By the time Levi and Gordon had walked Kaden through the process of devolving his Fighter class and restarting as a Tamer, it was well into the night.

"You good to go?” Levi asked. “Or do you need to rest for the night before we head out to the Ice dungeon?"

Gordon considered, then shook his head. "I think we'd best tackle that well rested."

He didn’t argue as Gordon drove the pair of them back to the motel.

Levi managed to sleep for a few fitful hours, then slipped back outside to the car. He collected Skarm and the centipedes, then set off toward the level 1 dungeon they’d cleared a day before. It would be easy enough to run by themselves, no need to involve Gordon or anyone else.

He had another open minion slot now, and would be getting another for each of the next two levels leading up to the second Threshold. At that point he’d have to decide if he should go all in on minion slots right away or if some of the other abilities would be necessary sooner, but even at his ridiculously fast leveling rate it would be another week before that happened.

Speaking of levels…

As they ran, he reviewed his and his minions’ stats, then put his stat point into Spirit. Evasion and mobility were essential to his fighting style. Even once he stopped fighting on the front lines, being able to move quickly would never become obsolete.

Levi Morrison, Secret Seeker Unassigned Levels: 0 Primary Class: Tamer Tamer Level: 7 Subclass: None Minions: 4/5 Stat Points: 0 Strength: 1 Psyche: 2 Spirit: 4 Health

147/147 Mana

67/67 Stamina

127/127 Health

Regen

2 /min Mana

Regen

3 /min Stamina

Regen

5 /min

Movement was essential, being able to draw on stamina in a fight and have it recover in a reasonable time was his biggest holdup at present.

All three regens would be necessary in the long run, of course; Mana would grow ever more in demand once he started upgrading to powered armor and more powerful manablades, and health was the ultimate buffer between fragile human flesh and absolute obliteration, but so far he felt the lack of stamina most keenly and frequently.

For Cen and Centoo, he gave them both a point of strength. They weren't going to be in any fewer frontline confrontations, more health and regen was only going to be of help.

Minions Name Level Type Str Psy Spirit Health Mana Stamina Skarm 5 Horned Gremlin 2 0 3 60/60

(+4/min) 0/0

(+2/min) 80/80

(+5/min) Gremlin Two 4 Horned Gremlin 2 0 2 0/60

(+3/min) 0/0

(+1/min) 0/70

(+3/min) Cen 4 Stone Centipede 3 0 1 115/115

(+4/min) 30/30

(+1/min) 75/75

(+2/min) Centoo 4 Stone Centipede 2 0 2 100/100

(+3/min) 30/30

(+1/min) 80/80

(+3/min) Skarm: Level 5 Horned Gremlin

Strength: 2

Health: 60/60

(+4/min)

Psyche: 0

Mana: 0/0

(+2/min)

Spirit: 3

Stamina: 80/80

(+5/min) Gremlin Two: Level 4 Horned Gremlin

Strength: 2

Health: 0/60

(+3/min)

Psyche: 0

Mana: 0/0

(+1/min)

Spirit: 2

Stamina: 0/70

(+3/min) Cen: Level 4 Stone Centipede

Strength: 3

Health: 115/115

(+4/min)

Psyche: 0

Mana: 30/30

(+1/min)

Spirit: 1

Stamina: 75/75

(+2/min) Centoo: Level 4 Stone Centipede

Strength: 2

Health: 100/100

(+3/min)

Psyche: 0

Mana: 30/30

(+1/min)

Spirit: 2

Stamina: 80/80

(+3/min)

He still felt guilty about leaving Two out of commission so long, they'd been through a lot together, but events kept conspiring against him.

Skarm's regens had all increased with his threshold, an interesting development Levi wouldn't have expected. As far as he knew, the only way to increase regen was with stat points. He kept finding new ways human leveling and dungeon creature leveling differed.

Satisfied with their progress for the moment, he led them into the untouched dungeon.

This dungeon delve, though utterly simple to traverse, still added two Destruction tokens, a pair of health restoratives, one of stamina, a pouch of deathvine seeds, and a pair of untraced gloves to his growing treasure stash. The gloves he put on, the protection welcome even if they wouldn’t be turned into power armor anytime soon.

He finished well before dawn, and decided to test his luck running a second dungeon before Gordon woke up. He could maintain a steady run by now with his stamina regen keeping up with his expenditure as long as he didn’t push into a sprint. Cen and Centoo could keep up with him, while Skarm would have been left behind if not for Centoo carrying him. They ran through the nighttime city, a group of bizarre phantoms, seen but not believed and gone too quick to be proven.

