A red lizard humanoid creature ran across the forest ground, looking behind it as it knew it was being followed. It didn't know how, but it had to get away.

Whatever was back there… was no regular human. It was a demon.

It eventually came to a large boulder, taking an opportunity to duck behind it and hide. It's eyes darted around, looking around for any sign of it's predator and holding on tightly to the spear in it's hands. Seeing no one, it allowed itself to relax.

"So this is where you ran off to."

The creature jumped in fear, looking up to see the aforementioned demon that had been chasing it down standing up on top of the boulder with what appeared to be a metal stick in it's right hand.

"I was wondering why the floor hadn't been clear yet. Turns out one of you managed to get away." Blue eyes turned cold as a small grin formed on the being's face. "You're not that bad at running to be honest. If I didn't have my Tracking skill at a good level, it'd probably have taken me forever to find you. Guess kobolds are better at hiding than I thought."

What was it talking about? What was this monster's game?

"Well anyway, let's get this over with shall we?" The being jumped down to the ground, landing with a soft impact. It pointed it's metal stick at the kobold with a grin. "So, want to make the first move?"

This thing was demented… it knew it was going to win! It was making a mockery of the whole thing, slaying the kobold's entire clan as if it was mere sport.

The creature let out a loud and desperate battle cry as it charged at the figure with it's spear held high as it approached.

The figure grinned, ducking under the thrust as the kobold heard it's last words.

"Game over."

"Alright, see you guys later!"

Luna Loud grinned widely waving at her bandmates as she left the garage of the lead singer's house. Today's practice had gone very well and she knew they were going to bring the house down at their next show.

'And the next one is going to be a big one.' The aspiring rocker thought with a smile as she waited at a street light. They had to pull a few strings as well as helping out around the place, but the night café that they frequented over the weekends had decided to book them next Saturday night, which was actually in place for a big event the place was holding and much to their excitement they were going to be the main act.

For her and the rest of the band, this was big. This was their first step into getting their name out there. Sure they were known locally in Royal Woods, but if things continued to go well for them they could eventually get their name out there in the rest of Michigan and maybe attract some talent scouts.

'Whoa whoa, let's calm down Lunes!' The brunette stopped and shook her head. 'It's nice to dream, but we have to be realistic here. It's our first big gig so we can't get too excited. Let's bring the house down on this one, and then we'll think big.'

"Oh, hey Luna."

The rocker perked up from her thoughts to see her older brother approaching her with a half grin on his face.

Luna felt a smile grow on her face. "What's up bro? How's the working out coming along?"

"Same as usual, getting stronger by the day." Lincoln responded, breathing out a small laugh as they continued along their way home. "What about you and practice? Heard you guys have a big gig coming up soon."

"You know it bro, and we're going to bring the house down!" Luna grinned as she pointed at her brother. "Once we do, we can start getting our names out there and hopefully some more recognition and gigs."

Lincoln chuckled at his younger sister's excitement. "Well, I hope it goes well for you guys. Just make sure not to slack on your studies too much, or mom won't be happy."

"Ugh… tell me about it. She's way too strict when it comes to that stuff." Luna sighs at her brother's words as they turned down the street towards their house. "Can't believe I missed out on a whole summer of rocking out for summer school because I failed Spanish class."

Lincoln smirked in amusement at his sister's dour expression. "I warned you that Senor Robertson doesn't joke around when it comes to class work. He might be cool any other time, but he'll fail you in a heartbeat."

Luna grumbled, noticing they had finally approached the house. She could see their parents' cars parked in the driveway, signifying that they had arrived home.

"By the way, Luna."

The rocker Loud looked at her white haired brother who sported a small smile. "Don't worry too much, you got this. You've been working hard to get to this point, and I know you're going to nail it. Just trust in yourself and do your thing as always."

Luna stayed silent for a moment before smiling and hugging her brother tightly, who returned it. "Thanks Linc, you're the best."

She heard him chuckle as they separated. "Any time Luna. Now let's go in, I'm actually looking forward to dad's cooking for once."

Luna grinned and nodded as she entered the house, her brother following behind her with a chuckle.

In a lone retirement home, a large elderly man stared out of the window of his room as he sat comfortably in his chair. He ran a hand through his white hair as he let out a small yawn before chuckling.

