Levi’s determination to push through waned steadily as the day wore on. When it came right down to it, he was a man of action. Sitting and thinking all day did not suit him. Whether pondering depressing topics or slamming his head against the wall of incomprehensibility that was magic, either one left him fidgety and anxious.

The lack of apparent progress didn’t help. He couldn’t even convince himself that he was doing Laurence a favor any longer, as their paths had diverged sufficiently that Laurence was near having the spell memorized, while Levi remained stuck at the first stage.

“I think I’m ready,” Laurence said, midway into the second day. “I’d like to reset my class now.”

Levi walked him through the steps to devolve his class.

Laurence took a deep breath and shivered as his level counter dropped back to 0. “Time to see if this was all worth it.”

He slowly raised his visibly trembling hands, breathing fast and eager, then cast the weakest Gust that Levi had ever seen. As a level 0 human, his system integration was minimal and his mana pool barely worth mentioning.

But it was enough.

Laurence’s worried face melted into a wild grin and he jumped into the air, pumping his fist in triumph.

Laurence Haynes: Level 1

(Mage)

“Yes! YES! Thank you!” He jumped on Levi, giving him a quick back-thumping hug, then spun away. “Where’s there something I can kill?”

“Flomper?” Levi called, and a moment later the cynomis poked her head up from the floor. “Anything spawned in recently that Frosty hasn’t killed yet?”

Flomper shrugged and vanished into the floor. Levi pulled out his lens to follow her progress, then laughed at himself for being silly and scanned the rest of the dungeon for enemies himself instead of waiting for her to get back. “Looks like a few gremlins down a side passage. Frosty’s busy arguing with Centoo by the entrance.”

“Perfect.”

Laurence followed, bouncing as he walked and humming a song that sounded triumphant and distantly familiar, probably a theme song from a movie or show. When they reached the group of ambushers, they jumped out at the pair of humans with screeches of joy at the unsuspecting victims.

Laurence spun to catch them all in the cone as he cast Gust, and Levi stepped back to leave him room.

“I AM WIZARD! FEAR ME!!” Laurence cackled, casting the spell again, then again.

The gremlins got in two weak attacks, but were soon overwhelmed by the slashing power of Laurence’s spells. First one gremlin then both of the others fell at his feet and slowly disappeared.

“Ahahahahah! This is amazing. I can’t wait to level again.”

“Speaking of waiting…” Levi said slowly, once Laurence seemed to have gotten most of his manic energy out of his system, "I don't want to wait for Charles to show up any more."

He'd been wanting to get back to his family from the first moment he'd realized they'd still be alive. For a long time, he'd been unable to process or acknowledge the fears that held him back, unwilling to face the potential for disaster. But now that he'd acclimated to the past, recovered somewhat, and finished his treasure hunt checklist, he'd grown only more and more impatient.

He had no obligation he'd left unmet that couldn't be met alongside his family, no goals he had to complete that they couldn't help with, and leveling higher would be actively detrimental to his aims of reuniting as quickly as possible. He had the strong premonition that if he reached the next threshold, it would be enough to kill Gordon's car just by sitting in it, and without a vehicle the trip to Oregon would be ridiculously protracted.

The window of opportunity was closing fast, and Levi refused to miss it this time. He could fill the hours with technical progress on spells, but why practice shifting his mana here when he could be doing it while Irene and Peter leveled with his minions?

He didn't need the framework that badly, even if it would augment the Dungeon Seed somehow. He didn't want to deal with Charles again. It wasn't worth the time wasted.

One day waiting around, sure, it had seemed worthwhile to see if he showed up. But if it dragged on for days longer? Weeks? Who knew if Charles even planned to come here at all?

Every moment that passed here, dallying when he could be getting started leveling his family, and push himself past the second threshold and toward the essential unlocks of crafting and class evolution, was another moment he'd never be able to reclaim. He could be in his personal dungeon training Peter, or helping Irene set up defences, or whatever the personal dungeon ended up being good for.

Levi missed his family so desperately.

He’d managed to half forget, pushing himself into constant action, but now that he’d slowed down the ache of their long absence was stronger than ever.

Forget Charles, forget the Doom Raiders' internal bickering, he was so tired of being alone. Of knowing his wife was out there, worrying about him, without any reason. She'd have plenty of real reasons to worry once they'd gone over the reality, and he wasn't doing anyone any favors by staying away.

He was on a timer. The invasion drew nearer with every day. Now that he'd had time to sit still, without being driven from one goal to the next, he saw the ridiculousness of it. Did he really care more about one legendary item than about saving his family? There would be plenty of opportunity to hunt Charles down and reclaim his framework if it ever mattered to them in future. Right now, it felt petty and utterly insignificant.

"You want to let him get away with robbing us?” Laurence sounded scandalized. “Just... walk away?"

"I have more important things to take care of."

"Oh." Laurence looked a bit lost, as the euphoria of getting his class faded. "That's... sudden."

"I've had a lot of time to think the past couple days. And I decided that what really matters to me isn't something I can take care of while I'm sitting around wasting time. If you want to stay and wait, you're welcome to."

Laurence scoffed. "How would you transport everyone without me? You don't have room in Gordon’s little car for everyone."

"We'll rent a truck if we have to. It's not your problem. If you feel that strongly about dealing with him, I'm not going to try to stop you."

"No… but… you're my student! I'd be a poor mentor if I let you go off alone without even mastering the basics. Not a good way to start off my career as a professor of magic."

"I can figure it out on my own time. Besides, I’m not sure magic is for me anyway. You don't owe me anything."

Laurence shook his head. "I do. You don't understand how much you've given me. This is something I've always thought was impossible, and you just swoop in and hand it to me. You think I'm not going to be grateful? You think I won't put in the work to make it worth it?"

"I'm not saying anything about you at all, I just have to get home. If you want to come, come. The more people we can unite and train up together, the better. If you want to stay, stay. I'm not here to dictate your life decisions. But I can't keep wasting time. I've waited too long as it is."

"If you feel that strongly about it, we can go."

"You don't have to come."

"I'm coming. If you don't care about the traitor that stabbed us all in the back and stole everything he could get his hands on, then neither do I." Laurence gave his best evil grin. "If you say Charles is a petty, insignificant, trivial blip that won't even matter in another month, then I'll take your word for it. If we can scoff at his inconsequential existence and never care about him again, all the better. I’ve learned more and advanced more in a couple days with you guys than I ever would have alone. I’m not giving up this chance over a handful of loot that we can replace in any dungeon. This is too good an opportunity to pass up."

“Good. I’m glad to have you.” Levi started for the entrance, collecting minions as he went. "Let's get everyone loaded up. It's time to go home."