By the time he had explained what he had done, the morning had fully enveloped them. Daniel stopped by and was in the process of leading them to one of the portals that he had found. They had called them secluded realms, and it turned out that several powerful people had made their own. They had initially believed that all dungeons were just the private space of some long-dead master. Apparently, it had taken a while to verify much of what Mash had told them. They had eventually come around though. After a few portals had released a few creatures into their world, they could no longer refute his claim.

There was a sense of urgency among them, but at the same time, Mash felt like they were taking the situation too lightly. They had sent a few individuals into the portals, although none had returned. That served to further legitimize his own claim. The portal that Mash was supposed to enter was one that they had tested earlier. Daniel didn’t hide his intentions and told Mash that he was hoping that they could find the previous group. The sect wanted closure, to know whether their people had lived or died.

Mash had no real problem with that. He hoped that it would be a more traditional dungeon though, as he needed to get some monster corpses. After Priscilla had woken up, he shared the changes in his status with her. She had realized instantly the solution to the change. He would just need to get some monster corpses so that he wouldn’t need to rely on her bodies. She also suggested that he try and get a variety of creatures, and preferably those that could use mana. Thus, his eagerness to explore these portals had only grown.

The other issue with his new technique was the pain. It made it difficult to focus and develop, and he would need a way to counter it. Priscilla had another suggestion for that as well. Priscilla herself felt little pain, and he should be able to partially transform to replicate those things. In fact, even without changing forms, he should be able to remove something like pain. It made him wonder what other feelings he could change or enhance. He had managed just changing his eyes a little to be more like the cat form. It improved his perception, but that was only one small thing.

He needed to study more about the monsters he had consumed. There were plenty of forms he just didn’t use or consider, but maybe he should try and come up with a list. Try and find things he could take and combine. Could he construct some kind of ideal monster that took all of the strengths and none of the weaknesses? He should ask Red about it too, as she was more knowledgeable than him about things like that. That realization made him feel a little ashamed. He should study more on things relevant to his abilities.

Mash felt Daniel signal a stop, and the group descended toward a clearing on the ground. Mash hadn’t been paying much attention to his surroundings, his domain would keep him safe from most surprises. They had been flying high in the sky too, even Daniel doing the same. He had received a flying blade, and he stood on it as it propelled through the air. Mash found it an interesting way to travel, though it wasn’t very fast.

He didn’t know how far from the sect they had gotten, but he saw the dungeon portal clearly. It was at the base of a crater, the forest around it completely bare. The way the black portal swirled almost made it seem like it had swallowed the world around it. It had crashed like a comet and devoured a section of the world. Mash wondered how dungeons actually appeared. None of the dungeons he had seen had looked like they had fallen there. No, they just seemed to materialize at the location and barely disturbed their surroundings. If that was the case, then what had caused this crater? What made a dungeon appear here? Hopefully, the dungeon would provide some answers.

They touched down next to the portal, a layer of newly sprouted grass breaking under their feet. The ground felt hard beneath Mash’s bare feet. Even now he hadn’t bothered wearing shoes or boots. Many adventurers went without shoes, usually reserving those for more formal occasions. Shoes often got in the way, making steps louder and more clunky. Adventurers would easily have high enough stats to not care about stepping on anything. The higher rank the adventurers the less of them bothered wearing shoes. Most of Mash’s abilities would just end up destroying any kind of footwear.

They were met by Jeral at the portal location. He looked tired, and his Mash noticed the slight blemish of blood across one of the sleeves of his robes. His clothes were different from usual. He wore a set of robes, they looked as though they were made of woven metal, and Mash almost felt like he could make out the shape of a bent sword within the clothing. A second later the impression was gone, and the robes just looked like simple silver robes. He couldn’t help but wonder if Jeral’s path was similar to his own.

After Jeral finished speaking with Daniel, he turned toward Mash. His gaze met his. There was a slight change in his eyes. It wasn’t as if he physically changed at all, but Mash couldn’t help but think that something had changed within the man’s gaze. However, that too vanished, as the dangerous feeling of his robes had. Jeral gave a small nod, before turning away and darting into the sky. He did not need a tool to fly, instead, it looked as if he was simply able to push against the sky itself. The air seemed solid beneath his feet.

“When one reaches his realm, one is able to alter the world around them with their will. They need not even use any energy.”

