Before Emily could wake up, my father and I had a quick spar outside. We both used bone swords that I had previously, intentionally dulled, and it was a fun match. His attacks were more fluid than mine, but my specific slashes, pierces, and stabs were more exact than his.

We both got a few hits in, but we were close the entire time. He may not have basic sword techniques, but it looked like he had still spent some time practicing how to use the weapon.

Once Emily woke up, we all went to the table for our annual tradition of sharing resolutions. Emily's was to get at least an A- average in the upcoming school year; my mom's was to cook better, healthier food; my father wished that he would find out more in his research; Bella's resolution was to always be with me, and mine was to do well in school. As I told everyone but Emily afterward, my real resolution was to get to the twentieth floor before the year ended.

We had fun for the rest of the day, in which we cooperated to clean the entire house.

Once the night began to fall, my parents distracted Emily so I could light the fire. We roasted marshmallows to put on crackers with chocolate. At around ten o'clock at night, Bella and I returned to the dungeon with treats for our daughters. We were in my space in the dungeon, enjoying the treats. We planned to hunt some monsters on the fifth floor of the seventh volcano until half an hour before the new year rang out.

After a little bit of fighting, the fairy queen suddenly appeared. She personally went to the volcano. Immediately after her, Isaac showed up. Suddenly, before they could say anything, the monsters we had been fighting disappeared. The lava rescinded. We were all transported to a conference room. There, Victoria and Mia joined us. I did not know why so many people were coming together. After we arrived, Charon came through the shadows.

"What's the matter?" I asked, seeing the worried looks on their face.

"Roberto," the fairy queen began. "Usually, the entire planet will be locked down. We agreed to help you."

"What planet? Help me with what?" I asked.

Isaac interrupted, "Young man, please stay calm. Victoria, your authority is the highest, and I don't know who they are." He motioned to Mia and Charon.

"Mia is my mentor, and she noticed even before we all did. Maybe she should tell him."

"I guess I can't neglect this responsibility," Mia began solemnly.

"Good luck," Charon said.

I still had no idea what was happening.

"I'll do it," the fairy queen said, stopping everyone else. "Roberto, Bella, it is beginning. You must quickly go back to Earth. I checked with some connections, and the angels are standing guard, ready and waiting. If you don't leave now, it may be too late. Quickly, go through the portal."

"Which portal? What's happening?" I asked.

The table disappeared. At the head of the room, Victoria and Mia stood in two separate lines. Following behind them, both the fairy queen and Isaac joined in the lines. They called over, and Craig and Olga appeared behind them in line. Even Gwyn and Katelin came by.

"Are you sure you want to try?" asked Katelin.

"Yes," Isaac and the fairy queen responded.

"System, begin the procedures. With my authority, dedicate 1% for the process," Victoria announced.

Suddenly, they all emanated energy. Between Victoria and Mia, a green, swirling vortex appeared.

"Go," the fairy queen stated, and Bella and I ran through the portal, unsure of what was happening. We found ourselves a few streets away, and we ran. When my family saw our expressions, they knew something serious must have happened.

It was about ten seconds until New Year's Day, almost midnight. The full moon was at the top of the sky, shining down brightly.

Suddenly, the entire sky lit up, and you could hear and feel space itself tearing and breaking as if the world was in pain and dying.

It only took a moment for me to realize what was happening. It was the great catastrophe befalling the Earth.

"It's here," I announced, and it seemed like everyone else also knew what was happening, except for my mom and Emily.

From the cracks in the sky, orange, fist-sized, swirling orbs began to descend. I activated almost all of my advanced demonic skills, unsure of what may happen. My sister was the most surprised, and my mom began to explain things to her.

I saw the first orbs begin to hit the ground, forming craters and changing the landscape. I summoned Samantha for help and immediately used >, with all of my MP, to gather as many orbs as possible into Persephone. At the same time, I said, "Come!" in the dragon language. Annie quickly contacted me, telling me that these orbs contained skills, spells, and items. She helped me find a couple appropriate ones for my mother and sister.

I gave both of them a sword and shield, both C- ranked, elementary sword techniques, martial arts, and elementary runic techniques. There were many duplicates. I, personally, learned elementary mage techniques, elementary puppet techniques, and elementary illusion techniques.

