You have solo killed a floor boss 7 levels above your own. Bonus experience awarded.

  Experience split between [Necroplague Slime] and [Human] form.

  [Necroplague Slime] has leveled up: 34 -> 40.

  [Human] has leveled up: 27 -> 35.

  Xen could hardly contain a grin behind his helmet as he followed Ghostwire over the bridge and finally dismissed the level-up notification that had been hanging in his vision since he slayed the floor boss.

  As expected, killing a floor boss that was many levels above him by himself had resulted in a handsome reward of experience. Thankfully, Ghostwire didn't appear to possess the Appraisal skill, or he would no doubt have questioned how a level 15 Spellblade could kill a level 41 Underworld Orc.

  Speaking of the Underworld Orc, his arms were straining while carrying the monster's heavy head, and he was practically salivating at the thought of devouring the head and obtaining the Underworld Orc's form and skills. The only problem was the presence of this self-proclaimed Savior. Having appraised the man, he had confirmed his status:

  [Phantom Scout (Level 46)]

  Ghostwire wasn't weak, but with Xen's recent boost in levels, he should be able to deal with him easily. However, he still had to be wary as he wasn't sure of a Phantom Scout's capabilities. If it was a more assassin-oriented class, he wasn't sure of his victory.

  While my Necroplague Slime form has reached level 40, meaning I could likely fight directly with monsters on the first and second floor of the World Dungeon as a slime without issue, I'd still be too squishy to survive an attack from a high-level assassin and I doubt this dented helmet will offer much protection.

  Although the system hid his true stats from him, he could still guesstimate them. If he had to put his strength in numerical terms, he felt that his slime form only gained +1 in most stats besides magically aligned ones from each level up.

  Necroplague Slime (Level 40):

  +40 Strength, +40 Vitality, +40 Agility, +80 Resistance, +120 Magic

  Human (Level 35):

  +175 Strength, +105 Vitality, +140 Agility, +105 Resistance, +210 Magic

  After fighting the Underworld Orc, Xen confirmed his suspicions: his stats weren’t fully shared between forms. If they had been, the battle would’ve been effortless.

  From what he could tell, about half of his slime form's physical stats—like Strength and Vitality—carried over. His Magic stat, however, seemed to transfer almost entirely, allowing him to function as a high-tier mage regardless of form. Agility and Resistance barely carried over at all, which made sense given how his shapeshifting worked. To control a body, Xen extended hair-thin strands of slime throughout its structure, anchoring his main mass where the brain would normally reside. These tendrils gave him control but added little to the body's ability to resist attacks or dodge them.

  So with those adjustments, he estimated his real status screen to look something like this:

  ??[Name: Xen]

  [Level: 40 (C)]

  [Race: Necroplague Slime (Rare Variant)]

  [Current Form: Human (Level 35)]

  [Class: Shapeshifter (Unique)]

  [Strength: 175 (+20)]

  [Vitality: 105 (+20)]

  [Agility: 140 (+4)]

  [Resistance: 105 (+4)]

  [Magic: 210 (+120)]

  Suffice it to say, beside a decent boost in magic, he didn't gain much of an advantage at all. If he were to take on a level 1 form such as his elf form, the added stats would be proportionally significant, but to his human form that was only lagging behind his Necroplague Slime form by a few levels, it didn't provide much. Only around five levels or so, meaning he was still technically a few levels of stats behind Ghostwire.

  Which is why he had to be cautious, especially if he was an assassin.

  The man in question was taking the lead over the bridge, but stealing a glance over his shoulder every now and then. Balancing on his shoulder was the massive battle axe Gor'Zhul had wielded. Xen couldn't understand why Ghostwire wanted to carry such a uselessly large axe around, yet the man seemed to keep glancing at the Orc's head cradled in his arms as if he was the weird one.

  Did Ghostwire want to steal his snack—ahem, trophy, from him? The idea legitimately horrifed him.

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  "What?" Xen snapped as Ghostwire glanced yet again.

  "Nothing much, I was just curious how you killed the floor boss," Ghostwire said, humming to himself. "I noticed there was corruption magic used, yet you seem to use a sword. None of the university students are listed as corruption mages, so I was just wondering..."

  "Well, stop that."

  "Pardon?"

  "Stop wondering about things you shouldn't," Xen snapped. For possibly the first time, he was stronger than the person suspecting him, and he didn't have the energy to navigate yet another complicated conversation. While Necroplague Slimes didn't need to sleep and were technically immune to fatigue, that didn't mean his soul couldn't get exhausted after such an intense fight.

  "Fine. If you say so," Ghostwire smirked and finally looked forward. "But I just want to say that if a second Savior is lurking nearby, you two will split your half of the fees. I'm not splitting three ways."

  Fee this, fee that. Why is this guy so obsessed with these darn fees? Are they that tasty or something? Xen cursed in his mind but stayed silent. Of course, there was no lurking corruption mage, but he felt it was better that Ghostwire jumped to his own wrong conclusions.

  "Say, Gerald, are you part of a guild?" Ghostwire suddenly asked after a brief silence as they neared the halfway mark across the bridge. The moment he opened his mouth, Xen debated hurling him into the lake but barely managed to refrain.

  "Maybe? Why does it matter to you?" Xen replied curtly.

  "Well, again, the fee split might be a little different if a guild is involved."

  "Just take it," Xen grumbled. He was totally fed up with this conversation.

