The Stubborn Skill-Grinder In A Time Loop

The area they had travelled to was near the western border of the Republic, near enough to the coast that one could see it if they flew or had a tall enough vantage point, but still somewhat inland.

Traveling didn’t take long when skill levels were past 70, and neither held the other back overly much. Although Orodan felt that Arvayne was slowing himself for his sake. So, a day’s journey for a civilian was made within half an hour.

Their destination was the bog known as Ranmere’s Folly. Named as such for the reckless Imperial expeditionary captain who decided to get two-hundred men killed by venturing into the deep depths. The small mountain in the southern part of the bog was an entrance into the depths, and where Ranmere had met his end.

“So why travel all the way here? There are plenty of entrances to the depths closer to home aren’t there?” questioned Orodan.

“Yes, but not every entrance to the depths leads all the way down, and a lot of paths into the depths take very long and winding routes downwards. I also don’t want to hear any more whining from the Council about tremors,” Arvayne said, a subtle poke at his fight against the worm. “This is probably the entrance leading downwards with the most straightforward path to the abyssal depths, for when you get to that point. It’s where we Grandmasters ventured in so long ago.”

“So, it’s hopefully mapped out to an extent?”

“Aye, thanks to the Novarrians who died here a few centuries ago,” the old man replied. “It’s officially mapped out till at least a quarter of the way into the deep depths. And unofficially, we mapped out the entire way till the descent into the abyssal depths.”

“Sounds fun, shall we descend then?” Orodan asked.

“Yes, let’s. But fair warning, we’re only going to descend three-quarters of the way into the deep depths. Going any closer risks finding some rather dangerous monsters from the abyssal depths who might hear us,” Arvayne cautioned. “If you choose to disregard my wishes, I’ll simply leave, and you can fend for yourself in there. You’re in a time loop, I’m not.”

Orodan thought it a fair agreement. Plus, if there was a situation where he wanted to risk more, he felt confident that he could look after himself, or at least survive. He wasn't planning on risking the abyssal depths as this loop still had important things coming up.

Thus, they entered the mouth of the cavern and began their venture.

The first thing Orodan noticed was that the cavern was quite well-lit with glowing mushrooms along the walls. With his education in alchemy, he now recognized these as the ostolitus mushroom. An almost ubiquitous species of mushroom that was found throughout the depths. They were the same species that lit the walls of the natural tunnels underneath the Firesword mines when he had ventured in there.

The cavern seemed oddly quiet, and he soon understood why.

Behind the stalactites and stalagmites of the cavern, were numerous man-sized monster bats in hiding. These were quite weak… maybe at the Adept-level only. And they were trembling in fear, anxiously watching the two of them pass through.

He learned in his monster studies class, that most monsters had excellent natural instincts and could understand when something was more powerful than them. A popular practice for adventurer parties delving the depths was having a beast tamer whose companion could detect something dangerous before the party could.

Orodan, due to not having had the Observe skill for most of his life, also felt that he had the vague beginnings of this ability. He could instinctually tell when someone was a threat to him, particularly when it came to Grandmasters nowadays. Perhaps he would acquire a skill if he focused on it further.

He decided to use his new Observe skill for the first time to verify how strong the bats were.

[Name: Vitality Devouring Cave Bat

Title 1: Flight Adept

Title 2: Claw Combat Apprentice]

The rule of Adept-level beings having two title slots held true even for monsters. Additionally, even if these non-intelligent creatures couldn’t think, they still received the System in a form that was instinctually understood by them. Hence their choosing of titles.

Perhaps it was a way to show off to the other bats?

Either way, Orodan thought Observe was quite the convenient skill. Unless one had Blessings, items or the incredibly difficult to obtain Observe Resistance skill, it worked on anything, no matter how powerful. Most sapient beings typically held anti-Observe items or skills though.

The two of them continued on and Orodan continuously used Observe, slowly levelling it. Higher levels decreased its mana cost and supposedly at very high levels would allow him to get past Observe Resistance and enchanted anti-Observation items. It also allowed for one to detect the presence of Blessings once the skill hit level 70. But even at level 100 of Observe, Arvayne told him that it still didn’t allow anyone to see skills and their rarities. That was something only Gods were capable of.

Or incredibly powerful creatures like Cyvrosdyr, a World Guardian.

