Chapter 110 - 30-36

Chapter 30

"What's got you in a mood today?" Lindsay finally asked in between one of their classes.

Beside her, Angie nodded. 'Seriously, you've been weird all morning."

"It's nothing," He pressed against the back of his neck, massaging the overly tight muscles there. "I just didn't sleep well last night, I guess. I had some seriously weird dreams, is all. They weren't nightmares or anything, just weird, and disturbing in a different way."

It was as good of an explanation as any he supposed for what he had seen that morning. Maybe if he wished hard enough, the utter destruction of the dungeon would turn out to be nothing more than a bad dream.

No cultivator would be stupid enough to go into somebody's place and utterly trash it like that. Especially not when they still thought the creator was some super strong fellow, right?

Except that is exactly what had happened. Whatever treasure the chest had given those idiots had tempted them beyond all measure. Which was odd, the settings for the chests were set to a low value at the moment. It should have only given them a couple of hundred dollars max or a regular dagger.

Nothing special.

Yet, the evidence showed the contrary; they had lost their minds over their desire for more. Was it possible powerful cultivators were simply that poor? He doubted it, but if they were continually spending their money on resources to grow stronger, then he supposed it was possible.

Regardless of all that, here he was hours later, still obsessing about why they had done it. When what he needed to be doing was planning out how to fix the dungeon. Instead of letting the actions of a bunch of people affect him so much.

Unfortunately, that wasn't who he was. He tended to obsess about these sorts of things. He wanted to know what he could do better, especially when it came to something so important.

He still didn't know what would happen if he lost the one core he did have, and he wasn't particularly eager to find out.

Angie leaned close to him and slowly shook her head. "Hmm, we really need to get that medication for you soon if even a simple lack of sleep can do this to you."

"Without a core, your body can't hold on to enough energy to properly keep you healthy," Lindsay said while pushing them both toward their next class.

"It'd be nice, but all I can do is wait until then. George has made some good progress on healing me, but he is still a long way off from fully healing me using his abilities." Nate told them just before they entered the crowded classroom.

"I'll talk to my parents when I get home later and see how long it'll take before we can expect the shipment." Angie offered as she took her seat.

Nate nodded appreciatively, not getting a chance to say anything, as Jace entered the room and sat behind them. The other boy had made it a point to get into nearly all of the same classes as Angelica, with only a few exceptions. He hadn't been able to get into all of them as a couple of the classes had been full.

Unfortunately, this was one of the classes he had managed to wriggle his way into.

Angie and Lindsay ignored the boy with a muffled groan, not particularly caring if he heard. He was the one who was causing this problem for them. Not to mention he still refused to let the idea of marrying her go.

After class, Nate pulled both girls to the side and away from where Jace could overhear their conversation. Then into a side room, locking a door behind them.

"I have a question for you."

"Alright?" She said, a little confused.

"You said before that you had never met Jace, right?" She nodded. "So, why is he suddenly so interested in marrying and being near you? If it was just because of the agreement, then surely, he could have gone about all of this in a different manner. I mean, his family has money and power. They could have just kidnapped you or kept a guard on you, or something. Instead, he is here in person and practically stalking you. Why, what changed?"

The girls furrowed their brows and look at each other. It was something they hadn't even stopped to consider.

"You're right. Why is he suddenly putting in all this effort? It makes no sense with how he had been acting before." Lindsay cast a side-eye look at the wastrel standing beside the door they had locked. She turned to her friend. "Do you know anything? Is something going on with his family?"

Angie crossed her arms and began tapping her fingers as she thought. "Not that I had heard, but I suppose it's possible. How did we not think about looking into this before now?" She muttered, glaring at the door.

"Wouldn't you have heard if something had happened with his family? I thought they were supposed to be some kind of big deal around here. I mean, I hadn't heard of them before I met you two, but I sort of ran in different circles in case you forgot."

"It depends," Lindsay muttered, still glaring at the door. "On how much effort their family is putting into hiding whatever might be wrong. Large families like the three of ours are extremely adept at hiding things."

"So, what they could be nearly bankrupt or something?"

Angie snorted and shook her head. "Families like ours don't go bankrupt. We're too old and with too many diverse income streams. No, if anything, it would be more along the lines of an elder in his family is sick, or dead, possibly in need of medicine my family could get for them. That or the relationship between him and I would solidify his own position in his family as a result of the elder's death or other form of upheaval." She shrugged. "That's a fairly common scenario, at least."

Nate shook his head. "What kind of world do the two of you even live in? It all sounds so… foreign and old school."

"That's because it is in a lot of ways. Pieces of it are a call back to the way things were done during the dark ages. Treaties and marriages are used to enhance the power of the family instead of looking for love first, as is common now. We have a duty to our families first, and ourselves second or third. At least according to the way some people think. I have heard of people more or less selling themselves because of that duty. I refuse to do that, and so does Lindsay."

"Thankfully, neither of our parents are trying to force us to do that, either. Well, until recently, that is." The other girl said somewhat bitterly for her friend.

The bell rang, letting them know they needed to get to their last class of the day.

The group shoved the door open, the heavy metal construction banging into Jace's side as they hurried past him on their way to class. They ignored the distant cursing behind them as the boy picked himself up off the ground. It was his own fault for coming to stalk them alone.

This was one of the classes Nate had been looking forward to the most. It was the one on cultivation. The class was meant to be done in the style of an open forum where the students could ask questions. Everyone was meant to learn how to cultivate on their own after reading the various basic manuals that had been created.

Doing it in this way left a number of questions in people's minds. However, to cultivate properly, a person needed to figure certain things about the process out on their own.

That was where these new weekly forums came into play. The students could ask all the questions they had been collecting throughout the previous week. At the same time, it would let them start out the new one on a good note.

Classes like this were one of the main things that set his current school apart from his old one. Well, that and the obvious number of resources and just general knowledge contained within its halls. In other words, it helped to set them apart and make the gap wider, but that was really all.

Like everything else, it depended on the students to make the best of what they had available to them.

This would be the first class of the semester, even though it had been on the books for a while. The teachers had wanted to give the students enough time to make enough headway on their paths first. The forum would be useless to everyone if the people involved had no questions to ask, or worse, didn't even know enough about what to ask.

That kind of class did no one any good.

It might be the first time they had one of these forums. Not that it stopped Nate from preparing a couple of questions of his own. He just hoped that whichever teacher would be in charge of the forum this first time would be able to answer them.

It was a slim hope, considering what a couple of the questions covered.

It was the first one that he cared about the most. If they couldn't even answer that one, then they wouldn't even have a chance of answering the others.

He listened to the opening spiel, his leg bouncing impatiently beside Angie, who elbowed him with an annoyed expression. "What is wrong with you?"

"I have a question for him, and he won't shut up." He hissed back.

The lead teacher sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Now the focus of this particular forum should be about the creation of your cores. We know that many of you are getting close to that point in your journey. Now, it seems like some of you are impatient for us to get started. So, who would like to start us off?"

Nate's hand shot up into the air and waved around wildly. He only just stopped himself from calling out like a small child.

"Very well, Nathan Holmes, you had your hand up first. I suppose we can start with you. What is your question? What problem are you having in relation to your cultivation efforts?" The teacher frowned at that, unable to keep the disdain out of his voice.

Nate's situation was well known throughout the school, everyone knew what had happened to him. With that look alone, Nate knew he wasn't going to get any help in this forum. The teacher had already mentally dismissed him, no matter what he asked, his question wouldn't be taken seriously.

With that, he changed the question he had been going to ask to a different, more difficult one.

"What is the best way to accumulate energy inside my remaining meridians while I continue the healing process?"

"You can't," The teacher replied without hesitation, not even bothering to look at the other teachers before replying. "Meridians are not designed to hold on to energy long term. It'll be a struggle for you to get any cultivating done before you are fully healed."

