Chapter Twenty Six, Dream Creation.

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  He stepped down the final step, fully entering the Dungeon Chamber.

  Instantly, his eyes widened.

  He wasn't fully focused, more locked in onto Ana's words within his mind. It didn't help that his brain seemed to be slightly muddled, true sleepiness.

  "[Wake up you drunken bastard, you can sleep after this.]" Her words snapped him back into focus.

  His head raised, he stared forward into the chamber, more importantly, towards the figures blocking the paths away from this room.

  "[Great Ursa... These have to be the floor elites. Looks like it's going to try and take you out here? Perhaps more so to probe your true power... We should probably expect an ambush on the next floor as well... We seem to be getting close to the end now.]" He heard Ana's words, and he shoved them somewhere in his mind.

  He would care more about what she had to say later.

  Now, he would rather sleep. She must have still been draining him.

  "[Come on! Some more training! You know they're not your match anyway... Just relax... Become...]" He tuned out her words, but he knew what she was getting at.

  "Slothful..." He murmured.

  He smiled.

  He stared towards the ever unmoving beasts across from him. Real B-ranks... Great Dungeon Ursa as his Analysis called them.

  Twelve of them too...

  "So many B-ranks... You must have been gathered from all across this floor." Jora said lazily.

  The bears showed no reaction.

  "Okay." Jora said, "A fight it is then."

  His hand raised, his face rather expressionless.

  "[Heat Ray]." He chanted.

  Purely for effect, of course he didn't have to chant a magic that came from within.

  The beam shot forward, aiming for one of the massive Ursa.

  They were far taller than the Boss he just faced.

  As it neared, the bear twitched, ducking downwards hastily, dodging the beams predicted trajectory.

  With some force, Jora dragged his hand downwards, attempting to follow the bear, but it only continued to move out of the way.

  And then the rest of the Ursa moved from their places.

  It was a brief time, before the beam could even reach the other side of the room, even though it was so fast moving.

  But that didn't matter much.

  As the Ursa it was intended for, zipped past the beam, a small smirk emerged on Jora's face.

  "[Inevitable]." And then, the beam arched, creating a perfect right angle and burning itself into the Ursa's shoulder.

  "Ngrh." The bear groaned, stumbling to the ground.

  But Jora had to worry about the other eleven charging towards him.

  The ground rumbled with all of their steps.

  Each and every one of them was double his height, and some of them he could feel their power more vividly than the others.

  But he worried not.

  Even though all of them were the same rank as he, he knew his power very well.

  He could feel they were all nothing but average B-ranks...

  His physical power at this moment was equivalent to a prodigal C-rank... The peak of what could possibly be obtained in that domain, realistically.

  That in itself put him above the average low B-rank...

  Not to mention his skills...

  Without hesitation, mana funneled out of his body, and he formed a spell with only his power... His available mana pool was reduced to the single digits in an instant, and he powered up a spell at the Adept level.

  The one actual Adept tier spell that the third floor Boss knew... It was a shame that it had a massive area of effect and there was diminishing returns on using it against one singular person, especially when it could damage the caster.

  But Jora had no fears...

  "[Firestorm]!"

  BOOM!

  The mana that erupted from his body, sparked, flipping over into flame and exploding outwards.

  Fire filled half of the chamber, originating from Jora, and the four Ursa that had nearly arrived upon his location, were scorched.

  A cloud of fire tumbled around Jora, like waves in the sea. No Ursa could get close, and the four that were in the blast radius were thrown backwards, their bodies heavily damaged.

  They were near death, just from one spell.

  Perhaps he had put a little too much mana into it.

  He couldn't imagine its output if he had tapped into the mana of the world as well...

  Slowly, the flames died down, and Jora was left in the center, his head drooping.

  And then it seemed as if he was tapped back to life, the energy returning to his face.

  "I'm up, I'm up... Stop your yelling." He mumbled.

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  And then.

  An intense pressure reigned down on the room. The four near death Ursa were taken into the afterlife, the one Ursa that had been scorched by Jora's Heat Ray, keeled over, blood leaking from its wound.

  The rest of them knelt in the same way, blood leaking from their ears, eyes, and mouths.

  All eight of the remaining Ursa, were reduced to groveling beasts, unable to even look upwards.

  "[Yeah... A skill tailored towards soul and willpower when you're barely level one hundred... Your innate Talents are genuine cheats... I wish to test the limits of your Sloth even more now... Unavoidable attacks? Spiritual pressure? How overpowered can something like [Dream Creation] be compared to this... Even something as simple as [Sleep] seems to be overpowered as well...]" Ana spoke to him, Jora only swiping away the screen that appeared in his vision.

  He yawned, and stepped forward towards the spread out opponents.

  "We'll see soon..." And then he disappeared.

  Space rippled, and every Ursa followed, rippling out of existence.

  Even the four burned corpses.

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  "Haha!" Agatha laughed, falling into Zenor's arms.

  "Makes you more eager to reach level two-twenty-five doesn't it?" He smiled earnestly.

  They had spent the last day together, but for the two, it had been weeks of time.

  "Not entirely. It makes me eager to see how you grow! If you're doing this at this level... I could only imagine what it would be like when you breach level three hundred..." She said, shaking her head.

  She urged herself out of his grasp.

