Lewis left the fortress not long afterward, leaving them to continue their negotiations with the lycan and whatever else they had planned. He said his goodbyes to Morris, who seemed rather surprised at his decision but didn't attempt to change his mind. The archer had clearly grown to respect Lewis, especially after their battle against the orcs, but he didn't appear to be one to act too well alone, seeming more comfortable letting others be in charge and take on that responsibility. Lewis didn't hold it against the young man, although he wasn't prepared to relinquish his newfound freedom ever again.
Still, he was confident that Laurence was a good person that would do his best to protect his people, so he was currently racing through the forest with unprecedented speed, rapidly engulfing the distance that had been mapped out as he moved in the general direction the lodge was located, wanting to tell Patch about Laurence and all that he had learned. The man was similar in personality to Laurence; the two were likely to get along rather well with their aligned morals and sense of duty.
As he sprinted through the forest, moving faster than any human should possibly be able to, he felt like he was making some minor progress in controlling the amount of force his spirit physique was releasing, allowing his footwork to become more solid and less like some drunk constantly trying to catch himself in a constant cycle of overreaching and overcompensating.
He still needed to stay focused at all times to maintain his movements, which made it rather difficult to run at full speed in the densely packed forest, but with his insanely high constitution, he felt as though he could slam straight into a tree and come out none the worse off for it, the tree perhaps not even managing to fully stop his charge. That was the degree to which he had grown stronger. Although he wasn't too keen on trying that out, his brain was not willing to risk him having misjudged his own capabilities and finding himself smacking against a large trunk and breaking his teeth.
His passage through the woods was uninterrupted. Not a surprise, as all the creatures around didn't dare approach the vastly higher-level being, not to mention the power his strong spiritual body physique granted him, meaning any opposition to his passage would result in utter annihilation for any would-be attacker. Considering that the section of the forest that he was currently moving deeper towards was supposedly a low-level region, he wasn't even bothering to use his mana detection to scan his surroundings, instead looking out for anything familiar.
He finally got his first clue as he passed by the corpse of a familiar black panther whose body was being picked at by a trio of saber-toothed wombats, who almost got scared to death as Lewis whizzed past like a bat out of hell. The scavengers almost had a heart attack, but he was already through the clearing where the moonlight deer used to be and out of sight before they could even question what had just run past. From there, it didn't take long for him to trace his steps back to the small lodge, his body having been barely better than a regular human when he had first come through here, so with his new top speed being five times what he could previously accomplish, the distance completely evaporated beneath him as he returned to the lodge, with everyone still inside, having stayed indoors all throughout the night, unlike Lewis.
"What the hell? Where have you been all night? We thought you had died... And how the hell is your level so high?" Patch asked, almost leaping out of his skin as Lewis opened the door and stepped inside, startling the army man who had been sitting beside it.
"Long story... Is everyone here? I got some news to share." Lewis replied, not wanting to recount the events multiple times.
It didn't take long until everyone had been gathered up inside the lodge, Lue and Jonny having been about to go out hunting now that the sun was up, but they had been confused about Lewis's whereabouts since he hadn't said anything before disappearing, which was something he did feel bad about. Julian, the other rogue, had also split off the previous day without informing them, his safety and whereabouts equally unknown, but none of them were too broken up about it, the man having been rather difficult to be around.
Honestly, Lewis found it extremely strange to be back here with these people after everything he had just experienced. His arrival in the tutorial felt like ages ago, but had in fact been less than two days. Still, he had grown so much in such a short amount of time that it almost didn't feel real. But he was well aware that there were real dangers out there for those without his newfound strength. Patch and the others may have been able to take down the goblin den and the local creatures, but he doubted they would have been able to do much if those high-level orcs had shown up, so he began explaining everything he had gone through after venturing into the night.
Lewis explained about his new class at level 10 and his encounter with the two humans from the other world. About his encounter with Laurence and his mission to rescue the captured people, eventually explaining about the humans' potential alliance with the lycan against the vampire attack they were worried about.
All of them listened with rapt attention, seemingly struggling to believe everything Lewis had been through while they were all asleep. Even the injured people from the group that had been attacked by the lycan were all awake and paying close attention, especially to the part about the healing wing of the fortress that could be of great help to them.
When he was done recounting the events, everyone was in stunned silence or deep contemplation. It was Patch who spoke up first, taking charge of the situation as he normally does.
"I believe it would be best to join this growing group of survivors, at least to better understand what it is they can offer. Clearly, staying alone out here is a recipe for disaster. Humans have always stuck together to overcome the odds; it's in our nature as a social animal, and even if these other people are from an alien world, they might be able to provide us with knowledge and resources we don't even know to ask for. After all, they are clearly knowledgeable about the vampires and lycans, along with being experienced with magical phenomena, so there is nothing for us to lose in at least checking them out. As long as they don't attempt to boss us around or make us into slaves since we are from different worlds." He said, seeming to speak for everyone as the others all nodded.
