Levi felt his head hit the wall with a loud crack before he rebounded, falling down onto the sandy floor. The torches on the wall blurred, seeming to fade in and out of reality. He wanted to throw up, his body all kinds of whacked out after his impromptu flight. He should probably be grateful he even survived. No one not augmented by the System could have lived through what he just did. He must have flown at least a few hundred meters before hitting a rock wall.

He tried to stand up, only to fall over again, barely getting his hands under him to stop his face from eating sand. Across the room he could see the boss, likely getting ready for another charge. He had to move.

“Fuck this boss and fuck this dungeon.”

The words came out a slur, his mouth not able to make the proper movements needed to accurately enunciate. He was in deep. Somehow he had still underestimated the dungeon, not accounting for something like the boss’s tail. He must have seen it before; it was right there. It wasn’t like it was hidden or anything, but he had been so focused on the boss’s rolling charge attack that he had overlooked something basic. And now he was paying for it, his inexperience in battle showing through.

He once more attempted to stand before plopping back down. The ground just. Wouldn’t. Stop. Spinning. Levi looked over at the boss, blinking rapidly to try and clear his vision. He watched, knees weak and palms sweaty as two armadillos charged at him when he still wasn’t ready. Wait, that wasn’t right, why were there two? No, there were four!? He shook his head. He needed to snap out of it. That’s right, his skills!

He reached, struggling to activate Concentrated Will. His head was pounding, feeling like little gnomes were taking hammers to the inside of his skull. Finally, he activated his skill, his pain becoming muted as he was able to think once more. He looked across the room to see just one armadillo charging at him. That was both good and bad, good there was only one, but one was all that was needed to finish him off.

He had to think of a plan. There had to be something he could do. But his fog-filled brain refused to come up with anything as the boss came closer and closer, each second ticking toward his inevitable doom. Why wasn’t there a snooze button he could press? He needed more time to think, damnit! But there wasn’t any time, and the boss was bearing down on him. He needed to act. Perhaps it was a foolish move, but he was out of options, so Levi did the only thing he could think of: draw on his Aecylic Energy.

He knew Manabody helped him bear the strain of Aecylic Energy, but he had never tested how much. But there was no time like the present. He activated Aecylic Empowerment and opened the gates, letting the energy flood into him, taking in more energy than he ever had before. It hurt. He could feel his body breaking apart, the energy tearing him up from inside. But it still wasn’t enough. Or maybe it was too much. Either way, he still wasn’t able to stand, his head still spinning, his balance off.

He watched as the boss jumped, preparing to start its rolling spin. It leaped into the air, appearing to be in slow motion. Levi despaired. He wasn’t going to make it. This was where it would all end, Susan’s sacrifice for naught. He was too weak.

He closed his eyes, his body trembling. He was going to die.

He let go. He could feel where he was connected to his Aecylic Energy, where Aecylic Empowerment limited the energy he was drawing in for his own safety. He wasn’t really sure how he did it, but something about the situation just made his actions seem right. He felt his control unravel, the flow of energy, once comparable to a stream, now made him feel like he was floating in an ocean, being rocked to sleep on the gentle waves.

Almost reverently, Levi opened his eyes. Blue. All he could see was blue. It was the blue of a clear sky, and he could almost taste the wind, imagine is lightly caressing his skin in a gentle imaginary breeze. In a trance, he looked around, tasting the wind, hearing the sunlight, smelling the color, the blue too vivid, creating a sensation impossible to express with words. He glanced up, seeing his enemy. The creature about to end his life. It looked frozen in time, suspended in a clear blue sky. He could feel it. He knew what to do.

Suddenly his arm was raised, extending towards the boss. He wasn’t sure how it got there, but it just felt right. Levi reached out, feeling with eyes, seeing with his skin, grabbing hold of the impossibly blue sky, and pushed. The sky trembled, invisible hairline cracks forming, creating a jigsaw of a million pieces. And then it shattered, each sky-blue shard turning, hovering the air, tinkling like a glass windchime.

The moment was ethereal, possessing an unspeakable beauty. He watched, entranced, as the shards spun, creating a kaleidoscopic whirlwind of colors and sounds, each a reflection of the clear sky. Then they stopped, point first, orientated towards the armadillo, still suspended in midair. And then they flew.

It was over in an instant, and time seemed to start again as each shard disappeared, sucked into the armadillo as if by some powerful magnetic force. Levi felt his breath catch in his throat. He could see it. One moment those dark beady eyes were full of life. Then they had none, the lights going off, a life, once vibrant, snuffed out in a moment.

