"Boom! Boom! Splat!" the sound of crumbling objects and exploding Cultivators filled the room for the next few minutes, each failed Blessing Spell followed by a slew of curses when the targets were brought back from the brink of death.
As one of the leaders of the Frostile Faction, Tia agreed to participate in William's tests with the Blessing Spells, feeling that she needed to set an example for her Faction members. If she wasn't willing to be the role model, what kind of leader was she?
After William rooted out the cause of the initial explosions, William was met with another roadblock of similar nature. The first explosions were because William's unsealing was too abrupt, and the Mana pouring outward came out as a single wall that non-Ascended Cultivators couldn't handle.
He resolved this by expanding the range of his Seal Magic to cover the entire Frostile Faction, slowly lowering the suppression on the inside while maintaining a thick Seal Mana Barrier on the outside. This kept the Cultivators from dying before William could complete his Spell, but application of the Blessing Magic caused them to explode once more.
William spent several minutes manipulating the Blessing Spells in different ways, lengthening the cast time or using similar barriers to limit the flow of Mana. Every time he failed, William was forced to use more Mana of the Time Element to restore the Cultivators, though he stopped apologizing by their twentieth death or so.
The attempts were not in vain, as William eventually managed to cast a Spell that didn't lead to an explosion. He discovered that by reducing the Cultivation speed of his targets to eight thousand times, they could handle the Mana more easily. It wasn't very stable until he further decreased the Cultivation rate to 7500 times, but even this increase should be enough to save Fria.
Tia, being of lesser Cultivation than the others, was in a miserable state by the time William successfully placed the Blessing Magic on her. With her current strength, her limit was only four thousand times Cultivation speed, but it took six more explosions before the Spell was applied to her. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by n0velfire.net
To someone who didn't rely much on Mana, the experience of being killed by the Blessing Element traumatized Tia. No amount of apology was enough to make her forget the past hour.
"Remind me to never let you practice Magic on me ever again." Tia shuddered as she used an Earth Spell to remove the impurities from her clothing. "Also, you definitely owe me for this. No normal friend would agree to blowing up over and over.
William nodded. He didn't blame Tia for her reaction, and he was thankful to have a friend like her. If everyone was as willing to put up with his nonsense, maybe William could enjoy a world without enemies.
After enhancing Tia and the other Cultivators, William asked them each to go to the nearby Cultivation Site and try to reach the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence Realm as soon as possible. If they sensed their Cultivation going awry, he asked them to stop Cultivating immediately and let him know, though he'd be nearby if anyone spontaneously combusted.
Since the fastest members of the group should take several days, if not a week to reach the peak, William pulled his consciousness back from Efretta and returned to his main body in the Quake Dungeon. During the transfer process, he didn't forget to study how his consciousness interacted with the World, and he actually made a little bit of progress this time.
Just a few more transfers and I think I can try to recreate a version of Supreme Left's Cloning Technique. I can't believe he managed to develop such a complex Spell...
William attributed his own breakthrough to the Ascended Mind Talent, but Supreme Left was just a normal Cultivator. He didn't have a System to help him, and instead used a combination of time and his mental prowess to develop the Cloning Technique.
He checked Fria's status through the System since it didn't request any Points, then continued scrolling through the System Panel searching for Talents to upgrade.
After some brief deliberation, William decided to use the Deity Fire Shard from the Ring of Primary Laws to Ascend his Fire Affinity. The Ring was now useless, but William already had complete comprehension of the Fire Element's Primary Law, allowing him to use the same functions that the Ring mimicked.
He couldn't use the Fire Element within any uncleared floors of the Quake Dungeon due to the System Quest, but with the Riverveil Family's assassins on the prowl he felt it was better to be safe than sorry.
Using 31 of his total 47 Ascended Points, William upgraded the Fire Element to Ascended C-Rank immediately. Naturally, the high-temperature flames threatened him during the course of the upgrades, but using his past experience and the help of the Mana Dominator Talent, William only aged by two years in total.
Another benefit of the fully comprehended Fire Element was that the System Panel didn't conceal the information related to the Secondary Law of Fire.
[Ascended] Fire Affinity (Common): (C)
-Fire-related Mana Control, Magic Power, and Mana Efficiency +800x
X-Rank Bonus Effects:
-Domain of Fire: Take complete control over all Fire Mana within a radius of 1000 kilometers. Can be countered by opponents with Fire Domains of greater strength.'
-Territory of Fire: An improved Domain, designed to change the landscape to that of a molten lake. The longer the Territory is maintained, the more lava that is created.
-Primary Law of Fire (100% comprehension): You understand the entirety of the Fire Element's Primary Law. Your Fire Element has been enhanced greatly by your comprehension and your Fire Mana seems able to detect treasures and unique locations related to the Fire Element.
-Secondary Law of Fire (0.1% comprehension): Your bond with the Fire Element has deepened to a profound level, allowing you to better wield its abilities. Comprehend the Fire Element's Secondary Law to learn more.
-Fire Elemental: Become one with fire, turning your body into a being with immense resistance to flame of any temperature. Most liquids will instantly evaporate when coming in contact with your skin, while some solids will melt immediately. Enhances your metal refinement speed greatly.
Next rank up: 100 Ascended Points + 3x Deity Fire Shard
After reading the description of the Secondary Law of Fire, a corner of William's Sea of Consciousness lit up. When he investigated the development, he sensed a unique bundle of Fire Mana that steadily grew in size until it was the same size as William's original World Seed, Sunrise.
The bundle of Mana floated across his Sea of Consciousness and positioned itself alongside Sunrise, Reius, and Efretta, then steadily dimmed until it became a glowing ember.
The three Worlds reacted on their own and spread out around the Fire Mana, each developing their own unique orbit automatically. William didn't need a System message to tell him what was going on, but the notification arrived regardless.
-Your Fire Element has met the necessary requirements. Its source has migrated to your Sea of Consciousness.
-Your Fire Element Source has become an Origin Star.
-Your Origin Star (Fire) has formed a Solar System.
-Developed a Solar System: +50 AP
-Developed your first Solar System: +100 AP