Captain Jankoh and his remaining lieutenant ran, acutely aware their lives depended on it. They lunged over crates and weaved through lanes of shelves toward the wrought-iron door at the back of the warehouse.

  I chased after them halfheartedly, not wishing to spoil the fun.

  Jankoh's short legs carried him ahead of his lieutenant, who kept glancing over his shoulder and snapping his fingers, creating barriers that only lasted for a second as I shoulder-charged through them.

  Admittedly, I could have beaten them to the door. Instead, I allowed them to make a mad dash for the back of the warehouse, enjoying the sight of Jankoh fumbling through his key ring, desperately looking for the right one.

  "Keep him back!"

  "I'm running out of mana!" Maldrioneth shouted and snapped his fingers again, putting another barrier up, temporarily blocking my path.

  I jogged toward them, holding myself back from catching up too quickly.

  Was it unnecessary and cruel? Maybe, but I was still slightly sore and frustrated from being battered across the warehouse like a pinball. So taking some satisfaction in their mounting panic didn't feel unreasonable.

  I reached the barrier and paused, giving them a few extra seconds to scurry over to the door and unlock it. They crossed into a winding hallway that looked identical to the one I had gone through a dozen floors lower. Even the same runic symbols were etched into the stone above the doorway.

  After entering the hallway, Jankoh spun on his feet and screamed as I approached the doorway. "You're doomed, imbecile! It makes no difference now."

  The little loudmouth lowered his hammer, leaning it against the wall. He pulled his helmet off and a torrential sweat threatened to drown him before I could get my hands on him. He brought his arm up to wipe his forehead, then stopped realizing he was about to slice his face off with his dumb fucking bracers and their decorative, razor-sharp frills.

  "Even the most powerful mage in the world can't escape a glyph lock of this level. You'll pay for what you've done to Kashlee." He glanced over his shoulder. "Go around the long way and alert Veigan. Tell him to send Skarvo, and Grave Digger. But not the Immortal, he’s insufferable."

  "Yes, sir." Maldrioneth bowed before turning on his heels and running off.

  "Why do only two of them have cool titles?" I asked nonchalantly, lingering outside of the doorway, pretending to respect their supposed infallible boundary.

  "Shut your mouth, cretin. You're nothing—a rat who doesn't realize he's trapped, on the verge of a brutal death."

  "Hmm..." I looked over my shoulder, making sure nobody from the warehouse was lingering within eye or earshot. "Looks like we're finally alone. Let me share a secret with you, Jankoh."

  "Say whatever pleases you. Within the hour you'll be begging me to end your suffering."

  "I don't have a clue about this world's mana or how any of this works," I said, taking a step past the glyph lock. "Wasn't that supposed to boil the mana in my blood, and ensure a terribly painful death?"

  Jankoh's jaw dropped along with his helmet as it rolled out of his hands, his fingers seizing like he'd just been struck by a bolt of lightning.

  "You really have no idea how mentally exhausting it is to not know jack shit about the world. I've been here for..." I started counting on my fingers, taking my sweet time. "14 days. Two weeks—excuse me, how many days even make up a week here?"

  "Ten days," the captain said, voice sunken and robotic.

  I slapped my knees, shaking my head. "Where I come from, two weeks is 14 days. And in those 14 days, I've learned that a lot of you are complete savages. So much so that it's starting to make sense why a goddess brought me here to erase you. Well, not you specifically—she was very broad and vague about it—something, something, eliminate corruption, blah, blah, blah. I've interpreted her instructions a bit freely, if not outright twisted them to satisfy the nasty urge that trembles in the pit of my gut, churning and churning until I can no longer ignore it."

  Jankoh pivoted on his feet and ran, but I wasn't finished talking. So, I activated Shadow Weave and pulled a sheet of shadows out from the walls with my fingertips, instantly constructing a pitch black barrier, blocking off his retreat.

  "I have impossibly high expectations to meet as I navigate this world in ignorance while jerks like you try to kill me. My point being, it's been incredibly stressful even without your organization impeding my mission with repeated attempts on my life. And now you've kidnapped my healer."