Finally, after Observing various Adept-level cave creatures such as moles, rats and spiders; and using Identify on various plants and mushrooms, they reached a point of the caverns which began to descend downwards rather steeply.

It was some time into descending this downward slope that Arvayne informed him they were more or less in the wild depths now, where they would encounter higher-level Adept monsters and Elites.

The monsters still frightfully stayed away or outright fled, but Orodan saw some interesting wildlife.

[Name: Space-lock Myconid

Title 1: Unarmed Combat Elite

Title 2: Space Adept

Title 3: Combat Apprentice]

It was an Elite-level mushroom man, with thick arms and a glowing aura of distorted space surrounding it. It had three titles as expected of an Elite. But it still smartly stayed away from the two of them.

Frankly, it seemed almost peaceful and not as predatory as some of the other monsters he saw thus far.

Until it encountered a strange teleporting spider and decided to tear its legs off and begin snacking on them.

Never mind.

“Nothing in the wild depths got to where it is by being a pacifist,” the old man spoke up. “Those things are the main predators of the phase spiders in this area. They lock down space and prevent the spiders from escaping, and their spatial distortions often cause spiders elsewhere who are teleporting to instead be drawn into their radius. Like a predatory magnet for teleporters.”

“You know, given the packed schedule I’ve had at the academy I don’t think I got the chance to speak to any instructors for space magic,” Orodan remarked. “Teleportation sounds useful, doesn’t it? Especially when backed by my skills which render mana concerns obsolete?”

“Useful for travel, sure. Useful in combat? Outside of cities and in the wilderness perhaps,” Arvayne remarked. “Almost everywhere of any significance is warded against teleportation nowadays. Entire towns have anti-teleportation wards over them that even Grandmaster space mages cannot break through. The warding is quite cheap too, so this has naturally rendered that branch of magic quite impotent, and people aren’t as willing to study space magic once they find that out. Anti-teleportation items are also ten gold coins a dozen.”

Orodan filed that tidbit away for later experimentation in attempting to brute force anti-teleportation wards once he learned the skill.

Finally, they got to a point where Orodan saw a different sort of monster. It burrowed out from the rock underneath and looked as though it wanted to speak to them.

[Name: Axeltugus the Watcher (Species: Depths Mole)

Title 1: Claw Combat Elite

Title 2: Earth Magic Adept

Title 3: Combat Adept]

“It’s named?”

“Of course, you have a name, don’t you? It’s an intelligent creature that has its own,” Arvayne replied. “It doesn’t make it special, but monsters have their species displayed next to their name, unlike the mortal races. Small mercies on us from the System.”

The mole stood off warily, a good distance from the two of them and spoke in a series of squeaks.

“Human… we have no quarrel with your kind and often let you pass through unhindered,” it spoke. “What brings you to our section of the depths today?”

“Just passing through to the deep,” Orodan replied. He wanted to ask more questions of it, but Arvayne interrupted him.

“Boy, we have representatives of depths dwelling monster species who reside in the academy and can answer all your questions, leave the poor mole alone,” the old man spoke. And while Orodan grumbled, he complied as there were more interesting things down below.

The mole seemed satisfied with the answer as well, and bade them farewell and good luck, but warned them that something new had moved into the deep depths just before the entrance to the abyssal depths. It then burrowed through the rock and departed.

The depths were not simply full of hostile and territorial monsters, but friendly ones as well. Intelligence could lead to many things, and cooperation between monster species and the mortal races was one of those outcomes.

The humans of Inuan were quite averse to officially congregating with subterranean monster species, as he had learned in the academy. But this didn’t mean that certain villages and towns didn’t have an unofficial understanding with some monster species from the depths. It might not have been the full-fledged cooperation that humans officially had with pegasi, griffins or dragons… but exchanging information and occasionally trading goods wasn’t out of the question.

Who knew if the group that mole belonged to engaged in friendly interactions with other settlements or groups of humans?

In any case, they had more ground to cover.

***

It was after twenty minutes of slow and steady travel that they reached the deep depths.

Arvayne told him that the natural saturation of world energy in the air and environment was heavier the lower they went, which meant valuable treasures and materials to potentially plunder. But it also led to the monsters at this depth being rather territorial and power-hungry.

