In regards to dragons, there is, in fact, historical evidence of their existence! You need go no further than the cave in Vir that is still sealed to this very day under royal decree.

If that isn’t sufficient proof, you need only look at one of the few museums that have authentic dragon scales on display.

And should you fail to believe even that, read the records, you son of a dave! There are dozens of reports of dragon attacks in the first century! Usually spread out by a decade or so, but they have happened in all 3 kingdoms! (And even the defunct kingdom of Besti!)

If none of those things is enough to convince you, then I doubt that this missive will have any effect on your staunch refusal to accept historical fact!

“But,” you say, “where are the dragons now? If they were not a clever hoax or a recurring myth, then why do we not see them today?”

You blind fool! Isn’t it obvious? The last dragon sighting happened before the [Necromancer’s] attack.

It is apparent that in his rush for conquest, he, on accident or by design, wiped out their spawning region!

Excerpt from a letter written to the author of “Dragons, a Clever Myth”

-----

I knew that the adult dragon was dead as soon as she took in that deep breath of lava.

The achievements I got confirmed that.

System: New Achievement. Elite Underdog. Class Perk Points Gained 5

System: New Achievement. First Elite Underdog. Class Perk Points Gained 5

System: New Achievement. Fire Dragon Slayer. Innate Fire Resistance Unlocked

System: New Achievement. First Fire Dragon Slayer. Innate Fire Resistance increased by 2 levels

For someone with [Fire Immunity], the last two achievements did nothing more than rub salt on the wound.

However, it seemed the System wasn’t done mocking me either.

System: You’ve earned an achievement! Make sure to check the achievements tab for more information!

Achievements were the farthest thing from my mind at that moment, though.

They… were sentient. I murdered them. Oh, god, what have I done!?

However, it turned out that the mother’s last act hadn’t been just a petty act to deny me the “satisfaction” of killing her.

Her scales lit up in a blinding light that seemed like the sun had risen inside the volcano.

Oh frick-

That’s all I managed to think before her corpse exploded, practically leveling the volcano and tossing me a couple hundred feet away.

That dropped me a couple hundred HP, and the resulting tumble over volcanic rock didn’t help much either.

With a groan, I sat up, dusted myself off, and looked at what remained of the volcano. The sides were completely blown out, and lava was spewing everywhere.

“Great job, Titus! Go in, murder them all, and then blow up their home just for good measure!” I said right before I buried my face in my hands.

Maybe it was okay that I killed them. I mean, they attacked humans first, right? I tried to justify myself. They were dangerous. If I didn’t take them out, they would have eventually found their way through to attack again, right?

I didn’t buy my own argument.

But they were sentient. Stupid, obviously, but still sentient. I shook my head. And apparently, if they grow up enough, they become full-on sapient. Can hold conversations, have children, and feel grief when those children are taken from them. I looked back up at the remnants of the volcano.

So, any way you look at it… I’m a murderer.

I flopped backward to the ground. I was having trouble processing the horror of what I’d done, so I was back to my usual modus operandi. Ignoring it and planning to deal with it later.

I could practically feel Dr. Wilson’s disapproving but caring gaze on me, but I elected to ignore that too.

The one thing I couldn’t ignore? The last message from the System was still sitting there telling me to check out the achievements tab. So, not having any better ideas to procrastinate dealing with genocide, I flipped it open.

It looked like whatever patch had added it was a good one. Not only did it show me all my achievements, but it actually showed the unlock conditions as well.

Achievement

Reward

Criteria

Dungeon Delver

5 Class Perk Points

Clear a dungeon by killing its boss

First Dungeon Delver

5 Class Perk Points

First to get “Dungeon Delver”

Underdog

5 Class Perk Points

Defeat an opponent who is 10 levels or more above you

First Underdog

5 Class Perk Points

First to get “Underdog”

Boss Solo

5 Class Perk Points

Defeat a dungeon boss without any other character in the boss room

First Boss Solo

5 Class Perk Points

First to get “Boss Solo”

Slayer of Giant Ants

5 Class Perk Points

Kill 100,000 ant enemies and an ant boss

First Slayer

5 Class Perk Points

First to get a “Slayer” achievement

First Demon Lord

5 Class Perk Points

Be the first Demon Lord and reach Level 5.

