Closing his eyes, Athan tried to make his consciousness enter the Mystic Realm and he succeeded, It's been some time since he entered here.
His black dragon suit, black whirlpool, and the white energy with gold hue in it are also there, He had noticed that every time He and Tiana have intercourse, the black whirlpool absorbs something and then gives out this energy but he still doesn't know the use this energy.
Anyway, The reason he entered here was to see if he could comprehend Higher Level Earth intent, Thus his consciousness arrived at the black whirlpool.
He didn't just stop at the perimeter and went to the deepest part where he hit the wall or door, He just feels that there is something behind the wall that's why he thinks that it is more like a door and not a wall.
And the reason he arrived here to comprehend Intent was that when he was comprehending the Earth Intent Plate, He had felt the black whirlpool releasing something and that something was later absorbed by the Earth Crystal.
After the Earth Crystal absorbed that something released by the black whirlpool, He suddenly comprehended the Elementary Level of Earth Intent.
It felt absurd to him but he was certain that the black whirlpool really gave him something without absorbing anything beforehand.
' So if I try to comprehend the Earth Intent here, I might be able to raise the level of my Earth intent to Intermediate level ( Median Level ). Anyway, it doesn't hurt to try.'
After preparing, He cleared everything inside his mind and started comprehending and understanding the Earth Element in his way.
' Earth, It is solid and stable, tough and stubborn, The element of endurance....'
...
...
He entered into a deep state as he started comprehending the Earth Element in his own way and due to this, He didn't notice the black whirlpool slowly releasing yellow-colored sparks, The sparks traveled into his Energy Realm and entered inside his Earth Crystal which unknowingly caused him to enter into an even deeper state and his understanding and comprehension of Earth Intent kept increasing.
Athan, who could not track the time while in a deep state of comprehending didn't know that an hour had already passed.
...
Laksel glanced at Athan who had his eyes closed for an hour already, and spoke hesitatingly, " It's...been an hour already, Should we wake up him? "
" No!! "
A firm word came out from Tiana's mouth.
Risa had an annoyed face as she spoke, " Then should we wait until he wakes up? How long that will take anyway? He seems to have entered deep meditation. "
Tiana snorted and spoke, " Yes, we will wait until he wakes up, Entering deep meditation means he has grasped something and he will likely be able to comprehend the next level of Earth Intent, If we want more points then it's better to wait. "
Laksel shook his head and spoke with a wry smile, " It's not that easy, If we don't hunt any Ants every 8 hours, then an Ant will be summoned at our location, and the summoned Ant will be a bit more powerful, that's why we have to go find Ants ourselves. "
After Laksel finished speaking, Risa declared, " We will wait for 5 hours, If he still doesn't wake up by the time then we will have to forcefully wake up him. "
Laksel nodded, " I'm guessing that he also must have forgotten about the flow of time, So it's also in his and all of our interest to wake him up after 5 hours. "
...
...
" After an hour, We will have to forcefully wake him up. " Risa spoke after they passed 4 hours mark.
Tiana glanced at Risa, " You don't have to say this every hour. "
" I'm just keeping the track of ti--" Risa's voice was cut off as she noticed Athan opening his eyes.
Laksel also noticed and asked with anticipation, " So? did you comprehend Intermediate Level of Earth Intent? "
Athan smiled faintly and said, " I did...not. "
Risa looked annoyingly at Athan, " Then why are you smiling like that? "
" Because...I didn't just comprehend the Intermediate Level of Earth Intent. "
Tiana looked at Athan and asked in an exciting tone, " You mean you comprehend Advance Level of Earth Intent? "
But as soon as she finished speaking, Laksel shook his head with disbelief, " It's impossible to comprehend Advance Level Earth Intent without being baptized by the Origin. "
" I will not keep you in suspense, I did comprehend Intermediate Earth intent but on top of that, I also comprehended Intermediate Fire Intent and Intermediate Air Intent. "
" How is that possible? " Laksel and Risa were so shocked hearing what they had just heard that their jaws fell to the ground.
Clearing his throat, Athan spoke with a grin, " That's not all. I believe I can comprehend Wood, Lightning, and Water Intents too and it's all because of the fruits I ate..." pausing here for a second he looked at Risa and Laksel before asking, " Do you happen to know what kind of fruits did I eat? they are certainly mystical to have such powerful effects. "
After regaining their bearings, Laksel asked, " Describe the fruits and the tree to us..."
Nodding his head Athan spoke, " All these fruits came from one tree, The tree was 100 meters tall, The tree had a total of six fruits. And as I already told you, The fruits had the same pattern on them as I saw in Intent plates, but the fruits were very big and patterns were more...."
Halfway through when Athan was describing the tree and fruits, Tiana was startled because it was obviously not the case, The tree was 3 meters tall and the fruits were only palm-sized, But she understood the reason soon after thinking about it.
Both Laksel and Risa fell into deep thought after hearing the description of the tree and fruits from Athan.
