AN: This is the bonus chapter as promised. As an appreciation, I would like to know your thoughts on this chapter.
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Hugging the blue slime to his body, Arlo slowly rose to his feet. Long glistening golden hair even longer than Arianne's beautiful blend of white and red hair, fell down his back.
Arlo was completely naked at this point, but thankfully Anita had expertly controlled some branches around the mountain to cover his nether region, something she constantly had to maintain due to the destructive power of the Aether energy.
There was pin-drop silence as the eyes of Arianne, Ella and the others slowly widened, however, Arlo ignored their reactions and instead studied the changes in his body.
The most noticeable change would be his eyes. Even though he could not see how his eyes had visibly changed, Arlo was sure it had as his vision was completely different.
Not only did he now have a 360° vision, but he could also zoom into things with a thought. He could see the slightest difference between every greenery around him. The amount of information constantly pouring into his head would cause the brain of an ordinary person to explode. However, Arlo could handle this change before his breakthrough not to mention now that his spiritual energy had been strengthened by at least a hundred times after merging with Seraphina.
Shifting his eyes to his team who were still gazing at him dumbly, Arlo noticed the bluish energy passively being absorbed by a small ball at their lower abdomens, before a small amount is circulated through their bodies.
His eyes lit up as he had an idea of what was going on, but he still had to confirm it.
Sure enough, when Arlo looked at himself, he saw pure white energy coursing through his veins in contrast to the others.
'Is this mana and Ki?'
Arlo concentrated his eyes on his surroundings, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't visibly see any energy flowing in the atmosphere.
'Seems I can only see the energy coursing through a body, or rather a living thing!'
After some thought, Arlo decided to name his new eyes.
'I will call them Dragon eyes!'
Old Bro was left speechless by Arlo's naming sense. But what he didn't know was that Arlo wasn't particularly excited about his new eyes, as he now had many power-ups that his new eyes simply couldn't compare to.
Of course, he still appreciated them and wasn't looking down at them in the least.
'But what is this?'
Arlo's attention soon moved to a more pressing matter. He could feel that he had acquired a new sense, a sixth sense. And whenever he looked at his team members, he could feel this new sense tingling, although the intensity differed every time he focused on a different person.
'Is this like a danger sense?'
Arlo was surprised to see his new sense warning him that three among the few people before him posed a great threat to him. After all, to him what he just experienced wasn't a cultivation session but a complete transformation, a metamorphosis to say. He felt so strong to the point that he thought he could destroy the world if he ever wished to. In fact, he was one hundred percent certain that he was unrivaled in the preliminary stages of cultivation. This wasn't arrogance but simply confidence. As for whether he could contend against a red-core mage, he wasn't so sure as he was yet to truly see the power of one.
Yet, now that he was stronger than ever, three of his team were still able to keep up with him. Rather than feeling displeased or angry, what Arlo felt was happiness and genuine pride in his newfound friends.
Yes, he who had never had a real friend two months ago now had seven standing before him.
Two of the people who could threaten his life were Arianne and Ella. And after noticing that their cultivation had reached the peak of the master realm, and the great enhancement to their bloodline that now affected their appearance, he understood why his new senses were warning him about them. After all, they were an entire great realm higher than him in cultivation, not to mention that they were god-tier talents who could jump a great realm to fight.
However, the last person was what truly surprised Arlo.
'Joe?' Arlo almost couldn't identify his best friend.
Ever since entering this world, except for Old Bro, the first real companion Arlo had wasn't Arianne nor his first summon Anita, instead it was the dark-haired young boy before him.
To him, whether Joe was a coward or a burden, he would forever remain his best friend. Besides, Arlo could tell from their very first encounter that Joe was special, almost as special as the little princess of the werewolves' race. Now that he saw that his friend seemed to have broken out of his previous shell, and had transformed from a caterpillar into a butterfly, Arlo felt so happy to the point of wanting to throw a party.
But that would have to wait.
Something was coming for him. Something that his new sense told him didn't pose a great danger like Arianne, Ella, and Joe did, but a fatal danger to his life.
