The 4 of us stand in a small circle after consuming our last batch of Ogre Shards, concluding the first 3 hours of our training session.
Over 2.3 million MP each has been consumed, and I feel more energized and ready to battle than when we started.
Abby's skill has always been a bit odd to me. It says [Restore] rather than [Heal] like many of the other healers. It may be a unique skill.
Maria hops around, glowing bright blue after we've all fully rested.
"I feel incredible guys! This is more mana than I've ever consumed! It's like months of training in a couple hours!"
Arie chimes in.
"You're right. I can already feel a difference. If we keep improving at this rate, we'll be able to take the Ogres out even faster every hour."
Abby is the last to talk, but she has a worried look on her face.
"How... many MP potions do each of you have left? At the rate I'm using mine, I won't be able to continue healing you all and fight Ogres much longer. Possibly 3 more hours at most."
Maria stops hopping up and down, matching the healer's concerned look, then starts shuffling through her item box.
"I-I've run through about half my supply already too. I only have to use half as much to defeat an Ogre now, but it still won't last more than 6 hours."
I nod, considering the fact that the association loaded me up with 1 million MP worth of potions last week. They must have given my teammates a similar amount.
Arie crosses his arms, speaking up.
"I have plenty, my skill didn't need an upgrade, so the director never handed me one of those fancy crystals. I was just given extra MP potions to go along with my training."
He takes the item box off of his waist and pours out an absurd amount of small glass corked bottles with glowing pink liquid inside them.
"Take as much as you need. Although, by the time the sunrises tomorrow I don't think MP potions will be much of a problem. We may be able to defeat these monsters in a single hit."
My supplies are getting lower, but it's nothing to worry about. Having potions is not a necessity for me. Even if they hit zero it wouldn't be a problem. Plundering MP from my opponent is always an option.
Abby and Maria need these more than me.
The two of them restock their supplies while I continue to think to myself, widening my perception skill's range.
I can't quite put my finger on it, but something feels different.... There's more mana in the air, but I can't tell how much for certain.
We're closer to the boss room, and the blue tint around us is almost identical to before, so it's very hard to put a number on it.
I shrug, then speak up to my team as they talk amongst themselves, solving their MP potion problem without me.
"Ready for another run?"
After a nod of agreement from everyone, we're off to continue our farming.
I keep expanding my teleport range little by little, moving closer to the back of the dungeon.
I can sense the boss room portal way off in the distance, slowly swirling behind us as we hunt, but it doesn't feel much different than the actual dungeon air. If anything, the Ogres that I'm fighting give off more MP radiation than the portal.
Every 15-30 minutes, we all meet together for a quick shard consumption and [Restore] session, then I blip each party member off so we can get back to work.
Over the next 3 hours, we manage to take out a total of 256 more Ogres.
The further in we travel, the more often groups of 3 or even 4 begin to pop up. I take out 5 mutants, levels 475-480 on my own, not wanting my teammates to get involved with this level of creature just yet.
Overall, I make it to level 451 myself, and everyone gains 3.2 million MP in control progress. This is a significant increase from our last session.
Once this 3-hour period comes to an end we all take a break near a calm pool of water on top of a smaller mountain behind the first towering peak from earlier.
Abby and Maira update us with their potion count, then we consume the last of the Ogre shards before Abby heals us.
All 4 of us can sense the pressure of an invisible clock ticking away.
On top of that, we're powering up so fast that the only thing on our minds is getting back out there to farm more....
Even so, one thing that won't stop itching at the back of my mind is the increasing levels of mana in the air.
We are moving closer to the boss room, and the mana density is much noticeably different now. Even when we're sitting alone, just the 4 of us off by a pond, it feels like an Ogre is lurking nearby at all times.
The density isn't very even, it's starting to surge through us in wisps of blue and white shimmering clouds.
There was nothing like this at all when I first entered the dungeon. I'm keeping a close eye on it, but even if it gets out of hand there's not much I can do.
We all continue to venture off further into this odd break.
Another 3 hours of farming pass and we've nearly made it to the back edge of this pocket world.
The swirling drifting sea of magic that fills the air continues to grow thicker the more we hunt. The denser waves of magic are almost becoming more common than the areas of dungeon air without it.
We defeat 307 Ogres this round, plus 11 additional mutants. This is roughly 3.8 million MP each added to our control totals.
Arie asks to fight one of the mutants in the middle of this session, so I bring him to one.
The furious Mutant Ogre that he faces tears up the mountainside for over 200 meters in all directions with a supercharged axe. It sends shockwaves through the rock and makes the air around us waver and bend as it absorbs portions of the swirling clouds to add to its shielding.
Even so, the total amount of mana surrounding its body decreases with every large attack it mindlessly throws.
Recently when I fought mutants, I wouldn't let them use their mana-imbued weapons much at all. Arie is fast enough to dodge and time his attacks to hit the monster's weak point from a distance.
It gives me the chance to study them for once. With just 8 arrows to the vitals, the Mutant Blue Ogre is slain.
A curious thing I noticed when scanning the essence shard after it's dropped, the small white gem only has about 85k MP inside of it.
My only explanation for this would be the extra energy being exerted from its use of the axe when fully charged lowers the total MP stored in its shielding. Mana crystals never worked like this in the past. Even if a monster completely ran out of MP, it would drop the same-sized mana crystal.
These aren't mana crystals, so the comparison clearly isn't perfectly accurate.
After this brawl, and a few of my own run-ins with mutants I'm at level 456. Arie is level 447. Abby and Maria are both level 445.
We take another small break on top of a final small mountain. The boss room portal is off in the distance, less than 2 kilometers away now.
After a brief food and water break, followed by a quick report of MP potion supplies we begin our 4th farming run.
I'm getting closer and closer to the back of the dungeon, and the air is almost completely filled with the dense waves of mana. In the open air, it feels like I'm standing less than 20 meters away from an Ogre.
The humming sound of mana fills my ears. The sensation makes it feel like I'm back in that white-walled prison of the Titan's domain.
The blue tint is getting so thick, that the visibility in the mountain is being affected. It's hard to see more than 200 meters away. Everything is covered with light blue fog.
On the bright side, with so much more readily available mana in the air, my plunderer skill allows me to absorb more and more. I don't even need to be near a monster to recharge my MP bar, I can do it out in the open air of the dungeon.
We continue to grow stronger, taking out 389 Blue Ogres in total this run. That raised each of our consumption by almost 4.9 million more MP.
In addition to this, 25 mutants appear. Abby and Maria face one together this round and manage to defeat it with a similar difficulty to the regular Blue Ogre they faced before this training session started.
We've grown a lot.
After 3 hours are up, we near our end goal. In total, each of us has consumed just under 15 million MP.
It's been about 12 hours since we entered this dungeon, and nearly 24 hours since any of us last slept.
The boss room portal is less than 500 meters away. It's hidden deep behind the thick blue fog, but I can feel it slowly swirling awaiting our arrival.
Now it's time for us to decide whether we face the Boss and continue our journey to Solara, or keep pushing on with our training for a little longer.
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Author's Note:
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