Athan did not lie but he didn't speak the truth too, Those fruits were obviously capable of increasing the comprehension of Intent though the effect was minimal, But what if there was a bigger version of that tree? What if the tree and the fruits were bigger? If the fruits were bigger, Then it would have more patterns and more pattern means more effect on comprehension towards the elements.
After some time, Laksel and Risa looked at each other and nodded at the same time, seemingly to have reached the same conclusion.
Laksel then looked at Athan and spoke, " It's Corpse Element Tree, Did the tree turn to ash after you picked up all the fruits?
Without a change in his expression, he nodded towards Laksel while he thought in his head ' Although that was not the case. '
Seeing Athan nodding, Risa's lips turned upward into disgust as she spoke, " Then it's corpse Element Tree. For it to reach the height of 100 meters, The expert must be at Peak of Origin Intent Plane. "
Athan was confused and asked, " What do you mean by that? "
Laksel took a deep breath and said, " The method of growing corpse element tree is very sinister. it is basically like this, You feed a bunch of energy fruits and Plants to a powerhouse of any level you can control, and by controlling them with a method which even I don't know, you will not let him digest those things but let them mix and grow inside him, then after burying him alive, his body along with all his cultivation will become nutritions and become a tree. "
Hearing their words, Both Athan and Tiana were shocked.
" But that method was banned by Cluster Union which consists of Top Organizations a long while ago. "
" This..." Athan and Tiana looked at each other hearing about it.
Seeing their troubled expression Laksel spoke, " You don't have to worry about it, We are not so bored to tell others what you said just now, and you found that tree by chance, so nothing will happen even if they investigate, it needs at least 100 years or more for the tree to grow to that size, and you were not even born at that time, So don't worry. "
He then smiled and continued, " But with your help, we might be able to reach the top 500 or 100 in rankings in this round of Energy Plane examination. "
" Let's go smash some Ants. "
The squad then returned to the place where they found the previous Ant.
[A3. Ant]
CP: 410
Attack: 200
Defense: 140
Speed: 80
This time, Laksel went first to attract the Ant's attention and defend its attack but before the Ant could attack him, Athan had already whipped out his < Drilling Lance > that was boosted by Intermediated Fire, Earth, and Air Element which blasted open the Ant's defense and Tiana's Lightning Infernal spell destroyed the Ant's body from inside.
[ Laksel: 0.15, Risa: 0.15, Athan: 0.40, Tiana: 0.30 ]
Tiana only dealt final blows but the more power Ants gets, Her final attacks which kill Ants also garners more points.
[Squad]
Athan: 2.59
Tiana: 2.17
Risa: 1.91
Laksel: 2.33
The squad then continued to find Ants discreetly using Risa's method and with the same strategy, They defeat 11 Ants.
The last battle was tough as Athan, Tiana and Risa nearly died because the Ant used a Long-range attack after it was hit by Athan and Tiana's spells which was also the moment when their guard was down.
But fortunately, Risa used a new Spell,
Now they were recovering Their energies and recuperating their injuries.
" Let me heal, I also have Light Element and comprehended Light Intent. "
Surprised, Everyone looked at Risa.
She then healed Athan, Tiana, and Laksel's injuries.
After the squad recovered their energies and healed their injuries, they once again set off to hunt Ants.
Soon they encountered one.
[GS6. Ant]
CP: 750
Attack: 180
Defense: 170
Speed: 400
Looking at this Ant's stats, The squad fell silent.
" This is a whole 150 increase in CP than the last Ant we killed, what the hell is with that speed, It's too unbalanced. " Athan couldn't help but mutter seeing the Ant's stats.
Sighing, Laksel spoke, " Let's just try...I am going out towards the left side, You guys better be fast. " Saying this, He dashed out from Risa's spell.
The Ant noticed him instantly and then slim wings unfolded from its back causing a loud buzzing sound to appear, Its wings flapping in supersonic speed.
*Buzzz....*
And then....Ant disappeared before it directly arrived in front of Laksel and killed him with its jaws.
All of this happened in 1 and a half seconds, From the moment Laksel left the squad and when he barely ran 2 meters, The Ant appeared in front of him and killed him.
After killing him, The Ant looked in the front where Athan and others were standing.
" Sh!t "
...
[ Congratulations, You have finished the first round. ]
After that, All of them arrived in a vast land with patches of grass all around them, with no buildings on-site, But there were a lot of people around them who had likely finished...or rather died before them.
After arriving there, They saw a display appearing in front of them.
[ The reward points according to performance. Risa: 5 points, Athan: 4 points, Tiana: 4 points, Laksel: 4 points. ]
[Final points.]
Athan: 9.32
Tiana: 8.89
Risa: 9.71
Laksel: 9.08
None of them were surprised that Risa got 5 points in the final assessment because First, Her Mist Spells which they used to travel around while being hidden and her healing spells were very useful in their journey.
After that display, Four separate display appeared in front of them.
[ Since you have finished the first round, You can choose to transport to Elemental Gallery and choose your reward. ]