Escape 2
Kane's heart jumped into his throat as he watched the giant lizard looking straight at him. "Calm down Kane. It is not really looking at us" said Abel as he noticed his petrified student.
The salamander was really not looking at them as it looked away after a few minutes. "Their trail disappeared here. How is that even possible?" said a rumbling voice that was suspected to belong to the salamander.
It turned its massive flaming head and looked around its surrounding before deciding to head deeper into the desert. It took a while before its footsteps could no longer be heard. Kane and his master heaved a sigh of relief as they finally relaxed.
They both sat on the ground and they were covered in a cold sweat. "We only have to wait for a while until it comes back. This is your third time using your Plain today. I think we should not yet go out until tomorrow or else we will be stuck outside if something like this happens again" said Abel.
"I am really interested in your Plain ability. Normally, someone at the mutant level cannot project their elemental energy outside their body. But you can do that with your Plain. You only need to touch what you need to send inside and energy envelopes it before sending it in.
I am guessing that your Plain is some kind of absolute ability from the dao of space. It even makes less sense because it is impossible to even form absolute abilities not to talk of using them for someone of your level.
The only plausible answer is that the dao of is lending you the ability to use your Plain. That must be the reason why there is a restriction on how many times you can use the ability" said Abel as he looked deeply into his student's eyes.
He was becoming more convinced that Kane was the incarnation of some ancient powerful god. So powerful that the almighty dao of space, a heavenly dao would make so much effort to help him.
He had not even begun to mention his unholy mutation. It was something that started weak and uninteresting. Given time and effort, it would snowball into something so disgustingly powerful and broken.
Kane was only in the tier 1 mutant realm and others who were in the same level did not stand a chance against him. When he keeps ascending and breaks through more tiers and realms, this disparity would only continue to widen until he might even be able to defeat people who are in higher realms than him.
He would not dare to harm Kane in any way as he feared that it might awaken something or trigger a reaction that he could not control. He might be messing with a god who mastered a heavenly dao.
If he could win Kane over to his cause then that would be excellent. If he could not, then it would be okay if he did not go too far.
"Help me out, let's extract cores from these beast corpses," said Abel as he took out the bodies of the beasts he killed while escaping the forest. They were forty-seven bodies. Twenty-eight were in the grunt realm, eighteen were in the mutant realm and one was in the evolved realm.
After adding three mutant cores from Siruzen, the electric eel, and the armadillo, there were a total of twenty-one mutant realm cores. They went to work as Kane cut out the beast cores while Abel ground them to form bottle core solutions.
They had been at it for more than one hour when they heard familiar thuds as the giant salamander returned from the desert after its futile pursuit. Kane and his master subconsciously stopped what they were doing and looked up at the giant image of the salamander hurrying past their location and headed into the forest.
They only continued after they could no longer hear the thudding sounds. "How come I never see you cultivate, master?" Kane suddenly asked to break the silence.
"Hmmm, it's mostly because I don't have time lately. For me to progress, not only do I need to absorb energy to boost my core, but I also need knowledge and research to progress in my study of the dao. So it's no longer as simple as absorbing energy for people in the warrior realm and above. Also, not everyone is like you" replied Abel as he kept making the core solution.
"What do you mean?" asked Kane while handing a beast core over to his master. "Once someone breaks into the mutant realm, their core begins to produce elemental energy with the nature of their elemental affinity.
This means that someone who has a wind elemental affinity will produce wind elemental energy. This limits the type of energy they can absorb from beast cores. Normal people can only absorb energy from beast cores that produce the same kind of elemental energy as theirs.
Only those with universal elemental affinity like you can absorb energy from any type of beast core. This is where mana crystal trump beast core. Mana crystal has neutral elemental affinity making it suitable for everyone" said Abel.
Kane fell silent as he finally understood what his master wanted to tell him. The higher one ascends, the higher the requirements for stepping into the next realm became.
They continued working in silence after that and it took them two hours to make fifty bottles of core solution. Abel put away the beast corpses and handed over all fifty bottles of the core solution to Kane.
"Keep these aside for now. You might break through to the next tier if you take it now and that would mean being stuck here for a week. The beast tide might be in front of us on their way to Edan city by the time you are done.
We must warn the city or it might easily fall when the beasts attack. You can take the core solution tomorrow after we set off. For now, practice your skills and rest well when you feel tired" said Abel.
"Yes, master," said Kane as he began to practice his skills to see if he could raise their proficiency levels. Abel on the other hand took out some books on mysticism and sat down crossed-legged before reading them.
The next day, Kane's Plain counter had been reset. After eating breakfast, Kane and his master made sure that there was no danger outside before they decided to leave the Plain.
They entered the RV and Abel sat on the driver's seat. He started the vehicle before Kane sent it outside his Plain. Abel floored the accelerator and zoomed off into the distance.
Abel didn't let Kane take the core solution immediately because they might encounter a situation along the way where his Plain might come in handy.
After driving at full speed for more than three hours, Kane could now take the core solution. His master sorted out the materials Kane would fuse into his body once he broke into the next realm.
They included the spatial waist packs he took from the armadillo's cave, the two halves of the broken saber, the armadillo's shells, Talon's storage ring, and other materials his master picked up while they were in the forest like poisonous plants, metals, etc.
They were all placed inside Talon's storage ring which Kane wore on his finger. His waist pack was given to his master to prevent another accident from happening. He went to the bedroom and sat down on a spacious corner before placing ten bottles of grunt tier core solution before him.
He opened them up before drinking the contents of each bottle one at a time. The cold fluid slid down his throat and entered his stomach. When he was still in the grunt realm, he could drink four bottles of the solution without it posing any serious threat to his life.
He was now in the mutant realm so he could bear even more of the energy from the grunt realm beast cores.
The cold energy quickly spread from his stomach to every part of his body. His body temperature rapidly fell as the cold energy overwhelmed him. His body began to shiver violently and he was slowly losing consciousness.
He did not faint though as his willpower kept him awake throughout the ordeal. Abel turned around and looked at Kane. He nodded and was satisfied with what he saw. Not only was taking ten bottles faster, the damage the cold inflicted on his body would only serve to help Kane's body develop cold resistance.
It was 10 pm when Kane stepped out of the bedroom. Disappointment was plastered on his face when he saw his master. He did not break through to tier 2. Abel who was eating smiled at him and said "Come, eat. No need to be disappointed. You will try again tomorrow. We still have approximately one week before we get to Edan city".
Kane then sat down beside his master and began to eat. He was famished.