A slight fuzz wrapped around Asher's head as he stood still. Even for as much, Asher trains to push his body to the absolute limits. He now was feeling his limits come to him.

Wanting to rest for a bit, Asher turned his sight on some random tree and briskly walked over to it.

He didn't look back as he left the Kang gang goons twitching on the ground as Ghost Lightning was still periodically flashing on their bodies.

"Fuuu…." Asher took a more relaxed breath while leaning on this tree.

He closed his eyes for a moment, taking several moments to rest to recharge his Aura energy and Ghost Lightning energy reserves.

Although, this time, his energy regeneration came at a slower pace.

Asher leaned on the tree, staying completely still for several seconds. It was only when he felt some of his energy reserves come back to him that Asher let his body release most of its tension.

If there's another thing Asher learned from today, it's that Spirit Tier cultivators are an entirely new ball game when it comes to battle.

Thinking his battles over, Asher realizes he needs to be more meticulous when using his Aura energy and Ghost Lightning energy.

As he came upon these thoughts, Asher suddenly heard Yuki's melodic voice. 'Hm! I'm glad you can analyze at least this much. But don't sweat it too much, Asher. We have the ways to always come out on top!'

Hearing Yuki's praise did make Asher feel a bit better after those taxiing fights. Before he could respond, Asher suddenly felt another presence enter the range of his Aura Sense.

And this presence gave an electrifying jolt through Asher's entire body!

The one coming towards him held no hostile intentions and was incredibly familiar to Asher.

'Oooh….hehe~.' Yuki's voice had mysteriously giggled in his mind.

Asher wanted to question why but he directed his attention away from her as the other familiar presence was coming close.

For the person who was coming, Asher simply didn't need to visualize who it was. He flung his eyes open and turned his head over to his right side to be entranced by a beautiful sight.

The electrifying jolting sensation only intensified when Asher laid his eyes on this sight.

The sight was a divine-like beautiful woman calmly strolling towards Asher.

Her long blue hair elegantly swayed with each refined step she took. Out of all people to come, it was the fairy-like woman, Elsa.

Her eyes matched Asher's as she walked up towards him.

Once again, as Asher experience the electrifying jolting sensation run through his body, he couldn't tell if Elsa felt the same.

Although, her eyes once again went unblinking as she stared at him for a few seconds while coming closer to him.

It should've been an odd scene. Neither Asher nor Elsa was saying anything, yet they couldn't take their eyes off from each other.

However, Asher didn't feel awkward or strange at all.

It was akin to how he would hang out with Elsa, and silence permeated between them during regular times. It felt simply natural and calming.

And before Asher knew it, Elsa already got within six feet from him. Only then she blinked her eyes again, her expression unchanging the whole time.

It was like that moment where they stared at each other didn't even happen in her mind.

Before she talked, Elsa trailed her eyes over at the twitching bodies of the Kane Gang goons. She remarked without looking over to Asher,

"For your first fight against Spirit Tier cultivators, that was efficient. Especially considering that one," She pointed over to Dylan. "Is at a slightly higher level than the other two."

Asher felt his confidence rise again with Elsa's praise. He is critical of himself, but Asher never really had that much of a problem accepting compliments.

He smiled a bit and was just about to say thanks to Elsa when she suddenly looked straight at him. Her expression remained indifferent, but her words dumb a bucket of cold water right over Asher's head.

"But that was all sloppy. Most experienced Spirit Tier Cultivators won't rush in with just a mere physical attack. They will unleash their Magical Power as soon as any battle begins. You should've been the same as well. With what I've seen from you countless times, that battle should not have been as close as it was."

"Heh-heh." Asher only had a slightly wry smile towards Elsa's critical words, leaking out a light chuckle while scratching the back of his head.

He actually didn't mind Elsa's harshly critical words a single bit.

Most students in Asher's position, even for a beauty like Elsa, they would either not take Elsa's voice to heart or would even try to challenge her words.

After all, when a student actually has a decent Magical Power, their confidence in themselves and ego get boosted to a high degree.

It was par for the course as these students would see them above all common and ordinary people, despite many of them never being in a real battle.

Asher, though, was the complete opposite.

His mind thoroughly comprehended Elsa's advice and nodded at her a second later. He would indeed review what Elsa told him and analyze it with today's fights on his own time.

"Thanks for the words of advice. But hey, though you look so bored about it, you actually enjoyed seeing me in action, eh?" Asher had a slight smirk when talking.

With the numerous years he's been hanging out with Elsa, he, of course, got a good grasp on her personality. In fact, Asher didn't even need numerous years to know how a proud girl like Elsa operates.

Asher's smirk only widened when his enhanced eyes spotted the slightest of a twitch on Elsa's lips. He knew there was some sort of rush of emotion there.

"Hm. I suppose it was adequately entertaining enough…." Elsa still kept her voice even as she wasn't afraid of expressing some hidden feelings.

Though Asher could say, she could be rather blunt about expressing her thoughts at times, like how she gave him that previous advice.