The wild depths were more of an ecosystem. Sure, there were dangerous and rowdy monsters in them, but the highest level of monster someone was likely to encounter would be at the Elite-level. And a lot of the time these monsters weren’t outright hostile as they had enough sense to know that killing humans delving into the wild depths was a good way to have adventurer parties dispatched to perform mass exterminations in retribution.

The deep depths, however, were a different matter.

Chaos and perpetual conflict. It was a constant and vicious struggle for survival and power. The naturally denser world energy, while not on the level of an energy well, still meant that monsters were unwilling to give up their habitats and territories. Any monsters that dwelled here were power-hungry by nature and had no issues fighting to defend their lot in life.

Elite-level monsters snarled and snapped at them from a distance, happily willing to fight if pushed even by a superior foe. And Orodan started to encounter some Master-level monsters that he was forced to put down, as unsatisfying as the fight may have been.

And then he encountered something far stronger, and the fight wasn’t quite as unsatisfying.

[Name: Ulubulu the Bloodthirsty (Species: Reaver Mantis)

Title 1: Blade Master

Title 2: Master Slayer

Title 3: Gravity Magic Elite

Title 4: Blood Magic Elite]

This would be quite the fearsome monster, even by the standards of the average Master-level monster. It had Elite-level proficiency in two schools of magic which it used to amplify its raging savagery. And its Blade Mastery in the form of its deadly front legs was a prominent feature.

It was a hunter which prowled the deep depths, and it was among the strongest things Orodan could have encountered down here. This creature could very well be the end of even a Master-level adventuring party if they were caught off-guard.

While it was nominally at the Master-level, it’s battle power was approaching the level of a Grandmaster. Prodigies and people who could hit above their weight class didn’t just exist among the mortal races, but monsters too. This Reaver Mantis must have been a real terror within its level.

Orodan suspected it would be half as strong as Adeltaj Simarji, who was a very strong single-Grandmaster, if it was allowed to bring the full might of its physicality and both magic schools to bear.

Unfortunately for it, Orodan Wainwright’s legendary Mana Resistance skill made him an unfair foe to fight. A massive portion of its arsenal was neutered as its attempts to use gravity to directly control Orodan failed, and any attacks it launched via blood magic were ignored.

It also found that attacking the infuriating human resulted in it taking wounds from its own attacks, returned twofold.

It then decided to turn its gravity magic inwards alongside blood magic and empower itself to some rather impressive physical levels akin to Adeltaj Simarji. It now felt like Orodan was fighting a Grandmaster, and he actually had to get somewhat serious.

Mana Black Hole drained its self-empowerment, and Vitality Destruction paired with Vitality Black Hole drained its life force in large amounts. All this occurred as it engaged Orodan in a furious tornado of deadly melee that shattered miles of the far tougher world energy empowered rock. Arvayne actually had to leap away lest he be caught in the crossfire of the melee. His role being one of observation and guidance.

But despite Ulubulu’s valiant efforts, the Reaver Mantis fell to the unfair savagery of Orodan’s Endless Blitz empowered by Death Rage which caused even this ferocious creature to quail in psychological shock. A smaller being engaging it in a toe-to-toe melee battle and winning with raw rage wasn’t normal.

“Is everything from here downwards this tough?” Orodan asked, but not in complaint. It was a good fight, and he eagerly looked forward to something at the Grandmaster-level that could truly make his warrior spirit sing. “It was at the Master-level but fought with as much strength as old man Adeltaj.”

“Monsters are naturally more powerful than their mortal counterparts of the same level to begin with,” Arvayne explained. “Furthermore, not all creatures are built equal. If everything else is equal, a Master-level pegasus will be outmatched against a Master-level dragon for example. You just happened to encounter a powerful species, and the creature itself was quite strong too.”

“How is an adventuring party in the deep depths supposed to survive when encountering one of these? What do they even do?”

“They die. Your talent and lunacy afford you the unique privilege of not having to feel the fear and anxiety of even world-renowned adventuring parties delving the deep depths,” Arvayne remarked. “Why do you think delving the deep depths is so dangerous? There are plenty of records of expeditions and parties of Masters never coming back. You can do everything correctly and still die by running into the wrong thing.”

“That sounds…”

“Unfair? Such is life Orodan. The situation you’re in is quite unfair too, being expected to fight that thing coming down from the stars… but here we are. You should know this given your upbringing,” Arvayne continued. “There’s a reason why the backing of a Grandmaster is so highly sought after for such expeditions. The safety net isn’t just for show.”

