Funnily enough, every single time that a Relfow was killed, the system notification judged that Calvin deserved full experience, even if he had no part in the actual fight. According to the system, the beasts he’d tamed were merely an extension of him, his weapon.
That line of thinking angered him slightly—each of his minions had developed their own distinctive collection of behavioral quirks and personality traits that weren’t obvious at the first glance, and he had come to deeply love each of the Relfow Minions he’d adopted.
He’d given each of them their own special name: Wolfey, Doggy, Blacky, Whitey, Redey, Greeny, Yellowy; One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven and so on till he got bored with numbers; Earth, Heaven, Hell, and so on till he got bored with concepts and grand names; James, John, Bob, Ross, Anna, Hannah Junior—that one in particular annoyed the Saintess quite a bit, which was why he had chosen it in the first place, to banter with the woman and relish in her annoyance—till he got bored of normal names… Truly, he had covered a spectrum.
But the fact that he’d run out of creativity and ended up naming some of them haphazardly didn’t mean he prioritized any of his children any more or less than he did the others.
Except for Wolfey, perhaps. He held a special spot in Calvin’s heart, being the first animal he’d ever tamed. Apart from Wolfey though, all of them were the same to him, he loved them all equally—as evidenced by the fact that he remembered exactly which Relfow was associated with which name, even though he’d gathered hundreds by now.
Didn’t they deserve their own acknowledgement from the system?
But hey, free levels were free levels. He wouldn’t say no to that.
Really, the last several levels were spent with him just lying around the cave and napping or playing games with Hannah on the cave floor. With his new level of strength, he could carve out tic-tac-toe on the cave floor with a finger if he wanted to.
Not to mention Dominic’s infinite knowledge of games Calvin had never heard of, so they never really got bored.
Like right now, as he was playing a board game with Hannah—monopoly? That was what his master had called it—while his minions were grinding in the background.
The time flew by and before he knew it, he reached level 140. But despite the current ease they enjoyed, Hannah had turned particularly pensive, these last few games. It was… unusual, seeing the bright, jolly woman who kept teasing him turn to silent… and reticent.
He hesitated to poke and prod her about her emotions, but… They’d become friends, hadn’t they? Good friends, friends who’d talked about a lot of stuff. Dare he say, he’d even begun considering her an elder sister of sorts.
If he were to stay silent, let her continue to be consumed by her own emotions, could he really consider himself a good friend, any longer?
And so—hesitantly and softly, he spoke out, “So, what’s up?”
She looked up, blinking twice, “What do you mean, kiddo?”
“What has the Saintess of Light so pensive, hm?” He didn’t even protest against the usage of ‘kiddo’, he was that concerned for her. “Missing your boyfriend, perhaps?”
“Yeah, I guess I am. He’s a nice guy… it’s strange knowing that he won’t even have had time to start missing me yet while I’ve been away so long.”
“Ah, I see.” Calvin suddenly regretted asking so flippantly. If he knew she’d truly been missing Alec, he would have been a lot gentler with his tone. “It’s understandable, to miss our loved ones. Should I ask Master to let us take a longer break out of the dungeon? Go on a mini excursion of sorts? We could get you time to have a proper reunion, or maybe bring him in with us…”
He stared at her, with genuine concern and care in his eyes, and she stared back at him, her eyes slightly dim, and just when he thought she was about to agree… Hannah burst out laughing.
Calvin blinked, almost offended. “What, why you laughing, oldie?”
Hanah wiped the tears that pooled at the corners of her eyes due to how much she’d laughed. “No, it’s just… Seeing you be so genuinely concerned about me is so funny.”
“What do you even mean by that?” Calvin almost screeched.
“Now, now. Don’t get angry. I do appreciate your concern, but you don’t need to change anything.” Hannah soothed, her tone genuine enough that Calvin could tell she wasn’t teasing. “Alec will be fine where he is, and I’m sure this would only make him stressed. It’s not even really about him, I just feel like… I’ve been coasting by, leeching off of your efforts.”
Calvin dropped the dice in his hands, inching forward, “What do you mean?”
“You know that I get 50% of your growth every time you or your kids kill a Relfow, right?”
Calvin nodded, unsure where she was going with this.
“It just…” Hannah sighed. “It feels undeserved, you know? You’ve put in so much effort, your furry buddies put in so much effort, and I’m just sitting here taking the rewards of it all. Alec’s always who I went to when I felt useless and helpless, so I guess it’s just habit to think of him times like now.”
“You’re serious?” Calvin confirmed, genuinely unable to tell if she was just joking again, teasing him subtly. “Useless, you?”
“Yeah,” she nodded, her expression too genuine to be part of one of her jokes. “I’m barely doing the job I was paid to do, and even then I’ve needed your master’s support or I’d have failed you already. You get what I mean, don’t you?”
“No!” Calvin objected, viscerally. He was on his feet, fists clenched, before he even realized what he was doing. If not for the fact that Calvin was genuinely unsure if he could control his strength, he would bonk this woman on the head with the monopoly board, because what in Dominic’s name was she talking about?!
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“But—”
He didn’t give her time to protest. “What do you mean coasting by, or leeching, Hannah?! How could you even think that? You’ve been pushing yourself to the point of mana exhaustion, over and over again, only being able to continue because of my master’s support and your willpower! Sure, you might not be directly getting stabbed like me, but you talk as if what you’re doing is anything but insane, like just anyone can do it, like you’re doing the bare minimum?!”
