[LitF] 19. Final Stretch (Patreon)

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Arthur's five prehended metal disks were reinforced enough and spun fast enough to cut through anything. He moved them freely around him, easily slicing the fleshy tentacles in the room.

Every room on floor 29 was like that, a complex mess of thick purple tentacles limiting the way anywhere. They moved quickly and in patterns which Arthur could only understand thanks to his 1,000 points of wisdom.

When the Quick Mind trait reached 2-1, he found himself thinking three times as fast as before. Everything felt so very slow, then! It had taken dedicated training not to get angry at his body or the world for not moving as fast as his mind.

He still only had 500 points of perception, so sometimes he only saw blurs. However, he still thought faster than the blurs, guess what they were—in this room, tentacles—and prepare for them. More importantly, he could move his magically prehended objects at equally outstanding speeds.

His disks obliterated the incoming tentacles and the static "forest" of tentacles around him. At the same time, he used some spare focus to throw spheres with exploding spells everywhere.

The bright pink blood released by the tentacles only stayed around for a few moments before the dungeon turned it into mana, but it was so acid that it might kill a delver. Arthur's royal guard equipment was immune to it, including his cape.

Minutes later, he was done.

| Progress to Level 40: +0.07% → 100%

| Level up!

| You're now level 40!

The prince had been at 99.8% progression, but Fate always discarded the surplus on level-ups.

There was no special sensation on leveling up. Yet, Arthur was excited. He had already been in this dungeon for 6 years and would finally reach 100 achievements today!

He willed Fate to add 66 points to his intelligence, bringing it to 1,000.

「 Achievement: Boundless Intelligence IV

Tier: B

Reward: +48 stat points

You reached one thousand points in intelligence!

Knowledge is power; no one believes in that more than you do. You absorb the secrets of the world like a sponge. They'll let you understand and destroy all obstacles on your way to a grander fate. 」

「 Trait: Knowledge is Power

Stat: Intelligence

Grade: 2

Level: 1

You can ascertain the truth of your memories. 」

「 Achievement: Overachiever

Tier: EX

Reward: +384 stat points

You received one hundred achievements!

Fate can be found in all things and help you grow in all ways. By following the breadcrumbs to power, you reach further than any other. The unique sensation of improving and being rewarded every step of the way fills you with a sense of accomplishment you can find nowhere else. Nevertheless, overachiever or not, you never take your sights from the final achievement: a grand fate. 」

His first EX-tier achievement!

Contrary to its description, Arthur usually didn't care about his achievements. They didn't feel earned; it had been all due to him doing as told. Even this one was like that, but being the rarest tier made him excited for once.

Graham had already explained the Knowledge is Power trait to Arthur. It was a very powerful one. He could ask himself whether a particular piece of knowledge in his memories was true. The trait instantly matched and compared that knowledge with everything he knew to determine the answer. Since it depended on his knowledge, it wasn't the absolute truth of the world, but it could let him notice things in his memories that he had never realized before.

There was only one downside. At 2-1—the traits he got from 1,000 stat points already started at grade 2—the trait only analyzed memories he had had for at least 9 months. So, if he knew something newer that went directly against the trait's conclusion, he would need to make a conclusion the old way: by himself. Although 2-2 could reduce it to 8 months, Arthur would never evolve it. His intelligence wouldn't go a single point past 1,000.

Despite the limitation, Knowledge is Power would help him greatly with his spellcasting. For now, he could only work on his fundamental knowledge because he had progressed significantly in the past nine months magic-wise. However, as time passed, he wouldn't learn or understand new things as frequently. In that plateau of knowledge, even things from 9 months ago might still not be fully assimilated or sorted by him.

Arthur tried it now, concentrating on having Fate comb through his memories to tell him why Sophie had thought Tamara had lied to her about her innate vampire abilities.

It didn't work, as he knew it wouldn't. Arthur couldn't use the trait like that. He could only determine whether a hypothesis was true or not. A tiny limitation that didn't make much of a difference, in his opinion, but one he had tested nonetheless.

Before moving on to trying the trait the way it was supposed to be used, the prince decided to change the topic. Sophie hadn't talked about that reason ever since, and Tamara had said it was a sensitive matter for his junior maid. He wouldn't invade her privacy like that.

Instead, he hypothesized that Graham hated the prince for taking his revenge from him.