  "What are you?" Jankoh asked through quivering lips.

  "Goddamnit, were you not listening? I've been pouring my fucking heart out here... It's not easy walking around with this bullshit on my shoulders, day after day. I feel like I've hardly slept since I got here." I snapped my fingers. "Now, now, quickly, I have places to be. Where is she?"

  "I don't know—I was sleeping when the Echo Eye was triggered."

  I sighed. "Well, thanks for listening, even if it was like talking to a brick wall."

  "Wait—"

  My gloved fingers sank into Jankoh's throat like his flesh was made out of room temperature butter. I took a handful of cartilage and blood vessels and ripped my arm back. Jankoh stumbled away as I dropped the shadow barrier, blood pouring down his armored chest plate.

  While I waited for him to bleed out, I reached into my combat supply bag and discovered all of my healing potions had been shattered during our fight.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  +670 XP

  +295 Karma

  LEVEL UP

  +1 Ability Point

  +1 Mastery Points

  Luckily, the pocket glass I borrowed from Brythan was undamaged. So I took a seat in the middle of the hallway, more concerned with spending my points than chasing down the barrier invoking mage. Blood smeared across the pocket glass frame as I picked it out of my bag.

  It ended up taking much longer than I expected to go from level seven to eight. I had slain countless people for this boost in power. And while I appreciated the ability and mastery point, the lack of raw agility, strength, and stamina points underwhelmed. After spilling so much blood, the reward felt like the bare minimum rather than a triumphant milestone.

  I flicked open the pocket glass and checked my current XP numbers.

  17,875/27,500

  Whew.

  Ten thousand XP was still an enormous goal, but attainable. I had worried the wonky system would double or triple the requirements for level nine. I skimmed my status and navigated to the ability tree, where I noticed a second tier offering three different abilities had become available in Shadow Weaver tree.

  Voidmark: Temporarily brands the target, increasing damage inflicted by void based attacks.

  Assuming Shadow Weave actually dealt void damage, then Voidmark could prove useful. Too bad the system didn't think such information was pertinent. Logically, why would the ability even be present in the Shadow Weaver tree if it didn't empower Shadow Weave? No, it was likely revealing the entire tree was "void based." Whatever that meant.

  Still, Shadow Weave's damage never once felt lacking. I also disliked the ability description's lack of clarity. How was the target branded? Could it be done at range or did I have to apply it myself with a hot iron?

  Skip.

  Shadow Image: Conjures a mirror image of the user.

  I could already think of a multitude of scenarios where such an ability would prove useful, even if it was ultimately a magic trick. The third ability, however, made my heart skip a beat.

  Void Seer: Threads of darkness unravel from the user and grant third sight through the void itself, allowing surveillance through any connected shadow as if it were a window.

  I re-read the ability's description twice, trying to fathom what third sight truly entailed. Would it be as simple as plugging an HDMI cable into a shadow and then bam, I get a crystal clear image projected into my mind? Like always, the system offered no further explanation into the nitty gritty mechanics.

  I compared the three new abilities with some offerings from the fighter subclass tree and the rogue tree. Yet, several tiers still lurked underneath the Shadow Weaver tree, which all required spending more points to access.

  "What do you think?" I asked Jankoh, who was laying with his head tilted back, arms out like he didn't have a single care in the world as blood ebbed and flowed out of his neck like a sprinkler sputtering its last drops before going dry.

  "Sure must be nice not having to think," I said bitterly.

  Why was I jealous of a corpse? No, no, no. This was a grand occasion—A massive fucking accomplishment! Paralysis analysis be damned. It was time to trust the very instinct that had brought me this far.

  New Ability Unlocked

  +Void Seer 0/5 Mastery.

  Taking a more combat oriented ability may have been the smarter short-term play. But Void Seer piqued my curiosity the same way Shadow Weave had when I initially chose the Shadow Weaver specialization.

