Chapter 1163: Path Forward
In the last couple of days, the city's usual activity had been drastically disrupted.
A lot of problems appeared because of the Second Breath, forcing some changes to occur.
Changes in the terrain—coupled with the fact that mutated animals were becoming stronger were a hard adjustment for the city. One of the important problems, because of both factors was the water source for the city.
Early morning yesterday, some workers found something was wrong with the water source.
It had been weaker than the norm.
Making some initial investigations, the workers found that the channel connecting the water source to the city's water supply system was cut off for some reason. If not fixed, there was no doubt that the city would experience a water crisis.
Not to mention, there was also a problem with the food supply.
Despite having livestock, the city still relied slightly on the surrounding forest.
Regardless of the high concentration of cursed energy—there are still mutated animals, and also fruits that are high in energy—and are great to consume. Hunters were one of the main professions in the city, and they were all comprised of strong individuals.
However, now that the mutated animals were stronger, the number of hunters was reduced.
Now, there were barely any hunters that were strong enough to hunt.
All of these were the problems the city was facing, and it was stated clearly in the report.
Rex could monitor the city through the provided reports—yet even though the city was going through an adjustment period, there was no plea for assistance, from the captains. It was the right choice to let the captains also act as governors of their own part of the city.
Moreover, there were also Prof. K and Giana who could help regulate the city's needs.
Overall, Rex didn't need to come down and handle the problems himself.
It's a blessing, and he used this time to focus on consolidating his new elemental prowess.
Because of the meditation, capitalizing on the initiation of the Second Breath—his elemental prowess, had experienced extreme growth. His wind, fire, earth—and dark elements, had all reached the fifth-rank realm's peak and were even overflowing.
Even the rune on his shoulder going down to his arm changed.
Its right symbol was a circle with lightning crossing its center.
A symbol that marked his achievement of reaching the fourth-rank realm of both his lightning and lunar elements. But now, with the addition of the new, four elements the rune, has turned into a distorted mess that signifies each of the elements he controls.
Each one stacked additional power, seemingly in wait for Rex's permission to advance.
Only when Rex assimilated with a spirit for each element could they advance further.
However, Rex was not in a hurry to assimilate with more spirits.
Knowing full well how rowdy Devo and Amanir could be—he didn't want more spirits, to be in his mind bickering and disturbing his peace. Rex could suppress them but that would require spending more unnecessary focus.
For now, Rex would try and find a more effective way to assimilate with more spirits first.
Sitting at the center of the training chamber in meditation, Rex's eyelids trembled.
He then slowly opened his eyes, finishing his consolidation.
In the last couple of days, he managed to consolidate each of his new elements perfectly.
Now, those elements were stronger, and more effective than before.
As opposed to going to the shop in search of new spirits—he decided that there was another more important thing. Despite his several affinities, it's still better for him to focus on his main element, the lightning element.
"System, purchase the information to reach the tenth-rank realm" Rex uttered firmly.
<Affirmative!>
<It would cost 14 million gold to purchase that information>
<Does the user want to continue with the purchase?>
Considering his current gold right now, more than 300 million—14 million is a chump change.
"Continue," Rex nodded, not minding the cost of the information.
Since the path to the tenth-rank realm would be quite hard to grasp, with no Ancient Humans left alive to teach him—it's worth it to buy the information from the System. One of the things that are essential for him to use his gold on.
Upon purchasing the information, a big holographic panel was opened before him.
It contained a detailed explanation of reaching the tenth-rank realm.
Rex reads through the pages attentively, taking his time to digest everything properly.
During his flow of state, seconds turn into minutes, and minutes turn into an hour in a breeze.
A solid hour was needed for him to finish reading and understanding the long paragraph.
"So the next step would be morphing the spirit core—and media to make the unification, that was established after breaking through to the eighth-rank realm, huh..." Rex uttered, thinking after reading the information from the System.
Spirit Unification state is a state an Awakened achieved after reaching the eighth-rank realm.
The Awakened and the spirit would be bound physically in this state.
In order to advance further into the ninth-rank realm—the Awakened would need to expand and cultivate their spirit core as well—as the medias that were acting as screws connecting them to their assimilated spirit.
Possessing Arcane Mana in this stage is an auxiliary process, it was not required.
However, to reach the tenth-rank realm, possessing Arcane Mana is a crucial requirement.
Only through the use of Arcane Mana could the Awakened cultivate their spirit core and also medias enough to the point of making them—connected to their spirit stronger. Unlike being connected via their physique, now the Awakened would aim to connect their souls.
Making a connection between the Awakened and the spirit's soul is a very hard process.
It required time as the process is extremely delicate.
Anything involving the soul always needs to be approached with gentleness—as one mistake might end the Awakened's path to power once and for all, or even outright kill them. One and the only way for an Awakened to quicken this process is by having a solid foundation, as well as a high-quality spirit and spirit core.
Even then the process of connecting one media would take months or perhaps longer.
For a mediocre talent, one media would probably take them years.
Only when achieving that could an Awakened step into the tenth-rank realm.
Because of the requirement, and complexity of the process—a lot of Awakened would never reach the tenth-rank realm, in their entire lives. Additionally, achieving that realm would give an immense change in their Awakened and spirit dynamic.
One fixed change was the evolution or upgrade of their Gladiator Form to a higher form.
"I remember the Fifthborn doing this," Rex muttered lightly.
Rex recalled the Fifthborn forcing himself to use that move—which turns out to be the power of a tenth-rank realm, in order to beat him. During the fight—he starkly recalled the Fifthborn transforming his Gladiator Form.