Last!

10 Class Perk Points

Be the last one to complete the tutorial.

You’re welcome for these two.

-AltSys

Sensei

1 free martial arts skill

Create a martial art by fighting enemies while unarmed

First Sensei

Cost of Martial arts skills halved

First to get “Sensei”

Conqueror

2 Class Perk Points

Claim a neutral or hostile obelisk

Duelist

1 Class Perk Point

Win 50 duels

Getting Wood

1 Class Perk Point

Knock down a tree with your bare fists.

Yes, that’s a Minecraft Reference.

-AltSys

Explorer

2 Class Perk Points and naming rights

Defeat the boss for an unnamed zone

First Explorer

2 Class Perk Points

First to get “Explorer”

Quester

1 Class Perk Point

Complete a quest

Skilled

1 Class Perk Point

Get a skill to level 5

Dragonslayer

5 Class Perk Points

Kill a dragon (level 25 or over)

First Dragonslayer

5 Class Perk Points

First to get “Dragonslayer”

Feyted Encounter

5 Class Perk Points

Travel to the land of the fey and live to tell the tale

First Feyted Encounter

5 Class Perk Points

First to get “Feyted Encounter”

Elite Underdog

5 Class Perk Points

Defeat an opponent who is 25 levels or more above you

First Elite Underdog

5 Class Perk Points

First to get “Elite Underdog”

Fire Dragon Slayer

Innate Fire Resistance III

Slay a fire dragon (level 50 or over)

First Fire Dragon Slayer

Innate Fire Resistance V

First to get “Fire Dragon Slayer”

The first thing to surprise me was the absolutely huge number of enemies needed for the ant slayer achievement.

100,000? Good grief! Good thing I was trapped in the tutorial so long, or I would’ve never gotten that. I paused for a moment after that thought. “Was I seriously just grateful that I was trapped in the tutorial for 6 months?”

A quick shake of my head, and I was back to perusing my earned achievements.

[First Demon Lord], and [Last!] were ones I’d forgotten about. Those and [Getting Wood] made me frown the more I thought about them. AltSys could obviously create achievements, so why didn’t he give me more of them?

I sighed as I thought back over all the times AltSys intervened. Knowing the future, like he apparently did, it was obvious that all of his meddling was only done to push me exactly to the way things ended.

He never cared about me. He only cared about screwing over Admin. I took a brief moment to think about my encounter with Admin. Okay, that’s fair. I conceded. If that was my only option for ruining that A-hole’s day, I’d probably take it too… I just wish I hadn’t been the pawn AltSys sacrificed to do it.

That tangent dealt with, I went back to looking through my achievements. When I got to the Fire Dragon Slayer achievements, I winced and passed over them.

To my surprise, there was another section in the achievements tab. It was labeled “nearly complete!”

Achievement

Criteria

Remaining

Slayer of Wolves

Slay 50,000 wolves and a wolf boss

Slay a wolf boss

“Hold up,” I addressed the interface. “I have slain a wolf boss. That elemental wolf thingy in the Faroff forest. I killed it once with the party and once with Soon Tubey. Why the frick didn’t those count?”

I thought that over for a minute or two more, and then I groaned.

“I never technically killed it, and I didn’t have the party perk.” I groaned. Oh well. Guess I just gotta go back to Faroff sometime and solo it. I snorted. It wouldn’t even be hard now that I’m level 25 again… I frowned as I remembered the gimmick and realized I wouldn’t have anyone to push the pillar around for me. Eh, I’ll figure it out.

Waving that off as a concern for future Titus and ignoring the growing number of things on the poor guy’s plate, I looked at the next one.

World Traveler

Travel to the far north, south, east, and west. Travel to the highest heights and deepest depths.

Travel to the deepest place in Placeholder

I raised an eyebrow. “And let me guess, the ocean doesn’t count? I did get teleported to the bottom of that, you know.”

The System didn’t answer me, so I just assumed I had to go even deeper.

Maybe I should brush off the old [Miner] class. Though, I wish I knew what the rewards were-

My thoughts were derailed as I looked at the next entry.

Fire Dragon Exterminator

Play a key role in the destruction of the fire dragon species

1 fire dragon (egg) remaining!

