[Max's POV]
After finishing the breakfast, I bought some casual round-neck T-shirts and matching jeans, then went ahead and multiplied and fused some of them to see the results—and they were good.
The thing I liked the most was the self-healing property.
Wearing the black T-shirt with slightly deep blue jeans and my splendid-looking cloak,
I camouflaged my cloak to look simpler. so as not to attract more crowd; they would be a pain to deal with.
Standing in front of the mirror, I was looking at myself — it's been a long time since I saw myself in a standing mirror. I looked much different in my getup—not the skinny and thin build like before. My height had also slightly increased and was close to 6 ft, with my black hair.
Hiding my face behind a cloak and fixing Lamina at my waist on the back, I walked out of the hotel.
After I stood at some distance of the hotel, I closed my eyes, emptied my mind, took a deep breath and readied myself. As I opened my eyes, the system panel flickered alive.
[Would player want to be transported to the 2nd Floor?]
"Yes," I replied.
A magic circle appeared beneath my feet, and a blinding light engulfed me as I was transported to the 2nd Floor.
Feeling the same pull into the tunnel from my point and traveling in it without any push—like the tunnel itself was propelling me forward. I came out of the other end, landing straight with my knees slightly bent.
The scenery in front of me was that of grassland, shrubs, and small trees.
The air was fresh-smelling and easy on the nose.
I was alone here at my transport point.
"Is the layout the same as the first floor?" I asked.
[2nd Floor consists of 5 Dungeons, 1 Labyrinth, and 1 Domain]
"Okay, so two extra dungeons and a domain—it'll be fun," I said, smiling.
Choosing the closest dungeon to my location, I spread my sense toward it.
I was trying to imitate the same teleportation as the Tower, now that I had an EX Rank Space Skill.
Next, I chose an exact vector a little bit away from the dungeon entrance and connected that point to a vector near me, supplying mana to it.
For a second, nothing happened—but then a hole that seemed to tear the fabric of space appeared.
It was the size of a small ball at first, but when I supplied mana to it—which it readily devoured—the hole kept growing until it reached around 5 ft wide and 7 ft long.
It stabilized there but still absorbed mana like a bottomless well.
"So this is the way to create a wormhole," I observed, stepping through.
The same feeling of traveling through a tunnel washed over me, and I emerged on the other end.
It felt slightly different when done by my own tunnel, but I guess that would refine with practice.
As I walked toward the dungeon entrance, the system provided information.
[Dungeon Name:] The Chitter Hives
[Environment:] Cave Terrain
[Dungeon Type:] Exclusive – Ant Colony
[Rank:] E+
[Dungeon Boss:] Brood Mother Queen
[Recommendation:] Party of 5+
"So, will I get to meet Beru here?" I remarked, remembering famous an anime from my previous life.
The cave was sparsely illuminated, and, like the name suggested, there was a chittering sound—probably from the mandibles of ants.
For the first time, I used Agni Mandate to will eight fireballs that hovered around me. It felt effortless, like the fire was ready to follow my will at a single thought. I had decided to use one element per floor unless absolutely necessary.
The fireballs floated beside me, then started the good old massacre of ants in their colony. Any ants that came into my detection range were burned to a crisp or lost their heads to volleys of fire arrows coming from the fireballs near me.
I strolled toward the entrance of the Queen's chamber with a smile—proud of my Fire Orbs.
The Queen had a tough hide, but it only took a few more shots to burn her exoskeleton before she was barbecued.
After exiting the dungeon, I teleported to another one—The BloodFang Depths.
It was an underground environment, and the rest of the same info applied, except this one belonged to Blood Hounds.
They were almost too eager to die.
Walking casually as I forming ideas for the ultimate element while roasting hounds on my way to the boss chamber.
The boss was a two-headed hound—slightly better than the others at fire magic—so I changed my arrows into sharp, long swords and fired until he was skewered.
