Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

When Jane opened the last box, four items were revealed in this storage artifact, with one of them strangely flying towards Liam just as the box opened.

The item in question was a gray stone with a blue crystal embedded in it, which glowed brightly as if it were a star preparing to implode.

The item advanced so quickly against Liam that even the Spirit King present in the Hall of Treasures frowned when he saw the object quickly 'attack' the black-haired young man.

When it hit Liam, however, the irregularly shaped item didn't hurt the young Spirit Master as some of them there at the time thought it would. The item stopped instantly, seeming aware of this existence, not hurting it, as one would imagine.

The rocky matter around the crystal shook for a moment, turning to dust and then, as if it wasn't made of matter, the crystal began to disappear altogether.

The Elder saw it on a totally different level from the surrounding disciples, perceiving the aura of that blue essence covering Liam's entire body. He raised one of his hands, thinking of moving to deal with whatever it was, but he hesitated.

Strange as it was, was it right for him, an Elder, to interfere in a disciple's opportunity?

'Some Elder left this box and crystal here... This must be a test and an opportunity for Division Chief Porter.' The Elder standing in the hall thought to himself, taking a step back, curious as to where this would take them.

An Elder wouldn't be able to tell what others held in this post. This man didn't know about almost any of the items the group had conquered today, having seen things there that he had only heard rumors of similar items while others hadn't even heard that.

He didn't covet any of the items from Liam's group, however. His interest was more for record purposes and individual curiosity than stealing items that, despite their value, were minor to people with his background.

Meanwhile, the group was in the dark about the questions on the Elder's mind, curious and even a little worried about their boss.

Liam felt the essence of the crystal enter his soul space and follow him to the place where the blue star was, in an instant, increasing the luminosity of this space. But not only that, the mana density inside his soul space improved rapidly, with the mana vortices above the three platforms of his Spirits intensifying.

The blue star's markings and symbols became more distinct, with its connection to his Spirits becoming stronger to the point that the three of them stood up and looked at this figure solemnly.

Liam didn't pay any attention to his Spirits, however. He finally understood something about the blue star, seeing one of its symbols and recognizing what it was.

'That's a character! One of the rarest and most difficult characters in the Universal Language!' He widened his eyes, coming to an important realization. 'That... Is that a formation? A matrix, perhaps?' he asked himself, gaining more questions than answers after getting the first hint about the blue star on his journey here.

Even identifying a character was a long way from leading him to the truth or giving him access to the meaning and purpose of the blue star. Liam himself didn't know much beyond Third Class. Although he had already started studying the Fourth Class, most of his knowledge was limited to its surface and he had no idea how things worked for the Fifth Class onwards.

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That was a character that supposedly only Runemasters from the Sixth Class onwards knew how to combine with other characters to form runes, something far removed from his current position in the profession.

'I've got to find out more about the profession and advance in rank as soon as possible!' he thought as he clenched his fists and let his mind return to the real world.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw the surrounding space differently from what he had seen earlier. Now he could see various lines of mana and special characters on the walls, boxes, shelves and even around the Elder.

This was a place extremely rich in complex runes, combinations of formations and some especially complicated matrices.

His magical understanding and sensitivity had advanced in the mere moments after he had absorbed the blue crystal earlier, making him understand the changes that the phenomenon he had experienced had brought about in him.

His cultivation didn't seem to have increased, but his magical base seemed more solid, while his comprehension had certainly increased so much that he would seem like a different person than he was earlier if they were to test his pre- and post-experience versions.

Liam, of course, was still the same, having only improved his understanding and potential.

His eyes fell on the group watching him and he promptly looked at the box where there were still three other items: a silver scroll, an Arcane Crystal, and a smaller square box containing a strong magical fluctuation itself.

"Chief?" Jane asked as she squatted in the same place where she had opened the last mysterious box. "Are you... okay?"

Jonn took a deep breath and nodded. "Looks like I've got a good opportunity. It looks like I'm going to have to consider that proposal to take the Third Class Runemaster promotion exam, Jane. I feel like my understanding has just changed a few steps towards the next level."

He was vague, but he didn't hide the whole truth about what had just happened, aware that he would have to invent some excuse to satisfy the curiosity of the Elder watching him in silence.

Liam tried to pay attention to his companions and show his satisfaction with what he had achieved, but he secretly spied on the Elder's position.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The man seemed to have believed what he said and wasn't so inclined to question him.

After a moment of conversation among his group, with satisfied, even relieved voices, the Elder scratched his throat and said, "Very well, you have made use of your time and your right. Pick up your artifacts and set off the way you came. I'll stay in the hall to return these boxes and check the area."

The six individuals bade the Elder farewell with greetings, with Liam carrying all 12 of the special items they had won today in his space ring.

He was under no obligation to give anything to anyone in his group. But if he were to divide it up between the five of them, he could give up to two items to each of them and keep another two, making three for himself.

But Liam wouldn't divide them up like that. After leaving the Treasures Hall, he would head back to the Law Enforcement Hall, this time to his office, where he would give one item to each of the Officers and three to each of the First Officers.

He would keep the three of the four items in the box he had chosen for himself, distributing the rest according to the group members' efforts in the previous mission and their respective affinities.

Without question from his subordinates, most of them soon left after Liam dismissed them to rest.

...

Liam returned home after over two days away from City Two since leaving for the mission in City Five.

He arrived home alongside only Jane, who, as soon as she arrived and greeted the only one of his women who was around at the moment, Mary, left for her room to study the blueprint she had obtained.

He exchanged a few words with Mary, but he also had the items he had obtained in mind and also made his way to an area of his large residence where he could study his new belongings alone.

He sat down in the lotus position on a cushion and summoned back from his space ring the silver scroll, the Arcane Crystal and the white square box.

The Arcane Crystal was the one that required the least analysis on Liam's part, but it was something of great value that made him look at it for a few seconds. Being a High-level, Sage-grade crystal, it was probably the most valuable crystal he could find in the entire sect.

Liam didn't rule out the possibility of there being something superior in the ring of one of the strongest Elders in the area, but he doubted that he would have access to such things.

He then opened the scroll with some difficulty, the item being made of a type of metal that seemed to make it curl in on itself. It was only when he infused his mana into the item that it gave up this function, revealing what was inside.

The leaf had several characters in gold combined in a strange way, but Liam understood the basic logic there.

'Is this some kind of recipe for how to combine these characters?' he asked himself, obviously not understanding exactly how it would work, but aware that they were characters useful for forming runes and the combination of characters was too specific to say that it was a step-by-step process.

But, once again, he lacked the comprehension to understand it on a level where he could master what he was seeing.

'It seems that the Elder who created that mysterious box found the remnants of some powerful Runemaster.' Liam scratched his chin. 'I have to find an opportunity to talk to Elder Neill. He was probably responsible for this... However, I doubt he knows about the blue star.'

Liam had noticed this as soon as he understood that the blue star was related to high-level Runemasters.

Neill wasn't a Runemaster, so there was only the possibility that he didn't know much about Liam's situation.

However, Liam didn't rule out the possibility that his Demon Gate master might have answers that would help him on his learning journey.

So he came to the last item he had acquired for the day, the box containing a strong magical aura.