Grawwwwwrrrr!

From off the side of the pillar came a spine-chilling roar and a vicious whistling noise as the wind was cut through at insane speeds. Lineir frantically ran to the body of the destroyed obsidian golem.

"I must collect all these cores and hide! That crazy dragon lady is coming again!" He rushed to open up the obsidian metal skull. Crazily hacking in a way that would make swordsmen cry and miners proud, he thrust the blade over and over only to cry out in frustration,

"Impossible, I can't even make more than a few scratches on this stuff, it's too hard!"

GRAAAAAAAWWWRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lineir had to resist the urge to drop Mei and clap his hands to his ears.

"Come on, just let me get the ordinary ones at least!" he sprinted towards the nearest silver colored golem and began to butcher it. In terms of hardness, it was no worse than the smaller golems lower on the pillar, but it was much much thicker! To get his arm in there, he could only carve out a bigger hole to wedge his whole shoulder inside or he wouldn't be able to reach.

"Just a little more...." Suddenly, he spotted the core inside. As his hand was about to close in on it, a horrible feeling engulfed him, the feeling of being hunted! The glowing core suddenly seemed to shine incredibly bright. As a matter of fact, everything else had fallen dark, instantly wreathed in an obscuring shadow. Lineir's head was snapped back as massive talons curled around his body and he was lifted into the sky, his fingers uselessly trying to curl around the glowing core that had been left inside the body of the golem.

"That core was as big as an apple damnit!" However, he quickly paled and turned around to stare into the slitted red eyes of the creature carrying him. As expected, it was a vast familiar dragon. However, as he looked, the claws carrying him shook as suddenly the flight became precarious. Tumbling around wildly, the dragon roared so loud that Lineir felt his ears popping, and then careened down from the sky into the pillar again.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWRRR!!

Flung about wildly, somehow Lineir was not crushed as man and dragon crashed back to the rocky pillar path, and Lineir indignantly thought,

"Why'd you have to go and pick me up if you were just going to put me down again!"

The dragon lay there trembling, belly up, clutching Lineir in its claws, it brought him to its eyes which were rapidly turning green and shrinking,

"What is wrong with this place, TELL ME OR I'LL eat... you...." A moment later, it shrunk into the same noble looking girl, wearing a bloody red robe. Lineir wrinkled his nose. Close up, the smell was atrocious, it brought up terrible memories of the bile and blood inside the False Water Serpent. She had both her hands wrapped around him and Lineir instinctively reared back, frantic to escape her grasp. Eventually, he wriggled his way free, and he realized that she was unconscious.

"Now what... she pulled me over to a different section of this level of the pillar. God knows where all those delicious cores went.." At that moment however, the startled Lineir remembered something.

"I definitely consumed the core of one of those obsidian golems directly. Such a strong golem such a core was at least six tier... possibly higher..." He quickly looked inside himself and paled.

"NOT GOOD! Mei help!" Inside of him, writhing turbulent energies were spiraling about, and his Second Heart was rapidly enlarging. Mei was speculatively analyzing his internal meridians.

"Hmmmm I think you ate a seventh tier core. This devour ability is terrifying to let you directly consume that and absorb the energy in one go. Furthermore, you just finished that sixth tier in your mouth. I think you're breaking through realms again. Better get ready, the tribulation lightning is going to be beyond imagination. Breaking through two realms this quickly, while training in my lightning techniques... even with the sword as a conductor, just the scattered lightning may very well be enough to kill!" At that moment, the noble blood covered girl on the ground woke up and lunged for Lineir,

"You!!!!!!!"

Lineir tossed the sword directly in her path, and crouched down again, shielding his head and neck with bone scythes.

KAAAAAAAAAANG

A massive bolt of tribulation lightning shot down and blasted the sword, with the girl practically on top of it! The surging lightning wreathed the area around in thick lightning, and Lineir's forearms shook and the hair on them was singed away to leave an acrid smell of ozone and flesh. When it was over, Lineir peered over his bone scythes... the black blade was there, seemingly fine, if anything it looked illustrious and the dancing streaks of lightning inside seemed more lively and many. Around the sword though, the ground was completely blackened and charred for ten meters, and the girl was laid-out on the ground, smoldering. Tentatively, Lineir asked Mei,

"Is she dead?" Then he walked over and picked up his sword, prodding her with it. Mei analyzed for a moment,

"Mmm, it depends on exactly how strong she is, and most importantly, her resistance to lightning. She was in human form as well, that would probably lower her chances of surviving. The sword took almost all the direct impact however, Heaven's wrath is truly drawn to the sword. Her behavior before the tribulation was quite strange however. Something is clearly bothering her, I wonder why she bothered to fly all the way up here, is she seeking treasure? Hard to say, but you should get going kiddo. Dead or not, there's no benefit to being near her." As he was walking away, he couldn't resist one last prod.

