“Eighty-eight and a half thousand,” he whispered. That was a lot of cash. He stepped away from the pedestal and poked his head outside. Nothing remained of the town of Nathak, now called Kingscastle. Roads and paving cut through a massive sea of mud, all enclosed by the familiar walls. Now that it wasn’t filled with a winding maze of …

The Dungeon Core in Chris’ hand pulsed, its many faces and facets rearranged and reoriented themselves in his palm like a crystal Rubik’s Cube. Light welled up from deep within to encompass the Core, binding it in a sheath of radiance. The Core hummed and whirred, then began to levitate. It pulsed softly in the air, flashed once, then fell …

The barrier shattered into shards of magic, and Chris discovered the demon mage had been waiting for him. Light burst from the demon’s three daggers, revealing them to be some kind of concealed magic wands. The light converged, gathering into a spell in front of it. Chris hadn’t been expecting that, but he had planned on chucking his shield at …

He rose from the bed after fifteen minutes, more composed than he had been. He needed to decide. Did he want to continue climbing, or take the stairs instead? He looked outside and closed the door again. The demons were still there, at least six that he could see. If he woke them, he was dead. He crept out, straddled …

Chris ran up to the tower, there were no windows at the lower level, but there was a door at its base. He pressed his ear to the door, and immediately heard multiple conversations in a language he didn’t understand. There were definitely more than three demons in there. Entering through the front door would be a death sentence. He …

Chris snuck over to one of the stalagmites, hiding behind it, then he tried his quest screen again. Nothing. Status. Nothing. The System didn’t work here. He still had his strength, his speed, his dashing goodish looks, but no System. Even his mana and Beast Soul Weapon worked, but the screens had just… died. He probably wasn’t even getting levels …

Chris picked his way through the forest. The number of demons increased the closer he got to the glade. He steered clear of most, but the density of monsters was quickly becoming too high. He reverted his arm and drew his mace. The increased length would give him some much needed leverage—hopefully make bashing in demon skulls a fair bit …

It was understandably difficult finding the crystals within the bodies, but Chris eventually found two of them. The process of finding them had sped up when he realized that his Slime arm would subtly vibrate every time it came near one of the gems. After that, it was just a process of using it like a metal detector for crystals. …

Once he was deeper into the forest, Chris checked his System Coins total. He was up to 1,600. He’d also reached Level 10, and completed the associated quest. Quest Completed! Reach Level 10 (1/1) Reward: Mana Manual (Basic) He immediately received a new quest to reach Level 20, he closed it down. Rather than a book, a small crystal appeared …

He burst out of the door, before the three Undead could react, two were already down. The third turned just in time to block the blow aimed at its head. Unlike most of the other Undead, this one wielded a curving, two-handed saber. Sparks burst from its length as it met with an axe and the flanged head of a …