'Heh, guess Sue and Rita may have a point after all. I do need to start slowing down at my age.' He thought with a wry smirk on his face. 'Not the spring chicken I used to be. Heh, never thought I'd hear myself say that."

It was true. Age was starting to catch up to the old man. In his younger years, he was always on the go, constantly moving around, and rarely taking a break. It often made his late wife a bit exasperated but they loved each other nonetheless and wouldn't trade it for the world.

His daughter might have taken after him some however. Not many women can handle eleven children and not be active in some regard.

'Still wonder where they had the energy to have all those kids though.' The elder once again ran a hand through his hair as a small chuckle escaped his lips. 'I know Rita is a attractive woman. She's her mother's child after all, but for god's sake her and Lynn were like a pair of rabbits. Me and Chloe didn't even have that much energy in our younger years. I thought after I left Lincoln with them they'd calm down, but no. Soon after Leni was born, they went ahead and had Luna.'

"Hey Albert!"

The elderly man perked up slightly at the call of his name and looked around to see another elder walk in the room with the help of his cane. A smile found it's way on his face as he stood up from his chair.

"How's it going Bernie? Had some trouble swimming again?" Albert asked, walking over to his long time friend to give him a friendly pat on the back.

Bernie laughed, giving the larger man a smile. "Well, you know I'm not in my prime anymore. Can only do two laps around the pool before getting tired nowadays."

"That's still not bad for your age to be honest." Albert responded with a small grin, giving his friend a pat once more. "You still got it a bit Bernie. You always were a pretty good swimmer. Could have made it to the Olympics if you didn't join the army instead."

"What can I say? I loved swimming but had a bigger love for my country." Bernie had a small grin on his face as his mind wandered to happier memories. "Met my wife thanks to that as well. Ole Sheila had a lot of spunk to her. Still miss her to this day."

Albert nodded, reminiscing in some of the memories of their late wives. "Yeah, it's the same with Chloe for me. Wasn't ready for her to leave this world, but her heart problems eventually got the better of her."

"She's in a better place Albert. Both of our wives are." Bernie said, trying to comfort his friend. "This world has honestly gotten crazy nowadays with all the violence and madness in it. I don't know if Sheila's heart could handle it to be honest. She was always a sweet and innocent thing."

Albert sighed, as he looked out the window of his room. "Yeah… you're probably right Bernie. Don't get me wrong, I love Myrtle truly. It's just… I still think about and miss Chloe. Rita does too, even though she's gotten better at dealing with the grief. She would have loved to have all these grandkids as well. She only got a chance to see Lori before she passed."

Bernie nodded as he sat in one of the other chairs in the room, staring out of the window as well. "Well… all I can say is that we remember our wives. Keep the memories alive and well, especially for our children and grandchildren."

"...You're right." Albert agreed, looking up at the ceiling as happier memories came back to him.

The first time he met his wife as she nursed him back to health from a battle with enemy forces. It was then and there he knew she was one.

Their first date at a fancy Italian restaurant not long after returning back to the United States. He went through hell to get the reservation but it was well worth it.

His marriage proposal and her accidently punching him out of shock before accepting it. She had a mean right hook if he'd say so himself. Some of his granddaughters might have taken after her if what his son-in-law and grandson said held any weight.

Rita's birth and the first time he held his daughter in his hands. Without a doubt, the happiest moment in his and Chloe's lives.

Their first time meeting Lynn and how nervous the young man was meeting the parents of his lover. Albert wouldn't stop glaring at him the entire time before Chloe eventually got him to let up and give the future son-in-law a chance. Though when Lynn had accidently revealed he had already slept with Rita, Albert ended up chasing him several blocks in the neighborhood on foot.

The phone call they received from Rita that revealed she was pregnant. Chloe was absolutely ecstatic and Albert was quite happy as well. Though the overprotective father side of him wanted to kill Lynn even though the two young adults were married.

Him and Chloe finally being able to hold Lori when Rita and Lynn came to visit. He was a bit taken aback by the size of Lori's head, but he loved the baby nonetheless and swore to protect her.

