If the next set of floors were all going to be upscaled rehashes of previous challenges, then I would definitely not be looking forward to it. I was already extremely tempted to kill the annoying plantoid king, who continued doing a merry jig.

"I think he's going to be a lot faster, judging by the extra energy he's giving off," Vee said.

"As if the first time wasn't annoying enough already," I whined. "It wouldn't matter if I could touch him."

"What about making the space around him bigger?" Vee suggested. "That way, you can have more time to react. Sure, you'll also be affected by it, but you can use [Blink] or something to compensate for your lack of speed."

"That's a pretty good idea since I can't use something like an aura yet as a workaround. Although another quicker solution would be if I could find some way to anchor a small amount of compressed space around myself, which should, in theory, let me move around unimpeded."

"Wouldn't it need to grow with you, or would you constantly stay at a fixed size?"

"Right…"

The plantoid king was now stomping his foot impatiently; it seemed he wasn't happy not being the focus of our attention. He started a brisk jog away from us, and moments later, a notification appeared.

Begin!

"I swear I'm going to eat that stupid king!" I shouted and activated [Blink] to reach his side.

Enemies began appearing in the room, and this time, they were not just humanoid plantoids but ones that mimicked various beasts and creatures.

I began rapidly growing to form my protective transparent dome around the king while also beginning to cast a vast-scale [Expansion] spell.

I really need to modify this to be targetable rather than a fixed area. Then, I wouldn't need to repeatedly cast it, and I could lock foes in a perpetual state of expanded or reduced space unless they dispel the effect from their person.

The monsters had arrived and began attacking in a horde. The most intimidating of the new types was a large bug-like plant monster with two massive scythe arms. Vee called it a praying mantis, but I couldn't see how the bug was supposedly "praying," and I didn't see it using any divine or holy magic.

What should have been a more formidable challenge from the plantoid king being more of a pest was easily negated. Despite his best efforts to escape the confines of [Expansion], I would always have a new one ready and waiting to cast as soon as he reached the edge.

When the final enemy fell after the time limit had been reached, the king stopped trying to escape from me. I expected him to do another dance, but instead, his shoulder drooped, and I could've sworn he looked somewhat depressed.

He reached inside himself again and pulled out an emerald mango. He didn't even wait for me to grab it; he began walking away and casually tossed it over his shoulder.

"Hey! Watch the merchandise!" Vee cried out and used [Warp] to teleport herself to grab it out of midair.

The plantoid king gave a dismissive wave of his hand and continued walking, ignoring her protests. I briefly considered attacking him but soon found myself distracted by some somewhat surprising notifications that were waiting for me.

Proficiency gained. [Water Magic LV 5] improved to [Water Magic LV 6].

[Water Magic LV 6] spell [Hydrokinesis] learned.

Oh! I kind of expected this one after [Geokinesis]. Let's see… it lets me manually control water with Mana. That is pretty much what I expected… I guess Air and Fire control might be my next spells over there. Other than some party tricks, I can't really see much use in this spell for now, but maybe our trip to the beach might change that.

The next set of notifications was expected and yet still surprising.

Proficiency gained. [Derived Element (Air) LV 9] improved to [Derived Element (Air) LV MAX].

Maximum derived affinity reached; would you like to incorporate the affinity permanently?

Yes? I mean, I don't see why not.

Trait [Derived Element (Air) LV MAX] has successfully incorporated. Air Affinity has been permanently acquired.

[Trait Derived Element (Air) LV MAX has been lost]

"Yes!" I celebrated. Not only was I cleaning up my profile a little, but now it was officially mine.

Which means… I can probably buy my missing affinity. Let's see… Looks like it's only Dust, as expected. I already got Lightning and Ice through slime cores.

Trait [Derived Element (Dust) LV 1] obtained. Trait Points remaining: 16.

Skill [Dust Magic LV 1] obtained. Skill Points remaining: 15.

[Dust Magic LV 1] spell [Erosion] learned.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me! There's already a spell called [Erode]; you can't be reusing that name!" I cried out.

"Wait, what happened?" Vee asked. "You were shouting 'yes' in celebration moments ago."

"My first level spell of [Dust Magic] is called [Erosion]. It lets me reduce things down into dust, or gather dust, or create dust from scratch."

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"Oh shit. That sounds quite nasty if it's anything. That's like the effects of erosion weathering taken to the extreme."

"But [Erode] is our defense debuff," I pointed out.

"Yeah… I have to agree."

The [Earth Magic] spell [Fracture] has been renamed [Fissure].

Vee and I let out a startled noise at the sudden prompt.

The [Corrosion Magic] spell [Erode] has been renamed [Fracture].

"Well, it looks like you somehow got your wish?" Vee asked.

"Change the 'create: ice weapon' spells too!" I shouted.

I was waiting with bated breath, but it seemed like that request would not be happening.

"Damnit."

"Hey, cheer up, Syl, you managed to get two spells renamed!"

Please don't anger the gods—I beg you! Or at least leave my dungeon before you convince the Mother of Magic to smite you both.

"Yeah… okay," I agreed and then moved on with attempting the last thing on my list before we moved on.

I once again tried to create the skill [Basic Elemental Magic] by fusing my four basic magics together, but it failed again.

Prerequisites for [Basic Elemental Magic] have not been fulfilled.

"Darn, I guess I need to get them all to the same level? It's the only thing left I can think of now that I've officially gained Air affinity."

"Congrats on that, by the way," Vee chirped.

"Thanks. Now, you better eat your magic mango so we can go to the next floor."

Vee chomped down and let out squeals of delight as we moved on. Thankfully, the next floor was nothing fancy; it was just a kill room with various elites. We made short work of the lot of them, with me putting extra emphasis on casting nothing but [Air Magic].

