Lucio heard that and couldn't help but comment.
"But Master, he has advanced two stages in just half a year, isn't it too fast? Although the Spiritual Pool left has the power to leave no side effects, I still think that we should give him time to adapt to each stage."
Lani heard that and shook his head.
"It will be fine. Krune's comprehension is far above yours or mine when we were at his age. You should be able to tell that after this last fight, no?"
Lucio nodded.
Krune was listening to them and said.
"To be honest, I think Master isn't totally wrong. I spent a lot of these months in the Blacksmith Hall, so I had little time to adapt to anything else at my level."
Lani then shook his head.
"Don't worry. I could judge by the battle just now that you are fine. Although there are indeed places to improve, you are already far above those at your level. Anyway, I'm only doing it because you are leaving for the training in a few days. Otherwise, I would just let you cultivate slowly."
Krune said nothing more after that.
Lani then teleported Krune to his personal pocket dimension, and there, one could see another spiritual pool. Krune then understood why Lani wasn't afraid to affect his foundation. It turns out that his Grandmaster has a Spiritual Pool of his own!
Lani looked at Krune and said.
"Alright, you can go in. This pool is a lot more concentrated than the one that was used by you before. So be prepared for an enormous flux of Spiritual Energy. Still, from what I could see, you should be able to hold it."
Krune then asked Lani.
"But if I use this pool, won't it get worse for you later?"
Lani laughed after that.
"You are wrong here. I don't have use for this pool anymore. At my level, this kind of help is unnecessary. The only reason that I have one is that I let some spiritual fishes growing inside."
Krune was taken aback! He then looked at Lucio and asked.
"Wasn't this thing supposed to be expensive to maintain?"
Lucio just shuddered his shoulders.
"It is, but Master definitely doesn't have problems with money, I can guarantee you that. Just wait until you see what he gives to his pets. I reckon it will make you feel like crying."
Krune decided to not ask anymore. This is too much extravagance for his little heart.
Lani, of course, was hearing them talking on the side.
"Shut up! Now, go inside before I change my mind."
Krune immediately jumped in the pool. Sure enough, the amount of spiritual energy was higher than the one that the sect used for the program. Even though Krune didn't cultivate as much as he usually does during his Blacksmith Practice, he still got into the middle 3rd stage. Krune has a little more than 10 days before departing, which should be enough for him to enter the 4th stage of the Core Formation Realm. Not to mention that he doesn't need to hold back in his absorption like last time.
Krune opened all his 9 Elemental Meridians at pull power, and soon, one could see a Whirlpool of Spiritual Energy rushing at him. Lani looked at that and was once again surprised. That rate of absorption of spiritual energy is even higher than he expected! He looked at Lucio and said.
"The others using these Elemental Meridians, are they all like Krune?"
Lucio shook his head.
"They aren't as good as him. Of course, from what I could see, they are still a lot better than those with common cultivation techniques. The main advantage is still the instant conversion of Spiritual Energy into Elemental Source Energy. It saves a lot of effort, after all."
Lani then pondered a bit.
"You also have an Elemental Major Core. Cultivate it until you transform the Spiritual Energy Meridians into Elemental Meridians, and see if you can replicate Krune's state."
Lucio understood and immediately took the technique out. Uncle Feng was able to do it all in a single day. As for Lucio, his cultivation was, in fact, quite a few stages higher than Feng, so he was even faster! A few hours later, Lucio took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He then opened his new Elemental Meridians.
Lucio entered the Pool that Krune was cultivating and suppressed his cultivation to the 3rd stage of the Core Formation Realm. After that, he started to cultivate. Just like Krune, his Elemental Meridians were quite colorful. In fact, there were even a few more colors, like Dark, White, Silver, etc. He then cultivated for a few minutes, and his eyes narrowed.
Lucio left the Spiritual Pool and returned to his Master's side.
"No can do, I can't get to absorb the same amount as him."
Lani heard that and nodded.
"No problem. I was already expecting this much. There is something... extra about Krune Elemental Meridians that yours don't have. But this is just a feeling. I don't really know what it is."
Lani then laughed a little.
"Anyway. This is also good! Anything that can help my Divine Path Sect is always welcome."
Lucio nodded and then left right after. Even though he is like that, he is still the Sect Master, so Lucio had more things to take care of.
Time passed, and soon, 8 days went by.
Krune finally reached the 4th stage door and immediately started to build up energy to make the breakthrough. Thanks to the cultivation resources used in the Spiritual Pool, Krune didn't have to be afraid of getting a shaky foundation due to the high speed of cultivation.
