After a quick debriefing of the Team. Leon and Team Terra went over to Daisy’s house to distribute the loot gained from their long dive. The take was big for each of the members. They’d gotten the equivalent of about five gold each. At a hundred silvers to a single gold that was a lot of silver. What was surprising was that the silver they’d gotten from the last chest was actually Tier 2 silver. The monetary system used on the Heavenly Spheres was not all that complex. 100 coppers to a silver, 100 silver to gold, 100 gold to a platinum, 100 platinum to a tungsten. There were more than just that, but it was always a base 100 to the next coin up the ladder of value. Where everything got complicated was the Tier of the coins. Tier 2 materials were soaked in and remained as mana dense as Tier 2 which meant that the materials had different properties and so on and so forth. Tier 2 silver coins were generally worth as much as five Tier 1 silver coins. Whereas Tier 2 coppers could sell for up to ten silvers. Reason being was that Tier 2 copper was highly sought after by enchanters and Tier 2 silver was more akin to steel, making it useful for weapons and armor. Every Tier up caused a radical shift in what was useful and what was desirable in materials. But irrespective of the value of each coin your average worker in a city could expect to make around 20 gold a year. Everyone having made five gold in just a couple of days was equivalent to having made several months’ worth of coin in a fraction of the time. That being said over the past four months every team on the island had already made themselves years of labors’ worth of coins. One also had to consider all of the trade value of the other stuff everyone had gotten from the dungeon. Coins were only a small portion of what everyone was getting out of the dungeon. The raw resources that they could trade easily amounted dozens of times what they had made in coin already.

After everything was divvied up Leon excused himself from the group to go check on Cynarina’s growth and talk to the Mentor on Telepad duty. He needed to see what had been established as far as trade deals and the like. After that Leon planned to go observe the Dungeon entrance so he could fully appreciate the fact that it was bigger on the inside.

The structure that had been set up for the Telepad was entirely made of stone and had been constructed by the mentors with earth magics. It was not fancy or pretty in the least, just a big square set alongside the main roads. Inside Leon found that they had set up a large board with the teleportation schedules and a book that detailed what was trading for what already. Who was buying and selling or just trading. It was handy. And after a quick discussion with the Mentor on duty Leon set up a time to sell off most of his accumulated materials through one of the trading companies. He would be able to make inquiries about Elixirs then as well.

With the business end finished Leon went to check on Cynarina’s growth. His monster was ready for phase two to begin. Sealing itself to the stone of the island and raising the walls. If he was right, it would take about six more months for the giant monster to reach what he considered minimum operational size. He had given it a full set of instructions on how to grow, and exactly what it was supposed to do as it grew. So, he no longer had actively guide its growth. He could just dump mana into it and feed it while concentrating on other things. The fact that his minions could remember complex instructions was a godsend with this project. Everything was proceeding smoothly, and Leon was happy with letting things go for now. Now that Leon had taken care of business it was time to go and really look at the Dungeon.

Arriving at the massive statue of Earth that was the entrance to the Dungeon Leon trained all of his senses on observing it. How he’d never noticed that it was basically a 50 by 50 by 50 chunk of rock he didn’t know. The thing was large, but not even big enough to contain one of its old rooms. Examining the entrance was incredibly odd to his senses as they sort of just extended into more space than should be possible. Now that he was paying attention it was actually disorienting.

Following the transitionary spaces with his senses slowly, Leon walked in circles around the Dungeon statue. Trying to make sense of the spatial geometry and nearly throwing up as he struggled to keep himself balanced while focusing on the craziness that his senses were telling him was going on here. He paced around the statue for nearly thirty minutes as he watched and listened to his sense’s inputs fully. Not ignoring any of the weirdness but trying to get his mind to accept it.

Malorie FleshShaper

Malorie watched her student as he paced around the Dungeon statue occasionally looking ill as he walked. He’d been at it for nearly forty minutes when he suddenly stopped dead in tracks. She really was curious about what he was up to. But this particular bout of oddness seemed to have a purpose, so she wasn’t interfering.

