It may come as a shock to present understanding, but there used to be only 4 races in Placeholder.

Human. Elf. Dwarf. Beastborn.

Yes, it is surprising, but the records dating back to the earliest of the first century of the age of adventurers confirm this.

So, where did the desert beastborn, the wood and high elves, and the numerous others (that I won’t bother to mention here) come from?

The answer to that is lineage. Specifically,

Where they were born and raised Who their parents were

For the first point, is it truly so much of a shock that after generations spent living underground that some dwarves developed [Dark Vision] as a racial perk? Or that the martially-inclined desert beastborn have grown to be stronger and more resistant to the heat of their homeland?

If a large enough group could manage it, I imagine that a race could even come to have water-breathing as a racial perk if they spent enough of their time submerged.

I digress.

As for parentage, it seems like a straightforward matter. Of course, a wood elf and a wood elf will produce a wood elf child. And as a citizen of Dryadal, it is well known that our fair country was the one that was the most welcoming to the beastborn after the fall of Besti. So, we are all familiar with elf and beastborn pairings: it is, in essence, a coinflip whether the child who is born will be an elf or a beastborn.

But what about a match between an elf and a human?

You may come to guess that, once again, it would be a 50/50 chance. You would be incorrect.

The offspring of a human and an elf is known as a Half-Elf, with no recorded exceptions. As for their offspring, they can produce either a human, an elf… or a half-elf. And only the latter, should they marry another half-elf.

However, elves and humans are not the only race with that same oddity.

What about the ever reclusive dwarves?

An Elf and a Dwarf paired together will produce a “dwelf,” while a human and a dwarf will produce a “halfling.”

The final entry also had another name that they were known by to otherworlders, but I hesitate to include it here. It may be a slur or an invocation of a curse. I am not sure.

However, from what records we have, the otherworlders agreed that calling them that would bring “the wrath of the Toll Ken Estate” whatever that may be.

Excerpt from “On the Origin of Races”

------

February 28th, 124 AA

I was alive.

Alive and absolutely livid.

I took a quick moment to examine my new form in the obelisk’s reflection.

I estimated that I was now around six and a half feet tall, and I looked strong.

Not that I thought muscle mass would matter that much, being in Placeholder and all.

My horns were also ram horns this time around, and the extra edginess it gave me didn’t exactly help with my mood.

Fuming, I turned to go clear the tutorial.

Or at least, I tried to turn.

System: You are over-encumbered and cannot move

“Over-encumbered?” I yelled at the inanimate text. “For frick’s sake! How the frick am I over-encumbered!?”

My rational mind informed me that I was still lugging around several metric tons worth of dragon parts and that I was now back to level 1.

I told my rational mind to shove it, dumped all of the scales and bones out of my inventory, and then had to practically climb my way out of there.

I was steadily getting more ticked off, and my body assisted with that. Going from level 25 to level 1 in a larger body made me feel like a snail that was going through growing pains. I was slow, and my limbs didn’t move the way I wanted them to. I nearly ate it several times in just the first few minutes.

Fortunately, I soon reached the entrance to the boss room and began to take out my frustrations on the assembled ants. Being awkward doesn’t matter too much when you can one-shot your enemies with [Fire Strike].

However, being awkward does matter when you end up leveling up. After clearing enough ants, I took a nose-dive straight into the hard cave floor.

“Stupid dang body,” I grumbled as I picked myself back up and dusted another ant on the way. “Why couldn’t I just keep the same one?”

I snorted because I knew the answer. That’s because that would be too convenient. And Placeholder certainly can’t let that happen.

And that let me discover yet another layer of disconnect between me and my new body. My physical voice was much lower-pitched than my internal one.

Which somewhat belatedly made me realize that my 2nd life voice had also been different from my first, but I guess it wasn’t enough to notice it.

Either way, my emotions were little more than a seething ball of rage when I entered the boss fight, and that’s probably why I nearly died to ants.

Okay, calm down. I told myself as I took a break inside one of the lava channels. Just get the wrath aura under control and use the [Demon Lord] aura instead because it will be more helpful.

So, I tried to pull the aura in and found out another unfortunate fact. I couldn’t.

Stupid aura! RETRACT! I knew the main reason it wasn’t working, but I wasn’t willing to admit it. I AM TOTALLY CALM!

However, my aura didn’t buy it. In fact, the frustrating experience of trying to stuff the aura back in just turned it into a feedback loop.

The System also helpfully gave me two messages on repeat, which didn’t help.

System: Attempting to activate Wrath Form

System: Insufficient level. Cancelling

System: Attempting to activate Wrath Form

System: Insufficient level. Cancelling

My aura became stronger and stronger until finally… I heard a splash.

That snapped me out of my downward spiral.

What the frick was that? I looked up from where I was situated under the lava just in time to see a few more splashes.

And then I started laughing so hard that I nearly choked on the lava.

My aura had been so potent… that the nearest ants had jumped into the lava just to try to get to me.

When was the last time I laughed? I thought to myself. I didn’t remember an exact time, but I knew only one thing for certain. It was before Sarah had died.

