“I was told that you were trying to find enlightenment. Unexpected, but I know you don’t do unnecessary things on the job. I made sure that your creative path to get there didn’t get you killed. Here’s some whiskey I’ve been working on. Success or failure, there’s always a good reason to drink.”
-Charles”
I read over the letter before sending it away into my Inventory. With a broken claw, I flipped the lid off the top and poured some of the liquid into my mouth.
I could taste earthy flavors. The wood it was soaked in and the aromatics stuffed inside to enhance the flavor to something that professional alcoholics had to get a certificate to be allowed to comment on. It wasn’t the usual oak that I was used to, but I was never the type to be concerned with the small details of a drink.
The important part was that it was going to get me drunk.
However, the bottle left my lips fairly quickly to disappear into my Inventory much like the note. I quickly rose to my feet and carefully looked around the immediate vicinity. I could not hear any strange noises or smell any out of place odors. But, that did not stop my brain from saying a statement that my logic refused to refute.
I was being watched.
There was no other explanation; no other way for this bottle to arrive on my precise location when I had not even told Grendel what my destination was. At some point, somebody loyal to Charles followed me out here and left this behind. Furthermore, they have been allowed to watch me without alerting the attention of Senior Brother; a fact that told me that it was yet another mole hidden with the school.
A sharp exhale left my nostrils. It didn’t matter. This was something that Charles often did with important jobs. I could remember several times where I was the shadow to an unknowing “employee” completing an important task. Most times, I just reported their failures.
If they were severe enough…
I stretched out my body. My muscles protested even the most basic of movements. They felt stiff and uncooperative like an abandoned car. Did my body not join me on my journey of self-discovery? Was it left vulnerable the entire time that I was locked away in Control’s domain?
I took the fact that the Follies hadn’t told me I truly died yet as a sign that, even if my body was just lying here, it was either invulnerable, or Charles’ mole kept me safe. Honestly, I hoped it was the former so I wouldn’t have to hear grand speeches of loyalty later. I feared it would only give Charles greater cause to try to cement our dynamic of lord and servant.
Putting all of those unimportant thoughts in the back of my mind allowed for a newer, much more interesting thought to take the forefront. I had a newfound understanding of my body and I wanted a venue to test it out like a wealthy teen who was just gifted a BMW as their first car.
And I knew just the place to go.
With an unfurling of my wings, I took to the skies and flew high over the valley. Placing all of my points into speed, I raced between the mountains like a jet fighter. I took a few unnecessary detours to truly capture just how quickly I could move now before landing at one of the numerous Dungeons that lined this place.
It was the place that I first learned the Master’s martial arts and the place that I first heard his voice urging me to kill.
And I could now deliver it in multitudes.
As soon as I entered, a golem rose from a nearby hill. A boulder protruding from the earth turned out to be the lumbering beast’s shoulder. Dirt fireworks sprayed everywhere as the creature pulled itself to the surface and emitted its low, craggy roar.
Three hits. Only a few days before, I managed to kill this oversized rock in three hits. I was the same level as I was then. I obtained no additional skills, just mastery over the ones that I still had and a great deal more stats.
I sprang into action. In a rehearsed maneuver that had now grown to be utterly mundane, I bolted forward at maximum speed and threw a blindingly fast punch. As my fist got dangerously close to the golem, I used that momentum and shifted all of my points into strength right before impact.
My knuckles touched the golem’s body and the creature evaporated into gravel before my eyes. It was completely obliterated without even a limb to identify it as a former creature.
Glee spread throughout my body. Control was right. I needed to inflict the punishment I had been receiving from my clone on something else to really wrap my mind around just how powerful these moves now were. Even Grendel’s mana infused move didn’t appear as devastating as this manaless, max power haymaker that I just delivered. I reveled in the devastation I just inflicted.
And I was hungry to inflict more.
Site to site I flew in search of new targets to inflict my will upon. Any brave or clueless enough to poke their heads from the ground were immediately squashed. Dirt and roots and debris shot in plumes the size of mushroom clouds from where I landed.
It reached a point where they no longer rose for there was no purpose in it. I, myself, agreed with the cowardly sentiments of the Dungeon’s denizens. I had my fill of weaklings. I just needed to farm as many levels as I could and turn my attention towards larger, more intriguing fish.
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I shifted all of my points into magic and activated [Burning Rain]. Massive globules of black liquid accumulated into my hands and rose into the sky like a raincloud. A few black drops fell back towards the ground. Small wisps of smoke broke out where scalding liquid met plant life. It slowly increased more and more until it became a deluge of smoke and fire that matched the wrath of God Himself.
Nothing was spared. The mobs that hid deep within the woods could be heard screaming and howling in pain. Those that were not atomized instantly managed to sprint out of the forests in search of refuge, only to hopelessly see that their world had turned to madness.
XP flowed endlessly into my pockets; the throttling of my level and the strict investment cap of [Hoard] meant that all of these earnings would go directly into my level ups. I could take it moderately, allowing for the special kill bonuses to accumulate and maximize each level. But, at this point it was like a billionaire trying to earn an extra penny. There was somebody waiting for me, somebody that I wanted to demolish.
