Rainer plopped down next to Kara, blowing a wave of Arcane-Ice and Arcane-Wind in her face.

“Thank you.”

He just smiled in return, the heat being no easier on him. At least relatively speaking. With his Constitution and more importantly, Resistances, it was, in fact, far easier on him. But he still felt the slowly rising heat as the rest of them did.

As the wave went on the temperature only increased.

[Wave 1]

[17:39]

[Parties Remaining: 96]

Given the two seperate spawn points, they had developed a rotation with the other parties. With one on duty at a time, and the [Nature’s Walkers] in charge of healing or saving duties due to half their number having Mages skilled with space. Even if he happened to counter it, their attempt at stopping Rainer’s teleportation was impressive.

He glanced at the Giants, currently handling one side. The monsters had gotten stronger, but still weren't too much of a challenge. Which only worried Rainer. How long exactly was this supposed to go on if the monsters were so weak? While much of the extended length of the First Stage was due to the tracking function of the [Leaderboard], it was still a little over half a week.

The longer this stage went, the more room for betrayal. He could imagine the moment a strong enough Wave happened with showing only 51 parties left that just a few minutes later there’d be 50 from infighting. Or less.

And what happened when they died. Instant revival, revived next wave, or instant ejection from the Dungeon? A part of him hoped someone would die and figure it out. The knowledge could make or break them in terms of internal conflicts.

Rainer covered his eyes with [Arcane Revelation] and looked towards the man he thought he killed.

[Human, Male, Rampager(2nd) lvl 24, Halberd Master(2nd) lvl 23]

Something felt… off… about his Soul. Due to the actions he took in trying to exterminate it, that much was clear to Rainer. The system may have saved him, but it may not have done a full job, or perhaps couldn’t do one. Whether that is an error in the Dungeon or the system itself, Rainer couldn’t be sure.

Whatever the case, his Soul wasn’t the same. And was stronger as well. Perhaps a compensation of some sort? The strength of one's Soul did tend to affect everything someone did, if only to often very minor degrees. But he wouldn’t consider it a plus to be stronger unless you had a way to harness the Soul during the 3rd Trial.

If having a stronger Soul made the Trial harder for Rainer, so be it. He just needed to gain enough advantage from the strength of his Soul to overcome that gap. Whether that be through changing it and his body further through the Arcane and Void, or mastering skills like [Soul Presence] and [Devil’s Soul Language].

“Talvara,” Rainer said, calling out to the resting Abyssal Elf, “I could use some advice.”

Aurora stared at him for a few moments before her eyes shifted into a swirling darkness.

“Yes? There are repeated-use issues, you know. It would be inadvisable for me to do such a thing unless truly needed given our current circumstances.”

“Do you know what a Primordial Rock is?” Rainer asked, stuffing any chatter he had. “You too Art,” he added, louder than necessary. Everyone eavesdropped, but magically eavesdropping was a bit much even if the general target was other groups rather than themselves. Something he noticed when he was looking at the nameless man’s Soul.

“Do you have a picture?” Art asked, walking over shamelessly.

Rainer stared at him quietly for a few moments, Talvara stuck in thought off to the side, before he began drawing a picture.

“Funny,” the old man said as he looked at the system message Rainer had carved into the obsidian that read ‘Primordial Rock: A Primordial Rock’.

“Is that all it truly says,” Talvara asked from the side.

“Yes.”

“So, pick it. It clearly interests you,” Art suggested, not having a clue what it was.

Rainer sighed. The other options were hard to pass up. While the [Belt of Void Seeking] and [Black Hand] were now partly useless as he hadn’t chosen the skills he thought were related to them, the [Spatial-Expanding Stone] hinted at working on his [Living Storage], and [Arcane Fury] was a guaranteed and large increase to his raw power.

“Also, is this how the system appears to you?” Talvara then asked, confusion in her voice.

“Yes?”

“Interesting. It’s very… visual.”

“Yours isn’t. Draw a picture.”

“I cannot.”

“Draw what you ‘hear’ or ‘think’?”

“I cannot.”

“Primordial, it just means old. I believe the Dungeon is unhappy with your earlier actions,” Art interrupted without hiding his smile.

“Ah whatever. I’m getting the rock,” Rainer said, making the choice and looking at the dark-grey stone now in his hand. His intuition rarely failed him.

“Impressive,” Art chuckled dryly, sensing, as did Rainer, that there was nothing magical about it.

“Grandpa - other grandpa - this looks like the stone you created [Sleep Learning] from right,” Rainer yelled over to him, who was speaking to a… - Rainer didn’t know why but he was sure that Phantous was blushing - lady of shadows.

“Hmm? Not in the slightest. It was covered in Arcane runes and was a smooth and shiny black. Not too different from your coat actually.”

Rainer’s face fell. That had been a shot in the dark, but given what the rewards were based on he hoped it related to [Sleep Learning].

“Kara, squeeze this,” he said, throwing it over once he was sure nothing interesting came up when he used [Arcane Revelation]. No magic, no Aura, no life. Just… a rock.

Kara complied, gradually channeling her Aura to enhance her body further and further. The stone remained unaffected even as her strength surged to it’s limit.

Getting a bit interested, he took it back and tried to scratch it with his [Arcane Blade].

“So… a strong rock. Not bad,” Kara said with a chuckle, adjusting the cloth belt on her waist.