Then something very concerning happened. Very, very concerning. After Leon had stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes seemed to dilate. Malorie could only tell because he’d been facing her when he stopped. His body went fully rigid and suddenly his nose began to gush blood. His eyes went red and began leaking blood as well. Even his ears started to emit a small trickle of blood.

Needless to say, Malorie was beside him in an instant casting a diagnosis Skill on him to find out what was wrong. The information that came back was confusing. There was technically nothing wrong with him he was just straining himself too hard. So hard that he was causing the blood vessels in his eyes, nose, and ears to burst. Malorie quickly laid him on his back and poured a healing potion down his throat.

Leon Crumbl

Ok, examining the Dungeon with all of his senses trained on looking for the spatial weirdness had turned out to not be a good thing for Leon’s mental health to begin with. It had been mind bending to see the impossible actually happening in front of his eyes. But what he was experiencing now was bad for more than his mental health. He’d been watching the transitionary area of the Dungeon entrance closely as he circled the statue when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a strange ripple that caused him to halt midstride. Then a second later his mind was flooded with new information as a sense he hadn’t intended to acquire was suddenly thrust upon him. It was similar to his Quantum Perception in that it was sphere around his body. But it was using a different medium to gain information. It was like he was not only observing everything around himself like always. But that he’d somehow started seeing the very space that everything occupied around himself. Measurements of distance between everything and total volume of everything within a 200-foot radius of himself. Strange ripples were everywhere. Distortions that Leon was perceiving all at the same time.

The information blasting into Leon’s mind was far too much for him to handle. His senses had already been almost too much before. Now this new sense that he’d gained had sent him over the edge and he could no longer stop the overflow. He vaguely registered that he felt a healing potion being poured into his mouth. He was hoping that he would gain a skill to help him if he just rode out the storm of information, but nothing was coming to him.

Even dipping into Meditation didn’t stop his senses from being overwhelming. Leon was about to start panicking when he remembered his vouchers. He needed to be able to process the information he was receiving. And he needed to be able to do it now. He could feel pain starting to overwhelm his ability to hold it at bay as he focused on the massive list of skills he could buy from the system. He had wanted to save these vouchers for later. But right now, he was genuinely concerned that his own sensory skills would kill him if he didn’t use them to buy skills to allow him to handle massive amounts of information simultaneously.

Quantum Mind, and Parallel Thoughts were what he selected from the list. They were immediately eaten by Mind And Body Of The Traveler but suddenly Leon was able to parse his surrounding again. The odd thing about getting skills that effect your own mind is that you don’t really notice anything different usually. Even now Leon didn’t really feel like anything had changed with his own mind, but the difference was actually quite massive.

Where his mind had been very capable of multitasking before. Leon was now actually thinking along multiple lines of thought simultaneously not switching back and forth between them but actually thinking them at the exact same moment. It was like Leon’s mind was no longer just one mind, but more like a hive mind unto itself. He didn’t actually feel any different than before. He could just focus on everything all once now and that was what mattered.

Looking around his internal world Leon examined his mana channels and found that the area of his brain had undergone a massive change. It looked like someone had turned the mana channels into multidimensional circuitry that was far, far more complex than it had been last he’d looked at it. Leon wasn’t sure how he felt about the difference. The system altering his brain functions just felt weird to think about. The next thing that he noticed was that even in his Meditative state he was fully aware of what his senses were telling him from outside his body.

He was still in relatively the same place where he’d been when he’d stopped his pacing around the Dungeon entrance. But Malorie was over him with a concerned look on her face. Her hand placed on his chest with a look of intense concentration in her eyes. He could see all this even while still being inside and aware of his core. That was new, and it meant that he would be able to actively focus on condensing his mana even as he went about his normal daily life. All it would take is a portion of his concentration which he now had plenty of to spare.

“I’m fine now, thank you for the potion though.” Leon said while trying to rise from his prone position. It was kind of odd that he hadn’t stopped his meditation skill and was actively moving his body at the same time. It would take some getting used to.

“What happened?” Malorie asked, helping Leon to his feet.

“I gained a passive skill that I wasn’t ready for… I think I can see space itself now. I had to adapt to the new information suddenly flooding my mind.” Leon tried to talk around how he had a Trait already, but Malorie’s eyes widened as she realized the implications of what he’d just said.

