Xavier gathered Allegra, Melissa, and John together, speaking to them as a group, telling them of his plans. While Xavier, his normal party, and all the other Champions of Earth were back in the Tower of Champions, Earth would need some protectors.

After a good amount of thought, Xavier found there were other good reasons for having Allegra be a part of the group. Unlike John and Melissa, she had thorough knowledge of the sector. She’d been born to the System, something no one on Earth—unless they’d been born in the last month and a half—could claim.

“Powerlevelled?” John’s eyes were wide. He looked like he wanted to rub his hands together. The man was practically vibrating with poorly hidden excitement. “Something tells me you mean beyond Level 30?”

Xavier smiled. “I want to bring the three of you far higher than that.” He paused. “If you’re to protect Earth, you don’t need to just be high level, you need to have a good number of titles. Since none of you have access to the Tower of Champions, the titles we’ll be focusing on are dungeon titles.”

A smile slipped onto Allegra’s face, then. They may have spoken before this, but he hadn’t told her much of the specifics.

Melissa was the one who looked the least excited. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, glancing at Allegra, then John, and finally looking at Xavier. “I usually work alone.”

“And you can continue working alone in the future,” Xavier said. “But I think this will be to your benefit, don’t you?”

Melissa was one of the most driven Denizens Xavier had met since returning to Earth, almost as driven as him. After she’d helped them save Justin, the moment she’d returned to Earth she’d gone back out to hunt.

The woman spent most of her time alone. Xavier still wasn’t really sure why. But he was hoping bringing her in on this would make her feel like this place, these people, were her home.

He could see the use in making her want to remain here.

Melissa nodded. “All right.”

She raised her chin, straightened her posture. “I’ll play along.”

Xavier smiled. “Good.” Something told him she’d see the use of having a party like this one fast. He didn’t think the woman was as out for herself as she claimed, and he didn’t have a problem with her wishing to work alone. For the most part, Xavier worked alone too. His party had always been with him, but he’d mostly made them stay behind or out of the way. They supported him when he needed it, but they weren’t in the thick of things with him.

Since he’d been back to Earth, however, that had changed. He’d been bringing them to more and more dungeons, levelling them up alongside him. They, of course, gained levels far quicker than he could. Now, the members of his main party—Howard, Siobhan, and Justin—were all over Level 70.

Quite a feat, considering where they’d been before this.

But at the moment, they were each focused uncovering their Spirit Cores. It felt like an age ago when Xavier had done the same. He’d been able to manage it when his level was much lower than theirs was now, but they hadn’t had a chance to slow down and focus on it like he had.

Besides, uncovering one’s Spirit Core so early had been something unique—something he’d only managed to do because of what he was, not necessarily who he was.

Xavier drew his attention back to the present, breaking himself from his momentary reverie. The time it had taken for his mind to go down those tangents of thought was likely imperceptible to those standing in front of him right now.

Melissa might appear to be nothing more than a loner who wanted to focus on her own development, but she’d come along to another world, risking her life to help save Justin. That had been a situation where the risk had surely outweighed the possible reward. She would have known that, and yet she’d done it anyway.

Xavier clapped his hands together. “All right,” he said. “Let’s not waste any time. I want to clear as many dungeons as we can today. We won’t be farming them. The three of you will only go through a dungeon a single time. I, on the other hand, will go through them twice. The second time to get a solo-clear title.”

Melissa tilted her head to the side. Her arm moved slightly, as though she were going to raise her hand, then she seemed to think better of it. “We won’t be going for solo titles?”

Of course she would want to go for a solo title.

“There won’t be time for that,” Xavier said. “Even if I was confident the three of you would survive trying to solo a dungeon on your own, I’m not about to send you into that. When I’m back in the Tower of Champions and you’re once again in charge of your own training, you can go back and get those solo-clears. Unlike first-clears, it’s not important to do them before anyone else, so there isn’t the same sense of urgency.”

Melissa frowned. “And yet you’re doing them now?”

Stolen story; please report.

“It won’t take me long. Besides, I won’t have another chance for a while.”

Melissa simply nodded at that, apparently deciding not to argue the point. When he brought them to the first dungeon and carried them through it, she would realise the advantage of being there with him.

The first dungeon they came to was on a cliffside, and it was, creatively enough, called The Rock Dungeon. For a moment he imagined the floor boss to be Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and chuckled to himself.

He’d reached this dungeon on his own, using his superior speed to get there as quickly as possible, then he’d used a Portal Stone that connected them to the base.

The others stepped through less than a second after the portal had activated. They were eager. Good.

John had a great big grin on his face. The man clearly looking forward to finally seeing inside of a dungeon. Allegra looked glad to be there, and he could tell that the excitement she felt at being given this opportunity was sitting just below the surface for her, barely contained. Melissa had a serious look on her face. She could give Howard’s resting serious-face a run for its money. Not knowing the woman well, Xavier struggled to look through whatever mask she was wearing.