For the first, elementary mage techniques, I learned use mana which had no use to me. Illusion techniques weren't much better—I got sense elementary illusion. Puppet techniques were the best at the beginning. It allowed me to control puppets, so, if I ever found any, they would listen to me.

I saved the rest for later and took out some items from a few others that increased stats. With their help by showing me their status, my mom and Emily got all of their stats up to twenty. I increased all of mine by thirty, and I made sure to increase dexterity by an additional fifty and my wisdom by an additional hundred. It took many more resources for me.

"I will leave and go back to my planet," my father said.

"We'll miss you. Please, stay safe," I responded.

"Don't worry. No humans will recognize me, and, if I lay low, neither will the dragons. This is the best time to go."

He immediately disappeared before anyone else could say anything. Soon after, a few angels came down. Prince Keith's tunnel appeared at the same time, and we all awaited this fight.

I used enough MP recovery potions to completely restore my energy.

Before Keith came through, I heard King Levi's voice.

"You little chickens can't run anymore. I'll cut off your heads, and you'll be running around, chickens!"

"Good luck," I replied, unsure if he could hear me.

"Chicken! Chicken! Let the ten best chicken warriors of this planet go forth and defeat the chicken who embarrassed my son!"

"He's sending chickens to fight the angels?" Bella asked, confused.

The rest of us didn't quite understand as we patiently awaited the tunnel to finish connecting the worlds. Finally, Keith arrived. He was clad in golden, A ranked pants, shin guards, breastplate, and other armor. On top of his head, he wore not a crown but a helmet with a pointy spike on top, constantly sparking with electricity.

From beyond the portal, Levi called out, "Go, chicken warriors! Chicken!"

Ten people in silver, B- ranked armor came from behind. Two of them carried swords, two carried bows and arrows, four carried spears, and two carried staffs.

Keith explained, "These are the ten best warriors of my planet, who my crazy father named the chicken warriors. Unfortunately, only two of them are mages like me: Elder Fire Mage Kate and Water Arc Mage Olivia. I, however, want to settle this one-on-one. That's why I prepared this."

Keith took out a few stone arrow points and spread them in the air while he continued speaking.

"These will isolate you and me from the other battles. I brought the ten warriors to fight your little friends. I wish you luck in surviving."

The arrows finished dispersing, creating a hazy fog around us, where we could no longer see the other side.

Before I could even begin talking, I absorbed a curse.

Curse: implosion

MP: 300

Description: Apply the curse directly upon target. Use two: apply curse to specified object. The curse can then be activated from the object.

Effect: implodes whatever is in contact with object or target.

"What's in it for me? Why shouldn't I escape to the dungeon? I can now bring my family where you cannot attack."

"Why do I need to give you anything?"

"Well, first of all, attacking a level-eight authority figure is a serious crime in the dungeon. If you're not careful, your entire planet could lose access. I know their sources originate from the dungeon."

"Stop joking. There's no way you would even have level-four authority, let alone double that! It's impossible for humans like us to gain higher than level three."

"Well, what if I told you I'm not a human?"

"Stop with your blatant, obvious lies. If you wanted to stall for time, you should have thought of something more believable."

"If you don't believe me, then what's the matter with offering something for the duel? It's not like you'll lose it."

"Fine. This pendant is made from condensed EXP shards. Using it will grant you 100,000 points. I have three, so I'll give you two if you win."

"Okay, then. Now, we can fight. Please start with your lightning spell."

"It's my pleasure. By the laws of the world, I summon the pure element electricity. I summon thee with this sacrifice."

This time while beginning his spell, he took out from a storage space what appeared to be twenty corpses, as well as one of those EXP shard pendants. Unfortunately for him, they didn't disappear.

"My spell won't work! My energy is no longer connecting to the dungeon's lightning source. What did you do?"

"I told you, with my authority, it's easy. I simply deselected that specific option."

"I don't know how you did this, but my runic attacks will still work."

He began drawing runes, which I now knew were at least intermediate, except for a basic turpentine seal destruction rune.

The runes drew lightning towards me, but it was very easy to dodge. There were also other attacks and restrictions placed upon me. I only had to use the restriction dissipation rune, though, to get back to being normal.