It only took a single thought and the will to have the trait do the work. One moment, he could only wonder. The next, he was absolutely sure that, no, Graham didn't hate him. Moreover, all the memories used to reach that conclusion came to the top of his mind. They were fresh, and he could quickly see the conclusion made a lot of sense.

It was the weirdest sensation.

Arthur quickly checked more recent memories—not as fast as the trait—and couldn't find any sign that refused that conclusion.

Satisfied with it, the prince used it on a failed spell next, one he had failed to use last year. He wondered if it was because he knew too little about a specific rune.

Yes. Yes, it was.

He vividly recalled learning about that rune, its related concepts, the laws of nature that touched on it, other spells that used it, the spell in question, magic theory, and his spellcasting experiences. It was amazing.

At the very least, it was the most perfect studying tool he had ever seen!

Granted, Arthur had already guessed the reason himself. The trait didn't do anything he couldn't do by himself if he was willing to take the time to analyze his memories. But having that instant confirmation was terrific.

He would keep playing with it when he stopped for the day later.

Now, he had more tentacles to destroy.

= - = - =

Arthur watched the glass vial Graham was offering him. It was filled with thick black liquid.

"Sorry," the prince said skeptically, "I thought you said I should drink it to die."

"You heard it right, milord," Graham replied amusedly. "This potion will kill you and bring you back to life after twelve seconds."

"And I should take it because...?"

"Because you'll reach level 50 after clearing the next room, my prince. That's when Fate assigns a random indirect element to every awakener. However, there's one way to trick Fate. If you're technically dead when you should reach level 50 but then return to life, you receive the life element for sure. Admittedly, life isn't the best element to support metal, but it can boost your survivability. Almost as importantly, foreknowledge of your skill element allowed His Royal Majesty to select the correct elemental skills for you."

If a skill was supposed to use an element and the awakener was level 50, it adapted to their indirect element—whichever it was—to become an elemental skill. Otherwise, it was just another skill.

The prince still stared unsure at the vial. Dying, even for less than a minute, felt terrifying. He glanced at Tamara, who was talking to Sophie a few dozen yards away.

"We already have a biomancer, and the second element only works on skills. Isn't that overkill?"

"No, Prince Boria," Graham insisted. "Charlotte was the one who insisted on it the most. Your Head Maid can't fight with you. With life skills, your injuries won't be as dire, and you'll be able to take greater risks.

"I mean it. After you get them, there will be no more training in close-range combat to prepare for the event where an enemy bypasses your long-rage magic. After you reach level 50, you'll do only two things every day until we leave: learn from Head Maid Lauquenbur and me a few hours per day, then go kill monsters to level up. You're entering the final stretch of your stay here."

The final stretch. It had already been 7 years. Only three remained, and he was only level 49, almost 50. He had started killing monsters 5 years ago.

Everything pointed at it being impossible for him to reach the last floor. He had already gotten used to the idea and accepted it.

And yet...

Arthur felt hypnotized by the black liquid that would bring hope through death, his misgivings erased by Graham's promises.

He picked the vial up.

"What do I do?" he asked.

"Drink it as soon as you kill the last monster, Your Highness. Just make sure they are truly the last to avoid unnecessary danger."

"Anything else?"

The grand knight shook his head. "No, sire."

Arthur nodded, double-checked his equipment, and attacked the thousands of wyverns in the air.

= - = - =

The wyvern on the ground had had both wings cut off. The hideous bat-faced monster still tried to run to Arthur and bite him to death. The prince blocked it with a non-rotating metal place and kept checking his surroundings.

He saw no new foe even after five full rounds around the cave chamber. He even kept trying to check the level of every single object in sight. Things were as safe as they would get.

At long last, he took the vial from his cape, uncorked it, and turned to the wyvern. Two of his prehended swords pierced the monster and exploded inside it. It still didn't die. Three swords later, it stopped moving.

Arthur waited for it to start turning into mana and drank the black liquid in one goal.

It was thick, viscous, and had a foul taste. It strangely flowed fast from the vial and into his throat, and then...

...nothing.

When Arthur came back to himself, he was lying on the ground, feeling cold like never before. Fate immediately send him some notifications.

| Progress to Level 50: +0.03% → 100%

| Level up!

| You're now level 50!

| Congratulations! You randomly received a new element: Life

| This new element can only be used on a limited set of spells

And that was it.

