When a scout relayed the report about a random fiery explosion near the platinum dungeon, Sherron didn't hesitate to leave as fast as she could. Hakim's grave eyes gave her silent permission to hurry, for there was no knowing what had attacked Lev out of nowhere this time.

Knowing the reports were less than a minute old did nothing to help her nerves. Her hands were tied as she left as stealthily as she could without scaring the entire population of Windkeep. It took her another half a minute to move far enough to accelerate to full speed.

Please, please, please just stay alive.

Solid lightning coursed through her veins as she shot off. Colors expanded until they stopped being colors, overwhelming her vision until only a grey and slightly blue world remained.

Not even twenty seconds had passed when Sherron was detected, revealing the monster's aura to Sherron by doing so. Her heart sank when she noticed it was a third-threshold monster.

Only, not even a split second later, a large surge of her own element became noticeable in her extreme Perception, and she didn't waste a moment in heading to the spot.

The blast from Lev's attack was still expanding. Much of his body was gone as it flew through the air, thrown back by his own efforts, whereas everything that remained was burned badly. Shards of his half-broken barrier armor had yet to dissipate when her arms wrapped around his falling form. Beyond the arms and legs, his armor was still intact but riddled with cracks. A large, lone, and overloaded durability rune was carved on the intact armor's chest's back, and Lev probably didn't even realize he had done so given how all of his mana regeneration was automatically channeled into the rune.

Gently lowering him to the ground, the idiot still had the strength to mouth a silent 'you're late' as she poured an advanced healing potion into his mouth. It wasn't going to heal his missing limbs or restore the depleted blood, but it contained all the necessary ingredients to make the healing effortless for the body.

"The… guard…" Lev barely croaked out as his eyes drooped. Sherron nodded rapidly at first, then slowly to show that she understood.

"Don't talk," she chided him as strength left his body. His armor also disappeared as his mana bottomed out completely, though he was spared the pain as his consciousness fled too. When she confirmed that he was still alive and slowly healing, Sherron's shoulders slumped as she heaved a great sigh of relief.

Then she finally scanned the monster's charred and blasted corpse. It was ghastly for a warg, the usually majestic and terrifying creatures. Her gaze however, remained fixed on the parasitic fungus slowly dying out.

Memories of the time their ship had crash-landed on Monarch rushed in. Unpredictable species of monsters had attacked them from every angle, and such infections were commonplace. She vividly remembered Orianna searing the insides of her thighs to save her life.

Shaking herself out of those depressing thoughts, she carried Lev in her arms and flew to the dungeon entrance. The Master's corpse was there, untouched after the warg was done with him.

Except, it twitched after sensing her presence. Before it could get up, a small dart of lightning pierced the puppet's chest, disintegrating it into ash.

[

You have slain Risen Puppet - Level 290

]

With another sigh, she carefully summoned equipment specializing in harvesting cores while still holding Lev in her arms. A small channel of her lightning was enough to overload the costly equipment. The small automaton of blades dropped out of her hand and walked to the corpse like a spider. Finding the massive gash on the body, it entered.

Half a minute later, it came out while holding a core on top of it. Sherron wasn't expecting it to be anything special, but froze in surprise when her Analysis scanned it.

[

Mutated Warg Core - Regenerative

Extraordinary Mana Conductivity and Mana Capacity. This core can sustain itself endlessly and reliably create an item of Superior rarity. Highly durable and enchantable.

Classification: Priceless Treasure

]

…What the fuck?

****

Darkness.

Lev couldn't see anything beyond his own limbs in the endless world of nothingness, but he knew something watched him. Something terrifying.

He should've been worried, but such an emotion didn't even come close to his shielded mind. If there was a being unfathomably frightening in front of him, shrouded in an impenetrable void, then a similarly massive presence protected his fragile form from behind him.

Lev knew he was witnessing something of paramount importance, but his memories were being erased as quickly as they formed. The fleeting impressions escaped his mind, no matter how hard he tried to hold onto them. By the time he was close to waking up, only a faint memory of massive scales remained.

****

Scales… Lev stirred with that sluggish thought echoing in his mind, as if borne of a scream. Scales? What scales?

