"Alright," Austin finally relented, sighing. "I'll give you everything you want."
Since the gnome was a huge help to him, Austin would satisfy all his demands. He supposed it was the least he could do to repay the gnome for all the assistance he was giving.
Suddenly, with a stirring in the air, the gnome materialized in the empty land.
He stretched out his paws, suspending them in the air as though he was preparing for something to come.
He then waved them and sent out a gentle energy. Over three hundred spatio-temporal crystals wrapped by the energy flew away from Austin's side and surrounded the gnome.
"I'm going to practice for the breakthrough," said the gnome to Austin, "so please guard me as I do so."
As he looked right into Austin's eyes, his gaze was full of determination. The gnome knew perfectly well that he really should achieve the breakthrough this time. With the spatio-temporal crystal, he knew he could do it.
At his words, Austin nodded his head and stepped aside. He then fled away, immediately appearing in an empty clearing off the wood, protecting the gnome from afar.
Of course, he had to leave enough space for the gnome to practice, as the breakthrough had to be done in a completely quiet environment.
For a while, the wood was completely silent. Not a single sound could be heard, and it was so quiet that one could hear even a pin drop.
Then, all of a sudden, the wood began to stir—the trees waved and rolled as a powerful force began to emerge from within. Like an unseen dragon, it coursed through the wood so strongly that all the nearby rocks and hills began to quake.
The dramatic movement made the air whirl, creating storms of sand and rocks. Overhead, the sky darkened as though night had fallen.
The wood roared desperately like this for approximately two hours, After a long while, it began to ease and finally regain its former pe
rough definitely came as a surprise," said the gnome, looking down at his hands as he spoke.
"I managed to awaken about seventy percent of my blood power in this practice in a direct way to the current high level.
It has saved me too much energy.
I think my current demonic power is equal to that of a human warrior at the Emperor Realm level.
In a real fight, though, I think I can defeat even a human warrior at the medium stage of Emperor Realm with no difficulty.
As for warriors at the premium stage of Emperor Realm... Well, I can at least fight for several rounds if I try my best.
I can use spatial power very well, after all. So it's impossible for ordinary warriors to kill me." As he finished his explanation, an elated expression appeared on the gnome's face.
He definitely seemed quite confident in his strength now.
"What?!" exclaimed Austin, his eyes widening in surprise. "You've gained so much power after one breakthrough... That's amazing!"
He was so startled at the gnome's words that he couldn't help the way he reacted.
It had gone completely beyond all his expectations that the gnome was able to improve his power to the level equal to a human warrior at the preliminary stage of Emperor Realm with just one breakthrough.