The portal spat them out at a location in the white sand dessert, the yellow sun blazing above as entire teams of bronze rankers and few silver rankers arranged themselves. In front of them was a giant whirlwind that pulsed with barely constrained power, the silver guardian Mira floating above them,

“For those who aren’t aware of how dungeons work on this world, that right there is known as the gates of struggle. Within it are the majority of the dungeons on this continent, ranks 200-450, I’m sure you all have your respective maps to the specific dungeons given to you?” she asked,

A chorus of grunts and affirmation followed,

“Good, now once you pass through this wind barrier, your maps should light up and give you directions, for those of you new to this, you’re advised to be on guard, rival ascenders or those from the glowing sun or black blade kingdom may already be inside” she warned,

“I will proceed first, followed by the silver rankers among you and if we deem it safe, you the bronze and iron rankers are to head immediately for your dungeons” she completed,

Moyo would have been focused had his attention not get dragged to a man who stood a good distance away. Bronze rank from the aura he exuded, it was the type of energy he let off that drew his attention to him, pulsing with a green glow, the man stood alone.

Tall with broad chest and callous hands that spoke of menial labor work, a brown straw hat on his head and a staff in his hand, the man chewed on what looked like a piece of brown stalk and had a faraway look in his eyes.

The energy kept rubbing off him in a manner that got his intent reacting in such a way he couldn’t understand, he tapped Ashira who was busy arranging the bag of items and edibles they had bought.

Seeing as Moyo couldn’t open his vault in public, they decided to carry them along till they got into the dungeon before he accessed his vault and deposited them inside. She glanced up at him inquisitively, following the direction of his hand to the man who stood close to a team of bronze ranked ascenders that all wore red armor, most probably a guild,

“Know him?” she asked,

“No, but the way his energy rubs off me from so far away, I can’t explain it” he replied,

“Intent?”

“Not at all, it has a feel of nature to it, almost like pure energy” she said,

They watched the man speak to the team in red who brushed him off, then another team that did the same,

“Ah, a tagger” Ashira said

“Tagger?” he asked,

“Ascenders who don’t have enough coins to get a dungeon pass, they tag along with other teams and provide their services for loot in return” she explained,

They saw the man turn towards their direction before beginning to ask other teams along, Ashira glanced at Moyo,

“You seem very inquisitive about this person” she said,

The man with green eyes and broad jaw was indeed a point of concern to Moyo, the energy he gave out wasn’t hurting him in anyway. If anything, it seemed to be somehow strengthening his intent on some fundamental level he couldn’t understand,

“Perhaps we invite him along?” he asked,

Ashira shrugged, glancing at the silver guardian that passed through the whirlwind,

“Your choice, it’s a level 300 dungeon anyways, not like it poses much of a challenge to me anyways, you could always have an ally” she said,

Moyo waved till the man saw him and walked towards him,

“A good day to you ascenders, name’s Eogan, are you in need of a tagger?” the man rumbled,

“Indeed, level 300 dungeon” Moyo replied,

Eogan’s eyes widened,

“that’s a tad bit higher than what bronze rankers would delve” he replied,

“I’m the bronze, she’s silver” Moyo said, gesturing to Ashira who stood by his side,

Eogan nodded at her, Moyo noticed a sort of emotion flash through Ashira’s eyes,

“Seems plausible, 20 percent of the loot plus a pick of whatever relic we find” he said,

“that’s quite the payment for one bronze ranker” Ashira replied,

“you’re getting a defensive and healing ascender in one, my path has aspects of life and earth in equal measures” Eogan explained,

Moyo was right Afterall, he indeed have the life aspect,

“10 percent of the loot, plus any relic that fits perfectly with your path” Ashira said,

“10 percent?, won’t be able to buy a dungeon pass with that good miss” Eogan said,

“15 then” Moyo said, cutting in even as Ashira shook her head and Eogan smiled,

“Agreed, thank you, good sir”

Moyo couldn’t help but feel like he’d been fleeced, and the look on Ashira’s face also implied as much, he chalked it up to beginners’ mistake. By now the silver ranker had already gone through the barrier, the rest of them waiting in tense silence,

“Can you tell us anything about this rivalry between the dust and sun kingdoms?” Moyo asked Eogan,

“More like tense peace, both sides are an iron death away from launching a full war” Eogan replied,

“That bad?” Moyo asked,

“We bronze rankers don’t really know too much about what happens at the silver realm” Eogan started,

