Laughing, I checked my next message.

  “Congratulations, Lucas! For surviving the death bite of the Voidmaw Devourer, you receive an emerald Lucky Stiff loot box.”

  “Yeah, that was lucky,” I admitted as I willed the glittering emerald loot box open. I was getting so many platinum and higher loot boxes, seeing even a gold box felt like a waste. I hadn’t seen a silver or copper in ages.

  That loot box contained another upgrade scroll for Energy Ward, increasing the intensity of physical attacks it could deflect. If Energy Ward kept evolving this fast, it would end up becoming an impenetrable barrier. It was definitely becoming a central piece of my build.

  “Congratulations, Lucas! For crossing 24 miles of monster-infested water without a boat, using multiple unique forms of transport, and without once submerging, you receive an emerald Magellan loot box.”

  It contained a single item, but it wasn’t another scroll. I pulled the dull metal cube out of the air to study it. The size of a Rubik’s Cube, it was a lot heavier than aluminum, which is what I first thought it might be.

  “Tidal Nexus. Epic. Hold this device over any source of running water to drop in a clone cube. Clone cubes draw pure hydraulic energy from the moving water and ambient mana to charge the parent cube. That charge can be used to fuel spells and abilities or to imbue the power of the tides into weapons. Current Maximum number of clone cubes: 3.”

  “Wow! This sounds awesome.” I rolled the cube in my hands, but sensed none of the magic the description suggested.

  That was the second ability that drew upon energy that wasn’t specifically magical. The first was my class spell Cascading Force. Was Cyrus trying to tell me something, or was my class just inherently tuned to merging all types of energy, including natural forces?

  “Congratulations, Lucas! For cheating sure death more times in fewer minutes than any other contestant has cheated death all week, you receive a diamond God Mode loot box.”

  “God mode. Nice gamer reference,” I chuckled as I sat back, putting my bare feet up on the coffee table.

  I couldn’t respawn, but I had survived against odds that had been way too stacked against me. Hopefully with all my new upgrades I wouldn’t end up in any more jams that horrible again.

  The giant diamond loot box glittered like a miniature sun, reflecting the light into a thousand prismatic beams all across my living area. I enjoyed the effect for a moment, savoring the rare diamond loot box before impatience won out.

  Inside it contained 2 scrolls.

  “Title Scroll. Alan Alan. Plus 10% effect of both Intelligence and Wisdom to calculating Luck. Plus 10% to final calculation of CHA. Plus 10% to final calculation of Constitution.”

  “I love more titles, but who’s Alan Alan?”

  “A famous British escape artist known for daring stunts in the 50’s and 60’s.”

  “I only know Houdini.”

  “He’s the best-known name, but not the only one. I’m glad I can help you broaden your horizons.”

  The other scroll was another upgrade scroll. When I read it, my jaw dropped and my feet fell with thumps to the floor as I sat forward.

  “Upgrade scroll. Reduce the cooldown of the Last Chance ring to 12 hours.”

  Cooldown had been 7 full days. That ring was a literal life saver. Now I could potentially trigger it more than once in the second stage, assuming I killed a boss to reactivate it each time.

  “Congratulations, Lucas! For injuring over 200 monsters but not killing any of them, you receive a platinum Wandering Berserker loot box.”

  “Hey, I didn’t have time to finish them off. That was the craziest running battle I ever want to see.”

  “Don’t whine, Lucas. You got a sweet prize out of it.

  It was a sweet prize. Another upgrade scroll for Energy Ward making it deal double the damage it deflected from physical attacks back on the attacker. That would drain my mana faster, but seemed totally worth it. Good thing I had ways to replenish my remaining uses. Had I made a huge mistake not making Energy Ward permanent?

  The final message made me grin.

  “CONGRATULATIONS, LUCAS! You did it! Against all odds, you succeeded in reaching level 10 after the stage 1 countdown ended and were the only person to escape the final level meltdown more than 10 minutes after the timer ended.”

  “Quest complete. For achieving a seemingly impossible feat and doing so with style and extraordinary creativity, your reward is upgraded to a diamond loot box.”

  “You did good, Lucas,” Cyrus added, his tone very pleased. “You passed every test with flying colors. Now the rewards begin. Enjoy.”

  Finally! The last few days had been hell, but if that set me up to have Cyrus firmly on my side, it would be totally worth it.