I looked at the prompt. I looked up at the volcano that was now beginning to rumble. I looked back at the prompt.

“SHIP!” that and several other censored expletives left my mouth as I jumped to my feet and sprinted to the volcano. If I was right and the last egg was in there, I needed to get back inside as soon as possible.

That meant going right through the flowing lava.

I ran as close as I could and then dove in. I was once again grateful for the video game lava physics but was a bit too focused on my goal to pay them too much mind.

I swam with all my strength and managed to make good headway against the flow. Meanwhile, the volcano continued its ominous rumbling.

I knew that the egg wouldn’t be in the lava or it would be a goner already, so I pulled myself up onto the first piece of land I could find.

Where is it? Where is it? I asked myself as I frantically looked around.

“There!” I shouted as I spied the waist-height egg teetering on a miniature island. I sprinted towards it.

However, it seemed I would be too late. “No!” I yelled as the last remaining dragon tipped over and started its fall into the lava below.

Pushing myself to my limit, I dove and [Flash Stepped] simultaneously and barely managed to get my arms under the large egg. Without giving it a second thought, I pulled it into my inventory.

It was just in time as I splashed into the lava, not half a second later.

I gave a sigh of relief as the lava surrounded me. I’m really glad that worked. I could’ve totally seen the System going, “nope, can’t inventory it. It’s a living creature.”

I left off that thought as the rumbling started getting worse, and I decided it would be best to get the heck out of there. I started swimming with the flow, but it was already too late. The volcano gave one last rumble and then stopped.

I had just enough time to wonder if it had tricked me when I was suddenly caught up in a jetstream of lava that flung me up into the sky. I got a few seconds to admire the lava and volcanic rock spewing everywhere before I looked down at the ground that was approaching at high speed.

This is gonna suck.

I didn’t so much land on the ground as I splatted on it.

“Ow,” was all I could moan out.

My HP bar dropped to near empty, and I got the expected notification.

System: Critical HP Detected. Sufficient Level Detected. Demon Lord Form detected. Auto-activating Demon Lord Form.

System: Attempting to activate Madness Form

System: MaDnesS FoRm ActIVated

“Welp. Here goes,” I groaned while sprawled out on the ground.

----

Up to this point, every time my Demon Lord form had activated, there were always enemies that it tried to fight or new traumas that I would have to pick myself up from afterward. That’s why this activation was so unique.

I turned into the Demon Lord of Madness, and I… did nothing.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, there was still the fact that I became a being with multiple eyes, tentacles, and mouths that shouted out horrors, but I didn’t actually do anything. I just sat there.

I guess there were just no enemies in range to go fight. Though, I do think that it would have been a bit funny if that form had decided that the volcano was an enemy. I would’ve paid to see that fight.

I get the sinking suspicion the volcano would’ve won, though…

Sorry, guess I should just get back to the story.

-----

I came back to myself lying on volcanic rock with the eruption mostly over.

“I’m glad I have so much HP,” I muttered. “That would’ve been sketchy.”

I sat up and double-checked things.

Dragon egg still in inventory, achievement still not acquired.

A sigh of relief, and I decided to pull the egg out. It thudded to the ground, and I panicked for a moment before realizing it was fine.

“So, one dragon left. Is that enough to carry on the species?” I asked myself as I looked down at it.

I had gone for it as my chance to redeem myself, but I realized the issue quickly.

Only one left. So, the species is doomed anyway. I sank to the ground again.

There was a part of me that tried to tell me it would work out, but I ignored it.

“Stop trying to think you can fix this, Titus,” I said to myself. “It’s over. You killed them all.”

However, the thoughts just kept niggling at the back of my head until I looked back at the dragon egg.

Oh. It’s getting cold. I should probably pop it back into my inventory before it dies too. I got up and did that only to realize what I’d done after.

“Wait… How did I know that fire dragon eggs had to be kept warm?” I furrowed my brows.

I also knew that eggs took 8 seasons to hatch and that the resulting hatchling would be too small to reliably feed itself. After a couple dozen seasons, they would grow-

“Seasons?” I asked. That was the first real hint that something weird was going on.

And I may not have been firing on all cylinders at that point, but honestly, I was pretty sure that I’d just gone crazy again.

However, as soon as I stopped thinking about dragons, the other thoughts died down.

