Chapter 55

Lucinda's life became quite engaging.

She would still maintain her usual training routine most of the time but, at specific intervals, her presence was requested in Kurt's hunting group to organize and plan their next mission.

They would usually hunt twice a month and only in danger zones where they were sure that the number of rank 4 magical beasts was not too high.

Lucinda was a burden for them after all, they couldn't risk being ganged up by several strong creatures.

That's why their focus was on the lone packs in specific areas, they had to be sure that nothing unexpected could happen.

It had to be said though that Lucinda wasn't completely useless.

The group of hunters soon discovered that, during the planning phase, her insights on the behavior of the magical beasts were extremely valuable, so much that Ada would often ask for her opinion.

There was a time when they had to face two packs of Hellish hounds both led by a rank 4 magical beast.

Lucinda suggested for the two sisters with the fire aptitude to create a pyre and let the magical beasts fight themselves for it.

Hellish hounds were innately attracted by fire since it was their nourishment and the one created by spells was a delicacy in their eyes.

Lucinda knew that, even in the presence of humans, the hounds would have prioritized the fire and fought the opposing pack for it.

That had allowed the hunting group to kill two rank 4 magical beasts instead of retreating and abandoning the hunt.

Another time, they had difficulties tracking a rank 4 Furred worm that was nearing a low-danger area, endangering that environment.

Lucinda suggested creating a bait with a pack of ant-type magical beasts which was the favorite meal of that creature.

Pointless to say that the bait worked perfectly and the Furred worm couldn't resist the temptation of that meal, exposing itself to the hunters that ably vanquished it.

The quantity of information that he had learned in the magical beasts' course of the academy was incredible and he also was really interested in that topic.

Lucinda didn't know why she liked studying so much about magical beasts.

Anyway, her value was acknowledged and hers group began to rely more on her.

Lucinda didn't mind helping them out.

On one hand, a smooth hunt would ensure her safety and prevent any mishap from happening.

On the other one, she needed those rank 4 magical beasts to speed up the growth of her body.

Every time she used the Blood drain spell on a dying beast of that rank, she would gain days worth of training!

Also, with each successful hunt, her Credits would increase and she would gain access to better discounts over items deriving from magical beasts.

The speed at which her body improved increased, her money increased, and her stash of rank 4 materials did the same.

Everything about the situation was completely beneficial to her, Lucinda had to just give some pointers when they planned their hunts and she would gain part of the profits.

It must be said though that her situation was quite peculiar.

The Hunters' guild had to choose between letting Lucinda roam free in low-danger zones and harm the work of all the weaker hunters or forcefully bring her in dangerous missions where her life was on the line.

In order to maintain a peaceful environment inside the guild, they had to give some free rewards to Lucinda or else she would have continued to hunt rank 3 magical beasts.

Like that, time passed, and the number of rank 4 creatures on which Lucinda used her spell increased, with their joint work, Kurt's group managed to complete two hunts per month.

It was impossible to hide Lucinda's improvements during that period of time.

Her skin became whiter and her aura colder, it seemed that she was going to transform into a piece of ice.

Only Lucinda knew that the cold aura exuded from his body was caused by the type of "Breath" of the darkness element that she was absorbing.

"Lucinda, today the wine it's on you! That damned pig broke my stick!"

Newton exclaimed.

Kurt's hunting group was in a forest near the border of the Utra country.

They had just vanquished a pack of Iron-tusks boars and the rank 4 specimen had destroyed Newton's weapon in the process, thus being named "pig" by him.

One year had passed since the events with the Shrinking elephant and the hunting group had successfully killed twenty-seven rank 4 creatures in that period of time.

Of course, Lucinda had used the Blood drain spell on each of them.

Lucinda's gaze was lost, she was deep in thought and didn't hear Newton's words.

She was carefully inspecting her body with her mental energy, quantifying the "Breath" that she had just absorbed and calculating how much nourishment it could give.

"Lucinda, are you alright?"

The others in his group noticed her unusual behavior and Kurt gave voice to their worries.

Lucinda came back to reality and saw that the other six hunters were staring at her with confused gazes.

"I think I will have to skip the next mission. It seems that I need to stabilize my gains for a while before I can use again my cultivation technique. Don't worry though, it's nothing too serious. I should be fine in one month."

The hunters nodded at hers words.

Unorthodox techniques were dangerous, they needed to be trained carefully and the cultivator had to stop at the first sign of instability or he could irremediably hurt himself.

"Sure, take your time. We will just go hunt slightly bigger packs in the meantime, my body was getting rusty with all this safety first after all."

Kurt said with a laugh and patted Lucinda's head before turning on the path back to the Royal city.

Lucinda didn't even notice that gesture since her focus had gone back on her body.

'This "Breath" and a couple of nights of training should bring me to the peak of the third rank! Finally, after one year and a half of time spent hunting, I can attempt on the breakthrough to the heroic ranks!'

