Normally, there was a limit to how much a dungeon could hold. A dungeon that hadn’t had any visitor for a long time would naturally see its population of monsters multiply manifolds due to procreation and the dungeon itself spawning new monsters. Once the number of monsters reached its limit, though, their procreation and spawning would slow down or stop altogether.

[Kuwaaaaaahk!]

"Tch, there's no end to them... Heup!"

[Critical Hit!]

However, the Royal Mage Leader had tied several dungeons together and increased the scope of the facility with magic, and it ended up exceeding the limitation placed on monster population.

Of course, he probably didn't intend for the dungeon to spawn an infinite amount of monsters. After all, the facility was created to train Royal Mages. No mages had sought out the facility, however, and even the Royal Mage Leader himself hadn’t paid another visit since its creation. Over the years, the facility turned into something like an infinite monster spawner.

There were supposed to be 666 monsters in the nineteenth training facility, yet there turned out to be at least 60,000.

"Hoooo... Huaaaap!"

[Critical Hit!]

Lee Shin-Woo put his two Breath of the Lightning Gods together and swung downwards. The mana following through his blades transformed into a streak of lightning, exploding and eradicating the monsters in the whole area in an instant, leaving the ground overturned in its wake. Seeing that, Prince couldn’t suppress her shudder.

"How is he... Is he a mage!?"

"Shin-Woo's a better mage than you," said Kratia.

Lee Shin-Woo shouted at them, "Less talking. More killing!"

That was one of Bursting Thunder's large-scale techniques: Lightning Bolt. The high rank skill discharged a great volume of lightning element and gathered the atmospheric mana to create a single lightning bolt, which would then strike down from the sky.

Since it was a technique that could only be used with a specific method in a specific situation, it was very much inferior to Kratia's Catalyst Magic, which would unconditionally transform mana into ice. However, in terms of destructive power alone, it was no lesser.

[Kihi, Kihaaaa...]

"Nice. Now I can finally see what's in front of me."

Lee Shin-Woo had torn a hole through the swarm. He flashed a relaxed smile at the hesitating monsters and straightened his back. He had refrained from using such a high mana consumption technique before, but things were different with all the mana pouring into him from every direction.

[Kyahaaaaaaaaahk!]

"Oh no you don't!"

[Kugugugugugagagahk!]

A strike used up more than 50% of his mana, but monsters released a ton whenever they died, which his body absorbed without pause to replenish more than half of his reserve.

He seized that opportunity and pushed in with his two blades, using the lightning they created to cut through the monsters in the area in a single stroke. If he looked at this as training for his mana, he would say this was the best training ever!

The flow of the rushing mana is... I can feel it clearly. There’s so much mana that I feel dizzy. But if I can control it completely...!

At each and every moment, his bones were fully saturated with mana. Once he discharged it, he would then absorb the same amount of mana immediately.

It was as if he was breathing through his bones; similar to lungs, his bones needed to inhale and exhale mana as much as they could, or they would either stop functioning or explode.

"One more time... Lightning Bolt!"

[Critical Hit!]

He wasn’t tired, and he didn’t take a single step back. Reinforced by Rule of Bone, his body would never break. In fact, it seemed to be yearning for more mana as his bones breathed in even more strongly than before, absorbing more mana than his previous limitation and turning that mana into his own.

At that moment, his skill had a breakthrough.

[Intermediate Mana Bone has reached Lv10 and evolved into a high rank skill! Magic has increased by 200! You can proficiently control mana with only your mind, and can now more easily manipulate the surrounding mana. You can now react more perfectly to any type of attack that involves mana.]

[Rule of Bone skill is now Lv9. All stats have increased by 5. You can now strengthen your bones even further while using less mana.]

As expected, a holistic, high rank mana skill was different from any regular skill. Originally, Lee Shin-Woo's magic was 2,025; Mana Bone's rank-up had effectively increased his magic by a staggering 10%. Moreover, the effectiveness of the skill had increased as well, so the 10% increase made him a lot stronger than what the figure implied.

He could release mana and absorb mana quicker than before. Since everything he did was related to mana, the rank-up greatly improved his fighting strength. Better yet, Rule of Bone had leveled up as well, which made each and every blow of his even heavier!

[Critical Hit!]

[Critical Hit!]

Lee Shin-Woo was like a thunderstorm as he rushed in with two blades in hand and cut the monsters to pieces.

"Hey, he got stronger all of a sudden!"

"I won’t lose to you, Shin-Woo!"

Prince felt a rising urge to do better as she saw what Lee Shin-Woo was doing on the battlefield, and Kratia's eyes blazed as she cast more spells. They were losing to Lee Shin-Woo in magic even though they possessed karmas that specialized in only magic, so how could their pride not be bruised!?

"Eek, I can't lose to a newbie...!"

"Clear, clear..."

Though Prince had been daunted by her failure at the beginning, she shook it off and sucked in the ambient mana, concentrating on casting her most powerful spell as quickly as possible. She had to surpass her limitations in this pressing situation!

