Chương 77: The Final Push

After the caravan left, Antler Camp gradually became quiet again. With much of the noise gone, the camp returned to its usual rhythm. The extra wheel ruts left by the caravan still remained in the mud of the outer ring. The open space that had been cleared in a hurry yesterday had already been put back in order. Taun began checking the past few days' incoming and outgoing supplies early in the morning. Bren crouched outside the material shed, inspecting and maintaining the weapons. Rowan didn't linger outside.

The remaining meat from the Rock-Marrow Dire Bear had already been divided. His share was enough to last him for quite some time. Meat from a Three-Phase mana-beast. It wasn't anything that could truly be called a top-tier material in Aethergard. But for Rowan as he was now, it was more than enough. Rowan packed his things away. Then made another trip to the material shed.

"Heading out for a few days?" Taun didn't even raise his head.

"Yeah." Rowan's Gardian had become far more fluent than when he had first arrived.

"Cultivation." Taun made a note in the account book.

"Remember to bring your wooden tag when you come back."

"I know." No one would find it strange. Every so often, Rowan would head into the forest alone. Sometimes for a day or two. Sometimes longer. The people in camp had long since gotten used to it. Chestnut crawled out from nearby. The moment it saw Rowan heading toward the camp gate, it immediately followed. Rowan looked down at it.

"You're coming too?" Chestnut ignored him. It simply stared at his right wrist. Rowan immediately knew what it wanted. Man and beast left Antler Camp together. They continued deep into the forest. Only after confirming that no one else was nearby did Rowan stop. The Möbius Ring had recovered. A pale blue spatial rift slowly opened. Chestnut's eyes immediately lit up. Rowan had only just stepped inside. Chestnut had already expertly burrowed into his clothes.

At the final moment before the spatial rift closed— Crunch. It bit off a tiny fragment of blue void residue from the edge.... Terra. The air inside the rented room was much drier than at Antler Camp. Rowan opened his eyes. Connected to the network. Several unread messages had already accumulated on his terminal. The top message had been forcibly pinned. It was from the military. He opened it.

[Sector 4 Southeastern Wall Segment Combat-Specialty Joint Special Recruitment Assessment Notice] [All candidates who have passed the qualification review are required to confirm and sign the risk agreement, then report for unified registration in six days.] [The formal assessment is expected to last several days.] A long list of additional notices followed. Rowan skimmed through them. He already knew most of the contents. High risk. Ruin environment. Equipment restrictions. Medical liability.

Death and disability procedures. The only thing that truly mattered was the time. Assembly in six days. Including unified transportation and the formal assessment itself— Rowan casually checked the date. The nineteenth of this month fell right in the middle of the examination period. His movements paused. Butterfly Emergence Day. The nineteenth of every month. The Gray Chrysalis. Rowan stared at the date in silence for two seconds. Then closed the calendar. There was no way around it.

He didn't even know how long the so-called Cocoon Gathering would last, or what form it would take. The military joint special recruitment assessment was obviously not an appropriate time to experiment with it. Especially when this assessment involved entering an ancient ruin. High-implant equipment would already be restricted. Trying to connect to the Gray Chrysalis in a place like that was completely out of the question. He would have to miss it.

Hopefully there wouldn't be some kind of mandatory meeting attendance. Rowan stopped thinking about it. That wasn't the most important thing right now. He opened his account. [Balance: 42, 360 TC] The number was slightly lower than last time. Public Mana Supply Pods. Transportation. Food. And various miscellaneous expenses over the past while. But more than forty-two thousand Terra Credits was still a sum Rowan had never genuinely possessed for most of his life. Of course.

The frozen debt of one hundred eighty thousand displayed below it remained extremely conspicuous. Rowan stared at it for two seconds. Then swiped it away. Frozen meant frozen. The military exam was about to begin. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Using money to repay the debt early at a time like this would be genuinely insane. He checked his mana pool. Strength was what truly gave him confidence.

He had never stopped practicing the Lancer Mana Channeling Art during this period. Especially during those five days in Aethergard. The two stabilized mana vortices around his Source Crystal Core had operated almost every day. A third vortex had also begun taking shape. But every time he maintained it, it would disperse on its own before long. It was still some distance from true stability. After returning to Terra, he had also visited a Public Mana Supply Pod once.

Now, only the final stretch remained before he reached the Single-Phase limit. The problem was— The closer he got, the slower progress became. Under normal cultivation, six days might be enough. Or it might not. Rowan had no intention of gambling on it. He opened the marketplace. Search. [High-Efficiency Mana Cultivation Supplements] A large number of products appeared. Rowan filtered directly for local suppliers within the Seventh Abyssal Hive. Among the brands at the top of the list, one logo was familiar.

The Aether Consortium. More precisely, a subsidiary under it specializing in low-tier cultivation potions. Rowan opened one of the products. [Tide-Gathering Type-II Cultivation Supplement] [Applicable Range: Tier 1 cultivators] [Primary Effects: Increases mana absorption efficiency and reduces short-term resistance from cultivation bottlenecks.] [Price: 1, 500 TC per vial] Rowan looked through the reviews. Then compared several alternatives. In the end, he bought two vials. [-3, 000 TC] Next. Etching Fluid.

