Recent years have shown that demon worshippers, or even the [Demon Lord] himself, walk among us. Do your part! Report suspicious behavior!

Yet another propaganda campaign that ran in Vir

-----

“Good afternoon, Titus,” Arryn said as she walked into her classroom. “Right on time as always.”

I chuckled. “Yup, I’m paying enough for this. I wouldn’t want to miss a minute.”

“So, what did you want to work on today? [Fire Ball]? One of the other spell schools like Deprendio or Communicatio? More theory?” she asked as she pulled a cup of tea out of her inventory and handed it to me.

Apparently, certain brews gave a very slight buff to mana regen, so she had taken to bringing some to class with her every day. As for me, I had taken to draining them in one go and pretending like my mouth didn’t rebel at the ashen taste.

“Theory,” I replied. I think it’s time. I can’t just keep working on elemental magic forever. “I’ve been meaning to ask you to take a look at this,” I said as I pulled out a piece of paper. It was one of the spells from Tim’s journal. Not that I pulled it directly out, I made sure to copy it instead, both so that I wouldn’t be pulling out his journal in front of Arryn and so I could clean up some of his chicken scratch.

“Fascinating,” she replied. “Where did you get this?”

“Oh, just on my travels,” I replied. I let her study it for a few more minutes and then asked, “So, what do you think?”

“I do not know of any school of magic that would maintain a usable formation with this type of layering,” she muttered. “Aeris? No, it is too disjointed even for that.” She raised an eyebrow at me. “This is not some form of practical joke, is it?”

I shook my head. “Nope, but it doesn’t make sense because it’s using a different school of magic.” I gave a dramatic pause. “Time magic.”

She dropped the paper as if it burned her.

I sighed. Great, her too.

“I am going to pretend I did not see this for your sake,” Arryn replied as she conjured a small puff of flame and ignited the diagram.

“I thought an academic like you would appreciate that school of magic even if the church doesn’t,” I grumbled.

She gave me a laser-focused glare. “It is because I am an academic that I cannot approve of that school of magic, should it even exist.”

That reply confused me. “And why is that?”

She sighed. “Tell me, Samson. I am assuming you wished to send something backward in time. What are the problems with that?”

“Oh, you mean like temporal paradoxes?” I asked.

She paused. “Yes, that is adequate terminology. Let us use that. What temporal paradoxes could arise?”

I scratched my beard and tried to pretend like I hadn’t come from a world where the term “Grandfather paradox[1]” existed.

“The main one I can see,” I replied. “Is where someone goes back in time and makes it so that they were unable to go back in time in the first place.”

She nodded. “Correct. However, in this purely hypothetical scenario-“ she gave me another strict glare. “-would it not also be the time traveler who is expending the mana in order to send themselves back in time?”

I wrinkled my brow. “Why would that make a difference?”

She sighed again. “Tell me, Samson. What does all magic use have in common?”

“It… uses MP?”

“Correct. So, if someone was capable of casting time magic to go backward in time, where would the expenditure come from?”

Oh. That’s a different perspective. I thought for a moment as I tried to understand where she was coming from. She’s looking at this as using magic to rewind someone. And rewinding yourself would be impossible because you would bring yourself back to before you cast the spell, and therefore your mana would be full again. I snorted. That would also be useless because you wouldn’t remember you cast the spell, so it would just lead to a loop-

Arryn coughed lightly.

“Oh, sorry,” I said as I focused back on the conversation. “I can see your point about that, but what if it was more… external time travel?” I asked. “Time travel where you go back as an observer and could see yourself from that timeline running around.”

She frowned. “I suppose that would solve the mana problem. However, making any changes at all would quickly result in a divergent timeline where the time traveler might end up never traveling at all.” She shook her head. “Either way, that is far too dangerous.”

Honestly, it would have been safest to agree with her and leave it there. However, I had one last type of paradox I needed to go over. Causal loop[2] time. I grinned. “But what if I learn a time travel spell from my future self. Then, I would have to time travel in order to teach it to myself, or there would be a paradox.”

