Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Simon had a rather unique mindset, it matter not if the one teaching him was his own summon. As long as they have skills and knowledge that bested him in every aspect, he had no qualms being guided by them.

Simon remembered a memory back when he was alive on earth. It was during his second year of working for the Astro revolution company, he had met many kinds of people. Some of them were good to him and showed him the way, while there were also some who wanted to drag him down and put him in his place.

Some of the senior game developer of the company saw his quick rise and performance as a threat and tried to pressure him whenever they found an opportunity. Especially the ones who were in the same department as him in that year.

Just because they were working for the company longer than he did, they were jealous of his performance and tried to shut him out of the circle.

Saying things like "Juniors shouldn't try to outshine their seniors".

"They who have worked for the company longer had much more experience and knowledge than a greenhorn who was simply trying to gain attention from his subpar work and this and that…".

When in reality, they just wanted to take it easy and didn't want to expend more efforts on top of the years of work they already put forth.

At the same time, being a senior in the company and all, it won't do if the juniors who lacked skills and knowledge, performed better than them.

Simon still remembered that some of them even tried to pile their work on his desk, trying to suppress him in every way they can. They even shut him out from the social circle spouting comments like 'This should put him in his place', 'it's a good opportunity for him to learn to respect his seniors' behind his back.

Their nasty work environment had become their ethics.

Although it is true that Simon had to face a harsh path to climb his way up, not all of the employees were like that. There were even some who while knowing that this would put the junior's performance above theirs, they still helped him.

Simon took pride in his tenacity to absorb knowledge from whomever it may come from.  As long as they could help him become better and fill the gap in his knowledge, he had no qualms to acknowledge the person was better than him.

It was the same in this life too. It seemed that even when his race had completely changed after reincarnating in this world, his curious mind still had that insatiable thirst for knowledge. And Irene who had a far better grasp of skill and mystical energy than him was the perfect person in his view to guide him.

"The Serenity Stone although is ranked at [B], depending on the situation it can become far more precious than even some [A] rank items. It would have been better if the pond had produced multiple at once but from the looks of it, the rest are still in the early stages of being formed. It may take as long as a week for more of them to be produced"

Irene while still examining the bottom of the pond, decided to nonchalantly drop a bomb.

Simon widened his eyes as soon as he heard that. Serenity stone, an item ranked as [B] by the Analysis was being produced at the bottom of his pond and that too multiple at once.

What kind of concept was that? And what was even more shocking was the casual attitude that Irene had adapted while talking about it. Although Simon had already guessed it, but to Irene, a [B] rank item was nothing.

Simon gave a helpless laugh as he looked at the Serenity stone in his hand. Given the density of mystical energy inside the pond, and the thick mist covering the surface of the water, it became impossible for him to pry anything.

Even though he was curious as to what other items were being produced inside the pond, he could only give up for the time being. Once he was strong enough to immerse inside the pond for long, he could dive and have a look at them himself.

Clenching his hand and resolving himself to train even stronger, Simon asked the question he wanted to ask for a while "What should I train in next?". After having a taste of the sensation of the mana lines from his Phantasmal tier skill, he could no longer contain his wildly beating heart and excitement.

Looking at the overflowing enthusiasm of Simon, Irene's next words threw a bucket of cold water to calm him down.

"One shouldn't overdo things and bite more than one can chew. For the upcoming days, I think you should just focus on getting a hold of the sensation of the mana lines from your memories while soaking in the pond every day. The density of mana near the pond is beneficial enough for you to break through the level 300 barrier".

"Once your Phantasmal tier skill is off cooldown, use the Serenity stone to enter the self-transient state once again as that would hasten the process of you acquiring the [Mana Lines] skill".

Simon listened to what Irene had to say before making a mental note of it. He knew that mindlessly defeating monsters wouldn't get him anywhere since he couldn't get past the level 300 barrier by simply doing that.

Hence what Irene suggested sounded even more convincing than his way of single-mindedly gaining experience. Once he was past level 300, he can then once again begin his process of grinding experience once again till he reaches another barrier all the while focusing on acquiring the [Mana Lines] skill.

On this note, Simon completely agreed with Irene to focus on one skill at a time as doing otherwise was simply too cumbersome and would eat up a lot of his time. At the same time, it did not guarantee any result and might even slow down his progress, thus affecting his growth.

Acquiring the [Mana Lines] was his immediate priority.

While he was absorbed in his thoughts, Irene's figure just like an illusion silently disappeared from the surrounding. Although one can say she had changed somewhat after meeting Simon, her usual cold and aloof temperament was still there.

Therefore, once she was done helping him for the day, she silently left the place. Simon shook his head and sighed helplessly. While he can make up for the distance between the strength by putting in more effort, the matters about emotion couldn't be rushed.

It was today itself that he learned that he knew nothing about Irene, nor her origin or about the incident that happened a while ago. While he wished for her to open up, Simon understood well that whatever problems that Irene was facing, was something too much for the current him to handle or even comprehend.

There was no way the current him could even provide a sliver of help in any way. If he wanted to be any assistance to her then his only choice was to get stronger.

-----

A week passed just like that and Simon just like how he was instructed, fully devoted himself to training near the pond of serenity. During this time, Simon tried many times to enter the self transient state without using the Serenity stone but failed every time.

It wasn't like he was not trying hard but no matter what he tried or did, the state of mind that he oh so easily achieved during the previous two times of his, appeared extremely elusive and difficult to grasp.

Clearing his mind of all its thoughts and achieving a state of tranquillity sounded easier said than done.

It was only now that he understood how precious the serenity stone that was ranked as [B] by the Analysis was and how special and difficult it was to enter the self transient state. He also understood why Irene said that depending on the situation, the Serenity stone might be even precious than some [A] rank items.

The previous two times when he achieved that state of mind, made him conceited enough to think that he could enter the state any time he want. This past week of constant failures was like a wake-up call for him who was living on a delusion.

While he couldn't reach the self transient state, he did quite well on his part of feeling the sensation of the mana lines from his memories and recreating it, albeit the progress was very slow.

During this past week, Simon dived inside the pond every day trying to break his record of enduring for twenty-five seconds even by an additional second.

The result was what felt like a pond filled with boiling hot water filled with electric currents, he was able to finally endure it for twenty-eight seconds. It might not sound impressive to others, but to Simon, it was an achievement he thought was worthy enough.

After all, just like him the pond of Serenity was also constantly evolving and the mystical energy being deposited by the huge mystical veins beneath the ground, was getting denser and thicker every day. One could even say that the pond of serenity was significantly different from what it was a week ago.

That was not all, his progress did not stop there.. While it was true that he couldn't enter the self transient state which considerably slowed down his progress; nonetheless, he was able to finally break through the level 300 barrier.