5 bottles of pills sat in front of me on the cabin’s dining room table. The plates were put away, leaving only the scuffed dark wood and my 5 bottles. They were all Persephone’s Drops lvl20 and together made up 100 pills. Each pill bore the name of the Hellen goddess Persephone. If she had been called Proserpina, I wouldn’t have cared, but these pills were clearly blessed by a Hellen goddess at some point before they found their way into the dungeon. Then again, I didn’t know how dungeons found their drops. On the open market, these pills would sell for an aureus pill. Each full bottle was 20 ounces of gold, more money than I had seen in my life, and I was about to toss them back like cheap candies.

 

From my black bag, I pulled out a half-full bottle of Athena Drops lvl100 +25WIS/pill to 2k wisdom. Those 10 pills could sell for 5 aureus each or more to the right buyer. We bartered using large contracts on the farm to keep up with who promised what for a good. It was rare we had a copper ass.

 

I glanced at a dead man. “Do you even know what you have there?”

 

 Tyrannus smiled genially, but it was forced by the twitching at the corners of his mouth. He wore lighter armor than he had the night before and carried a fishing pole in his hand. His sword strapped to his waist was nowhere to be seen. Did he think fishing in a dungeon was safe? Even with 4 experienced adventurers, all it took was a second of carelessness to be dragged under.

 

I gripped the first bottle and turned it up. The pills fell in my mouth, and I swallowed them down, feeling the sheer weight of them settle in my gut. Immediately I felt a reaction; something warm filled my veins before my aura erupted. Green flames of qi surrounded my body as the pills took effect.

 

+100INT

+100WIS

 

Without waiting to lose my nerve, I upturned the second bottle. Another batch of pills fell down my throat, and I felt my power erupt even stronger.

 

+100INT

+100WIS

 

I did the same with the third and the fourth bottle and returned the fifth to my bag.

 

+200INT

+200WIS

INT 500(1275)

WIS 500(3250)

 

My aura manifested with little effort shrouding my body like a cloak of a deep dark green. Never had it been so easy to manifest my power. My aura acted as a fulcrum driving my physical strength higher than it had ever been before. Before, I had been just a spark. Still, I was far more comparable when I compared myself to the other adventurers outside the party.

 

I was catching up to the rest of my party. Maybe it would take decades to reach their level, but I knew I could overtake the other adventurers here. Tyrannus shot off his feet as a wave of my power hit him. My strength continued to grow, hardening and strengthening my body like never before. Soon I wouldn’t need a weapon at all.

 

A harsh voice knocked me out of my power high. “Did any of that increase your long-range DPS?”

 

“Nirvana will hit harder, and I’ll be able to shoot faster. Reloading won’t take as much time.”

 

“We’re about to move up to the next floor while they go out and do your job. I want you to practice reloading during that time. What’s your AGL stat?”

 

“755,” he grunted at my answer.

 

“Have any of your stats reached the first milestone without multipliers?” Samson asked.

 

I shook my head.

 

“No, then why are you taking pills to increase your lower stats. If you want to survive, you need speed and accuracy. It doesn’t matter how hard you can hit a target if you never do. Swarm can’t slow them down all the time. Do you have any pills of Mercery?”

 

I shook my head. “All I have is Persephone and Athena.”

 

Samson spat on the ground. “Greedy dungeon, practice reloading, and watch yourself; the next floor will be dangerous.”

 

“I saved Swarm; I’m not useless.”

 

“She had a bad matchup. But you shouldn’t have counted her out. Those nightmares would be nothing without their immortality. If not for that, they would all be trash mobs like that dragon catfish.”

 

“So, I haven’t seen anything yet.”

 

Samson smirked. “You’re getting it, and levels aren’t everything. Levels allow you to use higher quality consumables, get better drops, and rank up. Unfortunately, the only way to get truly strong in this world is to buckle down and train. Isn’t that what you used to do.”

 

I closed my eyes and remembered lifting logs, eating special types of herbs to raise my stats faster, and training my qi. Sometimes the herbs were the only things I could eat when food was scarce. Our farm was small, and pa wasn’t good at handling money. Then he started drinking more, and we rarely had food anymore. My sister’s taming skill allowed her to command creatures to come to her to be eaten. It's one of the reasons why I left. Her level had begun increasing rapidly, and she tamed another human. After that, I left and never looked back.

