After that nearly-failed attempt at improving his Draconic bloodline, Rainer focused inwards. Even if he couldn’t reasonably strengthen it right now—If he really wanted to, he could burn through all of their essence and maybe become strong enough to reach [Excellent Void Affinity]—perhaps he might still be able to access whatever bloodline abilities and spells should come with being a Soul Dragon. He had already nearly done so before. The only question was how?

“Rainer.” A voice entered his ears, snapping his eyes open.

“Talvara? Good to see you,” he added, genuinely, remembering their last conversation. She was appearing less in her assumed goddess form and more just a different colored version of Aurora. Both her hair and eyes a bottomless dark, instead of the stark white and grey respectively that Aurora had.

“You aren’t taking her body for yourself are you?” he asked jokingly.

Talvara looked almost hurt, unsure of why he asked that. The loss of all her followers but one hit her harder than she let on.

“Do you know you look like Aurora right now?” Rainer quickly added.

The Void-being seemed to be unaware of that but brushed off his comment once she got a look at herself. She didn’t switch back, however.

“Why are you rushing to improve your bloodline already?”

“Why not?”

Talvara bit her lip and just stared at him before vanishing.

What on Earth had that been about? Maybe he should swallow his pride and ask Art what she had been mad about earlier...

Rainer found his apprentice and Jean the next morning. The pair had been spending their time going through any and all Rank 3 Dungeons on this planet.

Glancing at the young man’s familiar, Rainer shook his head and sighed. What exactly had he stumbled upon in that alleyway? This monster was clearly in the first Tier yet it was powerful to such a ridiculous degree. The further Draconic changes had only further emphasized that, alongside whatever Arcane alterations remained. He had quite literally and figuratively awakened a sleeping Dragon when he had healed this originally common canine with Arcane. Add on enchanted items for Jean, and a set that was eventually made for Yami by one creative enchanter….

It was one thing for Jean to solo already-cleared Dungeons, but to get the Pioneer bonus meant that he alone would need to be facing a Dungeon at its full strength. The difference between Pioneer and otherwise wasn’t as great as it was for Rank 6 Dungeons, but it still existed.

Something Jean did purely by accident with Lilia at his side. They had entered a recently-morphed Dungeon. Not unlike when Rainer himself entered a Dungeon back in Nalmar that Gunthar was familiar with but that had changed completely. The gains the master-familiar duo made in [Sleep Learning] weren’t enough to account for this, even if they didn’t hurt.

Now they came to him yet again, his Avatar fetching them from thousands of miles away, though teleporting to a different world was their goal this time. They had gone through many of the Dungeons below Tier 2 of this world. Leveling pretty much any of their available classes had been the goal. Now, they clearly treated Dungeons as field trips to gain interesting souvenirs from. Pioneer rewards from any Dungeon were nothing to scoff at, even if they couldn’t compare to Rank 6 Dungeons where there was a large spike in pioneer rewards. And often rates of death.

Having tested Yami’s strength himself, he couldn’t fault their choice. The monster was easily in the mid-range among rare-classed early 2nd Tiers. That was an an absurd notion. Especially given that she could share part of her strength with Jean without consequence. Not to mention he’d be giving Lilia his tattoos since they are specifically targeting pioneer Dungeons. He’d collect them back when it was time for the 3rd Tower of Conquest.

Seriously, what is she? Rainer thought as he stared at the currently friendly looking small animal in Lilia’s arms. The black and silver thing had mastered the draconic art of looking cute. Or rather changing her size at will.

He momentarily wondered if that was an evolunatry trait for young Dragons, to get others to care for them, during their long period of growth. Dismissing the silly idea, he focused on the task at hand. They hardly needed to protect themselves when they had beings said to surpass the greatest of Divine Avatars in strength as their mothers and fathers.

“Any preferences?” Rainer asked, looking through his [Cosmic Map]. He would have to ask around once he picked a random world, as even if he identified Dungeons he couldn’t even begin to guess their rank through the orb.