Arlo silently noticed Joe's cultivation that had risen to the same level as Arianne's, and he could tell that he was the one with the greatest gains in the last mind trial among their team.
Arlo focused his attention on one more person, and as he felt his senses warn him of a mid-level threat, a strange light flashed within his eyes.
Kai's eyes which seemed to be studying him even as he held his katana tightly with his left hand made Arlo feel strange. It was almost as if an invisible energy was cutting at his eyes, forcing him to look away.
'So he is currently the one with the highest cultivation among the team.'
After consuming two fruits, the battle-crazed sword maniac was now an early-level grandmaster mage.
<< That boy truly is something. It is a shame that he is only a supreme-level genius, if not he wouldn't fall short of the werewolves and vampire princesses. >>
Arlo shook his head and ignored Old Bro's rambling. He had more important things to do, as he felt that fatal danger quickly closing in on him.
While all these events from the moment Arlo woke up seemed to have taken a long time, the truth was that barely thirty breaths had passed.
It just seemed so long because of Arlo's fast thinking, which was now further strengthened by his enormous pool of spiritual energy.
'First of all, I need to name this new sixth sense of mine.'
After a split second of thinking, Arlo settled on a name.
'Let's call it dragon sense.'
<< This...I am glad to see that you have the same terrible naming sense as your father. >>
Arlo wisely ignored the artifact spirit words. To him, the name of a technique wasn't what was important, but the power it held.
Seeing that even after a full minute, his team was still looking at him with stunned looks, Arlo chuckled inwardly.
It wasn't that he couldn't understand them as his outward appearance had simply experienced great changes.
His hair was now longer than Arianne who had the longest one in the group, he was now taller than even Joe who grew in height after his bloodline awakening as he was standing at 1.7m tall, just a few shy of the tallest, Arianne. Not to mention the two small bumps on his forehead.
Caressing the right horn on his head, Arlo couldn't help but think, 'Am I still a human?'
But a brief moment later, he threw such thoughts to the back of his mind. He would welcome any changes that would make him stronger and able to protect his loved ones at any time.
'These dragon horns seem to improve my affinity with mana and Ki.'
But since he had yet to awaken his mana core, only his sensitivity to Ki was strengthened.
Deciding to try it out, Arlo willed out a small part of the Ki in his body, and after a mere thought, it formed a white hair band on his outstretched palm.
"Great!" he couldn't help but shout out in excitement, but his eyes soon widened in surprise as he felt the small bumps on his head instantly absorb the Ki in his surroundings and before he knew it, the little Ki he lost was replenished.
'What!?'
'Seems like there is more to these dragon horns.'
After a few moments of playing around with his new ability to shape Ki to his will, Arlo made another hair band and tied his long hair into a bun, only allowing a few strands to fall down the sides of his face.
"When do you plan on covering yourself? Or are you planning to corrupt these little girls?" Joe was the first to break the silence.
Arlo rolled his eyes, but when he saw the slight blush on not only Arianne's face but even Tina's, Rose's, and Ella's, he quickly made a new robe from his Ki.
The robe covering him was pure white and had several designs of Western dragon patterns lining it.
"Cool..." Rose praised sincerely, causing a warm smile to lit Arlo's face. Rose was the only one among their team to not have changed, after all, she had insisted on watching Arlo till the end.
But the duo didn't notice the cold glint that flashed within Arianne's eyes as she watched their exchange.
'Huh-oh! I smell some jealousy.' Joe inwardly remarked.
Just as the team wanted to share their experiences, the secret realm shook greatly. The sky rumbled and the earth quaked.
Every living being within the secret realm looked up with terror-stricken expressions. All but one!
'It is finally here!' Arlo thought as he felt the danger his dragon sense had been warning him about finally appeared.
His new dragon eyes zoomed in on the blue lightning that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and covered the entire colorful sky.
The realm rumbled as the blue arcs covering the whole sky coiled around themselves like live snakes.
