The Last Experience Point

Ghastly rattling sounds filled the stale air as feet made of bone stomped down on the floor here in the Grandest Library, F29. Jimmy, hidden behind a thick, sturdy bookshelf, managed to avoid the arrows and even a few dark black spiraling balls of deathly magic as about eighty different skeleton mobs—the entire floor—chased after him, slowed and poisoned.

This floor was slightly bigger than F28, and as such, it had a few thousand more books. Amazingly, every single book in this dungeon was real, and their publication dates ranged from a thousand years before Jimmy was born to about two thousand years after. Thus, the vast, overwhelming majority, he did not recognize, though every now and then, he'd stumbled upon a familiar name, such as a soft, paperback book that landed on his head and then fell onto the floor after a Grand Skeleton Defender bumped into the shelf he was hiding behind.

Jimmy glanced down and picked it up. "Hey, I read this one," he said with a laugh.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: A Novel by Jules Verne

"G-grahh-grahh!" cried out dozens of skeletons as a constant thunk-thunk-thunk resounded from the other end of the shelf as more arrows were emptied into it. Jimmy, tossing the book over his shoulder, raised his staff and peeked out from the shelf, curious to see how close he was to the eighty skeletons.

Actually, it was more like thirty now.

+21,000xp

+21,000xp

+21,000xp

+21,000xp

One after the next, the xp notices just kept coming in, filling Jimmy's bar fast enough that it looked more like a video-game loading screen. Calling upon the ability he'd learned just yesterday, Jimmy dropped another Shock Spike III in front of him and retreated to the next bookshelf down the line; in his wake, he left a floating, bright-blue orb of electricity that periodically sent out a tendril of lightning into anything nearby it every few seconds for a total of 45 seconds.

Now, he watched as the poisoned and slowed mobs, which were already taking damage every few steps, took an additional 3- to 5-thousand damage several times in a row as they shambled their way in a nearly single-file line through the middle of F29 on their way towards him.

Yesterday, when Jimmy had killed the boss on F20 and likewise leveled up, he'd been overjoyed to receive this new ability, as it'd been a while since he'd received something capable of inflicting direct damage, and to be honest, he was getting kind of bored with his current abilities. But adding another AOE-damaging ability to his repertoire? Hell yeah!

Even more "+21,000xp" filled the air as about half of the remaining mobs dropped dead, collapsing into a pile of quickly fading bones and leaving behind a slew of white, green, and even some blue flashing lights—all of which Jimmy would ignore, even after everything was dead. He'd left so much loot everywhere that he now had to worry about watching his step, as until the dungeon reset, none of it would be going anywhere.

The other adventurers would be seething their nuts off if they knew I don't pick up crap loot, he thought, chuckling.

Unlike the noobs in the adventuring community, Jimmy didn't have time to bend down and pick up vendor trash. His storage box was constantly full, and so now, as a rule, it had to be at least purple—Epic Rare—for him to bother looking at. But he'd even left a few of those behind, too. And that would really drive some adventurers out of their minds if they knew, because those dudes looted everything.

But that was because they barely got anything.

Jimmy, on the other hand? He was constantly getting shit. It was like Diablo up in here. How the fuck was he supposed to waste his time with every crap-rare he came across? No, he treated a lot of this junk like litter and just tossed it away, partly because he had no choice.

And that was why it was so important he leveled up again, because he knew from other adventurers what ability he would unlock, as all human adventurers unlocked this ability upon reaching their fiftieth level. So now, speed-running his way there, he finally earned the one thing he needed above all else right now.

"Oh, shit!" he called out victoriously, pumping his staff. "Yo, you see that?" he asked the big-boned skeleton mob in front of him, which was raising its sword while making rattling sounds. "I finally upgraded my storage!"

+21,000xp

A moment before slashing down at Jimmy, the creature collapsed into bones, and then those bones disintegrated into something akin to a combination of sand and dust. And with that, there were only a handful left.

Feeling playful, and with the security and comfort of being here all alone, Jimmy allowed himself to fool around a bit. Since none of those remaining were archers or casters, he got up a bit closer, and then he turned his body to the right so that his left side faced the mobs. Afterwards, he held out his staff in front of him, made a deep bow, and with his best—but admittedly terrible—impression of a British accent, he spoke to them.

"Hurrrright this way, my good sirs," he said, rolling his r's. "Tea and crumpets are hurrrrrrr-ight this way, good chap. Yes, hm, indeed."

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One by one, they collapsed into bone right around the point of approaching his staff, and with that, the entire floor had been dealt with. And now, Jimmy, twirling his staff like a showman, let out a celebratory yelp of excitement as he basked in being level 50, something that apparently took most humans many, many years to accomplish.

