This wasn’t the first time Ren had descended to depths greater than Silver Rank.
During the past two years, he had made regular expeditions to the denser mana layers, but always with limitations. His roommates, classmates, and the girls frequently accompanied him, and although he could have protected them, he had never wanted to risk them too much.
Now, as he descended through natural tunnels that became progressively more dangerous, he wondered why he had limited himself for them. They shouldn’t be his responsibility. He hadn’t asked to be their protector.
The thought felt liberating in a way that disturbed him.
’Because you care about them,’ the fungus whispered in his mind.
When had concern for others become a burden rather than a motivation?
When had he started seeing their limitations as chains holding him back rather than challenges to help them overcome?
But Ren ignored the comment.
He was still in high Silver Ranks... he had to advance further to reach where he wanted to go.
The creatures that inhabited these depths could sense his approach long before seeing him. Most instinctively moved away, recognizing a superior threat.
The ecosystem dynamics were fascinating to observe. Each creature had evolved precise survival instincts that let them gauge threat levels through mana signatures alone. The fact that so many were actively avoiding him spoke to how dramatically his power had grown.
But those beasts that weren’t intelligent enough to flee met quick and efficient death.
A Greater Deep Killer tried to ambush him from a lateral crevice. Ren didn’t even bother summoning a beast. A simple pulse of light energy reduced the creature’s torso to ash that dispersed in the mana-charged air.
He was looking for some proboscis, so he stored it, though one of this level wouldn’t serve him personally.
The extraction was casual, almost reflexive. Where once he would have studied the creature’s anatomy with scientific curiosity, now he saw only resources to be harvested.
Some other common beasts got in his way and ended up the same.
Each death filled him with cold satisfaction that he found increasingly natural.
Finally, he reached the Gold 1 Rank zone, where mana density was high enough that the air itself glowed with faint golden luminescence. Here he had several specific objectives.
First, analyze naturally crystallized formations to better understand high-density patterns. Second, hunt a Deep Terror to extract its characteristic proboscis, which would be perfect for improving the spear he had been developing as a hobby. Third, eliminate a Royal Deep Worm to obtain its specialized teeth, necessary for improvements he planned to make to his bow’s arrows.
Both weapons were personal projects that entertained him and that he had been refining with Isaac for years. His current spear, forged with Silver 3 Rank materials, was effective but already limited for his level. A Deep Terror’s spike would allow him to create something that could penetrate Platinum Rank defenses.
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