"Why did you have to interrupt my fun like that?" Lev grinned under his armor. "I was just starting to get used to the mental inputs."

  Drakys and Kana stood atop the wall, both silently watching him fly up and land next to them.

  "You will have more than enough time later," Drakys replied, unusually serious. "Kana here says you reacted with enough disrespect to be charged with insubordination."

  "I pretty much got called a liar to my face twice-"

  Drakys overrode him. "That's her duty. Impersonation of this degree is not unheard of, so do not disrespect her again like that. She's here to oversee the progress of young hunters of her own volition. The way you reacted is not excusable. Apologize to her."

  Lev looked at Drakys in silence for a long moment before turning to Kana. "I apologize for my earlier behavior. It will not happen again."

  Kana nodded, her acceptance just as cold as his apology. "Make sure it doesn't."

  While she left, Lev looked at Drakys with a silent question. He only spoke when a silencing ward surrounded them.

  "Do you think I was disrespectful?"

  "Yes," Drakys answered in a heartbeat. "She's no officer, Lev. Her being down here is a sign of her kindness, and you stepped on her efforts as if you owned the place. Just a single moment of patience to answer her questions calmly would've gone a long way to prevent this situation."

  "But I did answer them."

  "You practically hurled the answers at her. If this was the ravine, you would've been kicked out before you were even allowed entry."

  "I can just, not go there," Lev snapped back. "With the large operations underway, surely there are many places for me to go and help."

  "Why are you being so difficult? Why is it so hard to just treat her with the respect that her position here demands?"

  "Why did she have to start with calling me a liar?" Lev questioned back. "Why is it so hard to be like my mentor or his friends?"

  Drakys sighed. "That explains more. You have been incredibly lucky in finding kind and caring high level people so far. I don't need to explain why most of them are cold or distant, especially to people below the Master rank."

  "It's annoying," Lev muttered unhappily. "Before I become a Master, everyone will expect me to act with deference. It's part of the reason why I want to be stronger than others. Working under a commanding environment is just too much for me."

  "I can't bring myself to relate, but I understand. All I ask of you is to treat Masters with respect from now on. Most of them have risked their lives again and again to reach their position, so it's only fair to do that. Don't abuse your importance to come save you again."

  "I didn't need saving," Lev interjected without any heat in his voice.

  "Not this time. Though, knowing you, you might just not interact with a Master again till you become one yourself."

  Lev exhaled, his annoyance vanishing completely. "I think I was just more pissed at the fact that she completely ignored your namedrop. Like, surely there is no idiot out there that abuses the name of an Exalted, is there?"

  "Only a few recorded cases in the past centuries," Drakys allowed. "It's just so out of the norm that suspicion won over any chance to accept it at face value."

  "Fine, fine. Can you pull back your aura? I want to evolve my general skill sooner than later."

  Drakys just looked at him for a few seconds before concealing his aura. Lev thanked him before jumping down. He planned to practice melee fighting till his mana dipped below 20%.

  While he fought, the earlier conversation kept replaying in his mind. Drakys wasn't exactly wrong. Eventually, he just turned back with a sigh after a few minutes.

  ****

  The overseeing Master for the final cavern had a stone office on the corner of the wall. Lev tapped on the wooden doors of the somewhat large building.

  The practice with Stargazer and his new formation was going well but any new skills or evolutions would have to wait for now. It was made even more difficult by the fact that his current brawling skill was a strong extension skill, something that required extra effort to improve fundamentally.

  "Enter," Kana's voice reached him.

  Opening the door, Lev entered and stood inside till she motioned for him to take a seat. Seeing that she was not going to speak first, Lev gathered his thoughts before speaking.

  "I am sorry about how I reacted earlier," Lev began. "Spending time with several Exalted and my mentor has gotten to my head. It will not happen again."

  Kana peered at him intently for a few seconds. "At least you're being honest this time. Your apology is accepted." Then, she simply ignored him as if he didn't exist.

  You're not going to admit that anything you did was wrong, are you? Lev thought with a mental sigh. He had come here expecting Monarch knows what, but now he was leaving even more pissed off than before. Times like this reminded him why he preferred to stay by himself.

  "I'm not letting myself be talked into something like this ever again," Lev told Drakys, who was gazing down the wall and jumped down, spotting a few strong trolls in the distance.

  Mana flooded Stargazer as he reached them. Lev opened with a huge lighting slash, stunning three of them while the remaining troll charged at him. Empowering the armor to the best of his capabilities, he met its charge.