“But rumors are circulating that the kings of both kingdoms are gearing up for something big, no idea what it is, but it’s happened a long time ago, records are sketchy, but the death toll were in the thousands” he said,

Moyo silently glanced around, experts dying in the thousands was an insane reality to him, but he had just snuffed out five experts like it was nothing, much less when a war broke out,

“Most wars are always about resources” Ashira said, drawing their attention to her,

“And if golds are to be involved, then it’s probably something priceless to their ascensions that they become ready to throw bodies at it” she said,

“Why don’t they just fight it out themselves?’ Moyo asked,

The silver guardian Mira came out again and waved the silvers through, the bronze rankers continuing their quiet wait,

“Spoken like a true swordsman,” she said with a chuckle,

“Golds coming to blows is almost unheard of, even the emperor of the continent himself, the mythical diamond ranker hasn’t even lifted a finger for centuries now” Eogan said,

Again, the words of Ashira came to him, his view of the archailect was very biased, he had seen masters fight like it happened every day, therefore the thoughts of experts in general trading blows seemed the norm to him. He was about to speak again when the guardian came out and spoke,

“Bronze rankers start moving” she ordered,

All the teams numbering close to a thousand began to push through the barrier, iron and bronze rankers running into the raging whirlwind. Moyo and his team of Ashira and Eogan ran along together, pushing through the barrier. As Moyo touched the whirlwind, he could feel the pure aether in it resisting him, it tried anyways but didn’t slow him down for a second, same with Ashira and Eogan.

Inside of the barrier was a dessert landscape of hundreds of dungeon portals pulsing with power, Ashira immediately brought out the map, a piece of parchment that immediately glowed to life, pointing them forwards as they walked briskly, weaving through the different portals that were arranged in an orderly fashion,

“Had no idea dungeons could spawn in the same location and in such an orderly fashion” moyo said,

“They don’t, this was the work of a dungeon array, those things cost a fortune in diamond coins to get. They locate dungeons in whatever landscape they are placed in and draw them together to a particular spot in finely arranged manners, whoever the diamond ranker of this continent is, he’s one rich ascender” Ashira said,

“Rumors are he’s the descendant of the master that rules this world” Eogan said,

“Plausible, explains why all the kingdoms on this continent have their dungeons in this place” Ashira said,

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

They moved quickly, locating the level 300 dungeon, the red glowing portal that blazed with power that sent shivers down Moyo’s spine,

“Level 300, here’s to us not dying” Eogan muttered,

Moyo grunted, a grin already spreading on his face,

“Here we go” Ashira said as she jumped into the dungeon, followed by Moyo and Eogan,

Moyo experienced a second of disorientation before landing on a rocky ground, then the pressure of the dungeons power began to settle over him, his HUD blazing to life,

Notice: you have entered a level 300 dungeon, dungeon creatures are level 300-350,

* You have 7 dungeon days to clear this dungeon or risk the exit vanishing,

* Monsters are hybrid rock beasts

* There are 1000 rock hybrids in this dungeon, all must be cleared to exit the dungeon

* Due to your rank, rate of loot drop has been increased,

* Due to your rank, rarity of loot drop had been shifted to a baseline of rare

Moyo breathed in, drew dominion and extended his realm, his eyes snapping open in shock at the strength of the monster, and how quickly they locked unto his position, rushing towards his position,

“Incoming!” he growled,

Ashira produced her blade and stood calmly, the dungeon being nothing but a bore to her, at level 370 she was more than capable to wipe out the dungeon, the essence and aether were for Moyo. The first hybrid rock beast came through the thick foliage of the jungle they found themselves, roaring. At level 301, it was a huge creature made of white rocks, blue glowing eyes with blue lines of power running round its body like visible veins and looking like an ape and tiger fused together.

It honed in on them and Moyo blasted forwards, runic mantle covering his body, Ashe and intent in his blade and clashing with the monster, the both of them hitting with enough force, the floor cracked. Moyo felt the vibrations from the clash pass through his body and into the ground.

The hybrid growled, confused at being pushed back, Eogan came flying through the air, his staff glowing green as the top had a glowing white blade shaped like a sickle, it came down on the creature that roared. The force of its roar blasted Eogan backwards but hurting Moyo’s ears alone without moving him an inch.

Activating his dance of Oya, he wove around the creature, cutting and stabbing the stony skin all to no avail, the hard body of the silver ranked monster showing its incredible toughness. The hybrid took a swipe at him as he activated his step of Ogun, appearing behind the monster to drop a devastating punch filled with intent and aura on its body, sending it careening through the jungle, into a clearing where a stream ran through.