I exhaled a breath I didn’t know I was holding and let my shoulders relax.

She was the last one. I thought morosely. She was the only one left who had any idea of the real me.

My thoughts turned to the desert. I guess there are the other Bestians, but it’s still not the same. They saw me as a teacher, or a [General]. None of them is a friend.

Without my anger propping me up, I suddenly felt tired. And old.

I need to avoid getting attached. I finally concluded. I can’t keep dealing with this. Besides, none of this will matter once I get time travel working.

My thoughts trailed back to the circumstances of Sarah’s death.

Though, I’m sure I have time for a quick stop first.

My rage lightly rekindled, I finished my break and went back to clearing the boss fight.

It was strange. I didn’t need to focus the healers. It turns out that it doesn’t matter if your opponent has healers if you can just one-shot their allies.

So, I focused down the ranged ants first, then the normal and fire ants, and left the healers for last.

That would have been super dangerous if the ants had any idea that healing me dealt damage, but they obviously weren’t that bright.

After that were the elite ants. That was another snooze fest since a single [Fire Strike] was enough. However, I left one alive and decided to get all my resources back.

Why?

Because I had some pent-up anger that needed an outlet and punching a giant ant in the face seemed like a decent way to use it.

So, with a screech that took off about 5 HP, the Giant Ant Queen joined the battle.

It looked a bit smaller than in my previous life, but that was probably just because I was almost a foot taller.

We stood across from each other, sizing our opponent up before I got impatient.

“Come on!” I shouted as I flared my aura. “Bring it!”

The ant charged.

I had options at my disposal. I could run. I could [Flash Step] to the side to avoid it. Heck, I even had [Mage Bolt], which I’d nearly forgotten about. I could sit a distance and just pepper it.

I ignored the rational decisions, set my feet, and used the form just like Lindsey taught me.

My [Earth Strike] fist met the ant’s charge and stopped it dead in its tracks.

However, that was just our attacks canceling out. I wasn’t done, so I followed it up with an [Air Strike] punch as well.

The boss was about as surprised as I was when it got pushed back several feet.

I blinked a few times.

Well, my [Martial Arts] and [Elemental Strike] skills are pretty high. That should explain it, right?

The ant bull-rushed me again.

I met it with another [Earth Strike], but it grappled me with its pincers before I could follow up.

Here comes the toss. I had an idea. Unless…

I grabbed the pincers and, with a grunt of exertion, forced them back open.

I followed it up by popping the startled ant in the face with another [Air Strike].

Okay, that settles it. I thought as the ant started circling me warily. This body is definitely stronger. I’m probably not dealing any more damage, but I could never have done that at level 4 in my last life.

I frowned. Well, I guess my body was also a disabled mess when I was level 4 last time. So, that’s not a fair-

The boss rudely interrupted my musings by inhaling and then shooting a flamethrower at me.

I trudged over to it through the flames and gave it three quick [Earth Strikes], followed by an [Air Strike] when it went for the grab again.

That led to a situation that I’m pretty sure I’m unique in Placeholder for experiencing.

The boss took one more look at me… and then took off running.

I froze for a second. “Hey! Wait!” I called. “I’m not done with you!” I shouted as I started running after it.

Unfortunately for the boss, it was as stuck in the boss room as I was. Unfortunately for me, there was still quite a bit of space for a fleeing boss to run away.

I chased it for a single lap before remembering.

“Right! [Mage Bolt]!” I attempted to cast.

The spell fizzled.

“[Mage Bolt]!” I tried again.

Nothing.

“[Mage Bolt]! [Mage Bolt]! [MAGE BOLT]!”

Three duds.

Then I finally remembered.

“Wait, empty mana bar means I can’t cast [Mage Bolt],” I said as I stared at my HUD as if it would somehow reveal its secrets to me. “I never did figure out why the tutorial drains my mana.”

All the while, the boss ant was still getting as far away from me as possible.

From there, it took embarrassingly long to finish out the fight. I finally managed it by somewhat cornering the boss, [Flash Stepping], and then [Air Striking] it repeatedly into the wall before it could recover from the previous attack.

It ate up most of my stamina, but I did it.

I raised my fist like the victor of a boxing match as I spun in a slow circle.

Then, I noticed something odd.

Wait… Is that a second obelisk?

However, I had just a split second to look before I vanished into the ether once again.

I had the option to spend my 8 spell points and 8 skill points, but I decided to hang onto them for now.

I wasn’t sure how much leveling I would be doing, and I really wanted to make sure that I bought [Temporus] as soon as possible.

After making a silent wish that a [Temporus] spell would become available at level 10, I was prepared to exit the obelisk.

I was given quite the surprise.

System : Magic, Advanced perk detected. Would you like to change your destination obelisk?

Ohoho. I thought. Wait… Can I activate the scrying array from here too?

The screens popped up once again.

Neat. Well, let’s just take a look at Faroff really quick…

I panned over to perhaps my least favorite village in the world and saw quite a sight. Soldiers had cordoned off the area near the obelisk, and a veritable army was surrounding it.

