Hard Mode Awakening Challenge

"You going to be alright?" asked the bearded man covered in vines.

"Thanks to all of you," Ian said, slowly pushing himself to his feet. "I really thought I was done for when those four wolfmen respawned." Ian pointed at the four monsters the dagger wielder was looting.

He nearly stumbled, but the man reached out and put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"Thanks. I'm Zero."

"Ha, don't we all know it?" said the man with a belly laugh. "I'm Brennan, the lass next to me is our party leader, Point, and that brooding young whipper snapper over there is Zee. We got three more taking care of the other spawns from the den Chet's team was holding."

"It's good to meet all of you," Ian said before chuckling. "Literally the happiest I've ever been to meet anyone in my entire life."

"I bet Worg's Fang says the same thing about you," Point said with a smile. "But you should hurry up and loot all your kills. You aren't in any shape to fight right now, and I will feel better if we can get you safely out of this dungeon."

Ian gave her a smile and a nod. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," she said, giving him a wink. Turning to Zee, she gave him two quick hand signs, and he shot off towards the other den.

Ian quickly looted the drops directly into his item box, not even bothering to check what the monsters gave him. Each monster in this dungeon dropped at least a couple small essence stones. They also occasionally dropped claws and hide that manufacturers and crafters used to create armor and weapons. It was supposed to be a vital component for making a better set of armor than what he was currently wearing, but the entire set costs a couple of hundred thousand dollars in total—well out of his current price range.

Ian felt a pang of guilt, realizing he was going to have to cut his dungeon diving short and wouldn't be able to get another run in before he met with the Faeorcen representative tomorrow. Sometimes plans fell short, and he would just have to finish it Saturday morning.

Claire would understand when they talked later. Honestly, he hoped she might even be waiting outside the dungeon for him. With how tired he was, he hoped for it because he'd probably fall asleep on the metro if he had to find the way home on his own.

"You with us?" Point asked as she came up to him, laying a hand on his shoulder and looking up into his face. He hadn't even realized that he had been staring down at the spot where the patriarch had died.

Ian blinked. "Oh, sorry. Just a little bit out of it."

Brennan laughed as Ian felt a surge of magic as a green glow surrounded him. "I can't do anything about the blood loss, and you definitely lost a ton, but you are fully healed otherwise.

"Not gonna lie though, drinking that potion probably saved your life. Your healing isn't strong enough to close wounds like that. If you are gonna keep soloing, you need to boost that up as soon as possible."

"Thanks for the advice," Ian said, nodding in agreement. "I'll definitely do so, if not find another, more powerful, healing spell. I just can't believe there are adventurers who would do stuff like Chet just did."

Point made a disgusted grunt, "Chet's father owns Serenity. They used to be a proud clan back in his pops' adventuring days, but it has turned into a shell of its former glory now that his father has turned to weapon and armor development. He doesn't care about the adventuring branch, and Chet's older brother runs it more like a gang than a business."

"I'm surprised the dungeon curator hasn't stepped in if they are kiting monsters onto others," Ian said with a frown.

"What we find morally repugnant, other races consider a valid way of forging their adventures. As long as we aren't openly fighting each other, preventing people from running the dungeon, or sexually assaulting people, it is more than happy to let our culture dictate the rest of the rules.

"Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure Chet didn't realize that you have hundreds of millions of people watching you. He's a bit too self-absorbed—"

"And drunk!" yelled a woman who came running up carrying a huge backpack.

"—and drunk," Point agreed with a smirk, "to think about what he is doing before he does it. Though you are the first person we know of whom he tried to kill with a monster."

Ian shook his head as Zee came back, leading a man in plate mail and a woman in leather holding a harp.

"Zero, the man here in the armor is called Tinman, the bard next to him is Moxie, and our supporter with the backpack is Felt. Everyone, this is Zero."

They all greeted each other as Brennan started guiding them towards the exit.

"So, I'm kinda embarrassed to admit that I don't recognize your clan emblem," Ian said, scratching the back of his head with one hand while holding the spear with another. Unfortunately, his helm had been too damaged and bent out of shape to wear.

"That isn't really surprising," Point said with a warm smile. "We are members of Threshold. While we occasionally stream, we are more focused on meeting our quotas and reaching our goals. Our clan sees the effort that managing a public image takes as an unnecessary time sink that can be better spent in meeting the next threshold."

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"Meeting the threshold?" Ian asked, completely unsure about what she was talking about. "Leveling thresholds?"

"You are skipping the important part, Point," Brennan said with a chuckle. "Our clan is entirely focused on pulling as many essence stones out of the dungeons as possible. We want to increase the atmospheric mana beyond the thresholds to provide lasting health benefits for the entire population."

"Oh," Ian said, nodding as his eyes went wide. "That makes a lot of sense. So, you all dive dungeons constantly and pull out as many stones as possible."

"We also help other adventuring groups while giving advice and guidance freely with every group we come across. Every group that moves up or becomes more efficient allows for more stones to be pulled. It is one of the reasons that our clan has been watching you with great interest."

Ian's headache was definitely slowing down his cognitive abilities. He could almost feel the potion restoring his lost blood, but he knew he was going to need to eat before it really kicked into gear.

