Heading back up, Leroy was just in time as they finished fighting the Spiritual Artifact and gaining an increase in their Cultivations it looked like. Slight physical changes were not that noticeable on Chu Xue but Jasmine gave off a hint of calmness.
Jasmine had her own Artifact Weapon out, Ursa Gauntlets they were called. By the looks of a few brown hairs on the floor that matched the furs around the wrists, it went through a change and was now becoming white. Instead of looking mostly like a Brown Bear shagging type, it was now closer in appearance to a Polar Bear. A very odd-looking animalistic pair of gauntlets currently but would be so much more when finished.
"Why does he have the Trident?" Leroy asked them both but stared at Jasmine.
"While you were taking a dip in the water, we fought the spirit of the Ice Overlord Trident." Jasmine said lowly. She was slightly conflicted about what to do. She surmised Leroy maneuvered the weapon into her hand since she was a Beast Martial Artist but Chu Xue subdued it in the end. 'Can I really trust him though? He did set me up but he also was helping me refine the weapon for my sake. Chu Xue did interrupt the process...'
Confliction and paranoia wrestled wildly in her young mind.
"Well I found something while down there, but since you think I was just playing around.." Leroy shrugged at her slightly in disappointment. Not caring for her attitude he would have to work on maneuvering people better. But it was just not his forte' more of Rexford, Hector, and their friend Richard's methods really. "Guess I do not need to share what I found."
"Humph!" Jasmine pouted looking away. "Not like it could be any good!"
Oh how wrong she was in that statement. The Cold Qi released was an exact match for what the Trident produced. They called it Aptitude he knew it as Compatibility. Despite being a grade higher they were the same type and source of energy.
The only difference it that one was slightly watered down.
*Fwish!* Flame erupted around Leroy as he dried his clothes off. His control was good enough that he didn't burn anything or damage the others.
"Sorry, I couldn't jump in after you." Chu Xue said feeling a little bad. "Senior sister Victoria mentioned you fell in but.."
"Think nothing of it, you did enough anyway when you jumped into the refining process causing my injuries to worsen. I do not want your kind of help." Leroy moved to the exit. "Better to check on the others anyway. We have been gone a while." As he moved out, Jasmine ran up behind him. Chu Xue and Victoria stayed behind, not really talking but staring at each other. "What is it?"
"Did you know that would happen?" Jasmine walked at an even pace with him but kept her eyes forward. "You were too calm with what happened afterward."
"I explored the cave before you all did is all." Leroy decided to answer in another way. "I knew the Trident was most likely booby-trapped because of a journal that was in the library but was sure we could handle it. Which we did mind you. Until someone butted in."
"You could have told me." Jasmine said in almost a whisper. "Could have trusted me a little more."
"Oh, considering you are still trying to trust me on other matters it made sense to not say anything right now." Leroy made no apologies for his actions as she was not a friend and someone he was building trust with first. If he could, he would have done only a few things differently. "If you want me to trust you more, then take the Trident from Chu Xue."
It was a test to see her resolve and how strung an effect the boy had on her.
"No." Jasmine said adamantly. "He did take care of it in the end. Plus I received enough bonuses from it when fighting the Artifact Spirit within. I learned a new technique and my Qi has improved greatly." She did not mention it was his qi that did a part in the change. Which was something she wanted to ask about actually. "Leroy.. your fire was not originally blue was it?"
"You are correct, something happened that almost claimed my life when I first started cultivating a few months ago. That led to the change as far as I can tell." Leroy did not say more. He passed her a small piece of the Cold Qi Stone as a bribe. Literally the smallest piece. "Use this to help as you try to understand that technique you learned. I need to focus on cultivating and it does not look like I am getting a payment from you on the Artifact you gave away."
Stepping in front she noticed the intense look in the older Akademy students eyes. The same as before when he worked to subdue the weapon with her. It made her heart skip a beat as well as made her Qi circulate just a bit on its own.
"Fine.. be that way." Jasmine grasped it reluctantly from his hand. She wanted to talk more but she could tell he wasn't in the mood to. Watching him walk away she noticed he wobbled a bit. 'Great, I didn't even ask if you were ok earlier.' Realizing Leroy did use a good bit of his Qi to help her fight against the Cold she realized her mistake as well as the fact he was injured even more now like mentioned before. 'Both he and Chu Xue are so interesting that I am having so much fun despite what is going on. Speaking of Chu Xue..'
Looking back down the cave tunnel, she hoped the two weren't doing anything they shouldn't be. Victoria was after all betrothed to someone and way above Chu Xue's station.
Chu Xue and Victoria were looking at the pool of water that was nearby after talking a little. A good bit of it was gone. At least a foot decreased than before. Chalking it up to his Flamelighting Martial Artist Qi evaporating a good portion of it.
