Chapter 157 : Nigeria

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Kara’s name turned red, marking her as restricted from entering safe areas.

“I can’t enter a city for four days. Thanks, guys,” she joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Smiling, Sora looked at her and said, “You’re welcome. Can we move these kids to your [Time Space]? It’s best to get them out of Hannah’s reach as soon as possible.”

Nodding, Kara prepared to send the group of players into her [Time Space], but Sora stopped her. “Someone will need to keep watch on them as soon as possible since they’ll wake up soon.”

Kara retorted, “Don’t worry, I can stop time inside. They’ll be frozen for as long as I want. I can even isolate them in an area where time is frozen while the rest of the space is accelerated...”

With everything ready, they headed off, unwilling to waste any more time. Flying at high speed, they soon reached their destination.

Hovering in the sky, they arrived at an area where monsters had levels above 170.

Sora, spoke first, "I've learnt from my earlier incursion inside the [GODS] players' memories, that this area is  the best level 170 hunting ground in the world, with countless mobs densely packed. Kara, Alius, welcome to Nigeria where monsters are abundant!"

Turning to Alius, Sora asked, “You gauged your power to be equivalent to level 165 monsters, right? But that was before you acquired your Supreme Skill, [Soul Dominion]. Do you want to try your skills against low-level monsters in this area? I can buff you if you need help.”

Alius nodded. “I won't use my supreme skill, but don't worry about me. I'll be fine.”

Sora who was tired of chatting, just nodded and led the group inside the level 170 area. Alius was about to start hunting monsters when he felt Kara trying to teleport him into the [Time Space].

“Where are you going? We kill monsters inside the [Time Space] for efficiency,” Kara said, smiling at his confusion.

Sora looked at them and said, "Go train together. I'll help you from outside."

Understanding Kara's words but confused about Sora's last sentence, Alius accepted the summon, and disappeared alongside Kara. 

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As Alius, Kara, and their familiars appeared inside the [Time Space], Sora began mass-producing clones.

Ten clones. A hundred clones. A thousand clones. Ten thousand clones.

Feeling his mental power strained and his mind aching, he stopped creating more.

‘Grab mobs and bring them here. I need as many as possible. Don’t let anyone see you.’ Sending a simple message to all his clones, he watched as they disappeared from sight. He had given them enough Mental Power to adapt to any situation they might face and succeed in their mission.

Using his mental power, he focused on one clone and saw it moving at lightning speed toward a level 171 Enutrof.

It was a humanoid creature that transformed anything it touched into gold. Recalling how he knew about this hunting ground, this beast—and many others things—he thought, ‘Digging through all those players’ memories is proving to be incredibly useful. They knew most regions in the world, almost all the high-level areas, and were aware of so many things I’ve never even heard of.’

Considering the value of such knowledge, he smiled. ‘Maybe that was the most valuable thing I could have gotten from them. Interrogating enemies is overrated. I’ll just browse through their memories in the future.’

Deciding to recreate the [Memory Sculpt] skill, he began recalling how he had used it, working to understand its mechanisms.

‘I’ve used this skill many times, yet it still feels incredibly difficult. Why?’ he wondered. ‘I can perfectly remember and replicate all mana movements, but it feels like I’m missing a few pieces.’

Analyzing his own memory, he replayed the scene of himself activating the skill over and over, searching for the answer.

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While Sora was busy discovering new skills, Alius and Kara stood back-to-back, watching in confusion as thousands of monsters poured into the [Time Space].

Alius, visibly startled, exclaimed, “What the hell? Why did you let so many monsters in?”

Kara’s face reddened at the reproach as she tried to explain, “I just ordered the space to absorb monsters in the immediate vicinity… I didn’t think to check how many there were. This shouldn’t even be possible—there weren’t more than ten monsters near us when we entered. It almost feels like someone packed all the monsters from the entire region near the entrance.”

Alius froze at her words and interrupted, “Don’t tell me… is that what he meant when he said he’d help from outside? He’s hoarding them!”

Realizing the truth, Kara couldn’t help but smile. “He’s sending us countless beasts! This will speed up our leveling speed.”

Alius shot her a glance and said, “We’re both level 142. Let’s see who can kill more of them.”

Kara turned to Alius, suppressing the urge to point out how much stronger she was, and instead gave him a smile.

