Proposal (Part 2)

Grant just stared into Skit's eyes, or what passed for his eyes, and waited for him to continue. He was curious what someone like Skit could possibly want from him.

"I would like to propose that we form a partnership of sorts.

My people are currently embroiled in a war with the inhabitants of another planet that was connected to ours through The Path. They are known as the Hell Oni from the planet Azerth.

We have already been fighting them for a thousand years and we do not have enough resources to sustain the fight forever. They are a race of war mongers who go from planet to planet in search of nothing more than victory or a glorious death in battle.

To combat them, we have had to expend a massive amount of mana from not just ourselves but also the planet itself; and our planet has begun to wither and die as a result. We are in immediate need of a large excess of mana and the only way for us to do that, is to visit other planets that have been connected to ours and form mutually beneficial partnerships."

"Alright... I get the general idea of what you are asking for.. but I have a plethora of questions that need answered before we can even begin to discuss a partnership. First and foremost, why are you asking me? It's not like I can speak for all the humans of Earth?"

"As you may or may not be aware. Dungeons on your planet are only one half of a whole. Each half of a dungeon is connected through the dungeon core at the end of their respective halves. If you control a dungeon core on either side of the pathway, you can control how that pathway works. As long as the dungeon core has been claimed on one side of the pathway then it is capable of traversing between the two dungeon cores.

There have been instances where two different entities claimed half of the dungeon on their own planets and were unable to claim the other half due to certain reasons. In that case, both sides had to actively defend the portal between sides because it was possible for anyone to travel back and forth as long as they didn't exceed the mana signature that the core was capable of sustaining.

If you are able to claim both sides of the pathway then it is much easier to defend because you can control the entrance of the dungeon to appear as you wish, similar to how I have the entrance to this dungeon to mimic the surrounding land to make it virtually unnoticeable."

Grant just looked at Skit with a bored expression while he rambled on and on. He was aware of all this information because Sherlock had already explained it to him, but he didn't want to tell Skit that because then he would have to explain how he came into possession of Sherlock in the first place. Finally, Skit reached the point where Grant would finally get some answers.

"Now that you understand how a dungeon and dungeon core works, I will answer your questions.

I appeared on your planet moments after your planet was brought into The Path. Since my race has such high affinity for mana we can sense the creation of new dungeons almost instantly.

We also posses skills that allow us to manipulate how much mana our bodies store. Using this skill, we are able to decrease our mana signature enough where we can pass through a newly formed dungeon core without much issue.

When I arrived on your planet, I immediately started to observe the indigenous race, which would be you humans, to determine the feasibility of a partnership. After a few days of observation, I was about to give up on trying to cooperate because of how weak humans were, a large portion of your race, even to this day, are still cowering within their shelters and homes, refusing to accept their new reality.

However, that was when I watched you fight the, as you called it, oversized rat. Seeing you, who was still much lower leveled than your enemy, fight and win, I started to believe that just maybe a partnership could possibly be worthwhile.

So I spent the next few days following you around discreetly, observing you and your growth. And as you surely remember, I even actively engaged you to test you and your strength.

I still had not decided whether it was worthwhile or not to cooperate, but after seeing you now and the fact you have entered the Enlightened Tier so quickly after The Paths emergence, I am convinced that even if I travelled the entire earth I would not meet another human with your strength.

Afterall it is exceedingly rare to see Enlightened Tier entities within the first week after The Path's emergence."

Hearing the last part of Skit's words, Grant couldn't help but give him a confused look because he had already fought two Enlightened Tier monsters and a monster that was on the verge of becoming an Enlightened Tier monster.

"What do you mean it's exceedingly rare? I've fought basically 3 Enlightened Tier monsters already?"

Skit remained silent for a few moments before he answered Grant's question. Clearly he was hesitant to answer the question but Grant had no thoughts of letting it go unanswered so he just sat there in silence, waiting for the answer.

If there was something off about Earth and the growth rate of monsters here, then he would need to find a team of people he could trust to train up as quickly as possible just like Richard and Robin. Otherwise, it would be very likely that humanity would inevitably be wiped from the face of the planet aside from a few who were similar to Grant and continued to grow stronger at an exponential rate.

"Those monsters only managed to reach their levels because of me. I was doing some experiments here on your planet to see how quickly I could cultivate Enlightened Tier monsters. I would trap large quantity of monsters to have them fight and devour each other so that they could level quicker."

Grant shot up out of his seat in a fit of rage and smashed his fist into the table with the full force of his strength, shattering it into a hundred pieces when he heard what Skit had to say.

"You're telling me, all the people who died at the hands of those three over leveled monsters and I, who almost died and nearly lost an arm even after surviving, were all because you wanted to do an experiment?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

Instead of jumping into a fit of rage himself, which Grant had expected after his sudden outburst, Skit just stood there for a few moments in silence before he bowed at a 90 degree angle.

"I apologize if I have somehow offended you. It was never my intention to bring harm to the people of your planet.

We are increasingly desperate for answers to our problems and I would do anything to save my home.

The people of my race do not view death as a permanent state and I sometimes overlook that other races are not capable of reviving their deceased to be born again.

It was a miscalculation on my part.

It was never my intention to bring harm to the humans of Earth. But as monsters grow stronger, they gain more intelligence, and it becomes more difficult to control them.

I was also continuing my travels from place to place while conducting my experiment so I did not keep proper track of the monsters.

Again, I apologize."

As angry as he was, Grant could still sense that Skit was trying to be genuine in his sincerity right now and had not done what he had done with any malicious intentions. Grant didn't know how he could tell, it was just a feeling he was getting so he decided to put his faith in that feeling.

Besides, even with all of his new gear and the fact that he himself had entered the Enlightened Tier, Grant could still feel the threat of death radiating from Skit the entire time he was in his presence. If anything, it had been bolstered to an even thicker degree since he put on his robe and equipped his staff. Which told Grant that if they were to inevitably fight, he would most likely end up dead if not crippled for the rest of his life.

After taking a few deep breaths and calming himself down, Grant sat back down in his chair in front of the now empty space between Skit and himself and told Skit to continue with his explanation.

"So, as I was saying, I created those Enlightened Tier monsters, but unlike what you may be thinking, I did not create them for the purpose of conquering or fighting humans. They were created for one purpose and one purpose only.

Mana Cores.