Chapter 162

Chapter 162

While pondering the idea of using this new technique against those Berserkers on floor 19, I make my way back to the Inn.

Opening up the front door with a creak, I walk inside to see the usual crowd. Just under a dozen hunters split up into a few parties, all sitting around circular tables enjoying food and drink.

I spot the blue and red-haired duo on the exact same table we ate breakfast at this morning.

As I begin to walk over, Rylan spots me at the door.

"Back so soon? What happened? You gave up already? It's been less than 4 hours, you couldn't have finished your training already... That's impposib-"

I wave and give him a tired smile.

"Not done yet. Just taking a break."

My footsteps are heavy, making awkward clunking sounds as I walk over to the table of two. Mr. Conway spots me on the way over and shouts out from the back.

"Hey, the new Elite just returned from his first day of training! How'd it go?"

A few heads turn from the various hunters I pass by on my way to the back of the room, but I'm too third to pay them any mind.

"Good, fine. Food would be great."

He smirks giving me a firm nod.

"Take a seat, it'll be out before you know it."

I nod, giving the kind old man another thin smile, then take a seat.

Fisher waves to the Innkeeper motioning for him to add 2 more people to that food order, then turns to me. Finally, he speaks up with a stern look on his face.

"You're back too early. What happened?"

I reply.

"Way too much mana... I used too much mana. That's all, I'll be back out there tomorrow."

It's true. I thought I could handle more than this, I've burned through hundreds of thousands of MP per day in the past. That was in a much different environment though, it seems I do have limits...

Fisher nods.

"Yeah. It's better to take it slow and concentrate on as much as you can on each attack. I'm sure you've learned at least that much so far."

I reply.

"Blowing a hole through this mountain isn't the goal. It's letting the cut fly through the mountain itself that I'm really after."

A wide grin shows on Fisher's face as he gets up, pointing at Rylan.

"Haha! 10 silver, hand it over. I knew he'd figure it out!"

The redhead's face starts to match his hair color as he replies.

"H-Hey no way! It was like 3 hours or maybe 4 tops, that's impossible! You must have told him when I wasn't looking!"

He looks at me with a flustered expression.N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.

I shrug, not knowing exactly what all the fuss is about.

Fisher eyes Rylan up and down, then the redhead reaches into his item box to place a handful of silver on the table.

Nearly 5 hours pass. My restless sleep has hit its limit. My body is healed enough, and my mind won't quit coming up with theory after theory that needs to be tested.

"That's it. I'm going back out there..."

After my night of sleep, which felt more like a long nap to me, I crawl out of bed and make my way to my door.

I make sure it's locked, then teleport out of the Inn.

In the blink of an eye, I'm back, staring at the large stone wall...

It seems as though this portion of the dungeon has already regenerated. It's been over 8 hours since my training session began, so I guess Fisher's estimation was right.

I stretch out my arms and legs. I'm mostly healed up, but still a bit stiff. I won't be releasing any large-scale attacks, so this session will be much easier on my body.

I take a fresh potion out of my storage and get to work.

Today, I'll be upping the ante.

I begin to glow gold and red while activating my All-Seeing Eye, peering into the flat stone cliff in front of me. To my surprise, the insides of the mountain are still hollowed and smashed to bits in the deeper areas. It's still healing up from my assaults.

I focus harder while imbuing my sword with under 100MP. Aligning the low humming frequency of the wall before me with my blade is near-impossible to do perfectly. I got close once, so I can do it again.

I let the first thin black blade of flames fly at the wall, and my new training session begins.

It pierces through without a sound, gliding in just like intended... Less than a second later, chunks of stone fly off in all directions.

I grit my teeth, but a smirk creeps through as I charge up my blade again.

Over the next 2 hours, I continuously throw attacks at the wall, improving my concentration, and becoming more and more in tune with the low hum resonating from the cliff face.

I burn through 50k MP. It's mostly just from my perception skill. Having it activated for long periods of time is costly, but it's worth it in this case...

I'm able to let out just over 40 attacks, improving slowly and steadily each time.

The thin black blades released from my sword glide through the rock face with no resistance whatsoever. Not even a trace of an entrance hole is visible.

At first, they would glide in, and explode within the first few meters of entry.

Now, I'm able to stabilize the mana enough to penetrate the rock face over 30 meters on my last attempt. Each time, it still detonates deep within the mountain.

Satisfied with my improvement so far, I turn to one of the small excess boulders lying around from my earlier less practiced run-throughs. I focus, then let out an attack.

It flies through the rock, then disappears into the side of the mountain behind it as well. As I hear the explosion deep within the rockface, the boulder before splits in two simultaneously. I grin ear to ear in the reflection of the sliced stone.

Excitedly, I whisper under my breath.

"Now... I need to try this out on a moving target."

I have more than enough time before Fisher wakes up, and all this fine-tuned technical training is making me antsy. Sure, it's cool to see some progress, but what's progress good for If I can't use it in a fight?

The glossy surface of this boulder I just sliced through is nearly identical to the texture of the strike the Elite made on that cliff's overhang.

I decide it's time for me to put this new skill to some good use. It'd be a shame to put all this free mana to waste... Just slashing away at a mountain...

I smirk, gripping my sword and igniting it into flames.

It's time to go back to Floor 19.

"Dungeon Walker."