The Supreme Level Up System

"We should swim around the area and then slowly decrease their numbers," Sauros declared. "There is no point in risking everything because we are in a hurry and don't know when people of the region will bother us."

"They are moving around the entrance of the dungeon as if they were trying to mimic a whirlwind… do you know why they are doing that?" Seris asked.

"No idea. This dungeon wasn't cleared a single time in hundreds of years, so everything is possible," Sauros said. "Let's just play by the ear."

"The dungeon never broke in hundreds of years?" Aion asked.

"It probably did, but as I said before, the core draws energy from the surroundings to create monsters. Only so much energy a core can draw every single day," Sauros replied. "Also, since there are no islands nearby, it would be hard to tell when the dungeon broke, and they aren't acting like that because of a dungeon break, that I am sure."

"You said that the Barrier of the temple draws mana from the surroundings, and so does a dungeon core… what would happen if they fight over the mana?" Aion asked.

"That is a good question, and I have no idea what will happen," Sauros said. "Maybe that conflict is what is causing that weird behavior of the monster…"

There was only one way to find out… the group began to swim around the area, and they attracted a few monsters at a time. They also tested the range of the crossbows, and while they could kill monsters three hundred meters away. It was too hard to aim, and the monsters had plenty of time to dodge.

After doing that for a few hours and using one-third of their stock of magic stones, Sauros decided to call it a day. Their bodies were getting tired of being underwater, and their aim was decreasing because of it.

When they returned to the starting point, the crew of The Breeze of the Sea undid the invisibility effect and then helped them climb with some ropes. Aion noticed that they looked a bit troubled, so it seemed that something had happened.

"Sir, we spotted several ships in the area in the last few hours."

"They belonged to pirates and to the battalions in the islands, I suppose…" Sauros said while rubbing his chin. "They will keep their searches in this area, and since you guys saw some of the pirates' ships, then the people of the islands must know that their base is nearby… if only we could tail them…"

"You really want to use every possible chance to crush them, huh…" Aion said. "That being said, the amount of treasure that they might have makes me interested as well in doing that."

While Seris sighed, Sauros looked at Aion as if he was a weird creature. By himself and at his age, he was one of the richest in the kingdom, and he wanted more… they had no idea that Aion was the type who would try his best at everything, even if there wasn't a point in doing so.

"We should move a bit far away from this area to avoid fighting the monsters. We can't attack if we want to stay hidden," Sauros declared.

"I should have designed some cannons that fire wind magic… that would let us stay hidden even while using them," Seris said.

"You need to rest, and you can worry about that later," Sauros said.

Those two left for their cabins, and then Aion checked the used magic stones. They didn't look like glass anymore… They looked like they were hardened by fire mud balls. It was really weird how mana could change something like that so much… Aion's plans of replicating that had to be delayed.

"I thought of creating a core using this as a basis, but not a physical one… I don't think my body would do well if a magic stone suddenly appeared and grew inside it," Aion thought. "I am not that tired, so I guess I will just meditate and try to think of what I can do to solve that matter."

Aion also stayed alert in case some ships appeared nearby when they used the cannons. Still, they did an excellent job exterminating a lot of monsters on the first day, so that didn't happen often. In the end, he went to rest in his cabin after not making much progress on that problem… it wasn't like he had a hard time due to the short duration of Force release, but he got pretty close.

On the next day, Aion woke up and went to the deck only to hear that some sailors were reporting things to him in the captain's cabin. He already could tell what those were about since he saw it in the distance… there was a fleet traveling in the region… while it only had five ships, it was a clear sign that the people of the islands were approaching.

"I guess the fact that we are killing the monsters is also helping them approach often… they aren't being attacked, after all," Aion thought.

"My brother will be busy thinking of our next steps for a while. Perhaps we should start without him," Seris said. "That will decrease the burden on his shoulders."

"Let's not be hasty regarding this issue…" Aion said. "Dashing ahead without a proper plan might as well cause more problems for all of us. In any case, considering what I saw your creations are capable of, it makes me wonder why you didn't develop a cannon able to destroy a ship in an instant."

"I thought of making one, but it would need too much mana beyond our means," Seris explained. "Using the magic stones might do the job, but I guess one of them would be consumed with every shot. It would be the same as firing gold coins. We have some amazing magic technology, but we can't sell it…"