Did I just get caught in the net or cage-like thing by a bunch of ants? It sure looks like it.

Still, I'm not that worried, as the ants seem to be able to pass through that net easily. At some point, the net turns into something like a mana barrier that seems to allow only them to go in and out.

Right behind the barrier, I see the ants grouping up.

When I shoot a mana projectile at the barrier, it doesn't even dent it. Instead, a pulse of mana is sent through the barrier at the point of impact. It looks as if you threw a stone into water, with ripples going through.

The same thing happens to projectiles filled with kinetic energy and thermal energy. They just crash, explode, create ripples, and that's it. Ants behind it continue to feed it more and more mana, and it continues to shrink as well as become denser.

When I step closer to it and shoot disrupting mana at it, the ripples become much bigger than before, as the barrier itself or the ants behind it detect an attempt to cancel it and fight against it by strengthening and reforming it at the point where the disruptive skill hit it.

I also detect that the barrier goes deep into the ground.

For the next few minutes, I continue to throw attack after attack on it, even hurling a javelin filled with tricolored mana or striking against it with the epic sword I took from the third floor. None of the attacks do that much damage, yet I continue doing so while observing it.

It's quite fascinating to watch dozens of ants with different mana signatures combine their mana to feed the barrier and maintain it. They must have a skill similar to what the twins have - Dennis and Aaron. Something like [Connection] that allows them to work together. Or it could be a trait that all of the ants have? Or maybe something entirely different.

Fascinating, so fascinating!

The barrier as well. I have created some barriers of my own before, but this one is different. It's much bigger and, unlike mine which are hard as steel and break when the attack is too strong, this one moves a bit. Ripples are sent through it as it absorbs some of the attacks, and the mana from other parts of the barrier rushes to the point of impact to strengthen it.

I then pause and check the amount of kinetic energy that I've collected inside of my body. It's a lot. That much should be enough.

Taking a few steps, I reach the barrier and activate [Resonance]. The mana flickers and pulsates on top of my skin; it resonates all around me. I already know the frequency of the barrier, so I mirror it. I take another step and pass through the barrier as if it's not there.

The ants that up until now continued to flicker their antennae and communicate while strengthening the barrier come to a stop. The bus-sized monsters almost seem to be embarrassed.

Then, the collected kinetic energy explodes from my body, and the fight continues.

POV Lily Chen

“So, then Grumpy brought a dead mouse to my bed. I still don't know from where since we live in an apartment building and there shouldn't be any, right? And I only wanted him to try on the clothes I bought for him once.”

“Lily, your cat is based,” Dennis says.

“Right? What a chad. Grumpy sounds cool,” Aaron chimes in.

As many times before, the twins start to tease me. They do it even more now that Nathaniel isn't here.

“Tess, I am so bored,” I complain to the blonde girl who sits in the corner of the room and goes through multiple papers with Hadwin and Sophie.

“The easiest solution to that would be to finish regenerating your arm, and when you're fully healed, we will take you out to hunt,” Tess turns to me and winks while smiling. Then she turns back to Hadwin, “I think this quest would be good for you. These kinds of monsters seem to be mostly melee range attackers and…” she continues, but I already turn back to the twins.

Aaron and Dennis are silent, but as always, they must be communicating through the connection they share.

The house we are in is pretty, very pretty. It's on top of a hill with a view of nearly the entire city full of tall towers and trees. Kim said it was expensive as heck, costing them a big chunk of the valuables they stole from the third floor. But he mentioned that our home base should be comfortable since we don't know how long we will stay here.

“Do you think Nathaniel will be mad if he finds out we sold the epic bracelet he left with us?” When I ask that, the twins immediately go silent, and even Kim, who sits near them, looks uncomfortable.

It's so funny that I giggle.

“Shut it, Lily! You're also staying in the house we bought with the money we got for it!” Even though Dennis says that I see he's still nervous.

“Nat always says it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission,” Kim joins in.

“Kim, buddy, that's nice and all, but as you might have noticed, Nat can be really…” Dennis pauses and looks around. When he sees Biscuit, he stops.

