Light dimmed and reality trembled as magical energy gathered in a single point.

Frederick nearly stopped the spell he was casting as he stared at the dark hole surrounded by an aura of violet.

“Magnificent.”

And the world became awash with Arcane.

Both Rainer and Frederick looked at the wreckage they caused. The small dented pool soon filled with lava from the river but the Soul of the boss monster had already dissipated into the air. On the other side of a river was a large gash that extended for hundreds of feet. Rainer had overshot a ‘bit.’

“You don’t want it?” Rainer asked Gunthar, who was standing not too far from here.

“It’s too weak,” the Undead said, “I’ll wait for later ones.”

Rainer just chuckled. That sounded like a good plan. Even though it was likely the regeneration ability wasn’t innate, and therefore the Soul not particularly useful, there was always a chance some of it could be used. He glanced back over to the other side, wondering if they should help take care of the final monster. Their actions hadn’t gone unnoticed. Rainer was sure he heard ‘Single man group spell?!’ shouted in a loud whisper.

“If they need our help, they can bargain,” Frederick said, looking over to the other groups as well. His voice was obviously too loud for a normal conversation.

Rainer nodded. How else would he gain more places to visit? A moment of thought for what he’d do after the Dungeon was over and the answer was simple: scour the Universe for magic. Even if he was yet a match for a Tier 3 in fair combat, escaping was a different matter.

Though he did have one big problem to solve before he went anywhere: teaching Runes from a book. He had planned it for a long time, and yet hadn’t really made any headway. Or made any real attempts. In all fairness, it was a thing he wouldn’t see any real returns from in perhaps decades, if not centuries. Despite having confidence in living for a considerable amount of time, Rainer was still 20 years old. It was for that same reason he never really felt much drive to practice any Attunning. Especially given his lack of a Mana talent.

But when it came to his future academy, the Enchanter’s Guild already served as a great foundation. Given their set-up, it wouldn’t be hard to combine it with a Mage’s Guild with the final goal being a true place of learning.

Already the Enchanter’s Guild produced a result he couldn’t manage. He briefly flitted over to his Avatar and went to go see a public making of a Spatial Ring. They had not only managed to copy his thimble sized one, but they did what he couldn’t even with Sarah’s examples, and made a large one all on their own.

He doubted it’d be long before the ‘lost’ art of making Spatial Rings returned to its former glory. Especially since the likely atrocious cost of Mana Crystals in making a large one wouldn’t be an issue.

Entering the workshop room where the enchanting was going on, he could feel the conversation in the room stifle. The enchanter himself almost made a mistake as he stopped at Rainer’s entrance but continued on safely. Which in and of itself was impressive.

The biggest issue of complicated enchanting was that it couldn’t be done in one long burst. No matter how much Mana you had access to, you had to use at least some of your own. Which meant taking a break at some point. Starting back up was always where the most failures occurred.

Rainer was an exception to this given [Arcane Revelation]. He snapped back to his real body.

[Wave 31]

[59:34]

[Parties Remaining: 93]

He guessed the one missing was a party who lost to environmental factors again. Not necessarily humans but perhaps even a race weak against heat. He recalled the Mermen from his own world, and could easily see them struggling in such a place.

But it showed just how strong these remaining hundred parties were. Rainer knew that until those nearly immortal boss monsters started building up, they wouldn’t be losing many parties.

They had tested out different methods of survival. Moving too far from the starting point, whether through the air or ground, rapidly increased the spawn rate, and the environment itself seemed to attack anyone who fled. One of the Giants had again served as an example as he fled was consumed in a literal flame that seemed to come from nowhere. He survived for quite a bit until the attacks became too much.

The Dungeon made it quite clear that running elsewhere was not an option. Furtak might be an exception with his literal immunity to fire, but they figured it wasn’t a good idea to push the limits of the Dungeon.

Rainer was interrupted from his thoughts by the Farseer Mage in their group.

“Can you let me in as well?” Tian came over, fanning himself with his hand. Despite being protected by passive spells and his own defensive spells, it was truly uncomfortable for his old body. That, and he didn’t want to stick around and accidentally get caught in a spell like that. He wasn’t sure why they all were so comfortable with such a young man wielding such power.

Rainer nodded and sent him inside.

[Wave 40]

[37:22]

[Parties Remaining: 91]

Rainer sat in the center of the two rivers of Lava, using Arcane-Ice to lower the temperature everywhere now. His grandfather sat beside him, pouring Arcane into the air to aid him. A violet haze covered everyone’s vision as it spread throughout.

On his own side, there were four boss monsters that resisted their joint barrage, and were now being distracted. The other sides weren’t doing well at all, as Rainer simply didn’t regenerate fast enough to help both sides the same. They had seven to deal with and distract.

It wasn’t hard to see where this was going soon. And given that the last major increase in strength happened at wave 30, they knew what they were in for. Wave 30 made them nearly immortal, what would 40 do?

“I’ll freeze it all,” Rainer said, knowing he had little choice now. Perhaps he should have done it sooner, but he had no idea if it would just make it far harder for his allies to fight. But if the other side broke, there was no way they could handle both spawn points.