Yeah, let’s change my destination obelisk. I thought.

System : Please choose a visited location

Let’s see… Somewhere where they won’t kill me on sight. Oh! I know! The Oasis!

System : Limited Spatius skill detected. Destination obelisk is not in range.

Crud. Figured that would be too easy. I looked at the second word for a moment. Huh. [Temporus] and [Spatius], eh? I wonder where those fit into that handy chart of magic.

System : Please choose a visited location

The System- I mean, AltSys’s automated messages- prompted me.

Geez! I’m working on it! I thought with a hint of irritation. Closer than the Oasis. Okay, how about New Besti? I made an obelisk there, so that should work.

System : Limited Spatius skill detected. Destination obelisk is not in range.

Vir, Vir? I thought. Oh. Shoot. It’s been renamed. Uhh… Gram, Gram?

Before I could mentally remark that Gram, Gram, sounded like a nickname for a grandma, the automated message interjected again.

System : Limited Spatius skill detected. Destination obelisk is not in range.

Are there any obelisks that are in range? I grumbled in frustration.

System : Showing obelisks that are in range for a Spatius skill of 0

A helpful map popped up with a circle centered around Faroff.

It had exactly one entry that fit inside.

Fine. I sighed. Send me to Deepmine.

System : Coordinates set to Deepmine Town.

System : Warning. It is currently after midnight. Would you like to delay teleport?

Why would I want that? I thought in confusion. That’ll be perfect. I can [Sneak] out with no one the wiser. Then they’ll wonder how the heck I snuck past them at Faroff. It’ll be perfect.

There were a few seconds where I floated there in silence.

Uhh... Hello?

More silence.

HURRY UP AND SEND ME. DANG, IT!

System : Are you sure?

Pro-tip. If you are ever asked that question after being given a warning, the answer is almost always no.

So, of course…

YES, DANG IT!

I reappeared in the middle of that mining town as I got not one but two familiar messages.

System: The realm trembles as a new Demon Lord is born! Demon morale has been restored, and darkness begins its nefarious plans to conquer the world

System: You have entered an opposing faction’s zone after midnight. Valid allied or unclaimed zone is adjacent. Beginning monster wave

My palm met my face as I grumbled. “Well, that explains the warning. I can’t believe they unclaimed a zone.”

I took a moment to think through my options. Either I could help fight the wave, or I could use it as a distraction to get away.

A moment was about all I needed. There were too many detriments.

While it would have been possible to deal with the guilt of causing the attack, I didn’t want to escalate things with the somewhat newly minted nation of Gram.

I wanted to be left alone for the next several centuries to finish my time magic spell and undo all of the mess I’d made… after murdering a certain traitorous elf.

So, with a sigh, I started running in the direction of the mines.

That was the wrong way. I eventually heard the alarm bells ringing and shouts coming from the other side of town.

Of course they wouldn’t unclaim the mine. Why did I assume the mine first? I frowned as I course-corrected.

And that was when I finally realized that I was firing on a few cylinders less than usual.

“[Restore],” I cast even as I was running.

It wasn’t recognized as a status condition, whatever it was. The spell felt no resistance and ended up using only a single MP.

Not a condition? Then what?

However, my attention was quickly grabbed, and I forgot to follow up on that. I arrived on the scene as a squad of [Soldiers] squared off against a horde of wolves.

They were giving an excellent showing. They had formed an outward-facing circle with shields and spears at the ready.

The wolves had no opening, while the superior reach of the [Soldier’s] spears netted some kills on the less wary monsters.

It seemed like they were going to kill all of the monsters with no casualties, and I was almost wondering if they actually needed my help… then the alpha wolf showed up.

It ignored the spears that impaled it as it bowled into the formation.

The gap that formed was dangerous, as was the alpha being that close. [Soldiers] dropped their spears and switched to swords for close combat.

Fortunately, I remembered the last couple of times I’d fought against my own waves.

“[Form Army]!” I shouted. “Get over here!” I commanded as soon as I felt the skill take effect.

System: Choose army name

System: Get over here army has been created for the Demon Lord Faction

I blinked in confusion for a moment. Forgot about that part. I shook it off. Most of the wolves had gathered around me, except for the alpha.

“NOW!” I thundered at the wolf that was still engaged in combat.

It balked but managed to disengage and come over to me.

They should all be close enough. I thought. “[Hell Blaze]!” I shouted as I thrust my hand at the ground… and nothing happened.

Well, I guess one thing happened. The alpha wolf recognized my betrayal and jumped me.

Fortunately, I was level 8 to its level 5, and my reflexes were still up to snuff. I grabbed it by the throat, slammed it to the ground, and then pummelled it in the face with [Fire Strikes] until it was dead.

System: Get over here army has been disbanded

“Guess we’re doing this the hard way,” I muttered.

I spun and decked the first wolf that jumped my way as I attempted to get my aura back under control. I was level 8 fighting hundreds of level 1 monsters, and I needed the advantage that my dual auras would bring to bat.