“No way,” I muttered. Guess I got one thing that I could try… I tried to think about what laying an egg was like.

Let’s just say that was a bizarre experience as I got to “remember” pain and fatigue that I definitely hadn’t felt before.

“It’s her memories then,” I finally reached the obvious conclusion. “And I guess I have them because she linked to my mind?”

Once I knew what they were, it was a lot easier to parse through them. I skimmed and realized something vital.

“Every time she laid an egg… she didn’t have a mate,” I whispered. “She didn’t have a mate!” I shouted and then laughed in the way that only a severely relieved deranged man can. I pulled the egg out of my inventory and whirled it around.

“You can do it then! You may be the last of the fire dragons, but your species isn’t going to die! You can carry it on all by yourself, you beautiful asexually reproducing fire-lizard!” I stopped my spin and nearly kissed the egg before I got ahold of myself.

I also quickly realized the egg was still probably cold, so I cast a quick [Hell Blaze] and then set it next to the sinister flames as I paced back and forth.

“Okay, so the genocide was bad, but this is good,” I said to myself. “I can raise up a species of dragons that knows not to attack humans. Then, there’s no reason for them to fight, and it will be better for everyone!”

I looked back over at the egg, and my good mood dimmed. “Though… I’m uhh… sorry about your mom.”

I shook that thought away and began my planning. Okay, what do I need? First step, I need to get a whole lotta meat. I’m gonna need to feed a frickin’ dragon by myself for years. I looked back over at the egg and at the fire that had died down. “And I guess I’ll have to keep you in my inventory until I get that sorted out. Sorry about that,” I said as I scooped it up and put it away.

The egg’s safety confirmed, I went back to planning.

What else… Oh, I could probably visit a town to buy some meat instead of hunting it all myself? I thought about the fact that I was still probably on Vir’s most-wanted list and frowned. I guess that could be a problem. Maybe if I go visit Dryadal instead?

That seemed like a plan to me. I doubted they knew what I looked like all the way over in elven country. It also had the side benefit of being closer to the eastern volcanoes, which seemed like the only place that made sense to actually raise the new progenitor of the fire dragons.

“Actually, wait a minute…” I looked at the egg in my inventory. “Do you eat monster meat?”

If so, that certainly makes things easier. I just need a skinning knife, and then I could load up on wolf meat. Maybe get a good mix of other kinds just in case they don’t eat other monsters for some reason.

That pretty much solidified my plans to head to Dryadal, so my thoughts turned elsewhere after that.

Okay... What else?

I briefly remembered the extra perk points I’d gotten from the achievements and put some thought into that.

Based on what I’ve read, there should be a ton of obelisks that I already have control over in the east. So, I should be able to just waltz up to one of them and buy a couple perks. So… what ones do I want?

I had 17 perk points after the 10 I’d gained, and the answer seemed pretty obvious to me.

[Skills, Normal] would let me bump the cap up on [Martial Arts] and [Elemental Strike]… or maybe [Flash Step] instead. Definitely spending 5 points there. That would also let me use up my skill points. “Hmm,” I continued. “But what about my spell points? Do I want to just make 5 new monsters, or do I want to learn other stuff?”

I only considered the first option briefly before discarding it. The daves proved that I could make monsters that would appear in practically all biomes, and I didn’t want to be responsible for killing off a bunch of unprepared adventurers.

What spells would I want to get if I got [Magic, All], though? Maybe I could get like [Air Bolt] or [Earth Bolt] just to have some other ranged options? I wasn’t terribly excited about the bolt spells, so I changed tracks and thought about the other options. If I could get [Cleric] spells I could get [Heal]… so that I could damage myself more effectively. I chuckled. However, I turned a bit contemplative after that. Actually, didn’t Andrew have [Haste]? If I’m pretty much stuck fighting like a [Monk] now with all my skill levels in fist-fighting, wouldn’t that be a good option?

I was leaning heavily towards that option when I had yet another thought.

“Wait… [Restore]!” I said as I stopped my pacing. “If I could just cure myself of insanity, that would be good.” I briefly shuddered as I thought of all the times that the insane version of me had taken over and caused me grief.

“If I just cast it on myself daily… would that be enough for me to not go crazy?” I half-asked, half-muttered.

