Chapter 18: Intricacies of the Level Up

"Incredible!" Styx called out both in his own head and Therina's as he watched her level up process from a metaphorical front row seat.

"What is happening?" Therina asked, also curious as to how the level up process happened inside the mana network.

Styx stared intently as the last bit of experience was added to her mana network. It caused the arteries to crack and split as excess potential was expelled, but most importantly, a chain reaction seemed to have been triggered by something.

The energy boiled and rampaged as it tore the network apart, flooding out and filling every cell of her body, infusing them with the built-up potential along with traces of mana. Her body was comprehensively strengthened by the forces being infused into it, very quickly completing and leaving her body to recover.

The tattered and stretched mana network appeared to not in fact be damaged, at least, not in a way one would imagine a physical body was. It was still full of life as its channels began wriggling and quickly restored themselves.

They were slightly bigger than the previously were, but seemed to increase in size considerably from the violent cracking, stretching and healing process. Stocking up more potential greatly increased the size and scope of it as well.

Therina's mana network was back in its original condition, void of stored potential and experience. There was just an enlarged amount of mana flowing through it along with lifeforce. She was amazed as Styx explained the process to her as it was happening.

"But what causes it? The process to start I mean. I could clearly store more experience, and surely that final bit of experience was the same as the rest."

"It should be the system that governs this world. A god, godly force, natural law, or anything else beyond our understanding. But understanding how it works answers a lot of questions."

"Like what?"

"You explained to me Max Level and Limit Break, did you not?"

"I did, but what does it explain?"

"Such as the intricacies and reasons behind max level. Essentially, the maximum amount of potential and experience your mana network can store is lower than the threshold required to level up. So, even if experience pushes out all the built-up potential to make room for itself, there still isn't enough room to reach the threshold for the system to trigger a level up."

"The main cause for lower Max Levels, is not building up enough potential at lower levels and having lower mana network expansions on leveling up. At the same time, Limit Break is essentially sending a giant influx of experience into the mana network to overload it and reach the level up threshold without giving it time to drain.

"This will cause that person to break through their Max Level and have a massive expansion in the channel sizes of their mana network. It doesn't solve the fundamental problem, but it will allow them to continue leveling up for a while."

"Well… that does make sense."

"Obviously. I am a genius after all."

'Narcissist,' Therina thought to herself as she rolled her eyes.

She began playing with one of the tentacles, which caused Styx to reciprocate by fondling, squeezing and massaging her body all over, especially in spots he knew she particularly fancied.

The elf erotically hummed under her breath and wriggled her body in the tentacles to make them press on spots she was currently favouring.

Under the tugging of the tentacles, Therina rolled over onto her hands and knees with her face and breasts pressed against the breeder while her ass was raised into the air. She pressed her hips back against the penis tentacle that was teasing the entrance of her vagina with its tip, causing it to suddenly slip inside.

The young elf miss was already quite wet, so it pushed itself in despite the tightness of squeezing a large rod into a small hole. She moaned as the penis tentacle pushed back, stretching her open even wider as it slid into her depths.

"Ahhhh~~~ it feels incredibleeee~~ nghhhh~~" Therina called out as she moaned, having become more vocal during their sessions in the most recent month.

Her vaginal walls contracted around the penis as if the wring it out like a wet cloth. Styx pulled and pushed against the tightness gripping him, pistoning himself in and out of her from behind.

He made sure to rub her erogenous spots inside her vagina as he did so, causing her to moan loader and start telling him where to go.

"Haaahhhhh~~ a little to the~~ right there~ nmmmphh!!"

Styx watched with great pleasure as what was a narrow slit below her arse was now spread apart as the entrance of her vagina tightly suctioned onto his tentacle like a turtleneck. He felt everything inside of her, the tightness and warmth, every twitch and wave of ecstasy as she bent her waist to rhythmically shift her hips up and down the penis tentacle, milking it for its seed.

"Ngggmph," Therina groaned as she clenched and bit onto a tentacle to muffle her voice, even though it was only the two of them.

Styx took another penis tentacle, this one a bit smaller, and pushed it against her mouth. She loosened her jaw and allowed it to enter as she sucked on the tentacle with vigor while also using a hand to hold and control it.

Her tongue licked and wrapped around the penis as she cooperated with what she considered one of Styx's filthy habits. She received no pleasure from it, but he did, so she did it regardless.

Therina's vagina began having light convulsions and her moans got louder as she grew closer to a climax. Styx had learned to no change his pacing at these times and kept up the same rhythmic thrusts into the deepest regions of her canal.

"Ahhh…mmmm…AhhHHHH!!" Therina's moans seemed to echo in the room as her back arch and she reached a strong climax.

Styx stopped pistoning and focused on small movements, particularly those stimulating her sensitive spots in her vagina, to further stimulate her.

Therina finally finished cumming and her body turned weak with her chest slumped on the breeder, the tentacles being the only thing holding her ass up in the air.

Styx was also getting close and continued he eventually gave her one long, hard thrust deep inside before releasing a thick load of his seed into her womb.

[

Insemination begun.