Orodan now understood exactly why Geldric Sunfire would want his assistance in traversing even the Aenechean Forest. Adventuring was dangerous and uncertain work full of perils. Especially in a place like this.

While it could be lucrative and make one rich, it also came with the risk of fatal jeopardy. Unless a party had escape-specialists who could cast illusions or someone who could immobilize the monster for a moment… the only outcome would be death.

The ever-present grind for power and the struggle to reach upwards was simply the way of the world. When one was born with skill levels and titles, the natural incentive for every being was to claw for more. Even if it led to them delving the deep depths and dying alone in a horrifying manner.

He wondered how many families grieved due to their loved ones meeting something like the Reaver Mantis? How many people waited for adventurers and expeditionaries who would never return home?

“Well, this is a depressing train of thought, let’s move on,” Orodan said. The ever-present hunger for power drove people to take some serious risks. And not all risks paid off.

They were only at the halfway point of the deep depths and had already encountered something monstrous that could fight a tier above its own.

What else would await them down below?

They continued walking down the tunnel paths which sloped downwards, until at last they reached a truly massive cavern.

It possessed all kinds of life, and multiple creatures of serious strength appeared to be battling within.

At the end of this massive chamber, near where two of the biggest monsters were battling each other, was an opening leading down deeper.

The opening lead to another massive downwards tunnel.

The position they were at was higher up the slope, and thus allowed them to look down the massive downwards tunnel.

And Orodan could see the color of the stone begin to change quite far down this tunnel.

“This chamber is roughly three-quarters of the way down into the deep depths. This is the farthest I’m willing to go personally,” Arvayne explained. “Those two things fighting each other are Grandmaster-level, and the one coming out on top can fight at least a step above its own level.”

The two titanic monsters fighting each looked naturally savage and ferocious. They were two giant bugs.

[Name: Astirisil the Swooping Greed (Species: Soul Devouring Scorpionfly)

Title 1: Stinger Combat Grandmaster

Title 2: Grandmaster Slayer

Title 3: Combat Master

Title 4: Soul Combat Master

Title 5: Flight Master]

It was an intimidating looking insect the size of a house. It might not have been as big as some of the absolutely massive Grandmaster-level creatures he’d seen, but its small size made it even more ferocious and deadly.

Its wings were beating violently as it flitted about mid-air and launched glowing spears of offensive soul energy from its deadly stinger. It would occasionally then delve closer and have furious melee exchanges with its foe. Hundreds of attacks were exchanged each second and the massive cavern they were in shook due to the deadly dance of violence.

Astirisil was not only powerful, but also skilled in combat. It adjusted its tactics and patterns multiple times in the middle of battle. It was rare to see a monster with such knowledge and skill in combat and Orodan was looking forward to testing himself against the natural might of a monster, backed by skill of its own.

However, despite its skill and adaptability, the Scorpionfly was losing.

It’s opponent? Orodan didn’t know if he was its match.

[Name: Yamalshuk the Fiery Web (Species: Fire Spider Dragon)

Title 1: Claw Combat Grandmaster

Title 2: Grandmaster Slayer

Title 3: Fire Master

Title 4: Combat Master

Title 5: Space Magic Master]

It was a damned spider dragon.

The size of a small castle and with ominous flames emanating from its deadly looking body. Its eight lethally pointed legs glowed blue with the stereotypical tell of spatial magic, and it belched some absolutely lethal looking fire towards the Scorpionfly that the flying insect desperately avoided.

The sighting of a spider dragon was immediate grounds for the mobilization of armies lead by Grandmasters, and they would often be assisted by local dragon flights in the endeavor due to one reason…

…dragons absolutely hated the abominations that were spider dragons.

Every known dragon flight, even the Novarrian ones, had a standing bounty of generous reward on these foul creatures. Killing a spider dragon of decent strength and presenting the corpse was a quick ticket to earning great regard among dragon society.

The rumor was that long ago some malevolent force had succeeded in mixing the blood of dragons and great spiders, leading to the abomination he now saw before him.

