Brainiac (Hell, WhiteWing) - Is Savant here as well?

Noname (Hell, group 4) - That loser? Savant arrived a week after us.

Mari (Hell, WhiteWing) - You guys should compete during the tournament.

Mari is one of the members of WhiteWing. She barely speaks, usually letting Lootenant and Brainiac take the lead, but she sometimes chimes in to poke fun at people. Other members of WhiteWing don't seem too interested in the community and rarely talk.

Savant (Hell, Alone) - That's the plan.

Brainiac (Hell, WhiteWing) - Savi! How did you clear the third floor on your own? You're a monster.

Savant (Hell, Alone) - Do not call me Savi. I used my brain, obviously.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Can you invest stat points into intelligence?

Brainiac (Hell, WhiteWing) - You wouldn't, even if it was possible, Noname, lol. Anyway, we lost one of our members. Edwal killed him, you know, the guy Echo who joined us from the Hard difficulty.

Grumpy (Hell, group 4) - Sorry to hear that (T⌓T)

Lootenant (Hell, WhiteWing) - Yeah, he was a nice guy, but he angered that lightning jerk.

Hadwin (Hell, group 4) - So how did you guys clear it?

Brainiac (Hell, WhiteWing) - Well, we got the warriors first, one after another, and then we went for the king. That guy was no joke, I tell you. But you know, teamwork. There are 12 of us. How about you?

Hadwin (Hell, group 4) - Ten. And even if we consider other groups that are still clearing the 3rd floor, we still don't know who the remaining ten members are, the ones who haven't spoken up until now.

Brainiac (Hell, WhiteWing) - Yeah, it's interesting. Anyway, how we dealt with the saint is a secret, so don't even ask.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - No one was going to. Even I'm not that shameless.

I say that after deleting the message where I was going to ask just that.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - If you're in the mountains. Well, I left quickly.

Brainiac (Hell, WhiteWing) - Great, just great.

Mari (Hell, WhiteWing) - Wow, if even he says that, we should probably leave.

Brainiac (Hell, WhiteWing) - Nice one, Noname! Try sharing more, maybe you'll be able to get something through.

I ignore the rest of the conversation. As time passes, we've learned how to send subtle hints like this to others, and they return the favor. It's not much, but it's something.

In my case, I issue danger warnings. Other members of the community, wrongly, view me as someone who impulsively jumps into danger, so when I mention being cautious, they interpret it as a severe warning.

They better repay the favor later.

I leave Haddy and the others to chat in the community and head back to my room. Here, I sit in an armchair that offers a beautiful view of the balcony and, by extension, the city called Virelia.

Damn, I really wanted to explore it a bit more, perhaps go on a treasure hunt, check out the auctions, or simply examine the trees. Instead, I have to deal with a bunch of guys who have a death wish.

Still, there are a few days left, so I can work on my constructs. Out of the four, only one needs some tweaking. Reinforcement. Currently, it drains my mana and uses 30% of it to fortify my body. The efficiency isn't great, so that's what I'll work on. I'll also increase the amount of mana it consumes. 40% should be enough.

I enter [Focus] and begin.

Instead of taking just a few hours, it takes almost an entire day and I end up improving all of my constructs:

Reinforcement (Construct)

Kinetic Mana Heart (Construct)

Mana Regulator (Construct)

Mana Sovereignty Mantle (Construct)

Reinforcement has become more effective. Oh, I didn't touch Kinetic Mana Heart; that thing is scary. I don't know what I was thinking when I made it, and now that I know a bit more and have more experience, I'm hesitant to modify it. I might be some kind of genius. 3rd floor Nat was impressive, I must admit. Dumb, but impressive. Good job, weirdo!

The Mantle shows slight improvement, as well, but it's not much.

However, the biggest change is in the Mana Regulator. The construct can now regulate the amount of mana that my Reinforcement and Kinetic Mana Heart receive. So instead of Reinforcement constantly consuming 40% of mana, I can adjust it. It can take all of my mana or none - though the latter isn't something I would want to test.

While the efficiency isn't as high as when I reinforce my body manually, the gap is narrowing, which is a positive sign.

And speaking of impressive? My Mana Reservoir is filled. My newest passive is now full of my mana, ready for use.

It's three times the size of my entire mana pool.

If my calculations are correct, I currently hold as much mana as if I had 4,872 stat points invested into it: 609 base plus 609 from attribute upgrades, and then that amount another three times due to the reservoir.

Sure, I know there are upgrades, passives, active skills, and perhaps other stuff that could increase mana to that amount much sooner and others should be capable of it as well, but this volume is still amazing to me.

I love it and I'm a tiny bit scared.

Both of us are sitting on the couch and Lily hands me a crown made of silver metal that the last king wore.

"I tried and tried, but couldn't do anything. I'm not sure what the Saint did to link it to her healing powers," Lily says, sounding a mix of disappointed and frustrated.

I take a sip of the hot drink I'm holding and stare at the crown in my hand.

Given more time and without the expedition coming closer, I'd examine it a bit more. But I'm already busy leveling up the new active skills I got from my primary class and haven't had the chance to work with Sophie on coordinates.

I decide and hand the crown back to Lily, "You can keep it and continue experimenting when you have time. Even if you destroy it I won't mind."