Eogan stood up, shaking his head and staring at Moyo in disbelief,

“how are you not a mess right now?, you literally took the roar to the face” he asked,

Moyo shrugged,

“No idea,” he simply said,

“Keep at it and you might kill your first monster maybe on day 3” Ashira called from the tree top she sat,

Moyo glanced at her,

“Going to help anytime soon?” he called out,

“I’m not the one who needs the essence” she replied with a smirk,

Moyo rolled his eyes, focusing back on the creature who stood but had cracks forming on the spot where Moyo had punched it, the skin under leaking a yellowish substance Moyo suspected was its version of blood,

“How does she expect two bronze rankers to kill a level 300 monster?” Eogan asked,

Moyo didn’t think it wise to tell him he was technically an iron ranker at his level, only with a bronze core, Afterall he was yet to hit the proper 200 level for bronze rankers. His insane attributes contributing to his overall power,

“With patience and discipline” he replied, sheathing his blade,

Eogan noticed and spoke,

“a swordsman without his blade?” he said,

“It hardly hurt its stone skin, blunt force works better” Moyo replied,

“Well in that case” Eogan said as his staff transformed into a war hammer, Moyo whistled in appreciation,

“Nice weapon you’ve got there, sentient?” he asked,

Eogan snorted and spoke even as they moved slowly towards the monster,

“I wish, those cost a diamond rankers arm and a leg, merely a rare loot I got from a dungeon a while back” he said,

As the creature ran for them, Moyo ran forwards to meet it, activating his step of the titan to appear at its side, landing his punch again on the same spot even as it yowled in pain. It totally ignored the Warhammer of Eogan that landed on its skull like a missile, cracking it but not breaking it. The hybrid roared again but this time Eogan had prepared, a wall of earth coming in between himself and the roar,

Still the roar broke through the earth wall, albeit weaker but still with enough force to knock him backward. As it prepared to follow through with Eogan, Moyo who had been forgotten by the hybrid finally broke through the rocky exterior, his whole fist going through the middle region of the creature to touch flesh. Immediately he channeled intent through his arm, cutting into the creature that roared and glanced at him, mouth opening to deliver its concussive roar at Moyo point blank.

With a growl of his own, Moyo blasted intent right through the creature, turning its inside to mush as it exploded violently, sharp rocks blasting everywhere but failing to pierce his draconic skin. The force blasted him backwards and into a tree whose trunk was strong enough to withstand him crashing into it. He grunted in pain, wincing as he stood up, Eogan staring at him in curiosity,

“You survived that, those rocks could go through the body of a bronze ranker like lava through soil” he said,

“I have- “Moyo said as a wave of dizziness hit him, aether and essence unlike any amount he had felt slammed into him with the force of a moving truck,

He fell to the ground gasping, dimly aware of Eogan who had plainly passed out from the amount of aether and essence he must had collected. Ashira was suddenly by his side,

“Channel it into your core, I need to wake Eogan up to avoid him wasting the aether” she growled,

He dimly became aware of himself nodding, sitting down as he delved into himself to see his landscape been shaking by violent energies in the form of pure aether and a whitish substance that floated all around. With his Ashe he began gathering the whitish substance together with the aether, clumping them together as they fought to resist his control, a futile effort seeing as this was his realm.

The moment they fused together, they turned to liquid and began falling as rain on his landscape that greedily absorbed it, sending it through his body to his mountain core that absorbed it, every bit of it was absorbed by his landscape. He opened his eyes in reality to see his HUD blazing with notifications, he opened it up,

Congratulations, you have killed a hybrid rock beast (300), you get:

* 100 silver coins,

* Fluid of the rock beast (2): makes your skin hard as a rock beast for 30 minutes

You have reached level 170!

200 points for allocation.

Coming down from the high of the power he got from killing the rock beast, he winced to himself for not activating his greed of Esu skill, he might had gotten something useful from the creature. Eogan groaned as he sat up, by his feet lay two stone gloves that glowed,

“That was quite the rush, level 215, from 210” he said,

Moyo had honestly expected more of a jump from the level of the monster they killed, but he was beginning to understand how slow the crawl was from the words Ulsa had told him. How many more of these creatures would he have to kill to even get close to silver?, Moyo shivered a little, the farming was going to be a long and arduous process indeed. Eogan glanced at him,

“Are you okay?” he asked,

“Yeah, just sore a little” he replied,

“Nice rock gloves by the way” Moyo said as Eogan grinned,

“I believe the relic bargain has been fulfilled?, this stone gauntlets look to be of the rare rank” Ashira said as she walked back towards them,