“Sure. The first to clear their half wins. Let’s get started,” she replied, summoning an army of [Life Source] clones. Equipping them with swords, she controlled each one as they formed a defensive wall around her, holding back the flood of monsters in front of her.

As the battle began, Kara noticed her clones struggling against the monsters’ massive health pools and high defenses. ‘This is going to take a while,’ she thought, focusing on her swordsmanship and avoiding the use of her innate ability to manipulate [Time] as it wasn't sustainable.

The first monster she defeated rewarded her with an enormous amount of life force, far exceeding what she already had in reserve. A smile appeared on her face as she felt her power growing despite not gaining a level. ‘I missed this feeling,’ she thought.

Behind her, Alius had all his generals summoned and was considering bringing in more troops.

Nyx and Magnus took the lead, each engaging a powerful opponent. Seeing them struggling to bring down their targets, Alius decided not to summon more allies and activated one of his skills, choosing quality over quantity.

[Overclock]
[Description: Using Soul Power, allow your undead to push beyond their limits.]

[Ancestor's Might]
[Description: Increase your undead's body level.]

...

[Fury Beyond Death]
[Description: Increase your undead's energy level.]

Activating dozens of skills using mana, mental power, and Soul Power, Alius felt his energy reserves being drained at an alarming rate. ‘I hope I level up soon, or I’ll be drained to death by these skills,’ he thought, relying on the hope of a level-up to refill his energy reserves.

‘Any monster killed with Soul Power will be weakened upon respawning and protected by the system for a period of time,’ he recalled, remembering the fact he’d learned while hunting in the Russian region.

For this reason, he decided not to use his [Soul Dominion] Supreme Skill. He focused on empowering his strongest familiars and undead to fight instead.

Nyx felt an immense surge of power as her master’s buffs coursed through her. Sensing the endless waves of Soul Power flowing into her, she intensified her attacks. A wave of cold emanated from her body, and the temperature in her vicinity dropped instantly.

Watching her unleash [Absolute Zero], Alius nodded in approval as her enemies slowed to a crawl. She followed up with devastating mental attacks, forcing a dozen enemies into her illusions and sealing them in an [Unreal Ice Prison].

Satisfied, Alius turned his attention to another undead, one specialized in long-range attacks, and rejoiced as arrows shot through the frozen targets, shattering them with precision.

‘Nyx and Luigi have great synergy. At least I don’t need to worry about those two,’ he thought, pleased with their performance. The experience gained from every monster was massive, given the significant level gap between him and the creatures. He smiled as his experience bar moved for the first time in weeks.

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While Kara and Alius were gaining experience inside the [Time Space], Sora was training outside, but at a much slower pace.

‘So it’s impossible to replicate this skill. Maybe that’s also why I’ve been failing to copy Innate Skills. There are things I can’t sense, see, or track yet—just like how I only started to comprehend time after developing my affinity for it. [Mana Eyes] is powerful, but it’s still not enough. I need better ways to observe the world and more tools to expand my understanding. I need more options’ Always striving for growth, Sora felt his curiosity and hunger for knowledge intensify whenever he faced a new obstacle.

He wrote down his observations of [Memory Sculpt] before moving on to another skill: [Thought Acceleration].

Activating it, he watched in awe as the world around him seemed to freeze. ‘A long time ago, I had thought I’d reached the peak of perception when I maxed out my [Focus] skill. Then I fused my mental skills and discovered the [Zone], which opened an entirely new realm of awareness. Now, I’ve gone beyond even that. This feeling is incredible.’

He recalled the time Kara had used her [Time Acceleration] on him and how everything around him had felt frozen in place. Using this new skill gave him a similar feeling.

Experimenting with movement, he quickly realized something important: ‘My mind is now faster than my body.’ Smiling at the realization, he activated his Lava state.

Nearby monsters flinched as he began to emit overwhelming pressure, but Sora ignored them, focusing instead on his own abilities. He threw a punch at the air in front of him.

His control over his body was perfect. Despite swinging his fist at maximum speed, he could still adjust the movement in real time, open his hand mid-swing, and even correct its trajectory as needed.

The shockwave from the punch razed the area to the ground, but Sora barely noticed. Even the level-up notification that followed didn’t distract him. He was utterly captivated by the effects of the skill.

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