Two days later, Grey could be seen swaggering out of the mountain with a pleasant smile on his face. He didn’t think it would take him this long to completely absorb the essence in the fruit. With the amount of essence in the fruit, he should have at least broken through to the Eight stage or even the Ninth stage of the Arcane Plane.
But surprisingly, he was able to only breakthrough to the Sixth stage. From this, one could see just how terrifying the amount of essence he would need for future breakthroughs. Grey noticed after getting the Wind element, although his absorption speed increased, the amount of essence he needed also increased.
When Grey used spiritual energy to inspect himself, he saw his essence orb had three different colors. The additional color was from getting the Wind element. Lightning took the majority of the orb, while Earth followed, with the Wind element getting the minority.
Each Elementalist has an essence orb in their bodies where they store up their essences. Dual Elementalists orbs only contain two colors, which are the colors of both elements they wield. Single Elementalist orbs only have a single color.
Grey could tell he wasn’t far from breaking through to the Seventh stage, “This has been a fruitful journey all-round” He smiled to himself as he headed towards Willow City.
Just like the previous time he came here, the city was as busy as always with people entering and exiting it. There were a lot of trade caravans that were being brought into the city. He didn’t stay idle, he walked towards a restaurant to drink some tea before he returns.
He overheard the conversation of some people at the restaurant.
“The battle at the Misty Mountain was brutal, most of the Arcane Plane Elementalists who went to the valley where the treasure appeared, died”
“The ones who escaped were lucky. I heard the treasure was a fruit from a tree”
“Yeah, the tree only had two fruits in it. After the Stone Lion took one of them, it wisely left the last one so the rest of the people and beasts could struggle over it”
“It truly is cunning, it knew the others would think of the risk of engaging with it and decide to fight for the other fruit which was left behind”
Grey was surprised by their conversations, ‘So the treasure was a fruit, I wonder if it has anything to do with the one I found’ He thought to himself. As the conversation of the men went on, he found out that the second fruit was acquired by two people, an old man, and a middle-aged man. They teamed up and were able to escape successfully with the fruit.
When he heard all this, he knew the fruit he found was most likely the treasure. ‘Since they successfully escaped, that means the man was attacked after their escape. There are only two possibilities for the man’s death, either he was attacked by his partner, or they were attacked’ deduced Grey.
From all the clues he was picking out, he was already over seventy percent sure the fruit he found was the treasure they all battled for. ‘Hehehe, I didn’t even do anything, yet the treasure came to me’ He laughed in his heart.
If the people around found out someone acquired the treasure without even fighting for it, they would be dumbfounded. Grey paid for his tea before heading out to get a horse he’ll use for his journey. Since he was rich now, there was no way he was going to walk back the same way he came. He bought a high-quality horse and also some food he’ll eat on the way.
Morning of the second day…
A horse was galloping along the path that leads to the Lunar Academy. Grey sat on top of the horse with a calm and steady presence. It’s surprising how just a few days could change a person.
“I’m finally back,” Grey said as he looked at the majestic gate in front of him. He got off the horse and went into the Academy on foot. As he entered the Academy, he felt like he only went out yesterday.
He first headed towards the mission hall to submit his mission. When he got there, the student he saw was different from the one who handed out the mission to him. He submitted the mission and collected the reward before heading towards the students living quarters.
Grey decided to visit Klaus before heading to his house, but when he got there, Klaus wasn’t at home.
“Maybe he went to the city” He assumed and walked towards his house. He planned on visiting Reynolds after he settled down. When he got home, it was just like he had left it. Only it was dusty, he decided to clean it before heading over to Reynolds place.
After he was done, he went over to Reynolds place. Luckily, he found him at home, “Hey Rey” called out Grey as he walked into the house.
“Grey, you’re back,” Reynolds said as he walked towards his friend and gave him a hug.
“Yeah” answered Grey after managing to break free from the clutches of his friend.
“How was your mission?” Reynolds asked as he sat down.
“It was a piece of cake” Grey sat down beside his friend. Grey asked about what had happened since he went out of the Academy. He found out the fighting between the Starlight Academy students and the Lunar Academy students had intensified. The students of the Lunar Academy started retaliating when they found out about the attacks their students faced.
