Chapter 1977: Outside vs Inside

"That's hard to believe," Kane frowned. "You cook up magical systems of thought in years where it would take others decades."

"That's because I dedicated my life to them," Rui replied impassively. "I'm probably better at creating them than anybody in this world, I would suspect."

"How do I get as good as you? Or at least, really good?" Kane asked.

"..."

Rui considered the question for a moment. "...You could try what Ieyasu tried. He spent two years just thinking, trying to increase his affinity for thought."

"Does that actually work?"

"It did for him." Rui shrugged impassively. "His capacity for thought rose enormously in the time that he spent thinking to increase his affinity for thought. This place is a good place for that, actually."

"You mean the time acceleration?"

"Yes," Rui nodded. "It will allow you to make far more progress relative to others at your stage outside."

Kane shrugged. "I don't care about others. But I don't want to fall too behind you, though. Since you're here as well, the time acceleration doesn't really help with that."

"That's true," Rui calmly replied. "But you'll still most likely make more progress than me in this environment if we remain here for too long. That's why I would rather leave this place as soon as possible."

Kane frowned at that. "You're not going to remain here to grind one hundred and forty-four times faster?"

"If it were one hundred and forty-four times faster, then that would be ideal, yes, but unfortunately, I won't progress one hundred and forty-four times faster. In fact, I will probably progress more slowly here than on the outside."

"Huh??" Kane stared at him with deep skepticism. "What do you mean? You would have one month on the outside and a hundred and forty-four months in here. There's no way you can be more productive in the former than the latter."

"That is true for the average Martial Artist, undoubtedly, however..." Rui closed his eyes. "That is not true for me. If I stay here, I will stagnate."

Kane stared at him, speechless.

"My growth and progress is tied to the gains made from trying to adaptively evolve to new challenges," Rui opened his eyes, meeting Kane's stare. "Without a continuous fresh supply of new challenges to adaptively evolve to, I probably will not be able to progress down my Martial Path quicker in the long run. This place..."

He gestured to the Mellow Dungeon. "...can only offer so much. Already, what it can offer is paltry. If not for the Master-level beast, which is certainly a formidable challenge, I would say this place is worthless to me. I will have nothing left to adaptively evolve to, almost halting the progress I would make down my Martial Path. With nothing left to challenge my Adaptive Evolution, I would probably never break into the Master Realm."

He turned back to Kane. "On the outside, however, there are endless forces that I have yet to adaptively evolve to. My rate of progress will spike in comparison and the challenges would allow me to temper and refine my Martial Art and eventually lead the way to higher Realms."

"...So that's why you would rather leave this place even though it offers massive benefits to accelerating your benefits relative to others."

"The drive to adaptively evolve is more important and significant to my progress than time. The latter is not worth the cost of the former. So yes, I would progress more in two years on the outside than two hundred and eighty-eight years here."

"...That sounds like a you-problem," Kane cautiously remarked.

A fleeting smile cracked at the edge of his mouth. "I suppose it is. But I don't know if it is a flaw that I would want to correct even if I was able to, which I am unable. But ultimately..."

His eyes sharpened. "I refuse to spend more than two years in this place. I am already feeling suffocated, I don't know if I'll even be able to last two years."

"...That's wild," Kane furrowed his eyebrows. "Someone like the Gatekeeper would happily train in this place without any issue."

Rui's impassive eyes turned to the sky. "...True, he would. But he is a fundamentally different person than I am. Of course, while I would personally never subject myself to long-term training in this place, I think it could be priceless for most Martial Artists. It could be priceless for Kandria..."

Kane's eyes widened with shock as he understood Rui's intentions. "You. You're thinking of harnessing this power of this dungeon for the Kandrian Empire."

Rui shrugged. "If possible, yes. A stronger Kandria means more security for my family. Not to mention, I am indebted to."

Rui had not forgotten that he had made use of a priceless resource to manipulate time to save his father and avoid the throne while also protecting his family. The Topaz of Time was now forever gone because Rui made use of it. Thus, it was only right that he compensated the Kandrian Empire for indulging in his selfishness.

What better way to do so than to provide the Kandrian Empire with a resource that was even more precious?

His recent spikes in the understanding of the Beast Domain informed him of just how exotic and unprecedented the Mellow Manifold was. It was more than what he took, which he could wave off as interest.

"...But only if we survive."

That caveat, unfortunately, dampened their excitement. If, at this very moment, the Master-level beast leaped out and attacked them, then the two of them were dead on the spot with absolutely no chance of survival.

A simple roar from a Master-level beast had left Rui half-dead previously.

The severity of the hurdles that they had to overcome one by one was far too great, even for the potential rewards. For anybody else, not even potentially gaining a Transcendent resource was enough to ward off the threat of the Master-

level beast.