Jonathan smiled at the gains. All of the footwork techniques that he had learned had been folded into his Martial Arts skill, rather than becoming skills of their own. He could feel his new expertise and mastery in his very bones, and he was itching to test it out.

Edgar snapped out of his own trance a few moments later, his body shuddering as if it was trying to grasp some great insight. When the man recovered, Jonathan approached.

“How did it go? I must admit, I’m curious as to how a mage could gain anything from a martial master’s techniques.”

“You would be surprised. That man had masterful mana control, mana control that I copied. I managed to boost my Mana Manipulation skill by multiple ranks. That is a huge amount at this level of mastery.” As if to punctuate this, Edgar held out one hand, and a sword of pure mana formed there, glistening in the faint light that pervaded the cavern. The man swung it a few times, and grinned.

“I also learned a few meager sword techniques. Who knows, maybe they’ll become useful eventually.”

With that, the two men were ready to continue through the dungeon. Over the next few days, they traveled through the next ten floors of the dungeon. They were well over the halfway point, and the difficulty was starting to become ridiculous. All of the monsters, even the basic ones, were over level 180, and they possessed strength beyond what they should. The average basic monster had the strength of an Elite, and the Elites were on par with Bosses. Then the Bosses were boosted beyond their normal capacity.

At this rate, they would be facing a Peak Tier 2 monster at the end of the dungeon. At least there was one silver lining. The massive amount of essence that the two men were gaining. Jonathan was now at level 181, and Edgar was at level 177. In addition, he had managed to complete the armor set, but the bonuses were not really worth it compared to the growth potential of his current set. If he managed to gain an upgrade stone, then perhaps he would be tempted, but for now, he made do.

On the thirtieth floor, they emerged into a far stranger floor than anything that they had seen before. A twisting labyrinth of obsidian extended out in front of them, with multiple paths already visible. This was not a test that could be overcome with brute force alone.

“Edgar, can you scout out ahead with your wind?” Jonathan asked.

“Already on it,” the other man replied. Then he frowned. “Something is blocking my senses. Perhaps the System did not want elemental abilities to be an option here. We will have to solve this the normal way.”

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Edgar made his way to the right hand side of the maze, and laid his hand on it, before starting down the corridor. Jonathan quickly followed, recognizing what the man was doing. It was a simple maze solving technique. However, there was a chance that it would not work. As they progressed, Edgar marked off parts of the maze that were especially bland or hard to make out, so as to make sure that they were not back tracking. It was not until the thirtieth minute of exploration that they found the first monsters.

A towering skeleton of bleached bone and eldritch power stood before them, holding a massive ax in both hands. The monster was at least fifteen feet tall, and had the proportions of a giant. It was an Elite Tier monster, and Jonathan could feel its power from here.

The ax came scything down a moment later, heading for Edgar’s head. The mage was too slow to dodge the surprisingly fast strike, and Jonathan was forced to intervene. He leaped into the path of the weapon, and set his feet, holding up his right arm. The impact sent shudders through his body, but he held firm. His forearm bone cracked, but it was nothing that a few moments of regeneration would not fix.

Jonathan parried the blow, sending the ax hurtling into the ground. It bounced off the incredibly durable stone, and caused the skeleton to take a step backwards. Jonathan raced through its guard and planted his undamaged arm in the center of its being, blasting the monster off its feet. As a skeleton, it was a lot lighter than a being of flesh and blood would have been. Jonathan followed it as it fell, and began to whale on its head with his fists, fracturing the bleached bone with every strike.

Edgar held the monster in place with chains of wind, allowing Jonathan to batter it into oblivion. With a final crunch, the monster’s skull broke, and the eldritch power that was sustaining its life faded away. Essence rushed towards Jonathan, barely a drop in the ocean that he needed. As his level almost matched that of the monster he was facing, the amount of kills that he needed was significant.

Leaving the skeleton behind them, they kept walking, heading deeper into the maze. The monster encounters became harder to avoid as they progressed, and the variety increased as well. While the first monster had been a humanoid skeleton, there were living beings there as well.

Manticores prowled the hallways, their grotesque chimeric forms barely making a noise as they walked. Their bulging stingers arched over their bodies like a serpent ready to strike. They were tough opponents, tougher than the skeleton was. They possessed strength and speed in equal measure, as well as a potent toxin that could affect even Jonathan. It took almost ten minutes for him to clear the poison from his system, in which time his skin had started to go black.

Edgar made sure to stay behind Jonathan, as a single dose of that toxin would likely kill him. However, the man was just as useful in a position of support, buffing Jonathan and slowing down his enemies. A lot of the kills could be attributed to a timely intervention on Edgar’s part.