"So you're going to stay in the city?"

  Sherron nodded. "Hakim is already here, which gives me some leeway but I have to first inform him before going anywhere."

  "He's here? The monsters deeper in must be worse than I expected," Lev mused.

  Sherron's strained smile told him more than enough. It also affirmed his decision not to go to the dreadwoods directly and stupidly get himself killed. If he attracted the attention of a third-threshold monster, not even an Exalted would be fast enough to save him.

  "I'll go to the level 150 dungeons to practice for now. You can find me there if anything comes up."

  "Have fun," Sherron said with a smile before blurring out of sight high into the air.

  The flight to the closest dungeon suitable for him took over an hour at low speed. Lev wanted to let his mana regenerate, and his wisdom was high enough to do that even during flight.

  The camp in front of the dungeon was even larger than the troll dungeon. Nearly three dozen hunters were present and waiting for their turn. He landed near the edge of the camp and walked up to the guard/hunter assigned to monitor the dungeon.

  [Warrior - Level 203]

  "How long 'til my turn?" Lev asked, handing the woman his gold badge to check.

  She returned it after a moment. "Two hours unless someone drops out. This is a weak silver dungeon, by the way."

  "I know. Wanted to practice my skills."

  "I see. I will call for you when it's time."

  Lev thanked her and moved away from the waiting teams. When he was far enough not to hear anything from the camp, he formed a barrier chair and sat down.

  Two thick shields formed in front of him. On one of them, he carved the durability rune. On the other hand, Lev focused on his general skill and slowly formed the stone enhancement rune. The product turned out to be pretty smooth because of his previous practice.

  The rune could be improved further but the first try was enough for his purposes. Lev moved them both fifty meters away from him and kept them hovering above ground. Summoning his bow, he held back from infusing the arrows and nocked one.

  Both of the shields were well within his manipulation range. He sent a stream of mana to power the durability rune and loosed. The arrow impacted after a split second. Enhanced to its limits, the shield couldn't quite hold it back completely. Embedded an inch deep, the arrow had successfully pierced it, albeit barely.

  Next, he powered the stone enhancement rune on the second shield. Without a formation, it was not nearly as potent as it could be, but that was fine for testing purposes.

  The first issue stood out instantly.

  The rune didn't cover the entire surface of the shield, only just over half of it around the rune itself. Lev simply compensated by aiming for the affected area. Taking a deep breath to focus, he loosed while keeping the amount of mana powering the rune the same as the previous test.

  This time, the arrow failed to pierce. Hair-thin cracks spread onto a large portion of the shield, sacrificing overall durability to stop the projectile completely.

  I wish I knew what worked better in different circumstances, Lev lamented, bringing the shields close to him. Due to his lack of experience, more durability was better but which durability was better remained to be seen. He decided to test their effectiveness against blunt damage.

  Stargazer appeared in his hands. Enhancement formation came alive at low intensity, nearly doubling his physical strength as the glaive struck the durability shield.

  It held with minor damage that was repaired with a little bit of mana. Lev turned up his enhancement even further and slashed again. The shield cracked, bits and pieces of barrier flying off from the impact.

  With the same exact strength, he tested the stone enhancement shield. The rune proved to be much better at handling broad impacts, resisting the attack without any visible damage. Lev was only able to observe weakening structural integrity through mental feedback, something he fixed with a small puff of mana.

  So, the stone enhancement works better against impacts covering a large surface area.

  For the last bit of testing, Lev sent the shields away again and hit them both with lightning infused arrows. Both of them were pierced, but unlike the previous test, a significant portion of the stone enhancement shield shattered while stopping the arrow's momentum completely.

  The durability shield on the other hand, only had an arrowhead poking out of the other side without any other damage.

  Lev decided that the durability rune was simply better unless he had to block large weapons or attacks. The winning factor turned out to be the nature of the rune. While the stone enhancement rune needed a formation to be fully effective, the durability rune could be pushed to far greater heights by itself. The efficiency was also way better.