 

From my bag, I took out a clip dropped mine out of Nirvana, and slid another one home. Each time I did it without letting the clips touch the ground in a kind of juggling act. Samson watched my little act, then smirked and stepped back.

 

“You’ll do that until we’re ready to leave.” I nodded and continued my work.

 

Tyrannus waited until Samson left out the door. “Did you hear that, you free man? You’re going to die on the next floor while all I have to do is fish. While I’m relaxing, you’ll be fighting for your life. You could say it's karma for treating a daughter of Neptune like a fool.”

 

Ariel was in the room looking between us with her hands plastered over her mouth. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to hold back the snickering. Tyrannus smiled at the sound, completely unaware that it was at his expense. Or it might have been in my situation. That fish girl was causing trouble because the rich noble’s son couldn’t resist her glamour.

 

“You won’t’ be an issue much longer. Even if you manage to get out, there are people loyal to my family who can deal with problems like you.”

 

Ariel stopped laughing and stepped in close until her lips nearly touched Tyrannus. “Aren’t you sweet? I have sisters who are even more beautiful than me. Just say their names, and they’ll come right up to show you a good time; just tell them Ariel sent you.”

 

Tyrannus grinned stupidly, completely high from Ariel’s glamour. I made stopped my practice and pulled a tablet from my bag. It was just one of many drops popular in business all over Loon. I opened one of the reminder apps and made a note to find glamour and charm-resistant equipment in the future.

 

Majorian walked into the room and tossed me a perfectly spherical blue gemstone. “Use it to upgrade your equipment; we’ll be heading out soon. Also, don’t let Samson catch you shirking your practice.” Majorian said and left back through the door.

 

Equipment Upgrading Tool Rank 1 25 uses

 

“When you die, I will loot your equipment and sell it.” I looked the noble over, and he didn’t have much besides his rings. From what I could tell, his rings increased exp and HP after all other calculations. However, his armor was something else, and I couldn’t read all the set's effects when complete.

 

“I don’t think your armor will be in any state to be recovered. Any of the fish in that river could one-shot you.”

 

Tyrannus snorted. “Shows what you know these rings can reverse time once each. I have three of them, so no matter what, I’ll survive.”

 

I blinked at the guy there is bragging, and then there was giving away important weaknesses.

 

“Whatever, just go die or live while everyone else dies. I don’t care. I’ll be stronger next time you see me while you stay the same.” I said.

 

I needed power if I wanted to survive the next floor. There was no telling what enemies would be up there, but they would all be adventurer killers. So I used 10 uses from the EUT on my pants, and the final 15 went towards Nirvana.

 

Black Blood Pants Rank 1 lvl10

Nirvana Rank1 lvl25

 

Samson walked in and signaled me to follow him. I held Nirvana down but at the ready while, Ariel stayed behind. She wouldn’t be much use on the upper levels.

 

“He’s going to die, but he acts like it’s the opposite,” I said.

 

My mentor smirked. “I can’t even guarantee my own life; what makes you think yours is guaranteed.” I held Nirvana close and shut my eyes. For a moment, the world didn’t exist. We are alone in the end.

 

“It doesn’t feel like I’m going to die here. What would be the point of making it this far if I was going to die?”

 

Samson’s smirk vanished. He moved faster than I’ve felt anything move and grabbed me by the throat. My aura flared, but it was useless. His will shut my power down faster than it could manifest. So unless I had already manifested it, I couldn’t summon my aura close to Samson’s will.

 

“I could kill you right now, and your story would end. No one would remember you, and even Swarm would forget you as the years stretch by. You would die with nothing to show for your efforts like countless others have.”  I pulled at my aura with all my might, raised Nirvana, and fired only for the rounds to phase through Samson’s body. He started squeezing, and I couldn’t stop him.

 

There was only one thing I could do as he choked the life out of me. I pointed the gun at the hand choking me and fired.

 

The bullet struck a wall. Samson moved my body faster than the bullet could travel. I couldn’t do anything.

 

After everything, I would die at the hand of a man I thought was my mentor, maybe even a friend. Slowly his hand let up on the pressure, and I fell.

 

“Karma can’t protect you. It is the reason why countless people die. Only by fighting it until you’re free can you surpass your limits and gain true self-determination.” Samson said.

 

“You’re a jackass.”

 

Samson smirked. “I hope my lesson sunk in this time.”