Over the next few months, Silas and Thea traveled together, with Thea continuing to spar with the Spatial Lynx regularly.
Their bond grew as they shared stories of their pasts, their goals, and the challenges they faced. Silas found himself opening up to Thea more than he had expected, and in turn, she began to trust him more.
At the same time, Silas and Kai began to spar regularly, testing each other's abilities in friendly but fierce battles. Their bond as brothers deepened, each pushing the other to new heights. Kai's and Silas's raw power and control over their Daos made their matches thrilling and intense for Red, Thea, and the Spatial Lynx to watch. They learned from each other's strengths and weaknesses, forging an unspoken trust.
Thea, meanwhile, developed a strong respect for Silas, Kai, and Red, and the four of them often discussed strategies, techniques, and the various battles they'd encountered.
The camaraderie between them grew, and they began to become inseparable.
The Spatial Lynx, while a constant rival, became an unspoken ally of sorts, a source of challenge and growth for Thea. Their comprehension deepened with each encounter, preparing them for the trials ahead.
Thea, with the help of both Silas and Kai, who had each now reached minor completion in their respective Daos—with Silas reaching it in two lesser Daos and Kai in three—had made huge progress toward her comprehension of the Dao. She had long been taught about the Dao by her grandfather, but even though they were much younger, both Silas and Kai had a much greater grasp of the Dao, thanks to both their limited inherited memories and their lesser Daos that had reached minor completion, versus her grandfather's sole lesser Dao of Earth that had only been touched.
And the Spatial Lynx didn't need to be mentioned. Its innate talent allowed it to get in touch with the grand Dao of Space, so it was making progress at lightning speed toward its comprehension of a lesser Dao. It wouldn't be long before it finally touched one.
***
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!—"
Both Thea and the Spatial Lynx were going at it again for what seemed like the thousandth time.
Silas, Kai, and Red sat close by, watching the two battle.
"They're close," Kai made an observation.
"Yep, it's just a matter of who gets there first," Silas added.
"Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" As they said this, Thea suddenly gained an extra step of speed as her body and sword gained a light glow.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! I did it!" Thea yelled in joy. She had finally managed to touch the Dao after months of sparring with an equally strong enemy, on top of daily lessons about the Dao from both Silas and Kai.
"Dammit!" the Spatial Lynx roared. Once again, it had been beaten by a human in a breakthrough.
"Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!"
Thea began to easily dominate the fight, but this turned out to be the exact type of pressure the cat needed.
"Whoosh!" "Shing!—" The Spatial Lynx dodged her attack with a short teleport behind her and then slammed its claw down on Thea's back.
"Ha ha ha!" The Spatial Lynx laughed. It had finally done it. It had finally touched a lesser Dao in the extremely profound, complicated, and hard-to-master space path.
"I've done it!" the beast yelled as it gave up on the fight and began to teleport all around.
Thea, too, gave up on the fight and began to rush back and forth.
Silas then stood up with a smile and asked, "What Dao did you touch?"
"Silas! I did it, and it's all thanks to you and Kai!" Thea yelled as she dashed over and gave both him and Kai a huge hug.
Silas widened his eyes as she pressed her body against his for the first time.
After a moment, Thea let go and answered, "I believe I managed to touch the lesser Dao of Flash on the light path."
Then, as if to show it off, she infused a hint of Dao into her divine power, causing her body to glow slightly, and then she dashed forward.
"I'm much faster now, aren't I?" she asked with a smug look.
"Yes, you are," Silas said as he smiled back, looking at her and then down, winking at Kai, who just grinned back.
"What, you two want to race?" Thea saw the challenge on their faces.
"Of course," Silas and Kai both answered.
"Wait, don't forget about me," the Spatial Lynx said as it teleported beside them.
"And what Dao did you touch?" Thea asked.
"Hmph!" the cat harrumphed, "The lesser Dao of Spatial Folding on the space path… read it and weep." The cat said arrogantly, considering its lesser Dao greater than all of theirs, since it was a space path Dao. But little did it know that both Kai and Silas's lesser Daos were much more profound than its.
"Alright, let's go. First one to make it all the way around the lake wins…" Thea said as she took off before the others.
The rest of the group, excluding poor ole Red, took off.
***
"Ha ha ha! All bow down before me!" Kai said with a laugh after coming in first place by quite a margin, if the cheat-like Spatial Lynx wasn't considered. It had simply teleported 10 times and made it back to the starting point, easily blowing the rest out of the water.
"Dammit. How are you two so fast? I have a speed-type Dao while neither of you two do!" Thea complained. But how could she know that while they were all early Transcendent lifeforms, both Kai and Silas had the strength and speed of a strong late Transcendent body cultivator or even a weaker peak Transcendent body cultivator whose fiendgod technique was subpar? So, even with her speed-type Dao, she was a step slower than Silas, who was two steps slower than Kai, who had the ability to slip into the shadows with his lesser Dao of Shadow Movement.
***
After another month went by, with both Thea and the Spatial Lynx solidifying their Daos, it was time for the group to split up, with the Spatial Lynx staying where it was, and Silas, Kai, and Red going back to the Armstrong clan and Thea going back to the Redstone clan.
With all of them making huge leaps in their strength and getting to a natural stopping point in explosive growth, both Thea and Silas thought it was about time for them to go back to their respective clans.
Thea had spent a little more than a year on her journey, and Silas had spent nearly two years on his.
Silas was now two months away from 18, while Thea was a couple of months away from 22.
"Well, I guess I'll see you again before long," Silas said, knowing that his parents would insist on him not breaking his promise with the Redstone patriarch about going to spend time with Thea after returning from whatever it was he had to do.
"Yes, I guess I'll see you later," Thea said with a smile. She had grown to really like Silas, and while it hadn't quite reached the point of love, she was more open to marrying him. In this world, people usually got married out of necessity or for the benefit of their clan, so love wasn't something she had ever thought she would get out of a husband. So, the fact that she felt her feelings could possibly turn into love for Silas made her extremely happy.
They soon said their goodbyes and finally split off.