Rex is currently inside a car with Edward and Adhara,
Although they will go finish the quests from Evelyn and the Carabidis Temple, there is something Rex needed to do first.
Not long after, they all reach their destination.
The car parked on the parking lot of the Crystalline of Mana,
Rex already did his final media on his brain right after leaving Kyran to deal with the maid, and now the only thing left to do is reach the sixth rank.
‘Why does he insist I go here’, Rex thought with a sigh.
~
A couple of hours earlier, Inside a quiet room.
Black lightning mana burst forth from inside Rex’s body, the connector that connects the media and the media glows with lightning mana as the process has been completed.
Chandler is looking at Rex while nodding his head,
With the last piece of the puzzle finished, Rex can now assimilate with a spirit.
Rex stands up before inspecting his body,
The changes in power now can be felt directly, controlling the mana is now a hundred times easier than before.
He then stretches his hand and gathers the surrounding lightning mana,
BLITZ!
But to Rex’s surprise, instead of managing to create one lightning strike with a shape of a dragon, he now can create 5 lightning strikes on a whim.
It’s like the lightning mana is an extended limb of him, and he can control it precisely.
Looking at this, Chandler then said, “By connecting all of the media, your control over mana increases greatly. And now, you can assimilate with a spirit”
Hearing this, Rex smiles in delight.
He then immediately open the shop and thought, ‘System, I want to buy Devo the Gatekeeper’
<Devo the Gatekeeper Costs 100,000 Gold, Do the user want to continue?>
Reading this, Rex hesitated for a moment because of the costs of the spirit but he know it will be worth it, ‘Buy it!’
<Devo the Gatekeeper will be put in the inventory>
While Rex is talking to the system, Chandler is still talking, “Spirit is hard to find but some are already captured, you can purchase it from the Awakened Trading Center or even asks Vargas to get you the good ones”
But then suddenly,
SWOOSH!!
CRACKK!
Devastatingly powerful energy suddenly invaded the place.
Chandler looks to the side in surprise before his expression turns into horror, a spirit appeared behind Rex’s back that makes his skin crawl in fright.
Even his own spirit trembles after feeling the spirit behind Rex.
It’s like a dog meeting with a lion, they’re not in the same league, not in the least.
A grey spirit appeared behind Rex like a ghost,
All of the spirit’s entire being is made of misty cloud that instantly fills the room, two piercing eyes spit lightning around the place. Both of its fists have a bubble enveloping them and cracking with black lightning just like Rex’s, and chains wrapped around its body.
Chandler’s feet suddenly got engulfed by mists that suddenly appear around the room, he can’t see his own feet because of the mists.
Rex saw this spirit behind him in awe, the spirit is big and muscular.
The spirit’s face doesn’t have a definite shape, only two glowing eyes can be seen and the spirit’s suppressing aura is thick and terrifying, it even feels ancient for some reason.
Looking at this, Chandler steps back subconsciously.
CRACK!!
Under Rex’s eyes, the wall around the quiet room started to crack by the sheer presence of the spirit because the spirit just emit horrifying energy.
The room started to crumble because of the spirit,
Devo’s eyes then landed on Chandler coldly as if he’s seeing an ant.
Getting the stare from Devo makes Chandler’s heart skip a beat,
The energy Devo emitted is like a tidal wave that drowns anyone that got hit by it, and even Chandler who has become a sixth rank Awakened for years is not confident in resisting the energy.
It’s simply unbelievable, the strongest spirit that he has ever seen, no doubt.
Looking at his surroundings that can’t hold the spirit’s pressure, Rex then puts the spirit back into his inventory hurriedly.
Rex didn’t expect the spirit to cause such a ruckus.
Chandler gaze at Rex in disbelief, he can’t believe that there’s such a spirit out there and how did Rex manage to get it.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The door got knocked a couple of times,
When Chandler opened it, another lecturer went inside the room, “What happened here? I felt terrifying energy coming from this room”
But when the lecturer wanted to inquire further, the words stuck on his throat upon seeing Rex.
“I’m sorry for disturbing you”, the lecturer apologized before he left.
The turn of events caught Rex by surprise, the lecturer came barging inside the room in a hurry but upon seeing him the lecturer immediately left.
‘Do I look scary?’, Rex thought with a wry smile.
After the lecturer left, Chandler approached Rex and said, “Is that your spirit?”
“Yes”, Rex replied calmly.
Hearing this, Chandler gulped harshly before he said, “So that explains why you have such an immense amount of mana inside each of your media, turns out you’re trying to assimilate with such a terrifying spirit”
Now that Chandler saw Rex’s spirit, what Rex did becomes reasonable.
Heck, even Chandler thought that what Rex did is not enough, he didn’t believe that anyone can try assimilating with that spirit and live let alone fully assimilated with it.
But unknown to him, the system already calculated it for Rex.
“The university’s facility can’t hold that kind of spirit energy, you must assimilate with that energy in Crystalline of Mana which has the strongest place for spirit assimilating”, Chandler said with a sigh.
He’s still trying to grasp what he just saw, it caught him completely off guard.
Rex frowns before he said, “Really? If I can do it fast then there’s no problem right?”
“No, No, No”, Chandler said hurriedly.
He then explained, “Even if you can assimilate with that spirit fast, there’s a phenomenon that will be caused during assimilating with a spirit. You see, in order to assimilate with a spirit we must lock their own media and bind them to ours, the stronger the spirit the more media the spirit have”
“Every time a spirit’s media is locked, a shockwave bursting from your body will be caused. Denzel, one of our current ninth rank has a powerful spirit. His spirit has 7 media, and the shockwaves burn the place around him in a 100 meters radius”
Hearing this, Rex nodded his head.
