The day passed with Myra transferring skill seeds to all her brethren.
In the meantime, after Li Qiu completely recovered his Aria while both Prakash and Enbi Arin were also done purifying their Aria.
"Are you ready" Questioned Li Qiu.
"I've been since ages ago" Retorted Prakash.
"Fine, then let's get this over with. One Nascent Soul coming right up" Li Qiu joked as he placed his hand above Prakash's head.
Unlike his previous fight with the pale golden egg, this time Li Qiu directly materialized 5 Spirit Flame Domes over the pale golden egg inside Prakash's mind. Li Qiu then created about 80 Spirit Spheres between the third and fourth Spirit Flame Dome.
"It's beginning" Exclaimed Li Qiu as he willed the first Spirit Flame Dome to send Spirit Flame Waves attacking over to the pale golden egg.
The battle eventually ended in a rather anti-climatic fashion with Prakash successively being able to form his Nascent Soul.
"Call me Angel Guru" Prakash retorted in joy.
"How does Spider Barbell Sound?" Mocked Li Qiu.
"How about 100% pure and intent free Medusa" Enbi Arin laughed with a mocking tone.
Prakash raised his hands up in defeat while he wore a crying expression on his face. The spider webs attached to him also waved in the air in a sad melody.
"Now don't be too much of a drama queen and take a bath while I prepare some dinner" Said Enbi Arin.
"I'm getting bored of roasted Alligator meat. I want something like a soup please" Requested Li Qiu.
"That was your own fault for eating too much of that stuff" Retorted Enbi Arin.
"Oh yeah, on another side note, it seems that your tip has been useful to Myra. She's been screaming around in joy over on the other side" Said Enbi Arin as she gave a thumbs up to Prakash.
After about an hour and a half had passed in preparation.
"Thanks for the meal" Said Prakash as he patted his bulging tummy.
"That was tasty" Complimented Li QIU.
Enbi Arin nodded with a faint smile on her face as she dragged Prakash with her to help with the dishes.
"Wait, I'm too full, at least give me some time for digestion" Complained Prakash as he was getting dragged to the kitchen.
"Hehe" Laughed Enbi Arin as she made Prakash stand before the sink "Now, you can digest all you want as you do your chores"
Li Qiu laughed at their antics as he walked to his bed and immediately fell asleep the next moment he lay on it. The day's activities had completely depleted his brain power.
15th November 2018
Li Qiu woke up feeling refreshed. He could feel the tremendous amount of power brimming inside him as he clenched his fists.
Li Qiu saw that Enbi Arin was still sleeping on her bed, so he silently got up and walked out.
Li Qiu saw Prakash swinging his usual barbell in a rather rigorous fashion.
"If you feel that it's too light, try a heavier one" Commented Li Qiu.
"This was the heaviest barbell that I could find here. But I'm only trying to get a proper form for my attacks and defense, not training. After my increase in strength, these weight lifting devices no longer feel as strenuous to me like before" Replied Prakash.
Prakash continued "And moreover, I could find a relation between our stats and some actual measuring units we use in our everyday lives"
"Ohh, tell me more about them" Said Li Qiu.
"It's like this; an increase in 10 might stats increases our base strength or force we can erupt with by one Newton. An increase in 10 Agility stats increases our base running speed by 1 metre per second and an increase in 10 toughness stats makes us capable of enduring an external force of one Newton. Not resist but endure. As for reaction, I'm unable to derive a relation to it, but the thing that I'm most puzzled is how each stats accurately correlate with our International System of Units (SI units) of measurement" Said Prakash.
"Well, the one who displayed us this information in the form of stats was the 'World Wide Web' and it was created and designed by humans according to our standards after all. The original values might be different, but the 'World Wide Web' converted the effects provided by the Aria for toughness, Might, etc from their physical units into stats we can recognize" Replied Li Qiu.
"Makes sense" Nodded Prakash in awe when he was reminded about something. "I almost forgot, Big Bro"
"What is it" Inquired Li Qiu.
"I could figure out the requirements to breakthrough into the Adept stage" Exclaimed Prakash.
"Good, tell me about all of them. I'll cross-check if they are the same as what I could figure out" Said Li Qiu.
"500 Aria, 5 Skills and 100% Purity in Aria Purity" Replied Prakash.
"It was the same for me" Nodded Li Qiu.
"So that post was true after all" Murmured Prakash.
"It doesn't matter. Let's focus on our own problems first" Retorted Li Qiu.
"I've fulfilled two requirements but" Complained Prakash.
"It's the skills right. I only have 3 skills, Enbi Arin said she had three while you have…." Replied Li Qiu.
"Just two…sigh" Said Prakash.
"Well, no point in rushing them. If you have any ideas as to how we can create and learn new skills, tell me" Said Li Qiu.
It was when Li Qiu and Prakash were discussing the ways about in which they could try to create some new skills, the door to their base was slammed open as Enbi Arin hurriedly ran out.
