Dungeon Of Pride, Laplace

Although he still had quite a bit of DP stocked up, he knew that pillaging them carelessly was a foolish choice.

Seeing that his dungeon was functioning as usual, Simon calmed his mind and concentrated on the object before. In the centre of his palm lied an oval white stone releasing a chilling effect. It was none other than the serenity stone that Irene had forked out from the bottom of the pond.

According to the description of the object, it can help in increasing one's focus and concentration allowing them to reach a self-transient state.

Taking a deep breath, he clenched his hand and the serenity stone made a crick noise before crumbling apart. Whoosh… a chilling wind blew in a few meters around him and soon covered him in a transparent film.

Simon suddenly felt that his breathing had become even and his mind settling down. A mysterious feeling of being able to control every aspect and reaction of his body descended onto him.

Realizing that his mind had reached a tranquil state, he quickly used this chance to enter the self transient state. Closing his eyes and focusing on this mysterious feeling more, Simon was swiftly able to achieve the state of mind he previously had so difficulty grasping.

The stone true to its effect, was able to help him achieve the best state of mind for training. Now it was all up to him how he utilized this chance to make the most out of it.

At this moment, Simon's body had been engulfed by a thin film in a few meters around him that worked as a barrier which trapped the contents of the stone within it. The thin film was in an inverted bowl shape and lasted only for two hours before silently disappearing.

However, Simon seemed to be still in a self-transient state of mind and showed no signs of realizing that the effects covering him was now gone. Soundlessly, the complicated markings around his upper body started igniting into golden-black flames.

The entire aura around Simon had spiked up dramatically and even affected the area around him. The dense mystical energy around the area started being sucked towards him and enveloped his body like a cocoon.

The tribal tattoo like markings on his body igniting could only mean that Simon had activated his one and only phantasmal tier skill the [Ancestral Symbol Ignition]. This skill was one of the most powerful trump cards of Simon, one which had saved his life many times.

It was only after Irene had pointed out, but one of the reasons behind the skill being so high tier and powerful was because the skill established an extremely powerful and intrinsic mana lines in his body which was unique to him.

Currently, it was impossible for him to fully imitate the mana lines the [Ancestral Symbol Ignition] skill created as it was too high tier and complicated for him but it did not mean that he couldn't achieve a small imperfect version of it with very less paths.

If he was able to feel the sensation and recreate even a small bit of the mana lines, he would be able to acquire the Rare skill.

Time flowed rapidly during this time while Simon was immersed in his training. One adventurer team after another arrived before the dungeon Laplace and delved inside it.

Words of mouth spread amongst the adventurers and before long multiple teams arrived before the dungeon to seek its riches. Adventurers from all the neighbouring cities flocked towards the dungeon to earn their fortune, the same was also true for the adventurers from the city of mountmend. 

The name Laplace rapidly spread amongst the adventurers and it quickly became the talk of every nearby town. Those that had delved inside the dungeon, came back with various monster parts, ores, herbs that serve as resources for various kinds of products.

Every adventurer whether low rank or newbies formed parties to tackle the dungeon and increase their level. They did not want the others to only be the ones to reap all the profits.

It was not only the adventurers, even some merchants who could smell the money flowing from miles away, assembled from other parts of the kingdom to buy the products brought back by the adventurers.

The economy of the neighbouring cities flourished and even attracted the attention of some of the big names of the Kingdom.

Thanks to Simon tinkering and preparing his dungeon for all kinds of contingency, the adventurers that delved inside the dungeon had to explore the floors for days to make any advancement.

That was not all, after the dungeon rank increased and thanks to the Trees of Mana slowly but steadily increasing the density of mystical energy across all the floors, many ores and herbs started growing in many of the areas of the floors.

It was not only that but even the strength of the average monsters on the upper floors had gone up and due to that killing and harvesting their monster parts became even more difficult.

Nonetheless, the dangers surrounding the dungeon did not daunt most of the adventurers as they repeatedly delved inside it. The treasures that can be found inside were enough to offset the risks associated with them.

While numerous adventurous teams were diving inside the dungeon, the DP (Dungeon Points) accumulated also increased steadily. Ten days passed just like that before Simon suddenly opened his eyes.

The moment he inhaled, the mana around the surrounding surged and poured inside him like a wave. His crimson eyes seemed even more glaring as they scanned his surroundings.

Propelling himself up, Simon stretched his body feeling the rippling energy within him. "Haah… I can feel it, the mana within me has started to flow in a fixed direction periodically. I have come very close, just a little push and I can acquire the [Mana Lines] skill".

He surmised after observing the flow of mana within. Unlike before where his mana had no fixed path to follow, chaotic and rampant all the time, now though it was like a calm river silently flowing in a set path.

These were exactly the signs of mana lines being formed. Satisfied with his progress, Simon looked at the area where the trees of mana were and quickly spotted the cocoon made by the dense mist perpetually lingering around the place.

He knew that the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse was being enveloped inside that cocoon and is currently in a state where it shouldn't be disturbed.

"I don't know how much progress it is going to undergo but I'm not going to get left behind" Clenching his hands, he stated. The Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse was his partner plus friend that he had accidentally summoned from the [Gacha].

Ever since he reincarnated to this world, the warhorse was with him most of the time and had accompanied him in numerous battles. It's presence also gave Simon a peace of mind and reminded him every time that he was not alone.

He couldn't be any happier seeing that the warhorse was making progress on its own. Not only that, but seeing the warhorse trying its best to get stronger also lit a fire inside him.

"I have been holed up inside the dungeon for so long. Now that I have broken through the level 300 barrier, I should start grinding level soon" Simon said after observing that his level had been stagnant for quite a while.

He had been putting more effort towards increasing his skills because he had come across a barrier that couldn't be broken through headfirst. Since he knew that mindlessly hunting monster and grinding experience wouldn't help him cross through this obstacle that he chose to acquire new skills and increase the tier of the existing ones.

Acquiring and increasing the tier of skills also helped in improving his strength not to mention a must to break through every hundred level barriers.

As Irene had previously mentioned, to cross through some of the future bottlenecks, Simon would not only have to level up but also acquire new skills and increase their tier to a realm suitable for his level.

He for the past few weeks had been focusing only on acquiring the [Mana Lines] skill. Now that he thought that he was this close to attaining it, he also wanted to increase his level.

Simon turned around and headed for his white palace when he saw one of the newly appointed [Helpers] standing quietly in front of his palace. Changing his direction, he headed for that [Helper] and landed in front of him.

Immediately spotting him, the Forest Spring Spirit bowed his head before reporting "Lord Simon I have been waiting for your arrival back from your training. As per your orders, we have been keeping a tab on the wolves inhabiting the 15th floor and observing for any possible mutation".

From the [Helpers] report, Simon suddenly remembered that a few days ago he went to the stormwolves lair to place the scarlet mutation crystal. He was so focused in his training that it had completely slipped his mind.

"How long has it been?" Simon asked.

"It has been more than ten days" the [Helper] respectfully replied. He was one of the three adults that Fennel had chosen amongst the Forest Spring Spirits that had the most potential named Coleus.

"I see, it has already been more than ten days. So how goes the mutation? Was there any change on the wolf that consumed it" Simon asked, excited about the potential of the crystal that was produced by the mysterious pond.

"About that…" Coleus locked his brows and seemed hesitant over something.