It was times like these when Carl Anders found himself reflecting his choices in life. Times like these being running for his life from giant flesh-eating bats. He still didn’t need two hands to count the number of times he had to run back to the city like this, but it was getting close.

This time he had a small amount of breathing room as he passed by the boundary where the golems patrolled. Carl took a long, deep breath as the bats were slaughtered by the golems protecting the borders of the city. These monsters still had not learned that crossing a certain point would enable the golems to attack them, but there was no guarantee that they would not realize it tomorrow.

Once the golems had done their duty and killed or scared the bats off Carl left their protection to collect the loot. The bats gave good drops and Carl easily filled up his sack with valuable crystals.

It’s just like trapping animals for food. Except I’m the bait and the animals are man eating monsters. Yep, exactly the same.

Carl then headed back to the city with his spoils.

The First City, as Humanity was calling it, was more of six cities in one. There were a total of five cities surrounding a giant city in the middle. This mega city was situated in what appeared to be the hollowed out inside of a mountain with the top cut off, except that the mountain would need to be about as wide as the whole of Australia to fit the mega city inside of it.

Each of the individual “cities” were connected by teleportation gates. Almost half of the population of kids and their caretakers were in the middle city, while the rest were evenly distributed in the remaining five. What demarcated where one city ended and another began was the farmland in between. There were huge hordes of golems that managed food production on large swathes of land in between each of the cities. It was almost a paradise, as people merely had to go out and collect food from specific drop points where the golems deposited it and there were plenty of pre-furnished houses to go around. The problem was, they were trapped.

The basic necessities were taken care of, the houses even had modern luxuries like running water and stoves and refrigerators, all courtesy of magic of course. But no matter how luxurious the cities were, the residents were still trapped inside.

Surrounding the city on all sides were herds of stone cattle. They were hard as rocks, were fiercely territorial, and seemed to know enough not to get close to the golems protecting the city. They were not impossible to defeat individually and dropped fairly good loot, but because of their numbers they were currently an impossible enemy.

While it would be possible to hunt the other monsters surrounding the city, it was close to impossible to get a party past the stone cattle not to mention then getting back again. The only thing the residents could do was to send out people like Carl who could use a stealth skill to sneak past the cattle and then lure monsters for the golems to kill. The stone cattle seemed to not interfere with a train of monsters chasing an individual person.

The central city was called, perhaps obviously, central city. Each of the other cities were named after the five elements, fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. Carl lived in metal city. There were quite a few more children than adults in the various cities, and it was quickly established that central city would be the main child rearing city while the other five would focus on getting stronger and killing monsters. Each of the five cities had a council of people who were chosen to help jumpstart the process of collecting crystals. Carl ended up being chosen for the council of metal city, mostly because of his rare stealth ability which he could use to pull monsters for the golems to kill.

The title Part of Humanity was really what made all this possible. In such a short time, some millions of people had gotten themselves organized and formed a coherent plan. It also helped that the title got rid of language barriers since it enabled them to use mana to communicate. Unawakened children were also able to do so too, proving they still had at least partial access to their title and stats, but they needed to learn to do so while the adults did it automatically.

Each city had appointed a council representative to interface and coordinate with the other city’s councils and organize a plan to kill off the stone cattle. It was decided that was their number one priority, as not only were the stone cattle inhibiting their ability to safely farm monsters, but it was likely that the rest of humanity would have trouble getting to the city if they had to fight past thousands of herds of monsters.

Carl was taking all the crystals that he had gathered to add to a central depository. Since their number one priority was killing off the cattle, they had decided to invest the skill crystals they gained into doing just that. As opposed to people randomly using skill crystals, certain people would be chosen to be herdsman. The herdsman would utilize all of the skill crystals that were collected in a three day period and choose the ones that not only were powerful, but that would also synergize with the skills they already had. This way the cities could clear away the cattle as quickly as possible.

Creating a team of powerful people also had the advantage of allowing them to farm crystals for everyone else. While they were on earth, Humanity had no real reason to grow in strength other than Gaia’s influence and their own greed and lust for power. Now, it was a matter of survival, and thanks to the influence of Part of Humanity, people banded together like never before to ensure their species wasn’t killed off. Once someone brought it up, it was quickly prioritized as an end goal to create a skill crystal library so that when the children awakened they would be able to choose skill crystals that would not only be powerful, but would complement each other and help Humanity grow as a whole and increase in strength.

But that was a bit farther down the line. The more immediate goal after killing the stone cattle was sending out search parties to try and find some of the people who Gaia had strewn across the dungeon they now called home. This was certainly something that weighed heavily on Carl’s mind as he ran back towards the city. Humanity may have lost their technology in the presence of mana, but Carl covered the long distance quite quickly thanks to his increased stats allowing him easily maintain a pace equal to the maximum speed of a cheetah. Magic had now become an integral part of how Humanity functioned.

