After the dinner, Rose offered to show them around, which they declined. They had spent the day traveling and would do so the next day. They parted their ways, agreeing to meet at the eatery at dawn.
"Isn’t it a waste of time to accompany them? Wouldn’t it be faster to continue on our own?" Hestia asked as soon as they were back in the room. Althea stood beside her, in silence, but her gaze was on Hex, seemingly asking the same thing.
"Perhaps," Hex replied, "but we still don’t know much about the actual situation in the outside world, do we? Who the people are, who the Governor will support, and whether there are candidates who will compete against us for our town.
Just look at this town. They haven’t even considered we are from further up north. They assume we are travelers from nearby or the south. Even the name of the town suggests that there is nothing up ahead."
Hex looked at the women as he spoke. His voice betrayed how agitated he felt by these things.
"Our existence is being denied or ignored. Only a few know about us and they keep coming each year. And even they won’t come after the winter. Without the outside trade, our town will decline even further. We need some friends, for the sake of our people."
Neither Hestia nor Althea had considered all these. They looked at Hex and slowly nodded. Hestia even walked up to Hex and gave him a short hug.
"You sound more and more like a true leader now," she said, giving him a warm smile.
Althea didn’t say anything, but when they were close, she whispered, "You are indeed becoming a true leader and commander."
Hex didn’t think he was a great leader but it felt great to hear it. He suppressed his smile and excused himself.
Through the window, he went to the roof. The night was cold but someone like him with the ice element wasn’t bothered by it.
With the prospect of battle the next day, he decided to train through the night. Ever since he became a Knight, he required less sleep to function normally.
He first activated the scroll. The Knight’s Path had a section explaining how he could use the monolith inside him.
With a soft flash, the scroll appeared in his hand. He unfurled it and went immediately to the Cultivation section.
A Knight is required to cultivate his element or elements but shouldn’t neglect absorbing energy. Energy is the basis of all aspects. A lot of Ice elements will not freeze anything without the required energy. It will just thaw immediately.
The energy requirement increases with the amount of an element a person has. If a newly-advanced Knight is assumed to have one drop of energy then he needs a hundred drops just to be considered average. A thousand drops put him in the strong range. Five thousand drops for him to achieve the strength of a half-step Refined Knight. And to have a chance to advance, ten thousand drops at the minimum is required.
To compare, a high-quality refined Fiend crystal will give a Knight between one to three drops of energy. You use chaotic energy. An unrefined Fiend crystal will perhaps give you two to five drops of energy.
’That means I need at least two thousand Fiend crystals just to have a chance at advancement?’ Hex looked at the numbers, finally realizing why the majority of Knights remained stuck in this rank. It was less about competence and more about resources.
Hex pulled his pouch from the belt and opened it. ’I have about one hundred Fiend crystals inside. They are unrefined and of various elements.’
Typically, Knights used only crystals of their element, making the requirement for advancement harsher. But Hex had no such limitations. Thanks to his heart, he could accommodate all the elements separately. And his fused soul enabled him to withdraw the ice element easily.
Hex read the instructions regarding the absorption and refinement thoroughly. Basically, he had to absorb the chaotic energy and the monolith would suck it toward the heart. His heart would activate immediately, refining the chaotic energy into his innate energy.
Once he was sure he hadn’t missed anything, Hex dismissed the scroll and picked up a crystal. Chaotic energy was thick and not easily moved out of the crystal but Hex had done it many times.
With some effort, he got a blob out and absorbed it through his skin. A faint prickling sensation was felt where it happened but Hex didn’t notice anything else.
As soon as the energy entered his body, his chest heated up. Hex sensed the monolith actively sucking and pulling the blob toward itself.
The monolith was inside his heart. This meant that the energy had to go through his heart to reach it. But when it entered the heart, the heart activated, beating wildly.
The heart filtered and refined the energy into one it was familiar with, Hex’s innate energy. The monolith buzzed loudly. Hex couldn’t help but think of it as a child who was throwing a tantrum.
’I wonder if I can let it have some of the energy,’ Hex wondered, curious to know. He separated one more blob of chaotic energy from the crystal. Like the last time, the monolith guided it towards his heart. And just like the previous time, the heart activated again. But this time Hex tried to control the refinement process.
It cost him some effort but he managed to free a tiny amount of the blob and lead it toward the monolith. As soon as it touched the monolith, it absorbed it. Its intensive buzzing lessened.
Hex continued the process. After a few blobs the Fiend crystal shattered. A normal refinement would take its chaotic energy and fill it with some refined energy. In this case, Hex made sure nothing returned. After all, he needed all the energy himself.
Refining one Fiend crystal took about an hour.
’The baron was right. It’s slower than when I used the monolith at the Temple. But on the other hand, I can use my artifact anytime I want.’
The advantages of having his own refining monolith outweigh the disadvantages of reduced refinement speed as far as Hex was concerned.
He continued through the night. By the time the first rays of the sun appeared on the horizon, his energy quantity had increased by a huge amount.
All the crystals he had chosen had the earth element, increasing the quantity of that element in his inner space greatly.
Feeling refreshed, he entered the room. But he hadn’t expected Althea to be at the window.
Althea had just got out of bed, wearing a thin sleeping dress. Her fair long legs were visible underneath. She hadn’t expected Hex to enter at this moment.
They stood at the window, pressed against each other, looking at each other, frozen in place.
"The water is cold." Right then Hestia entered loudly, causing both of them to become aware of their situation. They hurriedly put some distance between each other.
"What happened?" Hestia hadn’t seen them but felt something amiss from their behavior.
They answered in unison. They looked awkwardly at each other.
"I am going to take a bath now." With that, Althea left hurriedly.
"Will you keep gawking there or give this lady some space to dress?" Hestia asked Hex teasingly. Hex nodded and hurried away.
He avoided the room, only meeting the ladies when they were ready to leave. It was time to leave with the mayor.
When they exited, Hex sensed someone’s gaze on him but they disappeared quickly.
’This is going to be interesting.’