No one else brought up a new orb increase, so I wasn't about to make the tension any worse. Then again, it was possible that only I got the second one. I did have a unique situation going on right now. So, continuing my distraction from the realities outside the bus, I pulled up my Body-Enhancing orbs.

Mana Orb ~Body-Enhancing Orb (3)~ +Brains Over Brawn+ -Fourth Tier- Conceptualize (0) Requirements: Mental Training (25) Brains Over Brawn (25) Mana Channel Reinforcement (25) Conceptualize allows the host to begin constructing a mind palace within their Body-Enhancing orb. Doing so allows the host to begin running mental simulations on outcomes given the information stored within the palace. Further ranks allow for further rooms.

Mana Orb ~Body-Enhancing Orb (3)~ +Brains Over Brawn+ -Fifth Tier- Enhanced Mental Training (0) Requirements: Mental Training (25) Brains Over Brawn (25) Enhanced Mental Training increases the rate of Mental Training even further at a rapidly increased mana cost. Further ranks decrease the mana cost.

Mana Orb ~Body-Enhancing Orb (3)~ +Brains Over Brawn+ -Fifth Tier- Cognitive Focus (0) Requirements: Mental Training (35) Brains Over Brawn (25) Cognitive Focus allows the host to go into a mental overdrive state, seemingly slowing time down around them as their brain begins to work at a massively heightened pace. Further ranks decrease mana cost.

Mana Orb ~Body-Enhancing Orb (3)~ +Brawn Over Brains+ -Fourth Tier- Muscle Control (0) Requirements: Strength Training (25) Brawn Over Brains (25) Overwhelming Strength (15) Muscle Control allows the host, while using Overwhelming Strength, to better guide the exact way the muscle strength increases, either toward raw speed or raw power. The further the steps in either direction, the higher the mana cost. Further ranks decrease the mana cost.

Mana Orb ~Body-Enhancing Orb (3)~ +Brawn Over Brains+ -Fourth Tier- Berserk (0) Requirements: Strength Training (25) Brawn Over Brains (25) Overwhelming Strength (25) Berserk allows the host to increase the effects of Overwhelming Strength at a cost of cognitive control. While this mana skill is activated rational thinking will be nearly impossible. Further ranks allow for a greater increase to Overwhelming Strength.

Mana Orb ~Body-Enhancing Orb (3)~ +Brawn Over Brains+ -Fifth Tier- Enhanced Strength Training (0) Requirements: Strength Training (35), Brawn Over Brains (25) Enhanced Strength Training increases the rate of Strength Training even further at a rapidly increased mana cost. Further ranks decrease the mana cost.

While the new abilities on the brain orb were calling to me, only the fifth tier one on the brawn orb did. The new fourth tier skills mostly scared me. Overwhelming Strength was already a potential problem, and even if I had managed to make it work before, adding in Berserk didn't seem like the right move, at least for now. I skipped those two, increasing the ranks on the other skills in the orbs, and adding the new ones as well.

I turned on both the new training mana skills as soon as I had the ranks in them and felt the expected mana draw strongly increase. It was again above the level of my passive mana regeneration, but at the current rate, I thought it would take hours, if not days, to fully drain me, so the added boost was worth it for now.

Next up were my elemental orbs. There weren't many changes on either of them—a single new fifth tier mana skill.

Mana Orb ~Elemental (3)~ +Fire+ -Fifth Tier- The Flames Burn Hotter (0) Requirements: Elemental Focus Fire (1) Silent Casting (25) The Flames Burn Hotter allows the host to further enhance their fire spells. With an increased use of mana, their magical fire will burn much a much higher temperature. Further ranks increase the maximum temperature.

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Mana Orb ~Elemental (3)~ +Aether+ -Fifth Tier- Universal Bonds (0) Requirements: Elemental Focus Aether (1) Silent Casting (25) Universal Bonds allows the host to deepen their understanding of the Aether element. While this mana skill is active, the host is able to ascertain building blocks of materials; the more in-depth the scan, the higher the mana cost. Further ranks increase the field of view.

While they were both interesting, Universal Bonds was the bigger draw for me. I was sure the mana skill was meant to be used in conjunction with aether spells, but I could think of several more potential uses for it. It would come in handy as I tinkered. I maxed out these two skills as well, and repeated the same with the lower-tier skills, the same as I had on the previous orbs, which unlocked a new fifth-tier skill on both of the orbs.

