Chapter 55: Time
Lena looked up at him in surprise. The raging, swirling vortex of chaos she saw around him suddenly became calmer.
It was still there, but it was no longer a wild, untamed storm. It was a controlled, spinning vortex contained within an invisible wall.
He was actively suppressing his power, just for her.
It was a small act of consideration, but for Lena, it was a huge gesture. It was the first time he had shown her that he was not just a monster of pure power. He was a person. The fear in her heart lessened.
It was replaced by a new feeling of respect.
They worked together after that. The awkwardness was gone. Lena would hand him the materials, and then she would watch, fascinated, as he worked.
A month had passed in a blur. Within the sand-swept, subterranean halls of the Wanderers, Rhys had achieved the impossible.
The complex, thousand-rune diagram of the "Chains of Temporal Stasis," a Spirit-Grade formation that would have taken an Artisan at least a year to draw, was created by him.
As the formation was completed, his profession upgraded from Apprentice to Artisan, far surprising him.
’This quickly...’
Don’t forget, despite him using it many times, his Ash Walker profession hadn’t upgraded yet.
He had crafted its 108 energy nodes from petrified lightning and its central anchor from the powdered bone of a long-dead beast, weaving the wild energy of the Tempest Djinn core into every sigil.