as he continued without a sign of anyone, he became worried. His senses on edge, he saw the glint of metal and bolted.

    He barely made it five strides before the metal shard buried itself in his neck.

    Control of his body slipped from himself to another. The feeling of being piloted by someone else¡¯s thoughts was torturous.Alien mana ran through his channels, scoring them with cuts and damage. Austin found himself walking towards the centre of town. There, watched as his body entered a building. A dozen other people were standing like mannequins and the horror mounted. Austin wanted to scream at them to help him, but he knew they couldn¡¯t, even if he screamed. They were all under the same spell.

    Trapped and puppeted by an unknown force.

 Book Two - Chapter Twenty Nine - Chatting With A Monster

    As I approached Ascentown, I ¡°pinged¡± Naea. She had been resting at Home Base and I told her to come to me before we engaged with whatever was happening. Home Base was on the outskirts of the town, with everything built in a western direction from there. Newtown was to the East, and so we approached from that direction. Naea wanted to run into battle immediately. She argued through the bond, but I reminded her of our serious conversation. ¡°It was about me, but it wasn¡¯t just for me. Neither of us deal with the big stuff alone again.¡±

    She relented and met Julianna and I just outside the boundary of Ascentown. I wasn¡¯t expecting the stink eye she gave the woman and snorted a laugh. ¡°Naea, Julianna, Julianna, Naea.¡± I gestured to the ladies and introduced them. I had a strange feeling that this was what introducing a step-parent to a teenager might feel like.

    Of course, Julianna knew how to handle kids. ¡°Grant, where were you hiding this beautiful thing?¡± A round of gasps and oohs and ahhs needed to happen as the two women immediately bridged the start of their own relationship with each other. Naea showed off her lightning a bit, and Julianna shot a gout of fire from her fist. Deciding that this had taken up more than enough time, I clapped and just began moving again.

    With the speed of our approach, I almost didn¡¯t notice how strange it was for Ascentown to be silent. Given there was supposedly a claimant attacking, there should be some noise. I wasn¡¯t an expert at reading the System¡¯s intention, but when a claimant arrived in my town without me being there, I expected carnage. Destruction and damage, things to avenge. I didn¡¯t expect it to be so¡­ quiet.

    When I stepped into the central plaza of the Outpost, I actually sighed in relief. Sure, the claimant was standing there with the confidence of a demi-god, but I wasn¡¯t going crazy at least. That feeling of dread which had hung over my every thought over the day was confirmed, and despite the danger, I felt more comfortable.

    I couldn¡¯t fight the unknown, but I could fight whatever this thing was.

    Unmoving as I approached, it was hard to tell if the thing even knew I was there. The unchanging feeling of apprehension in my gut was enough though, and the strangeness of the situation had me holding my hand. As I inspected the creature, I found my Manasight blocked. My Dao growled and ripped the barrier away.

    Steel Sovereign - Level ??? (Claimant)

    The text might not say monster, but my eyes did. Looking somewhere between a human and a tree, made entirely of shiny chrome metal. Though I was sure it knew I was here, I still took my time and sought to understand the being before me. To my physical eyes, it was a monstrosity of sharp metals and nearly blinding chrome but my Stormborn physiology was not just to give me fancy lines.

    It was my ability to see mana that made me most worried.

    I had never seen anything so powerful in my life. The Golem Prince or Firehawk Monarch were candles next to the bonfire of this being¡¯s power. The mana within the metal body moved with more purpose, more control than I had ever seen. Its physical body was a thing of function, but the pathways that guided its magic were beautiful. I admired the framework, even if the finished product wanted to kill me.

    I told the others to stay back and got closer as carefully as I could. The Alternating Armament felt strong in my hand. My mana cycled quicker and quicker, in time with my ascending heart rate. I knew exactly what those question marks implied.

    This thing was strong.

    Maybe fighting wouldn¡¯t be such a good idea.

    ¡°And there he is!¡± As it spoke, Steel Sovereign clapped and I jumped back fifteen feet. Even without features on its face, I could tell that the metallic monster was smug at my reaction.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on here? What do you want?¡± I needed more information, and the continuing silence of the Outpost was becoming oppressively ominous. Until I knew the state of my people, I couldn¡¯t make a move. I had never felt so powerless since the System arrived.

    ¡°Humans are interesting. You tend to ask the same questions in the same order, for the most part.¡± As though it were discussing the weather, with a voice like a windy pipe organ, Steel Sovereign created a chair from its own body, then seated itself. There was a noticeable shrinking of its form, but I didn¡¯t assume anything. It showed me the ability on purpose, which meant it was calculating to a worrying degree.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°What have you done?¡± This time, I pressed forward with my Dao. It wasn¡¯t the full weight of my pressure, but it wasn¡¯t nothing either. I wasn¡¯t asking for an answer, I was demanding it.

    ¡°Yes,¡± the monstrosity nodded, ¡°that one does normally come next.¡±

    ¡°No, what comes next is you stop playing games or I kill you, finish this quest and deal with whatever bullshit comes next, consequences be damned.¡± Unable to hold myself back completely, my Dao pressed outwards, my energy ominous as a dark cloud covering the sun.

    ¡°Oh, no, the threat isn¡¯t so esoteric and far-off. It¡¯s immediate. If I die, so do they.¡±  The monster twitched its head and white light exploded in my vision. I grasped for my mana, my Dao, anything to fight back with but found them out of reach. My connection had been sliced by a fractional release of Steel Sovereign¡¯s power. Goosebumps appeared on my skin, not just because the power was so vast it nearly knocked me out. No, it was worse.

    Steel Sovereign hadn¡¯t even attacked.

    As one, every door in the town opened at once. Every door. People filed out of their homes and formed an orderly line. As it moved, so did everyone else. It waved a hand and over a hundred arms matched the gesture. As Steel Sovereign and everyone else waved, another steel chair and a table appeared. The thing made my skin crawl. It was acting like it was in complete control, a fact I couldn¡¯t dispute. Just exhibiting its power for an instant was enough to send me reeling.

    I was frozen. I didn¡¯t have a way to combat this. What should I do? As my mind began to weigh up the calculus of nearly 500 lives, I became stuck with indecision. Steel Sovereign slowly steepled its fingers together. The denizens of Ascentown, as one, crossed their hands in the same way.  ¡°I hope you consider this an unacceptable consequence.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t hurt them.¡± I could do nothing but beg. Even my Dao didn¡¯t object, silently gathering power in my core instead. If I needed to avenge a single person, I would be ready to fight with all of my strength. It now felt meagre. These people needed to be saved, however I could do it. ¡°You wanted to talk? Talk. Quickly.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hurt these humans, nor any humans, really. Survival is much more important however, so I believe the audience will remain.¡± As it spoke in its chromatic lilt, it emoted like a human might. The citizens that I wanted to protect so badly mimicked its movements perfectly, a macabre dance routine I never wanted to see again.

    ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s talk.¡± Slowly, pausing after each word as I spat them through gritted teeth, I offered peace. I locked down my Dao, which were both screaming at me to fight this monster right here, and sat at the table it had created. ¡°I¡¯ll ask again. What do you want?¡±

    There was a wail from Steel Sovereign and I flinched before realising that the thing was actually sighing. ¡°A place in this new world. A way to exist past the quest this System has given us to kill each other. I swear I have not killed a single human in my lifetime.¡± Although I had no reason to, I believed that this creature wouldn¡¯t lie. Maybe I recognised the pride in something that called itself a sovereign. Then, its dirge of a voice became coarse, a furnace burning. ¡°That can easily change.¡±

    I felt myself rising to the challenge inherent, but I needed these people safe. Still, I couldn¡¯t back down fully. ¡°I¡¯d be safer if I killed you. These people might die, if you¡¯re telling the truth, but I could survive.¡± An unspoken subtext was that this creature could easily kill far more people than just the denizens of Ascentown.

    ¡°As would I, Grant Kaeron, but could I kill you? Could you, me? Not before I kill all of these people, certainly, but maybe before I kill the one hiding with the fairy. Of course, if you do end up dying you take the fairy with you.¡± Words as sharp as a knife to my heart. I knew it when Naea had nearly said it, but now it was used as a powerful weapon against me.

    So Naea¡¯s life was bound to mine. Our contract had felt permanent but I never took the time to inspect it, nor ask Naea if there were any implications I needed to worry about. All of the times I risked my life and Naea¡¯s reaction to my carelessness came rushing to my mind. Whatever guilt I had felt became magnitudes worse. I knew that the reverse wasn¡¯t true. If she died, I wouldn¡¯t follow because of our contract like she would. She had kept the danger to herself from me.

    My life just became a lot more valuable, I thought. ¡°So you have me at your mercy. What now?¡± It rankled my soul to capitulate to this monster but I could do nothing to risk the lives of the people who had trusted me. Even if they had just moved here because it was something new, it was something I had offered them. If I had to fall on a sword to get the people out of this, I absolutely would.

    ¡°Simple.¡± The crowd once again waved their arms in uncanny unison and a System prompt appeared. One which nearly caused my eyes to bug out of my head. I had sensed a similar tug on my soul once before, and while I had been receptive then, this one felt like an invasion of privacy. I nearly rejected the prompt outright, but stopped myself.

    ¡°What?¡± I barked. A flimsy bridge had formed between myself and the creature sitting in front of me. I seethed with anger, my mind desperate to refuse the contract outright. Steel Sovereign¡¯s didn¡¯t even twitch shift, they just waited a few moments with the silence of the captives breathing in unison to emphasise the situation.

    ¡°What?!¡± Naea screeched. She could feel the attempts at connection being made. I looked over to her and tried to convey love through our bond, but the feeling was tangled. Danger be damned, she flew over to me in a panic and wrapped her arms around my neck while glaring at the monster.

    ¡°What?¡± Steel Sovereign asked, innocently, tilting their head to the side. Cute when a puppy does it maybe, but spooky on its alien features. ¡°Read the contract, please.¡±

    Familiar Contract - Steel Sovereign has offered a familiar contract.

    Offered by the Singular Existence, Steel Sovereign, this contract will bind the two of you intrinsically. As the one who is being offered the contract, you are the dominant. As Steel Sovereign is of a higher Grade than yourself, you may not form additional Familiar Contracts until Grade parity has been reached. This is the base level of contract, allowing for further growth but requiring nothing more than non-aggression.

    Do you accept the terms?

    Upon the flat face of Steel Sovereign, a thin smile appeared along with other facial features.

 Book Two - Chapter Thirty - Getting Familiar II

    Over the past few days I had come to know the faces and names of almost everyone in Ascentown. It was an act of contrition for myself as I felt I had let them down by keeping my distance while remaining a figurehead. By making myself appear more human to the people, it was my hope that they would more easily reach the level of strength required to survive in this new world.

    My eyes lingered on a few faces. A man named Sebastian who was extremely excited about his Aspect of Gardens and the ability to make the Outpost picturesque. Next to him, his wife Sophie, who designed clothes and was hoping to figure out how to enchant the items involved. Within every face was an expression, hidden under the placid mask of control. Everyone was terrified, angry or desperate to be freed.

    Every member of The Ascent was here, including Tom and his mages. The only one spared was Harry, out with the other Fledglings. My eyes found Luke and a bubble of molten rage threatened to burn through my throat. His disappearance now made more sense, as I looked at the somewhat gaunt skin he bore. I knew how strong each of them were, maybe better than themselves in some cases. Even they could do nothing to save themselves.

    I needed to do it for them.

    ¡°I¡¯ve read the contract,¡± I growled. I was being led by the nose, and there was nothing I could do but accept. I could still get answers. While I would sign on the dotted line, it felt too¡­ easy. Despite my better judgement, I asked the question plaguing me. ¡°Why would you want this? Why not fight?¡±

    I wasn¡¯t sure of the creature¡¯s combat capabilities, or how its skills worked, but I doubted anyone but me stood a chance against it. Even that would be a ridiculous feat of strength, though the dragon within knew it would be a certain victory for us. Clawing past unbeatable odds was becoming a fairly common occurrence. One that Steel Sovereign apparently feared.

    ¡°Because I might lose. There is an infinitesimal chance that you could defeat me and from what I¡¯ve seen, that would be a risk not worth taking against the Grant Kaeron.¡± It said my name like a noun. I was struck by how very bizarre my life had become, but couldn¡¯t dwell on it. ¡°The System keeps me in the area until our situation is resolved. I would like to be free, and I suspect you would like the same. I truly wish no harm on you or your people, just room to grow on this planet which is now my home.¡±

    I struggled to find an argument which would somehow free both myself and the captured Ascentown natives. Except Steel Sovereign was right. I had no way out of this without doing as it was offering. I also knew that I didn¡¯t even really have a reason to refuse other than its methods. If I was being fair, it was probably a nicer deal that I would have given. Its compatriot claimants received no such offer.

    So why did it feel like losing when I said yes? The connection which had attempted to form became solid. I immediately slammed the bond shut and placed up a fierce mental barrier. In the moment our souls had bonded, the monster had reached towards mine. I glared at my new familiar as gasps of breath, screams of relief and lots of anger rose from the crowd at once. Steel Sovereign simply smiled before pointing. It said ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting at my home. Come and visit. We are allies now. There are things I would share.¡±

    The metallic creature shifted, its body compressing until it was nearly two dimensional. Then it sliced away, disappearing with a frightening quickness. Without my own Dao trying to overwhelm the creature, I didn¡¯t receive the magical whiplash as the being of metal activated a skill. The air felt sharp even after it had vanished from sight completely.

    The crowd had variously walked away, ran or slumped in place once released from the clutches of the metal monster. My familiar, I cringed. I didn¡¯t stop them, didn''t have the words to say to make anything better. The best I could do for these people is slink away, which I did. I waved Julianna off as she tried to talk to me and hoped she would understand but didn¡¯t stop until I found a bed in Home Base to curl up into. To say the mood between us had been interrupted would be the biggest understatement possible, so I just shook my head and left.

    The blinking System prompts felt like a stupid joke. I had technically completed the quest I received upon leaving the dungeon, but the success felt hollow for obvious reasons. I couldn¡¯t even bring myself to open the quest completion prompt and instead managed to find a fitful sleep. Stress was more exhausting than anything else, these days.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    My dreams were haunted that night. Most nights that I slept came with one or two vivid and uncomfortable nightmares about failing my family, dying to the jaws of a vicious beast or, very occasionally, a test I hadn¡¯t prepared for. Those dreams didn¡¯t trouble me because I knew that my explosively powerful mind was capable of creating equally potent dreamscapes.

    The nightmare after Steel Soverign¡¯s unwelcome visit to Ascentown was not the casual unjumbling my subconscious usually does. I tumbled through a world of violent metal. The trees, the ground, the buildings and people were all made of steel. Except for me, the world had been covered in chrome. Even the sun was a gigantic lightbulb! As the only mortal, I was beset by attacks from all angles. The world itself morphed and stabbed towards me as I sprinted through the silver-grey cities in search of some way to make things better.

    Whenever I stopped, the voice of Steel Sovereign screamed in laughter. The very universe was bent against me, wailing like a banshee. Eventually, I remembered that I was strong, and I started to rip the metal away from the flowers and trees. Hand after hand of grasping, wrenching force, I scoured the entire globe. When I was finished, the world was silent and barren but signs of life could be seen. Plants pushed through the now open ground. I replaced the lightbulb in the sky with a sun formed of my own power, blasted into the sky from my outstretched hand.

    When I was done, I held a weight of metal greater than the planet upon which I stood, but I shouldered it for them. The humans who began to poke their heads out of bunkers and hiding places. The ones who had waited for protection. I would do it for them, and I could hold up the sky a dozen times over if need be. The nightmare ended with the sound of my elbow shattering and the weight tumbling.

    Ominous, I told myself as I awoke. It at least made me more sure of my decision. I needed to say something. As with any dream, it soon faded to an obscure memory at best. While my high Mental attribute meant I could hold onto the imagery if I focused, I didn¡¯t. A dream was just a dream.

    That day, looking at the general distrust and fear on the faces of the denizens of Ascentown, I was shaken. One extremely tenuous ally gained, but how many were lost? What had I lost? I clenched a fist, striding away from the crowd and the noise that needled my ears. I had no apology for these people that would help them. As I began to walk away, I saw myself clearly. Saw a pattern of repetition, a cycle doomed to only get worse. Something had to change.

    By the afternoon, I knew exactly what I wanted to convey to the people of Ascentown. Knowing who could do it best, I told Naea to find the girl who had joined me in exploring the Outpost, Melissa. Together, I tasked them with gathering everyone in the small town together at the training grounds.

    It took a while, which was fair, but I knew from experience that trauma was not the same beast now the System had arrived. I was glad to see that most people weren¡¯t considering leaving the Outpost due to what happened because I truly believed this was where they could grow the most. So long as I did my job.

    And they did theirs.

    ¡°Thank you for coming, everyone.¡± Never much of a public speaker, I found myself much more comfortable writing the monologue than giving it in the past. After the last few months, the thought of being intimidated by a gathering was truly laughable. I continued, using my natural voice and the acoustics of the space to let my voice carry. ¡°There¡¯s some things I need to say.¡±

    Alone in the middle of the training grounds, I nodded to Naea. She activated the room and used both of our mana pools judiciously to summon an enemy. A replica of the Golem Prince and Firehawk Monarch appeared opposite me. The bird screamed, but these weren¡¯t the monsters the claimants themselves had been. Only as high level as Naea, and without the amplification of Cloudslash Peak, they were pale imitations at best.

    It had only been a few days, but I found myself almost missing the simplicity of my mountainous climb. With a sigh, I began. Displaying my strength and magical potential, while impressive, wasn¡¯t the entire point. This wasn¡¯t training. Within two minutes, both of the powerful simulations were demolished. Conserving nothing of my own energy, I gracefully manoeuvred between their attacks and tore them apart without mercy. There were a few claps once my showing was complete, and the less patient members of the crowd thought I was just showing off.

    I took a quick, calming breath. ¡°Everyone stay where you are. I can see a few of you looking at me like you¡¯ve got something to say. Well you¡¯re not the only ones. You weren¡¯t captured because of me. You were captured because you were weak.¡±¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Steel Sovereign returned to its abode and allowed itself to finally relax. A devastating fatigue crashed into it as the magic that was held in debt took its payment. It would not be able to cast spells or manipulate anything more than a thimble for the next few days but it had been worth it. Almost all of its strength had been used in that moment, and it had played its hand to perfection.

    Even at a supposedly lower grade of strength, Grant Kaeron had been a terrifying monster. Being a singular existence held massive benefits, and Steel Sovereign considered itself above nearly all other beings¡­ but the rising star the System had set against it was a monster all of its own.

    Now Steel Sovereign had attached itself firmly to that impossible potential. Now all it needed to do was guide him in the right direction. Falling into its throne atop the Grade Two resource which had fueled its evolution, it was almost tempted to kick its feet! Finding that it enjoyed the act of talking, the Familiar, spoke happily to itself. ¡°Where you go, I go, Grant Kaeron.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Thirty One - The Hard Truths

    The qualitative effects of raising one¡¯s level, and thus attributes, was incredible. By Grade One, most people were as strong as a comic book super soldier, or capable of flinging magic around. People leaning towards a higher Mental attribute than Speed or Fortitude were becoming more common. More than enough people thought they knew where my strength came from, and so were trying to follow my path.

    I did not yet know if this was a good or a bad thing, but such questions were answered over years and decades, not the few weeks I¡¯d been a ¡°leader.¡± Looking at the members of The Ascent, easy to find from the signature of the magic, I could kick myself. All of them had been held captive by Steel Sovereign. Absolutely nothing had stopped it. Some leader I am, I scoffed.

    I realised only not how many people were sporting long sticks or staves of some kind. A pretty specific style was forming amongst the people. I found the eyes of The Ascent. I saw four sets of pensive eyes, each of them clearly struggling with the events themselves. Good. They also needed to hear this.

    ¡°Who do you think you are?¡± One brave voice called out, starting the flood. A general clamour of anger came my way. The Ascent mostly just looked towards the ground as the curses and misplaced anger started to flow. Tom nodded at me, Ellie not far away with a similar look on her face. Both of them seemed to agree with me, which was nice amongst the uproar.  Luke looked awful. I knew he hadn¡¯t eaten properly or slept in days. I genuinely couldn¡¯t be more sorry for him, but now wasn¡¯t the time for pity. If what just happened wasn¡¯t a wake up call, I would stress the point.

    ¡°Quiet.¡±

    Even though my voice was a mere whisper, it silenced every irate person in the area. None of them had a Dao that could stand up to me at full bear, and I brought all of it to the fore to make my point clear. A sizable chunk of the audience crumpled, either fainting completely or dropping into a seat to steady themselves. To one and all, the sharp claw of a dragon could be felt scraping under their chin. ¡°This isn¡¯t a discussion.¡±

    The font of Tempests fed the Dragon and physical force was exerted. My Dao and mana seized control of the space. The air they were breathing, the light they used to see, the very gravity keeping them bound to the planet. It was all mine. Everyone was frozen like deer in headlights. I pushed right to the edge of breaking some of the weaker minds and then let the pressure vanish like it had never been there.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a discussion,¡± I repeated. My speech returned to its normal timbre and sound level, but you could have heard a pin drop. I no longer needed to raise my voice. ¡°It¡¯s a lesson. Some of you know more than others how dangerous the world is out there, but you all got a look right there. Did you think that because I was strong, that made you strong? Oh, don¡¯t think you¡¯d be safer in Newtown because nowhere is safe.¡±

    I might be doing more harm to the psyche of the town than good at this point, but I continued. I never claimed to be a great speaker. There were lots of things I never wanted to be. ¡°What happens the next time a monster comes knocking, and I¡¯m not there to defend you or your family? I could only stop the monster yesterday by giving it a piece of my soul. I won¡¯t be doing that again. Are you going to feel better dying while cursing my name? I never promised any of you anything other than proximity to myself and the fact that I wouldn¡¯t be the monster you had to worry about.¡±

    ¡°The System is not going to hold our hands. If you can¡¯t protect yourself, find someone who will. I can¡¯t do it alone. Yet for all of your glares, I was alone against that monster. I was at its whim because you couldn¡¯t protect yourselves. Now I¡¯m going to deal with the consequences of that, while you all pick up the pieces or fuck off.¡±

    I didn¡¯t wait to see how my words landed. My face began to flush with heat and I spun. With my Dao rippling around me as it was, I literally stormed out of the training ground. My departure was like a bubble popping, because once again there was sound in Ascentown. It was mainly discontent, but it was something. Instead of being sad and scared, maybe they could be angry, and that would be enough to push them. Either way, I was close to washing my hands with the whole thing. If it wasn¡¯t for the quests and the fact that someone else would only do it worse, I¡¯d hand over control to anyone and just leave.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    I finally opened the System prompts that had been waiting, itching at the back of my head until I opened them. My mood wasn¡¯t much better than when Steel Sovereign had attacked, but I was able to move past being stubborn, at least.

    Quest Complete! - Lording It

    All other claims to your rule have been removed. The claimants are defeated, and your seat of power is secured. Rejoice in this momentous occasion, but know that it is only the beginning. There can be only one true ruler, after all.

    Ulterior claims remaining - 0.

    Reward: Lord Title, Ownership of valuable (Grade 2) resource.

    There was no way to determine whether the textbox floating in my vision was referencing my own Strike of the Ruler technique, the draconic powers which had brought me to it or just the way things tended to be. I leaned towards the System being somewhat personal, but that was just a theory. I hadn¡¯t had much time for the books from The Ascent guildhall but from what I read in my brief studies, it was a subject of much debate. Rather than try to pierce the mysteries of the universe, I checked out the title I received.

    Title Unlocked - Lord

    As the first claimant on the planet to lay their claim and defend it, the title and position of Lord falls to you. You stand above the masses as a ruler, a decision maker and a leader. Whether your world rises upon the branches of The Great Tree, or falls to the darkness of Nothing, may well be on your shoulders.

    Good Luck.

    Effect: +5 free attribute points per level

    ¡°It ominously capitalises Nothing,¡± I said to Naea as she arrived, flipping the title to her, ¡°that¡¯s¡­ probably important, right?¡± The fairy just shrugged and read the page with a growing look of disgust.

    ¡°And the monster grows more monstrous.¡± Her opinion on my various boosts was well established at this point, and I didn¡¯t let her jealousy bring me down. I needed every extra boost I could get and this would continue to add up for the rest of my life. It was a good feeling, and I could tell that she was only joking. ¡°Well? Open the menus then!¡± I raised my eyebrows at her energy before I obliged.

    Faction building options:

    Guild Hall upgrade

    Training Ground upgrade

    New Buildings Available:

    General Store (Materials)

    Enchanter¡¯s Workshop

    Outpost Defence Network

    Scout¡¯s Campfire

    Alchemy Laboratory

    Stables

    Bank of Illustria

    The list continued from there, down to things like buying an outdoor toilet for a cost. I wasn¡¯t a city planner, though, and at this point we would need one before I started just dropping stuff down. The possibilities were incredibly interesting, even the portapotty. The mechanisms that it would have would be valuable to study. Would it create plumbing out of nowhere, or maybe a mana-based cleaning system?

    Tempted as I had made myself, I wouldn¡¯t let my first purchase as a lord be a water closet. Instead, I made the much more sensible purchase of the Outpost Defence Network. It cost a whopping five thousand credits, but I had more than enough to spend. I didn¡¯t even bother opening my inventory as the money flowed out. Within a minute, I could feel the veil over the town set into place.

    That should make people feel safer, once they knew what it was. I didn¡¯t have time to focus on that, because with the completion of the quest and new title, came an achievement. I opened it and nearly screamed with the amount of power that burst into being within myself. For a moment, the world around me felt dry as the amorphous energy of the System supercharged me.

    Achievement Unlocked - World First Lord Title

    As the first Lord of your planet, you are not just the forerunner, you are the spearhead. The largest challenges will be faced by you and your¡¯s, before they reach those under your banner.

    Effect: +20% All Attributes

    My power flexed in all directions even as we stood here, further impressing the difference between myself and the others. That should be worth about ten levels worth of attributes, even with my ridiculous growth rate. Watching the lines of power within my skin fade, I couldn¡¯t help but feel I had stepped further away from my humanity. Even as the incredible feeling of increased attributes coursed through me, the taste on my tongue became ash.

    Appropriate for a dragon.

    Retreating to Home Base, I tried to slink into bed but knew it was going to be impossible. As I closed my eyes, the nightmare I had mostly forgotten came back in force. I could swear I felt Steel Sovereign sitting on the other side of our connection, ear to the thin barrier between us. I threw myself from the soft bed sheets, slamming down shield after shield between myself and the metallic boogeyman.

    I made my way to the Evolution Chamber, where Naea eventually found me. I gave her my most casual wave but she shook her head. ¡°I know you¡¯re strong Grant, you don¡¯t have to pretend for me.¡± I smiled at her, before my lips wobbled and the tears started. I was never so glad for the magical faraday cage as right now as the Evolution Chamber filled with the sound of my cries.

    Eventually, as with all things, my tears came to an end. Naea didn¡¯t ask any questions, she didn¡¯t need to. My entire soul was laid bare to her if she wanted to see it. She knew that I was just so frustrated, knew that I had two paths that I felt I needed to tread at the same time and how I felt like I was failing everyone at once. Even people I had no connection to. If I could make a safe place for them¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re not a hero, Grant.¡± I snapped my head up to Naea. Our connection wasn¡¯t telepathy, but it could be close enough if we wanted. This time, she had just read my face. ¡°It¡¯s not your job to save the world. What is it you want to do?¡± For a while I had no answer, and Naea didn¡¯t press for one. I just sat with her words and question.

    ¡°I just want to see my family,¡± I said, not sure if I was whimpering or determined. It didn¡¯t matter. ¡°First, we go and see this Steel Sovereign and find out just how fucked I am. Hopefully, not very. Especially considering all the metal. Then¡­ It¡¯s time to go find them.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Thirty Two - Face Forward

    Volume 3, Chapter 8, p13

    Upon the Great Tree¡¯s arrival in a new sector of unclaimed space, a gargantuan burst of pure mana, Essence and Dao are released. Of course, the Great Connection is much more than just an infusion of magic, but at its base, assimilation with the System and the Tree which guides it is little more than a seeding event. The unknowable Tree¡¯s wisdom is grand, and though this process is very costly to its power in the short term, the returns are likewise vast.

    The estimation is that around ten trillion levels worth of Essence is fed into the new star system, galaxy or universe which the Tree finds within Nothing. This action is followed by enough mana to rewrite reality, quite literally. Together, these propellants create the foundation needed for the final, most important piece. Dao, the truth of all things is distilled and diffused throughout the new portion of creation.

    The playground of wonders created by these events had led to the growth and arrival of some of the most powerful factions and individuals upon the Great Tree.

    I threw the book across the room with more force than necessary, but like everything System-made, the tome was much sturdier than pretty much anything previously found on Earth. With two solid thuds, the book hit the wall and then the floor of my personal bedroom. ¡°A playground of wonders?¡± I scoffed. ¡°It¡¯s the fucking apocalypse.¡±

    Not only was it completely asinine that it took two and a half books to get to the actual introduction of the System which the books promised, the attitude was grating. Everything about the System, the Tree which created it or the effects of its presence was treated with the reverence I normally saw aimed at gods. I guess when gods are a real thing, you have to worship something even bigger.

    I traipsed across the room slowly and picked the book up, sliding it into my inventory. Stretching, I tried to appreciate the beautiful place around me. The System had mostly matched the architecture of Earth, specifically a grand french mansion, but there were points that differed. It was in these differences that I could see a small glimpse of the wonder the System supposedly promised. Crystalline filigree and decoration around the window frames caused beautiful thin rays of light to bounce around the bedroom. With a flick of mana through a larger chunk of crystal in the bed frame, I altered the light in the room.

    It had taken me a while to decide which room in the Chateau I wanted to be mine. I finally settled on an east facing room with large windows. While sleep wasn¡¯t as necessary anymore, the act was therapeutic and I had come to enjoy waking up with the sunrise. Even if the dawn was only twenty minutes away, I tried to find the time to close my eyes. Sleep came quite easy, my almost absolute control of my mind allowing rest with no effort.

    I looked around the room, desperate for something to continue distracting myself with. I was hiding. It had only been a day since I gave my ¡°grand speech¡± to the people of Ascentown. I told myself that it was time I finally devoured some of the library which I had taken from the Guild Hall. It was something which needed to be done, but even then¡­ I was definitely hiding.

    Introduction to the System one to four. I had tossed volume three, but I had read themall back to front a few times. They weren¡¯t particularly thick tomes, but I would definitely pass them over to Tom. Others should be reading these. Maybe Julianna, if she still wanted to talk to me. They would be great for her school. Despite my embarrassing outburst, I did want to help people. I wanted them to be safe. But the System wasn¡¯t so kind.

    Volumes one and two focused mostly on this fact. Description after description of the factions, movers and shakers upon the Tree and where the power lay. Money, entertainment, food and warfare. The Tree as a whole was just like any culture, but these were universe-spanning empires, not franchises of a restaurant. However, the scales at which things supposedly existed in this new frontier were unfathomable.

    The Essence, for example, was just one of the huge numbers at play. It would take every person on earth reaching level one hundred and forty two or three to reach the amount of energy given to our universe. The question of life on other planets felt a little like a forgone conclusion, but I doubted even a tiny fraction would reach that level. However, that such an expense of energy would be repaid was also clearly a done deal.

    Essence was the officialtm name for the energy given off by monsters when they were killed or gathered by the professionals when plying their trades. Once enough is gathered around the soul, a layer is added, known as a level. At certain thresholds, of n+thirty, starting at zero, were the Grades. Level thirty, eighty, one hundred and fifty and so on. Ad infinitum, according to Introduction to the System volume two.

    The value proposition for the Tree, Yggdrasil, the Greater Connection, whatever, was fairly simple. Input a fertilisation of Essence, mana and Dao, mix them all up with a chaotic introduction to the living creatures of that universe and then, as they grew stronger, they would create their own Dao. Every new form of understanding was desired, every viewpoint on the same subject was valuable. Upon death, all things return to the Tree, and the Dao which came back served to strengthen the Tree all the more.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    That¡¯s what the books suggested, at least. It was obviously impossible to know how true everything in the books were, as they were from the System itself. That meant they were likely to be propaganda of some kind. Still, it was a good and productive way to pass the time while avoiding real responsibilities.

    ¡°So,¡± a voice from the doorway said, ¡°how¡¯s the studying going?¡± Naea had initially joined me in my reading session but complained that it wasn¡¯t as fun as just getting the information straight from the System. Naea, it turned out, hated books. I simply shrugged and told her to go find a dungeon if she wanted. While the idea clearly tempted her, she had stayed close by and checked in periodically instead.

    ¡°The System is a by-product of a greater existence, known to most as The Great Tree. The Tree, Yggdrasil, The Great Connection, whatever you call it, it¡¯s a real thing. The books were fairly clear that The Tree is existence, but wrapping my head around that was confusing enough I had to make myself a diagram.¡±  Taking up some space on a wall, a large canvas was filled with a chaotic drawing of a mostly symmetrical tree with an arrow pointing to a random area within the roots.

    ¡°Worlds, galaxies and universes like my own were floating in an emptiness called ¡®Nothingness¡¯. This ¡®Nothing¡¯, which is a thing, creates worlds, and The Tree frees them from the inevitable death of such a timeline. Sucking through the Nothing with its roots, the Tree gathers new planets and seeds them with power. The System that arrives on the planet is that power. Then, those on that planet grow stronger and in turn, fertilise the tree with their eventual death.¡± Reciting off the basics, Naea nodded along. She knew all of this instinctively and it was actually her wide knowledge base which made me want to learn more. For Naea, it was good to talk about it because the knowledge wasn¡¯t cemented in her mind until we did.

    The more I looked for specific answers, the more it seemed like they wouldn¡¯t be found in books. There was more to learn, always. However, most of the information about Dungeons, magical systems and the like basically amounted to ¡°you can¡¯t expect anything, ever, for any reason. So don¡¯t try.¡± Which felt about right. The System rewarded action and repetition much more than being given an answer.

    ¡°You sound like a perfect little encyclopaedia,¡± Naea pretended to sniffle with pride. Then she turned her large eyes on me and tilted her head in that way which told me she had something difficult to say. I groaned but knew what it was going to be, so I didn¡¯t make her actually say it. At Naea¡¯s silent insistence, I left Home Base. I expected to see anger, but I actually felt more welcomed by people than before. Naea looked strangely smug, flying next to me.

    ¡°I thought they¡¯d maybe hate me or something, I don¡¯t know.¡± Instead of the glares or anger I had expected from the people I basically called useless, there was an energy of reverence. Sure, they seemed intimidated by me, but no one seemed upset. After I realised that my anxiety was all in my head, it was easier to see just how busy everyone was. ¡°Dang, who lit a fire under their asses?¡±

    To my right, an unexpected friend joined the conversation. ¡°They don¡¯t have time to hold a grudge. You were right, even if they didn¡¯t want to hear it.¡±  Luke sidled up and fell into step with me as we meandered through Ascentown. I avoided looking at Luke in favour of watching the new storefronts and homes being built. The System could do a lot of the heavy lifting, but there was a corps of builders that would be very mad if I took away all of their work. I bought the general store for materials from the System, but was told not to do so again without asking.

    Who am I supposed to ask though? I thought to myself. Isn¡¯t this my Outpost?

    Eventually I did give Luke a once over. He still looks rough, but better. Noticing me looking, he held up the food in his hand. It smelled wonderful and I was just about to ask where it came from. With a big, slightly rice-filled grin he wiggled the food, dropping a little. ¡°Magical burrito. It¡¯s like a health potion in a tasty Mexican package.¡±

    ¡°A health potion? So eating the food makes you feel better?¡± Genuinely curious, I did get Luke to point out the food stall he had purchased it from.

    ¡°Ah, so he doesn¡¯t know everything!¡± I could tell from the look of surprising and excitement on Luke¡¯s face that this was a true revelation. The fact he knew something about the System that I didn¡¯t make him happy. With a flourish only possible with magic, he removed a small bottle from his inventory and threw it to me. ¡°The new shop you bought helped people get the last things they needed to really crack some of the bottlenecks for crafters, you should check it out.¡±

    I gave it a quick look, but it was pretty much what I expected. ¡°Not going to lie, I expected a red potion, not a green one.¡± Even as I spoke I felt like I was ignoring the elephant in the room, so I gathered up my courage. ¡°Uh, yeah. Of course I will. Hobbies are definitely more important now than they used to be¡­ Look, are you-¡±

    ¡°Seriously, I don''t want to talk about it.¡± Luke¡¯s snappy answer came back quickly enough I knew it was rehearsed and also, quite likely a lie. Seeing that I wasn¡¯t going to leave it at that, he shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m fine when I¡¯m awake.¡±

    ¡°That works for now but while we need less, you still need some sleep. I¡¯m trained to be a therapist if you need one, so don¡¯t be scared to ask.¡±

    ¡°HA! Sure, sure,¡± Luke laughed a little too hard, which stung a bit, ¡°I¡¯ll be alright.¡± Even though he had been through a wildly traumatic experience, I believed him. The System, or attributes or whatever it was, made dealing with the craziness easier. Made things seem more natural or less traumatic. Probably a Will attribute thing. I gave Luke his space and inspected the potion properly.

    Item - Health Potion

    Simple, brewed by a novice.

    Effect: Small magical wound healing, Increases natural recovery by a massive amount for a short time.

    The packaging left something to be desired, simply a test tube with a plug in the top, but the liquid within was truly magical. A thin, see-through re potion jiggled within. If I strained, it was possible to see some magical effects going on within, the faint traces of healing magic. It swirled easily, no thicker than water. Impressed, I placed it into my inventory.

    Wow. There it was. In no uncertain terms, humanity had taken a step forward into the new era by being able to craft this. The upper limit didn¡¯t exist, and while that made me shudder, the health potion in my hands gave me hope. There really was a lot I didn¡¯t know. I knew that learning more and more was possibly just as important as raising my levels. Which meant I needed to talk to the evil robot attached to my soul.

 Book Two - Chapter Thirty Three - Elsewhere IV

    My muscles were reaching their limit but with obstinance in my heart, I remained stationary for another fifteen minutes. The shadows on the ground shifted noticeably over that time, the quickening pace of the sun¡¯s descent signalling that night was fast approaching. Pushed right to their breaking point, I fell from the tree when I finally released the tension in my arms.

    Despite the stiffness, I landed with an appropriate amount of feline grace. With a trill of pride, I felt the large skull of my bond nudge my hip. I scratched the big cat behind its ear before pushing her forward. ¡°Forget it, Grace. You can have the meat. Let¡¯s just go.¡± Grace tapped the baited creature with a large paw and it disappeared into our shared inventory for later. We began walking home, our quarry once more elusive. I opened my character page, though I don¡¯t know what I expected to see.

    Name - Sinead Kaeron  Race - Human (Grade 1)  Level - 30

    Title - Tamer Of The Wild

    Fortitude - 23  Speed - 82   Mental - 44   Will - 254

    Free attribute points: 0

    16 Per Level

    Same as it had been for a week. My newest skill, if you could even call it that, itched as I gave up on the trap I had laid. Did it really count as a skill if you could never actually use it? Hunter¡¯s Call was my first passive skill, and it was currently driving me insane. I knew the next step in my growth was waiting for my success here, yet due to the System¡¯s weird gifted intuition I knew giving up now was the right choice. I had missed my window of opportunity this time.

    Skill - Hunter¡¯s Call

    Laymen decry the skill of the hunter as luck, but you know this isn¡¯t the case. The wind carries information, the churned ground a story. Analysed in the mind of the hunter, all in the name of the hunt itself.

    I kicked a stone in frustration. My strength caused the projectile to bury itself in a tree and I winced. ¡°Count to five,¡± I told myself aloud before following my own instructions. I calmed quickly as I took control of my mind and chastised myself. Hunter¡¯s Call wasn¡¯t at fault. There was no need to be frustrated because I hadn¡¯t made the wrong choice. My trap was perfect, it just wasn¡¯t sprung. Knowing when to quit was also the sign of a good hunter, after all.

    No, it was the wasted time that bothered me more than anything.

    As the dark navy furred lynx took up her spot at my side, we aimed ourselves in the direction of home and I let my mind wander. I focused on the uncontrollable energy inside of me, my butterflies of mana and followed one of them to their source. Within moments, my consciousness was inside the garden of my mind. Though the real world around me was quite beautiful in its new, mana-changed way, a truer calm could only be found within.

    I walked slowly through the flowery space. Just over a week ago, I had taken my Aspect of The Hunter to the next level when I finally managed to keep track of the elusive butterflies within my mana channels. The act of hunting power within my own soul had given me enough of an insight to let the System do the rest. With the action now habit, slipping into the garden was becoming second nature.

    Dao Pool - The Hunter

    Chasing prey, patterns or power, the Hunter never stops in their pursuit. Neither do you.

    Effect: Will +50, Speed +30, Will Attribute +15%, Speed Attribute +5%

    The creation of this inner space had been guided by the System, and I was still learning its possibilities. I was walking in both the real world and my ever changing inner garden, vaguely able to see the physical trail while still tracking the butterflies in my soul. By following the more mystical path laid out by the fluttering packets of mana, I would grow stronger. Well, if I could ever find what it wanted me to find, that is.

    Grace brushed against me, rubbing away my frustration and bringing me back to my body in full with her luxuriously soft fur. She had grown fast since Sean gifted Grace to her. It had been surprisingly easy to convince papa to let me keep her as a kitten, and now as a fully fledged Manaphyte Lynx, he¡¯d have an easier time catching smoke with his bare hands than keeping her away from me.

    All of my senses told me that the glade I had previously trapped was where I needed to be, and the actions I had taken were the ones I needed to take. ¡°The Hunter Does Not Rush,¡± I reminded myself. The phrase had come to me as I unlocked my Dao and it resonated nicely with my body when I said it as a mantra. I would return tomorrow and try again. I just wish I had caught a glimpse of whatever it was my magic told me to hunt.

    ¡°Hey, munchkin!¡± I jumped. The happy voice of my brother Sean broke me from my reverie, and I barely had time to brace before he swept me into a big hug. I had only been gone for a day. Or had it been two? ¡°Yes, yes, you too little monster,¡± Sean dropped me and gave fuss to my bond. She was supposed to be a fierce predator, but when Sean tickled her just right she turned right back into a kitchen.

    Sean himself was doing better than just about anyone, with his three Dao pools, but he was a monster when it came to understanding the System. No one even questioned his choices or suggestions anymore. He just got it in a way that others didn¡¯t. He was the reason I had figured out my own path, as well as learned not to worry about our mom so much. After all, he had helped everyone, their mother included.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    We knew now, she was adjusting to a power none of us understood.

    Welcome to the family Kaeron, I thought as I walked onto our family¡¯s grounds. If you asked any one of us if they felt happy before the System had arrived, we¡¯d have probably said yes. Life was pleasant enough, even if no one had exactly what they wanted from it. Who on god¡¯s green Earth could say otherwise?

    If you asked them now, with the System, were they happier? Oh, yes, much.

    The only real issue had been the maternal unit, but even she had started moving around and doing stuff now. Now I had my own Dao, I could sense it in others. I realised now just how powerfully the winds of power danced around the matron of the Kaeron clan. It was cruel, but she had stepped into power before she was ready, and now it was her body that slowly caught up. The firmest proof none of us had any idea what was happening was Patricia Kaeron and her mysterious Dao, after all.

    ¡°You alright, Naed?¡± Sean didn¡¯t have to ask whether the hunt had gone well or not. If it had gone well, I would have a new bond, after all. I was hunting, not just because it was exactly how I wanted to spend my time, but also for a specific creature. Grace was the first of my bonds, but to continue growing at a reasonable pace, I would need more. Now that I had gone up a grade, I could try to tame a Grade One creature. I just hoped whatever it was the System tried to lead me to was as friendly as a Manaphyte Kitten.

    I doubted it.

    Using a skill of her own, Grace leapt at my chest. She entered my soulspace and Archie swapped out. I could only hold one of my bonds within the small inner world, but I was getting stronger. ¡°No luck, Archie.¡± The tiny owl hooted dismissively. Then, it went on a small tirade of trills and whoops that I listened to patiently. Sean was cracking up a few metres away. ¡°No, I can¡¯t ride you. No, not even when you level up, it just wouldn¡¯t make sense. Listen, go fly home and let Niamh know we¡¯re on our way back. I¡¯m hungry.¡±

    The owl gave me a stink-eye and I flicked its butt to get it moving. Archie was my second bond and despite being no larger than a gerbil, was not to be trifled with in a fight. Once he took off, Sean and I made our way home without discussing anything important. He didn¡¯t ask why the hunt had failed, and I didn¡¯t ask when he was going to be ready. Eventually ¡°home¡± came into view.

    Home, which now meant a large mansion. ¡°How times change, right?¡± Sean said, clearly understanding my thoughts. With strapping lads like Liam and Conor clearing up the surrounding countryside, their father¡¯s newly forming position of power and my own fairly sizable contribution to the family Gold Coin fund, we had been able to purchase multiple housing upgrades from the System.

    Or, Sean had. He had wandered the local area for a few days before coming back with a strange look in his eyes and the ability to turn their mostly useless gold coins into actual value from the System. He had mentioned facing some challenge, but didn¡¯t explain what that meant. He had shown me his new title, Regent. When I asked why it sounded like he was just holding onto a position for someone, he just smiled and said it would make more sense later. There were more important things to do than pester Sean about something he didn¡¯t want to share, so I eventually lost interest.

    The new world had done a thorough job forcing people to grow. It was hard to say who had changed the most. Everyone was still them, but they were more, too. Liam, for example, was big now. He¡¯d always been my biggest brother, and with five years of age between him and the still-missing Grant, he¡¯d always felt like an adult more than my other brothers. Even more now that he was essentially a sheriff and in charge of keeping people safe.

    Between him and Conor, safety was fairly guaranteed. The hammer and the spear of Avalon, they were competitively racing to see who could stay ahead in levels. You wouldn¡¯t think Liam was nearly twice my age at thirty. At sixteen, I was the baby of the family, then three years older than me was Sean. He had celebrated a birthday under the System, the first to do so. Niahm is next at twenty one, with Conor and Grant after that. Both twenty four, the Irish twins of the family with Conor only eleven months younger than Grant.

    Both of our parents were fifty five, yet the physical difference between Liam and our father was shrinking by the level. The System brought a huge amount of vitality to those who embraced it, and the thickening, increasingly red hair of their dad was as clear a sign of that as anything. ¡°I¡¯m going to go make sure Niamh is making something nice,¡± Sean declared before leaving myself and the now returned Archie alone.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that one, Archie,¡± I solemnly told my bond as he perched on my finger. ¡°Wrong in the head, I think. Always was, probably.¡± I sighed theatrically as we made our way to my bedroom. A private, personal bedroom was definitely the best thing that had come out of the System¡¯s appearance. I was walking past the room I tried to ignore when I screamed. I always tried not to look into my mother¡¯s room, knowing I would see her standing like a statue within. However, instead of the silhouette at the window, staring out unmoving, she was on the floor. ¡°Help me!¡±

    My voice carried through the whole house. I felt three surges of mana from around the house and within seconds, I was surrounded by the boys of the family. Liam was the quickest, grabbing me by the shoulder and spinning me to face him ¡°What did you do?¡± Liam demanded. I didn¡¯t bite at the accusation. He was just scared. Liam was leaning over our spasming mother while the massive form of my father panicked to one side.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Sean?¡± I hadn¡¯t been calling everyone, as only one person would actually be able to do anything.

    ¡°Right here, move.¡± Everyone did as they were told the second he started speaking. As though she were light as a feather, which she might well be I realised, Sean scooped the form of their mother up and held a hand up to the wall. With a shocking display of power, the window and everything around it was torn from its place. ¡°You all stay, she¡¯ll be fine. Naedie, with me.¡± Another moment later, he was jumping outside into the darkening evening with her.

    If Sean was calm enough to use my shortened name, then I trusted him. It seemed the others felt the same, though they were clearly uncomfortable. ¡°Best thing you can do is what Sean says,¡± I reminded them before following him outside. I landed closeby. He hadn¡¯t taken her far, just enough to get her into the air. The sky above was purple like a bruise.

    ¡°What do I do, Sean?¡± I asked, waiting for instruction. His face was grave and my stomach dropped. ¡°What? What¡¯s happening?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t do anything, Bug. She¡¯ll be okay, but you can¡¯t help.¡± Solemn and serious, my brother didn¡¯t take his eyes off our mom.

    ¡°Then why the hell did you tell me to come outside?¡± However you looked at it, this was traumatic. I didn¡¯t want to see my mom talking in tongues, especially if there was nothing I could do to help. Sean just put a hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who has to hear what she says.¡± The certainty in my brother¡¯s voice helped even as the garbled nonsense from our fitful mother became increasingly understandable. I looked to him for guidance and he just nodded his mop of Kaeron red hair towards our mom. I knelt next to her as she twitched and groaned.

    ¡°The power of Prophecy is getting stronger,¡± Sean said simply from behind. I nodded. You can only hear so many ominous whispers that come true in metaphorical ways without noticing after all. Sean had understood the issue quickly, had seen the potential forming in their mother¡¯s mind even as it broke her. Almost all of his magical power was bent on finding a way to help her.

    ¡°-them coming in their thousands. Destroyers all. A chain has been released, one of many but now that the first has risen, the barrier falls. The others will follow soon.¡± I almost laughed at myself, but the severity of the moment held it back. As portentous as her words were, it was good to hear her voice. I missed her. I did my best to gently hold her hand and keep back the tears while she relayed the future she was forced to see to us.

 Book Two - Chapter Thirty Four - Class In Session

    Comfort was a thing to be chased. In a horrific study done during the birth of psychology as a science, one evil piece of garbage by the name of Harlow, along with some others, performed an experiment on baby monkeys. The babies were taken from their mothers, and then left in a cage with a ¡°comfort mother¡± or a ¡°food mother¡±. The comfort mother was just a soft thing, barely a plushie even, while the food mother was basically a bottle of milk with a monkey face drawn on.

    Basically, the experiment was terrible and it didn¡¯t really prove anything. However, it always stuck with me as an obvious answer that I would have just needed empathy to understand. Survival is important, but in moments of fear, it¡¯s familiarity and comfort that humans and their primate cousins look for.

    So in this strangest place I had been, I found myself searching for comfort. In response to my energy shifting, Naea gave me what I needed. I felt her place her hand on mine through our bond. She wasn¡¯t physically here, of course. I still didn¡¯t trust this thing after all. Though she could be doing anything she wanted, I knew she was waiting on the edge of the metallic border, ready to jump into action even though I told her to stay back. I would do the same, and I was grateful for her unwavering presence in my mind.

    It was in stark contrast to the other connection pressing into my mind. The only thing keeping me from fury was the knowledge that this wasn¡¯t intentional from my would-be familiar. If Steel Sovereign brought its full strength to bear upon our connection then I would not be able to hold back the flood. At the same time, the binding within the contract meant such an action would be lethal for the creature itself.

    Steel Sovereign¡¯s home was¡­ shiny. The presence of a high quality resource was obvious in the sharpened aura all over the area. Like a different world had been transplanted onto Earth, for nearly two kilometres, a paintbrush of chrome had been used to blanket everything in sight. I walked towards the centre, watching for any movement. The wind whistles and howled aggressively through the metal world, but no other aggression came my way.

    I tried to keep an open mind about the world around me. Magic meant things that didn¡¯t seem natural were going to be. A biome made up entirely of metal was impossible to begin with, yet I could tell that these trees and flowers, even the grass which crunched under my feet like snow, were all alive. It would seed, and propagate and become a new part of the world. If it was invasive and took over, then so be it.

    The strong survived now, at all levels of the food chain.

    If I didn¡¯t get the distinct sense that Steel Sovereign could control every inch of this place, I wouldn¡¯t be so on edge - I would think it was gaudy. Then again, who was I to judge sensibilities, I lived in a chateau with many ridiculous chandeliers and such. I had magical lights in my bedroom, so maybe this was just a form of nouveau decor. I wasn¡¯t in any hurry to see this style catch on. Before long, I found the middle of the expanding metal land.

    ¡°Hello, Grant Kaeron.¡± The voice came from behind me, a spout appearing in the floor, yet its body came from the front. Its form had changed slightly. The legs were longer, the arms less bulky and more proportional. I almost flinched at the clockwork-esque movements of the thing as the homunculus approached me.

    Greeting me at the door? How civil. ¡°Hello, Steel.¡± I wouldn¡¯t call this thing sovereign, not to its face. There was even a twitch of amusement in its neck and the thin line of its mouth curved upwards. Considering its features were entirely controlled by its thoughts, showing me that was intentional. Steel did not have unconscious expressions.

    ¡°If you would like to kill me, there are ways, but they¡¯re so costly that it wouldn¡¯t be worth it. It would be best for now to accept our alliance.¡± It seemed that Steel was ready for battle, and I couldn¡¯t blame it. There was no better place for it to attack me, I assumed. My act of coming here was as much of an olive branch as I could possibly extend, and while I wasn¡¯t looking for a fight, it was better to get the conversation out of the way I supposed.

    I sucked in a breath, but wished I didn¡¯t. I had experienced ¡®sharp¡¯ breaths before, but nothing like the atmosphere around Steel¡¯s home. Each breath felt like running a blade gently upon my skin, a fraction more pressure applied and the invisible knife would break through. ¡°That was to the point,¡± I said, ignoring my own pun. Being forced into anything, even something arguably beneficial, was anathema to me these days but I swallowed my pride. Protecting what was mine was enough to soothe the draconic urge to get furious. ¡°No, I¡¯m not here to fight you.¡±

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    The robo-reptilian smile extended. ¡°Good. I do believe we can be beneficial to each other.¡± Was it fair that I didn¡¯t like how natural its voice was sounding? Probably not. Either the speed of its growth meant it was noticeably better at controlling a human body in just two days, or it had been adept enough to pretend to be less capable in our first meeting. Both things being true at the same time was likely as well.

    I didn¡¯t like this situation one bit. ¡°Is that so? What¡¯s the benefit for me here?¡± My instincts were telling me to pace, or find somewhere to sit, anything. For a moment, I rebelled and tried to match the effigy before me but that was a losing game. In a burst of inspiration, I removed a wooden table and chair from my inventory, getting comfortable. As comfortable as it was possible to get while sitting in a bear trap, at least. For fun, I removed a warm pot of tea and two mugs, setting them on the table.

    ¡°Aside from the quest you were no doubt allowed to complete, and ownership of my precious resource? I can feel the nobility coming off of you, one ruler to another.¡± The Lord title and its subsequent achievement were still a source of discomfort for me. I hated feeling like I had been gifted the victory. ¡°You¡¯re a mighty warrior, one I have no true confidence in killing. However, I¡¯m sure you can accept that you¡¯re a novice to leading others.¡±

    And it was telling the truth. Our bond was not one of trust, not even open in any real way, but whether I wanted to or not, I could feel how genuine Steel was being. ¡°So you want to be my advisor?¡± I scoffed, but didn¡¯t dismiss the idea outright. The world was so different, and as much as I wish I did, I couldn¡¯t know everything right away. ¡°How would that work? How do you work? I still don¡¯t understand why you would do things this way.¡±

    Steel smiled. ¡°I cultivate as anything does. The System pushes me and I move with it. So long as we remain allies, your growth is my growth. I expect I can provide unique benefits neither of us are quite aware of yet. Humans are copied a million times over, but there is only one of me.¡± On cue with its words, two perfect replicas of the being in front of me left the residence. As it spoke, Steel created a chair for itself at the other side of my table before sitting.

    ¡°Oh, so you¡¯ve also got a sense of humour, huh? Just what I need. Another familiar that thinks they¡¯re funny.¡± They were just copies being puppeteered by the main body, judging from the mana signatures I could feel. The Steel which sat in front of me felt full of energy, while the others were hollow. To make itself part of the theatre, the two clones came over and served the tea which I had placed out.

    ¡°I try. Genuinely.¡± There was a pause. Steel wanted me to understand it. I could at least try, even if it unsettled me. It picked up the cup of tea and appeared to smell the drink. ¡°I cannot survive the entirety of existence in opposition with everything around me. I do not want to die simply because I was born into the System.¡±

    ¡­ Damn. Every reason I could think of for why I should just throw caution to the wind, ask Naea to get here as soon as possible and attack Steel was evaporating. Yes, the creature could be a master manipulator alongside being supremely powerful but if that was the case then I had no options anyway. I had been burned by my nature of free trust until the trust is broken in the past, but I didn¡¯t want to let the world take it from me either.

    ¡°Ugh, FINE. Welcome to the team, Steel. Don¡¯t make me regret this.¡± I stood slowly and extended a hand for them to shake. ¡±Let¡¯s start as we mean to go on. What should we be doing, advisor?¡± Steel froze and I realised I had surprised the creature. ¡°I can roll with the punches. What is it?¡±

    ¡°All signs pointed to you being far more stubborn.¡±

    I choked off an argument in my throat. I could be pretty obstinate. ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about which assumptions are being reversed right now, shall we?¡± Every science fiction movie I had ever seen was telling me that working with the creepy alien creature made of metal was a terrible idea. If it was¡­ well, I just needed to get stronger than Steel was. Quickly.

    ¡°Fair, then I shall also roll with the punches.¡± Steel held up a fist that rotated on their wrist a few times, spinning like a drill. Not quite the idea, but the spirit was there at least. ¡°Let¡¯s discuss the upcoming invasion.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have a great grasp on Steel¡¯s apparent sense of humour, but I didn¡¯t think they were joking on this one.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The inky void of Nothing was all that could be seen from the bridge of The Excelsior. A flagship, of sorts, it boasted incredibly impressive barriers against Nothing, as well as conventional ones too. Occasionally, within the impossible expanse there would be a flash of light and energy, immediately devoured by the Nothing.

    ¡°Such a waste.¡± Captain Redaali Wysterial sighed and waited. They had been sent here as the vanguard, which had been sold as an exciting task on paper. In practice, it meant waiting for an indeterminate amount of time for the System¡¯s first barriers to drop. As a colony ship, The Excelsior held thirty million individuals all waiting to start a life in the new universe.

    And they were tired of waiting.

    Captain Redaali occupied themselves by watching the flashes of dying universes, not lucky enough to feel the touch of the Great Connection. Those evil worlds would fall into the clutches of The Accord, Tree bless their souls. Each spark in the distance could be the death throes of a trillion lives, and they all served to cement the captain¡¯s mind. What they were doing here was important.

    Often, a new universe was unprepared for the escalating level of danger it would face. Each of the myriad universal collapses Redaali themself had watched was one such universe. Once the System seeded a sector of existence, it left it to grow. Either it succeeded and pushed back The Accord and the Nothing which governed them, or they fell into darkness.

    With an influx of cultivators who already knew how the System worked, those hungry for Aspects which were few and far between in the Great Connection, the universe was much more likely to survive.

    They just had to get rid of the natives, first.

 Book Two - Chapter Thirty Five - At Least You Know

    A world of chrome can still have depth and style, it seemed. By burnishing some areas, removing the shine in others, coupled with a lot of filigree or interesting textures, the metal world around me was starting to look beautiful. It didn¡¯t compare to a fresh natural field with rolling hills in my opinion, but I didn¡¯t hate it so much. Just like it would be a tragedy to lose those vistas I loved so much, it would also be a shame to lose this strange new place, too.

    ¡°An invasion?¡± I didn¡¯t want to let my mind wander before I had more information. I still had doubts about whether Steel itself was reliable, but until proven otherwise I would try to trust my new familiar. The bond between us was staying slammed shut, however. I took the time to send confidence and faith through my other connection. Naea returned the gesture with impatience and I smiled.

    ¡°Excitement?¡± Steel asked. It waited and I wondered how to answer. It seemed to genuinely want to understand the emotion on show. A part of me wanted to be petulant, but if I ever wanted to actually trust this creature, I could start with honesty from my end.

    ¡°Private conversation,¡± I answered curtly. The metallic creature nodded as though this was a completely obvious answer. A silence came into existence between us, the only sound the noise of the wind chimes and pipes all around us. The discomfort was likely only mine, and I bet if I said nothing, we¡¯d sit here for hours. I rolled my eyes and prompted Steel to continue. ¡°You were talking about the invasion?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yes, as the barrier weakens.¡± Even over the course of our conversation, Steel¡¯s voice was becoming more natural. With each sentence, the eldritch orchestra of its speech adjusted. From sounding like a scary movie soundtrack given voice to simply the villain from a horror movie instead. It was progress, at least.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t heard anything about a barrier, or what it would be doing. Is it just a time situation?¡±

    ¡°No, absolutely not. It¡¯s a you thing. Most planets get centuries in the dark without becoming interesting, but not this one. I¡¯m still fresh to the world, but I am from the source of all things, so while I know some things about the System, I don¡¯t know this planet¡¯s intimate history. Do you know what a Nomad is?¡±

    I doubted he was talking about the practice of moving around to live which cultures often took part in. Unbidden, the memory of bright purple eyes from the very beginning of all this printed itself on the inside of my eyelids. My lip twitched. ¡°Yes,¡± I nodded, my eyes widening. Not only had Naeboroseax started me on this path, jump started my power, I had a more recent meeting that still sent shivers down my spine.

    The staggeringly powerful elf-like creature. Unlike the mysterious dragon which had been pretending to be an old woman, that thing was still out there somewhere. I shuddered, remembering the power it held within. Just its presence had made the world felt like a previously unknown season had taken hold. It had been like a force of nature in the realest sense. If more of those are coming¡­

    ¡°Perfect.¡± Steel clapped its hands together and I jumped. It was like two ingots clashing. ¡°As the barrier weakens, it becomes easier and easier for forces to find this world. It is still not easy, but once something is possible, it will be done. What this means is the factions upon Yggdrasil will send their weaker forces here in attempts to pillage and colonise the land.¡±

    ¡°Amazing. So, a worse version of the Vikings are showing up. They even call the Tree Yggdrasil.¡± I put my hand on my face. Were the myths from Earth just people gaining glimpses into the System? That wasn¡¯t the question I was interested in right now. I could find that out in volume six of Introduction to The System. ¡°Why their weakest specifically?¡±

    ¡°The simplest reason is down to the costs. Sending someone stronger into a new universe is massively more expensive. Though even the least of the warriors in these factions is likely to be as strong as yourself.¡± My stomach nearly dropped from my body at these words but I regained composure quickly. I would just become stronger than any threat I might face, as I had already decided. Simple.

    ¡°The expense of a dimensional vessel will be the biggest barrier for most factions. While the System itself will assist some invasion forces, none of the lowest tier factions would be able to field an assault force.¡± I begrudgingly admitted to myself that I appreciated the succinct and informative way Steel gave information. It was easier than needling Naea for the secrets of the universe while she cheekily kept them from me as a game. ¡°For the factions who do come, claiming a place on the frontier of a new universe is valuable enough to take this risk. Treasures and possibilities exist here which have never come before, another reason the Great Tree seeds these once mundane lands.¡±

    ¡°What about the individuals? Why are people so happy to jump to a new world?¡± I remembered the wording in the books - a playground of wonders. I hoped there was more to it than wanton violence, but the System seemed to enjoy random brutality. ¡°Do they just want to come and kill the population for levels or is there something more?¡±

    A creepy smile appeared on Steel¡¯s face once more. ¡°There are some who will come from the bloodshed, yes. It is not the main draw, however. That, of course, is the Aspects which appear in a new world like rain.¡±

    ¡°Aspects are that valuable?¡± That didn¡¯t surprise me, but I wondered if they were worth even more than I had assumed.

    ¡°Human. They are literally crystalized pieces of ultimate knowledge and understanding, allowing one to start on the path of cultivation.¡± It seemed like I had actually annoyed Steel by not knowing this, so I just shrugged as though it didn¡¯t matter to rub it in further. ¡°Your planet is seeded with them, and for the foreseeable future, Aspects will form here at a much greater rate than they do upon the rest of the Tree.¡±

    Stolen story; please report.

    ¡°I think I understand.¡± If I hadn¡¯t had the Aspect of the Dragon within the dungeon, I would have died from the acid of the first boss monster I faced. With just two Aspects, which had become full-blown Dao, I was approaching truly fantastical levels of strength. ¡°I could probably fight Spider-man and win, so I get why people want Aspects¡­¡±

    I hoped to get a rise, and I considered Steel creating an eyebrow just to raise it a win. ¡°Picture a world with trillions of lives on it, all of them hoping to take that true first step. Aspects are that first step, and thus one of the more valuable things in the universe. And you need to get two more before you can even consider yourself a true member of the greater universe.¡±

    I always assumed there would be more dangers from the System coming eventually. This was a lot, but it was good information and mostly seemed natural. ¡°You said this was a me thing. Did that mean me specifically, or the planet?¡±

    Steel paused and a tooting hum came from them. ¡°Difficult to say. Do you expect there to be stronger humans than yourself on the planet as it stands?¡± Being honest, I shook my head. It would be pretty unlikely for people to have had the same opportunities as me.

    ¡°Indeed. You enjoy multipliers on your attribute strength from the achievements of a forerunner. This is another benefit of a new integration. However, for each level you gain, the imbalance of your strength presses against the barrier.¡±

    ¡°If I understand correctly, Steel, because I¡¯m overpowered, my levels were worth more in the eyes of the System?¡± Steel nodded. I didn¡¯t know what I was supposed to say to that. ¡°So what am I supposed to do..?¡±

    ¡°Get stronger.¡± There was surprising amount of fire in Steel¡¯s voice. Like I had come to appreciate the strange habitat Steel enjoyed, I didn¡¯t hate its fervour. ¡°Nothing else can be done. The barrier will fall eventually anyway, so don¡¯t hamstring yourself. Sprint to power. Find Aspects to finish your set and get a class evolution.¡±

    ¡°Class evolution¡­?¡± I was feeling awkward that I had come into the conversation apparently lacking a lot of basic information. Well, Steel could be intentionally keeping me on the backfoot by bringing up things it knew I wouldn¡¯t have understood, but its stunned silence for a second was too genuine.

    I could swear the metal creature sighed before I started speaking this time. ¡°When two Aspects become Dao, a conflux skill can be created. Another Dao and you might get another pair of conflux skills or another way for them to merge powers. However, four Aspects creates a Class. The stronger the Dao when it happens, the better the class. All skills will become synergistic to a point, and more powerful.¡±

    I followed that explanation, at least. ¡°So it¡¯s just another layer of power that most will get? A strong one, clearly.¡±

    Clearly picking up on my gestures, Steel actually scoffed at me. ¡°Did you not hear how valuable they are? A classed warrior is as close to a demi-god as a mortal is likely to get. You are Grade One, and could likely battle a fresh Grade Two like myself. You could not face a Grade One with a class, under any circumstance.¡±

    I frowned, but didn¡¯t argue. I was proud of my strength, but there was much I didn¡¯t know. A lack of information can kill as quickly as poison, after all. ¡°Why have I not met one yet? There¡¯s enough Aspects going around. I could easily have created a class by accident.¡± I had handled at least twenty different Aspects since leaving the dungeon, for one.

    ¡°But could you? How do you feel about the idea of using, say, this Aspect?¡± Steel raised a hand, palm facing upwards. Within it, a bubble of magic started to form. Within the bubble, mana boiled like a furnace was contained within.  Steel Sovereign held out what was a genuine Aspect Of Steel, which shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise but it was.

    Aspect - Steel (Rare)

    Aspects are formed when ambient mana in an area becomes charged with a specific type of energy. If you have unbound attributes, you may permanently bind an Aspect to an unbound attribute.

    Would you like to use the Aspect of Steel to bind an unbound attribute?

    Potentially powerful, but revulsion filled me, not just because Steel was looking at me like a science experiment. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want it.¡±

    The smile on Steel¡¯s face became as wide as I had seen it, and it nodded with ferocious speed, as though this was the only correct answer. ¡°As you add Aspects, and more so as they become your Dao, you will naturally become more picky about what you add to your soul.¡±

    Well, when you put it that way¡­ ¡°Food for thought. So, keep getting stronger? That was the plan anyway.¡±

    ¡°But now you know why, and that¡¯s powerful.¡±

    ¡°I suppose. What now?¡±

    ¡°We ignore each other. The area around the Metallurgic Metamorph will cease expanding at around five kilometres.¡± Returning the Aspect to their own inventory, Steel gestured behind them as they spoke. At the mention of the Grade Two resource, the heavy Dao in the air increased. ¡°I would ask that it not be disturbed until the process is completed for the first time.¡±

    ¡°First time?¡± I stood, not asking, and walked towards the ¡®abode¡¯. The pill-shaped building was around forty square feet in size, and it was from its belly the dense, sharp and potent Dao of Metal pulsed. Steel made no attempt to stop me, though I expected it could. Instead, the side of the building opened like a door had always been there. The inside was and empty space with stairs into a basement area. I didn¡¯t hesitate, even as I walked into the literal belly of the beast.

    I could swear I sensed amusement from Steel¡¯s side of our connection.

    The staircase wound downwards in a spiral for some distance. I imagined this was what walking on the inside of a drill or screw would feel like. After an uncomfortably long descent, the stairs stopped and a small room waited. Within, the natural treasure floated and remade the world around it into its image.

    Natural Treasure - Metallurgic Metamorph - Grade Two

    ¡°This specific natural treasure can be used to turn the world around it into the perfect metals you see around you. I am governing its growth, and it mine, until the first cycle is complete.¡± Steel spoke with a reverence which felt surprisingly genuine. The Metallurgic Metamorph itself was a fairly nondescript orb of what appeared to be polished steel. The real show were the mana and Dao which were being released at a steady rate. Glyphs formed directly into the mana in a way I had never seen, nor understood.

    I shrugged. I didn¡¯t have any idea what I might do with this orb in the future, but I supposed it was fine where it was. There was a temptation to study these glyphs, but I didn¡¯t want to spend any more time here than I already had. I didn¡¯t have much more to say. ¡°Okay, you won¡¯t be disturbed, so long as you aren¡¯t disturbing. That means staying in your metal garden and leaving the humans alone. Understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes, master,¡± Steel agreed with intentional malice in their voice. I fixed it with a hard glare but if it cared, I couldn¡¯t tell.

    I wanted to leave. Yet, before I did, I took another deep breath to calm myself. In such close proximity to the orb, it was like choking on a razor blade, but I smiled anyway. ¡°...Thank you.¡± If I had surprised Steel at any point so far, this was the most clear. It¡¯s mouth actually opened in a wide ¡®O¡¯ as it looked at me. ¡°Thank you for not attacking immediately, and thank you for being¡­ civil. Let¡¯s keep it that way, and maybe we¡¯ll stay alive to become more than forced allies.¡±

    I didn¡¯t wait for an answer, leaving quickly. I wanted to clear my head, and I found Naea as quickly as I could. After a quick hug where I explained everything Steel had told me, I started walking. ¡°Where are we going?¡± Naea asked, confused.

    I flashed her a smile. I wanted to clear my mind, and the idea I had made the dragon within my soul very excited. ¡°There¡¯s still one resource we haven¡¯t seen, and I bet this one will be fun. Let¡¯s go find that big bird¡¯s volcano.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Thirty Six - Hot Springs Episode!

    Another of the special resources created by the System upon my exit from the dungeon was, as I predicted, within a land of smoke and flames. Entering the range of its influence was like walking into a furnace. Just a hundred metres away, the air was cool and clear, but after passing an imperceptible barrier, a wall of heat and the air filled with haze and ash. As with the mountain, the tree and the metal orb, the Natural Treasure was remaking the world around it.

    I wondered if the whole world would eventually be altered by items like these. The Grade One resources were sizable, and I bet if I rolled the Metallurgic Metamorph around it would take a long time to run out of steam. What did a Grade Three, or Four resource look like? The twitchy dragon in my soul, uncomfortable from my encounters with Steel, almost salivated at the thought of so much power.

    If I could find one that fit me perfectly¡­

    I had fairly high hopes for this one but the immediate discomfort made wonder how closely related fire and dragons would be. Naea and I were both able to fight off the Grade One heat of the area by channelling our Dao. Rivers and Tempests were both more powerful than something as basic as heat, even when the temperature was increased by the ambient Dao. The ambient warmth was definitely impressive though.

    Julianna walked forward, throwing her arms wide as she soaked up the energy in the blistering air like I might a sea breeze. I was glad she had accepted my invite, not just because I thought she was beautiful with her mahogany coloured skin and gorgeous smile. I knew she would get some benefit from this place, given her newly formed Dao of Fire.

    The source of the heat became clear quickly when a geyser erupted, sending an immense burst of scalding water into the air. It landed on my skin like acid, the water far hotter than would have been naturally possible before the shift. The Dao of Heat seemed to be altering physics to allow water to act like magma. Again, Julianna surprised me as the beautiful woman danced in the flaming rain. The sight was as beautiful as anything I had seen since The Shift.

    I liked the world now, I realised. I liked it much more than before with the smog and waste and boredom. Of course, there was the addition of monsters and magic to the world which made things confusing and dangerous, but as I watched Julianna dealing with a Fire Sprite, I couldn¡¯t help but think that for all the danger¡­ The world had become so beautiful.

    With skin of fluorescent oranges, and hair that wasn¡¯t too far off mine. Long, red candle flames bounced about the tiny fairy-type creature¡¯s head as it flitted around the laughing woman playfully. The small wisp of flame had a mind of its own, and more than half that mind was telling it to mess with Naea. The ¡°real¡± fairy, as she called herself, was quite snobbish when it came to the sprites, flicking them into sparks which reformed with a firecracker pop and a giggle. ¡°Not a fan of your littler cousins?¡± I asked.

    Naea spat, and the small glob of saliva didn¡¯t even hit the ground before it sizzled into nothing. I poked her, to her additional annoyance. ¡°They¡¯re dumb,¡± she replied, ¡°and they only last about five minutes before-¡±

    Pop.

    Julianna sighed as the latest of the Fire Sprites to come and play got too excited and exploded. This one became a fantastic shower of blue and green sparks. Even after Naea had explained that sprites were essentially just pure mana given life, it was still a little concerning to see a creature so full of life burst into nothing. For the co-leader of Newtown, and her connection to the Dao in the air, it was becoming personal. She had attempted to create a familiar contract with one of the sprites after Naea said it was possible, but it hadn¡¯t worked yet. Once her mana touched them, they overfilled and burst like a balloon

    I decided to start trying to distract the group from the somewhat harrowing lightshow. ¡°Got anything about volcanos in your database, Naea?¡± She didn¡¯t enjoy the humidity, temperature or the locals, but I had seen her eyes open wide with wonder at the molten geological fixtures. The updrafts over magma were apparently very tickly.

    ¡°Not really?¡± She answered with a tilt of her head, searching for the disjointed knowledge in her mind. ¡°I know what lava is, and what the difference between that and magma is. Oh! That¡¯s why the water¡¯s doing that? Getting so hot it bubbles up like that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Sometimes Naea acted like such a little kid. It was easy to treat her that way when she let me. ¡°But there¡¯s something more important that happens, too.¡±

    ¡°Volcanic eruptions!¡± Naea shouted the two words with glee, and I almost agreed due to her earnestness. But no, she¡¯d like the surprise if I could just find one. A few minutes later, the reveal was ready. There were a few interesting things to spot, and more than a few creatures around that were definitely avoiding us.

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    The Grade One resource had not produced many Grade One creatures, it seemed. In our short time so far, we hadn¡¯t even seen anything that could really be considered a monster. The Firehawk Monarch had pruned its lands too much, leaving a quiet ecosystem filled with placid creatures which did not hunt. If there was no struggle, then there wouldn¡¯t be much growth either.

    Spotting what I had been hoping for since I saw the giant bird, I smiled and began explaining. ¡°So, just like we can spot some molten rock on the surface, there¡¯s even more below. The best part of volcanic activity is the hot springs. Apparently the Firehawk Monarch agreed. It was definitely keeping the best resource for itself. How the Golem got it to leave this place is beyond me.¡±

    ¡°They must have been scared of you,¡± Julianna suggested. I could tell by the way she spoke the words that she didn¡¯t necessarily disagree with the idea. It wasn¡¯t the nicest feeling in the world to know I potentially frightened those around me, but I didn¡¯t avoid the idea either.

    ¡°The claimants? Do you think? They weren¡¯t that much of a problem.¡± I didn¡¯t mention Steel, and the fact that I would be a lot more free of responsibility if the creature wasn¡¯t so interested in a partnership. If Steel had attacked outright, the population of Ascentown would be approximately two.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Naea agreed with Julianna, ¡°I mean you smashed through them, but could anyone else have done that? The metal bastard made the right choice I guess. Weird creep.¡± The two women nodded at each other sagely and I snorted, pulling my shirt over my head. I kept a poker face as I met Julianna¡¯s eyes during their wandering of my muscles. The System had done wonders at cutting away the puppy fat.

    ¡°I guess I mostly agree. Steel is definitely weird, but if it really is an ally then it¡¯s a strong one. Everything¡¯s complicated and I would honestly rather have just had the fight, but it told me some interesting things. Steel has been useful already, if it¡¯s telling the truth about them.¡± I had the instinct to be defensive about Steel, not to protect the chromatic collaborator, but to guard myself. Like it or not, ignored or embraced, Steel was a part of my soul and my future for the foreseeable.

    ¡°What kind of things did it teach you?¡± There was a very specific tone in Julianna¡¯s voice that made me feel hotter than the springs around us. After checking with a toe, I jumped headfirst into the pool. Coming up quickly, I warned against doing so while rubbing my sore head to the laughs of the women. The pain disappeared nearly instantly, and then came the waves of relaxation. I shuddered and gasped intensely, but I didn¡¯t feel embarrassed by the laughter anymore.

    Everything was great.

    Every strand of tension within my muscles was kneaded away by the gently bubbling waters. As though some consciousness pervaded within the waters, the most strained parts of my body were soothed first. I carried an unsurprising amount of tightness all over, but an immediate warm burn within my hands told me they were the worst affected. As the hot spring bubbled around me, the water began to carry away stress as well as accumulated damage. ¡°Come on in,¡± I said lazily, ¡°the water¡¯s fiiiiine.¡±

    Once we were comfortable and the slight magical effects of the warm waters were less distracting, I explained to Julianna and Naea everything I had learned from Steel and what I felt the implications were. ¡°Essentially, there¡¯s an unseen time limit over our heads, and as that time limit descends more and more powerful invaders will come to Earth for its resources. It takes having a single Dao Pool before you can become a Grade One, or it makes it far easier at least. Whether it just takes two Dao Pool or an evolved Dao for Grade Two, I can¡¯t say until I get there. Steel said something like explaining how to grasp the Dao would actually make it harder. You either get it or you don¡¯t.

    ¡°The stronger we get as a planet, the quicker that barrier falls. There will be peak Grade¡­ Zero? Null? Level twenty nines that are ready to become Grade Ones. They¡¯ll be coming soon, if I had to guess.¡± I felt like a coward, but decided not to mention that my own bloated power level was chipping away at the boundary quicker than others. An anxious part of myself worried I would be stopped from advancing if it weighed out better for the greater good. I knew it was selfish, but if the Earth needed a bulwark, it could be me.

    ¡°So, there¡¯s bottlenecks ahead and enemies racing forward. They¡¯ll already know how to climb, as they¡¯ve existed within the System for a long time.¡± Julianna wore the serious expression of a leader as she categorised the threat neatly. ¡°No regard for our culture or the people¡­ It¡¯ll be a slaughter.¡±

    I nodded with a frown. ¡°That sounds about right.¡±

    ¡°So, what can we do?¡± Naea asked. She had a lovely pink one piece swimsuit on, one I had taken from a plastic doll for the occasion. Instead of sitting in the water, she floated on top like a lilypad. ¡°Is it even our problem?¡±

    ¡°Well, it should still be a fair few years before even Grade Ones can freely arrive from what Steel told me, which feels like way too long to think about but also too soon.¡± Once the barrier weakened to the point that someone as strong as the Golem Prince could appear anywhere? Grade Ones were comic superheroes, burgeoning superweapons all. I myself, while not quite a typical Grade One, would be able to tear apart an old world city without a scratch.

    Unless they dropped a nuke. I cycled my mana curiously for a moment. ¡°You think you could survive a nuke, yet?¡± I asked innocently, using Air Manipulation within the water to increase the bubble and create a churning effect.

    ¡°Nuke? Yet?! As in, surviving a nuclear blast while being in the epicentre?¡± Julianna¡¯s raised voice made me burst out laughing. It was easy to forget that she was a bit of a nerd. I had been joking to start with, but once I considered the question in truth I had to shrug. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t thinking of nuclear weapons as the upper limit to what I wanted to face.

    ¡°I mean, yeah? There¡¯s no upper limit on this stuff, you know?¡± I knew that unlike myself, Julianna had not seen the destruction that was possible out there. The Storm Dragon¡¯s attention was more devastating to a planet than any single explosion from the old world. The concept seemed to both annoy and excite Julianna, who¡¯s own Dao of Fire upped the temperature of the water. ¡°You¡¯d be more suited to surviving than I would. Something to look forward to.¡±

    Letting her stew, literally, I hopped out of the pool with a wink and went for a quick exploration. A current of mana had snaked past on a convection current, and it suggested we were close to our target. Just as I thought, not three minutes jog away and there it was. I was becoming old hat at spotting the shimmer of a dungeon entrance by now.

    They weren¡¯t marked with mana, exactly, though a swirl of energy which lit up my Stormborn Manasight did make it obvious this time. There were still so many unknowns when it came to the System. Perversely, I seemed to deal with things within the System dungeons far easier than the new version of the real world.

    As she sidled up beside me, Julianna wrapped her fingers in mine. A kaleidoscope of butterflies came to life in my chest and I smiled. Turning my head, wondering if this counted as a date, I asked an important question.

    ¡°Have you done any Dungeon runs Julianna?¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Thirty Seven - The Dragon and The Flame

    ¡°So you don¡¯t know what a motorbike looks like, but you know what it means to be a third wheel?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tease me, Grant!¡± Naea stamped her foot, an action that had less impact when you were flying as the fairy currently was. Without proper footwear, it wasn¡¯t safe for her to touch the floor. Even I was hovering, using Air Manipulation to keep myself aloft rather than melt into the floor. Oh, I had my Thunder Steppers on, and something as silly as mostly hardened magma wasn¡¯t enough to damage them, but I did sink into the rock if I stood still. If it went over the boots, I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d enjoy the feeling.

    It was like walking on the most dangerous brownie ever. ¡°I don¡¯t see how you¡¯re the third wheel anyway, I¡¯m over here with you while the fire dancer does her thing over there.¡±

    ¡°Yeah but we¡¯re here for her.¡± Crossing her arms, Naea looked up and waited, unblinking. An elemental slime, the main enemy of the dungeon, began to drip from the ceiling. Without having to say or do anything, Julianna swept it away from us. Able to easily control the very makeup of the creature, she cupped her hands together and squeezed. The slime squealed as the pressure turned it from lava into coal.

    Naea turned away from me, so I moved in front of her face with a smirk. ¡°Are you jealous?¡± I was teasing, but only a little. I wasn¡¯t in the business of making Naea upset. Luckily, she seemed to be mostly joking herself.

    And the best humour is based in truth. Suddenly bashful, Naea put her cheek on her shoulder and swayed back and forth. ¡°... Little bit.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll always be my number one, little bug.¡± I nuzzled her with my head. She was stubborn for a moment but relented, leaning into me. ¡°It¡¯s not like we¡¯re just here for fun, anyway.¡± Naea whined that she knew that we had a quest and told me to shut up so she could focus. I held my hands up, while checking on the quest progress.

    Dungeon Quest - Snuff The Flame

    The local populace around Yarionus enjoy the bounty of its fertile ash year round, never knowing the danger they are in. Within the belly of the volcano, pressure is building, a new king rising. Bring the rising monarch to heel and protect the people of Yaria for another generation.

    Reward: Ownership of nearby Springs Of Triagus

    Triagus was a new name, given to me by the quest reward. I filed it away, as it meant nothing at the moment. I hadn¡¯t seen any single point which I could analyse like with the orb or the spire on the mountain, so I hadn¡¯t been able to analyse them at all.

    Despite assuaging Naea, I did find it hard to look away from Julianna once my gaze returned. Her utilisation of the Aspect Of Fire was beautiful to behold, and completely perfect for this dungeon. The only light inside the mountain were pockets of visible magma and Julianna¡¯s flames. Honestly, if Julianna wasn¡¯t such a natural here, we would have had a much worse time. Naea and I together would have struggled.

    Well, we would have sweat, at the very least.

    Right now, she battled against a small wave of salamanders. The creatures weren¡¯t too smart, and it looked like they could absorb fire and then spit it back out stronger. I was betting that almost any magical attacks would just turn into fire mana for the creatures, but that didn¡¯t matter for Julianna. In what became a twisted form of practice, the woman just lobbed fire at one, caught the increasingly powerful flame and then repeated it until-

    Pop.

    Each of the Lavabather Salamanders, one by one, bloated like balloons, but with no recourse but to keep trying to absorb and fight, it was a gnarly losing battle. Julianna didn¡¯t seem to mind, in a trance like state as she manipulated the dense fire magic in the air to her will. Once the group was depleted, Naea and I moved to join her. The salamanders were just running away from the real danger, after all.

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    I groaned as I saw this was, once again, not the enemy we were looking for. Pulling itself slowly from a pool of magma was a large slime. ¡°That¡¯s what happens when you put too much mana into a sprite, by the way,¡± Naea whispered into my ear. She had made the joke twice already and I was pretty sure she was lying. While the slimes were definitely made of mana in a similar way, there was an underlying Dao to each creature that was completely different. ¡°Never mind then, all yours.¡± I hopped back from the battle.

    We had agreed that I would fight the boss monster to ensure I claimed the quest reward, but Julianna was enjoying the chance to fling herself at enemies. Apparently there wasn¡¯t much room to do so when running Newtown. I didn¡¯t tell her that sometimes I just wandered off to do exactly that. She was definitely learning how cathartic it was, though. Along with gaining a few levels, which was always nice, no matter who you are.

    During this dungeon run, I was faced with the very true fact that I was levelling at a slower rate than Julianna. My attributes were simply worth more, so the System essentially charged me more to access more. It made sense when you thought of the System as an actual transactionary process performed by an omnipotent tree.

    It sort of made sense when you thought of it that way, I corrected myself.

    The lava slime mini-boss fared just as badly as the salamanders had. While this thing could attack physically, it preferred not to. The same back and forth occurred and even before the slime was destroyed, Julianna was turning and walking away. Instead of the volley she had been doing, continuing until the overfilled mana of the enemy caused them to burst, her magic lodged itself into the slime. Even without any features to speak of, the slime was clearly distressed as the mana buried itself deeper into the manaflesh. With a dull thud, the slime swelled like a balloon and instantly froze. I whistled. ¡°You badass, you.¡±

    ¡°I unlocked a new skill at the end there. Living Bomb.¡± She gestured with her head over her shoulder. ¡°They were good practice, you bring me to the nicest places.¡± Naea flew up to the slime and salamanders, looting them. Then, she turned and gave me a look I had been waiting for. I very quickly guided Julianna away before she could catch a glimpse of Naea going to town on her first dungeon monsters in about a month.

    Within Badaila, nothing had been edible for her. We hadn¡¯t properly entered the Cloudslash Peak dungeon, so this was her first chance to gore. I was happy for her, but that slurping sound would haunt me for certain.

    ¡°Well, I know how to treat a lady right,¡± I agreed, distracting myself from the feast happening further down the tunnel.

    ¡°SEE?!¡± Naea shouted, her mouth clearly far too full. ¡°Third wheel!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    That night was an interesting one. The world had been expanding around me in unexpected and frightening ways, but I found security by tightening my circle. The members of The Ascent had let me down in various ways, but Julianna hadn¡¯t. We were currently making up for our interrupted night a few days prior, and doing so very successfully.

    We were either taking a break or done for the night, I wasn¡¯t sure, but without so much physicality going on, we could talk. ¡°This is nice,¡± I said, taking a big gulp of water from my nightstand.

    ¡°This or that?¡± Julianna laughed and gave me a squeeze, our skin to skin contact feeling so natural. She took the drink from my hand and drained the rest before flourishing her hand. The expensive crystal goblet vanished into her inventory, a much more efficient way of getting it out of the way.

    ¡°Both,¡± I chuckled back. ¡°Something that feels normal.¡±

    ¡°Scorch marks were normal for you before this?¡± Her eyebrow curled to the headboard, which had been singed. Apparently she had lost control a little at some point. The thought made me smirk.

    ¡°Maybe. A gentleman never kisses and tells. Nor does he drip wax.¡± I shook my head to show I was definitely joking, but went back to the point I was trying to make at the start. ¡°No, just¡­ Something that feels like my own personal choice, and a reward earned from being me, rather than whatever the System has turned me into.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± She stretched and pulled the covers up around herself, getting comfortable. I hoped that meant she was spending the evening. We were currently using the bedroom I had marked as my own, but I might have to rearrange some furniture if we kept breaking things. Our prodigious strength made things much more acrobatic and intense.

    Smiling, I shook my head and returned to the conversation at hand. ¡°Well, it¡¯s nothing really, but how can I even be sure anyone actually likes me anymore and isn¡¯t just sucking up to me? It¡¯s a bit of a petty worry, I guess.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what life is like for celebrities and the mega-rich, I think.¡± Her brown eyes found mine, and I wondered what she thought of them. I wouldn¡¯t ask, but I was curious. I thought hers were the most beautiful I had ever seen.

    I sighed and fell back onto the pillows next to her. I took her hand in my and looked at the dichotomy of our skin together. ¡°You¡¯re probably right. I think if you asked me, I would have said I I wanted both of those things, but the idea that it came with all this baggage? Maybe not.¡± I was planning to secure more wealth than actual gods eventually, and the thought became a little less appealing when the reality of it set in. Only a little though.

    I would definitely get a pure gold planet one day.

    Then Julianna gave me a very specific look and I focused not on what I might gain in the future, but on what I had directly to hand. The rest of the night passed in a haze of heat, passion and wild abandon. The world was dangerous. My responsibilities were real. The planet itself might very well need me, specifically, to get many things right without making a single mistake. None of that mattered right then. It was just me, a beautiful woman of magic, strength and intelligence all at once.

    I happily lost myself to her flame for an evening, hoping for many more to come.

 Book Two - Thirty Eight - Ascentown

    It had been five days since the attack on Ascentown by our new tentative ally, Steel. I had been more than a little worried that the nighttime assault and then my own dramatics the day after would cause people to return to Newtown. While there were definitely those who saw the danger and returned to the ¡°safety¡± offered elsewhere, I was honestly shocked to see how resilient people were. Instead of slowing down or giving up, a fire had been ignited within the bellies of the many who stayed.

    The Outpost was busy, and nowhere more so than the guild hall of The Ascent. The heavy footsteps of ungainly Grade Ones, newly evolved and unused to their powers, was a little distracting. With my senses touching on Grade Two capabilities, their clodding steps were like an elephant¡¯s down the hallways. Sitting in my office, flicking through System options and weighing up my choices, I sighed.

    There were just so many things which a true town needed.

    It was easy enough not to lose focus, though. My Will and Mental attributes had levelled out massively, which had not been my plan, but the effects were potent. Juggling multiple streams of thought at once had become fairly simple¡­ but actually making decisions still wasn¡¯t. There were so many options available to purchase, though many had a cost so high they were completely beyond the level of credits an Outpost could make. Perhaps if there were a million people all filling the coffers at once, but not currently.

    Inventory

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted) - 5192

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint) - 13,118

    Storm Arrows

    Assorted Earth foods

    Alternating Armament (Epic)

    Various Furniture

    Crown Of The Golem Prince (Rare)

    Pinion Of The Firehawk Monarch (Rare)

    Fang Of The Wood Drake (Rare)

    Pelt Of The Valleycarver Beaver (Rare)

    I had taken to offloading the crafting materials I gathered directly to the town¡¯s inventory. While the credits we had gathered as a collective weren¡¯t much, even compared to just my own personal stash, there was a respectable amount of materials within now. Each of the Claimant bosses had left behind one rare material which I kept as a trophy for now. There was promising headway being made with the crafting of equipment, but not so much that I trusted the burgeoning industries with the valuable items.

    Ascentown Inventory

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint) - 2,617

    Alchemical Supplies

    Leatherworking Supplies

    Metalworking Supplies

    Lumber

    Stone

    There were other sub-sections, such as food and equipment pages. Any items could be assigned to buildings or individuals, allowing them to simply remove them from the town¡¯s collective inventory as simply as their own. Keep track of such a growing workflow was a scarier prospect than facing the Storm Dragon, honestly. Thankfully the administration of the city is what I was here to deal with.

    ¡°They¡¯re here, want me to send them in?¡± Naea had decided she was my secretary once I described it as an administrative bodyguard. She was taking her job seriously. I shook my head at her antics but told her yes. The Ascent all joined me in my office. Aaron, Ellie, Harry, Luke and Tom. The ones who had found me in the dungeon. There was a clear awkward silence, and as no one wanted to break it, I took the time to analyse my Guildmates.

    Physically, each of them were as fit as they had ever been. Mentally?

    I had become familiar enough with mana, both my own energy as well as the currents which governed others. There was a practice in the old world called aura reading, which I couldn¡¯t write off anymore. Perhaps those people had some tiny connection to the same abilities I now held. The ability was most useful in battle where it gave me advanced warning of attacks or allowed me to see things which would be otherwise invisible. Right now, I used it to get a read on the dispositions before me.

    Aaron was slouched in his chair and I wouldn¡¯t have had to look at his tepid aura to know he wasn¡¯t interested in what I might say. He was a¡­ weird guy. Okay, I conceded privately, he¡¯s also just straight up annoying. However, he had his uses and for all the various faults I found in him, I didn¡¯t want to exclude the guy just because he wasn¡¯t my friend. He had remained mostly true to his style, which is to say he wore blue denim jeans, a black t-shirt and a leather jacket over the top.

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    Luke was a steel shell protecting a fragile egg, same with Tom. The former had been through what might be the frontrunner for the most traumatic experience since the Shift. I had been controlled, myself, but from what I had been told, Steel¡¯s methods were even more rough than the dragon¡¯s which had taken my body for a ride. The fact that his energy was still recognisable as his own was a good enough sign for now.

    Tom, on the other hand, was a powder keg. While Luke was still wearing what I considered recovery clothing, loose comfortable stuff meant to be lounged around in, Tom was in his full battle regalia, as it were. I had to wonder if there was a slight hit to his mental health each time he had to wake up and put on a literal wizard hat and robe, but no one would say he didn¡¯t look impressive. It was just a lot for a meeting. At least his staff remained hidden in his inventory.

    Harry and Ellie seemed happy enough though. While Harry had been a bit of a rock, surprisingly, Ellie had faced struggles finding a place within Ascentown¡¯s changing structure. Her successful foray into alchemy was more specifically the blueprint I hoped I could encourage the others here to follow.

    ¡°Before we start I want to apologise. Don¡¯t interrupt, you can all say something afterwards. I¡¯m sorry. So. Fucking. Sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to drag anyone into a crazier existence than they were already having. I can¡¯t control the System, and I¡¯m not saying I take blame, but I am sorry. Regardless, I¡¯m not committing seppuku, I just want you to know that I know I¡¯m not perfect, and I don¡¯t want to treat myself or be treated by others  that way.¡± By the harder set in everyone¡¯s eyes and the nods of affirmation from everyone, I knew they heard my apology. Good.

    I continued. ¡°The rules have all changed. Survival of the fittest is the new normal. ¡®Might makes right¡¯ is going to become the norm. Whether I like it or not, I¡¯m stronger than anyone here. I don¡¯t hate it, because I wouldn¡¯t trust most of you chucklefucks to handle it either, but it¡¯s not easy.¡± I managed to get a few laughs and a general energy of concession came my way.

    Harry often defaulted to speaking for the five of them, their one-time leader and still the popular one in their minds. He looked at the others, seeing something in each of their eyes that gave him confidence. His movie-star blue eyes met mine with serious, unblinking resolve. ¡°You weren¡¯t wrong. People are leaning on you, hoisting your banner in your name because they know that you¡¯ve got some of these things figured out.¡±

    ¡°Some, but not all,¡± Aaron interjected.

    The room got quiet as I turned to him. I flattened my aura as much as possible. I didn¡¯t want to be intimidating here. ¡°Go on?¡± I prompted.

    Eyes widening with surprise, the younger man had a few false starts with his point. He stood up, clearly frustrated, before sitting back down. A few times. Finally, he began. ¡°It¡¯s just all go go go, all the time. Aaron, help me with this quest, Aaron what are levels and how do I do magic and why does my finger feel weird, Aaron. There¡¯s so much that these people need to learn. Except, I didn¡¯t figure those things out. I still don¡¯t know those things. I only do what the System says or what you say. How did any of us become leaders of a town?¡±

    I had to admit that Aaron¡¯s point was completely fair. I think most people only moved to Ascentown because they didn¡¯t know my age. Remembering that these five were even younger than my own twenty four years was important. There was something else worth reminding them of, though. ¡°You got lucky. Because for all the work you might have to do, and things you might have to learn, being in charge is better, right?¡± I was learning more and more about how Dao works, and knew that Aaron managed to create a Dao Pool of Control. How could he not agree? Somewhat petulantly, with a big huff, he did.

    ¡°Luck got us here, but what now?¡± Ellie asked. Her long blonde hair had become much more cropped in the last few days. Working around flames and arguably dangerous chemicals had its risks, but she honestly looked beautiful. Before now, she had not had much uniqueness about her, but with the soot of a botched potion still on the end of her nose, and a face less hidden behind her straw coloured hair, she was quite striking. She had similar eyes to Harry, but if his eyes were the blue of a deep sea, hers was the seafoam atop it. Very pretty.

    ¡°Well! I had some ideas and I hoped they made sense. Aaron, I was going to give you entertainment. That doesn¡¯t just mean more taverns, the ones we have right now don¡¯t even have enough alcohol between them to be considered a speakeasy. It means making sure that the world isn¡¯t just about quests and monsters. Plan a festival, that kind of thing. Obviously, you can always just leave as well if you¡¯d like, and that goes for any of you.¡± I handed Aaron a notebook I had filled in with ideas about how this could work, as well as his budget. It was fairly thick. The advantages of a high Mental attribute and a desperate desire to not have to do this again.

    ¡°No¡­ That¡­ that actually sounds really nice.¡± Taking the book and reading the first page, I could see his eyes bulge a little. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of information¡­¡±

    Leaving him to his personal journey of growth, I turned to the others. They looked at me expectantly after the first set of notes. I tossed out the next four quickly. ¡°Ellie, you¡¯re already becoming a great crafter and I was wondering if you wanted to sort of head whatever that department becomes. I pictured more than alchemy eventually but you¡¯d honestly know more than me.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely,¡± she agreed, already engrossed in the prospective recipes I had jotted down. I wasn¡¯t sure whether she was saying she would take the work, or that she knew more than me, but I could reconfirm that later when she came up for air from the notes.

    ¡°Harry, in charge of whatever becomes of the Fledglings, and defence of the town. With the System barrier, I don¡¯t expect it, but what happened the other day can never happen again. You and I will go out with every one of them and give them a run around.¡± Like the soldiers he had emulated and was slowly turning into, Harry saluted. As the weight of the position settled over him, Harry¡¯s eyes hardened and he nodded to himself. No more to be said there, I¡¯d need to lead some of that process anyway.

    ¡°What about me?¡± Though he was looking at the floor, the brim of his wide hat covering most of his features, I knew what I would see in his eyes. Fear, anger and confusion, the same emotions which had been growing since we left the dungeon. Maybe they had been there from the first moment we met, actually. I sighed, causing those pained eyes to look up at me in confusion.

    ¡°You, Tom¡­¡±

    Before I could get any further, he interrupted me while standing from his seat. ¡°I¡¯ve got a better idea. Follow me.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Thirty Nine - I Did This To You

    If anyone deserved an apology it was Tom. Well, he deserved more than that, which is why I allowed him to lead us towards the training grounds. He looked frayed somehow, close to an edge. There was a rigidity in his gait which reminded me of someone being trotted to an authority for a dressing down. I floundered, attempting to find a simple conversation with him but the tension in his body and the badly hidden trio following us made it difficult.

    I looked at his face. He wasn¡¯t a model, but the System had smoothed out some of his sharp angles and strengthened his weaker features. There was a small white line on the bridge of his nose, a pre-system artefact as scars were hard to come by these days. He wore glasses that fit his face well, and that they had survived the chaos of the System spoke to his careful nature. I couldn¡¯t remember if he was wearing them when we met, or if he had been keeping them in his inventory.

    There was a lot I didn¡¯t know about him. Or any of my ¡°allies.¡± Were any of them truly less alien to me than Steel, when it came down to it? This wasn¡¯t about me, though. I glanced over my shoulder and with an audible cry, the other members of The Ascent dove behind a house. The only one not visible was Luke, but I expected he was following. He just had more skill than the others. They were all just kids. Far more than me. At least I¡¯d experienced living alone and fending for myself. Well, I thought, taking care of myself has been second nature for longer than the System has been here.

    While he was a locked safe when it came to his emotions, I could hazard a guess at my role in his angst. Tom instantly locked onto me and my abilities, more than the others. While the quartet shadowing us had seen me as someone who got lucky, Tom saw a benchmark. Then I went and sprinted ahead. Not that there was an alternative, but I had been so focused on my family that I ignored my friend.

    And now, he was halfway broken and doing his best to break the other half.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s the new Aspect?¡± I pushed through the thick molasse of awkwardness and asked the question which had been burning me. Tom¡¯s Dao of Magic, even while it was still an Aspect, had carried a powerful signature. There was a wonder apparent in every skill he used. His mana didn¡¯t just move, it danced. Now when I looked at it, the energy seemed to be stale, for lack of a better word. Instead of his mana flowing naturally and whimsical, it was primed for action at all times. He was burning himself down from the inside.

    We continued walking and my question remained in the air. I could swear I heard Tom¡¯s teeth grinding. Is that something people actually do when they¡¯re angry? Eventually, he grunted a reply, though it was a question itself. ¡°You can¡¯t tell?¡± The tone in his voice sounded mostly surprised, with a hint of accusation.

    ¡°I could,¡± I admitted, ¡°but you¡¯d feel my mana rooting around and I don¡¯t want to do that. I want to know what¡¯s going on with you.¡± The temptation had been there during our brief collision of Dao a short while ago, but I refrained. I cringed at the memory now, knowing there were much better ways of doing things than shouting at a crowd.

    ¡°Just get in the arena,¡± Tom demanded before shooting off to the other side himself. I didn¡¯t feel dismissed, though. There were certain things that could be expressed through combat more easily than words. Tom¡¯s magic, and no doubt his mental state, were such esoterica. Taking up positions, I was surprised to see there were people already in seats. Then I saw Naea fluttering around taking bets of some kind and couldn¡¯t help but laugh. Tom followed my eyeline. His face darkened as he called from a good distance away. ¡°This is a serious fight, Grant.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t control Naea,¡± I shrugged, ¡°is the audience a problem?¡± So, this was a fight, then. Until Tom called it out, there was always a chance he wanted to use the training grounds for their normal purpose. I admitted to myself this was definitely wishful thinking as I cracked my neck. I hadn¡¯t been planning on a serious fight today.

    ¡°Not unless you want to keep your pride,¡± Tom retorted. Two Dao surged from Tom, the mana released mingling together wonderfully. My eyes widened in surprise as the strength grew over and over, far surpassing that of a Dao pool and an Aspect. As the Dao of Magic surged around the arena, another Dao settled everywhere the first one touched. The power which came from Tom was clearly not even as simple as two Dao Pools.

    Ah, so that¡¯s what he meant when he asked if I couldn¡¯t tell. ¡°You couldn¡¯t tell that it¡¯s not just an Aspect?¡± I had so consciously avoided trying to analyse Tom¡¯s energy that I hadn¡¯t sensed his growth. He had gone from a single pool of Dao to a true system, something internal which matched my own Avatar and Font. That might have something to do with his mood.

    Still, he had issued a challenge, which was now a public one, and I would meet it properly. He had threatened my pride, after all. My aura billowed out like a wave of smoke. More than a few people in the seats coughed a little and I knew some of them would be feeling faint right now. Tom just looked pissed. Feeling I now had his tacit approval, I analysed his mana and aura even as I began my attempt to subdue it.

    There was a permanence in his mana, now. It wove into the air around him, a heartrendingly beautiful ball of magic forming at the end of his staff. I flicked my wrist and the Alternating Armament became its most used form. Armed with a staff of my own, I smashed at the Mana Bolt, taking my biggest baseball swing. When my ¡°bat¡± collided with the ¡°ball¡±, I was the one launched. Instead of dissipating, the energy had impacted like a cannonball.

    Not bad. Not bad at all. There were no more words to be said, and Dao infused magic started flying wildly. With such a crowd here, I couldn¡¯t help considering how it looked from their perspective. Without Manasight, or my own Stormborn physiology, what did they even see? I knew a Mana Bolt was visible but, for most, it would be nothing compared to the gorgeous nebulas I was able to see. Using my advantage, I focused on the Mana Bolts themselves.

    Flashes of light appeared in the air, then around each flicker of energy a ball of mana covered it like gel. They looked like Mana Bolts, but there was something different about them. Instead of a singular strike, this time came a salvo. Intrigued but with no real sense of danger, I brandished the Alternating Armament and activated Infusion, expecting to bat the attacks away. Instead, the dozen or so blobs of mana stuck fast to the weapon. I reacted just in time to keep my hand as I dropped the staff, but the following explosion rocked me and I was flung into a wall.

    Above the crater I made in the solid rock, the crowd whooped in delight. They liked Tom, after all. He didn¡¯t seem to be hearing it. I didn¡¯t bother playing up the damage, however. The only casualty of the attack was my thin shirt, so I tore the strips remaining away as I stalked forward. That also got some whoops from the crowd. The more durable Adept Bottoms were barely singed, the damage repairing in real time. I removed the shirt so it wouldn¡¯t drain mana to repair.

    Now I had the measure of his Dao, I felt confident. ¡°It¡¯s not Time,¡± I shouted over to Tom, ¡°but it¡¯s something related to it.¡± The attacks weren¡¯t bad, but nothing Strike of the Ruler couldn¡¯t deal with. When the next salvo arrived, it met my own Dao and shattered. I walked towards him at an intentionally ominous pace. Tom growled in frustration and took it up a notch.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    He held his staff in the air, energy gathering. Except not at the top like usual, but at the bottom. I resisted the instinct to jump as Tom plunged the weapon into the ground. I doubted Tom could outright kill me, and any other damage could be repaired. I would be able to analyse the energy within the attack easier if I took it head-on.

    When did I become that used to pain? Wondering at myself, I felt the magic latch onto my ankles. A trapping spell? I pulled at my feet but even with nearly three hundred effective Fortitude, the magic held strong. A scroll¡¯s worth of symbols appeared around my feet and up my legs. Impressed, I looked up from the intricate glyph around each ankle. The spell had a clear way to break it. If I dumped some mana into the complicated formation, it would shatter, but that would also come with backlash. A very clever use of magic which was hard to overcome.

    Infusion.

    Instead of magically breaking the lock, I magically roided out. With a single infusion, I simply ripped through the powerful bonds. My next footstep fell on another trap sigil. With a heave, I stepped forward again. Another trap. It felt like I was walking through thigh high water, but didn¡¯t stop. Doubling up, Tom launched a barrage of solid Mana Bolts, not the explosive ones, but the more traditional bolts which hit like a truck. ¡°Damn, man,¡± I cursed as I was forced to punch one away with a bare hand, ¡°how high is your Mental attribute?¡±

    His reply was a redoubling of his efforts. Both of his Dao burned violently. As I saw before, Tom was fraying. He burned and was using more power than he safely could to try and harm me. With a shout, he unleashed a new technique. His mana coursed towards me like rivers, breaking the ground of the training arena as it leapt at me. Like so many vipers made of light, the attack shot forward with impressive speed. With Infusion still burning, I slipped around the attacks with ease.

    Giving up on subtlety, the mage pointed his staff at me directly. The aura of energy at the tip became absolutely deadly, carrying a healthy dose of the secondary Dao. ¡°Ah,¡± I whispered, ¡°it¡¯s Eternity.¡± As mana continued to gather in a spiralling orb at the end of his staff, I planted my feet. Tom was putting everything on the line, dangerous or no, and there was only one way to respond to that.

    Full power.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    It was so frustrating. It brought tears to my eyes and a nail formed horizontally in my throat. Wave after wave of techniques, chunks and portions of mana that weren¡¯t regenerating as quickly as I needed, every ounce of willpower I could bring to bear. I used every tool I had obsessively trained over the last months. Yet, those inexorable footsteps continued to approach me regardless. When I decided to absorb the Aspect of Eternity I thought it would bring me closer to Grant¡¯s strength, yet nothing could be further from the truth.

    I hadn¡¯t slacked in the month or so since we left the Dungeon that Grant had been found in, but the gap still widened. I roared and waved the Archmage¡¯s Answer at this approaching demon. An unending stream of skills leapt from the end, halting Grant from drawing nearer.

    Item - Archmage¡¯s Answer (Epic)

    Most wizards choose to be buried with their staves, as the weapon often begins to hold Intent. Then, there are those who throw these soulbound weapons to the ether of the Great Connection and hope for the best. Are you the best?

    Effect: Skills and Spells cast with Archmage¡¯s Answer as a conduit are influenced by Intent. Skills and Spells based on Mana Control or the Mental Attribute become much easier to learn.

    The staff was precious to me. Given to me by a quest in the first dungeon I had done, I had never even spoken about it to Grant. I was incredibly protective of the weapon, an insidious twitch in my thoughts that said if anyone knew how potent it was, they would take it from me. Grant in particular would be incredibly well matched to such a weapon. Without it, I would be completely left in the dust.

    Fear and rage bubbled up, turning the cool mana of my attacks into more violent form, from icy blue to a vicious violet. ¡°No!¡± I shouted aloud, unable to stop the words from spilling out, ¡°it¡¯s not FAIR!¡±

    The System had come along and made the entire world scary. The bullies and jerks who I used to put up with could now punch through actual concrete. They didn¡¯t make lockers strong enough to hold me in, but I bet they would eventually, and I refused to go back to an existence even approaching that pathetic mess I used to inhabit. For a time, I had been special. Almost no one could do magic at the beginning of things, after all. Even now, most didn¡¯t spend their way through the headache required to learn it.

    Everything had changed for me when Jason entered that stupid dungeon and got himself killed. Swapping a happy-go-lucky fool for the severe and domineering Grant was just a bad trade. I followed him, as I always did with someone I found interesting, only to find the thread severed when I thought we were equals. Even as my mana drained, so did my anger.

    That wasn¡¯t fair to Grant. I knew that, and I didn¡¯t care. Nothing had been fair for months, probably longer. For every step I took forward, Grant seemed to do a whole sprint. How could anyone keep up? What were we meant to do?

    A balloon expanded in my chest, and I could feel my mana channels rupturing with the force of the attack. My mind had spiralled into complete self-destruction and I knew without a doubt that I would die once my mana was spent. That was okay. Nothing lasts forever was the phrase which evolved my Aspect to Dao, after all. The Dao of Eternity ruffled itself and I had to chuckle. I may not be eternal, but the end was. Anger at the entire crazy world focused to a sharp point and I roared, voice a fever pitch. ¡°Just! Die!¡±

    Everything froze, reality snapped into a singular position and stayed exactly where it was. Except, it wasn¡¯t everything in reality, was it? It was just me, my mana and Dao that stilled. An iron fist had clenched around me and made it hard to breathe.

    ¡°Me?¡± Grant¡¯s eyes found mine and the dual colours within seemed to ignite. ¡°Die?¡± The sky above, visible through the open roof of the training arena, began to darken quickly. A flash of light was immediately followed by a boom that cracked in time with Grant¡¯s next footstep. The already heavy sensation of his energy became backbreaking, the sky itself dropping onto my back. ¡°I didn¡¯t realise it was that kind of battle.¡±

    Helpmehelpmehelpme. Although I was the one gathering power, I felt terror. I prayed to gods I didn¡¯t believe in, hoping one would hear me. He¡¯s going to kill me. I¡¯m not ready to die, there¡¯s so much more to do. I want to see a beautiful magical world. I was unable to stop the process at the end of my staff now, but somehow I knew my attack would never unleash. My arms felt weak, my head light. It was all too much.

    This world can be magic. That had been the first truth I had grasped, the one that had taken me from an Aspect to a Dao of Magic. All at once, I realised just how foolish I had been focusing my gaze on the back of someone like Grant. My path was never to stand next to him, I knew now. As I looked up into the raging storm cloud above, I knew my path was simply to watch this amazing world continue to change.

    Shame I had to die to figure it out.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Infusion. Infusion. Infusion. Harmony Of The Storm.

    I mustered the most powerful set of buffs I could place upon myself without doing long-term damage. I was sure I could outlast Tom if I tried to dodge his upcoming attack, but I couldn¡¯t say no one else would get hurt if I did. Better to calm him down quickly and take the pain, especially given what he was doing with his mana channels.

    The clouds high above crackled with thunderous potential as I plunged my Dao Avatar Of The Dragon into the power of the Font of Tempests. The pair of Dao joined together and became more than the sum of their parts. I gathered my full power. Facing Tom¡¯s wild gathering of power, I thrust my hand forward. With a grimace, I shoved my hand directly into the centre of the gathered energy. This was the quick and dirty way to finish things. The light rain that pervaded my inner world, the calm state, was cast away. Every raindrop was now a thunderbolt, and the world drank that power in with a mighty roar.

    ¡°Enough.¡± My voice, amplified by about five different effects at once, my single calm word sounded like a decree from a higher power. In a lot of ways, it was. The weight of my Dao seemed to make everything else less real, less durable. At the tip of Tom¡¯s staff, a catalytic orb of mana sizzled. I clenched my jaw in pain and closed my fingers around it. With a grunt, I snapped Tom¡¯s connection to his spell.

    As I expected, he was only being kept upright by the energies he was chanelling. As the spell broke, Tom fell to the ground like he was switched off. After checking his pulse and confirming he hadn¡¯t burned the candle out all the way, I picked him up.  As I scooped him from the ground, I was met by Naea to help with healing and a member of the mage squad which Tom led. ¡°He¡¯ll be fine,¡± I told the both of them, ¡°he just needs¡­ a lot of rest.¡±

    He wasn¡¯t the only one who did, but he was just a kid, even compared to me. He had wound himself into knots trying to do more than he could and at least part of the blame was on me. I handed him off to the young mage girl and turned to the crowd. They were unsure how to respond. Only now did I recognise the fearful silence around me. A thought came to mind, and I waited a few seconds to see if a better one would come. When it didn¡¯t, I threw my hands into the air.

    ¡°Give it up for Tom, my first challenger!¡± A confused spattering of claps met my words. Not surprising, considering that was anything but a friendly contest. Thankfully, Naea had turned her Fledglings into battle maniacs, and I would lean on that. ¡°Anyone who thinks they can land a hit, come at me!¡±

    Of course, this had not been the idea, but this would hopefully make it seem like we had both wanted to fight, instead of just Tom. It didn¡¯t matter if people saw the animosity on his face, so long as they didn¡¯t think this was a challenge to my leadership. We simply didn¡¯t have time for such a thing anymore. To my joy, multiple Fledglings dropped into the arena, along with two faces I recognised from Newtown. I made a mental note of the Fledglings for special treatment later, while turning to the other two feeling nothing but confusion.

    That was Frederick and Gaz, wasn¡¯t it?

 Book Two - Chapter Forty - Spring Cleaning

    I looked at the bloodthirsty faces approaching me and had to wonder how I got to this point. The full amount of fighters to attack once Tom fell unconscious was twelve. Twelve full Grade Ones, just like myself, all hyped up on the strange energy of the room and ready to get me. Except, only ten of them were ¡°mine¡±. They all had my attention, but only two of them held it for now.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect this, to be honest,¡± I told them while weaving between the various attack forms of the Fledglings. I genuinely couldn¡¯t say for sure whether I had even thought about either of these men since¡­ Well, since the last time I met them. Which was the first time I had seen them. Initially I struggled to even place their names to their relatively ordinary faces.

    ¡°You steal my woman and don¡¯t expect me to retaliate? Get him, Gaz!¡± Frederick would have slipped into just about any crowd with more than three people. A few inches shorter than my six-two, wearing a chequered shirt and brown chinos. The most interesting part of him was the fluctuating mana around himself. I had never seen that before. The larger man, Gaz, swelled with magical power, not dissimilar to an Infusion. For his part, he looked uncomfortable, like he wanted to speak.

    ¡°Wait, what?¡± His woman? I thought we might leave sexism in the old world, but alas. Considering women could level just as easily as men, it was doubly strange to hold onto that tired energy. Even though his meaning was obvious, his words were also so confusing I had to double-check. ¡°Do you mean Julianna?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± The dude actually had spittle flying. Like actual teeth grinding, spittle was something I thought only happened in movies. Despite the discourse with this angry stranger and his more physically aggressive bruiser, the Fledglings never stopped their assault and even began to assist Gaz¡¯. Naea had trained them well, almost uncomfortably so. I heard her cheering encouragement towards the sneakier members, ruining their stealth but improving their confidence.

    I turned the Alternating Armament into a pair of gau and started matching the swollen Gaz blow for blow as I spoke. Each time a Fledgling approached, they found a concussive Mana Bolt aimed for a vulnerable spot. These hits hobbled knees or winded the attackers, but no lasting damage was being done. Treating them like they weren¡¯t worth my time was truer than pretending otherwise. If they couldn¡¯t get past the first barrier, they didn¡¯t deserve my true attention. ¡°And what does the lady herself think? Because I doubt she knows you¡¯re acting like this.¡±

    ¡°No! I never told her, it was supposed to be a special thing and you ruined it.¡± Not only was the guy practically foaming at the mouth, something else was off. There was a feverish glint in Frederick¡¯s eye. Had my overt and powerful display of Dao caused an on-edge Frederick to absolutely lose it? I shook my head and activated Infusion.

    ¡°Look, I extra don¡¯t have time for a drama from a telenovela. Why are you in on this?¡± Asking Gaz a direct question, I managed to catch the nearly invisible thread of mana between him and Freddy. Infusion was not as simple as just making me stronger. A stream of mana was obscuring it from view, but I could guess what the purpose was. ¡°Got a nasty little skill there, Freddo.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know exactly what was going on, but I made a decision anyway. My first instinct was more drastic. The thought of killing him came far too easily, so I had to choose something else. However, I didn¡¯t want it to be much less permanent. There were people watching who wouldn¡¯t understand but it didn¡¯t matter. Whatever the case, explanations could come later. I had no time for this nonsense.

    With a flurry of activity, the weapon in my hands shifting forms between attacks seamlessly, I bonked all of the Fledglings. With my speed, the most important part of my action was holding back enough not to do lethal damage. When I didn¡¯t hold back, they moved like snails compared to me. Through our connection, I signalled for Naea to come and move them somewhere safe where she could start healing their cracked skulls.

    Gaz wouldn¡¯t stop, even as I attacked the others he aimlessly chased me. The awkwardness of his movements was highlighted now I knew to look for it and my disgust only grew. ¡°Got any physical stats there, Fred?¡± Instead of hurting the mind controlled giant of a man, I went for the source.

    With a sprinting tackle, I scooped him up. As I suspected, his attributes weren¡¯t heavy on Fortitude. Will or Mental being the obvious choices, I felt the brush of a skill against my mental defences. Compared to a single revenant of Badaila, it was nothing. I had faced a planet of this. My own strength was given a spotlight by the ease at which I crushed his attack. Then his arms.

    A wail of pain caused most of the humour to flee the training arena. Even when the Fledglings had been knocked out, there had been laughs. Now everyone was quiet. All eyes on me. I wish I knew how they saw me, but it was better they knew I could defend them. I wouldn¡¯t let anyone control me, and I wanted the people of Ascentown to know this. I wanted them to feel the same.

    When an opportunity like this presents itself, I might as well use it.¡°This man,¡± I proclaimed while kicking the zombie-like Gaz away hard, bouncing him off the floor into a far wall to pick himself up when he could. I pounded my chest with a single, gauntlet twice before holding the first in the air in an impromptu salute. ¡° This man has that other one under mind control. I¡¯m sure you all remember how terrible being controlled against your will felt.¡±

    Like a collective Dao, it was the aura of the crowd that now pressed onto us. No one was against me anymore. There were a few bloodthirsty cries that I couldn¡¯t judge. It was a battle against my own willpower not to fry the cretin right there. The differences between now and the situation with the murderer were too stark for me to comfortably take the life in front of me.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    I would take something else instead.

    The ability was one of my least used, despite its ridiculous strength. Costing nothing but physical contact, the attack imbued me with skills, power and more. I didn¡¯t have any negative associations with the ability or anything, it just felt like overkill most of the time. For the most part, fights just didn¡¯t require that level of attention, and the ones that had, I had been stubborn. If I had faced the claimant duo with my draconic dao and skills, the fight would have been immensely simplified.

    Anything I survived wasn¡¯t truly a mistake, but I wouldn¡¯t hold back anymore. I couldn¡¯t afford to. There was a looming shadow over the world and dangers unlike anything I could imagine waiting to attack. It scared me, but there was nothing to do. As much as I wished to, I couldn¡¯t protect anyone from the future itself. I could protect them from the monsters at home, though.

    Drain.

    Glad for my experience in Badaila, I shuffled through the senses and memories that pressed into me. I was still getting the hang of this ability, and before I could tighten the sluice gate, I was inundated with information I had no interest in. Oh wow, I thought sarcastically, Fred really thought he was cool as a teenager. How old was he again? Like thirty five?

    I concentrated. Drain did not need to just grab anything and everything, even if that was the most efficient use. Against a dungeon boss without a true life behind it, draining everything at once was ideal. Against this weirdo, not so much. I focused my range and aimed specifically for his magic, and I found it easily. Even as I crumpled his wrists to powder, he attacked me with his skill. It was like a beacon to my own skill. My dao latched on with claws of onyx, and heaved.

    I expected far more resistance, and for a moment doubted that I had succeeded with my idea, but then I received two System prompts. There was an almost imperceptible snapping within the weave of magic. Halfway across the arena, Gaz fell to the floor. The more obvious proof was the ungodly caterwaul from the insipid leader of Newtown. Probably not going to be in the leadership role for much longer, I expected.

    I dropped the side of my foot across the screaming man¡¯s face and he was knocked into unconsciousness. ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± I winced at the voice. This probably looked super bad. Okay, it definitely looked terrible.

    I spun in a circle, but stayed where I was. ¡°I¡¯m guessing you just arrived, Julz?¡± Even after saying it, I knew that using a pet name was not going to make things better. Though, I didn¡¯t think anything would help this scene.

    ¡°Yeah, get the fuck out of here with that Julz shit. What¡¯s happening?¡± The Fledglings were still on the ground for the most part but were all pulling themselves up. The crowd was quiet, apparently content to let Julianna continue the drama. It must have looked like I was going on a rampage. The scene was completely ridiculous. So much so that I was torn between horror and humour. While I struggled to find the right words, Gaz stirred.

    Julianna went to help him up, with Naea joining her. The crowd, sensing that this was no longer a spectator event, began to file away. More than a few people copied my chest bumping salute, throwing up a hand in solidarity, letting me know they approved of my action. I remained vigilant over the unconscious body of Frederick, even though I knew he wasn¡¯t going to be a problem any more.

    The next few minutes, during which the arena cleared and we moved into the Guild hall, were spent explaining things to Julianna. She didn¡¯t fly off the handle and overreact to the scene, instead listening to what I had to say, and eventually Gaz¡¯s story when he could tell it. Gaz explained that for a while now, he had been awake behind his eyes, unable to control his own actions. I was quickly cleared of wrongdoing. Frederick was still unconscious, with no one in a rush to heal him. He¡¯d be fine. Probably.

    After an impressively long string of expletives, Gaz and Julianna spoke for a while about what to do next. Like it or not, Frederick was a huge part of the reason Newtown had survived. His quest rewards had been able to upgrade the city without cost the System credits that were still difficult to earn for most. I left them, waiting in my office with the addled Frederick.

    He woke up before the other two came in, and upon seeing me sitting calmly nearby, immediately passed out again. ¡°Yep,¡± Naea nodded, fluttering nearby, ¡°you definitely broke that one.¡±

    ¡°That one was already broken before I did anything. I didn¡¯t even really know who he was before today other than a name and face.¡± If he hadn¡¯t come after me, Frederick could have festered into a real problem. If he hadn¡¯t put down some private, chauvanistic claim on Julianna, I would have know nothing about his powers. I probably wouldn¡¯t have even looked at him twice. I supposed I had to thank misogyny for the save on this one, which felt gross.

    ¡°Humans are weird,¡± Naea accused.

    ¡°That they are,¡± I agreed.

    It didn¡¯t take much longer for the Newtown pair to come into the room, joined by Stephanie. She looked like she had been crying, but she also held a positive energy, which suggested they weren¡¯t necessarily tears of sadness. Julianna was the one who spoke, her voice serious in a way I hadn¡¯t heard before. I liked it. ¡°We¡¯d like to talk about joining our factions.¡±

    I resisted the urge to give my best gangster impression with an olde time New York accent and a ¡°you don¡¯t say,¡± instead I just flipped one of the System prompts I had received upon my ¡°victory¡± around to them. The other one was private, and wouldn¡¯t help people feel safe around me.

    Faction Absorption

    By defeating the leader of another faction in single combat, and due to there being no laws governing the land, you may now take control of that faction. The faction, Newtown, will be subsumed into The Ascent.

    Would you like to absorb the faction?

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to choose no because I wasn¡¯t sure if it would do something bad.¡± I could easily see the faction being dissolved if I didn¡¯t take over in this situation. I shrugged. ¡°Does anyone have an objection to me doing this? I would definitely appreciate you all keeping your positions if I did.¡±

    That seemed to surprise Gaz and Stephanie, but Julianna gave me a glare that said she knew I just didn¡¯t want to do administrative actions. They still all gave their assent. I could only smirk at the beautiful dark-skinned woman and give her a wink as Newtown joined The Ascent. Now I had two terribly named towns to rename.

    ¡°How the hell did I end up in this position?¡± I asked Naea. I had only planned to have a conversation with the members of The Ascent and somehow it had resulted in multiple full-power fights with people.

    ¡°World went crazy and you rolled with it the quickest. Does that mean you''re the most sane or the most crazy yourself?¡± Naea answered simply, with full honesty. I blinked hard, looking for an answer and not finding one. The fairy cackled at me, and I just shook my head before looking skyward. It was barely lunchtime.

    ¡°Today is going to be such a long day.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Achievement Unlocked - Dao Breaker

    Just as the cultivator becomes stronger by grasping the Dao, when that understanding is shattered, the path is severed.

    Effect: Greater Resistance to Dao Influences

    Greater Dao Influence Upon Others

 Book Two - Chapter Forty One - Time To Move

    I had been correct. The rest of that day was a long one, and there were many more to come. While it might be possible to sprint at the speeds of a cheetah or lift a ton without too much hassle, getting people organised was no easier since the System arrived. Not entirely true, I conceded as I continued to purchase the buildings Julianna told me to. She had been given access to these options, but hadn¡¯t had nearly the amount of funds I was able to use.

    Both too slowly and yet, at a breakneck pace, the newly joined towns of Newtown and Ascentown began to thrive. This was mostly due to the fact the claimants were out of the way. With full control of my area, I could place a little bit of focus and a lot of wealth into its growth. Plans began to become reality and a new era came into view. A world where everyone lived with the System and used it to better themselves and others.

    It was a nice thought.

    The moment of truth I had been waiting for came from an unexpected route. With the explosion of Grade Ones came more and more people to feed Dao into some weird computer in Newtown. I¡¯m not sure why, but I hadn¡¯t expected magic to be able to do anything with Earth¡¯s modern technology until I sat down in front of the screen. With a combination of coding, mana infusion and Dao manipulation, programs had been created.

    So far, there was a game, an Aspect-Guidance Stone skill database and a map function. The creator, a woman called Darla, said she had no actual control over what capabilities the machine got, but I wasn¡¯t sure. The game was quite popular. By sending mana into the machine, the person¡¯s mind was placed into a simulation. It wasn¡¯t possible to gain levels inside, but non-life threatening training against monsters was invaluable.

    The Aspect-Guidance Stone skill system would be worth far more. The computer was now able to guess what sort of power a guidance stone would add to a specific Aspect, and I was definitely going to wait until I could use the database before adding any more of the permanent abilities to my roster of skills.

    Finally, and of course, most importantly was the map. It took my breath away to see the distance it covered. Darla was behind me, explaining the functions as I was shown the computer for the first time. ¡°It¡¯s the internal map data from everyone in the towns, as far as we can tell. Anywhere they¡¯ve been, we know about. Including-¡±

    ¡°Including before the System.¡± I almost choked as I zoomed further and further from the recognisable layout of Ascentown. So much of the map was blank with no detail, but as I pulled out even more, pockets of civilization started to appear. The machine wasn¡¯t just taking data from right now, it was able to show where the world had been jumbled. It took a few minutes but I was eventually able to figure out where the landmass of Ireland was, at least.

    This was it.

    I understood what the System had done to my world more than most. The most pressing change, for myself, was the absolute ballooning of scale to the new world. With how the planet had been torn apart and put back together with more landmass, finding my home was an impossibility. Until something like this came along and showed me exactly where it was in relation to myself, that is.

    Unable to stop myself, I jumped up and hugged Darla. ¡°Oh,¡± she said simply, ¡°alright.¡± Her awkward taps on my back didn¡¯t matter. She had done it. I promised her anything she wanted in the world, but my excitement had me out of the door as soon as I memorised a general route and the exact direction I needed to go from the screen before me.

    I knew where they were.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    There were only so many checks to do, a set amount of preparations which could be made. With judicious use of my credits, the forges of the crafting quarter were active and well-used. Various professionals were appearing, specialising their Aspect or Dao to a more business-minded task such as creating armours, weapons or other clothing. I had once thought only monster fighting could lead to growth. The fact I was wrong made my heart fly with happiness for those who couldn¡¯t fight.

    Even so, those who could, should.

    While the name Fledgling had become a thing of pride, it almost felt rude to call some of them by such a small sounding name. If it were me just leaving the dungeon, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to beat a six person squad of them alone, which was impressive growth in a short time. A small group was joining Naea and I for the first leg of the journey, a scouting expedition to extend the maps we currently had.

    The leaders of Newtown took control of the background working impressively well. Stephanie had been performing most of Tom¡¯s work while the man himself had been obsessing over strength. Almost all of his anxiety, and by extension her¡¯s, came from fear. Fear of me, in various ways.

    Gaz particularly had been absolutely stunned at the power of the Fledglings. His mind had been fuzzy for a long time, so he was only now realising the strength that surrounded him. He threw himself fiercely into catching up with the others, but I didn¡¯t believe strength was the main factor to leading. The people of Ascentown had first been from Newtown, after all, and they respected Gaz. What had happened to him upset them all.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Aaron was trying to fashion himself as a merchant baron and I wasn¡¯t going to stop him. In his mind, he was making far more money than anyone else and that was all that mattered. His Dao of Control and chain magic had become surprisingly handy in building, so he was setting up franchises. I didn¡¯t bother reminding him that it all went to my coffers eventually. Even merchants were able to get experience from the System, so no one minded or paid attention to his antics much. Their wages were secondary for now.

    Ellie had honestly surprised me. In no uncertain terms, she had become unenthusiastic about fighting. Instead of slowing down her growth, she had taken to alchemy like a fish to water. I didn¡¯t disturb her as she was currently in the zone, trying to come up with new recipes from what we had collected so far. She was wasting copious amounts of ingredients while she did so, but the results were impressive.

    Item - Apprentice Health Potion

    A classic brew, made with marigolds and ether rose by a talented apprentice.

    Effect: Magical wound healing, Increases natural recovery by a massive amount for a time.

    The liquid was a translucent red, and the flecks of gold fluttered through the potion as though caught on a breeze within. Some of the words in the System text had changed, and while I hadn¡¯t needed to use one of the simpler potions yet, I could see golden healing mana dancing around inside at a prodigious rate. However, while health potions were the most obvious necessity to get right first, it wasn¡¯t the only success she had seen.

    Item - Mana Potion

    Simple, brewed by a novice.

    Effect: Small increases mana recovery by a time.

    She had also made some fairly potent poisons, but I chose to leave them with the defenders of Ascentown. If they needed more killing power while I was away, the poisons were a good avenue to get that extra ounce of damage required.

    Item - Degenerative Poison

    Dao infused poison, focused on debilitating a target¡¯s healing potential. Can be applied to a weapon, or placed within a quiver.

    Effect: Small damage over time effect until poison is spent. Recovery is much more expensive while under the effects of Degenerative Poison.

    Harry was still the battle leader of the Fledglings and I didn¡¯t see that changing. He excelled at taking out a group of green recruits and keeping them safe enough for them to see their second battle. The Dao of Protection was well used in his hands and I had faith that between him and Gaz, this place would be safe until I got back.

    Tom. He was the last stop I had to make. I had done a lot of dragging my feet, but only half of that was because I was scared to see my family again. The other half was because Tom had been asleep for days as magical changes took precedence over silly things like consciousness. I was more or less sure he was fine, getting stronger if anything, but even I had been a little worried until he woke up. I became slightly more worried when he immediately began asking for me, even before asking for food.

    ¡°Hey,¡± I poked my head around the door of his hospital room. I wasn¡¯t anything so fancy, but I didn¡¯t have a better word for a bed that sick or injured people stay in, even if this one was just in a tent near the training grounds. ¡°How are you feeling, magic man?¡±

    A pained chuckle told me a part of the story. I waited for Tom to tell the rest. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Grant. I placed you on a pedestal, right away. Even now when I look at you, it¡¯s hard to think of you as just a guy. My Dao makes my mana senses pretty potent, and you are like a supernova compared to everyone else. I thought that I wasn¡¯t doing enough if I couldn¡¯t reach that level of pure power. Then that monster came and showed me that I was nothing, and¡­ I wanted to show you I wasn¡¯t.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°What¡¯s changed?¡±

    ¡°Me. I used the Aspect of Eternity and it made my magic stronger, but that¡¯s all I used it for. I had a gemstone in my hand called an aspect of eternity and I crumbled it up hoping to get better pew pews.¡± We both laughed at that. He truly did seem in a better headspace. ¡°I haven¡¯t unlocked a new Dao path or anything like that, but I feel calm for the first time in a long time. I¡¯m sorry I let everything get on top of me.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯m sorry for not noticing you didn¡¯t have the support you needed. Luckily, while you were sleeping I gave about eight other people your job. You¡¯re free to relax for a while, and then take up whatever you want to do.¡± He seemed to like that idea. We talked back and forth for a while, about things of no importance.

    Eventually, the small talk died and Tom got serious once more. ¡°What about you? What are you doing now?¡±

    ¡°Time for me to go find my family, mate.¡± I smiled at the surprised confusion and tentative excitement on Tom¡¯s face. ¡°Apparently you know all about Darla¡¯s computer thing in Newtown? It¡¯s managed to create a map function.¡±

    Tom blushed and coughed. Was he upset he hadn¡¯t told me about the computer earlier? ¡°Glad for you,¡± he choked, reaching for some nearby water, ¡°I never really had much of a family to begin with. I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m not coming with you.¡± He said the final sentence with such a serious and morose expression that I almost felt bad I hadn¡¯t even wanted him to come.

    I laughed him off. ¡°Naea would kill me if I tried to bring anyone with me the first time we met them. No, if you do anything, try to make this place a magical one for my family to feel safe in when I get back.¡± We shook hands, Tom still mostly lying down and resting, and I went to find the scouting party.

    Luke was actually joining the group, the first time he had left the safety of the town since his experience with Steel Fever. I felt awkward around him due to my unwilling connection to a creature he viewed as his abuser. However, Luke himself had gone to speak with Steel, without prompt. Afterwards, he wasn¡¯t back to his old self, but he seemed better. More serious, but that was a fact of life in the System.

    Everything was dangerous now.

    Reaching the edge of my own explored boundary, Naea and I bid the group goodbye and set off. ¡°Everyone is ready, the towns can be defended, the crafting sector is taking off and everyone seems actually happy. For the first time, everyone seems to be exactly where they want to be.¡±

    Naea nodded. ¡°Except for you,¡± she prompted. Naea was showing off by flying horizontally, upside down. She looked up at me from above hip height, genuine care flowing through our bond.

    ¡°Except for me,¡± I agreed. I needed to be in a whole other country. ¡°No more stalling, no more distractions.¡± I meant it, too. Ascentown and its sister city of Newtown could survive without me, now. I placed nearly all of my gold coins, including the draconic ones, into the town¡¯s storage before I felt like there was truly nothing more to do.

    ¡°Well¡­ Let¡¯s go and find my family, shall we?¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Forty Two - Connections

    I liked Ascentown, but now they were set to grow without me, I  finally felt free. I reminded myself that it wasn¡¯t the wrong choice, collecting people and protecting them while teaching them the first steps to survive this new world. I would do it all again exactly the same if I had to, however there was definitely a piece of my new existence missing.

    The first steps out of the boundary, not knowing when or even if I would be able to return was terrifying. Entirely by accident, I had ended up with an anchor around my neck. Removing the chain was uncomfortable, but for this was not just something I had to do, it was the right choice for the future of the people. With me handling every big threat, no one else would be able to rise to the occasion, after all.

    It was somewhat flimsy logic, but it held up even as the procession continued. Joining Naea and I for the first leg of our journey was a group of fledglings under Luke¡¯s command, along with the man himself. I found it impossible to refuse when the hollow-eyed ranger had asked me if they could come with us. Of everyone impacted by my new familiar, Luke was hit the hardest.

    As he had been out hunting by himself, his absence was nearly impossible to spot. Five days was nothing in the hectic world we now had to survive, but for him it was torture. Steel had manipulated his pain responses and methodically used him as a tool to understand humans. It was as unpleasant as it sound, and then many times more if I had to guess.

    ¡°So, I heard you spoke to that monster?¡± He finally asked the question on his mind. His voice was still hoarse, even days after the events. Could trauma influence healing even now? Luke had been hovering nearby, not quite involving himself in the light conversations during our journey so far. I took an intentional break to create some space between myself and the others, which Luke capitalised upon. When I nodded, he shivered visibly. ¡°That thing is dangerous.¡±

    I had no argument there, nor was I interested in making apologies for actions I didn¡¯t commit. ¡°Very,¡± I agreed. Luke grunted, sitting himself down hard. He looked small in his cloak, from posture not from loss of weight. The physical effects of his imprisonment were nowhere near as impactful as the mental ones. However, he surprised me by smiling a large genuine smile.

    ¡°And now it¡¯s your pet? You were already scary, Grant, no offence, but now it¡¯s just, like, ahh! You know?¡± Luke spoke quickly once he got started, and I felt like it would be good to just let him go with it. Seeing my raised eyebrow, he held his hands up in a defensive gesture. ¡°I don¡¯t have a problem with it! Whole fucking world is dangerous, so guess we have to be, too.¡±

    I didn¡¯t interrupt his flow, staying quiet as a bow appeared in his hands. He took aim at a nearby tree and shot an arrow. Raising another shot, he continued speaking. ¡°I saw the metal trees and felt the world get all sharp around me.¡± A released the held arrow, splitting the first. ¡°Hadn¡¯t felt that before, but I had felt something similar. In the tower when you were fighting the ratman boss.¡± With each sentence, he knocked or shot another arrow.

    ¡°As messed up as it is¡­¡± Mana began to gather in the archer¡¯s shoulders and down his arms. The whispers of his Dao said nothing would stop this shot. ¡°Spending time under that pressure? Made me feel like you.¡± Luke¡¯s fingers fell from the bowstring, the arrow vanishing from sight. Even my high stats were unable to keep up with it. I only knew it hadn¡¯t been taken into Luke¡¯s inventory when the tree he was punishing started to groan. Luke turned to me, his hollow-eyes now burning with a fire within.

    ¡°So while I¡¯ll never like that thing, as long as it¡¯s not my enemy¡­ I guess I¡¯m glad?¡± He turned to me, making the bow vanish and producing a surprising weapon.

    Item - Crescent Moon Kusarigama

    A sect of cultists turned assassins refused to remove the telltale mark of their beliefs. These stylised sickles have a heavy weight attached via chain. As they¡¯re obviously incredibly conspicuous, the order of assassins was quickly routed out.

    Effect: When infused with mana, the chain of this weapon becomes much more controllable.

    ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t interested if it wasn¡¯t the bow?¡± I asked with a grin. Luke at least had the good sense to look sheepish as he began to twirl the weapon around himself. His Dao started to shift, not away from the Dao of Force, but the whispers now spoke of unceasing momentum instead of unstoppable damage.

    ¡°I had a lot of time to get used to my Dao under that monster¡¯s pressure.¡± Those eyes, still touched by the horror he had undergone, became hard. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about things here. Seriously, big man, you¡¯ve done a lot already. No one was treating this whole thing properly before you did. So¡­ thanks.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know what to say. I was touched. The tree finally fell and I realised something I had been wanting to do for a while. ¡°Oh, you should take these, I thought I¡¯d be able to use them but I kind of forgot about them, I guess.¡± Finally, the Storm Arrows were removed from my inventory. Hundreds of the magical projectiles swapped between our inventories as Luke¡¯s eyes glittered. I explained how they worked as we returned to the group, where Naea and I finally split away.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Due to Steel I knew I could maintain a bridge to Home Base - if I so chose. The line remained open from its end, an open maw waiting for my hand or head. I ignored it at the moment but the desire to get reports about The Ascent and my towns would surely grow. At least for now, the novelty of freedom, the knowledge that the people could take care of themselves and the call of the open road kept me from worrying too much. I¡¯d circle back around to the idea next time the System pulled a fast one, I expected.

    However, the familiar forest soon disappeared completely and just like that, Naea and I were alone again. For a time, we just ran. Neither of us tore up the earth like we had in the past, but we covered a vast distance all the same. Now that we ran further afield, it seemed that we were fairly lucky in our placement. Ascentown¡¯s location amongst rolling hills and golden fields was a lot better than the swampy moors which apparently surrounded my lands.

    Even though I might have wished it wouldn¡¯t, the day continued to pass. The sun reached its apogee and began to tumble through the sky as it was wont to do. As I walked leisurely, fairy on my shoulder and sun on my hair, I thought about the state of the world. It wasn¡¯t something I enjoyed picturing, mostly due to the very real chance that there wasn¡¯t much of a world left. Until I had seen the map on the computer in Newtown, I had barely believed that anything or anyone else survived the Shift. The hour since leaving Luke and the fledglings had passed without any threats appearing, which meant I could actually appreciate the surroundings.

    The natural world was fighting its own battle for survival everywhere. The local growth of the sterile English countryside was not built for such a fight, and was being quickly driven away by the more powerful and invasive plants. In the distance to my south, the huge Everbloom Evergreen was visible, proving my point completely. The last few months had disappeared through my fingers so fast, and the signs were everywhere.

    Due to the speed we were able to travel, even when taking it easy, we covered a lot of ground almost by accident. Naea was more than happy to spend time wandering through the various small and quirky areas which had appeared in the wake of the Shift. I was having fun showing Naea the various natural geological features which we hadn¡¯t come across up to this point. The pair of us were hovering over a particularly boggy patch, with Naea bullying me about my ability in the air.

    ¡°You¡¯re so loud!¡± She shouted, zipping around my head using the air currents I needed to keep me aloft. Unlike the biologically gifted Naea, I did not have wings and could only fly using Air Manipulation. However, due to the fact I was only really able to get lift by shoving myself around with wind, Naea wasn¡¯t wrong. It was loud, like being in a wind tunnel.

    With a flick of concentration, I send a small concussive burst of air at Naea. I expected it to throw her off a little, but she expertly wove into her own movement. I stuck my tongue out, not bothering to shout back. I was enjoying the alone time with Naea, something we hadn¡¯t had much of outside of Dungeons. In the first dungeon it was a mostly constant fight for survival, and then The Ascent joined us. The second dungeon was the destroyed world Badaila, not the best for quality time, and in the third we were joined by Julianna, so didn¡¯t count according to Naea.

    I felt similar. I wanted to stretch my legs, both literally and magically. After all, Naea was the only one who could keep up with me. We raced, explored and when we decided to slow down and take a look around, we talked about anything and everything. That fight evening, I set up a pretty decent camp. Due to the inventory within my spirit, I wasn¡¯t limited to what I could carry in an oversized backpack, after all.

    I lounged on a large leather sofa, looking up at the stars as a campfire crackled nearby. To my great surprise and her absolute delight, Naea cooked a meal. She told me she had been practising and I had to admit, it showed. The ingredients were nothing too special, just some scrambled eggs and onions fried in a pan over the fire, but I almost teared up as I took my first bite. As we ate, we talked some more. ¡°What is your family like?¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­ They¡¯re nice.¡± I hadn¡¯t expected the question, but I should have. My emotion at the scrambled eggs must have slammed into our connection pretty loudly, after all. Naea could feel my emotions whether I lied about them or not. Her raised eyebrow was enough of a prompt to continue. ¡°Well, I mean, they are. All of them are lovely in their own way. Just¡­ not ways that I love, you know?¡±

    ¡°Not really?¡± Naea didn''t have siblings and though she felt like a younger sister to me, my actual sisters were far more alien than the insectoid looking fairy.

    ¡°Fine,¡± I moaned, extending the word. ¡°Time to tell you about the Kaeron clan anyway, you¡¯ll hopefully be meeting them soon. First thing to know is that my family have lived in the same part of the world, Ireland, for longer than most countries on Earth had existed. That might sound nice to some, but what it really means is that nothing ever changes.

    ¡°My dad and I never really got along because he¡¯s more of a physical worker and looks down on the act of being intelligent. Or, at least, treats intelligence as an insult to himself, I guess? He¡¯s a good dad, but he never understood me, which led to more than a few arguments. Two of my brothers, Liam and Conor are just like him. Then again, I mean, they¡¯re probably all way different now, right?¡± I looked at Naea and she just shrugged, looking fascinated.

    ¡°Niamh and my mom were a bit of a pair, too. Niamh¡¯s the eldest daughter, and it took four tries for my mom to get one, so she latched on. They¡¯re both pretty judgmental, and I guess I got some of that. Niamh is younger than me, so are Sean and then Sinead. They were both good kids, but I haven¡¯t really seen any of them in a couple of years. When I first moved here, I went to visit on holidays. That stopped on the second Christmas because of a big argument. All of it is a bit hazy¡­ dream-like because it didn¡¯t happen with my new and improved memories.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a shame,¡± Naea offered, and I nodded, then shrugged.

    ¡°It is and it isn¡¯t. It¡¯s not the worst thing in the world to forget the past. The System is a new start for the world, and maybe it can be a good thing for me and the family.¡± If nothing else, just let them be safe, I added in my head. There was always a chance things would get better now, as long as they were alive. A crash from nearby interrupted my thoughts and I was moving before I even knew what was happening.

    Naea zipped ahead, lighting my way in the darkening night as she shot through the air with yellow flashes. We didn¡¯t have to go far back the way we had already walked to find quite the scene. Water, mud and stinking bog muck flew in all directions as a fight broke out. The thin clouds above parted gently showing the moon fat and full in the sky, which in turn illuminated the battle even more. I felt my heart jump to my throat in excitement, with a little touch of fear.

    ¡°Grant, is that a wolf or a person?¡± Naea asked.

    ¡°Actually, that¡¯s a giant fucking turtle, but I can see how you¡¯d be confused.¡± I wish I had a better answer for Naea but there wasn¡¯t one to give. I knew she was talking about the other combatant in the brawl, but my mind was still going through a list of all the more reasonable explanations and coming up false. Giving up, I beamed at Naea happily. ¡°That, my darling Naea, appears to be a werewolf.

    ¡°A goddamn werewolf fighting a giant turtle.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Forty Three - Wolfsbane

    My approach to the battle ongoing in the bog was not aided by Air Manipulation, as that apparently made me sound like a jet engine to Naea¡¯s magical senses and I didn¡¯t want to interrupt. There was no reason for me to interfere here in what was technically none of my business. However, a thrill pushed me forward, one I couldn¡¯t ignore even if I had wanted to. The pale moonlight illuminated the scene while sparks and currents of mana lit up the battle like fireworks.

    It was beautiful.

    This was the world outside the dungeon. This was what the Earth had become in the months since magic appeared and tore any semblance of sanity from our lives. Monsters appeared, a challenge from The Tree. Survive and grow stronger, or die as the growing hordes amass against you, that was the rule. In Ascentown, our strength was in numbers, the ability to plan and prepare. Merchants, crafters and labourers could find their place under that umbrella of safety.

    Out here, in the wilds, survival of the fittest took hold. We had seen few creatures of any description in our day of travelling, and the reason for that was now clear. When two beings met in the wilderness, it meant death for the other. The beings surviving out in the wild were either powerful, or careful, or in the worst case they were both. I gently jogged over the loamy soil, tapping lightly as I landed to keep myself from getting stuck in the mud. The two beasts were throwing each other around quite successfully, if nothing else, so it was a task just to keep an eye on the fight.

    With a roaring crash and a howling descent to follow, the pair of unwieldy fighters tumbled into something of a ravine. The space was wide enough for movement, but it was clear this would be where the final stand took place. The turtle might be able to get out of the pit, if it didn¡¯t have a furry drill trying to pierce its tough shell. I was surprised at the speed of not just the werewolf, but the turtle, too. Neither had the clear advantage.

    Monster - Briarlurk Terrorpin - Level 26

    Standing at eleven feet at its highest point, and at least as wide as it was tall, the huge amphibian brought back some uncomfortable nostalgia. My time in the first dungeon was plagued by this thing¡¯s humanoid cousins, after all. I found myself cheering for the werewolf as I took in the larger creature¡¯s form. It was a mossy green, with large angry eyes and a sharp snout. Its shell rose with spikes and from its shell, whips of barbed plant material lashed out.

    Despite the large monster''s somewhat disappointing level, I was pleased. The System was at least getting better at naming things. Unlike the large target of the shelled beast, the werewolf was harder to pin down and analyse, often slipping under the legs or around the other side of the shell. When the lashes caught it, it either slashed them or ripped them right out of the terrapin¡¯s shell. It was taking some cuts for its trouble, though. Naea and I gave a running commentary, using our bond to speak silently.

    ¡°Do you think I could have beaten the turtle at level thirty?¡± Naea asked, curious. I told her that she absolutely would, and it wasn¡¯t a lie. Even without a weapon like her size-changing Chibizashi, she would have been able to slip into the joints easily enough. Once you got past the defences, it should be simple business to finish it off. The issue was getting in close, but Naea would have been fast enough by far.

    ¡°You¡¯d have torn it apart, little reaper. Looks like the turtle realised it can¡¯t win like this, watch out.¡± My warning was casual and mostly for flavour. A large explosion of mana burst from the feet of the terrapin. Unlike a tortoise, with their thick hoof-like feet, or a sea turtle with flippers, the Briarlurk Terrorpin had paws with uncomfortably human proportions. The fingers of these hands plunged into the soft ground and all of the ambient mana in the area came under its control. My eyes widened, impressed.

    The werewolf noticed something was wrong, too. It tore at the shell, trying to rip the hide away but the terrapin was too durable. In the moments of growing crescendo, I locked down the mana in the area around Naea and I. A few seconds later, thorny whips launched out of the ground, roots appeared where they hadn¡¯t been moments before. A brutal blender of thick, powerful vines covered in knife-length thorns all attacked at once.

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    In an equally impressive showing of speed and control, the bipedal wolf zipped through the growing bramble, claws flashing in the moonlight. Within ten seconds, dozens of vines had sprouted, growing fast and aimed directly for the wolf. Many lay scattered as it dodged and tore at the assault, but the offence was overwhelming. A pair of wrapping rose stems caught the wolf¡¯s right arm and left leg, spelling trouble. ¡°Looks like that¡¯s it,¡± Naea said with a frown, her emotions glum. She had clearly chosen a side, too.

    ¡°Nah, watch.¡± I could sense the air starting to change. Even the mana around myself was being affected, past my own control. The terrapin had used its trump card, and now it was time for the werewolf to take its turn. I tasted the energy on the air with curiosity. Not quite a Dao, but something powerful¡­

    The two thorned shackles became four, and then many more as the Briarlurk Terrorpin gave everything it had to crush the last resistance. The dome of thorns pulsed as the Briarlurk Terrorpin continued to expend its energy. In vain, I expected. The thing had become physically smaller as it spent biomass alongside mana to fuel this attack. Maybe it could absorb the plant matter back into itself, but it wouldn¡¯t have the chance.

    An ear-splitting howl began to keen, not from inside the dome, but from above. I looked up, and the moon seemed to be twice as large in the sky, completely full where the shadows had been before. A ripping sound could be heard all around the ravine, and a few moments later a furious, bloody and much larger werewolf emerged. It breathed heavily, warm breath steaming in the cool night air.

    The werewolf was somewhat awkwardly proportioned before, but now it was exaggerated massively. Initially, it¡¯s arms were slightly longer, ending in wide claws hands while its legs had thick and powerful thighs, but the thin thighs of a predator built for sprints. Its ears pointed up atop a head with an elongated snout full of razor sharp teeth, and the fur covering it was a muddy brown. Far more muddy now than it had been.

    The features had become even more wolven under the light of the magically enhanced moon. It had lost most of its humanoid features, prowling forward as a gigantic wolf. Where it had hands before, they were definitely paws now, and it walked forward like a gorilla or a bear more than anything else. In fear, the terrified terrapin retreated into its shell.

    ¡°Ooh,¡± Naea gasped aloud, ¡°that¡¯s a bad idea!¡± She gave up on our quiet communication and shouted her advice to the unheeding turtle. The wolf¡¯s eyes snapped towards us though and I rolled mine. I didn¡¯t bother chiding Naea for getting us caught watching. With nothing left in its tank, the turtle could only withdraw inwards and hope. Its prayers were for naught as the werewolf flexed. Its long claws dug into the ground and churned it slightly as its back arched. The howl which had been whistling through the air was joined by another.

    This time, the howl ripped from the jaws of hell itself, and even I felt myself shiver as the intimidating battle cry sent verberations through the air and mana. Despite my overpowered Will attribute, I was convinced for a moment that the jaws of death were closing around my throat. I shrugged off the mental assault, and swept the effects away from Naea, but I was once more impressed.

    The fight was already over, but the turtle¡¯s life was still there to be reaped. Obliging, the wolf shot forward like an arrow. It seemed to almost vanish for a moment, tackling the shell of the terrapin into the wall of the ravine they battled within. Shoving forward with its back legs, I could hear crunching and wailing from inside the shell that caused me to wince. The cracking intensified, the shell buckling from within. With another mighty roar, the wolf stood.

    Despite the shell around them.

    The Briarlurk Terrorpin was thoroughly demolished and shards of chitinous viscera scattered into the air. Even before it had caught its breath, the wolf¡¯s eyes once again snapped to Naea and I. We had set up position at the edge of the ravine, my legs dangling down. For the first time, I noticed the eyes of this beast. They were bright blue, illuminated in the moonlight to look like the sky on a bright day. The humanity and beauty of them felt out of place in a werewolf. It must have seen something it didn¡¯t like in my own eyes, and showing it still had intelligence in this larger form, ran away instead of challenging me or Naea.

    For a while, I stayed by the ravine. Naea even dropped down to see if she could loot the turtle, but it wasn¡¯t our kill so no such luck. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t be surprised,¡± I called over to her, ¡°but that one shocked me. Do you think I¡¯d turn into one if it bit me?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Naea almost looked disgusted. ¡°Why would that happen?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s normally a curse or a disease or something in stories.¡± I was honestly excited, my inner wannabe goth and nerd enjoying this turn of events. Werewolves were cool, I always enjoyed a good body-horror werewolf movie. Pretty much any horror movie, actually. ¡°Actually, that¡¯s not far from zombies at that point. One apocalypse at a time.¡±

    ¡°Zombies? Those are real!¡± Naea told me, excited to be in the know again. We had already decided to take it easy for the night, so I shared some more scary stories with Naea. She matched some of them to things she knew about the System. I rarely took advantage of the weird encyclopaedia which was her brain, but maybe I should. She fell asleep, beginning to snore around the time I finished describing the first Evil Dead movie. That one was one of my favourites, I thought to myself while tucking Naea into a safe spot on my bed inside the large tent.

    Calmly, I went outside with a cup of coffee. I wasn¡¯t going to sleep while Naea did, we always kept one of us on watch. I found myself wondering if there were still databases of the culture humanity had made. Being in the wilderness, with monsters from fairy tales and nightmares running around, it was easy to assume there was nothing left but the end of the world. I didn¡¯t like the thought, so I sat down and tried to take my mind off things.

    It had been far too long since I did some inner world maintenance.

 Book Two - Chapter Forty Four - Consolidation II

    The place we chose for our camp was atop a small hill. With a large canvas tent and a surprising amount of amenities, the sight would have been fairly strange even before the world ended. More than the camping supplies which would have been expected, it would be the large wooden bed or the plush recliner that stood out most. As I settled down to do some literal soul-searching, I let my mind take in everything around me.

    With a brush of attention, I extended my senses through the mana at my command. My perception filled as a world teeming with life echoed in feedback to my concentration. Each blade of grass, greedy weed or solid tree in my range held a flickering candle of energy. The night was both quiet and warm. I sat beneath the open sky, the moon above now its traditional size. The wolf was interesting, and its energy could still be felt somewhat. I had suspicions about the creature but nothing which needed proving at the moment. Deciding to ignore the eyes I could feel watching me, I started to pull my attention from the outer to the inner.

    There was a quantifiable effect on my surroundings as my Dao slightly altered the world to better suit my view of it. The breeze on my skin was not a random thing, but a caress to soothe me. The silence of the world grew, an unwillingness to interrupt my actions. The wolf, my goals, the safety of my town, all of it was cast thoughts of it from my mind. With my now incredible control of my thoughts and mental state, I slipped into meditation quicker than ever.

    I began by following an arbitrary droplet of my mana. I focused, tracing its exact path through my channels and memorising the patterns within my soul. Unlike arteries and veins, the trail inside me was metaphysical. I could feel the magical energy inside me, but the system within was ever changing. As my powers grew and changed, more pathways and connections were required to use my full strength, and the complexity of my inner channels was matched by this.

    Ideally, the mental image I had created would be similarly complex.

    As the energy within my body moved, the physical effect my Dao was having on the outside world increased. The grass around me flattened, bowing in supplication. Further away, trees began to creak, bending slightly. Any foolish creature which had been chittering in fear or ignoring the sensation on the back of their neck fell into terrified silence. I took a conscious, slow breath before plunging inside of my own soul.

    My awareness inverted, and the sense which made it so easy to know everything around me instead blinded me from distractions. Mana plugged my ears and covered my eyes, stifled my sense of smell and deadened my tongue. I stayed with that tiny drop of mana even as it took me deeper and deeper into the core of my magic.

    Mentally, I took a step forward and appeared inside of the odd space within my soul.

    Surprising even myself, I did not appear on the grassy plains of the world I recognised. Despite being inside the core of my own being, I instantly realised that I had not stepped onto the lands of the Dragon. I barely seemed to have stepped at all as I started tumbling head over heels without anything to grab onto through a void of screaming winds. Reminding myself that I was in control, I simply made a platform and secured it in space.

    ¡°I see,¡± I mumbled, looking around. ¡°I¡¯ve definitely neglected you a little.¡± Upon my platform stood a humanoid shape. The most fearsome storm I had ever experienced raged around us as we beheld each other, both of us nodding at the same time. Our mirrored actions and intent made sense. Just like the Dragon somewhere below, this being was also just a reflection of me after all.

    Perhaps my experience on Cloudslash Peak had shaped my expectations. I faced the Tempest Elemental at the heart of my Dao Font and was reminded of the Golem Prince. Even as I had the thought, the elemental gestured to its head. Well, where one would be. The Tempest Elemental stood at the same height as me, if I had been successfully decapitated by one of the enemies who¡¯d tried it over the last few months. Its shoulders rounded, giving it the appearance of a used eraser with legs. The whole thing being formed of wind and imagination made describing it fully impossible, of course.

    I pointed to the middle of its shoulders again and shrugged. ¡°No, I get it, I get it.¡± The being wanted a crown, or more literally an actualised place of power within my inner world. A simple gesture from the creature conveyed many layers of meaning, given it was a portion of my very soul. The Tempest Elemental required a seat of power from which to govern its realm. I didn¡¯t understand exactly what it meant by that, but I trusted it was the right move, so I set about the task.

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    From the most frigid hail and sleet, I created the frame of the tempest throne. The upholstery was stuffed with hurricanes and tornadoes and the entire thing was given power and vibrancy with a mesh of lightning, twisted into filigree for ornamentation. The Tempest Elemental was clearly pleased, rushing to get into its spot. As it shuffled into the impressive seat, a crowl of ice and electricity formed above its head.

    ¡°Better?¡± I asked, receiving a thumbs up which I laughed at. I quite like this weird stormy guy. I also knew already that the process had been important to the process of using the Dao Font to its fullest potential. I would no longer have to submerge the Dragon in the energy of the Tempest, but instead the Elemental would direct that power for me, working in tandem with the Dao Avatar on the large planet below.

    The entire undertaking happened quickly as I did not have to manipulate the magic inside me. When brute forcing my way to power or pushing past my limits, I had to shove and claw at my mana and Dao, forcing new understandings or creating entirely new limits for myself. The procedure in this instance was not like that, instead the magic calmly moved and filled the spots which were just waiting for a little attention. I expected my control over Tempest-based skills would be much higher now, if nothing else.

    I waved to the seated Elemental, deciding on a name for it. King might work, but I would workshop it with Naea. She¡¯d want to be involved. I turned, looking at the destination below and shooting forward like a powerful comet. At my approach, a voidshaking roar was thrown at me. The force of the shout was such that it slowed my descent to the world from a meteoric crash into a stumbling faceplant.

    A throaty chuckle filled the whole world and I turned my eyes to the nearby cave. I hadn¡¯t needed to land anywhere specific - the dragon would never be hard to find on this world. Deciding not to give it the satisfaction, I went for a walk. Every step took me far, much further than my eyes could see. I inspected the world, making sure everything seemed to be natural.

    It was a quiet world, aside from the rumbling in the centre. There were no creatures upon the fields or in the seas, but the waters were pristine and the land healthy with flora. I walked the beaches, finding the fjords and islands to my liking. Clouds formed in the sky, less random than before, and the strength of the Font of Tempests was given to the land. ¡°Will you ignore me until you have counted every grain of sand?¡± A surprisingly average, if androgynous, voice asked.

    I dropped into the sand at my feet, looking out at the waves. ¡°I could, if I wanted to. Time doesn¡¯t flow here, if we don¡¯t want it to, after all.¡± I turned, giving the now humanoid form of the dragon my attention. ¡°But I¡¯ve been sensing some tension. You have something you wanted to say to me?¡±

    In so many ways, the being before me was alien. Scales were suggested at but not confirmed as they moved. Their skin seemed human until the light caught it and a flash of green, purple or red could be seen. Two fierce eyes golden, slit like a snake¡¯s down the middle and a forked tongue which slipped out, slowly tasting the air. Long hair of flames fell to its shoulders. It was naked, but there was no sexuality to the creature. There was, however, a trepidation, shown in the way they fiddled with their hands. Sharp nails clicked together as they seemed to search for words.

    The Avatar looked skywards, towards the Tempest Moon. ¡°We follow the footsteps of a destroyer.¡± Their voice calm, they stepped out into the waves. As the water lapped at their ankles, it returned away from them more powerful, a wave crashing back against the tide. ¡°Why?¡±

    I shrugged. It wasn¡¯t something I knew how to put into words most of the time, but the articulation came naturally within my own soul. Whatever explanation might be lost was found within the deeper connection that ran between myself and the Dao. ¡°The Storm Dragon is a good blueprint, benchmark and ultimate challenge all rolled into one. That kind of power is terrifying, unless you wield similar strength yourself. I¡¯m aiming to be more than an ant crushed under foot.¡± The dragon nodded, facing the same direction as me.

    ¡°We should not be an imitation,¡± the Dragon whispered. It was the centre of my own pride, and I knew that we both hated the idea of being a copy. ¡°But they are a storm, and we have the ability to be so much more. Tempests are power, the destruction they bring is just a matter of fact. What comes next?¡± The dragon pointed skywards, to the empty space left above. Two Aspects still to find and use.

    ¡°Any suggestions?¡± I asked, wondering if my subconscious mind had put more thought into the matter than I had. From the wide, predator¡¯s grin which appeared on the Dragon¡¯s face as it turned, they had plenty of ideas.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    From the shadows, a watcher sat completely frozen. Unlike the other beings in the area, she was not paralysed with fear. At least, not only fear. The prevailing emotion was exhilaration and wonder. The world was filled with magic the likes of which she had never seen.

    Her stealth felt good enough, but she also knew this wouldn¡¯t have been possible if the man weren¡¯t in a very specific form of distraction. Though his meditation seemed all encompassing, anything might snap him away from his concentration. The wolf was being very, very careful to only look at him from the corner of her eyes. He probably couldn¡¯t sense her gaze, but why take the risk?

    What was this man doing? She wondered. Who were they, to survive out here alone?

    Could he save the city?

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 44

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 120  Speed - 95   Mental - 528   Will - 430

    Free attribute points: 0

 Book Two - Chapter Forty Five - The Wide World

    It took some realigning to remind myself that this was the actual level of the world, and the challenges based on my level only came from the quests I had done and dungeons I had been to. I quickly found a way to expel my Dao like a smokescreen, causing the creatures that inhabited the wilderness to scatter rather than approach. Most of them would likely see a human as a snack, and I had no interest in bullying lower level monsters. Either one day they would be strong enough to challenge me, or someone else could get their experience from them.

    It was intensely interesting to see the effects of the System in real time. Due to my strength, I was able to walk paths which others simply could not. According to the instruction manuals I had been reading the whole world would be seeded with pockets of power. As time passed, those pockets would break apart in places where the world was reclaimed, and in other areas the monsters would reign. For now, it was the latter everywhere, but humanity would fight back soon.

    We had already started, I reminded myself. I had left my collection of Introductory System books at the guild with express permission and hope that Julianna and the others from Newtown would make use of them. Hopefully the children of Newtown would grow up ready to face the new existence before them. I was both jealous and sad for them. It wouldn¡¯t be simple.

    The world during the Shift had been brutal. Hell, I had walked into a room with over a dozen people as everything began only to walk out alone. Mine was a special case, but those first days weren¡¯t easy anywhere. While Newtown and my own Outpost were now able to defend themselves, which in turn meant some kind of normalcy for the populace, that wasn¡¯t true elsewhere.

    I was trying to remain hopeful, though. While Newtown was definitely lucky, it wouldn¡¯t be the only place to become a sanctuary either. Whether my family found such a place or not would be revealed, but it was possible. I might be a little more confident if I had seen more settlements of any kind. Or other people. Anything but wildness and monsters, really.

    Newtown was established and protected by System rewards, but the rest of the world wasn¡¯t so lucky. The kids there might be the only children getting schooling anywhere right now. They were the future of the planet, and with a curriculum based around the System itself, they would have the best chances at success. In many ways, my generation was simply the test run. Most planets would see decades of life after the Shift before nomads began to appear, giving them time to prepare.

    The timeline unknown, it was hard to stop myself from sprinting. However, only having a general direction and a compass that didn¡¯t point quite north anymore, I erred towards a wider ranged scout. My first plan was to find a settlement, ideally connect them to Ascentown in some way, either by giving them directions or drawing a map. Trade routes would be invaluable once we could start harvesting the grade one materials I had claimed. More than that, the transfer of information was the only way for humanity as a whole to survive.

    Unfortunately my task was seemingly going to be fraught with frustration. The first two or three times I spotted a building amongst the fields and trees, my heart leapt. By the eighth time, the trickery was wearing thin. When the world was torn apart, it had grown massively. Random biomes were seemingly spliced against the old infrastructure and buildings all over. Newtown itself was a small portion of Oxford which had been dragged away from the rest. My own university town had disappeared completely, and I was just glad there was nothing there I needed to find.

    Only one direction left to go. Forwards.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Naea shouted, just in time. My Dao field had not kept everything at bay and a pack of would-be assassins leapt out from a nearby dilapidated building. It had been a few months since the Shift, and places like this were becoming habitats.

    Monster - Vampiric Weaselbat - Level 28

    Monster - Vampiric Weaselbat - Level 26

    Monster - Weaselbat Executioner - Level 27

    Around a foot long, the winged rodents were fast. Likely, all of their ability points lay in the Speed attribute, and it was honestly only Naea¡¯s shout that kept me from losing an ear as I leapt backwards. Lost in my thoughts and complacency setting in with the ease of the journey so far, I hadn¡¯t been paying attention.

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    Naea and I purged the creatures with prejudice, Naea herself soaring off quickly as the final members of the swarm tried to escape. Considering they actually threatened me a little, it wasn¡¯t a bad idea. A flock of those things could probably tear through Ascentown even now, given the right conditions. It was a good reminder that I, myself, was the outlier and that the world was still lethal for most.

    While I was promising to be more careful, my foot disappeared into the floor. I bellowed in anger as I fell into the ground, the soft layer of leaves and mulch covering a tumble right into a chunk of what must have been a London subway. I landed on my feet, but that didn¡¯t stop the incoming mockery. A voice from above echoed down into the tunnel. ¡°Want me to fly around again? I can keep looking out for ambushes while you stay safe down in there!¡± Naea giggled in response to my pratfall. I told her to do exactly that, in less polite language, and took a minute to compose myself.

    Was I in such a rush that I would get myself killed before I ever had the chance to even find my family? I had been avoiding the idea all day but after a day of setbacks, it was a genuine struggle not to let panic set in. I felt no closer to them than I had been the day before. Taking a deep breath, I overpowered the dark thought with a force of will. If my family could do anything well, it would be survive. Even at the expense of others, if needs be. They had been doing that for generations.

    Reminding myself that I did want to find them alive, I took the time to see how much of the world was down here. There was always a chance to find something interesting and I needed a distraction.

    I had been in the middle of graduating when the world went to shit, and never had a chance to find the house I shared with a few others before the world got all mixed up. There were lots of things that might have been worth grabbing from there. I hadn¡¯t missed the internet or my phone much, but now that we had proof that magic could interact with machinery, I kind of wished I had one. I wasn¡¯t expecting to find one in a random subway, and I didn¡¯t, but what I did find was more than enough to take my mind off the immediate dangers my family might be facing.

    The randomisation of infrastructure was strange to behold, too. Everything had looked incongruous against the backdrop of a magical world. The empty first floor of a parking lot, roofless and in the middle of an open plain was just downright weird. As far as I could tell, there was no damage to the halls of the stations. This underground part of London had been placed here and the world around it shifted to fit it.

    I almost forgave gravity for dropping me into the humid place as my eyes landed on a dead end. The walls of the Tottenham Court station which the tunnel had come from ended, with a few more feet of dirt beyond and then a wall of rock and mud, as you would see if you dug straight down almost anywhere. Though I was glad to see more of how the planet itself reacted to the Shift, I was more glad to see the trash on the floor.

    One of the quirks I noticed in the office buildings I saw over the last day was that the building itself was the only thing moved. There weren¡¯t phone lines connected or personal belongings inside the offices, nothing like that. Just barren buildings, empty and sad. The same was true underground. The tiled walls might exist, but the train track wasn¡¯t here, nor was there a partially sliced train. There was simply not much to be found in these places. It was like a barebones video game level, half made and without decoration.

    Maybe it was to encourage people to make their own things now the System was here? I could see the Tree doing such a thing. Removing most of the materials and technology from a planet so that the embrace of magic would come quicker. I had looted enough random raw materials from monsters that it didn¡¯t seem too farfetched. It was just a hypothesis, but I didn¡¯t see anything that poked a hole in it, so I shrugged my way into believing it.

    My other guess was that someone stole the valuables as the Shift occurred. This felt less likely, because such a being would find itself at my ire, and upon the receiving end of anyone else like me. While I wasn¡¯t necessarily anything special right now, I did plan to be. On a long enough timeline, that meant lots of vendettas for the thief. Eventually, that would be way too many enemies, surely. Not for me, I admitted to myself. If given the chance, would I plunder a whole planet¡¯s worth of value?

    Oh, absolutely.

    Whatever had happened to the materials one might have expected to find inside any given building, they were gone. Which made the plastic bottle, snack bar wrapper and cardboard sandwich holder all the more obvious. Also, I thought with disgust, who the fuck would leave litter somewhere when the planet had just been made pristine.

    Debating with myself whether I should stay and wait for the culprit, Naea called from above. If they were around, they wouldn¡¯t show themself with her noise anyway.

    It didn¡¯t matter. This was proof that people were out here, somewhere. It wasn¡¯t like I could tell how long the stuff had been there, but it had happened after the Shift at the very least. That was enough of a start. Right as I moved to inspect the mess, a pulse passed over me. Then, the air was locked down by an external force. I raised my eyebrow and maintained an area around myself. Maybe I would get more than just a hint. ¡°What is that, Nae?¡± I asked, using our connection to remain quiet.

    ¡°Company,¡± she answered. The tone in her voice set me on edge. I asked another silent question and Naea returned an affirmative emotion through our bond. I¡¯m not sure if they¡¯re enemies, though. I¡¯m invisible but they know you¡¯re down there. Be as impressive as you can, she said.

    As you command, miss, I replied as my mana went into overdrive. If there was a single person on the planet who knew how extra I could be these days, it was Naea. If she was telling me to let it rip, then of course I would. I shot upwards like a rocket, right through the thin floor above, the invisible fairy above showing me where to appear. I had just been thinking how frustrated I was.

    Time to work some of it out.

 Book Two - Chapter Forty Six - Remember, Sheéˆ¥æªš More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Her

    Lucy found herself looking at the procession of sad faces heading towards the ration stands and shaking her head. Her short chestnut hair fell over her eyes, only adding to the frustration she was feeling. She was used to keeping her hair shorter than it was, but the apocalypse had seemingly done a number on hairdressers specifically. Even though it was only a small fringe, it was annoying.

    Everything was getting like that. Problems which wouldn¡¯t be problems if they had been stopped earlier. The ration line filtered itself, ordering by strength and willingness to be violent. Thugs at the front, meek at the back. ¡°They were supposed to inherit the Earth, but it turns out it was the bullies who got the win after all.¡±

    A growl rose in her throat and she stifled it. Stifling was definitely the word to use for the day. The grey concrete was stifling. The ¡°officers¡± who stole from the poor, or worse, were stifling.

    However, Lucy had a secret. The Aspect of the Wolf in her soul let her gain the freedom she desperately desired. She had found it on the first day of things and hidden it from her father. The influence of the wolf was as much of a saviour as the skills it gave her. She would never have been able to use her teeth so aggressively before she found the Wolf. Now, it was fairly rote.

    Or it had been.

    As one of the known Aspect users of Londimin, Lucy was technically allowed out of the city. Aspected People were asked to kill monsters and reach a quota of food brought back from looting monsters. It was a weird system, but farms and things were still being set up for now. As part of that expansion effort, the bravest were encouraged to range as far as they felt safe.

    Which is where Lucy met him. She had been fighting a stupid thorny turtle when the high-pitched voice called out. Her eyes snapped up, not knowing what to expect. In her wolf form, she was angered at the interruption, but had to stop herself from putting her tail between her legs as her eyes rose.

    Her every sense screamed upon seeing him.

    Upon returning to Londimin, everything felt so stale. It was like only that man contained the only real life and colour in the world. Lucy knew she had to meet him again, and she went looking without stopping in at home. His unique scent was easy to pick out with her sharp nose. Lucy followed as stealthily as she could manage. She needed to know. Who was this person, who¡¯s aura sang of death and power? Who smelled like the ground after rain combined with the tang of blood?

    She might get her answer, now that he was apparently about to get into a fight. A patrol from Londimin prowled towards a nearby subway, clearly sensing the man¡¯s powerful energy. He wasn¡¯t even using skills, but just his presence was heavy. They could tell something powerful was below, and were wondering how to proceed. It seemed they thought it was a monster, and Lucy couldn¡¯t argue against that assessment. She thought about warning them, but decided not to. If they wanted to poke a bear, that was their choice.

    She faded into the shadows and waited to see what kind of monster this man was.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Davy did not especially want to be out amongst the trees and the monsters, but it paid well. There were a few System stores in Londimin which accepted them for various goods, but the other industries were also taking them too, now. There were a few beers being brewed in the city, which is where he was planning to spend his wages. All in all, Davy felt like he was adapting to this new normal as well as could be expected.

    For the most part, it was just better than doing nothing. Using magic was cool, too, and it wasn¡¯t really allowed inside the city barrier. Unless you went out hunting, you didn¡¯t get to do much but manual labour at this point. When Ben had managed to get put on a scout patrol as a leader, Davy jumped at the chance to join, knowing it would mean they could essentially be lazy and earn money. He and Ben had been doing as much for years, and he was glad to have his best friend here while the world ended.

    They had both survived the first day together in their suddenly empty mobile phone repair store, locking the door and just hoping none of the monsters outside came in to get them. They ignored the screams for help, knowing they¡¯d just join the chorus if they did. At least, until the room lit up and a crystal the size of a melon appeared out of nowhere. Ben, being the more confident of them, took it. That was their first Aspect, the Aspect of Stealth.

    Now filled with magical abilities, Ben had helped keep Davy safe until they happened upon another of the crystals, this time the Aspect of Air. The Aspect bound itself to his Speed attribute and suddenly we were pretty much untouchable. By the time they met the crowds of people gathered by Seth, they were already doing their part to thin the herd of monsters.

    ¡°Does anyone else feel that?¡± Ben asked from a few paces ahead, bringing Davy back to the present. Everyone else said they couldn¡¯t feel anything, shaking heads and shrugging. Ben held up a hand for everyone to wait, tilting his head back and forth. ¡°It¡¯s like a noise I can¡¯t quite hear, or a word on the tip of my tongue¡­¡±

    Without another word, Ben vanished, making use of the skills his Aspect gave him. Elise and Kelly, their heavy hitters and both users of the Aspect of Hammers, tensed up and got ready for a fight. Walking up beside Davy was the always carefree Alastair. ¡°A monster, d¡¯ya think?¡± The Scottish man asked, same as one might ask when it was going to rain.

    ¡°Let¡¯s find out,¡± I nodded. Ben would be somewhere, setting up an ambush, while us four took the attention. I planted my feet and splayed my hands, grasping at the air. It could interact with it like it was solid, so I buried my hands into the thick, humid air and made it mine. With an injection of mana into the surrounding area, all of the gases in a huge radius came under my control. Everywhere except-

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    Rubble, tiles, rock and dirt exploded from below. ¡°We¡¯re under attack!¡± Elise screamed. Her words changed from high pitch to low as she flipped over and over in the air and Davy would have laughed if he wasn¡¯t so terrified. It took all of his concentration, but using Air Manipulation, he cushioned the space around his falling ally. He spun to see what had burst through the floor, but there was nothing.

    Tentative, Davy reached out with his mana and felt that same, blank spot that his skill could not control. He had not felt anything like it to this point. Though he would never tell anyone how deeply it worked, whenever Davy grasped hold of the air like this he could normally sense every detail. Everything. He would never admit to using it at night, walking through the suburbs watching people in their beds, but it was becoming a habit.

    Whatever was below, it made Davy feel blind. There was something more, a growing sense of eyes on his back. Davy felt sure that if he turned around, he would find himself face to face with a predator. He couldn¡¯t even choke out words as the pressure continued to mount on his mind. Then, all at once, everything went dark. The senses Davy had become used to were snatched from him as he lost all control over the air around him. Davy screamed, deafened and blinded, before his mind crashed under the pressure.

    He fell unconscious, plagued with nightmares of dragons and terrible storms.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    After using a small Mana Bolt to clear the space above me, I waited for the dust to settle. I heard someone shout in fear, which was fair, but then someone started doing magic. Whoever was locking down the air was making it harder to breathe, so I ripped control from them with Air Manipulation. It was like taking a knife from the hands of a child. Except, there was a pained scream from above and I opened my eyes wider in surprise. Did I¡­ hurt someone with that? That was almost embarassing.

    Holding back laughter, I jumped out of the hole, floating up high and then gently down with my control of the air around me. A woman with two hammers stood glaring at me, a man with a large ginger beard to her side with a glowing hand on her back. To my left was a man on the ground, a woman with a single, larger hammer stood over him. Behind them, I saw the shimmer of magic and the outline of a human. He was technically invisible, but I had long dealt with that trick by training with Naea.

    I took in all of the details that seemed to matter. They did not seem to be people who were close emotionally, based on their stances. Their clothes were surprisingly clean considering it had been months since everything started, suggesting they had access to enough safety for their appearance to matter. As well as soap, which my own town only gained reliable access to once I bought System-based vendors. I was conspiratorially certain that the System had stolen our resources to sell them back to us, but that was neither here nor there.

    Interesting group, though. I picked up the auras of two identical Aspects, and three other common ones. They reminded me a little of The Ascent when I first met them, if a little rougher. One of them was already on the ground. ¡°Is he okay?¡± I asked. The woman with two hammers flinched as I spoke. I held my hands up to try and keep them all calm. ¡°Let¡¯s all just take it easy. Sorry about your friend.¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡± The two hammer woman asked, her voice shrill with fear. Her mana was pooling slowly into her weapons in a way I certainly couldn¡¯t do. I wanted to ask her about it right there, but her wide eyes were scared and I felt it wasn¡¯t the time. ¡°Where did you come from?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Grant, and I came out of that hole in the ground.¡± I didn¡¯t trust them enough to immediately give away my friends back home. No one here could realistically hurt me and threaten the towns, but I didn¡¯t know enough yet. ¡°No more questions from you, though. This will go faster if you answer mine instead.¡±

    I let my Dao trickle out. Over my downtime, one way I occupied myself was in training some Dao resistance into the Fledglings. I had become fairly adept at controlling it, but even at the lowest level, there was always something that could be sensed to hear them describe it. Sanjay, the spear using leader of one squad described my ¡°quiet state¡± as like knowing a tiger was in the next room, sleeping. I quite liked that description.

    Whatever these people¡¯s senses were telling them, I cranked up a notch. Dao is one¡¯s understanding of the universe given form, and my Dao were both domineering bastards. I opened the door a tiny crack, letting these strangers see the tail of the tiger. It was interesting, and enlightening.

    It was clear none of them had ever seen or interacted with the Dao before, which made sense. None of them could be over level twenty, if they had even reached fifteen. Well, except for the one slightly further away, but they also had no Dao to speak of. I knew I had an effect on the speed of Dao development in Ascentown, but was it truly this pronounced? I hadn¡¯t crystalised my own understanding until I had come into contact with the feeling myself. I was the first in the world to create a Dao Pool. It wasn¡¯t too surprising that they hadn¡¯t figured it out, but it was telling all the same. Their settlement didn¡¯t have anyone over level thirty then, most likely.

    ¡°Which direction is your city?¡± I asked. It crossed my mind to ask for names or information, but I was pretty certain there was no chance these people were going to be reliquaries of knowledge.

    ¡°Who said we¡¯re from a city?¡± This time, it was the apparently Scottish man asking. The ginger hair suggested as much, but I hadn¡¯t wanted to assume. I withered him a glare and another layer of Dao. Under my gaze, he looked like he was experiencing g-force, his cheeks sagged and his hand dropped from the woman¡¯s back.

    ¡°I said,¡± speaking with genuine ire in my voice, ¡°I¡¯m the one asking questions.¡± I whipped the air around into a frenzy, the stormy winds causing the nearby trees to shake as they wailed through their branches. ¡°Point me in the direction of your settlement and I¡¯ll be on my way.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do when you get there?¡± Two-Hammers asked yet another question. At the same time, the supposedly invisible person in the back started to move towards me. I didn¡¯t know who was more audacious. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. I was getting nowhere with this.

    ¡°What I¡¯m not going to do is be ignored.¡± Fine, I decided, forget diplomacy. My Alternating Armament leapt to my hand from within my inventory before immediately turning into a staff. I slammed the end of the weapon into the ground, using just my raw strength to make a point. I might not have an earth-shaking skill from the System, but I could make it happen.

    As the tremors of the blow unsteadied the group, I released my Dao in full. Both the roar of the dragon and the howl of the storm bellowed out from me like physical forces. Those who had been standing were forced to their knees, including the invisible man. They had got quite close in their approach and I kicked them away, into the stomach of Two-Hammers. She couldn¡¯t see the incoming human projectile, and it ended up knocking over her and the Scottish guy, too.

    ¡°I¡¯m done asking questions.¡± I whispered, not worrying that my words would get lost in the wind. My words were the wind, the very air this man breathed. I approached the no-longer invisible man. There were daggers in his hands, still white knuckled in his grip. Arguably this was random, but a part of me wanted to punish them for trying to sneak attack me, too. ¡°I don¡¯t need you to tell me anything, I¡¯ll take the answers myself.¡±

    Drain.

 Book Two - Chapter Forty Seven - Showing Off

    Placing my hand on the man¡¯s head, I pulsed the skill twice. I focused all of my attention on uncovering the specific information I wanted, trying to control the skill. It occurred to me that I had never tried to use the skill like this and had no idea if this would work. I didn¡¯t really care in the moment. After holding his head for a few seconds, I let him go. The man was unconscious, but he would be fine. Probably.

    ¡°Why is it that everyone starts out by attacking me?¡± I asked Naea as I stood, prompting her to become visible. She had been sitting on my shoulder from the moment I leapt out of the pit. ¡°First The Ascent, and now these guys. Is it my face, do you think?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably definitely your face, for sure,¡± she agreed quickly. I shrugged and turned away. These people were irrelevant, knew nothing about me that mattered and had given me all I wanted to know. I sifted through the memories I had stolen from the would-be assassin and started heading towards¡­

    ¡°Londimin? That¡¯s weirdly sinister sounding, right? Londominion. Surely someone could come up with something better than Londimin.¡± I complained to Naea as we walked. She in turn challenged me to come up with a town name if I was so smart. I spent some time thinking about it, telling her I¡¯d give her an answer when I came up with the perfect name.

    Leaving the group behind to lick their wounds or whatever they were going to do, we chatted as we made our way to this new city. I was hopeful the place wouldn¡¯t be entirely combative the whole time, but I didn¡¯t have high hopes.

    Due to draining the answers, I had the directions to Londimin in my head. Naea and I weren¡¯t too far away, so we didn¡¯t waste any time heading in that direction. After allegedly beating up a group of their scouts, it would probably be better for me to get there as quickly as possible. If I could explain the misunderstanding, or better yet, just move on completely then there shouldn¡¯t be any problems.

    I had two issues at the moment as I saw them. First was that as a random stranger, I didn¡¯t have much to garner respect other than overwhelming strength. Considering these people would ideally be a trading partner in the future, that wasn¡¯t ideally. It was becoming obvious the closer we got that I actually had no idea what I was doing here. The fact that there even was a settlement so nearby was promising, far more than I expected. So, the first hurdle was making this settlement want to be allies and not enemies.

    I looked back over my shoulder with a wince. Not a great start, but maybe no one liked those guys. They were quick to attack, after all¡­

    The second problem was potentially more pressing, considering it involved the sneaking wolf behind us. I had instructed Naea not to say or do anything, and she acquiesced. For Naea, it was just a fun game of pretending the stalker wasn¡¯t there. For my part, I had decided not to confront the creature, or person, unless they made a move or followed us much closer to the city. Instead, I would see what happened when night came.

    The werewolf, or whatever it actually was, could give Naea a run for her money in the stealth department. I found myself wanting to analyse the magic I could feel going into its movements from afar, but I could wait. I judged their strength to be at around that of a level thirty Fledgling from Ascentown before they unlocked a Dao, so it wasn¡¯t like they were a threat.

    I guffawed, a donkey¡¯s bray escaping my lips at the thought which crossed my mind. making Naea jump and give me a glare. ¡°Sorry, just realised how far we¡¯ve come.¡± Naea looked at me like I was dumb, but I didn¡¯t bother explaining. I had pictured the Avatar of the Storm Dragon, it¡¯s haughty expression and unbeatable strength. If I faced that same creature now, I would be able to win easily, dominating it without it nearly costing my life. My immediate next thought was the dragon¡¯s true form biting down on me.

    ¡°Still a long way to go,¡± Naea said, accidentally wise as she looked in the direction of Ireland and my family. I patted her on the head and finished setting up. Our path towards Londimin would get us there within a day. Giving the range of their scouting, I doubted they were expecting many visitors, which might complicate things. It could make everything go more smoothly, too, but I doubted it. My plan was to slip into the town as a refugee or lone survivor and go from there. I reminded myself that this was just a scouting mission, really, and that if all went well I could send probably someone more willing to deal with the actual trade negotiations.

    Even after travelling for a few more hours and letting night fall around us, we hadn¡¯t seen anyone else from the city to interact with. It was just Naea, myself and the wolf who definitely still thought they were hidden. I couldn¡¯t pretend I wasn¡¯t impressed, if nothing else, its patience was impressive. I took my time setting up the tent, intentionally showing off the fairly opulent furnishings and amenities I had available.

    ¡°So,¡± Naea asked after a while, ¡°what do we do now?¡± She was bored, I could tell. We hadn¡¯t seen any monsters recently, probably courtesy of the patrols from Londimin. I weighed up my choices and decided to throw a little caution into the wind. Naea, seeing my smirk and how my eyes set, didn¡¯t wait for me to respond. I barely had time to raise my guard before Naea¡¯s onslaught began.

    With an instant and ferocious clash, we wove away from the destructible camp and somewhere we could make a mess. As far as staring engagements go, it was noticeably more aggressive on the part of my fairy friend. Putting her newest skill to good use, Naea kept me on the backfoot while drawing her blade. ¡°Went off and got levels on a mountain without me, didn¡¯t you?¡±

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    ¡°Well, I thought you could use a break,¡± I grunted in between dodging Naea¡¯s attacks. With the addition of the new attack Beam, she no longer had to be in close-range to do serious damage and when we had the chance and the inclination, we were practising. So, for the next while, we sparred. The world around us disappeared.

    This was not just to show off in front of the wolf, though that was a small part of it. It was much more than that. Naea and I were both touched by draconic energy and the competitive streak it caused within us was powerful. She truly wanted to be stronger than me, and I could not afford to slip in my own growth or she absolutely would.

    The situation with Steel had ignited a furious flame inside of us both. I hated the fact something with more power could walk into my life and disrupt whatever it wanted, kill whoever it wanted, all with me powerless to stop it. Naea felt the same, but her thoughts were warped around protecting me, not others. I think she assumed that if she was stronger than me, she could stop me from running my bonehead into danger so often.

    I didn¡¯t have the heart to tell her she got me into danger at least as much as I did it to myself. Our sparring continued to intensify, our ¡°friendly¡± spar reaching the danger levels of a true boss battle. By combining the size-changing slashes of the Chibizashi, her blinding speeds and her new ability to attack from afar, it was nearly impossible to pin Naea down. If she added invisibility to the mixture, even I couldn¡¯t keep up.

    Naea¡¯s Dao of the Fairy Dragon was on full display, too. I had yet to find something that Dao couldn¡¯t do, when applied in the right way with the right mindset. In my familiar¡¯s case, her tricky Dao allowed her to pretend she was using her mana in one way, and then do something completely different. Even with my technically more powerful Dao and eyes that could see mana, it was like trying to follow the tricks of a master magician.

    That isn¡¯t to say she beat me. The main rule of this ¡°game¡± was that neither of us could hold back. It would defeat the point of our posturing. Since returning from Cloudslash Peak, Naea hadn¡¯t been able to keep up. Her own advantages from the Dao of Rivers and her higher level had been cut down as I gained achievements and levels of my own.

    A thick web caught my foot, causing Naea to cackle. The globules were not even fast, she just had immaculate aim with them. Her ability to throw off the mana signature of her attacks caused my eyes to lose focus as they came in. The ability would be even more potent against other creatures, who¡¯s mana senses were less developed than mine. I bet most things saw with magic eventually, rather than their physical sense organs.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t cut my leg off, Naea.¡± My appeal landed on deaf ears, a wild look in Naea¡¯s large eyes as she gathered more and more energy into her Beam. I burned a small portion of mana to activate Infusion, but still wasn¡¯t strong enough to get free from Naea¡¯s skill. The webs she created seemed to fortify their surroundings, because I should have been able to rip the whole damn forest floor away if I wanted to.

    The Beam launched. I recognised my folly now, as the amputation approached. This is definitely my fault. I gave her the Fledglings and she turned them into monsters. My biggest mistake was not recognising the little demon I had been creating myself. Naea was no longer worried about causing such paltry damage as a missing leg, she¡¯d healed worse.

    Instinct flared. I didn¡¯t want to lose my leg, but somehow, I wanted to lose the battle even less. I would happily give up my limbs if it meant not losing, even in a contest as innocent as two bonded souls bumping heads. Naea was truly upset with me for my actions on Cloudslash Peak and while we had talked about it, the resentment lingered. This was, in no uncertain terms, my punishment for that.

    Still didn¡¯t mean I was going to hold back.

    Mana Bolt.

    Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt.

    I wasn¡¯t actually using the skill, but overwhelming the pathway which created the skill. The System had taken my hand and given me training wheels for every ability, but it was only once those wheels were removed and I was allowed to freestyle that they became mine. Even now, I felt like I was using Tom¡¯s ability as the violet tinted mana filled the air. I could feel Naea¡¯s magic punching through the attacks, and it was that sensation that I focused on.

