My Level Zero System

Aside from the Crocodile Skeletons, the swamp area had no stronger monster types.

Kain spent the entire day making rounds, finally successfully upgrading his [Mind Protection] magic skill to level 1.

[Mind Protection level 1] 0/500 (+305)

"Tsk, another magic skill needing 100 skill points to level up."

Kain clicked his tongue, but didn't complain much, because compared to the magically effective magic skills like [Regeneration] or [Mind Protection], magic skills focused solely on physical elements like [Thunder Magic] or [Fire Magic] were much simpler.

"Well, I should also see how this [Mind Protection] actually works."

Although the experience of casting it flooded Kain's mind when he upgraded the magic skill, he believed more in actual experimentation.

Energy began to fluctuate as Kain released his magic, giving him a strange sensation.

Last time, he had the chance to reach the Spiritual Phase, a realm separate from the Material Phase. There, existing entities manifested as spiritual wavelengths, constantly spreading and dissipating.

To describe it, if the Spiritual Phase were a calm body of water, then living beings would manifest their existence by continuously "dipping" into the water, causing ripples that spread and then dissipate in an endless cycle. The larger the wavelength, the stronger the spirit.

Now, upon activating [Mind Protection], Kain had a different feeling.

Still using the same example, his spiritual wavelengths, which usually spread and dissipated as normal, suddenly contracted. The spreading wavelengths were no longer large; instead, they rebounded back inward to generate the next wave of spiritual energy, rather than dissipating.

"Is this... preventing dissipation? And using that to solidify my own spirit?"

Spiritual wavelengths were a very loose whole, like ripples constantly spreading and dissipating. But with [Mind Protection], they gradually gathered into a mass, not solidifying into a block of stone, but rather rebounding to continue the wave instead of dissipating.

So, what was the effect of this?

The way [Spirit Magic] attacks is essentially by the caster's spiritual wavelength influencing the spiritual wavelength of the target. When that happens, the target's spiritual wavelength will be bent, or even dissipated, much like two impacts at different points on a calm lake, where the ripples from the smaller impact are quickly swallowed by the ripples from the larger impact.

Meanwhile, [Mind Protection] would cause the caster's spiritual wavelength to self-rebound, forming a "hardened" region when encountering other spiritual wavelengths.

After comprehending the principle of this magic skill, Kain couldn't help but acknowledge that the Magus who created this magic system was truly a great individual.

[Mind Protection] doesn't create vague "protective shields"; instead, it uses the very structure of spiritual wavelengths to make the spirit more resilient against targeted attacks.

"With that, only [Mind Disturbed] remains for my goal to be complete."

[Regeneration], [Mind Protection], [Mind Disturbed]. Those were his three targets for this hunt; as for conquering the Dungeon, that was still too far off.

With his preparations complete, Kain proceeded to the second area of the second floor—the rock cave.

It was similar to the rock cave area on the first floor, no... not quite.

Because as soon as Kain stepped inside, he was greeted by a colossal Roc, covered in parasitic Eyl monsters.

Roc and Eyl functioned as two symbiotic species. Eyl were easily killed while Roc were not. Roc lacked optical vision while Eyl possessed it.

Facing this monster combination once again, Kain showed no hesitation.

He watched the Roc monster, its body seemingly constructed from massive boulders, charge straight towards him.

[Enhancement Body].

After enhancing his body, Kain timed his jump backward, evading the monster's charge. Simultaneously, lightning bolts erupted from thin air, striking the monster's colossal body.

It was Kain; he had activated [Thunder Summon] to attack, but this attack didn't faze the Roc much. It didn't even paralyze it, as its stony body couldn't be paralyzed.

However, Kain's target wasn't the Roc, but the Eyl parasites on its body.

Unlike the sturdy Roc, Eyl were rather weak monsters created from a large eyeball and flesh. And the lightning Kain created was specialized in countering this. With just a simple [Thunder Summon] attack, all the parasitic Eyl were burned out, stripping the Roc of its optical vision.

Losing its optical information reception almost instantly, the Roc became much more erratic in its attacks. This was because its only means of pinpointing targets was through the shockwaves they created.

