Dodging the countless pulses, I was getting mentally tired. Dodging for 100 minutes was exhausting. I couldn’t waste my energy except dodging or keeping the active enchantment going. It was closing in on the 100 minute mark, when things went wrong.

An Expanding Block burst up from the ground and was quite large. I quickly adjusted my footing without issue, kicking off it, but it surged upwards to a distant Expanding Block to crush me. There was too much energy in the zone to sense things well with the fighting going on around me. Also, my danger sense wasn’t triggered by the block being so far away.

I easily kicked off the Expanding Block off its side. It had tried to engulf my feet with its body, but I was too quick and my Body stat too high to worry about such a thing from a level 5 monster. Another Expanding Block was rising up from the ground in my path. A long term move by the Infinite Block? It was possible. I kept moving, but was being pushed up into the air.

There was no third Expanding Block and I began to plummet towards the ground. Air Burst. I quickly moved out of the way from the countless pulse attacks. Beam attacks struck the massive Expanding Blocks that had rose up, annihilating them with counter type reactions, the taxpayer points hard at work.

That’s when an error cropped up in our teamwork. It was remarkable things had gone well this long. A testament to the countless years and hardships we had survived togeather. One of Michelle’s summons had survived and I was between the Infinite Block and her summon. It occasionally targeted other monsters near it or targets. The Expanding Blocks had obscured me for a moment from the monster, so it lashed out around it at other targets.

By the time I felt my danger sense kick in, it was too late. One of the pulse attacks hit my armor. It was level 6 enchanted null armor with passive enchantments to block out energy. My teammates had similar armor, with the soldiers having level 5 armor. All of them made out of Magnite, the level 5 super metal.

Unfortunately, this was a level 6 attacks with curse damage. I used my free hand to pull the quick release clasps and my back armor fell away. One of the many inventions of the research and development branch of the Imperial Government. Quick release armor to let it fall away after taking an attack. Acid Shot x2. I used my skill on my falling armor piece. Better to make sure it was destroyed after taking curse damage. Who knew what abomination would form from it.

There went countless days of work, but better that, than curse damage. I had a spare set on the airship, but another expense to add to the final bill. My new title should be Michael Money Pit, and this monster should be renamed the Infinite Point Consumer. More operational expenses to add onto the Crystal Vortex’s budget.

If the true cost of my expeditions weren’t considered top secret, I knew people would be coughing out blood all around and screaming in rage. But I wanted progress. I wanted to find the Almighty System controlling this place. Over the years that had become a personal goal of mine.

It hadn’t always been that way, but I wanted to get to the end. That driving question was something I constantly thought about over and over. At least this capture battle was almost over. Only another minute or so.

The Infinite Block suddenly stopped moving and attacking, but the taming wasn’t completed, since I could tell by touching the rod itself. I spun around midair and saw it was gathering lots of energy towards it multiple rings. A finisher attack, of course. Monsters really didn’t like being captured especially level 6 monsters.

I kicked off the ground hard as over twenty pulse attacks launched at me in the same time. I quickly pushed out my energy around my back as I tried to dodge and twist. “Ahh!” I let out a cry of pain and shock.

It was aiming around me, and there were too many. I was hit in the back where my armor was missing. The worst of the curse damage was mitigated by external energy barrier, dispersing quite a bit of the attack. Still, it was a level 6 attack. It struck my left shoulder.

I could feel the tendrils of energy trying to dig into me, but I pushed back. The attack quickly stalled and was countered, being fully pushed out. I was sweating and breathing heavily as I continued to move. I was an expert on curse damage, but it still took a lot of focus and effort to quickly expel an attack like that.

Level 6 monsters were no joke, but letting the damage take root was far more annoying. Better to push it out right away and not leave it too later. That was something I had learned over the years. Even with my experience, I still struggled in the process, even more so while fighting.

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Thankfully that was the last major attack by the Infinite Block before it was captured. One I felt I had taken it over with the Rod of Taming, I ordered it to stop attacking, consolidate, and move towards the airship.

The remaining expanding blocks were quickly finished off. At least the soldiers were using their beam skills to save money now. Kicking off the ground, I soared into the air and gently came to an apex at the airship railing of the second deck. My feet touched it and then I jumped gently down on the deck.

The soldiers let out cheers and I smiled. Michelle was in focus mode still. I let her finish up the remaining monsters as I ordered the Infinite Block to the airship. I also opened up the capture box, or hammer. The Infinite Block slowly consolidated down into a floating silver cube about twice the size of my head.