“As normal as possible,” Lilia requested with a shiver. The ‘abyssal’ theme that Rainer experienced in the third stage of each of the Towers wasn’t uncommon on this planet. And often to a far larger degree. As Dungeons often served as literal farms for cities, the tastes of this place weren’t exactly ‘normal’ even on a cosmic standard.

Rainer found a decent enough looking world and invited three others to their group as well. Given there was only a Bonus for five or less, having three talented members below the 2nd Tier from Locklar’s plane would only be a boon. They were absurdly talented for their small population, which would be that of a normal-sized town in any other world. Really, their five 3rd Tiers, two of whom were quite exceptional, was far too impressive for their total number.

Luna would be an obvious candidate, even without ‘Shadow Brother’ as her familiar. But getting her to do something like a Dungeon run, especially without Rainer, was unlikely. In truth, he was glad. He viewed the Fairy as far too careless to leave on her own if he had the choice. He vanished with the pair, going to pick up the three Nature Elves before heading off-world.

Finding a source of information he could extort without moral issue wasn’t hard. Monarchs would surely know about Dungeons, and finding a country with corrupt leadership wasn’t exactly difficult.

And so Rainer had little issue threatening and man-handling several Kings and their Advisors as he gathered information with the help of his less evil Grandfather about this random planet.

Frederick would at least spare any targets from mental damage and any relatively good ones from being interrogated in the first place. Finding the location of conquered and unconquered Rank 3 Dungeons was hardly a challenge. That type of information was highly valuable to those in power after all.

Without Mage Guilds or other similar organizations separate from Monarchies, the power structure of this world was far less complicated than it otherwise could be. The planet itself lacked 3rd Tiers as far as Rainer could tell and was likely in a similar position to Alvra when the Competition Dungeon came around. So long as they had their [Soul Mark]s, none of Lilia’s group had anything to fear.

“What are you thinking about?”

Rainer heard Frederick’s voice enter his ears as he looked over a nearby city. Lilia had just entered a Dungeon within it. There was no reason to send this currently idle Avatar back just yet. This world was essentially a clone of Alvra, but lacked the same diversity of races and strangeness of the Forbidden Lands.

It seemed a certain level of Aura and Magical Power acted as a counter to developing technology, especially in the presence of the System. It took countless centuries for the Chinese firework to evolve into a weapon that actually threatened even weaker systemless Earthen Mages, let alone 2nd Tier ones.

Even then, mind magic made that advancement weak in truth. What was a city-destroying weapon if a single look could cause all the people in charge of it to be useless? Those with powerful individual strength needed to step back for technology to truly evolve in Rainer’s view.

“How easy it would be to save every person about to die from illness or starvation tonight,” Rainer said, waving his hand over the city. They were floating not far above a large castle overlooking the place. The owners of which were more than happy to ignore them.

“And then?”

“I don’t know…” Rainer said, wondering where this bout of guilt came from. He was usually good at keeping his mind away from feeling bad for not using all his powers for the greater good. It was usually done through ‘out of sight out of mind’ or simply not viewing grown adults as helpless people in need of his aid. But he had chosen to stay here and was therefore stuck thinking about it.

“Let me ask you a question Rainer. Would you have been better off if I came to save you?”

“What?” Rainer asked, confused at the shift.

“If I somehow managed to use that madness and insanity of Runes you call [Void-walking] to reach you, at really any point...

“Perhaps you wouldn’t have had the strength to rescue Gunthar when the time came. Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to protect Kara from that Soul-stealer, I would replace you as the strongest after all. Could I have returned Luna’s flame to her as she hovered between life and death…

“Would you be as strong as you were today?”

Rainer floated quietly for a long time before answering. He would have delayed the 2nd Tier Trial had his grandfather been with him. It was the smart decision after all. His progress would have certainly lacked pressure.

“No.”

“Should you help these people? Cure their illness and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were later captured for experimentation. A bunch of nobodies randomly recovering, how could that go unnoticed? Any smart Monarch would have the underground managed by him rather than letting a true criminal fill the vacuum. They would know...

“Should you help any people outside your reach? I don’t know. No one knows the consequences of your actions… But you know what I say?”

