Victor had already confirmed during his Grand Dungeon adventure that the more extreme the environment, the more mana required by the dungeon to create it. So perhaps unsurprisingly, floors 70 to 80, made entirely out of gems of every type, were tiny compared to the arctic floors, with each floor only taking a few days to traverse. Nevertheless, it took Victor only a month to get to the 80th floor, where a spire of encrusted gems shimmered like a rainbow beacon and dominated the land.

 

Without delay, the group touched down and made their way down the all-too-familiar crystal steps. Victor cast a quick look at Genus, and the dragon looked terrible. Mostly skin and bones. Luckily the floors had only taken a month... another week or two, and Genus would have starved to death.

 

Similar to the arctic floors, a land made of gems and golems didn't provide much in the way of edible food for fleshy creatures such as dragons. Luckily Genus could hibernate somewhat to alleviate his hunger pains and reduce the body's consumption of his stored fat and muscle. He could also gain some nutrients from the ambient mana, but it was only a temporary solution.

 

As the group made their way down the crystal stairs, Victor checked up on the various groups of undead that had discovered areas of highly dense mana. 'I have found three so far. One on the first graveyard floor, another on the first ocean floor, and finally, the one on the gem floor. I could have uncovered more if the dragons didn't keep interfering.'

 

The dragons had given up chasing Victor; with over twenty of their kin slaughtered and the arctic floors nearly impossible to cross without much preparation, they had changed tactics and focused on eliminating his undead on sight. 'Doesn't help that dragons are extremely mana sensitive, and my undead leak a lot of death affinity mana everywhere they go.'

 

It took weeks for the skeletons to traverse down the ravine to the point that one could actually walk up to the building's door to inspect it with their legs intact. Victor had debated consuming an ungodly amount of stat points to blast the door open, but he eventually decided against it. 'I have no idea what the next few floors entail, and exposing the location of the building to the dragons that are very active on the upper floors is a terrible idea.'

 

There was something similar to a sunken submarine on the ocean floor, but again he had no way to open it without expending around a hundred times more stat points than he did to the castle wall... 'And will it even work without Alice's void mana to make a small hole first? All my five million stat points did was make the hole wider.'

 

Victor discarded these thoughts as the group arrived at the base of the crystal staircase. For Genus's sake, Victor hoped this floor had some food, even if it was slugs.

 

Without delay, they passed the door and marveled at the sight. The ground was slightly rocky, covered in purple weeds and patches of black grass. A few yellow-leaved trees littered the land, but the weirdest part was the horizon.

 

A few hundred meters away, the land simply ended. Only an empty void lay between them and distant land. Surrounding their little island were hundreds, if not thousands, of other floating islands littering the horizon. Some had beautiful waterfalls cascading down their sides, and others had molten rock being hurled out into the abyss by active volcanos.

 

Some of the islands were massive, and others were tiny, like the one they stood on. Bridges of mana connected the various islands in a dazzling network across the void.

 

"Well... I did not expect this." Victor was stunned. It was like something out of a Chinese cultivator novel, the place all those lofty immortals cultivated so hard to reach. A realm of floating pavilions with servants awaiting their every beck and call. But for now, they were all monster-infested islands.

 

Genus sniffed the air before opening his eyes from a long sleep and saw a creature on the edge of their island. It was like an armadillo but larger and with scales. With a flap of his wings, Genus launched himself at the poor thing and, in one fell swoop, grabbed the creature in his jaws, and with a sickening crunch, the armadillo cracked in half like an egg and tumbled down the dragon's gullet. Genus turned to Victor with blood dripping from his teeth and a giant grin on his face. "Now, this is perfect."

 

"How so?" Victor said. Of course, the food was a welcome change, but what made this perfect?

 

"I can feel it even from here," Genus picked a piece of bloody scale from between his teeth with an ivory claw. "Every one of these islands has a different type of mana and monsters for me to eat. I could stay here forever..."

 

Alice nodded to the side in agreement. "Mhm, it feels like an all-you-can-eat buffet down here."

 

Victor still hadn't seen any of the major cities in this world, so he was still in the dark, but the mention of something familiar such as an all-you-can-eat buffet, made him think the world might be a little more advanced than the medieval era?

 

"Well, let's go explore, shall we? Unfortunately, with such dense mana of conflicting types, it's hard for me to pinpoint the direction of the tower to the next floor..." Victor said as he stroked his chin. His tried and tested method of heading toward the area with the densest mana and letting Wiggles take the lead would be impossible here.

