First, I release the absorbed thermal energy in an uncontrolled explosion of heat. Then, I dash towards the salamander, covering my entire body and head with pale blue armor.

A sword made of mana appears in my hands. The sword has a blade longer than me, and I coat it in widely oscillating mana, straining my mind and [Focus].

The heat becomes stronger closer to the monster, and it even tries to blind me with another flash, but I'm still keeping my eyes closed since the first flash, and continue to track it with [Perception] only.

[Disruption] activates, canceling some flames and the lava-like skill that covers the monster's body, making it more durable. A sword with an oscillating blade cuts through the monster's head, killing it instantly, and I jump far back to exit the still-hot area while canceling out my skills.

Good, let's see.

Your skill [Kinetic Redistribution] evolved into [Redistribution].

[Kinetic Redistribution - lvl 13 > Redistribution - lvl 8]

[You have defeated a Scorching Salamander - lvl 83]

[Lvl 52 > Lvl 53]

Not again. My levels!

Sure, I know that my skill upgraded to a better version of it - or combined with a new skill I acquired and the higher-tiered skill couldn't just stay on the same level. It's not properly showing my mastery over it.

But damn it stings.

Another thing is that this time it was easier than before, clearly the effect of my new passive skill—Cerebral Harmony—showing. Manipulating my mana just feels much better, much more connected to my thoughts and to my will.

It was a good decision to pick it, even though I am still not over losing Adaptive Physiology - that skill sounds so goddamn good.

To try it out, I reach out towards the field of molten ground and absorb some of the thermal energy that still radiates into the surroundings. It feels so different and yet so similar to the old skill. I mold the mana and the [Redistribution] helps me to collect it, and turn it into a small flame that flickers on top of my palm.

Immediately, I realize something amazing.

The flame vanishes and I absorb all the kinetic energy I can, the grass stops swaying and the wind becomes calmer. Then I turn all that kinetic energy into a thermal one while my heart is beating wildly from the excitement.

The efficiency is terrible, the waste is huge, it's slow, and feels bad to use. But I do it and instead of a thin cone of kinetic energy, I release a cone of heated air that flickers and burns more of the grass.

With excitement that I haven't felt in a while, I turn to Ruby.

“Hey, do you have more of these salamanders?”

POV Sophie Martinez

“She is here, we have to go!”

“How the hell did she find us and what does she want now? We didn't do anything to catch her interest!”

“It doesn't matter. Guards won't slow her for too long, just grab what you can and get ready for [Transport]."

I watch people with two question marks over their heads panic. The people I thought of as being so strong, now seem like normal humans, losing control, screaming, panicking. I and the others are led to a room in the far corner of the facility, and I make sure to hold Izzy's hand firmly.

“Leave behind the spell of Disruption, we can't allow her to track us!”

More screaming, more panicking. Then I feel the ground shaking, the air itself feels heavy and it's getting hard to move. Enchantings on the wall start glowing all around the facility. Defensive enchantments they were so proud of.

Another wave of shakes and more screaming and the enchantments start to flicker and slowly lose their glow.

Finally, an extremely difficult set of spells fire up into existence and I feel getting transferred somewhere else.

Only a third of us make it, even losing one of the people that I couldn’t see the level of. Paragon of the Empire.

“We have to report this, the emperor needs to know,” Natasha says, her voice shaking, so unlike her usually calm self.

Only then did I realize that we are not in the kingdom anymore, we are in the empire led by the mind-mage emperor.

The secret facility in the kingdom's heart, which used to hide the paragon and empire's spies, now deserted and destroyed.

Five more level-ups later and 15 more points in mana, I give it a long thought.

People here usually don’t put that many stats points into mana. It seems that spreading your stats evenly is the most often used solution, sometimes making some stat a bit higher.

Warriors usually go 30% strength, 30% dexterity, 30% constitution, and 10% mana. Some of them, based on their classes, might go 20% mana or slightly higher into other stat, but that's it.

As for mages, they usually try to go 1 point mana, 1 point constitution to handle it. Sometimes they go 1.5 mana and 1 constitution. Everything over it seems to be rare.

So my stats are currently like this:

Strength: 17Dexterity: 18Constitution: 53Mana: 165

That means I am putting 3 stats into mana and 1 into constitution. Yet, it still feels doable but everyone keeps looking at me like I'm a dumbass. You are the dumb ones, not me!

So yea, they might be a tiny bit right but there are a few things that work for me.

My trait, Mana Circuit, allows me to handle mana better.

[Focus] takes over when my body is struggling.

[Mana Manipulation] helps me handle it.

Reinforcement (Construct) takes a chunk of mana and passively deals with it instead of me.

And last, my passive skills, Mana Flow (rare) and Cerebral Harmony (rare). Up until now, I was offered many different choices, yet I still doubled up on mana-related ones and probably only thanks to that I can handle more of it, and my mana stat is higher than it should be at my level.

Yet I feel that I am still lacking, even with my skills improving.

Focus (Dual Focus) - Lvl 22Mana Manipulation (Advanced Mana Manipulation) - Lvl 26Perception - Lvl 15Oscillation - Lvl 16Redistribution - Lvl 9Armament - Lvl 22Mana Surge - Lvl 9Disruption - Lvl 9

Yes, a few of them have super high potential but I can't help but feel greedy, starving for something that finally and for the first time allows me to completely use my reserves.

But step by step, the next goal is rewards for this side quest. I already have a few ideas on how to use the upgrade token.

Kim is doing really well and quickly growing. In the past few days, he even seems to have become friendlier with others, especially thanks to Hadwin, who to them seems to be someone older, and smarter and they can't help but look up to him slightly, even the twins.

All of them are young men, boys, still affected by thinking from back on Earth where it's normal to show respect to the elders and maybe even listen to them.

But it's not just it. I can see Hadwin smartly dealing with them. A compliment here and there, help here, every time seemingly honestly interested and listening to them when they complain or being happy with them.

Partially it's a mask he puts on but I see that from a small part it's the way he is and I realize that there might be some truth to the words he told to me.

Yet, these two little twin jerks better not think they can trick me. I'm not as gullible as Hadwin.

Overall, this all is good for me as they are getting trained to work together.

With Hadwin in the role of tank, the twins can use their skills to confuse the enemy keeping the group connected telepathically. While Kim fills the ranged support role.

The 15-year-old boy even learned to use [Gravity well] to affect only the monsters. Unlike me, who is using so many skills, it seems that he is trying to focus on his two favorite ones and strengthen them and make them as versatile as possible.

It's not a bad idea.

I close the community after checking on others. Two more people from Hell difficulty died. We don't know who, only learning about it thanks to the number that now shows two people less:

Hell difficulty 51/250

Over the duration of the second floor, we came to the decision that there are probably 10 groups in Hell difficulty, each starting on the first floor with around 25 people.

WhiteWing of the 1st group with 15 people.

IDK of the second group with 4 people.

Group 4 with 10 people and one corgi.

Alone in group 6 with Savant being the only one remaining.

TheGuild of the 8th group with 9 people.

That means there are 13 more people we don’t know about as they never used the community.

There are most likely some groups that got killed off in their entirety but yet there are still 13 more people in Hell difficulty and it makes me think about what might have disallowed them to enter the community.

Hours turn into days and we fall into a nice schedule. Wake up, train, fight monsters, eat, fight monsters, rest, fight monsters, dinner, sleep.

That's it. It's nice but only until we get the message from the tutorial.

Attention, a milestone reached. Entry into Irreversible Narrative Progression has been detected for all the groups. In accordance, the Community Interface will now be deactivated for all groups within Hell Difficulty of the 5th round of the Tutorial.