[CH598+ Continued] Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

I walk forward into the silver tower, taking a step up the spiral stairs. There is no railing, as the silver barrier hugs the left side of the stairs all the way up.

They're extremely wide—several hundred meters—enough to fit a full dragon, even in its normal form.

However, Ember stays in his human base form.

The moment we both step onto the first stair, the archway that connected these stairs to the outer room shuts, and the only way we can go is up.

The green threads in the air are very thin, slowly moving in circles. It feels like an energizing breeze as small amounts of them collect in my body and seep toward my core.

I take another step upward. It looks like the higher I climb, the denser the air gets with green threads. It reminds me of when I tried getting close to the green serpent in Celia's construct. However, the density of divine energy at the very top is far too strong for my senses to even perceive.

It is on a whole new level—extremely dark green—and feels like a bottomless well of gravity pressing against my senses.

My curiosity grows as I take more steps, but Ember doesn't move just yet.

He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, then opens them again to release a large amount of silver threads from his core.

The threads tether throughout his entire body, making him appear as a shimmering silver energy being.

Then, he takes a step forward, and the space where he was standing is now devoid of divine energy.

While the green threads flow through me, and only a small amount sticks within my core after processing, one hundred percent of the threads Ember touches disappear within him.

I turn around with wide eyes, and he grins.

"It isn't as effective as it looks. My core still has to process the threads inside my body. It may be faster to convert my core to green, but it's going to take me a while to save my physical body from fading away... Believe it or not, this is the first time I've attempted to reach the Upper Realm with my physical form intact. I wonder if it's even possible..."

He looks up with a pondering gaze, then meets mine with a face covered in shimmering silver light.

I reply while turning back to the stairs and continuing my slow walk upward.

"What is the Upper Realm? The demons talk about it a lot... Their family lords are all there. Does that mean they've all given up their bodies as well?"

My slow steps turn faster, skipping a few at a time, as the low density of green threads down here isn't affecting me much since I already consumed that orb from the first floor.

Ember follows far behind, not wanting to affect my absorption, and instead sucks up the excess threads below.

"Yes, it's true. The leaders of the Five Great Families live on the higher plane. It's the only way to continue growing stronger. The energy density in the Upper Realm is far higher—no mere Yellow Core could even survive standing under its pressure. The same goes for if a higher lifeform were to descend to this realm. They could cause destruction and overpower those around them, but there are no useful resources to gather. It isn't worth the cost to descend."

We continue upward, and I ponder his words while taking in more and more green threads.

After traveling above five kilometers into the air, the green thread density has tripled, but the rate at which I absorb them is nowhere near what it was when I consumed that orb during our battle. It is still a leisurely activity.