Chapter 337 - Accelerated Growth

After leaving the meeting room behind, Ryan began to look for Zoe and Arthur. Fortunately, they were in the same place, so it looked like Ryan would save some time. Still, despite the fact that he checked things with them pretty often, he didn't notice something very peculiar… Arthur had grown a bit in those three months, and now Mia and Zoe were teaching how to walk.

"What the hell…" Ryan muttered.

"Big bro!" Zoe jumped happily when she heard Ryan's voice. "Isn't this amazing? Arthur is only a few months old and he already can walk."

"… How?" Ryan asked in shock.

"Apparently, all kids are growing up quite fast now," Mia explained with a sweet smile on her face that made Ryan frown. "According to Alissa, the mana level on the planet is affecting us on that level. However, it looked like those who have mana but already are adults won't age that fast."

That seemed really convenient and kind of scary. Ryan didn't notice that his body had changed that much. Regardless, Ryan didn't know how to feel about that. While he wanted to live until he sees the day where Earth will be free of monsters again, but he didn't want to fight for decades or centuries… that thought was even scarier.

"I also grew a few centimeters on the last months," Zoe said pridefully.

"Good for you," Ryan said. "Anyway, did something happen in the last week with you or Arthur?"

"No, everything is the same as always," Zoe replied. "Only the uncles and aunties seemed troubled lately."

"By uncles and aunts are you referring to the people who work with Mark?" Ryan frowned.

"Yes," Zoe replied.

While Ryan wasn't fond of the idea of being called big bro by anyone, it was better than being called uncle. Regardless, Ryan wondered if he should teach Zoe the skill to summon a Warg, a beast-like that was much better than any other summoned creature, after all, but in the end, he gave up on the idea. The skill had a cooldown, so it couldn't be used often.

"I should look for Alissa and connect her to this telepathic link," Ryan nodded to himself. "If her brain still is working, he will take her guys to that dungeon and there some of them will learn the skill to summon wargs. A few weeks ago, Mark mentioned that they are using some sort of spell to move toward dungeons instantly, so eventually Zoe will have the chance to get that class."

"Why are you worried about those two kids?" Femradiel asked via telepathy.

"It is none of your business," Ryan replied. "Rather than that, did you know that mana can speed up the growth speed of living creatures?"

"I noticed, but never put much thought into it," Femradiel replied.

Ryan sighed… it looked like even Femradiel could mess up sometimes. Regardless, now that Ryan finished his business, he could put up the next phase of his plans into action. However, when he turned around and prepared to leave, Mia stopped him.

"Wait, Ryan," Mia said. "Don't you want to help us teach Arthur to walk?"

"No," Ryan replied and then left the area.

Even though Ryan's response hadn't been cold, it somehow hurt Mia even more than usual. It looked like he had lost all interest in her… Ryan was finally moving on, and that idea made Mia feel something cold insider her heart.

"Don't give up, big sis," Zoe patted Mia's back and then smiled. "It is not like big bro is going to marry anyone anytime soon, right?"

In the end, the only thing Mia could do was to force a smile…

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While Furball was carrying Ryan toward the slimes' dungeon, Ryan finally recalled that he didn't ask Mark's opinion if there was someone guarding the dungeon or if he could just clear the dungeon once and for all. However, given that it wasn't the only slime dungeon in the world, he felt like no one would miss it.

"Wait a minute… does the slimes come from the same world?" Ryan frowned. "If they do, and I still kill every single one of them on their planet, that means that I will stop all slimes' dungeons from working."

"That is something that I don't know," Femradiel replied. "However, if that happens, aren't you doing it to gain some intel? I am pretty sure some price has to be paid, to obtain most of the things."

While that argument was pretty persuasive, Ryan couldn't help but worry that his actions might cause some issues all over the world. If a dungeon stops spawning monsters, how will the survivors gain new classes? Although tier-one classes were pretty weak, they still could be the lifeline of many…

"Whatever… it is not like anyone will discover anyway," Ryan shrugged. "I need to understand the power of the dungeon masters, so I will accept the risks."

In the end, Ryan didn't find anyone guarding the slimes' dungeon… again. Survivors really got greedy as of late. Now they couldn't care less about the small amount of coins slimes could give them. Thanks to that, Ryan had to kill many slimes in the area, and Femradiel was in a bad mood since he recovered a lot of mana while killing them thanks to Active Spiritual Regeneration. Even though the slimes reached level seventy, they posed Ryan no threat.

"Considering that you will shut down this dungeon anyway, why don't you cause some dungeon breaks before doing it?" Femradiel asked.

"You are quite greedy, aren't you," Ryan frowned. "While I know the changes that the dungeon break cause in our world, I don't know how that affects the monsters' world, so I won't take that risk. Rather than that, you should tell me when the amount of mana I gave you will reach the same level of coins I need to learn the skills to counter Appraisal. By the way, which are their names?"

"I only remember the simplest one," Femradiel replied. "It is called, Mind Armor."