Time passed, and five months went by.
Feifei, Krune, and Tiane had been spending most of their time in their side occupations and cultivating. As for Ruik, since he didn't have a side occupation, he gathered his cultivation resources through the Mission Hall.
By now, Ruik had already finished evolving his Spiritual Energy Meridians into the Elemental ones. There is also the fact that the Spirit Stones that he gets here are of much higher rank than the ones he used in the Luvile Universe. Because of that, there was much more energy which then transformed into a higher speed of cultivation. Lastly, there is the battle experience that he accumulated through the missions.
With all that together, Ruik was successful in advancing into the 4th Stage of the Core Formation Realm.
Tiane started to practice the Myriad Energies Technique only after they arrived in this place, so it took her those same months to finish creating the Pseudo Meridians. After that, with the Spirit Stones that she got, Tiane focused on opening all the Spiritual Energy Meridians and finally evolving them into the Elemental Ones.
Still, it was only a few days ago that Tiane finished all of that, so her cultivation ended lagging behind. In the end, she only advanced a single stage, and that is because she was already close to entering the next one to start with. Now she was at the same level as Ruik, 4th Stage of the Core Formation Realm. She felt quite bad about it, so she started to put even more effort than before.
Krune was personally impressed with Ruik's improvement. It seemed like that Ruik's pride really took a shot when he first met Tiane. Otherwise, Krune believes that this snake would definitely have found a way or another to sleep somewhere.
Of course, Krune didn't show it on his face. Instead, he pressed Ruik even more.
"So what if you caught up to Tiane's cultivation? Aren't you already over 40 years old? Tiane isn't even 20 yet, and you are feeling proud of your accomplishments? Do you have no shame?!"
Ruik felt gloomy once more, but at the same time, his pride was fired up!
"Fine, you just wait!"
As for Krune, he didn't slack even a bit either.
His cultivation advanced to the 6th Stage already, and the elemental Regulation technique entered the middle Stage. As for his Alchemist Rank, Krune made a smooth advancement to the Five Silver Stars. In fact, Krune could have gone even further. But he also needed Spirit Stones, so he took a lot of orders where there was reasonable payment but gave no practical experience.
'I should have enough points for that item by the end of the week, once I get that, I will know if it is good for the Elemental Meridians too or not.'
The item that Krune was gathering Alchemist Points for was called Elemental Path Stone. It had several uses like strengthening the soul or being used directly as energy for cultivation. But Krune wasn't interested in those methods. What he interested in is that it is said that this stone can also be used to improve one's meridians.
Krune didn't know if it would work since the Myriad Energies Technique meridians are different from the normal ones. Still, he thought that it was worth a try. In the worst case, he could use it for cultivation too. As for the soul part, with his own Tribulation Lightning tempering, this use of the Elemental Path Stone wasn't that beneficial.
In Feifei and Tiane's case, they had their Formations Master Rank reduced by two levels each. There was no helping in it, the level of the Formation Masters in the Luvile Universe was just not on par with this one. Once the two girls finished the test to get their real qualifications, they found out that they were lagging quite far behind in knowledge and techniques.
In Tiane's case, she was just barely able to be accepted as a One Silver Star Formations Master. So after those five months of practice, Tiane was only able to improve her level by one while Feifei improved by two. Still, the jobs that Tiane and Feifei got had reasonable payments as well since everything here was expensive. Of course, the most profitable one had always been Alchemy since their demand is always high.
Another thing worth remembering is that Feifei was only able to go back to the Five Silver Stars level because of her Major Core. With that, she could predict the changes in the formation and deal with it. Otherwise, she probably would have advanced just a single level like Tiane.
Well, in fact, that was already terrifying in the eyes of the other members of the Formations Master Organization. Because of that, Feifei became quite famous in that Branch. Especially considering how young she is.