It made his aura soar higher, allowing him to dominate the fight for a good amount.
Fortunately, it happened when the Second Breath hadn't come.
Had Rex fought against the Fifthborn after the Second Breath then the higher version of the Gladiator Form called the Indomitable Form would've allowed the Fifthborn to obliterate him, and the increase in power would've been too much to handle.
Going against him before the Second Breath happened is the right thing to do.
Everything was taken into consideration, and Rex made the right choice.
Now that he understands the path to reach the tenth-rank realm—Rex found an obstacle.
"Me and Devo had a lot of medias connecting us together..." He muttered wryly.
Unlike normal Awakened assimilating with a normal spirit, which would possess around three with the highest, having seven medias, Devo had fourteen medias. It was a lot more than the normal but then again, Devo is considered to be a high spirit.
Having more than normal is normal for someone like him.
Despite having more medias upon assimilating to reach the sixth-rank realm puts him above the rest massively—allowing him to possess an abnormal amount of mana and spirit energy, that kind of power comes at a cost.
A cost that came biting him right this moment.
Compared to the regular Awakened who only has three to seven medias—Rex would have a way harder time reaching the tenth-rank realm. But then again, he was not worried as there must be a path he could use by using the System.
"First thing first, let's try it out first and see how I do," Rex mused, closing his eyes again.
He was going to begin cultivating to reach the tenth-rank realm.
Since he has a lot of arcane mana inside of him right now, he could attempt the initial step.
A closed-door training to get ahold of the path ahead.
Meanwhile, a couple of walls passed from the training chamber he was in.
Adhara was also training like Rex, learning her new technique from the Fire Elementals.
It was rare for them to have some peace like this so she was aiming to use it maximally.
Sitting on the balcony under the grace of the golden sun—she meditated, levitating mid-air.
Positioned right before her was the holy book of the Fire Elementals.
A string connected the book to her mind as she read through the content through her mental senses. Not everybody could read this holy book. Reading its content—forced the reader—to suffer a pulverizing fire that was threatening to evaporate the mind and soul.
Even Adhara needs to focus so as not to be hurt by the mental fire the book emanates.
Regardless, she was determined to master the technique and get stronger.
On the other hand—Gistella could be seen walking down the hallway and stumbled across a maid who seemed to be in a difficult position. She was standing in front of a door with a tray of medicine in her hands.
A couple of pills and an ointment from the looks of it.
Upon seeing this, Gistella sighed as the door the maid was at belonged to Evelyn's chamber.
"What is this?" Approaching the maid, she asked about the tray.
In response—the maid explained, "It's the medicine that was given by Her Imperial Mejesty's healer. He said to give this to the Empress to help her recover faster. I already tried checking on the Empress two times this morning there was no answer. But I am sure the Empress was already awake and getting better"
Gistella frowned when she heard this.
Stay tuned with m,v le,mpyr
Understanding the situation, she took the tray from the maid, "I'll do it, you go on ahead"
Handing over the tray, the main thanked Gistella for helping her in this difficult situation with a bow before she left, leaving Gistella alone in front of Evelyn's room. She looked at the door and sighed heavily one more time.
Not only was Evelyn in an unstable state, but she was now sick from her evolution.
Gistella couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
"Evelyn, it's me, Gistella"
Knocking on the door lightly a couple of times, Gistella announced her presence.
Clank!
Surprisingly—the lock to the door was opened—and Gistella was able to step inside, pushing open the door. She was greeted by the interior being dark without any light on. Going deeper inside, she found that Evelyn was sitting on the bed, hugging her own legs.
Putting on a light smile, Gistella asked, "How are you feeling?"
Gistella approaches, putting the tray on the desk near the bed.
In response, Evelyn only hummed, curling gloomily.
Taking a seat, on the edge of the bed gently—Gistella placed her hand on Evelyn's shoulder, trying to give her some comfort, "We still don't know the exact effect from your bloodline, so please, if you feel something odd, tell me"
"I'm fine. Nothing is wrong with me after Adhara's help" Evelyn replied.
After answering that, the room was silent once more.
Evelyn averted her gaze to the side away from Gistella, leaning her cheek on her knees. But as she did that—Gistella noticed her hands, tensing up—before she eventually spoke again, "What... What is Rex doing? Is there any problem with the city?"
"No, not after the Werepanther, no. I think he's training right now," Gistella replied.
Listening to this, Evelyn sighed, "Your aura also seemed to be stronger"
"Yes, he gave me Passue carcasses to absorb" Gistella nodded, she had been training too.
Upon hearing this—Evelyn clutched her legs tighter, "He didn't even come to check on me at all. He didn't apologize or say anything about the matter—he's avoiding it entirely. What am I supposed to do, Gistella? Why does it have to be Calidora?"
Hearing the pain in Evelyn's voice, Gistella clenched her fists tighter.
She also couldn't accept that fact.
Even then—Gistella decided not to ruin their relationship, further, "I am sure Rex is giving you time away from him so that you can calm down. After all, learning that Calidora was pregnant with his child is not something easily digested. Just wait—he will definitely come around with a good explanation and solution to this mess..."
Leaning her head back to look at the ceiling, Evelyn exhales lightly.
It seemed like her soul was leaving her body with that exhale.
"I hope you're right... I hope there's a good explanation for this," She muttered whisperingly. "If there will be any path, forward—then there better be a good explanation, for all of this..."