Krune then took Hil Argen's spatial ring. Sure enough, there were some black tokens inside. He then looked at the other four people who came together with this Core Formation Realm guy and said.
"He isn't dead, but if you don't treat him soon, he definitely will be. Well, it's up to you whether you care about him or not."
Krune grabbed Lofa's body and left together with Ao and Arlan. Due to all the commotion, it wouldn't be long until even more cultivators of the sky tribe appeared around. On their way back to their hideout, Ao asked Krune.
"Did you know that she would be able to fend off the attack?"
Arlan's interest was immediately picked. He also wanted to know that very much.
Krune shook his head, though.
"I didn't, but I could see the look on her eyes. So I decided to believe her."
Ao and Arlan were taken aback.
"Then what if she failed?"
Krune just laughed.
"If that happened, then I would think about something else."
Arlan then asked why he decided to let her fend off for herself.
"It was necessary. If Lofa kept that mentality that someone would always appear to save her, she would die sooner or later. It's evident that she had never passed through real Life and Death situations. Most likely, she just cultivated inside her Clan, Sect, or whatever. Even when she left to train, I believe that someone was always there to look after her. That is also why she was so afraid when we were about to leave her alone after saving from the Fire Eagle back then."
Ao and Alran nodded. Arlan was already strong even before he met Krune, so he obviously had his own life and death moments and knew that they made who he is today. Ao was no different, not to mention that a few of those moments he passed together with Krune.
Suddenly, Ao felt like his mind was struck by lightning!
'Wait! Every time Krune uses his Heavens Fall, it always discharges enough power to win the battle. But he still had Tribulation Lightning power remaining after that Heavens Chain Lightning Fall! So he didn't use all the Tribulation Lightning power available at that time yet.'
The more Ao thought, the crazier the idea sounded.
'Doesn't that mean that he already knew about the Core Formation Realm guy being able to resist his attack? In that case, he let that guy attack Lofa on purpose, and he knew that he would select her!'
Ao looked at Krune's indifferent face and commented.
"Brother, you have gone through a lot."
Arlan heard that but didn't understand. Krune, on the other hand, laughed happily. He knows that Ao already found out the truth behind this matter. They haven't been friends for years for nothing.
That was true! With Little Light's cooperation, how could Krune not know whether his Heavens Chain Lightning Fall had enough power to defeat Hil Argen? An attack based purely on Tribulation Lightning? Ha! That was way too easy for Little Light to measure.
Little Light was also happy with the results today. The only thing he helped Krune with was to tell him how much Tribulation Lightning would be necessary to achieve his plans. All the control, spiritual energy, and ideas about that new Tribulation Lightning skill were done by Krune himself. Little Light felt very pleased with how much Krune improved his use of that power.
'So what if he is a wisp? He is great!'
Even he had started to acknowledge the 'wisp' called Krune. Of course, Little Light's pride won't allow him to tell that to Krune.
Back in their hideout, Krune used his Wood Element to create a leaves bed and put Lofa on it. After that, he started to use his spiritual energy to heal her injuries. It didn't take long for Lofa's body to be fully recovered.
In the end, he took his robe out and covered her. After that exchange against Hil Argen, Lofa's clothes became utterly ragged. And his experience told him that it's never good to let a human female show too much, especially for his own physical health.
Krune then went to the corner and quickly prepared an element gathering formation. He still has a lot of spirit stones with him, what he needed most at the moment was to recover his Tribulation Lightning power. Of course, he made sure to make one big enough so that Ao and Arlan could use it, much for their pleasure.
Time passed, and a few hours later, Lofa finally woke up. She was feeling a little dizzy while looking around. Only after noticing Krune, Ao, and Arlan on the other side cultivating, did she remember about everything that happened.
She then noticed that a blue robe was covering her, it was a little dirty due to having been used, and it was obviously Krune's robe. She then took a look at her own clothes. Seeing that sight, she immediately felt embarrassed. By releasing some spiritual energy, a screen appeared around her bed, which she used to change her clothes quickly. Only after that, she felt relieved.
Krune had already put another robe by that time and seemed to be focused on cultivation, Ao and Arlan were doing the same, so she didn't bother them. Instead, she took that time to check herself as well. That moment of Life and Death had really opened her eyes, she felt like a new door opened and that she could cross it easily. Her soul improved quite a bit, and she thought she was able to control her spiritual energy smoother too. Not to mention the improvement of her control over her Water and Ice element.
That was the best moment to consolidate those powers, she had to focus on them while it still felt fresh on her memory, so she started to cultivate as well. After a few minutes, she was also lost in the feelings of cultivation.
Night came down, and Lofa was still cultivating when suddenly, she felt the smell of food. She hasn't eaten anything since they departed for the Sky Tribe. So she ended up waking up from her cultivation state. Only then did she notice Krune cooking while Ao and Arlan were preparing the table.
She got up and went outside as well. Seeing that she was awake, Krune called her over.
"Seems like you are okay now, come and help me with the food, I'm starving here."
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry, just half a day ago she had almost died! But here is she now, helping Krune to cook food again.
While they were cooking, she asked everyone.
"What happened after I passed out?"
They then explained everything, it's not like there was a need to keep secret anyway. After hearing that, Lofa could only sigh.
"Even after using everything I had, I still couldn't knock him out for good."
Arlan shook his head and said.
"That last attack of yours was excellent, at least I know I can't use anything more powerful than that myself."
Ao agreed with what Arlan said as well.
"You should feel proud of yourself, you still exchanged a blow against that 4th stage Core Formation Realm Cultivator all-out attack, and you two ended even. The reason he didn't pass out like you was basically due to his higher cultivator and stronger soul power."
