I stare down at the defeated High Orge at my feet, and a new blue text window fills my vision.

[Use Advanced Mana Manipulation]

Advanced Perk: [Temporary Minion]

Enter Desired Level: 0-422

[YES][NO]

I whisper under my breath.

"Mana Manipulation...?

I open my status, checking to confirm that I have two brand new Advanced Combat Magic Skills: Mana Manipulation, and Earth Summoning.

I remember absorbing both abilities, but testing them out has been the last thing on my mind. I've been more focused on healing up and making sure the Association doesn't find out about my accelerated progress too fast.

Testing the full range of my power was going to wait until I could actually use the power without these painful headaches and chest pains.

I blink a few times, then turn back to the glowing blue screen that hovers over the defeated monster.

I smirk, remembering the Knights I fought before the Floor Boss appeared, this must be the same ability.

I select "300" for a level, then choose "YES".

Immediately, my right hand begins to glow red and I feel the sensation of mana leaving my body fast.

Checking my status, I watch my bar go down a few hundred MP.

Thin pink threads leave my red glowing hand and begin floating through the air before connecting to the top of the Dead Ogre's Head.

As they connect, the strands turn white, then go completely invisible to the naked eye.

The thin strings of mana begin stitching the Ogre's sliced body back together and I watch the monster stand back up to its feet.

The beast's eyes are open, but there's no sign of life...

It grips its sword and stares forward without moving a muscle. A new blue screen fills my vision.

[Temporary Minion] Level: 300

Deactivate: [YES][NO]

I look the monster up and down in awe.

I can feel the mana that was sucked out of me during the activation flow from my fingertips and into the body of this lifeless creature.

I close my eyes... Then lift the Ogre's arm carrying its sword with only my mind. I open my eyes and it does exactly what I pictured it would.

I smirk, then picture the monster taking a step forward. It does instantaneously, making the ground crunch under its feet.

I let out a chuckle, making the mana thread connected to its head twist and turn. The 4-meter tall monster effortlessly moves to my every command.

It feels like an extension of myself. Almost as if I'm the one in its body, making every movement with exact precision.

The only downside I feel is the further away it gets, the less precise and clear the connection becomes. The longer I stay in control, extra MP is also being used to maintain the connection. It's a small amount, but enough to set my headache in motion again.

Before I can do much more testing, the corpse of the beast begins to dissolve. As its body disintegrates, it leaves behind a single mana crystal and my bond is severed.

The thin strand of mana connecting me to the creature fades into thin air. I nod with tightened lips, letting out a sigh and collecting the dropped crystal, and throwing it in my item storage.

"Makes sense."

This new temporary minion perk must only work on freshly defeated opponents. That doesn't explain how the 20th-Floor Boss imbued its mana into all those armor sets...

I'll have to do more testing when I'm at full strength. In the meantime, I can still try a few more things.

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I activate Advanced Mana Manipulation again along with my All-Seeing Eye. The entire Dunegon lights up in my mind's eye and I'm overwhelmed with the view.

For nearly 10 meters in all directions, I feel the mana following through the ground and air around me, just like it would through my sword. I'm able to control all of it...

I gasp, as a sharp pain runs through my chest and up into the back of my head.

A ringing sound begins to fill my ears and slowly gets stronger and stronger until I'm forced to deactivate all my skills.

Gritting my teeth, I curse under my breath.

These side effects and mana withdrawals are really holding me back. For a moment there, it felt like I was nearly invincible. It felt like I could have warped the mana beneath my feet into anything I wanted...

I swallow hard as my headache fades and I drink an MP potion. My bar fell over 1000MP from just that attempt.

I finish up the pink liquid and throw the empty glass bottle back into my storage.

"I'll try something a bit more simple."

I activate my Advanced Earth Summoning magic next. This one feels much easier to control, it's very similar to my fire summoning actually.

I lift my right hand up in the air and a small ball of stone begins to form in my palm.

It floats effortlessly in a liquid state, just like how the Behemoth turned the castle floor into its personal malleable matter. I grin, then start shifting the small light brown ball of stone into different shapes.

First, a sphere, then a cube. Next, I form the liquid matter into a small stone dagger and a thin brown arrow. Finally, I shape the rock back into a sphere and drop the stone to the ground.