The final "I love you" and kiss he shared with Chloe on her deathbed as she succumbed to her heart disease at the age of fifty five. He'll never forget the peaceful smile on her face as she comforted him and Rita despite knowing that her time had finally come and the promise she made with them to always be there for them in spirit. The former marine held his daughter close to him as she sobbed loudly while grieving himself. It had saddened him, but his love was finally free from the pain of her health issues and hopefully in a better place if there was such a thing called the afterlife.

Albert sighed as he relaxed deeper into his chair, before hearing a ringing sound. Turning his head to the left, he noticed it was his landline phone.

"Who can be calling me right now?" Albert asked himself, standing up and walking over to it as he took a look at the Caller ID seeing it said "Rita Loud" with his daughter's household number there. He gave a small chuckle before turning to his friend. "Hey Bernie, can you give me a little privacy for a few moments? Rita's calling me."

Bernie gave a small wave as he stood up. "Don't worry about it Albert. Need to get around to finishing that puzzle I have anyway."

Albert laughed slightly as his friend left the room, before answering the phone with a small smile on his face. "Hey sweetie, how are you and the rest of the family doing?"

"Hey dad, I'm doing great and so is everyone else!" Rita's happy voice answered, as the old man can also imagine the smile on her face. "How about you? It's been a while since we've had a chance to visit you. Sue's not giving you much of any trouble is she?"

Albert laughed, leave it to his daughter to be a bit overprotective of him. "No, no sweetie she isn't. She's stopped trying to treat us like we were babies for a while now since we stood up to her this past summer. When almost all of the seniors threaten to walk out on you with good reason and that puts the nursing home at risk, you learn to back off and treat them with some more respect I'm guessing."

Rita could be heard chuckling. "I guess so then. Well if she does, you could still always go somewhere else. I've never really liked her after what Lincoln told me when I picked him up from there last time."

"Don't worry about it sweetie, it's going to be alright. I can handle Sue." Albert assured, pulling a chair close to the phone so he could sit down. "Still though, what's the real reason for you calling Rita? Not that I'm complaining, but you usually call me on the weekends when you're off from work and have more time."

Rita remained silent on the other end for a small moment before finally finding her voice. "Dad… it's about Lincoln."

This caused the elder to grow concerned, especially from the seriousness in his daughter's tone. "Lincoln? Did something happen to him?"

"No, well yes. It's just…" Rita sighed before going silent, causing her father to laugh slightly.

Albert gained a small grin on his face. "Take it easy Rita. Deep breaths." He received a small grumble from his daughter instead which caused him to chuckle in amusement. "Now, what's happening with Lincoln."

Rita took a deep breath, calming her nerves before speaking. "Lincoln… Lincoln has been acting a bit strange lately the past few weeks. He's zoning out, seems to be staring intently at nothing most of the time, and even moving his finger strangely at times like he's pushing buttons or something. Not to mention, his body seems to have changed overnight from what it looks like. He was in good shape before, but it's like he looks like he's developed a track star's body out of nowhere."

"I see…" Albert responded, rubbing his chin. "And you're calling me about this, why exactly? It's strange behavior no doubt, but I'm not really a psychiatrist or a doctor. I also don't see Lincoln as the type to start taking steroids either, considering he's always had a good head on his shoulders."

"Do you remember some time after you left Lincoln with us all those years ago? When you told us a bit more about him as well as his parents?" Albert remained silent, as he listened to his daughter continue. "I don't know much about them but… I think those abilites that you said he could possibly develop are well… developing."

The ex-marine's eyes narrowed as he shot up from his chair. "Are you sure Rita?"

"Y-Yes." The matriarch of the Loud household answered, sounding a bit taken aback from the sudden seriousness in her father's voice. "I don't know much about the Abyss or natural ability users as you do but considering what you told me all those years ago… I feel like he might be awakening his own natural ability."

Albert sighed, pinching his forehead. 'Don't know why I'm acting so surprised or tired. I knew something like this was likely going to happen when he at least turned sixteen, considering that's that's the age when people usually start developing natural abilites. Not to mention considering who his birth parents are, it shouldn't be a surprise that he's developing them at the earliest convenience.'

"Dad? Is everything alright?"