  "What?" Ghostwire stopped and glanced at him yet again, which annoyed Xen even more.

  "The fee, I don't need it. You can take it all, so stop asking questions and looking at me, alright? I'm exhausted after the fight with the floor boss and desire silence."

  Ghostwire stared at him, and Xen reciprocated the staring match and took some time to thoroughly analyze this human.

  The man was sporting a welltailored black suit that Xen had seen people wear in the memories he had assimilated, but most notably, Ghostwire hid his face with a metallic mask. From the mana radiating off it, the mask appeared to be an artifact of some kind. Xen could guess at least one of its features as it seemed to be glued to his face without any noticeable straps or attachments.

  "I see. I think I understand now," Ghostwire eventually said. "You are offering this battle axe and your half of the reward as a hush fee, I can agree to that."

  Xen had no idea what he was on about and simply returned a nod.

  Ghostwire's mood instantly improved and he strode across the bridge as if exhaustion were a past memory and all of his curiosity had died.

  Xen followed along, confused. Perhaps this fee thing was more powerful than he had thought? Could he always exchange it to make people shut up and stop asking questions like this? If so, he would have to look into it more.

  Reaching the opposite shoreline, they were greeted by the three humans he had been helping previously. Randy glanced between Xen and Ghostwire with anxiousness and then confusion.

  "Is everything good?" he asked, almost unsure how to phrase the question.

  "Gerald and I have worked out a deal, so you have nothing to worry about, kid," Ghostwire said as he walked over toward the far wall and began to vertically scale it. "I'll be helping to extract all of you from here and to the surface."

  "Really? You worked out a deal?" Randy whispered once Ghostwire was out of earshot.

  "Yeah, I offered him my share of a fee, and he agreed to stop asking questions. Great, right? This fee thing sure is amazing."

  "There is no fee," Randy hissed back.

  "Huh? Wait, what even is a fee?"

  Randy blinked at him in disbelief but then seemed to remember he was talking to a slime wearing a human skinsuit and swiftly explained in a low voice, "When we first fell into the cavern, I sent out a distress beacon. It calls on nearby Saviors to our location. In exchange for a high fee, which are credits—do you know about credits?"

  Xen slowly nodded. "Kind of, they were mentioned to me before."

  Gerald had entrusted him with a card that supposedly contained these elusive credits.

  "Well, we were desperate and wanted to live, so I called the distress beacon without thinking, but there's no way we have enough credits to pay that guy's fee."

  Xen was confused. "What do you mean?"

  "The fee you agreed to split? There won't be one, as we have no money. Ghostwire knows this and will force us to go into debt to pay him. Erm, you likely don't know what debt is. How can I explain this? It's like... really bad mana deprivation but financially. We tried to get him to leave by saying you were our Savior, but he didn't buy it and went to investigate."

  Xen digested Randy's words and slowly pieced the puzzle together.

  "Do you understand?" Randy asked, an urgency in his voice as Ghostwire reached the top of the cavern and grabbed the rope that had been dangling down over the water. Xen watched as Ghostwire pulled hard on it a few times to check it was secure before walking back down toward them with the rope in tow.

  "I think so?" Xen nodded. "Leave it to me."

  "Okay..." Randy said, not seeming too sure.

  "You all ready?" Ghostwire asked, surveying the group. "Perhaps I should bring Gerald up first?"

  Xen shrugged. "Sure."

  "Great, come here," he gestured for Xen to come over, and he complied. "I'm going to wrap this rope around your waist. Is it tight? Pull here... yes, good. Now, I'll carry you up the wall. The rope is there in case I drop you."

  Before Xen knew it, Ghostwire had effortlessly thrown him over his shoulder and was hauling him up the wall. His world soon went upside down, and he could see Randy, Vesper, and Valoria watching him from below with curiosity.

  Reaching the hole, Ghostwire threw him somewhat roughly through into the tunnel. Poking his head past the tunnel, he said, "Keep this area secured and help receive the kids. Oh, and guard my battle axe."

  Xen glanced to the side at the battle axe that had been Gor'Zhul's and didn't know why, but he felt a little disgusted at the thought of the proud Orc warrior's weapon being treated like this.

  Grumbling, he peered over the hole and watched from above as Ghostwire continued his work. While the human annoyed him greatly, Xen had to admit he hadn't thought of how he would leave the cavern after killing Gor'Zhul, especially with injured humans.

  "Here, take Valoria," Ghostwire's voice came from beyond the hole.

  Xen leaned over with his foot hooked under the taut rope and grabbed Valoria. Pulling her up onto the edge of the hole, he untied the rope from her waist, and then Ghostwire went to retrieve the next person.

  "Hey Gerald..."

  "Mhm?" Xen asked, glancing at the human.

  "Thanks for coming back for us," she said, smiling weakly at him. Her face was stained with blood, and she looked deathly pale. "No matter what happens from now on, you will always be my savior."

  Xen blinked behind his helmet, unsure how to reply. He was a monster that feasted on human flesh. He hadn't expected to be thanked by one, let alone called a savior.

  "You're... welcome?" he eventually replied.

  "Are you coming with us to the surface?" she asked weakly.

  "Yeah," Xen said, leaning back slightly. "I made a promise."

  "A promise?" Valoria repeated, sounding surprised. "For what?"

  Xen chuckled. "A creature requires my attention, specifically a cat."

  Valoria looked at him strangely. "A cat?"

  to read ahead!