She masked her excitement with her usual cold expression and then went after the others in his group, it was finally time for his body to reach the fourth rank.

Noah returned to his habitation inside the Royal city.

That new house was closer to the Royal Mansion compared to the one that she had rented previously when she had to experiment in the Elemental forging method.

Since she didn't need a reinforced room, Lucinda could afford a house with a higher concentration of "Breath" at a lower price than the previous one.

It was wrong to call it a house though, it was only a large room that she and Ivor shared quietly at the price of two thousand Credits per month.

Her weekly income had increased since she joined Kurt's hunting group so Lucinda didn't mind spending a bit more to have that density of "Breath".

That allowed her to make up for the time wasted traveling with her normal training schedule.

Inside, there was Ivor waiting for her.

Lately, he had begun to sleep more, Lucinda guessed that the damage on his sea of consciousness was slowly increasing its effects on his daily life.

"Ivor."

Lucinda called and patiently waited for the ruined cultivator to wake up.

"What is it?"

Ivor asked after a bit as he stretched his hand toward one of the jars around him.

"How was your Pain Tribulation?"

Lucinda knew that Ivor had a rank 3 dantian so it was obvious that his body had been through the Pain Tribulation.

"Mhh…"

Ivor seemed to make a lot of effort to remember that moment of his life and he would lift his jar from time to time as the reviewed his memories.

"Painful."

"…"

Ivor's answer left Lucinda speechless.

'I guess he is only useful when my doubts concern the Elemental forging method.'

Lucinda thought, taking out a few thousand Credits from her space-ring.

"I need some time alone, these should suffice for the rent of a cheap habitation and your wine for about a month."

Ivor took the Credits and moved toward the exit door.

As he was about to unlock it though, he turned and said something with a warm smile on his face.

"I remember my Master's words back then when I was about to go through it. He said "Be sure that your entire body is filled with "Breath" before you attempt the breakthrough". Apart from those words, I remember only the pain of the process."

Lucinda nodded to him and watched as he left the room.

'If it's just about pain, I believe that it will go quite smoothly.'

Lucinda thought, taking out the "Breath" blessing from her space-ring and placing it on the floor.

The density of "Breath" in the room instantly surpassed that of the best house in the academy.

'First, I need to reach the peak.'

The information about the breakthrough to the fourth rank of the body was already deeply impressed in her memory.

Generally speaking, the process was the same for each cultivator with some slight differences due to the different body-nourishing methods.

A cultivator needed to reach the peak of the third rank, then he had to fill the entirety of his body with "Breath".

Once those two requirements were met, he had to activate his nourishing method to start the reconstruction.

'Many cultivators lose themselves in the pain, some of them die in the process. Yet, the Pain Tribulation is still considered the easiest to pass. After all, its requirements are easy to meet and it's quite common for a cultivator on that level to have a strong will, capable of enduring that terrible pain. It's quite funny that most of those that die in that Tribulation are nobles or wealthy cultivators.'

To withstand pain, one must have a strong will.

Nobles rarely found themselves in dangerous situations and their lofty lifestyle didn't allow them to build a strong personality.

That's why, through history, nobles had the highest mortality rate in the Pain Tribulation.

Lucinda sat on the floor of the room and focused on hers back.

It was still day so he could not cultivate in the Yin body, yet she still had to absorb the "Breath" of the rank 4 Iron-tusks boar that his hunting group had killed.

The energy on her back circulated through her body and reached hers dantian where a selection process happened.

The "Breath" of the darkness element was separated and redirected inside his skeletal system which emitted a cold aura that slowly nourished the body.

The rest of the "Breath" was simply dispersed in the air.

"Fuuuuu"

Lucinda exhaled loudly after the process was complete.

By then, she had become used to using the Blood drain spell to speed up her improvements, yet the quantity of nourishment that came from rank 4 magical beasts always surprised him.

'If I was a magical beast, I could just eat anything that contains "Breath" to strengthen my body, without the need for specific techniques. I have to admit that I quite envy them. Well, at least the potential that humans have due to their three centers of power is far higher.'

From Lucinda's point of view, the cultivation process of the magical beasts was simply too easy if it was compared to that of the humans.

Nevertheless, when a human had all three centers of power in the heroic ranks, the power that he held was enormous.

'Not yet, I still need a couple of days before I reach the peak.'

Lucinda calmly waited for the night to come before starting to cultivate in the Yin body.

She wasn't going to cultivate both her dantian and body at the same time, in that important moment, she wanted to be sure that all her focus was on the breakthrough.

The first night passed uneventfully with seven vortexes constantly absorbing "Breath" from the environment and accumulating it below the acupoints.

That cold "Breath" was then rendered harmless with one refinement of his dantian and redirected to his bones.

Lucinda rested for the whole day, waking up immediately upon the sunset.

Just a few hours after her second night of cultivation, she felt that her bones could not receive any more "Breath" and each time Lucinda tried to pour more in them, they would just redirect it to other parts of her body.

"Finally, the peak of the third rank."