“Heh, Dennis, are you worried that Biscuit will tell on you to Nathaniel?” I just can't help but add in.

Nathaniel always treats me so nicely, so it's fun to see the two cheeky twins be so worried about his petty acts of revenge. I know that Nathaniel doesn't see me the way I would like him to, but that's fine! I will grow! And I am patient, really patient.

For now, I will enjoy him treating me like a cute little sister.

“Lily, you should be much more scared of this corgi; you guys have no idea how terrifying he is!” This time it's Aaron saying that, and all of us look towards where Biscuit is.

Held in the arms of little Izzy, who even put a scarf around his neck. Now that Nathaniel isn't here, poor Biscuit is constantly targeted by the girl.

(Asshole. Gone.) Biscuit sends to everyone in the room. And it almost seems like he is complaining about Nat being gone and having to deal with Izzy.

Kim starts laughing out loud, and even Maya giggles a bit, along with Hadwin.

Only the twins are silent. “They are so screwed if Nathaniel finds out,” one of them says, and the other one just nods solemnly.

That's when someone knocks on the door, and Kim opens it to a nicely dressed man who bows to him. I notice that this somewhat makes Kim happy, but he also blushes slightly and tries to act with dignity.

“Here is a list of available quests, monster information, maps, a list of powerful people in the city, and all the other things you asked for,” the bag he hands to Kim seems to be filled to the brim with papers with information, and Kim nods.

He then takes out a mana stone from the pouch he has on his belt and hands it to the man. It makes the man's eyes shine. We have paid upfront, so this tip seems to make him happy and probably is worth a lot.

“Me too!” Izzy lets go of Biscuit and runs on her short legs towards Sophie and reaches out her hand.

To that, Sophie smiles. As many times before, I'm amazed by the change the big loving smile does to her face, and she absentmindedly grabs a mana stone from her pouch and hands it to Izzy.

It's one of the more valuable ones.

Izzy immediately runs to the man and hands him the stone, which he carefully takes with his eyes wide open. He then quickly leaves, as if worried we will ask for it back.

“Sophie, that stone was most likely as much as his yearly wage,” Tess sighs from behind the table.

But Sophie ignores it and seems to enjoy the thankful hug Isabella gives her before the little girl goes back to Biscuit.

The quest for killing 800 ants was completed, and then the one for killing 900 as well. Expecting a new one for killing 1,000 of them, I open the notifications, and there is nothing.

I knew it.

System, you asshole! Stop holding me back, you can't ruin my farm spot just out of nowhere!

As always, there is no answer.

Damn, I bet one day I will keep throwing some nonsense like that at the system, and it will actually answer just to troll me.

Killing ants is a sure boring job, but someone has to do it, so why not me, the selfless paragon of justice, Nathaniel Gwyn!

Ignore my subclass that says Initiate of Pride.

Anyway, the rewards are quite chunky, 10 levels meaning 30 stats into mana, meaning another 30 from stage one of Mana attribute upgrade. It still feels like cheating, but I will take what I can!

"Status," I say.

Name: Nathaniel Gwyn

Difficulty: Hell

Floor: 4 - Waning Realm

Time left until forced return: 4y 218d 21h 32m 46s

Traits (1/3): Mana Circuit (Passive)

Lvl 146

Strength: 51

Dexterity: 49

Constitution: 127

Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 480 + 480

Primary Class: Mana Channeler

Sub-class: [Initiate of Pride]

Active skills:

Focus (Dual Focus Consolidation) - Lvl 36

Mana Manipulation (Advanced Mana Manipulation) - Lvl 39

Perception - Lvl 34

Redistribution (Symbiotic Transference) - Lvl 37

Armament - Lvl 35

Mana Surge - Lvl 24

Mana Infusion - Lvl 28

Resonance - Lvl 22

Constructs:

Reinforcement (Construct)

Kinetic Mana Heart (Construct)

Mana Regulator (Construct)

Mana Sovereignty Mantle (Construct)

Passive skills:

Mana Flow (rare)

Cerebral Harmony (rare)

Mana-Fortified Resilience (rare)

Pyrokinetic Resurgence (rare)

Tokens:

Beyond Difficulty entrance token

Shards: 2125

In the past few days, I barely slept, only for a few minutes here and there. The food and water I took with me are already gone, and my clothes are in tatters.

