Strongest Mage with the Lust system

Chapter 898: Harmonizing The Differing Elements

"The cultivation chamber and resources needed for your breakthrough have been prepared." Grand Elder Rowan said. "You can go and begin right now if you want."

"I’ll do that. Thank you, Grand Elder." Max gratefully nodded.

"No need for thanks." Grand Elder Rowan said, taking a sip from his wine cup, "You are not getting them for free. If you accept them, you’ll have to enter the top three Silver Rankings within a month. Otherwise, I’ll have you pay double or triple the amount by doing my bidding."

"..."

Max’s grateful smile froze on his face.

Tch!

He inwardly clicked his tongue, ’And here I thought he was doing this because he was impressed by my genius or perhaps because of my Valiant Ancestor.’

"Take your time. There is no hurry to decide." Grand Elder Rowan said, seeing him fall silent, indirectly urging him.

"I accept, Grand Elder." said Max without thinking.

He didn’t give it much thought not because he was confident in achieving it, but because he needed to break through to the Five Star realm as soon as possible, and for that, he needed resources which would take him quite some time to gather.

There was another, equally important, reason too—he couldn’t afford to doubt himself if he wanted to comprehend an Aura Unique to the Garfield Bloodline.

"Good. Go out, someone will take you to the cultivation chamber." Grand Elder Rowan calmly nodded.

Max nodded in acknowledgment but didn’t immediately leave, instead, he asked, "Grand Elder, you know how I was stranded in the Minor Realm and Elder Milo and others didn’t get the chance to tell me anything about the Beast Emperor Hall. So... I’m kind of almost completely clueless about everything.

If you don’t mind me asking, can you tell me how strong are the top three Silver Rankers?"

"..."

Grand Elder Rowan stared at him. Then, he shook his head and said, "Find out on your own."

Saying this, he waved his hand and Max uncontrollably flew out of the room and landed in front of a young man, dressed in plain white robes with a small, mountain peak with violet background insignia pinned on his chest.

"Disciple Maxwell?" He asked.

"It’s me." Max nodded,

"Please follow me."

Max did and soon arrived at a cave carved out in the mountain.

’Eh? Finally a cultivation cave like the ones mentioned in cultivation novels.’ thought Max, feeling nostalgic upon recalling the times when he read those ReadNovelFulls and imagined himself in the place of the protagonist.

He used to think how amazing everything would be, how much fun he would have, but now that he was experiencing everything for himself through a twist of fate, he was finding the reality was quite different—each day was a struggle and the threat of death always loomed overhead.

Usherer took out a small disk and handed it over to him, "You can control the cave’s formations through it. All the resources you would need have been placed inside. Use whatever necessary."

"Mm. Thank you." nodded Max.

The boy dipped his head in a slight bow and left the place.

’Let’s do it.’ He took a deep breath, hyped himself and entered the cave abode.

He swept his gaze around and saw that it was as simple as a cave could be.

The only difference was that there was a cultivation mat in the center with a spatial ring on top of it and countless minor engravings all over the cave. These engravings were formation patterns or runes by which formations worked.

Sitting down cross-legged on the mat, he swept his Bloodline Sense inside the spatial ring and immediately, his brows shot up in surprise.

There were over 200 Mana Crystals, a very large amount given how precious they were, several medicine bottles with labels.

Some could help him focus better, some could temporarily increase his mana sensitivity, help him recover mana and mental strength, some could calm his mind in case it became agitated while breaking through.

Others could quickly help him stabilize his foundation after breaking through, or heal him if he were to fail.

Max didn’t know much about medicine, but he could tell the cheapest should have been the ones that could help him focus and enter a meditative state faster and easier. However, given how they were all Grade Five medicine, the best quality at that, even they weren’t something an ordinary Five Star mage could afford.

’He didn’t hold back at all, huh?’ he thought before looking at the last item—A small, exquisite booklet.

He took it out and began reading it.

Phew!

After a short while, he was done and exhaled in relief, "It was a good thing I agreed to his condition."

While he had already learned whatever there was to know about the process of breaking through to Five Star from Esme, the insights listed in the booklet were quite valuable. There was a Magic Technique attached to it too which he could use if he didn’t have a proper one to break through.

"Let’s begin!’

He closed his eyes, regulated his breathing and focused his mind. Soon, he entered a meditative state.

After an undetermined amount of time later, he had completely calmed his mana in his core and his bloodlines.

At this moment, he recalled the technique Golden Skeleton had given him to harmonize the Fire and Thunder Mana—Element Harmonization Magic Art.

After reviewing it once more, he punched his chest, hard, and spat out a mouthful of blood. It wasn’t normal blood, but blood essence with all three of his bloodline’s traces in it.

Under his control, it didn’t fall onto the ground and instead floated above him. As he circulated the Element Harmonization Magic Art, and began chanting the obscure mantra, the globe of blood started taking shape of tiny, runic symbols.

Rhumm~! Rhumm~!

Each symbol pulsed at a certain frequency, and after a while, they had arranged themselves in a net which covered him from all directions.

By this moment, Max’s face had become pale, and he was sweating profusely. While the process was seemingly simple, it had drained most of his mental power.

Moreover, he had only completed the first half, the second, more important half was still remaining.

He hadn’t expected this elemental harmonizing process was going to be so tough and so draining.

Taking a deep breath, with his eyes still closed, he took out two bottles and popped two pills in his mouth, one that could help him recover his mental power and the other that could calm his mind, so he wouldn’t feel too burdened.

’Fortunately, breaking through wouldn’t be much difficult.’ He sighed in relief.

After a while, using the Nascent Energy as the medium, he began chanting the latter half of the Element Harmonization Magic Art.

Humm~

A soft humming filled the air as the mystical symbols resonated with his voice and a strange, undetectable energy appeared within his dantian before entering his mana core and mixing with the Nascent Energy.

...

Unbeknownst to him, the moment he had begun chanting the latter half and the undetectable energy appeared, in his cultivation chamber, Grand Elder Rowan’s eyes snapped open.

Swoosh!

The next instant, he disappeared from the place and appeared in the sky above the Violet Peak.

Rumble!

His aura domain unfurled, covering the whole mountain and the thunder mana filled it, obscuring all the fluctuations completely.

’Does he not want to live? How utterly reckless!’ He thought, his expression incomparably solemn.

While he didn’t really mind Rima’s recklessness of sacrificing all her future for Max’s sake, Max’s recklessness had angered him.

This showed what Max had done was way more serious.