Please select seed to implant:

• 3x Miners – Burden (1) – 1h incubation

• 2x Shroom Gnome – Burden (1) – 1h incubation

• 1x Forest Goblin – Burden (2) – 2h incubation

• 1x Stonerat – Burden (3) – 2h incubation

• 2x Forest Goblin – Burden (3) – 3h incubation

• 1x Forest Assassin – Burden (4) – 4h incubation

• 2x Forest Assassin – Burden (6) – 6h incubation

• 1x Treant Spirit – Burden (6) – 5h incubation

• 1x Carnivorous Vine – Burden (9) – 12h incubation

• 1x Harpy – Burden (11) – 24h incubation

]

Styx saw the latest monster added to the breeding options, a harpy, and immediately wanted to make one, but knew better as it would be harmful to her body.

[

1x Treant Spirit selected – Incubation 5:00:01

]

Therina lay on the breeder with a flushed face and ears, dungeon seed still seeping out of her vagina and down her inner thighs.

She eventually got up before cleaning herself off and tenderly rubbing her stomach while she could feel the monster beginning to grow inside of her. This was no longer a frightening thing to her, instead something she warmly embraced.

Her feelings toward the dungeon had long since taken root in her heart while she was still vulnerable, viewing it much like another would their partner or spouse.

She put on some light clothes before returning to her room for some food and rest. There was still five hours of the pregnancy period, so she would ensure she had eaten adequately to support the monster inside of her while also doing some light training.

"What exactly are the things you want me to do, now that you want me to travel away from the dungeon?" Therina called out to Styx while doing high level yoga exorcises to maintain and enhance her flexibility and core strength.

"There are several tasks you are assigned in this journey, each important. I have mentioned various thing previously, but I will clarify it more for you," Styx said casually as his gaze was directly glued to her long slender legs during her impressive stretches, even feeling an overwhelming horniness by the view of her lack of underwear under her skirt which she didn't attempt to hide.

"Mmmm," the elf hummed to indicate for him to continue.

"The first is finding and infiltrating dungeon towns. I not only want you to get experience fighting and killing others, but also do scouting and materials collecting."

"I want you to research the knowledge and technology of human dungeon towns, how they utilize magic, dungeon constructs, infrastructure and so forth. I also want you to inspect their products and materials, especially things such as seeds, fungus, or experimental raw materials."

"You can loot or earn some money to purchase them, or directly steal them, it does not matter. There is more focus on things which can be turned into new renewable sources or ways of producing mana though."

"That is quite a lot. I may not even be able to find all that stuff, let alone bring it all back."

"It does not matter. They are just your target goals. There is also one more thing that is desperately needed – people."

"By people, you mean?"

"Just that; people. You are only one person, and I need more for both man power and breeding. Slaves, refugees, prisoners, it matters not. As long as they are loyal and do as they are told."

"So, you want… other women," Therina somewhat grumbled under her breath with a hint of jealousy.

"Do not forget men too," Styx appended without comprehending that the elf was feeling oddly possessive of him. "But yes, women are preferred."

"Do not worry, I will be watching whatever you see and will inform you of what you need to do. You may even find some of your old villagers for sale on a slave market, but I imagine elves are not cheap."

The bond between Styx and Therina was her spiritual support which she had come to rely on. As long as it remained, she never felt alone or weak.

It was the most important thing in the world to her.

"Of course, once they can understand how great you are, they too will make here their true home," she said almost fanatically.

Therina carried on with her tasks, including dismantling a direwolf and several small monsters which wandered in and were killed by the dungeon, while nursing her slowly growing stomach.

Several hours later, she returned to the nursery and removed her skirt before laying down on the breeder. Her stomach was now fully swollen and she quickly went into labor.

"Ahhh!!" She cried out in pain before taking deep, rhythmic breathes under the consoling of Styx and slowly pushing out a small dark green baby monster.

Therina tenderly picked up the new infantile treant spirit in her arms, ignoring the slimy fluids it was covered in from her vagina. She washed it off in a shallow basin of water before carrying it to another nursery room where she aided the treant spirit with eating some fake food produced with biomass.

She oversaw the monster for a while before leaving it to the dungeon's control once she was satisfied. At the same time, she was directing the mana in her body to recovering and restoring her womb to ensure it remained in the best condition it could.

She had another bath and rest, before equipping a new set of leather armor with steel plating protecting vital spots such as the chest, forearms, shins, spine and sides of the neck. It was a little rough looking, but highly practical for her needs. It even had various spots on it for easy storage and access of throwing knives.

There was also a large shoulder bag which contained a week's worth of long life food, several daily items, and a 10kg pile of manasteel ingots. These ingots were primarily for Therina to sell to a local blacksmith for immediate funds, which Styx estimated was his most valuable resource at the moment.

She also had her plain looking manasteel longsword on her hip, now upgraded to a double edge blade, and matching two curved hunting daggers on the back of her belt. Their scabbards had now been redesigned to be tightly wrapped in leather with a whitebone steel locket and chape. It was a basic design, but still looked well-made under Therina's stitching and leatherwork.

She truly looked like a beautiful elven warrior, although she was already burdened by luggage and couldn't bring her bow or anything else.

She walked out of the dungeon full of confidence and toward where she knew the edge of the forest was and human civilization, Styx ever present in her mind.