But the rewards are nice!

It's to the point where my mana starts to pressure me once more. Mana Cycling, which I continue to do, helps a lot, but my rare passives that help me handle it seem to be getting pushed to their limits.

So it's either time for another round of Active Tempering, upgrading my constructs, or creating another one, or somehow making enough shards to get an epic passive skill that will deal with my mana.

But I will wait for that. Maybe a new Primary class will offer me something that will deal with that. That would allow me to spend my shards on something better, something that would give me more mana! Or maybe a stronger passive healing skill. The current one, Pyrokinetic Resurgence, is really good and for me, with my transferring kinetic energy to thermal, it works really well.

Unfortunately, it doesn't restore limbs. During one of the fights, I lost a small piece of my finger, and the passive doesn't want to restore it. I guess that's just the limitation of its grade, which is - rare.

As for the others, we keep exchanging messages, and they seem to be doing well. They even set up a base and are collecting information. Tess and Hadwin are truly reliable.

They've already started going on what they call quests after collecting information and picking the right opponent for each of them. It allows them to hunt quickly and safely, while sometimes they spice things up a bit and throw each other against a much stronger enemy just to stay in shape.

Sure, there are some wounds, missing limbs, but in the same way as me, they know that they need to push hard in order to not fall behind.

Another thing is that Savant entered the 4th floor a day ago and no one else. In the community, I checked the numbers, and it looks like Hell Difficulty lost five more people. Hard lost around ten. Normal lost twenty-five and Easy around fifteen people.

Easy difficulty 1335/2000

Normal difficulty 855/1000

Hard Difficulty 265/500

Hell difficulty 45/250

Beyond 3/10

Beyond still has only 3 people.

After feeling movement near me, I come back to reality and a pulse of my kinetic energy kills the ant that was sneaking up on me. Damn, they are getting closer and closer. Are they improving to dodge my detection, or is my lack of sleep after a few days out here showing?

Well, it doesn't matter anyway. I'll be done soon.

I take one more step and look down one of the giant holes that are everywhere and that ants use to get to the surface. Holes that are deeper than the tallest mountain on Earth.

Over the palm of my hand, a mana orb hovers. Three colors swirl inside of it, a tricolored mana, but this time I changed the composition a bit. Instead of it being all mana, it is 2 parts mana and one-third thermal energy.

This is going to be fun.

It took a bit of testing in the past few days, but now I'm sure I did everything correctly and the ball won't explode too soon. Without waiting longer, I drop it and the shining orb as big as an orange starts falling down the hole as dark blue, blue mana, and yellow thermal energy swirl inside of it. I give it one more push with kinetic energy and it speeds up.

The orb that I spent a day or two creating and filling with my mana to the point where I barely have ten percent of my mana left.

I immediately lift off and start running away. This will either get me the four more levels I need, wake up some ancient monster, and get the entire ant colony after me, or do nothing.

Whatever happens, I'm done here. Even if I don't get any levels, I'll get some sleep and continue in a day or two.

A few minutes later the first notification sounds. The notification about killing an ant.

Then another.

Another dozen of them.

Level up.

More notifications.

Even more notifications.

Another level up.

Minutes continue to pass and notifications still ring in my head.

At this point, I'm getting scared. The bomb seems to have caused some unexpected chain reaction that made it more deadly and notifications continue to ring and ring to the point where cold sweat starts flowing down my back, and I speed up to move at the maximum speed I am capable of.

Yet the sound of notifications continues to follow me, with longer pauses in between. They continue even after I leave the mountain range.

It takes longer than I would like and when they finally stop, after what feels like hours, I'm almost scared to check my level.

[Lvl 146 > Lvl 159]

Well, fuck. I just wanted four levels.

Okay, the mountain range is a no-entry zone for at least a few weeks.