Dragons were already naturally powerful monsters that were near the top of the food chain. If one were to make a list of beings that were the strongest, skill level for skill level due to their physicality and sheer mana pools, dragons would be near the top. Spider dragons consequently inherited this terrifying potential. Each skill level amplified by their powerful eight-legged bodies made them a terror in battle.

And the dragon flights really didn’t like a species of draconic off-shoots threatening their superiority. That there were some notorious spider dragons at large who’d also killed dragons and managed to get quite strong was another fact that added to the draconic hatred of spider dragons.

This was a Grandmaster monster, and it was a far stronger species than the Dweller Worm he had fought and killed. In comparison to this apex creature, the oversized Dweller Worm would just be a fat meal.

“Come Orodan, let us sit and wait while those two duke it out, then you can test yourself safely against that thing whi-”

“Daring to fight without inviting me?! Make room for one more!” Orodan declared as his weapons were drawn.

“…why did I expect anything else?”

The old man’s muttering was summarily ignored.

A Flash Strike immediately closed the distance between Orodan and the two parties who were fighting.

It would be no fun to gang up on the losing party, so Orodan’s Flash Strike brought him straight to the spider dragon, whose head received his sword. It was preoccupied with the scorpionfly and wasn’t able to stop Orodan’s Flash Strike empowered sword from burying into its head. The ambush actually gave him two levels in Surprise Attack as it added to the power of the Flash Strike.

It was the size of a small castle, and unfortunately a mere stab wound on the head from Orodan’s sword wouldn’t kill it. Strong as the Flash Strike now was.

It grunted in annoyance and pain. And Orodan further decided to ruin its day by beginning an Endless Blitz of Death Rage empowered attacks upon its head.

Finally, it decided to act as the flames around its body were directed towards him… and Orodan learned the critical distinction that it had the title of Fire Master and not the Fire Magic Master title that a regular mage would have.

Learning to harness an element was typically done through mana for the overwhelming majority of creatures. But some creatures were naturally capable of certain abilities, such as a pegasus’s flight or a dragon’s elemental breath attacks. For these creatures it wasn’t mana, but their very soul energy that empowered these natural abilities they were born with.

And for a fire spider dragon that had the blood of dragons flowing within it? The title of Fire Master said more than Orodan initially thought it did.

His Mana Resistance skill was of no use as the flames nearly turned him to cinders. His own monstrous levels in Unyielding Vitality and Regeneration - fuelled by Eternal Soul Reactor - were the only things that kept him alive as he acutely felt himself being reduced to ashes.

He reformed completely on the ground, his weapons utterly disintegrated. The endless gravity core had unfortunately fallen out of his stomach as a result of the near total bodily destruction he suffered.

His weight training would have to pause for now… how unfortunate.

He was hit by the indirect flames simply emanating from the body of the fire spider dragon and it nearly destroyed him entirely.

Orodan didn’t want to test it quite yet, but he felt that completely bodily destruction would kill him. And a focused blast of flames from its mouth would definitely accomplish this.

On the bright side, the spider dragon looked horribly charred and was in incredible pain! Attacking Orodan was a poor move on its part as the assault was returned more than twofold!

The spider dragon was utterly enraged and Orodan was given no time to recover as multiple portals opened up around him and eight terrifyingly sharp clawed legs came through these portals to assault him.

A desperate activation of Endless Blitz, combined with a quadrupled action increase and his utmost focus allowed him to barely counter the assault without getting completely eviscerated.

Soon, a titanic exchange of melee blows ensued, and Orodan found himself being pushed back despite all his skills working in synergy. The massive cavern shook horribly, and the world energy enhanced stone they were on was still being cracked and shattered.

He took some serious wounds which were healed near instantly, but the backlash also harmed the spider dragon. And he was forced to use Mana Black Hole to drain the magic out of the air and start shutting down the portals spawning all around him through which spider legs came through.

As this happened, the scorpionfly finally acted and sent a volley of powerful soul energy projectiles towards the spider dragon.

It hissed and chittered, which was translated via the System.

“Excellent! Come surface-dweller! We shall slay the interloper together and dine on its flesh!”

The response Orodan gave it…

…was a Flash Strike to the face.

“What’re you getting all friendly for? I’m fighting the both of you, so shut up and wait your turn!” Orodan said as his fist crunched the long tube-like appendage on its face that looked quite like a nose.