Well, that was a strangely respectful answer. It still wasn't great, but it hadn't been completely disrespectful and dismissive, as he had initially been expecting.

"And once you are healed, you will need to start from the beginning, which will put you far behind your peers. I would suggest you keep your head down until that time and don't bother the other students." He finished with a sneer.

Nate mentally palmed his face. Why hadn't this teacher just shut his mouth when he had the chance? Now he was going to need to reply, and it was going to become a whole thing. Well, at least this was the last class of the day.

"And who exactly taught you how meridians work?" Beside him, Angie raised her brow, hiding a smile behind her hand.

"Careful, Mr. Holmes-"

"Because I don't think you actually know how meridians work." He continued, talking over the annoying teacher. "Tell me, do you think you know more than George Trellow? He's taken a look at the damage done to my body and my meridians, and would you care to take a guess as to what is happening with my still intact meridians?"

The teacher swallowed and finally looked at the other educators on the platform with him. They refused to meet his eye.

"What?"

"After all this time, they still have energy in them, and it is growing stronger each time I cultivate. Meridians can't hold as much as a core, but they certainly can hold energy long term. How else would you gain enough energy to create your core in the first place?" With that, Nate stood and walked out of the forum.

A few seconds later, Angie and Lindsay followed after him in a show of solidarity.

Chapter 31

"You didn't have to come out after me, you know," Nate told the girls as he grabbed his bag from his locker.

"Meh, he was annoying, and we both have people at home who can answer our questions," Lindsay replied while Angie nodded along.

"Still, I appreciate it."

"Still, I'm surprised he got the answer so completely wrong." Angie looked back at the classroom in annoyance. "I was under the impression that the teachers here were better than that."

Nate shrugged. "I had no real expectations of them in the first place. That wasn't the original question I was going to ask either, but I didn't like his attitude." He noticed the time and shook his head. "I don't suppose I can get a ride home from you?"

"Sure," Angie pulled out her phone and typed away on it. "The car will be waiting for us by the time we get outside."

"Well, let's hurry and leave before Jace, Chad, or anyone else comes to find us and be annoying." Lindsay pushed them both toward the school entrance.

"You three hold on! Where do you think you're going?"

Lindsay cursed softly and glared and them both. "I told you this would happen."

"We're leaving. What does it look like we're doing?" Angie said, turning to face the speaker.

It was a teacher that they only recognized because they had passed him in the hall before.

"Leaving early. However, shouldn't you be in classes right now?" The man demanded.

"We could say the same to you, besides is it really any of your business if we decide to leave early?" Nate asked, unsure if the teacher was being overzealous or if something else was going on.

"Who's your homeroom teacher?" The man demanded.

"You seem to be really interested in us for some reason," Lindsay pointed out, her eyes narrowing. "Is there a specific reason you feel the need to be going above and beyond what your job entails at this moment?"

The teacher ground his teeth, failing to respond.

"You're right, it's kind of creepy. He just appeared and suddenly stopped us. How do we know that he is even a teacher here? I've never seen him before." Angie cried out, getting into the act, and stepping behind Nate. Her phone appeared in her hand again as she sent out another rapid-fire message.

"I do not appreciate the three of you trying to make a fool of me like this!" The man ground out while taking a step towards them.

They stepped back, the lighthearted atmosphere vanishing in a second.

Nate could distinctly feel the weakness of his own body, as a pressure began to bear down on them.

Lindsay stood in front of him, a worried expression flashing across her face as she saw how pale he had become. The teacher had only released a portion of his cultivation realm on them, and this was the result. It was something the man should have known better than to do.

"I don't appreciate you threatening the young lady or her friends!" Angie's driver had arrived and immediately come inside to help when he received a distress message from her.

A punch seemed to materialize right behind the teacher's head and sent him flying into the wall.

"Know your place!" The driver huffed before quickly straightening his suit and bowing to Angie. "My lady, I apologize if I arrived late."

"No," She walked towards the teacher's twitching body. The fool's head was stuck inside the concrete wall. "You arrived right on time, thank you."

Lindsay nodded. "Yes, thank you."

Nate slowly sank to the floor, his legs giving out as the pressure on them disappeared. While he had been fighting in the dungeon using his avatar, this had been something else. He hadn't been prepared for this conflict.

"Are you going to be alright?" Angie asked, seeing how pale he still was.

"Yeah, just give me a moment. This isn't the first time I've been exposed to cultivation pressure like that." He struggled to his feet.

Lindsay scowled at the teacher and gave his limp form a hard kick. "Come on, I'll help you walk. We need to get out of here before people come to see what happened."

Classroom doors up and down the hall were opening as people poked their heads out. The cameras in the hall would reveal the truth of the matter to people who really mattered, regardless.

"I don't suppose you know how long it's going to take to get that medication?" Nate asked as Lindsay helped him along.

Angie shook her head. "They should have already finished making it. So… I would guess it has either been shipped already or is being prepped for it. If that's the case, then it'll be a few more days, assuming the transport doesn't run into any trouble."

"Does that happen often?" By that point in the conversation, they were outside and nearing the waiting car.

"Often enough that it makes regularly shipping items between cities a pain and a rather costly endeavor. Each trip that gets made needs to have a lot of items to make up the initial cost and pay for the cultivators guarding the caravan." Angie slid into the car first, followed by Lindsay.

"Was your family able to find enough items for the caravan?"

Lindsay snorted. "Trust me, there is never a shortage of things needing to be shipped between two cities. Each place has their specialties or random items that can be sold, but the big one is always food. We have a lot of orchards that supply a large portion of our food." Nate had noticed that fruit had become a large staple of his diet since coming into this world. "The city where your medicine is coming from specializes in wheat and corn fields, among other things."

"What's going to happen with that teacher you think?" He asked after they had finished talking about the medicine.

"I'm not sure, an argument could be made that he was simply doing his job." Angie pointed out while Lindsay frowned and crossed her arms. "At the same time, I do think that he went a little too far in his efforts."

"There was something off about him for sure," Her friend muttered. "I wouldn't want him anywhere near kids, that's for sure."

Nate snorted, but couldn't help and agree. There had been something off about the entire encounter.

A few minutes later, they pulled up outside his home and he waved goodbye to the girls.

"Mom, dad?" He called out.

The house was empty, and he quickly sent off a message to them both, letting them know he was already home. He didn't want them worrying if they went to pick him up and he didn't appear.

Grabbing some water and a quick snack from the fridge, he headed upstairs and opened the screens for the dungeon.

Right away he could see that some of the damage had begun fixing itself as it would normally. However, at the same time, the sheer amount and severity of the damage the cultivators had caused was creating other problems. It was struggling to rebuild everything he had done originally.

At this point, it was almost better to just keep the rooms as they were, and redesign all the traps that had been destroyed from the ground up. It was a pain, especially when it came to the ones he had already upgraded. At the same time, he had already been getting more than a few hints he needed to go about things in a different way.

His previous method had been rather haphazard, and one of learning. Now he knew, for the most part, what kind of monsters and beasts he was facing. That meant he didn't need to approach its reconstruction in the same manner. He could use this opportunity to fix the flaws and deficiencies in its previous design. Or at least as much as he was able to at this time.

That meant the question he was now faced with was what traps did he keep, and which ones did he swap out? Going even further than that, what would he even exchange them for?

Was it time to throw away certain low-technical, non-fantasy aspects of the dungeon?

Up to this point, he hadn't really tried to push what he could do with the traps to any extreme. The only thing he knew for sure the dungeon couldn't do was create any form of life or living matter, though even that wasn't a hard and fast rule. He was able to create poisons and other things that used micro-organisms.

Regardless, the point was, the dungeon operated by rules, and up to that point, he hadn't taken advantage of them. It helped that he had no idea what those rules might be, but he was sure they were there.

