[Congratulations on promoting to the next Nobility Grade: Duke]

[Territory limit 20—30]

[Resource Production Level limit 12—15]

[Army limit 1,000—3,000]

[Research Tier limit 4—5]

[You have reached the highest Nobility Grade attainable at this time.]

It was Day 10. I’d finally made Duke, and Caleb, Barnett, and Darril were not far behind me. And apparently, the Floor decided to add a new wrinkle at this point.

There was a gem atop the throne of each castle, that glowed to indicate new messages. But when I opened the game screen, it opened onto a chat screen I hadn’t seen before. I also couldn’t change it to different tabs.

[AzurePrincess: Well well well, Lheticus. You certainly are making this interesting. I could say, more interesting than I ever dared hope of you.]

[Lheticus: If you’re going to tell me to stop before I make too big a splash and get myself executed, I humbly request that you save us both time and release control of my game screen.]

[AzurePrincess: Rest assured, I didn’t hack into this secret secure channel function for something so pithy.]

At that moment, the world froze, and turned gray. A Tower notification appeared before me.

[You have encountered a hidden mission.]

[Hidden mission detected to be above your selected difficulty.]

“What the hell?”

Of course, I had been briefed by Bruzigan on the existence of hidden missions. They were extra missions, and if you succeeded at them, the rewards you could obtain were incredible. But the second message shouldn’t have been possible. However, the Tower wasn’t going to give me time to ponder this.

[Mission: Kill all ten members of Team FOXHOUND.]

[Details: Successfully become the Ultimate Victor of the survival game by killing all ten members of Team FOXHOUND, then survive the ensuing chaos.]

[Make your choice from the following 4 options.]

[1) Decline the hidden mission. Selecting this option is final; no rewards will be issued for fulfilling the hidden mission after selection.]

[2) Greatly lower the difficulty of the hidden mission to and accept it. Completion rewards will be reduced by 80%.]

[3) Slightly lower the difficulty of the hidden mission to and accept it. Completion rewards will be unmodified.]

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[4) Do not lower the difficulty of the hidden mission and accept it. Completion rewards will be increased by 50%.]

[Failing the hidden mission incurs a penalty of 50% of the current Floor mission’s normal penalty.]

[Confirm selection within ten minutes.]

Below the last message, a timer started counting down.

My first reflex was to select the third option. Bruzigan had drilled it into us that hidden missions were always, always worth going for. Knowing when to retreat from one because it turned out to be too much for you, and having a plan how to do that was important, but the rewards for success were just too good to decline.

In fact, I was about to touch that option...when suddenly, memories flashed through my head.

“Protect him from me? You’ve got a long way to go to be talking like that.”

“That’s one big secret you’re hiding in your status.”

I drew my finger back. “The Rainbow Mage...” I breathed, “could rewards from a higher difficulty than Extreme be one of the secrets of his power? And the Tower didn’t tell me what this secret level is...if I clear this mission, maybe I can find out.

That’s right. To prevent Mewi from being taken from me again, my appetite for greater powers, abilities, advantages, can’t afford to have limits. Ever since that day, I’ve been trying to catch up to those four...but that thinking is too limited.

I have to break that limit! I will break that limit! Otto! I’m going to do it! I'm going to catch up...TO YOOOOOOOOOU!”

I selected the final option. Color returned to the world, and time continued. A new message from AzurePrincess appeared.

[AzurePrincess: I can’t say much—even this channel isn’t free of risk, and I also need to be quick. But I am in contact with certain people who have become increasingly in favor of the idea of you putting the lie to Throskart superiority in a way impossible to ignore.]

[AzurePrincess: But merely become a Victor in the final game won’t cut it. Only by a mere human becoming the game’s Ultimate Victor can we shatter the foolish pride that has left a legacy of oppression and multiple xenocide.]

[AzurePrincess: There is also the matter of Team FOXHOUND itself. They are a team of child super-soldiers raised from birth to hunt our movement down. They were originally entered into the survival game as a sort of final graduation from the program that created them.

[AzurePrincess: However, with your strength, the fact they’re here means we now have a chance to eliminate them, since they have been ordered to kill you by any possible means.]

[AzurePrincess: If any of their members live, they will pose a severe problem for our organization.]

[AzurePrincess: Eliminate them, and win this game. Then, we will mount an operation to remove you safely from Yzmar.]

The chat turned back to the normal team chat. The messages from AzurePrincess were gone without a trace. Seems like I’ll need another change of plans...

That night, I had yet another dream.

I was at the Challenger’s Pantheon, directly facing the egress from a High difficulty exit room. A team of six emerged from it—first, what looked like a member of the same race as Bruzigan, then two humanoids of varieties I didn’t recognize. Mewi and I left next, and the last...

“!!!!!”

“So, we did pretty good, I think!” said the orcish one, who I guessed was the leader. “So, I say we lay it out here and now: do you want to stick together, everyone?”

“What do you think, Mewi?” I said, “I think we got along pretty well, all things considered.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. Hopefully we’ll be able to get all the way through the 10th Floor.”

“I also find it acceptable to stay,” said one of the humanoids, the only woman in the group. The other one, a tall, dark and broody type, only nodded and gave a committal grunt.

“What about you, Toto?” I said.

“I’m sorry guys, but I don’t think I’m cut out for High difficulty. I don’t want to try to count the times I almost died. I’ll look around the truce zone for a Medium difficulty team to join.”

“Mmmh,” said the tall, orcish leader, nodding, “I understand. Best of luck to you then.”

“Best of luck to you guys too.”

Otto walked away from the Pantheon.

“What...the...HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL?!!!”