I cast my gaze over the mountainous region of the Dungeon, which, to my surprise, extends well beyond the full area of my perception. The mountain range stretches well over two thousand kilometers with no seeming end.

I feel the curious prodding of around two dozen mind-mage monsters and quickly push back as I create blind spots around them before they get more aggressive.

I should have slowly expanded my perceptive area, so I don’t aggro so many at once.

That could have gone the same way as the Mind Eater if the monsters weren't so cautious. I suppose that’s the benefit of such a high-level area; monsters that do spy on you are likely able to defend themselves, so everyone develops a cautious nature.

There are dozens of monster dens ranging from the amethyst golem caves with monsters in the one thousand total level range, to a volcanic magma chamber full of drakes totaling over two thousand levels in their classes. Each den has a Dungeon Waystone near the entrance. Between the Dens are many points of interest, such as particularly tall mountain peaks, special glades in small valleys, and many more, most marked with Waystones too.

Dangerous monsters such as powerful Rocs, and the many-eyed goat-like gazers I saw last time are way above those found in the dens averaging around a total level of three thousand. Beneath the ground, many worm-like creatures dig through the ground, with two thousand levels on average, making them a very dangerous hazard to anyone traveling these mountains.

So, where should we start training? I doubt I am capable of slaying the monsters with a combined level of two or more thousand, so I should start with the ones at or below level one thousand, so that is the amethyst golem caves.

I summon several clones to train in Dens of the other regions. I’m not here for only [Manipulate Magic] training; I’m going to make full use of the time here. After that, we fly to our destination. After a couple of hours of flying, we land at the Waystone near the amethyst caves, and I attune the key.

“I’ll stay here. If there’s danger nearby, I can just use the Key to teleport away.” I quickly make a sofa, plopping it next to the waystone and summon another clone as I jump into the cushions.

Kayafe gives me a look placing a hand on her hip.

“What?” I ask with a mischievous smile. “I fight monsters, they don’t fight me!” I conjure several guard fairies. I don’t expect them to be anything other than a light distraction while I run away from any potential threats.

“The most frustrating part is that I can’t argue against that. While everyone else fights in mortal combat, you just sit in a comfortable chair, and your perception is so good, that nothing can sneak up on you.” Kayafe sighs. “Well, let’s go in then”

Kayafe leads my clone into the caves and it isn’t long until we hear the sounds of the golems digging new passages, the sound of rock smashing rock.

“There are two types of golems,” Kayafe says, like a teacher giving a lecture to a classroom of students. “These ones are monster-golems, made of a material given life. They often have ‘organs’, usually a gem, which is the ‘skeleton’ that defines their body. The rock is just a material around their real body. They can absorb more gems in order to grow, or remove gems they have previously absorbed from their influence for a life-giving ‘mother’ crystal to make more monster-golems.”

“You seem to know a lot about golems,” I remark.

“I’ve spent some time among some golem shapers,” Kayafe shrugs. “The second type are Golem-Constructs. These are enchanted or magical items emulating Monster-Golems. The constructed type can’t get stronger, but are also made very strong, especially the rare legendary ones.”

The digging golems are careful not to break any amethysts they come across and seem to have an innate sense of where the crystals are, always digging in a straight line towards them.

“The golems closest to us are worker types” Kayafe continues her lesson. “The guardian types are fewer but much stronger and are often heavily armored with stone which gives them a bulky look. If you come across one, that means you are near the Hymn of Life that made them. Monster-Golems are often used to locate sources of gems, with some kingdoms protecting the Hymn of Life to make workers that they can then slay for training and precious resources, especially since the gems or crystals they absorb will gain magical properties once slain.”

“But if the golem willingly removes the gems from their body, they don’t gain any magical properties?” I ask.

“Correct”

I make a storage ring for my clone, wrapping the mana around its finger before enchanting it; I don’t want to leave anything useful behind. Normally the enchantments constantly draw mana from the wearer to maintain its effects, but now I am constantly feeding it mana by transforming the mana around it into reserved mana.

