The 5 stages of grief create a psychological model created by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in 1969 in an attempt to detail the process through which humans experience grief. The 5 stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The model is only a generalization; not everyone experiences all of the stages, and not everyone experiences them in the same order.

James, however, went through all of them:

Denial: There’s no way Zhang Li would really make me write a song for him and drag me into the world of entertainment, thought James.

Anger: Why the fuck am I writing this song right now? This is his job! James hit his desk while writing the song on his computer.

Bargaining: Okay, at the very least, give me a pseudonym. Please don’t give my real name away, James said to Zhang Li.

Depression: James sat motionless at his desk, looking at the online video sharing platform. The video on the top of the trending page was a song uploaded by Zhang Li’s channel.

Acceptance: Well, now that I’m kind of famous, at least I have an excuse for the money I earned in the dungeon. Or maybe I won’t even need to bring money from the dungeon?

Denial/anger part 2: LEAH! I AM NOT GOING TO ACT IN YOUR DAMN CLOTHING COMMERCIAL!

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It had been almost two weeks since James found the grimoire, and it had been an eventful two weeks.

Zhang Li had polished up the song James had made, saying that it was surprisingly good. He told James to review everything before he posted it. They made a few changes, and James asked Zhang Li to use a pseudonym instead of his real name. Although he didn’t have high hopes of keeping his identity a secret, he would rather be known by a stage name.

The problem was, James wasn’t sure what name to use. Leah came swooping in, suggesting the name Icicle, due to James’ newly discovered magic attribute and his thin figure. Zhang Li really liked the name, whereas James was tempted to use the aforementioned magic and hurl an icicle at Leah. However it was too late. He was christened James “Icicle” Lu.

Before the naming incident, James didn’t even know that Zhang Li was talking to Leah about the project. When he asked her, she said that she was interested in using him as a way of popularizing the MK company’s clothing, Leah’s father’s business.

“Your face doesn’t look too bad. You’ll be a great tool.”

Magic was not allowed in the dungeon shop, so James couldn’t attack Leah. Well, that was probably good for James. Leah could have burned him and his ice magic to a crisp.

The song “For Nothing,” by Zhang Li and Icicle, was released on the largest video sharing platform. The song immediately became a hit - it gathered 20 million views within the first 24 hours of being posted.

It was here that James discovered the power of names - some random song he had slapped together had become a massive hit just because it was a celebrity who released it. James felt that it was Zhang Li’s singing/dancing/appearance that made the difference - James didn’t even appear in the music video.

“Well, I can’t deny that,” Zhang Li said when James told him that. “But even someone like me has songs that are more successful than others. In my opinion, I like the way this song turned out. At the very least, it’s not bad.”

And so, James became a minor celebrity for the time being - after all, Icicle was someone who had only made one song with a bigger artist. He didn’t really like the attention he got, but he could deal with it. His close friends didn’t change the way they treated him, although some people tried to suck up to him, which was a new experience. He even signed his first autograph.

The biggest problem was safety and privacy - he needed to make sure his family wasn’t affected by his new fame. James discussed it with his family, and decided to move into a new house with better security. He did have to convince his parents of his financial status first, though. His parents put heavy emphasis on the fact that a career based on music was unstable, and that he should continue his education and always have a back up plan.

Soon, Leah followed up on her words, asking him to be part of an advertising campaign for MK clothing. James tried to refuse, but ended up caving in to her pressure.

“I needed clothing that was light, comfortable, and durable. Luckily, I found it. MK Clothing is the brand for me.”

James spouted the lines he’d been given, trying not to be stiff. Then, he turned to the camera and repeated the catchphrase. “MK. Casually Active.”

“Who came up with this corny line anyways?” he complained. “It doesn’t even make sense! It’s sportswear! Athletes aren’t casually active, they’re actively active!”

Once the editing had been complete, he took a look at the final ad. It made him cringe, but he genuinely couldn’t tell if it was because his acting was actually bad, or if it was because he was looking at himself.

At the very least, James didn’t have to worry about associating himself with terrible products. The quality of the clothing, as far as James could tell, was actually pretty good. Since MK had outside funding (the dungeon), they were able to focus on the products instead of the profits. More so than most other companies.

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James held out his hand, chanting a magic spell. Mana, specifically that of the ice attribute, gathered around his hand, shaping itself as he chanted.

[I invoke the element of Ice: Conjuration. Compression. Acumination. Acceleration. Spear of Ice!]

