The goblins’ attacks weren’t doing much damage to the stone walls that were protecting him. But the heavy footsteps were getting closer and closer. James could tell that if the monsters making those footsteps attacked the walls, he’d become minced meat in seconds.

There was no other way to go but down. He used his earth magic to tunnel through the ground, quickly dropping to a lower floor of the caverns.

When he landed he almost shrieked from the pain. His ankles felt like they were broken, the distance he fell was too big. But while he didn’t scream, he still made some noise when he landed, and in doing so he could have attracted monsters yet again.

James quickly raised some walls around him again for protection. He then quietly used healing magic on his ankles, and he drank another potion. He had to do more than just thank Lunaris for all these supplies.

James had to make a choice. He could use the teleportation scroll right now and escape back to Hedonia. But that would feel awful, running away having made zero progress. And he needed to get powerful as quickly as possible, the feeling of being followed and watched made him anxious. For peace of mind, he needed power.

This world was a lot more wondrous and magical than Earth, but also a lot more dangerous. While James could be reckless and fearless when in combat, or when his addiction to xp makes him push any thoughts of dangers aside, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s still like a defenseless infant compared to the threats of this world. This sense of insecurity brings an anxiety with it.

So he needs to get more powerful, that’s the only way he’ll find peace of mind. And he can’t do that by running away at the first sign of trouble.

Helios had told him about the monsters of the caverns, but James still wasn’t careful enough. He overestimated himself and underestimated the monsters.

Goblins, trolls, kobolds, skeletons. There were all kinds of creepy mobs lurking around.

James took out his phone and looked through the message Helios had sent him about the caverns. Unfortunately he couldn’t contact Helios from here, there was too much magical interference.

He had to find a way to defeat these monsters without fighting a bunch of them at the same time.

Looking through the list of mobs, James realized something. None of them could fly!

Well, neither could he. But the monsters didn’t have the spells that he had.

So he had a brilliant idea! God bless earth magic. James faced the walls of the cavern.

He put one foot on the wall, and he encased it in earth. Then he did the same with his hands. By basically merging his limbs with the wall, he could climb it, like a spider. He released his limbs from the wall one by one, so he could safely climb without falling, safely glued to the wall.

James made his way to the ceiling of the cavern, deciding to stop right in the middle. He couldn’t exactly fight from this awkward position, so he used his earth magic to carve a platform out of the wall, where he could actually sit upright.

He was now comfortably sitting, at such a height that his head was touching the ceiling of this huge cavern.

By now he had almost run out of mana, so he had to chug a mana potion as well. But with that, he only had one other mana potion left. He’d definitely have to grind hard and make a lot of money, money is another form of power. If he had money, he could have bought countless potions and a spatial ring to store them all. But for now, all he had was a limited backpack.

This plan wouldn't work then. If he was almost out of potions, then what if something unexpected happened? What if a monster that he wasn’t aware of did exist around here? A spider or a bat that could reach him without breaking a sweat. He’d be toast.

That’s when he remembered that arrows existed as well. And who said none these mobs don’t have magic they could throw at him?

At any moment during the fight, an arrow could have pierced his skull and that would've been the end of his know-it-all existence.

Even being in this cold cave, that’s when James started sweating. He was feeling queasy, this was the harebrained plan of a toddler, not of a grown ass man.

He actually thought he'd just sit on his platform and lob spells at monsters, as if he had found a cheat that would help him defeat them.

The embarrassment made him start recalling some of his failures from his past life. There were far too many to recall them all, but he remembered one thing he’d always think. Every time he failed, he imagined how easy life would be if only he were smarter. If only he was like those chess players who could think several moves ahead.

He was never good at that. Whether it was impatience, or simply laziness, something always kept him from actually thinking ahead.

But now it was life or death. If that didn’t motivate him to think ahead, what would?

So he modified his plan. He’d think like a chess player. He'd add more steps to this plan.

Instead of sitting on a defenseless platform, he used his earth magic to move inside the wall. And then he reinforced the walls around him, he was now basically in a cocoon of reinforced earth. Whenever he wanted to look around or attack, he could just make a small, temporary hole and then close it as soon as he was done.

Now he was safe. Ranged weapons, magic, nothing could touch him now. He could also just burrow deeper into the wall and use his teleportation scroll if things got really dangerous.

James then screamed as loud as he could, attracting the attention of every monster that was hiding on this floor.

He could hear tens of different sets of footsteps quickly gathering. Soon after, he saw what must’ve been two dozen mobs, mostly ice goblins and skeletons.

He was lucky he had the idea to hide in the wall, the monsters were firing arrows at him, each arrow sending a chill down his spine as it embedded into the earth. There was no risk of them hitting him, but the loud sound of an arrow impacting not far from your head is scary nonetheless.

James didn’t wait at all and unleashed fireballs one after the other. Out of his 550 mana, only 50 was left. He then chugged the last remaining mana potion and unleashed another barrage of fireballs.

The explosions were deafening, the lights were blinding. James didn’t spare any mana at all, he was blasting like a madman till he ran out of mana.

[You have reached level 15]

Five whole levels, he must’ve killed each and every single one of those two dozen mobs. That was a great amount of progress, the crazy bastard was leveling up much quicker than the average person.

But the fiery spectacle wasn’t stealthy at all. He could hear monsters gathering from all directions, they were coming even from the other floors.

James then decided to bail. He didn’t even go loot the monsters, he tore the teleportation scroll and went back to Hedonia as soon as the ten seconds it took for the teleportation to activate were up.

Five levels wasn’t a bad haul, but James still had a bit of a sour taste left in his mouth. This victory felt awkward, clumsy. This isn’t who he dreamed of being. He wanted to be an unrelenting force that wouldn’t leave till the whole dungeon was cleared, till the most powerful monsters lay defeated on the ground.

Instead he was sneaking around like a scared mouse, performing hit and run tactics, having to use his creativity to stay alive.

But that’s exactly why this experience was valuable. No more of this nonsense. From now on he’ll be even more prepared. He’ll take dozens of mana potions, any buffs he can get his hands on, powerful equipment. And he’ll stay around and loot everything.

The only problem was money. Helios and Lunaris were too kind, they’d help him out with everything he needed. But that just didn't feel right. If anything, he wanted to be the one who helps people out. And he owed them so much already.

So he had to make money. The more money he made, the more supplies and equipment he could buy. And that means power, which translates into more money.

He had a half-demon soul and he had his innate skill [Jack of all trades, master of none]. There had to be ways to make money with two overpowered traits like that.

But it’s still not enough. He needs more. Not just for making money and gaining power, but for survival. There are dangers far beyond goblins and skeletons in this world.

“I need to make my own Deus ex machinas.” James was far too much of a realist to expect that it would be smooth sailing from then on. In every novel he had ever read, eventually something really bad happened. And when it did, the characters displayed a miraculous power that saved the day.

He had no such powers. The half-demon soul was powerful, but not enough to save his life in a pinch. He needed to create a trump card, something that could turn the tables.

And the key to this will be Hedonia. This incredible institute is the utmost authority on magic. With his Jack of all trades trait, James will be able to learn different types of spells and skills very quickly. And eventually he may even master some.

Building a large arsenal of skills was the key to survival and success. This world is more than just numbers, even being able to place a pebble at the right place and at the right time could be a huge advantage.

At level 15, he now had a moderate mana pool of 850 mana. Not much, but just enough to learn.