He stood and faced his party’s river. Heat poured continuously in the air and the monsters were far stronger than they were in the past. Taking out a Mana potion, he downed it, increasing his regeneration by 400%. Rainer planned to hold off casting this [Absolute Frost] for as long as he could manage, letting his own regeneration pour as much power into it as he could hold.

Rainer slammed his palms together, a hyper-condensed packet of Mana and Arcane Power forming in between. The condensed power grew greater and greater as he then focused outwards, fully planning to make use of all the Arcane in the air.

He converted Mana to Arcane Power rapidly, filling the condensed spell continuously. Within the first few minutes, everyone around him realized a spell was being prepared. And in the first half-hour they realized just how powerful it would be.

Many of Fai’Etah’s, group, realizing they were in the path of the spell, grew nervous seeing Rainer’s struggling face. But they had little choice but to remain and deal with the incoming monsters. From behind Rainer, his grandfather continued to release more and more Arcane into the air.

Space warped around Rainer’s hands, and he was sure that even [Void-walking] would fail at this point.

He shuddered and shook as the spell grew larger and larger.

“Go!” Rainer yelled, realizing he had no chance of holding it back any longer. The groups retreated, any long-range combatants slowing and pushing the monsters back.

Rainer stood in front of the charging horde, the left over large hounds from previous waves now running straight for him.

Slowly he opened his hands, barely keeping from shaking. He angled the spell to the right, where the Lava flowed endlessly from. A resplendent violet crescent spread out, it’s chilling power barely contained. With a powerful force of will, he managed to direct its power.

“Absolute Frost.”

An all encompassing frost spread forward. The monsters of lava and flame lasted for only a moment before freezing to their cores, their lives extinguished. Even the nearly immortal final wave monsters could only let out a dying flame as they were covered in a violet frost.

The frost spread deep into the ground, forcing the moving river of lava to harden and freeze upon contact.

Rainer spread out his mind as he focused on controlling the frost. He watched its every movement as it penetrated deeper and deeper into the ground. Then, he finally felt what might be the source of the monsters as he followed the rapidly freezing lava to its source.

A massive core of life and heat. He pulled with all he had and focused the still spreading frost onto this point, pushing more and more Arcane, and grabbing whatever was in the air to fuel the frost further. The core seemed to grow hotter and hotter, and the life in it churned, as if ready to unleash more monsters even through the solidified lava.

Elsewhere, the lava magically regained heat and seemed to try and return to its original form.

Rainer pushed his remaining power into the violet frost under his control, but heat, that seemed to come from nowhere, resisted him. Fighting against this strange force, Rainer truly felt the frost for the first time and noticed something he hadn’t before.

A fake life. A nascent, utterly incomplete Soul. The spell itself seemed to function like a giant Soul, if not even close to actual life. But with his experience with [Passive: Zan Haste], a fake Soul in its own right, he recognized the form for what it was. And with his innate connection with the Frost he created, it was truly under his control.

So he then pushed with [Soul Presence] behind his actions in controlling the frost, and felt a greater strength. With the power of his Arcane-touched Soul and his new skill, he empowered the spell. He felt his Soul rapidly take damage as it was used but his control over the frost increased in turn.

The temperature fell even further and the core of life became covered completely in ice.

With his Soul helping his manipulations through [Soul Presence], Rainer’s skill rapidly leveled, and he even felt his ability with Arcane in general increased. Him becoming in tune with this frost almost taught him personally how to manipulate Arcane-Ice.

Was the Soul the answer to the last level? How much stronger would he be if he could use his Soul to help his manipulation and casting of any spell?

[Arcane-Ice Manipulation has reached level 4]

[Experience Gained: 0.01%]

[Arcane-Ice Manipulation has reached level 5]

[Experience Gained: 0.01%]

[Arcane-Ice Manipulation has reached level 6]

[Experience Gained: 0.01%]

[Arcane-Ice Manipulation has reached level 7]

[Experience Gained: 0.01%]

[Arcane-Ice Manipulation has reached level 8]

[Experience Gained: 0.01%]

The more and more he used his Soul through [Soul Presence], the stronger his manipulation became. Soon the surging heat faded and all that was left was a frozen land and a still fighting core of life.

With his regenerating Mana, Rainer converted more and more Arcane Power and pushed it into the frost. The entirety of it seemed to creep a bit forward, surrounding the core even more. But this had damaged the Arcane part of his Soul even further, leaving it nearly destroyed. Whatever power he added to his Manipulation with his Soul didn’t come for free.

He let out a gasp as he stumbled backwards, nearly falling over. The coldness of the Void filled his body but he quickly recovered his damaged Soul with [Arcane Invigoration] before anything else occured. Every tick of Mana instantly became Arcane as he steadied himself.

And so it continued. He further empowered the Arcane-Ice with the Arcane in the air, in his body, and with his Soul, healing his Soul whenever it became too much. Until it seemed half this stage had become nothing but a violet-covered frost.