Chapter 647 - Ol' Reliable

After a while, Weslin fights another group of monsters that start getting closer. I lay in the same spot as before and continue doing mental exercises. The ones where I imagine mana flowing through impossible shapes still hurt, but I’ve made progress with creating two minds to cycle them.

I’ve decided to call it Load Rotation.

No one ever said I’m good at naming things.

Weslin and I both ignore the black javelin stabbed into the ground a mile away, as it hungrily devours all the mana it can reach.

As I continue practicing, I keep observing Weslin. After having my ass kicked by him, I can easily say he’s stronger than Faora. I just can’t imagine her being able to do anything to him, not with that primordial void protecting his mind. Even my black mana struggled to counter him. Although in this case, I blame it more on myself. I wasn’t willing to create a denser version of black mana because I knew I wouldn’t be able to control it properly yet.

I have a pretty clear view of my capabilities, thanks to my many deaths during the tournament.

Of course, I also know that if needed, I could push myself further than what my tests in the tournament showed. The real sense of danger and possible death just has that kind of effect on me.

It also makes me wonder if part of that comes from the effect of my Pride subclass. Even now, what subclasses actually do is hard to grasp. It’s more about a feeling rather than accurate numbers or something easier to quantify.

Still, I’m sure my subclass constantly affects me and my skills. That would explain why I’m better at certain things than some people who should be comparable to me.

Another monster screeches, and when I look back, I see a huge white wolf with glowing green eyes. It bites at Weslin, who just moves to the side and delivers a punch that sends a shockwave through the monster and buries a hole in it. Weslin then tanks another bite to his shoulder, grabs the wolf by its teeth, and tears its mouth open.

Some of his fights can barely be called combat and feel more like executions. He’s clearly too overpowered for this area. His void energy disrupts the enemies’ mana or primordial energy-based attacks, so most of the fights end up being physical. In that, with his powerful body and nearly unpierceable skin, he usually has a clear advantage.

I estimate he doesn’t put many points into dexterity. Most likely, he focuses on strength, with part going into constitution and a bit less into mana. His skin is probably a powerful trait or a combination of two strong ones.

Maybe he’s even over level 400 with his third trait, but I’ve already asked, and he refuses to tell me.

When he returns to me, I ask, “Why didn’t you buy blue bones to create a portal to the third floor? Wouldn’t that be quicker?”

While cleaning blood from his hands, he looks at me. “Probably? But there’s a package I need to deliver to someone in the third city, so I’ll combine the two quests. The last time I was on this floor, I was in rookie city, so I appeared there. Just lucky enough to find you. If I hadn’t met you, I would’ve just used the teleportation array to get to the third city, but it wouldn’t work with you because you haven’t been there yet. That’s why we have to go on foot.”

“You can’t fly?”

“You little shit, are you looking down on me?”

“I’m surprised. I expected flying to be more common at higher levels.”

He snorts. “As if. But we’ve got a few people in the guild who would already be in the third city and back before we even reach the second one.”

“I can fly pretty fast. If I wanted, I could probably run away from you.”

“Are you sure? I’d just need to disrupt your flight and kinetic energy to slow you down, and even if it took a bit, I would catch up to you. Then I’d beat the shit out of you.”

“That’s why I didn’t do it.”

“Nah, don’t think I don’t notice how weirdly cooperative you are. I know bastards like you. Behind those eyes, you’re probably planning something. To be honest, I don’t care. The others can deal with that. I’ll just do my job.”

I shrug and return to the previous subject. “How many people can fly?”

“Percentages? I don’t know. Probably ten percent? Five? Twenty? I never cared about that kind of stuff, to be honest.”

“Aren’t you worried about someone attacking you from above without you being able to reach them?”

This time, a laugh escapes him as he crosses his arms over his chest. “There were assholes like that. Oh, so many. And you know what I did? Nothing. I just stood there, disrupted any attacks that reached me, or let them hit me. Huge explosions, concentrated projectiles, piercing attacks, nothing worked. Most of them get annoyed and leave like the cowards they are. That, or if they’re dumb, they come closer.”

His smile widens, and his teeth show in a dangerous grin.

Taking a few steps, he’s about to pass by me, but before he does, he taps my shoulder. “I knew you could do that, too, during our fight, but you didn't. That’s why I like you, newbie. You’ve got balls for facing me up close. But at the same time, you aren’t as bad as demons.”

***

Littering every floor I enter with black mana is likely one of my favorite pastimes. Every time, I just leave it behind because I don’t know what else I could do with it.

Even now, we move again, as my condition improves, and the javelin a mile away is about to destabilize. It has finished sucking all the mana it can handle and is unable to reach more.

It starts breaking down, and once we are far enough away, it finally explodes. As a pleasant surprise, I receive a few notifications about killing monsters.

[You have defeated Plains Shadow Wolf - lvl 371]

[You have defeated Plains Shadow Wolf - lvl 369]

[You have defeated Plains Shadow Wolf - lvl 374]

[You have defeated Sandfang Tunnel Serpent - lvl 368]

[You have defeated Sandfang Tunnel Serpent - lvl 358]

[You have defeated Ashcoat Field Scorpion - lvl 376]

...

