Activating my enemy detection skill, I scan the entire dungeon in search of the odd readings Titans give off.
With my more recent mana control and skill upgrades, my skills nearly spread across the entire dungeon as I teleport around from all the old points I used to hunt here.
Finally, a familiar 500-meter radius blank blotch of high-density mana comes into my mind's eye. There are only two of these blotches in the entire dungeon. Fewer than I hoped for, but one more than I need.
Even with my legendary skill upgrade, for some reason, it still doesn't show me a clear image of these creatures. However, I teleport to the closest one nearby, and the sight of a 30-meter tall black outline of a Titan comes into view.
They look exactly how I remember. A jet-black void of darkness with no defining features in the form of a massive long-limbed human. They walk slowly around these great plains looking for weaker beings to suck into their domains and steal their mana.
Even portions of the dungeon landscape are sucked away.
Staring up at it now, hearing the ominous buzz of mana, and watching it take slow footsteps toward me is not nearly as frightening as they used to be.
It approaches me from across the rolling hills of a grassland plain, and I wait for a few seconds inspecting and appraising it but gather no new insight. It really is just a massive blob of walking mana.
"Well... it's now or never..."
I run forward and air-step closer to the creature.
Without a hint of hesitation, I plunge headfirst into the dark void and the familiar sensation of falling takes over. I manage to bring myself upright and activate my wind magic before hitting the white floor of the rectangular white walled trap set beneath me.
Its ceiling closes the moment my feet touch the floor, and the low buzz of natural mana shielding fills my ears as I find myself back in the Titan's Domain. It's a fairly large rectangle, big enough for me to run back and forth in like a small sports field.
The ceiling is high enough to jump around a bit, and the four walls are far enough apart it isn't too cramped... but it's definitely a tight fit in here especially if I'm going to be doing primarily training.
I let out a sigh with my hands on my waist, then get to work.
I have three major goals for this session.
The first and most important one is increasing my Qi Capacity.
Even now, I can sense very small trace amounts of Qi in the air. Even in this very unique space, there's about 1/10 of the natural Qi in the air that there is in the outside world.
It makes me really wonder where Qi comes from. It seems to be everywhere in trace amounts, no matter where I am, but doesn't interact with anything unless a user can guide it. This energy is very different than Mana or Demonic Energy...
The second thing on my list to do is raising my Mana Control. While I'm here, I'll have an unlimited amount of mana to plunder and train with. Focusing on my Qi comes first, but I believe I can do both at once.
Then lastly, the third goal for this training session is figuring out how to get out of the Titan's Domain without the help of Ember's Mythic Grade Plunderer skill. I can always ask him for help, but I want this to be a replicable process that I can do in front of my teammates without revealing my last and most important secret.
I smile, reaching into my storage and pulling out my sword getting ready to face the back wall of the Domain.
"Alright, this is a trial run. Let's see how much I have to grow before I can get out of here by myself."
I charge up my blade to maximum strength, activate my buffs, get in a sturdy stance, and swing my blade with all my power to release a dense black wave of flames at the white wall.
Unlike the times I previously tried cutting this wall down, my attack doesn't make much sound or give any reaction at all.
It just slices through like butter.
A massive gaping hole in the shielding before me is ripped open, and the black void is visible to all my senses. My attack makes it out the other side of the nearly endless void, and I watch an explosion of light as it bursts back into the outside world.
"It doesn't even seem that far..."
If my energy attack can burst through like that, why wouldn't I just be able to make it out if I tried?
The thought of activating my extreme speed buff along with a few gusts of wind magic behind me to try following the path of my attack outside into the void crosses my mind, but I decide not to test this plan. I can think of more ways than one that theory would not work out well.
"Though, I do have one way back that's easier than all the rest."
I pull out a transport crystal from my item storage and hold it in my open palm.
If this works, I can bring Maria and Abby here right away and we can all start training.
I concentrate, and destroy the glistening stone in my left hand.
The fragments of crystal rock fall to the white domain's floor, and I don't budge. Teleport magic activates, covering my full body, but as soon as the flash of light covers my vision it dissipates just as quickly.
I'm still standing in the titan's domain with shattered crystal by my feet.
"Interesting..."
I remember my Dungeon Walker skill not working correctly in here either the last time I was trapped, and now this teleport crystal too.
"Well, the easy way out isn't going to work. I'll focus on goals 1 and 2 for now."
Pulling everything non-perishable out of my item storage, I set up a nice living area on one side of the room, and decide to do all of my training on the other.
The slice in the walls mends itself in a matter of minutes while I sort through my gear.
In my miscellaneous items pile with my comics and clothes, I bought a mana-imbued digital clock.
[06:21]
I take a look at it before I focus on my Qi control. This time around in the Titan's domain, I'm going to keep close track of the time that goes by.
Sitting at the far side of the room in the lotus position on a red-colored blanket with nothing but water bottles and a clock by my side, I take out one Qi pill and swallow it whole, oversaturating my body's already full core.
Closing my eyes and focusing only on the energy circulating through me, I constantly push waves of energy in a calming motion through my arms, legs, and torso. The excess Qi from the pills leaks out and begins to fill the room.
In just a few hours, I've completely expelled the excess Qi and come back to my natural maximum saturation point.
The excess energy in the air slowly flows around the contained room, and starts to gather on my body at a much faster rate than it does outside.
However, this is not enough.
I swallow another pill and wait a few hours for its energy to flow through me fully too. The excess Qi fills the room, making the air much denser with energy.
Then, again.
After the third pill, I look at the clock and over 8 hours have passed.
However, the entire room is filled with a much denser mist of Qi. Every time the waves of it pass through me, more and more
sticks to my skin in trace amounts and is absorbed into my capacity.
The density of Qi in the Domain is nearing what it feels like to gather energy inside Monk's Monastery.
I continue to take the pills, oversaturating my core for 20 more hours straight until the room is completely full and I'm entirely out of pills.
The amount of Qi that escapes through the micro tears in the walls is so minuscule, I can't even sense any leaving.
By the time I'm finished, the density in here is almost 3 times as much as it is in the monastery, and I can feel my rate of absorption increase just slightly as the density in the room increases. It's not exactly 3 times as fast, but the difference is noticeable.
Now that everything is contained inside, I won't be attempting to break through the walls again anytime soon for fear that the energy may seep out. However, I do test plundering mana from the floor below me and activating all my buffs to burn through MP while simultaneously cultivating Qi.
It doesn't affect the absorption rate at all, and allows me to comfortably burn through 5 to 6 thousand MP per minute at a fairly constant rate. I could do more, but this is the perfect rate to use my self-regeneration ability to heal my fatigue just as fast as it naturally builds up.
I let my mind wander, and enjoy the peace and quiet.
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Author's Note:
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