The second dungeon was level 2. Levi hesitated before entering. If this one had also formed an Essence like the last two, then he could be in trouble. They’d only barely taken out the last one even with Gordon and Flomper’s help, and each one had been a long and incredibly dangerous confrontation.

“I’ve come this far,” he muttered. “If it’s another Essence, we’ll back off without entering the boss room and come back with Gordon. Deal? Deal.”

The dungeon, though, had already been cleared. A few stragglers remained, an occasional side passage or detour that hadn’t been fully emptied, but it appeared that this one had been delved quite recently.

As Levi and his team neared the boss room, they heard the sound of voices, clashing weapons, and buzzing.

Correction: it was currently in the process of being delved.

Levi stopped, his minions forming up around him.

“I think you should wait out of sight,” he said, after a long moment’s consideration. The last thing he wanted was to spook the delvers inside into attacking them.

Skarm crossed his arms, looking rebellious.

“I can handle myself. I’ll call if I need you, but there are already people here .” With a group already here there shouldn't be anything Levi couldn't handle on his own.

Cen took a step toward Levi, hunching forward as though anticipating reproof, but stubborn.

“Thank you, but any stragglers the group missed won’t be a threat to me. You can go back.”

Skarm continued to scowl, but patted Centoo’s head and the centipede turned to move away. Cen reluctantly followed.

Once they were hidden, Levi continued forward, more slowly now, thinking through what he should say when they encountered each other. He still winced internally when he remembered his first encounter with delvers, albeit accidental ones. He'd really not been coherent back then. This time, he'd do better.

Rounding a corner, he saw the people ahead of him. Five people, a good group size for dungeons of this level, decently coordinated but obviously amateurs at actually fighting. He stayed back and watched, gauging their progress, and quickly understood why so many of the dungeons in the area were being allowed to form Essences.

If this group went up against a boss, even a level 1, they'd not survive. Their movements were too slow, their attacks clumsy and inaccurate. They weren't drawing on their stamina or mana at all, just relying on basic human strength for everything.

Levi waited until they'd finished clearing the room so as not to spook them during combat, then stepped inside and raised a hand in greeting. “Hello.”

"Who are you? How did you find us?" demanded a large woman with a greatsword, pointing the weapon at him. A scrawny teen drew back his bow, while two more sword-wielders stepped up to either side of the woman. Another ranger moved quickly from monster to monster, touching each before it faded, as though searching for something.

"I am Levi Morrison, and I'm here to give you all a few survival tips. Like, skip bosses until you're at least level 5, but after that you absolutely have to start clearing them. Get together a bigger group if necessary, but you can't keep skipping indefinitely."

The swordspersons looked at each other. "How do you know we've been skipping bosses?" demanded the one on the right. "Have you been spying? Are you from Doom Raiders?"

"I am currently not affiliated with any local guild. I'm an independent party trying to increase the power of humanity as a whole."

The guy on the woman's left scowled irritably. "What, you want us to give out our loot freely to whoever asks for it?"

"Not at all. I'm simply sharing my own knowledge freely rather than charging for it or limiting it to certain guilds. I'm not planning to impose any restraints on your trading with one another."

"So why are you here?" demanded the woman in the front, still pointing her sword at him.

"I'm clearing Essences in the area and wanted to verify if this dungeon contains one or not before I bring my team in tomorrow."

"You trying to steal our dungeon?"

"No. I'm trying to save this city from being destroyed ahead of schedule."

"Ahead of schedule? You're planning to destroy the city?"

Levi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This wasn't going at all how he'd hoped, and he was losing control of the conversation. "Essences will continue to grow in strength until they're strong enough to leave the dungeon entirely, and if they start spawning Essence monsters in the middle of a bunch of unAwakened, what do you think will happen?"

"More competition," muttered the ranger. "If everyone knows dungeons exist, we'll lose our edge."

"Really? That's your biggest concern? Losing your 'advantage'?" Levi pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to think of any way to reason with this group. Nothing came to mind.

"I suggest you take your nonsense somewhere else."

Levi shrugged. "Fine. I'm leaving. Don't forget, kill the Essence as soon as possible once you hit level 5. It'll be about twenty times harder than a normal boss, and it won't go down easy. Do not attempt it without a large team. Practice working together. If you can find some level one dungeons to practice on, do that. Killing some normal bosses together will help your teamwork."

"I thought you were leaving?"

Levi turned and left, signaling his minions to rejoin him as he passed where he'd left them. "I hope the rest of the guilds are less stubborn than these guys."

They didn't have time to clear another dungeon, even though this one had proved to be a bust. Levi led the charge back to the motel, leaving more than a few confused people in their wake. Not a lot of people were out this time of night, but enough to give him strange looks.

He was safely back in his room, pretending to try to sleep, by the time Gordon woke up.