Now going back to the traps it meant he needed to do some more experiments.

He was the one who had gotten it stuck in his head that he needed to design the dungeon using these kinds of traps. But was that really the case?

Nate was always complaining that the wrist computer hadn't come with a manual or guide. Well, maybe it had, after a fashion. It was possible it had been guiding his thoughts in subtle ways this entire time.

Or, it was entirely possible that he was overthinking everything and had simply not wanted lasers in this dungeon to save on cost. Either way, it was time to find out.

Propping himself up on his bed with some pillows, he made sure all six screens were up and set to work on fixing the dungeon. For so long, he had been ignoring the pre-made traps that he had almost forgotten the option was even there.

This time, his first order of business was to see what kind of traps it listed. He had never really taken the time to thoroughly explore what it contained before, and wondered if that had been a mistake.

It wasn't.

The list possessed a few basic traps that were, unfortunately, an ill-fit for this dungeon. However, after that, it had an easy-make option for all the traps he had made through the menu itself. Doing it this way even allowed him to make certain modifications to both the trap itself and the room it was going in.

It seemed he needed to use the menu to design each trap the first time around, and then he could use their listing afterward. It was nice to know, and something that would save him a lot of time going forward.

Closing out of that section of the menu, Nate opened the search menu he used to create the new traps. Before he did anything else, he needed to know if he had been unconsciously guided this entire time. Could he just install laser traps everywhere, or was there some kind of rule in the dungeon that prevented him from doing that?

Did the core need to be a higher level, or was it related to the enemies? All were annoying possibilities that he had no answers to at the moment. But he could learn whether or not it was possible to include them.

Nate cracked his neck and began mumbling to himself. "Alright, if I'm going to place a laser inside this dungeon somewhere, I want it to be in one of three places. Right outside the core, the portal room, or the entrance slash exit. Which one should I go with though?"

He blinked and chuckled. There was no reason to choose. He had a lot of resources right now. The dungeon had reabsorbed all the damaged and broken pieces after a bit, so the amount he had actually lost was incredibly small. Only his energy was on a steady decline.

The amount of energy the dungeon had was the limiting factor in everything, but frankly, there was still a veritable ton of the stuff. He would have almost been able to upgrade the core if they hadn't wrecked the place.

Regardless, the point remained that he didn't have to choose. If he could make them, he could just place them in all three places. If he could make them.

Chapter 32

Nate couldn't make them. All attempts to make some form of laser-based trap inside the dungeon were rebuffed. This was the first time he had ever tried to create something truly technologically complicated, and the prompts weren't having any of it.

No matter what he tried, well, that wasn't quite true. He could have gone extremely old school using mirrors and magnifying glasses. That would have worked if he was trying to burn some paper or give them a tan.

No, it was time to face the truth. This dungeon, possibly even all the dungeons he made in the future, had limitations.

It also meant that the thoughts he'd been having about the dungeon or the wrist computer trying to guide him now held more weight. It didn't mean he was convinced that's what was going on, not yet at least. However, he would start paying attention to those feelings and thoughts more whenever they popped up.

"Nate, you home?" His mom called out before he could dive back into redesigning the traps.

"Yeah, I'm just up here." He called back, already heading for the stairs. "Were you and dad doing more stuff for the new business?"

His father walked past the bottom of the stairs, his arms laden with bags full of groceries for the week. "There are a few more bags in the car if you want to grab a couple." His dad grunted out when he saw him.

A few more bags was an understatement. The entire back of the car was packed with them.

"Why did you buy so much stuff?" He asked, exerting himself with only five bags while his mother breezed past easily four times that number.

For a cultivator, space to carry things quickly became the limiting factor, not strength. At least for everyday life, out on their hunts, it was a different matter entirely.

"Your father and I are going to be busy from here on out for the next while. So, we thought it was better to buy food for the next couple of weeks in bulk and just forget about it."

He glanced inside one of the bags he was carrying and saw a myriad of cans and other items that they could put in the pantry. In other words, they would be dining on frozen food and easy-to-make meals for the next little while. It was annoying, but he also wasn't going to complain.

Nate had missed his mother's cooking, no matter its form too much to do that.

"Understandable. Let me know if I can help." It would mean less time working on the dungeon and his frankly painfully easy homework, but if he could help them out, he would.

Nate didn't want to miss this time with them. Not again.

His mother set her bags on the kitchen floor and ruffled his hair. "Thanks for the offer, sweetie. Right now though, the only thing your father and I need from you is your health."

He rolled his eyes. "Gee, just ask for the one thing I currently have no control over why don't you?"

She chuckled and went out for the last of the bags while his father brought in another load. Nate started putting everything away, his mind absorbed with thoughts about the various traps he'd placed inside the dungeon before.

He didn't particularly want to reuse many of the ones he had designed previously. At the same time, he was running into the same problem as before, constantly coming up with new traps like this was difficult. He didn't have the creative intelligence needed to come up with constantly new fantastical designs. Nor could he farm out the responsibility to others. If he tried, word would get out to people it shouldn't. It always did.

No, the only way to move forward was to keep working on it by himself. At least until he had some people that he could absolutely trust with his life, because that is exactly what he would be doing.

His best shot, for now, seemed like it would be using the pre-made trap menu and going with some of the modifications it offered. It might not have been the most original option, granted, but it was right there in the middle. He would give it a try and see how it worked out. After all, as long as the core wasn't destroyed, then he could keep trying new things.

So, that would be his first order of business later, securing the core even more. He wanted to make sure that even if they went through the wall, they wouldn't find the core. That meant a double-blind bluff. He would hide the core behind a second wall, with another treasure chest where it currently was. He would extend the size of the room if he needed to.

If the cultivators ever got around to breaking the wall, all they would find is a hidden treasure chest. The second wall behind it would be even thicker and less likely to break so as not to draw their attention. It was probably too much work, especially when he could simply make the first wall thicker instead. But doing it this way would give him a better sense of overall peace and safety.

With those thoughts in mind, he pulled up all six screens for the dungeon, and after checking on his resources, set to work.

The last room of the dungeon before monsters and beasts could leave had originally been a fairly simple affair. The traps inside it had been a pressure-plated barbed spear trap floor with an incredibly sensitive spike wall setup that extended all around. If you had breathed on the wall, it would have gone off. And yet, it hadn't been enough.

He had watched the human cultivators practically dance their way through it. All because they had been able to depend on their companion to activate the traps first.

The first thing he needed to do then was split each room into quadrants or sections. There would be no more of this whole room activation nonsense, at least not for the smaller traps. After that, he would add a reset timer to them. That way, even if they were activated, the spears would retract after a few seconds and shoot up again. It wasn't a problem all the traps suffered from either, but he had made a note of the ones it did affect.

This way, while the last room still had the same traps for the most part, the room now had nine sections to it. With each trap in those areas being activated independently of the next. It increased the cost dramatically since he was, in essence, creating the same trap mechanism nine times instead of just once on a large scale.

Still, he believed it was worth it.

That was only a simple modification he had made using the trap menu. There were other options that he wanted to try out in some of the other rooms. For now, he wanted to take things slowly and keep the changes to a minimum for each room. It would be impossible to know which new options worked and which didn't if he just tried them all out at once in the same room.

He was just finishing up with placing the new traps in the room when his mother called him down for dinner. With what he had been doing, he hadn't even had time to cultivate the last couple of days. It would take him away from continuing his work, but he needed to at least do a little after eating.

Assuming, of course, George didn't show up.

Nate was always hopeful that the pleasant guild master would. He brought some rather obvious benefits each time he showed up, but he was also a genuinely nice fellow to be around. His own grandparents had died when he was young, on both Earths, and while he was hesitant to call George something of that nature. A hesitant uncle might work.

