Chapter 421 Going Smoothly
As soon as I was sitting down, everyone started to "consume" the god-level essence crystals in their hands. Since the energy within each crystal was enough to level them up several times, the 5th-stage ones, Fina, Judy, and Yorm, were having much difficulty.
In the end, they failed to absorb it fully and failed after extracting roughly 50% of the god-level essence crystal.
"UGH!"
Even though it was just half, the feedback was still a great deal. Enough that I almost triggered the combination of flames just to hold on. Fortunately, it wasn't bad enough to require such drastic measures. I only had to endure the pain and quietly absorb the energy from the feedback.
As I completed the absorbing process, reverse feedback from me to the girls occurred, strengthening everyone simultaneously.
"That hurts like hell..."
I couldn't help but mutter. It was barely a complete absorption, but it already took my full attention just to make sure that my body didn't explode.
As I expected, the feedback increased my power level, reaching the limit of the 8th stage in terms of energy alone. However, I feel like my body has yet to reach 9th-stage strength. It was as if I were just a step away from it, but there was a cliff separating my current position and the next step.
"So this is the bottleneck of the 8th stage...!"
I began to wonder how the other 9th stages overcame this. Turning to Igni, she was focused on absorbing the energy from her essence crystal, a fraction at a time, and letting it settle within her body. She was going slow, as I told her, but isn't that a little too slow?
"Fina, Judy, and Yorm. You three should stabilize for a few days first. As soon as you feel like you have your energy under control, try breaking through one more time!"
At this juncture, enhancing everyone as much as possible was the main priority. If we can all reach the 9th stage, then that's great. If one miraculously reaches god-level, then that's even better!
However, judging from how everyone was having difficulty holding back their evolution, I guess the plan wouldn't go as well as I predicted.
It was three days after that when the next one finally had to evolve. It was Fatima!
Despite being the one with the lowest level, she's the first to absorb the essence crystal's energy completely!
"Be careful, Will! I think this will be painful for you!"
Fatima warned, but I was ready for it long ago. Pain? Bring it on! I'm accustomed to pain!
Fatima began to evolve to the 5th stage, and the feedback began. However, it was more intense than I expected!
"U-UGH! AAAARGH!"
Despite my being accustomed to extreme pain by this point, the energy from the feedback made me scream in misery. It felt like my body was on fire while my insides were freezing to absolute zero. The energy, about 90% of the god-level essence crystal, rampaged within my body.
Blood began to seep from my eyes and ears, but I held on. It wasn't time yet to use my Trump card... I can still hold on!
The few minutes after that felt like an eternity. The pain, instead of fading, started to feel worse after some time. There were moments when I felt like giving up and taking the easy way out, using the combination flames, but I held on.
Cheating my way out here would just mean I'm wasting chances to become more powerful. Furthermore, saving my karma for later would probably be for the best.
Even though I'm technically suffering from a minor Energy Overload, I was holding on through sheer will.
After my suffering, an uplifting feeling waited for me. My energy rose to levels higher than even the top 8th-stage tamers. Right now, I should be equivalent to a mid-ranked 9th-stage tamer!
However, as expected, my body has yet to experience the change of rank. Though I'm sure the gap had shortened by a bit, just not enough to gain a true transformation.
After that, during the fifth day, Ember, Fang, Minerva, and Hekate all evolved at the same time. That... was the point where I couldn't avoid using the combination flames anymore.
As expected, four simultaneous capped-out evolutions were just more than I could handle.
"Master!"
"Leader!"
""Sir Will!""
The four of them raised worried cries. And although I could hear them, I had to focus all my attention on circulating the violently rampaging energy inside me. I could feel the energy breaking my muscles and bones, even my internal organs, literally destroying me from the inside.
Before it could get any worse, without even absorbing half of the feedback energy, I used the combination flames and quickly neutralized the rampaging energy. Wasting them by reversing the balance of the flames, letting the Flame of Regression's effect take over.
In seconds, I regained control and quickly turned off the flames. Although they were active for only a few seconds, my bad karma was almost used up, while my good karma was reduced by a quarter.
Ember ran to my side, healing my internal injuries in a flash. Although I was thinking of using a potion or something, getting her to heal me was fine in its own way.
"Thanks, Ember."
I patted her head as a gesture of thanks before turning to the last one. Now, only Igni was left, who had yet to complete one rank up. Like last time, back in Namia's God Territory, Igni was absorbing the energy of the Essence Crystal slowly. At this rate, it might take her a few more days to complete it.
Oh, by the way, the system message echoed about unlocking a few new features. They were the Breakthrough, Potential Awakening, Realignment, and Forced Cooldown. Each seemed useful in its own right, but the last one especially caught my attention. That is definitely something I'd need!
Day 17.
Fina, Judy, and Yorm, along with Fatima, finally stabilized their energies. With that, they could now begin challenging the next stage. Although they should've been at the 5th to 6th stage, the energy they were releasing was equivalent to the late 7th or early 8th stage already. I guess we overdid it a little...
On day 25, when half of our designated time was used up, Fatima broke through once more. As expected of a former god-
level, should I say? She was able to easily absorb and integrate the energy she collected.
She used up her second God-level essence crystal and drained it to empty!
This time, the feedback from her was a little bit more bearable. Was it due to my body getting accustomed to the extreme amount of energy since the beginning? Or is my body adapting to it? Either way, it works well for me, saving me from using my now scarce Karma.
A problem, however, was that while I was in the middle of stabilizing the feedback from Fatima, Igni's body began to shine.
"Igni...!"
She... is reaching the 9th stage!
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