It felt absurdly underwhelming. He had died for that?! He didn't even get a window, only a notification? No achievement, either.

"Did you get it, sire?" Graham asked as he approached.

"Yeah," Arthur replied.

"Good. Here are your new skills, milord," he said while taking the storage safe from his cape.

The prince stood up, took a deep sigh, and waited without much emotion.

Then, Graham took out a dark armor from the storage safe instead of the skill crystal drawer.

"Almost forgot, my prince," he said with an obviously amused voice. "Level 50 means you can wear grand knight armor. You'll soon realize you need the advantages only a sorcerer's robe can give you, but you wouldn't believe me if you didn't try it for yourself."

The prince couldn't recall ever feeling so happy in his entire life. He had never heard of the advantages of a sorcerer's robe and didn't care. He only stared with awe at the black armor that would soon be his.

Today was the best day ever!

= - = - =

Three days later, Arthur started removing the black armor.

"This thing sucks," he resumed his experience.

A grand knight armor's defense was the best the Golden Kingdom could offer. However, it came at the cost of weighing way too much.

He couldn't even move the metal with his magic because it was enchanted. Just like metal with a spell, he could connect his intent string to it, but unless he removed the enchantment, he couldn't magically prehend it.

He looked at the first-class sorcerer's robe that Graham had put on a training dummy that he kept bringing with him as they traveled further into the dungeon.

A first-class sorcerer's robe protected the wearer considerably less than a grand knights armor but also considerably more than a royal guard's. It accomplished that while weighing almost nothing. It was also enchanted to let him not feel the cloth. It would make his Extra-Sensory Awareness skill work slightly better.

The complete set also had gloves, socks, and a head cover made of the same enchanted fabric. The head cover made any sorcerer look like a class B villain, but the set also had a silvery black helmet on top. It was made to look cool and fit the black and golden robe rather than for protection, but Arthur would definitely use it.

As for his House's crest, there was none. In the past, he had naively believed such crests to be visible only to mages. However, sorcerers were even more of a strategic asset in battle than knights. Letting an enemy identify a mage from afar would be very stupid.

Theoretically, knights should also not do such a thing, but tradition won in their case. That was one reason that made knights believe they were much braver than sorcerers. Opposingly, sorcerers believed they were brighter for not taking pointless risks out of bravado.

Arthur wordlessly used his metal disks for privacy and changed quickly.

Graham blessedly said nothing when he saw the prince in a mage's garb. It was twice as good because not feeling the clothes he was wearing felt incredibly weird, and he didn't want to talk to anyone while feeling like he was naked.

The prince wordlessly went to the next room and started killing.

= - = - =

Graham placed his unprotected left hand on the table—he had just taken the gauntlet off—took a dagger from his back and chopped his hand off in a single motion.

Blood flowed freely.

Arthur hated it, but he still did as he was supposed to: he grabbed the hand, reconnected the limbs, and used the only elemental skill he had learned that wasn't about himself: Life Share.

As soon as he activated it, Fate created the spell on his palm, and the grand knight started healing much faster.

「 Skill: Life Share

Tier: A

Type: Weighted

Category: Body

Cost: 5 points per second

Improves the target's healing speed. 」

Arthur couldn't feel Fate's mana at work, but he could see it. Green energy was produced by the spell somehow, entered Graham's body, and quickly healed skin, flesh, bones, and tendons. About two minutes and over five hundred of Arthur's body points later—it was a weighted skill—the man's wrist was as good as new, except for the bone, which would need some days to regain strength.

「 Achievement: Healer

Tier: D

Reward: +12 stat points

You healed someone else one hundred times!

The war against monsters isn't fought only by battle-hardened veterans. Those are the spearheads that protect the world, but they also need support and skilled blacksmiths to repair them when they inevitable crack. You're such an artisan of the body, supporting those who need your help to keep going. Your path to a grander fate will be walked with those you helped along the way. 」

"I got the achievement," the prince informed.

"Good, milord," Graham replied as he stored his dagger away.

That didn't mean this was over. There were two other achievements related to healing others, for doing it 1,000 and 10,000 times, respectively. However, the same person only counted once per day—in this dungeon, every 44 minutes.

The prince would rather not keep at it but had relented when Graham shared crucial information with him.