Daniel spoke, obviously noticing how their gazes were following Jeral’s movements. The words startled them from the revelry of the movement and prompted Mash to ask about his own situation.

“Does that mean I could do that?”

“I am unsure, your realm is not known. I do not know if it is beyond his or not. Your ki indicates that it is, but I feel your path is somehow lacking.”

As per usual, Daniel's response came quickly. It seemed like he always knew what question would be asked. Mash knew that Daniel had some skill that let him understand another, and he guessed that help him preempt any questions.

“Do you have the ki charm ready? It should function simply with a slight touch. I hope that you find my sect mates. Good luck, my friends.”

Daniel’s words were spoken as he stepped aside. The four of them took the gesture in stride and started walking towards the portal. Jill held up the item in question, indicating that she understood. It was a strange send-off, one that none of them were familiar with. Normally, when they entered a dungeon, it was for themselves, for a promise of new power and opportunity.

This was different and, in a way, more dangerous. There was no way to evaluate the difficulty of the dungeon, nor was there any concrete information about what was inside. On the trip here, Daniel had told them a little bit about what they had observed thus far. The monster that had come through before was humanoid in shape but was obviously inhuman. Scales instead of skin all along their body, yet the monster's head had been different. It had a head that was more similar to a wolf, though it had large teeth which hung out of its mouth even when closed.

The description had not been pleasant, but it had given Mash an idea of what to expect. As he stepped into the portal, his domain gave him information before his other senses could. On the other side of the portal was a small army of the creature. Dozens of them had surrounded the portal, a constant set of eyes staring directly at the portal. Mash started speaking even as the world shifted fully, and the shift caught up to each of them.

“Stop!”

He yelled the word as loud as he could, not just to stop the other creatures from attacking, but also to stop Jill from doing anything. If the creatures had planned an attack, then she would certainly be the first to react. He could imagine the carnage that would break out. Normally the travel between realms felt instant, and he knew that nothing had changed about the teleportation. Rather his mind and body were quicker now, the instantaneous process felt long and dragged out. Vision returned and he was able to get a look at the startled creatures before.

To say the creatures had wolfish heads were wrong. It was much more cat-like in shape, and the sharp teeth that protruded from their mouths were hooked. They were long and sharp and reached down to their chins. They were well muscled, and their bodies were coated in scales as Mash had expected. Metal plates were layered on their body a leathery armor lying beneath them. it was a well-developed armor, something that could only be produced by a sophisticated society.

His attention though turned toward something else. Something he had never seen before. behind those within his domain, there were many more of the creatures. They were up on a higher incline; the ground here was also like a crater a mirror of the other side. Easily a hundred of the creatures stood in a row, completely surrounding the port with a strange weapon aimed at them. It is a long metal tube with a slightly curved handle halfway down the pipe. Mash’s interest was instantly increased as he was introduced to something else that he had never seen before.

“How do you speak our language, monster?”

Mash couldn’t help but smile at the situation. He sometimes wished that he could know what their real words were like. Only his imagination could conjure up what their word could possibly be like. He wondered if “monster” had the seeming meaning that he believed, the situation made comical by the sudden irony.

Mash was struggling to come up with what to say, his mind was focused on keeping himself from chuckling. Thankfully, he was not the only could understand them.

“We have items that allow us to communicate. We aren’t here to fight if we can avoid it peacefully. We would like to speak to your people and try and establish peace.”

The monsters around them could hear Jill’s words, even those that were up on the ridge would have no problem. Her voice was oddly carried along with the air as if the very space around her wanted it to reach all ears. It wasn’t like she yelled or used any mana either. She had done something like that before too, and Mash thought that was a more god-like feat than anything Luke had done so far. Although, that might change if a fight broke out here. The strange people before him didn’t look any less tense. If anything, the casual display of power from Jill seemed to heighten their fears if anything.

The crowd up on the ridge started passing a quiet mumble. The distance was too far to make out the whispers. However, there was enough going around that it was made obvious. Mash could feel the start of a fight, his natural senses telling him that they wouldn’t listen. It was a disappointment, and he didn’t want to kill so many people. Even if he fought to capture or subdue, he knew that it wasn’t likely. He remembered what he had done in the sect earlier and wondered if he would need to do it again. However, yelling from beyond the ridge silenced all of the whispers.

“Silence!”