Fai’Etah stared nervously at the Arcanist who suddenly kidnapped her. Why had she spoken? She should have cowered with the rest of them.

“Thanks for the help back there.”

Help? I haven’t done anything. Is this a subtle way of him ‘favoring’ me by bringing me along for his experiments?

“O-of course Revered Arcanist. It is the utmost pleasure of this useless one to even seem helpful.”

The Arcanist looked displeased for a moment but thankfully it passed.

“If you can provide me some information, I don’t mind helping you gather points after my party has finished, assuming we are still here.”

Fai’Etah’s eyes shifted around in her shadowy head. What was going on?

“What kind of information?” she asked cautiously. Was this his joking way of ‘asking’ to dissect her?

“About this Dungeon. And about the 3rd Tier.”

She started speaking anything she knew, nearly babbling, but gradually grew calmer and calmer.

After she had answered some of his questions and a few from the strange creature on his head - during which he had easily gathered countless points and mercilessly killed countless people - Fai’Etah quickly understood her situation. It was also only now she realized that this man’s race didn’t match that of the Arcanists she knew. All these fleshly humanoids were hard to tell apart.

Somehow, in her complete and utter fear, her complimenting and humbling herself in front of the Arcanist had endeared her to him. In fact, he acted so normal that she even managed to relax and act as usual. ‘Normal’ if one ignored his incomprehensible strength for a Tier 2.

Her people did not ‘revere’ Arcanists so much as they utterly feared them. They were monsters of violet light that spared no one in their quest for knowledge. Gleeful in any endeavor that brought them closer to the Arcane. They were a plague that visited their Drifting Isle with a singular goal of harvesting what they wished. Whether the living or the dead.

Yet he had seemingly taken her speech as if she respected his kind. He had even asked if on her planet - what was a planet? - Arcanists were well-respected. She could only answer yes. It was technically true. Complete terror was a form of respect, was it not?

So now here she was, clinging on for a ride, during which he casually threw her impossibly rare resources that didn’t give him points anymore since he collected too many of the same kind.

Now her ill-prepared party, who had entered this Dungeon in hiding, had a chance of surviving. All because she nervously blurted out ‘Revered Arcanist’ when she saw a fearsome creature of violet.

As he traveled through a desert, Rainer thought over what he had learned from the weird shadow woman. He had at one point gotten a peek under her hood and deeply regretted it.

A competition-style Dungeon connected to many worlds. Unlike other Dungeons, it would disappear one month after its completion. For that time, it would function as a small world of opportunities. Afterwards, the dungeon would vanish.

Her knowledge on the 3rd Tier wasn’t much different from his. Other than some strategies her race used to increase their chances. Some forcibly lowered their Energy Pools, to then de-strengthen their Souls, and give themselves the best chance by taking advantage of other things like enchanted items or high-tiered skills and spells that weren’t counted into the difficulty. Some would abolish their energy pools entirely, relying on the innate strength of their race and countless external items. This was a risk as reestablishing was often incredibly difficult. But it was a far lesser risk compared to the Tier 3 Trial.

“A warning, Mr. Arcanist.”

“Rainer.”

“Lord Arcanist Rainer, the parties willing to venture in such a Dungeon are either clueless of its nature or are incredibly dangerous and fully prepared for the task. You shouldn’t assume easy mastery over anyone you meet.”

“Now you are just messing with me.”

“I would never even dream of such a thing, Mighty Violet Lord.”

“No one of those other 20 seemed particularly impressive when I met you.”

“I did not necessarily mean individually impressive.”

Rainer frowned. Things like group spells would certainly be troublesome. Especially considering the diversity of the people he’s seen thus far, he had little doubt there might be things that increase the strength of a group for Aura or other things as well.

“Thanks for the warning.”

Rainer suddenly jerked and slammed down towards a Soul he just detected. As if heeding her words, he yelled out with [Devil’s Soul Language] as he descended. The stunning and surprise effect on top of his [Arcane Blade] and [Arcane-Gravity Domain] made quick of what would otherwise be a powerful Aura user.

His Soul had been strengthened not only through his training to resist the Arcane and Void, but through the merging process itself. It simply surpassed anyone he knew by a large margin, the Soul Expert Devil included. It made his [Devil’s Soul Language] even more deadly.

Rainer whistled as he picked up the massive amount of items dropped by this person. Though he quickly realized the situation of there being no benefit to killing others was quickly changing as they collected things. It seemed that, even if they were kept in spatial storage items, the items would be dropped upon losing a life.

He glanced at the last message he received.

[Concentrated Essence of Fire Dragon collected. 0 Points for [Luna’s Party] gained. Total Points: 228]

“Looks like we need to head to a new area,” Rainer said as he threw the wooden box towards the shadow-woman.

Her hood slightly shifted and Rainer got another look at the multitude of insect-like eye… orbs… that existed in her shadowy head. The enchanted robe seems to be some sort of container for... whatever she was.

As much as he liked to think of himself as not xenophobic, he wasn’t particularly looking forward to seeing under the hood, both metaphorically and literally. Talvara was an exception given she was pretty uniform, almost like a multi-tendriled elemental.

Rainer looked onwards before [Void-traveling] away a far greater distance than before. A shrill scream had him grabbing the robed woman before she fell into the water.

“Can’t swim or fly?” Rainer asked, confused. Even if by her own admission she was ‘weak’, she certainly had Mana to show otherwise.

“I am merely surprised by such strange colored fluid and in such a grand quantity,” she said, looking at the hideous blue shining ocean beneath them. This entire dungeon was weird.

“It’s not poisonous is it?”