He didn't really want to quantify and define what they had going on though. People tended to do that so they could get more benefits from someone. He was already in debt to George as it was. If he suddenly started calling him uncle, outside of the cringe factor, it would be too much. It would be a friendship built on lies, and that was not how he wanted to live his life.

He didn't want to be someone who used his friends. Nate had known those sorts of people in the past, and the friendships they built were shallow and never lasted long. They weren't real. That wasn't what he wanted.

He had been alone when he died, granted through no real fault of his own. However, this time he wanted to be surrounded by people he could depend on and that cared for him.

"You got here early this time," He said with a grin, noticing that George was indeed there and already sitting at the table. In the past, he had arrived while they were eating or right afterward.

"I thought I would join you all today, and share some news that just came down the pipeline." The older man told him somewhat solemnly.

"You make it sound like the news isn't good." He sat at the lone open seat and began making his simple taco. It wasn't quite as tasty as what he would have gotten on Old Earth, simply because they didn't have access to all the required herbs and spices. Just like he would likely never taste a decent curry again for the same reason.

When the dimensional zones had appeared and cut off trade routes, spices had been one of the first things hoarded by people. Unfortunately, nothing lasted forever and all those hoarded supplies had long since been used over the years.

"I'm afraid that's because it's not." George took a moment to chew, covering his mouth, before speaking again. "These are quite good. Thank you for letting me eat with you."

"Anytime, Mr. Trellow, you know that," Nina replied with a smile.

"And you know to call me George," He returned with a smile of his own that fell off a second later. "The Turners and Petersons attacked the structure surrounding the portal with some of their cultivators earlier. For whatever reason, Pritchley didn't participate, and frankly, it's to his family's benefit that they didn't."

Nate's father inhaled sharply and leaned back from the table. "Are they insane? How has its creator reacted?"

George took another bite before answering. "I don't know how the structure's creator has reacted, and yes, I think they are all insane. However, this has brought something interesting to light."

Nina motioned for him to continue when he paused to eat. "Don't make me take that plate away from you, George." She threatened him.

He huddled protectively around the plate and swallowed. "Fine. I don't have all the details yet, but apparently, the team that went inside, found some treasure chests. Sooo, it would seem like the creator expected people to go inside at some point. Of course, in their excitement, they reportedly destroyed a fair bit of the interior. Something that was serving to keep back the monsters that were always appearing, even while they were inside."

"What'd they do, release some kind of report?" Nate wondered.

"Actually, yeah," George sat back with a sigh, seeming to have lost his appetite. "The two families spent most of the morning putting together a report and then sent it out to a few of us. There is one more important piece of information that was included in the report. It's bigger on the inside."

Both his parents dropped their food and stared at George in shock. "They messed with someone who has the ability to impart a spatial concept onto a building?" Niall whispered.

"What were they thinking, releasing that report?" His mother's voice was hoarse. "No one is going to work with them once that becomes known. We're talking about a cultivator even stronger than we thought before."

"Which is exactly why they released the report," George told them softly. "They knew they were doomed, and that the truth would come out, eventually. This was their version of damage control, by releasing everything they had learned all at once."

"Is that going to work?" Nate had lost his own appetite. He hadn't realized just how impressive what the dungeon was doing until just that moment.

"It might mitigate it some, but I doubt they'll ever be the powerhouses they were even a week ago." George smiled at him wryly. "Congratulations Nate, two of the families that attacked you have now fallen to ruin. Not quite how I imagine you thought you'd be getting your revenge on them, but in my opinion, at least it still counts. It's never a good idea to kick someone too much when they're down. If they ever do manage to pick themselves back up, they'll remember what you did to them then."

He nodded mutely and stared down at his plate, lost in thought.

Chapter 33

"Are you still thinking about what I said at dinner?" George asked after he had finished the latest healing session with Nate.

"Yeah," He replied in a distracted if somewhat tense voice. Healing the meridians and core inside one's-body was not a pleasant experience. "I agree with what you said, that it's better to avoid doing anything against them, and the why. It just seems…" He shrugged helplessly.

Even as the person behind the dungeon, and apparently the one who was causing their downfall, it all felt anti-climactic. There was no sense of revenge, or even like he had done anything. Everything that had happened had been done by others. He hadn't really been involved.

Granted, his desire for revenge also wasn't as strong as everyone else thought it would be. Even then, it still felt hollow. These people had still hurt the original Nathan of this world, and while he was grateful that he could see his parents again, that didn't make what they did right.

"I know," George nodded, completely understanding what he was trying to say. "That's just how life works out sometimes."

"Life sucks," Nate joked, not really meaning it. He loved being back with his family again. Sure, this version of Earth wasn't all gumdrops and roses. It was dangerous, he already knew that, but it was interesting.

"Sure, it does, kid." George tousled his hair and stood up with a grin. "How are things going with you and Angie, or are you going for Lindsay? You can tell me. Come on."

He chuckled and began stretching some of the pain inside his body away. "We're just friends?"

"You sound uncertain. Either way, when I was younger, I had a few girls who were just friends too, if you know what I mean." The old man chuckled and corrected his form as he stretched.

"I do know what you mean, and I just don't know what we are, I guess. The entire 'friendship' sprang up out of nowhere because of you. It just seems like one of those things that needs more time to become real instead of surface level, I guess." He straightened up and looked George in the eye. "Besides, you might be surprised to hear who showed up at our school."

"Oh, do tell?"

"Jace McFadden, the boy she would have been engaged to if he had stuck to the agreement they made with her mother. He transferred into our school and is now hounding her constantly." Nate shifted to a different pose and continued. "I think something must be going on with their family. This seems like more than him just trying to claim what he believes to be his."

The older man clicked his tongue. "That is…" He sucked in a breath between his teeth and held it for a few seconds. "Worrying, might be the best way to describe his sudden change in behavior. That's a rather obvious change for him, one everyone will notice once they start looking. Someone like him doesn't change that easily, and families like that require an even larger large push than their spoiled scions would."

George walked toward the door, a sense of purpose suddenly in his step. "I'm afraid you might have found yourself on the fringes of something rather interesting. I should be going; it seems I need to meet with the Chrightons and discuss a few things."

"Stay safe out there," Nate called out after him, his body pleasantly aching after the healing and stretching session.

George chuckled and waved as he walked out.

Nate waited another minute before changing and climbing into bed. He had a lot of damage to the dungeon he still needed to go through and fix.

The first thing he did though, was pull up his updated status information on the wrist computer. This was the fourth time George had healed him, and the damage numbers had continued to shrink.

Nathaniel Holmes

Age: 17 years

Realm: Unawakened Mortal (Damaged Core, and Meridians)

Core: Grade ??

Strength: 7(-2.3)

Speed: 6(-3.1)

Constitution: 6(-3.0)

Energy: 5.1

Meditative Art: ??

Energy Skills: None

Attack:

Support:

Companion Beast: None

Dungeon Creation - Current limit 1

Dungeon Interface

Dungeon - 1

Avatar

Equip

Don Avatar

Items

Storage

It would still be a while before he was back to full health, but it was nice to see it quantified like that.

With that done, he selected 'Don Avatar' and closed his eyes.

Nate opened his eyes inside the core room of the dungeon and sat down with all the screens pulled up. He was ready to keep redoing more of the traps and seeing what did and didn't work.

After what he had heard at dinner, it was unclear if the cultivators would be back, but he would be ready if they did.

At least he could work on rebuilding all the traps while in his avatar form. There were a few downsides to doing so, but he was less concerned with those at the moment. It was more important to get them back up and running than it was to worry about those rooms going dark for a while. The traps had already been destroyed in them; they couldn't get any more useless than that.

For the next while, Nate ignored the various beasts and monsters that would appear as he rebuilt everything. Finally, around an hour later, he had finished the basic rebuilding process. He still needed to go through and upgrade them all, but the traps were back.

