Jonathan started to shovel the mushrooms into his storage device, glad that he was equipped to harvest them now. Last time, he had missed out on the no doubt valuable mushrooms.

Jonathan stored away the ones that Edgar did not use, and soon they had depleted the entire stock between them, with Edgar looking quite nauseous now from his experience. However, he had likely gained a significant amount of power from that, at least for someone who was specced towards his mental abilities, and he seemed to be happy enough about it.

Once the man had recovered, Jonathan and Edgar stepped back into the shrubland that made up most of the cavern, ready to keep fighting. Other than the levels of the monsters in the cavern, the layout was exactly the same, and they butchered their way through the troglodytes over the next hour and a half, gaining levels rapidly.

The leveling speed started to slow down once Jonathan reached level eighty, but the essence was still worthwhile. Edgar was also leveling rapidly, and all of his skills were getting a good workout from the battles. He had never fought against such strong enemies before, and won, so this was quite informative for him, both on his own strength, and what he could improve. Jonathan of course had little to no trouble with the individual troglodytes, and only started to take damage when they came in groups. However, with the rapid leveling speed, almost all of the injuries that he took healed within no time at all.

The two men had embarked upon this journey by making a circuit around the cavern, slowly wiping out every monster that they found. Eventually, they were left in front of the village, where a scant handful of troglodytes waited, far less than there had been the last time Jonathan was here. That meant that the troglodyte leader would find it harder to summon the rocky monstrosity that he had last time.

“Edgar. Go for the grunts, and distract them. I’ll finish off the leader,” Jonathan instructed the other man, as he started to sneak into the village.

Edgar nodded, bowing to Jonathan’s superior knowledge of this dungeon, and went the other way, masking his footsteps with the power of the wind. Jonathan waited a few moments behind a crude hut, and when he heard shouts of anger coming from the village he raced in, and towards the central troglodyte. This time the monster wielded a large staff, one that seemed to be made to conduct mana more effectively.

Upon seeing Jonathan, the creature snarled and pointed the staff at him, expelling a bolt of lightning at him. The bolt seared through the air and impacted his armor, moving faster than he could hope to dodge. He gritted his teeth as the electricity moved through his body, but he ultimately ignored it, surging towards the monster in front of him.

The troglodyte slammed its staff on the ground, and a wall of yellow energy rose up around it, stopping Jonathan’s strike in his tracks. He might have been strong for this dungeon, but he was still a bit underleveled, and this showed as he was unable to break through the shield. However that was only accounting for his raw force, and he sent a spike of Void mana into the shield, which brought it down soon enough.

A few vicious punches later, the monster was dead, and Jonathan ran off to help Edgar, who was dancing around a dozen troglodytes, trying desperately not to die. The man was giving as good as he got, but he was already quite injured, and only the speed from his elemental mastery was keeping him alive.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Jonathan tore through the monsters before they had even noticed him, each sweeping blow of his fists cracking bones and shattering limbs. However, they quickly acclimated to his presence, and half of the monsters split off, trying to keep him at bay while the others dealt with the annoying pest that was Edgar.

Jonathan slammed his hands together, causing purple energy to spark around them, and started to play around with his mana, elongating the spikes on the gauntlet that he wore with his purple energy. With weapons that now extended a foot forwards, he punched towards the nearest troglodyte, skewering it on his mana. With a quick gesture, the mana exploded, blasting apart the monster's abdomen.

Upon seeing this, the others grew more cautious, and they circled Jonathan, keeping their distance until they could strike. However, Jonathan had no time for these games, and simply exploded into motion, slamming his fists into the nearby monsters with wild abandon. Edgar would be overrun soon, and Jonathan needed to save him.

With a few Void coated punches, Jonathan was out of the fray, and he charged towards Edgar, bowling over the troglodytes that surrounded him, a ridiculous sight, given their size. However, Jonathan was far stronger than he should have been, and as a result, he sent the massive beasts flying as he ran into them.

Jonathan stood by Edgar and used his superior strength to support his ally, blasting away the monster with each punch. Edgar used his wind powers to slice at the monsters with blades of air, and he used it to enhance Jonathan’s movements. The two men made short work of the remaining monsters, and soon they had finished, having slain all of the troglodytes. With another level under their belt, bringing Jonathan up to 81, they were ready to continue.

Jonathan only remembered the mana angler at the last moment, and he decided to take a detour with Edgar to kill it. Last time it had been stronger than the normal monsters, which meant that it would be quite rewarding to kill.

Eventually finding the same pool as last time, Jonathan neared it, pretending that he had fallen under the spell of the monster. As the creature started to rise, seeking an easy meal, Jonathan drew power to his fist, using both his runic energy and his mana. His fist blazed with light and he punched the monster as it rose, cracking the stony layer that surrounded it.

The monster squealed in rage and lashed out with a tentacle of mana, trying to crush him. Edgar sent a blade of air up towards it, lopping off the fragile limb, before summoning a spear of gusting wind to his hand, throwing it towards the crack in the beast’s stony armor. There was a thud, and the spear struck home, changing form to slice through the gap.

The monster bled heavily from the hole and it changed targets to Edgar, flailing around wildly. The monster had devolved into simple animal instinct at this point, and it barely seemed to notice Jonathan’s presence. In response Jonathan stepped forwards and gathered power in his hand, creating a spear of Void mana in his hands that grew in power the longer he held it.

With a roar, he surged forwards and thrust the spear into the monster, sinking deep. It froze, and Jonathan detonated the spear, causing a large chunk of the creature to explode in a shower of watery slime. He stepped back as the monster wheeled towards him, trying to destroy him before it died.

Edgar rose above it on pinions of semi transparent air, and sent bolts of concentrated elemental energy from on high, further damaging the monster. The creature hissed and Jonathan moved in, skewering it on another spear of light. He still preferred to use his fists in battle, but sometimes a bit of range was nice. He was trying to work towards some sort of projectile attack with his mana, which would open up his options a bit. He was nowhere near that level now, but he hoped to gain something along those lines when he ranked up to the next tier of mastery. Perhaps something higher than Legendary rarity. For now though, this was sufficient.