Finally alone.

This was it, there was no choice but to continue to keep moving forward. Any pause and it could spell his disaster. That terrified him. Luther nor Arthur wanted to die, much less prematurely. He sat down and leaned back, eyes staring at the ceiling. With mental prodding, his status menu appeared.

[Name: Luther Morgan Bellham]

[Skills:

[Heavy Bladed Striker]

[Adept Battle Awareness]

[Novice Swordsmen]

[Fledgling Pyromancer]

[Fledgling Mana Control]

[Fledgling Pyrokinesis]]

[Traits:

[Contemptuous]

[Sesquipedalian]

[Pertinacious]

[Merciless]

[Supercilious]

[Overbearing]

[Dignified August]]

[Mana: 734/734]

[Skill points: 32]

And it was quite disappointing to look at. Fledgling mage and a novice Swordsmen. Everything about him was below average by multiple tiers. It was depressing if he actually thought about it. Everything except [Adept Battle Awareness]. But that was the bare minimum to join the Knighthood.

To eventually gain the [Knight Swordsmen] skill. But he wasn’t even close to what was required. Luther felt a tightness in his chest thinking about his failures. He wanted to distract himself with anything else, but he fought through it.

With another mental prod, the upgrades available appeared.

[Skill Upgrades -

[Novice Pyromancer - 7]

[Novice Pyrokinesis - 7]

[Adept Swordsmen - 10]

[Novice Mana Control - 7]

[Advanced Battle Awareness - 19]]

Everything is so expensive in the beginning? What would it look like at higher levels?

He had to figure out how to gain skill points and fast. Would it be for beating enemies? Killing? Did he have to be an active participant or would those orchestrated and highbred by him mean he would gain skill points? Too many questions were just unanswered, or worse, left to his million and one speculations.

Luther knew it was an urgent need for him to get stronger, and spending his skill points would guarantee him exactly that. At the same time, if he wasted any, it would come back to haunt him quite viciously. He knew two important details that would influence his decisions. Facts he could not deny much less begin to imagine another path.

The first and most important was that the apocalypse came in the form of an Ice Age. But that was only in this very kingdom. Reports and late game knowledge gave him the upper hand in learning that other parts of the world had fallen into calamities of other elements. Massive flames, entire cities submerged in water, entire mountains appearing where they weren’t mere moments ago.

An Ice Age was quite tame in comparison.

If they had to only fight ice based monsters that would have been true. That did not happen, while there were a few monsters of the Ice element, they were either solitary creatures or simply to strong for him to imagine they would appear any time within the next entire decade. Hopefully.

The thought of fighting an entire game event that required entire guilds to come hand in hand to fend off a mythical beast shook him, but all he could hope for was that same timeline to be followed. Only then would he have a shot.

Instead, the Ice Age was littered with the Undead. Five Lich Kings worked together to call entire armies of skeletons of various sizes and shapes all bolstered by thousands of death knights. Undead mages, archers, flying beasts and the very pinnacle of destruction…

Dragons. Three undead dragons. Immune to all magic. Physical based tanks that could soak a falling meteor and come out the other side relatively fine.

This was an organized entity. A full scale army of soldiers moving in lockstep led by competent generals.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Cavalry? They had it too.

Luther took a deep shaky breath. He was going to be forced to do evil things. All to survive and those around him to make it out alive.

While his best option was the Holy element, Luther had been incompetent in that field. Not due to his lack of trying or diligence. It was in spite of all the insane dedication that he still failed and attempted to assimilate a dragon’s heart giving up his Holy powers. As weak as they were.

Not only that, but the Church and Knighthood had a monopoly on the Holy element. After centuries of purging any organization or rogue Holy practitioners they made sure no one could come close to their strength much less pose a threat to their domain and coins.

All church and knighthood members were required to go to the capital in an ‘emergency’ mission mere days before the collapse. If he wanted that element, he would need to start from scratch. While possible with the amount of game knowledge he had from endless hours watching lore videos and boss battles, it would take decades to set up.

Decades he did not have.

Hence his final decision to work with Pyromancy and Cyromancy. Boost that with the limited but above average physical strength he carried, he would be a force to be reckoned with. Or at least strong enough to inspire strength and not a mutiny as quick as he took the reigns.

He closed his eyes. Luther let his imagination run wild with thoughts and ideas. Ideas he had no choice but to make true even if they seemed beyond the scope of reality.

—

It took them three days to finally figure out which of the three monuments and stone hedges were the correct ones. The first had been a dud. It was in a correct formation as he recalled how the proper area looked, but no blue tips. He could have tried to see if they would react to his Qi, but decided better against it.