Sure enough, Krune entered the 4th stage without any issues. He then took a deep breath and started to stabilize his cultivation. After he finished, Krune looked around but couldn't see his Master or Grandmaster anywhere. He was puzzled but decided to ignore it for now. He still has another two or three days before leaving, so it is better to use this time to further stabilize his cultivation in the pool.
As expected, Krune received a message in his communicator two days later. It said that all those who are part of the program should gather at the Spaceship Port the next day morning. Krune saw that message and decided to leave the pool for now. He looked around but still couldn't see any of the two guys anywhere.
"Well, I guess I will just leave and send a message to Master later."
But soon, Krune noticed a problem.
"Errr... where is the exit?"
The one who had brought Krune inside this place was Lucio and Lani. Not to mention that they came inside through teleportation. Krune walked around but could not find anything like a teleport formation or an exit door.
"Let me call Master."
Krune still hasn't got his Grandmaster's number, so he could only rely on his Master at the moment. Unfortunately, Lucio wasn't answering at all.
"That old geezer, as unreliable as ever!"
But then Krune got puzzled.
"Just how am I going to leave this place?"
Krune was in doubt. Logic said that he should just stay put and wait for his Master or Grandmaster to be back. But he only has until tomorrow to appear at the Spaceship Port, so what if none of those two appear until there?
"I will wait here for a few hours. If none of them appear until there, I will leave and look for an exit."
Seconds turned into minutes, minutes, into hours, but still, there was no sign of anyone. Krune had tried to call his Master several times, but Lucio was never available. Calling anyone else would be of no use since this is one of the Sect's Ancestor's place. They definitely wouldn't be able to get information about it. Krune was starting to get nervous since he was supposed to go to the Spaceship Port already.
"Forget it, I will leave a message here and start looking for an exit."
After leaving a few words behind, Krune spread his Divine Sense to its max range, but couldn't see anything else other than the Spiritual Pool and the fishes inside.
"This pocket dimension is also enormous, and it might be even bigger than Master's."
Since he couldn't find anything, Krune randomly chose a direction and dashed forward. Using Tribulation Lightning for movement had already become a habit, so Krune, in his human form, used it straight away.
Still, another issue appeared. Even after moving in several directions for an entire hour, Krune still couldn't find an exit. In fact, he couldn't find anything at all!
"Why do they have to make things this big? Does Grandmaster really need all this apace?"
Finally, around two hours later, Krune eyes lit up! He could see a building entering his Divine Sense.
"It was about time already."
Krune isn't afraid of his Grandmaster not finding him. As the owner of a pocket dimension himself, he knows very well that it is possible to feel the presence of every single being inside it. That meant that his Grandmaster would be able to find him anytime he wanted once he is back.
After flying a little, Krune finally could see the place with his own eyes. That building was more like a tower instead. Krune tried to check inside with his Divine Sense, but that tower obviously had some formations that prevented it.
"Hum... Should I enter it? I don't want to be like a certain Sect Master who enters the others' houses without permission."
Suddenly, Light Spirit talked with Krune.
"That place, there is something familiar inside."
Krune was taken aback!
"Familiar? But haven't you been imprisoned for ages? How come there is something from your time here?"
Light Spirit answered.
"I don't know. I just feel a familiar type of energy, but I can't remember what it is."
Krune pondered a bit if he should enter or not. After all, it was evident that this place wasn't simple. Suddenly, Krune and Light Spirit heard a voice coming from the tower.
"This presence... Luvile, you rascal, is that you?"
Light Spirit then felt like the most terrifying thing of the universe appeared right in front of him!
"Pretend that you don't know anything. Doesn't matter what, you don't know me, understood?"
Light Spirit then hid his presence as much as possible and let Krune do the talk.
Krune, of course, was as puzzled as ever. Still, he decided to do as Light Spirit did.
"Errr... Sorry. My name is Krune, not Luvile."
The being inside felt puzzled for a second, but suddenly, it snorted.
"Oh, I see. That's my bad. In that case, there is no problem in me talking about a certain Lightning Kid and his 'interesting' experiences from a long time ago."
Light Spirit, who was pretending to not be there, immediately jolted up like a cat who had its tail stepped on! Suddenly, Light Spirit's voice projected outside.
"Cilia, if you dare to open your mouth, see if this grandfather here don't bet everything to shut it for eternity!"