The entrance to the dungeon had been a little difficult to find at first, then he came upon a simple crystal doorknob. The wall it was connected to didn’t appear to have a door. Then again, since when have dungeons had normal entrances? He was reminded of the coffin he and the others had to enter a dungeon through.

It had been a somewhat morbid experience. He’d sent several enemies into that coffin since, feeding them to the necromancer within, the Great Romalda Heralda.

Quite fittingly, the Deathly Dungeon with the coffin as its entrance had ended up being their final resting place.

He’d been a little surprised after sending the first victim into the dungeon. A part of him, growing smaller but still within him, had assumed he would feel guilt for sending men and women to their deaths. Men and women that no longer posed an immediate threat to either him or anyone else on Earth, even if they had been its enemy, as they were under his complete control.

But he hadn’t felt any guilt at all.

He wondered if he’d always had the potential for such things. For killing in cold blood. For making decisions that left others dead and his own thriving.

Was it the System that had changed him, or had he had it inside him all along?

When he thought of human history, and all the terrible—sometimes necessary—things that had been done over the last few thousand years by humans since they’d climbed out of the caves, stopped their nomadic ways, and learnt agriculture, he realised the System wasn’t to blame.

It had simply been the thing to bring it out of him.

Xavier grabbed the dungeon’s crystal handle.

{The Rock Dungeon}

Level Restriction: None

Level Recommendation: 60+

Active instances possible: 1

Only 1-4 Denizens are allowed to enter this dungeon at once.

Dungeon Record Holder: None

Dungeon Repeats: Unlimited

Would you like to enter The Rock Dungeon?

Xavier smiled. He hadn’t been here before, hadn’t read the dungeon’s level recommendation until now. The deeper into the wilderness he went, and the more dungeons he found, the higher the level recommendation had become. So far, he’d yet to find an E Grade dungeon, but he knew he would eventually.

Level 60 wasn’t the highest recommendation he’d found—that was Level 80, but he’d already cleared that dungeon with his main party.

“So, how do we do this?” Jack asked.

“Grab the handle after I disappear. As we’re in the same party, the three of you will be able to join me in the instance inside.” Xavier paused, wondering what else he should say. He felt the need to warn them about the potential dangers that lay within the Rock Dungeon.

But if he were honest with himself, he knew that there were no dangers inside of it. If he let them go by themselves? Their chances of ending up dead would be close to 100 percent. But him entering before them?

They’ll be fine.

He willed himself into the dungeon and then took a step forward. He found himself standing in a great big cavern. The cavern reminded him of the floor of the tower where he’d faced the wyverns, except there weren’t any floating platforms, and the ground beneath him stretched out into the darkness.

The darkness was deep, giving the impression that the cave stretched on forever. But it wasn’t completely black, and Xavier was able to see plenty. Something like moss grew on the walls. It was purple and had a slight glow to it.

How convenient.

With his enhanced vision, he was able to see for at least a mile or so even in the gloom. Anything beyond that was hard for him to make out.

Large rocks were scattered across the ground. The rocks were of various sizes. Some were only as big as a dog. Others were the size of a three-storey house. And everything in between.

Xavier smirked as his eyes scanned the area. The rocks weren’t fooling anyone. Any Denizen strong enough to feel confident walking into this dungeon—and even those who didn’t feel confident—would be able to sense the auras the rocks were giving out.

Every single one of the rocks he could see, and many of the rocks he couldn’t that were situated farther in the gloom, was a beast of some sort. He’d faced elemental golems before. He wondered if that’s what these things were.

As long as they have minds for me to control, there won’t be any problems.

The only time when he wouldn’t be able to effectively powerlevel people would be when he was in an undead dungeon.

The others quickly joined him. John materialised first. The man gripped his staff tightly in both hands and took a step forward. He looked excited and afraid.

“God, it’s dark in here, isn’t it?” he muttered. “I can barely see ten feet ahead of me.”

Xavier raised an eyebrow. “Only ten feet?”

“I can see farther than that,” Melissa said. “Maybe fifty feet.”

“Only twenty,” Allegra grumbled.

Xavier’s forehead creased. “There isn’t some sort of hidden perception attribute is there?”

Allegra shook her head. “No. One’s vision tends to be based on the other attributes someone holds, but their grade and level tend to be large factors as well.”

That makes sense, why Melissa can see the farthest of the three of them. Her vision is probably enhanced by her Bow Mastery as well, or whatever ranged combat skills she has as an archer.

John looked at him. “How far can you see?”

“Not as far as I’d like.” Xavier bit his lip. “About a mile.”

“A mile?” John shook his head, looking dumbfounded. “How… how far does this cavern stretch?”

“Only one way to find out.” Xavier walked forward. As he did, purple mist shot forth from his body, pushing toward the nearest rock-beasts, ready to cling to their stone minds.

He was going to enjoy this.