Ada Kai had just turned 21 the day before the cataclysm. She woke up that morning like any other, brushed her teeth, and rushed to class, arriving late for her morning Business Excel class. She knew that her professor would dock her the 15 attendance points she desperately needed if she were late; she needed them because she continuously turned in her projects two days after they were due. She didn't make it that morning.

  Ada was struggling to balance class and the chemo treatment her mother needed a ride to. She went to the University of South Dakota, a large college in a small town. She had loved the campus at first sight. The beauty of the somber coyote statue in the middle of the campus called to her, and she begged her mom to go. Her mother relented because the tuition was lower than anything in California.

  She followed her daughter, landing a remote job that allowed her to stay home and avoid breaking up their small family. It was menial, thankless work, but paid more than enough for the cheap cost of living in the town of 10,000. Ada's freshman year was the year that her mother, Beatrice, was diagnosed with leukemia.

  Beatrice raised Ada alone and showed her what it meant to be strong. Ada was the product of a destination wedding; her mother fell for a handsome surfer from the island. It was short and passionate, but they both knew it was a fling.

  Ada went to a bar with her mother for her "first" shot. Growing up in Southern California made it hard not to at least dabble in alcohol or weed. Beatrice had lost her hair, but nothing could take away her smile.

  "Ada, you need to spend more time with people your age," Beatrice said

  "Mom, I can't even keep a 2.0, when would I have time for friends?" Ada said flatly

  They sat silently for more time than was comfortable, but it was late; they had to go home. Ada would talk to her mom in the morning.

  "Welcome to the tutorial for the 7th Universe."

  Ada, the first floor of the Forsaken Caverns dungeon

  Ada spent every day for the last four years swinging a fucking pickaxe. She was a caster who reached level 23 before leaving the tutorial. The system provided her with extensive training and warned her that she would be dropped off in Oklahoma; she needed to get back to South Dakota. It had been 3 years, and she had to find out what had happened to her mom.

  They told her the training was five years. If Ada knew how easy it would be to get kicked out, she would have only been there for a month. Apparently, the Mercenary Healer class got one booted from the program, something about mercenaries adding no value to armies.

  The wild boars of Oklahoma had mutated into giant bipedal monsters. Pigs had always looked eerily similar to humans, especially in the eyes, but this was ridiculous. She fought as hard as she could, but without physical skills, she was no match for them. There were too many destroyed towns along the way north. Her mother was strong, but this was too much for her. Nothing was waiting for her back home. Somewhere along the way, she stopped trying to go home.

  The elves picked her up in the panhandle, and she was promised a leisurely job in the medic tent for the proving. All that was left was to register for the draft, and then she would be an official citizen of the empire. These elves were strange; they called the system the emperor and worshipped it with a fervor reminiscent of cultists.

  She walked past the slug-like clerk, whose telekanesis still had her shaking off a headache.

  'Is everybody in this town some weird alien?' She thought to herself, 'I guess if they are killing monsters, they can't be that bad.'

  After a rough 2 weeks of orientation, she was fitted with a slave collar and put to work.

  Today was like any other day, except that dumb kid from group B fell down a hole. They had to attend a mandatory safety class after the incident; they were told that they were property of the empire, and thus it was their job to stay safe under penalty of death.

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  What a joke, if they got themselves killed, the penalty was death. Ada had been with the mining team the longest, so the slaves from his hut offered her the kid's gear first. She didn't want anything. He must have worked like a dog because his backup clothes were tattered, and his pick was the most banged-up thing she had ever seen. What an absolute idiot. There was no reason to work that hard. There was no bonus or special treatment for being a good little slave. Every day was the same, and they bled into each other; nothing changed. Just eat, work, sleep, and repeat. She had given up all hope of being free.

  The abyss wolf crept up on the warriors in black. They had not expected to be flanked by a monster. The hole from the tunnel collapse had been boarded up because monsters could find the path to their low-level floor. Their guardians fought bravely, but these dogs were powerful. Ada watched as the level forty wolf tore apart the correctional officers.

