Mat looked over the bodies of the wandering eyes lying on the stone floor, seeing two green orbs floating above them- their souls.

He absorbed them into his hand, the tendrils of light flowing towards him like water in a drain.

Currently, he can now summon up to three souls into minions. It was just two before, but after jumping up to E-tier with his spirit he earned another minion slot. The more his Spirit stat increases the more minions he can materialize, but for now he had a limit of three to work with.

Also, once a soul has been materialized into a minion, it will stay a minion to the user for as long as the user lives. This meant that he couldn't unsummon any of his minions once he already summoned them, but his current minions will never disappear and even die, whether that be of old age, sickness, or physical wounds. His summons were perfect immortals.

This was proven with Wingman, Mat's ghost bird. Even though he was shot near the underwing- a vital spot, seeing him right now flying around the dungeon and flapping his wings, he was looking pretty much alive. It took a little bit of time but the wound he got from the earlier fight regenerated eventually and fully, not leaving even scars.

Mat stared at his glowing hand.

He was debating whether he should materialize one of the wandering eye's souls into a minion and absorb the other into his body, or he should just instead absorb both, leaving the last spot for his minion slot still empty.

Mat eventually chose the latter. These wandering eyes were the weakest inside the dungeon, so he had to save his last minion spot for something stronger. Preferably the dungeon boss, though he doubted he could even materialize the dungeon boss in the first place.

There was a limit as to what souls he could and couldn't see, and strong beings were out of this range. This meant that he couldn't materialize nor absorb a soul that's equal to or stronger than him. The only reason he was able to materialize Amigo's soul into a minion was because the wolf was willing to give his soul to him. That in itself was still a mystery though. Mat and Amigo back then were strangers, but the wolf was already willing to give his soul to him the first time they met.

Mat shoved the thought aside. This was a big habit of his, turning away things he didn't understand. Instead, he focused his attention to the monster bodies in front of him.

Mat was hallucinating, with the monster bodies on the ground starting to glow translucent. Mat rubbed his eyes, but they weren't tricks. They really were glowing white. The more seconds passed, the stronger the translucence was. After a time the bodies completely disappeared into thin air, leaving items on the ground where they once were.

"Wait, what's this?"

2 Black Lens (F-) [Material]

A black lens. Filters light coming from outside to a darker shade.

2 Crimson Essence (F-) [Material]

The affinity of the monsters manifested to physicality.

"Those are monster drops." Ruan whispered a breath behind him. "They drop after each monster turns white and vanishes."

"Really?" Mat was surprised. Normally Nian was the one teaching him all about the fantasy world, but the gremlin was busy talking with Youmu at the moment. It was a nice change of pace, talking to Ruan about these kinds of things. "Where do the bodies go then?"

"I don't know." Ruan beamed a smile, her hands mimicking explosions. "They just disappear into thin air. I'm not really into monster theories, so you'll have to talk to Nian with that."

Ruan's eyes then fell to the red glowing coins on the ground, taking a piece and holding it close to her eyes. These were the crimson essences. "I do know about these though. They're items used in ritual magic, I see Nian carrying these from time to time."

"What's ritual magic?"

Ruan bit her lip, a pause between them. "You'll have to ask Nian about that too."

Mat let out a laugh, with Ruan following after.

"By the way, congratulations on killing your first monsters." Ruan clapped her hands like she was praising a little child. "The way you carried yourself earlier- I like that."

"Thanks." It really was tough for him. Even though they were one of the weakest monsters around, he still had a very hard time dealing with them. With that being said though, he proved to himself that he could face this fantasy world head-on just like Nian, Ruan, and Youmu could. He may not be as smart, as strong, or as strong-willed as they were, but he proved to himself he could carve out a path for himself too with his own two hands. It was a small step forward, but a step forward nonetheless.

"There aren't a lot of people like you out there, you know." Ruan sat herself beside Mat.

Mat was gushing with overconfidence. Just one compliment and he's falling over himself. "Hey Ruan, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

Mat paused before continuing. "How long have you, Nian, and Ruan been fighting together?"

"Us three?" Ruan counted the numbers on her hand. "Just a couple of weeks I think. Actually, this is only our second mission together."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah." Ruan brought another red coin to her gaze. "We're all from different Mink tribes of Suna."

Ruan brought her hand to her chest, closing the coin inside to a fist. "Me, I'm from the southern cross. Nian's from the east border and Youmu's from the west. We all live in different worlds and different cultures, though our blood is still the same."

Who would've thought.

Footsteps then came rushing towards the two from behind. "You done resting up?"

It was Nian.

Mat turned to her. "Give me one more hour, my arms are still sore."

Nian rolled her eyes, forcing Mat to stand. "We don't have all day Mat. We do- actually- but I'd rather spend the day outside than watch you cry from every small cut here in this stinky dungeon."

"And who do you think proposed the idea that I should solo the dungeon?"

"I did." Nian brushed her hair. "So you want us to finish the dungeon for you then?"

"Not a chance." Mat wanted to finish what he started. He wanted to prove himself by clearing this dungeon. He already killed off two monsters, what's a hundred more?

"See?" Nian turned around, flaunting her high ponytail to a swish like she just won an argument Mat wasn't aware of. "Touch their ego and they'll do the rest themselves."