29 Avelin's Breakthrough

[Advanced to 5th Stage Mortal Realm]

[Gained 2 Strength, 1 Endurance]

Finally...

After a whole night and the whole morning. I finally filled up the necessary Brute Energy completing the nourishment of my whole body. From Skin to Muscles to Bones and lastly to my Inner Organs.

My five senses also improved after reaching the 5th Stage Mortal Realm.

I looked at my stats and smiled from how it changed after a week of staying in this world. And it's not only me who experienced growth. If I calculate it, Yuko and Raiden experienced an average of 13 growth in strength and 10 in endurance.

I feel bad for my 9 strength and 4.5 endurance growth from raising my Physique Cultivation from Pre-mortal to 5th Stage Mortal Realm.

Well, their growth also meant my growth. They're giving me 10% of their average stats through my system. Now I'm more thankful for this. If I really got either Knight or Wizard, there will be no sweet stat bonus like this one.

[Physique Cultivation: 5th Stage Mortal Realm (0%)

Strength: 10.4(17.0)

Endurance: 6.2(11.2)

Intelligence: 3.1(3.2)]

I feel like I can now defeat an average 1st Stage Augmented Realm with these stats. And well, that is to say, I can now defeat Avelin. But I won't show it to her yet, she might become discouraged. I want her to reach Augmented Realm soon.

I didn't have many chances back at Yuko's Otherworld because we were immediately thrown to travelling to the Western Border and our stay ended in just 5 days.

Here, it's already more than a week and there's still no indication of our return. Well, the war against the whole tribe hasn't been resolved yet.

As soon as I broke through to the 5th Stage, someone entered my tent.

"What the?! You monster. Did you not sleep at all just to reach the 5th stage?"

Erin was startled at my appearance. She detected the change but she was more surprised at my state.

I'm too tired to answer her. Staying up all night and concentrating to quickly reach the 5th stage exhausted me.

If I close my eyes, I know I'll fall asleep. But yeah, I have that skill.

I put my hand on my head and immediately used Psyche Boost.

My mind instantly refreshed, but only my mind. My body is too weak to stand up.

I'm hungry.

"What happened?"

Then Avelin appeared next, on her arms is a plate of barbecued beast meat.

Smelling the scent of it immediately made me drool.

"Go and feed this monster. I'll watch outside. We have to go before it gets dark. We'll be moving in a large group, someone or something might spot us."

Erin clicked her tongue and left my tent.

She's right. When we were travelling here, there's only the two of us. Even if we were chased by some wild beast, it was easy for us to shake it off.

Avelin immediately went to my side and served me the food.

"Thank you…"

That's the only thing that I said before I gobbled up the food she brought until I'm full.

I fell back to my bed after eating but Avelin let me use her lap as a pillow.

Well, since she's offering I didn't reject and rested my head on her lap.

Even with the temporary relief from Psyche Boost, I really need to at least rest my mind and body.

I don't know how long I was asleep but it was Erin's annoyed face who greeted me. Somehow, she became my lap pillow at some point.

"Until when will you sleep? You're the only one we're waiting for, you monster."

"How long was I asleep?"

"2 hours."

"I see. Thanks for the lap pillow, Erin. It was comfortable."

"You owe me again."

"I know. List it somewhere and present it to me 2 years from now."

Now I'm using that 2 years to deter her. Well, I will also wait until that time. There's no way they will come first before Yuko. If I can influence their growth to become a prominent character here in this world then it's good.

Erin isn't that much older than Avelin but she's now sitting at 4th Stage Augmented Realm. It won't be long before she reaches the Saint Realm. If there's a genius in this world then it's her.

Avelin is a different kind. She'll encounter fortuitous events that will lead her to grow stronger on par with this genius. She's lucky to that extent which explains how she acquired the Orb. Her latest fortuitous encounter was meeting me.

I don't know if this is right but I had this hunch that it will certainly happen. When I leave this world with Raiden, I'll ask her or the Old Man to look after Avelin and her tribe. They will be absorbed into the Heavenly Lightning Clan so starting today after we leave, Whiteshade Tribe will no longer exist.

When we went out of the tent, Avelin and her tribesmen were already packed up, with their mounts on their side.

At least they kept mounts on their pens enough for everyone. There are even excesses which will travel alongside us. They're already domesticated so they can be also used as a scout or any other purposes a Desolate Wolf can do.

Our mounts that were used for coming here were also taken care of by her tribesmen. That meant we're all set to go.

I looked at them and there were hints of sadness on their faces, even Avelin.

This is where they lived for years. Of course, leaving it behind will make them sad. But it's inevitable if they want to live on.