He hadn't been able to modify them quite as much as he had originally intended, but that was life. By using the menu to quickly create them, he had still been able to make some changes to each room as he went.

The last thing Nate did before leaving the core room to begin upgrading the traps was to modify it. He already had a new design for the room in mind, and it involved hiding the core behind another wall. There was going to be a treasure chest after the first fake wall in case anyone ever broke through.

He sent through the build order and the entire dungeon shutdown as the room went through its modifications. Luckily it was only down for a few minutes this time.

A small part of him still thought it was overkill, but after what had happened this last time, he was fine with that. If the cultivators had been even a little more diligent in their efforts of destroying everything, he could have lost the dungeon.

That wasn't a risk he was willing to take a second time.

Along that same vein, he needed to get stronger, so the kukri blades stayed in his hands as he walked from room to room. He was determined to familiarize himself with their weight and handling before doing anything with them. After his last attempt to fight with them had turned into a disaster, he was starting from the basics.

Nate thought his body might remember some of what it had learned through all the training sessions. And maybe it did, but he still needed to know his weapon. Only then could he begin to figure out what his muscles did and didn't remember.

All he knew is that he needed all the help he could get.

And that meant pretty much starting from the beginning and guessing his way through a training regimen. With his parents starting their new company, they wouldn't be able to afford the expense of a personal weapons trainer for him. That left his only real option as learning under pressure.

At least inside the dungeon, he couldn't permanently die. They would be painful lessons, but he would have the chance to learn from them.

As he walked through the corridors of the dungeon, Nate kept one eye on the screens hovering above his wrist. He wanted to know where any beasts and monsters might be at all times. The other eye he kept trained on the two blades in his hands.

He wanted to keep the kukris in his grip this entire run. It was only by holding them and using them that he would be able to familiarize himself with their weight and how they handled.

Maybe he had read too many fantastical stories before he died, but he did remember reading once that it would help. Since he was already making up his own training style, he thought he might as well go all the way and cherry-pick the things he thought would help.

There was nothing that said he had to keep them around if they didn't help.

It was in that manner that he slowly passed from room to room, upgrading the traps anew after they had been rebuilt.

It was a process that worked well for several hours. He could feel himself growing more comfortable with the knives, and the swings he would take with them were smoother and less wobbly. It was progress he could see, though maybe not helpful in a fight. It was there.

Then he reached the portal room, and a beast came through when he wasn't expecting it. Ever since the group of cultivators had come through and destroyed everything, the portal had been letting things through more often.

The previous schedule had been thrown completely out the window. He hoped it would return to normal, but it was hard to say when he didn't know how it worked. Had the timing changed as a defense mechanism, or because it had judged the dungeon was too weak?

There were a number of options, and those were only two. All he could do is finish fixing it and hope for the best.

For now though, he needed to focus on the beast in front of him.

Nate resisted the temptation to take in a deep breath as he turned around and fled. The fish monster had a particularly nasty fishy smell to it that would cling to his tongue if he breathed it in. The beast ran after him on its four legs, the webbed toes creating a sucking noise with each hurried step. The long, froglike tongue it used as a weapon and for additional mobility barely missed him as he ducked out of the room.

With his strength in its weakened state, he didn't think he could force the blades through its armor-like scales. That left him with two options, a lucky blow, or using his trusty traps to kill, as he had already been doing. It was sad he wouldn't be able to use the kukris for this, but that was the sad reality of his current body.

Decisively, he slipped the blades into their sheathes and concentrated on running away. If the new trap room designs worked the way he thought they might, then taking out this stinky day-old fish would be easy.

Of course, he did need to make it past the room he had just started the upgrade on. That room was currently useless and couldn't help him in the slightest. In fact, it was probably the area where he would be in the most danger. A wide-open space like that was where the agile tongue of the fish monster could really shine.

The only way he made it across is by keeping both eyes on what it was doing and keeping constantly on the move. He would juke and jive out of the way each time it even so much as twitched in his direction.

It took him far longer than it should have to make it through the room and by the time he had; he was covered in cuts from close calls. The fins and scales on that thing were no joke.

Still, even with those difficulties, he somehow managed to survive long enough to get to the next room. This one had active traps, and with everything now divided into sections, he didn't even need to worry about going through the entire room first. Or at least that was the hope.

If he could depend on the traps activating while he was still in the room now, then taking care of these monsters would be easier. The hardest part before had been escaping the room, so the traps would activate. With the sectional setup, that would no longer be a concern.

The fish followed him into the new room and the traps at the entrance immediately activated, piercing through it.

Chapter 34

It turned out that dividing the rooms into sections worked even better than he thought it would. The trap, which had already been upgraded, scored a clean hit to the monster and locked it in place. The armor-like scales hadn't even been able to slow the spears.

The fish might have been strong against someone like Nate, who didn't even qualify as a cultivator yet. But if he had to guess, the beast had only just stepped onto the path itself.

A few moments later, two glowing orbs were all that had been left behind by the beast as the dungeon ate it. One was the now familiar small rainbow-colored orbs that seemed to always contain energy. The other was white. A color that he had seen twice before when he got his pants and boots. The thought of finally getting a shirt almost had him more excited than the energy.

He had slowly gotten used to how cold it was inside the dungeon, but that didn't mean he found it comfortable.

Quickly, he ran up to the glowing white orb and touched it. The orb broke apart in a flash of light, leaving behind a leathery, long-sleeve shirt on the stone floor of the dungeon. It didn't look like the world's most comfortable shirt, but he knew that just like the pants, it would fit him exactly right.

With that thought in mind, he picked it up and used the menu to equip it. Instantly, he felt a little warmer, as the cold, drafty air no longer had easy access to his skin. Next, he picked up the energy orb and let it sink into his hand.

Content with his new gains, Nate pulled out his kukris and began his training again as he continued his way through the dungeon. There were still a number of rooms that he needed to upgrade.

Hurrying past the portal room, he began the now familiar process of upgrading the traps. It was nothing different than what he had already been doing. The only things that kept it from feeling like a chore were the small differences and the training he was able to do while inside the dungeon.

Unfortunately, outside of his avatar, the dungeon was currently empty. There had been another monster earlier that had managed to escape with some minor injuries. That happened occasionally, especially when the traps near the exit hadn't been upgraded yet. As long as the monster was sufficiently lucky and skilled, or its cultivation was high enough to escape everything, getting away wasn't an issue.

Nate kept an eye on the ever-dwindling resource counter as he proceeded to upgrade one room after another. What had originally been more than enough energy to upgrade the core had now fallen below what he needed. All he could do was sigh and continue on with the work.

It was more important to get the dungeon back up and running in peak condition than worrying about something he had no control over. All he could do was hope that next time he would be able to do the upgrade instead of wasting time and resources rebuilding everything.

That, more than anything else, was beginning to annoy him.

Hours later, when it was time for him to wake up, he had managed to upgrade every trap in the dungeon. He had also fought another beast, receiving a second energy orb at the end for his efforts.

All in all, when he woke up, he was feeling as though it had been a productive night.

Nate opened his eyes and slowly rolled out of bed. While he was inside the dungeon, his body was asleep, but his mind was still active. It hadn't been so bad in the past when he was kicked out early and still got some regular sleep. This time, however, he had been active the entire time.

As a result, he was feeling kind of drained and had to drag himself into a freezing shower to fully wake up.

"Are you doing alright this morning?" His mother asked when he finally dragged himself downstairs a few minutes later. His eyes still had that slightly glazed, tired quality to them that spoke of a poor night's sleep.

He grunted tiredly and began mechanically eating his breakfast. "Just tired is all." He said once his plate was empty. "What do you and dad have scheduled for today?"