But not me!

Part of Jimmy did feel a bit guilty for being out here, though. It'd now been a full week since Zach and all of them had returned from the hallway. But whereas Zephyr and the rest of the adventurers went hunting for the island in the sky, Jimmy had decided to come here, instead. And it wasn't that he didn't want to help them, either. But rather, there were two issues with his tagging long.

One: there was almost nothing he could do that would actually be of use. And two: if he left Angelica's, his door would be exit-shifted and he wouldn't be able to come back here except by jogging down that Goddamn hallway for another ten or eleven days. Yeah, no thanks! This place was incredible, too. Three hundred floors to explore, and enough XP to boost him up like a rocket.

Of course, he hadn't spent the entire week here. No, even he couldn't ignore how exhausted he'd been after staying up for three nights in a row traveling down the hallway, only to come right back here to solo the manticore boss for ten hours. Even he'd realized he needed a break. So, he'd spent three-and-a-half days relaxing in his brand-new inn room—Inn Room 20—and chilling out in Angelica's, taking it easy.

During this time, he'd been able to stay up to date on all the latest news, even without leaving the inn, thanks to the adventurers who were always coming and going, keeping the place packed. Through them, he heard mostly about Zach, who was currently being briefed or something on an all-important trip to the Orcish-controlled continent of Zatrakhar, where he would be addressing a delegation comprised of all the races of Galterra. It was basically the number-one news story in the world.

Wanting to keep in contact but lacking cell reception in Angelica's, Jimmy had asked Donovan, Zephyr, and even Tyson to get in touch with Zach for him, but none of the three were currently able to reach him. At first, they claimed their texts were unread and their calls were going unanswered, but later, they said their calls were starting to be answered by a secretary.

Thankfully, however, Donovan and the others didn't flip out like they usually did. Because they finally understood what Jimmy had known all along: that Zach was just bullshitting the political guilds and playing along so he could work them over later for the benefit of every adventurer. And as proof of this, Lord Oren himself had come to Angelica's to inform Tyson Revel that he was currently "safe" but that it'd be in his best interest not to leave Angelica's until Zach smoothed everything over.

Jimmy had actually been there when this happened. Upon Lord Oren's appearance, the other adventurers, eager for news, had calmly and patiently allowed Lord Oren—now High-Lord Oren—to say each and every word he had to say, not even interrupting once. But the moment he finished, an absolute chorus of "get the fuck out of here!" and "fuck off, you son of a bitch!" rang out as he was essentially chased out of the tavern—not that he seemed to mind.

And yeah…so that was about the most contact that anyone had had with Zach in the past week so far as Jimmy was aware. And as for Jimmy himself, he had reverted to his old ways as well, sort of.

For the purpose of growing strong, but also to keep his mind off how badly he craved a drink, he had gone back to hardcore dungeon grinding, and just as he'd been doing before meeting Zach and Kal, he was raiding a 65+ person dungeon all on his own, flying through the levels like it was nothing. With his 50th level up a moment before, he had now gained five levels in four days and had climbed 29 floors.

Unacceptable, he thought to himself. I can go way faster than this!

To be fair, though, the only reason Jimmy hadn't made more progress was because the dungeon had reset on him, and he'd needed to fight his way through here again. Actually, he began to wonder if it was possible for him to pull two floors at once to speed things up a little. In a dungeon like this, that shouldn't be impossible, no? Especially since the floors really were just elegant, wooden doors with decorative, swan-shaped handles, such as the one ahead that would lead to F30.

Wait, F30?

Boss fight!

Jimmy bounced up and down on the heels of his feet, shook his head out a bit, and readied himself for whatever was on the other end. He was pumped up and ready to go. But, out of an abundance of caution, he did now travel through the dungeon with an escape rope tied around his waist; this way, if he did bite off more than he could chew, he could peace out right away and return to the safety of Angelica's.

And so, eager to see what this dungeon had in store for him, he approached the fancy, dark-cherry-wood double doors that would lead into what was most likely a boss arena, and he gripped the handles with both hands.

But he stopped as a voice called out to him. A voice he hadn't heard in far, far too long.

"Jimmy, wait for us!" the voice shouted.

"T-Tena?" he called out, spinning around.

And there, like an angel from his dreams, was the cute girl he'd fallen for and hadn't been able to see in weeks. He ran towards her, lifting her up and spinning her around. "What are you doing here? How did you even get here?"

"I took her," Tyson said, appearing from behind a bookshelf and looking nervous and uncertain. "I'm…I'm the only one aside from you who still has his exit-door set to this dungeon, Jimmy. Like you, I've not yet returned to Galterra."

