Chapter 300 - I like it here

Even though the monster sleeps so far away, I block Vega's mouth with my hand. It's irrational and straight-up silly. There is no way the monster could be woken up so easily. It's just that there is still that little “what if?”

This six-legged snake-like napping noodle is three question marks. This means that it's most likely over 300, and just by looking, I'm sure it's closer to 400. So yup, the warning from the system now makes much more sense.

I ignore Vega's shock and, carrying her, I enter the forest. The napping noodle is what? Two or three dozen miles away? The space within the Valley is bigger than from outside, so exploring it is fine.

According to the information I got from Nina, there should be a Mirror and some of the bunkers the people in high positions used. So my target is to try to get some information there on the Veil and to finish the quest.

And then, I want to find the Mirror, apparently some powerful artifact. I hope it's of a higher rarity than epic. Someone from easy difficulty would most likely want to choke me to death just by hearing it. Those poor guys are extremely happy when they see low rare items.

“Master, maybe…”

I interrupt my silly disciple, “It's fine. It's taking a nap.”

“N-nap…” Vega gulps.

The pressure within the Valley is even stronger than outside, and I finally identify the source of that mana. It's Gaiathra sleeping over there and something else near the monster. There is no skill used by the monster, no barrier, nothing of the sort. It's just mana generated by the sleeping monster seeping out of its body.

I won't even try to lie, I'm jealous. Just how many thousands or tens of thousands of points in mana is that?

Gradually, I also realize something.

My goal is to become stronger than that monster, and with the way I go about it, when I get to its level I will have much more mana. Damn, can I even pack so much of it inside of my tiny body? And damn, how cool it would be to stand against such a giant and start releasing multiple times more mana while facing it.

I push us higher in the air and land on one of the thicker branches with a view of the sleeping Gaiathra. Is it at the rank of Champion? My theory always was that a Champion is either at three question marks or most likely over them.

For example, Tristan and Keiron, Champions from the second floor, were capable of destroying multiple continents and killing millions, tens of millions of people in a matter of hours.

The monster in front of us feels strong, terrifyingly strong, yet I hesitate to think of it as a Champion. Maybe I have to change my mind a bit; maybe Champions are all over level 450.

That also creates a question. Just how fucking strong was Lissandra? I mean, sure, she devoured the mana of an entire planet or something and with a single skill destroyed it all. It's just that I keep forgetting that.

Then there was also the Saint Absolute from the third floor which must have been at a similar level.

“Master, you were dozing off for a second,” Vega pulls on my clothes.

“Did I? But I keep checking our surroundings, so don't worry.”

“Me too! Did you think of something interesting?”

“Yes. I like to sort things in my mind once in a while. But anyway, any troubles with pressure?”

She shakes her head, “Master's barrier blocks it all. I just have to stay close and continue training [Mana Manipulation], [Concentration], and try to do Mana Cycling!”

I wonder if others also have such hard-working disciples.

Sensing an attack, I take a step and drop from the tree that then crumbles in its entirety and gets pushed to the ground as if stepped on by an invisible giant.

Another similar attack tries to form over me, but I move quickly.

“Hold on, there are more of them,” I tell Vega.

I continue to run between the trees that keep exploding behind, an attack making deep dents in the ground.

Dodging a dozen of them while being unable to reach the attacker, the air in front of me shivers. From thin air comes a big maw full of teeth biting at Vega.

Before it even reaches, I shoot a cone of kinetic energy at it, and the monster goes flying through the forest, breaking the trees. A dozen of mana projectiles I create shoot towards where it flew, piercing more trees and sending chunks of earth flying into the air as they hit. Yet there is no notification.

A barrier forms behind my back and deflects a rain of stones sent towards us, some of them bigger than my body. They explode and grind against the barrier that ripples, sending dust and smaller pieces into the air.

A javelin I create becomes quickly denser, and I boost it with kinetic energy and send it towards where the stone volley came from.

[You have defeated Terraclaw - lvl 191]

I avoid another attack that crushes the place where I stood with an invisible force and finally reach the monster spamming them.

[Giant Troll - lvl 199]

The monster is five times my height. An old friend from the 1st floor.

From the air, a dozen javelins form around me, and I infuse all of them with thermal energy. The pale blue mana they are made from turns to a brilliant golden color of thermal energy. Five of the javelins shoot at the troll that activates marks on its skin, and they start glowing, preparing to defend.

The sixth one shoots behind me, piercing through the head of the monster with a big maw full of teeth that attacked me before.

[You have defeated Phantom Lindworm - lvl 204]

I examine its dead body for a short moment. Something akin to a big snake with two legs and scales of a similar green color to the giant one sleeping far ahead. Then I blow off the body with more kinetic energy, turning it into pieces.

Turning back to the Giant Troll, I watch as five javelins crash against its skin, flames directed into a small point on the tip of the javelins. Each of them pierces the monster, the flames exiting on the other side, drawing a loud roar out of it and the gravity field increasing.

The trees in a bigger and bigger area tilt and break, crashing to the ground with the highest pressure directed at me.

Before the attack reaches, I use an anchor I placed on one javelin stabbed into the monster and send even more thermal energy through.

Flames envelop the monster that starts thrashing around before quickly getting burned alive and crashing down. Pieces of its limbs charred and falling apart as it does so.

Not getting even a moment to look around, I feel the presence of a hundred or more monsters. A big flock of eyeballs as big as a volleyball with two wings each. They locate us quickly, multiple kinds of attacks pressuring.