Keith shot some fire towards me, which I dodged. He continued using both fire and lightning, while I continued dodging. With my mana shield, he couldn't land a single hit. I grew tired of drawing this out. Since this was, technically, Earth and not the dungeon, I summoned Typhon. I had him deal with the enemy before me. I took the pendants and stored the corpses away. I also took the armor off of Keith. Dead men don't need their possessions. I continued looking for anything he may have brought with him. The only other thing was an artifact with a few souls for Persephone. They weren't enough to do anything, though.

I took the first pendent, and, like he said, it gave me 100,000 EXP.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up! 12à15 All stats increased by +42. SP + 84. Calculating Reward.]

[reward determined. Class ??? Reward: all resistances below level 3N level up twice! MP increases by 550 total, HE increases by 300 total, DE increases by 1210 total. Class Skill Lord reward: skill pass-through: pass through solid objects with a thickness of less than 1 meter. Skill: instill vigor: instills vigor and the will to continue upon target, picture to medium: create a picture of a scene and transfer to another medium. Skill: acid runes: make drawn runes acidic, so that whoever comes into contact with them through other runes or physical contact will be liquified by the acid unless rune creator specifies otherwise]

[skill tickets gained: +6.]

[Familiar has consumed three skill tickets.]

[Familiar has consumed three skill tickets.]

[domain congealing +15%]

[domain congealing has passed 90%. Function unlocked: replay death: can replay any death that happened in an area around domain user, as long as a sliver of soul remains]

Finally, the fog disappeared.

I saw Bella and my daughters were tired, and the angels looked battered. From the dimensional tunnel, I heard Levi's booming voice.

"Where is my chicken son?" he asked.

"I killed him," I responded. Keith had been trying to do the same to me, so it was only right for me to return the favor.

"You what! You little chicken! I'll come there myself."

Another voice was heard from the tunnel.

"The angel army is protecting this planet. They don't have anyone who can move it, but they still have a platoon there. We can't anger them, or they will destroy this planet," the female said.

"Betsy, It's my son!"

"It's our son! Now, why don't you devise another way to get back at this man? Why don't you see why he's connected to the self-serving angel army?"

"We'll meet again, little chicken. I am much more powerful than Keith, even without the chicken dungeon backing me!"

With the portal closed, I was able to relax.

I looked around, and I saw wolves that were transformed into monsters: each was a terra-wolf. I quickly dealt with them before giving Bella the second pendant. She used it and was excited. For the final pendant, Annie was able to disassemble it into four parts, each with 25,000 EXP. I gave a piece to each of my daughters and took the last for myself. Even though I had just increased in level, I only needed six hundred more points of experience.

One of the angels explained that, after the great catastrophe befalls a planet, magical herbs bloom, monsters mutate, and new ores begin to form. Treasures, including spell and skill books, would be hidden, and smaller dungeons would begin to form.

Everyone must have been very confused by all these events, but after returning home, we found the government had everything under control.

They followed advice from the Church, which meant that my father had prepared before leaving. The government explained the orbs are the world's essence, and those who gain magic and skills are essence wielders. They explained about how they had set up installations around the country with more information. They also called all of Congress in, to enact new legislation. Essence wielders were subject to stricter punishments for crimes against civilians, and they were going to soon have to register. Some orbs were used to appraise stats and skills, in order to better classify people. Unregistered wielders would be punished. I didn't want my family to get caught up in this.

"System, can I add more explorers?" I asked.

[Request: add new explorer. Checking authority. Level-eight authority found. Request granted. Please specify targets]

I narrowed down the ensuing list of planets to Earth, and I searched for my family members' names. Soon after, I was successful.

[Explorer Earth02: Emily registered]

[Explorer Earth03: Jessica registered]

"System, add Earth02 and Earth03 to my guild and permit them access to my mansion," I commanded.

I also commanded, "System, prevent future registrations of any earth explorer for anyone with a lesser authority level and alert me otherwise."

This way, I was able to prevent other people from coming here. Both requests were approved, and I soon brought my mom and sister to the dungeon. I explained to them about the functions and recommended they stay in the mansion—everything would be provided for them, so they could relax as if having a vacation. They agreed, worried about the state of the planet outside.

I next contacted Victoria, Isaac, and the fairy queen. I told them about what happened on Earth. Although they were tired from the previous skill, they were still happy that everything went well. They agreed to talk to my mom and sister, without revealing their real identities. To them, these three were just normal dungeon explorers who wanted to say "hi" to the new faces. To make it go smoother, I introduced the two parties, and they began chatting. The dungeon assistants used resources from the dungeon to get more information about the planet and assist them with the conversation.