Finally, after the massacre was nearing its end, the mountainous golem that ruled over the realm emerged from the hillside with a deafening rumble. The titanic form loomed over the world and I flew up to meet it eye to eye.
I wasn’t sure if this iteration remembered what I had done to it last time. It appeared to me that it was more cautious, more hesitant to see what I would do next.
It was a window of opportunity that I was happy to oblige.
Just like the pattern I tried with its lesser versions, I flew towards it at maximum speed, threw my fist as hard as I could, and shifted everything into strength.
The shockwave blew me back and I reflexively shifted everything into defense to avoid the attacks that I might not have seen. But, it was an overly cautious exercise. The only thing that would hit me now were the craggy boulders that shot out in all directions. They cleaved through the ground like meteorites, shaking the earth until there was nothing but the sounds of fire.
The Dungeon dematerialized to leave me standing in a grove of trees on the side of a nearby mountain. I looked greedily at the wealth of XP that I managed to obtain. A few more runs and I would be able to jump to Level 50 in one go.
I tried to re-enter the Dungeon. I took one step before bumping into an invisible barrier.
image [https://i.imgur.com/d5a6BYH.jpeg]
Notice
You must wait one month for Dungeon to reform before entry.
I scratched my chin. I thought that I had only been in Control’s realm for a few days. But, maybe it would have been a bit more than that if I was able to re-enter this Dungeon again. Like a casino with tinted windows, there was no real way to determine how much time had passed inside. Oh well, the month or so I spent there was worth years of learning on the outside, if I even learned it all.
“So, you’re back,” I heard Grendel’s voice from behind me. “Did you learn anything from Grand Master?”
“I learned a few more tricks since I’ve left,” I said coolly. “How did you know that I had returned so soon?”
“You know the answer to that already,” Grendel answered plainly. “Charles said you understood the arrangement.”
“Well, you can tell Charles not to worry about timeliness. A few more Dungeons and I will be strong enough to challenge Senior Brother. A month or so is all I’ll need.”
Grendel tilted his head to the side and raised his eyebrows in mild surprise at my words. He took a step towards me and inspected me closely before widening his eyes.
“There is something more substantive about you, certainly,” Grendel agreed. “I’m impressed that you’ve come so far so soon.”
“Not bad for a couple months.”
“A couple months?” Grendel questioned. “Try a few years.”
I spat some acid near Grendel’s feet in response to the jab and allowed the liquid to sizzle between us for a few seconds. Our power dynamic was no longer the same I wished to impart that information kindly as a courtesy to everything that the troll had taught me so far.
“Do not play with me.”
However, Grendel looked earnestly taken aback by my outburst, confusing me further. Like a dog that didn’t know why he was being yelled at, I received only a blank stare.
“I do not jest. It’s been almost five years since you left my room to follow the Grand Master’s quest. Honestly, I was surprised that such an endeavor was so short. I believed that you only made it partway before reaching a wall that could not be surmounted within this realm. The path to enlightenment is something meant to take centuries if not millennia”
Suddenly, it felt like all the wind had been taken out of my sails. I looked at Grendel in disbelief. I understood losing track of a month here or there when locked in eternal combat in a room with no sky. But to lose years in there? That was not something that I accepted readily.
Wait, if years had passed.
“Has a new Hell Express arrived?”
“Yes, it has,” Grendel answered. “But, I’m not sure how useful it’d be for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You were in a pocket dimension, unable to be attacked by your hunters. The time in there wouldn’t have counted. You likely will need to wait until the next one. It still works out for you, they are supposed to become more frequent.”
I furrowed my brow, but accepted the information given to me. Of course there wouldn’t be such an exploit allowed in a hunt like that. Nor would I have been satisfied with such an anti-climatic reward.
“And what else has changed since I have left?” I probed.
“Many things,” Grendel answered readily. “The rumblings at the pinnacle of Hell have shaken everyone. The stagnant rulers of the pinnacle have fired up the cold engines of war to prevent one of their own from ascending to the top. They demand manpower and have flooded the Third Rung and below with resources required to uplift entire armies in one go. They say the Fourth and Fifth Rung are turning into bloodbaths.”
“And has Senior Brother been called to go up?”
“Not yet. The Grand Master wants more disciples and we’ve been run ragged to collect as many recruits as we could, willing or unwilling. I don’t anticipate it being tomorrow, but it will be soon. We’ve been anxious that he’d move on before the contract was filled. Charles is close to sending a new assassin in through the recruits. He may already have.”
Though I struggled to believe all of this at face value, I also couldn’t conjure a logical reason to give me such an outrageous lie if it wasn’t true. It didn’t make sense for someone like Charles to motivate in that fashion and Grendel exuded a nervous energy that maybe only a well-trained actor or a sociopath could emulate flawlessly.
“Senior Brother’s been looking for you, you know?” Grendel continued. “Wanted to see you as soon as you got back. Should I buy you some time?”
“No.”
I glanced down at my XP stores. With what I had, I could likely reach Level 40 and still fill my [Hoard] to the brim. I would have preferred the luxury of reaching Level 50. But, if I had done that, maybe it wouldn’t have been as fun.
“I’ll make do.”