The Divinity Augost paced back and forth in his Divine Throne as his various consciousnesses spread out over his Empire. It had been many years since he felt the need to watch the Augost Imperial Magocracy so closely.

What he had thought to be a boon turned out to be a rapidly spreading invasive species and he had no idea whether it would kill the beast it inhabited or control it.

As per their deal, the 72 council pillars each got a landed nobility title. With this, Augost had no issue. His Divine Empire would gain powerful and unique magic and in exchange he’d create a very minor faction of nobility. Compared to the over thousand seats of nobility what were 72 more?

Quite a bit, it turned out.

Soon after arriving, these Earthen Magi had started pervading every inch of society, even ignoring the noble custom of not working with non-mages and using them for various economic issues. And despite the difference in race, they quickly secured various marriage alliances with other nobles.

The end result was that, after three months, their 72 nobles turned into a faction that rivaled the strongest.

If that was all that happened, Augost would have been slightly bothered, but never would he have worried. He had always been mostly hands-off with his Empire. The minutia of ruling tended not to matter when you were immortal so long as received his faith and his Empire survived.

But it was what happened in the Imperial court that confused him the most. Somehow, and with seemingly no magic used, an Earthen Mage had managed to become the favored concubine and seemed to surpass the Empress in favor when she became pregnant with a boy.

Ignoring the impossibility of how this very talented and powerful female Mage became pregnant so quickly, how did she get the Emperor to go all but monogamous? He was a notorious lecher from what he gathered over these past few months watching on.

Did that mean in a few centuries after the Emperor passes there would be an Earthen Mage on the throne? While the Emperor’s strength was important, Augost had no doubt whatever child came out would be talented enough.

What were their plans?

If it wasn’t for the fact he did so recently, Augost would have considered descending a Divine Avatar and wiping out the locusts he had invited into his home.

But... not only were they far too spread out, when word got out he was wasting Divinity, ‘nearby’ Empires would take advantage. Their multi-planet territory had already stopped expanding for years due to both the Imperial Magocracy of Zan and the Ling Dynasty. If they found out, or any others, that he couldn’t descend freely anymore, they might be forced to completely retreat to their homeworld.

Augost’s true body lashed out and killed the irritating servant that tried to calm him down.

But he did eventually calm himself. Even if their half-breed took the throne, it would still be of the Imperial Line. And the magic for determining bloodline was infallible.

For the time being, there was no issue beyond having to watch his new members slowly take over his hard work of countless millennia. Now it was just a question whether they’d properly maintain his faith amongst the populace as the contract promised.

At night in the newly crowned Fae Queen’s palace, two figures stalked the empty halls. After Kara had finished explaining her plans, Rainer woke up immediately. The two of them were now in a random corridor of the Fae palace.

Kara put away the ring that bonded them together into her spatial ring.

“Are you kidding me?” Rainer asked, doing his best to remain calm. She had told him her plans: to head deep into the Beast Tundra within the Demonlands and pit her life against the Monsters there until she achieved the skill she wanted. It was a ‘tradition’ for Tier 2 Demons to do the same in hope of gathering enough experience to level both their classes to level 25.

“No.”

“You understand the whole point of that stupid tradition was to die as a warrior and not actually accomplish anything?”

“Rainer, I never say a word when you do stupid things in the name of progressing magic. And I need to do this.”

“So you admit this is stupid?”

“I wasn’t asking for permission.” A flaring of her Aura later, and the Soul Mark he had placed on her was gone.

“Are you going to Void-walk me over or do I have to do it myself?”

“Why don’t you go hunting with Gunthar instead?”

“I already tried. It’s not the same. I need to get my Demonic Aura in a proper state. And safe battles never get it close enough.”

Rainer let out a deep breath. If he didn’t take her, then she’d probably do even worse. She’d take the Fairy Ring to the north and then venture into the Forbidden North instead.

“Isn’t the Dungeon going to be dangerous enough?” he asked quietly.

“And that’s exactly my point. Wouldn’t I just be more at risk at dying there? And if I wasn’t at risk, I wouldn’t get what I want.”

Suddenly, an idea came to him. He immediately calmed himself down and let out a smile.

“If you feel you need to do this, then I support you. I’m just worried about you.”

“Thank you.”

A Void-travel and a goodbye later, Rainer sent his second Avatar to the Farseers soon after. As if he would let her do something like this without watching over her.

“Tian!” Rainer yelled, no longer keeping calm as he Void-walked to the Seer’s room. The old man tumbled out of his chair and broke his teacup on the floor, spilling the drink all over himself in the process.

“By the World Tree, what is wrong with you?!” Tian didn’t even bother asking how he got through the defenses. Even if the [Archon] getting through them so silently deeply disturbed him.

“Look,” Rainer said, sharing every single passive spell he had leveled to 10 one by one through the system.

Tian’s expression warped from indignant anger over his expensive tea and robe, to a stunned silence, to finally an envious fury that sought to over take every inch of his being.

“And?” he asked through grinding teeth. How was he supposed to make nice and try and join this impossible man’s dungeon party? Did the Farseer Guildmaster want him to die early of stress? Would he become the first man in history to die of raw envy?

“I’ll take you some place where things are easy to level. In exchange you’ll keep a constant 24/7 watch on my fiancée, Kara Varg, and tell me if I need to go and save her. Staying awake for 2 weeks for someone as powerful as you should be easy, right?”