"I'm sorry, I'm still kinda out of it," Ian apologized. "I guess I'm not really following. As much as I appreciate you all, and I truly do, I won't be joining any clans. I'm going to stick with the AO and help them take care of future adventurers."

"Which is all the more reason we are excited to see what you do. Helping expand the AO's influence and training capabilities will help further our goals. Your growth potential is also very exciting. There aren't that many adventurers who can punch above their level. If you can keep that up, you may one day be pulling new types of essence stones out of dungeons that we haven't seen yet.

"All we want is for our families and friends to be able to safely benefit from a mana rich environment. From everything we've seen, you will help us move closer to that goal, even if you never think about it. Your rapid growth is giving some hope to our members that we may see a large increase in mana density within our lifetimes."

Point's threat suddenly made a lot more sense to Ian. She had a fervor when she spoke about the threshold that seemed a little bit manic.

The serious topic was replaced with small talk as they finished walking him out of the dungeon. Occasionally, Zee would slip off into the forest and come back a moment later. Since they never ran into any monsters, Ian was sure he was dispatching them before they ever got close enough for him to see.

*~*~*

"Thank you," Ian said for the dozenth time as the party waved and walked into the trees around the portal clearing.

He was feeling a lot more stable than he had been when he first started the twenty-minute walk to the portal. He was also starving now that the potion's blood restoring properties were in full effect.

He shook off a shudder as he walked into the portal.

"I'm never going to get used to that," he muttered, blinking at the sudden midday sun.

"Ian!" came Claire's voice off to his right. Her hands grabbed him, and she quickly looked over his face and looked into his eyes. Her eyes glowed for a second before she sighed in relief. "Thank the curator you're alright. You need to text your sister when we get to the car. She didn't get to see you get escorted out before her training started back up. I think she would have had an aneurysm if Diana hadn't been there to convince her that you would be fine with the folks from Threshold."

"Yeah, I can do that," he responded, suddenly feeling exhausted now that he wasn't in any danger anymore. "You said we have a car here?"

Claire gave him a smile as she began to lead him to the car. As soon as he was safely in, he leaned his head back and sighed in relief. He spent the next couple of minutes answering texts from his sister, Tram, and Lana. They were probably in the middle of a simulated dungeon run, but they would get them as soon as they checked.

The realization that he had almost died was weighing heavily on his mind. It wasn't the first time he had almost died, but it was the first time another adventurer had tried to make it happen. The whole situation was something he was struggling to wrap his mind around. He understood hating someone, but not someone whom he knew nothing about, and especially not enough that he wished them harm. As much as he hated Avra, he didn't want anything bad to happen to her. He just wanted to ensure she was never a part of his life again.

"I think I need a nap," he said with a sigh, before his stomach growled.

He opened his eyes to the sound of a wrapper being ripped open. Claire was holding a protein bar out, waving it in front of his face. His eyes followed it for a second before his hand lashed out and he grabbed it.

"Oh my god, you are the bestest ever," he exclaimed, shoving half of it in his mouth before moaning as he chewed. "So good!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, and take smaller bites," she chided, with an unamused expression. "Besides, if you choke to death after hitting level one thousand, you will never be able to handle the shame."

Ian stopped chewing to look at her. A smile slowly spread across her face as she stared back. He shook his head at her before she began to nod at him.

Eyes going wide, he pulled up the status messages he had ignored earlier.

Congratulations! You have defeated an enemy more than 750 levels higher than yourself. Experience rewards are multiplied by 50. You have earned 28 levels. You have achieved level 1000. You have been awarded 560 skill points! Experience gained from killing monsters capped due to reaching milestone threshold.

Congratulations! You have reached the milestone cap of 1000! Process milestone rewards to unlock additional leveling. Milestone rewards will be processed upon dungeon exit.

Notification! Processing Milestone rewards.

New skill Evolution: Prestige Leader (Inherent) has evolved into Prestige War Leader (Inherent). Dedicated party members will receive the same experience and skill point bonuses as the user. The skill point bonus is only applied to new levels gained after joining the party. Bonuses are not retroactive.

New Skill: Everything the Light Touches (Inherent) Your eyes will instantly adjust to changes in light intensity.

Warning! You have gained one charge in Prestige Mode (Inherent). The charge will expire upon reaching level 1001. Activate skill to use charge.

"Come on, Ian! Tell me what you got!" Claire screamed at him as he stared at the prompts only he could see.

"I-ah-um-ah!" Ian said, grabbing his temples. "Secure room. Yes, yes. We need a secure room."

"What?" Claire asked, eyes getting large. "Is it really that crazy?"

Ian ignored her as his mind was spinning through different possibilities.

"How much SP do you have saved up? If you don't have five hundred, we need to get you five hundred," Ian said, looking her dead in the eyes. "Who do we know that can help you get levels quickly?

"Stop! Ian, calm down. I do have that much, barely, but why would I—" Claire stopped as her eyes widened. "We need to get to my office."

Ian nodded his head, now fully awake. "We do. This could actually change everything."

"Stop it, Ian. You're killing me here," Claire said, giving him an exasperated groan. "I swear, if you are building this up and your new skill turned out to be something relatively useless and stupid, I will never forgive you."

Looking back at his new skill, Ian burst out laughing. He wondered what she would say about his new inherent skill when she found out.