Every part of Matt’s body was screaming. His head was throbbing, muscles aching all over. His body was sore and seemingly out of commission, refusing to listen to him, content with being a vegetable. It was all a blur. The vague memory of his soul suffocating under the pressure exuded by the flood of mana to the point of almost breaking. The pain, which had felt like all his nerves were on fire. And the mana orb, the last thing he saw before everything went black.

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  He didn’t know how long it had been, the sun was still illuminating the dungeon, so it couldn’t have been long, perhaps only a few hours. How fucked up was I if this is the state of my body after hours of rest, he thought as he clenched his fists tighter. The Scepter of Life was still in his hand, meaning it had also been helping with his recovery, although not by that much if his current predicament was any indication.

  Normally, he’d be more concerned, but judging by how quickly the cut on his forearm from his fight with the Desert Vulture had healed, his body’s natural regeneration must be on a whole new level compared to what it used to be, add in the passive regeneration from the scepter, and hopefully he’ll be able to move again one day. He couldn’t even dive back into his soul, which would’ve been alarming if he weren’t too beat up to worry about it. Right now, the only alarming thing on his mind was how to answer nature’s call. She wasn’t calling yet, but it was only a matter of time, and that was a call he was definitely dreading.

  He remembered the last time he had been in a similar position. It was the winter of last year. They were at a bar playing pool, him, Izzy and Jackson. He and Jackson had gone up to the bartender to pick up some drinks while Izzy finished her turn. It hadn’t taken more than a couple of minutes for five fairly large sized guys to surround Izzy, as she told them in no uncertain terms to fuck off, because ‘no’ wasn’t doing the job.

  Jackson tried to defuse the situation, letting them know that she was with friends, and obviously not the least bit interested, but Matt wasn’t in a very diplomatic mood. They had her surrounded in an instant, Matt and Jackson had barely left before those five made their move, which meant they definitely knew she was with friends and didn’t care, which also meant that they came here with questionable intentions, so in his book, they were asking for it. Why else would they go as five? If someone had been interested, he could’ve approached her alone, but this was something else.

  Now Matt would never claim to be a good fighter, but he had learned a long time ago to never back out of a fight, whether it’s a battle of wits or a battle of fists, especially against bullies where you weren’t even the aggressor. Bullies needed to be taught that bullying wasn’t okay. So, with that in mind, he approached the largest of the five and told him very politely to listen to the lady and fuck off before he ends up needing a colonoscopy to remove the cue stick he was gonna have up his ass. Apparently, that guy didn’t like ‘polite Matt’ all that much and took a swing at him.

  A swing, which led to two very important things learned that night.

  One, Jackson was very good in a brawl.

  The reason why that surprised Matt was that Jackson was from Sweden. Now, he had never been to the country himself, but what he knew, or thought he knew, about the Scandinavian country was that it was very civilized, its people polite, and violence wasn’t very common among the populace, old or young. So when Jackson came along claiming to have been in countless fights when he was growing up, Matt couldn’t help but imagine a very different kind of fight. Perhaps the word was just lost in translation, especially when adding his very kind and diplomatic nature, along with the calm smile that was always on his face.

  Yes, he was a large man, but even Matt never would've guessed that his friend would be able to handle two guys his own size like they were nothing. It was an incredible and frightening sight at the same time since now he’d have to be more careful when trying to get a rise out of his clearly-has-Viking-blood-in-his-veins friend.

  The second and most important thing he had learned that night was to NEVER EVER piss off Izzy. Like ever. If she asks for something, it’s hers. If she says something, it’s fact, no arguments from him or even daring to correct her, and if she starts getting mad, just play dead and pray for it to pass.

  He knew she could fight, she had kicked his and Jackson’s asses on more than one occasion, even in a two on one, which held even more weight now that he’d actually seen the big guy fight. They had nothing on her, she was way too agile and incredibly good at countering hits. But that night, she was really pissed. The kind of pissed where you weren’t angry anymore, just stoic, emotionless, and ready to take heads.

  She held absolutely nothing back, dropping two guys in mere seconds and dislocating their shoulders like they were made of paper, before giving each of them a nice kick to the face for good measure. They were being punished, that much was obvious.

  Matt, on the other hand, just had to deal with the one guy, the guy he had pissed off. To his credit, he was holding his own pretty well, giving more than he was getting, and was very much enjoying himself, surprisingly so, until the unexpected happened. One of their friends had apparently been late to the party, and the first thing he did once he set foot in the bar was grab a cue stick and break it on the back of Matt’s head, knocking him out cold.

  He woke up in the hospital later that day with a concussion and an aching body, not too dissimilar to his current state, with Izzy and Jackson next to him, completely fine.

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  Izzy told him Jackson had handled the larger guy while she took care of the guy who had knocked him out. He was incredibly relieved that they both were unharmed. He was the one who started the fight, and he didn’t know what he would’ve done if anything had happened to either of them.

  Jackson, however, who was a little too silent during Izzy’s explanation, filled him in on some details that Izzy had chosen to omit as soon as she had left to take a phone call.

