Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

First among these sacrifices was Rain's own mental well-being. Recognizing the difficulty of the task before him and the relentless demands it placed upon his time and energy, Rain made the difficult decision to prioritize the mission above his own mental health. He understood that the path ahead would be arduous and fraught with challenges, and there was nothing to change that…

Despite the personal toll it would exact, Rain resolved to press forward, steeling himself for the trials that lay ahead. He accepted that his role demanded sacrifices, both tangible and intangible and that his commitment to the cause outweighed any personal discomfort or hardship.

While everyone was working on the preparations, Rain teleported to the next layer of the planet and then used the spell again to appear in the nearest dungeon. Much to his surprise, quite a while had passed since the last time Rain had been there… the dungeon of the beast queen. The surroundings of the place were no longer covered in snow.

They were quite dry, though, since the dungeon was a fire dungeon…

"The levels of mana of this place increased… even though the mana levels on the planet decreased," Rain furrowed his eyebrows.

It didn't take long for Rain to find some monsters. Naturally, the ones on the first few floors were only regular monsters, and Rain killed them by touching them with the mana gem. He also tried to turn them into cores, but the fire skeletons were unable to become cores…

"I guess I really need to turn this process into a skill…" Rain thought.

"What are you planning to do here?" Elisabetha asked. "Turn all the dungeon monsters into cores?"

"The ones that can become cores, yeah," Rain replied. "I am also checking if I can make the beast people return to normal even after they basically became self-repairing zombies."

"Is that really fine? Isn't that what the overseer had planned in the first place?" Elisabetha asked.

"His plans might be good for his interests but not for my own," Rain shrugged. "If he were a bit more cooperative, I wouldn't have to do this kind of thing."

It became evident that only the beast people, particularly those on the dungeon's final floor, possessed the necessary attributes to be transformed into cores. Rain observed that despite encountering a variety of monsters on the lower levels, none exhibited the resilience or life essence required for core conversion.

Upon deeper analysis, Rain assumed that the beast people's unique biology and life essence levels set them apart from the other dungeon inhabitants. Their inherent strength and vitality allowed them to endure a semi-death state, a crucial prerequisite for the core transformation process.

This resilience likely stemmed from their evolutionary adaptation to the harsh conditions within the dungeon, granting them a heightened ability to withstand physical and metaphysical challenges.

At the same time, the other creatures inhabiting the dungeon lacked the robust life essence necessary for such a transformation. Their biological makeup and energy signatures fell short of the threshold required to sustain the core conversion process.

"Well… even with their numbers, it will take a while before they make much difference in my speed of production," Rain thought. "Unless…"

Rain recalled what happened when the people on the floors joined them… they got a lot stronger when they became parts of the path system.

While dungeon-transformed beast people were all part of the paths system already, the lords weren't… if Rain let them become part of the paths system and let them learn the right skills… the mana production speed would skyrocket, but they would become stronger as well.

"This can help, but I wonder if the seals will be able to hold them back," Rain thought. "This might make them change their minds and become real allies once they see their own strength and ours increasing."

As Rain stayed on the dungeon's final floor, his focus honed on the task at hand: sealing the beast people into cores. With each successful sealing, Rain observed a tangible impact on the dungeon's dynamics as the rate of beast people spawning decreased visibly.

By containing approximately one thousand beast people within cores, Rain effectively disrupted the dungeon's natural cycle of replenishment. The once prolific emergence of these adversaries ebbed to a mere trickle, their numbers significantly diminished. Consequently, the final bastion of resistance, embodied by the beast queen, stood isolated amidst the desolate expanse of the dungeon's recesses.

"I can also make them learn the right skills to offer me more mana…" Rain thought. "Anyway, how are they behaving?"

"They were a bit surprised, but they are fine now," Elisabetha said. "They aren't acting like mindless monsters as before. They are back to the people that they were before."

"Is that so…" Rain rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Truth be told, Rain wasn't betting a lot on that plan… he was only working on it because he didn't have anything better to do, and that was slightly better than just recovering his mana, but that had more potential than he had expected.

Perhaps Rain should look for the magic people this time… they would have more potential when it comes to mana production. However, since they weren't mad, it would be hard to convince them to help without doing anything drastic. Moreover, they still hated humans.

While Rain was thinking about that, he reached the final part of the dungeon, and from the lake of magma, the beast queen emerged and then charged at Rain. Her fire-emblazed fists approached Rain's face while distorting the air around. Thanks to the heat… she had gotten stronger since the last time. However, Rain stopped her attack with a single hand without even flinching a bit…

"It doesn't look like we will be able to talk this through, so… sorry," Rain said and then broke her fist.

The beast queen groaned in annoyance but soon tried to punch Rain with his other hand, only to make the same thing happen to her fist. Just when she thought of jumping into the lake of lava to recover, Rain shocked her with lightning magic.