She opened her mouth for a moment and then closed it. Then after thinking for a moment, she did it again.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to enjoy the goldfish expression I’d forced her into for long.

“That would make no sense because where did the information for the original spell come from?” she finally stated. “All information has to come from somewhere.”

Darn, she got the answer I would’ve gone with. Conservation of information. “I suppose you have a point,” I conceded.

“Good,” she replied with a shake of her head. “Either way, I take it after that tangent that we are forever done with this foolishness?”

“Yep, sure thing,” I nodded. Guess I’ll need to be a bit more careful about who I ask in the future.

After that, it was a pretty standard practice session. However, I think Arryn could tell that my heart wasn’t really in it.

“Mom!” came a young voice as a young girl came in and rammed into Arryn.

“Oh, hello, sweetie,” Arryn replied. “Is it that time already?”

“Yes, it is,” Gorluin replied from the doorway. “We just wanted to make sure that you weren’t too absorbed in your teaching.”

Meanwhile, I had knelt down next to Amarra. “Hello there!” I said as I gave her a small wave.

She waved back. “Hi, Mr. Roberts!”

“I think I might have something here for you,” I said.

“Really?” she asked excitedly.

“Yup! Just close your eyes.”

She screwed her eyes shut and then opened one of them.

I slightly wagged my finger at her.

She giggled and closed them fully.

Alright, let’s see how Frigis training has been going… I focused and tried to make something solid with it. It took a lot of mana and even more concentration, but I succeeded.

“Okay, you can open them!” I said.

She gasped. “It’s so pretty!”

In my hands, I had a doll that was made out of ice. There wasn’t much in the way of fine detail, but you could still make out that it was female and had a poofy skirt.

“Here you go!” I said as I handed it to her.

“Ouch!” she said, and the doll nearly took a spill to the floor.

“Careful!” I said as I caught. “Ah, right. Let’s get you something to hold this…” I pulled out a piece of cloth from my inventory and wrapped the doll up a bit before handing it back.

Meanwhile, Arryn looked stricken but quickly recovered.

“I am so sorry, Samson,” Arryn said. “But I am afraid that something has come up and I will be unable to meet with you tomorrow. I will, of course, offer you a refund for the day.”

I frowned. “Nah, don’t worry about it. Is everything okay?”

“Yes… I hope so, but there is something I must check on.”

“Alright, no worries. I’ll find some way to kill time tomorrow.”

She gave me a horrified look.

“It’s just an expression!” I quickly reassured her.

Gorluin gave us both a strange look but then just shrugged.

After that, we parted ways, and I went back to my inn.

An entire day to myself… I don’t know what I’m going to do with all that time. I plopped down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Still can’t sleep, so that’s a no-go. Don’t have any sights I want to see.

I checked my inventory and noticed that I was running a bit low on gold.

A bit low for me meant about 1000 at that point.

“That could work,” I said as I sat up. “And it would help with wasting time tonight too.”

I made sure that I had my cloak, torch, and sword, and then I headed out for the gate. I didn’t need any of those things, but if I was going to pretend to be an adventurer heading out for some late-night hunting, I needed to look the part.

Oh, I also didn’t pull my sword out until I was waved past the gate guards. It turns out that Dryadal had a similar law to Vir about brandishing a weapon, and I only needed to make that mistake once.

“I still don’t know why you think hunting in the wilderness is worth it,” one of the [Guards] said as I passed through. “Are there really enough monsters out there for it to be worth it?

I chuckled. “That’s what these are for!” I said as I pulled out a brown spherical item that smelled like death and made everyone around me recoil.

“And I still think you’re the only adventurer I know that’s crazy enough to use monster lures when hunting solo,” he said as he held his nose.

“You must not have met many adventurers. We’re a pretty crazy bunch,” I said as I put the wolf monster lure away. “Anyway, I’m off. Probably be back tomorrow sometime.”

We waved goodbye, and I was on my way.

Of course, I lied every time about hunting in the wilderness.

System: Zone entered, Bastion Plains. Faction – Dryadal

“Now, time to get to the spot,” I said as the first howls already heralded an encounter.

