We are all made of star stuff.

I'd always loved that quote, ever since I heard it. It made not only the human race as a whole, but me personally sound more amazing than I actually was.

I was told of it by an old teacher in my first year of High School and it gave me a new outlook on life. It didn't change much, but, it was enough to pull my head out of my ass a little bit.

It was a lesson that stuck with me, because for all it was philosophical, it struck home for me that no matter my life style, no matter how powerless or weak I was in comparison to those famous and rich people…they were not better than me, they were not superior to me.

Because in the end we were all just stardust, tiny little fragments of creation formed in a cosmic fire.

As it turned out, that flame was more divine than cosmic.

And that flame was inscribed upon my back and I could call upon it at will with a single word.

"Blaze." I chanted.

A massive aura of flame burst into existence around my form, glimmering embers of creation itself cladding upon and through my form, strengthening me.

And creation leapt at my command and destroyed my foes. With a thrust of my hand out towards a bunch of killer ants rushing my way, a wave of burning divine creation rushed forth and swept over them, burning their existence to naught.

'…This is pretty amazing.' I couldn't help but look down at myself in a little bit of awe, once more.

The flame itself was so easy to control. I could shape it with my will and control it, bend the very flames themselves even after I unleashed them.

And the increase in ability was far more than I as expecting. With the aura of flame enhancing my body, I felt like my physical abilities had practically doubled.

Right now, I feel like I could take on the Soma Familia and win even as just a level one.

I've only been in the dungeon for ten minutes, but just a small burst of its usage, had me down on the seventh floor already.

Though, the mind drain with it is something else.

It's a good thing I've stocked up on a ton of mind potions. Especially since I needed to recover my mind after filling up those barrels before making my way to the dungeon.

Six whole barrels, three filled with healing powder, three filled with poisonous powder.

Considering the usual drop of them was barely enough to fill a small vial and were worth five thousand valis, I've…probably got enough sitting in those barrels to be worth a couple million valis at least and enough when made into potions that it will probably be worth over five million.

I'd had to drink three full mind recovery potions to fill them, even with mu magic stat being nearly fourteen hundred at this point.

Letting the flames enshrouding my form dissipate, I made my way over to the carcasses of the killer ants and with my gauntlet clad hands, the only armour I was wearing right now besides a pair of armoured boots and punched into their chests and pulled out their magic stones one by one, like every other monster I'd slaughtered on my way down here.

And then munched them down.

Just as I finished, the wall cracked and burst apart at my side, much quicker than I was expecting and a rather large killer ant burst free, mandibles going straight for my neck.

I backhanded it before it got too close and tore it from the wall easily. It landed hard on its back and skittered wildly trying to turn itself back onto its front to attack me as I raised a single finger, golden light vibrating into existence atop it.

'They're not a challenge at all.' I clicked my tongue in disappointment. Even in my base, without using Vesta, I doubt anything even on the eleventh floor could challenge me, hell I think I could take that minotaur Bell fought.

Amazing as it was being as strong as me…I'd need to go down passed the eighteenth floor to mind a single monster that wasn't a Monster Rex that could give me a challenge.

I've always loved a good scrap and ever since I got Typhon, my love of fighting has increased massively. Since I got here, no fight has got my blood pumping as much as that first struggle against that goblin I woke up to strangling the life out of me.

...I wonder...

Eh, it's worth a try isn't it?

"It's your luck day mate." I grinned at the killer ant, lowering my finger glowing with energy, at the same time it turned around and snapped at me.

I caught it by the throat, holding it aloft and then began walking, making my way towards the end of the seventh floor even as it thrashed in my grasp.

As I made my way down the cavernous corridor, multiple killer ants rushed around the corner.

I held up my free hand and unleashed a beam of light that pierced through the first and then the second easily and a simple kick snapped the third and lasts neck.

I ripped their magic crystals free.

