[CH399+ Continued] Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

Chapter 445

"I know three potential ways you could get strong enough to venture further into the abyss. Would you like to hear them?"

Arie listens and nods.

"Of course. What do you know?"

I do a quick inspect on Arie to see he's level 586. It's a high number, but far below his actual power level that he showed me with his bow right here.

"Well, the first way is obvious. I could take you back to the Vice City Labyrinth and we could climb the floors to level up. I'm sure the stronger you grow your body, levels, and mana control; the better your unique skill will work against Demonic Monsters."

He responds.

"Sure, that's obvious. But it'll be a slow process, and just raising my mana control and level does not guarantee the increase in effectiveness against these so-called Demonic Creatures."

I nod.

"Yes, you're right. That leads us to the second option. I could awaken the power that Maria and Abby have been training with the last few weeks. It's called Qi, and I have reasons to believe after hearing your story, this is the energy your old village leader used to awaken your unique skills special traits. Similar to the Red Hydra's Buff, it is rooted in a different power source than just mana-based attacks. It would not react with Demonic Energy like mana does."

Arie perks up at this.

"You can just awaken me? And I'll be able to wield it immediately...?"

I sigh and shake my head.

"No, it would take quite a while to learn... and to be honest, the only source for more energy to get stronger is back in Valor City. I can awaken you if we meet up with my main body, but it will still take weeks or months, maybe even years to get to the point where it'll actually do significant damage on a creature of the Demonic Worms' stature. Though, I'm very confident Qi would be enough to kill it."

Arie gives me a curious look, then speaks up again.

"Okay, what's the last option. You've given me the fast and inefficient route with mana training, the slow and guaranteed route with this Qi proposition; so what's the third option? A risky yet guaranteed method, or what?"

"Exactly."

I smile, looking Arie in the eyes for a moment, then turning my head to the Abyss while activating my Demonic Energy manipulation and gathering all 30 or so Units of Unrefined Demonic Energy that has dispersed from the Wolves killed by Arie's prior attacks.

A swirling of black energy comes flowing out of the Abyss, then into my hand, and flowing into my body to rest in my Demon's Core.

I create a slashing movement with my hand, letting a few units of energy flow out into a small crescent of energy. My Midnight Dagger is in the item storage of my main body, I would have used it now to show off if items like that could replicate into body doubles.

Still, the refined demonic energy flows from my finger and pierces through the dark veil of the Abyss.

I let the remaining refined energy drip from my fingers and lock away the 27 units of unused energy into my core for later use. Then, respond.

"The third option is using the power of the Demonic Monsters against them. I believe I can teach you how to wield Demonic Energy."

Arie's eyes open wide. He watched the whole attack and didn't let his gaze leave the crescent of darkness for a moment. I continue to speak in his moment of silence.

"I'm positive it'll kill these creatures. I managed to crack the tooth of one of those worms with this power when I was much weaker than both of us are now. From what I've learned so far, Demonic Energy is the most effective and safe offensive move against Demonic Creatures. It only took me a few days to get the hang of it, and as you can see, we have a pretty abundant supply of energy to do training."