"Quick, come with me to the Ant Colony" Exclaimed Enbi Arin as she dragged both Li Qiu and Prakash by their collars with her as she ran towards the Ant nest.
"Fine, we'll come along, so stop dragging me" Prakash complained.
"Ohh, sorry about that" Enbi Arin apologized to them without a single shred of apology in her face as she kept running in a hurry.
Li Qiu and Prakash made eye-contact with each other, not comprehending her sense of urgency but still decided to follow behind Enbi Arin.
As the trio approached the entrance to the Ant nest, they heard various roars of monsters followed by the shrieks of the ants.
"Where the hell are you? Hurry up. We could no longer keep up" Myra bellowed to Enbi Arin through their mental link.
"We are at the entrance" Hurriedly replied Enbi Arin.
"I have sent an ant there to lead you guys to the designated place" Shouted Myra.
"Roger" Affirmed Enbi Arin.
The running trio immediately spotted the above-mentioned ant a couple dozen metres inside the tunnel leading from the entrance.
The ant after it spotted the trio hurried into their nest traversing through various crisscrossing paths.
"Quick. Follow that Ant" Enbi Arin shouted towards Li Qiu and Prakash.
"Sure" Both of them replied as they sped up in their pursuit.
Soon, within a couple of seconds, the trio entered into a thirty-metre wide chamber where they spotted Myra simultaneously fighting against 6 practitioner stage lizards.
All the other ants created a multi-layered barrier further behind the fighting Myra and the 6 lizards because that was the entrance to their brood chamber where the eggs were kept.
Out of the 6 practitioner stage lizards, two of them spat fireballs from their mouths, one spew fire like a flamethrower, one could infuse lighting in its claws, one whose entire body was coated with corrosive fluids and the final one who hadn't attacked with any innate abilities till now.
Myra had cleverly overlaid a barrier with adhesive properties on the floor successfully trapping the two fireball throwing lizards and the corrosive lizard.
On seeing the dangerous situation, Enbi Arin instantly started to fight with the lightning clawed lizard.
"Quick, kill that corrosive lizard. Its corrosive acids can easily melt all of our barriers" Exclaimed Myra in urgency.
"I'll take care of it, Prakash, just focus on keeping the two fireball lizards busy" Li Qiu shouted back.
The two fireball lizards instantly spat two huge fireballs, each 5 metres in diameters towards Li Qiu and Prakash.
Li Qiu and Prakash dodged sideways and barely avoided the fireballs with minor skin burns.
Prakash activated his innate ability 'Moving Nature' on his clothes and shoes as he instantly dashed towards the fireball lizards and smashed onto a fireball lizard's head with his barbell while activating his 'Refinement' skill on it.
Immediately, without a moment's pause, Prakash kicked onto the face of the other fireball lizard.
"Materialization" Meanwhile, Li Qiu activated his Thermal Flames and used his innate ability 'Materialization' to create a couple of Thermal Spheres, each with a diameter of 10 cm.
He then hurled them at the corrosive lizard.
"Roooaaar"
The corrosive lizard roared with pain as its skin rapidly burned due to the Thermal Flames unleashed by Li Qiu and in its rage released massive amounts of corrosive mist from its body.
As Li Qiu noticed that the corrosive mist melt a portion of the barrier Myra made the moment it was touched and kept on continuously expanding, Li Qiu grit his teeth as he materialized a Thermal Flame Dome to encase the entire area around the corrosive lizard.
Li Qiu grit his teeth as his forehead dripped with sweat due to the strain he had to currently experience as he has used almost half of his Aria to create that Thermal Flame Dome.
"Now, Attack" Li Qiu bellowed as he willed his Thermal Flame Dome to immediately unleash Thermal Flames Waves over the corrosive lizard.
The waves composed of his Thermal Flames collided with the corrosive lizard and started to burn its flesh.
The corrosive lizard swiped its claws on the Thermal Flame Dome trying to shatter it.
Each time a portion of the Dome was chipped off, Li Qiu materialized another batch of his Thermal Flames to repair that area.
The corrosive lizard repeatedly rammed over the Thermal Flame Dome to break through but its body burned even more intensely after each subsequent collision.
Due to the amount of strain Li Qiu was facing each time the corrosive lizard rammed into his shield, he felt traces of blood seep through and drip from his eyes.
"I would run out of Aria before it dies if I keep this up. I need to attack it with more penetrative power to quickly kill it" Murmured Li Qiu as he started to sprint towards the Thermal Flame Dome.
When Li Qiu was just 4 metres in front of the Thermal Flame Dome, he immediately jumped high into the air.
With the amount of power he had initially allotted to his legs before his leap, Li Qiu's jump reached as high as 15 metres, i.e. half as high as the tunnel ceiling.
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Note: 'Guru' is used to address a teacher in a respectful manner