I first stopped by floor zero with my family (not including mom and sister). I wanted to research the Great catastrophe a little more. I found some information about how the monsters mutated and the timeline of specific ores. I also learned that the dungeons transfer monsters from other worlds into themselves when they first form. The world generates rewards based on how many people have cleared the dungeon. The difficulty was also set randomly, but I didn't think it would be nearly as hard as the entire dungeon.

When I was satisfied with my research, I wanted to try getting registered. I wanted to see if > of level six worked. It had been a week since the great catastrophe befell the planet, and post offices were modified to become "guilds." Per the government regulations and laws, these functioned in specific ways.

The first function of guilds was to register essence wielders. You are supposed to register at the closest one to your home. The guild closest to me was simple since I owned almost every house and took all of the orbs.

The second function of guilds was for military purposes. Fearing conflicts, the government tried to recruit wielders into their ranks. They could also be conscripted for a major incident occurring nearby. As such, they were given special phones that tracked their location.

The third function is identification. The cards issued had many functions together. They used biometrics to keep the contents secure, except for the assigned rank and name. Government and guild agents could access this information. They contained specific details on the skills, spells, and class. They contained a record of all missions and conscriptions completed, as well as acting like a bank.

One new law was that only essence wielders could deal in parts of monsters, new herbs, and new ores. Not everyone was as combat-oriented. As such, there were two separate grading scales.

The fourth function of the guild involved control of crime involving essence wielders. Due to this, in order to be hired as even a receptionist, one must possess attributes of what the government arbitrarily set as "two-starred C ranked."

From what I could find out about the methods used, the rankings could be based on different factors.

Combat-orient classes

Letter ranks: SS, S, A-J, based on class, skills, and spells

Star ranks: based on overall stats

Non-combat-oriented classes

Letter ranks: ZSS, ZS, ZA-ZJ based on class, spell, and skills

Star ranks: 1-9, S based on proficiency of using skills

I was unable to get exact numbers, but no one was ranked above five-starred C. the stars were also dependent on rank. Apparently, there was no concept of leveling up. Some people who fought a lot of monsters noticed their stats increase slightly, but they didn't know why.

For both classes, F-J ranked didn't really do too much collecting or harvesting. They were more like assistants. SS/ZSS was reserved for those who couldn't be measured.

I went to the guild, and I waited in line. It took about thirty minutes to finally get through. The rest of my family were in Persephone.

"Hello, please present your guild ID to the scanner. What can we help you with today?" the receptionist asked.

I quickly used Pristine to attempt to discern her stats. Her speed was at thirty-two, but the other stats were less than fifteen. I couldn't tell the exact skills she had, but I doubted they were powerful.

"I'd like to register, please. I just recently found an orb buried in some rubble."

"An orb the government hasn't found. You're lucky. This way, please," she said while directing me to a back room. A second receptionist, also with a high speed stat, took her place.

The government had previously taken remaining orbs and stockpiled them.

The new room was dark, and I saw an orb in front of me. I had previously prepared, so I went up to it, and, following her directions, I put my hand upon it.

"What's it say?" I asked, trying to sound like I had no idea how it worked.

"It's different from what I see, which hasn't happened so far this week. Let me check with someone else. Please wait a moment."

"What do you see?"

"First, you must know that I found three orbs, luckily. The first increased my speed a bunch and the other stats a little. The second was a skill called stat eyes, which lets me peer into the stats of people—that's how I got this job. The third orb was another skill that allows me to move within the wind."

She quickly used that last skill to disappear and bring an old man in military uniform back about fifteen minutes later.

"I'm Lieutenant Johnson of the United States Army, a four-starred C ranked essence wielder and the current head of the guild. I've been called over to determine what to do with you. My friend here has a special skill."

"She's told me the gist of it."

"Then that makes this easier. Her eye shows your stats are much lower than the orb, which is odd. Neither have been wrong before, but I have to believe her in this case. The orb there is showing your strength as 250, with all other stats at thirty. Her eye shows all at thirty-five, which is still good. That will put you at the top of five-starred, along with your mana blade and transfer skills and your flame dagger spell with apprentice fire mage class, making you C ranked. That makes you on par with some other top talents. You'll have to follow me, please, to meet the others."