It hissed and immediately threw Orodan off to gain some distance and began pelting him with soul energy beams. Thankfully, his Soul Defense greatly amplified his already existing natural strength of soul. Even though this creature was naturally more powerful at soul assaults than the headmaster of the school of soul magic was… it wasn’t enough to harm Orodan. And it found its own soul assaulted in return every time it hit the warrior, so it soon stopped.

Leaving Orodan to fight the spider dragon.

“Encroacher! You intrude on my hunt, and then you covet battle with us both like a crazed imbecile? What sort of vexatious pest are you!?” the creature roared and spoke with a noise that sounded like a combination of a roar and a hiss. A truly disgusting noise. Orodan could see why dragons hated these things.

“I saw a good fight occurring, and I couldn’t resist! Now give me your all! Fight me toe-to-toe!” Orodan followed this with a War Cry which didn’t have too much effect but did slightly stun the massive eight-legged freak. “I don’t care how big you are or how powerful your ugly species is… fight me like a warrior!”

The spider dragon’s rage was terrible, and it obliged.

The spider dragon, the size of a small castle, barrelled towards him and engaged Orodan head-on in a deadly storm of melee combat with its eight clawed legs.

It must have looked utterly comical. For a man to barely batter aside, partially deflect and throw head on All-Strike punches towards legs that were the size of small towers… but it was a reality.

Orodan might have actually had a higher-level Physical Fitness skill than it, but its monstrous size and powerful body thanks to its species meant that each point of Physical Fitness it had went farther. Orodan would need more levels in Body Tempering to bridge this gap in natural potential.

But even if it was superior… the difference in physicality wasn’t overwhelming. And being a smaller being packed with so much power gave Orodan a different kind of advantage in terms of concentrated power.

His strikes would dent and crack the tough carapace of its legs whenever they met even as his bones shattered, and his upper body was completely exploded from the force at times.

Periodically, it would attempt to also belch a focused stream of flames at Orodan, and the warrior desperately avoided these flames lest he be killed instantly. But at intervals he did try to futilely grapple with it and slowly but surely began experimenting on acquiring some sort of resistance in the midst of battle from the ambient flames surrounding its body.

He lost track of everything else but fighting.

He and the spider dragon exchanged blows at a rate that made the air around them heat and catch fire from the friction and sheer energy.

A Death Rage empowered Endless Blitz, backed by a quadrupled action increase met eight legs of fiery fury which often not only came from the front, but also came through portals which spontaneously appeared behind, under and above him from all angles.

Initially, Orodan was the loser in every damage exchange.

He was forced to fight a little unfairly to stay alive in these initial moments. He used Mana Black Hole to drain the spider dragon’s portals and shut them down to prevent it from launching attacks through them. He was being overwhelmed by just a frontal assault and was barely surviving, so receiving attacks from all directions might just kill him.

A successful hit from the tower sized leg of the spider would always nearly evaporate his entire body, so Orodan was forced to partially deflect or evade its attacks to avoid death due to not being able to regenerate in time.

It was a precariously thin margin of error that could see him killed at any moment. But his iron willpower allowed him to maintain a razor sharp state of focus indefinitely and his Combat Mastery gave him the skill and technique necessary to remain in the fight.

He was kept afloat only thanks to his ludicrous vitality skills and the fact that the spider dragon didn’t want to hit him too hard lest it receive some unfortunate damage in return.

This spider dragon was utterly monstrous and beyond anything he’d properly faced down one-on-one.

The world was a big place and the depths had monsters such as this, that made a Dweller Worm look like an oversized weakling. Dragons often received Quests whenever spider dragons dared to even appear on the surface, for so great was the threat posed by one of these things.

Many Quests were still in place to this day for certain spider dragons that were at large and had gone into hiding after causing indescribable destruction. The world must have considered them a pretty big threat to bestow Quests the moment they even appeared on the surface.

But, despite being the loser in every damage exchange where he was eviscerated and torn apart. Orodan survived.

He reformed at frightening speeds thanks to Regeneration, he remained aware when most of his body was destroyed thanks to Unyielding Vitality, and this was all endlessly fueled by Eternal Soul Reactor. Any normal warrior would have been out of energy long ago from using such costly and energy-intensive skills continuously, but not him.

And even if it was at a slow rate, his skill levels still increased. The actual threat of death against this spider dragon was far more beneficial than the artificial threat against Arvayne Firesword.