The odd thought lost meaning when he felt a warm hand gently caress his cheek. Tears pooled up in his eyes when he realized it was Orianna, and he opened his eyes with a wide smile that trembled at the edges. They were present in Sherron's mansion, in one of the large bedrooms.

Feeling around, all of his limbs were back in place, which was a great relief. His destroyed eye was also reformed, something that must've taken a competent Master healer to accomplish, as reforming body parts was the norm for them.

The thought of remaining crippled and half-dead was terrifying, regardless of how irrational it was. Effortlessly moving his fingers was enough to moisten his eyes even more, but he still tried to put on a brave front for Orianna.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

None of his self-restraint survived when Orianna broke down even quicker than him. Lev immediately got up from her thighs and embraced her in a tight hug.

"Woah, woah," Lev tried to laugh, only for a hoarse chuckle to come out. "I'm still alive."

She didn't reply for a few seconds as sobs wracked her body. "Why does it have to be you… why…"

"Hey, now…" Lev tried his best to say something reassuring, something that would potentially calm her down, but words refused to go past his throat. No matter what he thought of saying, his mind was eventually overwhelmed by the memories that refused to be held at bay.

He clearly remembered the cold creeping up his spine, gradually lulling him into the grasp of death. Much of his body was destroyed, and every single breath was agony. He had pushed past it all just to see Orianna again.

But the trauma remained.

Orianna looked up when Lev's body started shaking uncontrollably. His eyes weren't seeing what was in front of him, only the claws shearing through his body, or the slitted feline eyes staring into his very soul. All of it rushed back to him in unparalleled clarity as a tide, utterly overwhelming whatever semblance of calm he wanted to preserve.

"Lev," Orianna tapped his cheek. "Look at me."

But Lev didn't respond. The anger and hopelessness, the grief and desires, the longing, there was so much he was learning about himself from the encounter. It all boomed in his head like a discordant cacophany as static buzzed into his ears.

Then the sight of Stargazer's final moments returned to him. Lev hissed as all shivers stopped abruptly and his hands, still holding onto Orianna's arms, clenched tightly. A growl burst out of his throat as his knuckles popped, unable to look past the scene of his beloved glaive breaking into pieces. The weapon wasn't something akin to a constant companion— it quite literally was just that.

A mere beast… his breathing picked up, just shy of hyperventilation. Monsters, thinking they can take away what is precious to me whenever they want.

"Focus on my voice, Lev. Snap out of it."

Targeting me again and again, huh? his lips parted in a feral snarl before his jaws snapped shut, rendering even Orianna silent for a moment. I will show you all. Every last one of you.

Orianna tried to talk to him again but the words registered even less than before.

Did you really think it would be so easy, World? That I would just roll over and die? Lev's jaw cracked from how hard he was gritting his teeth now. Blood dripped down his face in small streams, staining the bedsheet crimson. The pathetic, dying warg was obviously led to me, probably lured with a promise of saving its life. Did you think I wouldn't notice?

There was no room for doubt anymore. A monster, or even a natural calamity, finding him was one thing, but that warg? It proved Lev's fears, while also answering several questions. Dying as it was, the warg should've been clawing at every last possibility of saving itself. Just the pain alone would've been enough to render it insane.

But that didn't happen. Not only did the monster of the grand forest scale the outer wall, but it also accurately sniffed out his location. The Master guard died simply because he existed, and the damage could've been so much worse near a population center.

Mana rushed out of him in waves. Orianna shook him several times, but Lev was far too deep to catch himself. It all made sense now. Drakys had once said that his presence alone couldn't attract monsters from so far away. He had dismissed that idea back then, thinking his special circumstances were to blame.

Now he knew better.

Mark my words, he vowed to all those who were watching. I am coming for you. No matter who or what you are, or how far I have to go to find you. Nothing in this universe will save you after all the pain you've caused me, and however much you will hurl at me in the future. That, I swear on all I am.

"LEV!" the panic-laden scream finally cut through his spiraling thoughts. Lev immediately recoiled as the pain from his cracked teeth registered. He gazed at Orianna, who stared back with wide eyes, both concerned and… slightly scared. His heart sank at the sight, and he immediately grabbed her in a hug. Lev sighed in relief when she didn't resist and hugged him back.