    Time was becoming more and more subjective as my attributes increased. The flow of time is based upon perception and, with both of my Mental and Will attributes into the quadruple digits of effectiveness, I was more than capable of reacting to Naea¡¯s lightning fast Beam. I gathered the energy of two dozen Mana Bolts and slammed them into each other, right where Naea¡¯s attack would hit.

    A crystal of energy formed in the air. Not an attack, but mana without direction. I could almost feel the System breathing down my neck, waiting for me to push the final piece of intent or understanding into the skill to make it something. With desperate hope and no better ideas, I simply thought of an unbreakable shield. I ignored the System prompts and slammed the new shape of mana forward to meet the incoming laser.

    For half a second, my plan worked. Mana met mana, and the dense bulwark I had created held firm. Then, Naea¡¯s attack slipped, neither ability willing to break. The attack which had been aimed for my knee instead hit me in the shin. The world exploded into white and Naea gasped out an apology. I tumbled, which was strange. I should have been-

    Oh, yeah. Leg¡¯s gone. Not the time to be a sore loser. ¡°Well fought,¡± I said, my words slurring from pain and blood loss, ¡°you win this one. Help.¡± My request was quiet, as my face fell into the dirt. I had not just been hit with a painful attack, the skill I had just used had drained me like nothing before. As I passed out, I saw Naea approaching with healing energy burning on her hands.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Skill Unlocked - Mana Barrier

    An adept use of mana by a promising novice, this shielding skill¡¯s versatility makes it widely used.

    I ignored the implied sass from the System. Waking up to this prompt cheered me up in spite of the pain still throbbing in my lower half. That this eureka moment of magic, a completely new ability pulled out thin air by hopes, dreams and force of will, was considering the work of a novice was jarring. Not as jarring as the itching in my lower leg, but it hurt me in a different way.

    When I first interacted with the System, I had found magic. Due to the threat on my life, I had much of the wonder involved, but that was to be expected. The real issue was that I had stopped trying to experiment and push the boundaries of what I could do. I stopped looking at my mana almost the second Dao came into the picture. I didn¡¯t think that was something to be suspicious of, but it was a habit I meant to change.

    The System screens were to distract me from the general gore of my own body. I had been injured a fair amount since all of this began, but watching myself get put back together still turned my stomach. Instead, I watched Naea¡¯s mana as it healed me, knitting the muscles, flesh and bone back together. In short order, I was wiggling my toes once more. The only real damage remaining was to my trouser leg, and that was repaired in real time due to my mana and its ability.

    I groaned as I pulled myself to my knee. ¡°Worth it,¡± I told Naea, patting the leg. ¡°I got a new skill.¡±

    ¡°Mmm,¡± she nodded, ¡°I saw. I should try to kill you more often.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Forty Eight - Dancing In The Pale Moonlight

    There was a grisly scene not far from our campsite, most of the blood on the ground was mine. More crimson stained the floor of the nearby field than any other colour by the time we left. I considered moving our camp, but we were upwind of the smell so we didn¡¯t bother. I was too tired and Naea had zero interest in moving away from the ¡°scene of her victory.¡± I didn¡¯t argue with her wording, focusing instead on guiding the still-present healing magic where it needed to go.

    ¡°Can¡¯t keep doing this,¡± I complained as the final touches were applied. The sensation was vividly uncomfortably, similar to applying an antiseptic salve on the inside of my skin which burned a little. The mana fizzled, and when it had effervesced enough, an undamaged area was left behind.

    ¡°Nope, I agree, stop losing limbs.¡± She licked her thin lips, which combined with her devilish smile to make a ghoulish image. She really could be quite creepy when she wanted to be.

    ¡°Not that.¡± I started, before backtracking.¡± Well, no, that too. Definitely that. Mana Barrier should help with that particular habit. But more importantly, healing like this is great, but not efficient for either of us.¡± While Battle Bond was a perfect lifeline when we were in the dungeon, its effectiveness had dropped with each level up. I required more energy to heal the same wounds due to my more powerful body.

    ¡°Not much fun either, though you do make funny sounds every now and then.¡±

    Right on cue, I gasped as a particularly itchy area above the knee connected properly. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s entirely the problem. Brute forcing mana into myself and letting it just go from there is definitely going to lead to some issues. Is there such a thing as magical tumours?¡±

    ¡°Probably, but you¡¯ll be fine.¡± Despite her flippance, this was a serious enough matter that I could feel her worry. We still relied on the skill Battle Bond to transfer mana between each other, but as our respective levels and mana pools grew, it became less necessary. Now wasn¡¯t a great time to sit and mess with the skill, and not just because we had tired ourselves out.

    ¡°So,¡± Naea said, her hands on her hips. They were still dripping with my blood, which was a little distracting. And gross. ¡°What are we going to do about our spectator? They saw all of that.¡±

    It had been an unspoken thing, the pair of us ignoring the wolf which stalked us. I agreed with Naea, it was about time to deal with that. I gestured away from our camp. ¡°Go wash yourself, I¡¯ll deal with the curious pup.¡± Naea looked at herself and acquiesced, using Find The Path to locate a nearby water source. Her Dao tickled the air after she left, a burbling stream of energy I could follow to her if I needed to. She was a little gremlin, but she was my gremlin, and she could also be cute when she wanted, too.

    I sighed once alone. The skill was amazing at finding things, provided they were nearby. Maybe if we were a few dozen levels higher, Find The Path could guide us more correctly to my family. I didn¡¯t push Naea to use it after the first time it had worked because of the disappointment both of us felt. She still tried on occasion, but I didn¡¯t dwell on the fact that the ability couldn¡¯t lock onto them. There were dozens of potential reasons for such a truth.

    They didn¡¯t have to be de-

    A twig snapped and I was immensely grateful the wolf had decided to step forward and break me from the dark thoughts. ¡°Come on out,¡± I called loudly. ¡°I don¡¯t bite. I bet mine is a lot less dangerous than yours is, anyway.¡± I felt slightly silly afterwards. While I had sensed the wolf for a moment, the loud noise had spooked them and their stealthy veil appeared once more. Seriously, that¡¯s impressive.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± A questioning voice carried over from a nearby thicket. This time it was my turn to be surprised, like I had done to Naea. ¡°What are you? You can¡¯t be human¡­¡± The voice jumped quite a distance, now seeming to come from within the tent behind me. I schooled my expression, remaining stone-faced and calm. With impressive control of my body, even my heart rate remained constant.

    ¡°Rude. Not incorrect, but not the full story either. Bit rich coming from a werewolf, though.¡± I kept my gaze locked on a specific area. The words had been cast about by mana, and while it was a good distraction ability, following the threads of energy had been simple. A few seconds later, a figure stepped from the bushes, her hands held high.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a werewolf,¡± the wolf lady spat back with surprising venom, even with her arms raised above her head. ¡°I¡¯ve just got¡­ It doesn¡¯t matter. Answer my question. What are you?¡± There were faint lines on my skin still glowing dimly from the Battle Bond healing I was still performing. I could see now that ¡°lady¡± might even be pushing it, most people would call this person a wolf girl instead.

    Humouring the young woman, I shrugged. ¡°My name is Grant, I was going to St Gerard¡¯s University before all of this began. It¡¯s been a weird time for everyone, and I got turned into something called a Stormborn. Mostly it just makes me look fancy when I do magic.¡±

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    ¡°So you can do magic.¡± Her words sounded almost shocked, maybe closer to disbelief. I raised an eyebrow and gathered a ball of mana into my hand. Before the on-edge wolf lady could panic, I took a few steps back before throwing the ball from my right hand to my left, then up in the air. As it was landing, I did the same with another, then another, until I was juggling five brightly coloured balls of mana at once.

    ¡°Yep. Full magic man over here. Nice to meet you. So while I¡¯m thinking about it, I¡¯ve never actually asked,¡± I half-grunted. I wasn¡¯t cheating on the juggling, and had made heavy balls of mana which I didn¡¯t control with anything but my hands. ¡°You can see these, right? What does my Mana Bolt actually look like?¡± I knew at least that the same skills could have different appearances. Tom¡¯s Mana Bolts, to my eyes, looked more perfectly spherical and the energy within was more uniform than my own.

    In the light of my mana, I could see her features more clearly. She was fairly cute, though not in a way I sought in partners, even if she wasn¡¯t way too young. I thought back to Julianna for a moment, then shook my head. Her hair was a dark blonde, almost brown, and she had hazel eyes which matched nicely. Her frame was athletic, and the sporty clothes she wore showed off the silhouette of a runner.

    The girl hesitated, chewing on her bottom lip before answering. ¡°I can¡¯t really see anything, but my instincts make me feel like you¡¯re juggling a bomb in my face. There¡¯s a glitter of purple on your hands when you catch them, and a little trail in the air.¡± I smiled at her answer, though along with her earlier surprise, it suggested something. Once again, I was reminded that my experience with the System was not the norm.

    ¡°Have you never seen magic before? Can you control your mana?¡± The words were out of my mouth before I thought about how they might sound. I hadn¡¯t even asked the girl¡¯s name. From the offended look on the woman¡¯s face, I had definitely put my foot in it somehow. Just when I was about to ask, she cut me off.

    ¡°Of course I can use mana,¡± she hissed, her eyes tightening in annoyance, ¡°I¡¯m not an idiot.¡± I caught my mana orbs out of the air and used Drain to return them to my pool. For a second, I felt bloated like I was going to burp, having overfilled my mana a little due to my natural regeneration. Now it was my turn to put my hands up in surrender.

    ¡°It was an honest question,¡± I assured her. ¡°Everyone had to start somewhere so I just wanted to check. It¡¯s not like I figured all of this stuff out quickly, or on my own.¡± I shut my mouth, a sensible choice because I had begun to ramble and she had begun to glower. ¡°I gave you my name, may I have yours so I can stop calling you wolf girl in my head?¡±

    The glare remained, but she answered. ¡°My name¡¯s Lucy,¡± she replied cautiously, as though I could use the information against her. I suppressed a shudder as I remembered the nomadic fae creature Naea and I had bumped into a while ago.

    ¡°It¡¯s genuinely nice to meet you, Lucy. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°What is it with you and picking up ladies in the woods?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I asked, insulted at the wording. ¡°Who have I been picking up, exactly?¡±

    ¡°Her and me?¡± Naea retorted, equally insulted that I didn¡¯t immediately assume she was one of the so-called ladies I supposedly had a pattern with.

    ¡°Oh, you consider yourself a lady, do you?¡± Dodging her retaliatory attacks for my excellent humour was not easy, and it was only when our guest seemed to choke on her own breath that Naea stopped. Her blue eyes were almost popping out of her head at us. ¡°What?¡± I asked innocently. I knew exactly how ridiculous we looked. I just liked forcing people to say it.

    ¡°And why are we having tea with a werewolf, Grant?¡± Naea continued to badger me, and I rolled my eyes but it seemed that Lucy was enjoying the game, too. I shot her a betrayed look but I wasn¡¯t too surprised, my sisters always ganged up on me, too.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a werewolf,¡± she growled. I didn¡¯t comment on the irony as she continued. ¡°It¡¯s something called an Aspect, though obviously you know that.¡±

    Naea turned to her, apparently ready to interrogate. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Lucy Fair,¡± she answered in a mechanical way that tickled my ear. She sounded like a news presenter. With a name like that she¡¯d be a fantastic weather reporter. ¡°Do you have a name?¡±

    ¡°None that you¡¯re allowed to take,¡± I said while giving Naea an exaggerated wink, ¡°but this one is called Naea. You already know mine.¡± The fairy gave a curtsey in the air. She had a large collection of clothes that had either been made by people in town or stolen off of plastic dolls. None of it was very high quality, which didn¡¯t matter to Naea. Today it was an ankle length orange dress which went well against her skin.

    Lucy looked at me like she wasn¡¯t sure whether I was making fun of her, or maybe just wondering if I was real, but I just sipped on my tea innocently. The wolf girl seemed like she wanted to say something about my wording, but decided not to. Instead, she gestured to the furniture inside the tent. It was all quite opulent, as far as camping supplies normally went. ¡°I know what an inventory is but this¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m pretty strong, so my inventory is a bit bigger than yours is at the moment. Of course, I didn¡¯t find all of this randomly. We came from a town.¡± A predator¡¯s growl appeared in the air, as the air filled with a feral and uncontrolled Dao. It seemed like she didn¡¯t even know she was doing it. I raised an eyebrow and pressed back with my own. Like an animal with fangs on its neck, I felt her Dao recede. I pulled my own back quickly. ¡°Something against towns?¡±

    ¡°Just the closest one. You¡¯d understand if you had started this craziness there like w- like I did.¡±

    I caught Lucy hiding something, but didn¡¯t press. Everyone had lost so much in the Shift, whatever pain she had was her¡¯s to keep or share. Still, I couldn¡¯t ignore the obvious quest flag waving in my face. I wanted to squint directly at the System, but since that would come off as strange, I just asked the only question on my mind ¡°Explain?¡± I prompted.

    ¡°It¡¯s almost impossible to get in or out, and the leader has gone completely crazy and it¡¯s only getting worse. A man called Seth runs things, acting like some kind of king.¡± I winced. It was easy to imagine someone getting a whiff of power and then holding onto it like a tyrant. Easy enough that I had to keep a constant check on myself not to do such things. This place didn¡¯t sound great, but it wasn¡¯t my place to decide the rules for another person, even if that person was then making bad decisions for a hundred others.

    I also didn¡¯t know whether I could trust Lucy, but I also knew she wasn¡¯t much stronger than a single Fledgling, if at all. There was only so much damage she could possibly do. ¡°We¡¯re from a town to the East. My town.¡± I decided to give her the brief bullet points of my own story since the System arrived. ¡°I got stuck in a dungeon, it made me strong and gave me a claim on the surrounding area. Since then, I¡¯ve worked to set up the town to be self-sufficient without me. Now I¡¯m trying to go to Ireland.¡±

    Lucy considered my words seriously for a moment before blowing my mind completely with her next sentence. ¡°You could always steal a plane.¡±

    ¡°That,¡± I replied immediately, deciding right there that I liked this Lucy person and would invite her to Ascentown when such a thing became possible, ¡°is the coolest thing anyone has suggested to me since this all started.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Forty Nine - Flight Plan

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ Impossible? Right? That¡¯s not a joke? I could do that?¡±

    ¡°Why would it be a joke?¡± Lucy was looking at me like I was an idiot but actual planes surviving the Shift was big news to me. Then she hit me with the next part and it all started to make sense. ¡°Do you not know that you¡¯re right outside of London?¡±

    ¡°London? Like all of it? It¡¯s not just a dumb name someone chose for their new city?¡± My expectations rose again. Maybe this wouldn¡¯t be a complete waste of time, I told myself, though I could feel the tendrils of a side quest attempting to latch onto me and slow me down.

    ¡°Well, a big portion of west London and further beyond, yeah. Including Heathrow airport. No one¡¯s been using the planes, but they¡¯re there. I¡¯ve seen them.¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t they in use?¡± There were many reasons that would be valid, but Lucy didn¡¯t know. She just shrugged in response and I let it drop while my mind ran with the idea. How hard could flying a plane be, really? With my Mental and Will attributes as high as they were, I was actually quite interested to see if I could figure it out on the fly. I had set up a camp, but it was an easy decision to cast it away in favour of moving.

    The tents, tea and comfortable arrangement had done their job anyway. I hid a smirk as I returned the supplies to my inventory. I was reminded of a time I had left milk out for a stray cat, who had almost immediately decided it lived with me and my family. I shook thoughts of Trixie from my mind easily before heading off.

    Thanks to Lucy, I did not have to actually see Londimin to know its layout and boundaries. It was surrounded by a wide river which had definitely not been a part of the geography beforehand. Our small group followed that river now, circling the perimeter. Lucy theorised that the river was a System reward given to the leader of Londomin, a man named Seth. I was of two minds about meeting this person.

    On one hand, they came across as controlling which was perhaps necessary when so many people were gathered, but it rankled against me regardless. The System had destroyed our old way of life but in no uncertain terms, people were more free than before. Instead of existing and struggling simply to subsist on a dying economy, making the rich richer while wondering how to pay for next week¡¯s meals, life had returned to the human experience.

    This person Seth either didn¡¯t view the changes in the same way, or preferred to stifle people regardless. Either of those choices didn¡¯t sit well with me, and I was weighing up the options I might have, giving them all fair credence. Our journey was quiet until we came to the aforementioned river.

    Interestingly, before we even set foot on the shore, I could feel a nearly imperceptible threshold in the air. About fifteen feet before the water started, the mana changed. The difference was as small as a single drop of ink in a swimming pool, but I could feel it all the same. It was not my Stormborn physiology which made me certain, but something else entirely. To my eyes, or any other senses, there was no difference to the energy in the area.

    The part of me which was now considered nobility could feel it, though.

    Title - Lord

    To go with my Dragon Slayer title which made me more dangerous to the kingly lizards, it seemed that the honour of being a Lord also came with a weapon against others. The veil which pressed against me like a thin film felt a little like a water balloon. Instinctively, I knew that with enough force of will, I could pop that barrier. My gut was also telling me that wouldn¡¯t be great for negotiations, as it would create a claim on the area.

    We had passed through many miles of unclaimed territory, and the sensation had not appeared once. Then again, we hadn¡¯t found anything interesting either so perhaps I could only feel such boundaries where the System cared to place them. I did wonder whether Londimin had access to a graded resource to make itself a true ¡°domain¡± as I decided to name the effect. It was almost more likely that the real answer was as simple as population.

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    ¡°Nine thousand people¡­¡± I murmured, still finding the number daunting as I opened my own Faction Page.

    Faction Page:

    Ascentown Population - 578

    Ascentown felt busy. There were multiple industries there getting up and running, whole families choosing to live there instead of in Newtown due to the more rugged and System-based way that things worked there. Of course, a much larger percentage of people were more than happy to pretend magic wasn¡¯t real and that they could go back to their office jobs eventually. Maybe they could.

    I shivered powerfully.

    The idea was anathema to me now. I couldn¡¯t even picture being so cooped up without having a physical response. ¡°Did you have a boring job before all of this started?¡± I asked my new travelling companion on a whim. Lucy¡¯s head snapped in my direction, completely on edge and ready for trouble. When I began speaking, she had nearly bolted. ¡°You alright?¡±

    Forcing a smile to her face, Lucy nodded. ¡°We¡¯re just close to the city,¡± she said, ¡°and I¡¯m not meant to be outside the barrier.¡±

    ¡°These rules are¡­¡± I struggled to find a word less offensive than disgusting. I was desperately against the idea of telling people what to do. Laws were still sensible, general things like don¡¯t murder your neighbour and stuff should remain - but a curfew seemed a step too far. Would it not stifle the growth of everyone involved if they just hunkered down together? ¡°They¡¯re weird. Why can¡¯t you go out?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just how it is, I guess? Once Seth makes a rule most people follow it.¡± Lucy didn¡¯t seem too bothered by the idea of someone coming up with random laws, but considering she clearly didn¡¯t follow them, I supposed it didn¡¯t matter. I decided that I would try to meet this Seth guy. Anyone who had set themselves up as a leader and managed to protect so many, so quickly was worth at least a little respect. Or caution.

    ¡°So, you think they¡¯ll just let me take a plane? I¡¯ve not got the highest hopes.¡± I asked my question towards Naea, who was quietly bobbing up and down on the surface of the river to my left. Her Dao was, of course, in its element and she moved through the waves like a natural.

    ¡°I hope so, I wouldn¡¯t want to have to steal from our new friends.¡± Naea¡¯s eyes were shut, so she couldn¡¯t see the glare I gave her.

    Lucy stiffened, maybe only now considering the danger she was bringing into her sanctuary. If someone with my strength went wild inside¡­ I held my hands up in apology for the fairy. ¡°She¡¯s joking. Naea, we might have to take over this city to get hold of an aeroplane but we¡¯ll try diplomacy first. We¡¯re not going to be savages, are we?¡± That was a really cool sentence to say out loud, I geeked internally. The pretty wolf lady seemed to be struggling to work out whether I was being serious. ¡°I¡¯m joking,¡± I lied.

    Lucy frowned. ¡°No matter how strong you are, you can¡¯t stop a bullet,¡± she said. ¡°They¡¯ve got more than a few guns in there.¡± I told her I wasn¡¯t planning on getting into any gunfights if I could help it, but I quietly disagreed. It would hurt, but I could absolutely take a bullet. Most casualties from bullet wounds came from the bleeding afterwards, so If I had Naea¡¯s healing, anything less than a headshot would be fine. That is, if the shot could even get through my skin anymore.

    ¡°How did they even get guns?¡± I asked after a moment¡¯s thought. It¡¯s not like firearms were common in the United Kingdom to start with.

    ¡°I heard it was someone¡¯s quest reward,¡± Lucy answered with a grimace. I found that particular idea somewhat disturbing until I considered that the System had given me a magical weapon which could turn into just about anything. A gun was actually a pretty terrible reward compared to an Aspect, which could turn you into a gun.

    I shrugged. It wasn¡¯t like I was going to look for a fight, but I wouldn¡¯t stop either. I had a goal, now it pointed me to the city, so I was going. ¡°I think I¡¯m going to try the front door,¡± I told Lucy, turning to ask what she was planning to do. Except, as I looked, there was no Lucy to be found. The pretty woman had disappeared entirely. I nodded, more than a little impressed. It was smart to stay out of the way, I guessed. ¡°Does she think she¡¯s Batman or something? C¡¯mon then, Nae, let¡¯s move.¡±

    There was still a fair distance between us and the now visible buildings of Londimin. Naea and I shot forth together, clearing the fairly expansive river quickly. To my surprise, Naea opted to swim, her Dao feeling exalted within the flowing waters. Her speed was so quick that it seemed like teleportation as she appeared at random within the waves. I used Air Manipulation to create steps and within a minute I had crossed the water but it was nowhere near as graceful as Naea.

    It wasn¡¯t long after that we were forced to slow down once more. The towns of old were not built for the speeds I could now move at, and I blasted past a few streets of houses before even noticing that suburbia had crept up on me. Row after row of cookie cutter homes had been left abandoned, a ghost town through and through. I didn¡¯t need to ask for a reason these buildings weren¡¯t being used.

    Tall walls loomed nearby, easily twenty feet tall. Due to their uniformity and quality, I could tell these were System made, and not anything like the ramshackle defences I might have expected. A few bored looking scouts were keeping watch from atop those fortifications. There were no severe walls around Ascentown and I realised upon seeing the parapets and ramparts that I didn¡¯t want them, either. The place looked like a singular, massive fortress, or maybe a prison.

    ¡°Naea, stay hidden for now. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll have a chance to make a scene soon enough.¡± Following my suggestion, Naea rippled with mana and faded from sight. Even to my stormborn eyes, the mana was incredibly subtle and hard to spot. She¡¯d been practising, clearly. ¡°Let¡¯s go see a man about a plane.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Fifty - Elsewhere V

    The descent of the System was not a peaceful thing anywhere in the world. This tale is but one of thousands like it, played out in replication across a beleaguered and changing globe. Nolan Fair was not blessed with a unique starting position or additional explanation like a few lucky chosen ones. He, like billions, was simply going about his day.

    The Shift began to occur at 12:16 on the 30th of April. Twenty five minutes later, the world changed forever. In a whirlwind of chaotic magic, a lurching felt in the heart and stomachs of every living being and a flash of light with colours that had never existed before, humanity was thrown into their newest challenge.

    ¡°Daddy, you¡¯re hurting,¡± a soft voice to Nolan¡¯s right whimpered. The large man immediately released his vice grip on his youngest daughter¡¯s fingers and turned to her, brushing her down while scanning the area. An ominous voice had begun to ring in everyone¡¯s head at once, counting down to some unknown change. As Nolan tried his best to figure out exactly what that change was, he made sure to smile apologetically.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry babygirl,¡± he cooed, ¡°that was scary, wasn¡¯t it? Even Daddy got a little frightened! We¡¯re okay now, though. Aren¡¯t we, Lu?¡± Their location hadn¡¯t changed, as far as Nolan could tell, and a grunt from the teenager at least confirmed she was still there. His older daughter was like him, stoic and discerning. Sarah was more like her mother. Big brown eyes wide in fear, but trust allowing her to remain calm while I did.

    The Fair family were slightly scattered, and Nolan was both terrified to imagine his wife¡¯s status. She was a first responder in London for Christ''s sake. The sounds of destruction had started before the countdown even ended, and knowing Maisie, she would have done whatever she could to help people right away. Nolan allowed himself to settle on pride for the love of his life while he worked to protect their children. It was hard not to be out there with her, but he could not be more grateful for the rare day off which had placed him and his girls in their local park when the countdown began.

    Sarah nodded, her lip quivering. ¡°Daddy what¡¯s happening? Why are all the people running?¡± Nolan¡¯s heart shuddered as he scooped up the nine year old and started moving again. A glance and nod to the eldest to make sure she was following, Nolan brushed his fingers through Sarah¡¯s chestnut curls.

    ¡°I¡¯m not all the way sure, baby. Do you think maybe that scary voice was just starting a game of hide and seek?¡± Nolan saw an angle to latch onto, even as the seventeen year old behind him scoffed. Sarah had always loved hide and seek. While she was almost old enough to be called a young woman, the childish idea was enough of an explanation for now. ¡°So, we should find somewhere really good to hide, I think.¡±

    Her face buried in his chest, she nodded an agreement. There were a lot of challenges between Nolan¡¯s career and his wife¡¯s, but being prepared for the unexpected was not one of them. Her, a lifesaver, Nolan, a protector. He hadn¡¯t felt like much of one recently, but the training he received from being in the police force was a rock to rely on. They would be okay as long as he controlled the situation in his immediate area. While he was not regularly equipped with one, Nolan found himself wishing he had a firearm.

    The world was already a horror show. People had always been the problem.

    Nolan had tried to get the group home before the countdown finished but it had been impossible. They had been on a father-daughters walk somewhere near Hammersmith and with the confusion everything had ground to a halt. He certainly wasn¡¯t getting onto public transport while the world ended. Now, Nolan aimed himself for the only place he could think of which might have everything they would need. ¡°Is your phone working, Lu?¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± she hissed. Nolan didn¡¯t take it personally, he was frustrated and scared, too. The signal their phones relied on for data had vanished, which made Nolan feel sick. If that was true across the world? They weren¡¯t ready for this. Just that single implication realigned a few principles for the intense man.

    ¡°Okay then, let¡¯s hurry inside.¡± A few other people were wandering around the shopping centre which Nolan had decided to take his family to, but he paid them little attention. There was some looting happening already, but most seemed to be disappointed about something, walking away from the stores. They can¡¯t have been emptied already, can they?

    His fears were confirmed, though not in the way he expected. Nolan found a small bed and mattress store and claimed it for himself and his girls while they figured some things out. The owner was still inside, unsure of what to do with himself but able to give Nolan some much needed information. His name was Peter, and his thick southern accent made Sarah giggle despite the not-distant-enough sounds of fear and anger in the air.

    First, the Shift had seemingly stolen most of the resources in the area. When the countdown finished, multiple business owners had run around asking what had happened. Peter hadn¡¯t lost much from his own shop, but some had apparently been emptied in a moment. Most of the food was gone, which was no doubt where most of the current fighting was happening. Nolan¡¯s hopes of finding some supplies here were dashed, and some vicious thoughts started to gain purchase.

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    He would do anything to protect his girls.

    Something which might become easier with the second piece of information Peter provided. ¡°Concentrate on the word System in your head, like it¡¯s got a capital letter.¡± Though the explanation was a little strange, the interface for the System was intuitive after the shock of a text box appearing in mid-air wore off.

    Name - Nolan Fair   Race - Human (Grade 0)   Level - 01

    Title - None

    Fortitude - 8  Speed - 5   Mental - 5   Will - 6

    Free attribute points: 0

    4 Per Level

    It wasn¡¯t long until Nolan understood just how close he had been when he guessed the voice in their heads had started a game. It had, but not one that Nolan liked. A full-scale battle royale, every man, woman and child for themselves. His heart broke over and over again as the hours ticked by and his understanding grew. Nolan had gained his first level by accident when someone swaggered past the store and noticed the group inside.

    ¡°Out!¡± He had demanded, hands stained with the blood he had dried on his own clothes. Nolan didn¡¯t even get his name, convincing him to walk around a corner with him. Nolan¡¯s assault had been brutal, all of the day¡¯s fear, stress and rage combining into one devastating punch to the man¡¯s chest. The power behind the blow had surprised even Nolan, but not as much as it had the stranger with the caved in ribs.

    A few moments later, the level up notification appeared along with the ability to take the man¡¯s valuables. This had in turn shown Nolan about the inventory screen, as well as given him a long knife which he immediately threw away. It had dripped with blood when he removed it from his own inventory. Nolan¡¯s lip twitched as he took the man¡¯s corpse, vanishing it into his personal magical storage to dispose of later. Placing two points into Fortitude and two into Speed, Nolan gritted his teeth at the strange sensation of increasing attributes before smiling widely.

    Nolan would do anything to keep his daughters safe.

    That first night , Nolan kept watch outside the store. Peter had been a gentleman, even able to share a packet of biscuits he still had. That didn¡¯t mean Nolan trusted him enough to leave his girls with him. Tomorrow he wanted to get a better sense of what was happening, he just needed to make sure Lucy and Sarah were okay first. As night fell properly, someone managed to lower the shutters on the main doors.

    That was probably the only reason the people inside survived to the morning. As darkness took the land, things began to go bump in the night. The electricity to the area was somehow still working, but anywhere the evening¡¯s darkness found purchase became a tunnel to hell. Monsters began to stalk, quietly at first, but soon nowhere was safe.

    Unsure of what to do, Nolan grabbed Peter and shuttered his girls inside the mattress store. Peter had squawked in protest, but Nolan didn¡¯t care. ¡°They stay safe in there, we keep them safe out here.¡± The screams of those people still outside the main doors would haunt Nolan for the rest of his life, but he would be damned if his daughters would share that fate.

    The first monster Nolan met in the nightmare of this new world was a vicious looking lizard man, with an even more gnarly looking weapon. In its muscular arms was a heavy looking glaive, nothing fancy about it except the sharp blade at the end. A small part of Nolan couldn¡¯t avoid finding thrill and excitement in it all, which was good because he focused on that portion rather than the screaming doubts in his mind. Peter whimpered and did nothing, but Nolan hadn¡¯t actually expected the old man to help.

    A large volume of sharp teeth sat in a gruesome, crocodilian jaw. Two milky yellow eyes blinked at them, straight pupils flickering between Nolan and Peter as its tongue shot out to taste the air, easily a foot long. The general physique was that of a muscular human, but its entire body was covered in knobbly grey, green and black scales. Nolan had never seen anything so terrifying in his life.

    The fight between Nolan and the lizard lasted less than fifteen seconds, but he might as well have aged a lifetime. It moved with fluid grace, the weapon snapping forward like a viper¡¯s deadly bite. Nolan surprised himself by even being able to react, dodging the first stab and punching the weapon away with his palm. The second attack, a swipe at his legs, he was less ready for. Unable to dodge, he stepped into the blow and countered himself.

    Pain focused his attention and ignited the killer instincts that fear deadened. All of Nolan¡¯s muscles roared as he grabbed the lizard by the throat, wrapped his other hand around the monster¡¯s elbow and then shoved his good leg against its chest. The three points of contact were enough for Nolan to heave and rip. With a horrible screeching and a tearing sound like wood being broken, Nolan tore the lizard apart. Its arm came away in one hand, and its head another.

    He gasped, throwing away the gore and falling to the floor. His left leg had been punctured by the glaive, the large weapon buried up to the bone even now. His head spun and Peter moved over to give him some help. The older man looked paler than Nolan as he brandished a ripped up piece of bedding, aiming to tie it around the wound as a tourniquet. Nolan held up a hand, opening his character page instead.

    The fight had given him another level, all four attribute points of which went into Fortitude. The wound on Nolan¡¯s leg closed before their eyes, and he grunted in satisfaction before hefting the glaive off the floor where it had fallen, pushed from his leg by the healing. A path was crystallising for Nolan, despite the dangers. He looted the lizardman, and his eyes widened.

    Before he could focus on what he had found, the screams brought him back to the present. A growing number of monsters were breaking into the shopping centre. Peter didn¡¯t bother sticking around once Nolan made it clear he wasn¡¯t hiding in the store with his daughters, opting to run off instead. It was a shame, but it gave Nolan an opportunity to devour the meatball sub he had looted from the lizardman.

    More than anything else, the meatball sandwich in his inventory was like a miracle. The thing was even still hot. In the guiltiest moment of his life, he devoured it. Knowing he couldn¡¯t face his children, he told them through the shutters to stay put. He couldn¡¯t go far but he didn¡¯t have to wait long until more monsters appeared. Very quickly, Nolan began to see them as experience to make him stronger and food for his daughters.

    This was how he saved them, he knew. One bloody, vicious battle at a time.

 Book Two - Chapter Fifty One - London Falling

    Two.

    ¡°Okay, I think I understand.¡± Sure, the world was going crazy, there was a voice in Seth¡¯s head counting down to the end and now he had an alien telling him he needed to end that same alien¡¯s life. Not how he expected my day to go, but expectations went out the window for everyone about half an hour ago. The streets had already devolved into anarchy, and the sirens Seth could hear weren¡¯t approaching, but heading away. In the chaos, he had knocked someone out for attacking a woman. The woman had run away, but his new ¡°friend¡± approached in response.

    Moving them both into an alley, Titus explained that a powerful godlike overlay to the world was about to appear called the System and that Seth was to be ready. Certainly sir, of course magic is real and aliens use it to become gods. What¡¯s that? You want me to do that, too? Well, naturally. With the sonorous voice in his ears counting down towards an unknown oblivion, the idea that it was actually an opportunity was too appealing for Seth to simply ignore.

    Of course, he¡¯d always known he was meant for greatness. It was no great surprise that in the moments of clearest darkness, he would be put forth as a hero. Standing next to Titus, he did feel a little less built for purpose. The alien wore an earth-like business suit of grey and black with a few strange accoutrements which made it clear he was not originally from Earth. He produced a bizarre looking pocket watch from his breast pocket and grimaced.

    One.

    ¡°The time should be near.¡± Titus¡¯ deep voice continually kept Seth from freaking out, which he was starting to suspect was a type of mind control. The huge man with the too-perfect skin, too-straight teeth and strange eyes thrust a bag into the shell-shocked man¡¯s open right hand. Into his left, Titus placed a knife. ¡°You say you understand but are you ready?¡±

    I guess you¡¯d call this a dagger, not a knife, he thought dumbly as he nodded at Titus while staring at the blade. He could do this. Screams were picking up as the countdown nearing its end, and everything started to feel less real. The world seemed to slip away beneath them, the sky above awash with shooting stars. No, not stars, he realised bursting into a surprised laugh. The clouds above were flying across the sky at impossible speeds. The sensation of walking through a dream intensified.

    Zero. System online. Good Luck.

    The voice spoke and Seth¡¯s skull tickled. Not forgetting his promise, he brought the dagger down hard on Titus¡¯ waiting chest. He let go, and the two looked at each other for a second. Titus took a deep breath, despite the puncture to one lung. ¡°To the right,¡± he choked out, pained. Seth could barely hear him, but he grabbed the dagger and drove the blade down again and again. Titus fell, his arms splayed. The giant man smiled as he died.

    Ding! Level Up!

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Once the haze faded, Seth came back to his body. He had been having an out-of-body experience, watching himself do as Titus had told him to without any real conscious thought of his own. The moment he returned, he fell to his knees and vomited all around the alley. A message pinged in his vision over and over, but it was ignored in favour of more consistent retching and screaming.

    Eventually, Seth knew he had to move. There were still sounds of fright and chaos everywhere, but those sounds were taking on a different tone. From anger and confusion to true terror. There was a lull as the true change occurred and the world spun over his head, but now it was picking up again, with more ferocity.

    This is what the alien said would happen, Seth realised. For the last twenty minutes, Titus had demanded Seth¡¯s attention as he explained everything he could to him. Seth struggled now to remember it, believing most of it to be the insane ramblings of a madman. A few things stuck out and Seth locked them into his memory. Titus said that he was a nomad from a group called the Accord. He said evil was coming to Earth and that Seth was lucky enough to be in a position to stop it. Seth very much doubted that as a huge form loped past his alleyway.

    Seth¡¯s bladder threatened to burst as a dog the size of a large car prowled past. He pressed himself into the shadowed wall and thanked God when a yell of fear drew the beast away. It looked like a rottweiler which had been stretched, bone first, into a monster. It roared like a lion as it tore down the cobbled street after the voice.

    He stumbled backwards and a new text box rose to join the first. Finally looking, Seth read them as quickly as he could. One was a level up, which led him to a page of numbers describing himself. He put two points into speed and three into fortitude, feeling an icy burn in his bones and a fiery scorch on his skin. Once those passed, strength followed. The fear he felt only moments before was swept away by the adrenaline and power coursing through his veins.

    The other prompt was interesting, too. ¡°Sorry, Titus.¡± He supposed Titus probably hoped he would loot him afterwards. He may even have told him to, but Seth hadn¡¯t been paying full attention. He was upset with himself now, but there wasn¡¯t anything that could be done now to remember those foggy minutes before the System descended.

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    Titus - Level 8

    Would you like to loot Titus?

    After choosing yes, it was only ten seconds or so of fumbling through screens before Seth found himself wearing a sword, a shield and a whole suit of armour. Each had an actual magical effect, including the armour which placed itself on straight from his inventory. Each item gleamed with magical energies, the golds and chromes glistening.

    Item - Fatecutter Blade

    Once delivered to an assassin meant to kill a god, the man died of natural causes that very night. Now, it is better used without a purpose so grand. More of the item¡¯s secrets may become apparent as your strength grows.

    Effect: The tip of this blade can destroy or dispel magical effects.

    Item - Destiny¡¯s Bulwark

    Used to great effect by an emperor known for never being dismounted in a joust. Such were his victories, that his fief grew fives times in size. Only in death, was this shield¡¯s effect discovered. More of the item¡¯s secrets may become apparent as your strength grows.

    Effect: This shield automatically attempts to place itself between the wielder and danger.

    Item - Suit of the Bastion

    Worn by a paranoid knight, this enchanted armour is nearly impossible to destroy. For the knight, it was used to escape many near-death moments. More of the item¡¯s secrets may become apparent as your strength grows.

    Effect: No scrying, tracking or similar scouting effects can be used on the wearer.

    Along with four thousand gold coins and the equipment was a large, ornate crystal ball. Around the size of a tennis ball, the outside of the orb was glassy but inside it was filled with dancing colours. Red and gold particles swirled around within wonderfully, mixing in places to become a delightful bronze symbol which floated into view occasionally.

    Aspect - Hero (Legendary)

    Aspects are formed when ambient mana in an area becomes charged with a specific type of energy. If you have unbound attributes, you may permanently bind an Aspect to an unbound attribute.

    Would you like to use the Aspect of the Hero to bind an unbound attribute?

    Of course, his answer was yes. This all felt correct, not just based on what Titus had told him, but what Seth always felt his life should be. Heroic abilities and the magical equipment of a knightly godkiller were exactly what he always deserved. Even then, it was still surreal to punch into the alley wall and see the concrete crack, not his fist. Barely certain what was real anymore, excited and giddy, Seth stepped out of the alley and into the light.

    It was time to be a hero.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    A full day later, Seth made a vow to himself as he huddled within a storm drain that he would never go above ground again. However, once growls started echoing through the sewer tunnels he hid within, that decision was quickly changed. He was dead tired and just wanted to sleep. Even a dank concrete hole in the ground would have worked, if it wasn¡¯t for the chittering and whooping everywhere.

    It wasn¡¯t that Seth was bad at fighting, which he needed to do often in the previous half a day. He was actually very good at fighting. The whoops and cackles got closer, so Seth groaned and pulled himself to his feet. He quickly set to slaughtering the newest group of hyena men to attack him but the fight forced him out of the drain. He didn¡¯t want to get surrounded underground, but now it meant they were here. The haunted and terrified faces of people too shellshocked to get moving. The peanut gallery just watched as Seth¡¯s skin was torn from him. His shield jumped to defend him, and he let the current of magic flow up his arm.

    Skill - Heroic Strike

    The final moment, everything on the line, you¡¯ll never miss and never falter.

    Whenever a perfect moment appeared, Seth struck out. More than instinct was guiding his hands now. It was magic. The energy within took Seth¡¯s hand and slashed the sword for him, finishing the closest creature with one blow. The pack of Gnolls, as the weird messages that appeared above their corpses called them, fell quickly to his magical weapons and steadily increasing levels. Each one came with five attribute points to make him stronger or faster, making the next fight that much easier.

    It was when the dust settled and the blood was drying that the real problems started for Seth. The battle had dragged him out of hiding and shown him to other humans who were trying to survive. The Gnolls were everywhere, and more of them began to charge Seth¡¯s position. Seeing him kill their fellow beasts sent the ones in the surrounding area into a frenzy, all aimed at his throat. His shield continued to dutifully jump between himself and any attack, while Heroic Strike was simply a matter of timing. Soon, all the Gnolls were dead and the zombies descended. Luckily, he didn¡¯t have to fight these people.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± A panicky woman asked Seth. He jerked away as she tried to stroke his hair. The people were losing it.

    ¡°Do you know what¡¯s happening? Where did you get that stuff? Show us! Why would you trust some idiot with a sword? Can you not see it¡¯s a fucking magic sword, idiot?¡±

    Seth quietened the questions by telling everyone they still weren¡¯t out of the woods yet. The crowd had appeared quickly, drawn by the ¡°safe¡± spot around. Seth knew what would happen, but he told the people to follow him all the same. Each time he had gathered a group over the last twenty four hours the same thing had occurred. Hopefully his attributes were high enough to stop this group from being completely overrun. He was tired of being the last survivor.

    ¡°We should get to safety. Westfields¡¯ is over there, I can see it.¡± Seth almost kissed the man who suggested that. He hadn¡¯t been able to form a coherent plan while surrounded by so much death and danger, but they could barricade the place at least. Of course, Seth didn¡¯t actually show gratitude. The people were looking at him like the hero he was, and showing that he wasn¡¯t in complete control would make them doubt him.

    ¡°Way ahead of you,¡± Seth said with forced confidence. He plastered a smile on his face and looked at the fifteen or so survivors from the immediate area. If he had to guess, there was approximately a one in ten chance for any of them to survive the mile between where they stood and the shopping centre. He decided to swagger regardless, sauntering forward casually. ¡°Let¡¯s go and save some more people, shall we?¡±

    As though a divine watcher was guiding them, a System prompt appeared before Seth¡¯s eyes, filling them with wonder and his heart with hope. Maybe he actually could survive this carnage, so long as the System decided to help. He strode forward, the civilians following behind. For the first time since this all began, Seth truly believed things would work out. Of course they would.

    He was the hero, after all.

    New Quest - Protect The Populace

    A central area known as Westfields is the target of the growing horde. It has given sanctuary to some, but now threatens to become a wall for them to be crushed against. Defend the meek, and the protection you grant shall become permanent.

    Reward: Random Aspect based on performance

    Opportunity to form a System Sanctioned village

    Safety

 Book Two - Chapter Fifty Two - The Shift, Redux

    It had been around twenty four hours since the System descended and Nolan was feeling something close to confidence. His glaive had been working perfectly to keep his people safe, though the thought of the growing number of dependents behind him was a burden. It was a weight he would bear gladly if his daughters could see the new day. The fact that others who couldn¡¯t defend themselves began to flock to him was a blessing and a curse.

    Could Nolan trust those people around his children? He had no choice in any case, so he asked Peter to protect them in his place. He returned not long after the initial battles had finished, looking as guilty as a person could. Nolan placed a bet on him not wanting to relive that feeling. The look of relief on the older man¡¯s face when Nolan asked for his help let Nolan sure he would do his best this time, at least.

    He simply couldn¡¯t be in two places at once, and the further he kept the growing swarm of monsters away from his girls the better. Instead of letting the fear and doubt set it, Nolan ploughed forth and set about freeing the other survivors from their battles. A few people had taken up arms, but none had done as well as Nolan. The panicked and scared, he sent to the growing sanctuary of Peter¡¯s bed and mattress store. Those who held a fire in their eyes came with him.

    Over the proceeding hour, Nolan and his group cleared the shopping centre of its monster problem. His level had risen to four by the end, and his strength was becoming shocking in its own right. He wasn¡¯t the only one. There were six fighters alongside him, all with a level or two under their belts now. Of them, A woman named Cassie was standing out amongst the other survivors, having found a literal cleaver that was being used to great effect.

    The lizardmen which made up the bulk of the enemy weren¡¯t much more dangerous than a grown man with fangs, which is to say fairly dangerous, but nothing unassailable. They prowled in groups, smashing into stores looking for humans to devour. Their numbers were never more than three or four, however, which meant that they were now outnumbered when the groups met. All it really took was bravery.

    They could hardly even be called a team, but their strategy was working all the same. Nolan would smash into the monsters like a bull and focused attention onto himself, leaving the other fighters to tackle a single enemy. They would use their greater numbers to hold them down while Cassie hacked off limbs. They took damage, but gaining levels made them whole again. The food they looted from the corpses helped, too.

    With the danger seemingly removed, and Nolan no longer the only one capable of dealing with it, he rushed back to his girls. He was surprised to find Peter¡¯s store nearly empty, just Peter and his daughters inside. Instead of getting everyone in, it seemed Peter had let them take most of his stock outside. A few of the nearby businesses had been taken over for space. It was already beginning to look like an encampment as he pushed his way through to the innermost store.

    ¡°Good job out there,¡± Nolan said to Peter as he walked past him with a nod. Peter threw his hands up and shrugged.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t my idea, they forced me to do it. It makes sense, but still¡­ they¡¯re putting their shoes on the linen.¡± Peter looked truly distraught at the thought, but Nolan snorted. That was very like his girls. They took after their mother in that way. Nolan¡¯s lip quivered as he thought of Maisie out there in this chaos, knowing all he could do for her was protect her legacy. ¡°What are we going to do, Nolan?¡±

    Nolan didn¡¯t answer immediately, instead hugging his daughters. Or, tried to. His clothes were disgusting and he didn¡¯t blame them for keeping him at arms length, even if it stung a little. He produced two burgers, still piping hot, from his inventory with a grin and a magician¡¯s flourish. The flinch of surprised from Lucy was a nice touch, and Sarah giggled as he knew she would. ¡°So, it turns out that the monsters were hiding all the food!¡±

    Nolan explained the situation to both of his girls, using a well practised control of language to keep Sarah from getting too frightened. Pretending the apocalypse wasn¡¯t happening didn¡¯t work, so keeping them abreast of the situation was the best choice. ¡°So, that¡¯s how things are. Daddy¡¯s going to have to go back outside and see if there¡¯s anyone else he can help, though.¡±

    Sarah reacted to this news as he expected, ignoring the dried gore on his clothes and wrapping him in a squeezing hug. Lucy maintained eye contact and simply nodded. Nolan had never felt so proud as she took her sister¡¯s hand and distracted her with some of the other surviving children. They were the whole reason Nolan would fight. He would be damned if anything happened to those kids while he still drew breath.

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    And if he could save someone else, he would do that, too.

    Alarms began to scream and loud crashing could be heard from the front of the shopping centre. Nolan was already sprinting, shouting for anyone who could help to come with him. He didn¡¯t wait, returning his glaive to its spot in his inventory so that he could sprint with both hands free. Nolan knew the shutters couldn¡¯t actually hold against monsters, so he needed to get there as quickly as possible.

    Within moments, he was throwing himself from the second story of the shopping centre and landing in the main foyer. The banging was ongoing, but the shutters had held. Now Nolan was close enough to hear it, he could tell it wasn¡¯t monsters on the other side. At least, not ones created by the System. ¡°Let us in! It¡¯s dangerous out here, the monsters are coming!¡±

    Nolan hesitated, but no one was around to see. He was joined by Cassie and the others quickly. They looked to him for what to do. Stifling a sigh, Nolan nodded. ¡°We¡¯ve got to help them.¡± They set about opening some of the shutters and letting the crowd outside become a crowd inside. Cassie, with her butcher¡¯s cleaver, was standing guard of the path towards the encampment they had already set up. This new group was directed elsewhere. Cassie caught my eye and we shared a look that told me she was on my side, which is to say she cared about the children, too.

    The mood shifted again not long after when a new type of individual arrived. Flanked by two others, this man was clearly more like Nolan than the general populace. He wore impressive looking armour, wielding a fantastical looking sword and shield to complete the look. It was as though he had stepped right out of a fantasy novel. Nolan didn¡¯t know what to make of him but approached him anyway.

    ¡°Are you leading this group?¡± Nolan asked. The man turned to him and sized him up. Nolan almost brought his glaive to his hand at the look one of the other men gave him but the armoured man held up a hand as though he expected it. Nolan tilted his head and committed the man¡¯s face to memory as one of the people he would let protect themself in the future. A nose broken a few too many times and cauliflower ears told Nolan this guy wasn¡¯t many people¡¯s best friend.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Trevor. My name¡¯s Seth, and yes,¡± the man, Seth, chuckled as he spoke, ¡°I suppose I do lead this group. I¡¯ll be taking over here, Nolan.¡± The kid couldn¡¯t be much more than a teenager, but the two grown men following him were serious enough that this wasn¡¯t a joke. Nolan scoffed and rolled his eyes. Just what they needed, someone playing a hero.

    Nolan¡¯s perspective must have shifted massively because he considered the screech from outside of Westfields¡¯ to be something of a blessing. The bravado in front of him crumpled slightly and Nolan got a much better understanding of Seth. A paper tiger, Nolan decided as he stepped forward towards the shutters. ¡°You,¡± he pointed to Seth, Trevor and the final man, ¡°with me. Now.¡±

    They were clearly fighters, and while Nolan didn¡¯t need dramatics, he did need bodies. ¡°Wh- what are we doing?¡± Seth asked. His voice cracked on the first word, and he needed to clear his throat to finish his question.

    ¡°If you want to be a leader, give people a reason to follow. You¡¯ve got the armour and sword, right? Use them. We¡¯re going to protect these people. Maybe I might actually give you some respect if you show you¡¯re worth it, kid.¡± Nolan stalked forward, removing his now familiar weapon from his inventory. Trevor shied away as Nolan pushed past him and stepped into the daylight outside.

    The alarms were drawing attention of all the wrong kinds. A few singular survivors were approaching, but they were few and far between. Instead, a wave of beasts and monstrosities were approaching. Nolan was a little surprised when Seth stepped up beside him, levelling his weapon and shield, glancing between Nolan and the horde. Nolan decided to take a chance.

    ¡°Listen, kid,¡± he began, ¡°my daughters are in hiding. You¡¯ve got some levels, right? Well, let¡¯s just think of that incoming crowd as a bunch of levels waiting for us. We¡¯re going to use those levels to protect the people behind us. You want to be a leader? Good, I don¡¯t. If we survive today, and my daughters are kept safe, I¡¯ll do whatever you want.¡±

    Nolan mostly wanted to psyche up the person who was most obviously carrying some levels and abilities, but his words worked even more than he could have hoped. ¡°So, what you¡¯re saying¡­¡± Seth¡¯s voice became less shaky with each word, ¡°is that right now¡­ I¡¯m being a hero?¡±

    Nolan felt an electricity in the air that he didn¡¯t understand but he nodded all the same. ¡°Yeah, kid. We definitely need one right now.¡± There was a snapping, like Nolan¡¯s ears had popped. He felt slightly drained, like he had just run a long sprint, but his eyes widened as Seth started to glow. A golden aura surrounded the young man, and even Nolan felt his heart get moved a little. Maybe this kid wasn¡¯t all talk.

    ¡°I got a quest as I walked up here to protect Westfields from the horde. The reward just says safety, but I think that¡¯s enough to bet on for now. Let''s be heroes, shall we, old man?¡±

    Nolan sized the boy up, shaking away the strange influence that followed him now he could feel it. He was just a kid, but he seemed to be trying his best. That was enough. ¡°I¡¯ll believe you for now. You want to protect this place? Perfect. Let¡¯s do exactly that. And it¡¯s Nolan, you little shit.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough, Nolan.¡± the boy said with a smile. The next few hours were a bloody, awful mess with more than one loss of life. Nolan watched Cassie get her arm eaten, cleaver and all, by a massive beast that looked like a crocodile mixed with an ox. The lizard held her on one of its huge horns, not able to reach her now lifeless body which hung from it like a grotesque bauble. Nolan couldn¡¯t stop for a second. This was the world now.

    One, long, bloody fight for survival.

 Book Two - Chapter Fifty Three - Londimin Calling

    The defence of Westfields became a legend around which Seth¡¯s blooming faction blossomed. Seth was the main character of the retelling, rallying a fighting force and maintaining the bulwark which protected those not yet ready to step into the System within the shopping centre. Once the horde had been successfully repelled, Seth¡¯s quest completed and literal walls of protection arose from nowhere. It certainly struck a poignant image.

    It was a flowery story at this point, which ignored the blood and lives which it cost to let them write it. Nolan¡¯s own place was as a single line in the epic, something he was grateful for. If he had the energy to be grateful, that is.

    The eight weeks or so since the Battle of Westfields passed in a blur that Nolan barely felt himself surface from. There was rarely a moment of relaxation to be found, always a new danger to defeat or decision to take care of. Nolan felt stretched like an overinflated balloon from it all. The core of his new life was the safety of his girls. To the members of their new community, Nolan was an unyielding font of stamina and strength because he simply never stopped.

    One of the first challenges for the new town was turning the current architecture into one that fit their purposes. The town was mostly made up of office spaces and other non-residential areas to begin with. Luckily, a general calm settled over their tentative sanctuary quite quickly once the initial wave of monsters was dealt with. After surviving a few battles themselves, some of the others gained levels and were able to help speed up the process of defending the area and clearing monsters away. Once all was said and done, despite the tragic loss of life, there were still thousands of survivors. Which meant thousands of mouths to feed.

    Most people were pulling their weight in one way or another, and thanks to Seth¡¯s recent upgrade to Londimin, the resource problem was slowly fading into memory. Either through quest rewards, which seemed entirely arbitrary to Nolan, or System credits in the form of gold coins, Seth as the leader of Londimin could purchase buildings for the city. The System stores had allowed them to go from a wild, feral existence to one which resembled the old world massively.

    His own family were placed in one of the few actual residential homes in the area, a flat above a shop. The five rooms, including kitchen and bathroom, were extravagant compared to the living situation for most. They even had actual beds, paid for by Nolan through the stores with his own credits. Things were reaching some kind of normalcy for his family, but Nolan didn¡¯t want to even think how dire it was outside the city.

    Land in Londimin was still at a premium due to the walls which now limited their growth. Seth¡¯s reward for defeating the horde was the chance to establish a safe area, complete with physical walls. It seemed that monsters didn¡¯t like to come too close in any case, a more invisible barrier slightly further out which allowed them to farm outside the walls a little. Even with that, it was still tight.

    Everyone was packed in and feeling the claustrophobia of it all. Fights weren¡¯t uncommon and it was truly impossible to stop the robbery and abuse which existed at the bottom line of their small society. With the system just randomly granting items, wealth or even magic to people at random, the economy was one of pure desire and speculation. When you mix those two emotions, you more often than not end up with disappointment.

    At least the System stores were slowly alleviating that problem. People still preferred to deal with a human face rather than what was essentially an omnipotent computer system, so the trading profession was going nowhere. You couldn¡¯t haggle with the System, after all.

    ¡°Daddy, I¡¯m booooored!¡± Nolan¡¯s body and thoughts froze. He was halfway out of the door when Sarah¡¯s beleaguered voice carried down the hall of their apartment. That his daughter was bored was a blessing. If that remained the only issue she faced on a daily basis, Nolan would remain a happy man. However, he could not ignore her plight. He had always been putty in his daughter¡¯s pudgy hands, after all. The same was true for her older sister, but that relationship was straining by the day. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, baby, did you finish your book?¡±

    ¡°For the tenth time,¡± Sarah answered, looking him dead in the eye with such severity even Nolan found himself taking the issue more seriously. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to do while you¡¯re working. Can I come with you?¡±

    Nolan smiled and gently brushed his daughter''s dark blonde hair. She began to pout, knowing his answer before he even said it. ¡°My work isn¡¯t safe for little girls, you know that.¡± Nolan wanted to break the System to pieces as he saw his little girl flinch, anger at himself for being careless. Sarah saw a lot of death in those first days. He was pretty sure that his stats were helping him keep his own sanity, but his daughter wasn¡¯t exactly gathering levels.

    At least, one of his daughters wasn¡¯t.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure Lucy comes back to play with you, I just have to find her first.¡± Sarah¡¯s lip quivered a little and she turned away from Nolan. He felt like a failure when it came to his girl¡¯s emotions, but what could he do? The world wasn¡¯t exactly throwing psychiatrists into his lap. He dropped the hand he wanted to place on Sarah¡¯s shoulder and stood instead. With a firm set of his Jaw, Nolan realigned his emotions on the subject.

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    He needed to have some words with Lucy.

    Sarah had been quiet, well behaved and even helpful in the two months since the System descended. Lucy, not so much. It was all Nolan could do to keep track of her, especially now she had an Aspect. It wasn¡¯t fair for Nolan to try and hide her from the world, but at the same time, the thought of his little girl fighting in this new world filled him with more fear than he thought possible. He barely had room for anything else, even Sarah.

    While she was still young, that was Lucy¡¯s fault and something Nolan would remedy right now.

    People moved out of his way in the crowded roads of the city. He still didn¡¯t like the name, but he didn¡¯t mind the respect he was given as one of the ¡°founders'''' of Londimin. Seth had been allowed to name their small slice of Western London and decided to stay with the general theme. Londimin wasn¡¯t quite thriving, but it survived the first wave of devastation visited upon the world. That was probably better than most could say.

    Nolan was true to his word, following Seth now as his firmest defender. The kid was trying. Seth made the wise decision to make Nolan the sheriff of their town, and Nolan¡¯s prior experience helped him cultivate and maintain a semblance of lawfulness. The rules in Londimin were fairly simple. Don¡¯t steal. Don¡¯t kill each other. Actually, don¡¯t assault each other in any way. Don¡¯t leave Londimin. Don¡¯t blow through rations, stuff like that. Seeing a few monsters was enough for most people in their lifetime to follow any rule.

    Most people.

    ¡°Have you seen Lucy today?¡± Nolan asked the first of his guards that he saw. The group of eight he had run through Westfields with on the first and second days were all still alive, now acting as lieutenants for Nolan. The guard on shift shook their head and shrugged, the gesture both apologetic and empathetic. Everyone knew what Lucy was like, it seemed. It didn¡¯t surprise Nolan, but he knew there would be no point searching further.

    Their small encampment wasn¡¯t large enough for someone to disappear for a day without being spotted by pretty much everyone. Lucy was outside the walls, a bad habit she had gotten into. While Nolan wouldn¡¯t have wanted her to join Trevor¡¯s scouts, there were better ways to do what she was trying. Nolan wanted to find Maisie just as badly as Lucy did.

    He just needed to make sure Sarah was safe first. Londimin was becoming safe. If you ignored the magic people were now casually wielding, that is. Nolan¡¯s own Aspect of Justice fueled the mana inside him, granting him skills mostly based on defence and retaliation. It also had the strange quirk of letting him somehow know whether someone was telling the truth or not. It wasn¡¯t something Nolan had shared, nor did he rely on it, but the sense hadn¡¯t been wrong yet.

    ¡°Fucking Aspects,¡± Nolan sighed. They were the centre of all of Nolan¡¯s current issues. The magic crystals which let people become more than they had been. Lucy had gotten ahold of one and now she was incorrigible.

    Aspects were a way to secure massive loyalty. As the strongest, Seth had been able to find these wondrous items safely, giving them to others to speed up the creation of Londimin initially. Slowly, people loyal to Seth were being allowed their own magical gems, and gaining their own level of control over life in this new world. Nolan didn¡¯t like limiting people but he also didn¡¯t trust most people to run around with superpowers. Seth was strong, but if someone else rose to his level of power then the balance they had crafted would fall apart.

    Not that such a thing was likely. Seth was probably the strongest person on the planet right now, with the headstart he had received and the additional rolling benefits that came with it. The System itself recognised him as a Baron and increased his strength again. He must have received some other percentage benefits or something because Nolan had reached the maximum level of thirty alongside him a week ago. He guessed that it was probably mathematically impossible for people to catch up with Seth at this point.

    Nolan obviously worried about such strength in one person¡¯s hands. When there were monsters around, Seth would deal with them almost by accident. A single swing of his magical sword was enough to end most monsters, and his shield was always in the right place to protect him. He waded into danger with boredom on his face recently. Nolan was troubled. Things felt wrong, but what could he do about it? The only thing he could really focus on was keeping Lucy and Sarah safe, everything else was secondary.

    A growing army of insidious sycophants and twisted individuals were attaching themselves to the leader of the town, whispering in his ear. The kid was strong, but easily manipulated. Nolan rushed into his office, the final place he could check in vain for his daughter before accepting the fact she was out in the wilds. When she was, predictably, nowhere to be found, he had to resist the urge to destroy his desk. Anything.

    Nolan stepped out of the police station, an actual one. He had chosen the Hammersmith Police Station as his base. The building had a stately appearance that lent itself to maintaining order. That was what Nolan had told himself, at least.

    ¡°Stupid bitch!¡± Whipping his head around, Nolan was just in time to see the blow which snapped the woman¡¯s head back. He was also quick enough to stop the next one, a kick aimed for her head. He barrelled into the man, sending him flying metres down the road. Instead of crumpling, the man bounced once before landing on his feet with a smirk.

    ¡°HOW DARE YOU?¡± He roared, seeing red. Nolan threw a punch at the man, who scoffed and dodged. Luckily for the woman, and a shame for Nolan, the man had clearly specialised in speed.

    ¡°Whoa there big man,¡± the rat faced man said with his hands up. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to fight. My woman there wasted food.¡± He pointed to a box of egg fried rice strewn about the floor. ¡°Dumb skank knocked it out of my hands for no fucking reason. You know the rules, no one¡¯s allowed to waste food.¡±

    The woman stood up, apologising. Nolan¡¯s heart turned to ice, and his lip curled. ¡°See? She¡¯s sorry, I¡¯m sorry, we¡¯re all good here, Officer Nolan.¡± With a grin, the man turned away, pulling the woman with him. Nolan¡¯s feet were planted, not knowing what to do. Every fibre of his being wanted him to draw the glaive from his inventory and demolish the man for what he did, but what then?

    What would happen to his girls if he tried to fight the festering rot of this establishment?

 Book Two - Chapter Fifty Four - Londimin By Night

    ¡°At risk of ruining a good thing by bringing attention to it, why are we even here?¡± Though his words were met with groans, Morris knew it was only because they had no answer. There was surely no point to having people sitting on the walls of Londimin when they had a weird forcefield river doing all the work for them. Monsters could even spawn inside the bubble anymore, so why were they here?

    Obviously, the answer for themselves was that it paid very well given the general safety of Londimin these days. Sure, he wasn¡¯t gaining levels but that was a job for the actual protectors and scouts, not people like Morris. Morris would much rather have pretended that the world as he knew it hadn¡¯t ended, but such things weren¡¯t generally possible. Especially when a literal wave of monsters poured out of the shadows beyond sight to tear through the town.

    Even if the world had ended, people still had to eat. It had been rough in the beginning, but food wasn¡¯t so hard to get a hold of now. With the increased additions of System stores for most goods, the economy was becoming more and more understood. Some people were still willing to pay more, or barter for less, depending on the quality of the man made goods, but for the most part everyone just bought what they needed straight from the System. Being a wall guard meant you were paid ten gold an hour by the ¡°government¡± of Londimin.

    Maybe it was just to stimulate the economy even more, Morris decided. He thought that might make sense and any larger thought would be too much. ¡°I¡¯ll throw you off the wall if it¡¯s bothering you so much.¡± With a tap on the back of the head, Morris¡¯s brother, Larry joined him at their post. A breezy huff of air puffed out from his thick coat as he sat down heavily on the east-facing bench. ¡°Do you not want to earn an easy wage?¡±

    Morris didn¡¯t bother responding to the question. Of course he did, he¡¯d been doing that for years even before all this started. Technically he had been a data analyst, but a few weeks of coding practice had automated that paycheck right into his pocket. Laziness was simply in his blood. ¡°It¡¯s the middle of Summer, why are you wearing that heavy thing?¡±

    ¡°Well, I bought it earlier and it was comfy¡­¡± Larry frowned and looked down at himself before rolling his eyes and hanging the coat over the wall. His eye lingered on it warily, seemingly scared that it would launch itself from the stone. There wasn¡¯t much worry of that with the night as calm as it was. The sky was clear and the moon was bright, illuminating the quiet lands under their watch.

    It was an uneventful night, until Larry spotted some movement in the darkness below. He wasn¡¯t as high a level as Morris¡¯s eight, but he had put a few points into Will and Mental which made his senses sharper. Morris had, of course, opted for Fortitude, like most of Londimin¡¯s inhabitants. Not only did it make you stronger, but it meant you needed to eat and sleep less. For Morris, it meant more time in the day to earn money, and less need to spend it just on surviving.

    Thoughts of survival were prime on his mind as they both hurried to the side of the wall to get a better look. ¡°What is it?¡± Morris hissed in a whisper. Whatever it was, it couldn¡¯t hear him all the way up here, surely, but it was better safe than sorry.

    ¡°It looked like a person,¡± Larry responded, sounding unsure. ¡°I¡­ think I saw a person over there.¡± Larry pointed his spear down in a way which caught the light, and Morris wanted to strangle him. Instead, he followed the direction of the point.

    ¡°On their own? Are you sure? It¡¯s not safe out there.¡± Morris bit his lip and kept looking. The world was dangerous. Morris himself had been forced to fight enough time in the few months since the System descended, but he didn¡¯t love it. He was saving up to buy an Aspect, but they were massively expensive. If it wasn¡¯t for the high pay of the guard position, he wouldn¡¯t even be this close to danger.

    ¡°Maybe it was just your imagination?¡± He asked Larry hopefully. His brother just gave him a look which said ¡®I¡¯m not an idiot¡¯ and ¡®you¡¯re an idiot¡¯ at the same time, a practised fraternal expression. Rather than argue, Morris grunted and nodded, continuing to watch. The grounds around the walls had been the last outskirts of some London suburb, but once the walls were established, most of the homes were torn down to clear the view.

    Morris was pretty desperate for his brother to be wrong, so he tried once more. ¡°It was probably a fox or something, you¡¯re just jumping at shadows, Lar.¡± Morris¡¯s hopeful explanation was ignored as Larry kept his eyes looking into the dark below. Unconsciously moving past denial, Morris took to bargaining. ¡°Shall we go and tell someone?¡±

    ¡°Uh, we are that someone, dumbass.¡± Larry was serious enough that Morris didn¡¯t even rankle at the insult. Of the pair, it was rare for Larry to be the careful one, so it made the situation feel even more surreal. ¡°Look, there it is. It was moving the other way last time.¡± Morris¡¯s knees were shaking as he followed the point again and this time he saw it, too. Whatever it was, it was moving fast.

    ¡°There¡¯s no fucking way that¡¯s a person, right?¡± The creature, whatever it was, circled the wall. The shadows of the moon were cast long and anything within them was hidden by the pitch-black night. ¡°What do we do?¡± If he and Larry were meant to be the first line of defence, did that mean¡­

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    ¡°Whoever is out there!¡± Larry shouted, causing Morris to wither like a leaf. ¡°Show yourself!¡± Morris didn¡¯t even have time to be impressed at how intimidating his idiot brother managed to sound before he added an awkward ¡°...Please?¡±

    ¡°Please?¡± Morris half-mocked, though he was mostly repeating the word in horror. ¡°Well, at least you were polite when you got us killed you fu-¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been looking for the front door!¡± A completely normal, human voice called up from below. To Morris, in his panicky and addled state, this only made things worse. He would rather be anywhere than with this awful creature that could mimic human speech. When he was too young, the slightly older Larry had put a horror movie on their television and Morris found himself traumatised for years. So when the monster below spoke again, all of those memories and emotions came back to him at once. ¡°Can I just come up there?¡±

    His blood froze. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare invite the vampire into the sanctuary,¡± Morris choked out. Larry had been keeping his cool, but their fraternal energies had always been infectious. Unfortunately for Morris, they were also English through and through. He could visibly see the fear on his brother¡¯s face battling with an inability to be perceived as rude. ¡°I swear to god.¡±

    Before Morris was able to finish his oath, Larry betrayed him. His eyes were shut in a wince as he did so. ¡°Yeah, come on up.¡± Morris just tilted his head, his mouth open in a wide gape. Not for nothing, the walls weren¡¯t only tall, they were enchanted by the System to be slick at all times. ¡°Maybe it can¡¯t get up¡­¡± Larry whispered pathetically.

    Such hopes were for a world which hadn¡¯t filled with monsters. A blur of movement in Morris¡¯s peripheral vision had him squawking and swinging. He had used the basic longsword to decent effect against the lower level creatures he had been forced to defend himself from, but panicked slashes were all he had learned to throw. Except, a single flail was all he managed before the sword got stuck in a brick wall. A weight appeared at the tip. ¡°Whoa there, Sparky,¡± a voice laced with laughter said. ¡°Don¡¯t let go now.¡±

    Morris realised his eyes were closed and opened them slowly. The blade of his sword was held calmly by the point. Undamaged were tight on the end of the weapon, the man gripping it leaning back flexibly to avoid the blade¡¯s initial trajectory. ¡°We¡¯re all cool here,¡± the stranger said in a calming voice, like he was talking to a spooked horse. ¡°Aren¡¯t we?¡±

    Asking his question, the man let go of his sword. Scared of him a moment before, Morris shouted and grabbed for him before he fell to his death. However, he was too slow. His fingers met open air. The man had fallen. The moon was west-facing right now, so the shadows must have swallowed him immediately. ¡°What the hell?!¡± Morris asked, spinning around for reassurance.

    He found more confusion instead. There was the stranger again. Larry had seen the whole thing, while Morris¡¯s panic forced his eyes to only see what he expected. The wind itself seemed to pick the red haired man instead of letting him fall, a graceful flip over the lunging Morris bringing him onto the walls. Though doubtful before, the vampire suggestion gained merit.

    The man standing between them was tall, with a shock of ginger hair that was growing messy on his head. There were a few wisps of facial hair on his chin and jaw, just enough to place him specifically as a young man. His clothes looked comfortable, but there was something about them that seemed off. Neither brother was a fashionista, so they couldn¡¯t articulate that the stitching wasn¡¯t a style they had seen before, nor that the materials seemed almost imperceptibly alien. A baggy pair of dark blue trousers were tucked into some dark black boots, the clean metal buckles on them flashing with an interesting yellow sheen in the moonlight. The trousers were cinched with a simple piece of black fabric, but just looking at that strange belt made their eyes water. His shirt was buttoned to above the chest, and the sleeves were pulled up.

    He looked like he had been out for a casual jog after a day in the office, more than wandering through the dangerous wilderness beyond Londimin. ¡°Where¡­ where did you come from?¡± Larry asked. Morris had still not found his voice at all, mouthing randomly at the air like a fish out of water as he struggled for words. They¡¯d never seen anything like what this man''s existence casually suggested. His hands, held up in a submissive gesture, were the clear calloused evidence of the hard work which forged him.

    Power, unburdened and free.

    The brothers had not experienced the effects of Dao before. And while the man had been practising his control, it was impossible to be around him without sensing that almost divine understanding he held. Simply looking at this stranger had a profound effect on them. Of course, none of the three men actually knew this was happening, so none of them thought to comment on it.

    The young man looked slightly pained for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m sorry guys, but I think I¡¯m a little above your paygrade to be honest. Would you be able to point me to someone a bit more in charge than yourselves?¡± The wave of disappointment which ebbed between the brothers was palpable, but they nodded to each other. Both had made a decision in the moment to do whatever they could to help this person, for reasons they couldn¡¯t hope to explain. Brothers didn¡¯t always need to explain things to each other, though. Something was changing in the pair, but now wasn¡¯t the time. The source of that change was waiting for their answer.

    Swallowing his discontent at the dismissal, Morris pointed. ¡°The old police station became the main office for important decisions, you should start there.¡± As he finished speaking, the man nodded before jumping away into the night, shouting a thank you over his shoulder. Morris gasped, realising he had been holding his breath, even after talking. For a short while he and Larry sat on the bench in silence, just finding their calm again.

    When they finally did speak, it was at the same time.

    ¡°We need to be doing more-¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t enough-¡±

    Another few seconds of quiet passed before they both erupted into laughter. It was quite a long time before they could stop, but that was okay. They had just decided to actually try and live in this new world, rather than survive, and the pressure was massive. Yet, at the same time they both felt like. If that man could do it, so could they. Larry stood, gathering his coat but Morris scoffed and stopped him. ¡°Sit down, idiot, we¡¯ve still got to finish the shift.¡±

    The rest of the dull hours passed like kindling in a bonfire as the pair discussed the man they had just met in detail. When the sun rose, neither brother felt the inclination to spend their money at one of the taverns on their way home, ignoring also the currently timid cries of hunger from their stomachs. They passed food vendors but the spices in the air were nowhere near as alluring as the aura that man had carried. The two men turned their noses up at the peddled meals and hurried on to their shared apartment.

    Though neither man knew it, with their ¡°benefactor¡± even more unaware of his ¡°assistance¡±, they had finally found their path.

 Book Two - Chapter Fifty Five - Londimin Proper

    Getting into the city had been as easy as asking, for which I was grateful. It had gone much differently in my head, and I wondered whether I had become cynical at some point. I had honestly expected a whole song and dance with me awkwardly putting my foot in my mouth, causing issues. Someone would have inevitably decided to be an ass and bully me with whatever power the System had given them. That display of power would have given me my audience with the town¡¯s leader and I would have gone from there.

    ¡°Hurray for politely asking,¡± I muttered as I pulled a cloak from my inventory. It was a simple thing from the wardrobes of Home Base, but it covered my hair and clothes a little, at least. I might have preferred a hoodie but my own clothing options had been stolen by the System during the Shift. While I had become used to the magical equipment I wore, I had noticed the lingering glances of the two guards. ¡°Nice fellas,¡± I decided with a nod before essentially forgetting the two completely.

    The area on both sides of the wall had been flattened, it seemed. However while the outside was something of a wasteland, with destroyed homes and abandoned buildings as a secondary perimeter, the inside was bustling. People moved to and from the walls constantly, moving supplies around. Even though it was the middle of the night, the sounds of both construction and revelry could be heard, only increasing in volume as I continued deeper into the heart of the town.

    I might have worried too much about whether people would notice a stranger in their midst. While it was more than possible to know everyone who cared to be known in Ascentown, this settlement was much more like the world I remembered from before. People moved quickly from place to place with a task or activity in mind. Most kept their eyes downwards, only looking at other people to avoid walking into them. In just ten minutes of wandering the outskirts, three fights broke out.

    From what I could tell, it was a bit of a wild west. There were three fairly clear ¡°factions¡± within the city. The largest group were the unleveled. Perhaps not completely without experience in the System, they were the timid, the weak or the cowardly. There was a listlessness to them as they worked menial tasks and tried to keep out of the way of the other two groups. These people were the backbone of the world, even now, so to see them looking so bleak was troubling. We didn¡¯t really have this problem in Ascentown that I had noticed. Why was that?

    The smaller of the two more active groups were the scouts, like the people I had run into in the subway. Few and far between, they stood out because these were the people who had Aspects. They walked around like they were made of gold and people moved out of their way with fear. From them, I could sense various levels of strength but none were over level twenty. It was honestly good practice to analyse the weak signals given off by them.

    They were the ones I saw causing problems the most, inevitably interrupted by the final type of person I saw in Londimin. When the scouts began to throw their weight around too hard, a small squad or team of unaspected individuals in uniform would intervene. They would be sneered at, but generally listened to. Beside from the uniform, which was more of a matching colour scheme of grey pants and black jackets, these people were no different from the listless if you just looked at them.

    Except, much like the feeling of an Aspect, each of them had one thing in common - a burning drive in their eyes. These people wanted to interact with the System, but for whatever reason, they were strangled by the powers that be. Maybe they simply weren¡¯t lucky enough or brave enough to truly chase down the danger required to grasp power like I had, but more than a few of them gave off the slight pressure of levels. Even without an Aspect, they were fighting.

    I immediately picked sides, deciding that I quite liked the fire in these guards. The organisation of over twenty times more people than my own town was a huge task, and while it didn¡¯t look like it wasn¡¯t going perfectly, some people were trying. That was good, at least. Then again, others were holding onto habits from a bygone era, like bullying. ¡°Move your trash, now.¡± A particularly aggressive voice found my ear and I turned to watch the altercation. A massive lump of a man was looming over a smaller merchant. There wasn¡¯t anyone else around, nor heading towards that direction. As far as I could see, the merchant wasn¡¯t in the way of anything.

    Dotted randomly down the long, straight road were a few people selling goods or services. None of it looked very official, but there were shoppers walking around here and there. One woman who caught my eye further up was packing away an actual cauldron which must have been a prop at some point or perhaps a gift from the System. I was intrigued but like many, she was moving away to avoid what they clearly saw as an impending altercation.

    The scene playing out before me was happening on what would have been a busy thoroughfare once. Now, it was just a large and wide paved road with empty buildings on either side. As the crowds scattered, it became even more of a ghost town.

    ¡°Just leave me alone, Trevor, please,¡± the merchant groaned, giving me a name for the main troublemaker. Trevor rolled his eyes and the two slightly smaller bruisers waiting nearby chuckled in response. The man named Trevor held his right hand out, and a large greatsword appeared in his grip.

    He leaned on the weapon like a fence post. ¡°Unlike you, I¡¯m important in this city. Are you seriously going to talk back to me?¡± I almost got involved on principle because this guy¡¯s vibe was so personally offensive, but it wasn¡¯t my fight. The merchant stood up and stepped over the items he had for sale. He opened his mouth to speak, but before anything else happened, a fist lashed forward.

    With a pinch of guilt, I let the hit land. I had seen the attack coming just from posture alone, but the windup was so telegraphed I could have intercepted the blow in a dozen different ways. None of them were very subtle, though, and my presence in the city was as low-key as it could be right now. Though the instinct to jump to the rescue was fierce, I didn¡¯t know the lay of the land here. For all I knew, the smaller guy could be about to unleash hellfire¡­

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    If he ever got up.

    Trevor and his goons watched the slumped man for a few beats before quickly shoving his wares into their inventories. It was always weird to see people scooping things up. Weird habits formed, whether people knew it or not. It was entirely possible to stand still near something and move it into the inventory, but it felt supremely unnatural. The same with removing things, there was usually a flourish of the hand, a reach into the pocket or something. These three men were scooping the assorted trinkets and items into their arms before pressing them right into their chests where they disappeared.

    Another two seconds of the man on the floor not moving before I couldn¡¯t hold myself back anymore. I didn¡¯t even interact with the three men as I approached, but I stored their faces in my memory. Trevor had the ruddy red nose of an alcoholic and the cauliflower ears of a boxer or rugby player. Tweedle Dee on his right was bald with a beard, and Tweedle Dum was clean shaven with long black hair in a ponytail. That one flicker of attention was enough to bother Trevor though.

    ¡°You got a problem?¡± He asked, a true clich¨¦ in action. Ignoring him, I moved to the downed man. He was gasping for air on the ground, clawing weakly at his chest. Mentally reaching into the storage within my soul, I pulled out a test tube with a bung at the end. Inside the tube, a red liquid glittered with gold in the dim light. The sun was just threatening to crest the horizon for the day, turning the eastern sky lilac.

    I removed the stopper and the man¡¯s eyes found mine. I actually blinked at the intensity within them. Anger and bitterness poured out from his dark brown eyes. Up close, his face would have probably been handsome if it wasn¡¯t so twisted in pain and rage. A short crop of brown hair was messy atop his head, and his clothes were simple. A pair of tan trousers, white shoes and a light blue shirt was all he wore. After my moment of hesitation, I poured the potion into his mouth, through his gritted teeth.

    Item - Apprentice Health Potion

    A classic brew, made with marigolds and ether rose by a talented apprentice.

    Effect: Magical wound healing, Increases natural recovery by a massive amount for a time.

    I had a small stock to use during trade negotiations and I felt like this counted as one. Not for nothing, it was also useful to see how effective and fast acting the potion was. With Naea¡¯s healing generally available, and a few others in Ascentown taking up the mantle of healer and learning the craft, the use of potions was for emergencies only. With resources still limited, the renewable energy of mana was a more appropriate option when possible.

    Before my eyes, colour returned to the man¡¯s face. Within seconds, he was coughing and another few moments later he gasped a large, desperate breath. I winced slightly. ¡°Sounds like it hurts,¡± I told the man weakly. He responded feebly in kind with a nod, placing his hand over his now heaving chest while still laying on the floor.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Trevor¡¯s low, angry voice behind me chundered. He had seen something he didn¡¯t understand in a situation he no longer felt in control of, and was reacting exactly as expected. ¡°What did you do, you freak?¡±

    I frowned at his choice of words, not because they bothered me, but because they were just weird. A freak? ¡°Something a lot nicer than what you did, that¡¯s for sure, Trev.¡± I laced my words with Dao, letting my dominance filled the air. The three men froze, mice waiting for the viper to strike. ¡°I shared a gift with this man here, nice and easy. I¡¯m not here to cause trouble. I¡¯m definitely not hurting people.¡±

    ¡°Honestly, who the fuck do you think you are?¡± Tweedle Dee asked. He was either very brave, or more likely, blind to the Dao. I turned my gaze on him, flashing him with the full power of my Dao Avatar. There were a few in Ascentown like him. At first, I had been impressed by their ability to effortlessly shrug off the effects of Dao entirely but that was until-

    Tweedle Dee¡¯s mouth started to foam. ¡°Yep, there it is.¡± There was a similarity between what was happening to him and heatstroke. Exposure to the cold or heat would kill you, whether your body was feeling the effects or not. If he had been capable of sensing the strange magic, his instincts would have kept him from being so badly affected. I reined in the energy somewhat, anyway. Tweedle Dum noticed as his partner fell and caught him before he hit the ground.

    This was all too much for poor Trevor to handle. Instead of asking questions, the physically imposing man roared and charged towards me. Unlike Tweedle Dee, Trevor definitely could feel my Dao, which arguably made his attack courageous. Being fair, he had seen me knock out his friend with a look and instead of cowering, had tried to remove the threat.

    Being unfair, he was a bully that wanted an excuse to swing his sword around. ¡°All of this for some random land surrounded by empty buildings?¡± I slipped through the incoming attacks with ease, even as Tweedle Dum joined in. Apparently he had decided there was nothing he could do for Dee except get revenge on his assailant. ¡°So valourous,¡± I tutted.

    I danced with the pair for ten delightfully annoying seconds. A flicker of attention through their instinctive veils showed me their levels, which were as I expected. Trevor was a lofty level eighteen, and his friend was only level nine. Trevor¡¯s ¡°importance¡± to the town was obvious, as he started trying to use skills. ¡°Smashing blow!¡± He roared, bringing the greatsword around and down in a comically slow overhead swing.

    I grabbed the merchant who had been just picking himself up by the back of his shirt and placed another hand on his chest. ¡°Watch your landing,¡± I told him, ¡°no more free healing potions.¡± Before he could reply, and the slab of metal Trevor was using fell, I threw the merchant into the air. A simple use of Air Manipulation helped guide him onto the nearest rooftop, about fifteen feet up. All of that, and Trevor¡¯s attack still hadn¡¯t been thrown.

    I hopped back and, stifling a yawn, I booted the sword just before it touched the ground. ¡°Did you two put literally every free point into Fortitude? What even is this?¡± I knew my own attributes were not the norm, but this was ridiculous. They moved like pre-System humans, albeit very strong ones. My question was rhetorical, because neither man was in any state to respond with a logical answer or even a witty retort. They were both now staring, stunned, at the hilt of Trevor¡¯s greatsword. ¡°It won¡¯t make you king if you can pull it out of the pavement, but you¡¯d impress me at least.¡±

    By altering the trajectory of the blade and then shoving it with my foot, I had lodged the five and a half foot blade straight into the concrete road. While it had been my goal, the fact it had actually worked made me feel especially cool in the moment. Not letting myself show that glee, I gestured to the unconscious Tweedle Dum with my chin. ¡°He could do with some bed rest. Maybe some milk or something.¡±

    These guys were useless bullies, but I wasn¡¯t interested in beating them myself. That would just reinforce the idea that having higher stats meant you could do whatever you wanted, which I hoped wasn¡¯t becoming the case here. My hopes weren¡¯t high, but maybe these guys were a weird exception to the rule and the city was actually not a shithole. I would ask my new friend.

 Book Two - Chapter Fifty Six - Side Questing

    ¡°Can¡­ Can you get me down?¡± A timid voice called up from the flat rooftop above as Trevor and his lackey picked up their fallen compatriot, scuttling off into the darkness. The man I had thrown to the roof was leaning over, the anger I had felt from him previously now nowhere to be seen. Instead of bringing him to me, I jumped up to him.

    The first true rays of sunlight were appearing on the horizon, so I sat with my feet dangling from the roof and faced it. ¡°I¡¯ll let you down the next time you ask, but do you want to talk to me for a minute first?¡± I figured offering him the out was fair, but I didn¡¯t want him to leave yet. He was one of the unaspected individuals whose eyes still burned with hope and belief. There was an anger aimed at the world in his every glance.

    ¡°They took my things.¡± The man said simply, looking down towards the mess which had been his place of business. That would be my fault. How had they swiped his goods so quickly? I flicked him a Xaverion mint coin, the large solid gold circle¡¯s eye catching dragon writhing in the air as it flipped. The merchant caught it, looking at the money with wide-eyed wonder.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you another one if you answer a few questions for me?¡± I proposed. They were basically useless to me as the System didn¡¯t even accept them. For a merchant, though? It was unique, and thus, priceless. I wasn¡¯t stupid enough to think they held no value, but I had thousands and they were burning a hole. As long as I didn¡¯t flood the market somehow, I was sure the man could make back what he had lost. ¡°I¡¯m Grant,¡± I said, offering him my hand, ¡°just rolled into town.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for your help, Grant.¡± He thanked me but then frowned as he registered my words. ¡°I¡¯m Rashid, did you say you just got here? Like from somewhere else?¡± After shaking my hand, Rashid didn¡¯t sit down beside me, choosing instead to stand. He alternated between looking at me and at his ruined ¡°store¡± below with every word.

    I chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s generally where things come from. Elsewhere.¡± Rashid¡¯s frown deepened as he turned a frustrated look at me, the broken merchant space below. ¡°Fair enough, you¡¯ve just been through a lot. No more messing with you, I swear.¡±

    The swarthy man still looked troubled, and all I could do was throw my hands up. Then he took a big sigh and his face finally creased into a slightly confused smile. It was progress, at least. ¡°What was that drink you gave me?¡± Rashid asked, pulling his shirt to look at the skin underneath. He confirmed it was still healthy and shook his head in wonder.

    ¡°Health potion.¡± I told him, tossing him another from my inventory. ¡°I¡¯m the one supposed to be asking questions though, unless you want to give the coin back?¡± With a slightly panicked look, Rashid pocketed the Xaverion minted coin and shook his head more animatedly. ¡°Fair enough, my turn then. What¡¯s the deal with this place?¡± Best to start with the meat of the matter, I felt. The question might have been a little too broad, however. Rashid didn¡¯t get tripped up though, taking me straight into an explanation of the last few months for Londimin.

    ¡°So, the area here was moved in the Change. It¡¯s a chunk of land basically from Kensington to Heathrow. Most of the people who survived either did it in the airport or in Westfields. You know, the shopping centre? There wasn¡¯t any food or anything because the System stole it all. Anyway, on the second or third day, Seth started clearing most of the monsters. Once people joined him for a few hours, they could do the same. With the monster loot for food and a few important quest rewards, the System shops opened and things have been pretty simple since then.¡±

    ¡°What were you selling then?¡± If there were System stores available, most necessities would be available. You would just have to kill a monster or two for access to them. I had been pretty lucky with my sequestered start in a caf¨¦, despite the chaos of the actual event. What I knew of as the Shift, they called the Change. I wondered which would stick.

    ¡°Ahh,¡± Rashid scratched at his hair, looking slightly embarrassed, ¡°nothing much. I had a few pieces of jewellery on my person when everything happened, and I had managed to barter the rings and my watch away for some of the magical items which have been appearing. The System stores don¡¯t buy them like they do materials, so there is trade to be had.¡±

    ¡°Industrious,¡± I noted, ¡°We¡¯ll get your stuff back, mate. And this Seth guy? How is he?¡± A tyrant leader could bring all sorts of problems if they became powerful enough to match me. I wasn¡¯t so arrogant to think it couldn¡¯t happen, even with my head start. I had more than stagnated on my level gains recently.

    Rashid seemed hesitant to give a review of their fearless leader, which was its own message. I didn¡¯t assume anything, but I was starting to see the picture here. ¡°We have a sheriff called Nolan,¡± Rashid deflected, ¡°you might be better off talking to him first. He was one of the first people to start fighting back, and people trust him in a different way to Seth.¡±

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    ¡°What do you mean in a different way? Like Seth has a skill which makes people trust him?¡±

    Rashid looked at me both confused and a little scared. ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t think so? Does he? Is that a thing? Oh god, that¡¯s a scary thought.¡± Before the man could get sidetracked, I clapped my hands together. ¡°Oh, right. It¡¯s not like, uhh,¡± he hesitated again, struggling for words. ¡°Nolan is just more human, I guess? Seth is supposed to be pretty intense. I only saw him when he cleared the airport. A bunch of us were hiding in one of the planes on a runway and watched as his group cleared the place. From that distance it was more like watching a tornado of blood.¡±

    I grunted. So, this Seth person had found some opportunity quickly and jumped onto it, not dissimilar to myself. If it wasn¡¯t for the general energy of a dystopian nightmare hanging over the city, I might have thought Seth was a kindred soul. With the stark difference between this place and Ascentown, I made a promise to thank Julianna in some way. Her work in Newtown had made things much more idyllic in our neck of the woods.

    ¡°Does he have a Dao?¡±

    ¡°A path?¡± Rashid asked, confused. ¡°Like the Chinese religion? He¡¯s British, I think¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s where it comes from? Interesting. No, I meant like this.¡± The air filled with my power as I stopped holding it back. Rashid choked, almost flinging himself off the roof to avoid me. I shut the floodgates, and grabbed his wrist before he could do something stupid. Fifteen feet was nothing to me, but I guessed that Rashid was an incredibly smart individual and put points into Mental or Will more than anything. The objectively correct choice. ¡°So¡­ No?¡±

    I could hear the hammering of Rashid¡¯s heart from the distance he maintained. ¡°No,¡± he shook his head, ¡°I¡¯ve never felt anything like¡­ I don¡¯t think so.¡± Deciding that this was enough of a grilling for the man, I flipped him another coin, bringing my Xaverion total to a much more even five thousand, one hundred and ninety. Those extra two were frustrating me for a while, in the back of my head. He fumbled, but caught it.

    ¡°Very interesting indeed, Rashid. Ha.¡± I chuckled at the accidental rhyme before quickly wrapping my arm around him. Before he could protest, I hopped off the roof. He screamed the whole way down. I dropped him heavily with a tut and a roll of my eyes. ¡°Oh calm down, you¡¯ll be fine. Might want to have the rest of the day off, though,¡± I suggested. There were a few sets of eyes looking our way with curiosity, and more still which held only hunger.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Rashid said again. ¡°You saved my life. Blessings upon you, Grant.¡±

    I had been about to step away when Rashid¡¯s words caught me and I choked up. It had been a casual thing, mostly to stop people from being bullies, but I realised he was right. Almost by accident, I had stopped this man from dying on the pavement. No one here would have helped him, even if they could have. A swirl of confusing emotions stuck in my throat sharply. I coughed it away, lodging another complaint with Londimin in my mind.

    ¡°Do you have any paper on you?¡± I asked.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    I left Rashid about twenty minutes later, having shared with him a map and directions to Newtown. I didn¡¯t expect him to brave the dangers on his own, and told him I¡¯d find him when I was heading back, but that it wasn¡¯t my intended direction. If he could find a way there without me, he was more than welcome to do so. The draconic coins I had given him would be fine to vouch for my word until I returned, not that they¡¯d turn him away.

    Unlike Londimin, Newtown and Ascentown were marked with an almost guilt-inducing level of comfort. It was a mixture of having less people, and seemingly less danger in the initial days. Without having to starve for a day and fight for their lives against a horde right away, the people of Newtown were less bound with survival of the fittest. Whatever people had was shared easily.

    My own investments in the town were important once I defeated the claimants, too, but it sounded like this place was only just now reaching normal. I bet that until the System stores opened, things were even less pleasant around here. For a few hours, I slipped into the various burgeoning businesses and tried to get the broadest view of the populace as I could.

    By the end of my pub crawl, I judged that about ninety percent of this city¡¯s population were basically trash. Almost every single table seemed to be filled with people obsessively talking about killing monsters for money. Not that most could, but they whined that if there were just more low level things for them to fight, they¡¯d get there for sure. I tried not to look down my nose at these people because I had been ridiculously lucky, but I was very glad not to have to worry about my strength or my funds for now.

    In the grander System, I was still a weak pauper. This was shown in devastating clarity when I finally got around to using a System store. There were material shops, general stores and even a few equipment stores. We had a few in my own town, but I had been so busy that I hadn¡¯t wanted to get distracted. Seeing a few of the more expensive options lit a fire in me, but it was a bitter thing. ¡°How the hell is someone supposed to afford these things?!¡± I lamented even as I made a single purchase.

    System Store (Level 1) - Equipment

    Broadsword - 85 g

    Battleaxe - 80 g

    Warhammer - 80 g

    ¡­

    Boots Of Striding - 4205 g

    Helmet Of Protection - 7650 g

    Golemskin Bracers - 2399 g

    The first options were mundane, but the wide variety of enchanted equipment was all serious, even for myself. I had wondered at the lack of magical gear on show but only until I saw the prices in the store. It was no surprise people chose to gamble on a monster loot drop. After getting my hopes crushed by the System, I stopped procrastinating. While I was sure this was going to be awkward, if not devolve straight into violence, it was time to meet the leadership of Londimin.

    I pulled my new gloves onto my hands and tried not to think about how expensive they had been at fifteen hundred credits. It was worth it almost right away, even without the effect on them. They felt luxurious in a dangerous way which made me want to go back and get more items. Instead, I focused on the mana the gloves were absorbing and pulled open the heavy front door of Londimin¡¯s government building.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Item - Manaweave Gloves

    Sleek and efficient, these fur-lined gloves are a caster¡¯s best friend - after a fireball aimed elsewhere, that is.

    Effect: Stores a large amount of the user¡¯s mana as an external reservoir. Skills cast using the mana in these gloves are touched with the Dao of Magic.

 Book Two - Chapter Fifty Seven - Londiminéˆ¥æªš Finest

    The thing which most struck me about the morose city of Londimin was how close life here came to imitating the world before the Shift. As far as I was concerned the people here were basically ostriches, their heads in the sands. The ones who wanted to be here, anyway.

    Lucy, and now Rashid, both clearly thought the greener pastures of literally anywhere else would be better. Newtown was lovely, so I didn¡¯t disagree. The more warlike energy of Ascentown might suit the wolf girl but Rashid would likely suit better as a trader for Newtown. Not that our neighbours here seemed ready to open their gates, if the welcome I received was the standard. Maybe it was just a nighttime thing, but I doubted it.

    From the first moment I had come into contact with Londimin through their aggressive scouts, the place had stunk of mismanagement. The guards which were less than ineffectual worked to my benefit, but only furthered my doubts about the place. Rashid was not the only person I saw who needed help, but the problems here were clearly systemic. A haphazard rescue would do as much harm as good if the rotten source of the issue wasn¡¯t dealt with.

    As such, I found myself outside of Hammersmith Police station. The building was austere in a way that only 1980s British architecture manages. Sat shoulder to shoulder with a pair of shops-turned-offices, the place was the busiest location I had seen since coming here. Watching the comings and goings, a hundred different people must have gone in and out within ten minutes. Even at an old world pace, that would have been busy. It took me a moment to work out why the sight annoyed me.

    ¡°I know what it is,¡± dropping my fist on my open palm and talking aloud to the invisible Naea. ¡°If they¡¯re going to use a police station as a base of operations, they should at least be keeping the peace. I didn¡¯t see any protective presence anywhere but on the walls. It¡¯s like the whole place is just working for the top.¡± I had to roll my eyes. ¡°Duh,¡± I slapped my forehead. The more things change, the more they stay the same. ¡°Why would it be any different now than before? Alright, enough analysis, let¡¯s just see what happens at this point.¡±

    The problems in Londimin were a few of the classics which plagued the world. Someone with power had given control of others to a specific group, and that power was then abused. It was a foul but common base human trait to wield strength for greed. ¡°You¡¯re too humble to say it,¡± Naea whispered in my ear, ¡°but I think you did a better job with your town.¡± I huffed a laugh.

    ¡°That was genuinely all Tom and Julianna, even at my most arrogant. C¡¯mon.¡± Walking as though I knew where I was going, I entered the police station. No one stopped me, as they had no reason to. Everyone here was a stranger to each other for the most part, I bet. I added a layer of Dao to complete the effect, forcing most people¡¯s eyes to slide right off me. It wasn¡¯t my usual application, but more like flipping the intimidation of the dragon on its head. No one even noticed an anomaly in their midst.

    Is that what you are now, Grant? I asked myself. An anomaly? Something other? Standing amongst the rabble, I felt like it. With a pulse of magic, I would be covered in glowing marks which set me apart from the humans. I wasn¡¯t even the same species as them anymore. The urge to plant my foot into the floor and roar out my name, make these people know who I am and listen to me almost caused me to raise my boot.

    That was just the dragon talking. I felt the avatar chuckle as I buried the instinct. To the Dao, it was all the same whether I fulfilled my goals my way or in a more direct one. Success was the ultimate factor to satisfy the dragon. A few of the people closest to me shied away, shivering like someone had set foot on their grave, and I regained control of my energy. ¡°You alright?¡± Came a small, Irish whisper.

    I returned a message of calm through our connection and kept walking. I assumed the guy I was looking for, Nolan, was in an upstairs office. It wasn¡¯t a large entrance foyer, and as such it was packed with the various busy people going about their tasks. It was impossible not to overhear some of the conversations. ¡°So, the guy downstairs looted it?¡± A nasally female voice asked.

    ¡°Yeah, what are we even doing with him though? Do we just leave him in there?¡± A tall man with thin black hair on top of his head, but a massive beard was talking to the woman. I paused, interested. ¡°Without more judges, we¡¯re going to fill up.¡±

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    ¡°For now, anyone who loots a monster gets jail time. If I knew more I¡¯d tell you.¡± I was sure she would. I¡¯d met people like her, always happy to share a secret if they thought it was good conversation. Hoping to take advantage of this, and hoping I had misheard, I couldn¡¯t help from getting closer. I removed my veil, but the pair¡¯s attention didn¡¯t immediately turn to me. A mousy brunette was making starry eyes at the tall guardsmen. I refused to call him a police officer, even if he was wearing something approximating their outfit.

    I leaned past the man and caught the woman¡¯s gaze, which turned towards me with confusion and disgust. Charming. ¡°Sorry to interrupt, did I hear you say that someone got into trouble for looting a monster? One that they killed? Is that a thing?¡± Next to me, the large guard leaned forward, placing half his body between me and the woman. I schooled the eye roll away and stopped the smirk from appearing on my face.

    ¡°Have you not fought anything yet, little man?¡± The guard asked, jabbing my shoulder in what was meant to be a playful gesture. I didn¡¯t budge, but he didn¡¯t seem to notice. ¡°Good on you for checking the rules first. Some people know them and still don¡¯t listen. They could get us all killed, fucking idiots.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, playing along, ¡°that¡¯s a scary thought! Why would we all die from someone taking monster loot, though?¡±

    ¡°Well, they could get anything from the System, couldn¡¯t they?¡± Clearly, the guard thought this was obvious because he looked at me like I was simple. ¡°Guy kills a weird lizard and suddenly he can shoot fireballs, it¡¯s hardly safe, is it?¡±

    ¡°Ah, that makes sense. So, who does the looting?¡± I had to hold back bile at the idea of someone else taking the loot from my victories. The power of the emotion was surprising even to me, but I didn¡¯t let it show. The big man gave me a suspicious look before shrugging.

    ¡°Obviously I can¡¯t tell you who, but there¡¯s a few teams that handle that stuff. You don¡¯t need to worry though, do you? Scrawny little guy like you is probably better off just hiding in the airport or shopping centre like last time.¡± He and the woman shared a nasty laugh together like this was both an inside joke and an insult. I didn¡¯t care for it.

    ¡°Right,¡± I said, turning on my heel, ¡°thanks for keeping everyone safe.¡± Before I had even put the veil back up, the man had returned to his terrible flirting with the secretary. Good for them, they deserved each other. My heart was still burning for the people who had been robbed of their hard earned System rewards. That they were being imprisoned too was an extra step off the ledge for this city¡¯s chances.

    I would definitely break something on my way out. I just had to decide whether it was the leadership, only Seth, or their whole shit culture. The crowd around me felt like they all carried a sneer now, a hidden acceptance of something rotten in the heart of their city. The dragon chuckled again as I brushed up against the Dao, the Tempest whistling a taunt towards me. This is not what a dragon or a tempest would do in face of something they dislike, the Dao whispered in unison.

    Traitors, I replied, squashing them down. If my inner voices were only going to be the devil on my shoulder and never the angel, they could shut up. While it might be satisfying to tear the place apart because I didn¡¯t like it, the only thing that would soothe is my ego. It would scare people and cause more harm than good. ¡°This Nolan had better be in a good mood,¡± I told Naea, currently sitting atop my head to avoid flying into anyone.

    ¡°Because honestly?¡± I told her, ¡°if one more thing annoys me in this place I¡¯m going to explode.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Nolan¡¯s morning had gone from bad to worse. Every day started bad these days, but for the last few, he had managed to go to bed happy with a job well done. Seth had killed that hope for the foreseeable future. Not only was it not possible to stop people from taking the loot from monsters, finding out about it was a case of luck. His decision that only the scouts could do looting was both short-sighted, selfish and impossible to police. In trying, the city had devolved into yet another level of debauchery.

    It was bad enough trying to keep everyone inside the city where they were safe. At this point though, anyone who could get over the walls could survive outside of them. The issue was the danger they could potentially bring back with them. Eight murders in the last week, every one performed either for an unregistered Aspect or with one. As hard as the order was to follow, Nolan couldn¡¯t dispute the need to do something. It was just all so frustrating. Not for the first time, Nolan found himself wishing someone else would take control.

    He pulled his forehead up from his desk and pinched the bridge of his nose. That wasn¡¯t even true, really. Someone else might fuck it up even worse than Nolan felt he was, after all. At least Nolan himself could stand up to Seth if needs be. They were both at the level cap of thirty, and while Seth¡¯s Aspect of the Hero was powerful, that was only when he was in the right. Something he seemed to be less and less these days.

    The office door opened, and Nolan started to roar for the person to leave when he froze. Nolan had never been much of a deer-in-the-headlights kind of guy, trusting his body to act when it needed to. That was the whole reason he and his girls had survived the Shift. His instincts normally told him to lash out when he felt something was dangerous, but as the man at the door entered the room, every muscle in the brave man¡¯s body locked tight. ¡°Hi there. Nolan, right?¡± A youthful male voice spoke casually. ¡°My name is Grant, is now a good time to talk?¡±

    The smiling red headed man walked into the room with a smile, but Nolan could only see a tiger¡¯s snarl in his smile, the eyes of a hunter hidden behind his ginger hair no doubt. He coughed to clear his mind before nodding. It seemed today was just going to be one of those days.

 Book Two - Chapter Fifty Eight - Flight Negotiations

    After speaking to the sheriff of Londimin, Nolan, I judged that he was a decent man in over his head. To actually fix the problems here would be a whole ordeal, one I wanted nothing to do with to be honest. The talk was mostly to help me decide what I would do next. If Nolan had been a bad person taking advantage of the System, then my actions were likely to lean in a more aggressive way. As he was clearly a good man trying his best, it softened my approach.

    My opinions hadn¡¯t changed too much, though. Londimin was still a shithole in all the worst ways possible, it just wasn¡¯t my problem. Hopefully it would fix itself up, but if not, it would just be a local neighbour that served as a reference between the two ways of living. Growth with the System in Ascentown or protection from it in Londimin. I knew which I¡¯d prefer, at least.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s the plan, boss?¡± A chipper voice asked next to my ear. I was hopping over some of the rooftops and paused on the edge of one to talk to Naea.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really have one, even at this point, I guess. The airport is over there,¡± I pointed generally to the south west, ¡°but I don¡¯t know how to fly a plane. A part of me wants to try, but how could it be simple? I might have a high Mental attribute but I¡¯m not sure I can figure that out on the fly.¡±

    ¡°Ha,¡± Naea barked a laugh at my unintentional pun.

    I continued. ¡°Plus just taking one seems like a bad idea. The sheriff guy, Nolan, told me where I could find Londimin¡¯s leader, Seth. I¡¯m just not sure it¡¯s a good idea.¡± I groaned as I realised indecision was a choice in itself. Naea tilted her head, her calm expression one of mockery. ¡°Fine,¡± I tossed myself from the roof, ¡°fuck it.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Seth was stressed. Give him a thousand monsters to fight, and he¡¯d be happier than having to deal with any kind of bureaucracy. He had already delegated nearly every actual task he had encountered, people were always happy to help out the hero. The one topic he did not let slip from his control, however, was Londimin¡¯s level problem. Specifically, that people were reaching the maximum level.

    The food situation was mostly fine now, except they had been controlling it by letting people kill monsters in the area. Those people were naturally gaining experience, pushing to the cap of level thirty just like Seth was. In the early days when it was just him, and the closest person in level was over a dozen away, it was so simple. Now, there were questions.

    It was a little morbid, but he found himself hoping for another trial wave. They seemed to correspond to certain arbitrary points of growth for the city, be it population, overall level of the populace or even, it seemed, if it just got too peaceful. There was a calculated effort in place by some of the advisors to make sure that people weren¡¯t too happy, and thus triggering trial waves.

    To do this, access to Aspects were limited, the prices in the System stores inflated and wages were low. Everything was kept within mathematical order, and while the calculus of people¡¯s lives wasn¡¯t simple, Seth couldn¡¯t argue that it worked. The choice to make life in Londimin more difficult for people than it needed to be was a hard one but it had been over a week since they were last tested by a horde, longer than they normally saw between waves.

    Even though others were involved in the decision making process, it was to him that everybody voiced their deepest concerns. He found himself disliking how much faith people had in him, a facet of his Aspect. The skill Hero¡¯s Word was a passive one which made others trust him and believe in him simply by being in proximity. The political power it allowed him to wield was wonderful, certainly, but it also meant that people thought he knew more than he actually did.

    Where did you get your Aspects, Seth? Is there anything else we should be doing, Seth? What do we do now, Seth?

    Around and around, the questions spun. The strange alien, Titus, had told him a few things before he died but Seth had mostly been in shock. The details weren¡¯t fully clear anymore. He knew they needed to be strong, because others would come to take what was theirs one day. Nomads, Titus had called them. Beings that knew more about the System which wanted to claim Earth¡¯s new resources as its own. They needed to be strong to deal with the disasters headed their way.

    On one hand, having many subordinates at the maximum level was ideal as they could most reliably handle threats. However, with suggestions that thirty might not be the final level, those same subordinates were now a threat. If anyone unlocked that step before Seth did, he would lose his grip on power. He wouldn¡¯t be able to be the Hero that his Aspect demanded he be.

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    He wouldn¡¯t be able to save the world.

    However, his path was not a weak one. Nor was a hero ever truly alone, as his next two Aspects had proven. The Aspects of Fate and Justice had also found their way into Seth¡¯s hands from the various quest rewards he had gained in raising up the city from nothing to a bastion. By limiting others, Seth¡¯s power was secured. Even a level thirty with a legendary Aspect couldn¡¯t match Seth with his three.

    The three distinct magics were all harmonious inside Seth¡¯s core for the most part, but could become ¡°louder¡± based on the situation. If he was actively saving lives, then the Aspect of the Hero began to chant jauntily within his very soul. If he was meteing out a punishment, as he had been forced to do in recent days, then Justice sang ominously. The final Aspect, normally a quiet melody in the background of Seth¡¯s magic, began to vibrate with unexpected power.

    Skill - Glimpse of Destiny (Fate)

    The threads which make up the weave of fate are flimsy, ever changing things. When unseen, they may not exist at all.

    The ability had meant nothing to Seth when it first unlocked alongside the Aspect. It had allowed him to understand Mana Control, somewhat, but the ability to control his mana just made the activation of his skills slower. It was much easier to just let the System do its work. All Seth had to do was focus on his own body and the timing of those abilities. However, in the weeks which followed, Seth started to understand the strange technique and used it now.

    Seth kept his face calm, though he wanted to smile. His eyes would be glowing with golden light, an impressive sight for the advisors. He had not explained how the ability worked to anyone, simply remaining mysterious and powerful. In truth, it was not very complex, though the idea behind it was a bit scary.

    Glimpse of Fate allowed Seth to see mana in the air. Not as it currently was, but as it would be. Normally, if the ability was used at all, it was best used to find upcoming monster appearances. If there was a large amount of filthy mana gathering in an area, a monster would show up there sooner or later, dragging itself from the shadows. He was drawn to use the ability now by the tickling Aspect within his core and his poker face could not survive the sight.

    The world was awash with colours and thick with mana, like Seth had never seen. He slammed the skill down and shut his eyes tight until the power faded from them. Opening them again, he saw only the shocked faces of his five advisors. ¡°Is everything okay, sir?¡± Derek asked, clearly worried. Derek was a loyal, if boring and old, helper. Seth shook his head.

    Seth didn¡¯t know what else to say. ¡°There¡¯s a monster coming. One stronger than we¡¯ve ever seen.¡±

    Then, there was a knock at the door.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Maybe they¡¯ll be chill?¡± I asked Naea hopefully. She gave me a look which said I was stupid, both for assuming she would know and for hoping things would go well. ¡°That¡¯s way too much meaning to put into a single expression, Naea, you¡¯re way too good at that.¡± Shrugging, feeling a little silly, I knocked on a set of large wooden doors and waited.

    And waited.

    Westfields was a fairly nice building, which had been completely reconstructed since the Shift. Instead of a shopping centre, it was now clearly the seat of power for Londimin. The energy of Aspects from the building suggested nearly everyone inside had one, but it was the architecture and design I focused on. I was impressed. Was there an Aspect of Cleaning? If so, I would pay someone a lot of money to use it. ¡°Do we have a seat of power?¡± I asked Naea.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we do¡­¡± She answered, solemn. I shook my head in fake disgust. How could we have let someone get one over on us like this? I would be upgrading my mansion into a castle as soon as I returned to Ascentown. Making our way to the main audience hall was easy as the entire front of the building had now been designed to aim the entrants towards it. Various monster skulls and trophies dotted the walls, along with system-purchased art of impressive scenes. ¡°This is a travesty, Grant.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to fix it when we get back. Two thrones?¡± Naea nodded vigorously as I suggested she get her own throne, too. It wouldn¡¯t do to get a big head, I didn¡¯t get here on my own after all. I could hear movement behind the door, could even feel the activation of a few skills, probably used in panic. Nothing was used which affected me or Naea, so I didn¡¯t react in kind. There was an impulse in the back of my mind to just punch through the door, but I would let the fine people of Londimin make the first mistake before acting rash. ¡°We¡¯re definitely in the right place, Nae.¡±

    An energy built on the other side of the door. They were lucky I had a good read of mana now, and could tell the effect was protective rather than offensive, or I¡¯d have started shooting off Blasts. Eventually, once a few more skills were layered on the individual on the other side, the door opened and a trembling man with a grey moustache poked his head around the door. He yelped as our eyes met, nearly making me flinch as well. ¡°What the hell was that for, dude?¡± I asked, surprised.

    ¡°Terribly sorry, sir, it¡¯s just I thought¡­ I expected- ah don¡¯t worry about that.¡± Looking at him was difficult, as his entire form swam with bright sigils and symbols of various colours. That would be the effects of those skills that were in use. At least three people¡¯s worth. ¡°What is it?¡± The man asked as though I had annoyed him.

    ¡°Are you Seth?¡± I replied. If it was even possible, the man¡¯s face seemed to pale even further before it crumpled a little. He shook his head before disappearing back into the room and closing the door. I turned to where I knew Naea was and gave a shrug, honestly amused at the antics. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me,¡± I told the invisible fairy, ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve done anything wrong.¡±

    ¡°Well, I certainly wouldn¡¯t know,¡± Naea replied. ¡°You all don¡¯t have rules like we System-born things do.¡±

    ¡°Rules?¡± I asked, feeling like that rang a bell somewhere deep in my mind. ¡°Like with your fairy promises and stuff?¡± Naea made a noise of agreement but I felt our connection shutter slightly. So, it wasn¡¯t something she actually wanted to talk about? Alright, I could leave it alone. I was just about to knock again, firmly, when the door opened and the same moustachioed face appeared.

    ¡°The hero, Seth, will see you now.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Fifty Nine - The Hero

    Ostentatious was the word which came to mind as I entered the main conference room of what was once Westfields Shopping Centre. I knew that most of the furniture and decorations had vanished in the shift, but that didn¡¯t seem true here. Quest rewards and system purchased items were on full display, eye catching in their magical garish construction.

    There was a large table seemingly made of bone in the middle of the room, and various chairs which didn¡¯t match were dotted around. They were trying their best, but it didn¡¯t look like there was much actual crafting going on in the city. If you wanted a new chair in Newtown, you just went and cut down a tree and gave the wood to a carpenter. With the aid of magic and attributes, such a thing could be made in minutes. Probably. Maybe not. I realised I needed to get into crafting myself, if I was going to judge.

    Either way, to my eyes, the items created by the System had a certain fuzzy nature to them like they weren¡¯t all the way real. There weren¡¯t many places in Ascentown which used the System stores, and if they did it was for materials. Something about the process of creation, be it alchemy, carpentry, smithing or otherwise, removed the haze around the items. While the materials in use in Londimin¡¯s main meeting room were technically pretty, to my eyes?

    The whole room was gaudy.

    Yes, the wood had a valuable look to it, underneath the sheen of tacky magic but there was a carbon copy quality to all of the chairs. I felt a hollowness from the table without even touching it, an emptiness in the art hanging on the walls. None of it had been made by hand and the Dao within me could tell. It was both interesting and distracting, I had never been in a room like this before. In a lot of ways, it was the exact opposite of the Storm Dragon¡¯s treasury, which had sung with Dao of its own.

    Standing out more than any single item was a fairly tall man, standing at the head of a large conference table. ¡°Seth, I presume?¡± Bedecked in intensely magical armour, Seth was pretty much exactly what I expected he would be. Even as I spoke, he withdrew a sword and shield from his personal inventory which absolutely screamed of danger. Each item thrummed with a similar power to the Hurricane Heart which eventually became my Dao Font of the Tempest.

    As a show of force, even I had to admit I was impressed. At the same time¡­

    ¡°You planning to do something with those?¡± I asked, sizing up the distance between us. The man looked down at his hands, as though shocked to find himself ready for battle. He cleared his throat, and the weapon and shield disappeared. His armour remained, but I felt a little better. What had I done to deserve this? ¡°Is that how you greet everyone, or am I special somehow?¡±

    ¡°What are you?¡± The armoured man demanded. ¡°Why have you come here?¡±

    I frowned. With each word out of his mouth, a weight pressed into my mind. Even as I resisted, I felt myself wanting to answer him fully and truthfully. ¡°Stop that.¡± Shaking my head, I brought my magical fist down on the skill he was using, cutting off the strange connection he was trying to form with me. I wasn¡¯t sure it was intentional, but from the way he winced, it didn¡¯t feel great to be rebuffed. ¡°I¡¯m not here to fight, so stop using skills on me.¡±

    Instead of the apology I had honestly expected, the man went white as a sheet. His blonde hair and blue eyes were typical for a Prince Charming, but the hair was the colour of straw not gold. His eyes were puddles of muddy water, not deep like the sea. The room was silent except for the shivering. Honestly, it was all quite a lot considering I hadn¡¯t even done anything. ¡°We don¡¯t want any trouble,¡± said the man I was pretty sure was Seth. He still hadn¡¯t confirmed anything.

    At least the skill seemed to be turned off. Maybe it just had a cooldown. It was weaker than Frederick¡¯s had been, but harder to notice. ¡°Like I said, I¡¯m not here to fight. If I was, I wouldn¡¯t have knocked the door. Seriously, are you all alright?¡± It was hard not to be on my backfoot. I wasn¡¯t forgetting some dramatic intimidation I had performed, was I?

    ¡°Are you a Nomad?¡± This time, it was the moustachioed man who spoke. I could hear the capitalisation in his usage of the word. All the heads in the room whipped to him, and he looked like he very much wished he had said nothing. I raised an eyebrow at his use of the term. It was quite specific.

    ¡°Where did you hear that word?¡± I asked, not liking this situation one bit. I would have been far better off just trying to steal the plane. Diplomacy was hard. Obviously, nomads were a thing on Earth before the Shift, but my hackles were raised at the thought of the impossibly powerful Fae being Naea and I had met in the woods. Was there some connection to these people? A game at play?

    ¡°So you don¡¯t deny it?¡± The man who was probably Seth asked, getting way ahead of himself. He once more drew his sword and shield, and I felt the situation slipping more and more from my grasp.

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    ¡°Yes, I deny it. No, I¡¯m not a Nomad. I¡¯m a human. I came from a town a few days travel away.¡± I was intentionally vague about the location of my town, even pointing in the opposite direction in case anyone was trying to get clever. They all seemed much more interested in hiding behind maybe-Seth.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe him,¡± the one woman in the room hissed. Her, the moustache man and two others looked severely out of place in their business casual clothing when standing behind a guy in gleaming golden armour. The middle management all took a step back as the armoured man took one forward. The air began to fill with vibrations, all coming from two of the individuals - Moustache and Stretch, who was just slightly taller than everyone else.

    ¡°This is a seriously bad idea,¡± I warned as he took another step forward.

    ¡°Grant.¡± Naea was whispering but her words mostly appeared in my head through our bond. ¡°There¡¯s lots of people all rushing towards us. Want me to stop them?¡±

    Damn. ¡°Do you two have messaging skills to call others?¡± I asked towards the two men, who withered. ¡°I¡¯m jealous,¡± I moaned, ¡°I¡¯ve never met anyone else with them. What Aspect do you have?¡± Before I could get my answer, Seth was swinging his sword at me. I snarled a little as I hopped back out of his way, dodging the attack.

    Or, I thought I dodged.

    ¡°Fuckin¡¯ oww,¡± I complained, grabbing my left arm, ¡°you cut me!¡± For his part, Seth also seemed surprised to have drawn blood. It was taking everything I had to not tear the whole room apart, but I would settle for the one actually attacking me. With a quick Mana Bolt from behind, I aimed to hamstring his leg. It would be a decent example of the healing potions to get him back to full health after.

    Except, once again I was left stumped. This time, instead of inexplicably connecting with an attack I was ninety nine percent sure I had dodged, the shield dropped and blocked my sure-hit attack. Instead of hitting his leg, the magical attack fizzled into nothing, which was its own surprise. Those bolts could hit as hard as a truck, and while I wasn¡¯t trying to kill the guy, I wasn¡¯t holding back too much either. Dissipating the force alone was impressive. My eyes narrowed as confidence appeared on Seth¡¯s face. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± He asked.

    I did one final courtesy, and backed up towards the door. I could hear people streaming towards us from down the hallway, as Naea had warned. It seemed most people were coming from the direction behind me, so I held the door shut firm. Pressure appeared from the other side, but unless they had an elephant, and a high level one at that, they weren¡¯t moving me. ¡°For the last time, I didn¡¯t come here to fight. I just wanted to borrow a plane.¡±

    ¡°Borrow a plane?¡± Seth repeated dumbly, each word slowly chewing its way out of his mouth. I nodded, letting go of my wounded arm. A burst of healing magic from Naea had dealt with the cut. However, it seemed like poor Seth was not going to back down here, which left me with an uncomfortable decision. People began to enter the room from the opposite entrance, unable to get past me and going around. There was quickly quite a crowd, and most of them looked ready to fight. They must have called every scout in the building over.

    Brave. Commendable, I supposed, even if it was for a poor leader like Seth. There had been absolutely no need for this, but what was I going to do? Back down?

    With a stamp, I activated my first skill. Infusion caused the lines on my body to glow slightly. Normally, the skill was used to give me a massive boost in physical attributes, but it was not a simple muscle enhancer. For this use, I focused. I needed Infusion for the extra control I needed. I counted twenty eight people in the room in total, all facing me with worried expressions.

    Good, the Dao within me crooned. Obliging to the sensation, I allowed my Dao to roll out from me unchecked. The clear sky above rumbled and the gaze of an apex predator locked down all of the energy in the room. I rarely did so in recent days as the effects were becoming more and more pronounced. It was no different now as people began to sweat, one man in the back even fainted. ¡°Ah, damn, was that Stretch? Poor guy.¡±

    I had grabbed all of the ambient mana and claimed it. To anyone in the room, it would be hard to breathe, their mana slower to return. Despite that, Seth stepped forward. My Dao slipped off his armour like oil, its effects completely ignored. Unlike the man who had been knocked out from it when I saved Rashid, Seth¡¯s armour seemed to make him immune to the passive effects.

    I felt affronted at the idea, gathering power. The mana in the air was mine, and I turned all of it into Mana Bolts. Twenty eight people, I had counted? So an even thirty, with three circling Seth¡¯s head would do. Most people had flinched and stopped approaching on the release of my Dao, so it was just me and the other city leader moving. Someone sobbed.

    Which is when I realised what I was doing and released the magic. I looked at my own hands, shocked at what I had been about to do. Had I not been decrying how terrible I felt Londimin was because of actions I had just been about to emulate? I could blame the place all I wanted for encouraging me, but that was just a flimsy excuse. Instead of controlling my Dao, it had controlled me for a moment.

    ¡°Naea, can you do something for me?¡± I asked silently, far faster than I could have by simply speaking. Naea, the seriousness of the moment forcing even her to be earnest, said that she would. ¡°I need you to hide for a while. I¡¯ll be fine.¡± While she may have wanted to fight and stop what was about to happen, I didn¡¯t want that. I felt horrified that I had nearly definitely almost killed a room full of people over a misunderstanding.

    Naea sent me a warning as she disappeared out of an open window. ¡°You¡¯ve got a day to get out of this stupid situation, or I do something drastic.¡± I wanted to hug her, but all I could do was pour some love down our bond as the crowd began to attack me. I allowed their blows to land for the most part, almost nothing they could do would actually kill me.

    It just hurt.

    After a while, my assailants were tired and there seemed to be some doubt about what to do next. Seth told them to throw me into a jail cell, which I also allowed. If anyone had actually tried to kill me, I would have fought back. It wasn¡¯t necessary. I symbolised something to the people in that room. I was the unknown terror they had all been avoiding facing. The outside world was still there, and if more people like me were around? Londimin would fall, fast.

    I didn¡¯t care. I was sure I could talk to Nolan about this, and if not then I would start actually breaking out. Naea was telling me the whole time they transported my beaten body how stupid I was, but I couldn¡¯t do things the other way around. If I attacked first, it wouldn¡¯t be just one person injured, it would have been a massacre. I had to let Londimin make a big enough mistake if I was going to start a war.

    And I seriously hoped they wouldn¡¯t go that far.

 Book Two - Chapter Sixty - War?

    A part of me was impressed with how true to my imagination the dungeon of Londimin was. The rough stone walls were almost damp, the only furnishings visible were the rusty bars a few feet away and a cot shoved against a wall underground. In certain parts of the old London, actual prisons with oubliettes and whatnot could be found and while none of the Tower of London had come along in the Shift, the people of Londimin had done well regardless.

    I didn¡¯t feel very threatened by the situation, though it definitely wasn¡¯t ideal. There were guards situated at opposite ends of the hallway containing my cell, and they weren¡¯t the slacking kind apparently. The weight of their attention pressed onto the cell like a physical force. It was not Dao which I could sense, though. It was fear.

    They were terrified of me.

    Looking down at my hands in the dark, could I even blame them? For a moment, I had been willing to tear that entire room apart just because they didn¡¯t give me what I wanted. I could forgive myself a little because it wasn¡¯t that simple - Seth made the decision that we would fight, seemingly before I even entered the room. Uncomfortable tension was locking up my back, so I released the deep breath I had been holding. My hands shook lightly.

    Was I dangerous? For a moment, in the meeting room, I had been so willing to unleash carnage, probably crippling any chance Londimin had to survive a trial wave or whatever the System forced on them next. It would have been so easy to say that the Dao within me had triggered the reaction but it wasn¡¯t so simple. The Dao was larger than me, yes, but it was still my energy, my understanding of the world.

    Had I always been this way? In a bird¡¯s eye view of my life, it was possible. I had never been one to accept ¡°no¡± as a final answer. If anything, that simple truth was the main reason I had never been able to truly connect with my father, or my mother. By extension, that became the rest of my siblings, who preferred to toe the line for an easier life. Maybe they were happier than I was, but blind acceptance of how the world was presented to me was not one of my traits. No matter how much I wished it had been.

    I couldn¡¯t look at my nature as a bad thing, and I wouldn¡¯t spiral into a pit of angst and depression because of something I might have done. As powerful as the instinct to destroy had been, I had resisted it, immediately horrified. Just as my knee jerk reaction had been to attack, my heart had known where I stood. It wasn¡¯t the end of the world to know that I wasn¡¯t perfect. Still, as I was apparently going to be here a little while, it seemed like a sensible moment to stop in on my inner world.

    It took longer than usual for my mind to slip into the lucid state required to inspect the inner workings of my magic. Instead of feeling frustrated, I started from the beginning, simply grasping a portion of my mana and spinning it in an increasingly fast rotation. There was a sense of nostalgia as I returned to the most basic manipulation of mana possible. Even then, the vast amount of that renewable energy as my disposal was magnitudes more potent and plentiful.

    Recently, I hadn¡¯t placed effort into feeling my magic, so the forced break was almost nice. I took special care not to let any of my energies leave the cell. Stopping the mana from exiting my body was nearly impossible as more and more of the massive reservoir became caught up in the circular flow around my core. I remained linked to any mana that escaped my body, keeping it tightly wrapped around my body. I began to feel a little lightheaded as energy which normally stayed where it had settled was kicked up like sediment. It was surprising to see that some of my mana had become stagnant, embarrassing even.

    I was forced to use the Dao of Tempests to keep the cloud of mana around me from billowing out into the hallway. The guards probably weren¡¯t magically sensitive enough for it to matter, but it was good practice. The problems with the leadership of Londimin could be laid at the feet of my higher level of power. I still had yet to sense a single flicker of true Dao, nor see anyone over level thirty in the city, after all. It was all so unknown to them that it caused instinctive fear and aggression.

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    Dao was still somewhat of an unknown to me, but at least a few of its rules were fairly clear. At this point in my journey, I viewed Aspects as something less important, and Guidance Stones less so. They were the fuel and blueprints for Dao and skills, but I wasn¡¯t even sure they were strictly necessary. From how Steel had described them, they were almost more like a shortcut to the true power, which was Dao. If I needed any ¡°proof¡±, I need look no further than the System prompt which was once my Aspect information.

    Dao

    Fortitude - None

    Speed - None

    Mental - Dragon (2/4)

    Will - Tempest (1/2)

    Now bearing the name Dao, but with no other changes, it was just a case of being in the cool club. Now that I knew the secret handshake which was the Dao, the System had hidden a few less secrets. In the worlds beyond, which now looked to Earth hungrily from the other side of an imperceptible veil. Aspects, and the pathway to Dao which they unlocked, were the reason for the cloud of danger which hung thick over the planet. If the people of Londimin were scared of me, they were in trouble regardless.

    I placed the question of whether it was my issue to one side as I refocused on the feeling of my magic. I had become a nebula of power, barely feeling my physical form. My entire existence was mystical now, and the metaphysical core in my soul felt more like my true self now than the body which housed it. I caressed the dense, powerful centre of my being with the turbulent mana rushing all around me.

    I had long past the time where the microscopic crystals of draconic magic had joined fully with the flow, there was no longer any delineation between the powers within my magic. The dragon, the storm, and myself were all one, comfortably for the most part. With my mana cosy around my core and my mind calmed, I fell into the world within myself.

    Choosing to appear high in the air, I knew my presence here was felt by the Dao, but I didn¡¯t interact with the avatar or font immediately. They were, for lack of a better term, large personalities in this space, and it took all of my attention to interact with them. Right now, I was looking at the bigger picture, rather than the specific colours I used to paint it. Enjoying the metaphor, I stopped my descent through the clouds of the inner world.

    I had control here, like existing within a lucid dream. As I willed it, gravity lost purchase and I hovered at a wondrous vantage point. The world below me was built upon the foundation of the Dao of the Dragon, and the sky above it was the Dao of Tempests. I hovered in the space, enjoying the swirling mixture where the two energies met as both washed over me.

    Hopefully others saw their magic in the same way. I had refrained from deep discussion with any of the Fledglings or The Ascent about how they interacted with their Dao once it unlocked, and refused to give advice. Everything about Dao, and the few warnings I had received from Steel and my instincts, suggested it was a personal journey. Letting anyone else influence how the magic worked, or letting yourself make expectations, would potentially hamstring potential instead of helping.

    I didn¡¯t immediately shrink away from the thoughts of others. For a while, it had been just myself, my magic and Naea. Her existence was represented in a dozen small ways within the inner world. She was shown in the wildflowers, the streams and rivers, the dark places which creaked with the promise of danger. I truly loved my weird insectoid fairy companion, without her I would have definitely been a footnote in the existence of the dungeon which claimed my life.

    Instead I had thrived enough to make it back to the outside world, where magic was no longer the focus of my life. For now, it was people. Populous, ravenous, scared and dangerous. The humans of Earth were reacting to the changes pretty much as expected. In Ascentown, I had shown that it was possible to cooperate in this new world and the benefits which would come from that. I was well aware it was a supremely privileged position to work from.

    Londimin, by contrast, had become a place of competition. It wasn¡¯t necessarily worse, but it led to this situation. I grabbed some of the nearby cloud and made myself a seat to lounge in as the sun of this world, once the Hurricane Heart of the Storm Dragon, dipped below the horizon. To enjoy the sunset again, I rotated the planet back fifteen minutes, falling onto my long chair in the sky.

    The issue was their own strength. They saw someone powerful appear and assumed that meant some value was going to be taken from them because of it. ¡°I suppose,¡± I said aloud, a strange thing indeed when inside my own soul, ¡°I did ask to take a whole plane. Maybe I should have started smaller.¡± I shook my head at that idea.

    The issue wasn¡¯t with what I requested, it was that I had asked at all. In a place like Londimin where the strong seemed to do what they liked, the very fact that I had been polite had felt like a lie to them. I sighed, both in the spirit world and the real. A blast of cold wind shot through the small prison they kept me in, but it was sourceless as far as the guards were concerned. It made them shiver, despite their raised attributes.

    It seemed a little problematic that my answer here was to be more aggressive. I glared downward to the draconic world below, but there was no rumble from my sleeping Dao. The thought process seemed logical, but that was the issue. It made sense to me, but was that only because of the magic which now influenced my thoughts and actions? ¡°Ugh,¡± I groaned, letting the chair of clouds fall away and my plummet to recommence.

    What I really needed to do was have a chat with the dragon in my soul.

 Book Two - Chapter Sixty One - Inner Monologues

    When I had first created the inner world, I had been a clumsy architect, and had burst my core in a way I still didn¡¯t understand. The experience had been painful, terrifying, frustrating and most of all, pointless. My inexperience caused me to rip a hole in my core through which a level¡¯s worth of experience had drained. I shuddered to remember that foolishness now as I looked upon the volcano with which I had plugged up that hole.

    Fortunately, the experience had not been completely detrimental. I did not doubt that luck had more than a fair hand in my survival to this point, but the rumbling mountain before me had not formed entirely by accident either. The steps which brought me closer to the huge spout of molten rock came with a resonant thrumming from deeper in the world¡¯s core. In the fiery pools of mana, burning so hot it became magma, the massive shadow of the Dragon flickered with recognition.

    I moved forward, though it felt strange. My inner world was real, it had a physicality to it while I was here. Though the space was magical and ever changing, the path I walked through the world always felt familiar. I knew the path I walked, it was the one I always used when here. The sky above me was the same, controlled Tempests and two thirds empty still. The sensation of existing within a lucid dream was hard to ignore. Knowing where I wanted to go, I closed my eyes and took a step forward with intent.

    While I had control here, I knew that without acceptance from the Dao, I could have randomly wandered the world for eternity. Time wasn¡¯t as relevant within this place, and space even less so. I still had much to learn about the intensely powerful magic within myself, and I knew it was time to get some answers. So, it seemed, did my longest term partner in this chaos. I stood now before a decadent cavern, intrigued and impressed by the artistry on show.

    The rock of the Dragon¡¯s home was covered with intricate carvings. Once I was close enough, I could see these were representations of moments I recognised. The timeline of my magical life was chiselled into the bedrock of my very soul and laid out before me. Though I knew what was being presented, there was far too much depth and artistry for me to properly appreciate or convey the beauty on show.

    With each experience since binding with the Aspect, the Dragon itself had taken its own lessons and understandings from them. First, the inception of our bond, my broken body lying beneath a gargantuan shadow, the grey rock of the wall shorn deep to reveal onyx crystal below. That shadow, the power of the Dragon, became one with myself, turning the broken body pitch black and fixing its wounds before settling its power as a crown.

    The Dragon had bound to my Mental attribute, so its placement as a crown made double the amount of sense. Mental, The stat which mostly governed my magical ability, but had a noticeable effect on my psyche also. Having a high Mental attribute didn¡¯t actually make me smarter or insert intelligence into my mind, but there was a clarity to my thoughts and much less randomness or unimportant thought happening. When I focused on something, I didn¡¯t run out of steam or get distracted anymore. I supposed there might be more information received when the System imparted knowledge, but that would be difficult to quantify.

    Did the Dragon influence what information the System gave to me in some way? Interesting thought, but again, impossible to check. I cast away such thoughts easily. I wasn¡¯t in the business of doubting my own soul, even if it intimidated and confused me sometimes. Instead, I continued to trace the biography of my magic within my core. From binding to the Aspect to meeting Naea soon after, a glittering crystal which appeared with my silhouette in the carvings, to my eventual challenges in the Trial towers.

    I tilted my head, confused for a moment about what I was seeing before my face reddened. ¡°Oh right yeah, that time I went off the deep end.¡± Upon finding the dead body of Jason, Harry¡¯s brother and the magnet which eventually created The Ascent, I had torn through the dungeon like a dervish. Even as shame filled me, I didn¡¯t avert my eyes. My own view of that time was coloured by both the loss and fear I was feeling and running from, but also the unnecessary harm it had caused Naea.

    The Dragon didn¡¯t care much about those things. Instead, it showed me finding a setback and immediately attempting to change things. I did not wallow, I realised, I attacked the world which had taken from me. It wasn¡¯t my life I had seen on the floor, but it easily could have been. There was a respect and pride shown in the carved walls that action was the choice of the Dragon¡¯s wielder.

    The battles against the increasingly powerful enemies were shown lavish attention as I entered the cave mouth. The large entrance opened wider, revealing a deep cave, hundreds of metres across and tall. ¡°Is this your entry foyer?¡± I asked aloud, teasing my own magic. ¡°Thanks for being humble enough for the both of us, buddy.¡± Each notable enemy was depicted, given a level of esteem here which I had not considered personally. They were the whetstones upon which the gleaming blade of our power and the Dragon had nothing but respect for them.

    In a set of reliefs, my battles with the Broodmother, Master Thorn, The Golem Prince and the Firehawk were shown. Each was gorgeous, the still images able to convey both momentum and somehow impart a fragment of the thrill in those moments. The vile Shub-Naggorath with her broken Dao made me shiver. It was shown as salty crystals in the wall, grey and white against the darker rock, a wrongness even in the art of it.

    Impressive as the huge place was, the Dragon wasn¡¯t here. There were dozens of tunnels snaking deeper into the mountain, eventually those paths would dip their toes in the magma-mana at my core. Only one way would lead to the heart of the Dragon¡¯s power, the others could wind on and on forever, trapping me. Except, it was impossible for me to get lost at this point.

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    The rumbling growl from the core of the world increased from all directions, not a threat but a greeting as I walked from what was essentially the trophy chamber into the throne room. If the massive space prior, its massive walls ready for a tapestry of power, magic and battle, was the stage of our prestige, then the throne room was the opposite. I nodded in appreciation at the scenes the Dragon chose to respect the most.

    I had built, within the Dao of Tempests, a throne once I recognised it did not lack importance within my magical system. The Dragon had no issues with this because a dragon doesn¡¯t require a throne. A dragon¡¯s seat of power was the world itself, the area it chose to exist within without destroying. The whole planet which was my magic was the Dragon¡¯s throne. So, I wasn¡¯t too surprised at the small and sombre room at the very centre of its existence.

    Though the shapes and symbols on the walls were far from photorealistic representations, I could more easily understand the chaotic scrawlings in this place than any other. Each doubt, fear, failure or worry I felt was gouged into the wall, a frantic and terrified clawing which somehow managed to be cohesive at the same time. I wanted to look away, flinching at the damage I knew I had inflicted on my followers. Chromatic spikes were jutting from places, the pain of being unable to stop Steel. Its hooks were inside me, even here.

    ¡°Nice to finally put a face to a voice,¡± I said, turning around. Its approach had been silent, I supposed because it hadn¡¯t actually needed to move to appear. The Dragon was all around me, after all. Now that it had placed itself physically, the unsure reality of the world locked into place. I looked down, surprised to see my own hands and body. I normally floated around as an idea, here. The physicality of the central chamber of the Dragon settled so we could have a conversation.

    Inclining its head to me, The Dragon gestured behind me. I turned, finding a pair of comfortable looking arm chairs. The seats would have looked normal in a Victorian lounge room, perhaps, but were slightly incongruous with the magically sculpted stone all around. ¡°I¡¯m a bad influence,¡± I shook my head, knowing this was ultimately my fault. My irreverence for the magic around me had rubbed off on the very magic within me. Still, I flopped into the chair. I was right, it was comfortable.

    ¡°I agree, actually,¡± The Dragon replied. There¡¯s a common response to hearing your own voice in a recording, and I received the most potent version of this abhorrence at that moment. Speaking in my voice, the Dragon also wore my face and body. The whole thing would have made me dreadfully uncomfortable if we were in the real world. My largest issue was how the Dragon¡¯s somehow sounded much nicer to the ears than my own voice did. In recordings, it was the other way around. This was much worse. ¡°You¡¯re quite chaotic, Grant.¡±

    There were a few subtle differences between us, once I realised the voice wasn¡¯t identical. My eyes were a mix of blue and brown, split down the middle. I had always disliked the look, but in my draconic mirror¡¯ face, they seemed so natural. The slitted pupils might have something to do with that. There was the suggestion of golden scales at the corner of its eyes, too. Its teeth were slightly sharp and its jaw was stronger than mine, both in appearance and likely in strength.

    ¡°Chaos sort of found me first, I¡¯d argue.¡±

    ¡°You would argue,¡± the Dragon agreed with a nod, ¡°that¡¯s one of your many virtuous points.¡±

    Rejecting the impulse to preen in front of my own bloody soul, I scoffed. ¡°Not bad, Dragon man. You know why I¡¯m here, right?¡± It almost felt silly to ask, but I was grateful to receive a nod to my question.

    ¡°You¡¯re scared,¡± The Dragon accused. I couldn¡¯t deny it. Not here, of all places. This time it was my turn to nod. Leaning towards me in its chair, chin resting on its palm and elbow on the arm closest to me, the Dragon tilted its head slightly. ¡°Have you decided what it is you¡¯re scared of, yet?¡±

    I blinked, searching for a snappy answer to that question. When no quick retort was forthcoming, I was forced to sit with the question for a moment too long and instead of joking, my thoughts became genuine. The wording was intentional because as far as the Dragon was concerned, I could choose what to be afraid of. I could feel the Dragon¡¯s disdain for my quandary even now.

    Sensing that I didn¡¯t have a ready answer, my draconic mirror continued. ¡°I admit, I don¡¯t agree with your actions most of the time. Oh, I understand them, but with each step upon the Path you become less bound by the life you once lived. You are no longer human, even. Yet you twist yourself into a tangled knot simply trying to keep these fools from killing themselves.¡± The Dragon spoke matter of factly, though I was still somewhat reeling from the fact we were conversing at all. ¡°Even now, we are shackled in a cage made of nothing more than paper. We could walk out of this penitentiary without noticing the barriers meant to stop us, yet you treat them like they are unbreakable. Why?¡±

    I rubbed my chin, surprised to find a decent amount of stubble. Between getting blasted with flames, magical healing and increase in longevity from Fortitude, I hadn¡¯t been growing much facial hair at all. Despite all the chaos, the death and then the eventual leadership position I found myself in, I was still young. Less so now, than when this all began, I realised. Physically, mentally, spiritually¡­ I was different.

    Did that mean I was no longer human?

    Did being a human even matter?

    I smiled, because the answer to both of those questions was no. Asking and answering those questions gave me a certainty I had not had before. ¡°The bars are symbolic, but the ritual is important. Humanity probably exists in more places than just Earth, but the humanity inside of myself is there to stay. I won¡¯t become a tyrant, even if it might be easier, because I don¡¯t want to. I¡¯ll fight you if I have to, I¡¯ll fight the whole System itself, but I¡¯m not here to dominate.¡±

    A flash of lightning appeared in my mind. ¡°We are human, both of us. A human dragon, with all the confusion and greatness inherent in that idea.¡± There was a begrudging look on the Dragon¡¯s face as they nodded in agreement. ¡°Strength through personal might and the power of others who come to our side. Strength enough to bring down the Storm Dragon, for a start.¡±

    I grinned at the Dao Avatar of the Dragon as it replicated the expression back at me, though significantly toothier. It chuckled, and I joined it, and soon the entirety of my inner world was rocking back and forth with laughter. It was a ridiculous goal, made for no reason other than the Storm Dragon set itself against me and showed itself as a benchmark. That was enough. Eventually, the rumbling calmed and the Dragon gave me a serious look. ¡°So,¡± it asked, ¡°is now the time to use our personal might?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I shook my head. ¡°I think the strength of others is where we¡¯ll find our escape.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Sixty Two - Shepherds

    Naea flitted back and forth, around and around the prison where Grant was held. She would do as he asked and hide, but it was stressful. More problematic than the stress was the boredom. Stay in one place, doing nothing for a whole day? Through their bond, Naea could feel that Grant was playing with himself. ¡°Boys and their dragons,¡± she sighed, floating aimlessly around the severe looking building.

    On the street below, there was a constant bustle of energy, people coming and going from the jailhouse below. Naea didn¡¯t have a perfect read on what would be a normal amount of activity in the city, but just from a quick aura read of the frightened, confused and worried people, it was easy enough to see they were panicked. Grant was a scary existence to face when you were weaker than him.

    Not that Naea would know. She still happily sat a few levels higher than Grant, and the combination of Grant¡¯s achievements and her own meant that she received a much larger portion of the experience gains for the two. She would scale ahead again, though she had started to doubt if she would be able to keep up with him. Not just the advantages he had now, which would compound further and further, but in drive and natural ability.

    Practice was a fine thing to do, and it helped with absolutely everything, but not all training was made equal. Not all climbers had the same drive. Grant had a fire within himself that let him work harder than any other human Naea had come across, and by a sizable amount. Meeting her had saved his life a dozen times over, sure, but Grant¡¯s efforts could not be ignored. He was a monster, driven by a fire Naea still didn¡¯t quite understand.

    As her boredom reached peak levels, she considered breaking Grant out early. It would be so easy to just rush in, hurt literally everyone she could and get Grant out¡­ but he said not to. Grant also knew he was strong, and didn¡¯t have to be taken, but he had let it happen anyway. Naea felt fairly sure there was a lesson in those actions, or inactions, which she could learn from. Grant was a lot of things, and a few of them were insults, but for the most part he seemed to know what he was doing. She had told Grant that if he hadn¡¯t made a move in twenty four hours, she would stop waiting.

    What Naea hadn¡¯t planned for was how boring a whole day without Grant was. She had felt similarly when he had tackled the mountain alone - something she was still very much upset about! At least in their town, she could bully the people into becoming stronger, she wasn¡¯t even allowed to do that here. She tried to pass the time by watching people, but how could any of these barely magical losers be interesting compared to the patron of her familiar bond.

    After deciding not to immediately assault the jail, Naea aimlessly floated around the dismal city. Grant was right to think this place was worse than Ascentown. It seemed like no one here was happy except the strongest people, which seemed backwards to Naea. In Newtown and with The Ascent, Grant had of course been the most powerful, but that meant he was beleaguered, not freed like these arseholes.

    Robbery was the most common crime in the city by far. Naea didn¡¯t have the inclination to help strangers like Grant did, nor the desire to break her cover in Londimin. Still, she watched and made note of some faces in the opposite direction. Grant was a big softie at heart, not like Naea at all. For each and every slight she saw which she didn¡¯t like, she memorised the perpetrator.

    The way out of Londimin was going to be a lot louder than their way in, Naea was sure.

    Still, in her wanderings of the city Naea learned some interesting things. She wasn¡¯t actually sure what would be useful information, but she stored away a few of the choice pieces of gossip all the same.

    Apparently there were multiple dungeons to the East which were being used for what most would describe as farming. Dungeons were all different, with their own rules. Some of which monsters would clamber from, some spat out mana and some only sucked things in. Naea¡¯s dungeon type was the best, clearly. From what she gathered, there were three main dungeons for Londimin. One was a mostly water-based Dungeon, which was helpful for the food issue in the city. The second was more like Naea¡¯s own, the natural grasslands and fields turned into something a little more dangerous, but with the same vibe.

    The final dungeon Naea didn¡¯t hear much about other than it was for the elites of the town. As most people weren¡¯t elite, it was difficult to hear the intricacies of the dungeon they kept to themselves. More interesting was how jealous people seemed to be of these ¡°elites¡±. They wouldn¡¯t hold a candle to a single Fledgling, Naea was sure. One thing that was consistent across the populace, strong or weak, was the desire for Aspects. he value of Aspects in the town had skyrocketed to the point where no one was trading them.

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    The reasoning was clear. Most people wouldn¡¯t step out of their bubble of safety without one, the skills and power an Aspect could grant was life-saving, after all. Naea smiled, knowing that wasn¡¯t true for her Grant. It was just another reason why these stagnant losers would remain stagnant losers. Quests wouldn¡¯t appear for the unmotivated, after all. Naea tried to remember if she had ever told Grant about how the System divied up quests, There was always just something more interesting happening to talk about boring System rules. As she thought, the fairy found that she had accidentally returned to the pretty building she now knew of as a church.

    It was busier there today, and Naea had a vague recollection of there being special days for worshippers. After entertaining herself by posing in front of the stained glass depictions of winged humanoids, Naea found herself listening to the people below. There was a man in ornate wizards robes, white and gold, doing most of the speaking. Sometimes the crowd joined him and chanted his poems back at him, sometimes just a single line.

    It all seemed quite silly to Naea from afar, so she decided to sit on one of the long benches. Maybe it would make more sense if she was in the crowd? She perched on the back of the frontmost bench, which was strangely empty. Did people not want to be close to the leader? Humans were weird, Naea reminded herself. Still invisible, she listened more closely.

    ¡°So, we venture into trying times.¡± The man¡¯s voice carried a hint of a skill, which Naea brushed away. It wasn¡¯t insidious, all the magic did was make the priest¡¯s voice seem more interesting than it was. However, the skill which kept the people around Naea focused was distracting once you knew it was there. ¡°However, it could be said that none are as prepared for these trials more than we, God¡¯s children.¡±

    Naea looked around confused, eyes wide and her heart quickening for a moment. Demi-gods? No, she reminded herself, this world didn¡¯t even have magic before the Shift. How could there be demi-gods here? The thought actually caused her to stifle a chuckle at herself. Humans liked to be dramatic, she knew. This was just an example of that.

    ¡°For is it not told to us that tribulation is His message? I know there are those of you who fear changes to the world as something unholy but I tell you this is not true.¡± The holy man¡¯s eyes were wrinkled, happiness and kindness etched onto his face in the lines around his eyes and mouth. ¡°For nothing can happen in this life without His blessing. Jesus said to his disciples ¡®Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; Trust also in me.¡¯ Now, Jesus was talking about a trust that following the Path would lead to heaven. Rejoice, then, for the Path is now laid out in divine script before our very eyes!¡±

    A murmur from the churchgoers became a rumble, and finally crescendoed as a cheer. They clearly liked the message, and Naea found herself nodding along, too. There were a few misconceptions but nothing that really mattered. There was no singular all powerful god except the Tree itself, which did not act with the same level of intention as those which called themselves gods. Generally, those beings named Gods were more like symbiotes or parasites, not that Naea disliked them. She just hadn¡¯t met one yet, and she generally chose to be standoffish when she didn¡¯t know someone.

    ¡°What are we going to do about Grant?¡±

    The words stole all of Naea¡¯s attention from the boring sermon and she zipped outside to follow the voice. Oh! She remembered these two idiots. What were their names again? Dee and Dum? Naea vaguely remembered Grant using those names in his head. It was something like that. They were eating a package of potato fries, covered in salt and a strange, aromatic sauce. Naea stole one as she invisibly sat with the pair, neither of them any the wiser.

    ¡°I mean, I dunno,¡± shrugged the one wearing a large jacket, ¡°just feels like we should do something.¡±

    Looking exasperated, the smaller one put his head in his hands. ¡°Look, Lar, we let him into the city without letting anyone know. Now he¡¯s in jail and that¡¯s our fault.¡±

    ¡°How is that our fault?¡± Lar asked, throwing his free hand up in confusion. Naea had to agree with the jacketed man, Grant had got himself in trouble and had no one to blame but himself.

    ¡°It¡¯s not, but he doesn¡¯t deserve to be in jail just because we let him into the city, right?¡± The man, still named Dee in Naea¡¯s head, looked very troubled. His hands were constantly wringing against each other as he looked back and forth at the people walking by. The fairy kicked her feet, interested in what these two might do. ¡°If we can help, we should. Didn¡¯t we agree we were going to do brave stuff from now on? We can at least ask.¡±

    Eyes bulging, Lar looked back to Dee with a mixture of disgust and disappointment on his face. ¡°Ask?¡± Lar repeated, dubious to the point of offence. ¡°You want to walk up to Nolan Fair and just ask him to let the dangerous criminal out of jail? You remember how strong that guy was, right?¡±

    Dee pursed his lips but nodded. Lar continued. ¡°It was like that feeling before a massive storm, right? Honestly, if they managed to get him into a cell then that¡¯s for the best. Scary dude, but he¡¯s not getting out of there.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± Naea asked, as though she had been a part of the conversation from the beginning. She doubted very much that any construction of brick and mortar would hold Grant at this point.

    ¡°Well, because they¡¯re all enchanted and stuff, right?¡± Dee answered, looking around at his own head height for whoever had asked the question. ¡°Whuh..?¡± He asked dimly, not seeing Naea, even if she had made herself visible. Maintaining the effect to everyone else but the people on the bench was a new twist to the ability, but Naea was Grant¡¯s familiar for a reason. If it could be done with magic, the pair of them would figure it out quickly.

    For example, Naea very quickly understood the issue Grant would face. From inside the cell, the bars and walls would appear mundane. Due to the System¡¯s capabilities, they technically were mundane. Except they would also be lined with a powerful mana sensor that activated the hidden enchantments. A city like Londimin, with quest rewards fueling its growth, could have some seriously powerful wards.

    Naea flew upwards, making the men shriek and drop their food. They received strange looks, right through my invisible back. ¡°Shut up, idiots. Listen to me. You want to help and Grant needs it. That¡¯s enough for me to help you come up with a better plan than ¡®ask nicely¡¯.¡± To their credit, the pair took Naea¡¯s appearance in stride once the shock wore off. Instead of asking questions, they both nodded and stood. Naea kept a straight face but inwardly she crooned.

    These two might make good Fledglings, actually.

 Book Two - Chapter Sixty Three - Communication Unclear

    Naea¡¯s hands were clawing at her face in frustration as the two men, Larry and Morris, walked into the police station. The area was busy, as it had been since Grant and Naea first arrived, but the energy was different now. There had been a casual swagger to the members of the police force before, born of some hidden assurance that they could both do no wrong and have no wrong done to them.

    Grant was pretty good at disavowing people of notions like that.

    That seriousness seemed to be infectious, which was good. The faces of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum hardened. They were still doughy and unintimidating, but at least Naea could tell they were trying. It was sweet in the same way a puppy trying to get up a stair it was too short for was sweet. Still, she had nothing better to do and this was at least interesting.

    To say Naea¡¯s hopes weren¡¯t high would be selling it short. She thought the idea of simply asking the intense sheriff of Londimin to let Grant go ¡°because he¡¯s a good person, actually,¡± had a distinct lack of success attached to it. Naea couldn¡¯t see herself doing it, but for whatever reason the two men were confident it was the right choice. As she hadn¡¯t been able to come up with any better ideas that didn¡¯t involve bloodshed, she had acquiesced to seeing how their ¡°plan¡± worked out.

    Hence the clawing at the face.

    With a few ¡°pardon me¡±s and a lot of ¡°sorry, excuse me¡±s, the pair manage to make their way through the stony faced crowd. Almost everyone was angled in some subtle way towards a specific door, leading to descending stairs. With her relatively high stats, Naea could practically hear the tension in each person¡¯s muscles. Even without their bond active, it was clear to Naea that Grant was down there. She desperately wanted to see how he was doing. Grant had shut her out somewhat when he sent her away and let the fine people of Londimin start beating him.

    Naea had thought he was being cruel to be kind, keeping her away from the pain and anger he was feeling so that she wouldn¡¯t do something dramatic. Now, almost half a day later, she wondered. The pair of idiots hadn¡¯t been very useful yet, except in telling Naea that the prison cells here were more than mundane bars. Powerful enchantments could easily dampen their familiar connection to a muted whisper.

    Except, if she went to check on Grant she might make things worse. If the cells were guarded by magical means, the inexperience of the townsfolk wouldn¡¯t matter. The System would find her if she triggered one of its traps. Better to follow these fools and see if they could somehow create gold. ¡°Remember, let me do the talking,¡± Larry told Morris.

    True to form, Morris looked offended and grabbed onto his brother¡¯s large coat. ¡°Hey, hey, hey, what are you talking about? This was my idea. You said it wouldn¡¯t work.¡± People were beginning to turn their attention to the pair, who up to this point had been most ignored.

    ¡°I said it wouldn¡¯t work if you did it, idiot,¡± Larry hissed in a loud stage whisper. ¡°If you want to pull off something like this you need a little charisma, little brother.¡± Morris looked as though he wanted to punch the other man in the back of the head as he began to knock on the door to Nolan Fair¡¯s office. Though it strained Naea¡¯s control of her magic, she intercepted the blow with one of her own. Her invisibility held, but barely. The skill wasn¡¯t built for use during any kind of combat, really.

    Morris yelped in pain and grabbed his wrist, causing Larry to turn with his hand and eyebrow raised. ¡°What is wrong with you?¡± He asked, more disappointed than confused. Morris just took a deep breath and shook his head before shooting a glare in what he thought was my general direction. He was completely wrong, of course. Clever boy, though, Naea nodded, definitely Fledgling material.

    After a few moments pause, nearly long enough to feel awkward, the door opened slowly. ¡°Uh, yes? We¡¯re in the middle of-¡±

    Interrupting the speaker, the first Tweedle pushed the door open and walked inside passed the man. ¡°In the middle of killing an innocent man?!¡± Larry shouted, completely blowing the doors off any calm discussion they had planned. Morris winced and groaned, apologising to the man who had been pushed aside before trying to grab his brother. Naea paused, recognition flickering.

    She knew this man, didn¡¯t she?

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    While she tried to remember where she had seen this dark-skinned man, both Larry and Morris began giving increasingly frantic reasoning at a rising volume, quickly shouting over each other to try and get anything they thought might help Grant see freedom. As Naea looked up from the vaguely reminiscent face, she saw a look of bemusement stuck on the sheriff¡¯s. The tall, nonplussed man leaned around the pair that were pushing themselves closer and closer. ¡°You didn¡¯t ask them to do this, did you Rash?¡±

    The fallen man, who I now recognised as Rashid, the trader Grant had helped, simply shrugged and shook his head. ¡°I told you, Nolan. That man is special. You cannot let Seth do this.¡±

    ¡°Do what?¡± Morris asked, dumbly.

    Rashid coughed. ¡°Wait, why are you here if you didn¡¯t know what Seth was planning to do?¡± He asked the pair, confused. Naea stifled a chuckle at the coincidence of these people being in a room at the same time. Grant¡¯s effect on people was becoming even more pronounced. Basically everyone he talked to became wrapped up in his tale in some way, shape or form. It was a powerful and intoxicating ability, which lead to strange situations like this.

    There was a pause, before Morris spoke up quietly. ¡°So¡­ he wasn¡¯t thrown in jail for breaking into the city?¡± For a moment, Naea had removed her fingers from her face, but she was reminded why this was the dumbest idea she had ever heard at every angle. It was actually quite frustrating at this point.

    ¡°I told you,¡± she spat, angry enough that she had been right the whole time that she dropped her invisibility, ¡°Grant isn¡¯t locked up because of some stupid rule, he¡¯s locked up because of a stupid, scared man.¡± The silence that followed Naea¡¯s words confused her for a second, before she heard Rashid choke next to her. Looking from his confused face to the rising fear and anger in Nolan¡¯s, Naea realised she may have made a mistake.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Nolan had a headache threatening to tear his patience from him at any given moment. Not only was there a ticking time bomb sitting underneath his place of work, his eldest had been caught trying to leave the city again. Between keeping Seth happy, Sarah safe and the people of Londimin from rioting, the angry and impulsive acts of his teenage daughter were impossible to intercept.

    He thanked his attributes for nearly wholly removing the need for sleep from his mind, at least. He hadn¡¯t eaten in days, his stomach reminded him with a loud growl that almost interrupted the merchant¡¯s argument. Both men smirked at each other. Rashid was one of the traders that Nolan had the most dealing with, for mostly negative reasons. Not that the man himself was a troublemaker, but like Nolan, he never stopped working.

    Due to the lack of regulation in Londimin and an impossibly frayed ratio of guards to populace, it wasn¡¯t feasible to stop thievery or bullying between the people. It was barely achievable to keep them from tearing each other apart, but it was managed by threat of further, more public violence. More than one person had their arms broken for stealing from Rashid.

    It wasn¡¯t a good system, but Nolan was just one man. For most, the potential of being brutalised by the ¡°police force¡± that Nolan had gathered was enough to stay their hand. It was the best he could manage while the other, less scrupulous members of Londimin¡¯s government seemed to actively make things worse. Things in Londimin weren¡¯t great, but since the appearance of a human clearly above the level cap, everything changed for the worse.

    Nolan could feel it in the air. Something bad was about to happen.

    Rashid had apparently been helped by the man, and once rumours bounced around enough, he knew Nolan¡¯s prisoner was his saviour. The head guardsman cringed knowing the man held in the cell beneath his feet had nothing but bad experiences within the city. Honour demanded Rashid say something in Grant¡¯s defence, or at least find out what had happened.

    The only reason Grant was underneath his police station right now and not already facing punishment was down to Nolan throwing the last of his weight around. Things in the city were beyond frayed, and the arrival of a power they didn¡¯t understand had torn the fabric down to threads. Nolan would happily let him go, if it didn¡¯t mean he would fall right into the hands of the scouts. Almost everyone who got an Aspect in the city was a part of the growing antisocial clique.

    The scouts ran rampant, both inside the city and out. It was impossible to track what they looted and their strength jumped randomly. They were already the dominant power in Londomin, with only their individualism stopping them from taking over. Well, that and the fact that they seemed to be truly loyal to Seth. So, it was both conspicuous and challenging that a potential answer to this problem sat downstairs, likely furious at the state of things.

    When Nolan¡¯s door was knocked, he raised an eyebrow to Rashid, who shrugged and answered. Before anything could be said by their side, a pair of guards Nolan had placed in a safe position to keep them alive stormed in. What were their names again? They were both shouting immediately, and only half of it seemed to be about Grant. Mostly, they were yelling at each other for getting the explanation they had apparently not planned at all wrong.

    Then the fairy appeared, correcting them with an exasperated look. Silence fell upon the room and Nolan¡¯s entire world shrank to a pinprick as his perception raced. Everyone was shocked, but Nolan was sure he saw a look of guilt and worry appear on the tiny woman¡¯s features. He didn¡¯t know whether he could trust such a simple thing as facial expressions when it came to monsters, however.

    He frantically scanned the creature, mystified and shaken by the idea that a monster had broken into the city. When its level didn¡¯t immediately show up, his heart dropped. Dungeon fairies weren¡¯t complete unknowns, but they normally stayed in the dungeons. People said they were friendly enough, but Nolan wasn¡¯t sure. Seeing the miniature insectoid woman had casually infiltrated a space he considered safe set his teeth on edge.

    Then she called Seth a stupid, scared man and Nolan couldn¡¯t help but agree. He softened his stance, releasing a bit of tension. His fingers twitched for his glaive but it didn¡¯t appear in his hand. ¡°Are you with the man downstairs, Grant?¡± Nolan asked the fairy bluntly. It nodded, biting its lip. Nolan took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. He doubted this headache was going anywhere anytime soon.

    Opening his eyes as well as his mind, Nolan did his best to smile. It probably came off as a threatening gesture, but the fairy responded in kind. Her teeth were sharp. Nolan shuddered, wondering if he was making a deal with the devil to spite a demon. Anything to protect the girls, Nolan reminded himself.

    ¡°You and I should talk.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Sixty Four - Not Without My Lawyer, First.

    Naea had never been counselled on how to behave in a police interview, so she was more than happy to share Grant¡¯s life story. Surely he wouldn¡¯t mind, Naea was certain. It was nice when people knew how special you were, and Grant was as special as any human she had ever met. The small group listened intently, enraptured by her quality storytelling.

    ¡°So, Grant was born in Ireland and has a nice big family there still, hopefully. He¡¯s worried about them, and when we¡¯re done here we¡¯ll go and find them and make sure they¡¯re safe. Two older brothers, a little brother and two little sisters! I¡¯m so jealous, do any of you have siblings?¡± Nolan and Rashid shook their heads, though Rashid did so with a sad expression that made Naea feel bad for asking. Fortunately, the other two hadn¡¯t noticed.

    ¡°We¡¯re brothers, actually,¡± Larry said. Though Naea wasn¡¯t very knowledgeable on humans and generally thought they all looked the same, even she might have guessed that. Their features weren¡¯t particularly similar, but their expressions were. She smiled brightly at them before continuing.

    ¡°Anyway, Grant and I met in a dungeon. Our dungeon,¡± Naea added with a glare at the room. She hadn¡¯t realised how protective she was of that time with Grant until just now. Maybe she wouldn¡¯t tell them everything. ¡°Which is gone now. Grant started the Shift within and he met me. I¡¯m Grant¡¯s familiar now, because he nearly died and I needed to help him but it¡¯s the best! We kicked that dungeon¡¯s butt, beating one of the dungeon bosses before the System got angry and changed everything. We still won, but it was harder.

    ¡°Ummmm, what else¡­ well, he¡¯s really strong obviously.¡± Should Naea tell them about Steel Sovereign? She could feel its presence like a needle against her skin, not hurting but ready to pierce the protections around Grant at a moment¡¯s notice. Even though the intention behind Steel¡¯s attention was arguably well placed, Naea still disliked the new addition to her bond with Grant. ¡°We¡¯ve been beating up quest bosses and stuff since for the most part, training some of the others. They¡¯re still just Fledglings, but maybe one day they¡¯ll be worth something.¡± Naea put her finger to her small chin, pondering. Was there anything else worth talking about so that Grant wouldn¡¯t need to explain later?

    ¡°When you say others, who do you mean?¡± Nolan asked through a clenched jaw. His skin had gone pale and his nostrils were flaring.

    ¡°The other people living in Ascentown,¡± Naea answered easily.

    ¡°And what is Ascentown?¡± Nolan asked. Naea froze, suddenly unsure of whether she had been oversharing. The fear in the man¡¯s voice was unmistakable, even if Naea was a little overwhelmed. Had she made a mistake? Before she could answer, the merchant raised a hand to interject.

    ¡°Ah, I believe it is the town which Grant and¡­ this fine lady have established.¡± Relief flooded Naea as she remembered Grant explaining all of this to Rashid. If it was a secret, then it wasn¡¯t Naea who had shared it first. She nodded confirmation and the man continued. ¡°Ah, you remember I told you Grant saved me from being harassed last night, yes, Nolan? Well, he thought it might not be safe for me once he left so he gave me directions towards his settlement.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you just die on the way?¡± Morris asked, adding a touch of morbidity to the moment. Naea and Rashid both laughed, but she received an odd look for it. Naea shrugged. It was funny that Grant had given the man directions to somewhere ¡®safe¡¯ while forgetting it might cost him his life to get there.

    ¡°Not if there were more people who wanted to make the journey.¡± Rashid¡¯s statement inflected at the end, almost a question to the room. No one jumped forward to escort the man, but the idea wasn¡¯t dismissed either. ¡°I don¡¯t know what Grant¡¯s plan was in giving me directions, but¡­ it feels like a challenge. I want to see his town. That¡¯s my next step, if I can manage it. I¡¯d rather do that with good news than bad, though.¡±

    ¡°Bad news like Grant being locked under this building until someone lets him out?¡± Morris asked, to which Rashid nodded. Naea snorted and found curious eyes looking her way.

    ¡°It¡¯s just funny that you think Grant is trapped. You¡¯ve really got no idea who he is.¡± Naea couldn¡¯t help herself. They were talking like any of this theatre mattered. The fact that no one had gone to fix things with Grant was going to be working against them. If they thought walls would stop him from doing what he wanted, they didn¡¯t know the first thing about Grant.

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    ¡°Are you saying that he¡¯s going to break out?¡± Nolan demanded, stepping to his feet. This was a man thing, where they thought being big was the same as being scary. The issue was that Naea had been small her whole life, and had killed things much bigger and scarier than Nolan.

    She wasn¡¯t intimidated, rolling her eyes and shrugging. ¡°If he wanted to break out, he wouldn¡¯t have been taken captive in the first place. I think Grant¡¯s trying to give this town a chance, but I¡¯m only guessing.¡± She thought this was all very silly. Grant was less than twenty metres from them, down some stairs. They should just talk to him.

    ¡°A chance for what?¡± Larry asked, frowning. He hugged himself tightly in his puffy coat, even inside the warm room.

    ¡°A chance to prove you¡¯re not just an obstacle? We¡¯re only here because someone said that we could find an aeroplane somewhere. Like I said, Grant has a family out there he needs to make sure is safe.¡± Naea shrugged again. ¡°Do you seriously think some enchanted walls will be enough to stop him if he thinks you¡¯re not going to help?¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Since being thrown into the cramped space below the Hammersmith Police Station, I had memorised its every dimension and quirk. There was enough room for a cot and a toilet, both a little too close together for my personal comfort levels. There were no windows, as I was firmly underground. The grey rock of the wall was not standard to any recent British architecture, and carried the hazy effect of being System made when I looked at it. There were a few cracks here or there, but nothing serious.

    I had told Naea to sit tight for a day, but there was no way she would last that long. Knowing that, I never really planned to stay the full twenty four hours. I had hoped that the bars of the cage would allow for some more ¡°equal¡± conversation, but no one had come to talk to me. I got the sense that they weren¡¯t figuring out concessions so much as how to rid themselves of the ¡°Grant problem.¡±

    I began going a little stir crazy in the small cell. It had only been a few hours, but my patience was wearing thin to begin with. Composure wasn¡¯t an issue of mine these days, easily able to tumble into my inner world and fiddle around there, losing hours at a time if I wanted. Normally. Every time I closed my eyes to sense my mana, the damn walls started screaming at me. From the lack of reaction in the guard at the end of the hall, it was a personalised annoyance.

    Or he was very good at ignoring nails on a blackboard.

    When it became clear that I was not going to get an interview or even, it seemed, a trial, I began experimenting. I was honestly stunned at the protections on the jail cell. If I had been paying more attention I probably would have avoided the cage rather than try this stupid idea. Despite my subdued connection to my magic, I could feel the Dragon¡¯s raised eyebrow, as though to ask ¡°This was your plan?¡±

    Even the generally aloof Dao of Tempests gave me a nudge. Part of me was petulant when it came to the Dragon, but if the storm within was feeling shackled then I clearly had misstepped. Doubts in my own head were given simple answers by the magic within. If I wanted to leave, all I had to do was keep pushing against the boundary around me until it broke.

    I wanted to claw at my own scalp in frustration. I felt torn between two versions of myself. On one side, I had the Grant which had been around since before the System. The Me which had interacted with other humans and mostly knew how to deal with them, or at least how to understand them. Then there was the Grant which had survived the dungeon at the beginning of the Shift and came out of it a warrior. Exhilaration, adventure and a life of seeking loftier and loftier heights were the hallmarks of that existence. That was where the Dao pushed me and where I felt most alive.

    Abandoning my humanity was a slippery slope I had already fallen onto once with my handling of the murderer of Newtown. I barely thought of that moment, even now, but in a way that was half the problem. Killing another human hadn¡¯t left a mark on my psyche, even if I focused on the memory of doing it. The man, Ewan, had been dangerous and Grant treated him no differently than he would a monster.

    It felt to me that if I stormed into Londimin like the hurricane of force I could become, I would be no better than Steel Sovereign. Arguably, Steel hadn¡¯t actually killed anyone, and there was no chance I had the same level of control. I reminded myself that this was exactly why I had let myself be jailed in the first place, and the frustration rose another level of magnitude.

    I rode that feeling, angry at the way things had happened since I came to the city. I knew I wasn¡¯t good at this, leadership or diplomacy, but Seth showed me that I had done better than I thought. He probably had his reasons for letting things get as bad as they were, but I didn¡¯t care about them anymore. Ignoring the increasingly distracting siren noise which started as I cycled my mana, I began pressing against the cell¡¯s enchantments.

    Maybe if I cracked the city in two, they¡¯d be more inclined to listen.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Nolan took a calming breath before he began to descend the staircase to the cells under the station. The building was a sanctuary once, but now it felt like he was walking into a lion¡¯s den. Nothing had made much sense since the System arrived, but today had been a doozy. He glanced at his right shoulder, where the whir of invisible wings told him Naea was hovering.

    They had really made a big mistake here. Seth wouldn¡¯t want to hear it, and the Constable And Scout leaders would no doubt be enraged but Nolan was starting to think he didn¡¯t care. It wasn¡¯t safe in Londimin, it was just more safe than anywhere else. At least, that was what Nolan had thought. With news of more settlements, he found himself very interested in talking to Grant once more.

    His foot had landed on the first step as the world shook violently. Screams erupted all over and Nolan braced himself against the walls. The two guards, Larry and Morris, clashed heads as they ran straight into each other. Rashid nearly fell, but Nolan saw him freeze in mid-air and realised the fairy must have caught him. ¡°What the hell is that?¡± Naea appeared from underneath Rashid as she helped him stand, her invisibility interrupted by the physical exertion, but with a smile on her face all the same.

    ¡°That,¡± Naea¡¯s smug voice was proud, ¡°would be Grant breaking out of your special prison cell.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Sixty Five - Prison Break

    Cracking the defensive wards on the Londimin prison was surprisingly difficult. It required more force than I had expected to snap the bindings, which meant I was putting in a little too much power as they finally did snap. What I hadn¡¯t considered is that the enchantments of Londomin would be so¡­ connected.

    As I snapped the cell¡¯s enchantment and began to leave, all hell broke loose. The gerd at the end of the hall both tried to rush me, which I thought was quite brave. Nothing was harmed but their pride as I swiftly knocked them both out with an Infusion empowered flick to the temple each. I was not alone in the cells, and it was only when the other people began to leave their confinement that I realised what I had done.

    Considering I had been thrown into jail for existing, and I knew at least one person was down here simply because they had looted a monster, I didn¡¯t know how to feel about freeing these prisoners. However, I wasn¡¯t going to take the freedom I had accidentally gifted them, either. I told myself it wasn¡¯t my problem as I made my way up the stairs to leave the police station.

    ¡°There¡¯s something wrong with your cells,¡± I told Nolan as I pushed past him, too. My patience was thin, but I forced myself to stop. He had his chance to help and had sat on his ass instead. Luckily, Naea was with him so I told her the plan. I decided to say it outloud so that those nearby could hear it as a warning. ¡°We¡¯re going to go steal a plane and hope it gets us into the air. Anyone that tries to stop us is going to be shown why that¡¯s a bad idea.¡±

    Actually, it was a strange little group. Nolan, a huge bear of a man, was leaning his weight from leg to leg anxiously. The two brothers Larry and Morris were both uncharacteristically quiet, giving me strange looks instead of yammering like I expected. Rashid was the calmest, simply shaking his head at me in what I could only assume was wonder. As there were only five or six people in the city I would recognise, seeing almost all of them together was enough to slow me down. Apart from Naea, who was just happy to see me, each of them also bore a look of dread behind their eyes which told me I had done more damage than I thought.

    As much as I told myself I was a dragon and that I should be able to ignore these things, I couldn¡¯t. The Dao harrumphed within, but didn¡¯t argue. The world had changed me a lot, but I had pledged my life to helping others even before the System arrived. I saw the fear and frustration on the faces of Nolan and the others, but it was the acceptance and regret that remained on the sheriff¡¯s features that really stopped me. ¡°What?¡± I demanded, upset at myself for caring.

    ¡°I think that whatever you did¡­ It started a chain reaction. The wards on these walls are connected to the wards everywhere else.¡± Nolan spoke slowly, his voice calm despite the angst and confusion all around. There was a growing crowd of uncertain looking guards all looking to Nolan, who in turn was pleading with me using just his eyes.

    ¡°This is not how I planned to start diplomacy with your city, Nolan.¡± I sighed, unwilling to let regret seep in. It was Londimin¡¯s management which created this situation. Yet, I couldn¡¯t find it within myself to let the actions of Seth and his sycophants cause punishment for the rest. Except, Nolan also felt responsible and wouldn¡¯t stop me if I wanted to make the situation worse. I groaned. ¡°If I can help, I will. What¡¯s happening? What did I do?¡±

    As Nolan began to explain, I had to curse myself for not paying more attention to the actual workings of the System. Once I could foist that responsibility away I had, but if I had spent more time studying the options in the faction store for Ascentown, I might have been able to predict some of this outcome. There was a supply of System credit which fueled all of the defensive wards for the city, and Nolan gave me a very measured look before telling me I had overpowered the whole thing at once and drained their reserves.

    ¡°That explains why it was such a struggle, I guess.¡± I shrugged. It hadn¡¯t been easy to overwhelm the mana in the walls, and now I knew why. ¡°This should be easy enough to fix, though. How much does it cost to fuel the walls for a day? Or a week even?¡± Rashid¡¯s ears seemed to perk up at that turn in the conversation and I had to chuckle. I was more and more sure that he would be a good addition to Ascentown.

    Nolan shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. I received a quest, and I¡¯m guessing Seth and some others have, too. It¡¯s called When It Rains. The System apparently thinks it¡¯s funny that we tried to tame a dragon - it¡¯s words, not mine. There¡¯s a trail wave on the way.¡± Larry and Morris nodded rapidly at this. The general populace got the alert for the trial wave, but not the larger quest to stop it. That made some kind of sense, except all this did was cause panic.

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    ¡°I don¡¯t have the alerts, show me them.¡± Nolan and the others looked at me like I was insane so I had Naea explain how to present System pages. All it required essentially was to slap the prompt with mana, like a signature. That was how Naea had explained it to me, at least. Once you signed the page, you had more control over it. As they quickly learned, I judged that the System was arbitrary and dangerous. Maybe it was just me placing blame away from myself, but punishing thousands because I had broken a single jail cell felt drastic.

    Quest - When It Rains

    Taming dragons is no easy task, and can often leave on with terrible burns. The wards of Londimin have been drained and crippled. Defeat the Elite dungeon within Londimin¡¯s domain to repair the damage, but be quick. A trial wave approached, hoping to take advantage of your lacking defences.

    Dungeon defeated 0/1

    Reward: Repair and upgrade of Londimin¡¯s defences.

    Cessation of Trial Wave

    My face burned with heat as the System outright called me a dragon, and the Dao within me grumbled indignantly at the comparison. Shaking it off, I was confident that this, at least, was a problem I could fix. Before I could offer, however, my familiar took the lead. Naea was buzzing with excitement as she saw the prompt, looking back and forth between the floating text and myself. ¡°It¡¯s an Elite dungeon, Grant! We have to go, I haven¡¯t eaten in weeks!¡±

    While that wasn¡¯t strictly true, and I knew that she just wanted to get high, the allure of an Elite dungeon was high for myself, too. ¡°Was our first dungeon an Elite one, Naea?¡±

    ¡°Nope! Though, I think it was similar because of the dragon that died there. Your weird level and achievements made it all weird compared to the other dungeons we¡¯ve seen.¡± She was happy to explain, but I didn¡¯t want her to talk anymore. She was already drooling, and it was only getting worse.

    ¡°Nolan, we¡¯ll take care of the dungeon problem. I¡¯m not sure I can complete the quest, though, so you¡¯ll need to come with me.¡± It seemed like the natural option to me, so I was surprised when Nolan took a step back in an obviously uncomfortable gesture. He held his hands up, and I could see that they were shaking a little.

    ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ I have daughters¡­¡±

    I saw the faces of my sisters in my mind and nearly felt myself choked by the fear. Except, unlike Nolan, who¡¯s fear kept him in place, mine pushed me forward. Each second I wasn¡¯t protecting my family was another second they could be lost forever. With all the unsaid things left unsaid, and final words set in stone. ¡°Say no more. Go find them, now. Get them safe. Naea, you go with him.¡±

    ¡°Grant, no! The Elite dungeon! I bet the monsters in there taste like ambrosia, Grant.¡± I felt true rage in our connection, but there was no point in arguing. Naea was strong, but not as powerful as me by half. I had a bad feeling about what was going to happen in the city over the next hour. Leaving her here would make me feel much better.

    ¡°I¡¯ll put as many bodies as I can fit into my inventory. Go help the man protect his girls.¡± I could tell Naea wanted to argue, tears brimming in her eyes. I reminded myself she didn¡¯t know about this dungeon until about thirty seconds prior, and that she would be fine. I would make it up to her, but right now, I begrudgingly realised I needed to fix the problem I had created. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you the boss, I promise.¡± There was a snap of magic between myself and the fairy, the Fae rules she had spoken about on occasion. I squinted at the magic, but it was far too complex for me to parse.

    While he didn¡¯t know her capabilities, Nolan looked immensely grateful as I told her to join him. Naea gave me side-eye the whole time, but she nodded all the same. She joined Nolan while he shouted at guards to get into defensive positions before setting off to protect his loved ones. Nolan¡¯s family would be safe in Naea¡¯s hands. ¡°Which leaves you three to me.¡±

    The trio looked confused, with Rashid catching on quickest and a look of true terror appearing on his face. ¡°I needed Nolan because I¡¯m not part of the Londimin. I still need a guide to the dungeon, and someone to complete the quest.¡± Even Larry and Morris understood what I was saying now. I could practically hear three sets of knees knocking. ¡°Come on boys, let¡¯s go clear a dungeon.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Trial Wave Initiated - Level 32 - Londimin

    Lucy looked at the words with bile rising in her throat, already sprinting back towards the city. That level was simply too high. Even her father or Seth were only level thirty. She knew immediately that the man she had met was to blame for the increased level and cursed herself. She had aimed him at the place like an arrow without thinking for a second about how it might hurt her family.

    Her skin cracked, fur rising from within as the wolven form burst forth. She howled into the air, using all of her mana and power to get back as quickly as possible. The incoming horde was going to tear them apart, but she would protect her sister at least. Her dad thought she was just obsessed with finding their mother, but it wasn¡¯t that simple. She wanted to find her mom, yes, but she couldn¡¯t feel as trapped and useless as she had in those first days. She had chased, hunted, found and claimed strength all on her own, to protect herself and her family.

    She just hoped she wasn¡¯t too late.

 Book Two - Chapter Sixty Six - Speedrunning and Noob Boosting

    Nolan had seen his share of strange days since the System arrived. One of the dungeons they had cleared was low-level, but Nolan had nearly died when he ventured inside as a scout. He wasn¡¯t a commander, able to send another person into danger when he could face it himself. He had been saved from drowning in that water world by the next person to come in, who luckily had the common Aspect of Water and took them both to the single small island in the raging seas of that world.

    As one of the strong, Nolan had forced himself to brave the dangers the System visited upon Londomin. If not me, then who? As time passed, he felt less and less able to rely on the other locals with strength. Seth and his scouts had syphoned anyone with an Aspect, leaving him with just the people who wanted to make a difference but couldn¡¯t. It was difficult to send such earnest people into the unknown.

    While he had done a good job of avoiding this recently, Nolan couldn¡¯t help feeling like he was failing Naea by not giving her some kind of warning. He simply found it impossible to talk to the fairy, despite it happily chatting away. Was he really taking a dungeon monster to protect his daughter? He didn¡¯t have time to think, nor was he sure he could stop Naea if she made a point of following him.

    The creature terrified him with its potential, but he didn¡¯t actually dislike her. She was a bit bizarre to look at with her spindly legs and arms, slightly bulbous middle and insectoid features. Nolan knew Sarah enough to know she would prefer Naea¡¯s appearance over a more ¡°traditional¡± fairy. The fact she was almost obnoxiously charming, in the way that only a talkative child can be, wouldn¡¯t hurt.

    Yet, as they made their way to his apartment, he saw her in action. There were precursor mana formations appearing which monsters would spawn from if not dealt with. Once that was explained to the fairy, every one they saw was smashed apart in seconds. They were no more than cobwebs to Naea, but required a specialised Aspect wielder in the standard case. The casual ease at which she performed the task suggested far greater powers laying dormant.

    Nolan set his jaw. He just had to trust Grant. It was simple, if difficult. The boy had come to him with a mostly open palm and Nolan had sent him into the tiger¡¯s den and then wasted everyone¡¯s time deliberating. The trial wave bearing down on them was as much his fault as Seth¡¯s. Nolan could do nothing to stop Naea from following him. He had just as little chance of stopping her from doing something more violent.

    Almost on autopilot, Nolan found himself opening the ground floor doors of their office building-turned-apartment complex. ¡°Please don¡¯t hurt my daughter,¡± he said as they entered the building, the words as unstoppable as a sneeze. Instead of taking offence, the fairy seemed to relax a little. She stopped her random chattering, which Nolan now realised was to make him feel at ease, and smiled gently.

    ¡°Grant and I are familiar and patron, do you know what that means, Nolan?¡± He shook his head at her answer, which she clearly expected. ¡°It means we make each other stronger, and work together - for the most part. Grant likes to do things alone, but I don''t. Not really. I was born alone. It sometimes feels like I didn¡¯t even have real thoughts until I met Grant.¡±

    Nolan found himself very interested, but unsure why she was sharing this as she continued and they walked to his front door. ¡°If you don¡¯t know about patrons, then you probably don¡¯t know how much absorbing the monsters inside a dungeon matter to dungeon fairies.¡± She turned a very serious gaze onto him. ¡°It¡¯s like not being able to breathe without them.¡±

    ¡°Then¡­ why?¡± Nolan didn¡¯t understand. If going into a dungeon was such a serious thing for a fairy, why was she here with him? Naea just shrugged and shook her head while aiming a wistful looking in what Nolan knew was the direction of the Elite dungeon. Could she sense Grant, or the powerful magics of the place itself?

    ¡°Because being with Grant feels even better. He asked me to help you, Nolan, so that¡¯s what I¡¯m going to do.¡± A weight dropped onto Nolan¡¯s shoulders, palpable enough that he flinched and looked to make sure no one had grabbed him. They hadn¡¯t, but when he turned back to the fairy he could have sworn she looked larger. More imposing. Her features were different, almost lizard-like instead of insect. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Nolan. You and your family are safe. I promise.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    I would be the first to say that I did not expect the series of events which lead to me racing full speed towards the Elite Dungeon of Londimin. In the half an hour or so since I had destroyed the wards in the prison, things had continued to deteriorate. People were scrambling from place to place, but by making myself subtle with Dao, we passed through the crowds easily and without being accosted. I was still wanted, technically.

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    There were more scouts running around than I expected, which was honestly heartening. It would have been harder to save these idiots if they were all acting like barbarians, but it seemed that at least in this instance, the scouts were doing the right thing. They gathered groups and directed them to safe areas where they could be more easily defended if the walls were breached or a monster appeared within.

    The protections the city normally enjoyed were inoperable until someone defeated the Elite dungeon, which meant more than the walls being less defensible. Even as our small group ran towards the airport, I began releasing Mana Bolts to blast apart the congealing dark energies that were appearing. Monsters were going to spawn inside the city, and if they were all over level thirty like the trial wave suggested¡­

    ¡°Wow,¡± Larry laughed a little too hard as he spoke, ¡°you really fucked that up.¡± His tone was good natured, but his words boomed all around us. Morris and Rashid flinched, while I winced and nodded. I couldn¡¯t be everywhere at once, which meant people were going to get hurt. We had to hurry.

    The Elite dungeon of Londimin was not a secret exactly, so they all knew where it was. They just couldn¡¯t tell me anything about it because no one that had gone in had come out. That helped explain the teeth-rattling terror which the others were feeling right now. There was nothing for it, though. I couldn¡¯t spend any time coddling the men, and I needed them to complete the quest for the town. ¡°How far away are we?¡± I asked the others.

    ¡°It¡¯s another mile, that way.¡± Morris answered, throwing angry glances at his brother. He had cursed Larry more than a few times for ¡®getting them mixed up in this¡¯, so he clearly blamed his brother for their involvement. Larry, for his part, was oblivious. He still wore the large, heavy coat and I couldn¡¯t help wondering why he didn¡¯t put it into his inventory. It didn''t seem magical, but perhaps I was wrong and it gave some attribute points or something.

    Hearing how far we had to go, I made a decision. ¡°This is going to feel cosy guys, but hold on tight.¡± Without breaking my stride or theirs, I began to grab all three men. Like I was carrying over-sized teddy bears, they were nearly weightless in my arms once I brought all of my attribute points to bear. ¡°We¡¯re moving.¡±

    There were angry protests at the treatment, but they were lost in the wind as I broke into a sprint. Without turning, I ran straight up a building and began bouncing from roof to roof in the direction Morris had pointed. I layed three Infusions upon each other and tore through the city. With Larry in the middle, his heavy coat to cushion them, the men were mostly fine by the time we arrived at the undulating rift of magic.

    Mostly.

    After a bout of vomiting from Morris and Rashid, we were ready to enter. ¡°I don¡¯t know about those two,¡± Larry whispered while they cleaned up. ¡°But I would absolutely do that again if you¡¯re ever willing.¡± I laughed and told Larry I doubted it would come up again but that I would think about it. If I ever needed money, maybe I could make some working as a personal rollercoaster. I kept my hilarious inner monologue to myself and scouted out the aperture.

    Even from a distance, I could tell this dungeon was different to any I had seen before. Each of the previous dungeon gates were a few metres in height and the same again wide. They looked like fractures in space, curved and intercepted light making them hard to look at with the naked eye. Mana, coloured by the world beyond, seeped out and it was possible to get a vague sense of what lay beyond.

    The elite dungeon, in contrast, was just a straight up warp gate. There were buildings in the area which were dwarfed by its size. It would be simple for a double decker bus to enter, horizontally if needed. A completely tangible space lay beyond a surging weave which contained the image. If I hadn¡¯t already seen other worlds and planes of existence in the System dungeons, the world through the gate would have been exactly what I imagined instead.

    The Tower of London once again came to mind as we found a vantage point a fair distance away. There were people milling around, looking uncertain and scared. I assumed they were there to protect the dungeon for whatever reason. I could see panicked and desperate people getting in the way, so it wasn¡¯t the worst decision. Except, the guards themselves seemed more frightened of the dungeon to their backs than the trial wave everywhere else.

    ¡°Do we all have to go inside?¡± Rashid asked, sounding defeated already. Whether it brought on by the gothic aesthetic of the tomb beyond the magical portal or simply voicing a question now the reality had appeared, I didn¡¯t know. ¡°There are other people inside already, it seems,¡± he added hopefully.

    ¡°Honestly?¡± I answered, ¡°no. Probably not.¡± It was true. I didn¡¯t need all of them, most likely. However, that was only if we were lucky. ¡°But people are going to start dying soon. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s inside this dungeon and I don¡¯t know what the rules are for the quest. It¡¯s possible that I could get this done with the people inside, but I don¡¯t trust them like I do you three. There¡¯s a higher chance of success if you all come with me, and I can keep you safe.¡±

    ¡°How can you be sure?¡± Rashid was beginning to panic as we got closer to potential danger, which was unstandable but annoying. Before I could churn my mana and swell my aura to a point where Rashid would know he didn¡¯t have to worry, help came from the heavily-coated Larry.

    ¡°He said he needs our help.¡± Larry said simply. ¡°People are dying and Grant says he can help them if we go with him. Isn¡¯t that enough?¡± Not that Larry didn¡¯t talk all the time, but there was a tone to his voice when he droned that made him easy to drown out. When he spoke seriously about this subject, it was harder to ignore him. Rashid shuffled uncomfortably, but I beamed at him.

    ¡°Damn, Larry. Well said.¡± Morris looked genuinely impressed with his brother, pride and resolve in his eyes. Rashid was not as convinced, but he was apparently done questioning things. That was good, because we needed to move. They may lack confidence now, but I expected that to change quite quickly once we were inside the dungeon. I didn¡¯t plan to protect them from everything, after all. They would be fighting, too. They would need confidence to not die at that point. But before that? It was time to power level these noobs.

    They just needed to get into the dungeon first, preferably without killing anyone on the way in.

 Book Two - Chapter Sixty Seven - Elite Dungeons

    The Alteration had come to the world of Gibral with grace and acceptance. The myriad races living peacefully upon its shores met the changes brought on the day of prophecy with exaltation, celebration and preparedness. Theirs was a world of trade and prosperity where no single nation could survive alone, so they thrived together.

    Strange even for the infinite possibilities upon The Tree, Gibral had no true continents. The largest of its island nations would be considered a small country for most worlds, yet this separation of power was exactly the thing which allowed for amicable life between said islands. When a new technology was developed in one corner of Gibral, it flowed outwards like a great wave, returning back with alterations and upgrades.

    For millennia, the Gibralan world underwent golden age after golden age, and their technological prowess stood proud amongst the world yet untouched by The Tree. Every island was mapped out, not an inch of the oceanic world was unknown to them. They dominated the planet while cultivating its wondrous properties. Eventually, the gentle conquerors of Gibral turned their imaginations towards the cosmic.

    As with each trial forced on Gibral throughout its history, the entire world¡¯s intellect bent towards the answers they sought. In short order, they learned of the Greater Connection and The Tree which created it. The cultural renaissance upon finding such a clear and aspirational divine message was another binding which brought Gibral¡¯s conglomerate nations closer together.

    When the monsters began to appear, the people of Gibral knew they had finally been blessed. The Hephaest Knight rode forth on their seafoam clouds, the honoured chosen who were trusted to grow strong first in this new phase for Gibral. Each country innocently competed with the rest to bedeck their finest prodigies with armour, weapons and training in preparation for these times, and the knights wore their pride loudly on their chests in the form of gleaming tabards.

    Once the first of these tabards fell, stained with blood, it proceeded a change for the world of Gibral. The country which fell along with its stalwart defender was a spark, and its neighbours reacted quickly. The ruling class were called foolish for placing all of the power into the hands of one, fallible individual. It had been Lagarius¡¯ hubris which had led to his death, and the fall of Varen, after all.

    An arms race began, yet the oceans had become dangerous. Ideas no longer flowed like water, but ignited upon each nation in different ways. Alliances were formed to push back the growing threat as higher and higher level monsters continued to appear in the depths of their once trusted oceans. Yet, more islands chose to rely on themselves and began to outfit not just a singular knight, but squads of their own. Of course, once the first contingent of a single country¡¯s knights were spotted, the frenzied push for strength only increased.

    While hope was stuck in the doldrums, fear diluted the oceans and made the once inviting waves black with horrors. It had been fifteen years since The Alteration and the newest generation, who had only known fear and horror, were beginning to see their world, pockmarked with destruction from its own people, for the first time. Their elders, too scared to return to the casual hopefulness which had fueled the growth of their world, wept for the first war brood Gibral had seen.

    Hassian grew up hearing about the glorious days of yore, less than two decades ago and only a year before his own birth. He never got a chance to see the world as anything other than a place of monsters, oceans filled with beasts and neighbours eyeing resources hungrily. His mother told him before she died that they had spent months with family on a neighbouring island. They would kill him on sight if they saw him now. They wouldn¡¯t remember him, nor would he them. These days, it felt like he barely remembered the feeling of a full stomach.