This was what an academy couldn’t do. This was what Orodan was missing.

At Orodan’s current strength, each skill level made a big difference.

Through gaining even a level or two, the balance of the fight was beginning to noticeably shift.

He made minor skill level gains after just a day of continuous fighting. A dramatic increase from the month of relatively safe training he underwent at Bluefire where gains slowed down.

With these gains, after the first full day of battle Orodan was finally able to stop losing damage exchanges and held on evenly. He stopped using Mana Black Hole to cut off his enemy’s portals and decided to instead clash head on against the mightiest of the melee fury the spider dragon could bring.

This of course set him back to being on the losing end of the damage exchanges once again, but it was good training, and Orodan wouldn’t be a warrior if he didn’t continually increase the intensity of his regimen.

Even if it meant giving his enemy an advantage.

He was sure the old man was shaking his head in disappointment at Orodan’s excellent work ethic as usual.

His foe had an ungodly amount of vitality, far surpassing the Dweller Worm. As befitting a creature on par with a dragon that was at the Grandmaster level. It barely slowed down despite how much damage it received from Orodan and the backlash from Warrior’s Reciprocity.

But Orodan had gotten stronger.

By now his nineteen skills that were all past the threshold of level 70 - the Elite level - synergized together to monstrously amplify his battle power and let him fight beyond his weight class. The Orodan that fought the Dweller Worm would be instantly slaughtered by this spider dragon.

But he wasn’t the Orodan of a month ago.

After the third full day of fighting, Orodan’s experimentation of skirting along the edges and trying to build a resistance by using the less deadly ambient flames surrounding his foe paid off.

A moment came where he decided to risk it like a madman and actually take the focused fire breath head on. He felt he was on the cusp of understanding how to resist the hellish flames which evaporated the rock around them.

He would die and the loop would end if this failed.

But the gamble paid off.

[New Skill (Exquisite) → Fire Resistance 1]

His body was charred like a piece of burnt-out coal.

But he didn’t get turned to complete ash and have his entire body destroyed. Which would have killed him.

He could now start to survive the focused breath attack of the spider dragon.

Even at level 1, this skill began to make a serious difference in helping Orodan survive the soul energy empowered flames of the monster.

Even the monster began to get frustrated!

“Cockroach! You dare to use me as a training tool to acquire a resistance skill!? I’ll eviscerate you and burn your remains forever!” the spider dragon roared in fury.

On the fourth day of fighting, his Fire Resistance was at level 24, and he could now survive a focused fiery breath attack from his opponent with decent damage, but not so much that he couldn’t continue attacking almost instantly afterwards.

It was by then that the spider dragon was starting to look quite… broken.

Its powerful scales were cracked and bleeding everywhere. It had monstrous vitality that made it one of the most powerful species in the entire world… but that vitality had been drained over the course of four days through Vitality Black Hole and Vitality Destruction attacks. Its wounds were no longer healing.

It’s pace of attacks began to slow down, and it looked like it knew the impending outcome.

It tried to turn around and retreat.

Which it then found it couldn’t do, courtesy of a Blessing from the Inuanan God of War.

It stopped for a moment, and for the first time in days it spoke once more with a hiss and a growl.

“Vile creature! What grants a weak mortal such unnatural life force and vigor that even a vaunted spider dragon cannot match? Divine assistance? A bloodline of power that would shake the world?!” the spider dragon roared in outrage. A little ironic coming from a species that itself was created through unnatural means.

Orodan’s reply was another All-Strike to its face.

It took another half-day of fighting from that point.

It’s last words with its dying breath were muttered curses towards the Time Wind dragon flight.

The spider dragon never surrendered or begged for its life even as it died. It was a vile species known for having a level of fatal pride that rivalled its progenitor race of dragons.

Furthermore, creatures daring to live in the deep depths implicitly accepted the way of life which involved killing or being killed. Relatively few of the monsters he saw in this massive cavern would be willing to flee or give up their territory.

The world energy in the deep depths at this level, three-fourths of the way down, was quite rich. For creatures living here it was often an all or nothing gamble they took.

But… he’d finally won, and he had made some excellent skill level gains in just four days of work.

He looked around and wondered where the scorpionfly went, only to see his mentor in the far distance sitting on top of its charred corpse, his great sword buried in its head as he was reading an excessively thick book.

