"You really had me worried there," Edward breathed out, visibly relieved. "Glad to know there was no permanent damage. Not sure how you have so much mana at your level but you better start preparing for full body channeling."

  Lev sighed. Tormenting his entire body instead of sacrificing limbs seemed like a reasonable course of action, regardless of how much it would suck. He would at least heal naturally from that reduced damage.

  "I know," Lev looked around, noticing the empty wall except for mages and archers picking off monsters down below. "Where's everyone else?"

  "They left to report our findings to the guild. I have to apologize in advance but I don't think they will hide the fact that you took it down by yourself."

  "That's fine," Lev shrugged. "The Silver Night already knows about my capabilities."

  Edward sputtered. "The… The Guildmaster?"

  "That's him."

  "You just happen to know him?"

  "I even trained with him for a short period," Lev causally replied. "His aura is quite scary."

  Granted the training wasn't exactly by choice but it was fun to observe Edward's reaction.

  "I… see. Didn't think you're so well known among the higher circles," Lev was trying very hard to not laugh at his face. "Is Alec still in the room?"

  "He left a few minutes ago. I was waiting for the potion to do its job before coming out."

  "I'm sorry about trying to open your armor," Edward apologized after a few seconds of silence. "Your condition seemed especially painful at the time."

  Lev brushed it off. "No worries, I'm sort of used to it."

  "Can't believe a silver hunter is used to mana poisoning," Edward muttered to himself, knowing damn well Lev would hear.

  "How many died?"

  "Only two, fortunately. Would've been all 14 of us if not for you. The threader was never going to run out of mana with those simple attacks."

  Lev sighed. "Only two… huh. Not the worst, I guess."

  Edward was staring at him like he was an idiot. Lev looked back, not really understanding the look.

  "What?" he eventually asked.

  "Just wondering if you're dumb," Edward replied, shaking his head.

  "Excuse me?"

  "What is your hunter rank?"

  "Silver, but-"

  "You're a silver rank, who saved the lives of several gold rank teams," Edward took a deep breath. "Just… give yourself some credit. You've done well."

  "Doesn't mean I have to like it," Lev commented sourly, though he put the matter out of his mind. He supposed risking permanent damage was the best he could've done, which was all that mattered.

  "That you don't," Edward conceded, "but you don't have to beat yourself over it either."

  "Fine, fine. What now?"

  "Now we return to the surface. There are only a few hours left before my lecture starts."

  "Give me a few minutes then we can rush back," Lev replied before taking off.

  Landing on the top of the wall, Lev observed the destruction far into the distance. Despite the low light, it took no time to notice the large crater. Even if he could not estimate the size from that far away, it was easily a dozen meters wide.

  I did that, Lev voiced in his head, trying to come to terms with the fact. In a single attack, to boot.

  It was easier to accept than Lev wanted it to be. Regardless of how modestly he thought of himself, his strength was shaping up to be ridiculous. Nobody in his group had a chance to get close and kill the threader, yet Lev had accomplished just that from afar. It didn't even cost him much, just mana and pain.

  The feat made him ponder about the swiftly approaching future. He had his goals outlined, a team preparing to join him, many inevitable waves to demolish, and far too many possible places to explore.

  Lev couldn't wait.

  ****

  "Man, I thought we were all going to die," Elias breathed out. Lev and Edward had returned to the surface. The survivors were currently occupying a large table in the corner of the guild hall, their conversation protected by several wards.

  "The threader's aura… do pit monsters have auras that strong?" Lev slowly voiced.

  "No," Edward replied without much hesitation. "The crimson ravine is the most dangerous region for a reason. The Pit doesn't compare unless you go very deep, at which point you will probably become food for a stray fourth-threshold monster."

  "Why?" a warrior, Sabrina, raised a brow. "Do you plan on going down the pit?"

  "Eventually," Lev answered honestly. "Will push for Master down there."

  "Damn," Bernard muttered. "You've got guts, boy. That place is no less terrifying compared to the ravine."

  "I just want to explore the place further," Lev murmured thoughtfully, realizing something.

  From the start, he had wanted to be stationed at the pit. Most of it was his curiosity, to see a massive underground dungeon-like place with his own two eyes. But there was also another reason, something Lev had always attributed to the same curiosity.

  He wanted to explore the depths of The Pit.

  Odd. When did I become suicidal?

  The idea was still somewhat his own, so he pushed it to the back of his mind. From his recent first visit to underground places, the exploration could be quite pretty. He just had to be careful of whose toes he stepped on.

  "Is the quest resolved for now?" Lev looked at Edward.

  He nodded. "The guild will compensate everyone for the losses and send strong Master teams down there."

  That dampened the mood somewhat. Two people had perished despite their best efforts to keep the threads at bay. It was a good reminder about how quickly things could go wrong, and they almost had for everyone else too.

  "Who do you think will go down there?" Lisa asked.

  "Maybe the Earthen Wardens?"

  "I doubt it," Edward shot the idea down. "Did your teacher say something?"

  "Nothing concrete," Lev deflected the question. "Just that it depends on how bad things are down there."

