"I would recommend against that," Yrre shook her head. "After all, the most beneficial gains you'll receive from returning will only serve to solidify your foundation after each major breakthrough in your cultivation."

Much to Elizabeth's irritation, Yrre took to gazing merrily through the Cloudrain Sector as she concluded, "The only reason I neglected to bring this topic until now, was to make sure that your Cultivation Base was properly consolidated."

Then as if it were of a trivial nature, she commented, "Oh, and attaining a decent Understanding of Water was a nice addition as well."

"Tsk, tsk," Elizabeth vented her annoyance with a glare before she disregarded Yrre to announce, "Alrighty then. Change of plans everyone." Though to those listening closely, Elizabeth could be faintly heard saying "again" with simmering internal fury.

"I'm going to make an interdimensional trip to pick up a friend," She said, before literally fading out of existence with the activation of her Gateway Time Art.

…

After materializing in her personal suite within the j.a.panese Beach Resort she had used to train her Mage Apprentices, Elizabeth chanted, "Detect," to activate her self-created Spell, Ripple Sonar. Since at its lowest output, the Skill's range covered the entirety of the Beach Resort and then some, Elizabeth used a negligible amount of s.p.a.ce True Qi to scan for Jane's position.

Unfortunately, though she picked up various signatures from her scan, no one was in Jane's room. Thus, Elizabeth left to ask where she had gone.

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As she made her way through the halls of the Beach Resort, Elizabeth smiled contently in knowing that the overwhelming majority of her apprentices were still hard at work, cultivating as they did when she was there to coach them personally.

Upon reaching the beachfront, Elizabeth went up to the closest apprentice she could find and unintentionally scared the boy half to death.

"M-master!" It amused Elizabeth to no end that a man almost five years her senior nearly fell on his back at the mere sight of her form.

"Relax, Samuel," Elizabeth said. She waved her hands dismissively before her gaze sharpened. Continuing, "Seems you've been cultivating hard. You're almost at the Peak Phase of the Mage Warrior Stage."

"Master's praise is too much," Samuel lowered his head, despite the smile on his face. "Compared to Brother Jasper, I'm nothing special."

"Don't play down your talent," Elizabeth sighed helplessly as she continued, "Unlike with Jasper, I couldn't impart a proper Cultivation Method to you."

Unfortunately, like most of her apprentices, Samuel was part of the group that had an affinity for an Energy Elizabeth didn't cultivate. Unlike Jasper who could make use of Elizabeth's Darkyin Cultivation Method, Samuel had to do by meditating under the mantras of Martial Cultivation Methods.

"Fortunately," Elizabeth continued as she smirked, "I might just be able to give you some tips now."

Coincidentally, Samuel happened to be the Water Mage Apprentice she had accepted. She might still be unable to provide a cultivation method for him, but at the very least, her Understanding of Water might lend some use.

"Show me your cultivation method," she said.

She took the Jade Slip he provided, looked over it, and ran a Status check before the smirk on her face intensified.

[Status

Name: Seven Streams Cultivation Method

Grade: A

Description: An advanced Mortal Realm Martial Cultivation Method. Cultivating with this Cultivation Method will guide Pract.i.tioners all the up to the peak of the Martial King Stage. It can increase one's Water Affinity to Mediocre Tier, but due to the various incongruencies between the mantras and channeling routes of Inner Strength, the Cultivation Method remains fundamentally incomplete.]

Elizabeth produced a blank Jade Slip of her own before she started writing a revised version of the Seven Streams Cultivation Method. This being the second time she had done this, it amused her that the process this time was ant.i.thetical to her first time.

Unlike Jane's case, where the process more consisted of Elizabeth reconfiguring the channeling route of her 'Cultivation Method,' the Seven Streams' Cultivation Method was better benefited by Elizabeth's revised mantras. Before she had started training her Mage Apprentices, she had already revised all the channeling routes in their Cultivation Methods, anyway.

With Elizabeth's 55% Rudimentary Understanding Value of Water, any Mortal Grade Water Cultivation Method she came across could theoretically be revised to achieve a Grade of SSS. As expected, after she finished rewriting the cultivation method, a Status Check showed a veritable improvement.

[Status

Name: Elizabeth's Revised Seven Streams Cultivation Method

Grade: SSS+

Description: Revised from a Grade A Water Cultivation Method, the mantras of the Cultivation Method in this Jade Slip may guide Mage Pract.i.tioners of Water to the Spirit Realm.]

Elizabeth handed Samuel the Jade Slip and asked, "Anyway, do you know where Jane went?"

"Thank you, Master Elizabeth," Samuel bowed, stowing the Jade Slip away as he continued saying, "As for Miss Jane, I believe that yesterday she and Master's brother Liam left to take care of some business in Miami."

'Great,' Elizabeth snorted, 'Now I have to make a trip across the world.'

However, for as annoyed as she was about having yet another interruption come between her and getting stronger in the face of the increasingly intense Cataclysm, Elizabeth understood that something rather important had to have come up for both Jane and Liam to leave cultivating under the influence of her Supreme Duality Spirit Vein.