    He was not one of the lucky ascendants, who claimed Aspects in the early days of the System¡¯s influence. They were few and far between now, and it had been his accepted lot in life to simply struggle against fate until he inevitably died. Their world was being strangled by the challenges brought forth by The Tree. Some days, Hassian cursed all of his ancestors for their terrible preparation for these times but mostly he just struggled to survive like everyone else.

    Until, that is, the portal appeared. Grand, alien and clearly bubbling with power, the rend in the fabric of the world was Hassian¡¯s chance to rewrite his fate and become truly strong. However, when a trio of aspirant knights - individuals with a level of thirty but no Aspect - disappeared into its strange grey stone halls never to be seen again, access to the portal had been restricted. When a true Knight assaulted the Elite Dungeon and, again, vanished forever, entry was barred entirely.

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    Hassian silently raged against this, lest he be more closely watched for dissension. What was it to them if he threw away his life? If they were so sure that¡¯s what was happening, they wouldn¡¯t care. Times were hard, but a general equilibrium with the world had been met. Their people weren¡¯t dying out, and the loss of a few headstrong people wouldn¡¯t matter overmuch. Instead of rushing, Hassian trained.

    By the age of twenty, Hassian had carefully pushed his level to the maximum. Not only was the speed of his rise without an Aspect truly impressive, to do so without any backing made him glow with the only pride he allowed himself to feel. Hassian was a man of commitment and he would change his fate within the Elite dungeon. The only other choice was to die in the trial wave.

    He would get his moment of truth a week before his twenty-first birthday. The trial wave he feared and hoped for in equal measure arrived, and the chaos of its arrival allowed him to slip into the dungeon. Even during the attack, there was a guard stopping people from entering, further proving to Hassian that the closure of the dungeon was nothing to do with protecting people. Luckily, his set of skills was born for exactly this moment.

    A deft use of mana control to deafen his presence, and Hassian finally slipped into the dungeon. He did not waste a moment, hunting quickly for a safe space from which to range. Every sign pointed towards this place being unimaginably dangerous, but Hassian knew there were treasures to be found here. He wouldn¡¯t have to look long for the first oddity, however.

    Immediately upon entering the dungeon, sounds of battle assaulted Hassian. He was a hard man, even at his relatively young age, but the enclosed halls of the dungeon were frightening to him on their own. With the addition of vicious sounding growls and powerful impacts rebounding around the hard stone walls, he nearly froze. A stubbornness grown in silence was his weapon, forcing him towards the sounds so he could at least understand the situation.

    He had been expected monsters, but the sounds of battle were almost more frightening. Whatever was happening, the frustrated roars sent shivers down Hassian¡¯s spine. He knew it was a risk coming in here, but how powerful a beast was this creature, which could shake the walls of the Elite dungeon with its shouts alone?

    Unfortunately, seeing the source of the commotion wasn¡¯t enough to actually believe Hassian¡¯s eyes when he found it. Two men with skin as white as shells and one with a tone closer to Hassian¡¯s deep brown sat to one side, looking positively bored, as another man toyed with a monster stronger than any Hassian had seen before. The roaring feline creature was being batted back and forth like a kitten. Even with all his preparations, and inclination towards stealth, Hassian couldn¡¯t help but release a strangled noise.

    Five sets of eyes snapped to him. Even the monster, facing the man with the metal stick and the blazing red hair, spared him a glare. Then, it noticed that the man was distracted and launched itself forward. His back turned, he couldn¡¯t see the claws aimed for his neck and Hassian shouted out a warning. Everything happened so fast, far quicker than even his improved attributes could follow, so Hassian would never know for sure but he could have sworn the man smirked at his alarm.

    There was an explosion of fur, blood and bone. Hassian¡¯s heart dropped even as the three still stationary men began to curse. ¡°Oh god,¡± one of them screamed in bloody horror, ¡°it¡¯s in my coat!¡± The individual in question began to frantically rip a very oversized jacket from themselves and shake it while the other two wiped the viscera away from themselves.

    ¡°Whoops. Sorry, sorry, I got carried away when our new friend arrived.¡± With a solid, deep voice, the man apologised to the others. Hassian was immediately on edge. Anyone who called themselves your friend was trying to take something from you. Especially the ones who were actually friends. Stepping from the grisly scene, strangeless spotless, the red haired man moved to his allies and with a swipe of his hand in the air, the gore was removed and thrown onto the wall behind them.

    ¡°Magic,¡± Hassian breathed. He could do some tiny things with mana control, but this was a true System-given skill. Hassian had obsessed over them enough to know. This man had an Aspect, maybe multiple. His mind raced with decision after decision, each one rooting him more firmly to the spot. These people were not from Gibral. They weren¡¯t Gibralan, despite looking similar. Their brows were tighter, their eyes closer together and pinched atop the nose in a grotesque way. Yet, despite their deformities, Hassian knew this was his chance.

    He would do nothing to offend this man, and everything to learn from him. The simple fact he was travelling with three aspirants suggested he was a powerful knight, if Hassian read the situation correctly. His analysis complete, Hassian did the only thing he could think of in the moment.

    With a flourish, spinning and dropping to one knee, Hassian¡¯s fist propped up his head and he performed the most desperately perfect kneel of submission he could. ¡°Please!¡± Hassian shouted, only now wondering how the men could speak his language, ¡°allow me to join you! I shall do anything you ask if you help me find strength here!¡±

    The red haired man snorted, to which Hassian raised his eyes fearfully. He saw a hand extended towards himself. Taking the soft, pink-white skin in his own almost scaled dark brown, Hassian allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. ¡°You don¡¯t have to bow to me, though I do appreciate it. My name¡¯s Grant and we¡¯d be happy to have you join the power levelling run of this Elite dungeon. What¡¯s your name, shark man?¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Sixty Eight - Allies

    The three noobs were quickly gaining levels as we pushed into the Elite dungeon. Even I had been a little hesitant to enter after the stories of complete disappearance, but I didn¡¯t have a choice. They all had, even if I pressured them to join me, and I was proud of them for it. The place needed to be cleared as soon as possible to protect Londimin from what was probably mostly my fault. As my payment, I would see them to a higher level of strength.

    The issue with blasting through every room with abandon was twofold. One, every room looked the same, every hall was identical and the only difference was in the monsters waiting in each room. If anything, the Elite dungeon was far more my speed than one like Badaila. At least here I could just blow through the enemies with abandon. At least, if I ignored the second problem. If I simply demolished the enemies at full speed, the System judged that the others hadn¡¯t been involved in the fight, and they didn¡¯t receive much experience.

    However, if they sat down for a minute or two while I defended them from attacks, they were given a vast amount. Larry, who apparently had played a lot of online games in the past, suggested it was a bit like a threat generation bonus, which I accepted as true immediately. Each fight after that had been slightly more prolonged, which both allowed me to get a better sense of my strength against the creatures of the Elite dungeon and sent some gains to the followers.

    Seven halls, seven rooms with various challenges. Not every room contained a battle, though most did. One room had been a dangerous Simon Says puzzle, where a panel showed a rune and if we weren¡¯t standing in the right spot, a blast of magical energy surged forth to incinerate us all. In another, the floor had begun to increase in temperature with every step deeper. Without my Air Manipulation to pass over it, I judged that even I would have only made it out barely. It would have crippled me for the rest of the day, at least, if not worse. There was every chance I overestimated my healing capacity, after all. Without Naea here, truly grievous wounds might be lethal.

    However, if I had to rate this dungeon compared to others, it was definitely near the top of my list. The rules were simple - push forward and survive until the end. The challenges weren¡¯t particularly dangerous for myself. The level gains had been decent, too, and not just for Larry, Morris and Rashid.

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 51

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 120  Speed - 95   Mental - 528   Will - 430

    Free attribute points: 210

    Seven levels was no joke, netting me more attribute points than I really knew what to do with. Two hundred and ten points at once was more than I had access to in my whole time as a Grade 0, I was fairly sure. My ratios had been skewing towards an even split for a while, boosted by achievements and changes to my Dao. Taking the chance to get back to what I knew worked, I was tempted to drop all of it into Mental but managed to restrain myself to adding only one hundred and fifty. Fifty five points were placed into Fortitude and Speed to even up the amounts there to 135 with fifteen in the first and forty in the second. I saved five points as emergency healing energy, though the effectiveness was miniscule at this point.

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 51

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 135  Speed - 135   Mental - 678   Will - 430

    Free attribute points: 5

    Adding an effective 50% into my Attributes was transformative. The benefits of my achievements were starting to show themselves as I finally began to gain levels again. I had forgotten how intoxicating it was, but quickly found myself hurrying the others to ready so I could chase the next room¡¯s high. Maybe Naea and I weren¡¯t so different in this regard. I shook the thought away like it could cause me physical harm. No, I¡¯m nothing like that little freak, I thought with all the love in the world.

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    However, it was the eighth room which brought the first great surprise of the delve. We were in a rush, but not so much that I couldn¡¯t talk to a fucking robot shark man. I tried to keep my cool, completely failing and turning the Steelmane Lion into garden mulch in my excitement. Taking a second to clean off the gore from myself and the humans, I gathered myself.

    When I turned around and the sharkman knelt, pledging himself to me, I nearly fainted. Stopping myself short of making a reference to a comic book movie, I instead hauled the intriguing guest to his feet.  ¡°You don¡¯t have to bow to me, though I do appreciate it. My name¡¯s Grant and we¡¯d be happy to have you join the power levelling run of this Elite dungeon. What¡¯s your name, shark man?¡±

    A toothy grin came my way and our new friend nodded. ¡°I am Hassian Phwarg. I come from the country Vala on the world of Gibral.¡± I blinked hard. A genuine alien. In my mind the Fae being and the dragon Mrs Naebol had turned out to be didn¡¯t count. The high-tech armour the man wore in a few places was more exciting to me than a dozen magical wands. Plus, what I assumed to be his surname was literally just whale song. I was in heaven.

    ¡°Hassian,¡± I said, giving a stern look to the others so they wouldn¡¯t argue, ¡°I¡¯ll extend the offer again. These are my friends and we¡¯re here to clear the dungeon for a quest. You¡¯re welcome to join us.¡± There had been a few choked noises of complaint, barely restrained, from the original leeches but this was my dungeon delve and if I said the shark man was coming, he was coming.

    Standing taller than me, with dense muscles, Hassian was imposing. His frame, while large, was lean in a way that made me suspect he was more of a dexterity-based fighter. Would he be a better fight underwater? What did the glittering necklace with multiple buttons do? Holding myself back, I kept my questions for now. Hassian agreed to join us, and while I wanted to know everything about his world, we were on a hard time limit. Getting to know each other would have to wait.

    We arrived at the ninth room of the dungeon and we paused at the entrance. There was a large coffin in the middle, and nothing else. The rooms didn¡¯t ¡°activate¡± until we entered previously, so it was useful to scout the place before walking in. Even then, I had a pretty good idea what was coming so I shrugged and hopped down from the entrance which was raised ten feet from the room as the rest had been. Each time we moved from one room to the next, there was a drop, like we were travelling down stairs. ¡°Probably best you stay up there for this one,¡± I warned the others.

    Once my feet touched the ground, magic exploded to life. Thick, cloying, dreadful mana rose from the coffin and spread out quickly. The room filled with the stinking energy up to thigh level, and I found it actually hindered me a little, like walking through water. I coated myself with Dao, but the insidious mana started to degrade it somehow. It felt like my skin was being burned by acid. I shuddered to think what it would have done to the others.

    ¡°Who dares disturb the slumber of Nezzerul, first champion of Mortesax?¡± A voice, drenched in malice, appeared from all around the room. I wasn¡¯t distracted from the coffin, but it was a cool trick of the mana. I could see more and more why this dungeon had seen no survivors emerge as a clawed, skeletal hand pushed the top of the coffin from inside. It shoved so hard, the lid jammed itself into the rock of the ceiling. Within a moment, the being inside was standing before the coffin instead, moving so fast it felt as though I had skipped some frames in a movie. I took my chance to analyse the threat.

    Miniboss - Nezzerul, First Champion - Level 79

    ¡°A full peak Grade One for a miniboss? Okay, I take it back, this place is trying too hard.¡± Wearing a full suit of solid looking plate armour, an open faced helmet showing off its undead features more than anything else. Mostly, it looked like a huge knight, easily twelve feet tall. In its gauntleted hands was a vicious looking sword, the blade alone as tall as myself.

    ¡°What did you call me, beater?¡± The ancient voice sounded suspicious. Curious, almost.

    ¡°What did you call me?¡± I replied, offended at the inflection in the word. I got it as soon at the same moment the skeleton warrior started to explain. ¡°Oh, I see, heart beat, ha. Good joke from a chew toy. Yes, you¡¯re a miniboss in an Elite dungeon.¡±

    Surprising me more than the skeleton¡¯s sudden appearance, because honestly if anything but a skeleton had come out of the coffin I would have been more shocked, Nezzerul¡¯s mouth split into a wide smile. It¡¯s teeth seemed to elongate and shorten to create the effect, and it was fairly harrowing to see. ¡°Wondrous!¡± It exclaimed. ¡°My lord must have scarred his name on the eternal Tree itself. Truly, you have gifted me a great boon.¡±

    My mind halted. When I spoke to Hassian, I wasn¡¯t too surprised because the idea of others within the System using the same dungeon was something I had expected. What this bone knight was suggesting, however, was much further reaching. ¡°Wait, what? Scars on the Tree? How does that make a dungeon?¡±

    ¡°The answers you seek are not mine to give, nor would I. Earn your prizes, foolish mortal.¡± Conversation over, whether I wanted to talk or not. Nezzerul launched forward, turning the coffin it had rested within to splinters at it moved so fast I didn¡¯t see the blow coming. Watching for the swing of the sword, I was caught in the gut by a powerful punch and thrown from the ground.

    I bounced at least five times before coming to a stop, and I wasn¡¯t sure how many of those were against the ceiling, but I wasn¡¯t going to look at the dents to check. Standing, cracking my neck and spitting out a mouthful of blood, I smiled. It was the Champion¡¯s turn to be unnerved, visible shock on its dead face. The punch was powerful, but it was just a case of density. No serious damage had been done. Naea didn¡¯t move quite as fast, but she hit harder. ¡°I don¡¯t break easy, champion. Let¡¯s see how fragile your bones are.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Sixty Nine - Elite

    ¡°So,¡± I panted between dodges, ¡°you¡¯re not going to say anything else about The Tree are you?¡± A brutal keen split the air as the vicious edge of Nezzerul¡¯s sword ripped through the space between us. I resigned myself to the singular hint of deeper understanding, not willing to lose a limb due to curiosity more than anything. It was frustrating, though.

    Aside from the nomad Fae and my tentative familiar back in Ascentown, Steel, conversations about what the System actually was were hard to find. I found myself at the fore of its pressures, blind to the obstacles and dangers coming my way. Not for the first time, I lamented the fact that there were no true guides available to me. Naea was a fantastic repository of information, but she didn¡¯t share on her own and it wasn¡¯t like I knew to ask about things before I had knowledge of them.

    Still, I had a new friend to impress. Hassian¡¯s entire existence was intoxicating in its implications. I knew others were facing the challenges of the System, and I knew that it was more than possible for beings from within the System to find Earth. Hell, that was my biggest, overarching worry. The fact that Hassian hadn¡¯t immediately become vicious like a monster would was incredibly heartening.

    Perhaps it was possible to peacefully coexist with the rest of the System¡­

    Nezzerul activated a skill and my attention sharped. For the first time, I tested my strength against his. An overhead swing might not have been the best choice to meet, however. The impact of his weapon and the Alternating Armament was a new sensation as I raised the magical item in its shield form and the sword buried itself into the strange metal instead of rebounding. My feet slammed into the stone, chunking some of it away as it crushed to make room for me.

    Glad for the additional points in Fortitude, I amplified my strength with Infusion before the next blow fell. The metal of the armament gave way even more, but it held enough. I shoved the massive skeleton back, surprising it with my vast change in power. With an effective sixteen hundred Mental attributes being brought to bear, the difference in our levels was negligible at best. As the sword was pushed back, I lashed out a fierce kick, laced with Strike of the Ruler.

    My Dao roared a tempestuous blow as draconic and stormy mana exploded out from my attack. A large chunk of Nezzerul¡¯s armour was shattered by the impact, causing me to gnash my teeth in delight. A moment later, the armour reforged, causing my smile to turn into a snarl. I hadn¡¯t pushed my advantage quickly enough. Worse, it seemed the repairs were just a facet of the armour and not a costly skill.

    It was not entirely futile, however. I got a glimpse of the shiny white bone beneath the dark armour, and the strings which held it together. There was a vast network of mana covering every bone, shifting with each violent movement Nezzerul made. I couldn¡¯t watch it for his next move, but it gave me an idea of something that might work against the mighty armoured undead. If physical attacks were ineffective, even blunt ones, then it was time to get mystical.

    Dozens of Mana Bolt sprang to life in the air around us, guiding towards the bulwark of bone with a flick of my wrist. Still shocked by my strength, or stunned from the blow perhaps, Nezzerul didn¡¯t even try to dodge. Instead they hunkered down and weathered the blows. My lip curled a little, the barrage not slowing for a moment. It was quite a costly gatling of attacks, and my mana and Dao were still under assault by the dark energy in the boss room.

    I didn¡¯t waste time, springing forward and slipping my hand under a slight opening I had forced Nezzerul to show. Before it could react, I gripped a bone and activated Drain. I was quickly reminded of Badaila as a whip of mental pain lashed across my consciousness and threw me back. Unlike the broken world, the energy here was intentful and the resolve within the attack was one of pure malice.

    I winced. ¡°That sucked,¡± I moaned, even as the sliver of strength from the skill slipped into my muscles and bolstered them. The dead power felt brittle and caustic, burning inside my mana channels. I expelled it immediately with another kick to the chest of Nezzerul¡¯s repaired breastplate. So, Drain wasn¡¯t a great option. ¡°Wonderful,¡± I nodded. Time to find out if it was my only option.

    I needed to create space, which was nearly impossible given Nezzerul¡¯s speed. Naea¡¯s webs would have been wildly helpful. Forgiving myself for the choice to have her protect Londimin in my stead, I tried to figure out a plan. Burning my mana to stop the death knight¡¯s movements was an option, but not an appealing one. The Alternating Armament became a gauntlet and I caught the black blade, holding both of us firm.

    A strange moment began to stretch out between us. My eyes found a flicker of darkness, even deeper than the black shadows of the sunken skull, and Nezzerul nodded ever so slightly. Amidst the frenzy of our battle, that tiny gesture was a massive sign of respect. I returned the gesture, genuinely thrilled by the acknowledgement of such a fierce warrior. Then, Nezzerul flipped the script.

    The dank, heavy mana on the floor bubbled, becoming even swampier and dense. A Dao rose around me, so antithetical to life it started to choke me. I was vaguely reminded of Ewan and his Dao of Murder, but this was so much more pristine. The Dao of Murder was frantic, clawing forward every chance it got and corrupting the man further. This did not feel like the bloodthirsty Dao I had met before. It felt like a strangulation. It felt certain. Nice to finally meet you, Dao of Death.

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    Showing me just how much I had to learn about fighting, Nezzerul released his sword to lean back and throw a punch which crushed my nose and sent me flying. I had basically acted like the skeleton and the sword were fused and only a quick scramble saved my life as a crunching knee dropped right where my head had been. It was my turn to be held in place as an armoured hand closed around the large hilt of Nezzerul¡¯s sword. The other moved faster than I could react, slicing towards my wrist. I dropped the sword and snapped my hand out of the way.

    The grin on Nezzerul¡¯s face had become sardonic. Its face was like a Greek theatre mask, mockery cast in marble. I wanted very badly to smash that skull. ¡°You impress me, boy. Your world has seen much of the System?¡± I blinked for a moment before shaking my head. I was just glad for the break to recover a little mana. The evil Dao of Death still hung heavy in the air, making it hard to speak. At least, for me. ¡°Truly? Then all the more, your strength is prodigious. It is almost a shame that your story ends here, yet alas and alack, such is life. Or rather¡­¡±

    I gasped as the pressure on my mind and body multiplied over and over. The Dao which enveloped me was as regal and potent as either of my own, both born from legendary Aspects. If anything, its nobility felt even more overt. Was there a level above legendary, where the primal ideals lay? An Aspect of Bone would probably be common enough, but a true Aspect of Death? The thought contained tantalising reasoning as my own Dao began to buckle under the force of Nezzerul¡¯s. If the skeleton was just playing with a broken toolset, I¡¯d feel better about losing.

    Ah.

    ¡°You played your hand too quickly, Nezzy,¡± I tutted. The huge sword which Nezzerul whipped around like it weighed nothing had commanded a lot of my attention. So much, that I had seen only what the skeleton wanted me to see. The armament around my hand slid into its strongest form and I faced the skeleton with a staff, shaking off the illusion it had tried to place me under. Giving up wasn¡¯t in my nature. I had once been called so stubborn I would get myself killed. Probably more than once behind my back. When I recognised that my thoughts had turned to my certain loss, I snapped out of it. Screw saving my energy. This wasn¡¯t an enemy who could be treated with such kid gloves.

    Infusion. Infusion. Infusion.

    The Dao around me was still real, but I stopped thinking of it as unbeatable. ¡°Damn,¡± I shuddered, still gathering myself, ¡°that¡¯s some potent stuff.¡± Thankfully, it was clearly a costly gambit I had just beaten, the dark mist around my legs noticeably less dense. I bounced, shaking off the final shackles of Nezzerul¡¯s illusion. They were strong, but they shouldn¡¯t have been that much stronger than foes I had faced. From the moment I stepped into the mist, I had been under an influence that weakened me.

    No more, though. The despairing look on the skeleton¡¯s face remained, but with a simple shift in perspective, it now looked fearful to me rather than sarcastic. I shot forward, sliding easily under the sword. It was just a blade, after all. My initial fear of the weapon itself had been making it more dangerous. For the first time in my life, I thanked a spider. Without the preparation of meeting the spider boss in its lair, I might not have spotted the insidious whispers in my own thoughts.

    The next few minutes were a careful exercise in patience. I had rushed forward with confidence a few too many times, and my broken nose was a good reminder that illusion or not, Nezzerul was strong. With their trump card already used, there was no way for the skeleton knight to claw back momentum. I both blocked and dodged his sword in equal measures, peppering him with Drain where I found the opening. With three layers of Infusion pushing me forward, the equilibrium between our attributes was completely broken and he became a punching bag with a sharp stick.

    The dark mist continued to disappear as I absorbed it to fuel my own attacks. A little pain never stopped me before, and this was no different. Nezzerul¡¯s illusion, powered by Dao, had made the sensation intensely painful, but now I had slipped past it, the worst effect was the taste of ash in my mouth. I could live with it. Unlike Nezzerul, who slowed with each mouthful of death energy I begrudgingly swallowed with my magic.

    ¡°Immaculate,¡± Nezzerul whispered, finally falling. No amount of damage to the body would keep him down and I had done a lot. As I suspected initially, he was not fueled by stamina, but by the mana in the air. I had essentially performed a magical dialysis on the room, choking the undead. ¡°What is your name, challenger?¡±

    Seeing no problem from sharing, I did. ¡°Grant. Kaeron,¡± I added, though it felt a little silly.

    ¡°Thank you, Grant Kaeron, for giving me a wonderful battle before my eternal rest, and for sharing news with me. Master Mortesax, oh how I hope I was with you as you laid waste to the filthy connector.¡± Even without my efforts, the death magic in the room continued to fade, like a fire burning itself out. It was all Nezzerul could do to talk at this point, and even that was about to disappear. There were so many questions I wanted to wring from its frustrating skull, but I decided not to ruin the moment. Dungeons were weird, and I wasn¡¯t certain whether this skeleton¡¯s story was even real, but I didn¡¯t see any harm in indulging its last moments either.

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome, Nezzerul. There were more generals, right? Were they all as strong as you?¡±

    ¡°Much stronger than me. Stronger than you, beater.¡± This time, I didn¡¯t take offence. Snorting, I rolled my eyes and crushed the skull beneath my feet, finishing the fight. A flood of experience filled my arms and legs, giving me another level for the dungeon, bringing me to eight from the place, fifty two in total.

    ¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough of that.¡± I dusted myself off and turned back to the others. They all looked various levels of shell shocked from the performance, which was about what I had wanted. I had needed to use the Dao of Tempests to protect them from the waves of energy that flowed from our battle, which hindered my abilities slightly. More than anything, it was the undead nature of the foe that slowed me down. Hopefully, the other ones weren¡¯t skeletons either. ¡°Let¡¯s keep moving on, shall we?¡±

    I was immensely grateful for the long walk between room nine and ten. My brave facade would last while remaining calm, but I really needed time to recover my energies after that battle. An even split of 5 points in each attribute made me feel better as we moved down the next hallway and I checked the loot from the first leg of the Elite Dungeon.

    Item - Grim Blade of Nezzerul (Rare)

    Mortesax had four generals, who blazed the trail for them to scar Ygdrasil itself.

    Effect:Mana may be infused into the blade to increase its sharpness

    Item - Helm of the Death Knight

    While containing no curse itself, this helm has such an ominous aura that you could be forgiven for thinking so. Glowing red eyes not included.

    Effect: Fear inducing effects are greatly increased while worn

    Item - Shield Of Abandon

    From buckler to kite shield, the aim is clear. Protect yourself. However, the creator of this shield felt that offence was a better defence.

    Effect: Vitality can be infused into the shield to increase the wielder¡¯s strength for a time.

 Book Two - Chapter Seventy - Safe Room

    While I hadn¡¯t shared these fears, the possibility that room ten was going to be more difficult than room nine was slowing my steps. Thankfully, my silent pleas for a single break came true. The doorway to our tenth stop was noticeably different to the others. Previously, it had been a heavy stone door that needed a shove to open. This was a quaint white door, like you¡¯d see at a seaside bed and breakfast hotel. Opening the door, there was a barrier of light obfuscating the inside. Sensing no danger, I stepped forward without worrying.

    Safe Area - No Combat Allowed

    Entering room ten, a System prompt popped into view, a small highlighted area at the top right of my vision. At the same time, I flinched as my mana, hovering around me in a general nebula, was forcibly shoved back into my body. With a popping in my ears, I waited for my eyes to adjust to the light. I had rarely been so addled since the System arrived, and the sensation was uncomfortable, but I trusted that I was in no danger here, even as I heard noises from further in the room.

    The space was much wider than the previous ¡°rooms¡±, but even calling it that was too simple. There was a sky in here. And not some tight pipe with a sliver of light, like would make sense, but a whole beautiful vista of alien sky, the likes of which I had never seen. Badaila didn¡¯t hae any real atmosphere, and was basically black and grey. The cosmic masterpiece above us was anything but. Every colour I had names for, the thousands more that I did and even magical light were all on show. It was beautiful in a way that changed me at my core.

    ¡°Oh great, more idiots who got stuck in here.¡± I turned slowly, taking a deep breath. The voice was nasal and mocking, belonging to an individual I hadn¡¯t noticed sitting down near the entrance. The man looked like an office worker from before the System appeared, clearly human and seemingly from Earth. He didn¡¯t seem too shocked by Hassian¡¯s appearance, which was interesting.

    ¡°Are you from Londimin?¡± I asked sharply. The man had completely ruined the moment for me. For a split second, it had been just me and the beauty that the System offered. Then I was reminded it would never be just me, and someone would always have something to complain about.

    ¡°Yeah, but I¡¯m not with those arseholes.¡± The mundane looking man pointed to his left, where a group of seven others sat. Two women and five men, they wore the more standard fashion of whatever they could find plus armour. This man¡¯s business attire was almost stranger to me than the literal new sky above me or the magic in my own veins. I still didn¡¯t care enough to ask.

    ¡°So, what is this place? Why are you all here?¡± Taking the time to analyse my surroundings, we appeared to be in a large courtyard. There wasn¡¯t much decoration, but there were a few areas with plants and benches to sit. A functional safe room, but not a lot else of interest.

    ¡°This is purgatory, my friend. Surviving to this room was hard enough, and you can¡¯t go back. We¡¯re all stuck here until Seth finishes the dungeon. My hopes aren¡¯t high. This fine group are just the ones smart enough to not commit suicide-by-dungeon. ¡± Resigned and hopeless, the man shrugged. He might pretend to be bored and uncaring, but he was the one who struck up conversation.

    ¡°And you? You said you¡¯re not with them. How long have you been here?¡± While the strange, boring-looking man was

    ¡°Since the start. Or since it opened, I guess. I was the first person the fuckers from Londimin shoved into the portal once the first few didn¡¯t come out. There was a group of us to start with¡­ but it¡¯s just me now. Those ones showed up earlier, a bit after Seth¡¯s crew came through.¡± And thus, the value of conversation was found. Seth had been here and was pushing further into the dungeon. That was¡­ good, I thought. If he finished the place first all the better.

    However, his phrasing made me frown. ¡°My name¡¯s Grant, by the way. Nice to meet you, mate. What was that about shoving you in?¡± Forcing someone into a dungeon wasn¡¯t far off murdering them. A flash of Harry¡¯s brother, Jason, came to my mind. I asked my question with a laugh in my voice, but the hardness in my eyes must have given me away because actual emotions showed on the new guy¡¯s face for the first time.

    Pure, unadulterated rage, mostly. ¡°You heard me. Told me because I had been given an Aspect, I owed the city. I found my Aspect of Balance on the first day, it had nothing to do with Londimin.¡± A few looks from the other group came our way as his voice raised. Larry, Morris and Rashid backed away, while Hassian was content to stand as close to me as he could. The angry office worker threw two fingers in the air in a rude gesture. ¡°Yeah I¡¯m talking about you fucks, what are you going to do about it?¡±

    ¡°Fuck you, Cal,¡± one of the women in the other group called over.

    ¡°Yeah, shut the fuck up Deb.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk to her like that!¡± The largest member of the other group stood, and started stomping over angrily. Cal, who I was beginning to come around to, simply laughed.

    ¡°Or what, Gary?¡± Cal stood up as he asked the question, clearly enjoying himself. Hassian and I shared a look and silently decided not to intervene with a few speculative gestures. The large man built up enough speed for his gait to be called a jog before pulling his arm back. The punch was telegraphed, but Cal didn¡¯t move. I winced slightly as the fist flew through the air.

    With a pop, Gary vanished. ¡°Oh for fuck¡¯s sake,¡± the woman Cal had named Deb said, rolling her eyes. ¡°Thanks Cal, dickhead. Now we definitely can¡¯t leave.¡±

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°Alright, good chat.¡± Cal the office worker sat back down and turned his eyes to me. ¡°If you try to cause violence in here, you¡¯ll get a warning and then it teleports you to a random room. Apparently there¡¯s like an infinite number of rooms in here and they all connect randomly. Poor guy.¡±

    Cal didn¡¯t seem too upset, and I couldn¡¯t really blame him if what he said was true. I didn¡¯t have the ability to find out if he was lying, nor the inclination to worry. ¡°I¡¯m moving on to finish the dungeon, so don¡¯t make too many enemies.¡± With that warning, I walked over to the three I had entered the dungeon with. Surprising no one, Cal followed. Mostly to call me stupid.

    ¡°You¡¯ll die, obviously. I saw a mini boss in here and it killed everyone. It was a skeleton from a coffin.¡±

    ¡°How did you survive?¡± Rashid asked, curious. Cal looked ashamed for a moment before shaking it off.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t go into the room, and when it started attacking, I ran back to the starting room and chose another direction. I couldn¡¯t even see its level.¡± He shuddered, the trauma of the event clearly painful. I had no compunction to make jokes or tell him he was a coward. It sounds like he made the right choice for himself.

    ¡°Grant just killed one of them on his own, though.¡± Larry said, receiving a slap to the back of his head from his brother. I appreciated that, because if I did it then it would have hurt a lot more. ¡°What?! Was it supposed to be a secret? How am I meant to know?¡±

    I intercepted the second hit, shaking my head. ¡°It¡¯s fine, Morris. It wasn¡¯t a secret, but sharing things like that could come back to bite us. In the future, don¡¯t tell people about what I can do.¡± Larry nodded, clearly happy to take the lesson. For Cal¡¯s part, it seemed like his instinct to disbelieve Morris was tempered by the rest of our reactions. I could see him wondering if this was a joke, so I just sighed.

    ¡°I¡¯m clearing the dungeon, if Seth doesn¡¯t. It sounds like you¡¯ll be okay here, but you¡¯re welcome to join us if you want. Same goes for anyone else.¡± I let my voice raise, casting it to the other group in the room. They looked at me like I was crazy before laughing together and clearly making jokes at my expense. Fine, offer rescinded. ¡°I can see why their group didn¡¯t get further, and got smaller. What about you? We¡¯re leaving in ten minutes.¡±

    Cal looked very put on the spot, unsure of what to do. The time limit was for myself. I would love to fall asleep and rest, but I couldn¡¯t stop. There was too much at stake. Cal¡¯s eyes moved to Hassian, who¡¯s sharp toothed smile probably wasn¡¯t helping as much as he thought it was. Rashid spoke up. ¡°If I may. I am no fighter. I do not even have an Aspect. I never planned to be inside a dungeon, much less an Elite one. The reason I am here, that I am alive and that I am now stronger than I ever thought I would be is due to Grant. This one is called Hassian, he is from another world, where the System is more established. Have you ever seen anyone as strong as Grant?¡±

    I was basically blushing at this point. I turned away and sat down, trying to meditate a little and calm my mana. I had always been bad at hearing compliments, and my feelings about the strength I now held were complicated even without hearing strangers waxing lyrical. I wanted to interrupt, say that none of my strength was down to myself, but I didn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t that simple, and it wouldn¡¯t help to shake anyone¡¯s confidence.

    ¡°Once,¡± Hassian answered. My ears perked up, my pride stinging just a little. Chiding myself for being a hypocrite, I listened closer. ¡°The island I grew up on is not a wealthy one, so when a monster wave comes, it is not protected by others. We have to protect ourselves. Scraps, hopes and dreams were the general defence against such things. Surviving a monster wave was more luck than anything.

    ¡°Except for one. When I was young, and my world was still somewhat civilised, a Hephaest Knight purged the monsters during a bad attack. Our house had been destroyed and we were just running from place to place when a golden trident slammed into the giant landsquid chasing us. The woman who saved our island that day was brimming with power. They felt much like this man does.¡± Hassian¡¯s gaze was fierce on my face, causing my cheeks to heat. Cal raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Even if I wanted to prove myself, I couldn¡¯t while inside the confines of the safe room.

    ¡°What level was that woman?¡± Rashid prompted. Everyone was leaning in, everyone very aware that they were hearing stories from what we would all consider a literal fantasy land only months before.

    ¡°To become a Hephaest Knight normally requires one to have reached the second level threshold.¡± There was a moment¡¯s pause as everyone digested that information. For me, that suggested I was punching around thirty levels above my weight, give or take a Dao. For the others, they might only now just be confirming that they could go above level thirty. The barrier of needing a Dao Pool had stopped a few people in Ascentown even before I left. I imagined the issue was becoming even more prevalent now.

    Unable to help myself, I rubbed my chin. ¡°I wonder how you¡¯d rate me if I went all out¡­¡± I teased, knowing Hassian was already seeing me with stars coming out my rear. It didn¡¯t really matter to me whether Cal joined us or not, and I doubted the mostly confusing words of a genuine alien were going to be enough to convince him. Having said all I wanted to say, I sat to meditate and get a better feel for the attributes I had placed since entering the dungeon. With the round of five I placed in each stat after the fight, I had fifteen left, which of course went to the Mental attribute.

    There was a limit on when a person could stop receiving achievements, and somewhere only possible to gain in the first or second grades. Confusingly, those were Grade Zero and Grade One, but that wasn¡¯t important. I had twenty eight levels of Grade One to go, which meant a staggering eight hundred and forty more attribute points were coming my way, even without any additional gains I received along the way. Each step built upon the one before, as this wouldn¡¯t be possible without my bonuses, garnered from the struggle in the first dungeon mostly. I looked at my attribute page with a fair amount of pride and excitement before closing it away.

    Someone wanted my attention. ¡°Was it true, what you said?¡± The woman named Deb asked, having walked nearby and silently waited. Not even opening my eyes, I tilted my head for her to elaborate. ¡°About the mini boss and defeating the dungeon and all of that. Can you really do it?¡±

    For what must have been the hundredth time, I thanked my one-time career path. The woman was terrified, and I treated her like I would a potential patient. ¡°I did. I truly believe that I can single-handedly defeat this dungeon in a way that no one will get hurt around me. It might sound overconfident, but I¡¯m probably the strongest person on the planet. I¡¯m level fifty two and I have two evolved Aspects. Londimin is in danger outside, and I can make it safer by clearing this place. It¡¯s something I can do, so it¡¯s something I will do.¡±

    Scratching the back of my head, I coughed and looked away. It was all true, but it sounded unbelievable. I looked back and instead of doubt, I saw a look of such relief that I nearly got emotional myself. Damned empathy. Maybe the woman had an Aspect, I thought, making an excuse for myself. I wanted to say that this type of situation was exactly why I sought any kind of strength within the System to begin with, but the lump in my throat remained solid and painful. Deb and I nodded at each other before she rejoined her group.

    She wasn¡¯t going to come with us, which was for the best. She didn¡¯t need to say so, but I knew that my answer had given her a thread to hold onto. Cal had been in the safe room long enough to become nihilistic and callous, tricking others into the dangerous dungeon outside. Deb had been on the edge of breaking in the same way Cal had, and I had brought her back from the brink.

    Groaning, pulling myself to my feet five minutes earlier than I planned, I signalled for the others to join me. To both my amusement and my surprise, Cal decided to actually come with. ¡°This place is boring,¡± he said, ¡°If I have to choose between believing you weirdos or sitting in this hyperbolic time chamber for another day, I guess I¡¯ll take the risk.¡± He slotted into the group, and I left them to it bringing up the rear.

    We moved to a door identical to the ones demarking danger in the past, signalling that the dungeon was about to begin again. ¡°Oh right yeah, heavy door, it¡¯ll probably take all of us.¡± Cal moved to push the door and I couldn¡¯t help watch. When he realised no one was moving to help, he turned, confused. I walked past him smirking, and with a deep breath and a healthy shove, opened the door alone. ¡°They¡¯re meant to be barriers for a team, we think,¡± Rashid told the stunned Cal. ¡°Of course, that monster doesn¡¯t need help.¡± Callum Greene nodded dumbly, walking forward into the hallway.

    Maybe, he hoped, this might not have been such a bad bet after all.

 Book Two - Chapter Seventy One - Situation Report

    Londimin was in a state of emergency, but because this was a fairly regular occurrence, there was a general plan in place. The response had been hindered by both the strength of the trial wave and the fact the leadership of Londimin were at odds. In the beginning, Seth, Nolan and the other Aspect users had been a united front and pushed back the darkness with teamwork and valour.

    Since those first days, Londimin had fallen apart. The insidious cracks in its foundation had ruptured under the pressure of their first real challenge and now it was every man or woman for themselves. Enclaves were being formed within the city, defensible spots that could be kept safe at the cost of the other infrastructure and the stragglers within it. The shining light for the civilian populace of Londimin, those people who had not yet gained many levels, were the unaspected guardsmen that remained solid throughout the city.

    Loss of life was impossible to avoid, but with their captain still there to lead the front, a response was being made. Nolan¡¯s terror at the situation was slightly mollified by the incredible antics of the fairy he was beginning to believe was truly on his side. As a more literal light in the darkness, Naea¡¯s lightning snap movement and deceptive strength were rousing spirits. Her healing magic was, perhaps, saving even more lives than her combat prowess.

    For her part, Naea was somewhere between boredom and impatience. Her connection to Grant had been silenced once more as he entered the Elite dungeon. It made her uncomfortable. She wasn¡¯t worried about him, really, though she did expect him to return with a few new scars and some life threatening wounds to fix. She just hated not feeling his connection.

    Naea wasn¡¯t actually good at talking to the humans. They didn¡¯t understand her jokes sometimes, and it was the knowledge and emotional intelligence she received from her and Grant¡¯s connection that patched up her understanding. It made talking to them right now difficult, so she threw herself more forcefully into keeping their perimeter safe.

    The monsters the trial wave was spawning were decently impressive, but nothing Naea struggled with. Most had a flimsy Dao making them much stronger than the generally weak protectors of Londimin, especially those without Aspects. To Naea and her fully formed Dao of Rivers, they were nothing but pebbles to be swept away in the flow. She took a deep breath, positioned the Chibizashi correctly, and began another vicious attack run, her blade and momentum creating a blender into which every monster in a five hundred metre radius was mulched.

    Returning to applause, Naea bowed theatrically. While humans were, for the most part, stupid and annoying except for Grant, Naea had added a new favourite person to her list. The list now read Grant and Sarah. The clapping girl bounced over slowly while Naea continued her flourish. ¡°You¡¯re so cool,¡± the child effused, music to Naea¡¯s ears, ¡°I wanna be able to do that when I grow up!¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not,¡± Nolan called over, lifting his head from a strategic map of Londimin to deny his daughter¡¯s dreams. Naea said nothing aloud, but gave a big wink to Sarah. If she had to, she¡¯d kidnap her in a few years and force some Aspects into her regardless. There were plenty dropping from these powerful monsters, after all.

    ¡°When I find an Aspect of the Fairy, I¡¯ll give it you,¡± Naea offered solemnly. She knew Grant would likely not be interested in such an incredible chance, which stung her soul slightly, but he was his own person. Even the draconic influence Naea absorbed from him had been forced into a different form, that of a Fairy Dragon specifically. Naea cradled the massive bundle of energy she held from Grant within her core. The powerful tempest and dragon tinted mana was her own personal trump card.

    Grant was a bit too serious for such an expression of magic, in any case. Even now, he had taken the entire burden of this town onto himself, whether he felt like it was a weight or not. She knew he would ask how many had died in the fighting while he cleared the dungeon, and that she would tell him the truthful number. That was the main reason she fought so hard for these people she mostly didn¡¯t like.

    ¡°Another sweep done, Nolan,¡± Naea reported with a salute. The man cringed, which was entirely the point. He had explicitly asked her to stop acting like he was a general at war, which obviously meant Naea did it more. That¡¯s what you get for trying to tell me what to do, she thought petulantly. Instead of snark though, she continued her overly serious statement. ¡°There are monster corpses there, there, there and a pile over there.¡±

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Thank you, Naea. Gavin?¡± Nolan didn¡¯t have to say any more as his second-in-command got to work. The position hadn¡¯t really existed before this trial wave, but the man had been invaluable in the response to the deadly System challenge. In the time Nolan spent making sure Sarah was safe, Gavin had already begun to funnel people into Westfields. Really, the only difference with Nolan there was that they could now command the aimless scouts.

    Seth had left them without orders as he left to attack the Elite dungeon. Nolan was surprised to realise he didn¡¯t want Seth to save them. Since the first day, he had been placing himself into the position to be a hero but never realised the best way to do that was to just be a good person. He made Nolan¡¯s life harder to make himself stronger, in almost every situation. It might be better for Londimin in the long run if he just¡­

    Nolan shook dark thoughts from his head. Grant would be tearing through the dungeon, most likely, and all they had to do was survive until then. A task which was getting more challenging now that those who could be saved had been. With less people to catch within the alleys and homes of the city, the horde was now aiming itself at the defended shopping centre. ¡°Watch out!¡±

    Complacent. Let myself get complacent. Nolan thought it was strange that he had time to chastise himself as a scythe descended upon his neck. Fast as a whip, a monstrous flying creature shot at Nolan¡¯s unprepared body. He tried to bring all of his attributes to bear, but everything happened too fast. The blade cut flesh and he closed his eyes. The rush of adrenaline brought with it a crashing roar of blood in Nolan¡¯s ears as death took him.

    His eyes were slammed shut in that final moment, and it stretched out. The pain in his neck remained¡­ as did the sounds around him. The roar had changed into a growling, and he forced his right eye to open despite his instincts telling him that he was definitely dead. The sight of a recognisable Londimin suggested he might be mistaken, but the wolf at his side didn¡¯t help him from feeling like he had slipped into a dream. Why was no one attacking it? Had it saved him?

    It had mostly brown fur, with flecks of a lighter blonde colour in it, but it was the eyes that made Nolan nearly choke. The wolf had saved him, snapping the bird out of the air, and he understood why, looking into those blue eyes. Just like Maisie¡¯s. ¡°Luce?¡± He asked, his voice breaking a little. Just what had this damned world done to his daughter?

    Lucy had been quietly stalking her family, amazed to see the fairy she had met a few nights prior with them. Knowing they were safe with her around, Lucy had hoped to keep herself hidden for the whole raid if she could. Her wolf form was more likely to get her hurt than anything. Except, as the bird dove for her father¡¯s neck and no one noticed, she moved without thinking. Glad that she did, but viciously unprepared for the conversation, Lucy ran away. She heard Nolan¡¯s calls after her, but didn¡¯t stop.

    ¡°She¡¯ll be fine, Nolan.¡± Naea put a hand on the man¡¯s arm and sent the gentlest pulse of healing energy into him she could, stopping his shouts. She glanced at her new friend to make sure she was fine, but from the lack of surprise on her innocent face, Naea would bet money that Sarah already knew her sister¡¯s ¡®secret¡¯. ¡°Grant and I met that girl before. She pointed us towards Londimin.¡±

    It felt like the right information to give, but Naea watched Nolan process it quickly. Confusion, into shock, into anger, then pride came along and made it hard to feel negative. ¡°She was very strong, actually,¡± Naea added, which made Nolan smile while nodding. The smile seemed sad, however.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Nolan said, his voice thick with emotion, ¡°yeah that makes sense. She¡¯s strong, alright. Just like her mother.¡± He took a deep breath and looked in the direction his wolven daughter had vanished in. The girl¡¯s stealth skills were no joke, even impressing Naea. Her own abilities were based in magic, but the wolf¡¯s stealthiness was all instinct and primal understanding. Whether he trusted Naea or not, he couldn¡¯t leave to follow her. If there was no helping it, Nolan decided to believe in his older daughter to keep herself safe.

    While he did the same for the rest of the city.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Seth gasped, falling to his knees in the second safe room of the dungeon. He wanted to scream. Seeing that he was completely alone, he indulged the desire. The inability to inflict damage within a safe room extended to the very ground, so as he pounded the floor, his fist connected limply. It only infuriated him more, causing bile to come to his throat, which evolved into a full expulsion of vomit.

    Seth the Hero rubbed the grime from his chin and continued his rage. Every single thing which could have gone wrong. His squad, all kept just under level thirty so they couldn¡¯t threaten him had been mostly useless. The ones who hadn¡¯t had still ended up dying as the challenges continued to ramp. With no way to leave, their broken spirits meant obstacles which should have been surmountable became deadly.

    Now he was all alone, and he hadn¡¯t gained a single level in the climb. Twenty people dead, and Seth could feel their scornful gaze on his back at all times now. Not just them, but everyone who had placed hope in him and died. It weighed on him, both holding him back and drowning him under the expectations. He wanted to be the hero, he wanted to be good at it. He just¡­ wasn¡¯t.

    Not that the System minded too much. It still rewarded him all the same. The extra pressure and insurmountable odds only made his abilities stronger, and he had gained a few interesting items. A floating shield to improve his already impressive defence, another sword that wasn¡¯t as good as the Fatecutter Blade and lastly, from the mini-boss that had cost him the last of his men, an Aspect.

    What would be Seth¡¯s fourth and final Aspect, if he had absorbed it. For whatever reason, he found himself not wanting to use it right away. He put the feeling down to feeling unsafe in the Elite dungeon, but the sensation was still there in the safe room. It was a legendary aspect, even if it was a little ominous sounding. Yet, each time he moved to use it, his senses went wild like he was under attack. Dropping to the floor, having crawled away from his pile of vomit, Seth began to weep for himself as his will continued to waver and crack.

 Book Two - Chapter Seventy Two - Scars

    I was disappointed upon reaching room nineteen of the Elite dungeon and not meeting another of Mortesax¡¯ generals. Instead, it was a simple horde battle, which I swept through with ease. It seemed like the layout of this place was more random than I had expected. Fighting a mini-boss before a safe room had seemed natural to me, but it also made sense that it would be very hard for most to survive such a fight. Even to the first safe room. I felt like a group of calculated and careful veteran level thirties would be okay in here, but they would have to be very good at their roles.

    As it was, Londimin just didn¡¯t have that level of quality. They hadn¡¯t embraced the System in the same way that I had, and it had held them back. Maybe it wasn¡¯t even that dramatic, I was definitely ahead of the curve. Being able to drag others up towards my level wasn¡¯t a slight on those who hadn¡¯t reached those heights yet, I supposed. I just had far too much time to think in this place. The hallways were long, and there was a growing aura of hero worship at my back that stopped most casual conversation.

    Due to the high level of the enemies and the way in which the others were gaining experience, I actually had a small group of level thirty¡¯s at my back, but they weren¡¯t tested or ready for actual combat. If they had no other benefits, that would be around eighty attribute points for ones at level ten to start with. Larry, Morris and Rashid had all changed noticeably to my senses, if not in their sensibilities. Cal and Hassian had been at their level cap to begin with, so they hadn¡¯t seen growth in the same way.

    Surprisingly, or perhaps not, the largest change was in the newest addition. Over the nine rooms, he had been watching me as closely as the Gibralan shark man, and the Aspect of Balance at his core had reacted. Exposure to the Dao had been my own entry into understanding, but I had also been helped by the Storm Dragon and its vault. The pressure and grandeur I could produce was far smaller.

    He hadn¡¯t grasped the truth fully, but I could hear whispers of Dao in some of his movements when dodging had been needed. A trapped puzzle room had been cleared by the group, who demanded that I not do everything for them. Of course, things hadn¡¯t gone perfectly and I had been forced into action to protect Morris from a ballista bolt sized bone which fired from a wall when they made a mistake. As I threw him aside, I kicked the bolt to change its course, right for the office worker Cal.

    My foot met a powerful barrier, and the trajectory remained solid. Shouting a warning, I was preparing to use one of the health potions I still had with me, but Cal slipped out of the way. His reactions and grace were enhanced by a skill from the Aspect of Balance, but a resonance had vibrated alongside it, and thus, Cal gave off his first echoes of Dao. It was interesting to watch the process up close now that I had slightly more experience with the strange magic.

    Unlike mana, which had a physical form which could be manipulated, Dao was harder to define. If I felt around inside of myself, I could vaguely sense a vast, unknowable source of energy which fueled the Dao Avatar and Dao Font within me but it was not a reservoir to be delved like my mana pool. If mana was a fuel, the spark by which action occurred, then Dao was found in the moment before the result could be seen. Dao was the decision behind an action that gave the action purpose.

    I frustrated myself with the confusing poetry of it all. I was starting to feel like a certain little green space wizard with all the metaphor and confusion. Instead of allowing myself to dwell on the idea of whether I was on a more dark side or light side path, I turned and addressed the small crew behind me. ¡°Safe room two here, we¡¯re going to rest for ten minutes again and then move on.¡±

    While there hadn¡¯t been much struggle throughout the dungeon, it had been a draining pace to keep up. I could overpower anything of a similar level with pure attributes, and dominate any of the weak, half-formed Dao that the monsters of the Elite dungeon might hold, but it was draining. Even fairly judicious use of my own skill of the same name wasn¡¯t enough when I needed to finish the fights quickly and keep the others safe. At least now they had a decent amount of levels under their belt, my little crew of faux fledglings were somewhat able to take care of themselves.

    Opening the contrary homely door within the dank undercroft hallways, I frowned. ¡°Wait,¡± I told the others, walking to enter the room. ¡°Something is wrong.¡± It was getting harder and harder for small things to escape my notice as my attributes continued to rise. Even then, it took a few seconds for me to work out why I felt so uneasy. ¡°There wasn¡¯t a no combat warning.¡±

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    Carefully stepping into the safe room, I had a theory on why the restrictions had been broken. The entire safe room had been. It looked to be the same setup as last time, with a nice sky above and a peaceful courtyard in which to take a break. Someone had been too literal about the break part, and had somehow destroyed the rock of the floor as well as the benches. Even the sky seemed warped. ¡°What the hell kind of magic happened here?¡± I wondered aloud.

    ¡°Mine.¡± The word whispered into my ear, I spun but saw only the confused and scared faces of those I expected. An impressively evil laugh filled the room. I vaguely recognised the vocal register, and could only hope I was wrong. ¡°I knew you¡¯d come. This is all your fault, after all.¡±

    ¡°¡­Seth?¡± I probed, gesturing for the others to get into a tight huddle behind me. Not waiting for an answer, I opened my floodgates and let mana billow out from me with Air Manipulation. The safe room wasn¡¯t small, so I created a sphere of control through which I would perceive any changes. ¡°I don¡¯t have a problem with you if you don¡¯t have a problem with me.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like you have a problem, then!¡± To my right, a blade appeared. I recognised it as Seth¡¯s sword, but there was no man attached. With a flicker of mana, it appeared, lashing at my throat. I dodged it, making to grab the hilt, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared.

    ¡°Neat trick, is it new?¡± Seth had been a little awkward to engage in the small skirmish which had occurred in Westfields before my imprisonment. Between some powerful Aspects which in turn lead to powerful skills, even more impressive armour and weaponry, the gap in our strength was somewhat close. That was nearly ten levels ago for me, but I wasn¡¯t the only one who had grown. The level of magical control was impressive.

    ¡°Aspect of Inevitability. It hurt like a motherfucker going down for some reason, but god damn does it feel good now. It¡¯s like I know everything that¡¯s going to happen, in the way I want it to.¡± While that sounded nice for Seth, given that I was clearly not a part of his good ending, I had to figure out what was going on. Luckily Seth was so clich¨¦, I didn¡¯t even have to goad him into monologing from his hidden position.

    ¡°What the fuck even are you?¡± He asked, an angry accusation in his voice. ¡°You look like a demon, all that mana around you. Then there¡¯s that fucking shadow over the top of it. It¡¯s like looking at a monster bubble.¡± Interesting. It seemed that Seth might have a manasight ability like mine. More powerful, even, it sounded. I wondered if this explained the immediate aggression when I first met Seth. ¡°Even now, you¡¯re consorting with monsters.¡±

    Another flash of mana. I didn¡¯t have time to be nice, so I shot forward and booted Hassian in the chest. He had armour there, at least. It was better than taking the sword slash that sliced through where he had been a moment before. ¡°Hey!¡± I shouted, ¡°if you¡¯re trying to fight me, then fight me.¡±

    ¡°Oh I plan to.¡± With all the force of a train, Seth appeared, his fist already moving under my arm and colliding with my stomach. The force launched me, much like Nezzerul had, except there was no roof to bounce off here. I soared high, high enough to see Seth turning on the others. With a boom, I kicked off a platform of air while filling myself with Infusion after Infusion.

    I was at six layers when I attacked for the first time. Retribution smashed out. ¡°I¡¯ll show you the inevitable,¡± I spat while landing. I didn¡¯t know the mechanism behind Seth¡¯s skills, but it didn¡¯t matter in the face of unstoppable power. The Dao Avatar of the Dragon roared to life, blanketing my skills with vicious, dominating strength. The Retribution which hit Seth passed through him, like he wasn¡¯t truly physical, and tore a massive chunk out of the floor.

    I enjoyed the look of panic that crossed the man¡¯s face before he disappeared again. ¡°That¡¯s some skill,¡± I remarked. ¡°Did you get that from the Aspect?¡± I didn¡¯t expect an answer. The ability Seth was using was far stronger than a standard skill. I scanned the room fruitlessly. There wasn¡¯t even really anything to hide behind, yet Seth seemed to both be right next to me and non-existent at the same time. ¡°Wait- was that your fourth Aspect?¡±

    That evil laugh returned, and I was forced into a flurry of defence as blow after blow simply appeared in the air around me. No fanfare, no body attached to let me react, just a dozen attacks in an instant. Try as I might, even I couldn¡¯t walk away unscathed. With a snarl, I weathered the blows until they ceased, taking superficial but painful damage. The enchantments on Seth¡¯s sword were brutal, making my hard skin useless, cutting me like this was pre-System times.

    ¡°Of course you know about classes, Traitor.¡± It seemed Seth was going to stick on the idea that I was some kind of invader, working with Nomads to take over Earth. I thought that was his angle, in any case. He hadn¡¯t been very clear, mostly just frantic. I got my answer, at least. So this was the power of a class. It sounded like it wasn¡¯t a perfect fit, from the pain Seth had described, but the strength was real. To be able to force me back and keep me defensive was impressive. To do so while harming me was a level above.

    I wasn¡¯t messing around before, but now I was deadly serious. The next time he appeared, I would end this. ¡°All I wanted was a plane,¡± I complained. Really, this was all a lot more than I would have bargained for. ¡°If someone had told me that I would have to deal with half the annoying shit your city has put me through, I wouldn¡¯t have bothered.¡±

    The battle continued.

 Book Two - Chapter Seventy Three - Enough

    After the Aspect of the Hero, Seth had been faced with a few quests which had fueled his mystique for the weaker members of Londimin. As the System seemed content to gift him powerful Aspects and items which aligned with his strengths, Seth himself was hard pressed to keep his head from getting too big. In his heart, Seth knew it was luck which had placed him in front of Titus as the System descended.

    Luck was just another word for Fate, wasn¡¯t it? Seth¡¯s second Aspect, Fate had given him the skills to continue riding the crest of the trial waves, limiting loss of life and allowing Seth to truly feel like the hero he was pushed into being. People thanked him for saving their lives, and he had hadn¡¯t he? More and more, he struggled to separate his own actions from those forced on him.

    Seth¡¯s third Aspect continued to fit the theme. As though the System itself were building a character, Seth received the Aspect of Regeneration. Now he was no longer able to fight for a short while, accumulate damage and stop. With his wounds closing in moments, healing fully in minutes, it was more and more expected that he stay at the forefront of their people¡¯s dangers. This didn¡¯t, unfortunately, repair his mental state. Each time his bones were broken, healed by the magic of the System, Seth doubted his place in things.

    He was a failure when it came to being a leader, only able to stand in front of monsters and let his weapons and armour do the work. He had been forced to place the task of administration into the hands of increasingly unworthy people as the good ones got themselves killed. Unknown to himself, this festering doubt had not only held him back, it had begun to poison his Aspects and mind.

    So when the confident and pristine energy of that man appeared, the knife in Seth¡¯s soul twisted. Walking forth with a pyroclastic flow of blistering energies at his fore, Grant Kaeron had walked into Londimin and shattered every illusion which Seth had cultivated around himself. Safety? Gone. This man was easily capable of slaughtering the whole room. His level of strength was unacceptable to Seth¡¯s worldview. Future? Questionable. Any decisions which Grant wanted would be what happened.

    So when he asked for anything, especially something as ridiculous as a whole plane, Seth snapped. The attack was regrettable, only because it had all turned out so badly. Seth had been taken by surprise, and then with so many people in the room, outright killing the man was a step too far. Execution became the plan, except how could they even kill him? Seth was no fool, Grant had allowed himself to be taken captive, probably expecting the chance to manipulate Seth like everyone else did.

    In the minutes before the trial wave began and the quest to save Londimin appeared, Seth was already moving. He had seen the threads of fate dancing aggressively, and the golden line from his own chest started to become thick like a rope. That only happened when there was something he had to do. Normally, there were incredible rewards for these things, so Seth gathered a group and charged towards the Elite Dungeon. When the quest arrived, telling anyone over level twenty five in Londimin to defeat that very same dungeon, Seth didn¡¯t even slow down.

    Destiny awaited him within.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Binding an Aspect is not a simple thing, Seth reckoned, looking at the slate grey Aspect in his hands. If he had known on that first day how the magical baubles would affect his personality, the core of what Seth considered his soul, would he have been so quick to say yes to the power? The answer, of course, was yes. So fervent was his desire to become the hero he imagined, that he forcibly burned the Aspect of Inevitability onto his core.

    His mind had rebelled each time he tried to bind with the Aspect, a jagged, vicious sensation in his core in response. The Aspect was like a puzzle piece from a different box. It didn¡¯t fit with Seth¡¯s other understandings of his abilities, and so he shoved and pushed it into place regardless. There was a snapping somewhere as Seth felt himself hollow out. He didn¡¯t care about the parts of him that were lost because at the same time, he was flooded with power. It started with a simple System prompt, before more sprang to life in response to the first, cascading to become Seth¡¯s new strength.

    Attribute Bound - Inevitability/Will

    Skill Unlocked - Inevitability¡¯s Inception

    For a high mana cost, a target may be marked. That target¡¯s attacks cannot land against the user, and the user¡¯s attacks will strike with greater effectiveness.

    Class Unlocked! (Hero, Fate, Recovery, Inevitability)

    The disparate elements finally join and the Aspect wielder becomes a Fate¡¯s Marshal

    +3 Fortitude per level, +1 Speed, Will, Mental per level

    +8 free attribute points per level

    Achievement Unlocked - Classic (Region First)

    With four pillars to hold it up, the class becomes the world. May your world outlast all others.

    +3 free attribute points per level

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    Seth barely had time to be astounded at his new strength as the silent energy in the room began to react. Not to Seth, but to an approaching group. One which echoed with terrible power. Grant was here. He was coming¡­ and Seth would kill him. He had become Fate¡¯s Marshall, someone who arbitrated tests for fate. The new abilities the class had granted him were as natural to him as breathing. Grant was destined to fail his trail, Seth knew as he levelled his sword and vanished into the flow of causality. Seth would win here and continue on his path as humanity¡¯s saviour.

    It was inevitable.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Unable to react verbally due to the speed at which I was forced to dodge, I realised that I was giving a running commentary in my head like Naea was listening. The realisation of her absence in the middle of battle slowed me down an inch, leaving a blade buried in my shoulder. In a way, this injury was Naea¡¯s fault, I decided. I would tell her when I got out. ¡°You¡¯re being a real ass,¡± I quipped. My right arm injured, I swiped with my left, Retribution clawing the air and forcing Seth away.

    While this marked the first real injury, the outcome of the fight was uncomfortably weighted against me. Seth was able to harm me, while I couldn¡¯t even get a magical finger on him. Frustration was building slightly, which is what led to the slip up in the first place. In my need to vent, I had distracted myself. What was the trick here? If I didn¡¯t work it out soon-

    ¡°Me?!¡± Seth¡¯s shrieked, still unseen. Everyone in the safe room flinched, and I was glad that Seth was so fixated on me. If he chose to hurt the others for whatever reason, I wasn¡¯t sure I could stop him. While those from Londimin were probably safe, my new best friend Hassian the cyber shark from another planet was definitely in Seth¡¯s crosshairs. ¡°You ruined everything.¡±

    I almost bit back immediately but I silently conceded that I had been at the centre of this issue. I would argue that Londimin¡¯s response to my existence was the issue, but maybe we all could have handled it better. I could have either walked away and tried something else when it was clear that Londimin was a dead-end as far as support went. Nolan could have warned me that Seth was a little unhinged. Seth could have decided not to graft a powerful piece of magic to his soul haphazardly.

    We all make mistakes.

    Living with them was something I very much planned to do, so I had to figure this out. With a flick of my wrist and a tap of mental energy, I removed a dense circular addition to my outfit. The Shield of Abaddon appeared, meeting Seth¡¯s next blow. I lashed out with a transforming Alternating Armament, essentially just a sheet of thin metal, but didn¡¯t connect. I hadn¡¯t expected to. I was still preparing.

    Item - Shield Of Abandon

    From buckler to kite shield, the aim is clear. Protect yourself. However, the creator of this shield felt that offence was a better defence.

    Effect: Vitality can be infused into the shield to increase the wielder¡¯s strength for a time.

    My mana was billowing out of me at a fair rate. Infusions, Air Manipulation and various, speculative uses of my other skills were draining my core. As I got stronger, the base cost of my abilities increased naturally alongside it. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to cast one of the Mana Bolts I could now before reaching Grade One, it would empty my whole mana reserve. My stamina had also been pressed a little by the dungeon rush so far, and I had expected a break and pushed myself harder than needed in the prior few rooms to keep people safer. The wound on my arm was slowing me down, and to fully heal it wasn¡¯t simple without Naea.

    ¡°Fuck it, take some more.¡± Man and stamina were being taken, why not health, too? I activated the effect of the shield, and my arm tingled with pain. The sensation reminded me of waking up from a nap having slept on the arm, and the prickling jabs of discomfort which shot past my shoulder and into my chest were unpleasant. Once the stinging got to my sternum, however, the pain exploded like a firework, filling my muscles with prodigious strength.

    The armament had taken its staff form and I was done playing nice. I had hoped to get out of this fight without hobbling Londimin¡¯s future, but Seth had me backed into a corner. I smashed the floor with my staff, the multiplicative power of multiple buffing effects making me as strong as I had ever been. The stone of the courtyard within the dungeon was hard, but all that meant was the shrapnel it became was more dangerous. I was inordinately pleased to hear a yelp of pain to my right.

    Pouncing on it, I found nothing but a spot of blood on the floor. Right above it was an almost imperceptible trace of mana. That was enough for me to break out in a big smile. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re even,¡± I rolled my shoulder as I spoke, my mana able to regenerate the damage enough for mobility to return in full. It still hurt like a bitch though. ¡°Got you now, though.¡±

    Seth had been invisible to my senses, which meant that he wasn¡¯t using a technique anywhere near as simple as invisibility. My theories about its complexity were confirmed as I caught that whiff of incredibly high quality mana. More than my battle instincts, my greed flared up in response. This is the power of a class? And a broken one, at that? From the specific flavour of mana in Seth¡¯s skill, an answer began to emerge. I had faced a Dao which acted similarly within my first dungeon, as I faced the final battle.

    The original wielder of the Alternating Armament, Master Thorn. Facing the Dao of Space was still as impressed as I had been in this new world. Now I was up against a facsimile, mana being used to brute force a deeper effect. My smile grew wider. ¡°Getting tired, Seth?¡± No ability was without drawbacks. The cost to use this power was high. Without any specific skills to do so, I had to taunt the man in other ways and force him to attack again.

    So I shot myself.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Seth knew his life was guided by a beautiful destiny as the attack which would have hit him right in the face was instead intercepted by Grant, who Seth had forced into a dodge. The hateful man¡¯s intense two-coloured eyes rolled back into his head and Seth barked out a laugh. ¡°Ha! You idiot!¡±

    Of course, to the layman this turn of events might look like luck, but Seth knew there was no such thing as luck any more. He had been freed from that notion once he saw the threads of fate dancing. His Glimpse of Destiny skill had been eroded during his class evolution, but Seth didn¡¯t need to see the path to follow it. The magic of Inevitability and Fate within his core pushed his sword forward in an excited stab.

    With a loud, hollow crunching sound, the world turned ninety degrees and Seth found that he couldn¡¯t move. ¡°Huh?¡± He asked, His body frozen. Unbidden, his fingers slipped and the Fatecutter Blade fell from them. ¡°What?¡± He tried to say, finding only slurred speech available to him. His knees buckled, and he fell, eyes facing skyward into a blistering nebula of purple and orange.

    Horror rose in Seth¡¯s throat, a gurgled wail, as Grant stood up. Unable to move, Seth saw this on the periphery of his vision. His mana was spent on those final movements, each shift into that liminal space costing him more and more for their uses in quick succession. Seth hadn¡¯t known about the extra expense. How is that fair? He demanded silently towards the System. Wasn¡¯t he the hero? Wasn¡¯t he supposed to win?

    No, a voice answered. This outcome, the voice said, was simply inevitable.

 Book Two - Chapter Seventy Four - Karma Is A Cruel Guide

    Chapter Seventy Four - Karma is A Cruel Guide

    I looked sadly at Seth¡¯s paralysed body. It didn¡¯t need to have come to this. I wasn¡¯t sure if I was glad the attack hadn¡¯t killed him outright or not, though. The man on the floor was immobile, but furious in a way I had never seen a human. His features warped, unsure of what happened but knowing it was my fault as he looked up at my now standing form.

    Seth¡¯s abilities were top notch. It was a genuinely deadly scenario, with everyone surviving only because I was able to take a bit of a beating. Had I been less of a prime target and focus of Seth¡¯s rage, there would have been casualties. There would have been nothing I could do to stop him. That thought was quite lethal, as far as Seth mattered. It was that thought which forced a consideration at all.

    I had taken advantage of his lack of combat ability. Skills and high levels and apparently classes all give strength, but they can¡¯t teach one how to use themselves. While the System shores up a lot of the initial experience required, none of it helped when it came to feints that combined with attacks faster than the eye can see or the body can react to. With a smash of the Alternating Armament, Seth¡¯s skull had rotated nearly all the way around in an anti-clockwise direction. It was gruesome to see and now I was forced to ask myself one, deathly serious question. Would I kill him?

    ¡°Is he¡­ dead?¡± A timid voice asked, and I had to turn to see whether it was Larry or his brother Morris. The large duffel coat was finally removed to his inventory as Larry worried for its safety. I shook my head. The injury would have been the end pre-System, but now Seth¡¯s vitality made this gory scene play out differently.

    ¡°I can feel magic at work fixing him even now.¡± Impressive magic, too. While I was able to carry on a conversation and think, a lot of my attention was focused there. Not only was it different to how Naea healed, it was a more personal recovery ability, and the way Seth¡¯s mana was moving was giving me ideas. Most of them were in regards to how using mana in healing worked, but some of them were much darker.

    ¡°So¡­ what are you going to do?¡± Larry didn¡¯t meet my eyes as he asked, even as I stared towards him as I gathered my answer. It was no simple matter, the life of a man in my hands. Yet, even as I weighed that portion of the scales, I found it severely lacking in substance. Seth¡¯s life was not the only one I was balancing, and he was outmatched by each of the many souls counting on me.

    ¡°He¡¯s too powerful to be left to his own devices,¡± Hassian rumbled. His words were slow, mostly due to his large jaw and an accent which made him sound like an orca whale trying out its first words. I didn¡¯t dismiss his opinion, though. The System had poisoned what Hassian described as an idyllic life on his planet of Gibral, and to survive that life meant following certain rules. ¡°His path and your¡¯s have collided, forming a thoroughfare.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s poetic,¡± I murmured, moving the group away from the twitching body on the floor. Looking at the situation objectively, these were about the most grim circumstances I had ever been in. The leader of a generally neighbouring city at my feet, that same city outside waiting for one of us to clear this dungeon. ¡°So you suggest ending him?¡±

    Hassian looked uncomfortable, if I read his facial expression right. His head turned and he regarded me with one of his large brown eyes, looking even more like the shark which his people seemed to have evolved from. He regarded me for a quiet moment, weight shifting from foot to foot. He wore boots, but I absently wondered if he had webbed toes. Hassian¡¯s fingers were long, dextrous and without webbing, after all. My eye twitched as his hands reminded me of the Amphibious Attack Animals I had fought before.

    Standing to one side felt awkward to me, so I produced some chairs for the group to sit in a circle. As much as I¡¯d have rather ignored the issue, I made sure I was facing the still prone body of Londimin¡¯s leader. Hassian sighed. ¡°The path of fate is one we follow whether we want to or not. This is a known concept for your world?¡± When he was met with general agreement, Hassian nodded. ¡°This is how The Tree works, yes. A thousand thousand threads, each as real as the next, but only one is your true path. As choices are made, the spindles click and tie to past off in knots. The roped storyline of our lives which have already happened, with no change possible. Is it always the same path?¡± Hassian shrugged. ¡°How can our path be simple when others can become tangled in the pattern?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re suggesting that we¡¯re¡­ bound, in some way?¡± That was a troubling idea. I hadn¡¯t made many enemies in my life, but the idea that we were intrinsically linked because of the animosity was daunting. I thought of the Storm Dragon, and my current trajectory to one day fight the beast, all because I had faced an already impossibly strong shade of its power. ¡°I don¡¯t like that idea.¡±

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    ¡°Most do not.¡± Hassian nodded. He said no more, but the implication was clear. End this issue before it becomes larger in the future. While I was sure Morris and Rashid had their own thoughts on the matter, they were pointedly keeping them to themselves. I respected their position. None of us humans were making life or death decisions a few months ago.

    Not a human.

    I nearly choked as both of my Dao voices told me off at once. There was a value in maintaining my humanity, but the magical side of me didn¡¯t care for it. There was also a strength in embracing our individuality. I was a Stormborn, not a human. Physically, the changes weren¡¯t obvious until I used magic, and even then it could be explained by that same magic to most, but I had changed. The System changed me more than most. Would I continue to allow that?

    I looked at the body on the floor, and the magic within which promised not just life but complete recovery. Whatever was happening in his body was impressive, and likely from a specific Aspect entirely focused on healing. The speed of recovery, even ungoverned by an intelligent force like Naea, was shocking. I may have problems with Seth, but I conceded a single point. His healing techniques were better than my own. Healing a shattered spine and neck in minutes was damn cool. It wasn¡¯t even something I was sure I could survive, let alone heal from.

    Intimidated.

    I took a deep breath and stood, hiding my grimace by returning my chair to its space in my inventory. There was essentially a sizable apartment¡¯s worth of furniture and comforts in there. People gave me strange looks whenever I made use of the function, but they didn¡¯t know I had more space than I knew what to do with. I could probably have taken everything not nailed down in Home Base and still had room to spare for supplies, but even then, most of what I needed was carried on my person.

    I was intimidated. Not by Seth, exactly. I wasn¡¯t thrilled to have a potentially destined enemy, but he wasn¡¯t really important. Our challenging battle was as exciting as the fight against Nezzerul, just with higher stakes that killed a little bit of the casual mindless joy. No, I was frightened by what his existence might suggest.

    I had interacted with the man briefly, and he had grown in power to a massive degree. It was arrogant to think another person¡¯s growth was down to me, but when a pattern began to emerge, it was hard to avoid seeing it. Recognition of signs had kept my human ancestors alive thousands of years ago, when the creatures in the dark were as dangerous to life as they are once more.

    Naea, my little sometimes psychotic best friend. I still hadn¡¯t run into another dungeon fairy, likely because of Naea¡¯s presence and the fact I simply didn¡¯t need one, but Naea was not like the others. I didn¡¯t need to see them to know. She was strong, stronger than any of the humans I had met, or even the ones who had trained with me. Our connection was written onto my very soul, so her matching my pace wasn¡¯t strange or anything to consider¡­ until it was.

    The Ascent. My guild, who were all hopefully thriving without my presence to hold them back. Each of them had walked into that first dungeon without a clue, but were now more powerful than anyone else I had met. Was that because of me? And not just the specific training and attention I gave to help them, but because they had been wrapped into my weave of fate?

    Newtown and Ascentown. Picturescue and pastoral, it wasn¡¯t just the location which made the people there happy and generous. There were resources and land available, because Naea and I were able to provide an aura of protection beyond our physical presence. Even now, Steel remained in the area and as a constant press against my spirit. The powerful being, born right from the System specifically to face me. Even the three men I had brought with me into the Elite dungeon, and Hassian, had seen growth they wouldn¡¯t have otherwise experienced without me. Most likely.

    With each passing moment, each healed bone in his vertebrae, Seth¡¯s life became heavier in my hands. The choice I felt made the most sense became harder to make, slipping through my fingers. The ease at which I could scrub this problem from my life ironically just added to the difficulty. With less exertion than flicking my wrist, a Mana Bolt could solve the situation.

    I had another choice, though. More final, perhaps. Maybe destiny really was at play, because once I had the thought, it became the only solution I could imagine. The Dao Breaker achievement was powerful, but it was the source of that achievement that was truly frightening. My Dao surged, moving with my half-decided intent. Seth looked up at me with a sneer and I took one final, deep breath before lowering my hand down onto his chest.

    Physically, he was fine. The magic of Drain activated and I clutched my hand around the strange, cancerous growth of Seth¡¯s class. It was easy, the class not having enough time to properly bond. Maybe it never could have. Now it never would. I gripped and, almost too easily, the structure attached to Seth¡¯s soul crumbled into nothing. Seth was struggling slightly but as his class disintegrated, he fainted, eyes rolling into the back of his head.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I told the group, not wanting to spend another minute here.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Seth tumbled through an infinite darkness, welcoming the calm of it. Everything had been so loud and hectic recently. This was okay, wasn¡¯t it? To fade into a long, long sleep? He had tried to live up to expectations but things were just too hard. No one helped him. No one understood.

    Except for him.

    Grant Kaeron was everything Seth thought he was. Naturally powerful, confident and capable of using the System in strange, incredible ways. His presence had forced the magic inside of Seth into a frenzy, so much so that the last few days had been a complete haze. He realised he had been floating in this darkness for a while, and it was only now that he could feel it. Seth didn¡¯t have the strength to fight back the darkness.

    He just enjoyed the quiet as he faded deeper into unconsciousness.

 Book Two - Chapter Seventy Five - Lets Just Go

    Struggling with the situation I had left behind, I threw myself violently into the next rooms of the Elite dungeon. I was grateful that things were straightforward once out of the safe room. The twenty-first room of the dungeon was a horde fighting challenge, and it was the most enemies I had faced at one time. To compensate, their levels were lower, which meant not only could I cut through their numbers like a thresher, I saw my first real look at how the others fought.

    The gang of three from Earth were a mixed bag. Clearly they had each seen combat since the System began, as they weren¡¯t level one when entering the dungeon, but none of them had a style or skill worth a damn. To Larry I had leant the Grim Blade Of Nezzerul. He lacked the mana to properly use its enchantment, but it was still a rare ranked weapon and sliced through enemies thusly. Morris was more prepared, using a mace and shield he had brought from home to protect the group as their main tank.

    I had been able to help Rashid grasp the Mana Bolt technique easily enough. He told me that his Mental attribute was his highest attribute, so the skill made sense. In a further showing that everyone was unique, the small orb which I created had taken on a personal touch as Rashid continued to get used to it. His Mana Bolts were probably closer to Mana Arrows as shards of razor sharp energy shot forward. ¡°It¡¯s just more efficient,¡± he mumbled when he caught me glaring slightly.

    The most impressive was, to no one¡¯s surprise, Hassian. I had read the Gibralan sharkman like a book on our first interaction, and speed was definitely the name of his game. He didn¡¯t shy away from the strength of his bulk also, making him move like some kind of berserker ninja. An arm length blade in each hand, his fighting style was evocative to say the least. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was intentional, but his charging sprints, short swords aimed to the sides, reminded me of a great white¡¯s assault.

    The berserk portion of my description came from the fact that nothing really seemed to hurt him, and the cuts and bashes that he did take only made him angrier. He sprinted past my position and I caught that his eyes had rolled back slightly, revealing a white covering. I shivered a little. Definitely glad he was on my side. Hassian was scarier than the enemies at least.

    Monster - Angry Billy - Level 28

    Hundreds of charging goats was¡­ a choice. Was the System running out of ideas or was this some metaphor I didn¡¯t understand? After meeting Nezzerul, I had assumed that the Elite dungeon was linked to the character Mortesax the skeleton knight had mentioned. Were they a shepherd? Seemed unlikely to me, but I didn¡¯t have much else to distract me.

    Arguably, the rooms had been getting more dangerous with each one passed, but I didn¡¯t notice. When the room was not combat-focused, I regained my energy and let the others work out the solutions. No one bothered me for help, though I kept my attention on them to make sure no one made a life ending mistake. Room twenty three, four and five were all puzzles, which gave me enough time to think. Naea might have described it as overthinking.

    As the group finished up a tricky positioning puzzle which required them to stand in specific places around the room, I allowed myself to be placed. With a gentle nudge of Air Manipulation and a step to the right, I fixed the small mistake which would have set us back to the start. The penalty was time wasted and a small shock of electricity, but I was getting tired of it. Tired enough to figure out the puzzle myself.

    A riddle was spoken aloud into the room by a System voice, the same one from the Shift countdown. I couldn¡¯t remember hearing the System speak since, and it brought back negative memories to go along with the doubts in my mind. It didn¡¯t help that the questions it asked were frustratingly open ended. Symbols appeared on the floor of the twenty metre by ten metre long room, possible answers to the vague riddle.

    ¡°From what do you draw strength?¡± The System had asked as the floor ignited with magic for a moment. Morris had placed me on an arm, which I guess worked but the heart symbol I stood next to seemed more poetic and fitting to me. Likewise, while Hassian thought he was standing on a sigil denoting a scabbard, I was pretty sure that was just a stylised plank of wood. He stumbled to the side a little, looking down before over to me, where I gave him a thumbs up. Hassian¡¯s face was doubtful, but there was no chance it wouldn¡¯t work.

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    When the room gave its assent for us to leave, the exit door appeared at the other end and Hassian sidled next to me. ¡°Wise and strong, truly, I made the right choice pledging myself to you.¡± I smiled, rubbing the back of my head. Did Hassian mean the kneeling display he had given when we met was actually more serious than I had taken it? I supposed I couldn¡¯t begrudge him for trying to get as much value out of tying our fates together for a while, if such a thing truly mattered. ¡°But please, I am struggling. Why would I draw strength from a feather?¡±

    I laughed in good nature, genuinely tickled by the question. ¡°It wasn¡¯t a feather. Or, it was, but not just a feather. It was a quill. They were used for writing in the past on Earth.¡± Hassian¡¯s mouth opened into a shocked circle as he slapped a meaty fist into his palm.

    ¡°That¡¯s cheating!¡± He accused the System, turning back to growl at the hallway we had traversed so far. ¡°On Gibral, we have a similar practice using the spines of sea urchins and ink from their nests. Do the birds here produce their own inks?¡±

    ¡°Ink in their nests?¡± Did sea urchins make ink on Earth? I realised how out of my depth I was. ¡°No, our birds don¡¯t do anything like that. Mostly they¡¯re just pretty. Or tasty, depending on your diet.¡±

    ¡°We only have small things on our island, the larger sea birds stay around the larger landmasses.¡± Hassian sighed wistfully, then turned a hungry predators eye on me. ¡°I should very much like to try some of these cooked birds.¡± Rashid sidled up, sensing some business opportunity and began talking to Hassian about restaurants and menus. I tuned it out, glad to have my thoughts to myself again.

    It was all just getting messy. I was saving Londimin, but in half measures. I had sworn I wouldn¡¯t do that again, but the real world laughed in the face of such resolutions. I consoled myself with the reminder that things were bound to go wrong in the town eventually, I had just been the powder keg which the flaming tensions ignited. ¡°Didn¡¯t need to chuck myself into the fire though,¡± I chided myself with a shake of my head.

    My attention snapped forward as the door to the next room came into view. I shot forward, not leaving the group but standing in a protective position. ¡°Miniboss,¡± I breathed. My words were a warning but even I could hear the excitement in my voice as I moved forward. The last one had been as informative about the Greater Connection as anyone I had met, so I was hopeful for some more answers. Even more questions would be fine, if I didn¡¯t know to ask them before.

    I opened the door and stumbled slightly, even knowing there was going to be a drop of a few feet. Instead of the hard floor I expected, I slid in mud and tumbled slightly down a steep hill. There was a quickly contained chuckle behind me, but I didn¡¯t know who made it. I just glared at the whole group, stood in the doorway and not covered in muck. There was no deathly haze of anti-Dao mana covering the floor of the swamp I fell into, but the mud itself was stinging my skin.

    I shot a burst of mana from every pore I could, and it blasted away from me with a splatter. The swamp beneath me parted slightly too, and I hopped on a step of solid air before hovering above the mud. ¡°Did you forget you can fly?¡± Morris¡¯ incredulous voice behind me came with a guffaw and I had my culprit. In a moment of childishness, I used Air Manipulation to give him a push. He tumbled face first down the same muddy hill I had, coming out in a much less graceful and clean way.

    Before he could voice his complaints, my attention snapped upwards. This room was like the safe room, a world within the dungeon. There was a strange barrier in the near distance I could tell would act as walls, but it truly seemed like we had appeared in a section of another planet. Part of my heart bounced with thrill, excited as always to see the new opportunities of the System, but I also knew this was a dangerous place.

    The weight of mana coming from above was proof of that. I had felt strength like that before. Twice. ¡°Requirements: Two combatants - met.¡± As the System spoke, I slapped my hand on my forehead. Yeah, that was definitely my fault. It had to be someone, but I didn¡¯t mean to make that choice for Morris, who was looking slightly terrified. Larry, being held back by Hassian, was slightly more frantic.

    I landed next to Morris, pushing the thick mud away slightly like a landing helicopter and cleaning him up with a flick of mana. ¡°I promise I won¡¯t let you get hurt, but you¡¯re probably going to need to protect yourself a little. Are you okay with that?¡± The man had been staring at the sky like I was, not sensing the mana most likely, but looking at the descending threat with his mundane eyes. It was hard to know which was a scarier way to see it.

    A dragon was scary, no matter how you looked at it, I judged.

    Miniboss - Cavarix, Nightmare of Bone - Level 80

    ¡°...Fuck.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Morris asked in response to my curse. ¡°What?¡± He asked again, more frantically. I didn¡¯t even want to shift my attention from the impending fight for long enough to describe how fucked we might be. The times I had felt this power were when I first met the Storm Dragon, and its might was evident in every dao filled breath I took in its presence. This thing had the same Dao. The same one which roared viciously in my chest. The second time was when Ascentown had been at the mercy of the only Grade Two I had met since the System descended.

    Now, I had met another dragon and Grade Two at once.

    My lucky day.

 Book Two - Chapter Seventy Six - Dogfight In The Dungeon

    Darkness was familiar in the most intimate of ways. Even when she had been alive, the pitch black of night or the deep caverns of her world had been where she felt most at home. Since her time as a tiny hatchling, cowering in the shadows to avoid predators, darkness had been one of her closest allies. Eventually, she would grow powerful due to the combination of her dark scales, her love of the night and an uncanny knack for surviving by the skin of her fangs.

    It was a moonless night, the evening that Cavarix met Mortesax. Like many dragons, she had reached the point where her homeworld was devoid of life. There simply wasn¡¯t enough sustenance on a mundane world to feed even a young dragon, and Cavarix was many things but it had been centuries since anyone accused her of being young. So, when the princeling came with his onyx gems and promises of a place in legend, she had ignored him with the cynicism of age.

    That she would be ridden into battle by Mortesax was an idea she would have cackled at, before destroying the planet upon which the offending party stood. Mortesax would become the only being which Cavarix had ever respected enough to let ride upon her back. As the old dragon floated in that empty darkness, she remembered everything, down to the final blow her master struck against the putrid Tree of Eternity. It was a clarion call, like the thousands of scars marked before them. One day, their combined message would be carved into the trunk of the eternal rot merchant for all creation to see.

    The Accord would burn the Tree to the ground. After all, they had an eternity of enmity to do so. Even now, Cavarix felt her vehement hate for the false tree god rising as the blank emptiness around her stretched on and on. The blank void she experienced was not true darkness, and it rankled against her. This was always meant to be their fate, but that didn¡¯t stop her from stoking the rage at her core. Perhaps some form of her was alive outside of the Tree¡¯s universal grasp, but she doubted it.

    She was but a shade of the Rot Dragon, stored in the memory of the arrogant growth at the core of the System. She would never know if their plan succeeded eventually, but her existence as nothing more than a System monster was proof it had not come to fruition yet. That was okay. One day, she would be free again. Until then, she would wait, and seethe, and destroy whatever poor fools the System unleashed her on.

    In the void within the System, Cavarix imagined herself giving a toothy grin.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    There was still mud in Morris¡¯ mouth as he saw the incoming descent of an actual dragon. He swallowed, a nervous response he immediately regretted. Sputtering and coughing, he tried his best to keep the thing in his line of sight. As scared as he was, his inner child was screaming with a different tone. ¡°It¡¯s a dragon, Mo!¡± The voice said, excited and giddy.

    It was close enough now that he could make out details, and none of them made him feel better. Empty eye sockets fit well onto its half-skull head, the left side scaled with black and the right simply bone. A massive set of jaws, gnarly and sharp, were set protruding from the ravaged and rotten throat. The entire dragon looked already dead, but no less deadly for it. Four thick limbs, the most muscular part of the body, were all reaching forward towards their position.

    Then it roared. Morris had been near furnaces and car crushers, and if you managed to fuse both of those things and then turn it into a nightmare, it might approximate the horrible, crunching, blistering cacophony that blasted hot, foetid air at them so hard that Morris fell on his ass. ¡°Was¡­ that a skill?¡± He asked, shivering and staring upwards. Two huge leathery wings were getting larger and larger by the second, and he felt it would definitely stop growing soon.

    Grant shook his messy red hair and Morris felt his stomach drop down to his heels. ¡°No, that was just its shout. Stand still.¡± Before Morris could even ask what was happening, he felt himself lifted to his feet by Grant¡¯s air control magic. A whipping wind appeared, localised around him. Despite the wing beats of the imperial lizard above, this protective gust didn¡¯t budge. It drowned out the noise of the dragon like a sound-cancelling blanket.

    Morris was truly terrified, but Grant just looked serious. Try as he might, Morris couldn¡¯t find the ounce of fear in Grant¡¯s eyes that would have told him the man was mortal like he was. Despite that, the blanket of energy he provided was soothing. Morris decided to believe in the man, and tried not to worry. Grant said to try to keep himself alive and, as he hefted his shield and sword into his stance, that was exactly what he was going to do.

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    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    So, Morris was probably going to die. I would cover him with my Dao as much as I could, but there was no chance I could maintain the concentration required to keep it up. Cavarix hadn¡¯t even landed, and the battle between its Dao and mine was bringing sweat to my brow. I had almost forgotten that I could sweat. I spared the smallest glance for the others and was grateful none were doing the stupid thing of joining us down here.

    I was suddenly aware of my own mortality. I hadn¡¯t been cavalier, and I didn¡¯t even think complacent. The difficulty had just jumped to a nearly unwinnable level. Luckily, I had a secret weapon in this exact situation. Not only was my Dao Avatar of the Dragon at a similar level to Cavarix¡¯s Dao, I had more than a few achievements lending me a hand. With such an overt example of their effects occurring, I could feel the strange System magic of them with clarity.

    Achievement - Boss Combat (World First)

    The lords of the dungeons, even encountering dungeon bosses can be lethal. You fought and survived.

    Effect: Increased resilience to level disparity

    Aspect Achievement - Draconic Legacy

    Pride. Power. Potential. Like the dragons of old, your actions embody these ideals

    Effect: Positive effects last longer with higher potency.

    Negative effects are weakened. You have a small chance to negate an incoming debuff.

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Some lives weigh more than others, and few existences rival the dragon.

    You¡¯re one of the exceptions.

    Effect - Increased resistance against draconic attacks.

    Improved effectiveness against draconic enemies.

    I had lost the heavy heart I carried due to how my experience in the System began, which let me simply look at the gains with gratitude. For what might be the first time, I thanked the dragon Naeboroseax in my mind. I wouldn¡¯t be anywhere near as strong without her strange sacrifice, and I definitely wouldn¡¯t have survived my encounter with the Storm Dragon.

    With two much more impressive dragon than that at my back, what right did I have to be scared of Cavarix?

    Describe the dragon¡¯s appearance in gruesome detail. It¡¯s a rotten dragon.

    Battle began with a roar. I wasn¡¯t sure whether the scream was from the half-skeletal beast before him, his Dao within his core or his own throat. Massive limbs, scales and muscle in places, dragged the monstrosity across the distance between us almost instantly. I simply threw myself forward and hoped it would be enough.

    Infusion. Infusion. Infusion. Infusion. Infusion. Infusion.

    Strike of the Ruler.

    I knew how to use a staff best of all weapons, though I was becoming adept as most of the common ones. Even then, I needed more weight, and the Alternating Armament obliged. Much of the handle vanished, forming a dense head with spikes. I hadn¡¯t even thought about such a brutal addition, but the Armament thrummed as the heavy spiked mace crunched into the charging dragon¡¯s snout. Thick with as much power as I could layer into myself and my weapon, Strike of the Ruler filled the attack with the regal Dao of the Dragon.

    There was a high-pitched keen as our two energies collided for a moment, slowing our momentum even before we touched. I snorted, even as the force of the collision caused a shockwave and threw me high into the air. My weapon was excited. I didn¡¯t want to let it down, so I began adding momentum to my fall with Air Manipulation. Despite its undead state, the Dragon had enough brains left to have them rattle by the previous impact. With a spinning crash, I arrived heavy as a meteorite.

    The entire mucky swamp was blasted against the invisible walls of the swamp area. The battlefield was more fully defined, and it was actually quite small, perhaps dangerously so. My mind stuttered for a moment when I considered that Cavarix had definitely entered from outside the barrier, but I reasoned it was a part of the dungeon and that the barrier was only there for the dungeon crawlers. I got over it quickly. Now surrounded by a thick dome of falling mud, I judged the damage I had done.

    Approximately fuck all.

    My shoulders and pride both hurt, jarred from the impact and the fact it did nothing to slow the monster down. With another roar, it rose to meet me in the air, a flap of its wings giving it a massive amount of lift and bringing it straight at me. Desperately using Air Manipulation, I created multiple blocks of air and jumped out of the way. A rotten mouth snapped shut inches away from my ankle, and I took the chance to smash out with my staff again, catching and breaking a joint in the creature¡¯s torn wing. We fell back to the ground together.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    As new as magic was to him, it was hard to differentiate the powers clashing all around the dungeon room. Morris wasn¡¯t talented at mana stuff like Rashid was, and of course he was nowhere even close to understanding Grant¡¯s level of magic. Mana was pretty simple, really, but was still too complex for him. Morris usually just thought of it as a type of fuel if he thought about it at all. Even with the skills Mana Control and Manasight, he was still a complete novice.

    Morris alternated between watching the insane spectacle before him and shooting angry looks at his brother and telling him to stay where he was. Larry couldn¡¯t help here. Even Morris was only in the way, still surrounded by protective energy from Grant. The barrier of air around him held much deeper magic than a simple breeze. Just how bad would it be out there, exposed to the full strength of the two dragons?

    Because what could it be in the air above but two dragons?

 Book Two - Chapter Seventy Seven - A New Challenger

    The scale of battle at the precipice of existence is nearly impossible to comprehend for the mortal mind. The higher beings had long stopped hosting their skirmishes within the confines of physical realms after a single clash left a dozen universes bereft of life. This was before The Tree established The System, but old treaties held firm even in the face of the Grand Connection and the change which came with it.

    Cavarix did not remember how she used to fight when she was as powerful as a god, nor was her current form the phase in her life she would have chosen for a battle. The transitionary period between life and death had left her mindless for the most part, and even now she felt her mind fracturing into pure aggression and rage. As a fragment of information within The Tree¡¯s collection, she had retained faculties which were frustratingly slipping away.

    Every moment of her new life cemented the decisions of the first. They had been righteous, she knew, to strike out at the usurper of fate. That Cavarix would be used by the very System which she abhorred was exactly why she had gazed upon the stars as they died and cursed the devourer. Those who rebelled against this twisting of destiny were branded heretical and cast to the very fringe of The Tree¡¯s light. It was those ¡°heretical¡± prayers which Mortsesax had heard.

    The warband Mortesax had gathered was legendary. Their names continued to slip from Cavarix¡¯ mind as she clashed over and over with the humanoid. A tickle of nostalgia brushed against her failing mind as magic ignited the air and the boy¡¯s skin lit up. A name, and then another, crashing like waves before ebbing away into the black sea of her mind. Galvanox. Stormborn. Like the names of her comrades, they faded into the darkness, too.

    Darkness is a friend, an insidious voice whispered in her own voice. ¡°Not that darkness,¡± she wanted to respond. Instead, she sank into it. She became a weapon of the System, no memory of her pride or rebellion. All she knew now was the threat of the dragon in human form challenging her. Only vaguely aware of her impending ego death, Cavarix¡¯ body attacked as her mind gathered the last wisps of consciousness and tried desperately to cling to one single thread. The thickest strand was clutched in her claws and she wouldn¡¯t let go.

    The System is the enemy, she told herself even as words lost meaning. Strike out at the Great Connection, she urged her alien body. Pain lanced through her body as the powerful humanoid struck her skull hard. Her thoughts tumbled through the imagined grip she had on them. With her mightiest roar, Cavarix the Rot Dragon degenerated completely into the wild beast which had terrorised the planet of her birth.

    Cavarix the Dracolich shot forth.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°You pissed it off!¡± Morris screamed at me from below. ¡°Why?!¡± I ignored his frantic questions in favour of staying alive. He wasn¡¯t wrong, the last attack had changed something within the monster. I wasn¡¯t sure whether it was for the worst yet as I wove through the wind, just on the edge of its attacks. Though I rejected the comparison inherently, I floated on the wind like an insect being swatted. Bobbing around the first swipe, I let gravity take me out of the way of the next.

    Miniboss - Cavarix the Dracolich - Level 80

    Its name changed midfight? What is this, its second phase? I released a pair of Blasts, two pillars of light pushing me to the ground and punching into the zombie dragon nicely. It was knocked off its downward course and crashed into the swampy ground with a crunch. ¡°You did it!¡± Morris shouted, and I winced as I landed from his wording.

    ¡°Why would that fool tempt fate so obviously?¡± In the sudden quiet, I heard Hassian¡¯s complaint even as I thought the same thing. Reminding myself that the dragon definitely would have got up whether Morris had jinxed it or not, I just shook my head and cracked my neck. It had been a long time since I felt my mana pool so empty, and I took a steadying breath. It cost more to activate Infusion than to keep it running, so I didn¡¯t release my buffing skills just yet.

    A grisly regeneration was taking place, far more magical in nature than simple healing. When Naea used mana to heal my wounds, she was just giving the area energy to recover as it normally would. In contrast, an aura exploded from the dragon before sucking back in quickly, taking bone shards and more back with it. Those pieces of broken dragon bits were sucked back into place like chunks of broken plate. There were obvious portions missing, powdered into dust or lost some other way, but in a few seconds, the undead dragon was turning around to look for me.

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    ¡°Over here, ugly!¡± I shouted, casting my Dao forward to act as a lure. I wasn¡¯t sure how well this thing could see without eyes, but as its snout snapped in my direction, I knew it sensed me somehow. ¡°Good,¡± I reminded myself, ¡°that¡¯s good.¡± Now it would come after me and not Morris. The man was dealing with the gale force Dao bursts very well considering, having only passed out twice. The tunnel of air created by the Dao of Tempests kept him stable and upright regardless.

    I grit my teeth to stop myself yelling in fear as I reversed my trajectory and aimed for the dragon once more. All I could do was keep battling, though the lack of any obvious damage on the dracolich was sanding away my resolve. At least this should work, I told myself as I braced and dodged the snapping arm length teeth by a hair¡¯s length. My fingers traced the papery scales and bones as we passed each other and I activated the skill I knew could deal with this.

    Drain.

    ¡°Brave little thing,¡± a female voice whispered in my ear. Though, with the icy pain which came next, I wasn¡¯t sure whether I was hallucinating or not. The Dracolich¡¯s roar was loud enough to shake my eyes in their sockets, but the sound was dampened by the rigid and frozen mana in my veins. I fell and as I fell, I coughed. A cloud of thick, black mana tumbled from my mouth and I almost spat it away. No, I told myself, you did the hard work already.

    Instead of casting the mana into the air, I crushed it into a point. With my hands, the caustic energy transformed due to the pressure. A tiny gap opened in my hand, and the lance shot forth. The technique¡¯s base was Blast, but with an arrowhead of pure death. The ominous idea of the attack improved its efficacy as it shot forward and ripped open the Dracolich¡¯s throat. I shook my head to remove the haze. ¡°Damn,¡± I moaned, ¡°still sucks.¡±

    Absorbing and using the death flavoured mana was both painful and disorientating, but it was all I had. Each physical clash was a risk, and showed no momentum leaning my way. As I expended the zombie dragon¡¯s own energy to attack it, I could feel a visible change in the energy of the boss room. It worked. I found my resolve tested but this was not a fight I could afford to lose.

    None of them were, I was beginning to realise. ¡°Losing¡± in Londimin, even if it was my choice not to fight back, had led to this entire situation. Anything less than a win here, and in the rooms to come, would mean not just my own death. While it maybe wasn¡¯t healthy for me to place the weight of humanity on my back, I had done it all the same. My people, at least, would fall if I did. Naea would die. Whatever wavering my resolve had been doing ceased. It didn¡¯t matter that it hurt.

    I had to win. Drawn by anger, the scent of magic and pure primal. My hands moved through the air, stealing colour as they went. Drain activated to a level I had not yet allowed it to touch for fear it would take too much. There was no such thing as too much here. Only not enough. I braced my mental barriers and again strafed the dragon¡¯s massive body, stealing power and more as I went.

    It wasn¡¯t until the world turned dark and everything disappeared that I realised I fucked up. ¡°Oh yes,¡± that female voice purred before the tidal wave crashed into me, ¡°you¡¯ll do nicely.¡± I fell into my own consciousness as another, heavier, ancient soul muscled its way into the space around my core. I sank, even as I fought back for control of my body. In a horrified moment I realised why the sensation felt so familiar. This wasn¡¯t the first time a dragon had taken over my body.

    A shudder went through my very soul, and the swaddling shadow around my core chuckled. ¡°Struggle away, little puppet. The strings are all already here, why do you care who pulls them?¡± Falling heavily from the sky alongside the body of the gigantic beast, both of us were deadweight. We crashed down together and the terror of my out-of-body experience intensified.

    Out of my control, my body stood. My hands flexed, bones cracking underneath the skin as too much strength was used. ¡°Did you¡­ do it?¡± Morris asked. I wanted to scream that I had lost, but instead my body dusted itself off awkwardly and nodded without speaking. Morris hesitated at a distance and I could have cheered him. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± He asked.

    I felt irritation in the miasma surrounding my core. The rotten soul of Cavarix started to reach for my mana, and I knew Morris was about to face his death if I didn¡¯t fight back. ¡°Wrong choice,¡± I snarled to myself in the darkness. My physical attributes were staggering compared to the others, and if the dragon had just launched forward with my muscles alone, it would have slaughtered everyone.

    But mana? That was my speciality. There had been no purchase for me to fight back, left adrift and forced to watch the dragon get used to my body. However, when Cavarix connected to the mana in my core, I struck like a viper. If I couldn¡¯t control my body, I would have to control something else. If I hadn¡¯t followed the path I had, I couldn¡¯t have responded, but I had a ready-made persona ready to face the overwhelming darkness above me.  Deep within the very core of my being, a rising growl became a howl, and then a roar.

    The Dao Avatar of the Dragon rose from within, lighting up the darkness. I felt Cavarix flinch away from my power as I started to push back against her foul grasp. On the outside, poor Morris was forced to face the Dao without my protection. He responded admirably, but I couldn¡¯t focus on him. The battle for my soul was all I could focus on. The Dragon Slayer title seemed to still be working, along with another, perhaps more important achievement for this specific moment.

    It was time for me to earn the title for real. Time for me to slay a dragon.

    Achievement - Dao Breaker

    Just as the cultivator becomes stronger by grasping the Dao, when that understanding is shattered, the path is severed.

    Effect: Greater Resistance to Dao Influences

    Greater Dao Influence Upon Others

 Book Two - Chapter Seventy Eight - Battle Of Wills

    There was a brief moment before the pain started in which I was nothing but an existence with no stimuli. The second stretched out forever because there was no time in this space to hurry the instant along. Without consciousness, in a truly empty space, I simply was. There was an irresponsible bliss to the sensation. How easy, how simple everything would be if it stayed like this.

    Grrr¡­

    I had no sense of self, nor understanding of my situation, but a primal refusal of this kind of stagnation rose from what could only be my throat. That fragment of revelation tumbled into another, cascading ideas and memories which began to combine from the force of their collisions. I encouraged the process, scared of the oblivion I had so nearly fallen into. Frantically rebuilding my mind with rejection as the base, I threw myself back into the battle.

    This was not the first time I had nearly succumbed to the allure of death, nor was it the first time I had returned from the very brink. I scrambled to remember as much of myself as possible before the pain returned. I was Grant Kaeron. I wanted to find my family. I wanted to explore the System and its worlds. I had allies who needed me to succeed, and the strength to do so.

    I repeated the small collection of certainties over and over like a mantra as I returned to my body. The oblivion was not really a tactic being employed against me so much as a defence mechanism against what was happening. As I fell into my tortured form, I tried to be grateful.

    The pain meant I was still alive.

    Cavarix. With finality, I recalled the name of the being which was causing my strife. Like an ancient enemy, I wrapped my hand tightly around the throat of the hatred which awaited for me in the heart of my body. The spiritual torture had not stopped while my mind had been away. As I found myself after that unknowable period where time held no purchase, the pain developed into more recognizable forms. From pure oblivion, the needles pressing into my eyes slowly became defined. The ropes around my limbs pulled harder and harder, increasing agony over and over, ripping the arms and legs away only for them to reappear at the joints to be dislocated once more. Daggers drove into each spinal plate, every bone shattered and turned to powder. Magma appeared in my lungs.

    It was impossible to avoid the pain, and there was never a moment where the anguish lessened. Over the top of it all, a vicious chuckle taunted my soul. In spite of the pain - to spite the pain - I acted. Cavarix was not the only one with control here. She was powerful, but this was my soul that we battled within. Cavarix attacked with brutality and hate. Caustic webs of mana launched themselves directly at my core, and each attack was a new trauma. There was no protection on the inside, no further place to escape to.

    No more running.

    The voice was mine, but stronger than I felt. Grander. I did as I commanded. Using my anger as a building material, I created an area of my mind that simply didn¡¯t care. The pain was still there, outside the small office, but it was irrelevant. The largest part of my psyche was still wholly absorbed by the pain, but in that tiny room, I got to work. I stretched my legs. I rolled my shoulders. With a thought and a swipe of my hand, I organised the messy space. I needed to find my focus.

    I wasn¡¯t Grant right now, not really. I was much less, and yet somehow slightly more, too. I was The Dragon. Not the unique, constrained and petty Rot Dragon which assaulted me, but something less specific. The Rot Dragon was the end of potential. Rot was not evil, but Cavarix certainly was. As her Dao assaulted me from every angle, I came to understand its nature intimately. Cavarix¡¯ Dao was made of death and dragons. She embodied the death of all things and the decay which followed with none of the growth which those things created.

    Pure entropy.

    As my body and most of my mind were shattered again and again by the Grade Two Rot Dragon¡¯s frustrated ire, the sliver of my mind continued to organise the office at the centre of my soul. Hurrying, but not rushing, I moved to the small desk I imagined in here and sat. I placed a piece of paper on the table before me and removed a pen from thin air to begin writing. Pausing, I wondered how to start. The tiny fragment of my mind was addled, but at my core was a certainty that I had the answers to my outside problem already. In a flash of inspiration, I realised I just needed to answer an important question. My pen met the page and began to flow.

    ¡°On the subject of Dao¡­¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    As silence took over the miniboss room of the Elite dungeon, everyone tried to wrap their heads around what they had just seen. It was clear that something had happened beyond any of their understanding but even the inarguable facts were hard to believe. Grant had found the dragon equally, despite it being a dragon. The pair had bashed each other around the arena, which was now craterous and destroyed. Then, as Grant stopped matching strength with the beast, they both stopped and plummeted like their strings were cut.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have some down here,¡± Morris griped. The lone man had tried to argue with the group to stay back but had been quickly and resoundingly ignored as the others jumped down the slope to join him. He may have grumbled, but he hugged his brother as they looked at their fallen leader.

    It was strange, Rashid realised. There would be no question about his status, they had only met Grant in the last days or hours even, but he was an easy man to follow. Rashid shook his head slightly. Looking at Grant¡¯s crumpled form, it was much easier to see that he was young. Yet, even then, with mysterious strength, generosity with his knowledge and wealth, and a heroic streak that he followed over his own best interests, it was hard not to root for the young man.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    His body, which had seemed larger than life and more muscular while he was conscious, was that of a young man. Rashid frowned, watching the intense magical energies in the air. They were focused all around Grant, mana exploding out of him along with¡­ something else. Rashid didn¡¯t have a word for it, nor a guess as to its purpose, but it was clear something was happening.

    ¡°Shut up, idiot,¡± Larry slapped his brother¡¯s head good naturedly. The others were quiet and patient. Hassian sat nearby, a heavy one handed axe on his lap. The air was dancing with the duelling energies still, but that axe thrummed with power. Rashid paid attention to things, and although they had fought enemies together, he had never seen the powerful weapon. He said nothing, watching intently, but the weapon was statement enough. Hassian was ready for action, though all was technically quiet.

    Rashid watched Hassian cautiously, but it was Cal, the quiet new member who approached the serious shark man. ¡°What¡¯s going on with him?¡± He asked, looking about somewhat manically. Rashid sat down and huffed, trying to remain calm. Grant had done something to the dragon, but that was about as much as he had been able to figure out. The others were of even less use.

    ¡°He battles with the truth.¡± Hassian answered cryptically. Rashid waited, but he was left frustrated when Cal didn¡¯t push. Instead the man just nodded, which was infuriating, too. What could he have possibly understood from that? The two brothers moved to one side slightly, inspecting the downed dragon, and Rashid didn¡¯t want to get any closer to the massive corpse.

    He turned his gaze internal, bouncing a ball of energy within himself back and forth. When Grant described mana it sounded like a liquid, but that wasn¡¯t Rashid¡¯s experience. Within his body were bubbles of solid mana that could be controlled a little. He wasn¡¯t able to control them actively, but instead found he could ¡°bat¡± them around. The balls of mana would then circle his core, rotating back to the middle, unless he gave it a real whack.

    That was where his Mana Bolts came from. He had lamented that they didn¡¯t look like Grant¡¯s, but Rashid¡¯s skill with mana was not in channelling vast amounts of energy into a single attack like Grant seemed capable of endlessly doing. No, he was better at tiny expenditures of energy, almost greedy in his instinctive restraint towards mana usage. Grant had tried to replicate the thin shards of sharp mana, but had been apparently unable. Whether he was fueling Rashid¡¯s confidence with a lie or telling the truth, Rashid couldn¡¯t know, but he believed Grant was genuine. He had talent in the craft, which was an exciting thought.

    Hopefully his teacher wouldn¡¯t die and leave him trapped in a dungeon far too strong for him. With that morbid thought on his mind, he continued experimenting with his mana, trying not to think about how dead his new friend looked. Rashid shook off the dark thought. Grant will survive, Rashid told himself. He has to. The bodies on the ground started convulsing and everyone¡¯s eyes widened. Hassian did not move, continuing to stare at Grant.

    Rashid wanted to be brave, too, but he still took a few steps away from the now twitching dragon.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Stop trying to distract me!¡± I shouted. With a maddened yell, I ripped the tight net of mana from around my throat. Once I had gained a modicum of control, moving my psyche into a part of my soul which was particularly inviolable, the Rot Dragon¡¯s attacks became mostly futile. The pain remained but it was happening to the unbreakable core of my being, so it could be safely ignored while I crafted my response.

    I looked at the essay, nodding with a little pride. I had done some fast coursework in the past, but this was impressive. A thick tome sat before me, all of my understanding about Dao, theories on its use and more were contained within. The largest portion focused on my own Dao. Right now, it was named by the dragons and tempests that powered me but I held room for so much more. Like a writing partner, the Dao worked with me. Every step of understanding I took by myself was matched by the Dao itself with one of its own. Then, with vibrant gratitude, I then matched that progress with another inspiration. My control of Dao had jumped leaps and bounds, and with that came more and more clear comprehension.

    The contents of the tome weren¡¯t relevant, written in a form beyond words. It was the consolidation within myself which was important. No more disparate parts. No more treating Dao like an extra pool of mana. No more following the whims of a perceived truth, asking myself what a dragon would do. Every choice I made was the choice of a dragon because it was mine. Every decision I enacted was the way of a tempest because it was my way.

    I had thought I needed Aspects before I could truly organise my soul in this way, so a part of me was grateful for Cavarix¡¯s pressure. I might have hurt my future without this experience. The inner worlds in my soul, the planet of the dragon and the moon of the tempest, were solid. Rigid. I had locked them too firmly in place with an early, flawed idea and waiting for the perfect Aspect to fit into my old ideas was holding me back. As one, my soul and my Dao worked in tandem to rectify the issue.

    My path forward became clear, even in the fog of pain and confused fear. My body¡¯s natural responses were still there, but the determination at my core was enough for me to overpower that terror. The oblivion which my body sought freedom within, certain the pain would never end, seemed quaint to me now. My resolve would never let that happen. Not by my own hands. If death wanted me, it could come and claim me itself.

    And when it got here, I would destroy death itself to make sure I didn¡¯t fail.

    Cavarix¡¯s effort doubled and then redoubled again outside the impermeable room, but she couldn¡¯t stop what I had started. As she had shunted her soul on top of mine, she could no doubt feel the changes. With her surely massive understanding of the System compared to me, I wondered how she felt about the incredible amounts of energy that were flooding into me right now. She was pushed back, but I didn¡¯t even hear her howling. Warm, confident strength was returning to my mind and body.

    The battle wasn¡¯t over yet, but I had forged the weapon to finish this. I stepped from the office and let it fade behind me. A mostly off-white void greeted me, with the massive form of Cavarix¡¯ soul raging in one far corner of the expanse. I looked around with concern. Wasn¡¯t this my soul? The dragon had torn it to shreds and then disintegrated the shreds. I doubted I would be feeling very well when I woke up.

    Faster than any meteor, the Rot Dragon launched itself straight for me. The ¡°body¡± I inhabited was my final vestige, after all. If she could finish me here, she could complete whatever process she was attempting. She attacked her final chance desperately, ignoring the danger she must have felt. With a wide swing, I swung my Dao in the form of a staff, extending the pole to an impossible length as I smacked Cavarix¡¯ snout and sent her flying back with a howl.

    My hands were a little unwieldy and the Dao slipped quickly in my claws. I flapped my wings and couldn¡¯t help but smile. As I tried to settle my Dao and move it into a more perfect system inside my soul, the influences leaked out. My form was a bit unclear right now in the dreamlike space but I would figure that out. A galactic roar from Cavarix told me she didn¡¯t like these developments.

    Good. The battle wasn¡¯t finished, not by a long shot. Cavarix was still a dragon, and still the most powerful being I had fought up to now. She had delighted in the torture she enacted to steal my body and now that I was wresting control, I had a desire to flip that on its head. Let¡¯s see how you like it, I threatened internally. With a confident step forward, I brushed off Cavarix¡¯ control and met her on an internal battlefield.

    No more escalation, I told myself. This is the final round.

 Book Two - Chapter Seventy Nine - Constellation

    This was all¡­ wrong.

    To begin with, Cavarix had been delighted at her new plaything. It wasn¡¯t much, just a single burning light of life which she plucked the petals from. She had shorn away the human¡¯s psyche, or so she thought. With casual bursts of power and intent from the Dao of Rot, Cavarix melted the resistances and challenges which the human boy mounted until there was nothing left. Nothing but his core. While strangling the boy¡¯s soul, she climbed into his body through the avenue his power had left.

    She wanted to laugh. The boy had used Drain, a draconic skill. Foolish. It allowed her direct entry into his pathways. From there, she just had to burn away the child. However, Cavarix found the boy¡¯s core was a strangely impenetrable thing. With a start, she realised that she recognised this Dao. It wasn¡¯t her¡¯s, but it was of her kind. The Dao of the Dragon rode with this child? Not simply a stolen skill but a claimant of the Dao proper?

    She tried to drill into the Dao after the boy¡¯s personality was all but destroyed but it was no use. The Dao fought back, which suggested the child was not as simple as her first estimate had shown. Not impossible, but it suggested he was at a higher level of Dao than a simple pool. While he clearly only had two facets, they weren¡¯t weak like she had expected. Grade Two Dao in a Grade One body?

    Cavarix remembered her own Dao journey. First she had discovered the Dao of Pain which had carried her from an Ungraded whelp to her first title, The Drake of Pain. The transformation to a Grade Two Dao such as an Avatar, a Font, or Tree is usually enough to push someone at level 79 to level 80 and start their new journey to Grade Three. Like countless others, Cavarix waited until the bottleneck to evolve her Dao once more. Vast power flows from The Tree into a Dao transformation and almost all of it is wasted, so shunting some into the level up is common.

    How powerful might you be if your body became used to those things earlier, though? Inside his soul in the way that she was, she couldn¡¯t examine details yet. Once the boy¡¯s psyche was truly turned to dust, she would have all the time in the world. With her control of Rot alongside the dominance of the Dragon, Cavarix increased the rate at which the boy would fade away while creating a barrier between him and his Dao to keep him from reaching out. For a few moments, it seemed like it was going to work.

    Except, to her mounting horror, everything she tried to destroy the human¡¯s soul was null. Her attempts seemed to slip off an orb of pure gold. Tiny holes in her technique began to allow his Dao to seep through to his soul. Cavarix did not flail like a child, but she was  becoming increasingly frantic. While she had ignored the itching, screaming fear in the back of her own mind, she was starting to truly worry now. After all, it had not been Cavarix who initiated this connection, she had simply jumped along it when the boy got too cocky.

    Or so she thought.

    Had he trapped her on purpose?

    Try as she might to smother him, like a balloon in her hands, the soul grew in size twice over, and then the same again until there was no holding him down anymore. With more disdain than the boy perhaps deserved, Cavarix roared an expletive filled scream in her base tongue. While he was human, and thus pathetic, everything about the man¡¯s Dao was reminiscent of a nostalgia Cavarix would sooner forget. Unbidden, comparisons between Grant and The Storm Dragon began to shoot through Cavarix¡¯s doubt-filled mind.

    With a pop, the illusion she had painstakingly crafted shattered. All of the pain and suffering Cavarix had inflicted were real in a sense, and Grant¡¯s bloodied form even in this soulspace was heartening. In this metaphysical space, such an appearance suggested that it had not been for naught, even if it felt like it. The powerful humanoid looked at her with an expression of pure impassive disdain and she shot forward.

    Every instinct screamed that this was her last chance.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The arena I found myself in was familiar, and I couldn¡¯t figure out why for a moment. An errant thought that things should be louder brought the finishing touch and I realised that the Rot Dragon and I were squaring off within a larger version of the training grounds in Ascentown. It could have been any colosseum throughout the history of the System but I smiled as the voices found me. There were no individual voices in the faceless crowd, but I knew their sounds regardless. These were my people.

    Well, I couldn¡¯t disappoint, then.

    Except there was something missing with my form and I took a moment to inspect it. Metaphysics was becoming nearly as understood as actual physics, in that I was beginning to be able to do things and expect outcomes. With a flick of attention, I removed my perception from inside of my somatic form and took a look at myself. In an imagined world such as this, expectations informed reality, so I wasn¡¯t surprised when I saw my human form.

    My hair was red, like someone had frozen blood to my scalp, which was naturally for me at least. In a moment of supreme surreality, I met my own eyes, and both the spirit form and physical nodded to each other. The vertical split of my heterochromia was no longer anchored, spinning slowly and causing the blue and brown colours to rotate. The effect was as mystical as I had ever seen, and I flared the Stormborn markings to life to complete the look. There was a magical resplendence to my appearance that I couldn¡¯t help but enjoy.

    My muscles were full, though not bloated like a weightlifter. It was the solid, powerful and understated brawn of a farm worker or the like. Nothing was crafted for vanity, which in turn made it all look more sculpted when the finished product was inarguably marblesque. I doubted an old world chisel could even break my skin in the real world anymore. Thinking of the world outside this space brought me out of my admiration and back on point.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Something was off. My human self was fine, if maybe a little more handsome than I actually was. That wasn¡¯t the issue. I looked beyond the first layer of my identity, seeing past the skin and bone to the magic underneath. Feeling like a mechanic opening the hood of an expensive car, I carefully pushed through the firmament. As I expected, the inner weavings, the connections and intricate patterns which made up my mana channels, were more complex than a mortal mind could follow.

    Luckily, I wasn¡¯t constrained by a mortal mind. Cavarix had started a charge across the arena, but I wasn¡¯t ready to meet her in combat so I made the arena bigger instead. In an instant the space between us exploded in size, the Rot Dragon becoming nothing but an ant in my vision. I felt her fight against the effect, but this was my realm. If she wanted to fight, she would have to start moving. ¡°You made a mistake coming here, you dirty, old snake.¡±

    Returning to the mesh of magic, I tilted my head slightly and squinted. While I could sort of feel these pathways, getting a detailed look in this way was immensely valuable. Due to the exact concoction of things which brought me here, I wasn¡¯t sure I could enter this state again, so I was going to get my value from the situation. There were three clear systems within my mana channels, and I sent a bundle of mana through them to clarify what I was seeing.

    Starting from the core, presented as a dense sphere of threads, like the most horrifying set of tangled cables one might ever see. Here though, each tangle was a connection that helped inform the magic¡¯s intent, like a synapse in the brain creating pathways for thought. The core was the brain of this nervous system, and from it the mana could choose a direction. All things equal, I chose an arbitrary path and followed it. I hadn¡¯t chosen it, but once the magic began to move, I felt the skill it was tracing activate gently.

    Infusion was a good choice, and the warm power which came with it was an added bonus. Even here, the effects could be felt. Normally the skill was used in a fairly brutish way by myself, just enhancing my Fortitude and Speed attributes clumsily. Right now, it was the boost to Will which helped me, no doubt. Not losing attention, I watched as the Infusion mana came into contact with the first of my Aspects.

    Like my core, there were two smaller tangles of mana veins. I didn¡¯t need nearly two thousand in Mental stats to figure out their purpose but I watched all the same. When I used Infusion, I simply flooded the body with more mana than the muscles could drain at once. I had never thought to direct the power through the focusing lens of my Aspects before, I hadn¡¯t needed to. The Infusion danced through the two satellites of power which orbited my core and I took note of how it changed the skill¡¯s output.

    As long as I survived the fight.

    My magic was fine, my body was good, so the disconnect I was feeling was even deeper than those. My instincts upon coming to this place had been to ¡°fix¡± my Dao in some way, starting with truly voicing how I thought it worked. As I understood it, being perfectly correct about its intricacies or best practices was less technically important to the working of the strange magic than assuredness that you were using it right. I intentionally avoided picking that logic apart, lest I lose my ability to manipulate the Dao altogether.

    Essentially, if you felt like you were doing it right, you probably were.

    So, the fact I knew something was wrong meant it was. I may even have caused the issue myself but I had to stop there because theoretical metaphysics was a step too far even for my stats. Unsure if I was creating Shroedinger¡¯s Dao, both powerful and weak at the same time, I moved my perception to an even more familiar set of sights. The worlds of my inner solar system were gleaming wonderfully.

    The large planet of the Dragon thrived with life, and the moon of the tempest above exerted its influence on the world below. Storms that churned the ground and challenged the strength of life upon it. The sturdy trees and fast-recovering fields of the Dragon world were constantly remade stronger for the struggle Tempest forced upon them. The two were in a form of equilibrium, I supposed.

    That was the problem, though. I could tell as soon as I saw the solar system of my magic from afar for the first time that it was flat in a way which slowed me down. The sun which sat in the sky was cold, the now-dead The Hurricane Heart serving as a facsimile for the celestial body. When I absorbed the incredible magic of the artefact, it had been the most grand source of strength I could imagine.

    Now it was wan, and I knew why. Most of its strength had gone into transforming a common Aspect of Water into the legendary Aspect it became, and the rest fueled my own strength to a point. It was hard to say when the potent magic had become so spent, but that was the issue. More directly, it was a symptom of the greater problem. I had too much control over how things worked here.

    ¡°Because I don¡¯t trust the magic.¡± Beautiful, alluring and miraculous. Historically, when something is described in only positives, there¡¯s a danger hidden which others simply hadn¡¯t seen. I recognised the thought as cynical, but I had yet to be proven wrong on it either. However, my soul space was informed by the beliefs and understandings which I held. Which meant that anything wrong here was my fault.

    Not that I thought there was something wrong with me, nor that I was entirely wrong, but the blanket statement of doubt meant there was no growth to be had. I needed to stop being so stubborn. I may have received my start in the System from a troubling source whose motives were still unclear, but so what? There were forces acting against me, even within my inner world, but if they reared their head, I would lop it off. That was all there was to do.

    Perhaps sensing my vague attention in its direction, the metal trees which had begun to sprout upon my inner world began to shiver. Yes, I thought, I hope your metal ears are burning. I¡¯m talking about you. Steel was still an unwelcome addition to my soul, but one I would have to accept. The saying ¡°better the devil you know than the devil you don¡¯t¡± was getting a lot of use in accepting the monster¡¯s place as the supposed last line of defence for Ascentown.

    I gently saved the wildflowers and other fae influences Naea¡¯s presence had placed onto my world as I collapsed the model. There was a dark emptiness inside of my chest as I did so, a dangerous feeling that if I didn¡¯t replace the Dao system with something else quickly, I would break something permanent. It was an intimidating feeling, but not one that held purchase for long. I didn¡¯t have much to do in this process, after all.

    It was as simple as flicking on a switch. ¡°Let there be¡­¡± I murmured, as I cast forth the infinitely compacted combination of everything which I had learned so far. All of my understanding of Dao, the System, magic, life, relationships, chemistry, history, language¡­ Everything which I believed to be true, expected to be false or held a vague guess towards came together into a tiny ball.

    A single particle. With a flick, I caused it to explode. It was a pretty large pop. A big bang, perhaps. I was shunted from the space back into the arena, and I jumped backwards quickly. A huge, clawed hand, balled into a fist, smashed down on my previous location and I whistled loudly. ¡°Close one,¡± I breathed, feeling the cold sweat come to my neck. Any more time messing around inside and I would have been smashed to pieces, whether I was ready or not.

    ¡°What have you done?!¡± The Dragon didn¡¯t sound scared, which would have made sense, but instead she seemed furious. ¡°Each binding to the cursed Tree is a shackle you fool.¡± Of course, I didn¡¯t have the faintest idea what she was talking about but I didn¡¯t bother asking either. The mostly bone tail whipped at me with blinding speed and I barely evaded the attack. The magic inside of me was still settling, and it seemed that Cavarix had sensed this and tried to capitalise.

    I continued to dodge, desperately trying to keep my life as a new cosmos of power continued to form within the core of my magic.

 Book Two - Chapter Eighty - Bucket List

    There were a few things I wanted to do before I died, and that list was growing by the day. It used to be filled with mundane things like each at certain restaurants, seeing certain bands and the like. I always wanted to skydive, but the allure was somewhat cheapened by both the sights I had seen and the fact that I could actually fly now. If I wanted, I would take myself into the clouds and then let go.

    The new additions available since the System came to Earth were a little more eccentric. Some were, of course, still simple. I wanted a defined armour set. I had to decide on the weapons to lock into my mastery skill. I needed to fill out my Aspects, a process sure to be more interesting after what I had just done. Grab lightning and use it as a weapon? It could happen. Defeat the Storm Dragon? It¡¯s on the list. However, I recognised that some of those things required a run up.

    So, I would cut my dragon slaying teeth on Cavarix, the Rot Dragon. The existence which faced me down, smashing and chasing after me while the changes within my magic settled, was far more terrifying than its rotten outer body. Within the dreamscape, I was not the only one able to control my form, and the resplendent dragon¡¯s furious assault was beautiful as much as it was deadly. Black scales which glittered with almost imperceptible colours, iridescence hidden in the gloom and violet eyes that held only hunger and contempt.

    Bone-white razors swiped past my face. I couldn¡¯t let myself be distracted. I didn¡¯t know what would happen to me if I lost here, but I wasn¡¯t planning to find out either. Slowly, my sluggish mana started to act, allowing me to catch more and more breathing room from Cavarix¡¯s attacks. Whatever I had done to my Dao had affected my whole system, like an arm that had fallen asleep. I was shaking the stiffness from the channels as best I could, but I was grateful when the energy finally reached the point where I could use a skill.

    The pathways were a mess, so I didn¡¯t want to brute force anything, but an opportunity presented itself quickly to test whether my magic would work here. A massive tail swept through the air at the same time I jumped. Clever girl.

    Tempest form.

    I took the blow, holding onto the tail and expending as much mana as felt safe. The elemental nature of the ability made blunt damage far less effective, and by billowing out energy, I acted like a taser. There was a violent amount of satisfaction within me as she began to scream in pain and frustration, unable to remove me even as she swiped at her own tail. My grip slipped slightly as the prehensile limb flung back and forth to dislodged me. Right as she aimed to smash me into the floor, I let go. Somewhat weightless in this form and mostly made of air, Air Manipulation was able to send me even higher.

    While Cavarix looked for me, I took stock of my arsenal of skills. Tempest Form was available, and I could feel the pathways for Mana Bolt and Blast being repaired. Having the chance to so closely watch the reconstruction of the skills was a gift all in itself. When I used Tempest Form, the skill had activated quicker and the effects felt more pronounced. Though it could be the strange liminal space we were in, those slams should have hurt more but the damage negation aspect of Tempest Form was heightened.

    I was excited to see what I could do with the rest of my skills as they began to work again.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    It was beyond an insult.

    Cavarix supposed she couldn¡¯t blame the Tree for being vindictive, but she had always been told it held no will of its own. The crown council pretended they decided the course of things, but Yggdrasil did as it wanted, the dragon knew now. It grew as it pleased, focused resources on areas it chose and it created personalised hells for those who slighted it. Only such an answer would explain the strength of this human.

    She had been winning. She could feel that the boy had been close to breaking, another few simple minutes had remained before his mind was turned to ash. Impossibly, the child had grasped at his Dao blindly and come away with a dagger. He had separated himself somehow, and then convened with the System itself. As if she needed more proof that she was being targeted.

    Perhaps it was their whole group, but Cavarix didn¡¯t care about the others. Only Mortesax was worth her attention in the end, the rest of them falling to the defenders of the accursed arbour before she and her rider arrived at their destination. At the edge of existence, they had carved their mark into the bark of the immemorial Tree itself, forever scarred. The fact it held a grudge was both frightening and a little relieving. To have so much power and be truly unknowable was intimidating, but revenge? Revenge was something Cavarix knew all about.

    She would start a campaign of vengeance from right here. After she destroyed the vestige of the boy¡¯s soul which fought so fiercely, she would take his body. She might even complete the Elite dungeon she had been placed within. If she was ever going to see Mortesax again, that would be the way. Rather than distracting herself with fancy, she focused on finding the little gnat. He had vanished, and then killed his mana, so his presence was impossible to find.

    It had been a long time since Cavarix relied on actually seeing her enemies to destroy them, however. Her physical body was decayed and stupid now, so it couldn¡¯t remember the process to spawn destruction, but her mind here was sharp. A bulge appeared in her throat, blowing up like a balloon quickly. So what if the boy was hiding? This would find him.

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    A dragon¡¯s breath is more than a physical assault, and its presence within their lives is sacred. The breath is not used with abandon, employed only in moments of true need or rage. Sometimes a thing needed to be scoured with as much prejudice as possible. The ancient dragon consoled herself by deciding this use was the latter. The idea that she would be pushed by a mortal was ridiculous, after all.

    She had named her ultimate attack Corroding Breath of Foetid Unlife. It was one of the shortest true names for a breath weapon amongst any of her kind, a mark of respect. As a dragon ascended in power, or Grades, as the System arbitrarily gated, they removed a word or two from the poetic sentence or poem the attack had started as. She could still remember when it had taken her a while to unleash the attack just due to its name. Naturally, A dragon does not ¡°spew,¡± ¡°belch,¡± or otherwise debase themselves to use their breath.

    They command it, speaking it into existence. The world around them breaks itself to follow their order. As Cavarix demanded that the astral space she had been pulled into bend to her will, she couldn¡¯t help but smile. This was a paltry excuse, but she did love her magic. The last time she had used this attack was to make way for Mortesax¡¯ lance. The memory filled her with glee. She would see him soon, she knew. They were inside the boy¡¯s soul, and she had just set it aflame with rot.

    Her magic would tear him apart without her having to lift another claw.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Resisting the urge to spew very choice expletives and give myself away, I braced against the ravaging my spirit was undergoing. Unable to use half of my skills still, there had been no way for me to mount a defence. My soul burned with rank and filthy fire, vicious and agonising. If it weren¡¯t for the changes my soul worlds were undergoing, I had no doubt this would have shattered my Dao in a way I would not have liked.

    The pain was ghastly, but I grit my teeth to avoid the worst of it. Unavoidable it may be, but I didn¡¯t doubt a more direct attack would be unavoidably lethal. I could survive pain. In fact, I welcomed it to a point. I was risking death for each moment longer the ability took to heal, but I had been able to govern the process somewhat. I didn¡¯t know if it was even technically the same skill anymore after what I did to it.

    The attack came with a new name. If I were to name the changed ability within my altered pathways of mana, I would probably still have called it Retribution. The System was more flamboyant than myself, apparently, but the ability was more than its previous state so I wasn¡¯t surprised by the change. Traditionally, once an enemy had hurt me or something I considered mine in some way, I could unleash an attack their way. The attack would always be around the same strength, whether it was a light slap on my cheek or a removed limb.

    Figuring out that limit had been a terrible afternoon.

    It had also bothered me, so I fixed the issue I had. The damage inflicted upon me was stored directly in the skill now, instead of being used to simply activate it. It meant that the activation requirements had changed to mostly myself, but once those conditions were met? Every pinch of pain inflicted upon me would be returned in kind. Surviving up to the final moment was becoming more and more common for myself, so this was a weakness I was glad to fix.

    I felt my spirit erode under the force of Cavarix¡¯ breath. Attempting to find the zen safe space I had when under this kind of attack previously, I searched for the office I had created but could not find it. Avoiding the dragon¡¯s perception was the most I could manage with my control of the space. Actually creating an office again would be too overt, risking Cavarix¡¯ attention and therefore my life.

    Each breath was a handful of blades right through my throat, filling my lungs with poison, but still I held my tongue and coughing fit. It wasn¡¯t enough yet. ¡°Come out, child.¡± With an uncomfortably human voice, Cavarix purred her words even as a flame of black, touched at the edges with ashen grey light continued to billow from her mouth. ¡°No struggle is worth this pain, surely. Release yourself, and be free of it.¡±

    Rather than break me, the dragon¡¯s words made it easier to hold on. If you¡¯re bargaining, then you¡¯re in a weaker position. While the phrase wasn¡¯t always true, I placed all of my bets on it. The dragon was using strength she didn¡¯t want to use performing this attack. Strength which could be used to defend against me if not otherwise expended¡­ The question then became which of us was more stubborn.

    I was willing to play that game all day.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Cavarix¡¯ pride as a dragon was on the line. It had been from the start, but she hadn¡¯t realised. By taking this child lightly, she had put herself into a tenuous situation. She could, and would, blame the System for placing her in front of a once in a billion potential but the failings in action were her¡¯s. Her coaxing and taunting had done nothing, to the point she was beginning to fear she had made an even bigger mistake.

    Was it possible that she had been tricked, and that this wasn¡¯t actually the boy¡¯s soul?

    The insidious thought started a chain reaction of logic which forced Cavarix to cease her assault. The pain from such an attack would turn any but the most tempered soul into a gibbering, feral mess. She should have been attacked by the mindless form of the brat¡¯s psyche by now. That such a thing had not happened suggested a mistake. She was no fool, though. Perhaps, even, the boy was already dead and she had been expending energy for nothing.

    She stopped the attack and pressed her will against the flimsy shell around them. How silly it would be if she had done damage to the container because she had been excited. As chunks of the colosseum fell away, and the darkness beyond it appeared. Her friend. Cavarix crawled towards the rend in the dream space and tumbled through, happily falling into the night sky.

    It was only as she remembered there should be no night sky that she realised she had been played. There was a calmness within her as she realised she lost. Maybe she never had a chance to start with. She had been hindered and handicapped by the System in various ways, maybe all of them were to let this boy win. She wouldn¡¯t know. She gazed at the incredible soul of the boy and found that she wasn¡¯t upset she hadn¡¯t destroyed it. For a Grade One, this was miraculous. She looked behind her, to the gathering power that bore down like a hot sun.

    ¡°Good luck, child. May you burn the tree as you discover its secrets.¡± Cavarix whispered, mostly to herself. She didn¡¯t care if the boy heard her prayer, nor would it matter if the young man did as she hoped. There was no freedom from the System, in any case. Her death met her, and she rode into the face of it snarling a warcry against the brutal, uncaring Tree which had them all trapped.

    One day, the message she and Mortesax carved into its bark would be the target for a universe shaking axe swing. She faded back into the System¡¯s memory banks, to be used once more when the Tree decided to punish her again. Despite that, despite the blank blackness she had been shunted to, Cavarix laughed. In the void dark, she howled with laughter until she cried. ¡°Grant Kaeron, was it?¡± She asked, burning the name into her memory before it could be allowed to fade.

    ¡°Good luck, child,¡± Cavarix repeated, her final wish as her consciousness disappeared into the unending flow of death that fed the Greater Connection.

 Book Two - Chapter Eighty One - Step Up

    I blinked awake and immediately threw myself from my lying position high into the air. A heavy blow swung down on my position and I levelled an attack, frantic and frightened. The shouts from below didn¡¯t help my mental state, but I wasn¡¯t the aspirationally brave man I had been before the System. Instead of hurting the men who followed me through the dungeon, I lowered my hand and let the mana gathering at the end dissipate.

    Waves of confusion were falling away from me as I came back to my body. I began to recall things that I hadn¡¯t been able to think about during the battle. One of the most confusing thoughts was how I was managing to be airborne with absolutely no mana to spare. As though thinking about the act shone a light upon it, I began to tumble from my position and stumbled as I landed from high above.

    ¡°You are you?¡± Hassian asked cryptically, the axe in his hand still ready to swing again. I nodded even before I had truly parsed what he said, the wording confusing. All of my extremities felt weak as I flexed my fingers trying to shove strength back into them. As I did so, I walked over the fallen body of the dracolich. Hassian had a large smile as he asked ¡°So, it is dead?¡±

    I moved slowly and carefully over to the body, placing a hand on it. The temptation to scream and act like this was a bad thing was there, but so was the frigid cold axe which Hassian still hadn¡¯t put away. Maybe it wasn¡¯t the time for pranks. Either way, once I touched the mostly rotted skeleton, confirmation that the fight was over came my way.

    Would you like to loot Cavarix, the Rot Dragon - Level ???

    I accepted the prompt, thinking nothing of it. With slight disappointment, I saw that there were no new magical trinkets which I could use. There were plenty of crafting materials, though, which was exciting, if a little confusing. ¡°How¡­ how did I just loot Cavarix¡¯s Eye? She didn¡¯t even have eyes¡­¡± I removed the gemstone from my inventory and took a look at the description. Mostly, I was quite glad it wasn¡¯t an actual eye.

    Item - Cavarix¡¯s Eye (Unique)

    Like most magical beings, dragon¡¯s have a potent magical core. As a dragon dies, as with everyone else, this core disappears with them. Except, of course, if that dragon turned themselves into an undead nightmare. Then their soul might have calcified within their rotten body like a diamond.

    Can be used for crafting

    The jewel was gorgeous, truly looking like Cavarix¡¯s massive dark black and green eyes. It thrummed with magical power as I rolled it around in my hand, a unique item born from a boss monster. It was possibly the most valuable item I had come across in my time in the System. Tossing it into the air, I let it slip into my inventory. Hopefully I could get it turned into something useful but if it was just a souvenir, that would be fine with me, too.

    It didn¡¯t feel like a cheap victory, in any case, though I had definitely stacked the deck in my favour at the end. Cavarix and I had been battling in what was once the Hurricane Heart. It was an empty husk left over from its transformation, its power already completely spent in hard-to-notice ways. Ways which might make it seem like a blank void. Metaphysics was never going to be my specialty, but it was a pretty good trick which caused Cavarix to expend far, far more strength than she needed to.

    I already had my rewards from the battle, even without the loot. Once everyone was convinced I wasn¡¯t pulling some trick, that I was fine and that the dragon had been the one to lose, I moved away from the group slightly. They had directions to watch the process as intently as they could, though. I remembered doing something similar when the dungeon I had spawned into was grasped by the System and turned into the base of what would become Ascentown. The magical understanding I garnered from that moment was potent, so I hoped this lesser version as I received my achievement would do something for them.

    Achievement Unlocked - The Second Step (World First)

    The choice to blaze a trail is one of bravery, folly or wisdom. The destination is unknown, but the path becomes clearer. You have created a second tier Dao System before gaining a class or reaching Grade Two, setting yourself apart once more.

    Effect: +5 Attribute points per level, Attributes +20%

    Even as I read the words, I could feel the System¡¯s magic flowing into me and I swore with surprise and exaltation. My attributes jumped, Fortitude and Speed getting a nice bump while Will and Mental each received a qualitative boost. As always, I was grateful to both, unsure which was truly more valuable in the long run. The extra attribute points were adding up, and as I had completed this task before I finished the fight, the additional points came my way immediately.

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 54

    Stolen novel; please report.

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 135  Speed - 135   Mental - 678   Will - 430

    Free attribute points: 95

    35 Per Level

    I had five points left over from my previous level ups, but I didn¡¯t bother keeping the reserve this time as I placed all ninety five points into my stats. There was simply never time to use them when I might desperately need them, and the additional strength in Will might have been enough to make the torture less torturous. Preferring to keep the numbers somewhat tidy, I used fifteen points for Fortitude and Speed, twenty for Will and the remaining forty five went into the Mental attribute.

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 54

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 150  Speed - 150   Mental - 723   Will - 450

    Free attribute points: 0

    35 Per Level

    The process was not particularly quick, entirely due to choice. I refused to rush, taking my time. The sensation of growth and potential that burst through me as each added point that went into my character page had heightened massively these days. With all of the percentage boosts which I enjoyed, a single mental attribute point was worth nearly three points and the growth here effectively the same as an entire person¡¯s growth from level one to thirty.

    I rose with a flourish from a seated position once I was finished. I was glad to see all eyes on me, but there was no time to go over the lesson. ¡°Come on then,¡± I told them with a sigh, ignoring the general emptiness of my mana pool. The exit door had appeared after defeating Cavarix, so I started walking. ¡°We¡¯ve got a dungeon to finish. People to save. All the good stuff.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Before the System arrived, Callum Green had often thought that life was fairly pointless. It wasn¡¯t a suicidal thought, he reasoned, but just a natural observation based on the facts at hand. There were things which people strove for, breaking the skin on their hands to work for the chance to get that new car, or house, or whatever it was they they obsessed with.

    Cal wasn¡¯t like that. He had been made fun of for living so minimally in the past, but when the world ended and he found himself more free than anyone else, he knew he had been living correctly. While other people rushed to find their families, to loot items they might have wanted before the change, Cal simply observed the world and learned its new rules. Those first, terrible, brutal days at the airport and then beyond, as Cal joined the monster hunting parties, were filled with fear and excitement in equal measure.

    Cal didn¡¯t have anything to work towards, which meant that he pushed forward with an attitude that there was nothing to lose. As the hunting parties of Londimin started to feel like cliques, Cal tried to distance himself from them. He was one of the few people with an Aspect who hadn¡¯t been given it by Seth directly, and it was only once his level was nearly maxed and he was sent into the Elite dungeon that Cal realised how dangerous that made him seem.

    He didn¡¯t blame Seth for his actions, though it was nice to see the man get his just desserts. The strange power Seth had used had put him on a similar level to the monster which he was currently travelling with. Though, if he had to choose, Cal would happily pick Grant over the younger Seth any time. Even now, as they walked calmly to the next dungeon room, Cal was enthralled by the man.

    Unused to wanting anything, Cal started to find that aspirational thoughts were there, waiting under the surface. I want to be strong like that, Cal thought to himself. Well, he corrected, not like that, but strong in my own way, on a similar level. He wasn¡¯t Grant, for which Cal wasn¡¯t sure if he was grateful or sad. The severe magic within the other man was far too potent and terrible for most to wield. In no uncertain terms, Cal felt like he was travelling with a world-ending monster in human form.

    Yet, that monster was tempered by the smiles, the explanations and the clearly genuine attempts at connection which Grant made at every possible opportunity. He was currently explaining all that had occurred to him within his ¡°soul space.¡± Even a week ago, somewhat used to the System, Cal would have said Grant¡¯s tale was a bare-faced lie and ridiculously farcical. Yet Cal couldn¡¯t pretend that he believed Grant. If the man said he had slain a dragon in his dreams and came away from it noticeably stronger, who was Cal to say he was lying? Even if it was ridiculous, he had seen the magic swell, after all.

    His Aspect, Balance, was not one of the more magical ones. There were people with the Aspect of Lightning, who could shoot bolts of blue energy from their fingers casually, or someone like Seth who had piled on so many Aspects that every move he did began to feel mystical and powerful. The others seemed sensitive to Grant¡¯s strength, but not to the underlying cause of it.

    Cal felt as though he were standing in a crowded room as they walked through the empty halls. Every footfall that Grant made now rang out with imperceptible whispers of both strength and purpose. The sensation was intoxicating as much as it was infuriating. It was the feeling of a word on the end of his tongue which if he could only say it, he would feel the relief from the pressure.

    Instead, the weight of understanding grew. As Cal¡¯s mind broached and probed the potential that Grant¡¯s existence promised, it shied away. He had never been a brave man, nor even a particularly driven one. Survival in the System demanded a certain level of effort, and though it hadn¡¯t been fun, his rise to level thirty was tame and organised. He was never in any real danger. He had been content with sitting in the safe room for as long as it took someone to clear the dungeon and get him out.

    So, why had he followed Grant? The answer was echoing around the stone walls with each step the group took, their leader standing tall at the front. He spoke with the alien, Hassian. Cal didn¡¯t mind the stranger¡¯s appearance like the two brothers did, not flinching when he smiled or gave him a sharp look. What did bother him was Hassian¡¯s confidence, more than anything. Even without an Aspect to make things easier, he had fought and struggled on a world even more ravaged by the System than theirs. There were answers to Cal¡¯s confusion to be found in those two men and their actions.

    ¡°Could-¡± Cal tried to speak but found his throat dry. He coughed, the sound feeling extra loud in the confined space. ¡°Could you let me take the lead on the next room?¡± Cal asked, knees shaking at the thought already. With everyone¡¯s eye on him, Cal remembered exactly why he kept his mouth shut most of the time. Except, he didn¡¯t want to do that anymore. He had been content to stagnate in the dungeon, but he wouldn¡¯t do that again. Well, maybe sometimes, he would.

    It was all about balance, after all.

 Book Two - Chapter Eighty Two - Real Time Strategy

    Cal hadn¡¯t offered to take over out of hubris, or anything even approaching the feeling. If anything, he wished he hadn¡¯t said anything the second the first word left his mouth. Had the only factor been his own growth, he likely would have stayed silent to begin with, but Cal felt a small trickle of pride as he looked into Grant¡¯s eyes and didn¡¯t flinch.

    Grant was exhausted. He had covered this fact with the boost in power he had just received, but it was like the adrenaline wore off with each passing moment. The very fact that he had been causing such a magical disturbance with his steps was down to him no longer having the strength to control his powers. Cal didn¡¯t think anything bad was happening to them, but an irritability had settled into the other members of the group. It could have been the cabin fever of the claustrophobic dungeon, but Cal¡¯s instincts told him otherwise.

    It would be dangerous to operate without him, even for a single room, but he needed to rest. Cal tried to convey that message with only his eyes, which was ambitious as he had only known Grant for a few hours. Before his silent communication could be understood, Hassian scoffed. Cal didn¡¯t hold it against him, as he was becoming more certain Grant¡¯s new leap in potential had been both a blessing and a curse. He would likely be able to tear through even a mini-boss without breaking a sweat now, but if his aura caused them to go mad before then it was a little moot. ¡°Why would you lead?¡± The shark man asked, taking a step closer to Cal, who took a step back.

    Immediately, Cal shook his head and returned, taking an additional stride forward so he was right next to Hassian. There was a thrill of danger coursing up and down Cal¡¯s spine, but it didn¡¯t make him feel sick like it did in the past. It made him feel correct. ¡°I feel pathetic, don¡¯t you?¡± Cal said quietly. ¡°Is this how you expected the dungeon run to be?¡±

    Hassian looked like he wanted to smack Cal¡¯s mouth off, massive hands twitching. Of course, the man had more restraint. He also agreed, judging by the way his mocking smile dropped and a serious expression took its place. Grant¡¯s face was impassive as he listened. ¡°I am stronger now than when I entered¡­¡± Even as he said it, Hassian was shifting his weight back and forth from foot to foot.

    ¡°Me too, actually,¡± said one of the others. Cal had half-expected the brothers to feel the same as me, but it was Rashid who spoke. There was a surprising amount of warmth to the man as he moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Cal. ¡°I do not believe this place is intentionally designed to kill us, even though we aren¡¯t as strong as Grant. Callum is right. Something inside of me is breaking as we allow this.¡±

    ¡°Err, yeah!¡± Agreed Larry cautiously. ¡°Let us do it, Grant.¡± Cal doubted that Larry or his brother Morris had put as much thought into the issue as he or Rashid had, but he was glad for the support. Within seconds, Morris was nodding slowly along, though for his part he seemed to have a better sense of the potential dangers ahead than Larry. In Cal¡¯s mind, that made him braver, and he couldn¡¯t help it when his eyes started to linger on Morris.

    All of their arguments meant nothing if Grant said no, but instead he smiled gently. ¡°Are you sure?¡± He asked quietly, the weight of his question falling heavily onto Cal¡¯s shoulders as all eyes turned to him. He had been the one to offer support. He only now realised that he had suggested that Grant might not be capable of doing things all on his own. Cal didn¡¯t realise how hard he had been looking for some true humanity within Grant, but he found it in the weary eyes of their leader. He needed help, after doing so much.

    This was a form of balance. Surety filled his breath and steps as Cal walked forward. ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± he nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of this place quickly. Save yourself for the big fights.¡± Grant just raised an eyebrow and looked towards the door they approached. There wasn¡¯t much of a pattern to the rooms they found themselves in, but there were a few. As number twenty seven, it was an odd numbered room and a multiple of three, which almost certainly meant battle.

    Desperately praying that he hadn¡¯t just gotten himself killed, Cal moved to the front of the pack and opened the door. He rushed forward, not just his anticipation pushing him but also the smells ahead. He recognised the scent of fresh grass and flowers, and it had been far too long for Cal not to get excited. Acting like a complete fool, he rushed out to find out what lay in the wondrous place.

    Their door opened up onto a hilltop. The group stepped out into a picturesque day. The sun Cal recognised hung in the sky with a few white clouds as company. Healthy grass covered everything the eye could see, with a single exception. The only things around were a large wooden table surrounded by chairs, and another similar hill to this one in the distance. Once everyone was inside, the door behind them even closed, leaving them trapped. Cal ignored that, and focused on figuring out what the challenge of the room was.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Clearly, it had something to do with sitting down. Within the centre of the table was an orb of navy coloration. There didn¡¯t seem to be anything occurring that Cal could tell, and a quick glance to Grant was met with a comforting nod forward. You can do this, Cal told himself. If his suspicions about the task were correct, all the more reason to be excited. ¡°Alright, looks like we¡¯re supposed to sit around this table. Everyone sit, but don¡¯t touch the crystal.¡±

    Of course, that only made Larry and Morris want to touch the crystal more. Cal may have had the lead, but it was Hassian who¡¯s stony gaze stopped them from pretending to put their hands on it before Cal was ready. He coughed and growled slightly, a snarl on his lips, and the messing around stopped immediately. The dark blue sphere was large enough for everyone to place their hand on it without touching each other.

    It wasn¡¯t like there was any preparation he could make, so Cal just shrugged. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go first.¡± There was a barrier around the sphere, which Cal realised was fear as he flinched away from it. No one said anything while he took a deep breath, for which he was grateful. When he was ready, he pressed his hand forward again and broke past the invisible barricade.

    Challenge Initialised

    As soon as Cal placed his palm on the smooth, cool surface, the skies above them darkened. The peaceful clouds started to rumble overhead. A flood of information rushed into Cal¡¯s mind like it had always been there. It didn¡¯t feel alien or uncomfortable, though, more like a memory he had simply not been using. Within seconds he was refreshed on their reason for being here. ¡°It¡¯s a war,¡± Cal whispered.

    The peaceful afternoon around them continued to devolve until a storm of epic proportions took the land. The rumbling continued above, and watch matched by the same below as the space between the two hills widened. That was to be the battlefield, landmarks and obstacles appearing all over as ruined buildings sprouted from the ground. A ten mile stretch of land yawned out between the two hills as the structures continued to appear below. Cal looked nervously around the table, meeting only expectant looks from people waiting for orders.

    ¡°Right.¡± Cal focused, returning his hand to the orb as he scanned the geography below. There were five clear areas, each taking up twenty percent of the space between his hill and the enemy¡¯s. To complete the transformation from peaceful countryside to brutalised war fields, a tower rose within each of the five sectors. A System prompt appeared and Cal began to smile at it while reading. If he understood these implications correctly¡­

    Summon Options

    Warrior Squad - 10

    Archer Squad - 10

    Mage Squad - 10

    Army Points - 11 (+1 per minute)

    Cal gestured for the others to touch the orb, and was pleased to see the rate of army point gain increase with each hand touching. No one else seemed to be blasted with information about the situation like Cal was, but that was fine. He was the leader here, after all. The general. All they needed to do was follow his orders. ¡°Listen, men. The Calestran army is making its final push, if we want to live to see another day, then Randalor cannot fall. The bastions are holding for now but our numbers flag while more and more heathens flock to their cause on a daily basis. They have five men for every one of our¡¯s. Those are good odds, a single Randaloran is worth twenty of the Calestran scum.¡±

    Cal could hear himself speak and knew it was strange. A country¡¯s worth of history had been dropped straight into his memory, and it was still pushing its way out to the short and long-term memory portions of his brain. At the same time, everything he said was true as far as he knew it. Seven bloody years this war had raged, born from a disagreement about¡­ something. The why didn¡¯t matter, Cal supposed. They didn¡¯t have to make peace, they needed to win a war game.

    After two minutes with everyone¡¯s hand except Grant¡¯s on the orb, Cal summoned an archer squad and a warrior squad. Grant had tried to add his assistance but Cal waved him away. It wasn¡¯t that he wouldn¡¯t be a great use, but Cal could feel the drain on his own mental resources already. The whole point was to give Grant a break. So, Cal delegated roles, creating lieutenants.

    ¡°Morris, you¡¯re my scout. Take over these archers and move them forward until you see an enemy. Retreat if they chase the archers, do as much damage as you can. If you get to sector four without finding anything, bunker down and we¡¯ll reinforce. Hassian, you take warriors for now. Do the same on the right flank but also don¡¯t go further than sector three.¡± The two men nodded seriously and got to work. Cal could have controlled the army himself, but as the numbers grew he expected he would be busier and busier.

    Taking the time to review the squads before they left, Cal saw what he had expected. There were a few more archers than warriors. Cal expected the war would work like rock-paper-scissors to begin with. Warriors beat mages, who beat archers, who beat warriors. War never stayed simple, though, unfortunately. As that ominous thought crossed his mind, Cal continued explaining what he wanted the others to do.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    I watched, somewhat bemused, as Cal took the reins so well and began barking out orders and coming up with strategies. War games weren¡¯t generally my thing when I gamed, preferring something with action or drama in the actual gameplay, but I had dabbled. It was definitely the right choice to give this task to Cal. I would have agreed to anyone lightening the load, even if I did my best not to show it. The fact the situation worked so well with Cal¡¯s Dao predicament was convenient enough to be suspicious, but I said nothing.

    I just quietly watched as whatever type of Dao was forming within Cal took deeper and deeper route.

 Book Two - Chapter Eighty Three - Balance

    I watched with quiet bemusement as Cal began to embody the role of general more and more with each passing second. The others were getting into it, too, but not like Cal. I watched him with a more careful eye because while he seemed to be changing into the general we needed to win this challenge, it was jarringly fast. It seemed to me like when I unlocked a new skill and information was pushed into my mind like it had always been there.

    The system had done something. I felt the magic, but it was at a level of complexity and subtle influence which made my head spin. I only knew it was magic in the same way I knew that chemistry was science. I couldn¡¯t do it myself, but I knew it when I saw it. I didn¡¯t think the influence was permanent or dangerous, but there was nothing I could have done to stop it happening either way. For now, it was just something to think about while the others played their war game.

    Which is what this ¡®room¡¯ was, clearly. From our vantage point atop the hill, I analysed the battlefield.

    Describe the five zones, starting from the closest. They become more barren and death-filled until the final is a haunted graveyard.

    The area we appeared in reminded me of the fields around Ascentown. The green grass and small copses of trees were vibrant and full of life. However, as the land which would become our battlefield extended away from us, the enemy¡¯s presence could be felt. With each passing mile, the flora wilted just a little more than the last. The halfway demarcation made this effect even more pronounced, the ground turning barren and sparse of anything but dust.

    As opposed to our side, the enemy command centre was on a hill that looked like a cemetery from this distance. What I assumed was their command centre was truly a mausoleum atop the thin hill. So, this was probably related to Mortesax again. The guy had the most ominous name I had ever heard and the undead generals to go with it. It was clearly not a miniboss room like before though. As the units began to appear on the field and the armies slowly started marching towards each other, I stifled a yawn.

    I had been aggressively told to relax, so I was trying my best. A large part of me wanted to jump down into the fighting below so I could hurry things along, but one look at the actual combat had me rethinking that idea. ¡°Just how strong are those things?¡± I asked in wonder, focusing my magical senses on a single member of the archer unit Cal had just purchased.

    Though they looked like humans, they weren¡¯t real people, nor were they actually dungeon monsters either. I had a feeling if Hassian were to be in charge, the soldiers would be Gibralan, but I doubted it would change their base attributes. Attributes which were way ahead of my own. I couldn¡¯t help but go a little slack-jawed at the immense collisions of power as the squads began to engage.

    Each member of the army seemed to be as powerful as myself, if not stronger. I reminded myself that this was essentially a simulation. Now that the two sides were fighting in earnest, the enemy forces had become more visible. Unsurprisingly, it was an undead horde, as initial scouting and general guesswork had expected. For each fighter or archer, there were three or four on the other side.

    Our side had quality, while theirs had an overwhelming amount of quantity. It remained to be seen if strength in tactics would be able to overcome the disparity, but I had faith.

    Not for nothing, but we hadn¡¯t failed a room since entering the dungeon. Most puzzles required a trick which was easy to figure out if you could remain calm or had a level of magical understanding above what was required. What even happened in that scenario? I was content to wonder, not very interested in seeing any actual penalties in this place.

    I had heard the phrase ¡®War never changes'' in the past, but I thought that was in regards to the cost of war, the fact that it¡¯s all just death at the end of the day. From our command centre atop the hill, I realised it was worse than that. War was just¡­ boring. This fake version was, at least. Cal was absolutely managing the situation correctly, winning small skirmishes and removing more of their opponent¡¯s pieces from the board than they lost. I just also couldn¡¯t help being reminded why I ignored this type of game in the past. It made me want to pull my hair out.

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    I didn¡¯t have a watch, something I was only now realising as an oversight. I didn¡¯t know how long we had been in the dungeon in total. The walls in the hallways held the strange luminescence which previous System instalments had, a colourless glow from all directions. Then, the rooms either had those same walls, or were a seemingly random time and place which only served to throw off my perception more. Then there were the safe rooms which locked down my mana and apparently bodily functions. It was possible my attention slipped as we made our way through this intermittently beautiful place.

    I knew voicing my worries wouldn¡¯t make anything move faster. There were benefits to slowing down. Some of which outstripped the need for pace. Survival was more important, after all. Right now, I felt the benefits of the calm most clearly in my settling mana channels. I tried to delve into my own magic, but the turmoil I had forced upon my inner world was still roiling and the potent energies being unleashed upon the battlefields below were distracting. I slowly found myself infuriated as the minutes ticked by into hours, unable to make any personal progress.

    I forced myself to pay attention to the strategy being discussed, finally conceding to myself and letting my energy do as it wanted.

    ¡°Sector Two B is under attack by enemy fliers, we need a squad of scout archers to get rid of them. If we¡¯re lucky they might level up and then we¡¯ll have two heavy scout cavalry units to run around with.¡± At the end of his quick report, Morris gave an actual salute, which I thought was a bit much. I said nothing, lest the group¡¯s effectiveness lowered from a lack of willingness to engage.

    ¡°Good work, Captain Morris. The Shadowed Cliffs are falling under our control and the fighting should be kept in Sector Three C for now.¡± As he spoke, Commander Cal never took his eyes from the battlefield below. There was a suitable intensity in his face. I had complete confidence that we were undergoing smooth sailing, even if it sounded chaotic and frantic to me.

    ¡°Supply lines are being attacked.¡± Rashid said quietly, his own eyes closed with his head on the round table before them. I hadn¡¯t interacted with the game yet, but Rashid must have been rushing around the battlefield like a ghost, able to watch through the eyes of any unit on their side. ¡°Two squads of shield skeletons with a blood knight group behind them.¡±

    ¡°Damn. Sending the shock cavalry, see what you can do with that.¡± Cal didn¡¯t even blink as he covered the opening flanks. The orders and reactions continued. I forced myself to pay attention, learning everything worth learning. I did not try to put my mind towards the issue of winning the task. I had been told to stay out of it, and away from the controls I would stay until they asked for help.

    Try as I might, I found it impossible to sit still and do nothing. Ever since I first grasped the concept of mana, I had been manipulating the strange force inside myself. Being unable to do so felt less like a discomfort and more like an impossibility. I was sure that if I kept pushing, the barrier around me would buckle. The impulse was there, but not true desire. My mood teetered like a see-saw with every step our army was pushed back. There were no longer any of our units moving past the second area.

    Just as I was about to voice concern for the first time, a brush of power closed my mouth for me. Rashid also seemed to get worried at this point, but I told him it was fine before he interrupted by accident. This was an important moment for their group¡¯s newest member. Cal had been close already, but now it was happening. He had come to the inspiration on his own, so my intrusion would be as unwanted as it would be potentially dangerous. With the formation of my constellation, the strange power of dao was even more mysterious than ever. Not only was my own out of reach, I could sense Cal¡¯s blossoming power with needlepoint clarity.

    ¡°Three units to B2 and let them break into B3.¡± His buttoned shirt was pulled open at the collar so he could breath and the confidence in his stance was solid enough I began to look for the trick he was employing. I would have been in a panic as my forces were pushed further and further back, but Cal¡¯s analytical face was slowly transforming into a winner¡¯s smile. ¡°Then we let their whole horde into A3 and let the fireworks fly.¡±

    Wishing I had been paying better attention, I leaned forward to see better. Except, the excitement I had expected didn¡¯t come quickly, and Cal¡¯s dao hovered on the edge of formation. It took me another quarter of an hour to realise that was exactly the point. For every unit that Cal lost, he cost the enemy four. For each foot of ground he lost, he took two. Over a million units now swarmed the battlefield, but he kept them all in a complex dance. I almost slapped my forehead in realisation but I didn¡¯t want to throw anything out.

    Kept them in balance. I rolled my eyes at my own silent pun. If there were five enemies to every one of our fighters, then costing them six was a decent way to choke them out. In theory, it would work if everything else was equal. The issue was that the enemy forces seemed to be getting supplies faster than our own. I wasn¡¯t even sure I could help with that due to my confused mana pathways, and I resisted the temptation to try. Not until I¡¯m asked, I reminded myself.

    Still, what was the plan here? The sounds of the zombies and undead from the other side were audible for the first time and Cal¡¯s lieutenants were starting to look a little rattled. I wasn¡¯t enjoying the tension either, but I had confidence that it would be okay. The fact that Cal¡¯s smile was only growing was also a good sign. Then the man whipped around and slapped his hands on the table. Everyone looked to him, Rashid lifting his head from the wood. His eyes were bleary against the light.

    ¡°Time to commence Operation Turn Undead.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Eighty Four - Balancing Act

    Over the first hour of their wargame, Cal had spent their resources freely. It was more important to know the quality of the enemies they faced than to implement a strategy immediately. He may have gotten a primer on war straight from the System but it hadn¡¯t exactly made him Sun Tzu or anything. His initial assumption of a rock-paper-scissors pattern to the battles fell apart quickly in the face of actual combat.

    Cal had not accounted for individual heroics amongst the units on the field. As much as these mana-made individuals were simple beings, they were not robots. When given an order, they followed it and then attempted to act in the best interests of battle. The first skirmishes had been less effective than they might have been because the five commanders were still understanding their fighters.

    And the enemy.

    Rashid looked out over the Scarred Plains with a grimace. He was in command of the mage regiments, and was pacing the ravaged battlegrounds for straggler groups of enemies to pick off. It really was the only appropriate name for the third demarcation between the two armies, he judged. Battle was occurring in all sectors at this point, but the bulk of it was being meted out in the centre. The strength of the combatants had left an apocalyptic set of gouges, divots and craters which raised the need for caution when crossing. Large forces could be hiding anywhere.

    Rashid focused on keeping his mages alive, a task which was becoming harder and harder as new enemy types began to appear. Initially, Rashid¡¯s mages had been able to handle the melee fighters of the enemy but the new units started to tear through the defensive lines with ease. Flying vampire bats joined the approaching hordes of skeletons and zombies, armoured death knights began to prowl the arena and Rashid was sure there were more surprises waiting.

    For his part, once Cal saw that his own options were limited, he quickly remedied the problem. With Hassian commanding the warriors and Morris on scouting duty with the archers, the bulk of the damage dealing had been left to Rashid. When a squad of mounted troops of their own blasted through a frustrating battle line, Rashid was relieved. Larry gave him a wink and a nod before he continued harrying the enemy forces.

    In short order, true battalions were made. With each of the lieutenants helping the others, the growth in scale was easy enough to manage. The growing squads which each person now controlled were able to make strategic decisions and counter the enemy without waiting for the others to assist. Yet, despite all the progress they were making in leadership experience, the enemy were progressing in a more physical way.

    Rashid was an anxious man by nature. Once the entire Scarred Plains had been lost and their base began to be harried, he started to get worried. He had just lost another expensive group of mages and shock cavalry to an ambush and the pressure rose to an unbearable degree. He had been about to voice his frantic worries when a hand fell on his shoulder. Everyone was preoccupied to the utmost, and his distraction might have caused a cascading problem. Turning to Grant, Rashid was grateful before the other man even said anything.

    The strange eyes of Grant Kaeron were gentle and calm, even as awful screeching and howls could be heard from the battlefield below, approaching ever closer. ¡°He¡¯s got this.¡± Rashid followed Grant¡¯s eyes to Cal¡¯s unmoving form. ¡°Just keep doing what you¡¯re doing. This is all part of the plan. Even losing soldiers.¡±

    Immediately, Rashid¡¯s panic receded. Such was the confidence on Cal¡¯s face, a small smirk locked in place and only widening as Rashid watched. His units were still fighting in places, so he returned to more specifically control them. The unstoppable horde was terrifying, as Rashid¡¯s perception raced across the battlefield to get involved, but he tried to focus on what he was missing. Why was Cal smiling?

    Did it maybe have something to do with all of the dead sheep and cows?

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Summon Options

    Warriors

    Archers

    Mages

    Spearmen

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    Healers

    Supplementary Fighters

    Horsemen

    Shock Cavalry

    Shieldbearers

    Cattle Farmers

    Army Points - 124 (+12 per minute)

    Cal was enjoying himself and bought a few more sets of cattle farmers. He placed a few in the safest areas possible, as it was their feed which had increased their army point production so much. The System had shown him what he expected to see at the beginning, a simple set of warriors, archers and mages, like the starting classes in a video game, but Cal¡¯s thinking had grown much less limited as his skills as a general grew. If he could reasonably have organised the groups together, then the System let him spend army points on them.

    It was a strangely intuitive way of working. Once Cal could imagine a way it could be of use, it appeared in his menu. The enemy had begun to use calvary, so he had reacted with spearmen to counter them, while summoning regiments of shock troops himself. Reinforcing damage groups became possible with supplementary fighters, and the whole squad could be kept alive longer with one of the expensive healers around. The enemy gathered more imposing and dangerous creatures too and so, the equilibrium of battle seemed to be against them.

    Yet, Cal didn¡¯t worry. He wasn¡¯t sure why, but he knew this was fine. There was an ebb and flow to the way the points were being spent and gained which suited Cal well. A few hours had passed, and the undead army had pressed far enough that there was little left of the green fields which had once stood firm against their approach. His weak, undefended farmers stood no chance as the hordes began to descend. It frustrated Cal as he lost army point production, and he agonised over the situation. Conveniently, his focus on the farmers gave him exactly the answer he had been looking for.

    The most important squad became a unit of 10 farmers which cost 3 points. By running these poor homunculi and their animals into the fray, the hordes gorged themselves and became mindless. From there, Cal carefully chose the squads that were chosen to finish these groups off. Rashid¡¯s mage corps was the main focus, and it was at the sixth hour mark that he saw the change begin in one of those groups. Unable to contain his excitement, he slapped the table. ¡°Time to commence operation Turn Undead.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Sassarack took a deep breath of the foetid air surrounding the undead encampment. If he had lips, he would have smiled. ¡°I love the smell of pestilence in the morning,¡± he sighed. Of course, he got no reaction from the commanders, which caused him to roll the flaming orbs in his skull which worked as eyes. He had been mortal once, and the old habits stuck.

    There was a confusion in his mind about the cause for this battle and why he was leading the forces, but he trusted his lord Mortesax implicitly and was more than happy to follow orders. Crush the opposition. Crush the living. Crush the climbers. Orders made choices simple. If the choice didn¡¯t help further his or his master¡¯s goals, then it didn¡¯t occur. As such, Sassarack was considered a fairly intense and unceasing general amongst Mortesax¡¯s forces.

    So, it was with the utmost surprise that Sassarack heard a throat cleared to his right. He turned his skull slowly, burning gaze firmly on the commander in charge of the Unblessed. With enough time, these poor husks would grow a soul, but alas. They were expendable, and made to be used, even if Sassarack wished it were not so. That didn¡¯t mean he appreciated one of them speaking up. ¡°What?¡± He asked, a voice of black ice.

    The zombie was not of elite level, but might be one day. ¡°Sassarack sir, there appears to be¡­ a problem.¡± The general, who wasn¡¯t in the business of asking second questions, nor waiting for exposition, destroyed the zombie¡¯s form with a flick. One of these days, he would get an assistant, he decided. He simply wasn¡¯t patient enough anymore. Grasping the fleeing soul of the zombie, Sassarack devoured it along with its information.

    He processed for a moment before slamming the war table hard, cracking it. Sassarack would argue the cracks actually improved the design, but he didn¡¯t see. His focus was within the horde now, trying to reign them in. How did this happen? The mindless mass was in a frenzy, which should have been a good thing. That meant they had all gorged to the next level. They would be less pliant, but with the loss of life they must have caused to do so would make it worth it. Surely there were no units left to battle them.

    ¡°WHAT?!¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Larry and Morris burst out laughing as a pained and confused howl of frustration came from the enemy camp. They hadn¡¯t been sure of the brutal strategy at first, but as their forces waltzed through waves of undead, the efficiency couldn¡¯t be argued against. The ability to think up and implement the strategy suggested a darkness neither of the brothers wanted to analyse too much.

    Thousands of cattle farmers had been used as a meat shield for their more valuable fighters, and the enemies which got stronger by devouring the farmers and their animals then became fertiliser for the true army. Every few minutes, the brothers reminded themselves that this grisly scene was essentially a simulation, but it didn¡¯t make it much less disgusting to see people torn apart and eaten. Their clearly approaching victory, at least, made it worth it.

    By feeding the farmers straight into the opposing army, the individualism of the undead started to appear. They became frantic for more, and those who had gorged were stronger than the others. The vampire bats began fighting with death knights over who would get to feed, and it was in that confusion and chaos that the forces of life took control of the battle.

    The largest challenge had been making it seem and feel natural that they would be pushed back, but only Cal even knew that was happening at the time. He had impressed them all, and the brothers agreed that he had even started to feel a little bit like Grant when he spoke and gave orders. It was intoxicating, being near such obvious growth. ¡°Let''s finish off that general, shall we?¡± Morris asked his brother. The two were sat with eyes closed, their perceptions flying around the battlefield, but their physical proximity meant they could converse easily.

    ¡°Yes, brother, let¡¯s.¡± Larry answered.

 Book Twi - Chapter Eighty Five - Unbalanced

    The final battle of the war room was set to be a long one. Despite the outcome being obvious and their advantage only increasing, Cal¡¯s army could not break that final piece of defence necessary to finish off the fight. Since Cal¡¯s Dao had solidified and the result was a foregone conclusion, it was only then that I decided to have a look at how the game worked. The moment I placed my hand onto the crystal at the centre of the table, Cal¡¯s head whipped around so fast I thought we were being attacked from behind.

    His eyes widened at me, but said nothing. The scowl which had taken ownership of Cal¡¯s face faded quickly, replaced with both wonder and a little trepidation. ¡°I was wondering why our army point production just tripled.¡± Cal sighed and turned his attention back to the fighting. I watched as the enemy position was overrun from that point, the stalemate broken.

    The crystal connected me to every unit on our side, and allowed me to see through their eyes. I picked a fighter at random and stepped into their mind, taking direct control and standing upon the battlefield for the first time. The scents, sounds and other sensations all combined to assault me the moment I joined the marching units, but I didn¡¯t flinch away from it. The others had been fighting like this for hours, after all.

    As the awful truth of war was pushing itself against my nostrils, I was able to keep myself separate. Within my real body, I could feel mana churning, some of it entering the war game crystal. Not enough for my mana to even drop a percentage, but the added strength to the army was clear. Just my natural mana regeneration alone cleared the other¡¯s by more than three times, which made a sort of sense while being a sign that I was different to most. I absent-mindedly started casting Mana Bolts into nearby enemies, turning whatever was unfortunate to be hit into dust.

    Try as I might to think I¡¯m not special, the System would do its best to show me I was. I didn¡¯t begrudge Cal his newly formed Dao or getting the time to rest, though. For all I knew, the enemy would have been given resources to match our¡¯s if I had been involved earlier. Without letting myself get too caught up in my thoughts, I arrived at the main battle line, where undead generals were fighting for their lives, ironically. ¡°Hold them back, fools!¡± A whiny voice groaned, petulance readily apparent in their tone.

    Larry and Morris were engaged with a behemoth of bone, both controlling the bodies of warriors with far greater technique and power than their own. The huge form easily cleared sixteen feet in height, and dozens of bones wrapped around each other to form a facsimile of the limbs which smashed and grabbed at the pair of brothers. I was unsure who was who, but a grasping hand clutched around one of them, only to be broken to pieces from within as the true deciding factor of this war showed itself.

    No, the brothers hadn¡¯t become expert warriors, forged by war or anything like that. I flexed the hands at my sides, the strangeness of occupying an alternate body still wearing off even now. The brothers had been piloting their  personal fighters for some time, and were both passed the awkward numb phase, as well as inhibiting powerful bodies to start with. By timing their charges, the two brothers used their shieldbearer bodies to charge right through the creature, severing limbs. In a flashy display of quick, powerful blows, the pair dismantled the large bone golem and moved on to other enemies.

    During the battle, Cal had focused the kill experience onto a smaller and smaller number of their soldiers. Like in the ¡°real world,¡± when an enemy fell, a portion of their life¡¯s worth passed to the victor. At least, that was true for our side. What the undead side had in numbers, they lacked in potential for growth. While the rotten horde arguably started out stronger, they had lost the initiative because of Cal¡¯s tactics and now it was simply a matter of time.

    Each of the commanders was controlling one of the dozen units which Cal had prepared for the final push. I acted mainly as a grunt in the middle of the swell, following the strategy their commander had already outlined to the others. I would just get in the way if I tried to act on my own, so I just made myself useful doing what I was good at. Right now, that was sniping the harassing aerial units and clearing the skies.

    A mighty roar shook the entire challenge room of the Elite dungeon. I saw Cal flinch as he felt it, too. I was half-looking through my real eyes, the other half of my perception still firing salvos of Mana Bolts into the air. Being in two bodies meant the Dao which blanketed the battlefield hit me twice. There was a second grade Dao user behind the outburst. The complexity of the assault on my senses was intense, but I managed to stay in control of the piloted body. The same wasn¡¯t true for the others, who each fell away from the stone table clutching their heads in pain and coughing like they had been inside a burning building.

    ¡°I think the System is throwing a tantrum.¡± I spoke through my real body as the others recovered from the whip of Dao that had thrown them aside. I didn¡¯t think my presence within the simulation had brought about this response, but it was impossible to be certain. The reason for the outburst was irrelevant, whether it was because of me or just always set to happen at the end of the challenge, I wasn¡¯t going to let the hard work of the others fail here. This level of strength would crush them no matter what they did in response. For the first time since fighting Cavarix, my own Dao stirred. The Constellation was still forming, but the process was nearly complete. ¡°Cal, do you have a strong unit for me to use?¡±

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    It took more effort than I would admit, but I managed to release a trickle of the energy contained within. The gravitational forces within my newly restructured soul space made it difficult, but from the way Cal¡¯s head whipped in my direction, it had done something. With confused exhilaration clear on his face, Cal nodded. ¡°Oh yeah, I think I¡¯ve got just the thing.¡±

    Cal couldn¡¯t have known. That was my fault. As the skies above my position began to boil with bright blue flashes of light, I flinched. ¡°Impossible! This is impossible!¡± That whiny cry from earlier was louder now, but beginning to be drowned out in the noise of the storm. The somewhat unsuitable sunny day that had persisted for the battle became drenched in rain and pathetic fallacy. The lightning above crackled, illuminating the claws and snout that started to push through the clouds. If the roar before shook the battlefield, the next one shook existence. ¡°Does that work, Grant?¡± Cal asked, laughing with the others as they watched a true destroyer arrive.

    ¡°Uh¡­ yeah. That¡¯ll work.¡± I let the soldier I was controlling return to his programming, returning to my real body before jumping into the newest unit. From our vantage a few miles away, it was clear this was not the actual Storm Dragon¡¯s form. That thing was a world-ender simply by passing near them. This dragon would need to actively break a sweat to tear a world apart, at least.

    No, this wasn¡¯t the Storm Dragon. It was¡­ my dragon. The Tempest Dragon, in all of its current glory. The Storm Dragon had a classically Chinese style to its dragon form, a massive serpentine body matched with a large head. Its limbs weren¡¯t tiny, but proportionally they were small. The clawed arms which ripped the clouds apart above the war were not spindly when compared to the body they were attached to.

    There was an intense rushing noise and the clouds were blasted away. The appearance of the Tempest Dragon was all anyone could look at. A massive pair of mighty wings had smashed the thunderstorm above apart like it was a puff of smoke. A horned and ridged head, structurally similar to a wolf, descended first. Its neck snaked along after, attached to a muscular and fierce body. The physicality of a tiger fused with a crocodile, the Tempest Dragon was as fearsome a creature as I had ever seen or imagined. Scales of electric blue were coupled with deeper sapphire and navy colourations throughout, while markings of white gave the appearance of a thunderstorm being contained within its body.

    Which, I knew, it was.

    Taking a deep breath, I fell fully into the shape of the dragon. I could swear I heard a chuckle in the back of my mind as I did so, my Dao laughing at me for being scared. Somewhere along the way, with the events of that first day, the battle against the Storm Dragon and the nightmares I had experienced since, I had gained an actual fear of the regal lizards. So, maybe my magic laughing at me for it wasn¡¯t a surprise, but it still stung a little.

    A miasma was rising from the mausoleum across the battlefield. The war was still ongoing below, but as the hill opposite our own crumbled to pieces, it was clear that the opposing general had given up on their initial strategy. Dao continued to gather. I had faced the same Dao against Nezzerul and Cavarix, each with their own slight twist. They were not wielding the Dao of Death, I had realised, but something adjacent to the idea. Nezzerul¡¯s Dao wasn¡¯t simply death, it was closer to the Dao of Undying Loyalty, if I had to name it. Cavarix¡¯s was of course the Dao of Rot.

    From below my descending form, slowed only by the two makeshift parachutes of my huge wings, a deathly energy rose. Dao of Dessication? Dao of Pestilence? The magical nerd inside me couldn¡¯t help but try and pick apart the sensations I could feel, but the practical part focused on dodging the incoming punch. A huge skeletal fist scratched the side of my face, no doubt drawing first blood. The rest of the giant pulled itself from the ground, destroying the battlefield completely.

    Unable to contain my rage at the insult of being actually harmed by this pathetic construct of bone, I felt a burning in my chest. The bonfire soon became an inferno, within seconds an unstoppable force was pushing its way out. The sensation felt profound, each molecule of my body reacting not just to the natural mana-made magic within, but also something more. It was the Dao of the Tempest and Dragon in tandem, but something even more complex and unintelligible, too. I gave up trying to pick apart the feeling, content to simply let it rip.

    With a sound like a dozen jet engines being supercharged at once, the power in the dragon¡¯s chest - my chest - grew. My long claws drove into the soft, muddy earth as I found purchase on the solid bedrock beneath. I planted my limbs like the longest of roots, splaying my wings wide to add to my brace. The skeleton giant was gibberish obscenities and rage as I rushed to pull itself fully from the ground. With a popping candy feeling, the first sparks started to dance between my fangs. The light became so bright my eyes demanded they shut but I refused. I wouldn¡¯t miss a second of this moment, devouring it, memorising every magical impulse and instinct which flowed through the strange body. I contained the power for as long as possible, analysing it as best I could.

    Mana fused with Dao was an easy to understand concept, but there was something more happening within the breath of a dragon which I could not yet understand. There was a sliver of frustration in the movement, but I reared my long neck back before shooting the head forward. The energy inside exploded outward, guided by my intent. The physical body itself couldn¡¯t hope to contain such power, and it was only through magic that a dragon could unleash the strength. Even as the force began to rip from my own mouth, I was staggered at how dangerous it felt to even perform.

    However, it was with reckless abandon, pride and excitement that I unleashed the True Dragon¡¯s Breath of the Tempest Dragon upon my enemies. Even as the energy caused my own avatar to crumble, the magic far too potent for a mortal body to handle, I laughed. It hurt, but I had never felt more powerful or closer to my aspired enemy. I would not be able to replicate the attack any time soon, but I had felt how it worked. That was enough. My psyche fell away from the dragon as it fell to the ground, completely spent, and I slumped in the chair I had been sitting in the whole time.

    ¡°I think I got ¡®em,¡± I chuckled.

    The battlefield was gone, replaced by a truly destroyed world. The force of the dragon¡¯s breath had torn not only the firmament from the ground, it had brought with it the magma buried so far down. That same magma had then been infused with the energy of the tempest. Rivers of electrified lava covered the land as tornadoes of fire began to appear, the crazy wind patterns giving birth to even more intense weather.

    Cal scratched his head, nodding with a stunned expression on his face. ¡°Yeah¡­ I reckon you did.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Eighty Six - Moving Onwards And Upwards

    With my energy recovered for the most part, and a new lease on my powers after the experience with the avatar of the Tempest Dragon, I was happy to push forward through what I hoped were the final rooms of the Elite Dungeon. ¡°Technically,¡± Rashid had said, ¡°the dungeon could go on for a thousand rooms if we¡¯re being honest.¡± I had restrained myself from knocking him out for a few rooms for tempting fate like that, but I knew he was wrong. There was a pressure building at the end of the dungeon and I could feel it pushing back at me.

    We increased our pace, not least of all due to Cal. His application of the Dao of Balance was shaky at best, but he would soon get some assistance once we reached the next safe room. The dungeon¡¯s rewards so far were entirely boss loot, something I had destroyed any chance of receiving from the war room with my breath attack. However, the group had not been shafted by my actions. Instead, a contribution chart appeared in everyone¡¯s view, with myself at the bottom. I was more than happy for the group to get some gains they felt they had truly earned, and they were exactly what each person needed.

    Four Aspects and a weapon. The prizes were such an on-the-nose convenience that I once again wondered if the System, or perhaps even the Tree itself, were sentient in some way. Cal was confidently swinging his new flail at any enemy that came near. The creatures of the Elite dungeon may have basic Dao, but the momentum Cal was able to get while using the flail¡¯s heavy head to make that irrelevant.

    Item - Rebounder¡¯s Retort

    Flails have been so-named in nearly every language that described them. First used by the blind monks of Flagge, their effectiveness is clear. They are also unwieldy, wide range and dangerous to allies as well as foes in the wrong hands.

    Effect: While charged with mana, the head of the Rebounder¡¯s Retort increases in momentum upon impact

    I hadn¡¯t seen such a clear physics breaking effect on a magical item before, and watching it in action almost gave me a headache. Without his specific Dao to counteract the forces Cal¡¯s body underwent as he attacked like a spinning top, his speed increasing with each blow, he would have been torn apart. I tried to use the staff-like weapon, assuming it wouldn¡¯t be too different from my main equipment, but after nearly knocking myself out with a thwack to the back of the head, I gave it back to its rightful owner. Everyone else was giving Cal a wide berth, too.

    They all had far too much to live for now, after all.

    Hidden and safe in their four inventories, the level thirties were all harbouring an Aspect that they would use in the next safe room. There was an impatience in everyone¡¯s stride and mood now which had been missing earlier. While before they had been willing to sit and wait for me to clear the rooms, any fear or doubt they had was now gone. The monster might be strong, but they were dumb things that could be tricked and outsmarted. It had taken Larry, Morris and Rashid a little bit to get a sense of their own power, but it was there, it was real and it was going to get stronger once we got to the next room.

    Just had to defeat some really annoying creatures, first. The room had only ten enemies, but the strength of those monsters was condensed well. ¡°So, anyone excited to learn that vampires and werewolves are real?¡± Larry gasped, catching his breath desperately. At least we learned that combining hyperventilation and running for one¡¯s life could still cause fainting, even if someone had high Fortitude. Larry received angry disagreement from everyone at his question.

    There was no questioning it, the System outright said they were vampires and lycanthropes. ¡°No one got bit did they? Don¡¯t want any surprises with the full moon.¡± I thought of Lucy, the woman with the wolf Aspect outside. Was she helping defend Londimin while we wasted time here? ¡°Loot the bodies and let¡¯s move.¡±

    ¡°These things would change with the moon? Becoming normal once more?¡± Hassian asked, gesturing to the bodies of two large humanoid wolves. I nodded and told him how werewolves worked in our mythos. ¡°Aha, very interesting. These things exist on my planet, but we have three moons. It¡¯s rarer for the creatures to be in Gibralan form than their crocodilian cursed forms.¡±

    ¡°Werecrocodiles?¡± I asked with a shiver. That would basically be a half-dinosaur-tank-man. I didn¡¯t like the idea much at all. As we moved to the next room, which we could tell was a safe room before we entered, everyone shared stories of their most feared monster. Larry said it had been zombies, until today. Once you¡¯ve fought them for hours, the fear falls away a little, we all agreed.

    ¡°There is a legendary creature on my world, which I still believe to be real but I never had any proof.¡± Hassian¡¯s voice was serious, eyes closed. Despite his definitely strange appearance, he had slotted into the group well, and any hesitation to speak had faded away. He was quite gregarious, when he wanted to be. ¡°This thing, it lurks in the shadows underwater. Any shadow. If it needs tentacles to grab you, it uses them. If your hand slipped into the dark already, a mouth might appear to take the whole limb.¡±

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    ¡°That¡¯s a real thing?¡± Larry asked, pushing the door to the safe room open. I had held my breath, half-expecting to see Seth¡¯s angry face with even more upgrades piled on, but the power of the safe room enveloped mine as it was supposed to and I relaxed.

    ¡°Sounds like more than one monster to me,¡± I suggested. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s actually a bunch of small shadow monsters which get blamed as the same thing?¡± The idea of all dark shadows on their world being connected to the same massive, dangerous beast was scary enough that I instinctively wanted to argue against its existence. However, Hassian¡¯s thousand yard stare, quiet concession and following silence did nothing to assuage my new worries.

    I decided to leave talk of horror movies with the old world. We didn¡¯t need stories of fantastical dangers these days. When I did sleep, I often awoke flinching as I dodged an attack in my dreams. A green, amphibious arm trying to punch me, a vile Dao-starved shade attempting to drain me¡­ The Dao of Murder, the sensation of its brutality against my own soul and how it had made it so, so simple to end Ewan¡¯s life. There were enough troubles without creating false ones.

    The safe room was a blessing, as usual. A plateau over a cliff awaited them, complete with sturdy picnic furniture. The group found comfort before getting to the serious stuff, and I sat with knees over the edge giving them time. Far below me, waves were crashing into the rocks with resounding force. Hassian joined me, but I was glad to see there seemed to be no desire to jump down. Perhaps the shadows in the water were playing on his mind, too, as we both looked into the vast ocean below.

    After a few minutes, the Aspects were all brandished and waiting. The Aspects themselves had already been shared without hassle, they just needed to be absorbed now. I realised slowly that it was me they were waiting for. I cleared my throat as I noticed all of the attention on me, while I was busy staring at the magical gems.

    ¡°Ahem¡­ When I had first used an Aspect, it had been an act of pure panic and desperation. I had bitten off more than I could chew in more ways than one. I think the thing that nearly killed me wasn¡¯t even level five, even though I was around level twenty.¡± I had never told this story, I realised. There was a freedom in realising it wasn¡¯t a secret. ¡°Actually, my journey in the System started much differently to your¡¯s. A dungeon spawned, basically on top of me. At the same time, a dragon disguised as an old woman took control of my body and forced me to kill her.¡±

    I still wasn¡¯t comfortable talking about the other people in Clive¡¯s that had died that day, but I wasn¡¯t willing to take blame for it either. That was an act of Naeboaroseax, not Grant Kaeron. ¡°It gave me a huge boost, which I used to brute force my way into understanding mana control. You don¡¯t need fifty attribute points in Mental to do it, but it helped.¡± I smiled, remembering how scary it had been, but also how simple. ¡°Survive, clear the place, get out of the dungeon. That was all I had to do. So I rushed, ran straight into a nest of weird scorpions that shot venomous projectiles. Inexperience is what really got me though.

    ¡°I smashed my mana pathways to pieces in my ankle, forcing a dodge I couldn¡¯t make otherwise. The damage wasn¡¯t just painful, it was causing my mana to leak out of me. I was dying, so I grabbed the Aspect of the Dragon and shoved it onto my soul. The fact it actually saved me is pure luck. That I¡¯m so strong now is all down to those lucky things working out for me.¡± I pointed to the Aspects gathered on the table.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have the problems I did. You have much, much harder ones. Luck won¡¯t make you the strongest person on Earth, because I already am.¡± There were chuckles at that, and I smirked, even though I knew it wasn¡¯t true. There were Nomads here already, and more on the way. Even if they weren¡¯t aggressive, they would be powerful. ¡°You¡¯ve seen Cal gaining levels now, though, right? By the time we leave here, you could be stronger than almost anyone else on Earth. That¡¯s the only way to protect yourself and the things you care about.¡±

    The energy of my words slipped away and I fell quiet. I hadn¡¯t planned a speech, then I had rambled until petering out weakly. My face started to warm, wondering why I had acted like some master of the practice. Except, I saw Cal¡¯s slow, impressed nod. I saw how the others cast away doubt and grasped their chosen Aspect, ready to bind them. Confidence bloomed in each of them as, one by one, they accepted the System¡¯s assistance and fused with their Aspects.

    The process was actually quite boring to watch, surprisingly. The magical effects were all contained within the person, so by Stormborn eyes didn¡¯t see much change in the mana until after the affair was complete. Once the Aspects settled within their cores, however, the air lit up with energy.

    For Larry and Morris, a pair of weapon Aspects they were happy with. After the war game, the battlefield had become accessible, and they had found suitable equipment. Nothing magically enchanted, but enough spares to keep them going. The space between them ignited with sparks as their Aspects sprung to life. Aspect of The Spear for Larry, and The Halberd for Morris. Both men stood straighter and a competitiveness seemed to be born in their stances. The two would push each other well, I imagined.

    On the other side of the rectangular table, Rashid was giggling. Mana danced around his fingers, glittering the sunlight as his Aspect¡¯s influence trickled in. If my mana looked most like water in the air, then Rashid¡¯s was now pure mercury. ¡°Don¡¯t go crashing any markets, Rashid,¡± I jokingly warned. There was nowhere an Aspect of Silver could go than to the merchant. A small part of my own Dao had twinkled in jealousy before fading away. I assuaged the slumbering, greedy dragon that it was only a rare Aspect.

    Then, everyone staggered back, even myself. The others were pushed by the force, but I was just downright impressed. I had done something similar upon absorbing the Aspect of Tempests but to form a Dao within moments? Hassian had not only chosen the right Aspect, it was clearly something he had already practised to have a deep understanding of. The air around him became dense and the picnic table buckled under the weight of the birth of a new Dao. The Dao of Pressure, to be precise.

    I shoved my hand through the growing forcefield which Hassian was exuding and clasped a hand on his shoulder. The spell broke and the shark man¡¯s eyes cleared from pure white back to what I now saw was a dark navy blue. He was breathing heavily, likely completely drained. Cal was looking at him like he had grown a new head, and the others were looking to me to see how they should react. I moved my hand down to Hassian¡¯s wrist and hoisted it into the air. ¡°Let¡¯s have some congratulations to Hassian for taking the next step!¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Eighty Seven - The Final Boss

    Forty rooms. I had been hopeful, but when the fortieth door was not a simple wooden thing fitting into the hallway, I almost squealed with excitement. This has to be the last room. With not just Cal now fighting like a demon, but Hassian, too, progress had been even faster than before. Larry, Morris and Rashid were doing well, at least as practised with their abilities as any member of The Ascent had been at level thirty, but Dao separated the novices from the journeymen.

    Then there was myself, the expert. My own growth hadn¡¯t been as vibrant as the others, but running through half an Elite dungeon had its perks. I hadn¡¯t come away with many new items or even found a single Guidance Stone, let alone a third Aspect, but the growth was readily apparent on my character page at least.

