Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Hearing her explanation, Simon immediately understood why she chose that place as his training ground. Even he vaguely felt that the place was far better to train in.

Irene's figure flashed and with an azure light, she quickly appeared near the pond. Simon followed next and arrived at the pond shortly. While rushing here, he had once again noticed the disparity in their skills.

Irene had used a special skill or technique unknown to him and arrived near the pond at a pace that was hard for him to follow even with his evolved [Flight] skill. The [High-Speed Flight] that he acquired after his previous skill evolved was a Superior tier Normal skill.

After arriving near the vicinity of the pond, Simon was surprised to find that he and Irene weren't the first comer. The Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse who was roaming around the main floor, was the first one to arrive at this place.

Looking at it snuggling around the Trees of Mana and quietly dozing off, Simon felt that the warhorse too liked the place because of the abundant mana. Mana was beneficial to all the creatures and it came as no surprise to him that the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse would choose to stay in this place and utilize its effects.

The next thing that caught his eyes was the growth of the Trees of Mana. They were now so big and robust that Simon thought that given a month or two, they would quickly touch the ceiling of the floor which was three hundred meters above the ground.

'It seems that I have to do some remodelling of the main floor in my free time' Simon thought as he made a mental note. The air around the area was refreshing to breathe, it was as if the place was extremely rich in oxygen. And not only that, after Simon tried to circulate his mana around his body, he was amazed by how smoothly it was flowing and mysteriously enough the mana around here had a soothing effect.

The ever-present mana that he felt everywhere around the forest did not have such properties and the soothing effect he felt should be exclusive to the pond of serenity.

'What is happening? Have the properties of mana been altered?... Is that even possible?' Simon felt the mana around the surroundings and distinctively felt that it was quite different. The only possibility that came into his mind that could trigger such a peculiar change was none other than the pond of serenity.

The more he observed the pond, the more mysterious it became. 'It seems Irene was right' Simon thought when he realised the profundity of the pond. Training around here would be many times faster than any other area of the dungeon.

Now that he was here, he wanted to quickly start the training but did not know where to start. Irene who was beside him, could see the impatience in his eyes and said "Before we start the training, I want you to dive inside the pond. Try to endure it for a minute or so".

Listening to Irene, Simon diverted his attention back to the pond of serenity which was releasing thick clouds of fog.

Previously when he dived inside the pond, he couldn't even immerse in it for more than a minute. The pond wasn't especially deep and one could see the bottom which had many different things growing in it from the shore. Although the fog obstructed the vision a little, it wasn't enough to hide the contents of the ponds.

"I must remind you that the pond has been continuously changing. The density of the mystical energy deposited inside the pond by the veins beneath the earth has reached a dangerous degree. Even if it's the current you, it might be impossible to even soak in it for more than twenty seconds"

Irene said as she carefully inspected the changes happening around the pond. Even without her telling him, Simon could see that the pond was not the same as before. A deep white light flashed inside from time to time.

He understood the reason behind Irene asking him to try and immerse in the pond for a minute or so. She wanted to see where his limit was and could plan the training according to it.

Simon without further ado started undressing but soon realised that Irene was also there. Her face remained impassive and it looked like she was not bothered by his actions.

'Haha, what am I being flustered about… it's not like I'm completely naked' after stripping down to his shorts, Simon immediately dived inside the pond.

SHHHHHHH… the instant he jumped inside, his pale white skin turned a shade of red. He felt like he had lunged inside boiling hot water and the heat was searing his skin. However, the temperature inside the pond was normal and it was only his imagination.

Simon could feel the extremely rich energy sweep around him and entering his body through all the pores. The energy that had entered inside his body was so dense that it felt just like magma and was extremely hard to circulate.

The temperature of his body went up like mad whenever he circulated the energy and it was quickly becoming hard for him to even stay still. Unlike the physical pressure that his body had to endure during the trial set by Aldebaran, the pressure now was completely internal and depended on how efficiently he circulated them.

Right after ten seconds passed, he felt all of the veins inside his body bulging from the abundant energy which was quickly going berserk. An unbelievable amount of pain that was so acute that they assaulted every inch of his body.

Simon felt like his body was extremely heavy and stiff, just like a stone that had no buoyancy. Each second felt extremely long and he could no longer keep his eyes open. The tremendous energy inside the pond felt just like lightning infused water, continuously electrocuting him.

Alarms were continuously flaring in his head and the amount of energy stored inside his body was reaching a point of bursting out. This was completely different from the trial. If he stubbornly held on any longer, his body would burst from the overflowing energy.

Realising that this was the current limit of his body, he quickly surfaced out of the pond.

"Huff… huff… huff…" His breathing was ragged while steam continuously rose out of his body. The overflowing energy inside him slowly receded a little at a time and Simon finally sighed in relief.

He felt pain all over his body and an extreme amount of exhaustion hit him. Opening his status, Simon was shocked to find that his HP had been shaved by one third and his MP had been completely drained.

"How can that be? I did not suffer any injuries for my HP to go down by this much and even my MP… just until now, I felt that my body was filled with mystical energy and would burst out any moment" Simon muttered out loud as he stared at the pond with his trembling eyes.

"Twenty-five seconds. That is the current limit of your body" Irene silently appeared behind and appraised him.

"You don't have to be so shocked. With your current rank, your HP was bound to go down every second as for your MP, you were continuously depleting them while trying to circulate the new energy that was wildly rushing inside your body. It is only natural that you won't have any after all the efforts you have expended while immersing inside the pond".

Irene quickly dispelled the doubts he had in his mind.

It seemed that he made the correct choice by realising the current limits of his body and surfacing at the right time. Any later than that and he wouldn't have MP to circulate the overflowing energy continuously rushing inside his body and his remaining HP would have been immediately shaved off.

The moment such thoughts arrived in his mind, he felt a shudder through his soul. While soaking the energy inside the pond, Simon felt like his body was a small vessel that could break any moment if filled to the brim.

Twenty-five seconds was far too less, he had to increase the capacity of the vessel that is his body to endure immersing in it for longer periods of time. Although Simon was a little disappointed that he couldn't even endure for even half a minute, he quickly got over it.

Wasn't he training to get stronger? Once he is stronger, Simon was confident that he could break his current record.

Even if the pond was continuously changing, he had faith that he could overcome it. While he was lost in his thoughts, Irene who was similarly deliberating something, asked "Do you feel some changes in your body after immersing yourself in the pond?".

Her question woke him up from his train of thoughts and he quickly analysed his body. Simon was silent for a long while and just when he thought that there were no changes in his body, he was amazed to find that the mana circulation was a little faster than before.

The change was so slight that if he didn't pay any attention to it, he would have missed it completely.

Nodding his head, Simon replied, "I think the rate at which I can circulate the mana inside my body is a little faster than before. That is all about it I guess".

He did not know why Irene asked such a question nor what kind of answer she was looking for. But if had to describe the changes that had occurred to his body after that experience, then it would only be that.