And then instead of eating them myself, I forced them down the throat of the killer ant in my grasp.

I may be making a dumb decision.

Creating an enhanced species just for a good fight.

But, it would be stupider to try for the eighteenth floor and beyond right now. For one, I can't beat the Goliath…yet. And the Loki Familia, hadn't went down for the expedition and killed it yet.

But, there was a method to my madness.

I only fed it a few on the way down to the eleventh floor, which was easy to make my way to. I was just way above the usual strength required to get there and not only had I studied the dungeon maps in advance, my new sonar ability gotten from a Bad Bat magic crystal, made it even easier to find my way.

And while enhanced species, irregulars, are much stronger than usual, there was also something else about them.

Sometimes, in the process of mutating, they gained new abilities.

New abilities I could take from devouring their magic crystals after I killed them…after enhancing them.

Once down there, the area really opened it. It was a bit surreal to be honest, to find myself stepping from a dark cave to a wide open, murky forest covered in a mist, with light white grass and huge dead, gleaming white trees.

'Though, they're landforms from what I've read.' I mused. Natural growths in the village that could be used as weapons by monsters.

I made my way straight to one of the said landform trees and slammed the chittering screeching killer ant, already having grown noticeably into it, pinning it there.

And then let crystal flow from my hand, spewing out over its torso and locking it to the landform.

"Stay there for a bit mate, I'm gonna make you a nice big dinner." I grinned, cracking my neck and turning around, the ominous roars and grunts of monsters hidden within the depths of this floor echoed in my ears, faint shapes visible through the mist. "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!" he shouted challengingly.

I'm was right by the stairs, so nothing could come from mist behind me and take me by surprise.

I'm doing a dumb thing, but I'm not entirely stupid.

Besides, in the end, this was only to both see if I could get a decent fight here and to test if there was a possibility of farming new abilities from monsters like this.

As it is, I've already got most of the useful abilities I can get from monsters and there's less than ten monsters left with powers I want and need.

My challenge did not go unanswered.

They rushed through the mist in the dozens, roaring all the ways, pre-spawned in advance for adventurers to be caught unawares by.

Huge white furred gorrilas, titanic and fat green skinned bipedal pig like creatures over eight feet tall. Bats as large as eagles swept down from the ceiling, while ugly little imp-like creatures skittered through the legs of the uge orc's, carrying little stone daggers and swords.

Now this was promising!

With a massive grin, I opened my mouth and roared, a wave of sound erupting from my throat and expanding outwards.

The sound wave stunned most of them, the silverback's, orc's and imp's stopping in their tracks with pained cries, though not the Bad Bats as they swept down towards me with razor sharp fangs and unleashed sharp sound waves of their own.

Too bad, just as they were not damaged by my own, I was not damaged theirs.

"Blaze!" I laughed, fire erupting around my form and I punched out, unleashing a massive wave of fire that swept over them and tore them from the air, dropping their steaming corpses to the ghostly white grass below.

With them taken care of, I bound forward towards the land dwelling monsters. With a flame enhanced leap, I shot through the air towards one of the huge orcs and with a laugh, clasped my gauntlet clad fists together and brought them down in a hammer blow.

The huge leathery skinned beasts skull cratered inwards and it toppled over to land on its back, while I landed on its big fat belly.

As I did, the monsters around me regained their bearings and rushed me. A little imp that was beside the orc launching itself at me with a screech.

Only for me to punt it in the face and send its head flying off its neck off into the distance.

I spun lightly off the beasts belly, dodging a silverback's clawed swipe and lashed out with a counter elbow that crunched its skull and dropped it to the ground dead.

And then I pushed off, wind swirling and mixing with flame around my foot and launching me forward with explosive speed. I tore through the assembled monsters in a flaming, burning blur.

And soon, all that was left was a single unarmed orc, stuck in place, its red, pupilless eyes wide and its body trembling.

It was a monster of pure instinct.