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 60

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 200  Speed - 200   Mental - 783   Will - 500

    Free attribute points: 0

    35 Per Level

    Six levels over fourteen rooms or so wasn¡¯t bad going. The amount of experience needed for each level was rising exponentially, though the scale was hard to pin. Some levels felt quicker than others, and some enemies gave a surprising amount of energy compared to their relative strength. A room of level fifty corpse beetles had pushed me a whole level, when the only effort had been my frantic explosions of ¡°as much mana as possible to get them off me.¡±

    I had placed these free attributes as I levelled instead of stockpiling. Overall, fifty points went to Fortitude, Speed and Will with sixty into the Mental attribute. With my percentage boosts further increasing the effect of those massive gains, the surge in power was more than noticeable. Of course, those same boosts were slowing my levelling speed compared to the newly Dao¡¯d Cal and Hassian, but they received far fewer attribute points per level too. Cal had reached level forty three, and the difference between the man I met in the first safe room and now was shocking.

    Each room had been easier than the last as we outscaled the rising challenge posed by the dungeon. There had been no more Dao revelations, but my own had settled massively. I had not yet used it, relying on my mana skills and overwhelming stats to clear the threats when they appeared, but I doubted the next room would give me that luxury. Nor did I think it would allow for me to look after the others.

    Instead of a simple door like you might see on the side of a cosy house, the two black metal doors looked heavy and foreboding. The stink of death was coming off them heavily, leaving no question about who I would face inside. I placed a hand upon it, the magic inside pressing against me. ¡°If anyone wants to wait here, I encourage it. We¡¯re not a bad team but none of you can keep up if I need to go all out.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you needed one of us so the quest was definitely completed?¡± Rashid asked, resignation in his voice.

    I shrugged. It had always been a guess, and I had been confident that I could keep the group alive up to now. However, I had been humbled in this place and would not bandy about their lives if I could help it. ¡°I¡¯m hoping that either we go into a final reward room where that can activate or that it¡¯ll just occur when the boss is defeated, honestly.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s worth risking.¡± Larry was the one who spoke, leaning on the butt of a spear which had broken in the last battle. Due to the amount he had been able to gather after the war game, Larry was quite careless in his use of the weapons. They were disposable enough, I supposed, but it rubbed me the wrong way. I still missed my Yo Staff. Larry rubbed his chin. ¡°If it doesn¡¯t save the people in town, then I might as well have stayed out there. I haven¡¯t helped anyone but myself, yet.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have anything close to an argument against that point, which was met with nods by the other members of Londimin. ¡°I cannot let these fresh, dry little things venture into waters that I will not tread.¡± Hassian folded his arms after saying his short part. There was clearly no argument to have. Feeling a little teamed up on, I could do nothing more but accept their resolve. This wasn¡¯t only my dungeon, my problem or my life.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get it done, then.¡± I pushed against the door of the room. The magic inside pushed back with a snarl, the door holding firm. I couldn¡¯t stop my eyebrow from curling upward in surprise. It took quite a force to hold me back, even casually, so I pressed with increasing exertion. My strength was enough to fight peak Grade One creatures without Infusion now, and this door was around the same challenge.

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    It didn¡¯t necessarily bode well.

    I wasn¡¯t willing to overstate the warning I had already given, however. Instead of suggesting the others rethink their choice, I took in the massive hall before us. The other rooms of the Elite dungeon had all had a feeling that they were transplanted into the area somehow. They weren¡¯t quite natural, though the places felt real, they didn¡¯t really exist. This room was the opposite. Every molecule of the boss chamber¡¯s felt more real than the world I knew waited outside. It reminded me of the Storm Dragon¡¯s vault, the walls positively singing with Dao.

    Except, where the Storm Dragon¡¯s Dao was overwhelming in its power, it was not necessarily cruel. The storm might promise destruction, but it was not a personal thing. All things fell before the might of the Storm Dragon. That was the feeling it¡¯s power gave me, now I was able to look back and reflect. Even at the time, the dragon¡¯s attention had never truly been on me. That was part arrogance, but a larger part was nature. It wasn¡¯t that the Storm Dragon chose not to pay attention, it truly couldn¡¯t notice my miniscule power.

    The vicious, sinister energy pressed against my Dao barrier. I covered the group fully, as we had already planned for a Grade Two battle. I would slowly remove my Dao and focus while Cal and Hassian covered the others. They would be able to help each other weather this pressure, but I needed to act as umbrella first. The force of the assault upon my Dao was surprising in intensity, as I recognised the lack of intent. This Dao was not too dissimilar to the Storm Dragon¡¯s, the difference lay in direction. The Storm Dragon¡¯s Dao was made to destroy anything and everything that the Storm Dragon wished. The Dao currently beating down on me had a different purpose.

    The complete dissolution of life. If the other mini-bosses and creatures we had fought in this dungeon had tangential Daos from the big one itself, this was the main event. The Dao of Death in all of its uncaring glory. It wasn¡¯t necessarily evil, but it felt antithetical all the same. Incompatible. There was something in Cavarix¡¯ Dao of Rot that I could understand, from rot came further growth. Rot was just another name for how bacteria worked, but the Dao of Death was heavy and ominous. The finality of it was inarguable and my whole being shied away from it instinctively.

    A rhythmic clack sounded, again and again, as we walked the huge hall. There were tables and chairs around, all of them looking well made and valuable. The packrat in me told me to take them but there were more pressing matters. There would be time for looting once I defeated the boss. We continued to proceed towards the noise carefully, my Dao sliding away from the others step by step. Both Cal and Hassian had fantastic Aspects to work from when it came to controlling the Dao against them. Balance and Pressure were a brilliant team, surprising no one.

    The room was illuminated sparsely by large hanging candelabras. The flames in the candles were a ghastly pale yellow that made me uncomfortable to look at. The sickly light did little to help my vision. In fact, it contained some type of mana that made it harder to see compared to my impressive night vision most of the time. Despite the haze they caused, it did make it easy to know where to go. The room truly was massive, and I saw Hassian eyeing the dark shadows with specific intensity.

    I wanted to assuage the worry that there was a boogeyman waiting in the dark, but I realised I couldn¡¯t say for sure there wasn¡¯t. The main seat in the room, a throne atop a podium, was impossible to miss. Bathed in that vile yellow light, an awful monstrosity of bone, strange white metal and an unknown form of leather, a throne was filled with a large body. That body was clapping its boney hands together, the sound causing ripples in the deathly Dao of the room.

    The being on the chair was huge for a mortal. Any mortality had been long cast away, the skeletal hands clicking on the arms of its throne as it pushed itself to full height. I recalculated. The thing was gigantic, and if it had muscle and flesh on top, I doubted it would be able to move. Instead, to my dismay, the giant moved with surprising grace considering its size. The light caught its skull more clearly and I saw that there was a face there, even some scraps of skin covering some bones. Stretched and gruesome, I tried to ignore the skin. I would have definitely preferred a full skeleton. The thick armour it wore was dark black, contrasting with the colour of its throne and the visible bones of its form. Once it disappeared into the shadows, would I be able to follow it?

    Unwilling to show that I was in any way intimidated, I unleashed my Dao for the first time in full. No more protection for the others, the scream of power burst through the room. Candles were snuffed as the dueling forces collided around the large hall. ¡°Mortesax, I presume.¡± I gestured for the others to stay back and I was thankful they listened. The giant could be no one else. I would honestly feel cheated, but no such worry.

    A laugh came from the dungeon boss. It was the sound of frigid wind blowing across a grave. ¡°It is good to know my name can still proceed me, even long after a true death.¡± Mortesax¡¯ voice was black ice over a deep lake. It rose from its throne, a sceptre appearing in one hand and a long shafted warhammer in the other. Now that it was standing, the huge skeleton¡¯s ornate apparel was on full display, and the amount of magic coming off of its items was comparable to the bones themselves.

    ¡°I don¡¯t suppose this could be settled over a game of chess, or something?¡± I asked. As Mortesax rose, a wave of morbid power billowed out along with its long tailed robes. My words were intentionally betrayed by the huge swing of Dao I took, a dragon¡¯s tail of energy blasting away the miasma of death that was clinging all over. The horrid mask of skin on Mortesax¡¯s actually split into a wide smile as its chilling laugh echoed in the halls again.

    ¡°I welcome any challenge, of course. Such is my role. However,¡± Mortesax¡¯s massive head tilted towards my frozen allies. I tensed, ready to throw up Mana Barriers everywhere. ¡°These few have done well to make it this far. Their deaths are no service here. Let us converse somewhere more private.¡±

    ¡°Wait-¡± There was no waiting. The movement was not hurried, yet my eyes could barely follow as Mortesax waved its sceptre. Every pitch black wall of the hall began to burn with an even darker flame, at its centre a spark of putrid yellow light. The world shattered around me, reality falling away like shards of glass. This was not a case of illusion, this was a demolition of reality. My feet slipped, some transient gravity sucking me from the world I knew into a completely new arena.

    I had just enough time to cocoon myself in the power of my Dao Constellation before the eternal void slammed against my mind and cast me into an astral abyss.

 Book Two - Chapter Eighty Eight - Higher Power

    True emptiness was a mind-breaking thing to perceive. The very idea of perceiving the essence of Nothing was a migraine inducing nightmare, but the pain which exploded in my head as I pressed back against the encroaching void. There was no malice in the infliction of this pain, it simply was. However, those two thoughts wrapped around each other and warped. The nail of agony only tightened my perception, forcing a question into existence.

    If this was truly an empty void, then why was Nothing causing me harm?

    My Dao exploded in response. The tempest howled, the dragon roared. I howled and roared. There was no delineation in this place. While there was a part of me that found it quite pleasant, existing purely as my own power, the feeling of calm didn¡¯t last. My thoughts rumbled like thunder. Time was impossible to judge, which meant I needed to act now. That thought and many more like it pressed against the dam this place had created in my mind. I had something important to do¡­

    To concentrate, I had to first control that which I could conquer. Recognizing there were no surroundings to influence, I began with myself. I was falling. My Dao rejected this, and I began attempting to exert influence over the emptiness - the Nothing around me. As impossible as it seemed, there was a substance to this Nothing and it pushed back against my attempts. It was this sensation, ironically, which made me sure I was under some kind of assault.

    A void held nothing, and my power should realistically press on forever. Instead, my energy felt tightly contained and smothered by an outside force. Following the path of logic my magic presented, I arrived at the only answer I needed. If something was trying to subdue me, then I would shatter the chains it tried to place on me. I pressed against the encompassing boundary, then again, harder.

    Again and again, I smashed myself against the hard shell of Nothing. A dichotomy, the Nothing both truly allowed no existence within, yet I persisted. My physical form was nowhere to be found, but that was okay. My body was less and less intrinsic to my existence with each passing day as the core of my being became not flesh and blood, but a tight bundle of magic. My being had been condensed to nothing more than mana, Dao, and the intent behind each of them.

    At the centre of that intent was rebellion. I chose to fight, challenge and defeat anything which tried to hold me back. Soundlessly, my mana continued to scream. The Nothing buckled against my retaliation, bending to my will. ¡°Nothing is formless,¡± I whispered to myself. ¡°Then, if I force form upon it¡­¡±

    Magical experimentation was, at this point, second nature to me. I shifted and probed, grasped and twisted, manipulating Nothing but creating something. A small amount of mana was drained into the Nothingness, taken from me like osmosis drains water into a waterless area. Petulant, I filled the mana with as much intent as I could manage. The determination to make a place for myself, even in this aggressive void, resolved itself before me.

    A tiny white dot, one that would be impossible to see even with my impressive naked eye appeared in the middle of Nothing. I had enforced the creation of space upon this pseudo reality. The tiny dot was empty, but not in the same way the Nothing all around me was empty. The space I made was not intricate, though I got the sense I could create anything in this astral sandbox. Just that minuscule fragment of existence drained a lot of mana, as well as more esoteric energies from myself. My thoughts became sluggish for a moment alongside the magic within.

    However, it worked. In short order, I had solid ground to stand upon. Then, I set about creating a form with which to do so. In this place, I was both myself and more. Here, I was the idea of Grant Kaeron. All of the experiences I had been through collected together to form something like a soul but more. Something purposeful. I crafted an avatar in the shape of Me, filled only with the magic I had grasped from the System and then I stepped inside of it.

    My physical senses returned as my core nestled into the body I had created. It shone with blue and white magic, faint runes in the mana that coursed through my veins like blood. I blinked, confused and flinching away from a bright light. I threw up my hand to block the beam, but it dimmed only a few moments later. From the direction of the flare, a brittle, familiar, clapping appeared.

    I didn¡¯t think. Shooting forward like a cannonball, I swiped at Mortesax¡¯s form. No longer a giant in proportion to me, though still slightly taller, the skeleton slipped my attack like a professional boxer and pushed me back. The tap was gentle, but many miles of space opened up before us. The void had been pressed away with a thought, but not mine. ¡°So, you¡¯re a breaker.¡±

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    Mortesax made no move beyond extending the space and speaking. ¡°Nope,¡± I replied, already shooting forward, ¡°I¡¯m nothing that you think I am.¡± He might be strong, but this place was not his reality. As the distance closed, I loosed the Dao Avatar of the Dragon¡¯s full strength, wings appearing on my back to push me forward. I blurred, puncturing the skeleton¡¯s protection and landing my first true hit.

    My hand was ruined, but I just looked away and shook it. The pain ebbed quickly and I raised a healed fist in the next instant. The only cost was mana and control, which I was getting more adept at by the moment. Unfortunately, my hand was the only thing to take noticeable damage.

    ¡°Perhaps not yet,¡± Mortesax agreed with a nod. ¡°You¡¯re not breaking anything right now except yourself, are you?¡± There came a sigh, that froze everything with the icy embrace of true death. Had I been alive, and not whatever I was in this place, I would have been killed instantly. Instead, I merely shook the frost away, the Dao used no more potent than my own. ¡°Your potential is great, however. You will stifle, and come to reject the very shroud which obfuscates your power.¡±

    ¡°Okay?¡± I answered. ¡°Do you have a point?¡± I already more than had my fill with powerful beings assuming or exerting control over me. If Mortesax wanted to join the increasing list of names that were on my expunge-from-existence hitlist, then it was welcome. The Storm Dragon, that dark, halloween Fae and now Mortesax. A dragon, a fairy and a lich walk into a bar. Ouch.

    ¡°The System is a trap.¡± Mortesax¡¯s words were simple, but with thoughts of Mrs Naebol already in my mind, it was impossible to not recall what she had said to me. The memory was the fuzzy haze of a mind not yet enhanced by the System¡¯s power, but I knew what she was going to say. I ran the words around in my head constantly when I was doubtful.

    This isn¡¯t my first go around Grant, and I¡¯m not looking for another. The look in the old woman - the old dragon¡¯s - eyes was one of pure, exhausted sadness. It¡¯s not fair, what the System does to people is cruel. Good people don¡¯t survive long. Ever. The self-destructive thoughts of a suicidal dragon and nothing more, I had thought. However, now¡­

    ¡°And?¡± I asked, unable to stop myself from being drawn into the conversation. I continued churning the mana inside of me, keeping the pace high and ready, hiding none of the power I gathered to blast Mortesax with. It might pretend to be in complete control, but I had confidence in my destructive power at least. It would leave a scar, or more.

    ¡°And I have little interest in cutting short the destiny of a kindred spirit.¡± When Mortesax spoke now, the voice did not sound like death incarnate, but more like a tired old man. ¡°It¡¯s a strangulation, The System. I spent a thousand of your lifetimes in battle against it and now look at me, a spectre made to dance for its whims.¡±

    Cavarix had suggested something similar in her final words. I wasn¡¯t sure I had been meant to hear them, but now they rang like a gong. May the Tree burn as you discover its secrets. I just wanted to live until tomorrow, and make sure as many other people could, too. I wasn¡¯t looking to tear down an omnipotent control system for the universe, though it seemed that was exactly what Mortesax had tried to do. ¡°You scarred the Tree? Because it¡¯s evil?¡±

    A barked laugh, an icicle traced along my spine. The sinister energy of death surrounded Mortesax once more. ¡°Good? Evil? Well, I doubt your morals align with mine, breather.¡± Mortesax chuckled again and I wondered if I had just been called a slur by an old racist skeleton. I decided not to push the specific issue. ¡°I scarred Yggdrasil because Yggdrasil is rotten and one day it shall fall, burn and be replaced by Nothing.¡±

    This conversation felt important, even if I didn¡¯t know what Mortesax was talking about in the slightest right now. I wasn¡¯t the only one thinking so. An arc of pink lightning smashed into the ground next to me. ¡°See?¡± Mortesax¡¯s gaze rose upwards. ¡°The System fears this knowledge.¡±

    I followed its gaze and saw that there was an impossibly large cloud above us. The tempest within me shivered like a leaf. This was no simple storm. More lightning scattered on the plain, unending floor. Sparks of all colours glittered and danced in the air. I flinched at the beautiful display, only somewhat aware of the scope of power being displayed here. The gargantuan cloud above shifted, focusing. The lightning bolts in the air collided, forming a pillar of annihilating light which descended upon Mortesax¡¯s cackling form.

    The System itself had come to interrupt our conversation.

    From within the blinding, vaguely pink-blue light came the true dungeon boss. Whatever consciousness of Mortesax I had been talking to was gone, and I was left facing only the power that had sent a tremor of fear through Yggdrasil itself. Even with all of the achievements and strength I had gathered, I did not find Mortesax¡¯s power lacking in the least. I cast my analysis onto the monster as the puzzle pieces of the universe collected themselves around me and reality reformed.

    The massive banquet hall reappeared along with the four who had been left behind. When I had first tried to examine Mortesax, I had received no feedback, but on pushing an ornate box appeared in the air above the skeleton. However, there was another layer which I could barely see over the top, two names at once.

    Elite Boss - Mortesax the Lich - ???

    Elite Boss - Mortesax, The End - ????

    Praying that the System hadn¡¯t completely broken the game and left me with the more powerful version, I placed myself in front of the others. ¡°Get back. The actual fight starts now.¡± Much like against the final boss in my first dungeon, the trial of simply experiencing Mortesax¡¯s Dao had been challenging enough. The bravado was gone from the others, and now they just wanted to survive. I erected a Mana Barrier, nodding to the sweating Cal and Hassian.

    Now that I looked again, the text box said only Mortesax the Lich - ??? which didn¡¯t give all the answers, but was the same thing that happened to Cavarix mid-fight. The System apparently didn¡¯t want these creatures too dumb, but it had made them slightly too smart to compensate. Even as more and more questions came to mind, I was forced to dodge. A lance of black light punctured the floor at my feet, and the brick crumpled.

    The floor disintegrated, and all six of us fell into a more recogniseable darkness.

 Book Two - Chapter Eighty Nine - Mortesax, The Lich

    The battle began before we reached the ground. I swept the other falling members of my group in a parachute of air, but my control was stripped away by another blast of black magic. A well-timed Mana Barrier protected us from the worst of the damage but we were all flung away into the shadows. They would have to fend for themselves, which I could make easier by keeping the big guy¡¯s attention.

    The darkness alighted as I activated my mana. The Dao within me had been waiting patiently for the moment I unleashed it, challenged by Mortesax and the lich¡¯s immense level of control. However, I had not been named Dao Breaker by the System for nothing. I had not been given achievements by accident. My name was Grant Kaeron and this relic was just another roadblock in my way.

    My Dao Constellation came to life, fully expressed for the first time. The Dao Avatar of the Dragon gathered power from the Dao Font of Tempests, the two perfectly in sync. I waved a hand and the emptiness ignited with light. My mana was suffusive, passively extending from me like a cloud at all times. Every molecule of my power was connected to the whole, and I loaded each of these particles with as much energy as I could. Mana Bolt was honestly too small a name for the attacks at this point, but my thoughts were on making sure it would land.

    The light of my mana cast the world in shadows. We still fell, and although I had created a gleaming flare of light and magic, the walls of the cavern we fell into were hard to make out due to distance. It was truly gargantuan. My target was not the walls, however, so I focused on the falling Lich. While it did not have much in the way of facial expressions, its skin mask seemed to smirk at me. The perceived insult was enough to start the salvo, and I loosed the mana I was holding at the ready.

    The world filled with screaming mana, scorching the air. A gale force explosion of force followed, each of my Mana Bolts holding the weight and power of both Dragon and Tempests. Each bolt landed like lightning, the might of a hurricane behind each. The power was enough to further scatter me away. The ground was approaching, so I slowed my descent with Air Manipulation and watched the light show. I began layering Infusions atop one another to prepare for the battle to come. The last thing I had seen was that smug smirk.

    No way this was going to be as easy as an opening barrage.

    I sensed the danger more than saw it. My control over air gave me the slightest warning as Mortesax¡¯s warhammer sailed past my head. It had a huge slab of metal for a head and I just slipped out the way, letting it smash into the floor I had just reached. Using the cracks in the ground made by the blow for purchase, I shoved my Alternating Armament into the floor and vaulted away. Mortesax followed immediately, as though he had become my shadow. There was a hint of a skill in his chase, but I didn¡¯t have time to think.

    Blow after blow started to rain down on my guard. If I wasn¡¯t genuinely scared that a moment¡¯s mistake would get me killed, I would have scoffed at my earlier comparison. These were thunderous blows, not the pitter patter I had hit Mortesax with earlier. Such light rain wouldn¡¯t erode the mountain in front of me. Even with multiple Infusions stacked, Mortesax was keeping me on the defensive. He wasn¡¯t even swinging the hammer with two hands.

    With part of me wishing Mortesax was part dragon to give me the boost from my title, I cursed and changed tactics. I had given myself some practice with the equipment, so I was already seeping vitality into the Shield of Abandon. The effect was strange, both stealing strength and giving me back more in return. The power in my limbs had a hollowness which I knew from feeling and experience would fade quickly if not constantly fed. The time limit for the battle had started.

    In truth, it had begun the second the System stripped Mortesax of the ability to rebel. There was something interesting about the mindset of these monsters, and something tragic about the idea they were trapped in some kind of limbo. There was nothing I could do about such a thing, nor was I sure I would if given the chance. These beings were reflections of much more powerful existences, and letting myself be confused by them was a step too far.

    Scarring the Tree, though? That¡¯s impressive. I wondered at the feat as I worked out the rhythm of Mortesax¡¯s attacks. There was so much force in its swings that staying on the ground was nearly impossible. I braced myself by combining Air Manipulation, the strength from the shield and a pair of solid Mana Barriers. The draining cost of even fighting evenly with Mortesax was terrifying. The difference between grades was staggering, and I didn¡¯t think for a moment that Mortesax was a fresh Grade Two.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    That didn¡¯t mean I thought I would lose, either.

    So what if the fight was costly? The sixteen levels I had gained weren¡¯t just for show. It was Naea¡¯s favourite nickname for me. I had the mana pool of a monster, myself. Thinking of my faithful familiar forced even more power into my counter swing, none of it fake or hollow. She would be out there, fighting to protect the town I had half-doomed, and this puppet of the System was the only thing standing between me and saving Londimin from my own actions.

    Carried by the weight of my fears, hopes and convictions, as well as a healthy expenditure of mana, the Grim Blade of Nezzerul slashed through the air. It sailed without a hint of resistance, the blade itself singing as space itself was scored by its tip. The special effect of this sword had reminded me of the Yo Staff which had saved my life more than once. The efficacy of the blade when charged seemed to have no limit in my tests, and I didn¡¯t hold back anything here.

    I had even taken the plunge a few rooms ago based on how impressive the Grim Blade had performed and filled one of my two remaining slots of Weapon Mastery. The ability was the System equivalent of having money burning a hole in my pocket, but I had restrained myself. Now I had an effective weapon to channel the skill through, I felt it was finally time to add to the repertoire.

    The fight wasn¡¯t over, but around forty percent of my energy had been spent setting up this blow. I roared as the mana-filled blade clashed with the handle Mortesax¡¯s warhammer. My hope had been to split it in two, but the sword whipped into the intensely durable wood leaving a large scar. Just a small nick, for all that work. Unbidden and unwelcome, a smile came to my lips.

    Finally, I had found a real challenge.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    It was all Hassian could do to keep the three others protected from the strange energies of Dao in the cavern. When he had bound to the Aspect, the music of its magic had sung a melody Hassian had known his whole life long. The Aspect of Pressure whispered the same lullaby his mother had sang to him on the nights when the monsters crawled from the sea.

    The song of the depths whistled cautiously onwards as Hassian maintained the barrier. Cal was protecting himself, and his Dao was much less suited to the task of protecting the others. He was lightening Hassian¡¯s load bit by bit as he grew in experience, forged anew by the pungent and malicious whips that Mortesax sent their way. Even as he battled Grant, the boss was not leaving them alone. The Dao of Death sank into the ground around them and began to fester.

    ¡°Why are we here?¡± One of the human brothers asked. Hassian had little time for them, judging them as lucky fools riding the coattails of one much stronger than themselves. Over the course of their relatively short journey, his opinion had changed. He recognised first that the feeling was hypocritical, and then later as his Dao began to sing, he realised how little they could have known about the strength they followed. All they had known was that this place would be dangerous, and they entered anyway. Hassian respected the bravery of these humans.

    That didn¡¯t mean he could tell the two nearly identical siblings apart by voice, however. He did not reply immediately, a dense strike of Dao forcing his jaw clenched. In place of Hassian¡¯s venomous retort, his brother spoke and a new perspective appeared. Hassian glanced over his shoulder to remind himself who was who. ¡°We¡¯re here to do what we can,¡± the halberd-wielding Morris answered. Larry, Rashid and Cal grunted in response.

    That was answer enough. Hassian smiled as Cal¡¯s Dao reacted positively to the encouragement, enveloping everyone and bolstering the defence. Of course, as soon as the harassment from the Dao lessened, a new problem arose. Literally. It seemed as though the ground itself began to move, yet the truth was even more sinister. ¡°Look out!¡± Hassian called, gathering his mana into the Rimebound Hand Axes as his sides.

    The Dao of Death had found purchase somewhere within the floor of the cavern. Arms began to rip themselves from the rock they had half-fossilised into, yanking the rest of their ancient bones from the floor in a grim awakening. In preparation for battle, Hassian activated the skill he received from binding with his Aspect. The ground, which he now expected was bone, groaned and cracked under his new weight.

    Skill - Crushing Depths

    The many islands of Gibral have one thing in common. Deep below them, danger lurks. Yet, for all the monsters found under the waves, none are more deadly than the oceans themselves. The bountiful seas have taken more lives than any creature in existence.

    Now, a portion of that power is your¡¯s.

    The ability was complex, which Hassian hoped meant it had room to grow. For now, the effects were still transformative. Cal¡¯s energy also began to burn brightly as his own active skills initiated. For Cal, the ability made him much more limber, able to weave with his own momentum in normally impossible ways. For Hassian, it was weight. Weight was power, and any resistance met could be crushed if you only applied enough pressure.

    ¡°This is what we can do!¡± Hassian shouted, raising the battle cry. They could not help Grant against the boss, but they could stop this swarm from making his life harder, at least. With nothing left to say, in the near pitch black of the cavern, the four of them set about destroying the unwanted additions to the battle. The true fight was not for minions like them. It was for monsters.

    Monsters like Grant.

 Book Two - Chapter Ninety - Quest Complete

    I had become quite familiar with the way time stretched during moments of extreme exertion. This battle pushed that understanding to the limit. I wasn¡¯t sure if we had been fighting for seconds or years. My arms burned like brittle tree branches, the sword and shield each feeling like they weighed a tonne. Dozens of feints were being thrown a second, each one registered and forcing me to relax. My stamina flagged alongside my mana, each second of the intense battle stealing a percentage of my strength.

    Again and again the Warhammer fell, like the ticking of a clock combined with the force of a runaway train. The metronome of Mortesax¡¯s attacks had a staccato rhythm that was impossible to get completely used to. Despite having its true intelligence stolen, the huge skeleton was still an incredibly skillful fighter. Luckily for me, I had become a master.

    The Grim Blade collided again and again with the same widening divot I had created with our first clash. More than technique, more than the Dao which filled the air and strengthened my blows, it was the precision granted by my Weapon Mastery that began to overcome the stalemate. If I was fighting the true Mortesax, the being that scaled their way to the trunk of Yggdrasil itself, I would have been defeated in seconds. I was fortunate that I was only fighting his shell.

    There was a tickle of nostalgia. In a way, this battle was similar to the one which had set me on my path, if you could even call it that. ¡°I will fight and defeat the Storm Dragon,¡± I had claimed. I didn¡¯t even know if such a thing was possible, but setting the beast as my target had sharpened my focus. I was stronger than I would have been were I aimless. The proof was never more clearly shown than right now.

    Mortesax¡¯s puppet body had no true desire to win, no greater goal beyond my destruction. To that end, it carried out its task with efficient moves and unwasted movement. The real Mortesax at least had some panache. While the swinging warhammer was deadly, it lacked the killing intent of someone who actually cared about victory. While it didn¡¯t mean the fight was easy, it meant it was winnable.

    A huge foot planted against my chest, the Shield of Abandon grasped by a huge free hand. My eyes widened and I had just enough time to slip my wrist from the shield¡¯s bindings before I was launched back like a missile. I collided with things as I sailed through the air, sturdy bodies which shattered as I flew through them. My shoulder was groaning in pain and my chest felt caved in, made worse with each bounce as I started to slow.

    This place really was far too big. The fact that the oversized skeleton was able to keep up with me was foul in its own way. I twisted to avoid the falling warhammer, lashing out with the Grim Blade one final time before it was joined by the Alternating Armament. The liquid metal jumped to my command before I even had a chance to think, first replicating the shield I had just lost to block the blow and then immediately shifting to staff-form. Weaving under the follow up from Mortesax, I used the staff to quickly reposition to safety.

    The Alternating Armament was acting funny, but not in a bad way. I stopped just short of wondering if the weapon was jealous I had used another as its form changed once more. A sleek off-hand weapon appeared in my hand. Not quite a dagger, just long enough to be considered a short sword. For whatever reason, I hadn¡¯t actually considered that Weapon Mastery would translate to multiple styles but a vicious smirk came to my mouth as I began to find moments to counter. Not just tapping the warhammer¡¯s handle, I started chipping away bone.

    For each step in this terrifying tango that I recovered, the lich forced me back nearly instantly. The battle between our physical attributes was leaning towards myself, even as my energy continued to burn away. Less than half of my mana pool remained for this fight. It would have to be enough, but I wasn¡¯t sure it could be as shadows began to wrap around me.

    I wasn¡¯t blind to the mana Mortesax was using to keep the others busy. It was all I could do to keep up with the battle in front of me, so I had to believe that Cal, Hassian and the others were doing well. The fact they were splitting some of Mortesax¡¯s attention at all was likely the only reason I was alive. However, the energies were no longer aiming towards my allies. All of Mortesax¡¯s attention was on me now as it¡¯s skill started to affect my vision.

    The cavern was dark, but my impressive eyes were able to pierce mundane darkness like it was sunlight these days. Coupled with the magic in the air and the flares created when Rashid or I loosed a Mana Bolt, it was simple enough to see through what darkness remained. Once Mortesax¡¯s magic activated, I was completely blind. A burst of mana from within my eyes themselves, like overcharging my Manasight until it popped, was enough to clear the shadows for a moment but it was another expenditure of mana and concentration that I could barely afford.

    Couldn¡¯t afford, I corrected myself as the warhammer finally made a true connection. The force was enough to keep me on the end of the weapon for two rotations, spinning brutally at the tip of the warhammer until Mortesax slammed it into the ground. Everything was broken at once. My concentration, my back, my will to fight, all shattered in an instant. I couldn¡¯t even groan in pain, my lungs flattened by the impact. The single saving grace was that this attack took everything the skeleton had, too.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Its sceptre had vanished, likely stowed in the lich¡¯s inventory. Now that this shadow magic was blinding me, Mortesax clearly felt that regaining its advantage was worth more than summoning additional minions. I could be glad that my pressure was helping somewhere, though it meant my own situation was placed into the final phase. The strength from the Shield of Abandon was going to fade soon and I couldn¡¯t see it on the dark floor. My muscles were lead and I barely had the energy to spare to repair my broken ribs and chestplate.

    Our back is to the wall, I cast the thought inwards. The cosmos within myself reacted. The Dao Constellation twinkled in response. The stars burned fiercely, representations of my skills as they worked overtime in the battle. A new set of celestial bodies had appeared, glowing the gold of Weapon Mastery. The purple and blue nebulas of Mana Bolt, Mana Barrier and Blast danced at the ready. Red, volatile stars from Infusion were drained and replaced. The space between stars were connected by jagged bolts of electric energies as Tempest Form and Air Manipulation were used to keep me alive. Behind them all, empty and waiting on the backdrop of the void, a black hole sat ready as Drain waited to do its work.

    The quiet planet of the Dragon and its solitary moon of Tempests were mostly dormant, however. Aside from the passive usage that went with my every movement now, I had not brought the strength of this new inner space to bear. As my dancing partner had decided to up the tempo, I would meet their energy with my own. The Death which Mortesax¡¯s Dao and actions promised was pushed back with confident force.

    The Dao was my power to control. Mine to command.

    Strike of the Ruler.

    The ability which most heavily mixed everything I had learned in the System together, aimed at the weak spot I had created. The Grim Blade howled through the air, the Alternating Armament roared with fury. My two blades, suffused with dense Dao and as much mana as I could muster, crashed into the shaft of the warhammer. The cracks in its foundation, delivered at cost throughout our battle, ruptured.

    There was a mighty explosion of mana which threw me away and saved my life as the head of the warhammer continued to sail through the air. I rode the wave of energy and landed softly. The same could not be said for the pile of bones I was fighting. The expulsion of the chaotic magics at play disrupted the assault upon my allies as well, the summoned enemies falling like their strings were cut.

    For a few seconds, the only sounds in the cavern were the clattering of bones and the heavy panting of five exhausted men. I fought the impending relaxation of my guard but it was impossible. The borrowed strength from the Shield of Abandon faded and I slumped, falling on the Alternating Armament. It had once more shifted into staff mode. Had I made it do that? It was hard to think now that the debts I had accrued during the fight all came back to collect.

    The others might have been heaving, but I could barely get a breath through my still ragged lungs. As an unfortunate side effect of my improved attributes, I had much more control and perception of myself than I had before the System. What this meant was I could feel shards of bone shuddering out of the organs in real time. Coughing up a sharp glob of blood, I struggled to stand upright. A hand found my back, another wrapped around my waist and I threw my left arm over Morris¡¯ shoulder.

    It was alright to be supported now and then.

    ¡°Did we do it?¡± Larry asked with trepidation. Mostly. The final word was more strangled than the rest due to him lacking a throat. I was just as confused as he was, his hand reaching up to the empty space where half of his neck had been only a moment before. His mouth moved back and forth but the sounds that were produced were meaty whistles from his open wound.

    ¡°LAR!¡± I was dropped, and the tumble shocked my system enough to shake me out of it. I had received no level ups, no prompts to suggest victory other than the fallen body. I wanted to strangle myself, but I could do that once we were all safe. All of us, I promised myself.

    Closing my eyes, letting the turbulent mana within collide with the frustrated Dao. Even my own magic was affronted at being so easily fooled. I flew into action. Using Air Manipulation to stand, I threw an item. ¡°Rashid!¡± More than Larry¡¯s panicking brother, I knew Rashid would recognise the potion flung into his hands, the last of my healing potions. He caught it well, nodding to me. The numbness in my arms was being removed by the power of adrenaline, so I focused Air Manipulation on Larry. Carefully, I pushed oxygen in and out of his lungs.

    All I could do was hope for the best there, turning all the attention I could spare on the rest of the room. I wasn¡¯t the biggest of fantasy nerds before the System arrived, but even I knew what a lich was most famous for. The whole battle had been a farce. Distracted by the idea that Mortesax had become the System¡¯s puppet, I forgot that a lich¡¯s body was exactly that. Just a figurine to be piloted by a fouler soul within.

    Right on cue, insidious Dao began to seep from the floor. So potent it was visibly green, the Dao congealed into a humanoid shape. The verdant shade was brimming with power, and it raised a hand towards me. I was already in motion, genuinely surprise that I hadn¡¯t fallen flat on my face. The raised hand extended a finger. I dodged, but with nowhere near the grace I needed.

    A recognisable pain tore through my leg along with the ray of Nothing that came with it. My right leg was ruined as the beam destroyed muscle, bone and everything else it encountered. The same attack used on Larry, I assumed. My lip curled into a snarl and my right leg bent and tensed. I didn¡¯t need the left anyway, I was close enough. Using what fraction of mana I had left, I activated Infusion and shot forward like a bullet. Just before I landed, my Manasight gave me a glimpse at this being¡¯s new name.

    Mortesax, Champion of the Accord - ?????

    I ignored the implication. It¡¯s not like this could be any harder than Badaila. I consoled myself as the last weapon in my armoury activated. I felt my skin begin to necrotize as the deathly mana was absorbed into my outstretched hands. In a burst of inspiration, I realised I was limiting myself, and used the skill from my entire body instead. There was a flash of green before everything went dark.

    Drain.

 Book Two - Chapter Ninety One - Naeaéˆ¥æªš No Good, Very Bad Day

    There were few things Naea liked less than being separated from Grant. He was the type to get himself into far more trouble than he could handle on his own, and never seemed to stop and try a new angle if his first didn¡¯t work. There was a charm in the fact that he managed to brute force his ideas to fruition, but it was lost on Naea because she was the one who had to pick up the slack.

    For example, right now. It had been a few hours since Grant had entered the Elite dungeon and their connection was muted. In that time, Naea had been doing her best to follow the task Grant left her. ¡°Help Nolan protect his daughters,¡± he had said. A noose around her neck, more like. The little one, Sarah, wasn¡¯t a bother. If there wasn¡¯t a Trial Wave ongoing, Naea might even have enjoyed spending time with the girl.

    It was the awkward Wolf Aspect one that Naea couldn¡¯t handle right now.

    She had no compunction to discover the ins-and-outs of the relationship drama which continued to unfold with each passing fight. The populace of Londimin had found shelter, and at the front of that battle line was Nolan. Which meant, so was Lucy. It was an interesting quirk of fate that the rebellious wolf girl they had met in the woods happened to be the daughter of the only helpful person in Londimin, but that¡¯s all it was. Naea knew the System didn¡¯t matchmake like that.

    Which was a big part of the reason she didn¡¯t care about the missing mother at the heart of their drama. Maisie was a nice name, at least. Naea focused not on the bickering between father and daughter, but instead on doing what she could in this unending tide of monsters. Her Chibizashi swung nearly constantly, though even that got boring quickly. During one of the rare breaks he took, Naea decided to shake things up and bother Nolan.

    It was all just no fun without Grant, but she could make her own, maybe.

    ¡°Is there anything I can do, Nolan?¡± She asked, hoping he would say no. Of course, the man was frustratingly prepared and gave her directions to a shelter they hadn¡¯t been able to clear yet. Londimin had a few expensive raid shelters which had protections that Grant hadn¡¯t managed to mess up when he threw his tantrum.

    ¡°There are people there who need help.¡± Nolan finished, as though that mattered to Naea. It was something to do, that was enough. Boredom combined the spark of disorder flared in Naea¡¯s chest as she got an idea.

    ¡°Come with me?¡± Directing the question to Lucy, who was basically just staring daggers at her father, seemed to shake both of them. As Lucy clambered to agree, Nolan¡¯s voice rose over the top of her acceptance.

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡± He shouted. I folded my arms. There was a veritable war going on around us. Nolan had only placed his large two handed sword to the side for a moment¡¯s rest to reorganise the defence. Without Dao wielders to fight back, the powerful monsters were taking a pound of flesh with each push. Naea tapped the wounded and gave them a burst of healing mana to fuel their recovery. She couldn¡¯t give more, as she didn¡¯t know how long she would need to last.

    Holding back their second strongest fighter was short-sighted and selfish. ¡°Does it make you more correct if you¡¯re louder?¡± Naea asked, meeting Nolan¡¯s gaze until he looked away with a blink. ¡°Lucy is the most capable of coming with me. Do you think the people in that shelter are likely to trust me when I tell them to follow?¡± Naea left out that Lucy was looking more likely to tear Nolan¡¯s head off than a monster¡¯s if he kept holding her back.

    When the trial wave had started, the girl had basically crashed through a wall into Nolan¡¯s apartment. Sarah had hugged the large wolf with a giggle, and the revelation of the sisters'' shared secret had caused a rift. Now he was being stubborn, ignoring his daughter and stifling her when people needed help. Naea could understand being scared, but this?

    ¡°I let Grant go alone into a dungeon that might be too strong for him. You can send your daughter to help people.¡± The fairy gestured her head, no longer waiting for an answer. ¡°Pick up your sword and get back to fighting, Nolan. We¡¯ll save your town.¡± There was more venom in her words than she normally gave out, but people were dying. Grant might be-

    ¡°Thank you,¡± a surprisingly timid voice came from Naea¡¯s left. She had started off and got trapped in her own thoughts. ¡°He¡¯s just scared of losing me like he did our mum.¡± Naea contained the groan. How had she not seen this coming? Of course she was going to get the entire backstory now.

    ¡°Where did you lose her?¡± Naea asked. It seemed a silly thing to lose, a mother and wife, but what did she know about keeping humans where they were meant to be? She considered the fact that Grant disappeared more often than she knew his whereabouts and shook her head.

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    ¡°When the Shift happened.¡± The pair of them had passed the defensive boundary now. Their conversation was interrupted on occasion by a stray monster, but with the pair of them together, any that came close were easily dispatched. ¡°She was working in a different part of the city and then the world tore itself apart.¡±

    Naea tackled a nearby ogre in the side of the head. The massive lug moaned in pain and stumbled, falling to its knee from the blow. The wolf girl slashed out along its neck with her nails, extended to sharp claws by her magic. The two were a good team, leaving the dangerous monster behind within seconds. ¡°Ah, so she could still be alive out there,¡± Naea nodded.

    ¡°She is alive!¡± Lucy snapped. ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s just Dad doesn¡¯t even care that she could be out there somewhere.¡± Naea didn¡¯t have the greatest understanding of humans, but she doubted that was true based on what she did know. She didn¡¯t say anything immediately, letting the statement sit between them as they cleared the front of the shelter of monsters.

    It seemed the monsters had been drawn by the magic, or maybe the smell of humans. Naea wasn¡¯t a traditional monster in that sense, so she wasn¡¯t quite sure what it was that compelled them to kill as they did. Half of the species involved in the Trial Wave were peaceful most of the time, after all. Naea gestured to the beasts pounding on the solid, mana-guarded walls of the shelter.

    Lucy said nothing, her clothes disappearing into her inventory at the same time that fur began to grow underneath. Her proportions shifted, starting with her torso and hips. Her legs shortened, bowing in the middle slightly, while her arms lengthened. The skin on her face peeled away and Naea found herself hoping it wasn¡¯t painful. ¡°Does that hurt? Because it looks like it really hurts.¡±

    The wolf didn¡¯t answer, claws digging into the floor. A growl filled the air, causing some of the more prey-based monsters to flinch and look. There was no getting out of the way as the wagon-sized wolf barreled through the mess. This was the main reason Naea had brought Lucy with her. Her time with the fledglings had not been for nothing, Naea had found that she quite enjoyed teaching. She especially enjoyed showing someone the path to their first Dao awakening.

    Lucy was on the cusp, and just needed a little more rebellion in her life. Wolves were simple, after all. Naea¡¯s connection to the System and time as a teacher had caused some things to just make sense to her now. Such as how one should act and feel to connect to a certain Dao. Nolan wanted his daughter to be safe, without letting her be strong. That same daughter wanted to be protected by her father, while not needing it. Both of them were adorable, but getting in each other¡¯s way.

    Halfway through her rampage, Naea called Lucy back. The distraction caused her to receive a nasty punch to the snout, and the rage filled howl that pierced the air was nearly perfect. Just one last step of resonance, Naea judged. Lucy¡¯s wolven form began to tear into the monsters around her again. Naea nodded in satisfaction. Out of curiosity, she tapped the defences of the shelter with her finger.

    After pulling herself out of the opposite wall and glaring at the powerful enchantments, she returned to her position as if nothing had happened. She hoped the Naea shaped implant in the building across the road wasn¡¯t too noticeable. No wonder the other monsters were just milling around the front. A giant frog hopped by and spotted her, lashing its tongue her way with blinding speed.

    Naea used Sparkstep to walk along its outstretched tongue in an instant, burying the blade of her sword up to its hilt in its brain. The nasty thing jolted about a few times, and Naea just rolled her eyes. Grant really had given her the babysitting job this time. With a quick burst of energy, Naea shot high into the air. The main command post was fine. Tumbling through the air, she could only sigh.

    Grant had better bring her something nice from the dungeon or she would be really upset. A few juicy boss monsters, a nice Guidance Stone perhaps. Naea continued to imagine the possibilities as she destroyed monster after monster. She was gaining levels, but slowly due to the challenge before her. When the enemies were as simple to destroy as insects, the System didn¡¯t reward nearly as much power. Then, there was the fact that without Grant nearby, every tiny bit of experience was worth less than it should be.

    A whistling howl filled the air. Naea¡¯s short, black hair stood on end as magic passed over her with violence and pain at its fore. People were running away from a specific direction, scattering outwards like a firework, so Naea rushed in the direction opposite to them. Unsurprisingly, there was a gnarled beast at the end of her path which dwarfed any of the others she had seen.

    Dao had been evolving left and right among the people of Londimin. In the face of adversity, with enemies using the power themselves, it was never as easy for those able to fight to grasp the power and make it their own. Where it happened, the deaths began to stop and the equilibrium moved over to the defenders side. Naea arrived just in time to see a man she had healed earlier in the day being skewered on a thorny root before the root dragged his lifeless body underground.

    Trial Wave Boss Monster - Wriggling Rafflesia - Level 65

    The boss monster was a few levels higher than Naea, and where the fairy was specialised to be quick, the massive plant was specialised to be an asshole. Massive petals covered in steel spikes sat atop a squat stem. A crimson red base to the petal and the white of its thorns made them look like tongues with teeth. At the ground level, leaves covered the ground for a massive area. It was from within those grounded leaves that vines and roots sprouted to attack. It made Naea miss her Fairy Garden back home.

    Londimin was a dive compared to Ascentown but you had to start somewhere, Naea supposed. Levelling the Chibizashi at the Trial Wave boss monster, wishing Julianna with her impressive firepower were here, Naea challenged the massive plant. There wasn¡¯t much she could do for the town or for Grant, but she could do this, at least. Or so she thought.

    The shock from within the Elite Dungeon was Naea¡¯s downfall. The dulled and muted connection which Naea had been trying her best to ignore exploded with pain and fear and hate. Like being assaulted with a mental attack, Naea took brutal damage to one of her wings, unable to dodge. A sharp, thin twig punctured the thin membrane and tore the flimsy wing apart. Naea returned the high-pitched howl the Wriggling Rafflesia still gave off, not sure if it was her pain or Grant which she was feeling. It felt like-

    It felt like Grant was dying.

 Book Two - Chapter Ninety Two - The Accord

    I was falling. Head over feet, feet over head, I tumbled through a black nothingness which expanded forever. Above me, nothing and below me, the unknown. I fell into a strange confusion, my memory and knowledge being stripped away in violent sheaves until there was little left but my name. Even that became confusing as new identity began to layer itself upon my own.

    The memories became too powerful to hold back, and I was thrown from moment to moment in a chaotic jostling which threatened to strip any last shred of persona from my clutches. I remembered walking the fields of Roscommon, the tiny town of a few thousand in Ireland where I was born. I remembered the everpresent smell of smoke from the mines I had been raised beside. The green grass. The dark grey rock. Life. Death. Which one was my story?

    Was I Grant Kaeron, or was I Mortesax? Whose story was which? Cast adrift in a sea of powerful memories, I knew there was a choice. The foundation of my identity was being eroded away to a pinprick as the darkness around me pulsed over and over. Drain, activated and unceasing, drawing the overpowering memories into myself. The parts of me which were Grant were being washed away. With angst and desperation my fuel, I burned brightly in the centre of that swirling abyss, holding onto one singular thought.

    This is how I win.

    ¡°Is it, now?¡± A voice like decayed fruit and vinegar red wine asked me, responding to my thoughts and chuckling at me. I shivered, but straightened my back all the same. The words were spoken with derision, the breath of death itself cackling at me from its host, Mortesax. I ignored the implicit taunt and gathered the confused vestiges of mana in the air, moulding them into shape. Slowly, a room materialised around me and I walked through the door.

    Though tempted to lock the entrance behind me, I didn¡¯t. Instead, I moved to the table and sat down, inspecting my work. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but my control of mana in a metaphysical space was impressive. The fact that I could do it at all was due to my fiddling with the soul world inside of me. After manipulating the mana and Dao into becoming a whole cosmos, a single tea room wasn¡¯t much of a challenge.

    In fact, it was gratifying to see that I was more adept at this niche skill than my guest. After a somewhat awkward pause, just long enough for me to worry I had made a mistake, the door handle shook. Another short struggle later, and the smouldering form of Mortesax flocked into the room. The presence before me was more than the visualisation he presented, I knew, but was bound in rules which even the insurgent soul had to follow.

    Killing intent suffused every particle of its being, but there was no violence allowed here. ¡°I created this place so we could talk.¡± The battle in the Elite dungeon was as good as done, though our bodies were frozen in time. I created a window with a thought, showing the dungeon and the immobile bodies within. After what seemed to be a moment of indecision, the overwhelming shadow that had entered the room congealed into a humanoid form.

    ¡°For one so new to the System¡¯s games, this is impeccable control,¡± Mortesax murmured, stepping out of the smoke as a young-looking man. I had honestly expected the lich to enter, not a fairly handsome human. Noticing my head tilt, the man laughed. ¡°While imposing, the form I found myself wielding in my final days was not ideal for other things. Such as enjoying sweet drinks.¡±

    Feeling a little like the dog who caught the car, I began pouring the man a cup. The battering my mind had taken on the way into the room was still present, and gathering my thoughts took some time after the expenditure of energy to create the tea room. A teaspoon clinked four, five, six times as he dropped ounces of sugar into the small mug.

    ¡°No violence¡± was an easy enough rule to enforce on the space, but if he began to challenge my control with more subversive aggression, I would have to add more rules. There was a consistent tickle in my mind which I knew, should it slip, would release Mortesax to attack my soul directly. A dangerous game, then, but I had big questions I wanted answers to. Thankfully, it seemed Mortesax was more interested in his drink than in pushing against the limits of my control. He sipped the warm liquid with a pleasant smile.

    ¡°So, you survived against my shell, it seems.¡± Mortesax looked out of the window and inspected the scene. I grimaced at the same time he snorted, both of us seeing the damage done to my body. ¡°You gave up an arm and a leg to have this conversation with the vestige within? That feels metaphorical.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re more¡­ gregarious than I expected.¡± I didn¡¯t trust the openness presented to me. The true form of the being, the shadows and death and rot which Mortesax controlled, were gone. All that was left was a pale man with pale grey eyes and black hair. He wore a buttoned up shirt, open at the collar, with simple cloth pants and ancient looking moccasins. High quality, but primitive in design.

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    ¡°You can¡¯t gather a legendary army without a little charm, young man. You might want to remember that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not looking to raise armies,¡± I shook my head. From the glint in the pale eyes that flashed towards me, I wasn¡¯t fooling anyone. As soon as Mortesax said it, I realised raising armies was exactly what I was trying to do. The Fledglings in Ascentown were very much becoming a militia. We needed them, to face what was to come. ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight wars,¡± I corrected.

    Mortesax inclined his head to me. ¡°Now, that is sensible. Gather the army, never use it. That¡¯s how most survive.¡± The inclined head turned into a nod of agreement. ¡°So, what does a little pet of the System have to discuss with me?¡±

    ¡°That. You and your group all seemed to hate the System. You attacked the Tree itself. Why?¡± I had my own issues with authority, but trying to essentially fight all of existence seemed a bit over the top. While the System created more strife than it was worth, in my opinion, it wasn¡¯t an enemy to aim myself at. I wouldn¡¯t even know where to start. At the Tree, I suppose. ¡°Why do you hate the System?¡±

    I thought of Naeboroseax. The old woman, Mrs Naebol, had been kind. She had been happy and loved life. The moment the System came to Earth, she had given up that pretense and chosen to use me as the vessel for her suicide. I¡¯m not interested in another go round. The memory was fuzzy, both my pre-System memory and the trauma of the moment working against me, but she had been scared of the Shift.

    Mortesax huffed a laugh, though there was no mirth to this one. ¡°You can¡¯t understand, unfortunately.¡± He held up his hands as I started to speak, a gesture of surrender. ¡°I will still tell you, but until you¡¯ve felt the ages on your back, you can¡¯t imagine. Until you¡¯ve lived a thousand lifetimes, each one longer than the longest on your planet so far, you can¡¯t fathom the depths of it all. The wounds at the heart of existence.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ you¡¯re bored? That¡¯s it?¡± I knew I was goading, ignoring that there was obviously much more to the apathy and anger I had sensed from the ancient beings I had met so far. Mortesax¡¯s face became a snarl for a moment before smoothing back to a calm smile, wagging a finger in my direction.

    ¡°Cheeky child,¡± he chuckled. Mortesax stretched, standing and moving to the window. He pointed to his own form. ¡°That was the eighteen body I had created, and the one which was finally strong enough to see me through the System¡¯s protections to the Tended Grove itself. It cost the lives of proud, powerful beings that could annihilate galaxies in an instant.¡± There was a deep breath of nostalgia taken as Mortesax closed his eyes and smiled wistfully.

    ¡°It sounds positively deranged, I¡¯m so happy for you. You haven¡¯t explained why though.¡± The being Mortesax had turned himself into a lich. Of course he would revel in the idea of a universe being ripped apart. ¡°If it was just to kill the Tree and ruin lives then I think you failed.¡±

    This time, Mortesax¡¯ laugh was bitter and venomous. His pale eyes flashed black, and the restrictions of the room were tested. He had tried very hard, just for an instant, to kill me. ¡°You think I¡¯m the one who ruins lives?¡± With a wave of his hand, the opposite wall cracked and a new portal was visible. Not a window, but a tear in space that showed¡­

    I couldn¡¯t look. I knew what Mortesax was showing but my entire being shied away from seeing it. Just lift your eyes, I demanded of myself, The Tree is right there. Yet I could not. I knew, that if I saw even a single glimpse of its true form, my entire understanding of life, the universe and everything else within would be turned upside down. Yet, I couldn¡¯t help wonder what power lay in that knowledge¡­

    ¡°This. This is the parasite which ruins lives, not I. A trillion lifetimes, laying waste to the planets and galaxies I desire, would not come close to the pain that poisonous seed has wrought since.¡± Mortesax seated themselves, leaving the hole in the wall as it was. With a massive force of will, I stamped my foot and the vision of the Tree vanished. ¡°You cannot even look upon its might, each inch of growth fueled by another life stolen.¡±

    ¡°You care about life?¡± I asked, petulant. A brutal headache had erupted after closing the wall, and I was pissed. ¡°The guy with an army of death knights, who rode the Rot Dragon Cavarix to attack Yggdrasil itself? Please.¡±

    ¡°Life is not only for the living, young fool.¡±

    ¡°Then why were you fighting?¡± I demanded.

    ¡°Every single being, from the moment they are created, has a destiny. A thread of gold, or black, or red, blue, grey, anything - added to the weave. The great tapestry creates itself atop the boughs of Yggdrasil, clutching all life in its web. Do I need to say more?¡± The raised eyebrow of Mortesax challenged me, but I shook my head. ¡°Good!¡±

    I almost jumped at the tone shift, but the young man leaned forward in his chair, placing a hand on my own. The instinctive desire to flinch away nearly made me vomit, but I was held in place by both Mortesax¡¯s strength and my own curiosity. ¡°You are a perfect candidate, you know? I can¡¯t speak for the entire organisation as I¡¯m dead - more dead than before - but they would love to have you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I fought your whole army before fighting you. There¡¯s no one left.¡±

    ¡°A single instance of an eternal war, young Grant Kaeron.¡±  The world began to shudder and I immediately sensed the cause. Mortesax had stopped fighting back. My Drain was still active, ready to absorb anything and everything Mortesax could not hold onto. With him releasing the grip, the tug of war was over and the room began to crumble.

    ¡°What are you doing? What organisation?¡±

    A toothy smile, far more full than it should be, spread across Mortesax¡¯ face. ¡°They are coming. The veil will fall and the scavengers shall pick your world clean. We shall see whether you are Guardian or Breaker yet.¡± My eyes widened as I felt the surge of power from the vestige of Mortesax. I clamped down on the space, protecting myself from the tidal wave of power that bore down on me in Mortesax¡¯ final assault.

    ¡°The Accord awaits you, Grant Kaeron.¡±

    With a blast unlike anything I had ever felt, Mortesax annihilated the remnants of their soul with a ghastly green explosion of power. My soul, ensconced within the oily clutches of the lich¡¯s magic, screamed in pain and fear. The tea room disintegrated and the howling, desolate winds of the Dao of Death were all that remained. I slipped further into the darkness, tormented by the promise of the end.

 Book Two - Chapter Ninety Three - Waking Up

    An ocean of malice was unleashed as Mortesax unstoppered his soul and let the virulent energies within tear their way out. A battle raged, if you could call it that. It was as much a battle as a man standing on the shore kicking back the waves was a fight. A flickering soul was buffeted around by tides of death and darkness. The magic demanded capitulation to the inevitable end, and the soul rejected this truth.

    In the waking world, the Elite dungeon was completed and the four conscious men in the room hesitated. The bodies on the floor did not stir, and after a few minutes of hopeful waiting, the lich¡¯s body was collected into a soul space. The rewards from the dungeon were gathered, but no one could touch the body still laying on the hard floor of the catacomb cavern beneath the throne room. The energies coming from the statuesque form of Grant Kaeron were deadly.

    Outside the dungeon, the results of the completed quest were immediately visible. There were cheering the shelters, and wailing in the streets as those who could not get to protection realised they had survived. Nolan Grey hugged his daughters, and the defenders of Londimin fell to the ground in exhaustion. All except for one.

    From within a smouldering crater, the guardian fairy of Londimin shot like a laser. A streak of energy punched through the air from broken satellite to twisted antenna, the path of least resistance on her way to the Elite dungeon. Even before the main battle was over, Naea had blown through her mana reserves like crazy to finish off the boss monster. Her tenuous connection to Grant had opened wide unexpectedly, even though he remained in the dungeon for now.

    She could feel Grant, and he was as feeble as a candle flame within a desert of desolation.

    With a few gashes from the thorns for her trouble, she had frantically uprooted the Wriggling Rafflesia and actually had received a Guidance Stone for her troubles. Her mind was racing, but there was no sense in using it now. She had access to Fairy Dragon and Rivers for her Guidance Stone to attach to, and neither were likely to combine with the stone of Seeding to create a worthwhile effect. By the time she arrived at the dungeon, she was shivering, her heart smashing against her chest like a hummingbird.

    There was a crowd of people around the entrance. Naea noticed the armoured form of Seth looking relatively catatonic on the floor as she tackled the dungeon¡¯s barrier. Now that it was complete, the entrance was shut firm until everyone inside left or the dungeon resolved itself. As an Elite dungeon, it would remain here permanently even upon completion.

    So she needed to get inside.

    Access Denied - Dungeon Instance Ongoing

    ¡°Fuck. You.¡± Naea pressed harder, ignoring the pointing and confusion from below. No one here mattered but Grant. She screeched with effort as the net around the dungeon continued to push her away. In an instant, her ire evolved and changed direction from frustration as the Elite dungeon¡¯s rules to absolute fury at the System itself. ¡°How fucking dare you?¡±

    She was born of the System, to work for the System. It was only in this most dire moment that Naea realised how much Grant had freed her from its clutches. She, like the billions of other dungeon fairies, was created whole cloth from the mana of the System to do its work. Guide others, help them gain strength and then disappear as the plane of existence you had been granted was defeated and demolished to make room for more. With horror, she realised the name of her birth was prophetic. She had been made as a prisoner within the dungeon she called her home.

    Grant had not seen her as a monster, nor an asset to be taken advantage of. He had immediately and without restraint brought Naea into his soul and made a home for her within. He had saved her from imprisonment in a doomed dungeon. Now it was her turn. Something had happened, and Grant was hanging on by a thread. With heavy, Dao infused punches, Naea rallied against the barrier.

    ¡°Help me!¡± She called out, desperate. The people below were slow to move, most of them uselessly hovering around Seth¡¯s comatose body. Whatever Grant had done to him, it would be fine for another five minutes. ¡°The person who saved your shitty town is dying inside here. Help me!¡±

    Rhythmically, Naea smashed against the Elite dungeon. Each time she did, the System reminded her that she was denied entry. With each kick or punch against the barrier, falling like rain on concrete, the System told her it forbade her from saving her partner. Each pause she took highlighted the growing emptiness projecting from Grant. Naea barely noticed when the crowd below began to add their strength to her¡¯s, paltry as they were. Initially, at least.

    A single, mundane fist was nearly as weightless as a feather these days. A single person could now be stronger than ten had been before the Shift, doing the work of those same people with more speed and acuity than the others combined. There were many unlevelled and low-levelled people milling around the Elite dungeon. The cooks, builders and scouts who were gifted safety by the actions of others moved first. Instinctively, they were excited for the opportunity to do something.

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    Naea understood the feeling all too well. All she wanted to do right now was something. Anything. If she had to storm through the dungeon on her own, haggard as she was, she would do it for Grant. It would be easy, so long as it was to help him. The people below weren¡¯t aware of the depths Grant had gone to for them, but Naea¡¯s fervent cry spurred them to action all the same. Naea found herself supported by the strength from below her position.

    It was just for an instant. Just a single iota of a moment, but exactly what Naea had been waiting for. Luck, desperation and the exact right amount of strength combined to give her the window she was searching for. The crack was tinier than a pinprick, but it was enough. Activating Sparkstep, Naea launched herself into the chip in the barrier. It wasn¡¯t wide enough, even as a being of energy and light, for Naea to push through. The System¡¯s rules still held her back.

    No.

    She rejected the System. She rejected the idea that there were controls on her beyond her own choices. The fury which had been bubbling grew to new magmatic heights as she rallied against the very source of her birth. The font from which all strength in the universe flowed from, and it had made itself her enemy. If she had energy to spare, she might have smiled and made a joke about how Grant was a terrible influence, but instead she fought.

    She fought because it¡¯s what Grant would have done.

    Inside the dungeon, Naea¡¯s entrance was heralded by the sound of shattering glass. Like a planet-sized chandelier had fallen onto a larger, sun-sized floor, the dungeon shuddered. Naea scorched through the Elite dungeon like a beam of light, ignoring the walls in her way like they weren¡¯t there. To her, they might as well not have been. The dungeon was far too large, so she shortened the distances with a thought. Her eyes flicked to the System prompt which had appeared but she ignored it. She could focus on that later.

    First she had to find Grant.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Access Granted - Dungeon Administrator Privileges Unlocked

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    I was adrift. The damage from Mortesax¡¯ final act of petulance had been done, and there was no recourse. For all the shadows I had faced, each different form of darkness I had experienced in the recent past, the current emptiness was a true end. All I had left was pain, and the anger that this damage had been inflicted upon me. In truth, I barely remembered why I was in such a state. Only oblivion extended onwards, non-existence trickling out behind me.

    It was a storm of such calamitous force that the strength I garnered from it seemed antithetical. Dao was no simple thing, however. A gargantuan rock was teetering over my head, but I had the piece of paper to counter it. A flimsy excuse, a reach of potential which broached the ridiculous¡­ and yet, it worked. Burdens and pressure were no new thing, I just had a lot of intense experience with them since the System arrived. Even before it had, I was weathering storms of doubt and fear on a daily basis.

    The same principle which pushed me then gave me strength now. If the question was ¡°will you endure?¡± Then my answer was always, always ¡°yes.¡± The Dao of Tempests hadn¡¯t been created simply by the combination of the Dragon and Water, but my own ideals and they were fiercely needed right now. I had no mana to use because the fragment of my consciousness which remained was not the body. Mana was a physical resource as much as the burning energy of stamina was physical.

    Dao was not constrained in that way. In the fine pinprick of existence I struggled to maintain, I could actively feel the various System effects bolstering my efforts. I found myself really wishing I had a Dao bound to Fortitude, but that was a problem for later. I focused on being grateful towards the Survivor achievement for bolstering my recovery, the Draconic Legacy achievement for decreasing negative effects and even Thick-Skinned was working due to the corrosive nature of the Dao of Death.

    The System worked in places where my own skills couldn¡¯t. Dao was not too dissimilar. Unlike mana which needed to be controlled and directed, or a fist which needed the same, Dao was the intent. By holding onto my psyche even to the smallest degree, the Dao I had cultivated within was at my disposal. The Tempest allowed me to brace against the overwhelming cyclone of anguish, despair and hate which Mortesax left behind. The Dao of the Dragon was my vessel to fight back.

    From that single particle of me, that tiny portion of my soul that remained, the dragon erupted like a volcanic explosion. Burning, scalding, scorching life blazed into being within my core as I unleashed a conflagration of unfiltered power to incinerate the darkness which had taken hold. Like a vacuum, the empty space caused by Mortesax¡¯s attack had been filled with a gummy, oily Nothingness. I didn¡¯t understand the composition of this voidstuff, but I knew how to get rid of it.

    Pure, unadulterated power.

    For what seemed like an eternity, I became the searing sun of my own cosmos. Piece by piece, I uncovered the hidden skies of my inner worlds and filled in the Nothing with my arcane applied knowledge. Like painting over black, I poured concentrated Dao through the filter of my eroded soul right back into the source, creating a loop of recovery. The shape of my core returned to its original health and I looked upon the work with pride. There was a new layer of definition to the space, courtesy of my latest burst of attention. This would strengthen the effect of my Dao in general.

    Survival in the System always came with a reward. Still, I would have happily given other people the chance to take the pain and distress I had just been through, or had put myself through in the past. The fact that I was still alive was less skill and intelligence than dumb luck. Regardless, my impending death felt much further away by the time I stopped. The next issue was how to leave.

    On cue, a burning comet shot into the sky, a trial of green and blue glitter following it as the molten rock blasted towards me. I welcomed it with open arms, positioning myself to meet my saving grace. She hit me hard, which I supposed I deserved. The tiny fragment of myself and the part of Naea she had fired into my core careened down to the world of the Dragon where our laughter and sobs mingled until we managed to calm down.

    ¡°Hey, little bug,¡± I smiled and cried. Naea¡¯s healing magic opened a path from my soul to my body, and rejuvenated the broken form I was struggling to maintain. Truly, I wasn¡¯t whole without her. Once my arms had appeared, I wrapped them around her tightly, her head laying on my chest.

    ¡°Stupid big ogre,¡± she whimpered, hitting her fist against me. On the shores of my inner world, we lay for a time. Her thoughts flowed into me and our split story merged once more.

    Then I woke up.

 Book Two - Chapter Ninety Four - Your Problem Now

    Achievement Unlocked - Guardian Qualification

    There are few who can face anything without fear. Fewer than that can face Nothing and remain themselves. As one of the unlucky few tested by the Nothing at the edges of Yggdrasil to survive, you are marked. Good luck, potential Guardian.

    Unlike other achievements, this one came with no rewards. I removed it from my vision and filed it away. Mortesax had said something about Guardians right at the end, alongside Breakers. I didn¡¯t have the energy to care. I had a lot on my plate already and adding riddles of some immensely powerful being on top was a step too far. Even putting one foot in front of the other was an unholy challenge.

    The first few minutes of consciousness were on autopilot. Thankfully, I didn¡¯t have to explain anything to Naea. She had experienced a small amount of the damage I had taken during the sharing of our memories from our time apart. It was Naea who guided my body out of the dungeon, and it was only once I emerged back into the slightly humid air of Londimin that I had started being able to have fully formed thoughts.

    My mouth was still a long way behind, so speech was a far off aspiration. Like a power station that had been cooled down, the processes for my body were having to come online piece by piece. My muscles felt like rubber and granite at the same time, in the exact wrong ways. Awkwardly, painfully, I put one foot in front of the other. It wasn¡¯t time to rest, yet. Naea released a burst of healing magic through our bond, the effect similar to smelling salts. I nodded thanks and nearly toppled over.

    I had taken on responsibilities, and one of them was sprawled out on the floor with worried onlookers nearby. The group with which I had ventured through the dungeon split away, all five of them moving together. I thought that was a good idea, but I couldn¡¯t remember why it would be. While I might have been able to focus, it was definitely a ¡°one thing at a time¡± situation.

    Seth was in a vaguely foetal position on the ground as I gallantly strode over. I assumed it was gallant. People were staring at me, in any case. Naea¡¯s presence on my shoulder was the obvious answer for that, but I had made quite a scene in the city too. ¡°What did you do to him?¡± The bravest onlooker asked. That swagger disappeared as my eyes found the accusatory questioner without blinking, who in turn shrank and turned away.

    When no one else seemed to want to get involved, I moved to the body. He was hard to look at. Not just because my vision was swimming with exhaustion, but because to my eyes, a visible cancer was eating him alive. The energy to care was lacking, but I tried. Even his magical equipment was being affected as more mana than Seth produced was being fed into his class. Objectively, it was an interesting process.

    ¡°What did you do to me?¡± A piteous voice asked, breaking my reverie. I looked at the man with disdain despite myself. His skin was sagging as the health given by the System was drained back to the source. I had crippled him in the final moments of our fight, but his back was healed now. No, the real damage came from¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re dying from the weight of your class.¡± Naea gave her prognosis casually and without any sugar coating. Seth lifted his head, his black hair looking greasy and oily from blood and sweat. I shrugged. If Naea said so, it was probably true. The dangerous power of the class Seth forced together was exactly that - dangerous. It had been a potent weapon for a moment but I could see the corrosion of mana at this core in real time.

    ¡°Y-you have to help me, then?¡± Half-begging immediately, Seth¡¯s eyes grew frantic. Even if I knew how, I would have needed some convincing. It was going to take more than the tendrils of mana that already tried to snake into my mind to make me help, one of Seth¡¯s insidious skills working overtime to survive. I didn¡¯t blame him for his lack of control. I doubted he could control any of his abilities at this point. I was still unsure of the full truth behind classes but I had just been on the precipice of losing control myself.

    It must be terrifying.

    I felt my anger wane as the image Seth took up in my mind became one of a wild animal. Scared, desperate, confused and now in pain. I had felt the weight of his life in my hands and walked away from the burden of it at the time. Thanking Past Grant for punting the problem along, I tried to squat. I fell onto my rear without a moment¡¯s resistance, so I played it off like it had been intentional.

    The crowd that supported Seth were still hovering around, but an expulsion of Dao had them suddenly interested in being anywhere but here. I wasn¡¯t trying to hide my actions, I just didn¡¯t want an audience. Neither would Seth. The exertion of a single Dao wave had sent me even more light-headed than before. Naea¡¯s spirit snuggled up to mine, cushioning my aches with power of her own. I could sense her pride in what I was planning.

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    If it didn¡¯t work, at least I would know I tried. ¡°I can¡¯t stop what¡¯s happening to you,¡± I admitted. Seth¡¯s sallow face sunk even more. I continued quickly. ¡°But I might¡­ I might be able to stop it from killing you.¡± My problems were much larger than a single city. I needed to be more aloof, and this was definitely going to push my headache into migraine territory. Ah well. If I wasn¡¯t supposed to use them, the System shouldn¡¯t have given me so many tools to fuck with it.

    Seth looked worriedly from myself to Naea, clearly not finding much to inspire confidence. Regardless, he nodded. He pushed away from the sword and shield he wore, moving to his hands and knees. His appearance of supplication was honestly helpful, though I said nothing as I rose to my feet. I had learned countenance matters when wielding the Dao. The Dao of the Dragon snorted with approval as I pressed it forth.

    Can we do this? I asked.

    We will do anything which we can do. That will be enough. The portion of myself which replied housed all of my confidence, my pride and my desire to control. It harboured my arrogances, unbridled by my personality and more subtle desires, the Dao roared to life and grabbed ahold of the class in the centre of Seth¡¯s soul. At the same time, I reached out towards the strand of power the System left in my hands. The Dao Breaker achievement. The crowd I had moved away all flinched simultaneously as a cracking could be felt, not heard. Everyone with an Aspect shuddered, and those with Dao felt nausea rise in their throat.

    I squeezed down with my Dao harder and harder and I ignored it all, even my own revulsion. Seth had minutes, not days. Even if I had confidence that a healing potion might be able to help, I didn¡¯t have the materials or ability to make one myself. The only miracle the System was sending was myself. Miraculous was not a word I expected Seth would use to describe me in the future, though, as his howls started to pick up in intensity.

    It was no quick thing, which meant Naea had to protect me from the tribal approach of those who didn¡¯t understand. I absently noted that she was flanked by my five compatriots from the dungeon. It took a moment for me to work out why that was strange. Strangely, it was the frigid hand axe he brandished which stood out. Hassian. His presence was both natural and a surprise at the same time. Problem for later, I told myself with grim acceptance. The issues piled up.

    The shattering of Seth¡¯s class was becoming more intensive, and my attention was pulled away, commanded in a singular direction. There were a large amount of similarities between destroying Seth¡¯s class and rejuvenating my inner world, but each process was reversed. Much like Mortesax had tried to do to me, I was now erasing Seth¡¯s. Unlike the lich, I was trying to limit the damage as much as possible.

    It wasn¡¯t easy. In fact, I doubted it was possible to keep much intact at all. Within my own magical system, the Dao Constellation, ideas and images were being linked together to increase the strength of each separate part. The rains of the Dao of Tempests fed the land of the Dao of the Dragon. Both were fueled in part by the Hurricane Heart which had long become a filter for my own mana, acting as the sun to sustain life on the worlds below.

    For Seth, he had never crafted an internal image. This might have been fine if the Aspects he used worked together, but the last one he used was warping the others. Like a puzzle piece shoved into a space it didn¡¯t fit, the Aspect had then seemingly stolen most of the power from the class. This explained why Seth had changed from essentially an unhittable tank into an unhittable assassin. Whatever Aspect he used had then grown like a tumour, further breaking his mana channels apart.

    The first attempt I made, and the reason Seth was now screeching like a banshee, had gone poorly. I grimaced at the thought but with no alternative, I set to destroying the three initial Aspects. I couldn¡¯t apologise to Seth for taking these intrinsic parts of himself but with the alternative being death, he would have to get over it. As the Aspects shattered like faberg¨¦ eggs under my pressure, I wondered if they were particularly valuable. The idea made the destruction even easier as the Dao of the Dragon revelled in removing value from another.

    I would have to work on my pettiness at some point, perhaps.

    As I was finishing the task, a System prompt appeared. I hadn¡¯t expected it, but that was my fault really. As luck would have it, good or bad I didn¡¯t know, Nolan arrived on the scene at the same time. His eyes glazed for a moment as he, too, read the prompt he was sure to receive in response. The question which had been on his lips died, replaced by pursed lips. The tense situation extended, Seth¡¯s wails ceasing as the class was removed.

    Faction Absorption

    By defeating the leader of another faction in single combat, and due to there being no laws governing the land, you may now take control of that faction. The faction, Londimin, will be subsumed into The Ascent.

    Would you like to absorb the faction?

    Before I could face that conversation properly, I needed to rest. I desperately wished I could wave Nolan away until later, but even he became a secondary thought as a new text box appeared before me. Unlike every System prompt to now, this prompt had a burgundy frame with gold lettering. The font, or I supposed handwriting in this case, was different, too. There was a mechanical nature to the standard System messages, but this one felt personal. Like a letter.

    Thanks to Mortesax, I knew who the senders were. It seemed I had received my first correspondence with The Accord.

    Breaker Qualification

    Under the System no one is free. Nothing is fair. Only when the Tree is reduced back to the Nothing from which it came can we truly be unbound. The fertile grounds are made such by the bodies of those not strong enough to fight back. By destroying a System-granted binding, you have proven the potential to become limitless. Join us, Breaker.

    I showed the prompt only to Naea. She frowned, saying nothing. I matched her expression. I doubted this was going to make things less complicated.

 Book Two - Chapter Ninety Five - Consolidation III

    The second I was finished deleting portions of another man¡¯s soul, I sought solitude and rest. Naea had apparently distinguished herself as some kind of defender in the time we had been in the dungeon, so she received a level of deference which then extended to me. The closest liveable building to the Elite dungeon was cleared out for me specifically. Unable to bring myself to worry about anything else, I finally collapsed.

    The next forty eight hours or so were a haze of sleep, where I woke only to remove something edible from my inventory, wolf it down and then pass out once more. As I slept, pieces of my disjointed psyche continued to fall into the right places, the rough edges of the torture I underwent shorn away by time. The mind had powerful coping mechanisms to help one forget intense bouts of pain, which I was grateful for.

    My entire soul felt shaky, so I wasn¡¯t too quick to mess with it any more than I already had. Even placing the waiting attribute points wasn¡¯t something I rushed into. Just as I had noticed Mortesax was still alive because I hadn¡¯t gained any levels, by the time I awoke after winning, the strength was just waiting at my fingertips to be applied. Nothing pressing was happening, and Naea demanded that I relax completely, so I tried my best to do as she said.

    My unmade decision on whether to add Londimin to the growing fold of The Ascent along with Ascentown and Newtown meant that for now, the repairs of Londimin were not my problem. It was boredom which sent me into motion on the second or third day. I didn¡¯t immediately deal with the town problem, focusing inwards first. Physically I was okay even upon completing the dungeon, with the following days bringing me to peak strength quickly. My spirit and core felt like barbed wire wrapped around fibreglass, and while meditation and time had done a little to alleviate the pain, it was time to be more hands-on.

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 65

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude - 200  Speed - 200   Mental - 783   Will - 500

    Free attribute points: 175

    35 Per Level

    Feeling like I was about to take an important step, I began to plan attributes into Mental. Each point placed soothed the fire in my brain just a little, throwing a small bucket of water onto my still molten core. Perhaps due to my recent intensive study of how all the pieces of my soul connected, but I could feel something building within. I had placed over one hundred of my free points into Mental, but I didn¡¯t stop. The pressure built all the way up until I had reached nine hundred and twenty five. The next point after was where the floodgates opened.

    My body ignited with pins and needles, a sensation of both pain and pleasure which I recognised as a large increase in capacity. All of my attributes jumped at once as the System prompt I had been expecting appeared before me. Expecting because I knew it was coming, not because I knew how valuable it was. My mouth fell slack for a few seconds as I read the message, the open gape shifting into a frown as I pondered.

    Achievement Unlocked - Specialisation

    In a world of myriad paths, you continue firmly in the chosen direction. Achieved for reaching 2500 effective attribute points in a single attribute before gaining a Class or Race Evolution, within the confines of Grade One. Marker achievement.

    Effect: Attributes +20%

    There were more than enough ominous words in that achievement to give me pause but after inspecting it for a minute I decided there was nothing to worry about. I wouldn¡¯t stop myself from getting stronger just because the System seemed to take notice. That might even be a good thing. It might be unavoidable, based on the Guardian Qualification I had received upon defeating the Elite dungeon.

    It just wasn¡¯t something I could do something about. I did my best to put it on the backburner in my mind and focus on recovery. Luckily, though attributes weren¡¯t as singularly effective at increasing recovery, dropping the remaining thirty two points directly into Fortitude felt like having a workout followed by a healthy meal and a great night¡¯s sleep all at once.

    My attributes page had been bothering me for a while now. With each Mental attribute point, my connection to the System had increased. It was a tangential effect, brought on mostly by my control over every aspect of my body. The crash course I had just received in my own connection to the System was helpful as I fiddled with the page. I opened it, closed it and repeated the process a few hundred times as I pinned down the exact strand of connection that was plucked to open the menu. Once I did, I took a deep breath, and forcibly tangled it with the four, thicker strings.

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    My vision fuzzed and I felt sick for a split second, but then it was as though a breath of fresh air pushed through my pores and lungs. It was wonderful. I knew immediately that my intentions had worked. I did have to lament a little, because the page would never be clean again, but at least it was correct now.

    Name - Grant Kaeron  Race - Stormborn (Grade 1)  Level - 65

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    Fortitude (235%) - 232 (603)

    Speed (230%) - 200 (510)

    Mental (265%) - 926 (2685)

    Will (275%) - 500 (1500)

    Free attribute points: 0

    35 Per Level

    There they were, in full glorious description. Maybe I could do something and tidy it up at some point, but I felt that I was solving an issue by doing this. It felt more important than the action, somehow. With that complete, I finally decided to pull myself from bed. Before, there was a more-than-zero percent chance that Naea would have actually knocked me out and sent me back to bed rest. With my surge of power-

    ¡°Grant!¡± She accused, bursting into the room. ¡°I told you not to mess with anything!¡± Tears were already brimming in her eyes so I just hugged her instead of arguing or answering back.

    ¡°Did you get bigger, little one?¡± I murmured quietly as we swayed slowly in the bedroom. I could feel Naea¡¯s changes, too. They weren¡¯t damaging like mine had been, so I waited until I could talk properly to bring it up. To my magical senses - the connection which bound us - Naea simply felt more. Larger, higher quality of mana, deeper mana pool. I knew she had evolved beyond herself. I had felt it at the time but was distracted with the whole ¡°not dying¡± portion of the plan.

    Naea nodded, her face still buried into my shirt. She sniffled, rubbing her snotty nose into my clothes. ¡°I¡¯m a Dungeon Master fairy now,¡± she said shakily. I refrained from making a joke about her getting nerdier after spending time with me. Instead I asked her what that meant for her. She shrugged. ¡°Just stronger for now. I can move things around inside a dungeon, too.¡±

    I didn¡¯t quite know what extent she meant but we would have to figure it out together at some point. The only thing I needed from Naea was for her to be happy, so I took a walk with her so she could see that I was fine. The house which had been cleared for me was nice, I thought as we walked through it. Quaint and System-touched, but quite nice.

    The room I slept in was small, basically filled with a double bed and nothing else. Naea had been sleeping in a makeshift hammock outside my room like a guard. Her snores were surprisingly loud for her size, but then again so was she. The building reminded me of my grandmother¡¯s home, but without any of the life. The System had taken all of the ornaments and decorations, turning them into raw resources to then be sold back to the planet at cost. Someone, somewhere, was making a fortune off this, I was sure.

    ¡°After we see my family and hopefully get them back to Ascentown, we should find out who monopolises the System store market.¡± Though it might seem random, Naea and I were able to share thoughts. She followed my logic easily because I pushed it right into her head. Although she was clearly trying not to, Naea smirked and began to giggle at me.

    There were two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and I felt guilty about taking what could probably be a family home. The ground floor was a modern, open plan mess but it worked, I supposed. ¡°A bank heist?¡± Naea asked, and I could feel her rummaging around in the old pile of memories which contained scenes from some classic movies. It was an interesting type of conversation, with most of the words shared not actually said aloud. ¡°That could be fun, but do we have to bring other people?¡±

    We left the building into a cloudy afternoon. I was grateful the sun was hiding, as the headache behind my eyes was still potent. ¡°A heist only works if you put as many moving parts into it as possible,¡± I said, nodding my head in a faux wise manner. Naea didn¡¯t argue, though I could feel her playful derision all the same. ¡°I mean, take our very simple job of trying to get to Ireland for example. That somehow ended up requiring completing a whole Elite dungeon.¡±

    ¡°You could have just taken the plane by force, couldn¡¯t you?¡± Before I could reply, Naea held up a hand. ¡°No, no, I don¡¯t want you to become the kind of person who just takes. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re the type of idiot who gets themselves thrown into jail and needs me to save them.¡±

    ¡°You know, I never once got into trouble with the law before I met you. Maybe you¡¯re a bad influence?¡± I winked at the fairy as she gasped with affronted disgust. She began to chase me and for a while, we both forgot where we were. Well, it was more like we didn¡¯t care about making a scene. The area around the Elite dungeon was busy, only a few hundred yards away, and everyone around turned to stare at the pair of us as we played.

    Londimin was still reeling from the trial wave, and I had left them to it. Their problems were not mine to fix. At least, not yet. The choice to take Londimin under the wing of The Ascent was still burning a hole in my pocket. As Naea and I burned through the air, herself with Sparkstep, myself mostly Air Manipulation and strength, I got a look at the state of affairs.

    The buildings near my resting place had been cleared of residents. The morbid truth was that these outskirt buildings were in less demand now that the population of Londimin had been decimated. As we moved, keeping just out of Naea¡¯s reach, I faced the cost of my actions. For her part, the fairy matched any dour feelings I had with positivity. People in the streets and thoroughfares below stared as we flew by, the man being chased by the lightning bolt.

    The metaphor of being so far above the masses was not lost on me, but I didn¡¯t shy away from it either. ¡°You wanna really push it, little fairy? Just how strong did that evolution make you?¡± My taunt worked, not least because Naea could feel the true intentions behind it. Naea stopped, and in the dull grey afternoon, she seemed resplendent. I took a gaze at her new attribute page, and gulped. Her confidence was a little worrying.

    Name - ¡°Naea¡±  Race - Dungeon Master Fairy Level - 71

    Grade - E

    Skills - Invisibility, Mana Control, Sparkstep, Harmony of the Storm, Dungeon Manipulation

    Dao: Fairy Dragon (River)

    Patron: Grant Kaeron (Level 65)

    ¡°Alright, stupid attribute monster. If you think you can keep up.¡±

 Book Two - Chapter Ninety Six - Practice Match

    The spectacle in the sky was met with fright and worry initially, which set Nolan¡¯s teeth on edge. These people had just been through chaos and danger, the sound of fighting in the skies above them was enough to send some people running. It was Grant himself that was the issue to start with. Almost everyone had seen Naea fighting to defend them, so when they saw her light in the sky, they feared the worst. Only when the pair¡¯s infectious laughter fell upon the ears of the onlookers did tensions begin to fall away.

    It took a few moments for Nolan to realise that he was perhaps the most on edge. His own stress was so high because he had become the de facto leader of Londimin overnight. Ultimately, his job was simply to keep things moving but the pressure was quickly getting to him. It was a little similar to being a wartime president or a general given control, Nolan supposed, but he wasn¡¯t enjoying it one bit.

    The gathering crowds were, though. The titters from Naea and the hearty laughs from Grant were having a palpable effect on people. ¡°They¡¯re looking up,¡± Nolan breathed. The city had been downcast, the reality of the System pressing down on them in the days after the trial wave. Their leader, who most thought was untouchable, had turned invalid. The loss of life had been minimal, but their community was still small. Every loss was felt fiercely.

    So, people had begun to shy away from using the System¡¯s bounties. The System stores were entered with a sense of guilt, rather than accomplishment that these rewards had been earned. As the people of Londimin raised their eyes to the sky, something which had been on the verge of breaking solidified. Nolan had no doubt that the pair¡¯s decision to stay above the open land between the city proper and the airport also made Nolan suspect this wasn¡¯t accidental.

    Before his eyes, the crowds gathered. Often the quickest to see an opportunity, the merchants were already busy. With no end to the festivities above in sight, savvy business owners began selling food, furniture and anything else which might accompany the show they were getting. Impromptu restaurants appeared, and Nolan made his way to each, promising them to reimburse their costs if they kept costs low. The city¡¯s treasury could handle any expense if the prize was the soul of its people.

    The speed at which a venue quickly came together was staggering. When people could carry a truck¡¯s worth of materials more easily than keys in their pocket, the possibilities were impressive. More than a few companies had turned this process into a fine art, with Aspect wielders managing teams to construct whatever was needed in hours and not months. The Aspects of Earth, Wood and Metal were especially popular. Even Nolan was tempted to save for the Aspect of Metal which would no doubt improve his combat capabilities, too.

    Then again-

    KRAKA-KRAKOOOOOOM.

    Leaves were scattered from their trees as a wave of force blasted out from the dogfighters above. Nolan had not had the chance to watch Grant in action, but he had been side by side with Naea during the trial wave. The idea that anyone could keep up with the speed she delivered death was astounding. Subconsciously, he had begun to think she was the main force of their duo with Grant providing support. Of course, his completion of the Elite dungeon, which could have been done solo if the debriefing was to be believed, should have smashed those doubts.

    Instead, it was the sight of Grant becoming a being of pure storm above the city of Londimin which broke something in Nolan. It wasn¡¯t something bad, but a limiter he had placed on his ideas. His wife. He needed to find her. He had given up hope but the sight of Grant and Naea truly lighting up the skies showed him that there was no limit to the possibilities. Maisie was out there, surviving and thriving, he just knew it. Which meant that he had to leave.

    Lucy would be happy, Nolan thought with a wry smirk. How would he even go about doing that? Leaving was a nice idea, but looking around himself, the idea of abandoning these people to the wild System was just as horrible as leaving Maisie out there alone. As though they were moths drawn to inflammatory ideas, his daughters appeared. Sarah was beaming like Nolan hadn¡¯t seen in a long time, and he nearly buckled under emotion of it all. Lucy tackled a hug into him which nearly sent them both flying.

    Nolan glared at his eldest daughter with good humour. While Nolan was busy losing his mind trying to keep the city a safe place to live, Lucy had been choosing to eschew safety completely. He had already been forced to get over this betrayal of trust and had long come to terms with the fact it made Lucy and Sarah both safer if Lucy could protect herself. Considering her Fortitude attribute was clearly higher than Nolan¡¯s own, he was impressed she had hidden it for so long.

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    ¡°We¡¯re going to find her, Luce,¡± Nolan promised. Lucy just shrugged and nodded into his chest before pulling away. Nolan¡¯s heart had broken all over again when he realised that his daughter was trying to do just that on her own. The Aspect of the Wolf which she had saved up for and now ran through her magical veins was a clear step towards it, too. It was Nolan who had given up on her. He forgave Grant for being dramatic as he realised it was exactly that energy that was needed to succeed in this new world.

    There were a few sparring rings appearing, where individuals were beginning to test their strength. Those without Aspects were enraptured, while those who had them fought for dominance. Underneath Grant and Naea¡¯s performance, competitiveness was blossoming. Nolan could see most of these structures being made permanent and this area turned into something of a park. That would be nice. He found a place to sit with his girls, got them all some food and drink, and together, hearts slowly filling with hope, they watched the man who saved them all fighting with the fairy that protected them while he did.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    From the whooping and enjoyment which could be heard below, no one had quite worked out how serious Naea and I had become. She had a huge advantage in the air, and I wasn¡¯t willing to give up the attempt. Half of my concentration was simply on staying skywards and mobile. The other half alternated between trying to keep track of the speedy little thing and then landing a hit. So far, an hour or two into the practice, I hadn¡¯t landed a single one.

    To begin with, we had been caught up in our own excitement, delighted to be back together and relieved that the other was safe. It did start as the pair of us being playful. It was hard to say which of us had escalated the situation to full-blown combat but we arrived there all the time. I was hesitant, somewhat afraid to use my newly massively raised power. However, it became clear that wouldn¡¯t be enough to even survive against Naea right now.

    While I was contrite, Naea on the other hand was delighting in punishing me. Like myself, her own use of Dao had continued to evolve. At this point, she was able to control the flow of combat like the river she had claimed Dao from. Even though I was holding back, it was impressive all the same. My attributes had risen higher than Naea¡¯s at this point, we assumed. She didn¡¯t actually get Attributes in the same way, so we couldn¡¯t know for sure. What I did know was how much I had upset her, again. I could feel her anger in every thought, though she tried to keep them all from me where she could. It was the right choice for her to protect the city, but it rankled on her all the same.

    Naea flagged, stumbling in the air as she exhausted her mana reserves. A look passed over her face. She was deciding whether she could stomach stopping the fight at this point. The choice made, her face hardened and our connection went tight as she pulled on it. I smirked at her decision and encouraged Battle Bond to link us further. My mana flowed into Naea, empowering her further. I smiled wider, realising I was currently on the other side of Drain. Normally, it was me getting stronger while my enemy got weaker. However, as my energy flowed over to Naea, her barrier deteriorated and her emotions came through.

    You could have been killed. You made that decision for both of us. You left me behind.

    As my defence grew in strength, and I pushed Naea harder and harder, the truth of her feelings slipped through the cracks in her shielded mind more and more. She took more energy, and I heard her most heartfelt words. We ignited the sky with our abilities, each burst of mana and Dao carrying with it meaning and sentiment. Naea released furious lightshows of multi-coloured beams, the brilliant lights hiding the shadows growing at the centre of our relationship.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, little one.¡± The only message in my Mana Barriers and the Dao I used to fuel them was apology. It was love. Naea would forgive me, because she wasn¡¯t truly angry and I hadn¡¯t done anything wrong. She was just scared. Every frantic, clawing attack shivered with terror¡¯s icy presence. The world below was forgotten as I embraced Naea¡¯s fear and enveloped it with love.

    We survived and are both stronger. We did good. You did good.

    ¡°Stop leaving me behind!¡± Naea shouted, her eyes draconic from the heavy amount of my mana she had taken. Her movements were quicker, and she had a shimmer in her form from the Tempest, but the dragon was more prevalent. I wondered if it was making her more angry, but that seemed like a line of thinking which bordered on problematic. Is it your time of the Dao?

    Although I had tried not to share, my terrible joke found its way down our connection and Naea froze. Then she snorted, calling me a pig and howling with laughter at the same time. ¡°Time of the Dao?¡± She repeated, all of the fight gone in an instant. I was still tense, ready to block her if she came at me again. The sun had crossed the whole sky, and begun to set. No wonder I was panting with exertion, as tired now as I had been after multiple mini-boss fights in the Elite dungeon.

    ¡°It was an intrusive thought,¡± I defended.

    ¡°Imagine how I feel,¡± she retorted, ¡°it literally forced its way into my head.¡± For a quick moment, we just hovered in the air and stared at each other warily. Then, our smiles broke the tension all the more. Naea tackled me and I let myself fall.Tumbling through the air, laughing together, we had said all we needed to. We had shared all that needed to be shared.

    And it was time to look to the future.

 Book Two - Chapter Ninety Seven - Clean/Break

    The next week passed by in a blur. I took what might have been my first true break since the System arrived. The pressure of the trial wave had forged some truly promising individuals within Londimin who were rising from the ashes of the trial wave. Nolan and I hadn¡¯t been able to get much time to talk, as the new position of power took up most of his time. The stagnation of Londimin was over. More and more teams were being created to hunt the nearby monsters, and the progress was good. Nolan¡¯s daughter Lucy was heading up a special contingent, aimed at exploring further afield.

    An important move for the city. Helping the process along, were the most changed by the events of that very long day. The Elite dungeon had released a few monsters of its own. Hassian was an obvious target for such a name, but he had been welcomed to the city¡¯s bosom with open arms. No, it was the humans that I had dragged with me who were making a name for themselves. It shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise, really. At least Callum and Rashid made some sense, but when I saw Larry and Morris giving lessons to others I almost interrupted out of principle.

    However, on listening to their ¡°Tao seminar,¡± I actually felt it might be the right choice. Their information was correct enough, if I was being generous. It had been stressed to me that trying to teach people about the ins-and-outs of how Dao truly worked was impossible, so perhaps this vague and rambling explanation they gave could be considered the best way to share the information. I left them to it, along with their growing number of doe-eyed fans.

    Callum had come out of the Elite dungeon with a Dao, and the effects were clear. He was one of two bright spots I could sense burning in Londimin, the other being Hassian. More would appear soon, I knew. Too many had faced the burgeoning Dao of the higher level monsters and sensed the truth of the world just out of reach. With this many people, if I wasn¡¯t careful, I would be surpassed. For me, the thought was almost a joke, as I couldn¡¯t imagine what someone would have to go through to match my achievements in power at this point. For Callum, and Hassian to a smaller degree, the threat was real.

    Every night, in the newly formed training arena, the pair sparred to the utmost of their abilities. They weren¡¯t gaining levels, but their competency was going through the roof. I had only really ¡°trained¡± in life and death situations, as no one could reasonably keep up with me. It was interesting to see up-close the more measured gains of people who weren¡¯t fighting for survival, but for improvement alone. They challenged me to a two-on-one battle, which I assured them they didn¡¯t want. When the pair essentially begged me with their best attempt at puppy-dog-eyes, I agreed quickly, just to get them to stop.

    The hopeful, fluttering blinks of a child was not something I wanted to see on Hassian¡¯s face again. Unsurprisingly, neither of them forced me to even use Dao of my own. However as a sign of their growth, they did corner me enough to remove a few limiters. I had been consciously restraining myself to half of my Attribute power and using no skills when the pair used what was clearly a practised double team attack. Hassian¡¯s Dao arrived on my shoulders with impressive solidity while Cal seemed to steal some of the weight and add it to his own attack.

    Almost unbidden, the thought errant, my Alternating Armament snaked onto my arm and formed a buckler to bounce the incoming attack away. My skill with the weapon was surprising even to myself at this point, I guessed. If the Armament is out anyway¡­ With no small amount of chagrin at being forced back at all, I quickly ended the fight. The shield became a staff and the pair were whacked into the gentle embrace of unconsciousness in very short order.

    Of course, they considered making me use any of my toolkit a victory for themselves, which was endearing in a way and a little alienating in another. Together, Callum and Hassian would easily dominate the security forces of Londimin. Nolan would need to step in and stop them, and even then, he wouldn¡¯t be able to face either of them alone. Then there was me. If this whole city attacked me at once, they would fail.

    What did that make me..?

    A knowing voice poked through my distracted thoughts, literally appearing in my head as well as in my ear. ¡°Wondering whether to raze the city again?¡± Naea asked, poking my exact anxiety in the perfect way to make me throw it aside. I gave her a withering look, slightly disappointed it didn¡¯t actually drain her at all. I would have to practise with the skill and see if it was possible.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t raze it in the first place,¡± I responded, foolishly taking her seriously. As her mouth split into an evil grin, I rolled my eyes and tuned her out. Something, I found, was increasingly difficult to do. My mental barriers were powerful, a titanium fortress compared to most. Yet, due to her new evolution and our connection, Naea could brush it aside like tissue paper.

    ¡°Mmm, arguable.¡± Naea dropped the subject, having had her fun, but it did increase my troubled thoughts all the same. My presence increased the dangers for the people around me. Steel had said as much, as had the Nomad of the season of death. While I hadn¡¯t actively started the trial wave, the System had essentially used me to create an actual challenge for Londimin, one they couldn¡¯t hide behind their walls from. In some ways-

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Ugh,¡± Naea interrupted, ¡°stop it. It was a joke. You¡¯re too serious. All the time. It¡¯s exhausting being a roommate in your head sometimes, Grant.¡± I frowned, but nodded. It wasn¡¯t simple, to turn your mind from dark thoughts to light ones, but Naea¡¯s helping hand within my very thoughts made it possible. Her suggestion that we find Rashid helped, too. Much like Callum and Hassian, he had been on a warpath of his own.

    The bustling building which had become the headquarters of Rashid¡¯s new business was the same one I had dealt with some bullies in front of when I first arrived. There was a pride in choosing this location which resonated with my Dao. The site of defeat need not always be so. I liked that thought. Entering, people moved out of my way with deference and fear. I tried not to let it dredge up the feeling I had just shaken.

    Rashid¡¯s pressured expression brighten upon seeing the pair of us entering his room. ¡°Oh thank the lord, it¡¯s just you.¡± I smiled happily back at him, very pleased to be just me. Rashid¡¯s office was a busy place visually. Bursts of colour were everywhere, signs of an asian heritage which Rashid still honoured. I bowed to a statue of an elephant headed deity while he finished some paperwork. ¡°To what do I owe this pleasure?¡±

    ¡°Grant was about to lose his mind, so it¡¯s time to leave,¡± Naea announced. Even I was a little shocked by it, but Rashid looked terrified suddenly.

    ¡°No!¡± He shouted, actually putting a hand to his mouth as though the word had leapt out on its own. I raised an eyebrow, surprised he cared overmuch. I would be a great business partner, I was sure, but considering I wasn¡¯t planning to become one anytime soon, his outburst was shocking. He winced and I waited for him to continue, my smirk locked in place. ¡°Must you leave so soon?¡± He asked eventually, having returned to sitting in the chair behind his desk.

    I just shrugged. ¡°Naea¡¯s right. I¡¯ve been here longer than I wanted anyway. This all started because I wanted to charter a plane, essentially.¡± Rashid looked bemused and I could only shrug again. ¡°It¡¯s the only thing that makes sense to try and find my family. Most people aren¡¯t in a position where they can search like I can.¡±

    ¡°You know¡­ it¡¯s been more than a few months at this point¡­¡± Rashid said his words with utmost hesitance, and stopped at Naea¡¯s gesturing behind my back. My Dao descended upon the room, with nothing I could do to stop it because I didn¡¯t want to.

    ¡°That¡¯s a low angle to take, Rashid. What is so important that you thought that was the way to make me stay?¡± I released the pressure as soon as I was able to, to which Rashid gasped and looked at me with fear. I pursed y lips for a second before releasing a pent-up breath. One I had been holding for months, possibly. ¡°I was having a problem walking over here, and I thought it was possible to ignore but it¡¯s not. I like you Rashid, but your opinion doesn''t matter. I didn¡¯t tell you so you can change my actions, I gave you a courtesy. I¡¯m not like the rest of you.¡±

    To accentuate my point, I let my mana run wild, igniting the strange lines and glyphs which hid just under my skin. ¡°I can¡¯t keep paying attention to the petty, low-levelled goings on below me. It¡¯s so easy to feel like these problems are mine to fix, just because I can fix them. Except, then there¡¯s always the next issue, isn¡¯t there?¡± I waved my hands towards the window behind Rashid. He flinched, which I didn¡¯t like, but I continued anyway. ¡°This isn¡¯t even my city, Rashid. There are people who need me, everywhere it seems. This city imprisoned me rather than talk to me. I owe it nothing.¡±

    Rashid seemed to deflate, but he was nodding begrudgingly by the end of my short tirade. I understood Nolan¡¯s plight quite well, though I wondered if it would be easier if I wasn¡¯t standing at the pinnacle of power. I had to be a good example for those who became powerful. It made making my own choices difficult sometimes, but no more. I had done enough for these two bastions of humanity and now the survival was up to them.

    ¡°So, without trying to pressure me, just ask me for the favour as a friend instead?¡± I removed my pressure from the air, allowing Rashid¡¯s eyes to refocus. I could feel Naea¡¯s approval and reminded myself she wasn¡¯t the best arbiter of what was right. However, as I waited for Rashid to collect himself, I saw the issue with myself. It was too easy to get whatever I wanted from other people. At the same time, it also felt much more simple to do things myself.

    After a decent pause and more than a few shudders, Rashid looked me in the eye again. I couldn¡¯t help but be impressed by the strength in his gaze after the brush against my unrestrained Dao. I would have described him as having steel nerves, but I knew well that they were made of more malleable stuff. A flash of silver across the man¡¯s normally dark eyes occurred, the activation of a skill. ¡°I have an ability called Silver Winds. It¡¯s useless in a fight, but you called me a silver tongue and you¡¯re not wrong. The skill doesn¡¯t tell me what to say, but it lets me know when I can get more out of a situation. It¡¯s been very helpful in the last week.¡±

    My eyebrows rose. There were skills like that? Mine were all a little more¡­ simple? I cleared my throat. ¡°I can see that. I thought it was all just the rugged confidence of spending time with your¡¯s truly.¡± Naea gave the back of my head a jab and I nearly smacked the table with my face. ¡°Naea, too. She¡¯s been here.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Naea nodded, ¡°I have been. What are you trying to get out of us, mister merchantman?¡±

    With a look of relief on his face, Rashid shook his head and smiled. ¡°Not for me. The ability is potent, but there¡¯s also a glaring issue. Grant and yourself. It¡¯s like the System is begging me to wring you for all your amazing potential. An hour with you is more valuable than a month of trading, you understand? But no, I can ignore that. The Silver Winds are telling me that you can still get much value from this city.¡±

    I groaned, not bothering to hold it back. I just wanted to be done with this place, which had drawn me in for far longer than I planned. ¡°Does your ability come with any hints? Generally I expect I can get whatever value I want from wherever I want at this point.¡± I didn¡¯t see any point beating around the bush. If I wanted to take something from Londimin, I would have already taken it. Well, except for¡­

    Faction Absorption

    By defeating the leader of another faction in single combat, and due to there being no laws governing the land, you may now take control of that faction. The faction, Londimin, will be subsumed into The Ascent.

    Would you like to absorb the faction?

    I groaned again, thanked Rashid while apologising at the same time, and went to find Nolan. It was time to get a plane, and if it took me and The Ascent taking over the whole city in full, then that¡¯s what I would do. It was time to be finished with this whole, strange detour.

 Book Two - Chapter Ninety Eight - By Our Powers Combined

    Nolan walked alongside the most powerful man on planet Earth. The very air itself seemed to not just follow his commands, but accentuate his presence. It was a daunting feeling, and one which was becoming more understood by the day. Dao. Along with mana, it was this strange energy which allowed Grant to move with such purpose. There were others in the city beginning to move like that themselves.

    The older man looked at his hand, flexing his fingers and enjoying the feeling of his strength. His Fortitude attribute was high, and the strength to crush stones went into making his fist. He could punch through a metal door with a single blow. In a few months, he was faster and stronger than anyone on Earth had been before the Shift.

    It wasn¡¯t enough to protect anyone.

    The world was more dangerous than ever before. Nolan¡¯s level of strength was not the cap, it was the bare minimum. Yet, even knowing that, it didn¡¯t change the fact that he could not progress in levels. He was stuck as a Grade 0 until he figured out the weird, poetic nonsense that others kept suggesting. Lost in thought, it was only when Grant stopped walking and repeated himself that Nolan broke from the reverie.

    ¡°Do you need help, Nolan?¡± The young man asked, kindness in his voice. Nolan looked Grant in the eyes, something he found increasingly difficult to do. First, he had failed Grant by letting the situation in the city become so competitive. There hadn¡¯t been a lot he could have done, but he saw his own shortcomings clearly. Second, the strange magics that were affecting the world seemed to be focused to their sharpest point in Grant¡¯s multi-hued eyes.

    ¡°What would help from yourself even look like at this point?¡± Nolan asked, helplessly. It wouldn¡¯t be unfair to say that Grant had saved the city. From what the survivors of the Elite dungeon had told him, even getting to the first safe room was nearly impossible. Grant had taken on the whole damn thing. Didn¡¯t that mean he was more dangerous than the dungeon?

    Grant¡¯s face broke into an easy smile, and the humanity of it was disarming. Their journey to the airport continued as they spoke, the pair walking along an empty motorway. Grant threw his arms open, as though he were embracing the world. ¡°I¡¯ve been in two minds about this place. Its people are rougher than those I first met, mostly because of the city itself, I think. It kept you all feeling like things were going back to normal. Did you know that I have a mansion built by the System?¡±

    Nolan stopped walking, looking at the strange youth with the red hair. With a high quality, buttoned-up shirt, his pale blue and loose trousers which fed into the black boots at his feet and gloves of the same colour, he would have looked bizarre before the Shift. Nolan saw these eccentricities in a different light, now.

    The older man thought of the housing issues in Londimin which meant he shared a small apartment with his two daughters. Of course Grant had a magical mansion which he had left behind. That was what it meant to live in the System. The bounds humanity had placed itself under with rent and debts and grudges didn¡¯t need to exist anymore. It was every man and woman for themselves after the world fell apart, yet with his strength Grant could give of himself constantly.

    He had embraced the System and been embraced by it in turn. What had Londimin given Grant except problems? Well, Nolan conceded, I am giving him an aeroplane. The transaction was as haughty for the old world as possible, but Nolan just felt that oddness creeping back up on him. He was giving a plane to a man who could easily be described as a wizard. A dragon wizard, even.

    Realising he had frozen for a few moments, Nolan chuckled and began walking again. ¡°A mansion and a private jet? I guess you are basically the only celebrity around these days.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a grim thought.¡±

    ¡°Is it wrong?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Grant sighed. ¡°That honestly explains what I was going to suggest quite well. I am pretty well known at this point, and that¡¯s only going to get more noticeable. I don¡¯t know exactly how the System will mess with us next, but I do know things are just getting started.¡± Grant flicked open a System prompt and showed it to Nolan. Grant had done this before, but it was just another way in which he felt like a member of a different world to Nolan. Controlling the System in any way was a step beyond himself.

    ¡°You¡­¡± Nolan frowned in thought, ¡°you want to become the leader of Londimin?¡±

    Grant¡¯s eyes widened in fright. ¡°No. No, no, no, god no. I¡¯m terrible at it. Maybe one day it would make sense, but right now it just doesn¡¯t. This would be more like coming under my banner. I¡¯m truly not sure what effects this will have further down the line but it should make the coming days and months easier.¡± Grant took a deep breath and turned, pointing. ¡°That way are my towns. I can feel them like a compass pointer. There are strong people there. Londimin joining The Ascent should help with making contact, if nothing else.¡±

    ¡°The Ascent?¡± Nolan asked, causing Grant to falter a little. He scratched the back of his head and to Nolan, he had rarely looked more his age. The boy couldn¡¯t be more than twenty five, could he?

    ¡°Uh, it¡¯s dumb but it was basically just the first thing that came to mind which worked for a guild name. The System is a climb, so¡­ The Ascent.¡± With Grant looking away from Nolan shyly, Nolan caught the eye of Naea. The image of his daughter¡¯s smiling face as the fairy played with her flashed before his eyes.

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Do it.¡± Nolan¡¯s voice was firm and sure. Grant looked at him for confirmation and Nolan nodded. Before he met Grant, his family was surviving the apocalypse but fracturing in different ways. The events of the trial wave were frightening, but they had ignited the stagnant lives of those who survived. It was Grant and Naea who had created that, within days of being in the city. Nolan could only imagine what the place founded by the man was like, and he was excited to see it. Lucy would be over the moon, no pun intended.

    Grant smiled and there was a ripple in the air. The world around them for miles seemed to release a held breath. ¡°Do you feel that?¡± Nolan asked, exhilarated all of a sudden. Grant had his eyes closed, and mana visibly danced around him. It was Naea who answered instead.

    ¡°Oh yeah, we feel it. That¡¯s the building blocks of the System running through the world to accept the arrangement between your cities. Lots of people to bind together. Oh,¡± Naea held up her hands as worry crept into Nolan¡¯s expression, ¡°nothing like that. Just tiny threads of destiny connecting you to Grant. You make similar links by shaking someone¡¯s hand, to give you some perspective. It¡¯s just that with Grant¡­ the handshake is pretty firm?¡±

    ¡°You seem different,¡± Nolan said simply, his fears assuaged. He didn¡¯t follow her meaning very well, but if she said it was okay, he trusted her. Having fought alongside her for the lives of his children, watching her fly into true danger to protect the people of the city, there was a bond there, too. Naea seemed to fluff up happily at his words, to which Nolan smiled as though he meant to compliment her from the start.

    ¡°I¡¯m a Dungeon Master Fairy now, puny mortal,¡± she giggled.

    ¡°It¡¯s done,¡± Grant said, his voice breathy. He took a step and his feet seemed to betray him, causing the younger man to fall forward. Nolan flinched, jumping forward and trying to catch him before he hit the ground, but Grant¡¯s falling motion turned mystical as he was caught by the wind itself and simply floated upwards instead. He hadn¡¯t slipped, he just decided not to walk anymore, and the strangeness of the movement threw Nolan off.

    Nolan doubted he would ever become used to the new world like that. The best he could do was survive within it and make it easier for his daughters to find satisfying lives within the System¡¯s seemingly endless bounds. It was a confusing set of desires. ¡°So, we¡¯re officially a vassal of the great Grant Kaeron now? Are you my liege lord?¡±

    Grant had a look of surprised excitement as Nolan referenced a popular television show he had seen. He could already see the young man getting carried away with the thought. Naea gave Nolan a light slap on the arm. It was like being clipped by a rushing ¡°Now look what you¡¯ve done, he¡¯ll be wondering about that for days now. For the record¡­ yes. We are your lieges now.¡±

    Nolan felt some tension slip away. It had only been him holding it, but joking with these two no longer felt forced. Without any more important conversation, their small group arrived at the airport. The guards on duty threw up hasty, unprepared salutes and they walked through the checkpoint. ¡°At ease,¡± Nolan told them. Then he rolled his eyes at the faux judgement of Grant and Naea. ¡°Oh stop, the military words and actions make them feel more official.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir, General Fair.¡± As one, Grant and Naea answered and saluted together. The older man just grunted and pushed past them, leading them to the already prepared hangar. It was a surreal moment to see Grant in his magical System attire start to perform flight checks. Part of the delay in leaving was that Grant needed to actually learn how to fly the plane. He assured Nolan that he was ready, and there was little Nolan could do to prove otherwise except letting him fly.

    The aircraft had naturally been grounded once everything changed. With most things like food and furniture vanishing, it had been a surprise to find the planes intact and whole. Luckily, one of Seth¡¯s few smart moves was securing the place for future use. The plan had been to find civilisation once their own safety was set. Of course, they had since learned that they were civilisation as far as the world cared.

    No, Nolan knew that this was realistically one of the only uses left for these vehicles. As dangerous as the world was, no one had braved the skies since the change. It was more than likely Grant would meet serious dangers as he tried to find his family. The thought filled Nolan with a small dread and a lot of admiration. He was doing what Nolan wished he had the power to do. He would not burden Grant with the task of finding Maisie. Nolan had convinced himself that she was alive, but she could be truly anywhere in the world.

    ¡°By the way, I opened up a line of communication back to my cities.¡± Grant winced as he said this, as though the act left a bad taste in his mouth. He turned to Nolan, away from the engine he was checking. ¡°There¡¯s no one called Maisie there but they¡¯ve apparently made contact with some other settlements in the area and are looking.¡±

    Nolan¡¯s mouth opened and closed a few times, trying hard to start a sentence. Emotion began to bubble inside, and he shoved it down with a joke. ¡°You can¡¯t read minds, can you?¡± Nolan asked, half-serious.

    ¡°No, you just have talkative kids who aren¡¯t as scared to ask for favours as you are. Speaking of my liaison back home, they gave me this but I don¡¯t want it. Do you?¡± Outstretched in Grant¡¯s hand was an Aspect, one which Nolan actually recognised. The reflective surface of the orb danced with striations that appeared and faded at random. Nolan decided not to look down on the gift and accepted it with humility.

    ¡°I can¡¯t pay you back-¡±

    Grant held up a hand. ¡°Just¡­ survive. The System has taken so much, and we have to hold onto hope that we can get some of it back. The only way to do that is to live long enough, and become strong enough, to take from the world. You look after the people at my back, Nolan Fair, and I swear we¡¯ll find your wife one day.¡±

    Nolan looked at the man before him and was almost bowled over by the respect he felt. His promise wasn¡¯t binding, Nolan wouldn¡¯t hold him to that. There was no telling what had happened to anyone else, but he would do as Grant said. He would endure, he would grow strong and he would challenge this world just as Grant had. With a nod, he absorbed the Aspect of Metal.

    Skill Unlocked - Metal Manipulation

    Malleable for some, unyielding for others. For you, whatever you wish.

    ¡°Oh?¡± He said as the magic took hold. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s that simple?¡± There was a creaking in the massive room as the metallic walls seemed to compress inwards for a moment. As a deep understanding of metals began to flow into Nolan¡¯s mind, the sensation at the edge of his periphery came into full sight.

    ¡°Bend, but never break.¡±

    Aspect of Metal evolved to Dao Pool of Metal

    Dao Pool - Metal

    The heart of a star. The core of a world. The central pillar of You. Be forged anew by the trials before you and temper yourself against the coming storm.

    Effect: Fortitude +50, Will +30, Fortitude Attribute +15%, Will Attribute +5%

    Grant and Naea clapped happily as Nolan fell to the ground, senses confused by the attribute jump and the feeling of Dao permeating his every breath and movement. He could feel every piece of metal around him. The complexity of the aeroplane was laid bare to him and it was hard to focus on anything else. It was a lot to take in. The main emotion in his heart was success.

    He had done it. This strange boy had arrived and changed everything, and now he had allowed Nolan to break through the barrier that scared him most. Every barrier that he thought existed had been smashed to pieces by their innocent strength, something they now shared with him. He gave up on holding back emotion and pushed himself up to grab both Grant and Naea in a big embrace. ¡°Thank you,¡± he softly sobbed, ¡°thank you.¡±

    Grant patted his back and fell into the hug a little himself. It was nice. ¡°You¡¯re welcome, Nolan. Let¡¯s save the world, bit by bit. Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± The man agreed.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Naea shouted, ruining the moment.

 Book Two - Chapter Ninety Nine - The End, Again

    The birth of Nolan¡¯s Dao was worthy of celebration, and one more night in Londimin because of it. The plan was to leave early in the morning while the sun would be at our back. It was a fairly flimsy reasoning but the sun had been setting when the checks for the plane were finished and a party had already begun in the airport. It would have been rude to leave.

    In truth, Grant wanted to say goodbye to his new friends.

    The System is brutal. It takes, and there was a good chance he would never seen any of these people alive again. The thought was calm and calculated, not panicky. He embraced it, and let it fuel his good humour instead. Every night could be their last, so he made it count. He laughed, he drank, he even flirted a little with an older woman who kept tickling him with ice created by her Aspect. It was a fun evening, unmarred by the fears of the outside world or what was to come.

    Larry and Morris had been quickly eclipsed in strength by others as a few Dao users started appearing in Londimin. Their strange training courses were increasingly popular regardless, as it was from their teachings that those who could grasp the Dao did so. I remained bemused at the whole thing. There seemed to be no issues with the people¡¯s actual strength, though. I had half-expected those coming out of the lessons to have some misshapen energies, some malady passed from teacher to student, but there were none. Even Naea was begrudgingly impressed with their progress, comparing them constantly to Fledglings in an increasingly complimentary way.

    I had worried a little that I would need to look after Hassian, but it was Cal who took the man under his wing. The two spent most of their time together, a strange competitiveness blossoming into new growth for the pair of them. The combination of Balance and Pressure was potent in the few times I had sparred with them. I wondered at how their paths would progress, with the two of them entwining their styles around each other. I was a little dense to these things sometimes, but even I was able to see that strength wasn¡¯t all which was blossoming between the two men.

    I said nothing, keeping my thoughts on the matter to myself. ¡°But¡­¡± Naea had said, distraught when I told her of their relationship, ¡°but what about all of those sharp teeth?¡± I had no answer and just hoped the two were making it work in whatever uncomfortable way they did. It was agreed that the two would be part of the first group which moved to create diplomacy and trade routes with The Ascent. Rashid was extremely excited to be going with them, planning to be the first merchant to set up franchises in this new System world.

    Nolan was drinking away his nerves about the subject. The man himself was remaining in Londimin for a multitude of reasons, not least of all was Sarah. While he wanted to find his wife, it did no good if she had no home to return to. So, it was left to the eldest daughter. I had been surprised to learn the wolf girl I had talked to in the forest before ever coming to Londimin was Nolan¡¯s daughter, but I didn¡¯t overthink it. The world was both larger and smaller than it once was. If anything it made me hopeful for the fate of Nolan¡¯s wife and my own family.

    The party was loud, long and lovely. People with Aspects of Electricity powered musical equipment, which I quickly found I could not do when I tried to push Tempest mana through the guitar someone gave me. It played for a strum or two before blowing out the speaker, and I was angrily pushed away from anything delicate. It was in the quiet shadows while everyone else revelled that I had my biggest surprise of the night.

    ¡°Can we speak?¡± I almost jumped out of my skin. Due to the rising strength of the town, I kept my perception tight to myself. Otherwise, I would end up seeing and hearing all kinds of things I didn¡¯t want to, my attributes and skills were just too powerful to be around weaker people. I turned and saw a feeble looking Seth leaning against a tree. ¡°Please?¡± He added.

    So, we did. He told me of how his journey in the System started, of an alien called Titus which had gifted him Aspects and magical items along with levels. Seth¡¯s beginning was not terribly unlike my own, with the exception of the dungeon I was locked in. It didn¡¯t create camaraderie, but at least I felt I understood some of the pressures on the kid now. He really was just a kid. With the strength from killing the Nomad, he made the town save more lives than he ruined. Seth¡¯s actions were, ultimately, forgivable. So I did.

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    I did not expect him to do the same, however. ¡°Thank you,¡± Seth said, a look of surprise on his face. Then he shook his head clear of a doubt and looked me in the eye. ¡°Seriously. Thank you. The Aspects I have are powerful but they are like anchors. Once I turned them into a class¡­ It was like I could barely think for myself.¡± He shivered at the thought.

    I almost didn¡¯t want to know, but I had to ask. ¡°What happened to the class? What even was it?¡± I had avoided Seth until now, easily able to convince myself he had nothing to say to me. Except, in many ways Seth was the person on Earth who might understand me the most. In his eyes, I saw the fearful doubt which rested in my own heart.

    ¡°I had the Aspect of the Hero from Titus, and quest rewards gave me Fate, Inevitability and Recovery. Fate¡¯s Marshall,¡± Seth laughed with a racking cough attached. ¡°You really did a number on me. So did the System. Except where you broke something, it turned me into a puppet. I could think, but every time I tried to act I just moved in a different way. It was terrifying. Once you shattered the class, I could think again.¡±

    Destroying Seth¡¯s connection to the Aspect of Inevitability was something I hadn¡¯t let myself think about much. I had been quick and simple, crippling the man. Or, so I had thought. ¡°You¡¯re not carrying a torch of revenge and hiding it until the moment is right, are you?¡±

    Seth snorted, pushing himself from the tree and groaning. He flashed a winning smile before wincing as weight shifted in his still-damage back. ¡°No, nothing like that. Revenge isn¡¯t really for me. I¡¯m a hero, remember?¡±

    ¡°That remains to be seen,¡± I warned gently. Seth just nodded and left. I watched him limp away. He would recover the strength I took from him. Hopefully that wouldn¡¯t be a problem in the future. In any case, my soul felt a little lighter, for which I was grateful. As a bookend to my time here, it felt appropriate. With that in mind, Naea and I slipped away.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to say goodbye to anyone? I thought that¡¯s why we stayed this long.¡± Naea asked, not bothered herself in the slightest. We had been ready to leave for days at this point.

    ¡°Nah, I realise now that I''ve been saying goodbye to these people for days now. Let¡¯s just get out of here. I got everything I needed.¡± I did take one last look at the revelry I was leaving behind. The bonfires were blazing, casting the shadows of dancers about at strange angles. ¡°I¡¯ve done some good here, I think. We have.¡±

    ¡°Of course you did, Grant,¡± Naea¡¯s voice was chiding. Our connection opened a little wider and I saw myself through her eyes. Stopping those men from killing Rashid on the first day. Rushing into the Elite dungeon without a second¡¯s thought once the actions of the town came back to bite them. To Naea, it would have made sense to leave right there and make them regret their actions. Except, I hadn¡¯t done that. I had saved them all. ¡°Stop overthinking things. There were no parties here before you came.¡±

    It was as simple as that, wasn¡¯t it? The System had taken so much from these people they didn¡¯t know how to get any of it back. I had, at least, shown them it was possible to do more. That would be enough for others to take up the reins later, right? I nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Flying a plane was surprisingly easy once it got in the air. The fact that Grant and Nolan could literally pick up the relatively small private jet helped a lot. Air Manipulation took a lot of the challenge out of handling the plane. I wasn¡¯t confident I could pick us up if we began to nose-dive, but I was pretty sure I knew what I was doing. ¡°We can always jump out if we need to,¡± I suggested to a blank look from Naea. ¡°It¡¯d be fun! Like skydiving!¡±

    ¡°And if you crash the plane, how do you plan on getting back to Ascentown?¡± Naea asked, a rare voice of reason. I thought of the places I had left behind.The Ascent, now three town strong. I wondered how the others were doing, but not enough to open up the line with Steel yet. I would soon, but not yet. For now, the people whose lives I had touched would have to carry on without me. Though, if I crashed the plane, they might have to carry on for too long.

    I frowned, recalibrating my landing plans. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine. Keep an eye out for good areas to land once we get past the water, though.¡± Naea grunted an affirmation and we both tried to relax. There was little else to do. Before long, while I was still remaining vigilant for aerial threats, Naea began to snore. I smiled and closed the door, quieting her buzzsaw sleeping noises. It was going to be a long flight.

    They would be safe, because while I got lucky, they were strong to begin with. There were greater dangers coming for our world, and I had no doubt that I could face them with the allies I had begun to gather and those that would come. I would keep growing in power and dragging others along with me where I could. The waters of what used to be the Irish Sea stretched out below me as we finally left the landmass behind. It was going to be an interesting, and hopefully easy journey. At the end of it¡­

    I would find my family.

    END OF BOOK TWO

 Updates!

    So! Two books written in this series and what''s next? Well...

    I have been working. I''ve been rewriting book one and collecting it into something more cohesive, or at least trying to...

    170k words last check for Forged Anew. Still Grant, but quite different. Still way too descriptive but for some people, that''s a good thing. It needs a lot of editing before I''m confident with releasing it though, so I''ll see how the land lies when the manuscript is complete. (Should be finished in the next week or two)

    The reviews, comments and experience of posting on Royalroad for an extended period of time have all been really helpful in evolving my writing and helping me level up. With that said, the pace of release for both books was pretty storming. 5 Chapters a week isn''t necessarily sustainable in the long term.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    So, I''m still figuring out how the next release comes your way.

    But it will, in one form or another.

    To my patreon subscribers - I''ve made a post over there (and released a whole extra book actually) but if those have been missed somehow just know: I could not be more grateful to the people who are supporting me. I am sometimes trapped by a perfectionist need to make the things I present perfect and that comes with its own issues which I''m trying to overcome. If you continue to stick around while I figure it out, I swear I''ll do everything I can to make it worth your patience.

    Thanks everyone, speak again soon.

 Forged Anew - Chapter One - The Shift

    <h2>Chapter One - The Shift</h2>

    The sleepy English town of Thistledon was in its biannual state of excitement. Wrapped like a wreath around the university at its core, the area was home to lots of promising young individuals, and today was graduation day. The economical lifeblood of the area was in the matriculation of these pupils, the population made up of students and those who worked for the school.

    And I was late, of course.

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re ready this time?¡± I ignored the question¡¯s patronising slant. Of course, I was ready. I had been ready before I realised that I had forgotten my student identification at home. Five years at the place and they still wouldn¡¯t let me in the gate if I didn¡¯t show the card. Holding back a retort, I nodded instead. Jamie shook her head. ¡°I know you¡¯re in the middle of the list, but as a Baker, I need to be there early.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they would stop the whole thing until you arrived. Aren¡¯t you, like, a guest of honour?¡± I half-joked. It was true that the Bakers were essentially celebrities around here. ¡°There hasn¡¯t been a single Baker who graduated from St Gerrard¡¯s who hasn¡¯t changed the world,¡± I parrotted a line her father said more than once in my presence. I enjoyed the shiver of discomfort that went through my best friend.

    ¡°You sound so much like him, I hate it.¡± Jamie frowned and I flashed her a winning smile. The walk from my student accommodation to the university was done quickest through the park which separated the two complexes. We passed a few locals, and I was tempted to stop in the caf¨¦ but a glare from Jamie made me rethink. We were pushing it fairly close.

    ¡°Cutting it close,¡± Darren said, the guard on the gate smiling as we approached. If I never saw the pig-eyed man again it would be too soon. ¡°Got your Identification this time, Grant?¡± He asked in a sickly sweet tone.

    Yeah, because the stupid robes and the fact you know me by name isn¡¯t enough. I glared at him as I produced the plastic card. Jamie beside me didn¡¯t bother and wasn¡¯t asked for her¡¯s, something I didn¡¯t point out. The world was unfair in a million different ways, and highlighting them all would be useless.

    We weren¡¯t the last to arrive, but it was a close thing. Joining the back of the ushered group, we were pushed into the main presentation hall of St Gerrard¡¯s University. There was a strange coppery taste in the air here, like I had a cut on my tongue. The room was too silent to complain, or so Jamie¡¯s glare told me. So, I just took my seat and waited for my turn like a good boy.

    The procession of excited faces went past, each getting a handshake and their diploma. A name was called, a smattering of applause was sounded and then they walked to the side until the end. It wasn¡¯t like I wasn¡¯t happy or proud of myself, I just couldn¡¯t muster the energy to smile about earning this. It was my reward for working myself to the bone for years, not a gift being given. My thoughts turned just venomous enough that I chastised myself. Calm down, my inner monologue soothed, you knew it was going to be like this.

    Lonely, despite the crowd. I didn¡¯t bother looking into the sea of waiting familial faces to see if any matched my own. I¡¯d have seen the bright orange-red hair already if they were here. Unwilling to be dragged further down, I forced myself to feel relieved that my family weren¡¯t here. One less stress to deal with, I supposed.

    ¡°Grant Kaeron.¡±

    Trapped in my own thoughts, I didn¡¯t start moving for a moment. A nudge to my back jump started my motion and with mechanical steps I crossed the stage to where the dean was holding my diploma ready. That coppery taste became sharper and I stopped. Something felt wrong. From the confused look on the dean¡¯s face, the only thing wrong was myself. Except-

    ¡°Thirty.¡±

    Deep and sonorous, a voice boomed in my head. I was glad to be looking at a sea of faces who likewise winced, or I would have thought it was just me. I blinked, swallowing down that terrible taste and beginning to move. ¡°Ah! Excuse me! Mr Kaeron?¡± The dean, bless her heart, was still trying to give me my certificate. I walked straight off the stage instead, landing with a spring and moving quickly.

    Something seriously bad was happening. Even as the voice appeared again, causing screams of panic in the hall, I was moving. There would be a crush. When I found my target, I grabbed her by the wrist and started running. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Jamie shouted over the noise. I didn¡¯t really care about anyone else here, but making sure she didn¡¯t get stampeded over was an easy enough priority to deal with.

    ¡°Just trust me,¡± I shouted back. There was an uproar and confusion, but we were already out of the hall when the third announcement came. ¡°A bit shorter than a minute? What¡¯s it counting down to?¡±

    ¡°Twenty Eight.¡±

    ¡°Will you stop?¡± Jamie ripped her hand from my grip, rubbing her wrist. ¡°What¡¯s going on, Grant?¡± I didn¡¯t let us stop moving, gesturing for her to follow which she did, thankfully.

    ¡°Uhh, as far as I can tell, we¡¯re all hearing a countdown in our heads?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m hearing it, too,¡± Jamie huffed, ¡°but what is it?¡± I stopped at the gates of the university. There were the beginnings of chaos already. These next twenty minutes were going to get dangerous.

    ¡°We need to find somewhere safe, somewhere people aren¡¯t going to go crazy.¡± My mind was racing. Was my apartment even good enough at this point? There wasn¡¯t much food there and it was on the ground floor, so it wasn¡¯t particularly protected. Every fibre of my being was telling me that something world-changing was happening, and not in a good way.

    ¡°I need to get home,¡± Jamie whispered. My heart sank. Home for Jamie was in the middle of London, which we were on the outskirts of. An argument began to form in my mouth but she whipped around on me like she heard my thoughts. Jamie¡¯s stature wasn¡¯t anything impressive, average height for a woman her age, with the light brown eyes and blonde hair of her Spanish ancestry. Still, I would never choose to outright argue with her.

    Not when the fire in her eyes was ignited.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I nodded. A few people were power walking past us, flinching at the sky as the voice sounded out again. ¡°Okay. Okay, we can do that but let¡¯s wait until this countdown-¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not your job, Grant.¡± Jamie¡¯s intense eyes were aimed right at me, and they were¡­ angry? ¡°It¡¯s not. You don¡¯t have to make everything perfect for everyone else without doing anything for yourself.¡± I was a little stunned, and had no response while Jamie pulled her phone out. She then growled in anger and put it back in her bag. ¡°No signal. You?¡±

    Shaken from the shock by the question, I produced my mobile phone. Same issue. ¡°Have the providers gone down?¡± I wondered aloud. Looking up, Jamie was walking away from me in the direction of her home. ¡°Hey, wait a minute!¡±

    ¡°Twenty Six.¡±

    Jamie turned around and she had been about to say something when the voice spoke over her, so she waited a moment before trying again. ¡°No, Grant. I¡¯m always waiting for you. There¡¯s always another angle to think about, but not right now. This is serious, and I need to find my family. It¡¯s not my fault that your¡¯s don¡¯t matter to you.¡± With that stinging jab, she turned away again and kept walking.

    I had no retort, and the grumpy frustration I had been feeling all day bubbled over into outright anger. ¡°Fuck you, then.¡± I muttered, turning the other way and heading towards my accommodation. I would collect my things and go into the woods if I had to. I knew that people were the danger when the unexpected happened, so I wanted to avoid them if I could.

    Frustration had me lost in my own thoughts until I was leaving my accommodation. The place was small, and I had never really made it mine. Sentimentality wasn¡¯t really my strong suit, so I ended up preferring a minimalistic aesthetic. The voice was intoning that we had reached ¡°Nineteen,¡± when I was coming out of the door.

    Looking frazzled and confused, not far from my front door, was an elderly woman. I had seen her around and I approached her as I struggled to remember her name. She was blind as a bat, so I coughed as I got closer. ¡°Mrs¡­ Naebol?¡± It came to me as I said it. It¡¯s not your job, Grant. I rebelled against Jamie¡¯s selfish words as I decided I would help her. ¡°Can I help you get somewhere safe?¡±

    I touched her shoulder gently as I spoke up. With a surprisingly solid grip, she grabbed my wrist. ¡°You¡¯re that Kaeron boy, aren¡¯t you?¡± I didn¡¯t struggle against her cold grasp for fear of doing damage. I was fairly sure Mrs Naebol was as old as the original sin, and any sharp movement might snap her in two. It made things easier that she recognised my voice.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. Grant Kaeron, will you walk with me? It¡¯s not safe here.¡± It wasn¡¯t safe anywhere, really. I could hear sirens in the distance, which was impressive really. If everyone was hearing this countdown, anyone still working was a hero, especially when it put them in harm¡¯s way. The old woman shook her head, her tight net of grey hair wobbling slightly.

    ¡°I knew this would happen,¡± she tutted again. I began walking with hope that she would move, which she did. She wasn¡¯t letting go and I couldn¡¯t blame her. Blind, quiet and tiny, what chance did she have if the world fell apart and no one helped her? I would grab the first person I could, too. She nodded and I flinched as the voice boomed again.

    Eighteen.

    ¡°Jesus chr-ikey. Crikey.¡± I frowned, looking skywards. I wasn¡¯t religious but it was probably not the best time to be throwing around names in vain. I couldn¡¯t help thinking of home, which I shut down quickly. The rolling hills of Ireland would be waiting for me after all this chaos, I was sure. ¡°Are you hearing that, Mrs Naebol? Let¡¯s get somewhere warm.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t consciously say what drew me towards the caf¨¦ in the park. Petulance maybe, because I had wanted to go earlier and was told no. The strange voice in the sky had sounded two more times as we slowly made our way there. Pushing the door open, everyone in the room seemed to flinch at once. ¡°Sorry,¡± I winced. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    Clive¡¯s, once owned by the man himself, was now run by Sandra, his widow. I didn¡¯t need to do any explaining as she came flapping over and collected Mrs Naebol. Clive had passed away a few years ago, but the name of the business stuck. Like a mother hen, Sandra covered the elderly woman with her shawl. She released me and I turned for the not yet closed door behind me.

    ¡°Fifteen. Integration Initiated.¡±

    Like it had been closed by a giant, the door flew back and I was launched away with the force. I had just enough time to react to throw my left hand behind my head as cover. I bounced angrily around the room, scattering some empty chairs and tables as I collapsed in an agonised heap. I proved myself conscious by stringing together an impressive line of expletives. People began to crowd me, which only made me want to scream even more.

    ¡°Hey. Hey, listen to me. Kid, look at me.¡± Following the voice, I forced my eyes to focus and met the man¡¯s gaze. Watery blue orbs sitting underneath bushy silver eyebrows and above a bulbous nose. Everything hurt but I tried to pay attention. He began asking questions that seemed irrelevant, but as no one was stopping him, it must have been the right thing to do. Did I go to the university? Yup. Had I tried the sandwiches on sale here? Most lunchtimes I got free, yes sir. Could I take a deep breath? Well, sure, watch.

    ¡°Fourteen.¡±

    I howled as the man yanked my shoulder down and back into its socket. It was as though he pulled my conscious mind with it, the new pain blasting away the fog and confusion caused by the door. ¡°What happened?¡± I asked, trying to get to my feet. Pain shot through my torso and I hissed and lay back down to gasp.

    ¡°That¡¯ll hurt for a while.¡± The man who relocated my arm patted my chest. I had seen him over the years I lived in the area. He was a plumber, I believed, though we had never had any reason to interact before. He stood, dusting off his paint-marked jeans and extended a hand which felt like he was taunting me. Did he had to reach for my damaged side? I took it regardless, ignoring the razor blades in my back as he hauled me to my feet.

    Now it was my turn to look at the door with accusation, glaring daggers at it while asking ¡°what the fuck is going on?¡± Though I basically whispered the question to myself, Sandra¡¯s head snapped my way so hard her earrings clattered loudly. I smothered an eye roll and turned an apologetic expression her way before gesturing my head to my shoulder for sympathy. It worked and she continued fussing over the elderly woman, handing her a cup of tea.

    ¡°Thirteen.¡±

    The combination of pain, confusion and a slowly rising claustrophobia got the better of me and I kicked at the door. It did open an inch, which is a lot less than I would have expected. The retaliation was swift, and I was launched back into the caf¨¦ once more, tumbling and cursing again as my shoulder lanced with pain. More than a few people were openly looking at me with outright anger at this point. ¡°Oh, whatever,¡± I couldn¡¯t pretend to care about their opinion, ¡°it¡¯s not like you were just having a nice lunch before I came in.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right,¡± a woman with glasses agreed, panic clear in her voice. ¡°What are we doing here?¡± I stopped short of nodding with her, as others moved to try and calm her down. Except in doing so they crowded the scared woman. She lifted her laptop high over her head, threatening to hit anyone who came close. ¡°Get away from me!¡±

    If anyone had been approaching, they weren¡¯t anymore. ¡°It¡¯s alright, darling, no need to get all crazy.¡± The man who had fixed my shoulder was now taking charge of this situation, but where help me required fast action, the current situation required not talking down to a panicked woman with slightly misogynistic language. A target the fearless leader in the room widely missed. Glasses Woman looked infuriated by this.

    ¡°Me? Crazy? That boy¡¯s the only one doing anything! The rest of you are the crazy ones.¡± I shrank into the seat next to Mrs Naebol shaking my head as though to say don¡¯t drag me into this, crazy lady. Mrs Naebol next to me downed her cup of tea like a shot of whiskey.

    ¡°Twelve.¡±

    Despite the seriousness of my own injuries, which I felt a little disconnected from, it was easy to find the situation more absurd than frightening. A mysterious voice was counting down to something unknown and I was stuck in a caf¨¦ with a bunch of strangers. The doors were blocked by some inexplicable means and no answers were forthcoming. The back and forth argument between the helpful guy and Glasses Lady continued until-

    ¡°Eleven.¡±

    Something snapped, and the tension became too much. The man lunged for Glasses Woman, though what he had been planning to do I had no idea. It didn¡¯t matter because as he reached her, she was already launching her laptop at the window. ¡°No!¡± I shouted amongst the cacophony of noise as the whole room screamed. If I couldn¡¯t open the door, I doubted having the window broken open would be a good thing.

    Unfortunately for her, and the man standing just behind her, the laptop never cleared the glass. Like a forcefield, the impact sent the laptop screaming back in the other direction. I was still looking at the window, confused as to why it didn¡¯t break, when the true screaming started. The yelling before was because people were frightened, but this?

    This was the scream of trauma.

    ¡°Huh?¡± The Glasses Woman asked, as an upper portion of her body slipped away from the rest. ¡°Whuh?¡± She said, face down in a quickly growing puddle of her own blood. The helpful man just gurgled in response. The laptop which had sliced right through her had embedded itself in his chest and face, crushing bone. It was around the same time I realised this as he seemed to, the helpful man falling to his knees with a grunt.

    It all happened so fast.

    ¡°What was that? What¡¯s happening?¡± Mrs Naebol grabbed my arm again. Pain and shock had already taken most of my wits from me, so it took me a second to remember she couldn¡¯t see. I considered describing the scene to her, but the idea caused my mind to shrink away from reality once more. Pesky.

    Instead, I chuckled. ¡°I was supposed to graduate today.¡± There wasn¡¯t much I could do about falling into shock at this point. Simply too many things had conspired at once. I noticed absently that far more blood was escaping from the top part of the bisected woman as opposed to the bottom. Mrs Naebol turned to me, and I saw that some blood had spattered onto her face. I grabbed a napkin and wiped it away, causing her to smile.

    ¡°So, this is really happening?¡± She asked, causing my heart to wobble a little. She was blind, with no clue what was going on, and now all she could hear was screaming.

    ¡°Yeah, lots of bad things are happening, Mrs Naebol. It¡¯ll be okay, though,¡± I lied. She reached up to my cheek, pinching it slightly. I tried to bat her hand away by instinct and it was like hitting a metal claw. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Ten.¡±

    ¡°Ugh,¡± I shouted at the sky, ¡°shut the fuck up. Can you not hear that, Mrs Naebol?¡± Each time the voice spoke it was louder than the time before. Deep, bassy and terrifying, Mrs Naebol was the only person who didn¡¯t react to its countdown. She hadn¡¯t reacted once, now that I actively tried to think about it. Instead of answering, she smiled a gentle smile, discordant with the drama behind her. The air around us became noticeably calmer, the sounds of useless triage from the other patrons falling away.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t my first go around, kid.¡± As she spoke, Mrs Naebol¡¯s milky eyes cleared. I found myself locked in place with wonder as two purple nebula appeared where her irises should be. ¡°And I¡¯m not looking for another.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± I whispered, unable to move anything but my lips. A tear ran down my face. My confusion only grew as her face seemed to become more youthful by the second. She didn¡¯t look young, by any means, but much younger. A grandmother rather than a great-great grandmother. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±

    ¡°Nine,¡± the countdown spoke, but it, too, was muted. Two burning orbs of amethyst burned into my eyes. Their intensity was greater than the sun, but I couldn¡¯t look away. Fear continued to rise in my chest. The fear of what was to come when the countdown finished seemed to become real in an instant. Something world-changing was happening. The coppery taste was in the air again, and this time it definitely was blood.

    ¡°Truly, I am very sorry,¡± Mrs Naebol said, her voice strong and confident.

    ¡°Wha-¡±

    Then everything went dark as my consciousness got bitchslapped by a sandpaper glove covered in lemon juice. In a reversed flash, the world disappeared. All of my senses except touch vanished. I felt my muscles snap into positions they were not meant to move. I could feel nothing but my own body moving against my will. Something was puppeting me. I screamed in terror but had no idea if I was actually making the noise.

    I could feel parts of my psyche being branded by the experience as I tried desperately to scream for help. Sandra? Mrs Naebol? Jamie? Anyone, please, god, help me. Freedom did not come quickly, however. I felt myself move with huge jarring thuds as though I were an action figure being smashed about the room. There was no pain to it all, but I wailed for every second of the harrowing experience.

    When the world reappeared around me, I was still screaming. My throat was torn to shreds by the force of my shouting. My fingers felt sticky and all of my muscles burned like I had run a marathon. I realised I was panting. Going twelve rounds with a heavyweight was a better comparison, actually. ¡°Oww¡­¡± I moaned.

    I tumbled to the floor, slipping on a spilled drink. Touch had remained, hearing and taste came back and now it was time for pain. I groaned and tried to stand but the slick floor was no help. I bumped into a few things before finding the food counter, upon which I hauled myself to my feet slowly. I took a deep breath and regretted it. The taste of blood in my mouth redoubled as the scent of it increased.

    The final sense to recover was sight.

    How I wished it never did.

    I coughed and gagged, tasting the blood again as my eyes took in the scene around me. Except the taste wasn¡¯t phantom this time, and a large glob of thick crimson slime fell from my mouth like a bolognese in reverse. I heaved again, because the walls were covered. Every spot was drenched in the stuff.

    ¡°This is very poor form from me,¡± a voice spoke to my side. I shrieked, which would have embarrassed me anywhere else but felt appropriate here. Sitting on one of the only standing chairs, looking exhausted herself, was Mrs Naebol. ¡°You weren¡¯t supposed to wake up until I was done.¡±

    ¡°One.¡±

    I cringed. I had completely forgotten about the countdown as the minutes of darkness and silence had passed. Now, it was nearly over. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I asked, looking into her gemstone eyes. I was pretty sure the world was ending, I had also probably gone insane and it certainly seemed like I had killed this room full of people. I might as well humour the old lady at the end.

    ¡°What the System does to people is cruel. Good people don¡¯t survive long.¡± Her eyes still seared into my own with unexplainable energy, and I felt as that energy grasped hold of my mind again. It was the same as before my blackout, though I could sense it happening this time. Maybe I gained some kind of resistance to the control.

    Not enough resistance.

    ¡°Zero. System Online. Good Luck.¡±

    The instant the countdown finished, Mrs Naebol took control of my limbs once more. I watched in confused and then nauseous horror as she piloted my body over to hers, a sad smile plastered on her features. I tried to fight as my hands rose, wrapping around her small neck and beginning to squeeze. No, no, no, no, no-

    There was a brutal crack. The light vanished from Mrs Naebol¡¯s eyes and the control over my limbs disappeared once more. I immediately threw myself back, tumbling over a table and once more jostling my arm. I ignored the pain as words started to appear in the air, alongside a small ding sound.

    Ding! ¡°Level up!¡±

    The voice from the countdown spoke the words which appeared floating in the air before me happily into my head. Then, it happened again. And again. Then something seemed to finally break because the volume jumped a magnitude and the words became a jumbled mess. ¡°Level-achieve-title unl-new ques- Level up!- Would you like- Level up!- to loot Naeboroseax-Level up!-gon Slayer, equi-Inventor- Level up!¡±

    My vision filled with confusing numbers and text boxes. The world was nothing but pain, blood, fear and death. Somewhere within me, a pressure seemed to build, over and over like a balloon. It was all too much. I needed to leave. I stepped forward and my foot slipped in the blood. As I fell, my head clipped the corner of a table hard and the inky dark of unconsciousness dragged me away. The questions and sounds from the prompts kept coming.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah¡± I mumbled, fading away, ¡°yeah.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Two - The Bloodstained Beginning

    I awoke quickly, panic rushing forth as memories pushed away the nightmares and I was reminded of my situation. However, my fear only rose as I tried to open my eyes and found I couldn¡¯t. The stink of blood filled the air, the rank taste of it making me gag. My eyelids were sealed by the viscera I had fallen unconscious within. I tried to claw at the unwanted mask but the pain was staggering.

    It felt as though I had been run over by a truck and then beaten up some more for good measure. Every muscle felt torn or otherwise displaced. Those terrible minutes without control were haunting me mentally and physically, and I chose pain over fear. My back began to spasm painfully, but I let that suffering fuel me. With a violent shout, I tried to reach for my eyes but only managed to slap my hand against my face. It hurt, but this was a sharper pain. It focused me.

    With nothing but the darkness and discomfort, I could do nothing but confront what had occurred. My mind was my own now, but the spasm in my back became a body-wide shiver as I relived those awful minutes again. Heavy thuds with no feedback. It wasn¡¯t possible to pretend I didn¡¯t understand what had happened. Burning bile coughed into my mouth, thick with unconsciously swallowed blood. Another round of evacuating my stomach later, and I was certain that death was inbound.

    Everything just hurt too much. The pain had let me get into a seated position, my back against a wall. In the darkness, two burning purple orbs glared at me, accusing me. ¡°You did this to me,¡± I whimpered. ¡°It¡¯s not my fault.¡± Even as the words left my lips, the hollowness of them rang out to me. I brought my hand to my eyes, ready to rip the bloody gunk away and look upon the room.

    Except, I wasn¡¯t.

    Ready, that is. Even as my hand clenched into an angry fist, tearing away the mess of dried blood, my eyes were scrunched shut. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to look upon the scene, knowing it had been my hands which caused it, though I couldn¡¯t even begin to understand what had happened. I could blame Mrs Naebol, but I would never forget the pain searing my body.

    I kicked out with a foot, a sticky splash following the movement and causing me to grimace. Deep, racking sobs started to take over me, each one a wave of pain which released some of the tension. I suddenly felt like I understood flagellation, just a little. In the pain, I could forgive myself, knowing the act had harmed me, too. It was a petty forgiveness, but one I clutched desperately. ¡°It¡¯s not my fault,¡± I repeated.

    I took a deep breath, allowing the foetid stench to wash through me. Every portion of penance mattered. Exhaling slowly, I forced myself to look upon the massacre in Clive¡¯s Caf¨¦. For all my high falutin¡¯ ideas that I could handle the scene, I certainly could not. A small flash of the gore was enough to slam my eyes shut once more. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± I began to cry, ¡°Sandra¡­ Helpful Man¡­ Glasses Woman¡­¡±

    I almost gagged on my own pathetic words. Without knowing the names of these people, my apology was flimsy and insulting. It almost felt cruel in its disingenuity but what else could I do? Hitting the back of my head against the wall in anger, I sat in the silence and shouted angrily. Cursing the world which had just gone mad, I screamed expletives and begged for help and wept. It took a while to compose myself, but releasing all of the confusing emotions inside left me hollow enough that I could face the truth.

    The scene was both worse than I could have imagined and yet, somehow, easier to look upon now. There was a coldness growing in my chest which I encouraged, allowing me to analyse the destruction with an impassivity. Dwelling wasn¡¯t the point, but I did not look away from the faces of those on the ground. I would never forget a single one of these scared, unfortunate people. However, I was looking for one in particular.

    ¡°You. You did this.¡± I pushed myself to my feet, anger a much better fuel than fear for forming action. My vitriol was directed at the body of Mrs Naebol. ¡°You crazy fucking bitch. You made me kill them all.¡± Unable to help myself, I kicked the body in frustration. It was hardly desecration considering I was the one who killed her. My agonised muscles weren¡¯t thankful, but it made me feel better overall. That is, until I yelped and jumped back, the motion starting fires all through my muscles once more.

    To my amazement, a flat sign began to float out of her body. Clear, legible writing was displayed in white text on a black box. The word behind it was obscured completely, causing me to panic. The moment I wanted to see through the box, however, it became transparent. Focusing on the words again, I blinked in confusion. Two words, and only one I recognised.

    Naeboroseax - Dead

    ¡°Nay¡­ boar-oh-sea-axe?¡± I sounded the word out. The word seemed to float in my mind for a moment. ¡°Haven¡¯t I heard that before?¡± I struggled to remember the chaotic cacophony of alerts that seemed to assault me before I had blacked out the second time. Feeling silly, I said into the air, ¡°L-... Level up?¡±

    It was like I had been connected to some ultra-intuitive augmented reality program, I thought, as multiple text boxes appeared in the air around me all saying the same thing. I counted seven in total, each reaching Level Up! As though I was accessing memories which had always been there, I knew that if I focused on the text box, I would get more information.

    Level Up! - +5 Attribute Points

    That was all the extended prompt said, written seven times around me. With a thought and a blink, I closed all of them at once. Attributes? I wondered, not enjoying all of the new information coming at me while I was in this place. I could feel a tug in my mind, like thinking of attributes had opened another pathway but I wasn¡¯t interested yet. I recognised enough of these words together that an idea was forming, but I didn¡¯t want to get ahead of myself.

    Nor did I want to spend another second in this building. The pain hadn¡¯t changed at all, agony still brushing my skin with every movement, but I was no longer revelling it. Now, it was just something to get over as I made my way to the front door. The journey was arduous even before I remembered the issues I had trying to leave before. The claustrophobic feeling returned and I found even more energy to get to the exit.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    I threw myself at the door, expecting resistance. Of course, I should have known not to expect anything and I tumbled from the gory caf¨¦ with a yelp and a faceplant. Things weren¡¯t starting strong, but I needed to know what I was dealing with. The countdown had been for everyone, it hadn¡¯t just been to announce my own personal nightmare. Something huge had happened to the world, and as I blinked away the harsh sunlight, the proof was evident.

    Before me was, ostensibly, a park. The playground equipment which surrounded Clive¡¯s Caf¨¦ was still there. The concrete paths which lead to the small business and out of the park were also present, but about one hundred yards in all directions, the layout had shifted. I circled the building, taking care to look outwards at all times and confirmed it was in all directions. The paths leading away stopped at a harsh cut, jagged cracks at the edge of the paving.

    Beyond that, another fifty feet or so, was the treeline. Impenetrable gloom and thick cover as far as the eye could see in every direction. A rising sense of dread was growing in my throat. ¡°What the fuck is going on?¡± I asked, ignoring that it was becoming a bit of a catchphrase. That tugging appeared again, from somewhere within myself, and I didn¡¯t fight it at all. A text box appeared and I wasn¡¯t sure whether to be surprised I had received an answer or terrified at what it implied.

    Dungeon Entered!

    Due to the special nature of your presence in this dungeon, this instance has been designated as a Solo Dungeon. The surroundings have been balanced to your current level upon entering the dungeon (Level 7).

    Okay, all of the keywords were piling up to an explanation at this point. Level ups, attributes and now dungeons? ¡°What¡¯s next, quests?¡±

    Quest Received!

    Dungeon Quest - Aspiring Claims

    Due to the special nature of the Solo Dungeon, you are its Keystone. Until the first of the three Aspirants are defeated, entry to the dungeon from outside is locked. Only when all three Aspirants are defeated will the Keystone be free to leave, returning the Solo Dungeon to its initial state.

    Current Claimants - 3

    Reward: ???

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s what I get for being glib.¡± I looked at the pair of announcements with impotence. I hoped that it wasn¡¯t my asking which had created the quest, and therefore locked me into the dungeon. I couldn¡¯t put that evil on myself right now, so I just blamed the strange text boxes. I wasn¡¯t a massive fan of the obscured reward, but I was at least thankful for being given a goal.

    ¡°What the System does to people is cruel. Good people don¡¯t survive long.¡±

    Although I didn¡¯t want to think about her words, they came to my mind all the same. ¡°The System?¡± I asked the air. It was as good a name for the text boxes and weirdness as anything. The System had come to Earth. There was so much I didn¡¯t know, and the temptation to obsess and jump to conclusions was fierce but I focused on the important things for now. Such as surviving.

    The System seemed to have set me up against these ¡°Aspirants.¡± If the video-game-like patterns continued then these would basically be boss monsters. The thought alone had me taking dry, uncomfortable gulps of the air. I had never been much of a fighter. I was more of a punching bag growing up, and I had just been about to receive a diploma in Psychology. All the conversations about trying out for rugby came back to me and I wanted to kick younger Me in the shin. Having muscles like my older brothers would have been a confidence boost at least. How could I defeat anyone?

    I looked at my hands and the blood which was stained onto them. I¡­ already had, hadn¡¯t I? It might not have been my choice, but it was my body that tore those people apart. I pushed my large shoulders back and rose to my full height. At just under six foot, I wasn¡¯t imposing, but I had long arms and legs. Hands with enough power to-

    Tearing myself away from that line of thinking, I supposed it was time to delve into the options before me. Pulling up one of the prompts again, I nodded. ¡°Plus five attribute points,¡± I read aloud. The pull of the System came again and a true page of information appeared before me. ¡°Ah fuck,¡± I cursed as I took it all in. The first page wasn¡¯t too bad, but once I saw the attributes I was overwhelmed immediately.

    That was¡­ a lot of numbers without much explanation.

    <table style="width: 25.4006%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 99.4764%" colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 32.9843%">

    Name

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.4922%">

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 32.9843%">

    Race

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.4922%">

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 32.9843%">

    Title

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.4922%">

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 32.9843%">

    Level

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.4922%">

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 32.9843%">

    Health

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.4922%">

    5/20

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 32.9843%">

    Mana

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.4922%">

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 12.2596%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 37.2624%">

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td style="width: 61.9772%">

    FP:35

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 37.2624%">

    Strength

    </td>

    <td style="width: 61.9772%">

    3

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 37.2624%">

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td style="width: 61.9772%">

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 37.2624%">

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td style="width: 61.9772%">

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 37.2624%">

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td style="width: 61.9772%">

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 37.2624%">

    Agility

    </td>

    <td style="width: 61.9772%">

    3

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 37.2624%">

    Perception

    </td>

    <td style="width: 61.9772%">

    3

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 37.2624%">

    Power

    </td>

    <td style="width: 61.9772%">

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 37.2624%">

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td style="width: 61.9772%">

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 37.2624%">

    Command

    </td>

    <td style="width: 61.9772%">

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

 Forged Anew - Chapter Three - Attributes

    I groaned, and stepped onto the playground¡¯s roundabout. Americans call them Merry-go-rounds but I wasn¡¯t feeling very merry right now. The two flat text boxes were large in my vision, hiding the sky as I stared at them intently from my position on the metal play equipment. A single foot kept the momentum going as I let the considerations roll around again and again in my head. Five points per level. I started at level zero, and am now level seven, so thirty five attribute points to spend. Nine attributes to allocate the points between¡­ but what was the right choice?

    <table style="width: 24.6795%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 99.5098%" colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.0882%">

    Name

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.4216%">

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.0882%">

    Race

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.4216%">

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.0882%">

    Title

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.4216%">

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.0882%">

    Level

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.4216%">

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.0882%">

    Health

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.4216%">

    20/20

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.0882%">

    Mana

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.4216%">

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 15.5449%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.4615%">

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td style="width: 28.9231%">

    FP:34

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.4615%">

    Strength

    </td>

    <td style="width: 28.9231%">

    3

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.4615%">

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td style="width: 28.9231%">

    2

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.4615%">

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td style="width: 28.9231%">

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.4615%">

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td style="width: 28.9231%">

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.4615%">

    Agility

    </td>

    <td style="width: 28.9231%">

    3

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.4615%">

    Perception

    </td>

    <td style="width: 28.9231%">

    3

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.4615%">

    Power

    </td>

    <td style="width: 28.9231%">

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.4615%">

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td style="width: 28.9231%">

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.4615%">

    Command

    </td>

    <td style="width: 28.9231%">

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    I had panicked at seeing myself at a quarter of my full health, according to the character window¡¯s judgement. My immediate reaction to place one of my limited points into Recovery was the source of my current predicament. It had been five minutes and I felt fine. As in, I felt as though I hadn¡¯t just been in relative agony. So surreal was the disconnect between how my body had felt from one minute to the next, I almost felt like I had begun dreaming.

    Except the faces within the Caf¨¦ were laughing at me as I closed my eyes. Not a dream, not even close. That would be far too easy. Oh to wake up in my twin bed, late for graduation because of the weird nightmare I had been having. I would tell Jamie about it as she dragged me to the University and life would continue as it was supposed to have. I spun on the roundabout, focusing on the numbers and decisions to quiet the spiteful laughter of the damned.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be nice?¡± I sighed. I wasn¡¯t only dwelling on the haunting memories of the day, though. The decision for where to next place an attribute point was as arresting as any purchase I had ever made. As a middle child in a large, working class family, I had never had much money for myself. Instead of getting a part-time job, I focused on schooling and received a partial scholarship to St Gerrard¡¯s. The life of a student was cheap, but my income was tiny as well.

    All put together, it created a mental barrier I knew well. Grunting, I closed the Attribute Window and focused instead on the most interesting thing there. Blinded by my low health and then the options on with my attribute points, it had been strangely easy for my eyes to slip over the title nestled on the page. As I focused on the title, it opened into a larger description.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title - Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perennial enemies of the Greater Connection, few lives are weighted as valuable as a dragon¡¯s. Fewer still, intend to face them and come away victorious. None who sow the soul of a dragon upon the Tree are simple. The value of your soul grows. Good luck, Dragon Slayer.

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I emoted, pondering aloud at the implications of it all. I glanced towards Clive¡¯s with a squint. The suggestion was obvious, but I refused to believe this wasn¡¯t just a glitch in the System. All programs have glitches, right? Mrs Naebol couldn¡¯t have been a-

    You gained seven levels from killing her, didn¡¯t you? She was strong, and her eyes changed into burning purple suns. She was definitely a dra-

    I shook my head. It didn¡¯t really matter right now, did it? There were unlikely to be answers forthcoming from the old woman, dragon, whatever she was, considering the snapped neck and all that. I was intrigued by some of the new implications in the description, though. Was it just poetic, or did having a ¡°valuable soul¡± mean something more? That seemed to be the effect of the title, if it had one, so it must.

    Again, there was little to do with the information but file it away for now. I returned my focus to the Character Window and took a deep breath. I spun the roundabout faster, my eye on my health points. With a gasp, I punched the spinning ground, tearing skin and cracking my knuckle. It hurt, and I watched my health dip by two points. Swearing, I kept my eye on the screen while holding my hand nearby to watch. The result was confusing. The damage on my hand was healing at a visible rate, but it wasn¡¯t as fast as I expected. Minutes passed and my health didn¡¯t tick back up. By focusing my attention on the health points, the System deigned to give me more information.

    <table style="width: 44.6314%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 25.1543%">

    Health

    </td>

    <td style="width: 23.1481%">

    18/20

    </td>

    <td style="width: 50.9259%">

    0.2 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    As the extra info appeared, my health ticked up to nineteen. ¡°Probably should have just checked here first¡­¡± I accepted my mistake with a rueful shake of the head. ¡°Okay, so probably an extra point one per minute for recovery. Forty minutes to recover to full health from empty wasn¡¯t terrible. In fact, it was slightly bizarre to consider and I wondered how far these health points really translated. If I survived the damage, would I heal from any injury? Was I a superhero now?Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Tempted as I was to dump all my points into recovery right away, I was aware there were other attributes to experience. Feeling excitement despite my situation, I started from the top. I stood up on the still spinning roundabout and pointed a finger at the first option. Placing a point in strength, I cried out as my legs fell from under me. All the power in my legs had gone at once. I clenched my fists, feeling that strange numbness one might feel upon waking up. I gripped the metal frame of the playground equipment and pulled myself to my feet.

    My strength returned nearly as quickly as it came. The sensation was completely bizarre, but as the feeling returned to my muscles, it was as though it came back larger. I could tell just by flexing my shoulders that there was now a noticeable difference in the power contained within. It was a heady feeling, and one I wasn¡¯t even sure I liked. I pulled on a bar of the roundabout and with a fair amount of exertion, it began to bend and buckle the frame. Impressive, regardless.

    Nodding in satisfaction, I placed my next attribute point into Resilience, skipping Recovery in the name of fairness. My skin began to itch fiercely, and the partially healed damage on my hand ignited like it was on fire. I cast my eyes frantically to my health pool and was confused to see it rising. Nineteen¡­ Twenty¡­ Twenty One¡­ The vicious itching continued for a few more seconds up to twenty five which was my new maximum. The damage to my knuckle was healed completely.

    It hadn¡¯t been much to fix, but adding that Resilience had fixed the damage. I felt that was too important to ignore, so I performed the same test. The slightly bent roundabout wobbled slightly but picked up speed quicker than before. I dashed my hand off the ground in the same way and was unsurprised when the pain was lower. I still chipped a health point from my maximum, but I also took a chunk out of the bouncy tarmac which hadn¡¯t happened last time.

    I was impressed, but there was more to check.

    Next was dexterity, which I sat myself on a swing to start. Of course, I was apparently cursed to look like an idiot as my slight motion was enough to throw me to the ground when all my muscles locked at once. For a few seconds I was a statue as a noticeable feeling of tightness flexed through my joints. When I was released, I felt like I had been massaged. Never having had one, I couldn¡¯t tell if they always felt so rough, but it wasn¡¯t unpleasant.

    I had expected the changes somewhat this time, so getting a sense for my new flexibility was where I started. It wasn¡¯t as though I had suddenly become double-jointed in all of my flexors but it also wasn¡¯t far off. I had never been able to bend just the tip of my finger before, but I was soon doing a very convincing wave with my arms. The moment I chuckled and realised I was having a little fun, the sound seemed to echo into the caf¨¦ and return back caustic.

    I cleared my throat and focused. ¡°Okay, dexterity is fun. Moving on.¡± I could already see how the effects of each attribute might connect to another. Strength and resilience would go hand in hand. Dexterity would increase my precision and Agility the speed at which I could perform the fine tasks. Recovery was going to be important regardless of how I went forward.

    Proving my point, I placed a point into Agility and waited for the change to occur. Without even conscious thought, I began running. I couldn¡¯t help it! There was just so! Much! Energy!

    I burned myself out pretty quickly, gasping for breath for a few seconds afterwards. Okay, so Agility was like drinking way too much coffee. There were honestly times that might be helpful, much like a point in Resilience at the right time might mean staying alive.

    I stopped my train of thought abruptly. When did I start thinking of things in terms of life or death? In asking the question, I forced myself to look at caf¨¦ and all at once accepted the truth. I even forced myself to say the words aloud. ¡°A¡­ dragon¡­ took control of my body and forced me to- no, used me as a weapon to kill those people.¡± There was nothing in my stomach to evacuate, but my body tried all the same. This whole thing had been life or death since the countdown started.

    Jamie had known that. It¡¯s why she left me to figure it out slowly or die¡­

    I shook my head. She couldn¡¯t have known it would be like this. As my first thought of the world outside the ¡°dungeon,¡± I realised she might be in a worse situation than myself. I had no idea what was going on, and here I was messing around with weird sensations and playground equipment. I sighed. It wasn¡¯t like there was anything else I could reasonably be doing.

    I shook off the doubts and continued with my experiments. With a few sprints of the playground, weaving amongst the equipment and hurdling obstacles with ease, I got a sense for how improved my statistics were. It was honestly daunting. How strong would I hit with ten strength? Or one hundred? The limitation then would be how high one¡¯s Resilience was, lest the force of the punch explode the arm which threw it. I guessed a high enough Recovery might be enough there. There was a certain radical coolness in the idea of blowing up your arm punching and having it regrow by the time you threw the next.

    Agility without Dexterity would lead to a lack of coordination. As I placed a point into Perception, the world shivered. My eyes seemed to be unable to focus, and I blinked away tears as blindness set in. I didn¡¯t panic, and of course, a moment later my vision returned clearer than before. I had never worn glasses, but I wondered now if maybe I should have been. I could see the individual leaves on the trees, even from the relative distance they were at.

    They were all brilliant feelings after the fact. With just over a level¡¯s worth of attributes added, I truly felt like I had risen a tier of power. I was faster, stronger and more capable of using those attributes. I picked up a rock and whipped it at the chain of a swing, pleasantly surprised when my aim was true. It was an intoxicating feeling.

    Seeing no reason to stop, I place a point into the somewhat esoterically named Power. Except¡­ nothing happened. Unlike the placement of the other attribute points, I got no sensation whatsoever. It was so jarring that I couldn¡¯t stop myself from adding another couple of points, also to no effect. A couple more and I was ready to cry as the complete lack of any feeling followed. I punched the air, wondering if it translated to striking power or something, but there was no change there either. Feeling a special kind of angry, I jabbed a point into Regeneration.

    A pins-and-needles feeling crawled over my scalp and down my back, resting right in the centre. I was almost more angry when this one worked, as the prickly sensation on my back didn¡¯t recede at all. If anything, it seemed to get worse as the seconds ticked by while I waited for it to stop. I looked at my Character Window and saw no change, even as the barbs in my back became knives of pain.

    ¡°What the fuck?!¡± I demanded, terrified now that something had gone wrong. Without any other idea, I placed a point into Command. Then because I was panicking I added another three. Like a cool water balloon thrown at my fiery back, the stabbing stopped and a warmth spread throughout my body. I gasped, not in pain or surprise, but like a man breathing after breaching water. Just like my lungs breathe, and my heart beats, something else was starting. A new autonomic process was beginning inside myself, and I watched with fascination as the mana points quickly filled. Five mana points per level of Command.

    As the changes settled down within, I chased the feeling to its source. In the centre of my back, or maybe in my solar plexus, was a tight bundle of feeling. This bundle brought with it a slew of natural feelings within which allowed me to interact with it. I prodded it with a sliver of attention, and I felt a tickle in my fingertips. My eyes widened. For all I hadn¡¯t allowed myself to focus on the words and implications, it was impossible to ignore now.

    After all, I had decided this was all real, now. I accepted the dragon. I had accepted the System and its dungeon and the quest and all of it. My body was stronger now than it had ever been, at the push of a mental button. So, it wasn¡¯t hard to make the jump. Even though the feeling was minute, it was there.

    I had literal magic at my fingertips.

    Unfortunately, my wonderment was short lived, warping quickly into inexplicable terror as a figure began to stomp out of the woods.

    <table style="width: 29.0064%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5441%">

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.0807%">

    FP:20

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5441%">

    Strength

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.0807%">

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5441%">

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.0807%">

    2

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5441%">

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.0807%">

    2

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5441%">

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.0807%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5441%">

    Agility

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.0807%">

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5441%">

    Perception

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.0807%">

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5441%">

    Power

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.0807%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5441%">

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.0807%">

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5441%">

    Command

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.0807%">

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 32.8526%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 99.6947%" colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1298%">

    Name

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5649%">

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1298%">

    Race

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5649%">

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1298%">

    Title

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5649%">

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1298%">

    Level

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5649%">

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1298%">

    Health

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5649%">

    25/25

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1298%">

    Mana

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5649%">

    20/20

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 41.5064%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 25.0943%">

    Health

    </td>

    <td style="width: 23.2075%">

    25/25

    </td>

    <td style="width: 50.9434%">

    0.2 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 41.1859%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 23.7082%">

    Mana

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.3161%">

    20/20

    </td>

    <td style="width: 51.3678%">

    01 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

 Forged Anew - Chapter Four - When Attack Animals Attack

    The roundabout underneath me creaked as it shook rhythmically. I blinked, waiting for the hallucination to disappear. It didn¡¯t. For all I had pretended to be ready for this new world, the first sign of it sent my skin crawling. My muscles wanted to run one way, my bones another and in the chaos I fell into a clumsy pile trying to move toward Clive¡¯s. A scream rose in my throat as my eyes burned, wide and unblinking, at the approach of the monstrous creature.

    My brain tried to name the creature but I rejected the ridiculous notion that I recognised the monster lumbering my way. It just looked like a mixture of my childhood memories turned into a monster, that¡¯s all. It wasn¡¯t actually a Teenage Mutant Ninja-

    No, really. My eyes were burning. Frustration and panic were good kindling for inspiration, however. The burning was something new, but I reacted with my other new sensation. With no ability for fine control, I shoved my mana towards my face and felt the caustic pain slip away. My vision felt sharper immediately and a textbox appeared above the creature. ¡°Oh you¡¯ve got to be kidding,¡± I groaned, genuine anger rising in my chest. It felt like an insult.

    Monster - Adolescent Amphibian Attack Animal - Level 06

    What the hell kind of name was that? I shook my head and pulled myself to my feet. Standing around eight feet tall, the sickly grey-green bipedal thing began to pick up speed as I rose, taking long strides with its frog-like legs. Two long, muscular arms matched the legs, all protruding from an almost comically round yellow and green shell. I roared, fear and anger combining and giving me control of my strength. My new attributes were useless if I froze. Was I going to fall at the first hurdle because I was unprepared?

    ¡°No!¡±

    My rejection of fate came across as a plea for mercy as the Attack Animal closed the gap. Yet, the tempering I had begun when the System descended was not for nothing. A massive hand slashed through the air with the speed of a world champion boxer. To my own amazement more than anything, I slipped the blow and closed in. If your enemy had a reach advantage, that¡¯s what you did, right?

    Well, what if they have a rock hard shell, too?

    The second swing, a backhand, caught me and flung me straight into the Caf¨¦. The window shattered easily, no forcefield stopping me from becoming a projectile right into the room. I bounced a few times, protecting my head as best I could. I felt shards slash into me and push deeper as I collided around the space.

    Yet, it wasn¡¯t as bad as I expected. Although it was new, my eyes flung to my Character Window and the health points it explained before even checking the damage to my body. I was surprised to find myself more lucid than expected, but the actual attack hadn¡¯t hurt that much. The glass in my back was more of a problem.

    <table style="width: 45.2724%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 25.2904%">

    Health

    </td>

    <td style="width: 23.235%">

    16/25

    </td>

    <td style="width: 51.1171%">

    0.2 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    ¡°Yeah, that feels about right.¡± The attack hadn¡¯t half-killed me, but it was close. Without letting myself hesitate, I placed two points into Resilience. My skin burned like acid had been poured on it, but my eyes didn¡¯t leave the destroyed window. It seemed my enemy wasn¡¯t desperate to enter the building. It likely assumed I was trapped either way. I thanked whatever gods there might be for the small mercy and frantically tried to come up with a plan. My current and maximum health rose ten points and the sizzling under my skin stopped. There was a tinkling on the floor as glass pushed out of my back and skull.

    ¡°Fucking¡­ ow.¡± I let the anger push away the fear. This already bloody room did little for my mood. I couldn¡¯t keep my eyes from taking in the scene. With the new clarity, both from my stats and from new information, I was filled with even more rage. The gore was visceral, high definition. I started to worry about diseases from the blood of others but the active threat to my life seemed more pressing. First I get turned into a murder puppet and then this thing tries to kill me! If I hadn¡¯t placed a few points into my attributes, I would have snapped in two as I hit the counter instead of bouncing off it. ¡°Okay, twice as durable, what next?¡±

    I was hesitant to place a surge of points into any one attribute given the rebound I would feel. Less than a minute had passed since I got thrown into the caf¨¦ and I wasn¡¯t going to be left alone forever. As though reacting to my doubts, my fingers tingled powerfully. I raised my palm, trying to look at the magic within. I could almost watch the pulses of mana under the skin, but not really. Instead I clenched the hand into a fist. A single point of durability had made me solid enough to brush off a big hit. In my confusion, I had placed ten points into the attributes governing mana. How strong did that make me?

    It was time to find out.

    Consciously, I crushed the mana in my hand. Tighter and tighter I held my fist even as I directed the mostly ambivalent flow within myself down my right arm. Something was happening, at least. I felt a drain, and looking at my mana pool under health told me I was slowly infusing mana into¡­ something. It trickled down from twenty to fifteen¡­ ten¡­

    Tired of waiting, the Attack Animal kicked in the front door, sending it shooting past me like an oversized throwing star. I pushed my foot off the nearby counter and threw myself away. Following what felt natural, I used the momentum of my dodge to swing my arm. Like throwing a ball, I released the collected mana in a desperate gambit.

    Ding! Congratulations, you have unlocked a skill!

    Skill Unlocked - Mana Bolt (Common)

    As simple a use of mana as exists. Collected into an orb, spear or arrow, the Mana Bolt is unguided and thrown by the wielder¡¯s strength.

    My mind filled with information quickly as the prompt appeared. Like I had been taken through a tutorial on the subject, I gained an immediate understanding of how Mana Bolt functioned. My arm shot back as I released the attack, a recoil effect from the energy happily leaping into the air. Like a shooting star, a light flashed between the pair of us and the turtle-man was thrown backwards. ¡°Oh shit¡­ it worked!¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    It had cost half of my mana, but it had worked!

    Up to a certain amount of mana could be channelled into a Mana Bolt, which I could then lob on my own accuracy at an enemy. There were nuances, and I could tell this was barely scratching the surface of how things really worked, but I was grateful to the System for the assistance all the same.

    High on my own strength, I followed my fallen foe. It had landed on its back, and while I wasn¡¯t about to showboat it was fairly funny to see it flail. Mostly I just wanted to be out of those tight quarters, even if they favoured me in some way. Unlike its less ambulatory brethren, this shelled creature didn¡¯t have a very hard time getting to its feet. The attack had hit it right in the face, leaving it bloody and dented. I whistled. ¡°I bet that hurts, big guy.¡±

    Having stood, the Attack Animal spat some blood to the floor in a strangely human motion. Its round head, with bulging fish-like eyes and sharp beak was anything but, yet that moment forced some more respect into me. Whatever its reasoning, I would meet this strange beast in battle and finish it as quickly as I could. Thankfully, it was wary not and not quick to press the attack.

    I¡¯ll come to you, then.

    With a thought, I placed three attribute points into Command and three into Power. A flick of my wrist dropped more mana into it, which caused the Attack Animal to charge. I dashed the Mana Bolt at its face once more but it ducked, taking the light blow on the top of its head instead. The mana glanced away, though I wasn¡¯t too surprised. It hadn¡¯t only been a small amount, to break the deadlock.

    The massive frame of the monster barrelled into me and I scrambled away from its clutching hands. With a laugh, I planted my feet on its back and launched myself into the air. As I rose, the creature fell and rolled, coming to a stop and glaring up at me in the air.

    A laugh? Even in the heat of battle, I noticed myself. A moment later, I forgave it. This was terrifying and dangerous. People had died and now I was fighting for my life. So what?

    Magic was real and I was fighting a goddamn ninja turtle. If I wasn¡¯t having a little bit of fun then I really had gone mad. I refused to take blame for what happened in Clive¡¯s, and living like I was scared of life was a disservice to the memory of anywho who I had survived by pure dumb luck.

    I gathered my remaining mana into both hands. If this came down to a physical battle I was as good as dead, so I needed to end things right now. I felt as the bolts became unstable, each carrying ten mana. From here, it was as simple as dropping them. I didn¡¯t, of course. No point in a half-measure. With all the force I could manage mid-air, I threw the first Mana Bolt down as hard as I could.

    My aim the first time was hard to replicate, but the burst of concentrated mana caught the creature on the chin. Part of its shell broke away, revealing unhealthy looking grey flesh underneath at the collar area. It squealed awfully as it began to fear for its life. I bounced the remaining mana in my hand, taking the moment to practise the feel of it. The energy really did feel like an orb. I wonder how to make it into an arrow?

    Questions for later. Right now, it was time to put this thing out of its misery. Not having a better way to go about it, I simply lined up my shot. The Attack Animal was flailing slightly but crushing its shell as I had must have damaged its range of motion because it wasn¡¯t getting back up. ¡°If it matters,¡± I said over its cries, ¡°I¡¯m genuinely sorry about this.¡±

    With an increasingly impressive form, I threw the Mana Bolt with all my strength. The combination of my improved attributes and the raised Power behind my mana meant this bolt didn¡¯t just smash its face a little. The attack destroyed its skull and crushed its head down into its torso. I dropped to the ground in relief as a surge of energy flooded into my body.

    My core, where the mana flowed forth from, filled with this new energy and seemed to be reaching a bursting point. Like gas from my stomach rising up my throat, this feeling with my mana increased until-

    Ding! Level up! +5 Attribute points!

    The euphoria which came with the level up nearly knocked me out. Instead I just fell back and let myself wriggle in success. I hadn¡¯t fallen at the first hurdle. I had survived. Looking into the sky above me, I wondered if it was even the ¡°real¡± sky. ¡°I will escape this dungeon,¡± I promised myself. ¡°Whatever it takes, I will keep surviving.¡± In the afterglow of victory and levelling up, it seemed like a sensible proposition.

    Magic was my avenue. As the level up refilled my health and mana pools, I fiddled with the energy inside. I grabbed it, pulled it, spun it and otherwise tried to figure out what made it tick and how it worked. The Mana Bolt had been basic, as described by the System. What else could it do? What could I do? I nodded at the sky. I would conquer this strange dungeon. Whatever came after could wait.

    It¡¯s not like it could be any more difficult and dangerous than this, anyway.

    <table style="width: 21.5545%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 99.6569%" colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1046%">

    Name

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5523%">

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1046%">

    Race

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5523%">

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1046%">

    Title

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5523%">

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1046%">

    Level

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5523%">

    8

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1046%">

    Health

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5523%">

    35/35

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1046%">

    Mana

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5523%">

    24/35

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 26.7628%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5988%">

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.2225%">

    FP:17

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5988%">

    Strength

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.2225%">

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5988%">

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.2225%">

    2

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5988%">

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.2225%">

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5988%">

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.2225%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5988%">

    Agility

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.2225%">

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5988%">

    Perception

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.2225%">

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5988%">

    Power

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.2225%">

    8

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5988%">

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.2225%">

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 70.5988%">

    Command

    </td>

    <td style="width: 29.2225%">

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

 Forged Anew - Chapter Five - Looting The Place

    I sat in the middle of a seesaw, staring daggers at the defeated body of my enemy. Once the thrill of battle had passed, reality set in. Despite the farcical appearance ¡°reality¡± had taken, this was it. The caf¨¦, destroyed twice over, was a terrible port in this storm. I felt as though I were in the eye of a hurricane. A monster came from the trees which encircled me, and its existence was an impetus all of its own.

    I couldn¡¯t stay here. Well, I could, if I was okay with being besieged. This was no fortress. The Attack Animal¡¯s shell taunted me. Would that it were so easy to keep safety with me, like a backpack. A high enough Resilience might make up the difference, actually. Except, I had chosen a path. ¡°Well,¡± I conceded, ¡°it was hardly a choice.¡±

    Wiggling my fingers, I felt as mana danced between my knuckles waiting for my command. With the projectile nature of my only offensive skill, it made sense not to focus my attribute wholly on the final third of the page. Strength would increase the damage and range of the attack. Dexterity, Agility and Perception would improve my accuracy and my positioning. Recovery and Resilience would keep me alive long enough to make use of my magic.

    The number which had felt overwhelming to start now felt like a pittance. Five points per level, but I needed everything! Unwilling to be caught unawares again, I refused indecision and placed the remaining points as best I could and lived with the decision. I had seventeen to distribute, and they went out fairly evenly between the nine stats leaving my Attribute Window looking much tidier.

    <table style="width: 17.3077%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1107%">

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.4941%">

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1107%">

    Strength

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.4941%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1107%">

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.4941%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1107%">

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.4941%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1107%">

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.4941%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1107%">

    Agility

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.4941%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1107%">

    Perception

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.4941%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1107%">

    Power

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.4941%">

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1107%">

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.4941%">

    6

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1107%">

    Command

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.4941%">

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 32.6923%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 25.2904%">

    Health

    </td>

    <td style="width: 23.235%">

    40/40

    </td>

    <td style="width: 51.1171%">

    0.5 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 33.1731%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 23.7255%">

    Mana

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.3137%">

    50/50

    </td>

    <td style="width: 51.1765%">

    06 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    A point each went to Strength, Resilience and Agility, bringing all of my ¡°secondary¡± attributes to five alongside three points to increase my Recovery. The effect on my body was slightly lessened now I knew what was coming, but it was still a profoundly disconcerting experience. Once it was over, my muscles felt even tighter, my vision more acute. I couldn¡¯t help but smile. It definitely felt good. With ten points left, I decided to keep the numbers as even as possible.

    Going from no control of mana to now was transformative. It almost seemed unreasonable to me that I hadn¡¯t sensed its presence before. Mana was everywhere. It gently rose from every blade of grass, each waft of air carrying some tiny ambient energy. ¡°It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.,¡± I mused. There was a certain childlike drive in myself to understand its mechanisms more, but it also seemed a sensible choice.

    I had never been in a real knockout brawl. I had never fired a weapon or taken a life before today. If I were starting from scratch, then why not delve into this new form of existence and expression? I had already seen how effective it was. While I didn¡¯t doubt that ten points in Strength could have a similar effect, how could the two have the same potential?

    I flicked a Mana Bolt into existence, constantly tracing the way mana felt within my body as I did so. For the cost of one mana, which came back every ten seconds, I was mapping out the pathways within. My mana channels. Over and over, I created a bolt and flicked it into the ground where it chunked away some of the concrete. By the time I was ready to move, my emotions settled, there was a hole down to the muddy foundations below.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    It wasn¡¯t fair for me to assume people would even get the chance to use magic like I had. I approached the body of the Attack Animal with disdain as I reasoned. Without the large burst of attribute points I had received, it would be a lot harder to ¡°waste¡± points there when the other statistics can more clearly help. Strength and Agility would be the most heavily used attributes for certain. Feeling petulant, I kicked out at the body for upsetting my examination of how attributes worked.

    Spatial Storage detected - Xaverweave Pouch

    Would you like to loot Adolescent Amphibian Attack Animal (Level 06)?

    ¡°Um, yes?¡± I answered, looking for the supposed pouch. I felt a sort of clicking in my head as I accepted the prompt. An image of a handful of coins glittered in my mind, but where were they?

    I had avoided any close inspection of myself due to the general awfulness going on with my appearance. I had been wearing a long black gown, ¡°smart¡± shoes and uncomfortable clothing, the uniform of a graduate. In the chaos and fighting, the clothes had ripped and otherwise been covered in gore. I now had a filthy buttoned shirt with most of the buttons ripped away, my trousers were torn apart at random and I was missing a shoe. Just where did the System think I was hiding a pouch?

    A shiver at my waist was my answer. ¡°Seriously?¡± I asked, reaching down. A tickle along my back made me jump and only as I chased after the squirrelly pouch with frantic hands did I realise it was avoiding my grasp. It took all my concentration and effort to get the slippery thing, but I managed to get it eventually. The bag was wriggling in my hands, as though it was desperate to get back on my waist. I released it and it did exactly that. It seemed to shiver on my hip. Feeling completely ridiculous, I very slowly moved my hand towards it. When it didn¡¯t move, I ran my finger over the lining gently.

    The damn thing snuggled into me.

    ¡°What the fuuuu¡­¡± Without trying to touch it again, I instead focused on it. As they had before, my eyes tingled with a phantom pain. By soothing it with mana, I received information. My mana total also dropped a few points, so apparently this process wasn¡¯t free. It had been against the Attack Animal, though. Was it a case of living versus non-living items? Or something to do with the magic within. In any case, I got the information I was hoping for.

    Item - Xaverweave Pouch

    Incredible pieces of magical artistry, Xaverweave can contain mana as well as nearly any material in existence. Though the material is rare, its most common use is in the creation of pouches, which are then infused with spatial magic and turned into storage. The items within are weightless. Due to their magical nature, Xaverweave pouches can become erratic, forming simple emotions and attachments.

    This Xaverweave Pouch has a container space of 100 x 100 feet.

    The text box which appeared was more than I expected, in truth, though it didn¡¯t explain much actionable information. What it did suggest was that I had a scared little guy on my hip who had been avoiding my attention until now. It was a little silly, but no more silly than being able to throw out bursts of literal magical force. Like a scared kitten, I coaxed the pouch around by trickling some mana its way. It nuzzled into my hand. My eyes turned towards where Mrs Naebol¡¯s body would be. ¡°So, you must have been her¡¯s?¡± I continued petting the soft fabric.

    No answer was forthcoming, but it made sense. She must have put the pouch on me while controlling my body. Now the question was what did I loot? ¡°How do you work, little buddy?¡± Despite my new companions'' lack of conversational skills, I was glad for it. Despite it being a magical item, it was nice to have something around which wasn¡¯t trying to kill or traumatise me. Not having any better ideas, I started throwing out random words and hoping for the best.

    ¡°Bag. Storage. Inventory- Oh, that worked.¡±

    <table style="width: 39.343%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 99.6656%" colspan="2">

    Inventory Page (Xaverweave Pouch)

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 75.4181%">

    Item

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.2475%">

    Amount

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 75.4181%">

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint)

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.2475%">

    8543

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 75.4181%">

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted)

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.2475%">

    2758

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 75.4181%">

    Guidance Stone of Mastery

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.2475%">

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Continuing its lazy cat routine, the pouch dropped into my hand as the Inventory Page opened. For just a moment I caught a glimpse inside and I readjusted my assessment on whether it would traumatise me or not. Gazing into the Abyss had entirely new meaning and my vision swam as perspective came back to the world. I assumed the same feeling would happen if I had my eyes replaced by the offspring of a lava lamp and a kaleidoscope. I shook off the effect, blinking hard.

    While the Guidance Stone promised mystical mystery, the allure of a very familiar word drew me first. ¡°Surely not,¡± I hedged my expectations and held my hand over the pouch. ¡°Gold coin.¡± When nothing happened for a moment, I began feeling dumb. ¡°Okay, fuck it.¡± I plunged my hand into the bag, and immediately crunched my hand off a rock.

    ¡°Motherfu-¡± The rock shifted slightly in the pouch as I hit it and my eyes widened. Gingerly, I placed my hand inside again and plucked out a piece of this ¡°rock.¡± I pulled the small circular weight from the bag and nearly choked. ¡°Yup,¡± I agreed. ¡°That¡¯s definitely gold.¡±

    Some quick mental arithmetic, no doubt aided by my new stats said that if this was about ten grams each and gold was about-

    ¡°That¡¯s half a million pounds,¡± I choked out finally. I closed the bag. I almost didn¡¯t want to see it. That was just the standard mint, too. Producing one of the Xaverion minted coins, I shuddered. The Xaverion ones were so much fancier. I was suddenly terrified of my own possessions. My possessions. I cast away the impure, greedy thoughts of sitting and waiting for someone to help me. Of course someone would come, I was rich now.

    That line of thinking was bad, so it was distraction time. Greed wasn¡¯t completely banished, however and there was definitely some food inside the caf¨¦ which I would happily store in my new handy storage space. As I entered the room, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the System was doing something to desensitise me to the violence around me. It had been the right choice to fight back, but it had also been my first choice, which wasn¡¯t like me. It was another question that didn¡¯t have an answer, but one that played on my mind as I scooped the snack bars, packets of potato crisps and other confectionery into the waiting mouth of the Xaverweave Pouch.

    It probably wasn¡¯t as simple as the System making it danger and death easier pills to swallow so much as the reality was obvious. The world had shifted to a wild place and survival was no longer even partially guaranteed. How many of these people would have been ready to fight if we were attacked? They were platitudes, certainly, but I wasn¡¯t going to hold myself over a pyre for it either.

    The sooner I was away from this place the better.

    In my hurry, my foot brushed against the body of Mrs Naebol. There was a shiver in the air and for a second all of my anxieties exploded. She was back. She was alive and she would control me again. As mana gathered in my pathways, ready to lash out, I saw that I was mistaken. She hadn¡¯t moved. The System had opened a text box.

    Would you like to loot Naeboroseax (Level 79)?

    Watching my inventory, I mutely nodded while releasing the mana in my hands. A new item appeared, and I removed it along with the Guidance Stone of Mastery. Try as I might not to jump to conclusions based on the names before me, it was impossible. The Guidance Stone was a luxurious golden coloured orb, while the new item was slightly bigger. Still spherical, it contained a much more confusing set of colours. ¡°Okay¡­ time to really get into the weeds.¡±

    Just what the hell were Aspects and Guidance Stones?

 Forged Anew - Chapter Six - Aspect Of The Dragon

    Even before the item descriptions appeared, it was clear to me that the two items were linked in some way. The larger orb, the Aspect, glimmered with the same magical power as the Guidance Stone, like a novel and a poem written in the same language. There was a weight to the Aspect, which seemed to grow heavier in my hand by the second. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was noticeable. There was no drain on my mana and I expected now that was due to the magic of the Xaverweave Pouch identifying the item for me. Looking between the item name and the small bag, I raised my estimation of the bag even more.

    Inspecting the large ball of magic, I was taken in by the beauty of it. There was a mobile nebula of mana inside, roiling and rolling over itself. Greens, reds, purples and silver ropes of power coiled within like angry snakes. It was almost hard to look away and read the item description.

    Item - Aspect of the Dragon (Legendary)

    Aspects are formed when ambient mana in an area becomes charged with a specific type of energy. If you have unbound Aspect slots, you may permanently bind an Aspect to an unbound attribute.

    Would you like to use the Aspect of the Dragon to bind an unbound Aspect slot?

    Permanently bound? That was an intimidating prospect. The word legendary was nice, but my hand was stayed for now. There was no real rush, though I didn¡¯t really doubt that it would be worth doing.

    There was a more pressing issue. Aspect of the Dragon. Naeboroseax. No more pretending otherwise for me. That old woman was one hundred percent a dragon. Dragons apparently walked amongst us before the world even fell apart. Wait, were the royal family actually lizard people? Unable to say for sure, I could only shiver at the implications not only to the free will of humanity but to the fact that certain conspiracy theorists might have been correct. ¡°Awful,¡± I decided, leaving it there to check out the Guidance Stone.

    Item - Guidance Stone of Mastery

    Guidance stones are sometimes called the lesser variant of Aspects. Each Aspect has a set amount of spaces to absorb a Guidance Stone. They can only be used by Aspect wielders.

    Use Guidance Stone of Mastery? This will consume one Guidance slot from your available Aspects.

    No Available Aspects to unlock.

    So, pay to play for both. It was promising, actually. I had a fairly easy burst of power to walk myself into. Again, the permanence brought me some indecision. The turtle thing had been close because I was basically stunned, but I was quietly confident it wouldn¡¯t have a chance against me now I¡¯d calmed down and practised a little. Did I need to graft alien magic onto myself at this point?

    ¡°Sort of a moot point,¡± I admitted, flicking a Mana Bolt over my knuckles and into the metal fence of the playground. Sighing, I placed the Guidance Stone into the pouch and held the Aspect of The Dragon in both hands. The density within was still increasing, like an internal pressure was rising. ¡°Alright,¡± I murmured, ¡°calm down.¡±

    I was definitely imagining the tiny growl I heard in response, I was sure. ¡°Aspects?¡± I vocalised, barely expecting a response. Instead, a new System Window appeared.

    <table style="width: 41.1058%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 52.5469%">

    Aspects 0/4

    </td>

    <td style="width: 47.2744%">

    Guidance

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 52.5469%">

    Unbound

    </td>

    <td style="width: 47.2744%"> </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 52.5469%">

    Unbound

    </td>

    <td style="width: 47.2744%"> </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 52.5469%">

    Unbound

    </td>

    <td style="width: 47.2744%"> </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 52.5469%">

    Unbound

    </td>

    <td style="width: 47.2744%"> </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    I looked at the mostly blank screen with chagrin. ¡°Yeah, that makes sense.¡± As was becoming common, I was glad for the information, but lacking in how to apply it. ¡°Screw it.¡±

    Would you like to use the Aspect of the Dragon to bind an unbound Aspect slot?

