"Dude, seriously, I cannot thank you enough!" Exclaimed Rion gratefully.

  "Again, don't mention it, it's really no big deal," I replied with a smile.

  "But it totally is, you have no idea what a massive difference this makes, bro!" He insisted with a grin.

  Today's the 15th of June, 1676, a little over three weeks had passed since the battle between Belia's forces and the Elves, and about a week and a half since I earned the loyalty of the Dragons, and already, they were proving to be tremendous additions to our ranks.

  After my fight against Draco, I was about to go to the Ghoul Forbidden Zone, but unfortunately, Belia beat me to it……and to my surprise, all three of the Monster Kings on my side, Lazarus, Diablo and Draco, were concerned by that news……they aren't happy about the Ghouls being back.

  Apparently, Ghouls are so feral and violent that they've been known to sometimes attack other monsters, especially those that can't respawn……they've killed a handful of Vampires in the past, including even a Vampire Knight. I was taking no risks, so I decided to ramp up security as much as possible.

  Draco had the Wyverns and Lesser Dragons soaring around the skies above Abyss and guarding the walls, while Az ensured that the waters around us were secure by evenly spreading out the Krakens and other monsters that were under the Sea King's control throughout the seas surrounding us.

  A couple of days ago, I suggested adding the Dragons to the ranking system that Rai and Rion introduced, but they asked me to hold off on it for a while. See, after Az registered all their Mana signatures with the protective barrier, the Dragons chose to live in the underground dino cavern, since they apparently felt really at home down there.

  And Rion had really hit it off with Draco, so he was often down there too, hanging out with the Dragons, along with Rai, Azeria and some of the others from time to time, and they seem to have found something that caught their interest.

  Rion and Rai were working on something using whatever it is that they found, and they somehow managed to rope Az into it too, which is……impressive. Motivating him to do something that isn't interesting to him or genuinely important is next to impossible.

  Which means that whatever they're upto, is either really interesting, super important……or they brainwashed him. No other explanation makes sense.

  I'd been pretty tempted to spy on them using my monsters, out of curiosity, but I restrained myself……unless I have a good reason, I try to avoid spying on those who are on my side.

  Anyway, back to the present, Rion had come to talk to me about whatever they were working on, when his prosthetic foot kinda broke.

  About a couple of weeks ago, while spying on the Rustlands, I learned that Corruption Magic can do what my Healing Factor can't……regrow limbs after the stump fully heals and closes up. I meant to keep that fact in mind and heal Rion and whoever else had lost limbs or appendages, but……I kinda forgot. Though in my defense, I'd been pretty busy lately.

  But I remembered it the moment his prosthetic broke, so wasting no time, I swiftly restored his foot for him using my Corruption Magic. And for the couple of minutes since then, he's been thanking me profusely and non-stop. I need to change the subject, this is getting awkward……

  "Anyway, uh, how's your secret project with Rai and Az going?" I inquired, before he could thank me again.

  "Oh, right, I almost forgot……we finished it!" He exclaimed triumphantly, before adding sheepishly, "Well, to be fair, Az did literally all the hard work, all Rai and did was tell him what to do, since we had no idea how to actually go about implementing what we wanted."

  "And the result……?" I asked curiously, a sense of intrigue rising.

  "Hehe……feast your eyes, m'dude!" He grinned, holding up a rectangle box, "Oh, uh, I don't mean this case, I'm talking about what's inside……open it up!"

  Huh, kinda looks like a glasses case……and inside is a pair of glasses. It had a light metal frame, and instead of two separate lenses, it had a single, wide lens that was long enough to cover both eyes……it didn't look like glass though, it was a sapphire blue color, and as I tapped it, it felt a lot sturdier than glass……feels like some type of crystal or gemstone.

  "Okay, so, uh……you guys made……a cool pair of sunglasses?" I surmised uncertainly.

