Emery looked into himself and felt his spirit core. He could tell the breakthrough to rank 6 had caused changes to his dark spirit core.

Before when Killgragah had shown Emery through the dark room, he had seen his four elements hovering inside his spirit core. Now that he was a rank 6 acolyte, with the elements being in early foundation, three of the elements: earth, water and plant, had been firmly lodged in their own corners while the dark element sat on the center.

A bridge-like colored structure stretched from the three elements all connecting to the single element situated in the middle, the darkness element. The interconnected bridges had the same colors as the element they had come from and the darkness element served as their focal point.

Emery then once more focused his thoughts in an attempt to use a spell. Whenever he used a spell before, he could feel he was drawing from something like a lake, which he had deemed to be the spirit energy. This time though, when he had attempted to do so, he could feel that his overall strength had increased by two folds. Especially the pool of his spirit energy which determined how many spells he could use and how strong they were.

Opening his eyes, he smiled as he checked his status in his palm with great expectations.

[Emery Ambrose]

[16-year-old]

[Battle power: 29]

[Spirit force: 100]

[Plant Spirit - early foundation]

[Water Spirit - early foundation]

[Earth Spirit - early foundation]

[Spirit Core of Darkness - stage 1]

[Fey Bloodline - stage 2]

[Acolyte Rank 6]

This was great. The first task that they had all set for themselves, except for Klea, had been achieved. His status confirmed he was now a rank 6 acolyte and all three elements had reached an early foundation stage. What was interesting, however, was the change of label in his Spirit Core of Darkness. Previously, it had been labeled as foundation, but now it was stage 1. Emery hoped he really knew what this meant, he wished there was someone who could guide him with this other than Killgragah, since that dragon wasn't an option.

Emery remembered this black dragon telling that until he obtained that piece of glittering rock, he shouldn't think about going back to pick him up. Then, Emery thought of the Darkness Institute. They might have information about the spirit core of darkness. So, Emery added a mental note that he would inquire about it after he finished all his immediate business with the other institutes.

Now that he had finally reached rank 6 and his cultivation time in the water origin stone room had elapsed, Emery got up and exited the room. It was now time to get the fruits of his labor from the elemental institutes and get himself ready to train and master these new spells, because what use would these spells have if he couldn't cast them. So he decided he would spend most of the remaining three days in seclusion trying to learn the new spells he was about to receive.

Emery then made his way toward the lobby of the Water Institute and approached the acolyte who had given him access to the water origin stone room. He mentioned to the acolyte that he would like to join. The bluish crystal cube then hovered in front of him and while he was being scanned, Emery stared at the wondrous view. He could see acolytes swimming alongside a multitude of multicolored fishes.

Once the scan was finished, Emery received the message that said:

[You are eligible to apply to the Water Institute]

[Accept?]

"Yes, accept," said Emery with a nod.

[You are now a member of the Water Institute]

[Would you like to get your joining package?]

"Yes," Emery answered.

This time, aside from the tier one and tier two spells, he was given an option to choose a tier three spell as well. He browsed through the list of spells available for him starting with the tier one.

Since he already had a tier one spell, the spell [Whip splash] which was for offensive, for his second tier one spell, Emery chose the utility spell called [Water Breathing], this spell allowed its receiver to be able to breathe underwater. It was the same spell used by Magus Carla and the other acolytes and magi that wanted to get access to this place. He would naturally return here in the future and having to wait like what had happened to him earlier wasn't a good thing. Emery believed this would come in handy, since he was sure the usage of this spell wasn't only for going to this place.

As for the tier two and tier three spells, Emery gave it more thought and finally arrived at selecting the offensive spells. His first tier two spell was called [Steam Lance]. It was the most powerful single target spell that he could find under tier two, and for the tier three spell, he chose [Crashing Wave], which he believed would be a good area attack spell.

For a moment, Emery became a bit worried he hadn't given these three spells as much thought as the others. But then again, at the end of the day, the faster you were able to eliminate your foe the better, prolonging the fight was always dangerous. So he figured that there should be nothing wrong with these offensive spells.

After the freebies from the Water Institute, he quickly made his way toward the Plant Institute and entered Elder's Respite.

Inside the great tree, Emery made his inside the twisted large roots that acted like stairs and pathways. He finally found the acolyte receptionist. And after going through the same scan thing from a greenish crystal cube, questioning, and confirming, he received a notification once again:

[You are now a member of the Plant Institute]

Another three free spells for him under the plant element. Emery couldn't express how happy he was for getting these free stuff, which otherwise would cost him either the hard-earned contribution points or spirit stones.

Normally, a tier one spell would cost around 100 - 300 white spirit stones. Tier two spells were around 1,000 and tier three cost from 3,000 up to 5,000 white spirit stones. Getting all these free spells from different institutions really was a boon that helped him a lot.

Emery currently had two plant element based spells. [Fragmentation] and [Nature Blessing].

This time he chose the spell he had always wanted ever since he first saw it in the swap area, west of here. He grabbed [Entanglement], the tier one spell that Cole and Silva had used on multiple occasions. Its usefulness wasn't only during a fight, but with a lot of other things such as getting to a location, like the wood bridge Cole had made before.

Next were the tier two and tier three spells. He looked over the list and found two more offensive spells that he really liked. But then, right before hitting the select option, he decided to select it more carefully. After about five minutes of deliberation, he finally chose a tier two spell called [Nature Sense] which was another utility type spell that would give him and his friends an edge in a battle. Lastly, for the tier three spell, he chose [Accelerated Growth]. This was a spell that would increase the growth rate of a plant. He thought it would be more beneficial for him and for apothecary related stuff in the long run.

Right now, he had six new spells. He had one more spell pending in the Earth Institute so quickly traveled all the way back there and received his tier three spell. He grabbed the self-explanatory spell called [Summon Stone Golem], the name said it all. It probably wasn't as strong as the huge golem that Darius had used against the red armored elf and the dragon, but having another body to throw in a battle was always extremely handy. And since this stone golem wasn't a living thing, the thought of it blocking some powerful spell that could seriously injure a human gave him a sense of safety.

Emery wanted to go to the Darkness Institute next. However, since it had already become late, he decided to retire for the day and rest in his residence.

As he stared at the ceiling, only then did it occur to him that he probably had a huge advantage over some acolytes, especially those who had achieved rank six with a single element only.

A rank 6 single affinity acolyte would have three spells for free. They would probably get something for an offense, defense and then utility spell. But him? He had received nine spells already for free, which meant he had more spells that he could use for different types of situations. Surely, this day was a moment of joy for him.