Chapter 53 A Race Of Ascendance (1)

"10% increase? That's pretty good," Lucius whispered, looking at the insectoid with gratitude. However the insectoid wasn't having any of it and moved a few steps back for extra effect.

"No? Okay," he sighed, before calling the leaflings for a photosynthesis session.

Just like last time, he stopped at intervals of five to allow leaflings who were at their limit to leave, so as to not have them all pass out. Most leaflings got to the 20-minute mark before giving up, while the ones with more endurance got to the 30-minute mark.

It was around this time when he was beginning to feel a slight tingle, like something welling up inside of him. Someone was close to evolution, though it still felt so out of reach.

After 45 minutes, only Ghost, Hannibal and Alpha were left, and Lucius could feel that all three of them were worn out. At the 50-minute mark, Ghost called quits.

Now only two of them remained, and the feeling was becoming slightly more intense. Though their connection with him was beginning to waver, perhaps due to their exhaustion.

He made sure to stop more frequently to check up on them, however, each time he was met with the same response. "I can go on, don't worry about me." It was clear that there was a sort of rivalry between the two, neither one of them wanting to be the first to give up.

~Can they feel it too?~ Lucius wondered as he recommenced the session. He tried to pinpoint who exactly it was that was so close to evolution but was unable to. Unlike the time with Pagan, the feeling wasn't pronounced, and their link with him was practically non-existent when compared with that of Pagan's.

The two of them continued to push forward. Unfortunately, it seemed that their drive wasn't enough for them to surpass their endurance limits, as Lucius could feel the link between both of them disconnect after the 55-minute mark, and he was left alone to cultivate.

He decided to use this opportunity to test his current limits, so he carried on. He got past the 90-minute mark without issue, and eventually past the 2-hour mark.

His mind was in a completely serene state, and his connection to the outside world became clouded, almost as if he had disconnected. However this was different from the times he had passed out, this felt more natural, like floating on clouds.

He eventually got to the 150-minute mark, and his mind was beginning to feel like it was melting. Taking this as his queue to stop, he opened his eyes.

~2.2 million Helios,~ Lucius thought to himself as he got up to stretch his limbs.

He quickly allocated half of that towards Evo points and the other half to growth. It seemed that he had reached an adequate density as he was beginning to show signs of actual growth, size-wise.

He was now about the size of a large rodent, and his horns were now a little longer than his arms were -which was bound to make walking a little awkward now. His tail also had some noticeable changes, as it was now a tad longer than his entire body, and the flower at its tip was now two times larger than it had been before.

"Perfect," he whispered to himself, trying to stand up tall to see how large he was now.

If he had to be honest, he felt like a completely different species from the leaflings. At this point, he was very different from even Pagan, due to his horns and tail. But he supposed that with time everyone would grow to be this way.

"It seems everyone already left," he whispered as he went to the tent to check up on Pagan. There he found Hannibal and Alpha sleeping side by side, right next to Pagan.

"They aren't going to like this when they wake up," he laughed to himself before touching Pagan.

~When is he going to wake up?~ he pondered, before calling out his crux. He used the lesson he had learned from healing the insectoid to inspect Pagan's body.

After sending in a few pulses he got a clear image of Pagan's internal status. It was pure white, which usually meant that everything was okay, so he supposed that it was just a matter of time before Pagan woke up.

Opening his eyes he noticed that the crux had changed slightly as well. If before it was the size of a pinhead, it was now the size of a grain of sand. Its pulses felt stronger as well, allowing him to feel some parts of Hannibal and Alpha's bodies without even trying to.

~I wonder how many bodies I can inspect at once,~ he thought to himself, before sitting down and closing his eyes once more.

This time he put even more power into the pulses, timing them exactly as they spread out of the crux. He started off with just a little bit of power, trying to get a feel for exploring more than one foreign body at a time.

Once he felt a little more comfortable he put more power into it, continuously feeding it until he could feel Pagan, Alpha, and Hannibal's bodies at once.

From his little inspection, he could sense that two bodies were clouded with malicious energy, however, he couldn't discern which was which.

But knowing that both were Hannibal and Alpha, he decided to use solar cleanse on the two. He tried chanting the spell, but it didn't work. After a few more failed tries, he decided to do it manually, putting more power into the pulses so as to incinerate the malicious energy.

It worked, he could sense their bodies being cleansed. However, the toll on his mind hit him several fold what it usually would, instantly numbing his entire mind.

[Processing...]

[New spell acquired... 『Spacial Solar Cleanse』.]

[Adding 『Spacial Solar Cleanse』 to 『Solar Sorcery Index』...]

[Complete. 『Spacial Solar Cleanse』 has been added.]

"Nic-" Lucius was about to say before losing consciousness.

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