Chapter 145: Rank Up Most acolytes could stay awake for a week without sleeping and this was true for Emery as well. Although there were some exceptions, like doing extremely tiring physical or high demanding mental activities such as meditating in the earth origin stone room for a day straight, for example. That was a very tiring hurdle. However, when Emery's earth elemental affinity had reached a new height, the rush of energy to his body made it so he didn't feel the need to sleep at all. Once Emery's time was up, he smiled in satisfaction looking at what he had achieved. He was a step closer to reaching rank 6 acolyte. When Emery arrived to his residence, he immediately summoned the big cauldron in the middle of the empty living room. He asked the personal attendant to get him some tables on the side. Emery then placed the mortar and pestle on top of the table and arranged the tier one ingredients in a neat fashion. Emery lastly took out the level 1 comprehensive guide for basic concoction. He focused his thoughts on it and the manual dissipated into streams of air going inside of him. [Received Basic Conconting Rank 1 Techniques] In an instant, Emery received theoretical knowledge of this world's apothecary. Having the theoretical knowledge however wasn't enough. Like all skills, he needed to practice this before it would be useful. So, Emery decided to make a basic tier one healing potion and strength potion using one of the most basic recipes readily available. What Granny had taught him surely was in the manual he had just acquired. Similar to how he had been taught the sword by his father and when he received the technique in the Combat Institute. Like those experiences, the knowledge that originated from his world still couldn't be compared to the way an actual magus or acolyte concocted in this world, which was the peak of humanity's ingenuity. The second reason was that by making different recipes of this healing and strength potion, he thought he might find a way to increase his current original recipes. Several hours had passed and Emery's residence had been filled with the different scent of medicinal herbs. As he kept on pounding a herb in the mortal with the pestle, the rays of the sun had peeked through the window in this living room. He hadn't realized that morning had already arrived. Emery stopped what he was doing and turned around to see the crushed herbs all around here, some stains and ashes on the flooring, the ceiling had a greenish tint caused by the rising vapor from inside the cauldron, which was still filled with green liquid. He checked the stock of ingredients: it looked like all the ingredients he had left were the ones he was crushing in the mortar. All 1,000 white spirit stones worth of alchemical ingredients were all gone with just one night of experimentation and practice. Still, Emery didn't feel that bad seeing the stock had been emptied. In his experimentation, he had learned a couple of new do's and don'ts tricks. He knew practice was unavoidable if he wanted to progress. After wiping his sweat and ordering the personal attendant cube to clean the mess, Emery went to the shower room, washing himself of the medicinal herbs' smell and getting ready for his next destination. The Water Institute, Varuna. Emery's figure appeared just before the portal. He stared at the place of paradise with its long stretches of the coast, blue sky and crystal clear water. Breathing in the crisp, salty and refreshing air, he walked along the sandy beach. Each sinking step he took was tingling every nook and cranny of his feet. Eventually, he arrived at a bit more forested area with the blue pillar rising from the middle of the lake. Below there was the huge city-like structure, encased in glass walls. Emery stared at the City of Varuna and then it occurred to him. How was he going to get there without the spell that allowed him to breathe in the water with Klea last time? Looking around, he couldn't find any acolyte waiting to be given the spell. Maybe he was too early, he thought. Then, he saw the blue haired magus instructor passing by, whom Klea had introduced him to. If Emery recalled correctly, her name was Carla. "You are Klea's friend, aren't you?" inquired the woman. "Yes, Magus Carla," Emery replied politely. She didn't correct him, so that was correct. Emery thought it was amazing that the magus also remembered him. "It has been awhile since I've seen Klea here. I wonder what she is up to these days…" said Magus Carla. Emery was startled to know that Klea hadn't been to the Water Element Institute, which he had thought to be her favorite element. From the looks of it though, she had probably gone to a different institute for the meantime or maybe she was just wandering around. After all, Klea had spent a lot of time with them during the mineral gathering task and information gathering. So, he guessed it should be normal. The beautiful magus kept staring at Emery and said, "You need help getting in I suppose?" "Yes, please," answered Emery with politeness. The woman then nodded, raised her hand and just like before, a beam of light covered his face. "There you go," she said. "Thank you," Emery replied, bowing. Emery then got on one platform and then jumped to the lake. He swam toward the dome located at the bottom of the lake. Passing by several colorful fishes, he finally arrived at the front gate of the city under water. Emery swam inside the gate with some people beside him, and soon the water inside drained and they were now standing on their feet. This time, he didn't bother receiving the spells after they confirmed his joining. He decided he would just get them later. His priority was reaching acolyte rank 6 and he was determined not to leave the place until he had done so. From all four of his elements, water was the last one that had to reach the peak stage, and his last barrier for his advancement. Again, Emery bought the one time full day access of the water stone origin room. [1,000 contribution points has been taken] Currently, Emery had a little over 1,000 contribution points left. But he wasn't worried, he couldn't wait for his rank 6 breakthrough. He believed it was worth it. Anything to reach his goal. Entering inside the water stone origin room, he then found an empty spot and took a seat. He then started meditating, fully concentrated, to increase his understanding of his water affinity with the help of the water element origin stone. This time, Emery was prepared for the illusion. As soon as the illusion of the water came into him, he jumped on the river's stream and swam with the flow all the while repeating the chantra of 'water always flows and never changes' in his mind. As he kept swimming and going with the flow, Emery could feel his dark spirit core once again welcome the stream of energy going inside it. He could tell that the elements inside his spirit core were spinning with joy along with the increase of spirit force. [Spirit force has increased] [Spirit force has increased] A cool and breezy sensation coursed throughout his whole body, entering his core. At the moment his three elements, the blue, green and yellow spirits, tried to interact with the dark core in the center. However, the dark core seemed to just keep on contracting and shrinking wildly. It appeared that Emery couldn't combine them all together in harmony. Outside of the illusion, sweat was starting to trickle down Emery's face. Emery didn't give up and he started focusing on going with the flow and kept chanting the mantra so he could break through to the peak stage. Then, the cool relaxing flow of the water was starting to feel heavy and damp. [Spirit force has increased] Emery suddenly felt the need for more energy. He was on his last step, he could feel it! Just a few more boost of energy, his spirit force, so he could unite them all together. That was when he thought of the spirit serum sitting on his storage ring. Emery quickly summoned it and injected it straight into his chest! Suddenly, his heart started beating stronger as more waves of energy went inside him. [Spirit force has increased] The dark core started to spin smoothly again. It kept on spinning and spinning, getting faster with each moment Emery watched it. Then an explosion of energy coursed through all the nerves of his body! Once again, the wonderful sensation of breaking through, making him feel euphoric as he felt every inch of his body tingling. A notification appeared on the top of his palm. [Congratulations! You have reached the foundation level of the spirit realm] [You are now a rank 6 acolyte]