Upon further consideration, Elizabeth recalled that aside from Jane, when she had used her Ripple Sonar Spell, she hadn't picked either Liam or Tristan either.

Feeling like a conspiracy was brewing behind the scenes, Elizabeth asked, "And Tristan?"

"He left almost a week ago to acquire more resources for his research in Enchantments."

With a look of fervent respect, Samuel continued, "After Mister Tristan broke through to the legendary Spirit Realm, he offered us Mage Apprentices most of his Mortal Grade Enchanted Talismans. He mentioned that it was something about repaying Master's grat.i.tude and then left to get higher grade materials to work with."

"Hmm, that does seem like something he'd do," Elizabeth muttered to herself.

She considered where to go from there before saying, "Thanks for the information. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go now."

After Samuel bowed to her and the two exchanged goodbyes, Samuel was once more startled to see Elizabeth's form begin to blend in with the surrounding s.p.a.ce until she was completely invisible.

Moments later, Elizabeth was shooting through the skies of the Pacific Ocean like an invisible hypersonic missile. Under the effect of her s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+fting Skill, nothing could detect her as she flew at her highest base speed for the first time after breaking through to the Transcendent Foundation Stage.

It wouldn't be long before the familiar western United States coast came into sight. Though just as quickly as it came into view, Elizabeth soared past it. Within minutes she crossed the Gulf of Mexico and upon entering Floridian territory, it would take seconds for her to navigate her way over to Miami.

After returning to the city she could call her hometown, Elizabeth knew exactly where to go to ask about Jane's whereabouts. She would only release the effects of her s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+fting Skill when the familiar neon red sign that spelled "Atid's Dojo" came into view.

Walking into the Dojo she had once claimed as a temporary home, Elizabeth felt a bit nostalgic. Her last visit might have been as recent as a couple weeks ago, but considering all the action and adventure she had seen since leaving for the Martial Tournament, to her it felt like several years.

"Is that Martial Apprentice Sister Elizabeth?" A voice belonging to a man staring at Elizabeth in utter bemus.e.m.e.nt spoke from the Dojo's training area.

"Holy s.h.i.+t, it really is her!" Another said.

"What?! The 'Demon' Phenom of the Martial Tournament who won six t.i.tles? That Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth shrunk a couple steps away from the horde of people that nearly overran one another to get a better look at her. She cringed in apprehension as a piece of her subconscious preferred being buried in a hole to staying in her current position.

"Hey," a calm yet piercing voice prompted all the dojo disciples to stop in their tracks. "Don't overcrowd her like that. It more than breaks etiquette to parade around like that before a Spirit Realm Elder, nevermind Ellie, whose status before breaking through exceeded that of the Dojo Master."

Recognizing the voice, Elizabeth's eyes brightened. "Sophie?"

Sophie, Elizabeth's once-antagonist rival-like peer at Atid's Dojo, made the surprising move of actually showing Elizabeth some respect. With a bow, Sophie could only helplessly smile as she said, "Welcome back, S-senior Apprentice Sister."

With the way she had treated Elizabeth before her meteoric rise in the Martial Tournament, Sophie could only pray that her Senior Apprentice Sister would let bygones be bygones. Luckily for her, Elizabeth liked to live in the moment. Having saved her from the crowd, Sophie was warmly received by Elizabeth.

Waving her hand dismissively as she heaved a sigh of relief, Elizabeth said, "Cut it with that 'Senior Apprentice' nonsense, we're both at the same level of Cultivation."

Though she hadn't lied, anyone who had even heard of the rumors about her performance at the Martial Tournament knew Elizabeth was obscuring the truth.

Truthfully, both Sophie and Elizabeth were Transcendent Foundation Stage Cultivators. Technically, Sophie outranked Elizabeth as her Status marked her as Level 32 whereas Elizabeth was still at the bare minimum Level 31. However, combat-wise and with regards to overall potential, Sophie wasn't even in the same league as Elizabeth.

Sophie donned a heartfelt smile after hearing Elizabeth's response. Though concealed within a bit of grief was evident as she thought, 'How different would things have been if I hadn't been so stuck up when we had met…'

She shook the depressive thoughts from her head, as she asked Elizabeth, "You must either be looking for Atid or Jane, right?"

"Right," Elizabeth taciturnly responded. She was more than a bit uncomfortable with the room full of dojo disciples still eyeing her as if she would magically disappear at any moment.

"Well, the situation became a bit complex, so it'll take a little bit to explain. Would you like some tea and snacks while I start from the very beginning?"

After Elizabeth agreed, she and Sophie moved up to the second floor. The nostalgia Elizabeth felt quickly returned as she took a familiar route through the halls of the residential area of the dojo and found herself in the communal kitchen.

Sophie made her a decent cup of green tea and brought over a plate of rice cakes before she started, "Now, while it was only very recently that any big moves were made, I guess this all started right after the Martial Tournament…"