Varian stepped into the bush and saw an opening. He spread his lightning sense and jumped in.
'Wow!' He landed on the 'ground'.
It was completely dark, and his greater human sight could barely identify the surroundings.
Thankfully, lightning sense worked just fine.
Step.
Step.
The golden 'vision' of lightning sense showed him to be in a tunnel of sort. It wasn't exactly 'sight' per se, but something similar to the thermal imaging.
Varian also focused his hearing and slowly walked forward.
'Is this the fox's lair?' He wondered.
'This is not a special location.' He noted and increased his speed.
'If the fox is getting stronger from here, there should be a natural treasure of sorts.' His breath quickened.
Even though he continued to grow stronger, Varian's goal was always to find a way out of the dungeon.
He thought he would be fine alone, like he had been in the past year. But it was almost three weeks since he landed in the Dungeon.
It put a tremendous pressure on his psyche.
The worst part was not the life and death threatening situations, but the possibility that there was no way out.
Varian knew there was a limit to what he could do. He could perhaps advance a few more levels and become the strongest in the dungeon.
But would that allow him to find a way out of the Inner Space back to the Outer Space?
Even Level 9 Space Awakeners couldn't do that.
'I will never know unless I give my best. I'd rather believe I can do something about the situation than waiting to die.' That was the only thought that kept him going.
Rationally, no Dungeon should not possess any technology to escape the Inner Space.
Why was he sure?
Because all Dungeons were already explored. Whilst how Dungeons themselves 'vanish' and travel to Inner Space was unknown, the technology of Dungeons was lower than the Federation's.
'But…' Varian paused as the tunnel widened and split into two.
There was an equal amount of the fox's aura coming from two tunnels. The fox was too cautious and deliberately played the trick to confuse potential intruders.
It would work on other lightning beasts, but Varian simply focused his smell and found the passage emitting the strongest smell.
He entered the passage and continued walking. The passage was slowly narrowing, and Varian had to bend to walk through.
He was surprised by the amount of distance he already travelled. Even though he wasn't running, he was already dozens of miles in.
'Even though Dungeons don't have this technology…there is a chance I can find something. Maybe something in Special Location or maybe I can dig the tunnels all the way to its core and find what allows it to enter Inner Space? There must be something to get me out.' His thoughts trailed off.
The temperature was slowly rising, but the interesting thing was the rise of lightning mana density.
Compared to the outside, it was almost 50% higher.
'Treasure!' Varian cheered and saw the tunnel spit into two again.
He found the right tunnel and crawled his way through.
Varian was sure he already travelled a 100 miles.
'90%. 91%...94%' Varian saw a golden light flashing at the end of the tunnel.
He hurried and crept out into the large cave chamber.
"Whoah!"
Zap!
Zap!
Golden rays seeped out from the ceiling high above and shone on his face.
'The treasure is above the ground… just its remnant was enough to double the mana concentration.' He gasped.
Without hesitation, he climbed up the wall and reached the ceiling.
Since he was in an underground tunnel, the ceiling was likely the ground.
He spread his lightning sense and peered through the hard soil to find the treasure above.
Varian's lightning sense saw a small flower and in his lightning sense, it was like the sun— exuding blinding golden light. It was right under a—
"Agh!" He froze on the spot.
There was an extremely strong aura resting next to the flower.
It was a Calamity Tiger, as large as a two-storey building.
Every time it breathed in, it absorbed the aura from the flower and, with each absorption; it grew slightly stronger.
Its exhale formed a lightning bolt and blasted into the distance.
Zap!
Boom!
That exhale was as strong as a Low Level 4 strike!
Varian's back was drenched in cold sweat. Fortunately, he didn't break through the ceiling.
Calamity Tigers were known for their fierce tempers and protectionist nature. He found quite a few of them during his hunt, but never touched one.
The main reason was that if a parent Calamity Tiger caught the whiff of its child or its aura on him, he'd be chased till ends of the Dungeon.
Other creatures, for instance, say Thunder rabbits, wouldn't pursue him if they found aura of other thunder rabbits on his body.
'This crazed beast… but how strong is it, really?' He wondered and carefully probed its aura.
Thankfully, the beast was sleeping and didn't react.
'...Peak Mid Level 4.' Varian smiled wryly.
He climbed down the wall and went back along the same route.
As he once again felt how far the passage was, he realized something.
'That Calamity Tiger is likely at the boundary.' Then it would explain why it was so strong.
Varian remembered the directions of the passages and their exact distance. In a few minutes, he climbed out of the tunnel and walked out of the bush.
'That fox was bathing in the high mana and growing stronger. But plain meditation will take too long.'
Varian had the best talent of all humans. He could just meditate and progress without dangers. But sitting in the same place all day was a torture for him.
So he didn't want to follow the fox's path and meditate right under the tiger.
'There is always a danger of being found out. There's also a chance the ceiling would collapse and the whole cave would be buried.'
That aside, the main reason was.
'I want that flower.'
Varian checked the directions and distance on the ground and soon, he proceeded in the same direction above the ground. Soon, he found himself going deeper and deeper into the Inner Zone.
He travelled through remote locations and hid himself most of the time.
Finally, he only had to travel a few miles, and he'd stand above the 'cave'.
But he didn't need to check.
Even from the distance, he could see the calamity tiger resting.
Varian looked to the side and saw the boundary. Crossing it was Core Zone. And he glanced back at the Calamity Tiger. It was a boss!
The gigantic figure was covered in a lightning barrier. The likes of which, Varian was confident, he couldn't break.
'If I can get that flower, I'll be one step closer to entering Core Zone. If there's a place that should have secrets to getting out of the Inner Space, it's Core Zone.' Varian gritted his teeth.
He liked growing stronger, but the prospect of living here for a hundred years was honestly scary.
He wanted answers, or at least, to get closer to finding them. He didn't know how long he could hold himself sane.
'I can't win the boss in frontal combat, but… I don't have to.' Slowly, a smile crept on his face.
All it needed was a little thinking.
The plan begun.
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