And I instilled the instinct of fear within it.

But I can tell you one thing better than anyone else. The predominant instinct of a monster, is to fight, kill and ascend upwards out of the dungeon.

I know because I get a first hand account of those instincts every time my falna is updated.

Fear of a single being alone is not enough to stop a monster in its tracks.

With a roar, the beast shook off its terror and reached for one of the dead trees. It pulled it up with a single hand, excess bark falling away from the tree to reveal a huge broad sword as long as I am tall and thicker at that.

It raised the blade up high in the air and charged towards me with thundering footsteps.

…This presented a good chance to try something.

As it rushed me, I held my hand out and focused.

Crystal swept out of my palm and elongated, bit by bit into a crude jagged blade a split moment later.

'Yeah, not even close.' I clicked my tongue.

Even from that single use alone, I could tell that was the best I could get it. Shaping the crystal I could make, wasn't possible beyond rough, crude shapes unless I did it over my body.

Which meant I couldn't just spawn weapons into my hands.

I heaved the crude crystal blade up over my shoulder and threw it like a javelin.

It pierced the orc's face and killed it dead just as it got within five feet of me, "I wonder if blacksmith or metal shaping would let me do it?" I wondered aloud.

Not that I'll actually get them, I'm not a smith or anything. And even if I did, I'd rather focus on combat abilities.

With a shrug, I got down to business and began harvesting the magic stones of the monsters I'd just slain.

A roar shook the air, rippling and resounding across the vast space.

She paused at the top of the stairs she just reached the top of, a familiar deep white fog enshrouding her view.

'An Infant Dragon?' her head cocked to the side.

She could recognise the roars of a dragon anywhere. A roar so similar, yet vastly louder more terrifying plagued her dreams quite often after all.

That and on the eleventh floor, Infant Dragon's were the only beast that could spawn that was capable of unleashing such a roar.

Wyvern's did not start appearing until the next floor. Unless it was one that chased someone up to the eleventh floor.
Though, with how big they got, it would be hard pressed to fit, so most likely, it was an Infant Dragon.

Unbidden, her feet took her towards the sound of the roar in a dash of speed most wouldn't even be capable of seeing.

It was usually frowned upon for an adventurer to interfere in the fight of another against a monster, it went against the general unwritten rules of adventurers.

But an Infant Dragon was capable of slaughtering a party of Level 1's quite handily most often.

So, she was checking just in case.

She arrived at her target mere moments later and ground to a halt, and stared.

She was correct.

It was an Infant Dragon.

….Or rather, was an Infant Dragon.

"That's it?" a boy, her age huffed, maybe a bit younger going by his face, but tall and well built, near Bete in height but broader in the shoulders looked down at the Infant Dragon, its head currently pinned beneath his foot clad in a shiny blue armoured boot.

And dead.

Her eyes flickered to his hands, crossed almost contemptuously across his chest, clad in gauntlets of the same make as the armoured boots he was wearing, reminding her of the shiny gleaming crystal armour of a Crystal Mantis, though the fingers on the gauntlets were razor sharp at the end, like beastial claws.

From the clawed gauntlets, blood dripped steadily, and she noted across the Infant Dragon's throat, was a multitude of large claw shaped gouges, as if some giant beast had torn its throat out.

…Or a boy with claw shaped gauntlets.

She frowned. Was he not a level one then? He didn't look any worse for wear, in fact, beyond the gauntlets and boots, he was clad in casual clothing and not a weapon in sight.

He had to be at least level two if he came down to this point so lightly armoured.

No…even a level two might not be enough, was he a level three? But she did not recognise him and he was pretty young. Someone that young at that level would be pretty famous, right?

There was less than five hundred Level Three's in all of Orario, she did not claim to know all of them, but her familia kept an eye out for anyone rising up the ranks quickly just in case.