Rita's voice cut the man from his thoughts as he slightly turned to the phone. Thinking over his next words, he smiled slightly. "Y-Yeah, everything's alright Rita. Hey, why don't I come over in a week for dinner and stay the night? I'm pretty sure I can convince Sue to let me go for at least one day."

Rita remained silent for a quick moment before answering. "Sure. I'll have to make sure it's alright with Lynn, but I'm pretty sure he'll have no problem with it."

"Alright then, I'll see you in a week sweetie." Albert said before adding another piece. "And don't worry too much about Lincoln. I'll be sure to explain things to him and keep him safe. Nothing is going to happen to him on my watch, alright?"

"Yeah… thanks dad. I… I just don't want anything to happen to my boy." Rita responded, sounding concerned.

Albert nodded, already thinking of the conversation he would have with his adopted grandson. "Don't worry Rita, he'll be fine. Have a good night."

"Yeah. You too dad. I better get going anyway, I can hear the kids arguing in the living room."

With that the call ended as Albert placed the phone back up. Sighing, he ran a hand through his greyish white hair as he stared out the window.

"I'm honestly getting too old for this." The former marine said, giving a small dry laugh. "Well… better go put in my request to Sue. Not looking forward to this at all…"

Another thought hit him as well as he started to walk out the room, rubbing his chin as a woman came to mind. "Wonder if I should give her a call as well. It's been several years since we last talked but she should still be around in Michigan and she was good friends with Sieg and Eliza." He stopped at the elevator and pressed the down button. "Hopefully her number still works and I can locate her."

With that, he entered the elevator, plans already forming in his head

Lincoln fell onto his bed with a sigh, though a bit irritated compared to earlier. When he and Luna had come into the house, Lori had all of a sudden started questioning him as to where he's been and what he was doing. It probably didn't help that his clothes were dirty as well as a bit torn and he had several visible scratches from his fights in the Item World and wasn't able to use his Daily Recovery that he received from his daily missions as it had already been used. Still, it had begun to annoy him and they began to argue for a moment before their parents broke them up.

'What's it matter to her anyway?' A frown appeared on the boy's face as he glared at the ceiling. 'She never cared about what I was doing before, so why is she so interested now?'

His and Lori's relationship had always been a bit… strange to say the least. Since they were the oldest of the group of siblings, their parents often relied on them to keep things under control when they weren't around as they were the eldest and most responsible.

However, Lori took that ball and ran with it from what he could see. While he knew her heart was usually in the right place, she often tried to boss the rest of them around using her title as the eldest child as weight. Normally, Lincoln ignored her as he learned how to simply let things go but on occasion Lori would get under his skin and irritate him.

It wasn't as if he disliked Lori, he cared for her as he did for all his sisters. He also knew why she was so strict when all the children were all alone, as the first few times the two of them had to babysit their siblings they nearly brought the house down causing Lori to begin taking a militaristic style of babysitting to keep them in line. Still, there were times she really needed to learn how to leave him alone and back off.

Lincoln sighed, turning to his side to face the wall. 'Well… whatever. I got better things to do, and as long as they don't stick their noses into what I'm doing. She can act however she wants.'

"So what was that all about sis?"

In Lori and Leni's room, the sisters had gathered around for an Emergency Sisters Only meeting that Lori had called. Lori stood behind Leni's sewing table as if it were a makeshift desk, as the rest of the sisters sat around the room.

Luna leaned back into her beanie chair with her guitar in her lap that she had brought from her and Luan's room, a frown present on her face. "You just started grilling Linc out of nowhere. That wasn't cool."

Lori crossed her arms. "And you know the reason why I did Luna. I thought all of us talked about this."

"About how Lincoln's been coming back home later than usual and looks pretty beat up at times?" The response came from their jokester sister, Luan, who was sitting on Leni's bed with her puppet, Mr. Coconuts, in her arms.

"Correct Luan, glad to see someone remembers." Lori praised with a smile as Luna simply rolled her eyes, plucking a few strings on her guitar. "I normally don't care about what he's doing, but he's been acting weird lately. I had Bobby ask Ronnie Anne about it and even she said he's been off. Also, have you seen his body lately? He literally wasn't that ripped before!"

"And that's all well and good eldest sibling, but does it really mean we need to concern ourselves with his daily schedule in such a manner?" The small brunette wearing a white lab coat asked as she tinkered with a device in her hands. "I understand the concern for our only male sibling, but if you are truly worried then shouldn't you have asked him?"

