The Supreme Level Up System

"We have watched that place for ten years, but nothing has changed," Sauros said. "Ghosts have the power to take over the bodies of their targets and make them stronger with their own techniques. They are truly a pain in the ass. However, such a dungeon can only exist until all the ghosts are destroyed. My family worked to make some of those disappear."

"Do you know that bandits assholes have waged a war to obtain the terrain where the capital was supposed to be?" Aion asked.

"We have, but it is unlikely that someone could try to use such a dungeon for themselves," Sauros replied. "They aren't stupid to think that they can use the dungeon for some sort of gain. In the first place, those dungeons give no materials."

That made sense, but Aion was determined to make those assholes leave that land one day. He just needs some more influence to ignore the complaints of others if he starts a war. He also needs some more fighting power, and the death knights were helping him in that regard.

"What else can you say?" Aion asked.

"About dungeons? Let's see… have you ever wondered how they can spawn monsters?" Sauros asked. "Some of them use mana to lure monsters and feed them to make them reproduce faster, but some others make them appear using raw mana. That is why people use them to farm materials. However, they need other things to save mana and make the process actually feasible. They drain energy and nutrients from the areas around the dungeon to make more monsters."

"That seems a lot more plausible… I feel like I have seen something like that that confirms such a thing," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"If you passed through that desert to save your mother, that is a fine example of the work of a dungeon," Sauros said. "Deserts are born like that. Speaking of which, some of my ancestors say that yours managed to learn and control that process. The reason behind that is the fact that the capital of the Mileris kingdom was originally a desert, and they transformed it into a giant oasis with magic, but they never confirmed that…"

"Mom said that she didn't know a lot of things since she wasn't the heir of the family, I guess that is a piece of information lost forever."

"I thought that you would say something like that you would recover the secrets of your family," Sauros said.

"While that sounds interesting, I already have too much on my plate," Aion said. "Once I build a nation for my mother, then I will be able to focus on other things, but right now, I can't get sidetracked."

Speaking of getting sidetracked, the group arrived two days later on the second island. Things were still pretty tense there, so the people didn't receive them with open arms. Even the merchants didn't look in a good mood when they sold dozens of magic stones, and they bought several of many places in order not to stand out.

"Several buildings have been destroyed, and the smell of smoke still is in the air…" Sauros said.

"It has been a week… are they using smoke for some other thing like cremating the dead?" Aion asked.

"Yes, they do that around here," Sauros replied. "They believe that the Body of those that were killed when it wasn't their time to go might be taken over by evil spirits. Sounds familiar?"

"Hmm… it seems that the sailors on the port are quite busy despite the attacks," Aion said. "Are they going to be alert for a while and then slack off in the future again."

"That is possible, but…" Sauros said while looking around and seeing the number of guards and adventurers armed to the teeth. "Maybe will try to look for the pirates once again… people around here can be hot-blooded when they want. That is another problem on our hands…"

Aion didn't have to ask to understand that they would look for the enemies in the area around the dungeon… it couldn't have been helped, but the timing for them to arrive when the situation was getting complicated sure was difficult.

Since the group was in another race agaisnt time, they left the second port city as soon as possible. Seris didn't say a single thing the whole time. She was deep in thought while thinking about how to craft the items that they were going to use… they only had two days left to reach the dungeon, and considering that the chances of them clearing the place on the first run were small, she was probably running out of time.

"Don't worry. When she acts like that, you can expect good things from her creations," Sauros said.

"If you say so," Aion said.

Aion wouldn't worry if she weren't a part of the group that was going to the dungeon, but since she was, the bags under her eyes were worthy of worrying about. Aion couldn't save her from drowning even with Devotion.

Two days later, when they were only a couple of hours away from their destination, Aion noticed that the cannons were being used more often than before. When he looked ahead, he saw some bodies of monsters emerging from the ocean… they were covered on a round carapace, and it was pretty large and long since the bodies of those creatures were as big as humans. It was quite hard to describe them since they looked like humanoid worms… without limbs… when the ship got close enough, they would close their carapace and then charge at the ship.

"They are ready," Seris said while carrying two big crossbows that looked like shotguns. "You will regret not asking to have one of these. Also, this is the helmet that we will need, and it can illuminate the path ahead and offer us air to breathe as well."

Aion frowned when he saw an exact copy of a gas mask…