 

"Can we go there first?" Alice pointed toward a floating island in the far distance. Victor had to admit it looked breathtaking, with its mountains shrouded in a cloud of fog and waterfalls cascading off its sides into the endless void below.

 

"Sure."

 

***

 

Toby enjoyed the summer breeze on his enormous body as he sprawled beside a lake near Necron. The birds had returned, so the symphony of summer blessed his ears. A small snow-white squirrel-like creature hopped on his body and ran across his chest. Likely thinking his grey skin was a rock feature rather than belonging to the most fearsome monster in the cursed forest... Toby chuckled deeply at that thought. "Andrew likely holds that title amongst the merchants that try to set up shop here."

 

Seeing the sun, flanked by fluffy white clouds, had claimed the highest point in the sky, Toby realized it was lunchtime. Although his body had no need for food, he had regained his sense of taste with his evolution, and what was the point of being the boss of a city if he couldn't enjoy its luxuries for himself?

 

Rising to his full height, Toby towered over the crystal clear lake and grinned at his distorted reflection. He had always enjoyed his intimidating nature, which had helped a lot in his line of work. But to become something so fierce by simply existing... now that was perfect. He reached up and caressed the black horn jutting out of his forehead. His equally black claws scratched the glossy surface and failed to leave a mark.

 

Chuckling to himself, Toby took one last look around with his single golden eye before turning around and trekking up an embankment. Once over, he walked down a well-trodden dirt path that took him back to Necron's Eshnar-facing gate. The toll road that was now extremely busy was in the far distance, but Toby stayed away from it. The merchants had expressed their displeasure at his presence, especially around the horses, as they would try to run away when they saw him.

 

Of course, Toby could ignore their complaints, but it was bad for business. Even though they were the only road through the cursed forest, new ones that took a longer route around Necrons territory had begun construction, but they kept getting interrupted and destroyed in the night by the undead.

 

His undead.

 

Toby strolled down the path and passed by some open-air mines. Goblins wearing poorly made cloaks that concealed their true nature slaved away under the sun. Toby could see death attribute mana swirling through the air and producing an invisible shield against the suns burning rays, protecting the undead from disintegration. Toby had never heard of undead that could move under sunlight before, even with the help of clothing. 'Master continues to surprise me...'

 

Although a tiny voice in the back of his head compelled him to obey his new master, it was not intrusive but rather a gentle but constant reminder that he was only alive due to the master's kindness. That would be true, but the master had also been the one to skewer him, so kindness was the wrong word. 'However, this new form and purpose I have? Now that is definitely kindness. What other evil overlord allows his minions so much free reign?'

 

It certainly helped with his motivation. Obviously, they hadn't signed a contract, and the eldritch being may take everything from him at a moment's notice, with or without fault on his part. But that was also okay. He was undead in his service. So it only made sense their relationship wasn't built on mutual ground.

 

"But five months have passed, and all he has done is provide help and intervene when necessary. Apart from that, he has been mostly radio silent, letting me and Andrew build Necron in our image." Toby mumbled as he passed the mine and came upon a training field.

 

The sound of weapons colliding rang through the summer air as a group of goblins sparred with a girl. Seeing one of his new apprentices was hard at work, Toby decided to walk over.

 

"Lora!" Toby thundered as he walked over with heavy steps that made everyone freeze.

 

"H-hi!" The skinny girl responded sheepishly. She was one of the slaves brought with the vampires as food. Her features were unremarkable. Simple brown hair in a bun, blue eyes, and a standard figure. Her unusual ability to handle weapons and the two tiny horns on her forehead was the only interesting thing about her appearance. She claimed to not have any combat classes, but she fought with a certain instinct that one was either born with or gained through high-level skills.

 

The other slaves brought with the vampires had been set to work in the various inns or restaurants. One boy was even being used as a stable boy. Toby had offered to let them return to the Mystical Realm, but they had all refused.

 

"How's progress?" Toby asked his apprentice.

 

Lora grinned, twirled a crude wooden spear overhead, and alongside the whistling wind, she struck out like a viper and obliterated a goblin's skull with a well-aimed and quick strike. Then, as the headless goblin fell forward with a thump, she twirled the spear again, returned it to a resting position in her hand, and gave a slight bow.

 

Toby clapped his enormous hands and chuckled. "Excellent." He had no idea if it was excellent or not, as he had never used a spear, but he liked to pretend he was an expert.

 

"Thank you—" Lora was interrupted by a bell going off in Necron that echoed throughout the land.

 

Toby didn't hesitate and broke into a sprint—Necron needed him.