"Are you done?" Raincart asked while his eyes were observing Noel from his appearance to the fluctuation of his energy.
"Yes. I have officially become a Spirit Grandmaster, Grandfather." Noel reported while raising both hands. On his right hand flared up the Undying Fire and on his left hand formed an ice crystal.
It looked simple for normal people, but Raincart could clearly see the difference. Noel could actually release his element with such ease. In fact, he used the Spiritual Energy around his body to form it instead of the one within him. This was the characteristic that symbolized the Spirit Grandmaster's strength.
Once Noel reached this stage, he believed that he could kill those Spirit Grandmasters and Spirit Masters who chased after him in just a few rounds. Although there were still some gaps between him and Qiel, he wouldn't be so powerless after this.
"Great. Do you need more time to consolidate your power?"
"Aside from getting a hang of it, I think I can continue to the next part." Noel shook his head.
"Is that so? You're going to absorb the ice element item, right?"
"Indeed." Noel nodded. The ice element was the one that he needed to form a Spirit Link with Ardagan after all.
"Alright then. I will continue watching over you." Raincart nodded before pointing at the side. "But before that, you should be pretty hungry. I'll ask the soldiers to cook you something."
"Yes."
While Raincart asked the soldiers, Noel continued with his meditation. But this time, he tried to control his new power, trying to grow accustomed to the change.
This was the first time he felt so refreshed when controlling his element. It was as if there was nothing that clogged up within his body.
With a single wave of his right hand, Spiritual Energy absorbed his fire energy and fused with it, allowing a fire to light up around his arm.
After moving around for ten minutes, Noel returned to eat with his grandfather. The latter asked a few things because he was worried about him, but after confirming that everything was fine, Raincart dropped the topic.
Although Noel wanted to continue, Raincart suggested he should sleep and condition his body for what was going to come next.
Since he was more experienced as a Spirit Grandmaster than him, Noel agreed.
Before sleeping, there was a peculiar thought entering his mind.
"Now that I think about it, Anna said that we were at the peak of Spirit Grandmaster and was about to become a Spirit Transcendence… Back then, our strength was so high that we could even rival the Spirit Transcendence. Yet, why did I actually get myself killed?"
Noel had the same thought as Anna. He obviously could see what was going on and the relationship between the Third Prince, the Royal Family, and the Supreme Devil Organization.
Yet, even after unraveling the mystery, he chose to do something foolish.
"Maybe there is something more… The moment I realize it, I have come to the conclusion that it's better to start over. No, I don't think I will reach that decision… I mean, I'm not going to give up even if I have a second chance. Even if I have one, I won't give that to anyone else, let alone Anna.
"In the past life, I have Ardagan with me and Anna shouldn't have any memory about her past, right? Yet, Anna could get strong enough to rival my speed with the help of Ardagan… No, that wasn't possible unless… I lowered my speed to match her. But why?
"I was supposed to meet Old Ru when I had broken through to the Spirit Grandmaster… What actually caused such a drastic change in my judgment?"
The more he thought about it, the bigger the mystery had become. However, he knew that the mystery involved him, Anna, the Third Prince, the Royal Family, and the Supreme Devil Organization.
"I don't think I can find any clues with only this much information. At the same time, I'm not planning to go all the way to discover it. I guess I will stick to my original plan and search for clues after becoming a noble." Noel sighed.
In the past, he thought that the Third Prince and the Royal Family were the cause of all this. And the Supreme Devil Organization had forced them to execute his parents. But then, he learned that his parents were still alive.
This became another confusion for Noel. For what reason did they stay alive? With the power they wielded, his parents should have made some sort of move already. Yet, he had never heard anything from them as if the news about them being alive was just a fake.
In other words, if his parents were truly alive, they must be trying to do something big. However, he doubted it as well, considering Anna told him that she had never seen his parents making their appearance. So, if his parents were truly dead, could he actually forgive Anna?
Unfortunately, Noel could only keep this secret for the time being. He had to do something big in order to lure all the big fish out.
…
The following day, Noel returned to the field.
Raincart was with him, carrying a chest. After dropping it on the ground, Raincart used his Spiritual Energy to unlock the chest, showing the item within.
