Chapter Thirty Two

Jason started Rukil on the level five dungeon to break him in. Though his new partner felt it was an insult to his level, he humored his new host.

As they went through, he didn't need to heal the man for most of the dungeon. He had to stop Rukil from sprinting through the dungeon, slashing everything to pieces in the process. When he made his way to the humanoid area, Jason explained the increase to his agility while he was there.

Since Rukil was mostly an agility based leveler, he didn't benefit much to the exercises, but he did learn to use his blade a little more proficiently. He didn't thank Jason for the advice, but he also didn't criticize him for it. The kid had access to his own dimension of dungeons. Who knew what he had unlocked by defeating them the way he did.

His thought had turned out to be true as he went to the boss of the level five dungeon. Jason told him to dodge, but also to accept blows from the brute. As he did, he could feel the attacks getting lighter overtime. He spent a few hours going at it with the mound of muscle, until his strength stood on par with the monster. The strain in his muscles would disappear as fast as it appeared thanks to Jason's healing ability.

Within five hours, Rukil had gained everything he could within the first dungeon. He looked to Jason who already had his phone out. A moment later he felt his phone vibrate.

'Group teleport to Dungeon Level 6-10'

Accept?'

He gave a toothy grin as he pressed accept. The boss area turned dark, but lit into a freezing cavern. His grin turned to chattering teeth in an instant. His arms had gooseflesh all the way up to his shoulders and down his legs. He had left his suit at the house in order to be rid of the odor, trading the business-like garb for a yellow tank top sporting the logo 'Level Up!" on the front, and a pair of green shorts that looked like they would fit a slim girl, probably because it was Serena that brought him clothes. At that moment, he didn't care what the suit smelled like, it was a hell of a lot warmer than what he had on!

He looked over at Jason who looked perfectly fine while wearing a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. When he noticed Rukil glaring at him, he smiled and waved before going back to his phone.

Rukil observed Jason for a minute, then he mentally slapped himself. He brought his finger up and lit it with a flame. With that, he focused the warmth around his body instead of just his finger. He had seen too many levelers in the Blood Pact using fire to not know the basics at least.

Jason followed him as he went further in the cavern, but did nothing else. Rukil began to feel more of a chill, so he increased the intensity of his flame gradually as he kept going.

Eventually he ran out of mana and ran into the same issue Jason had not that long ago. Rukil went through all the steps without a single hint from his partner. He was grateful for the kid not stepping in to give him hints. If he got help now, he'd be asking for it the whole way.

When he finally got to the door that lead to the elementals, Jason finally started healing him. Rukil's understanding of fire led to his proficiency in frost coming naturally. Though his stats didn't increase as much as Jason's, he still got a significant boost to his wisdom.

Now that he was in a dungeon which trained magic, he began to see the realism in it. When he was in the pact, he would only train agility because it was something that normal people could do. With this dungeon, he began to understand and accept that they weren't normal. No normal person could fling fire or ice.

Jason was impressed by Rukil's speed. Though the man had nothing in the way of mana or mana regeneration, he made up for it by making it difficult for the enemy to hit him while he waited for enough mana to continue. He found it a little counter productive in the end though, it was like he was racing around the dungeon only to slowly kill his opponent.

At level eight, Rukil's agility was nearing sixty five. It might not the the highest, but he had invested all of his extra stat points. He also trained his body while waiting for missions, earning additional stat points the old fashioned way. After looking at Jason's stats, the fact that he was nine points from catching him at level fifty, he understood that he was only gaining the ability to run away faster and decided it was time to increase his others.

When he got to the final boss, he felt the need to increase his intelligence even more. He came to the same conclusion as Jason after a time and turned the entire cavern subzero, then plunging his sword into the beast. When the dungeon was complete and he leveled up, he froze. He knew what had just happened without even checking his phone. He felt the change within himself the same way he did when he turned level eight. He stood there, looking at his hands. He couldn't believe he was able to get to nine, even if he were still on the low levels, he was finally making progress.

"If you're going to stare at your phone, you may as well accept my invite to start it over again."

"Now?"

"Is there a better time?" Jason chuckled as they went back to the beginning.

"This is how you did it then." Rukil shook his head in disbelief. "When do you sleep?"

"When I feel I'm strong enough to." Jason said seriously. He then went back to his phone and purchased a pack of smokes. He threw them to Rukil with a smirk. "Take a smoke break, then we're getting back to it."

Rukil looked at the pack, hardly believing he was back in a position that he could hold one. Not even a day ago, he was in an alleyway trying to get away from a pack of wolves. Now he was in a dungeon of all places. He checked his account and noticed there was a healthy nine thousand dollars waiting for him. With his old position within the guild, he'd be lucky to have a quarter of that within a month.

He flicked a spark from his finger to light his smoke and took a deep drag. "You're really doing this to help me, aren't you?" He couldn't believe his words as they left his mouth. "I can't decide if I think you're the most charitable person in the world, or just stupid."

"You're just the first." Jason stretched in place. All this standing around today had gotten him all stiff. He was used to charging forward with Selena. He now had a newfound respect of the sacrifice she had made by waiting for him. "If I'm going to be around indefinitely, I don't see why I can't make a difference." He stared off into the dungeon. "I want you to lead the way, to help train the next group I'll find. I won't stop until there are no more levelers to take advantage of by the Blood Pact."

"You know some of them actually like being there." His thoughts turned to Kylie. He remembered the shy girl who couldn't even attack a rabbit, then her transformation to his team mate, then the killer. He still remembered her blank face after the first time she did it. Then what she transformed into later.

"Then let them stay, but I'll at least give anyone a chance."

"Rukil exhaled another puff of smoke, his nerves which had been wound tight for weeks started to loosen a bit.

"So, Rukil the trainer?" He rolled his eyes at the thought. "What if I don't want to be the nursery head?"

"I'm going to give you free access to the dungeons, as well as the opportunity to join me and Selena on the upper levels when you're ready." Jason looked him in the eye and smiled. "I would not want you to fall behind, not when you'll be out there in the front lines with me on your off time."

"Free access?"

"Yeah, come back anytime and do some dungeons, you don't even have to wait for me." Jason tapped a few quick buttons on his phone, then Rukil's phone buzzed.

'Dungeon privileges: Unlimited'

"Either the most charitable, or the most clueless." He shook his head as he repeated his earlier assessment.

"You think so, but now I can do this." Jason waved just before he disappeared from the dungeon.

"Alright, that was just a dick move." Rukil sighed as he continued on, back to the elemental doors. If Jason could trust him with unlimited access, he wouldn't let the kid down.