Chapter 150: Rest and Preparation
Lex and the other twelve Noble order powerhouses were doing their best to chase Erix's group, but the constantly changing scenery and abrupt influxes of Chaos monsters were hindering them more due to their big group and not enough synergy for teamwork.
Everyone had to deal with chaos monsters around them on their own while looking at the dangerous landscapes and moving forward, not caring about others.
However, Erix was fully supporting his group with Wormhole, making everyone's life easier.
The distance between them grew along with Lex's frustration.
He knew it was impossible to harm Erix and others anymore.
But this failure only fueled his obsession as he didn't intend to give up!
...
"They are far behind now," Erix said. He didn't sense any other presence behind them as they were out of his Space Map's range.
"Haha, they couldn't do anything," the brown-wolf man laughed. He looked at Erix and grimly smiled, "The damn space affinity is enviable."
The other wolf beastfolks couldn't help but nod.
"Well, not everyone has an innate affinity for space that eventually allows them to awaken it after some effort and talent," Melissa said. "But if people try and waste a lot of time to awaken it, they can do it. However...It will be hard to make progress to reach higher realms in it."
"Erix will also need more effort to advance his Space Affinity to the next realm," Melissa added as she turned to Erix.
"Who knows?" Erix shrugged and faintly smiled. "I may have a higher affinity with Space and progress faster."
'But this has definitely something to do with that curse of Babin Maw Hook,' Erix said to Rin.
'That woman gave you that special artifact to help you awaken space affinity...Does she have some special connection with us, or does she just happen to choose us by chance?' Rin wondered.
Of course, that woman gave Erix a chance to awaken space affinity because she could sense that he had a talent for it. It was up to his effort after she gave him Babin Maw Hook, and he proved her right by awakening Space Affinity.
As the group continued amidst changing landscapes, a new batch of Chaos monsters suddenly appeared.
Everyone engaged in combat without their wish or not since these monsters manifested near them and immediately attacked.
Their speed lowered, and they focused on defense and dodge before counterattacking. Erix shot a Duality Orb: Black towards a group of chaos monsters. He consumed 200 mana for a bigger range as the orb exploded into a black hole and sucked all eleven nearby chaos monsters towards it.
Rin was ready for this as she swept her blade powerfully six times for six quick lightning slashes that shredded the monsters.
After a few minutes, all fifty-six chaos monsters were wiped out before the group continued with their peak speed.
...
The group arrived before the giant checkpoint gate, their finishing line for this race.
They heaved relief internally and entered, arriving on another barren island surrounded by a barrier and suspended in outer space.
"Don't tell me the next checkpoint race is here?" Rin asked, dumbfounded.
To their left, two hundred kilometers away, was a giant burning red star. It was way smaller than the sun but a star nonetheless.
Aside from that, they could see a bunch of planets of various sizes and colors due to their distance and size, while faraway space was filled with colorful tiny lights, indicating numerous stars and planets.
"The race won't be here," Melissa said. "You can say that this is just a middle-stop. There's also no countdown since the second checkpoint race hasn't started yet."
"Maybe the race will be on one of the planets," Erix said as he looked at the exotic planets.
"Anyway, let's go shopping first and prepare our arsenal," Erix added before he closed his eyes.
They had killed a lot of chaos monsters, so they could buy a lot of skill scrolls from the shop.
Moreover, they had also collected over thirty Chaos Gadgets by destroying Chaos Beacons, though they also used many against pursuit and battle against others.
From start to end, Rin was more focused on killing, and her speed was also fast, so she had the highest amount of chaos points earned, around fourteen thousand.
Erix and Melissa earned the lowest amount of chaos points, at around seven thousand, because it was not their focus.
Meanwhile, the beastfolks were roughly similar, reaching around nine to eleven thousand.
'Rin, let's enter Limitless Plane to make some progress. I think it will still take around half an hour or more for the next race to start.'
'Good idea. We fought a lot and learned a lot, so we can improve our skills if we enter there. Alright, Let's not waste time and enter.'
The others had also sat cross-legged in meditation like that Gentle Death and others peak Noble-order powerhouses who had arrived here over an hour ago.
Rin and Erix entered Limitless Plane after closing their eyes and sitting cross-legged. Some were refining their bodies with elemental energy of their 2nd realm affinities, while some just sat in meditation.
Melissa and the others also didn't waste time idling as they sat cross-legged to do similar things.
...
Rin and Erix had yet to begin their body refining after their affinity reached the second realm, but they planned to focus on it after this event.
For now, they had to spend today's one hour on Limitless Plane and make it worth it.
In the first fifteen minutes, they refined their existing skills and improved them to utilize the full potential of their elemental powers of affinities that had reached the second realm.
Afterward, the duo decided to dig up a new addition to their spiritual art, which they had acquired recently upon awakening their Spirit Senses.
[ Amidst the storm of chaos, I remain the eye of tranquility.]
They had unlocked an additional power related to their spiritual art but hadn't had time to explore it.
"We have fifteen minutes, Rin. Let's try to decipher and comprehend what this spiritual power is about. It might increase our chances of success."
Rin nodded thoughtfully. "When I chanted this verse, I could feel my spirit force moving automatically. I think we should do that and let our spirit force move to see what it does."
"Alright. I also felt something similar," Erix nodded.
Both of them closed their eyes and started chanting this verse.
And as they did, the atmosphere around them turned chaotic, and their mind felt pressured.
'It's working....But what is it?'
Both of them were startled but kept going.
After a minute, they couldn't even sense each other's presence while their mind drifted into a chaotic world of myriad colorful storms.
The only thing they could sense was a Spirit Force pattern that was taking shape and fed to their consciousness.
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