The boy sighed, shaking his head, his short and spiky black and blonde hair bouncing with the motion, "Guess I really will have to go deeper if I want a good fight," he clicked his tongue, "So much for being a dragon, what a let down. I thought you guys were supposed to be stronger than even Minotaur's, what are you doing getting one shot by a level one? In your next life, try and be reborn as at least a Green Dragon." with those words, said, he uncrossed his arms, reared one back and thrust forward, plunging it deep into the chest of the dead dragon monster and tore out its magic stone, the corpse of the monster dispersing into black smoke and disappearing as he did, while in its place, a large piece of red scaly hide was left behind.

The boy shrugged, grabbed it as well and walked away.

Ais stared.

Her eyes ever so slightly widened in shock at his words, '…Level….one?' she blinked.

That was…impossible.

Right?

A level one couldn't so casually crush an Infant Dragon. That just wasn't right. They were called the Monster Rex of the early floors because their strength was so much greater than the monsters within the area and surpassed even many on the middle floors.

In fact, alone, an Infant Dragon was the strongest monster one could encounter right up until the Great Wall Of Sorrow where the Goliath was born.

Perhaps she was not one to talk, for when she was a level one, she had killed a black enhanced species of Wyvern which was stronger than an Infant Dragon by a small margin, but she almost died in the process and that was with both Ariel and her skill, Avenger.

…This boy on the other hand, looked bored and seemed to have casually done the beast in.

Once again unbidden, her feet carried her towards the direction where the boy went.

…How was he so strong as a level one? Was it some kind of powerful skill? Was he some masterful strategist like Finn?
Did he have some secret method for gaining strength? Was it possible for her to replicate it?

She had to know.

It did not take her long before she found him again, her footfalls silent as she observed him.

She stared once more, confused.

He was walking towards a tree where what looked like a Killer Ant was stuck to it, by what appeared to be the same material his gauntlets and boots were made of?

Though, something was off. It looked…bigger. And its body was wrong in colour. Usually a Killer Ant had a body of a deep burnt rustic red, almost blood-like in colour.

This one…was black.

'An enhanced species?' she wondered.

It struggled and thrashed against its bonding, but could not break free. It was fine for the moment, but…why was it here?

"Looks like you really are my only hope for a good and proper fight right now," the boy casually spoke to the monster as he approached it, idly tossing the magic stone of the infant Dragon in his hand up and down through the air, "Otherwise, I'm gonna need to go pick a fight with the Goliath and gonna be honest, not liking my odds with that thing buddy."

'He's looking for a challenge.' Ais realised. Then…did he make the enhanced species? Did he drag this Killer Ant down here and feed it the magic stones of other monsters he killed.

Her eyes flickered to the base of the tree, where she could see a rather large pile of monster drops sitting. Killer Ant mandibles, orc hides, silverback fur and more.

Considering the amount there and the rate at which items dropped, he must have killed well over fifty monsters.
She saw no magic stones in sight.

If he fed all of them to that Killer Ant…and going by its appearance, she was sure he had, it had to already have gained strength comparable to a level two monster from the middle floors like a minotaur if not become stronger.

Yet, despite how it thrashed against its bonds, it could not break free.

"Calm down mate, I've got your dinner right here," The boy snorted and before her eyes, cut the Killer Ant off mid-screech at him as he thrust the magic stone in his hand into its mouth and forced it down its throat, "There, how's that, tasty huh?" he laughed again.

He was…kind of cocky. Like Bete, but without the same anger behind it? Actually, if anything, it was kind of the opposite of Bete's cockiness.

He seemed joyful, happy in a way. Like…Tiona? Tiona mixed with Bete?

Very odd.

Her attention was drawn to the Killer Ant as its thrashing and screeching settled down and it went completely still and silent.

And then her eyes widened as it let loose a horrible piercing shriek and its body creaked audible, then snapped.

"Oh!" the boy let out a noise of…glee?

While the Killer Ant seemed to grow and mutate, its body snapping and morphing.

