章 422: Chapter 422
"So that's the Void Creeper Lord."
I turn to Ember, and he responds.
"Oh? You actually met it?"
"Meeting it isn't exactly what I'd call that... More like it killed me the second I laid eyes on it."
Ember nods.
"Sounds about right... If you were killed in an instant, you have nothing to worry about."
He turns back to the direction where the rift closed moments ago and continues to speak through our link.
"It's already been too long back in that world for that creature to remember you even existed. I've never been myself, but I assume pests like us jump through the rifts all the time."
I tell Ember the details about what happened, and we both have a good laugh, but also appreciate the perspective of power it just showed me.
Those greed-filled eyes and its overwhelming strength is burned into the back of my mind. Even kilometers away, all my senses were scrambled by its passive aura. The more I think about it, the more I understand there isn't even a point in being scared. The power gap is so large it's impossible to understand. In that world, it has absolute dominance.
Even though it was only for a brief second, through the eyes of my double, I still have a perspective of what is possible. It's clear I only grazed the surface of its capabilities, but power like this is something I one day aspire to achieve.
In this world, there are still many monsters and people far stronger than me. I have to master the power at my fingertips and continue to train by only facing opponents I am certain I can defeat. By taking it one strong enemy at a time, with careful and calculated steps, I can rule like the Lord of that world...
Thinking back further, I recount the image of what my body double saw when it tried to sense me from afar when I re-entered The Great Plains. I really do seem like just a weak unawakened human from the perspective of non-Qi users now.
With a thin smile, I whisper to myself.
"Perfect."
Then, I open up my item storage and let Ember hop inside.
"I have some work to do."
The last 2 months inside the Titan's Domain were even more productive and eye-opening than the first 3.
I managed to almost double my Qi capacity again, gaining an additional 120% by cutting my rest and relaxation time down, while upping the training output to not consider fatigue into account. In doing this, I managed to burn through an additional 1.6 Billion MP in just 2 months.
I upped the ante on using my buffs and elongated my time gathering Qi by combining the two training methods together. Once I became able to conjure physical Qi around my body at a constant rate for long periods of time, circulating it in waves around the outside of my body rather than inside added to my control considerably.
This gave a large surface area for new Qi in the room to gather upon me and also allowed me to multitask gathering, control training, and training my Qi barrier.
I used a Full restore potion around the midway point when my mana fatigue became overwhelming, and it completely washed away 90% of the tiredness. With my growing control, I only needed about 5 hours of sleep every 7 days by the end of it all.
That's a 260% increase in Qi capacity and a 3 billion MP increase in total control since the start of this session.
As I use Dungeon Walker to teleport myself back to the 28th Floor of the Labyrinth, there's a thick flowing white layer of Qi present around every square centimeter of my body. I've gotten used to holding up the highest setting of a barrier, and with my immense control training, it's become an extension of myself.
On command, I can let the Qi that surrounds my body flow back into my core at any speed I'd like. It still feels as if there are ocean waves of energy crashing and flowing all around me, but my mind can guide the energy almost as easily as breathing now.
It's a more instinctual way of controlling energy than the rigid activation of mana, but I've finally gotten the hang of it.
I do a full scan of the dungeon using enemy detection and find there are only 2 monsters left in here, and they're very far away from the exit portal and boss room. I come to the conclusion that Bri has already finished up here and moved to the 29th floor.
I dungeon walk to the mountainous region to check and see if my assumption is correct, and almost immediately see a white bird battling a shimmering orb of light high in the sky above the nearest mountain.
Large waves of mana are expelled after every exchange. The white feathered bird dive bombs in, and Bri retaliates with her blades and attempts to confuse her opponent with light magic and her ranked up buff.
About a minute goes by before the battle is over, and Bri successfully outmaneuvers the monster, letting its bloodied corpse fall to the ground and airsteps downward to collect the loot.
I inspect Bri to see she's already made it up to level 620 in such a short amount of time, but it's clear there was quite the struggle in that battle. As she stands next to the dissolving body and drinks an HP and MP potion to heal her wounds and mana depletion, I confirm she's nearing her max level possible with her current mana control.
This dungeon on the 29th floor may be the last safe one for her to hunt in alone for the time being.
I airstep over, covered in a thick barrier of Qi, but hide behind rocks and trees. I get within 50 meters, but her head hasn't turned, and not a single sign of there being an enemy nearby is triggered.
It hasn't been the full hour she requested, so I'll let her farm here longer. In the meantime, I might as well see what the floor above this one has to offer.
I Dungeon Walk away, far deeper into this dungeon, and dip into the boss room portal to challenge the boss.
An enormous level 667 Bird with bright white feathers and fierce advanced wind magic appears and lets out a screech. Then, after a moment of silence as its battle cry echoes away, it blows mana-imbued wind magic allthroughout the boss room.
I slowly airstep into the sky to meet its eye level and pull my black sword from my item storage. The moment I lift it in the air, the dense Qi swirling around my body flows into the blade, oversaturating it in an instant. The same thick barrier of Qi around my body now surrounds my blade as well.
To the boss monster's perspective, I have no magic power. It sees me as a bug, ready to be squashed with a single swing of its long sharp talons.
However, once it dives down to attack, I simply swing my blade upward and let the bird's own momentum cut itself in half against my Qi imbued sword.
It wasn't even a challenge, and the Boss was confident until its last breath it would be the victor.
Now falling to the Boss room floor are two halves of a mighty bird that has no idea how it died.
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
I hit level 647, absorb its MCP, and collect the mana crystal and [White Feather of Agility] it drops with a 110% Agility buff. I place them all in my item storage before the transport magic brings me to the 30th floor.
Once the transport magic fades, I activate my enemy detection skill along with my All-Seeing Eye and airstep high into the sky to get a better view of this dungeon.
The readings I get show monsters ranging anywhere from level 550 to 750.
Monsters in a dungeon have never ranged this far apart in level on a single floor, and the variety of skills I pick up using my appraisal skill is also a confusing piece of data to receive. However, it's best to take opportunities when they're presented.
I whisper under my breath while pinpointing which monster I'd like to challenge first.
"Now this is going to be interesting..."
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Author's Note:
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