Lev made the first move, not utilizing his imbuement or enhancement formation. Raw manipulation power saw him gliding forward with a small shockwave, reaching Charles in a blink.

The man was prepared, his arms crossed to block the first obviously weak punch. It still made him slide back a couple of steps, though the impacted arms were completely unharmed.

Getting a nod, Lev upped his strength and used his enhancement formation at a fifth of its total strength. Charles finally got serious and used his own body enhancement, deflecting the next punch and countering with a jab. Lev was waiting for that and brought his new construct to block it.

Without pausing, he leaned back to avoid the second fist and observed the result of the formation. It had actually worked, providing him with a small amount of lightning that was immediately imbued into the armor.

Speed slightly higher, Lev ducked under Charles' kick, deflected his punch, and elbowed his stomach in the same instant. With just a little bit of the elemental imbuement, his skills had improved his control by that much.

The fighters disengaged, and he quickly fixed the areas of the formation that immediately stood out as horrendously carved from a single use. There were few, though that was still unacceptable. His accuracy needed more work.

Charles didn't push him, and when Lev signaled he was ready again, the spar began anew. They both rushed each other, neither using their full strength, though it slowly ramped up.

Lev's increments were limited to a slightly higher amount of mana being channeled into the enhancement formation, and by the time he was nearing a third of his maximum speed and strength, Charles was constantly on the back foot. His moves were wilder, more focused on speed and strength than technique, and his eyes darted around constantly under the barrier armor's onslaught.

Not a single moment was spared for him to find his rhythm as Lev's low sweep forced him to jump back. A burst of speed saw him in front of Charles before the man could think of retaliating, putting an end to the brawl with a single tap on the shoulder.

"Not bad," Lev praised, having learned a lot about his armor's limit by fighting against a human. "What weapon do you use?"

"Hammer."

"Perfect," they both returned to their original positions. "Full force again."

A hammer was summoned, and Lev prepared himself. The hammer was covered in a dense web of enchantments, noticeable despite the cloaking. Lev couldn't decipher the exact functions, but it wasn't hard to guess when the weapon suddenly screamed danger.

Without second-guessing himself, he used the full might of his enhancement formation's durability function, upping that feature to its maximum. The hammer smashed into his right arm's shield with the force of a troll commander, cracking the barrier ground underneath his feet and sending him flying.

Charles was upon him again without wasting a moment, and this time, a noticeable surge of converted lightning imbued his armor as Lev met the blunt weapon with stubbornness of his own. Utilizing the burst of lightning, he righted himself mid-air and swung his right shield again.

Hammer and barrier collided in a loud boom, and both of them went flying this time. Charles grimaced, the hammer slipping from his cracked palm, whereas Lev's shield had also shattered, leaving the armor's limb slightly cracked despite the high durability. A simple thought fixed the damage, though it was still impressive.

"You alright?"

Charles let out a strained chuckle, fixing his dislocated shoulder. "A little roughed up, is all."

"Do you mind if I heal you?"

The warrior stared for a moment. "No need to use a potion-"

Lev rolled his eyes and sent a stream of restoration mana into the cracked palm, shutting him up. A few seconds passed, and the man was as good as new.

Wordlessly, they both got into position again, and the spar began anew.

****

Three hours of punching and kicking each other later, Charles left six gold coins richer. Lev also considered the money well spent, having significantly improved the runes and learned more about their formation.

As it stood, about 10% of the physical force was absorbed by the porous constitution rune. That didn't sound much until he actually had to face strong monsters, the type that would squish him on the spot. Each impact would generate a lot of lightning, especially once he improved the formation through the current feedback.

There were two things seriously hurting the absorption and the resulting conversion. Firstly, his carving was far from perfect. Each rune involved was large and difficult, requiring not just a lot of space but also mental gymnastics to fit them together properly.

Secondly, the absorbed power put a lot of stress on the runes. Lev needed to ensure the kinetic energy capacity of the formation was higher, and maybe even look to automate the lightning imbuement. It wasn't like he was going to have a single absorption formation on his armor.