  She had dreamed of these guys getting their throats ripped out. But now that she had seen it, she was utterly terrified. She slunk to the ground, awaiting her fate. There was no escape from the high-level monster. She had lived a good life and was glad to be reunited with her mother.

  A warm liquid splashed on her face when she finally gained the courage to open her eyes. She saw a soldier with a pickaxe sinking it into the wolf's head. This soldier fought wildly, swinging the mining tool with abandon. He moved like a comet, and she swore he was glowing as he killed wolves coming from the shadows.

  At the start, there was only one wolf, but as the man kept killing them, they multiplied like rabbits. She looked around, and all the slaves who had fled were already gone. The scene was carnage that she had never seen before—bodies mixed with wolves, looking like a cheap horror film.

  "What's your name?" the strange man said, taking his helmet off. Ada lowered her head in the respectful bow that had saved her from lashings. The scar running down her back was a constant reminder. She dared not look him in the eye.

  "My name is Ada Kai," she said with her meager voice.

  Dane, after the fight

  "Lift your head, Ada," Dane told the timid slave. He looked her up and down. He wondered how she stayed so strong-looking. Being a miner, she must have been a newly enlisted slave, because most people were skin and bones after about a year. Her deep hazel eyes met his, and he recognized her as the slave queen. Everyone respected her as if she were royalty.

  There was a rumor that she had already had a few levels; no one wanted to be on her bad side. Amazingly, this petite 5'2" woman could command such respect. Still, it must have been her stoic expression that was common among the islanders. Dane had received the system early, but hadn't started getting experience until after Dia jailbroke him.

  "Ada, I will give you two options: the first being that I will escort you back to camp, and you can explain how a collared slave was able to be the sole survivor of what happened here today. I killed all the off-duty guards and wouldn't want to be there when the dungeon team gets back to camp. Though I am sure you will probably have a nice little break until they can reestablish it. Or you can join my party, and we can try to escape this dungeon."

  She sat there stunned by the new information. Maybe she didn't believe him. It was ludicrous.

  "Are you related to Daniel McAlister?" Ada asked.

  "That's my father," Dane was shocked, not expecting the name drop of his dear old dad.

  "You look like him; I met him during the tutorial. He was the strongest of us; he was driven. We all had people back home, but we lost hope when the training bots told us what would happen to our planet. Dan never questioned whether his family was alive for a second. He always said, 'Dane is strong, he wouldn't die to some overgrown animals.' I guess he was right. I always thought putting such faith in a ten-year-old was foolish, but here you are. I'll join you, but I'll be dead weight with this nice piece of jewelry around my neck," Ada said.

  Dane had so many questions, but they would have to wait. She had made her choice, and now he had to remove the slave collar. Grabbing Ada by the collar, she trembled at his touch. He had wondered how many people had done this to her. He activated Exodus, and the collar crumbled to iron sand in his sweaty palm. He had grown so accustomed to mana eyes being on that he hadn't realized he was cycling mana through his eyes until he saw the most beautiful golden energy light up the bronze woman.

  His stupefied expression was short-lived when he heard the familiar sound of combat boots marching in unison. The reinforcements would be on them soon, so Dane grabbed the petite woman in a princess carry and took off towards his escape hole. He looked down hesitantly into the pit, but leaped into the darkness anyway, hearing Ada scream and cling tighter to his chest. He landed with both feet planted on the ground and felt the force reverberate up his groin, losing half his HP in the process.

  They would be safe for now, but he knew there would be more security the next time he returned to camp. He would have to come with an overwhelming force to leave the dungeon. He had chosen not to exit in the first place because he didn't know when he would have another chance at accessing the dungeon.

  "I will be E rank before I leave here," he promised no one in particular, since Ada had fainted during the fall.