"We'll be going outside the city for a quick expedition to finish certifying our company. It's the final item needed to prove that we are qualified to operate out there. After that, there is just a little bit more paperwork and we'll be good to go. The entire process has been a lot more painless than it might have otherwise been." She stared at him over the lip of her steaming mug. "Be sure to thank Angie's family and George for us. I'm sure they had something to do with that."

He nodded and leaned back, closing his eyes for a second. "I will. You want to bring me to school on your way out?"

"Do you need it?" She returned with a grin.

"Don't I?" He asked uncertainly. He hadn't made any plans with Angie or Lindsay the day before to have them come pick him up again.

She shrugged and shook her head. "Angie's driver called a few minutes ago to let me know they were on their way."

"Oh, I wasn't expecting them to keep doing that. Last week was sort of a special occasion, you know? We had things to talk about…" He trailed off, realizing that wasn't entirely true. They had never really used their time inside the car for that.

He glanced at the clock and hurriedly finished his breakfast before going to grab his bag. "Stay safe outside the walls and don't do anything stupid just to impress the examiner person," Nate shouted to his parents, rushing to the door as he heard a car pull up outside. "I'll see you both when you get back."

Angie had only barely opened her door when he burst out of his house and ran towards the car.

"Excited for school today?" She asked in amusement.

"Hardly, but I figured if you were going to be nice enough to pick me up I shouldn't make you wait." He replied, climbing in beside her. "Hey, Lindsay."

She grunted in acknowledgment and leaned against the seat with her eyes closed.

"Apparently, she didn't sleep well last night," Angie whispered.

"I can sympathize with that myself. What did your parents have to say about Jace, anything?"

Her eyes went cold as she shook her head. "They told me to just put up with his presence for now, but not to allow him to touch me or do anything I don't want. Since they broke the agreement, there is no reason for me to interact with him, so I'm simply going to ignore him as much as possible."

Lindsay snorted and rolled her eyes. "As if it's going to be that easy. He approached you for a reason, and I doubt he'll just let whatever it is go." She hesitated, seeming unsure of how much to say before deciding to go for it and continuing. "Angie, you know I love you, but the way he is acting is strange."

Her friend nodded. "I know. I mentioned the same thing to my parents, and that was all they could suggest still."

"Well, I can't say that hanging out with you two isn't interesting at least," Nate told them.

"And here we thought you would be the one causing us problems, not the other way around," Angie said with a fake sigh.

"Yeah right, like I would ever be the problem child among the three of us. I'm a straight A student."

"Teacher's pet," Lindsay muttered, poking him in the side.

He scoffed. "Who's ever heard of a teacher's pet that sleeps through half their classes?"

"Are you still doing that?" Angie had heard about how much he used to sleep when he first transferred to their school.

"Not quite as much since George started healing me, but it's still a couple of periods each worth each day."

"And yet you are still acing their classes. I bet the teachers don't know what to do with you." Lindsay chuckled.

"Yeah, it frustrates a few of them, for sure. Though to be honest, I'm not actually a straight A student, I'm not doing that great in PE for obvious reasons." He grinned.

Both girls rolled their eyes, not impressed with his admission.

"By the way, when are you going to form your cores and become cultivators?" Nate asked them suddenly, thinking about his own situation.

"I was waiting for Lindsay to catch up, so I've actually been ready for a couple of weeks now."

The other girl stuck her tongue out at them. "I'm almost there. I should be finished either tonight or tomorrow. After a couple of days to finish solidifying my foundations, I should be ready to go."

"Next week then?" Angie was getting visibly excited at the thought of finally forming her core after weeks of putting it off.

"Yup, sorry for making you wait so long."

"Humph, just don't let it happen again."

"The two of you are weird," Nate told them with a smirk.

They blushed and looked away in embarrassment.

"Oh, right before I forget. Dad said your medicine should be arriving sometime tonight. The caravan carrying it apparently made excellent time and will be arriving a little earlier than expected."

In this case, a little earlier meant anywhere between two and five days early, depending on the conditions and beasts they encountered. They must have gotten lucky this time and only run into a couple of groups on the way.

Nate's eyes lit up at the news. The thought that he would finally be healed was a very appealing one to him. "Did he happen to say when it would be arriving? I can come by and pick it up tonight."

"He didn't, no, but I'll have someone send it to your house as soon as it arrives. I know how important it is to you." Angie smiled at him. "I expect that this time tomorrow, you'll be fully healed, with your core and meridians intact once more."

"It would be nice," He said softly, feeling as though he had suddenly entered a dream. He had been living in pain for months, and then George had stepped in to heal his knee. After that, everything had begun to move forward, giving him hope where before there had been none.

He would need to spend some more time cultivating and collecting energy as his avatar if he wanted to catch up to everyone.

Nate relaxed against the car seat, his eyes closed in thought. It might be time to give his future some serious thought and define his goals. Was he trying to become a top cultivator, or was he going to focus on the creation of the dungeons? At least in a small part, the two went hand in hand. He needed strength to stay safe, but that was it.

He didn't want to abandon the dungeons and what they represented. Yet at the same time, this was his life. Sure, he could say that by encasing all the dimensional zones in dungeons he was saving humanity. But was that really the case?

The people here had adapted, as had the economy, and while there were monsters, was that really any worse than the alternative? People were pretty awful just on their own, at least with the beasts and monsters there, they had somewhere to let out their aggression.

"What's got you looking so serious?" Lindsay asked him as the car rolled to a stop outside the school.

"My mind just went down some weird rabbit holes is all." He replied, stepping out into the cool morning air. "What do think of the dimensional zones? Would it be better if they suddenly disappeared, or would that be the absolute worst thing possible?"

"You're talking about the structure that surrounded the portal?" Angie asked, guessing at his thought process.

He nodded.

"It would be bad if they disappeared entirely, but I don't think that's what the structure is doing. At least not yet."

Chapter 35

Angie groaned as soon as they pulled up to the school, Jace was waiting for them in front of the doors.

"Did your parents figure anything out about what is going on with his family?" Nate asked, the question directed at both the girls.

"They only just started looking," Lindsay muttered, glaring at the boy outside. "I'm more surprised that our parents were willing to work together to figure it out."

Angie nodded. "I think I mentioned it before, but her parents and my own don't exactly get along. Either way, it'll take more than a single night to figure something out."

She popped open the door and hopped out before the chauffeur could even finish unbuckling his seatbelt.

Jace's eyes darkened as he noticed Nate with the girls as he walked confidently toward them.

The three came to a stop in front of him and glared. "What do you want, Jace? We've already been through this; you and I are not getting together. You broke the agreement, knowing full well what that would mean. I'm not sure why you suddenly care about something you willingly threw away, but it's too late now. Just stop."

Nate winced. She may not have had any feelings for the other boy, but no girl liked being carelessly tossed aside. For someone like Angelica with a certain amount of pride, he imagined that had to be what hurt the most.

Jace ground his teeth together, the sound loud enough to set their nerves on edge. "My reasons are my own, and you will be mine."

"No, they aren't. Not when they affect me, and no, I won't. I can make my own decisions about who I want to be with." She stepped right up to his face and glared right back at him. "Don't test me, Jace. I've been civil because of the agreement between our families and because you haven't yet done anything but be a nuisance. If that should change… Well, I'm sure my parents will understand after the fact."

His eyes grew wary, with a hint of uncertainty as they flicked from Angie to the two people behind her. It was only then that he seemed to remember that he was outnumbered and outside a school with cameras everywhere.

"This isn't over yet," He said, forcing the words out through his clenched teeth. "This is bigger than what I want. It goes beyond me."

She stepped up to his side, keeping her gaze locked on the door just past him. "I don't care. It doesn't matter what your reason for doing this is, there are no benefits to me and my family. Even if there were, I still wouldn't agree because I don't like you. You screwed up the one chance there was of forcing us to be together, and I am beyond grateful that you did."

With those parting words, she brushed past him and walked inside the school.