A resounding crash echoed within the cavern. Levi felt the shockwave wash over him as the boss, instead of rolling up into a ball and charging at him, fell back towards the ground, its body creating a cloud of dust as it landed, no longer alive.

Levi watched, uncomprehending, as the dust settled, the motes slowly drifting towards the ground, sparkling in the torchlight. What had just happened? He was supposed to be dead. There was no way his skill could do whatever just happened, right? He didn’t do that, did he?

He stumbled drunkenly to his feet, and when he still couldn’t stand, he crawled, dragging himself across the sand to the corpse of the boss. He had to make sure it was real. Make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Meter by meter he pulled himself closer, leaving a trail of bloody sand in his wake. He didn’t even realize he was bleeding, but his hand came away red when he touched the back of his skull.

Finally, he reached his goal. He hesitated for a second, before extending his hand, half expecting to feel nothing more than air. It was real. He could feel the hard shell, sweep the off the sand that stuck to it and see the red and black lines underneath. He was alive.

Relief coursed through him. He was still alive. He hadn’t died. Levi maneuvered himself into a sitting position, leaning against the armadillo’s shell, before closing his eyes and just letting the tears fall. He was alive.

“Susan, wherever you are, I didn’t fail you. I’m still alive. I did good, right? Soon I can leave this place. I can keep going. I’m sure that’s what you would have wanted. What you want. And Dad, I’m sure that’s what you want too. I won’t die that easily.”

He sat like that, just letting the tears fall until they were no more, and then he continued to sit, leaning back, eyes closed, just letting himself be alive.

It was a few hours later that Levi felt his head was clear enough to sit up and open his eyes. He still had a splitting headache, but no longer did he feel nauseous or like the world was spinning. He thought he might have gotten a concussion when he flew across the cavern into the wall, but he didn’t really have any way of dealing with it other than hoping his Constitution would come through for him. His head had already stopped bleeding, so that was a good sign at least.

He knew some things had changed with his status, but that wasn’t what he was focused on right now. He only had eyes for the giant multihued crystal. It was finally time to smash the dungeon core.

He slowly stood up, making sure he wouldn’t fall over before making his way over to where the crystal was located. It was on a platform set into the wall, about six or so meters up. Unlike the rest of the dungeon, the walls in this room were well suited for climbing, almost as if they were designed that way. Even in his injured state it was easy for Levi to climb his way up, not lacking for places to put his hands and feet.

He carefully moved from the vertical wall to flat ground before standing up and walking over to the dungeon core.

It was beautiful; he had no choice but to acknowledge that. It was likely the most amazing gem he had ever seen. It was large, about the size of a small child, and floated there, sparkling and reflecting light from the bonfire behind it. He had imagined he would feel some compunctions about destroying it. After all, for all he knew destroying the dungeon core would cause the dungeon to collapse, killing him in the process. But he didn’t think that would happen. He wanted to destroy the core for personal reasons, but standing in front of it, destroying it just felt right.

In a single motion he drew back his fist before lashing out, laying into the floating stone with a full power punch. It felt like punching a wall, and for a moment Levi worried he wouldn’t actually be able to damage it. He was successful though, and a few seconds later the dungeon core started to fracture, cracks forming all over its surface. Then all at once it shattered, each small shard disappearing into motes of light, leaving behind a small hand-sized crystal that gently floated to the ground, before lying there, inert. Then came the notifications and Levi let them wash over him, starting with the ones from his previous battle.

[Unlocked generic skill slot! Please choose a skill from your available skills list.]

[Unlocked achievement: Epic Reversal! Achieving an epic reversal and defeating a dungeon boss monster over twice your own level is a Heroic Achievement! For achieving this Heroic Achievement, you receive +3 to all current stats.]

[Unlocked achievement: Dungeon Delver! For successfully having entered and destroyed a dungeon you have upgraded your species achievement. You are also more sensitive to the presence of dungeons.]

[Upgraded achievement: Human! You are a Human. Humans receive an extra stat point to every basic stat for every five levels they possess, rounded down.]

[Unlocked achievement: Solo Clear! Solo clearing a dungeon is a Heroic Achievement! For satisfying the requirements of this Heroic Achievement, you receive +1 to all current stats.]

[Unlocked title: Pioneer! The title Pioneer gives you an extra unallocated stat point per level. This bonus applies retroactively.]

[Upgraded title: Inheritor! The title Inheritor gives you access to the first and second ranked skills of your benefactor, Susan Doyle.]

[Error! Title: Inheritor; no data found. Recalculating. Congratulations! You have been given access to two generic skill slots in compensation for a System error.]