Chapter 326 - Gold Stage Spell
Time passed by quickly.
Before anyone even noticed, three entire days had passed by.
During that time, the cave had practically become their temporary home.
Most of the group spent nearly every waking hour inside the Mana Lake, only leaving to eat, sleep, or recover.
Only Theo often found himself outside.
And the results were finally starting to show themselves.
’That’s it,’ he thought, nodding once.
Slowly raising his head, he found his hair standing completely upright. Countless tiny yellow sparkles jumped between each strand.
Around him, however, everything seemed almost... normal.
Dark clouds stretched several hundred yards across the sky above him, covering the entire area.
But if it wasn’t for the faint yellow glow extending from them, one truly wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from the normal air.
Theo slowly raised his hand.
’Now for the interesting part.’
His gaze settled on a huge boulder in the distance.
Instead of calling upon the clouds above, he focused on the empty air directly beside it.
ZZZZT!
Countless miniature lightning arcs flowed to the spot.
Within a split second, a large thunderbolt shot forward through the air.
BOOM!
The boulder disintegrated instantly.
A large smile grew on Theo’s face.
’It worked!’
He immediately turned around.
Three large lightning beams instantly formed around him.
One shot down from the sky, while the other two came from different sides.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Theo’s smile only grew wider and wider.
’Divine Lightning Domain,’ he thought. ’The Gold Core stage of the Divine Thunder Storm manual.’
He paused for a moment, glancing around once more.
’It truly is amazing.’
And Theo hadn’t even seen all its uses!
According to the manual, anyone caught inside the domain would constantly be affected by the miniature lightning arcs surrounding them.
For weaker opponents, that alone could completely paralyze their bodies.
Even stronger opponents wouldn’t be unaffected.
Their muscles would gradually grow numb, their reactions would slow, and the more they exerted themselves, the stronger the effect became.
’That alone was already ridiculous enough,’ he thought. ’But once it’s combined with everything else...’
A satisfied sigh left Theo’s mouth.
The faint golden glow gradually vanished from the area.
ZZZT!
The tiny sparks running through his hair vanished as well, causing it to fall back down.
Within seconds, everything had returned to normal.
Theo stretched his arms above his head, letting out a long yawn.
’’That should do it for today,’’ he muttered.
His gaze shifted back into the distance.
It’d already been several hours since he’d left the cave.
’’I wonder how everyone’s doing. Weren’t Owen and Lucienne planning to break through today?’’
With that in mind, Theo began making his way back.
As he walked, his mind ran over the experiences from the past few days.
’Now that my lightning element is up to date, it’s time I move on to the other elements.’
He paused for a moment, glancing up.
’Alas, with however much time we still have left then.’
A slightly uneasy feeling went through his stomach for a moment.
They hadn’t been teleported yet.
But Theo was damn sure it’d happen again sometime soon.
’Hopefully, it’ll wait until at least Lucienne and Owen have broken through...’
Swallowing once, Theo quickened his pace slightly.
It didn’t take long before the familiar cave entrance appeared in the distance.
After another minute, he entered the passage once more.
But before Theo could even reach the lake, Owen suddenly walked around the corner.
Behind him were Lyra, Lucienne, Isabelle, Jim and Iris.
’’Would you look at that?’’ Owen grinned. ’’You came back at the perfect time!’’
Theo’s gaze immediately flickered between them.
He clearly understood what was happening.
’’You’re ready to break through?’’
’’Yep,’’ Owen replied, patting his stomach. ’’Core’s completely full. Any more and I feel like the damn thing might explode.’’
Lucienne nodded beside him.
’’Mine as well,’’ she said casually.
Theo’s eyes lit up.
’’Oh, both of you,’’ he said. ’’That’s amazing.’’
Owen nodded enthusiastically, soaking up as much praise as he could.
Then Theo finally glanced at the others behind them.
’’Why are all of you coming?’’ he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Jim looked at him as if he’d asked something ridiculous.
’’Obviously we’re watching,’’ he replied. ’’We’ve been doing nothing but cultivating for three days! You know how boring that is?’’
Theo remained silent for a moment.
Memories of Owen’s previous breakthrough flashed through his mind.
A weak smile immediately appeared on his face.
’’Yeah... maybe that’s not such a good idea,’’ he said, scratching the back of his head. ’’His breakthroughs are kind of different... like mine.’’
Owen’s expression darkened slightly.
’’Come on,’’ he started. ’’It wasn’t that bad!’’
Theo glanced at him with a deadpan expression.
’’Both Adrian and Elise were needed to contain you,’’ he replied simply. ’’You think we’d stand a chance if you go berserk?’’
Owen opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He scratched the back of his head as he awkwardly turned away.
’’Yeah, maybe you all need to keep some distance...’’
Jim stared at him with squinted eyes.
’’So that was your definition of ’You want to watch something fun’?’’ he asked, his voice rising. ’’You damn near could’ve killed us!’’
Owen waved him off immediately.
’’Whatever. Keep some distance, you’ll be fine.’’
Before Jim could reply, Owen continued.
’’Enough of this now. You’re wasting my precious breakthrough time.’’
Theo let out a sigh, helplessly shaking his head.
’’Alright,’’ he said. ’’Let’s just get moving.’’
Everyone quickly made their way outside.
Once they were far enough from the ancient structures, Owen separated from the group and continued walking into the distance.
Theo and the others remained behind.
After several hundred yards, Owen finally stopped.
He turned around and waved both arms above his head.
’’THIS FAR ENOUGH?!’’
Theo gave him a thumbs-up right away.
With that confirmation, Owen immediately sat down on the ground.
Several metal boxes containing expensive resources lay in front of him, having just received them from Theo.
Owen sucked in one more deep breath.
Then, with a massive grin on his face, he shouted one final time.
’’I’M STARTING NOW!’’