“Flame Emperor? Anything to report?” he asked.

  “Nothing of note.” Flame Emperor shook his head. “We have discovered a total of six instance dungeons. All of them contain monsters ranging from level 15 to level 20. They will be good for training new recruits, but they won’t yield any items that will be very useful to use.”

  Flame Emperor was Fayte Dairing’s older brother, though they looked nothing alike. His hair was brown, eyes a steel gray, and he possessed a straight nose. His jawline was all hard angles and edges. Most people would have been surprised to learn this man had any relation to Fayte, though anyone who knew the truth of the matter wouldn’t be surprised by how different their appearance was. Dressed in a sharp business suit with a long trench coat made of crimson threads, the man looked identical to his game avatar.

  “Understood. Keep up the good work.” Levon nodded at Flame Emperor before turning to everyone. “With the [Guild Creation Token] in our hands, we can go ahead and form the Pleonexia Alliance in-game. However, before we do that, I believe we need to talk about the new updates that were announced earlier this morning…”

  “GRRRAAAAAA!”

  The 3-Star monster [Giant Feral Cyclops] towered over everything else within the mountain pass. It was a creature that stood on two legs and had a vaguely humanoid shape, but its arms were much too long, hanging past its knees. Likewise, its face did not look very human. It had a mouth and a nose, but it only possessed one eye and there was a large horn on the left side of its head. Wearing just a loincloth to protect its modesty, the monster before him was a burly creature of rippling muscles that flexed as it swung the club in its left hand down.

  Adam grinned as he leapt off the ground and landed feet first on the wall. He didn’t stay there for long. He used his sharp vision to locate footholds that he could use to push off, allowing him to ascend the wall as if he was running on it. The little fox yokai on his head yipped as she dug her nails into his scalp, but Adam ignored it.

  The club struck the ground and caused the earth to quake. Stones were overturned, the ground burst open, and a large crack traveled through the pass. Everything shook. Even the walls along either side of the pass rumbled as though being shaken apart. Several cracks appeared in the wall Adam was running up, forcing the stones to loosen and sending several hurtling down to him, but he used his inhuman reflexes to leap from foothold to foothold, avoiding the stones.

  “This monster is quite powerful,” Titania said as she flew by his head.

  “Very powerful,” Adam agreed. “I think this monster might also have the highest level of any non-boss monster I’ve ever fought.”

  The [Giant Feral Cyclops] was at level 40. Its stats were consequently all much higher than the average monster. Adam had been fighting this thing for almost an hour, but he had only managed to reduce half its health.

  Adam eventually reached a point where he was standing at a higher elevation than the [Giant Feral Cyclops’s] head. He dug his toes into his foothold and pushed off, leaping into the air and descending toward his enemy in a parabolic arc.

  “Now, Kureha!”

  “Yip!”

  -110,484!

  Kureha pointed her second tail at the monster and fired a bolt of lightning from the tip. The [Thunder Bolt] struck the [Giant Feral Cyclops] right in the eye, causing it to scream and stagger backward as it covered its eye with a hand and rubbed it furiously. Thanks to Titania singing the [Song of Vigor] in the background, Kureha’s attack did a staggering amount of damage, though it was just a drop in the bucket for this monster.

  Adam soon landed on the [Giant Feral Cyclops’s] shoulder and ran toward its head, having already learned earlier in their fight that this was its weakness.

  [Blood Sacrifice]

  [Dance of the Sakura Blossoms]

  -36,840; -110,520; -331,560; -994,680; -2,984,040!

  Because Adam attacked its weak point, the amount of damage he did was doubled. Since he was using one skill that doubled his Physical Attack and another that stacked damage by three with every consecutive attack, the amount of damage he did would have killed any normal monster. The [Giant Feral Cyclops’s] health was only reduced to about a fourth of what it had been.

  The monster recovered before Adam could launch another attack. It reached over and attempted to squash him, so Adam hopped away from its head, then leapt off its shoulder entirely. He flinched upon landing on the ground. Dropping from a height like that did -150 damage and caused his spine to feel like it was being compressed, but he quickly downed a [middle-grade health potion] to heal from the fall and using [Blood Sacrifice], which sacrificed half his HP to increase his Physical Attack stat.

