"…Are you just going to follow me everywhere?"

  Drakys just stared at him, silent.

  Lev sighed and entered the hunters guild under the disbelieving gazes of dozens. He might as well not exist to them with how they stared at the Exalted.

  Drakys on the other hand, didn't even look at them beyond a cursory scan of the crowd.

  "G-greetings, Exalted," stammered out the same woman who had given him directions to the spider dungeon. "How can I be of assistance?"

  Lev looked at Drakys, who seemed perfectly content to simply follow him around, and rolled his eyes under the armor. "Quests for all dungeons below level 150. How many are there?"

  "Two of them," She gulped before continuing. "The first is a simple clearing quest. You may redeem three dungeon clear tokens daily after signing up for it. Each token will count for 10 merit points but you can only earn a maximum of 150 for your rank advancement from those quests."

  "Simple enough," Lev remarked. "The other?"

  "The second is to guide new hunters in a low level dungeon," she nervously replied, eyes darting to the Exalted behind Lev. "I will not recommend that one, sir."

  Lev was of the same opinion. "What about other quests in the same level range? Something that overlaps?

  "None of them. Escorting miners and defending a final cavern can be done in one trip if that counts?"

  "It does. Thank you for the information. where do I register for the dungeon clearing quest?"

  "Give me a moment, please," she practically ran, ascending the stairs to the second floor.

  "Your presence has not been helpful so far," Lev whispered just loud enough for Drakys to hear. "Everyone and their mom are scared."

  "Is that an issue?" a mental message reached Lev, the sound distinctly similar to Drakys' voice.

  Upon searching, he found a stream of mana connected between the two of them, practically dancing up and down to be noticed.

  "… Does this work?" Lev sent after a bit of probing. He just had to think directly at the connection. Sending messages accidentally was impossible.

  "It does. Why not start with the underground quests? We will spend a lot of time down there once you hit gold rank."

  "I need money to upgrade my physical weapon," Lev simply replied.

  The receptionist returned with the branch's guildmaster in tow.

  "I greet the Exalted," the woman bowed her head, smiling. "What brings you here today, Sir?"

  "Valery," Drakys smiled back. "Just this and that. Looking after this wild young man for now."

  Wild? The fuck you mean wild?

  Lev kept his mouth shut but still gave Drakys the most unamused gaze he could manage. The man didn't react beyond slightly widening his smile.

  "I've been hearing about this fresh hunter too these days," Valery added. "Should I expect you to remain problematic in the future as well?"

  Eyes darting between the two of them, Lev almost spat out a few rude comments. Holding himself back, he took a deep breath.

  "No, ma'am. If nobody bothers me again, I will keep my problems to myself."

  The response elicited a small frown. Lev knew it was risky to indirectly blame the guildmaster like that but he was pretty annoyed after learning the truth. Somehow, people had found a way to mess up his peaceful growth that benefited them too.

  Seeing that Drakys didn't refute the claim, Valery gave him a curt nod. "You don't have to worry, hunter Lev. Troublemakers only ever get one chance to do these things."

  Seeing the conversation was done, the receptionist handed Lev a silver token. "Please show this to the hunter guarding the dungeon. They will give you a clearance token when you are teleported out of the dungeon."

  So I must completely finish the dungeon to earn one, Lev noted. People were only teleported outside the dungeon if the instance was fully cleared. The clearance token made it necessary to kill every last monster instead of just killing the boss, not that Lev minded.

  "Thank you," Lev nodded to the receptionist before turning around to leave.

  "Bold of you to ignore Valery like that," Drakys followed him after saying his goodbyes to the guildmaster. "You sure that was worth it?"

  "I don't care," Lev replied, still pissed off. "Most of my time will either be spent clearing the ravine or inside the pit. If she tries to mess with me there, then we will see. I was going to leave soon, anyway."

  ****

  Several minutes later, Lev was soaring through the air on his way to the spider dungeon. Drakys vanished when they exited the main gates, under the starstruck or stupefied gazes of everyone present, so Lev just went about his day. The chances of him escaping the senses of an Exalted were beyond impossible.

  The flight took a little while before Lev landed in front of the dungeon. Drakys was already there, surrounded by everyone present.

