Chapter 705
We walk the border for hours, stopping to absorb piles of 4th class Ether Stones that litter the landscape outside the border of this mining zone.
We cover tens of kilometers of ground, curving around the outside of the zone, and with every stone I absorb, the process of pulling in ether gets faster and easier.
While collecting stones, I practice activating my footsteps, and occasionally, between absorption sessions, I ask Ava to hit me with her hammer.
However, my healing speed and summoning proficiency have grown so drastically over these last 24 hours that her highest power attack just leaves a tingling sensation for fractions of a second.
While I estimate my ether stores have grown to about 15.0 Low Quality Ether, the growth I've shown since we stopped sparring is far more than just 3x.
Even though Ava has drained a similar amount of Ether as me, her Avatar's settings seem to be holding her back from progressing like I am. They're naturally hard-capped.
I have no good way to practice further, so I focus on just collecting as much Ether as possible.
She speaks up after a while.
"This is about the time the Lord comes back every month. We should head back to base camp. I have enough to satisfy our squad's mining quota and can pay off 150 years' worth of exile contract time with the Ether we've managed to gather. In just a few weeks, my entire lifetime quota could be filled."