Unlimited Power - The Arcane Path

After Leon's daily dose of self-harm, that was the training to level up his Fire Resistance, Leon created another hideout hidden in the layer of earth and rocks of the ceiling of... whatever the hell he was. It was already more than clear that he wouldn't escape that hellhole anytime soon, but he decided to create a mithril needle every day to increase his digging speed. Instead of stopping one hour from repairing those, he would use another to open the path once a needle loses its tip. He would fix them later once he stops to rests.

"It is also a good idea to use several needles at the same time to open the path faster, but that also means that I will have to decrease my sleeping hours even more."

It wasn't the same thing, but Leon decided to use the moments he uses Zen as moments of rest... it wasn't a good idea, but he had no other choice. As long as Sleep Resistance keeps leveling up, the effects of his tiredness would decrease, probably.

Congratulations! The skill Zen has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Sleep Resistance has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Zen has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Sleep Resistance has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

...

For the time being, Leon decided to level up Zen as much as possible. He would need that skill in order to save some time creating the mithril needles. Besides, he also intended to increase their size in order to increase their piercing power and durability. Meditation could help with that, but Zen was much more efficient.

"I should stop allocating points into recovery once it reaches 2500... even though that stat will help me train my spells more frequently, it will become less useful once I learn how to drain mana from my opponents."

Leon felt like almost a month had passed since he arrived on that hellhole, and since then, he didn't increase his intelligence using status. Zen increased it a little, but it wasn't enough. Without seeing his intelligence growing, Leon couldn't feel his power growing, so that was necessary.

Mithril Needle

It grants you Strength +80, Speed + 40, Dexterity + 40.

"Mmm... I guess this time, I didn't do well since I made the weapon faster, thanks to Zen."

Leon was a bit disappointed, but since he made the weapon in twelve hours instead of twenty-four, he didn't let that bother him for long. At the very least, that gave him some good piece of information... he could make better weapons if he focuses a little and more and work minutely.

Regardless, once Leon finished the second needle, he started to dig, this time upward. In order to make sure he wouldn't choose the longest path, Leon decided to dig once upward and once to the side... There was a chance that he would also end up following the longest path that way, so he decided to dig to his left side, then up, and then to his right side... even so, since his sense of direction and time were weird there... Leon decided to forget about everything and just dig. Worry about every single thing was too damn annoying, and Leon didn't have time for that.

"I don't have time, but... what else can I do?"

Until now, Leon only moved forward... the only times he retreated; he did that because he had no other choice. It was a retreat or die, but now he was questioning if only moving forward was the best option. If he had taken his time and accessed things with caution, he could have saved himself from many problems. If Leon had decided not to ally himself with the harvesters, two hundred years wouldn't have passed on earth while he was away… but he also wouldn't have obtained Volt's fragment's power.

"I don't even know if such a long time has even passed on Earth… it is just the worst-case scenario."

That being said, Leon was pretty sure that he was in a place where time passed faster than Miebos… Regardless, questioning his past choices now that he knew the outcome of them was a waste of time. In the end, the true worst-case scenario would be Leon dying full of regrets… he was doing his best whenever possible to avoid that.

Congratulations! The skill Craft has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Blacksmith has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Magic Craftmanship has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Congratulations! The skill Magic Blacksmith has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Once Leon finished the path upward and found almost the exact same place he left below, he resumed the task of creating another mithril needle. This time, he didn't even waste time sighing upon realizing that his efforts didn't take him to the exit of that place. It was meaningless…

Time and time again, the same thing happened. Leon dug and just found another maze-like space… but time and time again instead of stopping to sigh or complain, he just moved forward. Leon endured the pain to increase his Fire Resistance, and once he did it, he created a hideout and created another mithril needle.

That whole process repeated itself seven times, and once Leon had ten mithril needles, he started to increase their size, but soon he stopped. It was obvious, but something wrong with that place… Leon understood that he couldn't escape from there, and he was there to suffer when his Fire Resistance reached level two hundred fifty, and the heat didn't decrease even a single bit.