Yusa, then, focused on the Spiritual Energy Meridian for the next days. In the end, it was as Krune expected. Other races can also create them, as it was her first meridian, it didn't use too much spiritual energy, but the real test would come after it. Is it possible to use the Spiritual Energy Meridians with the regular meridians of a blood and flesh body? The answer was no, it can't. Yusa tried to use both. But once the Spiritual Energy Meridian started to work, it would occupy all connections to the dantian. In the end, her regular meridians would become just decorations.
"I think it is because the Spiritual Energy Meridians are much stronger than any meridian of your body. You can see that since a single meridian alone already does the job of several normal ones. But for that to happen, it needs all connections. For now, try to form the next Spiritual Energy Meridians. You are already at the Foundation Establishment, after all, and have enough spirit stones. Once you create four or five meridians, see if it is better than using all your normal opened meridians together."
Yusa nodded.
"After you finish that, we can check how good your control over the energies is. The Myriad Energies Technique should improve your control over the elements even more than before too. You should be able to see through flaws and be more perceptive to the elemental energies."
Yusa accepted that and started creating her next spiritual energies meridians. Although it would take some time, it should be very beneficial for her. Not to mention that she completed one of them, then the next ones would be easier to create.
---
Krune returned to his room and resumed his Divine Sense training. He was planning to try the last two tests to become a legacy disciple soon. With his control over the Divine Sense and his constant tempering of the soul with tribulation lightning, Krune's prowess could already be said to be at the top between the soul races.
He was looking at an anti-Divine Sense formation in front of him. The All-Encompassing Soul Technique was the Formation Penetration skill: the ability to see through formations that block the Divine Sense.
'If I get successful this time, I will try the legacy disciple tests.'
The skill worked by focusing on a single point of the formation and then pierce through it, like a needle. After going through the Divine Sense would spread again. The point where it pierced through would be the connection between Krune and what was inside.
Krune concentrated on his Divine Sense and gathered all in a corner of the formation. Before, all he could do was to expand and contract his divine sense. But, after months of training, he can now change the format of his Divine Sense, just like his spiritual energy. After enough has been gathered, Krune shot his Divine Sense forward, and it instantly passed through the formation. His Divine Sense soon expanded on the other side while keeping the link with him. Krune could now see what was behind the formation.
'Success! Although Hasik said that the formation isn't very high level, it is still not something that can be broken through without alarming others that easily. And the more proficiency I have, the more powerful this ability will become!'
The main use of this ability wasn't merely seeing what is behind the formation. It was to be able to see without causing any damage to the formation so as not to alert the people inside. That's the real use of the formation penetration skill.
Krune took a deep breath and left his room. He sent a message to Ao and Shinja that he was going to try the legacy disciple test. And he asked to not bother Yusa for now while she is creating the next Spiritual Energy Meridians.
In the Order Hall, Hase Hasik was looking at Krune. He seemed delighted with Krune's progress over the past 10-11 months. His improvement was going much smoother than Hasik expected.
"So, do you wish to try the legacy disciple test now? Are you sure about that?"
Krune nodded. He wouldn't come here without being confident enough.
"Very well! As you probably expected already, the next test is Divine Sense diverse uses, and the last one is Divine Sense combat. In the first test, you will be asked to complete a few tasks of the side uses of Divine Sense, like the Formation Penetration and Elements Changing View. You don't need to pay too much attention to this test because there were very few people specialized in side uses of the Divine Sense in the past. You only need an accomplishment rate of 30% or more to pass; otherwise, the biggest majority of the contestants in the past wouldn't even be able to reach the last test."
Krune understood that logic. It's just like the other side occupations like alchemist, formations, or blacksmith. In the end, there isn't a lot of people who work on them. After all, the majority has always walked the combat path only.
"Alright, I'm going to teleport you over, good luck!"
The surroundings around Krune changed for an instant. When he noticed, he was already in another room, the painting's room; surprisingly, it was the room of the first test to become an ordinary disciple. Before he could ask what is happening, the robotic-like voice of the test spoke again.
"Legacy Disciple first Miscellaneous Divine Sense test, Formation Penetration test, all paintings are completely covered by anti-Divine Sense formations. In the test, the contestant will need to pierce through the formation, find which image the painting is about, and know how many marks are hidden inside, as well. The pass condition is to be able to accurately tell the three paintings. Damaging the formations will give you a low accomplishment rate. Not damaging the formations will give you a high accomplishment rate."
Krune understood now.
'I see. This time there is no side without formations. The painting is completely locked.'
Krune also noticed that there were only three paintings this time. No reward was mentioned, but that was to be expected. This is the legacy disciple tests: becoming a legacy disciple and gain access to all the resources is the best reward that could be there.
'No wonder! Hasik said not to pay much attention to the miscellaneous tests. If I don't care for the accomplishment rate, I can simply pierce through the formations without any damage; maybe even destroying them completely and then checking what is inside. This would be several times easier than seeing what is inside without damaging the formation.'
Krune wasn't planning to go for a low rate, though, not to mention that he was very confident. He could see that this test had again adjusted to his cultivation level. After he broke through the 5th stage, his Divine Sense became even stronger!