Victoria was not fully convinced as she touched the water and felt an immediate chill. If not for Chu Xue's Life Qi she would have had a really bad time getting away.
.
Camp Concerns-
.
Jasmine instructed the others to leave Leroy alone back at camp. Stating he was injured when they explored the cave making his condition worse than before. The other two made it back 10 after, realizing nothing else could be gained from the Cave besides death.
Just in time to see the group gathered and having a small meeting. Victoria backed up the statement about the danger deeper in the cave and was able to put her mind at ease that the dip in the water did affect him.
The students agreed that staying in the same place would be dangerous. The decision to try and find the other teachers and the remaining students was on most of their minds. Xiao Mei volunteered to watch over Leroy after hearing he was injured. After a talk with a very nosy Jasmine, she found out nothing untoward happens between the two.
Considering she could have screamed in the cave and that would have alerted most of them. Xiao Mei found it cute how interested she was in Leroy. Even going so far as teasing the Beast Princess about it.
Leaving in a huff with the others, Jasmine said nothing else. Xiao Mei moved to the cave where Leroy was at. Where Leroy happened to be almost embedded in the wall itself, she spotted a few Inscription Patterns etched in. She was surprised to spot someone else there standing guard.
*Flicker!* Flames at the ready she was good to fight if need be.
"He is with us." Leroy opened his eyes looking at her. In his hand were some Cold Stone Pieces and Frost Liquid from the hole. "Take this and cultivate it. Breakthrough as our current strength will not be enough for what's going on. You may be able to make it to the next two ranks within an unstable cultivation or one rank with a stable cultivation but that doesn't mean this won't help a little more to stay alive."
"Thank you!" Xiao Mei took it and sat down to cultivate. She kept an eye on the other masked cultivator, Tang Bo who on a closer look was watching her subtly. 'His eyes seem familiar but other than that, I have no idea who he is.'
"I am almost done Consolidating my Realm. The resources helped a lot." Tang Bo announced in a disguised voice. He felt more confident in himself and trusted Leroy more. So far he brought no harm to him and even helped him reach higher in cultivation. 'If I would have listen before, I would never have experienced what happened. But then I would never have grown a little as a person either.'
"That is good. Since I do not want to be left behind, I need to kick it up a bit myself." After cultivating since getting back and trading out a few bribes to the students' everything else would be used by himself now. 'Need to consume everything I have to get an edge and heal!'
Everything was generally that but he left himself one of each of the resources to study medically later. Not to mention the different Occupations to start a little to facilitate his growth and survival.
Circulating his cultivation over and over countless times via the different Manual and Technique Routes, small progress was made in each with a bid one in the Cultivation Realm itself. The gathered Cold Qi, the Cold Stone, Qi Stones, the Frost Liquid, the Qi from the corpses, and material were all used up finally. His Firelighting Dantian expanded under the influence while the cracks filled in. The quality of the qi there was higher than before despite the pain it caused him.
Leroy's veins throbbed from the intense energy. But it was not over. The Flame Vortex Core was forced to spin under his guidance. He needed to break through there as well to keep the backup ready if he failed to heal his Dantian fully.
*Woom!* The Flame Vortex expanded tremendously in all directions within. As if waiting for this chance with Tang Bo no longer close by causing restrictions due to Leroy's Qi Control level.
Leroy became aware that it was held back by his Dantian being damaged. The Flame Vortex Core was ready to go to the next level already but since the Dantian was damaged from the conflicting Life and Antilife Qi before it was just a problem that had to be fixed today.
Even though it had only been a few days the Test was a chance at growth but he erred in taking the plunge and going to the Monument first. However, through the damage to his Dantian, he learned a lot in how to fix it and repair internal damage such as this.
Leroy's understanding of Medicine increased. It felt like on the level of Fire and Lighting almost. But the feeling faded away as other insights on his techniques popped up.
'Hmm, so I can not neglect my Dantian damage in the future. The Flame Vortex just seems like an improver and fixer instead of being at the forefront.. or maybe something else is going on internally?' Leroy pondered the reason why and how could he understand the need to have that at a higher level always. 'If the Flame Vortex Core is at a higher cultivation realm it would make it impossible to hide it I would think during a breakthrough that causes changes in the weather. It was good I never pushed it more. My Dantian is constantly on the front end of things so I definitely need to keep cultivating it since it came with this body and all.'
*Woom! Woom! Woom! Woom!* The Flame Vortex Core increased inside by a large volume once more. Definitely by 4x at least. His Qi radiated in his body wildly diving into his flesh. Every nook and cranny was pushed. His bones changed just slightly in color but not by a lot. The muscles renewed with a small durability increase when the bones expelled lots of fresh enriched blood cells containing a metallic luster.