'A pity. The moon outside's much more pleasant to look at.' Ebony thought.
They safely reached the dungeon walls as night fell. The swamp with huge trees and muddy floor had been harder to traverse than he thought. They had to reroute a few times due to dead ends.
The thick vines were just hanging from the sky where it was hard to even spot the 'ceiling'.
Mallory was mentally exhausted from long hours of flight, even carrying Scarlet most of the way. They prepared to climb up the next day. The plan was not to stop on the next floor for whatever reason. The only thing that could be considered treasure here might be the plants and vegetation which none of them was very interested in.
Scarlet would've been a little more interested were it to be considered edible by her.
"What's the plan? All the way up to the eighteenth? Sounds tiresome already." Hector asked at the dining table provided by Mallory who still didn't want to eat at the same table as Mark.
It was a fancy table made of stone and had carvings of sea waves. Typical of a princess of the Empire of Ebbing Waves.
They didn't know how long it'll take to climb up even a single floor. There weren't any avian monsters but Mark had been warned that Swamp Golems might wait till they climbed reasonably high before swinging the vine violently. Some reported deaths include being slammed into a bloody mush onto the dungeon walls. Issiles might just shoot a high-pressure blast of water at them as well.
With mages like Ebony, Scarlet and Mallory who didn't need to hold their hands forward or use a staff to cast magic, they were not completely defenceless against such tactics.
There was no way even the Swamp Golems were strong enough to cause much trouble once they were high enough. These vines had to be horrendously heavy with how far they stretched out.
The current plan was for Mallory to carry Ebony while he carried the other 3. The healer and barrier mage could not carry so many people while he couldn't carry himself for long. He hadn't gotten the chance to ask Mallory how flight works or why it was more difficult to lift oneself up.
Mallory actually had much higher Intelligence than him and could indeed carry the others but not for long as the mental strain would be too much. Her Wisdom was much lower compared to him and she had skills similar to Scarlet's that expanded her mana pool. She had other methods of recovering mana as well. But mental exhaustion was a completely different issue and she had no way around it.
The 'Meditative' Classes should all have a greater capacity for mental strain even with the same Wisdom stat or lower. Clearly, a benefit and change that the Meditation type skills themselves had done for one's mind. It was a pity Meditation was hard to teach or learn. It was just patience, patience and patience.
Ebony had an idea to hasten the trip for the party tomorrow. Before the barrier mage went to sleep he was asked to be let out saying that he already slept his fill and would just stay outside till they were awake. Confirming with Mark that he would take the night watch so that he went back to sleep.
He stood above the dome that was almost 25 metres in diameter. If it had been a perfect hemisphere that would mean he was more than 12 metres off the ground.
Pushing his mana under him and enveloping the barrier before 'solidifying' it so that they don't vibrate. Essentially soundproofing the barrier.
An Ice Sword formed and flew right into the wall but it bounced off almost comically.
'Stabbing footholds on's not gonna work.' He wanted to just carry all of them on his shields. It wouldn't be too heavy if he didn't compress his shields much.
He could just run up the walls but with the additional weight, it was better safe than sorry to have better footing.
With no better idea, he stepped off the barrier and directly touched the wall and just conjured as much ice mana as he could from his hands. Ice Injection.
He might not have the skill anymore but it wasn't like he couldn't just replicate the effects. Blasting his entire mana pool as he climbed up and continued freezing a layer of the wall with ice. He made sure to make it uneven for more friction.
When he ran out of mana he just used the ice mana in his robe. It would just be a drop in the bucket since he didn't have to freeze deep.
The repetitive work was just Ebony falling into a trance again when he hit his head on the ceiling before he knew it.
'Not as tall as I imagined.' He didn't know how long he had been working on the wall but morning was about to come. He pushed off the frozen wall and free fell towards the ground, taking the chance to practice carrying himself with his manipulation of ice and gravity.
If he had something to compare the difficulty with, it was like trying to carry yourself physically but without any tools like ropes or a pulley system. His mana, ice mana for him, was the rope that he used to lift himself off the ground but he needed a pulley or another supporting platform or carrying himself wouldn't be possible. Intelligence was his mental muscles doing the pulling.
Gravity manipulation alone made things many times easier but it was sort of just the properties of gravity magic that allowed him to float. No reason not to make things easier for himself by using gravity magic's strengths.
Then again, there was the advantage of being able to become better at actually trying to fly if he didn't rely on gravity magic. Like when his teacher Kappa didn't allow him to cheat with ice magic to run up walls. In return, his physical ability and proficiency with Treading Steps rose to evolve the skill.
Ebony was let into the barrier when they started to wake up and he urged them to pack up quickly after breakfast. He didn't know if Ordina would decide to absorb his ice or if its ability to absorb people's mana so quickly had been sealed or restrained enough.
Scarlet wasn't surprised at the entire patch of blue but the others couldn't hide their shock. Even Hector who thought he had understood Ebony better was stupefied yet again.
Mark and Mallory could not comprehend how much mana a mere Journeyman had to be able to accomplish what their eyes were showing them.
"Hop on." Ebony made two shields for the guys and girls.
