Through the heavy Iron doors, I watch over two dozen 3-meter-tall suits of silver armor walk out.
They all seem to have humanoid-looking bodies, but there's no gaps in the armor at all. I can't see what their base forms look like. They carry silver swords and make loud metallic thuds of metal on stone with every step.
They march out in a line without missing a beat.
The buzzing sound and tingling feeling of mana in the air begins to grow making it hard to hear myself think.
I boost my perception skill, along with Inspect and Appraisal to analyze the opponents before me.
____________________
[Lv. 430]
Active Items:
[Enchanted Armor Set] +1750 Defense
[Enchanted Long Sword] +1750 Strength
Active Skills:
[NONE]
____________________
With a puzzled look on my face, I scan each and every one of the slowly approaching armored guards.
They're all the same. Exactly the same.
Every last one of them is level 430, and they all have the same armor and sword without a single skill.
"What... is going on here...?"
My sword is charged up nearly halfway, a 30-second burst of about 675MP. My recent level-ups have given me a slight boost in charging speed.
I continue to slowly approach, watching one of the Knights break their symmetrical line formation and begin moving at me with increased speed.
I let out an exhale, then run forward at the Knight to match its speed. I wanted to test out the base mobs here, so that's exactly what I'll do.
Once within a 10-meter range, I swing my sword and let the blade of energy fly.
Cautiously, I Dungeon Walk backward to watch the attack unfold.
It collides with the Silver Knight's long sword, letting out a clang, followed by a flash of white light, then the dazzling display of a fiery explosion.
Before the dust even settles, I hear the heavy metal footsteps of the Knight running through the fire at me with its sword at the ready.
"Hardy a scratch..."
There's a small dent in the side of its chest plate. A few fragments of metal hit the floor, but the attack didn't hit its body, only the armor. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near enough to penetrate its defenses fully.
I scoff, teleporting back even further away from this battlefield, and call out to Ember.
"You're up, take a crack at them."
The black-scaled Dragon nods while flapping his wings and lifting off into the air to join the brawl.
He dives down on the Knight that attacked me, clawing at its armor. After the sounds of metal breaking and mana shield collisions the silver Knight's arm tears off completely.
Ember flies up into the sky as I start to charge my blade again, hesitant to even join in on this battle.
My mana control is nowhere near refined enough to be of any help.
I grit my teeth, watching the Dragon swoop down and claw off its other arm, heavily damaging the Knight's chest plate in the process.
My eyes widen as I see what's inside the suit...
Or... what isn't inside may be a better way of putting it.
"It's empty..."
I gulp, watching the Flaming Dragon tear the armor suit to sheds as the army of them stands by letting their solider die what looks to be a painful death.
Almost a full minute passes, and I charge 1250MP into my sword.
Ember has successfully turned the empty suit of armor into a pile of scraps. I turn my vision to the line of Knights still standing by...
"Why aren't they attacking..."
I turn my head back to the fight between Knight and Dragon to see the armored scraps begin to move across the ground.
A scraping sound fills my ears as I watch the junk metal form together and create a full suit once again.
I can clearly see the cracks still there, but the suit is back together in its original form.
This isn't the same as the Blood Bonded armor from floor 19... Something else is definitely at play here. Ember flies down, shattering the fallen Knight into hundreds of tiny pieces once again.
Then, I hear another loud metallic clanging as a second silver soldier breaks formation and begins running toward me. I hear my telepathic link open up as the knight approaches.
"Master, these are not beings we can defeat right now."
"I'm aware now, you're right. Let me try one last thing, then we're out of here."
"Understood."
The Knight that broke formation runs toward me with its sword at the ready. I run at it too. My last attack was half as powerful, and it hardly even made a scratch. I'd like to see what a full-power slash can do to these empty metal monsters.
I run closer and closer while swinging my blade across my body, letting an attack fly, then Dungeon Walking a safe distance away to see the aftermath unfold.
It collides with the enemy's blade, then glides right through. I smirk, watching the black fiery crescent slide through the monster's entire body next without a sound.
My attack curves upward and flies off into the sky.
The Knight halts for a moment, then turns to my new position and continues to run at me like nothing happened...
My stomach lurches as I see the slash mark appear across the soldier's chest. I split it in two, but somehow the armor set is still held together and it seems unfazed.
Turing to Ember, I watch him fight off hundreds of armor fragments that continuously reform into the suit and sword, swinging attack after attack at the flaming Dragon.
I hear Ember's voice again.
"Master, I recommend we come back another time..."
I grit my teeth, looking up at the Castle wall. The large iron gate that let out the army of knights has slowly shut.
