I turn to Abby.

"Hey, can I try something... I want to test one of the perks of my craftsmanship skill."

She nods as I reach into my item storage and pull out an old C-Grade HP potion of my own. I take off my gauntlets, then place a hand on her shoulder.

I scroll through my list of skills available to imbue into the HP potion with my mind, but nothing new shows up.

With a look of dissatisfaction on my face, I move my hand down and eventually hit her smooth skin right below her shirt line. The moment the warm sensation hits my fingertips, a new blue text box fills my vision.

[Restore][Legendary Grade]

I immediately choose it and a white light flashes in my opposite hand, transforming the HP potion into the same Full Restore Potion that Abby made moments ago.

I release contact and hold the glass bottle glowing with bright green liquid in both hands. My appraisal skill proves it worked.

[Full Restore Potion]

"Now I'm onto something..."

I toss the glass bottle up and down in my hand a few times before Abby replies.

"So it worked?"

I nod in response.

"Yeah, looks like it worked... I'll try out these potions if I get the chance, I'm curious what they can do too."

We relax and chill around the hotel suite for another 15 minutes or so. Abby and Maria upgrade and imbue some of their other gear and armor with my stat enhancing buffs like extreme speed, bloodlust, and berserker. Then, we all continue tinkering with the magic items remaining from my haul at the market today, and clear out all the complementary foods and drinks in the hotel room before finally leaving because it's getting late.

Maria and Abby head off to the fight arena while I leave town cashing out my remaining 31 platinum balance and some change before using the transport crystal to find myself back in the Galeheart tower lobby.

As I make my way to the elevator one of the lobby men speaks up.

"Sir, you just missed Mr. Galeheart on his way out. He should be back in by late tonight if you're available. We just got news that two of your teammates got back from sector 2 with information on its general state and functions."

I turn my head with both eyebrows raised at this news.

"They made it back? Can I see them?"

The lobby man points to the elevator with a nod.

"They got in just about an hour ago, breathing heavy and both of them were covered in dirt and grime from head to toe. It looked like they hadn't slept in days and just left a long battle..."

He pauses for a second, and I look at him with a confused gaze before he continues.

"Last I heard they went to clean up in the lounge area and use the isolation pods, I'm not sure how long they went in for. However, I do know Mr. Galeheart wanted them to attend whatever meeting you are having with him tonight."

I nod, thanking the man and pondering all the possibilities of what could really be in Sector 2, and how this could derail the conditions I already planned to lay out to Lith in our meeting. Fisher and Lydia were gone for well over a week, whatever they were doing must have been extensive.

Once I board the elevator and check on the isolation pod room to see two of the pods glowing bright with text above both of them.

[05:14:39]

[05:13:20]

I whisper under my breath, staring forward.

"Five more hours, huh? That should be more than enough time. I wonder what you two found in Sector 2..."

With a shrug, I turn back around and walk into the elevator, taking it down to the dungeon access room and hopping into the Red Ogre Dungeon.

I immediately Dungeon Walk back into The Vice City Labyrinth's 28th floor and defeat the crimson Speed Demon Boss without breaking a sweat.

Even the base level monsters in this dungeon were pretty quick the last time I fought them, but with all my new gear upgrades, and mana control far over double what it was the last time I faced this floor, these creatures are nowhere near my level.

They feel as if they're the same low-level mobs of non-ranked up creatures. It's hard to even tell the difference...

I'm spawned into the 29th floor and start exploring the mountainous forest region with thick dark green lush trees. Just as Maria said, a white bird with sharp focused eyes and a wingspan over 7 meters wide comes dive-bombing in to attack me.

It looks like an overgrown hawk, bleached pearly white, blending in with the artificial sun's light rays as it comes closer to the ground where I stand.

Extremely visible wisps of advanced wind magic trail its flight path, but I swing my sword upward filled with Qi and easily slice it in two without activating any of my stat-enhancing buffs.

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Combat Magic [Wind Summoning]

Upgrade: Advanced Grade

[YES][NO]

I accept the skill upgrade and push myself off the ground into the sky using a massive gust of new and improved wind magic.

The ground below my feet is ripped to shreds by its powerful gusts, and I'm propelled into the air over 10 times faster and more efficiently than I did the last time I used my wind magic. It's hard to tell if it's mostly from my mana control increase, or my skill upgrade, but it's clear to say I've gotten immensely stronger.

With a single wind-powered kick, I change direction and start soaring through the dungeon's clear blue skies to slice through another dozen white-winged birds.

Just as my teammates said, 2 of them drop windstones, making me a tad unlucky for the 20% drop rate that was promised, but I did gain 1 level in the process.

[Level Up]

This brings me to level 645.

After the leveling notification rings in my head, and I throw the loot into my item storage, I stop and look around the 29th floor before letting out a sigh.

"Alright, that was fun, but staying here any longer is not a good use of my time."

I teleport back to the Great Plains Dungeon, high up above the cloud line to a teleport point I set while Ember was flying up in the sky.

