Dane woke up gasping and clutching at his throat, coughing up what felt like a gallon of mana water. His stomach burned like he had drunk bleach. Confusion set in. He was pretty sure that they were doing something important.

  Then panic began to rise, and he frantically looked in every direction for the Caustic King. He didn't see him at all. That was when he was flooded with memories of falling in the river and telling Dia he was going to sleep.

  He looked at his arm and chest, expecting damage from the acid, but miraculously, he didn't have a scratch. He opened his character page and noticed that his HP, MP, and Stamina were maxed out. How long had he been lying there? He opened the notification flashing in the top right corner. A flood of messages came in.

  Congratulations on defeating a floor miniboss, additional experience gained for defeating an enemy 16 levels above your level

  "Hey, Dia, we did it," Dane said with the same excitement as a child on Christmas Day. He heard nothing in response. Usually, when he spoke to Dia, he felt like a warm blanket was wrapped around him. However, today, it was cold. This was the first time he felt alone since they made their bond. A silent tear began to well up in his left eye. He refused to let go of it; he was sure Dia was resting after their hard battle.

  New title earned: The bigger they are

  Error: Redacted @^%$#^%$&#%^$

  Error: Redacted !@#%$^%@^@@^

  Contacting administrator

  Resolution: You have received the spell: Redacted @!@#%$%!$#^$

  Level 25 reached

  Please select your new skill unlocked by reaching level 21; five selections are available.

  Titanium skin: His skin will become slightly imbued with the properties of titanium -50% damage taken from physical attacks, 50% resistance to heat and corrosive attacks. Be careful, though, as titanium is weak when shrinkage is induced by cold and is conductive to electricity. -50% resistance to cold and electricity.

  Meteorite: This is a direct upgrade to the skill Dash. He calls upon all the energies from the cosmos. His movement speed is increased. Who said that space affinity was only for portals? Uses 50 MP and has a duration of 2 minutes.

  True Strike: The rock beneath the user crumbles under the might of their pickaxe.

  Analyze: This is a direct upgrade.

  Exodus: With authority comes a choice: will you free your people or use them for your own gain? With this ability, you can release slave collars and also bind people. Limit two bound at a time.

  Dane stared at the list long and hard. Each option was something he wanted, but he had to take Exodus. He couldn't just turn his back on his people, who were toiling above him day after day. Even the others who treated him like shit for getting them an extra beating or two didn't deserve what was happening to them.

  Distributing his points evenly again, he set off for the platform, where he met Khronos. Traversing the flowing tunnels this time was much easier because of his mana vision. He couldn't be sure, but it also seemed that the monsters were traveling in smaller packs that were spread out more sparsely than he had seen when stalking the water hole.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  His theory was that the monster spread into the territory of the slimes and, therefore, were more scarce in their home territory. He must have lost his wolf pelt in the river because he couldn't remember the last time he had it.

  If the wolves weren't as spread out, he would be in trouble, unable to mask his scent. He heard more of the clacking he had grown accustomed to when the little dogs came and went. These wolves were anywhere from five to fifteen levels higher than him still.

  Trying to fight them would be foolish, so he stayed his bloodlust and slid past them like a stealth game, timing when he moved, ducking from cover to cover. He was on the home stretch, and when he thought he could let up, he saw a sleeping wolf that looked closer to a bear than a canine. It was massive.

  King of the Abyss, Level 50, HP 1000, MP 0, Threat level: It’s a good day to die

  The wolf was all alone, and Dane couldn't help himself. He knew this was real life, and he had already gotten more chances than he probably should have, but he had to see if it would work.

  He created a portal and placed it around the sleeping beast's neck, much like a hula dancer places flowers around tourists. He quickly closed the portal and watched in horror as the body of the level 50 wolf stood up. His portal was not closing; the neck of the monster was stronger than steel. He was about to be in full panic mode. His mana hit zero, and with no more mana to channel, the portal snapped shut, beheading the boss. He heard what sounded like hundreds of wolves howling.

  Congratulations on killing a Boss twice your level, additional experience awarded

  Level 30 reached

  Condition Mana starved

  Title upgraded from The Bigger They Are to Kingslayer

  Description: You have spent time under the heel of rulers. Now you have stolen a shard of control. With this sliver of authority, you may exert control over others. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

  You have unlocked the system's noble title of Baron. You may now challenge the domain on any land a titled ruler holds. Caution: Once a challenge is issued, you must pacify or kill any champions the ruler sets.

  You are only allowed to issue one challenge each fortnight and must upgrade your royalty level before owning more than one city's land.

  New options are unlocked at the system platforms.

  Dane felt overwhelmed by the new information. What did this new royalty system even mean? Could he just waltz into his old town, throw down the gauntlet, and kill everyone who showed up to own the city?

  That seemed a little far-fetched, but he would have to test how it worked after he made it out of this godforsaken darkness. This cave had almost taken his life so many times, and now he was fucking mana starved again. He lay there, slowly building his mana backup. A few times, he heard the clacking of paws hitting the cave floor; however, no wolf was brave enough to approach what they thought was the sleeping King.

  His three days went by quickly. He practiced more of his mana control and remembered how it felt when Doctor Green healed his hand. He tried to mimic the feeling.

  Error: The user does not have the Light Magic affinity. Further attempts to wield this type of magic will lead to negative consequences for the user.

  He guessed he wouldn't be mixing and matching magic anytime soon. He began to ponder what the space affinity meant. His last skill selection suggested that he could harness the energy of the cosmos, so he began to brainstorm everything he knew about outer space.

  Which, honestly, was not much. He had taken an interest when he was younger, but it would be hard; his only experience was pretending to be on the moon's surface when they played astronauts.

  That's it. He wondered if he could alter gravity. He knew it was a stretch, given that gravity was a force caused by mass and not necessarily cosmic energies, but wasn't that what willpower was for? To force his will on the world, if that's how he said space magic worked and shaped it, who could tell him no?

  He began to picture the force of gravity. He looked at a rock and saw ten golden chains on top of it, shackling it to the floor. He tried to pull at the chains with mana rope, and they would not budge. He channeled half of his mana into the chains, trying to reinforce them, and began to hear the earth under the rock snap, fracture, and fissure from the force. He added a little more, and the fist-sized pebble shot through the floor, hurdling downwards.

  Congratulations on defeating a monster more than twice your level; additional experience awarded.

  Holy shit, that little pebble killed something on a lower floor.