Back at the Divine Path Sect, Krune had already spent 5 days during the process of forging his flying shields. His proficiency in making the Divine Imprints increased with each one made. It also decreased the amount of time necessary to make them.
'According to what I can see, just 3 or at most 4 more days and my flying shields will be ready.'
Elres already expected that, but to see it with his own eyes, that still did some damage to his pride. Still, he is a 3 Golden Stars Blacksmith, so he wouldn't let it bother him for long.
Krune also used the free time where he didn't have to forge the Divine Imprints to cultivate and practice the Elemental Regulation Technique.
'It won't be long before I reach the middle accomplishment stage of the technique. At that time, the difference between my Lightning Element and the others will reduce even more. It was thanks to this technique that I was able to create the purple flames so early, and I believe that their prowess will increase even more.'
It's also worth mentioning that during these four months and a half, Krune was also able to reach the middle of the 3rd of the Core Formation. He could have gone even further, but for the sake of his shields, he put a lot more effort into his Blacksmith path.
There is only another half a month or so for the teaching program to be over. During these months, both Lofa and Tasier were able to create their spiritual energy meridians. As mentioned before, both Tasier and Lofa came from wealthy backgrounds, so their elder had long since sent the spirit stones that they needed.
Thanks to that, the two of them have already been able to evolve their meridians into the Elemental ones. As a water element user, Lofa obviously had a transparent Elemental Meridians, just like Shinja. As for Tasier, his race has both high affinity with lightning and wind. So his Elemental Meridians were a mix of Lightning Blue and Air Pale Blue. There were also a few spots representing his control of the Metal Element as well.
Different from Ao and the others, they had the chance to enter the Spiritual Pool. During this time, Tasier was able to reach the peak of the second stage while Lofa was somewhere in the middle. One must remember that until a little time ago, they didn't have the Myriad Energies Meridians. It was thanks to the pool that they were able to keep more or less at Ao's group level.
As for Feifei and Krune, they would now and then find a time where both are free. Sometimes Feifei couldn't slip by the grand elder, so she had to drag the other guys from the Wang Clan territory around. But the times that she succeed, she would almost always spend it at Krune's side.
Of course, she did not neglect her cultivation. As Krune had suspected, Feifei was really at the late stages of the Core Formation. To be more specific, she was at the 7th stage when she arrived at the Divine Path Sect. After the month spent into the Spiritual Pool plus the time outside, she had finally entered the 8th stage two weeks ago. The main key for Krune and Feifei's situation is their own strength, so she was very determined to increase her power.
Finally, four days later, Elres put his tools away and took a deep breath. Krune's 38 Peak 9 Silver Stars Hexagonal Flying Shields were completed! Elres then passed the last one to Krune, who received it with his eyes shining!
"Thank you, Senior Elres."
Elres shook his head and said.
"That's the rule of the Sect, the first equipment is always free as long as it is not at the Golden Stars Level. Since you provided the Golden Stars Material, the crafting was free anyway. Besides, we blacksmiths, also get paid for the job that we do here. I reckon that I will get quite a nice reward from crafting those shields with Golden Star Materials too."
Krune nodded, but he still felt gratitude anyway. He could tell that every single shield was like a piece of art. It was evident that Elres really did his best at making them.
Elres looked at Krune and commented.
"During the time that we were doing your shields, your proficiency at making the Divine Imprints increase with every single one. With your talent, I believe that you won't take more than 3 or 4 months to reach the Six Silver Stars level."
Krune nodded and said.
"That is more or less what I think too. But I won't practice blacksmith for the time being. I've noticed that my rate of improvement in the occupation is also linked to the level of my cultivation. So the higher my realm, the easier it is to improve. After I come back from the missions in the dimensional realms, I will spend my time cultivating and doing other missions to gather merit points. I also plan to go back to alchemy and formations during that time, too, so that I can make them catch up with my forging skills."
Elres didn't know what to say anymore. Doesn't that mean that Krune will also become a Silver Stars Alchemist and Formations Master? But then again, with Krune's talent for side occupations, it might really be possible. No, if he puts the effort, Elres is sure that he definitely can do it!