  "There he is," Drakys announced loudly. "Make sure to treat him well, or The Galvanic Sniper might accidentally blow up your house."

  There were a few nervous chuckles as everyone gave Lev a wide berth. Instead of caring, Lev asked the guard if the instance was ready to enter. Getting a positive response, he and Drakys stepped into the portal without another word.

  "Why would you say that?" Lev sighed once alone with the Exalted. "Don't think you need to alienate me like that for whatever agenda you have."

  Drakys waved him off. "Don't worry, people will forget about the fear in a year or two but the rumors will remain. In a few days, all of the runespires will know that there are several Exalted backing you and even one personally training you."

  While they talked, Lev was flying towards the nearest solo spider. "Why the need for rumors in the first place?"

  "Morale." Drakys gave him a serious glance. "That monster you killed? It would've survived if you were in the ravine. Monsters are weak before the second threshold, but only those with any real power know what kind of enemies third-threshold monsters can be. Even if nobody openly talks about it, people can guess how dire the situation is. Tell me, how many Masters have you seen so far?"

  Lev thought back to all the times he had seen Masters. The answer was surprisingly few. "Less than two dozen."

  Drakys nodded. "Yet it's common knowledge there are several thousand of them. Where do you think they are?"

  "… The crimson ravine."

  "Most of them are there," Drakys added. "You can imagine how things are if most of humanity's Masters are there at all times. Information is kept from the public for a reason."

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

  Four bright barrier chains formed behind Lev as the first monster detected them. Contrary to his expectations, the monster fled.

  Lev blinked stupidly before giving chase.

  Reaching it in a few moments, given how slow it was, the bladed ends of all the chains pierced its sides before Lev landed in front of it. Gauntlet charged, it fell in a single punch.

  "This is new," Lev remarked, looking at the Exalted. "Was that normal? I thought monsters were suicidal."

  "Big enough aura difference can do that. The fear eventually overwhelms their instincts. Show me what weapon you use."

  Summoning Stargazer, Lev handed her to Drakys.

  "Glaive, huh? Not a bad choice. What aspect of it made you pick the weapon? The range is pretty good, and the haft can have many uses, leaving a lot of room for consistent offense during flight."

  "… Glaives look really cool."

  Lev pointedly ignored the disappointed stare, grabbing the weapon and storing it. He would focus on getting his last planned general skill, Mana Slash, later.

  Drakys sighed. "The reason is as good as any if it makes you fight well."

  Lev nodded wisely, fully agreeing. "I also want to upgrade it to its best state before I hit Master, at which point permanent barriers will be used to upgrade it."

  "When do you want to start training?" Drakys asked instead.

  "Not yet. Let me clear some dungeons first."

  The Exalted vanished, leaving Lev to his own devices. Flying up, Lev methodically dealt with all the spiders before preparing a single arena for the boss fight.

  Some time later, he prepared three lightning lances, using almost a tenth of his mana to fill them. Thundering booms were produced by their passing, killing the trio near the boss with ease.

  The matriarch whirled around before its hateful gaze landed on Lev, the familiar screech sounding but not doing any damage due to the distance.

  Flying backward, Lev kept his eyes on the charging monster. It was still faster than him, despite all his levels, but that was fine. He could track its limbs with only a little trouble now, courtesy of his much-improved Perception.

  Eight chains swung down from above, almost as one, but the monster was prepared. Blasting three of them to bits with a ball of web, the monster veered sharply in the now less dangerous direction to avoid all the rest with grace.

  It screeched as Lev flew in, the sound doing little to disrupt his focus despite the pain in his ears and head. Four enchanted shields reached the monster first, occupying its front limbs as Lev charged his lightning gauntlets.

  The monster screeched again, now close enough to make him stagger a little but Lev stubbornly charged forward, even when the monster prepared another web ball.

  Ducking at the last moment, Lev felt the air being displaced hard enough by its passing to notice it beneath his armors. The ball missed by a few inches, letting him grab one of the spider's front limbs and release a small torrent of lightning inside.

  Now stunned, the matriarch tried to backpedal but Lev gave it no quarter. Grabbing another wild swinging limb, he released even more lightning inside the monster before coming to a stop in front of its all eight beady eyes.

  "Not very scary now, hmm?"

