Unlimited Power 02 - The Ranger's Domain

"As expected, you humans are really versatile," Femradiel said. "I think those creatures are more like entities than a proper species of monster, but they still manage to fuse their bodies with them and they still can absorb others for a power up."

"That bloodline is too convenient…" Ryan said. "Still, I have a hard time believing that there are no demerits… most likely, they sacrificed the potential they had to obtain other bloodlines for the sake of making a single one more powerful in their bodies."

Femradiel nodded since that made a lot of sense. In any case, she didn't think that they were being controlled. After absorbing some specters, they tested their new strength, and they looked pretty excited about it…

"What are you going to do with them?" Femradiel asked. "I already know the answer since those are probably some of the people who left that base, but this is probably a bad idea. While their numbers are relatively small, I don't think you can kill them as fast as you need. Once they notice you, the fight will drag out and only you will lose if that happens."

"When did you become such a coward?" Ryan asked. "I fought hundreds of times at a numerical disadvantage, this is like breathing to me."

"That is right, but you don't have many good experiences while fighting when your head was hot, right?" Femradiel asked. "Try to think for a second that this isn't the place where your parents are buried and then come up with a decent plan of action."

Thanks to Femradiel's words, Ryan realized that he was too eager to fight. Sometimes that was good, but sometimes, it wasn't. Ryan recalled the time when he lost his hand, and a few weeks after, he was almost crushed by a t-rex… he had to calm down and think things through. Even if he can heal his body from most injuries, he wasn't immortal, and Ryan's true power could only be shown when he keeps his head cool.

"While I say that, you still can let your blood rush to your head, but I would recommend using Draconic Transformation to increase your chances of winning," Femradiel added. "Only those who have brute strength and a lot of resilience can afford to let their feelings control their actions."

"... You are not very convincing when you say two opposite things one after the other," Ryan said after a long sigh. "Anyway, thanks for helping me calm down."

"Just don't get used to it, I am a dragon and I like to rampage," Femradiel said. "I can't let you do the same until you decide to use Draconic Transformation."

Ryan laughed a little, and he felt relieved by the fact that he still could listen to the advice of others, even though the others at that moment could only be resumed to Femradiel.

In any case, Ryan wanted to watch more of the humans, but much to his disappointment, they returned to the dungeon after a while. It was weird… Why didn't they try to absorb all the specters? Their numbers were pretty high, and the dungeon was about to break… Ryan knew very well about human greed, so he couldn't understand they would waste such a chance to grow stronger. The only plausible explanation was that only certain specters could be absorbed for some reason…

"I seriously need to level up Appraisal and reach a point where I can see all of the skills of my targets," Ryan said. "At this rate, I will get surprised in all future battles."

If Appraisal couldn't help Ryan at the moment, the only thing that could give him an explanation was to watch the specters. It seemed like a waste of time, but Ryan put on hold his plans of killing them.

While flying high in the sky, Ryan managed to see a good part of the destroyed Dallas and almost all the specters moving around. Much to his surprise, not a single one of them left the perimeter, and with the exception of a few dozen that were hunting the monsters leaving the other dungeons, the vast majority moved around their dungeon in a circle.

After approaching the specters that were hunting, Ryan noticed something weird… when they killed some salamanders and giant ants, their bodies turned into ashes…

"What was that?" Ryan frowned in surprise.

"… It looks like those creatures completely erased from existence the soul of those monsters," Femradiel said, trying to keep herself as calm as possible. "They stole the monsters' spirits when they died, thus absorbing all their strength and knowledge."

That would explain why they suddenly grew stronger, but such a high-level was… just insane. It was even weirder than those monsters were being used to strengthen humans that just joined their sides. If those specters could just leave the area and hunt monsters, they would make their dungeon reach max level in just a few weeks, so why aren't they doing that?

"I know that I am repeating myself, but for each answer I find, I get three more the more questions…" Ryan said and then sighed. "Whatever… it is time to create my domain."

Just like in Tokyo, the four dungeons were located in the cardinal points. However, the specters dungeon was more at the center than at the South of the area. Most likely, the dungeon master made the dungeon appear there on purpose to stay closer to each of the other three dungeons. Ryan was determined to do the same, but he would be even more insane since his domain wound starts off inside the square formed by those four dungeons.

"I guess I need to prepare some surprises to deal with those humans," Ryan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I don't know how much my actions will be limited once I create the domain, so I need to solve this now…"

While that would take some time to prepare, Ryan found more or less a good way to surprise them…