She had barely left when Raman climbed into the cockpit.

  “Ready to gnaw at this rock we call magic?”

  The mood wasn’t right for this, but I had insisted myself… I shook my head.

  “Always with you, Rector!”

  “So, let’s begin with the sixth mana circle. The basic principle of this circle is based on the rules already described in the fourth and fifth circles—protecting the mage’s body from the backlash of mana from the surrounding reality. However, there is a slight difference due to the more turbulent flows compared to the lower circles, which arise from the low bandwidth capacity of the circle and the high specific energy of sixth-circle spells. That is precisely why mages created a system of equations capable of converting turbulent mana flows into laminar ones, which are easier for the mage’s body to handle and do not cause catastrophic consequences. So, let’s break down the first equation of the system…”

  We spent the next few hours talking about magic, and by the end of it, I had perfectly understood all the theory behind the sixth circle. Damn, I should have found the opportunity to study with him earlier—on my own, I would have taken weeks to figure this out.

  After he left, I reviewed the books on practical elemental magic that I had. Before engraving sixth-circle spells, I wanted to complete all the elements of the fifth circle, of which I currently had four out of nine. However, I had no books on the magic of time, space, light, darkness, or metal of the fifth circle. Well, in that case, I’d ask the rector and the team tomorrow—maybe I could gather something…

  I climbed out of the cockpit onto the deck and walked to the bow of the ship. It was already night, the sky as black as the earth below us. And just like the stars shone here and there in the sky, so too did the windows of the houses on the ground, where people lived.

  The stars of the earth.

  Sighing, I made a mental note to ask Irgen about the magic search spell. With my magic power and the altitude of our flight, I could find many interesting things… That girl was an encyclopedia of weak but useful spells. I turned and went to my cabin.

  Irgen was already lying in bed, pretending to be asleep. Holy hedgehogs, who was she trying to fool? Besides her rapid heartbeat, I could see her aura flickering like a mad thing. I lay down next to her, and after a while, when I could no longer bear listening to her pounding heart, I turned and lightly bit her ear.

  “So, have you decided?” she asked softly.

  “You idiot, what is there to decide?”

  “Well, I… you… are we together?”

  “Do you want it to be otherwise?”

  I pulled her closer.

  “Do you really think anyone could be near me against my will?”

  “Mm-hmm! I mean, no, I don’t think so!”

  “By the way, Irgen, teach me that magic search spell.”

  She abruptly sat up in bed.

  “You! You’re using me too!”

  “Of course!” I grabbed her slender waist. “And in different positions, too!”

  In the morning, it turned out our mages were starting to starve. I watched for a while as they divided some hardtack among themselves, but then I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Gentlemen! You are absolute fools, every single one of you!”

  “Captain?…”

  “Who did I give an entire day in the capital to prepare for the journey?”

  “But Captain…”

  “Look, as much as I enjoy watching you suck on your magic staves out of hunger—or each other, if that’s your thing—I can’t allow my squad to lose combat capability due to a forced calorie deficit!”

  I began laying out dishes from the restaurants of Lgothe onto the table in the mess hall.

  “Remember this, adventurers: you must always have at least a three-month supply of food in your stores! No one can predict whether a raid or adventure will go as planned. You’re not in the academy anymore! Got it?”

  But who was I preaching to here… By the time I finished, their shameless faces were already buried in their bowls.

  “So, do you really think,” I hissed, “that all this food is just for you, for free?”

  “Then just tell us what you need, Captain!” Mara said without looking up from her plate. “We’ll agree to anything!”

  “Books! I need books on fifth-circle spells of time, space, light, darkness, and metal. Give me everything you have—I’ll return them later.”

  Everyone started rummaging through their storage, and in the end, they handed me two books on light magic and one on metal. That’s it?!

  “Wait, does no one have anything on space or time?”

  I looked at Raman.

  “What? I haven’t needed books of that level for several hundred years—why would I carry them around?”

  Well, fair enough. I took what they gave me and headed to the cockpit.

  “You’ll wash the dishes and return them…”

  From the books of light magic, I chose the spell of extended vision, which allowed me to see far beyond the horizon, and from the magic of the metal element, I took the spell of metallic dust. By itself, it did not have great destructive power, but when combined with the same fire tornado…

  The effect was bound to be spectacular, in both senses of the word. Working on them took me almost a day and a half, which was not that much for two fifth-circle spells.

  Of course, I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t found anything on the elements of space, time, or darkness, but I clearly remembered the rector’s words that the first two elements were not popular at all due to their complexity. Maybe I could find something in the capital of the Empire. They said you could find anything there.

  We were gradually approaching the Krüung dungeon. Its peculiarity was that there were no large cities nearby, only a small settlement with a few hotels where adventurers stayed and a dozen small workshops where one could repair armor or weapons.

  “What class of monsters are we hunting this time?” I asked the team when we gathered together.

