”It’s getting troublesome,” Ning said.

”So you need me to go back?” Derel asked.

”Yes. The monsters are getting stronger and I don’t want any mishap to happen while you are away,” Ning said. “If a monster somehow happens to get by me, or if a single attacks goes past me, we could lose with that.”

Derel gave a serious look. “I see. That stone monster was quite hard to beat before this,” she said.

”Yes, let’s go,” Ning said and opened the portal.

”You can just fly instead of opening portals all the time, you know,” Derel said as she walked through it.

”Yeah, well this is easier,” Ning said and walked through it as well.

When the 2 of them arrived back at the tower, Derel looked around as the messy ground and the serious Issi.

”What’s up, little worm? I only left you for a single day, and you are already so haggard,” Derel said.

”Please shut up,” Issi said and closed his eyes. Derel only chuckled at his response.

”Where’s Drake?” she asked.

”He’s gone to make himself stronger,” Ning said.

”And you let him?” she asked.

Ning shrugged. “He wasn’t really any helpful here. He seems to be stronger against humans than monsters,” he said.

”And what if he dies out there?” Derel shouted.

”I don’t think anyone has the luxury to go around killing folks at the moment, so he should be mostly fine,” Ning said.

Ning looked back at Derel who was starting to get mad and said, “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. He knows how important the gem is and won’t try anything funny.”

”Fine, if anything happens, I’m blaming you,” Derel said. “So, what do we do now?”

”Well, since the beast is so strong, we fight it, defeat it, and wait for the next ones,” Ning said.

”What about the ones that will spawn in the other locations where there is no one to defeat it?” she asked.

”Those should most likely go to the center area and wait for someone to kill them,” Ning said. “If we have the time, we will go and get some points. Although, I think we should let them be for a few rounds.”

Derel nodded and went by Issi to sit down. Ning walked over and sat as well. Together, they waited for the monster to spawn.

Once again, it was the stone monster that spawned. Before Ning could even do anything, Derel flew over to it in an arch and landed on top of it.

Then, just like he did, she pressed her hand onto its head and used the full force of her firepower on the head.

Molten rock spilled down the side of the monster’s head until Derel was deep enough to grab the monster core, which she ripped out and jumped down from the disappearing monster.

”Wow,” Ning said as he stared quite seriously. “That’s some serious heat you got there. Do your hands not burn?”

”I’m resistant to heat,” Derel said as she put the stone into her mouth and bit into it.

Ning heard the sound of shattering and looked at her with absolutely disbelief. “That thing survived heat that was enough to melt stone,” he said. “How are you eating it so easily?”

”This mana core? It used to be a regular meal for me when I was back in Baelire,” Derel said.

”Baelire… that’s your planet?” Ning asked.

”Yes,” Derel said.

”And it was full of mana then?” Ning asked.

”Yes,” Derel replied.

Ning got a little curious. “How do you use mana?” he asked.

”Well, there are different ways,” Derel said. “Mine is I use the mana inside of me to use my skills.”

”What are the other ways?” Ning asked. “More exactly, can I use mana without it being inside of me?”

Derel looked at him with a curious look. “There is a way, but even if I tell it to you, you won’t be able to use it at all. Unless you’ve touched mana before, you will find moving it very hard,” she said.

”Try me,” Ning said. “You might find that mana has indeed already affected me.”

”Oh has it?” Derel asked. “Well, I can’t help you. Sorry. The method includes using very long chants to move the mana and make it do what you want with it.”

”Unfortunately, I never bothered learning those chants,” Derel said. “So you’re out of luck.”

”Tsk,” Ning clicked his tongue.

The next couple of fights went smoothly. With the help of Derel who could renew her energy from the mana core that she ate, Ning didn’t need to do anything.

In fact, he even took her to the center area to defeat a few of the many monsters that were roaming the area.

As the sun came up, Drake swiftly returned to the group, a lot healthier now than he used to be before.

”How many did you kill?” Ning asked.

”2,” Drake said. “One from the 9th group, and another from he 1st group I believe.”

Once Drake sat around, the battle field started to get stagnant.

The monster upgraded once more and this time, the one that appeared was a lich that could create skeletons for them to fight. 𝑜𝓋𝗅𝐞xt.𝗇𝓔t

Also, the lich was ethereal until you defeated the skeletons.

This monster was easier than the stone one that came before, but it took longer to defeat. Also, Derel couldn’t fight with her full power here as there was nothing to renew the mana she lost now.

She was starting to face the same problem Ning did.

”Although it’s not just us that will lose if this goes on for longer, but I don’t want to win with no energy only for there to be another competition right after this,” Ning said and thought to himself.

”Goddammit! I have an idea, but it is super risky.”