Watching them standing confidently was nice and all but he was going to go fast.
"...Sit tight and hold on to my shield." Ebony waited no longer and sprinted at the wall at max speed, unenhanced.
His shields struggled to keep up as they were pushed back by air resistance, the others were similarly pushed down to the 'ground,' his shield. They didn't expect him to charge at a wall and then feel the sudden change in inertia.
They went through the hole that was big enough for an Issile to squeeze through after just a dozen or so minutes. The climb would've taken hours and made even Mark exhausted. Of course, even their original plan was to fly so they wouldn't be tired after reaching the next floor.
The other people on vines further away from them had witnessed their figures speeding up the wall.
Mallory's stomach did not agree well with the motion and she tried her hardest to keep breakfast inside for almost as long as Ebony took at scaling the wall. She was staring daggers at him for the next few hours.
Ebony attempted to run up the unfrozen wall of the fourteenth floor but it was muddy. He could still run up but with no guarantee, if he had to carry four people mentally.
They didn't even explore this massive floor as they carried on with the original plan where he would take a ride on Mallory's barrier express. The speed was much slower and the glare from her did not improve the riding experience.
The scenery would've been much more pleasant if he didn't see a party being washed by a wave from a tail sweep of an Issile.
Nothing even attempted to stop them from climbing up.
Half a day passed by the time they reached the fifteenth floor through a similar hole at the top of the fourteenth.
They had to let Mallory rest, Mark also suggested they tried hunting a few monsters on this floor. The average levels of 170 to 180 were enough for another 2 inducements of natural potential.
It wouldn't be all that easy for Mark to hunt as well. Even the thirteenth floor posed enough danger for Mark to be on high alert much less a higher floor. Mark wanted his party to understand this.
❅❅❅
How strong were monsters compared to people?
It was hard to say. Many factors had to be taken into account.
In this party of 5, Scarlet was the one who understood best. She could get technical but that has always been a poor choice to evaluate a monster's danger levels with. Therefore, she never found the need to explain it to the party. Hector had been pretty knowledgeable and might have known more as well.
In terms of strength or average physical stats, a level 160 Issile might have been on par with Ebony's fully enhanced state already. Scarlet knew that to slay one so easily must have been his magic and many skills compounding its effects together. That was the case for anyone who could hit above their own levels.
Scarlet had never been one for studying but there were many things she was forced to learn. At least something related to fighting hadn't been too boring to study.
She knew many things that even Hector shouldn't know unless he had contact with other worlds.
Like how Elcra's Worldcore's quality was currently only starting to near the peak of Ancient. Although that meant that it could sustain Emperor classed existences to reach that would be very difficult and time consuming. There shouldn't be too many still hiding around on Elcra. Even the current 'Emperor' was not Emperor classed or so she was told.
It can be seen why these 'Emperors' never liked being called that. They haven't really reached the ranks of one but the Empire's ruling was that there was always one person that was given the title.
The quality of the Worldcore directly affects the strength of monsters in the world itself.
Most monsters had been animals that absorbed ambient essence somehow or the other. The Xengs believed that it was the Worldcore that forcefully injects essence into its creatures or if it had a spirit, the spirit was doing the work.
Ultimately, it was a cycle of growth.
The Worldcore produces monsters with essence. People get stronger through killing them and vice versa, personal growth, training and experiences adding to the equation. When they die, the Worldcore reabsorbs the essence of all creatures alike to strengthen itself and the cycle repeats.
Dungeons were like pests to every Worldcore that forms naturally. They suck up essence and don't spit it back out, the reaction of the Worldcore is naturally to stop it from doing so further. Hence the seal. Upon success, at the very least, the world's essence would be converted to materials that its creatures can use.
The Worldcore would not react as long as its overall essence wasn't impacted by too much. Dungeons would understand that they were forced to outsource essence which was to attract people to them and then kill them inside.
They could still drain essence, just at a much slower pace than before they were sealed. Those that were undiscovered just built up so much that the dungeon had no choice but to keep spawning monsters. Reaching their max capacity without anyone coming in to serve themselves would cause them to burst and send their creatures out to search for essence.
Dungeon creatures would constantly lose their essence, essentially dying the moment they left the dungeon but with their remaining lifespan, they could cause more than just panic depending on where they were situated.
The increase in quality of the Worldcore also increases the quality of its essence. Hence, strengthening the creatures that absorb said essence. It was also why monsters on any world could only get as strong as Worldcore and never beyond. Unless they gained essence from another source. Eating people was a great boost of nutrients for them.
With that said, the average monster in the wilds of Elva was estimated to have about 4 to 5 times the amount of stats that a person would have at the same level. For those that were below level 100.
So if a Journeyman gets 10 + 5 + 1 stat points per level of each of their classes, an average monster would have about 65 to 80 stat points. Other factors to be included were the type of monster themselves, their environment's world essence concentration and whatnot.
While a dungeon's monster were generally weakened by the seal, it would gradually recover to equal the surroundings where the dungeon was formed.
The disparity only grew after every evolution with level 100 to 300 monsters gaining an average of 240 stats per level. Gaining about 7 to 10 times the stats of people. The difference between different types of monsters also grew since the lower end could have much lower stats than the stronger ones.