  Apparently when she saw him get knocked out, she stiffened, and her face turned pale. A second later, her eyes turned deathly cold as she walked up to the guy who was still holding the broken off cue stick in his hand and proceeded with methodically dismantling him in a fight, making it a point to show him how utterly helpless he was, before leaving him on the floor, a sobbing mess with two broken arms. Matt and Jackson shivered at the image, swearing to never piss her off for as long as they lived. A promise they had kept for exactly five minutes.

  She came back a few minutes later, all smiles and in a good mood, seemingly being her happy, cheerful self once more. Apparently the other people involved in the fight had sued them, but when Izzy’s family lawyer contacted them, and very eloquently told a story about how six guys were harassing a girl, and when her friends tried to intervene, they sent one of them to the ER, concussed, then cried wolf when the poor girl defended herself, and how such a story would play in front of a jury and on news. He also mentioned the countersuit they were preparing for harassment, assault and destruction of property.

  Needless to say, the six morons immediately backpedaled, and the lawsuit was dropped. Matt and Jackson had lost it at the ‘poor girl’ comment, laughing so hard Matt had almost fell off of his bed, but when Izzy glared at them, clearly not appreciating how hilarious that had been, Matt pretended to be in pain, and Jackson just got up, walked to the door, and bolted, not sparing him a glance.

  Matt chuckled at the memory, the movement sending jolts of pain across his battered body.

  He hoped this would be a funny story to tell them. One about how NOT to unlock your mana. He was looking forward to Izzy’s lecture about him being a reckless idiot, with Jackson just snickering to the side. Smiling, he closed his eyes, hoping a few more hours of sleep would do the trick.

  Matt sat up a while later, startled, as he remembered where he was and what had happened. He took a quick look at himself to assess his state. It seemed that his clothes were soaked in blood, with dried blood covering most of his body. It was a gruesome scene, but surprisingly, he felt good, better than good, he felt incredible. His body felt light as a feather and his head so clear to the point of enlightenment.

  “Woah,” he exclaimed, quickly opening his notifications.

  Major feat of power performed

  Title unlocked!

  Unrivaled Genius

  Fully unlock your mana core at Tier 10.

  +5 all stats

  +15% all stats

  “Double woah,” Matt exclaimed again, eyes going as wide as saucers. “Well, I guess that confirms it. That was definitely not the right way to do it. I did however succeed, and I got a shiny new title out of it, so maybe my way is the right way. Good job me,” he nodded, giving himself a sarcastic pat on the back.

  Standing up, he gave himself a once-over, scanning his body for any injuries. He tried casting the minor heal spell from his scepter, a green light enveloped him, but, surprisingly, he was in perfect shape, aside from the dried blood covering him.

  How long have I been out for? That was some amazing sleep, he asked himself as he was checking the bloodied rags that used to be his clothes, but as soon as he had mentioned the time, a digital clock appeared in his vision.

  May 30th, 2025

  18:43

  “Neat,” Matt nodded approvingly, moving it to the top left of his vision, next to the status icon. “Now I just need to adjust it, coz I definitely didn’t sleep for a whole week,” Matt chuckled slightly as he tried different commands to adjust the definitely wrong clock, but nothing was happening.

  May 30th, 2025

  18:44

  His eyes widened in horror as realization dawned on him. “I’ve been unconscious for a whole fucking week? What the fuck did I do?” he exclaimed, shocked and alarmed at what could’ve possibly happened.

  He sat back down as he attempted to enter his soul to see what was different.

  Okay, that’s definitely different…

  His soul, which used to be a simple, dull silhouette, was now covered in light blue lines originating from the chest area and spanning his entire body. Going to his head, his brain, his hands and feet, and every possible area they could reach. It made it shine so brightly as if it had been awoken from a long slumber. It was a brilliant sight to behold.

  He dove deeper in and his eyes fell on the culprit. The orb that had been boxed in, which was apparently his mana heart, or mana core, shining with a blinding blue, like the sun at noon. It was breathtaking. Also, the connection between his body and soul was a lot stronger now. Before, it had felt like they were connected together via a single thread. Now it was as if there were tubes connecting them at dozens of different points. It was even much easier to dive in and out of his soul. He was hopeful that that was a good sign.

  Exactly what had happened was still a mystery to him. Passing out for a week didn’t feel exactly ‘normal’, but he hoped he was now better for it. He did feel refreshed, he now had mana, and the only drawback was the state of his clothes. So all in all, it was a hard earned victory, yet still a victory.

  He sighed as he got up, checking himself once more. “New clothes just became a top priority,” he muttered.

  His stomach rumbled at that, reminding him that he hadn’t had any food or water for an entire week. Nature was also definitely calling on the urgent line. He turned around and started looking for a place to do his business, he couldn’t ignore nature’s call after all, and that’s when he finally saw it. A crater. Almost 50 feet across.

  “Well, that definitely wasn’t there before.”

  Okay, so there was now a 50 foot wide crater at the dungeon’s entrance, it didn’t mean he was to blame. Maybe it’s a naturally occurring crater. Sounds plausible enough, Matt lied to himself as he walked around the crater, munching on some chips, choosing to completely ignore the elephant in the dungeon. Because right now, it was time to dungeon dive.