"I was ordered to put myself in danger in real battle if you refuse to reattach my hand, Your Highness. I won't kill myself and leave you without my support, but His Royal Majesty was clear in saying I should let you see me suffer at least one hundred times and do nothing before you were allowed not to get these achievements."

And so, the blackmailed Arthur found himself healing cut-off hands.

That was the first day he found himself genuinely resenting his father.

= - = - =

Arthur started killing level 50 lightning elementals when he was at level 53.

His efflux reached 2,000 points exactly at that level. It pushed his Mana Reach trait to 2-2, and together with his Improved Mana Reach skill, his intent string could now go as far as 273 yards from him. He didn't need to use any spell at all within that range, and his Multicaster trait, also at 2-2, allowed him to use 4 intent strings at once with the same ease as if he were using 1. The trait seemed to multiply his mind rather than split it. It was incredible, though pushing any string to its limits also felt 4 timers worse. With his high mind stats, traits, and skills, he could do a lot with those 4 intent strings.

The lightning elementals would know.

At first, the prince had thought metal wasn't the best element to fight lightning with, but he had been wrong. He could easily deflect incoming attacks with prehended disks, spheres, or swords. Attacking was also no issue; the elementals were living beings, not real lightning bolts. They could be cut down all the same, and their bodies were quite fragile at that. They focused on dodging rather than defending, but while they were very fast, they were not as fast as actual lightning.

So, Arthur's thirty fast-spinning and sharp disks created a "close-range" murder area of almost 300 yards, and his spheres and swords flew further than that as he kept using spells.

Fragile or not, the elementals didn't take much damage from shrapnel. Therefore, instead of exploding his spheres, Arthur used spells to boomerang hundreds of them throughout the cave, getting in the way of almost all the lightning bolts coming his way. The spell was complex but useful. He set a direction and range, and the metal sphere would keep going and coming for as far as it had any mana.

Lightning bolts damaged the spheres and melted some of them, but they never stopped moving.

One of the greatest strengths of spellcasting was being absolute. While the targeted object was still recognized by the spell and there was mana to fuel it, it would keep working. The only way to stop it was by restricting or destroying the object or dispelling the spell.

Arthur had to say it: he was impressed with his power.

Graham was level 68 but had gotten tired while killing thousands upon thousands of lightning elementals. Arthur, at level 53, felt like it was almost easy. Just another day in the dungeon, really. Maybe this specific monster was good against the knight's skillset, and it certainly was weak against Arthur's, but it still showcased the prince's power.

His foundation was rock solid, his build was perfectly planned, and his magic understanding had finally reached a tipping point. He was mighty. And he could only keep growing stronger.

Part of it was also his new skills. As Graham had said, the life element skills made the prince much safer. They became another protective layer that was exactly what he needed to advance fast.

The prince felt a lightning elemental go past his prehended spheres and metal disks and activated the Lifesteal skill.

「 Skill: Lifesteal

Tier: A

Type: Active

Category: Body

Duration: 6 minutes

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Temporarily steals your enemy's vitality stats. 」

Without a level 50 skill element, that skill was called Vitality Removal and only lowered the enemy's vitality; it didn't give any to the caster. Either version was lethal to enemies with low vitality, though.

As soon as Arthur activated it, Fate formed a spell on the elemental's body. It couldn't dodge, though supposedly, ridiculously fast monsters could.

Despite the skill's name and description, the spell on the elemental only lowered its vitality. Another spell formed on Arthur. That one produced green mana that gave him a vitality boost.

That Fate's spells could create life mana had many implications but none that he could take advantage of.

| Lifesteal: Vitality +312 → 1,312

| Duration: 5 minutes, 59 seconds

The blow was too strong; the elemental outright died, dissipating into nothingness.

The duration notification remained in Arthur's vision and ticked down every second. After it was over, Arthur would need to way 5 minutes to use it again.

The prince kept fighting, and another lightning elemental surpassed his defenses to approach.

He activated his Life Repeal.

「 Skill: Life Stop

Tier: A

Type: Active

Category: Mind

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Forces a living being to stop moving. 」

As before, Fate instantly created a spell on top of his target. Its momentum was completely removed, and it froze in place for an instant.

And then it died.

Biological beings targeted by that skill would fully stop for an instant, giving Arthur a chance to do something while they reassessed things and moved again. However, the lightning rays these elementals were made of had to keep on a perpetual movement to keep existing. The moment they couldn't, they dissipated.

