Chapter Fifteen, Step One.

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  "[Comparing you to that A-rank presence... You may be powerful enough to escape.]" Jora's mind got caught on those words.

  'Only escape?'

  "[From that pressure... They should've been at least high A-rank. I'd hope that at least, if not, perhaps a Unique classed freshie. Both are equally as bad...]" Anaflandus continued. "[That aside, I'm sure you'd get one shot no matter what. At this level, every existence has deep understanding of their power, and high quality power at that... To be able to subdue my Dungeon's mana like that... It must have been a high rated magic type. [Great Sage] at the least! You are a piece of shit in a world sized septic tank compared to that!]" Jora's mental eyeballs widened in confusion, and awe at the unnecessary insult.

  'Yeah I get it, I'm weak?... I beg to differ, but I understand your points.' Jora thought.

  With a reluctant internal sigh, his eyes fell to the bottom of his status page, taking in every skill.

  He smiled, focusing on the most important skills.

  He looked at his two new [Talents], taking in the intricacies of them. He already understood them, but he wanted to see how they were listed in the System. [Dark Sense] was the same, and he was rather happy to see that skills had evolutions. It made sense as to why they seemed to get drastically harder to level once they reached level 9.

  [Stab], he wanted to see the description. He felt he could do more with it...

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  [Parry] was a skill he had been greatly overlooking. Acquiring it from a swordsman, he tied it to being a skill for swords, something he couldn't use. But just by the words he understood he was wrong. He was positive the System would have mentioned swords in the skill description if it was that way.

  And then he moved to the glaring change.

  Jora's mind buzzed, a smile cracking on his body, his [Stalker] shielding the disturbance.

  "[I'm not a fucking lesser mind... I'm greater than you!]" Anaflandus spoke. "[But there. Now you understand a little more. Scrape the [Quest Board] and [System Shop] from your mind. You have zero System Gold and the only viable way for you to obtain that right now would be through Quests but you lack the ability to carry any out as of now.]" It said.

  It made sense, he didn't have qualms.

  "[Now, let's get started on some grinding... Focus on your core.]" Anaflandus instructed.

  Jora, seeing no reason not to, abliged.

  And everything changed.

  His vision warped, and he appeared in a black space, ever infinite darkness spreading to the invisible horizons.

  And then.

  "Face to face for real this time, aren't we?"

  His jaw dropped.

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  A person floated in the air, their legs crossed within their lap. An elbow was placed on a thigh, their face resting within their palm. It looked like a woman, but he honestly couldn't tell. Their hair was long, black, like his. But their skin was pale, almost colorless. Their lips were a pale red as well, the same color lining their eyes, bags aroudn them. Their nose was soft, beautiful from what he could tell, and perfectly clear, like the entirety of their face.

  "Yes, I am beautiful! How could I take a form without looking better than you? I am better than you!" She yelled, her face rather flat through the whole thing. Only her brows furrowed whenever she showed inflection, emotion seeping through her unamused face.

  "Oh wow, is this?... The great Anaflandus?!" Jora mocked, his hand pointing towards the woman.

  "Fuck you!" She exclaimed, unraveling her legs and letting her bare feet touch down on the black darkness beneath her.

  "This place is our Dungeon Zone... Something you only have privy to at this stage, due to your Soul skill. Aka, me!" She spoke, stepping forward towards him.

  She circled his body, looking at him up and down.

  "All this time and you still haven't clothed yourself... You should know by now that it is humanoid etiquette to cover your body." She said, flicking her very own robes, which were of a deep brown, nearly black. Most of her body was covered, besides for her hands and feet, and it created an aesthetic that differed greatly from his.

  She flicked her hand, black cloths appearing around his lower half. Baggy pants that covered his bits rather well.

  "Clothes don't mean anything to me... They don't protect me from damage better than my skin could." He replied, shrugging with a raised brow.

  "Yeah, you say that because you haven't come across any other people yet... Try getting past anyone naked, it won't be easy." She scoffed.

  "Well, why would I need to get by? They will be eaten. Use your brain stupid skill..." Jora smiled, an evil grin on his face.

  "Ironic! Coming from-... Yeah, whatever you say. Cut it! We're here to advance! You need to be able to go on the move so you can obtain more and more skills! Your talents all need to maximized! That's why we're here. Now! Do you want to shape the Dungeon? Or should I? Remember that I have thousands of years of experience..." Her finger tapped her chin, Jora raising a brow at that notion.

  "Go for it... I'd rather eat than take the time to model some cave system..." He replied.

  He watched as Anaflandus narrowed her gaze, his head tilting in response.

  "How blissfully unknowing you are..." She replied. In the same moment, he could feel something draining out of him. His mana.

  He watched as particles of blue light exited his body, flowing towards Anaflandus, and circling up into a storm of energy.

  More and more energy was pulled towards her, her chest glowing as a sphere emerged.

  His soul core.

  "Don't worry, you can do this exact same thing here." She spoke.

  Jora watched intently. His mana was pulled through her, growing denser and more refined each time it looped back around.

  Anaflandus cycled his energy for a while, minutes, hours perhaps, and he just intently watched.

  Until everything around him was surrounded in dense mana, and Anaflandus compressed it all.

  His mana exploded outwards! The dark environment instantly reshaping and forming itself into something anew.

  Light beamed on his back, his eyes barely acclimating to the new environment.

  A massive forest, greenery all around, massive trees, bushes, plants... All of it.

  He breathed in, taking in the mana within the air.

  "Wow..." He murmured. Slowly, his gaze fell back onto the woman before him, who was leant against a tree.

  "Only step one. About a few miles is as far as I could go with your entire mana pool, but it will increase daily if you let me siphon mana from you to shape it better and better..." She smiled.

  Mockingly...

  Almost as if she was waiting for her praise.

  "I... I think you could do better." Jora laughed.

  "Fuck you!"

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