Surrounding Arvayne Firesword were the corpses of at least a dozen more monsters.

“Old man! You can’t just go around stealing my kills!” Orodan complained.

“What else did you expect me to do over the course of almost five days? The creatures here weren’t content with letting me peacefully watch either,” Arvayne explained. “You could stand to develop some patience yourself. Maybe I should lock you in a room and have you read books for five days straight as recompense. Who just goes and jumps into a fight like that?”

The threat of the excruciating boredom horrified Orodan.

“I apologize…” he weakly said. “My blood was boiling for battle.”

“I know. Agathor couldn’t stop telling me about it as I was trying to read.”

Orodan felt a bit weird at having had the God of War as his live audience during that entire fight but appreciated the support.

His attention was then drawn to all the corpses, and especially towards the corpse of the spider-dragon which any dragon flights would love to see. Especially of one that was at the Grandmaster level.

“Don’t know how we’re going to carry all of these corpses back though,” Orodan muttered.

“That’ll be of no issue,” Arvayne said.

And before Orodan could ask him to explain, the man simply waved his hand, and a ring on his finger glowed and the corpses were sucked inside the spatial vortex generated from it.

“Of course, you have a spatial storage ring. Why am I not surprised that you’re a disgustingly rich old codger?”

“Hmph… this isn’t an average ring either. It was made by a dragon enchanter,” Arvayne boasted with a slight smirk.

Orodan brushed off the old man’s bragging and turned to look down the now unhindered massive tunnel leading downwards.

It was a truly great distance away that the color of the stone walls began to change, and the mushrooms lighting up the tunnels began to drop off. Near the end, it was pitch darkness.

“Don’t even think about it, boy. Some of the things down in the abyssal depths… even I wouldn’t survive while calling upon the full power of Agathor,” the Chosen cautioned. “That darkness you see, it leads to a chamber right at the edge of the deep depths. From there it’s a straight hole down to the abyssal depths. This cavern we’re in is the farthest anything in the deep depths will dare to live in. Down in that transitionary chamber, even if it’s still part of the deep depths, nothing dares linger for fear of attracting whatever vile things are down the hole leading to the abyss.”

“What lives down there then? You’ve ventured in there once, haven’t you?”

“We didn’t get very far, just the very initial few tunnels. And the first thing our group of twenty Grandmasters encountered was a monster Observe called a ‘Sorrow of Magic’,” the old man spoke. “A third of our group was instantly rendered useless as their mana pools and all enchantments were immediately drained dry. I and the other Chosen had to immediately enter Avatar states to fight it, and two Grandmasters were killed.”

“Are the monsters down there truly that strong?”

“To put it into perspective, consider the fact that we have a legend of a Void Horror coming up from the abyssal depths and causing the collapse of civilization on the entire continent of Inuan thirty-thousand years ago. That’s how terrifying some of the things from below can be,” Arvayne spoke. “That pile of scrap underneath Mount Castarian that you took out is one of the creations of a civilization from that ancient time.”

“Then what stops them from coming up?”

“We don’t know, and I suspect we never will as no mortal will be strong enough to delve any respectable distance down there. Even our expedition which went a mile down was considered rather unsuccessful,” the old man explained. “The deepest delving expedition on record that survived was led by the first Novarrian Emperor. It went twenty miles down, and any information on what the expedition encountered is kept sealed in a vault in the Imperial capital of Novar’s Peak.”

Orodan for once heeded the man’s warnings. He still had many things to do in this loop. And given how difficult this battle against one of the strongest creatures in the deep depths was he wasn’t sure he could win against even the weakest creature in the abyssal depths.

Furthermore, he wasn’t even on the level of a Chosen One yet, so diving into the abyss to commit suicide would have to come after he could at least beat Chosen Ones.

Although Orodan did vow that he would spend at least one set of loops just grinding his head against the depths of the abyss, if only to see what was down there. If just the first monster encountered took a team of Chosen Ones to defeat while suffering casualties… then who knew what terrors lurked at the lower levels?

They made way for the surface after.

Orodan had missed the week of classes, but it was of no great consequence.

The bigger concern however was presenting the corpse of the Grandmaster fire spider dragon to the local Time Wind dragon flight. Arvayne would be accompanying him to their lair personally.

It was time to be introduced to dragon society.