When we entered through the portal, we saw the layout of the level was a large open space of stone, with large black rectangular blocks randomly spread over the surface. At the far end of the floor, I could see an enormous block which I assumed was somehow related to the level boss.

As soon as we stepped out of the landing area onto the onto the stone floor, one of the blocks opened up and a large armored buffalo-like creature exploded through the doorway which closed behind him.

Arvel shot fireballs at it to little effect and then I saw Hammer run at it, jump in the air and smash it in the shoulder with his hammer. The hammer blow managed to shatter the armor on its shoulder and seemed to wound it, but it barely slowed it down as it continued to barrel towards us.

I knew that my hammer would make quick work of it, but I was really hoping to see what the other teams were capable of.

To my surprise Cara stamped her foot on the ground and a line of sharp granite spikes erupted out of the ground directly in front of creature's path where it impaled itself by its own momentum and, after struggling for a few moments, it stopped moving and died. I quickly looted it before the next creatures arrived.

Everyone looked at Cara with a new respect after that display of her earth attribute, myself included.

We advanced a little further and another block opened and a number of baboon-like creatures with long fangs and vicious claws climbed out of the opening.

Arvel sprayed fire from both of his hands, burning many of the creatures and killing a few, Hammer smashed one to mulch and killed another with his hammer, while Nevel moved like a ghost between the monsters, slitting their throats with his daggers. For someone who was fighting without using mana, his close combat techniques were impressive.

A couple of the creatures managed to get past the group leaders and headed for Katun who was one of the weakest in Hennisen's group. Unfortunately, another baboon-like creature was almost on Hennisen, but to my surprise, Hennisen ignored the immediate danger to himself and ran to help Katun, jumping on the back of the baboon that was attacking his team member and slitting its throat. At the same time Arvel and Hammer both attacked the last creature, killing it before it could reach Hennisen.

"That was nice teamwork" I said, well done. I am a bit surprised at the difficulty of this level though. I find it seems harder than most first levels."

"That's normal" Arvel said. "This isn't the first level; this is the second level. And with a group of 14 the dungeon increases the difficulty. Most groups are 5 persons, so the difficulty here is probably multiplied by 3 times the normal difficulty."

"Why didn't we start at the first level?" I asked.

"You said that you wanted decent loot, the chests on the first level are crap." Hennisen replied

"Well, I admit I feel a bit stupid, not knowing that a larger group increased the difficulty. I was hoping to see how well you all worked together as a team, and I must say that I am pleasantly surprised, but if we continue like this, some of us will probably end up getting killed. I think I may have to even the odds a bit.

"Arvel, come here and drop your mana barrier."

I placed my hands on his chest and opened all his channels and meridians and doubled the size of his core. It only took me about a minute, and I found that my speed and proficiency with healing magic was increasing really well.

"Hammer, give me your hammer."

I knew that it would take me a few minutes, but the gains would be worth it. I applied the same changes to his hammer as the ones I did for Mitch, but I added shock as well as it was simple adding the extra rune. I added the gems and powered the runes and then blood bonded it to Hammer.

Next, I gave him a complete core and channel upgrade as well, so he could power the runes of the hammer if necessary, and reinforce his muscles with mana as well. I didn't change his fundamental core structure, so he retained whatever elemental attributes he may have had previously.

"Hennisen, you are next, come here." I gave him a core network upgrade and restored what I had removed from him on our entry on Evola; I felt he deserved that for saving Katun but also, since the blood pact it was no longer needed. He already had an enchanted sword, and although it wasn't the best, it would do for now.

"Nevel, come here, and hand me your knives." I added auto-return, penetration and lightning runes to his throwing knives and permanently sharpness, penetration and a fire rune to his daggers. To each of his weapons I added a medium sized gem, and lastly, I upgraded his core network and bound the throwing knives to him.

"Katun, come here." I said.

He stepped forward timidly.

"You are the weakest person here. Would you like to be an ascender if you had more ability?"

"My dream has always been to be an ascender, but I could never get strong enough. I always dreamed of being a mage, and I know that you might not believe me, but I never wanted to be a criminal; I hated every minute of it, but I couldn't get out. I just want you to know, because I am ashamed of what I did and I want to be someone good, not a thug."

I was touched by his words and I believed that he was sincere. "I am going to give you an upgrade." I said.

I quickly reinforced all his muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones before giving him a complete multi attribute mana upgrade. I then took my mana gem and charged it and pressed it to his forehead, followed by the combat gem and then finally the magic gem.