Jace didn't bother saying anything, but the glare he gave Lindsay and Nate said it all for him. This wasn't over, not for them, and not for him. Angie may have considered the matter settled, but she was the only one who did.

"Are you going to tell her, or am I?" Nate whispered to Lindsay.

She looked behind them to where Jace was still standing outside, his body rigid, and sighed. "I'll do it. She needs to know."

"It's going to be an interesting school day," He muttered, walking in behind her, and it, unfortunately, was at that.

Apparently after their little discussion outside the doors that morning, Jace had decided that her words were akin to declaring war. In every single class, whether they were together or alone -well, Angie and Lindsay were never alone since all their classes were together- the three were constantly being pestered. 

It was annoying, but little more than that. No one dared to do anything more to them at the school, especially not after what had happened to the teacher the day before. Everyone was well aware of the limits of what they could and couldn't get away with.

These kids had all grown up with golden spoons in their mouths and while they enjoyed pushing the limits, most weren't stupid. As for the rest, they had to choose sides, Angie's or Jace's. Angie was more well-known around the school, but the McFadden name that came with Jace also held a certain amount of weight.

To most of the student's credit, they decided to not participate in the matter at all. Choosing to not take a side. They neither helped nor hindered. They watched, and that was it.

There were a few who helped Jace, and even fewer who still helped Angie. It was something Nate found odd until Lindsay explained to him what was going on.

"Jace has bought off the people helping him, and while Angelica is nice to everyone, she is careful who she makes friends with." She looked at him pointedly, hinting that he had been a special case. "These people are the few she has either spent more time with or are desperate to gain her favor."

"I would think everyone would want to make use of such an opportunity then to possibly gain her favor. That has to be worth something, right?"

"Everyone has their pride, Nate. Most have too much of it for their own good." She replied gently.

"We're too young to have that kind of pride already. What do any of us have to be proud about at this point in our lives? We haven't accomplished anything. The most noteworthy thing any of us have done is getting born into affluent families. That's simply luck of the draw, nothing more." He snorted. "Don't tell me some of these kids actually believe they were chosen or something simply because they were born rich."

Lindsay stared at him, slowly blinking.

"Oh, they do… um, do you and Angie?"

She burst out laughing. "No, we aren't that stupid, but some of them really do think that. If you remember, in the old days, people used to think their kings and queens were virtually gods simply by who birthed them. This is no different."

"That's stupid, but I must admit I wouldn't mind drinking whatever idiot juice gives these people that kind of baseless confidence."

She chuckled and pushed him towards his first class. "We'll see you in a bit. Have fun explaining to the teachers why you walked out yesterday."

He groaned, remembering how they had left the school the day before. That was not a conversation he was looking forward to.

Luckily, it didn't turn out to be an issue. All the teachers seemed to want to pretend the events of the day before never happened. There was no mention of them leaving early, or of the teacher that Angie's driver had knocked through a wall.

He was glad for that. It made getting through the classes where he was alone easier. Most people simply left him alone, with one or two of the students asking about his relationship with Angie and Lindsay. The two girls had a bit of a fan club in the school and were a little curious about the boy who was suddenly hanging out with the beings of their admiration.

Thankfully, that was all, however, and the people that were bothering the other two largely left him alone.

Soon enough, it was time for lunch and when they expected Jace's main show to begin.

They were right. Almost as soon as the three sat down to eat, Jace walked into the cafeteria with his latest goon squad. Unconsciously, the room began separating into three different groups. Those that were with him, those who had chosen Angie, and then the rest who had decided to remain unaffiliated.

It was simple, and it immediately let the rest know where that person stood.

Jace grinned, baring his white teeth, and stopped in front of their table.

"Is there a point to this otherwise pointless posturing?" Angelica asked before he could say anything. Her eyes were calm as she took a sip of her soda.

He soundlessly ground his teeth and pointed his finger at her. "I challenge you to a duel. If I win, you will marry me; if I lose, I will leave you alone."

"No," She responded without hesitating. "The terms aren't equal. You simply leaving me alone isn't of equal value to me marrying you. Not to mention you have already lost the right to marry me. A simple duel doesn't change that in the slightest."

Angie wasn't giving him any room to negotiate or save face at all.

His face paled and then reddened in anger as he slammed his hand down on the table, cracking it.

She smirked and shook her head. "Would you look at that? You finally learned how to cultivate. It takes a lot for someone at the beginning stages of 'Core Refining' to challenge a person who hasn't even formed their core yet. You're such a big strong man Jace, I'm in awe." She fanned her face and winked at him.

He growled and forced himself to step back, despite visibly shaking in anger. "Why haven't you formed your core yet?"

"I didn't want to. What does it matter to you? Oh, that's right! It means you can't even properly challenge me to a duel yet. You just can't do anything right, can you?"

He screamed at the ceiling and kicked an empty chair, narrowly missing the heads of several students unrelated to the current affair. With that act of childish anger, he spun on his heel and stomped out of the cafeteria.

"I think you made him mad," Nate said pointlessly as he ate some of the caramel pudding the school had made for lunch.

Lindsay shook her head. "No, he definitely wasn't mad. Nope, not in the slightest."

They both looked at Angie.

The other girl exhaled and threw her fork onto her plate. "Well, my appetite is ruined after that little display. Honestly, he should have known better than to pull something like that in public. I have no idea why he is bringing everyone else into our private affairs."

"Maybe he just likes performing for an audience," Nate said as he finished off the last of the pudding.

Lindsay covered her mouth, muffling the snort that erupted forth. "With how annoying he is, I wouldn't actually doubt that he has some grandstanding tendencies. It's good to know in case we do ever actually have to duel him."

"Come on, if we are done eating, then we might as well get to the next class a little early." Nate stacked all their plates on his and stood up.

With his meridians and core injured and affecting his strength, the three dense plates were a little heavier than he would have liked to admit. At that moment, they felt as though they weighed even more than the groceries he had helped his parents bring in the day before.

"You doing alright there?" Angie asked, seeing him struggle with them.

He stuck his tongue out at her and flexed his core; the action steadying him enough to make the short trip to the drop-off point. "I'm fine. I'll be even better after tonight."

"You better be. We can't have a weakling hanging around with us." Lindsay gently bumped her hip against his as he set everything down. "How long will it take you to cultivate enough energy to where you can try forming your core again?"

Nate shrugged and cracked his slightly aching back. "I'm not sure. George seems to think I'm pretty quick, even in my current state, but most of the energy I gather is still being wasted. For every little bit I get to keep ninety or ninety-five percent is wasted, I'd wager."

That was just a rough estimation on his part, but if it was in any way correct, then his normal cultivation speed really would pick up. That wasn't even taking the energy orbs from the dungeon into account. With those, he'd be even faster. Of course, all of that was still just speculation. For all he knew, getting his meridians and core repaired might not make all that much of a difference.

Yeah, right, as if that was possible.

Chapter 36

Nate was sitting on the couch closest to the front door of the house waiting for Angie to arrive. While he waited, he had been watching the dungeon screens and inspecting all the traps he had upgraded the night before.

They were working just fine, actually; they were working perfectly. During the half-hour he had been watching, no beast had made it more than a few rooms away from the portal. It was a little boring on one hand, but also not enough on the other.

He had already seen what the human cultivators were capable of. The group from before hadn't made a reappearance, but he had little doubt they would. Just like he had little belief that the current dungeon would be able to hold them back.

The difference in strength between the two was simply too much.

Sure, the current trap models might hurt them, possibly even kill one of them, but that was all. It wasn't the overwhelming show of force like it was with the beasts that came through.

He glanced at the resource counter and bit the corner of his lip, thinking. Upgrading the dungeon core would probably be the best way to fix that particular problem. After the night spend upgrading everything though, they were back down to half of what they needed to accomplish that.