Jimmy thanked Tyson for bringing her here. Then, to Tena, he said, "I thought you weren't gonna be able to come back for a few more weeks."

Tena frowned. "My aunt passed away," she said quietly. "So, I came back right away looking for you."

Jimmy hugged her. "Aw, shit, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Tena said. "She was very, very old, and she went quietly in her sleep." As though looking to change the subject, she raised her voice and asked, "So, how did you meet Tyson Revel of all people? I couldn't believe it when I saw him in Angelica's. And Donovan was slapping him on the shoulder like a friend, too! Now I've seen everything!"

Jimmy laughed and took ten minutes catching her up on everything she'd missed, leaving out only the parts about drugs and alcohol. As far as she needed to know, Jimmy had been sober and clean this entire time. Hopefully, none of the other adventurers would think to snitch on him about that little "incident" in the hallway, as that was over and done with.

"Wow, so that's how you guys found this place."

"Yup."

"Do you mind if we join you?"

"Not at all. You guys want to tag along?"

Tyson folded his lower lip and shook his head. "I'm under the weather today," he said. "Respectfully, Jimmy, I think I'll pass for now." With that, he simply began to walk away while humming the tune of Baby Shark. Actually, that had turned out to be an incredible miscalculation on Jimmy's part. He'd only intended to annoy Rian when dropping that nuke, but since then, it had continued to spread like a virus, with adventurers now maliciously spreading it to other adventurers. A few days ago, even Angelica had been caught singing it to herself, looking quite annoyed as she did so.

"Hey, Tyson, wait up," Jimmy called to him. Tyson stopped and turned back around, appearing surprised.

"Hm? Yes, Jimmy?"

"You've been mock-fighting with Zephyr every day and night for almost three weeks, haven't you? Don't you think it's time you actually tried to see what that ability of yours can do?"

"Uh, nope," Tyson replied immediately, once again walking back towards F1, which was safe to do because this dungeon had weekly mob resets instead of spawn timers.

"Come on, man, don't be a bitch."

"Forgive me, Jimmy. You've become my immediate and best friend. But I am far too frightened to tackle a dungeon designed for 65 people with just the three of us."

"Don't worry. You'll be—"

"There they are!" another voice shouted angrily. Jimmy winced as he saw Donovan, Zephyr, and Maric storming into F29, running across the floor, and then stopping to stare in disbelief at the sheer number of loot drops that Jimmy had just left strewn about the place with no intention of ever picking up. That last bit seemed to shock them so much that the three of them actually diverted their attention from whatever they were here for and instead put it solely on the loot.

"Don't you pick this shit up?" Donovan asked, sounding shocked.

"Nah," Jimmy said. "It's all crap."

"Are you insane? Some of this is great stuff. Who the hell leaves loot behind?"

"I do. Anyway, what's going on? Tena, did you lead them here?"

"Kinda…they said you might be in danger, and I was worried."

Jimmy sighed. "I'm not. As everybody can see, I'm just fine."

Donovan and Zephyr approached, and both men looked as impressed as they did upset. "Don't get me wrong," Zephyr said as he placed a gentle palm on Jimmy's shoulder. "The fact that you can do this is amazing and earns you my respect. But…" He removed his hand. "The fact that you do do it also makes me think you're an idiot."

"Why?"

"It's 'cause you're tempting fate, kiddo," Donovan said with a growl. "You're not gonna be lucky forever."

"Luck ain't got nothing to do with it."

"Sure it does. And even you know that."

Jimmy shook his head. "Well, if you guys are here to stop me, then whatever, I'll just wait until you have somewhere else to be and come back. You might as well just let me solo."

"Actually, we didn't come here to stop you from raiding this dungeon, Jimmy," Maric said, pushing his way past Donovan and Zephyr. "We were actually hoping we could do a little test run with Tyson here. We finally found the island yesterday, and right now, we're tracking it while working on securing the airplanes we need to do a flyover."

"Wait, seriously?" Jimmy asked, gasping. "You guys found it?"

"We sure did," Zephyr said, grinning. "But, before we go, we want to make sure everyone's ready. And to that end, we're hoping to see what Tyson's capable of."

Jimmy laughed, nodding. "Okay, well, now you're finally speaking my language. I was just about to force Tyson to fight the boss with me."

"Yeah, about that." Donovan wrapped his arm protectively around Tyson's neck, though it looked more like he was strangling the poor guy. "We're not gonna let you get our golden goose killed. If we're testing him out, we're gonna do it in an appropriately sized raid where we can make sure he's not gonna drop dead."