  “Captain, why do we always clear only one level?”

  Gras’s question made me think. Really, why? But no, he was picking the wrong fight.

  “Because we are training, not earning money. That’s why I always choose the highest possible level for the team and ignore the easier ones. Does this answer satisfy you?”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “But Captain, we wouldn’t mind training on weaker monsters either.”

  Laughter rang out from all sides. I looked at the rector, hoping for his support.

  “Aney, really, let the people earn some money. Who knows if they’ll have such an opportunity after the tournament…”

  Oh, you old fox, you just want to make a profit yourself. Just admit that no one else here knows how to summon a monster wave. Well, my vote was one against eleven, so this wasn’t the time to insist.

  “If it’s just about money, then it’s still much smarter to clear the highest possible level in terms of time-to-core-price ratio. You can calculate it yourselves.”

  I tried to appeal to their logic. In the end, my words made sense—but would they listen?

  “Listen up!” Irgen’s voice rang with fury. “The Captain does what’s best for the team! Period! Without him, we wouldn’t even be here, so stop whining and do what the Captain says! Understood?”

  No one dared to argue with her. Hmm, effective. Everyone scattered, not really deciding the question I had originally asked. Well, if that’s how it is, then this time it’ll be a pure fourth-class hunt.

  I climbed up to the cockpit, where the rector joined me later.

  “Have you realized your mistake?”

  “Mistake?” I had no idea what he was talking about.

  “You try to consult with them. That’s not how it works. If you’re the leader, then give orders according to your plans, instead of organizing debates about what strategy the team needs.”

  “You misunderstood, Raman. I wasn’t consulting, just wanted to hear their opinions.”

  “So, did you hear them? Did it help?” He chuckled softly.

  “Something’s wrong.”

  “Oh, everything’s wrong. I don’t think you understand how this world works.”

  “I’m not talking about that. Something’s wrong near the dungeon. There’s not a single living soul around.”

  We were almost at the site, and I slowly began lowering the ship.

  “A breakout, maybe that’s it.” The rector squinted. “Looks like we shouldn’t land.”

  I spread my senses for many kilometers around.

  “No, there are no monsters anywhere. But I also don’t sense any human auras within a ten-kilometer radius.”

  “Then it’s just as I said. The breakout is about to happen, so people are fleeing. In an hour, maybe two at most, monsters will emerge from the dungeon. Let’s get out of here—there’s nothing for us to do.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “What’s unclear? The hunt is canceled.”

  “Raman, do I understand correctly that you want to let the monsters break free and start a massacre?”

  “Aney, the monsters will break free whether I want it or not. And our team doesn’t have the power to stop them.”

  I felt Irgen’s furious aura behind me.

  “Rector, I think we should at least try…”

  “No, Aney, I will not risk my students, sorry. Very soon, the Gods of War and higher-circle mages will arrive. They’ll take care of everything.”

  “Soon? Are you sure about that?”

  “Aney, listen, even with my seventh circle, I can maintain my spell for at most an hour and a half, while a breakout lasts continuously for an entire day. A full day, Aney!”

  Damn, he was right. I probably wouldn’t last a day either… Let alone the other team members. I checked for human auras again. Tens of thousands, moving way too slowly. By the time the Empire’s suppression forces arrived, it would be a slaughter. And to just leave it like this…

  “Rector, let’s do this. You and the team stay on the ship while I go down. I’ll leave puppets near the entrance to kill any monsters that slip past me. You’ll have to clean up whatever small ones they miss. Agreed? If it gets too hot, leave. Don’t wait for me.”

  The ship had already stopped near the entrance, which no one was guarding, and hovered about ten meters in the air.

  “This is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard in my life, Aney. Even a God of War or an Archmage couldn’t stop such a horde alone.”

  “Rector, I’ll hold out as long as I can and then retreat—I’m not planning to throw my life away. But if I last even a few hours, it’ll give thousands of people a chance to escape!”

  “I’m going with you, Captain!” Of course, it was Irgen.

  “Shut up, you fool! You’re staying here.”

  “But Captain, I’m your—”

  I flicked her forehead to make her shut up and stop talking nonsense.

  “Aney! You—!” I saw her reddened eyes.

  “You’ll only get in my way, understand?”

  That look of helplessness. I knew it—I had felt it myself more than once… Irgen ran back to the common room. At this point, she could only be angry at herself and her own weakness.

  “Well, I’m off?” I half-said, half-asked the rector.

  “Good luck to you!”

  “Ha! No monster has been born yet that can devour me!”

  I jumped down. The visitor log still lay abandoned on the table by the entrance, with a few chairs scattered around. The guards definitely hadn’t wasted time gathering their things. I pulled out almost seventy marionettes—all I had—and ordered them to guard the narrow passage. Here, they had the advantage, as the monsters wouldn’t be able to flank them.

