With Sherron's presence, as well as the little remaining distance to their destination, nothing of note happened in the next week. Lev and the other Masters fought plenty of strong monsters, most notably a few thornlings close to level 450. The brutes were noticeably slimmer than the previous ones he had met, and their agility outclassed every other monster he had fought so far.

  Then Melvine stepped into the fray, and they just died. He didn't even get any levels.

  Beyond that, everyone let the remaining platinum hunters and the non-combatants fight to their hearts' content. Jared's team interfered when there were too many second-threshold monsters, and also joined in when everyone else was tired.

  On the eighth day since meeting the eagle, Lev felt a small signal from up ahead. It was easy to recognize the flare for what it was, signifying that they had reached their destination.

  The horses started slowing down a few minutes before they reached it. Around the towering flare, the carts were parked in a semicircle. Without any prompting, the non-combatants quickly got to work and used several plates with concealments on the other side, completing the circle with aura, invisibility, sound, and mana concealment wards.

  After that, Lev added his own constructs into the mix, fortifying the ground a few meters underneath the earth before enchanting it all with similar wards. Two strong second-threshold cores were slotted inside, providing more than enough power to keep the wards active for months.

  Sherron took over after that. She explained that she, Melvine, and Lev were going to be away for a few days to weeks, and that it would be in their best interest to stay inside the wards. No one raised any complaints, and before long, the trio was seated in his bubble, rapidly flying away.

  "Where are the scouts that left with us?" Lev broke the silence after half an hour.

  "They went ahead after Drakys got the clear to roam freely," Sherron replied, eyes closed. "Blood Tide is guarding the walls for now. The strategists have free rein to arrange the subsequent forces in the meantime. It will be a good opportunity for Diviners and Strategists to level their skills by gathering the core members and assigning them tasks."

  "They earn essence like that?"

  "Yep. It's not their main source, as they level mostly by doing what their class suggests, but accurate predictions and good performance can often result in bursts of essence, too."

  Interesting stuff.

  He filed that information away, unsure if he would ever need it. Instead, he closed his eyes, too, focusing on his mana perception and senses in general.

  Sherron was training, sending waves of near-invisible lightning through her hair. When they reached the end of her lustrous hair, the waves rebounded, returning to her scalp before repeating the cycle.

  The sheer control required for such intricate manipulation was so far beyond him, it wasn't even funny. He knew just how dense and potent Sherron's lightning was, except it was probably much harder to control in such small amounts. Lightning was erratic by nature, after all, and the element running through her hair didn't as much as disturb a single strand.

  Melvine, too, was training, but in a different way. Her eyes were staring at the clear sky as she meditated on her element. It coursed through her body without as much as reducing the surrounding temperature, showing her impressive degree of control.

  Most of Lev's focus was on his orbs, however. Ten darts ran amok in two of them, and combined with keeping the bubble going at full speed, he just barely had the mental faculties to observe the other two passengers.

  Then both of the orbs exploded when Drakys landed on top of the bubble.

  Neither Sherron's nor Melvine's training had been interrupted by that disturbance. Only Lev's control had faltered, exactly what Drakys had wanted to show him.

  That didn't make it any less annoying, though.

  Giving him a blank stare, Lev formed an entrance for Drakys, who nimbly landed next to him and Sherron. A carpet was summoned, oozing comfort and softness, and the Exalted sat atop it.

  [

  Carpet - Epic

  ]

  Carpet, Lev repeated in his head, holding back a smile. That was oddly funny.

  "That's a nice carpet," he said aloud, nodding sagely.

  "It is, indeed, a great carpet," Drakys nodded back, the epitome of seriousness. Sherron peeked an eye open and glanced at both of them before closing it.

  Lev recreated his lost orbs and moved them to the corner of the bubble again, in case they exploded. Five lightning darts formed inside each, letting him retain the ability to think and talk freely while training in the background. Even now, he couldn't split his mind in more than two directions effectively, and the second part was dealing with his armor's enchantments constantly running in its passive state, as well as the bubble's flight.

  "So," he began, looking at Drakys. "What's the deal with spectral monsters? You guys have been strangely secretive about them."

  "There's nothing to hide, Lev. You just can't understand until you see them yourself."

  "That bad?"

  "Bad? No, not really. Again, you will see."

  That put an end to the conversation. Sherron and Melvine didn't react either, so he returned to his silent training.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Despite his Consistent Mana Channeling having hit the level cap, Lev couldn't feel the skill's ceiling. All of its potential had been unlocked, and it was up to him to realize it.

  To that end, he summoned the shadow converter in his lap. With two orbs constantly running in the background, using shadow mana would be incredibly challenging— exactly why he was going to attempt it.

  A bit of his mana was converted with the usual horrible efficiency. It was scooped up by a small barrier ball, where it remained stationary for now. Seconds passed without any observable effects from the infusion, and when he was certain that nothing had suddenly changed, Lev sent the mana into one of his empty training orbs.

  The first layer simply accepted the shadow mana. Like before, it remained inert inside his barrier with negligible passive loss. A strong nudge coaxed a part of it to enter the second layer, and immediately, Lev's brows furrowed. The mana stubbornly resisted being split into multiple streams, clinging to the blob shape.

  Four lightning darts in the other orbs were allowed to dissipate to open up more focus. All of it was directed to the shadow mana that, after considerable effort, was divided into five small streams. Making them move was thankfully an easier task, but the deeper Lev went into the layers, the harder it became to progress.

