"Welcome back, we have some work to do."

The black-scaled dragon comes flying out of my swirling white spatial magic portal, immediately opening his telepathic link with me.

"Good to see you again master, what a mana-rich dungeon... where could this be?"

A toothy grin forms across Ember's face as he begins to flap his wings to hover higher up in the sky. The majestic creature begins to glow a light red tint, showing that his plunderer skill has been activated. He absorbs a few thousand MP from the air, then continues to speak.

"This is very pure as well- and our level. We're nearing my next rank up faster than expected. I'm pleased with this progress."

I nod, struggling to keep my eyes from closing. The fact that I'll soon get a moment to rest is making me more and more tired by the second. Sleep is within sight.

I chuckle, then respond.

"We have grown a bit, and I'm exulted from fighting. I'd like for you to farm in this dungeon while I rest. It's not very large, so I trust you'll be able to cover the landscape rather quickly."

Ember lifts his head, then replies.

"This is a Rank 3 Dungeon. You're aware of this right? These are very rare to be spawned outside of a labyrinth. Truthfully, a waste of mana."

I raise an eyebrow, then shake my head. Realizing sleep will have to wait a little longer.

"A... Rank 3 Dungeon? A waste of mana? What do you mean by all of this exactly?"

Ember stops glowing red and glides down to the floor.

"Well... I guess humans would call a Rank 3 Dungeon a B-Class Dungeon. It just means the boss monster is over level 500. This indicates that it has ranked up."

There's a moment of silence, and the buzzing swirling mana around us feels like it just grows louder.

I reply.

"Alright, so it'll just be a lot stronger?"

Ember pauses.

"Something like that. Usually, the Rank 3 upgrade is a very noticeable one. An additional hidden ability or skill is awarded to all monsters that hit rank 3. In addition to that, it's very common for Rank 3 monsters to wield some level of Tier 2 mana control."

My eyes open wide with curiosity.

"Tier 2?"

The black dragon nods.

"The ability to absorb mana from the surrounding dungeon and wield it as their own."

He looks up at the thick blue fog-covered sky.

I join in for a moment, trying to picture what Tier 2 mana control would look like. Is that what these Ogres have been doing in the dungeon? Using some advanced form of mana control to wield the mana in the air?

If so, It doesn't seem like they're very good at it...

The Blue Ogres just leave large amounts of mana resting all around their body, not consuming it at a very fast rate at all. Even the mutants need work. Maybe the boss will be different, but I'm not too impressed just yet.

I shrug, then reply.

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"We'll face that challenge when it comes. For now, I really need to get some rest. We'll be facing the real body of that Arch Demon soon. Right...?"

Ember turns his head from the sky back down to me very quickly with a look of concern.

"You're not ready."

I tighten my gaze.

"You were excited to face it back in that other dungeon, why not now? And how did you even know it was a demon in the first place?"

Ember looks back up at the sky, then starts to glow light red again.

"Monsters have a distinct scent, or mana signature, especially demons and their cores. That's why it's easy to confuse a demon with a human that has absorbed its core. Arch Demons give off their own special mana signature that only dungeon monsters can sense, that's why I knew it was near. It seemed to be in a very weakened state when we came across it, so I thought we may have caught a lucky break."

I nod as Ember continues.

"They're known for being extremely Intelligent beings. It figures that it'd just be leading you to it. This is an elaborate trap, I'm sure you're well aware."

I reply.

"The moment I saw it was a body double I realized something was up. Trap or not, I want that skill and I want its core... How powerful could the real body even be?"

Ember looks back at me, showing me his deep crimson-red eyes.

"More powerful than anything you can comprehend. That floor boss you defeated last week does not even compare. We need to rank up before facing it at full power, no questions."

I gulp, but the corners of my lips curl into a smile.

"Well, that's why we're here."

Ember nods.

"I could tell as much. It seems the monsters here must drop large amounts of compact MP. Are you looking to collect them as you sleep? Where are your teammates and what's the rush?"

"Wel...."

I air-step up to hop on Ember's back.

"I'll tell you the whole story."

We begin to fly up the dungeon's closest mountain peak while I fill Ember in on all the details of the Association's time crunch and the new revelation about Abby's [Restore] skill.

Ember takes in all this information and understands exactly what he has to do. Collect as many Shards as possible while I sleep.

The more he can farm, the better chances we have of being strong enough to face the labyrinth's final Arch Demon boss.

I create shelter in a mountainside, covering the outsides in dense earth magic, making sure to leave small holes for air and dungeon light. I lay out all my old sleeping supplies in my item storage, making the hard rocky ground much more comfortable.

The moment I close my eyes, I fall asleep.

Time passes as I drift off.

I'm not exactly sure how much time... but when my eyes finally open, all I can see is the color blue. A loud, horribly annoying buzz fills my ears, then it's all interrupted by a more familiar ringing.

[Level Up]

Rubbing my eyes, my status opens to show I've grown to level 481 in my sleep.

"21 more levels..."

I was expecting to gain a few, but this is a lot.

Immediately, I open up the shelter I've built using earth magic, but the blue veil covering my eyes doesn't go away.

It's all pure mana, and it's very thick. Visibility before I went to sleep was over 100 meters, now it's less than 1.

I use my All-Seeing Eye and let it stretch out to the far edges of the dungeon until I find Ember happily burning through Blue Ogre's in a deep valley.

Using my enemy detection skill and Inspect, I can see that they're all mutants. There isn't a single base-level mob in sight.

I open top my telepathic link and call out into the blue void.

"Ember, can you hear me?"

Immediately I sense the dragon stop his battle against half a dozen mutants and fly up into the sky before responding.

"Yes, Master. How was your sleep?"

I use Dungeon Walker to teleport nearby, then air-step up towards the flaming dragon in the sky before responding.

"Good. How long was I out...? and what's going on here? I can't see a thing!"

Ember chuckles slowly as I land on his back. Then he flaps his wings, taking us to the closest mountain peak nearby.

"You've been out for just over 9 hours. I've farmed just over 500 of these monsters. They're quite strong. Our level has increased a lot, the only downside is this dungeon is filling up with excess mana very quickly.

I reply.

"Yes... very quickly."

What was only a foggy mist before, makes it hard to see my hands right in front of my face."

Ember continues.

"I would have absorbed it, but then fewer monsters would have spawned. So I decided to let this Rank 3 Dungeon run its course, the boss room will be much more rewarding that way. I assumed you would want a good fight."

We arrive near the top of a high peak, and I can see a bright white glow coming from below. I begin to answer but stop mid-sentence while mesmerized by the sight before me.

The closer we get, the brighter it becomes until we hit the rocky ground with a loud thud. The source of this bright white light reveals itself to me, leaving my mouth wide open.

It's the pile of Blue Ogre Shards Ember has farmed all this time. The amount of them isn't what leaves me in shock. Ember told me he farmed just over 500 already.

I jump off his back and plunge a hand into the piles of gems, scanning all of them, then turn my head in the direction of the presumably grinning dragon.

"These are all from mutants... every last one of them. This break is completely out of control!"

Ember replies in a cheerful, satisfied tone.

"Indeed, it is."