Rowan searched for Fire Source Rune Etching Fluid. The page refreshed quickly. Standard specification. Standard purity. Eight thousand Terra Credits. Rowan stared at the price for a while. He suddenly remembered the first time he had etched a Source Rune. Back then, he hadn't even had enough money in his account to buy a decent bottle of standard Etching Fluid. The one he had ultimately bought cost three thousand Terra Credits. Forty-five percent impurity content. The liquid itself had been cloudy.

Fine sediment was clearly visible at the bottom of the container. When the etching actually began, mana advanced along the engraved path one step at a time. Every step had felt like a gamble over whether that mass of impurities would suddenly clog the route. And now. The standard Fire Source Rune Etching Fluid displayed on the product page came in a transparent sealed tube. The liquid was uniform in color. No separation. No visible sediment. Eight thousand. Still expensive.

But this time, Rowan didn't click the low-price filter beside it. [Purchase successful.] [-8, 000 TC] He had already decided on his second phase. Fire. The reasoning wasn't complicated. He lacked offensive power. Water Blade worked. Wellspring Step solved mobility. But when he truly encountered an enemy that needed to be eliminated quickly, he currently lacked a sufficiently direct burst option. The D4-grade Crimson Scorching Lance was certainly powerful enough. Unfortunately, it could only be used once.

The spell card itself only required mana to activate. It didn't require him to possess a Fire Phase. But it had shown Rowan one thing clearly. At Tier 1, fire spells were indeed better suited to making up for the burst damage he currently lacked. And then there was Grey Raven. That man had also been fire-aspected. Rowan had no idea what else remained inside the Gray Chrysalis. Nor did he know what he, "Ring Finger-7," might come into contact with in the future.

But if Grey Raven had once spent a long time within that organization, then obtaining fire-aspect spells or related resources through the Gray Chrysalis someday wasn't entirely impossible. In any case, the main reason was still offensive power. Rowan closed the marketplace page. A new message happened to appear. @plus_Hermit. [They're finished over there.] A payment request followed. [Final payment for model-pruning service: 3, 000 TC] Rowan's eyebrow moved slightly. Lower than he had expected.

He paid immediately. A few seconds later. A new spell-model file arrived. Wellspring Step. A short pruning report was attached behind the file. [Multiple redundant buffering structures were present in the original spell model.] [Several Source Rune paths show clear signs of later additions.] [Some redundant structures have been merged, and several Source Rune assembly paths have been readjusted.] [Core spell effects remain unchanged.] [Recommendation: Complete full construction training again before using the spell in actual combat.] Rowan opened the model. The densely packed Source Rune structure appeared in his vision. Compared to before. The entire model was noticeably cleaner. Several structures that had originally overlapped one another had been reorganized. Some of the Source Rune assembly paths that had been convoluted enough to give even Rowan a headache had disappeared entirely. Several other structures had been reconnected.

Rowan stared at it for a while. Then reopened the chat window. [Is this person reliable?] @plus_Hermit replied almost immediately. [You're asking after you already paid?] [They haven't ruined my reputation yet.] [Whether it feels good to use, test it yourself.] Rowan closed the chat window. He looked at his remaining balance. [28, 360 TC] Rowan fell silent for several seconds. Over forty thousand. It had looked like a lot. Buy a few things actually related to cultivation, and suddenly it wasn't much at all.

Still, he didn't regret it. Money sitting in an account wasn't going to fight the military exam for him. There was still some time before the Möbius Ring could open again. Rowan put aside the newly received Wellspring Step model. Then closed his eyes. Mind splitting. Two relatively independent streams of mental activity rapidly unfolded. Two Water Blade spell models began construction simultaneously. Before long. The two models were assembled one after another. Rowan didn't release them. Too slow.

If he were constructing Water Blade alone, it wouldn't take anywhere near this long. The Mind-Splitting Art already allowed him to process two spell models at once. The problem was speed. When both mental threads operated simultaneously, the construction efficiency on each side dropped somewhat. Normally, it wasn't particularly noticeable.

But in actual combat— If one side was maintaining Wellspring Step while the other had to construct an attack spell, that small difference in timing could determine whether the spell was successfully released at all. He had already felt that problem while dealing with the Rock-Marrow Dire Bear. Rowan dispersed both models. Then started again. This time. A little faster. Again. The two models completed almost simultaneously. Still not enough. Rowan continued.

"..." The Mind-Splitting Art had indeed made dual casting possible. But "being able to construct two spells simultaneously" and "being able to use two spells simultaneously in combat" were clearly not the same thing. Rowan stood up. And began practicing for real. Again.... The next day. The cooldown ended. Rowan packed away the two cultivation supplements. Chestnut was already crouching beside the table in advance. Its eyes stared unblinkingly at his right wrist. Rowan glanced at it.

"Didn't you just eat some yesterday?" Chestnut shook its scales. Its expression was full of expectation. The Möbius Ring lit up. The spatial rift had only just opened. And it had already burrowed into Rowan's arms. Crunch. The familiar sound came again.