  "Oh, they're very cool……and to see just how cool, put them on and run your Mana through the frame while looking at me," He explained, a goofy smile on his face……whatever this is, he's pretty hyped up about it, guess I might as well humor him.

  Plus, considering that they've been working on this for about five days, I'm more than a little curious to see what they've come up with. I put on the glasses, and looked at him, while running my Mana through the metal frame……

  Woah, what the……numbers were appearing on blue lens, rising higher and higher, before finally stopping, displaying……approximately, the number 80,000. Hold on a sec, no way, is this a……

  "These numbers……are they……?" I began, my eyes widening in realization.

  "My power level! See, while Rai and I were chilling with the Dragons, some of the crystals on the ceiling of the caverns broke off and fell down……and we accidentally found out that if we run Mana into it, it glows in different patterns, depending on how the Mana was channeled in……and that's when Rai suggested the idea that we use these crystals to make devices that can measure how strong someone is! The parchment used for the spell is rolled up and stuffed into the metal frame, it takes Mana capacity, physical strength, Elemental Magic scale and so on, compiles all of them and then displays the value!" He explained with a grin.

  "How does it know whose power level to read? Like what if two people are within the sights when I run Mana into the frame?" I inquired with interest.

  I have to admit, this is pretty awesome.

  "Not sure of the details of exactly how that works, though it has a range of about twenty meters……we did test it to see what would happen if two people are visible while activating it, and it kinda combines and displays both power levels as one, though the accuracy gets kinda wonky in that case. And it's even more inaccurate if you're trying to read the power level of a moving target," He replied sheepishly.

  "Well, knowing Az, he can probably improve on this in time……assuming that it's something that actually interests him. So, how many power levels have you measured so far? You sure the final value is properly balanced and takes into account all factors of the target's abilities?" I asked with a sense of intrigue.

  "Can't say, Az is the one who did all the math, in addition to the command lines. He seemed confident that he nailed it though," Responded Rion with a thumbs up.

  "I see……now I get it, the reason you wanted me to hold off on adding the Dragons to the ranking system was because you wanted to get definitive readings of everyone's power levels, didn't you?" I realized with a raised eyebrow.

  "Exactly!"

  "By the way, just out of curiosity, why'd you make it in the shape of full glasses, instead of, say, a single lens over just one eye?" I inquired, as I inspected the device.

  "Ohh, actually, that was the initial design we went with, but……it was too small, the numbers were kinda hard to read without squinting, plus the frame wasn't big enough to contain the entirety of the command lines for the spell, so yeah," He signed wistfully.

  "Makes sense……so, how many power levels have you measured so far?" I asked.

  "Actually, we're just starting……Az made a total of five of these things, and right now, Rai, Azzy, Key and Misen are going around compiling everyone's power levels. We already got the power levels of the Dragons though," He remarked with a grin, "We couldn't scan the Lesser Dragons for some reason, and then we found out that that's the case for all respawnable monsters. We then moved on to the High Dragons……they each have power levels in the range of 18,000 to 25,000, while the Elemental Dragons range from 40,000 to 60,000."

  "So, lower than your power level then? And how about Draco?"

  "Heh, no gonna lie man, I was pretty stoked over having a higher power level than all the Dragons I scanned till that point……and then I scanned Draco. He's got a power level of over a 110,000! Oh, by the way, initially, the numbers displayed the power levels with two zeros less……in other words, my power level was around eight hundred and Draco's was a bit over a thousand……but Rai and I felt like those numbers didn't sound intimidating enough, so we asked Az to tack on a couple of extra zeros!" Grinned Rion triumphantly.

  "Hm……gotta say, good call on that," I replied with a thumbs up, before addressing the elephant in the room, "So……did you measure Az and Rai's power levels?"

  "Hell, yeah, I did! Rai's got a power level somewhere in the mid-7,000s, he was pretty downcast after we scanned him. Az has a power level of over a 120,000……in his base form," Answered Rion with a grin, before revealing, "And in his Elemental Sage Mode……his power level is over 350,000!"

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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