Sean and Esteban both reached the peak of Profound Entry during this time, which resulted in them experiencing the same thing within their spiritual spaces. After investigating the subtle changes to their inner essence channels along with the strange sensations that had racked their bodies in the days after their achievement of the first ‘transformation’ of their dantians, they were all ecstatic to find that they had roughly gained a ten percent immunity towards all sorts of flames, and near complete immunity towards ordinary fire. They tested this by starting a tiny, twig-fueled campfire in the forests outside of the cave and then holding their hands within the heart of the flames for almost five minutes without feeling more than a bit of cozy warmth.

“Holy crap!” Esteban had said, his voice unstable from excitement. “We’re immune to fire. Immune!”

Nolan had been sure to remind him what Uncle Grey had told them, that there were many types of fire in this world, citing examples between red, orange, blue, yellow, and white flames back on earth. “Far as I can tell, our bodies can take the heat of red flames no problem, but we’d still get fucked up from any of the others. Don’t forget, Uncle Grey said there were nine types, so we’ve still got a long way to go.”

“Saying all that, even though you’re smiling so big,” Sean had grinned. “This is crazy. Just be happy about it!”

They had played around for another hour or so, confirming that even their hair would no longer burn from the level of flame that the small campfire gave off. It was only once they stared an ordinary-sized fire—which burned orange and yellow—that they began to recoil from the heat. The coolest part about it all was that, so long as they revolved their secondary cultivation method and worked with their inner energies, each of them could now conjure balls of fire within their hands. While Sean and Esteban could only manage a small globe the size of a soccer ball, Nolan could now create enough to cover his entire body if he wished. Even though those at the Genesis stage possessed bodies so strong that red flames couldn’t harm them, it would serve as a great form of intimidation and looked absolutely badass.

Thanks to the heavenly dew and the large supply of medicinal pellets that Nolan had distributed to everyone in the group, Lyra managed to reach the initial phase of the Integration stage’s tenth level. Now she had only to reach the middle, late, and peak phases and she would achieve the peak of her current realm, within which nobody of similar attainments could threaten her in a one-on-one battle. Ian saw a great deal of progress as well, reaching the peak of the second level of Genesis. He credited the incredible resources at his disposal as well as the tweaking that Uncle Grey had done to the Varai Clan’s core cultivation method that had enhanced it to a level that far outclassed most others on the continent.

Even May achieved a breakthrough to the fifth level of Genesis, putting her strength in line with somebody at the seventh level. Delia didn’t make a major breakthrough, but had climbed from the initial phase of the same stage’s sixth level, to the peak, affording her the equivalent of several years’ worth of training along with a substantial increase in strength.

Although Alicia and Aine remained the weakest members of the group, that was only because those around them were quite powerful. Both reached the seventh level of Integration, achieving two major breakthroughs in just ten days’ time. With a movement skill like the Swift Steps Technique, nobody of the same stage could hope to catch up to them in a contest of speed, not to mention that they both possessed two dantians and thus twice as much energy as anyone else at their level. Not only that, but they were strong enough to match somebody a level above them, though this hinged upon their respective levels of self-confidence.

Nyla, on the other hand, had reached the peak of Integration and now claimed that she was only a few more days away from reaching the Genesis stage, though the last of the heavenly dew within the pond was used up before she could do so. They still had a large supply in stock—dozens of barrels that contained most of what had been in the pond—but they eventually became uneasy when May made it a point to mention that somebody on the spirit of the lake’s level could travel to their current location from the Western Isles in less than two weeks, especially a demonic beast with an aquatic nature. This was only if they travelled almost non-stop, but such a possibility was still too much for comfort. It was for this reason that they decided to leave the island on the morning of the eleventh day despite the fact that they still had plenty of heavenly dew and also hadn’t touched a single one of the crystal-clear grapes that constituted the divine fruit, or more appropriately, divine fruits.

“It doesn’t seem to have been done with spiritual energy,” said Nyla, who was kneeling down to inspect one of the many tree stumps that remained in the area that had been cleared by the spirit of the lake. “It had to have been a martial skill, then. Hmm, but it couldn’t have been one that relied on blunt force. Maybe it was incendiary and just burned everything away? No, then there would be burn marks.”

She had insisted that Nolan bring her to the place where he’d found Delia nearly two weeks prior, since she had been intrigued by his description of the levelled area. She had wondered if it would bring them any insights into how spiritual arrayments worked, and so here they stood while their friends snuck in some last-minute training on how to maneuver their flying swords in a more advanced way.

“What’s crazy is that he did all this without making a sound.”

“Not necessarily,” she said pensively. “He could’ve blocked the sound with an arrayment.”

“I don’t know, man. At the end of the day, he’s still a fish.”

“Anyone can create an arrayment if they’re spiritual sensitivity is high.”

Nolan gave her a curious look. “You’re not wrong, but… Have you made one?”

She nodded proudly, pretty lips pulled back in an enticing smile. “Look at this.” She spent about a minute drawing out a diagram that she didn’t seem too familiar with. She made a mistake early on and had to restart when the diagram was disrupted and subsequently dissipated, but the end result was an interesting if not odd sight.

One of her ebony eyes were blanketed in a monocle-like lens of partially clear energy that had a slightly golden hue. “Amazing, isn’t it?”

“What does it do?”

“It helps me see better. I got the idea from that lady you were fighting before we escaped from that island. You know, the sickly-looking one in the Genesis stage.”

He vaguely remembered the woman’s angry expression after he’d killed hundreds of people from her clan. Come to think of it, she had used some sort of ocular technique that left a similar lens of blue light hovering in front of one of her eyes.

“How do you even know what her technique did, though?”

“I don’t, but what does that have to do with what my technique does? It just gave me the idea.” She pointed to the southwest, at an ambiguous area of the surrounding forests. “There’s a human-sized stick bug hiding in some bushes about one of your kilometres away. Can you sense it?”

He shook his head. He’d noticed a few spiders and what seemed like a rabbit, but nothing more.

“And yet, it’s there.” She dispelled the technique and sat atop the stump she’d been observing a short while ago. “I told you about how me and Lyra wound up in some Vespasian tomb after you and me were separated in Hauss, right? Remember the place we were travelling through?”

“Uh, the Dreaded Pass or something?”

“The Dreadstone Pass.”

“What about it?”

“There were a lot of creatures there that had the ability to hide their auras so long as they weren’t moving. Sort of like those big snakes that we saw our way to Weston.” The swung her legs around absentmindedly like a child in a large chair, a relaxed expression on her face as she enjoyed the summertime air. “Well, I hate creatures like that. You should have seen the spiders we have to fight in that pass.” She shivered in disgust. “Anyway, I came up with an idea to detect them, or at least most of them.”