  Stargazer trembled in his hands, the shaft stopping the monster's fist in its tracks. Lev grinned. Even if it was painful to block, the punch had been stopped entirely. Not giving the troll a chance to recover, Lev fired a lightning slash from up close before beheading the monster.

  The stunned monsters were already on their feet, and Lev engaged them all. His thoughts kept circling back to the earlier interaction with the Master. As Drakys had earlier said, a few calm words would've gone a long way in changing the tone of the interaction. But she didn't feel like it, and that irked him far too much to just forget and move on.

  His anger was all released on the monsters facing him. They were burnt, electrocuted, and slashed without pause until the damage overwhelmed their regeneration.

  [

  You have slain [Cave Troll - Level 187]

  You have slain [Cave Troll - Level 171]

  …

  You have slain [Cave Troll - Level 182]

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 140

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 141

  ]

  The points went into Wisdom. With the empowerment formation, he now needed more mana than ever before. Improved regeneration would be just as useful.

  Without stopping, Lev slowly traveled closer to the left wall of the cavern. Staying close to the middle was just asking for a stray spell to hit him. The chances of getting overwhelmed were also high.

  Slowly, the focus of all the monsters present shifted. Only a few trolls and kobolds targeted him first but as time went on, Lev found himself clashing with several monsters at all times.

  Stargazer flashed, not infused with any mana type. The formation was powered at a minimum level. He tried to keep the expenditure down to a minimum. For nearly an hour, Lev cut and pierced while slowly backing off.

  The first challenge presented itself in the form of a second-threshold monster. Lev kicked away another cave spider when his vision was filled with fangs the size of his arms.

  All thoughts of holding back vanished as Lev dashed away, the stone mouth closing with a loud snap where he was a moment before. The assailant was a bulky snake, its body made entirely of stone and over 20 meters in length.

  [Stone Snake - ???]

  Gazing back, Drakys was simply observing from atop the wall.

  Does he think I can take on this? Or is this a teaching moment?

  Either way, Lev charged Stargazer with lightning mana and prepared himself. The monster flashed forward, intent on gobbling him up alive. Veering to the right, Lev brought down his glaive without holding back. The formation on his armor flared brightly, and Stargazer shot down with the speed of a bullet.

  With a loud thud, it only cut an inch into the incredibly durable stone body of the monster. Following the cut, lightning mana tried to sear its way into the monster but only managed to blacken the shallow wound without any noticeable damage.

  Oh boy-

  Lev hastily increased the durability of his armor to the maximum as the snake's tail rocked his world. Stabilizing himself after a few dozen meters of flight, he shot to the left to avoid the snake shooting toward him.

  He wasn't fast enough. The extremely heavy and large monster scraped against his side. The barrier armor strained against the impact but held, letting him arrest his fall in time to not slam on the ground.

  Since physical confrontation seemed impossible, Lev formed four lightning lances above him, not holding back on infusing them. His chains would also shatter the moment he came in contact with the snake, so he didn't waste mana with them.

  The first hit the coiled snake on its face, making it abort its lunge. Two more landed near the first, but Lev couldn't see their effects through the explosion.

  A loud hiss washed over him as the monster revealed itself, flying toward him fast enough to clear the explosion with a shockwave. Lev was prepared this time.

  Just as his perception spiked to the extreme and all movements around him slowed down, he primed his right gauntlet filled to the brim with mana, and flew under the approaching monster.

  While it was about to pass over him in slow motion, Lev threw an uppercut with all his might. His physical and mental strength, combined with the full power of the formation acting on his arm, rewarded him with a satisfying crack as the attack connected.

  A luminous blue, orange, and red explosion followed, enhancing the damage and creating distance between them.

  Time sped up again as the effect of the 2nd rank of his passive ended, and Lev gazed at the monster shaking its head to find its bearings, still intact and kicking.

  You've got to be kidding me. That was over 40% of my mana point-blank.

  Even worse, it was healing. The process was slow but it was undeniably there. With only 20% of his mana remaining, he had to end it quickly, or there was no winning.

  Storing Stargazer, Lev increased the weight of his gauntlets and rushed forward. Lightning entered his armor in a stream from the converter as he faced off against the monster.

  Several stone bullets shot toward him, stopping him in his tracks as he hastily formed four shields. Each of them shattered with a loud boom from the impacts, stopping all but two of the projectiles.

  Lev was thrown backward from the force of the remaining bullets, piercing his barrier armor before they stopped on the illusion armor. Despite that, pain wracked his abdomen from the strong impacts.

