After a long rest, my eyes finally open.

The white void of the isolation pod that surrounds me fills my vision, and I take in a deep breath of mana-infused air.

I'm unsure how much time exactly has passed, but I do know there can't be more than 24 hours remaining.

Based on how my joints, muscles, and bones feel, I assume I just slept for roughly 10 to 12 hours. With the massive influx of mana, it's almost like I've used my hibernation skill to heal all my fatigue and injuries.

I take off the remains of my salamander's cloak and sigh, placing it into my item storage and freeing up a new slot in my gear possibilities.

Considering the fact that I usually only use one weapon per fight, and I hold my wind daggers and midnight dagger on me as backup to switch out. I could technically add on gear in these areas too. So, I could add two new items, possibly just leaving one slot open in case I want to wield two blades at once.

I take out my sword and examine my armor as well, making sure my blood-bonded weapons have all properly healed and let out a sigh of relief once they do. I murmur under my breath.

"Looks like I just need a new cloak... and maybe something to protect my hands."

I don't want to go through that horrific pain again. I need to get stronger gear to prepare for a fight with a being with those heightened Soul Energy capabilities.

Most importantly, I need to raise my Qi Capacity, and fast...

With a sigh, I sit down in the lotus position inside the pod, and begin to tap into the same feeling Monk showed me when I practiced Qi gathering in the monastery.

There is far less Qi in the air here, but I can still sense an unusually high amount.

It's actually much more than the open air outside, and as my mind slips away to a calm state of being, my subconscious gets to work.

I took a Qi pill before entering the pod, and a rush of energy filled my core to the brim. All of the excess energy slowly seeped out of my body because I can't hold anything above my natural saturation point.

However, this is a closed-door pod, almost like a miniature pocket world.

I can faintly sense traces of Qi leaving through the borders of the containment casing, but a majority of it is staying inside.

It circulates around the small white room, and continuously lands on the outer layer of my body.

I'm only capable of naturally gathering Qi so fast. The absorption rate is more instinctual like breathing rather than an active action.

While my eyes are closed, and I concentrate on the circulation of Qi throughout my body, the Qi in the atmosphere naturally gravitates toward me at a faster rate. The difference between sitting and cultivating and walking through an area high in Qi density is not astronomical, but it is noticeable.

My only drawback is time.

After another few hours of gentle gathering and relaxation pass, my mind gradually falls back into the confusing spiral of replaying the fight with the Wraith over and over in my head.

I need a major power-up, and I need it now.

I fall in and out of a restless Qi gathering cycle for the remainder of the time in this pod, but for some reason, everything clicks the moment the metal door of the pod opens on its own in front of me.

Mana and Qi are released from the small containment pod, and I whisper under my breath.

"I need to go back to the Titan's Domain."

Feeling like I just had an epiphany, I step out of the pod and look around like this is a whole new world...

I always kept the thought at the back of my mind that The titan's domain could be used to train my mana control up in an emergency situation. But, ever since Ember's warning about scaring them away and their decreasing numbers the last time I used them to train and defeat the Behemoth on the 20th Floor of the Labyrinth, I've been hesitant to go back.

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On top of all of that, the act of sitting in a blank white room for days and weeks on end is a mind-numbing experience.

Last time I left that white-walled prison I was not the same since.

I let out a long sigh, pacing back and forth in the small room for a few minutes, thinking about preparing better. If I buy enough food, water, comfort items, and entertainment; I could stay in there much longer with less of a problem.

I have 10 Qi pills left in my silver case... If I were to use all of them, flooding the Titan's domain with Qi just like I did an Isolation pod, I wonder how well it would act as an insulator, and how fast I could grow without the burden of a time constraint?

These isolation pods slow down time, but as far as I know, the titan's domain brings time to a halt... Or at least the dilation is so large, it seems that way.

The grin across my face widens as a plan begins to come together, but my train of thought is momentarily broken when the blue light above the other pod at the back of the room opens and Lith walks out with his hands clasped and a very relaxed look on his face.

I turn to see him, and his gaze becomes sharper and his relaxed face turns to a thin smile.

"Fancy seeing you here so bright and early."