Michelle and Doctor Katz finished up and Joyo returned to the airship. “Cease fire, keep watch, cease fire keep watch,” the call went up through the airship after Michelle started it. That meant we were not to break the bubble we had created around the airship to avoid drawing any more aggro from monsters in the zone. She had the final say on stopping combat, since she was also our primary scout force.

“Here,” I said as she approached me with a huge smile. We had done it. I handed her the Rod of Taming without hesitation.

“Hmm, she said while looking at the Infinite Block. Complex,” she muttered, and I nodded. “Will have to test it in a level 4 zone. The energy draw shouldn’t be impacted. Expand.” The Infinite Block quickly split into two portions. “Contract.” It came back togeather. “Interesting,” she replied.

“So, it should work?” I asked.

“With testing yes. Very careful testing of course. Need to divide it and test damage mitigation and recovery. Pulse Draw, Spike Launch, and Expanding Block Creation. Those appear to be the core skills of the monster,” Michelle quickly categorized them. “The supporting skills would be Energy Draw, Charge, Float, Split, and Consolidate.”

“The big aspect that could be changed would be the energy draw formation. I would need your assistance Doctor Katz for a full analysis,” Michelle quickly broke everything down. That was why she was a monster master and handled team tactics for the most part.

“I got some chances to observe the monster in action. Environmental energy will have a big impact. With a level 6 zone, we will need to watch for over draw, or curse damage. Possibly test this in other zones. Stacking the energy draw or charging would be impacted,” he contemplated.

“You suspect that there could be impacts from environmental energy?” Michelle asked.

“Yes. We have seen environmental synergy in the past. It would be foolish to discount it just because it isn’t obvious. Also, the limits of its expansion would need to be tested, to provide platforms for combat,” Doctor Katz said.

“I have already considered that, I am thinking floating structures around the airship. We would move to the orbital ring strategy. Deploying on an expanded ring around the airship, or have platforms, composed of multiple blocks to replenish themselves. It depends on how much it can split apart. The further it divides the longer it takes. We started the fight at eight floating rings and ended at twenty. With proper prep time, we could look at an astronomical amount,” she replied.

“We will need to test things for sure. Tomorrow,” Doctor Katz said after glancing at my exhausted face. While this had only lasted under two hours, the entire operation was exhausting for me, having to run and constantly dodge.

“Well, I want to see if I can make it hibernate,” Michelle said. It had been an ongoing project. To let higher level monsters last in lower-level zones. They tended to take passive damage over time, even when inactive and at rest. I could tell she was hopeful she could compact this monster to a very small shape and focus on becoming inert. Its variable size made it a possibility, since she had limited successes with other level 5 monsters with variable sizes.

Captain Francis came up to me. “Orders?” he asked me.

“We will remain here for another a day. To test the Infinite Block. We are clear of boss aggro?” I asked.

“Unless we pull other monsters, we should be fine,” he replied, and I nodded. We weren’t in the boss spawn range. Another lesson that had been learned. Boss monsters didn’t respect the area an airship rested in at all.

“Let’s celebrate. Break out the good alcohol,” I told him.

“The Imperial Gold?” he asked me, and I nodded. That cask was kept in my room. It would only be opened with a death or a major celebration. It was one of the few food items that were authorized to have crystals used as part of the brewing process, to enhance it. Each cask was enchanted to contain the alcohol inside. Taming our first level 6 monster was a huge event. Much better than a death to mourn.

“Yes. And the good food for a proper celebration. After our testing tomorrow, we are going to capture the next level 6 monster on Michelle’s list and then the third one,” I said.

“I know she discussed several possibilities. Any indication on what one she wants?” Captain Francis asked while glancing at her standing in front of the Infinite Block and having it split and consolidate.

“No. She wanted to confirm the capabilities of this monster first before deciding. I suspect that she will go with something completely stupid and difficult,” I muttered. I had a good guess what one she would pick. I didn’t want to deal with it. Just like the Infinite Block it would be a hassle.

But preventing zone decay was a big deal. She would want something that had metal properties and could resize. They were the monster type most resistant to energy loss. That meant she would want to the Eclipsing Moon boss monster. This would require another capture method. The capture box, or hammer would probably not work.

There were no easy level 6 monsters, only varying degrees of headache inducing combat. If the Infinite Block was the power of the many working as one. The Eclipsing Moon was the power of one personified to an insane degree. That was why it was the Eclipsing Moon, and not the Ball And Chain like the level 5 monsters in the zone.