"I… I don't know what just happened. I'm sorry…" he trailed off as his mind fully caught up to the present. In that haze, he had stupidly sworn on his soul. There was no telling if someone had heard him or if he would be held accountable.

Repeating the words in his mind kept reminding him of just how grave his proclamation was, but each iteration also removed his self-doubts. None of what he had sworn was a lie. In fact, all of it resonated with his very being, for it gave him another direction, one that was likely linked to fates far more than just his own.

"I'm sorry," Lev whispered. "For worrying you all so much. I'm so sorry."

"Don't say that," Orianna snapped back for once, though that only soothed his nerves. "It's not your fault… but whatever you were about to do to yourself would've been. What were you even thinking!?"

"… What was I doing, again?"

"I don't know?" she replied, flustered. "Your mana started leaking all of a sudden. I thought your soul was taking damage, but that clearly was not it."

Orianna then waited for him to answer. Lev thought about it for a moment before shrugging.

"Guess I was just really angry?" he lamely replied. "The thought of enacting revenge on whoever is causing the world to hate me just made me lose control of my mana."

Her eyes softened at the reply. Orianna let out an adorably short sigh, exhaling most of her concerns with it.

"Don't scare me like that again," she said as they separated from their long hug. She gazed into his eyes, not hiding her emotions whatsoever. "I'm gonna keep hearing such accidents happening around you, aren't I?"

Lev grabbed her hand and put it to the side of his face as he replied bluntly. "Yeah."

Neither spoke after that. There was much to think about, and Lev was looking forward to meeting his savior more than anything else.

****

"No, the stripes were slightly darker," Lev commented on the form Orianna was drawing. Mutated monsters were vanishingly rare, and the one he had met didn't show any obvious signs of mutation.

Explaining the encounter to Orianna had led them to a lightboard where she recreated an illusion depicting the monster. Lev pointed out all the differences and mistakes while standing next to her. It was still hard to believe that she was shorter than him now, and by a good margin.

Lev had grown massively in the past two years. The random growth spurt from his previous evolution had pushed him to puberty, and the long years of Monarch saw him rapidly developing physically. His voice was also slightly deeper, though it was mostly clearer, which he was grateful for. It wasn't scratchy or unpleasant to the ears.

Primarily, it was his height that had changed the most. Lev was now taller than everyone he remembered, standing several inches higher than six feet. His limbs, too, were much longer. It aided his reach with Stargazer greatly.

A pang of anger shot through him at the memory of his glaive. Orianna immediately noticed and turned to him, but he just shook his head.

"There are no outward changes," she frowned, intently observing the end result of the windstrider warg. "Maybe the mutation was internal?"

"Correct," replied a new voice. Lev's ear perked up, and he immediately rushed to the door where Sherron was and grabbed her in a hug.

Memories tried to overwhelm him again, but he shoved all of them back, except one. Sherron's petrified face, pouring a healing potion in his mouth, remained, but that alone was enough to push him to tears again.

"Thank you," Lev whispered into her shoulder. The corner of his lips lifted slightly upwards. "Even if you were almost late."

She didn't reply, so Lev didn't push it either. They stayed in the doorway, silently embracing each other. Sherron was the first to move, taking a step back and staring into his eyes with enough intensity to make him squirm. Lev mentally prepared himself for whatever reprimand was to come.

"Idiot."

…

Lev laughed. It started normally, but the laughter turned into cackles when his grip over the recent memories faltered. The fact sunk in truly at that moment. Lev hadn't just survived, he had, like Alec always said, also made out like a bandit.

He, a mere Adept, had slain a third-threshold monster all by himself. Then he remembered how he had accomplished that, and his laugh turned slightly unhinged. Sherron's eyes becoming concerned tipped him off about his devolving mental state, and Lev hurriedly controlled himself with deep breaths.

Whew… Almost lost my cool there.

"Sorry," he grinned, feeling much better than before. "Just slew a third-threshold monster, so couldn't help myself."

That got an eyeroll out of her and she finally asked what was on her and Orianna's mind.

"Did you-"

"Nope," Lev interrupted her. "No chance I'm evolving before seeing Alec. Where the fuck is he anyway? I've got a lot of complaints piled up. These notifications have been begging me to read them, as well."

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