Night was in full swing by the time he returned to his room and inspected himself. The itch was lower in intensity, as he had made actually meaningful progress. It lessened even further when Lev formulated all potential uses for the formation, opening one path after another. There were way too many, though it was going to be best to stick to the elements he was the most familiar with.

The fight with the executioner beetle had revealed that higher-tier elements depended on one's willpower, and willpower operated on the subconsciousness. To have the highest chance of evolving his lightning and fire, he needed to practice with them even more and look for ways to augment them.

Doing that for fire was easy, and he already knew how to push it. Once he was done with his training his team, many chances for testing would show themselves.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Today was unexpectedly productive, he thought to himself, enjoying the cold water splashing on his head. The shower was one of the few mundane things he still never missed out on. Bodes well for the future. If the next wave isn't rated above six, I might join the front lines to test myself.

Either way, he was happy with the progress.

****

"So…" Jack slowly began, looking at the dungeon entrance. The portal was larger than Classer dungeons by a significant margin. "Why are we here?"

"This," Lev waved a hand towards the portal and stepped out. "Is the silver orc dungeon. It is the easiest to clear, and only has single enemies until the final encounter. You get what I'm saying?"

"I'm in," Amelia chimed in, to no one's surprise.

"I'm really fucking not," Kayla glared at her, and then at Lev. "What makes you think this is anywhere near a decent idea?"

"It is, though," Lev chuckled. "Orcs are weaker than most melee monsters. If you fight against them, it will result in accelerated growth. Come on."

Jack put a hand on her shoulder, silently conversing through his eyes. Kayla deflated after a bit and double-checked her armor. She was a part of the team for good reason and didn't lack any ambition compared to the other three.

It's just gonna take a bit of arguing to convince her in the future, Lev mused, not letting his thoughts show. She's gonna be like the reasonable adult of the team, isn't she? The voice of reason.

Her personality was the most developed of them all, too. Whereas Jack and Amelia constantly observed Lev and other people, Kayla already had her goals and ambitions set out for her. She knew what she wanted.

Even Lev wasn't as confident in his future as she was. He often second-guessed himself, which wasn't surprising at all given his circumstances. Death lingered at every corner far too much.

He had to clear his head when his teammates were ready. Activating the mana concealment formation on his armor, he stepped into the portal.

No enemy was visible on the grassland around him, so he activated the invisibility formation as well. Jack stepped in first after him, shield raised and hammer ready. Amelia and Kayla entered together, their shoulders easing when no monsters were visible nearby.

Lev ascended higher and entered his bubble, not forgetting to leave a few invisible shields near his teammates. Now that they were by themselves, the essence gains weren't going to be affected.

In the distance, a lone orc stood still, gazing at the flat ground with empty eyes. They found some life when its nose twitched, and then blazed with bloodlust when Lev's team came within a few hundred meters.

With a roar, it charged, leaving big indents on the ground with each step.

[Orc Warrior - Level 108]

Jack met its charge and quickly learned that it was a big mistake. His shield almost bent from the direct impact, sending him sliding back for several steps. He had to duck hastily when the monster's fist sailed close to his face, just barely missing.

Amelia quickly made use of the opening, cutting a deep gash on its chest. Or, her sword was supposed to, yet it only cut a few inches and seared the flesh from its temperature.

She darted back to avoid retaliation, and the orc didn't even acknowledge Kayla's mana bolts. They only produced shallow cuts, nothing more than scratches for the monster that stood taller than even Jack.

Hit-and-run tactics were deployed. Jack rushed in with his hammer and avoided direct impacts, only deflecting its blows at best. His body enhancement ran at full strength, barely providing him with the strength to hurt the monster with his hammer.

Amelia's approach was more controlled. She flared her enhancement to its maximum at precise moments, showering the monster with swift blows that cut deeper than the first. Every failure taught her how to pierce the durable flesh better, and her speed let her avoid the orc's meaty limbs.