He made a thrusting motion with his hand as he finished the chant.

A small, misshapen chunk of ice, no bigger than a pebble, flew out of the space in front of James’ hand. It travelled forwards until it bounced harmlessly off the forehead of a goblin.

“EEEK! EIEEEIK!” The goblin became enraged, and charged at James. However, before it could reach him, it was intercepted by a large brown blur, which collided with the goblin and sent it flying.

“Damn. I should probably practice the conjuration part.” James wasn’t surprised that his spell had failed miserably.

“You’re just not used to controlling mana yet,” Ajartum said from on top of his head. “This always takes practice, and it will take even longer because you don’t have the standard mana core.”

James had an extremely unique innate mana core, as it was really sensitive to mana both inside and outside his body. This meant he had a lot of potential. However, because his core was different, it was harder for him to learn magic, at least at first. Plus, Viann’s techniques, which were made for mana cores that were very similar to that of the Volcanic Sage’s, didn’t quite work.

James’ mana core was much less defined than Ajartum’s or Viann’s, who both had less defined magic cores than the average human. In fact, it was so dispersed that it barely met the requirements to be a core. A good thing about this was that James was much more sensitive to mana than an ordinary person.

On the downside, in order to use regular magic, he had to form a pseudo-core in his own body. Many of the chants and formulas in Viann’s grimoire required a core. It might’ve been a hassle, but it was much easier than creating new magic formulas specifically designed for his core.

A bead of sweat painted a trail down James’ forehead as he struggled, trying to maintain the spherical shape of his core. It became lopsided for a second, but then became even again.

“I’m kind of bad at this.”

The beanie laughed when he heard this. “No, you are not. You’re extremely talented. Because, you need to hold the pseudo-core as well as perform the usual incantations, the difficulty is much higher. It’s only a bit easier than double incantations. Yet, you’ve managed to come this far.”

“It’s not a problem with imagination, is it?” asked James.

“Not for spells as simple as these. Only with more complex spells is that an issue. The uncontrolled release of mana can be dangerous, and control over that mana is the main difficulty in precisely casting high tier spells. Unless you’re going to unleash as much destruction as you possibly could.”

“Can I try?”

“Go ahead. You won’t be able to harm anyone.”

“That is both reassuring and depressing.”

As the sounds of a goblin suffering became muffled, James gathered as much mana as he could into his core. Then, he attempted to release it all at once.

“HAH!”

A blast of cold wind spread throughout the hall, originating from James. It was much more impressive than the fleck of ice he’d made earlier, but it also tired him out a lot more. He could feel part of his mana depleting, as well as physical fatigue, which was caused by using his body to direct the mana.

Using one of the items that the grimoire had given him, James had tested his own magical attributes. He was capable of using all major types of magic, including fire, ground, light, and dark, but his strongest attributes by far were wind and ice/water. This was interesting, as Viann the Volcanic Sage specialized in ground and fire magic. It could be said they were like opposites.

The reason why the magic he just released was of the wind attribute was because it was easier for him to visualize destructive winds rather than destructive ice. Although hail could be destructive, James couldn’t imagine what a full release of ice would be. On the other hand, tornadoes were exactly that: unrestrained, destructive wind.

James relaxed, and the pseudo-core dissolved.

“Okay. That actually made me more aware of my shortcomings. Let’s go back to the basics. I’ll hold off on this magic until I can stably hold the pseudo-core. I got a little carried away, and tried to bite off more than I could chew. Oi, Leo!”

The brown blur that had taken out the goblin was Leo. Since his evolution, Leo had become physically powerful. Additionally, he gained the ability to change his size. Currently, Leo was at his maximum size; on all fours, his back reached James’ hip. As he took in more mana, he would be able to grow bigger.

Leo separated himself from the goblin corpse and waddled over to where James was. They were on the 1st floor right now, because James wanted to try using magic on goblins. Additionally, it was safe for Leo. There were no traps, and his claws and jaws could easily take down a goblin.

This floor was easy for James now, but he didn’t even have to lift a finger - Leo actively hunted down every single goblin, because James allowed him to eat the magic stones of the monsters he killed. What a glutton.

Eventually, they arrived at the boss room. James reached into his bag and pulled out his throwing knives.

“I can’t get rusty, can I?”

The mini-boss died pitifully. It had been impaled by multiple knives before it could even reach James. He hadn’t gotten rusty at all.