[Fiona's POV]
The forest around was lush, green, and dense around us as we landed. Boss opened the portal and walked ahead, and I followed.
Just as we arrived a slight distance from the dungeon on the 8th floor, a group of 7 players made their way to us. The phenomenal speed and no-nonsense attitude had reduced interactions with other players.
I cursed them internally; I was fired up from all the boosts of title and wanted to check this power mine, but some clowns really had to butt in.
A girl with a voluptuous body, all the curves in the right places, and black hair, she stood in front of Boss and addressed us, "Hey, you two, we are searching for players to join our group so that we can help each other clear this floor. Would you like to join us?"
Before I could reply, Boss beat me to it and responded, "No thanks, we are sufficient in ourselves," and kept walking without giving much thought.
"Hey, wait a minute, I am looking out for you guys. This floor is very dangerous." She tried to coax us again, but this time I turned around and said with a slight smile, "Thank you for your concern."
Boss and I entered the dungeon; as we landed, I asked, "Boss, can you let me handle this dungeon alone? I want to test the power from your titles."
Boss just nodded, and we moved forward. This dungeon was the habitat of forest direwolves. I took the lead, and this time Boss followed behind me.
A group of three Forest Direwolves tried to ambush me; AetherBlade readied in my grip as I engaged with them.
One wolf swiped his claws at me; I sidestepped and swung my sword to meet with another claw strike. I looked at the shallow wound on the wolf's body, and I tapped into the endless well of mana in me.
I felt like a dam in me had broken; earlier I only felt a connection forming with a bottomless well of mana, but this was something else—an euphoric feeling overwhelmed my senses for a second.
I controlled my senses and swung my mana-charged AetherBlade on the other wolf, who tried to take a bite of my head but was cleaved in half by a single strike, and then I went on to finish both wolves using the skill 'Siren Spike.'
I also increased my speed and even ran between kills and taking down monsters. As we headed deeper, I started feeling the strain; not tiredness, but the monster got stronger and difficult to deal with.
Boss hasn't interrupted or said anything or killed a single monster till now; some monsters who even got past me were met by some kind of shield, possibly, and were unable to reach him.
After joining the boss on the 2nd floor, I felt my glaring weakness, 'talent,' again. Despite having such a strong title literally providing me infinite mana and stamina, I was still short and unable to face monsters as effortlessly as Boss did.
I started doubting myself that I even deserve such titles and privileges, and then in the final boss monster fight, my shortcomings truly surfaced.
Even after having such a strong sword and an endless mana and stamina pool. I couldn't end the boss quickly, and the fight had to be dragged on; the boss monster kept regenerating, and its hide was tougher than normal wood.
I literally had to chip away at the monster's health and fight a battle of attrition. Despite all my tries, it took about an hour and a half to clear this dungeon. In this much time, Boss would easily have cleared at least 3 dungeons. I just felt like a deadweight now.
After clearing the dungeon, Boss Max teleported us to another dungeon, but as He moved towards the entrance of the dungeon, I stopped and spoke with a heavy heart: "You should leave me, Boss; I will just drag you down. I don't deserve your support; I am truly talentless. I can't even clear a D-rank dungeon in under an hour. I am no use to you."
I took a deep breath after conveying my thoughts as I waited for his response.
He turned and looked at me, but I was feeling so shameful that I just bowed my head downwards; his voice reached my ears. "Look, I don't know much about how to motivate someone or something like that. So I will just say what I think."
"You are struggling because you just have been handed something powerful, but there was no manual for it, and you didn't ask me how to navigate your power. Today you fought more badly than your previous days."
"Your fighting style is quick and elegant and strikes at weakness, but today you changed that and tried to force everything. You aren't going to learn everything on one try, but you shouldn't imitate others and fight at your own strength."
"I know you blame your talent for this. Maybe you are right or wrong, but before you go all blaming yourself and putting yourself down, just think how many D-rank players you know who can clear a dungeon in around 1½ hours even if they had an endless supply of mana and stamina potions.
I was also not always sunshine and warm breezes."
"Wow, I don't even remember when I spoke this long for the last time. Now hurry along and just observe for today." The boss ended his answer on a lighter tone.
I just kept my head down and followed, but every word of Boss echoed in my mind. After entering the dungeon, I observed the boss as he spoke. He again started with a new element again, Sand, this time.
I noticed that I was able to observe the actions of Boss better, the slight fluctuations of mana. I observed his every new attack was better than the last.
I previously thought that Boss was powerful and brute-forced his way till now, but the shared trait, Infinite Mind, was helping me notice small details. All fights of Boss were a mixture of brute force and elegance combined.
If one attack was less powerful or effective, then he would either switch his attacks or make it more powerful in the next attack. Now I understood what Boss wanted to convey: I got swept away in the euphoria of my power and forgot that if a child is handed a powerful sword, he won't become a swordsman overnight.
A small smile bloomed on my face. Boss surely spoke the most till now after meeting me, but his insights are what I needed the most now.
Boss, after giving me a much-needed lecture, just proceeded on with his massacre. He even took out his sword, which he rarely did.
He also answered my small question about some things I didn't understand when I watched his elegant fights with sand balls hovering around him with his sword. Now that I could notice small things, watching the boss fight was truly cathartic.
I laughed at myself inwardly; I really tried to ride to high heaven after getting a quick horse and didn't even ask the horse owner how to properly ride his horses.
Boss finished the 8th floor at his same insane speed. Before he could teleport us to the 9th floor, I voiced my thoughts: "Thank you for your words, Boss."
He just gave a slight nod, and both of us got sucked into the magic circle towards the 9th floor.
[3rd POV]
A large group of adventurers came out after clearing a domain, but their faces didn't show any triumph. The leader of this party looked in a certain direction, and a shadow wiggled towards him.
The Shadow manifested into a teenage boy, covered in all-black clothing similar to that of an assassin. The shadow got on a knee and greeted, "I bow to the Royal One."
The leader nodded and asked, "What information have you collected till now, Malik?"
Malik, the shadow, responded, "I have collected all the information I could get on the top parties and top players of Mythos and its nearby planets, except…" He stopped before completing his sentence.
"Except for that, Max, isn't it?" The leader completed the sentence and asked.
"Yes, Royal One," Malik answered.
"I have tried the system to ask anything about him or related to him, but I just got scammed of my coins to only receive 'You are not worthy enough' crap, and now you also came empty-handed. Just from which hole did this Max crawl out of?" the leader complained.
"Keep a close eye on everyone else. I hope he joins the newbie tournament of Tower so I can identify him and give him proper reward for putting me through such a ringer. "Disperse," he ordered.
"I won't let you ruin my chances of getting a seat at the Everclaim Hegemony," the leader muttered as the shadow disappeared in a different direction.
The group then teleported to the 5th floor to clear it and increase their rank.
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[AN: Support this chapter through Power stones guys and comments your thoughts about the chapter.]