I wasn’t sure, but if there was even an outside chance that it worked like that, it was worth however many spell points it would cost me.

So, I once again had goals. Or at least, goals that didn’t consist of the genocide of an entire species. My first step to achieving them was to leave the dragonlands.

I started walking back to the teleporter in the dragonland’s version of Vir when I paused.

“If I go back through there, it might be dangerous,” I said to myself. Now, to be clear, I wasn’t thinking it would be dangerous for me. I was mainly worried that someone would catch me in Vir, and I would have to fight my way out.

So, I instead opted to look for another portal. Preferably one that was much farther east, both so I didn’t have to walk as far and so that I would be closer to my first destination.

“So… East then?” I asked myself as I looked at the volcanic rock stretching in that direction. I didn’t have a better idea, so with a shrug, I was off on my way.

I walked that way for quite a while, but I eventually ran into an issue… Literally.

“Ow, what the frick?” I asked myself as I ran into nothing and fell to the ground.

I got up, placed my hand out, and felt along the invisible wall. I traced it for a few dozen feet before giving up.

“Looks like I found the edge of the world,” I muttered. “And really? Invisible walls for the world’s edge? Couldn’t you have done it in a less hacky way?”

Shaking my head, I realized that I needed to pick a different direction to search.

I somewhat randomly decided on north and started walking that way.

I was under no illusions that it would be a quick search. I had no way of identifying where on Placeholder a portal to the dragonlands should be (much less if another one existed). I should have wandered for months looking for the one specific cave in the entire region that would have it.

Instead, it went more like this.

“Well, that looks like a decent place to start,” I said as I encountered my first cave to the north of the dragonlands. I entered it without a second thought and…

“You’ve gotta be sitting me,” I said as I stared at the twin arches with a purple portal stretched between them.

I sat down as I continued staring at it. “Okay, there’s no way in hail that I’m that lucky, right?” I murmured. Could it be a trap? Maybe it doesn’t go back to Placeholder, but it goes somewhere else?

My paranoia back in full force, I decided I needed to test it. And I had the perfect test subject.

“[Summon Dave],” I cast. I placed the ball of slime in front of the portal. “Hop forward 5 times. Wait 1 minute. Then hop backward 5 times.”

That minute was a long wait, and I wondered if my orders had been too complex for the poor little guy to handle. However, the dave made it back without issues.

“Well, wherever it teleports to is not hostile enough to kill a dave in a single minute,” I said. I immediately realized the flaw with that. “However, they have immunity to acid and don’t need to breathe.”

I was this close to summoning a heavenhound and repeating the test when I sighed. “Oh, screw it,” I said. I stepped through the portal.

Hey, I didn’t need to breathe either, and if the portal opened up to the elemental plane of acid or something else equally stupid, then I figured I wasn’t going to subject a poor dog monster to that kind of treatment.

… also, I was level 25 and figured I could survive a few seconds dip in acid anyway.

My paranoia proved to be just that as I came out the other side without issue.

System: Zone entered, Unnamed. Faction – Demon Lord

“Oh, back to Placeholder and already in a zone my faction owns,” I said as I surveyed the cave that looked nearly identical to the one I just left. “This isn’t overly convenient at all.”

I proceeded carefully through the unnamed zone while waiting for the other shoe to drop. I encountered nothing but monsters from my faction that seemed to pay me basically no mind. That trend continued up until I saw the zone’s obelisk in the middle of one large room.

Alright. Boss room. I should probably save up some daves and prepare. I paused. “Wait. I own this zone… and it's in combat mode.” I only hesitated slightly before I just… walked in.

No notification that I’d entered a boss room. No indication of a boss itself appearing. I walked in and walked up to the obelisk with no issues.

“Well, that was easy,” I muttered. I put my hand on the obelisk. “Upgrade.”

I already knew which perks I wanted to pick up, but I decided to have it list everything just in case I forgot an important one.