  The diamond box was even bigger than the last one and it shone with an inner light that transformed my sitting room into a near-blinding paradise of shifting rainbow colors.

  Awesome. Had Cyrus planned for the box to upgrade when he promised it to me? Either way, I’d take it. I willed the huge diamond box to open as I leaned forward expectantly.

  A bunch of items popped out, but most seemed hazy and indistinct. That was a first.

  The one item I could see clearly was a scroll. Much fancier than the others, it was written on aged, cream-colored parchment and written in gold ink with fanciful creatures and landscape scenes drawn in bright colors all down the sides.

  “Upgrade scroll. Unique. Rewarded for exceptional performance. This scroll upgrades the loot from this loot box by 1 tier.”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Yes! That meant . . .

  Indeed, the loot disappeared, replaced by a giant red ruby loot box that pulsed with inner light. I hadn’t expected to see another ruby loot box until maybe we defeated Marisara. I got emeralds like candy while most people never got a single one, but I’d only ever seen one ruby. That had only happened because Cyrus’s opinion of himself was so high, he wouldn’t allow anything less for helping him choose a name.

  Seeing a divine-tier ruby loot box helped wash away my lingering annoyance at Cyrus for playing those cruel games with my life. First big reward indeed! The flood of excellent loot definitely bought him a lot of credit, at least for a bit. Hopefully he wouldn’t start messing with my life again.

  The ruby loot box flashed a final time, then exploded with a fanfare of invisible trumpets, revealing the loot items again.

  Some of the items flashed and dumped straight into my inventory, including 10 tier-6 mana crystals. Ten! That was ten million mana crystals! I also got crates full of every potion already in my inventory, topping them all out at 99, a scroll restoring all of my equipped gear to 100% condition, and randomly 5000 bottles of assorted hard liquor.

  My tattered Mirror Cloak and shredded Crash Test Dummy jacket blinked and returned to pristine condition, as did my torn pants, my bracers, and my gloves.

  “Hey! What about my boots?” I exclaimed when I checked my inventory but found my one remaining boot still battered and missing its partner.

  “Only equipped items, sorry,” Cyrus said.

  I couldn’t complain, though. The loot just kept coming.

  “Stat scroll. Upgrade CHA by 500 points.”

  I scowled up at the ceiling. “Now you’re just messing with me. I don’t have a class to unlock Charisma.”

  Cyrus didn’t respond. It was super annoying when the person you wanted to argue with could just ignore you whenever they wanted to. Ruby loot boxes weren’t supposed to include gag gifts.

  Now, with CHA that high, I wasn’t sure I wanted to unlock Charisma. Abbie must have had insanely high charisma to affect all of us so much, but no way she had 500 points. If Charisma worked like other stats, 500 points would be like 50 times more than the most charismatic actors in the world. If I unlocked a stat that high, what could I do to folks?

  What couldn’t I do? That was scarier than any monster I’d faced, including Bristleback. No, CHA was an empty stat for me. Cyrus could poke fun at that all he wanted, but I’d just ignore it from this point on.

  The next item was a small plaque, like wood lacquered in black, with gold lettering. “Tier 5 VIP access pass to the system store.”

  “What system store?”

  “It’s not available yet.”

  “Figures.” I tossed the useless item into my inventory and moved on.

  “Upgrade scroll. Upgrade one log cabin Base Camp with the legendary Concierge Package.”

  As soon as that scroll flashed, the entire log cabin shook like we’d been hit by a level-10 earthquake. Everything rattled and flashed, and the room blinked to blackness. Half a heartbeat later, the room blinked back into existence around me. I was no longer sitting in a rustic living room in a log cabin.

  “What . . . ?” I breathed as I looked around at my totally changed surroundings.

  The room had expanded, the ceiling rose, and the peeled log walls were replaced by smooth stone, hung with bright woven tapestries depicting nature scenes from Earth. The heavy, wood furniture was now top-of-the line plush, creamy leather. Why anyone would choose that color for my room made no sense, but it looked perfect and pristine at the moment.

  The fur rugs remained, but were now thicker. They looked like whatever the most expensive fur coat might be made of. Identify described them as sable, lynx, and chinchilla.

  I was suddenly happy I was still barefoot, and walked slowly back and forth across the thick rugs, savoring the feel of the soft fur against my feet. “I take it, that was a really good upgrade?”

  A screen appeared in front of me as Cyrus said, “Welcome to your new home!”

