Bethany sent the others back, Lucy was very reluctant but could tell that there was something bigger going on, especially since Eli’s and Bethany’s eyes had changed. The change in Bethany’s eyes was far more subtle but since it was like a weaker reflection to Eli’s, she knew they had been through something and needed space. She walked away slowly, very disappointed in this trip, and in herself. She completely failed to make an impression on the prince, in fact, she was pretty sure that she had lost standing in his eyes. If not from her inability to prove herself, then in her inability to grow with him like Bethany clearly had, Lucy could tell that Bethany was much stronger than when they went in. It was as if existence around her was ready to obey.

  After they gave the others about twenty minutes to get far enough away so that they couldn’t see where they went, they wandered off in a different direction, moving slow enough so as not to leave an easy to follow trail. Eli wasn’t ready to speak yet, he was still just getting used to the changes in himself. He was the same, but different, he didn’t feel stronger or faster or sturdier, it was something more nebulous than that. If he had to put a word on it, he would say that he felt more real, or maybe more present. It was like before he was an object that existed, but now he is an object that really exists, or exists more, it was hard to describe even to himself. He had no idea how he would describe it to the others, but he had a feeling that Bethany could feel what he was feeling and would help explain it to the others.

  It took a lot of time with how slow they were moving but sometime in the middle of that night they found themselves at the hot springs at the base of what used to be his volcano. The hot springs were mostly the same, the water was near to boiling now and the pond was deep on one end and only a foot deep on the other, where it had been a uniform three foot depth before. Not rushing him, Bethany stripped and got in the shallow end, laying in the water and just letting her body relax. Eli joined her after a few minutes when his awareness returned and he fully registered where they were and what was happening. He climbed out of the hole in his mind where his thoughts had trapped him, he wanted to be as present as possible while he went through his windows with Bethany. She deserved his full attention, especially since he had a feeling that it all involved her somehow.

  He stripped as well and laid in the water next to her, close enough to touch but not touching, again he was grateful that she understood that he wasn’t ready for her advances yet. It’s not that he didn’t want her, he made his staring at her obvious before he laid down in the water, she was very alluring. The changes they had both gone through in the moments following his use of that… whatever it was, was something he needed to settle his mind on before he could truly focus on her and have their physical relationship begin with 100% of his mind on her. That is one thing he told himself he wouldn’t change no matter what this new world brought him, that he would try to recognise those around him for what and who they truly were and do his best to make sure his actions don’t hinder them if he can help it. And to those he is especially close to, if the world won’t give them what they deserve, he will make sure they at least get it from him.

  Bethany glanced over to him with a look of support, he noticed it and realized that he was stalling and then staring at her bare chest. She raised an eyebrow and he stopped himself and turned back to looking at the stars. Eli took a breath, grabbed her hand, and opened the first window. They were in order of when they happened, so the oldest one was on top.

  “You are improving a skill…”

  “You are creating a skill…”

  “Skill rarity cannot be calculated…”

  “Universal interference detected…”

  “...”

  The next system window didn’t look like a system window at all, it was simply glowing golden text without a box or window or anything.

  “You have performed a universe recognized miracle of magic”

  “The universe has named your ability: Singularity Annihilation”

  He guessed that the dots were when the attack actually hit. The normal blue bordered semi transparent system windows resumed after the golden letters faded like smoke.

  “You have performed a Universe recognized feat of transcendent magic.”

  “Your rank has been increased from Lord to Demi-God.”

  “The universe has marked you a Demi-God.”

  He took a breath and sighed loudly, this was probably going to complicate things. This is what he gets for using something he saw on the discovery channel to improve his magic. To put it simply, he added gravity magic, his own custom version of it, to his smash skill and to make it more effective, as he was about to hit, he thought about forcing it to a point. Ever since he started experimenting with gravity magic on the third floor of that dungeon, he had black holes in his thoughts and how he could use gravity magic to make his smash hit harder. The problem came when, right before impact, he connected his thoughts of black holes to his will as he crammed the skill and his magic to a point.

  This combination of things then froze him in time and stole probably ten or fifteen times his magic reserve from his future and pushed it into the point to make a real black hole. His swing connecting gave all that power a direction and he essentially hit the black hole like a baseball as it silently consumed all matter and magic as it travelled. For all he knew it was still travelling, getting bigger as it goes, swallowing up entire solar systems. He took another deep breath and lightly squeezed Bethany’s hand, she squeezed back and he smiled. There wasn’t anything he could do about it now except move forward and make the best of it, but when he opened the next window his heart sank and he froze. He froze so completely that his heart stopped for a moment.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Servant Bethany has witnessed your Transcendent magic and it has marked her soul”

  Bethany noticed him tense up and gave his hand a little squeeze, she guessed which window he was looking at and softly said, “It’s ok.” Eli was hesitant, but he kept going.