“So many things make sense now…” She whispered, “But by gods we can never tell a soul. How long do you think you need to reach Tier 2?”

“After I get all of Elixirs’ I want that I can only take while I am Tier 1 it should only take a couple of days.”

“Forget that line of thought. Do everything that you can to reach Tier 2 as soon as possible.”

“But won’t I be leaving potential on the table?”

“No all you’ll be doing is sacrificing a few short-term gains. Once you reach Tier 2 you will understand. Any gains you make now won’t affect the potential gains of the future.” She spoke.

Leon had to admit that the System did seem to operate that way. It didn’t really care about fairness or balance unless it was in regard to rewards and such. Titles always equaled what was done to achieve them. Skills were about effort and use. Traits were the ultimate expression of skills. Tiers were an unknown to Leon.

“What exactly happens when one reaches the next Tier?” He asked.

“You will find out when you reach it. There are a few titles that you could gain before you progress though. They could help you get there more quickly. But… to get those titles you’d have to enter the Dungeon solo and fight everything you can on your own. One Against Swarm, and One Against Horde should be achievable. Giant Slayer is another that you might be able to eek out if you manage to solo that Tier 2 monster at the end of the tenth floor.”

“That seems dangerous as all hells.”

Malorie nodded, “The greatest dangers come with the greatest rewards though. Also, the danger is now mitigated a bit by having a port-stone. Escape is easy now. Titles are an endless source of power. Now I’ll be on my way, make sure you’ve got everything taken care of before you go soloing the Dungeon though.”

Leon chuckled; she knew him too well. She’d suggested he enter the Dungeon solo to get titles and knew that he would be doing exactly that. He had actually already been planning on it. Now that he had the port-stone he’d be able to do it without worrying too much between all of his skills and that he should be able to take on everything up to the tenth floor alone.

Meditation+++ lvl 1

Utility Pocket+++ lvl 1

Mana Manipulation lvl 99

Mana Control lvl 99

Mathematics lvl 99

Identify lvl 99

Perception Filter lvl 99

Alchemical Stability lvl 99

Hammer Play lvl 99

Spear Mastery lvl 99

Blunt Weapons Mastery lvl 99

Small Blades Mastery lvl 99

Large Blades Mastery lvl 99

Ranged Weapons Mastery lvl 99

Whip Mastery lvl 99

Shield Mastery lvl 99

Unarmed Combat Mastery lvl 99

Cooking lvl 99

Speed Reading lvl 99

Reading And Writing lvl 99

Stealth lvl 99

Muffle lvl 99

Invasive Strike lvl 99

Double Strike lvl 99

Power Strike lvl 99

Reinforce lvl 99

Telekinesis lvl 99

Quantum Blink lvl 99

Horrific Missile lvl 99

Knull Armor lvl 99

Lay on Hands lvl 99

Instant Harvest lvl 99

Pleasurable Touch lvl 45

Shared Pleasure lvl 63

His list of skills was getting way too long, his Titles were even worse. Even without including all of his Lore Titles Leon was bursting at the seams with titles. 15 Titles was already pushing things well beyond normal in this world. Including his Lore Titles Leon wouldn’t be surprised if he had set some form of record for the world. Though he doubted it because that in and of itself would probably give him another Title.

Well Educated: This title is granted to those who have read 100 informative books. Effect: Slightly enhances rate of knowledge acquisition and retention.

Academic: This title is granted to those who have read 1000 informative books. Effect: Enhances the rate of knowledge acquisition and retention. Allows for the acquisition of Lore Titles

Outworlder: This title is gained by successfully transferring yourself to another universe without dying. Effect: Learn any language 250X faster than you otherwise would.

Monster Biologist: This title is gained by having extensive knowledge of the anatomy and biological makeup of over 150 different monsters. [regardless of whether or not those monsters actually exist.] Effect: Gain a perfect affinity for Flesh, Blood, and Bone Magic. Gain instinctual knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of any monster that you are familiar with or observe enough.

Alpha and Omega: This title is gained by being the first and last of your particular variant species within the system. Effect: Survival type skills are 10X easier to learn and level. Additionally, all skills related to survival require slightly less mana and have a slightly greater effect.