  The shadow streams were still too thick for the carved channels. Attempts to make them thinner threatened to disperse them, making him restart the exercise. A smaller amount of shadow mana was teleported to the first layer, divided into three tiny streams instead of five.

  Even then, it took a few minutes to gradually shave off the edges of the streams and make them viable. Compared to the ten seconds he needed for lightning mana, it took five minutes for all of the shadow mana to reach the third layer.

  Knowing what to expect, he tried to carry the mana deeper into the new layer, only for it to be snatched up by the enchantments. He couldn't hope to stop the process with his current attributes, skills, and practice, so he put the orb away and slumped in his seat with a sigh.

  "You've improved," Drakys idly commented, eyes still closed as he, too, meditated.

  "A little."

  "That is not a little, no matter how you look at it. Shadow mana requires matching skills to be used efficiently. Granted, that wasn't some grand display, but it was still significantly better than your first attempt."

  Lev didn't reply. He scanned his mental state instead, one that didn't think twice before pushing away the praise. The recent experience still lingered there in all its glory, making the improvements seem small and insignificant.

  He also didn't know how to change that. Shaking away the downer thoughts, he ignored Drakys's compliment and instead formed eight more lightning darts inside both of the first two orbs. The difficulty immediately spiked to the extreme, and the next few hours passed with him keeping the orbs from exploding again.

  "We're here," Drakys broke the silence. "Stop before you ram into that thing."

  What thing? Lev turned around and sucked in a sharp breath. Since they were flying only two dozen meters above ground to avoid aerial predators, his bubble was on its way to collide with the first spectral monster he had ever set his eyes on.

  Sherron's words made more sense now.

  In front of him was a monstrosity that he couldn't compare with anything he had seen before. Utterly alien, it floated like a bizarre jellyfish with eight long tentacles almost reaching the ground. Two strange organs pulsed with mana inside its transparent grey and black body, radiating a sense of danger more confusing than alarming.

  [Spectral Reaver - ????]

  Before his nerves could get the better of him, Lev controlled the bubble to make distance and observe the monster from a safe distance. It didn't as much as twitch in their presence, content with flying in the abstract direction.

  "… Are all of them that strong?"

  "Nope," Sherron snorted. "Just your luck. It's rare to ever find third-threshold spectral monsters. Give it a wide berth and keep moving."

  Doing as he was told, Lev didn't miss the chance to observe it from different angles. Some of the tentacles were low enough to touch blades of grass, doing absolutely nothing to them. Even the pulses of mana produced from its body didn't cause any reaction in the environment, and neither did the ambient mana interact with the Reaver in any way.

  What an intriguing existence, Lev mused, turning around when they were far away. A new phenomenon was making itself known as the grass became darker and darker, transitioning into a green so dark it bordered on black.

  No one around him was worried, so he stayed silent. Within a few minutes, the grass was uniformly black, and even the sunlight reaching them had become less effective.

  Lev cautiously peered into the gloomy surroundings, wondering what caused the sunlight to be affected. The grass could be explained by spectral mana seeping into the ground, but as far as he could detect, there was barely any of that in the air.

  "How far do we need to go?"

  Drakys contemplated for a moment before answering, "We're deep enough. Lower the bubble."

  Doing as he was told, the company stepped onto the dark grassland. Lev was acutely aware of how durable this new grass was compared to its normal counterpart, and he ignored the looks sent his way as he tried to break a few blades with his armor's boots.

  It took a few surprisingly long seconds to do that. Then he moved on as if nothing had happened, waiting for someone to take the lead.

  Drakys didn't move, however. The Exalted was content with scanning his surroundings, and the reason became obvious when reverberating screeches reached them.

  Stargazer appeared in his hands, infused with lightning. When no one warned him against the bright and loud element, he channeled even more of the mana into his armor while powering up its enchantments.

  Two monsters became visible on the horizon, their towering forms visible despite the massive distance. Lev waited for them to reach him. So close to the others, he could survive any nasty surprises without fearing for his life.

  This mana is becoming weirder and weirder, he noted in the meantime, eyes never leaving the approaching enemies. How the hell did it make sound travel so far so efficiently? I don't think there was any loss even from such a great distance.

  Spectral monsters were known to be dangerous, except he still knew suspiciously little about their capabilities. He assumed it was some sort of a test, or perhaps it was just the tried and tested method of letting him fuck around and find out.

  Either way, he prepared himself for a difficult battle when the monsters came close enough to Identify.

  [Spectral Ghoul - Level 440]

  [Spectral Ghoul - Level 439]

  "Any tips?" he voiced, not expecting an answer.

  "Don't let yourself be surrounded by too much of their mana," Drakys unexpectedly answered. "Focus on your Perception skills as much as possible. The new additions should make things considerably easier, but that might not be the case. Be prepared for anything."

  Lev looked at Sherron, who looked back. Raising a hand, a burst of lightning formed atop it before dispersing, relaying her message quite clearly.

  Lightning was effective.

  Turning to Melvine, he waited for any words or gestures of wisdom. The warrior merely shrugged and mimed slashing with her right hand.

  Lev resisted a snort and turned around. Both ghouls towered over him, twice as tall and similarly wide. Their arms bulged with corded muscles, and a single glance was enough to deduce that the spectral mana running through them was a potent body enhancement skill.

  "Good luck," Drakys called out. Lev hesitated for a short moment, confused as to why the Exalted thought he would struggle to that degree, before banishing those thoughts.

  He had two monsters to kill.