  It was incredible how much of a difference increased Perception and Intelligence made, let alone his vastly increased mana pool compared to before.

  Lev didn't pull his arm back as the matriarch jerked forward, mana flooding his armor and the durability rune to increase its toughness severalfold. The grinding of teeth sounded in the forest as the fangs failed to penetrate his armored arm, at which point Lev released a large chunk of his mana inside the matriarch's mouth.

  Lightning exploded out from the other side of its body, ending its life.

  [

  You have slain [Juvenile Gray Spider Matriarch - Level 190]

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 137

  ]

  Three matriarch cores now, Lev harvested the last core, going over the fight in his head.

  Mana usage was the only area he needed to desperately improve. Where he released large chunks at once, the same could be achieved in weaker, well-timed and well-placed attacks.

  "Not … bad. Could be a lot better," Drakys remarked, having hidden himself to not interfere in the clear. Lev didn't reply, waiting for the dungeon to teleport them outside.

  Twenty seconds later, they appeared outside the dungeon in front of the portal.

  "Clearance token," Lev looked at the guard.

  "Quest token?" He checked the silver token handed to him before giving Lev a small silver token with 'clearance 150' written on it.

  "Thank you," Lev said before ascending. Drakys followed, flying through some means invisible to Lev.

  "How much mana did you use in that fight?" Drakys questioned through a mana link.

  "Nearly 20%, but I don't usually waste that much. Wanted to test some things."

  "That is a lot of mana for your level," Drakys said. "There's no way they were letting you use it all so horribly on your own. Why did you not ask for any lessons, boy?"

  "I heard creating your own styles is always more rewarding, and I am still learning the ins and outs of my class. The cores I needed were to buy more converters too," Lev answered honestly, seeing no reason to lie. "For all my advantages, I'm not some monstrous talent who can use everything perfectly after a few days of practice."

  "How long has it been since you evolved?"

  "Little over a month, though realistically only two weeks if I exclude the uneventful traveling."

  "I wasn't aware of that," came the reply. "You've done pretty well for just that time, but still, we will hold back on monster hunting. With my knowledge of weaker monsters, you could hit Master in just a few more months with all that mana you have. We will do the opposite, however. The first month of training will focus entirely on mana manipulation and melee practice."

  The plan was simple enough for Lev to not question it at all. Though, he had a different question.

  "Can I ask something?" Lev hesitantly sent through the link.

  "Sure."

  "Why are you being so casual?"

  "It's funny how Sherron predicted you asking that exact question."

  "She talked about me?"

  Drakys chuckled. "Quite fondly too. The original plan was for her to transfer here, spend more time with you underground, and investigate the appearance of a blighted."

  "Wait, how did I forget? What exactly is happening down there?"

  "Nothing."

  "Nothing?"

  "Mhm. I checked far and wide. There are no blighted monsters or any sight of blight. It was just a stray."

  His shoulders slumped, Lev only now realizing how heavy that event was on his psyche. "I see… that is good."

  "I've heard about your presence's effects. Forming waves faster and all but if you ask me? Even if you were to evolve to an Exalted, it still wouldn't attract giants or other similar monsters from far away. That just seems impossible."

  "You really think so? I have never felt anything weird around me so it's hard to form guesses."

  "Mine is a guess too, of course. But I believe in what I said. Returning to the original question, why would I not be casual?"

  Lev thought for a moment before answering. "You've been alive for centuries and have gone through countless life and death situations. That changes people greatly."

  "Why would they not change to appreciate the casual life even more?"

  Lev shrugged. "Doesn't sound logical."

  Drakys agreed with a nod. "Sadly, it isn't. Few grow to appreciate common life even more. Most distance themselves and become colder. I was the same for a long time, too. Do you know about the effects of evolution on one's mind?"

  Lev assented, thinking back to how it was harder to be bored while traveling. He seemed to be more at peace with himself.

  "Becoming an Exalted had an extremely pronounced effect on my psyche. To summarize, it let me see how negatively distancing myself and bottling my emotions was affecting me in clear detail. That doesn't mean I'm always casual now, though.

  "When fighting in lethal zones, there is no room for casualness. Discipline saves lives. I agreed to Hakim's request to train you to both enjoy a vacation and the peaceful sides of life."