  "Maybe they'll send an Exalted," Bernard mused.

  "Like they have enough time for that," Lisa remarked.

  Lev remained silent. One of those Exalted had spent a month with him when he was trying for his class. They probably had time.

  "The Bruisers, then? Or the Dawn Knights?"

  "No point in pointless speculation, is there?" Sabrina said, putting an end to that.

  "When's the lecture starting?" Lev broke the ensuing silence.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "Three more hours. You will be attending?"

  "Passing out is apparently not much different than sleeping, so yeah."

  His casual comment was met with a few scoffs and smiles but there was something else on their mind.

  "You're not gonna discuss the compensation?" The scout, Octavia, eventually asked.

  "What do you mean? Just send them to the families of the fallen," Lev replied. It seemed like the logical and kind course of action.

  "That's a different sort of compensation, Lev."

  Lev looked at Edward who was explaining. "The families will get a separate gratuity. This compensation is for almost sending us to our death."

  "Oh. Then I'm fine with whatever my share is."

  He was met with disappointed looks for the lack of enthusiasm. If only they knew he was going to fuck up a spider dungeon as frequently as he could to earn himself a lot of gold.

  There was also the matter of his current state of feelings, which he couldn't bring up with anyone present. From the start, saving lives was one of his main motivations. To be strong enough to not let anyone die on his watch while giving humanity a safer place to live.

  Lev was starting to doubt those goals of his.

  Sure, the loss of hunters weighed on him. They had perished to the hands of a monster that was most likely lured by his presence. He was also sad that mindless monsters reaped young lives before they could truly make a difference, and the loss of capable combatants also stung quite a bit.

  But they lacked the intensity Lev was expecting. He wasn't bitter and ready to avenge them, nor was he depressed. It clashed with so many of his views that his mind just ignored the matter entirely. There was only one plausible answer to this inexplicable mess of emotions, something to do with his soul but with The System shrouding everything about it, Lev would remain in the dark for the near future.

  He still wanted to prevent unnecessary loss of life wherever he could, just now it was without any concrete conviction except not wanting to let lives be snuffed out by the hands of monsters. That was utterly unacceptable.

  ****

  A day later, Alec, Orianna, and Sherron exited the bubble and entered through the towering main gates of Haven. With a thriving population of more than 3 million, it was the grandest city in the plains.

  "Where is the meeting this time?" Sherron asked, ready to be done with it. She and Lev shared the same opinion of official stuff, but Sherron knew the consequences of not taking these things seriously too well.

  "The White Palace, surprisingly," Orianna replied, gazing at the bustling crowds with a smile.

  People parted for them to make way for them, staring and whispering in excited murmurs. The three didn't mind the treatment, knowing how important it was to keep the morale up.

  The walk to the palace continued uninterrupted. When they were only a few meters away, Sherron's head turned slightly to the left.

  "Take the lead," she commanded the empty air, which only shimmered for a moment to bow.

  "I still can't sense the butlers," Orianna mused.

  "Because you don't have good perception skills. Heat sense is super easy to block out," Sherron deadpanned, like she had the past hundred times for the same argument.

  "But that's fine," Orianna continued her train of thought, unbothered.

  "So, why are we here?" Sherron asked. She knew several eyes and ears were observing them but everyone present was trustworthy.

  "Because of Lev," Alec began. "He went to a final cavern with a bunch of gold hunters to check out an unusual surge in monsters. They got jumped by a threader."

  "WHAT!?" Sherron stopped in her tracks, as did Orianna. "How in Monarch's name did a threader make its way to Runespires?"

  "We don't know," Alec calmly replied without stopping. "The reason I brought you here is so you can be transferred to that city. Stay close to him, just in case."

  "But…" Orianna remarked in confusion. "How can a threader ever detect him from so far away? If it even could, why haven't we seen any of the stationary creatures take an interest in him first?"

  "Still no clue," Alec couldn't help but sigh. "Far too many questions whenever it comes to him."

  The meeting 'room' turned out to be the third garden inside the place. It was relatively modest in size, comparable to a mansion, and was littered with protective enchantments.

  "You sure took your time," Katarina, the first daughter of Emperor Blaine and Queen Martha, drawled. She was an exceptionally attractive woman with short black hair and piercing green eyes. Despite the way she was lazily lounging in a chair with her legs on the table, no one would say otherwise.

  "Apologies -" Alec began.

  "I swear if you call me princess again I'll throw you in the pit with my own two hands."

  "- … Miss Katarina."

  "THAT'S EVEN WORSE," Katarina yelled at him while the present company laughed at her expense.

  "Oh, you poor baby," Lara, the younger princess, caressed Katarina's thighs gently. "Do you-"

  "Shut it," Kate snapped without any actual heat. She then looked at Sherron. "Tell me about the boy."

  "No," Sherron instantly refused.

  "Please?"

  "No."

  "I'll owe you a favor if you do."

  "You owe me plenty of such 'favors'. No."

  "Damn, you dote on him a lot. If I didn't know better I would ask if you took him in as a brother or something," Lara remarked, amused.

