It took three more days for the Fifteen Dragon Wings to return to Helios. They didn't encounter much problems in their return, besides a thick cloud of killer desert insects that nearly wiped them out. Fortunately, even though these insects were insanely dangerous, they were just helpless in front of Drake's [Wind Barrier] spell.

In fact, this encounter made Drake pretty satisfied, since one of these insects was worth half a magic crystal. After he captured 28 of them, the insect queen probably understood Drake's intentions and ran away pretty fast. Roxanne was pleasantly surprised, and the trip was pretty bountiful: 92 magic crystals in total for a week of hard work.

Even rank 2 acolytes might not make as much as this in a month!

After some thoughts, Drake gave his subordinate a much-needed break. He planned on bringing them along in the incoming expedition to the laboratory of the wandering Magus. He was currently standing in his own room in the [Fire Tavern], surrounded by an array that concealed his aura and the enormous waves of mana. This array was a one-time use tablet he bought at the market for ten magic crystals.

Although it was tremendously expensive, he didn't want to raise any suspicions from other acolytes. He was a grade 5 talent, but his growth rate was too abnormal. Reaching the second rank of the acolyte realm usually took decades, perhaps just a few years for grade 5 talent. And yet, not even half a year passed and his spirit had already reached 7.9 point, the bottleneck that many ranks 1 acolytes were stuck in.

It's not like he did anything out of the ordinary, or consumed expensive spirit-raising potions that came along troublesome side effects. It was just a result of his above-average meditation technique that allowed him to raise his spirit faster, the mana theories he thoroughly memorized and analysed as well as the benefits from continuously killing magical beasts and fighting.

The World Consciousness. At first, Drake dismissed this higher existence that was often quoted in the books he read, but after seeing himself grow this much, he could only accept its existence.

It wasn't a god or a super-powerful being, like many religions pictured it. The world consciousness was just the result of billions of beings' belief, life and death. The world was extraordinarily grand, and the continent Barnolia seemed to be nothing but a small part of it. There were many legends about the ocean being endless, though Drake's past world knowledge allowed him to adopt a cynical point of view about that.

Anyway, the World consciousness was the concrete face of the planet he lived on, a fantastic result of mana and higher energy as well as millions of years of existence. It regulated the world, and favoured some species over others, always regulating a certain form of balance. By killing the magical beasts, Drake was recognized by the world consciousness.

The strong were favoured, while the weak disappeared. It was a blind path of evolution that allowed the living beings of the world to be stronger than average. All world consciousness in the multiverse sought strength in their inhabitants, in case a higher plane ever decided to invade it.

Drake's arms were moving very slowly, and terrifying mana waves were being released from his body. The whole room he had rented was being destroyed, but fortunately the tornadoes that came off his body were being repressed by the sturdy array he had purchased.

[Beep! Host's brain is undergoing mutation..Thinking speed has increased by 12%, memory abilities increased by 24% and frontal cortex density of neurons has been multiplied 2-fold! Expected benefit: Learning speed, reflex and multitasking will be greatly enhanced]

[Beep! Host's spirit has increased by 1.6 point!]

Drake was covered in blood and in his hands, something like looked like a heart had withered.

In order to breakthrough, acolytes usually went on missions and stimulated their spirit for a breakthrough, but some people preferred to use elixirs or blood rituals for a faster breakthrough.

However, most elixirs came with a significant decrease in vitality, and Drake's goal was immortality. Unless there was no other way, he wouldn't resort to such means. Another way would be to wait and continue to meditate, but Drake had an ominous feeling about the incoming expedition, and wished to become stronger before he risked his life.

It was a fairly popular blood ritual: [Magical Beast Conversion], a rather common way to strengthen the spirit, using a high-rank magical core from a rank 2 magical beast and 64 low-grade materials. Since it was very incredibly dangerous to absorb the raw magical powers from the heart, only heirs and magus disciples used such methods to raise their spirit.