  "But at least I am closer to mid rank now... Seven levels in a days time? Haven't done that in a while... I've never done it through Experience Pearls either..." She shuddered, "It feels... Wrong..." She added, glancing up towards the tall man before her.

  "I assure you... I got them from monsters and criminals, you know I wouldn't get them any other way besides for making them myself." Zenor replied.

  "Human life is human life..." She shot back. "How criminal were they though? Murderer type? Rogue Ranker?" She equipped an inquiring smile.

  Zenor only laughed.

  And then he felt a tug.

  His expression hardened instantly, and Agatha's face reciprocated that emotion.

  "What?" She asked, seriously.

  Zenor furrowed his brows.

  "Flamehold." He spoke and Agatha equipped a questioning expression. "It's asking for help." Her eyes widened.

  "Le-

  "Stay. I'll go. If a high B-rank Dungeon is requesting help, it's because of a nigh A-rank threat. Maybe even worse..." Zenor lifted a finger to her mouth before she could speak any further.

  "That's all the more reason for me to go with you. Two A-ranks is better than one." Agatha cut in.

  "Don't worry Agatha." He smiled, keeping his finger exactly where it was.

  "I want to test my power a little more! Realistically, there can't be an A-rank threat, we would've known about any A-rankers passing through... Perhaps it's just scared of Elizabeth's party, they did enter a few days ago." He spoke.

  Agatha hardly calmed down.

  "Don't worry! Just stay here and work on your crafts... I'll be back in a couple of hours probably... Gonna go and talk to whoever is stirring up trouble, maybe eliminate a B-ranker, maybe even an A-rank!... Maybe I'll recruit someone new! Or maybe I'll just end up reminding it that Elizabeth's party is on the No Kill List... Might have to stop a little trio from discovering the Core Room, but that's okay! Nothing to worry about at all. I'll be back soon." Zenor shot reassurances at Agatha, and the woman smiled at that.

  But he was gone before she could reply.

  Gone without a trace!

  "Dumbass. Could have easily said a real bye." She sighed.

  With Zenor gone, she was left to return to her devices. Thankfully she had gone through an infinite amount of paper work under the dilated time Zenor had created.

  "Let's train some more spells..."

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  Jora stirred awake, finding himself in an infinite expanse of black.

  His head swiveled. In all directions, endlessness. He glanced down, making sure he still had his body.

  And he did, thankfully.

  "Where am I?" He questioned.

  No response of course.

  "Ana?"

  No response.

  That was new.

  "Nice..." He quipped.

  "I must be asleep..." He surmised. "What did it say again?"

  He summoned the skill description, taking note of what he had already read.

  "Right..." He nodded.

  He wasn't sure of where exactly to start, he found it harder to think for himself.

  Perhaps he was too used to Ana's additional knowledge...

  Thankfully he still had a mind of his own, one filled with knowledge from his helpful companion.

  "Perhaps?..." He raised a hand, intent on forming something he once thought he'd easily acquire.

  The darkness around him condensed within his palm, something filling his grasp. He had a goal in his mind.

  And with it, he took up a stance, the darkness in his hand.

  He grabbed at the darkness with both hands forward, as if he was holding a weapon.

  Then he raised the darkness above his head.

  He swiped downwards. Sideways. An upward slash. He jabbed forward. He made sure to use his feet during the movements, pivoting and launching in certain directions.

  He called upon the memories of the scattered foes he devoured, visualizing their sights.

  And he recalled Arjae Tilmont. His movements, the way his body twisted. The way he pressed off of the ground, how he ducked, rolled, and slashed.

  He ignored the notification, continuing his practice.

  It didn't feel difficult. It felt natural, like he was absorbing it all truly.

  The skill leveled up countless times as he swung, and in his mind, he seemed to be reaching a clarity.

  As if he was functioning automatically, he molded the darkness, summoning a creature.

  It was a human, naked, and only equipped with a sword. He tapped into his skill, transferring all of his knowledge to the fake entity.

  And then he battled it.

  It utilized the same memories he had, taking twists and turns, stabs and slashes. It made note of things he had not, forcing him to compensate, and then take those movements for himself.

  At that cue, his training partner dissolved, and so did the sword of darkness he had been weilding.

  "That didn't even feel difficult... It was like one moment I had the skill, and the next I had assimilated all of the experience I've seen." He murmured.

  He glanced at the Dream Creation skill, noticing it had leveled up twice during that exchange.

  He could now make above average General Skills, perhaps that was what led him to unlocking Adept Swordsmanship.

  So... Why not train a little more until he awoke?

  In an instant, he tapped into what he knew, swiping forward.

  He recollected his old Venom Bite, and the old Paralyzing Bite.... Even the new Afflicting Bite.

  Acidic, black, corrosive energy, sprouted from his hand, following the form of his Flame Claw skill.

  He smiled.

  "All I have to do is imagine a realistically functioning skill... Perhaps I could steal abilities this way as well? Like that girl's..."

  In an instant, he stood upright, closing his eyes.

  He tapped into everything deep within it, imagining that it was bubbling.

  Perhaps he should've tried to recreate it earlier, he was sure he could do it at this point.

  But now it felt better doing it here.

  He felt for the mana within, charging it up.

  And then he demanded it to explode outwards.

  BOOM!

  And it did.

  His mana boomed into the surrounding darkness, in a spherical manner, like a tidal wave.

  He smiled.

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