“So, what’s the best way to defeat them without damaging the materials?” I ask.

“Non-destructive means, of course. This is a good opportunity for you to learn how to drain vitality from your enemies. This should be a first choice of attack anyway, since those who can’t resist or replenish faster than you are draining will be easily defeated. Golems are very tough, but this is one of their weaknesses.”

Directly attacking their vitality, huh? I doubt Golems are smarter than other hive-type monsters; they sound a lot like ants or bees.

“One thing worth mentioning, the Hymn of Life will be immune to vitality damage. Or rather, it’s not just immune; it is their preferred method of attack.”

“I see, thank you,” I say as we come upon the first Golem.

I reach out to one of the worker golems, mentally grabbing its vitality with everything I can muster, and rip out as much as I can. Its vitality is easily stripped off from the amethysts making up its body, which falls down like a puppet whose strings have been cut. The outer rock becomes brittle and shatters as it hits the ground, revealing the now lifeless precious stone beneath. The notification of the kill chimes in my mind.

“That… was easy?” I say, flabbergasted at how quickly I defeated it.

“I did say they are weak to vitality attacks,” Kayafe chuckles.

I even got a level up in my skill from that attack. Perhaps I can even defeat the guardian Golems! Unfortunately, because I didn’t use my Bond or Classes, I got almost no experience in those. However, it will count for my race, so it’s not a complete waste, but this enforces the point that I also have to train my Bond and not rely only on this skill.

“Now, instead of targeting just one Golem, attack multiple; keep increasing how many you drain at once until you start struggling to do so, even if it’s one hundred of them,” Kayafe says, her tail dancing behind her amusedly.

I do so, reaching out to the five nearest Golems, easily ripping out their vitality. I conjure another clone and pass it the storage ring to retrieve the materials. Next, I drain the vitality of the nearest eight, then fifteen, then twenty. At twenty-two, I am no longer slaying the Golems instantly, but I still continue until I am draining the vitality of thirty.

These Golems are over twice my level, and I am slaying them so easily! This is how strong I am now?

“Keep in mind you have a ridiculously low level, and your stats aren’t up to par; you should be able to slay more. I can kill all the golem workers here, which is what you should be aiming towards; just another reason why Bond Classes hold you back.”

“I get it! You don’t like Bonds!” I flick a tail, tired of her biased opinion.

I continue to train, slaying several more golems in an effort to learn the best way to drain vitality from my foes. The Golems act erratically, alarmed by the constant damage being inflicted upon them.

“No creature is going to let you take their vitality, they can resist so long as they are not met with overwhelming force,” Kayafe says, overlooking my efforts. “The trick is to find out how to crush their resistance. So, you should avoid killing them. Practice fighting their resistance instead.”

I nod and expand my efforts to include more golems at once, alarming them and engaging in a vitality tug of war. The golems resist in a very straightforward way, simply pulling back. Their issue is that once the vitality leaves the confines of their body, it is no longer considered ‘theirs’, and so they lose all control over it. It’s a poor method of resistance.

But how else does one resist vitality drain? And this is specifically vitality drain, not attacks directed to vitality like Tana’s flames which uses vitality as fuel.

I start playing around, testing out other methods to reduce the vitality in my foes that aren’t strictly draining, such as transforming the vitality into another form of mana.

“Now you are starting to think outside the box!” Kayafe smiles proudly while her tail swishes about in her excitement. She then replenishes the vitality so my practice dummies don’t die.

I feel like there’s a lot more I can do here. What if I make the vitality inaccessible? I ponder before manipulating the vitality to form solid micro-crystals.

“That’s a nasty form of attack and exceedingly rare; almost no one will have trained a resistance to that type of vitality damage,” Kayafe grins. “You are starting to realize the potential of vitality combat.”

“If making these micro-crystals are effective then what about forming a large vitality crystal in the enemy?” I ask.

