Lev discarded the idea pretty soon after that. The dart gun was potent, no doubt, but it was also empowered by two of his skills. In a normal person's hands, it was simply not going to be nearly strong enough to be useful.

Below him, his team was fighting their third orc. It was at level 112, and the small increase was making itself known in its faster reactions. The fight had been ongoing for nearly two minutes already, a long time at their rank.

Amelia's sword finally found enough purchase to disable its right arm, which let them abuse the blind spot and eventually eke out a win.

"That's enough for now," Lev announced from behind them, making them jolt in surprise as his bubble materialized in a blink. "Come inside and rest."

"Wait," Kayla asked even as they all entered the bubble. "We're leaving?"

"Leaving? No, of course not. Didn't you all just gain a lot of skill levels?"

Their eyes scanned the notifications again, understanding dawning on them.

"Good, now sit in a meditation pose, whichever works for you, and think back to the fights. Figure out what you did wrong and what you could've done better, then cross-check your conclusions with each other. All the next orcs are above level 115, and the fights will not be any easier."

They didn't need to be told twice, immediately sitting down with their legs crossed and reflecting on the recent battles. Kayla's passive auras also ensured that they recovered their resources quickly, making full use of the downtime.

"Will you not say anything?" Amelia asked, peeking open an eye. Lev just shook his head, so she closed it again.

****

Three days of uneventful delves and sparring with gold and platinum hunters later, something interesting finally happened.

Lev had just deposited his team into their rooms and was making his way toward the guild when Sherron sent a pulse of mana his way. It originated from somewhere above him, so he flew up until she materialized close to him, already decked out in armor.

"Is something wrong?" Lev immediately questioned, mentally preparing himself.

"Not really," she shrugged casually. "Inform your team that you will be busy for the next few days and come with me."

"To where?"

'The Dreadwoods. Usually, I take a Master team with me once every three rounds, but you're strong enough now. If you're up for it, accompany me for all the upcoming rounds until Drakys calls for you."

Lev thought about it, finding her timing pretty good. Contrary to his expectations, his team had fought over a hundred orcs in the past few days, challenging every monster up to level 125, which was their limit. They could push themselves more of course, but lacked the courage since they also weren't aware of Lev's invisible shields. That would defeat the point and cripple their advancement.

"Sure, that sounds pretty good. Let me talk to them. How long do rounds usually take?"

"One to three days, very rarely above two. It's not like we're gonna venture deep inside. That would take a week if we move stealthily and without rousing the entire region."

Leaving her floating there, Lev quickly flew back down to the Golden Basilisk and knocked on his team's doors. They opened after a few seconds, confused as to why he had returned so soon.

"Come to my room for a bit, there's something I want to talk about."

So, as they sat around the table in his room, Lev explained what Sherron had suggested and why it was feasible.

"I mean, that sounds like an extraordinary opportunity," Kayla voiced. "Don't let us hold you back. It's not every day that you can train under an Exalted's protection."

"Precisely," Jack nodded. "Besides, it's not like we'll stop training without you."

Lev didn't need to hear Amelia's opinion— it was the same as them. "Fine, which is why I prepared these things for you."

On the table appeared a barrier longsword, hammer, and shield. "Kayla, are your passive auras the only thing lagging behind?"

"Yep."

"Then use them 24/7 and train in one of the halls under the guild with these. I've adjusted them to be heavier and more durable and blunted their edges. The hammer is also designed to absorb kinetic energy, so you will need to try harder to move it for the same amount of force, and it will also negate much of the impact if you manage to land a hit on Amelia."

"What about me?" Kayla asked with a grin, just to tease him.

"You have the bracer," Lev rolled his eyes. "There hasn't been anything related to buffing others in terms of equipment, but I'm looking into another approach. Keep training for now and level your skills."

"Okay~"

He shook his head slightly and bid farewell to his team. The instructions were both simple and grueling, for if Kayla had to keep her passive auras active for as long as possible, she needed to do it for someone. Which meant Jack and Amelia had to spar for as long as possible too.

At the same time, the equipment was also designed to actively hinder them. It was the only reason he gave it to them. Kayla's tri-shield bracer was currently much harder to utilize than her general skill, though he wouldn't let her use it for too long. When it started to improve her mana barrier skill and mana manipulation skill, it would be considered external aid. Fortunately, he had screwed with the controls enough that she would need at least a week of practice to reach that point.

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In case of the other two, skills simply didn't level by mundane training for combatants, not in the first gap. He doubted there was much to worry about.

Let's see how much they have progressed by the time I return, Lev mused and flew back out again, finding Sherron without a problem. Hopefully, they won't take me abruptly leaving them for my own progress negatively.

There was little reason for them to do so, but human brains tended to overthink things.

"Here," Lev gave the communication crystal from Jack to Sherron. "It has a decent range."

"From Dennis?" she asked after a single glance.

"Yeah, I traded them and a fire core for a minor stealth and shadow core."

"A deal in his favor," she commented. "How long do you need to prepare?"

"Can I have half an hour?"

She just waved a hand and flew to the western wall. Lev followed as he needed to land on solid ground to work on the ideas in his mind.

The Dreadwoods sprawled for as far as the eye could see in front of them, and it was somewhat surprising to see the distance between them devoid of any monsters. And, on the other side of the same coin, it was very worrying that the patrols and rounds were frequent enough that no monster was visible on the grassland.

"What are you doing, anyway?" Sherron asked, knowing he had thousands of projectiles stacked up in his bubbles.