No more delays happened after that, after mounting our wolves, the journey back to the Heavenly Lightning Tribe started.

It took us half a day on our first trip here, now that we're coming back and with a larger group, it will take longer.

6 hours later we stopped to rest and to let the night pass. It's more dangerous to travel when it's dark.

Luckily, we found a cavern where we can take shelter from. It's a bit cramped but I guess this is better than nothing.

I'm progressing steadily in this world. Even my Basic Sword Mastery is already on the verge of upgrading. My system grew from 87% to 98%. A little more and it will finally reach level 3.  It will open up another slot for a hero which will then increase the bonus stats I get from them to 15%.

If I listed all 30 heroes, it would grow up to 150%, right? That sounds like a cheat, no, this system is a cheat. In the end, I'll get more stats than them. But yeah the restriction is I have to continue leveling up this system. It will be impossible to list all of them if it's slow at leveling up or upgrading.

Erin chose to be the lookout for the first 3 hours. It's best to be cautious in a land like this. Tribes were formed because of how these barbarians banded together to drive out wild beasts after all. They're far more numerous than barbarians.

I used the time we were resting to finally start at charging for the Augmented Realm. Avelin at my side also started doing that.

I watched her try her best to condense the Brute Energy.

Well, let's help her a bit. This will be another line on her list of fortuitous encounters.

Using my control of Brute Energy, I concentrated it around her. If I sent an already condensed Brute Energy, it will possibly overwhelm her and will just result in a negative effect. Helping her externally like this is enough.

Now that they left the confines of their small tribe and the danger lurking around it, she started to release the tension she built up.

Soon, I can feel the concentration of Brute Energy around her is continuously being sucked into her own body.

I continue controlling the Brute Energy replenishing the concentration of it to help her achieve the necessary amount for the breakthrough.

I can only help her with this part. The part where she needs to create her own Augmented Skill is all on her.

I wonder what she will create. Will it be like Erin's? Well, it all depends on her.

When the concentration of Brute Energy around her became stable, I stopped. It meant she already condensed the necessary amount.

She's now at that critical stage. Failure means the condensed energy will be dispersed and she can try again. If she's successful, her body will become stronger and she will enter the ranks of Augmented Realm experts. It's a step towards becoming a real powerhouse.

A few minutes later, a surge of energy was dispersed from Avelin's position that it startled even the sleeping tribesmen.

Did it fail?

[Ding! Support Character System leveled up.]

[Added 1 slot for Supported List]

[Added 0.1 Bonus stats for Support Bonus]

[Gained 0.4 Strength and Endurance, 0.2 Intelligence]

[Skill and Spell cooldowns reduced by 0.1 for every 3 seconds.]

No. She succeeded. And what I did count as supporting which gave me the necessary experience to level up my system.

I looked closely at her and saw a smile hanging on her lips.

The aura she was exerting underwent a change. From Mortal Realm, she finally stepped into the Augmented Realm.

That surge of energy wasn't from the dispersion because of failure.

When she opened her eyes, she jumped and hugged me.

"Thank you!"

"Why are you thanking me?"

She's happily snuggling me that her tribesmen have no choice but to avert their gaze. Their Chieftain is this cute that they might cough out blood.

"I felt it, you were helping me on the first part. I know it will take a longer time to condense the necessary Brute Energy if not for you."

She felt my control over the inherent energy. And she didn't find it weird. This girl really trusts me.

"I see… Well, isn't that good? What skill did you create?"

I patted her head and asked.

"I called it Pulse Wave. It can confuse a person for a split second which can lead to them making a mistake or startle them awake. I can use it right before attacking."

"That's a pretty useful skill."

A momentary mistake can lead them to their doom. With that greataxe of hers, one hit from it and their skulls will split open.

"I drew inspiration from what you did that night."

"Eh?"

"You don't remember? You disrupted that bear's charge that it rolled over on its own."

Ah. When I hit its arm with an Air Bullet.

After a few more pats on her head, she was then overcome by sleepiness. That breakthrough took a toll on her.

When she wakes up, she'll feel energized again. Now with her being at the Augmented Realm, her value went up. Old Man Reol won't be against taking them in, right?

I settled her down to my side when she started snoring and covered her with a blanket.

Now it's my turn. I want to be useful to Yuko soon. Progressing in this Physique Cultivation is the shortcut. I have to take this seriously.

Soon, a ball of condensed Brute Energy instantly appeared in front of me.

Taking it inside my body, the percentage started going up.

1%

3%

5%

That amount immediately raised it to 5%. It's really smoother than nourishing specific parts of my body.

I looked outside and saw Erin looking at me with the same expression as before.

She then whispered.

"You monster."

I guess that nickname will stick on me now.