I diligently observe my body and my upgraded construct while I slowly let more mana trickle into the pathways I created or upgraded.

The heart that gigachad Nathaniel from the third floor created in his moment of genius, or stupidity, slowly activates.

The name is simple: Thermokinetic Mana Heart, so I hope when I upgrade it for the next time, it will be a bit cooler. Not like it would change anything, but it would surely be nice. Thankfully, the heart can do everything I wanted it to do. It can compress mana, which should make my skills stronger, as well as my kinetic and thermal energy. There is no way it will be up to the task of creating black mana, but even that is enough as it will allow me to practice and prepare for the future.

Checking on my sleeping disciple and observing the quiet forest around us, I make the decision to test my upgrades. I change the setting on my Mana Regulator and allow my heart to start compressing the mana it generates.

As expected, the generation of mana slows down, but the mana it creates feels different.

It's a slightly darker shade of blue, though it’s still transparent, and when I use it to power my skills, I do notice a small difference.

I decide to change the setting again and it starts compressing it even more, as the shade of my mana grows darker. The current compression seems to be fifty percent of what the heart is capable of, so I hold there for a while.

Right away, I can tell that I won’t get anywhere close to creating black mana, but this also feels somewhat reasonable. If it was easy to imitate that, everyone would be doing it.

My ability to create black mana feels a bit like cheating, and I'm only capable of it because of [Focus]. Once again I find myself thinking that it could be a much stronger skill than I originally thought. As expected from my most treasured skill. Hopefully, it will grow until I can start making fun of Lily's [Disintegration]; that would be nice.

Next, I test my thermal energy generation. Up until now, I had to transfer kinetic energy into thermal, so it was kind of annoying. Getting it directly should reduce waste and improve the speed at which I can create it.

When thermal energy flows through my body, I immediately notice the difference in its quality.

The last remaining wounds from upgrading the construct disappear nearly immediately, and when I force thermal energy out of my body, it seems to be a deeper shade of gold than usual.

I watch as the flame flickers over the palm of my hand and control it carefully.

It wouldn't be good if the heat it released killed my disciple. I never got used to fully controlling my powers as people around me grew with me. The little bit of heat I release might be no problem to someone from group 4, but would probably burn any human from Earth alive. Even the pressure of my fully released mana could be capable of that.

It's a interesting thought. My body itself is turning into a weapon, and if I don’t control it, even walking around without controlling my mana or constructs could kill people with lower levels. Or it could kill this disciple of mine. I wonder if that’s part of the lesson of this floor, to learn to control my powers around much weaker beings.

After putting out the flames, I generate kinetic energy, and it fills quicker than before, and even its quality seems higher, the same as thermal.

It's already decided that I will delve more into my Primordial energies on this floor. I know I'm terribly lacking, and I use them in the simplest way, and I'm sure there is more to them. There is just so little time and so many things I want to work on.

“Master?” the little half-demon says in a weak voice.

Our eyes meet, and once again, I admire her red eyes. It might be childish of me, but I think they’re cool and, the way they contrast with her brown hair, makes them look even more striking.

“Disciple, why don't you use 'nya' after every sentence? I heard about an ancient half-demon that did so, amazing their foes and companions, and gaining the respect of their peers,” I answer instead.

My good mood leaks through, as it always does after a successful round of self improvement. The upgraded construct is a huge success.

“Is the master making fun of me?” she asks carefully.

That simple sentence tells me her level of intelligence is higher than that of an entire race of cat people.

Half-demons 1, Lynthari 0.

“Only a little bit, is there anything you want?”

“Can I eat some of the food you gave me as an answer to your question?”

“It's your food; you don't have to ask me,” I answer.

Well, it's obvious that she wouldn't trust me given that she’s only known me for a few hours and might reasonably expect me to go back on my word.

I watch as she gets out from under the blanket and carefully fixes her clothes, “I’m sorry, they got dirty. I will make sure to clean them before returning,” she says. Her old clothes are still carefully folded in the pile next to her. Rather rags than clothes.

“It’s fine,” I reply.

Then I watch as she takes a bit of the food out and slowly eats it. She is still shaking a bit, so she wraps the blanket around herself, but she looks better now. Something shown by her getting hungry.

I stand up, grab a bottle of water from my pile of things, and hand it to her.

When she hesitates, I say, “I will be asking more questions later.”

Only then does she nod and, opening it, takes a few sips.

Bored and waiting for her to get better, I send my senses towards the sky. Ever since the beginning, I’ve felt something strange in the air and I’ve had trouble identifying it. When using my trait, I'm able to see faint mana waves that don’t seem natural, almost as if they were man made. Yet another mystery to uncover. Finding out what happened to this world, finding out what the “Mirror” is, locating survivors, and even the Floor quest. Plus, there is plenty of information to be collected from the other Communities.

The little half-demon keeps carefully looking me over, trying to get to know me and get a read on my behavior. She seems to know that her survival is tied to me and that I seem to have some incentive to keep her alive. Plus, there was a voice that told her I would be her master.