Name

Cost

Status

Decreased Skill Experience Gain (ALL)

-15 perk points

Obtained (Innate to Class)

Healing Inversion

-15 perk points

Obtained (Innate to Class)

Heavily Decreased Class Experience Gain

-10 perk points

Obtained (Innate to Class)

Monster Magnet

-5 perk points

Obtained (Innate to Class)

Asexual

0 perk points

Obtained (Innate to Class)

Health Regen, Slow

1 perk point

Obtained

Quest Interface

1 perk point

Obtained

Skills, Limited

3 perk points

Obtained

Status Display

3 perk points

Obtained

Magic, Limited

3 perk points

Obtained

Inventory

4 perk points

Obtained

Weapon Use

5 perk points

Obtained

Armor Use

5 perk points

Obtained

Health Regen, Normal

5 perk points

Available

Skill, Normal

5 perk points

Available

Party Interface

5 perk points

Obtained

Skill/Level Downscaling

5 perk points

Available

Fire Immunity

5 perk points

Obtained (Innate to Class)

Dark Vision

5 perk points

Obtained (Innate to Class)

Demon Lord Cold Resistance

5 perk points

Obtained (Innate to Class)

Magic, All

10 perk points

Available

Health Regen, Fast

10 perk points

Unobtainable

Skills, All

10 perk point

Unobtainable

Status Effect Resistance

15 perk points

Obtained (Innate to Class)

Magic, Advanced

15 perk points

Unobtainable

Biologically Needless

20 perk points

Obtained (Innate to Class)

Ageless

25 perk points

Obtained (Innate to Class)

Demon Lord

25 perk points

Obtained (Innate to Class)

Memory Protection

50 perk points

Obtained

I looked over all of that and reminisced for a bit. You know… it’s hard to believe how weak I started out. I remembered running in terror from the ants that I could easily one-shot now. I remembered back when level 1 wolves used to be a problem. And despite all the trauma that used to mean… I laughed in spite of myself.

However, I still wanted to spend my perk points, so I figured I should get back to choosing.

Looking at just the things that are available, I have [Health Regen, Normal]… wait. I completely forgot that I’ve been running on slow health regen this entire time. I snorted and shook my head. “Yeah, that one's going to have to be the last priority for me. My HP regen is already good enough.”

Then I was struck by something.

“Wait. [Healing Inversion] is negative 15. Could I pay perk points to get rid of that one?” I debated that for half a second more and finally came to a conclusion.

“Get rid of [Healing Inversion],” I commanded.

The System didn’t respond.

“Buy [Healing Inversion]?” I asked.

System: Error. Healing Inversion already purchased

I scowled. “Remove [Healing Inversion]. Buyback [Healing Inversion]. Delete [Healing Inversion]!”

Nothing worked. Though, the last one did at least change the error message.

System: Error. Insufficient rights to delete perk “Healing Inversion”

“If only there was an admin around to conveniently help me right now,” I said to thin air. “That would be great,” I continued.

After about a minute of no reply from AltSys, I gave up.

Dang. I guess that means he wasn’t joking when he said that was the last time he would contact me. I still wasn’t a big fan of AltSys, but if I had to choose between him and Admin, I would still go with him.

Though, it did seem that neither of them was around anymore.

That thought made me nervous. Wait… does that mean if I break the world again that no one’s around to fix it?

I went back to my perk selection.

Let’s just go with something that won’t break the world, shall we?

I tabled [Health Regen, Normal] immediately because if I ever needed my HP back that frequently something had already gone disastrously. I also didn’t even spare [Skill/Level Downscaling] another thought.

Why on Earth would I want to lower the level of my skills? I snorted.

That left two main options. I could get [Skills, Normal] and [Magic, All], or I could get [Skills, Normal], and then [Skills, All]. And honestly, with it narrowed down to those choices, it wasn’t even much of a debate.

“Purchase [Skills, Normal], and [Magic, All],” I stated. Hey, skill points don’t grow on trees. Even if [Skills, All] gave me something crazy like [Sunder] as an option, I was pretty sure I could never afford it.

I was down to 2 perk points again. Easy come, easy go, I thought with a brief shake of my head.

Next, I flipped over to skills.

“What the heck?” I couldn’t help but say aloud as I saw my pitiful list of options.

Name

Type

Cost (skill points)

Knifemanship

Passive

5

“That’s it? Didn’t I used to at least have that stupid [Pack Mule] skill or something?” I mused. Oh well, wasn’t going to pick that up anyway.

Fortunately, picking up new skills wasn’t what I was aiming for anyway. There was an option for “upgrade skill caps,” so I selected it.