However, this life’s wrath aura was… unruly. It didn’t want to deactivate. So, instead of nice pinpoint applications to specific mobs, all I could do was apply it to swathes of area.

That was still better since I could at least make the attacks come from my front instead of back, but honestly, the only reason I made it out of there alive is that the [Soldiers] didn’t just sit back and watch me fight. They pushed forward into the horde and speared the distracted wolves.

Soon enough, it was down to just us.

I wondered if I could play it off as if I was just a passing adventurer or something, but those hopes were dashed as the [Soldiers] surrounded me with their spears out.

“You’ll pay for attacking our town, [Demon Lord]!” one of them shouted.

However, they hadn’t made a move yet.

“[Identify],” I cast quietly at the one who seemed to be their leader.

He’s only level 5. I might be able to take them. I thought. However, I figured a bluff would probably be the better route at the moment.

I flared my [Demon Lord] aura, and all around me, the men froze.

“I mean no harm to your people,” I rumbled. “This attack was an accident, and you can confirm it with a truth stone if you wish.”

I looked around at the gathered [Soldiers].

“Well?” I asked somewhat impatiently.

“Uhh… It looks like none of us have one,” the leader said.

I snorted. “I suppose you’ll just have to take my word for it.” I took a few steps toward him, and to his credit, he only backed up two steps as I towered over him.

“If I wanted you dead, I could have easily left you to the dogs. Now, I will be leaving your country. If you do not attack me, I will not cause you or your people any trouble.” I pushed past the shaky [Soldiers], and they hesitantly let me go.

I didn’t look back until I left the zone.

Then I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “Well, really glad that worked out.”

I was now free of immediate threat from Gram. The next question was what to do. While I desperately wanted to make the woman who betrayed Sarah pay, I also had to come to grips with something.

She vastly out-leveled me at the moment. I wasn’t sure what killing a level 25 [Hero] put her up to, but I knew that she had to be at least in the 20s.

Given the struggle I had with trash mobs and low-level [Soldiers], Level 8 was not going to cut it.

That meant I needed higher-leveled enemies that I could actually beat.

And so, after some deliberations, I traveled to the east.

The sand wolves were level 10, despite their incredible weakness to air-based attacks, and the scorpions were level 14 even though a single dave was all I needed to defeat one. So, those were immediate points in favor of the desert.

The only higher-leveled options were dragons… Which I didn’t know if I would be able to defeat an earth, air, or ice dragon if I wanted to… bosses, and the level 16 polar bears that I could sometimes find in the north.

Given that the frozen wasteland was scary even when I had 10 more levels under my belt, I elected not to commit suicide by ticked-off bear.

Oh, and the north was also Gertrude’s home. That put a final nail in the coffin for any plans I had of heading north.

My decision was also solidified later that day.

Lilly Besti: Greetings, Titus. Does this still work?

I paused and looked at the unexpected [Message].

I counted the words on my fingers and then replied. “Yes, looks like it. Need something?”

Lilly Besti: Please stop by at your earliest convenience

Well, I’m already headed that way… “Will do,” I replied. “Will take a few months.”

------

I decided to make one stop along the way.

System: Zone entered, New Besti. Faction - Martial Tribe of Besti

I frowned. “They capped my zone. That’s not cool.” I grumbled to myself for a bit. “Should talk to their manager or something.”

Then I remembered… I actually could do that.

“[Message] Lilly Besti. Why did you claim my dungeon?” I asked with a hint of irritation.

Lilly Besti: New Besti dungeon? For perk points

Perk points?

I was glad that she had learned [Message] herself because she was kind enough to explain.

Lilly Besti: There are no dungeons near us that are safe to clear. You were not using it, so we took over to let our [Monks] get [Dungeon Delver]

Oh. I guess that makes sense. “Understood,” I replied. “However, I need it back. If your people are in need of a dungeon closer by, I will create one for you if you gather 100,000 gold. So, I’m going to claim it now.”

Lilly Besti: 100,000 what?

I was very clear in my [Message]. What do you mean 100,000 what? I thought. Then I realized. I didn’t count words. I frowned. I had never been that careless with a [Message] before.

“100,000 gold,” I replied to the [Message].

“[Message] Lilly Besti. I can make another dungeon for you for 100,000 gold. Be thinking of what you want in it and where you want it. But whether you want a new one or not, I need my dungeon back, so I’m claiming it.”

Lilly Besti: Understood. We can discuss more once you get here in person. Thank you, Titus

That business taken care of, I had the displeasure of going through and clearing my own rat-infested dungeon.

The reason I say displeasure? Someone obviously created this dungeon for people who were at least half a foot shorter than me.

“Come on!” I grumbled as I crouched down under a particularly small doorway, only for my horns to get stuck across the frame.

And, of course, I was charged by a group of dire rats right as I did that.

Several butchered expletives and a few [Fire Strikes] later, I was free.

“Stupid body,” I grumbled.

And that was somehow the lightbulb moment.

