soon a large group of people exited the castle and walked toward a decked area at the back of the castle with a view over the lake, and a few moments later a cloudtrain arrived at Daniel's side, one of those used as storage that contained the 'dumpster diamonds' the pieces of technology to study or to use Tickles ability on
Daniel looked at the group of family and friends and said "which one do you want to see first?"
Alexander said "explain what you know about your ability first"
Daniel nodded and said "my ability creates a bright cyan puddle that has a few rules, first, to end up all in the same place we have to keep physical contact because from what I tested the exit it's not fixed, second, if I pass through it, it will implode sooner when I don't pass it stays open for 2 min and 22 seconds before closing anyway, well I tried only once without passing, but it stayed open that much, third every time I used it, it took 21 days to recharge but once it's charged a second drop doesn't appear"
Alexander said "alright for now it does seem like it shares most of the rules of a wormhole, apart from the color that its off and the time, now try it out"
Daniel threw the cyan drop, and like usual, it erupted toward him and after a couple of meters collapsed into a six to seven mt in diameter circular cyan puddle that was rippling like the surface of a lake when there are strong winds
everyone was in awe of it and started to look and analyze it seriously
soon Andrea said "there are no temporal fluctuations, only space attributed origin energy"
Daniel asked "origin energy? shouldn't it be elemental energy"
Sophia said "spiritual energy evolves in elemental energy and elemental energy evolves in origin energy at the eight-stage, that's why you can have an ability even if you can't absorb spiritual energy, the seal only blocks the spiritual and elemental energies so you can't cultivate but it doesn't block anything else"
Daniel said "I see, I did ask myself what kind of energy this used, thanks for the info"
Alexander finally said "it's a matter of practice, abilities become more powerful with higher cultivation and practice, right now it has limited origin energy so it opens a light version of the wormhole if Daniel ever becomes an eight-stage cultivator he should be able to open the real deal, but with the affliction, we don't need to worry about it"
Vincent said "it must be some kind of record in the list of irregular abilities"
Joseph said "that's for sure, my spiritual beast contract ability it's considered irregular, but it seems normal next to his"
Alexander said "only a crazy ability like Andrea's can compete"
Andrea said "I don't think so, my clones cant be compared to a wormhole"
Obelix said "when you think about how many they are, it kind of does, I instead have just some normal super strength like many others, I'm a giant for crying out loud, I don't need more physical strength"
everybody laughed at Obelix's antics, soon the time finished and the puddle closed on its own
Alexander said "overall, just sensing this light wormhole for a few minutes helped even me to have a better grasp over the spatial element, it would be really beneficial for the three of you to observe it whenever you can" he said looking at Vincent, Joseph, and Phoebe
some drops of perspiration started to appear on Joseph's and Phoebe's foreheads and Phoebe said with difficulty "I realized it"
Sophia and Vincent immediately understood what was happening and sprung into action, there was only one ascension platform in the specter mountain, so one of the two had to be taken somewhere else
while Sophia brought Phoebe outside to the ascension platform on Specter mountain, Vincent grabbed Joseph and teleported away
Daniel that had no idea of what was going on asked "what happened?"
Andrea said "they spent a long time suppressing their stage, with the comprehension they gained from studying attentively the light wormhole they instantly entered a breakthrough state, the eight-stage universal punishment it's coming"
Daniel couldn't help but be preoccupied, every time a cultivator broke through the risk they faced would be extreme, a single mistake and the both of them would die, and even worst he couldn't even be there for moral support since both of them were going through it at the same time
suddenly from Daniel two pure white Daniels came out, looking like ghosts, one followed Sophia out of the specter dimension while the other came in front of Alexander and asked "can you teleport me to grandpa Vincent"
while everyone was shocked Alexander's mental fortitude was just too strong, he nodded and with a wave of his hand sent the ghost Daniel to Vincent's side like it was the most natural thing
on the Specter mountain, 5 km away from the portal leading to Specter castle, a big round paved oval stage with intricate formations all over it and on the pillars that surrounded it was brimming with light while Phoebe at the center was concentrating
Sophia saw the ghost Daniel arrive but she had no time to worry about him, she just said "don't go over the pillars, they contain the phenomenon inside so that Verulus won't be damaged"
at the same time, the other ghost Daniel appeared at a similar oval structure next to Vicent, but in this one there were many other people around and Joseph was in the middle
Vincent like Sophia had no time to worry about Daniel and said "don't go over the pillars . . ."