[Lvl 322 > Lvl 323]

"Why can there be two monsters at the same level, but one is much stronger?" I ask Weslin.

"How the hell would I know? I don’t care about that kind of stuff."

"I see."

***

A day later, we pass a mountain range covered in snow. By now, I don’t bother asking how it’s possible for it to snow inside a huge cave. I simply admire the enormous mountains. Everything there is eerily still, and I even feel a bit of the chill reaching us.

“What is that place?” I ask Weslin without stopping as I run near him.

He glances to the left. “We call it the Snowy Mountains.” Then he turns to the right and points to a black veil filled with lightning. “And this is the Storm.”

“Attendees really don’t fuck around with names.”

“Right?” He smirks. “Locals have some fancy names for them, but you won’t get them from me. I forgot them long ago.”

He increases his speed, and I quickly catch up.

After days of running, the area surrounding us is getting stale. It’s still the same beautiful plains filled with lush grass and flowers swaying in the wind in beautiful patterns, but there are no hills, no trees, no lakes. Just that ethereal, never-ending plain, and once in a while, holes in the ground where monsters climb out.

“I wonder, is it really so easy to enter every floor of Beyond? You just need some money to buy a portal and get there?” I ask the questions I have asked before, but didn’t get my answer for.

Weslin looks amused in a way that makes it clear he’s been asked this question many times before, but this time he answers more in detail.

He even confirms it. “A lot of newbies ask that. But, as I said before, no. That’s only up to the third floor. To get to the fourth, and then the fifth, is much harder. And yeah, you’re not the first to notice how weird this place is. Most people just say it’s because it isn’t properly included in the system. Either because it can’t be, or because the Rulers didn’t bother.”

He gestures at me to speed up, and runs more to the right. I follow, increasing my speed to run by his side.

“They say the Rulers were the first to clear the First Dungeon. After that, they used it to link the tutorial and the real world because of the unique properties of this place. Don’t ask me why. No one but the damned Rulers knows. I like the theory where those dickhead Rulers cleared the First Dungeon and its floors, similar to how we clear the tutorial. Hell, maybe the tutorial was inspired by the First Dungeon by some asshole before the Rulers. Some also say this place was much more dangerous, but after clearing the floors, the Rulers made it easier for the people who came after. That theory says the Rulers are still clearing deeper floors we probably can’t even imagine. And once in a while, one of them dies there.”

"Do they leave Ruler's bodies there?"

"Newbie, what the fuck are you trying to say?"

"I mean, wouldn’t you get a lot from studying such a body?"

"Newbie, you sometimes worry me. As you and I are now, we would probably turn to soup if we even got somewhat close to the true body of a Ruler. Why do you think these assholes keep using Projections, Avatars, or Vessels when fucking around?"

"Isn’t that lame? I would expect some amount of control from them."

"Sure, some can do that, but some don’t bother. And if you’re dead, you really don’t care what happens to you, right?"

"Oh, the Saint from the third floor?"

"Something like that. Now imagine what a true Ruler's body would do, when even a powerful healer’s body like the Saint's fucked up the entire world."

"Probably nothing good."

"Shit beyond your tiny brain’s comprehension."

"I see."

"Newbie, you still want to see it."

"Yup," I confirm.

"Well, good luck with that. Now, you’ve stopped attempting to counter my void disruption. Why? Did you get lazy even after I graciously offered to help you with that?"

"I didn’t stop. I just changed the way I go about it and decided to observe how that disruption works. It is very different from mana based disruption and stronger. Do you think the system created mana-based disruption based on the Primordial Void that existed before it? There are skills that use or help with primordial energies, right?"

"Yes. I have multiple like that," Weslin looks at me curiously.

"So even though it likely requires more levels or effort, void energy should be possible to counter with the system given skills. There are some active skills or passives that help you fight back against mana based disruption. I think it is possible they were also inspired by something, a fragment, some other primordial energy, or just derived from something."

"And how will that help you?"

"Probably not much, but isn’t it interesting?"

"Holy hell, newbie, aren’t you a curious little jerk?"

"It’s you who is weird for not caring and only making the numbers go up."

"Hey, it worked so far. So what are you testing?"

"Even though void energy is great at a sort of cutting you off from your powers, style disruption, I think it can be countered by having a better handle on these powers or just straight-up overpowering it."

"Newbie, I don’t know you well, but I think I see where you’re headed."

I look at him and tilt my head at his reaction. Weslin, as everyone from Hell difficulty and by extension from Beyond, continues to prove himself as a weirdo.

Then I turn my attention back to my body and continue making modifications to my already existing constructs and Mana Cycling and Thermal Cycling. I do it all while remembering the feeling of that oppressive disruption. It is not something I will keep up at all times, but I create something akin to a switch in my constructs so I can quickly turn things into overdrive. It will make control more difficult, but the modifications I make should lessen the load for a while at the cost of some wounds. It will also require more mental capabilities from me, but that is something I already work on.

I’m not the most talented person there ever was, so until I properly improve my control, level up my skills, or make my mind more powerful, I will counter these things my way, which still reliably works.

I will just straight-up overpower it with the sheer amount of mana or primordial energies I hold.

***

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