“Why did you leave them there?” Ivaldie asked, watching me wrestle yet another giant sired bone.

  “B-because-” I groaned and pounded the centipede into the ground. “We don’t need to babysit them.” With a gesture, chains wrapped around the geist, restraining it.

  “They were badly injured.”

  “I gave them healing. Olz can figure everything else out.” I put my hand on the sired bone and commanded the trait to break the geist down.

  “Yes~” The exotic intention soared within me. This sort of hunger could only be produced by a non-human.

  “We should’ve helped them heal.”

  The metaphysical barriers disintegrated in the geist’s flesh, and it became but a gem glinting on the ground.

  “You don’t get it, do you?”

  Ivaldie tilted her head and took a step towards me.

  “It’s about resentment. Can you imagine getting beaten and schooled by someone younger than you? Someone who didn’t even take you seriously?”

  She opened her mouth, but I interrupted. “Of course, you can’t. But what I’m trying to do is give them motivation to grow stronger, learn smarter.” I put the core in the bag. “That’s what Siege intended to make of me in this school. I don’t mind playing along with his game.” Not that my reputation could get better. I was sure Siege wouldn’t mind doing me some favors.

  “Do they have to be stronger?”

  “What?”

  She remained silent.

  I sighed. “I guess they don’t have to be, but clearly if they are in this dungeon, they want to get stronger.”

  “Your method could make them quit, cripple their path.” I couldn’t discern whether she was concerned or simply stating an observation.

  “Ivaldie, do you know how society functions?”

  I looked at the bone mountain. I could see starpower pulsing around it. The flesh growths wriggled in rhythm.

  She shook her head.

  “Society was created to ensure that people survive and thrive. Here, this means getting resources and converting them into benefits. And the resource that is used for most everything is elementum.” I leisurely strolled.

  “I mean that literally: all alloys need elementum, starships need elementum for FTL jumps, communication needs elementum, food production needs it, tools need it, and probably more things that weren’t mentioned in the book…” I glanced at Ivaldie, and her eyebrows were slightly raised. “Say, where does elementum come from?”

  “Geists…”

  “Exactly, so to keep society running, everyone has to be strong. Without dungeons and strong people, the Galaxy will collapse.” I couldn’t sense any more sired bones beneath the ground.

  “Why do you care?”

  I froze in place. Right… Why should I care? It’s not like a couple of dragons being stronger would save the Galaxy from the invasion. Only fourteen years left. I sighed.

  “I believe in the common good.” I chuckled. “If people live a better life, then that will make my own life better.”

  Her piercing eyes told me the truth; she didn’t believe a word I said.

  “It’s my way of paying off debts.” The mountain was getting close. “My track record is not clean at all.” Kory…

  “I understand,” Ivaldie said. Her eyes sparkled. “You are not a bad person.”

  I burst out laughing. “Really? It doesn’t seem like that from everyone else’s perspective.” Ivaldie wasn’t amused. “All the good I do is bittersweet.” I sighed. “And I hate bittersweet, I’m more of a sweet tooth.”

  “Do you like the marshmallows that much?”

  My eyes snapped to her. “Have you ever eaten anything else sweet?”

  “No...”

  We have arrived at the mountain, or rather, the bone hive. The circular entrance led inside. The flesh sire will be reborn soon again. But we had time.

  “Would you like to taste something different?” My smile grew wide.

  Ivaldie nodded. That was all I needed to conjure a table, a pair of chairs, some cutlery, and plates. All purple. “Sit down, I’m going to cook something up.” My grin widened. It was time to show my recent hobby.

  Solidification was an interesting form. There were many different kinds of solids, and most of the time it defaulted to a rigid crystalline structure – that was not a requirement.

  I studied the Advanced Solidification textbook and discovered a miraculous property. You could alter the texture with sufficient intention and understanding. And I sure as hell understood cakes.

  I flared starpower, the output of 4 SE to my hand. It was different from the normal solidification, adjusted to fit the needed structure. It was more of a meld between solidification and liquefaction. Then the memory. A chocolate cake from my childhood, the one my mother used to cook all the time. I remembered how it felt on my tongue, how it broke against my teeth, the spongy cake, the syrup resting between each of them, the cherries. Sensation served as a catalyst.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  On the plate, a simulacrum of the cake appeared. Decorated with cream whipped cream, cherries, and chocolate shavings. Ivaldie already reached out for it, but I wasn’t done.”

  “Wait! This is just a hollow structure. I need to give it some actual taste.”

  My hands hovered above the familiar cake – if not for the color, it would look exactly like back on Earth. One hand formed the starpower imbibing and the other the mental taste.

  I had to be exceedingly careful in my output; if I put too much starpower, it would destroy the texture. 2 SE should be more than enough. I delved back into my memories again, and this time I remembered the sweetness.

  Mother always used to put too much sugar, and I never grew tired of it. So sweet, but tart. The harmony of flavors, how the dark chocolate supported the sweet dough, how the cream suppressed the bitterness, and elevated the cherries to a whole new level.

  In moments like these, I was forever grateful to VITA.

  The final touch was smell – it was faint, but it was important. Even less starpower than for taste. The chocolate always smelled so intoxicating, the cream always pleasantly tickled my nose…

  The energies covered the structure and bound it together. It didn’t need direction to find its place – the form attracted the taste, I infused enough memories that it surely left an impression in the spiritual dimension.

  One moment, it was a hollow parody, and now I salivated at the sight. The cake was done.

  “Voila! An authentic black forest cake.” I resisted the urge to bite into it and pushed the plate to Ivaldie. “This is the real essence of magic – to make dreams into reality. True freedom.”

  The girl licked her lips, her clawed hands hovered above the cake, and she was about to rip it apart.

  “Use the utensils! That’s part of the fun.”