Lori shook her head with a sigh. "I did, and he avoided answering the question. He just told me not to worry about it and he put himself on a workout plan."

"Then don't worry about it then." Their sporty sister, Lynn, exclaimed as she threw her hands out with a slightly annoyed expression. "Linc's tough and can handle himself, so I doubt anyone's bullying him. Don't forget what he did to that jerk who played Leni this past summer."

Lori noticed Leni's expression dour in the corner of her eyes and grew a scowl on her face. "Lynn, what have I literally said about bringing that up?!"

The jock noticed the fashionista's expression and flinched, especially when she could see the rest of her sisters glaring at her as a few went to comfort Leni. "Oh crap, sorry Leni!"

"I-It's fine Lynn, don't worry about it." The girl smiled, though it appeared to be strained. "We're here to talk about Linky right?"

"You know if you want, I could convince him to tell us what he's been doing." The small blonde girl dressing in a pink dress and tiara suggested with a devilish smirk on her face.

Another blonde who looked identical to her but was wearing more tomboyish clothes along a red hat gave a deadpan response in return. "Lola, you know that type of stuff doesn't work on Linc. He always manages to outsmart you."

Lola flinched, glaring at her twin as a blush grew on her face. "Oh be quiet Lana!"

"Sigh…" came the sigh of the resident goth, Lucy, who was sitting cross legged in a corner by herself.

A loud smacking on wood caught everyone's attention as they turned to Lori who held up one of her shoes. "If I could bring us back on track, I don't want to go that far with Lincoln. At least not yet."

"So what do you want to do Lori?" Luna asked, a small bit of annoyance in her voice. "If he won't talk and we can't get him to talk, how do you plan to find out if something is going on with him?"

Lori put a hand to her chin as she began to ponder over her options before eventually sighing. "I have nothing concrete right now. All I can say is that we keep a close eye on him and make sure he's not in any trouble."

Nods were the response she received in return, a couple of them unenthusiastic.

Luna, unsurprisingly, was one of them. "Seriously sis, I'm not fond of spying on our bro like this."

"I know Luna, but Lincoln has literally been acting too weird lately. I just want to be sure he's not in any trouble is all." Lori reassured, tapping her shoe against the table and adjoining the meeting.

Luna sighed, standing up and grabbing her beanie chair as well as her guitar as most of the sisters began to clear the room. "I hope so too sis. I hope so too…"

"Lame-O, are you taking steroids?"

Lincoln stopped as soon as the cheeseburger was about to reach his mouth giving Ronnie Anne a perplexed look. "What?"

Ronnie Anne simply continued to stare at him with a blank look on her face as the rest of their friends at their table in the school cafeteria looked at them. "I'm just asking, because you seem to be getting pretty buff out of nowhere lately."

"She's not exactly wrong Linc." Everyone turned to Clyde as he also stared at Lincoln. "You've been on some kind of extreme workout plan lately or has Lisa been experimenting on you again?"

Lincoln frowned, placing his food back on the tray. "She's not experimenting on me, I can tell you that much. I can't tell you guys what I've been doing lately either though."

"So you're doing drugs, got it." A brunette wearing a yellow shirt and blue skirt said, a small smirk on her face as she saw Lincoln become slightly flustered.

"I am not Girl Jordan!" Lincoln exclaimed before placing a hand to his forehead as the girl giggled at his reaction. "Seriously guys, do you really think I'm the type to take drugs?"

"Then explained how you got so buffed lately!" A red haired boy with a case of acne exclaimed. "If you keep getting so buffed, you'll take all the girls away from the rest of us! If that happens, we'll-!"

He was forced to stop as a green shoe slammed into his right ankle causing him to yelp in pain as he leaned over. Besides him, a Filipino girl sighed in annoyance before grinning at Lincoln.

"What Rusty means to say Lincoln is that you're looking great!"

"Uh… thanks Stella?" The white haired teen rubbed the back of his neck. 'I highly doubt that's what Rusty was trying to say…'

"So what have ya been doing Linc?" This question came from a boy with orange hair and a country accent. "Ya even been missing out on our meetups over the past week."