"I don't think you need to worry about that. If anything, it's probably us Earthlings who are more likely to cause trouble. The people from the various human nations of their world seem to have been forced into working together to fight back against the man-eating horrors of their world, so they seem to have a shared trust and deep bond, not having had the opportunity to turn on one another for fear that such a thing would simply get them all killed. In fact, I didn't see them making any distinctions between Earth humans and themselves at all; some military personnel were even stationed as guards, and at least two of the people in their war room were from Earth too." Lewis replied, vouching for these seemingly far more united other-world humans than earth had ever been. But being in constant danger of extermination would obviously cause one to put their differences aside in the face of an existential threat.
After that, the group decided to join this growing community, taking the map Lewis had borrowed after he had filled in a few more details.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Lee asked, the medic appearing worried for his safety after he had already spoken about nearly dying when battling the orcs. Although he had not talked about his spirit physique and had recounted a revised version of events in which Morris and Fiona had played a bigger role, to avoid having to tell them too much about his breakthrough.
Still, when he had explained about his desire to return to the spiral mines dungeon, the healer had seemed worried, especially after hearing about the stone spiders they had encountered last time, but Lewis was far more confident in facing those beings the way he was now.
"No need to worry about me; I'm perfectly suited to fighting magical creatures, especially with how much stronger I've become." He replied, nodding to the Korean woman as the group moved out of the lodge, two of the injured people being helped along by the two warriors of the group, their legs having been wounded during the lycan encounter, but they seemed to have recovered remarkably under the healer's attention.
And so, Lewis waved them off, assuming that they might not see each other again anytime soon if his plan to ascend to the second floor played out as he planned. So he moved in a different direction, heading towards the cleared goblin den, trusting Patch and the others to take care of themselves as well as earn themselves some standing with Laurence by sharing the location of the dungeon with him, but by the time anyone came to investigate the place, Lewis had planned on being long gone.
Lewis found that his memory—which had already been above average—seemed to have only improved with his increased intelligence, allowing him to more easily recognize places he had already been to, allowing him to return to the goblin den only half an hour after leaving the others. Navigating the labyrinthine corridors of the underground system until he entered the main den, he found that the large stone doors had become shut once again, so he found the same disguised mechanism in its center and pushed; the large doors creaking open once again as he ventured inside with a smile on his face.
The difference in power he had achieved since he was last here not long ago was rather staggering. His mana detection spread out into the enormous cavernous space as the many mana crystals sprang to life in his senses. Far more than he had previously been able to detect, as he sensed them in a large radius around himself. It was similar to when he sensed mana frequencies but lacked the amount of precise information that method of perception had granted him, instead allowing him a rough understanding of the location and mana density, but it was already more than enough to allow him to detect his first target.
Compared to the spikes of mana he sensed from the crystallized pillars, a fainter emanation of mana gave away the position of a nearby stone spider. The creature was nearly identical to the first he had encountered.
Moving towards it, the creature locked onto him, its flamethrower eye already accumulating power as it prepared to incinerate him. At least, it tried to. Lewis was not even moving to intervene, wanting to get a better understanding of his abilities. As the stone spider activated its fire spell, Lewis retracted his nullfield until it was skintight, the flames immediately being snuffed out the moment it so much as brushed the field, even with him purposely not trying to enhance it. Although through careful observation, he was able to feel the field was a lot thicker than before, a naturally strengthened effect as a result of his aligned spirit.
It seemed that even when he didn't particularly intend for it, the mere fact that he was using his skill meant it was empowered by his spirit, making it utterly impossible for the poor level 9 spider to so much as singe a hair on his head. But he already knew that would be the case even without his arcane nullfield, his "defier of fate" title already making his constitution far too strong for its attack to incur any damage, so he quickly decided to dismiss his nullfield altogether, retracting it into his body while the stream of flames was still going strong.
Finally able to reach him, the orange flames swept over Lewis, but even then, they seemed to be drastically weakened as they reached his body, disappearing before they could do more than allow him to feel their heat, confirming his suspicion.
Just as he suspected, his body was naturally exuding a passive amount of his own mana, the same as the little stone spider, being the reason he was able to spot living beings with his mana detection at all. But his own mana wasn't the pure, unaspected one he had felt from others but carried an innate eroding effect. However, this wasn't some sort of skill or effect but seemingly a natural byproduct, like exhaling carbon dioxide when breathing. But his arcane null field seemed to be of a similar nature, also not requiring any active focus to maintain or power, simply existing around him.
He had wondered about how this was, but it seemed to be intrinsically linked with his spirit, seeming to be directly fueled from its power instead of pulling energy from his mana pool. As a result, his skill had leaped in power from his spirit body physique, as the link between his spirit and the skill had been greatly improved.
A smile graced his lips as he simply marched forward through the waning stream of flames, appearing before the stone spider, his hand plunging inside the spider's abdomen faster than it could react, his hand grasping around its core as he yanked. The glowing sphere was suddenly ripped out from its body, the beating heart of the creature held in his corrosive grasp as it began flickering, the passive mana he radiated affecting the mana core.
Damn it. Killing these stone spiders is a lot easier now, but how am I supposed to sell these spoils to the system shop if my touch erodes them?