  “These things?” She lifted the dessert spoon.

  “For magic’s sake, let me show you.” I summoned another spoon in my hand. With a quick scoop, I grabbed a nice piece of the cake, one that promised all the taste.

  “Open up.” Before she could question it, I shoved the spoon into her mouth.

  Ivaldie let out a yelp of surprise, then she hummed a, “Mmm.”

  “Yeah, that’s the good stuff.” I grabbed another spoon and scooped some for myself.

  The taste was exquisite, the temperature was a bit wonky, but who cared? It was nothing like the time in the death tribulation. This felt real, even if it was just a mental illusion. It was visceral.

  I admired my handiwork for a few moments.

  Buzzing resounded from the entrance, reminding me that I was standing on a ground made of bones, near an abomination. A giant wasp mixed with a gnat, covered in thick pulsing red veins, flew towards me.

  I fired a bullet. It exploded into light, and a tiny green gem dropped on the ground. 6 SE… Useless.

  “Hey, are you-” The cake was gone. It was gone entirely, and Ivaldie stared at me with a longing gaze.

  “Can you make more?”

  “I can, but the Flesh Sire respawned… I need to disassemble it.”

  “When we complete the second floor, will you make more?” For the first time, I saw proper human desire in her eyes. She didn’t appear like a detached symbol now.

  I smiled, ignoring the buzzing.

  “As much as you want and even something new.”

  Ivaldie clenched her fists. Her aura shone bright, and starpower rolled out of her in waves. “Let’s go.” Lighting covered her feet, and she blinked inside the bone mountain.

  With a starpower order, I dismissed the table and flared my own aura to the limit. Today, Steel will get her trait, or I was not a supreme wizard.

  “I want a trait too, please?” The assistant pitched in.

  “You’ll eat so many traits, you’ll never want more.” I dashed like a mad beast.

  “Nope~”

  While running, I conjured parasitic flames recursion into my hand, reinforced my barrier, and embedded a light form into my forehead. I could see the faint threads of starpower Ivaldie left behind.

  There stood the massive arena. Bone platforms were strewn all around, sired flesh covered the ground in their holes, and they launched tendrils and spat acid at Ivaldie.

  The dragon girl blinked between platforms, disintegrating the insects in her way. Flesh sire flew in the air, flapping its long wings, its engorged belly swelled and burst swarms of the disgusting spawn.

  I jumped on one of the platforms, preparing a construct to bring the boss down. It was unnecessary. Ivaldie’s sword shone, and she swiped it through the air. A crescent of light flew out of the sword and cut the wings.

  Flesh sire fell – Ivaldie kicked off from a bone spire and drop-kicked the falling boss right towards my platform.

  Without hesitation, I solidified a net, covered with force-absorbing constructs. Flesh sire landed on the net and I summoned more of it, wrapping around its belly.

  Spiked tendrils launched at me from the sired flesh on the ground, but Ivaldie was there already. “Disassemble it, I’ll defend you.” Lighting spewed from her sword – she slashed the upcoming tentacles with superb precision.

  “On it!” I pressed on the flesh sire with the force form, preventing its awkward movements. Insects couldn’t burst from its belly due to the net holding it together; instead, it grew larger and larger, trying to break the net.

  Too bad that the pressure only made the net grow stronger. The boss regenerated the wings, and soon it would be able to fly.

  “Assistant, get ready!” I shouted and jumped. I grabbed onto the net and climbed to the flesh sire.

  I pressed my hand against its back.

  Flesh sire struggled. It wasn’t as strong as the fiendish lichter, nor as the skulking sigkh. Starpower burst from my hand, all of my 63 SE squeezed every drop of the magical matter into the boss.

  I never disassembled a boss before… Starpower spread inside of it, entwined with its essence, but then it spread further. Ignoring the laws of space, it appeared in the sired flesh on the ground and the insects that Ivaldie cut.

  There was a connection between them. I pressed on. I had to pour so much energy that my head hurt, the net was about to burst, but then – disassembly. The trait spilled out its alien hunger outward and shifted the flow of starpower from a disorderly chaos into a spirit-breaking wave.

  The boss room turned to light. Hunger destroyed all barriers, consumed all matter, broke it apart into pure potential. And that potential crystallized. The cacophony of colors shone across the room, crimson, green, purple. The light twisted and turned and then coalesced.

  Crescendo of potential transformed into an emerald tetrahedron the size of a fitness ball. Then it dropped to the ground.

  “Good,” Ivaldie said, there was a flame in her eyes. “To the next floor?”

  “Hold your horses.” I pulled the tetrahedron out of the hole in the ground. 114 SE… It was incredible. If I could disassemble the second-floor boss, I should have enough for a high baron trait.

  “It must be so tasty~” God’s Flesh sang at the idea of such a strong trait.

  “What’s a horse?” Ivaldie shook her head. “Never mind. We should hurry. The second floor is hard to navigate.”

  “Don’t be so hasty.” I took a deep breath. Ivaldie’s aura shone much brighter than usual. Her SE increased by 2. Why didn’t I-

  Your SE has increased by 1. From 66 to 67. Effective SE – 64

  The pulse of power made me groan in satisfaction. “Alright. Finally, you decided to take this seriously.” I jumped off the platform. She followed right after me.

  A portal appeared near the wall – the exit one. As for the next floor.

  The ground rumbled. The thickest spire right in the middle shook. It sank down and down.

  And now there was a hole in the ground – thick mist spilled from it. Scouter confirmed my suspicion, it was the way to the second floor. Ivaldie blinked towards it and jumped down.

  “Wait, I need to tell you the rules-”

  It was too late. Maybe I shouldn’t have lit a fire under her. I sighed and jumped down too.

  I plunged downwards. The mist smelled of freshly cut wood. A premonition of something bad.