What the Imperials called 'aberrants' were simply more successful monsters who killed and consumed more than most. Scarlet wouldn't call them more intelligent since they basically fell to their basic urges and killing instincts.
The dangerous ones were those that managed to reject the essence of the world and then remove what was already in their body.
There were too few of them out there and Scarlet was pretty sure that not many Imperials even understood the difference between them and an aberrant.
Their low-level party looked at a group of 3 Swamp Issiles that had half their body sticking out of water. They surrounded them in a triangular position.
She was pretty sure they were standing on solid ground that was soft and moist but not liquid. She hated the mud on her boots and even splattering onto her mantle when she moved fast but she didn't have Ebony's repulsion spell.
All of them were level 175 and the 3 Journeyman fighters called dibs on the ones closest to them. They were exactly what they came here for anyway.
Scarlet steamed, sparked and flashed.
She was right over the head of the Swamp Issile and ready to fillet it from the head but didn't expect the eyes of the snake-like fish to follow her movements.
It prepared to blast the visible mud ball in its mouth but she was faster. Flipping around and pushing off her disk of blood, she slashed out hundreds of times before she touched the ground. These oversized fishes could clearly swim in mud.
Sister Jing had added space inside Ignite and Flare's sheath that could contain her blood and keep it fresh for a long time so she didn't have to cut herself to get some blood. She still couldn't conjure blood at the moment.
She could almost feel as if her swords wanted her blood too as they were blood drinking swords. Although they grew by drinking the blood of her slaughter they still had to be reforged after she evolved. Perhaps they might not even be able to keep up and have to be placed aside if she doesn't want to break them.
No time to feel sad about not being able to use swords that have followed her for years.
The Swamp Issile writhed around in pain with numerous wounds opening up almost at the same time. They burned and stung, paralysing the beast temporarily.
'It's tougher than I thought.'
The cuts couldn't be considered deep for a large fish like this. She didn't let go of the short period she bought for herself by shocking the Issile. She tried to go in to continue her Live Ingredient Processing but it was writhing about too violently and she had no choice but to give it a treatment of fire instead.
Hector had the most trouble because the Swamp Issile seemed to be very resistant to blunt impacts and he didn't have a large array of active skills. His dedication to pure physical force was admirable but it comes back biting.
Of course, all of them were in awe again when he blew the thing to bits together with a large part of the forest with a single punch.
'That's not power that a Journeyman can have…'
"That's overkill," Ebony said. From time to time, he used terms that she just couldn't understand. This one was simple enough.
They could feel the shockwave and power from Hector's attack even though it faced the other direction. She couldn't even spot many pieces of the Issile left. To say it disintegrated would not be accurate but it blew apart too finely and far apart.
Hector was also lying down as his face turned purple.
She was right, it was not power that a Journeyman could withstand.
Mallory sighed softly but she only felt his pulse and didn't do anything. Not because she didn't want to but because there was nothing she could do about mana poisoning. The tiny frown she had after Hector used that ridiculously strong punch eased up a little so Scarlet could only assume it was not that bad since he didn't even go into that state for more than half a second.
❅❅❅
Ebony had no choice but to use the full power of Frostblaze to even keep up with the others. He couldn't help but think he was the weakest since it was a state that he could keep up for a few minutes at best.
Hector's full power was far higher but also less sustainable. Scarlet can easily match his speed and more, but has lower power. With her Physique that lets her gain energy from blood, her sustainability issue was abated.
He wouldn't have been able to keep up with them was it not for this version of ice magic. He was not fighting using one of ice's greatest advantages which was to slow and hinder one's movement since he himself was no longer able to sustain in battle for long.
The three of them got the addition of Natural Potential but they continued moving around on this floor, staying within sight of the dungeon walls.
They stayed for 2 days to get the hang of fighting together. Including Mark and Mallory in the battles. There were quite a few parties around, likely the reason for the low number of monsters.
Parties don't interact with each other as long as they don't take each other's prey. Conflict arose when benefits were at stake.
There were few instances where Ebony saw parties being nice to each other and camped together to lighten the load they had on watch duties.
The distrustful types kept to themselves.
According to Mark's information, there was another outpost or large camp on the eighteenth floor and the last one in Ordina so far. They didn't have the manpower to set up anymore.
The one upstairs was also smaller in size and the facilities were more limited. Supplies were more expensive too since they were more valuable. Some merchants specialise in this trade. High risk high return.
Mark was slower and weaker than the 3 fighters. His fire attacks were less effective than Scarlet's. He was experienced in fighting but Hector couldn't see what was so special about Mark while Scarlet just assumed Mark was only hiding his skills.
His fighting style did intrigue Hector at first but Hector lost interest soon enough as it was a boring style to him.
So far Ebony has only seen Mark use the barrage of fire arrows and pillar of flames runic circles. He was pretty sure Mark's new weapon had new pre-drawn runic spells.
Those runes or how he made the weapon were secrets he was not willing to divulge to Ebony.
He was looking forward to seeing what else the current Mark who supposedly improved leaps and bounds over the past few years can do.