The Emperor summoned the Principal of both Academies to resolve the issue. Although both Academy’s students had stopped attacking each other, they knew it was only for the time being.
Grey asked if Blake had returned to his office, thankfully he had returned. He decided to go see him after leaving Reynolds place. When he asked Reynolds about the whereabouts of Klaus, it was just as he had predicted, Klaus was at Lunar City.
Grey stayed there for some time before heading over to Blake’s office, he still didn’t know why Chris wanted to see him after he had broken through to the Arcane Plane.
When he got to the office, he knocked. After some time, he heard Blake’s voice telling him to enter before he went inside.
Blake looked at him for some time. He could tell Grey was different from the last time he saw him.
“What can I help you with?” asked Blake.
“Senior Chris told me to come find you after I broke through to the Arcane Plane. He said I should tell you to take me to him” Grey stated his reason for coming.
“Oh, come with me” After hearing it had to do with Chris, he stood up quickly and walked out of the office.
Grey followed him, soon they were at the gate of the Academy. He was surprised when Blake took him outside the Academy. They headed towards the back of the Academy, just past where Grey usually does his training.
They soon got to a huge rock. Blake made some seals and struck a spot on the rock. A path opened and they walked inside. Grey had seen this rock before but didn’t think it was something important. Who would investigate every rock he sees?.
In the valley ahead of them, Chris was sitting on a chair with his eyes closed. The Griffin which brought Grey here could be seen not too far from him. When they went closer, the Griffin raised its head and looked over. After seeing it was Blake and Grey, it dropped its head and continued its nap.
“You’re finally here” Chris suddenly spoke up, “What took you so long?, from my deductions, you should have broken through two weeks ago” He added.
“I did break through two weeks ago Senior, it’s just I couldn’t find instructor Blake to bring me here” Grey explained.
Chris darted a glance at Blake waiting for an explanation.
Blake dropped his head embarrassed, “That was the time I went over to the Water Hall”.
Chris didn’t ask any further since he knew what happened. He suddenly raised his brow and looked at Grey, after careful observation, “How did you advance so fast?” he asked in a surprised voice.
Grey was surprised by how quickly Chris was able to notice his breakthrough even without him releasing his aura. He had to applaud Chris’s sharp senses, even Blake didn’t take note.
When Blake heard this, he looked at Grey with interest.
“I was lucky to obtain a natural treasure when I went on a mission at the Misty Mountain,” Grey told them what happened in the mountain, omitting the part he used that unknown state.
“You’re truly fortunate. You didn’t even go to the treasure, it was brought to you” Blake said with envy. Grey’s luck was amazing.
“The Misty Mountain you say?” Chris went into deep thoughts.
“Did you tell anyone else about this?” Chris asked.
“No” Grey answered.
“Good, keep it that way. If anyone asks just say it’s a secret or tell a lie” Chris said offhandedly. “And you, don’t tell this to anyone” He looked at Blake.
Blake nodded his head before leaving.
“Senior Chris” Grey called after seeing he hadn’t said anything to him.
“Yes”
“Do you live here?”
“Yes”
“I thought you lived at the Academy?”
“It’s too noisy”
Grey was left speechless by the answer, ‘you call that place noisy?’. Due to the lack of students, the Academy is just too big for the students. Even Grey feels it’s too quiet since one rarely sees students around the area.
“Release your spiritual energy” Chris suddenly said.
Grey raised his head and looked at him, surprised by his request. He didn’t think too much and just did as he was told. A formless energy spread out with Grey at the middle.
Chris nodded his head when he felt this. “Good, this is even better than I thought”
Grey looked at him with confusion.
“Do you want to be my student?” Chris asked.
“Your student”
“Yes. Now answer, I don’t have all day”
Grey was surprised by it and didn’t know how to reply. He knew Chris wasn’t simple and from the way Blake treated him, his status must be something else.
“Yes”
“Good”
“Now as your teacher, the first task I have for you is to make me lunch,” Chris said as he pointed at a bunny by the side.