It has been ten days since Dax returned to Oldbarrow.
In those days, he and the Bone Mountains sect began an extensive search for those responsible for the deaths of his wife and son.
The group didn't have much success in catching up with Vicente and his companions during this time. These three young men from the Seidel Kingdom didn't take any chances in the early days of the search led by Dax.
And why should they move? Their destination was furiously searching for them!
But the group from the Scott Province hadn't shown up in Oldbarrow for another reason. While they were hiding in the forests of this frontier area of the Chutha Dynasty, occasionally moving to new hiding places, Vicente had reached the turning point in his cultivation.
Two days ago, he had achieved what was necessary to begin his attempts to advance to the 4th stage!
Having reached this point, since he had already waited until this moment to act against Dax, delaying his revenge for one, two, or three more days wouldn't make any difference to him.
So he was in seclusion, trying to get to the beginning of the 4th stage, meditating in a cave away from those who wanted his head, with only Layla and Casey with him.
As time passed, Vicente got closer and closer to the point where he would no longer be a High-level Mage but an Earth Sovereign!
...
It was late afternoon in the Oldbarrow region, where Vicente's group was hiding in a forested area of the northwestern mountains of the Chutha dynasty.
Layla and Casey took turns watching the entrance to their cave in a spot lit by torches and a few fluorescent objects.
But right now, the two of them were talking side by side at the entrance to this place, from where they could better sense the beings near the cave.
"Are you and Vicente together?" Casey asked, having already noticed that Layla and Vice seemed to do strange things when he wasn't around.
She blushed but didn't hide the truth. "Yes, it happened after we rescued you. He said he'd make me his woman."
Seeing Layla lower her head in shame at saying that, Casey laughed. "Well then, I wish you luck. Just be careful not to mix things up. That can prevent problems for everyone."
She understood what he meant and said nothing, aware that work and feelings had to be kept separate. That didn't stop her from having a relationship with Vicente, but she would have to be careful not to hurt herself or those connected to her and him.
"Anyway, soon he'll move on, and it'll be time to move again," Casey commented, changing the subject. "I wonder what his next pentagram will be like... He already has two green pentagrams. I wouldn't be surprised if he chooses a cyan one now."
"A cyan pentagram?" Layla looked into Casey's eyes. "That would be impossible for him to get since he is only at the 4th stage. According to rumors within my organization, only Archmages have cyan pentagrams."
"Oh? You don't trust him?" Casey looked at her with interest.
"It's not that I don't trust Vicente. I just don't understand how he can hunt a magical being at the peak of the 5th stage or the beginning of the 6th stage when he himself will be at the beginning of the 4th stage." She was being sincere.
Casey also didn't think it was possible for Vicente to get something so valuable while he was only at the 4th stage, so he didn't push Layla any further. "That's true. If he chooses a green pentagram, he'll be fine. He'll be able to evolve his first pentagram a bit more, and he'll be an even worse monster than he is now."
"Hmmm..."
"Lucky for us, we're partners with someone like him," Casey commented. "When we advance to the 4th stage, we'll be able to get green pentagrams easily if we go hunting with him."
Layla agreed, knowing that it would take 18 to 36 months to become an Earth Sovereign, even though she was now a High-
level Mage with several resources at her disposal.
Sooner or later, they would reach that level if they continued alongside Vicente, so the thought of the green pentagram she would absorb when she became a Sovereign wasn't too far away for her not to think about it.
Reaching the 4th stage would be the fulfillment of dreams for these two natives of the Seidel Kingdom, where the strongest were individuals with the magical cultivation of Sovereigns.
Layla clenched her fists when she realized how far she had come in such a short time, but she didn't see only the positive side. There were still many dangers and challenges ahead of her to keep moving forward!
While she and Casey were thinking about different things, they both felt a sudden change in the concentration of mana in the cave. They both turned their attention in the direction where Vicente was meditating, smiles quickly forming on their faces.
Vincent was about to enter the 4th stage!
As he sat in the lotus position under a cultivation pillow, the lake of mana that currently existed in his space of consciousness suddenly increased in size, turning from a mere lake into a seemingly boundless ocean.
When one became a Low-level Mage, they would form a mana vortex after condensing the five magic triangles of the Acolyte stage. Then, the mana vortex would turn into a lake at the end of the 3rd stage, when one became a High-level Mage.
As one progressed from the 3rd stage to the 4th stage, the lake would grow to all the boundaries of the magician's consciousness space, becoming a great ocean.
This ocean would eventually give rise to a single point of mana condensation, which, upon reaching the 5th stage, would form a soul avatar.
Vicente was still far from the birth of his soul avatar, but he was getting closer to this important moment in a magician's life.
As he formed the ocean of mana, his strength rapidly increased, with all of his characteristics doubling in power and his mana reserves reaching a level 100% higher than what he had as a High-level Mage.
While his endurance, strength, speed, intelligence, comprehension, magical power, and many other traits developed significantly, his natural-origin pentagrams once again began to evolve a little closer to the next level of quality.
His second pentagram only gained a few cyan lines at its edges, indicating that it would one day evolve to that level if he continued to improve his strength.
But Vicente's first pentagram, which had previously been an intense orange, changed significantly, gaining several yellow lines and inscriptions around it.
It didn't reach the point of a qualitative breakthrough and became a yellow pentagram. Still, it did reach the threshold between orange and yellow.
If Vicente were to undergo a new qualitative evolution after today, this pentagram would immediately reach the yellow grade!
In this way, he would enter the beginning of the 4th stage and become an Earth Sovereign!