Life Stop's base version, Targeted Stop, could be used on anything, even objects. However, its range was much, much worse than the specialized version.

As a mage, Arthur's greatest issue was strong enemies close to him, not attacks. He should theoretically be capable of avoiding projectiles and weapons with his other skills. Strong warriors were harder to deal with, though, especially the fast ones. More importantly, since this was a skill, the enemy's power or level didn't matter; whoever they were, they would stop. Holding them in place for a single instant was a fatesend.

The final spell, which Arthur hopefully wouldn't use in this fight, was meant to be used if he found himself overwhelmed despite his every other advantage.

「 Skill: Lifelock

Tier: A

Type: Weighted

Category: Body

Cost: 5 points per second

Decreases incoming damage and improves healing speed. 」

It temporarily sacrificed his body stats to make attacks injure him less—much less than the strength points the weighted skill temporarily consumed. Without the life element, it was called "Bodylock" and only lowered the incoming damage; it didn't improve one's healing speed.

Together with Lifesteal, it gave him a lot of extra survivability. Those were the main reason Graham didn't require Arthur to train in close combat. What he had already trained was enough, and these skills would give him an extra breather to use them or get out of a bad situation.

The prince kept fighting, using the skills whenever he had the chance to get used to them.

The lightning elementals died at a fast pace.

= - = - =

Almost eight years into the dungeon, sixteen-year-old Arthur received an unfortunate window.

「 Fate's End

You have used all the potential given to you by your awakening stone.

You can no longer level up or gain achievements.

Use an extension stone to receive additional time. 」

He had already been expecting that. Graham had mentioned it months ago, reminding the prince to tell the knight about the message as soon as possible. He shouldn't waste energy killing monsters that wouldn't gain him any progression.

Arthur agreed and immediately sought the man. The knight unceremoniously took a small black cloth bag from the storage safe, opened it, and turned it upside down on a table, revealing its contents: ten extension stones.

The awakening stone that the prince had used had been a fist-sized, two-thumb-thick milky white stone tablet. The extension stone was of the same size but black.

"Pick one, sire," Graham said.

Arthur complied and received a new message as soon as he touched it.

「 Extension Stone

Do you want 5 extra years to pursue a grander fate? 」

The prince mentally confirmed it. The stone faded into white mana and disappeared. He felt nothing different in his body, just as the Fate's End message also hadn't physically changed anything.

At least an achievement confirmed it had worked.

「 Achievement: Extender

Tier: D

Reward: +12 stat points

You used an extension stone for the first time!

Time itself shall not stop you from attaining a grander fate. 」

Even the description felt somewhat lackluster, as if Fate didn't care for those who couldn't reach the so-called grander fate in time.

Arthur sighed, shook his head, and went back to killing monsters.

= - = - =

Eight and a half years into the dungeon, fifty level 92 earth golems, ten level 93 rock golems, and a level 94 steel golem died on floor 94's boss room.

The shorter of the bunch was thirty feet tall. The highest, the boss, was almost one hundred. Their fall shook the entire room.

| Progression to Level 87: +0.05% → 55.571%

After level 50, monsters only gave up half the progression as before. Supposedly, that was meant to encourage stronger people to keep killing monsters for the world's safety. So, even with Arthur's increased power and leveling up speed, he still had a way to reach his goal.

Right now, he stood in the middle of the boss room, surrounded by fifty spinning disks and almost a thousand metal spheres. He was holding his longsword in case an invisible enemy got close to him, but he hadn't used it in forever.

The boss dead, Fate's light suddenly came from the ceiling, and a chest made of white wood, silver, and gold, filled with intricate drawings, materialized before Arthur. It was big, coming higher than his waist. The stronger the boss, the better the chest and its rewards.

Indeed, the prince opened the chest to find three skill crystals—the upper limit—five mythril coins—a small fortune—and a red and orange sword with deep yellow and orange runes on the blade.

He grabbed everything, and the chest disappeared.

Arthur gave the crystals and coins to Graham, who was entering the room with the maids. Then, he held the sword by the hilt and pushed some mana into it.

The blade came to life with angry white flames, which would continue as long as he kept feeding it some mana. The enchantment ensured the fire couldn't hurt Arthur or anyone one yard around him. It also didn't damage the sword itself. However, a floating metal sphere three yards away started quickly melting from the sheer heat the blade produced.