“I-” Tian opened his mouth only to be cutoff.

“Oh, and if she dies, I’ll kill you.”

Tian’s mouth promptly shut. The Farseer Guildmaster definitely wanted him to die early.

“I’ll be leaving this Avatar here, let me know if you need me,” the casual murderer sat down in the corner of the room and started using [Aura Meditation].

Tian cursed his bad luck, but the prospect of having such a leveling secret won out over any anger he might be feeling. And this seemed like an easy way to accomplish the mission the Guildmaster asked of him.

“Isn’t carrot and stick supposed to have a longer time-frame between them?” Tian joked, only to be met with a glare. Had whatever translation magic the [Archon] used failed?

Bad luck indeed.

Not knowing what else to do with the rest of the night, Rainer himself used one of his Soul Marks in the northern continent. He flew east soon after. Where better to find someone deserving of being made into an undead for [Sleep Learning] tests than a land of slavers?

Luna had somehow known he was leaving and flew into his jacket before he left. She was a bit put out by Kara not saying bye to her.

Finally, he went and found his grandfather to help him search through memories.

Passing by a few forts, Rainer found a road to follow to a Human city. He wrapped himself in a cloak from his Spatial Ring and flew towards an opulent mansion.

An evil noble was a stereotype, wasn’t it? How hard would it be to find one?

“Why don’t we just go to a prison?” His grandfather asked.

“A prisoner is already away from society. Why not do some good and take away a scumbag who isn’t?”

“You understand what you are doing is considered one of the highest crimes of humanity?”

“So? If I’m to do such a thing for personal interest, I might as well do good with it. And are you one to talk about high crimes of humanity?”

“No, just making sure you weren’t just trying to bury your guilt.”

“I have plenty of things to feel guilty over. Killing and raising some villain as an Undead is hardly one of them.”

Rainer flew off into the city, wondering just how long his search would take.

Back in the former Imperial Magi tower, Tian was still acting as a seer, letting his thoughts drift towards how exactly the [Archon] leveled those spells. Even if he could instantly recover his Mana after each attempt it still shouldn’t have been enough time.

“Tian,” the [Archon]’s far-too-real Avatar spoke up.

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry for earlier. It’s a long story, but I was quite pissed off. Thank you for agreeing to help me.”

Tian wanted to correct that he didn’t exactly agree, but opted against it. This monster in Human skin acting so normal gave him an opportunity he needed.

“There is a favor I could use from you [Archon].”

“Yes?”

“I’d like to join your Dungeon team.”

The Avatar gave a look of confusion before nodding his head.

“Simple. Besides, that way I can give you a permanent invitation to the leveling place every night.”

“All your party members can level in such a manner…” Tian asked with a bit of excitement. Even if the role their Guild had taken was limiting the deaths of this world’s strongest, he would of course prefer to actually defeat the dungeon.

“More. I leveled all those to 10 in about a week, and they weren’t even my focus. Well, tap me on my shoulder if something changes with Kara. Her goal was to return before the Dungeon Meet, so it shouldn’t be too long,” he said with obvious distress in his voice.

In a far better mood, Tian nodded and went back to using his Seer ability. It wasn’t even close to the longest time he would be monitoring a situation. And the trade off this time was far more worth it than a pat on the back from the Guildmaster. The damn miser.

Tian froze as he fully came to realize what the [Archon] just said. What was that place exactly? And what sort of price did he have to pay to have such a thing...

Half-way through the night, Rainer and his party - sans Kara - stood in the [Sleep Learning] space waiting for the arrival of their two since absent members. At least absent from this place.

Despite the test with the raised noble going well - though finding him took quite a bit of time as they went through three different cities before finding someone deserving of such a fate - he was still worried. Gunthar and Theodore were hardly normal Undead.

Theodore appeared moments later, clad in a shining silver armor, looking every bit the tall noble Sun Elf he was.

But Gunthar… despite his supreme control of his Soul, far outpacing any of them, somehow forgot to create clothes.

“Incredible as always, Sorcerer!” The nude and tanned Sun Elf exclaimed, his long blonde hair waving in the air as he rushed over to Rainer to hug him.

Before Rainer could request he stay away, Sarah started giggling.

“Incredible as always, Gunthar,” she said barely dodging as her mom tried to poke her side and cover her eyes at same time.

“Honestly son…“ Theodore said, though it was clear his attention was far more focused on feeling the flesh on his face again.

Gunthar coughed and blushed as he formed clothes around himself. He wore a leisurely looking robe with the symbol of Nalmar on the front.

“Sorcerer, let’s duel!” Gunthar forced out and then rushed away using his Shadow-being form without a single word to anyone else.

It took Rainer only a moment to remember this was the man who was embarrassed when people saw his naked bones. He had thought given that he was dealing with a [Arcane Lord of Souls] and his father who created a technique to strengthen Souls that’d they’d be fine with everyone greeting them. He was only half-right.

Rainer just followed along, quite excited at the idea. With Kara on his mind, he had planned to focus on Sarah’s request as well as spend the last two weeks before the Dungeon meet to abuse the class bonus of [Archon] as much as physically possible. Not only to level old skills but to gather new ones, and hopefully useful titles to go with them.

What better source of new skills than the myriad of Souls Gunthar could use?