“Yes, but it will cause a lot of damage and may destroy useful materials, which defeats the purpose of vitality attacks. Plus, there are better forms of attack, so you are better off not bothering unless vitality attacks are your only option.”

I spend the next several hours trying all sorts of vitality attacks and refining the methods. The one thing I can’t seem to get right is something in the vein of Tana’s flames. Any vitality conjured spells coming from me or are first drained from the enemy, which means it is just vitality draining with extra steps. In that regard, Tana has his unique form of attack all to himself.

In the meantime, one of my Clones has reached my fairy friend; Sylanna, the Snowfairy Mother.

“I’m sorry for not seeing you for so long. My home has been facing some problems.” I say apologetically.

“No problem, friend!” Sylanna giggles. “I’ve been here for thousands of years with just my children, so I can live without you for a few months.”

I study the Likeness of Varath, a statue made of war and battle essence. Perhaps it’s time I retrieve it? I suppose I don’t have to. Other than the historical value, there’s no reason to do so. Plus I may make one anyway for the trial.

Hold on. Isn’t the likeness special? The statues of Myrou have her image projected onto them, right? And Myrou can possess her likeness or something? Does this mean that the gods can spy on me if I make their likeness? Maybe I should ask Kayafe?

It’s very convenient to talk with multiple people across large distances with my clones!

“Kayafe, what does a likeness of the gods, like the ones you made, actually do?” I ask. After the initial lesson, things quieted down and moved on to just me practicing, Kayafe too made a soft lounge chair to relax in, but her expression shows that she is deep in thought. In any case I need to know if the Likenesses are dangerous.

“Hmm? Well, it gives them a direct connection to us. That’s why they’re so hard to create and why they are important. I specifically chose Varath, Myrou, and Venaro because they represent three fundamental pillars of society; Strength, Culture, and Knowledge. The likenesses were supposed to ensure those foundations stand the test of time, although it seems your society has regressed in the strength and knowledge department.”

Venaro and Varath were both in favor of not using my soul as a resource, but they had ulterior motives that may not keep them on my side once they get what they want.

Yeah, on second thought, It’s best the Likenesses stay here for now. But this is not the only reason why I came to see my fairy friends.

“Can you help me with something, Sylanna?” I ask

“What is it?” Sylanna’s musical voice soothes my worries. Did she sense my concern over the Likeness?

“I need to understand beauty more” Sylanna has a snow Bond, but she is intimate with beauty essence; perhaps I can get some insight from her.

She giggles, fluttering around me with several other snow fairies.

“Beauty is what you make of it! But if you really want to improve your Bond, then I can’t help you; I’m on the same stage of my Bond as you, so there is not much I am able to teach.”

Fair enough. I should ask Kayafe how she got to level two thousand in her Bond. She must think I am being weird suddenly asking random questions.

“What did you do to get to level two thousand in your Bond?” I ask her. “I sorry if I am acting strange, I am having another conversation with someone else but they couldn’t help me”

“That sounds really useful, almost makes me want to take a mind mage for my last Class,” Kayafe says. “But to answer your question, I fought a lot of powerful monsters.”

Her straightforward answer does not give me much confidence, but she pauses to think for a moment. It looks like she’s not done speaking yet. “With that said, someone whose paths I crossed said that one needs to start merging their Anima with their bond… or something along those lines. I have no idea how to do something like that. ‘You explored Beauty, you fought with it, you trusted your life with it, and you’ve externalized it. Now you must become one with it.’” She quotes something, slightly changing it for my sake.

“What does that mean?” I tilt my head quizzically.

“Again, I’m not entirely sure; but Anima is life in concept, right? So you need that concept to include Beauty. That’s the biggest part I have trouble with; I don’t even know where to begin doing that”

I let out a sigh. It doesn’t seem like there’s a shortcut. I could ask Safyr, but she’s not the type to always answer questions; she prefers that I work it out myself. Looks like I will just have to put my nose to the grindstone and slay a lot of monsters to level up my Bond.