Fortunately, it was a breeze thanks to a thorough application of [Windswept], and I made use of the often neglected [Cyclone] and [Gust] spells.

I thought it might have been an issue for Vee to handle so much excess wind flying around, but [Zephyr Shroud] and a few [Aegis] spells cast by my [Sub-Cores] left her remarkably safe.

The best part of a floor full of elite monsters was plenty of experience, and combined with the previous floor, it meant a level-up.

Triangulate LV 3.

Racial Experience threshold reached. Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue) is now LV 29.

17 Trait Points are now available.

I was elated to receive the level-up and be one step closer to my evolution, but as I stared at the number, something about it bugged me. To use a Vee expression, the math wasn't mathing.

Weird. I gained a class level four levels ago, but if my experience distribution was 90% towards race, shouldn't I have only gained an Elementalist level now? Unless Gramps' swap over wasn't in time and some experience was "wasted" towards my class.

For my own sanity, I decided to shrug it off. Focusing excessively on this would only lead to madness, and there was still a dungeon to conquer.

We skipped our break since we didn't expend much effort and moved on. The next floor was another survival challenge, except with a longer time frame—perfect for grinding out levels.

"Let's try to kill as many as quickly as possible!" I told Vee.

"Sounds good to me. Maybe if we kill them fast enough, we can force more of them to spawn!"

I once again told my [Sub-Cores] to go wild, with the only caveat that they focus on [Air Magic]. We began our frantic killing, magic flying everywhere, and movement skills triggering repeatedly to try to keep up our constant momentum.

"Wait. Are you okay with me shrinking the whole room?" I asked Vee.

"Huh?" Vee replied. "Wait. Oh! Yes, I get it. Go for it!"

I quickly began assembling the spell. It would be my largest casting of it to date, and the Mana cost would be tremendous. Thankfully, once it was set up, I could easily fall back on [Air Magic] due to how efficient it was.

My latest level in [Triangulate] simplified the casting requirements of the spell, but even then, due to the sheer size of the room, I couldn't max out the compression. Still, any bit of shrinking the room would mean that the enemies would come to us quicker, and so would our projectiles to them. The reverse was true, of course. We'd have to deal with our enemies' attacks being faster, but Vee and I were more than prepared to handle it.

The spell went off, and instantly, we noticed the difference. Everything was shrunk down spatially, so it was like all of us were moving at an accelerated pace as we warped around the room. Vee and I quickly adapted to the new environment, but the almost mindless dungeon monsters found it rather challenging to handle such a bizarre and unexpected phenomenon.

When the time limit was reached, I immediately collapsed my spell, releasing the compressed space and returning the floor to normal. This was the first time my Mana had been truly taxed ever since uncapping my [Mana Slime] trait, although it was perfectly understandable as I was using [Reduction] at a stupid level.

"You know… I'd always wondered why, in comics, they always combine Space and Time into the same magic or power set," Vee said. "But after seeing how everything was behaving in your magical compressed space, I think I now understand it. It was like everything was set to fast forward."

"I'll pass your suggestion on to Mother the next time I see her," I teased. "I'd love to get a two-for-one special with [Dimension Magic]."

"Ha. Good luck… I'm going to go have a lie-down…" Vee said, sounding exhausted. Her legs spread out, and she collapsed straight to the floor, not even bothering to create a hammock.

I chuckled, but I understood her position. While I didn't have any physical fatigue, my mind was a little frayed from the massive [Reduction], and my Mana needed some time to replenish.

The first thing was that we actually achieved our goal. Killing the monsters in the "survival" challenge forced new ones to spawn, which led to us just killing more and more as time went on. It was the perfect grinding experience, and despite having leveled up on the previous floor, we have another one right now.

Racial Experience threshold reached. Chimeric Cluster Slime (Blue) is now LV 30.

18 Trait Points are now available.

"Only ten levels to go!" I shouted excitedly.

"Wooohooo…" Vee let out a tired cheer.

Proficiency gained. [Air Magic LV 5] improved to [Air Magic LV 6].

[Air Magic LV 6] spell [Aerokinesis] learned.

It just lets me manually control the air with magic. However, air is pretty much everywhere, so I could use it to pick up objects from a distance, assuming they aren't too heavy.

I naturally tested it out and used a cushion of air to lift Vee up. At first, she let out a startled cry but soon began to relax.

"Actually, this is heavenly. Screw waterbeds, airbeds are where it's at!"

I decided to upkeep the spell while we relaxed—the cost was small enough that my surplus of Mana regeneration could easily handle it.

"That only leaves [Earth Magic] to get to six… I really hope that is what I'm missing to get [Basic Elemental Magic]."

"What about advanced elemental magic?" Vee asked.

[Basic Elemental Magic] is not acquired.

Prerequisites for [Intermediate Elemental Magic] have not been fulfilled.

"Nope. In fact, it's even worse because it's telling me I'm missing the basic one first."

"Bummer, I guess they don't want you skipping ahead."

"What really sucks is that [Earth Magic] is going to suck. Creating the stone from nothing is slow and tedious compared to ripping it from the ground."

"Well, I'm pooped, so while I'm resting, why don't you start making some rocks and throwing them into your dimensional storage? Then you can just dump it out and use it from there."

"Hmm…" I scratched my head with a tendril as I thought. "That might work. I got plenty of space in [Core Storage], and I could even dump some inside [Pocket Space]."

"That's the spirit. I'm going to take a nap then."

"No, wait. That's stupid. Why don't I just create a [Rift Door] and go inside it? Then it'll be stored then and there, skipping a step."

"Of course, you have to always do things in the most absurd way possible," Vee said with a sigh.

"Naturally," I grinned as I tore open my dimensional door.