“To you? Maybe,” Rainer said with a laugh as he dropped her and she didn’t manage to stop her fall in time. After a few moments of panic it became clear that the water did nothing to her and she flew out of it.

“To frighten me to such a degree simply because I called you a long title, Arcanists are far too cruel,” she mumbled as she cast magic to dry her robe.

“Rainer is the cruelest, he is always bullying Luna too,” Luna added, dodging the slow swat that came at her from Rainer.

“See.”

“How cruel.”

“Looks like we need to go under,” Rainer said, ignoring the pair, as he looked at the water with [Arcane Revelation]. A manipulation of Arcane-Wind later, and he dove towards the ocean.

Rainer smiled at the ‘friendly’ low-level sea serpents that quickly swam away from their group. Jor chased after them soon after, showing just why they were ‘friendly’.

“What… what was that?” Fai’Etah asked, not aware that fleshly-things could hold others in their body like her people could.

“Jor.”

“And this Jor is?”

“He likes to eat Gods,” Luna chimed in when Rainer didn’t answer, “Luna’s surprised his tummy never gets upset.”

“I see,” she responded, not seeing.

Rainer looked around as he headed deeper and deeper into the ocean. He wasn’t too worried about altitude sickness given the experience he already had. The water pushed harder and harder against his bubble of air, but it was easy enough to add [Arcane-Water Manipulation] into the mix as he hummed a tune with Arcane infused within it.

He ran into another Trial taker, a transformed merfolk, but only paid her a passing glance. Even if he was sure he could win, there was no sense in fighting underwater. Perhaps due to being outnumbered, the Merfolk made a similar decision, despite having an advantage down here.

“Why is it that I find the hum itself technically unpleasant but I cannot help but enjoy it?”

“Rainer’s talent transcends the limits of species?” Luna questioned, surprising the two.

“No, I do not think it is that,” shadow woman said after some thought.

“I liked you much better when you were scared of me. Speaking of which…”

“Wait! No speaking of which. Why would anything be related to that?” she asked, quite worried.

“Speaking of which,” Rainer continued, “can I leave a mark on your Soul so I can visit your world in the future?”

Fai’Etah paused. That would certainly be a huge risk, and she suddenly began questioning his motivations for treating her so well. But… without his help, she would die, whether in here or outside when she left and those of her people hunting her finished the job. Having such aid would certainly be a boon. And if she doomed her people…so be it.

“Yes. In fact, if you could come as soon as possible after this Dungeon, I could use your aid,” she asked nervously, knowing that it was an unreasonable request.

Rainer thought it over before agreeing. He could send an Avatar through the Gate they looted from the Void Lords they captured. There would be next to no risk and he could make a friend of a race that had a decent number of those who had reached Tier 3. A ‘decent’ number being an amount greater than he could count on one hand.

“Thank you, Revered Arcanist.”

Hours passed as he used [Arcane Revelation] to collect all manner of resources, stripping the ocean clean. Most of them floated along with fish and other sea creatures. He left Luna and Fai’Etah above water as he went deeper and deeper.

The bottom of the incredibly deep waters held particularly useful things and while he’d often have to Void-travel back to the surface after running out of Mana, it quickly increased his points.

Now he searched for the last needed points; his party wasn’t slacking off at all.

[Serpent, Male, Sea Serpent King lvl 25]

Rainer’s eyes widened as he quickly Void-traveled back above the ocean, just before the massive Serpent reached him. He had learned from Delilah, the [Ice Wolf Queen], that reaching the peak of her current monster class would be the equivalent of a beginning Tier 3 user. At least according to what her mother told her ages ago. Their leveling bonuses weren’t steady at all, given that their levels weren’t just tied to experience but also their bloodline and age.

He Void-traveled back down, Void-walked straight above the Serpent’s head, and swung with a [Blade of the Void] as he manipulated the water out of his way, burning his Mana by half.

The Serpent sensed the danger, but rather than avoid it snapped its head closer as it was covered in a truly tremendous amount of Aura. Unfortunately for the beast, the Void ignored it entirely. The creature died within moments.

Rainer went back up to grab the others, slightly enjoying the… well, he thought it was a shocked look, as the Phantous rolled her eyeballs throughout her hood as she looked at the dead Serpent.

“What was this powerful thing?” The Aura had yet to fully dissipate from its body. She had long since learned of their [Appraisal] ability.

“[Sea Serpent King lvl 25].”

“How-” If ‘King’ represented the same thing it did for her world’s monsters...

“Let’s go. I’m sure the sunken ship it was guarding is impressive.”

Rainer wasn’t wrong and soon collected valuable items that pushed him to the edge of meeting the goal. He let the Phantous collect as she pleased as well. It was clear this ship wasn’t meant as a challenge for a single person. And given the impossibility for even a teleporter like Rainer to meet up with his party, it was assuredly meant to forge a tentative alliance between anyone who wished for its secrets.

“If this takes me away, good luck,” Rainer said after opening a chest and finding several vials inside. He picked one up and received a message.

[Vial of Sea Serpent Emperor’s Blood Essence collected. 10 Points for [Luna’s Party] gained. Total Points: 1004]

[Congratulations on reaching 1000 points.]

[Luna’s Party first to reach 1000 points.]

[Bonus reward will be given at the end of Stage 1.]

[Activating Leaderboard]

[Leaderboard]

[1. Luna’s Party 1004]

To both his elation and horror, mentally viewing ‘Luna’s Party’ on the [Leaderboard] gave him a list and let him sense the direction of any member. It was easy to guess that this wasn’t a personal feature. Without a moment’s rest, Rainer vanished.

He could only hope he’d get to them first.