Max pondered deeply over his situation for minutes as he stared at the white section of the Tai Chi diagram. 'Either breaking the door to the Soul Palace before reaching level 10 of Apprentice Rank is more difficult, or I need more points in my Soul stat,' he thought, contemplating.

"Either way, I need to get some more points for my Soul stat. Only then will I be able to break open the door to the Soul Palace," Max muttered to himself, glancing at the white part of the Tai Chi diagram one last time before vanishing from there.

When Max opened his eyes, he was back in his body. It surprised him because he had expected to be in the Dimension of Time. 'It seems that to enter the mind region, I need to exit the Dimension of Time,' he thought.

Max quickly understood what had happened. His consciousness had already been within the Dimension of Time, a separate and unique space. When he tried to enter his mind region from there, the connection was redirected.

Since the mind region was fundamentally tethered to his physical body, his consciousness had no choice but to return to its origin—his body—before it could access the mind region.

It was a bizarre chain of transitions, but it made sense in hindsight. The Dimension of Time existed on a different plane, or so Max thought, outside the usual boundaries of the body and soul.

For his consciousness to navigate between these realms, it had to follow the natural order, moving through the anchor of his body before venturing deeper.

"I need to increase my Soul stat, and to do that, I need monsters with high soul power," Max muttered, as he checked the extranet for dungeons that might harbor such monsters.

However, despite his extensive search, Max couldn't find any dungeons with soul-type monsters. Instead, every dungeon he explored or researched featured elemental-type beasts or other common varieties. The absence of soul-specific creatures in these dungeons frustrated him.

Frowning, Max shifted his focus to a broader search, looking up general information on soul-type monsters. Numerous articles surfaced, detailing various rare and mythical creatures.

Yet, disappointingly, very few were truly soul-type beasts, and those that were lacked concrete information about their habitats or origins.

"Nothing useful," Max muttered, frustration mounting as he skimmed through page after page. The details were either vague legends or incomplete reports, leaving him no closer to his goal.

'Soul-type beasts are rare, I guess.' He sighed, but he needed to devour the corpses of these types of monsters if he hoped to increase his Soul stat.

After a while, he came across an article about 'The Forsaken Wilds.' It mentioned an area near the forbidden land in the Outer Circle, where many different types of beasts and treasures were found.

Some of the monsters there were capable of soul-type attacks, which piqued Max's interest.

"This area is called Falling Lake," Max muttered as he read more about the place.

Apparently, this area had a river called Falling River, which came directly from The Forsaken Wilds. This caused the region to give birth to various types of beasts and monsters, as well as some miraculous treasures.

"There is no mention of any soul-type monsters in any dungeon, so the best course of action would be for me to go to this Falling Lake." Max frowned, doing more research on the place.

After ten minutes of scrolling, he understood the gist of Falling Lake.

"Falling Lake is like a mini version of The Forsaken Wilds… So, it hosts all kinds of monsters and treasures, but it's also a very dangerous place," Max muttered, his tone somber.

Only those at the peak of Adept Rank dared to venture into Falling Lake, while Apprentice Rank hunters stayed as far away from the area as possible.

Because of this, despite being rich in resources, the area had been largely avoided by low-level hunters. For them, a dungeon was sufficient. But for those at the Adept Rank, who wanted to earn a fortune, they came to this place to try their luck.

"I'll ask Uncle Ralph about this Falling Lake," Max decided, before entering the Dimension of Time once again.

This time, he wouldn't train his skills, but instead, he would work on strengthening them on his own.

Standing in the white world, Max extended his hands and used both Magic Sword Bullet and Magic Sword Barrage simultaneously.

A small sword and a normal-sized sword, gleaming with a blue glow, appeared floating above Max's hands. But that wasn't all—around him, hundreds of such small and normal swords appeared, poised to launch.

"Now, let's see…" Max muttered, focusing on the two swords floating in his hands. His brows furrowed in concentration.

As if casting a spell, red flames began to spark on the bluish surface of the swords. In just a moment, the sparks turned into blazing flames that covered the two swords completely.

"I've done it," Max exclaimed, laughter escaping his lips as his face lit up with pure excitement.

It wasn't just the two swords floating above his hands, blazing brilliantly with flames, that made him happy. That was an ability he had mastered long before starting his grueling training in Flame Aura.

What truly thrilled him was the transformation happening around him. Not only were the swords in his hands blazing with fire, but every sword hovering behind him had ignited as well, each one burning with the same fierce intensity.

Previously, he had been forced to channel Flame Aura into each sword individually, a tedious process that made it impractical for combat. But now, after three long months—or, for him, years of relentless practice within the Dimension of Time—he had reached a breakthrough.

By concentrating his Flame Aura on just two swords, the flames would automatically spread, igniting the others in perfect harmony.

This newfound mastery wasn't merely the result of repetitive effort. It stemmed from his deepened understanding of Flame Aura, honed over countless hours of training, and his comprehensive grasp of Infernal Coating, a skill that had become the backbone of his fiery arsenal.

Max's eyes gleamed as he watched the swords blazing in flames. "Let's not forget," he mused with a satisfied smile, "all these swords are identical and linked to the same two skills."

Dismissing the blazing swords with a casual wave of his hand, Max reached into his spatial space and drew out his personal sword.

"Now that everything else is settled," he muttered, his voice steady, "it's time to focus on merging Sword Aura and Flame Aura."

His grip tightened around the hilt as his thoughts drifted back to his fierce battle against Five and Veylin. That fight had been a harsh awakening.

Though his superimposed Level 1 Sword Aura and Flame Aura had been powerful, they had barely held their ground against a fully developed Level 2 aura.

The gap in strength had been glaring.

That realization had only fueled his obsession. The idea of truly merging the two auras—blending their strengths into a unified force—had become an all-consuming goal.

And now, he was ready to take the next step.