Captain John Corey walked back to his small base on the first floor of the dungeon. Its official name was the Forsaken Caverns, probably named by one of the lesser races, like an orc or a dwarf. He had to share the camp with slaves and scum like the imperial guards. It was ridiculous that someone of his bloodline and prestige had to associate with animals like them. However, not only was he forced to associate with commoners, prisoners, and slaves, but he was also relegated to being a babysitter for lesser nobles.

  Capt. Corey lived a life of luxury before he was drafted for the war effort. His father, a Duke, pulled some strings, and he wouldn't see time on the frontlines. Unaware that his safe position as an army trainer was not granted due to his competence, but rather due to nepotism. John reached level 79 today; the others in his squad had to lie to avoid hurting his feelings. He contributed almost nothing to the fights, and every soldier who was sent to train in the dungeon with Capt. Corey had quickly outpaced him and was ready to fight in the incursions, but they all refused to go through the rank E evolution to enjoy more time on easy street in the dungeon. They never went much past the 30th floor; the dungeon was to be left uncleared to keep mining operations going and train soldiers. The emperor had given the Children of the Red Rage Forest a claim on a new planet in the 7th universe. They were to be a trial for the new citizens of the empire, testing their mettle and determining if they were worthy of being brought into the expansion wars. The elves had been accepted under the empire back in the 2nd era. The only people before them were the dwarves, the first of the armies. They had a deep-seated hatred for the dwarves who participated in a similar incursion during their expansion.

  The dungeon team exited the platform they used to teleport between floors, which was located at the end of the hall. The hall was being mined for spatial crystals —a vital resource used in the propulsion systems of the elves' spaceships. Once they reached the emperor's boundaries, they would lose access to mana and needed to utilize the power from the small mana stones to continue charting for signs of life. Occasionally, they would run into other kingdoms that still had access to their different interface. Those battles were massacres in which they would send thousands against ten and still barely overcome the meager forces. Of course, had they fought with the might of the emperor behind them, they would have been nothing more than a stain on the rocks they called home.

  The scouts reported back to the captain that they had uncovered a disturbing sight. A team of guards and all of their charges were slaughtered up ahead. That was the entire mining team. It was perplexing that the corpses of shadow wolves, which could only be found on the 22nd floor, littered the floor amongst the bodies of their silent guards and the enslaved people. They had set out for the dungeon expedition two weeks ago, but the rot on the bodies suggested that this had happened three to five days ago. Capt. Corey was outraged when he got back to camp; heads were going to roll.

  ...

  There was nothing left of the rec room that Corey had commissioned when he was sent to this dreadful place. The fully stocked bar and everything in it were once a peaceful bastion of civilization in this gloomy cesspool, but now it was home to more rotting corpses. One of the idiot guards had blown half of the barracks by damaging his mana core. This was one of the reasons he made it mandatory for all riflemen to wear mess hall uniforms. It seems he was too relaxed with policies, and after he had sorted out the business of requesting more imperial guards and slaves. He would make it mandatory to remove the mana core from all of the armor during rest hours. It was a pain in the ass to get those little modules in and out of the suit but it was a more than fitting punishment for stealing away his bliss.

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  Captain Corey ordered a complete inventory of what was left. The undamaged part of the barracks and mess hall should have been untouched, but he needed to be sure what he had left. Four hours after he ordered the inventory, he was interrupted while taking a bath. While all of the expected supplies were there, some of the equipment from the dungeon team had gone missing, namely one set of armor that Baron Marcus had commissioned for his son. The security mechs recieved an ass chewing they weren't ready for. They had been playing one of the video games the locals coveted. After lashing them with his tongue, he ordered the androids to review all of the footage from the last two weeks to search for the armor. The request was completed in 30 seconds, which was still far too long. Corey would order a software update later because he didn't want to deal with the slow loading time.

  After reviewing the footage of the intruder, he was positively identified as slave 605, who had died in a tunnel collapse 3 weeks ago. He was a once-in-a-lifetime talent, acing both his logic test and combat portions. Corey had hated the look of defiance that boy had and personally dealt with the insolent Earthbound. He would have made an excellent war slave. Unfortunately, he was an inheritor; one or both of his parents must have gone to the tutorial, and one of them had died, leaving their spot to him. If he were allowed to do his magic affinity test, then he would have been whisked away into his tutorial. The training he would receive would be on par with what nobles give their children. Unfortunately, the incursions would try to keep the number of local talent to a minimum. While the local populations attempted to win citizenship, it was the invaders' job to crush them under their heel; they would be rewarded handsomely for subjugating the world and fighting for ownership of the planet. So far, there had only been six races to become a core species of the empire successfully—the Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, Anayasi, Dragonkin, and Demons. A representative army from each faction was on this little planet, and after they had finished thrashing the locals, they would compete among themselves for the small blue jewel.

  "Dante, it would appear that we have a slave on the loose. From the footage, it would seem that he has already started leveling and should be killed rather than brought back as a slave." Capt. Corey commanded his spymaster.

  "As you request, "Dante said coldly in his refined accent that pegged him for nobility. When one joins the Scarlet Legion, they give up all birthrights and heritage. But years of training were hard to shake off; the royals who went into the legion always stuck out.

  "And Dante, please bring me back my boarding axe. That is a weapon that should never touch the hands of commoner filth." Capt. Corey said before the spy departed.

  Dante gathered his team of level 50 assassin trainees. They were in the dungeon for a similar training to the soldiers, but they ultimately would serve the empire more discreetly.

  Dante traced the last known location of 605. He was flat-footed and stomped the ground like a Clydesdale. The tracking skill, which got him sent to the Scarlet Legion, was a blessing and a curse. It would show him visions of the Target while he slumbered. He only needed to do one thing: lick the floor. The maintenance cost of his skill was also steep, and he would need to give up 75 percent of his Health bar until the target was killed. He never told anyone the downside of the skill, as being in the cutthroat legion, if he were perceived as weak, someone would have killed him and taken his spot already.

  They would set out in the morning, this 605's fate already sealed.