“Fire, strike my foes, [Fire Bolt],” I cast and pegged the first green-tinted wolf in the pack. I still have to focus, unlike [Hell Blaze]. There’s definitely something different about buying a spell from the obelisk and learning it on your own.

However, the wolves were closing the gap, and I needed to get the rest of my magic practice in.

“Ice, freeze my foes, [Ice Bolt]. Air, blast my foes, [Air Bolt]. Earth, rock my foes, [Earth Bolt].”

Three more wolves went down as I internally grumbled.

It gets really old having to say all of that every time. I wonder if getting the next perk for skills would let me learn [Quick Cast] like Sam?

In addition to having annoying chants, they still required a decent amount of concentration. In fact, I almost flubbed my casting of [Earth Bolt] even though I’d known it for months.

And now compare to the System spell… “[Hell Blaze],” I cast. I briefly observed the mana that was layered and launched without a single thought from me. It’s definitely Ignis, but is that a bit of death magic? Mortae? I frowned as my enemies were erased from existence. I’ve never seen it do anything but give the flames a black tinge. I paused and groaned. Please tell me that school of magic wasn’t thrown into that spell just for cosmetics.

I shook my head. “I should get going, but one last cast… [Summon Dave].”

The little blob of slime plopped to the ground.

“I still don’t have you figured out. I can sense something that’s like life magic, but it most definitely is not because creating you doesn’t make me want to hurl,” I said to the barely sentient blob. “So, what’s your deal?”

The dave didn’t answer. If it did, that was a sure sign it was time for a [Restore], so I was at least grateful I didn’t need another one since that morning. I picked the dave up and carried it to my favorite spot in the zone, a place where the hills became briefly steep and formed an alcove to funnel enemies at me from one direction.

“Ready, Sir Davory?” I asked. I set the dave down behind me.

“1,” I said as I pulled out a wolf monster lure. “2,” I said as I pulled out the second. “3, 4, 5.” I tossed them all to my dave and told him to hold the items.

What happens when a [Demon Lord] with the [Monster Magnet] perk uses the maximum number of monster lures at the same time?

Something glorious.

There were howls as wolves spawned almost directly in front of me. Then more howls as wolves spawned on top of the first ones.

And they just kept coming.

Meanwhile, all I had to do was keep punching and looting the literal dogpile.

Maybe I should pick up the [Alchemist] class and learn how to make my own lures sometime. I thought as I continued my routine. It would save me money, but then again, I guess I’m not really hurting for it.

It took just a few minutes for the monster cap for the zone to be reached, and soon more wolves were only spawning as I killed them.

However, all good things must come to an end. My lures expired and left me with just the standard number of monsters. Or at least… my standard number of monsters.

I did a quick check of my inventory.

5000 gold? Not bad for an hour’s worth of work.

I decided not to pull out any more lures. It turns out that having too much gold on you attracts a whole bunch of [Thieves] for some reason.

From there, I mostly just goofed around and practiced using magic in combat, all the elemental bolt spells, and [Mage Bolt] primarily. However, I did see how well I could compose a [Message] to Sam mid-battle just for kicks.

Either way, “training” (if you could even call it that) was enough to kill the time I needed, and soon it was time for my next lesson with the [Professor].

-----

“Good morning, Prof,” I said as Arryn came into the classroom.

“Oh. Good morning to you as well,” she replied, but I could tell she was a bit distracted.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Yes, everything is fine,” she replied. She didn’t pull out the usual cup but instead pulled out a lidless jar with a transparent liquid and went to hand it to me.

I was about to tease her about the mix-up when she slipped and spilled the entire thing all over me.

“Frick!” I shouted as it splashed over me. “That really burns!”

Arryn’s eyes widened. “I-I am so sorry! That was the wrong cup!” She futilely wiped at my shirt. “It was an acid that an [Alchemist] friend of mine worked on.”

Something still felt off about how she was acting, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

“It’s fine,” I replied. “You’re just lucky that I have adventurer levels, or you might have been locked up for manslaughter.” I chuckled, and she did too, but her’s was a bit more nervous.