Lincoln stayed silent, noticing everyone at the table was looking at him. "It's nothing guys… really. Just been working out and trying to gain some muscle. I've been pretty dedicated to it, which is why you haven't seen me too much as of late."

Ronnie Anne's eyes narrowed in suspicion and she opened her mouth to retort before everyone heard the school bell ring.

As if on cue, Lincoln hastily stood up, grabbing his tray with a grin. "Well guess we better get class, right guys?"

With that, he started walking away to dispose of his trash as everyone watched him. Clyde raised an eyebrow.

"Okay… he's acting pretty weird." the African American said, with everyone else nodding in agreement.

At the far end of the table however, Renee eyed her friend with suspicion as she watched him walk out of the cafeteria.

"This is getting tiring…"

Lincoln heaved a sigh as he walked through one of the forests in Royal Woods, adjusting his backpack as he did so. With one hand, he maneuvered through his menu checking his inventory and equipment.

"Trying to be secretive about this is more trouble than it's worth…" The teenager muttered to himself, ducking under a branch. "Doesn't help that everyone is starting to get more and more curious."

It was true, as both friends and family seemed to be taking note of his appearance. Apparently when he began allotting points into his STR and AGI stat, his body began to change as well giving him more of a slim athletic build as well as developing his muscles. It made sense why people were starting to think he was taking drugs, considering he seemed to have changed over a week alone.

'Kind of wonder what would have happened if I had put most of my points into STR instead of spreading them out evenly…" The thought of him being overly buff as a standard comic book hero brought a snicker out of him.

Actually now that he thought about it, it was an horrifying image. He quickly erased it from his mind.

Shaking his head, he noticed he came to the clearing that he had been making his training spot over the last week and a half. Taking a deep breath, he dropped his bag to the side and began to do some stretches.

'I cleared the ninth floor of the Item World yesterday and managed to hit level fifteen, so the tenth is coming up and from what the system told me, that's the first boss floor...' He thought as he stretched out one of his arms. 'The enemies have been getting tougher without a doubt, almost died on the eighth floor. I need to start being more careful.'

A smirk growing on his face, he opened up his menu and began to scroll through it before stopping at a certain page that read SKILLS AND ABILITIES. He smiled as he went down the list of abilities he had acquired before cycling back to the main page where he saw the ITEM WORLD option. Nodding to himself, he pressed the option as a green portal opened up in front of him.

"Let's do this."

With that, he entered the green portal before seemingly disappearing from the world.

Lincoln landed firmly on the ground as the green portal above him closed. Taking a small look around, he noticed that he was in a canyon area this time.

"Huh, the landscape changed again…" Lincoln muttered to himself, looking around and observing the area.

Ever since he had reached the fifth floor, instead of appearing in a clear area as he did on the first floor, the landscape would be a different field of some kind. At first it was a desert area, then a forest, and now he was in a canyon.

Shaking his head, he dropped his bag and did a few stretches before a menu popped up in front of him.

Congratulations on making it to the tenth floor! Now that you made it here, it's time for your first boss fight. This monster will be stronger than any of the previous ones you have faced before, but if you win this one; not only will you receive a reward, you'll be awarded your first class!

'A class huh?' A small grin grew on Lincoln's face as he thought of the possibilities. Till this point, he had been evenly distributing his stat points to help him in different aspects of combat and also his daily life. For example, increasing his INT stat had helped him with his studies as he was able to process new knowledge and information faster. However, increasing his WIS stat allowed him to apply that knowledge in various ways and think outside of the box as well.

With an actual class, he'd have a better understanding of how he should start using his stat points from this point on. What stats to aim for and how he could better apply them in fights.

Lincoln shook his head, noticing the timer on the screen in front of him began. "Well, I'll focus on that later. For now, let's worry about clearing this floor!"

As soon as the timer hit zero, the screen disappeared and a large column of data took it's place. Soon, the data began to vanish and in place came a large green creature with a large brown club in it's right hand.

Lincoln maintained a low stance as he observed the creature and the title above it.

Boss: Ogre

Level 22

He clicked his teeth as the creature let out a loud roar, finally noticing him and made a dash towards him. He quickly turned around and took off, the monster giving chase as he began to weigh on his options.