Wait… I froze. Stupid. Holy frickin’ cow. This body is stupid. I groaned. No wonder I don’t remember things as quickly, and I feel like I’m riding the struggle bus. My brain is literally working slower than it used to in my past lives.

I could come up with a couple of possible reasons for that. Maybe the extra strength I had this life was achieved by sacrificing some hidden “mental stats.”

Or maybe I was more of a wrath demon this life than I was in my first life, and maybe wrath demons are just dumb.

I only had a sample size of 1 for “wrath demons that aren’t me,” but honestly, I felt like it checked out.

All of that meant I had to have an uncomfortable conversation with myself…

Learning time magic needed my brain to function at full speed, which meant I had to seriously debate the prospects of suicide to achieve my goals.

I have about… 880 years left. Wait. I can get an exact number.

“[Get Date],” I cast.

System: Current Date is April 13th, Year 124 Age of Adventurers

That’s 8 months and… How many years? I flubbed my mental math twice before finally coming to the correct answer of 875 years and 8 months.

Honestly, that answered my question. I needed to die and get a better body, but the main question was when.

I have some things that need to happen in this life. I thought. I need to gather as many spell points and skill points as possible before I die… Also, Faylen needs to die, and old age is not going to cut it for the way she goes.

Mind made up, I determined the optimal answer, for now, was to level and figure out the rest later.

I continued through the dungeon and made it to the Rat Nest Boss. Knowing its gimmick made it a piece of cake, and I destroyed the nest before it could spawn its second set of rats.

I put my hand on the obelisk and was about to claim the dungeon, but then I realized. “Wait… Bosses come back every day, and I don’t need to own the zone to use the alchemy lab.”

With a shrug, I passed the obelisk by, went to the lab, and settled in to make some more mana potions and try to decipher more of Tim’s journal. Needless to say, I got nowhere with the latter. I had trouble figuring things out when I wasn’t stuck in the body of a dumb brute.

However, there was some good news. It only took an extra two days, and two boss clears, to hit level 10. It was a relief that I once again had the mana to cast [Hell Blaze] should I need it, and I could also go back to practicing [Foresight].

Crossing my fingers that I would have an option for another [Temporus] spell, I claimed the zone and went to the spell section.

“Well, this sucks,” I muttered.

[Zap], [Attract], and [Port] were the only spells I had available.

Well, that and [Summon Monster].

Something about [Summon Monster] seemed like it was waving a giant flag at me. I stared at it for longer than I care to admit as the cogs turned.

“I can just make my own high-level monster!” I finally exclaimed. I didn’t think I would get any experience for killing a monster that I summoned myself, but I didn’t figure that I would have enough mana to summon what I was thinking of anyway. I was instead banking on getting it to spawn somewhere in the world so that I could go and farm it.

That gave me several constraints.

I didn’t want the high-level monsters spawning anywhere but the most remote places.

I needed to be able to kill the monster somehow, which usually meant I either needed to be immune to its attacks, or I needed it to be easily cheesable by daves. Or both.

My initial thought was to make something in the mountains. A great winged beast that breathed fire… then after realizing that I had just created a dragon and put it in the absolute worst biome on Placeholder, I scrapped that.

I was never going to a mountain again if I had any say in the matter.

My next idea was something that lives in the volcanoes. I was onto something there. Not only are the volcanoes out of the way, but I could create something that was completely lava or magma based.

Something with incredibly high defense that required up-close attacks to kill, but that had a flaming aura, so I would be the only one who would be able to do that.

Something that wouldn’t be fast enough to run away or kite me… Something like…

“Purchase [Summon Monster],” I told the obelisk with a grin. “The monster’s name will be… Infernal Dire Snail.”

And from there, I detailed its specs.

I was disappointed to find out that the maximum level I could make it was 25, but apparently, the System didn’t want dragon-level creatures being created willy-nilly.

As for what I gave it? I made it immune to ranged attacks and resistant to all other attacks. Its primary attack was a flaming aura that it spread around it, but I also gave it another option where it could spew lava. Finally, as all snails should be, I made it very slow.

However, it took some more adjustments before the System was satisfied.

I had to add that it rarely appeared in volcanic regions because that was a stipulation it put forward for anything that was above level 20, apparently.

I also had to make it a bit stronger because the System wasn’t happy with that as a level 25 monster. So, I had it explode into a giant fireball upon death because why not?

With that and specifying that it was giant and had a huge amount of health, I successfully created the absolute most annoying monster to fight in the history of ever.

I knew I couldn’t afford it, but I had to see for myself. I went into my status and flipped to the spells page… Then bust up laughing as I saw the cost.

“5000 mana,” I managed to choke out. “Yeah, guess I’m not summoning one of those.”

After a bit more debate, I finally caved and purchased [Port]. I had a suspicion that [Spatius] and [Temporus] were related in the same way that [Ignis] and [Frigis] were, so I wanted to make sure that I could grind levels for [Spatius] when I unlocked it.

The fact that extra levels in [Spatius] would give me the chance to spawn farther away from Faroff was just an added bonus.

And of course, I had to test [Port] out. It let me move an object I was holding… an astounding foot away.

