Kill The Old Ones!

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The party made it out alive and successfully cleared stage 23 despite the crisis that suddenly sprung up on them.

That could’ve gone worse. So much worse. Had it not been for Ren’s intuition and Kaycee’s bloodline ability, that blizzard could’ve wiped them out.

Fortunately, the two of them saw it ahead of time, and they had sufficient time to create a shelter. The blizzard passed through without affecting them.

Hell, they barely even noticed it since they got distracted when Ren brought out his laptop and projector and played a movie.

Watching a movie? In a dungeon? And while a blizzard rages over them? Although this party is young, they’re more experienced, but this is definitely a first for them.

They could only say that Ren’s mental resilience was too strong...that, or his mind just works differently.

But it did work. The shelter held strong, they were warm inside it, and they had a relaxing time. They made soup and several cups of coffee. Honestly, it couldn’t have gone better than this.

By the time the movie ended, the blizzard was over. Ren punched their way out of the shelter, and they went on a hunting and killing spree to complete the kill requirements.

In the end, they had 30 more minutes left. But they didn’t stay behind. They cleared the stage and left to get some real rest.

They cleared stage 23 two more times to complete their daily exploration quota, and then they’re done for the rest of the day.

”It’s like we’ve been in there for days,” Jen complained weakly.

Even though she’s back at a warm and sunny place and had several rests in between runs, Jen still feels weak and spent.

”30 hours, technically. 2 and a half hours in the human world, not counting the resting time. But yeah, I agree. It does feel like days passed in there,” Kaycee stated.

Nobody refuted since they all feel the same way. In the snowy plains, there’s no sunlight. There’s no telling if it’s night or day. The visibility was ass, the environment was shit, and it’s dangerous as fuck out there.

Anybody would feel exhausted.

Even Ren feels spent. Though, it’s not as bad as the rest. He did have to spend extra effort because of the blizzard. Although he recovered, it’s still mentally taxing.

And they all have to do this again tomorrow. The grind never stops, after all.

”Let’s go home and actually rest this time.” Derek decided to call it a day. He didn’t mention tomorrow’s hell to spare himself and everybody for today.

Maybe they could rest better this way.

”Sounds good. I’m off, then.” Ren waved at them before standing up and leaving.

The rest of the party waved back, not minding him leaving earlier. Ren never really settled in the Rosewater Inn. They knew that he had other things to do in his clan, so he had to commute back home every day.

On his way back, Ren’s mind was stuck on that blizzard.

He didn’t like that feeling. Not that he had anything against Kaycee; she’s a wonderful and reliable teammate to have, but Ren knows that he can’t rely on her forever.

Especially since Ren still goes on solo clears sometimes. When he’s by himself, he obviously can’t rely on anybody else other than himself.

’I need a better way to sense the environment. Something that works against natural obstructions. The Chakra Sensing Technique isn’t enough anymore.’

Ren had been thinking about this for a while.

He had been trying to disect Kaycee’s bloodline ability, wondering if he could replicate it through skill and technique.

Alas, comprehending the magic behind bloodlines isn’t something his cheat could do. It’s not martial arts; it’s something tied to Kaycee’s bloodline. Even if she explains it to him word per word, how it works or how it feels, he doubts that he’d be able to replicate it with just chakra alone.

’Well, I guess it’s time to upgrade the Chakra Sensing Technique, then.’

Ren had no better options. The sensory techniques out there are great, yes. And he had more than enough merit points to buy them, yes. But those techniques will force his chakra to adopt a bias, which is not so great.

He’s still undecided about chakra attributes and biases. He had been thinking about it and had gone to a conclusion that this was still too early for him.

His neutral chakra was still serving him well. It doesn’t give him any advantages but also doesn’t hinder him on special occasions. He’s not like Jen, who flourishes in the volcanoes and feels stifled and suppressed in the snowy plains.

This makes his performance flat and predictable but stable, and right now, stability is winning him.

That’s why even though there were better options out there, Ren can’t use them. He doesn’t want to make a decision that he’ll regret in the future.

Upon returning to the clan compound, Ren got to work.

He’s got more than enough knowledge base to improve the Chakra Sensing Technique so it isn’t so difficult for him.

Previously, the Chakra Sensing Technique worked on releasing a chakra pulse to his surroundings. This pulse will ripple and return once it reaches its maximum distance. It will relay everything it passes through to him once its return pulse reaches him.

Ren used this quite often. In fact, he was so used to it that he was practically doing it all the time.

But the maximum range of the chakra sensing technique is 100 meters only. 200 if he used more chakra. It’s wide, yes, but not enough anymore.

Ren overhauled this when creating the Chakra Sensing Technique 1.0.

Instead of a pulse, which was still noticeable. He chose to release chakra threads instead.

Threads that will dissolve into the surroundings and permeate everything it touches. It’s laced with his intent and his chakra signature, making the feedback immediate. As soon as it touched something, Ren would know its location without even looking.

This cuts the chakra expenditure quite a bit, but only at the beginning. A single thread won’t cut it; he will need more over time, so eventually, the expenditure will even out in comparison.

But the detail and effective time were way better this way. It starts off slow and weaker than the original, but over time, the network will spread further, be more detailed, and not need to be sustained.

Eventually, his threads will be scattered all over the entire dungeon, and nothing will escape his senses. He will know everything that’s happening around him, whether it’s on the ground or above.

It’ll be less effective underground and can’t reach beyond the skies just yet, but for Ren’s current requirements, it’s more than enough. The deficiencies can be made up in the future, the 2.0 version, or maybe 1.5.

Once he was done improving the Chakra Sensing Technique, he began testing it out.

The improved version requires more skill and control to use. The threads need to be fine enough to be invisible to the naked eye and could be dissolved through air just as easily. Yet, it must also hold up and not dissipate completely once it’s dissolved; otherwise, there will be no feedback.

It took him a couple of tries at first before he managed to make a single thread. It quietly spread around his room and gave him a vague outline of his surroundings. It’s still spreading further out, but once it went beyond his room, it slowed down to a crawl.

That’s to be expected. He needs to release more to help out.

And that’s what he did. Once he grasped the right conversion rate, he never failed to create a thread again.

Slowly but surely, the network was made. A web of chakra threads quietly grew out of his room and started spreading all over the whole compound.

Ren had foreseen that he’d be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of feedback he’s receiving. He took care of this during the improvement; that’s why his brain was still able to filter out the information he wanted to know.

Fifteen minutes later, his chakra network already covered the whole compound.

The best part? Nobody was alarmed. If Mikel sensed this, he would’ve made a ruckus already. There’s no way he’d let a suspected stranger leave a spying network on his land.

But Ren could see Mikel currently. He was in his office, still occupied by his paperwork, unaware that he was being spied on directly by his own nephew. He didn’t look like he suspected anything either, and he’s the strongest around here.

Ren’s network was still permeating through the environment, though. At some point, he’d get a full picture of the compound without leaving his room.

This is what he was hoping for. This should be more than enough to be used in the dungeons. This should help a lot in his solo exploration.

’Hmm? ’Ren sensed something weird just now.

He latched onto it and looked into it further. This brought his attention to Alex’s room, and the source was right there on his desk.

It’s a wooden carving of a veiled lady with the lower body of an octopus.

The moment he saw it, Ren’s pupils dilated. He immediately stood up and walked out of his house.

’What’s this abomination doing in Alex’s room!? ’