  His eyes never left the lunging monster, however. Feigning vulnerability while slowly charging his right gauntlet, Lev dodged the approaching fangs at the last moment and punched the already damaged side of the snout.

  The cracks on its stone face widened further but it was still far less than he was hoping for. Not giving up, Lev backtracked to keep the snake's attention on him while a thin, sharp lance with a sharpness rune formed below them.

  Stone bullets barely missed Lev as lightning and fire slowly streamed into the lance, carefully pushed to the pointed edge of the projectile and kept there. The monster's mouth closed inches in front of him with enough force to disrupt his flight as Lev dashed back but the final attack was prepared.

  Standing still, he baited the monster to rush him again. Lev flew up at the last moment. The monster prepared to lunge again, exposing its damaged and weakened underside. Out of sight, the lightning lance flew forward like a blue blur, piercing deep into its body.

  Not deep enough, Lev tsked. Without giving the thrashing monster a chance to pull it out, he shot downward. Spinning midair, he kicked the projectile inside with all his strength. It dug in deeper, the sharpness rune, the force from the kick, and the mental push slowly overpowering the monster's tough body.

  Lightning and fire mana continued to stream into the projectile regardless. When his mana was almost low enough to risk soul damage, Lev commanded the lance to explode.

  Bright rays of light shone through the cracks on the stone's face for a brief instant before the explosion blinded Lev, the shockwave sending him tumbling on the ground for several seconds.

  In the distance, a small cloud of fire and cackling bolts of electricity announced the end of the painfully durable monster.

  [

  You have slain [Stone Snake - Level 256]

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 142

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 143

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 144

  Barrier Armor has reached 3rd Level 3

  Superior Senses has reached 3rd Level 3

  Rapid Infusion has reached 2nd Level 7

  Rapid Infusion has reached 2nd Level 8

  Colorful Destruction has reached 2nd Level 8

  Colorful Destruction has reached 2nd Level 9

  ]

  That was just a low second-threshold monster? Lev chuckled. Oh well. At least the fight was fun.

  Lev just stayed lying on the ground, waiting for his mana to regenerate and the headache from mana overuse to pass. His arms both felt sore but since he had avoided using too much mana at once, they were just bruised and in pain.

  No monster or human disturbed him for the next few minutes. Lev thought back to the intense yet brief fight. Mana Slash was rendered useless from the moment he set his eyes on the monster. Fire slash would've singed the outer body at best, and lightning would've just splashed harmlessly on its skin. Constitution-enhanced stone was a good insulator of electricity after all.

  With a sigh, Lev got up and slowly flew back to the wall. Now that the adrenaline had faded, the impacts from the stone bullets were pretty painful instead of just stinging. His high constitution would heal the bruises in a few hours but moving was still somewhat agonizing.

  Drakys was surrounded by Kana and several other hunters. It took a moment for Lev to realize Drakys was holding back the monsters with his aura for Lev's convenience.

  "Thanks," Lev said as he landed. "That was pretty fun. Did you know I would struggle so much to pierce its skin?"

  "I did, of course," Drakys smiled. "I also didn't expect you to kill it. Well done."

  Lev blinked a few times. "Thank you? I didn't even have to struggle that much. It was a low second-threshold monster."

  "What was its level?" a man found the courage to ask. Lev didn't see any harm in answering.

  "256. But it was definitely weak for its level."

  "Why are you so sure?" Kana questioned, seemingly impressed.

  "I had to face an orc general once when I had just evolved. That monster could've taken on this snake alone despite being nearly 80 levels and a threshold lower."

  "Generals are always held to a different standard," she said. "Troll generals can face third-threshold monsters while being second-threshold monsters. That does not make the former weak. It's just that their foe is far too strong. The snake you faced was not that weak."

  Unexpected praises left and right. Was it really that impressive?

  Lev gracefully accepted the indirect compliment and moved on. "What now?" he asked Drakys.

  "Depends. If you want to practice by fighting monsters, we can leave already. Your Mana Manipulation skill will not evolve any further before you can truly get started on enchanting."

  Lev gazed at the distant end of the cavern. The longer he stayed here, the stronger the monsters that would attack the wall.

  He gave Drakys a meaningful glance. "I should leave."

  Drakys nodded and turned to Kana. "Do not hesitate to report to the guild if you see any unusual movements."

  She looked between Lev and Drakys while agreeing with a slow nod. Lev belatedly realized he had said 'I' and not 'we.'

  Damn you perceptive Masters. Just forget about it and move on, Lev thought with a mental sigh but the cat was sort of out of the bag. He ought to be more careful with his words in the future.