'It's definitely the strongest thing I've encountered at this point. Can't just bulldoze my way through it like I've done some of the previous floors.' He turned his head around, noticing that he was beginning to create some distance between his enemy. 'I'm faster than it too, despite being a lower level. That'll help for sure.'

"Alright then…!" The white haired teen muttered, before leaping up into the sky onto one of the higher rocks. Landing, he glared right towards the ogre. "Scan…!"

A green cross hair appeared in his vision, bouncing around before landing right on the monster. A small gauge appeared before quickly filling up as a set of information appeared. He read through it for a moment, before smirking as he mentally made the menu disappear. 'Perfect!'

His plan already formed in his head, he jumped off the pillar towards the ogre as heat began to gather in his right hand.

"Fire!"

With a wave of his hand, a torrent of flames appeared and knocked the monster back as it gave a loud cry of pain in return. Lincoln landed on the ground, opening up his menu as he reached through the screen and pulled out his metal bat. Getting a firm grasp on his weapon, he made a dash towards his opponent as it began to recover from the magical attack.

"Graaaah!" The Ogre roared, lifting up it's club and bringing it down in an attempt to squash Lincoln.

Lincoln's eyes narrowed, speeding up till he almost became a blur to the monster and avoiding the attack by turning to the right. Not losing his momentum, he brought out a hand towards the right side of the monster's face.

"Freeze!"

On cue, a gust of ice wind blasted the creature as it took several steps back in pain with part of it's face now being covered in ice.

Lincoln didn't stop his assault as with the creature now preoccupied, he made a dash towards it's legs. With a roar of his own, he leapt up and smashed his bat into one of it's knees as the makeshift weapon glowed blue.

Power Strike Activated

The result was the ogre falling to it's knees in pain, causing a small tremor.

Lincoln jumped back to avoid it's fall before dashing towards it again. However, his eyes widened as he noticed the glare in it's red eyes.

'Crap!'

Quickly putting his arms in front of him in a protective X manner, he grunted in pain as the ogre punched sending him flying back. Recovering and landing on his feet, he glared at the creature before holding out his right hand again with a grin.

"Still have some fight left in you huh? Then take this, Thunder!"

Several bolts of lighting came screeching out of Lincoln's hand and struck the creature's face, causing it to let out a loud screech of pain. When the smoke had cleared, mostly nothing remained of it's face except for charred flesh.

Lincoln took a deep breath, having his bat at the ready before jumping high into the air. As he fell back towards the ground, he prepared his weapon for one last attack as it glowed blue once again.

"It's… over!"

The ogre, unable to get up due to it's broken knee cap from Lincoln's Power Strike and still very much in pain from his magical barrage, could only watch as the metal bat closed in on it's vision before it knew no more.

Lincoln remained tense as he watched the monster disappear into data, only relaxing when several LEVEL UP screens appeared in front of him, followed by another screen of text.

Congratulations, you have officially cleared the first ten floors of the Item World! As a reward, one hundred and fifty dollars of your current currency will automatically be sent to your account as a congratulatory gift as well as several items to your inventory. You will also now be awarded your first class based on your current parameters!

Lincoln's eyes widened at that information. 'Awarded? I'm not allowed to choose?'

As if ignoring his inner protests, another screen popped up in front of him.

We have studied your abilities, stats, and performance from these first ten floors. The system has graciously chosen to grant you the class of Handyman! Congratulations!

Lincoln deadpanned. "Can I change it?"

Another screen popped up in front of him.

Nope.

The newly crowned Handyman sighed, opening up his menu and moving to his skills tab only for his eyes to widen as he saw the abilities he could unlock. 'Huh… this actually might work out after all! These abilities actually look really good, though it's closed off after a certain point.'

He put a hand to his chin in thought. 'It must mean there are more levels to this. It makes sense as most RPGs don't give you access to everything from the start.' Another thought hit him, causing a smirk to form on his face. 'Which means I'm not even close to getting as strong as I can…!'

Grinning to himself, he cycled through his menu before exiting the Item World.

'Things are about to get even more fun!'

"You know, you kind of caught me off guard when you told me you just wanted to meet up alone Linc." A teenaged girl said as her and Lincoln sat at a table of a Burpin Burger restaurant, with their bags next to them.