"Oh…" Lily responds, glancing between the crown and me, "Okay, I'll try!"

"Maybe you should give it to Dennis or Aaron. They might use [Connection] to explore the link it had with the Saint," Sophie suggests.

Both she and Izzy are seated on the couch opposite us, wrapped under blankets and also sipping hot drinks.

"The twins aren't very good at handling mana," I tell her.

"So the crown still functions as a receiver and connector but needs a... signal," Sophie asks.

"Yes, the plan is to have Lily serve as the new signal," I say, giving the black-haired girl a pat on the shoulder. She nods energetically in agreement.

"Boring," Izzy sighs.

"Your face is boring," I answer quickly, catching her off guard.

"No, your face is boring!" the young girl fires back after a moment.

“Biscuit doesn't think so, right buddy?” I turn my head to the right, and the best doggo lying on the couch next to me woofs, “He says your face is boring, Izzy,” I tell the little girl.

The youngest member of the angry kittens doesn't seem to like that, and I can see her gears spinning as she tries to come up with a comeback.

Before she can retort, Hadwin joins us, pulling a chair closer, “We should be ready now. I checked our bags, and we have enough calorie-dense food to last us for a week and plenty of water for at least a few days.”

Tess moves closer and picks up Biscuit, placing him on her lap as she sits next to me. The best doggo doesn't mind much and closes his eyes as she pets him, “In the worst case, we can use the system shop, so there's no need to worry about food and water,” Tess says.

“Do you think we can use them to deal with the Living Tree Calamity since we will be there?” Hadwin asks Sophie.

The black-haired girl shakes her head, “I won't be able to manipulate the guild master or most of his stronger men, maybe just meddle with them slightly.”

“Well, maybe Biscuit said so, but when you were gone, he agreed that your face is boring!” Isabella finally comes up with an answer and says it while smiling victoriously at me.

So weak! “Oh yes? Yesterday, he told me in my room that your face is boring!”

“Maybe we could pit them against the tree somehow and then finish off the one that remains, but we don't even know how strong the Calamity is,” Tess continues talking to Hadwin while petting Biscuit.

“Yes, dealing with the Calamity still feels premature. We should focus on survival and not be too ambitious. Just testing it a bit would be enough,” Hadwin stands up, “I'll go talk with the boys. Good night.”

“Night, Haddy! Your face isn't boring at all, unlike Nathaniel's,” Isabella chirps cheerfully.

“Biscuit, minus fifty nose boops if you tell Izzy that her face is boring,” I turn to the doggo.

Immediately, the little divine beast opens his eyes and turns to the little girl. (Bor...) Biscuit starts but doesn't finish. He turns to me, a stern look in his eyes.

Have I been betrayed?

“Plus fifty more nose boops,” I say to the little traitor, but the kind doggo doesn't budge, and Isabella comes rushing to hug him.

“You guys just need to stay careful, and I will handle the Serpent´s Eye guild,” I tell Tess, Sophie, and Lily, “As for the Calamity, we'll avoid it as much as possible. If it's as strong as the Colony, we won't stand a chance without either gaining more strength or having a solid plan.”

The ants aren't that powerful, but their sheer numbers pose a challenge. I suspect there are even stronger variants. Currently, it's hard to even imagine a way to defeat this Calamity named the Colony. The Fallen Hero and Living Tree should be at least on a similar level of strength.

Sophie turns to me, “Can you really fight their guild master? He seems to be close to or over level 200.”

“It doesn't matter,” is all I tell Sophie, and after studying me for a moment, she nods.

After that, I spend some of my shards to buy five pieces of rare equipment. Hadwin uses one of my epic swords, so he doesn't get anything. Lily already received a rare amulet from me that helps her defend against magical attacks, and Tess got an endurium javelin back on the third floor. So, these three don't get any new items.

We don't have enough mana stones to buy good stuff in the city so I buy four rare light armors for the twins, Min-Jae, and little Isabella. For Sophie, I buy a bracelet that appears to improve her concentration and should enhance her primary skill.

One thousand two hundred shards vanish just like that, leaving me with 890 shards. But I don't mind. It's just a bit awkward to see them thanking me repeatedly.

Now that I think about it, they live in my house, they receive expensive items from me, so why am I the one doing all the giving? Where's my plan to stay in the shadows and let them handle the burdensome tasks?

As I watch the twins and Min-Jae excitedly putting on rare armors and checking the effects, I'm already thinking about what I should get from them in exchange. However, I come to a strange realization.

I could ask them to show me everything about their skills, classes, passives, and traits, and help with testing, but they already do that for free. I can ask for mana stones, but I suspect they would give them to me without any issues, only being curious about what I would test. Well, if they had any.

It's unnerving not to have a clear give-and-take.

When I get to my room and start monitoring the house, I do it more carefully this time, using [Perception] more deliberately. It still annoys me that I couldn't locate them properly as they sat in the house, despite my skill. Yes, I wasn't fully attentive in using the skill, and the guild master of Serpent's Eye is at a higher level than me and probably countered it. But still, it left me feeling annoyed.

Maybe I've become too overconfident lately, intoxicated by all this power, and becoming more and more careless.

This night, I don't sleep and continue to ponder over it while monitoring the house. I find an odd comfort in feeling the mana signatures of everyone in the house.