Since he had already decided what to do next, Lin Fan didn’t waste any time.
With this pill in hand, he moved towards the Clear Water Pool.
But before he could put a single foot into the pool, there was someone that suddenly appeared beside him.
Hayase quickly flew over to the side of the pool and scooped up a handful…a clawful for himself and chugged it down.
As soon as he swallowed the water, he immediately revealed a look of joy and went forward to drink even more. However, before he could dip his claw back into the water, Lin Fan suddenly grabbed him by the ear and pulled him back.
Hayase looked up at Lin Fan and said, “What are you doing? Let me go!”
Lin Fan gave a cold snort and said, “That should be my question. What are you doing?”
Hayase’s expression changed to reveal a pleading look as he said, “Let me have this! If I drink this, I’ll be able to break through to what you humans call the Foundation Realm!”
Lin Fan couldn’t help being taken aback when he heard this.
Hayase had been just like him, being stuck in the Ninth Qi Gathering Realm the entire time. However, Lin Fan hadn’t been able to find a way for him to break through since Hayase had already reached max level.
It seemed that the max level that creatures that used a magic based system could grow to was level 100 and beyond that, they wouldn’t be able to increase their level again no matter how many things they killed. So Lin Fan had been puzzled because Hayase had always been his greatest supporter as someone who had been able to match his cultivation level.
Naturally he wanted Hayase to break through and reach the Foundation Realm as well because that would mean getting another powerful supporter for himself, but he had never been able to find a way to do so.
Now that Hayase was saying that he would be able to break through if he drank the water from this pond, it was a lie to say that Lin Fan wasn’t tempted by this.
But after thinking about it, he still denied this thought since it was more important for him to break through right now.
As for Hayase, he had a vague idea of what he needed to break through now, so he would be able to find something similar for him in the Dungeon Master System store, or even his own system’s store.
So he made up his mind to reject Hayase’s request.
But before he could say a thing, the system’s voice suddenly rang out.
“Host, you only need half the spiritual energy contained in the pond to break through. As long as the pet “Hayase” drinks the other half of the pond, it will be able to evolve.”
Lin Fan was completely taken aback by this as he never expected the system to speak up at this point.
He couldn’t help asking in his mind, “System, are you certain about this? Will I really be able to break through with just half of the pond?”
The system said in a snappy voice, “Host, please do not doubt the system’s calculations.”
Lin Fan didn’t know what to say in response to this, but he already had his answer. After all, his system was something that he regarded as omnipotent, so he was already going to trust the system.
The only reason that he had asked was because he was just too surprised that the system would even speak up at this time.
But then he thought of something else.
Lin Fan asked in his mind, “System, what about the other pets? Will they be able to gain anything from this?”
The system gave a simple solution, “Just have the other pets stand on the side and absorb the spiritual energy that will be released during your breakthrough and pet “Hayase’s” evolution. As long as the other pets absorb this energy, they will also make breakthroughs.”
Lin Fan couldn’t help feeling excited after hearing this.
This was a golden opportunity!
As he gained more and more pets, he found it harder and harder to help them break through since there was only so much spiritual energy available and only so many beasts to kill.
With this opportunity, everyone in his party would become stronger!
But Lin Fan also couldn’t help feeling this was strange.
Normally the system wouldn’t give him information like this out of nowhere unless something prompted it. So why would the system suddenly give him information like this?
He couldn’t help thinking about the feeling that he had before…
It was almost as if the system had become more sentient after it had been upgraded, almost as if it was becoming more…human…
Lin Fan couldn’t help saying, “System, it really does seem like you’ve become much more eloquent haven’t you?”
The system just simply said, “Host, please do not place these false accusations on the system. You are just imagining things.”
Lin Fan couldn’t stop three black lines from appearing on his forehead when he heard this, but he also knew that it was no use talking to the system if it refused to talk to him.𝑜𝑣𝔩xt.𝗇𝓔t
So without any more hesitation, Lin Fan called out the rest of his pets.
All of them were surprised to be called out like this, but when they saw the pond, they all revealed bright glows in their eyes.