[Sash of the Fel: 100% General Improvement to the effect of any indirect Magic done through Aura.]

Given that it only added on to her talents and class bonus, it wasn’t as strong as it seemed. But it was still a major improvement to all her Arcane-laden Body Enchantments. Combined with her recent skill to transform her Golden Aura to Demonic at 1:5, it only further increased her insane endurance in battle.

Rainer stared at the rock for a long time. Nothing about this rock suggested it would be completely immune to [Arcane Blade]. The reason the magic blade seemed to be getting blocked by those truly powerful wasn’t necessarily a weakness of the blade but rather simple magical ‘physics’. Even an armor piercing bullet would be blocked by enough tissue boxes.

There were few things that a mass of Aura or Magic couldn’t block.

That it resisted even a scratch from his [Arcane Blade] meant it wasn’t the disappointment he thought it was. He wondered how it handled magic in general. He stared at it for a bit longer before deciding that testing [Blade of the Void] on it out here was a bad idea. And that really he shouldn’t have so casually tested it at all out here.

“I can’t think of anything,” Talvara eventually said, “I’ll need to search through my memories. I’ve read so much of what my followers plundered, I can’t remember it instantly.”

“You’re still here?” Rainer asked as he quickly turned away from the glare that earned him. It’s good the little Void being was on a time-limit.

“Ha, ha,” Talvara monotoned, “even if I figure it out I won’t tell you.”

“Pleeeeease?” Rainer asked, rolling Arcane into his voice.

“So long as you don’t do that again.”

“I second that,” Kara said from the side, “Honestly, your Charisma makes everything confusing.”

Fai’Etah, who had been walking over after Rainer called her with the [Soul Mark], nodded as if she understood something. But she quickly left after saying she had no idea what that rock was or why the system would offer it alongside powerful gifts.

Tabling it for now, Rainer stuffed the rock into his spatial ring only for it to suddenly shake, the magic of it almost receiving damage. Immediately removing the rock, he stared at it again. If there was something ‘alive’ about it, he shouldn’t have been able to put it in at all. It was almost like a restriction on Spatial Rings, though he wondered how that functioned with smaller organisms. But attempting to put in a person or animal was simply denied. It wouldn’t damage the ring in any way.

Perhaps the space couldn’t bear to take in a certain strength of Soul? As far as he could tell, there weren't trillions of mini-Souls in anyone.

Not wanting to test his other two means of storage, given their attachment to his body in one way or another, he put it in ‘Luna’s’ pocket, the Fairy currently occupying his head.

“I saw that Rainer.”

He kept himself from chuckling. Her lack of a ‘Luna’ meant a certain level of seriousness. At least that was what he thought.

Who knows?

[Wave 9]

[35:48]

[Parties Remaining: 96]

Rainer looked at the timer, before letting out a long sigh. Each of the waves was exactly the same thus far. Hounds of mobile lava, humanoid rock monsters that followed along with a wave of red-feathered hawks, imp-like rock monsters that manipulated the river of lava behind them, all four together, and then finally a massive hound at the very end, a mix of flaming red fur and fire.

Each wave was stronger than the previous, and the air only grew hotter and hotter. And there was no rest time in between.

And then there was the sleep penalty. He had tried to enter [Sleep Learning] only to be shaken awake once someone guessed it might be an issue. The monsters would go berserk anytime someone tried to go to sleep.

In the short-term that wasn’t a big issue. High Attributes and Strength of Soul meant they could stay awake for quite a bit, especially when added to the general bonuses of having Mana or Aura, aided with healing magic, and racial differences. Neither Fae nor Phantous needed any real sleep, but for the rest it was an eventual road to madness.

It was a dreaded test of attrition. It almost seemed designed to turn the groups mad and of course against one another. If the heat didn’t eventually roast them alive.

But there was a plus. The Giants, who completely ignored any attempts of communication beyond accepting the rotation, had one of their own finally fall. He had underestimated the strength of the last Hound’s explosion on Wave 7 and the magic of the explosion was too strong for the mage of the [Nature’s Walkers] to teleport him out. They learned the penalty which in Rainer’s opinion was surprisingly kind.

They could either respawn instantly, or be ejected from the Dungeon, losing all items rewarded or obtained from the Dungeon along with Experience. Given what Art had mentioned about some of the resources beyond the Draconic ones, that was a heavy penalty. Perhaps heavier than losing the enchanted items. The red-head was deeply excited to get out of the Dungeon and work with all Rainer collected. There was a final message that dying with zero lives would mean a final death.

In other words, only the final victorious party of the last stage of the Dungeon would likely receive anything from it. And Rainer had no doubt the rewards would get even grander, likely causing the best of the best to truly risk a final death.

Rainer and Aurora stood back from their party as they fought on. It was decided the two strongest teleporters would only act if needed. Especially so as Rainer’s use of [Arcane-Ice Manipulation] and [Arcane-Wind Manipulation] was the only thing keeping them sane.

That was another problem, Rainer thought. It wouldn’t be until a few more waves that the heat truly started turning deadly for the weaker races. Though Furtak seemed to be growing stronger and stronger even if his spells were generally only useful for the kinetic force they carried.

As the most ‘human’ among the group in terms of Attributes and Skills that enhanced general hardiness, Elizabeth was already suffering heat related issues. His mother wasn’t far off.

It looked like he might have to test out his [Living Storage] far earlier than planned and on people he actually wanted to survive the experience.