the ghost Daniel nodded and said "I know grandma told the other me"
a few minutes later a gash opened in the sky above both platforms, and from it, a mess of elemental attacks came down, there were bolts of lightning, fireballs as big as a truck, winds that could cut a person, basically, every element came to the party and was attacking ruthlessly, the only one missing was the spatial element since it was already represented by Phoebe and Joseph
soon above Joseph's head, a peculiar and very big harp appeared to share his burden, this was his blood-bound treasure, a harp that was higher and wider than a person making one wonder how Joseph could play it
at the same time above Phoebe's head, a thick and rough simple chain appeared to help her, this was her blood-bound treasure a very long and very heavy chain, with every link seemingly made of a different metal
the two of them were both fighting for their lives and Daniel was very worried about them, as he expressed before, for him cultivating was no different than seeking death to reach immortality
sadly this time there was nothing Daniel could do about it, even this ghostly thing only allowed him to bear witness but he couldn't interfere in any way, their lives were in their hands
as time went by the attacks coming from the gash grew stronger and wilder, after a while the element's started to condense taking on animals forms and attack like wild beasts, it was like every other element apart from the spatial one was trying to kill them
after hours both Phoebe and Joseph were exhausted but their eyes were still bright and determined, the problem now was that every element was now condensed into a gigantic and scary-looking beast and these beasts were collaborating
both Sophia and Vincent whispered in low voices "the last assault" but Daniel could hear it clearly, he soon understood that this was it, if they survived they won, so he did the only thing he could do, cheer them on
the synchronized ascension was going along well, but this was the most difficult part, after resisting the constant bombardment they were tired, but at the same time the beasts were in their strongest form
Phoebe took the moment before the last attack to concentrate and saw Daniel next to Sophia cheering for her, this made her feel warm inside and strengthened her resolve, soon a storm of spatial element blades was churning around her stronger than ever
Joseph was in a much worst situation, he was an expert but he didn't train his mentality for hard moments like Phoebe, and he also had a much bigger audience, a lot of his fans were looking at him with tears in their eyes but at this moment he really couldn't think about them
Joseph soon found Vincent and saw a ghostly Daniel next to him cheering for him, just like Phoebe, the warm feelings strengthened his resolve helping him concentrate and powerful flickering bolts of lightning made of spatial elements started to intensely play around him
at this moment the various elements in beast forms threw themself at them exploding on impact like powerful and colorful bombs
Daniel felt his heart skip a bit but at the same time was in awe by the beauty and violence of this scene, so much that for a moment he forgot to breathe
that was when the light started to disappear, at the center of the oval stage Phoebe was still standing unwavering, wanting to show Daniel who came here to cheer for her, how cool she was, that's when from the gash a stream of pure origin energy descended on her making her look even cooler
at the same time on the other oval stage, everyone could see Joseph sitting on the ground wounded but with a big smile on his face, many people were taking pictures of this beautiful smile to put it as a screensaver and that's when the pure origin energy started to descend on him, giving the sunny smile a holy-ish look that soon later would be shared billions of times between his fans online
Sophia and Vincent could finally take a long breath of relief, even the clueless Daniel realized that both of them were ok and relaxed letting go of the anxious feeling he had
the moment Daniel relaxed the two ghostly daniels started to dissipate and faster than two flashes of lighting flew toward the original Daniel sinking back inside the body, as the one who was with Joseph finally arrived and sank back in, the original Daniel who seemed to have been sleeping peacefully finally woke up
Andrea was the only soul cultivator present so the shock for her was the strongest and she soon asked "how did you do it?"
Daniel thought about it, but he himself had no idea, he wished to be in two places at once and the two ghosts daniel came out, but it happened so naturally that even thinking back he really had no clues, so he could only say "I don't know"
Alexander who had steel-like mental fortitude said "wasn't that just a soul clone technique, one of those basic things that can be used to scout but can't touch anything?"
Andrea responded "that was no technique he took a piece of his soul tore it in half and sent them in his place, this makes no sense, just the pain would be enough to kill"
Daniel still clueless could only shrug and say "I felt no pain at all" leaving this just as another mysterious episode