'Just how many magic stones has he fed it?' she wondered. Mutations that monsters went through upon becoming enhanced species, tended to be limited to becoming a bit smarter, larger, more powerful and differing in colour.

Full body changes, usually only came about if they ate a great many of magic stones and morphed beyond their natural bodies, full on mutating into something…more.

It was usually a very rare occurrence and not something that she could ever remember happening this early into the dungeon.

The blue metallic substance keeping it pinned to the tree shattered and exploded outwards in a reign of debris, the boy casually tilting his head to avoid any that would have impacted him.

And the tree shattered into splatters as the beast in its new form stepped forward. It was still recognisable as…an ant, kind of?

But the differences between it and a normal Killer Ant was as different as night and day. Its carapace was a pitch black and now…it stood on two of its legs taking a bipedal form, humanoid. Four of its six legs had changed, one set become long, razor sharp arms, while the other two curled around its waist like a set of sharp mandibles for stabbing into anything within close range, while two fly like wings had burst from its back.

And the size increase was incredible.

It had to stand at least eight feet tall, more maybe. Bigger even than a minotaur by her estimates and positively towered over the boy.

Spoiler

"Woah, now that's what I'm talking about!" the boy whooped.

For a moment, nothing happened, the mutated Killer Ant just stood there, arms hanging limp and staring at the boy, head tilted to the side, examining him.

'The rapid mutation has caused it to increase in intelligence as well.' she thought. How much, she did not know. What she did know, was that it was most likely confused by its new intelligence and it was clashing with its instincts.

In the deep floors, there were some capable of outright creating traps and luring adventurers into them, But, monsters like that, were usually far older than this monster would be.

No monster from the weaker level floors would last long, they were not nearly large enough for it to hide anywhere.

The boy grinned at the enhanced Killer Ant and spread his arms wide and welcoming, "Come on now lad, come give daddy a big hug." he taunted it.

It probably did not understand his words, but the meaning he was conveying was obvious.

Its crimson red eyes, similar to the boys own shone with rage and the wings on the mutated monsters back began to rapidly flicker, the speed and force behind them making a loud buzzing noise that echoed across the floor.

With a piercing shriek of fury it shot towards the boy and despite herself, her eyes widened at the sheer speed of it.
It was nothing compared to her own….but it moved in a blur that was approaching that of a level three!

"Woah!" the boy juked to the side, allowing the beast to blur right past him. It was a straight forward and predictable charge.

But the fact he dodged it at all spoke of his sheer ability that was beyond that of a level one.

The enhanced Killer Ant skidded to a halt and whirled around to face him, sharp mandibles clicking angrily.

It spread its arms wide, tilted its head up and let loose another screech.

Though…this one was different.

She felt something, almost like magic ripple across her skin as the sound spread across the area almost like a wave.

And she stared as the ground burst open in multiples places, monsters rising from the dungeon floor in the dozens.

Imps, Orcs and Silverbacks rose up while Bad Bats descended from the ceiling high above. Even two Infant Dragon's rose up behind the Killer Ant!

In just a few moments, at least thirty monsters had spawned at the Killer Ants…call? Command?

"You keep getting better and better! I can go all out here!" in reply, the boy only laughed, baring his teeth excitedly and raising one fist, "Blaze!" he chanted and fire exploded into existence around his body.

And we return with the chapter one teettoooo two twelve. Yay?

Sorry about the lack of posts the last week or so guys, not been feeling much of the writing mojo since my grandfather passed away eight days ago now. It's been a whole thing. Anyway, we're up to chapter 14 on the Pa-atreon if you wanna read ahead.

Anyway, shameless Pa-atreon plug. I've got one, go by the same username on there, easy to find and all that jazz. Support me if you want, it'd be swell, but don't feel pressured lads and ladies, I'll be uploading my stuff outside it regardless and not keeping it all behind a paywall or anything like that.