Chapter 571 Late-Stage Aura King
Shortly after drawing up a general space helmet design with a list of requirements, Vaan handed it to the female Rank 5 Red Dragon.
'Thank you for your company, Emi. You may head back to the clan first and hand this design to one of the dragon lords. I still have things to do in the sea of stars.'
'Understood, Supreme Leader.'
Emi obediently complied with Vaan's instructions without hesitation despite her curiosity regarding his business in the sea of stars.
Naturally, it was for Vaan to improve his cultivation.
Shortly after Emi departed from the sea of stars, Vaan extracted another divine energy crystal from one of the few dozen asteroid pieces he previously collected.
Although he had given a portion of the divine energy crystals to Henrietta and Empyrean Scarletsea due to the value of the knowledge they provided, he still had more than plenty left for himself.
Once Vaan extracted the divine energy, he immediately circulated it inside his body according to the Heavenly Formless Dragon Art.
Since his meridians were no longer strained due to the tempering benefits of the Divine-rank Stalactite Milk, it only made sense to advance his aura cultivation first.
Empyrean Scarletsea's energy cultivation method, the True Scarletsea Divine Scripture, could wait.
Impressive as it seemed, divine energy was a limited resource; its value in Pangea couldn't even be quantified. As such, it was better to invest the divine energy in something he already had great progress in than to start something else from the beginning.
The benefit of advancing his aura cultivation by a stage outweighed breaking through the first several realms of energy cultivation.
More importantly, he needed the strain to push his body past his limits.
Ding!
<You have absorbed a large amount of divine energy>
<You have refined the divine energy with the Heavenly Formless Dragon Art (Peak-rank)>
<You have greatly improved your aura power by 495 units>
<Aura Power: 1705 → 2200>
After depleting three fist-size divine energy crystals, Vaan acquired the required amount of divine energy to reach the next stage in his aura cultivation.
…
Ding!
<Your aura power has surpassed a bottleneck>
<Your aura cultivation has advanced to the next stage>
<Mid-stage Aura King → Late-stage Aura King>
…
Ding!
<Your major meridians and blood vessels have become burdened and strained by your potent aura power>
…
Although Vaan's major meridians and blood vessels were strained by the aura power flowing through them again, it was exactly what he wanted.
Vaan swallowed a mouthful of Divine-rank Stalactite Milk from his Heaven-Swallowing Space. Then, he manipulated the Fire Law to soak himself in fire. Due to his high fire affinity, low-level flames had little effect.
Thus, he used flames capable of burning Early-stage Demigods.
Afterward, he guided a sliver of the flames into his body and ran it along his major meridians and blood vessels in tandem with his aura power.
As a result, he borrowed the triple force of vigorous aura power, Demigod-rank flames, and potency of Divine-rank Stalactite Milk to temper his major meridians and blood vessels, enhancing their toughness and elasticity.
The higher the advancement, the greater the difficulty.
Vaan began feeling the resistance of the higher physical states he wanted to reach. His limited divine-rank bloodline could only help him so far. Pushing his physical body beyond its limits required more than just resources; he also needed grit and tenacity.
As such, he gritted his teeth and endured the pain of his tempering meridians and blood vessels.
Time slowly passed, one hour after another.
The high internal temperature of Vaan's body caused sweat to ooze out of his pores, along with impurities.
…
Ding!
<You have increased your defense attribute by 100 units>
<You have improved your earth affinity by 10%>
<Earth Affinity: 70% → 80%>
…
<You have made a breakthrough in your Earth Spirit Body>
<Mid-rank Earth Spirit Body → High-rank Earth Spirit>
…
Ding!
<You have successfully tempered major meridians and blood vessels to the Late-stage Transcendent Rank>
<Your major meridians and blood vessels are no longer burdened by your rigorous aura power>
…
After the effects subsided, Vaan exhaled a small cloud of steaming-hot, foul air.
'Status!'
Ding!
=====
«Physical Attributes»
[1050 → 1150 Defense (↑100)] [Peak-level Rank 4] [1705 → 2200 Aura Power (↑495)] [Total Defense: 2755 → 3350 (↑595) (Early Demigod Rank → Middle Demigod Rank)]
[1150 → 1200 Strength (↑50)] [Peak-level Rank 4 → Low-level Rank 5] [1705 → 2200 Aura Power (↑495)] [Total Strength: 2855 → 3400 (↑ 545) (Early Demigod Rank → Middle Demigod Rank)]
[930 → 950 Speed (↑20)] [Mid-level Rank 4] [1705 → 2200 Aura Power (↑495)] [Total Speed: 2635 → 3150 (↑515) (Early Demigod Rank)]
=====
«Celestial Dragonwolf Transformation»
Effect: 50% base physical attributes increase.
