<6 months prior>


    <Shaman POV>


    Hiding in the darkness of arge crypt, I slowly approached my target until it was at afortable range.


    I grabbed the handle of my sheathed katana and concentrated on my breathing. I closed my eyes and put all of my focus on the tier 9 leader in front of me. It was an eldritch priest who had not yet noticed my presence.


    It was at least 10 metres tall, wearing a robe filled with holes that revealed its rotting bones. Skulls, jewellery, body parts and ck mist covered the eldritch''s robe, suggesting it specialised in necromancy. It carried a book that had constantly glowed an eerie green , leaking a faint mist that formed shapes resembling skulls.


    Focusing the flow of mana into my katana, I imbued it with starfire, my most powerful element at the moment.


    *Exhale* Letting out a long breath, my entire body rxed. In that moment of pure focus, I opened my eyes and locked on to the priest.


    Pushing off my feet, I instantly appeared a few metres behind the eldritch priest while pulling out my katana, which contained almost all of my mana.


    As soon as it was released from the confines of the sheath, all the mana I poured into it exploded. My katana waspletely covered in a raging me, turning everything around it to ash.


    shing upwards and through the eldritch''s body, I instantly split its core into two pieces and set its body aze. The sheer force of the attack crushed everything in front of me, causing the entire crypt to shake.


    There was a visible slice in the concrete that made up this ce from which many visible cracks branched out, progressively growing deeper as the wall threatened to fall apart. Luckily, once the shockwave from my attack had dissipated, the shaking had stopped and the ce had yet to copse.


    Unfortunately for the eldritch, it didn''t even have time to react, as everything happened in a span of a few milliseconds. From an outside perspective, it looked like I teleported from where I stood to behind the Eldritch. My attack wasn''t even visible to the naked eye, so fast that only aftereffects could be seen.


    When I sheathed my katana, it instantly extinguished my starfire, and shortly after, a system message appeared, showing how many levels I had gained.


    [Level 643 -> 683]


    [647/1000]


    [More of your potential has been unlocked!]


    *Sigh* "At this rate, I am not going to reach level 1000 within the year." Although I had gotten 40 levels from one kill, that one attack had almost expended all of my mana. It was also getting slower and slower the closer I got to level 1000 and soon I''d need to aim for tier 10 monsters.


    The only issue is that they are so rare to find and tier 10 dungeons don''t even exist. I might have to get lucky for a tier 9 dungeon to mutate like it did back in Cholden with the ogres. Unfortunately, there have only been a handful of cases of it happening, and a good thing at that, as it is the kind of thing you don''te back alive from.


    Especially in the lower level dungeons, where people are a lot weaker and more vulnerable.


    ''Anyway, I need to leave before any more monsters show up.'' With hardly any mana to spare, it was best that I left the dungeon.


    With what little mana I had, I opened up a stardust portal and traversed through the spatial dimension all the way back to the exit. The dungeon was quite small, as it mainly facilitated the boss with only a few monsters leading up to it.


    There was a trial of some kind as well, but thanks to my stardust portal I canpletely skip it and head up the stairs to the exit.


    However, just as I made it to the top of the stairs, I was suddenly kicked out of my spatial walk.


    "Shit!" Copsing onto the grass, it urred to me that I did not have as much mana as I had earlier thought. My legs had given out due to mana exhaustion, which has be more of amon urrence nowadays.


    [ra…]


    [Again? Please tell me you are close to the entrance.]


    [Yes, I am currently atop the staircase.]


    [Thank god, I''ll be there soon.]


    ''Urgh, I didn''t even have to say anything and ra already knew.'' It was shameful to admit that I had ra pick me up pretty much every time I went into the dungeon. I knew I should be more careful, but if I don''t push myself to my limits, then I won''t improve.


    ''At least I am making some progress, but it''s getting stale killing the same things over and over again.'' Afterbining my soul, Tyso has been throwing me into these dungeons to master my new skills.


    My technique when it came to using the katana is a lot more refined now after such gruelling months of training. However, Tyso said my skills are still too weak and my mana usage is horrible. I was honestly at a loss for how I could improve, but I guess that was part of the training.


    ''Identify how I can improve and master it.'' I was told. I didn''t know what constituted mastery, but I felt like I was getting pretty close.


    "Shaman!" While in the midst of my thoughts, ra''s voice echoed through the dungeon in a furious tone.


    ''Not again.''


    "When you say stairs, I NEED you to specify which stairs you are on!" A loud crack reverberated throughout the dungeon, followed up by a massive lightning strike and ending in an explosion.


    A gust of wind swept through the dungeon carrying the bones of the skeleton warriors that protect the crypt, which I hadpletely avoided thanks to my spatial walk.


    Emerging from the massive dust cloud was ra in her partial demon form. She now had proper control over it, allowing her to permanently stay in that form if she wanted to.


    Although she prefers not to stay in that form since she disliked its monstrous demeanour. It darkens her hands and feet, which have be ws, all the while her eyespletely turn ck. Her horns also grow in size, coupled with a weird circuit pattern that branches out to her skin.


    It had that old sci-fi vibe thates across like someputer simtion, but from what ra had told me, they simply line up with her mana veins.


    "S-sorry." I apologised to ra, as it was the only thing I could do. I was unable to move any part of my body except my head, meaning I waspletely at ra''s mercy.


    *Sigh* "You''re lucky my demon form allows me to take on tier 9 mobs. Otherwise, you would be left here for dead." ra rubbed her forehead out of frustration, which was fair since she was right.


    Right now, I am the only one who can actually clear this dungeon, except for our tutors. ra was also an exception, but she can only fight a handful of monsters before running out of mana. She could try to fight the boss, but without a finisher on the same level as mine ra has no chance.


    "I know… But you wille to my rescue so it''s fine, right?" ra was my life insurance since I had no way to contact Tyso while in the dungeon.


    "Tsk, still doesn''t mean nothing can go wrong. What if I can''t make it in time?" ra showed her overprotective side, which has only be more prominent ever since Elysia left.


    "Trust me, I would have used lover''s call if I was in a pinch, so please don''t panic." I knew ra meant the best for me, but it wasn''t like I was going into the dungeons without a n.


    "Hmph." ra pouted, as there was no room left for her to argue.


    "We should probably leave before the skeletons regenerate." It wasn''t urgent since ra literally sted all their body parts to smithereens, but if we spent all our time talking it would eventually spell trouble.


    "Yeah, yeah, I know." ra walked up to my side and, with one hand, grabbed the back of my kimono and lifted me onto her shoulder.


    "Oof, do you have to be so rough?" My body may be durable, but being picked up like some kind of doll was still unpleasant.


    "I thought you liked it rough?" A smirk appeared on ra''s face and she started to grope my side while I was utterly defenceless.


    "Arghhh~!!! STOP ITTT~!!!" It was a torturous feeling, being at theplete mercy of a vindictive predator. So I had to stay there, slumped over her shoulder, as she had free reign over my body.


    "This is punishment for making mee here. ra continued to use her hands to touch every part of my body while walking towards the exit.


    ''Elysiaaaa i miss youuu~.'' I sobbed internally. Surely, if she were here I would be saved… right?