Even if the growth in spirit was quite significant, the acolytes who used such methods had to refine and cleanse their spirit later on, thus wasting most of the benefits. In the process, they might even suffer from a magical disease, or a bloodline corruption that would result in a great backlash at best, and death at worst, if a mistake occurred. High risk, few gains, not to mention the long research required before attempting it. However, many were desperate enough to go through it to improve themselves, Drake included.

But in the hands of a grade 5 talent, raising his spirit forcefully was much easier and refining the spirit proved to be less dangerous than normal. After the long ceremony, he rejoiced:

'As expected of the biochip..This is like an upgraded version of a reactive elixir, minus the side-effects!'

In fact, Drake felt more alive than ever, as if his senses had been sharpened in the ceremony. 250 magic crystals. This was the fortune he spent in this blood ritual. However, when Drake looked at his biochip's analysis, his excitement increased even more:

[Name: Drake Moonlight. Age – 16 years. Rank: Half-Grand Knight, Rank 2 Acolyte

Status: Healthy

Attributes:

Strength – 8.8 (+2.0) | Dexterity – 5.5 (+1.2) | Constitution – 8.3 (+2.0) |

Internal Energy – 19.9 | Spirit – 9.5 | Mana – 9.5

Perk: Mutated Heart (+200% base recovery rate)

Barbarian Runic Tattoo – Death Mantis (+2.0 constitution, +2.0 strength, + 1.2 dexterity)]

Skills: Enhanced Tornado Sword Art (Grand-Knight level, proficiency: Intermediate), Moonlight Shield Mastery (knight-level, proficiency: Expert), Moonlight Breathing Technique (Grand-Knight level, proficiency: Peak), horsemanship (proficiency: Peak), Original Meditation Technique (Proficiency: Peak).

Knight Killing Technique: Arclight Chop (Sword speed: 300%, [Strength*3] degrees of physical damage, 5 degrees of internal damage), Arclight Thrust (Sword Speed: 500%, [Strength*3] degrees of physical damage, plus 5 degrees of internal damage).

Spell: Wind Bindings (Deals [Spirit*2] degrees of damage over time, drain target's stamina and cripple its movements – Cost: 1 point of mana)

Wind Barrier (Absorb up to [5 + Spirit*2] degrees of damage. Cost – 2 points of mana)

Wind Blades (Summon three wind blades that deal [Spirit*3] degrees of damage upon contact at high speed. Cost – 1 point of mana)

Wind Blessing (Individual buff spell that enhanced the target's dexterity by [1] + [Spirit/10] points. Cost – 1 point of mana)

Enchanted Heavy Armour Set – Absorb up to 12 degrees of damage

Enchanted Grand Roman Shield – Absorb up to 8 degrees of magical damage, and up to 12 degrees of physical damage

Enchanted Orcish Sword – Increase sword-related damage by 30%, sharpness and odds of inflicting haemorrhage status to the victim.

Wealth – 132 magic Crystals]

Grand-knight level sword art, 4 spells that complemented his fighting style, a grade 2 enchanted heavy armour set, a grade 1 enchanted shield, a grade 2 enchanted sword as well as attributes that nearly qualified him as a grand knight. Of course, he was still far from being enough to rival a Grand Knight because there was a qualitative change between a Grand Knight's internal energy and that of a half-grand knight, yet it was enough for Drake to have confidence in his abilities.

Even if people looked down on his choices, he was now a rank 2 acolyte. A sixteen-years-old rank 2 acolyte. Furthermore, he managed to conceal this from everyone. Not even Marianne would be able to discover this hidden advancement.

There were still a few days left before he would be forced to go in the meditation. Drake thus decided to head to Magus Kayle's Tower, in a laboratory he had rented for the year. Inside, there were all kinds of organs preserved in blue and yellow solutions of ionized water, perfect conservative.

Research. All acolytes would resort to research at some point of their life. Fame, money, strength..By researching, any of these goals could be reached. Drake was not researching anything great, but he had his interests in absorbing the vitality of magical beasts, that were dozens of times stronger and sturdier than average humans.

