As Bors was leaving, a bag of money suddenly appeared in his hand, out of nowhere. A voice followed close by.
"Money for your drinks."
Hearing the voice by his ear, Bors felt his heart pounding hard. He stared at the money pouch in his hand, excitement plain on his face, before it finally settled into a low chuckle and a quiet murmur.
"Thanks, big shot."
Bell brushed past him and headed straight for the dungeon entrance.
There was no need for extra words. Standing at the entrance, Bell could no longer sense anyone else inside the dungeon.
'About time.'
With that thought, Bell stepped directly into the dungeon.
...
The first thing he reached was the spiraling passage that descended from the dungeon entrance. Bell stood at the edge of the path and jumped straight down. The drop only took about a second before his feet touched the ground below.
He landed without making a sound, like a ghost.
Bell nodded slightly, satisfied.
"Mm, not bad. At least I'm not losing control of even the most basic level of power."
Bell had been testing his own lower limits this whole time.
Through the ascension ritual, he had accepted the "Simulated Star Creation Map," allowing him to transcend the limits of the world and step into an entirely new realm.
That process granted him extraordinary power, but that power was far beyond anything he had imagined. The upper limit alone already surpassed his expectations. Fortunately, he hadn't tried using that maximum yet. His minimum output, at least, was still within his control.
'But power at the extreme end is still outside what I can handle.'
That was the most troublesome problem Bell faced right now.
Only by fully releasing himself and unleashing his absolute limit could he truly test where his baseline lay.
If he didn't even know his own bottom line, he could easily misjudge both his strength and that of his enemies.
'Come to think of it, the Floor Boss on the 17th floor should be strengthened as well.'
'I can use the Floor Boss to help test where my upper limit is.'
'Before that, I need to get a better grasp of my Authority.'
With that in mind, Bell stepped into the pitch-black cavern.
The pathways of the first dozen or so floors were already completely familiar to him. Back then, Bell had trained here for a very long time, to the point where he knew every route by heart.
He could move through these corridors effortlessly even with his eyes closed.
With his understanding of space, he could sketch out the entire layout of a floor in his mind without relying on sight.
Gradually, Bell closed his eyes.
His spatial perception expanded little by little until it encompassed the entire floor. The spatial map began to take on colors drawn from his own perception, making the image far more vivid.
Subtle fluctuations in space caused vibrations in sound, allowing Bell to "see" the monsters appearing throughout the floor.
Naturally, he could also clearly track the goblins moving at high speed.
"Fast."
These goblins were noticeably larger than normal, each gripping a short blade as they darted through the floor with exceptional speed and agility.
They were extremely good at concealing their presence, and even the sounds they made while moving were faint. They were nothing like the goblins usually encountered on the first floor.
There were eight of them in total.
"Their objective is pretty clear."
They had practically locked straight onto his position.
Bell let out a quiet remark. He hadn't used his Authority to conceal his presence, but being able to pinpoint him this accurately meant these goblins were definitely being boosted by Mother.
Still, considering that this was meant to be a performance to declare his strength, Bell could more or less understand her reasoning.
After all, sneaking all the way down to the 99th floor hadn't exactly made for great viewing.
In the blink of an eye, the goblins appeared right in front of him.
"Geh geh geh!"
Their voices sounded like broken machinery. Their faces were twisted with ferocity, and their eyes gleamed with an intense desire.
Every single goblin was the same.
It was the desire to live, burning fiercely within them.
The goblins gripping their short blades exchanged glances, as if coordinating tactics. Then they spread out, took their positions, and attacked at the same time.
Eight goblins charged at Bell from all directions.
Bell wasn't in any hurry. He pressed his thumb and middle finger together and snapped lightly.
"!!!"
A blinding flash exploded outward, bright enough to temporarily steal their sight, instantly engulfing all the goblins' vision.
"Aaaaaah!"
The sudden light robbed every goblin of their sight.
Creatures that lose their vision instinctively start swinging their weapons, trying to make sure nothing gets close, acting purely on self-preservation.
Bell, who didn't need his eyes to confirm positions, had nothing to worry about.
Though surrounded by goblins, he remained calm. He shifted slightly to the side and casually used "Chaos" to make every goblin's weapon unnaturally sharp. Then he stood there quietly, watching the show.
After a short while, the goblins' frantic movements subsided. Their vision hadn't fully returned yet, but their ears strained to pick up every sound around them.
At that moment, all it took was a very, very faint noise.
"Clack!"
The sound of a small stone hitting the ground.
"Geh geh geh!"
As if spurred on, all the goblins charged toward the sound at once, thrusting their short blades with all their strength at its source.
"Pshk!"
All eight blades struck their targets.
Only the targets weren't Bell, who was watching from the side.
They were each other.
The strikes were precise, piercing straight through the goblins' magic stones.
"Sha…"
Filled with unwillingness, all eight goblins turned into piles of white ash scattered across the ground, their eight short blades clattering down with them.
After watching the scene play out, Bell quietly stepped up to the ash. With a slight lift of his finger, the eight short blades on the ground rose into the air, as if suspended by invisible strings.
"Not bad quality. First-tier weapons."
Bell easily judged the level of the blades.
"They really did prepare thoroughly."
"Well, no harm in putting them to use."
A rift opened in four-dimensional space, as if a deep pit had been carved out of the world itself, swallowing all the suspended blades in one go.
"Next is the second floor."
...
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