Level 1

Kai nearly lost his grip, nearly falling to the distant ground below as the titan lifted its leg.

The cold wind assaulted Kai, attacking his fingers, his eyes, his ears, any part of his body that would be sensitive.

Petunia and Cecilia both were in a much better situation as Cecilia was able to wrap her arms fully around the section of the leg they were at, she also had the young girl pressed against it so she didn't fall off.

Meanwhile, Kai was struggling. He felt the tips of his fingers slowly losing their grip, the wind trying to pull him away from the obsidian pillar he was climbing.

It wasn't looking good, especially since each leg movement took minutes to complete, and he was still only in the ascent phase, it would get even worse when the leg started moving downwards.

Kai closed his eyes, trying to only focus on his hands and feet. He sent even more Mana into them, boosting them a little more and making them tingle a little more in return.

But he didn't care. As long as he stayed clinging onto the leg of the titan then he would be happy.

He could faintly make out the sounds of Cecilia panicking above him. They were quiet, mostly because Kai was blocking out all external sources of noise.

But Kai held strong, he would not be letting go any time soon. A bit of wind? Pfft, he'd handled worse. An assault of snow? So what, he had-

Suddenly, a single one of his fingers lots its grip.

And that was all that was needed for him to lose his grip completetly.

Kai opened his eyes, looking up as he slowly began falling backwards.

And he really was slowly falling.

In fact, it was like all time had slowed.

Was his life... about to flash before his eyes?

Kai did not hold back from cursing this time, Petunia probably wouldn't have heard him anyway.

Seriously? He had fought a Demon that was blessed by a God, he had killed a Sword Saint that was like five times his level, he had done so much shit and endured so much harrowing pain just to get here, and yet...

He was about to die from falling off the leg of a titan that he decided to climb because it would get them to the base of a mountain quicker.

Is this what people meant when they said that greed got you killed? Kai didn't think he was greedy. He was petty, sure, but who wasn't?

Probably a lot of people, but Kai didn't care for the exact numbers.

Looking up, Kai saw Cecilia panicking. She had her hand extended towards him, trying to reach him, but she was much too far for that to be a possibility.

But Kai saw something strange. Something light blue started to extend from her hand, desparately racing down towards him.

What was it? He couldn't make it out, all he knew was there was no way it would reach him in time.

But then a Ruby blade appeared beside the thread, wrapping it around itself before diving downwards.

Esurient moved with incredible finesse, like they had been flying for millions of years and hadn't unlocked the ability only recently.

It was like the were in their natural habitat. Screw being a sword made for being in sword sights, Esurient should have been a bird!

Kai reached upwards just as his feet began to slowly peel away from the obsidian limb.

Esurient reached Kai's wrist, twirling itself around it before disconnecting it from the strange blue thread.

Suddenly, Kai's descent came to a small halt. He heard a small yelp come from above him, but he chose to ignore it as he had to endure the pain of his face being smacked into the obsidian leg of the titan as the blue thread held strong.

The next moment, he felt the tip of something be pressed against his back, holding him against the leg of the titan.

Time seemed to return to normal. Kai's breathing was laboured, his wrist, and entire body were stinging. He was being pinned to the leg by Esurient.

It took him a few seconds to regain his grip on some outcrops of the black material, but once he had done so he relaxed a little.

The tips of his fingers stung horribly, his lungs burned from a mixture of the cold, him struggling to breathe and the backlash of Mana Surge.

Minutes passed excruciatingly slow. Kai thought they would be ascending forever, but finally, he felt the leg slowly start to descended.

Nearly getting knocked off the leg by the sudden shift in movement, Esurient pressed itself even further into the back of Kai's armour, keeping him pinned as tightly as possible while the strange thread around his wrist was still being pulled tautly from above.

Kai's entire body was in agony, pure pain running through his veins instead of the boost from Mana Surge. He felt his fingernails cracking, blood dripping down their tips, his grip loosening once more.

But finally, the ground trembled as the fifth leg of the gargantuan horror finished its movement.

Kai let out a small sigh of relief before he began slowly climbing the leg of the titan.

Combined with the help of the strange blue thread and Esurient, Kai was able to climb it a little quicker, but he was still slower than Cecilia and Petunia.

Kai was overwhelmed by relief when his hand finally reached the ledge. He felt a soft pair of gloves grip onto his arm, desparately trying to pull him up.

And finally, roughly fifteen minutes after that whole ordeal began...

Kai climbed onto the ledge.

Panting and coughing up some blood, Kai instantly deactivated Mana Surge and felt his body burn in pain.

Luckily, the pain didn't actually get worse when he deactivated the skill, it was that the longer he had it active, the more then pain would increase.

So the horrid burning feeling he was currently being subjected to was the worst the pain would get, for now.

Kai spat some blood over the ledge, not wanting to dirty the ledge they would be spending the next while.

He was happy that he only drank four potions earlier and saved the last one just in case, otherwise he would have hated himself. He accepted a beautiful red potion from Cecilia and instantly downed it.

Sighing, Kai wiped his chin clean of the little bit of red that had trickled down before leaning back against the leg of the beast, letting his legs dangle over the edge.

"Ah... that went well."

Cecilia lightly smacked Kai's armour, making his eyes widen slightly.

"You... you... you idiot! What were you thinking making us climb this thing! Especially when you're in your condition. You are lucky that you didn't die!"

Kai flinched slightly, looking away as he felt a little shameful.

Sure it was a risky choice on his part, but it worked out. They were going to reach the base of the Royal Peak much, much quicker now.

Kai sighed softly, lightly holding onto Cecilia's hand to calm her, some of the blood on his fingertips clinging to her gloves.

"Sorry... From now on, I'll let you know of my plans more than a minute in advance."

Luckily, Cecilia calmed down a little, but Kai suspected that it was because she was too busy blushing because he was holding her hand.

Kai wasn't going to call her out on that though, just in case it upset her again.

But he still wanted to ask something...

"What was that blue thread?"

Cecilia's hand shifted slightly in his, but she did not pull away.

"It's my only skill... Mana threads. They're kind of useful, only they are kind of weak because I do not possess much Mana."

Kai nodded. That made sense, especially since Cecilia was only level...

Kai opened his eyes. Now that he thought about it, he didn't actually know what level Cecilia was.

Curiously, he turned his head to look at Cecilia and asked:

"What level are you?"

Cecilia stared at him blankly before answering.

"Level one, I thought you knew?"

Kai blinked.

Level... one?

Kai had assumed that she was level seven or something, maybe a little lower, but not level one.

Hell, Cecilia didn't even have a class, and her only skill was threads of Mana.

Kai sighed softly.

"Okay then... And what about you, Petunia?"

Kai expected her to give the same answer, but-

"Twenty-two."

Kai's eyes widened.

"...What?"

Petunia repeated herself.

"I am level twenty-two, that's what it says."

Kai blinked.

The young, innocent looking, slightly annoying child he knew was actually level twenty-two?

Kai shivered slightly as he wondered what she could have possibly killed in the tutorial to gain those levels.

... Or how she had killed them.

But that wasn't a pressing matter, and Kai would prefer to just relax now that they had reached the ledge.

So with a sigh, Kai gazed out at the Royal Peak, the mountain slowly growing larger and larger as they got closer to it.