Leveling Up by Seducing Milfs-Chapter 136. I Am...

The four warmths pulled on him, trying to pull him up from the dark. Rick felt tears he didn’t know he could cry in this empty space running down his nonexistent face.

"But what if I let you down?" Rick’s voice broke. "What if everything I do isn’t good enough?"

"What if you all die because I wasn’t smart, strong, or fast enough?"

"Then we die knowing we fought next to someone we could trust," Carmilla said firmly. "But we’re still alive."

"We are fighting for you right now."

"Sylvia, Zara, and Liora are out there buying you time."

"Are you really going to let us down?"

Natasha added, "The only way you really let us down is if you give up."

"Failing in battle is okay, but it’s not okay to give up before the battle is over."

"Rick," Liora said in a soft but firm voice. "You’re not the same person who died there."

"You’ve gotten better, and what’s best for you now is that you are different from before."

"You’ve helped many people and saved many lives."

"But that person you remember? He is no longer living."

"You’ve grown into something more."

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself and GET THE FUCK UP!" Sylvia screamed. "I need my consort with me, not hiding in the dark and feeling sorry for himself!"

"The Rick I got to know and love is a fighter! So FIGHT TILL YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN TO GIVE UP!"

Four different voices pulled him toward the light, each with a different strength. Rick felt a change inside him, similar to a crack forming in the wall of despair that had confined him.

"That’s it!" A fifth voice joined in, this one sarcastic and familiar. "It’s about time you stopped feeling sorry for yourself, you gooner fool!"

"Sebastian?" Rick’s attention was drawn to the chibi butler spirit that had appeared in the dark, glowing with system energy.

"Of course it’s me, you hopeless gooner!" Sebastian moved his monocle around, looking completely unimpressed even though he was in an endless void.

"Did you really think I would let my user die from his own stress?"

"What kind of system administrator would I fucking be, huh!?"

"I... I’m not strong enough... level 22 against a level 80 Demon King that has been corrupted? The math doesn’t add up!"

"Math?" Sebastian laughed in a mean and mocking way. "You think levels are just numbers?"

"You stupid fool! Yes, levels measure power, but they don’t measure will for your own system!"

"They measure neither the strength from love and bonds, nor the strength from persevering when you should give up!"

The chibi butler floated closer, and even though he was small, he seemed to have a lot of power. "Rick Rolland, you’ve done the impossible over and over again since I’ve known you."

"You made it through tests that were meant to kill you. You made connections that shouldn’t be possible."

"In sixty-seven thousand years of system history, no one has ever made a Spirit Bond network like the one you did. And you’re saying you can’t deal with one corrupted king?!"

"Don’t be a beta! Be a sigma like you wanted to be!"

"He’s too powerful!"

"They manage to beat three Major Powers!"

"So get up and help them!" Sebastian’s voice abruptly broke. "Stop hiding from your past traumas and become the man you’ve always wanted to be!"

"Yes, you failed in your past life! Yes, you died in a sad way, but that’s not who you are now!"

Sebastian waved his hand around in the dark. "This empty space? This is you trying to go back to your old life, the old Rick who gave up before he even tried, but that Rick is no longer alive!"

"He passed away on that gaming chair!"

"This Rick is a different person than the one who was there before! Someone who jumps in front of Corruption Titans!"

"Someone who gets the love of amazing women!"

"Someone who becomes a Demon King on his own!"

The butler’s eyes were full of fire. "Stop putting yourself down and everyone who believes in you!"

"WAKE THE FUCK UP AND FIGHT LIKE THE HERO YOU AREEEEE!"

The four warmths of his bonds grew stronger and pulled harder.

Carmilla’s comforting embrace.

Natasha’s keen insight.

Liora’s radiant glow.

Sylvia’s fierce loyalty.

Together with Sebastian’s words, they formed a rope of light in the darkness.

Rick seized it.

As soon as he touched that rope, memories flooded back to him. The memories he recollected were not the agonizing ones from the past, but rather the fresh and joyful ones.

Carmilla genuinely smiled when he completed his first quest. Her eyes softened when he told her that her husband would be proud of her.

Natasha’s laugh was rare during their dungeon runs. The moment she said, "Don’t die before our next dungeon," it was clear that she wanted to hang out with him again.

Liora’s calm face turned into a playful grin. The night they spent together, when they were not only physically close but also emotionally open in ways that went beyond the physical.

Sylvia was very proud when he stood in front of the Dragon Council. The way she cried when their Spirit Bond almost killed him showed how much she cared.

Zara’s respect for him was evident after he bravely jumped in front of the Corruption Titan. The way she looked at him with real admiration instead of the indifference he had expected.

Vyra smiled sweetly at him during the three days they were together. The way she had opened up to him and let him in on her sadness over her brother.

All the people he helped rebuild Valdris.

Names and faces of people whose lives he’d changed and whose problems he’d solved.

The demon warriors who cheered for him during the fight with Zork. The respect in their eyes was not because of his skill but because of his bravery.

All these moments, all these connections, all these people who saw something in him worth believing in. They couldn’t all be mistaken. Not a single one of them.

Rick took hold of the rope of light with both hands and pulled.

The darkness fought back, whispering to him that he wasn’t worthy enough and that he should be afraid, but the warmth of his ties was stronger. The voices of the women who loved him and the spirit who guided him all came together.

Rick climbed that rope of light inch by painful inch, rising through the darkness. Every time he failed, it tried to pull him back down, but every time he succeeded, it pushed him higher.

"I’m not that useless excuse of a person anymore," Rick said, his voice getting louder.

"I’m not the one who dropped out of college!"

"I am not the person who couldn’t get a job!"

"I’m not the sad shut-in gooner who died alone."

He climbed higher, and the light above him got brighter.

"I’m Rick Rolland..."

"I helped a sad knight get over her grief and taught her how to smile again."

"I am the person who gained the trust of Thornwick’s coldest mage."

"I am the man who lived through Dragon Trials and married a Dragon Queen."

"I’m the guy who threw himself in front of death to save a Demon General he barely knew."

The darkness was losing its grip because his bonds were too strong for it to hold him.

"I... AM..."

"The Hero of Mature Hearts!"