[1150 → 1725 Defense (↑575)] [Peak-level Rank 4 → Mid-level Rank 5] [2200 Aura Power] [Total Defense: 3350 → 3925 (↑575) (Early Demigod Rank → Middle Demigod Rank)]
[1200 → 1800 Strength (↑600)] [Low-level Rank 5 → Mid-level Rank 5] [2200 Aura Power] [Total Strength: 3400 → 4000 (↑600) (Middle Demigod Rank → Late Demigod Rank)]
[950 → 1425 Speed (↑475)] [Mid-level Rank 4 → Low-level Rank 5] [2200 Aura Power] [Total Speed: 3150 → 3625 (↑475) (Early Demigod Rank → Middle Demigod Rank)]
Dragonwolf Scale Armament: High-level Rank 5 defensive power (Durability: 100%)
Enhanced Dragonwolf Claws: High-level Rank 5 offensive power (Durability: 100%)
=====
«Elemental Affinity»
[Earth: 70% → 80% (↑10%)]
[Wind: 13%]
[Lightning: 12%]
[Light: 30%]
[Wood: 25%]
[Fire: 80%]
=====
After seeing the significant improvements in his physical attributes, Vaan truly started to appreciate the divine-rank bloodline he possessed. It had really helped him strengthen his physical body smoothly up until this point. In the world of aura users, there was no separation between physical attributes and aura power when grading one's cultivation rank. Whether one had little physical attributes and high aura power or high physical attributes and little aura power, they would still be given the same cultivation rank due to their equal battle power.
However, it was clear that this was an outdated and incorrect grading system for aura cultivation since humans underestimated the potential of the physical body.
The potential of the physical body was not inferior to aura power. As such, now that Vaan had reached the Late-stage Aura King rank in aura cultivation, he was most likely the most accomplished aura user in the entire world of Pangea. Other so-called Late-stage Aura Kings like Emperor Reinardier wouldn't have as much aura power as he did.
'Quite a fair bit of time has passed. I should head back,' Vaan thought with a frown. It was getting harder and also taking him longer to advance.
…
…
…
Red Dragon Clan, Seventh Peak
"Lord Kemun, the Supreme Leader has instructed me to hand this to you for study and production," Emi informed the first dragon lord upon her return. "Oh?" the mention of Supreme Leader immediately caught Kemun's complete attention; he faced the young dragon elite before casually demanding, "Let me take a look then." "Yes, Lord Kemun," Emi complied. With a quick sneeze, a rolled-up paper protected inside a bubble barrier flew out of her nostril, heading straight toward the seventh dragon lord.
"Eww… Couldn't you have stored this inside of your personal subspace instead, little lady?" Lord Kemun lightly complained after accepting the rolled-up paper in mid-air with magic. "Hehe!" Emi simply chuckled. It was definitely not the response a normal young elite would give to one of the nine dragon lords unless they share a close relationship. "How is the outside world?" Kemun casually asked his daughter shortly after as he unrolled the paper with telekinetic magic and glanced at its contents. However, he didn't wait for his daughter's reply before asking with a baffled look, "What kind of design is this supposed to be?"
Naturally, the details of the design were all recorded. But usually, one could guess the general function of the design based on its drawing – or so Kemun thought.
"The Supreme Leader said this space helmet can help us breathe in the sea of stars, Father," Emi answered, behaving more seriously.
"Help us breathe in the sea of stars? This round, bubble-looking thing?" Kemun uttered with doubt and unwillingness—not because he didn't believe in the space helmet's function but because he didn't think it looked good.
If he wore such a thing, what would be the difference between his head and a magic lightbulb?
"What's the matter, Lord Kemun? You don't want to carry out the Supreme Leader's will?" the first dragon lord's voice traveled over as the being flew over. "Lord Astarot? What brings you to my peak?" Kemun frowned.
"I heard the Supreme Leader has something new for us to make, so I came to check," Lord Astarot calmly stated as a matter of fact. "You've been spying on my peak?" Kemun's expression darkened as he pondered the first dragon lord's intention. However, Astarot had nothing to hide. "Of course. I've been getting complaints from the sacred Fire Spirits that you have been bullying your contracted Fire Spirit, Lord Kemun. Naturally, I have to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't do anything that could anger Lord Flamewing," Lord Astarot stated openly with a calm demeanor.
"That little s… thing complained to other lords?" Kemun's anger almost flared up when he thought of his contracted spirit but forced himself to remain calm, albeit with some indignance. "Don't listen to that little thing. It's a natural troublemaker, Lord Astarot."
"Yeah, yeah, now let me see the Supreme Leader's design, Lord Kemun," Astarot shortly took the design paper from the seventh dragon lord and inspected it with a calm demeanor. However, his expression quickly stiffened with an odd look after he perused the details. The space helmet's function and requirements were clearly written, detailing what they had to do to complete the design on their end.
Astarot understood the need for the space helmet, but even he thought the Supreme Leader could have put a little more effort into designing the form. It was just a big round bubble.
Wearing such a big glass dome on their heads would make them look ridiculous, like clowns. And if they accidentally released their fire breath in such a closed, limited environment full of oxygen, they would definitely become a joke. "The Supreme Leader wants us to wear something that looks like this if we want to go to the sea of stars?" Astarot asked with a deep, solemn look.
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