Amelia was flabbergasted. She hated that Dane outclassed her. He was stronger, faster, and now ranked above her by the Emperor himself. Even Ada, the mining slave, now outranked her. She kept a strong face, but her pride boiled under her skin like magma, itching for release. She would not ask the healer; she would wait for Dane to unlock her stats and then have other questions for the Earthbound.

  The final tunnel collapsed.

  Congratulations on clearing the 22nd floor as the second team to do so. Your reward is the achievement of SECOND CIGAR. Better luck next time. Dungeon achievements only reward stats on the first clear, but don't get down, I'm sure a slave like you can do great things at the end of your leash.

  Amelia clutched her fist and gritted her teeth. The Emperor's notifications rarely had so much snark, making her blood boil. She walked towards the Mana River, which they'd visited three hours earlier, and now she retraced her steps in silence.

  "Amelia, where do you think you are going?" Ada was unusually standoffish, almost as if she knew she was superior to Amelia. Amelia bet that she got that first dungeon achievement with Dane, and the two of them would have a good laugh at her expense when they broke for camp that night.

  "I'm going to clear my head a little. Don't worry, I'll come back to the camp like a good little slave." It was slight, but she winced in pain when the word slave slipped out of her mouth. She hadn't accepted her fate yet, so why did she have such an easy time calling herself that? Could she forgive them for turning her into a traitor?

  The pathway was an odd mixture of hard stone that her boot clacked on with her left, but her right, she sank into the sand on the bank of the river. Mushrooms were the only illumination on the 22nd floor, and she had to navigate using the sparse luminescence. Her brain was a mess of emotional thoughts and rage at her place in life. She looked down into the mana-infused water, the current creating light ripples.

  The face staring back at her was a stranger. Her Archer's eye was a passive skill, but it gave her perfect vision; she could zoom in on things like a telescope, but because of that skill, she knew there was no illusion in the water. She smacked her hand onto the surface hard. Creating more ripples and disrupting the horrid vision in the water. The water became more tranquil, and once again she saw her face. This time, tears were streaming down from her single eye, tracing the scars on her once beautiful face; she had gone ten years without crying, and now she spilled tears twice in one day.

  The familiar ping of a notification rang out like an angel delivering a message from god. The glowing prompt lit up the cave, interrupting her grief with a moment of clarity.

  Emperor's Quest: You have a long journey ahead of you; get close to Dane and report his actions every 2nd week of the month. Or, Kill Dane.

  Reward: Upon the death of Baron McAllister, you will be granted the title of Baron. If you only report on Dane, you will be rewarded with your freedom, and your face will be restored. Warning: If you choose the path of the spy, it may affect your class options upon future evolutions. And you will be committed to a 2-year service agreement. Should Dane die before your contracts end, you will report to the Scarlet Legion for the remainder of your time.

  Amelia had read old books about quests. The Emperor would reach out to those who could act as his agents, but the nature of this quest went against everything that she knew about the Emperor's omniscience.

  For some reason, this Dane was a thorn in the Emperor's side and was scheduled to be plucked, but if he needed reports, the Emperor had a blind spot. If the all-seeing eye wasn't collecting information. That made her party leader possibly the most dangerous man in the Empire. She didn't want to stay with these people for another two years. But could she kill a man who saved her life?

  Even though she was sure that he had only come running for his precious Ada. Her Elven upbringing demanded that she repay the debt. Even indirectly harming him would be frowned upon. She minimized the prompt, neither accepting nor declining, and headed back towards where Dane slumbered.

  Dane woke up alone. He remembered falling asleep in Ada's arms, but now he was on the cold stone floor. The ground was jagged, and the sandpaper-like texture left scratches on his face. The air still smelled of ozone from the battle that had just passed; there was a new, pungent metallic scent of iron and decay. He wasn't convinced it wasn't part of some vivid dream after a hard fight. Perhaps a part of him hoped it was, not wanting to be vulnerable in front of the people he was supposed to be strong for. He did the only thing he could do. He began searching for his stuff.

  He remembered that the contents flew out of his bag, but was perplexed that most of the stuff was gone. The only thing he had left was some minerals and mana crystals that he had picked up earlier. He had Flame, Water, and Earth magic crystals in the bag. The water mana would act as a top-off. However, the earth and flame stones promised entirely new powers, limited, but still, they would give him the edge if he ever found an opportunity to use them. The Earth Mana stone pulsed with a deep Emerald hue. Consuming it granted the Mudwall skill for an hour. He knew that this was the cornerstone skill of the Tunnel King, whom he had fought some time ago. It's a waste of mana to trap a single target. Maybe he could round up some mobs, like shooting fish in a barrel.

  Upon inspection, the flame crystal said, "Burn, baby burn." Not entirely sure if it would make him spontaneously combust or if he would get pyrokinesis, he decided it would be best if he left experimenting with his new rocks for when Ada was there to heal him.

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

  Seeing Amelia's bag left on the floor, he inspected it. She collected everything she said she would; however, some of the rations were crushed, leaking their contents onto the tent. Dane would have to eat rocks for sustenance until they could resupply. It was like the system's joke. "I have given you the power to live on stones, so I will crush one-third of your supplies."A dry laugh escaped him, half exhaustion, half bitter amusement. Of course, the System gave him the power to live on rocks, then crushed his food. The System was definitely a prick, but not the one directly responsible for the assassin. For that, he had to thank the leadership of the dungeon mining. He wanted to start liberating camps but knew he would have to rest and recover. Maybe a little training would help clear his mind.