The thought of opening any one of the many terrifyingly over leveled dungeons in this area gave him goosebumps running down his spine. Whether it was monsters on steroids or elementals strong enough to end the entire city not to far away. Each option was worse than the other.

Instead, they figured out the correct one on their second try. Luther was more than confident when it came to his assessment of the place. Silver stones three times the height of an average man with ice blue tips sharpened into deadly points.

A cliff overlooked them from above. Luther could imagine someone falling to their deaths, impaled on the stone hedges. It would be gruesome and a slow death as they looked at their innards coating the stone above them.

They set up camp that night and planned to tackle the possible dungeon in the morning. Best they make due with every second of time, none wasted. Twelve knights, wearing dark silver armor unlike the whiter version of the Bellham knights, guarded them in the meantime. Each one was capable enough to keep the portal of the dungeon open for a few days. It allowed them much needed time to explore and properly loot the spacial break’s resources.

They had used the limits of the Bellham estate to bring out spacial pouches, rings, and chests that could fit a mountain of items. All in the hopes they would fill them with an unending amount. Luther could already imagine the wealth he would suddenly acquire in mere moments. All they had to do was clear the dungeon out.

Luther waited until the sun rose high enough for them to see comfortably. Only then did he call everyone to prepare for the dungeon dive. He stood before the stones and circled his Qi into his finger tips. The paltry amount that rose at his prodding brought him a serious frown, but that was okay. Soon enough he would be stronger.

Soon.

He let out a deep breath and got to work. Touching every stone and leaving a tiny trace of his Qi continuously moving in a concentric circle. The stone powered them to survive for a minute, enough time to power each of the seven. He powered each one, they accepted his Qi and then all traces of his energy disappeared.

Baldwin stepped forward with a serious frown. Even Yves had unsheathed his sword eyes searching for something.

It took a while, but even Luther felt the disturbance. Like waves in a recently disturbed pond. The ripples spread further than he could feel. For all he knew, everyone that even had basic mana sense had felt it. There was no time to waste, they had to get in and get out fast. Hopefully his brother and butler were over leveled enough to simply walk through the entire dungeon.

“We won’t have much time.” Yves stepped forward. He swung his sword in the center of the stones.

Luther gasped as an ocean of Qi nearly blanketed his senses. He was forced to turn all abilities related to mana off. The sheer amount was more than enough to drown him and anyone that wasn’t a monster. If there was a chance that they would have time, this had shattered any such thoughts. Everyone and their mom would have felt it.

A portal appeared. It grew from a single dot into one large enough for an entire carriage to go through. A blue undisturbed water that just so happened to stand vertically. It looked serene and peaceful, but Luther knew better. Inside was the death of a countless amount of people that had entered in search of glory.

“Let's go.” Luther stepped forward to walk through, but was stopped by Yves. His brother kept a strong arm on his shoulder unwilling to let go.

“You forced me to be here, brother.” His eyes had a deadly glint in them. “I expect to be given the lead, for your and my own sake. We will not move forward without my command. And... i'll be the first to go through more dangerous areas.” Yves gave him a look over. “You aren’t durable. I will not have a wayward trap kill the Patriarch of the Bellham family. If that got out, it would be our demise in all political circles.”

Luther frowned. He turned to Baldwin who only gave him a surreptitious nod. “Okay.” He waved him forward.

Yves stepped forward and took a deep breath. With his blade ready to strike he lunged forward into the portal. It rippled behind him, but regained its serenity moments later. There was dead silence. For all he knew, Yves could have been eaten alive by some Lovecraft monstrosity. Or maybe he already cleared the entire dungeon.

There was no way to tell other than to walk in.

Luther trusted his brother. They were too righteous and powerful to die so easily. Or betray him. Then again, he would have expected Baldwin to jump in and protect Yves if something wrong had occurred. His butler stood next to him studying the portal.

Yves stumbled out. Snow covered his shoulders and head. He shivered but let out a big smile. “Its as you said. Numerous but not nearly a threat to anyone capable.” He waved at them to follow then disappeared back into the portal.

Baldwin bowed. “After you, My Lord.”

“Thank you, Baldwin.” Luther stepped in. He felt a cold chill run through his spine as he passed the portal. Almost like when you first enter a cold pool. All he could do was grit his teeth and keep pushing.

Once through he stepped into a different world. Massive crystals filled an enormous cavern with a massive fountain of flowing water in the center. Snow fell from the ceiling but seemed to disappear as they touched the ground. There was light from an unknown source that made it feel like day. He could not find where it came from, as though it was at the periphery of his sight at all times.

Luther then noticed a few broken shards of ice that could have been as large as he was. Nearly twenty that were already melting. A battle had occurred.

Yves walked up to one and kicked the ice. “Bastards thought they could get the jump on me. Good thing they were quite fragile.”