Then I proceeded to the other three dungeons. I could teleport to them directly, and these dungeons didn't provide enough challenge to slow me down. It took around three more hours to complete my dungeon run.
The creatures varied in every dungeon but ultimately became dummies to increase my accuracy in long-range attacks.
After completing the dungeons, I asked,
"System, can I know the difference between Domains, Dungeons, and Labyrinths?"
The system chimed in:
[The Domains are specified areas with one dominant Boss Monster and many other different types of monsters. It is an open-type Domain, so everybody will be in the same Domain.]
[Every 12 hours, there will be a reset, during which all monsters will be respawned in the Domain.]
[A player has to kill the Boss Monster of the Domain or be part of the team that kills it to move to the next floors]
"Wow, that's interesting. Open-type, huh? That means people. So that's why climbing speed decreases when you climb the floors in the early stages. How much time is there until the Domain resets?" I questioned.
[4 hrs until next reset.]
I nodded and replied, "Perfect—enough time to clear the Labyrinth."
I traveled through the wormhole to reach the entrance of The Labyrinth of Saikos: The Toxic Spire.
The system gave me information—I barely glanced at it and went inside.
This Labyrinth was full of poisonous and acidic monsters. Both were ineffective, so I kept my walk casual but increased the speed.
In around two and a half hours, I reached the gate of the boss chamber—a twin-headed serpent.
As I set foot in the chamber, I saw the serpent, coiled on the ground with both its heads raised high, gave a hissing sound.
All the Fire Orbs hovering around me sped up to reach its body, then converged at one point and burst—along with the body of the boss monster.
After clearing the Labyrinth, I teleported a little distance from the domain entrance boundary because I sensed many players at the periphery.
As I emerged at a decent distance, I walked toward the boundary area. A few players were also making their way to the domain.
A peculiar sight caught my eye—
a group of players, the same ones I'd practiced my punches on before, were teasing and harassing a hybrid Tideborn girl.
As I neared, I heard the leader sneer,
"You're alone, and your party left you. Why don't you come with us?
We'll protect you, and as payment, I'll take your sword. After all, you won't need it."
Then he laughed like a lecherous incarnate.
The girl was clutching her sword tightly, whispering, "Please, just leave me alone. I won't give you my sword. Just let me be."
Her eyes were full of tears, a seed of sympathy appeared in my heart. I could probably relate to her. I was lucky such bullying was nonexistent for me. I was just isolated but it looked like she had it rough.
Inwardly, I was cursing my bleeding heart. I was torn between the choices, either to help her OR let the life take it course and leave her to her own fate.
Before taking any step, I decided to use OGS to check her and the sword she was holding before any intervention. I could feel a sense of power emanating from it.
My eyes turned into concentric circles with a bluish hue as I used my skill and focused on the girl and the sword.
The system panel appeared—but it was slightly different.
====== Player's Profile ======
[Name:] Fiona Everhart
[Title(s):] Discordant Vessel
[Race:] Half Tideborn / Half Human
[Bloodline:] Locked
[Physique:] Locked
[Traits:] None
[Class:] Tideweaver Saintess
[Rank:] E (Mortal)
[Stats:] All at E
[Talent:] Tideborn Will (Rank – E)
[Innate Ability:] Oceanus Heart
[Affinity:] Water (Mythical); Light (Legendary)
[Skills:] Aqua Shot (E), Slow Heal (E)
[Spells & Arts:] – None
[Weapons & Artifacts:] AetherBlade (Ancient) / (Soul Bound)
[Grade:] 0; [Myth Points:] 50; [Myth Coins:] 250
– – –
Surprise would be an understatement, as I saw such an imbalance between Talent, Affinity, and Innate Ability. The title, 'Discordant Vessel' also cleared any lingering doubt.
I smiled slightly and muttered as I walked toward the group, "Well, you are interesting enough to be helped. This will be fun."
Deciding to help, I reached behind the wannabe leader and said, "You guys are behaving, right?"
The whole group turned—