  Adam gained some distance from the [Giant Feral Cyclops] as it tried to stomp him flat. The power of its stomps was such that Adam could not afford to be near them, lest he be knocked off balance by the resulting earthquake. He was mindful of the giant crack now running through the middle of the pass. It was easily fifty meters long and maybe eight wide. He could see the bottom, so it wasn’t very deep, but he didn’t want to fall in and risk trapping himself.

  “Adam! It’s about to use [Feral Beam]!” Titania warned him.

  Indeed, the [Giant Feral Cyclops’s] eye was glowing an angry, hellish crimson. He had already seen this attack once and knew better than to let it hit. It compressed a ton of magical energy into its eye, then released it as a beam that could incinerate anything in its path. The attack did three times the damage of its Magical Attack stat, which was +5,600, meaning it would do -16,800 to someone unprotected by armor. Adam’s own Magical Defense was +3,000 and he had +7,100 health. He would die if an attack like that hit him even once.

  Adam waited until the beam was fired to leap aside, running along the wall of the pass to avoid the beam. The [Giant Feral Cyclops] started its attack closer to its feet, but it swiftly raised its head. The compressed beam of energy tore through the ground like a hot knife through butter. Explosions rocked the air and forced Adam to dig his toes and fingers into the pass wall as he was struck by the shockwave. His fingers almost slipped more than once. He only just managed to hang on. Titania was also forced to grab his clothes, lest she get blown away.

  Once the attack settled down, Adam once more began jumping from one foothold to another, and then repeated the attack pattern he and Kureha had created.

  Well, that was the plan. The [Giant Feral Cyclops] didn’t seem to have gotten the memo when it turned to him and thrust out a palm.

  “Shit! Titania! Switch to defense!”

  Titania switched from the [Song of Vigor] to the [Song of Valor], which increased her party’s Physical and Magical Defense by 300%, meaning his Physical Defense was now +18,780.

  -1,220!

  Even though his Physical Defense was ridiculously high for someone with such a low level, the attack still did damage. As the air was driven from his lungs, Adam was launched through the air, slammed into the mountain wall, and caused the granite to indent around him. He felt like he’d swallowed his tongue. Even though he only experienced a small percentage of the pain he would in the real world, that didn’t mean an attack of this caliber didn’t hurt. This monster had a Physical Attack stat of over +10,000, and [Palm Thrust] did twice that.

  “Are you okay, Adam?!” asked a worried Titania.

  “I’m… cough cough… fine.”

  Adam downed another [middle-grade health potion], then gave one to Kureha. She hadn’t been that monster’s target, but she still received damage.

  “Its attack pattern must have changed,” Adam said.

  “What should we do?” asked Titania.

  “Yip!”

  “We should attack it with everything we’ve got. Boost my stats with [Song of Vigor].”

  “Okay.”

  Titania began singing [Song of Vigor] once more as Adam dropped to the ground and raced toward the [Feral Giant Cyclops]. This creature of course tried to squash him as one might a bug, but Adam danced around its foot, then leapt onto the appendage and activated the two skills whose cooldown times he’d been waiting to end.

  [Blood Sacrifice]

  [Dance of the Sakura Blossoms]

  -12,280; -36,840; -110,520; -331,560; -994,680!

  The attack didn’t do nearly as much damage because he hadn’t struck the monster’s weakness, but this didn’t stop him. Immediately after using his most powerful skill, Adam released a combination of [Thrust] and [Slash] to deal even more damage. The [Giant Feral Cyclops] shook him off and tried to stomp on him, but he darted out from underneath it, leapt onto its foot again, and continued to attack.

  -29,472; -27,630; -29,472; -27,630; -29,472; -27,630; -29,472; -27,630; -29,472; -27,630!

  His continuous attacks whittled away the [Giant Feral Cyclops’s] HP until it released one final scream before stumbling backward. It tried to grab the ledge of the pass to keep itself upright, but then it fell onto its back. The sound of its head cracking against the ground echoed throughout the pass like thunder.