I really hope Kyle is all right. He said he would be dungeon diving with Sarah so they should have been transported together. Gaia forbid they were separated. Although they refuse to admit it, they are both too reliant on the other for their own good. Not without good reason I suppose. If only I had been stronger and Chuck didn’t have to sacrifice himself…

Carl was worried, and with good reason. He trusted in Kyle to have the strength to kill monsters and get stronger. If he had Sarah, that is. She was the only reason he didn’t have a complete breakdown when his dad died. Chuck had been more than a father to Kyle, and Carl could never forget Kyle’s face when his dad didn’t come out from the dungeon.

Kyle had shut himself in his room and refused to talk to anyone. Only Sarah had been able to get a response out of him, and after staying with him for over twenty-four hours she finally got him to leave his room. Considering the history between them it made sense.

It had all started when Kyle had just turned fourteen.

Sarah’s parents were part of the founding members of the bounty hunting group that Carl and Chuck later joined. Sarah’s older brother also joined the group as an active member when he turned twenty-one. Bounty hunting was not without risk, but the group were professionals and had never had more than minor injuries despite being fired on multiple times.

Sarah had a history of getting Kyle wacky presents for his birthday. For his fourteenth birthday, she had wanted to build a miniature Trojan horse after learning about it in school. She ended up procrastinating and then didn’t have the materials the day before Kyle’s birthday to finish the project. After being pestered nonstop, Sarah’s mom agreed to make a stop on the way back from the gun show she and Sarah’s brother were attending.

They never made it back home. In what could only be called a freak accident of timing, a natural gas pipeline exploded right in front of their car while they were driving causing the car to crash and killing both of them on impact. Sarah blamed herself. If she had not asked them to stop and pick up her supplies they would have long been past that part of the road when the pipeline burst.

Sarah’s dad was devastated, and could not deal with his own grief well enough to comfort his daughter. When Sarah heard the news she broke down and ended up barricading herself in Kyle’s room. Kyle guarded his room and wouldn’t let anyone else in for three days, even going so far as to fight people off who tried to enter. Sarah only left to use the bathroom and Kyle brought her food and water. After three days Sarah came out and both of them refused to acknowledge the incident ever happened. Sarah wouldn’t talk to anyone about her family member’s deaths and eventually everyone moved on with their life.

It was obvious that the trauma never went away though. Two years later Kyle had a bike accident and broke his leg. It was a clean break and nothing to worry about, but Sarah refused to leave him while he was in the hospital. She was only able to be convinced to go back to school once Kyle was released and back home. Any conversation with either of them failed at making any headway, so everyone involved just left the two of them as they were. Their level of codependence was unhealthy, but they functioned normally on a daily basis so there was no need for an immediate solution.

Until now that is. Carl knew that the only thing he could do was get stronger and then go look for them. Hopefully Sarah’s dad would make it out okay too. Sarah might not be able to deal with any more loss, even with Kyle for support. And if one of them had a breakdown, the other was likely to follow.

Kyle stared at his new surroundings. It wasn’t actually that different from his old surroundings. In fact, it looked exactly the same except there was no chest in the room. And no Li, Walt or Sarah.

Kyle’s pupils dilated as he looked around the room. No Sarah.

Instead he received some information the same way he did when titles were activated.

“Congratulations. You have found a secret training area. There are many secret training areas set up throughout Gaia’s dungeon. These training areas come with high risk, but also high reward. There is a special reward for the first person to clear each secret training area. Only one person is allowed in each training area at once. The only way to leave the training area is to find the portal out. It will be easily recognized as a large glowing blue stone. Gaia prays for your success.”

Kyle only vaguely comprehended the information that he just learned. One important thing stuck out to him. Only one person. He was one person. That meant he was alone. That meant no Sarah here with him. That meant he wasn’t there with her.

He was alone in a dungeon.

Alone…

Kyle collapsed. He didn’t have either the strength or the presence of mind to take his backpack off and instead fell on top of it. He just lay there on the floor, barely breathing, trying to think. His short shallow breaths eventually turned into faster shallow breaths. His faster shallow breaths eventually turned into full blown shaking and hyperventilating.

Alone. One person. No Sarah. Sarah’s not here. I’m not there. Where is here? Sarah’s not here. Where is she? She needs me. I need her. Only one person. Alone in a dungeon. Dad… I miss you. I don’t want to be alone. Sarah…

Kyle eventually sunk into unconsciousness.

