Kyle traveled back to the Stark Brotherhood and talked to his team about their future plans.
"Great, you advanced," Falk said with annoyance. "That means I have to spend a ton of money now to advance as well."
Michael just smiled. "I think we have been in the Early Second Realm for long enough."
"Are you sure?" Falk asked. "I mean, Fighters usually stay in the Early Second Realm for a couple of years to gain experience. Aren't we being a little too quick with that?"
"They are not us," Michael said. "We are only fighting enemies two levels above us, while they focus on enemies one level higher. We go through much more adversity than they do. Naturally, we will grow faster."
"I'm quite happy with advancing. As a Mid Sorcerer, I can finally learn Lightning's Explosiveness."
"You're dabbling in Enchantments as well?" Selene asked, disguised as Sven.
"Why not?" Michael asked. "We have three powerful physical fighters."
"I'm not a Fighter," Selene said.
"I meant fighter with the small f," Michael said with a chuckle.
"Oh," Selen said with a nod. "I can see how Lightning's Explosiveness can increase the power of my arrows."
Lightning's Explosiveness was an Enchantment of the Lightning Element.
It had the power to coat a weapon with Lightning Ether. The Lightning Ether would remain dormant until it came into contact with Ether that had a will.
This meant that everyone could still fight normally, but as soon as their weapons hit the enemy, the Lightning Ether would explode forward, shooting into the target.
Compared to other Enchantments, it didn't passively increase someone's attributes. Instead, it would be more fitting to call it a dormant offensive Spell.
If Michael could enchant one of Selene's arrows, she could essentially summon a Lightning Bolt inside her enemy's body.
"I've waited for long enough," Lily commented with annoyance.
"Then, we are going to focus on advancing," Kyle said. "Everyone, take your time to advance, but don't let us keep waiting for too long."
The others nodded.
"How long do you need?" Kyle asked.
"A day," Selene said.
"I also need a day," Michael answered.
"Why are you all so fast? I need three days," Falk said.
"Because we actually care about our power," Lily said with annoyance. "I'll need six hours."
Falk just rolled his eyes at Lily's usual aggression.
"Then, we'll meet again in four days," Kyle said. "Does that sound good enough?"
Everyone agreed and dispersed. Advancing a level was hard and easy at the same time.
It was almost entirely about money.
Someone who had just become an Initial Adept could theoretically become a Grandmaster within about a year.
They just needed a lot of money.
Of course, such a Grandmaster would be quite weak.
They had no experience, knew no techniques, and wouldn't even know how to control their powerful body.
It would also be surprisingly hard for them to learn powerful techniques.
Technically, their mind was more powerful than the mind of a Fighter, but they hadn't had experience in learning difficult techniques.
It was like somebody learning all the theoretical knowledge of creating machinery without even a bit of practical experience.
Someone who knew almost nothing about theory but made machinery for years could make better machines.
The best way was to teach theory for a bit before teaching practice. Then, back to theory, back to practice, back to theory, back to practice, and so on.
People generally advanced slowly so that they could get used to their elevated power and learn more things.
As explained, advancing was relatively easy, but it was also relatively hard.
The hard part was getting the resources.
Advancing to the Initial Fighter Realm from the Peak Adept Realm took a lot of resources.
Two Tomes, which cost tens of Ether Stones.
Then, they would also need ten Ether Stones to gather the Ether necessary to advance.
Normal people were not like Kyle, who could just eat beasts and ore to gather this Ether.
Becoming a Mid Fighter needed about two Ether Gems.
Two Ether Gems were a significant amount of money.
Many Fighters needed years to earn that.
Luckily, money was not an issue for team Sandstorm.
Lily could just sell a bunch of her ore.
Selene was part of one of the richest families in the Skysand Kingdom.
Kyle could just eat beasts.
Falk and Michael were still growing their insurance business, but they had saved enough.
Michael had earned a lot of money when he had been a tournament fighter, and he had been in the Stark Brotherhood for quite a while.
Additionally, the missions the team were taking on also paid very well.
For now, the two of them still had enough money to keep up with the others.
But for the future, they needed the insurance business to take off.
Alternatively, they would need Kyle to sponsor their advance.
"Kyle," Selene whispered while the others were walking away. "There's another Earth Elemental close to one of the tunnels."
Kyle glanced and nodded at Selene. "I'll ask my contact to do another round of cleaning. That's the third one that's close, right?"
Selene nodded.
"Good, I'll keep you informed," Kyle said.
The two of them said their goodbyes, and Kyle walked back to the Stark Brotherhood.
He directly went to the Chief's office and entered without knocking.
As always, the Chief seemed to be annoyed by something, but Kyle knew that this was just his disguise.
"We got another three Earth Elementals," Kyle said after entering.
The Chief nodded without looking at Kyle. "The Elemental Hearts have proven more valuable than expected. I will be dealing with the Earth Elementals tomorrow night."
"Thanks," Kyle said with a smile before turning around.
"When are you going to become my representative?" the Chief asked.
"Huh?" Kyle asked, turning back to the Chief. "Representative?"
"We talked about it," the Chief said as he looked at Kyle. "I said I wanted you as my representative. I am not good with people. You would have more success than I."
"Oh, that," Kyle said. "You said I needed a certain level of strength and experience first."
"And you have that now," the Chief said, looking deeply at Kyle. "I can feel your Momentum."
"You are no longer weak."
Kyle blinked a couple of times. "So, you want me as your representative. Like, right now?"
The Chief nodded.
'That's… sudden.'
'I thought that would be far in the future.'
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