I tried to make the information shown low—I was hoping for H or below rank, but, unfortunately, even the mediocre abilities were overwhelming.

"Can I try with the orb again?" I asked. This time, I wanted to see what it thought of my real stats.

"Sure, go ahead," the lieutenant said.

I tried again, and Lt. Johnson looked even more confused.

"The only value shown this time is dexterity, at 395. None of the others show up. I truly don't know what caused this abnormality, but I will report it. Sir, please complete your registration first."

He waved me off, and I went with the receptionist. After showing her my birth certificate and social security card, she printed me out a metal card and had me put my fingerprint on it. There was also my picture, name, and rank displayed. Also, it showed I'm not allowed to drive motor vehicles. The hidden information was both my skills and the guild I registered at.

"Here's your new phone and projection artifact," the woman said while giving me a little ruby-like object with the phone.

"What's it do?" I asked.

"It displays your remaining MP, or mana points and HP, or health points. We don't really know what they are yet, but they are important values. Spells like your flame dagger cost MP to use. Please report back here tomorrow at 10 o'clock. This is an order from Lt. Johnson, so it must be obeyed. Remember, we know where you are at all times."

"Don't worry, I will."

I left the guild and immediately tried out the artifact, which was also affected by my blocking and showed MP 50, HP 20. I hoped these were more normal, as I'd gotten it more trouble than I wanted with the previous values.

The next day, I did as instructed.

Lt. Johnson was waiting for me at the front desk. As soon as I arrived, he took me out back to a black limousine.

"Get in," was all that he said.

I followed, and we sped away. A few hours later, we arrived in a big city. He took me to the multistory building that housed the guild of this city. He presented military identification, and I presented my essence wielder ID.

"We're here on orders from Colonel Richards," he explained.

"Go ahead," the guard said. The lieutenant brought me to an elevator. He went up a few floors and told me to stay in the car, which he locked on the floor. Forty-five minutes later, he returned with a key. Attached to it was a metal nameplate that read "basement."

He put the key into the elevator but did not select a floor. Instead, the elevator moved on its own.

"This is the national guild's headquarters, run by a three-star general in the army. Only Colonels have unfettered access down here, or Captains in the other services. I have a special reason to bring you here, but I can only go so far."

When he finished, the doors opened. He saluted to the guards, who returned the gesture. He next produced a piece of paper, which the guards read before motioning me to follow them. We went through many hallways and to a second elevator, where they instructed me to go down three floors.

An old military man greeted me when the doors once again opened.

"You must be Roberto. I'm Admiral Gram of the United States Navy. I am here because this is a joint operation between all branches of the military. Please come with me. With your skills, you can choose a special treasure. We haven't found too many of these, but we bought all we could, especially after the orbs began to lose powers."

The ones in my spiritual world were fine.

"These are called skill books or spell books. We don't know what they contain, but every person who has five-starred C ranked is given one at their choice. I hope you get a good one. So far, none have really shown any value. I'm included in that. We hope, with this gift, you will help your country if we need to go to war."

"Of course I will. I'm a patriot," I responded.

He presented both his wielder ID and military ID and entered pins and passcodes as we went through many doors to arrive at a room. About forty scrolls were on the walls. I appraised them all, and only one was of interest. Both the effect and rank were unexpected.

Total Power Convergence

Level: 1

Rank: S/WU

MP use: 2/1 MP for original spell or 50/skill/person

Description: use 1: converge multiple energies together for a specific spell or skill, by linking body parts, such as hands, with each spell caster/skill user; transfer energies between two beings physically in contact with each other for a specific spell or skill

I immediately learned the spell.

"Was it anything good?" the Admiral asked.

"I don't know," I responded back.

"Let's check. There's an orb right here."

I edited my appraisal blocking slightly, revealing elementary rune techniques.

"How rare!" he exclaimed. "techniques are the rarest form of skill, and I have no idea what runes even are. Can you show me?"

"I don't know how to, I'm sorry."

"So, it is a technique you can't even use. Too bad, it must have been another dud. I'll come to see you later. For now, you can walk around the city."

I followed his directions, up the elevator, and out of the front door. In between, he had my card updated for building access.

As I was walking around, I saw something shimmering and the space being changed inside of an alley. Interested, I went to check it out.