Heaven's Greatest Professor

Warden was the force of nature. With power coursing through him in wild abandon he left the remains of his dead drakes in his wake. The Drake matriarch attempted to unleash fire upon him, but he effortlessly dodged by sidestepping. His movements possessed a visceral, ghostly nature as his figure blurred while approaching the matriarch.

The two elite drakes remaining shot at him with their huge figure. They weren't as fast as the lesser drakes with their huge hulking figures, but the strength they possessed was something to reckon with. Their massive bodies resembled more of a dragon, lacking only scaled wings.

Warden concentrated on his defence, activating the void shroud to envelop him entirely. With his power increasing, the shroud's capability had risen another notch, not that it was ever weak. he also learned the main reason he was unable to use the full capacity of his power was because of his weak body, which he somewhat satisfied after receiving the boon.

Of course, there probably was a criteria for Mind and Spirit as well. Warden hoped he would get at least another 5% increase after he received the boon in his Spirit. The day was not that far, perhaps he'd managed with the loot of this dungeon alone. It was already closing towards the 90s. A few points more and he could leave the rest to the potions.

He had no idea what to do about Mind. training with June might help, but to what extent? He didn't think he could simply grow his Mind infinitely being under the seize of her mental power.

One of the elite drakes lunged at him, but he skillfully flipped over it, compelling the shroud onto its back and immobilising it. Before the other one could react, he drove the blade into its hide, dispatching it swiftly.

Another burst of fire was directed at him at close range. Occupied with the elite drake, he could only defend himself with the void shroud. He also activated the Mystic Ward from Maya's Protection to complement the shroud as thin tendrils of energy joined his channels from the attack.

With half of his energy already, which was sufficient to deal with the remaining lizards, but it didn't hurt to have more. With a mighty lunge, he propelled himself atop the Drake, taking advantage of the fact that it couldn't fire at him for about five more seconds.

Warden thrust his blade into the Drake matriarch's neck. As it howled, more of the remaining lizards, as well as the elite ones, shot at him, sensing their mother in distress.

Jason stood firm on the ground, conjuring his magical knight shield to fend off all the attacks directed at Warden. Even Nina wasn't merely protecting the healer. They occupied a higher vantage point, relatively safe. Shooting arrows from there posed no problem for her. Mostly free, her aim was top-notch, though she couldn't kill a drake without hitting their head or eye with their tough scale.

But her arrows slowed them down, and Jason had no difficulty dealing with them.

The five seconds had passed, and he hadn't managed to kill the Drake matriarch yet. This creature proved stronger than any they had faced so far, likely at the very peak of the iron grade. Its scales were significantly tougher with its body reinforcement skill. He focused his intent on re-establishing the void shroud to shield himself from the firepower.

The fire plunged into the force-field, falling more onto the drake itself than Warden. He hold on for a time, drilling the blade further, pushing forth the void energy and his intent.

[You have slain the Cursed Drake Matriarch (Iron)]

[You have slain the Cursed Elite Drake (Iron), 3x]

You have slain Cursed lesser drakes (Iron), 27X.]

[+1.3 spirit, 2.9 strength, 1.7 dexterity]

It was the fifth time of the day they were hunting a pack of drakes, and so far they had only been successful, though it hadn't been easy trekking the mountain terrain with bursting volcanos and such.

Their gain on attributes was a lot lower, and it had been regressing more and more as the hunt went on. Still, Warden was delighted that he was actually getting something out of it. Of course, the natural law of the system did not impose on him like it did on others, still, it was impossible to firm the same racial creature all the time. At some point, he would probably would get nothing out of it.

The variety in essence matters as well.

The other three had already stopped gaining anything from the fight other than the loot they would be obtaining. From the look of it, they needed another round of rest.

"I guess only the main boss remained," Warden muttered as he came down from the Matriarch's corpse. After it died, the few remaining minions fled as quickly and ferociously as they had attacked upon noticing them.

"Phew," Jason sighed, wiping the blood from his face. He looked worn out and had been going at it quite mercilessly. Unlike the other two, he had participated in all five turns of the fight. Although there were breaks in between, Jason didn't have the Recovery attribute to be as resilient as Warden.

Still, Jason was a cut above an elite adventurer like Nina. Warden guessed that he had not wasted all the resources he had been privileged to before he forsake it all. Perhaps he could help the guy more, but that had to wait for now.

"You guys all relax," he said as the healer and the huntress joined them. "I will collect all of it on my own."

Thankfully, with the rise of his void energy capacity, he could open a larger gate to his subspace now. Still, he needed to bisect the corpse of the mountainous matriarch to store it in. It wasn't a monumental task anymore, as Warden had got quite adept at doing it repetitively.

"What is this guy even made of?" Nina said. "If you hadn't said anything, I might have assumed him to have some secret identity like some heir of some ancient house or something."

"Haha," Jason laughed, though it had occurred to him as well before. "Warden is just built differently."

"Well, he was already a force to be reckoned with before," she said. "But now, with the boon, I have nothing else to compare him with. I guess only Silver ranker can work with such efficiency."

"Not even your common silver ranker," the healer added. "I guess, with all the efficiency in his boon, his stats are about the same as an early silver ranker."

Of course, there is more to a silver rank than just that stat. They do not know it all yet, as all of them were iron rank, and the society tends to keep the knowledge of higher ranks as secret as possible. They could only guess or get the full story by buying or befriending a higher rank, which isn't easily done.

"Done," Warden said. He turned to face them, considering. "How many hours remain till we have to exit the dungeon?"

Jason said, calculating, "Four hours less than a day, I guess."

There is no way they could clear the whole dungeon in that time. Honestly, even another week won't be enough, as the dungeon was huge, littered with mountain terrains and pathways that were difficult to move on, not to mention the sheer amount of drakes.

This type of dungeon was for a specialised team of rankers. Their exploits so far were already surprising enough, though he has tested still unable to test the full capacity of his physique and how to improve it. It still remains at that one percent progress, even with all the fights.

It's about time I looked for the main boss. Talking with the others, he found there was a large chance that the main boss would be a silver ranker. Most grade seven dungeons could hold only a silver ranker, and considering the sheer size of it, there is a high chance there would be one.

Warden could not help but wonder, How would he fare against a silver ranker. The Drake Matriarch was surely powerful, but it was slow as hell. Without its minions, he believed he would have no trouble dealing with it.

But what if the silver-rank matriarch was a cut above the rest with high agility? It might give him a run for his money. A deep surge of battle lust grew within him that he rarely felt. The last time had been in the Phantom Accursed Valley, not too long ago, though his memory of the place was surreal as the 12 days merged together to create a blurry memory in his mind.

"What are you thinking so deeply about?" Jason asked.

"I'm feeling a little hungry," Warden said. His 'little' was actually a lot to them, as all of them smiled warily. "You guys, why don't you rest a bit and prepare our food while I go scouting for our next target?"

"Seems like a plan," Jason said. "Though the loop from the loop you are giving, I think you plan on facing it without us."

Warden smiled. "That would honestly depend on what I have to fight against," he said. "Don't get worried, though. I know when to retreat."

Jason nodded, realising he was far from adequate to lecture Warden on combat. The man was a hardened and experienced fighter, easily reaching the aura of some of the best fighters Jason had seen, even surpassing some old rankers who had worked under his father.