"Anyway. After you come back form the dimensional realm, make sure to drop by. This is the first time I made a Silver Stars Equipment using Golden Stars Materials. Although, in theory, it should work even better, I want to check again and hear about your experiences with the Equipment Set."
Krune nodded.
"No problem. For now, I'm going back to practice using them a little. If I see anything strange before I depart, I will make sure to drop by to ask your opinion too."
Elres nodded, and they bid their farewells.
While Krune was going back to his residence, he decided to tell his Master that his shields were also completed. Immediately after, his Master sent a reply.
"Good. In that case, come to my home. You haven't received any lesson or had the chance to practice at all during your time in the Blacksmith Hall. I will give you some help and check your condition before you leave for the Dimension Realm."
Krune's eyes immediately lit up after hearing that. If there is one thing he wants at the moment, that is to test the power of his shields against someone who he doesn't need to be afraid of hurting. After taking a few teleport formations, Krune finally arrived at the Sect Master's house.
Lucio noticed his presence and sent a Divine Sense message from inside.
"Come in, I'm in the pocket dimension."
After arriving there, Krune noticed that other than Lucio, there was someone else that he had never seen before. But for some reason, he felt some familiarity with the man's aura.
Lucio then came forward and introduced the man.
"This person here is my Master, Lani Gobel."
Krune was taken aback by those words. If he is the old geezer's Master, that also means that he is his Grandmaster! No, first of all, the old geezer is already that powerful inside the Divine Path Sect territory. Then, just how strong is the man in front of him now?
"Are you really the old geezer's Master?"
As expected of the wisp who doesn't care about status, he still didn't give his Master any face at all!
Lucio's mouth twitched when he heard that.
"It seems like there is a wisp here in need of a beating. Good, good!"
Krune didn't care, though.
"Hmph! Knowing you, I reckon that it is very possible that you are trying to pull my leg. Don't think that I will fall for your tricks all the time, old geezer."
Lucio was feeling helpless. That really is his Master. He wanted to brag about how talented his first disciple is. Still, it turned out that he is being humiliated like that. But then again, it was his mistake to not think about such a possibility.
Lani, who was hearing everything from the side, suddenly laughed.
"Hahaha! No wonder you took him as a disciple. Now then, aren't the two of you just made for each other? If you two swapped your souls, even I would have some difficulty to notice the change."
Lucio heard that and felt embarrassed.
Lani then came forward and extended his hand.
"Hello there, kid. I'm your idiot Master's Master, or your Grandmaster if you prefer. I have to say that you are exactly as I thought you would be."
Since the man was being polite, Krune obviously followed suit and shook his hand.
"I'm Krune, the wisp that was forced to become the old geezer's disciple, or your grand disciple if you prefer."
Lani nodded, satisfied.
"Don't blame him too much. You might not know this, but this Lucio now is already excellent. You definitely wouldn't want to meet that young boy from 50 thousand years ago."
Lucio was feeling like crying.
"Master!"
Lani looked at Lucio and said.
"Shut up! I'm not saying any lies here. Besides, you will have the chance to do the same with your disciple's disciples."
Lucio sighed and just shook his head.
Krune, on the other hand, got an amazingly good first impression of this man.
"Grandmaster, I think we are going to get along very well."
Lani nodded and then said.
"Alright, I already helped you get back at him a little. Let's go back into the business."
Lani then retreated and let Lucio do the talk.
"Cough, cough. Anyway, Master was curious about the fact that I finally got a disciple, so he came to check on you. We will go through the things that you learned and then do some battle practice to check this new Flying Shields of yours."
Krune nodded and then immediately started to do what Lucio was asking.
"Let me check your improvement with the Elemental Regulation Technique."
Krune then sent a line of spiritual energy forward. Lucio looked at that and nodded.
"Good. I can see that you are getting close to the middle stage of the technique."
Lani was also looked at that and couldn't help but give some praise in his mind. Lucio was already very good back then when he passed this technique to him, but Krune proved to be even better at that.
Krune then spent the next days practicing and listening to his Master's words. Finally, Lucio told Krune.
"Alright, that is enough for now, you just need to digest everything you learned. For now, let's move into some combat practice. I want to see just how good you became with your flying shields."
Krune was ecstatic. The time that he had been waiting for was here!
"Old geezer, you better be ready!"