Lincoln scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry Renee, but I just wanted to ask you something in private."

Renee raised an eyebrow with a small smirk on her face. "That much I could figure out, so what is it that you're curious about?"

"Mmm…" Lincoln took a deep breath, knowing it was now or never. He looked around him before speaking in a slightly hushed tone. "What's a good way to get stronger in the Abyss?"

"Oh that's easy! You can just open an ID barrier and fight mon- wait." Renee stopped her explaining as her eyes narrowed at Lincoln. The boy felt himself tense at the glare, not used to seeing the female Ace Savvy fan like this.

You felt a murderous intent.

'You don't say!' Lincoln mentally shouted at the pop up, watching as Renee stood up with an intense stare.

The brown haired girl glared at the white haired teen with a scary expression on her face and a murderous intent seemingly beginning to arise around her. "Who are you and what did you do to Lincoln?"

Lincoln swallowed, noticing her begin to pull out those cards he saw her use against Maggie out. He had to think of something fast.

'Think Lincoln! What's a way to prove that I'm- That's it!' Lincoln took a deep breath before shouting. "In sixth grade during gym class while climbing the ropes, Renee Mason far-Oof!"

Lincoln was cut off as a fist found it's way into his stomach, courtesy of Renee who had a fierce blush on her face. The girl growled, glaring right into his light blue eyes.

"Damn it Linc! I told you never to mention that ever again!" The brunette crossed her arms, looking away as Lincoln tried to catch his breath. It was then that they noticed everyone around them staring from all the commotion they caused.

"N-Nothing to see here!" Lincoln told them, laughing nervously. It worked as the other occupants of the turned back the other way, going back to their own conversations. The boy sighed, giving his friend a weak look. "Sorry about that, but you were honestly making me nervous with that glare."

Renee shook her head with her own sigh. "Well I thought you might have been an imposter who took on your appearance. Not to mention they could have hurt you."

"Well I'm fine, so don't worry." Lincoln smiled, before wincing a bit. "You have a mean punch though. Lynn could probably take a few pointers from you."

"Well sorry, but you know I don't like anyone talking about that." Renee said, a serious expression on her face as she sat down. "But let's get to the real question; how do you know about the Abyss anyway? That and how did you know I knew about it?"

Lincoln took a deep breath. "Well to put it in simple terms… I've become a video game character."

Renee gave a disbelieving look towards her friend. "Are you kidding me Lincoln?"

"You think I'd joke about something like this?" Lincoln gave his own glare towards her, shaking his head. "I'm being serious Renee."

Renee stared into his eyes for a moment, before sighing. "Alright then, I can tell you're being serious. But tell me, how did you know I was involved in the Abyss?"

"Well, one I saw your fight with Maggie Granger awhile back." Lincoln watched as the girl tensed up at this. "And finally, I can see your status along with the rest of the Student Council."

Renee's eyes widened at that. "So then you know Hazel is-."

"Also a Natural Ability user? Yeah I do." Lincoln placed a hand under his chin. "Look, I'm not trying to blackmail you guys or anything and you're free to refuse if you want. But I want to see if you guys can help me out with getting stronger."

Renee stayed silent before speaking. "First things first though, when did you discover your ability?"

"It might take awhile."

"And I have time Lincoln." The brunette placed her arms on the table. "Tell me everything."

Lincoln sighed before beginning. "Well it started a couple of weeks ago…"

Holy crap, this fic updated?! Jacula isn't dead?!

But nah for real, it's nice to finally get back to writing. 2020 for lack of a better word was hell and a very rough year, especially if you worked in the medical field. Still, sorry for such a long wait and hope you all are safe and enjoyed your holidays. Let's hope 2021 isn't a repeat of it's predecessor. I haven't fully watched all the episodes of the newer seasons of Loud House, but enough to know what's generally going on.

As you can see, and I said last chapter, speeding things along a bit while also changing some things. Want to build Lincoln as more of a soloer compared to the original story and I'm taking some notes from Solo Leveling (if you haven't read that I highly recommend it) as well.

That's all I really have to say besides, hope you enjoyed the chapter, please review, and stay safe. We're still in the middle of a pandemic after all.

Until next time,

Jacula