Alnea cursed himself, as he dealt with the three pesky birds, snuffing out their flames with his lightning. He had already grasped how to guide the golden lightning anyway. The more important thing to do at the moment was to stop those lunatics from—

  Alnea paused in his steps, as a blood red flame erupted in front of him, enshrouding the Wanderers of the Lotus clan’s alliance. Was he too late? No, he still had time. He just had to slash his way through the flames. As long as—

  The blood red flame bounced off the golden lightning, burning his plan to ashes before it could even begin. A flame on the same level as the golden lightning? Was it from the Fire Servant’s crystal heart? How dare he use his core flame so unscrupulously? Was he not afraid of his heart running out of flames?

  Maybe not. Once the lunatic broke through to the True Rank, he would easily be able to recover all his losses. And then… Alnea took a deep breath, forcefully subduing the waves in his Heart. Just because he heard those Wanderers mention breaking through to the True Rank did not mean that they could really do it.

  Breaking through to a higher Rank was not the same as breaking through to a higher State. It was a very complicated process, that required Wanderers to have a corresponding level of Heart, a wide enough Domain, and months and months of grinding at the bottleneck of their Spirit Power. Sometimes, even years. It depended on the strength of the Roots of individual Wanderers, and the method they were using to temper their Spirits. But only to a limited extent.

  When it came to advancing to a higher Rank, even those with the strongest of Roots, tempering their Spirits with the best of Arcanas, would still take months to whittle away the bottleneck blocking their paths. And that was when advancing from the False and True Rank. At higher Ranks, the advancement would take even more time. Though that process could be shortened with the help of Fortune.

  Was that what the flames were? A Fortune to help them break through? Maybe a miracle left by the Fire Spirit… No, it felt more like a Ritual. Regardless, such a forced break through was meaningless. At best, they would see an increase in only in their Spirit Power. Their Hearts would remain the same. Unless they used external stimulus to tear open their Hearts, and forcefully raise them to a higher state, but such a method was too risky, and more often than not, resulted in failure.

  Besides, if those Wanderers dared to forcefully raise both, their Spirit Power, and their Hearts, at the same time, then their end would be no different than the Wanderers of Anneve. Especially during a Ritual. They could not possibly be so stupid. And neither would the lunatic. Most probably, when he promised to help them break through to the True Rank, he was referring to only their Spirit Power.

  And though such a break through sounded impressive, it was a just a simple rise in Spirit Power. After all, the point where the False Rank ended, was the point where the True Rank began. Without the corresponding level of Heart, without the Mysteries and Aspects of the True Rank, those lunatics would not see much rise in their strength. At best, they would only have more Spirit Power to squander. But it did not matter. Their Spirit Power was nearly four times as high as his anyway. What more difference could a little rise in Spirit Power make?

  After quickly weighing his situation, Alnea finally relaxed a little. As he looked at what he had been through though, he could not help himself from lamenting at the irony of his fate. Whenever he acted recklessly, he ended up falling into the traps of his enemies. Or putting himself at the doors of Inkah’s Domain. And the first time he restrained his recklessness, acting with caution at all steps along the way, he ended up giving his enemies a little too much space. It was as if—

  Alnea Slashed through the waves rising within his Heart, Clearing it of any doubts that he had about himself. So what if fate was trying to play with him? It would not be the first time anyway. Rather than blaming his fate, the more important thing was to think about how to handle the situation. Twelve Wanderers, each carrying a Spirit Power more than four times his own, all with their own unique means…

  His enemies may have decreased in number, but they had grown much more difficult to deal with. And if the Fire Servant could use the blood red flames at will, then he would lose the only advantage he had. No, the Fire Servant should have already felt the effect of the flames. Even if the lunatic could not use it at will, he could use it to keep harassing him from time to time, making him waste his already lacking Spirit Power. So, after some thought, Alnea gave up on the lightning altogether.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Dispersing the Aspects restraining the lightning on a set path, he guided the latter back to the Origin Sea. But he did not return the Oren he had summoned. On the contrary, he called for even more Oren, channelling it all into his body. Or rather, into a ‘space’ inside his body, opened up by the Fire Spirit. Though it was more appropriate to call it a path than a space. One that mimicked the patterns he had carved on some of his blood cells.