Well, I guess she did just almost murder one of her star students. I thought as she finally handed me the usual cup of tea.

So, I shrugged and then drained the cup in one go, just like usual.

Arryn breathed a sigh of relief.

I should’ve learned by then that there are only so many red flags you can ignore as a [Demon Lord].

“Arryn,” I said as I staggered slightly. “What… did you do?”

I reached out my hand to her, but she jerked away and backed towards the door. I got a short glimpse of the fear in her eyes as I unceremoniously slumped to the ground.

“In here! Quickly!” I heard her shout, but it sounded like it was far away and underwater.

What’s it like getting rendered unconscious while not being able to sleep?

Not fun. That’s for sure.

I felt like I was drifting in a dreamless void while still being vaguely aware of what was going on in my surroundings. I heard the pounding of feet as people stormed into the room. I heard vague bits of speech from Arryn and the unknown others. I could even feel it when they planted my face into the floor and handcuffed my hands behind my back.

However, during all of that, I couldn’t do anything more than tell it was happening. I didn’t care, or even realize, that I was being captured. I couldn’t form a coherent thought about my predicament. At least… until it started to wear off.

I had been dragged up almost to my feet with two guards of some kind walking me to the door.

My thoughts were muddled, but I could start to think again.

“How much did you give him?” I heard a familiar voice say.

“Enough to kill a dozen men. Are you sure that dosage was not too much?” Arryn responded.

“Depends on how long you wanted to keep me down for,” I chuckled. I couldn’t use skills with my hands bound, so that’s what I took care of first. With a quick grunt of exertion, I snapped the handcuffs and then immediately followed that up with twin [Air Strike] elbow blows to the [Paladins] who were flanking me. One crashed into a desk, and the other into the wall.

“How did you manage to find me?” I asked as I stood surrounded by the other 6 of Sarah’s wary guardians.

“With her help,” Sarah nodded over at the now cowering [Professor].

But how did she know? I asked. Everything was fine until… I almost facepalmed, even in the middle of that situation. The ice doll. I gave away my cold resistance. I had a second realization that hurt nearly as bad. And that “acid” was just holy water. I’m such an idiot. I really need to pay-

“Now, I don’t suppose you’ll come in quietly?” Sarah asked, rudely interrupting my internal monologuing.

“I guess that depends on what you want,” I said as I continued slowly spinning a circle to keep track of the [Paladins] who had me encircled.

“For you to give up, pay for your crimes, and then for you to renounce time magic once and for all with a [System-Bound Oath].”

“First two, sure. Last one…” I shook my head. “No can do, senorita.”

“Is there nothing I can do to convince you what a fool you’re being?” she asked.

“Nope,” I replied nonchalantly and tossed a gold coin in her direction.

“I won’t be bribed,” Sarah stated flatly as she looked at the 5000 gold-piece.

“Oh, it’s not a bribe,” I said. “That’s for the damages.”

She tilted her head. “The damag-“

“[Hell Blaze]!”

The AOE spell directed at my own feet caught everyone off-guard. Some of the [Paladins] rushed to Arryn (who I made sure wasn’t in the AOE, I’m not a monster), some went to block the door, and exactly none headed the direction I went. The opposite wall.

A quick [Earth Strike] tackle took me through the wall and onto the street. I immediately took off running with Sarah’s Paladin Gang™ in hot pursuit.

From there, it was the same old song and dance. Outrun chasing lawful types. [Sneak] in alleyways. Ponder what they were planning to do if they managed to catch me.

That last one just got sillier as I thought about it. There was no way they could make a prison that would hold me, so that was out. And if they were planning to kill me, that would invoke madness form and likely a triple-digit body count in an area that densely populated.

However, as I continued [Sneaking], I realized that imprisoning me might not have been as far-fetched as I thought.

Wait. Why is my mana bar empty? I thought as shouts of pursuit faded into the distance. I didn’t get to do any casting today except a single [Hell Blaze]. I went to scratch my head and the broken link of the handcuffs I was still wearing dangled in front of my face.