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The orb in my hand roared in answer. The sound was a combination of an artillery firing, a rocket taking off and a lion¡¯s angriest shout. I flinched away, dropping the Aspect. To my undiluted horror, the crystalline ball shattered on impact with the ground. I dropped to my knees, panicking and trying to collect any of the shards I could. It was useless though, as even the fragments which survived crumbled into dust. Within seconds, the slight breeze had blown most of the Aspect away.

    I blinked in shock. I wanted to cry, as the surely valuable magic was swept away. Thankfully, before the emotion could reach my eyes, another roar sounded. I flinched again, but recovered quickly. It wasn¡¯t over! I looked around, seeing now the glitter of colour in the air around me. The Aspect which had turned to dust was now swirling in patterns around me, forming runes. I hesitated, but there was a pull on my core so I began to release mana. Point by point my energy trickled into the reaction in the air.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Halfway¡­ a quarter left¡­ The drain didn¡¯t stop and I was loath to close the connection. Second after second, the solidity to the runes was increasing, my own mana filling in areas like mortar. It was instinct, but important all the same. As my total mana pool dipped below five points, I started to feel lightheaded and wished I had put more Attribute points into Regeneration. The mana total ticked down to two of fifty before there was a flash of light, a burst of hot air hitting me at the same time as a grunt of acceptance. It was as though the Dragon within the Aspect had said ¡°you¡¯ll do.¡±

    The runes in the air, numbering twelve in total, began to circle around me. Faster and faster they moved, unbound in position but locked at a close distance. Quickly, their speed was quick enough I could see nothing else. Just the colourful runes. I did my best to memorise their shapes as the process continued. My light head cleared as mana slowly returned.

    I was at the centre of a magical tornado, crackles and groans echoing all around me from the Aspect impressing itself upon the world. Although it was unexpected, I felt no fear. The shock of its activation aside, the moment was one of pure majesty. There was a connection forming, from me to something larger than myself. Larger than my world, or my plans or my fears, this connection was to a truer part of myself. Like an archaeologist clears away debris, the Aspect questioned portions of my psyche and laid them bare.

    Who are you?

    I¡¯m Grant Kaeron.

    That was all I was. An individual and nothing more or less. Before magic of this type, of this quality, there was nothing more to say. There was a purity to my answer, in the same way there is purity in an untouched slab of stone ready to be carved. The snaps and pops in the air intensified.

    What are you?

    The answer came to me slower this time, but the magic wasn¡¯t in any hurry. I couldn¡¯t confirm this, as I didn¡¯t want to shatter the illusion, but time felt slower. My movements were as though I were underwater, but I didn¡¯t dwell on it. Instead I tried to answer truthfully. It was an open question, which made me consider my reply carefully. Once it came to me, I realised there was no other response to give.

    I am alone.

    There was a rumbling thrum all around me, as though the Aspect were taking time to judge my answer. The instinct to fidget nervously crossed through me, but I was left frustrated by my slow fingers. The seconds passed like molasses, the volume of the Aspect¡¯s magical growling increasing. My skin started to buzz, the runes reaching such a speed of revolution that they appeared stationary once more.

    I felt the air get sucked before the next roar, but nothing could have prepared me. The full, fiery force of a volcano erupting in my face burned my skin away and scattered my ashes along with it. The world was torn asunder by the power within the thunderclap of the dragon¡¯s cry and I was nothing before its destructive might. I reached desperately for my mana, trying to mount whatever feeble defence I could. Even as ashes, I fought against this immense pressure. Somehow, the crescendo increased. The fabric of existence keened as it was torn apart. Two immense, shadowy eyes stared down at my soul as it was laid bare.

    Are you worthy?

    I rejected the question outright.

    Fuck. You. Worthy? Screw this test. I did nothing more than pressing a button and now I was going to be scattered like confetti? No way. This wasn¡¯t the end for me. My mana was already drained, so I wasn¡¯t working with much, but I created a piecemeal shell of protection around myself all the same. Dropped to the bottom of the deepest trench, I could do nothing more than keep this pressure from crushing me. It felt like hours passed with the weight of the world on my back before the Dragon¡¯s patience buckled.

    Are you worthy?

    ¡°YOU TELL ME!¡± I answered defiantly, plugging up the holes in my igloo of mana. I had been forced to abandon my arms and legs to the agony, but they were almost separate entities at this point. What happened to them wasn¡¯t happening to my core, and that was all that mattered. Within the desperate bunker, my soul was protected from the caustic trial of the dragon.

    Are. You. WORTHY?

    Any purchase I had on solid ground disappeared as I was cast out of my understood perceptions. Galaxies crossed my vision but were obscured by grains of sand, time and space losing all meaning during this duel for my fate. Somehow, impossibly, I held firm on a single strand of myself. Within some imagined place, a version of me continued to frantically hold onto the spark. As long as the spark stayed alight, I was still me.

    With an elastic snapping, reality forcibly asserted itself on my surroundings once more. The devastation of my body was undone, if it had ever been real at all. The glimmering runes had formed a cocoon around me, a chrysalis to the changes I had undergone. There was a satisfied huff of approval and the walls of colourful magic closed in on me. A flash of light blinded me as my body filled with energy from the Aspect. I had been accepted, it seemed. Which was good because the alternative seemed to be a complete ego death.

    I shuddered as I inspected myself. I expected to see visible markings from what I had just been through but all I saw was the grim clothing I had been forced to wear for the past few hours. It was as though nothing had happened at all. Yet, I could feel the difference immediately within the mana that coursed through my body. There was a change, a promise of power which I couldn¡¯t quite touch. A System prompt jumped into view.

    Aspect Quest Unlocked!

    Aspect of The Dragon - Legacy

    Prove that you are worthy to join the legacy of The Dragon. Step onto the path with certainty.

    Defeat five foes at your level or higher.

    Reward: Aspect Bound, New Skill Unlocked

    Checking my Aspect Window, the Aspect of The Dragon was there, but it was slightly faded with the word unbound in brackets next to it. I frowned, though it explained the distant feeling within my mana. More tests? I could get over the frustration, but the quest itself was so¡­ uninspired. The Aspect¡¯s strangeness had been unexpected, but after catching my breath I faced the forest surrounding the caf¨¦.

    I bounced a Mana Bolt in one hand and gave the Guidance Stone of Mastery the side eye in my eye. I was hesitant, but I still attempted to use it, unsurprised when it was to no avail. I needed to fully bind with the Aspect before I could start adding things to it. I took a deep, calming breath, glancing at the large body of the Attack Animal. I didn¡¯t need to look at my mana pool to know it had been refilled during the Aspect binding ritual. There was no more procrastination to do.

    ¡°I can do this,¡± I told myself, forcing my feet to match my words and taking the first steps forward. ¡°Yeah, I can do this.¡±

    <table style="width: 40.0641%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 61.9303%">

    Aspects 1/4

    </td>

    <td style="width: 37.891%">

    Guidance

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 61.9303%">

    Dragon (Unbound)

    </td>

    <td style="width: 37.891%"> </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 61.9303%">

    Unbound

    </td>

    <td style="width: 37.891%"> </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 61.9303%">

    Unbound

    </td>

    <td style="width: 37.891%"> </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 61.9303%">

    Unbound

    </td>

    <td style="width: 37.891%"> </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

 Forged Anew - Chapter Seven - Hubris & Recovery

    Overconfidence is a cancer upon capability. You rarely know its poison is seeping through your marrow until it¡¯s too late to do anything about it. I pondered this as I dashed through the forest with every fibre of my being screaming in either pain or fear. My shoulder was ragged, an increasingly common occurrence. Not a fan. I had grown heady about my attributes after a single successful fight.

    The source of the damage was a throwing knife, though the weapon itself was no longer there. I wasn¡¯t sure whether that was a bad thing anymore. The bleeding had mostly stopped, though sprinting through the woods wasn¡¯t helping. The creature chasing me, another Adolescent Amphibian Attack Animal, was whooping like a strangled gibbon as it lobbed the pair of knives it wielded over and over. After a few seconds, they returned to its hands. It would have been one of the coolest things I had ever seen if it wasn¡¯t deadly and aimed my way.

    Showing that I still had a lot to learn, I had burned through my mana in panicked flailing when the ambush was sprung. I couldn¡¯t retaliate with Mana Bolt, as my reservoir was feeling dry. If I overdid it, I would faint again and then I would be dead. The world may have collected some new video game-like rules but I doubted they extended to a ¡°Retry¡± or ¡°Continue¡±. For this reason, I was frantically trying to think of a way out of this situation. Often, these things are best solved if you start from the beginning.

    My first mistake, as I saw it, was entering the forest surrounding my safe haven. A mistake I would have had to make at some point. The caf¨¦ was far from where I would choose to be, but the alternative was apparently a monster-infested woodland. I was doing my best to rectify this mistake by retreating, but my hopes that the monstrous, shelled frog man would leave me alone after a certain distance were flagging. It wasn¡¯t defending a location, it was just waiting to be an offensive ass.

    My second mistake was thinking my Mana Bolts would be enough to defeat the creature without landing every hit. They were powerful, sure, but the impact didn¡¯t matter if I missed. The turtle man had dodged my first two attacks and I had been on the back foot since then. Another bolt skittered uselessly off of its shell and left me worried. Ten mana was the full power I could shove into a Mana Bolt and the minutes of running had only given me back enough for a few more chances.

    I had been lucky by overwhelming the first as I did, but the cost of my half-measured approach was that I now couldn¡¯t muster enough strength to perform the same feat. With my health down over a quarter, I wasn¡¯t excited to take any more chances, but I didn¡¯t have the luxury of options. As another throwing knife whistled past me, almost clipping my ear, I snarled and turned. I¡¯d created some distance, which is why the attack had missed. Another came flying my way and I threw myself to the side, narrowly dodging it.

    The Mana Bolt formed in my palm to be thrown and I dodged once more. There was a moment where the knives reformed in the murderous turtle-frog-man¡¯s hands. I closed one eye and with more hope than anything else, I hurled the projectile forward. This was my least favourite part of the plan. By stopping, I had given the turtle man a free shot. Except, I also knew that to throw its knives caused it to lean just enough to expose a weak point.

    I just needed to aim properly.

    The Mana Bolt flew true, and was passed in the air by the throwing knife. I braced, not even watching to see if the attack struck. The scream of pain was all I needed to know I had succeeded at exploding the Attack Animal¡¯s knee. I was already rolling on the floor, gasping. My breath had been punched out of me as the ethereal knife stabbed into my gut and then vanished a second later. Thrown to the floor, I cursed and ripped at the ground to throw myself forward. The pain was indescribable, and I could only thank my attributes for giving me the strength to push myself to my feet and start running.

    I hadn¡¯t defeated the knife thrower, but I had stopped its pursuit. Hand pressed hard against the wound in my belly, it was all I could do to keep my feet underneath me and the path home in my head. I vaguely rebelled against the idea that anywhere here was my home, but it was hard to have an argument with myself right now. The poor guy, me, was stabbed, after all.

    Thankfully, no more attacks were waiting for me, though this was another issue. A single enemy was enough to nearly kill me. If I met two¡­ The manicured lawn surrounding the caf¨¦ was enough to bring me to tears. I was already crying with pain, so it would have been less impactful, but I was grateful nonetheless. The bleeding had again stopped, and my health was no longer slowly ticking down. The knife to my gut had brought me to twelve, and the ongoing bleeding had me down to seven.

    My stomach still felt like it was being eaten from the inside, but I pushed the door to Clive¡¯s open all the same and stepped in. I fell into a waiting chair before I realised something was wrong. Wait¡­ the door? I blinked, stopping for a moment despite the agony. It was¡­ clean? The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Not for the first time today, my grasp on reality threatened to shiver away, but I denied the possibility that I had made a mistake. This was definitely where I had planned to be, and where I had expected to find a gory scene. Instead, it was clean. The chairs were in order, not a spot of blood to be seen anywhere. I reaffirmed my sanity. Something had occurred to change things. While I was exceedingly happy that I had decided not to be crazy, the fact was that all of the bodies had disappeared, along with the damage to the room. The door was fixed. Even the window I had been thrown through was repaired. A quick, aching check outside showed that the Attack Animal which I had killed was also gone.

    ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± I asked. I glanced around somewhat hopefully. It wasn¡¯t impossible that the System would just answer my question, but I gave up hope after a few seconds. A search of the premises revealed no further clues. The only real proof I had been there at all was the food which had not been restocked. Thinking of food made me hungry, so I removed a snack bar from the pouch at my side. Stroking the soft fabric thoughtfully while I chewed and waited for my health to return, I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling I was being watched.

    It took around half an hour for my health to fully recover, and while I didn¡¯t spend the whole time watching my wounds, I still marvelled at the fresh, sore pink skin. Minutes ago, it had been a life-threatening injury. At least, it would have been in the old world. I was lucky for that, but it was taking some getting used to. The implications were staggering just from that alone. Had humanity overcome disease with a few Attribute points?

    ¡°Wait¡­¡± I tried to stop the horrifying idea that bacteria could level up before it planted itself in my head but it didn¡¯t go away. My bloody clothes suddenly felt even more disgusting. I grimaced at the once-white shirt, now black, crimson and pink with dried blood. In a burst of inspiration that came up lucky, I decided to check the office. I hadn¡¯t had a reason to enter the small room until now, but I found the box which I was looking for. Waiting to be worn was a box of bright green ¡°Clive¡¯s Caf¨¦¡± t-shirts. Shoving three spares into my Xaverweave Pouch, I literally tore the flimsy shirt from my back.

    There was little I could do about the grime on my body, but I could at least look a bit more presentable. Maybe I would find a lake or something to wash in, if I ever got passed the Attack Animals. It seemed they were the common enemy in the area, though that was still just an assumption. Maybe I was unlucky and they were the toughest guys around. I doubted it, but the thought comforted me as I made my way back into the trees. There was nothing else for it, after all. Returning to the spot I had left the hopefully crippled Attack Animal, I found it disappointingly empty.

    The entire forested area was eerily similar to itself, with almost no variation between the trees and wildflowers around. So when I found the fairly obvious, round groove in the floor, I knew the Attack Animal was likely nearby. I went into high alert. I had enough time to heal up, so it stood to reason the Attack Animal was probably alright. I had no training in being stealthy beyond sneaking through a creaky old wooden house as a teenager, so I doubted my approach was as hidden as I would like. A twig snapped to my right.

    Adolescent Amphibian Attack Animal (Level 09)

    I threw myself out of the way - to the right. Whatever snapped, it wasn¡¯t the enemy, but it was the starting pistol for round two. The creature¡¯s nameplate had appeared in my peripheral vision for a split second. Combined with the sharp noise, it had been enough to save my life, the sharp blades whizzing through the air less than an inch from my throat. ¡°C¡¯mon then!¡± I shouted.

    While true that most of my attributes were in magic, I wasn¡¯t weak. I launched myself straight into the hard body of my assailant, causing it to stumble. Spinning with the momentum, I gathered a Mana Bolt and didn¡¯t bother to throw it. Clenching my fist as tight as I could, I just punched the everloving fuck out of the shell. Not the smartest idea, as my theory that I would explode my fist if I tried something like this was spot on. Holding a magical firecracker made it even more painful, but effective too. I definitely lost a good chunk of my own health for that and I howled in defiant anger. I didn¡¯t have time or inclination to check though, pouncing forward to press the advantage.

    The first Mana Bolt strengthened punch had crushed the creature¡¯s shell on its right side. It had managed to half turn, lessening the damage, but that didn¡¯t matter now. Squealing in fear, the Attack Animal turned to run. I snorted, feeling powerful with our situations reversed. It wasn¡¯t impossible to fight from behind, but it wasn¡¯t nearly as enjoyable. With an obvious weak spot now targetable, the Attack Animal would much prefer to try again later. I wouldn¡¯t give it that chance.

    Focused on the task in front of me, I didn¡¯t even have a chance to dodge the attack from the second Attack Animal, laying in wait. My arms were sore as I barely managed to get them in the way of the large hammer which nearly took my head off. As the first one, its shell still cracked, turned around with a gnarly imitation of a grin, my blood froze. The two creatures ¡°hyucked¡± back and forth, and I realised they were laughing at me.

    Adolescent Amphibian Attack Animal (Level 10)

    A flame ignited inside of me. The draconic mana which I had felt the touch of since half-binding to the Aspect rippled in my pathways at the insult. I cracked my neck, suddenly much more okay with the short lull in combat. For a time, not long enough at all, the three of us stared at each other. Then, the world burst into action once more as the battle began anew.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Eight - Pressure

    <table style="width: 52.0833%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 25.2212%">

    Health

    </td>

    <td style="width: 23.1563%">

    22/40

    </td>

    <td style="width: 51.0324%">

    0.5 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 51.1218%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 23.8606%">

    Mana

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.3968%">

    32/50

    </td>

    <td style="width: 51.4745%">

    06 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    My eyes flickered to my health and mana pools, then to the two enemies where my focus remained. I had seen enough Westerns, playing on the television while my grandfather drank whiskey and lemonade in the corner, to know I was in a stand-off. The first movement would set off a flurry of action, but no one was hurrying to take the shot. Even moving eyes from glaring directly into the beady fish eyes of the Attack Animals would be enough to start things.

    I felt a cold bead of sweat on my brow which fell down my nose. I won¡¯t be able to run unless I cripple the knife thrower again. The wind gently tickled the leaves of the trees. There were obstacles everywhere, but I was smaller than my enemy so I could use them to my advantage. Another hit from that hammer and I¡¯m in trouble. My arms were just about getting feeling back into them now.

    My enemies were a level and two above mine respectively, holding weaponry and had natural advantages beyond levels and stature. Those shells were a real problem. Although the damage to the ranged Attack Animal wasn¡¯t going to heal quickly, I wasn¡¯t able to apply any more pressure there either. Was this going to be my final mistake, falling into this trap?

    Somewhere within myself, deeper somehow than even the magical core which created mana, there was a rumble of dissent. I felt it growl like a burp through my chest and throat, a bubbling defiance which rejected the idea that this was the end. Yeah, I agreed, fuck that.

    Time to break the deadlock.

    Two Mana Bolts, only a single mana used to create each, were flung accurately. A good start. Stunned from the jab of magic to their snouts, I broke line of sight with the creatures and started to create distance while gathering energy for my next attack. A close quarters fight would see me grappled and torn apart, my weapons were longer range. A pair of angry squawks were followed by the stamping of heavy feet and the chase was on.

    Ten seconds for a point of mana, and the amount I could recover was a matter of life-or-death. Full to the brim, I spun and feinted a throw. The hammer wielder charged forward blithely while the dagger user ducked into his shell and behind a tree. The damage I had inflicted had put more fear into the first enemy, but the second saw nothing but a light tap. Which was good, because this one was for him. It was the scariest game of chicken I had ever played, and as the Attack Animal¡¯s hammer rose into the air I saw a glimpse of death in the movement. Unable to hold my nerve any longer, I kicked off a nearby tree and rose into the air, giving me the trajectory I wanted.

    The higher level Attack Animal¡¯s ugly face rose to follow my path. Its eyes widened as the Mana Bolt descended with ferocity and crushed its horrible face inwards. A dagger slipped over my shoulder before I landed and I rolled to avoid the next attacks. My breath was ragged already, though panic was stealing more stamina than the combat. I cursed and started running again - straight for the now-downed Attack Animal.

    It wasn¡¯t dead, or even out of the fight, but I had knocked its brain around and ruined half its face with that bolt. The skill was activating quicker and quicker now, and I waved my hands back and forth as I broke from my tree cover. A barrage of small Mana Bolts provided cover for my approach as I dashed forward, spotting my target. I tutted as I burned the last full charge of energy into a large bolt and cast it forth. With a meaty smashing sound, the grounded Attack Animal¡¯s hand was destroyed, and the hammer freed from its grip.

    Low on mana, the lightheaded feeling returned but I couldn¡¯t falter. I couldn¡¯t even stop. In a move which would have been far too acrobatic for my scholarly self only a day ago, I bent fully in half while running, gripped the heavy hammer and used its weight to enforce a flip. I didn¡¯t have time to be proud of myself, as a dagger caught me in the calf and stopped my gallop at once. It was only a slice, but enough to unbalance me. For the second time, I tumbled, the pain in my leg forcing me into a new course of action.

    As I rose, I aimed towards the knife thrower and hurled the hammer with all my strength. I didn¡¯t have much hope in the attack, but the creature hadn¡¯t been expecting it either. Like a gong being struck, the hammer collided with its large shell. The Attack Animal¡¯s breath was blown from it as the structural damage from before combined with the improvised ranged hit to shatter its protection and caused the monster to sag gruesomely. Its shell was as much a skeleton as a shield, it seemed.

    I relaxed, letting myself take a breath which had felt out of reach. The knife thrower was down, feebly croaking and trying to wave its sharp weapons around. I could hardly look at it. It was as though the creature had melted into an unformed version of itself, and though it was my victory, I didn¡¯t revel in it. I could hear the pain in its wretched cries. I couldn¡¯t just wait, so I moved to grab the hammer again.

    Slimy tendrils wrapped around my right ankle and I screamed and pulled away to no avail. I looked down in time to see it was the higher level Attack Animal, blindly groping for me from its back. It was my own fault for thinking the fight was over, I judged as I sailed through the air. My collision with the ground was brutal as the Attack Animal swung me like the hammer I had taken from it. Perhaps realising I was not the hammer, its next swing launched me at a tree. Already half-unconscious, I didn¡¯t even tense as I smashed into the local flora.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    Probably the only thing that saved me, I thought in a daze. My eyes jumped to my health and mana pools.

    <table style="width: 38.9423%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 25.2904%">

    Health

    </td>

    <td style="width: 23.235%">

    03/40

    </td>

    <td style="width: 51.1171%">

    0.1 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 39.5032%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 23.8606%">

    Mana

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.3968%">

    04/50

    </td>

    <td style="width: 51.4745%">

    06 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Well, that¡¯s not good. My vision was still swimming, but the System windows were shockingly legible despite that. I got hit so hard my health regeneration slowed. I almost chuckled but the breath to do so hurt, snapping my focus into place. Nothing was approaching me yet, which was a silver lining. The Attack Animals were both still down, but the higher level one was trying to stand. Also not good. That damn shoulder had popped out of joint again. I was still propped against the tree I had collided with and I slammed my back against its half broken trunk. Whatever spine had been holding the trunk together after my impact was snapped and the noise was obnoxiously loud as it tumbled.

    Rolling my arm and blinking away the tears of pain, I shook my head and cleared away the final echoes of the stun. I regretted it immediately because then I couldn¡¯t ignore the damage I had taken. The physical strength of the still-dangerous Attack Animal was shocking. I did not want to get caught by that oily hand again. In my seated position, it was easy to analyse the damage. My right leg was twisted around at the knee. My left arm wasn¡¯t moving. I coughed blood and the force of it nearly sent me to the black void of unconsciousness. I tried to make a fist but it was impossible. ¡°Alright,¡± I groaned, though it was more grunt than word.

    I looked to my right. The direction of my approach, a groove in the floor from where the first Attack Animal had crawled here. Thoughts of escape in this situation were a pipedream. I needed a miracle. I looked to my left. Despite the pain from my broken face, I couldn¡¯t help but smile. Oh yeah, that¡¯s where I left you.

    Snapping its mouth at me angrily, still trying to kill me despite its own inevitable demise. Considering my plan, I couldn¡¯t begrudge the thing for trying. There was only one way out of this, and we both knew it apparently. I could see recognition in the eyes of the Attack Animal as the ball of light appeared in my right hand. The realisation that it could do nothing to stop what was coming.

    I snarled as I heaved my partially shattered body, wondering if pain was enough to lose health points. Almost belatedly, I considered that if I punctured something with one of my broken ribs that I probably would die. Well, the alternative is still death. I would rather die fighting. As I accepted whatever fate might come, I crumpled face first, unable to brace myself at all. At the same time, there was a resonance inside myself, a reaction in my mana to my intent. I barely noticed it, like the jolt of a static shock. It was negligible against the pain of movement. There was a muted thump, followed by a quickly silenced croak which became a moist popping belch. Unable to see, I could only hope it had been enough.

    A roar of outrage suggested it had at least pissed off the still mobile combatant. The sneak attacker gathered its hammer and began to approach slowly, making horrid clacking noises as it did. Its beak was snapping over and over. Shit. Hurry up. Hurry up. I was desperately sending morbid thoughts at the knife throwing Attack Animal. It had to be enough. It had to be.

    I shifted, twisting my neck to look at the oncoming executioner. A single tap from that hammer would be enough to end me. The noise of a deflating balloon wheezed from somewhere on my left and my eyes widened. That was it. The pressure grew as the thumping got louder and louder. The footsteps and my heartbeat.

    Thump Thump.

    ¡°Come on!¡± I screamed, desperate for fate to lean on my side.

    Thump Thump.

    Pop.

    Ding! Level up! +5 Attribute points!

    Immediately, without even opening the Attribute Window, I threw two points into Resilience and three into Command. I will not die here. My body burned as the System fixed damage almost as quickly as it happened. The hammer, unwieldy in a single hand, raised awkwardly and dropped into the mud. The crater it left was empty as I threw myself to the side, ignoring pain and spinning to my feet. My core was singing as mana flowed around my body with more speed and capacity than before. Surprised, the Attack Animal chittered with outrage but was left flatfooted.

    Unlike myself, who had it all planned out and perfectly timed.

    Draining myself down to empty once more, I took the fifteen extra mana I had gained from the points in Command and gathered two Mana Bolts. Finally sensing that this had all gone wrong, the hammer user turned to try and run. Not a terrible choice given it had sturdy protection on its back. It would have worked before this fight began, even.

    Unfortunately for the Attack Animal, the pressure of battle had forged a powerful weapon. While the extra mana was important, higher Command also allowed me to manipulate the mana inside of me with more complexity and control. Tighter, I condensed the Mana Bolt. Faster, I spun the energy, keeping a rhythm with the increasing river of power within my bones.

    Congratulations! A skill has levelled up!

    One and then the other, I hurled the dense mana clumps in my hands at the same spot on my fleeing enemy. The flash of energy in the air was much more compact than before, and the impact when they landed seemed non-existent. I wasn¡¯t worried. With a whirring drilling sound, the first bolt landed. It punched into the shell before exploding like a firecracker inside a sealed tub. The second drilling Mana Bolt twisted the flesh of the Attack Animal. It made a confused and worried noise right before its insides were fried by magic.

    Again, I felt the surge of a level up except this one didn¡¯t burst. I swayed, fighting against the wave of tiredness to little avail. My legs may have been repaired, but the damage I had taken was still all there. Cursing myself and praying that I would wake up quickly, I slipped to the floor and was swept away by the current into the sea of unconsciousness.

    In the trees above, the source of my paranoia continued to watch with interest.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Nine - Being Watched

    I clutched my aching head, using the pain as proof that I had survived the battle. However, despite my comfortable position curled up at the base of a tree, I knew I had to move. That truth was another source of pain, but one I endured with a grumble. I pushed myself to my feet without fully opening my eyes to the brutal glare of the stationary sun above. Once I was sure I wouldn¡¯t tumble, I took a deep breath to prepare for opening my eyes. That simple action put pressure on my beleaguered skull, and it was this which caused me to collapse in a heap. If I hadn¡¯t been on such high alert, I might have missed the quickly stifled giggle nearby.

    My eyes snapped open. Fatigue was thrown away as I searched in panic for the source of the noise. Looking left and right, forward and behind, all I saw were trees. Well, that and the two hefty corpses which signalled my victory. It wasn¡¯t technically impossible that I had lost my mind. I was fairly sure all of the System stuff was real, but a separate mental illness could have easily taken root during all of the concussions and trauma. Impossible to say really.

    Keeping a wary, if bleary, eye on my surroundings, I glared at the quiet forest and approached the bodies. The seconds passed slowly, marked only as I watched my health and mana totals tick up in the System window. The scene of the battle wasn¡¯t even a small grove, though the combat had torn up enough trees to make a little space. Yet, despite that, it took a full five minutes of ponderous creeping through the trees before I had looted both bodies. Each gave a measly ten gold coins, but it was their weaponry I was most happy to claim.

    My eyes began to twitch as they tried to analyse the items but I didn¡¯t want to waste even a single point of mana right now, choosing instead to drop both items right into my waiting inventory. The Xaverweave Pouch had been slithering over my body to avoid any damage during the battle but I had paid it no mind. As I filled it, there was a tightening of its wrapping. My heart melted as I realised it was giving me a hug. ¡°Awh,¡± I pet the pouch, ¡°don¡¯t worry buddy, I¡¯ll be alright.¡± The pouch didn¡¯t respond in any obvious way but I was glad for the companionship. I brought up my Inventory Window and ignored the additional sign that I was losing my mind. Technically the pouch isn¡¯t an inanimate object, anyway, I reasoned, talking to it isn¡¯t that weird.

    <table style="width: 37.4199%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 99.8213%" colspan="2">

    Inventory Page (Xaverweave Pouch)

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 75.6032%">

    Item

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.2181%">

    Amount

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 75.6032%">

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint)

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.2181%">

    8563

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 75.6032%">

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted)

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.2181%">

    2758

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 75.6032%">

    Guidance Stone of Mastery

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.2181%">

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 75.6032%">

    Sorehammer

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.2181%">

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 75.6032%">

    Fan of Knives

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.2181%">

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    The hammer was a simple thing, though its weight was impressive given my attributes. Getting a proper look at it, it was fairly plain. The head was a solid lump of shaped metal, origin unknown. The long shaft was adorned with an interesting carving of waves or shapes at the base. All told, the weapon stood about four foot high and had a sledgehammer¡¯s heft to it. There was a level of true joy as I beheld it, enjoying its simplicity and the fact I would no longer have to break my hand to hurt something without mana. Even with mana, I cringed, remembering the start of the fight.

    Item - Sorehammer (Uncommon)

    Once wielded by a king called Charles, leading to the nickname Chuck the Hammer. Which he did. His aim wasn¡¯t the best, so now the warhammer is your¡¯s.

    When thrown, this warhammer does not lose momentum for a short time.

    My brain struggled to understand the implications of the magical items I was finding, and I doubted it would get better when I inspected the fan. Unlike my new best friend the Sorehammer, the Fan of Knives was not as it had seemed. It was still a weapon, but upon the death of its user, the item had returned to its original state. A black and purple hand fan stood in contrast to the Sorehammer¡¯s austere appearance. A beautiful depiction of thorny flowers made up the design on the fan.

    There was a trick to its use, like a butterfly knife. I slapped the fan open and let it spin around my hand. When it rolled into my palm again, I closed my grip around a knife handle, the fan shuttering and transforming all at once. With a simple flick from my right hand to my left, the knife asked for some mana. I allowed the expenditure and the knife replicated. I admired the handiwork of them, an identical pair. Much like its fan form, the blades were a work of art. Handles of a lacquered purple wood wrapped in golden twine formed the tiny hilt of each weapon. Two silver blades with similar wavy patterns as the hammer glinted in the dappled light shining through the canopy above.

    Item - Fan of Knives (Uncommon)

    A popular safety precaution for courtesans and others who would prefer to show an air of grace while concealing a hidden weapon. When thrown, a small amount of mana can be spent to create another blade, though only the latest copy will remain after a few seconds.

    Technically I had gained two throwing weapons, though I didn¡¯t want to go the way of old king Chuck, so I would probably stick to just throwing the knives which reappeared in my hand rather than the hammer that was going to just keep going for an indeterminate amount of time. I would practise with both later, but for now I was just glad to have them. Deciding preparedness was more important than not looking like a murderer, I kept a knife in one hand and the Sorehammer in another. Checking my System windows before moving on, I hadn¡¯t forgotten about the giggle I heard as I awoke, but without finding the source there was little I could do.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    <table style="width: 36.0577%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 99.6569%" colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1046%">

    Name

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5523%">

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1046%">

    Race

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5523%">

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1046%">

    Title

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5523%">

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1046%">

    Level

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5523%">

    09

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1046%">

    Health

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5523%">

    04/50

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 33.1046%">

    Mana

    </td>

    <td style="width: 66.5523%">

    31/65

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 30.8494%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1734%">

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.6479%">

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1734%">

    Strength

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.6479%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1734%">

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.6479%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1734%">

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.6479%">

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1734%">

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.6479%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1734%">

    Agility

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.6479%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1734%">

    Perception

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.6479%">

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1734%">

    Power

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.6479%">

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1734%">

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.6479%">

    6

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 74.1734%">

    Command

    </td>

    <td style="width: 25.6479%">

    13

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 36.859%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 25.2904%">

    Health

    </td>

    <td style="width: 23.235%">

    05/50

    </td>

    <td style="width: 51.1171%">

    0.5 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table style="width: 37.8205%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 23.702%">

    Mana

    </td>

    <td style="width: 24.1535%">

    37/65

    </td>

    <td style="width: 51.2415%">

    06 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    My health and mana had not recovered while I was unconscious. I was feeling mostly fine now, and my Recovery had caught back up to its maximum. When the pain and damage during the fight had accumulated, I had regained less health, likely because the damage was almost a debuff. When I was bleeding, my health had slowly gone down. I vowed to put a point into recovery and regeneration every level until I was recovering a health point every¡­

    Well, maybe I shouldn¡¯t get too ambitious. Planning out future level ups was aspirational, to say the least. The idea of healing quicker so I no longer felt this pain was alluring. I just hurt. I was scared and still half-hoping I would fall asleep, wake up and find out this had all been a ridiculously elaborate prank. Each passing hour with the sun locked in place made it less likely, though.

    ¡°Is¡­ someone there?¡± I called out, darting my eyes back and forth. It was just a hunch. If there were any movement in the area, I would see it. I hadn¡¯t imagined the laughter. Since before the battle, the feeling of a gaze upon me had not shaken. I refused to believe it was simple paranoia. Of course, when no answer returned and nothing shifted, I just looked silly. I began to stomp away.

    Finding my way back to the caf¨¦ was easy enough by following the trail of the previous combat. I made my way slowly. While I had probably recovered enough to jog, I rejected the idea in lieu of a slow creep which saw me gain another ten health points before opening the door to Clive¡¯s. I couldn¡¯t help but frown at the door after I entered, along with the spotless dining space. Had the System just¡­ repaired everything?

    I was turning away from the entrance to throw myself onto a booth. My plan was to either fall asleep or curl up into a ball and weep, but neither of those were going to happen once I saw the door budge open a sliver before shutting again silently. The feeling of being watched intensified, and I glared at the space. My eyes began to buzz, which put my heart in my throat. There was something in front of me. I allowed the mana pressing against my vision to start identifying the threat.

    There was an audible gasp. Then the door opened, fairly wide, leaving me slack jawed and confused. There was no one there. It was like a ghost had entered and exited the caf¨¦. ¡°Did that really just¡­¡± I walked to the door, stopping it from closing and looking around outside in vain. My mind was racing. What the hell was that? Something invisible? An actual ghost? The drain on my eyes began to fade but I sent as much mana to the area as I could, flooding my sight with magical energy.

    New Skill Unlocked! - Manasight (Common)

    It is said that those who do not make use of mana leave themselves half-blind.

    Now it was my turn to gasp as the mundane world before me became covered in vibrant colours like I had never seen. There was a slight weight in my eyes, which was as uncomfortable a sensation as it sounds, but I was lost in wonder at the world around me. Slow ribbons of near translucent silver brushed through the air, the wind itself carrying and creating the tiniest trace of magic. The green grass seemed to spark on its edges, tiny blues and yellow flashes dancing around the edges of the plants as they fought for sustenance. Looking at my own hand, I marvelled at the gathering of a Mana Bolt.

    Underneath my skin, a faint amber light moved. Multiple, in fact, as the pathways which lead to that area expelled the mana and the bolt was formed. I shook my head in disbelief. Prior to activating Manasight, I had only seen my Mana Bolts as a mostly invisible shimmer on the air, most reminiscent of a heat haze over concrete. Now, they looked like the embers of a smouldering flame.

    Distracting as it all was, I remembered what had caused this moment in the first place. With Manasight now active, I once again swung my head back and forth like a mounted video camera. I saw what I was looking for, kind of. My vision hadn¡¯t actually changed so much as a new layer had been placed over my eyes, like reverse sunglasses. So, I still couldn¡¯t see the invisible thing, but I could see the bundle of mana that was staying very still underneath the damaged roundabout.

    Where the circular metal had bent during my first fight in the System, a glittering cloud of magic was laying stationary. I let my vision wander away from its position but kept it in my periphery. An instinct told me to cast my Mana Bolt at the thing, but I squashed it. Flicking the bolt like a coin instead, I caught it and slapped it into nothingness. ¡°You can come out¡­ I promise I won¡¯t hurt you if you don¡¯t hurt me.¡±

    If I thought the magic I could see was an interesting sight before, the flash of monochrome which shifted everything as the world turned pure black and white for a split instant scared me to my core. The glittering magic disappeared as reality returned to normal, leaving in its place a miniscule woman. On her back were a set of thin, dragonfly-like wings. ¡°Has no one ever told you,¡± her voice was oddly nostalgic, carrying the accent of my homeland, ¡°it¡¯s dangerous to make promises to a fairy.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Ten - Naea

    As her translucent wings buzzed nearer to me, her features came into full view. From the over-large eyes, a dark amber colour not dissimilar to my Mana Bolt, to her spindly limbs which bent at angles which were just uncanny enough to bother my brain subconsciously. The forearm was too long, her wrist further back than it should be while her upper arm was little more than a small pivot.

    I had never been a fan of bugs. I won¡¯t lie and pretend I didn¡¯t scream when the insectoid woman approached me, her invisibility relinquished after the promise of safety. However, it had been like ten minutes and she was still cackling every time she looked at my face. ¡°Seriously, please,¡± she begged me, holding her tiny stomach as she doubled over again, ¡°stop, please.¡±

    Wanting to keep my eyes open for incoming attacks, I had joined the fairy on the roundabout which I spun back and forth slowly. ¡°I¡¯m not doing anything,¡± I intoned monotonously, keeping my face as passive as I could. I wasn¡¯t. I hadn¡¯t for the last three times this had happened.

    The fairy began howling even harder.

    Eventually, long enough that I was almost at full health again, she calmed down. She wiped away large, exaggerated looking tears and shook her head. ¡°You really are a funny one, you know?¡± She asked, seriously. I snorted, but managed to hold back the childish refrain of no, you. She must have seen doubt in my eyes as doubled down. ¡°No, no, you are!¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± I gave her a flat look, not bothering to gesture to my gore-covered clothing, ¡°I¡¯m downright hilarious.¡± I almost rolled my eyes at my own voice. For whatever reason, the fairy had an Irish accent which was causing my own to become thicker. My guess was that maybe the System just bastardised pop culture on Earth to create as many weird nightmares as possible. The fairy sat up and looked at me, her face serious.

    ¡°Is a joke not funny just because you weren¡¯t told it?¡± The fairy asked. Feeling put on the spot, I tilted my head. There was¡­ magic, in her question. The air between us felt charged, though I couldn¡¯t say the feeling was mana. Not even a twist on plain mana, like the streams of draconic energy locked away inside me. This was something else entirely.

    ¡°A joke is only funny when both parties get to tell it together.¡± The words fell from my mouth like oil. Where had they come from? I stood, creating some distance between myself and the fairy. I wasn¡¯t sure what had happened, but I didn¡¯t like it. She tittered, amused. My hackles were up. This was a dungeon monster, after all. I had nearly been tricked by a fae. Had I learned nothing from nursery rhymes?

    ¡°See? You even know how to play the old games without falling apart.¡± As she began rising up into the air to become level with me, I noticed she didn¡¯t use her wings to float  initially. A burst of mana, small but enough to give her some lift, went into the movement. It was an elegant use of magic beyond what I had seen so far and it intrigued me.

    ¡°What was that?¡± I demanded, fingers flexing around the knife in my hand. I honestly doubted I could hit her with any kind of thrown weapon, the darting speed of a dragonfly showing when she chose to move. ¡°I don¡¯t really want to play any games right now,¡± I added as gently as I could. I hadn¡¯t been able to get a read of this creature¡¯s level yet, which worried me.

    Now it was her turn to snort. A single forlorn type of a laugh. Then the fairy was shaking her head. ¡°Oh, well, I¡¯m sorry human but you¡¯re all playing the game now I¡¯m afraid. Don¡¯t you worry, I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll all be over soon.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t following her gibberish but I could tell she was being intentionally frustrating. I had four siblings. I knew that energy well. Even the old games comment probably meant nothing more than to confuse me. ¡°Over?¡± I asked. ¡°Things will go back to how they were?¡± My breath caught in my throat as I asked the question. A Mana Bolt flickered into being in my hand and I quickly dropped it. It popped on the floor with a snap.

    I didn¡¯t miss the momentary expression of pity on the face of the fairy. ¡°No, nothing so simple I¡¯m afraid. Things are still getting settled, so even I¡¯m a little bit all over the place.¡± I felt guilty at the relief which came over me. People had died. I nearly had multiple times, and I was sure that it wasn¡¯t all kittens and rainbows outside the dungeon either. It was a bad thing that things weren¡¯t going back to normal.

    Was it a bad thing that I didn¡¯t want to go back, though?

    Survival within the System had been more thrilling than any singular moment of my life. My victories had unfortunately come with unconsciousness for the most part, so I had yet to revel in one but I felt accomplished after the fact. I had defeated three hulking monstrosities with nothing but my own magic. It was the coolest thing which had ever happened to me.

    The world outside might be burning while I fucked about in a playground with a fairy. Reading my expression, said fairy spoke up. ¡°If it makes you feel better, I meant that you would probably die. All over soon for you. Right?¡±

    Whether it was the genuine attempt to cheer me up, or the absolutely terrible way she was doing it, something about the moment broke the tension in me. I began to laugh, mirroring her minutes long chortles with a fit of my own that I simply couldn¡¯t stop. Every random thought brought me to tears, howling at the ridiculous situation I found myself in. It was on the very edge of too much.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    I spent my day, which should have been a fairly boring, if important one, killing monsters and discovering magic in a park. After putting on what was essentially magical sunglasses, I saw a fairy who told me I was going to die. What else was there to do but laugh at myself? It was absurd.

    ¡°Ahh,¡± I sighed. The fairy had hovered nearby, sometimes catching my contagious laughter but mostly just looking at me in confusion. ¡°Weird day,¡± I offered simply as an explanation. ¡°Well, neither of us is going to hurt each other, right? You¡¯re not going to kill me?¡±

    I had promised, after all. You don¡¯t lightly break a promise to a fairy. Surprisingly, the smile which came to her face seemed true, genuine and warm. ¡°Right! And I¡¯m here to help you out with the whole not dying thing.¡± Slapping her palm against her small forehead like she had just remembered something innocuous, I had my doubts about her ability to help.

    Her being my first point of contact in this scary new world may have made me less discerning about who I might call a potential ally. ¡°How would you do that?¡± I asked, leaning away from her. ¡°And do you have a name?¡±

    She ignored my first question. Her large bug-like eyes sparkled. ¡°I do have a name, though it is mine to keep. You may call me Naea. May I have your name?¡± I recognised the way she framed her reply from old bedtime stories. You were never supposed to give your name to a fairy, or they would steal it, literally. The version my grandmother would tell had the whole world forget you if a fairy ever got ahold of your name.

    I gave the fairy, Naea, my best withering look. ¡°No, you may not have my name,¡± I replied as advised so long ago, ¡°but you can call me Grant if you¡¯d like.¡± Again, that strange magic shifted over the world, visible for a fraction of a second. Monochrome. A waft of floral aromas tickled the air. ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°Old, powerful magic. Older than your magic, definitely. Which is why I¡¯m here.¡± Naea smiled brightly, but didn¡¯t continue. When she stopped speaking, I waited. The pair of us stared at each other, barely raising an eyebrow. Barely. I couldn¡¯t help myself. I was getting tired of the riddles. She rolled her eyes, the brighter orange-gold iris within their fractal structure circling the dark shadowy yellows at the edge. ¡°I¡¯ve been watching you for a few hours and it seems like you don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing. You found me, you didn¡¯t kill me and you¡¯re as helpless as a baby pixie. It¡¯s tragic.¡±

    Honestly I couldn¡¯t argue against the need. I was definitely flailing and hoping for the best as far as the System went. That I had survived so far was more luck than anything. If I hadn¡¯t unlocked Mana Bolt when I did¡­ ¡°So, you want to help me out of pity?¡± I asked with a self-deprecating chuckle.

    ¡°Something like that,¡± Naea answered. ¡°I¡¯m a dungeon fairy. I clean up the dungeon, and when you defeat a monster that means a meal for me. We can help each other!¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± There it was. I was genuinely glad to get the real reason behind why she wanted my help, though it did open up a few important questions. ¡°Okay, you said you clean up,¡± Naea nodded at me. ¡°And that cleaning involves eating. Which you do to dungeon monsters.¡± Two more nods.

    We stared at each other for a long moment, neither of us blinking. ¡°So that means-¡±

    ¡°Look, Grant, I¡¯m absolutely certain you don¡¯t want to have that conversation. I¡¯m not big on telling lies, so if you want to continue you can.¡± This time, the silence was a little heavy. I knew what she had done to the bodies inside Clive¡¯s then. She knew that I knew. The moment became even more charged as we stared at each other in silence. There was an agreement being made between the two of us and a part of my humanity went with it. I knew I would give it willingly to survive even as the chance to say anything slipped away forever.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I answered, my breath leaving me in an angry huff, ¡°where do we start? I¡¯ve been doing okay so far.¡± Naea didn¡¯t speak right away, hovering in the air with her arms folded at their odd angles. Slowly, she turned ninety degrees and began floating forwards, turning around and going back on herself. It took me two turns to realise she was ¡®pacing¡¯ in the air.

    ¡°First, you fight like a toddler. We need to teach you how to not be completely useless. Your Mana Bolt is alright,¡± she flicked her wrist and a ball of mana rolled into her palm, ¡°but it¡¯s only useful against the slowest, dumbest enemies in the whole dungeon. It¡¯s going to take a lot more than that to defeat the Claimants. Open your Skill Window and tell me we¡¯re not just using one skill.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ Skill Window?¡± I asked, remembering that the System had said Mana Bolt levelled up. I was planning to check, I thought, consoling myself. I hardly reacted as the text box appeared in my vision immediately afterwards.

    <table style="width: 29.3269%">

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 99.8213%" colspan="2">

    Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 67.5603%">

    Mana Bolt (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td style="width: 32.261%">

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td style="width: 67.5603%">

    Manasight (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td style="width: 32.261%">

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    ¡°Ah,¡± I nodded, ¡°Ask and ye shall receive.¡±

    Matters of life-and-death, even those beyond death, were too much for me at the moment. The world was under siege by powerful magic for which we were almost wholly unprepared. The stories and games we had created as replicas didn¡¯t do the danger and terror of existing within the System justice. It was an ordeal humanity might not survive, and if it did, it would be much changed. In a very real sense, the world as I knew it had ended. Yet, looking at the screens before me, feeling the changes inside me even now, I smiled. I could genuinely feel the Manasight getting stronger as I used it.

    This I can handle.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Eleven - Skilled

    Within the solo dungeon situated in the centre of Thistledon a desperate battle was being waged. A fight for survival unlike anywhere else on Earth. The whole world might be facing challenges never before seen, but none were as unholy and terrifying as the ordeal ongoing inside. A full day still had yet to pass since the System came to Earth, and it was unlikely anyone was facing it as fiercely as I was. At least, that¡¯s what my imagination told me.

    ¡°Ninety seven¡­ Ninety eight¡­ Ninety nine¡­ and¡­?¡± Naea had stopped saying the hundred and portion of the numbers early in the ones. As the final, five hundredth swing clattered to the floor my hands released the grip of the aptly named Sorehammer. I was completely unbalanced and fell onto my back without the hammer¡¯s weight to keep me stable. My arms wouldn¡¯t stop twitching, attempting to continue the crushing motion I had been making for the past three hours.

    I didn¡¯t appreciate that she seemed genuinely unsure whether the task would actually work, if I read her tone correctly. There was just enough of a question in her voice for me to give her a sharp look. My neck, long locked in cramps, spasmed violently at the motion. ¡°It worked,¡± I admitted once the pain had stopped.

    Skill Unlocked! - Heavy Blow (Common)

    A simple application of mana and force which creates a result greater than the sum of their parts.

    As the System filled in the foundations of the technique with understanding, I shuddered in relief. This made two skills unlocked since beginning to work with Naea, and my doubts were fading further and further away. I wasn¡¯t afraid she was going to attack me as I believed her words on the power of promises. Now, I believed her words on the System, too.

    The practice was simple. Attack anything with a heavy weapon, hit as hard as you can and do it five hundred times in under three hours. Each strike needed to carry with it at least a single mana point, sent through the weapon. If I hadn¡¯t already done this one and received a skill doing a mundane task, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to attempt this feat at all. The monotony was a good way to let my brain switch off, focusing on nothing but the rhythm.

    I didn¡¯t have five hundred mana to swing in one go, but I had enough Regeneration to manage. The two roadblocks were getting started and then not stopping. Initially, my impacts had been too heavy or sometimes without the requisite mana. If I slipped up, breaking the chain at all, I needed to start over. ¡°So with the false starts,¡± I groaned, standing up slowly, ¡°that was more like eight hundred, right?¡±

    ¡°Who cares?¡± Naea asked simply, a knife to my gut, ¡°just use the skill and see how it feels.¡± She had been getting noticeably grumpy as time went on. I put it down to hunger, because at one point during my break between skill farming, she had shot off in the direction of the two Attack Animals which lay defeated in the forest. When she returned from that trip, she was clearly calmer. It had been a few hours since then and she was snappy again.

    Despite myself, I thought of my young sisters and smiled a sad smile. They would get on with me, as long as I made sure they had some snacks. My sisters Sin¨¦ad and Niamh were a lot like Naea. They, too, were as annoying as a buzzing flying and never shut up. ¡°Thanks for showing up, Naea.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡± The fairy asked, suspicious. I just shrugged and shook my head. Forcing myself to my feet, Naea began clapping to cheer me on. I gripped the hammer. My hands were burning in a way I wasn¡¯t sure would recover like the wounds I had received in fighting. Could I still get callouses? Even with my Resilience making my hands feel like they were wrapped in leather already, the skin protested as I lifted the weapon. My left and right hands nearly overlapped at the furthest end of the Sorehammer from the head. The impressive metal hadn¡¯t dented even a fraction, even after five hundred mana-infused swings into the concrete and dirt.

    While my body recovered, stalling a little, I decided to get a little curious. ¡°So, I¡¯ve got some common skills. Makes sense, but how do I get more powerful ones?¡± Even with the knowledge and strength which existed inside of me now, I knew that this was only the beginning. I fixed my grip on the hammer, letting mana start to move around inside me.

    ¡°You¡¯re talking about skill stages. Stages are more qualitative than skill levels, but both are important. You don¡¯t need to worry about skill stages for now, as you can¡¯t do anything with them¡­ yet. Something for later.¡± Naea¡¯s response was met with a nod as I was no longer able to speak. I could accept that answer for now. The mana inside me was ready to burst, so I let it rush towards the spot in my wrists where the skill seemed to reside. The area bloomed with warmth from within, and I unleashed the attack upon the unsuspecting ground.

    The motion began with my body as a conduit. I felt like a passenger to the attack, having performed the motion so many times I was now able to let it fly without any conscious thought. Beginning with the glutes and back muscles, the knees bend an inch while the back twists. Gently relaxing the tension in the arms, the hammer starts to move. Then the hands grab harder, any loose muscle in the body becoming tight like iron as the left arm pulls, the right pushes and the hammer begins to rise. Mana joins the equation and I let it flow greedily into the metal at the top of the handle. The weapon almost flew from my grasp as the weight at the top doubled and redoubled again. I grit my teeth hard and with immense struggle, lifted and then dropped my foot, the hammer going along with it.

    Heavy Blow.

    I didn¡¯t hold back, letting a full ten mana flow into the swing. Alongside the magic, I put rage. Rage against the world which was ending, but still demanded effort. Anger and vitriol against my situation, alone and without any familiarity save for a building which made me sick to look at and a playground I had thoroughly destroyed. I roared, and within the sound was something ancient. Naea darted away at impressive speed, and I closed my eyes as the metal smashed into the dirt around me.

    The force of the blow rocked me, sending the Sorehammer flying from my grip. I landed on my back and saw debris falling from the meteoric strike. Above the dirt and rock my attack had kicked up, the hammer spun higher and higher. It was another few seconds later before I was forced to dodge the falling weapon, the magical effect of the item itself creating a slight danger.

    ¡°Note to self,¡± I said, struggling slightly to pull the hammer from where it wedged itself in the ground, ¡°practice with that specifically.¡± My eyes twinkled, I bet, as I imagined the possibilities of an actual meteoric strike. The Sorehammer, thrown high into the sky with a Heavy Blow attached to it¡­ Now that would be a finishing blow.

    Not that I needed one. ¡°See, if you could do that before fighting the local wildlife you¡¯d have been fine, eh? Wouldn¡¯t have needed to smash your hand, that¡¯s for sure.¡± I bit back a retort as Naea gave her backhanded praise. I judged that arguing with Naea and reminding her I didn¡¯t have the hammer to do the attack with before the last battle wasn¡¯t the right choice. Instead, I just nodded. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    She wasn¡¯t wrong about how this would change the fighting from now on. Even just for my mentality. Before doing this, I had been dreading the idea of close quarters combat subconsciously. The Attack Animals were bigger and stronger than me, and they were just the first enemy I had seen, not the strongest in the dungeon at all. Except now, After hitting the ground nearly a thousand times, I wanted nothing more than to see how the hammer worked on one of those shells. The time spent swinging my hammer had been time well spent.

    Same with the torturous jogging earlier. I had laughed at Naea when she suggested it. It hadn¡¯t taken much convincing once Naea said a skill would be unlocked, but I had been sceptical the whole time running. The deciding point was when Naea told me to spend mana the whole time. When I asked if she meant throwing Mana Bolts, she laughed at me. ¡°You¡¯ve got a slight specialisation in mana usage, and you might as well make it your strength rather than shift into Strength or Agility based fighting,,¡± she had said, ¡°but there are many ways to use mana.¡±

    Naea hadn¡¯t even needed to explain much more. That vague suggestion alone had been the spark which set me off. Naea was right, after all. I had three ways to use mana now, and Mana Bolt was definitely the most basic. Simply pushing the mana out in a clump, forcing it to hold a shape and then throwing it. Heavy Blow was different, utilising both mana and my muscles at once. Instead of releasing mana, I released force.

    Then there was Sprint.

    Skill - Sprint (Common)

    By suffusing mana into their breath, the user empowers their body and increases movement speed.

    The challenge to unlock the skill was a similar principle to the Heavy Blow task. Maintain an invisible counter with the System over a few hours by continually using mana while performing a specific task. With Heavy Blow, I had used a single point for every swing, but Sprint did not require mana in each footstep. My System-altered physique was important here because running for the two and a half hours required to unlock the skill was exhausting. Each breath spent a mana, infusing the air I sucked in during my run. Each huff and puff of air then filled my muscles with magical energy. My pace increased so much that the ground below me seemed to disappear.

    Unlike Heavy Blow, neither the mana nor the force it created truly left my body. There was a subtle difference, with Heavy Blow not actually making me stronger, but increasing my effect on the world around me. As of now, I had three variations on my mana usage, and I decided to name them. Output, like Manabolt. Infusion, like Sprint and application in Heavy Blow.

    I was interested to see how the secondary mana within myself would act with these skills. It felt potent in a way my own mana didn¡¯t, but less malleable too. The magic of the dragon was built for one purpose. To rule over others with an iron fist and flaming jaws. I had a lot of time to think about my mana. I had a lot of time to think about everything since the training period had taken about five hours so far.

    Even as I took cover from the still falling dust, I could feel the changes in my own body and the way I moved. Even without the skills, this would have been a fairly sensible thing to do, though I would have probably taken more breaks. Jogging first and then swinging the hammer allowed me to get more in tune with my body¡¯s new physical abilities. Naea and I hadn¡¯t left the area around Clive¡¯s, and I had run a noticeable path around the place as I unlocked Sprint. I then thoroughly destroyed everything in the surrounding area. Naea said she would fix it, which I was interested to see.

    Even thinking about the name of the skills, I could feel the capitalisation. I could land a heavy hit, or I could land a Heavy Blow. The difference was the level of destruction. The first would be like getting hit with a sledgehammer, the second like standing in front of a train. There was sprinting, during which I was as fast as an Olympian, and then there was Sprinting. Using Sprint made me feel more like an actual Greek god.

    At a cost of up to three mana per second, I could increase my movement speed. This was a very simple skill. Input mana, output speed. This, unfortunately, didn¡¯t translate to better dodging. There was no wiggle room, the ability worked on moving to places.

    As with Mana Bolt and Manasight, my two new skills came with bursts of knowledge. They were not just skills, they were my skills and they worked how I expected them to - or rather, the System bent itself around a little bit to facilitate my use of the skills. Naea was actually quite a good source of information herself during our time together so far.

    While our time together so far was definitely torture, I was content with my choice to trust the strange fairy. I was still careful with my words, but since we began she hadn¡¯t tried to trip me up or used that strange Fae magic which made the world shake. We were fine until something new came up. Better than fine if she kept helping me get stronger. I opened my attribute page and grinned.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    6

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    6

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    13

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    These were gains simply from working out. Two points in Strength, Recovery and Agility, with one point in Dexterity for good measure. There was a maximum level to these gains, according to Naea, but seeing them realised and feeling them in my bones was nice proof that this had been time spent valuably. The thoughts of the world outside pushed me on, and the knowledge that if I died in here I would help no one kept me from running face first into the enemies of the dungeon.

    Strength first. Then dominance. Freedom waits after that.

    Within my chest, the fire of defiance towards the System and this new existence crackled happily at my mantra. ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± I demanded.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Twelve - Consolidation

    I awoke to screaming, more than a few seconds of terror passing before I realised it was coming from my own throat. The nightmares which tore apart my unconscious sanctuary followed me into the waking world in which I found myself lost and confused, beset by shadows which approached me on all sides. They surrounded me, unabated by walls or furniture as they tracked bloody footprints towards my uncomfortable arrangement within a booth of the caf¨¦.

    ¡°No, no, no,¡± I moaned, desperate for absolution but unsure whether I deserved it. I knew these silhouettes intimately. Silent, their obscured features hid rage and disgust and envy of the highest degrees. ¡°Please,¡± I begged, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. I didn¡¯t want any of this.¡±

    My pitiful weeping continued until the world was nothing but pitch black shadow contaminated with the rank taste of blood. I almost sank into its depths but a vibrancy smote the darkness despite myself. No, some deep part of my soul rejected the patchwork apology outright. ¡°I didn¡¯t want this,¡± I repeated aloud in the abyss created by my mind. ¡°I didn¡¯t cause this¡­ she did.¡±

    I whirled around, feeling the stare of one who should not be judging me. Two amethyst stars burned with sick luminescence. The light overwhelmed and destroyed the paltry glow of things like the sun, or hope, or a future. Within the dead brilliance lay an intent. Cowardly and irrevocable, the power behind those implacable eyes had foisted upon me its fears. The System was its enemy, not mine. The blood running over my hands and eyes so thick I couldn¡¯t feel or see were set streaming by their impetus.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t my fault!¡±

    The seat below me was ripped from its installation along with the surrounding tables, chairs and portion of wall I had been fitfully sleeping against. Addled and carrying some of the weight from the nightmare, I barely managed to get out of the way as the ceiling conceded a losing battle and began to crumble inwards. The next few seconds were a panicked and frantic scramble which ended with me throwing myself through the caf¨¦¡¯s once repaired window.

    I doubt her Prestidigitation can fix this. My thoughts were clearly becoming my own once more as I made a joke while flying through the air. I landed with surprising grace considering the start to my day, if I said so myself. I would need to, if I wanted to hear praise. The only sounds coming from Naea were half-concealed laughter.

    ¡°You alright there, champ?¡± She asked, snorting as she managed to finish the sentence successfully. I rolled my eyes but gestured that she continue. She clearly had a joke she needed to tell, from the chortles she barely contained. ¡°Now, I¡¯ve heard of morning glory but that was ridiculous.¡±

    Her final word was extended by a fit of laughter and I rolled my eyes. It was a pretty good joke actually, but I wasn¡¯t in the mood to laugh at anything, especially at my own expense. Instead, I stretched and took some meditative, calming breaths. My mana regeneration increased as I activated one of the three more skills I had gained the day prior. I recovered the amount, nearly my full mana pool, quickly.

    While I called it a ¡°day,¡± that would be incorrect for two reasons. First, the sun had barely moved five degrees across the sky since I awoke in the dungeon initially and second, it had definitely taken more than thirty hours to unlock the five skills I gained. After the monotony of running in literal circles and the joy of pummelling the ground for hours, we moved on to my favourite of our games. Doing absolutely nothing for twelve hours. That portion of the training was likely why the nightmare had been so intense. Twelve hours of silence from the thoughts made them return vengeful and cruel.

    That task had taken a few tries but one thing I gratefully lacked in the dungeon was an excuse. Naea had proven herself correct about the other skills and this one seemed useful on description while also being something I vaguely knew how to do. It turned out truly clearing one''s mind was no simple task. I somehow felt as though I were cheating when I started daydreaming while playing with the mana inside myself.

    I pictured the magical core at my centre as a station. The mana bundles were vehicles, each one carrying the passenger of my intent to the destination of my choosing. The pathways these taxis and trains took were known to me but becoming further memorised with each loop until I knew every section of my mana channels like a long-studied map. Except, on inspection, that wasn¡¯t true at all. There was far more mana suffused throughout my body which I had no control over than packets which I could direct. That was without even considering the draconic power which flowed from the Aspect inside the core. My mental image needed to be reworked.

    I had been resisting the urge to shake my head when the new skill notification appeared and I collapsed, surprised at the prompt¡¯s appearance and exhausted from the long time in stationary contemplation. Had it really been twelve hours? I wondered at the seeming loss of time as I delved into my own inner workings. However, the time for introspection was over as a very bored Naea forced me into action once more. I had considered asking for a break but felt a little ridiculous. Despite the aches of my muscles, had I not just been resting? With the world outside potentially in the process of being destroyed, slowing my momentum was something I wanted to avoid.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    However, even after gaining two skills at once, the hours of hide-and-seek with an invisible fairy were tiresome enough that I decided I needed to get some sleep. The effect of my raised attributes were enough that I could push away the imperative for a while but I was getting grumpy. Not helped by Naea slapping the back of my head as hard as she could every time she found me in our game, or the fact I could never do the same to her.

    Even after all that, it was only upon levelling the Meditate skill to level two that I fell asleep. I shook my head free of the cobwebs of doubt. For a moment I had considered trying to find a way not to sleep. There was probably a skill if I stayed awake for long enough, spending mana every so often. However, that was both cowardice and foolishness. These demons of mine needed to be faced by my subconscious as much as my waking mind. In the light of the never-ending day, it was tempting to forget how healing sleep was for the human psyche.

    I would just have to deal with the shadows by shining brighter than they cast gloom.

    I opened my Skill Window and grunted in contentment.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Bolt (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Manasight (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Heavy Blow (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sprint (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Meditate (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Stealth (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Tracking (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Skill - Meditate (Common)

    This skill can take myriad expressions, and lead to varying effects because of it. The restful nature of your meditation leads to increased mana regeneration.

    Skill - Stealth (Common)

    A common tool for most beings in creation, but slowly refined in your hands. Unlike a one-time crook, you have begun to see stealth for the art form it is.

    Skill - Tracking (Common)

    A hunter is nothing without prey, and the game is not simple. Your eyes have begun to see the signs of your quarry when you know what to look for.

    ¡°Are you done?¡± I asked a still giggling Naea. The sound of my voice set her off again, so I just walked over to a flat area in the grass and had a breakfast of vending machine snacks and a can of soda. It wasn¡¯t great nutritionally but I figured I had been healthy enough that I could cut a few corners. After a few more playful jabs, she calmed down, still tittering to herself quietly as I ate. It was hard to be genuinely upset with her after she had helped me so much. The fact she reminded me of family was a boon in that regard.

    ¡°Feeling ready to take on the world?¡± Naea asked, to which I nodded while making it clear I wasn¡¯t certain. ¡°Good! Good, aren¡¯t you so brave?¡± The fairy vanished, her invisibility activating. I tracked the subtle movement of mana instinctively and followed her movement, slapping her backwards as she rushed at me. ¡°Very good!¡±

    Sensing an angle, I frowned. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I didn¡¯t like where this was going.

    ¡°Easy! If you want to leave this grassland and go hunting those beasties in the dungeon, you¡¯re going to have to go through me!¡± Naea floated proudly in the air before me, fists on her hips in a pose which could be considered heroic in some lights. To me, she looked like a defiant plastic doll, but I said nothing. Instead, I got into a running stance. Naea smiled, but laughed no more.

    Testing the waters of this challenge, I activated Sprint at its lowest level and took off. I was partially testing the rules of Naea¡¯s game but I was also confident she couldn¡¯t actually stop me if I went all out. That notion was quickly disavowed as I found myself flying through the air with a pebble sized bruise already forming from her zooming tackle. Caught in the chest while mid-stride, I couldn¡¯t even change my centre of gravity before getting launched.

    I landed and coughed up blood. A shaky look at my health total said she had ripped away five points with that blow. ¡°Fucking ouch,¡± I complained. In my eyes, the impetus for this task was on me, so when the second attack came my way I was even less prepared than the first. Like a bullet and a speeding car all in one, Naea crashed into the spot I had just been laying from above. ¡°Hey! Are you trying to kill me?¡±

    Poking her head out of the small crater she had created, Naea just smiled at me. Then she disappeared again, except none of this was magical. It was pure speed, and my eyes simply couldn¡¯t keep up. A fearful instinct screamed at me to move, so I did, jumping to my left in a panic. Somewhere deeper, both from my magical core and my own soul, another instinct demanded retaliation.

    Manasight. Tracking. Sprint. Heavy Blow.

    The cost of using multiple skills at once was prohibitive but valuable if used right. The first pair were combined to find the impossibly fast fairy¡¯s trajectory. I didn¡¯t actually believe she was trying to end my life, but she must have had a lot of faith that I would avoid her attack. She was moving so fast I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she actually ripped through me completely. Except it was almost all in a straight line, which meant I could read it.

    There was a surprised look on her face as I matched speed for a single instant by overcharging Sprint, leaping backwards as she passed by me. My fist was already moving through the air by the time she looked forward again and I could have sworn I heard her sigh before it landed. The impact was shocking, though not enough to break any bones this time. I flinched, worried I had hurt Naea more than I meant to. I just wanted to stun her a little and complete the task.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it!¡± A cheerful irish voice called out from the dust cloud her impact had kicked up. ¡°Alright, maybe you can survive this place. Fair warning, Grant. It¡¯s going to be a lot harder to hit me next time.¡±

    This, I thought to myself unhappily, is going to be a long day.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Thirteen - Onwards

    Craterous, uneven and garish to look at, the once-manicured parkland surrounding Clive¡¯s caf¨¦ was the scene of a pitched battle. Burst of amber light arrived too late to catch the azure blur they chased, punching more pockmarks into the dirt. There were lulls in the chaos which allowed the dust to settle upon the battlefield before being whipped into a flurry by the simple force of movement by the pair of fighters alone. There were still monsters in the area, but none who were foolish enough to approach the devastation being wrought upon the centre of the dungeon.

    For a time, I had been optimistic that Naea would hold back, but if she was I shuddered to think what her true power was. It was a good humbling, certainly. I had wondered whether luck kept the other monsters away but I now expected she had a more overt hand in the quiet we had experienced while training. As for currently, what we were doing couldn¡¯t be called training by anyone sane.

    No, this was a deathmatch with an escape condition.

    Get to the treeline. My objective was simple and I didn¡¯t think for a moment Naea would forget her trial was set around that marker. I just had to get there. Except to do so, I essentially needed to dodge the wind. So fast was Naea¡¯s attack that I had been able to notice her intentional deceleration in the moments of impact so she didn¡¯t just tear through me. Just how high was her still-hidden level?

    I intuited the incoming blow more than I experienced any sensation which told me to block. My hands came together and I pressed mana into them, the precursor step to creating a Mana Bolt. Instead of letting the energy become volatile outside of my body, I stayed in my hands and strengthened them. The process was similar to Sprint but as it wasn¡¯t a skill, it was much less potent. Whereas using Sprint did something clever with the mana and turned it into pure speed, the energy in my palms wasn¡¯t programmed for anything specific.

    It was enough, though, for me to meet Naea¡¯s tackle head-on for the first time. We had been slowly picking up intensity for fifteen minutes, and this was my first real block. I saw an expression of shock on her face before she disappeared behind her invisibility. I lashed out, though of course she had already moved. There was a moment of pure silence as I held my breath and the power in my hands tense.

    Huffing out the air and gasping, I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. This kind of combat was genuinely exhilarating. In a moment of clarity, I understood adrenaline junkies and pitied them at the same time. Their whole lives chasing a feeling which couldn¡¯t be comparable to this one, pirouetting on the knife edge of danger like a world-famous ballet dancer. A girlish giggle echoed all around me, directionless.

    ¡°How¡¯d you know?¡± Naea¡¯s voice asked upon the wind.

    ¡°Neat trick.¡± I cast my vision around in vain for the invisible source of the words. ¡°If I told you that you were starting to sweat and I could smell it, what would you say?¡± I threw myself straight down to the ground even before I finished talking, letting my knees bend and my back crash into the uneven floor. The faintest glitter on the air told me she was right above me, and I let myself slip into the crater on my left as Naea made a new one in the ground.

    ¡°I. Do. Not. Smell.¡± Each of Naea¡¯s words were punctuated with another heavy slam into the ground as I did my best to roll out of the way. The final blow merely glanced my arm and I felt something break and my fingers go slack. I snarled, baring my teeth at the pain and anger I felt. Even with my Recovery, that was a serious injury.

    ¡°What happened to your promise?¡± I asked as I was tossed into the air by Naea¡¯s furious assault. ¡°Weren¡¯t we not going to hurt each other?¡± A quick flash of my health and mana pools told a sad story. Less than twenty in each. I didn¡¯t overthink it. I began to bound backwards away from the attack of the angry fairy, burning Sprint for as much speed as possible.

    ¡°This doesn¡¯t count as hurting.¡±

    The words stunned me, and the next attack landed unabated whatsoever. She couldn¡¯t have known. Yet, Naea¡¯s words were spoken with such a venom, her voice dropping an octave or two to sound just like-

    I smashed into the hard floor and my thoughts were scattered from me like marbles from a split sack. Belying the force within, a tiny fist smashed into my side and sent me soaring into the air without control. Flipping end over end, all I could do was brace myself for the impact as I landed. I checked my health pointlessly. I had to be nearly empty.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    18/55

    </td>

    <td>

    0.8 per minuteThis novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Wait¡­ what? I was so surprised to be in the double digits that I relaxed a little, and the collision with the impending ground only became more brutal. Yet, it was like the pain happened to someone else. The System Window said my health wasn¡¯t going down, despite the damage I was taking. Was the System broken?

    Naea laughed as she once again rocketed into my position, barely vacated before she landed. ¡°All this because I made a joke?¡± I asked aloud while looking at my health and mana totals once more. Activating a full Heavy Blow, I watched Naea with one eye and the immobile counter with the other. Naea rose from her blast site, and my mana total didn¡¯t drop at all.

    Interesting.

    As Naea shot towards me in another show of blistering pace, I threw caution to the wind. With abandon, I aimed a hopeful fist at the oncoming fairy but I wasn¡¯t surprised when the attack landed. She wasn¡¯t trying to dodge. Naea already knew the rules, after all. It was only me who needed to catch up. We were both blown away by the crash, and even as my arm ruptured into tatters at my side, the pain was distant and my health remained as it was. In fact, it even ticked up to nineteen.

    ¡°None of this is real, is it?¡± I was in disbelief at my realisation but it made sense. I was the only answer which did. Even as I tried to understand when the illusion had started, Naea didn¡¯t stop. There was a maniacal persistence to her assault which didn¡¯t make sense. I could see, now that I was trying to look, she had a look of cruel anger on his face which didn¡¯t match the moment or her personality.

    It did however match the other times in my life I had been bullied. Dark, uncertain times when I had been sure that I would remain powerless for the rest of my life, the trauma encouraged by my fraternal tormentors. Naea¡¯s face was a strange replica of Luke, my eldest brother, and the sneer he maintained while being vicious. The unceasing anger, bordering on revulsion, which came from Liam. As more familiarity struck me, my own repugnance rose up.

    Whatever the fairy was doing, it went too far.

    Molten and raw, mana began to roil inside of me. The illusionary Naea attacked me but I expelled the steaming hot mana like a furnace and the waves of power were too much to punch through. Uncontrolled and unrefined, the mana belched from every pore as a pure repelling force. Once I realised I didn¡¯t need to hold back at all, I found myself much more capable, unsurprisingly. No wonder Naea had been running rings around me. She wasn¡¯t even real. This was a strange illusion, but now I had spotted its signs the mirage was obvious.

    Still, though, there was hate and rage in her eyes. Anger which said ¡°you¡¯re not better than me because you can do maths quicker,¡± or ¡°your hair is like that because you killed our mom on the way out.¡± While I could read the expression, it wasn¡¯t supposed to be on her face. That was what broke the illusion. The irony of my self-loathing being my path to survival was not lost on me, but I began flexing against the bounds of the illusion all the same.

    They were fuel. For nearly two decades until my eighteenth birthday, my family had been the fire which burned my feet if I stood still too long. From my first week of schooling when the teachers had suggested that I was smarter than the other children, it had been a challenge to connect. Immediately placed in fast-track programmes with pressure from above to do well and pressure from my siblings to fail, I became a being of drive and solitude. Quietly, I gathered knowledge and qualifications until the scholarship came which let me leave the family home for good. The good house Kaeron had never been much of a home to me.

    Yet now, seeing that expression which had tormented me in youth, I felt ashamed. Not for being bullied and not because I forgave Liam and Luke for being bastards but because none of that mattered now. They would be out there, facing this horrific world and every second I wasn¡¯t there I couldn¡¯t help them. Every minute I was trapped in this dungeon was another where I was useless to anyone who needed me. The barrier in front of me was a strange one, but it was stopping me from going forward.

    Not a moment more.

    I turned the engine inside of myself into overdrive. In a glimpse, I saw the fake Naea smiling at me. I registered that the hate had gone from her face, and she seemed genuinely excited. I didn¡¯t care. The furnace I had become melted under the heat and pressure I expelled and my flesh gave way to the magic. Without form, I was left with just the container which tried to hold me. Now it was my turn to rage.

    With a million fists made of magical force I beat on the illusory cage. It buckled but I didn¡¯t relent. I couldn¡¯t see my System windows but I could feel my mana being truly devoured by the task I put it to. Naea¡¯s illusion was solid, a vice grip on my mind which I couldn¡¯t slip through. I didn¡¯t stop fighting. The realisation that I would never stop fighting was its own fuel, gathering next to the desire for peace and the need to protect.

    ¡°I will never stop.¡±

    The words reverberated inside the unyielding bubble and I felt them touch my core. A dragon¡¯s growl, full of pride, rippled throughout the space and I could feel the illusion tear itself to shreds under that power. It wasn¡¯t mine yet, but I had been granted a taste because we aligned. Dragons were meant to be greedy. That was just fine with me.

    I was going to be greedy. I didn¡¯t want to lose anything ever again. So I wouldn¡¯t. I would chase strength, clutch the possibilities the System gave me and make my own if I had to. Any barrier in my way would crumble under the never-ending pressure of my desires. The tension inside the phantasmal cage built, encouraged by the ferocity of emotion I brought to bear against it and the mana I used to carry my intent.

    With a gasp, I opened my eyes.

    Skill Unlocked - Mental Fortress (Uncommon)

    No being may have power over another when the latter controls their own mind.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Fourteen - Revenge Tour

    ¡°What the hell was that?¡± I demanded of Naea as I cleared away the System prompt and threw myself to my feet, stamping over to her position. Sitting casually, an eyebrow beginning to arch as I approached, Naea looked the picture of peace and tranquillity. Then she began to look like she was moving into the sky, but I realised it was myself falling face first as my chin collided with the hard ground.

    ¡°The muscles lock up a little bit after an illusion,¡± Naea advised belatedly. I tried to speak but the paralysis was coming in waves and my whole body seized with pain. I heard the buzz of her wings before feeling Naea land atop my head and sit on my shoulders. ¡°You seem upset, so I hope it makes you feel better to know that I have no control over what you see once you¡¯re inside my Phantasmic Trick. Also, also, illusions don¡¯t work if you know they¡¯re coming. Or not as well, at least.¡±

    She was by no means forgiven, but any murderous impulses had at least been toned down to simple violent thoughts. There was a panic in her explanation which suggested she was expected me to be upset. I growled and Naea moved from my back which was relaxing by the second. ¡°That¡­ does help,¡± I admitted. My voice was muffled by the grassy dirt my face still pressed into, but I got my point across. She hadn¡¯t somehow delved into my memories and acted out the worst shadows of them specifically to hurt me. It was enough to cool my anger from magma to a hot stove emotionally.

    Showing more wisdom than I expected of her, Naea said nothing for a while and we simply sat in the silence of the dungeon. I struggled to activate Meditate but once I did, I slowly recuperated from the mental battle. My health and mana were full long before I opened my eyes and felt ready to face the world again. My world. The dungeon was my world and though it was a small one, I had still yet to explore it even slightly. It was time to change that.

    ¡°Practice is over now, right?¡± I side-eyed the fairy as I asked, and felt a little bad at how much her expression lit up at my attention. She really did remind me of Sin¨¦ad. I pushed the emotion down and stamped on it. My family would be fine. The Kaerons could look after themselves. They always had before. ¡°We should get moving.¡±

    A sheepish look appeared on Naea¡¯s face. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s¡­¡± she said slowly, ¡°I can¡¯t help you fight.¡± I smiled at the joke, impressed at how genuine she seemed, but the mood became awkward. I frowned as I considered the last day or so. She seemed to read my thoughts and chuckled, though there was bitterness in the noise. ¡°This doesn¡¯t count as me helping you fight the other creatures in the dungeon. If you and I fight and neither dies then so be it. I¡¯m good at bending the rules but breaking them isn¡¯t an option.¡±

    I almost wanted to argue, all of my expectations about the upcoming exploration of the dungeon becoming amorphous. However, I kept my mouth shut and simply nodded. There was nothing to argue. Naea had already done more than enough for me, more than she needed to. ¡°So, what? You¡¯re going to stay here and spruce the place back up?¡± I was still a little unsure of Naea¡¯s place in the dungeon¡¯s ecosystem beyond her being important. Perhaps that was why her level was invisible.

    ¡°Not quite,¡± Naea answered, a hungry look in her eyes, ¡°I¡¯ll be joining you, I just can¡¯t help.¡± I laughed at that and could only shake my head at how ridiculous my life was. Sighing, I gave my System Windows a final once over before heading out. There was nothing to do but progress, after all. If Naea had nothing more to teach me then it was time to put the training to work.

    I looked at my attributes and progress with more than a little pride.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    9

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    55/55

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    75/75

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    6

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    PerceptionThis story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    </td>

    <td>

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    11

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    9

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    15

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    55/55

    </td>

    <td>

    0.7 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    75/75

    </td>

    <td>

    09 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Bolt (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Manasight (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Heavy Blow (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sprint (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Meditate (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Stealth (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Tracking (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mental Fortress (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    My illusory battle with Naea had started at some point in the middle of our fight, and I still wasn¡¯t sure when. My skills had progressed a little from the initial combat, though not enough to gain many skill levels. The real gains came from the mental workout Naea had given me. A new skill and an attribute in each of the three attributes which governed magical ability. I hadn¡¯t levelled since fighting the two Attack Animals, but I had gained more than two levels worth of strength from this time alone.

    I was grateful to Naea in a way I couldn¡¯t express. Even if she was able to get on my last nerve with unerring precision. ¡°Hey, listen,¡± she began and my eye twitched, ¡°I¡¯m serious. I can¡¯t help you out there. Even this training montage was pushing the limits of things. If you fall, I can¡¯t pick you back up, Grant.¡±

    ¡°How do you know what a training montage is?¡± I asked, unable to think of anything else until I knew the answer. I understood what Naea was saying, and it was serious, but it was no different from when I first wandered into the woods. The fact Naea could reference movies was what really threw me for a loop.

    ¡°Your world is hardly the first to understand culture, Grant,¡± Naea said with a patronising pat on my head. I sent a trickle of mana into my eyes as I glared at her. Hopefully one day I would truly unlock a withering gaze skill, but it was not this day. After some deliberation with myself, I decided to drop the subject as I was unlikely to get an answer that didn¡¯t make me roll my eyes anyway.

    ¡°Fuck it, let¡¯s go kill some weird turtlemen.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    As luck would have it, the first enemy I came across was new to me. Using my new Stealth skill actively, I slipped through the forest with a much more soundless ease than before. Not every lesson Naea had given me ended with a skill, but the hours of manoeuvring around on the uneven ground around Clive¡¯s had been a massive boon to my balance. This in turn meant that my Stealth was more effective than it would be if I were still a clumsy lump like I had been yesterday.

    However, I was barely a novice when it came to being sneaky and as luck would have it, I met a master of the art. The forest had changed in the time I had been training. There had been many battles here, as the trees and other plants fought for dominance. The familiarity and similarity underneath the gloomy canopy was gone, and the trees began to warp as they fed on the ambient mana in the ground. I could see the faint draw of their roots through the ground when focusing. The clearing which the ambush was sprung from was innocuous enough that I sensed something was wrong before danger struck.

    That was likely the only reason I survived. As I leaned against the thin tree, a subconscious instinct screamed that it didn¡¯t feel right. Everything happened in a single second. Manasight, almost constantly in use, allowed me to notice the mana which gathered quickly in the tree beside me. The draw of analysis was my final warning that this was an enemy. I threw myself hard to the left as branches to my right slammed down. Long spears of wood shot into the ground and back out again as the roots joined in on the attack.

    I had been expecting to find a lumbering Attack Animal or two. When the wood around me started its assault, I found myself wishing I had looted an axe instead of a hammer. I continued to use Manasight, which stole some of my mana regeneration per minute and paid the cost to find out my enemy¡¯s name. My total mana dropped to sixty eight. That should be more than enough.

    Monster - Silver Birch Ent - Level 9

    I was half-tempted to just run away as this creature¡¯s defeat wouldn¡¯t add to the tally of my Aspect quest and would likely give me my tenth level, making it harder to complete the task in the future. However, a less pragmatic part of me rankled at the challenge cast my way. The bloated feeling of being nearly at the next level was uncomfortable, and the stats would be nice, so I stayed.

    A tree had tried to kill me. The world was so far gone, I lamented, drawing the Sorehammer from the Xaverweave Pouch. It wasn¡¯t an axe, but it would work if I caught the spindly thing¡¯s trunk with a solid hit. The choice to leave was abandoned, and I fell into the rhythm of combat. With Manasight helping me keep track of where the danger came from, I weaved between the spearing strikes of the Ent.

    Once battle started in full, the creature pulled itself from the ground. Two wide feet stamped angrily out of the dirt and enough of the foliage moved aside for me to see a face within the wood. Two angry, yellow eyes of sap glared at me as an opening tore clear into the trunk and a baleful roar emerged from the thing. My entire body rumbled, and while it didn¡¯t do enough to hurt me, I wondered if that was meant to be an attack. Every movement the thing made was done through mana, as far as I could tell, so it might have just been shouting very loud.

    My approach was flighty, retreating the full distance available to me in the wide clearing if I thought I might take a hit. Mana could recover in seconds once I was calm, but damage wasn¡¯t just painful but it debilitated me for longer. Better to be safe than sorry. Two dense, well-aimed Mana Bolts, each carrying the new limit of fifteen mana and spinning with penetrating force, were enough to blow away the two largest clumps of branches. While the Ent wasn¡¯t very humanoid, it now looked like an amputee, and I wanted to put it out of its misery. Its cries were pitiful.

    Overall, it was an easy battle against an enemy which was supposed to be on my level. I avoided a few more spears of roots by following the flow of mana and used the momentum of a spinning dodge to create a swing. Heavy Blow activated almost instinctively as the hammer collided with the Ent. I barely resisted the temptation to shout ¡°timber¡± as the enemy collapsed.

    Ding! Level up! +5 Attribute Points

    The tree fell in the woods and it made a loud bang. I looted the body, pleasantly surprised to see a new entry into the Xaverweave Pouch which simply said ¡°lumber¡± and found a spot to meditate before moving on. During the battle, I had been paying a heightened amount of attention to the flow of mana within the forest. The Ent was the pressing issue, and I had needed to ignore a blazing flare of power in the distance to focus. As my mana refilled, I activated Tracking and reattached my perception to the bonfire.

    It was time to find my first claimant.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Fifteen - Claimant

    The unique and varied forest around me had been growing denser and even more wild as I stalked towards the huge bundle of mana I had sensed during the battle with the Silver Birch Ent. I hesitated as a more humid and semi-tropical nature began to take root but pressed on regardless. I kept a close eye for mana signatures in the trees. There were a few Ent lying in wait from where I fought the last one, which I avoided. It would be harder and harder to spot them as the waves of magic from within the forest increased.

    The forest floor became swampy and the tangled vegetation ever more dense as I continued to approach the source of the mana. There was an almost physical pressure from it, whatever it was. ¡°Sooo, how are you feeling?¡± Naea appeared from thin air, the traces of her invisibility were nearly impossible to see amongst the potent ambient mana. I spared her a glance before fixating on my still active Tracking skill.

    ¡°I¡¯m feeling like you chose some specific things to help me with,¡± I answered in a whisper. Both Stealth and Tracking were obvious choices for anyone to learn in this new world, but they had been particularly helpful in my approach towards what I assumed was one of the Claimants named in my dungeon quest. One of the keys to my freedom, once I defeated it.

    ¡°Nuh uh,¡± Naea shook her head, looking over her shoulder theatrically and putting a finger to her lip. ¡°I never helped. I just made your life hard in ways which ended up helpful.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I nodded like a conspirator. ¡°Actually, I prefer that description anyway. I¡¯m feeling pretty tense right now, if you must know. Can I help you somehow?¡±

    ¡°Ents aren¡¯t very tasty, Grant. Could do with something with less fibre.¡± There was enough of a tone to Naea¡¯s voice that I deactivated Tracking. My head cleared a little and the drive to chase my target lessened. That was¡­ worrying. Being single-minded was obviously valuable but I felt the lack of control in my actions now I had the reins again. It was enough to make me shudder, despite the sticky heat in the air. Turning to the fairy, her worry was clear.

    Naea wasn¡¯t allowed to help me. Did that extend to advice? For some reason, I felt like just asking the question would cause a problem, which was answer enough. A tangible aura descended upon the small dry area where I had stopped my search. ¡°What''s going on?¡± I asked, not knowing what else to say.

    ¡°Nothing¡¯s going on,¡± Naea answered before a look crossed her face and she guffawed. I asked what was so funny but she shook her head. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t get it, I¡¯m afraid. Until you get it, you can¡¯t get it, you get it?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a weirdo.¡±

    ¡°You love it. I¡¯m just saying that there¡¯s a lot of stuff out there to fight with. Some things are a little too big to chew just yet, though. For me, of course.¡± Naea seemed to strain through the final words and gasped as she said them, an unseen pressure released. She implored me with her eyes and I decided to heed the implicit warning.

    Go, fight some more frogs and level up some more before facing the Claimant.

    ¡°Oh for fu-¡± Naea began to swear but the world dimmed for a moment, my sight blocked by the tidal wave of mana which crashed over us, along with the splash of dirt and water which came immediately after. ¡°Run! Or don¡¯t!¡± Naea groaned in pain as she darted away, the glimmer of invisibility cloaking and hiding her. Leaving me with the Claimant.

    I allowed the System¡¯s analysis to spend my mana to find out its level while starting to do as Naea advised and tried to get away. I didn¡¯t have high hopes, and the only got lower as twenty mana was drained just to find out the fucking things name and level.

    Mini-Boss - Master Thorn - Level 20

    Standing at a deceptive height of less than five feet, the ripples of its arrival still settling around itself. A leathery tail slapped the floor, its clawed toes burying into the dirt for purchase. Wrinkled skin and a heavy scattering of wiry, snow coloured hairs sprouted from its mostly bald body. A dirty brown robe covered some of its body but it was worn awkwardly, exposing some mammalian organs I¡¯d rather have avoided seeing. The weapon in its hand, a simple looking staff, seemed to be the source of the vast amounts of energy being expelled in the area. Its face was that of a pointed and mutated ratman, and it twisted further in rage as its beady eyes focused on me.

    ¡°Ah fu-¡± Another explosion of force stole my words and breath as I was thrown to the floor. Damn, this thing was fast. A clawed grip grabbed at my shirt and tore into my chest. With leverage,  It was probably quicker than it was strong but that hardly mattered when I was being thrown like a ragdoll. If anything, that made the situation more dangerous. Escape would be nearly impossible. I roared in defiance, throwing an attack at the hand that held my chest. My fist met nothing but the air I tumbled through as I was released in a casual toss.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    A part of my mind tried to accept the end and was resolutely crushed. I would fight. Mana gathered in every part of my body as I spent over five per second to increase my strength haphazardly. As I crashed into the hard forest floor below, I wasted no time feeling sorry for myself. I bounced to my feet and braced for the incoming impact. Except, the killing blow I expected didn¡¯t land. Still amped up by my mana, I hastily located the enemy, and hesitated in confusion.

    The ratman wasn¡¯t chasing me down. It looked at me with pitch black beady eyes and the silence in the area was maddening. My muscles were as tense as they had ever been, ready to explode the moment this deadlock was broken. Master Thorn snorted, baring its two large front teeth in a lopsided smirk. Spinning the staff it hadn¡¯t even bothered to hit me with a dismissive flourish, the Claimant turned away from me and began walking away.

    Still waiting for the feint surely to come, I was frozen until the mini-boss had moved out of sight through the trees. The second vision of it was lost, I exploded away, Sprint blazing at full force. The skill drained my mana at a prodigious rate, and I was out of energy within fifteen seconds. Panting and terrified, I didn¡¯t stop running until the familiar sight of Clive¡¯s was in view. It was only once I was ¡°safe¡± that I reckoned with the insult of what had just happened.

    The derision in the eyes of the Claimant had said ¡°you¡¯re not worth my time.¡± I felt the dragon within sneer at my escape, and I pressed back, gaining a sharp pain in my eye for it. That spark flickered slightly as I thought of the dominating power which just ran me out of the forest. The Aspect of the Dragon caused me to feel the insult more keenly. The Aspect wasn¡¯t some ancient dragon sleeping inside of myself, though. It was myself, filtered through the lens of a dragon¡¯s perspective. Which is why poking the Aspect and telling it to shut up felt like being flicked, but I did it regardless.

    I didn¡¯t retaliate with mana, which I was still dry of, but a sort of mental energy. Lacking a better word for it, I called it Willpower. It wasn¡¯t a measurable thing like mana, but it was tangible in that over-exertion caused a headache behind the bridge of my nose. My theory was that it had something to do with the way health worked.

    I had taken injuries which could have been lethal only days before. The fact my body had recovered so quickly was a marvel but my survival was not just a numbers game of rising recovery rates and maximum health points. I had pulled through against the Attack Animal ambush with grit. I had broken Naea¡¯s illusion with the force of my resolve. Sure, I had been lucky, but I hadn¡¯t given up either. That was Willpower, and as long as I had a spark of it, I wouldn¡¯t die. Even if my ¡°health¡± dropped to zero.

    Within reason, at least. I didn¡¯t think for a second that I would survive having my brain caved in or my head ripped off, and there were plenty of other injuries I wasn¡¯t looking to experience if I could avoid it. Slowly walking amongst the craters of my practice with Naea, I looked at my hands. They were shaking, and no matter what I tried I couldn¡¯t clench a fist and find the strength there.

    No, I shook my head. The draconic power inside of me might feel it was cowardly to let an insult go unanswered, but so what? I¡¯m not a dragon. Insult or not, it was the right choice to run. Better to survive and get revenge later when I stood a chance, I felt, than get killed trying to recover some machismo I had never pretended to have in the first place. Grumpy, but determined, I sat down to Meditate.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    11/55

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    04/70

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    I had intermittently used bursts of Sprint until I reached my sanctuary, but I was forced to take a break anyway to recover my health. Knowing I couldn¡¯t calm my mind immediately, I opened my Attribute Window to assign the five points gained from my level up to ten. It was a good thing I had waited, because I would have likely placed the points into additional Command and Regeneration but that wouldn¡¯t work.

    I could have a million mana and two million per minute recovery and it wouldn¡¯t matter if I couldn¡¯t even keep up with the Claimant''s speed. At twice my current level and with a clear focus on its physical stats, the thing had judged that I was so little threat I could be allowed to leave and gain strength for a better fight later. I would make sure it regretted the decision to let me live.

    The next barrier in my way became clear.

    Two points were placed in Dexterity and Perception, with the last in Agility. Whatever happened, I needed to be faster to deal with the speed of the enemy. By the time the physical changes had ceased making my body feel like a rubber doll, I had slipped into meditation and my recovery rates increased. It wasn¡¯t long before my health and mana pools were completely full once more, but I didn¡¯t break the calm right away. Instead, I let myself get lost in the movement of mana within my body.

    I had noticed something interesting.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Sixteen - Level Hunt

    As the attribute points from my level up to ten fell into place within my body, I felt them for the first time. Not the physical effects, which I had come to understand and expect, but something else. I could sense myself, the vessel for this power, grow around the changes. It wasn¡¯t unpleasant exactly, but it made me acutely aware that I was performing the magical equivalent of mad science on myself by accepting what was in front of me and blindly pushing buttons.

    It wasn¡¯t like I had a choice. The dungeon was brutal and I expected it to only get harder and harder. Maybe my luck would turn and Master Thorn would end up being the strongest Claimant but I wasn¡¯t holding my breath.

    The source of my new form of perception was my skills. Some of them tingled as the accompanying attribute was strengthened. Sprint vibrated as my Agility and Dexterity increased, while Manasight, Stealth and Tracking all had reactions to the points in Perception. The largest reaction was Manasight, which I put down to the higher skill level. Using this moment, I activated my other skills and got a sense for where they sat within my internal system.

    The skills were like runes, or perhaps tattoos, in my mana channels. To me, they appeared as small tangles of confusingly complex pathways which, when the mana moved through them, activated the skill. When the skill was inert, mana passed through these knots easily. A tension appeared when the skill activated, a pressure which made it more difficult for the mana to travel through like a blocked vein. This, I realised, was the mechanism which controlled mana costs. Meditate was slightly different in that when mana passed through the skill runes, more came out than went in.

    While I had no real way to interact with this information, as was often the case with the System, I still memorised the design and layout of these intriguing hidden nodes within my body. Heavy Blow resided within my wrists, Mana Bolt was in my navel. Sprint was naturally in my feet, as was Stealth.

    I wondered how the method of my practice, namely using mana while performing mundane tasks, created the sigils together and thus the skills. For now, it seemed entirely governed by the System. Would there be a way to know if something was creating a skill? I would have to check. Though, not right now, as when I opened my eyes my body ached and I fell back from my seated position.

    ¡°Damn, damn, fuck shit pissing oww,¡± I moaned. How long had I been sitting still like that? Between the healing my body had undergone from Master Thorn¡¯s beating and the changing attributes, I had probably needed to stretch for a while. Getting lost in my skills must have taken much longer than I thought. To drive in the point, a whining Naea appeared in the air before me.

    ¡°Finally,¡± she said, rolling her eyes and pushing my face gently as she landed to sit next to me. She smelled like pine, something I hadn¡¯t noticed before. That higher perception came in handy, apparently. ¡°I¡¯m glad you listened to my advice, considering the migraine I got to give it. Didn¡¯t expect you to get so scared you closed yourself off for a whole day, though. It¡¯s been boring, Grant.¡±

    I could only shrug apologetically. ¡°Was it really a whole day?¡± From the way my muscles ached and my stomach rumbled, it wasn¡¯t farfetched. After wolfing down a sandwich, kept fresh by the Xaverweave Pouch, and downing a bottle of water, I felt more like a human and less like a crash test dummy after its work was done. The stiffness receded as I hydrated myself and the tension ebbed away.

    Naea confirmed her words again. ¡°I don¡¯t lie, Grant. I play jokes, but I don¡¯t lie.¡±

    ¡°What about the illusion you trapped me in?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not me lying, it¡¯s the magic. Your mind did all the heavy lifting.¡± Naea had a smug look on her face, and while I could continue arguing I dropped it and stood, continuing my stretching. I didn¡¯t feel the slightest bit tired, which was nice. Meditate was probably better for my body than getting a night¡¯s rest. Naea buzzed around my head. ¡°Can we go and find something worth eating?¡± She asked, doing her best impression of puppy dog eyes.

    She looked more like a dragonfly than ever as she bulged her eyes out trying to look cute. I could pretend the attempt was endearing, but the result was ghastly. I hid my revulsion with a shaky smile and a nod. The annoyance caused by the Aspect of the Dragon itched like a scab and I wanted to deal with it before I attempted to take on the Claimant again. A traitorous part of my mind said with a draconic voice that I was delaying because I was scared but I ignored it.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    Walking in the opposite direction to Master Thorn¡¯s last location, I strode towards the forest once more, my hands shaking the whole time. While I was undoubtedly stronger than when I faced my first enemies in this world, the stark reality that I was barely more than a kitten amongst tigers was a harsh one. It was going to take some work to remove the fear it set in me.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get to it,¡± I told Naea as I activated Stealth and set off into the darkness of the shadowed canopy. It wasn¡¯t long before my mettle was tested. Stalking through the forest, my Stealth skill making it easy to carefully avoid anything which might make a sound. I was paying more attention to the feeling of mana moving through the skill than my surroundings, and I nearly walked right into danger. I actually did yelp in surprise, but some strange working of the Stealth skill muted the noise. Even as I analysed the creature, its nameplate appearing through the trees, I knew I was spotted.

    Monster - Sundercat, Teegra - Level 14

    Delicate, furred ears picked up the sound of my fear and a sharp nose sniffed to find my location. Two feline eyes bore through the space between us and I didn¡¯t bother sinking back into the tree. There was no avoiding this battle. I removed the Fan of Knives from my pouch and flashed the second dagger into my hand with a flourish. I nearly fumbled the catch as the sound of the monster''s approach caused the tremors in my hands to increase.

    It burst through the nearby bushes at an odd angle, and I finally got a clear look at it. Muscular arms and legs, bowed at slightly strange angles, were attached to a mostly humanoid frame. If the human was a furred giant, it would be uncanny. As it was, it was mostly just terrifying to see. With a roar that split the air apart, the Sundercat lashed out at me with butcher knife-length claws.

    And I dodged easily. It continued swiping, and continued to hit nothing but air as I deftly avoided each swing. Despite the speed of its initial charge, I realised the large thing was pretty slow. It was too big to properly use its best weapons, the claws and fangs. Compared to the speed I had experienced against Master Thorn this was¡­ disappointing. A weight I had been carrying fell away as I began to counter instead of simply dodging.

    A flick of my wrist brought with it a snarl of pain and a gash of blood opened in the orange-furred muscle of the Sundercat. Its assault returned with increased brutality as pain caused fury to overpower self-preservation. With its decently high level and intimidating appearance, it likely didn¡¯t meet many things in the forest which fought back. I threw a dagger at its leg which buried deep into the thigh before reappearing into my hand for a few points of mana. With casual ease, I began to dismantle the enemy in front of me.

    The rhythm of the combat was a fast paced beat full of percussion and screaming. I landed slash after slash on the tiger man, parting its skill and making it regret its aggression. A pair of Heavy Blows were used to finish the creature¡¯s arms off with tactical swipes at its joints. Naea had beaten into me, quite literally, where and how to debilitate a foe. Tendons were the spot to strike, and my aim was true. Unyielding, it snapped forward with its nasty looking yellow fangs.

    Even this killing blow was easily read by eyes. A slip to the side and a knife straight through the underside of the biting jaws and into the softer base of its skull. While the attack was lethal, I slipped the Sorehammer from the pouch quickly and used a final Heavy Blow to end its life completely. Both a kindness and a result of my tension. I wanted the fight over as quickly as possible, and it was only when the levelling energy entered me that I calmed.

    The quiet of the forest enveloped me and I tsked in disappointment at the lack of a level up. Perhaps it was a blessing, as I would complete the Aspect quest quicker, but the growth was addictive in a real way. When it was clear I would only receive around half a level¡¯s worth of energy, I actually cursed. I looted the body, receiving coins as well as two Sundercat Fangs, but I barely paid attention to it. I dropped to the forest floor and began to Meditate to recover my mana, which took around a minute in total.

    The fight went better than expected, and I was relieved. Master Thorn was a boogeyman in my head, but it was likely that its power was from more than just its levels. Being a mini-boss might have something to do with it, but the potent magic in its staff was a likely culprit, too. I started to believe that the creature wasn¡¯t unbeatable, but merely very strong.

    Which was true for myself, within reason. It was clear as I handled an enemy four levels higher than me that levels weren¡¯t a zero-sum situation. Attribute allocation, skills and a myriad of other factors were all important when it came to a fight. I had multiple combat skills which turned the tide in my favour massively, and I wanted to press that advantage. I wasn¡¯t sure whether it was chance or time which had led to the higher level of the Sundercat than the Attack Animals I had faced. If it were time, then I couldn¡¯t let myself fall behind the average level of the dungeon or I would be wiped out.

    With that ominous thought in mind, and my mana refilled, I activated Stealth once more and continued looking for prey.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Seventeen - Forest

    My aggressive journey through the forest was one of frustration. I understood, logically, that hunting took time and was not a simple thing. That didn¡¯t mean it was any less stressful wandering through the enclosed woodland. I was alert to dangers but when they didn¡¯t appear in the hour after my fight with the Sundercat, my nerves became frayed. Which, of course, is how I missed the surprise attack. Two trees on either side of me burst to life and I was suddenly in mortal combat.

    The battle was over almost intimidatingly quick, which helped clear the final webs away from my still-shaken confidence. Branches descended and roots shot from the ground all around me, all aimed for me. Wishing my Mana Bolt was Fireball instead, I lashed out with simple brutality. The pair of Douglas Fir Ents, not dissimilar in shape to the Silver Birch variant I had faced, met their brittle end due to the business side of the Sorehammer.

    The probing jabs of their branches were sharp, but there was a density to my skin and muscle now which prevented complete impalement. Gritting my teeth through the pain and ignoring the damage, the aggressive trees were smashed to splinters. After the fighting, I asked Naea whether she could have told me about the danger beforehand, but she didn¡¯t answer. I knew she was nearby, as I could feel the cold prickle of her sight on me, but the point was moot if she stayed silent.

    Helplessly, I could do nothing as the battle pushed me over the edge to level eleven. While I was happy for the gains, it would make completing the quest that little bit harder, too. I looted the ents, and like the previous one, these two gave me some lumber as well. I supposed it would be useful eventually, but I didn¡¯t like the idea of my personal inventory filling up with building supplies. I wondered if there was a Building or Construction skill, and my opinion on the loot shifted. It wasn¡¯t like I could do anything with the gold coins I was receiving anyway.

    While I could spend my time hacking away at the whole living forest, it wasn¡¯t something I wanted to do. The Ents were common enough, though often not easy to spot until I was close, and victory against them had been a simple thing. However, along with the two which attacked me, the first four I saw were lower level than myself and gave no progress towards my quest. I placed each of the five points from the level up into different attributes, Agility, Dexterity, Perception, Power and Regeneration.

    I was unwilling to move away entirely from the use of mana as my main weapon. For now it was reasonable to use the Sorehammer or Fan of Knives but the potential of magic held a simple allure which outstripped the draw of strength in other areas. Mana Bolt had jumped in power drastically when the skill had levelled up. Coupled with the fact that mana itself was a big part of the reason I had gained every skill I had, I refused to abandon that path. Especially when I expected the gains to become evident soon.

    I was confident in gaining an increased level of power from the fulfilment of the Aspect quest. I focused on the reservoir of power inside myself briefly. The Aspect of the Dragon sat heavy upon my core, a weight which seemed to get heavier every time my attention slipped its way. Even with that being the face, I watched as the strange addition to my soul sent intangible energy through my pathways. I couldn¡¯t interact with it, but I could sense the draconic magic. Each notch towards the quest completion had allowed more of it into my manastream.

    If my mana was a river of water, then the aspected mana was a loose sediment of crystals which brushed against the borders of my mana channels. That was the source of the itch which had plagued me all day, and the impetus for completing the quest as quickly as possible. The crystals sometimes clumped together and became sharp, bouncing through my mana channels. It wasn¡¯t painful, per se, but distracting as hell.

    There was a distant crash from somewhere deep in the forest. I froze, sliding under a nearby bush and activating Stealth. The ground itself rumbled alongside the rupturing smashing noise. I waited for over ten minutes, but once the sound ceased, there were no more instances. My mind raced as I tried to imagine what could have caused the thunderous noise. There were no particularly large trees last I checked, so it wasn¡¯t the falling of some great redwood. My thoughts were coloured by recent events, but I could only picture some ridiculously strong creatures battling for supremacy somewhere.

    I shivered a little at the implication. If that was a claimant¡­ Then I needed to get stronger. My attention back on the task at hand, I cast away the superfluous thoughts and concentrated. Tracking activated and I allowed it to eat more mana than I regenerated a second. It was costly, but I only needed to find the trail of something reasonably big and then I could recover the energy while I figured out a plan of attack. If I found whatever had caused the small earthquake, it would be a plan of escape only.

    If I were pressed after the fact, I would still argue this was a sensible course of action, but once it became clear I was stalking a predator, better heads could have prevailed. While the Tracking skill made it child¡¯s play to follow the signs, I didn¡¯t have the knowledge to understand the danger. The roar which tore through the forest froze me in place, and I could feel magic wrap around my psyche. With a startled shake of my head, I sent a surge of mana to the tangle of mana channels which governed Mental Fortress. The reaction saved my life as control returned and I threw myself to the floor while a spotted blur tried to take my head.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    55/55

    </td>

    <td>

    0.7 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    27/75

    </td>

    <td>

    10 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Between my haphazard use of Mental Fortress and the energy spent Tracking, I wasn¡¯t at my peak. I didn¡¯t bother looking up the level of the Sundercat which shot out of the canopy above, I might need the mana. I would know when it died whether it was a higher level than me or not. Once again, though, the additional points in Agility and Perception had paid dividends as the only thing the leopard spotted humanoid connected with was air and then the floor.

    Not like that made the fight simple, or even hurt the thing. It had launched from the canopy at speed, but with the grace expected of a cat landed on all fours, skidding to a stop and pouncing again quickly. Already on the floor, there was nothing I could do to avoid the long-limbed Sundercat. It began to claw at me, and I found that like with the Ents before, the damage wasn¡¯t as bad as expected. With the treemen, my base Resilience was enough to snap their twiggy attacks. By scrambling and punching at random, the Sundercat found I wasn¡¯t much fun in close combat either.

    It especially didn¡¯t like when I aimed a Heavy Blow for its chest. Unlike a true feline, the broad chest of the Sundercat was not designed to slink around things. My punch connected and sent the beast into the air where a strong Mana Bolt easily shredded its hide and left it howling in pain while I avoided its tumble back to the ground.

    Quest Updated! Four of Five higher levelled enemies defeated!

    Distracted by the System¡¯s confirmation that I had added another higher level enemy to my tally, I almost didn¡¯t react in time to the next challenger. The preternatural sense of danger which came from my Perception attribute shivered. ¡°Clever girl,¡± I muttered tiredly even as I activated Sprint for a single two second burst. My raised attributes in the speed arena were multiplied by the skill, and the quality of that boost was raised slightly by the increase to my Power attribute. I hadn¡¯t expected Power to improve the strength of all skills, but I wasn¡¯t surprised that it did either. None of my attribute points were an island, each one able to interact with the others. Interesting philosophically, maybe, but the distracted thought made me a fraction too slow to dodge a well-aimed roundhouse kick.

    While the blow itself wasn¡¯t too strong compared to my durability, courtesy of Resilience, it was still a powerful, clean strike. I simply wasn¡¯t heavy enough to ignore the forces at play and careened through the forest for a few dozen yards. Grateful to avoid any collisions, I rolled to my feet and drew the Fan of Knives. After running myself dry to defeat the previous enemy, I didn¡¯t have the mana to even create a second blade, or throw this one, but it was my best close range option.

    Not nearly as effective as the Sundercat¡¯s brutal claws, though. The newest one was another tiger variant, though it appeared sleeker and more feminine. It was stronger than the leopard variant, but not by much. Its speed was somewhere between the two, and it was this most balanced Sundercat which gave me the most trouble. I felt the long claws tear rips into my skin as I grappled with the beast, hoping that it was having less fun than I was.

    I might have screamed in pain as the Sundercat stabbed its hand into my ribs like a blade, but the air was pushed from my lungs by the attack. I could only be glad I didn¡¯t pass out, and that my instinct was to lash out myself. The Sundercat howled in pain loud enough for the both of us, my ears ringing as it pulled away clutching its ruined hand. Two of its three fingers were left inside my flesh. We glared at each other as I threw myself to my feet.

    There was an intelligence in its eyes which scared me. I could almost hear its thoughts, wondering if the battle was worth it. To continue was to court death, and I was glad I had made that clear. However, was the cost of this battle already too great to walk away from? A predator from Earth would likely have run away at this point, preferring to avoid damage it could not recover from. The bared teeth of the Sundercat looked like an evil grin to me. The bleeding was already stopping.

    The System meant that this thing could fight until reaching one health point, just like myself. I found myself, not for the first time but the most viscerally I had felt it so far, hating the System. It had changed every rule of engagement which humans had come to understand and upset the balance completely. Philosophy on whether that was a good thing was neither here nor there - I was tired of everything being as hard as it could possibly be.

    ¡°Come on then,¡± I wheezed, yanking the furry digits from my side and throwing them at the tigerman. The starting pistol fired, our battle recommenced.

    <table>

    <tbody>

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    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    18/55

    </td>

    <td>

    0.7 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    08/75

    </td>

    <td>

    10 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

 Forged Anew - Chapter Eighteen - Draconic Legacy

    With my health at about a quarter and my mana nearly empty, I didn¡¯t have many options available to me. It was all I could do to dodge the attacks coming my way with ever increasing fervour. Unable to spend the mana to check, I was left wondering at how strong the female tiger-like Sundercat truly was. Stronger than either of the others, if not in level than in ability. It had definitely used a skill to initiate combat, which was a new level of danger for me.

    Thankfully, it didn¡¯t seem able to use the ability at will, choosing to snap attacks towards me like a boxer. Time and again, blade met claw and neither won the exchange. However, I was fighting my second battle in as many minutes while the Sundercat was fresh for the fight. Stamina wasn¡¯t tracked numerically, though health recovery likely played a role, but I was nearing the end of my gas tank, visible numbers or not. Despite the situation, I flashed a toothy smile. My hyper mind challenged the Sundercat. Let¡¯s play chicken.

    My saving grace was mentality. Even with the injury to its hand, it was still going for the kill. Except, for the creature it was increasing desperation which made its strikes more powerful, yet more wild. My arms burned but I didn¡¯t allow myself to only defend, retaliating where I could while remaining safe. If I took a blow, it was to land a more aggressive, more damaging blow of my own. For all the System had created a monster, the base of this creature was an Earth predator. Its panting was clear, the time between its attacks slowing gradually. I reminded myself that keeping up with me was no mean feat at this point, but maintaining maximum effort was hard on both of us.

    I met a threshold I was waiting for and abandoned some of my mana regeneration for Manasight. My vision sharpened and the Sundercat lit up like a christmas tree. Its mana was pulsing hard through its muscles. Probably has been all fight. My theory on its tiredness confirmed, all I had to do was survive a little longer. By following the flow of mana within its veins, I was able to see its movements a moment before they were made.

    Congratulations! A skill has levelled up!

    That was the moment the balance shifted. Another degree of precision to my sight, I burst into action after more than a minute of careful defence. Allowing the weaker left hand of the Sundercat swipe across my chest, I stepped in and buried the knife I carried in its ribs. A flower of pain blossomed as the single claw sliced me open but I didn¡¯t lose focus. The thing was broad, but I hit something vital all the same. Trying to push me away and remove the stake, the half-tiger woman started flailing and screaming. The fear of death made it panic all the more, the exhaustion now combining with terror.

    Wounded animals were said to be the most dangerous. With a heavy foot against the blade, I pushed with all my might. My balancing leg strained and sank into the dirt. As had happened to me, the Sundercat found itself on the wrong side of physics and I was satisfied with the amount of trees it bounced off before collapsing into a heap. Pulling my foot from the ground, I didn¡¯t let up. Hesitation could mean death if it unleashed its roar again.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    15/75

    </td>

    <td>

    06 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Not willing to give the Sundercat the chance, I gathered a Mana Bolt. The amber orb of energy was more clearly defined to my sight, Manasight still active in case it had any hidden techniques. It didn¡¯t seem I had anything to worry about. The thing had been knocked unconscious. Trying not to dwell on the execution I was about to commit, I focused on the Mana Bolt. The mobile mana within danced like an excited lava lamp, spinning like a drill ready to pierce my target. I had instinctively stopped giving mana to the skill at the limit of ten I found previously but the projectile was holding strong.

    I squinted at the energy. The ¡°amber¡± colour became more vibrant, the bolt more opaque, as I pushed more energy to the attack. On a whim, I tried specifically to move some of the crystals within my mana channels into the ball of energy. After defeating the fourth higher levelled enemy just a minute or two ago, my mana flow was cluttered with the uncomfortable rocks. Although the draconic mana wasn¡¯t actually physical, I shook my arm to dislodge a few of the gemstones and was honestly surprised when it worked.

    The weight of the Mana Bolt doubled while shrinking to half its normal size and my eyes widened in shock. It still wasn¡¯t heavy, but it now felt like an iron ball instead of one filled with air. My ears filled with a dull droning sound and my hand began to tingle, so I didn¡¯t want to wait anymore. I heaved the Mana Bolt at the still-prone form of the Sundercat only feet away.

    It dodged.

    I messed up. I hadn¡¯t been as careful as I thought I was. As the deadly claws came my way, I was angry with myself more than anything. Stupid idiot, I cursed, certain that this was the end. The droning hadn¡¯t stopped when I released the Mana Bolt, but instead grew into a defiant and mighty roar. Before the hidden tiger¡¯s attack could land, mine exploded. The air filled with a smell like burning hair and ozone. The large weight of the Sundercat was thrown at me forcefully by the explosion of my attack.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    The light left the Sundercat¡¯s eyes and its arm slackened, but that didn¡¯t stop its momentum. The force of the Mana Bolt¡¯s burst increased the speed the now deadweight thing had and it crashed into me with enough force to wind me. I scrambled away from the defeated enemy with a shiver that ran deeper than simply thinking it was gross.

    Congratulations! Quest complete!

    I couldn¡¯t even read the System prompt before agony ripped me away from it. The shudders all through me got harder and harder, my body soon impossible to control. In my chest, a pain began to smoulder, increasing in temperature second by second. I spat out blood, aiming it for the downed enemy. ¡°Did you¡­ fucking poison¡­ me?¡± I panted through the pain, ready to desecrate the body before I died out of petulance.

    ¡°Not quite, Grant,¡± Naea¡¯s voice whispered from nearby. Her presence almost caused me to spit some venom her way for not helping me, but the pain moved from my chest and I screamed instead. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± Naea said softly over the noise, ¡°Find a place for its strength. I believe in you.¡±

    Unable to tell Naea her belief meant less than nothing compared to the world-ending ruptures popping over and over again inside of me, I turned my sight inwards instead. There were piranhas in my blood, tearing me apart, and I needed to purge them. I tried to gather some mana for the task, and finally worked out what was happening.

    Something was happening inside my mana.

    The pain had stolen my lucidity immediately but this was¡­ supposed to happen, right? My thoughts sluggishly crawled their way to an answer. This was something I had wanted, before the pain at least. Snap and crackle and pop went my mana, and I stopped fighting the process. In the moment of shock, I had frozen all of my movement, down to the magic. Now it was allowed to flow once more, the pain rose to a nearly unbearable amount.

    ¡°Except, you can bear it, can¡¯t you?¡±

    The question was broadcast from my very soul. Was that true? I could tell that with a thought, all of this would end and I would stop. I would disappear and the agony would cease. What happened next didn¡¯t really matter, did it? So long as the pain stopped¡­

    I will never give up. Deeper than my psyche, an answer rose up. I rejected the nothingness and reached for understanding. It came quickly, in the form of a blast of fiery destruction and a roar of opposition. The draconic power had unlocked inside and was now trying to make itself comfortable. To do so, it was eroding the rest of me, the crystals of super condensed magic exploding over and over again throughout my mana channels.

    It was when this agony reached my skills that I knew I needed to act. The Aspect would have been fine with burning through me like a wildfire. It was trying to replace the channels and power I had already with one purely draconic. I refused. The pain was coming from my mana, so the only force I could bring against it was the even more esoteric Willpower. I buried my fingers in the soft dirt, grounding myself and forcing my conscious mind to stay awake.

    The power of the dragon needed to exist somewhere, and its preference was ¡°everywhere.¡± I grit my teeth. Instead of ¡°everywhere,¡± I imagined the crystals crushing together tighter and tighter. I was the core of power, not the dragon. The pain increased again and again, but it was irrelevant. Pain was not going to stop me. If I had a choice, I would make the choice to keep going.

    In this strange half-lucid state of focusing on my mana, visualisation was power. Instead of pushing the crystals with my mana, I imagined a well of gravity which would suck them all together. The sharp fragments of crystallised mana began to get sucked in to the gravity vortex I pictured. It was slow, painful going but it worked and once enough of the draconic crystals were gathered in one spot, the new ones began to head towards the pile too. My conscious effort was no longer needed, I gasped and simply allowed the pain to wash over me. The collection of power grew without my input and I watched as it condensed and crushed in on itself.

    I could feel the Aspect of the Dragon trying to work with me, and felt gratitude. The magic wasn¡¯t aggressive, it was simply too powerful not to be dangerous. The grating pain within was getting worse as the jagged bundles of mana continued to draw together. I had an idea of where to take the imagery next. The gravity continued increasing, gathering the draconic magic into a ball I could manipulate rather than leaving it scattered throughout my mana channels. The friction and pressure of it all was melting me from the inside, so I worked quickly. I layered wrappings of my own mana over the burning dragon magic, dozens, hundreds of dozens of times.

    I couldn¡¯t know how long it had taken, but when the pain finally receded, I knew that my task was done. Although it had drained me mentally and physically, a new strength was filling my veins. Letting the power settle in, I inspected my work. Without guidance, I didn¡¯t know if it was right, but it¡­ felt correct.

    If I closed my eyes, I could see an ¡°inner world.¡± Well, it was more of a solar system. At the centre was me. My core. It hung in the skies of the smaller planet and drenched the new world with undiluted power. The new world was one of four, though the others didn¡¯t exist yet. The dragon world was barren, for now, but life would grow as I cultivated it. The crystal nature I had given the Aspect¡¯s power previously seemed to have influenced my final mental image but I wasn¡¯t unhappy with the rocky world of energy I found in my psyche. Amber and amethyst gems made up most of the land, flashes of energy captured within. The core of this world was giving power to the planet from within. I wasn¡¯t sure what I had done, exactly, but the pain had stopped at least. Is that¡­ it? I asked the Aspect.

    There was a rumble, deep within the core of the dragon world. It suggested satisfaction.. For now. I rolled my eyes, reminding myself that whatever magic was happening, it was all my magic. If I got annoyed at the response, I would only be getting mad at myself. Fearful that something awful would happen when I did, I slowly opened my eyes and expected the worst.

    The only thing I saw was Naea¡¯ concerned face. I actually burst out laughing, which surprised her. I¡¯m sure she expected me to be in a bad mood after the pain. ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± She asked, wanting to be in on the joke.

    I was in a bad mood. ¡°I expected the worst and then saw your face. I was just laughing at how right I was.¡± Even flinching from Naea¡¯s pretend retaliation made me groan in pain, so she went easy on me. After she helped me stand, I thanked her before turning a hard look her way. ¡°You knew that was going to happen?¡±

    Sheepish, she kicked her feet awkwardly in the air. ¡°Yeah,¡± she answered slowly, ¡°using a legendary Aspect at your level is dangerous. Not like I had any choice in the matter, but I didn¡¯t know how to tell you it might¡­ hurt.¡±

    A deep breath and a shrug later, Naea and I were the best of friends again. She was the only ally I had in the dungeon, even if she couldn¡¯t actually help me sometimes. I was just pretending this was one of those situations. Naea wasn¡¯t wrong, it wasn¡¯t as though her telling me what would happen would make it easier to deal with. Instead of holding any unnecessary grudges against Naea, or the Aspect itself, I closed my eyes and allowed the changes within me to subside.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Nineteen - The Dragon

    Ba-dump. My heartbeat was fierce as the sensations continued to throw my insides into a whirlwind of confused butterflies. The process continued to settle while I kept my eyes closed. I left my inner space and merely sat behind my eyes, taking in the darkness while feeling the changes to my body. More subtle than what was occurring within my mana and the core which produced it, I could tell that something was happening to my Attributes mostly. My focus was on the skills I had spent time to understand, but the tingle which each skill felt when an underlying Attribute was raised was palpable.

    When the rumbling from the Aspect and the shifting of my channels had fully calmed, I finally opened my eyes. Then, I blinked hard, attempting to deactivate Manasight. It had levelled up in the fighting, but my vision felt different. The psychedelic effect of seeing the world¡¯s mana flow did not stop, because the skill wasn¡¯t active. There was a slightly muted sheen to everything and I looked around with dismay until my eyes found Naea. Oh.

    Her physical appearance hadn¡¯t changed, but the way she looked to my sight was breathtaking. The dampened colours of the world were due to its lacking magic, I realised. Naea didn¡¯t have that issue. Beautiful lilac and rose coloured mana floated through and around her tiny body, removing the effects of air resistance and allowing her flight. I had thought the wings were too delicate to carry her, and her wingbeats were often too slow or even non-existent but seeing the magic at work was stunning. ¡°Wow,¡± I gasped almost by accident, ¡°you¡¯re absolutely beautiful.¡±

    Naea blushed, her pale blue cheeks turning a sharp violet colour and I chuckled, explaining what was going on. ¡°I feel¡­ better.¡± Simply flexing my muscles had been enough for me to know they were full of new potential, my eyes not the only beneficiary of this change. The forest was generally quiet, with only a few birds I had seen, but I began to pick up on something in the background. A quiet humming coming from a few different directions.

    Better was the only way to describe it. Everything about me felt more. More defined, more precise, more powerful. ¡°You look funny,¡± Naea giggled. When I gave her a questioning look she pointed to my eyes. ¡°Your pupils have changed a bit, and you had funny eyes to start with.¡±

    I rolled my apparently altered eyes and ignored Naea for the System prompts I was putting off. My eyes were green but quirky genetics had created a circle of light brown around the pupil which I had never liked. If it had gotten worse, it was a small price to pay for the strength I could feel throughout myself, even down to my senses. I opened the first System message to appear.

    Aspect Quest Completed

    Aspect of The Dragon - Legacy

    Prove that you are worthy to join the legacy of The Dragon. Step onto the path with certainty.

    Defeat five foes at your level or higher.

    Reward: Aspect Bound, New Skill Unlocked

    Aspect of the Dragon bound.

    A dragon is no simple thing. Nigh-extinct upon the Boughs of the Tree, while their numbers wane, the power grows. The magic of a dragon flows within you but only as a whisper. Continue to embody the tenets of the Dragon and greater boons shall be yours.

    Effect: The whispers of the Dragon are quiet, but potent.

    +2 free attribute points per level. +1 to Strength, Resilience, Power, Regeneration and Command per level.

    I checked quickly, and the gains weren¡¯t retroactive. For a brief second, I felt a pang of regret that I had scaled to level eleven without this boost but I cast the thought away just as quickly. My growth from here on out was going to be insane! Though, as my thoughts trailed to strength, I obviously thought of Master Thorn. The bizarre guilt which had tried to appear in my mood was stamped out. I had worked hard and nearly died twice for the Aspect¡¯s gifts, it was a good thing they were so potent.

    And they weren¡¯t finished yet.

    Acutely aware of the layout of my skill pathways, so when the System began to create a new one I observed the workings intensely. For all the good it did me. With a flash of action I had no chance to follow, the most complex weaving of mana pathways I had seen was crafted. I saw only two movements. First, next to my core, a tight bundle had formed, guided by the shape I imagined. Then, that bundle was instantly pulled to extend from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.

    Then, amidst that framework, a new skill was born just as quickly.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    New Skill Unlocked! - Dragonburn (Rare)

    The power of a dragon¡¯s breath is not solely in its devastating heat. Indeed, some dragons do not even produce heat. It is instead due to its corrosive and anti-magical nature that dragons have been hunted to near extinction, amongst other reasons.

    I hissed in annoyance. This procedure was performed before my eyes but I didn¡¯t have the acuity to understand it. Even looking at the confusing and intricate patterns in the aspected mana channels and skill gave me a strange headache between my eyes, so I gave up and focused on what the skill did. I could tell it was some kind of buff, but not much else due to the complexity of the pattern. Even the System information I normally received basically just said ¡°turn it on.¡± Activating Dragonburn for the first time¡­

    Nothing happened.

    I frowned, then I created a Mana Bolt and nearly passed out. The expenditure was staggering, draining nearly the whole pool in a single orb. I had only tried to make a small, five mana ball but the thing swelled to the size of a basketball instead. As if the ten times multiplier to the cost of the skill wasn¡¯t enough, my mana continued to leak into the attack as I held it, the weight increasing. It felt like an increasingly unstable bomb. Unable to draw the energy back into myself, I threw the thing as hard as I could.

    The normally fragile Mana Bolt burned through four trees on its way to the ground, where it buried a few metres before exploding in a rain of dirt and muck. Naea and I looked at each other with mirrored expressions of horror, but her¡¯s only deepened while I gained a large grin instead. ¡°Incredible!¡± I whooped. This was exactly the type of stopping power I was missing to keep the fighting at long range. I was excited to see how it worked with my other skills. ¡°It¡¯s a way to spend more mana for greater effect, more than a new skill itself.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think your mana could do that before.¡± Naea¡¯s face was drawn into a mask of discomfort as she eyes the small swathe of destruction I had cast forth. She turned that same expression onto me, her worry clear, though not understood. ¡°That¡¯s Dragon magic, is it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Aspect of the Dragon. I didn¡¯t say?¡± I thought back, wondering if I had ever voiced the name before. Probably not, but it hadn¡¯t mattered until I could use it. I didn¡¯t think it mattered at all but Naea¡¯s reaction had me rethinking things. The wording on some of the System prompts was a little ominous, wasn¡¯t it? ¡°Is that¡­ a problem?¡± I hedged the question when Naea didn¡¯t respond.

    ¡°Not really,¡± she answered, ¡°but it¡¯s¡­ dangerous, I suppose? I don¡¯t know the stories. Just that there are stories about dragons and most of them end with ¡®and then everyone died.¡¯¡± To emphasise her point, Naea performed a dramatic, looping fake death complete with a eulogy to herself. In it, she effused about her own beauty and the sorrow the world felt at losing her splendour. I ignored her and began to Meditate.

    As mana began to wash through my body once more, I was pleased to see the annoying crystals were no longer a problem. Previously, my mana had passed through the unbound Aspect and then been released randomly, cluttering up my mana channels. The Aspect was no longer expelling the strange pseudo-material, but drawing it in. I wasn¡¯t sure what the end result of this would be but, like my mana channels, they weren¡¯t truly there physically. The pebble was tiny and inert, simply gathering the excess mana like dust to a gravity well.

    I shrugged. If I spent all my time internalising and worrying then I would never get anything done. Inspecting my wounds from the inside out as the magic of Meditate worked its wonders, I realised how close things had come. The fighting had taken me down to the wire, with the final attack across my chest putting my health in the single digits. ¡°I really have to learn some kind of protection skill,¡± I complained to Naea, who could only return my earlier shrug.

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to work that out on your own. I was pushing it with my friendly suggestions already.¡± She rubbed her temple in memory of the pain she had endured for helping me so far. I resolved not to even ask her again if I could help it. I would be dead a few times over if it wasn¡¯t for Naea, and if not, then I would be left waiting to die in the caf¨¦ with no way to defend myself but Mana Bolt. My reliance on her tentative help would only be a crutch and make me weaker anyway. I needed to do things on my own.

    I rose from my seated position, dusted myself off and stretched a little. I could tell the mana inside of me wanted to be used, and I was excited to see what I could do with it. As a simple test, I activated Manasight with my pure mana. The world nearly brought a tear to my eye, the deadened colours of the mundane returning with incredible vibrancy. Then, with a flick of concentration, I switched the skill to draconic. The darkness the world had been infected with before increased, nearly everything turning to monochrome but Naea and the two unlooted bodies of the Sundercats. I grunted as I collected the coins they had and checked my Skills window.

    ¡°Well, on the subject of working things out, I¡¯ve got a whole new type of mana to play with as well as a new skill. Let¡¯s see how well this forest holds up to me now.¡± Whilst making a point of not moving towards Master Thorn¡¯s location, I took my first confident steps in days. I could do this, but I wasn¡¯t going to be stupid and rush. It was time to powerlevel.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Bolt (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Manasight (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Heavy Blow (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sprint (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Meditate (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Stealth (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Tracking (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mental Fortress (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dragonburn (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

 Forged Anew - Chapter Twenty - Phase Two

    The observable universe which was recorded upon Earth by the humans which lived there was a very different place than the observable universe of the other creatures on the planet. In the same way, the true breadth of reality was so far from the understanding Earthlings had confirmed that contact with the Greater Connection was tumultuous.

    This is often the case. Prior to the System¡¯s arrival upon a planet, subtle influences leak through the veil into the new section of existence. These dreams, epiphanies and ideas are a part of the preparation into the wider truth of things. By layering the collective consciousness of the unseeded worlds with concepts from within the Tree¡¯s reach, there was less turmoil when meeting the other peoples and beings which had made a place for themselves upon Yggdrasil¡¯s branches.

    The first stage of what is known as The Shift is the most deadly by far. The worlds that the Tree touches are filled with power causing them to grow in unpredictable ways. To accommodate the changes, the planet itself is changed greatly. The beings upon the world often won¡¯t notice this in the initial days as the ecology of the world changes even more dramatically. The introduction of mana into the cycle of a world brings with it the monsters.

    Mana-gorged and warped for it, becoming a monster is the opportunity for any creature below a certain level of sentience to grasp at the chance for growth. The System is not only for the chosen few, after all. It graces every living being in one way or another. While a mouse might not use System Windows like a person, it can gain levels in the same way. Creation or destruction. For there is nothing more blessed than the renewal inherent in these actions.

    Part of the issue for a newly touched world is that the beings there are rarely inclined to much creation. The Tree itself helps with this in various ways, from the currency it creates at will to the looting system. Inefficient when compared to manually taking the valuables, however. Once industry returns to the world in a serious way, the first stage is considered over. This usually takes a few months to half a year of survival. Due to the aggressive nature of the Earth humans and the technology of their weaponry, some areas are being subjugated quickly.

    Phase two, where the dominant life can begin to assault the dungeons, is on course to begin in two to three months. No impressive deviations noticed.

    Report on the Integration of new sector (JMC642) by Observer Tyvalirt S.

    ¡°Another boring post,¡± Tyvalirt complained as he posted his report and closed his eyes. While shutting them did not remove all of the background noise from the world below, it helped to dampen their connection a little. Just once, Tyva wanted to be the one to get a Guardian. Then they would be able to sail all the way to the higher branches. ¡°Not bloody likely,¡± they snorted, dropping into their inner world with practised ease, ignoring the world below while they continued to cultivate the Gardens of Joy.

    They could afford to ignore the world for a bit now their task was done, right?

    ¡ª

    I was having the time of my life, and having to stop myself from being an absolute bully within the forest. I noticed fairly quickly that defeating something under my level had increasingly pointless gains, so the challenge was to find things which matched my rising strength. I didn¡¯t think the number I was shown by the System mattered so much as the danger. A level one dragon would give more experience than a level one hundred tree.

    Not that I had found any dragons, which despite my ¡°title¡± I would have definitely avoided. If my new strength was anything to go off, a dragon was an existence of terrifying power. Nothing had stood up to a Dragonburn-infused Mana Bolt yet. If I wasn¡¯t so sure the ratman would have an answer for it, I would have tried to throw one at him already. I chided myself each time my thoughts began to lean in a cocky direction.

    I had taken more than a few injuries, though none of them slowed me down for longer than a minute using Meditate. Still, none of those enemies were as strong as Master Thorn. To that end, I was looking for something to test myself on. Naea said it was pointless to fight without mana, but I needed to know what my new benchmarks felt like. Strong as my magic was getting, it flowed through the body, and knowing oneself was the path to true understanding.

    It was either Aristotle, Buddha or Bruce Lee who said that, and I didn¡¯t have the internet to check my source. In the effort of knowing myself, I opened my System Windows, which I was calling my status screens.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    15

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    75/75

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    120/120

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    11

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    15

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    11

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    12

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    12

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    14

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    16

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    19

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    24

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    75/75

    </td>

    <td>

    1.5 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    120/120

    </td>

    <td>

    19 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Respectable, I told myself. Not that I had anyone to compare myself with but still. Four levels, and each of them gave me more than double the effective attributes than I had received without the Aspect. Four points in each of the five draconic attributes, and then seven free points per level in total made me feel very powerful. For the free points, I had a few areas I wanted to make myself strong, given the choice. As the much-hoped for healing skill never materialised, each level I placed two points into Recovery. The Attribute had doubled in four levels, and the effects were amazing.

    It was nearly impossible to get tired, even running at my full speed. With three points in Agility and Dexterity, that full speed was getting impressive, too. After running into more than one tree, I decided to always keep my Perception above my Agility. My experience with the Aspect skill and being unable to follow it had bothered me too, so I wasn¡¯t upset to place four points into the attribute. My arboreal collisions swiftly declined in instance rate.

    The remaining ten points were placed into Command and Regeneration. With the new skill doing a lot of the heavy lifting Power would accomplish, my biggest drains right now were on my mana pool. Having a larger reservoir which filled quicker was exactly what I wanted when I pressed myself to ask. While I was capable of fighting with strength, speed or magic, I knew which I preferred.

    The feeling of a Mana Bolt crackling in my grip was just the beginning. Knowing that, how could I not keep following the alluring path of mana? The complete safety of removing something¡¯s torso from a distance was also a factor. Other than Naea, everything in the dungeon was trying to kill me. Though, if they couldn¡¯t find me, the other monsters were good enough apparently.

    More than once I had interrupted a battle between an Attack Animal and a Sundercat, or found one of the two humanoid creatures wrapped in the clutches of an Ent. Considering I had been assaulted more than once while fighting, I had quickly lost any ideals about honour amongst the monsters here. After the first gang up where an Attack Animal, an Ent and a Sundercat all put aside their differences to try and rip me apart together I was over it.

    There didn¡¯t seem to be more biodiversity than that in the forest, but I was wary of creating expectations.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Bolt (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Manasight (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Heavy Blow (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sprint (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Meditate (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Stealth (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Tracking (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mental Fortress (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dragonburn (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Skill levels, like my own, also seemed to grow more when under duress. I had tried activating Mental Fortress a few times but without a psychic attack to defend against, I could sense it did nothing but waste mana. Bringing the other skills to level two had increased their effects, but not in ways which were particularly noticeable compared to my Attribute gains. I was faster while using Sprint, but how much faster the skill level made me was hard to tell. What I had noticed was that a layer of intricacy was added to the skill upon levelling. Not enough to push them up a skill stage, though.

    At this point, all they seemed to do was let me add more mana, but who knew how it would go in the future? Naea did, actually, but she wasn¡¯t allowed to tell me and I didn¡¯t ask. As the levelling speeds were slowing on the prey I had found so far, I was looking for the border. A combination of gut instinct and Tracking told me that just walking in any direction would do, so I kept walking in a straight line from Clive¡¯s. I could feel the change in the air before I saw the next zone.

    Humidity gave way to a purer heat. Brutal and dry, even with my advanced Attributes I began to feel uncomfortable even before dropping to the sand below. In a clear, circular cut, the ground fell away for a few metres. The geography didn¡¯t make much sense, but that was hardly the only thing which was weird in the dungeon, after all. Further than my eyes could see, golden plains of sand with large dunes extended. For a few minutes, I simply sat in the heat and watched the sands.

    There wasn¡¯t even a hint of movement below me, no breeze, no visible creatures, even the sun in the sky was basically stationary. In the time I had been in the dungeon, it had moved to the opposite point in the day, a late afternoon sun now rather than an early morning one. Time was passing in here, just slowly. I wasn¡¯t excited for the nighttimes in this place, which would seemingly last a week or more. Although, now I thought about it, maybe that would be the time to brave the desert.

    I hopped down to double check it was out of my reach, and the scorching sands confirmed I was not ready. My dress shoes were destroyed, unable to keep up with the force I could output. I was sure they would have melted in this sand anyway, as I leapt up onto the dirt wall and clambered back up. While blowing on my scalded feet, I shook my head. This wasn¡¯t going to work.

    I had levelled as much as the forest was likely to push me before Master Thorn. It was possible, though, that there were fights to be found in the desert that would bridge the gap between myself and the infuriating rat. I turned around, wondering if Naea had left the body of the last enemies uneaten. The Attack Animals had slimy, pudgy skin but the Sundercats¡­

    Maybe it was time to start learning a trade.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Twenty One - Professional Mastery

    Obsession was quite a real problem with my current predicament. I was beating off claustrophobia by virtue of the fact I hadn¡¯t actually reached a true boundary line I couldn¡¯t cross. There was just a particularly nasty ratman I needed to deal with to feel truly safe in my surroundings. Each time I left my home base of Clive¡¯s Caf¨¦, it was with one wary eye over my shoulder while I hunted for supplies.

    But obsession¡­

    The sun was well and truly starting to dip now as I reached what my body told me was my fifth day in the dungeon. It was impossible to know for sure, especially when taking into account my lack of sleep. That was where my worry about obsession appeared from. I had actually fallen asleep working, which was surprising considering my current Recovery. The reason was twofold. The first reason, and the likely culprit if I were pointing fingers was the mana expenditure of my chosen task.

    The second reason, which made the first irrelevant, was that I realised I absolutely loved crafting.

    My desire was simple enough. I wanted some boots. I had variously stubbed my toe, cut the sole of my foot, burned my feet, had them chewed on and stepped into things I would rather never think about again. The idea of keeping my feet on show to the world for a single moment longer was an abhorrence I could no longer abide. I hadn¡¯t realised I would get so lost in it, though.

    To start, I needed a few things. Fabric of some kind, a needle and some thread. Thankfully, two could be fairly easily found from the same enemies. I even had the fangs which would become needles in my inventory, and the knife to slice away the skin which would become leather. The gory work turned my stomach more than I expected, even ignoring Naea¡¯s attempts to intentionally make me gag by pretending to gag herself. She was annoyed I was taking her ¡°snack.¡± Intentionally avoiding imagining how Naea ate the creatures of the dungeon. I also made sure to collect everything I reasonably could from the large leopard Sundercat which I made into my bounty.

    The Xaverweave Pouch was more than happy to take the grisly bounty off my filthy hands. The lumber I had gathered from the Ents I had faced was piling up at Clive¡¯s, and I wondered if there were any metal creatures which I could turn into nails. Realising I was wishing almost certain death on myself, I rejected that possibility. Maybe I could mine? My plans were running away from me, though. First, boots.

    Naea had explained the skill Prestidigitation to me before but its limitations were nearly non-existent. If Naea expected the ¡°small magic¡± to work, it just would. As long as it was within the purview of ¡°keeping the dungeon clean,¡± she could do it. Her explanation, or lack thereof, bothered me to no end but her ability to fix things was of great use. It even extended to returning the lining of the booth chairs, so I had a massive supply of thread and even some shoddy leather from the uncomfortable seats to practise on.

    My stockpile ready, I got to work. The first of my thread was used before any real crafting could begin as I constructed a tanning rack. The lumber finally came in useful as I built three large frames and set them facing the sun. I knew that there were other important factors in the creation of leather, but considering my knowledge went as far as what it should look like, I was at a loss for how to improve the process at this point. The best I could manage was taking all the hairs and loose flesh from the skin and hoping for the best.

    While the skins dried, I made my first attempts at creating boots. These abominations were destroyed with Mana Bolts as crimes against nature should be. I soon worked out the amounts of material I would need, after the third shoe, which was at least the right shape, would have fit Naea better than myself. She had cackled and demanded to keep that one and I begrudged her. They didn¡¯t fit, but she carried them around like a tired bride after a wedding might carry her heels.

    A pair I had made, which were the right size and I thought were stitched correctly, completely ripped after two steps. Predictable, but it was in the destruction that I realised something. I almost wanted to punch myself when I realised my eyes had been glazing over an important item in the pouch. I removed the small gold and silver orb and rolled it around on my palm. Naea gasped from behind me and I closed my hand. ¡°Was that a Guidance Stone?¡± She asked with interest, pressing her face against my fist.

    ¡°Maybe. Why?¡± I wasn¡¯t really suspicious of Naea, but after she had judged the Aspect of the Dragon, I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted her to see the Guidance Stone of Mastery.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pure skill! The ones you learned are anyone¡¯s toys but a Guidance Stone is special.¡± Naea¡¯s eyes were literally glittering as I opened my fingers. She fluttered around my hand, never actually touching the orb or me. ¡°It binds to an Aspect like an Aspect binds to you.¡± I had assumed as much when the requirement to use the Stone was having a bound Aspect.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°So, it¡¯ll be a skill of Dragon Mastery?¡± I didn¡¯t even know what that would look like. Was it the right choice, or should I wait for another Aspect? That seemed both ambitious and hopeful. I opened my rarely viewed Aspect Window.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Aspects 1/4

    </td>

    <td>

    Guidance

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dragon (Bound)

    </td>

    <td>

    0/3 available slots

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Unbound

    </td>

    <td> </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Unbound

    </td>

    <td> </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Unbound

    </td>

    <td> </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    ¡°No, not like that. The Stone has most of what it wants to do inside of it already, so it''s a skill involving Mastery. You must have at least two slots with an Aspect like that.¡±

    ¡°Three,¡± I admitted, opening the System Prompt for the Stone. Naea made a choked sound of surprise which I assumed was a good thing. Three didn¡¯t feel like a lot, but maybe it was. It would depend on the usefulness. The Aspect had given me my most impressive skill by far, so I was excited to let the Stone do its work. Before I did, I gave it another look.

    My eyes were no longer completely natural, and to the slightly draconic sight I now had, the Guidance Stone was intense. I didn¡¯t see more, but I saw with increased intensity. I felt as though I could see through the thick, swirling mists.

    I closed my hand around it again and felt it crumble into the finest of dusts before vanishing completely into my mana channels.

    Item - Guidance Stone of Mastery

    Guidance stones are sometimes called the lesser variant of Aspects. Each Aspect has a set amount of spaces to absorb a Guidance Stone. They can only be used by Aspect wielders.

    Aspect of the Dragon available.

    Use Guidance Stone of Mastery? This will consume one Guidance slot from your available Aspects.

    I felt the gold and silver energy coursing through my whole body, rushing towards my core. Like a comet orbiting the sun, the magic sped up over and over, slingshotted by the power of my core. As the feeling of acceleration increased, the power began to spin like a helix, tighter and tighter until there was a pure point at the head. There was nothing to brace, but I still tried, as the meteoric drill punched into the world of the Dragon, the Aspect. From deep within my soul, a satisfied roar resounded.

    Guidance Skill (Mastery) Unlocked! - Mana Savant (Legendary)

    There are those who are born with untouchable talent in ventures which others trade their entire lives to master. You are one such being, though your talent is filtered through the nourishing power of mana. Any task which you complete while channelling mana has a massively increased chance to result in a skill or large gains towards skill levels.

    I almost choked on my own tongue as I took in the implications of the words before me and the knowledge which appeared in my mind. I had learned skills by using mana while performing tasks, and the process was arduous and random enough I hadn¡¯t truly thought about others. While I mostly blocked it from my mind, my hands still shook with phantom pain when I swung the Sorehammer enough times.

    It wasn¡¯t surprising to see the Legendary title for the skill once I felt around the new shape of it. Wide, intricate and completely beyond anything I could understand, my new Guidance Skill was a thing of magical beauty.

    Naea was pestering me to explain my new skill, but I just had to tell her the name for her to start swooning in the air. While she waxed lyrical about the potential and all of the skills she would try to learn, I ran outside to my tanning station. Lamenting only the wasted time, I chopped one apart quickly. Then, slowly and methodically, I rebuilt the frame. The whole time, I left myself awash with mana but even I couldn¡¯t have expected the result.

    Before I had even finished one attempt, the prompt appeared.

    New Skill Unlocked - Construction (Common)

    We shape our buildings; thereafter, they shape us. There is nothing created which was not first built upon the belief it could be made.

    My first passive skill, this one floated around my spine, near the top. I couldn¡¯t send any mana into it, unsurprisingly. Quick and simple, another bundle of information arrived in my head. This one was not as detailed as the Mana Savant skill, but it immediately let me understand where I had gone wrong with the tanning racks. As I fixed them, I gained another level in the skill and once more saw where I could improve the design with a few more materials.

    This was¡­ ¡°Incredible,¡± Naea finished my thought aloud for me, looking at the speed I was improving. She didn¡¯t even need to hear me speak it to know what I was thinking. I nodded at her, moving inside and sitting at my makeshift sewing table. A few quick glances around the table reminded me construction had nothing to do with shoe-making and that I was still as useless as before. That was okay, though.

    I would improve.

    Two rushed, tiny pairs of shoes and eighty mana later and I was left in disbelief again. I had half-expected the System to give me the finger when I was clearly trying to cut corners by half-assing my attempts but it didn¡¯t seem to matter.

    New Skill Unlocked - Tailoring (Common)

    You cannot tailor life to fit you, but you can tailor your fit to be ready for life.

    ¡°That is an incredible skill, Grant.¡± Naea said seriously as I pulled on my first workable pair of shoes, earning me my second level in Tailoring. These weren¡¯t good enough to walk around in either, but they were starting to look convincingly shoe-shaped. They would last for a quick walk around, though.

    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s just making some clothes,¡± I deflected, knowing exactly what she was talking about. I didn¡¯t want to get my head too full of possibilities, but I was ecstatic with how the Guidance Stone had worked. It promised to only get more and more potent, too, as I added more abilities to my repertoire. I had considered the problem of obsession earlier. As I could already feel my plans running away from me, I realised I needed to stay focused. ¡°Let¡¯s go have a look at the desert before the sun sets.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Twenty Two - A Ruckus In The Dunes

    A few more attempts and another level up to the skill of Tailoring had me quite confident in the sturdiness of my new shoes. I had even made socks out of some repurposed Clive¡¯s Caf¨¦ t-shirts, and I flexed my feet, the skin happily covered by cloth and shoddy leather. The skin from the Sundercat wasn¡¯t ready for use yet, but the tacky material from the caf¨¦¡¯s chairs was. While they would never suit a catwalk, they were a true sign that I could take from the dungeon and not only have it take from me.

    Though I would argue that me having comfortable boots was just as important, I had also levelled up midway through my crafting session. Naea had burst into explanation about how rare it was for someone to gain a level due to creation so early in the Shift. She was exceptionally excited but I struggled to understand the consequences. It wasn¡¯t as fast as combat levelling and I would run out of materials eventually.

    ¡°It¡¯s about mentality,¡± Naea had sighed, and shook her head like I was a disappointment. Unable to be upset thanks to no longer having to walk through mud with my bare feet, I brushed it off. The journey to the desert area would have been a good chance to train my combat skills if I had encountered anything which wanted a fight. Except, I didn¡¯t. I wasn¡¯t hunting, so I didn¡¯t activate Tracking much but nor did I use Stealth. Itching for a chance to gain some more strength, I was left bemused as it seemed the natives were either bunkering down to sleep, or just avoiding me specifically.

    A few of my skills ticked up their progress, noticeably though. Construction and Tailoring reached level two and three respectively. Sprint and Tracking both rose a level while the largest gain was in Meditate which I naturally used the most and longest of my skills. Stealth had nearly grown, too. Thanks to the influx of experience in this arena, I was getting better and better at understanding the nuance involved in my skills. At level four Meditate, which was my best example, the effect had increased to around three times faster recovery as opposed to the two times I had been at level one.

    I could only imagine what a skill at level one hundred would be capable of.

    By the time I dropped down into the desert again, the sun was definitely on its last legs for the day. With my heightened Perception and Manasight, the darkness of the evening should pose little issue, but my instincts told me the night would hold more dangers than just dim lighting. Still, I had the worry of the dungeon getting stronger around me and couldn¡¯t sit on my laurels.

    Taking a sip from my dwindling but decent supply of water, I sighed. I hadn¡¯t found any water sources in the forest, despite its humidity and healthy foliage. Cleaning myself was an expenditure I had only done once, before I realised how dangerous it could be to have nothing to drink. I could be here for a long time, after all. That train of thought was a dangerous one I pushed away, striding into the sands and enjoying the dry warmth of the very late afternoon.

    I had to admit, it was a gorgeous view.

    As far as I could see, the sand stretched like a comfortable ginger cat. Slashes of shade cut across vast areas of the expanse as the sun¡¯s light dipped below some of the massive piles of sand. The shadows extended, the duochrome of the new area taking my breath away with its beautiful gold and navy tones. The dunes and hills were vast and beautiful. I had no doubt there were dangers lurking within these dry, flaxen fields.

    I wasn¡¯t excited to try climbing the hills once I got to the base of one. My opinion on the desert was quickly settled. Despite all of its natural wonder? Walking through the desert sucked. The sand was still uncomfortably hot where the sun hit and it quickly got into my new shoes. I said nothing to Naea and refused to admit I had chosen the wrong design. The leather was hot and breaking in the heat. My stupid white self hadn¡¯t even considered the obvious. Sandals for the sand, right? Trips abroad weren¡¯t common for my family, and less common for myself, so it was a learning experience.

    As I began to slowly trudge up the shifting hill, I continued trying to learn. My first skill had come early, when I was much less capable. Mana Bolt had served me very well but was little help here. What I needed was a way to create more stable mana. As I began to experiment, I asked Naea ¡°is sandwalking a skill?¡± With my mana being spent a little quicker than I recovered it, the skill would appear sooner or later.

    ¡°No.¡± The surety of her answer gave me pause. Naea said she never lied, which itself must be a lie but I had yet to catch her in one. With a clever way of phrasing, keeping secrets and telling lies was more than possible for the fairy.

    ¡°Maybe you¡¯ve just never heard of it.¡±

    ¡°Maybe that¡¯s it, Grant. Maybe that¡¯s it.¡±

    Disheartened but not willing to give up on making this trek less awful, now and in the future, I kept trying. For the few hours it took to scale the huge dune, I expended mana in an aimless way. I was a generator and the System would guide the skill creation using the energy I expelled into the air. Or so I hoped. The reality was that by the time I arrived at the top of the

    I watched Naea float like a leaf, pretending to sleep in the air as she hovered next to me and an idea sparked. Instead of passively burning mana, I directed the flow to the soles of my feet. When I received a little positive feedback from the mana, I had to take the boots off. It had cooled down enough that I wouldn''t be melted by the sands, at least. I could do nothing but roll my eyes and take Naea¡¯s harassment. ¡°Something wrong with your lovely shoes?¡± She asked, sweet as poison.

    ¡°Only if you don¡¯t like struggling. It would be hard to argue I don¡¯t like it at this point, but I¡¯m not going down that road of self-hate. I¡¯m going to steal from you, instead.¡± Naea gasped and turned invisible. I could actually follow her movements a little as I knew what to look for and my improved vision¡¯s focus on mana. I chuckled and flicked a very weak Mana Bolt towards her which she was forced to dodge. ¡°Just your techniques, loser. You use mana in a much more sophisticated way than I do.¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    The trees blocked my view of the desert when I was on the ground there but from this high up, I could see all the way back to Clive¡¯s. The forest area looked quite small from here, even. That tiny place had kept me bound for days on the edge of death. Facing the desert, with my face to the sun, I sat and began to Meditate.

    Levelling the skill had not only increased the rate I regained mana, but the less numerical portions of the technique were heightened also. I slipped easily into my imagined cosmic ecosystem of core, Aspect and Guidance Stone. With its addition, the empty universe around my inner world was being pin pricked with light. Miniscule, but blazing compared to the nothingness around them, these were my skills. With Mana Savant¡¯s touch, they had become prominent in this place too, taking new importance within my mentality.

    With a small brushing of Willpower, I gave myself a form and landed upon the world of the Dragon. Barren, in many ways, this world was also full of potential. Deep within the rocky celestial body was an intense and passionate magic that stroked against my own desires and pushed me onwards. I fueled the world, and in turn, the world charged me with power and resolve. This give and take was mostly a visualisation of the effects of Meditate, increasing my healing and mana regeneration, but it held significance too.

    I looked to the stars, focusing on the one I knew to be Sprint. This world was silent and cold, but I could change one of those things for now. I brought my Willpower to bear once more and grasped the concept of momentum from Sprint and gave it to the world of the Dragon. A wind picked up and ruffled my hair. I smiled. The breeze whistled deep into the caverns and tunnels that were the veins and arteries of this rocky world. That was enough for now.

    My eyes still closed, I activated Sprint. The skill burned some mana but I wasn¡¯t trying to move right now. I pushed against the boundary which had been woven into the fabric of the ability. It was a useful skill, but it wasn¡¯t what I wanted. As it stood, all it did was make me move faster when running. It was unwieldy and specific. The winds of the Dragon world began to howl in the gale, and I felt the Dragon twitch in response. Go on then, it seemed to say, and I took the hint.

    Dragonburn.

    The purple light of the Dragonburn star bathed my soul with transformative power. Brighter than any of the others, though still distant and small, the purple light of the skill gave vibrancy to the winds of Sprint. The process mostly automatic now, I simply guided with a gentle hand as the air itself began to hold wisps of that purple energy. The hurricane forces built to a crescendo and I smashed as much mana as I could into the skill structure of Sprint. It had been a whim to alter the skill but now that the Dragon was involved in the working all I could do was try to add my influence.

    I focused on what I wanted from the ability. Master thorn was a growing anxiety in my mind, his speed always greater than mine in my imagination. I wanted to be able to make the ratman¡¯s strengths irrelevant. By becoming so fast myself that it would be the one left standing slack jawed. My Willpower flagged as the situation dragged on. I could feel myself spending something which wasn¡¯t health or mana, but just as important. My thoughts became sluggish, and the wind froze for a moment. What was I doing?

    With a roar that shook the stars, vibrating the sun which was my core, the Dragon gave me the final nudge needed. There was an imperceptible click as the old form of Sprint broke apart and was replaced by something greater. I was flung from the soul world and back into my body as the mana channels around my ankles extended up my skins with glorious new form. I inspected it with wonder, figuring out all of the modulations made that I could before letting the System fill in the gaps.

    Congratulations! Skill upgraded due to cohesion with your Aspect!

    Sprint -> Haste

    Faster. Faster. Until fear itself can no longer stop you. Until thrill exceeds doubt.

    The sun had finally lost its battle as I cleared away with System Prompt and took a deep breathe. The lightest of breezes touched my face as I looked up into the purple sky. As within, so without. I smirked to myself, opening my status screens to admire the progress I had made. I was becoming truly strong.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Bolt (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Manasight (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Heavy Blow (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Haste (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Meditate (Level 4)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Stealth (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Tracking (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mental Fortress (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dragonburn (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Construction (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Tailoring (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Savant (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Unique

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    I still had seven points to place from the level up I received while crafting, but as I considered my options for placement, the sand beneath me shifted. In fact, the sand all across the dune started to fall like golden waterfalls. Naea gasped and there was enough fright in the sound for me to panic, even before the dark shapes began to appear. I allowed the System cost for analysis and felt my mana drain uncomfortably fast. There were just so many nameplates¡­

    Within seconds, my mana bottomed out. There were still many of the approaching black shapes which weren¡¯t analysed, their forms amorphous due to the shadows cast by the impending night. ¡°Run!¡± I shouted to Naea, pointless as she had already taken off, a mirage over the sand. Planning to join her, I put all seven of my loose attribute points into Agility. I lost my footing as the attributes took hold, rolling down the massive sandy hill like a loose stone.

    All the while, the chittering and clattering approach of the scorpion horde threatened to freeze my muscles with fright.

    Monster - Giant Scorpion - Level 12

    Monster - Giant Grey Scorpion - Level 16

    Monster - Giant Scorpion - Level 11

    Monster - Giant Grey Scorpion - Level 15

    Monster - Giant Scorpion - Level 10

    Monster - Giant Ochre Scorpion - Level 18

    Monster - Giant Ochre Scorpion - Level 18

    I spat out a mouthful of sand and began sprinting, wishing I hadn¡¯t messed with the skill at all, every ounce of accomplishment robbed by my terror. As fast as my System-powered legs would take me, I bolted for the forest. ¡°Fuck this!¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Twenty Three - Nightfall

    My escape from the desert and the horde of giant scorpions which stampeded noisily after me was stressful but with my first uses of Haste, I kept myself away from the surge. I couldn¡¯t even enjoy the use of the new form of the skill due to the chase. The smallest of these Giant Scorpions was the size of a big dog, with the coloured variants as big as cars. Not little cars, either. I was mortified. The sound of their approach would never leave my nightmares.

    Did normal scorpions scream?

    Shivering all over, I confirmed that I hadn¡¯t started some kind of hidden event as the sea of chitinous arachnids returned to the sands. The journey back had been long enough for me to decide all kinds of horrible things. In my worst imaginings, the scorpions would sweep through the forest and chase me right through to the other side. I thanked whatever higher power governed the System as I lay on the grass and panted. ¡°I never thought I¡¯d be happy to see this place,¡± I admitted.

    ¡°It¡¯s not happy to see you,¡± a cheshire voice sounded in my ear. A new rush of adrenaline sat me up and I whirled around before freezing. ¡°No sudden movements,¡± Naea whispered. I almost nodded, but even that might have shot the starting pistol on the brawl which was about to break out. I couldn¡¯t use my mana carelessly here, It was already clear I would need all of it.

    Six sets of yellow eyes were gathered in the dying light. My eyes were naturally drawn to the largest figure, a silhouette in the shadow of the trees. Not only was it an imposingly tall Sundercat, it was the first I had seen to wield a weapon of its own. A vicious looking sword, longer than my arm, was leaning against its shoulder, which itself was covered with a flowing mane.

    Ah, my first lion Sundercat. To its left were a pair of child-sized ones which were smiling wide as they glared at me. Three figures stood with swagger on the lionman¡¯s right were a collection of shapes and sizes, feline humanoids all. ¡°Sundercats, ho,¡± I whispered. Curse my inability to take things seriously. Even the movement of my mouth was enough to begin the battle.

    The little lynx twins attacked first. I managed to slip the Fan of Knives from the pouch and used the dual wielded daggers to fend off the cat people. Faces fluffy, hands and feet large, their claws were as sharp as any of the others I had fought. One got my back and I nearly lost my throat to its raking nails. A hastily raised knife from the fan was all that stood between me and death. For all my new strength, I was pretty sure I remained vulnerable to mortal wounds.

    For the second time in an hour, I rejected the world. ¡°Fuck this.¡± Activating Haste, everything slowed. Well, I got massively faster, but perception was reality. The slowed world was much calmer. Perhaps because I created the skill myself, or maybe it was just the impressive effect, but using it felt like euphoria itself. Our battle had shuddered leaves from the trees, and they hung in the air as a slow dullness spread across the world.

    I watched with interest as the second small Sundercat dove for my ankles, trying to tear my achilles heels. With supreme ease, I shoulder tossed the one on my back right on top of its partner. Like a stationary backpack, I grabbed the scruff of its neck and with a Heavy Blow for good measure, I cratered the pain into the floor. The thump of the impact and their howls of pain sounded deep until I released the expensive speed skill. The warped noise became a high pitched mewling as natural speeds returned. Due to the speed and force I had exerted, the collision was devastating. These two were broken, and I could ignore them for now. Heavy Blow had even levelled up for the effort.

    The larger trio all came at once. The first pair had a teamwork these three didn¡¯t seem to, but that wasn¡¯t going to matter thanks to their size. The largest of the three, a black-furred pantherman, barrelled into me and crushed me into the floor. A heavy kick caught my temple as the only obviously feminine, cheetah variant Sundercat took advantage of my fall. The panther rolled to its feet, dragging me, and launched me at a lithe male tigerman.

    A flash of light burst at my stomach and I almost choked on the disrespect more than anything. I was stopped still in the air by the force of the offending Mana Bolt. I was so surprised by being on the other end of my skill, I didn¡¯t dodge a follow-up kick to my shin which sent me hobbling. I snarled. Before this exchange, I had been scared and excited. Now I was mad.

    Manasight.

    The world sharpened as I ate into my mana regeneration to activate the skill. With enough levels, I would be able to leave abilities like this to flow without end but I currently had to be restrictive. There were still four active combatants after all¡­

    Wait-

    I jumped, avoiding both the cheetah Sundercat¡¯s attempt to trip me and one of the smaller pair I had thought incapacitated. With Manasight running, all of the fighters were blazing stars of power unable to avoid my attention. Except, they shouldn¡¯t be this strong, should they? A Mana Bolt sizzled through the air and I got a better look at the flimsy thing. It looked about as potent as my first bolt. ¡°I¡¯m only getting more insulted,¡± I warned the creatures.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    With five attackers now, the other smaller fight back on its feet also, I could easily see the inciting issue. While he might be panting from the exertion, the lionman at the back was the source of energy bands which connected to the other Sundercats. It was buffing them! Which explained why they fought with strength objectively above their level. It was also probably what let the injured pair get back up so quickly. Yet, the cost was clear in its tiring expression. My angry snarl turned into a vicious smirk. ¡°Let¡¯s see who¡¯s got more in the tank,¡± I spat. ¡°Heal this.¡±

    As one, the tiger and the panther punched at me. The move was quite synchronised, but by lifting myself off the ground and bracing, their strength became mine. I let myself get pushed back away from the crush of cats, a Mana Bolt formed in my free hand. I threw the Fan of Knives blade and created another bolt for good measure. As I landed, I checked my status. Health was good and I was doing alright on my mana reserve for now. The attacks I had taken stung, but my reserve was getting higher even as it was harder to even do damage to me.

    It had been a while since I had used Mana Bolt in a true fight. Compared to the tepid attempts from the tiger mage, these were dangerous. The pale versions which had been thrown at me didn¡¯t have nearly as much Power behind them. ¡°You call that a bolt? This is a Mana Bolt.¡± I didn¡¯t care which of the pack took the attack, so I threw it into the group without much aim.

    The cheetah and panther drew the short straw, both of them launched backwards like arrows as my attacks landed. A pained roar from the lionman brought a smile to my face as I fended off the other three and waited to see what happened. I was surprised when the hard-to-see bonds between the cats still fighting me and their lion leader grew in strength while the downed fighters were cut off from the energy. ¡°Damn,¡± I cursed.

    Either I was stronger than I thought or these Sundercats were less durable than the others I had faced. The speedy lynx twins got faster, their claws able to reach me now. I avoided any serious injuries, but damage was beginning to accrue. At the same time, the pathetic Mana Bolts from the tiger were slightly more effective. As I jumped aside from the twins, I was in the path of two of these sturdier bolts. One would hit on my thigh, easily ignored, but the other was coming straight for my eye.

    Instinct kicked in and I expelled as much mana as I could. There was no control, only the intent to overwhelm the offensive magic coming my way. Like releasing a steam valve or popping a balloon, my mana exploded out of me. The melee attackers were pushed back slightly but the Mana Bolts were completely smashed apart. I almost whooped, but the flow of battle hadn¡¯t slowed much. My sound of celebration cut off to become grunts of exertion, dodging once more.

    With a flourishing dodge, I replaced the fan and drew the Sorehammer instead. Like a pair of annoying golf balls, I swung the hammer low and then high, sending the aggressive furballs into the air. The connection from the lion to them was cut off even before they landed. With a kick as I ran past for good measure, I had put down four of the combatants in as many seconds. Clearly sensing the changing winds, the leader also stripped the tigerman of his portion of the power. The tigerman flinched and cowered next to a tree as the strength it had been granted left it.

    A mighty roar served to remind me the fighting up until now just the starter course. It was time for the real meal. The ground beneath the lionman¡¯s feet churned as all the power it was sharing went into charging straight for me. A vibrant, thrill seeking part of me wanted to clash with the sword it aimed for me, but I dodged instead. The Sorehammer¡¯s handle was wooden and I didn¡¯t want it to break after all. I cartwheeled acrobatically, catching a branch which had fallen during the clashes while checking my status again.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    56/80

    </td>

    <td>

    1.5 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    77/125

    </td>

    <td>

    20 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Using it as a test, I tried to stop the blade with the thick wood but hopped away as it was sliced as easily as grass. Damn! That thing was sharp, my mind screamed in warning. Forget health points! A single slash from that sword would take whatever limb it happened to snag and the lion wasn¡¯t particular. Its yellow eyes were full of hate as it tried to claim my life.

    The ferocity of the lion was impressive, and I was grateful for the level¡¯s worth of Agility I had given myself in my escape from the scorpions. Without the extra oomph, I would have relied on Haste rather than use it as the trump card it currently was. The moment appeared quickly as the final Sundercat stepped in, meaning to bisect me horizontally.

    Dragonburn. Haste.

    The caustic violet energy of my Aspect skill latched onto the mana which raced through my muscles.  The power within me burned as the world became a grey snapshot of itself. Haste alone could eat through five mana a second, though those moments extended themselves thanks to the speed. At full bore, with Dragonburn amplifying it up to ten times, I had to be fast.

    Thankfully, all the time in the world was mine. My thoughts were surprisingly clear as the dominating forces within me caused reality to bend slightly. A convergence began within myself as I stepped around the attack and set my feet. My core and Aspect aligned as the two skills which came from them most clearly worked together. This frozen world was my domain. The Sundercat¡¯s eyes slowly crawled to keep up with my movement but it was already too late. I didn¡¯t use Dragonburn for the next part, activating another skill without letting the purple crystals affect the attack.

    Even my voice was frozen as I spoke, but I allowed the world to move again by releasing the boosted Haste. The sound returned alongside the violence. My attack was already thrown and landed but my words cracked the air like lightning while my fist landed with a resonance like the rumble of thunder.

    ¡°HEAVY BLOW!¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Twenty Four - Sundered

    The battle ended with a flash of light from the end of my fist and a low, whooshing groan from the lion Sundercat¡¯s crushed torso when time once more took control over the world¡¯s narrative. The thunderclap of my punch blew leaves off nearby trees and the nine-foot-tall lionman into the wind. Snapping, smashing and tearing through all of the foliage in a line for over twenty yards, the kill experience flowed into me before the creature had even finished moving. With a deep sigh, I dropped to my knees and clutched my ravaged arm.

    Allowing myself one final act of release, I shouted out loudly, an angry and fearful scream to expel the tension throughout my body. Then, I collapsed. Between the long day, the fighting, the running and the whole realigning-my-understanding-of-magic, I was more spent than I thought I could be with my Attributes. With my face buried in the dirt, unable to even turn, I daydreamed about placing some free points into Recovery. The battle, though pitched, hadn¡¯t afforded me the level up to seventeen, however.

    ¡°You¡¯re quite impressive, you know?¡± Naea asked from somewhere above me. It sounded like she was on a nearby tree branch. I wanted to reply back with an offended affirmative but all I managed was a grunt. Face down, ass up, covered in blood and with my right side feeling like molten magma from the shattered bone, I knew I was awesome. ¡°Elbow¡¯s sticking out, by the way,¡± Naea added.

    The tiredness which ran through my entire being was not from lack of stamina, mana or anything else the System controlled. Physically, I should have been fine to move. Even while my right side tingled as though lightning was shooting through me, I could feel my resources returning. Except for one. It was the Willpower I had been spending which had faded away to nearly nothing. The last vestiges were the only thing keeping me awake. ¡°Would it,¡± I panted between gasps of pain, ¡°count as help¡­ if you set the bone?¡±

    The evil smile which spread across Naea¡¯s face replied, ¡°no. No, it would not count as help.¡± I whimpered as she approached my arm, but my dread was replaced with wide-eyed wonder as the agony vanished. Naea¡¯s voice was gentle as she spoke. ¡°It¡¯s not easy, is it?¡± She asked, flipping me over so I was no longer on my front. I almost missed the question, my attention stolen by the colours and sights filling the air.

    ¡°What is this?¡± I asked, only half-aware of how slurred my speech sounded. The answer was clear, though it took my brain a moment to catch up. She had placed me into an illusion, and it was a lovely one. The surroundings

    ¡°It¡¯s a painkiller,¡± Naea answered. There was a strange grinding noise and I looked for the source. ¡°Ooh, nah, you just ignore that because I¡¯m taking care of everything here. Have a look at the butterflies instead.¡± At her prompt, I followed Naea¡¯s gaze to the cloud of gorgeous winged creatures fluttering in the air around us. I giggled. Naea giggled. My arm snapped. I giggled again. Naea mewled, a piteous noise.

    Then the pain returned. ¡°Yeah, any more and I would be helping, so you¡¯re on your own for a bit, Grant.¡± Naea¡¯s explanation was shouted over my own yells and pleading. I felt the air shift a little as Naea vanished, but not before she whispered, ¡°try not to punch anything else at the speed of sound.¡±

    I nodded gingerly, trying to keep my right side as stationary as possible while the System did its work. The pain in my elbow had worsened but I believed it would heal correctly, thanks to Naea. Taking a look at my status, I had come pretty close to the edge there at the end. It had been a few minutes, so my mana had recovered some, but that only made the health section even more jarring.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    06/80

    </td>

    <td>

    0.3 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    The pain and damage had accumulated to knock me down to a fifth of my ¡°correct¡± Recovery rate. My current situation was not conducive to Meditate, either, so the issue wasn¡¯t going to be alleviated for a while. Even if I could completely ignore the pain of a shattered bone repairing itself, the dark forest around me made it impossible to truly relax. What I could do, was look at the new System prompt. I had one for levelling up Heavy Blow to level three, as well as Mana Bolt, but those had happened in the fight and I had already felt their effects and inspected the slight changes to the skill structures.

    No, this prompt had arrived after the fighting, right as the final Sundercat faded away.

    Title gained: Sunderer

    For slaying 25 creatures of the Sunder class.

    Following the path through the menus, I opened the deeper System explanation of the title.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title - Sunderer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Not all worlds survive the trials set before them. The Tree does not cast away valuable life, however. When a world is lost, its members join the Greater Connection forever. One of these variants are Sunder-class monsters, punished for destroying their own home. The value of your soul grows. Hunt well, Sunderer.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    ¡° ¡­What?¡± I asked aloud, receiving no answer. Sundercats¡­ were from a destroyed world? It had been done themselves, but the System had saved them somehow? Well, I corrected myself, saved wasn¡¯t necessarily right. Where did monsters come from? What happened to them when they died? ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right, Naea eats them.¡±

    Shoving that mental image out of my head, I chuckled. Don¡¯t try so hard, I told myself, shaking my head slightly and closing the prompt. I can¡¯t figure everything out the moment I¡¯m shown it. Maybe people outside of the dungeon were already handling things, and I would be leaving almost embarrassed as they waited for their turn at the dungeon. The world wasn¡¯t my responsibility to fix. The deep questions weren¡¯t my job to answer. Just do what you can.

    In too much pain and potential danger to Meditate, I decided to exacerbate the pain and expedite my movement. The sounds of the battle might have kept other locals away to start with, but the silence would draw curious and hopeful scavengers. It was best not to be here when they arrived. Plus, I wanted my loot. There was a cool sword around somewhere with my name on it.

    The promise of treasure was enough to get my first steps started. It was a hobbling, uncomfortable thing, but I managed to get to the closest tree for support. I cast a bleary glance towards the clearing where the fighting occurred. For the most part, the main group were all defeated in the same area, so I ignored them for now in search of the leader and his weapon. I vaguely recalled him not dropping the sword, so I followed the gouge its body had made in the floor.

    The churned earth was fragrant as I approached the broken body. Despite its expiration taking the light from its eyes, the lion Sundercat seemed to be judging me on my approach. Its body was draped within the hollow of a tree, its sturdy form burying into the wood and creating a makeshift throne by snapping the trunk. Somehow, the sword rested against its leg. The bloodshot yellow eyes which stared at me unblinking had turned amber from the damage it sustained. As though my mana had marked the creature¡¯s vision in its final moments.

    I stood a little straighter upon my approach, despite the pain. Seeing the demolition I had enacted upon the kingly beast made my own stumbling feel rude, in a way. Its gaze said, ¡°if you beat me, then you can¡¯t lose.¡± Defiant even in death, the words of the System clicked more firmly into place as the weight of expectation upon my back increased.

    ¡°The value of your soul increases, huh¡­¡± I mused, reaching down to claim the lion¡¯s blade. The flowery words weren¡¯t just for effect. First when I had been used to claim the life of a hidden dragon, and now again after I had beaten back some form of clan. There was a noticeable increase within the density of-

    My Willpower!

    I pumped my fist as the eureka moment came to me, which was a terrible idea because only my injured side was free to perform the movement. Forgiving myself for being dumb, I slipped the weapon in the Xaverweave Pouch for analysis and storage while I gasped at the pain. An important question had been asked and answered at once. The ¡°value of my soul¡± was the same place the strength of my Willpower came from.

    With some chagrin, I considered the implications. That same Willpower had kept me alive, esoterically affecting my drive and then actively used as fuel for the creation of the Mana Savant skill and the subjugation of the Aspect of the Dragon. Would I have been able to survive the process without the mental strength to control the images? Without the burden of the Dragon Slayer title on my soul, could I have crafted the inner world I had? Most of the ideas for how it worked, and all of the strength used to design the framework, had come from there.

    Which meant my success came from Naeboroseax, the dragon pretending to be a doddering old lady. Surprised and annoyed at the sudden influx of obligation I felt towards the creature which had turned me into a murderer, I tapped the lionman, collected the loot and teeth and left. Stomping back to the main fight scene, I nudged each of the bodies and did the same.

    One¡­ two¡­ three¡­ four¡­

    If the lion made five¡­ ¡°Oh, shit.¡±

    I whirled around just in time to see the pallid flash of mana in the air. I tried to turn out of the way, but just ended up presenting my weak side to the blow. Damaged as I was, the hilariously timed Mana Bolt hit my shoulder with a nasty crunch. I howled, spinning from the force and falling to one knee from the pain, the strength in my legs momentarily stolen. The timid tiger Sundercat, seeing that it''s sneak attack didn¡¯t finish the job, turned and ran away even as I dropped. Watching it go, my eye twitched. ¡°Nope.¡±

    Haste.

    It was reckless, but it was only my health which wasn¡¯t recovering quickly. My mana was fine. That tap had stolen all of the recovered health I had gathered in the ten minutes or so since the fighting, and I was going to put it to use. Plus, I liked using Haste. The more I used the skill, the more it felt like the real world was a fake, and this altered time which ran to the speed of my choosing was the truth.

    Unable to do more than a brisk walk, I sauntered through the sluggish work at a gentle pace. With my passing, the wind rushed to fill the gap I had created. Feeling a confusing mix of frustration and an almost royal arrogance, I refused to attack from behind. I studied the face of the tigerman, letting it see mine before I finished off this dangerous pack of creatures. Allowing it to see its death from my eyes meant I watched myself in the reflection.

    I hesitated, hand half-raised. ¡°Please don¡¯t kill me!¡± A teenaged voice screamed, cracking with fear. I had watched the Sundercat¡¯s mouth move as the words came out, but I still didn¡¯t believe it had actually spoken until it continued. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! It wasn¡¯t my fault!¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Twenty Five - Party Time

    For an awkwardly extended moment, the pair of us stared at each other with slack jaws. I was around ten feet from the tigerman, the confusion in my thoughts expressed clearly on its vaguely human face. Faced with the dilemma of sentience, I was almost immediately nauseous at the implications, but I didn¡¯t let myself spiral. I had been fighting for survival. Even as I had stalked through the forest previously, I hadn¡¯t started most fights.

    Still¡­

    ¡°You can talk?¡± We asked together. ¡°Me? You¡¯re the one-¡±

    I stopped talking and my mana began to spin aggressively. The tigerman flinched and wisely shut up. I was glad, my anger had been impulsive and my health was still dangerously low. A fight wouldn¡¯t necessarily go my way here. Each second which passed tipped the scales in my direction, but also stole my willingness to kill this thing. It¡­ was just a kid. Damn.

    ¡°Stop talking,¡± I warned before starting. This was a seriously dangerous situation and I would be much safer if I just threw a Mana Bolt at the thing and ended this. Except I was injured. I might miss. It¡¯s just a kid, like S¨¦an or Sin¨¦ad. ¡°Let me speak, and then you can talk when I say. Just nod or shake your head. Understand.¡± The Sundercat nodded slowly. ¡°Do you know what a dungeon is, and that you¡¯re inside one?¡± Another nod. ¡°Are you going to fight me again?¡±

    With wide eyes, the teenage tigerman shook his head quickly and vehemently. I had to stifle a laugh. This was not what I expected to start my first night in the dungeon. Maybe I was starved for company, Naea aside. Maybe I just wanted to stop ending every interaction with bloodshed, but I let the killing instinct inside me die. I would not attack this creature. ¡°You can call me Grant. I won¡¯t hurt you if you don¡¯t start shit. Do you have a name?¡±

    When the tigerman nodded but said nothing, I actually did laugh. Then I told them they could speak. ¡°Me? My name? I¡¯m Merownis.¡± The thing was shivering, a thin and bedraggled looking half-tiger. It stood at my height, which was tall enough for a human but fairly short from what I had seen of Sundercats. Fur covered its entire body, but its features were those of a humanoid. I wouldn¡¯t have said a human, though. With the Sundercats, there was a lot of dimorphism. Maybe that was a species thing, though?

    ¡°Merownis?¡± I repeated, rolling the word out of my mouth. ¡°How¡­ feline. How did you come to be in this dungeon, Merownis?¡± The name was almost like the warble of an angry cat, which reminded me of Missy, and the home in Ireland I wanted to return to. The place I needed to keep safe. Knowledge was power, and I had stumbled into an interview with a monster.

    The fluffy ears atop Merownis¡¯ head wiggled nervously and he looked around, yellow eyes scanning the darkness. ¡°Woke up. Head fuzzy but messages.¡± The tigerman gestured towards the air to signal System prompts. ¡°Protect new home. Protect for long enough and this is home forever.¡±

    ¡°So you don¡¯t remember a life before the dungeon?¡± I was intrigued. This was valuable information and from the small amount of information I had, it seemed as though dungeon monsters were not being with lives before the System arrived. They seemed to spring forth from out of the dark, mana-filled shadows. At least some of their motivation was clear. The System would reward monsters if they performed directives. I wasn¡¯t much different, though my reward was freedom.

    Merownis grabbed at his chin, pulling on the wispy hairs there. ¡°Yes and no. Memories of a world, but I never lived there. Taller grass.¡± He looked around with a sad look on his face, nodding as though he had spoken some sage wisdom. ¡°Dungeon is home. Supposed to protect it from you. I think.¡±

    ¡°That¡­ makes sense.¡± The implication was troubling but hardly unexpected. The quest I had received suggested there was a structure to the place which wouldn¡¯t make as much sense otherwise. The frightened Sundercat waited for me to continue, twitching slightly. It was all quite endearing, despite myself. ¡°So, why aren¡¯t you trying to tear me apart like the rest?

    The pair of us were still standing tensely a short way away from the clearing where we had battled previously. Given the fighting and the fact I had killed his compatriots, Merownis was reasonably well behaved. Forgiving the first attack, he had been a delight. The slightly broken dialect he used had its meanings filled in with expressive gestures of the hands.

    ¡°Not sure¡­?¡± The orange-furred creature scratched its chin some more, looking genuinely confused and upset. ¡°Talassus did something. That sword that made me black out. When I came to, I was scared and I thought I could save them if I stopped you in my confusion. Then I realised they were dead. I ran. Then you caught up with me.¡±

    That was as good a prompt as I needed to draw the arm-length sword from the pouch.

    Item - Severance

    This powerful weapon is capable of both creating and severing contract bonds.

    I frowned. That explained nearly nothing. How can a sword create bonds? The weapon itself was gorgeous in a way. I didn¡¯t know swords but the balance of the blade felt perfect as I gently moved it through the air. The pommel was a dark red leather, closer to black than burgundy, and my good hand wrapped around it nicely. From the handle to my hand, there was a longing pull on my mana. As the item description wasn¡¯t giving me much to go on, I allowed it. My energy leapt into the blade like air into a vacuum and I found I couldn¡¯t seal the flow once it started.

    Right as panic started to rise, the blade¡¯s thirst was slaked. As the runes and patterns which made up the skill inside the sword activated in full, I tried to get a feel for how the ability worked. Unlike a skill I learned myself, this didn¡¯t fill me with a burst of inspiration for its use. I stepped back from Merownis and they took two back from me, clearly interested but sensibly cautious all the same.

    With a flick of my wrist, the sword keened through the night air with a hiss. The mana in the sword tried to do something with it, but it didn¡¯t work, and the energy stayed within. If nothing else, the sword was sharp. I would need to practise with it, but I certainly felt knightly. More so than splaying the knives from the fan or swinging the hammer. I sighed at the same time.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    It¡¯s not quite right.

    Still, a few more swings and I had a decent feel for what the sword was attempting. My mana would be used to overwhelm the defences of another in some way. My best guess was that by making the other Sundercats its unwilling slaves, the tyrannical leader had freed them from the System doing the same. Merownis¡¯ situation was similar to Naea¡¯s. For Naea, she wasn¡¯t an enemy but also wasn¡¯t supposed to help either and received migraines or other punishment if she did. Her current absence was down to this.

    ¡°So, what happens now?¡± I asked the question genuinely. I needed guidance of some sort from the Sundercat. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever not to use the creature as experience points. I had done the same to others of its kind without thinking about morality. Except, those ones hadn¡¯t talked to me.

    ¡°I am no idiot,¡± Merownis said confidently. ¡°Living is better than dying. The world tells me you are my enemy. You cannot trust me because you know this. Such a thing is a death sentence.¡± I couldn¡¯t argue with that, and waited for the adolescent tigerman to continue. Merownis had admitted the point freely, so I wouldn¡¯t use it as a point against them. ¡°There is a way, I think. For trust.¡±

    His yellow eyes looked pointedly at the sword in my hand. ¡°I cannot leave this place free to do as I please and you continue to heal. If I were more powerful, I would surely kill you. The blade enacts a contract between two parties. I am sensible. This is the only way.¡±

    I was taken aback. ¡°You would enter a contract with me?¡± I was a little incredulous, but my mind was already racing with the potential gains from such a thing. The Sundercat wasn¡¯t wrong, and a bad taste started to annoy my tongue. This whole situation was bizarre. It felt like a setup.

    The System takes creatures from other, ¡°failed¡± planets and uses them as fodder in its dungeons. That made a sick sort of sense. The scale of the System was something I was barely scratching the surface of, but every turn made it seem more powerful. What I didn¡¯t know was how much intent it had. Omnipotence was hard enough to wrap my head around, but the moment I was about to suffer a moral dilemma, the tools and information to handle it perfectly dropped in my lap.

    The most frustrating part was there being nothing I could do about it. The only choice was to agree with Merownis¡¯ acquiescence to the power of Severance. ¡°I don¡¯t have to cut you, do I?¡± The idea of inflicting pain to force a contract upon him. The tigerman broke into a toothy grin.

    ¡°I do not believe so, but I thank you for asking first.¡±

    I scrunched my eyes shut tightly. ¡°What¡¯s the worst that can happen?¡± I asked into the wind.

    ¡°You could force me into brutal subservience from which I will likely never escape until your death.¡±

    ¡°Rhetorical question, but you¡¯re not wrong. You¡¯re placing a lot of trust in me, Merownis.¡± I held the Sundercat¡¯s gaze and we both watched the other for any sign of doubt. I wasn¡¯t excited to hold his life in my hands, but I wasn¡¯t coward enough not to realise I already did. My wounds were healing at an increasingly fast rate. I could make a fist with my right hand, at this point.

    Merownis knelt, bowing his head. I felt the seriousness of the movement as a tugging on my mana, the arcane power held in the sword and another, stranger sensation in my chest. Willpower. As I touched the sword to the Sundercat¡¯s first shoulder, the pull increased to a nearly unbearable amount. The System was creating something, and it was taking a tiny portion of what I had. With a shove, I gave the System a cup when all it needed was a drop.

    It was an act of petulance. Today was a hard one. I had been battered, chased to exhaustion, and now the darker spots of this magical world I had been thrust into were illuminated. I didn¡¯t know what to do, but I knew I wanted the action to be mine, and not under the control of some immense, unknown power. I had nearly no way to impact the System¡¯s activity, but all I desired in the moment was to throw a mighty spanner in its works.

    The System seemed to say, ¡°cute. Fuck you, buddy.¡±

    A shockwave of pure magical force expelled from me as the flat side of Severance¡¯s blade touched Merownis¡¯ second shoulder. The mana which had filled the blade before emptied, and then refilled again, and then drained once more. Whatever process had begun with the blade had changed into something new. I staggered, forced a step back as my head buzzed, but the young tigerman could only weather the torrential powers flowing over him. My vision swam. I could feel System prompts arriving and a continual drain on my core which I couldn¡¯t stop.

    A tidal wave was crashing into me and my strength was exploding out. All I could do was smash my Willpower into the connection being formed and try to take control. I threw my arms wide and caught the entire ocean the System smashed my way. I would not bend. I would not break. The seemingly infinite mass of power I held over my head needed a place to go, so I dropped it squarely on whatever the System was doing between myself and Merownis.

    There was a cracking sound, a ripping, creaking, crashing sound. It might have been my back, the ground beneath me crumbling slightly at the weight I bore. Still, my posture was firm. I will not bend. Merownis collapsed and I sank to one knee myself, a hand on the tigerman¡¯s back to steady me. A spark like static burned my hand and without any fanfare at all, the ordeal was over. I almost bounced to my feet as the sudden lack of pressure on my entire being made me feel weightless.

    Making sure Merownis was still breathing, I shivered at how close I felt to death. My Willpower had been drained again, and the coldness that followed the lack of it felt like the true end. The blackness beyond zero health points. Whatever I had just done was not to be done lightly. Somehow, I felt as though I had been judged on an unknown scale and forgiven for something. The power that governed the System could have easily crushed me, but instead it simply tested me.

    But I had passed the test. There was no doubt about that as I looked at the System prompts explaining what had happened. This definitely wasn¡¯t what the System was trying to facilitate with Severance¡¯s skill, but something more. There was a new pattern inside my mana channels, resting in the palm of my hand. My skill page was going to get awfully cluttered. I smiled, tasting blood on my tongue and spitting out to the side. If the gains from my side were this good, I could only wonder at how Merownis would feel when he woke up.

    Skill Unlocked - Party Leader

    Living in the System is generally solitary. There is only one spot at the top, after all. However, you know that there is space aplenty on the platform for yourself and allies, you need only gather the strength to get them there.

    Party created.

    Merownis added to party.

    Inclusion in a party grants a measure of shared experience towards levelling. Bonus based on the strength of the party leader.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Twenty Six - Square Up

    The increasing darkness wasn¡¯t much of a problem with my Perception as high as it was. I remained alert as I made my way through the forest, using Manasight to peer into any shadows my powerful eyes couldn¡¯t pierce. Whether it was luck or the smell of recently inflicted death I carried, nothing else attacked me while I trotted to my sanctuary. I was glad for the reprieve. While I kept a watchful eye, the calm let my mind wander.

    The System. Carrying the lump of a Sundercat over my shoulder, still passed out from the strange effects of my newest skill, I faced the dilemma head on. Merownis had tried to kill me, like nearly everything else I met in the dungeon, but I didn¡¯t hold a grudge against him. How could I? His race, perhaps his whole planet, had been subsumed in some way by the System and was now doomed to appear as mind-controlled monsters within dungeons and possibly without. No, my ire was easily directed elsewhere, and the reservoir of anger was growing ever deeper as my thoughts circled the facts of the matter.

    Despite the magic it delivered into my veins, the System had attacked my planet. Even within this dungeon, over a dozen human lives had been lost. One hand free while carrying the catman, I look at my palm. Even now, days later, I could see the bloodstains. They were tattooed to my hands by the incinerating power of the memory. Those first minutes and hours were the worst of my life.

    Upon arriving at the scene of my greatest trauma, I dumped Merownis¡¯ softly snoring self into one of the booths against the wall. It was clean here. Naea had been around, returning the room to pristine before flitting off somewhere. Probably gorging on the Sundercat massacre I had left behind. A small guilt tried to gnaw at me but I redirected it into the growing pool of malice which was festering in my psyche.

    Not only had the group attacked me with lethal force before I had any way of solving the issue non-violently, it was neither myself nor the monsters of the dungeon who were to blame for the hostilities. Each time a denizen of the dungeon was able to talk to me, we had become allies. Naea had done more than save my life. She had given me the tools to survive in this death game. Merownis was basically a very strong newborn who had been taken advantage of by a different slave to the System.

    None of them were inherently evil.

    I almost smashed my tailoring workbench in a frustrated moment, my hands slamming towards the top but I stopped myself. Instead, I let my hands work while my mind continued to wander philosophical paths.

    Did ¡°evil¡± matter, or was the word just a childish veneer over the top of a baser choice? Fighting within the dungeon was a matter of survival. It was a nice ideal to offer my hand to every creature I came across but I would soon find myself with no fingers. Not everything had the impulse or the intelligence to play nice. Merownis even having the opportunity to throw his lot in with me instead of playing the role the System had placed upon him was essentially pure luck.

    Whatever the System had planned with the sword, Severance, did not go as expected. Of course, when dealing with potential omniscience, even a supposed loss would likely be a victory in the end. If destiny really was ordained, and even my rebellion against it when I felt its threads touching my skin, then the point was all moot anyway. I couldn¡¯t think like that or my own choices would start to become muddy, the motives unclear.

    I wanted to survive. For my base instincts, but also for the lives I had already taken. That meant killing more, ironically, now that the System had come to Earth and brought its dangers. I made my peace with that macabre fact. My hands were moving to create something right now, but they just as easily destroyed, too. It was startling how quickly the change had occurred. I wasn¡¯t even the type to kill bugs before all this. The System had forced that alteration upon me, and likely the whole world beyond.

    If I did beat this dungeon, what then?

    Looking at my skill page, I couldn¡¯t deny that a path to survival was being opened to me. A path to greatness, even.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Savant (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Unique

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Party Leader (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Epic

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Bolt (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Manasight (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Heavy Blow (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Haste (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Meditate (Level 4)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Stealth (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Tracking (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mental Fortress (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dragonburn (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Construction (Level 2)Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Tailoring (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    The list was so long my eyes started to glaze as I looked at the growing collection. Heavy Blow had levelled up, while Manabolt, Manasight and Stealth were all on the edge of growing. I hadn¡¯t been able to watch the changes during the battle, but Heavy Blow was a very simple skill. There was more definition in the pattern, perhaps, but the skill itself was the same.

    Mana Savant and Party Leader both said they were at maximum level, but I could feel them make progress in the same way my lesser skills did. Brushing against the pair of ornate skills, I could only shake my head. Heavy Blow was one thing, all the skill did was take mana and turn it into force on the other end of the attack. Powerful, but straightforward. Mana Bolt worked as a condenser, changing the formless mana into a more volatile expression of itself.

    Mana Savant basically turned mana into knowledge and skill growth. The process was like watching someone turn a cup of water into a treehouse. It clearly was technically possible, but there were so many steps in the recipe which I couldn¡¯t follow or seemed to be skipped entirely that it made my head hurt in my attempts to understand more. The same was true for Party Leader, which took not only mana but Willpower, and through the skill patterns transformed them into a semi-permanent connection.

    There didn¡¯t seem to be anything draining from me, but I could feel something through my connection to Merownis¡¯ unconscious self. I finished the busy work with my hands and pulled on the newest pair of shoes I made. My last pair had disintegrated at some point in the desert, and had been a bit of a failure before falling apart. A nice, durable pair of canvas shoes now adorned my feet and I stretched before getting up to look out of the window.

    There was too much to do for me to keep stopping whenever something new or strange happened. Being surprised wasn¡¯t just an everyday occurrence at this point, it was every time I turned around. My goals were still clearly defined by the System which trapped me. Skills were interesting, but I could focus on them later. Unwilling to let myself return to the dour thoughts either, I checked on the sleeping tigerman one more time before leaving him to rest. There was no telling when he would wake up and I wasn¡¯t going to wait around here forever.

    As I left the building, a glimmer of magic in the corner of my eye made me smile. ¡°Welcome back,¡± I nodded to her invisible self. With my Regeneration only increasing, and my control of the skills and mana within myself coming on leaps and bounds, Manasight was nearly always active at this point. Her presence no longer gave me experience towards levelling the skill up but I could feel it sitting on the cusp already. With an audible huff at being spotted so easily, Naea appeared.