Hannah blinked a few times, before opening and closing her mouth. Clearly, she’d not expected such a fierce rebuttal. “I am the Saintess, isn’t this only—”
Calvin glared, daring her to continue her self deprecation—so that he could shoot it all down and make her understand just how amazing she was.
But she simply chuckled, shook her head and smiled. “True enough. If you think so, it’s likely true.” Saying so, she looked at the dice on the floor and raised an eyebrow, “Roll the dice already. Need to drain you out of your last bits of money.”
The anger he felt for her was replaced instantly by annoyance—and, though he’d not admit it, just the slightest satisfaction that she’d agreed with him, agreed about her own value.
He sat back down and grabbed the dice. “As if. Just you see. You’ll be the one landing on my property, that one with four hotels. Or the next one. No way you’re escaping, lady.”
Hannah raised an eyebrow at this, a smirk spreading on her face. “You’re not the only one with hotels, brat.”
And so the time passed, enjoyably and peacefully, so much so that Calvin didn’t want it to end.
Until it suddenly, inevitably did—he hit level 160.
The system notification appeared immediately.
Congratulations!
You have reached level 160.
You have gained the title, ‘The Peak, [Epic, S Grade]’.
This is considered humanity's official limit.
To break through level 160, beyond S-class, you must fulfill a secret condition.
Good luck discovering what the secret condition is.
It is unique for each person.
You are one of the top 10 strongest in this world. Unique achievement: The youngest and strongest S-classer.
[Error] No level to assign experience to.
Experience converted to Specialization Enhancement Points.
Your weakest specialization is Pure Mana. Specialization Enhancement Points assigned to Pure Mana.
Pure Mana has reached Level 51.
Dominic grinned as he stood up, his satisfied smile as bright as the sun itself. “Now then. It seems you are finally ready."
Calvin grinned himself and stood up too, following his master’s actions. True, he did love and enjoy the peace, but after sitting around for a good long time, getting back to fighting and growth didn’t sound half bad either.
Besides, he could enjoy such moments of peace for a long time to come, once he became an immortal. Right now, it was time for growth, baby.
As soon as he did so, all his pets—all of the hundreds of them—stiffened, alert and ready.
And now, with this army behind him, he would be unbeatable. He would be able to conquer this dungeon fully. This would be a piece of cake.
Well, maybe Calvin overestimated himself just a tiny bit.
Now that he’d finally reached the proper level of strength to delve this dungeon, his master had removed his extra barriers and protections.
No longer did the dungeon send single monsters at him. Nor did it even throw minions at him. The dungeon had clearly realized that he was strong enough to be a threat and threw everything in its arsenal at him.
Starting with a trio of sub-bosses.
Yes, multiple.
Calvin knew about bosses of course, even sub-bosses, but never expected to find them in a group like this. From everything he'd overheard, Rift Sealers would encounter a sub-boss several times throughout their delve, but always one at a time.
This dungeon had no such restraint. Three sub-bosses appeared as soon as they began exploring the next cave and they attacked him and his army without so much as pausing.
Each of them was monstrously large, tens of times as large as the Minions, their veins bulging out, muscles rippling with their every movement. Their hair was shaggy and almost unkempt, and they looked like a pair of triplets—the only thing that was different was their eye colors. Even their wings, black and veiny and throbbing behind them, looked almost the same.
When they growled, the cave’s floor itself shook, and the saliva that dripped out of their mouths was pure, pitch black.
Their statuses flashed in front of his eyes, and the sheer numbers on those statuses thoroughly demolished any overconfidence that had begun blooming in his heart.
Relfow Sub-Boss Alpha’s Status Screen:
Level: 135
Specializations:
Terror Inducement [Lvl 98]
Moon Strike [Lvl 122]
Heavenly Stealth [Lvl 137]
Heavens’ Curse [Lvl 100]
Titles:
Dungeon Protector [Unique, S Grade]
Cursed by the Heavens [Unique, S Grade]
Cede, Bleed, Creed [Unique, S Grade]
Alpha had red eyes.
Relfow Sub-Boss Beta’s Status Screen:
Level: 135
Specializations:
Terror Inducement [Lvl 137]
Moon Strike [Lvl 122]
Heavenly Stealth [Lvl 98]
Heavens’ Curse [Lvl 100]
Titles:
Dungeon Protector [Unique, S Grade]
Cursed by the Heavens [Unique, S Grade]
Cede, Bleed, Creed [Unique, S Grade]
Beta had blue eyes.
Relfow Sub-Boss Gamma’s Status Screen:
Level: 135
Specializations:
Terror Inducement [Lvl 98]
Moon Strike [Lvl 137]
Heavenly Stealth [Lvl 100]
Heavens’ Curse [Lvl 122]
Titles:
Dungeon Protector [Unique, S Grade]
Cursed by the Heavens [Unique, S Grade]
Cede, Bleed, Creed [Unique, S Grade]
And Gamma had green eyes.
If the cave wasn’t so large, the numbers he had would be a disadvantage, not an advantage at all, but luckily, there was plenty of room for them to maneuver.
For a few moments, as the distance between them rapidly closed, both parties gauged each other's strength.
And then, the battle raged.