An unknown amount of time later Kyle found himself waking up on the stone floor of a cave. It all came rushing back. Sarah wasn’t here. He was alone. Sarah was alone.

Kyle lay on the floor, tears and snot pouring down his face.

This was it. The end. It had to be.

Kyle thought of his dad once more.

He then ever so slowly sat up. That’s right. His dad was dead. He was gone. Truly gone. Sarah wasn’t. She couldn’t be. And if she wasn’t dead, she was alone. That meant Kyle had to find her. Then she wouldn’t be alone. Then he wouldn’t be alone.

Kyle used his water purification to cleanse the tears and snot from him. As long as he thought of them as dirty water, he could use his skill to make them pure water again.

That’s right. He had to find Sarah. He had to. She was alone. He promised. She should never be alone.

Once Kyle was sitting upright he recalled the information he had learned before.

“Congratulations. You have found a secret training area. There are many secret training areas set up throughout Gaia’s dungeon. These training areas come with high risk, but also high reward. There is a special reward for the first person to clear each secret training area. Only one person is allowed in each training area at once. The only way to leave the training area is to find the portal out. It will be easily recognized as a large glowing blue stone. Gaia prays for your success.”

This time Kyle analyzed it carefully. It didn’t take a genius to spot the information he needed.

It says I need find the stone. I can’t leave until I find the stone, and I can’t find Sarah until I can leave. Find the stone, leave, find Sarah, never leave. You can do this Kyle. You have to. You promised.

“I promised,” Kyle whispered.

The first thing he did was take stock of his situation. His backpack only had the tents and some supplies like rope in it. It didn’t have any food or water. It was possible to eat monsters, so he should be able to find food. Monster meat was actually better than regular food since it had mana in it. To eat a monster you usually had to give up on looting its corpse though, so only specific dungeons back on earth had harvest monsters for food.

This isn’t earth anymore. I need to focus. I need to find Sarah.

Kyle took a few minutes to meditate and try and collect himself before slowly standing up. It was time to find the way out. The message said that this area was dangerous, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was escaping here and finding Sarah. No matter if he needed to kill ten monsters or a thousand, Kyle was ready.

He left his backpack in the circular chamber as it would only get in the way. He no longer had a tank to block for him, so he would have to rely on his own ability if he needed to dodge monsters. Luckily, Kyle had put some of his stat points into physical power when he gained his title. Having the extra mobility could mean the difference between life and death, and death was not an option. Sarah was still alone, and he had promised.

Kyle made his way down the corridor. His mind was firm, but his body betrayed him. Every breath was unnaturally short and his staccato breathing echoed in the tunnel ahead of him. One step, two steps, three steps. The tunnel seemed to stretch into infinity.

Have to find Sarah. Need to escape. You can do this. You can do this. You promised.

It felt like hours later that Kyle reached the end of the tunnel. He expected to see a tunnel similar to the one that he and the party originally came from, one filled with traps and slimes. The tunnel instead opened onto a cliff face.

Kyle found himself tens of stories up in the air. Below him was a river that soon disappeared underground. Far off in the distance he could see a waterfall, seeming to fall from the clouds into the valley below. Actually, it was falling from the clouds. The waterfall was falling in what looked like the center of a valley straight out of a fairy tale. It fell straight into a large lake, which then formed a river that came under the cliff that Kyle was currently on. Surrounding the river was an enchanted forest.

Saying an enchanted forest sounded a bit cliché, but Kyle had no other way to describe it. Even from here he could see mist snaking its way through the trees, reflecting the light from the sun high in the sky. The trees themselves seemed to shimmer, and Kyle could practically see the mana flowing in their veins. There were even flocks of beautifully colored carnivorous man-eating macaws flying above the trees.

Gotta find Sarah. I prommiswhatthefuckisthat?

Perhaps had Kyle been in his right state of mind he would have noticed the human sized macaws that were radiating undisguised bloodlust. He was not, and was taken in by the beauty of the scene below him. So much so that he failed to recognize the threat of the giant bird swooping down on him.

OhshitohgodohfuckholyballsfuckshitgottaescapefucknoIcan’tdie.

Kyle almost fainted straight away. The shock seemed to snap him out of the hazy half-hyperventilating state he had been in and he managed to flee back into the cave. He had to find Sarah, but he couldn’t do that if he was dead. The bird seemed disinclined to follow him into the cave so Kyle succeeded in his getaway.

But now was not the time for him to flee. Now was the time to fight. He promised, and that was one promise that Kyle had to keep. Kyle took a deep breath and turned around. He needed power and he needed food to make sure he found Sarah, and those monsters would provide him with one or the other.