  Adam breathed heavily as he landed on the ground beside it. His shoulders heaved as he gasped for breath.

  “Haaaah… haaaah… well… that was fun.”

  “Only you could call fighting such a powerful creature fun,” Titania muttered.

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! You have defeated the 3-Star [Giant Feral Cyclops]! [Giant Feral Cyclops] has dropped the items [Earth Defense Ring], [Cyclopean Mace], [Giant Monster Femur], [Cyclops Eye], [Cyclops Horn], and 120,000 gold coins! +1,500,000 experience points! +200,000 ability points! +500,000 reputation points!]

  Ding!

  Congratulations! You have leveled up! You are now at level 19! +1,500 HP! +400 MP! +5 SP!]

  Adam smiled when he saw that he’d finally earned enough experience points to level up. He had been grinding every morning for the past two weeks to reach this level. It was nice to see that all of his work had finally paid off.

  “Congratulations on leveling up. You’re now one level away from reaching level 20,” Titania said.

  “Thanks,” Adam said.

  After putting his skill points into his Strength stat, Adam traveled out of the pass and made his way back toward their guild house. They avoided areas that were heavy with monsters. His goal had been met, so he didn’t feel the need to fight anything else. He also needed to return to the real world and cook breakfast.

  “You know, reaching level 20 is considered something of a landmark for you otherworlders,” Titania continued. “Once you reach level 20, you will be able to choose a secondary class. Have you given any thought into what class you’ll select?”

  Adam shook his head. “I haven’t yet. I want to see what kind of classes are available before selecting one.”

  “That’s probably a good idea. Knowing you, you’ll likely stumble upon an advanced secondary class that’s not offered in the initial class listings,” Titania said in a dry tone.

  Adam just smiled.

  They soon reached Destiny’s Overture’s guild house. Built on an elevated platform and surrounded by a fenced-off garden, the building did not look very defensible. This had been done on purpose. The guild house had several defenses that could be activated, though they were all basic right now. Bastion Builder had told them they could have upgrades built into the guild floor plan to increase their defenses once they had enough money, but all the good upgrades cost upwards of 15,000,000 gold. Fayte had so far only upgraded the doors and walls with [Magicore]—a type of magical ore that could absorb magical attacks to a certain degree. It wasn’t good against physical attacks, but it was common practice to break through enemy strongholds with a barrage of magic.

  Adam heard the sound of running water when he entered the garden. A small stream gently flowed between a variety of colorful flora. He walked over a wooden bridge and enjoyed the feeling of his hair rustling in the wind as the scent of flowers filled the air. The garden was something Fayte had designed during the planning stage. It had a wide variety of plants, including various types of flowers, but it also had an herb garden. Adam had grinned when he realized Fayte wanted to try cooking in the game world. He wondered if she’d choose Chef as her secondary class.

  The building itself was large but quaint at the same time, lacking in the majestic grandeur of guild halls of larger guilds like the Pleonexia Alliance, Daggerfall Dynasty, and even the Rising Phoenix Alliance. The tiles on the gabled roof were blue as were the windows and awnings. White stones had been used in the construction of its walls. It didn’t have many decorations. Fluttering in the wind was a flag at the very top and situated right above the door was a crest with the symbol of Destiny’s Overture.

  The symbol for Destiny’s Overture was of a woman riding a horse. Epona. Adam had not known anything about this woman when Fayte introduced their symbol, but he’d done some research after Fayte told him who it represented. Epona was a Celtic goddess. Her name contained an allusion to the horse. “Epos” meant horse in Celtic, while “ona” meant on. As an Earth goddess, she was hailed for her grounding nature, and was particularly needed during times of crisis or flux in life. Adam wondered if perhaps Fayte was hoping to draw strength from such a symbol.

  She didn’t seem the symbolic type to him, but perhaps she wanted this woman as her symbol to motivate herself. That sounded like her.

  Adam entered the guild building. It was locked, but everyone who was part of the guild could unlock it without the need for a key. He entered a narrow hallway. There was a staircase on the other end of the hall and several doors on the left and right between the entrance and the stairs.