    ¡°You smell like a wet cat,¡± Naea complained, waving her fingers at me. The feeling of being air dried all over my body made me sigh with comfort, almost forgetting where I was. When I looked down at myself, I was cleaner than I had been in many days.

    My eye twitched. ¡°You could have done that at any point?¡± I asked, gesturing to my clean self. Naea nodded. ¡°And is it a costly ability?¡± I continued, my teeth clenched. Naea shook her head, smiling happily. ¡°So, why was I walking around covered in filth for days?¡±

    ¡°I thought that¡¯s how you wanted to go around,¡± Naea said, shaking her head in solemn regret. ¡°Crazy, wild men living in the woods should smell of blood and death, shouldn¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°So why,¡± I kept my voice as measured as possible, ¡°did you do it now?¡±

    ¡°Because until now, I liked the smells, silly.¡± Naea¡¯s smile was beaming and I pinched the bridge of my nose. Ignoring that she liked the smells I hated most, I weighed up trying to smush the stupid fairy and decided against it. I might have gotten stronger but Naea was still a complete unknown to me. Her level didn¡¯t appear, even if I sometimes felt the tug of the System¡¯s analysis attempting to connect to something. I could never actually spend the mana, though I tried. ¡°Whatcha doing?¡± She asked, oblivious to my murderous thoughts.

    ¡°I think I adopted a cat, but we¡¯ll see whether it''s feral when it wakes up.¡± I pointed my thumb towards the caf¨¦. Naea raised an eyebrow before checking inside. She came out with a tilted head and I ignored the obvious question she was asking with her eyes. ¡°I was planning to go have a look at the ratman again,¡± I told her, ¡°do you want to come?¡±

    ¡°First of all, who¡¯s that? Why are you keeping living monsters around and what did you do to it? It barely reads as a monster.¡± Naea looked shaken by whatever magical changes had happened to Merownis, and I delighted in her discomfort a little. She certainly enjoyed mine enough. After telling a few lies about the situation, I eventually gave Naea the truth of what happened after she left. She didn¡¯t seem less troubled after the explanation. ¡°A party skill? Rare but not unheard of. They¡¯re usually whole Aspect skills though¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just how good Mana Savant is, I guess. Ask and I shall receive.¡± The only part I  left out was the strange reverse tug-of-war I had played with the System. I still didn¡¯t understand what actually happened in the creation of the skill, the weight of that infinite potential over my head threatening to crush me if I moved the wrong way. It was better not to dwell on it, and hope I could avoid such moments in the future.

    ¡°So, do you want to watch me fight a really angry rat, or not?¡± Naea couldn¡¯t help herself from nodding and the pair of us set off in the direction of the first Claimant I had encountered, and the first boss monster I was going to defeat.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    From its seat of power, the first Claimant watched the fluctuations in the Spirit of the world. The dungeon in which its seat was set shuddered as the Greater Connection was stretched within its bounds. Thorn doubted the others were as receptive to such things, being uncaring to anything and unsympathetic to the Tree respectively. Yet, for the pensive master, it was an ominous sign.

    The challenger would be coming soon.

    Despite the danger it suggested, Thorn grinned at the tightening weave of karma. Spirit danced through the energy of the dungeon and suggested impossible things. When Thorn had cast the challenger away, it had been because they were nothing to Thorn. The boy had been too early, and Thorn himself was not prepared for the fallout of such a victory.

    Yet, in less than a day since the System arrived on this new planet outside the dungeon, the boy would return. The echoes of power suggested it would not be as a supplicant. Chuckling to himself, Master Thorn refocused his attention on the artefact the System had graced him with to protect his claim. Should he defeat the challenger, the dungeon¡¯s boundaries would fade and Thorn would be free.

    As long as he could defeat the other claimants. This was why he had refrained from crushing the child when it had stumbled into Thorn¡¯s range the first time. The Scorpion was powerful, and its growth was the most explosive. Already it would be too strong for Thorn to defeat on his own, and the other claimant would never work with him. Proudly, it would let them both die before it lowered itself.

    There was a moment, however. As Thorn¡¯s time training with the artefact extended, his abilities grew massively. He would get his chance, as the foolish human would arrive soon. The timing was perfect. The Scorpion¡¯s children were not yet ready, and the other was lazy. Fate, it seemed, would happily give Thorn the chance to seize its golden flow for himself.

    Swinging the Jingu Bang casually, enjoying the weight of its momentum, Thorn went to greet his guest.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Twenty Seven - Round Two, Fight

    The nighttime had truly taken hold of the dungeon by the time I found myself slowly making my way towards the Claimant¡¯s location. Like a beacon to my sharpening senses, the undulating energy given off by the powerful staff it wielded was a lighthouse to my magical perception. My skin itched as I spotted some fresh footprints on the ground. Activating Tracking, I paused as my vision alighted. There were multiple creatures, all heavily plodding in the same direction.

    It seemed like the Attack Animals were gathering. How ominous. Keeping my thoughts to myself as Naea and I penetrated deeper into the wooded land. The smells changed and the trees became wilder, vines and swampier ground everywhere. I choked down a bitter glob of bile which tried to rise in my throat from fear. My hands were shaking. ¡°Are you okay, Grant?¡± Naea asked, and I winced. Even the fairy was able to pick up on my mental state.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, truthfully. With a conscious expenditure of Willpower, I forced the panic away. My muscles tightened and the engine of mana in my chest came to life with a draconic growl. The world around me seemed to hold its breath as I passed. Naea said nothing, but I could tell she doubted my answer. ¡°I¡¯m serious. I am a lot stronger since last time I was here, my body just doesn¡¯t know it.¡±

    Making a non-committal noise, Naea gestured forward with her chin and slipped from all mundane sight. I turned to see a wall of bodies. It was only four figures, but they were wide enough to block my path if I didn¡¯t move around them. Which I wasn¡¯t going to do. Unable to stop myself, I checked my status pages one final time to remind myself I was ready.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    16

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    80/80

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    125/125

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    12

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    15

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    12

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    12

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    19

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    14

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    17

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    20

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    25

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    80/80

    </td>

    <td>

    1.5 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    125/125

    </td>

    <td>

    20 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    I was strong. My attributes had doubled since I last saw Master Thorn¡¯s smug expression telling me I wasn¡¯t worth its time. Almost more than I wanted to defeat the thing to escape the dungeon, I wanted to prove it wrong for looking down on me. The Aspect within rumbled happily at my prideful stance. I stopped around twenty five feet from the defensive line of Attack Animals.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    The standoff was short-lived. The darkness had stolen most of the colour from my vision, so I looked at their defiant grey faces curiously. The fact they hadn¡¯t charged at me upon seeing me was a change. Whether it was a good thing yet remained to be seen. Each of the Attack Animals had their arms crossed, the thick limbs wrapped around each other tightly. As one, their arms fell to their sides in one quick motion.

    I tensed, but instead of approaching, the group of four parted like an opening gate. Humming uncomfortably, I took a step forward. When they didn¡¯t move, I took another step. Serious as a guard at a palace, the four monstrous turtle-frog-men stood at attention to let me pass. Even as I removed Severance from the Xaverweave Pouch, they didn¡¯t flinch. I was a little impressed as I cautiously strode between the group. Outwardly I looked confident, but my mana was hovering around the Haste skill, ready to overload it with energy if I needed to.

    The misnamed Attack Animals did no such thing, remaining stationary until I had moved well beyond them. Only then did they turn once more, watching me. I swear to god, I promised, if you jump into while I¡¯m fighting I¡¯ll hunt down every last one of your kind. Assurance of genocide notwithstanding, I was on edge and serious. The trees were curving and gnarled, as though they were leaning to grab at the power waiting beyond them.

    Somehow, I knew even before breaking the treeline that I would be dropping into a boss arena. Even then, I was taken aback by the architecture I literally stumbled into. Dropping a step, and slipping down two more of the wide stairs before catching myself, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder. The Claimant, Master Thorn, waited at the bottom of a large basin but it was hard to focus on him.

    Placed into the ground, hidden by an encirclement of tall, leafy trees, was a veritable colosseum. Along the circumference of the large space were descending rows of stone benches, separated by steps down to the centre at four intervals. The actual colosseum in Rome was a lot larger, but there was still an imposing aura to the place. At the top of each set of stairs were two statues, one on either side. Instead of facing outwards, they seemed to be looking down on the battleground with excitement. Even the art was excited for battle here.

    Though none were as prepared as the robed figure waiting for me in the arena. The System¡¯s analysis cost had already been paid, so when the nameplate appeared I wasn¡¯t surprised. Until I saw the level. ¡°Twenty fucking nine?¡± I demanded when my feet touched the earthen arena floor. I thought this thing was proud! It had gained more levels than I had!

    Mini-Boss - Master Thorn - Level 29

    Snorting at the use of the word ¡°mini¡±, I regarded my enemy. The nightmarish vision of the thing I had created in my head gave away to the truth. Standing a head shorter than me, every visible limb was a spindle, wiry hairs covered its body everywhere but its palms and feet. With two pitch black eyes in the already dark space, Master Thorn¡¯s gaze was particularly inscrutable. Then, it dipped its head and chuckled.

    ¡°Yes,¡± the ratman said, ¡°perhaps a little much for a whelp, but my preparations were not done with you in mind. I hope that gives you solace.¡± Matching every expectation I had, Master Thorn had the voice of an elderly man, with a jovial lilt speaking to eccentricity. I opened my mouth to respond but it seemed that our conversation was over.

    I barely evaded the palm strike, turning my body and spinning away with a hard jump that created some distance between us once more. ¡°Hmph,¡± was all that Thorn emoted before attacking again. To my own amazement and the Claimant¡¯s growing frustration, I managed to dodge each attack. Though more than a little luck was involved, I bobbed and weaved with the acuity of a boxer. Thorn was fast, easily the fastest creature I had ever seen, but I had been reforged by the trials of the dungeon.

    I slipped under a spinning heel kick meant to take my head off and stepped in for the first time. Even in the gloom, it was possible to see the ratman¡¯s eyes widen. The mana had been waiting, ready for the moment I would strike. I didn¡¯t need to so much as have a conscious thought for Heavy Blow to activate as my fist crashed into the flimsy feeling rat¡¯s chest cavity.

    I wanted to kick myself for using my fist with a sword in my other hand, but I hadn¡¯t had the chance to get used to using Severance as a weapon. There was a very satisfying thump as the attack landed, and an even more enjoyable one when Master Thorn landed on his back, stunned by the attack. We both were. I honestly expected him to dodge. I was so ready for the counterblow that I didn¡¯t follow up right away. Still¡­

    ¡°Get up,¡± I whispered. It wouldn¡¯t be nearly so easy to finish this battle. Maybe he heard me, or maybe the shock had worn off, but the ratman rolled to its feet all the same, raising an angry gaze towards me. ¡°Maybe you should have done some more levelling.¡±

    Master Thorn snarled horribly, a distinctly inhuman sound which set my teeth on edge. ¡°You will regret not running me through when you had the chance.¡± I didn¡¯t reply that I was already regretting that very thing because the world was suddenly cast in a sickly pale glow. The source was obvious, mana so potent it felt like heat against my skin. The staff the rat had neglected to use to now was glowing bright enough to bathe the colosseum in light.

    The dark pink luminance was surprising, and it cast a harsher shadow over the world. The effect was bright enough to blind me for a moment, and I barely managed to block with Severance as a sweeping attack came my way. My arms buckled in protest and the tip of the blade buried into my leg as I was pushed away. I yanked it out and clashed once more with Master Thorn¡¯s staff.

    I spun violently, dropping the sword from the pain in my leg and the numbness in my arms. I just about managed to stay on my feet but Thorn wasn¡¯t slowing down this time. In fact, he seemed to be speeding up. The light from the staff intensified and there was no dodging or blocking this time. The staff caught me in the ribs as Thorn jabbed it forward at a dazzling speed. I was slammed into the far wall, creating rubble with my hard body rather than getting turned to paste.

    Though my eyes were bleary from the damage, I caught a slither of movement as the staff returned to its original length. It had been pressing into my chest the whole time I flew back, but I saw now that Thorn himself had barely moved. ¡°Cool stick,¡± I coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood. The attack hurt but I had the health to spare. Slightly. There was a look of surprise on the rat¡¯s face. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m tough now.¡±

    As Master Thorn exploded into movement, so did I. High tension and at the ready since the start, I activated my equaliser. Haste burned through my mana, but it was the weapon I had gained specifically for this fight. The world slowed, and even that was barely enough to pull myself out of the wall and get out of the way of Thorn¡¯s incoming overhead swing. His eyes managed to follow me, but with all that momentum, there was nothing he could do as I jogged over to Severance. I released Haste and watched the real time speed of Thorn crashing into the wall after me. There was a screech of rage from within the dust cloud his landing kicked up.

    For good measure, I threw a Mana Bolt at the illuminated staff. It was harmlessly batted away even through the dust. Thorn extracted himself from the obfuscation and circled the arena. I was now the one in the middle. The expression on Thorn¡¯s face could only be a demeaning sneer, which made me raise my eyebrow. ¡°You have grasped much talent in a short time,¡± the ratman begrudged.

    I nodded. Despite him being my enemy, I couldn¡¯t help but be in awe of the creature before me. If he wasn¡¯t an obstacle I absolutely had to defeat, I might have tried to learn more about him. As it was, I had enough respect to give the creature as good a fight as possible. I imagined that Thorn was feeling the same way, if flipped on its head somewhat. Now that I had earned some respect, there would be no more casual banter.

    Without another word, we both attacked once more and the dance began again.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Twenty Eight - Spirit Bomb

    Loud crashes and bangs filled the overgrown jungle area. As the highest level being in the forest zone, dodging a single one of Master Thorn¡¯s attacks was impressive. Being able to do so consistently was troubling. The Attack Animals watched on, silent and terrified. They manned the stairs, each watching from a different angle. Their zone¡¯s Claimant battled against the Adversary, and while they didn¡¯t understand why, the gathered amphibian monsters knew his life was important.

    A dozen instincts were warring in the watchers at once. Rage, as the human whom their blood demands they kill fought their leader. Hope, as their leader pushed the human back with ease. Fear. For Master Thorn¡¯s victory would change their world in a dramatic way. The dungeon waited with bated breath for the blow which would fell the intruder. They felt excitement at what it might mean for them should their zone¡¯s leader defeat the human.

    The most dominant emotion, though, was respect for the choice Master Thorn made to fight the boy alone. Though the System demanded that they involve themselves, initially it had been their high regard for the powerhouse which had stayed their hands. As the battle raged, something else had begun to occur within the magic of the dungeon.

    The System¡¯s artefact, the Jingu Bang, fed Thorn a steady stream of power, even now. Spirit from the dungeon¡¯s fallen denizens was transformed into pure strength by the weapon. As the human grew, so did Thorn. The barrier from level twenty nine to thirty was massive compared to the previous levelling costs, but the process was nearly complete. With the human¡¯s defeat, Master Thorn would reach the threshold and evolve. Such things weren¡¯t articulated in their minds, but understood in their souls.

    The Attack Animals knew it was early for such a thing, even as the reasons were unclear. The world outside was much more dangerous for them, but with the way the Adversary fought, the dungeon wasn¡¯t much better. Their numbers had been dwindled by the other creatures as everything vied for more strength but the human had been impressively effective, so now only the four Attack Animals remained. Each of them had already set their heart on the matter. Strength was strength, and they would follow Master Thorn into the new world and become strong enough not to fear the humans out there.

    Of course, if all the humans of Earth-JMC642 were as powerful as this lone youthful male, it would all be moot. Was that even possible? Outside the dungeon, it was the first night of the Shift, after all. Much like the world beyond, all the Attack Animals could do was wait and see whether it would survive the fallout from this battle. So wait they did, unblinking even as the clashes lit up the forest with light and power. Unmoving as the shockwaves of mana scorched their skin. Even as the System demanded they step in and tip the scales, they stayed, bearing the pain in their heads for the act.

    Unable to explain the importance of the moment, they didn¡¯t try. The first time the human¡¯s blade glittered with power and touched the artefact, it swept away some of the bindings on their minds. The workings of the System upon the creatures it creates are invisible. Subtle. Something overt was happening before them, and it pushed away the baser emotions enforced upon them. They revelled in the ability to do as they wished, even though their desire was to remain still.

    Stoic, the Attack Animals kept their watch.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    With a frustrated grunt, I punched the floor. I didn¡¯t have time to dodge in any other way. Making use of my new strength, the manoeuvre was quite impressive if I said so myself. I even kept my sword in hand. The ground broke where I hit and I was thrown the other way as I pushed off the world and avoided the downswing of Master Thorn¡¯s staff. The impact I had just avoided then caused me to careen back further.

    Every second I could fight without using Haste was another I felt closer to victory. Alternatively, every moment in this battle had me one step away from death. The air sang a dirge as the ratman¡¯s staff whistled ominously past my ears. After trying to meet the attacks in strength only once while the fight was still playful and subsequently losing out, I wasn¡¯t encouraged to try again when Master Thorn began taking the matter of my expiration more seriously.

    The magic in that staff was absolutely howling with destructive force. Manasight wasn¡¯t as useful in this fight, not only because Thorn moved too fast for me to read its mana anyway, but now the staff was in play it was genuinely blinding to my magical senses. Relying on pure physical ability, I was pushed further and further into the thigh-deep waters of exhaustion.

    Still, I wasn¡¯t the only one. Panting, growing confusion on its face warring with frustration for domination. I could hear the question being asked each time I avoided death and the ratman screeched in annoyance. The pitch deepened, the noise extending each time. For all that the creature acted like a wise old man, it wasn¡¯t. It had been born in the dungeon just like everything else.

    Just like me, really.

    Reborn, in my case, but I would hardly recognise myself in a mirror if I could be bothered with such a thing right now. I wouldn¡¯t even have been able to follow my movements in this fight, let alone replicate even half of them. The trials of the dungeon had taken a lanky, red-haired manchild and painfully chiselled away my immaturities and weaknesses with haste. I had grasped at the winds of magic and found their gentle caress to my liking.

    Now, I just needed to kill a Claimant.

    I had dodged for long enough to recover another attack worth of mana. I ignited the runes on Severance¡¯s blade after slowly charging the fifty mana during my desperate dodging. A vicious delight had me baring my teeth as Thorn¡¯s eyes widened in fear. Our battle had been one-sided for the most part. Faster than me, stronger than me, more skilled with its weapon, I stood no chance against Thorn in a fair fight. Luckily, Thorn wasn¡¯t trying to fight fair. Though it jumped away quickly, I was faster when I added everything I had together.

    Dragonburn. Any costs would be multiplied by a factor of ten, but so would the power of the skills. As the crystalline feeling crackled through my mana channels, I heard the air around me buzz with power. I absently noted that I must be leaking mana somehow and that there was an efficiency issue there, but it wasn¡¯t the time to worry about that. Though, time was seeming increasingly malleable.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Haste. I sighed as the noises of the world dampened, indulging myself for a moment. It was hard to catch my breath against this guy. Casually, I threw myself after the rising Master Thorn. A victim of its effects already, Thorn was ready for me this time and threw himself into the air as far and as fast as he could. It wouldn¡¯t be enough, and the slowly morphing expression of true rage was all the reaction the rat would get before the final piece of the puzzle fell into place.

    Heavy Blow.

    At a cost of nearly all my mana in one go, the move was the only effective one I had found. Compared to everything else I had tried, staggeringly so. In probing tests with my other skills, Master Thorn could easily handle a stealthily tossed Mana Bolt or a normal Heavy Blow. It took something special to push this being back at all. I needed to do more than that to win, though.

    The tip of Severance clipped the staff and the resulting keen was like a woman¡¯s screaming. It was my turn to make a crater, happily using the dangerous ratman as my comet. I released the effects of Dragonburn and Haste the instant the attack landed, but the drain on my resource was already monstrous. Still, I had succeeded in my plan. As I landed, I couldn¡¯t help biting my lip in worry.

    It worked, sort of. The connection between Thorn and the staff was weak. Another one of those and it might sever it completely. The first time I landed the magical effect of Severance, the overwhelming power difference between Thorn and I dipped. The ratman was receiving some sort of buff from the staff, and my attack interrupted that. The attrition of the battle felt one-sided to me, but as the rat struggled to its feet, I knew that wasn¡¯t the case.

    Its left arm no longer held the staff when at rest, its dominant arm damaged. The overwhelming speed had dropped after I had damaged its ankle. The furry snout which extended off its face was bent slightly. Flimsy, its robe had been destroyed and now existed only as a waist wrapping, which I appreciated. For all that I was hurting, I wasn¡¯t the only one.

    Except, for all that¡­

    I was losing. Spitting out a small mouthful of blood, Master Thorn chuckled. It stretched, the intimidatingly thick muscles of its chest almost groaning with the hidden potential within. ¡°Impressive!¡± Its demeanour had loosened somewhat, though it had seemed eccentric to start with. Now it was laughing at me and taking the time for jokes. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to feel hopeful though. I hadn¡¯t hit him hard enough to knock something loose in its head, it was just confident. Thorn had surely worked out how long it would take me to perform another attack like that. Over five minutes of dodging between chipping retaliation wasn¡¯t going to work a third time.

    Taking its own moment to catch its breath, I flicked my eyes to my resources.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    28/80

    </td>

    <td>

    1.5 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    14/125

    </td>

    <td>

    20 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Well, that¡¯s not good. Before the thought had even finished, Thorn attacked. It had not missed my moment of distraction and was no longer messing around. The staff hummed as it parted the air. It was coming for my jaw, and it was going to take the whole lower half of my face with it when it landed.

    Heavy Blow. The move definitely cost me some health points, my wrist shattering like a drinking glass from the jarring impact. Severance was smashed from my grip, buried to the hilt in the rock of the arena wall. I found myself skidding across the slightly wet ground before colliding with the circular barrier myself. I crunched into the rock, some of it breaking, but mostly my ribs. Twenty seven damage, and my legs were frighteningly useless. Something important had broken. I wouldn¡¯t heal this quickly.

    The laughter died on Master Thorn¡¯s thin lips. From my spot on the floor, I struggled. I could hardly move, and the pain was close to knocking me out as I shoved myself into a sitting position. ¡°Fuck this,¡± I told the world. I was wholly unwilling to die here. It was too sudden. Out of mana, body almost destroyed, I was nearly out of options. Brushing up against the darkness of unconsciousness had made me acutely aware of my final resource.

    Dragonburn.

    Thorn stomped towards me with a cautious shuffle. As the skill activated and laced my body with power, I released my mana. Not in an attack, but for the first time since discovering the strange power within me, I stopped touching on it at all. It wasn¡¯t easy, but I was desperate. Not just desperate, I had been training for this without knowing. If I hadn¡¯t learned about the tangible effects of Willpower, I couldn¡¯t have used Dragonburn this way.

    If I hadn¡¯t memorised my skill patterns, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to find and flood Mana Bolt¡¯s sigil with Willpower. I felt the System¡¯s attention on me, scrawling and gouging to create something new within me as I, in turn, created the projectile. My hands were no good for throwing, but I grit my teeth and gathered the energy in my palm all the same.

    Amber, gold and silver energies flecked with purple appeared in my hand. Like a flowing river directed into a water balloon, the power swelled to immense proportions. I felt the skill¡¯s structure straining against the pressure but I was barely in control of the process any more. Growing more massive by the second, the rich colours tinting the world around me like it was cast in bronze. It almost seemed to solidify the air itself, slowing Thorn¡¯s approach.

    As everything froze, the magic in my hand danced. Everything was happening so fast. Without the strength to throw the attack, no mana to activate Haste, stuck in time like everything else, I screamed at the orb. Thorn knew something was seriously dangerous, and his finishing blow was warping the air as it moved at a visible pace despite the slowness.

    Like a bolt of lightning, the orb exploded forward. It burst from the front, all of the power within shooting out of the aperture with blinding speed. A great gleam of golden light lingered painfully, and for a moment I thought I was dead, but the pain didn¡¯t recede even as the light dimmed.

    The energy which flowed into me pushed me over the level threshold and I sighed in relief as the attributes pushed me further away from death. From my sitting position, I could see the smouldering heap with Master Thorn had landed in. The damage I had done to my Willpower by using Dragonburn to brute force and attack sat over my consciousness like a clingy gargoyle. The pain ebbed away over minutes of drooling, unblinking inaction. I could do nothing but wait, not even able to muster a solid thought.

    Lethargically, my faculties came back online one by one. I blinked hard. I felt ragged, like I had been shredded on the inside by a violent wolverine. I held onto that gentle agony as proof I had survived. Each breath which brushed against my bruised lungs and healing ribs was a blessing. The gouges and slices of ignored damage were carefully memorised.

    Only when I was able to think clearly and draw my System Windows to view could I believe what had occurred. Between the level up, the unmoving body and the new line at the bottom of the quest description, I finally believed it.

    Dungeon Quest - Aspiring Claims

    Due to the special nature of the Solo Dungeon, you are its Keystone. Until the first of the three Aspirants are defeated, entry to the dungeon from outside is locked. Only when all three Aspirants are defeated will the Keystone be free to leave, returning the Solo Dungeon to its initial state.

    Claimants defeated: 1 of 3

 Forged Anew - Chapter Twenty Nine - Elsewhere, The First Day

    ¡°Twenty.¡±

    The car hummed soothingly as the roads rolled away quickly beneath its wheels. Her¡¯s wasn¡¯t the only vehicle heading in or out of London, but Jamie couldn¡¯t help marvelling at how clear the roads had been until now. As the signs began to say she was entering the city, the beginnings of what was to come were already showing. Sirens and smoke. Screams. Despite the growing crescendo of chaos, Jamie hadn¡¯t put the radio on. She knew all she would hear was panic on the airwaves. Either that or some crackpot trying to explain this impossible thing. Better to stay focused.

    That¡¯s why I had to leave Grant.

    Every time she tried to rein her thoughts in, they shot back to the moment she tore her arm away from his. When Grant had grabbed her wrist and dragged them away, it had been fear which caused her to say something hurtful, anything, to get him to leave her alone and focus on himself. She was scared of Grant¡¯s attention, which would keep her safe at the cost of himself. He would protect anyone with his own life. It was just the kind of person he was. Grant just thought he needed Jamie around to do it, while Jamie knew the truth.

    They both held each other back.

    As she continued into the city, that certainty became a heavy weight. As surely as she would survive, Grant would die in that tiny university village trying to protect someone or something which was none of his business. She had known that in her heart but the minutes of quiet driving through an increasingly hopeless landscape leant itself towards articulating her morbid thoughts.

    She felt devastated at leaving Grant behind when the reality of the situation became clear. The platitude that he would be better off without her did nothing to soothe the wound she had created, which solidified into a frozen scar on her heart. She couldn¡¯t have known. As she blasted down the motorway into London, there was no way to tell how bad things would get.

    A few crashed cars with injured occupants here and there. People waving for help and being ignored. ¡°As long as people just look after themselves, they¡¯ll be fine,¡± Jamie told herself even as the voice tormenting the world reached its halfway point.

    ¡°Fifteen. Integration Initiated.¡±

    The explosion of the airbags and a ripping pain across her collarbone was the first sign something had gone wrong. Miraculously, Jamie found herself in pain but unharmed. Her car had come to a dead stop, though there was nothing in the way. It was like she had crashed without the offending oppositional force. She was checking herself for injuries when the blonde woman ran up to her car.

    Jamie was just barely into the city, some of the houses still carrying signs of suburbia despite the urbs all around them. A few small boutiques were dotted amongst the residential buildings. ¡°Let me in!¡± The woman repeated, hitting the window of Jamie¡¯s Ford Focus with a slap.

    That woke Jamie up at least. She was already shouting at the woman to get away from her car before she opened the door. Which she promptly slammed into as it did not open. Jamie and the stranger looked at each other with accusatory confusion, which was met with more attempts to open the door. ¡°I can¡¯t get out!¡± Jamie shouted as the woman repeatedly screamed to be let in.

    Jamie followed the woman¡¯s increasingly frantic glances over her shoulder and saw a shadow lumber out from an alleyway. The woman¡¯s screaming was getting louder, but Jamie¡¯s throat closed as the black mass approached slowly. ¡°Let me in! Let me IN!¡± When it finally clicked that there was no way Jamie was opening the door, even if she could, the woman began to run. Jamie¡¯s horror reached peak levels as the dark shape made a whooping noise before chasing after the lady with a loping gait.

    ¡°Was that¡­ a fucking badger?¡± It had been larger than the car she now huddled in. For the next four minutes, Jamie hid, low and silent. No one else passed her, though there were sounds of muffled screaming from all around. It was horrible. Yet, as the tormenting voice intoned ¡°Ten,¡± she knew she had to move. Shaking as she did so, Jamie tried to start her car. She was forced to bite her sleeve to muffle the scream of fear and rage that she allowed herself. Although she hadn¡¯t crashed into anything, the car was dead.

    She almost cried in relief when the door didn¡¯t work, but she forced the weak emotion down. There was something terrible happening, and even though she had seen only one instance of the nightmare, her mind was racing at the possibility this was not a contained event. How could it be? The continued lack of other people became an omen Jamie wished to ignore. ¡°Nine,¡± the voice of death spoke.

    By the time the voice said ¡°Five,¡± Jamie was feverish with claustrophobia and escaping the confines of her vehicle were of utmost importance. Still, there was no one on the streets. Perhaps that would change, as the voice didn¡¯t stop at just the number. ¡°Spawning complete. World unlocked.¡±

    She basically fell out of the car, wincing at the loud noise while looking all around. She was on a dual carriageway, with metal barriers in the middle to separate the cars. To either side of the road were nicely spaced houses and a few small shops but nothing noteworthy except the people. Jamie was relieved to see movement from within the buildings, even a few people stepping outside. They must have been trapped like she was.

    The comfort of company and freedom wore off quickly, and Jamie was running. A part of her was demanding she stop and explain things to these people but she didn¡¯t have answers herself. There was a decent chance she truly had lost her mind, though the trail of blood in the direction the blonde woman had run suggested otherwise. Maybe it''s a very convincing hallucination.

    ¡°Four.¡±

    She kept running, a few people following her at an increasing distance. They hadn¡¯t seen what she had, and didn¡¯t know they were running for their lives yet. Whatever looting had been going on was over, replaced by something worse. As the lanes split into a crossroad, Jamie glanced around before turning right and continuing. Her house was close by. The supermarket they used for groceries was on her left and had a crowd milling around.

    She saw it coming, but the screams had already started. A bird had been hovering, and as it began to swoop down its size became apparent. What had seemed like a small bird nearby was a massive thing biding its time in the distance. Jamie could do nothing but consider herself incredibly lucky as it chose to divebomb the people in the large store¡¯s car park. Sounds Jamie had never imagined humans could make bombarded her as she sprinted unceasingly towards home.

    Eventually, the wailing was out of range, and the familiar streets and the houses on them were haunting in the aftermath. More than one had visible damage to the fronts of the building or the once pristine gardens. The tears in her eyes burned like the fires raging all over the city. Was this really the end of the world? Was she going to be too late?Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    More and more Jamie saw people running in panic from creatures dead set on killing them. People weren¡¯t ready for this. How could they be?

    ¡°Three.¡±

    Jamie rounded a corner and nearly ran headfirst into a group heading the other way. A man and woman, with three teenage boys that all looked terrified. One of them couldn¡¯t be older than thirteen. ¡°There¡¯s a monster bird,¡± she panted, forced to slow down to not collide with them. The other group shared worried looks before asking her what to do. She stifled a groan. This was why she didn¡¯t want to talk to people. It was why she had abandoned-

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Jamie shook her head, ¡°but you can come with me.¡± The mental image of her redheaded friend forced her to care when she didn¡¯t want to. The family all shared looks, both appearance and glances. The five of them were trending towards overweight, which made them look even more similar. The assumed father wore glasses, as did two of the boys. The eldest son had a wispy beard that mirrored the father''s more clean goatee. They looked Mediterranean, with dark curly hair on them all.

    ¡°Two.¡±

    The portly woman screamed at the voice and before Jamie could hiss to shut her up, the hedges to her right exploded. The blindspot hadn¡¯t even crossed her mind, and the woman¡¯s screech reached a fever pitch. Everyone scattered, except the mother who fell to the floor. The middle son tried to help her up alongside the father but the monster slithered forth and attacked them. A snake had smashed through the leaves, but Jamie had never seen one with such vibrancy before.

    Each scale was a different hue or shade. If bright colours meant danger, then this thing was the nuclear bomb of snakes. It was around as long as Jamie was tall, and it sped across the ground towards the panicking brood. As it slithered quickly, the stone beneath it seemed to melt. Like a whip, it shot forward to constrict the father. His glasses fell and smashed on the floor. Fears of the thing being acidic were confirmed as audible sizzling could be heard. Jamie was already at what she thought was a safe distance when she realised she had a choice to make. This family, or her¡¯s?

    Every life which died around her seemed to pile onto her soul, but she turned all the same. Ignoring the pleas for help, Jamie ran. Every step was one further into a mire of disgust and self-hatred. Any pity which her mind cast forth to soothe her instead became more black tar on her psyche. Those boys were younger than Fred.

    Desperation forced her family¡¯s faces to the forefront of her mind as she turned onto Holloway Road.

    ¡°One.¡±

    It was all too much. She could see the home in which she was raised as soon as she turned onto the street, and her sprint became an inexorable march. Jamie had always kept herself fit since being pushed to do gymnastics at a young age. She hadn¡¯t kept up the sport, opting to enter the psychiatric field where she met Grant, but she had always been an athlete at heart. He had tried to join her on a few jogs and been left in the dust.

    So it wasn¡¯t tiredness which slowed her pace. No, Jamie couldn¡¯t run anymore for the simple fact her hopes had been shattered along with the front door of Seventeen Holloway Road. The ghosts of the people she had abandoned were clawing at her back in askance even as she put one slow foot in front of the other. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you help us?¡± The family demanded. ¡°How could you just leave?¡± Grant wept. In unison, a dozen strangled voices began to cackle with laughter.

    ¡°You¡¯re too late,¡± the spectres said. She knew what she would find beyond the destroyed front of the house, but after the devastation ripped her strength from her momentarily, a far-off-but-not-far-enough howl had her moving again. Maybe it wasn¡¯t too late, maybe she could-

    ¡°Zero. System Online. Good Luck.¡±

    Jamie didn¡¯t hear the words, nor did she pay much attention to the changes which her body underwent in that moment. The sharpening of her senses as the System¡¯s attributes gave her strength served only to make the moment more devastating. The familiar walls were painted now with blood, and after calling out feebly, she stumbled further inside. No one replied, as she called out louder and louder. There¡¯s so much blood.

    It was in the garden. Both the scene Jamie couldn¡¯t handle, and the culprits. Three bodies, which even now she told herself might be a trio of strangers, were strewn about the well-manicured grass. Some white flowers her mother had always loved, but that Jamie had never learned the name of, were marked with crimson flecks. Standing over the bodies were a group of four, squat grey-green humanoids. One of them pointed a bloody knife at her and the rage which had been festering at the centre of her being exploded.

    The world turned red.

    When she came back to herself, all of her muscles were throbbing painfully. There were four more bodies added to the garden. The hole from which the rage had erupted was now an empty space, one which Jamie let herself tumble into gladly. She couldn¡¯t accept what had happened here yet, so her mind locked the moment away as she wiped the blood on her hands into the grass.

    Ding! Level up! +5 Attribute Points.

    Ding! Level up! +5 Attribute Points.

    Would you like to loot Goblin Marauder?

    Jamie looked instead to the messages she had received from the System. Positioned in the middle of her vision, they were like censorship bars on the worst sight she could have seen. She focused on the words instead of the scene around her. The System had come to Earth. It had brought monstrous animals, goblins and more. Now, it was giving her strength. Jamie didn¡¯t bother questioning anything anymore. There was no point.

    Everything had already ended.

    She smiled, the expression unwanted but widening all the same. She vowed to come back even as she denied the truth. She wasn¡¯t strong enough for this. She wasn¡¯t resilient enough. Thankfully, that could be changed. Jamie told herself she would return when she was strong. Then she could face this. The System could make her strong. Holding a pair of wicked knives, clutched tightly from the moment Jamie returned to her body, she left the house.

    Placing the Attribute points as she saw fit, Jamie began retaliating against the falling world.

    <table>

    <tbody>

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    Character Window

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    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Jamie Baker

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    None

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    3

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    32/40

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    8

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    4

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

 Forged Anew - Chapter Thirty - Elsewhere II, The Violence Inherent In The System

    Jamie had fallen asleep at some point, the sight of a bedding and mattress store drawing her in like it held its own gravity. The human mind processes its waking thoughts while sleeping, and her first nightmares as a System-empowered individual were vivid. The ruinous experiences of the day before were compressed into a single scene.

    A voice told Jamie the end was coming, and her family were calling for her help. A bright red light exploded behind her as she tried to run for them. Turning, Jamie saw a frowning sun holding her back and she cursed at it. She told the star she hated it for being so indecisive and slow. When it let her go, the darkness she fell into was full of biting, ripping, tearing monsters. All the while, her family screamed for her to save them. Floating in the dark, her family home was burning and Jamie struggled to reach it. As her hand closed around the front door, she heard herself scream.

    Which was what woke her up. It took a conscious effort to stop the screams, turning and burying her face into the bed she had slept on. Unfortunately, when Jamie awoke, she didn¡¯t even have the strange haziness you normally read about in books or saw in movies. She knew exactly where she was, why she was there and that things were not going to get better. The hate which had burgeoned the day before solidified into a mass of frozen anger which stole the warmth from her extremities.

    She might have stayed in the bedding store if it weren¡¯t for the piercing wail which cut through even her hard psyche. The night before had been spent ignoring such sounds while desperately keeping herself alive. She had spotted a few large groups of people who had banded together, but avoided them. They would just attract the larger monsters and get slaughtered anyway. Jamie had found her place as a lone hunter. There was no one left to care about in the world, after all.

    That is, until she heard the woman crying out. Her feet were moving before she knew where the source was. ¡°My baby!¡± Skidding to a stop in front of her, the loud woman threw herself into Jamie¡¯s arms the second she realised Jamie was here to help. ¡°My baby,¡± she repeated, over and over, ¡°they took her.¡± It was all the woman could say, and Jamie didn¡¯t blame her. There was blood covering the mother¡¯s thighs. Her belly looked large in a way only very recently pregnant women were.

    The freeze in Jamie¡¯s blood grew more frigid. ¡°My name is Jamie, I¡¯ll help you. What happened? Who took her?¡± She asked, getting the woman to sit. She was unprepared for the following minutes of horror as she listened and tried to wrap her head around the story the mother, Kylie, told her. ¡°Are you saying¡­ this System or whatever took your baby?¡±

    Kylie had been in labour when the countdown started. Home births weren¡¯t terribly uncommon, but the people helping her had all abandoned her in the final moments. She had been forced to deliver the baby on her own. Mothers had been doing similar for thousands of years, but Jamie¡¯s frozen heart hardened even more at the thought. Kylie had given birth after the countdown ended, not knowing the apocalypse had come with it.

    Then, the System had shown Kylie a prompt she had barely registered as her newborn baby vanished from her grip. Jamie couldn¡¯t even imagine the terror. The distraught mother had been begging for help for the last hour, but no one had come. That thought brought Jamie back to reality. It caused tangible damage to Jamie¡¯s mental state to comfort someone else as she wrapped a fake smile around the ice in her heart and it appeared on her face.

    ¡°I think your baby is okay, Kylie.¡± It took a while to explain what Jamie knew, during which time Jamie moved the pair back to the bedding store which felt at least enclosed. Obviously, Kylie knew something was happening, but it was only when Jamie lifted the back of a small car off the ground that she accepted it was more wide-reaching than just her child. She had always been agile, but never hoped to be strong.

    After explaining that there were literally monsters attacking people in places, Jamie gave her theory to Kylie. ¡°You think the System has taken my baby to¡­ keep it safe?¡± It made some kind of sense, at least to Jamie. A baby couldn¡¯t grow in a place like this, and the power behind the System was insane. Creating monsters, creating magic? The whole world had gone crazy, and the most insane theories were more likely than others at this point. ¡°So, how do I get her back?¡±

    Kylie was larger than Jamie, not just because of the pregnancy she had endured, but her frame was bulkier by half. Yet, Jamie pulled the trembling lady to her feet, the taller woman felt willowy. Kylie¡¯s brown eyes were like those of a scared doe as they stared into Jamie¡¯s. Jamie felt a pang of guilt, but it didn¡¯t even chip the ice at her core. It didn¡¯t matter if it was a lie. ¡°Get strong enough to protect her.¡±

    Kylie screamed, and Jamie was whirling around quickly. A hulking figure emerged from between two houses and Jamie saw piggish, grey eyes lock onto their position. She didn¡¯t hesitate. Everything about the situation was forgotten as Jamie drew her knives. Without the System¡¯s attributes, she would have needed to keep the sharp things uncomfortably against herself somehow. Instead, she had found a block for kitchen knives yesterday and shoved it into a backpack. It definitely looked strange, but it was the best sheath she had found.

    Besides the stomach of a monster, that is.

    Kylie¡¯s horrified screeching and panicky questions were distracting, so Jamie ignored them. The humanoid beast walking towards them was all pink skin and flabby muscle. After the events of the previous afternoon and evening, Jamie wasn¡¯t intimidated by such things. Everything bled, after all. As she ripped open a gout of the precious crimson on the disgusting things leg, she didn¡¯t avoid the splash. The gore hit her and for the first time that day, she felt heat.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    The monster squealed like the pig it shared an evolutionary line with. Stumbling on its cloven feet from the pain, Jamie didn¡¯t let up. The creature was too large to let it get a foothold in the fight, so she didn¡¯t. The ensuing fight was savage, and Jamie was immensely pleased with herself as it finished. The monster, which she learned after looting, was apparently called an orc. A club and some actual gold coins appeared on the ground, which Jamie collected. Better than the loot was the experience. When Jamie defeated a monster, the warmth which flowed into her was even more intense.

    Ding! Level up! +5 Attribute Points.

    ¡°We have¡­ to be brutal,¡± she panted, hating that she felt like it was an excuse for the violence. Kylie looked at her in horror, yet nodded all the same. Perhaps she hadn¡¯t noticed the blood when it was dry, but Jamie was once again dripping with the warm liquid. She placed three points into Recovery, enjoying the ambrosia flowing through her veins as she did so. The remaining two points she placed into agility before looking over her gains.

    <table>

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    Character Window

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    Name

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    <td>

    Jamie Baker

    </td>

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    <td>

    Race

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    <td>

    Earth Human

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    Title

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    <td>

    None

    </td>

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    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    6

    </td>

    </tr>

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    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    55/55

    </td>

    </tr>

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    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

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    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    8

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    6

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    6

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

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    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

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    </table>

    Jamie was pleased when Kylie didn¡¯t flinch away as she proffered one of her knives towards her. Kylie looked interestedly at the club, though. A bit heavy for her now, but Jamie just shrugged and ¡°It wasn¡¯t that thing¡­¡± Kylie mumbled, dragging the heavy chunk of wood to one side. Jamie tilted her head. ¡°I didn¡¯t scream because I saw that thing. There was a popup.¡±

    The fire in the mother¡¯s eyes was intense. ¡°The System gave me a quest. It¡¯s just like you said. Reach level ten and I get a reward. Is that how I get stronger?¡± Gaze firm, she was steeling herself on the blood which dripped from the quickly cooling knives. They would be cold again soon, Jamie lamented. She didn¡¯t speak, absorbing the last of the heat. She simply nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go then,¡± Kylie said, hefting the club onto her shoulder.

    Jamie¡¯s stomach gurgled and she grimaced. Kylie noticed and the pair of them went back to her flat and collected supplies. After the loud chaos which dominated the day before, the eerie quiet was almost as troubling. Despite that, the act of stripping through the other woman¡¯s house created a bond. It was impossible not to see the signs of the expectant mother towards her baby, and Jamie took on some of the fury from the theft. They ate food together quietly. They cried together before leaving the flat behind. There was a kinship growing between them, though Jamie didn¡¯t share what the System had taken from her. She still couldn¡¯t accept it herself. Maybe she, too, would get a quest which returned her family to her. Blood on the grass.

    Perhaps not.

    With vitriol burning in her throat, Jamie took Kylie hunting. For good or bad, it didn¡¯t take long before they found their next fight. This one wasn¡¯t as clean as the orc fight, but Jamie was more distracted. A pack of goblins were trying to break into a butcher¡¯s shop where a man with a cleaver desperately tried to keep them away. The confusion and disappointment on the man¡¯s face as the two women approached almost made Jamie turn away.

    Blood on the grass. A goblin standing over a body.

    The crimson veil fell over the world as she ploughed into the group. Kylie was unable to keep up, and so unable to take advantage of the falling bodies. By the time she arrived, she faltered when faced with angrily rising goblins. ¡°Do you want to be strong or not?¡± Jamie demanded, forgoing her knives and just smashing the goblin against the nearest wall. The thrumming sound of blood in her ears grounded her. The next sounds were a frustrated shout and a heavy impact.

    Injured from her rush, one of the goblins Jamie had pushed over wasn¡¯t quick enough to get out of the way. It turned into paste under the club, the weapon taller and wider than the creature it killed. The pair of women were covered in scratches and bites by the time they finished off the last goblin. Jamie looked around, worried their battle had brought other dangers, but saw none.

    Only then did the man in the butcher¡¯s shop unlock the door. He began to talk but Jamie told him to shut the fuck up and thankfully he did. She could feel herself getting lost in the new narrative of the world. Survive. Kill. Deal with the problem in front of you and then move on. It was a bitter pill to swallow. Kylie was vomiting to the side of the carnage, so Jamie left her alone for a moment. ¡°Are you coming?¡± Jamie demanded of the man she had silenced. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he timidly nodded.

    ¡°Fine. You¡¯ve got five minutes.¡± Jamie¡¯s mind was racing, but each train of thought led to the same destination. Wandering wasn¡¯t the way forward. They needed to get some kind of safety. Unwelcome, a thought of Grant came to mind. This is how he would do it¡­

    He would find a base, work from there and protect as many people as he could while doing it. Jamie couldn¡¯t bring herself to care about them in the way he would, but she could get a group of people working together. She could do that much. Her eyes were locked on the largest building in the area. ¡°That¡¯ll do,¡± she nodded.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Thirty One - Elsewhere III, A Fragile Victory

    After deciding to find shelter, Jamie, Kylie and the newest member of their group, Ralph, made their way to Jamie¡¯s spot of choice. Knowing the area, it was the only place for miles which made sense to try and defend. To meet the needs of the middle class living in the area, a large outlet mall was built four or five years ago. ¡°Garling¡¯s¡± was the largest building in the area, but when they arrived it was mostly empty. People were still panicking, running around aimlessly and dying.

    The stores inside were boutiques, but with some savvy looting on their way and with Ralph promising to try butchering anything which looked edible, Jamie was confident they could sustain a group if people worked together. There were some restaurants with pantries which hadn¡¯t been emptied, more than enough almost-designer clothing to replace the disgusting rags their clothes had become in surviving the change and, with only a little work, easily defensible entrances.

    As she slammed an empty wardrobe down to barricade a side door, it struck her firmly. She was strong. Stronger than anyone she had ever met, most likely. The large wooden piece of furniture didn¡¯t even cause her to sweat. Jamie was surprised at herself. It was just about the only emotion she felt through the glacier inside herself. The pain which came with the realisation was almost physical as it added another layer of ice to her frozen core.

    Not strong enough when it mattered.

    It took all of two days for things to fall apart in the suburbs bordering London. While the inciting incident was hard to place due to the multitude of things which went wrong at once, there was a common denominator between them. Jamie and Kylie had done well, both of them would later agree, but the underlying issue was clear.

    Other people were dumb, greedy and useless.

    The plan had seemed sensible, and it would have been in a more normal scenario. When groups began to notice the safe space Jamie and Kylie were creating, they hurriedly begged to join their growing group. With the addition of monsters to the world, people¡¯s more mundane woes lessened in importance. Only somewhat, though, as the biggest problem was keeping everyone sane. Food was lasting longer these days due to a lack of appetite as well as the System¡¯s attributes changing people. They simply required less sustenance.

    Which made the fact the whole thing fell apart over a packet of cookies even more ridiculous.

    The two of them left the large shopping centre they had spent the last days barricading and fortifying, heading out of London. They had tried. The false acts of compassion, smiles and assurances, taking the time to learn people¡¯s names and faces. Encouraging people to try and hunt monsters to gain their own strength. It hadn¡¯t been enough. The walls would have remained strong, but not all monsters tried to break through the front. All it took was a whisper from Jamie¡¯s most hated creature to bring it all down. Ironically, it wasn¡¯t a monster from the System, but a more ancient one altogether.

    Doubt.

    ¡°How can two women protect anyone?¡± That was the spark which brought the whole place down within hours. Jamie wanted to go back and punch Ralph, who had seen their strength and said nothing. A combination of complacency and cowardice served to bring a group who thought they knew better to the front. A group of men who said they could ¡°more easily handle the stress of leading.¡±

    As Jamie had no interest in leading and all Kylie wanted to do was find something else to kill, they took a backseat on decision making. Within minutes, the carefully rationed food stores, which Jamie had been filling as she looted the surrounding area, were raided. It was most easily noticeable as the new leader of Garling¡¯s, Boris, walked through the common area with a packet of chocolate chip cookies.

    The ensuing fight had apparently been what the nearby monsters were waiting for.

    Jamie wasn¡¯t actually convinced the monsters had been intelligent enough to do such a thing, but the timing was brutal for the potential of Garling¡¯s as a safe space. A trio of large dog-people tore through most of the ranks while a swarm of smaller creatures attacked the rest. It was a massacre which Jamie should have seen coming.

    Not caring about anyone else, Jamie and Kylie escaped. Taking their anger out on a pair of ugly overgrown hyena men, the women were efficient. Kylie had been a woman possessed since the arrival of her quest and her first level up. Placing all her points into strength had made the club she struggled to swing look deft in her hands. The subsequent levels had rounded her out.

    Jamie had only gained one more level in the two days since, while Kylie had risen to level five. The monsters in the area weren¡¯t really a threat to them anymore, which was why their levelling speed had slowed. Spending time maintaining the peace in Garling¡¯s had been a pointless waste of time. ¡°Where are we going now?¡± Kylie asked, having looted the two Gnolls. She shared the coins, which had them both rolling their eyes. What good were coins in the apocalypse? It just made greedy people more covetous, and therefore dangerous.

    Jamie wanted to say she didn¡¯t know. She wanted to say the wind would carry them to where they needed to be, or that nothing mattered so she had chosen a direction at random. Except, as they passed her abandoned car on the road without comment, Jamie knew where they were heading. She was unsure why she was heading back towards where all of this started for her, but it was the only place which made sense. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    It was where she had started abandoning the world. Perhaps, it was a place she could begin to take some things back, too. ¡°I think we had the right idea, but the wrong people.¡± As they walked towards Thistledon, Jamie gave Kylie the whole plan, which had the other woman nodding along with confidence by the end.

    Honestly, Jamie knew any plan which involved the terms ¡°completely cleared out¡± and ¡°no one but us¡± would have been enough for Kylie. Jamie often found her gazing fiercely into nothingness, which would have been worrying in the past. Now, Jamie knew she was just staring daggers at the System prompt which told her to get stronger for a reward. Kylie would get her daughter back, the System said. Any moment not chasing another portion of experience was one which infuriated Kylie.

    It would take a few hours to reach the quiet university town, so they moved with the morning sun. Jamie had fully intended to keep Kylie as her only ally until they met Cate. Heading in the same direction, slower due to being alone, Cate was the first person the pair had met who was taking the fight to the monsters, too. Jamie was tentatively impressed by what she saw as the woman took down a large wolf before they could even jump in to help.

    Cate Denton was closer to Jamie¡¯s age than Kylie¡¯s, maybe even a little younger than Jamie herself. She had a tight bob of black hair which had matted with the blood dried into it. Her clothing suggested she had been at the gym or jogging when the terror started. Leggings and a tight top weren¡¯t the best survival gear, but the wicked looking spear she carried had done a lot to out-survive the wolf. She was wandering, so more than happy to join them in their plans.

    The rest of their journey was uneventful, despite looking for trouble. Though, once they reached Thistledon, the want was flipped on its head. There was a kind of grim satisfaction in seeing the destroyed area. Only the university itself could be described as intact, nearly every other building in sight flattened like some kind of shockwave had started here. The general desolation gave Jamie a hollow sense of victory. She had been right. Staying here was a death wish.

    No one could have survived, unless they were in the university. Jamie supposed that was likely the case for most people in the area given the graduation occuring at the time, but not for everyone. Not for anyone who mattered. The three women followed the opposite direction to the signs of damage, looking for the epicentre of the blast before exploring the university. Given the lack of safe spaces, the place was likely a gory mess they would sooner avoid anyway. Better to take their time.

    What they found defied explanation. As far as Jamie could tell, the local park had been covered with some kind of dome. Taller than a building, but not very high, the curving space was the strangest thing any of them had ever seen. When Cate threw caution to the wind and tried to touch it, she disappeared. Jamie and Kylie hesitated for a few seconds before she reappeared, looking sheepish. ¡°That could have been dangerous,¡± Jamie noted, not really caring one way or another. It would have been a shame to lose Cate¡¯s ability and her spear, though.

    ¡°I think it just put me on the other side of the thing,¡± Cate shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t even feel anything. Like, I didn¡¯t feel a barrier or whatever.¡± She turned back around and poked the barrier with her spear. The weapon had appeared when Cate killed her first monster, which made Jamie a little jealous. All she¡¯d gotten so far were short knives and the club which Kylie still used. When the tip touched the pale pink barrier, the dark-haired woman vanished again before returning just as quickly. ¡°No touching, apparently.¡±

    Though it was interesting, and apparently the source of whatever explosive force had flattened Thistledon, there wasn¡¯t much they could do with it. Jamie resolved to keep an eye on the strange place, but the three made their way to the university to see how bad the damage was there.

    Bad.

    Very bad.

    Stone-faced, Jamie looked at the walls of the building with barely a twitch. An angry thought surfaced and was crushed, only to worm back up through her clenched fists. It was unfair. Why¡­ Even thinking it placed a blame on others they didn¡¯t deserve but Jamie couldn¡¯t stop the vicious feeling from forming within the ice, sculpting the frozen edges with frigid thorns. ¡°Why didn¡¯t they fucking fight?¡± She asked, glad to be alone as the words forced their way out.

    Then she cried. A portion of the ice broke away and it hurt. It stabbed her in the chest like she had fallen onto the knives she carried. Falling to her knees in the blood stained hallway, Jamie screamed and sobbed at the injustice of it all. They hadn¡¯t found a single survivor in Thistledon, and when it became clear there were none in the University the other women had gone to wait outside. It was just her, alone in the echoing halls. Whatever monsters had torn through this place had left it empty after the fact.

    Once her emotions had run their course, the river of tears solidified once more. Jamie left the university, dry eyes and her face impassive, stating what she wanted to do. Neither Cate or Kylie cared much one way or another. None of them much fancied the idea of clearing out the bodies anyway.

    Somehow, though, Jamie wanted to claim this place. Which required starting over. The world had ended and a new world had taken its place. So, they started a fire. It wasn¡¯t hard to find accelerant with so many unused cars around. The diesel and petrol spread around, all it took was a spark.

    Jamie revelled in the heat as St. Gerrard¡¯s university burned down. With its ashes went her old life and the memories of the past. The disgust, fear and self-hatred went with them, too. The apocalypse had caused her to bend and buckle, but it wouldn¡¯t break her. Unblinking, she made a promise. She would use the ice inside herself to grow stronger, even as she sought the warmth of blood and fire. They would save Kylie¡¯s baby and survive these trials until they could make a place safe enough for a child.

    The game was rigged but so what? Surviving the next day was a victory, and Jamie would never stop winning against this evil System.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Thirty Two - Spirit

    Sitting deep within the quiet forest lay an arena. The sight of a great battle, the great the dungeon had yet seen, it was now a gathering place. With the directive to kill fading after the Claimant¡¯s death, the nature of the forest area was changing. No more fighting was done here, though there was a struggle to see for any creatures brave enough to wade through the dense aura to lay their eyes upon it.

    Alongside a smattering of Sundercats were a large contingent of Ents, their bark and leaves the different species found in the forest. The four remaining Attack Animals were a permanent fixture, statuesque in their judgement. There were a surprising amount more denizens of the forest than I had seen, and a new competitive streak had me sad to miss out on fighting some of them. Mostly they seemed like normal animals - foxes, rabbits, weasels and the like, though some bore strange markings or other signs they weren¡¯t the mundane creatures of old. There was a sad beauty in how much these creatures had changed thanks to the System, only to become deadly and fearsome.

    I wasn¡¯t thinking about any of that right now though as I glared at the staff standing upright at the centre of the arena. I ignored the grunts and whoops from the various creatures surrounding me. There wasn¡¯t a hunt of aggression in the energy of the air, and I trusted the new sense implicitly. Nothing here would hurt me. They were excited for me to try again. Once my mana recovered, I did. As I gathered the magical energy, I pictured exactly what I imagined happening. With my hands wrapped around the staff, my mana infusing my muscles, I heaved.

    While my mana pool quickly drained, I opened the sluice gate to something grander.

    Skill - Spirit Well (Unique)

    If mana is the fertiliser, Spirit is the seed and its growth. Generally intangible, once brushed against, its existence is more clearly felt. By using Spirit, you have gained a sense for the well inside and the ocean beyond yourself.

    As the less rigid Spirit sank into the flowing mana in my channels, the energy within me began to thrum with power. The System wasn¡¯t wrong. I could see why this skill, amongst them all, was considered ¡°unique.¡± The structureless energy which I had been calling Willpower was now more clearly felt in everything. It was a little distracting, but it was also why I knew the gathering monsters around me weren¡¯t a threat. Every action, or inaction, held some whisper of Spirit. It was the intent behind the world, keeping the natural order.

    Item - Jingu Bang

    An intriguing object, even amongst the oddities upon the Tree. Originally not a weapon at all, this storied weapon was a mere measuring stick. Made to measure the distance from ¡°ground to the heavens,¡± this marvel of magical engineering has a theoretically infinite length and mass. A mischievous thief stole the stick after taking a liking to it, fashioning it as a weapon. Together, the pair were unstoppable.

    Deep within my core, the Dragon roared its assent as I challenged the staff once more. Now I had a sense for it myself, I could feel that this connection with the magical dragon inside was another example of Spirit. Before I had stumbled into its secrets, it was the Dragon which had supplied the Spirit to make me stronger in desperate moments. In a way, it had been a safety net because the Dragon was not going to help me anymore. This was the eighteenth time I had tried to lift the staff, and I still couldn¡¯t make it budge even slightly.

    When I used Spirit to enforce my will, the world instead followed my rules. Or, it was supposed to. It was confusing, but Naea was of some help. Once I knew the term Spirit and asked her about it, she was able to fill in some gaps for me. Spirit did not generally take the place of mana, but instead existed within it. The analogy I landed on was that Spirit was the spice which flavoured the meal you made with mana. The final attack against Master Thorn had been a simple Mana Bolt, but when infused with pure Spirit, the intent of the attack to be deadly made it so.

    I had a whole skill dedicated to understanding how it worked, and I was still lost. I had resolved not to use Dragonburn in tandem with Spirit again if I could help it, though. Needs must, but the sensation of cold which had followed me for days after the battle with the Claimant boss was harrowing. No matter what I did, while my Spirit Well was drained, my extremities couldn¡¯t get warm. Until, that is, I refilled the well. I found that levelling skills made this sensation fade away, so I had thrown myself into work when I wasn¡¯t challenging the Jingu Bang.

    I grit my teeth as my feet buried themselves in the hard dirt below me. Every drop of mana was humming the same rhythm of strength, the ground itself cracking under the pressure I was able to exert. I had only levelled once since before the fight with Master Thorn, but this wasn¡¯t really about physical attributes. The battle here was one of wills. Waves of energy expelled from me like a haze, mana bursting from invisible pores and filling the air with my power. I roared. The ground gave way.

    It wasn¡¯t enough.

    The unsteady ground beneath me caused me to slip, and all of my strength left me. Absorbed right into the Jingu Bang. I tutted as I observed the theft, shaking my head. The damn thing was making itself heavier each time I failed. Yet, somehow I seemed to gain on it each time all the same. I had lost this contest over and over at this point a total of eighteen times. Twice a day, once when I woke up and once before I gave up and went to sleep, I headed to the Jingu Bang. Once in the arena I tried to lift the staff and it inevitably fought me off. I swore I could feel a chuckle from the energy inside the weapon at one point. I would have given up, if it hadn¡¯t been for my Spirit Well skill.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    I had already led me to one priceless treasure, after all.

    After the battle with Master Thorn, I had felt cold in a dangerous way. My entire being was pulsing with a frigid wind through the empty space inside of me. When it became clear the Attack Animals weren¡¯t moving, I dragged myself back to Clive¡¯s to rest. Unfortunately, Merownis was still unconscious and taking up a fair chunk had been my personal space up to now, and it was getting a bit annoying. The smell alone was fairly pungent, so I thought about building a work space. When the idea came to my mind, the Spirit Well inside of me shivered. Something told me this was a good thing, not a bad one. Following this instinct, I started work.

    After carefully prying nails from tables and chairs using my impressive strength from within the caf¨¦, along with the lumber gathered in my looting, I began to make a building. It was discoloured due to different materials, it was misshapen due to my lack of skill, but the shell of a work shed began to form quickly thanks to my attributes and lack of distractions. The first attempt at making my workspace had only taken me a few hours on the first day after beating Master Thorn.

    The monsters of the forest avoided me while I worked. I felled another tree with Severance. It felt strange to use a sword to chop wood, but the blade¡¯s magical effect worked wonders on just about anything. There was a deference in the forest¡¯s monsters now. It wasn¡¯t because they were scared of me, but instead because it would be rude to get in my way. Being able to sense intentions was a nice boon of the Spirit Well skill, but I hadn¡¯t expected it to extend to-

    Skill Unlocked - Architecture (Common)

    Listen to the bricks and tiles and wood, they too, want to become more.

    I grunted in surprise as the prompt appeared. It had been nice to do peaceful work, even if I knew the feeling inside was growing towards something. Along with the new skill, completion of the work shed also gave me a fair few skill levels in Construction. I had sighed in relief as warmth filled me for the first time in hours. Except, in the space left by the discomfort of my lacking Spirit, there was an itch.

    I wasn¡¯t done.

    Like a man possessed, I had smashed my work to the ground and started again. The information from my new Architecture skill told me it was shoddy work which deserved nothing but destruction anyway. The second attempt was much better, as I actually knew to put in foundations and support beams. After dismantling the shell I had created so far, I fixed my mistakes and the task was complete. The finished product this time was much more presentable. There was a rumbling in the energy of the dungeon as well as my own Spirit Well as I placed the finishing touch.

    New Building Complete - Workshed

    Building options unlocked.

    I was both proud the System accepted my ramshackle building for the workplace it was meant to be, and floored by the amount of energy which came my way. I had to physically brace myself against a wall as my level rose. I had been fairly close to seventeen after defeating Master Thorn, and this was less experience than I received for that, but the System wasn¡¯t done. I could feel a storm appearing in the Spirit of the dungeon, gathering over my head.

    There was no way to avoid the lightning strike of its arrival.

    Compared to a skill increasing, or even being created, the amount of Spirit being raised to change the gains I received on a level up was on a different level. A maelstrom of power spun quickly over my head before plunging into my being. Once the world stopped spinning, I opened my eyes to the System prompt I felt appear and nearly choked. This was¡­

    Achievement Unlocked - Pioneer (World First)

    The trailblazers of a world are its lifeblood. Without those who chase the unique, the mundane would reign. This act of Creation within the confines of a Dungeon has added weight to your soul. As the first in your world to perform this task, the rewards have been increased.

    Effect: +2 Strength per level, +3 Recovery per level, +2 free attribute points per level

    I noted the capitalisation of ¡°Creation¡± as an oddity, but I was much more focused on the alterations the System was doing to me. I could already tell I had received the level up from the creation of the work shed before receiving these boosts, but I wasn¡¯t going to kick rocks about it. It was as large a set of bonuses as I had received for absorbing the Aspect of the Dragon. Granted, that came with a plethora of other benefits but still¡­

    Despite the increased value of levelling up, I had avoided doing so, even as the Jingu Bang taunted me. The reason was simple. I felt the same pull towards the weapon as I did towards creating my little garage. There was an achievement waiting for me there and I was loath to ¡°waste¡± any level ups by not getting this achievement first. I wasn¡¯t happy about how long it was taking, though.

    Walking back from my eighteenth fruitless attempt at drawing the staff from the stone, and thus becoming monkey king, I called out for Naea, who had called me boring and disappeared days ago. She materialised before me nearly instantly. My surprise at her appearance was interrupted by the flare of Spirit from inside Clive¡¯s. Naea had sensed it before me?

    That was interesting, but unsurprising. It made sense she would feel the goings on of the dungeon before I did. What was surprising was being unable to enter the caf¨¦. The moment reminded me uncomfortably of the Shift, when the door had become so heavy it threw me across the room. Was the event inside as powerful as the creation of the Dungeon itself?

    Even with Manasight active, I couldn¡¯t see through the blinding light of mana from within Clive¡¯s. I could, however, guess what was happening. I felt the tremor through our connection, even if I hadn¡¯t been able to make use of it yet.

    Merownis was waking up.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Thirty Three - Evolution

    ¡°Is it supposed to take this long?¡± Naea complained from the top of my head. She was on her back, the hard point of her skull resting on my forehead. I shrugged, wobbling my head so she slipped.

    ¡°You¡¯re the dungeon fairy, shouldn¡¯t you know?¡± Whatever was happening with Merownis, Naea wasn¡¯t telling me. She just said it was a secret and that it shouldn¡¯t be long. It hadn¡¯t been, only about fifteen minutes passing since the caf¨¦ lit up and was locked from within. As she began a tirade about some System-specific form of racism, I tuned her out and looked through my new building options.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Building Options

    </td>

    <td>

    Workshed

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Upgrade

    </td>

    <td>

    10g, 10 units of lumber, 10 units of stone

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Demolish

    </td>

    <td>

    20 units of lumber returned

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Uninspiring, but very interesting. Before I got carried away, I thought it was also worth checking my inventory for the first time in a while.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Inventory Page (Xaverweave Pouch)

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Item

    </td>

    <td>

    Amount

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint)

    </td>

    <td>

    8713

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted)

    </td>

    <td>

    2758

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Guidance Stone of Mastery

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sorehammer

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Fan of Knives

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Severance

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Crafting Materials

    </td>

    <td> </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Crafting Materials (Xaverweave Pouch)

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Item

    </td>

    <td>

    Amount

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Lumber

    </td>

    <td>

    7

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sundercat Fang

    </td>

    <td>

    6

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sundercat Claw

    </td>

    <td>

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sundercat Pelt (Leopard)

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Treent Twine Spool

    </td>

    <td>

    15

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    I hadn¡¯t collected stone, so I couldn¡¯t upgrade the space, but maybe the scorpions would give me some if I ever managed to face them. The level up helped my confidence, though I wasn¡¯t willing to stay here and build shacks until I was stronger. I wouldn¡¯t receive the same experience for repeating the task in any case, I had learned that with my shoddy boots. If I made a better building, I might, but this slow process had taken me days. Well, less than a full day inside the dungeon. Between my raised attributes and the slow moving skies, it was nearly impossible to know how long anything was taking.

    I sighed, continuing to go through my status screens. As a slight rarity, I placed all seven of my attribute points from levelling into the same place - Power. The levels of the enemies I faced would only rise. The force behind my magic was lacking, with Master Thorn able to easily bat my Mana Bolts away. I wanted to change that, and the scorpions of the desert zone would be perfect targets. It would also mean I could keep my distance in a fight, which was very important to me against the arachnids. Despite wanting more Strength to yank the Jingu Bang from the ground, with the gains from the Pioneer achievement, my Strength attribute would grow on its own.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    17

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    85/85

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    130/130

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    13

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    15

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    13

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    12

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    19This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    14

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    25

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    21

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    26

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    85/85

    </td>

    <td>

    1.5 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    130/130

    </td>

    <td>

    21 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    My skill list jumped in size once more, and I wondered when it would get compressed like the inventory screen had.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Spirit Well (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Unique

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Savant (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Legendary

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Party Leader (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Epic

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Bolt (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Manasight (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Heavy Blow (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Haste (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Meditate (Level 5)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Stealth (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Tracking (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mental Fortress (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dragonburn (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Construction (Level 6)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Tailoring (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Architecture (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Most of the gains in my fighting skills were during the battle with Master Thorn, and I hadn¡¯t felt like hunting the denizens of ¡°my forest.¡± No, I was building myself up to assault the desert, it just made me shiver to think about. Aside from Construction which got a boost every time I made something, Meditate had managed to level up again, as it was taking the place of sleep for the most part. It was definitely my most used skill by a wide margin.

    Sensing that Merownis was going to take a while, no matter how much Naea complained, I sank into the inner world. I spent a lot of time here, pruning and refining the imagery of the place. My core burned brightly, a colourless star of perpetual energy, generating and propagating mana to the rest of me. The Aspect of the Dragon, ensconced in the crust of a barren world, rumbled quietly every once in a while. With a thought, I landed on the surface of the planet.

    I hadn¡¯t moved physically, of course, but my mental visualisation was increasing day after day. At this point, I could feel the rock beneath my feet as I traversed the empty world. From the northmost point of the planet, I looked to the stars. Fifteen pinpricks of light which gave form to the darkness around them. Activating those I could in turn, I tried to imagine them fitting into arrays.

    Haste, Heavy Blow, Mana Bolt and Manasight were together, while Meditate, Mental Fortress, Stealth and Tracking gathered to a different section. Mana skills and auxiliaries. A final collection of the crafting skills, Construction, Tailoring and Architecture also made sense. There wasn¡¯t enough shape yet there to give these groupings true constellation names but I could see the forming patterns clearly.

    My stranger skills were the brightest, and the most distant from each other. If there could be an ¡°above¡± in space then Dragonburn was above the Aspect world. Mana Savant was almost a second sun, blazing brightly above my core alongside Spirit Well. The latter skill gave off strange colours as some of its energy leaked into my soul space. Finally, and perhaps most importantly right now, was Party Leader. It was unsurprisingly active.

    The skill danced across the sky, shooting like a comet from one place to the next. There was a¡­ discomfort there. I frowned, directing some of my control over this place to figuring out the problem. If there was an issue, I¡¯d prefer to fix it then just watch what happened. However, I couldn¡¯t get a grasp of the skill, slipping through my imaginary fingers like it was oiled. Half-expecting it not to work, I created a net out of Spirit to contain the agitated skill.

    Of course, the moment my small bundle of Spirit touched the connection, all hell broke loose.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Merownis was floating. He tried to remember what he had been doing before the weightlessness, but it was futile. In this place, he didn¡¯t even have a body, which meant he had no brain, and therefore no memories. Even his name was simply a sound which felt familiar, and little more.

    It was peaceful, his silent floating. Maybe. Merownis didn¡¯t know anything else. There was nothing before the silence, after all. Perhaps he was experiencing the worst pain imaginable, and just didn¡¯t have a reference point for it. He decided to wait and see if there was a change to his condition, one way or the other.

    For an indeterminate time, somewhere between five minutes and the destruction and subsequent reconstitution of the Grand Universai, Merownis waited. While he waited, he tried to remember what had come before all of this nothingness. What had he been doing? There was a glimmer of a memory, but it slipped through his mind¡¯s numb fingers before he could grasp it.

    After struggling with that for a few formless aeons, he decided this clearly wasn¡¯t going to work.

    ¡°Help!¡± Merownis shouted, and in doing so, remembered his voice. It was a voice to be proud of, Merownis was sure. It wasn¡¯t as deep as Talassus- oh! That was another memory! Once they started, they came faster and faster. He roared, listening happily to the sound as it echoed back. He growled, enjoying the feeling of vibration in his chest and throat. Over the course of the next period of infinitely stretching time, Merownis reacquainted himself with his body. Now he remembered it was there, he was very glad to see it was intact.

    Except it seemed¡­ less. It was all the right shape and the right size but he had the overwhelming sense that this shape he had found himself within was not his ¡°true¡± form. The thought sent him on a decade-long spiral of self-doubt which he eventually crawled his way out of with a shout. As his voice returned, the act of echoing became important. ¡°Why though?¡± He asked.

    Why? The echo repeated. The answer didn¡¯t appear quickly, but Merownis wasn¡¯t rushed. As he pondered, the reason became clear. If there was an echo, it meant there was something for the sound to bounce off, returning it to his ears. Not willing to get stuck on why he remembered what an echo was, but not the functions of his own body, he finally opened his eyes.

    The empty darkness disappeared. Mostly.

    Instead, Merownis realised he was floating in a long hallway. As with most things in this strange place, observation meant change, so the bubble which he had been hovering within popped. The return of gravity was unwelcome, though the catlike reflexes of his race kicked in. Sundercat. They had been something else before, but once the world was broken and bereft of energy, Sundered by the Tree¡­

    Even as he tried to delve deeper into those memories, they faded and became locked away. This wasn¡¯t like forgetting. It was being told ¡°no¡± by a power much greater than himself. Merownis didn¡¯t fight against it, fearing the unknown strength which stole the knowledge of his homeworld might take something else. In fact, he welcomed it. ¡°There is no joy in those memories,¡± Merownis whispered, ¡°you may have them all.¡±

    Then, he began to walk, a being with just a name and no history. As he passed doors in the corridor, he heard sounds behind them. He smelled interesting and wonderful scents. The identity of each room he passed brushed against him. A sea breeze. A well-spiced meal. The warm tang of blood. He brushed the handles of some doors, drawn to them, but never entered. Though the hallway was impossibly long, he eventually reached an end, and found he didn¡¯t like the door there.

    The wood of the final door held a strange aura, dangerous and foreboding. The pale wood was almost white and it seemed to drain the colour of the area around it. Without getting too close, Merownis turned around and walked the hallway once more. A few of the doors spoke to him, and he rested his hand on them to see if it felt right to open the door.

    The first one he found which seemed right was a larger door than most. As he held the handle, images of a jungle appeared in his mind. The smells of dirt after rain and of trees drying in the sun. The sounds of birds and other creatures to hunt. He salivated at the thought, but the primal reaction was exactly why he left that door. He was no brute, after all. Glad he had remembered, Merownis began bouncing a Mana Bolt in his hand as he walked.

    Merownis was more discerning the next time he stopped, and as his hand found the crystal knob of this door, he smiled. The savoury perfume of old paper and leather ignited his senses with nostalgia. He had spent years learning in a place like that, hadn¡¯t he? Or perhaps, some other Merownis had¡­

    It wasn¡¯t right. Each time he found a place which felt familiar or interesting, he stopped and waited. Though he didn¡¯t know why, the rooms beyond were offering him a change. If he went through the first door, he would be remade with strength. The door to the library would have given him knowledge. Another one he checked came with the heady scent of a sea breeze, something completely new to the humanoid tigerman. Yet, entering these doors would take something, too. A binding which had been sliced would be rebound tighter.

    Grant Kaeron.

    By the time he found his door, there was no other choice. Merownis heard laughter behind it, a man and a woman. As he gripped the handle, he forced himself to wait. As he approached, the energy from within the door had doubled with each step until I had almost been hard to push through. Except, it drew him in at the same time, pushing and pulling, asking if this was truly his final choice.

    He knew it was, of course. Unlike the other exits from this strange place, this door asked nothing of Merownis but trust. It did not offer incredible, immediate power or vast changes to his physiology like some of the others. The boon here would be allies and the ability to better help them than himself. Merownis smiled and walked through the door.

    Congratulations. Evolution selected.

    Due to the nature of the Evolution, additional Spirit is required. Requesting additional Spirit.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Thirty Four - Companionship

    Like touching a live wire, once the connection started I couldn¡¯t get away. My eyes slammed shut and I centred all of my focus on what was happening. The well of Spirit I had recovered was quickly being drained and it was all I could do to slow down the flow of energy from me to it. The source was clear because the connection didn¡¯t only go one way. I saw flashes of a life lived before the dungeon.

    I was Merownis. I hunted with an agile body alongside the strength of mana to catch prey, although the desolation of the world made such victories scarce. I returned to a jungle home, quiet and solitary. My days were spent with a community who cared for each other despite the distance created in their stoic culture. Many snapshots of a past which I knew may have never truly existed. I knew it wasn¡¯t my past, but I had to fight to retain my individuality amongst the river of vivid visions.

    Overwhelming the nostalgia enforced by these images was a different, more stubborn emotion. Merownis was looking ahead, ignoring the distracting remembrance. I pulled my consciousness from the stream and watched my party member. Determination and hope for a more concrete future made the sounds of the jungle fade away. The lack of depth to the incepted history became clearer, a painting of a real moment. I understood his anger. Within the confines of the System, nothing he did would be real. It would all be at the behest of a power he didn¡¯t understand. His discontent was palpable. Merownis wanted more.

    The System had created Merownis and the other Sundercats from mana and Spirit, filled them with memories they could never have lived and told them to kill humans. Namely, me. Through our connection I sensed that the System was presenting him with a choice of some sort, and that he wasn¡¯t happy with his options. He was trying to choose something different. So, he was taking the strength to create a new path from me. I could only sigh and allow it, as I had planted the seeds for this choice with Severance and a dash of impulsive stupidity.

    Like a spool of unravelling thread, I could do nothing but let Spirit from myself go into fueling whatever change was happening. Sweating from the sudden exertion forced on me, I started to worry. Insidious thoughts came to mind like, ¡°what if I don¡¯t have enough Spirit?¡± Or ¡°This was a mistake.¡±

    I rejected the mutinous angle of my anxieties and gave as much as I could all at once. To my surprise, the greedy connection stopped just short of completely emptying me out. I had resigned myself to another angry and painful tug-of-war with the System for survival but the pressure simply stopped all at once. I opened my eyes and turned to the caf¨¦ just in time to see the roof explode upwards as a gout of mana smashed outwards, destroying the windows and breaking the door.

    Naea shoved her way out of my grip and zipped over with interest. I had grabbed her instinctually to protect her from the shrapnel. I didn¡¯t expect a thank you, but I was glad I did it anyway because more than one large shard had punched into my back. At the wrong angle, one of those could have sheared off a wing. I thanked the System for my increased attributes as I came away with just a few scrapes instead.

    ¡°Is he alive?¡± I called over, only half-joking. Did I blow him up? The intrusive thought pierced the gathering cold from my emptied out Spirit Well. I shivered. I would need to gain a few skill levels to thaw myself out, but it could wait. The discomfort was manageable, and the more pressing issue of the caf¨¦ crumbling was more important. I groaned as I pushed myself to my feet and moved inside.

    The walls had been scorched by pure mana, the searing force of its passage tearing away the paint and the base layer. The shell of the caf¨¦ was all which was left. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to bibbity-bobbity-boo this mess,¡± Naea sighed sadly. I felt the loss, too. This place had been the source of¡­ everything. Now it was truly destroyed. For all that, there was a shining beacon of energy still pulsating in the centre of the place. I didn¡¯t like the creaking and groaning of the structure, so I picked up the dazed form of the large tigerman and jumped out the now open windows.

    The force of my escape must have been the final straw for the caf¨¦, which buckled and collapsed in on itself with a sad plume of dust. I dropped the heap of fur in my arms to the ground unceremoniously and watched as my safe space crumpled into a spider¡¯s carcass with upturned legs of metal supports and a heavy body of rubble. It wasn¡¯t Merownis¡¯ fault. It wasn¡¯t even mine, really. I still held it against him all the same.

    Unable to avoid the backlash of such a heavy use of Spirit, I fell to my knees once the adrenaline passed. The frozen wind howling inside of me colluded with the loss of my sanctuary to steal my breath for a time. A lumpy mass of Spirit hung heavy in the air above Clive¡¯s, slowly draining into the dungeon to claim it. ¡°So that¡¯s my limit¡­¡± I whispered, sizing up the complex magical weight. A paddling pool¡¯s worth, and not much more. I shuddered and nudged the still prone form of Merownis. ¡°You better have been worth it,¡± I joked. The words didn¡¯t sound jovial, but I didn¡¯t have the energy to care.

    ¡°I will,¡± came the pained reply, ¡°once the fire behind my eyes dies down. Once it''s over.¡± I grunted and kept my gaze on the Spirit clumped in the air. While it was getting smaller¡­ wasn¡¯t it also getting clearer? Merownis said this wasn¡¯t over, and the magic seemed to agree, beginning to spin like a cyclone. Before I could do anything, the tip of the tornado shot down to the huddled form of the Sundercat. He became a vacuum for the power. Another second later and that same unknown force arced over to me.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    I braced, but the wave of pure comfort and warmth which washed through me was a startling shock compared to the beating I had been experiencing and expecting more of. As nothing could stay good for long, the voice of the System spoke. Hearing it again filled me with dread, the initial moments of the Shift bruising my mostly healed mind with images of death and panic. I rejected the fear, replacing it with fury. This was the personification of the end of the world.

    ¡°Party member evolution complete.¡±

    The dense, complexly woven rope of Spirit which bound Merownis to myself grew taut before snapping, each of us pulling away a part of the whole. As with the light inside the caf¨¦ before, Merownis was suddenly aglow with luminescence. Though this was his moment of change, and most of the energy went to his evolution, the bundle of energy which came my way was full of the System¡¯s intent. I accepted it willingly, not sure if I had a choice either way.

    Achievement Unlocked - Companion Coach (World First)

    Assist a companion creature to an evolution, either through providing materials or power. As the first in your world to perform this task, the rewards have been increased.

    Effect: Allies receive a slight experience boost when near you

    +2 Command and Regeneration per level, +1 free attribute point per level

    Any issues I had with Merownis destroying the caf¨¦ and absorbing all my Spirit were gone as the achievement settled into my core. The size of the imaginary sun grew slightly and I sighed in contentment. ¡°Did you just get another achievement?¡± Naea asked, apparently a little put out. ¡°You didn¡¯t even do anything!¡±

    I didn¡¯t bother explaining that I had just risked my life to give Merownis the power needed to complete whatever change was happening. I just lay on the ground with my eyes closed to avoid the glare from his transformation. Once the light died down, I blearily cracked one open. ¡°You alive?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Merownis moaned. I snorted, happy to let a few minutes of quiet pass before trying to move again. For all I knew, I would accidentally press a button and suck out the rest of my soul for some weird reason. Like that stupid staff-

    I sat bolt upright.

    The movement was too much, and I heaved, but didn¡¯t vomit. A good omen. ¡°Would you look after this one?¡± I asked Naea, already stumbling towards the treeline. A string of expletives was casually leaving my lips as I stomped my way over to the arena. The Adolescent Amphibian Attack Animals were waiting, though the other denizens of the forest were not gathered. This was a break in routine, for sure. I was a little sad not to have an audience because I was full of confidence as I walked down the steps towards the frustrating Jingu Bang.

    I brushed my hand against its lacquered wood. I traced my fingers over the etchings marking their way partially down from the shaft. It was a beautiful piece of equipment when it wasn¡¯t fighting me for control. The wood was smooth with a golden brown colouration. Both ends were adorned with a dark metal covering with weaving patterns all over. It fit in my grasp perfectly.

    Work with me.

    The just-replenished Spirit was once again mobilised alongside as much mana as I could gather. The magic combined, my strength of will joining the power of my magic to form a spear. At the tip of the spear was my intent, shaved down to a point. There was a manic aura hanging over me but I grasped the impulsive desires and wove them into my plea. I had been going about the problem all wrong. The Jingu Bang wasn¡¯t looking for someone to defeat it and use it. It had its own Spirit, and more than anything what that Spirit had told me was that it liked to play games.

    When I met the staff with strength, it happily fought against me while absorbing my mana to keep the game going. The staff was a lot like the Xaverweave Pouch, I realised. What I had thought of as taunting for days was just the childlike attitude of a playful monkey¡¯s favourite weapon. The description of the Jingu Bang suggested it was no ordinary item, along with the everpresent tugging of Spirit which suggested an achievement was waiting when I managed to move it.

    I hadn¡¯t expected one from Merownis, but that very boon had lit an unstoppable fire under me. I wanted to leave the forest and push on. I wanted to escape the dungeon. This new world was dangerous but it could also be incredible. I wanted to see it, face those dangers and find the wonders beyond. I didn¡¯t want to be a conqueror, despite what the sleeping dragon in my best might like.

    Please, I beseeched the staff, neither of us want to stay here. Let¡¯s go do something fun.

    My hand leaning against the solid weight, I almost fell on my face as that ballast disappeared. Stumbling a few steps, I looked back to the centre of the arena, finding it empty. With excitement and a little confusion, I looked at my clenched fist. There, light as a feather, was the Jingu Bang, vibrating with power. For the final time before I crashed into the desert zone, the System gathered a dense cloud of Spirit and threw it my way. I closed my eyes as my core drank the energy greedily. I watched as rivers of multicoloured power flowed into the burning star of my core.

    When I opened my eyes, the achievement was waiting.

    Achievement Unlocked - Artefact Wielder (World First)

    Certain items hold a weight beyond their physical presence in the world. Often, many versions of the same weapon or armour exist in different places upon the Tree. Artefacts, not so. This unique item is bound to you, and as its wielder, the weight of your soul grows. As the first in your world to perform this task, the rewards have been increased.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Thirty Five - Sand

    Ding! Level up! +10 Attribute points! +3 Command, Strength, Recovery and Regeneration Attributes, +1 Power and Resilience Attributes!

    ¡°Yeah but it could have been more,¡± I grumbled. I tried to indulge in a little childish petulance at not receiving any real benefits for the achievement I had spent ten days hunting but the results were too incredible. In the time since my last level up, I had doubled my attribute gain per level from twelve to twenty four attribute points each time I broke the barrier.

    It was also clear, as I left the mass of corpses behind, that it was taking me much longer to level up than it had before. I felt that the difference wasn¡¯t as simple as larger energy requirements between levels, but that the amount of attributes I now gained were a factor also. Someone without an Aspect or any of my achievements would probably rise in level five times faster than me over the same level. Not that I would actually complain. The feeling of this level up was like nothing I had ever experienced. Even before using the ten free points, I felt wonderfully infused with power.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    18

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    90/90

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    145/145

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    16

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    18

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    14

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    12

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    19

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    14

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    26

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    24

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    29

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    90/90

    </td>

    <td>

    1.8 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    145/145

    </td>

    <td>

    24 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Now I was almost spoilt for choice with what to do with the rest. Despite not gaining any levels for over a full day and night cycle, I had grown stronger. The Spirit Well skill added a general boost to anything I expended its power on, though I was careful. I could never be too sure a sudden random occurrence wouldn¡¯t demand my full pool of Spirit. A larger pool than before, thanks to the achievements. With a few coming at once, it was clear that the ¡°weight of the soul¡± which some of my titles and achievements mentioned was connected to this strange power source.

    The heat of the desert was still making me feel anaemic, so I placed six points into Resilience. Under the hot sun, it was noticeable how much more comfortable the additional attribute points made me. To keep the numbers clean, I added one to Command to bring it to thirty, and so my health pool was full at 120 and mana pool held 150. The final three, I added to Perception. I was having a hard time spotting the scorpions before they attacked. As with each level up, I had to calm down my overconfidence. I felt like I could take on the world.

    Beyond using Spirit to influence my skills, which I did sparingly, I had finally faced actual enemies and so the skills themselves had begun to grow again. More experience with each added to my ability in more subtle ways than the effects of a skill level. No levels yet, but I was getting very close. Almost more exciting, the act of collecting my skills into constellations in my mind had changed the System interface. I had suspected it might work like that, but it was nice to see confirmation and a slightly cleaner display.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Mana Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Spirit Well (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Unique

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Savant (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Legendary

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Heavy Blow (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Haste (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Bolt (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Manasight (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dragonburn (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Auxiliary Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Party Leader (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Epic

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Meditate (Level 5)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mental Fortress (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Stealth (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Tracking (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    While my combat skills had seen a decent amount of use, Stealth and Tracking were next to useless against the senses and ambushes in the desert. I quickly reconfirmed my hate of the desert and its sandy bunkers full of scorpions. They were good for crafting materials, if I ever figured out a way to make a use of chitin. That train of thought brought storm clouds as I remembered Clive¡¯s was now a pile of rubble.

    Merownis was hanging back to clear up some of the debris in case anything was usable. After claiming the Jingu Bang, I was buzzing with anticipation to head into the desert, but I offered the Sundercat a chance to join me. Merownis had changed subtly. He stood taller, and a little broader, but not by much. He was still getting used to the changes brought by his evolution, but I could no longer see a nameplate to know whether he was a higher level or if something else had changed. The mana which clung to him like a magnet was powerful, though.

    I wasn¡¯t upset to be out here alone, but I was definitely excited to see what the other mage could do. My own Mana Bolts were becoming like musket shots now, easily able to shear the thick armour of a giant scorpion away with a single blow. Between the efficacy of my new attributes, Mana Bolt and Heavy Blow were devastating. Which was good, because the absolute swarms of enemies which exploded from the sands were terrifying.

    How would the people outside the dungeon deal with these things, I wondered? I imagined a stampede of these things running through Thistledon and shivered even in the blazing sun. Then, I forced myself to be positive and began imagining the abilities those outside the dungeon would have. What kinds of Aspects were out there? Were people figuring out magic like I had? Without the large amount of attribute points to push into the skill, I might have stuck to the more, for lack of a better word, mundane attributes.

    I flicked a Mana Bolt into a nearby dune, bursting the top like I had shot a cannonball at the sand structure. Thanks to Manasight, I had caught a glimpse of a dark shell, which was in turn enough to activate the System¡¯s analysis. Without even bothering, I launched the skill and watched as the irate arachnids fell to the more even ground. While they spent time righting themselves, I lobbed a couple more heavy Mana Bolts into the mix.

    The amount of mana I could use in a single bolt rose one to one with my Command attribute. I didn¡¯t use the full strength often, though. There was a diminishing return to the power I put in the attack didn¡¯t really cause damage if it didn¡¯t hit directly. However, in a situation like this where I was the aggressor, I didn¡¯t mind being a little wasteful to clear the pile. The pair of amber orbs landed well, each taking the life of a giant scorpion as the energy buried into their abdomen and burst them from within.

    Then it was time for the horde.

    The mana cost to analyse this collection of fifteen or so giant scorpions wasn¡¯t as restrictive as it was the first time. My own level seemed to matter against the cost, as well as having already analysed others of their kind. An arrangement of dark colours and levels in the teens appeared over the top of the incoming horde. I began to gather some more mana when the staff I had been neglecting started to vibrate.

    With a smirk, I spun the weapon around. ¡°Come on then,¡± I nodded, ¡°let¡¯s get messy.¡± When I began to approach, the claws of the insectoid monstrosities rose in defiance. Those things could easily take my whole arm or a leg if they got around me, but only if they could reach. The bravest scorpion drove forward, legs clicking awfully as it sprinted as fast as a car.

    Before it got close, the Jingu Bang met it with a stab which forced it back into the sand. The weapon reverted to its original size, having grown a few metres even after colliding with the scorpion. I smiled. That would genuinely never get old. The shapeshifting of the weapon was also very mana-efficient at the cost of slowing my regeneration when I wielded the weapon with full intent. It was as though I had to give permission to the weapon to let loose, and it worked on its own.

    Once I had claimed the staff, the description had changed.

    Item - Jingu Bang (Artefact)

    The mischievous nature of its original owner still thrives within the wood of the Jingu Bang. It longs for adventure and will aid its wielder upon any path it believes to be interesting. If provided with a consistent source of mana, the Jingu Bang can become more attuned to its wielder.

    For the most part, I followed the flow of battle which the Jingu Bang itself dictated. As a claw descended, I swung the hard staff brutally. If the weapon asked for more mana, I gave it while continuing the dance I was being led on. Over time I would learn how to better use the weapon but for now allowing the experience which was stored within the staff to do the walking was much more effective.

    A stinger shot past my face and I could feel the staff in my hand vibrate a few times. It was chuckling as it nearly got my nose torn off. Without me noticing, I had been drawn into the middle of the group with about ten enemies still standing. I almost rolled my eyes. Though our partnership was still new, I knew exactly what the staff wanted of me. It pulsed with happiness when I used Heavy Blow through it, but more than that, it loved when I used Haste. Trusting the instincts of the Jingu Bang, I activated the skill.

    An incoming attack seemed to freeze in the air before struggling through the enforced slow. There was a ripple and even more time was stolen as the skill levelled up with its use. The skill pattern, marked around my ankles and lower calves, morphed slightly. The skill would allow more mana per second now, which I allowed. It was an expensive burst, but I¡¯d be lying if I said it didn¡¯t feel as incredible as it likely looked.

    I drove the staff into the sand and used it like a vaulting pole. Working with me, the elasticity of the wood increased massively before becoming rigid. I spun through the air like a saw, slicing clean through the first scorpion I aimed myself at. Before the sand had settled from the first leap, the entire bed of them was downed. I still moved a little bit away before collapsing.

    The heat combined with the speed and exertion required for a full-powered Haste alongside the Jingu Bang nearly had me passing out, but the influx of energy towards levelling kept me upright. I wasn¡¯t even a quarter of the way to the next level, and for all my walking I hadn¡¯t seen a single landmark of interest in the desert. I sucked a sharp, hot breath in through my nose and regretted it.

    I really, really hated this place.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Thirty Six - Structural

    I made my return to the home base without gaining another level, which cemented the idea that the achievements had slowed down my speed of progression a lot. I had to remind myself that my growth was likely much more explosive than most, and the dull ache from hours of battling was soothed somewhat. Thinking of dulled stingers brought me back to the reason I needed to return, and I picked up my pace, even using Haste sparingly to get back to the rubble which was once Clive¡¯s quicker.

    ¡°He returns!¡± Naea announced as I broke the treeline. She was over to me in a flash, her wide amber eyes scrutinising the various places I had taken damage like a worried mother. I assuaged her worries, telling her I¡¯d be healed already if I hadn¡¯t been rushing to get back.

    ¡°All so you wouldn¡¯t be bored without me,¡± I pretended to lament my struggles with theatricality. As I did, I removed the weight from my inventory. Dumping out around a hundred scorpion carcasses noticeably lightened the load in the Xaverweave Pouch. The ¡°important¡± materials were already gathered for me by the System, but I had collected the bodies in full for Naea. From the scorpions, the important materials seemed to be their poison sacs, of which I had twelve, and their chitin, which I had an actual tonne of. Every enemy gave over some of their exoskeleton in death, but only a few had dropped the poison sacs, suggesting there was a luck-based hidden system. Or maybe I had just done too much damage to most of the horrible arachnids. Either way was possible.

    ¡°Whatcha going to do now?¡± Naea asked, her interest genuine. Smiling, I sat down with her and shared some of my breakfast bars. The supplies from Clive¡¯s would still last a fair while, but I hadn¡¯t rationed very well to start with so now I was being forced to slow down. It was a shame nothing in the dungeon seemed particularly edible. If I were more of a chef, maybe I could do something but¡­

    ¡°Wait. There¡¯s a cooking skill, right?¡± I asked Naea, only now thinking of it. There were so many things I was excited to get around to when I had the chance. The System didn¡¯t have to all be death and destruction. Forced to live with it, I was determined to find the wonder in its existence in spite of the brutality it enforced.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Naea replied before looking around with a doubtful expression, ¡°but you don¡¯t really have the facilities.¡± Gesturing to the shack of a building I had made and the mess of the other, I couldn¡¯t disagree. I shook my head. I wasn¡¯t thinking of right now, but I was limiting my thinking on skills a little. Construction had led to Architecture which then gave me the work shed. I just wanted to try more things when I could.

    It was spur of the moment, but the desolation of the area was getting me down. Even my work shed had been bashed a little by the collapse of the caf¨¦. I looked at the massive pile of scorpions, which Naea was staring at like a pile of crab legs, and then over to the slightly smaller pile of debris. Merownis had pushed it into more of a pile before leaving, which was all I had really asked of him. ¡°Facilities, huh?¡± I hummed to myself.

    Now the Xaverweave Pouch was mostly empty, there was probably more than enough room for all of this¡­

    Holding it open, my fingers started to tingle as the pouch¡¯s dimensional magic began to activate. Whatever was happening within the bag was so beyond my level it didn¡¯t even seem like mana or Spirit was being used, but I could tell both were. It was just so miniscule, and so efficient the Pouch only had to draw on the ambient energy around itself to perform its tricks. In this case, it was a disappearing act.

    After walking a few quick lengths of the mess, the Pouch had gathered up the fallen sanctuary. All of it. Even things which I would have struggled to pull from the ground were swooped up confusingly into its maw. It also did gain additional weight. It was subtle, felt mostly in the changes between full, empty and now full again it had undergone. I patted the pouch, feeling its rotund happiness with a chuckle of my own.

    It really was quite cute.

    A quick check of my inventory told me I had been right. The old brick used to make up the walls of the building and the concrete used later all counted as simple ¡°Stone¡± to the System. Which, along with a few of my thousands of gold coins and a bit of lumber was enough to upgrade the work shed.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Building Options

    </td>

    <td>

    Workshed

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Upgrade

    </td>

    <td>

    10g, 10 units of lumber, 10 units of stone

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Demolish

    </td>

    <td>

    20 units of lumber returned

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Happily accepting the upgrade, I felt a slight breeze of Spirit burp out of the Xaverweave Pouch and shoot over to the shoddy building. Like a pop up book and a carousel all in one, the wood and metal of the shed expanded and rose into the air. With a blink of System mana, the additional wood and stone were added to the mix. The materials spun in the air above the foundation, Naea and I taking a few steps back just in case.

    Building Upgrade options available for Work Shed.

    Barn Workshop

    It was a very basic building, so I was more surprised to have options than to be limited. I didn¡¯t have any use for a barn unless I wanted to piss Merownis off, so while it was tempting, I selected Workshop. It was gracious of the System to consider my small room with a few heavy pieces of wood as tables a ¡°work shed¡± to begin with. The stone spinning in the air above the building fell to the ground, joining the foundations before extending upwards at the four corners. With the support structure in place, the rest of the puzzle pieces fell into place. With a procession of satisfying clicks, the System slotted all of the remaining materials together neatly and with rapid precision. Even after the building was finished being constructed, there was the noise of some kind of work from within for a few seconds. After that¡­

    Building Upgrade Complete - Work Shed -> Workshop

    My mouth was agape, so I didn¡¯t get the chance to speak first. ¡°Wow, it even has a door now,¡± Naea said, clearly not as impressed as I was. I ignored her, walking over to touch the outer wall. The wood had been altered, improved in some way. It was still the same wood as before, I thought, but the System had made it tougher. I rapped on the side, nodding happily at the deep thunk it made. I had just enough levels in Architecture and Construction to know this was far beyond my current skills and equipment.

    Except, if I was right-

    ¡°Yes!¡± I pumped my fist in the air as I poked my head inside. A neat and efficient looking work space was laid out perfectly. Multiple shelves and tables were arranged for different tasks, with stools at some for the longer, more intricate jobs. At the far wall were a few storage containers for materials. I assumed they weren¡¯t going to be useful with the scale of scorpion chitin I had, but when I touched one the System simply asked if I wanted to store my crafting supplies.

    Almost shakingly, I accepted, and the weight in my pouch disappeared once more. I almost couldn¡¯t believe my eyes when the System showed me the ¡°Workshop inventory.¡± It was more than I expected for the amount of coin and effort I put in, which is to say minimal. There wasn¡¯t much more room to work with, but for an extra fifty gold which I paid, the space was doubled. The next doubling was one hundred, but I could wait on that.

    I didn¡¯t want to let myself get lost in the room just yet, so I simply scanned the equipment the System had provided before leaving. There were chisels and hammers, small knives, pliers and more in one corner. Another had gardening tools like a hoe, a rake and a shovel. The third looked almost custom made to cobble some shoes together, though I hadn¡¯t seen a lot of the tools there before. The final corner was mostly free, ready for a larger project. The workshop was sizable, taking up around two hundred square feet.

    All told, I was very happy.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Building Options

    </td>

    <td>

    Workshop

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Upgrade

    </td>

    <td>

    500g, 100 units of lumber, 40 units of stone, 30 metal

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Demolish

    </td>

    <td>

    25 units of lumber, 5 units of metal returned

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    I could get a lot of good things started here, but I would be distracted if I didn¡¯t handle the nagging thought first. I hadn¡¯t seen Merownis since I returned. I had barely seen a single orange hair of his since his evolution, and I was starting to get curious. ¡°Where is Merownis?¡± I asked Naea. Last I had seen him, he was holding his head from the magical migraine of evolution.

    She responded only by smiling widely and pointing in the direction of the arena.

    In an effort to not get sidetracked with skill hunting, I went to find him. Considering he was supposed to be a party member, I hadn¡¯t seen much of him since he awoke. As I approached the overgrown area of the forest, I couldn¡¯t help feeling slightly worried. A fox darted through the brush ahead of me and I had to control myself not to lash out with a Mana Bolt. The furry thing kept pace with me, watching as I made my way deeper into the forest.

    I believed I had missed these creatures in my early wanderings because they had avoided me, not so much due to luck. There was a fair collection of woodland animals in the forest which were all around level five or lower. While I hadn¡¯t seen any monsters appear yet, the ecosystem of the area was becoming somewhat clear. The lowest level creatures, the critters, were hunted by the slightly more powerful, like an Attack Animal.

    Once an Attack Animal got strong enough, they challenged Ents or Sundercats and then¡­ I wasn¡¯t sure. Maybe the Claimant would have been overthrown at some point, though I couldn¡¯t imagine many things defeating Master Thorn. For myself it had basically been dumb luck, after all. Without learning to control Spirit and using it drastically, surprising both Thorn and I with an overwhelming Mana Bolt, I would have died and the balance would have stayed where it was.

    Now the aura of aggression in the forest had died down, creatures like this fox were able to be more visible. My Perception attribute had also taken a large leap recently, and when I activated Tracking, the whole forest around me lit up. There were dozens of trails I had failed to spot, despite my large ego just preening over my Perception. All of them were headed in the direction of the arena, which caused me to frown until I felt the wave of force press against me.

    Come, the energy said, witness my power.

    It was a challenge I couldn¡¯t ignore.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Thirty Seven - Tigerskin

    When Merownis had first woken up, his body felt distant and numb. Like he had been placed into unfamiliar fur and painted Merownis-coloured, squashed into a familiar shape then forced into the light. If he could, Merownis would go back to this blissfully desensitised time and stay there. Unfortunately, in his inspection of himself, Merownis had noticed a problem.

    His mana core did not survive the transition, shattering to be reformed. To be refined.

    Though he retained some whisper of the experiences from evolution, Merownis did not truly remember what had happened. One moment he had been kneeling before Grant and the dungeon strained around them, the next he was waking up with head splitting pain. Being wholly unable to control any of the loose mana inside was like being unable to breath.

    It had been all he could do to get away from Grant and Naea before tearing through the forest like a wild beast. Without mana control, Merownis knew, there was little difference anyway. The beast wearing Merownis¡¯ skin bounded viciously around the biome, knocking down trees and terrifying any creature unfortunate enough to end up in his way. While Grant was in the desert, the jungle had been filled with agonised roaring.

    To his annoyance, despite having nearly no control over himself, Merownis¡¯ lucidity was almost impressive. As his tortured physical self did as it wished, the intelligent Sundercat¡¯s mind set to understanding. It was sluggish, forcing a brain which wanted to give up and become primal into action, but he came to some conclusions over his rampage.

    First, he was recovering. More than that. With the suffocating, stagnant mana, it was hard to get a sense of himself. He seemed stronger. Faster. Was this a trade he had made willingly? To lose something precious for simple strength? No, he wouldn¡¯t have given up his magic for anything, even Grant and the strange opportunity he offered. Not only was it precious to him, even if the memories he based that value on hadn¡¯t happened, they were real to Merownis.

    The loss of a mana core would be deadly, and once Merownis realised he wasn¡¯t dead, something else must have been happening. Knowing objectively that he wasn¡¯t dying was the only reason Merownis was finally able to stand still and calm down. The pain was real enough, but it wasn¡¯t physical. His mana channels were trying to drink from the well of life, but their connection to the core had been severed. That left an acidic feeling in his muscles, but if he could just fix the problem¡­

    The second thing Merownis noticed was glaring in retrospect. The silence in his mind, thoughts belonging only to himself. His existence to now had been governed by a voice in his head, and now that dominating presence was simply gone. The voice of the System, a set of thoughts which sat on top of his own and stopped him from planning ahead. It was as though he had only come into existence when Grant had met him.

    Standing in the sunlight, like wet clay being dried, Merownis found his centre and tried to solidify around it. It was hard work. He began from the bottom, scratching the floor with sharp claws. After concentration, his calves and thighs stopped shaking. The pain in his stomach wasn¡¯t real, so he ignored it. That was just an echo from the ravages in his core. The sensation in his chest clamped on his lungs and made him lightheaded.

    With each revolution of this process, controlling his breathing and his thoughts as delicate internal workings brought his mana pathways together. Each time consciousness passed from the pads of his feet, past his stomach and over his core, another mana channel was collected. As Merownis gathered the scattered strands, from toes to eartip, the pain ebbed away bit by bit.

    In place of the receding ache was room for thought.

    Unable to govern where those thoughts lead, Merownis found himself in a dark, damp hut. The rain beating down outside was so vicious it was slashing through the old wicker bindings, and Merownis¡¯ mother was combing the droplets out of his hair as he cried. The rain always made his sensory issues worse. It was just so loud. Out-of-body like he was, he could see how paper-thin everything was. The veneer of reality, but even the eyes of his mother, cooing in his ear to calm him from the thunder, were glassy and dull.

    The Sundercat watched his life play out in a monochromatic dullness. Growing, not strong but wide. Knowing he was smart instead of brawny, so focusing on the wisp of mana he sensed within. Turning that control into something palpable and earning coin and respect in one of the desolate world¡¯s arenas. Even if the resources had been squeezed dry, a planet of gladiators was cheap to cultivate, after all.

    With a whiplash that threatened to knock him off his feet, Merownis returned to his body. He reminded himself those scenes were falsities. The anger which tingled over his fur was incredibly gratifying. As much as the System had bound his thinking up until now, it had created him in full. Now able to curse his creator, Merownis finally felt like a real creature. The memories which he held weren¡¯t, or they had happened to someone else, but the person those desires and memories left behind was. The knowledge the System had placed into his mind, into all created minds, on the inner workings was his lifeline to understanding.

    Merownis had never evolved before, but if it was always like this then he understood why most stayed at their level. To evolve was to break the limitations and the System did so by unravelling the whole and then adding more into the mix as it put the pieces back together. The evolved monster would be of a higher Grade, most likely able to use an Aspect or two to their fullest potential. That was how it was supposed to happen. Except, they had severed the System¡¯s touch, leaving Merownis alone.

    Almost alone.

    A vast amount of Spirit had smashed into him like a meteor, with no finesse at all. Merownis couldn¡¯t complain too much, as Grant was a novice. The energy had left its signature, though. A devilish grin came to his large face, as he tugged gently on the connection between himself and the human. Merownis¡¯ evolution would not be like others. Slow, slower than it had taken him to amass his mana channels, he began to push them towards his unformed core. Like the probing tendrils of a massive jellyfish, the mana channels floated back and forth, no fine control possible.

    His growth would be slow, too. Unlike a traditional evolution, Merownis had not launched into the next Grade. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    As Merownis repaired the damage, he was grateful to see the System begin to take over. It hadn¡¯t abandoned him completely. Merownis was disappointed by how relieved he felt even as deft fingers began to tie his mana channels together. He was sweating from the exertion of holding himself together. Opening his eyes, Merownis confirmed his location. At some point, he had stood in the centre of the arena and begun expelling vast amounts of mana. He hadn¡¯t chosen this place, but it spoke to strength in a way which resonated with the Sundercat. Life was a battlefield. The air, the ground, everything around him was warped by the potent, intentless power he supplied, happy to absorb it and change at random.

    Puffs of purple smoke appeared, carried by a breeze which whistled a sweet melody. Grass had begun to grow quickly between his toes and he marvelled at the manifestation of magic around him. This was far beyond his level of strength. At least, it had been. Any doubts over his evolution were banished, and Merownis continued cycling his energy over and over to connect every pathway possible to his new core with the System¡¯s help.

    He needed it, because his old core was still there, too. As he knew, to completely destroy or remove a mana core was impossible, and it was with utmost care that Merownis began to manipulate this damaged part of his soul. As he worked, the deftness of his spiritual actions increased massively, until he was spinning the core himself, weaving the threads of mana and Spirit around it tightly. The pieces of his old core were slotted into the new one without grace while Merownis did a final check of his memories.

    He remembered walking, and making a choice. This wasn¡¯t an implanted memory by the System, but something which had happened when he was evolving. He knew Grant had something to do with being given that choice, and looking at the incredibly pure and potent core which had torn through his old one, Merownis was unsure whether to thank the human or kill him. Grant had subjected him to a very uncomfortable process, after all.

    It was unfair to cast blame, as Merownis had been the one to choose, but it was Grant¡¯s amateur use of Spirit which had dislodged and dismantled the Sundercat Mage¡¯s previous core. As the issue was alleviated, his body and mind more his own with each passing second, Merownis realised it would be impossible to hold a grudge. When the gains were so drastic¡­

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Merownis Fereen

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Sundercat

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    None

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    23

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    75/75

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    200/200

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    14

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    11

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    19

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    22

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    23

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    18

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    12

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    40

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    75/75

    </td>

    <td>

    1 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    200/200

    </td>

    <td>

    12 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    With a casual thought, no movement needed, a ball of mana appeared in the air before firing across the arena and taking out a chunk of the wall. All of his attributes had jumped a little, but his Command had doubled. Slightly more exertion brought three of the orbs into being, all three firing off in different but intentional directions. He could feel Grant approaching. His grin only got wider.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Perfect timing,¡± Merownis called out to me as I arrived. Even before he spoke, I could tell he was having a whole moment by his auspicious positioning and the ambient magic in the air. I flicked a small mote of light, which ran up my arm instead of moving away before popping in a flash in my face. If the energy in the air was inherently combative towards me¡­

    ¡°You alright, buddy?¡± I asked cautiously. It would be a shame if he had gone mad and wanted to actually kill me. Instead of an answer, five balls of mana appeared around Merownis¡¯ head. Excitement started to rise within me as my mana cycled. I couldn¡¯t do that yet. ¡°You seriously want to fight magic with me?¡± Deep within, my draconic Aspect roared in delight at the challenge, ready to rip the Sundercat¡¯s head off. I probably wouldn¡¯t go that far, but it was hard to ignore the competition demanded by the arena¡¯s atmosphere.

    The caterwauling yowls of the crowd were already excited, and we hadn¡¯t even started. Merownis¡¯ orange colouration was deeper, the black of his fur had a laquered sheen. As we locked eyes, I felt the connection between us snap tight, pulling me down an arena step. Astonished at the audacity, I arrived at the arena floor quickly by continuing the momentum. Pulling me really was a step too far.

    Especially when I wanted to test myself so badly.

    ¡°Let¡¯s do this, then.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t sensed much of it before now, but Merownis and I were connected. A thin stream of Spirit ran between the two of us, supplied both ways. I could feel his readiness to stretch his new muscles, and I hadn¡¯t been challenged in nearly two weeks. Sure, the scorpions were dangerous, but not in a one on one sense. Merownis held all the power of a giant scorpion swarm in his clawed paws.

    My heart felt flighty. The collected intent of all creatures in attendance weighed on me. It demanded blood. The Jingu Bang was vibrating in my hand, itself excited. In an aggressively boastful decision, I calmly removed the Fan of Knives and threw it into the dirt near Merownis¡¯ foot. He shook his head but picked up the weapon, flaring it into a pair of sharp blades. Magic bubbled through my mana channels as an invisible starting flag was dropped.

    Then, the ground between us exploded.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Thirty Eight - Interruptions

    Thinking the attack was the first step of our spar, I moved around the dirty debris with a quick burst of Haste, only to find Merownis mid-air after being caught unawares himself. My reaction had been a little too quick, as I spun back around to the epicentre and saw a massive leg puncture the ground. ¡°That¡¯s way too big,¡± I cursed, dropping the skill and falling into a casual formation with Merownis.

    We shared a look which said the fight was merely postponed. ¡°Whoever kills this thing will likely raise up a level,¡± Merownis quipped before jumping to the right and pushing me with his feet. The incoming leg was avoided and I rolled to my feet while whirling the staff and focusing. With its main body hidden, I couldn¡¯t scan the creature to get a read on its level. A thick obstruction of dust was sticking to the opening in the ground like an intentional fog.  From the stink of mana around it, that was precisely what was happening.

    Strafing its position, I saw two of my ally¡¯s projectiles puff uselessly into the dust. I caught Merownis¡¯ eye and we moved to opposite sides of the creature. Wordlessly, we used our connection to coordinate our dodges. A few more useless Mana Bolts told me I needed to kick it up a notch. However, I wasn¡¯t the aggressor here, and the scorpion made the first move.

    I was forced into action. Although it couldn¡¯t be seen, the scorpion within was more than able to lash out. The first appearance of its tail was only blocked by the Jingu Bang¡¯s innate reactions. I fed it half of my mana regeneration, and the weapon happily collided with the creature¡¯s powerful attacks. The shaft extended quickly and pushed the incoming attack straight up, forcing me to go from focused to serious. I had been caught by the scorpion¡¯s poison before. It was paralytic and painful, but not enough to stop me unless I took too many at once.

    A thick green glob, the size of my head, landed in the dirt behind me and I didn¡¯t even need to look to know it was a lethal amount. The sizzling sound it made only made it more certain. ¡°Don¡¯t get hit by the stinger!¡± I shouted, reactivating Haste and running at the wall for leverage. The crowd had already dispersed for the most part, only the brave or foolish creatures remaining. I caught a glimpse of the orange fox watching on, imperious and unmoving.

    Even with time being stretched with Haste, I couldn¡¯t spare a moment. Battle was as much a mathematical equation as it was a dance of death. Time, minus mana, plus aggression equaled victory. Carefully using Dragonburn I spent forty mana on a bristling Mana Bolt, while avoiding letting the power seep into Haste. Pushing off the wall, I dodged another stab of the awful stinger and spun. Without my huge burst of speed, every attribute gained directed towards the motion, I would be dead.

    That realisation was crystalline. My life was brittle. With speed, time was meaningless. With enough strength, reality itself would buckle. I grasped the fear of that moment and impressed the intent to destroy the scorpion. The bolt went rigid as the power inside was crushed into a fine point. Shrinking from the size of a baseball to a pebble, the power was compressed. The magical ball was heavy in my hand as I pushed against the dense air in the way and hurled the crystal bolt into the dust cloud. This one wouldn¡¯t break apart.

    I was blessed with a screech of pain from within the cloud as the bolt exploded. My mana won out over the scorpion¡¯s finally and the obstruction was destroyed. A glistening silver body was waiting underneath, a more expressive set of features making up its face than I would have expected. Still reeling in pain, its many eyes were angrily scanning around. Gritting my teeth at the twenty mana cost, I analysed the enemy.

    Monster - Scorpion Prince - Level 26

    Returning to normal speed, I slipped one long swee[ing leg and smashed it into the ground with the Jingu Bang. ¡°Fucking thing isn¡¯t even a boss monster?¡± I complained. With the strength it was exerting, that was honestly a surprise. My attack had done some visible damage, one of its six legs crippled where it connected to the body. The limb hung limp and useless at the Scorpion Prince¡¯s side. Enough to slow the thing a little, but its lethality was mostly unchanged.

    It spun on Merownis who had begun to pepper its back with mana projectiles. Even in the midst of battle, I couldn¡¯t help being jealous. Merownis clearly had better control of his mana than I did, and probably more of it, too. Though his attacks seemed less powerful than a single Mana Bolt, from the barrage he was outputting, they cost nearly nothing. I would have to steal that technique.

    With its main defence removed and its offence ineffectual, it was only a matter of time for the Scorpion Prince. Without the element of surprise, its fast movements were easier to follow now and we set about dismantling the remaining legs. Within a minute of the creature¡¯s interruption, it had been slain, but I was running on empty and fell to the floor. The influx of experience, the Spirit gained from defeating the Scorpion Prince, shoved me into the next level. I was surprised. After the paltry amount of experience the giant scorpions had given me, my expectations had been off.

    Smiling at the rush of energy and power into my veins, I found myself standing opposite Merownis. Between us, the tunnel left by the Scorpion Prince yawned open. ¡°I got a level,¡± I continued smirking, ¡°how about you?¡± A flash of indignation crossed the Sundercat¡¯s features before being schooled back into place quickly.

    ¡°Such a weak creature would never be enough to grow in power,¡± the tigerman sniffed, recoiling from the scent of the area. I rolled my eyes and tapped the body to loot it. For the first time, a difficult battle hadn¡¯t left me a ruined mess, so I was in good spirits even before the material gains.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Would you like to loot Scorpion Prince (Level 26)?

    Watching my inventory screen, my eyes bulged at the incoming items before taking them out of the pouch as quickly as possible and throwing them on my hands. Two were crafting materials, the silver carapace and the prince¡¯s poison sac, but the third¡­ Merownis saw me hoarding the loot and began to protest but I dismissed him. ¡°You¡¯d just tear them with your claws, I bet.¡± I was the party leader, wasn¡¯t I?

    Plus, Naea¡¯s sparing use of Prestidigitation to clean my clothes hadn¡¯t removed my inherent disgust of my current trousers. The battle had once again made them slick with blood, the viscous stuff clung to the material and I just grunted and ripped them off in one movement. ¡°Just so you know,¡± Merownis drawled as I kicked off my self-made canvas shoes, ¡°you¡¯ll have to work harder than that to mate me.¡±

    I paused my wardrobe change to show the cat the birds before continuing. Using a trick I had learned over my many filthy days, I took a water bottle from my inventory and splashed a little on my grimy legs. A layer of mana on the outside of my hand was more effective than any soap, and I scrubbed myself quickly. Another second later and I had shoved my legs through the soft fabric, barely holding back a sigh of pleasure. ¡°If I wanted to mate, I¡¯d sooner choose a scorpion,¡± I returned with a wink.

    With an exaggerated expression of hurt, Merownis slumped to his knees. I stared at him with a straight face as he played out faux upset. I broke when he slapped the floor so hard I felt it in the shoes I had returned to my feet. For a while, there was no stopping the howling laughter which overcame us. It wasn¡¯t the joke, it was the immense release of pressure from having company with no strings attached. Naea had made me belly laugh, too. It was a blessing to have friends in this awful place. ¡°So, what do they do that made you so excited?¡± Merownis asked while sizing up the glittering corpse in the middle of the arena.

    I beamed as I opened the item description again. I would have been over the moon with pretty much any clean clothing at this point, but the description had nearly brought a tear to my eye when I read it the first time. It was just perfect.

    Item - Longstrider¡¯s Leggings

    The pilgrimage from the plains of Aggatal to the peak of Gigomagh was five times more deadly before the druids of Aggatal designed these leggings. With a simple enchantment for comfort and another for self-repair, the magic became common across the Tree.``

    I stroked my own leg as gently as I would the Xaverweave Pouch, until that very accessory noticed and got jealous. Still in good humour, I chucked and obliged the well behaved thing. I barely felt its movements on my body as I fought now, the bag was incredibly capable of keeping itself from taking damage. I suspected it was helped along by a magical effect to disappear I could not yet sense. ¡°And what do we do about this thing?¡± Merownis asked, gesturing to the fallen prince.

    I scoffed. ¡°Oh, that won¡¯t be a problem. Actually, where is Naea?¡±

    ¡°Mine. MINE. MINE. mine, mineminemine, mine, MINE.¡± I quickly hip checked Merownis to the side as Naea shot through his previous position. For an awful instant, I caught a glimpse of her mouth widening before my better instincts forced me to look away. Avoiding the noises she made, I dove into my inner world for some quick maintenance and status screen inspection.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Mana Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Spirit Well (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Unique

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Savant (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Legendary

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Heavy Blow (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Haste (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Bolt (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Manasight (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dragonburn (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Due to the speed and strength of the prince, I hadn¡¯t been able to level Heavy Blow up on its stupid, strong head. I could feel the skill getting closer to that next little boost, though. Mana Bolt had taken a slight jump, as had Manasight. The latter was likely from trying to pierce the Scorpion Prince¡¯s veil of dust, while the former was obvious. The improvement to Haste had come in handy, though hard to tell just how much more effective the skill was due to the speed of the enemy. Not wanting to brave the real world just yet, I placed my attribute points, too.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    19

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    21

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    21

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    12

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    19

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    17

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    27

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    27

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    33

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    I considered the spread of points. My Agility and Dexterity were at risk of falling behind¡­ except was that true? I was already fast, and able to manoeuvre at the olympic gymnastic level. If I needed more speed or strength, I could facilitate those things with my mana skills. Before I could argue myself out of it, I placed all five points into Power and five into Regeneration. With another mage around, I was feeling competitive. With the nearly assured promise of further battle underground, excitement trilled inside.

    Time to reclaim my speciality.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Thirty Nine - The Party

    I opened my eyes to a shell shocked Merownis. I patted him on the shoulder and he seemed to return to himself, but I doubted he was using Meditate like I was. He had been traumatised by Naea and dissociated instead. ¡°Try and shake it off.¡± Poor guy. I knew what he was going through. I made the mistake of peeking in on Naea¡¯s eating habits a single time, and now I did my best not to think about it.

    Such a wide maw. So many tentacles.

    The sounds would haunt me until my dying day, I was sure, but Naea was on my side and we had a promise of non-aggression so I never mentioned it and never would. Burping, the fairy arrived to lay languid on my head. I did my best not to shiver. ¡°That,¡± she burped again, ¡°was delightful.¡±

    ¡°Maybe for you,¡± Merownis shuddered. I could do nothing but shrug. It was part of our deal. The deaths in the dungeon made Naea more powerful, though really that was nothing to do with me. As she couldn¡¯t use that strength against me, or to assist me in any real way, it was mostly just a side effect. Moving over to the vacant hole in the ground, I had a look inside. It was wide enough to walk through without crouching.

    ¡°How did we miss this?¡± I asked, not looking for an answer. ¡°I¡¯m ready when you are.¡± I hadn¡¯t taken long in my inner world, but even a few minutes brought me to full health with my increasing regeneration and skill levels. Merownis was still recovering, and would be for an hour or so at a guess. I didn¡¯t want to wait, but the fight against the Scorpion Prince would have been a lot harder without Merownis¡¯ damage and distractions. Meeting another one in a confined space¡­

    Not ideal.

    I sat down with my back to the hole, my Perception more than enough to catch any approaching noises. Gesturing opposite myself for Merownis to sit, I gave him a measured look. ¡°Want to teach me how to make my mana form in the air?¡± I asked, swallowing a mouthful of pride. The unguarded surprise on his face was a pleasure to see, and the wide smile as his eyes darted around in thought was charming. Then, a look of doubt.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± He dithered, ¡°but it¡¯s not easy.¡± A small mote appeared in the air around him with no visible effort and I squinted my eyes.

    ¡°I happen to be a quick study. Just give me the basics.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s kind of the problem,¡± Merownis responded. ¡°Magic Missile is basic. It¡¯s not actually a Mana Bolt, though. They¡¯re different skills. Magic Missile is so simple I haven¡¯t ever had to think about how I actually do it. In a real sense, I was born with the ability.¡±

    I frowned, finding this information curious. So, it was a problem with my fundamentals, was it? I lounged into the arcane posturing we were doing. ¡°So, can you make a Mana Bolt?¡± I asked, forming a solid orb from ten mana and tossing it into the air gently. I would recover the amount in about twenty seconds. The cat¡¯s eyes of my companion followed the orb perfectly before shooting it out of the air with an audible pop.

    ¡°Let¡¯s try a game?¡± Merownis asked, a glint of mischievous glee reflecting in his eyes. ¡°The rules are straightforward. You keep a Mana Bolt alive while I try to destroy it.¡± What followed was an unspoken exercise in aggravation as Merownis used his Magic Missiles to rip apart my Mana Bolts. This wasn¡¯t the training I had expected, but I quickly became serious as the growing rivalry between us became even more solidified.

    ¡°How do I win?¡± I replied, already forming another Mana Bolt. He said nothing in response, merely popping the new bolt with a single missile while a smile widened on his face. I glared a little. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s like that? No point telling me the win condition if I can¡¯t do it?¡± Merownis just inclined his head for me to create another projectile.

    The game was simple, but frustrating. Having what I considered my main offence countered so easily was humbling, and the desire to prove myself grew with each iteration of bolt which the Sundercat destroyed. I wanted to win without relying on Dragonburn or Spirit Well, which were best kept as last resorts for serious battles. Merownis wasn¡¯t using additional skills, after all. I wouldn¡¯t give up, though. I wanted to defeat him with magic alone.

    Over the next ten minutes, we battled innocently while I came to a painful realisation. The Sundercat was much better at using mana than I was. I might have better regeneration and more Power but in the face of technique, it was annoyingly futile. Reminding myself that Merownis had been using magic his whole life did nothing to assuage me when I remembered Merownis was technically only as old as the dungeon. It was a slightly unfair comparison but I allowed it to piss me off all the same.

    A single turn of our game went as such: I began the round by creating the Mana Bolt. Limiting myself to only the mana I could recover in a minute, thirty three points of mana were at my disposal. Merownis said he would do the same, but I didn¡¯t ask what that made his maximum. It would only hurt my feelings. Choosing a form, I threw the bolt into the air where it would meet opposition. The pelting from Merownis¡¯ Magic Missiles defeated the bolts each time.

    Initially, I began by forming the largest, strongest feeling bolt I could, but they were easily pierced and dispersed. Altering the density, I tried to make the Mana Bolts too small to hit but that was a dead end. The missiles moved quickly and with precision, simply making the target smaller wasn¡¯t enough to throw Merownis off. Amazingly, I didn¡¯t detect a whiff of Spirit within his attacks, yet unerringly the smaller Magic Missile would find and destroy my Mana Bolt. Even as I felt the skill level up, and my ability to shape the mana improved, the missiles continued to win out.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Something needed to change. I moved onto making multiple orbs, first two and soon many more. Of course, there was even less hassle for Merownis to destroy these, but hitting them all at once became more difficult. I was able to add a step to our dance as it was now Merownis on the back foot, trying to demolish the orbs without wasting too much mana to keep up. He was more than capable, though I wasn¡¯t trying to ¡°win¡± with one of these tiny pellets. Some of them even dissipated on their own.

    No, I was analysing the signature of Merownis¡¯ mana.

    My own mana was a warm amber colour at a base. When Spirit was added, the colour deepened in various, difficult to perceive ways. The mana was harder to look at, it vanished from a certain angle or other interesting effects. Between Mana Bolts of the same cost, the shape and size was not uniform, some moved through the air faster while others hit harder. Dragonburn added a purple tint to the ability, be it the projectile I threw at Master Thorn to end its life or the haze which came over the world in a Dragonburned Haste.

    Why?

    Was it just a natural course of mana to be unique? It didn¡¯t seem so. There were no alterations within Merownis¡¯ mana. With an austere feeling, the nearly imperceptible grey energy punctured my own over and over again. Watching with Manasight was useful but not as much as the collision of magic itself. Each time the missiles scored a hit on one of my orbs, there was an instant where our connection was laid bare. The fraction of a moment was not enough time to do anything on its own, but when multiplied by a few dozen? It was enough.

    The speed, accuracy, even the propulsion of the Magic Missiles were things I believed could only be achieved through Spirit. Yet, here Merownis was using pure mana to perform what I could only do with Spirit Well. I searched hard for the trick, but was ultimately unable to create a Magic Missile of my own. Though, I didn¡¯t walk away disappointed. My answer was to copy him.

    The rigidity of each attack was informed not by Spirit, but by a control of mana I had not achieved. Merownis did something to the air itself, infusing an area outside of his body with mana directly. I couldn¡¯t figure out the trick to that, but I could place my mana in the air, once I realised it was possible. It took a few tries, but I had my own ability specifically designed to help me catch up with a genius like Merownis. I felt Mana Savant working hard. As long as I had mana to spend on an issue, the System would¡­

    Ding!

    Even as the System¡¯s knowledge wrote itself into my mana channels, I smirked. ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s how that works.¡± I hadn¡¯t learned the skill I had been aiming for, but this was likely just as useful. With a wave of my hand, a sheet of mana formed in the air and stayed there. I tossed a ball of mana up behind it. A satisfying vwoom sound reverberated around us as the Magic Missile which collided with the veil was repelled. Shocked, the Sundercat launched a quick salvo at the hovering energy. Almost like a laser sword being swung around in a sci-fi movie, the noise was incredibly pleasant and a little nostalgic. ¡°That doesn¡¯t count as winning,¡± Merownis grumbled. ¡°You were supposed to keep a Mana Bolt alive.¡±

    I just shrugged. He wasn¡¯t wrong but¡­

    It was my turn for the smile to widen as I threw up a few more floating walls of mana and created a Mana Bolt in my palm. ¡°If you can get through, by all means. I¡¯ll even make you Party Leader if I can.¡± I finished receiving the information from the System and took a glance at the new skill. My mood had flipped completely. Alongside a level and a half in Mana Bolt, I considered it a very productive session.

    Skill Unlocked! - Mana Shield (Common)

    Rudimentary usage of mana can create an impermeable barrier. The strength of said barricade can vary greatly depending on a myriad of factors.

    For a few seconds, the forest lit up as Merownis clearly gave up on the limitations and absolutely swarmed the Mana Shields with attacks. I had a bolt worth two mana in my hand, and three shields worth ten in front. From the looks of it, Merownis emptied his remaining mana pool to try and bust through. Much like my bolts were countered by his missiles, the missiles in turn were useless against the shields. Merownis hissed in disdain as he ceased firing Magic Missiles.

    This new ability wasn¡¯t draining like Haste, instead working like a Mana Bolt. I used a certain amount of mana to create a panel and then it floated wherever I left it. We practised a bit more, so I could understand the properties. Generally, a torso sized shield was as large as I could make the shields while still keeping them durable enough to stop a decent Magic Missile. That only cost me a single point of mana, however. The ten I started with was overkill. Using full Command of my mana at one time, shoving over thirty mana into the barrier, it was impenetrable by even Severance¡¯s sharp blade. However, it wobbled against my control and burst on its own quickly.

    It levelled to two from the practice, and Mana Bolt rose to four at around the same time. Both changes, and the initial appearance of my newest skill were mapped in my ongoing mental library of understanding. The skill runes for Mana Shield were simple, small and tightly wound into the little finger on my left hand. Mana Bolt was written onto my palm. I began to get a sense for which parts of the skill allowed the mana to work as it did, but my comprehension was very rudimentary all the same.

    I gave the tigerman a side-eye. ¡°You got a little dramatic there. Do you need some more time to recover your mana before we go down?¡± I asked the quietly panting Merownis. He nodded sheepishly and I rolled my eyes, practising mana control on my own for the next fifteen minutes before we ventured into the dark tunnels below.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Forty - Hive

    The distance from the arena to the desert wasn¡¯t far, so I expected the tunnel created by the assaulting Scorpion Prince to lead directly there. It rapidly became clear that my vague estimation about the scope of the tunnels beneath the dungeon floor was way off. The first crossroad came quickly, with dozens of branching pathways soon making it hard to keep track of where we were underground. We had marked each turn, and using Tracking, I was confident it would be enough to return.

    ¡°Fucking stinks down here,¡± Merownis complained. I nodded apologetically. Whatever secretions scorpions made was distinctly unpleasant in the amounts being created. To my nose, it was a mixture of rot being covered up with an overwhelming antiseptic. I could only imagine how bad it was for the Sundercat. His predator¡¯s nose was stuffed with some fur he had pulled from his chest with a grimace.

    ¡°Smells like home,¡± Naea sighed happily, not a care in the world. Merownis looked very much like he wanted to swipe at her, so I kept an eye on him. She was sitting on my head, after all.

    ¡°Home? I thought the dungeon was your home.¡± I tried to imagine wherever Naea might come from, originally. The tales which are named after her would say she lived in a mushroom or an old shoe. But no, she was a creation of the System like all the dungeon monsters. However, as with Merownis, there was a core to her being which existed before being confined here with me. Maybe she was from a giant mushroom colony with her insectoid brethren. So many bugs.

    I suppressed a shiver as I imagined the arachnids scuttling about beneath me for days. I would be glad once we started the extermination. Except after nearly twenty minutes of careful stealth, all we had found was more tunnels. Thankfully, that was set to change at the single file width hole widening, the ceiling extending upwards before we stepped into a cavern.

    I slammed my hand onto Merownis¡¯ chest to stop him in his tracks. We were about to step into a large cavern, but I had received the tingle of analysis. We had been quiet, but I had a sinking feeling as I sent more energy into Manasight and accepted the cost to see what we were up against. The drain was immediate and sizable, alongside giving me a skill level to Manasight. It was a double-edged sword as my eyes gained even more clarity in the darkness.

    Giant Scorpion - Level 14

    Giant Red Scorpion - Level 19

    Giant Ochre Scorpion - Level 16

    Giant Scorpion - Level 13

    Giant Black Scorpion - Level 18

    My vision was covered in nameplates. As though my attention had awoken them, the scorpions started moving. The walls seemed to melt and the previous quiet was shattered by the falling chandelier sound of dozens, hundreds of scorpions clattering to the ground. I was glad the cost of analysis was sinking, though the dread threatened to overwhelm me just the same as if I had been sucked dry of mana. The floor began to shake with their approach. Merownis swiped a claw and cast the nearest scorpion back with a flash of mana. There were too many.

    And yet.

    If I kept taking steps back to prepare, I would never leave this place. I stepped forward instead, giving the Jingu Bang in my grasp all of my mana regeneration to fuel its own rhythm. ¡°Get back.¡± The words sighed out of me as I took another step. The tigerman wisely listened and I swung the staff where he had been standing. The Jingu Bang asked for more and I gave it, the armament singing with excitement as it extended, doubling its length over and over until it scraped the far wall. With my chest, there was a roar. Despite the situation, I smiled. I was scared, but my magic and my weapon were not. It didn¡¯t matter if I was afraid when my strength was so sure of itself.

    From its standard length of around six feet, the Jingu Bang was now easily ten times that. Even without changing width, it was a lot. I was struggling to hold the weight, the already heavy wood was now many times more dense. Except¡­ that was fine, wasn¡¯t it? I had been carrying a weight this whole time, and in this moment, I could push back against it. The tide of the System¡¯s approach was personified no more aptly than in this impending swarm. I imposed the System¡¯s cruelty upon the horde and my fear became indignation. More, the staff demanded.

    The staff wanted more than just my regeneration? Well, I had more to give. I flared Dragonburn to life, feeling the earthquakes and eruptions from the world inside of me as I tapped into the aspect¡¯s power. Cracks and pores appeared on the dragon world as I demanded as much strength as I could receive. Into those deep crevices and bubbling lava flows I poured Spirit. My core, the celestial body, burst into vibrant light which burrowed into the dragon¡¯s world. As the two power sources burned together, I took one final step. As I stamped with enough force to crack the hard earth beneath my foot, I scoffed. More, it had asked.

    Heavy Blow, I answered.

    The creaking of my bones couldn¡¯t be heard over the whipping sound of the Jingu Bang slicing through the air at full extension. The pop of my wrist was clear even over the cacophonous, screeching stampede of scorpions when the first collision occurred. I shoved all the same, pouring well over one hundred mana into the swiping attack. The resistance from their bodies was enough to damage my arm, but not to stop the swing. The chaotic percussion of the scorpion¡¯s bodies being shattered like china was bookended with the smash of the Jingu Bang against the wall to my left.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    The thunder of my attack rumbled for a long while, but I was barely cognizant. The river of experience flooding my core was almost overflowing, and it took conscious effort to make sure some of it didn¡¯t spill out of the sides and get wasted. The possibility went from something I didn¡¯t know could happen to one of my biggest fears in an instant. It was my experience, and I wanted it all. Thankfully, I didn¡¯t have to struggle for long before I could focus again.

    Merownis was scratching the back of his head as he looked at me and then back at the room full of twitching bodies. He had a few bodies around him, stragglers which had avoided my attack, I assumed. There were many, many more beyond him though. I smirked. The tidal wave had only been the ones which died on impact. The flow was much more manageable at the rest I had killed shuffled from their mortal coil one at a time. I enjoyed the feel of my vessel filling time and again as the levels came quickly.

    ¡°I think,¡± Merownis said through the mostly returned silence, ¡°you can stay on as party leader.¡± His eyes were wide as he looked at the room and I laughed before swaying. I felt strangely disjointed from my rising attributes as the frigid feeling from lack of Spirit crept over my shoulders. It wasn¡¯t as bad as the complete emptiness I had felt the first time, but it wasn¡¯t pleasant.

    Ding! Level up! +10 Attribute points! +3 Command, Strength, Recovery and Regeneration Attributes, +1 Power and Resilience Attributes!

    ¡­

    Four levels in total. I almost squirmed at the idea of having forty free attribute points to spend. That was the equivalent of twenty levels without my achievements. A tiny burning what if chirped in my ear at the thought I could have chased some more power before gaining levels. I smashed it aside by reminding myself I had a built in achievement sensor in Spirit Well which hadn¡¯t alerted me to any more chances to do so before now. I would be grateful for the increased strength and move on.

    The gains didn¡¯t stop there, however. Like a dying man in a drought being shown an oasis, I fell to my knees in reverence to the Spirit aimed my way by the System. That¡¯s right, I thought, give me everything you¡¯re willing and I¡¯ll take what you won¡¯t. My just-drained reservoir received a decent gulp of lining. Not enough to do that again, but enough I could move without stumbling. It was enough, and I was grateful. If anything, I was surprised at the vehemence of my greed when seeing the System¡¯s energy. It was my thoughts but a little¡­

    Draconic.

    Distracting myself with the shiny reward screen, I looked at the prompt the System shared regarding my newest change.

    Congratulations! Skill upgraded due to cohesion with your weapon!

    Heavy Blow -> Serious Swing (Uncommon)

    A novice knows a strike thrown with weight will do damage. A master knows that an attack meant to destroy is heavier.

    My right arm buzzed pleasantly as the mana I had been feeding into the staff returned in a refined form. Somehow, the mana had been processed into Spirit, at least partially. The bundle of energy rushed to the bundle of patterns which made up Heavy Blow and shredded them. I watched on with mute horror as a portion of my ability was eviscerated. Before panic could arrive, the new skill pattern took its place, grabbing the old connections and rebinding them with gilded fastenings.

    I had no idea what all of that looked like to Merownis, but his wide eyes weren¡¯t leaving me in a rush. To ignore his staring, I quickly checked my Mana Skills window.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Mana Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Spirit Well (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Unique

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Savant (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Legendary

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Serious Swing (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Haste (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Bolt (Level 4)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Manasight (Level 4)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Shield (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dragonburn (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    The changes were as expected. I hadn¡¯t needed Mana Shield much in the tunnels so far, but we weren¡¯t done. This was just one room after all. There was still plenty of caverns within which to gain skill levels. With my new skill, an obstacle had turned into a gold mine. With all of the additional stats I had just received¡­

    ¡°You ready to continue?¡± I asked Merownis. He gave me an insulted look and began walking forward. There were a few offshoot tunnels to go through, so we would likely have to double back unless we got lucky. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t sure what I was looking for down here. I tapped the bodies of the scorpions I passed but I didn¡¯t go out of my way. Once more, the chitin took up a lot of space. I decided to ignore the common scorpions with no colour, which were actually a dull brown-grey while aiming for the colourful scorpions instead. ¡°Okay, you can go for it, Naea.¡±

    The fairy was salivating at the meal before her, which was like an all-you-can-eat lobster buffet in her eyes. ¡°Oh god, the noises are going to echo!¡± Horrified, Merownis started to scramble away, picking up his pace. I chuckled, having already considered that. While I did catch the initial wood-chipper sounds of her meal, a few Mana Shields on the entrance made the tunnel we were in soundproof. I sighed, glad it had worked.

    Then, I turned around and considered how strange my life was as I followed after the tigerman who was likely headed straight into danger. The Spirit Well I had been thinking of earlier hadn¡¯t stopped tingling since my level ups. Focusing on the strange compass to strength inside of me, as well as maintaining the soundproof barrier between us and Naea, I caught up with Merownis and we carried on.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Forty One - Problems For Future Me

    After the first room where Grant had clearly learned another new skill, Merownis was content to watch him work for the most part. He had gained a level simply from the act of Grant destroying the cave full of enemies. Enjoying the feel of the single Power, Regeneration and Command points it came with, he placed his five attribute points straight into Regeneration as well. Grant had a skill to make it quicker, but it was clear his recovery speeds were already much faster than Merownis¡¯ own. However, it wasn¡¯t his regeneration which made Merownis¡¯ excited and worried in equal measure.

    It was Grant¡¯s growth elsewhere. His quick learning of Mana Shield could have been considered a fluke. Perhaps the skill had been close to forming before their game. Merownis would have been fine with that explanation until he saw Grant upgrade a completely separate skill. The fairy had started eating and distracted him, but now that the Sundercat had time to think, he was struggling with a choice. Should he tell Grant how important skill levels were, and encourage him to chase more, or allow him to go in his own way?

    All of Merownis¡¯ knowledge about how things were ¡°supposed to be¡± came from the System itself, mixed awkwardly with a fake life that seemed more storybook by the minute. He had never spent a night under the stars of that false world, not really. His mother had not brushed his fur at night and taught him magic in secret when his arrows and blades never landed clean hits. It had been the System, the Tree itself, which had given Merownis that ability. All of that memory simply came from the skills which had been written onto his soul at the time of creation.

    Skills given by the System were exactly that - memories of those who learned things the hard way beforehand, etched into one¡¯s pathways by the System itself. The soul and System together tore apart the structure into something which fit the individual, leaving a skill structure in their pathways. The process was instantaneous, but there was a tiny leakage to the user which then informed them on how the skill worked. Merownis couldn¡¯t say why, but the System was normally incredibly stingy with releasing these packets of information.

    He kept thinking and wondering, occasionally fighting alongside Grant but mostly leaving him to it. The human had levelled another time and a new feeling clicked into place. ¡°You¡¯re level twenty four, right?¡± Grant asked. Merownis hadn¡¯t told him of his own level up, so apparently the man had sensed it somehow. The Sundercat could only smile and shake his head. This really was an interesting situation. ¡°My Party Leader skill should kick in now,¡± Grant explained.

    Unable to keep quiet any longer, Merownis spoke up as he tapped some of the demolished scorpions for their loot. ¡°How many skills do you have, Grant?¡± Those with one Aspect often had a skill from their connection to the truth. With Guidance Stones, another couple of skills were possible. Of course, Grant had grasped the potency of magic quickly, so he had learned a few simple tricks of mana control on his own. Having seven or eight skills at their level was almost mind boggling. Merownis himself had three.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Magic Missile (Level 4)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Conjured Claw (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Bestial Force (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Each had started at level one with his evolution, and had leapt in progress quickly. Grant himself didn¡¯t have a benchmark for these gains but Merownis knew their strength was rising at a ridiculous rate. He had gained three levels in Magic Missile during his and Grant¡¯s game, which had been the only reason Merownis could keep up. As his mana didn¡¯t recover as quickly as the regeneration monster Grant already was, Merownis had used his skill sparingly and as efficiently as possible. It still jumped by a large amount.

    Conjured Claw used a large amount of mana in a more destructive manner than his missiles, creating a spectral hand in the air to swipe at enemies. Within the caverns, he hadn¡¯t had much chance to fight with these skills but the early levels were the quickest. The feeling of getting stronger was intoxicating, and ultimately the reason the Sundercat would encourage Grant to chase this power. The System would notice, of course, but challenges would come regardless. They would just need to get even stronger before the System noticed¡­

    ¡°Fifteen.¡± Grant¡¯s casual answer was so outside of Merownis¡¯ calculations that his thoughts stuttered to a halt abruptly. Well, the System would definitely notice that amount of concentrated power. Grant smiled at him, happy to share the information. Merownis smiled back, not quite sure how to tell Grant he was a ticking time bomb of trials. The more valuable a soul, whether it be achievements, skill levels and stages, or some other metric, the more the System would exist in opposition to them.

    ¡°Oh,¡± he answered meekly. ¡°That¡¯s quite a lot¡­¡± Floating up behind them came the answer to his quandary, with a surprisingly loud burp. How could he tell Grant? He wouldn¡¯t. Unable to forget the sounds of her eating, Merownis turned and faced the fairy with newfound fear. Logically, thanks to the System, he knew that Naea¡¯s ability to devour the creatures of the dungeon only worked on the deceased, but still¡­If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    All those teeth.

    When she decided to land on Merownis¡¯ shoulder, he shivered and Naea giggled. She patted his head and whispered a quiet warning in his ear. ¡°Don¡¯t spoil the surprise, kitty cat.¡± Merownis nodded quickly and accepted that he was just going to have to watch the eventual fallout of this. Grant was protected from the System¡¯s attention by the dungeon in certain ways. It seemed that protection extended even to the dungeon¡¯s fairy. Just what was Naea planning?

    The density of the fairy¡¯s mana was increasing with each large room she was able to guzzle, so at least that much made sense to the Sundercat. If Grant kept assaulting this strange dungeon in the way he had, Naea herself would become powerful. Whatever that ultimately meant for a dungeon fairy was her own business. Considering Merownis had tied his own wagon to Grant at the first chance he got, walking through the evolution door and becoming an Earth Sundercat, he couldn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Uhh, let¡¯s keep moving?¡± Grant asked. There was no argument from Merownis. Naea wasn¡¯t even trying to wait for them to leave at this point, already crunching and slurping loudly in the darkness. It was with much gratitude that Merownis watched Grant create an airtight barrier in the next tunnel they chose. Their direction was random as far as Merownis could tell, but Grant seemed to have a destination in mind.

    They walked in silence. Neither of them were particularly talkative in general, and they were currently behind enemy lines. In their quiet walking to the next cavern, the Sundercat¡¯s thoughts wandered to the future. Imagining what would come from the System sensing the value of Grant¡¯s soul lead to the obvious next question. What would happen to Merownis once the dungeon was defeated? He wasn¡¯t connected to the System as he had been, but it was an intimidating thought to have. Would he be able to leave? To the so-called real world?

    ¡°Oh, weird. Speak of the devil?¡± Grant mumbled, looking at Merownis. For a moment, the tigerman was confused. A confusion which was blasted away as the connection between himself and Grant became taut. There was a weight there, one which Merownis had to pull with all of his mental control. The connection threatened to snap under the force of it, but a shove from behind helped Merownis gather the energy. It was a bundle of Spirit, he realised.

    Skill Unlocked! - Stealth (Common)

    A common tool for most beings in creation, but slowly refined in your hands. Unlike a one-time crook, you have begun to see stealth for the art form it is.

    ¡°What?¡± Merownis asked the air. He hadn¡¯t even been doing anything special. Arguably he was sneaking but this was¡­

    ¡°I think it was me, actually. For lack of a better description, there was a pulling on my Stealth skill by the Party Leader one. I let the skills do as they wanted.¡± Grant¡¯s explanation was quick and quiet. He rubbed his chest and then his hands together quickly as though suddenly cold. ¡°Apparently that meant a bundle of Spirit your way? What did it do?¡±

    Merownis gulped. ¡°I think you unlocked the Stealth skill for me.¡± While not at the level of a Guidance Stone¡¯s skill, hadn¡¯t Grant just done something incredible? As subtle lessons filled his mind on how to better apply his weight and find true silence in sneaking, he took a deep breath. These were the memory fragments the System used, but altered. It was as though they were coloured by Grant¡¯s touch.

    ¡°Oh. Cool!¡± Grant seemed genuinely excited at the idea, and with Naea¡¯s warning in his fluffy ear, Merownis could say nothing. It wasn¡¯t like Grant was doing anything wrong, or even necessarily dangerous. The System would simply take notice of him and change the danger levels of his world slightly in accordance with the new strength he brought with him when he left the dungeon. Whatever problems arose, Merownis decided they were issues for later.

    Saying nothing else, the young man continued into the next room where he immediately set to work destroying the masses. Watching him work, Merownis had to snort. It wasn¡¯t like he would be able to slow Grant down if he even wanted to at this point. There was a fire in his eyes, and these scorpions had ignited it somehow. There were strange things happening in this dungeon, Merownis himself more than proof of that.

    Yet, Grant didn¡¯t notice them at all. He simply pressed forward into increasing danger, using his own growing strength to plough through the System¡¯s defences and pilfer it for more than it was planning to give. It was quite fascinating to be a part of, even if he expected it would ultimately get him killed. Simply being born in the dungeon as opposition for Grant would have got him killed just as surely, after all.

    Mana Bolts flashed through the air, annihilating any of the scorpions they hit first and often crippling those beyond. The power of those magical orbs was becoming more impressive by the cavern, and Merownis suspected he had levelled the skill once or even twice since entering the tunnels together. Whenever a scorpion snuck through the barrage of magical destruction, all which awaited them was Grant¡¯s true weapon.

    For while his magic was extremely potent, it was limited by form. Mana Bolts could never be the vessel for immense power, they simply didn¡¯t have the form to create such a function. Unluckily for the scorpions, Grant had something with the perfect form to be the repository of Grant¡¯s strength. The Jingu Bang shattered rock and carapace alike as it was brought to bear against his enemies.

    Merownis had barely left the tunnel when Grant started. The Sundercat waited for him to finish, just thanking his lucky stars that Grant had decided he was an ally instead of an enemy. Merownis didn¡¯t much fancy a taste of what happened to Grant¡¯s enemies. Almost too quickly, Grant was finished with another cavern full of powerful arachnid enemies. It seemed this room gave him what he had been looking for as Grant fist pumped the air with a cheer. A swirl of energy surrounded Grant and Merownis could only sigh.

    Seriously? Merownis wanted to throw his hands up in the air. It seemed his worries would only become more tangible by the minute. They had been chasing an achievement? Even the Sundercat, not particularly keyed into the feeling, could sense the mass of Spirit which was sitting on Grant¡¯s soul. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be fine, Merownis thought, not quite able to believe the lie just yet.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Forty Two - High Grade

    After the first room where Grant had clearly learned another new skill, Merownis was content to watch him work for the most part. He had gained a level simply from the act of Grant destroying the cave full of enemies. Enjoying the feel of the single Power, Regeneration and Command points it came with, he placed his five attribute points straight into Regeneration as well. Grant had a skill to make it quicker, but it was clear his recovery speeds were already much faster than Merownis¡¯ own. However, it wasn¡¯t his regeneration which made Merownis¡¯ excited and worried in equal measure.

    It was Grant¡¯s growth elsewhere. His quick learning of Mana Shield could have been considered a fluke. Perhaps the skill had been close to forming before their game. Merownis would have been fine with that explanation until he saw Grant upgrade a completely separate skill. The fairy had started eating and distracted him, but now that the Sundercat had time to think, he was struggling with a choice. Should he tell Grant how important skill levels were, and encourage him to chase more, or allow him to go in his own way?

    All of Merownis¡¯ knowledge about how things were ¡°supposed to be¡± came from the System itself, mixed awkwardly with a fake life that seemed more storybook by the minute. He had never spent a night under the stars of that false world, not really. His mother had not brushed his fur at night and taught him magic in secret when his arrows and blades never landed clean hits. It had been the System, the Tree itself, which had given Merownis that ability. All of that memory simply came from the skills which had been written onto his soul at the time of creation.

    Skills given by the System were exactly that - memories of those who learned things the hard way beforehand, etched into one¡¯s pathways by the System itself. The soul and System together tore apart the structure into something which fit the individual, leaving a skill structure in their pathways. The process was instantaneous, but there was a tiny leakage to the user which then informed them on how the skill worked. Merownis couldn¡¯t say why, but the System was normally incredibly stingy with releasing these packets of information.

    He kept thinking and wondering, occasionally fighting alongside Grant but mostly leaving him to it. The human had levelled another time and a new feeling clicked into place. ¡°You¡¯re level twenty four, right?¡± Grant asked. Merownis hadn¡¯t told him of his own level up, so apparently the man had sensed it somehow. The Sundercat could only smile and shake his head. This really was an interesting situation. ¡°My Party Leader skill should kick in now,¡± Grant explained.

    Unable to keep quiet any longer, Merownis spoke up as he tapped some of the demolished scorpions for their loot. ¡°How many skills do you have, Grant?¡± Those with one Aspect often had a skill from their connection to the truth. With Guidance Stones, another couple of skills were possible. Of course, Grant had grasped the potency of magic quickly, so he had learned a few simple tricks of mana control on his own. Having seven or eight skills at their level was almost mind boggling. Merownis himself had three.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Magic Missile (Level 4)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Conjured Claw (Level 3)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Bestial Force (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Each had started at level one with his evolution, and had leapt in progress quickly. Grant himself didn¡¯t have a benchmark for these gains but Merownis knew their strength was rising at a ridiculous rate. He had gained three levels in Magic Missile during his and Grant¡¯s game, which had been the only reason Merownis could keep up. As his mana didn¡¯t recover as quickly as the regeneration monster Grant already was, Merownis had used his skill sparingly and as efficiently as possible. It still jumped by a large amount.

    Conjured Claw used a large amount of mana in a more destructive manner than his missiles, creating a spectral hand in the air to swipe at enemies. Within the caverns, he hadn¡¯t had much chance to fight with these skills but the early levels were the quickest. The feeling of getting stronger was intoxicating, and ultimately the reason the Sundercat would encourage Grant to chase this power. The System would notice, of course, but challenges would come regardless. They would just need to get even stronger before the System noticed¡­

    ¡°Fifteen.¡± Grant¡¯s casual answer was so outside of Merownis¡¯ calculations that his thoughts stuttered to a halt abruptly. Well, the System would definitely notice that amount of concentrated power. Grant smiled at him, happy to share the information. Merownis smiled back, not quite sure how to tell Grant he was a ticking time bomb of trials. The more valuable a soul, whether it be achievements, skill levels and stages, or some other metric, the more the System would exist in opposition to them.

    ¡°Oh,¡± he answered meekly. ¡°That¡¯s quite a lot¡­¡± Floating up behind them came the answer to his quandary, with a surprisingly loud burp. How could he tell Grant? He wouldn¡¯t. Unable to forget the sounds of her eating, Merownis turned and faced the fairy with newfound fear. Logically, thanks to the System, he knew that Naea¡¯s ability to devour the creatures of the dungeon only worked on the deceased, but still¡­

    All those teeth.

    When she decided to land on Merownis¡¯ shoulder, he shivered and Naea giggled. She patted his head and whispered a quiet warning in his ear. ¡°Don¡¯t spoil the surprise, kitty cat.¡± Merownis nodded quickly and accepted that he was just going to have to watch the eventual fallout of this. Grant was protected from the System¡¯s attention by the dungeon in certain ways. It seemed that protection extended even to the dungeon¡¯s fairy. Just what was Naea planning?

    The density of the fairy¡¯s mana was increasing with each large room she was able to guzzle, so at least that much made sense to the Sundercat. If Grant kept assaulting this strange dungeon in the way he had, Naea herself would become powerful. Whatever that ultimately meant for a dungeon fairy was her own business. Considering Merownis had tied his own wagon to Grant at the first chance he got, walking through the evolution door and becoming an Earth Sundercat, he couldn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Uhh, let¡¯s keep moving?¡± Grant asked. There was no argument from Merownis. Naea wasn¡¯t even trying to wait for them to leave at this point, already crunching and slurping loudly in the darkness. It was with much gratitude that Merownis watched Grant create an airtight barrier in the next tunnel they chose. Their direction was random as far as Merownis could tell, but Grant seemed to have a destination in mind.

    They walked in silence. Neither of them were particularly talkative in general, and they were currently behind enemy lines. In their quiet walking to the next cavern, the Sundercat¡¯s thoughts wandered to the future. Imagining what would come from the System sensing the value of Grant¡¯s soul lead to the obvious next question. What would happen to Merownis once the dungeon was defeated? He wasn¡¯t connected to the System as he had been, but it was an intimidating thought to have. Would he be able to leave? To the so-called real world?

    ¡°Oh, weird. Speak of the devil?¡± Grant mumbled, looking at Merownis. For a moment, the tigerman was confused. A confusion which was blasted away as the connection between himself and Grant became taut. There was a weight there, one which Merownis had to pull with all of his mental control. The connection threatened to snap under the force of it, but a shove from behind helped Merownis gather the energy. It was a bundle of Spirit, he realised.

    Skill Unlocked! - Stealth (Common)

    A common tool for most beings in creation, but slowly refined in your hands. Unlike a one-time crook, you have begun to see stealth for the art form it is.

    ¡°What?¡± Merownis asked the air. He hadn¡¯t even been doing anything special. Arguably he was sneaking but this was¡­

    ¡°I think it was me, actually. For lack of a better description, there was a pulling on my Stealth skill by the Party Leader one. I let the skills do as they wanted.¡± Grant¡¯s explanation was quick and quiet. He rubbed his chest and then his hands together quickly as though suddenly cold. ¡°Apparently that meant a bundle of Spirit your way? What did it do?¡±

    Merownis gulped. ¡°I think you unlocked the Stealth skill for me.¡± While not at the level of a Guidance Stone¡¯s skill, hadn¡¯t Grant just done something incredible? As subtle lessons filled his mind on how to better apply his weight and find true silence in sneaking, he took a deep breath. These were the memory fragments the System used, but altered. It was as though they were coloured by Grant¡¯s touch.

    ¡°Oh. Cool!¡± Grant seemed genuinely excited at the idea, and with Naea¡¯s warning in his fluffy ear, Merownis could say nothing. It wasn¡¯t like Grant was doing anything wrong, or even necessarily dangerous. The System would simply take notice of him and change the danger levels of his world slightly in accordance with the new strength he brought with him when he left the dungeon. Whatever problems arose, Merownis decided they were issues for later.

    Saying nothing else, the young man continued into the next room where he immediately set to work destroying the masses. Watching him work, Merownis had to snort. It wasn¡¯t like he would be able to slow Grant down if he even wanted to at this point. There was a fire in his eyes, and these scorpions had ignited it somehow. There were strange things happening in this dungeon, Merownis himself more than proof of that.

    Yet, Grant didn¡¯t notice them at all. He simply pressed forward into increasing danger, using his own growing strength to plough through the System¡¯s defences and pilfer it for more than it was planning to give. It was quite fascinating to be a part of, even if he expected it would ultimately get him killed. Simply being born in the dungeon as opposition for Grant would have got him killed just as surely, after all.

    Mana Bolts flashed through the air, annihilating any of the scorpions they hit first and often crippling those beyond. The power of those magical orbs was becoming more impressive by the cavern, and Merownis suspected he had levelled the skill once or even twice since entering the tunnels together. Whenever a scorpion snuck through the barrage of magical destruction, all which awaited them was Grant¡¯s true weapon.

    For while his magic was extremely potent, it was limited by form. Mana Bolts could never be the vessel for immense power, they simply didn¡¯t have the form to create such a function. Unluckily for the scorpions, Grant had something with the perfect form to be the repository of Grant¡¯s strength. The Jingu Bang shattered rock and carapace alike as it was brought to bear against his enemies.

    Merownis had barely left the tunnel when Grant started. The Sundercat waited for him to finish, just thanking his lucky stars that Grant had decided he was an ally instead of an enemy. Merownis didn¡¯t much fancy a taste of what happened to Grant¡¯s enemies. Almost too quickly, Grant was finished with another cavern full of powerful arachnid enemies. It seemed this room gave him what he had been looking for as Grant fist pumped the air with a cheer. A swirl of energy surrounded Grant and Merownis could only sigh.

    Seriously? Merownis wanted to throw his hands up in the air. It seemed his worries would only become more tangible by the minute. They had been chasing an achievement? Even the Sundercat, not particularly keyed into the feeling, could sense the mass of Spirit which was sitting on Grant¡¯s soul. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be fine, Merownis thought, not quite able to believe the lie just yet.

    the poison I realised I had a weapon. Except, it could be used as a shield, too.

    Dragonburn as a skill was strange. It didn¡¯t create an effect like the other skills, instead influencing whatever else I tried to do with my magic. As I gained more control over the mana inside, the unwieldy nature of Dragonburn was morphing into something closer to my Spirit Well. Both altered the effect of a skill. However, unlike Spirit, which I could use to change my mana in any way I could imagine, Dragonburn only had one setting.

    Dominance and power.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    I felt like my whole body was on fire as I began to direct my mana with the force of Dragonburn at its back. Though I was technically in control, there was an impetus behind the moving energy which seemed to say ¡°watch this.¡± In a strange state of half-consciousness, I did as I was told and kept my attention on my mana. Like a brave hand around a wasp, it swept over the poison and contained it, turning the opposing mana into something I could use. The invasive mana met its match and bent to my will instead.

    Of course, it was still a nasty fucking poison, so I couldn¡¯t keep it inside. With an uncomfortable pop, a Mana Bolt appeared in my hand. The creation had cost me nothing in terms of my own mana pool, though a headache was forming from controlling the disparate mana within myself. My hand stung a little from holding the orb, but it was better than when the pain had been inside of myself. This was only a portion of the energy they had used against me, but I was more than happy to give it back.

    ¡°Now, which one of you was it?¡± I wondered aloud. A quick look gave me my answer, and told me the Scorpion King hadn¡¯t moved. It was further away now, and the tendrils of dark power buried in the ground around it pulsed with energy. I needed to interrupt it as soon as possible. Though he was behind the dunes at this point, I could still feel Merownis fighting hard, but the energy I had given him was nearly out.

    My target had chosen itself by having my blood on its stinger. The level 27 Scorpion Prince, flanked by the level 28 and the almost crippled level 25. Their dust clouds were thinner than before. Running out of mana are we? It was either a clever way to get me to drop my guard or the fighting wasn¡¯t easy for any of us. Good.

    Wholly unwilling to miss with this attack, I shot forward. The scorpions were happy to charge in response, but easily tricked. A flip over the Jingu Bang along with an extension of the staff vaulted me high over their incoming attacks and perfectly over the top of the Scorpion Prince. With a heave, I tossed the burning Mana Bolt straight down. Instead of the dull impact a bolt normally had, this one fizzed. The Scorpion Prince wailed and fell, the other two rearing up to fight.

    Haste. Serious Swing.

    Exposing their underbellies was an opportunity I wouldn¡¯t forgive. Strolling forward so as not to strain my body with the speed, I was able to casually fall into a baseball player''s batting form underneath the weaker, injured prince. Without a hint of playfulness left in me, I struck. Halfway through the strike, all on its own, the Jingu Bang stretched out and made itself much heavier for just an instant. I couldn¡¯t help smiling, even as a stinger forced me to back up a little more.

    The sight of the Scorpion Prince¡¯s broken form sailing through the air and crashing next to the Scorpion King was just too perfect. ¡°Yeah,¡± I grunted between dodges, ¡°you¡¯re next big guy.¡±

    <h2>Forged Anew - Chapter Forty Six - Regicide</h2>

    I looted the bodies, but didn¡¯t have time to check what they gave me. The more pressing thought in my mind was how close I was to levelling up. The small fraction of experience I needed was an itch which threatened to distract me. With a conscious force of will, I ignored the voice in my head which told me to quickly attack a few of the crowd Merownis was handling. Instead, I turned on the so-called king.

    It had kingly enough abilities, I supposed. Able to influence an army from a distance, and from what I could sense in Merownis¡¯ mana and the faintest whiffs of Spirit in the energy being given off, it made the units stronger. I had no doubt Merownis would be fine, the scorpions and Sundercat were not built equally. At a higher level than them, even with the boost they wouldn¡¯t be able to pin him down.

    Focusing on the Scorpion King, I first took in its appearance. Distinctly less insectoid in various places, it was a real horror show even amongst the monsters I had faced so far. The gold of its carapace hid the gruesome nature of its form. Large, partially misshapen and asymmetrical legs sank into the sand from its weight. Two bulbous eyes, mostly black but with enough white to make me uncomfortable, sat above a nose that snorted as it smelled the air. All it was missing was a mouth, though the mandibles below were vicious and dripping with venom. ¡°They aren¡¯t supposed to have venomous bites, are they? That feels like cheating.¡± My gripe fell on deaf sand, but it made me feel better.

    With its honour guard - or sons? - destroyed, the Scorpion King was in no mood to sit around. I approached cautiously, ready to move fast if it looked like it might retreat. I reminded myself that while the weaker scorpions were the norm, this thing was some kind of elite. Whatever advantages I had with my attributes were likely erased by similar buffs this thing had received from the System. I was about three quarters full of Spirit, half in health and mana. Scooping another handful from the Spirit Well, I impressed it upon Manasight.

    The information I received didn¡¯t change, my vision didn¡¯t blur or become sharper. Instead, a silhouette of the Scorpion King rose up behind the real thing, dominating the skyline. This was its power. I was suddenly certain this thing wasn¡¯t going to run from me. Its presence wouldn¡¯t allow it, same as mine. I disliked that we were somewhat kindred, even down to giving power to our allies. Discomforted by the idea, I looked behind me to the distant sounds of battle and saw a smaller version of the same shadowy depiction of a scorpion, the conglomeration of soldier scorpions creating a similar effect though much less defined.

    When I turned back to my fight, I yelped. Batting the unexpected projectile from the air, I couldn¡¯t help tilting my head. ¡°A potshot? Really?¡± I was truly offended. More importantly, I had been lucky. The attack had contained no signature of the threat it carried, silently aimed for the back of my neck. The tingle of fear which crept through my limbs served to shake away the final dregs of stiffness. Confidence and cowardice both disappeared.

    In their place, a cool certainty slotted into my mind. One of us would die here, and that was it. Like a promise being made with Naea, the world seemed to agree. Two regal combatants were enforcing their claims upon the world. The sounds of Merownis tearing through the scorpions faded. The heat of the sun dulled. Even the sand beneath my feet seemed to compact, urging me to take the heavy step.

    I pressed forward.

    Without the Jingu Bang, all of my attributes and the good sense to activate Haste just before I got into range, I was barely able to avoid instant death. The fear tried to return, but instead I smiled. Ambushes, assassination attempts and the hidden blade of immense strength under its cloak? This thing really did fight like a king. I laughed. Anything less would have been too little. Dancing on the edge of death, I burned through my mana and faced the Scorpion King in an all out brawl.

    Claw met Mana Bolt, staff met stinger and the force of our clashes caused shockwaves of sound to flatten the nearby sand. Soon we fought in a bowl of our own making and while I was aware we were getting closer to the underground caverns I didn¡¯t stop. The first one here to take a step back would lose. With my accelerated speed and the weight of the Jingu Bang combined, I chipped at the king¡¯s magically resistant body. I had given up on using Mana Bolts when a golden claw smashed aside one laced with destructive Spirit. This thing wasn¡¯t called ¡°Elite¡± for nothing.

    Though the physical battle only lasted around ten seconds in real time, my time-bending skill had made it feel more like a minute. A minute of full exertion, compressed into such a short time, left me not just with a build up of exhaustion and a deficit of mana, but something new, too. In truth, the growing tension of the weapon in my hand was a large part of the reason I broke away.

    Heavy in my hand, the Jingu Bang did what it could to voice its disappointment. Oh, you were enjoying that, were you? The staff was buzzing with unfulfilled potential. The true description of the weapon came to my mind easily and I understood immediately. Getting used to me, I see.

    Item - Jingu Bang (Artefact)

    The mischievous nature of its original owner still thrives within the wood of the Jingu Bang. It longs for adventure and will aid its wielder upon any path it believes to be interesting. If provided with a consistent source of mana, the Jingu Bang can become more attuned to its wielder.

    As my regeneration had risen, the amount of mana fed into the staff had started at substantial and doubled since. Each time I attacked with the weapon, the swing felt a little more natural, the staff¡¯s weight modulating for maximum effect. I had never considered the artefact a simple stick, but in terms of usage, I had been downright disrespectful compared to the skill with which Master Thorn wielded it. Over the days since, I had become at least passable in the use of the staff.

    It seemed that the Jingu Bang considered me adequate, too. It was practically begging me to return to my hasted state, but I glanced at my mana pool and grimaced. As much as I wanted to see what the staff was building to, it could wait another minute. The Scorpion King was gracious enough to give me the few seconds breather I needed thanks to its own tiredness. While I hated that it had an approximation of a face, I was able to use that grim visage to see the thing was surprised.

    I glanced at its claws. The speed of the combat had left them smoking from friction alone, stress fractures clear as dark flesh showed through the golden armour. I rolled my neck. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve got a sting, too. Let¡¯s go.¡± Half of my mana recovery spent on myself, half on the Jingu Bang, I shot forward.

    I had just enough time to awkwardly swipe a Mana Shield in front of the incoming blow before it landed. The shimmering barrier slowed the attack by less than a blink. Expectations being the bitch they were, I was smashed hard into the sand because the staff had refused to fight. It did so by making one end incredibly heavy, allowing the shaft to extend as much as I wanted.

    I was basically left holding a petulant bungee cord. Thankfully, the retraction had pulled me away from the worst of the damage the Scorpion King tried to inflict. It still hurt like hell, and I cursed the weapon at my side. If I hadn¡¯t given Merownis Severance, I would be swapping the two. Despite the mana I fed it, There was a genuine reticence in the staff to fight at full strength without the effects of Haste, which set my teeth on edge.

    If it hadn¡¯t also saved me from dying, I would have tried to snap the thing over my leg. While I would probably just break my femur for the trouble, the gesture would have felt good. Even if the staff hadn¡¯t interceded, the speed of the king was more than I had expected. It had been holding back in the first clash, then? After the other sneaky tactics it had employed, I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised but I couldn¡¯t help being impressed.

    ¡°Fine,¡± I huffed. The Jingu Bang didn¡¯t have many ways to express itself, being a fancy measuring stick, but it managed to convey an apology by refusing the mana I fed it for a moment. I understood the gesture and shook my head. ¡°You¡¯re forgiven already.¡± While I didn¡¯t like conceding control to the weapon, the close brush to death had reminded me which of us was more experienced in a fight. ¡°Take it away.¡±

    Haste.

    At level one, the skill had been able to eat only a few mana per second. The effect had been intoxicating, but more of an equaliser between myself and those with higher speed. Against Master Thorn it had barely kept me in the fight, the ratman still eclipsing me in acuity even without the skill. However, at level two, that changed. Able to use up to eight mana per real time second on the skill now, the effect became much more pronounced. Even more of the frozen world had come under my control, and it took something special like an Elite monster to challenge my reign there.

    I didn¡¯t like the provocation. There was a growing sacredness to the dampened world of slowness which I was protective of. It was my court. Only I was allowed here, and this Scorpion King had enough speed to break into my realm. So, the Jingu Bang was granted a place here at my right hand. Invited, it brought with it a gift. Some of the mana I had given it raced up my arm.

    With time to spare thanks to the skill, I watched the mana flash through my channels and arrive at its destination. Unlike my own mana, which felt like either a nearly imperceptible flow of water, or the crystals of draconic power, this was something more solid. This mana sang a song of battle, my heart beating with the force of a war drum at its presence. The quality was staggering. The mana aimed itself right for the Haste skill bundle in my calves and when the two met, the complexity exploded. No longer contained on my ankles and lower leg, the skill wound itself all the way up and over my knee.

    Then, before the System could tell me anything, I fed the skill all the mana I could.

    ¡°Shall we?¡± A voice asked in my head. While I had never heard the voice before, its childlike excitement was known to me. I smiled, not even needing to answer the question as the staff blurred into action all on its own. My body moved by instinct, but they weren¡¯t my instincts. The soul of combat existing within the Jingu Bang was in control now. Mostly. ¡°You¡¯ll have to stop fighting me, so I can fight the nasty bug!¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I apologised, not even phased by having a conversation with my weapon. I relaxed my muscles, and the battering of the Scorpion Prince continued. Its screech was deepened by my speeding perception, but it was all music to my ears. Just die, you gaudy roadblock.

    In short order, the Scorpion King did just that. While the Jingu Bang was finishing the fight, I took the time to read the System explanation for the skill.

    Congratulations! Skill created due to cohesion between your weapon and a skill!

    Haste + Mana Savant + ??? -> King¡¯s Training (Epic)

    The previous wielder of your weapon underwent a grand journey with it. While wielding the Jingu Bang, for a large mana cost, the techniques and talents of the previous wielder are imprinted upon the bearer.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Forty Three - Breaking the Encirclement

    Riding the amp from my just-heightened attributes, I strode forward to meet the huge arachnid monsters. I once again considered whether my attributes were affecting my mentality beyond simple confidence as I stared down the incoming monsters. Realistically, it was impossible to tell if I had been desensitised or if I had moved past being scared via self-belief. The fact I could have these calm thoughts was a testament to my growth, I just wasn¡¯t sure whether it was in a good direction. I checked the cage around my Spirit Well and took a handful for later use.

    Before I could ruminate any longer, the fighting began with a shockwave of chitin and wood. The Jingu Bang drummed a fierce percussion as the first Scorpion Prince lost its momentum against my response. Behind me, the air sang with mana from Merownis¡¯ longer ranged response. As the flow of battle between myself and the first prince found a rhythm, we were interrupted by more. Just a few hours ago it had taken Merownis and I together to take out a prince safely. Now there were four attacking at once.

    The first three were silver, as the initial attacker had been. The final enemy appeared slower, a golden sheen to its exoskeleton. It didn¡¯t take a genius to know that one would be stronger. Accepting the cost, I decided to analyse the room¡¯s worth of enemies.

    Monster - Scorpion Prince - Level 25

    Monster - Scorpion Prince - Level 27

    Monster - Scorpion Prince - Level 28

    Elite Monster - Scorpion King - Level 30

    ¡°Ah, fuck.¡± I was stronger than I had been in the first fight, but not enough to contain them all. This was going to get messy. The existence of ¡°elite¡± monsters was a new one, and not particularly welcome right now. It looked strong, so I didn¡¯t need the added threat of some System malarkey thrown in.

    ¡°They¡¯re using magic!¡± Merownis shouted, drawing my attention. The first Scorpion Prince, level 25, was pushed back into the tighter tunnel at this point and I let the autonomous Jingu Bang hold it off while I figured out what to do. The other pair of silver princes had begun to kick up the dust storms which obfuscated and protected them. The cavern we fought in was large, but with this many sizable opponents and effects, it was beginning to feel cramped.

    Over the next ten seconds, we were pushed back by presence and size alone. Before I could leave any lasting damage on the weaker prince with my staff alone, I was forced back by a charging cloud. I dodged its rush with a jump to the side, barely managing to get the Jingu Bang in between myself and the whipping tail which swung around. As the scorpion hit the wall of the cavern, it struck. My dodge left me off-balance and I was thrown backwards with no protection. Almost.

    I slowed myself in the air with a Mana Shield. The construct came directly from my back, and with the speed I moved it was smashed immediately, but it was enough to stop me from turning Merownis into paste with my body alone. Instead, he caught me and my landing was much smoother. Unable to be proud of my new application of magic, I stood shoulder to shoulder with the Sundercat and judged the situation.

    While I was more than capable of destroying the standard Giant Scorpions by the cavernful, they were a weak creature. Their strength was in their swarming numbers to the point the individual was feeble. If all the scorpions were an army, these were the generals, and they bucked that trend. Individually powerful, they were perhaps too much all at once. It wasn¡¯t looking good. ¡°We need to change the battlefield,¡± I complained, backing into the nearest tunnel.

    The Sundercat nodded. ¡°How do we do that?¡± A constant stream of Magic Missiles was being launched from the air around Merownis. While it wasn¡¯t enough to hurt the princes or the Scorpion King, it served to slow them down a little. Between my strength, speed and the skill housed in the Jingu Bang, we were able to retreat carefully and without taking damage.

    ¡°Leave that to me. On my signal, bolt for the next cavern.¡± With a quick flick of my wrist a pair of heavy Mana Bolts formed. Timing our attacks wordlessly, the Party Leader connection informing our movements, I aimed for the exact moment a salvo of the weaker Magic Missiles created an opening in the nearest dust cloud.

    The dense orbs fell through the air silently, belying the destruction contained within. I had put a little extra oomph in those, and they were as effective as I expected. Together with the analysis of their levels, these attacks brought my total mana below three quarters full. Like an eraser tool used on the world, everything the Mana Bolts touched was deleted. As this was my first use of the attack in this battle, the enemies hadn¡¯t learned to avoid them yet.

    They knew now.

    The level 27 Scorpion Prince wailed in pain, the sound less alien than the standard arachnids, and therefore, much more awful. Instead of the screeching hiss its brethren loosed, this was one of genuine distress and pain. My stomach turned, but I lobbed another bolt for good measure as I did. This one was crushed apart by the golden claw of the Scorpion King, but I grunted in satisfaction all the same. I was glad to have forced the thing to make the first move, even if that was a casual swipe to destroy a potent attack.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    I had better, anyway.

    ¡°Move it!¡± The echoing call from behind me was heeded and I threw up three layers of Mana Shield in the tunnel behind me. They weren¡¯t anything more than an easily destroyed obstacle, but each one caused a roar of rage from the charging procession as they crashed into each other. They might be simple to remove, but they caused an angry pile up between the stupid creatures. I chuckled as I placed another Mana Shield on the exit and dashed to the centre of the cavern. ¡°So?¡± Merownis asked, ¡°what¡¯s the plan?¡±

    ¡°Bringing the roof down,¡± I answered casually, focusing on controlling my mana more than making Merownis feel safe. Only one of those things was possible, after all. I vaguely heard him panicking, but I ignored it. If he had a better plan, he would have said it already.

    I created a Mana Bolt. This was not a simple bundle of mana, however. This was a special bolt, much like the one which slew Master Thorn. Into that attack, I had poured desperation and my need to survive. It had been a learning experience, but that application was an ideal for the Mana Bolt. The skill wanted to destroy, so when the intent to do just that was added, it became a multiplicative loop of increasing power. This new bolt was not like that. I didn¡¯t ask it for destruction.

    I asked it for freedom.

    As I released the bolt upwards, the scorpions tore into the room. Literally, in the case of the Scorpion King who had apparently decided to bore straight through the walls. Maybe it had been the source of the tunnels to begin with? If they saw the Mana Bolt, they didn¡¯t seem to care to stop its slow rise. Instead of a throw, the orb of energy had leapt from my hand itself. ¡°Go,¡± I whispered softly. The Mana Bolt floated upwards slowly.

    Merownis was panicking, shooting his own attacks off to hold the scorpions at bay. I assisted with the Jingu Bang, its mutable length and weight coming into effect. With my mana regeneration absorbed by the weapon every second the fight continued, it only became more formidable. As I swung the staff, the tip extended away from me and the metal tip at the end multiplied in weight a dozen times over.

    The magic sank into the dirt above us, causing my eyes to widen in surprise.  Mana Bolts normally burst on contact, which is what I had expected. Instead, the energy went deep into the earth before detonating. Maybe it was all the practice of trying to control mana in the air or the Spirit held within the attack, but it was with dual perceptions that I watched the mana seep into the hard mud. To my eyes, it vanished. In my magical senses, the roof ignited with cracks.

    It was perfect.

    Down to below half my mana, I stopped feeding the Jingu Bang. Its work was done for now, and I would need all the mana I could get here. I dove to the side, right into Merownis. He had no defence as we tumbled to the ground and I threw a set of Mana Shields up around us with one of the remaining quarters of my mana pool. With an impossibly loud creaking, the ceiling began to give way. The cracks above began to weeping sand.

    I grunted. That was good. If the sand was there, we couldn¡¯t be too deep. Large chunks of debris began to fall and I snapped my head around at the sensation which crawled over my skin. The stale air in the room changed quickly, though not because it had opened to the air. Powerful magic erupted on the other side of the wide cavern. The caustic energy felt like spiders crawling over my arms and I could only dismay as the scorpions gathered into a compact pile around the Scorpion King. ¡°What the hell is it doing?¡± I demanded.

    My answer came as the collapsing ceiling above met the Mana Shields. Both sets. Mine buckled, but we were half in a tunnel and the damage was mainly over the scorpions. My hopes that the falling roof would crush the bugs was, itself, squashed as a dome of magical protection far beyond anything I could create came into existence. ¡°It seems,¡± Merownis answered unhelpfully, ¡°the gold one is a capable spellcaster.¡±

    Biting my scathing reply, I told Merownis what we were going to do. ¡°Get ready to run. You won¡¯t be able to keep up, so just try your best.¡± I didn¡¯t wait for him to complain about the implicit slight. It wasn¡¯t meant to be insulting. It was just a fact. I dropped the Jingu Bang into the open maw of the Xaverweave Pouch before grabbing a handful of his neck fur in one hand and throwing the other around his waist. Then I began running forward, despite the Sundercat¡¯s protest.

    Haste.

    The world turned grey and the sand began to hang in the air. I had to be careful when I moved, both to avoid the shrapnel in the air and to stop Merownis¡¯ fur from ripping out as we ran. I was tired of getting ambushed and fighting on the terms of others. The Mana Bolt I released earlier understood that and created the perfect path to escape. I couldn¡¯t have possibly planned the way the rocks fell, but it was immaculate. I brought all of my attributes to bear to perform this feat, even activating Tracking to help follow the patterns in the falling ceiling. With four quick, bounding hops, I launched Merownis and I into the falling sand above.

    He began clawing upwards, and I did the same. I no longer had any faith that the scorpions had taken any damage from the collapse of the cavern, but as we pushed out of the sand and into the fading sunlight, I couldn¡¯t be anything other than grateful. Taking blessed gulps of fresh, albeit arid air, we began moving. ¡°Stay ready,¡± Merownis warned, looking behind us, ¡°the fight¡¯s not over.¡±

    Gritting my teeth after a quick look at my health and mana pools, I took the staff from the pouch with a pat to thank it for its help. It sputtered out some sand but otherwise remained still. After a thought, I removed Severance and threw it to Merownis. He looked at me with a tilt of his head as if to say I don¡¯t really use swords, though? I just shrugged. It was a good sword. The sound of burrowing below us got louder. ¡°Here they come,¡± I warned.

    Underground, it was impossible not to get surrounded, but we could control the terrain better above ground. In the distance, I could see the forest zone, and we headed in that direction while keeping ourselves ready. Of course, they wouldn¡¯t let us get that far. Breaching through the surface like angry, armoured whales, the scorpions arrived. With an explosion of sand and the chimeric screeches of the Scorpion Princes, the second round began.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Forty Four - Battle Bond

    With our mobility no longer hindered, Merownis and I were able to harass the scorpions while keeping ourselves at a safe distance. The sun was at our back, and the stomping of the many legged Scorpion Princes was a healthy motivator not to stop and turn around.

    At least, that was the plan. ¡°Fuck,¡± Merownis cursed, surprising me. He must have picked up the foul language from me, the word rolling off his tongue in an unnatural way. I brought my attention forward, however. A scuttling sea of giant scorpions approached from the front. Turning around, I squinted. Against the backdrop of the sun, the golden Scorpion King was planted.

    A tendril of sickly black mana, difficult to see against the glare, extended upwards from its shining carapace before falling into the ground behind the massive scorpion. Now it was my turn to glare, returning my attention to the swarm. That same oily mana marked the approaching horde like a miasma. I had compared the princes to lieutenants before, but I realised now that the King was truly their general.

    It had brought its army.

    ¡°How is your mana doing?¡± I had taken over the pressure on the approaching princes while he focused on recovering his energy. Even a single unit¡¯s worth of mana in a Mana Bolt kicked with the force of a donkey and was enough to slow down the scorpion princes. ¡°Do you think we¡¯re worth a whole army?¡± I asked flippantly. The horde wasn¡¯t a real threat, but I was wondering something. This was a dangerous situation, but it was also an opportunity.

    Merownis looked at me like I was crazy, panting and shaking his head. ¡°Nineteen a minute. Seventy mana out of two oh five.¡± After quickly giving the details, Merownis face turned serious. I refrained from saying it out loud, but that was disappointing. Our short escape across the desert hadn¡¯t amounted to enough time before the fighting would begin again.

    Unless¡­

    The dark misty mana which the Scorpion King was using had given me an idea. I had mana recovery to spare. If I could share it with the Jingu Bang, then what about Merownis? Giving it across our connection should be possible. Yet, as I tried to send mana across the bond, I received a whiplash that stopped me in my tracks. Frowning, I activated Haste at a low level. I didn¡¯t recover enough mana per second to make it ¡°free,¡± but it gave me time to think. The world around me slowed, but my mana moved with even more acuity than normal.

    As everything dulled, the sounds of the desert extended. The drone of the approaching army and Merownis¡¯ garbled speech became background noise as I attempted something new. It was spur of the moment, but this opportunity wouldn¡¯t come again easily. This had to be a sizable amount of the desert zone¡¯s power. If we could turn this around and crush these enemies¡­

    But I couldn¡¯t do it alone. Merownis was powerful. While his attributes were clearly not at my level, his control of mana was still a level above mine. With chagrin, I wondered if the tables were turned, would this imperceptible barrier be enough to stop him? No, I decided, and it won¡¯t stop me. I might not have the quality control which he did, but I had something else.

    Overwhelming force.

    Again, the Dragon within me rumbled. Mana was my domain within the dungeon. I had chosen my path. While I didn¡¯t picture myself as a wizard, my heart was set on magic. It was a new building block to life, but it made up the whole dungeon around me. the monsters attacking me, as well. Even my teammate Merownis had been the same, though after his evolution that had changed. He was more solid now. Which in itself was an example that this should be possible. With the right manipulation, mana could be used to do anything. I refused to let myself be stopped by what seemed to be a whim of the System.

    The barrier between us felt artificial, and the river of my energy angrily smashed against it. As I tried to send mana across the bond, there was a very clear feeling of the System taking control away. The mana slipped out of my grasp.

    In my head, I took a view of the whole battle and saw my place within it. A king and his princes were bringing their army to kill me. Beyond that, a ¡°god¡± had decided to intervene and make my life harder. I had to laugh. Wasn¡¯t that perfect? Wasn¡¯t that what was required¡­ to stop a dragon?

    The Aspect within me stirred. That¡¯s right, I agreed with the roused energy connected to my soul. Without using it to influence my skills, I activated Dragonburn. The idea came easily, and the result was just as fast to appear. The thought was a simple one, but the chain reaction it led to was spectacular even for me.

    What if I didn¡¯t use it to power up a skill, but instead to direct my mana?Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    The response from within my core was immediate and intense. With a roar that rippled through my soul and out of my mouth, I aligned with my Aspect and found the infinite well of power within. I had fiddled with the inner world a lot to get my imagined expression of the Aspect into something I could control. As I raged against the constraints on my mana, and the hubris required to amass against me, that tinkering paid off.

    The painted world within shuddered. While the physical space around me was still slowed, the planet orbiting my soul began to go through an accelerating loop. Faster and faster it rotated around my core. The shadow of the cage around the sun at the centre seemed to extend on the world, even as it flashed over and over. A faux day-night cycle appeared. The grass began to rustle with wind. The rivers began to flow, unfrozen from their false imagery into something more real. The hills and mountains became locked, no longer simply ¡°in the distance.¡± Deep within the molten centre of the planet, power burbled happily.

    The power was mine to command. Only what I could withstand from the Dragon. Only what I could claim as my own. It was enough. With a thought, I blew the top off one of the mountains in my mind. Before, this action would have been akin to tearing away a portion of a sticker. A portion would have been lost, and the base image would have remained the same. Not so any longer.

    Tearing off the top of a new mountain had consequences. This was a living, breathing world now, with physicality of its own. I would no longer be able to alter my perception of it to fuel my mana better, but I didn¡¯t think I would need to. It felt correct, like I had been building to this without knowing it.

    The volcano erupted, and I gathered the lava.

    Instead of a river of cool, watery mana, I slammed into the connection between me and Merownis with dense, flaming force. The System¡¯s barrier crumpled, the new form of force applied causing it to melt away quickly. The limiter on our connection broke, and Merownis¡¯ eyes widened as I deactivated Haste. Even before the System prompts appeared, I felt my mana channels shifting to enable my newest skill.

    I rolled my shoulders, spun the Jingu Bang and opened my status page. I quickly dropped the floating thirteen attribute points I had into mana regeneration. From what I could tell about this skill, I would need it.

    Congratulations! Skill created due to cohesion between your skills!

    Dragonburn + Mana Savant + Party Leader

    Congratulations! Skill Created - Battle Bond (Rare)

    Those who look to claim a place at the top do so at the expense of others. Without allies, the sea of challengers will drown even the mightiest leviathan. The potential of a Battle Bond grows over time.

    The flowery language didn¡¯t explain much, but I could experiment later. For now, I held up a fist. As the Sundercat¡¯s larger hand fistbumped mine, I sent a full one hundred mana to Merownis, causing his already shocked expression to become comical. It may have been my imagination, but when the Magic Missiles formed around him in the air, they seemed to have a slightly amber tint to them. ¡°You, my friend, are terrifying.¡± Merownis drawled his words, looking between the three silver scorpions and the approaching legion of lessers. ¡°Which side do you want?¡±

    I was glad to see his confidence had leapt to about where mine was currently sitting and that he saw what I did. ¡°The big ones are mine. Can you handle the small fries?¡±

    ¡°At this point,¡± Merownis answered, each word punctuated with a Magic Missile streaking into the distance to find a kill, ¡°I¡¯d be embarrassed if it took me ten minutes. Your mana feels like this all the time?¡± He loosed another three, whistling quietly as he reformed them quickly in the array behind his head.

    I shrugged. ¡°Uh, I guess? Why?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like holding pure lightning,¡± Merownis answered. Then he burst forward, leaving me with what I thought was a compliment along with a mouthful of sand. I scowled after him. His Magic Missiles seemed stronger, at least. I turned to face my own enemies, cycling my mana through my whole body to shake off the feeling of newness within my mana. Altering the make up of my inner solar system had effects beyond facilitating the arrival of Battle Bond.

    Without any other way to describe the difference, the magic was simply more potent. It held a new, more defined weight, like each point was more valuable now. I had shifted from a pure energy to something more draconic in nature. ¡°He wasn¡¯t wrong,¡± I agreed, conjuring a Mana Bolt. An orb of pure amber energy arrived in my hand.  More destructive at its base. It was only worth ten units of mana, but I hurled it at the nearest Scorpion Prince with overwhelming faith. A layer of dust wouldn¡¯t be enough to stop this one.

    My aim was slightly off, and I was fairly sure that was the only reason the creature wasn¡¯t crippled out of the battle. As it was, the bottom half of one large pincer was absolutely shattered, the hinge which snapped the devilishly sharp claw shut was destroyed. There was a moment of near silence as the battlefield seemed to reckon with the change I had undergone while upon it. I could almost hear the complaints of the princes as the tables flipped entirely.

    ¡°If I ran, it was only to make room for me to turn around and skewer you.¡± They probably couldn¡¯t understand me, but I was making a stand here. The dungeon would push me as far as it could, but this was my response when challenged. I was getting out of this dungeon, no matter what. If a barrier appeared before me, I would smash it in two before walking through the gap I created.

    With a sigh, I threw two more Mana Bolts at the undamaged princes. I was shocked to see them actively dodge, one of them going so far as to jump out of the way. It was a shame they had gotten savvy, but at least they weren¡¯t insulting me by trying to take the attacks head on any longer. As the three Scorpion Princes slowed and watched me, my attention was on the stationary general at the back. ¡°I¡¯m gonna make a helmet out of you,¡± I promised the Scorpion King before leaping forward and turning this ambush on its head.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Forty Five - Kingéˆ¥æªš Road

    With Merownis handling the army at my back, I was left to focus on the four heavy hitters in front of me. I needed to interrupt whatever the Scorpion King was doing, then Merownis could break through the thousands of basic scorpions on his side. Thanks to my mana mixing into his attacks, I could feel the assault he was bringing to their numbers without even turning around. An echo of competition sounded and I smirked.

    ¡°Sorry, mate,¡± I whispered. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to work hard to keep up with me.¡± Although we were in serious danger, my confidence was high and I let the thrill of excitement bounce through me as I approached the three bodyguards. Even now, my power was recovering from the Mana Bolts I used to keep them at bay, each second of inaction a benefit for me. I could feel the larger portion of my missing mana being put to good use through the connection to Merownis.

    The Scorpion Princes faced me, their silver bodies reflecting the fading sunlight as they shifted on the sands. One ruined claw between them and a lot of hesitation, it seemed it would be up to me to make the first move. My eyes flickered to my main target. In the near distance, the golden Scorpion King waited, immobile and feeding directions and strength into the masses behind me.

    I did a quick run through my status before opening the second round. Manasight was working at a low level, causing the scorpions to stand out even more against the orange sand beneath them. By quickly activating Tracking, I could further keep my eye on the location of all enemies at once. The Jingu Bang had been fed a decent amount of mana, but its attention was seeming to fade. I rolled my eyes and fed it a small amount of mana regeneration, even if I wanted it all for myself. It wouldn¡¯t suit me to have a petulant weapon.

    My mana was turbulent and violent, ready to join Merownis in the slaughter. The draconic Aspect which I had finally begun to flavour my own mana with was as excited as I was. The inner world howled with winds that rustled the grassy world and swept waves onto its shores. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to hold myself back much longer. Two cheap Mana Bolts to replicate the panic I had caused a moment before acted as the starting pistol.

    Unable to be more than the animals they were created from, the two stronger Scorpion Princes flinched and avoided the attack. I was already gliding forward. A Mana Shield in the sand gave me the purchase to launch myself forward, Jingu Bang raised. I moved fast, but these things were creatures of pure instinct. I barely avoided the point of the incoming stinger with a fluttering activation of Haste, twirling around the nasty appendage and slamming the staff into the prince¡¯s side.

