Once most of the team had departed, things had gone smoother. Walking Rebecca through the same steps had been easy, especially since I had Terry's skill as a template to create better items to assist her.
And, while she was going through the class upgrade, I went upstairs to consume even more of the tainted energy cloud around the dungeon, replenishing its reserves to the limit — and using the opportunity to add several hundred tons of flame-resistant metal to our stock. Unfortunately, replenishing the dungeon was only a temporary measure, one that would stop once the giant cloud of tainted energy eventually dissipated.
I needed a better solution. This was why, when I returned, I was already planning to build a giant metal dome around the breach. Rebecca and Terry were lost in their talk as they experimented on their newest skill, so they didn't notice me before I spoke.
"Any sudden epiphanies," I asked.
"Unfortunately not, professor," he said, then frowned. "You look … distressed." He paused. "It's weird."
I was about to deflect it, when I realized the reason why he said that. It was Wisdom, helping him read others' body language better, just like I did. I lacked his uncertainty, but then I had started with a hefty burst of one hundred fifty, while he had received only twelve. Some major differences were to be expected.
"One of the advantages of Wisdom is to read people better," I said. "You'll get used to it. But, try not to blurt it out. It's rude."
Terry blushed. "So, you are distressed," Rebecca commented hesitantly. "Is it something we can help with?"
"No —" I started before I stopped, realizing that there was no benefit to deflecting their offer to help. Yes, they had just received their new classes, and they needed time to adapt, but there was no reason not to multitask.
If nothing else, they could help me brainstorm on how to use mana to deal with the giant breach. Then, there was their Legendary skill, which came with a completely new set of information. "I'm thinking about the giant breach on the fifth floor," I replied. "While I'm currently plugging it with the help of the mana from all those slain lizards, the benefits are temporary. I need a better way to deal with it."
"Any ideas?" Terry asked.
"For now, I'm considering building a giant dome, but I'm not sure it'll work as well as I hope," I said. "It would have worked if all that I needed to worry about were the beasts, but eventually, our enemies will use that gap to attack. I don't want to end up locked in a two-way battle, especially when dealing with a wound that's constantly bleeding mana."
"Wouldn't the other dungeon deal with the same problem?" Rebecca asked.
"No," I replied. "The energy flow between dungeons is one-sided, which shows that their dungeon is stronger. Is it too much to hope that your skill has a nifty solution lying around?"
"I …" Terry started. "I don't know. Maybe I can find a way to generate a weaponized version of the plant we added at the entrance, one that we can throw to the other side. That way, we can weaken it."
"Maybe," I replied, pausing in consideration. "Unfortunately, the dungeon bosses react to such presences violently. Unless we can make them strong enough to resist them, it won't work. Even then, all it would take to deal with it would be a visit from our enemy to clean it."
"True," Terry replied.
Before I could come up with another idea, I noticed Rebecca raising her hand. "It's not a classroom, feel free to give your opinion," I said, as kindly as possible due to her obvious hesitation.
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"W-what if we did the reverse?" she asked.
I frowned, not understanding what she meant. "Reverse as in attacking the first floor? That would have worked if we had the protection of the other entrance, but —"
"No," she cut in. "What if we improved our dungeon," she said. "Once you planted the trees, the fifth floor started to radiate a heavy aura of…"
"Decay," I completed, my eyes widening. It was a simple solution, but a potentially effective one. "That might work. It'll take some time to forge a strong pillar radiating the necessary aura, but if I set up —"
"Professor," Terry interrupted. "I think Rebecca means to create a plant that will handle the same job. That way, not only will it be easier to copy, but we would also have thousands of farmers that can assist with the implementation."
My eyes widened. "Thanks. I have a tendency to miss the obvious from time to time," I said, though that didn't prevent me from wondering whether it was my habit of complicating the problems, or my class.
I had a strong suspicion that it was the second, especially with the rapid leveling I had just experienced, which was bound to have some effect.
"What exactly are we trying to create," he asked.
"We want some plant that will copy the effects of the fifth floor," I said. "Something ." With this, I forged a small pole, one that radiated the exact same aura as the fifth floor. Then, I fed some mana through it, and the aura got even stronger.
"Essentially, that's the aim," I said even as I moved away from the trees, and sank the pole to the ground before pulling back, testing the results. Immediately, several insect monsters rushed toward the pole, but contrary to my expectations, instead of attacking it, they just took a position near it, as if they were enjoying the comfort it provided.
"Looks like it's a success," Terry said as he looked at Rebecca. "Amazing work."
"I … I did nothing. It's just an idea," Rebecca replied, blushing.
"No, it's a potential solution, and it's worth a lot," I said. "Especially with the time constraints that we're working with. Now, stay here and start working on the seed," I said, then pointed at the large pile of shells and the giant claws. "Feel free to use them to rapidly improve your skill as well if concentrated poison doesn't work as well," I added. "Three claws each should give you the boost you need. If that's not enough, we can discuss it when I return."
"What are you going to do, professor?" Terry said.
"I'll take a quick trip to the fifth floor, testing the viability of the solution," I commented. "We might not have the time to build enough pillars to make a difference for the whole dungeon, but we could build enough of them to have a limited effect," I said. "Especially if I throw enough mana to make a difference."
With that, I left the two to their discussion while I moved to my forge, and put my new skill to use by forging seven pillars, each embodying the concept of decay to the best of my ability.
And, when it came to decay, my best was quite impressive, as not only was I bound to the dungeon of the same concept, but I also had a Mythic skill and a Class named after it, not to mention all the time I had spent in the dungeon.
I left one of the pillars to them, and brought the other six with me. My first destination was the corner of the first floor. I killed the first swarm I came across until I left only one insect, and sank the six pillars around it, creating a hexagon pattern.
The moment I did so, the insect had calmed down … almost tamed. It made no moves to breach the pillars, but it wasn't the fearful response it shared toward the dungeon plants. Instead, it stilled.
Curious, I started pushing my mana through the pillars, enhancing the decay effect even more. The insect trembled in excitement … and started absorbing dungeon mist more aggressively. While the dungeon mist no longer blocked my sight, I could still sense it, just like how I sensed mana.
I intensified the decay effect even more, and five minutes later, with an intense glow, it transformed into its armored variant.
"Impressive," I said. Technically, what I had achieved here was extremely wasteful, but I didn't care about that. Not when it confirmed the viability of my method. Curious, I went down to the other floors, visiting them one by one to see if there were any immediate side effects.
Admittedly, my experiment — if it deserved to be called that — was too short, but it was enough to see it had no direct impact.
As for the show of benefits, it was even more apparent on the fifth floor. Weakened it might be, but the fifth floor had already contained the concept of decay, and the pillars reinforced the aura enough. A few tests with the larger variants of insects confirmed that the transformation effect worked just as well.
Which meant that I had completed almost all of my preliminary checklist. The only problem was the reaction of the dungeon bosses, which had yet to spawn after their earlier destruction. "Curious, it should have spawned more," I said. But then, the breach was sapping the energy of the dungeon significantly.
Maybe it was significant enough to prevent spawning more bosses.
Either way, I had learned enough. I opened another gate, ready to go back to the fourth floor, hoping that Terry and Rebecca had similar results.