They could sense the dense spiritual energy that filled the pond and it was very enticing to them, but before they could dash forward, Lin Fan stopped them just like how he had stopped Hayase.
Lin Fan then explained what would be happening to them and while they had disappointed looks since they wouldn’t be able to directly drink the water, they knew that this was the best plan.
Because while Lin Fan had been explaining, they had tried testing the water with their spiritual senses and knew that if they tried drinking it, they would explode from too much spiritual energy. So the plan that Lin Fan laid out was indeed the best one for them.
After making sure that they understood, Lin Fan brought Hayase who he was still holding in his hand over to the edge of the water and said, “You can drink half of it and no more.”
Hayase was surprised by the sudden change in Lin Fan’s attitude. He couldn’t help looking up at Lin Fan and asking, “Why did you suddenly change your mind?”
Lin Fan said, “Half is enough for you, isn’t it? I can break through with the other half.”
Hayase looked back at the pond and then gave a nod in response.
Indeed, half would be enough for him to evolve. In fact, if he drank more than half, it would be likely that he would explode from excessive spiritual energy.
But that was something that only he should know since only he knew what a dragon’s biology was like. How did someone like Lin Fan know about this?
Hayase really couldn’t help looking at Lin Fan with a strange look.
He knew all kinds of different things and had all kinds of different abilities…Just who was this person?
Lin Fan saw that Hayase agreed so he said, “Alright, go and drink your half first. Then I’ll use the rest to break through.”
These words pulled Hayase out of his thoughts and he gave a nod before flying over to the pond.
He bent his head down and started drinking straight out of the pond. The first taste was filled with the flavour of spiritual energy that he couldn’t get enough of, so he began chugging after taking that first sip.
Hayase continued drinking more and more of the pond and as he drank, the water level of the pond visibly sank down more and more.
Hayase continued like this until he finally couldn’t drink anymore and he sat back on his butt before giving a burp while rubbing his full stomach. The way he acted almost made it look like he had just finished enjoying a high class meal instead of drinking the water filled with spiritual energy.
But after a moment’s pause, he suddenly released a powerful aura that continued to grow as he began evolving.
As he evolved, he also started releasing spiritual energy around him which the pets on the side quickly started absorbing as well.
Lin Fan saw that everything was going well, so he no longer thought about it and turned his head back to the pond. To his surprise, he found that Hayase didn’t actually drink half of the pond, but had left a little more than half which was around 60% of the pond water for him.
Lin Fan almost couldn’t help feeling touched when he saw this, but it was too bad that he didn’t know the truth.
It wasn’t that Hayase didn’t want to drink half and left a bit more for him, but rather Hayase couldn’t drink any more of the water.
What surprised Hayase was that the concentration of spiritual energy inside of the water had actually been much greater than he had thought. If he had actually tried drinking any more of it, it was certain that he would have exploded.
So it wasn’t that he was leaving more for Lin Fan, he just simply couldn’t drink any more!
Lin Fan walked into the center of the pool and just sat there cross legged, floating there on the surface of the pool.
Even though the water level had drained a bit, he still wasn’t able to see the bottom of the lake because of the milky substance inside of the pool.
But that didn’t matter to him right now. What mattered right now was breaking through.
Lin Fan lifted the Foundation Building Pill that was in his hand and after taking a deep breath, he threw it into his mouth and swallowed it whole.
At first there wasn’t a reaction from the pill, but then there was a strong sensation that came from deep inside him. It was a strange feeling that was almost like thirst, but instead of a thirst for water, it was a thirst for spiritual energy.
It was as if there was something that was deep inside of him that was draining away all the spiritual energy that was in his body.
If he didn’t get more spiritual energy, it felt like he would be completely drained of all his energy in a matter of seconds.
So without hesitation, Lin Fan started absorbing the water of the Clear Water Pond around him.
As the water was absorbed into him through his pores, he felt the thirst go away slightly, but it was still far from enough. So he absorbed the water around him even more, even dipping his head into the water and directly drinking the water to get more of it into his body.
But still, it wasn’t enough…
Just like this, Lin Fan continued to absorb more and more spiritual energy from both the water and the air, but at the same time, he released some of it back out when he couldn’t absorb it all which his pets absorbed.