"You are now probably the strongest in the group aside from Cara and myself. I want you to look after the others, especially the weaker ones. If you see anyone in trouble, I expect you to defend them. I also expect you to live up to what you told me a moment ago. Become a hero to the people."

"The same goes for you Hennisen, you are looking out for everyone."

For Saduk and Linx, I gave them back what I had removed earlier and I made basic overall improvements to allow them to defend themselves. I did the same basic improvements to the other weaker members of the group.

I looked up at the group and everyone was looking at me differently than before, was it thankfulness, respect, awe. I wasn't sure but I could clearly see that something had changed.

"What the hell are you?" Arvel said. "If I didn't know better, I would say that you are some sort of God from another world? How did you do that?

Also, after what we have done, why did you do this? What did we do to deserve this?"

"You protected each other" I said "and that showed me that you have some good in you, but honestly, none of you deserved the upgrades you received. I am hoping that you will prove yourselves worthy. I have invested in your potential because sometimes people need someone to believe in them to find the force for change."

"I also did it because this level is harder than I expected so I thought you needed a little help.

"I need good men, so I am counting on you to stand up to the challenge."

"Now let's see if you fight any better now or if all my effort was wasted." I said smiling.

As soon as we started advancing again, this time two blocks opened at once. Out of one block about 20 flying monkeys with long sharp claws emerged, screaming and barking loudly as they flew towards our group.

From the other door, 2 large bears appeared, but its hair was made of sharp metallic spikes, like a giant metallic hedgehog, and it had long horns like a bull.

"Hammer" I called out over the screeching noise from the monkeys "Throw your hammer at that thing! Throw your hammer!"

He didn't seem to like the idea of throwing his hammer, but he did it anyway.

The hammer flew head first into the bears chest, releasing a combination of a lightning strike and shock, blasting the bear back against the block it had just come out of and caving in its chest, killing it instantly, immediately his hammer shot back into his hand.

When he saw what happened he jumped in the air and gave a victory shout that made even the flying monkeys pause.

Cara sent a giant lightning bolt at the other bear which left a smoking hole in its chest before it fell face first to the floor.

Arvel in the meantime had become a human flame-thrower, torching any monsters that came within 5 meters of him.

Some of the monkeys figured out that they needed to avoid Arvel and attacked some of the weaker members of our group.

"Nevel, try your throwing knives." I shouted.

He threw one of his knives at a monkey that was diving for Solomon and the knife went straight through the monkeys chest, electrocuting him at the same time and the flew back into his hand.

A moment later all of the beasts were dead and we had already advanced about half way through the floor, but I knew that they would get tougher the closer we got to the boss.

"I think things are going to start getting serious now," I said, taking out my hammer "we aren't very far from the boss. I think a lot of these blocks will be opening at once, so you all need to be on your toes." I was also intending on being more actively involved now as I was itching to use my new weapons and powers.

We started moving forward and multiple blocks started opening on all sides of the floor.

From a distance, a horde of giant flying hornets were heading for us but Katun created a tornado of fire, turning them all to ash.

A group of fanged trolls were running at me and I took out my exploding mitrium hammer and threw it at the leading troll, his whole upper body exploded and took the head off the troll next to him. The hammer flew back into my hand and I threw it again killing another 2 trolls. For the last one Cara sent a bolt of lightning, leaving a hole in its neck, killing it on the spot.

4 centaurs with scaled human-like torsos and arms but with long necks and cobra heads, were advancing on us rapidly. I shot a dozen ice spears, and many hit their target, killing 8 of them immediately, Hammer killed 2 by throwing his hammer and Nevel finished off the last 2 using his fire enchanted daggers.

A large army of large beetle like insects with giant mandibles poured out of one of the columns and I saw Katun summon a storm that rained fire on them, and Cara sent bolts of lightning killing any that survived Katun's attack.

Hammer was throwing his hammer at a pack of ogres and when they got too close, he plowed through them, his hammer making short work of them.

Arvel, Nevel and Hennisen were also having no difficulty with the beasts that were pouring out of the other columns that were opening, but I was particularly impressed with Katun who took to the magic with surprising ease. He seemed to have gained in confidence as well, showing no sign of fear, even against some pretty scary beasts. I found his lack of fear surprising considering that he had always been weak before.

Cara was using the other elements with ease and I was more than a little proud of her. She had become a very powerful battle-mage.

We had now eliminated all of the beasts from the other columns and that left us with only the level boss to deal with. The block was much larger than any of the other blocks, so I expected that it would be a very large creature, and some of the ones we had already faced were pretty tough, so this one would most likely be difficult.