Mana Orb ~Elemental (3)~ -Fifth Tier- Synergistic Magic: Sever the Bonds (0) Requirements: The Flames Burn Hotter (25) Universal Bonds (25) Sever the Bonds further builds on the synergistic connection between fire and aether, allowing the host to utilize the energy from the bonds they break to further amplify their fire magic. Further ranks allow for more bonds to be broken.

I knew what that was, and that scared me far more than any of the strength mana skills had. That was a nuclear reaction. Fission, to be specific. The power of course depended on just how many atoms could be split, but still, this wasn't a level of offensive magic I was expecting to have access to. And it was something I'd need to research before I even risked unlocking it. I didn't need that temptation hanging over me.

I pushed the thought of nuclear weapons out of my head and instead checked the shield orb for any changes.

Mana Orb ~Shield (4)~ -Sixth Tier- Disperse (0) Requirements: Rebound (40) Absorb (40) Disperse allows the host's shields to combine the effects of Absorb and Rebound. The shield contains all the force absorbed into it, allowing the host to detonate it in an outward explosion, releasing all the stored energy. Further ranks increase the energy able to be stored.

That was my first sixth tier mana skill, and I didn't have all the requirements fulfilled for it. Rebound had never seemed like a shield skill I had needed, and I still wasn't sure it was. Frankly, I was reasonably sure I preferred continuing to absorb the mana than let it sit for a potential attack. There was just far more I could do with it in the meantime. I decided to skip it for the time being and instead just finished ranking up the other skills to their new maximums.

With that out of the way, spending some of my levels was much easier. I already had a plan there. Core Reservoir would let me make the dungeon cores even more independent of me. In theory, this would keep us all fighting longer if the situation called for it, especially if this allowed Corey or Gamma to continue using the mana orbs socketed in my body. They'd potentially be able to heal any issues I was facing.

-Authority\Core Reservoir {0/200 Levels} Core Reservoir allows for the host to establish a reservoir of their own core energy within a willing dungeon core, allowing for the core to continue to function independently without the host as long as the reservoir lasts.

While that did drop me down to level fifty, I was reasonably sure I wouldn't feel the drain on invested ranks for a while. Assuming what Mel had described to me when I had first fortified my core in Smithtown held, I should be able to wait until we return to run more simulations and get my levels back up.

"Brace for potential impact!" Timon yelled, cutting through my own internal world. What the hell were we impacting?

In front of the bus was a large, skeletal creature that seemed to be oozing something from several of the bones. It was a terrifying sight, even compared to everything I had seen. Somehow Timon managed to maneuver the bus through it gap in its legs, dodging the collision. What we didn't manage to dodge was the skeletal arm that just barely grazed the back of the bus, slamming several people to the side.

"What the hell was that?" I shouted, the anxiety now breaking through.

"Cosmic horror, means this place is certainly cracked open somewhere. Luckily, we are leaving just about now!" Timon yelled back as the bus shot through a gate at a fork in the road, coming out the other side fast enough that the bus actually squealed as it came to a halt.

Timon was somehow off the bus before that noise had even stopped, and was screaming at the people in the room. "The damn highway is cracked, you've got a horror loose on it, right outside this gate. Seal the thing now! No one goes back through until it's dealt with!" This was new and very unlike Timon. He didn't lose his temper.

"And who is going to actually take care of it?" a voice cried back.

"Probably the idiots inside this bus when we leave the planet, but that's to figure out later, do not let that thing in here!" he yelled again, as several of us moved to join him off the bus.

"As aggressive as our friend may currently be. He isn't wrong. If that creature comes through to the Spiral, it will be a much bigger problem. While we might still be able to stop it, it would be a disaster in the making," Elody added, in a much calmer tone.

"Fine, do what they say. Pretty sure that's Mel and Dave there anyway," another voice said as I got off the bus. Well, at least we made it Smithtown alive and in one piece. I looked around at the mass of Reltleons in the room, most of them pushing what looked like carts designed for moving. What was going on?

No, I will not discuss what I saw in that cluster. It's one thing to understand the danger you are in, but it's a whole other thing to understand you can't possibly comprehend the true danger you're in. Sometimes the monsters out here are beyond what the normal brain can fully put together, and they show up weird in your vision. I've heard it gets even worse if you have some of the other senses. I wouldn't know, though, seeing it was enough for me. It took me nearly ten years to get my sanity back after that. So no, no matter how often or hard I'm asked, I will never describe what I saw that day. I have enough sanity that losing some wasn't the end of the world. That just isn't true for most people.

Interview with Captain Squidlen

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