"I like that idea!" Tyson shouted out immediately. "Yes, Sir Donovan is correct. Let's take every precaution we can." He gulped. "Also, I don't know if I'm ready to fight a boss yet. I suggest we schedule the raid for sometime early next year with the option to defer."

"Not happening," Donovan said.

"You've got to start somewhere," Zephyr added. "At some point, you have to get used to combat. Don and I have put more effort into training you than we've ever put into any adventurer ever. Usually, we let the fresh blood fend for themselves. But you, Tyson…you have a gift that's too important to let die. So, we're babying you a bit."

"Not enough," Tyson said, whimpering. "I am not ready for a boss raid!"

Jimmy folded his arms. "If you guys really wanna toughen him up, send him in there alone with me and Tena. I've already soloed two of the bosses in this dungeon."

"Not taking that chance, sorry." Donovan's tone suggested there was no room for debate on the matter. To Tyson, he said, "You need to man up. This 'fear' of yours is holding you back. Aren't you bored sitting around in Angelica's all day?"

"Of course not. I love it there."

Donovan grunted, though it sounded reluctant. "Fair enough. Everyone does. Well, okay, bad angle there. Here's the better one: you're fighting this boss, or I'm throwing you into a volcano."

Tyson sighed. "Very well." To Jimmy, he asked, "Have you managed to get in contact with Sir Calador?"

"Nope, not yet," Jimmy said. "I don't think anybody has. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that, although I do love Angelica's, I do miss seeing the sun every now and again. I was wondering when I can return to Galterra."

Jimmy shrugged. "I dunno. Nothing's changed since Lord Oren came to us with that report."

"Yeah," Donovan agreed. "The kiddo might've convinced the political guild fuckers not to kill you, but now they're trying to use you, and they'll probably take you captive if you go back. But don't worry, though. You belong to the adventuring community now."

"I sure do!" Tyson said, pride in his voice. But it was an awkward sort of pride in the sense that Jimmy didn't think Tyson had ever felt such a thing before. "I will only serve the adventuring community."

"Not serve," Donovan said with a disapproving grunt. "That's not how we work."

"Sorry."

"It's all good." Donovan gestured with his chin. Then, once more, he put his focus on Jimmy. "You need to take a break. I promise you we'll come back tonight. And if the Tyson experiment works out? We'll clear a lot more than just one boss."

At this, Jimmy couldn't help but inhale with surprise. "Really? Ya'll are always so cautious about this shit."

"True," Donovan said, "but if we can get this guy's stacks high enough, I don't think there's anything in this dungeon or any dungeon that we have to worry about."

Jimmy regarded Donovan skeptically. "How do I know you're not gonna try to stop and have a four-hour discussion every time you see a different type of skeleton?"

"Jimmy, don't break my balls. Besides, it's gonna take Zeph at least two days to get everything with the airplanes sorted anyway, so I think we should take this chance to get everyone a bit more experience before we head out."

Zephyr spoke next, and though his voice dropped in volume, his words were punctuated with a dire severity. "Try not to forget, Jimmy, that no one in the history of Galterra has ever been able to kill the gate guardian that supposedly lurks on that island. Eilea actually got in contact with us early yesterday to warn us of that. She said it's one of the few things she's 'allowed' to say."

Tena took his hand. "Let's go back for now, Jimmy. Please?"

"Okay," he said, smiling at her.

With that, Jimmy began to walk, but he only made it two steps before Tyson cleared his throat. "I have a request to make," he said.

"Hm? Request?" Donovan asked, pausing beside him.

Tyson swallowed as though nervous. "I'll go along with all of this, and I'll do what you want, but there's…there's something I'd like in return."

"What is it?"

"For purely mental-health-related reasons, uh…I uh…I'd…" He swallowed again. "I'd like your sister to be a member of our raiding party."

Donovan barked out a laugh. "For mental-health reasons, huh?" he asked, a wry grin forming on his lips. "I'll call Jacs and ask if she's willing to go. But I'm telling her it's 'cause you demanded it."

"N-no!" he shrieked. "Don't say my name at all. And if you do, tell me what you're going to tell her first. Exact verbiage. I need a word-for-word, exact transcript of what you intend to say. In fact, you know what? Don't tell her I said anything at all. Forget this whole conversation ever happened. Donovan, wait! Please don't say I am the one who—wait!"

Jimmy chuckled as Tyson chased after the man and Zephyr while he, Tena, and Maric followed slowly behind. "So, you really cleared out all these floors by yourself?" Maric asked him.

"Yup. It was easy, too."

"Incredible," Maric said. "Truly…incredible."