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The principle of flight magic was simple: channel magic power to create a continuous effect, then use one's will to wrap the body in that power, lifting oneself into the air.
That faint glow cloaking Ronen's body was the auxiliary effect of the spell, constantly draining his magic as long as it remained active. By carefully manipulating the flow of magic, he could freely control direction and speed.
During this process, Ronen combined the spell with his Instant Step—a movement technique based on the principle of reaction force—to accelerate. His body shot forward at a speed surpassing that of lower-class adventurers.
"Fast… about fifty-three meters per second. That's nearly twice the speed of a cheetah."
An ordinary human, without a Falna, could only reach about ten meters per second at their limit. Cheetahs, on the other hand, could sprint at nearly thirty.
By comparison, a high-ranked Level 2 adventurer—requiring at least one ability score in the D-rank range (500–599)—could achieve cheetah-like speeds, surpassing the boundaries of human capability.
Their overall strength would be enough to slaughter a cheetah in an instant. With combat experience, such an adventurer could even defeat a pride of lions without magic.
And yet, Ronen's current ability already eclipsed an ordinary Level 2 adventurer.
Even if this world's power system was not the strongest, the gap between levels remained absolute. But Ronen had broken this truth with nothing more than his own effort. It wasn't some innate talent or exclusive bloodline magic—it was something anyone could learn, something anyone could accomplish.
At such speeds, most monsters didn't even have time to react before Ronen had left them far behind.
He had no interest in wasting time fighting the weak creatures of the upper floors.
In Orario, nearly half of all adventurers were still Level 1. Most spent their days roaming the first six floors in groups.
The deeper one went, the greater the danger. Many of those so-called "adventurers" weren't truly risking their lives—they treated the Dungeon as a stable livelihood, lingering in the shallow floors where they could bully weak monsters in safety.
That was why, despite living in an age of myths and gods, the number of true heroes hadn't grown at the same pace as the number of adventurers.
Ronen had no intention of stealing food from the weak.
He dove deeper at full speed, and in less than ten minutes, he reached the Tenth Floor.
"…Here will do."
He slowed to a halt, descending gracefully from the air.
The orcs on this floor were excellent opponents for testing. True, the young dragons of the Twelfth Floor would make better test subjects, but those creatures were far too rare. Orcs, on the other hand, were plentiful enough to keep him busy for a while.
"One-third of my magic gone already. Quite the drain," Ronen murmured, then quickly entered a meditative state to recover.
Besides ordinary meditation, he also possessed the Mana Extraction Method—an advanced technique beyond simple meditation.
After all, the mind was part of the body, a product of the brain's activity. Thus, physical stamina and mental energy could be converted into one another. By forcibly squeezing the body's vitality, the Extraction Method could restore his magic much faster.
This made Ronen far bolder in the Dungeon than during his first visit.
With meditation alone, ten minutes was enough to recover all the magic he had spent. With the Extraction Method, he could do so in just thirty seconds.
"Let's begin."
His gaze fell on an approaching orc. With a thought, his flying sword lifted into the air, glimmering with the sharp brilliance of wind.
A flash of intent—and the blade pierced clean through the orc's skull.
With the current density of Ronen's magic, his attribute-infused attacks could easily kill an orc. Only against a young dragon would he expect any real trouble.
The sword soared freely through the air, weaving around him as it cut down goblins, gnomes, and every other monster that dared approach, leaving nothing but corpses in its wake.
"Not enough."
Ronen pulled an item from his bag—a lure that attracted monsters—and tossed it onto the ground.
Within moments, more than thirty orcs gathered around him, snarling and tightening their encirclement.
"Let's start with some elemental magic testing."
Lightning flickered to life in his palm, crackling violently before bursting into a chorus of shrill, piercing cries.
"—Chidori."
In a flash of movement, his body blurred. The lightning blade pierced clean through an orc's chest, heart and all.
"Chidori Spear!"
Kicking off the corpse beneath his feet, Ronen converted magic into raw reaction force, propelling himself high into the air. Several bolts of thunder lanced outward in his wake, forming sharp spears of lightning that struck down three more orcs in an instant.
But by then, two of the brutes had already swung their massive clubs down upon him.
"Rotation."
Ronen didn't spin himself. Instead, his magic began rotating rapidly in a circular flow around him. The high-speed currents deflected the blows, forcing the orcs' attacks away. Even so, the heavy impact forced Ronen a step downward, proving the limits of his current mana density.
"It seems… this is about the limit of what I can block."
"Wind Rotation."
Another orc roared and charged. This time, Ronen invoked the same defensive spell, but infused it with the wind element.
The effect was immediate—its repulsion far cleaner and sharper. The incoming strike was easily knocked aside, and at the same time, the outward flow transformed into razor-edged wind blades that pierced the skulls of two nearby orcs.
In magical theory, the lowest level of attack—mere magic bullets—was considered basic magic.
Spells with active movement and shape manipulation counted as intermediate magic.
If elemental attributes were woven into them, they became advanced magic.
By that measure, simple Rotation was intermediate, while Wind Rotation was advanced.
"Enough for ordinary combat, but… against something like the Black Dragon, it's still nowhere near sufficient."
He compared carefully.
"Shockwave Barrier is instantaneous defense. Rotation is broader coverage with slightly lower consumption, and adding attributes increases adaptability, making it more reliable than Shockwave. Each has its merits."
Still, even at this level, he sensed a ceiling. The spell's growth potential had reached its natural limit.
But he wasn't done yet.
"Heart-Guard Armor."
A faint golden shimmer enveloped him, forming an invisible barrier that clung tightly to his frame. The encircling orcs roared and battered him with clubs, yet Ronen didn't move at all—only standing calmly as their blows struck the unseen armor.
The Heart-Guard Armor compressed magic particles to the point of qualitative change, manifesting as a defensive shell. Infused with the element of earth, the armor cloaked his body in a shield that wasn't merely auxiliary—it existed outside of his flight spell, layering a true stone-like armor around him.
"Strong defense. Long duration, too."
His judgment was clear. His eyes gleamed faintly as the flying sword launched once more. In just two seconds, it carved through the thirty-odd orcs surrounding him, leaving nothing but corpses scattered on the stone floor.
"This kind of heavy reassurance…" Ronen murmured in satisfaction.
By strict magical standards, this was still only advanced magic—a common application of elemental transformation.
But considering that its prototype came from Noelle, the Knightly Maid of Genshin Impact, he couldn't help but feel impressed.
"Summary."
The experiment concluded, Ronen organized his results aloud.
"Shockwave Barrier, Rotation, and Heart-Guard Armor—the defensive power of the three doesn't differ too much. It's purely a matter of situation."
Shockwave Barrier was a speed-type spell, able to activate instantly.
Rotation served as both defense and counterattack—essentially a magic parry.
Heart-Guard Armor, meanwhile, was the most stable, long-term defense. Earth element suited it best.
"If adjusted properly, Heart-Guard Armor can be tuned to maximize both physical defense and fire resistance. With that… I'd have a specialized counter against the Black Dragon's claws and breath."
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