Krune gathered his Divine Sense in a single point and pierced through the first painting. As soon as he touched the formation, he noticed one thing.
'So easy! The level of the formation in this painting is much lower than the ones I was practicing back in the training room. How come there wasn't any formation of this level back there?'
Although Krune was curious, he didn't waste time thinking about it; he swiftly called the number of hidden marks and which image it was.
"Correct."
And then, Krune moved to the next one, back in the Order Hal. Hasik was looking at that with a smile on his face.
'It seems like I did the right thing in changing the formation of the training room. At first, I was afraid Krune would give up because of the difficulty of piercing through the formations there. I told him that those formations are of low level, but that was a lie: they can't be considered top-notch, but they are definitely not weak either. In the end, he was still successful in piercing through in just a little less than a year. Compared with the formations in the legacy disciple test, those in the training rooms are several times harder to see through. This test will be a walk in the park for him.'
'Cough, cough, not to mention that if I had left the weaker tools and formations in the training rooms, he would have probably destroyed everything.'
Krune, of course, had no idea about that. He just felt awkward with how easy the test was going on; he pierced without damaging the last formation of the test and called out its contents.
"Correct!"
"Evaluation rate is high."
"Contestant can now move into the second test."
The teleportation formation behind Krune shined again, and he stepped inside. When he appeared on the other side, he could see a lake, the water inside had several colors, just like his hair and eyes. Krune immediately understood that this is the Elements Changing View test. Sure enough! The robotic-like voice spoke again:
"Legacy Disciple second Miscellaneous Divine Sense test, Elements Changing View."
"The contestant will have to accurately separate the same elements from the others with the help of his Divine Sense. To pass the test, the contestant will have to put in a single place at least 20% of each element to get a low rate accomplishment. For high rate accomplishment, the contestant will need to get at least 50% of each element in the lake with the same element. The time given is one hour. The test starts now."
Krune was very excited about this test. It remembered him the alchemy element synching of the pills before completion.
'I already have an idea about how it works. The sect made a small lake so that the contestants would be able to see the elements easier at the top. This way, even those without much talent in side uses of Divine Sense would still be able to pass this test. But for me, who can already see the elements in a medicinal liquid inside an alchemy cauldron, it is too easy to get 50%, letting alone 20%. Let's see how much I can get together.'
After using all the time available for him, Krune ended up with 73% of all in the lake separated. This was already much more than 50%. But Krune also understood that it wouldn't be this easy while concocting pills.
'At most, I will be able to sync 50% of the medicinal liquid. But this is already much more than what I was able in the past. This All-Encompassing Soul technique is really an excellent Divine Sense technique for side occupations.'
While Krune was thinking, the robotic voice appeared again.
"Test complete!"
"High rate accomplishment!"
"Contestant can move to the next test."
Once again, the teleportation formation shined, and Krune disappeared.
Just like that, Krune kept doing other side tests for miscellaneous Divine Sense uses. Their low-rate accomplishment was all easy to acquire, but Krune still got a high rate in everything. The problem was that he ended up destroying quite a few of the testing tools, much for Hasik's grief. Shinja and Ao could see the sadness on Hasik's face. After finishing the last test of Divine Sense Touch Perception, Krune was sent back to the Order Hall.
Ao and Shinja were looking at the tests and were happy to see that even though they couldn't score high, they would be able to pass with low rates. That was enough for them who didn't have a side occupation to start with. They also pretended that they didn't see Krune breaking anything, or Hasik might start crying right there and then.
Krune looked at Hasik and couldn't help but asked:
"Why were some of the tests much easier than the one I used in the training room? Some couldn't even be mentioned in the same line as the Formation Penetration test."
Hasik laughed out loudly.
"So did you notice, uh? That's right, the training rooms I provided to you had much harder training tools and formations than you would find in the tests. It's not that I'm pulling your leg; it's just that your Divine Sense and Soul Power are so powerful that normal items would be of no use for your improvement."
Krune pondered a bit and agreed it made sense. What he didn't know was that Hasik had other reasons as well. Hasik looked at Krune and couldn't help, but thought.
'Besides, if I had used the easier tools to train, you would have probably destroyed all of them. If I saw that happening, my sliver would have just disappeared. I can't allow this walking disaster to break everything here.'
Unaware of Hase Hasik's thoughts, Krune asked him when the last test would start.
"Up to you, as you already know, the last test is Divine Sense combat. You can use your spiritual energy for movement only. But any attack or defense has to be done through Divine Sense. Our opponents will be puppets at the same cultivation level as yours. They all have the Divine Sense spheres inside, which had been modified for combat, You can start anytime you think you are ready."
He then looked at Krune one last time and asked with an almost crying face:
"Just… try not to break them, okay? They are really, really hard to make."
Krune's mouth twitched.
"Do I look like some villain?"
Not only Hasik, Shinja, and Ao on his side also nodded and said:
"A very mean one at that."
"No consideration for the others' work at all."
Krune's ears got a little red, but he still pretended that he didn't hear or see anything and entered the last test.