Things finally tilted in their favor when Kayla's overcharged mana bolt dug into the monster's eye. It roared in pain, leaving itself completely exposed. Amelia's efforts were rewarded as she dug into its lower leg, finally cutting through bone after many strikes in the same location. Her strength still wasn't enough to cleave through, so she compensated with a fire slash inside the limb.

Jack was already present in the falling monster's trajectory. Combined with its fall and his full might, the hammer impacted the back of the orc's skull with enough force to pulp the squishy brain inside.

Hoho, Lev observed it all with a small smile. Kayla rushed to heal Jack's hurting arm from the initial blunder before treating Amelia's burn. A light slap on the back of her silver head was also added to the treatment, just for good measure and a reminder to not burn herself.

How would I compare to that orc? he wondered, watching closely as they found the next orc after twenty minutes. Kayla's buffs allowed them to recover pretty quickly. My disks were going to struggle to cut deep, which left lightning arrows to deal any realistic damage. Fire would, too, but the monster is way more durable than dormant trolls. Lightning was the better option.

He would eventually win. Granted, the fight would take much longer, and he would need to fly around on his shield to slowly target the monster's head. It wasn't a slow monster either. The orc was bulky and horrendous to look at, yet its muscles brimmed with strength and vitality. Each leap was enough to require his team's full effort to dodge, and without the ability to split its attention, Lev might have failed to kill it if something went wrong.

And this is their first fight against a first-threshold monster. It's not like they started with attributes as absurd as mine.

The future was bright, which was why he was even risking it. Granted, they weren't going to clear the full dungeon, as it had nearly two hundred monsters. The humans didn't have the mental fortitude for it either— not yet.

Regardless, fighting a dozen or two orcs was going to provide them with valuable experience in fighting above their level and also accelerate their skill levels. The faster they hit the cap, the faster he could face them on his own.

The next fight came and went, and after confirming that there was nothing abnormal about the dungeon for the third time, Lev allowed himself to relax slightly and work on the next crafting project on his agenda.

It was a simple dart gun. Well, he called it simple, but it was going to make use of an array. The array itself, however, was rather basic. Two formations were included in it, so he started by creating a prototype.

The purpose of the dart wasn't to be useful to him. Instead, he wanted to create it for support combatants and provide them with a decent tool that operated with small amounts of mana and possessed an acceptable degree of lethality.

A simple pipe formed, and he reduced its size until it was less than a foot long, and only as wide as two of his fingers. Enchantments were the tricky part, so he laid down the foundations of the array.

Mana flow rune accepted the input mana, and a timer rune activated the second part of the array after a fixed time by letting the mana stream into it. It was up to Lev to configure them, but he held off on that for now. Acceleration formation and kinetic empowerment, a basic formation designed by himself, were going to be responsible for the dart's speed.

Carving them was a straightforward task. The runes involved were two-dimensional and only reasonably complex, unlike the flameforged constitution. That rune dwarfed everything he had other than arcane supremacy in complexity.

By the time he was done, Lev held up the blowgun close to his eyes. The runes, ones he had practiced a lot before, were carved cleanly, and the array also seemed to be fully functional. All that remained was to configure the mana flow and timer rune, so he set the latter to the minimum interval to manually test it.

Creating a small barrier dart, he dropped it inside the pipe from the open end. A bit of mana was channeled into the array, and it immediately accelerated the barrier dart before the second formation took over. Just before the dart could fly out of the pipe, its kinetic energy was enhanced by a large amount.

The end result was a dart flying out of the pipe with enough speed to kill weak first-threshold monsters with a well-placed shot. Instead of theorizing, Lev quickly flew to an orc opposite to his team, who were currently resting after their second kill.

Forming a small hole in his bubble, the poor orc didn't even know what hit it when the dart blew a hole through its durable, ugly head, cleanly puncturing its brain.

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