I start by clearing out the rest of floor 39, dungeon walking from monster to monster to drain their MCP, and opening up spatial magic portals to store their corpses in my storage.

Instead of leaving their bodies to dissolve in random places throughout the floor, having to wait up to a full minute for some, I see it as more time-efficient to keep their corpses on me and have them all dissolve together after I'm done with farming for the day.

I clear out every floor from 38-30 next with fast strikes, dungeon walking to every new monster and killing them before they even know I've arrived. A few hundred million MP worth of mana control is absorbed, and over a thousand monsters' bodies are stored in my storage before coming back up to floor 39 to catch the one mutant minotaur that respawns right on schedule.

I repeat this routine for a few hours, piling up corpses in my storage, collecting over a billion MCP total, and holding seven near A-Grade fire stones in my item storage before I decide to change things up.

I let the massive pile of corpses dissolve before me on the 39th floor, collecting close to a million MP worth of pink mana crystals and over a thousand high B-grade crafting materials.

Then, I let them all fall into my storage while activating my Soul Energy, letting a visible red aura leak out from my core, the same output as the aura I was using while fighting Rodrigo at his maximum strength in his ranked-up form.

I pull out my Flame Emperor's Sword because the dark blade I tested earlier seems to still be very unpredictable and hard to control.

I whisper under my breath while dungeon walking up two floors. "This should be enough to fend off whatever is on the 41st floor, it'll be a good change of pace instead of just farming the lower ones all night..."

The last few times I attempted fighting the monster on this floor, I never even managed to get a look at it.

Its status never even showed up in my mind's eye.

The only thing I know about this floor is that it is a dark cave system with a fast-moving monster that uses slashing attacks and conceals its presence very well.

The instant I teleport into the darkness, I hear the sound of humming energy and barely audible fast-moving steps on the rocky ground approaching.

In less than a tenth of a second, a sharp blade-like surface comes rocketing toward my midsection.

I smile as the dark green bug-like claw collides with my Soul Energy shielding and bursts into an eruption of energy.

There's an angry hiss that echoes through the cave and I see the shadowy outline of a four-meter-tall mantis creature circling me in the dark, ducking in and out of crevices in the cave while eyeing me down and waiting to send off its next attack.

My inspect and appraisal skills finally pick up on a few of this monster's readings.

______________

[Lv. 1522]

Active Items:

[NONE]

Active Skills:

Stealth [Mythic Grade]

Buffs:

Silent Breath

Eyes of the Night

The Sun God's Curse Mark

______________

"A mythic grade stealth skill, huh...? Just like mine."

My eyes lock onto the barely visible golden collar around its neck, being partially blocked out by its stealth skill.

It's only visible now because of my all-seeing eye, new advanced perception, overall higher state of mana control, and of course my unique Soul Energy senses.

Despite this, the dark green mantis lunges forward again and throws a claw covered in golden light beneath its stealth veil.

It must not be used to its opponents being able to see its movements, because when I swing my sword up to block its strike covered in my own soul energy and the two masses collide, the creature immediately uses the momentum from my blow to be shot backward and scurry away into the cave again.

It boosts its stealth skill further and lurks in the darkness.

My eyes track it around the dungeon as it does.

This creature is using only its own mana control to activate its stealth skill, and it's clear to see that there is a large difference between the Sun God's warriors and the now-defeated Lich King's.

The stronger troops in the Lich King's army heavily relied on their own raw power during battles, only using the orange Soul Energy as a last resort. This is because the power being shared at those higher ranks did not make such a monumental difference than their own mana control and soul energy.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

When I look at this creature, and when I relate its fighting style to Rodrigo's, I see the attack power they throw is heavily reliant on the borrowed energy of the curse mark they bear.

Their curse mark's Soul Energy allowance at level 1300-1500 is rivaling to that of a level 2000-2500 in the Dark One's army.

It's an interesting sight to behold, but I'm still not sure what to think of it.

My first theory is that the Lich King spread its borrowed power among many troops so it weakened its individual power shared to each recipient.

However, I've dealt with borrowed Soul energy before, like the Red Hydra's buff. It was only shared between a handful of people and was far weaker than the Lich King's. This just goes to show that there are too many variables at play to conclude anything concrete about this discovery yet.

The mana control and base stats of this Mantis monster are still lagging behind the immense power that is held in its borrowed Soul Energy.

That's why I can easily still see its golden glow through its stealth skill, and also why it can block one of my mid-powered sword swings with its golden light despite being a far lower level than I am.

This makes the strength shown in my spar with Rodrigo's fight make a lot more sense.

However, as the mantis lunges forward at me again, I change up my stance and look the monster right in the eyes.

"I might as well end this battle now. There's no point in dragging it on. You're not much of a talker anyway."

Its dark green armored mantis claw comes rocketing toward my blind spot covered in a golden glow while I let my warning echo through the cave.

At the last minute before impact, I let my soul energy pulse and release my full power while still in my base form.