The mana in the air only gets denser and denser the further into the castle I sense. The Behemoth is back there.
I can't even make a scratch on its welcome committee, so there's no chance of putting up a good fight against it as I am now.
"You're right. We need to get much stronger."
I Dungeon Walk over to Ember, placing a hand on his back, then teleporting us back to the grassy rolling hills of a Dungeon I begin to like more and more every time I visit it.
We're back in The Great Plains...
Ember bows his head as I scan the surroundings using enemy detection.
"This was the right move, I can assure you."
I smirk, rolling my eyes while finding 2 large blind spots on my radar along with a familiar pesky duo of hunters.
"You're right, this is our best bet... There's 2 Titans in range. One of them is occupied by a few hunters at the moment, so it looks like we only have one option."
Ember shows me a toothy grin, replying through the link.
"It's time to get back to work."
I smirk, air-stepping onto the Dragon's back.
"I have about 30 days worth of food and water on my right now. Let's stay in this Titan for the full time..."
"Understood, 30 days it is. I'll adjust my mana absorption rate accordingly.
We blip to the far side of the dungeon with Titan less than 500 meters away.
Without a word, Ember flaps his wings and begins flying toward the jet-black 30-meter-tall walking mana pool.
I just left this Domain for the 2nd time and I'm already going back. It seems like I'm spending more time in the pocket realms than I am in the real world lately.
We both dive into the black being before us, plunging deep into the bottomless abyss.
"I'll do whatever it takes. This is the only way."
After a familiar free fall, we're back in the white-walled prison that recently I've come to call home.
My first order of business is to get some sleep. Ember curls up in a ball and begins to glow red. I get ready for another long month of training
Once I wake up the next day back in my white-walled training room, my routine begins. The 8-hour sessions start immediately, and I'm able to run through 850k MP on day 1 and push my training cycle to 4 days on and 1 day off. It only gets better from here.
I make a mental note of each day's mana consumption while hyper-focusing on a single task. Getting strong enough to defeat the Behemoth.
I need to prove to the Association that I'm not just some new recruit they can push around. If they want to slap the title of Elite on me and try to use that as a collar, I'll bite back...
I just need to be strong enough to do so without being thrown in a cage.
Day 1: 850k MP
Day 2: 875k MP
Day 3: 885k MP
Day 4: 890k MP
Day 5: 200k MP
Day 6: 910k MP
Day 7: 915k MP
Day 8: 915k MP
Day 9: 910k MP
Day 10: 200k MP
Day 11: 915k MP
Total MP Consumed: 8.465 Million MP
By Day 11 I find the new limit to my consumption capabilities. Even after a second day of rest, it doesn't seem to raise. I've gained a few levels since the last time I trained in here, so the initial increase makes sense. A daily output of 915k MP is more than enough to make solid progress.
I continue training.
Day 12: 915k MP
Day 13: 910k MP
Day 14: 915k MP
Day 15: 200k MP
Day 16: 920k MP
Day 17: 905k MP
Day 18: 910k MP
Day 19: 915k MP
Day 20: 200k MP
Day 21: 915k MP
Day 22: 920k MP
Day 23: 905k MP
Day 24: 910k MP
Day 25: 200k MP
Day 26: 915k MP
Day 27: 915k MP
Day 28: 915k MP
Day 29: 915k MP
Day 30: 200k MP
Total MP Consumed: 22.965 Million MP
Day 30 comes around and I've pushed my mana consumption to its limits. Burning through another 22.965 Million MP in the last 30 days, I've nearly doubled my total lifetime consumption. My body feels like it's bursting with power...
When I activate my All-Seeing Eye I can catch a glimpse of the abyss outside this white-walled prison without even cutting a hole through.
Charging up mana into my blade has never been easier... What took me 60 seconds just a month ago, can be done almost before I count to 3. I'm itching to try this out on an opponent.
I am still inside the Titan's Domain, so once I leave my abilities will be slightly weakened. Even so, when I battle those Knights again in the outside world I'm sure it'll play out much differently than before.
My mana-absorbing loophole has come in clutch once again.
I'll be back soon, I just hope the number of Titans in the Great Plains doesn't keep dropping at the rate it has been recently...
As Ember finishes up with his 30 days of Domain absorption, I release a slash that begins the collapse.
Before we know it, both of us are standing out in the open air of the Great Plains. I activate my item storage and let Ember step inside.
Teleporting to the dungeon's exit portal, I step out while planning to make my way to the Black Market. I need to have a word with Bri about my new armor set that I picked up from the Berserker King before heading back to face the Behemoth and its army of Knights.