Chapter 105 - Rest

Isaias exited the door of the adventurer guild. Having the storytelling took time and a toll on his energy. Joan was in the driver's seat and was just whistling for a while. Isaias arrived and he pats Joan on the shoulders.

"We should eat first. It has been a while and we haven't eaten yet," Isaias said to Joan.

Joan then followed after him. They arrived at the street of food and was a busy lane. Many lanterns were hanged on the street and the stalls were brightly lit by them.

The mood was very festive as the sun has set. Variety of foods were seen, from seafood, meat, or other foods that were never seen by Joan before. Joan's curiosity has risen and wanted to stare at these delicacies.. He held tight for now and will eat all of them if he earned them from his adventurer life.

Joan's happiness was then cut short. The two was being stared at by other people as Isaias was popular. Also, Joan felt annoyed by it, he couldn't have a time of peace when he was accompanying Isaias. Even though Joan disliked it, he saw a child approach Isaias and gave him a flower. Her parents then grabbed her and Isaias gladly patted her head. Making Joan feel a warmth inside.

The lights were all made of lanterns and Isaias together with Joan, entered a humble stall of food.

"Isaias, your popularity gets into my nerves. It was sometimes beneficial but it does more harm to me. You should change your face or something, can you do it?" Joan asked.

"Hahaha, I can't Joan. Let me buy the food for you in return. I want to pay at least for all the troubles that I made for you," Isaias said to him.

"Tsk, okay okay. Let me chose what to eat then." Joan can only click his tongue.

They ordered grilled chicken legs and a chicken broth. Eating while being silent for a while. Time sure flies by and they finished eating. They went back to the carriage and fed Priscilla with water and carrots. She ate it happily and was neighing.

It was dusk at that time and the sky was getting red. The surroundings were getting darker and darker after the sun has set. Making Joan and Isaias find an inn first before it gets dark. Being the capital, it has many inns located inside it. Every street has those and it was a convenient one for the visitors of the capital.

They arrived at one of the inns and checked in there. An inn made of hardwood but it was cosy inside. The temperature changed from the cold outside to warm after stepping inside. Many candles were placed from here and there and it gave a sight to see. Magnificent into Joan's eyes. Seeing its simplicity but was calming to Joan. Such a shallowed happiness such as him.

Climbing the stairs of the inn made of wood, they went to their room and rested on the bed. Joan immediately washed on the bath and wore his sleeping clothes. Isaias washed too and Joan didn't waste his time and cultivated his mana well.

Absorbing mana towards his mana core, he was sitting crossed legs on the bed. Isaias was surprised at him being diligent in his cultivation. Isaias didn't disturb him and just slept early this time. He was excited to sleep as he was tired from the whole day of activity.

Joan was cultivating for hours and absorbing mana for the surrounding area. He was perspiring due to hours of cultivating. Making impurities inside him come out from his pores. He managed to break through to the eighth stage earth realm.

After breaking through he saw that Isaias was sleeping. Still, he was not contented on his current stage. Walking on the eating place of the inn, he saw that the innkeeper was still awake. Asking for a cup of water, Joan was handed a wooden cup filled with it.

Other people were still awake and drinking, they were drunkards who were still talking about their adventures and Joan can hear their loud voices and giggles. Other drunkards were sleeping on the floor with still their cups being held.

Joan then went upstairs and entered his room. Joan resumed his cultivation for a further breakthrough. He resumed cultivating until morning.

Isaias woke up as he was struck by the sunlight coming from the window. All he could do was cover his eyes with his hands and groan in the process. As he scanned his surroundings, he saw Joan sitting on crossed legs. Mana was seeping out of his skin and he was absorbing at a greater speed than before.

He squinted his eyes as he can't believe what his eyes were seeing. Isaias felt that Joan was emanating a different aura from before.

"Sky stage? How?" Isaias uttered in great disbelief, all he could do was stare at Joan's imagery. It felt like all the mana in the surrounding area was sucked dry by this being. Almost all the mana has been absorbed in a hundred-meter radius. It was also possible that it was more than that and has sucked a kilometre radius.

Joan was just silent and Isaias wanted to smack him on the head.

"Answer, you idiot!" Isaias shouted.

Joan then woke up from a deep slumber and peeped at Isaias with his left eye. Right still closed and then he smiled.

"What? Oh, how I managed it? Well you see, when you cultivated on the peek bottomless realm, you will get used to how hard it is as you will have no limits. Only expanding and expanding your mana well. The more your mana well is expanded, the harder it is to cultivate. So such a trifling earth realm is just an ant compared to a giant. You can also compare it to a proverb of a frog in the well," Joan explained.

"Ah I see, so you can absorb greater speed if you trained yourself in the limitless realm," Isaias said to him, stroking his beard.

"Yes, I can also absorb in greater speed but my mana core will explode as it will be overburdened or overloaded. It has to be at the exact speed so as not to hasten it. This is by far my speed limit so I have to prepare for another round of cultivation," Joan said to him.

"Let's go, we have to travel to the Tomb of Affliction. But first, we have to eat," Isaias said to Joan, packing his bag.

"Okay, let's go!" Joan replied.