“At least it’s only 10 mana,” I grumbled. I was still salty about how expensive [Foresight] was for what it gave me.

Then, it was back to skills. I could purchase [Ignis] or [Knifemanship], or…

“If I hit level 20, I can raise [Flash Step’s] cap,” I realized. And honestly… That wasn’t a bad goal if it didn’t seem like I would get another [Temporus] spell this life.

I exited the obelisk interface.

Next on the to-do list… Time to visit Lilly.

------

June 1st, 124 AA

I made good time getting to the desert.

Not nearly as good as I would have back when I was level 25, but I was working on remedying that as much as I could.

And then, late one night, I ran into a group of [Monks] that seemed to be struggling with a pack of sand wolves.

Do they not know about [Air Strike]? I asked myself. Either way, I moved in to help. “Air, blast my foes. [Air Bolt]!” I cast.

I winged one of the sand wolves and turned it into dust. My fist met another with an [Air Strike], and a [Flash Step] followed by an [Air Strike] kick ended a third.

“What are you doing!?” the [Monk] exploded as well… metaphorically, of course.

I gave him a confused look. “You looked like you needed help, so I-“

“The [Grand Martial Elder] said we needed to loot the wolves for gold!” he shouted as he approached me. “You can’t loot a beast when there’s nothing left of it!”

I opened my mouth and then shut it. I think I might know why they’re farming gold.

“This wouldn’t happen to be the 100,000 gold I said I’d need to create a new dungeon, would it?” I asked.

The [Monk] finally got close enough for our eyes to meet in the dim moonlight. His eyes widened.

“My apologies, [Demon Lord], Titus!” he shouted as he gave a deep Besti-styled bow. “We didn’t expect you for at least another month!”

I shrugged. “No worries… Got room in your party for one more?”

One party invite later, and I made sure to warn them about [Monster Magnet] just in case. If anything, they were just excited that they would undoubtedly be taking back the most gold for the night.

As for the fighting itself, it was a novel experience trying to take out sand wolves with [Ice Strike] and [Earth Strike] instead of [Air Strike]. I hadn’t done that since my very first fight with the beasts.

However, the best part of that night of farming had to be when the scorpion appeared.

“Scorpion!” one of my party members shouted. I moved to intercept it as it came out of the ground, but I was beaten to the punch.

“[Summon Dave]!” our party leader shouted as he bowled it at the venomous arthropod.

I stopped in my tracks as the party ignored the scorpion that tried in vain to get the dave off its face.

I… am so proud. I thought. It nearly brought a tear to my eye. It had been 50 years since I introduced daves to Besti, and they had learned my tactics so well.

We finally made it back to The Oasis in the early morning. Lilly was running the [Martial Artists] and [Monks] through their paces, and I didn’t really feel like joining in.

Instead, I got to wait at her… house? There had been more changes than I thought over the last 50 years, and there were actually permanent structures here and there.

If I wasn’t mistaken, the zone was bigger than it used to be, too.

However, the one thing that hadn’t changed was that they still didn’t have chairs. I took a seat on the floor and waited, with some [Guards], until Lilly arrived.

“Ah, Titus. I was not expecting…” she trailed off as she looked at me. She looked me up and down. “You… are Titus, right?” she asked.

I gave a deep chuckle as I rose and gave her a bow. “Yes, changing bodies every time I die is quite troublesome.” I paused for a second. “Just to lay your mind at rest. [Message] Lilly Besti. Good to see you again.”

She smiled at that and then finally dismissed the [Guards].

We spent a bit just catching up. Some of that was just informing me of things that I already knew, like Sam and Lindsey passing away.

She seemed like she was about to ask what I had been up to all of that time when she remembered my circumstances.

Instead, she asked, “How did you die? I heard the stories, but they did not make sense to me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “To Sarah. I thought the System message made that pretty clear.”

She shook her head. “I’m aware of that, but how did Sarah manage to kill you? You were nearly able to match my grandmother. I do not believe a [Cleric]-based [Hero] would be able to defeat you in a one-on-one match.”

And so, I relayed what happened in our final encounter… Well, I kept some of the more personal bits to myself. Instead, I stressed the effects of the oaths more than anything.

Lilly was a bit perturbed by that. “We will have to exercise the utmost caution, then. You have made two oaths to Besti, and I would hate for them to conflict like that. We may have to see about releasing you from your oath to aid us sooner rather than later.”

I cocked my head. “You can release people from oaths?”

She gave me a blank look and then chuckled in bewilderment. “It is hard for me to remember that you, who have been living here so long, are not originally from our world.” She paused. “Yes, as you made your oath to the Martial Tribe of Besti, I am able to release you from it.”

“Oh, that’s good to know,” I replied. Then after a moment’s pause, I had another question. “The oaths haven’t seemed to impact me yet. Why did they force Sarah to kill me when they haven’t done… well… anything to me? Why wasn’t I forced to attack Sarah since she was opposed to time magic?”

