I reappeared after my last blink. I walked towards a bed and laid down while massaging my hurting head. I spent hours upon hours casting and waiting for mana to regenerate. My body was tired from continuous usage of mana, and my mind was foggy and sleepy. I just wanted to go to sleep, but I brought up a system log from a few hours of rigorous training before that.

Ding!

System Log

Proficiency of spell [Blink] increased to 4

Proficiency of spell [Blink] increased to 5

Evolution of [Blink] is available

Proficiency of spell [Penetrating Scan] increased to 6

Proficiency of spell [Penetrating Scan] increased to 7

Proficiency of spell [Penetrating Scan] increased to 8

Level of [Improved Mana Control] increased to 9

I frowned, 'I spent hours training, and I didn't even get a level for space magic... That is a little bit let down.' I took off my gaze from a system and looked out of the windows. The storm had already passed, and the sun was slowly rising towards midday.

I frowned again, 'So many hours spent for so little progress... Space magic is tough to level up... I am not even getting bonuses from killing enemies with it as I don't even have any offensive space attribute spell.'

Then I opened evolution options for a [Blink].

Spell Evolution

Current evolutions for [Blink]:

[Penetrating Blink]

Caster can link information from [Scan] to the [Blink], allowing to blink to the location out of a direct line of sight.

Increases Mana cost depends on the amount of matter bypassed.

[Destructive Blink]

Causes destructive spatial distribution on a caster original and new position.

Increases Mana cost.

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[Improved Blink]

Increases range and mana effectivity.

'Wow, this is hard. Literary all of these are excellent choices... Wait for a second. That second option is cool and flashy but a little bit useless. What is even the point of that? Attacking someone via blinking is kind of cool, but I am not sure if it is effective. On top of that, it is a modification that I should be capable of doing myself. It is not hard to attach an effect to existing spells. So that is out of a game. The third one is probably about some optimization in a spell circuit. That would be much harder to do by myself... It is also pretty useful, but to be honest, it feels underwhelming compared to the first option. Fist option is more versatile and would make it much harder for enemies to follow me. It would be great for escaping and for combat too. Also, I have no clue how to link two different spell circuits together, making it interesting research material for me. Yes, it's decided I will take a [Penetrating Blink].'

I choose an [Penetrating Blink]. An updated magic circuit immediately appeared in my mind. I wanted to study, trying to find a difference between it and its old version.

"Knock! Knock!" someone knocked on the doors, and the familiar voice of the Rose came in, "Prisoners are gathered and ready for transport." she sounded tired.

I swung my hand, and the doors opened. Rose immediately walked in and yawned.

'My head is hurting... I want to sleep, and her yawning isn't exactly helping with that. But I already order prisoners to be prepared. It would be inappropriate to cancel my order like an idiot. Do I have to go personally? Yes, I need to talk with Bifrons to coordinate it. Isn't it a broad day? Wouldn't it be easy for someone to notice us? Probably not. They would probably suspect of us farming something n the dungeon.'

"Alright, let go."

Everything vent the same way as before. We loaded all prisoners into carriages before dumping them into a portal leading to the dungeon. Some of them were pleading, and others tried to attack in full desperation.

Prisoners were already in a room, and Bifrons started his ritual. As before, bubbles formed around prisoners and tendrils made out of energy latched to them. Then a rain of fire started to fall, burning prisoners to death.

The last prisoner's burned corpse fell to the ground, "I have enough of the energy." announced Bifrons with a disinterested voice.

I couldn't help myself and started to grin as I was step closer to cleaning my city. I wanted to be done with it as soon as possible as the date of my tournament was closing. There was also a matter of me having enough CE to evolve but being unable due to the current situation in the city.

I suppressed my emotion and asked Bifrons, "What does it mean when a being has no aura?"

He snorted, "That they have no soul. Now leave, I have something to do. When you destroy a magic formation under the portal, I will immediately expand towards a city."

'That explains it. Now I only have to order darks to prepare for an attack, destroy magic separating dungeon in other dimension and purge can start.'

I walked out of the portal. I wasn't even angry about Bifrons wanting me to get out, as I wanted to start my plan as soon as possible. Few darks were still waiting there. One of them was a Rose.

"It was enough. Go back to the city and prepare for an attack. I will wait here and release a dungeon seal. You have one hour to prepare."

She smiled and turned towards a carriage, and darks started to board a carriage.

"Wait, I need two of you to stay here" Rose immediately stopped, but I continued, "to help me dig out a crystal. So start digging."

'Pchh, to dig a hole myself? Who am I? Some construction worker... That is way below my pay grade.'

Rose immediately resumed her walking towards a carriage as she shouted towards two darks, "Hans, Bob, go dig a hole."

Two darks stopped in their tracks, "But we do not have a shovel."

"I will get you a shovel. don't worry about that."

Two darks stayed behind, and Rose, together with the rest of the darks, jumped on board carriages and rode away towards a city, leaving a trail of dust behind them.

I still managed to hear quiet murmur of two darks, "Pchh, who would have thought that I would be digging holes as an evil mage..."

It looked like a hard task to get a shovel in the middle of nowhere, but luckily for me, I was right next to the portal to the factory. So, I jumped through the portal and appeared inside the Bifrons secret room.

He looked at me and frowned, "What? You just left, and you are already back... So what do you want?"

"Give me a shovel."

"..."