"You should eat and rest first. You can start tomorrow morning. You'll begin clearing this dungeon—it'll take some time." I felt a slight disconnect right after, like my mind was being freed—as if someone had pierced my defenses to enter, and then quietly left.

With a full stomach and a mission in mind, it was time to sleep. Exhausting days were coming. When I woke, I ate and waited patiently for the voice.

"Hello, Maki." The voice interrupted my meditation. "To complete this dungeon, you must destroy the core. It's located at the center of an ogre camp." Ogres? I remember reading about them—they're grade three.

"At this moment, it's impossible for you, even if you're a limit-breaker." Her words made me open my eyes. "As I said, I'm an old woman. I know many things."

"As I was saying, maybe at Emerald rank you'll have a chance. You can already rank up—I'm sure you feel that sensation in your core. But I assume you won't do it until all your abilities reach rank III. I think that's a smart choice." She paused before continuing.

"I suggest fighting large groups of rank-one monsters and a few rank-twos." Her advice wasn't far from what I had planned, so I had no complaints. "I can guide you to a nearby goblin camp led by some hobgoblins. How you handle it is up to you." I liked having that freedom. If she was just serving as a map, that was fine by me.

Her directions were simple—look that way and you'll find it in a few kilometers. No terrain information. That part was up to me.

It took about an hour to reach the place. I forgot to return Arisa's watch—another reason to find her after this is all over.

The camp was huge. Goblins walked all over the place. There were too many huts to count. I wasn't sure how long it would take to clear it all. I wanted to attack directly if they were just goblins, but I'd already seen five hobgoblins patrolling. It was better to hunt them group by group.

"Time to follow them." After observing for long enough, I started tailing a group of 22 goblins. Could I take them all on alone? It was a risk I was willing to take. If it got dangerous, I'd run—they couldn't match my speed.

I followed them for about 40 minutes, watching as they began hunting buffalo-like monsters. Once they finished, it would be my time.

Hidden in the bushes behind them, I jumped out and used my Lightning Step to appear behind two of them. My swords slashed one's neck, and I stabbed the other in the chest. Their comrades turned as the bodies hit the ground—and all charged at me.

Spiked spheres formed around me. I focused on quantity over power—eight spheres shot forward. I wasn't worried about aim—since they were all coming from the same direction, they hit easily. None of them died, just got knocked back by the impact. That was enough to buy time and avoid being swarmed.

I kept making spheres and launching them while moving and slashing at them. I had to be careful with positioning—one mistake, and I'd be clawed. The fight went well. I'd killed four more, some lost limbs, and others were stunned by the blasts.

Eventually, I killed them all. I didn't bother collecting their cores—I just left the bodies on the ground and headed back to camp. There were about 500 goblins total. I'd take them down little by little.

I repeated the process two more times that day. By the end, I'd killed just over 70 goblins. It took a long time to track and return. I also paced myself to avoid exhausting my stamina. My mana was fine.

I returned to the cave where I used to stay with Bush, Arisa, and Miroi. Before going to sleep, I checked the levels I'd gained.

"Not bad." I had gained two levels in Lightning Step by using it constantly. I'd been pushing the ability to its limits—it cost more mana but let me move faster and farther.

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I gained one level in Glacial Focus and another in Concentrated Spherical Formation— which was now just one level away from evolving.

The next day, I noticed a slight change in the group formations. Now there were 30 goblins. This would push my body and mind to their limits. Yesterday, I had almost gotten hurt multiple times. If not for my domain, I might've died at least twice.

I chased them and repeated the same routine. Defeating them took longer than expected—the sheer number made it difficult. Avoiding being surrounded was the tricky part. I used a lot of mana firing off as many spheres and Lightning Steps as I could.

"Time to return to their camp." Once there, I waited about two hours until I saw another group leave.

"This one will be dangerous." Fewer goblins this time—but they were accompanied by a hobgoblin.

"Did they figure it out already?" I knew they weren't very smart. Even if they lost a lot of goblins, they shouldn't have changed their pattern—at least not today.

"Should I fight them all?" I couldn't help but ask aloud. Old habits die hard— I'd just switched languages from my past life.

Not wanting to waste the rest of the day, I decided to follow them. My concentrated sphere should be enough to kill the grade-two monster in one hit. But if I did that, I wouldn't get to train against a group.

So I took another risk—I wouldn't use spiked concentrated spheres unless I was in serious trouble.

The battle started well. I killed two goblins with a surprise attack. During the fight, I managed to take down three more while trading blows with the hobgoblin, who swung a massive club at me.

The real trouble started when I didn't watch my back and got cornered against a mountain wall.

"Damn… I need a healing skill." If I had one, I wouldn't mind taking hits in these situations.

I started creating a concentrated sphere with ice and electricity. My mind raced—dodging attacks, building the sphere, and moving through the enemies all at once.

"Die, you idiot." I jumped to the side once the sphere was ready.

"Shit." My foot didn't land right—I lost balance, and the shot missed. It only pierced his left arm and obliterated two goblins behind him.

He screamed in pain and dropped to his knees. I seized the moment and went for his neck. My blades met resistance at first, but after boosting my Imra, I finally killed him.

"Now it's just you little green bastards." By stunning them with simple spheres and slashing them down, I finished the rest.

I felt both happy and frustrated. I won without getting hurt—but I was annoyed I missed the shot. If I had been fighting only grade-two monsters, that mistake could've cost me my life.

My mana reserve was nearly empty. I'd poured everything into creating as many spheres as I could. Since they weren't fatal on impact, I used repeated hits to wear them down. By the third hit, they were almost dead anyway.

Sitting in the cave, eating my dinner, the frustration faded. I'd gained a bunch of levels today. My skills were improving quickly— except for Edge Control… It hadn't leveled at all. Maybe fighting only rank-one monsters isn't enough to level rank III skills? I wasn't sure. I'd have to test that over the coming days.

Pseudo Domain reached level 11. Lightning Step leveled up once more. Glacial Focus gained two levels. And finally—I did it. Concentrated Spherical Formation reached the level needed to evolve to rank III.

"Concentrated Spherical Formation (II) reached level 15. New evolution paths available…"

The options varied. Some were focused on the sphere itself, others mentioned distortions—referring to the spikes—and variations tied to ice and lightning mana.

The last option caught my attention. I had a gut feeling: Take it. This is the one.

"Unified Moldable Construct." That was the path I wanted to follow.

I loved spheres—and even more so the new variations I'd been crafting. But the problem was the limit they imposed.

Sure, I could build different shapes with mana— but spheres were the easiest because of my skill.

I needed more flexibility—and this skill offered exactly that. "Concentrated Spherical Formation (II) has evolved into Unified Moldable Construct (III)."

I didn't know why that option was offered— maybe because of the small constructs I'd been making while waiting outside the monster camp. I'd keep this one.

"I wish I could talk to my family about this…" A sigh escaped me as I thought about how they were doing.

The first thing I did after gaining the skill was test it. Spheres were still easy to make—now even faster. Other shapes had also become easier. I no longer felt mental strain when creating different constructs.

I could now combine both affinities—ice and lightning—in my spheres much more easily. Before, it took a lot of focus and time. "Unified" must refer to the ability to seamlessly merge both affinities into a single construct.

It was a big improvement. And it gave me the confidence that I could now fight against multiple grade-two monsters at once.

"Tomorrow, I'll take the risks I've been avoiding." With excitement for what lay ahead and overwhelming confidence bubbling in my chest, I went to sleep.

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