“Oh,” I said aloud. Then I remembered I was supposed to be [Sneaking] and almost kicked myself.

Either way, I immediately assumed the mana drain was related to the translucent blue crystal socketed into those cuffs. I tested that theory right away by prying the cuffs off and stuffing them into my inventory. Sure enough, my MP started slowly coming back.

Out of curiosity, I pulled the handcuffs out, pried the crystal out, and [Identified] it. The spell told me it was a “mageicite crystal.”

Mana draining crystal. That’s not good. I frowned as the reality of what I’d just escaped finally hit me.

Time to get out of here. Back to the desert and upgrade my classes? I asked myself. I was sure I had a level or three banked up for [Magical Researcher] and maybe even [Barber]. I even have some perk points. Not enough to get [Magic, Advanced], though. I couldn’t help the wide grin that came over my face. Or do I? I just have some stops to make first…

------

A couple weeks of travel later and I was in a new city, attracting the usual stares. However, this time I was noticed for an entirely different reason.

“What, I got something on my face?” I asked as I walked up to, and looked down on, someone who could hopefully help me with an achievement.

“No, no,” the dwarf replied. “We just don’t see many tallfolk around here. What brings you to Pumil?”

I gestured him closer and then slipped a 50-gold piece into his hand as I whispered in his ear… That maneuver was actually a lot more awkward than I expected with the height difference. I had at least a good foot and a half on him.

Either way, once he leaned in, I continued. “I hear you’re someone who always knows a guy. I’m an adventurer, and I’ve got a lead on an achievement. The only problem is I need to go down as far as possible.”

He threw the coin in my face. “And how am I supposed to help with that? You think that just because I’m a dwarf, I’m a [Miner]? Get out of here! Go bother those idiots in the mountains!”

I learned two things that day. One, assuming all dwarves know about mining is racist and likely to make the dwarves in the cities loathe you. And two, it is apparently possible to make fractional gold coins.

I had handed him a 50-gold piece. The one that bounced off my head was only 0.01.

Overall, I have to say that the 49.99 idiot tax was worth it. Those were two lessons that were good for me to learn sooner rather than later. Though, it did end up being a full 50 gold because I couldn’t stand to look at my inventory gold when it wasn’t a nice even number like it should be.

After tossing the fractional coin, I moved on.

Okay, let’s try this again in the mountains…

------

It turns out that talking to the dwarves who lived in a literal underground mining town went a lot better than asking around in the city.

Not to say that they weren’t skeptical of my initial ask, which was along the lines of, “Hey, if I pay you, will you take me to the deepest part of your mine?”

However, letting it slip that I was an adventurer after an achievement, they were more than happy to oblige… and completely gouge me on the price.

Either way, I made it to the bottom and no dice. So, I did what any adventurer in that position would do, and I got hired to help with the mines… Or maybe that’s not what any adventurer would do. While most of ‘em are pretty crazy, I don’t know that they are that crazy.

Anyway, it ended up being a good deal for both parties. I was a level 3 [Miner] who had adventurer-levels of stamina, so I helped them beat all their old quotas (for a discount price, too, since I didn’t really care about the money). They, in turn, let me dig deeper on my own time and helped me actually know what I was doing. I imagine without their help I would’ve had to dig myself out of a multitude of cave-ins if I didn’t give up on the achievement outright.

However, that was a slow process. Their tunnels were a bit… cramped… for me. If I had tried the same thing back on Earth, I would have gone crazy or completely ruined my back with all the hunching I had to do. On Placeholder, though, it was just a bit uncomfortable being contorted like that for so long.

Over that period, I ended up learning a bit about dwarvish culture. Despite any efforts I made to avoid it.

The mountain dwarves were similar to what I typically thought of when I thought of fantasy dwarves. They were excellent [Miners], could hold their liquor, and were great crafters. One of the surprises was that they could also swear the paint of the walls… well, kinda.

