Right now, Emery was sitting in the lotus position on the shore, a mile away from the stone house. Accompanying him was the sandy beach, the occasional crab passing by and the sound of the waves rolling ashore.
He had been practicing all day. Finally, along with a drop of sweat, a notification popped into his mind.
[Spirit force increased]
[Spirit force: 966]
Three weeks had passed since the time they killed the beholder and with it, Emery had gained another five points of spirit force. It was an impressive result compared to what he attained in the past for the same span of time.
Emery gained the first four points of spirit force with the help of the remaining [Spirit Foundation Pills] he had. Without them, it took him an entire week depending on his [Nature Grasp] and employing it unceasingly before he got the awaited notification.
However, although he didn't get that much of improvement in spirit force after his supply of [Spirit Foundation Pills] depleted, Emery had gained quite an understanding of his [Soul Tempering Book Two].
For the last three weeks, Emery had been simultaneously cultivating and training using the soul tempering practice written in the next. He had been practicing by blindfolding his eyes and covering his ears.
He turned off the two most important senses he had and also his other senses to train and acclimate himself using his spirit reading ability, to make it his new sense.
The result Emery had to achieve was not just using spirit reading to sense the energy signature of other beings, like what he had always been doing.
Rather, he needed to take the information that spirit reading picked up for him and made use of it to form a mental image of his surroundings. The moving and rolling waves, the way they react when they hit the shore; the little fishes that swim in the sea, other creatures that from time to time walked past and came out of their burrow; the gentle sea breeze that blew and caressed his body.
Slowly but surely, Emery was able to get the gist of it and form in his mind a complete picture of them without using his normal senses.
Emery was sure that sooner or later, with more practice, he would reach a point where what spirit reading showed him would not lose to the way he normally saw things.
In addition, he believed that, with his increased practice of the spirit soul, he could further maximize how he utilized the spirit force flowing in his body.
Emery had been training nonstop. When the sun was high up in the sky, sharing its brilliance over the entirety of the island, a figure was seen approaching the shore where Emery was from the deep sea. The figure resurfaced together with the rolling waves, as if the waves were their retainer.
It was a beautiful girl with luscious fiery hair and an exotic body accompanied by seductive curves.
Emery could 'see' her entire figure, without even opening his eyes.
Annara, who had just finished training in the sea, approached the blindfolded Emery in her swimwear. She then casually sat down next to him, unperturbed by the fact she was wearing what some would consider minimal.
"Are you really still practicing this?! You are so boring." That was the first sentence that came out of her mouth.
Even though she clearly saw Emery had no intention of replying to her, Annara continued on,"Arrghh! It's been nine weeks now, let's go and do something else please?"
Unfortunately for the beautiful girl, the young man still ignored her. In fact, he even used her tantrum as part of his training, to see if he could still be completely focused and not be bothered by anything.
Realizing the young man sitting next to her was as steadfast as a cliff, Annara muttered some words under her breath and then lay leisurely on the sandy shore. Her actions naturally displayed her seductive curves even more, but she clearly didn't care and allowed her body to be bathed in the sun.
Annoyed at being ignored, Annara glanced at Emery and casually said,
"I wonder if we will be stranded on this island so long that we even have to start making babies."
Emery's body trembled when he heard that. The words quickly took all the concentration he mustered and swept it away like a hurricane.
Knowing his meditating state had been ruined, he stopped his training and took off the blindfold.
Looking at what Emery was doing, the girl couldn't hold her giggle and burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! I got you there, didn't I? Hahaha!" Annara smiled cheekily, "It's good, right? Now you know your problem and have more motivation to train harder. Hahaha…"
Emery didn't say anything. He just stared at the girl who was still giggling.
Then, the attention of the two were diverted, when they both noticed a figure coming out of the stone house. A mile distance was not a problem for a high-rank acolyte like them.
It was Silva. They saw how the girl only gazed in their direction. As if reading the other party's mind, Annara swiftly stood up and said to Emery.
"It's Silva's turn to cook today. Finally." said Annara excited "Let's not made the lady waiting"
Emery nodded and stood up before leisurely walking towards the stone house. The three went on and had lunch. Their actions and gestures looked so natural that people might think of them as a family, if they didn't know any better.
Ever since what happened three weeks ago, the two girls Annara and Silva only grew closer to each other. As for Emery's relationship with the white-haired girl, she had not intentionally ignored or avoided him, but she still just spoke single words to him.
A good thing Emery could be glad about, however, was the fact the last three weeks he never saw the girl angry anymore - like never. Still, the very differential treatment he received still made him feel uneasy.
Fortunately, Annara would always be able to somehow alleviate the situation with her antics, making the last three weeks easier for them to get through.
Today, however, Silva had become more talkative than usual. For Emery, who had received a kind of silent treatment the past three weeks, he couldn't help but feel a strange yet also happy feeling.
The white-haired girl suggested sparring with each other and even hunting together, both ideas which the other two quickly agreed on. Therefore, the small group immediately went on and did what Silva suggested after lunch.
Several more days passed; the three youths grew even closer together.
However, this therapeutic routine of them was disturbed, when a few days later - when they least expected things to happen - a loud sound rang out from the sky. The three of them, without notice, immediately stopped what they were doing and gathered outside the stone house.
"Something is coming!" Annara said, which instantly caught the attention of the other two.
They all looked up at the sky and saw what looked like a spaceship.
However, they did nothing to attract the attention of the people on board. Since their luck had been going bad, the three of them would definitely not think the ship was a good party right away.
There was actually no place to hide on this island if the spaceship threw its scan across. The reason they returned to the house was only for one thing.
Magus Heorgar, whose health had slowly improved in the last few days. Unfortunately, the man still hadn't woken up from his slumber.
The sound of the spaceship was clearly heard passing through above the stone house as the three were inside and he can get a glimpse of multiple magus level figures in it. In such a situation, Emery couldn't help but shout at the still unmoving magus.
"Senior... Someone has come… Whatever you are doing, you should finish it now"
Seeing there was no reaction from the wolf magus, the red-haired girl became anxious and spoke to Emery. "Just let's go outside and see our luck. There's no point in depending on him."
Emery couldn't find any reason not to agree with her. He took a last glance at the unconscious magus, before following Annara and Silva who had already left.
The three walked to the shore. At the same time they saw a ship coming towards them from the sea. From the looks of it, it seemed the spaceship circled around the island before returning to where they were.
The sea water and sand that scattered violently in the air covered their eyes as the spaceship drew closer to them. Emery could sense the ship, but he couldn't recognize its origin.
Due to this, he knew he could only depend on the two girls who had much more knowledge than him, so he quickly opened his mouth.
"So what is it? Is it friendly or foe?"