Lilly hmmed in thought. “I am not an expert on oaths, but I believe intent plays a large role. As soon as Sarah intended to break her oath, System took action. As for you, you still intended to fulfill the oath, so it was likely giving you leeway with how.” She thought for a moment. “In addition, did you think that killing Sarah would have helped you achieve your goal of saving my people with time magic?”

I mulled that one over for a bit. “No,” I finally replied. “If I killed her, I knew the System would just spit out another [Hero]. Sarah seemed weak to me at the time, so I guess I didn’t really view her as a threat. So, as long as I think my actions are at least tangentially serving the purpose, the oath won’t care?”

Lilly nodded. “Indeed. And that would also explain why you were able to meet with us so quickly. Given the wording of your oath, I was worried that we would have to send people to go meet you while you were still holed up in your dungeon.”

Ah. “Well, I did come this way to get some levels. I kinda need those for the time magic, too,” I stated. My eyes widened. “Wait… Does that mean I can’t get revenge for Sarah?”

By this point, I was well-used to mental gymnastics, so I got up and mentally planned to head directly to the traitorous elf’s last location.

I made it two steps before I felt the compulsion.

“[Foresight],” I cast. Then, before I knew it, I had Tim’s journal out and open to the last page I studied.

Through all of that, Lilly only gave me a funny look.

“This… could be a problem,” I muttered. After doing more mental gymnastics to undo my previous ones, I was back to normal.

“I, for one, am grateful that System will ensure you give your best effort,” Lilly said with a smile.

I frowned. “Not sure I like being puppeted around if I get out of line, but I guess I’ll just have to deal with it.” And somehow figure out how to tie Faylen’s death into learning time magic.

After that, Lilly finally got to why she had called me there.

She wanted me to meet the next generations of the royal family of Besti. While, just like her grandmother, she became [Grand Martial Elder] instead of [Queen], her son was still the [King] of Besti and was the face of their international relations. The rest of her family line was also considered royalty and, therefore, part of the oath that let them know my “true name.”

Thus, the meetup. That way, they also “met me” for the purposes of sending a [Message] if Besti was ever in dire need.

Honestly, there were more than a dozen of them, so I gave up on remembering their names. I figured if they [Messaged] me, I would know they were legit.

After that was complete, we also talked about the new dungeon they wanted.

“Some of the [Monks] who cleared ‘New Besti’ mentioned something odd in the room at the end,” she said.

Yeah, I guess my potion lab is a bit weird. I could probably try to replicate-

“You made a cauldron that refilled itself with water?” she asked.

“Yeah?” I asked.

She gave me a flat look.

“Oh. Oooooooh!” I replied. “So you want something similar here in the desert as another place for people to get water?”

She nodded in satisfaction. “Yes, and if you can shrink the dungeon’s size, we may very well have people live in the other parts of the zone.”

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do… Do you have the money yet?” I asked.

She shook her head. “At the current rate, it will probably be another month.”

I shrugged. “That’s fine. I’ll just catch you on the way back.”

“The way back?”

“I made a new monster in the volcanic area east of here,” I replied. “They should be level 25 and worth a lot of XP.”

Her eyes lit up, and she seemed rather excited about the prospect until I detailed their capabilities.

“By the elder’s fists, why would you make such a monstrosity?” she asked.

“So that I could level,” I replied with another shrug. “Anyway, I should head out sooner rather than later.”

She almost spoke but then stopped. “I was going to bade you stay and enjoy our hospitality, but I suppose there is not much of it that you can enjoy in the first place. Even should your oaths allow you to delay.” She paused. “However, there must be something that our people can do to assist you. Our relationship has been far too one-sided, and I do not like leaving debts unpaid.”

“Let me think a moment,” I replied. They could help study time magic?... But then again, it does tend to have disastrous effects on people who aren’t [Ageless]… Help me source mana potions? I shook my head. Yeah, with what [Alchemists] or managrass? If only they could just keep the other nations off my back…

I looked back at Lilly. “Actually, there might be something you could do for me. How are your relations with the other nations?”

------

I got no firm promises on results, but Lilly told me they would do their best. Afterward, I said my short goodbyes and headed further to the east.

Soon enough, I was there.

System: Zone entered, Great Eastern Volcanoes. Faction - Neutral

Neutral? I was confused for a moment before I remembered. “Oh, right. Jake deactivated my dungeon ages ago.”

From there, I just had to hunt around for a giant flaming snail.

It took longer than I expected for one to spawn, but boy, was it hard to miss when it did.

25 feet high, 15 feet across, and a good 40 feet long, it was inching its way along… Or, I guess, more like “footing” its way along. It was still slow, but not as slow as I expected when I made a freaking snail monster.

Then, it noticed me.

It made a low-pitched screech, spewed lava at me, and then burst into flames.

I [Flash Stepped] the lava, more out of reflex than anything, and then just stared at it.

That’s fricking terrifying. I thought. Then I amended my thought. Well, not for me. But if I was anyone else without [Fire Immunity], then yeah, I would be freaking out right now.

And so, I charged.

