Kyle went back to Sebastian, making sure not to touch the wet part of the ocean.
When using the Grand Ocean as a reference, Kyle had grown from a worker ant to a warrior ant.
Sadly, beasts, like the one that had swatted him away, were more like wolves.
A battle between a warrior ant and a wolf was not a battle.
After some minutes of traveling, Kyle finally reached the place where he had left Sebastian.
Surprisingly, he saw Sebastian sitting beside the room they had created.
When Sebastian noticed that Kyle was back, he looked at him with relief.
"Finally!" he transmitted. "The machine is broken."
Kyle raised an eyebrow. "You broke it?"
"Well, no… or maybe," he said before pointing at a random spot in the pressure chamber. "This thing broke, and I can't open the door without breaking the entire thing."
"Alright," Kyle said as he approached the pressure chamber. "Let me check."
He went over to the pressure chamber and sensed the metal.
"I can see what went wrong," Kyle said before pointing at a spot near the top of the door. "It's actually not broken."
"How so?" Sebastian asked. "I can't open the door."
"Wait a sec," Kyle said as he summoned some liquid metal.
This specific kind of metal was a bit like quicksilver. It would remain liquid at room temperature.
He moved the hinges a bit and put the liquid metal in the hinges before creating a little wall around it.
Finally, Kyle pressed the button, and the door opened without any issues.
"There you go," Kyle said. "The hinges weren't oiled."
Then, he just looked at Sebastian with a smile, who just looked back.
"Yeah, I noticed," he answered. "It's just that I have no way to refill the oil. I can't move the hinges without breaking the entire thing, and I can't just summon liquid metal."
"I overlooked that during the design process. Anyway, thanks."
Kyle nodded.
Then, the two of them just looked at each other.
Sebastian raised a brow as Kyle just looked at him with a smile in silence.
"Aren't you going to comment?" Kyle asked.
"About what?" Sebastian said before he was reminded of his wife. "Oh, did you get a haircut?"
Kyle blinked a couple of times before he also made the connection.
"Oh, wow," he said. "I was actually doing the typical girlfriend thing."
Sebastian snorted. "Seems like you were, but I'm sad to tell you that I'm married."
"Ah, that sucks," Kyle said. "Would've loved to ravage that tight boy-pussy."
Sebastian's hair stood on end, and Kyle burst into laughter.
"Dude, that's creepy," Sebastian said. "Don't do that!"
Kyle just laughed.
"Anyway," he said after calming down, "I comprehended the Law of Metal. As in, the entire thing."
"And how was I supposed to notice that without you telling me?" Sebastian asked.
"I dunno. Maybe I felt more dangerous to you," Kyle said with a shrug.
"Do I feel less dangerous to you?" Sebastian asked.
Kyle looked at Sebastian for a bit.
Actually…
Sebastian felt just as dangerous as before.
'But that doesn't make any sense,' Kyle thought. 'I've become much stronger. Logically, he should be weaker in comparison. Unless…'
"Oh, I see. You're an asshole," Kyle said with an annoyed sigh.
Sebastian just smirked. "You see? That's how you shock somebody with an increase of power!"
"Bet you feel real smug," Kyle said with a snort.
"I sure do," Sebastian said with a smile.
"So? Are you going to tell me what you comprehended?" Kyle asked.
Naturally, Sebastian must have grown more powerful as well.
BANG!
A red bolt of lightning appeared in Sebastian's hand. "I can now use Anti-Lightning."
Kyle's brows rose in surprise. "Already?"
"Yep," Sebastian said. "I comprehended the Fragment of Anti-Lightning's Composition. Was surprisingly easy."
If he weren't underwater currently, Kyle would take a deep breath.
"So, in short, you now know more than even Emperor Winterfire?" Kyle asked.
Sebastian smirked. "Probably."
King Skysand and Emperor Winterfire both comprehended a weak version of their Elemental Law before breaking through. Then, they each comprehended the composition of Skysand and Winterfire, respectively.
Sebastian knew the Composition of Anti-Lightning, but compared to the two rulers, he also knew the full Law of Lightning, not just a weaker version.
At this moment, one could put most Transcendents into levels.
Level one were the ones who only knew a weak Law. The Chief and the Imperial Advisor belonged to that group.
Level two were the ones who either knew a full Law or knew a weak Law with another Fragment from an Anti-Element. Emperor Winterfire, Silvester, and the Holy King belonged to that class.
However, Sebastian knew a Fragment from an Anti-Element while also having comprehended a full Law.
If he broke through, he would reach a theoretical third level.
He could probably fight Emperor Winterfire and the Holy King on his own after breaking through.
He would be the strongest Transcendent, after the Duchess of Twilight.
Just based on the fact that the Duchess of Twilight could win in a fight against every single Transcendent, one against many, meant that she had to be a level four Transcendent or stronger.
At least, based on this arbitrary system that Kyle just came up with on the spot.
"How did you learn that so fast?" Kyle asked.
"Did you forget my special gift?" Sebastian asked. "I have an extremely strong affinity for lightning. I comprehend stuff related to lightning double to quadruple as quickly as people with a normal Lightning Affinity."
"Wait," Kyle said, "but even King Skysand probably needed decades to learn about the composition of Anti-Earth. How did you do that in months? That's not four times faster. That's like tens of times faster."
"Okay," Sebastian said, "maybe I shouldn't have worded it like that. That makes it seem linear, when it actually isn't."
"More accurately, I can perceive lightning with four times the clarity, and then, I understand lightning with four times the speed. So, it's more like four times four. It's four squared."
Kyle wanted to take a deep breath, but he was still underwater.
'Dude, that sounds better than what I have.'
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