These organs were sorted and linked to a tube that sucked the magical force. A purple liquid was dropping in an Erlenmeyer every few minutes, while Drake was taking notes. By his side, Roxanne was excited:

"You..Are you really willing to let me take credit for this discovery? It was your idea, and you could have taken any grade 2 alchemist to do it! Why would you ask for my help?", Roxanne asked.

It was too good of a deal. She signed a contract with Drake that was in her favour despite him possessing the advantage.

Ignoring her excitement, Drake only replied: "That was the deal. Do whatever with what you have found. Make a fortune out of it if you want, but remember that 30% of the profit you make will go to me. Anyway, when do you think the first three samples will be ready?"

Roxanne laughed: "They already are ready! I didn't sleep last night, and decided to surprise you!"

"Good. I shall look forward to our future cooperation, Roxanne", Drake said in an overbearing and mysterious voice.

He wasn't afraid of Roxanne at all, despite her hideous looks behind her veil, or her wicked aura. He was a rank 2 acolyte now. After making some research and using his biochip, Drake discovered a way that was likely to increase the vitality of humans dramatically: Sucking the vitality of magical beasts' organs. Drake introduced Roxanne to a variety of theories, and after guiding her for a month, the first samples were ready.

It wasn't as if potions were rare or difficult to refine. The true difficulty in an alchemist's career was to find new recipes. Recipes were monopolised by Helios, and spreading them was utterly forbidden. The cheapest potion recipes either cost hundreds of magic crystals or required extremely rare ingredients that prevented the elixirs from being mass produced.

But the vitality potion exceeded the worth of any recipe Roxanne knew, because besides a few herbs that could be bought with gold coins, the only valuable ingredients were Magical Beast's hearts. Of course, magical beasts were not something you could buy in markets, even in Helios, because they were very big and hunters just took the most valuable out of their bodies, but Drake had a dozen peak knight subordinates following him. Carrying beasts that weighed a ton was not much of a challenge.

[Vitality Potion – Grade 2 Elixir

A massive amount of mana and vitality is contained in the liquid. Drinking it will bring extreme benefits to the body.

Expected benefits: +0.5 [strength], [constitution]

Requirements: At least 4 points of [Constitution]]

The gains were small, but considering Drake's high attributes, it was a marvel that a grade 2 elixir could provide him with such boosts.

Drake drank a potion without waiting too long. There was no pain, and it was even a bit sweet.

'No wonder Roxanne got excited..It is truly a great elixir'

The deal was simple: Confidentiality, three elixirs per month for free, 30% of the benefits and Roxanne keeping the recipe to herself for the next 20 years as well as 150 magic crystals, most of which he spent for the blood ritual. The deal might seem harsh, but it was in reality very appealing to any alchemist. Finding a recipe was one of the requirements to become a certified rank 2 in the Magical Court, and probably the most difficult one.

It was more than just a title, it was a status itself, that granted authority beyond that of average rank 3 acolytes. Access to pristine equipment, restricted knowledge from Magus Kayle himself, eventual guidance from Magi themselves..Becoming a rank 2 alchemist was the dream of any alchemist in Helios.

And Drake was handing out the key requirement of it to Roxanne, for the sake of a few magic crystals, a steady source of income, as well as a supply of body-strengthening elixirs for free.

But it was worth it.

Anything that made him stronger was a good decision in his mind.

Meanwhile, Roxanne was also very satisfied: 'Fool! You may be intelligent, but handing me the credits for such an extraordinary recipe is like handing me a gold mine. The status, resource and treamtent I will receive as a rank 2 alchemist greatly surpass that of normal acolytes! After all, they are only three rank 2 alchemists in all Helios! Becoming one will instantly propel me to the higher echelons of the magical court! Haha! To think a talent like him would be blinded by immediate strength...'

However, she ignored that Drake had used this opportunity to 'guide' Roxanne to learn alchemy for free! Usually, an alchemist would need to be taught carefully, step by step, but Drake could rely on his biochip to replay the sequences he had stored in his biochip over and over again to just learn the basics. Once he practice enough, he would become an alchemist himself, not needing to pass by an intermediary like Roxanne. Fortunately, he managed to blind her sight and sharp senses with overwhelming opportunities and benefits.