Lucius followed the oversized ant around the forest for half an hour as the creature scurried about randomly. After observing it for so long, he realized that it appeared to be blind and was feeling its way around the environment using the long antennae at the front of its head.

"That might be a problem if I get surrounded by these things. I'm not sure how effective my aspect will be against a creature that relies on touch as its primary sense."

When he grew bored of watching it travel in large, aimless circles, Lucius pulled out the piece of cooked venison from his storage ring—the same one Magar had gifted him at their first meeting. He floated the item forward and placed it in the ant's path.

When the ant reached the cooked meat, its antennae began rapidly tapping the item as the creature rushed around it excitedly for a few seconds, eagerly sizing up its prize.

A few moments later, Lucius was following the ant as it swiftly moved through the forest with the meat held snugly between its large mandibles. When the ant climbed up the side of a tall cliff, Lucius lost sight of it because the creature’s climbing speed was much faster than his own.

Nevertheless, he quickly pulled himself up the sheer rockface and reached the top only a short while after the ant. But when he got there, the ant was nowhere to be seen. Instead, what sat at the top of the cliff was a large anomaly—at least two meters larger in size than the ones he had come across before.

"Hmm... The ant must have entered this portal. Is this still an F-Class anomaly, or has it already moved up to C-Class?"

Warning! Peak F-Class anomaly detected! Intervention recommended to prevent this anomaly from expanding into a C-Class threat.

Lucius gazed at the watery veil before him as he considered the system's warning.

"Good to know... What do you say, Whisper? Should we do some training in the Abyssal Realm?"

"It would be wise to conquer the anomaly, it is too close to our home."

"Agreed. Looks like we’re going in."

Matriarch's Fury appeared in his hand as he reactivated his aspect, making certain he was fully hidden before stepping through the anomaly. A sudden dizziness washed over his mind as the feeling of moving through the anomaly hit him. The moment Lucius reached the other side, his vision was completely blackened, and the strong smell of earth filled his nostrils.

Lucius stood still for a few moments reaching his arms to both sides and waving them through the air, wondering if something had gone wrong during his transport through the portal. Waving his free hand across his face a few times, he realized what was happening, and his eyes began to shine with a dull purple light as he activated his night vision ability.

The darkness receded, and Lucius was once again able to see as clearly as day—but what he saw shocked him enough that he took two awkward steps backward and almost fell through the anomaly behind him.

Lucius was standing on the ledge of a vast underground cavern, and as he looked out before him, he saw what looked like a forest of massive mushrooms spreading out as far as the eye could see. Miles away, at the center of the cavern, was a mountainous mound of dirt. Floods of ants of all shapes and sizes moved in and out of the mound in endless streams.

Directly beside the mound of earth was a large black tower surrounded by a wide moat. The ants scurried all around the vicinity of the tower but did not pass through the water. Lucius rubbed his chin with narrowed eyes as he observed the situation.

"Clever bastard... The summoner is using the ant colony as protection."

Whisper flew out of Lucius' wing, fluttering around him a few times with a grin so wide it nearly reached the large ears on each side of his tiny head.

"Who cares about that! This is perfect! We can train in here without ever worrying about the sun coming out to bother us. Plus, you'll get the added movement speed bonus from your armor. This is a great!"

Lucius shook his head slowly as he listened to Whisper's idea.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"That would be great if this portal wasn’t about to hit C-Class. What are we supposed to do if we spend too long training and the summoner gets a massive power-up?"

Whisper landed on Lucius' shoulder and tilted his head to the side, scratching the fur on the back of his head a few times with the tip of his wing.

"It’ll be a new C-Class summoner, so he won't be accustomed to his power yet, and by then, we’ll have gained lots of strength from training. Maybe we can still kill it ourselves—but if not, we’ll go and get Magar to help us!"

Lucius tapped a finger on the tip of his chin as he considered Whisper’s proposal for a few seconds.

"It’ll be dangerous..."

The grin returned to Whisper’s face as he realized he had successfully convinced Lucius, nodding his head firmly as he responded.

"Yes. It will be dangerous."