Progenitor: This title is gained by being the only member of your variant species with the capability to reproduce. Effect: Sexually mature females who are capable of breeding with you will find you more attractive and are more likely to conceive offspring with you.

Paragon Earth Variant: This title is gained by either system or divine intervention. Effect: You are a Paragon of your Variant and will grow into what your variants ideal human is. Smarter, Faster, Stronger, Better Looking, Longer Lived. The perfect human.

Hero: This title is gained by accomplishing an extraordinary feat that saved the lives of at least a Billion Sapient creatures. Effects: Doubles the Effects of all Titles and Traits, makes all skills 10X easier to learn and level, makes all Sapient creatures more likely to trust you, and gives you a perfect affinity for all Wretched and Divine magical schools.

Messiah of Violence: This is a rarely awarded Title as the requirements are extremely precise. Kill at least 10 helpless creatures with the complete and utterly unshakable belief that you are doing the universe as whole a great service. Effect: Learn and level combat skills 10 times more quickly. Dramatically Increases grip strength and hand toughness.

One against many: This title is granted for fighting and killing at least 10 creatures within certain parameters of height and weight. Effect: Increased strength, speed, Endurance, reaction times, and overall toughness of the body.

Glutton for Punishment: This Title is awarded to any person who has essentially replaced their own body 10 times over in the amount of damage they have willingly taken and healed from. (Usually awarded to masochists who enjoy being tortured.) Effect: Pain and Pleasure have their lines blurred together further than is normal. Damage willingly received is reduced by a significant amount and significantly canted in favor of pleasure.

Sexual Deviant: This Title is awarded to those who have committed sexual acts that their partners have never even heard of but ended up liking. Effects: Enhances the effects of all pleasure or pain inducing skills. All pleasure and pain inducing skills are easier 10x easier to learn and level. Passively enhances the experience of sexual activities for all parties involved by a moderate amount.

Invasive: This Title is awarded for creating and releasing 10 or more never before seen creatures/monsters into the wild. Effects: All creatures created by you cost slightly less mana to create and may have one additional affinity added to their makeup during creation. Grants a perfect affinity for Death magic.

The Father Of Monsters: This title is awarded for creating and releasing 25 or more unique monsters into the wild. Effects: Any monster created by you will be far more subservient to your will. Significantly increases the physical and mental strength of all monsters created. Enhances overall base Mind, Body, and Soul resilience by a small amount.

Creator: This Title is awarded for creating a Gestalt Being. Effects: Gain perfect affinities for Life, Mind, Soul, and Body magics. All skills related to the affinities of Life, Mind, Soul, and Body are 10X easier to learn and level. Your mind, body, and soul are fortified by 10% more after skills and any other modifiers are applied.

Leon didn’t bother with looking over all of his Lore Titles, there were too many and all of them had pretty much the same effect, just in their specific fields. His only enchanted gear was the pair of daggers that he’d just gotten which he figured would be of immense help if he went full on stealth mode in the dungeon and hunted everything he could find. Between his Perception Filter and Stealth skills, he was pretty sure he’d be able to go unnoticed even to creatures and people a Tier above him.

Malorie was right though. Leon needed to make sure he talked to his team before he went in on his own. He also needed to get accustomed to the clarity and range of his senses now that he could process them all. He hadn’t noticed how bogged down his thoughts had been before with the overload of sensory inputs. Now though he was quite aware of everything around him in extreme detail. All of his senses seemed to have been overlaid with whatever new sense he’d just gotten from looking too closely at the transitionary spaces of the Dungeon.

It was like he could feel, taste, see, and hear space itself with every one of his senses. Even through his tremor sense and Quantum Perception. It was such an odd experience that Leon couldn’t really describe it. Now that his mind could actually comprehend everything that was being fed to it without being overloaded Leon was trying to actually make sense of it all.

Looking at the dungeon was like looking into a ball of rippling fractals that were expanding inward. It almost hurt his brain just to watch it too carefully. So, Leon retreated from the Dungeon until he was no longer able to sense it and went about finding his teammates. He also had some presents to make for the Dungeon, it was Tier 2 now after all.