"Armor plating and an actual helmet," Lev answered and summoned an armor stand holding a set of leather armor. It had plates attached to protect the vitals, four of them on the front and back, and also two shoulder pauldrons.

Creating the plates on his armor and enchanting them to remain in place was very easy. The bigger issue was the need to reconfigure his whole enhancement formation to both cover the plates and also allow for the extra runes to attach the plates and pauldrons to the armor itself. Similar yet smaller plates covered the legs too, and he scanned them intently.

A minute later, and with a little bit of regret, he filled out all the carved runes in his armor, erasing them. Only the pristine barrier construct remained, devoid of any enchantments.

The reason for a clean wipe was also important, as Lev planned to finally push his fire mana to a higher stage. Two major hurdles had stopped him so far— willpower and mana conductivity. Fire mana was volatile, and it didn't quite like to be channeled. He could subdue it rather easily, but working with large amounts was tricky.

Thankfully, he now had a rune called Flameforged Constitution. It not only increased the conductivity but also improved the armor's overall durability slightly. There was no downside as long as it was compatible with his enhancement formation, and that was already unlikely. Both formations had no reason to interfere with each other. One affected the base material, whereas the other simply moved it around better. Their natures were too different.

Or so he hoped.

So, without dallying any further, he started carving. The plates were given priority, as they were a new addition, and he didn't know the extent of enchantments required for them.

A simple adhesive rune pair was carved. Their function was limited to pulling each other towards themselves, and by extension, they also pulled the material they were carved on. The dual property let Lev carve one on his armor and the other on the plate, and a negligible stream of mana kept the plate properly attached to his armor. It wouldn't have been necessary if the armor wasn't so rigid in its form and allowed anything beyond slight modifications.

Once all plates were present on his chest and back, he also went ahead with the leg ones. Those were simple and worked much the same way, but also covered less area to not inhibit any movement. No doubt, there was a technique to make them cover his legs almost completely while allowing a full range of movement. Lev didn't know any.

For the helmet, he shamelessly stole Jack's helmet design and reduced the size until it rested snugly on his head. The helmet barely registered in his line of sight, so he went ahead and glued it to his armor's head after carving a simple durability enchantment on it.

Now… the hard part.

Quickly calculating how much space the enhancement formation and kinetic absorption runes required, he started carving again. Luckily, by covering almost the entire front of his torso, he had enough experience to twist the enhancement formations around the adhesive runes without sacrificing any efficiency or functions.

Similarly, a connector rune snaking up to the middle of the plates from underneath also extended the durability enhancement portion to all the plates. The plates themselves were enchanted with kinetic absorption formation, which was then linked to a basic stone enhancement formation present on them.

There were many better options for the secondary, 'on-impact' durability formations, except all of them were too big or stressful for his armor, especially for each individual plate. Hardening was the perfect solution, and he just happened to have a rune for that.

His helmet and leg plates also received the same treatment, and before long, he was ready to go again after carving the lightning bolt and fireball formation on his arms, and the flameforged constitution rune on his back. Instead of linking it to the enhancement, which was very much possible except perhaps too much for his current armor, he created another few streaks of connector runes and extended its effects to the whole armor from the back.

"Neat," Sherron remarked, using the word she had seen Lev use before. "That's hardening, right?"

"Yep. If it works as advertised, the plates should receive the formation's benefits just as an attack lands on my front. I don't know if the runes will be fast enough, but I imagine they will be, because my Perception also affects the entire thing."

"Your levels, too," she nodded. "Let's go."

The flight to the Dreadwoods was silent. Sherron seemed right at home while casually eating the distance at great speeds, whereas Lev had his eyes wide open, unblinking.

"This place is extremely creepy," he sent through the crystal, only now properly noticing the subtle aura emanating from the region. "Is it a mental attack?"

"We have no idea," she replied. "The Dreadwoods induce exactly what the name says in humans. I only brought you here because of your title. It shouldn't be that hard for you to push past the aura."

Lev merely nodded, having already noticed the same. The aura was weak and only marginally invasive, but that made it no less terrifying. He knew that it was waiting for the right moment, primed to invade his mind at the wrong moment and to kill him.

What a fucked up place. Why were we brought on this continent of all places?

As always, there was no answer, not even for the strongest of humanity. They existed at the whims of some distant gods or similarly powerful entities, and that was enough for Lev to cut off that particular line of thought. Nothing good was going to come out of that.

"Ready?" Sherron asked through the crystal after nearly three hours of flight and killing weak monsters. Lev immediately tensed and double-checked all of his equipment. "Don't fall for the mental traps."

What?

He didn't get a chance to question her. Down below, through the eerie trees, a grotesque form slithered towards them. Lev's mana concealment formation was running at maximum, but Sherron's presence was spread out for all to see, letting it track the duo without any trouble.

Though his mind didn't even register that, frozen in shock and fear from seeing the abomination. It was a… canine, if the word was twisted in several dimensions that shouldn't have existed.

Eight arms extended to the wolf's side, acting as legs, and the long tail on its back belonged to a lizard more than anything. It was thrice Lev's height at the shoulders, and the dark-furred wolf head at the front did not help the visage at all.

Overall, the monster was an amalgamation of different creatures that had no right to be alive so close to humans. Lev's mana was surging out before he could even scan the monster completely, already shaped to eviscerate it from head to toe.

[Dreadwolf - Level 410]

It didn't matter that the creature's aura was even more terrifying than the flame tiger's, or that it was repeatedly trying to drill into his mind. The dreadwolf had to go, and Lev swore on the spot that no dread monsters would ever get past him if he could help it, let alone reach the walls.

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