Krune also commented.
"That Life and Death experience will be of great help to you in the future. At least you probably won't feel afraid of being alone anymore."
Lofa looked surprised at Krune.
"Was my lack of experience about it that obvious?"
Krune and the other only laughed after hearing that, Ao then sent her a Divine Sense message explaining the rest that Krune hadn't told her. That made her feel even more amazed by him. If he could go that far to help her, just how far can he go for his friends?
"Alright! The food is ready. Let's eat!"
They took their time appreciating their meal, and only when they got satisfied did krune start to clean everything for them to leave.
They quickly collected everything they wanted and left that place. Krune, Ao, and Arlan still want a few more tokens before moving to Ravil City. They are very confident in their Black Tokens numbers, but it won't hurt to collect a few more.
But there was one thing the Krune didn't notice, his blue robe had utterly disappeared without a trace.
During the next few days, Krune's group kept hunting Core Formation Beasts and lonely groups. As always, there were a lot of severely injured cultivators and demon beasts. As always, when there is no need for killing, they don't kill.
He also took his time to give Lofa some pointers just like he did with Ao and Yusa back then. Lofa heard those ideas and suggestions and was amazed! Krune's view about elements control is simply unbelievable. Even though Krune could only teach her for a few days, Lofa's combat power increased by leaps and bounds. You couldn't also compare the past and present her anymore.
But as expected, the longer it took, the harder it was to acquire more Black Tokens, so they got only another five in the past week of hunting. Noticing that it should be the same for everyone else, Krune's group finally decided to move into the Ravil City to finish the test.
There was a funny situation, though. Close to Ravil City, there were hundreds of cultivators scanning the area as if looking for something. Krune felt that it was strange and asked the other's opinion.
"Could it be that they are looking for us?"
Everyone looked at each other and thought that it was quite possible. Krune's group knows very well that they made quite a ruckus as the Shield and Sword Freaks. Using his powerful Divine Sense, Krune started to hear the cultivators and demon beasts in the distance secretly.
Turns out that they were right, everyone thinks that Krune's group had was the one with the most tokens. Hence, all those people gathered together to ambush his team and take the black tokens that they had collected.
After Krune told the rest about that, they immediately burst in laughter! Krune has the biggest Divine Sense in this competition by far! There is no way the enemies can catch their group if they can't even feel when Krune's Divine Sense scan everyone on their side.
And it was precisely by using that unfair advantage that they sneaked past the defenses without anyone noticing anything. As soon as Krune and his friend entered the City, Elder Loni came running at him! Everyone could see the bright smile on his face when he looked at Krune and his companions.
"Krune, Arlan, and Ao, well done! Come with me, you can stay at my place until the month is over. After that, we can go to the gathering to count the teams and find the one with the biggest number of tokens."
Krune and the other felt that sight to be somewhat weird but followed nonetheless. Just as they were about to enter the building where the contestants are staying, Lofa's jaw dropped! Right in front of her, she could see another two members of her group that split back then.
"Luin, Jena, you two are fine!"
She immediately rushed over to talk to them, when they noticed Lofa as well, they were just as surprised! Luin immediately said.
"Lofa, you survived, that's great!"
Jena was also happy.
"It's good that you reached this place as well."
Lofa nodded, she then brought them to meet Krune, Ao and Arlan.
"They are the ones who saved me back then. We are all members who got our slots in the Mercenary Alliance Selection."
They immediately complimented each other and then that Jena thanked them.
"Thank you for helping Lofa to get all the way here. We might have failed in the first phase and lost two friends, but as long as we are alive, everything is possible."
Luin also did the same.
Krune's group just laughed. It was then that Krune said.
"But how come you failed? Don't you have three tokens, Lofa?"
Lofa looked at Krune puzzled, since when she had three tokens? Ao and Arlan immediately understood and followed suit.
"Lofa is just being modest, she helped us to hunt down some other groups and Core Formation territory bosses. But she asked for Krune to hold the tokens until we got to the city just to be safe."
Krune then took three black tokens out and passed it over to her. Lofa looked at that with a poker face, how come she didn't know that?
"Elder Loni, we can go now, Lofa will be staying with her friends."
Elder Loni saw that but didn't say anything, Krune and his group got those tokens themselves, it wasn't his place to tell them what to do with them. Besides, he knows very well how many tokens they had, three more or three less wouldn't change much.
Lofa finally understood that it was definitely Krune's idea. Not to mention that even though Arlan and Ao confirmed that fake story, their reaction was a bit too slow. So it was evident that they only found out about this plan of giving away three tokens at the same time as herself. Her eyes couldn't help but feel a little moisty.
When Krune, Arlan, and Ao arrived at Elder Loni's place, he immediately arranged a room for each one. He told them that they can stay there until the first phase was over. With such a weird thing happening, they couldn't help but ask what was happening. Elder Loni just laughed and said.
"Both me and elder Kirian had been watching over the competition ever since it started, so we know very well how much tokens each team has. You three have more than double than the second place, so it is evident that I won that bet. We are just waiting for the first phase to be officially over now.
Krune, Arlan, and Ao immediately got delighted! No wonder Elder Loni is treating them so well, he had won big this time. On the other hand, they also got six drops of Dragon Essense Liquid! How could they not be happy? Krune then contacted Yusa and Shinja, who were already in this Ravil City to come over. He would make a lot of food to commemorate today!
Back at the building where the rest of the participants are staying, Lofa finally got some time alone and went back to her room. She sat on her bed and started to look at her spatial ring when suddenly, a blue robe appeared on her lap. She looked at that and sighed.
"Just what am I doing?"