Using a few air steps to hover in place, I open up my storage and let Ember fly out too.

He flaps his wings and begins to glide while looking around.

"Back so soon? What's on the agenda today? You don't seem any stronger... but I like the new cloak. It has an interesting aura."

"Thanks, I just made it. Today, we're going to run a few tests."

I do a scan of the dungeon with my perception skills to find only one blotch on my radar. I dungeon walk both of us closer, and point in the direction of the back of the dungeon as Ember flies us closer.

Once in range, the slowly moving mass of black energy wanders around the back of the dungeon, further than I've ever traveled in the Great Plains before. Ember speaks up as we approach.

"The rift is coming up, less than a kilometer in. We should probably get to work before it closes. I can sense it's a lot more unstable than the last time I checked on it."

I respond as we soar over the Titan so high in the air we're undetected.

"When was the last time you checked? How do you know the rift is unstable?"

With a flap of his wings, we begin to descend.

"Last time I checked was when you needed me to farm strengthening fragments for that Association Quest. So, before you even left for the dark continent."

I nod, thinking back to then as he continues.

"There were sometimes close to a Dozen Void Creepers wandering these Great Plains at a time back then. We really overhunted them, the fact that there's only 1 left in the entire dungeon means they'll surely be moving their rift point soon."

The Rift Ember was talking about comes into view.

It's eerily similar to the Demonic Rift I challenged not too long ago. A large tear in space, making an elongated diamond shape, raised a few centimeters off the ground. It's jet-black and stands over 20 meters tall, making it almost 5 times as large as the Demonic Rift I challenged before.

The aura it gives off is extremely dense with mana, similar to just staring into the Void of a Titan's Domain. However, it doesn't seep out, I can only sense that the energy is inside.

Ember speaks again.

"Believe it or not, Void Creeper's Rifts are usually even bigger than this. I can tell it's been shrinking slowly for weeks."

I turn around in the direction of the wandering Titan, then back to Ember.

"So, If we were to defeat that one, would that be it? The last one?"

Ember stares into the void for a moment before responding.

"Maybe. Another few may still spawn, but we're getting to the end of the rope here. It wouldn't hurt to treat that one as your last chance in this spot. Rifts are very different than dungeons, there's never a guarantee that they'll be where you left them if you don't have a rift key."

I raise an eyebrow.

"Like the one I got from the Demonic Rift? What do you mean? How are they different than dungeons?"

"Sure, similar to the Key you obtained from that Demonic Trial. Rifts are like stepping stones between worlds. Dungeons, on the other hand, are self-contained pocket worlds that have specific rules and need a predetermined amount of energy to maintain their form."

I nod, thinking to myself.

"So what you're saying is that Rift leads to another world...?"

"Of course, so did the Demonic Rift you traveled through last time. We were fighting a trial set up in the Demonic Realm, or better known as the World of Demons. Humans and Demons have similar anatomy and biological needs, so it is a happy coincidence our species can survive on each other's worlds. The Void Creepers' home world, on the other hand, is not inhabitable by humans, so I would not recommend we go through for any reason. If that rift closes, there may be no way to return."

There's a pause of silence as I take in and process the information Ember just dropped on me out of nowhere.

"Got it..."

Ember nods and goes back to looking around the dungeon like he didn't say anything too out of the ordinary, but my mind begins to do backflips.

If rifts are pathways to other worlds... and dungeons are just pocket realms, or predetermined constructs like Ember says, this puts everything into a different perspective for me.

I speak again after a few more seconds go by.

"So a dungeon can break when too much mana is present inside it, letting monsters out, right?"

Ember nods.

"Right."

"Then, could a dungeon break if there was too little mana in it as well? You often mention you could collapse a dungeon or entire labyrinths by plundering its mana, is that similar to what you do when collapsing a Titan's domain?"

Ember grins and nods again.

"Yes, very similar. Like I said before. Dungeons are just masses of highly condensed mana with predetermined rules, or settings. When portions of a dungeon are destroyed, they always heal back up if you give them enough time."

I remember all the tests I did in the Vice City Labyrinth dungeons when Fisher was training me, testing this theory for myself.

Ember continues.

"So, if the predetermined energy levels of a dungeon get too high, it will break and spill out monsters made of mana. If it gets too low, it may downgrade to a lower-level dungeon. However, if the mana content gets drained too quickly it may collapse and disperse into the atmosphere like it was never there to begin with."

I whisper under my breath.

"So a Dungeon and the Titan's Domain work in very similar ways."

Ember nods as he sees a spark of creativity flaring up in my eyes.

"Sure, they have similar structural qualities."

"Good."

I take off my right gauntlet and place my bare hand on Ember's smooth black scales while air stepping up to sit on his back.

"Let's move away from this rift."

He flaps his wings and we make our way up into the sky as I begin taking random items out from my item storage and activate my crafting skill.

At the bottom of my skill list, available to imbue, I see [Plunderer][Mythic Grade].

"It's time to do some testing."