Closing his eyes, Arlo received several pieces of information from his two new summons who had yet to appear, because of his will. A moment later, he looked down at the unconscious Anita who was still resting in his embrace. After undergoing such a great transformation, it was only normal that his summons would also experience a great power-up, but Anita had suppressed the process just to watch over him. And even now that she was undergoing her changes, she still refused to leave his side and return to the seal.
Respecting her decision, Arlo raised her before gently placing her on his head.
Looking up, the sides of his mouth rose slightly to form a smile as an excited light flashed within his eyes.
His new summons didn't disappoint him in the least. Their powers were so heaven-defying that he had trouble figuring out just who was the greatest among the two and Anita.
'No, Anita is my partner!' Arlo berated himself inwardly.
As if feeling his thoughts, the unconscious blue slime atop his head trembled slightly before going still.
'I don't plan on revealing my summons powers yet!' Arlo thought as he looked at the blue lightning congregating above his head, causing the faces of his team to go pale.
It wasn't that he was being arrogant, he was just that strong now. Besides, his dragon senses were warning him of some figures below him that could pose a fatal threat to him, so he didn't plan on showing all his cards, at least not yet.
But even without using his three summons powers, Arlo currently had a lot of moves in his arsenal.
His currently strengthened body was comparable to an eight-star warrior, not to mention his unknown physique that could raise his bodily strength by another level!
His dragon bloodline resting docilely within his body, waiting to be awakened to reveal its terrifying power to the world!
And most importantly, his laws, Aether!
Arlo truly understood why the universe couldn't tolerate his presence as he himself was feeling scared about his powers. Ever since he partially broke through at Tibu's castle, he had been having this strange feeling that what was happening to him wasn't normal. For freak's sake, while an average warrior had one summon, he had nine. Nine!
However, just like before, Arlo couldn't dwell on that thought for long as it seemed the heavens couldn't wait to erase his existence.
The blue lightning that covered the entire sky above the four zones of the secret realm and was congregating above his head suddenly fell in a torrent of lightning covering at least a kilometer wide.
*Rumble!*
The whole world was lit up in a blue light, revealing the horrified faces of all those occupying it.
Suddenly, a small figure rose into the sky to meet the pillar of lightning head-on.
Before Arianne and the others could react, Arlo stomped on the floating mountain lightly, causing him to lunge upward at a difficult-to-follow speed.
*Ah!* Releasing a battle cry, Arlo gathered all the Ki in his body to his right hand, causing it to be covered in a vibrant white light, before throwing a punch at the torrent of lightning without holding back any of his strength.
However, his eyes suddenly lit up, as an idea popped up in his head. Without any hesitation, Arlo released massive waves of spiritual energy, and before the power from his punch could be released, he controlled his spiritual energy to limit the range of the shockwaves that would be generated by his fist.
The sight of a kilometer-wide torrent of blue lightning colliding with a small figure a thousand times smaller than it sent massive waves of shock through the minds of all those in the secret realm.
There was a brief moment of silence when Arlo's fist came into contact with the pillar of lightning but soon after, from their point of contact, a beam of compressed air suddenly spread out, pulverizing all the lightning in its path.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
A huge sound of explosion caused the ears of all those watching the scene to ring loudly, but no one seemed to care as their eyes widened in horror at the sight of the beam of compressed air comparable to a Dragon's breath destroying the torrent of lightning before blasting a wide hole several hundreds of meters wide in the sky previously covered in blue arcs.
Arlo's body slowly fell in response to gravity but with a single word powered by the bluish energy congregating at his neck, his body came to a stop.
"Float!" Arlo used Ruler's Authority on himself and immediately after, the Ki in the atmosphere surrounded him, breaking the hold of gravity on him completely.
Arlo's white robe covered in dragon patterns flapped wildly as he floated in the sky.
Looking at that small figure who dared to face heavenly punishment without fear, and was even able to destroy the lightning tribulation with a single fist, all those present in the realm, be it a human, elf, Asura, magical beast, or spiritual beast couldn't help but share the same thought.
'How magnificent!'
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AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel. I hope we can keep it up, <3.