I continue to stare down at the floor, pondering what to say back to Lith's offer.

Then, I turn to Maria, and she speaks in a soft tone while still holding onto my left arm from earlier in the meeting.

"Whatever your decision is, I'll follow it."

I nod in response.

"I know. I just need some more time to think about this...."

At all this news, and life-changing decisions that have been thrown at me all of a sudden, I almost feel sick to my stomach.

I turn back to Lith.

"I'd like to train in the high-grade dungeons you mentioned you had access to. A good workout and training session would be enough to clear my mind and think things through."

He smiles back at me and stands from his seat.

"Very well. Seems reasonable to me."

He turns to Maria.

"You can show him to the dungeon access portal; I'm sure both of you have a lot to talk about."

*Ding*

Before Maria can respond, the white wall behind us opens up, and an elevator door swings open to let out a green-haired woman emitting an impressive aura.

I turn my head at the sound and appraise a level 604 hunter with healing and earth magic, then see the much more matured face and athletic body of Abby, my other teammate.

As my eyes meet hers, the corner of her lips turns up into a smile.

"Look who decided to finally wake up out of their early grave."

She practically skips out from the elevator door and comes over to the couch, placing a hand on on both Maria's and my back, glowing with a faint green light.

Simultaneously, I feel all the leftover fatigue from my fight in the arena go away, and hear Abby speak again.

"I watched both your matches on the big screen downstairs, now I'm itching to try out my chances at fighting one of those monsters in the 7th stage too."

She laughs, then comes around to the other side of the couch to greet us.

Lith stands up from his desk and looks at me before walking toward the elevator himself.

"Well, enjoy. Jay, consider my offer and enjoy the amenities for the time being. I do hope we get the chance to work together soon. I have a busy day tomorrow, so I'm going to take a quick dip in the isolation pods before the sun comes up."

There's a click and a ding, followed by the elevator going down.

I wonder what he's talking about but assume it's just some more fancy tech. I'm more focused on the arrival of another one of my teammates.

After a short greeting, it's clear my mind is in turmoil, and Abby points to the door Lith just left through.

"I just finished up a training session, but I'd like to come and watch the two of you if you're planning on a late-night dungeon dive. Maybe I'll even go for round 2."

I nod.

"Yes. Bring me there."This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

All 3 of us board the elevator, and it flies downward faster than it went up.

Any normal human would be scared out of their minds and most definitely break a few bones on impact when the floor stops. I brace myself and don't say anything, but Abby chuckles at my small facial reactions.

"You get used to it."

The door swings open, and we're brought into another blinding white room.

Inside, there are 3 stairways that lead downward with letters on the floor right in front of them.

[Lv.1-200][Lv.201-400][Lv.401-600]

The labeling is pretty self-explanatory, but Maria points to the large transport platform to their left side with a big bucket full of shimmering crystals next to it.

"Oh yeah, take 1, or even a few of these just in case we get in trouble. These are the transport crystals that will bring us right back to the lobby. This platform can bring us to the train station in the town below the mountain if you want to leave the city. I assume that's how you got to Sector 1, right?"

I nod, grabbing a handful of crystals and putting them into my item storage.

"Right, never know I guess..."

Abby and Maria both take one for themselves, then we all walk down the [Lv.401-600] Stairway.

It leads down almost 10 meters, and to my surprise, there's another small transport circle on the ground and a wall behind it.

We all hop on, and as the white light blinks and transports us away, I hear Maria's voice begin explaining.

"Where we're going can be considered the Valor City Dungeon Hub. Though, it's not really called that, that's just how I think of it."

The white flash ceases, and we're all standing in a very dimly lit underground cave.

There are faint glows of blue portals nearby, and the cave system itself is overflowing with mana.

I pull out my sword and light the tip with a bright flame to make it easier to see, and Abby begins to speak up as we walk over to one of the nearby dungeon portals.

"We're deep below the city right now. The corrupted Royal Guards sometimes come down here in the day, but as long as you don't antagonize them, they won't bother you much. This is shared territory by everyone within the inner city. If you have access to a portal that comes down here, you won't be interrogated. However, if you go missing, there won't be any questions asked either."

"Hmm."

I expand my All-Seeing Eye to study the entire cave system.

There seem to be over a dozen portals in various points, the ceiling is almost 20 meters high in certain areas and as low as 2 meters in others.

As we step up to one of the strongest mana-reading portals, I sense the abundance of a high Qi concentration deep down one of the cave's pathways as well. Nowhere near as much as Monk's fortress, but far more than anywhere else I've ventured since I've awakened this new sense.

Maria pulls out her sword and starts to glow light blue, almost matching the portal's hue.

"Alright, ready? It's pretty hot in here. This is the dungeon that holds one of the monsters you fought in the arena, the Red Ogres. The Boss monster can sometimes be very close to or just over level 600. This is where I've been doing most of my leveling, buff control practice, and mana control training over the last week."

Abby pulses green.

"Yeah, this is where I just finished up my solo session, let's head in!"

She jumps through, then Maria and I follow.

The landscape inside is not far from what I expected. A very rocky, mountainous region, with very few plants, and dark soil. It has unique bright red crystal-like rock structures that pop out of the ground in certain points.

These stones are much denser with mana than the surrounding terrain, but far from as pure as actual mana crystals.

The air is humid, and the temperature is hot like we're under the desert sun, but there's hardly any light source in the sky. It's mostly grey, giving off just enough light like a very foggy morning.

We begin to venture through for no more than 10 minutes, and almost immediately, one of the towering sword-wielding creatures at level 566 comes running at us. It stands tall with an impressive mana shielding and golden glow, showing off its extreme strength skill.

Abby and Maria step back to allow me the first kill of the hunt.

I take this opportunity to practice my Qi a bit more, along with getting used to my swordsmanship buff while I'm at it.

Before a second passes, the warm wave of Qi and the blood-colored thread connect on the Ogre's neck, granting me a small amount of MCP to absorb, followed by a large mana crystal after it dissolves onto the rocky floor being burned away by the residual black flames of my attack.

Abby claps slowly, and Maria comes walking over with a grin ear to ear.

The moment they do, another Ogre's roar rings out from not too far away.

Abby turns to it, summoning a spear of stone in her right hand.

"Another one so soon? Dibs! This one's mine! It looks like we're going to have a busy session today!"

She starts sprinting away as we agree. Once she's out of earshot, Maria asks me a question.

"Hey Jay, do you think I could try out more of your skills? Like you did back in the hotel suite with Self Regeneration, but with something combat-related. Do you have anything that might improve my current fighting style?

I pick up the mana crystal from the ground that dropped from the fallen beast, then think about her question very carefully.

While throwing the stone up and down in my hand as I walk closer, an idea comes to mind. A skill that could potentially make her and every one of my teammates exponentially stronger if it works how I think it will.

"Maybe... I think I have just the one."