Leox had crafted a plan.

  He would keep persevering and ranking up his monk class until it was strong enough to use Counterstance against one of Donn's swordsman skills.

  The boy frequently used the blade to kill Leox, as it helped progress his swordsman skills, so all he had to do was wait patiently.

  Endure.

  ...

  By the time he reached death five-hundred, he realised that his plan had fallen apart.

  Why? Because he no longer embodied the concept of being a "Monk".

  Monk's believed that hating others was a spiritual failure, whereas hatred was what kept Leox from completely losing himself. Monk's thought that their lives were precious, whilst his no longer meant anything to him.

  It was then that Leox guessed that it was possible to lose novice classes that were earned through embodiment, whereas innate skills such as his elemental and immortal classes, would stay forever.

  The monk class had simply ceased to exist.

  It didn't matter.

  He could no longer even guess at how long he had been kept underground. He might have even been thirteen now. Had he missed the academy enrolment?

  Donn grew increasingly powerful and twisted in his methods of killing him. It eventually got to a point where Leox believed the boy was no longer killing him just to rank up and had now started to enjoy it.

  His appearance had become sick. His black hair was long and uncut, and he no longer wore the uniform of the school, but rather a black robe that made him look like death. His eyes had dark shadows around them, as though they had been painted black.

  He often spoke to himself too, much more than he used to, but it was never about what was going on in the outside world. Mostly, he spoke to himself about what method he might use to kill Leox next.

  Leox no longer paid any attention to his own physical state. Despite his body having the ability to remake itself, it could do nothing about his incredibly long white hair and his frail, skeleton-like body. He felt certain that he was unrecognisable.

  ...

  After another day of numerous murders, Donn Hawkings left the tunnel.

  As he always did, Leox sat there, waiting for his body to heal itself. This time it was from suffocation. A method of killing that surely didn't help with Donn's progression.

  However, when he came to be, he heard the sound of footsteps coming back down the tunnel.

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  Had Donn returned already? No, it was too early.

  Leox turned his head and saw a figure slowly approaching, dragging their feet through the water. Donn looked a lot different. Shorter, and fatter. Much fatter.

  As it got closer, Leox realised who the figure approaching truly was. Or rather, what...

  A demon. For the first time, a demon had appeared in the tunnel. It had the body of an incredibly fat human child, and the head of a bloated pufferfish. There was a wound in its fat belly, which dripped black goo into the water.

  The demon's eyes landed on Leox, and it slowly made its way over. He didn't think much of it. No fear went through him. The demon came closer to him and grabbed hold of his skinny body. It's pufferfish head opened its jaws and began to eat him, starting at his shoulder.

  Crunch!

  Another death. What was different about this one and five hundred before it?

  ...

  A realisation suddenly struck Leox's mind.

  After every death, Donn often had to tie Leox's body with rope once again so that he didn't slip out of its holds during reconstruction. This time, Donn wasn't here. He was nowhere in sight.

  Crunch!

  The demon had arrived at Leox's ribs, chomping through the bone, trying to get through to his heart. He barely noticed the pain. He was too focused on cheering the demon on.

  "Come on... Eat up..." Leox croaked. It was the first time he had heard his voice in a long time.

  ...

  Five minutes later, the fat demon walked away, pleased with its meal. Its belly was even more swollen after its feast.

  Leox was left lying on the cold ground with half of his body missing. He fell out of the ropes and would have been free to move if his body had been in any condition to.

  He would have to wait for his body to reconstruct itself.

  The Allfather had become a great enemy of Leox's during his time in the tunnels, but at that moment he prayed. Prayed that Donn would not return before he was finished.

  ---

  Ten minutes passed, and Leox's body was whole again. For the first time, he could move. He was no longer bound by ropes.

  "Free..." He croaked. The words barely left his throat.

  Although his body had managed to rebuild itself after dying of thirst and starvation many times, it didn't fix many of the ailments that came with such deaths. His eyes scanned both directions of the tunnel. He didn't know where it would take him, but one thing was certain.

  Donn came from that direction, so he would go the other way. If he ran into the boy now, there would be no chance that he could beat him. Not in the state that he was currently in.

  I need to find food... and drink water.

  Leox's journey down the tunnel began. His footsteps splattered through the murky water and echoed throughout the walls. Every now and then he could hear the sounds of the demon groaning in the distance. He kept a sharp eye out at all times in case he ran back into it.

  He also heard the sounds of rats squeaking. He followed these noises until eventually coming to a small group of them huddling in a corner.

  Food...

  Leox leapt towards the nearest rat, just barely missing due to his slowness and clumsiness. The family of rats started to run away. He knew that he couldn't afford for that to happen.

  He reached out to the tunnel water, clenching his fists and creating a small wave using his water skill that caught one of the rats, carrying it back towards Leox. Once in front of him, he unclenched his fists and the waves stilled. Before the rat could run away again, Leox already had it in his grasp. He broke the neck of the rat with his hands and ripped its head off. Then, he proceeded to eat the meat raw.

  It was disgusting. His body refused its contents, and he found himself throwing up.

  As he took another look down at the rat, eyeing its raw flesh and intestines, he felt even more sick.

  I can't eat this... Not whilst it's raw.

  He was about to toss the rat back into the tunnel water, before he remembered something. He was a fire mage.

  If he somehow figured out how to use these powers, he could use flames to cook the rat. He could even boil the tunnel water and purify it enough so that it was safe enough to drink.

  Leox sat down and focused.

  Okay... how can I produce flames?