  “Servant Bethany’s soul was willing and her connection and rank has improved.”

  “Servant Bethany has become Acolyte Bethany.”

  “Acolyte Bethany is the first Acolyte on your planet, her rank has improved.”

  “Acolyte Bethany has become High Acolyte Bethany.”

  Eli stopped himself from reading the next window and focused on her new title hoping for the system to give him a description, which it did.

  “Rank: High Acolyte”

  “This is the highest rank under a universe recognized demi-god”

  “The High Acolyte’s soul has a direct link to their Demi-God allowing deeper communication. This also shares the strength of the Demi-god with the High Acolyte since their actions are an extension of the Demi-God’s will. The High Acolyte may disobey their Demi-God, but this will weaken their connection and the power given to them until it dissolves completely.”

  Eli wasn’t super happy with how it seemed like Bethany didn’t have a choice, and just as he was thinking about it, she spoke to him in a soft, but firm and resolved voice.

  “I want this, I want it deep in my soul, I think I’ve always wanted this. I don't want to be the one with ultimate power, I want to be adjacent to it. 90% less responsibility with 90% of the power, it always seemed like the better deal to me. I want you to accept that I am in this role in your life now. I need you to embrace it,” Eli raised a finger to say something but she stopped him. “Don’t abuse it, I'm not your servant anymore, you don’t boss me around, I am an extension of your will. If I'm doing my job right you never have to say anything, I make sure that you want something and you have something that is as close together as possible.” Bethany finished speaking and cuddled up to him draping half her body onto his and kissing his cheek.

  Eli felt reassured that what she was saying was true as he could feel her own internal struggles with it. It seemed that a part of her inner self bristled at the idea of being subject to another's will, it was a small part of her, but it was something he would pay attention to. If the part of her that disagreed with this new arrangement got louder inside her, then he would find a way to fix their relationship, or let her go. His biggest fear in this was that the system would fully supplant her own will, but since he felt her internal struggles with it, just like how he had internal struggles with it, he felt confident that she was doing this of her own free will.

  “I can’t promise you I will be able to live up to this new rank and abilities,” Eli said as he looked over to her, “I’ll make mistakes and you’ll probably get hurt, but if you stick with me through this while I figure it all out I won't even leave you behind.” Before she could respond with words, he felt her reaction to his words and he kissed her. It was a deep and passionate kiss that kicked off some aggressive touching which led to more intense things. Both of them lost themselves in the sensations and pleasure, the intensity for them was dialed up to 11 due to them being able to feel what the other was feeling.

  Several hours later, they once again lay in the hot spring, Bethany was cuddled up to Eli with her head on his chest. She was sleeping with a smile on her face, having worn herself out entirely on him. He was running his fingers through her hair, humming softly to himself just letting himself be relaxed and after a few minutes he got back to checking the remaining system windows.

  “Your transcendent magic used your magic reserves from the future.”

  “You cannot regenerate magic above 5% of your total until the magic is paid back.”

  “Estimated time until magic is paid to the past: 5 days, 3 hours, 14 minutes.”

  At least he had a counter to know when he would be at full strength again, and after he closed that window the counter made its way onto his map along with every other clock and timer he had.

  “You have critically damaged the physical space where this dungeon exists.”

  “You have five minutes to leave the dungeon.”

  “The damage to the dungeon is critical, the dungeon is considered complete.”

  He skimmed through the rest of the dungeon ending windows, experience, money, loot etc. He was chosen as the highest contributor so he got the best item. It was an epic quality bracer with two effects, the first was to increase grip on a weapon held in the same hand, the second was to increase the weight of anything thrown from that hand by 20%. Heavier things incur a longer cooldown, but other than that he didn’t see a downside. He slipped it onto Bethany’s right wrist, he would probably have made a crest for him and put it on the bracer. That seemed like something she would enjoy, at least he hoped it was, he had never been good at giving gifts to women. He stopped skimming when he came to the skill related windows.

  “Skill upgrade process complete.”

  “The skill Smash has been upgraded to Gravity smash - Legendary - Level 3”

  “Your Gravity smash skill has a transcendent aspect from Singularity annihilation.”

  “The skill will emit echoes of this after each use that can be felt at a great distance”

  He opened his skills window to look for what the transcendent skill would be under, but it wasn’t there. In his status screen the only thing out of place from before was his title, which now said Demi-God of Destruction. He stared at the ‘of Destruction’ part of his new title, not really sure how he is supposed to feel about it. On one hand, he can’t really argue with it, the ability that got him his Demi-God title was very destructive, however, he wasn’t too sure that having that title would lend him options in any kind of diplomacy. Now that he was out of the system windows he relaxed his body and let himself fall asleep as well, holding Bethany with both arms.