Eogan nodded,

“With the 15% loot bonus and an assured rise in my levels, I’m more than fine” he said,

Ashira nodded,

“Good, cause I’m pretty sure I sensed the dungeon boss in that direction, nasty thing” she said,

“Well, that makes it 999 monsters left in this dungeon and we need to work fast” she said,

“Does that mean you’ll be joining us?” Moyo asked,

“Not exactly” Ashira said,

“I and Eogan will go hunting together, you do your thing” she said as Moyo grinned,

“do his thing?, he’s a bronze ranker, what can he do against a silver ranked creature by himself?” Eogan asked in shock,

“let’s just say he thrives when he’s by himself” Ashira said, dragging Eogan along with her,

“Have fun titan blade, I’ll send the coordinates of the camp, don’t die!” she said as she and a sputtering Eogan walked away,

Moyo sat there, steadying his mind. He quietly locked away the delicate and artful training taught to him by master Killian, then he brought out every lesson Ajax had taught him, this was the wild, the monsters weren’t watching to react to his every move, they simply wanted to kill him. Standing up, he hopped from feet to feet, taking a deep breath and shot his aura in on direction as two roars replied.

The dungeon was an endless jungle, something he had grown familiar with during his time in the red zone of his continent, this was just the same method on a higher mode. As the two hybrid rock monsters came tearing out of the jungle, his realm activated. filling it with Ashe, he activated his voice of Olorun, his voice resonating across his realm even as his mantle snapped in place on his body,

“HOLD” he commanded,

The two monsters slowed to a crawl, a level 302 and 303 respectively. He blasted forward, purple eyes glowing as he punched one into the ground before it could open its mouth, disorienting the creature. The other turned to roar at him in slow motion when he tightened his fist and drove it recklessly through its mouth, sending intent rampaging through its body as he activated his greed of Esu and felt it latch onto some vital aspect of the creature before it exploded.

As he reeled from the force, better prepared this time, he felt the other creature clamp down on his shoulder with its mouth, barely denting his mantle and skin but holding him with enough force that he couldn’t move then throwing him into the ground. Moyo felt the breath knocked out of him as he gasped, rolling away quickly to avoid the clawed stone hand coming down on him.

With a flip he stood up, uttering the command to hold again as the creature slowed. With a blitzing move he landed behind the creature and began to pummel its body repeatedly with blows that vibrated through the ground, cracking its stone skin on all parts of its body with the helpless creature unable to move.

Finally using his arm covered with intent, he drove it through the head of the creature where the stone protection had been cracked open, the creature dying instantly. Immediately he sat crossed legged, the essence and aether slammed into him, even as he channeled it into his core, filling his mountain absorb it,

* Level 175! (500 points)

* 200 silver coins!

* Skill greed of Esu(L) has absorbed strength of the rock monster, +400 to strength

Moyo grinned, he could keep doing this all day. While actual silver ranked experts weren’t something he could even dream of fighting toe to toe currently, their monster counterparts were different, those he could handle.

Actual silver rankers didn’t bother with rank 300 dungeons and he could see why they left it to teams of bronze rankers. He also had the disturbing thought of how slow it would be for said teams to climb higher seeing as even with only him taking out level 300 monsters, the climb was slow, it explained how it took years for them to break through to another rank.

Moyo couldn’t wait for that though, he needed to blitz through the bronze stage and get into the silver rank, anything to close the gap between himself and Kenuran before the tournament. Getting up he once again, he took a breath and blasted his aura, but this time in a wide circle, watching as different roars replied the challenge.

Over six rock monsters, ranged 300 - 320 appeared, and like clockwork they all attacked him at once, he blasted his realm out, filling it with Ashe and intent that sliced and cut all around the monsters, sparks and clangs filled the air as he produced dominion and began weaving through the creatures.

A punch there, a hit there, every attack from the creatures was met with devastating response on his part. Activating the gravity ability of dominion, he wielded it with frightful precision even as it laid cracks on the monsters, he wondered why he hadn’t thought of it in the first place. Actually, sustaining scratches this time, he felt them healing as his wrath of Oya activated, healing his injuries faster than he could get them.

Then it was over, Moyo panting as the creatures exploded on by one while he dodged the force wavebefore sitting and filling the enormous aether and essence fill his body up, running into his ever-hungry core that seemed to be gathering up all the essence, the aether settling into his mountain.

He got to level 183 and 7% to silver, standing up and sheathing dominion, he prepared himself again to continue.