"Father, before we move ahead, you should assign your free attribute points. I suggest adding them to Magic Power for now. We should focus on that attribute until it reaches the forty point threshold. Not only will that empower both of us, but gaining a new magic-related skill would be more valuable than any of the other attribute-related skills we might obtain at forty points."

Lucius agreed with Whisper's proposal and quickly allocated all eight points to Magic Power, bringing the attribute up to twelve base points, a full seventeen with item bonuses, and an impressive thirty seven points when including his Mythification bonuses. The power emanating from his chest seemed to grow excited as it flooded into his limbs and head, rising to a new level of potency as it did so.

Thankfully, Lucius' attributes were already so high that adding points as quickly was no longer an issue—unless he did something reckless, like saving up a large number of points and using them all at once. Even then, it might not be enough to cause a problem. The more familiar he became with the system and the process of gaining power through attributes, the more he realized how improbable an event it was that he had poisoned himself with mana in the past.

Since Whisper was done eating, Lucius activated Mythification once again, extending his hand toward a nearby clump of shadows as he tested his increased Magic Power. With Mythification active, everything was much easier—the best way to describe it was that the shadows felt lighter. Without Mythification, it was as if they all had low batteries and struggled to obey his commands.

A rope of shadow quickly rose from the ground, flying toward his hand. He intended for the shadow to slowly wrap around his arm, but instead, it shot off into the distance behind him. Even though he had access to the same power as Whisper, he was still like a child when it came to controlling it. Luckily, he had his companion to handle that job for him.

"How do you feel, Whisper? Is the added Magic Power making a difference?"

After asking the question, Lucius watched as a dozen shadowy snakes and bats rose into the air around him, swirling and fluttering playfully.

"My power has risen, but not enough. The big improvement won't come until we reach forty points of Magic Power."

Lucius nodded at the explanation as he watched the bats flying through the air, rubbing his chin as he observed their shadowy wings.

"Could you create shadow wings for me? Flying would make my life much easier and greatly increase my survivability."

Whisper remained silent, responding by gathering two great sheets of shadow and wrapping them around Lucius' chest to secure them to his body before stretching them out into two wide wings behind his back. The wings began to flap up and down with all their might, and Lucius could feel the force pushing against gravity, creating a small cloud of dust as Whisper attempted to lift his body off the ground with the power of the wings.

Unfortunately, despite the flapping with all the force they could muster, Lucius' body only managed to rise a few inches off the floor, dropping back to the ground between each flap.

"Sorry, Father. I’m not strong enough to help you fly. We should try again when your Magic Power reaches forty points."

Lucius nodded as the large shadowy wings ceased their movement and disappeared from his back.

"That's okay—they can already be used to glide. It's good to know I don’t have to worry about fall damage during the night anymore."

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As Lucius continued on his journey toward the more populated area of the cavern, he felt a familiar sensation from Sense Danger. Narrowing his eyes, he turned toward it and began heading in the direction of the sensation.

"I see... So this is where that ugly bastard came from."

As Lucius approached the source of the threat, he became increasingly certain it was the same presence he had sensed once before, shortly after meeting Maryanne. Back then he was much weaker, and meeting such an enemy almost ended both of their lives.

When he got within a certain distance of the creature, it began moving directly toward him. When Lucius suddenly stopped moving to test his guess, the threat from Sense Danger greatly diminished.

"Sure enough..."

When Lucius resumed moving toward the creature, the threat immediately reappeared in his senses and continued advancing toward him. A few moments later, he caught sight of the massive body of an oversized black centipede, its carapace bearing a striking resemblance to the armor covering Lucius' chest.

The creature's multitude of legs fluttered back and forth as they propelled its lengthy body across the hard floor of the cavern, kicking up dirt and skittering from side to side as it rushed toward him, mandibles clacking hungrily the entire time.

Now that he was more attuned to the Magic Power of his environment, Lucius was able to detect the earth mana being released from the creature. He watched as the sneaky centipede directed it's magic power into the ground beneath his feet.

A grin stretched across his face as he leapt off the ground before the trap could spring, the earth just beneath him liquefying an instant after he moved away. Lucius stretched out his hand, and Whisper, understanding his intentions, created a rope of shadow around the centipede's body, the other end appearing in Lucius' hand.

Yanking on the rope with all his might, Lucius sent his body rocketing through the air toward the creature. The centipede was caught off guard, but still raised its mandibles in an attempt to reach up and bite him. Unfortunately for the creature, half a dozen more shadow bindings appeared, pulling it's head down and preventing it from blocking Lucius' attack.

The centipede was left defenseless as Lucius reached it, activated Sundering Strike, and crashed into the creature fist-first as the power from the strike threw its massive head to the side with enough force that the shadows binding it were torn away as well.

The carapace protecting its brain shattered from the impact. Lucius did not relent after his successful strike, taking advantage of the moment of stunned paralysis the attack had caused. He lunged forward with Matriarch's Fury, driving his sharp sword through the broken carapace and into the centipede's brain. For a few moments, the creature remained still, but after a few seconds ticked by the tense muscles across its body suddenly went limp all at once.

You have defeated Centipeda Colossus, Level 20.

"Hmm. It was a few levels weaker than the one we fought on Earth, but still. We have come a long way in strength compared to back then when one of these almost took us out."

Whisper nodded his head as his eyes remained locked on his soon to be meal, urging Lucius to give him the command with his eager expression. Because of the creature’s massive size, Lucius instructed Whisper to eat his meal outside. His storage ring was large enough to fit the entire body, but he would need to cut it into pieces to move it in and out, which would be a huge waste of time. He had only pulled the ants body into the ring right away to prevent any pheromones from being released it's death that might attract it's angry companions to him.

Whisper gleefully obeyed as a blanket of shadows wrapped around the creature's corpse. The feeling of vitality filling Lucius' chest was stronger this time than when he had absorbed the ant, and even before checking, he was certain he had gained two points.

"Sure enough, that bumped us up to twenty-eight base Vitality. We're making great progress, Whisper. Training down here was a good idea."

Whisper smiled up at Lucius with a satisfied grin, wiping a bloodstain from his face as he let out a tiny burp.

Whisper's burp coincidentally marked the dimming of the mushrooms all around them, as the blue bioluminescence faded away as the sound was released from the small creature's mouth. The illuminating phenomenon of the mushrooms had only lasted about an hour, and Lucius was curious to see if it would reoccur anytime soon, if so how often.

The cavern’s return to darkness was perfectly fine for Lucius—he had the advantage in the dark against creatures like the hornet that relied on light for their vision to work.

A moment later, with Whisper finished eating and the shadows deepening around them, the purple glow reappeared in Lucius' eyes as he activated Mythification once again.

"We'll reach the hive very soon. It's time to turn up the intensity of this training."