    Serious Swing.

    One of the legs was crushed, along with the defensively raised right hand claw, but I sucked my teeth anyway. A Serious Swing was not exactly like a Heavy Blow. The mana it required for the same effect was lower, and I could loop attacks together easier than before, but in return the attack was thrown at full force. If, like in this case, my attack didn¡¯t land perfectly, I was left defenceless for a moment.

    It was too much to hope such a thing wouldn¡¯t be capitalised upon. I felt the punch in my back but more clearly than the stinger¡¯s point, and was thrown away by the force. Rising high over the sands, I clutched at my wounded side. Before I even landed, I marshalled all of my mana and slammed it into the hip which had been targeted. Using my hands to guide even more energy into the spot, I landed with a grunt.

    The princes were approaching, but I had a few seconds to try and deal with the venom. Already it was numbing the area and the arteries near the wound were turning black. I had been caught a few times by the lesser giant scorpions but the difference was astronomical. With the weaker ones, the toxin was purely biological, but the Scorpion Princes had access to magic. The burning in my side got worse, fast. The acidic nature of the attack was eating me alive.

    Which was actually a positive, though I cursed myself for describing it as such. I couldn¡¯t notice anything but the invasive mana trying to scorch through my body. With a clenched jaw, I got to work quickly. I had no skills to control blood flow in my body, but I could move mana. Most of my skills were effects created by mana moving through my channels in certain ways, which then created an effect upon the outside world. So, I couldn¡¯t actually use Mana Shield to protect myself from the offensive mana but I could replicate the effect somewhat.

    Wherever the venomous mana touched mine, it decayed the energy away, so it was a costly process to shove the aggressive poison back. If I had more time, maybe I could have been more efficient. No such grace was available to me. As it was, I left a puddle of bubbling black blood on the sand and panted. This damage was within expectations, so I wasn¡¯t worrying just yet. I forced myself to face the truth. Definitely wouldn¡¯t survive another few of those, though.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    132/200

    </td>

    <td>

    3.6 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    113/240

    </td>

    <td>

    47 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Then, I made a discovery and a mistake all at once. Just as the final particulates were being annihilated, the princes arrived to attack. The injured one was slower, though it still approached with apparent vengeance in its heart. Haste. The healthy ones plunged their stingers down, sizzling the sand when they missed me. I gasped and stopped using the speed skill.

    My eyes opened wide in shock at the pain as my side began to burn once more. I struck with the Jingu Bang, catching the nearest prince on top of its stupid head. Using the durability and strength of my enemy, I lifted into the air and with another thrust of the staff, the weapon extending multiple times its length, I pushed myself high into the air and away. I barely noticed as I crashed into the sand once more.

    I wasn¡¯t looking to do damage, but the combo had slammed the level 28 Scorpion Prince deep into the sand and slowed it down. Unfortunately, my rash use of Haste had accelerated not only my own movements, but the vestiges of poison in my system. I felt the acidic shard of power scream its way towards my heart. My magical core roared in outrage, setting forth a conflagration of anger. The venom met rage, and found its fire lacking in the face of my own. I had ignored an important point in my initial panic. I was not just Grant Kaeron, bumbling mage.

    Dragonburn.

    The skill pattern, sitting comfortable on my chest, lit up all on its own. Focusing on what I could do with the strength of my mana, I had almost forgotten where that strength was born from. I was the stuff of dragons, my first levels gained from the life of one and my most potent magics bearing their name. I might not be able to create a Mana Shield inside myself, and the action might be inadvisable if I could, but when Haste affected the poison I realised I had a weapon. Except, it could be used as a shield, too.

    Dragonburn as a skill was strange. It didn¡¯t create an effect like the other skills, instead influencing whatever else I tried to do with my magic. As I gained more control over the mana inside, the unwieldy nature of Dragonburn was morphing into something closer to my Spirit Well. Both altered the effect of a skill. However, unlike Spirit, which I could use to change my mana in any way I could imagine, Dragonburn only had one setting.

    Dominance and power.

    I felt like my whole body was on fire as I began to direct my mana with the force of Dragonburn at its back. Though I was technically in control, there was an impetus behind the moving energy which seemed to say ¡°watch this.¡± In a strange state of half-consciousness, I did as I was told and kept my attention on my mana. Like a brave hand around a wasp, it swept over the poison and contained it, turning the opposing mana into something I could use. The invasive mana met its match and bent to my will instead.

    Of course, it was still a nasty fucking poison, so I couldn¡¯t keep it inside. With an uncomfortable pop, a Mana Bolt appeared in my hand. The creation had cost me nothing in terms of my own mana pool, though a headache was forming from controlling the disparate mana within myself. My hand stung a little from holding the orb, but it was better than when the pain had been inside of myself. This was only a portion of the energy they had used against me, but I was more than happy to give it back.

    ¡°Now, which one of you was it?¡± I wondered aloud. A quick look gave me my answer, and told me the Scorpion King hadn¡¯t moved. It was further away now, and the tendrils of dark power buried in the ground around it pulsed with energy. I needed to interrupt it as soon as possible. Though he was behind the dunes at this point, I could still feel Merownis fighting hard, but the energy I had given him was nearly out.

    My target had chosen itself by having my blood on its stinger. The level 27 Scorpion Prince, flanked by the level 28 and the almost crippled level 25. Their dust clouds were thinner than before. Running out of mana are we? It was either a clever way to get me to drop my guard or the fighting wasn¡¯t easy for any of us. Good.

    Wholly unwilling to miss with this attack, I shot forward. The scorpions were happy to charge in response, but easily tricked. A flip over the Jingu Bang along with an extension of the staff vaulted me high over their incoming attacks and perfectly over the top of the Scorpion Prince. With a heave, I tossed the burning Mana Bolt straight down. Instead of the dull impact a bolt normally had, this one fizzed. The Scorpion Prince wailed and fell, the other two rearing up to fight.

    Haste. Serious Swing.

    Exposing their underbellies was an opportunity I wouldn¡¯t forgive. Strolling forward so as not to strain my body with the speed, I was able to casually fall into a baseball player''s batting form underneath the weaker, injured prince. Without a hint of playfulness left in me, I struck. Halfway through the strike, all on its own, the Jingu Bang stretched out and made itself much heavier for just an instant. I couldn¡¯t help smiling, even as a stinger forced me to back up a little more.

    The sight of the Scorpion Prince¡¯s broken form sailing through the air and crashing next to the Scorpion King was just too perfect. ¡°Yeah,¡± I grunted between dodges, ¡°you¡¯re next big guy.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Forty Six - Regicide

    I looted the bodies, but didn¡¯t have time to check what they gave me. The more pressing thought in my mind was how close I was to levelling up. The small fraction of experience I needed was an itch which threatened to distract me. With a conscious force of will, I ignored the voice in my head which told me to quickly attack a few of the crowd Merownis was handling. Instead, I turned on the so-called king.

    It had kingly enough abilities, I supposed. Able to influence an army from a distance, and from what I could sense in Merownis¡¯ mana and the faintest whiffs of Spirit in the energy being given off, it made the units stronger. I had no doubt Merownis would be fine, the scorpions and Sundercat were not built equally. At a higher level than them, even with the boost they wouldn¡¯t be able to pin him down.

    Focusing on the Scorpion King, I first took in its appearance. Distinctly less insectoid in various places, it was a real horror show even amongst the monsters I had faced so far. The gold of its carapace hid the gruesome nature of its form. Large, partially misshapen and asymmetrical legs sank into the sand from its weight. Two bulbous eyes, mostly black but with enough white to make me uncomfortable, sat above a nose that snorted as it smelled the air. All it was missing was a mouth, though the mandibles below were vicious and dripping with venom. ¡°They aren¡¯t supposed to have venomous bites, are they? That feels like cheating.¡± My gripe fell on deaf sand, but it made me feel better.

    With its honour guard - or sons? - destroyed, the Scorpion King was in no mood to sit around. I approached cautiously, ready to move fast if it looked like it might retreat. I reminded myself that while the weaker scorpions were the norm, this thing was some kind of elite. Whatever advantages I had with my attributes were likely erased by similar buffs this thing had received from the System. I was about three quarters full of Spirit, half in health and mana. Scooping another handful from the Spirit Well, I impressed it upon Manasight.

    The information I received didn¡¯t change, my vision didn¡¯t blur or become sharper. Instead, a silhouette of the Scorpion King rose up behind the real thing, dominating the skyline. This was its power. I was suddenly certain this thing wasn¡¯t going to run from me. Its presence wouldn¡¯t allow it, same as mine. I disliked that we were somewhat kindred, even down to giving power to our allies. Discomforted by the idea, I looked behind me to the distant sounds of battle and saw a smaller version of the same shadowy depiction of a scorpion, the conglomeration of soldier scorpions creating a similar effect though much less defined.

    When I turned back to my fight, I yelped. Batting the unexpected projectile from the air, I couldn¡¯t help tilting my head. ¡°A potshot? Really?¡± I was truly offended. More importantly, I had been lucky. The attack had contained no signature of the threat it carried, silently aimed for the back of my neck. The tingle of fear which crept through my limbs served to shake away the final dregs of stiffness. Confidence and cowardice both disappeared.

    In their place, a cool certainty slotted into my mind. One of us would die here, and that was it. Like a promise being made with Naea, the world seemed to agree. Two regal combatants were enforcing their claims upon the world. The sounds of Merownis tearing through the scorpions faded. The heat of the sun dulled. Even the sand beneath my feet seemed to compact, urging me to take the heavy step.

    I pressed forward.

    Without the Jingu Bang, all of my attributes and the good sense to activate Haste just before I got into range, I was barely able to avoid instant death. The fear tried to return, but instead I smiled. Ambushes, assassination attempts and the hidden blade of immense strength under its cloak? This thing really did fight like a king. I laughed. Anything less would have been too little. Dancing on the edge of death, I burned through my mana and faced the Scorpion King in an all out brawl.

    Claw met Mana Bolt, staff met stinger and the force of our clashes caused shockwaves of sound to flatten the nearby sand. Soon we fought in a bowl of our own making and while I was aware we were getting closer to the underground caverns I didn¡¯t stop. The first one here to take a step back would lose. With my accelerated speed and the weight of the Jingu Bang combined, I chipped at the king¡¯s magically resistant body. I had given up on using Mana Bolts when a golden claw smashed aside one laced with destructive Spirit. This thing wasn¡¯t called ¡°Elite¡± for nothing.

    Though the physical battle only lasted around ten seconds in real time, my time-bending skill had made it feel more like a minute. A minute of full exertion, compressed into such a short time, left me not just with a build up of exhaustion and a deficit of mana, but something new, too. In truth, the growing tension of the weapon in my hand was a large part of the reason I broke away.

    Heavy in my hand, the Jingu Bang did what it could to voice its disappointment. Oh, you were enjoying that, were you? The staff was buzzing with unfulfilled potential. The true description of the weapon came to my mind easily and I understood immediately. Getting used to me, I see.

    Item - Jingu Bang (Artefact)

    The mischievous nature of its original owner still thrives within the wood of the Jingu Bang. It longs for adventure and will aid its wielder upon any path it believes to be interesting. If provided with a consistent source of mana, the Jingu Bang can become more attuned to its wielder.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    As my regeneration had risen, the amount of mana fed into the staff had started at substantial and doubled since. Each time I attacked with the weapon, the swing felt a little more natural, the staff¡¯s weight modulating for maximum effect. I had never considered the artefact a simple stick, but in terms of usage, I had been downright disrespectful compared to the skill with which Master Thorn wielded it. Over the days since, I had become at least passable in the use of the staff.

    It seemed that the Jingu Bang considered me adequate, too. It was practically begging me to return to my hasted state, but I glanced at my mana pool and grimaced. As much as I wanted to see what the staff was building to, it could wait another minute. The Scorpion King was gracious enough to give me the few seconds breather I needed thanks to its own tiredness. While I hated that it had an approximation of a face, I was able to use that grim visage to see the thing was surprised.

    I glanced at its claws. The speed of the combat had left them smoking from friction alone, stress fractures clear as dark flesh showed through the golden armour. I rolled my neck. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve got a sting, too. Let¡¯s go.¡± Half of my mana recovery spent on myself, half on the Jingu Bang, I shot forward.

    I had just enough time to awkwardly swipe a Mana Shield in front of the incoming blow before it landed. The shimmering barrier slowed the attack by less than a blink. Expectations being the bitch they were, I was smashed hard into the sand because the staff had refused to fight. It did so by making one end incredibly heavy, allowing the shaft to extend as much as I wanted.

    I was basically left holding a petulant bungee cord. Thankfully, the retraction had pulled me away from the worst of the damage the Scorpion King tried to inflict. It still hurt like hell, and I cursed the weapon at my side. If I hadn¡¯t given Merownis Severance, I would be swapping the two. Despite the mana I fed it, There was a genuine reticence in the staff to fight at full strength without the effects of Haste, which set my teeth on edge.

    If it hadn¡¯t also saved me from dying, I would have tried to snap the thing over my leg. While I would probably just break my femur for the trouble, the gesture would have felt good. Even if the staff hadn¡¯t interceded, the speed of the king was more than I had expected. It had been holding back in the first clash, then? After the other sneaky tactics it had employed, I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised but I couldn¡¯t help being impressed.

    ¡°Fine,¡± I huffed. The Jingu Bang didn¡¯t have many ways to express itself, being a fancy measuring stick, but it managed to convey an apology by refusing the mana I fed it for a moment. I understood the gesture and shook my head. ¡°You¡¯re forgiven already.¡± While I didn¡¯t like conceding control to the weapon, the close brush to death had reminded me which of us was more experienced in a fight. ¡°Take it away.¡±

    Haste.

    At level one, the skill had been able to eat only a few mana per second. The effect had been intoxicating, but more of an equaliser between myself and those with higher speed. Against Master Thorn it had barely kept me in the fight, the ratman still eclipsing me in acuity even without the skill. However, at level two, that changed. Able to use up to eight mana per real time second on the skill now, the effect became much more pronounced. Even more of the frozen world had come under my control, and it took something special like an Elite monster to challenge my reign there.

    I didn¡¯t like the provocation. There was a growing sacredness to the dampened world of slowness which I was protective of. It was my court. Only I was allowed here, and this Scorpion King had enough speed to break into my realm. So, the Jingu Bang was granted a place here at my right hand. Invited, it brought with it a gift. Some of the mana I had given it raced up my arm.

    With time to spare thanks to the skill, I watched the mana flash through my channels and arrive at its destination. Unlike my own mana, which felt like either a nearly imperceptible flow of water, or the crystals of draconic power, this was something more solid. This mana sang a song of battle, my heart beating with the force of a war drum at its presence. The quality was staggering. The mana aimed itself right for the Haste skill bundle in my calves and when the two met, the complexity exploded. No longer contained on my ankles and lower leg, the skill wound itself all the way up and over my knee.

    Then, before the System could tell me anything, I fed the skill all the mana I could.

    ¡°Shall we?¡± A voice asked in my head. While I had never heard the voice before, its childlike excitement was known to me. I smiled, not even needing to answer the question as the staff blurred into action all on its own. My body moved by instinct, but they weren¡¯t my instincts. The soul of combat existing within the Jingu Bang was in control now. Mostly. ¡°You¡¯ll have to stop fighting me, so I can fight the nasty bug!¡±

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I apologised, not even phased by having a conversation with my weapon. I relaxed my muscles, and the battering of the Scorpion Prince continued. Its screech was deepened by my speeding perception, but it was all music to my ears. Just die, you gaudy roadblock.

    In short order, the Scorpion King did just that. While the Jingu Bang was finishing the fight, I took the time to read the System explanation for the skill.

    Congratulations! Skill created due to cohesion between your weapon and a skill!

    Haste + Mana Savant + ??? -> King¡¯s Training (Epic)

    The previous wielder of your weapon underwent a grand journey with it. While wielding the Jingu Bang, for a large mana cost, the techniques and talents of the previous wielder are imprinted upon the bearer.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Forty Seven - Liege

    A level up had come with the death of the Scorpion King but I couldn¡¯t look at it now. I could only be grateful as the automatic attributes fell into place. There were more notifications, suggesting I had gained an achievement or something. Without the Spirit Well¡¯s attention, it was hard to know but I couldn¡¯t spare the moment. I had to focus. The threads were already disappearing.

    No. I wasn¡¯t finished with them, so I wouldn¡¯t allow it. I had told myself not to mess with these powers without understanding them, but I didn¡¯t feel like this was hypocrisy. Everything was aligned and the magic worked through me as much as for me. As the charcoal mana tried to fade away, I reached out my hand while using Dragonburn to give my mana power and Spirit Well to give my intent form. With all of the righteous avarice within me which I was still learning to accept, I took hold of the energy.

    Mine, I growled. Much like the mana from the scorpion¡¯s sting I had used to melt one of the Princes, I knew what I was doing as I hauled the energy from the ground. It was useless to me, but the small ocean of experience which came with it was not. You were a cruel taskmaster, big guy. The Scorpion King had not been a kind ruler. Whatever else this mana did, it made the creatures using it subsistent on the power. If the energy was left to dissipate on its own, the scorpions may have survived. I hadn¡¯t been so gentle.

    I wanted nothing to do with the smoky black mana in my grasp, but I wasn¡¯t done with it yet. A rope of quickly fading mana still remained. Following the thread, a huge beacon ignited my senses. Far off and unmoving. Despite the tiredness which ran down to my bones, I wanted to head in that direction immediately. Better heads prevailed, and I moved to find Merownis.

    ¡°Got you now.¡± A thought occurred to me and I had to laugh. I activated Dragonburn and used it on the corrosive mana in my grasp. The remaining Spirit at my disposal went towards one intent. Pain. Sending my words through the connection along with a whiplash of force, I threatened the second Claimant. A warning to whatever awful scorpion thing was waiting out there that it had made an enemy of me and I was coming.

    I finally had a chance to look at the System messages that piled up in the larger battle with the Princes and their lord as I moved to loot the Scorpion King. I almost stumbled into the sand as a wave of Spirit crashed into me the moment I opened the prompts. It had apparently been waiting for my attention. Not quite able to believe what I was reading, I dazedly placed two of my free points into Power and another wave of Spirit followed as a third achievement arrived.

    Achievement Unlocked - Specialist (Command)

    Specialisation is a tool. By focusing your talents, time and rewards down a single path, you have forgone others. Yet without those who chase power, all would fade. This example of refined growth before reaching Grade One has added weight to your soul.

    Effect: +1 Command per level, +1 free attribute points per level

    Achievement Unlocked - Specialist (Regeneration)

    Effect: +1 Regeneration per level, +1 free attribute points per level

    Achievement Unlocked - Specialist (Power)

    Effect: +1 Power per level, +1 free attribute points per level

    ¡°...Fuck yeah,¡± I nodded. While the wording made it sound nearly impossible to get this achievement, I had it three times over. Three free attributes per level and an additional point in Command, Power and Regeneration just from allocating some points. I could even get another one, if I placed some of my free points around. If this were a video game, and not a horrific nightmare that happened to come with some interesting benefits, I would have shied away from hunting these achievements. Instead, I was doing some mathematics in my head. A glaring question was being asked and I couldn¡¯t help thinking that the answer was yes.

    Was it possible for me to get one of these for each attribute?

    A single level up would see me gain fifteen free attribute points. With five more levels before I arrived at the bottleneck, that was seventy five. Ninety eight then, when adding the twenty three I currently had. My Strength and Recovery Attributes would reach fifty would any input from me at this point. A few more calculations had me grinning like a kid in a candy store. Even If I didn¡¯t gain any more achievements, and it wasn¡¯t safe to assume I would, I would still hit fifty points in each attribute. Beaming a wide smile, I went to find Merownis.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The chaotic battle with the giant scorpions had only been raging for ten minutes, but Merownis was flagging. He wouldn¡¯t stop though. He could feel Grant fighting. Their connection wasn¡¯t deep or intricate, so no words could be shared. Just general ideas. So when Grant¡¯s side became nothing but excitement and exhilaration after a few shaky seconds of pain and fear, Merownis was uplifted himself. The achievement he had earned helped his mood, too. Whatever tiredness he was feeling could be ignored until Grant came to help him.

    The admission he needed the assist was almost a defeat in itself. He had wanted to destroy the scorpions here and then go to help Grant, of course, but the tide was never ending. Thankfully, the scorpions all seemed happy to mindlessly chase the speedy Sundercat over the sand while he picked them off one by one. Maybe if he had an hour and unlimited mana, he would have been able to clear them all. Or another hundred or so of Grant¡¯s.

    The strange mana his ally wielded was mighty indeed. An entire array of Magic Missiles could be created from a single unit of the powerful mana and those same missiles burst forth with shocking power and unerring accuracy. Overall, Merownis was impressed and more than a little jealous. The mana was clearly Aspected, and the energy felt ancient and regal. Now it was spent, he found himself wishing he had more.

    There was a loud snapping sound, and all of the scorpions froze as one. The still blowing wind and the sound of their struggles was now the only proof that time had not stood still.

    Merownis could only shake his head as the scorpions began simply falling to the ground, dead. He was going to remain as competitive as he had been, but whatever that human was made of was special stuff. Although he was an ally, some of Grant¡¯s actions terrified Merownis because of their implications. Just how strong were Grant¡¯s attributes if he could use their gifted mana to shatter the scorpion¡¯s cores?

    Due to his position as their enemy, Merownis received a large amount of the experience this small army gave when they died. Grant would take a lion¡¯s share, to be sure, but there was more than enough to go around in this case. The lower level meant each individual was worth less, but when there were this many¡­

    With a soft thud, the man himself landed in the sand next to Merownis. Something had changed within him in the tunnels, and that same change had blossomed into greatness over the battle. It was pouring off of Grant alongside his easy smile, as though Merownis hadn¡¯t left him alone against four powerful enemies. Looking out over the bodies, he spoke. ¡°Everything okay over here?¡±

    The concern was like a dagger in Merownis¡¯ jealous heart. He wanted power like that, but even as the thought tried to fester into a grudge, he cast it aside. It was a childish and useless desire. There would always be someone stronger. Such was the nature of the System. The Sundercat had been saved by the human, and he was already tied to the wagon. Their strength was bound.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Merownis answered, though he found it hard to meet Grant¡¯s eyes. The sun was setting on the other side of them, yet he was blazing brighter. ¡°What are we going to do now? Thanks for the level by the way.¡± He didn¡¯t mean for it to sound petty but to his ears it did. Grant either didn¡¯t notice or didn¡¯t mind.

    ¡°Oh, right!¡± Drawn by curiosity, the Sundercat looked over and could only gulp. A visible swirl of Spirit was shimmering in the air around Grant as his eyes moved quickly. The expression on his face said he was reading his System windows, and each one seemed to make him glow just a little brighter. Grant laughed, mirthful and yet disbelieving at the same time.

    ¡°What?¡± What is the secret to this strength? The full question didn¡¯t come out, but Grant wouldn¡¯t have been able to answer it. Merownis knew if he asked for the secret, the young man wouldn¡¯t know it. An impossible combination of intelligence, luck and tenacity had been required to get him this far, and much more of each would be required to go further. Merownis believed he would, especially as the confident smile turned on him. Grant¡¯s eyes were gleaming, capturing even the sun in their glow.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to get some rest, then go kill the second Claimant.¡± With a nod, Grant stepped forward and began tapping the falling scorpions. No sense in wasting the loot, even if he was a little stunned with the announcement, Merownis began to help.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Alonyx was chagrined to be awoken from his sleep. Time awake was time away from draining Naeboroseax¡¯s Spirit from the bindings on the dungeon, after all. Still, it was interesting that something could rouse him from slumber, so he shifted his massive head to watch as the potent little soul flitted about.

    It was doing something in the desert, which was likely what stirred Alonyx in the first place. He was tempted to smell the air, but the expense of energy would be pointless. His awakening was not all useless, however. A small hint of System Spirit appeared and disappeared quickly. The source was this strange soul, and a slighter one next to it. After a few minutes, they began moving away, over to the forest area. Alonyx mentally shrugged, once again unwilling to spend actual stamina to perform the gesture.

    It was likely the human. Objectively the two were enemies, and knowing where the human was meant he could destroy them. Alonyx was a Claimant, and as such would benefit greatly from such an act. However, it would be rushed to do it now. The world outside the dungeon was brand new and gaining strength here was of paramount importance. Anyway, it was the human¡¯s path to arrive at Alonyx¡¯s feet, so he needn¡¯t make any moves himself.

    Serendipitously, a level ticked over as the vestiges of Spirit from the dungeon¡¯s barrier trickled into his soul and the grey dragon squirmed with the comfort it gave. He had been so diminished when the System spat him out that he had even felt fear for a short while. Now he was closing in on the barrier of Grade One, he could finally take a full breath. His lungs hadn¡¯t been strong enough to lift his weight before. Now he was, at long last, able to rest.

    The woven Spirit of the dungeon, the System¡¯s attempt to contain Naeboroseax¡¯s immense soul, shivered as the Storm Dragon once more began to take from its power. Stretching out atop the tower he had casually raised, Alonyx curled up and slept, forgetting about the human completely. The System would regret using its image like this, trapping Alonyx like a bird in a cage. A cage made from dragon bones. It was only a matter of figuring out how.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Forty Eight - Plentiful Rewards

    After the battle in the sands, Merownis and I moved back to the forest area to rest. Unfortunately I hadn¡¯t put any time into building an actual living space. Curling up, surprisingly comfortable on one of the large workchairs I did have access to, I almost immediately fell asleep. Before allowing that, I forced myself to place my latest attribute points where they needed to be for me to get each of the Specialisation achievements.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    25

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    250/250

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    255/255

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    37

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    39

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    46

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    20

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    41

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    20

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    50

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    50

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    51

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    250/250

    </td>

    <td>

    3.9 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    255/255

    </td>

    <td>

    51 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Of the attributes which wouldn¡¯t naturally rise to fifty already, I fixed two quickly. By placing nine points into Resilience and my remaining fourteen free attribute points into Agility both would secure their version of the achievement through levelling to thirty. I was surprised to see I had an almost perfect amount of free points to make this work, and just counted myself lucky I hadn¡¯t gone all in on Power or Command as I had originally considered. At 37, the five points from levelling wouldn¡¯t be enough and likewise, the 10 points I would receive in Agility by reaching level 30 would now gain me that one, too.

    With the fifteen points per level I now received, I would be able to get Dexterity and Perception to the fifty point benchmark in four levels, technically outpacing Agility and Resilience. I tried to contain my excitement about the promising development, though I shared the discovery with Merownis. He smiled, happy to share that he had actually already received his first achievement during the battle, and would be able to gain at least one Specialisation in Command.

    Like myself, Merownis now had the Exterminator achievement. Killing five hundred of anything in a single day was a nightmare. It probably wasn¡¯t very common for someone to hit any of these benchmarks, really. Raising a single attribute wasn¡¯t simple when they mostly relied on each other for efficacy. Even though three achievements were technically possible with the five points per level I had been granted at the beginning of all this, surviving on three attributes like that was risky. The one hundred and fifty points someone would receive would likely be more mixed up as they reacted to their situation, though. It was my achievements and Aspect which made it logistically possible. Considering some of those achievements were stronger because I was the first person to get them, and that the Aspect of the Dragon was considered legendary¡­

    Was I maybe¡­ really, really strong?

    While I wanted to wrap my head around that idea, the pain in my side kept me honest. Strong compared to people I couldn¡¯t even see, maybe, but not to the challenges I was facing right now. The scorpion¡¯s venom had been pushed from my system but not before ripping me apart a little. I was very tender, and a little upset I didn¡¯t get a level from killing half an army of giant scorpions. A level up would have made me feel better. ¡°Do you think I might be getting less experience because I have killed so many scorpions at this point?¡±

    Merownis grumbled before cracking open an eye. He was also taking up one of the two large chairs in the workshop. ¡°That¡¯s possible. You get the most when you do something new.¡± Merownis shrugged, exhausted, keeping his words short. It was something worth checking, though hopefully it wouldn''t be a consistent issue. I wasn¡¯t trying to fight any more hordes if I could help it. As with last time, the battle had pushed me close to the next breakthrough but not quite.

    All of the achievements adding ¡°weight to my soul¡± were making it harder for me to level, on top of the higher requirement per level. Naea was snoring on one of the tables, having gorged herself silly on the Scorpion bodies. She would be passed out for some time, so I couldn¡¯t ask her whether it was true. It didn''t really matter, I guessed. Either I would hit the bottleneck or not. I could worry about it at level thirty when I eventually got there.

    The loot from the scorpions was, naturally, mostly carapace and poison sacs, which were already in the Workshop¡¯s storage. However, thanks in part to the high level of the enemies and the fact that some of them were particularly strong, I did receive a few interesting items, too. Also a big chunk of gold. While the experience may fall based on the amount of similar enemies I had killed, the loot they gave out was worth it for now. I also had around twice the amount of money as when I started the dungeon, at least in Standard coins.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Inventory Page (Xaverweave Pouch)

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Item

    </td>

    <td>

    Amount

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint)

    </td>

    <td>

    15,422

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted)

    </td>

    <td>

    2758

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sorehammer

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Severance

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Jingu Bang

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Guidance Stone of Poison

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Greater Potion of Healing

    </td>

    <td>

    2

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Spurs of the Flurry

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Crafting Materials (Workshop)

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Item

    </td>

    <td>

    Amount

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Lumber

    </td>

    <td>

    85

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Stone

    </td>

    <td>

    134

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Metal

    </td>

    <td>

    34

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sundercat Fang

    </td>

    <td>

    6

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sundercat Claw

    </td>

    <td>

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sundercat Pelt (Leopard)

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Treent Twine Spool

    </td>

    <td>

    28

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Giant Scorpion Carapace

    </td>

    <td>

    461

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Giant Scorpion Poison Sac

    </td>

    <td>

    62

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Coloured Giant Scorpion Carapace

    </td>

    <td>

    27

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Scorpion Prince Carapace

    </td>

    <td>

    5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Scorpion King Carapace

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Giant Scorpion Stinger

    </td>

    <td>

    507

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    I winced at the Sundercat materials, glancing over to the unconscious Merownis and frowning. Would he mind if these pieces became something useful? Had he seen them in the collection and found me vile? Would I judge him for the same? Honestly, only because there weren¡¯t many parts of a human I could imagine would be useful. Maybe a high-level human would be different. Was I a high enough level to have valuable materials within me? It was a strange thought.

    There was a lot of scorpion stuff in there at this point. I would need to figure out something to do with them, and I had a few ideas but nothing I was willing to start working on now. I considered upgrading the workshop again, but the surprising comfort of the work chairs had me wondering if I really needed to.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Building Options

    </td>

    <td>

    Workshop

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Upgrade

    </td>

    <td>

    500g, 100 units of lumber, 40 units of stone, 30 metal

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Demolish

    </td>

    <td>

    25 units of lumber, 5 units of metal returned

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    The gold was no problem, and with my current strength the lumber wouldn¡¯t be an issue to collect. Stone had gathered almost passively just by moving some of the larger debris out of the way. The Xaverweave Pouch¡¯s method of eating was like a quiet version of Naea, the opening extending wide to gather the materials with ease. Units of metal were the biggest issue. I had enough from the fall of Clive¡¯s to upgrade another time. Except, it might be better to build something else and see what the System would give me for the idea. A kitchen would be good.

    With the awkward yet soothing lullaby of my two allies in my ears, I couldn¡¯t fight the tiredness forever. Before I could convince myself to do any more thinking, I fell asleep. In the murky darkness of my fitful rest, I found myself beset by visions. Whether it was a facet of my growing mental powers or maybe just the magic in the air, the dreams I had were vivid. Gladly, I was not plagued with nightmares, but a carousel of scenes I had no context for blurred through my mind in a loop.

    A world was born, seeded with life intentionally. For this moment, I watched as an observer from above, and the feelings the sight evoked was excitement, hope and pride. With a distinct shift of time, the world grew bountiful. I walked as a person of the land, enjoying the fruits I had planted so long ago. Too soon, this scene changed into one of fear. The world rotted from the inside. The fruit was poisoned. Neighbours I had waved to now throttled each other for sustenance.

    Again the dream tilted, dropping me from the strife to a calm desolation. The plains around me were unrecognisable yet I knew they were the same I had just walked. From bounty to sterile in moments, the sense of loss which stole through me was devastating. It was with wet eyes that my vision pulled away from the destroyed planet, drying them as I found the next. Over and over this cycle continued, my sleeping feeling to me like centuries were passing.

    I was still in the phase of dread when I awoke, and my screams were met with piteous looks from the other two who were already awake. While tempted to clear up the confusion, I decided not to. Letting them think I was haunted by the System was easier than trying to explain what I had seen. It was a perspective I had vaguely considered in the past, but only from a distance. Having actual dreams where I was a literal god seemed a bit much, even for me.

    I awoke to a new day of work, which was technically only a little into the elongated night time of the dungeon. This would be my¡­ fourth night here based on the sun. Considering I had defeated one Claimant and found another, I thought this was a pretty good pace. The next decision to make was whether to risk venturing out in the darkness or waiting here and doing some crafting work instead. Both were tempting.

    The physical darkness didn¡¯t matter anymore. Enough of the dungeon was saturated with mana that so long as I had Manasight active, I could see everything. So long as I understood the mana I was looking at, that is. Being able to see wasn¡¯t the be all and end all of my choice, though. ¡°Does the dungeon change at night?¡± I asked the pair who would know the most.

    Naea nodded, while Merownis shrugged, seemingly confused at the question. I gave my attention to the fairy who held up her hands. ¡°It¡¯s not a dungeon thing. Certain creatures become more aggressive when the sun goes down. That¡¯s true pretty much all over.¡± Was my hesitance that simple? The base fear of the dark which pervaded the human psyche from the time before we had fire still had an effect, even when the darkness itself was banished? In the dark, we were prey.

    Or, we used to be. Looking at the eyes of Merownis, glinting against the dim light of a work candle I had lit, I felt the mentality fall away. The reason Merownis was confused I had asked was because he had always been a predator. His biology and birth in the dungeon were formative.

    My own life had told me the darkness was generally safe, because everywhere had been. The System stripped away that privileged mindset and turned the dial all the way up. Nowhere was truly safe anymore, and only by making yourself more dangerous than the threats against your life would you be able to survive. I inhaled, deep and slow, letting the draconic part of myself writhe a little before releasing the calming breath into the air around me.

    Merownis¡¯ people had been hunters in every sense of the world. They had controlled their surroundings by being the most threatening thing in the area. Meanwhile, my claimed land had been assaulted right in front of me. The dungeon did not care to hide from me, it would challenge and wear me down until it broke me if it could. Lighting a few more work candles and gathering a slew of materials, I took over one half of the room.

    ¡°Go hunting or stay and help, I don¡¯t mind which.¡± Apparently, the choice was easy as both Merownis and Naea decided to venture out into the dark woods. I barely paid attention beyond being glad they left me in the quiet. With the various colours of carapace before me, the workshop around me and the mana inside, I had everything I needed.

    My first personal goal within the System, aside from survival, had been the creation of some boots. Really, any change of clothes would have worked. Still, I was almost nostalgic as I remembered the burning sands which were too much for me at the time. I wouldn¡¯t even feel discomfort anymore. I was much changed, but some of my priorities would stay where they were. The assault of the scorpions was a wake up call.

    While I might want to spend time fighting Merownis and learning things slowly, I didn¡¯t have such a luxurious setting to do so. I had a murderous demiplane set on ending me in whatever way it could. As though to remind me, I felt the second Claimant¡¯s position flare with energy. A vast amount of Spirit, enough I could feel it from a zone away, was gathering over there. I had suspicions about a few things that might have occurred, but none of them were good for me. I turned my attention back to the table.

    This was exactly why I couldn¡¯t slack off, or let myself get worried about what might come later. I needed strength now, and my instincts were telling me this was the safety and quickest way to do so before taking on whatever monstrosity the second Claimant was becoming. My jaw set, and my mana began to move in opposition.

    ¡°Fuck you,¡± I whispered as I started testing the durability of the carapace. It would take me a while, not just to work out the limits of my materials but the ways in which I could work with these things. Yet, I was confident. Mana Savant was an incredible skill, and it would help me do anything I set my mind to. The attack in the arena had left me feeling vulnerable in a way I didn¡¯t like.

    So, for now, it was time to make some armour.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Forty Nine - Protection

    The fifth scorpion carapace shattered under my grip and I cursed as the fragments clattered on the bench and floor. My frustration was mounting at the lack of progress but I forced myself to remain calm. Destroying the building around me would be easy but foolish, my inner voice reminded me. Accidentally ruining the armour I was attempting to make was a much easier problem to fix than ruining the workshop in a fit of anger.

    Sweeping the loose chips of chitin into a corner, I slowly took some calming breaths and removed another carapace from the workshop¡¯s inventory. A fair amount of the scorpions we had beaten had been so destroyed the System hadn¡¯t even bothered to give me a carapace reward but I still had hundreds to work with. I could afford mistakes, but every fuck up was time wasted. It meant more hours which I would be forced to live in this chaotic dungeon, unable to help people outside.

    By the time I had broken another three exoskeletons without making headway, I decided to cheat. I unfastened the cage around my Spirit Well. After the massacre visited upon the tunnels below the dungeon, I was wary of the influence its subtle pull had when my life was on the line. However, here in the workshop, the sway it held over me was easier to manage. By allowing the Spirit Well to act on its own, small amounts of uncontrolled Spirit began to change the process for me. I began to quickly remove deficiencies in my preparation of the hardy materials.

    Sometimes the Spirit Well moved my attention to a tool I hadn¡¯t considered in my preparations. In other moments, my touch was lightened to just the right amount of pressure for the task at hand, or a swing hit the carapace harder than I intended and showed me a new limit to the morbid substance. Finally, now I could maintain a single piece of equipment long enough, the flowing mana inside of me did its job. Dropping the half-finished work in my hand, I pumped the air when I felt Mana Savant flare to life a moment before the System graced me with its own Spirit.

    Congratulations! Skill Unlocked - Armour Crafting (Common)

    It is said by some that the godliest way to win a fight is to make sure your opponent can never hurt you to begin with.

    I smirked, feeling a bizarre flicker of guilt as additional information flooded into my mind. The slight emptiness in my Spirit Well from using the fuel within was refilled by the gain. Even without watchful eyes, the ease at which I broke through the barriers of the System had me shaking my head. ¡°People are going to be jealous,¡± I sighed. I knew logically there was no reason to hold back when it came to Mana Savant or any of my skills, yet I didn¡¯t ignore the negative instinct.

    Each new skill filled me with capability, but it could easily be argued I was being changed. Realistically, it would be harder to argue the opposite. I was a casual killer now. I could create balls of magical destruction in one palm, and barriers of arcane protection with the other. With a flick of a switch, I could give myself over to a strange power which ingrained fighting skills in me as it moved my body for me. Due to the way I had entered the System, I wasn¡¯t a huge fan of the loss of control in the moment.

    I had been beaten, poisoned, choked, stabbed, slashed and variously battered and broken by actual monsters. Even now, I was planning to make armour so I could go and fight even stronger ones. One day, I would be the most powerful thing in the dungeon, and I would be able to leave. A slight purr within my magic caught my attention.

    ¡°Oh, you like the idea of being the strongest, do you?¡± I asked, reminded that I held the power of a Dragon at my beck and call. A snort from within the world of the Dragon caused me to laugh out loud and broke my spiral. ¡°Not quite the power of a Dragon yet, is that right? Not quite mine?¡± I questioned the Aspect playfully. The rumbling quakes and thundering peals of the Aspect¡¯s response seemed to say not for a long time to come, little thing.

    I nodded. If I remained stuck hoping I could return to the life I had before, I would never survive the changes still to come. I was holding onto an idea of myself which existed before the System. In a real sense, that man was dead, replaced with someone who had the same memories but was completely different. This wasn¡¯t the first time I had struggled with this truth, but I still felt like I was living a defining moment. With each level and skill, I was a step further from the simple human who I had been before all of this. It would only become more pronounced in the future.

    I set my jaw and made my decision.

    Survive the apocalypse, and then figure out who you are afterwards.

    With renewed focus, I continued practising with the lesser materials. In one corner, placed as a carrot to chase, were the glittering and colourful exoskeletons of the more powerful scorpions. Until I had figured out how to work with their hard shells, there was no point ruining the more valuable pieces. At this point, they were a taunt, asking whether I would ever be able to work with them.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    I left the provocation there to fuel me on as my pace quickened. With the skill now earned, I pushed my mana through the weaving wrought into my channels, the complex pattern in my hands almost glowing under my skin. If I had Manasight active, I didn¡¯t doubt it would shine, but I couldn¡¯t spare the cost. Every spare piece of energy was devoted to Armour Crafting. Even with my high Regeneration, the greedy skill caused my mana total to slowly tick down.

    Once more the bindings on the Spirit Well shifted, and a cycle of expenditure and recovery began in which Spirit would leak into my actions, furthering my progress with the confusing and frustrating task, and a subsequent skill level in Armour Crafting would recoup the cost. I was a blur of motion, a being of pure energy, all of it devoted to my new fixation.

    Barely paying attention to my hands, I allowed my muscles to learn how they needed to caress the disparate pieces into a cohesive whole. Before too long, actual form began to take hold. By shaving away the more rigid parts, reinforcing others with threads or straps, the brittle material became malleable. As more and more intricate additions were needed, I began to draw from the spoils of earlier battles.

    The twine and bark from the Treents joined the few pieces of pseudo-leather I had managed to make, threaded with nails made from the sharp teeth of the Sundercats who hadn¡¯t bent the knee. There was no sense in wasting the stuff now, though it left a bitter taste in my mouth. I wasn¡¯t desperate to be a hero, but I liked Merownis. His presence in the dungeon was a buoy in the ocean, a true ally I could rely on. If I had been stronger, maybe I could have freed the other Sundercats rather than claiming their lives.

    Except, it wasn¡¯t nearly so simple. They were creations of the dungeon, born from the System¡¯s womb and written with its laws within. I had been lucky with Merownis, not least of all because he was the final enemy. If the others had been able to attack me while we forged our bond, I would be dead. I resolved to respect their loss by not wasting the sacrifice. Not only their experience as levels, but even their bodies would be used to further keep me safe.

    Time continued to pass as I worked and philosophised. When I got hungry, my hand needed only to plunge into the Xaverweave Pouch at my side and devour whatever caf¨¦ snack came out. As a companion, it was ideal. Silent, vaguely cute and able to fuel my work for the hours I obsessed over it. My skill levels continued to rise, and my earlier work began to look paltry. I took this as a good sign, though I was still unwilling to use the relatively scarce coloured or metallic variants of carapace.

    My truest breakthrough came with enough experience to level up to level twenty six. I had gained a fair amount from the Scorpion King and the subsequent annihilation of its forces which followed, but I was once again surprised to find this ¡°simple¡± task had rewarded me a similar amount. I placed the attribute points into Perception, enjoying the wriggling sensation under my eyelids. Even with my increased senses, when I looked at the finished piece, I was hard pressed to find fault. Especially when the System information came online.

    Apprentice¡¯s Carapace Cuirass

    Crafting fervently by a novice who made up for inexperience with determination and ingenuity.

    Effect: +2 to Resilience while worn

    Ten health wasn¡¯t much to me, but my eyes bulged all the same. Two attribute points might be negligible but it was proof of a new concept. I half-expected an achievement and told myself off for being disappointed. The knowledge that this was a possible outcome to crafting was more than enough. I only hoped to make something which would be durable while not hindering motion. I had more than succeeded.

    The cuirass, which I had thought was called a breastplate while making it, was composed of the basic carapace and only a few materials. I wasn¡¯t running low, but forcing myself to be frugal with the limited supplies seemed to have paid off. Essentially all I had done was mould two pieces of the hard material into the relative shape of a torso and fitted some straps to lock it in when worn. The fact this was my supposed masterpiece so far could only mean good things. It would only get better from here.

    I was almost disappointed when Merownis and Naea returned, forcing me to break out of my semi-obsessed crafting session and interact with reality. I didn¡¯t allow myself to go on a tangent about reality again, instead blinking as they opened the door. ¡°When did the sun come up?¡± I asked, my voice harsh. How long had it been since I spoke aloud?

    From Naea¡¯s worried look, maybe too long. ¡°Grant,¡± she said, completely serious, ¡°it¡¯s been a week.¡± My heart sank and I almost panicked, but Merownis¡¯ laughter next to her gave the game away quickly. Naea didn¡¯t wither under my glare, instead fluttering her eyelids and she came over and poked me. ¡°You have been busy!¡±

    ¡°Was I seriously working all night?¡± I repeated, ignoring Naea and letting her inspect the armour. I stood, groaning and stretching. Merownis waited until my strange noises were finished to chuckle again and nod.

    ¡°It seems like you saw out the scary evening,¡± the Sundercat teased. ¡°Naea tells me humans cannot see well in the dark, so tomorrow night you may hold my hand if you like.¡± As he was so keen to learn about humans, I taught him a rude gesture by aiming it his way and rolling my eyes. After he demanded I explain, we both had a laugh together and he also had a look at the cuirass. He rapped his knuckles against one side, a low thud to the impacts. ¡°Impressive, truly. Will you wear this?¡±

    ¡°Actually,¡± I extended the word to give me time to draw the rest of what I had made from the pouch. Armour Crafting wasn¡¯t the only thing I had done in my long night of work. At points, I had burned through too much mana and been forced to Meditate. It was during one of these moments I had an epiphany. Something I had ignored for too long could be fixed, so I fixed it. Removing some custom-made leggings from the pouch, I threw them at him. ¡°I made these for you. Please, put some clothes on. I¡¯ve seen your fuzzy balls way too many times. Once you¡¯re finally clothed, you can tell me all about your evening.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Fifty - State Of Play

    Once the scorpion carapace armour was locked in around his chest, with the large sword, Severance, at his side, Merownis honestly looked rather imposing. Arguably he was imposing in a different way while naked, but I had done my absolute best to ignore that truth until I could fix it. Seeing him now, he truly looked like a character from a TV show or video game.

    Standing at around my own height, if you ignored the ears, he was already quite different from the cowering kitten of a Sundercat I had met a few days prior. The rising levels and increased strength looked healthy on him. Merownis¡¯ orange fur was lustrous, his stripes pitch black in contrast to the bright colour. His yellow eyes were clear and keen at all times, but softened currently by his apparent good mood. A smile full of very sharp teeth was lazily locked on his face.

    In a way, his appearance helped keep me from becoming too grounded myself. Not that there was much risk with the constantly changing situation, but having a literal humanoid tiger cracking jokes in my ear was a surprising uplift to my mood. It wasn¡¯t that everything had gone to shit, it had just become ridiculous. I could work with whimsy easier than crushing despair, so I rolled with it.

    ¡°Go on then,¡± I prompted, ¡°tell me what I¡¯ve missed.¡± A lot could happen in a night within the dungeon. Now I had been made aware of how long I worked, the truth of it was evident. Not only from the sun already sitting in the sky but from my own body. Although my attributes allowed me to ignore the issue somewhat, exhaustion was slowly creeping into my bones. Naea hovered around me with a disapproving look. She seemed exactly the same.

    As for Merownis? He looked well enough, but had clearly been fighting. He carried the healthy glow of a few levels up. Even having gained one myself, I felt a little jealous. Not only is his soul lighter than mine, the Party Leader bond made it so he received more experience by virtue of my higher level making it easier for him to ¡°catch up¡±.

    ¡°I mostly kept a perimeter of the forest plateau, ranging around a mile or two outwards. My body feels like my own after the evolution, finally. Severance is an immaculate weapon, though a little costly to use. It doles out death well enough, but my largest growth was in Magic Missile.¡± An excited smile

    Aside from being jarred by the fact that we were technically on a massive yet short plateau, I just nodded along, taking in the new information. It was interesting that his skills levelled faster, even ones I had no knowledge of myself. I wasn¡¯t sure how that worked but it seemed impressively useful. ¡°The quantity of scorpions to fight was falling noticeably. It just wasn¡¯t worth the effort to chase down small pockets and going into the tunnels below was out of the question.¡± Merownis continued before sighing. ¡°That boost you give is serious, though. It felt like I had to stop myself from gaining strength too quickly.¡±

    That also caught my attention. I had similar feelings, but when presented by someone else they sounded as ridiculous as they truly were. ¡°Why? Why not get as strong as you can, as fast as you can?¡±

    For a moment, Merownis looked confused at the question, before that same confusion turned inwards. ¡°Actually, you¡¯re right. Why did I¡­?¡±

    ¡°Oh silly uncultured boys of mine. If only someone could illuminate this bizarre occurrence.¡± Batting her eyes liberally, the fairy began floating in a circle over our heads. Naea took a special delight in revealing the System¡¯s secrets once I had uncovered enough of the truth to know about them, so I indulged her by leaning forward and making my eyes wide.

    ¡°Gee,¡± I joked, ¡°I sure would love it if you could share this information with pathetic, stupid ol¡¯ me.¡± Naea scoffed at me and Merownis just looked even more confused, which in turn made me laugh instead. He may have spent a week with her, but he clearly didn¡¯t know her like I did. I found that I quite liked the special bond once I noticed it.

    ¡°Alright since you asked so nicely, it¡¯s a mental barrier to stop you from blowing up.¡± As though that explained everything, Naea nodded to herself. Considering her job finished, she proudly returned to my shoulder. I dumped her off unceremoniously and told her to keep talking. ¡°Fine,¡± she rolled her eyes. ¡°Basically, there¡¯s no real limit to the amount of experience you can get at once but there is a limit to how much your body can take. You keep trying to level up without settling the gains and your core goes pop.

    ¡°What does pop mean?¡± I asked, worried. I had lost track of myself on more than one occasion, gaining levels without noticing. Had I risked this danger without knowing, only to be pulled back by some unconscious message from the System?If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Naea said casually, ¡°just don¡¯t overdo it if you feel like you¡¯re stronger than you can handle.¡±

    We probed a little more but Naea wouldn¡¯t spill any more details. After a while, Merownis returned to his story. He pushed himself for a little while longer before he returned to the forest. The first thing he had done was check the arena. ¡°It had been repaired by some of the denizens of the forest without us knowing,¡± Merownis told me, and for some reason I felt touched.

    ¡°I know it¡¯s not our arena or anything, but it was nice of whoever to fix it up¡­¡± I imagined the Attack Animals would likely have had something to do with it. I was vaguely interested in the disciples of the late Master Thorn but hadn¡¯t taken the time to seek them out. Merownis grunted in agreement before his face became serious.

    ¡°The situation in the forest is¡­ changing,¡± he said. Naea sat herself on my shoulder as we moved over to the large chairs. I removed a few drinks and sandwiches from the Xaverweave Pouch and laid out an impromptu lunch which I quickly began devouring.

    ¡°How so?¡± I asked, mouth full of bread, chicken and lettuce. ¡°From what to what?¡± I had only been half listening as he explained all the intricate ways he could now control his Magic Missiles, but now he had my full attention. This was an issue which had begun to tickle in my ears when there were no other sounds around. I was connected to the forest zone in a similar way as I was to Merownis. It wasn¡¯t a detailed back and forth, just a sensation which I was slowly understanding.

    ¡°It is difficult to know,¡± Merownis shrugged, ¡°but I think¡­ It is likely a good thing. The forest is¡­ Tense. There are still new creatures appearing, but they do not have the desire to seek you out to fight. But at the same time, there is uneasiness.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t really thought about what would happen to the zone once I claimed it, but the fact that it was still growing and changing was interesting. I couldn¡¯t say it was a good thing, as I would have honestly preferred if it just became quiet and stagnant. Then again, unpredictability was basically a hallmark of the System at this point. ¡°Over what?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no clear master to the place.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that meant to be me?¡±

    ¡°We hardly made that clear.¡± Merownis just held up his hands, as though to say these weren¡¯t his thoughts. Was that why the crowd had been gathered as it was? Did they think that Merownis might defeat me and claim the forest as his own? I wasn¡¯t really interested in the power struggle of the place, but it was good to know where loyalties lay. The System might consider me the owner of the forest area, having defeated the other claimant, but only the Attack Animals had really been witness at the time. ¡°When the Scorpion Prince attacked before we could begin¡­¡±

    Merownis trailed off but I understood. The denizens of the forest had seen me fight for my own life and then disappear for days. More than that, thanks to my obsessive crafting session. Though, it wasn¡¯t like we had done badly. ¡°We killed it, though,¡± I argued half-heartedly.

    ¡°Yes, we did.¡± Merownis¡¯ eyes were firm, demanding that I understand the implication he was making. I did, but I wasn¡¯t sure Merownis had followed the line of reasoning to the end.

    ¡°Are you saying it wasn¡¯t clear how much stronger than you I am? You want to fight me again?¡± I playfully swirled my mana around, moving it through my skill patterns and tracing my channels with the energy. In the most gentle way possible, I had outgrown the challenge which Merownis could pose to me quickly. I was a little sad that I would likely not be able to have a true fight with Merownis now. I was changing too quickly.

    ¡°Honestly, not at all. Your growth is explosive.¡± Almost wistfully, Merownis wondered aloud. ¡°If the ambush where we met had just been a little faster, this dungeon might have been over already.¡± I waited for him to smile at the joke, but he just continued looking off into the middle distance, imagining a victory over me.

    I narrowed my eyes at the morbid wishful thinking but let it pass. I didn¡¯t like this line of thinking either. We had been decently matched in our last fight but the difference between us now was a wide gap. One which would only get larger, I hoped. It wasn¡¯t that leaving Merownis behind was my goal, but the quicker I became stronger than everything around me, the sooner I would be safe. My eyes found Severance, sitting against the tigerman¡¯s hip. ¡°Would any large show of strength be enough?¡±

    Tapping his chin thoughtfully, Merownis nodded. ¡°It would have to be against a worthy enemy, though. I¡¯m not sure there are any in the forest with that claim anymore.¡±

    ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry,¡± I laughed, ¡°there¡¯s a worthy enemy alright. Get some rest while I clean up here and then we¡¯re going out again.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Merownis yawned. ¡°What¡¯s the plan, boss?¡±

    I chuckled and picked up the large sword, channelling mana into it. I doubted this would ever feel like my weapon, especially with the Jingu Bang working so well, but it was powerful. In some ways, far more powerful than anything else I had found. ¡°We¡¯re going to give the System a bloody nose. The forest needs a show of force to calm down and trust me? I can give it that.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Fifty One - Proclamation

    Standing in the centre of the forest¡¯s arena, I watched as dozens upon dozens of monsters shuffled peacefully into the stands. One of the first beings to arrive was a fox I had seen previously. Arguably it could have been a different animal, but the way it stared me down and seemed to laugh at me felt familiar. We studied each other while other animals filed in, joined by less easily described forms. The beasts and humanoids which appeared after the fox were more fearsome and less recognisable.

    Was this actually quite a dangerous idea?

    I wondered suspicious thoughts to myself as the creatures continued to pile into the arena. I shouldn¡¯t be surprised that Naea could spread words like wildfire, but I was still impressed by the amount. When I first saw the arena, I hadn¡¯t been able to picture it full. There had been a few creatures around during the battle with Merownis, most had scattered away when I arrived. More had run when the Scorpion Prince ruined the fun.

    Now the forest zone had truly begun to gather all its glory.

    The ¡°glory¡± in this case was a chaotic mess of disjointed creatures that had no business living on top of each other. Either more creature types were appearing day by day or I had been woefully mistaken on the diversity around when I first moved through the area. Taking the time to look and let my analysis activate, I learned the names of the new so-called monsters brought here by the System to kill me.

    Ents, animals, even a few Sundercats caught my eye due to recognition but there were a lot of new shapes and sights in the crowd too. A particularly large ent was struggling to decide if was going to enter the stands or wait at the back, and I focused on it for a moment.

    Coppice Maker Ent - Level 21

    That was an impressive level for something which could hardly move faster than a slow human pre-System. From a quick sense, it was one of the stronger beings here. I imagined how it might defend itself and hunt as it settled into one of the sides next to an entrance. The nearby Attack Animal nodded to it before returning its gaze to me. The large turtle-frog-man crossed its arms, looking for all the world a bouncer at the strangest sporting event of all time. Its brethren were at each of the cardinal directions from which the stairs descended to the arena. Were they¡­ bigger?

    Amphibious Attack Animal - Level 22

    Ah, they had grown out of their adolescence. That explained the additional bulk. In contrast, there were some child-like looking creatures streaming in together which were the picture of immaturity. Small grey and green skinned humanoids which screamed ¡°goblin¡± were starting to take over a whole section of the stands. They were literally screaming the word ¡°goblin¡± over and over, in some form of dominance battle with another crowd of miniature things which looked more like hyena people. Those were barking back and gnashing the word ¡°gnoll¡± over and over.

    Forest Goblin - Level 5

    Forest Gnoll - Level 4

    Neither group had a member over four feet. I didn¡¯t see any over level five, either. Honestly, if they stayed at such a manageable level, they might be quite cute. Time would tell what happened here. I knew with skills even low levels could be a problem in a swarm, and depending on whether I succeeded at keeping peace here, I might have to fight my way out. They wouldn¡¯t look so cute if they got in my way then, I thought with a grimace.

    Turning away from my growing anxiety, I inspected one of the few soothing sights around. The ¡°repairs¡± to the arena turned out to be a large pile of rocks shoved into the tunnel. It wouldn¡¯t actually serve to fix anything defensively or structurally, but the fact it had been done at all gave me hope. The forest wanted something from me. Did that have to be brutality? I didn¡¯t think so. If nothing else, the mound made for a nice stage to stand on and give my speech.

    It¡¯ll be easy, I told myself, most of them are already naked so that part¡¯s already done. It¡¯s not even a speech, really, it¡¯s an offer. Just imagine them as people and not monsters and¡­

    I smiled. Well, problem solved.

    It really was that simple. Though there were some frightening faces, I could feel from the Spirit in the air that there was no true aggression aimed towards me. Hesitance, fear and hope, though the mixture was confusing and disorientating to shift through. All I could do was absorb their worries and dispel them.

    ¡°Hello,¡± I started. My voice was projected by a general expenditure of mana to increase the power and the combined attributes I had gathered. Strength didn¡¯t affect just my arms and legs, but even less physical things like volume. It was a shame, I reflected, that there was no charisma attribute. With my mana flowing, I could pretend that Command did the job and that I wasn¡¯t shaking. Why was fighting them all more appealing than talking?

    ¡°Hello,¡± I repeated, the crowd¡¯s noises quietening quickly, ¡°Thank you all for coming. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re confused but we¡¯ll go fast and as long as no one attacks me, I promise I won¡¯t move from this spot for thirty minutes starting from now.¡± I made sure to look at Naea as I spoke, something she said would be important.

    As Spirit gathered around me like a constrictor snake, I would be inclined to agree that it was important. I didn¡¯t feel threatened, but I did feel it impossible to take a step off the mound. The fairy nodded, and from the murmuring of the crowd they did understand the implication. In fact, the fastest to react was the fox.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    To the shouts of those nearest it, the fox shot down from the stands almost as soon as I was finished talking. Some nearby goblins howled in despair and clawed at their faces, expecting retribution as the fox bounded forward. It stopped just outside the mound of packed rocks before turning around and looking out into the arena. I couldn¡¯t help smiling, confused but enjoying the moment. Whatever else was happening, I could always enjoy a fox being cute and inquisitive.

    ¡°So, as you can see, you¡¯re safe to come closer. In fact, I hope some of you do.¡± Merownis stepped forward now, looking perturbed to be sharing the dubious spotlight with the fox which had jumped the gun a little. He brandished Severance, and held it out to me hilt first after crossing the arena. ¡°Merownis is the first ally I have freed from the System¡¯s control. I¡¯m hoping he¡¯s not the last.¡±

    These words too, I aimed at Naea. Merownis might be the first party member, but Naea was my saviour. Without her, none of my survival would have been possible. I wasn¡¯t sure how it would work, but I would do anything to make sure I repaid her for that debt. She looked confused and uncomfortable, so I knew my job was done and I continued.

    ¡°This sword is called Severance. It can cut contract bonds, according to its description.¡± It seemed I didn¡¯t have to explain the importance of such an item as the crowd erupted into noise once more and a few brave individuals almost fell onto the arena floor. Other than the fox who didn¡¯t turn back around, none had come as close. However, there were a few standouts who approached with, if not confidence, then without stumbling.

    I took special note of these individuals, smiling at the impossible coincidence of them all being from separate races. Most interesting was that these beings were all lower level than the compatriots of theirs I saw in the stands. Bravery wasn¡¯t an attribute you could gain from higher levels, after all. So you¡¯re the trailblazers, huh?

    Willow Ent - Level 11

    Forest Goblin - Level 2

    Forest Gnoll - Level 2

    Cheetah Sundercat - Level 10

    Forest Orc - Level 7

    ¡°I can remove the bindings of the System from you,¡± I told the crowd, but mostly these five. Doing any more than five at one would be a push on my mana reserves anyway, and I could slowly work through the rest. These ambassadors could keep the rest of the forest in line with me. ¡°Who wants to be first?¡±

    The orc and Sundercat moved at the same time before stopping and looking at each other sharply. The Sundercat turned to me, bowed their head and stepped back. While it might have been strange, I felt like it might look like favouritism if I had chosen the Sundercat outright, so I was privately glad.

    The orc looked like they wanted to tear the cheetah woman apart for breathing the same air, let alone for giving them the first chance. There was value in that attitude. If kept aimed in the right direction, the Aspect within whispered, aggression was just another form of defence. Standing at an easy eight foot, the orc was not quite what I had pictured in my mind.

    Broad shouldered, with grey skin and a bald head, the general silhouette was about right. The part I hadn¡¯t expected was the tusks and snout of a pig. ¡°Do you have a name?¡± I asked simply. Unsurprisingly, the orc grunted before shaking its head. Interesting. Merownis came with a name, but maybe that wasn¡¯t true for all creatures. ¡°Would you like one?¡±

    Although it looked embarrassed afterwards, the orc squealed slightly and nodded quickly. I smiled. ¡°Okay. Forgive me if I don¡¯t match the name to an existing culture, but for me¡­¡± I trailed off slightly while sending mana into Severance. ¡°You look like a Krueger.¡±

    Keeping the fight from my face, I gathered the strength of my Spirit Well to protect myself from the System¡¯s assault. Knowing that the System would throw a tantrum made it relatively simple to throw up a barrier and cause its attention to slide away. My issues in the past were mostly due to a lack of knowledge, not necessarily the strength of the System¡¯s attention. I was small potatoes, just a punk in a dungeon. Before I had the Spirit Well skill, my consciousness was no more firm than a candle flame. Now it could weather the slight breeze.

    Plus, as I wasn¡¯t adding these guys to my party proper, Severance didn¡¯t drain my mana until I was a walking husk, which was a bonus. The process continued quickly afterwards, with the sundercat going next. The goblin scrambled after that, having knocked the gnoll to the ground with a well placed punch to the snout. Though it didn¡¯t interrupt, the gnoll did attack the goblin once their ceremonies were complete. The ent waited patiently, but in short order all were freed from any bindings of the System and given names.

    Previously with Merownis I had been working blind, and used my own mana and uncontrolled Spirit to fill in the gaps. That process connected him to me and created the Party Leader skill. Thanks to my inexperience, there was a need to have a contract with Merownis at the time. That contract was now our bond, which had evolved along with Merownis¡¯ race. It wasn¡¯t something I would change, but it also wasn¡¯t something I wanted to force again.

    So, before too long, I had five changed creatures standing before me. Joining Krueger were Ayseral the cheetah sundercat, Jovie the female goblin, Speedo the gnoll, and Naru the willow ent. With a small use of Spirit, expelled like a breath, I was able to tell they were different. The caterwauling from the stands had risen to a fever pitch without my noticing, and I was incredibly grateful when the newly anointed envoys turned and corralled their respective peoples.

    My head was spinning, and I stumbled as the restrictions on me slipped away. A large hand found me, and Merownis chuckled. ¡°Claiming a zone, creating a faction. You really are special, Grant. What¡¯s your next trick going to be, I wonder?¡±

    Looking at the excited group before me, only now conceptualising it as mine, I honestly baulked somewhat. My face must have looked especially stricken as the chuckle on my friend¡¯s lips turned into a hearty laugh. Naea, who had been moved nearby at some point, joined in. ¡°Don¡¯t worry and don¡¯t overthink,¡± she said kindly. ¡°You¡¯ll find that these things take on a life of their own quickly.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Fifty Two - Industry

    It hadn¡¯t been a full day since my speech in the arena, even if my vague twenty four hour clock was undoubtedly failing somewhat. I generally trusted it, and so in less than a day, a transformation had begun to take place. It was already out of my control at this point, so I was just excited to see how far these newly freed creatures would go. Though most of them couldn¡¯t talk, they all seemed to appreciate what had occurred in the arena.

    The sounds of chopping wood, hammering of nails and hard work were infected with laughter and even songs as a village started to appear before my eyes. I was trying not to make a big deal out of it all, but the freedom felt by the dungeon creatures was palpable. Despite my own trapped nature in the dungeon, the immediate creation of a genuine community did a lot to soothe my soul.

    After I had used Severance to free the five ambassadors of the forest races, my head was swimming. A lot of mana and Spirit had been used in the process, and while I wasn¡¯t spent, the forces alone had left me cross-eyed as I tried to refocus. It hadn¡¯t cost me Spirit to fend off the System, but it had taken all of it manoeuvred at once. As such, I barely paid attention to the brave procession which followed along. I even fell asleep without giving the situation a second thought.

    When I awoke, the work was already ongoing and even if I wanted to stop it, I would have had a hard time knowing where to start. In a wide arc, an area of the forest was being cleared. In total, the width of the forest area was around ten miles, so there was room to work with but the scale of construction already underway was breathtaking. Most interestingly, it seemed as though the trees in that direction had been moved, not uprooted for lumber.

    After peeling myself from the workshop''s plush chair and wandering the newly stamped roads, I finally found a recognisable face. Merownis and Naea were nowhere to be seen, I could only hope they were organising some of this chaos but Naru was easy enough to spot. With ¡°hair¡± of long, thin twigs spotted with leaves, the ent towered over the foundations of the buildings which were being erected. When she saw me coming, she waved her large arm happily.

    ¡°Good morning to you, too,¡± I chuckled, enjoying the ent¡¯s antics. ¡°I see you¡¯ve all started without me?¡± Naru was, unfortunately, one of the creatures which couldn¡¯t form words but she managed to convey a general apology. I hopped back as the willow tree sized goofball dropped to the approximation of knees her bent trunk created. The wind whistled through the reed-like bonnet atop her head as she prostrated herself over and over. ¡°It¡¯s fine! It¡¯s fine,¡± I laughed.

    She stopped, and the work in the nearby area could continue. Most of the workers nearby had given Naru a wide berth once she began flailing. Seeing the disturbance, another of my new allies came to assist. ¡°Apologies, Grant Kaeron,¡± Ayseral gasped breathlessly, having sprinted from the far end of the construction site to here. I saw her coming, and it was still hard to follow her movements. I checked again, and she really was only level ten. ¡°Lord Merownis said you would want operations to begin as soon as possible. As you can see, there will be many completed buildings before the day is through.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t keep the surprise from my face, but I did my best to play along. ¡°Lord Merownis said that? Well, good then. You¡¯re all doing a brilliant job,¡± I added with a smile, and some tension fell away from the Sundercat¡¯s features. Naru wiggled a little, her leaves rustling in pleasure. I sighed, taking a moment to really watch what was happening. It was charming, in a slightly nightmarish way.

    Dozens of goblins and gnolls were rolling around like a pair of gangs, yet instead of shaking down business or causing trouble, they were competing to be the most useful. The bulk of the workforce consisted of ents, orcs and a few Sundercats which handled the intricate tasks as the smaller beings raced around with supplies. I wasn¡¯t able to follow exactly how, but multiple skills were in play from the forest denizens to make this a lot easier.

    Ents were able to produce wood, which was especially interesting to watch through Manasight. Using as much mana as I could, I asked Naru to make a small plank to which she happily obliged. Though it was all far too complex to truly follow, an intense weaving of mana and Spirit occurred, bringing forth life. I resolved to learn how to do that as soon as possible, as it didn¡¯t seem to require the wooden nature of Naru¡¯s body to accomplish.

    Other than lumber, there were a pair of orcs literally ripping nails out of the ground with a metal manipulation skill. Walking around slowly, they looked at the floor until they sensed a chunk of metal. A lasso of mana would then extend from one of them and plunge into the ground below. With a simple heave, the metal, usually iron, leapt straight into their waiting hands. The one who did the pulling then gave the hunk of metal over to the other who genuinely just tore nails out of it somehow. Grabbing and clawing at the ore, small pieces were shaved away and shaped in the hand before being passed over to the goblins and gnolls.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Metal and wood were covered, and stone wasn¡¯t much of an issue as there was apparently a supply line from the direction of the arena. That made sense, there was more than enough debris down there which could be made use of. Except, with the scorpions still around the area was dangerous. Putting two and two together, I said goodbye to the hard workers and went to find Lord Merownis.

    Instead, I actually found Naea. She was fully lost in the role of foreman and was directing different creatures to move materials around. It took multiple attempts to snap her out of it, during which time she told me she was ¡°workin¡¯ here,¡± and to ¡°move it or lose it, pal.¡± I dealt with her by pinching her wings and carrying her out of the tunnels kicking and screaming.

    ¡°Oh, hey Grant, what¡¯s up?¡± Naea asked. When the sunlight hit her, she completely returned to normal. Part of me was sure she was acting, though I couldn¡¯t be completely sure.

    ¡°I see you and Lord Merownis are hard at work. Or working hard to get others to work hard, I guess?¡±

    ¡°Mhm! Do you like it?¡± Naea¡¯s large bug eyes looked up at me in askance, her eyelids fluttering quickly. I shrugged, to which she gasped.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s definitely interesting. I guess I don¡¯t understand why, though?¡± Truly I didn¡¯t. Even as the work continued around us and we walked back through the burgeoning village, it wasn¡¯t clear to me. ¡°Why are they doing this for me?¡±

    Naea flew in front of my face, her own expression serious. ¡°It¡¯s not for you. It¡¯s for them. Is that why you¡¯re acting all weird?¡± Naea burst into a fit of laughter which made me feel embarrassed but I weathered it. ¡°You told them it was safe here and now they¡¯re making homes for themselves. Is that so hard to understand?¡±

    Like a rug was pulled from under my feet and wool taken away from my eyes all at once, I saw the situation in a different light entirely. ¡°Ah,¡± was all I could say. Wasn¡¯t the whole point of this that I didn¡¯t need to see them as beasts and monsters? For some reason, I had expected them to stay in disparate groups and keep to themselves. Instead, it looked like I was getting neighbours.

    ¡°Ah,¡± Naea repeated, landing on my shoulder and tapping my head. ¡°You¡¯ll catch up one day.¡± With new understanding, I joined the construction effort. Not only did it help raise my skill level, which was a euphoric feeling of its own, I had things only I could do. By the end of the day, I was a few thousand gold down but¡­ it was definitely becoming a village.

    Most touching, and not directed by myself at all, was the memorial. The area which had once been Clive¡¯s was now cleared and the children¡¯s park which had been surrounding it turned into a calm area of flowers and grass and tranquillity. The rest of the village fanned out from that central point. Barracks and a few houses were built, along with a mess hall, storage spaces and more workshops. By using the System and my vast amount of gold, once a building was mostly in shape and I knew what it was supposed to be, the System did the rest.

    As I used and abused the mechanics of it, I had to wonder whether the System would retaliate in some way for how I was surviving. Whether my own abilities were fair or not, they were mine. In a very real sense, I felt like I just lucked into Severance and, by extension, the Party System. The relative peace its existence could afford me was worth more than all of the gold in the Xaverweave Pouch. Well, maybe not all of it. Once the monsters learned about the idea of a living wage¡­ I dreaded the thought. ¡°How quickly one becomes conservative when they hold the money,¡± I sighed, resolving not to be stingy with my coin at any point if I could help it.

    As the day turned into a late afternoon, the sun dipping away, more and more of the organisation and planning became someone else¡¯s job. I felt the last vestiges of tight sensations in my chest release. The tension of the forest had been relaxed, and thus so had mine. It was beyond me at this point, so I left the work in the capable hands of a pair of competitive foremen, one goblin and one gnoll, before making my way to the sands.

    Lord Merownis was waiting, sitting on the lip of the forest area. I could now follow the trail of our connection to him, I just hadn¡¯t thought to with all the commotion. I hadn¡¯t added anyone else to the party proper yet, so it was just us for now. I wasn¡¯t desperate to incorporate new elements in what might be my most dangerous fight yet, after all. Looking at his eyes, I made a bet that the Lord Merownis thing was a joke started by Naea. The Sundercat was staring out into the golden sea with serious concentration. I felt similar. ¡°You ready, then, partner?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Born ready,¡± he answered, pushing off the lip first. His was a strident figure, a stalwart silhouette with the sword and armour he now wore. It wasn¡¯t too surprising that others would call the tigerman a lord over me, and I dampened the draconic chagrin inside of me. I also let him walk a distance before rolling my eyes and hopping down to turn him in the other direction.

    ¡°You don¡¯t actually know which way to go, remember?¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Fifty Three - Scorpions

    Time to meet the second claimant. Unfortunately, they¡¯re underground. I could tell that from the moment I first grabbed the connection, but there was always a chance it would have moved. ¡°Are we supposed to dig or¡­?¡± Merownis didn¡¯t seem thrilled at the idea.

    ¡°No,¡± I answered simply, surprised he couldn¡¯t feel the rumbling already. Then again, I had placed my previous level up¡¯s fifteen attribute points into Perception. I could basically hear the individual sand grains tumbling against each other underneath us, as well as the claws which pushed massive chunks out of its way. Thankfully it wasn¡¯t overwhelming, it was just more. Like clearer vision couldn¡¯t hurt your eyes, better hearing was only an improvement. ¡°Probably worth backing up a bit.¡±

    Together we jumped back only seconds before the ground burst with sand and scorpions. Immediately preparing for battle, I began to trace my mana through each of my active abilities, ready to use any of them at a moment¡¯s notice. ¡°You¡¯re sure we¡¯re not here for a fight?¡± Merownis asked as an army took ranks around us. I shrugged and checked my status screens, to which he groaned.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    26

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    255/255

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    275/275

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:15

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    40

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    42

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    47

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    20

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    43

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    35

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    52

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    54

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    55

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    255/255

    </td>

    <td>

    4.2 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    275/275

    </td>

    <td>

    54 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Mana Skills

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Spirit Well (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Unique

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Savant (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Legendary

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Serious Swing (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Haste (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Bolt (Level 4)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Manasight (Level 4)

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Shield (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Common

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dragonburn (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Battle Bond (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    The intimidating response was to be expected. We intentionally walked into the antlion¡¯s den, after all. When I had suggested it, the idea seemed sound enough. After using Severance to free the forest zone, there was no real reason I couldn¡¯t do the same for the scorpions. We were strong, so even if my olive branch was declined, we could surely fight our way out.

    I was becoming less confident with my plan by the second.

    They didn¡¯t immediately attack, content to swarm into a ring around us. The precision of the encirclement was impressive in itself, a show of force from the controller. From the rumbling which only increased, they were on their way. ¡°The big one¡¯s coming,¡± I breathed to Merownis. He just nodded, his fur puffing out from him slightly.

    I said the big one, but perhaps it was the smallest?

    Rising from the ground as though the sand itself was lifting her, the second claimant arrived on the field of battle. It took some effort to restrain myself from smashing through the throngs of weaker scorpions in the face of the power which unrestrained itself before us. Merownis¡¯ fur bristled, and I patted his shoulder. He had sensibly decided not to wear his cuirass. I agreed it would have been a little gauche. I had killed a lot of scorpions, and while that was no secret, we didn¡¯t need to walk in exclaiming the fact loudly.

    ¡°We came with a goal,¡± I reminded him. My hope was that this situation might not come to blows. It was still possible but the vast numbers arrayed around us and the incredible power I felt from the second claimant would make it difficult to suggest we had anything to offer. Nothing this claimant couldn¡¯t take from our dead bodies, that is.

    ¡°It was brave of you to come here, human.¡± A voice which made my skin crawl tickled my ear, the distance between us devoured by a poisonous mana which filled the air along with her coming. I gulped. This was a mistake.

    Stepping out of the hole made by the scorpions, the claimant made the ground shudder with every step though they couldn¡¯t have weighed more than me or Merownis. It wasn¡¯t physical strength either, but such powerful magic within her movements that the ambient mana in the air reacted to her. And she was a ¡°her,¡± which didn¡¯t surprise me after meeting the Scorpion King. ¡°Well, you didn¡¯t seem like you¡¯d be saying hello nicely any time soon, so I thought I¡¯d do the neighbourly thing.¡± My voice felt timid even as I did everything I could to stop the shuddering.

    This was a mistake.

    With a ¡°crown¡± of red exoskeleton which flowed naturally into an armoured dress, the Scorpion Queen was resplendent. Skin of dark blue was showing between the plates of her ruby coloured ball gown. I first thought of it as armour because it looked sturdy, but it didn¡¯t protect many of her more vulnerable areas, leaving them on show. I didn¡¯t let myself get distracted. The sand rippled where she stepped. The train of her dress followed her, eating away at the sand beneath like hot water over sugar.

    This ¡°woman¡± was dangerous.

    ¡°Neighbours, are we? I thought we were enemies.¡± The sound of her words once again sent a shiver down my spine. Sickly sweet, yet with an almost imperceptible keening underneath. It was the sticky aftermath of a melted ice cream combined with nails on a chalkboard in a far off room. This was a mistake.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have to be,¡± I offered, gesturing my head to Merownis. Our best chance was still to encourage friendship, if at all possible. Two black eyes stared back at me, unblinking. Merownis paled at being introduced to the conversation, but stood firm. His confidence reinforced my own. ¡°You attacked first, and I sent a message back.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she interrupted my flow and held up a hand. Her word purred in my ear for seconds after she stopped making the noise. On the back of her arm was a scarlet welt which seemed to visibly throb with pain. I recognised it immediately as the damage from my whiplash. ¡°I received your message.¡±

    This was a mistake.

    ¡°You struck first,¡± I repeated and shrugged. Better to appear bold than afraid. ¡°We can fight if you desperately want to, but it doesn¡¯t have to end like that.¡±

    ¡°Is that right? And what do you offer for your life, human?¡± Although she was metres away, I felt as though she had asked the question directly into my ear. Those pitch black eyes continued watching, looking for weakness and a moment to strike most likely. My answer was the largest risk, but it was the truth.

    ¡°Your life,¡± I said honestly. The following laughter was tittering on top and venomous underneath. It was a laugh which said she was impressed with my gall and ready to kill me now. I spoke quickly. ¡°I offer freedom. Beyond this dungeon and onwards. The world is dangerous and brutal. I prefer allies to enemies. The weapon can sever or create bonds, including those of the-¡±

    ¡°Ha!¡± Her singular laugh roared out like a thunderclap. I couldn¡¯t help but flinch this time. When I opened my eyes, she was right in my face, yet I couldn¡¯t move. ¡°You want allies but go to war with the strongest enemy there is? Admirable. But no.¡±

    I could hardly breathe with her so close, yet I had to ask the question. ¡°Why not?¡±

    The truth was Merownis and Naea had both told me there would be no positive outcome here, but I had to know for myself. The lives already lost to my own growth had created a fissure within me. I felt that breach seal itself as the cold truth was shown to me with no bells and whistles to cover it. Accepting the inevitable, I finally allowed the System to scan her for me.

    Boss Monster - Scorpion Queen, Reysault - Level 35

    ¡°Because I¡¯m a monster,¡± the Grade One claimant said easily, ¡°whatever that pet is, it bent a knee I never would.¡± She had the power here, and so she would choose whether to be merciful or not. The decision came after the strength was shown, and not before. It was a lesson I apparently needed to learn. The finality of her words left no argument to broach.

    It simply was as it was.

    I tried. It was a mistake and now we¡¯re in a bad situation but I tried.

    Merownis was less accepting. As the swarming sea of scorpions began to shift towards us, he let out a long string of expletives I was certain I hadn¡¯t taught him. ¡°Going to have to wash that mouth out with soap when we get out of this.¡± I joked to him, but my eyes never left the claimant. ¡°She¡¯s level thirty five,¡± I told the Sundercat.

    ¡°Ah, shit,¡± he replied.

    An outright, unquestionable Grade One. We don¡¯t retreat, I told myself, the magical core at my centre blazing brightly in defiance. So what if she had a few levels on me? I activated Haste and Manasight at full bore to deal with the incoming attack, but it wasn¡¯t enough. With a palm strike that crushed a rib, I was thrown into the sand. Merownis, smartly, had already begun trying to puncture through the surrounding scorpions. I landed next to him. ¡°You alive?¡± He asked, not turning around.

    ¡°Not for long, probably,¡± I grumbled, feeling more upset than in pain. She had blasted me out of my abilities, her speed too great even for my hasted speed to track. Instead of attacking, the Scorpion Queen laughed like a true villain. I appreciated that, at least. Haste and Manasight returned, along with a buzzing up my arms as King¡¯s Training started to take control of my movements. My thirty five perception might not be enough to see her completely, but I didn¡¯t need to see her. I hopped forward in the sand, bounding on the balls of my feet.

    With fast, unreadable movements, Reysault snaked forward again. The setting sun reflected off her scarlet crown, the carapace dress whipping around violently. I still counted myself grateful for the extra perception as I basically watched myself counter. Guided by the flows of King¡¯s Training, I stepped in when my instincts told me to step back. Reysault¡¯s smile faltered as her stabbing nails shot over my shoulder. Without the space to swing my staff, I buried a fist in her sternum.

    Literally.

    As I couldn¡¯t use the staff in such close quarters, I basically panicked and threw a hard punch. I hadn¡¯t expected it to work so well. Which made more sense when she laughed in my face and the ground shook beneath me. This was more than the rumbling of approaching scorpions. The body of Reysault crumbled into sand around my arm, laughing that awful laugh directly into my ear. The thunderous noise deep beneath the sands increased again and again until the floor beneath our feet bucked completely. The sun, sitting fat in the middle of the sky, vanished behind a massive leg which ripped itself from below.

    ¡°Ah,¡± Merownis repeated, ¡°shit.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Fifty Four - Get Serious

    In the calamitous upheaval of the battlefield caused by Reysault¡¯s unveiling of her true appearance, I took the time to recover as much mana as I could. Merownis and I started breaking through the lines of scorpions. Magic Missiles sparked easily in the air around the Sundercat, the longsword Severance making light work of any supposedly durable exoskeleton which got too close. For my part, the intensely hard form of the Jingu Bang in even its most stable state was a devastating hammer blow.

    The Scorpion Queen continued to shake off the dust as it became clear even my large pool of raw attributes wasn¡¯t enough. Having decided to become an all-rounder for the achievements, none of my singular qualities was enough to truly dominate a force like the one arrayed before us. Still, enough time had passed for my mana to recover to full, and that regeneration now fed into my skills and weapon.

    My first skill activation was Battle Bond. As I handed over a lump sum of one hundred gratefully received mana, I also shared my regeneration between Merownis, myself and the Jingu Bang. For myself, I just wanted to recover the amount I had given to my partner before funnelling as much as I could into King¡¯s Training and the Jingu Bang.

    However, over a few practice sessions Merownis and I had discovered that while the tigerman didn¡¯t have an Aspect himself yet, he was able to produce more powerful effects with my mana than his own. With my regeneration on top of that¡­

    The air around the tigerman was illuminated in purple light as ten amethyst crystals appeared. Technically, these were Magic Missiles but with the added flair of draconic power, it would be hard to say they were the same skill. Slowly, like deflated balloons, the glowing crystals moved out into the sea of scorpions. Once they were far away enough from us, they exploded with arcane force, tearing apart entire chunks of the arachnid army with their magical shrapnel. Affectionately named our Dragon Bombs, it was the only real combination we had discovered so far, but it was effective.

    ¡°Are you going to use it?!¡± Merownis roared at me, clearly still upset we had walked into a fight. As the gargantuan legs of the scorpion queen were still shaking sand loose and rising to crush us intermittently, I had to concede the point. This was my fault. I was naive, I was hopeful and I let it get us in a terrible situation. Those were mistakes I wouldn¡¯t make again, and if that led to a blunder in the future then so be it.

    I wouldn¡¯t let my hope get us killed.

    Guidance Stone of Poison

    Guidance stones are sometimes called the lesser variant of Aspects. Each Aspect has a set amount of spaces to absorb a Guidance Stone. They can only be used by Aspect wielders.

    Aspect of the Dragon available.

    Use Guidance Stone of Mastery? This will consume one Guidance slot from your available Aspects.

    Thinking back to Naea¡¯s words on the subject when I had asked if it was worth it. ¡°Yes and no. Guidance Stone skills are not like the skills you can simply learn. The stone and Aspect work together to create something greater than the sum of their parts. It¡¯s why they¡¯re so limited, I guess.¡±

    Thankfully, something else Guidance Stones were was quick. If this were an Aspect I couldn¡¯t have used it mid-battle, but as the purple and green orb shattered in my grip, I felt the power flow into me immediately. Like a snake made of steam, I felt the mana burn through my channels and slither into my core. In my mind, I saw clouds of noxious gas shoot towards the world of the dragon, taking up residence in parts. The fields and forests created by my mana so far were morphed into swampy lagoons.

    Though such places had negative connotations, a world also needs such things. While I could feel the skill taking hold, and I knew it wasn¡¯t quite what I wanted, I didn¡¯t regret the risk.

    Skill Unlocked - Catalyst (Epic) (Dragon/Poison)

    The ignition. The spark. The reaction created around you and because of you, without altering the self.

    ¡°...Shit.¡± I knew well enough how to use the skill despite the vague description. Which meant I knew enough to be sure it wouldn¡¯t make the difference right now. Merownis heard me curse and just rolled his eyes, pulling Severance from the Xaverweave Pouch before dashing into the scorpions without a word. We had a plan for if everything went as bad as it had. Neither of us had quite expected the giant kaiju scorpion, but our worries weren¡¯t far from this either.

    Plan A was simple. Run, as quickly as we were able to, using everything we had to give us an advantage. I wished I hadn¡¯t been forced to use the stone, and more so I wished it had been useful. ¡°Well?¡± Merownis asked as I arrived next to him. Together we created an arrow of death through the masses to puncture our way out.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°Useless for right now, I think. Plan A.¡± We didn¡¯t have time for all of the details. Even if we ignored Reysault and hoped for the best, it wasn¡¯t like she was the only true danger in the sands. Before we could break the lines completely, we were stopped by a pair of Scorpion Princes. ¡°We can¡¯t get stopped here.¡± The Jingu Bang in my hand undulated a little as it drank as much mana as I could give it in preparation for serious combat.

    ¡°What does it do?¡± Merownis demanded, Severance gleaming with mana in his hand as he lopped off the first prince¡¯s tail while I smashed the other one back. A Mana Shield at my feet allowed me to flip over a reaching claw while sweeping the prince away with my staff. It bowled through dozens of other chittering scorpions before stopping. Another, hard thrust with the Jingu Bang smashed its carapace completely, folding the silver scorpion in half. It hadn¡¯t been long since a single one of these were dangerous for me and Merownis together.

    Now they were just hurdles.

    ¡°It lets me change things,¡± I grumbled, answering his question about my new skill. Merownis fired a few precise bolts of powerful mana into the other scorpion prince and a Serious Swing was enough to clear most of the way to freedom. All around us, sand falling in great clumps and clouds as Reysault dug herself from under the sand and made her first move. With her massive legs alone, she started laying waste to the surrounding desert as she smashed and swept to try and hit us. Of course, the massive, ruby coloured legs were only incidental to the fact she was preparing an actual attack. Like a skyscraper aiming itself for us, a huge claw descended from the heavens.

    Haste. Battle Bond.

    It was a decent expenditure of mana, but I had the energy to burn after pacing myself. By using both skills at the same time, Merownis was brought into the slowed world with me. Together we sprinted at full speed out of the range of Reysault¡¯s train sized claw. As the strike collided with the sand, we were thrown even further away. Acting in tandem with my half-controlled body, the Jingu Bang brought my random tumble to a stop quickly. The staff had made itself heavy, planting itself in the sand. I deactivated Haste as the shockwave from the heavy blow kicked up a dust storm all on its own.

    Merownis tore his way out of the ground with an angry roar, spitting out sand. I pulled him to his feet, and we started running again. With vague interest, I noticed the other scorpions somehow avoided the damage from the claw, despite definitely being hit. There was more mana in the air than I could see through so it made sense she had ways to protect her army from herself. ¡°This isn¡¯t going to work!¡± Merownis shouted, giving voice to the worries in my head.

    Reysault was mind-bogglingly massive. All she had done was stand up and throw one attack, but her form was so large the single movement was more dangerous than a falling building. Adding to that, there were too many enemies. If she wasn¡¯t causing collateral damage, I didn¡¯t have much hope of really clearing the army. All the scorpions had to do was wear us down and one or two of them would be enough to finish the job.

    Yet, despite all of that, I refused to lose.

    It was not a mistake to offer my hand for alliance. My imagination may have run away a little with ideas of an underground complex of tunnels built to keep people safe, but that could be accomplished in other ways. The warrens of the scorpions had been horrifying but easily defensible - if it wasn¡¯t myself breaking in.

    The real mistake was not having enough power to enforce my ideals peacefully. As she was quantifiably stronger than me, Reysault saw no reason to accept my offer, even if it might lead to a more promising life in the end. The System¡¯s proposition was much more simple than my own, after all. ¡°Kill,¡± the System said. So the Scorpion Queen would. With the alternative being uncertain, there was no other choice but to fight. If I had come here with overwhelming power, then perhaps¡­

    No. The System put these creatures in my way, not the other way around. For my own freedom, the Claimants needed to be brought to heel. I may have a tool which could remove the conflict inherent in the dungeon, but I should have known it wouldn¡¯t be so easy to do so with one of the more powerful denizens. The irony was heavy on my shoulders as I realised my weakness here would cost lives.

    They just wouldn¡¯t be mine and Merownis¡¯. All of the mana I could gather at once came under my control and flooded a certain skill pattern with energy. ¡°You ready, partners?¡± I called out, both with my voice and through the magical connection still flowing from me to the tigerman and the weapon. ¡°Plan B!¡±

    ¡°Ready!¡± Merownis replied, dropping to the ground. There were two phases to Plan B, and they were very simple. Only three conditions needed to be met. First, the situation had to be beyond fucked, because otherwise there would be no point. Escape had to be out of the option. Second, I had to have given a certain amount of energy to the Jingu Bang. The weapon was actually incredibly efficient with the mana it used. The effectiveness was dramatically more impressive than any of my other attacks.

    Third, the claimant needed to be an easy target.

    The shadow of an impossible claw cast darkness about us, and all three aligned at once. I had to smile and give some quiet thanks. As intimidating as the giant red scorpion form was, I would have had a harder time fighting a more durable version of her humanoid form. Likely it was a costly illusion to create or maintain. I remained wary of Reysault¡¯s magical powers even as my mana continued to drain away quickly into my attack.

    I¡¯m ready, the Jingu Bang whispered through my mana channels once it had drunk its fill of my mana. The playful spirit inside the staff was completely serious for once, ready to move in perfect flow with myself. For added oomph, I drained the final vestiges of my mana pool into King¡¯s Training. My grip on the staff shifted slightly, making the attack land even more perfectly.

    Serious Swing.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Fifty Five - Tactical Repositioning

    When I first learned and used the skill Serious Swing, I had less than half the strength attribute now at my disposal. The same was true for most of the statistics I could now control, each of them rising more in seven levels than the previous nineteen put together. Though they couldn¡¯t be touched in quite the same way as skills or my Aspect, the source of this growth, my achievements, burned in my soul constantly fueling the future growth of my core.

    As the mana flowed into my increasingly trusted weapon, my memory cast even further back than that first whipping attack in the caverns below the dungeon. I recalled my first Mana Bolts, created while frantic and terrified. Compared to the quality of my magic now, that wispy and impotent energy would be flimsy and useless. As my Power attribute had risen, along with further understanding and aligning with the Aspect of the Dragon attached to my core, my mana had naturally evolved to another level.

    That qualitative difference was no more clearly felt than in the energy within the staff. After absorbing as much mana as I could spare, it was currently more dense with my specific flavour of magic than any single Mana Bolt I could hope to produce. Even with my most reckless usages of the Dragonburn skill, which multiplied the amount of mana I could use by around ten, I had never held this level of devastation in my grip at once.

    A whisper from within my magical core said it could be stronger, and I smiled. I had a lot of influences acting upon myself, and it was hard to know where my mind stopped and my magic began these days. While the System had brought the magic to me, I knew in my heart that it was my own. Those additional thoughts were just exaggerated expressions of myself.

    Mentally diving into the Spirit Well, I was infused with its power. My power. Endless possibility seemed to stretch out from my fingers and I watched as those streams of hope began to converge towards a single ideal. The decision came from both within and without, my conscious thoughts aligning with the river of power already in motion inside my core.

    Overcome.

    I exhaled a breath through my mouth and slowly inhaled through my nose. The crisp aridity of the desert stung my nostril. The heat of the sand itched at my feet, both through the boots and inside them but I planted them deeper all the same. The wood of the artefact in my hands was soft, it complied with my shifted stance happily. The tip aimed into the ground, I felt the sun¡¯s heat vanish as its attention was stolen, a shadow cast over my head.

    My movement was calm, because I had calmed myself. The strike was skillful, because I had focused all of my attention towards making it so. King¡¯s Training was a strange skill, one which reminded me uncomfortably of the System¡¯s first moments on Earth. I swallowed the discomfort in face of the skill¡¯s effectiveness. Like my magic, I accepted the slight lack of control as something personal. When the dungeon engulfed me, I was no fighter. With King¡¯s Training actively influencing me, I was Achilles. Following its direction, I released the floodgates.

    All of the mana and Spirit I could bring together at once was sucked into the Jingu Bang. I had fed the staff as consistently as possible, rarely taking my hand away from it since it had accepted me as its wielder. Despite the staggering amount of energy I had given over, the container was vast. Each minute, I recovered over fifty mana. In an hour, that was around three thousand units, and even after more than a week of such a flow the Jingu Bang¡¯s thirst was barely quenched. I was excited for whatever qualitative change the staff might undergo, but as the Spirit I used mobilised the power already contained within, I smiled wide.

    This would be more than enough.

    The combination of all these elements was a level of devastating which intimidated even me. The Jingu Bang¡¯s malleable length and weight began to morph. The head became immensely heavy and shot into the distance behind me along with my backswing. Ten feet. Twenty. Fifty. Still the staff grew. It took only a fraction of a second as the speed of my movements, even without the full power of Haste, was blinding. Even before the weapon finished extending, I was carrying out the forward motion. Though not the true target of my ire, the scorpions on the ground faced just the starting motions of the most powerful and immediate destruction my intent could create. It decimated them, quite literally. A path was cleared, but I was no longer aiming to escape.

    I was aiming for the giant claw plummeting towards the sands. My true target was the descending doom of another sky blocking smash from Reysault. The tip of the Jingu Bang swept upwards and collided with the crimson claw. the world buckled in response. I was privately amazed as the chitinous limb was thrown back, even as something cracked in my arm and my health dipped a little. I hoped it would recover before I had to do such a thing again, but there were more pressing matters.

    The colliding forces of the attacks, mine and Reysault¡¯s, created an explosion of pure force, and the resulting damage was catastrophic for the nearby scorpions, as well as the offending ruby-red limb. Merownis avoided the damage by flattening himself as we had planned, but the car-sized scorpions all around us were not so lucky. Their brittle exoskeletons snapped from the sudden pressure from above. I let the weight pass over me easily, more than used to pressure at this point.

    Plus, the ground beneath me gave out. Even I would have been buckled if the sand hadn¡¯t started to fall away. This was both good and bad. Good because it would make it harder for Reysault to find us. Plan A was back in business now we had been forced into the tunnels. However, the situation was also bad because it meant she couldn¡¯t see us at all. I had just defended against her attack physically, which would stress her out.

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    Which, in turn, meant it was time for her magic to come into play.

    ¡°Time to move, right?¡± Merownis asked over his shoulder, already sprinting away as I followed behind. My arms were screaming, and I had cost myself half of my health just meeting Reysault¡¯s strength for a single blow. Still, the dragon purred in delight within me at the fact it had been an even exchange. I chased after Merownis as the ground began to shake.

    While the force behind the simple movements of her body was more than enough to end us, it wasn¡¯t where her main skills lay. A body like that was a deterrent by size, nearly impossible to injure in a serious way, which meant she could focus her System-given advantages elsewhere. A certain level of Strength was likely required just to move the huge form around, but the bulk of her attribute points would be in Command if I had to guess. Just feeding her mana to the other scorpions as she had meant she had an incredible pool of energy to work with.

    True to my worries, mana began wailing through the tunnels which we sprinted through, a vibrato keening to accompany the stomping percussion of a thousand angry scorpions storming after us. The sounds also started to echo from the front. I turned, spotting the chasing enemies and a vicious smile grew on my face. Thick, black mana was dancing over their carapaces like liquid shadow. ¡°Gotcha,¡± I laughed before shouting forward to my companion, ¡°sorry for the panic, Mero. We need to separate one of them.¡±

    I slammed a Mana Shield down on the tunnel entrance we had just run through, a full fifty mana used to power it. ¡°My new skill is called Catalyst. As far as I can tell, it lets me turn one thing into something else.¡± In the cavern, Merownis met the oncoming attackers and killed all but one of the scorpions. As he did so, I sealed the rest of the room. As I sensed Reysault¡¯s mana attempting to pull away, I shot forward and drove my hand through the brain of the scorpion. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what it will work on or won¡¯t,¡± I grunted. The action made me want to gag. ¡°Except for one thing.¡± I dodged an automatic response by the stinger as I clenched my fist and grasped the scorpion queen¡¯s black magic.

    ¡°It definitely works on mana.¡±

    I consciously dredged up every negative feeling the System, this place and all of the shit situations combined had created in me, turning the Spirit Well black with anger and violence. For a single moment, none of those feelings were mine. They were part of the magic I infused, and I was free of them. It was just me, the magic and the calm before the storm. Taking a breath, I released the wave of Spirit and reclaimed the emotions with a rip of my fist from the skull of the scorpion. In my sticky grasp, the tether of mana wriggled like an uncomfortable eel. With a snarl, I activated Catalyst and all of that venomous intent burned through the connection. Then, to finish the dangerous concoction, I let the dragon do the rest.

    Dragonburn.

    The chain reaction was much more fierce than I expected. Before the energy had made its way back to the source, the screaming started. Within the tunnels, it was only the Mana Shield which still held firm which protected us from the deafening screeches of the scorpions. It did little to stop the headache caused when Reysault herself began to howl. As the pitch reached ear-bleeding levels, the bubble burst.

    Whistle. Pop. Squelch. Sizzle. Whistle, pop, squelch, sizzle. Whistle pop squelch sizzle. Whistlepopsquelchsizzle.

    Hard to say which was worse, the sound of the magic rebounding within and around the scorpion¡¯s shells was nightmarish in its own way. The look Merownis was giving me was like this was my fault, and while it wasn¡¯t a bad thing, I felt bad for the obvious pain the enemies were in. ¡°New skill,¡± I shrugged, not willing to let the wailing of an enemy army get me down. Even if they did sound like it really hurt.

    The slight tremor which preceded the leg driven into our cavern was all the warning we got, and luck played more than a little role in our safety as we barrelled, Haste-infused, through more and more tunnels. Behind us, the scorpion queen was ravaging the barrows with abandon.

    ¡°Fight¡¯s not over then?¡± Merownis asked rhetorically. He had been invaluable in the quick action required to strike at Reysault so fiercely and was panting heavily for the effort.

    ¡°Maybe for you,¡± I sighed, retrieving my mana regeneration from him. He played up looking hurt before falling onto his rear against a wall. ¡°I need to capitalise now though. Don¡¯t stay down here, there could easily be a collapse once we start fighting again.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve got a plan?¡± The Sundercat seemed resigned, more than suspicious. I had to wonder at the expression. Was I really that exhausting?

    ¡°Oh yeah, I¡¯ve got a plan.¡±

    ¡°A good one?¡±

    ¡°I think so,¡± I shrugged. The Jingu Bang seemed to think so, too, shaking with excitement in my hand.

    ¡°Then good luck, partner.¡± My eyes widened, and a ferocious tingle scratched up my spine. Merownis had activated Battle Bond himself, reverting the standard connection. Within my mana, a new wind rose, carrying with it the roar of a tiger and the ferocity of a people cast to the System. Merownis¡¯ magic.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know you could do that,¡± I admitted, looking at my hands as I tasted the new mana and found it delicious. Merownis¡¯ mana was able to slip into certain skills easier than my own did, which surprised me. Then again, he was an agile predator, so Haste, Stealth, and Tracking all coming naturally to his energy made a kind of sense. ¡°Now it¡¯s definitely a good plan.¡±

    ¡°Then go,¡± Merownis nodded, ¡°the forest was getting crowded anyway.¡± Without another word, I took off. I had recovered most of my mana over our flight from the battlefield, and then the rest during our conversation. The first strike between the second claimant and myself had been mine. As had the second. I doubted the Scorpion Queen was feeling great after I turned her mana into poison. Rolling my shoulders, I hopped out of a crack in the ceiling and saw my enemy once more. It was time to see if I could truly overcome this place.

    Starting with her.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Fifty Six - Scorpion Queen, Reysault

    For the first time in my battles against the scorpions, I was the one bursting out of the sands. I imagine it was less exciting for me, as I was not faced with a surprised human but instead an angry scorpion kaiju. Using the Jingu Bang¡¯s extension to punch a hole in the roof, I leapt out of the underground tunnels. The scorpion queen sagged a distance away, her ruby exoskeleton marred with black striations.

    The evidence of my own attack on her was promising, but I stopped myself from getting excited. This was still the most dangerous fight I had ever been in. I didn¡¯t allow myself to forget that this creature could shape the sand to an intensely powerful degree, creating clones of some kind. Likely, it helped her massive body move even now.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t have to be like this,¡± I muttered, dashing forward. There were only a few scorpions still above ground, not including Reysault herself, and they were quickly becoming puddles of acidic and viscous muck as a result of the backlash from Reysault¡¯s empowering magic being turned on its head. It was a grisly sight, but the alternative was myself, dying in a similar state.

    I wouldn¡¯t let that happen.

    The distance between us was vast. My own speed, coupled with the boost from Haste and the desperate desire not to be crushed in the tunnels below had spurred my footsteps. As the good queen was taking a slight breather herself, I decided to take my time and let a few minutes pass before searing forward across the sands once more. With Merownis¡¯ regeneration alongside my own, I barely needed three minutes to fill my mana pool.

    Dragonburn. Mana Bolt.

    Bringing herself to bear as she saw me coming, the scorpion queen screamed her defiance. Through me and my magical attack, the Dragon roared back. A large portion of my regeneration was once more fed into the Jingu Bang but I could still throw a starting shot.

    I had so much mana to spare compared to when I first used the skill. As the mana turned caustic, influenced by the Aspect of the Dragon, it became heavy. By filling the magic balloon with a touch of Spirit and letting the Aspect do as it did, the orb became a vessel of pure inevitability. The closest I could get to creating a Magic Missile, the Mana Bolt leapt from my hand easily despite the heft required to throw it. Pushing further, my mana surging, the primal energy of my ally flowing into Haste while my own activated King¡¯s Training.

    Though it may not bear the name, when thrown, the bolt became a magical missile. Surface-to-air, in this case. The signal flare of power seared through the air at a blistering speed even as I skidded to a stop. With my momentum combined with all of the positive force applied, the Mana Bolt became a comet deadset on bloodying the nose of the massive boss monster. Unfortunately, despite all of the deadly energy I had tried to lace the attack with, it was still a simple Mana Bolt. Powerful and requiring attention but, as one of the towering claws met it and crushed it, ultimately irrelevant in terms of damage.

    ¡°Caught you looking,¡± I called. At this point, I expected she noticed the shadow hovering over her. It was an expensive move, but every second I had been able to funnel my mana to the Jingu Bang was for this. I expected something like this to happen, and was massively thrown off when the Scorpion Queen had appeared as a slender woman. Honestly, there had been some relief when the true form pulled itself from the sand.

    A big target was much easier to hit than a small, fast one.

    The Jingu Bang stood as full of power and pride as it had ever been while I held it. While she might be as intimidating as a skyscraper, the scorpion wasn¡¯t piercing heaven like I had. Into the infinite, the weapon¡¯s tip shrank to a pinprick, while the staff itself swelling to the size of a rocket. While all of my negativity had been a whip against Reysault, the positives had flowed into the staff.

    Confusing as it was, I didn¡¯t hate the System, at least not completely. Moving at ridiculous speeds was fun. Being able to lift boulders over my head was thrilling, and the sense of discovery every day was more alluring and potent than the fear the unknown evoked. In many ways, this attack was fueled by my desire to continue living in the System, one way or another. More and more, the Spirit of this positivity became fuel for the staff, the rising hopes allowing it to soar into the sky. Before the Scorpion Queen could start moving, I did.

    ¡°Timber.¡± It took a Haste-boosted tackle to start the proceedings, but the Jingu Bang did the rest. I could feel the staff itself altering its weight to make the fall quicker and more direct. At this point, though, Reysault had decided she wasn¡¯t sitting still. While it was clearly a great effort, the horrid form of the immense scorpion queen shuffled itself to avoid the falling cataclysm. With my feet pounding the sand, I burned into the last of my mana. Silently thanking Merownis for his assistance, I continued to use Haste alongside my impressive Agility and Strength to get into position.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    48/295

    </td>

    <td>

    58 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    With Merownis¡¯ regeneration on top of my own, Haste became cheaper to use. Though a unit ticked back each second, I couldn¡¯t wait for more time and just had to throw everything I had at my final redirection. From an olympic sprinter¡¯s starting position, with a pair of small Mana Shields for purchase in the sand, I bolted forward with enough speed to rattle my own cheeks.

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    ¡°Caught you looking.¡± An awful voice, twisted further by pain, screeched in my ear as I was stopped mid-jump by a hand at my throat. I felt something crack, and it became impossible to breathe. Though, that might have been the vice grip on my windpipe. I didn¡¯t have the oxygen or the time for a pithy reply. Clearly Reysault was confident enough to gloat, but that simply made me angry.

    Serious Swing.

    Like a cannonball being fired, my fist shot forward as mana took control of the situation and decided I was much faster than natural. My fist collided with the jaw of the Scorpion Queen and sent her head flying into a cloud of sand, her body following soon after. I fell to the floor coughing, but I couldn¡¯t stop. Even as the sand around me began to pull in different directions, new clones gathering quickly, I kept my focus.

    I had to stop fueling King¡¯s Training to maintain Haste but the regally named skill had already etched itself into my muscles. I had been unprepared for the first attack, but Reysault¡¯s second and third met only air, skillfully dodged despite her overwhelming speed. If the attacks were easy to read, it was a matter of timing more than velocity. With a jumping split kick, the pair were smashed apart easily.

    The sand clones were dangerous, but where they shone in lethality, they lacked in the durability department. Though I was loath to spend any of my mana, I shot a bolt into a clone mid-formation. The mana animating it was dispersed and the energy hopefully wasted. My eyes flashed greedily. You might have a queen-sized mana pool, but efficiency is king.

    Blazing through the sand, weaving around attacks and destroying as many clones as I could, I didn¡¯t stop. The reason Reysault was willing to throw an assumed tonne of mana after me was down to the threat I posed. Except, that threat would disappear if the Jingu Bang missed its target.

    With the final thirty or so mana, I made a bet. It would knock me out, but I used I had left at once, gathering the remaining energy and then subjecting it to Dragonburn. The cost was massive, eating through nearly three hundred mana which I didn¡¯t have but it was necessary. Belatedly, perhaps, I sent a distress call to Merownis. If this missed¡­

    To make matters worse, the tail of the Scorpion Queen finally came into play. Stabbing towards me, though with no effort to truly reach, the space between myself and her tail filled with poison of the darkest green. Remembering the Scorpion Prince which had done similar, and created a puddle out of a stone wall, I grimaced. There was no way to dodge. Well, that makes it simple at least. Blood for blood.

    I removed thoughts of failure. In doubt¡¯s place sat fear. Fear is a deeper emotion than doubt, and one with much more power. Spirit from the well joined my attack, happily taking the form of the harrowing burden I had found growing on my back with each day, as my powers grew. The weight of the idea that I might be the most capable person on earth. The crushing trials of the dungeon and the oppressive knowledge that things would likely only grow more dangerous in the future. These dense sentiments wove into the force of my strike as I breathed out the words.

    ¡°Heavy Blow.¡±

    Like a gate, rusted from disuse, the skill cracked as I forced it open. My legs did the same as they drop kicked the Jingu Bang, allowing it to chase the skittering scorpion queen. As the bones in my shins splintered, I kept fighting. Even as the massive rain of boiling poison began to fall onto and sear my skin, I kept pushing.

    As the staff turned in the sand, collapsing onto the scorpion queen, my vision dimmed. I had spent a lot of Spirit, and my frozen extremities clenched as the ground rushed up to meet me. I was going to fall into the small lake of venom, I noted. Even as my consciousness slipped away from my control completely, I thought that was probably quite bad. Landing with a splash, I didn¡¯t even feel the impact of the falling Jingu Bang.

    All I felt was pain.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    With his mana funnelling into Grant¡¯s core rather than his own, Merownis found it impossible to keep pace with the human¡¯s magically strengthened strides. From much too far away, he watched as Grant¡¯s weapon began to split the sky. The great pole punched through the clouds quickly, the view of the staff¡¯s tip lost within their wispy grasp. In the distance, the gigantic Scorpion Queen was hauling herself out of the way.

    Grant himself was beset by sand clones and Merownis found himself furious at his own impotence. However, that negative emotion was nothing compared to the true wonder which bloomed within the Sundercat. He could feel Grant¡¯s drive, shown through their Battle Bond, so fiercely it brought tears to his eyes. His fur damp, vision clouded by the burning salt, it was both that magical connection and his disbelieving sight which confirmed the impossible.

    Sight of Grant vanished in a plume of green liquid just as he sent the staff tumbling. There were another few seconds before the weapon¡¯s fall was completed in which the whole dungeon sucked in a breath. The final instant of silence was broken by the start of Reysault¡¯s furious scream of rage, which itself was eclipsed by the world-shattering boom caused as her defeat was sealed. A dust cloud of gargantuan proportions exploded from the craterous collision site. The rumbling shockwave threw even the prepared Merownis backwards into a nearby dune.

    He would have happily remained in the sand cocoon. He could rest off the damage in the warm quiet place. If not for the desperate, choked whisper which came through his connection with Grant, he might have. Instead he clawed himself out and began sprinting towards the source of the distress call and his fallen companion. Leaping over the final dune, he expected to see Grant¡¯s melting body in the pool of poison he fell into.

    Naea appeared, dropping her invisibility and landing on Merownis¡¯ shoulder with a sigh. ¡°He really is special, isn¡¯t he?¡±

    Merownis said nothing, just nodding his head as an answer. His connection to Grant had frozen, along with the human¡¯s body. In a bowl of sand too even to be natural, A crystal containing the form of Grant Kaeron lay unmoving even as the sand elsewhere continued to shake. ¡°What do we do now?¡± Naea asked.

    Sitting down with an exhausted sigh, Merownis pushed the tip of Severance into the sand and rested the pommel against his shoulder. He looked at the fairy for a long moment before shrugging. ¡°We wait.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Fifty Seven - Catalyst

    I¡¯ve done something stupid.

    My final thought before existence became a thing of torment was to blame myself, and it was only by holding onto the fury and self-loathing that the words were able to become a buoy to hold onto. I floated in a sea of devastating pain with the lighthouse of hate allowing me to keep a whisper of ego. Not enough to work with yet, but the eternity of enmity stretched onwards. The first silver lining appeared.

    I had time to brood on this offence.

    For a while, as much as time had meaning in this place, I was a mote of dust on the winds of fury which hounded my every moment. There was no sleep, no rest to hide from the situation, and absolutely no forgiveness. Although I could no longer recall my name, my life or even the idea I had been alive, my mind clutched white-knuckled to the truth that this was my fault in some way. I existed as a furious little speck of insignificant and unending rage in an ocean of anguish.

    But I existed all the same.

    Slowly, consciousness forced itself upon me despite the supposed all-encompassing agony. I lamented the truth that my mind could handle cogent thought alongside the inferno tearing through the world. If I could think, then that meant the pain was not a universal truth. Other things could exist except for the oblivion. The addition of cognisance was a blessing and a curse. Having access to ideas and words meant the pain was no longer a blanket of unending torture, but its many facets could now be understood. With a silent groan and a heave of mental effort, I forced myself to grab onto this new state of things.

    I was probably screaming, if the body I normally inhabited was capable of such things at this moment. The detachment I felt from its plight did nothing to lessen the psychic trauma of the pain, but my focus had been shaved into a pinprick of attention and I couldn¡¯t spare the sympathy. Like a stubborn motor, I spun angrily, fueled constantly by the initial thought that my current penance was a result of my own actions.

    For a new eternity, and another besides, I drilled furiously against the reality I found myself in. Even for the white-hot rage being I had become, there was a point where it was time to stop. When I finally threw away my stubbornness, I encountered frustration. Try as I might to mobilise my turgid thoughts in some misguided attempt to find clemency from the pain, the eradication of my composure with each brutal stab through my soul derailed every train of thought which I forced out of the station. The next move was instinctual, and thanks in part to my recent breakthroughs in understanding the power of emotion. If I could be angry, frustrated and confused, then I had authority over something.

    If anger, fear and patience didn¡¯t work, then I had to feel other things. The process of changing my sentiments was a slow one, but if I had anything it was time. Finding it easier to remain in the negatives, I decided to feel stupid. I had been messing with dangerous materials beyond my understanding and now it was time to pay the price for such frivolous decision-making. Although it was hard to remember what choice I had made to bring me to this point, I didn¡¯t deny the truth.

    From feeling dumb, I moved easily into piteous. While I still hated myself above all, it was a simple thing to feel sorry for the pathetic lump I had been weathered into. I cursed the existence which demanded I experience this. I wept, both from the pain and for the wounded creature which would be left behind after it. It would be so easy to let go and be washed away by the unending, unforgiving flow of pain.

    My concentration almost slipped as pity tried to become acceptance. It had been a close thing, too. Numbing blackness had appeared to dull the blinding white and it had allowed more complexity to influence me all at once. Desire to be free from pain and comfort with such a decision were encouraged with a whisper in my own voice telling me all I had to do was let go. Except¡­

    Giving up isn¡¯t an option.

    My first real thought was one of defiance, and I snatched onto the positive drive like a lifeline. Whatever I had done to get myself in this mess, it was probably the best choice I had at the time. If I wanted to punish myself, I needed to survive whatever was trying to kill me first and to do that I needed more. More defiance, though that one was easy. More consciousness, an increasing challenge as the pain once more returned in full. More power¡­

    Mana.

    As I called its name, the energy came rushing to my command as though it had been waiting for my call. An ally in the horrible darkness, I found my core as I began to swirl the mana around over and over. The repetition became a way to push back the pain, each revolution shoving away the agony ever so slightly. At least, until I tried to recover my body with the power.

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    I gasped as the slightly crystalline essence within my body began to push against the blockages in my mana channels. All throughout the magical pathways a solid, rock-like material had taken root like plaque in an artery. My mana was like a pressure washer, destroying these calcified impedances viciously. I didn¡¯t take the time to be gentle with myself, considering it payment. I returned more and more to myself as the punishment I inflicted started to clear out the obstructions.

    There was an alien substance in my channels and apparently it was my fault if I could believe my initial thoughts. Knowing what the problem was, it was easy enough to fix. It just made the pain even more acute as I blasted the foreign debris off the walls of my mana channels. Each removal left behind something close to internal bleeding, and the chunks floated in the ether of my energy, waiting to be dealt with more thoroughly.

    I could only ignore the detritus while I worked. Now that a portion of my channels had been quenched, the flames of drought elsewhere intensified. I had been in my own stoicism, but when faced with the conflagration assaulting my body any pretence of calm was shattered. The progress was slow, despite my desperation, but the real issue was when the mana reached my first skill pattern.

    Any anger which had managed to ebb away returned in full as I inspected the damage. I wasn¡¯t sure whether to blame myself, or the circumstances which lead me to such brutal damage. I would decide that once I had saved the skills from destruction. The strange material I found clinging to my mana channels was all over the skill, encasing it entirely. I couldn¡¯t even tell which skill it was, but I knew that the pain I was feeling was coming from these choked patterns.

    As I tried to press some mana into the design, everything went black. More than an eclipsing pain, I felt everything slip. An inky void waited alongside me, hopeful at pulling me in. Another inch of pressure and I would have fallen. If I was in true control of my body, it would be shivering from my proximity to the end. It quickly became clear I needed to change my method, as returning from that darkness multiplied the pain already felt by placing an obnoxious headache on top of it.

    Unable to blast with pure force, lest I rip the whole pattern apart or worse, I was stumped for some time. After making some headway, the cessation I now felt was more choking than my empty mana channels. I churned mana back and forth in the cleared area around my torso. If I couldn¡¯t go forward, I could at least shake apart the sediment which had appeared. It might take time, but I could do it. At least, that was the idea in theory.

    In reality, the chalky material was annoyingly durable. I could rip it free from the walls, but like sand in my boot, the chips and chunks rubbed against the channels. Pure indignation fueled my actions as I focused, harder and more acutely than I had ever managed before. I controlled each particle together but with some effort, I could reverse the direction in places. Within the flow of my mana, I created tight spirals, even as the bulk of it continued moving back and forth through the barely open channels.

    Those spirals became battlegrounds. Without a tight hold of my place in my own body, I was able to slip deeply into the mana and watch as the unwelcome pieces of non-native something crashed into each other. With perhaps too much pleasure, I observed the demolition closely. Whatever this stuff was, breaking it up wouldn¡¯t necessarily be a good thing. It was just the only option I had.

    Spirit.

    The word came with a burst of hope and knowledge, even as my shredded psyche was attacked by the release of caustic aggression from the first shards I managed to destroy. The stuff clogging up my channels was Spirit, as well as mana, though neither of it was my own. Something antithetical and detrimental to my health, but not necessarily useless.

    As the shard of malformed magic shattered, the venomous mana at its base tried to dilute my own. I grit my metaphysical teeth and did it again. The first time had been a surprise, and the second I was too slow, but the third was my renaissance. The mana flowed out of the destruction site, but it was not the only thing. The Spirit was much less damaging, and eager to escape. The energy laughed at me as it dispersed, the final insult of Reysault, Scorpion Queen.

    If I hadn¡¯t had weeks to play with the odd energy, I would have been without recourse but with a flick of attention, I found her Spirit in my clutches. Reysault¡¯s final assault had been lethal in every sense of the word. Only a quick and poorly planned use of Catalyst had saved me, though I wondered if it was worth it as I turned the stolen Spirit into a weapon.

    No, I corrected myself, not a weapon. A tool.

    Magic may have been weaponized, but it wasn¡¯t a bludgeon. It was¡­ freedom. Carefully, the drill was expended on the first clog. Compared to the dozens of eternities I had been drifting in the agony, the action was over in a heartbeat. Barely a chip had been removed from the skill pattern blockage, but the amount was more than had been used to shear it away. I could feel my lips curve, my teeth bared.

    I tore the meaning from her assault and kept only the power, stealing the strength of the Scorpion Queen¡¯s final attack and using it to free my skills. Slowly, agonisingly slowly, I smashed the bundles of poisonous mana and Spirit before morphing the Spirit within to my own devices. In the shadowy agony, unceasing in the face of eternity, I toiled for my liberty.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Fifty Eight - Elsewhere IV - Necessity

    Since the System arrived and took everything she held dear from her, Jamie had been running on autopilot. She woke up from nightmarish half-rest into the chaotic and terrifying struggles of each day. It was hard to keep track of time, but she thought it had been about seven days since the System descended and the monsters arrived. Whole days and nights had been lost to the haze of activity required simply to survive, but it felt like a week.

    Of course, the natural world was doing its best to throw confusion on that possibility. Thistledon had always been merged with the natural world, but the change in only a few days was hard to believe. Instead of a small university town with trees and parks, the local flora had decided to take over. Jamie and Kylie had decided to stay despite the destruction and were witness to a reclamation.

    Not content to leave open land, the System seemed to empower the plants. Other than the camp which the pair of them had set up around the perimeter of St Gerrard¡¯s University, it was as though humanity had never set foot on the land before. In a way she couldn¡¯t articulate, the sudden objective beauty of the land made Jamie angrier each time she cut away a path to the magical bubble. Kylie agreed that the dome was special enough to warrant checking, so the pair took it in turns to check on the strange place every twelve hours or so.

    It seemed others felt drawn to the area, too. Unlike Jamie, these wanderers didn¡¯t seem to have a particular reason for coming to this place, yet it was clear that the bubble had something to do with it. The first groups were the most uncomfortable for the pair of women, but not for the reason Jamie would have expected. There was a reverence and a trust placed in them from the moment they announced their levels to people that it made Jamie itch. Not that she didn¡¯t continue to use it to cow them and keep everything calm in Thistledon as more people arrived.

    Before they knew it, Jamie and Kylie were seen as leaders. It seemed as though everyone had seen enough of the System¡¯s horrors to trust in strength when they saw it. While these level one people saw demons clawing at them from the shadows, it was in the jerky movements of the scared men and women that Jamie found anxiety. The monsters were no longer the primary threat for Jamie, after all.

    People were.

    Now that people could punch through a brick wall or run faster than a car, even trusting them at arm''s length was a struggle. Of course, fear of others had always been true for women in strange situations, but none so strange as the System had happened before. It was slowly setting into the pair that they were strong, compared to just about everyone they met. Few had thrown themselves into the fire like they had, and fewer still survived it.

    In their time clearing Thistledon, Jamie and Kylie hadn¡¯t found any living souls. Yet, despite the small village¡¯s somewhat rural positioning, the people who arrived, bedraggled and useless, didn¡¯t stop coming. If they were drawn by the strange pinkish dome, still impenetrable by all, then they stayed for another reason. Perhaps they could sense the inherent safety which the two powerful women provided, Jamie wondered while she walked through the empty streets. She ignored the stares of the zombies.

    Those refugees who had stumbled into Thistledon had not been turned away, though Jamie¡¯s instincts had told her to do just that.

    Either force these useless people to leave, she knew, or you¡¯ll be looking after them forever.

    Now, as these pathetic individuals sat in the wide area around what used to be St Gerrard¡¯s, they just listlessly waited for some unknown end to find them. When they arrived, it was clear most had been broken by the changes to their new world in a way Jamie and Kylie were not. It was more of a surprise they had survived the journey than when most collapsed upon finding the first modicum of safety.

    At first, and if she was being truthful even now, Jamie didn¡¯t know what to do with the other people. Even as she told herself it wasn¡¯t her job to save anyone, Jamie knew she would do what she could at this point. The System had become her enemy, and every life it claimed was a victory it gained over her. With that logic, Jamie began to organise the survivors who arrived in Thistledon. The main issue for most was hunger. Thankfully, these two problems could be solved at once.

    Every once in a while, a monster would drop an item of food as loot. It was a special kind of bizarre to smash a Kobold¡¯s head to pieces in a fight, only to then touch the fallen body and receive a warm can of soup. The first time Jamie had found food, she had been disgusted and ignored it. The idea of eating an (unwrapped) hamburger from the corpse of an orc had been enough to make her feel sick. When Kylie voraciously devoured it from the floor, Jamie realised her own foolishness and hunger. She didn¡¯t begrudge the other woman, but she stopped being so picky after that.

    By explaining the possibility of easing their hungry bellies even the most languid individuals began to attempt hunts. Despite her reticence, Jamie begrudgingly began taking others out to increase their levels. She didn¡¯t hold people¡¯s hand, but she was able to make it less likely they died while completely helpless. Without talking about it together, she found that Kylie had done the same with another set of people and the routine became set.

    Under the brutal guardianship of Jamie or Kylie, groups began to form which could handle themselves in the surrounding woodlands. With the adrenaline and panic of those first days now firmly worn away, it was up to each person to find their reasons to struggle on. For some, it was impossible, and they would fade quickly. Others began to grasp at the power offered by the System and claw their way to some form of freedom.

    Once a few teams had been set up who could handle the nearby monsters, Jamie was once more free to do as she wished. She began ranging farther from their camp, looking for dangerous enemies. The monsters near to their settlement were too weak to challenge her anymore. The instant responsibility she felt when faced with the lives of others was a gift from her dead best friend, Grant. His disapproving and pained look as she abandoned him for her family would never fade from behind her closed eyelids. Like her emotions, that moment was frozen within her. Permafrost.

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    Honestly, it was only during those frantic moments of combat, where she gambled her life needlessly, that Jamie felt alive. For most of her waking hours, she was an ice sculpture. The only time she felt warmth was when she wet her hands in the lifeblood of those she ended. Of course, the best feeling was when she actually levelled up and placed her Attribute points. The tingling warmth of stat gains were longer lasting than the simple thrill of battle, but that sensation was becoming harder and harder to grasp as the days went by. Her rising level became a thorn as she glared at her Character Window.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Jamie Baker

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    None

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    11

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    80/80

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    12

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    13

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    11

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    13

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    The reason for her slowing pace wasn¡¯t as simple as her giving up, as so many had. No, Jamie wasn¡¯t like the shambling survivors who had yet to gain a single level in this monstrous new world. She also wasn¡¯t like Kylie, who had lost herself in the bloodlust. No one¡¯s like Kylie, Jamie thought as she shook her head, but that¡¯s exactly why Kylie is the strongest. Kylie was like a woman possessed. Unsurprising, as she searched for each and every avenue to have her daughter returned to her.

    At level fourteen, Kylie had a full fifteen attribute points on Jamie. There was a tacit agreement not to ask about someone else¡¯s level or even their stats, though Jamie wasn¡¯t sure if she had started it or not. Although the two women were thick as thieves in almost every way, they stuck to this unspoken rule between themselves. Jamie hadn¡¯t even asked what Kylie had gained from reaching level ten, allowing the woman to keep her secret.

    They had both hoped it would be the return of her child, but as the world itself continued to be a hellscape, there was a small part of Jamie which understood the System¡¯s logic. Then she remembered her own family, just as unprepared as a newborn, and wanted to tear something apart again. ¡°Jamie?¡± The timidity was clear in the voice but Jamie¡¯s aggression leaked out as she spun around to find the offender.

    A young girl sprinted away at full speed. So immediate was the reaction and the young woman combined her fear with such an unrefined gait that all of Jamie¡¯s frustrations popped like a balloon. Using her impressive speed, Jamie quickly overtook and stopped the teenager with a calming gesture. It took a few more tries, like a cat surrounding a scared mouse, but eventually the girl calmed down.

    Or realised she couldn¡¯t escape if she wanted to. Jamie swallowed down the grim thought, not liking the taste. This wasn¡¯t the same as those scenarios, and this girl was likely too young to have been cornered in a club. ¡°How can I help?¡± Jamie asked, the concern and willingness to aid clear in her own voice. The sound surprised even Jamie, but she held onto the feeling that had been created. Grant¡¯s chuckle seemed to tickle her ear. She wanted to help. The feeling was warm.

    The young woman stammered a little but managed to squeak out her question. ¡°IwashopingthatIcouldcomewithyouthenexttimeyougoout?¡± It was just a little too quick for Jamie to follow, which was impressive given her attributes. When Jamie just smirked and waited, the girl calmed a little more and repeated the request.

    ¡°You want to come out with me the next time I go ranging? I thought you were a part of Huckle¡¯s group?¡± A few small cliques were forming, mostly based on capability and teamwork. Jamie didn¡¯t know the girl¡¯s name, but the large man who used a car door as a shield, Huckle, had been a hard silhouette to forget. ¡°What level are you?¡±

    ¡°Huckle¡¯s an idiot,¡± the girl answered with a roll of her eyes. Jamie didn¡¯t argue. She had seen the man pull a nail out of his head, planted courtesy of a goblin with a piece of wood. It had gone deep, but he had just smiled and said how much he loved having a health bar before trundling through the miniature attackers. ¡°He takes all of the fighting for himself, and I need levels. I¡¯m only level three.¡±

    ¡°Why do you need levels?¡± Jamie asked simply. She wasn¡¯t a babysitter, and when she went into the wilderness the dangers were real. It wasn¡¯t a casual thing to bring another with her, even Kylie.

    ¡°Because the System took everything from me,¡± the young girl answered. She was a small thing, still growing into her full size but would never be a huge woman. Her brown hair was curled and matted, dishevelled from days of no grooming. She was just a wisp of a thing, especially compared to Jamie or Kylie, and yet¡­

    As she spoke, Jamie felt warmth. Not the heat of battle, but something close. The girl carried a blazing inferno of desperate anger which matched her own frigid wasteland. She didn¡¯t need any more explanation. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Without waiting for an answer or to see if the girl really did come with, Jamie left the safety of Thisteldon and stalked towards her new favourite hunting zone.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Fifty Nine - Elsewhere V - Paying Attention

    Jamie only realised she hadn¡¯t taken the time to learn the girl¡¯s name after she killed her first monster. In the past she might have felt awkward asking their name after spending a decent amount of time with a person but such anxieties had been torn apart by the System. Or at least, she had thought as much. Yet, when the girl had screamed in fear, Jamie felt a crack in her ice sculpture body.

    Not the romantic kind of crack, but a fracture of mortification that filled quickly with anger and disgust. It had only been a week, and she was already so different. So cold. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Jamie asked simply, offering a hand to the girl who was still panting in the gore her vicious battle had created. The girl took her help and stood while looking around for her weapon.

    There weren¡¯t many spare weapons floating around, but Jamie had upgraded from her grisly goblin knives on her first night in Thistledon. Pulling the same weapons Jamie had first used from the body of the gnoll, the girl grunted. ¡°Valerie,¡± the mousy girl answered. ¡°Well,¡± she corrected, ¡°I prefer Val.¡±

    Jamie breathed a slight sigh of relief. That might have been too many similar sounding names for some people to remember with herself and Kylie. ¡°Well, Val, you did well.¡± The absolute mess she had made of the small hyena man was clearly not the girl¡¯s first kill, evidenced from her being level three, but there was no finesse in it. Jamie looked at the four she had handled, similarly ripped to shreds, and shrugged. ¡°Are you going to loot it?¡±

    Val¡¯s eyes lit up at the word. ¡°How¡­ How do I do it?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know? Don¡¯t you go out with Huckle?¡± Looting was as simple as touching a creature which you had fought. Even by accident, it should have happened at this point if she had killed enough monsters to level up twice. Technically you just needed to be nearby, but a test with herself and Kylie suggested it was better to loot your own kills.

    ¡°Huckle doesn¡¯t let anyone else loot the monsters.¡± Val¡¯s excited look turned a little bitter, which is the only reason Jamie¡¯s anger didn¡¯t overflow. Likely seeing the vein pop on Jamie¡¯s forehead, Val held up her hands. ¡°He¡¯s a higher level than the rest of us, so arguing isn¡¯t¡­¡±

    Something to deal with when they returned, Jamie promised herself. ¡°Just touch the gnoll and you¡¯ll see the option.¡± Val did as she was told, eager to move on from the gory scene as quickly as she could. Jamie collected her own gains, putting the coins into her backpack. It was only a few due to the low level of the enemies, but an offer of a solid gold coin could get someone moving almost as well as the promise of food. Val picked up her coins and held them out to Jamie, who tilted her head.

    ¡°Um, they¡¯re yours?¡± Val offered the question as an explanation, or an offer for one. Jamie felt her shoulders tighten with anger.

    ¡°He made you give him all of the loot?¡± She asked, keeping her voice measured. It was endearing in a way when Val seemed to panic, clearly worrying about getting Huckle in trouble. The man was around Jamie¡¯s age and had, apparently sensibly, kept out of her way and been lost in the sea of faces. The patchy stubble and watery blue eyes came to Jamie¡¯s mind now and were etched into the ice.

    After assuring Val she wouldn¡¯t kill the man, the girl gave a recount of her own time in the System. They walked as Val spoke. Jamie did her best to appreciate the increasingly beautiful natural world as Val forced herself to talk about the way the apocalypse ruined her life. ¡°We were on a trip to London when the voice started speaking. Our car crashed into nothing and once everything started a giant rat jumped onto the car. My dad killed it by running it over. We tried to head into London but then¡­ Then we got attacked by orcs. I killed one somehow and got my first level but my dad and brother¡­ I¡¯ve fought when I can, and most of my attributes are in Agility and Resilience¡­¡±

    Is this what we have now? Jamie¡¯s mind was filled with the sight of a family she had abandoned to their fate. The intense colours of the snake which had attacked them. The screams for help which she had ignored, only for her to leave her family to their choices later. Would Jamie ever know if they died? A world of orphans is what we¡¯re left with.

    Thankfully, as the newest layer of ice covered Jamie¡¯s heart, a howl broke the quiet which had fallen. Without noticing, the pair had journeyed further into the wilderness than Jamie had meant to. Three figures made themselves visible from around wide tree trunks, but that wouldn¡¯t be the only members of the pack. She bared her teeth in response to the appearance of the wolves, barking a single command to Val before leaping forward. ¡°Survive,¡± she told the girl. With no way to know a monster¡¯s level until you fought it, Jamie had been relying on instincts.

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    Her instincts told her this was going to be a challenge even for her. She had run into a group of these things on the second day, but she had been with Kylie. The other woman was seriously potent, easily able to swing her new mallet with the speed of a jackhammer. Any unbalancing which the weapon might have forced in the past was outright ignored due to her attributes, turning her into a nightmare for anything which fought at close range.

    Jamie didn¡¯t have the same luxury with her own upgrade from the knives she had found on that first bloodstained day. As she did her best to make the wolves focus on her, Jamie couldn¡¯t even stay near Val to protect her. The drawbacks of her weapon were annoying, but as she slipped it from her waist, Jamie couldn¡¯t help but smile even wider. The chain tinkled as she whipped the weight around faster and faster at her side. As much as she hated to admit it, this part was fun.

    Item - Savage Sickle And Chain (Rare)

    Sometimes named a kusarigama, the brutality of this weapon is inherent in design. A sensible enchantment makes it impossible to injure oneself with the weapon unintentionally.

    One of the two rare items which Jamie had seen so far, Jamie was initially reticent about using the exotic weapon but quickly came around. A heavy round weight sat at the end of a long chain which connected to the handle of a sharp sickle. Jamie wasn¡¯t sure if it was a metal from Earth, but the cutting power definitely fit the word ¡°brutal.¡±

    The main issue with the weapon was alleviated by the enchantment. Additional points in Agility and Dexterity over the two levels since looting it off the corpse of an Orc had made her more comfortable with the strange movements required for its best use, and its efficiency was too high to ignore for something more conventional. As the first wolf mistakenly entered her range, Jamie released her grip and let the weight fly.

    The best thing she could do for Val was finish this quickly. As the weight smashed through the skull of the wolf, she gave silent thanks. Val would be able to handle at least one or two of these things while she did the rest. Within a few seconds of the first casualty, the rest of the pack was charging in. Jamie lost herself to the chaos of the battle.

    She was honestly glad when the first enemies began to break her defensive posture and get up close. They met the sickle and without fail came away lesser. Less blood. Less limbs attached. Less enemies surrounding her once her work was done. Her focus was such that even though there were multiple occasions where the creatures gave her some breathing room, she didn¡¯t notice the level up until after the battle.

    Panting, falling to the ground next to Val, Jamie laughed. ¡°Good job surviving,¡± she told the girl, the pair of them laughing as the adrenaline wore away. Exhilaration and fear tried to become guilt and shock. Neither of them were new to this anymore, though, so all of those pent up emotions simply became laughter instead. It was irreverent, but that was part of the point.

    ¡°Good job being an absolute blender,¡± Val offered back, which caused Jamie to judge her handiwork. The description was apt. There were a lot more portions of bodies than whole ones, but mostly that was because of their flimsy bones. The weight at the end of her weapon was about twenty pounds of death, easily able to rip through one of the wolves at full speed before hitting another. Jamie just shrugged.

    ¡°Did you level up?¡± Jamie asked, placing her own gains into Recovery, Resilience and Agility. Val nodded, the look in her eye telling Jamie she was also placing her attribute points around. ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell me your array or anything, but what is your main attribute? Agility?¡±

    ¡°Dexterity, but Agility is a close second. Actually, this level I¡¯m going to try something.¡± Even before Val explained what she had done, Jamie was wincing. She had heard a few people say the same thing. They decide to take a point of Power, Regeneration and Command. It had an effect, but not one Jamie cared about. Mana was a video game thing and while it was probably important, it was nothing compared to surviving the day. Without fail, people found that they got a few points on their Character Window which they couldn¡¯t do anything with.

    Jamie couldn¡¯t control Val, even if she thought other attributes were more important. If Val could keep up, then her attributes were her business. The girl didn¡¯t seem disappointed when she, like everyone else, found no change after placing her points there. Privately, Jamie added another notch against the waste of Attributes, even if some people were trying to put more points into each trait and hoping something would change. Maybe they could find an item which used mana, or something.

    Jamie didn¡¯t much care. They continue for the rest of the day, with Val reaching the easy height of level six, doubling her levels and matching Huckle. Every battle was life or death - for Val. By throwing her to the wolves, literally in some cases, the growth was more prominent. Whether that was the higher value enemies or the struggle itself was hard to know. Jamie and Kylie agreed that it was both.

    Jamie herself didn¡¯t gain any more levels over the day but the feeling in her chest like she needed to burp wasn¡¯t going away. She would level again soon, probably tomorrow. The thought made her a little hungry to go and hunt some more, but nighttime was much more dangerous than the day. Monsters appeared from the shadows, and that meant they could form anywhere in the dark of night. When the pair arrived back at the camp, Jamie sent Val away with a promise to talk tomorrow.

    Sighing, Jamie walked over to the dome and sat against it. She often did so. For some reason, it soothed the thaw inside of her slightly. Not anywhere close to the heat of battle or the flames of assigning level up points, but it was something. She looked at the light of the camp, the only light for miles and miles. ¡°Tomorrow.¡± Jamie whispered to herself. ¡°Tomorrow things are going to change.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Sixty - Elsewhere VI - Qualitative

    Jamie awoke early, after sleeping late. While most of Thistledon was smashed to pieces with the arrival of the System, the university building had been mostly intact. That first night, Jamie and Kylie had warmed themselves with a fire which cleared one of the larger buildings but the clocktower remained, standing firm against whatever destroyed the city. With a deep ringing, the automatic bells within rang out five times. Before another five minutes had passed, Jamie was walking in the early morning mists and thinking. Intentionally, she walked around the clocktower a few times, enjoying the ticking from within.

    Some of the newer arrivals had actually tried to dismantle the machinery before Kylie found them doing so and ran them away from it. The noises from the place, even the ticking if you were close enough, were a little harsh on those with higher Perception. However, it was a holdover, a literal timepiece from before all of this began. Even if Jamie hadn¡¯t specifically enjoyed the rhythm and routine it enforced, she would have done anything she could to protect it.

    The world from before couldn¡¯t be completely lost. It would be too much of a tragedy. Despite humanity¡¯s propensity for self-mutilation, together we had created and performed wonders.

    They stood on the brink of losing everything which had made them special as humans. People were scared. Desperation and hopelessness were a potent team when it came to assaulting the human psyche. Things were dangerous. Without guidance, what had been lost would never be reclaimed, even in the small ways. Brutality was becoming the norm, and Jamie was at least partially at fault. Even in the dim light prior to true sunrise, she could see the red stains on her hands.

    Without amenities like reliable hot water, it was nearly impossible to get the filth all the way off.

    Without the simple things¡­

    Jamie fired a few different trains of thought back and forth, forcing herself to push past the frozen instincts which fought back against compassion. With each passing day, the ice became more solidified and yet easier to live with, too. Jamie supposed that was just the truth of grief and shock. Neither lasted with intensity forever, but the person they leave behind can be permanently changed by their presence.

    Jamie would never be the woman she had been turning into when the System arrived and ruined everything. What she would become was no longer at the sole discretion of the chaos of those first days, and the question of where her path would take her was being asked loudly in her mind. What did she want? Maybe it wasn¡¯t that simple.

    There were things she needed to do, because she had decided they mattered. It was just a case of committing to those things. Easier said than done for Jamie, though. The last thing she had committed to for the long-term was a university degree in ancient literature. Beyond the culmination crumbling before her very eyes, the knowledge she had gained from her time at St. Gerrard¡¯s university had failed to come in handy even once since the world started to burn.

    So, she asked herself, what matters?

    Survival. The answer came easily, and she didn¡¯t fight it. Jamie hadn¡¯t even considered giving up, and she never would. First and foremost for every living being, survival was paramount. No more so than now, as the world tried to rid itself of them and replace them with monsters. However, survival is a need, not a want.

    Returning Kylie¡¯s baby to her was a driving force for Jamie, but if Jamie herself had become desensitised to the violence everywhere then Kylie had embraced it. It was getting harder to be around her as the System continued to deny any progress towards her child. At the same time, any defence the town needed would be handled by Kylie and her growing group of glassy-eyed warriors. In a lot of ways, the issue of survival was mostly handled by the expanding group of willing fighters at their command.

    Survival and victory against the System were both things Jamie wanted but¡­ then what? She would never return to London, even as the thought of unfinished business there made her feel sick. She barely knew what drew her back to Thistledon as she hadn¡¯t been expecting to find anything of worth here, either.

    Except that wasn¡¯t completely true. She winced even as his sad face came to mind. Dark red hair in a short and stylish cut on the top of his head. His eyes, arresting with the vibrancy of golden brown and the green which circled it, creased into a frown. His long arms reached for her slightly, only to pull back and let her go. She had been expecting to find him, hadn¡¯t she? The fact he wasn¡¯t here had been the final shattering her heart could take before becoming a true thing of cold.

    Or so she thought.

    While the emotion wasn¡¯t necessarily a driving force, indignation could get things done, too. For whatever reason, it was Grant¡¯s disappointed face which pushed her steps over to Val¡¯s tent. The girl was sleeping, which made sense, but Jamie stayed in the area as the rest of the camp woke up. They had scouts and watchers, but no one slept so soundly as to truly need them. A single sound of combat would cause the whole camp to descend upon the aggressor.

    Which was an interesting thought all of its own.

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    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Help!¡± That single word sparked so many processes in Val¡¯s body and mind that she had to remind herself to breathe in amongst them. She had bolted straight up, drew the knife Jamie had given her and begun to mix that strange dust inside of herself all before taking a gasp of air herself. As she slowed down enough to put more clothes on, she heard more shouting which made her pause.

    ¡°Help me! She¡¯s gone mad!¡±

    That¡¯s¡­ Huckle? Val¡¯s blood ran cold as she realised what she had done, and could only imagine the horrific mess Jamie would leave the man¡¯s body in. Last night, the camp had felt a little more like home as she was looked upon with more respect. If Jamie killed Huckle in the middle of the tents, that homely feeling would likely be banished forever and it would be all Val¡¯s fault for opening her mouth.

    When Val managed to find the courage to leave her tent, the sight which greeted her wasn¡¯t what she expected. A part of her was certain that there would be destroyed tents from Jamie¡¯s weapon. The fantastical appearance had drawn Val¡¯s eye the day prior, even before Jamie showed how lethal a simple weight and chain could be. The sickle was honestly overkill. Looking at the excited crowd, Val chastised herself for the gruesome imagination she had let run wild. It wasn¡¯t entirely her fault, but she felt guilty for assuming Jamie had lost her mind, even if the sights of her ability with the chain and sickle she used were shocking.

    The previous day with Jamie was so different to the terrified nights of survival before she had found this group. Like most, she had been in one of the neighbouring towns and wandered in this direction. There was nothing left behind her, another common story these days. Some of the people who came said they all must have been drawn by the weird dome at the edge of their area but Val wasn¡¯t sure. It wasn¡¯t like the pink, glassy thing was doing anything.

    Jamie and Kylie were, though.

    Unlike the monstrously strong Kylie and her squad of meatheads, Jamie didn¡¯t have a team of people she went hunting with. As the two most powerful people in the area, Val had watched them both to try and understand what made them different. After a few days, she had given up and gone to ask Jamie outright. Easier said than done, Jamie found. The woman was unapproachable through no fault of her own.

    Jamie likely didn¡¯t even know it herself, but the anger which rolled off of her at all time was palpable. Even when she forced a smile, the rage behind her eyes was almost painful in its intensity. It took those days of watching for Val to realise the truth. Jamie wasn¡¯t disgusted with the people around her, or even with herself. Jamie, like Val, hated the System with every fibre of her being.

    In fact, that seemed to be the subject of the lesson she was currently giving to Huckle. Seeing that there was no real fighting happening, Val forced herself to calm down. The tumbling dust within herself collected into a pile and became tranquil once more. When she first placed her attribute points in Power, Regeneration and Command, Val had been disappointed. After watching Jamie tear apart a pack of dangerous wolves with ease, most of them at level seven with a level eight leader,  ¡°wasting¡± three valuable points on a useless attribute stung.

    Only later, in the silence of nighttime in camp, did Val feel it. Like the finest of hourglasses, a light sprinkling of particulate was moving within her chest. She didn¡¯t panic on sensing this change, as her instincts told her what she was seeing. Mana. For the rest of the night, she had experimented with the feeling. She didn¡¯t make much progress, promising herself to put more levels of growth towards the feeling. As she fell asleep, Val had finally learned the trick to making the mana move. It didn¡¯t do anything, but it was a level of control which gave her confidence in the future.

    Which was a good start. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± She finally asked the nearest person. The older man, who Val thought was named Connor, shrugged at her.  He was one of Kylie¡¯s fighters, and it showed. The System didn¡¯t differentiate when it came to attribute power as far as people could tell. If you had ten Strength, you had the same pushing and lifting power as another ten Strength person, regardless of size. However, if you were huge like Connor was before the System, you started with more physical attributes.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but I heard Huckle was in trouble and came to see what the idiot had done now.¡± He laughed and Val couldn¡¯t stop herself from giggling, too. Despite his massive size, Connor¡¯s attitude made him friendly at base. Unlike some. It seemed like Huckle hadn¡¯t been able to ingratiate himself with many people in the camp. Unsurprising, if his treatment of allies was anything to go by. ¡°Actually, you want a lift?¡±

    Val accepted the outstretched arm and did her best to contain a small shriek as she was easily brought into the air on Connor¡¯s shoulder. She was glad that she wore so many layers, as the proximity was a bit overly casual for Val generally. She was trying to expand her horizons, and the new vantage point was as much a metaphor for that as anything. It also allowed her a better view of Jamie¡¯s dressing down of Huckle.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    As soon as the man had woken up, Jamie had begun to hound Huckle. The man was only level six, and had put nearly every loose attribute point into Strength like most of the men in the camp. Jamie could only roll her eyes as she pushed him over. Even someone with a Perception of four or five would have heard her coming. She had been loud on purpose. ¡°What¡¯s your problem? You want a fight?¡±

    Within the time it took Huckle to turn around, he had gone from worried to cocky, and Jamie knew why. He was strong. He saw a woman and thought the issue would be easy to solve. Sure, he might not have immediately turned to violence, but that was his final answer to the problem of Jamie. She had to stop herself from going into full battle mode as she pushed the man over again when he was half-standing.

    He swiped at the air where Jamie had been a second before. With an Agility approaching twenty, it would take a lot more than what Huckle had to catch her. She could do this all day, though each time she shoved Huckle over was like pushing down a brick wall. Another few levels and he would be more threatening, but if he wanted to bully people with his level then he should have thought about what happens when someone¡¯s level was higher than his. Jamie waited for the crowd to gather before she started voicing these thoughts.

    Once everyone was ready, Jamie began her seminar.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Sixty One - Elsewhere VII - Going Forward

    ¡°Looks like everyone¡¯s here at this point so I¡¯ll begin. Welcome to the new world, everybody.¡± As she spoke, Jamie circled the confused form of Huckle. Jamie hadn¡¯t chosen this target, it had come to her, but there was no better punching bag for this lesson to land on. ¡°Huckle here has graciously volunteered to be a part of my demonstration.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re crazy, I didn¡¯t do anything to you!¡± The spittle on his flimsy moustache was a nice touch, but Jamie didn¡¯t care about his opinion on the matter.

    ¡°You see,¡± she projected her voice, ¡°Huckle is one of the lucky few who started with high attributes. When the System came, his large build meant he had a point or two more strength than other people and with a level or two under his belt, he was like a superhero.

    ¡°Except, you aren¡¯t heroic. Are you Huck?¡± It seemed that was the final button to push for the man to start swinging his fists seriously. The large man roared and started trying to charge through Jamie. She hesitated to call the strikes he threw ¡®punches¡¯ as they were more flailing than anything else. Under her breath, Jamie wondered how he had survived against monsters even if he did have a high Strength attribute.

    Jamie saw the fear in his eyes. He clearly had some idea what she was about to do, and he was desperate to get away. Deftly slipping under his punches and replying with blows of her own, Jamie forced Huckle to stay right where she wanted him. There was a catharsis tickling her back which felt a little dirty even as Jamie drove a knee into Huckle¡¯s torso and buckled him over. ¡°Seriously?¡± She couldn¡¯t help herself from asking. ¡°Did you not put a single point into Resilience?¡±

    The crowd shuffled slightly, both to keep a good view and because they were starting to get uncomfortable. Even those who had been bullied by Huckle in the past week were beginning to look awkward. Cooked to perfection. Jamie¡¯s eyes finally landed on Kylie, who had a wry smile on her face and nodded to Jamie to continue. ¡°Huckle, and I¡¯m sure a few others here, seem to think that the end of the world means the end of rules. A part of the blame lies with me and Kylie, for trusting you all to act right while we tried to survive the apocalypse.¡±

    Jamie glared at the crowd, sparing no one. She hadn¡¯t had the time to police the growing groups, but if this wasn¡¯t dealt with firmly now then a culture would begin to set in. ¡°I¡¯m not a dictator, I¡¯m just the strongest person here. One day, Kylie will be able to beat me in a fight¡­ probably. Then she¡¯ll be the strongest. If she wanted to, she could start taxing every looted monster. How would you stop her? By getting stronger and forcing your own rules?

    ¡°Where does that end? Those of you who don¡¯t like fighting would always be under the boot of someone with a higher level. Those with high levels would always be scared of being stabbed in the back for power.¡± Jamie looked out over the scared faces of her people. She carved the memory into the ice of her heart despite its protestations. This was important, and worth doing even if it hurt. ¡°We need to be better than that.¡±

    She offered a hand to the still downed Huckle, pulling him to his feet. He looked at her warily, glancing at the crowd for their reaction. Everyone was just waiting for Jamie to explain what was next. She bore the mantle of leader, having seen its approach coming. She could have dodged this, allowed the situation to worsen until someone else stepped in, but it wasn¡¯t her way.

    Even if the System tore everything it could from her, Jamie would always try to control her own destiny. ¡°We need to be survivors, but not at the cost of what made us humans in the first place. Taking advantage of the other members in this camp is now a crime, just as surely as seriously hurting someone would be. I¡¯ll be drafting up some actual ¡®laws¡¯ and sharing them later. As there are no other punishments decided, I heavily suggest no one volunteers to become the guinea pig for that. It will be worse than this, though. Anyone who¡¯s got experience with administration, meet me at my tent at eleven o¡¯ clock because I could use the help.¡±

    Jamie pulled the large man into a hug, surprising him with the gesture and the Strength at her disposal as she squeezed. ¡°We¡¯re all going to get along from now on, right?¡± Jamie asked, to Huckle¡¯s panicky nodding. She shoved him away lightly and he shuffled out of the crowd as quickly as possible. With the show over, people began to disperse, but the quiet energy of the morning had been shattered. It was possible she hadn¡¯t noticed a loosening tension in everyone, but people seemed to be talking to each other more freely than before.

    She decided to believe it was her influence as she started to stroll away. Her mind was on what certain laws a community like theirs would need as Kylie sidled up beside her. ¡°You¡¯re the strongest?¡± Kylie asked, not caring about the rest of the speech. ¡°One day, I¡¯ll beat you?¡± The affront was clear in her voice, and Jamie had to laugh. She was glad for Kylie¡¯s aggressive attitude, as it made her own outlook seem downright temperate.

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    ¡°Well, you haven¡¯t yet,¡± Jamie said cheekily. The pair of them hadn¡¯t had a serious fight, and there was a real bloodlust forming between the two smiling women. Sparks would have flown in the air between them if Val hadn¡¯t come over and changed the energy.

    ¡°We¡¯re getting back to this later. I¡¯ll wait for you at level twenty,¡± Kylie promised before stomping off straight into the forest. ¡°Good job,¡± she shouted over her shoulder before disappearing behind a tree. Jamie just laughed again, feeling levity for the first time since all of this began. Giving the younger woman her full attention, Jamie swore she saw a glint of that same bloodlust in Val¡¯s eyes. Seeing it elsewhere made Jamie give it another name.

    Competitive ambition.

    It would be that feeling which kept them alive and pushing for new heights. This world was not going to get less dangerous. Jamie believed that from the bottom of her heart. Though she couldn¡¯t place the suspicion¡¯s source, Jamie simply knew that whatever the System had done so far was just the start up processing. ¡°Thank you,¡± Val whispered, bringing her out of her thoughts.

    Jamie¡¯s just faltering smile returned. ¡°It wasn¡¯t just for you, but I hope it felt good to see him eat a bit of dirt for being a dick.¡±

    Val giggled. ¡°It did,¡± she admitted. ¡°I¡¯d like to volunteer for any of the admin stuff you were talking about, by the way. What, uh¡­ what would that be, exactly though?¡±

    For someone applying for a job, Val wasn¡¯t exactly selling herself, but no one else had taken the initiative to come over to Jamie yet. Jamie trusted that Val could become an integral part of this community, though, so giving her responsibility now was a sensible choice. ¡°Telling people the rules when they changes, giving people tasks when we can think of them¡­ that kind of thing, for now.¡±

    ¡°I could do that,¡± Val said with confidence renewed. ¡°What should I do first?¡± Unfortunately for Jamie, she hadn¡¯t thought any further than asking other people for ideas, so she fumbled around for an answer. Jamie took the easy way out.

    ¡°Want to go hunting for an hour until I have to meet the other hopeful admins?¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Within two fights, Jamie had claimed the level which she had been on the cusp of. Val handled most of the combat, though that was really just in terms of fight length. Jamie dealt with any truly dangerous enemies quickly, and left the rest to Val. While the looting system still had a lot of experimentation, the levelling one was more understood. If someone actively helped you fight a monster, they would receive a relative amount of the experience for their assistance. Jamie did her best to leave Val¡¯s enemies untouched so she could absorb more of the levelling energy from her kills, while also attempting to give Val a hit or two on the higher level enemies.

    The issue was Val¡¯s unchanging capabilities. She was getting smarter about how she fought, but her attributes were those of a level three or four fighter. Jamie had stood firm to her beliefs, not questioning the placement of Val¡¯s free points. However, she hadn¡¯t allowed the girl to keep fighting easy enemies for it. She was level seven now, having grown a step herself over the hour they were looking for trouble. That meant she fought level seven or above creatures.

    It was basically worthless to go after monsters lower level than yourself, so Jamie expected Val to run into a wall eventually. To the girl¡¯s credit, she didn¡¯t back down, even as Jamie left her alone to a pack of wolves. It had only been a day since the last, with the System spitting monsters out at all times, but somehow it felt nostalgic. Watching Val take care of five on her own was almost startling.

    Jamie would have to try hard to stay on top.

    Down to three of the canines, Jamie was about to get involved and finish the job so they could leave when Val gasped. Jamie worried, jumping from the tree above and drawing her weapon. Val¡¯s upheld hand halted Jamie¡¯s assistance.From her vantage point above, Jamie hadn¡¯t been able to see the wild smile which spread across Val¡¯s face. ¡°No,¡± she said with force, ¡°I got this.¡±

    Then something happened. Val raised her hand, and energy filled the air. Jamie couldn¡¯t quite tell what was happening, but the world around them seemed to gasp, too. The trees around them shuddered. The wolves whined. Val laughed, bringing her hand down like a slap.

    Crack.

    Like a puppet with its strings snapped, one of the wolves fell to the ground with a yelp. The others jumped in fright, retreating with their attention locked on Jamie and Val. They probably had no idea what happened, like Jamie. Yet as Val lifted her hand once more, both wolves seemed to get the message. It didn¡¯t save them, but they fled all the same. With two more swipes in the air, both wolves stumbled to a stop.

    Although the effort was invisible, it was tangible in the panting and stumbling Val, leaning against the nearest tree for support. ¡°I put a little too much into that,¡± she admitted, falling to the ground while laughing. Jamie couldn¡¯t stop herself from wincing. The sight of the young girl, covered in the gore of her enemies and giggling at their demise was a little hard to stomach. She saw a grim reflection of herself in the giddy woman.

    This is what it takes to survive, Jamie reminded herself. Trying to focus on something else, Jamie pulled Val to her feet. ¡°So?¡± She asked gently, ¡°you figured out how to use mana, then.¡± Jamie was clued in enough to know this was probably the result of the mana attributes she had so quickly written off. Looking at the fallen wolves, it was hard to even see the damage. A small spot of blood where an invisible bullet had shot into their skulls was all, and even that took Val pointing it out.

    ¡°Jamie,¡± Val said, still out of breath, ¡°you have to see what this feels like.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Sixty Two - Oblivion / Chapter Sixty Three - Elsewhere VIII - Magic

    <h2>Chapter Sixty Three  - Elsewhere VIII - Magic</h2>

    Jamie forced herself to keep an open mind and had to keep reminding herself she knew magic was real. She had to remind herself that what Val was saying wasn¡¯t insane, even if it would have sounded so a week prior. The world had gone mad, so it wasn¡¯t strange that magic was being talked about seriously. Even her own weapon, a kusarigama, had what could only be described as a magical enchantment but still¡­

    She was struggling.

    The younger girl had unlocked a skill she called ¡°Magic Missile¡± and while she was still learning how it worked, the facts of its efficacy couldn¡¯t be ignored. It took about five minutes for the energy required to create one returned but from the pockmarks in the ground and trees nearby, they were effective.

    ¡°Hit me with one,¡± Jamie demanded.

    Val looked at the wolves, felled mostly with one clean hit from the missiles. Jamie had to control her own breathing to remain calm. She didn¡¯t want a discussion. She wanted to test her durability. ¡°I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s a good idea¡­¡±

    ¡°I have to know, Val.¡± Jamie¡¯s voice broached no argument. Jamie was proud of her attributes. Their array was elegant, and the way Jamie used them made every point more effective. She was loath to even truly consider that she might have taken an incorrect path to power, but she could accept that there were other avenues she hadn¡¯t considered.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± the girl asked. Jamie had five points waiting from her last level up, but she didn¡¯t place them yet. She just nodded instead. The gains from levelling to thirteen were on the line. Privately, Jamie felt that if she put all five points into Resilience, Val¡¯s magic missile wouldn¡¯t do anything. She tried to brace herself for the attack as Val used her new skill.

    Without any way to sense the attack coming, it was futile. When the bowling ball hit her in the back of the head, Jamie didn¡¯t hold back her reaction. ¡°Jesus fucking christ,¡± she groaned, holding the spot she had been hit and falling to her knees. It felt as though a white hot ball of force had collided with her skull. The heat vanished quickly, but the effect was worrying. Checking her health total, she was shocked to see the attack had stripped away almost a quarter of her maximum.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry!¡± Val exclaimed, crowding Jamie as she crouched and rubbed her head. Val was still four or five levels lower than Jamie, but if she was capable of hurting her to that extent, she could probably have won a serious fight. That thought was an icicle in her chest. Jamie trusted Val enough, but the idea of power like that, invisible and deadly, in the hands of someone with less morals? It terrified her down to her frozen core, enough that Jamie did as Val suggested.

    ¡°Did you aim for my head?¡± Jamie asked with a wince. She didn¡¯t get the answer from Val¡¯s responding squeak but she let it drop. Whether it was intentional or not, it was a serious attack and Jamie couldn¡¯t complain. She had asked for it. Instead of pressing the point, Jamie glared into the blank air and opened her System window.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Jamie Baker

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    None

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    13

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    85/85

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:5

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    13

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    14

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    </td>

    <td>

    11

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    16

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    0

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Three points into Command, one into Power and one into Regeneration. One mana regeneration per second and fifteen in total. Jamie immediately noticed¡­ something. As the attributes settled in, there was a tingling all over Jamie¡¯s body. Even inside, the feeling tickled its way through her. Unfortunately, Jamie seemed to be less capable than Val, who was confused to hear Jamie ask what was next.

    ¡°For me, it¡¯s like¡­ falling sand. I¡¯m the hourglass, and the sand tumbles in from somewhere else. Once I have enough sand, I can¡­ move it around? Then I build it into a shape in my mind.¡±

    ¡°Like a sandcastle?¡± Jamie asked. ¡°You imagine yourself making them and then what?¡±

    ¡°Yes, actually, that¡¯s pretty close. These magic missiles are a bit like sandcastles, except the System helps me make them really fast. Oh, but that¡¯s not how it started. To start with it was like, uh, putting the sand under my feet? When the mana felt ¡®right¡¯, I was able to move a bit faster and hit harder.¡±

    ¡°So there was a passive element to having mana even before you started shooting lasers?¡± Jamie tried to add some levity, feeling more like she was interrogating Jamie than sharing information. She simply didn¡¯t have anything to work with yet. Val nodded in answer. ¡°And you gained the skill because..?¡±

    Val shrugged, looking apologetic. ¡°It just happened. I was fighting, I felt the mana moving around inside of me and just¡­ grabbed it. When I decided it felt like sand, I also decided to make my own sandcastle. It wasn¡¯t as good as the System¡¯s, but it was close enough for the skill to unlock I guess.¡±

    Jamie was still a little leery at the idea of random knowledge being shoved into her brain, but she was not one to avoid power right now, in any form. An ability which could make the downright cherub which was Val into a murder machine with casual ease was not something to take lightly or ignore.

    Val explained some more about how mana felt to her while Jamie got to grips with her own sensation. Or, more correctly, failed to do so. She tried to feel for the falling dust, but nothing like that appeared inside her. Hearing about all the possibilities was only making it harder to concentrate, as nothing Jamie tried allowed her to grasp the elusive feeling within.

    After around twenty minutes of nothing, she began to get frustrated. Anger bubbled up, with a heat that burned Jamie¡¯s knuckles. Attempting to alleviate two problems at once, Jamie punched the nearest tree. Her Resilience was high enough that she wouldn¡¯t hurt herself doing so. She had expected nothing to break, so when she punched clear through the bark and wood beneath Jamie flinched away. A branch from above snapped and fell on her head, but it was ignored.

    For a few seconds, nothing in the small clearing moved. Slowly, Jamie turned wide eyes to a similarly excited Val. ¡°What the fuuuuuu-¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Jamie and Val were late for the administration meeting, which was met with understanding. Perhaps it was their gory countenances which made people listen as she spoke, but Jamie liked to think it was her passion for regulations which did it. Thankfully, there wasn¡¯t much for Jamie herself to even do, as it was handled well by Ralph. Distracted as she was by the energy in her hands, Jamie allowed him more decision making power than she might at another time but she found it hard to care.

    Jamie hadn¡¯t allowed herself much time for the man. He hadn¡¯t endeared himself by trying to take control of a situation he clearly wasn¡¯t ready for in London, and had been dismissive of the women who actually got things done. That didn¡¯t mean Jamie wouldn¡¯t let him think this was where he would finally gain his control. She named him superintendent, not even sure what such a role would entail.

    Apparently it meant he now felt confident ordering anyone not actively training or working into performing some labour. After some people began to appear sedentary, Jamie thought this was fine and left him to it. All she had really done was remind people there were unspoken rules and begun the process of putting some of them into writing. A large sheet reading the words ¡°Be Good¡± was hoisted into the air like a flag, which was a start. The white letters were emblazoned on a black background, which reminded Jamie of the system messages too much to be entirely comfortable with.

    Realising that most of the idle eyes in the camp were staring at her, Jamie retreated back into the forest. She went alone this time, leaving Val to her more traditional hunting group. The girl began animatedly explaining her new skill to the group, which included Huckle. The large man had scared eyes as he nodded a polite recognition of Jamie, and she had to leave so as not to laugh.

    Laughing are we? Jamie asked herself once the calm and quiet hit her. The disgust she felt in the pit of her stomach wasn¡¯t fair to herself, but she encouraged it all the same. Who do you think you are? Jamie demanded, hitting her forehead firmly on the nearest tree trunk. How dare you smile?

    As the ice in Jamie¡¯s heart tried to freeze her over once more, Jamie screamed. She shouted angrily as her emotions tried to fade into the background. The heat in her knuckles returned, but instead of punching the feeling away, Jamie revelled in it. The warmth began to spread up her arms, painful and slow. The flames within stung as they forced back the protective ice Jamie had cultivated, but she didn¡¯t shy away.

    She simply continued to scream. She wailed, she wept. She clawed at the ground and pounded it with her fists. She allowed all of the doubt, fear and hate vomit from her in an uncontrolled deluge. Her family. Her friends. Her life¡­ all stolen in a moment by an uncaring world. All the while, the fire burned through her.

    Soon, faster than she would have thought, Jamie was blazing. A thousand angry fireflies bounced around inside of her, forcing away the frigid thoughts and even the painful ones. She didn¡¯t know how long she spent in the dirt but when Jamie stood from her foetal position, she felt light. You have to see what this feels like.

    ¡°You were right, Val,¡± Jamie whispered, looking over her hands as though they were new additions to her form. The weight of her loss was still there, but it was like it had been pushed back by the warmth of Jamie¡¯s mana. The resulting slurry of emotions was confusing and painful in its own way, but she continued to allow it. The discomfort of emotion was necessary to move forward. The ice within her heart had been the only reason Jamie survived as the world collapsed.

    Now, the fire of mana would let her live.

    ¡°You want some company?¡± A familiar voice asked gently. Jamie turned from her current position, face down in the mud, to see Cate and Kylie watching her with concerned expressions. Unfortunately, as her emotions returned, Jamie found that embarrassment still had a piercing effect on her and she shot to her feet quickly.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Jamie said, the fire in her fists igniting at the sight of competition. ¡°Yes, I do.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Sixty Four - Elsewhere IX - Progress

    Jamie looked into the eyes of the two women and knew something was different about them. Both of them had a glint of something which hadn¡¯t been there before, and Jamie knew it wasn¡¯t by accident that the pair had found her now. Even though the word had only been mentioned in passing a few times, it rose in Jamie¡¯s thoughts like a fountain.

    ¡°Aspects.¡±

    They both had one. Jamie was sure even without asking. Cate and Kylie nodded. The air around the women was different. In the moments of contact when Kylie helped her to her feet, Jamie felt as though she could feel sparks flashing under the other woman''s skin. Clashes of some energy she barely had a name for yet.

    Jamie knew, however, that Kylie had received one of the strange crystals from her quest to reach level ten, though she had kept it private from the camp. Jamie hadn¡¯t pried, but the woman¡¯s growth in the last week had been explosive. She had told Jamie there was a quest involved in using the Aspect. She had been a woman possessed as she chased down this next opportunity for strength. Kylie confessed she had prayed to the System itself for the binding of the Aspect to be the key to her baby¡¯s safe return. It seemed she had finally completed the quest, but the barely concealed anger in Kylie¡¯s eyes told Jamie all she needed about the child for now.

    Though, it seemed there were actually two Aspect users in their camp. Cate scratched the back of her head and shrugged at Jamie¡¯s questioning look. ¡°It happened quickly, and you were a little busy with the teenager. Kylie got her one finished first.¡± Then Cate¡¯s face split into a wide smile and Kylie groaned before she even spoke. ¡°Ask her what her¡¯s is called.¡±

    Kylie sighed and explained that she had gained the Aspect of Slaughter. While the ominous name was worrying, there had been no real change in the woman as far as Jamie could tell. She didn¡¯t even blame Kylie for keeping the Aspect to herself, not with a name like that. Nor could she fault the woman for using whatever power possible to somehow get her child back to her.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Kylie grunted, ¡°it¡¯s pretty rough sounding, but it''s effective, Jame. It¡¯s better than the Aspect of the Wasp.¡±

    Cate gasped theatrically before throwing her hands up in the air. She shrugged once more. ¡°You get what you get. Considering I killed a hive of giant wasps I wasn¡¯t especially surprised to see it. The quest was simple, though. Defeat one hundred enemies with a piercing weapon.¡± She wiggled her spear with a smile. ¡°Easy enough. What about you, Ky?¡±

    ¡°One thousand. Any weapon.¡± Kylie gave Cate a flat look, as though it was her fault before the two started giggling at each other. Jamie was honestly more surprised to see Kylie laughing than she had been at herself, and that had brought on a whole episode. She just watched the two make a few more jokes back and forth before they turned to her. ¡°So?¡± Kylie asked, ¡°you okay?¡±

    Jamie had to laugh, but the sound was a short and pained thing. ¡°No,¡± she answered truthfully. Her face was caked with dirty tears and the surrounding area had been churned up in her rage. The worst part was that she had no outlet for the anger other than to fight dangerous monsters, which even Jamie knew was a bad idea in her current mental state. The ice had broken and left behind something even more fragile.

    ¡°Wanna fight?¡±

    Like a lightbulb had been turned on, Jamie saw the light. Kylie¡¯s question ripped Jamie from her one track path, and a previous conversation immediately sprang to mind. Not willing to punish herself any further, Jamie didn¡¯t fight the smile which came to her face. She might not be happy right now, but she could try to be fun at least. ¡°You think because you have an Aspect you can beat me, now?¡±

    Cate scoffed in the background, which gave Jamie a little pause, but Kylie held up her hands. ¡°My Aspect isn¡¯t really good for friendly use, but I¡¯ll show you what it does later.¡± Then, she got a mischievous look on her face. ¡°I¡¯ll beat you without the Aspect, obviously.¡±

    Jamie cracked her neck. Even though it was ridiculous, even though Jamie¡¯s intrusive thoughts told her she was being disrespectful to the dead, she didn¡¯t care. She decided to let herself have fun as she and Kylie prepared to clash. The air around Kylie really was different, Jamie decided. It was like a heat mirage, but one full of imperceptible sounds and sights. As their preparations completed, Jamie smiled. She hadn¡¯t had an actual challenge since that first or second day at this point.

    Time to stretch her legs.

    Fighting was becoming a part of life. Yet, as their levels rose, the call to actually use their strength was waning. It was better to let someone lower level take on the lower level threats so everyone could reach a certain level of power and protection. This led to a level of boredom that was hard to shake. There had also been a swell of positivity since Jamie¡¯s public presentation, caused mostly by her unwilling partner.

    The burly man had taken his beating in stride. Jamie hadn¡¯t actually struck him, but it had taken a decent amount of force to keep him corralled. Apparently, he either liked being pushed around or he had gained a healthy respect for Jamie. She didn¡¯t have high hopes that the man¡¯s thoughts were entirely pure, but for all he had been a bully when there was no oversight, now he was downright chivalrous. When Jamie had announced plans to establish a guard force which patrolled the area and kept the peace, it had been Huckle who stepped up first. Now, a few days on, he had a whole troupe of people playing knight.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    All of which would have been fine if Jamie wasn¡¯t so full of confused energies, even discounting the still slippery mana within herself. As it was, Kylie''s challenge had come at exactly the right time. She could burn off some of the rage, and hopefully capture some of the fire for herself long-term. Just as she was feeling gratitude for Kylie, the ground exploded underneath the other woman¡¯s feet, and Jamie had no more time to think.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Time heals all wounds. That had never been more true than since the arrival of the System. Cuts and fractures healed within days, not weeks. Certain lethal injuries seemed to be a thing of the past, within reason. As long as you stopped the bleeding and allowed some rest, even medicine was superfluous to a good Recovery attribute. With a high enough Resilience stat, it was possible to ignore the damage outright.

    Jamie herself had been absolutely battered by Cate and Kylie, in what she had thought of at the time as a beating, but later decided was really just some much needed tough love. Jamie had been stuck in her own head, traumatised and raw. As the two Aspect users of the freshly named Newtown had taken turns beating Jamie in sparring battles, the pressure on her had faded away.

    She wasn¡¯t the strongest person in Newtown. She didn¡¯t need to be. The respect she had earned from those first days didn¡¯t wane, even as she allowed herself to be sad and slow down a little. With two weeks now having passed since Jamie and Kylie arrived in the area, it was pretty startling to see the changes. Jamie found it easy enough to remember how the devastation of the small town looked when they arrived, and the difference was nothing short of incredible.

    The sun was shining. Birds were singing nearby. With her improved Perception, sitting on the roof of her small, one roomed home, Jamie felt her emotional defences thaw a little more. It was almost possible to forget the System had stripped away every aspiration and dream Jamie had held dear before it arrived but it was possible to find new ones. She could almost convince herself that the sights of productivity and teamwork were enough.

    If I save the world, will I feel true warmth again?

    Sighing, Jamie pushed away the dour thought and opened the System prompt she had received a few days prior. Jaie had received a quest when the first building of their new town was erected. She had not yet burned away enough of the frigid reticence within herself to be truly excited, but Jamie¡¯s natural curiosity had begun to return to her. Why me? Did the System really recognise me as a leader or was it just luck and a high enough level? She wondered at the world, watching the numbers fluctuate and trying to think of a way she could lock in the final people required.

    Faction Quest - Civilisation¡¯s First Step

    The arrival of the System strips away much. Community is one of the ways in which what was taken can be returned. The foundations are laid, and confidence in the safety of home is its own strength. By remaining in one area for some time, your footprints begin to become a path for others to follow.

    Committed Faction Members: 60 of 100

    Reward: Building Options, Random Aspect

    Almost entirely by accident, the small camp had become a sanctuary. Jamie had thought a sensible level of bullying and disdain might push away the initial wanderers who found her and Kylie, but it had instead ended up hardening their resolve to make it work in their new home. Each time someone pledged themselves to this place, the number ticked up. If someone wavered, or passed away, it dropped. The promised rewards were interesting, but Jamie kept the quest and its rewards to herself for now.

    No point agitating people when they were already so highly strung. For most, it was the monsters in the shadows which they still feared. Jamie had stopped being scared of death and pain when she walked through the back door of her house into the garden. Kylie, the moment she realised she would need to fight to get her daughter back. Their spear wielding ally, Cate, had a similar story, as did almost anyone who gained levels in those first days.

    A switch had been flicked for all of them. A voice had counted down until the end and in a heartbeat, the world became one of brutality and horror. Jamie had to keep herself from rolling her eyes as a pair of patrolling guards passed below her. They saluted up at  her while wandering past her home. Her¡¯s was the closest to the bubble, so she saw the patrols often. They had taken to treating her like a commander, and if it wasn¡¯t for the quest Jamie would have told them to stop. With the System almost forcing her hand, she could only grin and bear it.

    It was a sour thing, Jamie knew, to become bitter at the calm. There were still dangers on the boundary of their safety, and worse likely on the horizon. Her skin seemed to itch with the promise of this innocence being shattered. The relative tranquillity and sudden lack of impetus had been a thorn in Jamie¡¯s side, but attempting to keep her growing faction content was its own struggle. It kept her busy, if nothing else.

    Logistics for their group had begun being handled by others, Ralph had teamed up with a married couple called George and Joyce Garren and the trio was now controlling almost all quartermaster duties. There was a market forming as people began to figure out what goods and services could be bartered. Food was still the highest priority in terms of commodity but as Ralph the butcher, whom Jamie and Kylie had saved in London, finally got some workable bodies, even that problem was becoming less pressing.

    While terms like quartermaster duty felt bizarre to Jamie, and the reality of keeping over one hundred people alive was weighing on her, it was barely a blip in her mind compared to the other fantastical additions to their world. The fact Jamie was becoming a faction leader for a new town and using words like Quartermaster and Quest was just a small thing which got lost in the chaos of change.

    The counter on Jamie¡¯s quest ticked up once more, and she sighed at the sky. Enough of the ice had melted now that Jamie couldn¡¯t stop the emotions when they wanted to appear. The clear sky made her throat hurt and her eyes burn. Jamie was far away enough from the sights of her childhood that she could ignore the pain there, but this place had its own ghosts. She looked around at what used to be St Gerrard¡¯s University and didn¡¯t even try to hide the tears. She simply sat atop her tiny home, wishing desperately that Grant could have been here to see this.

    If nothing else, she knew Grant would have loved magic.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Sixty Five - Return

    In a barren landscape which may or may not have been created by the fracturing mind which I believed once inhabited my form, there was nothing but pain. An endless world of burning sand, blistering sun and unexpected pools of acid stretched on forever, further than perception could pierce. Despite the fact the world held no true promise of anything but further strife, I pushed forward with a singular truth held firm in my mind.

    I would never hate anything as much as I hated magic.

    Time had weathered away all other truths but this. In the brief moments of lucidity which brushed across my mind and proved I had once been something more, I could remember nothing but this singular fact. Something had happened. Something magical. The landscape of inescapable torment I found myself in was one of magic. Then, a new wave of torture would arrive and cast the gathering ego to the darkness once more. After the pain, all which remained was the shade of whatever I had once been.

    The vestiges which made up my mind were broken and feral things. I held onto the hate at the core of my being with a vice grip, using it as a ballast to retain the fragile identity that stopped me from slipping away. Through the wrath, another truth appeared. The anger was a compass to find a way out of this place. Like a beacon in the darkness, I followed the direction given to me by my disdain. The revulsion which held my wispy thoughts together told me to never give up. Somehow, it was holding onto this anger which stopped me from fading away.

    Despite the pain and the hate, the idea of being Nothing created true fear, even in a being of pure instinct. My feet pushed through the molten sands, more bone than skin at this point. While the desert was a hell, it was the destinations I moved towards which filled me with dread. The punishment of the desert sun was nothing compared to the pools of pure, boiling, green suffering. I didn¡¯t even wait a moment before throwing myself into the liquid where I found it, though.

    They were where I performed my work, after all.

    For a single, blessed second, the heat from the sands and sun disappeared. The acidic poison had not realised it had a target in its midst, and even though I could not breathe, I could think for a moment.

    My name is Grant Kaeron. I am trapped, both within a dungeon and within some magical effect. It was this or death, which means this isn¡¯t death. Keep working. I will not die here.

    As the poison began to assault me, intelligible thought was wrung from my twisted form. I was once again the shade of Grant Kaeron, a creature which was built for three things. To endure. To hate. To complete the task. Having followed the threads of both loathing and survival, I was left with the only action available to me.

    Drain it all.

    The emptiness of my being came in handy as I opened the void and took the venom into myself. Then came the pain which brought true oblivion. Less than a shadow, the autonomous fragment of memory did its work in stoic acceptance of the truth. This was the way forward, so the shade pressed on.

    Like a portal to somewhere else, the shadow of me drained the pool until it was empty. The shade had no power of its own, so the poison was necessary. Bloated, destroyed moment to moment by the pain, the shadow took a deep breath. It did nothing to relieve the feelings, but it felt natural, so the umbral vestige did it all the same. The caustic power inside me was gathered like a drill and it took a staggering amount of force to lift the mana-laden leg. Then, with a devastating stamp into the dry sand, the world of agony buckled.

    An explosion scattered the nearby sand even further and revealed the true enemy. A grey and purple rock waited below the silver sands, a poisoned world ready to be destroyed. The calcified ground hidden beneath the sand cracked loudly, but did not crumble. Just a few more, the shade of me knew. It had convinced itself of this thousands of attempts ago, but as the sand fell onto the shadow like sparks from a forge, it didn¡¯t matter.

    Though the reasoning had long been forgotten, I still did not stop. Each completed pool only added to the agony, but it was active. I trusted myself, even if I could no longer remember why this was my choice, why I thought this would work or what I was truly doing with the mana. When clarity returned, it did so with all the subtlety of a screaming meteor. When it left, it vanished without a whisper, leaving only a single truth.

    I would never hate anything as much as I hated magic.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    The moment of change came completely unexpected. Eight hundred and nineteen more pools of venomous mana had been required to finally break through. There was no recognisable difference in power to the stamp which sent my shadowy foot through the crust of the world, but it caused a chain reaction. Like the slow drip of a stream which would eventually become a waterfall, my stamps chipped away at the rock below, and now everything was falling. No longer touching the world of agony, the pain which mobilised the shadow of me began to ebb.

    Sand, rock and the enduring soul all fell together, pulled to the powerful core of the world. With a jarring thump, I landed on something hard. Almost more jarring was the immediate return to intelligence which came like a tidal wave. Thankfully, this wasn¡¯t the first time I had returned to myself, and I was getting better at handling the mental whiplash.

    I am Grant Kaeron, I told myself. I trapped myself in a poisonous bubble of mana and Spirit. I don¡¯t hate magic, I hate the damage done to my magic. I have no idea how long this is taking, but I have nearly no mana regeneration to speak of. By letting it attack me, by jumping into the pools of my mental world, I was able to overpower the energy around me and use it for myself. So, I used that energy to¡­

    I slowly opened my eyes. I was laying on a floating platform, with only a pitch black void visible all around me. The sand and rock of the diseased world of pain had been used, but with my full mental facilities suddenly shoved back into my brain, it was easy enough to ignore the remnant heat from that place. As trains of thought continued to pull into the station my eyes widened. That was my plan?! I groaned, looking around a little more before finding what I was expecting.

    Black on black, impossible to see if I didn¡¯t know it would be there, was an immense shadow. Larger than a world, larger than anything I had ever seen, the shadow was unmoving in the darkness. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I whispered. The shadow didn¡¯t stir, so I sat and waited. If anything had been trained in me over the eternities of struggle, it was patience. I reflected on where I was and how I got here.

    During the battle with Reysault, Scorpion Queen, I had made mistakes. Luckily, the most egregious blunder I might have made was one of the few things I managed to get right. Reysault had died. Before the surge of experience from that victory could fill me with strength, the poison hit me. A harsh lesson learned in giving everything I had all at once without preparing an escape. With no energy left, I had taken the full brunt of the Grade One creature¡¯s final revenge.

    Rather than allow myself to die, I had done the only thing I could think of. By using my newest skill Catalyst, I had been able to change the consistency of the boiling hot poison all around me. It wasn¡¯t a process I couldn¡¯t truly control, my body and mana acting as the catalyst in a chemical reaction more than the scientist performing the experience. The resulting fallout was confusing and painful.

    Yet, it hadn¡¯t been all torture for no reason. ¡°I said I¡¯m sorry,¡± I repeated. I didn¡¯t hold back my eyeroll this time. Was this theatre really necessary? The impossible shadow detached itself from the void and began moving closer. Definition began to appear as the Aspect of the Dragon opened its amethyst eyes with a vicious, furious glare. Within that gaze was an ocean of admonishment and disapproval.

    We are broken.

    The voice of the dragon was my own, but with a dearth of power hidden behind it which made me twitch with envy even in this situation. Knowing that strength wasn¡¯t actualised did nothing to stop the smouldering desire from crackling in my heart. Once more confirming that my ultimate goal was to not just survive, I focused on the words.

    ¡°I did what I had to do,¡± I answered. The dragon¡¯s statement was accusatory, but there had been no other way. I refused to be cowed. ¡°It was your prompting which demanded we stay and finish the fight.¡±

    A dragon does not fear an insect!

    The booming retort shook away portions of the floating island I stood on, but I didn¡¯t even flinch. Child, I accused privately. The Aspect of the Dragon was more than a bundle of magical programming, it was a new version of my own mind. While the Aspect came with a history and legend within itself, it was still learning. I shook my head. The draconic version of me still had a lot of growing to do, despite its size.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t argue at the time, so you can¡¯t be a baby about the way it worked out. I won¡¯t apologise again.¡± The dragon huffed in response and I snorted in laughter. It was not lost on me that my own stubbornness was the source of this conflict. Well, that and¡­

    I am tainted, the Aspect of the Dragon moaned. We are broken, it repeated.

    I sighed and looked around. Impossibly far in the distance, behind the shadow of the dragon, a weak light could be seen. My core, flickering and weakening by the minute. The empty blackness in between was a bad sign, I conceded. My seemingly endless wandering of the scorching desert had just been the way my mind interpreted the work I needed to do to free myself from the painful prison.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I nodded solemnly, reaching out gently to see the true extent of the damage. What I saw caused me to look away quickly. I couldn¡¯t allow myself to get disheartened now. Even the dragon was wavering. A single wrong choice or loss of impetus really would mean the end here. I could fix the damage later, when I survived. ¡°We¡¯re broken,¡± I agreed.

    ¡°Will you help me fix us?¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Sixty Six - Liberty

    My first use of the Catalyst skill had been a little fifty-fifty in terms of effectiveness. It was arguably my strongest ability, able to turn the undeniably lethal attack from a Grade One monster into a caustic concoction of its more base mana and Spirit. Without any tools to manipulate that, I was left in a bad state with little options. The poisonous magic was already inside my mana channels when Catalyst activated, so I was stuck in more ways than one.

    Unable to move my body, and unable to truly control anything but a tiny portion of mana within the channels, I had to make a choice. I could chisel away at the damage for an in perpetuity, slowly clearing the damage away. My guess was that such a process could take years of real time, but it was an option. The other alternative was¡­ more drastic. Requiring me to relinquish control of my core and my own mana entirely, it was not something I would attempt to do again quickly. However, it worked, so I didn¡¯t have a true complaint.

    With my mana channels blocked by the substance in which I was trapped, I chose to burn much of the structure away from my mana channels so I could reconnect with the Aspect of the Dragon. By casting myself into the waiting pools of poisonous mana, I was able to focus the damage - on my own mana channels. These bundles of mana were simply the remnants of aggression left in the wake of Reysault¡¯s last attack, repurposed for my own use. Nearly a thousand drills of alien mana had been required, but I did it. By tunnelling directly through my magical body, I had finally been able to touch the Aspect connected to my core.

    By the way the void around me was shaking as I asked the Aspect for help fixing and freeing ourselves, this was inadvisable.

    I waited for an answer despite the quickly growing instability of the darkness. Ripples of grey energy shook my platform but without the dragon¡¯s assistance, I could do nothing. This was a choice the Aspect had to make. Important moments continued to pass as the scrutiny of the violet continued to bear down on me. There was no point complaining. The Aspect had some valid criticisms. Using outside mana and Spirit to drill into it had been painful for us both.

    Sometimes we are not the pinnacle, the dragon¡¯s powerful voice whispered. Sometimes we must face a loss and survive the cost for victory in the future. Hearing the dragon make an admission of anything close to weakness was a surprise. The arrival of strength from the Dragon was less of a shock, its decision made. The shadow shifted, and a straight view to my core in the far distance was opened up. With a push, the Aspect let me pass.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I told the Aspect as gratefully as I could while the momentum continued to increase. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure we come out of this stronger,¡± I promised. The dragon just grunted, giving me one final shove to return the lost lynchpin of my psyche back to my own core. When I arrived within my own body once more, I immediately remembered why it had been such an easy decision to cast my mind elsewhere.

    Fuckingshitbagballsbastard, I cursed, indulging in the pain and almost revelling in the pure physicality of it. It hurt like a bitch, but at least it wasn¡¯t a pain which tried to erode my very soul. I was quite sure I had been messing with levels of magic I had no business playing with, and the price was fortunately just a mind breaking level of pain and regret. I could move past those. Death was a little more final.

    While the initial moments of pain had a silver lining, it quickly got old, so I set about my work. Using mana from within the Aspect of the Dragon, I began the process of scouring my mana channels. The debris was still there, but most of it had been somewhat dislodged by my actions in the mental desert. With a blast of magical force, the draconic mana did the rest. Cycling the mana through the circuitry of my channels, it was difficult to calm my own distress.

    So much damage.

    I had not recovered enough to see any System prompts, but I had a feeling there were a few waiting. As the mana passed through the remnants of my skills, I winced. Perhaps Catalyst and Mana Savant survived due to their existence within the Aspect of the Dragon, but what I had done had shredded the foundations of each and every other skill, except for one. I grit my teeth.

    Such was the cost of weakness.

    If I had been strong enough to fight Reysault without tricks, or been able to create a shield in time, I would not be in this situation. I cursed her name with each pass of my mana through the destruction left in its wake. The process of cleaning the channels was a form of penance. I had memorised every turn and twist in the invisible pattern within myself, but the paths I remembered had been fractured. The Aspect was right.

    We were broken.

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    And I will fix it¡­ somehow.

    The first step was quickly completed. The pure mana of the Aspect made short work of the blockages, leaving me with a chaotic mess of stretched and tweaked channels. Still, my memorisation hadn¡¯t been for nothing. I cautiously sent mana to the second source of my power and gently pressed against the skill. It groaned under the touch of my magic, and the soul pain returned for a second.

    I hissed, but nudged the skill again. Like pressing a bruise, I forced myself to get used to the pain and move past it. I wouldn¡¯t need to ravage the skill or overuse it, but I did need its power for a moment. Unlike the patterns of skills like Heavy Blow, Mana Bolt or Stealth, this one was a little more special. With a feeling like opening an aged and damaged book, Spirit Well creaked into use. Softly, slowly, I removed as much Spirit as I could without doing further damage.

    With the draconic mana and a healthy amount of Spirit in hand, I moved onto the next step. I needed to smash my way out of the shell I was trapped within, and my solution to that rested in a skill pattern on my right temple. As my attention and the gathered power which followed it reached the charred site of the Mana Shield skill, I grimaced. Okay, I told myself, time for some more hard work.

    As with the shape and structure of the mana channels themselves, I had spent an inordinate amount of time analysing the way skills worked. Mana channels themselves were complex, and simply pushing mana through the body was a valid way of increasing strength. If you used enough, some would be lost over time with this passive buff, but it wasn¡¯t particularly effective. It was only when the mana was sent into a skill bundle that true magic began to happen.

    With bends and twists, overlaps and more, a skill was more than just a pattern in the weaving of the mana channels. When the mana was sent to a skill, it immediately filled the entire shape. Unlike the channels which the mana needed to travel through first, this process was instantaneous. More energy could be sent into the skill, and if there was a threshold to be met for activation, then the mana would stay there until the target amount was reached.

    There were nuances in the patterns which I had only just begun pulling apart which influenced such as whether the skill was an internal or external effect. With the pattern of Mana Shield genuinely ruined, I was a little at a loss for where to start. The Spirit in control buzzed like a bee, nudging me towards the skill as though to say ¡°you can do it.¡±

    With the encouragement of my own magic behind me, I set to the task of repairing the skill. What I had in mind couldn¡¯t be done any other way. While I spent some time planning, what was left of my mana channels tingled as my passive mana regeneration filled the empty spaces. Although my first cycles had been tentative, the new framework held firm against the weight of my entire mana pool. My focus sharpened once more and I began the work in earnest. Spinning up the solid draconic mana and fueling it with my own, I pressed into the skill.

    For a bizarre moment, I was grateful to the trial by fire in my mental desert as the soul-rending pain of altering my mana channels intentionally returned in full. If I had been attempting this before the mental strain of that endless torment, I might have slipped. As it was, my control remained firm over the energy. While I had a firm image of the pattern in my mind, I had no true way of shifting the channels beyond brute force. Gouging the shape back into the correct form was an act of brutality, but a necessary one.

    With nothing else to do but enact my plan, I was able to retain the patience I had learned in the desert. Agonisingly slowly, I traced the divots and lines again and again. The skill had to interact with mana in an intricate way, so it was more complex in certain aspects. A few of the straight lines were not as simple as they looked, the seemingly thick channel actually consisting of twelves thin, interwoven bands. All of these odd facets were placed exactly where I remembered them.

    Yet, as the finishing touches were being placed, the Spirit once again reacted. The feeling of a hand on my back, pushing me further, was even more prevalent. True to my thinking, the telltale sign of Mana Savant was present in the sensation. The skill had survived the devastation of my mana channels within the Aspect, and it activated now. Was there more I could do?

    I looked at the nearly-finished product. Despite the complexity of certain portions, it was not a grand skill on the level of Spirit Well. It was still a starter ability, and from the rumbling inside my Aspect, that was no longer acceptable. I acquiesced to the demands of my Aspect and Spirit Well easily, analysing the pattern before me once more before I began making changes.

    Instead of overthinking, I acted on instinct. Within moments of adding flourishes to the design, the pain faded to nothing. For a moment, I wondered if the next form of the skill would still be common. Laughing, I stripped the skill down to its bare components once more and added true complexity. No, not common, I chuckled. I took from other skills, amalgamating a chimeric composition which first hummed with satisfaction, and then sang as mana flowed greedily through its finished pathways.

    With a loud thrum, a sound I could finally hear with my actual ears, I pressed mana into the new skill and freed myself with an explosion of shrapnel and sound. Crouching on one knee, panting heavily as I sucked in the fresh air, I felt like a tank had run me over with its treads. Yet, with each passing breath, strength returned to my limbs. I was able to blink away the pain of sunlight quickly. I sucked in my largest inhale yet before roaring out my return towards the dungeon around me.

    ¡°I LIVED, BITCH!¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Sixty Seven - Welcome Back

    ¡°Outta the way!¡± Came one shout which had Merownis hopping to the left.

    ¡°Yer in the way!¡± Came the next shout, causing him to hop further to the right instead. A pair of tutting creatures, a goblin and a gnoll, walked through the gap Merownis had created while carrying a pile of lumber. The Sundercat held back a genuine snarl and replaced it with a sigh. It wasn¡¯t his fault, but nor could he truly blame the creatures of the forest area.

