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"So tired."
Ronen stretched lazily.
These days he had been staying with the Hera Familia, and constantly dealing with all those girls with their strange and unpredictable personalities left him feeling mentally exhausted.
Especially that Amazon empress—she didn't even treat him like a man, and he couldn't count how many times she had taken advantage of him.
Then again, for Amazons, the social roles of men and women were basically reversed.
When they went out into the world, they could "spend a night" with someone and even receive money for it. For them, that was a profitable deal.
Empress, however, as a member of the Hera Familia, couldn't possibly behave as freely as other Amazons in her private life.
Even so, her daily interactions were far bolder than most women.
And it wasn't just her—other girls also liked to tease Ronen.
As a self-proclaimed "weak chicken," he couldn't resist and could only take it in stride.
Fortunately, Meteria didn't seem to mind. Even when she saw it happening, she would simply smile and say nothing, which only encouraged the other girls even more. This was also one of the reasons why Hera gave up on the idea of marking him with her falna.
Ronen himself wasn't interested in joining Hera's Familia anyway. If he had to choose, he would rather start from scratch with his own Familia.
With his abilities, he could shape a Familia entirely in his own image—and with Hera Familia as allies, he didn't need to worry about safety.
Resources, connections, power—none of it was a concern. Naturally, he would choose freedom.
"But the progress is slow. Not everyone can be like Alfia."
Thinking back to the girls' progress during this time, Ronen shook his head.
The Hera Familia had quite a few Level 6 and above first-tier adventurers, but even the queen's learning speed wasn't great—especially since Ronen's new theoretical framework was far too advanced for them.
At this rate, it would take at least one or two months before they could learn flight magic.
As for Alfia… Ronen had developed his flight magic together with her.
In terms of raw talent, he was far inferior to her—only in thinking patterns did he have a slight edge.
Well, maybe not a slight edge.
In this world, the mindset of someone playing game of my world with unlimited freedom development magic was practically a dimensionality reduction attack. Even gods couldn't compete with him in certain areas, let alone Alfia.
"Time to relax in the Dungeon."
Rising to his feet, Ronen told Meteria where he was going, then left.
Someone still shadowed him for protection, though this time it wasn't at Meteria's personal request—it was Hera Familia's own arrangement, which proved how much they valued him.
Today's trip to the Dungeon was partly for stress relief, partly for magic experiments.
Recently, Ronen had developed what he called a mental training method.
It was a way to compress and temper one's own mental power, hammering it until it underwent a qualitative change beyond its limits.
The method was difficult and carried some risk, but the results were excellent.
In a sense, Ronen had become a "Hero" in terms of magic.
In the Age of Heroes, a hallmark of heroes was their ability to surpass their limits during battle.
Ronen did the same—but through deliberate training.
In addition to the mental training method, Ronen had extended his body-adjustment magic into a new form: regulation magic.
This allowed his body and mind to remain in the most balanced and healthy state possible, nourishing both over time.
Then, he created gravity magic, inscribing it into his body through engraved magic so that it automatically adjusted itself, turning his own body into a constant training device.
As a result, his physical fitness had grown considerably, enough to perform many magic experiments that required a strong body as a foundation.
One of these was instant movement magic.
He had already completed movement-based magic before—essentially condensing mana beneath his feet to create reactive force.
It was somewhat like running across water, except in explosive bursts of movement. It required both fine mana control and a strong body.
Now was the perfect time to test instant movement magic in actual combat.
His return to the Dungeon was much more relaxed than the first time.
Compared to his cautiousness back then, Ronen had grown immensely—he didn't even need to use detection waves anymore.
As his mental power approached a qualitative transformation, his basic perception had greatly improved.
His five senses might not match a beastman's, but his sixth sense and mana perception were already above most high-level adventurers.
"First, let's test the flying sword magic."
At his mental command, over a dozen swords floated from the pack on his back.
"Go."
The blades shot forward, piercing several goblins through the skull.
As the monsters turned to ash, their magic stones floated into the air before they even hit the ground, flying neatly into Ronen's pack.
Flying sword magic had evolved from Mage Hand, a spell that created invisible hands capable of exerting force.
In theory, one could even use Mage Hand to lift oneself, though it was clumsy and costly in mana.
Thus, Mage Hand was the prototype—flying sword magic was the intermediate form, and flight magic was the advanced form. They formed a clear progression on a single magical skill tree.
"As expected, this is way better than Blade Source Slash."
Ronen muttered, "That's the difference between having a weapon and not having one."
He wasn't just controlling the swords with Mage Hand—he had inscribed magic into them.
With magic flowing through the inscriptions, he could control them far beyond his usual range—up to a hundred meters to take an enemy's head, and with less mana cost than Blade Source Slash.
"Range, cost—no problem."
He nodded slightly.
Power still needed testing, but it should be comparable to Blade Source Slash.
These were just ordinary swords, though. If he could make them into cursed weapons, they would be even deadlier.
Cursed weapons could only be created by those with the Mystery development ability—they were essentially the opposite counterpart to magic swords and enchanted gear, imbued not with enchantments, but with curses.
That way, he could stack weapon advantages on top of magic advantages—expanding range, reducing cost, and increasing power.
But flying sword magic wasn't the only thing on his mind—there was also flight magic and movement magic.
"Let's begin."
His challenge: reach the 18th floor in the shortest time possible.
Ronen took a deep breath, focused his mind, and brought his state to its peak.
Then—he floated up into the air.
"Instant Movement Magic!"
Using flight magic as the base, Ronen began accelerating.
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