"Fire Demon - Explosion! All of you, burn! Fire Demon's Kick!"

"Clear, clear, clear..."

On the other end, Kratia focused on more quickly disarming the traps within her absolute defense shield. From what she knew, this definitely wasn't the last of the facilities. There were a few more facilities filled with more powerful monsters and more vicious traps ahead of them.

We can't go on by just killing the monsters, Kratia thought. And if we are to fail even after killing this many monsters, I worry about all the new variables that'll come from redoing the challenge.

In that case, her job wasn't to kill as many monsters as possible, or to identify all the traps set up in the area, but to find the traps that were laid deeper in so that she could disarm them immediately. After all, that was the purpose of this training exercise!

She'd already accomplished several feats and even reached level 7. She could do this. She believed in herself

"Clear, clear... Shin-Woo, there aren't that many traps left!"

"I guess I just need to slaughter the rest of these guys then!"

Lee Shin-Woo took a deep breath. No oxygen was going to enter his nonexistent lungs, but it helped him prepare for another large-scale attack.

Heuuuuuup!

Lee Shin-Woo split the plentiful mana in his body into two parts: one went into Lightning Sprint, and the other...went into Lightning Shadow, a technique he'd never actually used before. It was Hansen Von Dorthe’s namesake technique, which turned mana into a unique physical buff!

Because Hansen Von Dorthe wasn't able to completely transform his body into lightning, the lightning damaged himself as well, but since Lee Shin-Woo could freely change his interior mana, it wouldn’t be a problem for him. At the very least, Lee Shin-Woo far surpassed Hansen Von Dorthe in terms of mana control.

As expected, the mana consumption is huge, but...I won’t be able to practice the combination of Lightning Sprint and Lightning Shadow in any place other than this facility, where mana keeps pouring into me!

Lightning Sprint, which coated one’s exterior in lightning.

Lightning Shadow, which altered one’s interior into lightning mana.

What would the combination of both skills yield? It made his heart pound thinking about the possibilities.

Keuk, Kuhaaaa...!

But combining the two skills together? He could barely breathe just from using both skills simultaneously. If Mana Bone hadn't reached high rank, he wouldn't have been able to even attempt this.

Even amidst the pain that felt like his body was breaking apart, though, Lee Shin-Woo gritted his teeth and kept his eyes wide open. A large number of sparks shot off from his body, making it difficult to even see what was in front of him. The powerful lightning that flowed inside and outside his body turned against him and viciously bared its teeth at him.

It felt like the powerful energy would only be satisfied if either he or his enemies were destroyed.

If that's the case...!

The moment Lee Shin-Woo's two blades merged into radiant fangs of lightning, the compressed lightning burst out in an explosion. The earth shattered, and the sky cried out. The monsters' bodies scattered and vaporized into beads of blood.

[Lightning Shadow is now Lv2. Strength and Magic have increased by 10. You can now control the lightning permeating your body with more ease.]

The skill left no witness. They would either be swept up in the attack and exploded, or got cut into pieces and blown away.

He had gathered the surrounding mana and made it his own, and in the next moment, discharged the lightning, generating more power than Kratia's Catalyst Magic.

"What is he... He's scary..."

"Clear, clear... Clear."

Prince, who had been gathering magic to cast her spell, stopped in shock. On the contrary, Kratia remained calm and continued to disarm magic traps. She only stopped after she had finally disarmed all the magic traps.

The fact that the alarm isn’t ringing means that we really do have to kill all the monsters.

There weren't that many monsters left. The test would've been impossible for Kratia to pass on her own even if she had a hundred years to do it, since new monsters would be created while she disarmed the magic traps and killed the monsters!

Shin-Woo didn't realize just how powerful he was.

Lee Shin-Woo looked like an extremely impressive warrior while fighting the monsters, but Kratia saw him more as a mage than a warrior.

Outside of his skill, Lee Shin-Woo was willing to risk his life for anything he did and fight enemies with whom he couldn’t guarantee his victory. As a result, he would always come up with alternative methods to beat his enemies. Even if he was fighting an opponent where he had the advantage, he always took a step back and calmly assessed the situation before making his move.

His caution didn’t stem from fear. It was so that he could completely overwhelm his opponent. Because of that, he had underestimated his own abilities. But honestly, he’s beyond amazing. Kratia shook her head to herself. Does he even have a weakness?

[Kuha, Gaaaaaahk...]

"That’s it."

In the short moment where Kratia was caught up in her thoughts, Lee Shin-Woo had pierced through the last monster's head. At that moment, Lightning Shadow and Lightning Sprint were released, and he felt drained, but at the same time, he was filled with joy. He hadn't succeeded the first time, but he had found a clue on how to combine Lightning Shadow and Lightning Sprint.

[Training exercise passed. Congratulations. You may now head to the next facility.]

Was the facility not aware of how difficult the training was? The small, self-contained world they were in dissolved into nothingness as they heard the monotone voice.

They could now progress to the next training facility.