As for cultivation, Feifei was at the 8th Stage when she arrived, and now she almost at the peak of the 9th. One must remember that the higher the cultivation, the longer it takes to advance stages. So it is already excellent that Feifei achieved this level in just five months. Feifei also started to make arrangements to enter the Divine Soul Realm. Thus she was saving a lot of spirit stones.
Back in the Alchemist Organization Branch.
Krune was once more checking the price of the Elemental Path Stone when suddenly, he received a message in his communicator.
"The guild supervisor is calling you over, please go to his office once you get free."
Krune got puzzled with that message.
'Want to see me?'
Only now did Krune notice one thing.
'Now that I think about it, I don't even know who he is.'
Krune started to ponder if he had broken something again, but he couldn't recall anything like that. At least not since the Alchemist Qualification Test.
'Well, since I'm free at the moment anyway, I will go take a look to see what he wants.'
On the way, Krune ended meeting up with Yilio, the person who acted as the examiner in his test.
"Oh, hello!"
Yilio nodded back.
"It seems like you were also called by the Supervisor, right?"
Krune confirmed.
"Yes, although I don't know what he wants to talk about."
Yilio laughed a little and said.
"Don't worry, this is an excellent thing for you and me, but I will let the Supervisor talk about it."
Although Krune got puzzled again, he decided to wait to see what the Supervisor had to say.
Ramon was already there once they arrive.
"Hello. I guess this is our first time meeting each other, my name is Ramon Forkin."
Krune greeted him and waited to see what he had to say.
"Yilio already knows this, so it's basically Krune who I wish to pass this information."
"Krune, I would like to have you and Yilio to participate in the next solar system junior concoction championship."
Krune was surprised by that request.
"Me? But I'm just a new member and haven't participated in such a competition before."
Ramon shook his head.
"That's not a problem, the only requisites are that you can't be over 35 years of age, and be a member of our organization."
Krune, as always, still doesn't like to get attention.
"I'm sorry, but I don't have any intention of participating in this competition. I'm the type that likes to keep a low profile."
Yilio heard that, and his mouth twitched.
"Is it something that the 'Crazy Alchemist' should say?"
Krune almost fainted after hearing that. After that event in the examination, everyone started to pay attention to him. Because of his rainbow hair and irises, there was no way he couldn't be recognized. With time, he began to be known as the 'Crazy Alchemist,' much for his displeasure.
That wasn't all. If it was just the event where Krune destroyed the examination room, the others would have forgotten about him already. But during these months, his number of requests accepted, points earned, and the 3 levels of improvement contributed to his famous image. So Krune wasn't regarded as 'Crazy' only because of the examination room event, but mainly because he was crazily charging up in the ranks. To advance 3 Silver Stars in just five months is unprecedented in their Alchemist Organization Branch!
Even Yilio, who was also considered a genius in alchemy, had only advanced a single rank during this time, being at Five Silver Stars at the moment.
Krune then looked at the Supervisor and said.
"Anyway, it's not like I wanted all this attention. But if I participate in this competition, it would get even worse, so I prefer to refrain from doing so."
Krune turned around and was just about to leave when suddenly, Ramon made a comment that made his steps froze in place.
"I know that you have been checking for the price of the Elemental Path Stone. What if I say that if you agree to participate, I will give it to you for free? That way, you can use your points in another item or get a second one."
Krune turned around and asked.
"Are you for real?"
Krune had been afraid that if the Elemental Path Stone didn't work, he would have spent his point for nothing. But if he can get one for free to test first, that would be the best! Krune then started to ponder whether he should accept it or not.
Ramon noticed Krune's struggle and decided to strike the iron while it was hot.
"In addition, I will give you an electronic token that will allow you to buy the items available in the reward system with a 20% discount."
Krune's eyes lit up!
"Deal!"
More important than his 'low profile life,' is his capital! The more he can save, the better it is!
Yilio, on the other hand, just shook his head.
'To think that an alchemist wouldn't want to participate in the competition. If the other members in the Branch hear about this, would they kill this guy straight away?'
Yilio couldn't help but feel that it was very likely.