“Hmm?”

“Help those who are yours. And nothing more.”

“And just ignore the rest?” If he could do that, they wouldn’t be having this conversation. For all his distaste towards heroism, he couldn’t ignore situations in front of him that easily. And falling into the trap of using his [Void-walking] as a tool for the greater good was always a pitfall he tried to avoid. That he consciously had to avoid it said more than enough.

“You want to help more people? Ha! Then make them yours. Then you can do with them as you please.”

Rainer stared blankly at his grandfather, seeing the greed and perhaps madness in his face. It was easy to forget his ‘kinder’ grandfather was a murderer of countless tens of thousands and a powerful and experimenting Magus in his own right. What would he have been had it not been for his persecution as an Arcanist?

It was easy to think that he’d have been an ordinary kind old family man, but was that reality?

“Respect your elders.”

Rainer narrowly dodged a weak [Arcane Bolt] as he pushed the weak and hidden mental probe out his mind. His privacy was an easy price to pay for the training. Hence why he agreed to let them invade his mind at any moment. It didn’t make getting his thoughts read any more pleasant.

“Who said I wanted to help more people?” Rainer asked, sealing up his mind with his Soul firmly. He shouldn’t have gotten caught like that.

“Didn’t you piss off a thought-to-be-invincible supernatural pope of a Deity the moment you came to Alvra just for a little butterfly? And then an entire race of overpowered, even by that world’s standards, evil Demons for a pretty girl?”

“Not on purpose. I hadn’t known the full story at either times,” Rainer said, deciding to let Kara and Luna find Frederick for revenge later even if the two reductions of them were for dramatic effect.

“And what about pissing off literal Gods for a friend you met just months ago?”

“That was more on purpose,” Rainer conceded.

He still wasn’t sure what he wanted, but he could at least forward his plans for teaching anyone with the slightest Magical talent Runes and eventually unlock their Mana by placing them in the Mana-filled world.

Assuming he could separate his new ability to teach Runes from himself, he was a bit curious what would happen if he tried to teach those without the slightest talent for magic but who were geniuses in their own right? What Mage would have been bored enough to bother with that before? Especially when teaching those with even the greatest magical talent for Runes took years of constant effort?

Rainer’s main party as a whole decided to use [Sleep Learning] to prepare for the Third Tower of Conquest. With all Attributes lowered to 10, energy pools included, it was potentially life threatening for some. The two Will users of the group outright decided just not to use Will. The risk was simply too high. Aura users just had to practice efficiency, but for casters...

If you were lucky, underestimating the cost of a spell by 50% just meant it would fizzle out, or in the absolute best case do half-damage. The worst and perhaps more common case was having it blow up in your face. For Will users it was literally sudden death with no idea of why they died. Rainer truly realized just how lucky he was when he messed around with Void skills.

For Mages that were used to thinking of Mana as something with three or even four digits, the prospect of being down to 10 wasn’t something they could adjust to in just a moment.

But even that itself was difficult to prepare for as they couldn’t just ignore all the Attributes they had which improved their Magic. So it was generally assumed that they needed to keep their Spell costs under a single point of Mana to get the safest estimate.

Thankfully, the sets they’d be using for this Dungeon would be done by week’s end. Some would use the Warrior’s Trial Set or the Mage’s, one which increased Intelligence and Affinity. They found this was the only option as everything else seemed to screw up at least one of their personal enchanted items. The original Trial set Rainer copied from was truly a work of art in its compatibility with nearly everything. Had he not already offered everyone in Neutral City a chance to relocate, he would do so again just for letting him catch a glimpse of the Dwarves’ Trial set.

Rainer chuckled as he watched his two grandfathers duel under this premise of restricting their magic. Seeing the two powerhouses flying as gently as possible while chucking around weak looking bolts of energy, Fire and Arcane respectively, was a good cause for laughter. The frustration on their faces was more than clear. Art’s root magic was too free-formed to really function well under strong Mana restrictions. A single errant thought he might accidently over do it and harm himself.