*Thud*

It hits the floor and I deactivate my skill. The mass stays put, but my MP bar has dropped about a hundred points.

My headache starts to come back, but it fades before it becomes anywhere near as bad as my last attempt. Using a few hundred MP at a time seems to be just fine, I'll keep that in mind.

"Dungeon Walker."

I teleport to the nearest High Ogre and get back to work.

After spending 3 hours farming, I manage to collect the required 20k MP worth of crystals for my quota. Once finished, I find a secluded area up on a high peak to take a break.

There, I contemplate my next moves while enjoying a meal of fruit, meat, and water from my item storage. Another 2 hours pass and my mind is made up.

It's time to see if the cooldown timer is real or not. If it is, now is as good a time as any to use that transport crystal.

I stand up and put away all my food and water, gripping my sword and Dungeon Walking to the small narrow hallway between the 19th and 20th floors.

The stone around me feels cold, and my footsteps echo as I start to walk forward. This hallway is much darker than last time without Ember's flames to guide the way.

Another thing it's lacking is the floating grey boss room portal at the backside.

I whisper under my breath, approaching the back wall of hard stone.

"Rylan was right... No one can find out about this..."

I activate my Dungeon Walker skill again, searching for the Boss room floor that I'd previously fought on just a few days ago.

It's all blank. There's nothing there but a void of mana twisting and turning. It's similar to the inside of a Titan's domain. Teleporting into that is just asking for trouble, there's no guarantee of getting out.

I gulp, then deactivate my teleportation skill. That confirms it. The boss room has been defeated and the cooldown timer is real.

No one from the Association can find out about this. As I planned earlier, I'll need to fake my failure. It needs to seem as though I've really tried to face the boss and was way out of my league.

I need to set the scene...

Remembering back to how I actually looked after the battle was over, I let out a sigh and find an old shirt in my item storage to put on and tear to pieces.

With a smirk, I activate my Earth Summoning skill and begin covering my face, boots, elbows, and knees in a layer of dirt.

Next, I take my sword and ignite it into flames.

I make sure my breathing is heavy before reaching into my storage to take out the small white glistening transport crystal.

With a hesitant look only my face, I summon a glossy sword of stone similar to the one the knight used in battle. Of course, mine is much smaller and doesn't have a hint of mana shelling lining it.

Closing my eyes, I send it flying into my side, making sure to miss any vital spots.

I let out a grunt, as HP falls off my health bar. I whisper to myself as blood drips into the stone floor.

"It has to be more convincing..."

Rolling my eyes and letting out a sigh, I summon another glossy stone sword and give myself two more slashes.

They aren't bad wounds, but they look deep enough to the untrained eye to be legit. I'll just drink an HP potion before anyone gets too close to examine me.

Fisher said to use this crystal if I get into any trouble during my training. I assume the transport point for these items is going to be in a semi-public Association-owned area, so I'll make sure to dress the part.

It's now or never.

My headache is starting to kill me, and the ringing in my ears is getting unbearable.

I take out an HP potion and throw it in my back pocket.

Without another thought, I grip the white crystal hard in my left hand and it shatters to pieces.

I feel a warm energy envelop my entire arm. It travels up to my shoulder, then to my chest, and soon flows through my entire body.

My vision goes white, and the feeling of transportation magic forces itself over my whole body.

Seconds later, I fall to the ground. My sword hits a hard white flooring with a loud clang as I catch myself with two open palms.

My ears are still ringing and my breathing is heavier than ever. My vision is blurry, but I can see my own crimson blood dripping onto a glossy white surface below me.

I let out a gasp, that slowly turns into a chuckle while staring at the ground.

"I made it..."

My blurred vision starts to finally come back to normal and I stand to my feet. Taking the HP potion out of my back pocket, I start looking around to see where exactly I've landed.

An audible gulp comes out of my mouth as my gaze lifts from the pure white flooring to making eye contact with myself...

I'm standing in a square room, about 5 meters wide, with 3 full-walled mirrors and a heavy metal door on the 4th.

Both the floor and ceiling are covered in dense white mana shielding, and there doesn't seem to be an easy way out of here.

I murmur under my breath while my eyes dart back and forth.

"This... Is not what I was expecting..."