Even though the monster’s sleeping so far away, I cover 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 serpentine napping noodle has three question marks. That means that it's probably over level 300, and I'm pretty sure it's closer to 400 just based on its appearance. So, the warning from the system makes much more sense now.

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

According to the information Nina gave me, there should be a Mirror and a few bunkers that would have been used by people in high positions. So it’s my goal to find information about the Veil and finish the quest.

And then, I want to find the Mirror, it’s supposed to be some kind of powerful artifact. I hope it's a higher rarity than epic. Someone from easy difficulty would probably want to choke me to death if they heard me say 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. The monster isn’t using any kind of skill, no barrier, nothing of the sort. It's just the sleeping monster’s mana 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 be able to release multiple times more mana while facing it.

I push us higher into 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 greater, probably.

For example, Tristan and Keiron, the 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 thinking 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 and destroyed it all with a single skill. It's just that I keep forgetting that. Then there was the Saint Absolute from the third floor, and she must have been at a similar level.

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

“Did I? But I’m still watching our surroundings, so don't worry.”

“Me too! Were you thinking about something interesting?”

“Yes. I like to sort things in my mind once in a while. But anyway, are you having any trouble with the 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 learn Mana Cycling!”

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

Sensing an attack, I take a step and drop from the tree which crumbles in its entirety and gets pushed to the ground as if stepped on by an invisible giant. Another similar attack begins 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 as they explode behind us, each attack leaving deep craters in the ground. Even after dodging a dozen of them I still can’t reach the attacker, the air in front of me shivers. A big maw full of teeth appears from thin air to snap at Vega.

Before it can reach her, I shoot a cone of kinetic energy at it, and the monster goes flying through the forest, breaking through trees. Then I send a dozen mana projectiles I create shoot towards where it flew, piercing trees and sending chunks of earth flying as they strike. Yet no notification comes.

A barrier forms behind my back and deflects a rain of stones flying towards us, some of them are bigger than my body. They explode and grind against the barrier which ripples in response, sending dust and rubble into the air.

I create a javelin, quickly making it denser, before boosting it with kinetic energy and launching it in the direction of the stone volley.

[You have defeated Terraclaw - lvl 191]

I avoid another attack just before it crushes the place where I stood with invisible force and finally manage to reach the monster that’s been spamming them.

[Giant Troll - lvl 199]

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

A dozen javelins form around me and float in the air as I infuse each of them with thermal energy. The pale blue mana begins to shine with the brilliant golden luster of thermal energy. Five of the javelins shoot after the troll as he activates the marks on its skin, and they start glowing, preparing to defend.

The sixth one takes off 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. It looks like a big snake with two legs and the scales have a similar green color to the giant one sleeping far ahead. Then I detonate the body with more kinetic energy, blasting it to pieces.

Turning back to the Giant Troll, I watch as five javelins crash against its skin, the flames concentrated into a small point at the tip of the javelins. Each of them pierces the monster, the flames bursting through the other side, drawing a loud roar out of it as the gravity field increases.

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

Before the attack can reach me, I use an anchor I placed on one of the javelins impaling the monster and begin sending even more thermal energy through.

Flames envelop the monster, and it starts thrashing around as it rapidly burns alive and crashes down. Pieces of its limbs charring and falling apart as it does so.

Without 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, immediately pressing in on us with various attacks.

Mental attacks which 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 anything it touches to dust.

Tying an anchor to one of my projectiles, I shoot it towards the monsters, and then I send an attack through as I fend off their attempts to disrupt it.

A shockwave erupts in the middle of the flying group of monsters, a hundred or so monsters cooperate to push against the burst of kinetic energy. They disrupt, they create a barrier, and together they resist.

How curious.

I send a stronger wave, and they do it again, though they struggle more this time and have to stop attacking. Their panic is most noticeable in the movements of their small wings.

Before I can send a tricolored bomb through, a quick movement flashes at the corner of my vision, 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 its prey.

[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. We should be careful of the owl as well.

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

The white owl screeches, flapping its wings 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, Vega and I are standing on a branch in a big tree, looking down on hundreds of bison, each the size of a bus as they amble towards a lake, sipping on water as the largest keeps watch. The chonky boy is a few levels higher than me, but even that won’t help.

A long maw with sharp teeth snaps up from under the water, and a scaly body flashes into view as a crocodile pulls one of the Bison under the water.

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

Even the leader of the bison doesn't seem to care, almost as if it had been expected.

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

The leader bobs, and a few 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.

The resulting heatwave sets the nearby vegetation ablaze, and vaporizes a large quantity of water, even causing the lake to boil.

The following shockwave throws a dozen or so Bison into the air, some even fly towards the lake at which point the crocodile snatches them, tearing chunks out of the ground and pulling up trees in the process.

[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 resolves. Air rushing back to the center of the javelin’s explosion, pulling the monsters, debris, and water toward it, and compressing it all into a tight sphere.

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 head Bison. They seem to be just fine after my attack and are clearly more physically oriented.

Well, another attack it is.

Five javelins form above my head, and I push more mana into them. Compressing it, squeezing it to make them as deadly as possible.

Even while dealing 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 fighting, and turn to me. The Bison seems especially 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 them.

Strengthening our barrier, even I opt to fly in the opposite direction, and even then, I get caught in the shockwave and heatwave, parts of the forest catch flame and trees get 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 that’s fine. I feel as if the stress that’s been collecting inside me for quite some time has started to dissipate. I feel as if it's easier to breathe now. It's not perfect, I still have Vega to protect so I can't let go and lower my [Focus], but even this is an improvement.

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 too long since I got to enjoy such a nice hunting ground, and I plan to use it as much as possible with the time remaining 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 ready, and I think a more reasonable person wouldn't even consider teaching such a young kid something like that. But I'm not reasonable, and neither is my disciple.

“Don't worry, I have a few ideas about how you might be able to do something similar with the help of your heart,” I've been thinking about it for a while.

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 a few rather destructive uses for mana and kinetic energy.