I’m not quite sure what “thrice-depleted vein” is supposed to mean, but it was used with the same level of gravity as the F-bomb.

Which for those guys meant it was used with wild abandon. Oh, and I guess it was guys and gals. I… uhh… couldn’t always tell the difference between them, honestly.

Some heavily bearded ladies flirted with me during that time, mostly because I think they had fun making me feel awkward. I eventually learned to just tune it out.

Except for that particular teasing, I was treated no differently than anyone else. I had expected a lot more wariness or racism based on my time in Vir, but it seems that their vitriol was mostly directed at the dwarves in the cities who didn’t pick up the [Miner] class.

Speaking of city dwarves, there was starting to be a marked difference between the two groups. Both were craftspeople, but the mountain dwarves focused more on feats of engineering and machinery which were rugged and overbuilt. It was a bit of a shock to see great big mining drills that ran on manpower alone… err… dwarfpower, I suppose. Anyway, while the mountain dwarves were [Miners] and [Engineers], city dwarves focused more on making “useless pretty trinkets.” It took a bit more digging to find out that included jewelry and the magic side of things since there were almost no [Enchanters] among the mountain dwarves.

However, the biggest surprise was that it was common for the mountain dwarves to have [Dark Vision] as a racial perk.

To be honest, I had almost forgotten that racial perks were a thing since they never really came up for anyone in my first life. I also almost gave myself away because of my surprise at that racial perk… when I had it myself.

Or at least, that’s what everyone assumed, and I wasn’t exactly going to correct them and say that both of my perk types were mixed together.

Either way, my stay with the dwarves was an interesting interlude, but I was still thankful when it was finally time for it to come to an end.

-----

I was off in my section of the mines, digging a gently sloping ramp downward.

I wish the machines could reach down this far. I grumbled as I continued manually digging to the center of the world. If they could just punch a shaft down to the bottom, that would save me so much time.

However, there were multiple reasons that wasn’t happening.

The first reason was technical. The machines they used to excavate their mineshafts were way too heavy to bring into one of the mines. They would never be able to get them back up to the top. That would leave only the option of making a machine that could punch all the way to whatever Placeholder considered the “lowest place” from near-surface level, which was a non-starter.

The second reason was personal. The dwarves didn’t offer me much help with my digging to the center of the world because… they wanted to keep me around longer. Whether they enjoyed my company or just enjoyed the fact that I could do the work of at least five dwarves, it didn’t end up mattering much in the end.

However, none of that stopped me. The only thing that stopped me from my zoned-out digging was when my pickaxe made an unusual sound.

“Clang?” I asked as I came back to myself. I looked at the offending jet-black rock and frowned. “What are you?” I asked the rock as I bent down.

I ran my finger along it, and it crumbled.

I immediately [Flash Stepped] backward. If a rock that could take a pickaxe swing from me suddenly decided to crumble, I knew that something strange was going on.

I stood back for a minute just looking at it.

So… not a cave-in? I finally asked myself. Then what was that?

I edged closer to it and was treated to a strange sight. The rock had been replaced with grey, swirling light.

“A vertical portal?” I asked as I got even closer. Speaking of portals, I never did try this… “[Identify]!” I cast at the small chunk of portal that was visible to me.

Portal to The Below.

What, “The Nether[3]” was already taken? I snickered to myself.

I started clearing the area around and above the portal. I assumed that I would have to go through it to get my achievement. However, that was actually unnecessary. I accidentally stepped on some more of that black rock, and that was all it took.

System: New Achievement. World Traveler. Class Perk Points Gained 5

System: New Achievement. First World Traveler. Class Perk Points Gained 5

Fortunately, it seemed that whatever had caused the first portal to form, it wasn’t just touching the black rock that I [Identified] as “world foundation.” Either that, or there was a limit to how many portals could form in a specific area.

Anyway, my work in Pumil was done. I could have simply called it and left. However, that would mean just leaving a portal unexplored, and there was no way my curiosity would allow that.

I let a rope down through the portal… then I sent a dave down it first.

After it came back up with no issues, I went down myself. I slid down the rope, went through the portal, and soon felt my feet hit solid ground.

