Senzo and Pest were casually walking through the forest, looking around for anything that could help them locate the entrance to the next floor or the exit.
But all they could see was trees and small swamps; as they went further away from the center, it became harder and harder to properly walk.
The ground was mushy, and there were trees, bushes, and swamps everywhere; Senzo couldn't help but click his tongue.
"Let's clear this floor as fast as possible," he said, looking at all his surroundings with disgust.
"Don't worry, master, I will make sure to protect you!" Pest exclaimed while he infected all the water pools with terrifying diseases.
If any monster were to step in it, they would be infected immediately.
"Make sure you don't make contact with any water though, because I am infecting them. Hoping to find some enemies like that."
Senzo raised an eyebrow when he heard that. That's pretty handy.
If Pest didn't do that, they would need to be a lot more careful of their surroundings, and he wasn't about to ruin his clothes by walking through all these swamps.
"Alright, I'll take care of the trees and vegetation then so we can't be ambushed," Senzo said. With a simple wave of his arm, all the trees and any other vegetation that could hinder their vision vanished.
And while that did clear up most of the hindrances, some trees remained standing.
"Hmm?"
Senzo quickly made his way toward one of those trees and carefully inspected it, but he couldn't figure out why this tree in particular could resist his vector manipulation.
"Want me to get rid of it, master?" Pest inquired.
"No need, let me try something real quick," Senzo replied. He didn't only have his vector manipulation, after all.
And this looked like a good opportunity to get used to his Yin Yang power, which he had barely used in combat since he gained it.
Pest nodded and took a step back, giving his master space. But he was also curious about what he was about to do, seeing that the power he usually used didn't work.
Senzo stood right in front of the large tree; it looked like an ordinary tree to him, but this was a dungeon, and all kinds of fantastical creatures were crawling around after all.
He took a couple of deep breaths and clenched his right hand into a fist. Taking a single step back, he knew what he wanted to try; now it was just a matter of properly executing it.
The temperature in his body rapidly dropped, and his features started turning more feminine with the second, but Senzo didn't feel any discomfort whatsoever. It was like this power was already second nature, and he could use it whenever and however he wanted to.
This feels wonderful.
Pest was carefully observing the changes in his master's body with wide eyes; he looked like an androgynous version of him. He had seen it countless times before, but it was always a sight to behold.
Senzo carefully sensed all the yin qi flowing throughout his whole body. That should be the reason why my body is changing.
Then he started guiding the yin qi toward his right fist to see the effectiveness of the yin fist, which he had learned during the inheritance of this ability.
He had gained other techniques to utilize his yin qi, and the same went for the yang qi and the taiji qi. But for now he was solely focusing on the yin qi.
And the moment he felt like he had gathered enough of it in his right fist, he struck the tree's tall trunk in one single fluid motion.
Pest patiently awaited the result of his master's attack; he was nodding with a satisfied expression on his face.
After pulling back his extended fist, Senzo took a couple steps backward and stopped next to Pest while he also observed the changes to the tree.
He could clearly see that the yin qi he had just injected into the tree was corroding its insides at a rapid pace.
Looks like this works, but what kind of trees are these?
If they could collect timber from such sturdy trees, wouldn't that be great? Sadly, he didn't have the time right now.
Next dungeon I'll take my time to collect materials! Senzo thought, clenching his fists.
Dungeons were both a blessing and a disaster at the same time; they contained countless dangers and opportunities.
Pest just stood next to him looking at the tree; he didn't have the Taiji eyes that Senzo had, but even he could feel the tree's life force get drained at a rapid pace.
A couple of moments later the tree finally collapsed, but the trunk stayed intact; it was only the inside that had been damaged by Senzo's fist technique.
"???"
Senzo was dumbfounded. These trees were way too durable. First of all, they couldn't be pulled out of the ground by his vector manipulation, nor could the trunk be damaged in the slightest, and even after destroying its inside, including the life force, the outer layer was still in pristine condition?
"One second, Pest, let me see if I can break it. Because if I can't... we need to collect some to take with us!"
Senzo appeared right in front of the fallen trunk and this time filled his whole fist with yang qi. Time to test its durability!
He was rather excited; this floor was much more fun to explore than that damn corridor.
He took a couple deep breaths and calmed his nerves; he had to do his best to find out exactly how hard this tree was after all.
After filling his whole fist with yang qi, he struck the trunk again, but this time a massive shockwave spread out with him as the center. The commotion was so bad that the nearby trees and plants he hadn't gotten rid of were completely demolished.
But the trunk he had struck only had a tiny crack in it.
"!!!"
Senzo was alarmed and impressed at the same time; Yang Qi, which was known for being ferocious and destructive, couldn't even split the thing in half.
Senzo couldn't hide his smile, but the testing wasn't done yet. He closed his eyes once more and retracted his fist, now filling it with the strongest qi he could muster: Taiji qi!
And a moment later he struck the trunk once again, but this time it exploded into countless tiny pieces.
"Looks like it is breakable..."
Senzo was slightly disappointed, but on second thought this was already a massive discovery. A tree so hard it felt like hitting steel.
Senzo had also made sure not a single piece of the trunk that had just been smashed into smithereens went anywhere; he looked around and saw hundreds of small pieces suspended in the air.
"Heh, this is nice." He took a couple pieces and placed them into his pockets, and the rest were floating above his head.
"Let's go, Pest; time to explore!"
Pest just nodded; this master was very interesting after all.