  "Sometimes I wonder if that is the case," Sherron sighed, taking a seat next to her.

  "Hmmm… I hope-"

  "Please," Sherron scoffed. "He's a child."

  "That's the first lead," Katarina muttered. "I'll start searching for promising young hunters. Surely he will show up in no time."

  "Why are you obsessed anyway?" Orianna smiled.

  "Obsessed? No, I just really want to know what exactly is special about him."

  "That's obsession," Lara quipped.

  "Nooo, I just want to know why he's so strong. That's all."

  Lara nodded slowly, accurately showing how much she believed the older princess.

  "Be as it may, it's by his own desire that his identity is kept secret," Sherron interjected. "Don't bother him too much if you find him."

  "I agree," Hakim's voice reached everyone from the entrance of the garden. "The boy will be, at best, constantly nervous around you."

  Katarina didn't care about his comment and moved in to give him a tight hug. Lara did the same before they hugged the second person coming with Hakim.

  "Drakys," Sherron greeted flatly. Her fellow Exalted took in everyone present with his heavily modified visage, his body downright submerged in incredibly intricate runes.

  "Sherron," he greeted back. "It's good to see you alive and well,"

  "Same, but why are you here?"

  "Do you not want me to be here?" Drakys raised a brow.

  "That honestly depends on how the stick up your back lets you act today," Sherron shot back, grinning.

  They all took their seats around a pristine white table depicting a long, velvety rose in the middle.

  "I understand why those two nosy girls," Sherron waved towards the princesses, "are here, but not you. Why are you here?"

  "He's here on my request," Hakim interjected, earning an exasperated glance from Alec.

  "Why do you insist on not leaving him alone?" Alec complained.

  "There's far too much potential in him to be left unpolished," Hakim countered. "Just a single melee skill would increase his capabilities significantly. You said he has more slots, too."

  "I don't know what's going on exactly," Katarina piped up, "but I refuse to be left in the dark."

  "Same here," Lara raised her hand, laid back like usual.

  Orianna meanwhile, just observed it all happen with a relaxed smile. Sherron glanced at her before leaning back too.

  "Ugh fine," Sherron stated. "I'm gonna hound him after you all when he surpasses us."

  "Us?" Lara repeated. "You mean the three Exalted present here?"

  "Yep."

  "Woah," she breathed out. "This is getting spicy. Go on."

  Sherron sighed. "Lev you see, has your mother's title," both princesses went stock still at the mention, "and a Wisdom boost as a Classer."

  "What the hell?" Katarina whispered, summing up Lara's thoughts too. "How the fuck is that possible?"

  "Don't know," Sherron replied cheerily. "I just know that he will be a beast in human skin, and I'm all for it. He's probably the best possible human to get those two things."

  "Bold claim," Drakys interrupted. "Who is to say someone like me or Hakim isn't more suited?"

  Orianna replied this time. "Drakys, have you ever wondered why The System exists?"

  "… Not really. It just does."

  "Then, would you ever want to be strong enough to learn of its origins?"

  "Why does that matter? Just because the boy wants to know impossible knowledge doesn't mean anything."

  "You would think so, but his mind doesn't work like our own. We are all stuck in our present, just trying to survive. But he has his sights set on a much better future. Everything he's doing is to become stronger to explore more of Monarch while saving as many lives as he can. To see different continents, to explore the uncharted depths of the pit, and to one day explore space itself.

  "The best part is, Mana agrees with him and The System gave him all the tools to do so. Where he was supposed to get a mana capacity boost, he got double the normal bonus. Where he had a low chance of gaining a Wisdom Boost, his class guaranteed it. Where it normally takes a year or two to evolve, he did so in just three months. Just so he can go out and explore without giving up on humanity."

  "If there is still any doubt, then he recently accomplished something that has the guild managers in uproar," Alec voiced, massaging his forehead. "Nobody is allowed to confront him about it, but the news has spread regardless. Three Gold teams and a Master enchanter invited him to scout an anomaly in a small final cavern. They unexpectedly ran into a threader down there."

  Alec considered his next word before just letting out a short laugh. "He, a level 120 mage, killed the threader in one attack. To make it even worse, The System gave him 90 attribute points from titles and 11 levels to further encourage his behavior. If that isn't a good sign, I don't know what is."

  Drakys took that in silence, his opinion of the mysterious boy shifting rapidly. In the end, he and Hakim shared a meaningful glance.

  "I'll train him with your conditions instead of mine,"

  Sherron frowned. "What conditions?"

  "Hakim thinks the boy would not take my constant presence well, so I will only teach him when he asks me to, and leave him alone for the most part. I'll take him with me to scout the caverns while also teaching him about physical enhancement formations for his armor, which will also let him accrue more combat experience."

  "Really?" Sherron looked at Hakim, who just stared back in a silent question. "You're fine with sending him to the caves potentially infested with blighted monsters?"

  "The ravine is where his presence will be needed sorely," Hakim grimaced, unhappy with the decision too. "He better get used to it early if his presence is that tasty for those abominations."