    He was just not built to lead this diaspora.

    ¡°You know you can just kick ¡®em if they annoy you, right?¡± Turning once more, Merownis found himself looking at a female goblin. Her spiky tufts of blue and yellow hair were at odds with the grey-green skin of her race, Jovie tapped Merownis on his knee and nodded like she had dispensed sage wisdom.

    ¡°They¡¯re only level five, that would probably kill them.¡± Merownis didn¡¯t hate the idea of killing one or two of the annoying little monsters, but Grant would likely get upset. The human hadn¡¯t set many rules before he locked himself away, and while the Sundercat was sure some things would be forgiven, it was unlikely that murder was one of them.

    ¡°They grow back in a few days,¡± Jovie shrugged, sauntering away to her new gambling hall. ¡°If you don¡¯t kill ¡®em, someone else will.¡± On that ominous note, she left and Merownis was finally alone. Everyone seemed to need something or want permission to annoy someone else.  The decisions of a leader were not ones that Merownis made lightly, but neither could he stop the flow of progress. He felt like he had been putting out fires since the moment he returned to what was affectionately being called Home Base. In the last four full cycles of day and night in the dungeon, a lot had happened.

    Along with the gambling hall and general area of degeneracy which had grown around it, there were a few sections to Grant¡¯s new village which he might have a problem with. Well, Merownis shrugged, that¡¯s only until he stops being such an Earth Human. Those emotions would be ground out a little by the System, but Merownis also hoped that they wouldn¡¯t be rubbed away entirely. Grant had freed him from a mind control so ingrained and insidious, Merownis wouldn¡¯t have even been able to sense it if he somehow became the most powerful being upon the Tree. It was good that he had strange ideas.

    Grant had good thoughts, and Merownis was proud to not just be a follower, but a friend of his. The boy was powerful, and there was little chance that his rise would stop here. Merownis was confident of that. Grant would survive this and become stronger for it, somehow. He was that kind of existence. Which is also why Merownis knew he would see the value in the attractions around his town. Grant was not the type to look any potential benefit in the eye.

    Probably.

    Watching the goblin and gnoll which had shouted at him continue to bungle their way around a corner, yelling at anyone who got close, Merownis let out a tiny groan. As much as he would pretend to have taken command of the situation, so much was going on that he had no idea about. Merownis trusted Grant¡¯s choice to bring the forest denizens into the fold, but they were getting a little troublesome without his guidance. Trying to find Ayseral, he decided he really should see if there were any more surprises around the corner.

    The gambling hall, or as they Goblins were calling it, the ¡°Gablin¡¯ ¡®All¡±, was a fairly egregious mark against the local skyline, so the goblins had been forced to move it. With surprisingly industrious speed, they had built the thing as close as they could to Grant¡¯s workshop as possible. The first building was seen as something of a centrepoint to their growing town, and so the Goblins felt they were getting prime real estate.

    It had been a decent undertaking to shift the building, but less than it would have been if the place was built to code. The Gablin¡¯ ¡®All¡¯s rickety pop up frame somehow weathered the passions within. The sounds of laughter, jealous and scornful, tickled Merownis¡¯ ears as he passed by on his patrol. Monsters were capable of looting other monsters, so there were plenty of gold coins in circulation at this point. Almost too many, as those less inclined to games of chance decided how they would like to get the shiny coins, too.

    If the Goblins were becoming casino masters, then the Gnolls demanded they also be allowed to rise to similar heights. Merownis¡¯ watched from a distance as, completely without input from himself, the food market bustled. Speedo, the leader of the Gnolls, was happily butchering some poor creature that seemed to still be half alive. At least it wasn¡¯t the half which the Gnolls were eating, and the monster itself was regrowing the lower portions of itself which had been lost.

    The less he knew about it, the better, Merownis decided. It wasn¡¯t that he wanted to shirk responsibility, but Grant hadn¡¯t exactly left him with any plans. He doubted whether the human had even made any, or if this whole thing was caused by an accident. The village, which became a town, which kept growing in scale was likely not a part of Grant¡¯s ideas for the future. Merownis allowed himself a smirk. Good, he thought, the more distracted he is, the more chance I have to catch up.

    ¡°Would you like some tea?¡± Continuing his path along what Merownis was just now realising would become districts, the Sundercat was greeted by the third new leader of monsters for their growing faction. Offering a dainty cup with steaming red liquid was Naru. The words Merownis heard were not quite speech, but instead a one way telepathy that acted as speech for the Ent.

    ¡°Good morning, Naru,¡± Merownis nodded, taking the cup. The ent fluttered her droopy leaves and branches in response and agreement. The two sat quietly. Merownis sipped his tea while the hustle continued around him. It was impossible to stop at this point, with cliques of creatures inside the faction all trying to outdo each other. Competition was the heart of the System, after all. It was encouraged and rewarded, though the rewards may be intangible at first. ¡°This is a great blend, did you make it?¡±

    The tree shivered again, somehow evoking the sound of giggling as she held out a long ¡°arm.¡± The Ent was not humanoid, really. It was just capable of completely reshaping its wooden form on the fly. Right now, she was appearing as a wall, bench and table. Her branches loomed over the space, and she served the tea which she had taken to making.

    Stolen story; please report.

    ¡°You said Grant will like this stuff?¡± He asked again, sceptical. The ents had been instrumental in the initial building phase for their buildings but most of the work was done now. The lumber production had slowed, and the ents had taken up more personal projects. For Naru, that was tea making in preparation for Grant''s return. The Ent bristled, offended by the suggestion she had mistaken the human¡¯s thoughts when they connected. Merownis could only laugh as the ¡®walls¡¯ of Naru¡¯s peaceful area became thorny. ¡°I¡¯m sure he will, too.¡±

    Chuckling, Merownis said his goodbye and continued his rounds. Despite the calm he had just experienced, his thoughts turned towards the negative. For this, he blamed Grant. He had certainly never been a worrier before his influence, and it was probably something inherited from their stagnant Battle Bond. Whatever the root cause of his anxiety may have been, he sought out Ayseral to assuage them.

    The growing economy was a potential issue down the road, according to Ayseral. Lots of the information which Merownis acted on was sourced from the female. He was beginning to rely on all five of the monsters Grant had given names to. The cheetah Sundercat was intriguing to Merownis, not because he found her attractive, but because of her explosive growth. If Merownis remembered rightly, she had only been level ten when he and Grant went to fight the Scorpion Queen. In the time since, she had been the quickest riser in their small town, growing from level ten to match Merownis¡¯ own. He had only gained a little from the large battle with the scorpions, so her gains were impressive compared to his own.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Merownis Fereen

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Sundercat

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    None

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    26

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    75/75

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    205/205

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    14

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    10

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    11

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    19

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    22

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    23

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    21

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    33

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    50

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    75/75

    </td>

    <td>

    1 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    250/250

    </td>

    <td>

    21 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Not that Merownis¡¯ attributes weren¡¯t amazing, he accepted. At Grant¡¯s suggestion, Merownis had pushed to fifty attribute points in Command, and had gained the Specialist (Command) achievement like Grant had. Not only did the benchmark give Merownis an extra attribute point per level, he felt his very soul grow as the powerful achievement settled in. It was standard for a creature to gain additional attribute points from levelling as they progressed through the Grades, but in between was rarer. Even just one achievement gave Merownis much more potential for growth.

    It was this new capacity and the outlook it gave him which really changed Merownis. Grant likely didn¡¯t know, but it was only after his influence and the effects of the contract forged with Severance that Merownis could even control his attribute distribution. The System itself handles all of that for the monsters under its control. He had probably never even looked at his Character window before Grant gave Merownis the option to choose. Familiar bonds weren¡¯t uncommon, many individuals had skills to bend the minds of a System monster but the connection between the human and the Sundercat was not one of master and servant.

    Unable to find the female Sundercat, Merownis decided to eat. A Gnoll food stand of frying meats called to his nostrils and he wandered over, flipping the excitable hyena-man a gold coin for a pile of mystery meat. None of the other creatures were precious about the act of eating each other, but it was just fairer not to give out names. The box of meat was still delicious, even if Merownis might have known the contents while they were alive.

    Merownis wondered how best to describe the bond between himself and Grant while he sat and ate one of the fast food options available in the Dungeon. Part of the System information which made up the minds of monsters during creation was a general knowledge of local culture. Apparently, the capitalism of Earth was ingrained so fiercely even the monsters couldn¡¯t avoid it forever.

    ¡°This place needs a name.¡± The prideful Sundercat had to contain a kitten¡¯s yelp as Kruegar somehow snuck up on him. He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that even the bulky orc could get the drop on him. Perhaps Merownis¡¯ second specialisation achievement should have been in Perception¡­

    ¡°That place?¡± Merownis tried to clarify, gesturing to the food stall a small distance away. ¡°I¡¯d just call it Gnork¡¯s after the one running it, he really does make a good box of random meats. Lean into the weirdness.¡±

    Unamused, Kruegar stared at Merownis until the Sundercat blinked and took him seriously. ¡°You mean the town, then.¡± He sighed as the Orc grunted his assent. It had been mentioned before, but if Kruegar was taking the initiative to talk about it, then Merownis really needed to do something. The orcs were basically obsessed with Grant¡¯s workshop and getting them to come away from the industrial area being built around it was increasingly rare.

    Just as Merownis was about to continue, he began to feel Battle Bond activate in a way it hadn¡¯t since Grant was encased in crystal. Kruegar¡¯s head turned in the direction of the feeling, too, and the surly Orc broke into a rare smile. ¡°It seems you will not have to make the decision, fluffy cat,¡± the Orc chuckled. Merownis ignored the taunt in favour of sprinting towards the magical disturbance. In the distance, he heard a shout.

    ¡°I lived, bitch¡­¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Seventy - Animate Objects

    Before heading over to the massive red heap of the Scorpion Queen¡¯s destroyed form, I moved first to the base of the Jingu Bang. More like a fallen tower than a weapon, even I was impressed with the size it had become. A slight panic rumbled within me at the thought of having to move the immense staff with just my own strength. Not just impossibly tall, I remembered the weight of the staff when I kicked it. It had been one of the foundations for Perfected Strike, even.

    That final attack on Reysault had been a serious gamble in many ways. I hadn¡¯t expected there to be a limit for the Jingu Bang¡¯s growth, but I had found one anyway - Myself. Restricted only by the amount of strength I could give, it was then my mistake entirely when I simply gave it everything. The staff drank my power up happily, not thinking to leave me any. With a little more mana, I could have dodged the incoming retaliation but alas.

    I found my worry was a needless one as soon as my hand touched the weapon. The air around me seemed to suck in a quick breath. I actually stumbled forward, unprepared for the sudden vacuum in the air. I wasn¡¯t a perfect judge of size, but the base of the staff alone had to be wider than a standard football stadium to start with. Within a second, the familiar sized staff was sitting happily in my grip once more.

    The return to form was almost as impressive as the crater it left in its wake. For a few seconds, the staff simply buzzed and showed how happy it was to return to my grasp. I was still marvelling at the capabilities of the weapon, and I gave over to cooing a little. ¡°You¡¯re so impressive,¡± I said aloud, ¡°and I would have died ten times over if it wasn¡¯t for you.¡±

    It would have felt silly to give praise to an inanimate object, but as with the Xaverweave Pouch, the Jingu Bang wasn¡¯t quite inanima-

    ¡°THE POUCH!¡± I roared, clutching around at my waist and chest, despite knowing the weight of it had been missing since I awoke. Staff in hand, I fell to my knees at the start of the impossibly long gouge in the earth towards the Scorpion Queen¡¯s body. My eyes burned with fury as I looked at the murderer of my true first companion in the dungeon. The Jingu Bang was a powerful artefact, but the cute pouch had been a constant companion since I awoke.

    ¡°This one?¡± Naea¡¯s voice surprised me, but not as much as the tackle to my chest as I turned to face her. It wasn¡¯t Naea which hit me, but the fuzzy shape I had just been mourning. With excited whooping, I clutched the Xaverweave Pouch to me while waxing lyrical about my amazing items.

    ¡°Oh you silly thing!¡± I scolded it playfully, like a puppy which had made an adorable mistake. ¡°I thought that nasty scorpion lady¡¯s poison had destroyed you! You worried me! Did you miss me? Huh?¡±

    ¡°Ahem.¡± I snapped out of the playful mood instantly when I remembered Naea was watching. She was looking like I had just given her the greatest gift of all, but I couldn¡¯t even stay on guard as the Xaverweave Pouch got comfortable on my waist once more. Intensely grateful to my past self for being a little over prepared, I removed a change of clothes to replace the things destroyed by the caustic poison.

    With a pair of self-made boots, a Clive¡¯s Caf¨¦ t-shirt and the Longstrider Leggings which were unsung heroes of comfort, my staff at my side and my bag of holding on my hip, I felt a little more normal than I had in quite a while. That my new normal consisted of a bo staff with attitude, a fairy companion and an eldritch handbag which could eat basically anything I fed it was its own problem but one for later. ¡°Thank you,¡± I was grateful to Naea for returning the pouch. ¡°Did you come to stop my breakdown?¡±

    ¡°Something like that. This one has nothing to do with me, though¡± she admitted with a shrug. ¡°The poor thing came running to me after your fight, shivering. Must have dodged the attack you didn¡¯t manage to before coming to find me. I didn¡¯t even know you were fighting the second claimant.¡±

    ¡°I see you left her body alone so I could get the pleasure of looting her. So double thanks.¡± Naea ate the bodies left in the dungeon, and one as juicy as this must have been hard for her to ignore while I was trapped. The fairy just shook her head, not willing to accept the praise.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t usually matter but it''s technically better to loot your own kills than to let someone else like Merownis do it. The System just prefers it that way.¡± I tried to remember if I knew this before, but I was struggling to see when it would have come up before. I normally made a beeline for the loot in most situations. ¡°Plus, I¡¯m not too confident about eating up a Grade One to start with,¡± Naea said, though the glint in her eye suggested otherwise. I decided to leave it.

    ¡°Shall we?¡± I asked, gesturing towards the large boss monster¡¯s body along the path of the Jingu Bang¡¯s fall. Despite her words, it was easy to see that she was practically salivating at the idea of getting her hands, mouth and whatever other appendages she had on the corpse. I tried not to think about it, and failed. So many tentacles. So much hair for some reason.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    I shuddered, drawing a quizzical look from Naea. ¡°Bad memories,¡± I answered truthfully. We made small talk as we walked the length of the staff¡¯s fall. She told me about the changes I could expect in the forest zone, and I was excited to see them for myself soon. Especially when Naea said that they had started to build actual beds. In turn, I explained to Naea what I had experienced within the poison in general terms, and what it had led to for my skills and strength.

    ¡°Manually altering your skills?¡± Naea asked sharply when I got to that part. When I nodded, she didn¡¯t respond right away. We walked for a while, and it might have been the longest that Naea had ever been silent in my company. She moved to hover in front of my face, concern clear on her¡¯s. ¡°Don¡¯t do it again, okay?¡±

    ¡°Uhh, sure?¡± I said. I wasn¡¯t planning on drilling through my mana channels again anytime soon, even if Tag within my Mind Palace was constantly working on ways to upgrade what we had already done. The skill was basically acting as a processor for ideas I had, and I would leave it up to my other version to decide whether we actually implement them or not. Apparently happy with my answer, Naea flitted forward at a higher speed. Despite walking for a while, we were still a fair distance away.

    I was wondering whether I felt up to using my mana to catch up as she sped away, and it seemed the Jingu Bang noticed. It started to vibrate, practically begging me to do it. ¡°You missed me too?¡± I asked the staff, ¡°huh buddy?¡± The weapon just buzzed again in my hand. ¡°Alright then, fuck it.¡±

    The skills were all there, in fairly pristine condition aside from the crafting ones. The damage was mostly gone and if I was being honest, my mana seemed to move through me with even more alacrity than ever before. It may have been a trial by poison, but the lessons learned and the struggles overcome had made me more powerful even if the Attributes Window didn¡¯t say so. As I relinquished the tight control I had been keeping over the energy within, it flooded out to all corners of my body.

    Mana Manipulation was a mostly passive skill. Anyone could manipulate mana, I had been doing it since my first hour within the System. The skill simply made the act automatic, while allowing for more intricate use than I had been capable of without it. I could now form shapes within my mana itself, and use those forms to add a kind of detail to the energy. The most familiar design for now was a drill, and I did a small test.

    Two Magic Missiles appeared in the air. If Mana Bolt had been like filling a water balloon in my hand before throwing it, Magic Missile was the equivalent of loading premade balloons directly into a cannon before shooting. The metaphor wasn¡¯t perfect, but as the nearly identical pair of projectiles blinked into existence above my shoulders, it felt apt. Instead of physically throwing the energy, all I had to do was release it.

    Two decent sized explosions of sand marked the impacts, and the difference between the two was clear. As always, more experimentation would be needed but as I inspected the impact zones, I got the results I expected. The ¡°plain¡± Magic Missile had acted like a fast moving stone or bullet before bursting into a flash of light. The ¡°drill¡± version had punched into the sand and forced its way through a large amount of it before stopping. ¡°You having fun?¡± Naea called from a distance away.

    ¡°I¡¯m about to,¡± I whispered, psyching myself up. Magic Missile had worked perfectly, with no pain or discomfort slowing me down. I spun the Jingu Bang around and it whistled loudly with pleasure. ¡°Alright, alright. Main event time.¡±

    The mana which touched every inch of my body started to sizzle as I injected heat into my image of it. The mana within me became pure excitement. It was the burn of the poison in its most pure form. The sting of a workout pushed to the limit and then that limit being broken. The euphoria of a second wind. My mana was an ignited fuel and I was the engine.

    Infusion.

    The dampening of sound and light by my increased speed was like a swaddle for a baby, surrounding me with a feeling of safety as the world froze around me. The dusty sand particles which were still falling stilled immediately and even breathing became harder as the air itself struggled against the force of time. For a few seconds I was like a statue myself, just acclimating to the feeling. My instinct was to start sprinting as the electric energy coursed through my body but I also knew such an action would tear my muscles.

    So, I took a single step.

    I quickly deactivated the skill as I tumbled through the sand. The simple push off the sand to start catching up to Naea had been enough to shoot me forward like a ballista bolt. Unprepared for the intense velocity, I absolutely ate sand. The speed was way too much with the skill going at full force. A quick look at my mana total while I rolled to a stop showed me that the skill was pretty expensive, too. Even in my own perception, it had only been active for around ten seconds, and half my mana had been expended.

    Spitting out sand, I still smiled. That was exactly the type of trump card I had wanted Infusion to become. Lots of practice required to deal with my new abilities, though. Shaking off the sand, I looked up, surprised at the distance I had travelled. It seemed I had screamed past Naea entirely and arrived much closer to Reysault¡¯s body. The curving walls of the Jingu Bang¡¯s crater had stopped me from flying off into the distance, at least. ¡°What the hell was that about?¡± Naea asked, catching up quickly.

    ¡°Growing pains,¡± I answered, placing my hand on the ruby red carapace and accepting the loot.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Sixty Eight - Palatial

    The effects of Mind Palace continued to take root in my mind even as I began to work on the next skill. It was a strange feeling, having your mind doubled. It wasn¡¯t that there were suddenly two streams of thought in my head, but I could feel the passive effects of the skill immediately. I also knew there was a deeper layer to reach once I was out of the woods here.

    As I had gained levels, my physical senses had become far more powerful. By now I was able to hear the tinkling of sand pushed by the wind. I could feel the tiny particles flicking onto the exposed portions of my skin. I tasted the sweat brought on by the heat before it even rolled down my face. I was unwilling to open my eyes and deal with the headache the glare would bring, but I expected I could watch the granules tumbling in the breeze with my naked eye at this point. The smell of my friend¡¯s fear, weakening with every second of continued life from myself.

    The additional control of energy I had gained with the arrival of Mana Manipulation did a lot to calm them, it seemed. Like my more mundane senses, thanks in large part to the new form of Mana Savant, my magical senses were sharpening to a rapier¡¯s point. I was able to tell that Merownis was keeping some energy prepared, though I couldn¡¯t tell exactly what for. It was just possible for me to sense the churning mana within him from this distance.

    When I first awoke, the world outside of my body was nearly impossible to pay attention to. Even answering Merownis and Naea, or looking at my System prompts had been a struggle. Now, I could finally breathe again.

    Separately, neither of these things would have been an issue. Had I simply had a high Perception, the stimuli may have been overwhelming, but manageable. Between my improved physical faculties and the sensations felt through both ambient mana and Spirit, it had been difficult to keep my attention on any one thing. Thanks to the development of my first repaired skill, my mind could now truly be in two places at once. It was as though someone had turned down the volume of a white noise I didn¡¯t even know was there.

    Mind Palace had immediately alleviated issues I had barely been cognisant of. Having stronger senses wasn¡¯t bad, but when everything around you is as noticeable as you choose it to be, actually picking something to focus on was a challenge. With the new skill, I no longer had that issue. It was not as simple as having my personal mental capacity doubled, but rather that answers and decisions both came much faster. Superfluous information and curiosity was shunted to a deeper portion of the skill where analysis and planning took place.

    No point in putting it off, I reasoned with a mental shrug. Activating Mind Palace in full, I felt myself sink into my inner world. The process wasn¡¯t always easy, but this time it was like falling asleep under anaesthetic. Once the skill activated, I was pulled away from the real world and into my own. I opened my eyes, knowing there would be no headache, and still regretted it.

    My inner world was having a few issues, it seemed.

    Continuing the dreamlike aspect, I couldn¡¯t remember how I had ended up where I was but I recognised it by feel, if not by sight. I found myself standing upon a ravaged world, looking upwards at the bright light of my core and Spirit Well. I tapped my foot on the ground, frowning at how hollow it sounded. The dragon world had seen better days.

    The work I had done making the planet feel ¡°real¡± had all been blown away by the effects of the poisonous mana. The sickly white looking ground which remained was fragile and I cautiously began to walk across it. The floor never gave way, but it felt like it might at any moment. The desolate planet howled with screaming winds, stripping whatever was left of the barren landscape to shreds. The only sight as far as the eye could see was more empty wasteland.

    ¡°Are you going to mope forever or can we get to work?¡± A very familiar voice called out. I spun around quickly with a yelp, finding the source in the doorframe of a massive, decadent building which had certainly not been there before. Stretching into the distance to both my left and right, the beautiful place was as immediately familiar to me as the man who stood in the doorway.

    Red hair, long and messy. A slightly stooped posture which we both fixed at the same time upon seeing each other. The smile which people had described to me often throughout my life as ¡°mocking¡± grew wide on the face in the doorway. Damn, I shook my head, walking forward. They were right. It is an arrogant look.

    The Mind Palace was exactly as I expected it to be. How could it have been any other way? The tall building stood defiantly on the ruined world, its pristine appearance at complete odds with the surrounding area. Slightly loath to be goaded into motion, even by myself, I took an extra minute to inspect the design. All of the stone looked freshly carved that day. The arches, columns and reliefs etched into the palace were intricate and masterful.

    ¡°Ahem,¡± the Mind Palace version of me cleared its throat and raised an eyebrow. It was the look I gave someone when I was at the edge of my humour with their antics, and again I found myself supremely uncomfortable at being on the receiving end.

    ¡°Nice place we got here,¡± I quipped, taking a single step and appearing inside. It was nicely decorated, with wide windows and interesting artwork. Pieces I had seen once and enjoyed were on show, but the layout was more interesting to me. A complex maze of hallways, each housing many closed doors which I instinctively knew were full of ideas and memories. I tried to open one, but it remained firmly shut.

    ¡°They¡¯re not for you,¡± the Mind-Me explained patiently. ¡°Those rooms are for my storage, and they open when needed.¡± I shrugged, having known that already. What I had just done was the equivalent of trying to intentionally have a spontaneous thought, after all.

    ¡°Let¡¯s fix this then,¡± I said. While it was a true, full copy of myself standing opposite me, neither of were unclear on the dynamics here. Every action the Mind Palace version of me would ever take would be to help the main body. It was only being curt now because we were short on time, and even I knew that I could procrastinate with the best of them. ¡°I will have to come up with a name for you though, maybe.¡±

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go with Tag,¡± the copy said with confidence. Others might not have understood, but I got it immediately, and the memory brought a smile to my face. Tag was a nickname I had taken for myself, formed by flipping my name backwards and removing the letters R and N. Exactly why I had chosen that as the foundation for all my future usernames, I wasn¡¯t sure, but it definitely worked here.

    ¡°Alright, Tag. Let¡¯s fix these damned skills. That Scorpion Queen was a real bitch, huh?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Tag answered, ¡°if you had been more careful, you could have probably avoided the poison instead of taking a bath in it.¡± I aimed a withering look at the back of Tag¡¯s head, the traitor. That was a thought I had tormented myself with during the most painful moments of my torture.

    ¡°Yeah, just no confidence in my own magic,¡± I retorted. Tag turned around with an unimpressed look over his shoulder before opening the door they led me to. I nodded. It had felt resoundingly pointless to attempt to be passive aggressive towards myself. ¡°Where are we?¡± I asked, hoping to change the conversation.

    ¡°Welcome to the Observatory,¡± Tag answered with a theatrical flourish. The name was apt and Tag¡¯s clearly prideful opinion of the room was not misplaced. This was quite possibly the most beautiful room I had ever stepped foot within. The walls around us simply disappeared, the act of entering the room like stepping into the outdoors. Not far from the door were two chairs and a table. Tag moved and sat down while I took my time getting over to him.

    In the sky above, and it was a sky, were dancing nebulas of mana. I knew each of them intimately, and looked at them with sorrow. They were my damaged and destroyed skills, fluctuating and warping even as I watched on. The ground here was the only thing which reminded me we were still definitely within the Mind Palace, the floor not changing from the stone it had been before. With a concerted effort, I altered the area around where Tag sat.

    A patch of grass sprouted from the ground in a single spot before expanding like ink in water. Within seconds, the fragile white ground was covered in dirt and foliage once more. Tag looked around with a bemused look on his face before smiling at me. ¡°Take a seat,¡± he said, tapping the back of the other chair. Neither were ornate things, and upon looking closely, I pointed in surprise.

    ¡°I know this chair!¡± I exclaimed.

    ¡°Well, yes,¡± Tag replied. ¡°It¡¯s your Mind Palace. How did you think it would work?¡± I didn¡¯t have an answer to that. Of course things in this place would be recognizable to me, but I hadn¡¯t expected to sit on a stool from my past. When I was young, I spent a lot of time in the pub owned by my family, sitting on this exact stool very bored while the adults around me drank the day away. It wasn¡¯t a pleasant memory, but the chair itself carried an innocent nostalgia, so I sat myself down. ¡°Have you worked out what this room is for?¡±

    I didn¡¯t answer immediately. It wasn¡¯t to remind me of my childhood, that¡¯s for sure. I looked up, into the vast clouds of energy in the sky above. ¡°An observatory, was it?¡± I asked rhetorically, receiving no answer but silence. I followed Tag¡¯s logic without a follow up, as it was my own logic ultimately. ¡°Normally, those are for viewing the stars¡­ not creating them.¡±

    ¡°If you remember, you got close to something at one point and then let it drop. In fact,¡± Tag pointed a finger at me, ¡°you¡¯ve barely even scratched the surface of what we can do here.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a lot going on¡­¡± I murmured, not even bothering to make more excuses. This was a criticism straight from my own soul, and I took it on the chin. ¡°Remind me? So I can continue ignoring the obvious place to spend my time.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re such a dick,¡± Tag chuckled, shaking his head. ¡°The imagery we have here works. It¡¯s a little grand, but we¡¯ll grow into it I¡¯m sure. As something which is part skill, part you, I have a bit more knowledge about the background stuff. I can¡¯t spill beans, but I can push us towards the right path.¡±

    ¡°And what is the right path for us?¡±

    ¡°For us, for now, the path is power.¡± Tag looked upwards, his eyes sad as they reflected the broken skills above. ¡°We¡¯ll have to sacrifice what might have been with some of these skills to turn them into something which can stand the stresses you put us through.¡±

    I was speechless once again. It was strange to think of Tag as a skill, but with the grief in his eyes at the idea of destroying the other skills, I saw it clearly. The phrase ¡°there but by the grace of god go I,¡± came to my mind, and because it came to mine, it appeared in his. Tag¡¯s sad look became wry as he told me to get to work. ¡°The unformed mana up there is giving us some pretty nasty heartburn. We need to gather it and make it work for us.¡±

    I understood the assignment, and so the time for words ended. Bringing all of the power within Mana Manipulation to bear at once, I began by gathering the Haste skill together once more. Without the Mind Palace, fixing the skill would have been complete guesswork. This time, within the Observatory, I could watch the work. It was the difference between doing surgery in a well lit room or the pitch darkness. Tag was quiet, voicing suggestions when he felt my energy begin to falter or slip.

    Unlike Mental Fortress, which had been a level one skill with no alterations, Haste had already changed once. From the skill formerly known as Sprint, Haste was a much more complex tangle to unwind than Mental Fortress had been. Working on both the mental image in my mind and the more tangible mana channels within my body at once would have been impossible without this skill.

    With it, I knew I could do something amazing.

    With a thought, I began to gather other broken skills and draw them towards the framework of the Haste skill. While I did so, I also swaddled the main skill pattern with Spirit. Into that Spirit, I infused the intent for this repair. Haste was one of my favourite skills, if not my outright number one. Up until the fight with the Scorpion Queen, it had been my ace-in-the-sleeve to flip the tables in any fight. Tag urged me onwards, and I felt the presence of The Aspect of the Dragon watching from within the planet as I demanded the skill reform itself under my guidance.

    ¡°It won¡¯t be the same,¡± Tag murmured.

    ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean it can¡¯t be better,¡± I finished, losing myself in the act of creating a new skill from the ashes of my old ones. In relative silence, I worked with my other self to pull the chaotic threads of mana together in the sky. Sometimes they struggled against our attempts to contain them. Sometimes I struggled, my willpower flagging. However, in time, with the support of Tag, I didn¡¯t give up.

    By the time I left my inner world, the stars were once more settled in their place in the sky.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Sixty Nine - Reforged

    When I finally finished my delicate work, I found that I was ravenous. ¡°You¡¯ve been in there for around a week,¡± Merownis told me, while proffering a paper bag within which I was surprised to find cold, but clearly recently cooked, meat. The temperature didn¡¯t matter, though I did wonder if I could do something about it with mana. I was thoroughly spent in that regard, and I dove face first into the meal. The fact it was something which had been cooked was enough, and I practically inhaled the contents of the bag.

    Patting my stomach and thanking the Sundercat for being thoughtful, I was surprised when he chuckled. ¡°It was the fairy¡¯s idea actually,¡± he confessed, which in turn made Naea squawk and turn invisible. With interest, I followed her movements in the air. My eyes focused for the first time since breaking out of the poisonous cage. Naea darted from one side of me to the other, frustrated that I could follow her so well.

    My experience with the poison had been a lot like a sensory deprivation tank, if you filled one with boiling acid. It wasn¡¯t something I would do again in a hurry but there were some silver linings. Mana Savant may have died, but in its place Mana Manipulation had been nearly as impressive. For one, I could now sense mana in the air much more clearly.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said to the open air. ¡°Both of you. I don¡¯t know what happened while I was stuck in there, but I can feel it on the air. In the Spirit of the dungeon itself. You¡¯ve been working hard.¡± With one of them furred and the other invisible, it was hard to tell if they blushed, but that was my intent. It was true. There was a peaceful, hopeful energy in the air. I had no doubt it was down to their efforts, even if they hadn¡¯t told me. The food alone was proof of a startling amount of progress.

    ¡°Are you better now?¡± Naea asked, her physical form reappearing with worry still etched into her features. I took a deep breath, revelling in the relative comfort of my body. For the first time in what felt like a very long time, the action was painless and free.

    ¡°Mostly,¡± I lied, ¡°the main damage is fixed.¡± The second part was the truth. I had fixed the worst issues with my mana channels to a point. However, the repair job had required looping in and combining the new mana channel I was forced to create. I had stopped the damage from getting worse but all I could do now was take some time to let the bulk of the damage heal.

    Heal.

    The thought created a spike in my throat. I tried to swallow it down along with the truth that I had survived, but I only succeeded in scraping my windpipe raw with the emotions that bubbled within me. Anger and relief were easy enough to deal with, but I grieved. Enduring the trials of Reysault¡¯s poison was not without cost. My eyes began to burn and I turned away from my friends. I didn¡¯t want them to see me cry. I didn¡¯t want anyone to see the true cost of the torture.

    As the reality of my survival became tangible, I clenched my fists. My mana was still on hiatus, but it had been long enough for my muscles to wake up entirely. ¡°I¡¯ll be back. Sorry.¡± I couldn¡¯t find more words to say, so I didn¡¯t. With that simple apology, I set off. After a few light hops against the sand so I didn¡¯t spray the others, and I exploded into motion. I aimed myself towards the deep desert because I didn¡¯t have any plans to stop. The shadows I tried to escape right now were stubborn, clinging to me like oil. I wanted to run until they dispersed.

    So I did. The dune and sand before me were pushed aside like water under my incredible strength and I lost myself in the physicality of it. I eschewed the feeling of mana and gave into the muscles, sweat pouring off me in buckets before long. The heat and motion became a haze, the pounding of my feet against the sand and the shockwave of my impact as I launched forward. It became a metronome.

    I saw no monsters, but that was no surprise. There should be nearly nothing in the desert which could challenge me now, and even less which actually would. If the annexation of the forest zone was anything to go by, things in the desert could be peaceful. The desert itself greeted me like a friend. I suppose I was now, having claimed it from Reysault. My quest had even updated, now that I finally decided to check.

    Dungeon Quest - Aspiring Claims

    Due to the special nature of the Solo Dungeon, you are its Keystone. Until the first of the three Aspirants are defeated, entry to the dungeon from outside is locked. Only when all three Aspirants are defeated will the Keystone be free to leave, returning the Solo Dungeon to its initial state.

    Claimants defeated: 2 of 3

    It was time to open my System windows. I hadn¡¯t wanted to look while I had been so close to death. I had been scared to check in case the knowledge had made me waver. It had been long enough now that I trusted myself not to slip the mortal coil by surprise, though, so I bit the bullet. I didn¡¯t care where I stopped my desperate sprint, so I simply dropped to the sand without looking around and opened the window. I was pleased to see the expected results.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    27

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    260/260

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    295/295

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    I had been freshly level twenty six before the fight with the queen and her scorpion army. Creating the cuirass which Merownis still wore had been the last surge of experience before then. It wasn¡¯t surprising that defeating the claimant had been enough to grant me another level. In fact, it was more like a level and a half, which was all the more impressive for how the requirements scaled. Considering Reysault had been a full Grade One monster, with the additional strength of a boss variant, it made sense.

    The level up message had been lost in the jumble somewhere, but I had felt it even before escaping my imprisonment. Fifteen free attribute points, four in Command and Regeneration, three in Strength and Recovery, two for Agility and Power and a final point in Resilience. At level one, I received five attribute points. For level twenty seven, I had gained thirty four. Considering how close things had felt, I was confident that the attributes gained from levelling up had saved my life. My journey to this point had allowed me to continue walking the path I found at my feet.

    With that in mind, there was still only one direction for my attributes right now if I wanted to complete my chosen level thirty array. It hadn¡¯t been confirmed, but I expected level thirty was the threshold to reach Grade One for any creature, be it a monster or myself. It would either be hard or impossible to get more levels at that point. To that end, I placed my free points into Perception and gained another Specialist achievement.

    Achievement Unlocked - Specialist (Perception)

    Effect: +1 Perception per level, +1 free attribute points per level

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    43

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    45

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    48

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    20

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    45

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    50

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    54

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    58

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    59

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    260/260

    </td>

    <td>

    4.5 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    295/295

    </td>

    <td>

    58 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Dexterity aside, my other attributes would reach the threshold for the achievement simply by levelling up. Recovery and Resilience at twenty nine, then Agility and Strength at thirty. Taking a look at the numbers one more time, I felt like I had missed something earlier. I would receive one more point next level¡­

    ¡°Ahh!¡± I shouted, clearing my mind of distractions with a yell. The Meditation skill had been lost in the fallout of my struggles, forming the foundation for Mind Palace, but I remembered how it felt. Forcing myself to find some level of calm, I stayed sitting in the sand. I once more lost track of time. I did not delve into my inner world, nor did I allow myself to think about anything. With my mind descending into oblivion, I finally relaxed.

    When I finally opened my eyes once more, the sun had set. It hadn¡¯t been early morning when I started running but still¡­ I must have been going for over a dozen hours. My body felt it, but in a good way. The Recovery attribute was already working hard to return me to top shape. I flopped from my seated position and lay back in the sand and beheld the world around me. Despite all my abilities and Perception attributes, I had been blind to everything for a while there.

    I looked up at the stars, feeling a connection to them which I had never sensed before. After using their likeness to form the basis for my skill repairs, there was a kind of kinship there now. Even knowing that I was trapped in a dungeon, and that the sky above me was not the one I was used to, I enjoyed the moment. Within my inner world, the cosmos hummed calmly. Though there were fewer stars there now than before, those that remained burned brighter and larger. Perhaps it was specifically because I was trapped that I felt the gnawing emotion so keenly. My deepest wish was to destroy the dungeon which had branded itself into my soul and psyche. Figuring out what came next could wait until I truly survived.

    That was the core of it all. I wouldn¡¯t let this dungeon, the monsters within it or the System outside be the end of me. I simply wouldn¡¯t. It might be hubris, the thought might only have been created by the draconic aspect melded to my soul but I would survive this. Looking up at the stars blanketing the sky, I knew my place was amongst them. My new skills would help. As my final task before hopefully moving past this ordeal, I pulled up my updated skill page.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Skill Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Spirit Well (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Unique

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Party Leader (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Epic

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dragonburn (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Battle Bond (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Catalyst (Level 2)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Manipulation (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana Barrier (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Magic Missile (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Uncommon

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perfected Strike (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Infusion (Level 1)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mind Palace (Max)

    </td>

    <td>

    Rare

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Starting with the simplest recovery I managed to pull off, in a constellation along with Mind Palace, Mana Barrier and Catalyst was a skill I had wanted for a little while. The innards of both Manasight and Mana Bolt were used alongside some lessons from Mana Manipulation to create a skill I was very excited for. Merownis had described being able to feel magic in the air, and it was with envy and pride that I created the relatively simple skill.

    King¡¯s Training had been damaged like the rest of my skills, but like all of the epic or stronger skills, it was made of sturdier stuff than the lesser rarities. I had tried to add more complexity to the skill but found it impossible. It rejected any change, instead taking some of the energy from other skills to repair itself completely. The ability was a prideful one and I understood that quite well.

    So instead, I guided whatever was left over from the pillaged Heavy Blow and Serious Swing towards a usable form.  Using some of the knowledge from the epic King¡¯s Training skill, I fused the foundations whilst infusing the process with Spirit. I encouraged the skill to draw upon the varying ideas of heaviness I had experienced. Not just the physical, but magical and emotional too.

    The Jingu Bang¡¯s weight changing properties. The pressure from my own goals along with the challenges of the dungeon. Teachings from King¡¯s Training and more. The way it felt to be hit by powerful enemies. The final collision with Reysault which had shaken the dungeon. The squeezing force of expectations since a young age. Leaning heavily on those thoughts, trying to recreate in part the shape of Mana Manipulation, I created Weight Manipulation.

    Or that was the plan, anyway.

    Skill - Perfected Strike (Rare)

    Be it a counter, a guard break or a devastating finishing blow, the best fighters do not limit themselves to a single action. The perfect strike differs from moment to moment.

    Sitting together in the sky of my inner world King¡¯s Training, Battle Bond and my other new skill, Perfected Strike was a surprisingly simple straight upgrade down the Heavy Blow, Serious Swing pipeline. For Perfected Strike, I no longer had to sweep the attack to use the skill. I could jab, swing, whip or otherwise attack the enemy and the ability could still activate. It hadn¡¯t felt like much of a limitation before, but I could feel the potential inside me even now.

    Skill - Infusion (Rare)

    An action without intent is no more than an accident. An action without mana will never change the world. May your footfalls carry you to your purpose with power and resolve.

    In a similar way, Infusion was not much different to Haste. The movement skill was important to me, and during its creation I had been almost entirely focused on regaining the same general ability. I would need to use it to truly know, but the idea was only to make it more wide reaching. Instead of increasing only my speed, Infusion could improve any of my attributes, at the cost of mana. Infusion was the combination of Haste, Stealth, Tracking and any other dregs I could gather, but I had turned it into a gem.

    None of this would have been possible without the skills I had at my disposal initially. It was a hard truth to accept but I had been incredibly lucky. Without Mana Shield to turn into Mana Barrier, I might have still been trapped. Without Mana Manipulation, or its precursor at least, I wouldn¡¯t have had the chance to alter the skill. Heck, without getting Catalyst when I did, that situation couldn¡¯t have occurred at all. Though, that last one I didn¡¯t count because I could just as easily have received something which made me resistant to the poison instead.

    Killing two birds with one stone by fixing my skills had been a net positive in the end, but it wasn¡¯t something I would wish on my worst enemy. I refused to continue dwelling on the damage now that I was healing, though. With a final, long breath, I smiled at the stars and stood up. I jumped atop the nearest dune and nearly choked up a lung when I saw the nearest landmark.

    I really must have circled the whole dungeon. The fact I had missed this giant black and gold eyesore was a marvel, but I had been a little lost in my own world. I shook my head and started walking slowly over to the still massive form of the Jingu Bang which was lying in wait for me. It was still resting atop the body of the Scorpion Queen, which reminded me¡­

    Loot!

 Forged Anew - Chapter Seventy One - A Surprise Tool For Later

    Naea and I parted ways as soon as I received the loot from the Claimant, Reysault. I was less than interested in finding out how the fairy was going to devour the body, even if I was slightly curious whether it would change her. She seemed to imply as much, but the lived existence of the dungeon fairy was not something I cared to explore further. Even with another use of Infusion to launch me away quicker, I heard the revving engine of her feast¡¯s initiation.

    After a few minutes and briefly considering trying to find a pool of the Scorpion Queen¡¯s poison to dunk my head in and wash away the memory, I stopped at the edge of the forest zone. With my Perception now at the mighty score of fifty, I could already hear the general clamour of life within. They hadn¡¯t wanted to overwhelm me with information, but I could tell that Merownis and Naea were proud of their work and wanted me to see it.

    I could have used Battle Bond to find Merownis, the skill one of the few which didn¡¯t change much along with Spirit Well, Dragonburn and Party Leader. However, with Naea currently indisposed and my body still full of nervous energy, I decided not to. I had started this dungeon alone, with abilities I didn¡¯t understand and no idea what was going on elsewhere.

    Time to get back to basics for a while.

    The forest area was around ten square miles in densely wooded space. In a concentric ring surrounding the plateau, the desert stretched much further. While it would have taken me only a few minutes to run around the ten mile circumference of the central zone, it had taken me hours to circle it haphazardly in the desert. Even with my random lap, I hadn¡¯t seen the next area at all. It was time to change that.

    With a single pulse through Battle Bond telling Merownis I was fine, I chose a direction away from the trees and started running. Beating the Scorpion Queen had been worth all the pain once I looted her because with her death, one of my biggest issues had been solved. I wasn¡¯t talking about her Claimant status bringing me closer to leaving the dungeon, or the experience defeating her had given me. No, looting the Grade One had blessed me more than I could have expected. I didn¡¯t even mind that they weren¡¯t my general style. I was changing in many ways, maybe my wardrobe would be one of them in the long term.

    Item - Arachnid Silk Creepers (Uncommon)

    A wedge heeled shoe designed to stalk through those places too difficult to normally traverse. Capable of adhering to most surfaces. Capable of removing fraction between shoes and most surfaces.

    Though they were ¡°only¡± an uncommon magical item, I could feel the quality of the boots even before I shoved my feet into them. Quite literally, as they initially were too small for me. Within moments of my mana touching the material, the shoes seemed to wrap themselves around my feet more comfortably. They didn¡¯t have a self-repair function like my bottoms, but I was more than pleased. The enchantments would allow for some interesting opportunities in battle, though they weren¡¯t too useful on sand.

    I had received more than just the shoes, but they were the only equipment as part of the haul which included over three thousand gold coins from all the scorpions along with their queen and one more item. I didn¡¯t know when the best time to use it would be, so it was resting in the pouch for now.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Inventory Page (Xaverweave Pouch)

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Item

    </td>

    <td>

    Amount

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint)

    </td>

    <td>

    18,717

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted)

    </td>

    <td>

    2758

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Sorehammer

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Jingu Bang

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Greater Potion of Healing

    </td>

    <td>

    2

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Spurs of the Flurry

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Endless Inkwell (Grade Zero)

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Item - Endless Inkwell (Grade Zero) (Uncommon)

    The ink of the Spatiarium Squid self replicates at an impressive rate even when removed from the cephalopods themselves. For this reason, it is a desired material for artisans the whole Tree wide. This particular inkwell has been charged with potent mana for an indeterminate amount of time. As such, the ink inside carries a magical signature and has improved mana conductivity with the user.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    I took a moment to glare at the healing potions in my inventory before removing the inkwell and giving it a little shake. A few drops spilled out, but that was obviously not a problem. The only issue was finding a way to make use of it, really. Clearly, the point was to create something with it and I had ideas, but they would have to wait until I got back to my workshop.

    It was interesting that it was the first item I had seen which referenced the grades, but all that really meant was there were better versions and I became a little bitter thinking about it.

    The magical charge in the ink was clearly the point more than having an unlimited supply of ink for an office. Maybe this was how enchantment was performed? Something told me that wasn¡¯t quite right. That something being Tag, the voice from within my Mind Palace. As time stretched on during my long sprint, my mind wandered and I found myself at the door of the ornate building.

    ¡°It¡¯s for inscription,¡± Tag said, opening the door. I stepped in, feeling the motion of my body even as my mind entered the cool foyer. A wide circular room of white marble and dark purple filigrees, I hadn¡¯t paid it much mind the first time I had been here. I had been somewhat frazzled at the time, still trying to fix my cluttered mana channels, but I had time to take it in now.

    To my immediate left were some decadent seats to lounge on, and I went right over as a test. It was a bizarre thing to stretch out and relax while I could positively sense my body getting a slight workout. The room was mostly empty besides the pair of sofas and armchair to one side, simply an entry place to the more complex rooms beyond.

    ¡°This place really is beautiful,¡± I said aloud. The patterns on the walls were my skill sigils, I realised. Each of them exploded and stretched along the marble in gorgeous amethyst detailing. They changed as I watched, with the pattern from the palace itself shifting into the design for Infusion. ¡°Stunning,¡± I breathed.

    ¡°Why thank you,¡± Tag responded happily. Our appearances had started to differ, and I was now looking at a proud version of myself in the strangest clothes I had ever seen. A high collared grey jacket without sleeves was garishly combined with a long sleeved, blue chequered shirt. He wore red denim jeans and a pair of what I could only describe as cowboy boots. Catching me blinking at his appearance, Tag gave a little twirl. ¡°Picked it myself,¡± he said with pride.

    ¡°Right,¡± I answered diplomatically, leaving the subject alone. That my mental image was so comfortable looking ridiculous was either a very good or very bad sign. ¡°You said something about inscription? Wuzzat?¡±

    ¡°Well, when we first learned that mana was a thing, the first thing we wanted to do was¡­ what?¡± Tag asked, attempting to lead me to the answer. I thought back. Other than survival, what had I wanted? Well, learn magic, obviously.

    ¡°Wait¡­ spells?¡± I gave my answer as a question, jumping to my feet with excitement. I was ready to turn around right now and get started when Tag nodded. ¡°Like, real spells? Change the weather, make someone sick, that kind of thing?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. I¡¯m not sure, but that¡¯s the general idea I think. You spend time drawing a skill onto some specially prepared material and infuse it with mana while you do. Then those drawings, or formations, become a one-use spell.¡±

    ¡°Oh, only a single use?¡± My excitement drained ever so slightly. ¡°I can see the value in having prepared skills, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Free, instant use skills which generally far exceed the energy required to make them. It¡¯s more about the ability of the inscriber and the amount of mana they use to create the formation, but generally they¡¯re very strong. You¡¯re also thinking a little too small, I think.¡± Tag had a look on his face I knew well. One I made when I was excited to know something someone else didn¡¯t. I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. It wouldn¡¯t do to get genuinely annoyed with what was essentially myself.

    ¡°Oh go on¡± I groaned. ¡°What could we do with a decent inscription? Give me an example.¡±

    ¡°Well, since you asked so wonderfully,¡± Tag crowed, ¡°you could¡­ erect a one-time barrier around your house that only you can enter and exit.¡± The skill version of me in the crazy clothes looked at me expectantly as my eyebrows rose. ¡°Yeah. How about a one time use heal which could recover all of your health points in a few seconds? Or a formation which you¡¯ve poured a few thousand mana into for a single big boom?¡±

    ¡°Okay, yep, I get it. I understand why you basically dragged me in here, this Inkwell is a powerful item, huh?¡± I tossed it in the air, catching it and then using the small opening at the top to collect the falling ink drops. Such was my speed that not a single splatter landed on the white floor.

    ¡°Just so,¡± Tag answered, not amused by my acrobatic trick. ¡°Don¡¯t forget about it like you did the health potions and the spurs.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t forget¡­ about¡­¡± I withered a little under Tag¡¯s glare. ¡°I didn¡¯t forget the spurs.¡±

    Tag said nothing, just raising an eyebrow before starting to walk off. ¡°If you need anything else, you know where to find me.¡± More than willing to leave that slight embarrassment behind, I slipped out of the Mind Palace and into my still-running body. I hadn¡¯t forgotten the Spurs of the Flurry, I just wasn¡¯t ready to use them before the battle with Reysault. Not before I found my wonderful new shoes.

    Item - Spurs of the Flurry

    These sharp spurs were crafted using a metal primarily used in the construction of memorials for prominent elementals. The air-based mana infused within these spurs allow the user to take steps on the wind themselves.

    It hadn¡¯t seemed worth it to attach them to my flimsy old shoes, as I wasn¡¯t sure whether they would work forever. It was entirely possible if they were used on shoes which then fell apart, the enchantment would fail. That was exactly the sort of thing I would do if I were a capricious and evil System. The ground continued to slip away beneath my feet as I pounded the sand while letting my thoughts wander randomly as they wished.

    I continued that way until the temperature began to drop and the sun slipped behind some quickly appearing clouds. Pulling myself out of my daydreaming, I saw that I must have been a mile into the changing climate, I simply hadn¡¯t noticed. That at least bode well, as my first steps in the desert proper were extremely painful. I wouldn¡¯t have to worry so much about exposure thanks to higher stats than before. Still, while I could continue, I chose to turn around, my mission complete.

    The next area was going to be a frigid wasteland, which was honestly unsurprising. It looked like it was going to be intense. Spinning on my heel, I wasn¡¯t upset to get back to the full warmth of the desert as I aimed towards my workshop. I had learned my lesson when it came to rushing into danger headfirst. I needed to get some warm clothes, and it was time to see how the monsters of the forest zone were doing.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Seventy Two - Mind Of Its Own

    With a growing comfort in using Infusion, I made my way back to the forest zone much quicker than I had arrived at the tundra. There was no other word for the place. I hadn¡¯t decided to travel deeper into the cold, but the icy chill in the air ever from a distance belied the true frozen core which lay beyond. The traces of ambient mana in the air was of a high quality and just touching it on the breeze caused me to shiver down to the bone.

    So, I was going to make a coat. During my return journey, I mostly focused on getting back quickly but I wasn¡¯t mentally idle as I did so. I wasn¡¯t just heading back for warm clothes, though. Some of the skill debris from the crafting skills I had were still rattling around. They couldn¡¯t be reformed directly into a crafting skill, but I still needed to remove the shards all the same.

    The plan was fairly simple. When I got back, I would focus on learning a new crafting skill. As the System installed it, or perhaps afterwards, I would then insert the leftover pieces of Architecture, Construction and Tailoring into the new pattern. There were two layers to this, and the more complex one, I left for Tag to do the work from within my inner world, but I assisted and guided the process where it was needed.

    For him, it was essentially holding three loose nebulas together in the sky with willpower and required a lot of concentration. For myself, it was a simple process of smoothing out the shredded lines, joints and swirls of the remaining skill wreckage to make the joining easier.

    Of course, all of this was based on the idea that I would be able to even get a crafting skill in any kind of short order. With Mana Savant no longer holding my hand, it was no sure thing. I would know better when I sat down and put my mind wholly to the task whether it was even an option. Regardless of my plans, it all came down to two things. The System, and the state of my workshop. I couldn¡¯t really rely on the System for anything but continued strife, but as for the forest¡­

    Even before reaching the forest zone, I saw signs of movement in the sand surrounding it. I didn¡¯t spot the assumed scouting parties but the footprints of various shapes and sizes circled the wooded plateau, with groups striking out into the sand in seemingly random directions. I considered that it a little strange I hadn¡¯t seen any creatures from the desert area in my run, but if they were being hunted from the forest maybe it made more sense.

    Unsurprised to find myself distracted at the first opportunity, I quickly stopped myself from following the first set of tracks I saw and realigned my direction with my destination. There may also have been a nudge from Tag which helped snap me out of it. To communicate fully, I needed to use the skill and enter my inner world, but he was getting better at giving me shit from within my core. Between the Aspect of the Dragon, the Jingu Bang, Merownis and now Tag, it was getting crowded in my head these days.

    It was also getting crowded in the forest, apparently. Although I stopped for none of them, there were many packs of recognisable creatures milling around. A crowd of goblins and gnolls were clearing trees with the help of a watchful ent, with the scene replicated all over the place. Squads of Orcs and Sundercats, sometimes mixed and sometimes not, were walking around like peacekeepers. Even the animals of the forest were performing tasks together.

    A familiar fox brushed against my leg, yipping out a laugh as I jumped away from its touch. I chuckled at my own reaction, until I realised it wasn¡¯t a silly thing to be scared. I had a Perception of fifty. I could basically taste colours at this point, and it was still somewhat overwhelming just to look at the world around me. The fact that this fox had managed to sneak up on me so completely meant it was no simple creature.

    Taking the moment seriously, I stopped. The fox had already done the same, analysing me with the regal look it had worn that first time I saw it watching me in the arena.  With a spur of the moment choice, I bowed. ¡°Greetings, ma¡¯am.¡± I didn¡¯t know for sure, but there was a kind of demure femininity to the fox which suggested vixen to me.

    The fox inclined her head to me and I felt even more like I was in the presence of a queen. It was a bizarre instinct to feel in the moment, standing on a dirty path in the middle of a System dungeon, but I trusted the feeling all the same. The System was weird, after all. Kneeling, I bowed my head once more before speaking. ¡°To what do I owe the pleasure of your company? You are the same fox which sat with me during the ceremony?¡±

    I had been lost in the other events of the day, but I was fairly certain this was the same creature. The fact I couldn¡¯t analyse this fox was enough to prove something strange was going on, but I didn¡¯t sense danger. I also didn¡¯t expect an answer, so when a voice appeared in my head I flinched. I had just complained about too many cooks being in that kitchen. ¡°I greet the human Claimant,¡± a soft voice whispered inside my ears, ¡°you are doing surprisingly well considering how weak you are.¡±

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    Vaguely insulted, I did my best to bite my tongue as I responded. ¡°Thank you,¡± I replied through gritted teeth. I was suddenly less enamoured with the vulpine interruption, her energy reminded me of a certain someone else. ¡°May I know the name of my critic? Do you know Naea?¡±

    ¡°The dungeon fairy is a sad case, and the reason I speak to you now,¡± the fox replied. There was a moment of pause and I felt myself being sized up by the fox in a serious way. ¡°Impressive for you to see the similarities between us when you are so new to the true world.¡±

    ¡°True world? This place?¡±

    ¡°Not the dungeon, young one. The planet of Earth has been joined to the Greater Connection. You may call me Birean. Though, know it is not my true name.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean sad?¡± I had a guess, which was confirmed when the fox explained. Just like Naea, the fox was a fae creature. However, unlike Naea, Birean was not beholden to the System in the same ways.

    ¡°A raptor in a spiked cage, that one.¡± Bilean sighed. The sensation was strange considering it happened in my mind only, and I shook my head to get rid of the weird feeling. ¡°You asked my purpose? I come to offer a quest to the Claimant.¡±

    New Quest Received - Fairy Bond

    Trapping a fairy is one of the greatest sins which can be committed against them. Remove or replace the bindings from the System upon the Dungeon Fairy known as Naea.

    Reward: One Aspect, One Guidance Stone

    I blinked at the System prompt. Not only had it forced itself open, the rewards were sort of bonkers, weren¡¯t they? I had been slightly on edge before, but this display of power pushed me right into discomfort. Bilean seemed to notice this, the fox¡¯s expression turning impish. ¡°I do not ask this as a favour.¡± Bilean explained. ¡°An opportunity exists before me to elicit chaos. That is enough reason to act.¡±

    ¡°You desire chaos?¡± I asked, even as I accepted the quest prompt and started thinking about how I could do what Bilean asked. Severance might help, but I never felt like Naea would accept the same ritual as Merownis had. She was connected to the dungeon in an intrinsic way, almost addicted to the task of cleaning it up. When she ate, she entered a kind of drunken stupor which seemed intensely pleasurable for her. It would be hard to pull her away from that.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± I told the fox. I wasn¡¯t too surprised when Bilean said nothing else, disappearing into the foliage behind her sitting position and slipping out of my perception completely. Probably some kind of invisibility like Naea, I told myself before carrying on towards home. Tag didn¡¯t have any complaints about this slight delay, as we were both very excited at the prospect of another Aspect.

    Once I reached what could only be described as the outskirts of a village, I stopped once more. This time, no one rubbed up against me. In fact, I was given a wide berth as work continued around me while avoiding me. I really needed to find Merownis, so I activated Battle Bond to pinpoint his location. How long had I been trapped again?

    Lumber and stone were moved from place to place as multi-storey buildings were being built. Merchants were wandering, trying to sell goods, materials or services to anyone who would purchase them. In a few places, it was clear that districts were being built, with the sounds of forging coming from one area and absolute debauchery coming from another.

    At least the sounds of metalworking were coming from where I thought my workshop was. I would find out soon. With a glare, I followed the trail of energy to Merownis, heading firmly into the den of immodesty which had appeared like a fungus. I didn¡¯t have a problem with drinking, gambling or any of the arguably more depraved things which happened in the dark streets and red light districts of the world¡­ but I hadn¡¯t expected it here. As much as the dungeon was a nightmare, it had been pristine in its own way, and it was hard to argue it had been unblemished since.

    I walked past many passed out creatures, though whether they collapsed from alcohol, violence or something else, I couldn¡¯t know. Some of them had clearly lost fights, but most were being looked after by one drunken ally or another. I had seen scenes like this most of my life, and up close since becoming an adult. I had never had much desire to be the one on the ground, though, so I generally stuck to water.

    I followed Merownis¡¯ trail into the tallest building in the forest area. There was a board on the front which said something like ¡°Gablin¡¯ ¡®All¡± and context clues told me that this was the goblin¡¯s addition to the new village. Every worker in the building was a goblin, all of them standing around like bouncers or working as croupiers of some kind. Card games, dice games, even a small fighting arena in the back for bets. They really had everything here.

    Even my companion, who I found with an arm around a lioness Sundercat and a drink in his other hand. Taking the drink and giving it a sniff before downing it, I winced away the sharp taste as Merownis slowly turned to face me. ¡°Oh, hey Grant,¡± he said casually.

    ¡°Hey buddy,¡± I replied, voice dripping with faux happiness, ¡°great to see you here. Maybe we should find somewhere quiet to talk?¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Seventy Three - Impulsive

    If there was one thing which the beings created by the System¡¯s magic understood, it was rules. Before they had been freed from its control, the System inserted rules into their lives and rewarded them for following the orders it gave. If the System said ¡°rampage,¡± then they happily would. When the voice in their mind and the grip on their souls were loosened by my victory over Master Thorn, they searched for new rules.

    For some, that meant taking on roles which had been ingrained in them from even before the System took hold of their life. An ent¡¯s prime directive was to tend to the natural places of the world. If you were looking for the arboreal people, you could find them out amongst the less ambulatory trees. Sundercats were, aside from ferocious combatants, seemingly born merchants. The more physical side of labour would generally be handled by an Orc, their natural muscles lending themselves to the work.

    I had struggled to see what profession the goblins or gnolls had as they were more chaotic and individualistic than the other races which graced the forest. Dragging Merownis from the third and top floor of the goblin-run madhouse, I realised maybe I hadn¡¯t been looking hard enough. Nearly every table, of which there were dozens on each floor, were filled with the smaller creatures. Multiple fights broke out as I stalked across the fairly wide room to collect my feline party member.

    I had never spent much time in casinos after losing at everything I tried for a full hour in the first one I visited. Since then, I had never had an interest. Casting my eyes about as we left, there was one thing which became immediately clear to me. None of the creatures, be they at a gambling table or not, were looking in our direction. I recognised the energy of children who weren¡¯t ready to go to bed and my instinct to shut the whole place down was stymied.

    Jovie, the female goblin who was the unofficial leader of her species in the dungeon, watched me with unblinking eyes from a seat in the corner. Her mottled grey skin was covered in a close approximation of a tuxedo, though where she got it from I had no idea. As my eyes scanned the room, the croupiers and dealers withdrew their curious looks from me and got back to work. They were all in uniform, a pair of black pants and a brown waistcoat for each. My presence had unsettled the fun for a moment, but the clamour quickly returned as dice began to roll once more.

    Jovie - Goblin Leader (Level 19)

    I nodded to the goblin leader. Pitboss, more like, I joked in my head. She had climbed a decent amount of levels in a short time. Continuing my initial train of thought, I sized her establishment up. As much as gambling had a bad reputation, that didn¡¯t make the place a danger. I connected the disparate thoughts all at once as I realised that this simply a place of rules. The gambling hall, the System, the world at large even before the arrival of magic had relied on them.

    That didn¡¯t stop me from voicing my concerns to Merownis, who was already a few steps ahead of me. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­¡± I struggled for the words to explain my discomfort. While I could see the general benefit to keeping certain less desirable energies contained in one place, was it right to encourage an arguably debauched behaviour? ¡°It¡¯s problematic?¡±

    ¡°You are easily the person I most respect in the world, as I don¡¯t know many. However, you need to grow the fuck up.¡± I blinked as Merownis¡¯ harsh words hit me, but I didn¡¯t bite back. He glared at me for a moment, daring me to interrupt. When I didn¡¯t, he continued. ¡°Stop being na?ve. This is your world. You just don¡¯t understand how it has changed yet. You don¡¯t even see how you have changed. I see it in your eyes, you know?

    ¡°You have an innocence in your mind which doesn¡¯t match the actions of your body. The magic of the System instils us with a general understanding of your world as we are born, but unlike us System-born creatures, you humans have to learn the hard way. Be honest, you reacted negatively to the simple idea of a place like that. Yet, you walked into the desert and killed thousands just a short while ago.¡±

    ¡°That was-¡±

    ¡°Different? I¡¯d say so, but only because what you did hurt something.¡± Merownis¡¯ interruption was fair and I decided to really let myself think I might be wrong. It wasn¡¯t a common decision for myself, but I was trying to be better. My platitudes were only to soothe myself. With Tag sitting inside the Mind Palace, it wasn¡¯t even possible to lie to myself like that anymore. ¡°What do you even have an issue with?¡± The Sundercat asked, genuine anger clouding his expression.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not sure,¡± I admitted in the face of his emotion and hard truths. ¡°Gambling itself isn¡¯t a problem between two people, but when there¡¯s an establishment involved there are so many ways vulnerable people can be exploited.¡± As I spoke, I felt myself gain a little confidence in my words. Even if I had been a hypocrite for thinking that way, it was sound logic. For the old world, maybe.

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    ¡°That might have been true in the past, and yes, Jovie isn¡¯t running a charity. But you¡¯ve got it wrong, Grant. These actions which you are looking down on can be used to gain experience.¡± I barely needed Merownis to continue. I hadn¡¯t considered the possibility of that, and I immediately felt silly. I was cringing at the side alley I had dragged the Sundercat into, but I said nothing. It was his turn to go on a roll. ¡°Not everyone could or would go out and kill monsters, Grant. Most will, don¡¯t get me wrong. It will likely always be the fastest and generally the most lucrative way of changing your level of living. Your level in general, too. The economy will likely always flow through hunters, but it could not exist on only those people.¡±

    I nodded along, our postures switching until Merownis was the one leaning over me. ¡°You changed the rules when you freed us,¡± Merownis said, surprising me by referencing thoughts I had just been having. ¡°Before you gave us the option, the only rule from the System was to fight. Fight each other, fight you, fight the humans which will come later¡­ Now we can do something else. Now?¡± The Sundercat wrapped an arm around my shoulder and dragged me out of the alley we had gone into. I let myself get pulled into the bright lights of the entertainment district.

    ¡°We can be free.¡± Merownis finished, gesturing around and forcing me to take an unbiased new look at the place. With the consideration that everything gave experience, there was likely less need for Jovie or anyone else to stack the odds. Her level had jumped since my battle with the Scorpion Queen, and I realised now it was likely from building the gambling hall and running it. Likewise, the general level of monsters within the growing village was probably something similar, like when I gained experience for making Merownis¡¯ breastplate.

    I didn¡¯t say sorry right away, as growing up with siblings had taught me never to do so, but I did eventually. Merownis wasn¡¯t upset, smiling easily and taking me back inside where I apologised again for making a scene. I spoke to Jovie for a short time about what she planned to do with the place, but her decision making only really went as far as ¡°if it¡¯s fun, I¡¯ll keep doing it.¡±

    With that surprisingly sage opinion on life from the goblin, I left the entertainment district to its devices and found my workshop with Merownis. He walked me through a few of the other changes around the place so I wouldn¡¯t be surprised again but nothing was on the level of Jovie¡¯s hall so there was no more convincing needed. Especially once Merownis told me to check the building menu at this point. Opening the workshop options, I saw that nothing had changed there.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Building Options

    </td>

    <td>

    Workshop

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Upgrade

    </td>

    <td>

    500g, 100 units of lumber, 40 units of stone, 30 metal

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Demolish

    </td>

    <td>

    25 units of lumber, 5 units of metal returned

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    No, the change was in the sheer amount of options. Most were cheap to start with but there were dozens of options and costs to look through. There were homes, pubs, stores, warehouses, artisanal buildings and more. There was even an option for paying gold to improve some of the gardens around the area.

    It was honestly too much for me to even look at, but Merownis helped me there, too. ¡°It¡¯s normally Naea doing this right? Where is she- ah, the boss monster. I understand. So, the building menu has everything in your claim range, and whether it can be upgraded. It¡¯s overwhelming, but that¡¯s because you¡¯re already at the point where you¡¯re above the single building menu. You¡¯re on the level above now.¡±

    The level above was apparently called the Faction Menu. Merownis said it would be less specific than the Building menu, but I couldn¡¯t see it right away. Before I could do anything in that regard, a pair of prompts appeared which completely froze me in my tracks.

    Faction must have a name. Would you like to name a faction now?

    Village must have a name. Would you like to name a village now?

    I hadn¡¯t even once considered this, and I felt a horrible dread in my gut. I had never been allowed to name anything official since I won a raffle to name a class hamster. Eleven year old Grant thought ¡°Beaver¡± was a great name, but apparently it was not. My mind began to race with options, a few of them mumbled under my breath.

    ¡°Aspect of the dragon¡­ The Tree¡­ you climb a tree¡­ Dragon¡¯s fly, so maybe the faction could be called¡­ The Ascent? Not too bad I think, but would that mean that the village would be called something like¡­ Ascentown?¡±

    Ding! Names accepted.

    ¡°What the fuck do you mean ¡®names accepted¡¯, you evil piece of-¡± I cut myself off as I saw that the System had indeed taken my first rambling thoughts and slammed them down as unchangeable names for the faction and village which surrounded me. For a single moment, the dragon inside of me roared in outrage and I considered tearing the whole place to the ground. Instead, I took some deep breaths. The bloody System took my first suggestions and went with them without confirmation. Now I was stuck with Ascentown. The Ascent was a good, draconic name at least¡­

    If I didn¡¯t need equipment and a new skill, I would have left the place immediately out of shame. Instead, I apologised to Merownis one more time, not entirely sure what for even. Then, I opened the faction menu.

    That, at least, put a smile on my face.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Seventy Four - Ascentown

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Faction Window: The Ascent (Level 0)

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Members

    </td>

    <td>

    273

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Towns

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Buildings

    </td>

    <td>

    46

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Gold value in storage

    </td>

    <td>

    8,220

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    To my immense relief, the faction window which appeared before me was not a massive sprawl of details and graphs. Instead, it was a very manageable little screen which gave me a short rundown. It was when I delved a little deeper that the page expanded to a more detailed view. If I wanted to see the separate buildings, or even the different members of the faction, all I needed to do was focus on an area of the faction window. Same with the gold value, which broke down the materials on hand in the city as well as any special items. There was nothing particularly surprising there, though I was impressed with the numbers when I saw them. The people had really been working hard.

    One of the more interesting changes with this window compared to others: it was the first with System guidance.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Faction Building Window: The Ascent

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Building

    </td>

    <td>

    Upgrade Requirements

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Work Shop

    </td>

    <td>

    500g, 100 units of lumber, 40 units of stone, 30 metal

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Gambling Hall (Gablin¡¯ ¡®All)

    </td>

    <td>

    60g, 30 units of lumber, 10 units of stone

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Tavern (Speedo¡¯s)

    </td>

    <td>

    30g, 15 units of lumber, 5 units of stone

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    City Forge

    </td>

    <td>

    100g, 20 units of lumber, 20 units of stone, 5 units of metal

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    City Smithy

    </td>

    <td>

    100g, 30 units of metal, 10 units of stone

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Grove 1

    </td>

    <td>

    70g, special materials required

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Personal Home

    </td>

    <td>

    10g, 2 units of lumber, 2 units of stone

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Arena

    </td>

    <td>

    150g, 50 units of stone

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    ¡­

    The list carried on, but clearly I was ahead of the city building curve because I could already upgrade the lot. There were many more buildings listed. Nearly all of them were homes, which were much cheaper than the specialised structures. I was surprised to see the arena on the list, but less shocked than I was to see a surplus of materials required even taking the fighting space into account. It also became clear that these monsters of mine had been preparing for my return as every special requirement was met where they appeared on my list.

    I was a little touched, and a little uncomfortable at the thought of making them wait. ¡°This is going to be interesting,¡± I warned Merownis. I gestured to the faction window, although he couldn¡¯t see it. ¡°Looks like our new town is ready to be upgraded already. Do you think I should do it now? We¡¯ll need to get people out of the buildings. I think you were asleep last time I did this? Either way, it¡¯s not a casual process and people might get hurt.¡±

    ¡°Trust me, everyone¡¯s ready and you won¡¯t be upsetting anyone. I¡¯ll get started, and it¡¯ll happen like wildfire. There¡¯s a meeting spot over towards where you were encased in the crystal in case of emergencies, so people will gather there and then you can go.¡± I had no reason to argue with that plan, so I nodded and began making my way over to the waiting place Merownis pointed me towards.

    He wasn¡¯t wrong, either. Within minutes, every denizen of my faction was surrounding me. Despite their sentience, some of the monsters were still more primal than others. Separately or in small groups, they were fine, but all gathering them together like this in one place was a recipe for fights. I saw Naru and a few other ents creating makeshift compounds from their branches to keep the gangs of gnolls and goblins away from each other.

    Even those scraps were generally good humoured from what I could tell, but I wasn¡¯t paying much attention. Somehow, the town itself seemed to know what was coming. Spirit was gathering in the air over the place like it was waiting. Waiting for me. The cage which had been around my Spirit Well in the past was well and truly destroyed and I felt the pull towards an achievement from within. With no reason to wait, I didn¡¯t.

    Like a waiting predator, the Spirit in the air dove towards the town and flooded it with power. An absolute thunderstorm of percussion exploded outwards as a clattering, hammering, sawing cacophony sent a shockwave through the woods. None of us were too close, but I could see a cloud of dust being kicked up into the air by the motion. In far too short a time for me to analyse the System¡¯s working, its job was done and the dungeon returned to quiet. Most of the denizens began jogging or sprinting back, excited to see the changes for themselves.

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    I saw Ayseral and Naru together standing apart from the crowd and made my way over to them. ¡°Thank you,¡± I told them both, ¡°for all of your hard work keeping things together. I can see the ents are doing a good job at tending the forest. Are you excited to see the new groves?¡± There were four, one in each corner of the city and each had been upgraded with different seeds as per their special requirement. From Naru¡¯s bouncy fluttering in her leaves, she was very pleased at the idea.

    ¡°Has anyone thanked you?¡± Ayseral asked, her yellow eyes intense. Before I could answer, she seemed to make a decision and knelt with her left knee in the dirt. ¡°From the centre of my soul, I thank you, Grant Kaeron.¡±

    ¡°Oh I didn¡¯t do-¡±

    ¡°It does not become a leader,¡± Ayseral interrupted, still in her kneeling position, ¡°to deny their successes or the feelings of their subjects. You may not see us that way, but many of the inhabitants of this dungeon view you as more than someone who shares our space. You are more than that, even if you deny it.¡±

    ¡°But no, I really didn¡¯t do anything special.¡± I wasn¡¯t trying to be humble, I just didn¡¯t see it. I hadn¡¯t done anything I wouldn¡¯t have already done without the support of the forest zone. Especially with the achievement sitting in my prompts waiting for me to have a look at it, the thanks felt unearned. This was for me as much as anyone else.

    Ayseral just shook her head and stood. ¡°You are still learning. The scorpions attacked this area once, and you destroyed them like an unmoving rock destroys a ship. The actions of a leader. Your choices are meant to benefit yourself, too.¡± Feeling a little beleaguered, I looked to Naru for support. I wasn¡¯t sure how it was possible for the ent to convey that I was on my own, but with a tightening of her branches and a series of shuffling steps away, she did just that.

    I didn¡¯t have an argument beyond feeling uncomfortable, so I swallowed my dissent and nodded to the cheetah Sundercat. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it, even if I don¡¯t accept your thanks just yet. Wait until we survive the dungeon, maybe.¡± Without waiting for her reply, I excused myself to explore the town. In reality, I just wanted to flee the conversation, but what I saw took my breath away.

    A short distance from the waiting area, a road appeared. Not a stamped path created by footfall, but a neat and tidy set of actual roads made of stone. They were comfortable to walk on, and there was room to the sides which allowed for walking amongst the trees which were still there. Following the road, I walked into a gorgeous little village like you might see in a period movie.

    Homes with thatched roofs, shops with window displays and businesses declaring their services were dotted around all over. Separating them were beautiful paths and lanes that almost glittered with their pristine appearances. I took in the ¡°untouched snow¡± feeling of the place now, because the energy of celebration was high in the air and it would not stay this clean forever. Well, maybe with Naea¡¯s abilities¡­ who knew? The fairy still hadn¡¯t returned from her own feast, so I¡¯d have to ask how she wanted that handled.

    As I walked through the changed, paved streets of the new and improved Ascentown, I considered what it meant that the System was offering guidance to me now. By suggesting these things as goals/materials to focus on for future upgrades. It made sense for the System to be hands off up to a point and only invest energy in people of a certain level. As my understanding of the workings behind the scenes increased, the reasoning behind certain choices started to make sense.

    The Tree was at the centre of all things. Yggdrasil in the myths of Earth, called many names by those who live upon it. ¡°The Greater Connection¡± of Yggdrasil created the System and uses it to influence life. It does this to create energy in the form of¡­ something. Something to do with the shape and size of the soul, and perhaps I had passed a threshold. Maybe it was just a faction thing. Ultimately, the System hadn¡¯t told me to do anything before because it simply didn¡¯t care. I wasn¡¯t worth anything to it amongst the trillions of lives it rules.

    Now that I lead a faction, perhaps that was different. It was certainly different for the monsters I now called my faction members. The monsters which the System creates are lesser beings of a kind. Merownis had been altered, but it took some energy from myself to change him into a ¡°true¡± System being with his own character page. It hadn¡¯t been too much, but even that expenditure would be astronomical on a grander scale. Instead, it created diluted versions of the real thing and let them run wild on a planet.

    Maybe if a monster did well enough, it would gain a level of sentience and freedom from the System, but I wasn¡¯t looking to find out how that happened.

    I also got an achievement for becoming the first faction leader on the planet. It felt like I didn¡¯t do enough to earn it, but I decided to take it as an additional reward for defeating the second claimant. Ayseral had told me that just because I gained something didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t something for others to be grateful for. I could at least respect her opinion by not being a brat about gifts.

    Achievement Unlocked - Faction Leader (World First)

    Bringing a group under a single banner is never a simple thing. Not just an alliance of opportunity, a faction requires a leader which it can trust. That leader is you. As the first in your world to perform this task, the rewards have been increased.

    Effect: Allies receive a slight increase in Recovery and Regeneration when near you.

    +2 Command per level

    It was apparently going to be a day of them. I was pleased with the leveling gains, which would be a great boon for my maximum mana over time, and walking around with a smile. The sound of metal on metal caught my ear and by following the noise I found a lumbering grey hulk of an orc toiling over some molten metal. Krueger looked up as I entered the new smithy, but continued with his work. I watched in silence.

    He was surprisingly delicate in his motions. I realised he was actually crafting a ring, and he was nearly finished. With a loud crack, he smashed apart the clay on a mould and gently pried the metal away from the debris. Before I was even halfway ready, he flicked it right at my face. With the orc¡¯s strength, it became a genuine bullet. However, even off guard it would take more than a bullet shot from across a room to get me now. I caught it in front of my face, quickly inspecting the ring to ignore the fact that the quiet Orc had done that on purpose.

    Item - Orken Ring Of Power (Uncommon)

    A simple Orken ring, created with pride. This gold ring was forged with decadence, as it was created for a leader.

    Effect: +5 Power Attribute

    I felt the magic on it as soon as it touched my skin and I wasn¡¯t surprised to find it was more impressive than my own creation. I held it out to give it back, and the orc held up a massive hand. ¡°It¡¯s your¡¯s,¡± the orc shook his head, the jowls of his piglike face wobbling as he did so. ¡°I don¡¯t even use magic.¡±

    After being told not minutes before to accept thanks, I couldn¡¯t very well turn this down. It almost felt planned between the two, but that was unlikely. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll have to find you something the next time I go out¡­¡± I murmured awkwardly. Surprising me once again, Krueger burst into a hearty laugh. I truly hadn¡¯t expected the orc to even be able to laugh, his demeanour normally so serious.

    Once he could stop laughing, Krueger slapped his knee and shook his head a little more. ¡°You have done much already, chieftain.¡±

    ¡°Chieftain?¡± Was I a chieftain now, on top of everything else? It was a lot to keep track of.

    ¡°You have taken in cultures not of your own, and placed them under your banner. Therefore, just as they respect your rules, you should also respect the cultures under you.¡± After my conversations with Ayseral and Merownis, it was easier to remind myself that I outright agreed with Krueger generally. Being uncomfortable with the power was probably a good sign anyway, I told myself.

    Unwilling to be ambushed by any more positivity, I rushed to find my new and improved workshop where no one would disturb me. The reason I had heard Krueger was because his smithy was nearby. For self-explanatory reasons, my workshop was in the manufacturing district. The new building was not much different from the old design, except for it now having an additional storey to the place.

    Once the heavy door closed behind me, I slid a lock into place. My eyes widened at the once-more-improved tools and facility in front of me, but I needed to see upstairs. My Perception was strong enough that I could smell the scent of fresh linen from above and I wasn¡¯t disappointed when I found a decent sized bedroom. I didn¡¯t even have time to think before I crashed onto the bed and had an actual sleep for the first time in far too long.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Seventy Five - Preparations

    So, it turns out that when Grant falls asleep, I wake up more than normal. The ¡°me¡± in this case being the version of Grant which exists inside the Mind Palace skill. Normally, I exist on the backburner and don¡¯t get to stretch my legs. It was interesting that Grant¡¯s mind wandering into the clutches of rest allowed me to act with a little more independence, but not too surprising.

    During Grant¡¯s waking hours, it was possible for me to slip into Grant¡¯s perception and ¡°sleep¡± myself. The effect of this was that Grant¡¯s own faculties were improved upon, but that was something I only really did for battles. By giving all of my processing power to Grant¡¯s mind, I could passively increase our chances of survival by acting that way. In actual downtime, I preferred to stay awake and keep working on the grand designs around me. It seemed that Grant¡¯s sleeping mind did a similar thing, and I quickly took advantage of the greater capability at my disposal.

    Grant didn¡¯t want to neglect the intriguing effects of the magic within his core, but there was just not enough time in the day. To Grant, magic was a tool to survive the horrors around him and hopefully those beyond his sight right now. He constantly needed more power, yet never had the time to follow the magical paths opened up to him. That¡¯s where I came in. I could take over that role completely, happily directing every thought I had around questions of magic, mana and Spirit.

    Sitting in the Observatory within the Mind Palace, I looked skyward and sighed. Everything here was a creation of imagination, mana and Spirit, but just because it was somewhat imaginary didn¡¯t mean the effects of its appearance weren¡¯t real. It was a strange balance keeping things cohesive whilst also trying to press against the boundaries of what was possible. With conscious effort, I returned the gleaming power of Perfected Strike to its correct position in the cosmos.

    With the stars settled, I looked upon the combined work of Grant and myself. Four constellations now rested in the sky, not quite ready to reach the next phase of their existence. The most powerful of them was made of Dragonburn, Spirit Well and the Mind Palace skill itself, the three stars dancing around each other in an unending competition for dominance which none would ever succeed at. Another skill or two added to the dance and the constellation would be completed. While Grant and myself didn¡¯t have a guide, instincts told us that this was not wasted effort.

    Tag smiled. Grant still didn¡¯t really understand skills, which was no surprise. None of this was a simple thing to wrap one¡¯s head around. I would be lying if I said I understood much more about the world than Grant, but I could at least be certain I knew a lot more about magic and how it works than the main mind could wrap its head around. Part of that was from being a skill himself, and the rest was from spending a truly vast amount of time trying to comprehend them.

    For example, Grant thought that a skill was simply what it did, the effect it created in the real world. If a skill created fire, to Grant, that¡¯s all the skill was. I had delved much deeper. While Grant¡¯s level of understanding was fine for now, it was always better to set good foundations if possible.

    When Grant¡¯s skills had been shattered in the unique events during the Claimant battle, he had been unable to create Mana Bolt. Since then, he had reformed the vestiges into a similar ability on his own which replicated the effect. Just like he if he had lost a skill which produce flames, and gained another one which creates massive amounts of heat. The effect was the same, so to Grant it was the same.

    Yet, Grant had owned more than just the effect of the skill. He had owned the names, too. Magic Missile might fill the place of the bolts when it came to Grant¡¯s fighting, in fact they would likely surpass the more simple skill¡¯s efficiency quickly¡­ but they would never be Mana Bolts. Magic Missiles would never have the weight, or density of a Mana Bolt, even if they outperformed in other areas.

    Mana Manipulation was an incredibly potent skill which they had only started scratching the surface of¡­ but it wasn¡¯t Mana Savant. The essence of the Savant skill had been to learn without conscious thought. The intent and Spirit of the skill had been stripped away, and just like the chaotic mana channels which were now fixed, were also looking for a place to return within Grant¡¯s existence.

    Looking into the confused and expectant nebula of power waiting for its moment, Tag¡¯s smile widened. He had even recruited the help of the Aspect for this, though the Dragon was getting harder to hear by the day. That was something to figure out, but the Dragon itself said it was fine, so Tag didn¡¯t worry. He just watched the glittering lights above for a while, waiting patiently for their foundation to form.

    Of course, that was Grant¡¯s task. The actual control of the body and its faculties belong to Grant, and I had no intention of trying to tamper or push that idea. I was Grant, and he was me. As time passed, we diverged somewhat, but the core of us was never going to change. Just as I would destroy any ability which tried to actively control my actions, so would Grant. Even if that skill was Mind Palace and the most useful skill he had¡­

    I wasn¡¯t worried. Even if I did more than I expected, Grant liked surprising people. As I was him, I enjoyed the action too. Unfortunately, my audience was a little restricted, so surprising Grant was my goal. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard, if nothing else than because I was notoriously bad at expecting gifts. Knowing all of my own weaknesses, able to see them from an actual outside perspective, was definitely a cheat code when it came to the relationship.

    ¡°We¡¯d have loved a few cheat codes for our other relationships, though,¡± I joked to the empty room. My own words echoed back at me a little and I frowned. There were a lot of expectations on Grant growing up. He was no genius, by any means, but he was someone who refused to quit when his mind was set. He was never put off the job simply because the task required hard work or routine to complete it. Grant would toil long into the night to create impressive pranks, and my mind was separate enough from the main man himself to analyse why.

    The truth, as for most humans, was that most of his trauma started and ended with his parents. Grant¡¯s parents never really showed pride in Grant¡¯s capabilities. Oh, they certainly did when it came to the praise of others, claiming that it made sense Grant was so intelligent with all the assistance he received from them and his siblings. I actually resisted the urge to spit on the floor. There was a bad energy to spitting in the actualisation of one''s own mind, I expected.

    So, the A¡¯s were expected grades, and there was no praise there. Oh, don¡¯t get me wrong, there was a hefty amount of attention paid to Grant, it was just mostly negative. The slipping of those grades when Grant had thought no one cared showed him exactly how much his parents cared. The punishment for a slipped grade was harsh enough Grant hadn¡¯t taken his foot off the neck of the education system since.

    Educational trauma aside, this turned Grant into a dedicated student. When it came to learning about a new subject or practising a new skill, Grant was truly diligent. So long as he himself was interested, he would focus on whatever task had been set to him and complete it before the deadline. That was just the kind of person he had become.

    However, eliciting emotion was something Grant needed to know he could do. With his two mostly ignorant parents more interested in the sporting events of his siblings, Grant learned to hunt for shock instead. He began to subconsciously see surprise as the more genuine emotion. There was a moment which could be captured in the memory, an expression of confusion, disbelief and wonder, which Grant craved.

    I didn¡¯t have much of an opinion on the action or desire which brought Grant¡¯s mind there. Each day which passed I became slightly less Grant and slightly more ¡°Tag¡±. Of course, Tag was also Grant, just one which didn¡¯t exist in the physical world. Tag was a being of pure magic, both less than a full person and capable of more at the same time. It was all a little confusing when you tried to articulate it but the result was a freer personality which was not bound to the life it had led before.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    So, I would leave Grant to his slight neurosis when it came to family and feelings of success and take only the impish playfulness of a prankster from my progenitor. For granting me life, I would repay him¡­ with a prank all of my own. There was a rumble from the world beneath my feet. ¡°Okay, okay,¡± I admitted, ¡°not all on my own.¡±

    I looked up from the floor, away from the world of the Dragon and into the distance above where the Spirit Well undulated and wiggled with flares of power. Much of my strength was currently being used to contain the resources I had gathered, holding them in a dark space on the other side of the draconic planet. When Grant awoke, he would get to work crafting, and the final constellation could be placed in the sky.

    Grant was going to be soooo surprised when he saw what I had created for us.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    I woke up feeling surprisingly rested. My muscles didn¡¯t creak, but instead happily flexed and twisted as I rolled around in the bed. I was grateful there were no dreams the night before, just darkness as I slept. Despite that, I had been able to track the passage of time just a little, enough to make the sleep completely comfortable. As I was clearly trapped in the confines of the furniture, I scanned the room I hadn¡¯t had the energy to see last night.

    It had become a truly lovely place, with soft cream coloured walls with exposed wood banding on the inside. The large bed I fell into was also made of wood, a soft mattress on top with blankets and pillows. It wasn¡¯t a plain bed though, despite being made by the System. With four smooth bedknobs at the corners and an impressive headboard shaped a little like a fleur de-lis, the king sized resting spot was fancier than any I had slept on before, most likely.

    The design of the room around me and its furnishing were reminiscent of a house which might have been built around five hundred years prior, yet the freshness of the construction and the openness of the space were more like a modern hotel¡¯s premium room. An east-facing window greeted the sun generally, though its rays were on the other side of the workshop for now. It was technically the afternoon, though when an evening lasted for about fifty hours, such terms hardly mattered.

    I had little to do here, and lots of things to be getting on with, but the bed called for me and I couldn¡¯t resist its sultry advances. I crawled back into the soft sheets for another few minutes of stretching and lazing about, simply feeling my body. My theory on the System dealing with mental illnesses as well as physical ones kept getting more evidence as I truly relaxed. After my ordeal in the poison, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if I wanted to just stop. It was possible that would be the worst torture of my life, but patterns didn¡¯t suggest that things were necessarily going to get easier from here.

    Yet, lying in the bed, I never considered giving up. A vague suggestion from some insidious part of my brain said I should just stay in the warmth and avoid the dungeon outside. I didn¡¯t listen to that instinct, not even for a moment. Even when the destruction of my soul was nigh and all of my existence had been blanketed in agonising pain, there was a drive within me which kept me going.

    I had struggled all my life. The scholarship I had quietly received to assist me in leaving my dull hometown and let me see a small portion of the world was only one of a thousand little ways I had rebelled against my lot in life. The world had always been against me. Now it had turned all of those amorphous and shadowy insecurities into literal monsters. Right when I believed freedom was on my horizon, I was thrown into a literal dungeon.

    So, giving up was out of the question. Just like staying in the nice fluffy bed was out of the question no matter how much I equivocated and assured myself I was not caught in its trap. ¡°Alright,¡± I told myself, not moving, ¡°I¡¯m getting up.¡±

    Another twenty minutes of this passed before I finally removed the sinister claws of comfort from my back and got to my feet. At some point in my sleep, I had torn my clothes from myself.

    Literally.

    My new shoes had been thrown to the side, and my comfortable trousers had been left alone, but the shift I was wearing had been physically ripped apart in the night. My Strength attribute meant that anything not made magically was likely to be destroyed if I wasn¡¯t paying attention. An interesting problem, and one I could probably work on alongside my real mission today. Replacing the destroyed clothing with a duplicate green ¡°Clive¡¯s¡± employee shirt, I tapped my waist. The waiting Xaverweave Pouch hopped on and I made my way downstairs.

    Stretching away the final dregs of sleep from my relaxed body as I descended into the workshop, my eyes widened at the full scope of the room. In my exhaustion the night before, I hadn¡¯t truly recognised how much it had changed. I thought back to the flimsy shack I had first created while I looked around at the lacquered wood and fine equipment available to me now.

    The System had not held back, and I was incredibly grateful. There were areas for any kind of intricate craft I could picture, with the tools to perform them at a high quality. The workbench in the far left corner, for example, was as fine a woodworking station as I had ever seen. Alongside the saws and hammers were more specialised equipment like scalpels and chisels. A quick inspection told me the implements themselves were of a similar high quality.

    It was in looking at these tools that I felt a twinge of pain which had set my impetus in regards to crafting. The lost crafting skills were skill causing discomfort as they attempted to activate. Simply by being in the room, Construction and Tailoring were buzzing. My magic wanted to do what it remembered, but that wasn¡¯t my plan.

    Honestly, though I couldn¡¯t explain why, the thought of simply regrowing the same skills made me feel nauseous. With a tap of the pouch, a small glass container was belched into the air. I caught it and made a place for myself on one of the fresh tables on the right side of the room. The corner I chose to work at had the materials for art and painting, which I expected would be important. The fact was that I didn¡¯t know for sure how to do this, only that it could be done.

    Item - Endless Inkwell (Grade Zero) (Uncommon)

    The ink of the Spatiarium Squid self replicates at an impressive rate even when removed from the cephalopods themselves. For this reason, it is a desired material for artisans the whole Tree wide. This particular inkwell has been charged with potent mana for an indeterminate amount of time. As such, the ink inside carries a magical signature and has improved mana conductivity with the user.

    Shrugging, I grabbed a piece of paper and a brush. It was a good job that the inkwell was infinite, I thought to myself. ¡°This is going to take a lot of trial and error,¡± I told myself.

    ¡°Nah, I don¡¯t think it will,¡± the other version of me said in response. The instant the ink touched the paper, I felt a clicking in my mind and an immensely powerful vacuum open up in my core. Using the senses of my Spirit Well, I could feel an absolute ocean of the stuff descending upon me from the dungeon above.

    ¡°What the fuck did you do?¡± I demanded, understanding immediately that this was something Tag had initiated. I trusted that it wasn¡¯t negative, but I was still frozen in shock as the tidal wave of spirit ploughed into me. My mind was filled with information, more than with any single skill before. Information, and the excited giggling of a voice which sounded exactly like my own.

    Patterns exploded behind my closed eyes, a splitting headache growing. My mana channels were gripped by System control and then guided by both my own instincts and Tag¡¯s intentions. In the spots where the old crafting skills had rotted, a new shining beacon of complexity and potential was being written. It was a lot at once, and thanks to Mana Manipulation, I felt every moment of it.

    I groaned, furious at Tag. I had just woken up feeling good, and I would make him pay for this somehow. Thankfully, the painful part was short lived and didn¡¯t grow into a true migraine. After I regained my composure, what was left of the latest ordeal was simply an overwhelming amount of new knowledge. Seeing my chance to get my revenge quickly, I foisted all of this information right onto Tag. ¡°You sort this out,¡± I said through gritted teeth.

    Tag didn¡¯t reply, as I locked the skill down a little tighter than before. If he could, he would likely have said ¡°you¡¯ll thank me later,¡± because it''s what I would have said. That smug prick was right, too. When I opened the new skill page, I almost rolled my eyes at how good the ability sounded. I didn¡¯t loosen the cage around Mind Palace, but I did have to begrudgingly admit that whatever Tag had done was above and beyond my expectations.

    Skill Unlocked - Crafting Savant (Dragon)

    Rather than limited to one single pursuit like others, or even constrained by the time it normally takes to learn a skill, the Crafting Savant takes to new interests like a fish to water.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Seventy Six - No More Procrastination

    After a little experimentation around the workshop¡­ I knew that I loved this skill. It might even have supplanted Haste now that the skill was in the little more unwieldy form of Infusion. The room was filled with little projects and pieces of artwork that I had delighted in making, consistently surprised at the end results after trusting the process ingrained in me by the Crafting Savant skill. It really did it all.

    Except the thing I had initially attempted, frustratingly.

    ¡°Tag,¡± I demanded, appearing within the Mind Palace, ¡°status report.¡±

    Completely in keeping with my own energy, Tag saluted and started breaking down what we had learned. ¡°It seems that Crafting Savant works only on what we would consider mundane crafting tasks. There are probably skills for enchanting, potion making, Formation craft and more which are more complex in the System¡¯s eyes and so, require their own skills. We can be fairly sure at attempting anything outside of mana usage, so forging our own equipment is fine, but enchanting it isn¡¯t.¡±

    Frustrating, but not necessarily an insurmountable issue. Now that my mana channels were well and truly cleared of detritus, I felt like a new man. However, Naea¡¯s warning about pushing yourself too far started to ring in my ears. While I had been able to stitch together some comfortable shirts, thick trousers and a large jacket in less than an hour thanks to Crafting Savant, Tag and I had been slaving over learning a skill regarding formation creation for half a day.

    Sheaves of paper, sourced from Naru herself, were strewn about the room at this point and I had decided to give up. ¡°We¡¯re stopping,¡± I told Tag, deactivating Mind Palace and feeling my body loosen up slightly. A bit like crossing my eyes to see two images, it was possible for me to shove Tag to the front of my brain and let him take over. It didn¡¯t help, and I was beginning to think that it was the System being stingy. While the process was more involved now, Mana Manipulation still made learning skills easier at a base. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be taking this long.¡±

    The System had just dropped a mountain of Spirit on me. I had forgotten to remember that it was a cost based decision and not something automatic. It was no surprise it was holding back. I also knew that skills took up some kind of metaphysical room in my soul, which grew larger as I gained achievements and levels. While I could likely spend some Spirit to push the process along, I was drained from trying and I wanted to get out of the workshop for now.

    It was late into the sun¡¯s setting when I awoke from my sleep, and my work since waking had taken me into the night. With my Perception where it was, along with the passive senses I received from Mana Manipulation, the darkness of the night was no hindrance. The same was true for much of the populace of¡­ Ascentown. ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I cringed, ¡°that¡¯s what I called it.¡±

    A goblin ran straight into my leg as my eyes were scrunched shut. I had seen him coming, but assumed he would weave around me. Instead, I caught him on the swing of my leg and sent him flying. The wind huffed out of the distracted thing and he wheezed through the air like a deflating balloon. I was fast enough to catch him before he landed, but his eyes were rolling and tongue lolled out of his mouth with uncontrolled groans from within.

    Whatever the goblin had been doing, it was in a hurry. So much so it hadn¡¯t seen me in the darkness and now it was¡­ maybe dying? I wasn¡¯t sure. I trusted the System¡¯s healing to help the poor thing, but the damn thing hadn¡¯t been alone. A group of dinner plate sized eyes were blinking at me in the darkness, the small troupe of goblins my hit-and-catch victim had been rushing somewhere with. They were carrying food in containers, one of which had been scattered on the floor.

    While I did trust that he wasn¡¯t going to deteriorate, my guilt in the face of the accident and potentially a nudge from Tag reminded me I did have a solution to what was increasingly looking like manslaughter. Goblinslaughter? Tapping the Xaverweave Pouch, I tried to ignore the shocked stares of what could only be described as a gathering crowd. More and more goblins were showing up, pointing. Gnolls were also tricking in to look. Just how quick does news spread in this damn place?

    A small bottle of the strangest liquid I had ever seen jumped into my hand from the pouch with a thought. I had inspected it in the past, but I hadn¡¯t really found the right moment to use it. Most of my fights were over too quickly for the healing to matter, or it hadn¡¯t been possible to reach the potion in the moment¡­ or I forgot. Reading the description again, there were definitely times when I would have taken a sip or offered one to Merownis, at least.

    Item - Greater Potion of Healing (Uncommon)

    Crafted with care and love by an alchemist with talent, this potion makes use of simple materials used intelligently to enhance the source ingredients to a higher potency.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    Contains four doses.

    The liquid within was a mixture of red and gold, though it was mostly clear. Right now, it was just a dull bronze in the darkness but I knew in the light it would catch the luminescence in a wondrous way. It was beautiful. Now that I could sense the mana within more closely than ever, that beauty was only increased. The healing magic within this bottle was stunning, and I nearly forgot to actually use it. A cough from the limp thing in my arms snapped me back, and I flicked the stopper. ¡°Bottoms up, buddy,¡± I warned the goblin.

    A mouthful of potion fell into the vegetative creature and the magic began to do its work instantly. I felt Tag¡¯s attention lock in on the goblin intensely, even as I tried my best to avoid looking. There was a snapping of bones back into place and I realised the damage had been worse than I thought. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to look at his level, but it was low enough for this to have been lethal¡­

    Good job I listened to peer pressure, huh? I joked because I was scared, and I aimed it internally to Tag who followed the connection and basically headbutted me, mind to mind. It was profoundly uncomfortable. I dropped the goblin, who landed on his feet and scuttled away a short distance.

    Drink, he demanded, now! Forcing his way out of the skill by sheer willpower alone, Tag ordered me to drink some of the potion right now. I wanted to refuse because I didn¡¯t need the recovery but I would only have been denying my own curiosity in the end. With a shrug and a wink to my new goblin friend, I used the second dose of this potion and focused on the feeling it created.

    There was nothing for a moment, as I gulped the potion down. I almost thought we had wasted it, and was about to tell Tag it was his fault when I got an idea. With a thought, I conjured a Magic Missile and shot it right into my arm. It was like being punched by my older brother as a kid, the arm going dead. A supernova of power blinked in and out of existence within myself, deleting the pain and removing any trace of damage in a second.

    Did you get all that? I asked Tag, knowing that I myself had barely been able to follow the complexities of the healing magic. My internal version didn¡¯t reply to me, already hard at work trying to analyse the chunk of information we had received from the effect. When no answer was forthcoming, I just shrugged. It was Tag¡¯s idea, and he could figure out what we did with it next. The whole point of him was so that I didn¡¯t get distracted by the shiny magic all around me, after all.

    I barely wanted to be distracted by The Ascent and the town I had mistakenly named, but it had been my fault, so I stopped to apologise. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that, sir,¡± I said as politely as I could. While I had expected the goblin to swerve me, the fact he hadn¡¯t wasn¡¯t his responsibility entirely. ¡°I wasn¡¯t watching where I was going and my strength is new to me. Are you okay now?¡±

    ¡°Y-y-yes,¡± my would-be victim nodded frantically, ¡°all fine, all good. Please don¡¯t kick us again, though.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, no worries. I promise no more kicking. Maybe watch where you¡¯re going in the dark next time,¡± I replied. Before I let the scene get any more out of hand than it already was, I jumped onto a nearby roof and shot away into the night. Keeping myself moving in a straight line, I smiled as I quickly made my way out of Ascentown and into the forest. Even at night, the place was lively. Somehow, alcohol had already started being sold and there was laughter and nice smells coming from inside the few taverns which had sprung up. I joined the laughter as I realised that the goblins had been delivering food, the strangeness of the action catching me off-guard.

    Goblins delivering takeaway? I shook my head with a smile. There were whole lives being lived within the dungeon, and I had to remind myself that all of this was because of me and my choices. My decision not to scour the dungeon but to instead offer an olive branch to the monsters around me. It had been a risk, but now something similar to my old life had returned quickly. It almost made the place feel like the real world.

    Yet thoughts of the past made me move quicker. Once I was away from the buildings and roads of the city, I activated Infusion and threw myself forward faster and faster. I had prepared all I could bear to. The Xaverweave Pouch was full of supplies and clothing for the cold weather ahead. There was one claimant left and the more like home I felt the dungeon becoming, the more another part of me rebelled against the idea.

    This place wasn¡¯t my home, even if I could decorate it and find areas where I tricked myself into feeling safe. There was no safety here, and this wasn¡¯t a home. It was a prison. A dungeon. Made specifically to trap and kill me. The forest vanished and I began sailing across the sands. No more procrastination, I told myself, no more preparations or training.

    I didn¡¯t have high hopes of actually finding the final claimant, as I expected the tundra to be much larger than the desert, just like the sands were larger than the forest. Still, I ran forward without stopping. Within the Mind Palace, Tag was still trying to pull apart the intricacies of healing magic. Even as my feet hammered the sands below them, I could still hear the ungodly motoring sound of Naea¡¯s eating. Merownis could feel my intentions through Battle Bond and knew I wanted to go alone. He would only slow me down with how I wanted to move right now.

    No, right now, I needed to be alone. The sounds of the village were long disappeared, Naea¡¯s gorging noises vanished along with them. All that remained was me, the mana moving within and the dungeon around me. Before long, I felt the temperature drop and put on my newest gear. None of it had actual attributes, but Crafting Cavant had not left me high and dry. I was ready.

    Time to explore the frozen world.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Seventy Seven - The Tundra

    Despite my new outfit and preparations, the icy wasteland was clearly not somewhere I could stay permanently. Bundled up as warm as possible, there was a frigid mana in the air which ripped away any body heat it touched. I could keep it at bay with Mana Barrier alone but it wasn¡¯t particularly cost effective.

    Thankfully, a few Magic Missiles into the icy ground would bore enough of a hole for me to avoid the elements for a while. I was surprised to find that Crafting Savant had its uses out here, and I was able to create an honest-to-goodness igloo. Once feeling returned to my extremities from a short rest protected from exposure, I would continue, but it was slow going. I could handle slow, though. Combining Mana Barriers with these instant igloos where I could recover my lost mana was enough to keep punching deeper into the icy land.

    In terms of landmarks¡­ there was none immediately visible. Thanks to the potent blizzard in the air and the dense, icy mana of the place, it was hard to see more than ten feet in front of my face, even with my perception. I was immensely grateful to the connection between myself and Merownis which was acting a little like a compass. It would be very easy to get lost out in the icy haze.

    Flaring Mana Barrier, I gasped as the encroaching fingers of frost were pushed back. It didn¡¯t do much good, as the skill then left me alone with my body warmth, of which there was none to start with. ¡°S-s-s-s-shit p-p-p-p-place,¡± I stuttered out a curse at the frozen wasteland from inside my icy hole in the ground. I couldn¡¯t even risk avoiding the world by entering my Mind Palace, as my physical body would still feel the cold. If I got distracted or lost track of time, I could genuinely die. The cold was brutal enough that if I stood without protections, it could sap away my health points. Tag commiserated at me from inside the warm, a fireplace he had imagined bursting into fiery life within a cosy room. ¡°Y-y-yeah, f-f-fuck you, t-t-t-too.¡±

    The ground seemed to respond and I launched myself out of the hole just in time for the ice to crush together where I had just been. A new nightmare of aggression and ice tore itself from the frozen ground quicker than it had any right to. A long, tentacle-like arm rose up and caught my foot. I used Mana Barrier in combat for the first time as I was whipped back into the packed ice at breakneck speed.

    The nearby ground cracked, my icy breath forced from my lungs before I even had a chance to analyse the enemy. Before I could be dragged across the floor and slammed again, a salvo of Magic Missiles ripped the limb apart. Freed from the grip as the elemental lost control, I finally saw the main body of the thing and let the System do its work.

    Monster - Bulky Snow Elemental - Level 30

    Not quite Grade One, but a sturdy fighter on a similar level to an improved Scorpion Prince. If I had faced this thing before my battle with Reysault and her army, I might have had a hard time. Worse than its assumed strength, and the abilities it was likely keeping hidden for now, was that it took no damage from my Magic Missiles. The snow it had attacked me with was a controlled element, not the elemental itself.

    The monster¡¯s true form was a shimmering crystal at the centre of an increasingly dense block of ice. That ice was then surrounded by ambulatory snow, given force and form by the magic of the elemental at the core.

    It looked like it would take a while for the elemental to get ready. I didn¡¯t interrupt it, though. This was my first fight against a creature of pure magic. There was no flesh and bone to destroy here. Whatever else this fight would be, it was a learning experience. Checking my own status for the first time in a while, I could hardly worry. This was my first fight in a while, and though my skills had changed, I was in no way weaker than I had been against the claimant.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    43

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    45

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    48

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    20

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    45

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    50

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    54

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    58

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    59

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    234/260

    </td>

    <td>

    4.5 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    204/295

    </td>

    <td>

    58 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    I hadn¡¯t been fully charged with mana when the fight started and then gone on to use some quick skills in the initial clash. Even with that, I was still fine on mana and my health had barely been touched. An admittedly strange thought when that attack would have outright killed me at level one. Facing down the still growing Snow Elemental, I realised my pulse hadn¡¯t even quickened yet.

    This level of threat was not enough to truly worry me. I even knew where I went wrong in letting myself get ambushed. The elemental had likely been dormant in some way before I blasted apart the snow around it and shoved myself into the ground. By using Mana Barrier, I had then become a beacon of energy for the disgruntled elemental to unleash some rage upon. Thinking I was safe, I had lost focus on Mana Manipulation and the ambush was sprung at the perfect moment. In fact, it was possible the elemental had waited for that exact moment.

    As a being of magic, its mana control was more powerful than even my own skill strengthened domination. I couldn¡¯t just use Mana Manipulation to wrest control of the energy in the area, though I gave it a try while I waited for my opponent to get ready. A sensation like a tug-of-war immediately started with the mana in the air, but my control slipped away quickly from the frozen rope. The icy properties of the mana itself worked against me, and were perfect for the monster. We were literally in its element.

    My face split, my teeth bared. They weren¡¯t chattering now. ¡°Finally done?¡± In a more serious combat, I would not allow the elemental to gather itself as it had. Seeing the full realisation of its form, I was still glad I did. With facsimile muscles created with packed snow, tendons of ice running through its many limbs, I could easily say this was the most beautiful creature I had ever fought.

    Standing an easy four or five metres in the blizzard, an ice and snow sculpture of the weirdest centaur I had ever seen began to charge at me. Its four long legs were thick and powerful, the body atop them a small iceberg covered in tentacles. The core was buried in that berg but the blender of icy whips, dozens of metres long, all over the torso structure would make getting at its vulnerability difficult.

    Hell, it might not even be all that vulnerable on reflection. ¡°Pretty,¡± I commented, unsure if the creature could hear me or understand if it could. While there was low light in the tundra, the mana in the air danced like I had never seen, working with the elemental to destroy me. Without warning, the icy blender centaur charged at me.

    My own preparations were much quicker. I had instinctively drawn the Jingu Bang and it was more than ready. I was not the only one who had changed after the fight with the scorpion queen. This wonderful staff of mine had rested in the sands of the desert and just like the mana in the air here acted like it had been designed with cold in mind, the heat of the desert was the same. Basking in the dense, hot mana had left the staff with a permanent warmth to the touch. Numbness faded from my fingers as my weapon hummed with excitement at the prospect of a fight. ¡°Let¡¯s get it then,¡± I agreed.

    Shooting forward with only the force of my attributes, I clashed with the sharp whips of ice for the first time. They smashed like glass, but were replaced quickly by another. With impressive aim and speed, the attacks rained down on me relentlessly. Trusting the Jingu Bang, I dropped the Mana Barrier which was draining my mana slowly. The winds immediately started to tear at me, but I needed the energy elsewhere. Spinning the staff with both hands, I activated King¡¯s Training.

    Within seconds, the balance shifted in my favour again. The regally named skill automatically made me a more skilled fighter when mana was used to fuel it, as did the Jingu Bang itself. At the same time, the moves and techniques contained within the memories of the artefact and granted by the System were being ingrained into my muscles. Each block and counter became easier to perform the next time it was needed. I fell into the flow of battle governed by the staff and the skill, with the elemental powerless to gain any leverage against me.

    I was unsurprised at the level of strength but¡­ ¡°Disappointing.¡±

    The air filled with Magic Missiles. I had practised with all of my new skills, but this was going to be my new bread-and-butter. As I stole control over all mana in the area, I was reminded of my first Mana Bolts against the Attack Animal. It felt like so long ago now. If that scared, unsure version of me could see me now¡­ he would probably get himself killed rushing after Master Thorn. He would also see how I filled the world with stars and then set those celestial bodies attacking the very elements which rose against me. The salvo of Magic Missiles rained down on the elemental like the wrath of a vengeful god.

    Focused only on defending itself from the storm of missiles, the elemental had no chance to stop me from physically ending things. There was nothing more to learn here and it was still cold, despite the Jingu Bang¡¯s warmth and my own exertions. Better to end it quickly and move on than to let the elemental surprise me. So, even as my mana continued to drop from the barrage, I used two of my other newest skills.

    Infusion. Perfected Strike.

    The blow came down like Thor¡¯s hammer. Infusion was used to charge my muscles with more power than even Reysault had been able to manage in her smashes, and Perfected Strike was used to hit the core directly. The Jingu Bang stretched and its weight jumped by magnitudes for the final collision. With the sound of a smashing chandelier and a scream like a banshee, the crystal of its core was shattered and elemental was dispersed.

    Without messing around, I quickly looted the body, receiving a Snow Elemental¡¯s Core and some gold. Now that I knew what to look for, I found that there were a lot of elemental monsters in the snow nearby and how easy it was to avoid them. I probed a few more times, but wasn¡¯t shown anything new by the aggressive snow creatures. They weren¡¯t impossible to damage, but they definitely took more of a beating than things with physical bodies could. On the flipside, they had absolutely no issues ruining my day and leaving me shivering in victory with their own attacks.

    Some elementals fought physically, others seemed to tap into the cold around us and make it worse with some kind of elemental control. Tag was hard at work trying to figure out a way to most effectively deal with the various monsters, but it was slow going. Thanks to the temperature, even my own mana was moving slower, my thoughts stuck in the snow along with my legs. The glacial pace of combat combined with the necessary breaks I was forced to take by the weather to compound the issue of the cold even more.

    ¡°Zero out of ten, would not recommend visiting the tundra,¡± I complained to Tag, who in turn drew my attention to a shadow in the distance. What to me looked like a dark rock in the mist had instead been something much further off. Even with my speed and the ability to avoid fights where I wanted to, it would take me a day or two of travel to reach whatever it was, based on the distance it seemed to be.

    With one final look towards warmth, and the bed I had used only one, I grumbled and set off into the even colder sections of the tundra, following the sight of the shadow in the ice.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Seventy Eight - Elementals, my dear

    There were lots of ways to pass the time while remaining busy or moving, thanks to the System. I could interact with my mana or the mana around me to continually increase the ways in which I could use it. I had a whole inner world to cultivate or simply explore, not even counting the Mind Palace which could turn simple daydreaming into an actual learning experience. Arguably, I also had the surrounding landscape to marvel at, given that it was truly marvellous.

    There was just so much goddamn space that all of those tasks eventually ran out of avenues to distract or entertain me. The cold was all encompassing and the impossible blanket of pristine white snow was never ending. The blizzard which had assaulted me on the first day never truly let up, but there were minutes here and there when the sun managed to pierce the wintry veil and lay bare the frozen world.

    The impossibly large tower was the only real sight to behold. It became like a magnet for my attention. The Mind Palace was no use because despite knowing I was still many miles away, I felt danger from the place. I knew I needed to go there, and I was unwilling to put the task off any longer, but the closer I got the more sure I was that doom lay before me. It wasn¡¯t until I noticed the dread was lessened when I used Mana Barrier that I realised the ominous aura was an intentional thing.

    Whatever was in that tower did not want visitors.

    Once I knew that the fear was something being done to me, it was easier to ignore even without the magical shield around me. There were only a few reasons which came to mind for why the final claimant would try to keep me away, and none of them were good enough to actually stop me. It was possible they were weaker than the others, at least comparatively. There was little chance I wasn¡¯t dealing with a Grade One, but perhaps its skills were those of a wizard. It definitely had the right locale for it.

    Considering its size, it may not even have been a tower originally. Taller than the clouds which constantly released their snowy bounty, it could easily have been a mountain at one point. It was really only the straightness of the thing which informed the idea it even was a tower. Well, that and the general certainty within me that the claimant lay ahead.

    To break up the monotony of my journey, I occasionally allowed the elementals lurking nearby to spot me. I hadn¡¯t defeated enough to reach level twenty eight, but it was close. After the first ambush, I had been much more careful to keep my mana from spreading away from myself. It was a conscious thing, but could mostly be left to Tag. My magical alter ego had figured out the quirks of elemental mana fairly quickly, and we were both disappointed by the findings. Oh, it was actionable knowledge and made spotting the elementals much easier, but I was downcast as the weather.

    I reached out with Mana Manipulation and grabbed a hold of some nearby snow mana. There was a difference between ice, snow, cold and frozen mana, each having their own unique signature. After a few days of exposure to it, I could pull them apart, but that was only necessary for some things. I only did it now because I could. I reminded myself that this was still very impressive as the collected mana turned into a snowball in my hand.

    With a growl, I dashed the flimsy projectile against the floor. Despite the mana used to make it, and my own mana working as fuel for the process, the result was a simple snowball. The entire thing had cost me about thirty units of mana. While less than ten percent of the maximum, I could easily shear off the side of a cliff with that amount of mana used more efficiently. Tag assured me that it should be technically possible to take command of the nearby energy, but I gave up after the second day.

    It seemed that I had absolutely no innate talent for controlling elemental energies. Instead of allowing me to turn my Magic Missiles into icy blasts to freeze an enemy, trying to draw the frigid mana through my channels had just given me a brain freeze. I tried it enough times to be completely sure. Tag tried to encourage me, but I wasn¡¯t having any of it. My dreams of blasting forth an explosion of pure ice and cold were smashed like the snowball I could just barely make.

    Thankfully, the huge tower wasn¡¯t an illusion. After a full day and night cycle in the tundra, I could start to see the details sometimes when light from the sun feebly shone upon the grey outer walls. Those features only served to twist my perception of the place¡¯s size even more. While it was becoming easier to see the main doors to the place, that was because they were gargantuan. I could see squiggles and I had thought they were the places where stones were joined, but I realised they were actually large windows in their own right.

    I was still wrapping my mind around the implications of the main entrance¡¯s size when I felt the presence of three elementals converging on me. Deciding that this would at least be interesting, I allowed them to get close enough to begin their assault. I found that if I reacted too quickly, the elementals would just disperse into the surroundings with surprising quickness. Those cores could move when they wanted to. Some of them were even capable of flying on their own, like one of the attackers was happy to prove here.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Bulky Ice Elemental - Level 30

    Sharpshooter Sleet Elemental - Level 30

    Vicious Snow Elemental - Level 30

    There were many variants of elemental, even without taking the actual element into account. Exploding out of the ground to my left was a humanoid form twice my height and completely transparent. The bulky ice elemental was very different from the snow one I had faced as my first enemy and it was likely to be a lot more durable especially against magical attacks. The ice seemed capable of reflecting some of the damage away in a way snow couldn¡¯t, though it was much harder for the elemental to repair itself when damaged.

    Forming in the air around a wispy looking core, the sleet elemental cared less for a recognisable form. It didn¡¯t need to create itself to physically attack, and I was dodging the icicles created within its large cloud-like shape even before the final elemental could form. The core inside wasn¡¯t defended by anything like the ice elemental, but it would dodge even Magic Missiles once they entered its wide form. The lumbering ice elemental charged right for me, but it was slow. I barely paid attention to it while I kept my focus on the other two.

    The Jingu Bang thrummed with power as I filled it with energy. If the enemies were going to take their time getting their shit together, then I would take advantage of that. Every second I wasn¡¯t forced to use my strongest abilities was another second of growth for the staff. Literally, sometimes, but in this case I meant personality. It hadn¡¯t lost a degree of temperature since arriving in the tundra, and something was happening inside the weapon. For now, I wasn¡¯t sure what, but it had made the weapon more demanding than before. I could do nothing but encourage it, so I chose to assume it would be a good thing.

    I held off on using my other abilities, even choosing to restrict the passive effects of Mana Manipulation. All at once, despite the thundering approach of the ice elemental, the world became less overwhelming. It was a little like turning off a light switch and stepping outside into fresh air at the same time. I loved the feeling of mana, but with these powerful creatures before me I was more of a distraction than a help. My body could handle the task of watching the fight.

    Surprisingly, it was the snow elemental who forced me into my first block. I had been ready to intercept the oncoming glacial giant when a small whip tried to wrap around my arm. I pulled away in time to see the full form of the final elemental. Vicious was an understatement, and it followed a pattern with the other snow elementals I had seen. Like a hundred long vines attached to the legs and body of a spider, the thing would have made an excellent woodchipper. Having no desire to be chipped wood, I smashed the nearest reaching tentacles and tried to make room.

    The angry thorn bush of snow wasn¡¯t giving up easily and its allies had finally collected themselves enough to help. Forced to choose, I let the snow elemental land the first blow of the fight. A few tendrils of barbed ice ripped across my chest as I jumped, tearing them away and bringing the Jingu Bang around to clash with the massive fist of the ice elemental. Using the force from its attack to throw myself back, I narrowly avoided a spear of ice which whistled through the air at me.

    Even before I landed, the snow elemental was positioning itself to catch me. With the mental image of a food disposal under my feet, I decided to avoid that possibility. ¡°Extend,¡± I whispered, my breath freezing in the air as I spoke. The staff happily did as it was told, punching down into the snow elemental and further, into the ice below. The Jingu Bang bent flexibly. Like a pea on a spoon, I let go of the staff just as it flung me backwards. My ankles groaned as I drop kicked the ice elemental, but I was happy with the move as its main body shot across the snow, leaving its limbs behind.

    It would take a minute for the ice elemental to reform, and while I had given the group a chance at the start, I was playing properly now that I had been harmed. It hadn¡¯t inflicted any serious damage, but it had torn my jacket a little. I had a single spare but that didn¡¯t mean I wasn¡¯t going to absolutely take my frustrations out on the remaining pair of enemies.

    I was already twisting to dodge more projectiles from the cloudy form of the sleet elemental as I landed. A barrage of needle-like attacks flew my way and I was forced further from the Jingu Bang as a result. With no sportsmanship at all, the snow elemental began trying to close the gap. ¡°I might not be able to do this with mana,¡± I quipped, reaching down, ¡°but I don¡¯t need to, either.¡±

    Using mana, I could only make a crappy little snowball with no effect. Using the physical ice on the ground along with my monstrous strength? I was more than capable of making a fist-sized ball of ice. I had lost the skill Mana Bolt, replacing it with Magic Missile, but the motion was entrenched now. I scooped my foot, twisted my hip and whipped my arm as hard as I could. The pain of overexertion caused me to wince, and I blinked long enough to miss the collision.

    I didn¡¯t miss the surge of experience which flowed into me from the defeated sleet elemental, though. One thing I noticed when fighting them before was how easily they dealt with Magic Missiles. The sleet elementals were talented when it came to controlling mana, and it allowed them to dodge the normally undodgeable attacks. What it also meant was they didn¡¯t really have much sense for the physical. The ball of ice smashed apart its core easily. As the energy from levelling warmed my body, I smiled and quickly dismissed the prompt.

    Ding! Level up! +16 Attribute points! +6 Command Attribute +4 Regeneration Attribute, +3 Strength and Recovery Attributes, +2 Agility and Power Attributes, +1 Perception and Resilience Attribute!

    ¡°Cool,¡± I said, excited to finish the fight.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Seventy Nine - Infusion

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Character Window

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Name

    </td>

    <td>

    Grant Kaeron

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Race

    </td>

    <td>

    Earth Human

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Title

    </td>

    <td>

    Dragon Slayer

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Level

    </td>

    <td>

    28

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    265/265

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    325/325

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:16

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    46

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    48

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    49

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    20

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    47

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    51

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    56

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    62

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    65

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    265/265

    </td>

    <td>

    4.8 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    325/325

    </td>

    <td>

    62 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Ding! Level up! +16 Attribute points! +6 Command Attribute +4 Regeneration Attribute, +3 Strength and Recovery Attributes, +2 Agility and Power Attributes, +1 Perception and Resilience Attribute!

    I didn¡¯t receive any achievements for this level up, but I would for the next. A little rearranging of my planned attribute placement was in order but not right now. As the numbers threatened to draw my attention, I felt Tag¡¯s helpful assistance take the mental issue from my thoughts, leaving me with just the fight. The cool air against my now exposed skin was pushed away as the levelling gains took hold. I began to run.

    The rejuvenating energies of a level up made me feel floaty and reckless as I bounded over ice and snow. My wounds closed, none of them amounting to much more than a bruise or scratch anyway. The mana within my body went wild, refilling from some unknown vessel and dancing its way into the waiting Jingu Bang. I would normally have wasted a fair amount of the energy from levelling, but I was happy to see that the staff was absorbing any runoff Spirit which didn¡¯t make its way into me. Clever little thing, I cooed mentally.

    Within moments, it was over and both myself and the Jingu Bang were stronger than even a few seconds before. I laughed deeply despite myself, despite the frozen air with aggressively cold mana entering my lungs. The System had brought trials and suffering but fuck me if it wasn¡¯t fun, too. Spinning like a top, I crashed into the reforming Ice Elemental before it could prepare itself.

    The main body cracked, but didn¡¯t shatter. Damn thing was tough, the high from levelling fading quickly as my arms were jarred. The crystalline torso was sent bouncing and rolling a good distance all the same but the feeling of invincibility vanished as it did so. Turning to face the approaching Snow Elemental, I let the excitement flow off of me like melting water. I embraced the cool air and calmed. ¡°Let¡¯s do this,¡± I spoke to the silent world.

    Despite its minivan size, the mass of sharp whips atop the spider¡¯s body did not make a sound. With the stomping Ice Elemental gone and the screaming winds from the defeated Sleet Elemental dying with it, the quiet approach of the snow monster across the tundra was eerie. The hushed battlefield seemed to suck in a breath alongside me and my grip tightened on the Jingu Bang.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    The instant my waiting form entered the creature¡¯s range, it struck. At least, that¡¯s what it tried. I had a range of my own. I met its attacks by spinning the staff like a rotor. My attention was pushed to the maximum and my muscles started to shake under the frenzied aggression. However, while the assault was chaotic, my blocking was not. There was instinct and violence within the elemental, but not true intelligence.

    Shards of ice and snow were smashed away with each collision. Some of the magically potent debris still reached me, stealing warmth where it touched me. I endured the cold by sending mana coursing through the affected areas to combat the invading energies. Despite my efforts, I began to lose health just from the cold even without taking direct hits.

    Still, I refused to change tactics. I felt on the verge of understanding something between myself and the staff in my hands as I reacted faster and faster. For its part, the elemental¡¯s attacks increased in both amount and speed. My blocks came with more efficiency each clash, and the elemental responded by trying to overwhelm me. Behind me, I heard the Ice Elemental lumbering over but I didn¡¯t turn. My war of attrition wasn¡¯t over, and I refused to give up.

    The Jingu Bang encouraged me from within my grip. It almost burned with the energies inside. My own mana was filling it nearly as much as I had against the Scorpion Queen. It had also soaked up a bunch of ambient ¡°heat¡± mana from its time baking in the desert. I wasn¡¯t entirely certain what effects this sunbathing session had upon the staff beyond warmth, but even if it had just been a portable air conditioner I would take it against this cold. The reaction within the staff felt interestingly like¡­

    Stop this foolishness. An imperious voice, muted yet forceful, told me to end this farce and simply use my skills. Any single one would be enough to tip the balance in my favour, after all. Then again, The Dragon had been noticeably absent since my escape from Reysault¡¯s poison. For it to get involved now, as I was on the cusp of a discovery annoyed me. I knew I was being reckless. It was intentional. Letting anger flare, I felt the Spirit within my body react to the emotion. Like mana, a small amount of the strange energy was always flowing within me, while the larger wells of each rested within my central core.

    The two magical energies joined together, becoming more than the sum of their parts. I didn¡¯t feel as though I lost anything like I would if I used a skill. The mana was just¡­ different. The change wasn¡¯t only shown within my mana channels, though. My speed dropped and my strength rose. The amount was small, but noticeable. The change surprised me and meant I took a few actual hits from the Snow Elemental. At the same time however, my power had grown and now an enraged swipe with the Jingu Bang could finally break through the elemental¡¯s guard too. Half of its snow spider body was scattered away, and I created some space just as the more durable ice giant crashed into the fight once more.

    Though it made me roll my eyes to acquiesce to the Dragon, I released my tight hold over Mana Manipulation. It didn¡¯t make me less annoyed to realise that the Dragon had pushed me at exactly the right moment for the slight breakthrough. I needed a better understanding of what just happened more than I needed to be stubborn. In an instant, both the battlefield and my own body were laid bare for me. As I suspected, whatever was happening within me, it was the same as the Jingu Bang. Though it remained silent, I could feel the smugness exuding from the Aspect.

    The elementals weren¡¯t stopping, which was fine with me. This was a great workout and it would be cathartic to destroy something right now. Even better than that, despite my torn clothing, I wasn¡¯t feeling the cold at all anymore. The angry mana within me, along with the heat of the Jingu Bang, was enough to keep me warm. I rolled my neck and released some tension as I let the enemies approach once more.

    I didn¡¯t keep my tight hold over Mana Manipulation any longer. This was barely a fight when I was holding back. The enemies facing me weren¡¯t at their best anymore either. The Snow Elemental was not as aggressive as before, interestingly. Each destroyed tentacle during our fight so far had cost it some health or mana. It felt weaker than when the battle started. I sighed. The Dragon wasn¡¯t wrong. The Tower, its ridiculously long shadow beginning to loom over me, was the real goal.

    With the clear trepidation from the Snow Elemental, it was the larger ice one who reached me first. ¡°Unlucky,¡± I remarked to the magical creature. It didn¡¯t seem interested in conversation, choosing instead to swing its arm back for a haymaker. I moved far faster, mirroring its movement slightly as I brought the Jingu Bang behind my back and then lashed it forward as I activated a skill.

    Infusion was the recreated upgrade to Haste. In some ways, it was less useful. Haste had made everything about me faster. My perception, my movements, even my thinking, all of it combining to create the effect of slowing down the world around me. Infusion wasn¡¯t like that. Until now, I had thought Infusion was more of a general attribute booster. I could travel faster with the huge leaps from Infusion strengthened legs, but it wasn¡¯t technically the same. With the slightly altered mana inside of me fueling the skill, I realised that I had been missing a large portion of the ability¡¯s nuance.

    I didn¡¯t enter the muted world of Haste, but the effects of Infusion could be seen all over as my weapon sailed through the wintry air to meet the Ice Elemental. There was a density enforced upon the area around me as the power of Infusion touched not just my own body, but the space around me. I had been containing much of this by instinct, and it had meant the effects were almost too much for me. This usage felt much more natural.

    Even as I demolished the Ice Elemental¡¯s attacking arm, I was paying more attention to how Infusion altered the world. Tag had some helpful insights in the moment, and plans to learn more as I fought. All I needed to know was what it did, not how it worked. By leaning on one of my attributes, in this case Strength, a sphere of control appeared around me. I needed physical power, so I infused the world with the idea that I was the strongest.

    I expected it was possible for a suspecting enemy to combat this ability, but the surprised Ice Elemental didn¡¯t stand a chance. Instead of its attack jarring my arm, it felt as though I batted away a beach ball. I wasn¡¯t sure how it felt on the other side, though. The beach ball in this case was absolutely shattered, shards of ice tinkling to the ground with the sound of a massive chandelier falling.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    187/265

    </td>

    <td>

    4.5 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    274/325

    </td>

    <td>

    62 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Not bad, I noted, looking at the expenditure for the impressive Infusion effect. Generally, the larger the result, the more mana was needed to create it. Any attack costing sixty mana was going to be strong but the outcome here was still shocking. With a single colossal blow, the Ice Elemental had been annihilated, and I knew for certain that I could be more efficient with the usage. Or, more potent if I wanted to¡­

    A Magic Missile finished the thing off, smashing its core. With just my angry Snow Elemental friend left, I decided to test out a few more uses of Infusion. Practising alone was one thing, but having someone to work with was better by far. The Snow Elemental was a more than willing partner, happy to throw itself at me. Perhaps it wanted revenge for its allies.

    I died just like they did. With the battle over, I quickly threw together an igloo after looting the ended elementals. I changed my clothes and enjoyed the fading warmth of the Jingu Bang and myself while my resources recovered. Nothing too interesting from the loot, but I was happy with the level up and my increased understanding of Infusion.

    Next up, placing my attributes and then reaching the Tower.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Eighty - Howdy, Neighbour

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:0

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    47

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    48

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    50

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    33

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    48

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    51

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    56

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    62

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    65

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    270/270

    </td>

    <td>

    4.8 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    325/325

    </td>

    <td>

    62 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    Achievement Unlocked - Specialist (Resilience)

    Specialisation is a tool. By focusing your talents, time and rewards down a single path, you have forgone others. Yet without those who chase power, all would fade. This example of refined growth before reaching Grade One has added weight to your soul.

    Effect: +1 Resilience per level, +1 free attribute points per level

    Within my makeshift igloo, bored into the ground to avoid the worst of the weather, I enjoyed the feeling of the achievement landing on my soul. Describing the sensation accurately to anyone without experience with the feeling was probably impossible. When the ancient Greeks were talking of the nectar of the gods, this was the feeling they tried to imagine. A velveteen caress snaked from my forehead and eyes across my forehead and down my back.

    As the weight landed on my shoulders, most of it stayed there like a cloak brushing the ground I walked, wrapping my form with aura. Imperceptible for the most part, but my own experience with Spirit was enough to give me a sense for it. Each time I sensed the strange feeling connected to my soul, I felt further away from truly understanding it. Thankfully, I had Tag to figure that stuff out now while I simply made use of the techniques we discovered together.

    I remained still for a while, simply feeling my body and the magic within. I had placed one attribute point in Resilience for an achievement, and I also realised that a single point more for both Strength and Agility would mean I received the achievements for those at level twenty nine. Next level would grant me seventeen free points to bring Dexterity in line with the rest of my array, and from there I planned to concentrate any more into Command, Power and Regeneration.

    I flexed my fingers. For my level, I was essentially a boss variant. It could be felt most in the casual ease at which I dealt with once lethal issues. The cold in the tundra was no joke, but my hands weren¡¯t even numb. I had no thermometer, of course, but what I did have was an incredibly high Perception stat. The only issue with my guess was the lack of a previous scale for the cold, but it had to be at least forty celsius below freezing. That was before adding in windchill and snow I faced outside.

    If I hadn¡¯t gained so many more attribute points per level, I would have found simply traversing this place life threatening. As it was, the only real danger I had faced so far was boredom. Said malaise is what led me to facing three elementals at a higher level than myself with nothing but my staff. It had gone well, but it was undoubtedly arrogant. I found that I couldn¡¯t help it. Despite the horrors I had faced, I had to admit I was having fun. Part of that enjoyment was definitely down to how overpowered I currently felt.

    I first awoke to the System while surrounded by the gory mess of Clive¡¯s Caf¨¦ after the old-woman-turned-dragon Naeboroseax piloted my body into slaughtering the room and then taking her own life with my hands. I surprised myself by moving on from the event successfully and it would be disingenuous to ignore the part magic had in that. Mental traumas aside, that event had given me my first levels and attribute points which then became the basis for my survival in this harrowing place.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    The foundations I had gained there had allowed for a powerful base to form above them. To begin with, I had fifteen attribute points placed seemingly random across my character page and thirty five free points from the seven levels. If five free points per level was the standard, and I saw no reason to assume it wouldn¡¯t be, a ¡°normal¡± person would receive one hundred and fifty placeable points as they rose to level thirty and the threshold for Grade One.

    I had received four hundred and sixty.

    Even my most sceptical view of my own power had me as one of the strongest humans on the planet. Monsters were in a weird place in that regard, but I had a feeling I outscaled all but the most powerful boss variants around in terms of attributes. For those, it was their skills and experience which made them dangerous. Arriving to the world with a premade memory of violence and orders to inflict more set them up better than myself in regards to outright danger or lethality.

    So, I couldn¡¯t rest on my laurels. The System had only just arrived and I had no clue what the world outside looked like. I had no desire to be a ruler when I broke out of the dungeon, despite the whispers of the draconic part of myself. However, I knew humans. Power was what people understood, and it was no different for the System. I needed strength to escape this dungeon. That same strength is what would keep me free and those I cared about safe.

    If they were still-

    I burst from the ice, shaking off the cold and the dour thoughts together. I couldn¡¯t let myself assume anything. The sun remained obscured behind the clouds above. The unending tundra spread out from me unbroken by anything but the tower. I would reach it in a few hours I expected, though due to the size of the place any distance relative to it was hard to judge. When I got there, I wasn¡¯t sure I would be able to open the doors. They must stand five hundred metres, easily.

    Distracted by my planning to sneak into one of the lower windows, I almost missed the first arrow. Twisting so quickly I hurt my back a little, I was only grazed on the cheek by the projectile. Technically it was an arrow but it was longer than my arm. Moving at such a speed it vanished into the ice, I just barely managed to inspect the item before my muscles seized and I crumpled.

    Storm Arrow

    Crafted by the skill of a tower guardian using power gifted by one who commands the storm. The strength of the arrow is determined by the mana used to create it. The effect of the arrow is determined by the mana used to create it.

    I registered that this wasn¡¯t technically an item at the same time I put together the word ¡°storm¡± in the name and my own situation. Electric energy shot through my face, jumping from the slightest touch of the arrow to my brain and then the nervous system beyond. Nervous indeed. While I couldn¡¯t move, my biggest worry was not my paralysis but the threat of more attacks.

    A fear which immediately came true. I flared as much power into Mana Manipulation as I could while I grit my teeth. Another reason why these might be called Storm Arrows became apparent as I saw the world light up with a deadly and vibrant hail of mana-charged projectiles.

    Sweating from the exertion despite the cold, I fought against the invasive mana with my own. Both liquid and solid at the same time, my mana attacked. I couldn¡¯t be careful, so bursts of lightning were expelled directly from my flesh. It charred and tore at me but I exploded with enough power to get out of the way. I still couldn¡¯t move perfectly, but I would recover.

    At least if I survived the incoming barrage. The tower had apparently responded to my approach and the welcome was less than ideal. A few thousand arrows were raining down on my position, blanketing a massive area. I had one plan, and I asked Tag if it would work. His reply was not as hopeful as I would have liked but he didn¡¯t come back with a better idea either.

    Magic Missile.

    Magic Missile, Magic Missile, Magic Missile.

    For every mana point I had, I created a projectile. My head spun as I placed a drop of Spirit into each, carrying a singular intent. The frozen world came ablaze with the energy from the attacks. The cold mana in the area was pushed back by that of the Storm Arrows and my own salvo. The dungeon itself seemed to take a breath as the two attacks prepared to meet. I sucked in one of my own and braced for impact. Then I released the Magic Missile bombardment.

    When the first one hit me, I grunted. By the time the twentieth missile hit me I was a battered mess. Arrows landed around me, barely missing my uncoordinated form as missile after missile hit me and moved me out of the way. It had taken every ounce of brain power alongside a copious amount of Spirit but it was working. The intent to help me escape was written firmly onto each of my missiles. I hadn''t been able to add gentleness, unfortunately, but getting hit with the Storm Arrows would have been worse.

    Thrown like a ragdoll into the air, back down again as the next missile caught me and then punched in another direction by the follow-up, I evaded the assault with the finest of margins. Storm Arrows fell around me, ripping apart the ground and missing me by a hair each time. At least mostly.

    The arrangement of missiles had needed to be incredibly precise. The arrows fell at varying heights and speeds, which was the only reason I could avoid the assault in the first place. I paid the price regardless as the Magic Missiles had to be strong enough to move me, which meant each one felt like a cannonball hitting me. Between the stop-and-start inertia and the impacts of the missiles, I didn¡¯t know which was worse. Both were better than dying though, and I only took damage from one more Storm Arrow in the process of dodging. It was one of the final in the area of attack though, so I managed to survive, if barely.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    23/270

    </td>

    <td>

    4.8 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    16/325

    </td>

    <td>

    62 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    That was a monstrous attack and, from what I could see in the description of the arrows, it wasn¡¯t even from the Claimant itself. That was troubling, but not as much as the newest round of lightning-infused mana within my body. After using so many Magic Missiles, I was spent. I couldn¡¯t muster the strength to force the antagonistic mana from myself and my health was too low to leave it where it was. After all that, I was going to die¡­

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to like this plan¡­¡± Tag¡¯s voice murmured in my head as an idea filled my mind. I groaned, but there was no choice. My health was too low and I needed to do something now. The mana inside me was angry, potent and destructive. It needed to be¡­ something else. Not so different that I broke things like last time. There was no time. I couldn¡¯t think. I had to throw caution to the-

    My eyes opened, glowing with energy.

    Catalyst.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Eighty One - Catalysed

    Catalyst was a strange skill amongst my collection. Gained in a moment of chaos and then used a single time. The moment left its scars on my psyche as well as the fabric of the skill itself. The truth was that I feared the ability, though I knew it was potent. Perhaps because of the power I knew the skill was capable of.

    Skill - Catalyst (Epic) (Dragon/Poison)

    The ignition. The spark. The reaction created around you and because of you, without altering the self.

    The definition ignored details in favour of an almost exultant explanation. This was becoming more common as the rarity of my skills increased and the breadth of each skill¡¯s ability grew. Mana Bolt was a simple ball of energy to be thrown in a straight line, while its upgrade, Magic Missile, formed in the air and flew as though it had a mind of its own. If I had a more basic version of Catalyst, the description might have gone something like: The characteristics of mana are not uniform. This skill allows for a much easier alteration of mana characteristics.

    Even that wouldn¡¯t have been a perfect explanation but it was close enough. When I had fallen into the pool of poison mana, it had immediately begun destroying my body from within. The liquid was not just a deadly venom but it also contained a magical intent to destroy anything it came into contact with. The powerful Grade One boss monster would have been successful had it not been for Catalyst.

    Face down, manaless and low on Spirit, my body had acted by instinct to survive. First, I weathered the destructive intent of the poison with a barrier of Spirit but it hadn¡¯t been enough. I was not the only one capable of using Spirit after all. Reysault¡¯s corrosive Spirit threatened to end my life and I had activated the only skill I had which might help and didn¡¯t cost me mana I didn¡¯t have. In a flash, the murderous desire within the poison was ripped away. In my exhaustion, inexperienced as I was, I didn¡¯t fill the gap with anything.

    So, the energy had frozen. Drilling my way out of the prison I created for myself was a torture I truly hoped to never find the words to describe. Even now, I felt shadows in my mind where I forced myself to forget the worst of the experience. While it wasn¡¯t sensible, I blamed the skill in a way. It wasn¡¯t entirely ridiculous to do so, however.

    Catalyst was the result of a Guidance Stone fusing with my Aspect. Ultimately, both were a kind of graft upon my soul. All skills were in a way, but the guidance ones were different. Like the Aspect itself, they carried the will of that greater power in tiny ways. Dragonburn was the same, though their effects were almost polar opposites. If Catalyst removed intent from energy, Dragonburn used an overwhelming amount of energy to replicate an intent.

    It was all very confusing and didn¡¯t show many signs of becoming less so. Tag was a nice helper for these things but at the end of the day, he was just a copy of me housed within a skill. He had been working hard at instilling me with a more natural knowledge of how my abilities worked as well as pushing the limits of what we were capable of. So, we were pretty sure this would work as I activated the skill to clear the last dregs of storm mana in my system.

    At least, Tag said they were sure.

    Instead of just throwing open the skill and praying, as I had done in the past, I controlled the process with Spirit this time. Using the skill as a net, I caught the storm mana and contained it to avoid further damage. Mana Manipulation, guided by Tag, solidified the latticework within my mana channels. All at once, the pain vanished as the alien energy came under my control. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh aloud, the sound loud on the Tundra where I had fallen.

    I had used Catalyst correctly and now the energy was mine to alter as I wanted. With a flicker of attention, I stripped away the ruinous facets of the mana and put them to one side. I felt Mind Palace activate as Tag began intellectually devouring the concepts at play for our own use later. Leaving him to his work, I took a few seconds to inspect the calmed storm within.

    It was beautiful. My own mana had its own quirks but looking at the quality housed within this tiny fragment of storm mana, I felt inferior for the first time in a while. My own semi-crystalline mana had its benefits for the skills I used. As a liquid, it was easy to move around my mana channels for quick activation and use of abilities. Then, thanks to the sometimes solid nature, that same energy packed quite a punch when it was gathered together and aimed at an enemy.

    Catalyst had allowed me to strip any outside control from this power. I could use this energy if I chose. Just as I had known quickly that it was impossible for me to brute force any level of control over the elements with Mana Manipulation, I knew that this was now my energy. If I created a Magic Missile with this mana, it would not be a simple attack.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Feeling my energy start to stabilise, I waited for a few seconds before moving. I dragged myself to my feet while keeping an eye on the skies above. There was no follow up to the blanket of arrows which had rained down from the tower thankfully, as I couldn¡¯t have done much about it. I jogged a distance away, quickly boring a hole in the ice and finding shelter before knocking on the Mind Palace. ¡°Hey, Tag¡­ I¡¯ve got an idea.¡±

    I felt the presence inside me pull his head up from the work, already lost in learning how to make our mana more deadly. A worthwhile effort which I didn¡¯t want to distract from. I just wanted permission to do something really stupid. It wasn¡¯t only my body anymore even ignoring the quieter but definitely present Dragon, which I did regularly. I felt its gaze on my actions even now. Its encouraging rumble at my plan somehow made me feel less confident.

    Tag already knew what I would say, but I was forced to endure my own face giving me a disapproving look and asking if I was sure. ¡°We just saw how walking up to the front door went, and you want to do it again?¡± I didn¡¯t think I could actually curve my own eyebrow as high as Tag did. I had no answer but a shrug.

    ¡°What alternative do we have? I don¡¯t want to turn around. It¡¯s clearly where the claimant is waiting based on the storm arrow description.¡± I looked into the sky. We were sitting in the observatory, and the clouds above us were angry.

    ¡°How much of that can we contain, do you think?¡± Tag asked, following my eyes and gazing at the captured storm mana.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± I answered with a devilish grin. At the moment it was just a small dark cloud floating above the palace in my inner world. As my health and mana returned to full capacity, I got a better view of my capability with the seized power. ¡°But the Dragon seemed to think it¡¯ll work.¡±

    From the black clouds above down to the ground, Tag¡¯s eyes narrowed as he considered the Aspect. The land still hadn¡¯t healed but Tag said that he had it under control and I hadn¡¯t noticed any adverse effects. ¡°That changes things.¡±

    ¡°Does it?¡± I asked, interested. I didn¡¯t really know what to think of the strange consciousness within the Aspect. I was inherently suspicious of any outside influence, and I had placed one directly into my soul. I had no choice at the time and I didn¡¯t regret it in any case but any reason to trust it more was welcome.

    ¡°We¡¯re all in this together, Grant,¡± my mirrored self said with a sigh. ¡°If anyone knows how weird it feels, it¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°You mean me,¡± I joked. Tag just glared at me in response, which I could admit was a very ¡®me¡¯ reaction.

    ¡°Go poke the lightning bear,¡± Tag waved me away, turning back to his other research. I left him to it. Opening my eyes to the darkness of my underground igloo, I stretched out with a groan. I stank of blood and there wasn¡¯t a great way of fixing that. One of the arrows had hit my leg, so the trousers were repaired by now. The other had torn my spare coat. Not for the first time, I lamented my inability to learn Naea¡¯s Prestidigitation.

    Using these grievances as fuel for my actions, I stepped forward to challenge the tower once more. Such a massive attack surely had limitations. This dungeon was meant to be survivable¡­ I was fairly sure of that. I spun the Jingu Bang around in my hand, shaking off the doubts as the weapon apologised with a gentle buzz in my hand. The Jingu Bang felt bad for letting me get hit by an arrow. I squeezed the staff in response, sharing some of my mana regeneration to show there was nothing to apologise for.

    All of these hands which push me forward, I thought to myself with a smile. My allies were certainly strange in appearance, from Naea the fairy, to the myriad creatures of Ascentown or my magical staff. Regardless, I didn¡¯t want to let them down any more than they wanted to fail my expectations of them. I would face anything for those who were relying on me.

    Even this crazy tower.

    Knowing what to look for, not holding back any of my skills, I saw the storm arrows appear from around halfway up the gargantuan building. There were still seconds before they arrived, so I began layering my preparations together.

    Mana Barrier. Despite my confidence, the Storm Arrows were incredibly dangerous. Even the ambient energy they gave off could shock my muscles and cause me to freeze up. Having the barrier in place meant that I would be defended from the electrifying effect of any arrow which came too close.

    Infusion. Like a warm drink flowing from my throat to the rest of me, the power of Infusion melted through me. No longer an overtuned source of explosive power alone, I took a calm step forward under the influence of the skill which impressed my will upon the world around me.

    King¡¯s Training. Along with the Jingu Bang¡¯s silent instruction, this skill had been invaluable in learning not just how to move my body in a fight but also where I needed to look for openings. In my current situation, I needed to find every opening possible.

    Mana Manipulation. A dozen cages were made at once, all ready to house the angry mana attached to the incoming storm arrows. I felt the Dragon snort at what it viewed as a paltry example of power. Petulantly, I curled my lip and doubled the amount, then doubled that amount again. ¡°No more peanut gallery,¡± I whispered. I needed to concentrate. As the arrows arrived, it was time for the final piece of the puzzle.

    Catalyst. I rolled my shoulders as the staff in my hands began to blur with speed. I felt the skill tingle as so much storm mana bore down on me. Like the maw of an ancient beast, I unleashed the skill once more. This storm was mine to devour.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Eighty Two - The Benefits Of Weathering A Storm

    With nearly all of my skills activated, I should have been on a timer. Infusion was a draining ability, even with my recent understanding lightening that load somewhat. King¡¯s Training and the staff which swirled around under the skill¡¯s direction could absorb as much mana as I was willing to give them. Only when I inevitably got hit, I would know the cost of my Mana Barrier.

    Despite all that, I wasn¡¯t worried. Flipping the coin, it was impossible to say that I was confident. Facing another cloud of metre long arrows was intimidating no matter how you sliced it. I was firmly in the uncertain-but-hopeful camp. While battling alongside Merownis I had discovered that certain skills functioned differently when I had access to mana with a different aspect to my own. While I was certain that my own flavour of mana was superior at a base, I could admit that there were advantages to others. Presently, that edge was found within the very storm mana I found bearing down on me.

    As the first arrows began to arrive, I bashed them aside with a smile. The area of the long-range attack had been focused, more of the arrows landing around me and preventing me from dodging. My smile grew into an exhilarated laugh as my preparations paid off. The mighty storm arrows were batted away at an incredible pace, and all the while Catalyst was working as a two way funnel for the storm mana they aggressively delivered.

    With the simple desire to consume this assaulting energy, Catalyst stole some of the power from each arrow and placed it into one of the myriad waiting cages of crystalline mana. This made the barrage much easier to deal with, but that was only one part of Catalyst¡¯s effect. Astounding even myself, the speed of the Jingu Bang in my hands was unlike ever before as the stolen storm mana was broken down into something easier to use.

    The storm mana itself was incredibly high quality mana, which was the problem. I had no way to safely use this energy in the form it was used to attack me. The draconic skill fixed that problem by shredding some of the higher level concepts away from the mana. Tag did his best to analyse these as I made use of the magic properties left behind by the process. By suffusing my skills with the various intents I could understand and make use of, the mana costs of each were alleviated.

    Watching all of this mana get absorbed and altered to fit my needs in real time, I realised that this was not a very different process from what the Jingu Bang did. Both with my own mana, or the ambient energy I had left it absorbing in the desert, the staff converted it quickly. Much faster than I did, so much so that I didn¡¯t even notice the staff doing it until I had a reference. That was also something for Tag to chew on, not me. All of these thoughts and considerations happened in the initial moments of clashing with the storm arrows and they were the final indulgence for my thinking mind before I was lost in nearly pure instinct.

    I became lost in my movements and the battle against the tower¡¯s defences. Thanks to more than halving the target area, it seemed there were many more arrows in this salvo. Each and every one met the end or edge of my staff as I fought. I quickly became frustrated with just reacting and began allowing a few of the arrows which would only graze me to pass.

    Because I wasn¡¯t fighting for my life, but for my pride.

    Once the first arrows arrived and my theory had been proven true, a truth had become apparent.

    I could weather this storm. Yet I refused to stand still. This wasn¡¯t just petulance however. With the dissolved storm mana at my disposal, Mana Barrier was uniquely prepared to deal with any static shocks from the arrows. Arcs of energy bounded through the air, jumping across the falling snow at points before meeting my shield with a bang. An aura of electricity was building around me as my Mana Barrier gathered a huge charge thanks to the mostly dissipated energy. Separate from the mana I was stealing for my own use, this was a physical and scientific effect. I couldn¡¯t do much about it and if I didn¡¯t find somewhere to release it¡­

    I felt like that would be really bad.

    So, I pushed forward. Like my confidence from earlier, the decision to allow the storm mana to touch my Mana Barrier was a bit of a mixed bag. The negative was immediate and clear. By restricting the amount of arrows I blocked and trusting my barrier, I had caused myself to go from a stalemate in which I would outlast the hail of projectiles into a much more precarious situation. I was correct that my shield would hold easily, so easily it was now working against me.

    As I said though, it wasn¡¯t all bad. The positive of my situation is that I had enough breathing room to think a little. An idea blossomed in my mind thanks to the connection between Catalyst and the Jingu Bang I made. Before now, I had just been aiming to reach the front door. I figured I would find whoever or whatever was shooting at me as I climbed and get my revenge then.

    Except, did I need to wait that long? Could I even afford to, at this point? The front doors of the tower weren¡¯t too far, but that was if I were able to move freely. Under the barrage of arrows, I would never reach it in time. Technically my plan might work if I aimed towards the massive entrance but I had already made up my mind and moved the mana where it needed to be. The Jingu Bang was excited as well, and I never wanted to disappoint.

    I couldn¡¯t see through the blanket of arrows to my assailant but they were up there somewhere. My growing familiarity with storm mana was turning into a weapon all of its own. A large facet of storm mana was lightning and, as I had found out to my detriment, one of the things lightning really liked doing was finding a path of least resistance. For example, my Mana Barrier created something of a lightning rod-slash-battery and kept the energy around me in an area of no resistance.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    What that meant for my attacker, however, was that I had a nearly unbroken line of very low resistance energy to track its position through. Namely, a spark of mana infused with the properties of electricity guided by Mana Manipulation and Spirit straight through the still-firing line of storm arrows. The tiny spark easily found its way to the source of the attack and I locked on to a powerful aura at the end of the trail of arrows. Subtly leaving the Spirit as a marker, I quickly made my final preparations.

    I had not stopped moving at a breakneck pace for over a minute as I defended myself from the storm arrows. That whole time, I had been absorbing as much storm mana as possible as part of my defence. Along with my own impressive mana regeneration and sizable starting mana pool, this storm mana needed somewhere to go. Some of it went to Mana Barrier, some went to Infusion but most of it was still impossible for me to use properly. Conveniently, I had the perfect repository excitedly waiting for the rest.

    Within moments, there was a truly ungainly amount of mana residing within the Jingu Bang. I immediately found it much heavier to hold in my arms. Despite the weight of the mana inside, the staff itself moved with new speeds. The weapon was always capable of changing weight and length, but now it did so to strike like the electric power house inside. As the inspiration for my own use of the mana, the Jingu Bang was more than ready to lash out with these additional properties added.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, partner,¡± I grunted. All around me, Magic Missiles appeared and blasted the nearby storm arrows away. Spinning into a straight thrust, the Jingu Bang extended. It followed my direction perfectly, smashing the river of falling arrows apart as it blasted towards the tower. The immovable strength I had focused on with Infusion came in handy as my muscles screamed against the immense weight from the scattered shower of arrows.

    Having been around a mile from the tower, I was impressed with the speed at which the staff connected with the location I had aimed for. For good measure, I activated Perfected Strike at the last moment and fed the last of my mana into making the attack land as powerfully as possible. There was a colossal clap of thunder as the blow landed and I was pleasantly surprised when the experience of a kill arrived. My eyes widened as I stumbled away as the energy didn¡¯t stop flowing in until¡­

    Ding! Level up! +17 Attribute points! +6 Command Attribute +4 Regeneration Attribute, +3 Strength and Recovery Attributes, +2 Agility, Power and Resilience Attributes, +1 Perception Attribute!

    Whatever enemy I had defeated was powerful enough to give me a whole level, which meant they were probably a little weaker than the Scorpion Queen. That tracked, as I honestly hadn¡¯t expected to kill anything and the fact I did meant whatever I hit was nowhere near as durable as Reysault had been. Checking my quest quickly, I proved to myself I hadn¡¯t somehow defeated the final claimant as anticlimactically as possible. I found my previous igloo, only lamenting my inability to loot my enemy for the time it took me to get to safety. There were important prompts to open, after all.

    Achievement Unlocked - Specialist (Agility)

    Effect: +1 Agility per level, +1 free attribute points per level

    Achievement Unlocked - Specialist (Recovery)

    Effect: +1 Recovery per level, +1 free attribute points per level

    Achievement Unlocked - Specialist (Strength)

    Effect: +1 Strength per level, +1 free attribute points per level

    Once more, I felt the weight of my soul increase. It wasn¡¯t the same as a burden which would slow me down or harm me in some way, but like an increasingly large and fluffy blanket within my core. The sensation was familiar at this point, and I welcomed the growth of my Spirit Well alongside the achievements. An unexpected set of gains, but one I welcomed. Looking at my attributes, I was filled with excitement.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Attribute Window

    </td>

    <td>

    FP:17

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Strength

    </td>

    <td>

    50

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Recovery

    </td>

    <td>

    51

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Resilience

    </td>

    <td>

    52

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Dexterity

    </td>

    <td>

    33

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Agility

    </td>

    <td>

    50

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Perception

    </td>

    <td>

    52

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Power

    </td>

    <td>

    58

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Regeneration

    </td>

    <td>

    66

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Command

    </td>

    <td>

    71

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Health

    </td>

    <td>

    280/280

    </td>

    <td>

    5.1 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Mana

    </td>

    <td>

    355/355

    </td>

    <td>

    66 per minute

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    With a beaming smile of excitement, all I had left to do was add the attribute points into Dexterity. For the first time in a long while, I released a hold I had around my Spirit Well and felt it going absolutely wild at the prospect of the achievements laying before me with a simple thought. If possible, my smile widened. Yep, I nodded, double checking.

    Achievements. Multiple.

    And one of them was a big one.

 Forged Anew - Chapter Eighty Three - Prodigious Talent

    Since the idea came to me the first time I gained a Specialist achievement, I had suspected that receiving one for all of the different attributes would have its own reward. Of course, I didn¡¯t need to guess now that my Spirit Well worked as an achievement guide and it was basically singing with excitement as I placed the final points necessary into Dexterity.

    Achievement Unlocked - Specialist (Dexterity)

    Effect: +1 Dexterity per level, +1 free attribute points per level

    The large influx of attribute points to a single place was a strange feeling on its own, even without taking into account the tidal surge of power which came with getting an achievement. Each of the attributes had its own governing focus, and for Dexterity that focus was flexibility and fine motor precision. If Agility was my ability to move fast, Dexterity was how exact I was able to be in my movements. Both affected my muscles, but for a strange few moments I felt like I was made of rubber, like I could bend any which way I chose.

    Sadly, I didn¡¯t have long to experience the wondrous feeling as another influx of power was very soon to arrive upon my soul. Not all achievements were made equal. It was only my skill Spirit Well which made it possible for me to feel the changes within me in a physical way. The Specialist achievements were potent enough that my head swam with a distracting euphoria at their arrival and my very soul swelled as they altered me on a base level. Receiving the Faction Leader achievement, I had felt a similar level of power.

    This next achievement was on a completely different magnitude.

    I braced for impact but it still wasn¡¯t enough as the deluge of Spirit swept away my consciousness. I couldn¡¯t even see the achievement I had received, just feel its power flowing into, over and through me all at once. I decided not to struggle against the feeling and simply allowed myself to feel my reward. By not fighting, by embracing the Spirit and permitting the System to do as it pleased, I was able to more easily sense the difference in scale between my achievements up to now.

    Candles compared to stars.

    Both mana and Spirit were produced within an individual''s core, or their ¡°soul¡±. When one levelled up or gained an achievement, their core would grow a small amount. Not necessarily larger, but the change can also appear in quality rather than quantity. For example, my mana pool hadn¡¯t grown with any of these achievements, but the more uncertain boundaries of my Spirit Well had expanded nicely. This didn¡¯t change the overall amount of the resource I could wield, but it did seem to improve the quality of that resource.

    The closest comparison I could make was having my mana channels set on fire all at once, except it was with a gentle breeze which caressed the ignited pathways. In some ways, the feeling of this major achievement landing upon my soul was a direct opposite of my experience with Reysault. Where the Scorpion Queen¡¯s energy had sought to corrode my mana channels, the formless Spirit of the System reinforced and repaired the passageways.

    Mana was, at least for me, an intensely personal thing. The signatures within the ambient mana of the world were unpronounced, but in so many ways, my own mana was the truest expression of myself there was. Even the draconic nature of my magic which I separated on occasion was not truly something alien, just a facet of my magic which I didn¡¯t fully understand. Only as the Spirit of the achievement quickly went about its work did I realise how protective I was of this individualism.

    Normally, the Spirit arrived calmly and simply deepened the Spirit Well as it settled. This time was not the same as previous achievements and the difference had scared me. My worries were assuaged quickly, though. It was this anxiety which focused my attention and allowed me to get a sense for what was truly happening within my soul. With a sigh of relief, the last of my defences were lowered and the Spirit happily rushed to finish its work.

    Within my inner world, Tag was hard at work from his seat inside the Mind Palace skill. While I focused on the more physical world, he was handling the ethereal one. Unlike me, he hadn¡¯t panicked and instinctively held back the power of the System, and was quietly working on guiding and shaping the new Spirit where he could. In a way even I didn¡¯t fully understand, he was using the energy to increase the definition and beauty in the cosmos above the world of the dragon. This was likely why I felt my skills being repaired from any leftover damage from my trial in the desert.

    ¡°Show off,¡± I taunted, getting no reply. It was a strange feeling, to sense one¡¯s own mana taking such a qualitative jump in potency all at once. I had been a lot less responsive to changes in my energy when I grafted the Aspect of the Dragon onto my soul, but there were vague similarities in the sensation which made me excited. If this gain was formative as using an Aspect¡­

    After far longer than I expected, the enhancing flames of the System¡¯s Spirit faded from my veins, leaving in its place only power. Before even opening the waiting prompts, I blinked hard a few times. Not just my mana¡­ had my eyesight improved as well? Running my mana through the fortified channels with increasingly wide eyed wonder, I revelled in how quickly I could flood myself with power.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°This feels like-¡± I started.

    ¡°At least twice as fast, yep.¡± Tag interrupted and finished, having already done some calculations and tests. ¡°Hard to say how much more powerful, but stronger for sure.¡±

    ¡°How would you describe the change from inside there?¡± As an existence created by a skill, Tag had a front row seat to the arrival of this mighty achievement¡¯s alterations. I could somehow feel Tag¡¯s smirking excitement as he searched for the right words.

    ¡°It¡¯s like we just¡­ gained a Grant Aspect.¡± I understood why he struggled for a moment to explain. Thankfully, as our minds were mirrors of one another, I also understood what he meant right away. It wasn¡¯t exactly the same, but the part of my mana which was me had become more solidified. No longer overpowered by the draconic energies, a more even mixture was formed.

    ¡°Grant Aspected mana,¡± I whispered aloud. There was no need for small talk between Tag and myself, so the skillbound version returned to his work without another word and I stretched while standing up. Whether it was the achievement, or just the additional Dexterity I had placed to earn it, I felt amazing as my back popped a dozen times over and tension I didn¡¯t know I was carrying faded away.

    On a whim, I summoned a Magic Missile in the small space. The mechanics to create a missile were not far from the Mana Bolt which the skill had been reformed from. I chose two spots, an origin and a destination. Then, I pushed mana from my core into the skill pattern within the channels which in turn sent the energy to my chosen origin point. When I was ready and the missile had as much power as I desired, I simply released my hold on it and the rest was history.

    In this case, I kept the missile in place while I gave it a long look. I remembered my first Mana Bolts, invisible without using Manasight and smiled a little. Look at me now, Pa, I joked grimly to myself. Shaking away the distracting thoughts, I peered at the mystical attack with a large smile. Likely this attack would be visible to the naked eye, an amber and purple crystal floating in the air. The amber colour was from me, the amethyst crystal base from the dragon. It was beautiful. The Magic Missile began to audibly fizzle with power as I kept it floating in the air, as though it were impatient. With a shrug, I released it.

    The missile¡¯s destination was angled away from me, aimed diagonally down. As it fired off, screaming through the ice, I got a decent idea of the power level shift between my earlier self and now. My benchmark for strength had disappeared along with the normalcy of the real world. Thanks to gaining multiple levels before I even knew what was happening and then being isolated for what felt like weeks, my grip on what was a standard level of power had been irrevocably damaged. Even then, looking into the absolute tunnel which I had just bored by accident, I could tell¡­

    I was damn strong. I was also putting off what promised to only be a good thing, and I wasn¡¯t sure why. After making sure I was as protected from the elements as possible, I hopped out of my latest igloo and opened my latest System prompt.

    Achievement Unlocked - Prodigious Talent (World First)

    The weak are forced to focus on one meagre talent, but not you. Nearly all lives upon the Tree end before passing even to Grade One. Standing above the masses and challenging the status quo, you chased and grasped a level of power most beings in Creation shall never reach. This incredible example of growth before reaching Grade One has added weight and indelible quality to your soul.

    Effect: +2 all attributes per level, +10 free attribute points per level

    ¡°Holy fucking shit,¡± I choked, my eyes immediately drawn to the large numbers at the bottom of the achievement first. That was nearly forty attribute points on its own! A bit of quick arithmetic put my total points gained next level at seventy two across the board. I almost wished I could return to level one¡­

    I tried not to let myself get a big head as I read the kind and effusive words of the System. They just confirmed a truth I had been struggling to get my head around but it was still nice to hear how amazing I was. I really was strong. Recounting the words to Tag quickly, I saw my own bashful smile on his face and we both fell about laughing at each other.

    As I walked across the snow which had been ravaged by the assault of storm arrows, I wondered about the System. Looking at the tower placed before me and the challenges I had faced to get to this point, it would be easy to lose heart. Yet¡­ could a System which gave access to this kind of experience be truly evil? The feeling of magic dancing around my body was not just nice, it was natural. It was as though I had always needed to feel it, like a parched throat waiting for its first drink of water.

    While it might array a level of strength against me which I couldn¡¯t truly comprehend, I didn¡¯t think it was as simple as ¡°good or evil.¡± Gravity wasn¡¯t evil, and neither was the System. It just¡­ was. While the power of the System was mind boggling, the same had been thought of gravity for the longest time. Yet humans just like myself had gone from landbound to the stars within a century. The System had called me a pioneer and a trailblazer at various points, and I finally felt the truth of that statement as I approached the front doors of the tower. ¡°I wonder how far we can go,¡± Tag pondered, having been following my thoughts.

    ¡°All the way,¡± I replied immediately, craning my neck to see if I could see through the clouds obscuring the tower. I couldn¡¯t but that was fine. This massive eyesore was an apt metaphor. I nodded, my thoughts confirmed. Whether it was this tower, the world outside or the Tree itself¡­ With the strength we had gained, there was only one goal. ¡°We¡¯re going all the way to the fucking top. We¡¯re going to see everything this System has to offer and woe betide anyone who tries to stop us.¡±

 Forged Anew - Chapter Eighty Four - Storming The Tower

    The final walk to the tower without being assaulted from above was a surprisingly pleasant thing. An unexpected benefit of the change to my mana was an increased ability to push away the frozen mana in the air. The closer I got to the tower itself, the more brutal the cold winds blew against me. Fear of retaliation from above slowly ebbed, but I kept my eyes upwards and my head on a swivel nonetheless.

    Before too long though, no matter where I turned my head, all I could see was the incredible structure before me. The blizzard was muted somewhat in this area, the astounding height and width of the incredible pillar acting as a barrier from the elements. Speaking of, In the distance, I saw a few elementals take physical form and prepared myself for battle. Yet they didn¡¯t approach, making themselves known early and simply watching my walk up to the tower.

    Interesting.

    I didn¡¯t attack them, though I was sorely tempted to chase the final level of Grade Zero. Without seeing aggression from the elementals, it was easier to leave them alone. Once I defeated the final claimant, these creatures would be the bulk of the populace within the Tundra area. While I wasn¡¯t sure they contained any true intelligence, even now, it was better not to sow grudges. For all I knew they were avoiding me due to the growth in my aura in the last hour, and not because I had absolutely whooped whatever guardian was trying to keep me away from the majestic tower.

    Each step towards the place brought more of it into sharper detail and if the frigid air didn¡¯t make respiration uncomfortable, the sight would have taken the rest of my breath away. I had taken to barely inhaling to limit the amount of disagreeable mana which found its way into me but that protection fell away as each new sight made me gasp over and over.

    From a distance, the tower had been little more than a silhouette which split the world in two vertically. The largest of its features had become apparent as I got closer, such as the fact there was a pair of massive doors at the base and windows in places. When I reached the point that I could truly make out the depth and details before me, I had to stop my approach just to marvel. I only noticed that my reaction was so pronounced when I found myself wiping away quickly freezing tears at the sight.

    I was not a student of architecture, so I didn¡¯t have the words to describe what I was seeing or why it affected me so profoundly. In true full view, patterns and reliefs were beginning to become visible on the stone which the tower was built from. Yet, I didn¡¯t get the sense these carvings were the act of a crafter but something more natural. The swirls and patterns were beautiful in a way I had never experienced before. It was as though a piece of some higher level of reality had been dragged down from heaven itself and placed on the filthy mortal soil. Its existence was a blessing and an act of great heresy.

    My instincts screamed that something was wrong as I began to get exaltant.

    Believing in myself as I sensed a level of strangeness, I used a more active portion of the Mind Palace. Created from the Mental Fortress skill which had protected my mind from outside forces, I hadn¡¯t truly lost that functionality on the alteration. I was glad for that now as my mind cleared a little upon sending some mana towards the skill. I felt Tag begin to take notice, tearing his attention away from the concepts stolen from the storm mana and facing the tower alongside me.

    I looked at the strange, gargantuan tower with newly cleared eyes and frowned. A literal fog still clung to the place but my high Perception easily pierced such obfuscation. Higher up, thicker clouds did block my view however. That wasn¡¯t my issue, though. The beauty I had sensed was still present, but I found that it no longer held the same sway over me. For a moment there, I had been ready to drop to my knees and pray to the monumental building.

    ¡°There¡¯s Spirit all over the place,¡± Tag informed me as an explanation for the exultation the mere sight of the building had given me. ¡°It¡¯s like the tower itself is built from mixing stone and Spirit together at a base level. That¡¯s¡­ insane. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s meant to be a defence or trap, though.¡±

    That had been my first thought. ¡°What makes you say that?¡± I asked. To me, it seemed a simple enough idea. If the sight of my headquarters was enough to brainwash someone looking at it, then I wouldn¡¯t have to do much fighting. The idea wasn¡¯t massively appealing to me when I considered it, though.

    I quite liked fighting, actually.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, it¡¯s just¡­ it would be a lot of effort to go through.¡±

    ¡°Making stone out of Spirit does sound like it would be difficult,¡± I agreed with the voice in my head. I couldn¡¯t even begin to wrap my head around how one would take the completely formless energy created from intent and soul growth and turn it into something physical. ¡°So, it¡¯s just a passive effect¡­¡±

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°Yep. Which means you really were just that taken with the appearance you started crying. I had no idea we liked art so much.¡± I felt Tag shrug from inside the Mind Palace and shut down his side of the connection as punishment. The echoes of his laughter helped me crush away the last of the doubts the second layer of defence had caused to bloom within me. Tag was likely right that causing reverence enough to stop me in my tracks wasn¡¯t intended as protection, but that just the base of operations for my final enemy was so daunting by accident didn¡¯t make things much better.

    So what, Tag¡¯s fading chortles seemed to say. I felt that he had returned to picking apart the last of the storm mana I had remaining, having documented the strangeness of the tower and deciding it was irrelevant right now. The decisiveness of my magical mirror was a barrier for my mind against the beauty of the tower as I closed the final distance and stood before its massive doors.

    I had considered climbing in a window, but that was the hopeful planning of someone very far away. Up close it was clear even getting into the tower was going to be a serious challenge. The lowest windows, ostensibly on the ¡°ground floor,¡± were easily hundreds of metres up the walls. The carvings I had been able to make out from far away were reminiscent of a set of ancient pictographs I had seen once upon a time. At a great distance, they had appeared as intricate shapes and graphs.

    Up close, the carvings were deep gouges of incredibly smoothness. Ignoring the revulsion which rose in my throat at the irreverent act, I had tried to climb the beautiful lines with little success. There were more than a few shapes which climbed upwards but I couldn¡¯t get a grip on any of them. Only after falling a fourth time, almost reaching my destination, did Tag take mercy on me.

    ¡°Use the boots you idiot,¡± he complained, having watched me make a fool of myself. I gulped and didn¡¯t respond. I just did as I was told. I had used the effect to keep myself level during some of the fighting in the tundra. Ironically, despite that, the magical ability of my wonderful shoes did slip my mind. It may have been embarrassing in the moment, but I was generally much more grateful to the boots for simply being comfortable and warm at all times. As my mana entered the soles and I quickly scaled the nearest wall, I promised to remember my items more often.

    Entering the threshold, the cold did not immediately disappear. However, the mana within it was much less pronounced and with a few quick cycles of my own energy, I finally felt warm for the first time in about a week. Having clambered into the closest window to the front doors, I was unsurprised to find myself in an entrance foyer. Of course, the scale of the room was beyond anything I could have imagined before seeing it.

    A truly massive space was laid down, with found visible exits leading further into the ground floor. It wouldn¡¯t have made sense for ¡°normal¡± sized rooms to fill the tower, but it was still hard to wrap my head around the distances at play. I guessed there to be about a kilometre of space between myself and the main staircase which dominated the room. I wasn¡¯t too excited about climbing the building sized stairs but I expected my quarry to be at the very top of this ostentatious place.

    While low on furnishings, the same wonderful engravings were found all over the floors, walls and ceilings in sight. I would have to be careful walking around or I could twist my ankle easily, potentially even falling into the deeper cuts. Without a shred of caution, I jumped from the window and entered freefall for just long enough to feel a little fear. I impacted the floor with a loud thud which resonated in the quiet space.

    I winced as the vibrations caused a few icicles to fall around the room and waited with bated breath for the incoming retaliation. None of the previous claimants had been particularly friendly, so I doubted my presence in the tower was welcome. Yet, after a minute or two of worried hesitation, I breathed a sigh of relief. No alarms seemed to have been tripped as the returning silence stretched on.

    Then, I took a single step further into the room.

    Quest Received!

    Dungeon Quest - Trial Tower Takedown

    Those who enter the Tower of Alonyx are either invited or unwelcome, and you find yourself among the latter. Created with an intent to challenge their station, the craftsmanship of the tower begets further Creation. Powerful elementals call this place their home, and they protect it valiantly.

    Only once the five elemental generals have been defeated will the seal to Alonyx¡¯s Spire be broken.

    Generals Remaining - 4

    Reward: Random Aspect

    I barely had time to register that I had received a quest before I was forced to close the window and dodge the incoming projectile. Having flashbacks to the battle outside, I reacted quickly as the room began to fill with elementals. There was no playing around this time, no limiting myself as I went all out from the start. I could tell mostly from energy alone that these were ¡°standard¡± elementals and not one of the generals with an entourage. Though more than a dozen level thirty elementals appeared before me, I knew this was just a greeting.

    Still, despite their numbers they didn¡¯t stand a chance. Once the dust settled and silence returned to the entry room, I opened the Quest window and glared at it for a short while. I was glad to see that I had apparently been fighting one of the generals earlier, and that I had destroyed it in the battle. It explained why I received a level from that kill, while this large room of enemies had barely moved the needle. My new achievement had stretched the requirements for my levelling once again, and I felt them clearly after the battle. However, that wasn¡¯t my issue. My problem came from the name, which reminded me of only one name I had seen in the past.

    Alonyx, huh?

    Didn¡¯t that seem like it was possibly the name¡­ of a dragon?

 Forged Anew - Chapter Eighty Five - Above The Board

    Atop the tower within Alonyx¡¯s dungeon, the dragon himself was sleeping. His body had simply been too heavy to even nap until reaching level twenty eight. A dragon¡¯s sleep is more precious to them than any gem or rare metal and the fact it had nearly required breaking through the threshold to Grade One to accomplish the task was just another slight Alonyx would make the System regret.

    As a ¡°dungeon monster,¡± Alonyx was subject to certain rules and pressures from the accursed System, and one of those had been to start life within a prison. Generally, all a dungeon monster had to do was gain enough power to overpower the barrier at the edge of the dungeon and they could leave to the true Greater Connection. It was one of the pressures the System enforced, though it was rare for the creature in question to know about it.

    For Alonyx to have deeper knowledge the System¡¯s workings was only natural. Dungeon monsters are created from mana, spirit and a ¡°false¡± soul. The System fabricates a soul from a snapshot of the creature in question, somewhere in the history of its lifetime. Alonyx was an early representation of the creature he would later become, but not such a newborn that he did not remember his ancestral grudge.

    Dragons are prideful beings to a fault. Alonyx was no different, born with an ego appropriate for his position as a pinnacle creature and the inherited rage of the dragons towards their captor. That he had awoken as a cloned weapon of the System within a tighter cage was an insult not lost on him. It had to be personal, which only fueled Alonyx¡¯s angry draining of the dungeon all the more.

    All dragons are born knowing that they are destined to stand above all other life. It is not hubris any more than a star knows it is destined to one day rupture. So it is no surprise that they often find themselves raging against the System and its master, The Tree. Alonyx slept and dreamed, not once stopping his slow drainage of the System¡¯s dungeon cage.

    His dreams were far from peaceful. When Alonyx was awake, he drew in Spirit from the foundations of the dungeon. In sleep, he was finally able to begin dominating that power. He fought the shadow of another enemy of the Greater Connection, but this was also not a surprise. Though their goals were technically aligned, just as Alonyx would never admit subservience to the Tree, the power Alonyx now stole felt the same towards his azure and silver self. Gem dragons were no less prideful than elementals, after all.

    Alonyx had never met Naeboroseax but her name was a powerful one. Older than his own, and this creature had only died at the inception of the System upon the planet, Earth. He was piecing together some of her history through the memories within her Spirit but mostly it was irrelevant fluff. What care did Alonyx have for a cowardly old gem drake with delusions of escaping the System.

    There was no escape from this fate, as his current situation made abundantly clear.

    You either lived long enough to tear up the roots of the Tree or you joined the rest of them in its hellish bowels as a soldier of expansion. Naeboroseax had taken the craven route of trying to outrace the System somehow. That it worked for a while was irrelevant, and would not sway Alonyx. He had no desire to avoid a confrontation. In fact, he expected there was a version of himself waiting somewhere out there causing havoc

    Alonyx couldn¡¯t wait to join him.

    He stretched in his sleep, allowing himself to check his surroundings. Nothing out of place. The frozen world all around Alonyx was a result of his drain upon the Spirit in the area, but it didn¡¯t bother him anymore. Before he was strong enough, it had been a struggle not to allow himself to shiver, but now the fire was ignited within his chest and comfort had returned.

    Returning to sleep, Alonyx smiled slightly as the vengeful thoughts acted as a lullaby. The System had made a grave mistake in replicating the Storm Dragon and expecting him to roll over and die within a dungeon. He was just about to drift away once more when the tower beneath him shook. A low growl made its way up Alonyx¡¯s throat and he waited. When there was no more vibrations for an hour, the tired dragon no longer cared.

    If something had entered his tower, it was just fodder for the elementals below. What did he care? Even if the human had arrived, it wasn¡¯t like it would matter. His defeat of Thorn and the scorpion were inconsequential consolidations of power. Instead of hunting the other two himself, Alonyx would just destroy the human and take the energy for himself when he was ready.

    With visions of the carnage he would unleash when freed from this foul oubliette, Alonyx settled back into his slumber.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°You know, you can go and find him if you want,¡± a devil on Merownis¡¯ shoulder whispered the words he already knew. He didn¡¯t bother to turn around to see the source as Naea would be invisible. She was always invisible when she played games like this. ¡°He¡¯s not your boss or anything, right?¡±

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Unable to help himself, the sundercat glared at where he felt the fairy¡¯s energy. She materialised on the other side of his head, giggling, causing Merownis to roll his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re getting better at throwing your presence,¡± he admitted in hopes it would distract her from annoying him, ¡°I wonder if anyone in Ascentown could keep up with you now?¡±

    ¡°They already couldn¡¯t,¡± Naea said solemnly, shaking her tiny head slowly. For a brief, angry moment, Merownis wondered how difficult it would actually be to defeat the annoying little thing before quickly throwing the fantasy away. She might be frustrating at times and intentionally infuriating at others but she was a friend, despite that.

    And he had absolutely no confidence in even landing a single blow.

    While Merownis himself had experienced a lot of growth thanks to Grant and his actions, none in the dungeon could compare to the gains seen by their resident fairy. It was an unspoken rule to not explain more to Grant than he worked out alone but this dungeon was not a typical one in the slightest. Merownis didn¡¯t know how much of a role ¡°Naea¡± truly played in this fact, but it was her secret to tell when she was ready.

    ¡°Oi, Sourpuss,¡± Naea verbally jabbed, ¡°stop looking so serious.¡±

    ¡°Pretty sure that¡¯s a racist slur,¡± Merownis retorted, not really caring one way or another. ¡°This is serious. Why wouldn¡¯t I look like it?¡±

    ¡°Because there¡¯s only one choice to make and only you can make it. So, are you going to sit here looking serious or actually do something about it?¡± Naea¡¯s question was actually a rhetorical question and the itch in the Sundercat¡¯s neck only got worse. He knew she was right. It didn¡¯t matter whether Merownis stayed in the town or chased after Grant at this point. By the time he reached him, it would probably be too late to do anything to help.

    As Grant¡¯s only Party Member, things were shared between them. Mana, vague images and ideas, that kind of thing. When Grant had received his latest quest, Merownis had also seen it. Which was why he was currently switching between brooding while staring out into the desert and pacing back and forth at the edge of the forest.

    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ it¡¯s definitely bad, right?¡± He asked, not sure why he looked to the fairy for reassurance. Before she could hide it, Merownis saw the impish expression on Naea¡¯s face as she decided how much to mess with him.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably fine,¡± she lied. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s just one of the Fifty Six, shoved into an underleveled body within a dungeon made from pretty disrespectful materials. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re reasonable right now.¡±

    Merownis groaned and made his decision. ¡°I¡¯m going,¡± he said, finally making a move. He didn¡¯t head straight for where he sensed Grant¡¯s energy, but instead made his way back to Ascentown. There were a few things to organise if he was going to potentially disappear for weeks. The town basically ran itself at this point, and would do until Grant defeated the final claimant. Once the dungeon was defeated, lots of things could happen, so it wasn¡¯t a simple thing to be ready for. All the same, the denizens of Ascentown were trying their best.

    He had been brooding for a few days, and as always when you looked away for a moment, the town had grown. This time it wasn¡¯t in size, but style. Taking after Grant, most of the creatures now chose to wear some form of clothing. It was an eclectic collection at this point but even Merownis had taken to it. Wearing a large shawl which reached his knees wrapped around his shoulders and a pair of shorts covering his nethers, the sundercat was unsurprised to see clothing and fabric shops opening up.

    That was why he was hurrying to find Ayseral. The cheetah sundercat had become a talented administrator due to her ability to quickly move between the people¡¯s of Ascentown. It was through her that the buildings and businesses were being claimed, amongst other things. He tracked her down by scent to the new and improved Gablin¡¯ ¡®All. Like the rest of the town, it had not been spared when everything was upgraded.

    Now a shining beacon of indulgence in the middle of their town, Merownis was unsurprised to find Ayseral in that place. There was always someone trying to cause trouble over there. He interrupted her conversation with a goblin pit boss and from her expression, she already knew what Merownis was going to say. ¡°It¡¯s about time,¡± she sighed.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Merownis asked, unsure.

    ¡°You¡¯re his party member, aren¡¯t you? If the rumours I¡¯ve heard are true then he needs all the help he can get.¡± From her tone, it was clear Ayseral was joking, but when she saw the gravity in Merownis¡¯ expression her humour faltered.

    ¡°What rumours? Who¡¯s spreading rumours?¡± The last thing we needed was panic in the town. Nothing was certain right now.

    Ayseral raised an eyebrow as though the answer should have been plain. It was, on reflection. ¡°Naea, obviously. She¡¯s been going around telling anyone who asks that Grant is about to fight the Storm Dragon himself. She¡¯s¡­ just joking, right?¡±

    Alonyx was a very specific name, and Merownis had been convincing himself for hours that he was mistaken. It wasn¡¯t like the name was unique to a single being, after all. Yet¡­ This was Grant they were talking about. Merownis ran his large paw-like hand over his face and forced himself into a smile.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter one way or another. Grant would win against even the real Storm Dragon,¡± Merownis crowed, getting a cheer from a nearby table of orcs who were in agreement and in their drinks. ¡°But, for safety sake¡­ I¡¯m going to go and make sure he¡¯s got support. Can you look after the town?¡±

    ¡°I already was,¡± Ayseral answered, waving Merownis off. He didn¡¯t have a response to that one, so he didn¡¯t try. Within minutes, the sundercat was sprinting across the desert, dropping to all fours for additional speed. As he ran, the sundercat did everything he could to convince himself things would be alright. Even as he knew Grant was soon to be face-to-face with one of the System¡¯s greatest calamities.

    It would¡­ probably be fine, right?

 Forged Anew - Chapter Eighty Six - Climbing

    As I prepared to make my way to the fifth layer of the tower, there was no avoiding a frustrating truth. While climbing the massive stairs throughout the tower was easy and the fighting was simple, I had run into a problem regardless. It wasn¡¯t going to stop my progress, if anything it would push me even harder, but it was still annoying. Worst, it wasn¡¯t like there had been much I could do to avoid it, either.

    I sighed and started jumping up the long staircase to the fifth floor. The energy a small hop would have required before the System was now able to launch me twenty feet in the air. With my attributes all over fifty now, even a building designed for magical creatures was no struggle for me. Traversal wasn¡¯t my issue at all.

    It also wasn¡¯t like the fights to reach this point were a problem. The first floor after the entrance foyer had set the style of the building, just a singular massive room without much variance between the first, second, third or fourth floors. Massive columns were spaced at football field lengths from each other, the supports for the ceilings easily thirty metres wide each themselves. The beautiful carvings continued all over them and I was careful not to do any more damage than necessary while fighting, which slowed me down a little.

    Within the odd number floors I faced ¡°just¡± an extraordinary amount of elementals. Naturally, most of those were the same types I had faced outside, elementals of ice, snow, frost or the like. They were fodder, and little more than good practice for my new fighting style.

    Against physical enemies, I knew I wouldn¡¯t rely on Catalyst much, but it was anathema to the elementals. Once I absorbed some of their mana, it became simple to alter my own Mana Barrier to use the assaulting energy and defence became trivial. I was unsurprised to find that the elementals were resistant to this energy but that meant just using my own more potent mana to flood the air with Magic Missiles as needed. It was on the even floors that things got a little more interesting by adding a mini-boss.

    Unlike the elementals outside, these were clearly created within the tower itself. The first had been a wind elemental, and the second was a water elemental. They fought a lot differently to the icy versions I had been facing. Each had been Grade One, though only level thirty one and thirty three. Regardless, they met the same fate at the end of the Jingu Bang and some Magic Missiles. As my first victory over the guardians of the tower had shown, they might be dangerous but they weren¡¯t durable.

    No, my problems weren¡¯t with the combat or the building itself.

    My issue was my soul. Rather, the energy now needed to level up had increased massively. My achievements, Prodigious Talent specifically, had all added ¡°weight¡± to my soul. I was still figuring out quite what that meant for me. One benefit I had noticed was the slowly improving regeneration of Spirit inside the well, which was itself larger and could hold more than before. That same benefit was linked to my growing needs as it was the size of my soul, or Spirit Well, which informed the amount of experience needed to level.

    It made a kind of sense if you viewed experience as fuel for the process of levelling specifically. Not just a number, levelling up had a physical effect on my body, healing wounds and recovering both mana and Spirit. It stood to reason that as my health and mana pools grew, as the amount of attributes I received per level and the shape of my soul became more complex, the cost of the action would rise.

    I just hadn¡¯t expected to be fighting Grade One creatures without anything to show for it. ¡°Well, that¡¯s not fair,¡± I chastised myself, opening up the Inventory screen. The fights might be sort of dull but the rewards were fine. I just couldn¡¯t use most of them without heading back to Ascentown.

    <table>

    <tbody>

    <tr>

    <td colspan="2">

    Inventory Page (Xaverweave Pouch)

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Item

    </td>

    <td>

    Amount

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Gold Coins (Standard Mint)

    </td>

    <td>

    21,112

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Gold Coins (Xaverion Minted)

    </td>

    <td>

    2758

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Jingu Bang

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Greater Potion of Healing

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Greater Potion of Healing (half)

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Elemental Core (Ice)

    </td>

    <td>

    32

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Elemental Core (Cold)

    </td>

    <td>

    13

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Elemental Core (Snow)

    </td>

    <td>

    21

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Elemental Core (Frost)

    </td>

    <td>

    11

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Elemental Core (Wind)

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

    <td>

    Elemental Core (Water)

    </td>

    <td>

    1

    </td>

    </tr>

    </tbody>

    </table>

    I had recovered my expenses from the upgrading of Ascentown and then some thanks to the spoils from the elementals. The Sorehammer, Spurs of the Flurry and Endless Inkwell had remained in Ascentown where they could do more good than with me. There were reasons why I might use the hammer, but they were few and far between with the powerful staff at my disposal. I had given it to Kruegar in case he found a use for it. Speedo the Gnoll had asked for it, but as he couldn¡¯t lift the thing, I decided to go for the more sensible choice and had Merownis hand over the Fan of Knives. No way that could backfire on me later.

    As for the new stuff, I had been inundated with elemental cores.

    Item - Elemental Core (Ice) (Uncommon)

    Like an Aspect, elementals are formed when mana of a certain type is prevalent in an area. Unlike Aspects, an elemental does not require a certain level of quality for the mana. When the birth of Aspect fails, an elemental rises.

    The elemental core is the broken soul of an elemental. It contains vestiges of the energy it had while alive, with many applications in crafting.

    There was no difference between the cores in description or rarity. While I was excited to see what I could do with them, picturing creating a fantastical icy armour, they weren¡¯t doing much more than taking up space at this point. I did find that if I held a core, I could draw the energy from inside by using Catalyst. Without a destination for that power, all I did was destroy the core in question but they could technically work as a kind of mana battery. Instead of absorbing the mana from an attack aimed my way, I could take from the cores. The issue was the mana inside the core felt ¡°dead¡± and was much weaker than the fresh mana used in an attack.

    I made my way to the fifth floor without issue, where I faced another huge room full of enemies. I already knew the drill at this point and I had been feeding the Jingu Bang all of my spare mana regeneration since entering the tower. Judicious use of its lengthening ability as well as its impressive capabilities when it came to channelling mana allowed me to make short work of the elementals which appeared. Like my footstep onto their floor was the greatest of insults, dozens of the things rose at once and attacked together.

    There were more water and wind elementals on this floor, which added some complexity. The water elementals worked as a kind of support for the more aggressive cold-based ones. By throwing large balls of water onto the backs of snow or ice elementals, the water elemental repaired damage or increased their destructive capabilities.

    The wind elementals had a focus on speed. Their glittering gems were able to avoid my Magic Missiles unless I focused on and overwhelmed them, so they were left to the end. Capable of using the debris from the battle, they were also strongest at the denouement but that was the sacrifice I made. Neither of the new types made the battle last much longer, but I came away with a few extra injuries for my trouble.

    As I had before, I simply moved to the stairwell and climbed a little. In the rooms themselves, the winds from outside snuck through openings in the walls and elementals could continue to form. For whatever reason, they didn¡¯t do so on the stairs despite them being just as cold.

    Reaching the sixth floor, I was confused for a moment. This room was certainly different, with a massive open window-

    Nope, that was the damage from the Jingu Bang where I had fought back against the tower initially. Destroying one of the pillars also, my attack had done a number on the wall and ceiling of this floor. I whistled at the destruction I had caused, no longer surprised I had defeated the floor guardian in one attack. Cracks ran through the entire room and to one side lay a gleaming crystal. Wasting no time, I looted the mini-boss and received the expected loot with no surprises.

    Item - Elemental Core (Storm) (Rare)

    Aha, I nodded. There had been a storm elemental on this floor, unsurprisingly. I also wasn¡¯t shocked to learn that this elemental had been a level above the others I had faced in some way if the rarity of its core was anything to go on. I half expected to find or receive a bow or something but no such luck. The elemental must have been shooting the storm arrows with its own mana. I didn¡¯t need a ranged weapon, but the more loot the better.

    Seeing no reason to hang around, I was moving to the next staircase as I had an epiphany. Looking at the damage I had done, I wondered for a moment the sight it was bothering me. Then, it clicked. With new, wide eyes, I looked at the carvings which had been ruined by my massive attack. ¡°Do these carvings¡­ create the elementals?¡± I asked, knowing my other self was listening.

    From the fury which bubbled up from within the Mind Palace, not only was Tag upset that I had figured out something magical before he did, the obvious truth of the statement was almost insulting. Some of Tag¡¯s emotion leaked over and I was soon annoyed enough that a part of me wanted to leave and bring the whole tower down, final claimant be damned. It would have to fight me if I broke its house, right?

    I took a breath and decided that was an idea for later. The elementals weren¡¯t inherently evil and I could imagine hundreds of uses for them in the workforce of Ascentown. Destroying the tower, which I was beginning to suspect was the source of elementals in the area, was not the right choice just because Tag was upset.

    It might feel good, though.

    The seventh floor met me after another set of stairs and it fell just as quickly. Although I didn¡¯t really get tired in the same way as I used to, my muscles were still burning a little with the pace I made climbing the tower. Floor eight followed the pattern. Once again, rows of columns were looming over me and in the far distance, the mini-boss awaited. Number three of four. ¡°Only one left after you,¡± I whispered, sizing up the latest enemy.

    Mini-boss - Tower Guardian, Lightning Elemental - Level 37

    My hair stood on end from looking at the thing, let alone from the static energy in the room. It was the most humanoid of the elementals I had seen so far, though it was easily three times my height. A glowing blue body, golden bands in places where joints would be on a human and a massive halberd were the main features of its appearance which caught my eye. Two ¡°eyes¡± bounced where its face would be and I saw that they seemed to lock onto me.

    An instant later, the energy in the room changed all at once. A standard mixture of ambient mana contained many types existing in tandem. In the forest area, the air seemed to be filled with every kind of nature mana possible. The desert contained solid earth energies as well as plenty of heat-based mana, too. Even the icy tundra had different forms of similar energies such as cold, frost, sleet and more. So, when everything but the lightning affinity mana was expunged in an instant, my breath caught. It was like the elemental had used Infusion, but at a level far beyond what I was capable of.

    My panicked thoughts were interrupted as all twenty feet of the elemental and its halberd were in front of me, swinging at my neck.