Mental attacks that I block for both of us. Disrupting attacks that fail against my barrier and laser-like projectiles shooting from the middle of the eyeballs. Each of these melts and burns to dust anything it touches.

Tying an anchor to one of my projectiles, I shoot it towards the monsters and then, while fighting against attempts to disrupt it, I send an attack through.

In the middle of the flying group of monsters, a shockwave erupts, a burst of kinetic energy, pushed against by the cooperation of all hundred or so monsters. They disrupt, they create a barrier, and together they resist.

How curious.

I send a stronger wave, and they do it again, this time struggling more and stopping their attacks.

The panic is almost noticeable in the way they wave their small wings.

Before I can send a tricolored bomb through, a quick movement flashes, and an owl as big as a car passes through. Two of the flying eyeballs in its beak and a few more in its talons.

The group of flying monsters quickly changes their direction, running away, and I watch the owl leave with the prey it hunted.

[Dread Owl - lvl ??]

The white owl is extremely quiet as it flies, and there is no mana I could sense from it.

Well, it looks like the sleepy danger noodle isn't the only dangerous monster here. Let's be careful of the owl as well.

Before I can even finish the thought, from the forest a snake attacks like lightning, and its fangs burrow into the owl mid-flight.

The white owl screeches, flapping its wings but to no avail. The snake pulls the flying raptor into the forest, and after a second, the screeches stop with a wet cracking noise.

I think I like it here.

***

Just an hour later, I and Vega stay on one of the branches of a big tree and look down as a group of hundreds of bisons, each the size of a bus, heads towards a lake, sipping on water while the biggest one of them watches. The chonky boy is even a few levels higher than me, but even that doesn't help.

From under the water, a long maw with sharp teeth snaps, and a scaly body flashes before the crocodile pulls one of the Bisons under the water.

Blood flows to the surface, and the bubbles of air disappear.

Even the leader of the bisons doesn't seem to care that much as if something like this is expected.

A javelin over my shoulder reaches the breaking point, tricolored mana turning bright white, and I shoot it towards the herd.

The leader bobs, and a few more of them separate, layering barriers in front of them, even adding some stones into it. Another group even moves some of the lake's water, a compressed burst of it meeting with my barrier.

That's when the javelin pierces through multiple barriers and then explodes.

A heatwave sets ablaze the nearby vegetation, and turns water into vapor, even causing the lake to boil.

The following shockwave throws a dozen or so Bisons away, some even towards the lake where the crocodile snatches them and also tears chunks of soil and trees from the ground.

[You have defeated Guardian Bison - lvl 178]

[You have defeated Guardian Bison - lvl 148]

[You have defeated Guardian Bison - lvl 171]

[You have defeated Guardian Bison - lvl 139]

…

[Lvl 219 > Lvl 220]

I notice Vega shooting a tiny mana orb boosted by her kinetic energy. Seeing the chaos going there, it's almost cute observing her attack.

Then the implosion of my attack comes. The air rushing back to the center where the javelin explodes, pulling the monsters, debris, and water toward it, and compressing it all into a smaller ball.

Bones break, monsters scream, notifications sound.

Using the opportunity, the croc gets out of the water, a big muscular body covered in scales, mana covering its skin in a barrier as it starts fighting against the leader Bison. Both of them fine after my attack and are clearly more physically stats-oriented.

Well, another attack it is.

Five javelins form over me, and I push more mana towards them. Compressing it, squeezing it to make them as deadly as possible.

Even while having to deal with extreme mana density here and defending me and Vega, I can do it. My reservoir is still untouched, and even though I'm taking a big chunk of my mana, I know it will regenerate quickly.

When the javelins start turning bright white, both of the monsters down there stop their fight, turning to me. Especially the Bison seems hateful for some unknown reason.

The croc, surprisingly quick on the uptake, starts heading back towards the lake, and the Bison charges at me.

But I boost all of the javelins with kinetic energy, and they disappear, hitting the monsters and the ground around.

Strengthening the barrier around us, I even fly towards the opposite direction, and even then, a shockwave and heatwave hits me, parts of the forest set ablaze and pulled from their roots.

[You have defeated Two-Headed Snake - lvl 150]

[You have defeated Guardian Bison - lvl 171]

[You have defeated Phantom Lindworm - lvl 191]

[You have defeated Phantom Lindworm - lvl 161]

...

Plenty of other monsters die in the aftereffect, but there are two notifications I'm waiting for.

[You have defeated Guardian Bison - lvl 235]

[You have defeated Goliath Crocodile - lvl 229]

There are no level-ups, but even this is fine. I feel as if the stress that was collecting inside me for quite some time slowly relieves. I feel as if it's easier to breathe again. It's not perfect, I still have Vega to protect so I can't let go and lower my [Focus], but even this is fine.

Just a nice step towards a happier Nat.

It's not like I don't like training or playing with inscriptions and items, but it's been long since I got to such a nice hunting ground, and I plan to use it as much as possible with the time that remains before Vega gets sent back.

“What?” I ask Vega, who is looking at me with her big red eyes.

“I also want to learn how to do that.”

Oh? Does she like my tricolored bombs? She is still far from it, and I think a more reasonable person wouldn't even consider teaching a young kid things like this. But I'm not normal, and neither is my disciple.

“Don't worry, I have a few ideas of how you can do something similar with the help of your heart,” I've already thought of it plenty.

Her eyes become even bigger, and I can hear her heart beat faster.

She is MY disciple, isn't she? Nathaniel Gwyn's first disciple, the half-demon Vega.

Before this ends, we will come up with some quite destructive uses for mana and kinetic energy.

***

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