Alexia

  “You should stop here for now,” Zal says after I finally clear the stupid Archon’s Trial. Making the usual messages appear in my vision. “Don’t challenge the other trials until you’re Ascendant Tier.”

  For passing the fourth of the tests, your core will expand. Furthermore, you have gained Quantum Resistance to the quantum energy of the Quantum Archon.

  With every test passed after this point, your core will continue to grow stronger, and you will learn how to fight with each of the Quantum Beings.

  For your role must be the strongest.

  You must be the reaper of the universe.

  The end of all.

  And yet, the savior of all as well.

  It’s because the other Quantum Beings are all combat type ones, right? Except the Builder and Creator.

  “Correct,” Zal says without any hesitation. “And the Quantum Creator can create too many creatures for you to deal with. Far more than the Quantum Scribe could.”

  What about the Builder?

  “The Builder could send you to the other end of the universe with a snap of his fingers,” Zal answers right away. “He won’t really be able to kill you, but you’ll never be able to kill him either. If you tried to attempt his trial now, you’d end up stuck in your first attempt for eternity.”

  That doesn’t sound fun.

  I stretch a little bit while glancing back at the mausoleums before turning around and heading out of the tower. Leaving the trials altogether.

  Right. My new goal is to reach level 2500. Then to Ascend to Ascendant Tier.

  And the only real way to do that at this point is to find a different Tier 5 dungeon. One that doesn’t have an Ascendant Tier monster roaming around the place and no other monsters at all besides that. Or I could go to the edge of the Dimensional Blocks and hunt corrupted beings for a while.

  “That won’t work either,” Zal says in response to my thoughts. “You won’t find any corrupted beings high enough level to give you the EXP you need unless you go into the Corrupted part of the universe.”

  Hmm.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Well, guess I’ll do that then.

  With that plan in mind, I go ahead and leave the tower before making an exit to leave the Quantum Realm itself. Then I proceed to teleport straight to The Retreat to visit Astrid first.

  But oddly enough, when I arrive at her office, I see several traps placed inside of it that have me feeling rather confused.

  Why are there traps in her office?

  Astrid just looks up at me with a smile though despite the traps. Following which said traps all begin to activate at once.

  As expected though, none of them actually do anything to me. Leaving me bewildered about their purpose.

  Until I feel Astrid hugging me with a smile on her face, wrapping her arms around my own arm.

  A smile that is way too wide.

  Um…

  “So, Lexi, we have some things to talk about, don’t we?” Astrid says with the smile never leaving her face.

  I awkwardly turn my head away as I ask, “What do you mean? Unless you’re talking about Lucas?”

  Astrid just smiles even wider and says, “You wouldn’t happen to be acting like everything you said during the championships didn’t happen, right?”

  I try to teleport just myself away, but I surprisingly find a force holding me back. And I instinctively realize that if I break out of that force, it’ll end up hurting Astrid.

  On top of that, if I try to break out of her grip with force, which is incredibly tight for her level, I might end up hurting her as well.

  And I don’t want to hurt her.

  “Let’s have a nice, long chat,” Astrid says, still smiling at me as she guides me to a sofa before sitting down on it without letting go of my arm. “Get comfortable because we’ll be here for a while.”

  Well, shit.

  Guess this was bound to happen eventually.

  Time to put my acting skills to the test and see how well I can act as if I’m paying attention.

  Astrid’s venting session ends up taking about two hours with her doing nothing but lecturing me the entire time. All while I have my mind half turned off tuning it out despite answering her when necessary.

  And after it’s finally over, I manage to get away and begin making my way towards where Ethan is. Just to say hi.

  From what I’ve heard, he and Astrid have started dating officially since I entered the dungeon. It was something that Astrid mentioned while lecturing me.

  Specifically when she was mentioning how much ammunition I gave Ethan when he teases her. Which I approve.

  Teasing Astrid is a great way to pass the time after all. And the best part of it is seeing her reactions. So I don’t have to be the one teasing her to enjoy it.

  I firmly nod my head at that thought while teleporting towards Ethan’s castle located on an ice covered floating island. Where I ignore all his defenses to just teleport inside of his throne room to find him currently pacing back and forth in there.

  He tenses up the moment he senses me, only to relax again a second later as he no doubt realizes who I am.

  “You’re back again, Lexi?” Ethan asks with a wry smile. “And did Astrid’s trap actually work?”

  My eyes narrow and I teleport in front of him before grabbing the top of his head – with me floating a couple feet above the ground while doing so since I’m too short to do it while standing at the same elevation – and lifting him up a little.

  “So you knew about that trap?” I ask with a cold smile on my face.

  Meanwhile the smile on his face vanishes as he reaches up to grab my single hand on his head before realizing that he can’t so much as budge it with his strength.

  He is several hundred levels beneath me after all.

  “Um,” he utters before glancing away, avoiding eye contact as he says, “I tried to tell her not to do it.”

  My eyes narrow.

  “You did, did you?” I ask with an eyebrow slowly rising. “Then let’s have a chat for a while. Just between us. My sister’s boyfriend and myself. That sounds enjoyable, right?”

  I notice a cold sweat forming across the dragon dangling from my grip.

  Let’s see how far they’ve come along in their relationship.

  Patreon Link - Read up to 20 chapters ahead for and , 8 chapters ahead for and , up to 13 chapters ahead for , up to 25 chapters ahead for as of posting this chapter, up to 60 chapters (almost an entire book) as of posting this chapter ahead for , up to 33 or so chapters as of posting this chapter ahead for , up to 35 chapters as of posting this chapter ahead for , gain access to the chapters of all of my new series that aren't on Royal Road yet, and gain discord benefits by becoming a Patron.

  Discord Invite