He understands what Chandler is trying to say,
Even though he might manage to assimilate with Devo the Gatekeeper fast, the shockwaves caused by the locking of Devo’s media will still be there.
If Devo’s sheer present can destroy the room, then Rex can’t imagine how powerful the shockwaves will be.
In other words, it’s not a good idea to assimilate with Devo in the university.
~
Back to Crystalline of Mana, Rex and the others went inside the place.
The receptionists let them through instantly, they still remember how their manager need to address Rex carefully and so they also need to do that.
Entering the building, they meet the same four halls as the last time.
Rex then calls out a staff there and asks, “I want to assimilate with a spirit, can you show me your best room for it?”
“I must give my early congratulation on reaching sixth rank sir, I hope your assimilating process is a success”, the staff replied politely.
He then continues, “Please, right this way”
But upon hearing this, Adhara and Edward look at each other in surprise.
They thought that they come here to train, but who would’ve thought that Rex wants to assimilate with a spirit and is already on verge of entering the sixth rank.
“You’re going to reach the sixth rank?!!”, Both Edward and Adhara shouted in a union.
Rex smiles lightly and said, “Yep, We will depart as soon as I reach the sixth rank”
Hearing this, Edward and Adhara still gasp in shock.
But the longer they think about it, the longer they find it normal because they’re talking about Rex and he’s not just an ordinary man.
After walking for a moment, they arrived at huge golden doors.
The staff press the passcode on the side of the golden doors before the door opened slowly, it creates a heavy creaking sound as it reveals the room inside.
Rex looks at the room as his eyes widen, and so are Edward and Adhara.
The room is circle-shaped, spacious, and very unique compared to the other rooms,
Aside from the isolated place this room is located, the room also has a weird and different theme than the others.
This room has a more museum vibe rather than a training room.
Writings and abstract drawings filled every corner of the walls, the mana in this room is very rich, and a refreshing scent also filled the room.
In the middle of the spacious room is a circle stage,
Above the stage are two curved golden spikes with rings on their tips, runes are engraved all over the body of the spike and it’s clear that it has a protection rune on them.
Rex walks inside the room slowly,
Looking at Rex and the other’s expression, the staff then present proudly, “Welcome to the Spiritual Chamber, this room is equipped with many runes with the purpose of creating the best possible environment to assimilate with a spirit. The spikes will protect the place from the shockwaves while the stage has a weakening effect on the spirit making it easier to bond with”
While the staff explained, Rex was still in awe.
But even so, Rex heard all of the explanations and was surprised about the magical stage.
For the stage to have such an effect that will weaken the spirit making it an easier time for the Awakened to assimilate with the said spirit, the stage must be a high-rank treasure.
‘System, will this place be able to hold Devo?’, Rex asks.
<No>
The system replied coldly making Rex frown,
Rex even was shocked for a bit after reading the system’s simple answer,
With so many effects that present in this place, Rex finds it hard to believe that Devo the Gatekeeper still can beat this room.
“Can you make this place stronger?”, Rex asks.
Hearing this, the staff looks at Rex in confusion, “This place is notorious for being able to withstand powerful spirits, only one person manages to crack the barrier around the stage”
But even after the staff tries to convince Rex,
Rex knows that the system is never wrong, “Can you make this place stronger?”, Rex asks again for the second time.
Feeling insulted, the staff then said, “Please demonstrate the spirit, if the place will not hold I will address this matter quickly”
Without wasting another second, Rex walks towards the stage.
The others gaze at him, while the staff has a condescending look on his face.
It’s not hostile though, he’s probably got hurt because some said that this beautiful place is not strong enough to hold a spirit.
Rex understands that, and he didn’t mind.
After standing in the middle of the stage, a translucent barrier appears after the spikes glow.
He then looks into his inventory and summons Devo,
SWOOSH!!
The same cloudy spirit appeared inside the room with chains all over its body, a huge tidal wave of lightning energy splashes around the room.
Mists engulfed the entire place exactly after Devo got summoned from the inventory.
Upon Devo’s summoning, Edward, Adhara, and the staff felt their knees weak.
Only sixth rank Awakened can sense a spirit’s energy,
For Adhara, Edward, and the staff able to feel the energy, that just shows how terrifying Devo the Gatekeeper is and this completely shocks the staff.
Chandler felt his legs weak and even get his spirit suppressed, the others might not able to feel spirit energy but their danger sense can feel threatening energy.
The staff takes back what he said earlier,
He tries to raise his head to look at the stage but when he saw the spirit, his expression turns pale as his eyes widen in shock.
Devo’s cold eyes glance at them before his attention falls onto Rex.
The stage also emit energy that tries to wrap around Devo’s body, but then suddenly,
BLITZ!!
Devo shrugs off the energy easily as if it was nothing, his lightning eyes then look at Rex who is also looking at him calmly.
The pressure on Rex’s body is powerful, but somehow Rex can endure it.
“Your brave front doesn’t impress me, human…”, Devo said with its astral and low tone making Rex widen his eyes in surprise.
Rex then asks, “You can talk?”
Devo scoffs lightly before Rex asks again, “Are you strong?”
“What kind of question is that, I’m the strongest above the sky!”, Devo replied proudly.
But upon hearing this, the corner of Rex’s mouth quirks up before he glances at Devo with determination, “Great! Then get ready, I’m going to make your powers mine!”