The group chat blew up the moment Alex dropped the confession.
Alex:
[He used a Berserking Strawberry like Viagra.]
Three seconds of silence.
Then chaos.
Dominic sent fifteen crying-laughing emojis in a row.
Jake typed [NO WAY], deleted it twice, then sent it anyway.
Jack added:
[Bro. You start min-maxing romance now?]
Janet replied:
[I knew those berries were dangerous... But god.]
Séline:
[Mon dieu. Tactical enhancement.]
Camille:
[I respect the commitment.]
Then someone asked about the weakness debuff.
Alex answered with fake innocence.
[The system considers his default state already "extreme weakness."]
That did it.
The chat dissolved into wheezing messages.
Dominic sent a voice note of himself laughing.
Jake posted a meme of a half-dead stick figure labeled [Lv1 Farmer].
Jack added:
[Bro really living in the Nightmare difficulty.]
Phong stared at the screen, deadpan.
Then sent a lazy weasel emoji.
Phong:
[Imagine being me for a full day. Unacceptable.]
Dominic fired back at once.
[Being you WITHOUT your plants! Be honest with us, brother. Where did you rip those from, PvZ concept art?]
Phong replied:
[Got robbed by PopCap. Off doing boring couple stuff. You all keep grinding adventures.]
Janet answered:
[Define boring.]
He did not reply to that.
Meanwhile, Floor Two was anything but boring.
Dominic's team, reinforced by Alexei and Séline, moved through the ruined structure they had marked days earlier.
The Wraith Fort.
Black stone walls.
Torches burning with unnatural violet flame.
Nightmares, humanoid shadows with toxic claws, prowled the halls.
Shadowwraiths hovered near the ceiling, chanting curse spells that bent the air around them.
It was a hostile place.
It was a force to be reckon with across floor 2.
But Dominic was no longer level 29.
He was level 31.
The elite Wraith in the central tower fell under coordinated assault.
Janet's buffs widened openings.
Jake flanked the boss whenever he saw an opportunity.
Jack stone structures provided the team with covers and footholds to jump into the air when needed.
Séline's fist strikes blocked escape routes.
Camille hid between stone pillars and attacked if the boss forgot to check its back.
Alexei, newest addition to the team, anchored the front with radiant force that made shadow creatures recoil. His aura surged outward, buffing everyone's stats exponentially.
He really showed everyone why a Paladin was welcomed in any team comp despite being a common class.
Dominic delivered the final blow.
The elite dissolved into a vortex of dark motes.
A notification flashed.
Level up.
He froze for a second, then opened his status window.
He had heard the rumors.
Seeing them confirmed was different.
From level 1 to 10, growth had been modest.
One stat per level.
Usually the class's strongest stat.
From 10 to 20, three stats per level.
Usually including the main one.
From 21 to 29, three stats per level, chosen manually.
Control.
Optimization.
Min-maxing.
But level 30?
Explosion.
All stats rose.
Not selective.
Not partial.
Everything.
Now at 31, every new level gave plus one to every stat.
Strength.
Dexterity.
Constitution.
Intelligence.
Wisdom.
Charisma.
All of it.
The rumor was true.
Level 30 was the wall.
Past it, every step mattered on another scale.
Alexei hit 30 not long after.
His paladin class evolved.
Radiant aura brighter.
Defenses sharper.
He felt... complete.
Not finished.
But anchored.
Dominic grinned.
"I want my rematch."
Janet sheathed her blade.
"With whom? Alex? She would hand you your ass again."
"I don't think it's a good idea either."
Séline wiped black goo off her gloves, and everyone nod in agreement to her remarks.
Dominic snorted, pretend to be offended:
"Why is everyone lowering my morale? You do that on purpose so I lose to Alex, huh?"
That earned him a laugh of the whole squad.
They secured the fort as a foothold.
Cleared the lower chambers.
Fortified the entrances.
Set temporary defensive barricade.
From there, they pushed outward carefully.
The land beyond shifted from ruin into forested riverbank.
And that was where they saw it.
A river that did not belong on Floor Two.
The water shimmered with dense mana.
Wrong.
Unfamiliar.
Shifting residue.
A fish broke the surface.
Large.
Sleek.
Then it leapt.
A three-headed bull grazing near the bank barely had time to turn.
A jet of pressurized water cut clean through its torso.
All three heads came off in one sweep.
The body fell in halves.
The fish dragged the remains underwater.
Silence returned.
Dominic slowly checked the creature's projected level.
56.
He exhaled.
"That river isn't native to this floor."
Janet nodded.
"Shifted upward."
Alexei stepped back slightly.
"We do not test that."
No one argued.
Survival beat curiosity.
From there, their path curved toward a familiar landmark.
The other half of Lake Baratok.
But not the section tied to Camp Stymphalian.
This part was deeper.
More hostile.
Already at war.
Lizardmen.
Dozens of them.
Holding formation along muddy banks.
Scaled shields locked together.
Mages bending water into counter currents.
Archers firing barbed bolts.
Opposing them—
Kamohai.
Shark-humanoid warriors.
Huge dorsal fins.
Saw-like teeth.
Dark, wet skin.
They surged from the lake in organized waves, staffs inset with shark teeths like elongated Leiomano held high.
Dominic saw the pattern right away.
This was not random violence.
This was border pressure.
This was war between two factions over control of lake Baratok.
Janet glanced at him.
"Alliance."
He nodded.
Camp Stymphalian stood with the Scaled Throne.
Which meant they did too.
He raised his weapon.
"Surprise reinforcement."
They charged.
Jake and Jack hit the left flank.
Séline pierced through a Kamohai trying to break the shield line. Her mana infused punch sent the creature into the air, knocking out several teeth.
Alexei's radiant burst drove two shark-warriors back into the water. Camille slashed both with her mana claws, making sure they wouldn't resurface ever again.
Dominic slammed into a clustered group, his evolved Judgenaut form taking blows that would have broken his old self.
Janet hovered over the lake, morale buffs from a War Valkyrie fell onto the lizardmen rank like a rain of gold dust.
Some Kamohai tried jumping to take Janet down, but Joanne sniped them with deadly precision.
The lizardman vanguard captain recognized them in mid-battle.
A guttural roar of recognition went up.
Morale shifted.
The Kamohai faltered under pressure from two sides.
Lizardman mages redirected currents.
Dominic smashed through another shark-warrior with a brutal downward strike.
Water churned red.
For a moment, the field stabilized.
Scaled Throne forces regained footing.
Kamohai momentum slowed.
Dominic wiped blood from his gauntlet and looked toward the lake's dark center.
Something larger moved below.
Floor Two was clearly no longer stable.
Between shifted rivers, level 56 aquatic predators, and faction war heating up, their decision could alter the fate of an entire eco-system.
Dominic grinned grimly despite it all.
"Tell Phong he's not the only one expanding alliances."
Janet corrected him.
"Strengthening. Without our farm boy the lizardmen would see us as foes as well."
Séline said, still catching her breath:
"Might need to ask him to stockpile those Relaxing Shiitake as well. I'm exhausted."
Far above, on Floor One, a level 1 farmer checked basil growth.
Unaware that his web of diplomacy was already rippling much deeper than he meant it to.