  Since there was nothing else to do, he closed his eyes and waited for his turn. The downtime also let him regenerate his mana for the upcoming testing.

  When the dungeon portal flashed for the fourth time, Lev was already standing in front of it. Getting a nod from the guard, he stepped foot into an empty grassland. There was not a single tree in sight, letting him see the denizens of the dungeon clear as day.

  Slimes were notorious for being incredibly hard to put down. Physical attacks passed through their slimy body most of the time, and all magic attacks had their effects significantly reduced.

  Which was perfect. Lev was here to practice fighting with Stargazer while infusing it with a small yet constant amount of mana.

  The first threshold slimes in the dungeon were larger than Lev. Standing at nearly seven feet tall, he had to keep an eye out to not let them jump on him. He doubted that would be lethal for him but the situation would require a lot of mana to get out of.

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  Lev didn't activate the sharpness enchantment of his glaive. The weapon would slice through slimes just fine without that extra expenditure. Infusing it with a stream of lightning mana, he flew forward and landed in front of the slime.

  [Green Slime - Level 112]

  Nothing new so far. No crystal to be seen either.

  Instead of cores, slimes had mana crystals serving as a central point. Lev didn't know what the requirement was for a slime to form a crystal, but the one in front of him was too weak for it.

  From what he knew, while the crystal presented an obvious target, the slime also received a big boost in power to compensate. It didn't make it any easier for hunters to deal with the stronger slimes but Lev expected not to struggle. Most of his skills were focused on speed and piercing power, after all.

  The real menaces were slime monsters that didn't form a crystal. Their formless nature allowed them to become something truly insidious without that glaring weakness. Fortunately, such slimes didn't show up before level 250.

  Several bolts of slime flew at him, their speed easy to track with his high Perception. Two shields would have made the fight a walk in the park but that would defeat the point. Lev charged forward.

  Weaving between the projectiles, he held up Stargazer in anticipation of the monster rearing back to launch itself. The slime flew forward fast enough to surprise Lev, who dashed to the side and swung his glaive in a wide arc just before it reached him.

  Stargazer passed through the slime's body without slowing down, lopping off small bits of burnt slime in its passing. The wound closed quickly after, as if it had never happened in the first place.

  Fire mana streamed into the glaive as Lev charged the slime. The slime bolts were dodged with ease as Stargazer pierced it again. The infused mana type proved to be more effective at damaging the slime, searing and charring larger chunks of it, but Lev had a different plan in mind.

  When Stargazer was entirely inside the large slime, he released the fire mana in a Mana Slash with great difficulty, courtesy of the monster's body's natural defenses against intrusion. The slime bubbled and bloated before the force of the explosion found violent release, blowing it to shreds and showering the area with slime.

  [

  You have slain [Green Slime - 112]

  ]

  Huh. That was easier than expected. Not even 1% of my total mana was used throughout.

  Without using the enhancement formation or any of his projectiles, the mana expenditure rarely eclipsed his potent regeneration. The only costly action was the mana slash, yet even a weak one killed slime without trouble.

  Flicking Stargazer a few times, Lev flew toward the next slime in the distance when she felt clean enough. The formation on his armor came alive with a small amount of mana as he dashed directly at the slime. The slime bolts were entirely too predictable and slow to hit him now, and he was hacking at the slime before it could even prepare to launch itself.

  Chunks and bits of slime fell to the sides as Stargazer flashed again and again. The lightning mana in it continued to momentarily stun the monster, not letting it execute any large moves. The bolts were dodged with ease, letting Lev fulfill the main reason for coming here.

  Keeping half a mind on the slime to dodge anything unpredictable and the slime bolts, the other half of his mind observed the effects of empowerment formation.

  Stargazer cut through the slime without a hint of resistance, which made him adjust the mana channeled into the formation several times. If he used too much, he had to use even more to stay in a proper stance and not overdo his attacks.

  If Lev used too little, the downside was something long-term. The slime was easy to cut through without the sharpness enchantment, but that wouldn't always be the case. He needed to get used to a baseline.