I immediately noticed one thing about “The Below.” It was dark. More specifically, it was dark for me, and I had never had to worry about that since coming to Placeholder.

“Well, it’s a good thing I brought this along with me,” I muttered as I pulled out a lantern. As always, the flame immediately lit. However, the light went only for a few paces. To make matters worse, it lasted only a few seconds before it sputtered and died.

“Ookaaaay,” I said softly. “This place is officially the creepiest.”

I was tempted to pack it up and head back to Placeholder, but I belatedly realized that I had seen something in the brief seconds of lantern light.

I pulled it back out, but it didn’t even light this time.

I tried creating some fire magically, but that didn’t work any better. It also ate up my MP.

Nothing for it… “[Summon Heavenhound],” I cast. I gave the dog monster a few pets as it appeared. “Okay, stay right here and bark if I tell you to.”

Yes, it was overly cautious, but I was terrified of getting lost down there. I didn’t want to lose the single rope that led back to civilization.

Either way, I cautiously walked over to what I’d seen.

It was a cluster of blue crystals growing out of the floor.

“No way,” I muttered. “[Identify].”

Sure enough, those were the same mageicite crystals that Sarah and the Paladin Bros™ used to drain my mana. That raised several questions, but I gave up on them quickly. I had no way of knowing how Sarah got her hands on crystals from another dimension or if they were just available in only specific spots in Placeholder.

Mental questions ignored, I mined a few crystals with my pickaxe, then headed back out of there. I also [Disrupted] the poor heavenhound because I would have felt bad leaving him there all alone.

Mission complete. I thought as I checked my perk point balance and saw I was up to 22. Any other achievements I can get done with before I head back to cash in?

I flipped to the achievement tab and scrolled down to the “nearly completed” section.

Achievement

Criteria

Remaining

Slayer of Wolves

Slay 50,000 wolves and a wolf boss

Slay a wolf boss!

Yup, definitely still planning on that one… I looked at the next one.

Fire Dragon Exterminator

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

1 fire dragon (egg) remaining!

No thanks. I looked at the egg in my inventory. Even if I could stomach doing that, it would probably just give me more fire resistance…

However, I was surprised to see a new entrance had replaced the one for World Traveler.

Interdimensional traveler

Travel to 5 different dimensions

Go to Hell!

“Go to Hell,” I stated flatly. “Thanks, System. You too.”

However, after my initial offense, I scratched my head for a bit, wondering how I had gone to 4 dimensions. Placeholder, Dragonlands, The Below… Oh. And the tutorial. Huh, I guess I have been to 4 dimensions. I closed out the achievements tab. Still not planning on making a trip to Hell any time soon.

That completed, I made my way back up to the dwarven town and said my goodbyes. They were all sad to see me go, but none of them tried overly hard to stop me, which I was thankful for.

Well, I guess they did delay me a bit. They all insisted on seeing the tunnel that I’d dug, so I did have to give a brief tour and also explain the portal.

The idea of a place where light refused to shine was a bit terrifying to them as well, so the area was marked off-limits. I was sure they would look for a workaround since I could tell they were just as curious as I was, but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.

Time to kill a giant wolf. I grinned. And I think I know exactly who to talk to…

----

Sam was being followed. It had taken her a while to catch on to that fact, but there were only so many times she could catch glimpses of the same people.

Dang inquisition. She grumbled to herself. However, she knew that she was getting off lightly. She’d heard horror stories of what happened to people that were taken in for “questioning.” Especially beastborn.

Fortunately, her level and connection to the guild made that approach unlikely. However, she was still worried every time Titus sent a [Message].

I don’t know how they did it, but they must have listened in on his [Message] to me. She thought as she went over the news of Sarah confronting Titus in Dryadal’s capital one more time. They wouldn’t have been able to find him that easily otherwise, right?

The good news was that Titus hadn’t [Messaged] her for months.

I hope he’s staying safe. Sam thought as she double-checked her gear and headed to the Faroff Forest dungeon by muscle memory.

