Ryu sighed. He wasn't too surprised by this sequence of events, Ailsa had made it clear that fighting against one's own lack of talent required a lifetime of effort. If he only had to go through this much to see lasting effects, even if not everyone would be willing, a large majority would. By then, almost everyone in existence would be a topflight expert.
Ailsa smiled encouragingly. 'It's better than I thought it would be. The [Tribulation Nine Clouds] definitely has some miraculous abilities. Even with the shrinkage, your Mental Realm's size is still double that of an average talent.'
Ryu's Mental Realm had suddenly compressed back down from a hundred kilometers to just twenty, even worse that Ailsa expected. Since the average increase after entering the Spiritual Endowment Realm was about ten times, and an average starting began the Spiritual Entrance Realm at around a hundred meters and reached their limits at around a kilometer, Ailsa's calculations were fairly accurate. Still, it was painful to see all of his hard work flooded down the drain like this.
What was more depressing was that Ryu had exhausted the first three Thunder Formations to their limits. This meant that if he wanted to push past his limits in this new Realm, he would need to find a source of tribulation lightning because the next nine Thunder Formations couldn't be formed with normal lightning qi.
Ryu stood amid the rain of lightning, looking toward the peak of Flash Mountain. Currently, this level of lightning could barely tickle him, but that was only because he stood at the outer edge. By Ryu's calculations, he had only ventured about ten percent of the way to the eye of the lightning storm.
"Do you think there might be tribulation lightning further in?"
'It's possible, but I would have to do some calculations to find out for sure. Either way, even if there is, your current self can't possibly make it there. It's better if I don't give you the temptation…'
Ryu smiled bitterly, certain that Ailsa saw him as a full masochist by now. He knew that Ailsa didn't have to go through so much trouble to find out the answer to his question, but she was feigning ignorance. Ailsa's Feng Shui comprehension should be greater than his own, while he would truly need tools and time to calculate, Ailsa should instinctually know.
"I guess I'll have to cultivate normally for now until my body is strong enough…"
'I can also consider letting you go after your Immortal Sakura reached the Cherry Stage. But, maintaining two visualizations – one for your Mental Realm and another for reality – will be difficult. So I'd prefer your body to be ready instead.'
"So you're saying there is tribulation lightning?"
Ailsa turned her head away. 'I'm saying nothing of the sort. Hurry along now. I need to heal you and you have less than a week to complete the missions.'
"Yes…" Ryu mumbled.
'What was that?'
"Yes… Big Sis." Ryu's face distorted, regretted his actions immensely. But, at least Ailsa's silver bell-like giggling was pleasing to listen to.
**
To others, Ryu likely spent the past month pulling his hair out, trying to complete a bite that was far too large for him alone. But, for Ryu, he spent the past month in pretty much a single location, then truly began to complete his missions with just five days remaining.
Ryu's speed reached yet another level. With his strength having been brought to sixty thousand jin, his body had obviously become far better at resisting wind pressure. However, Ryu didn't need to personally run anywhere, but he now had his own beast companion.
Ailsa lovingly called the Thunder Roc descendant Little Rock. It turned out that the little guy wasn't even three years old yet, but he already possessed such immense strength.
According to Ailsa, it was inappropriate to call the little guy a Thunder Roc, his bloodline was far too thin. His parents were actually normal Thunder Hawks and a lucky series of events resulted in a repressed Thunder Roc gene presenting itself in Little Rock. Objectively speaking, he was a mutated Thunder Hawk. Maybe one day he would truly earn the right to be called a Thunder Roc.
This aside, Little Rock's speed was just as fast as Ryu with the benefit of being able to fly. Though Ryu could also fly, he required far more energy to do so than Little Rock did since he didn't have wings. One could only imagine how fast Little Rock would be after breaking into the Fourth Order.
Ryu covered the whole of Valor City territory in just three days, completing all sorts of tasks. Some required finding rare herbs, while others even required killing outlaws. No matter what it was, Ryu completed it with ease. The only tasks that provided some resistance were those requiring the finding of a person. After all, you couldn't kill an outlaw unless you found them first. But, Ryu's newly minted Spiritual Sense, not to mention his [Third Perspective], made these matters far easier.
It wasn't long before Ryu's journey led him back to the Mercenary Guild. Because he took two days off to heal, thanks to Ailsa's nagging, he only managed to return on the final day, only to find the Mercenary Guild bustling with enraged voices.
"Steward, this is ridiculous! The boy isn't coming, am I meant to watch my people starve?!" A familiar red-haired man was losing his patience more and more. Fourth Order Mercenary Squads, due to the dangerous nature of their missions, would only take them on when they absolutely had to. The fact they had been delayed by a whole month obviously put many of them in the negative.
It wasn't just him either, over the last month, the only other Fourth Order Mercenary Squad had come as well, only to be met by the same wall their colleagues had been. Two men, one red-haired and the other black, both burly and tall, stood infuriated. But, though they vented their anger with their words, they didn't dare to step toward the receptionist, also known simply as the Steward of the Mercenary Guild.
Suddenly, the two men felt a streak of white brush by them. For a moment, they thought the smelt something intoxicating, a smell that made them feel endless comfort in their hearts.
"I would like to hand in these missions."
A plain voice sounded. Those within the bustling Guild Hall could only watch in shock as the deep black Mission Papers reserved for Fourth Order missions were brought out one after another.