Since there wasn't anything, he could or wanted to do for the moment, he simply watched while he waited. He had enough time to finish the last of his homework, and even prepare a simple dinner from the frozen items his parents had bought the other day.

When he had finished all of that, it was past dusk, but not yet fully dark. His parents hadn't returned from their test outside the city, and he was struggling to keep the worry at bay.

They had told Nate that the test would take all day, but a part of him had still thought they would be back by now. After losing them once, his mind had become prone to imagining the worst scenarios at the drop of a hat.

Finally, as the clock ticked closer to eight in the evening, Angelica arrived with a package in hand and George in tow.

"He wanted to make sure that the medicine worked properly," She explained after coming up to the door with a silver briefcase in hand. "Do you mind if we come inside? The elixir will take a few minutes to work."

Nate stepped to the side and fully opened the door. "Sorry, I'm alone right now. Mom and dad still haven't returned from their test. It has me a little on edge. I don't know how long these things usually take, so my mind is coming up with one thing after another."

"Sounds like you could use a distraction then," Angie told him, not belittling his current problem as she walked inside.

"That would be nice, yes."

"As for how long they normally take…" George looked into the sky and thought for a moment. "They probably won't be back until midnight. The test includes some night portions to it as well, that they may not have known about."

The knot in Nate's stomach unclenched some as he realized that this was still perfectly normal for now.

Everyone settled into the various chairs around the main room while Angie opened the briefcase. Inside was a heavily padded interior with rows of minutely labeled potions.

She grinned at them. "When we had to make the order for your elixir, we also decided to buy a few others that are hard to get here at the same time."

Nate shook his head at the casual display of wealth and glimpse into a world he hardly understood. Economics on the scale her family operated at was not something his mind could actively fathom. There were too many little missing details.

He had known she was rich, even before this, but this was another example of just how far above him she really was. Part of him found it frustrating, and another didn't even seem to care. There was nothing going on between them outside of a burgeoning friendship, and who knew if it would even continue after this deal was finished?

Angie carefully selected a large glass vial with a metal mesh all around to the outside of it and handed it to him. "This is it; this is the elixir. Drink it all down in one gulp and then you have to just ride out the pain. If you want, you can try and steer the energy some, but it isn't needed."

Nate took it from her with shaking hands, his fingers pressing against the cork and stopping. He was about to do something that would change everything for him, something that would fix him. It was a choice he had never been given in his past life on Old Earth.

Taking a deep breath, he popped the cork and poured the contents into his mouth.

George put his hand on him and closed his eyes as he began keeping track of the changes going on inside Nate.

Meanwhile, a rush of scorching energy that began in his chest slowly spread throughout his body. Torn and ruptured meridians were healed as it went. The healing energy served to also strengthen and widen the thinner meridians that had been storing the small amount of qi he had managed to keep and further cultivate.

The entire time, he was feeling nothing but pain as the elixir scoured the inside of his body. It felt as though he had poured acid inside his mouth and that it was having its way with his internals.

The disabled meridians throughout his body were being brought back into being at an accelerated rate. At the same time, he could feel the remains of his core being shunted to the side and reconstructed. It wasn't a full core, and it wasn't in the right place, but it now seemed like he had a backup core of sorts that he could use.

He wasn't entirely sure what to call it, outside of that. It was no longer in his lower dantian but had migrated to a space beside his heart. There was one large, newly created artery-like meridian that connected it to his dantian, but that was all.

Regardless of how inexperienced Nate might have been in certain things, he knew right away that it was better to keep that particular change a secret. The elixir had been a healing agent, not something that was supposed to induce changes of this nature in a person.

George opened his eyes, a surprised gleam flashing across them before closing them again to supervise the last of the healing.

So far, everything had gone relatively smoothly. It was a specialized elixir meant to heal specific injuries, and it was very good at what it did. No one expected there to be any problems, but it never hurt to be careful.

The entire process took slightly longer than they had been expecting and was nearing the thirty-minute mark when the last of the elixir energy vanished.

Nate opened his eyes and spit out some blood. The healing process had caused havoc with his internals while they were fixing the damage, reopening the old wounds in the process. His skin was pale and clammy as he wiped the blood away from his mouth, leaving a garish streak of red in its wake.

"That was fun," He mumbled hoarsely, unable to put more effort into speaking for the moment.

Angie grinned and laughed. "I told you there would be some pain."

"You didn't say it would last so long though!" He shot back angrily.

"I had no idea how long it would last." She retorted. Her eyes softened a moment later as she studied the vague shaking of the muscles in his legs and arms. "Are you sure you're fine?"

He gingerly cracked his neck, the action taking more effort than it should have. "I'm exhausted, but I feel fine. It was painful, don't get me wrong, however, it did what it was supposed to. All my meridians have been repaired, with some of them even being strengthened. The remains of my core have also been removed, so as soon as I cultivate enough energy again, there is nothing stopping me from forming a proper core."

George nodded along with everything he said.

The two stuck around for a few more minutes, chatting with him before deciding it was time for them to leave.

The older gentleman approached Nate at that time and tapped the area next to his heart. "It would be best if you kept this particular oddity a secret. Tell no one, except your parents." He breathed out in a bare whisper.

"I'll see you in the morning, Nate. Lindsay and I will need you to run interference from Jace for us at school." She winked at him and walked out.

He saw them out and then locked the door behind them, before collapsing weakly onto the couch. Everything hurt at the moment. Each of his strained muscles screamed at him, protesting an abuse they had suffered from the inside.

Normally, he'd say he would be incredibly sore in the morning, but with that ring of healing on his finger, he'd be as good as new by then.

Nate pulled up his information screen from the wrist computer and looked at the changes listed. Under Realm, it no longer mentioned him as having a damaged core and meridians. Instead, it now merely said zero percent awakened and also said there was a backup core available.

The only other major change was that his stats had finally returned to normal as well.

Nathaniel Holmes

Age: 17 years

Realm: Unawakened Mortal (0% Awakened, Backup Core Available)

Core: Grade ??

Strength: 7

Speed: 6

Constitution: 6

Energy: 5.6

Meditative Art: ??

Energy Skills: None

Attack:

Support:

Companion Beast: None

Dungeon Creation - Current limit 1

Dungeon Interface

Dungeon - 1

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Finally, he had gotten to the point where cultivating would start making a difference in his body again. He could truly start on his journey as a cultivator now. It had taken him a few more months than he would have liked, but it had happened, and that was all that mattered.

This time, he wouldn't let anyone ruin his core awakening when it was time. Not that he really expected to get that unlucky again. That said, the company he was keeping these days did come with a certain amount of attention and danger.

It wasn't that either Angelica or Lindsay were world-topping beauties. They were pretty, but most cultivators were. No, it was more an attention derived from the power and position of their families. People always wanted more.

The McFadden's were an excellent example of that. Angie had no interest in Jace, yet he continued to pursue her because of the benefits she could bring to his family. There may have been a small amount of lust mixed in, but that was all.

To them, marriage was a business arrangement, and he was someone in the way. If they could remove him from the board by preventing his awakening a second time…

Well, that sounded to him exactly like something they would try to do.

He would be prepared, and he would be far stronger this time. He'd make sure of it. Besides, he wouldn't be doing the process at a school where the guards could be bought off this time. His parents would be there as well, they had already let him know they would be keeping watch the next time.

Things would be different this time, and all of that began with him.

Nate glanced at the clock. He was determined to stay up until his parents got back. That meant he couldn't properly enter the dungeon until then. He could watch it through the screens and maybe play around with the traps if he really wanted to. But no, he had a better use for his time now.

The dungeon was at a point where as long as it wasn't destroyed; he didn't really need to monitor it anymore. That left him with more time to properly cultivate.

Which is exactly what he was going to do. Now that his meridians had been fully healed, it was time to find out how good, bad, or mediocre his talent really was.