Darkness descended once again, as the black cat went past the hollow asile. Jace, who was quietly following him behind, scrutinized the surroundings as they moved through the second floor of the castle.

Centipedes did not spawn on the higher floors of castle, but they couldn't be too careless. The first time Alec encounter a centipede, it was on the first floor. So, they ployed gingerly across the murky corridor.

Alec, quickly moving without making any sounds, scurried past another staircase, reaching the third floor of castle.

The moment they surfaced their way across the third floor, Jace's eyes widened from the spectacle that overshadowed his sight.

The darkened corridors were dimly lit with a azure and crimson hue. Large doors, with uncanny runic inscriptions, spreading diffused radiance over the obsidian floor, loomed over both sides of aisle. The corridor was not empty like lower floors, aligned with symmetrical vases, lethargically gleaming under the magenta hue.

Jace, following quietly till now, raised his voice as he opened his mouth.

"What in the doors?" Jace said in a flabbergasted tone, causing the black cat to look up to him.

"What do you mean? These rooms are our safe zones. We need to be safe during the time I'm out. You can't use mana and I don't think anyone would want to test their strength against that armored carapace. So, here we are, THE SAFE ZONE!" Alec said as he peered at the now flabbergasted big man. "Hey, Jace? You ok dude?" Alec asked in a concerned tone.

Jace just stared at the spectacle formed in front of his eyes. "This isn't right... There was something wrong with this whole dungeon from the start. First it appeared in a region with lowest mana saturation in entire empire. The exact location wasn't ideal either. And now this?"

"Uhh... Am I missing something here? Didn't you say this was castle dungeon or something?" Alec said, scrutinizing through the corridor, diffused magenta hue washing over his black fur "Looks enough castle to me..."

"Not exactly, while I am not a scholar regarding the dungeons, but even I can tell that there is nothing natural about this particular dungeon." Jace said.

A sudden throb of pain caused Alec to yelp as he put one of his paws over his head, tried calming his rapidly pulsing nerves and opened his mouth, "I don't think we have to luxury to check if this place is natural or not, we need to get inside first... I think it's starting."

"I still don't think whatever you're doing is a good idea." Jace said in a concerned tone.

"Then why don't you tell me?" Alec replied back.

"How many times have I told you that I am not a scholar?"

"But it's so basic, you should atleast know the nature of mana."

"You are literally using mana starvation to know how exactly does it degrades your physical stats. Just to see if soul collapse would restore them and oppose the activation of mana starvation. Do you know how INSANE that sounds?" Jace yelled causing black cat to flinch.

"Well, I am not a big fan of being in pain. Do you know how much I want this experiment to fail?" Alec said as he started moving towards the portion of wall next to a large door. "What exactly are these by the way?" Alec asked as he hefted one of his paws indicated the radiant patterns on large metallic door.

"I don't know." Jace said as he moved forward, shifting his gaze around the room, scrutinizing every single door and the stone floor covered in diffused magenta before meeting the black kitten's eyes, "I have never seen such complex sigils."

Alec stepped forwards, taking a closer look at the pattern. The complex structure consisted of seven concentric circles gleaming with a dull crimson radiance, inscribed within circles were four icosahedron shapes, connecting diagonally and passing through the center.

There were seven such sigils on the door, connected with each other through a complex network of glyphs, adjoining each other in a straight track, resembling a normal dash from far as they radiated a dim azure hue.

"Are they used to lock these doors?" Alec asked as he moved his gaze away from the uncanny inscriptions, directing it towards the big man standing behind him.

"No, they are not used to lock these doors. I've seen door locking enchantments myself, even if you add multiple other enchantments, none of them would ever close the gap between complexity here. It's just a whole another level of complexity." Jace continued, "don't you think we are forgetting something more important here?" He said as he turned away from the door.

"Ah, yes... Sometimes you just want to forget about the pain. I am no different. Pick me up."

Jace moved towards the small kitten and picked him up, letting out a small chuckle as he saw the cat perfectly fitting in his gentle grip.

"What's so funny?" Alec said in an annoyed expression.

"Nothing, sometimes I just forget that you are much more dangerous than any of those centipedes."

"I'll take that as a complement. Just wait for my evolution... That reminds me, what do you know about monster evolution?" Alec asked, "And move right next to that door, near the wall."

"I'm not a tamer, besides some regional species, I don't know much about how the evolutions actually works in different species." Jace replied as he clung to the wall, "This position?"

"Perfect."

"What are you trying to do here?"

"Teleporting us to the safe zone!"

Space Step

[Space step][Lv3(324/600)]:

Type: Status

Range: 4 meter(s)

MP cost: High

Cooldown: 9 minutes

User manipulates the space around itself to send space mana waves within the range. User can teleport anywhere within the given sphere.

[Maximum range increases with skill levels]

[Minimum cooldown time decreases with skill levels]

Alec activated Space Step and the world around him blurred. Everything lost its texture as the space mana surrounded both of them, engulfing their surroundings as sphere of space mana expanded full four meters in radius.

Alec lost all his physical senses, resonating with sphere, he quickly focused on the space at the opposite side of wall and activated the skill.

Their senses returned, as he found himself under the diffused moonlight, the magenta hue around them no longer existed. Arched under the high ceiling was a large window, spreading full three meters in width and four in height. Same blue runes ran vertically across the window, erecting a giant barrier. The gently humming wind, passing through the barrier, carrying the scent of forest entered his lungs as he took a deep breath.

"Nice... safe place... you have got... here... Blaargh!" Alec heard a muffling voice. He turned around only to see Jace, throwing up violently in a corner. "Just... remind me... next time... you use a... Blaargh!... teleportation spell."

"Side effect noted. Take your time. But I don't have much time. The headache is getting worse. I am going to activate space step until I knock myself out with mana starvation. Don't freak out, I have no idea how it appears from the outside of mana sphere." Alec said as he took out the giant red cushion from his spatial storage.

Alright then. Placing the cushion in front of the window, feeling the soft midnight breeze on his fur, taking a deep breath, waiting till the cooldown was over, he activated space step. Here we go!

Alec sat on the cushion as the white sphere extended across the room.

Sweet dreams.