The tenth floor seriously needed pest control. It was basically lots and lots of tunnels filled with spiders, worms and fleas.

Monster – [ANANSI] – [LEVEL 58]

Monster – [DJIEIEN] – [LEVEL 58]

Monster – [GRICK] – [LEVEL 59]

Monster – [RUST] – [LEVEL 60]

As the storm rabbit sent waves of [WATER] and [LIGHTNING] through the narrow spaces, the demon floated a few steps behind cross legged and upside down. His hair reached towards the ground while he read from a book pulled out of his own personal storage skill.

*DING*

[LEVEL UP] You have reached Level 66.

[LEVEL UP] You have reached Level 67.

40 Attribute points have been distributed according to the natural inclinations of your race.

You have 55 Skill points and 10 Attribute points to distribute manually.

Both [INTELLIGENCE] and [WISDOM] got an extra five points as they neared the exit for the tenth floor. Things were going well. He had gained some high levelled security, at great risk, and progressing deeper into the dungeon was going smoothly, at least so far.

*DING*

[SILENT DEATH] has sent a direct message.

As a creature with [INTELLIGENCE] above the minimum requirement you may view messages.

Would you like to view messages from [SILENT DEATH] in the [CHAT]?

[Y/N]

[SILENT DEATH]: I already realised you had a high [LUCK] attribute, maybe ten or eleven. But for the recent events that have happened to occur… You would need a truly monstrous amount of [LUCK]. Summoning top tier summons for your grade, all way above your own level will cancel itself out and is really more of a thing that happens to people with negative [LUCK]. Yes, they are supremely powerful summons compared to the summoner, however, all three would have had the ability to override the protections. Even the demon. This would make the incident rather unlucky under normal circumstances.

[SILENT DEATH]: But you managed to get the highest graded summon possible, for the token you received, to actually keep you alive. A one out of a billion chance, no, maybe even less likely than that. I’m guessing fifteen or maybe even a seventeen in [LUCK]. Absolutely unfathomable. I’ve been finding it quite difficult to level at all for a long while now, yet just the carry over from that event you endured netted me ten levels! Do you have any idea… No, you probably wouldn’t. I have a feeling you are going to go far in the universe. Keep up the good work.

[SILENT DEATH]: Oh, and as a side note, I highly suggest making better use of my advice from now on. You did manage to get yourself out of there, but not without being changed. You realise this is going to hamstring you, despite the additional power. Even the most powerful vampires can’t go a month without eating. To give you some context, [TRANSCENDENT]s can go an entire century before they need sustenance again. However, vampires in the same grade need to seek out the blood of their own kind every month. This means that the usual meditation techniques used to help with evolving skills are near useless. Some have tried to stay in the trance while drinking blood, but the euphoric taste always engulfs their senses.

Stolen novel; please report.

[SILENT DEATH]: Oops. Looks like I overdid it again. The longer I’m your [PATRON], the more I will be able to contact you. After a year or so there won’t be any wait time and we will be able to contact each other without delay. Until then, there is only so much we can send per message, and only so many messages we can send within a certain period. After this message I won’t be able to contact you for at least a week, though I will receive it if you send something.

Okaaay? That was out of the blue. He smirked at the comments about his [LUCK]. Apparently having twenty in the lucky stat was nothing to sneeze at. Also, him just surviving a powerful being would level his [PATRON]? How did that even work? And he had tried to listen to the advice. He tried to leave before sunset. It was just bad timing that the bitch had wanted to go out for an early stroll right as he tried to leave. Being a vampiric monster wasn’t so bad overall anyway. It had given him quite a bit of extra power both attribute and skill wise.

There was something he was beginning to realise about his [PATRON]. He was reserved and shy when communicating with others of his level, but when it came to one on one, the guy was a rambler. He’d sent out four rambling messages in less than a minute. The probability was high that he had sent them as soon as the Nexus would let him. It had been what? A bit over a week since the last messages from him, and now they had once again been used all at once.

Another thing, he hadn’t been able to respond to messages before. That had changed? Focusing on the screen in front of him as they travelled down the tunnel, he found that a reply function was now available. Interesting. What should he say?

[ROGER]: Thanks for the advice. I will try to adhere to it more in the future. Happy to be of help in the level department, especially after you helped me out by gifting me those abilities. Once you are able to respond, just out of curiosity, would you mind telling me your grade?

The bunny updated the chat with his reply. Then watched in horror as his name was automatically added to the message. Several expletives went through his head at the realisation, most of them repetitive f bombs.

Oh well. It was too late now. Hopefully he’d never meet his [PATRON] in real life. A thought he didn’t actually have much hope in. Moving on.

The initial inspection of the eleventh floor didn’t show any signs of monsters at all. It was just a jungle that glowed with fluorescent green light. Then the jungle itself tried to kill him.

Monster – [SHAMBLING MOUND] – [LEVEL 61]

Monster – [ASSASSIN VINE] – [LEVEL 61]

Monster – [MAN TRAP] – [LEVEL 62]

Monster – [TWIG BLIGHT] – [LEVEL 64]

The vegetation came alive as they walked by. The demon just put up a transparent flaming barrier and then went back to his book. Still floating, the [PRINCE] was laying on his side now while propping up his head with one of his hands. Overall unbothered by the situation. On the other hand, the storm rabbit was chased by bushy humanoid [SHAMBLING MOUND]s and attacked by [ASSASSIN VINE]s that reached down from the trees. Every fifty metres or so a leafy [MAN TRAP] would try to grab at him from the ground, its toothy plant maw already open with expectation. Sometimes the trees themselves were the monsters, though they were the more dead looking trees that were mainly just twigs and branches, so not too hard to pick out.

A raging thunderstorm blew through the jungle at tremendous speed. Rain and sleet pierced the vegetation, while a whipping gale terrorised the floor and bolts of electricity fell from above. Hundreds of kill notifications passed by his vision in a haze.

*DING*

[LEVEL UP] You have reached Level 68.

[LEVEL UP] You have reached Level 69.

[LEVEL UP] You have reached Level 70.

[LEVEL UP] You have reached Level 71.

80 Attribute points have been distributed according to the natural inclinations of your race.

You have 75 Skill points and 20 Attribute points to distribute manually.

By the time he reached the other end of the floor, he’d gained four levels. The spare points were split evenly between [INTELLIGENCE] and [WISDOM]. His favourite magic sure had helped him out with this floor. And as a bonus, it had looked spectacular with the stormy clouds lit up by the fluorescent glow of the jungle below.

As they entered the next floor the rabbit noticed that [ABRAXAS] had once again shifted floating positions, book held up in front of him and ankles crossed. The book had also changed this time. If there had been a swinging chair holding up the demon then perhaps the pose wouldn’t have looked so out of place. Shaking his head in bemusement, the monster continued on without commenting.