Chapter 850 - Upgrade

He had been expecting and patiently waiting for this moment of breakthrough to happen ever since his rank 8 upgrade that led to his dual core. Hence, now that he was at such a crucial stage of his cultivation, Emery would definitely not be stupid enough to risk the failure of this long-awaited occasion for a mere extra 5 Spirit Foundation Pill. It was simply not worth it.

Either way, he was sure he still had time to take on another challenge after he had managed to resolve whatever was happening to him now. Making up his decision, Emery immediately fiddled with the privileged class bracelet he was wearing and looked for the option he was looking for.

[Are you sure you want to admit defeat to the duel?]

Emery didn't need a second to think, as he had already made up his mind.

"Yes"

[Rank 21 - Emery Ambrose (20)]

With this, Emery's ranking went down and made him drop out of the top 20. However, he didn't really mind it and continued to focus on his cultivation. It seemed Emery was determined to break through to rank 9 whatever it took.

Breaking through rank 8 and entering rank 9 was one of the major upgrades to one's cultivation, as rank 9 was the last stage one had to go through before stepping into the esteemed Magus realm.

Rank 9 was the pinnacle one reached after they went through the gathering of spirit force and acquired an adept understanding of elements they had affinity with. At the same time, it was also the stage to solidify the foundations that had been accumulated and prepare them for the creation of a home for the soul.

This was the theory Emery had learned from the class he attended at the academy, and it was supposed to be something quite straightforward. Simply put, one just had to reach the required amount of spirit force and consolidate that spirit force into a foundation to the next stage.

That was exactly what Emery had been trying to do, but it had been 7 entire days and 45 Spirit Foundation Pills consumed and there was still only a build-up of energy within his two cores, not a foundation whatsoever.

In fact, the build-up had been going on ever since he met the Arbor master and gained a new understanding of the nature element from the other party. There was also that time when he upgraded his bloodline to Rank 6 Fey Warlock, but even that advancement still didn't allow him to make a breakthrough.

Emery's body was constantly sweating, he felt as if his blood was boiling and his heart was beating as fast as a galloping horse. His two cores seemed to be at their maximum limit. However, he still couldn't make the breakthrough he so desperately desired.

At this point, Emery knew he had to find, or even invent, a different way for him to achieve a breakthrough. After all, his condition was far from what was considered normal compared to the other acolytes.

His mind went to work immediately, thinking and theorizing about possible methods to solve this dilemma of his. Since he had two spirit cores instead of one like everyone else, the first thought that came into Emery's mind was not to simultaneously push his two cores to breakthrough, but instead do one at a time.

'Not that's not it.'

Emery quickly threw the idea out of his mind, because he could immediately feel every fiber of his being rejecting the idea.

Then, after further thought, Emery thought that theoretically, breaking through just one of them would shatter the fragile balance between the two cores and instantly destroy the bridge Emery had been trying so hard to build and maintain for so long.

'...bridge? Yes, the bridge! That should be the key!'

The last time Emery successfully reformed and strengthened the bridge that connected his nature core with his dark core was from ten-to-one ratio into the almost ideal two-to-one ratio. It was only possible because of his breakthrough to the stage 5 of the [Dao Divine Technique].

He wondered if this was really the solution for him solving his dilemma - to balance out the imbalance between the two cores once and for all.

Eventually, realizing there wasn't any other way he could think of, Emery decided to just try it. He stopped circulating [Nature Grasp] and began to channel his spirit force through the [Dao Divine Technique] manual instead.

While still sitting in lotus position, Emery's arms started flowing into the form of [Dao Divine Technique - stage 6] and his mouth began to chant the verses written in the manual.

Diving deep into his body, he focused on bridging the two cores that were currently revolving at high speed, hoping to reform and strengthen the bridge between the two to the next level - the ideal one-to-one ratio.

Once again, Emery's mind submerged into a trance-like state, focusing on the balance of things and how everything continually repeated in life: day and night took over each other's position, soft and hard transition between all things, light and dark that couldn't exist without each other.

It took him hours to control, before, finally, he could feel the spirit energy between the two cores started to flow into the bridge, alternating between them - dark core to nature core and vice versa.

At this point, Emery knew he was onto something and just needed to finally release the energy of the two into the bridge. However, the two energies were the complete opposite of one and another. When they meet, they quickly start to pull and push each other.

All the accumulation Emery had accumulated on the Dao was consolidation into the current situation in hand, where the two energies tried to balance their strength to each other and find the perfect equilibrium between them.

Pulling and pushing.

Until they reached a perfect state of stability.

BOOM!

[Dao Divine Technique - stage 6]

In an instant, Emery felt the bridge between the two cores crumble down. However, he didn't panic, as he also felt the distance between the two of them getting shorter by the second.

Eventually, the two cores touched each other and they started holding onto each other, like two sides of a coin, positive and negative, which were antithesis of each other yet could be stuck with one another, like the north pole and south pole of Earth that attracted each other.

Two foundations were being created opposite one another; top and bottom, side by side.

It finally spun around, creating the most powerful burst of spirit power Emery had ever felt.

BOOOMM!!!

[You have successfully created your spirit foundation]

[You have just broken through to rank 9]

A smile crept its way to Emery's face, when he saw that his gamble paid off. However, when he thought that everything was over, he suddenly felt a strong deluge of energy emerge from within his newly-established foundation.

It immediately bursted out from its hidden lair and stormed the two foundations, forming into pillars. And, it was not just one.