  For several minutes, he danced around the helpless slime while testing varying levels of mana usage. It eventually became too much for the now smaller monster and it collapsed into a puddle.

  [

  You have slain [Green Slime - Level 110]

  ]

  Several hours passed while Lev slowly hacked apart the slimes. Each time, he tested something new. By far the most interesting discovery was the effects of a large amount of lightning channeled into Stargazer.

  Just from the amount released from slicing it normally, the monster collapsed after only three attacks. The piercing property of lightning made itself known as it seared its way deep into the monster, killing it quickly.

  It hadn't even cost him much mana, barely more than the initial fire slash, but it let him know that the interior of the slimes was more vulnerable to all damage.

  Steadily making his way deeper, or forward, into the dungeon, Lev encountered the first red slime with a crystal visible in the body.

  Immediately, a spike of solidified slime aimed to skewer him. Lev ducked, increasing the stream of lightning into Stargazer, and dashed forward. Several more spikes made him dodge rapidly before slime bullets joined in. The spikes retreated into the body after they missed, letting the slime cast them endlessly without losing any mass.

  This is tricky, Lev thought, now backtracking to avoid the ceaseless barrage of slimy attacks. His armor would've held but Lev wanted to complete the dungeon without letting a single attack land on him.

  Seeing no other option, he fired a lightning slash through an opening. It hit the monster square on, stunning it in place. Lev didn't waste the chance and dashed in, Stargazer filled with lightning again.

  The slime found its bearing before he could reach it. Four spikes shot forward again but Lev was prepared for them this time. Dodging, he cut through them instead of letting them return afterward. The spikes fell to the ground and lost their shape, no longer under the control of the monster.

  Two more spikes splashed on the ground before Lev reached the slime. It was preparing a large attack but Lev didn't give it the chance. Mana coalesced into the weapon's sharp edge before it was released in a bright blue lightning slash.

  Slime parted for several inches before the slash couldn't cut any further and released the lightning inside the monster's body. Tongs of the destructive element hit the mana crystal deep inside, cracking it in two.

  The slime instantly came apart in a formless puddle, with a notification announcing its death.

  [

  You have slain [Red Slime - Level 135]

  ]

  135… is that the lowest level required to form a crystal, or are there other factors at play?

  He didn't know, and he frankly didn't care beyond the temporary curiosity. What did matter to him were the two pieces of mana crystal in the slime's corpse.

  Two barrier disks picked them up and brought them to him. Lev summoned the refillable water canteen and rinsed them thoroughly before Identifying them.

  [

  Impure Mana Crystal - Shattered

  Piece of a slime core, which is now in two halves but remains useable. Can be refined and used in crafting.

  ]

  Seems like they will at least sell, Lev thought with a chuckle. Everything was worth more than the prowler core in his ring.

  He stored the two halves in the ring and progressed deeper into the dungeon. Curiously enough, Lev didn't find any pairs or trios during his slow delve. In the end, he found the boss after only lone monsters.

  The huge red slime was surrounded by four smaller versions of itself. Even from the distance Lev could feel the sheer heat radiating from the boss monster. Slime colors represented their type of attack but the previous monsters were too weak to make use of their element.

  Fire beams and wide area of effect attacks were expected. Lev just didn't know how his armors held up against heat. It would be no fun if they held but the human inside was cooked alive.

  It's time for more testing, then. No time like the present. I hope I don't die by suffocation or immolation, Lev chuckled to himself, well aware that those possibilities were very much real. It didn't matter much at this point, monsters would eventually become too strong to take lightly. Better get used to it early on.

  Getting closer, Lev identified the boss, the result making him pause in his tracks.

  [Red Slime Commander - Level 178]

  This is definitely not normal… but I'm gonna go for it anyway. Over 60% mana. Should be enough to just bombard it out of existence if things go wrong.

  Gripping Stargazer tightly, Lev channeled a large stream of lightning into it and advanced.