Name

Type

Cost (skill points)

Martial Arts – Way of the Adaptable Fist

Passive

5 (Price Reduced)

Elemental Strike

Active

10 (Price Reduced)

Flash Step

Active

20 (Price Reduced)

Athletics

Passive

6

Sneak

Passive

6

Pack Mule

Passive

6

“20 perk points for [Flash Step]? After the cost reduction from the achievement!?” I asked in shock. “How is anyone ever supposed to afford that!?” I frowned. “I mean… technically I could if I just dump almost all of my skill points into it, but… still.”

And that wasn’t the only surprise in store for me. I also had more options available for upgrade than I thought.

[Martial Arts], [Elemental Strike], and [Flash Step] were the main ones I was thinking about upgrading.

[Athletics] was expected.

[Sneak] was a surprise, but it at least made sense because crazy Titus did spend a lot of his time using that skill.

[Pack Mule] was absolutely unacceptable.

“Why the frick do I have that stupid skill at 5!?” I shouted at the inanimate obelisk.

“It sounds like it’s a skill for carrying stuff,” I said as I started opening my inventory. “But why would I randomly get enough experience to gain it and level it… to 5…” I trailed off as I finally got a good look at the amount of stuff I was carrying.

“Dragon scales,” I said as I pulled out an armful and dumped them on the ground. Then another… and another…

“And dragon bones,” I said as I started dumping those out too.

That large boss room that I was in started to feel a bit crowded with all the stuff I pulled out.

As I stared at the literal tons of materials that I had pulled out of the ether, I gave up.

“Okay, fine. I bet I couldn’t carry all of this without that skill. You win,” I said.

The obelisk didn’t say anything as I stuffed all the dragon parts back into my inventory, but I could still feel it standing there, all smug-like.

Yes, I really thought that the obelisk seemed smug. That was enough to make me worried.

Okay. Time to buy [Restore] before anything crazy happens…

I flipped over to spells without even purchasing any of my skills.

I was disappointed by what I saw.

Name

Cost (spell points)

Mage Bolt

5

Heal

5

Strengthen

5

“What are these options?” I asked myself. “Where’s [Restore]? Or [Haste]? Or any of the good bolt spells?”

I was close to complaining about a waste of 10 perk points when I realized the likely culprit.

Calm down, Titus. It’s fine. These are probably the prereqs, right?

“Purchase [Heal],” I said.

System: Heal is now available

As expected, my list of options changed… but not by much.

Name

Cost (spell points)

Mage Bolt

5

Cure

10

Strengthen

5

“Where the frick is [Restore] you useless piece of trash!?” I yelled as I slammed the obelisk with my fist.

I took some deep breaths.

Okay, [Restore] isn’t an option. Use your brain. Why wouldn’t it be there?

I discarded my initial knee-jerk reaction of it not being there because Placeholder hates me… As valid of a conclusion as that would have been.

Instead, I thought about the [Clerics] that I knew.

Andrew. He had [Heal]. He had [Cure]. He had [Haste]… He might have also had [Strengthen]. I frowned. I don’t even remember hearing about [Restore] being an option.

My thoughts grew more puzzled as I continued thinking. However, then there’s Sarah. She has [Heal] and [Restore], but she had those before hitting level 2. My eyes widened. “Because she was a [Priestess]! It must not be an adventurer spell! It’s like [Message]! I need to go learn it from someone!”

I couldn’t help the sigh of relief that escaped my lips. It would be more difficult than I thought to learn the spell, but at least it would still be on the table.

“Speaking of [Message], I know just who to ask,” I muttered. “[Message] Sarah Smith. Hey Sarah, long time no [Message]. Anyway, I was thinking about learning [Restore] to help me not go crazy again. Is that something the church lets other people learn? If so, do you think there is someone in Dryadal that would be willing to help out?”

Sarah Smith: Maintain your position against those ghouls and prepare for an area heal! Power of light, grant those I love and protect the power of your mercy. Banish the dark. Bring forth daylight. Bathe your children in the soothing comfort of your rays. [Holy Wide-Area Heal]!

I blinked a few times at that response.

“[Message] Sarah Smith. Did I catch you at a bad time?”

Sarah Smith: Titus!? Yes, you IDIOT! Where have you been!?