“Tell me, that voice that told you about me. Do you know what it is?” I ask her.

She shakes her head, “I know it's something very powerful and…” she hesitates, “I think I can trust it and...”

And maybe I can trust you. She doesn't say these words out loud, but it's clear.

Well, the system does system things as always.

I open my mouth to ask more, but that's when one of my anchors far in the distance gets destroyed. The moment my connection disappears, I feel another connection using my cut-off link to track me and it locates me before I even destroy the link.

For a short moment, I feel goosebumps rise on my skin and far in the distance, a deep growl resounds.

The presence I sensed for that short moment felt terrifying.

“We are leaving,” I shoot up from the ground.

Without hesitation, I grab my disciple and as many bags as I can, accounting for the importance of the items they contain. Right after, I use [Tether] and transport us to another anchor.

The little half-demon sways and throws up what she ate just a moment ago, a few wounds marking her body.

I tie another anchor to a mana projectile and shoot it as far as I can, watching it disappear, boosted quickly by generated kinetic energy. In that short moment, I know that that thing has reached the lake, and I feel it tracking the remains of mana that linger in the air as it seeks us.

It locates us, and a feeling of overwhelming pressure touches me.

As quickly as I can, I generate a small black mana orb and leave it in the air before teleporting us again, hoping it will stop the tracking.

After reappearing, I notice a few more wounds on the body of my disciple. She doesn't say anything, but I notice how she is clenching her teeth. I even tried to make transport as smooth as possible, but she might be way too low level for that.

Instead of teleporting again, I leave another black orb on the ground and, holding her to my chest, lift off high into the air.

After reaching a decent height, I use [Regalia] to form a pointy barrier in front of us so she doesn’t get hurt by the pressure and boost us away.

I gradually boost my speed more and more, as I observe her condition, my heart overflowing with kinetic energy. I also start radiating a tiny bit of thermal to keep her warm.

Even while flying away, I can hear a deep growl behind me and do not stop for an hour until we are far away. Only then do I slow down and gently land back on the ground.

Immediately, the little half-demon falls to the ground, her small hands grabbing the grass, and she shakes a bit, about to cry.

But she then forces herself to stop and with clenched fists, she stands up. Taking a few deep breaths, she takes a moment and when she turns to me, her face is once again calm.

Not knowing what to say, I just nod and start examining our new location. Trees much taller than normal surround us, some of them have fallen to the ground and been covered in moss. The area is colorful, full of verdant grass, vibrant leaves, and colorful flowers.

This place is strangely calming, and I gesture to her, as we walk under one of the great fallen trees to get some shade.

It's illogical as something like that will offer barely any defense, but some primitive part of my mind tries to convince me that we are safe. Yet another piece of my mind that I silence with [Focus] keeps telling me to get angry and to go and mess up whatever that thing was.

I know I might be a bit too careful at times, but there is a difference between being too careful and minimally suicidal.

Even during that short connection, I felt the danger. If that thing is not a three-question mark, it's goddamn close to one and without the proper preparations, while trying to protect my disciple, it could end badly. I could even end up killing her myself by releasing too much mana.

So, I push these feelings away. For now.

“Master?”

“Hm? What?”

“It hurts.” As she says that, the red-eyed girl falters, and I grab her before she falls, “I’m sorry, but it hurts.” Tears appear in her eyes.

Is she trying to gain my sympathy, is this some sort of a trick?

But no matter how much I look, it doesn’t seem like an act. Her mask cracks and tears fall down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, I will endure, I promise, please don’t throw me away,” she continues to mumble.

Not knowing what to do, I just grab and awkwardly hug her.

At first, she freezes, surprised by the hug, her body stiff and her heart beating like that of a scared little bird.

“I will be ok, I promise,” she says again, “just a few hours.”

I hug her a bit tighter and examine her body.

She is thin, beaten before she ever came to this floor. Then she got poisoned, and hurt by my teleportation, and then she had to fly at high speed for a long time. She is so low-level too.

It's my fault, isn’t it?

I don’t have a healing skill I could use for others, and trying to use my passive could end terribly, I could burn her alive. So instead, I do something like what Sophie did to me back on the third floor after I almost died at the hands of the mage hunters that had followed me.

I infuse the tiniest bit of my mana into my disciple and move it, trying to strengthen her body and alleviate some pressure and pain.

It's difficult, very much so. Most of my skills are meant to be used for me and only me. But I keep trying even as I lift off to fly once more. The barrier surrounds us, and I release a bit more thermal energy, and then, slowly, I fly toward the ruins of a city I see far in the distance.

There are tall, skyscraper-like buildings covered in vines, and greenery, most of them are cracked, and many have collapsed. The city's architecture is unlike any I’ve ever seen, and even I can see that it's been lifeless for decades at least.

The system said there were survivors, so I will find them, and they had better be able to help.