  The screen read “Concierge Castle Base Camp Owned by Shelley Lucas Altan.”

  I grimaced at seeing my full name in writing, but focused on the long list of upgrades. I perused them briefly and whistled softly. Every component of the log cabin had been upgraded at least once, from the kitchens, to the bath, and more. Upgrading to legendary level meant it had jumped several levels in a single bound. My house now had a full complement of defensive and offensive capabilities that made Ruby’s Base Camp seem like a Lego toy.

  It wasn’t a log cabin any more, either, but a two-story mini castle. My bedroom and bath had been moved to the second floor, along with 4 additional suites. Ruby wouldn’t believe it when I gave her the tour.

  “This is amazing!” I laughed, spinning another slow circle to take in my new digs. The log cabin had been pretty cool, but I loved living in style. Then I frowned with a new thought.

  “Hey, I don’t have a Base Camp utility spell.”

  “No, you don’t,” Cyrus agreed.

  “So if I run out of Gypsy Camp potions, I’ll have to leave my castle behind?”

  “I’d recommend you keep a good stock of those potions on hand, then.”

  It wasn’t a big deal yet. All my potions had gotten upgraded. I scanned my inventory and shouted, “Hey, I thought that other loot upgraded all of my potion slots to 99. It didn’t affect my Gypsy Camp potion!” I only had 3 left.

  “Weird,” Cyrus said.

  “You’re not going to correct that error?”

  He chose not to respond. So annoying! I should have known he wouldn’t be able to resist messing with things, despite having passed his tests, but that was minor enough I could live with it.

  I took a deep breath and calmed down. I had enough potions for now, but didn’t want to lose the castle. “Any way I can get another utility spell, or a way to make this thing permanent?”

  “There are always possibilities,” Cyrus said.

  Not totally helpful, but still hopeful. Maybe he had another loot box in mind to give me that extra upgrade. Not something to worry about right now, though. I bet the appearance of a castle next to their tents would get noticed. The entire gang would show up in seconds. I had to finish reviewing my other loot first. I was almost through it all.

  “Title Scroll. New title: Tiberius.”

  “Tiberius. You have boldly gone where no other player has ever gone. You have pushed the limits of the game and seized prizes with the potential to guarantee your continued journey.”

  “Double all current base stats. Plus 15% to all secondary stat calculations. Plus 50% to all other resistances.”

  For a moment, all I could do was stare. Finally I managed to whisper, “Double . . .”

  That title alone qualified the loot box as divine-level loot. Forget the fact that I’d just gotten a new title a minute ago, this one was insane.

  Then the stat boost hit and I leaped to my feet as energy roared through me. My muscles quivered and visibly swelled before shrinking back to slightly larger than before, but somehow far denser. I felt like I could jump over the moon and bench-press the entire castle.

  That last increase of 3 points to all base stats had been a rush. This one was a full magnitude higher. I couldn’t even calculate how strong I was now, but it felt like I could give Superman a run for his money.

  My Strength jumped to a rounded-up 50. That would have equated to 500 tier-0 points. Even with the huge drop in effective stats by the 40% Efficiency, I still ended up with the equivalent of 200 tier-0 points. What did it mean to be 20 times stronger than the strongest man alive? I honestly had no idea, but I couldn’t wait to find out.

  I took a deep breath, reveling in my new-found strength. “Okay, Cyrus, I admit, this makes all the insanity you put me through worth it.”

  “And this is just the beginning of the benefits you’ll see,” he promised.

  Hopefully he was right. Could I really be past the initial limitations of my tier-1 evolution? My efficiencies were still too low, but I was strong. If I could capitalize on this recent boost, and if Cyrus no longer blocked my experience gains, I felt more optimistic than I had in a week.

  A new announcement surprised me.

  “Congratulations, Lucas! You have received 10 titles. Fewer than 1 10th of 1 10th of 1 percent of all people in the multiverse gain 10 titles in their entire lives, let alone in their first week. In recognition of this achievement, Explorer’s Sight is upgraded to level 3 and becomes Spellseer’s Gaze.”

  “Spellseer’s Gaze. Legendary. Level 3. Expand your horizons close to home. When active, allows you to see energy and mana in living color, sense energy flows, and more easily see synergies between spells and mana types.”

  Wow, that was fantastic. Ten titles, though? That was a huge milestone. I needed to celebrate. Before I could grab a bottle of hard liquor from my inventory, someone started pounding on the outer door.