"ACHHOOOO!" A vicious sneeze roared from the previously prone girl, and she began heaving deep breathes.

"Definitely not dead!" Lineir sprinted away as fast as he could, and ran and ran. No way was he going to deal with that crazy girl when she woke up. She seemed to blame everything on him, his luck was truly terrible. As he ran, he marveled at the speed he could obtain. By kicking off the ground, he could propel himself many meters forward like a gazelle, and he practically floated across the air. He soon left the girl behind.

"With any luck... She'll wake up with amnesia and forget all about me..."

Lineir was not hopeful however, recently, it seemed like nothing in life was so easy as that. At least, however, The Raging Storm Stage made him feel like he truly was a storm! Floating across the land, capable of wandering like the wind! The freedom of speed, one of the primal feelings which everyone can appreciate, was beyond enjoyable. To have crossed entire realms in such a short time, the sudden change in his body's capabilities made him feel as if he had been reborn as something greater.

"This feeling, Mei, I don't even care if I cannot fly, this speed, each of my jumps makes me feel so free!" Lineir remarked on the greatness of this change, and Mei laughed sadly,

"Yes disciple, to have directly crossed a realm like that, I can imagine the difference must be like Heaven and Earth to you. I wish I could go back to the days when I wandered the worlds searching for power and accomplishment." Mei's voice was like dripping rain, liquid and heavy with the changes wrought by time. Lineir quietly slowed down a little now that he was fairly certain he wasn't being followed. As he was about to say something to change the atmosphere, Mei spoke first,

"Kiddo, I think you need to learn a real technique. It's time I taught you a killing move!" Lineir, shocked by this change of pace, could only agree happily. Mei had been drilling him in the basics for so long, to finally say that she was going to teach him a technique was an acknowledgement of his prowess!

"What kind of move master? Will I be able to blow through enemies with one blow like that ultimate technique of yours?" Lineir excitedly asked, Mei's ultimate blow had left a deep impression on him, and no wonder, it had destroyed an undead construct which could have ended the world in one blow!

"No, no, no, your getting ahead of yourself kiddo. That kind of blow is something which took me many years to train in. You may have grown a little stronger, but a kitten is still a kitten, you cannot simply wish to have claws. No, actually, I promise that this move will have terrifying destructive power which will allow you to take down both large foes and groups of enemies at once, but there is a catch." Mei hurriedly stated the last bit before Lineir could interrupt,

"Tell me disciple, when you took down those golems, were they not far larger and stronger than you?" Lineir nodded his head.

"However, you took them apart piece by piece. This technique will be like that, you will exploit the enemy with multiple small blows, and then finish the fight with one grand strike, chaining the damage together!" Lineir noticed a contrast between this statement and the one before however,

"But Mei, didn't you say that I'd be able to take down a large foe, as well as groups of enemies with this technique? If I am chaining together a bunch of small moves to do a large strike, while that would certainly work well on a single foe, how does that work for groups?" To this, Mei simply laughed and said,

"Think about it kiddo, haven't I always told you that if you pay attention, the enemies' swords and bodies can become your swords and bodies? If you properly manipulate, as if they are one single enemy, how is that any different than fighting a single larger foe? Of course, this technique will require incredible control. I am specifically choosing to teach you this because your analytical abilities while under that madness state are too terrifying. It is as if you already know where their weak points are. Combining that analysis with my technique will allow the power to multiply and grow tenfold. Now do exactly as I say." Lineir excitedly waited for Mei's instruction, would she have him channel his energy, teach him some mystical combo, or way to imbue his sword with elemental might? The actual answer however quickly made his face fell,

"Walk. In order to train this technique you're going to need to walk a lot. You'll have to train it while we journey up this pillar. Now begin here..."

With a crestfallen expression Lineir began to trudge up the pillar once more.