Right after trailing her sentence off, Elsa turned her sights back on the Kang Gang goons. "So what are you going to do with them? Will you leave them?"

Asher had uncaringly nodded, not really worried about these guys' lives all that much.

"I'll just tell the guardsmen that an unfortunate accident had occurred here…." Asher had strangely trailed off the end of his sentence. Something odd was occurring in his Aura Sense.

It had suddenly burst into Asher's Aura Sense entirely out of nowhere, but there was vapid Killing Intent rapidly approaching both of them.

And the most peculiar thing was that whoever this presence is, they were doing something to cover their Killing Intent.

Asher wasn't even sure how his Aura Sense picked up on it, but all that he needed to know now was that danger was approaching.

Elsa had only curiously stared back over to Asher, a bit unsure on why he oddly trailed off as if he was going to say something else. She also had a grasp on Asher's personality and knew this is unlike him.

'Asher!'

However, Asher was unaware of Elsa's stare as Yuki's voice suddenly echoed out in his mind.

Immediately when Yuki called his name, Asher raised his right palm like it was instinct reflex.

'Fire the best shot!"

Asher once again went on reflexive instinct as he gathered the remaining Ghost Lightning energy and Aura Energy in his body.

'Zzzt!'

His right palm burst with intense surging Ghost Lightning, discharging wild loads of Ghost Lightning arcs from his palm.

It all happened in a manner of a split second.

Before Elsa could question anything, Asher shifted more towards his right side, strutted his arm out, and blasted a full stream of Ghost Lightning right past Elsa's head!

'Bang!'

And against all expectations, Asher's stream of Ghost Lightning had actually struck against a terrifyingly large creature.

That creature was about ten feet away from pouncing on Elsa.

"Keeaa!!" The creature roared in anguish as Ghost Lightning rampaged its body.

As Asher got a brief good look at the creature, he saw that it was a Mana Monster cheetah-type beast.

Right when Asher was prepared to go in for another fight even after using up most of his energy reserve in that one attack, Elsa had entirely vanished from Asher's sight!

Asher paused as slight awe filled his eyes.

And before Asher could comprehend what happened to Elsa, a fierce gust of wind brushed right past him.

'Chi!'

A slicing sound echoed out in the Decrypted Wood.

Asher had only blinked his eyes once, but in the instance he opened his eyes, the Mana monster cheetah had its whole head lobbed off!

Blood was spraying out of its neck like a geyser as its headless corpse crashed towards the ground. Asher peered his eyes over to Elsa, who was standing over the headless monster corpse.

Slight awe filled his eyes again. But that awe quickly morphed into a determined expression.

It wasn't a secret at all to him. Asher knew Elsa massively outclassed him in every way. Just that moment showed that Elsa really didn't even need any help at all, even if that Mana monster cheetah came within inches of her undetected.

But, though the disparity between them was high, Asher didn't let it get to him.

He only became more determined by the second to grow powerful and finally close this wide gap between them. With his System's soul and Yuki, this wasn't a far-off pipe dream anymore.

Elsa, however, when she looked over to Asher, a slightly different light entered her eyes.

She didn't care at all about how Asher's attack wouldn't change the outcome of the Mana monster Cheetah's death. "Your senses….they're actually very reliable. Even for me, these types of monsters are well versatile in hiding themselves, and I only feel danger when they come extremely close."

Though Elsa was on a whole other level compared to Asher. She had no shame in admitting her Aura Sense wouldn't be able to pick up that monster presence from afar.

Before Asher could start feeling good from the praise, Elsa had immediately questioned him next with, "But, are you not worn out from your previous fights? I can tell you engaged in a life or death fight with a Spirit Tier Mana monster. And you had also used a huge sum when matching that one's Orange Fire-Snake attack."

Asher thought he picked up on it from Elsa's tone.

It sounded like she was utterly indifferent, but there was a very vague emotion mixed in there. It nearly felt like a tone of concern.

And, in all honesty, Asher now felt a tremendous strain wracked down on his body. An exhaustion feeling was coming on to Asher after all those repeated attempts of pushing himself to the limit.

However, Asher didn't let it show on his face.

It wasn't that he wanted to appear strong or tall. But he knows in deadlier and more extreme combat situations, overexerting yourself will naturally come.

And Asher decided it was best to learn how to handle these kinds of things early, rather than in a critical moment of his life.

Asher only gave Elsa a casual shrug saying, "Yea, I'm pretty exhausted. But I sensed danger coming towards you and instantly reacted. You're powerful, but I still want to help you in any way I can."

Elsa paused entirely. It wasn't like Asher didn't say something similar like this in the past.

Yet, for some reason, only now, deep old emotions and feelings she always kept locked down started to resurface with a vengeance.

'Again….it's happening again with only him.' Elsa had a slight mix of thoughts in her mind. But as she kept her expression entirely indifferent, even she couldn't stop a particular emotion from bubbling up.