“Why don’t you take over for me, Rainer?” Art suggested, utterly annoyed as his hair was singed by a slow moving [Arcane Bolt]. Unlike Frederick, the redhead depended far more on his skill in Magic rather than his skill in actual combat. He was at a patented disadvantage against an actual true fighter when they restricted themselves enough.

There was no definitive mention on it, so how Souls were affected wasn’t known yet by any groups that had recorded information on the first stage. Which meant Rainer had little reason to practice anything other than cheap uses of [Arcane Blade] and [Arcane Bolt] until they understood that.

“I can’t, there’s no way for me to lower my physical strength,” Rainer said, completely lying. If he couldn’t suppress his physical strength he’d have killed or maimed Luna long ago in his sleep. At least prior to her getting a passive skill that strengthened her body through her flame. Now he was relegated to the physically weakest of himself, Luna, and Kara. Given that, without Aura, he was stronger than many 2nd Tiers that specialized in close combat that was an achievement for sure. At this point, it was only his personal worry over her that kept Luna from the 2nd Tier Trial. Whether she’d absorb the black Flame or not, she’d be taking her Trial after the Third Tower of Conquest, however.

“Bullshit,” Art snarked, reasoning full well that it wasn’t true. For all his age and wisdom, losing to Frederick constantly and repeatedly hit him too hard. Defeating his grandson sounded like a great idea.

“You know [Void-walking] is incredibly cheap for me at this point?” Part of it was related to his [Harbinger] granted Attributes but the main part was his increasing Talent and the spell itself.

“Yes?” Art said, a bit annoyed. Rainer made a joke of any teleporters with his near nonexistent cost for his own. Especially when it came to distances within [Void Detection].

“And [Arcane Blade] is cheapened by my enchanted hilt? And I’ve long since practiced with a similarly expensive blade of magic, sans restriction. Meaning I just have to pretend I’m using [Blade of the Void] while swinging [Arcane Blade] to make the costs realistic.”

“Yes…” Art said, his face scrunching up. How irritating this grandson of his was...

“Well?” Rainer asked, suddenly quite smug. Maybe he should have agreed to a duel. How could anyone compare to him? A quick Void-walk and [Arcane Blade] and no one at lower Attributes could even fathom defeating him. Adjusting his body so he didn’t swing it too fast for what his Attributes would be lowered to would be the hardest part of that.

“I can’t wait till I’m in the 3rd Tier,” Frederick added, sounding quite smug himself.

Both Art and Rainer sent him death glares. Their Souls meant that was a still a fantasy for the two of them. Both also knew they wouldn’t be able to match Frederick in anything resembling a fair fight when he reached the 3rd Tier. It would be a complete and utter suppression. Especially as Frederick would use the first Trial to see just how difficult snatching a bunch of 3rd Tier classes would be. Were it easier than planned, Frederick might just end up equipping nine 3rd Tier classes before they even passed their first 3rd Tier Trial.

“No need to be envious,” he added.

“I’m a Dragon,” Rainer pointed out, “You should be envious.”

“Since you are so confident, perhaps two versus one would be for the best?” Frederick taunted, envy quite clear.

“I wouldn’t want to interrupt your practice,” Rainer said, vanishing from sight.

The next morning, Rainer had gathered everyone of relevance for what he was about to unveil. He glanced around the room, noting all the important enchanters of his Guild. Today he’d be revealing the existence of the Mana-Well. For one, to lower the worries of those who thought he might run out of Mana-Crystals one day, but mostly to help those who worked in the Mana-Filled World in converting their technology. Those silly Enchanters worried far too much about efficiency, to the point where it was slowing research to a halt.

And he doubted that some of the more thankful ones didn’t temper themselves when using the Mana-Work stations to avoid waste. Something completely unneeded.

With one of his enemies already knowing of its existence, there was little reason to hide it from his allies. Out of them, only Talvara and Aurora, who knew of the Mana-Well already, could feasibly steal it from him.

He spun the small cube in his hand, throwing it up and down, as the room patiently waited for him to speak. After a few shocked gasps shortly after from those who bothered to inspect the item in his hand with their detection skills, Rainer figured it was time.