I had been in a lot of anticlimactic battles up to that point. However, none compare to the sheer boredom of running out of stamina while using 1 SP [Earth Strikes].

After my second stamina bar worth of [Earth Strikes], I made a tactical retreat by walking away and sitting down.

I didn’t think it through, but am I even doing damage? I asked with a frown. If I had accidentally made a monster that I couldn’t even kill, I had wasted 5 spell points… and created an unkillable monstrosity that would raze all of Placeholder if it ever ended up in a monster wave.

My pondering was interrupted by a stream of lava that spilled all over my back.

I shot up in alarm… To find a second Infernal Dire Snail behind me.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I groaned.

If more snails were going to spawn, I needed to be careful in case they figured out how to, like… fall on me or something.

And that’s how I ended up riding on top of the first snail, punching it until I ran out of stamina, and then resting.

Fortunately, I was dealing damage, and the first snail went down, jumping me up to level 15. I was hoping for level 18 because that’s how high killing a level 25 dragon got me, but I figured dragons must have counted more like a boss monster or something.

Oh, and I was still on top of the snail when it died.

I had conveniently forgotten about the fact that they explode. The resulting inferno didn’t damage me, but the ground did when I suddenly faceplanted into it from 25 feet up.

From there, I shrugged it off and continued my farming.

The extra stamina and damage from my levels saved me from dying of boredom, but after finally hitting level 20, I couldn’t bring myself to look at another snail.

Okay, time to head back to the Oasis… Or I guess “Besti” since they’re expanding now. I thought.

------

Lilly had the funds ready by the time I returned, so I became the temporary owner of a new zone a couple of miles west of The Oasis. I struggled with creating any sort of large water source until I finally had a stroke of genius.

I put it in the boss room.

Then, I was finally able to make an underground cistern. As for the boss, I made “The Cistern Guardian,” which was just a giant suit of animated armor that was weak to bludgeoning… and acid.

I figured [Monks] with daves should have an easy time with that, and if they got bored of clearing it in training mode, they could just station a troop of daves to glomp the boss to death.

In a strange twist, I also didn’t need to assign any other monsters because I shrunk “the dungeon” down to that one boss room.

In other words, I was basically done after creating that.

Though, I made sure to add a loot room with two chests that opened up when the boss was defeated, just because I felt generous.

After taking a look at my handiwork, I confirmed it.

Honestly, I was surprised when it let me create such a lackluster dungeon. Well, I guess it did warn me about not having very many traps, but I was used to ignoring that message at that point.

Before I handed the zone over, I decided I might as well spend the points that I had saved up from the snails.

[Zap] and [Attract] used up my spell points.

[Zap] was a short-range lightning spell… That also damaged me. I wasn’t terribly happy with that purchase.

[Attract] was… well… like a magnet. At my level, it wasn’t a powerful one either.

However, my skill points were all put toward a [Flash Step] level cap increase. 20 skill points down the drain like that… but my [Flash Step] immediately jumped to level 6, which was a nice bonus.

When that was complete, I reported to Lilly that the zone was ready.

Lilly surveyed the new site, grinned, and sent me a party invite. “Titus, would you do me the honor of being the first to clear this new dungeon with me?”

I smiled back. “I would love to.”

That poor boss never knew what hit it.

------

“So, Gram was chill with me accidentally causing a monster wave?” I asked later that night when I had a meeting with her and her son, [King] Besti.

“If by ‘chill’ you mean that they are not seeking reparations, that would be correct,” the [King] replied. “In fact, from what we discussed, they may want you to create a few more of them… under more controlled circumstances, of course.”

Oh. I guess that would be one way to deal with their money problems.

“I did not reveal your dungeon-making abilities as of this time, but I imagine they would also be interested in having some dungeons created in their territories to replenish their losses,” he continued.

I hesitated. “I think it might be best to keep that ability to ourselves for now.”

He nodded his assent.

“But I’m surprised,” I continued. “Your discussions sounded… awfully civil.”

He grinned. “Well, we may have mentioned that we had you bound under an oath or two that would guarantee that you would work with us.”

“Ah,” I returned his grin. “What about the church? They seemed to be the ones that opposed time magic the most.”

“We gave them guarantees that time magic was the domain of ‘Titus the Mad’ and that certainly the current Titus would not be interested,” he replied. “Fortunately, there is no way to use a truth stone over a [Message] spell.” He winked. “Just make sure not to get caught, okay? That would put us in a terribly awkward situation.”

I laughed. “Alright, it’s a deal. You’ve done way better than I could have possibly hoped.” There was just one last entity I was worried about. “And the [Hero]?”

“Ah… yes,” the [King] replied hesitantly. “The [Hero]… well… you see…”

“Consider this aid that we are asking of you as a part of your oath,” Lilly interjected. “If you complete it, it will also clear you of suspicion and should remove your [Hero] problems forever… or at least for a generation or two.”

My eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”

“We want you to escort the [Hero] and his party across your lands to claim the fire dungeon,” she replied.

Great. Teaming up with another [Hero]. I sighed. Well, I guess I need to die anyway… “When do I start?”