The issue was that he couldn't magically prehend any piece of metal already affected by magic, so even cheap metal, which he could greatly enhance, was more lethal and valuable in his hands.

"I guess it can be a last-resort reserve weapon," Arthur commented as he stopped feeding it mana, and the flames disappeared. "If I ever find myself in a situation where I can't use magic, the enemy is close, and I have the mana to spare, then I can try to burn them to death. Oh, and as long as there's no one I must protect nearby."

"Indeed, sire," Graham agreed. "A most wonderful reward. I have rarely seen such a powerful fire enchantment." He extended his hand sideways and pulled a golden scabbard and a metal-reinforced leather belt from his spatial storage.

Arthur accepted it, sheathed the sword, and let it rest beside the longsword already there. It looked slightly weird, maybe extra so considering his sorcerer's robe, but safety came first.

Graham had imparted that lesson well.

"I must say, milord, I still can't get used to seeing you fight so above your own level."

Even though monsters were considerably weaker than awakeners of the same level, Graham had said that was only true up to level 60 or so. From then on, almost all monsters could also control an extra element, and unlike awakeners, they could use it to cast spells and directly strengthen their bodies in versatile ways that skills couldn't. They were also always intelligent enough to use their elements effectively, unlike the pathetic low-level goblins on the first floor. Stat points started mattering much more when every single advantage might be the difference between victory and defeat. Thus, level gaps became insurmountable for most.

Arthur was half-convinced that it was a lie. After all, Charlotte's planned build, all his achievements, equipment, S- and A-tier skills, and magic education couldn't be that good, could they? Graham had said the Golden King had invested a lot in Arthur, but if a lot of investment was all it took to produce a stronger warrior supposedly so above average, every nation would have theirs.

Unless it was prohibitively expensive, to the point that the entire country would go bankrupt. However, only a stupid king would do that, especially to a nation at war. His father wasn't stupid, so Arthur was sure that wasn't the case.

Despite the lie, the prince still didn't vocalize his doubts. The grand knight had found himself on the spectator seat years ago, and it hadn't been easy on the old man at first. Arthur couldn't say that killing monsters 10 levels above his was merely incredibly challenging instead of almost impossible. It would be a slap to Graham's face.

So, the prince nodded, said, "It's all thanks to Charlotte, Tamara, and you," and stepped forward.

Towards the dungeon's 95th floor—the last one.

= - = - =

The last floor's first room was absolutely enormous. Entire cities could fit in there, and the ceiling was so high as to have mists that passed as clouds.

It had to be that big, or it wouldn't fit the twenty level 50 dragons in there.

They were magnificent creatures of pure grace and violence. Each one had scales of a single color, but they came in all colors, blue, white, black, golden, silvery, green, red, and so on. Each wielded two elements—Arthur could see their mana—life and another. The mana was tightly packed, with more energy per cubic inch than he had ever seen anywhere. Huge, long, and promising doom, the overgrown lizards flew freely in the skies or rested lazily on the ground.

Dungeons always followed a clear pattern. They started with few monsters due to Fate's interference near the entrance, then threw countless monsters as invaders, trying to kill them with numbers of the weakest monster possible to save mana. However, after some time, they reached a tipping point and had to count on quality over quantity.

Thus, Arthur had killed only sixty-one enemies in floor 94's boss room and felt ready for whatever was ahead.

He knew at a single glance that he had been wrong.

The stairway between floors was narrow, but two people could stand side by side just before entering the lower room. He immediately stepped back and let his people look at the wonders before them.

"Wow," Sophie said with morbid fascination.

The dragons didn't just look powerful but also released a kind of natural pressure that was impossible to describe. It wasn't an innate ability or spell; Arthur could tell because he saw no extra mana trying to affect him. It came from the sense of wonder from seeing the peak predators that had invaded their world.

There were no records of anyone having ever killed a dragon—and now, he had to face twenty.

Arthur didn't say anything. He didn't need to. He had been thoroughly humbled, his previous hubris dead and buried, and anyone would know it at once.

He immediately recalled Graham's words in one of their first lessons: "There's always a stronger monster somewhere."

The prince silently returned to the previous floor.

He had a lot of progression grinding to do.

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