"Not to spoil anyone's fun," I said "but I think it would be best if only Cara, Hammer, Katun, Arvel and myself, take on the boss or we might end up getting in each other's way.

For the first time since entering the dungeon, I donned my armor and created a shield as I advanced on the last block. The block opened revealing an elephant covered with a rough, rock like armor, with six trunks and four horns, and as soon as the block opened, it charged.

Hammer and I threw our hammers at it, but it batted them out of the way with its trunks. Cara created a giant granite spike right in front of it. The spike broke through its armor and injured it before breaking from the force of its momentum. In the end, she only managed to wound it and slow its charge.

Katun blasted it with a bolt of lightning where Cara had wounded it, causing it to rear up on its hind legs and roar in pain. Arvel followed up hitting it with a condensed ball of fire into its now open mouth, and Hammer and I threw our hammers again, and this time they both connected, shattering its armor and blowing off half of its massively thick upper torso and neck.

It collapsed, and as it collapsed, Katun created a granite spike under it which now pierced completely through the boss, and if wasn't dead before, it was now.

I looted the boss and then we all returned to loot all the other monsters which hadn't been turned to ash, after which, we went to find what rewards were waiting for us in the chest.

The chest was loaded with gold and jewels and potions. There were a few decent weapons, of which a few were enchanted and a pretty decent suit of armor.

We were 14 people in our group but there was only one chest, so we divided the rewards as evenly as possible between everyone. I took a little more than the others as I had used quite a few gems when upgrading their weapons, but no one seemed to have a problem with that, and they seemed particularly happy with rewards they received. I suspected that they were used to Jensu taking almost everything for himself.

We now had had formed a very powerful group on Evola and that they were all blood bound to us so I wasn't worried for either of us, but I hoped that I could get them aligned in the new mindset, to become a force for good, even when Cara and I weren't present, and I knew that would be a challenge.

Jensu was still the weakest of the group with just enough mana to create a shield for a limited time, but even so, he handled himself well in the dungeon, killing a few of the weaker beasts.

Before I sent everyone home, I had a few questions for a couple of the members of the group.

I called Hammer over "Hammer, have you ever heard of a metal called mitrium?"

"Yeah sure, but it's very expensive and I have never worked with it." he replied.

"Do you know where I could get some on Evola?"

"I do" he replied. "There is a metal supplier who gets it directly from the mines, in the next town; not too far from here."

"Would you mind taking me and Cara there, after I have a talk with Jensu."

"Sure, no problem boss. Just let me know when you are ready."

I called Jensu over and I asked him to explain a bit about the political structure on Evola as well as the local politics, the justice system and what their relationship was with the local police and politicians. I needed to know the scope of their influence and their relationship with other neighboring criminal organizations.

I was concerned that certain members of the local law enforcement, wouldn't appreciate losing a significant source of their income, and cause trouble for us.

Based on what Jensu told me, I was right to be concerned. Quite a few of them were on the take, so that would be yet another group that I would have to deal with.

I now felt that I had a good overall view of the political, law enforcement and criminal elements on Evola but primarily the local situation.

I then asked him if he was familiar with Antonius, and what he could tell me about him.

Apparently, every Evolan knew of him and everyone feared him. He was basically outside of the law and no one could do anything about it. What his particular power was, he didn't know.

According to Jensu, he spent most of his time on Evola in the capital, where he had his own small army of followers. That seemed to be all he knew about him.

Once I had finished questioning him, I told everyone that I wanted to see them in front of the hotel again in the morning and let everyone go except Hammer, who I signaled that we were ready to go to the metal shop.

A half hour later, Cara, Hammer and I entered the shop, which could better be described as a warehouse. The building was enormous.

We went to the desk, and I asked the person behind the desk about the availability and cost of mitrium. I also asked if there were any other metals with similar properties for runology.

"There are other metals that are also quite good for runology," he said "but they are often softer, or harder but more brittle than mitrium, or they can't be used together with other metals. Mitrium is by far the best all-around for enchanting."

As Hammer had said, mitrium was very expensive compared to most of the other metals, but even so, I could easily afford another what I needed, as I had accumulated quite a bit of gold.

I let Hammer haggle with the salesman and I purchased 50kgs of mitrium as well as 100 kg of steel.

Once the transaction was complete, we all headed back. Cara and I returned to our hotel where Hammer left us and went on his own way.

We returned to our room, where we showered and rested among other things, before heading to our favorite local restaurant.