And the Roc's sensory perception wasn't as keen as a Moled's—a similar monster that also hunted by detecting vibrations.

Without a word, Kain didn't continue using offensive magic. Instead, he simply activated [Enhancement Body] on himself, focusing on strengthening his ankles, wrists, and shoulders.

Next, he used [Enhancement Tool] on the two daggers that sprung from his outfit. Though these daggers were forged from Nightcrawler claws, making their hardness and sharpness undisputed, adding more reinforcement certainly wouldn't hurt.

Finally, [Enhancement Magic]—the magic skill that allowed him to enhance other magic skills—was naturally directed at [Enhancement Body] and [Enhancement Tool].

Upon completing this sequence of actions, Kain felt his body surge with power!

This was the strongest physical state he could achieve at this moment.

It wasn't that Kain couldn't deal with the Roc using magic, but sometimes he wanted to practice his close-combat skills to ensure his proficiency with cold weapons didn't lag.

He crouched and launched himself forward. Although the balls of his feet were the points of propulsion, his ankles were the points of impact. That's why people often get injuries there during intense leg movements, as they bear almost all the rebound force. And that's also why Kain focused on strengthening his ankles—to prevent injury.

Ducking to evade the Roc's pounce, Kain felt a strong gust of wind brush past his nose. The Roc was just a hair's breadth away from hitting him, but all of the monster's attacks just lacked that "little bit" more.

Kain used only the dagger in his right hand. Seeing the Roc's head lowering to approach, he rotated his stance, transferring power from his lower body to his shoulder and finally to the arm holding the dagger. With a single upward thrust, Kain's small dagger, like an arrow splitting an apple, shattered the Roc's hard, stony head.

He had reinforced his wrist and shoulder, two areas also highly susceptible to injury during strenuous activity, and ended with a focused strike at a single point to kill the Roc.

The monster's colossal body crashed down. Kain calmly sheathed his dagger and checked his system. The total harvest after killing both the parasitic Eyl swarm and the Roc was 4 skill points—not bad at all.

[Mind Disturbed] 4/400 (+4)

And without making Kain wait too long, right after he had dealt with that Roc, four more Rocs, also with parasitic Eyl, arrived, drawn by the vibrations caused by the recent battle.

"No wonder other Adventurers don't particularly like this rock cave area..." Kain thought.

Leaving aside the fact that monsters in the rock cave area, like Roc and Moled, were extremely difficult for Adventurers who mostly fought with melee weapons, the mere fact that both monster types hunted and located by sound waves was problematic enough.

On the first floor, it was easier to manage, as they could retreat at any time. Thus, they could carry their own gear if they wanted to stay in the Dungeon for many days, and walking caused fewer vibrations.

However, once they stepped onto the second floor of the Dungeon, the most feasible, if not the only, way to escape was to go all the way to the end, defeat the guardian monster of the second floor to open the way back. And to complete that journey, preparing sufficient provisions was essential. Piling supplies onto horse-drawn carriages was normal, not just food and water, but also medicine and weapons, and even carriages to carry spoils.

The consequence was that when they arrived at an area like this rock cave, the loud noises from carriages loaded with goods would attract the monsters.

It was truly indescribable hardship.

As for Kain, since he was an independent Magus and didn't need to collect spoils or anything, minimal gear was sufficient for him.

Returning to the current situation, facing four Rocs thundering towards him, Kain this time did not use his previous tactic, because there was no need.

He had something more suitable to counter the Rocs.

In front of Kain, a speck of fire flared up, then quickly expanded; this was his [Fire Magic]. After that, the flames began to transform, rotating and compressing, giving it the appearance of a weapon.

Mid-class magic skill. [Fire Blade].

Not focusing on burning power, explosive force, or combustion, this magic skill concentrated immense heat into a line, transforming the flames into a high-temperature cutting blade. It wasn't sharp in the traditional sense, as it had no specific rigid shape, but the intensely compressed heat was enough to cut and burn through hard objects.

Like these Rocs.

Kain activated [Fire Blade], and with just a simple, sweeping motion, all four Rocs, lined up horizontally, were cut in half. Their colossal bodies crashed down, revealing cut marks still reeking of scorching.