I didn’t have a good answer for that. So, I went with a bad one.

“[Message] Sarah Smith. Uhh… fighting dragons, mostly,” I stated.

Sarah Smith: Really? For 14 years?

“[Message] Sarah Smith,” I said. I was ready to follow it up with something like. “Good joke.” Or maybe, “Nice try, but you won’t fool me that easily.”

Then I actually thought about it. Traveling the length and breadth of the dragonlands while in [Sneak] near constantly. Winters coming and going. The extermination of an entire species wouldn’t happen overnight.

I practically fell into the obelisk as I realized exactly how long I’d been gone.

“Oh, god.” I felt sick. I felt like I was losing my mind again. I kept talking if only to keep myself grounded in the present. “Not only did I kill them all, I was insane for 14 frickin years?” I asked myself. “I need to learn [Restore] as soon as possible. I can’t have that happen again.”

Sarah Smith: You killed all the dragons? Nevermind, more important things. [Restore] is only available for [Priests]. [Necromancer’s] invading Dryadal and Vir. We are being pushed back and need your help.

Sarah Smith: Wounded over

I assumed that last [Message] hadn’t been meant for me, just like I hadn’t actually meant to send Sarah a [Message] of my thoughts about attempting to maintain sanity.

I took a quick look at the dragon egg in my inventory before sighing. Sorry, buddy. Looks like saving the fire dragons will have to wait.

“[Message] Sarah Smith. I want to help, but I’m all the way in the eastern volcanoes. Is Vir still going to be standing by the time I get there?”

Sarah Smith: Go help Drydal, then. Gertrude’s holding and being pushed back. If the [Necromancer] suddenly starts losing there, the pressure should ease up on us.

“So, Gertrude’s still kicking, eh?” I asked myself, slightly amazed. However, that threw a wrinkle into that plan.

I was pretty sure that if Gertrude saw me again, she would try to kill me. Which, given that I accidentally destroyed her people’s primary hunting ground, would honestly not be that much of an overreaction. Well, that was also assuming that she managed to recognize me, but if I was summoning daves or otherwise attempting to swing an entire war, I got a distinct feeling that I wouldn’t exactly be flying under the radar.

Fortunately, I had a better idea.

“[Message] Sarah Smith. Dryadal is a no-go if Gertrude is there. I’m going to counterattack instead.”

Sarah Smith: Are you crazy? Even Jake barely survived with 100 elite adventurers to help!

Good thing I’ll have an army instead.

Time was ticking, so I went back to upgrades.

“Upgrade [Athletics],” I stated. That was the only option that I had that would get me to Besti faster, so I basically had to take it.

System: Applying experience retroactively for Athletics

I quickly checked the skill and saw that bumped it up to 7. 6 of 25 skill points down the drain.

“Upgrade [Martial Arts],” I continued.

System: Applying experience retroactively for Martial Arts

Just like [Athletics], that skill also hit 7. 11 of 25 points used.

“And finally, upgrade [Elemental Strike],” I finished.

System: Applying experience retroactively for Elemental Strike

[Elemental Strike] only leveled to 6, but I figured that would still be a decent damage increase.

With only 4 points left, I had nothing else I could buy skill-wise.

I flipped over to spells and hesitated.

“[Message] Sarah Smith. Do [Heal] and [Cure] harm the undead?” I asked.

Sarah Smith: Please tell me counterattacking is a joke

“[Message] Sarah Smith. No. It isn’t. And answer the dang question,” I replied.

Sarah Smith: System preserve us. Yes, healing hurts the undead

“Thank you,” I replied even though she couldn’t hear me. “Purchase [Cure],” I stated.

And with that, I was done. I still had 10 more spell points that I could’ve used, but I wanted to save them all in case [Restore] ended up being that expensive.

Yes, I knew that Sarah said it was only for [Priests], but I figured that just meant I would have to impersonate one a bit after the business with the [Necromancer] was finished.

In other words, it was once again something for future Titus to worry about, so I figured I would give the guy a few spell points to play with just in case.

After that, I was off. Running at my best speed towards the Besti Deathlands.

It felt familiar running like that, and I couldn’t help a brief smile that crossed my face. Because unlike the last time I ran alone across Placeholder, I was running to save it.