His eyes shift to the other pod on the side of the room that is still open, slowly leaking some mana from my session.

"Looks like you had a nice session as well."

I nod, facing him with a more professional look, trying my best to keep my excitement of my recent potential discovery under control.

He continues, walking over to the back of the room nearing the elevator.

"Well, I do have a meeting to attend to, but I have come up with a reasonable counteroffer to your demands last night if you'd like to hear."

He turns to face me, and I give him a motion to carry on.

"Sure, lay it on me."

He smiles.

"Well, I think giving you authority to fire or hire new craftsmen from the team I provide is reasonable. If by chance you have the connections to form your own team capable of doing the volume necessary, that is fine by me."

I cross my arms and grin back slightly as he carries on.

"The guards on the other hand, I'll have to push back on this point. I'd like some of my men stationed in Sector 2 permanently. I run a business of trade and information, it's in my best interest to know what's going on everywhere at all times."

My expression changes to one of distaste, but Lith explains further.

"We're still waiting on the details of the current Sector 2, but if you end up forming a place of operations there, I will promise to give you full privacy for you and your teammates. My men won't go near it, just like this tower is in Valor City, a safe and private state of operations."

I nod and relax more as he goes on.

"Then lastly the trade profits. Although it is a bit of a stretch, me giving you so much help to establish this business and you taking all the profits in return; I'll accept this portion of your initial ask."

My eyebrow raises, as this was one of the points I was sure I'd get kickback from.

"But, in return I'd like to place orders for Sector 1 and only pay the amount that it costs for you to farm the materials and pay your workers. Every other deal you manage to land, you'll get to keep 100% of the profits."

I pause and think about it for a moment, but I'm unsure how to counter everything he's said in a quick manner. He's respecting my privacy, promising full autonomy and no prying eyes, but wants rights to place guards and eyes around the territory itself. On top of that, he's willing to give up a percent of global trade profits in order to get his own products at a highly reduced cost.

"Interesting... I'll have to think on that too. I think we're getting much closer to a middle ground."

Lith smiles again and turns to open the elevator door.

"I think you're right, we are. Take your time. We still need intel from Fisher and Lydia before we can fully consolidate a deal anyway. I'll be back in the tower in a few hours, just ask my lobby men to ring me if you'd like to continue negotiations."

"Sounds good."

He leaves through the white doors, and I'm left in silence as more mana pours out from the isolation pod I left open.

I walk over and close it with a click, and the sound brings me right back to the state of mind I had before my surprise interaction with Lith.

"Even better. I'll have more time than I know what to do with to think about his offer later. For now, I have some tests to run."

I enter the elevator, put on my ring of concealment and activate my skill, then use the Red Ogre Dungeon Access to teleport myself back to Vice City.

I walk out in full disguise and make my way to the commerce section of the city. It's barely 6 in the morning, and the sun isn't even fully up yet, so not many merchants are active at this time of the day.

All of the outside shops are closed up, waiting for the morning rush of trains full of hunters to come in, but there are a few large shopping marts with tired-looking workers manning the registers.

I walk through a couple, stocking up on gallons of water and piles of food.

Most of the night shift workers give me side eyes and odd looks, but none of them say a word as I leave them a full gold coin as payment and leave with 4 shopping carts full of food and water only to place them all into my item storage the moment I leave the store and get out of their sight.

Next, I go to another 24-hour store filled with miscellaneous items. I manage to pick up a few sleeping bags, a blow-up mattress, pillows, some casual changes of clothes, and a few additions of the newest comics and novels I've yet to catch up on while traveling around the Dark Continent.

Lastly, I find a camping section of the store with a portable bathroom and shower set. My eyes light up at the sight of these, and don't even mind the 2 gold price tag.

Again, when leaving this store I get a few odd looks, and I even buy a premium C-grade item box from their magic items section to allow me to take the large overweight items with me. I doubt any of them would overthink it much if I just left without one, but it doesn't hurt to be extra careful. Once finally leaving the store, I just place the entire item box full of materials into my storage system for convenience.

As the sun begins to come up, I activate my stealth skill and walk right past the E-Class guards in the dungeon hub.

I enter one of the low grade dungeons moments later and Dungeon Walk directly to The Great Plains.