"..." The next moment. Rowan stepped onto the damp soil of Aethergard once more. Chestnut crawled out from his arms. Man and beast returned to his temporary camp in the forest. Rowan opened the first vial of Tide-Gathering Type-II Cultivation Supplement. It didn't taste good. A little bitter. With an indescribable metallic aftertaste. Rowan tilted his head back and drank it all. Almost immediately. The Lancer Mana Channeling Art began operating.

The two already stabilized mana vortices started rotating around his Source Crystal Core almost simultaneously. The mana in the surroundings was rapidly drawn toward him. And farther outside. The third vortex, still not fully formed, appeared as well. Compared to the first two, however, its edges were noticeably blurrier. After only a few rotations. The structure began showing faint fluctuations. Rowan didn't force it to remain.

He first stabilized the two existing vortices and continued guiding mana into his mana pool. He quickly noticed the difference. Fast. Mana entered his body noticeably faster than usual. And the boundary of his mana pool, which had become increasingly difficult to push outward, was no longer as stubborn as before. A little. Then another little. The mana pool began expanding outward again. He continued channeling with his Mental Power. Mana constantly flowed inward through his Source Crystal Core. Time passed.

Until the potion's effect gradually weakened. The three mana vortices slowly dispersed. Rowan opened his eyes. He didn't immediately continue. Instead, he took out the Rock-Marrow Dire Bear meat. Lit a fire. And soon cooked the meat. Rowan ate quickly. The Furnace Melding Art began operating with it. The power contained within the Three-Phase mana-beast meat was drawn into his body little by little.

Compared to the increasingly difficult advancement of his mana pool— The feedback from strengthening his body was far more direct. Muscles. Bones. Tendons. The power sank into them bit by bit. Rowan moved his arm. The difference was clearly noticeable. His mana cultivation still hadn't truly reached the Single-Phase limit. But in terms of his body alone, he was already far ahead. Single-Phase mana-beast meat now had almost no effect on him. The meat of a Three-Phase Rock-Marrow Dire Bear, however, was just right.

Once he truly became Dual-Phase, if he wanted the Furnace Melding Art to maintain this rate of improvement— He would probably need to keep eating mana-beast meat of an even higher level. Rowan suddenly realized something. His food expenses might become increasingly ridiculous in the future.... Daylight. Nightfall. The fire at his temporary forest camp went out. Then was lit again. The Lancer Mana Channeling Art operated over and over. The two stable mana vortices always maintained the same rhythm.

The third vortex appeared again and again. The first time. It lasted only briefly. Then quickly dispersed. The next time. It remained for a little longer. Then the time after that. Its originally blurred edges began gradually becoming clearer. Until one session. Rowan activated the Lancer Mana Channeling Art once more. First vortex. Second vortex. Third vortex. All three rotated simultaneously. Time passed little by little. The third vortex didn't disperse again. Not until that cultivation session ended.

When Rowan voluntarily stopped channeling. Did the three mana vortices disappear one after another. Rowan opened his eyes. Done. The Lancer Mana Channeling Art. A third stable vortex. The empty vial from the first cultivation supplement sat at the corner of the table. The second was soon opened as well. The Rock-Marrow Dire Bear meat continued to decrease. Cultivate. Eat meat. Run the Furnace Melding Art. Rest. Cultivate again. Rowan stopped paying attention to anything else.

The date of the military exam drew closer and closer. And the space within his mana pool grew increasingly full. At first. Every time a cultivation session ended, he could still clearly feel the expansion. Later. The changes became smaller and smaller. And later still. Large amounts of mana were drawn into his body by the three vortices. But only the thinnest fraction could actually push the boundary of his mana pool outward. The effect of the second Tide-Gathering Type-II was still active.

The bottleneck resistance was already far lower than under normal conditions. But the closer he came to the end. The harder it became. Rowan didn't stop. Continue. Mana constantly flowed inward. The space inside the Source Crystal Core endured the pressure again and again. Finally. At a certain moment. Rowan could no longer sense any change. He slowly stopped. The restless mana around him settled. The surroundings became quiet once more. He opened his eyes. And felt for a while.

A unique sense of fullness and completion came back to him. He wasn't stuck. He had reached the end. His first phase. Peak Single-Phase. Rowan remained seated. He didn't stand immediately. From the first time he had bought that low-quality bottle of Etching Fluid with forty-five percent impurities— Until now. A long time had passed. Back then, he had only been thinking about one thing. Become Tier 1 first. Otherwise, he wouldn't even know how to repay that debt of one hundred eighty thousand. Now.

His first phase had finally reached its end. But his Source Crystal Core still had three other faces. Rowan lowered his head and looked at his hand. Then raised his gaze. Back on Terra. The pale purple liquid was clear and translucent. Fine crimson streams of light slowly drifted within. No cloudiness. No visible sediment. Completely different from the bottle he had used the first time. At least this time. He wouldn't have to gamble his life against forty-five percent impurities. Rowan stood.

The Möbius Ring's cooldown had already ended long ago. The military exam continued drawing closer. He didn't have much time to waste. Next. The second Source Rune.