  I would've tested it right away if not for the unknown stamina cost. Roughly estimating, I had plenty of gas left in the tank thanks to Stamina Battery and the downtime between fights. Using abilities and running at full speed definitely had its cost, but I could sit down or lean against a wall and feel the resource's passive recovery kick in.

  Armed with a single mastery point, I bravely checked on the timer.

  Time Remaining: 19:01:06

  Great. Yes, that was plenty of time to theory craft where to spend my mastery point, kill everyone, save Viessa, book it back to Ingcaster, rally a party, and raid the dungeon.

  The euphoria from combat and leveling up fleeted and I kicked it into high-gear, making a snap decision.

  +Dagger Step 1/5 Mastery

  Passive Bonus: Increases range and gains one additional charge.

  I flicked the pocket glass closed, tucked it into my bag, waltzed over to Jankoh's corpse and grabbed him by his ankle. His expensive armor set screeched across the stone as I dragged him out of the hallway and through the warehouse.

  Numerous prisoners had gathered around Kashlee's corpse, their gaunt faces twisted in despair. Then they turned around and saw me dragging their oppressor, humming "We Didn't Start the Fire," expecting applause or at least a gracious head nod or two. Instead all I received was vitriol and vicious stare downs.

  "You've killed us all," one prisoner muttered. "They'll hold us at fault for your actions."

  Another trailed behind me, tears welling in his eyes. "Quick, maybe he's still alive. We need a healer down here!"

  Several of the prisoners who had been crowding Kashlee's body formed a wall to stop me from passing. None of them were high enough to trigger Karma's Gaze with its level five Filter still active.

  Irritated by the severe lack of gratitude, I swung Jankoh's body by his ankles and slammed him into the stone floor, catching the prisoners standing in the splash zone off guard with bits of gore, dropping what was left of Jankoh before them.

  "You all really know how to piss on a person's victory lap. I'll accept your apologies in the morning when you're free men. Address your thank you letters to Cyprus at the Gilded Boar Adventurer's Guild."

  I took one step forward and the prisoners backed down, splitting off in every direction like I was radioactive. With the path clear, I neared the walkway outside of the warehouse, spotting Garik on the lift with an arrangement of dead mercenaries at his feet.

  I leaped from the walkway to the lift, clearing two stories like it was nothing. Garik wore a stolen set of Black Diamond black light armor that looked uncomfortably tight on his imposing build.

  "Boss, I have many questions, but first." Garik dropped to one knee and bowed his head. "I beg you to allow me, Garikemas the Bastard, to offer my unwavering allegiance and servitude."

  Was this what an unwanted marriage proposal felt like?

  "No thanks, I'm good." I turned away and took a fifty-fifty chance on hitting one of two levers on the lift.

  Bingo.

  Chains churned loudly as the lift crawled upward toward the top of the Cellar. Meanwhile I scavenged the bodies. I replaced my lost daggers and looted two bandoliers of throwing knives, deciding not to bother with a longsword.

  "Have you not heard of me?"

  "No. Let’s not make this elevator ride awkward." I sat down and crossed my legs, recouping some stamina if even briefly.

  "Elevator?" Garik raised his head with a pleading gaze. "I swear I'll follow you and whatever path you choose to take."

  A level 10 ally could be a huge asset. Despite that, I was thoroughly unnerved by how strong he was coming on. "You don't know me or my purpose. Why do you want to follow me?"

  "When I was young, I saw a shooting star. It blazed so bright, I knew it would never burn out. Yet, I was too naive, fickle, and scared to grab on to it. A single moment of hesitation cost me everything."

  The lift couldn't move fast enough. He was still on his knee, rambling on about stars and space while my mind drifted back to that stupid elf—the dead version Chaos had showcased under the pale moon’s light. Just thinking about it made me want to strangle the little goblin.

  "Boss, I swear on my life, I will not disappoint you. Allow me to witness the stars up close before I die."

  Even if he sounded a bit fanatical to the point that I wondered if he was truly genuine, it was still a decent sales pitch.

  "Fine, do as you please. Don't get in my way and refrain from asking questions. I hate it when people ask questions."