Lucius returned Whisper's grin before activating Mythification as he set off across the ledge. He did his utmost to commit the landscape below to memory as he searched for the easiest way down. Just as Lucius was about to crawl over the edge at a spot that had some decent handholds, Whisper’s irritated voice rang out in his head.

"Father... What are you doing?"

Lucius looked around, narrowing his eyes as he tried to figure out why Whisper was stopping him.

"What? I’m climbing dow—"

His words were interrupted by the thick rope of shadows that wrapped around a nearby boulder before the other end waved back and forth in front of his face mockingly. Lucius accepted the rope of shadows in one hand as he scratched the back of his head with the other.

"Right. Forgot about that."

Lucius quickly stepped off the ledge as Whisper extended the shadow rope slowly toward the ground. They had to stop halfway down and reattach the shadows to a closer area because the strain of maintaining such a long rope was draining, and it was important to be in their best condition for what was to come.

As Lucius got closer to the ground, he watched as the large mushroom caps rose up around him. The mushrooms had long stems beneath their giant round caps. From far away, the stems appeared deceptively slim, but once Lucius got closer, he realized it was an illusion. The stems only looked thin compared to the incredibly large caps, but even the stems on the larger mushrooms in the area were several meters thick and stretched dozens of meters into the air.

The mushrooms were dark grey with black dots scattered across their surface, they looked rather menacing as if they might contain a strong poison of some kind. As the tallest of the mushroom caps moved above him, Lucius began to hear the sounds of small insects. Even here, deep beneath the ground in a strange abyssal world covered in absolute darkness, the familiar sounds of scurrying, buzzing, and chirping could be heard.

When Lucius' feet reached the ground, the bottoms of his shoes sank into the soft, spongy biomatter that covered the floor. It took him a moment to get comfortable walking on the material—it was a bit like walking on a stiff trampoline.

"So much for taking advantage of my increased speed underground. This surface is impossible to run across."

As he continued to move forward, he realized he had been worrying too soon. The spongy floor only existed close to the cavern wall for some reason, and when he moved in the direction of the cavern's center, the floor under his feet began to become firm once again.

Soon, Lucius was able to run without issue. Deciding to put his Plus 40% movement speed underground to the test, he took off at full speed toward the nearest mushroom stem. As soon as he began his sprint, Lucius realized he had miscalculated.

"Whoa!"

Lucius leaned back as multiple ropes of shadow rose around him to slow his momentum and prevent him from crashing into the mushroom stem in front of him. He looked down incredulously at his own feet. The speed he had just unleashed was far more than he had expected.

"What's going on? That was much faster than it should’ve been. Normally, I get a 20% boost for moving over soil from my armor, and underground that should go up to 40%. So my movement speed should’ve gone from plus 20% to plus 40%..."

Lucius prompted the system to show him the description of his armor as he tried to figure out what he was missing.

Flowing Mantle of Chasms – Carapace Chest Armor – Quality [Extraordinary]

This piece of armor has undergone numerous upgrades, originally formed from the carapace of a Colossus Centipede. The scales making up its body have been further infused with magical power, lowering their weight and drastically increasing their defensive ability. This magical infusion has also enhanced the armor’s self-repair ability, and its affinity with earth mana has been increased.

Close to the Earth – Plus 20% movement speed while traveling over soil. Plus 40% movement speed underground.

Second Skin – This armor will self-repair as long as it has not been completely destroyed. The rate of repair has been enhanced through the upgrade process.

Sinkhole – Release the earth-attribute mana gathered in this armor, creating a deep hole in the ground to trap your enemy. Usable once per day.

Rubbing his chin as he went over the description again, he wasn't able to discover what he was missing.

"It's still the same as I remember... Whisper, what am I missing here?"

Whisper listened to the description of the armor from Lucius a few times before his small eyes shot wide open as an idea came to him.

"It doesn’t say you lose the 20% when the 40% kicks in. You’re underground and moving over soil. So maybe you’re gaining both movement speed bonuses?"

Lucius looked down at Whisper in silence for a few seconds before looking back at the description of his armor once more.

"That would mean... instead of 20% increase, I'm getting 60%?!?"