  Dane focused on his time magic. He knew that he had regained ten levels after he lost them from rewinding himself during the Moogu fight. He focused on anchoring himself to the spot he was currently in. He wanted to make a decoy that could take a hit for him in a pinch. A skill like that would be invaluable if he were caught off guard.

  A second version of himself appeared. Like looking into a mirror, except this mirror was a half-second ahead of you. All he had to do was think what he wanted, and the double would do it. He felt his strength sapped as the Exp started to leave him as soon as he activated it; it was about 1 Exp a second that he had it active. No matter how hard he tried, he found it impossible to switch places with it. The spectre version of himself could also not interact with anything physical or cast magic. That was fine, just having something that could take a hit or two would be worth it.

  His combat forms were sloppy, as he moved through the three-hit combo he had created while enslaved. He controlled his breathing in through the nose and out through his mouth. Even with the control he used, he still began to pant, and the sound echoed off the stone walls that surrounded him. He focused on activating his decoy at the right time. He wanted to have a feint that would catch his enemies off guard. Each time he struck, he leaped to the right and activated the decoy, appearing like he was splitting into two; his afterimage darted to the left. He would give the enemy two choices when he attacked.

  Before he perfected the move, he stopped; losing two levels was difficult, and he refused to lose another on training. He would be nearly unstoppable if the system hadn't had the penalty of fueling his time spells with Exp. Compared to his HP or stamina, his MP was lagging. He drained his pool almost to zero and let it recover to increase the total. Without him being a mage class, it wouldn't scale with his Willpower and intelligence.

  The problem now was that his Meteorite spell didn't use MP anymore, so for him to expel the most Mana, he had to use Jetting Geyser. Each time he emptied his pool, he sat in a cross-legged fashion that he remembered being called sitting crisscross applesauce. When he told his Mom, she laughed at him and said he was sitting indian style.

  Dane's hair on the back of his neck began to prickle. An incoming blow, he rolled backwards and split into two. He assumed a fighting stance and scanned the area for the threat, but his eyes only met Amelia's steely gaze.

  A lone arrow was stuck in the ground where Dane had sat before.

  "What're you doing, Amelia?" Dane asked behind clenched teeth, remembering the last time Amelia caught him off guard.

  "You're weak, Dane, and if I am going to follow you, you need to get stronger," Amelia said flatly. Dane could not make out her expression, and that was scary. Usually, she wore her noble pride and disdain on her sleeve, but all he could glimpse was resolve.

  "If I'm weak, what does that make you?" Dane retorted in a childlike manner, trying to make her crack, but she remained calm.

  "You defeated me through deceit and dumb luck. Not in honorable combat. If we fought without your tricks, I don't think you would make it out alive." Now, Dane knew what she was after; she wanted to fight. Dane sighed and tossed his pickaxe aside.

  "I don't have time for your games. If you need a demonstration, I will gladly give it to you." He dropped his boarding ax and balled his hands into a tight fist.

  Sprinting at Amelia, he cycled meteorite and moved like a blur on his way to her. Amelia's bow was already drawn. Dane guessed she had half his Dexterity, maybe less. But she barely slowed half a heartbeat when she fired, and another arrow was already nocked. He couldn't figure it out. He knew she stood no chance compared to his raw power, but Amelia was unmatched in precision. He got close, then felt another arrow sticking out of his arm, pushing him off balance, and the elf would roll, timing perfectly to evade his strike. Dane had dropped his weapons because he didn't want to kill the disfigured elf, but he was coming to regret that decision.

  If he were going to close the distance, he would need more than dexterity, so Dane began to channel his Space affinity into his body. It was the same magic he used as a portal, but this time, instead of casting it to open a door, he wanted his body to move closer with each step. He blinked just beside her and grabbed her by the waist. He took his left leg and tripped her while pulling backwards. The elf twisted unnaturally and let an arrow loose point-blank. Dane drew a knife from his pocket and jammed it hard into her neck.

  Both were surprised when the arrow bounced off Dane's eyeball, shattering, and the knife halted when it touched Amelia's throat, as if her bare neck was armored. Amelia straddled Dane in a full mount and was panting heavily.

  "Are you two children?! Not even three minutes of being in the same camp, and you are trying to kill each other!" Ada was fuming. Dane had never seen her this mad and didn't know what to say. Fortunately, he didn't have to.

  "Relax, Mom, we were just training," Amelia said.

  Amelia gently eased off Dane, lingering for a moment, then abruptly strode to her spatial bag, her movements deliberate. She retrieved a small, palm-sized bundle, the size of a baseball, and tossed it onto the ground. The moment it touched the stone floor, the bundle pulsed with a faint purple glow and rapidly expanded, unfolding with a hiss. A fully-formed tent stood before them, compact and modest from the outside, standard black canvas, the common colors of the guards.

  Without a word, Amelia glanced back at them and ducked inside. Dane and Ada followed, brushing past the flap, and stopped short. The cozy feeling was nothing like the cold, dark place that smelled of death and decay.

  The interior defied all expectations. They found themselves in a sprawling manor house: six bedrooms branching off from a vast central hall, three pristine bathrooms gleaming with enchanted fixtures, and a kitchen that crackled with warmth and the faint scent of fresh herbs. A fireplace roared gently in a living room despite lacking wood. The stone architecture was too perfect to be anything other than magic.

  Amelia headed straight for the grandest room and shut the door gently behind her without a word.

  Dane opened his mouth to protest, but Ada was already tugging his hand toward a room on the opposite side, her grip gentle but insistent.