Chapter 382: Breakthrough (3), The Evolution
But some people lived here as well. They lived here to avoid something, and that something varied according to people.
After all, there was no lack of stupid people. Many have made mistakes and enemies by being assholes, impulsive, and foolhardy. If their enemies found them, it would be over.
"Damn it. Should I go or not…"
This small Sanctuary Area had Erix\'s portal leading to Phoenix City as well for fast travel.
At the moment in deep night, one man was standing outside of the portal house in which the portal resided. He was contemplating whether to go or not because he also had an enemy in the phoenix. A big enemy.
"Hey, Lenak. What are you standing there for?"
Lenak, previously Kenal, turned around to face two guys in their mid-twenties.
"Nothing, I was just thinking about something," Kanel said with an awkward smile. "Anyway, we are going to a new dungeon, right? Let\'s go."
\'Fuck it. Those two might kill me with a passing thought if they see and recognize me,\' Kanel thought as he looked at his limited special skill: Desperate Dog.
\'I\'ll have to survive.\'
After all, he could only revive one more time after dying since he already died twice before and used up 2 chances.
…
Time passed and night soon turned into day as the sun broke up and rose high.
Erix and others were still in the same position, trying to condense Arcane Spirit Crystal.
Eight hours had passed since they began trying and at the moment, Erix and Rin were infinitely close to achieving the goal.
Both of them were in ultra heightened focus as they had already condensed their massive Prana amount into a football-sized crystal.
They were steadily shrinking it every minute and progressing. They were in a singular focus zone, a complete blanket of everything other than their target. So much so that even if they were beaten, hurt, and thrown around, they wouldn\'t break out of this zone if they did not want to. [Similar to when Haganezu Hotaru in Demon Slayer entered the zone when forging Katana but a notch higher.]
They\'ve been shrinking it for the past two hours, so it meant that having an ultra focus for more than 2 hours was absolutely necessary after experiencing numerous failures if one wanted to complete this step.
In the end, one more hour passed before Erix and Rin shrank their respective Arcane Spirit Crystals to the palm-sized and that was the maximum limit.
They even tried further, but it wasn\'t shrinking, indicating that they had achieved the best result.
Without further ado, both of them brought their Arcane Spirit Crystals to the center of their Arcane Spirit Pond.
Its surface was littered with eccentric patterns of magic based on what they carved when they first manifested the Arcane Spirit Pond. It had grown to ten times its previous size, but the patterns had automatically expanded based on their foundation.
The crystal stuck to the center of their Arcane Spirit Pond and was buried inside before the whole pond brightly glowed with a faint white and golden hue.
\'Finally…\'
Erix and Rin opened their eyes and took a deep breath.
"Good work," Lilith smiled at them as she was sitting just a few meters away from them on a long rest chair.
"Now we only need to infuse spirit force into the crystal to grow Arcane Spirit Crystal Tree," Rin grinned.
"How long will it take?" Erix asked.
"Not much," Lilith chuckled. "Also, since you have awakened your soul, then use soul energy and spirit force in equal amounts together. It will be better this way."
"Look forward to your evolution with this breakthrough," Lilith added with a grin.
"We\'ll only get up after finishing it," Rin closed her eyes as she didn\'t want to lengthen it more.
Erix was the same as he also entered meditation.
Both of them started infusing spirit and soul energy in equal amounts at the center of their Arcane Spirit Pond where the crystal was situated.
The whole pond\'s patterns shone as they steadily infused 1000 spirit force and soul energy every second and in just a minute, a mysterious crystal sapling gradually grew.
They emptied their reserve of Spirit and Soul energy and spent 20 minutes in meditation to recover both to full before they emptied it again in a minute.
The sapling grew a meter tall.
3rd round.
The sapling grew into a two-meter-tall young crystal tree with a few branches. The tree faintly glowed with white gold sparks.
4th round.
The tree grew to three meters tall with several branches. Its trunk became thicker and more robust with mysterious patterns.
5th round.
The tree grew four meters tall and its empty branches sprouted crystalized golden leaves in this round.
6th round.
The tree fully matured and they couldn\'t infuse spirit or soul energy into it anymore.
It grew to be a massive five-meter-long and six-meter-wide tree due to its exotic crystal branches with white-gold sparks and golden patterned leaves.
Their entirety of Magic Power was surging the moment they completed the final step and matured this Arcane Spirit Crystal Tree.
Lilith\'s eyes flashed as she saw their auras changing. She transported both of them away from the rest and took them five kilometers away in a small open grassy plain on the Blessed Island.
Erix and Rin opened their eyes but they knew that something big was going to happen.
Their empty pond shattered, leaving only the Arcane Spirit Crystal Tree and a brown-golden soil below it in their origin region as their source of Power.
The atmosphere around them turned chaotic their Magic Power started increasing, straight from the source of magic in the grand primal cosmos, the Arcane Cosmic Layer.
Their spirit power also surged as the tree glowed and absorbed pure spirit power from the source of the grand primal cosmos\' spirituality, the Spiritual Land.
As they were progressing into a higher lifeform and evolving, the above two processes were happening, giving them Magic and Spirit Power as a sort of reward from the Grand Primal Cosmos.
If they were under Mystic Root\'s influence, they would have gotten a reward from Mystic Root instead. But it would\'ve been lower than getting it from the Grand Primal Cosmos.
Aside from that, they were also changing physically in fundamentals. The Arcane Spirit Crystal Tree\'s root beneath the soil glowed and directly affected their physical bodies, triggering their Bloodline and connecting with it.
Their every single cell and fiber evolved and broke limits, increasing their potential.
Most importantly, their racial source evolved as well according to their Bloodline, which was one of the main features of entering the Empyrean-order.
"It\'s happening," Lilith eagerly waited as she watched and sensed the changes in the duo. \'Since I was already in Empyrean-order when Erix evolved my Bloodline after manifesting his bloodline, I didn\'t achieve complete racial transformation, but Rin should achieve it.\'
Of course, Lilith would have it once she breakthrough to Reverend-order, though that was going to take a bit of time and she planned to do it together with Erix, Rin, and others.
It wouldn\'t hurt her to take her time since she could power up in other ways meanwhile.