  He turned to Titania and took Kureha off his shoulders. “All right, you two. I’m heading back to my world.”

  “Safe travels.” Titania waved him off.

  “Yip, yip!” Kureha waved at him with her tails.

  Adam logged off Age of Gods and woke up in his room. He stared at the ceiling, then looked down at the naked girl sleeping on his chest. Aris was peacefully dosing away, releasing soft, cute snores. The sensation of her warm body against his aroused him. Adam had enough willpower not to act on his base emotions, however, and so, after kissing her forehead, he quietly slipped out from underneath the young woman, got dressed, and headed for the door. He took one last look at Aris as she shifted around before burying her face into the pillow.

  Fayte was not awake yet, or she would have been in the kitchen, which was empty and lacked the scent of fresh cooking. He glanced at the clock. It read 5:35 am. He was a little early. Adam often stayed in the virtual world until six or seven o’clock. Making his way into the kitchen, he rummaged through the fridge and grabbed everything he needed to make banana pancakes.

  “Bananas, eggs, protein powder, some vanilla extract… I think that’s everything,” Adam mumbled.

  Banana pancakes were easy to make. It was literally just bananas mixed with eggs, though he liked to add some extra ingredients to make it healthier and tastier. He turned on the stove, set a pan on top, and used a non-stick cooking spray to liberally coat the pan. He mixed the ingredients until the batter was nice and thick, then poured some into the pan and watched it cook.

  “Adam?” a voice asked from beyond the kitchen.

  Adam turned his head. “Aris. Sorry. Did I wake you?”

  Aris wore a sleepy grin as she walked over to him. “You did. Tee-hee. You know I can’t sleep without my favorite pillow.”

  “My bad,” Adam said dryly. So he’d been relegated to pillow now, had he? He was fine with that. “How can I make it up to you?”

  Aris adopted a thinking pose. “Hmmm. How about… giving me some morning protein.”

  Adam would have asked her what she meant, but Aris had the dirtiest mind he’d ever known, and so he already understood what she wanted. He would have told her no. But as if to head his rejection off, Aris suddenly lunged forward and hampered his mouth before he could deny her. A tongue forced its way past his lips and teeth. Adam could do nothing except surrender to the enthusiastic woman’s lewd kisses, especially when she reached between his legs and rubbed him through his pants until the rushing blood caused his manhood to stiffen.

  “Mmmm. That’s what I want. So big,” Aris murmured.

  “Aris…”

  “Shhh. Just let me have some breakfast.”

  Adam wondered if he should stop her, but if he was being honest, he enjoyed sex as much as she did, and he’d never been able to deny this woman when she wanted something. So he said nothing as she knelt before him. He remained silent when she pulled down his sweatpants and boxers in one go. He did try to keep an eye on the pancakes as they cooked, but it was hard when Aris began rubbing his dick against her cheek.

  “Such a strong, masculine scent. I really love this smell. Tee-hee. Did you react to that? Look at how it’s twitching. How cute.”

  “Aris… you are incorrigible.”

  “I am. Thanks for noticing.”

  Adam struggled to maintain his mind as Aris liberally coated his cock in saliva. She dragged her tongue from the base to the head, sending jolts of agonizing pleasure straight to his brain. It felt electric. Part of him wanted nothing more than to place his hands on Aris’s head and guide her actions, but he was still cooking. Damn it. Had she done this on purpose? It wouldn’t have surprised him. Aris had always possessed a mischievous streak for as long as he had known her and loved playing pranks.

  As the pleasure he felt mounted, a voice rang out from the living room.

  “I smell something good. Adam, is that you cooking?”

  Adam’s eyes widened. It was Fayte!

  Mischief

  What do I do?

  Adam had never been in a situation like this before. Aris was still kneeling in front of him, licking him like his shaft like a lollipop. She swirled her tongue around his length, liberally coating it in her oral fluids. The electric feeling of her moist tongue on his hot shaft was enough to distract him and weaken his legs. And just outside of the kitchen was Fayte. He could see her just fine through the small gap in the wall. On the other hand, Fayte could see him but not Aris or what the girl was doing, but all it would take for her to spot what was happening would be to walk around the corner.