I hope there’s at least one caster in this group. I’m getting too old to solo this. Old age is one heck of a debuff.

She chuckled to herself as she went, but that was cut short when she arrived at the entrance and saw only a single beastborn man with long blonde hair.

“Where’s the rest of the group?” Sam asked as she approached.

The man shrugged. “It would seem that they are indisposed.”

That got Sam’s alarm bells ringing.

Something’s off. An ambush? She casually checked her surroundings. She didn’t see anything, but that just made her more worried. I can at least know who I’m dealing with here. The man in front of her was not a level 5 adventurer. That much was for sure.

“[Identify],” she cast quietly in his direction… and had to stop herself from giving an aggravated sigh.

“Well, come on then, Roderick,” she said, desperately hoping that Titus would catch the hint. “If no one else is coming, I suppose we can make do with just the two of us.”

“Oh, uh. Sure,” he replied with a slightly quizzical look.

She was pleasantly surprised that he had somehow learned [Mage Bolt], and they made decent time getting to the boss room.

Once there, and she was sure they were not followed, she finally let him have it.

------

“Do you have any idea how monumentally stupid you’ve been!?” Sam shouted at me.

I shrunk back from the 5 foot 4, grey-haired ball of fury. “Uh… No?”

“No? No. Of course not!” she continued her tirade. “You don’t have a clue how bad the witch hunt has gotten here! People are being arrested for knowing someone who knows someone who was in your little cult!” She turned her back to me and then continued in a softer voice. “I don’t want to turn you in, but I’m already being watched. If they find out I’ve been helping you, I doubt I’ll get off with just a fine.”

“I… I’m sorry,” I said quietly.

“I know,” Sam said. “And I shouldn’t be so cruel to you. Not when… not when…”

I could hear the tears in her voice, so I walked up and put my hand on her shoulder.

“Not when we’re the only two left,” Sam finally finished. She turned toward me and buried her face in my chest. “I just miss them so much. Garrett… Lindsey… Even that birch Emilia’s kicked the bucket.”

I couldn’t do much but awkwardly wrap her in a hug.

“And I can tell,” she continued when she eventually disengaged and wiped her eyes. “It’ll be my turn next. I’m getting old and fading away every day here. And I can’t even get in touch with my grandkids in Dryadal because I’m worried they’ll get caught up in this mess too.”

That gave me a thought. I debated it for a few seconds and then shrugged.

“Wanna come with me?” I asked.

Her eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“I’m headed east because I need to use an obelisk. That’s probably not too interesting for you, but…” I grinned. “There’s a group of beastborn people off in the desert that way. A bunch of martial artists weirdos. Wanna come with me? See the world on one last adventure?”

She frowned. “I guess there isn’t that much keeping me here anymore,” she muttered. She gave me a grin. “As long as you’re willing to head with me to Dryadal after so I can see my grandkids, you’ve got a deal.”

“Deal!” I said as I gave her an exaggerated handshake. “Alright! All that’s left is to take down this boss!” I said.

Sam snorted. “Poor thing won’t even know what hit it.”

She was right. Two level 25s versus a single level 15 boss. The poor thing didn’t stand a chance.

System: New Achievement. Slayer of Wolves. Class Perk Points Gained 5.

After that, she packed some supplies, and David Junior and we headed out together.

[1] Grandfather paradox – If a time traveler goes back in time and kills his own grandfather during his grandpa’s childhood, what happens?

His grandfather dies, therefore the time traveler is never born, therefore he never goes back in time, therefore his grandfather doesn’t die, therefore he is born, therefore he goes back in time, therefore his grandfather dies…

[2] Causal loop – A paradox where a future event and a past event form a closed loop so that the information/object/person seems to have no cause (or seems to have come from nowhere).

For example, a time traveler gets a watch from their future self. They eventually travel back in time and give themselves the watch in the past.

This isn’t the grandfather paradox because the reason for time travel is upheld, but… Where did the watch come from?

[3] The Nether – A “not very nice” dimension in Minecraft full of lava, and hostile monsters.