  Except, instead of being carved on just a cell, the path was carved on his body as a whole. In a different space, of course. Just like his Spirit World. Even the Fire Spirit could not carve the Blood Crystal Patterns on his body. It would have been too risky. And impossible to improve or extend. Even in a different space, extending the patterns was not going to be easy. But it was necessary.

  Though he had not heard of any Blood Crystals Patterns above the True Rank, he was not going to become a Mystic Wanderer anytime soon. And the help brought to him by the Blood Crystal Styles was too large for him to ignore. Rather, a great part of the reason why he was able to overwhelm his peers so easily was the Blood Crystals flowing in his veins. Yet, it was also because of those Blood Crystals that he often had to face a headache.

  Losing the Blood Crystals every time he was injured, or bleeding, was too big of an inconvenience. And one of the reasons why it could never get a rating beyond the Lowest Grade. But with the Blood Crystal Patterns carved directly into his body, he would not have to face the same problem anymore. Especially since the Patterns were carved in a different space within his body.

  More importantly, he would not have to waste his time on condensing and upgrading the Blood Crystals in the future. Though, without the Blood Crystals, he would also not be able to practice over half of the Blood Crystal Styles, but it was a price he was willing to pay. He did not use them very often anyway. Most of the time, he used the Blood Crystals to just temper his body. That, he could do with the help of just the Patterns. And much more.

  As Oren kept flooding into ‘path’ opened up by the Fire Spirit, Alnea felt a strange yet familiar force blessing his body. One strong enough to almost drown him in ecstasy. Fortunately, his Heart held on, or he would have missed the moment when the flames shrank and retreated into the bodies of the Wanderer standing in the centre of a circle. Tightening his grip on his sword—

  Alnea suppressed his urge to rush out when he saw blood red chains extending from the Wanderer in the centre of the circle, and stretching to the Wanderers around him, piercing their chest. Were they still fighting amongst themselves? Then why was the lunatic unscathed? He even seemed to be smiling…

  The flames that surged out from the Wanderer in the centre, and climbed along the chains into the body the Wanderers at the edge of the circle, forcing them to their knees, gave Alnea the answer he was looking for. Just like how he had fallen for the Fire Servant’s trap a while ago, the Wanderers around the lunatic had also fallen into his trap. But there was still one thing he could not understand. Why did the Fire Servant turn on his companions? What was he planning?

  “…I told you that I would keep my promise…”

  Promise? By skewering them, and burning them alive? Poor bastards. They could not even speak properly anymore. Though they were still in a better condition than the Wanderer at the centre of the circle. The one who had been covered in flames from his head to toe. How was he even alive?

  “…It looks you completely forgot about our deal…”

  Alnea got his answer after took another careful look at the Wanderer. One that forced him to glance at the rest of the Wanderers kneeling on the ground. That lunatic… Tightening his grip on his sword, he pushed the balls of his feet into the ground. There were still quite a few things that he had not figured out. Like what exactly was the lunatic planning, or what kind of traps he had laid. But he could not wait anymore. Not after he felt the surging Spirit Power in the Wanderers around him. And the horrifying state they were in.

  “…But it is fine.”

  Releasing the force he had been building up, Alnea blasted off the ground, kicking up loose mud to at least twice his height, while brandishing his sword, glowing in shades of silverish blue, golden, and black lights, with a faint red light tainting its edge, as he rushed towards the Fire Servant. But he was a step too late.

  “Who told you to be my dear companions…”

  Before he could reach the lunatic, the blood red flame surging out of the bodies of the ten Wanderers kneeling around him had already converged on him, giving him the same terrifying fluctuations as the rest of the Wanderers. Just in a more tamed, and restrained state.

  “…I want you to return the favour.”

  The Fire Servant had reached the True Rank.