The item looked like a crown. However, the crown had a peculiar series of jewels that covered it. This series of jewels was emitting constant fluctuation of energy.
"This is… quite powerful…" Noel frowned. Although the energy it released wasn't comparable to the ice jade he found in the Atracaeca Kingdom, it wasn't that weak either.
"I did my best to request it. This crown is one of the artifacts that the Ice King used in the past. I don't know if you are aware of the Ice King or not, but he was quite formidable. Although he was only a Spirit Grandmaster, he was practically invincible among the Spirit Grandmaster. This item was one of the artifacts that boosted his strength."
"I see. The Royal Family didn't seem to be holding back this time."
"Of course. I guess you could understand their intention."
"Indeed. Well, I might teach her a lot of things, but I will still not differentiate my disciples."
"I'll convey your message." Raincart patted Noel's shoulder. "Be careful."
"Yes, Grandfather." Noel bowed to him politely. After Raincart moved far enough, Noel turned his gaze to this crown. "Heisk."
'I'm ready to absorb it. However, I have noticed that there might be some resistance.'
"Resistance?"
"Yes. Unlike the ice jade we found previously, this one had been used by someone for a long time. The jade remembered how he utilized its strength, so I'll reverse everything and return it back to normal first before absorbing it."
"Some sort of memory effect, I guess." Noel nodded in understanding. "Alright. Shall we begin?"
"Yes. Be careful. The crown might behave unpredictably and harm you."
"Got it." Noel closed his eyes as he began revolving his energy around Heisk's Spirit Seal.
It seemed that the energy coming from the crown reacted to his own energy as it immediately caused a burst of energy, trying to blow Noel's away.
Unfortunately for him, Noel had focused his energy on his feet to counter the burst. But the fluctuation got stronger and stronger to the point where his Spirit Seal glowed brightly. It seemed that Heisk was using all her strength to refine this power.
The clash escalated right away. The energy around them began to freeze, creating a few spiral-shaped ice crystals. Because the clashes happened continuously, more and more ice crystals began to form.
The temperature dropped in an instant, alarming the soldiers.
Raincart frowned. Although the ice wasn't at his level, it was still more powerful than Noel's ice. As one would expect from the Ice King's artifact.
All the people were ready to act if something bad happened.
Heisk alone might have had a hard time, but this time, Heisk had one more spirit to help.
When the energy from the crown started counter-attacking them, Ardagan released his energy.
The black fire began to appear all around Noel and expanded. The intense heat warmed up the temperature and the black fire evaporated the ice crystals in an instant.
Even the ice energy from the jewel felt Ardagan's suppression.
'Amazing.' Noel thought. At one point, he wondered what kind of life the spirits had in their world.
The spirits had amazing control over their strength, yet, they still tried to learn from the humans. It showed that they could still progress even further.
As the one hosting Heisk and Ardagan, Noel wanted to show them that he was a worthy host.
"Heisk, Ardagan. Get ready. We're going to overwhelm it."
After that warning, Noel started his attack. He actually used his Force Control on the crown, messing up the flow of energy within the crown.
Due to that disruption, the crown started losing its power.
Heisk fully understood what she needed to do. She began releasing more power to subdue this ice artifact. Even Ardagan thought that Noel would use his own power to overwhelm the crown, but using Force Control to mess them from the inside was something beyond his expectation.
Yet, Noel actually went one step further.
"This is not over." Noel smirked. His Force Control began to reprogram the flow of Spiritual Energy to match with theirs. This way, Heisk would have an easier time subduing this series of ice jewels.
'Thank you.' Heisk surprisingly thanked Noel. The energy around them began to freeze, creating an ice sphere that isolated Noel from the rest of the world.
Ardagan stopped releasing his strength after noticing that Heisk had gotten an overwhelming advantage and was at the start of absorbing the energy.
All Noel needed to do at this point was wait for Heisk to fully absorb the energy. At the same time, another thought arose in his mind.
"If I can influence an item to this degree after using it for a long time… should I consider creating an artifact for myself? But I have Ardagan for my weapon… so, maybe a utility accessory that can boost my power or armor… no, too restrictive, maybe a coat that has the combination of this type of jewel and runes."