A wave of red light illuminates the entire cave system while I turn my body and sword to throw a slash against its claw.

The golden light around it burns away, and its outer green shell shatters while my Soul Energy blade cuts off the entire right third of its upper body in a single strike.

The rest of its form is covered in Soul Energy flames and it's blasted off in the opposite direction from the impact of my release.

Instead of letting it scurry off into the caves again, I follow with my eyes locked on it, releasing another attack at its other side that is charging up a last-ditch effort high-powered golden attack.

I cut its long sharp left arm off at the shoulder joint before it can even get a strike off on me, and the residue from my first attack begins to eat away at the golden collar around its neck.

A loud hiss sounds out as I get close to stop it from running any further, slicing both of its legs off at the knees.

It falls and tumbles rolling to the floor while golden energy seeps from its body, attempting to protect its remaining vitals as a survival instinct.

However, the damage is already done.

My Soul Energy that covers this monster's areas where it was hit spreads further, eating away the golden glow, and burning the bug alive as it struggles to get up off the hard rocky cave floor.

I raise my sword above my head to give it a finishing blow and put this dying floor boss out of its misery, but a notification shows up in blue text above the monster once it falls below 5% HP. Red light flows through the system notification, making the blue text look purple in some places, almost like my Soul Energy is combining with the system here.

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Stealth [Mythic Grade]

[YES][NO]

The hissing sounds coming from the creature gets louder as it knows its end is near, but I can't help but hesitate for multiple reasons looking down at this odd red and blue text mixture.

The first reason I'm confused is the fact that I already have a stealth skill on my status, and it's already mythic grade too.

This is the first time I've let an enemy get down to below 5% HP to activate my new mythic grade absorption's special perk that allows me to steal one available skill from an enemy before they die. However, it shouldn't allow me to absorb a skill I already own.

The system is never wrong, but this still doesn't make sense... If I hit [YES] nothing should happen.

"I guess there's no harm in trying..."

I select [YES] and a bright white-blue light engulfs the remains of the monster and my dark red Soul Energy creates a sphere around this flashing light. I feel multiple skills like craftsmanship, mana manipulation, spatial magic, and a variety of others activating subconsciously through my Soul Energy link while the dark red energy shifts in size and color while many Mythic grade skills work together in a fashion I didn't know was possible.

It feels similar to how I removed cursed Soul Energy from Monk's master, and the fighters being used as test subjects in the Dark One's Tower, but fairly different because instead of flat-out destroying energy, I'm trying to preserve it.

The hot mixture of Soul Energy shrinks in on itself until the blue and white flashes have ceased, at the same time, I feel something fall into my item storage through the spatial magic bonded to my soul energy.

In my mind's eye, as soon as this energy disappears into suspended animation I see the status of the monster in front of me change.

Its stealth skill vanishes from its status, and its veil of perception-blocking protection disappears.

Its green outer shell is clear as day while I bring my sword down, shattering it, and slicing its head and body in two to finish it off.

Another absorption notification rings in my ear as it allows me to take its MCP, but no levels were gained from defeating this boss.

At the same time, the cave begins to fill with natural light and my reign of fiery terror throughout the caves becomes visible.

I see the molten rock and trails of fire left behind me.

The remains of the mantis corpse dissolve after about 45 seconds, and all that is left behind is a long green claw with a +252% Agility stat boost, and a large mana crystal.

As I collect these items, my mind shifts back to the energy that fell into my status right after I activated my absorption perk, and I let it float out and hover over my hand.

The item before me is a clear orb about the size of a marble.

Inside of it, there is swirling blue and white light in threads of dense mana making grid-like system patterns so many times over, down to such a microscopic level, not even my All-Seeing Eye can see its entire intricate design.

However, it shows the item information, and my eyes are locked on this text for a full minute while the labyrinth's natural transport magic brings me up to floor 42.

_______________

[Skill Orb]

Grade: A+

Skill: Stealth [Mythic Grade]

Item Type: Consumable

Info: This [Skill Orb] is a unique item. It allows the user to permanently absorb a new skill and add it to their status. Only 1 [Skill Orb] per person can be consumed, any additional attempts will result in a failed absorption.

_______________

My vision flashes white, and I let the blue orb fall into my item storage while I respawn on the next floor.

A very odd environment spawns in front of me.

There are rolling hills, but the ground is made of a smooth white material that grips my feet like rubber.

There is no wildlife, and the sky is light grey, almost the same shade as the floor.

I hear a murderous roar echo from beyond one of the rolling synthetic-looking white hills, but my mind is still racing on the fact that I now have the ability to absorb and imbue skills from enemies into a physical consumable.

"I need to see if this is replicable... If so, I can hand-select a new skill for each of my allies. The Flame Emperor's Army could grow far stronger..."

I grip my sword and burst into dark red flames again, spreading out my perceptions and getting ready to take on whatever climbs the hill to challenge me on the 42nd floor. This farming session just got a lot more interesting.