Chapter 64

The third floor was similar to the first floor. However, while the first was made of a series of dark caves in sequence, leading to the boss room, the third was a collection of rooms. They were carved out of sandstone, and connected via a series of tortuous corridors that confused the senses. Torches lit the space with an flickering warm light, and motes of elemental fire and light wafted up from them and towards the ceiling. Moss-covered statues, ruined beyond recognition, stood watch in small alcoves dug in the stone, Earth and Plant/Nature elemental energy swirling about them. Compared to the second floor, the valley, the elements were much more rarified here, but this only made it easier for Michael to detect them, no longer having to squint his metaphorical eye to see them.

The same couldn’t be said for Unity energy. He could not feel it at all, not even beginning to fathom its very existence, as if it resided on a plane of comprehension that was utterly alien to him. He could feel the skill light up gradually as he killed the monsters, and sometimes even at random times whenever he did something that the skill considered ‘significant’, but even with this insight he failed to detect the energy itself. He had no idea where it came from, what it did, or how it worked. His only insight was that without it, there was no way for his [Unity] skill to level up.

Michael’s party consisted of him, Johanne, Drullkrin and the unnamed golem who had accompanied him during his expedition in the glacier in search of the Ice King. They explored and mapped the area, fighting the mummified enemies they came across with increasingly deadly efficiency the more they learned to work together, grinding room after room. The loot was decent, but Michael was beginning to hit diminishing rewards, especially after getting used to the ludicrous rewards he got from the challenge second floor. He got a skill stone here and there, upgrade stones he could only use for specific skill, and a single new common skill stone for a skill he did not need.

The first upgrade was used for [Presence] which, now at level three, was admittedly useful in a fight. Its range was now 15 meters and its effect was stronger. The other was for [Marksman], making his water bullets deadlier and his side weapon, a gun, actually decent against weaker enemies. He still had the problem of having limited ammo whenever he used a gun, and against a floor as big as the third it mattered a lot.

The skill stone he chose to keep, so that he could give it to the scientists as soon as the lab was built. It was for a skill called [Soothing Rain], an area of effect skill that was probably only good for watering fields and improving the mood of a city. A good support skill, and one that would be needed if his plans for the land were to go through, but it was only incentive not to absorb it himself. He would find someone else to take the burden for him, pretending it was a reward they got. At least he could pay them well if their job was too boring.

Progress through the floor was easy with their diversified party. The golem was excellent at drawing aggro, and could also deliver deadly blows with its stone limbs. Michael switched between ranged and melee attacks, making use of his less-used skills like [Presence] and [Voice of Command] to control the flow of battle. [Distortion Sphere] was still his go-to skill of choice, and it felt more satisfying than ever now that he could move the bubble around. But he did not let the ease with which he dispatched of his enemies using the little black sphere make him neglect his other skills.

In the back of his mind, the man-shaped blur that plagued his property and usurped his dungeon was growing to be a real danger. After the destruction of the trail cams, Michael had done nothing but ignore its presence. The blur, on its part, did not attack either. Whoever it was seemed just content to use the dungeon’s first floor and leave soon after without interacting with anyone. All this had led to Michael growing complacent with the issue, as if it was not a big deal. But now that the road was nearing completion and plans were moving forward, the man usurping his property could not be ignored anymore.

What if the blur got to the second floor? In fact, how could Michael know whether the man had already gotten there or not? After all, one could descend after beating the first boss. Would the blur get a challenge floor like he did, or just a normal floor? The valley was tied to him, so there was no way the blur could access it—he didn’t know how he was so sure of it, as if the dungeon had deposited that information into his mind. But this also meant that there was no way to monitor the man’s progress unless he got to the third floor. At that point, Michael would notice the floor getting increasingly harder and know for sure.

This was, however, his first delve this deep and thus he had no reference points. He instructed Drullkrin to keep an eye on the floor when he returned here to train, and that was that.

As after happened, human minds were not rational. Now that Michael had brought his attention to the problem, it had gone from being background noise to being a thorn in his side he couldn’t wait to be rid of. At the same time, dangers and issues associated with the man’s presence began to pop up in his mind, making Michael curse himself for being too naïve in ignoring the threat. Sure, he had rationalized it away by saying ‘if not even I can catch him, what can we do?’

But he recognized now that it had been an oversight. There were many things he could have done to deal with the man, not least of it booby trapping the dungeon.

I’ll make sure to deal with it as soon as I emerge back in the real world. Dammit.

Compared to the first floor, the third floor was huge. There were dozens of rooms and no system messages announcing each and every single room Michael visited, unlike how the first floor worked. Also, he soon learned that after a while, the monsters he defeated in a room would respawn. Coupled with the floor’s confusing layout, it meant that they fought many more monsters than it was strictly necessary before they even came across the boss room. At the same time, more monsters meant more Unity gained for Michael’s new skill, and soon a welcome message made its way to his vision.

He pulled up his status and indeed, all his stats had changed again. The sight was almost enough to offset his gloomy mood from thinking about the interloper on his property.

He was elated to see that most of his stats had not only grown by ten thanks to the level-up, but they had also gained a couple points on their own. This was due to his training, which was once again effective now that the Unity skill had unlocked all the stats and allowed them to grow again. The rate would be slow until Michael figured out novel ways to train, but a few points gained were always useful. By now he had figured out that a hundred points appeared to be the average for a human being, so each point gained was still a 1% increase over baseline.

Of course, some people were much higher than average on some statistics. Even with all his power-ups, unless he activated his body enhancement skill he was probably still weaker than a professional lifter and slower than an Olympic sprinter.

Of all his stats, the one that had seen the most gains was Mana. Now sitting at a hundred, the sensation it gave him was almost stifling, as if there was no way for his current body to hold more mana than that. He felt like a bloated balloon, and all he could do to keep the sensation from distracting him too much was expend some of his mana every time his regeneration brought him back to full.

The always observant Johanne, noticing this change, approached him before they challenged the boss room.

“You seem to be in discomfort. What is it, my lord?” she asked.

“You remember the system I use to quantify mana, right?” she nodded, and he continued, “my mana reached 100 Copper. Not only did it stop growing, but it feels… odd. Like a glove too tight to fit, uncomfortable.”

Johanne nodded. “I think I know what it is that you are experiencing. I remember, back before I lost most of my power, how I too had to overcome bottlenecks such as this. Going by your classification, I think you reached the end of what your Copper-grade shroud can contain. You will not grow again until you manage to make it into a Silver-grade shroud.”

“And how do I do that?”

They were camping outside the very obvious boss room. The corridors between the many rooms were safe, and they had supplies for days. A cozy fire was burning with them all sitting in a circle. Drullkrin was overhearing the conversation between Michael and Johanne, clearly interested in learning more about a magic system he was not familiar with, while the golem was sitting on the ground motionless. It looked like a permanent fixture of the floor plan, wide enough to be a considered a giant statue.

“I think,” Johanne began after a moment spent to gather her thoughts, “that you have to compress your mana much like you do with coins. Once your shroud reaches Silver-grade, you will once again able to grow.”

Michael tried to manipulate his aura, but even after several minutes nothing seemed to change. It felt similar to when he had tried to make coins out of his mana, when not even a copper coin had appeared no matter how much effort Michael expended, only seemingly inert crystals.

“I am sorry I cannot help you more, my lord,” said Johanne after seeing his efforts go unrewarded, “not only are my memories fuzzy for some reason, but my method was different as well.”

“It’s fine,” he said after getting up. This was not the place to experiment, even though it was safe enough. Dropping the matter for the moment, he instead approached the boss room’s door. “Everyone ready to fight?”