  I went further in. The magical transition barrier was no longer solid; it flickered, gaining and losing power intermittently. I wasn’t a specialist, but even a fool could see that this barrier was about to disappear. Behind it, thousands of fangs and claws were waiting for the moment they could pour out in an unstoppable flood, hungry for fresh meat and blood.

  “Do you bastards really think of yourselves as hunters right now? Well then, let’s play that game together!”

  I drew my spear and unleashed my bloodlust to clear the passage beyond the barrier. Those of the third class and below died instantly. The stronger ones scrambled to escape the pile of bodies, trying to crawl as far from me as possible. The passage filled with yelps, growls, and the whistle of my spear’s tip echoing against the bare stone walls, amplifying the cacophony.

  I stepped out of the corridor. The entire plain, as far as the eye could see, was packed with monsters ranging from the first to the sixth class. That was good—it meant the monsters from the lower levels hadn’t made it up yet. I activated all five of my magical circles. Inferno…

  A dense wave of fire spread out from me in all directions, scorching everything to ashes within nearly a kilometer. A pity the spell’s radius was so small… I tried to expand its reach, but I hit some kind of limit that wouldn’t allow it. The plain stretched for dozens of kilometers, completely filled with monsters.

  Damn it! My actions were almost meaningless. As soon as eighth- and ninth-class monsters appeared to distract me, all these smaller ones would immediately rush for the passage. And no marionettes would last long against them. I tried using sequential steps, but I was moving so fast that my Inferno spell couldn’t keep up, failing to burn the creatures before they left its radius.

  I turned back and took a position between the transitions. I had no more plans left. Should I try to burn them with my own blood? But no amount of droplets would be enough to cover such a vast area and so many monsters. Or maybe I could try blocking the incoming monsters from below? I pulled out a bottle of my own blood, collected after my fight with the Khrum. If I damaged the passage to the second level… I was sure these transitions were nearly indestructible, but three hundred grams of God’s Mana would explode with enough force to cause serious damage… Should I try?

  “Shit! I love experimenting!”

  I deactivated my magic and hurled the bottle into the dark maw of the passage, momentarily wrapping it in my aura. It streaked across the scorched ground like a golden flash and disappeared into the darkness of the cave. I dropped to the ground and dispelled my aura from the bottle. One second, two, three…

  Nothing happened. Strange, but the monsters kept emerging from the passage. I got up and cast Inferno again.

  Why the hell was nothing happening?!

  As soon as I had that thought, the dungeon convulsed violently, a deep humming sound rolling through the air. Something was happening behind me.

  I turned and saw the dark cave of the transition instantly turn gray—then crumble into dust.

  “What?!”

  I couldn’t believe my eyes, so I jumped toward it. It was true. My legs sank knee-deep into the gray powder. There was no exit anymore.

  I processed this for a few seconds, then burst into laughter.

  “Holy hedgehogs, what an idiot I was! This world might have never seen such a fool before! What had stopped me from leaving the dungeon first and destroying the exit behind me? Damn it! Son of a bitch! Why am I such a moron?!”

  I grabbed a handful of gray dust and tossed it into the air above me.

  “Ha-ha-ha-ha! Aha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Aha-ha-ha-ha…”

  I laughed uncontrollably, like a madman, watching the gray dust ignite and vanish into nothingness within the Inferno spell.

  I had sealed myself in with my own hands.

  Are there any other fools in this world as big as me?!

  Inferno… Hellfire…

  “You bastards, I’ll give you a real taste of hell!”

  Rage and despair began eating away at me from the inside.

  “This is your fault! You damn vermin! You’re the reason I’m trapped here with you forever!”

  Maybe, in that moment of despair, I truly lost my mind… After all, blaming monsters for my own stupidity wasn’t exactly a display of critical thinking.

  I looked around.

  Hundreds of thousands of cores lay scattered amidst the dust left from the monsters, covering the glowing red-hot rocky ground.

  Well then…

  I created yellow magical circles and absorption runes around me, expanding them as far as I could. Mana from tens of thousands of cores flowed toward me, wrapping me in a soft veil, and I forcefully absorbed it, breaking my own limits.

  “More!!!”

  The yellow circles expanded further, reaching into a zone where monsters were still alive. All of them began to wither and crumble into dust simultaneously, their cracked bodies releasing thick, yellowish mana in huge plumes.

  “Not enough! More!”

  My magical circles began expanding at incredible speed, devouring the entire first level within minutes. Under their effect, everything alive—monsters, plants, even the insects buzzing beneath the black sky—turned to dust.

  Millions upon millions of living beings vanished from this world without a trace.

  “Not enough!”

  I screamed, not even knowing what I wanted more of—the mana I was consuming or the blood of the monsters I wanted to annihilate for trapping me here with them.

  My gaze fell on the transition to the second level.

  “Griiiiii…”

  A black-and-yellow mist exhaled from my lungs