Chapter 1044: Working Hard No plan survives first contact with the enemy, Rowan could wait for more Explorers to come to this continent and hunt them down little by little, or he could use this opportunity before him now and create a more robust meal for him to devour at once. He released a minor strand of Ascendant Aura, the smallest that he could create that could still maintain a sort of offensive potential above his fingers, and even that little activity of Aura caused a faint trail of mist to erupt around his fingers and the creation of nearly a hundred cockroach-like Calamities. Crushing them all before the little critter even had time to open their eyes, Rowan ran some numbers and found that it was doable, if barely, he would just have to make sure that in the implementation of the plan, there was proper balance between the two forces below or else he might be left with no harvest at all, but he did well dancing on the edge of chaos. The purpose of this test was twofold, to see if the Calamities that were born from this tiny amount of Aura could be easily crushed before they multiplied and second was to confirm the duration between the release of Ascendant Aura and the creation of Calamities. The first test was a success and Rowan clocked the time between the release and the creation in the second test to be a twentieth of a second, that was very quick, but nothing he could not handle with the present state of his consciousness. Running a rough final simulation in his mind, Rowan began agitating the flow of energy inside of his body, slowing down the creation of his technique a bit and channeling Aura into new paths he had just laid out. The next round of force bolts was about to be unleashed and Rowan sent a hundred tendrils into the body of a hundred Heroic Ranked Explorers, he collected a trace of their Ascendant Aura, he had already deciphered the Runes around the staffs and knew how they operated, and so he intertwined the Aura of the hundred Explorers alongside his own to their staffs and he did all this at the instant the force bolts were about to be released keeping the factor of time in mind. When the next round of fire happened, something spectacular occurred. The frost bolts ripped into the lines of the Calamities, and now it did not push further into their ranks like before due to the presence of multiple Legend Ranked Calamities that soaked up an impressive amount of damage, and many of them did not die, only seriously injured and pushed back, but it was a good thing that these injured Calamities were quickly devoured by the Calamities beside them or the lines of the Explorers would have long been overrun. From the staffs of the hundred Explorers he chose the bolts, they fired flashed with blue light the moment it impacted against the ranks of the Calamities and the damage caused was higher than before, but this was not the end as an impressive wave of Calamity Aura like a tide erupted from the bodies of the slain Calamities and rushed towards the hundred dumbstruck Explorers. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺 The rich wave of Aura soaked into their bodies and of the hundred Heroic ranked Explorers, one of them began to glow as his energy surged towards a higher rank, and the rest had their energy storehouse filled considerably. It was a testament to their experience and fortitude that the Explorers did not scatter at this unexpected phenomenon, they knew that something was wrong, but they had to deal with the Calamities that were growing in strength and charging towards them. They would leave the investigation to their higher-ups, but the main suspect in this issue was their staff, perhaps a malfunction allowed it to draw the powers of its wielders. Rowan nodded in satisfaction at this experiment, his Aura inside that bolt targeted every tiny Calamity as soon as they were born, ensuring that the scale of the disaster did not grow despite his intervention. With a quiet grunt, he released tendrils that would touch every single Heroic Explorer and their next salvo caused another impressive wave of damage, and then when the tide of Red Aura surged from the shattered bodies and engulfed the entire line of Explorers even the two Deific Explorers above were shaken. Multiple lights bloomed among their ranks and tens of Heroic Explorers began to advance. Although reaching the Glorious Rank in this state would not give them impressive powers at this point until they selected their Natal Treasures, Rowan did not care for them to become more powerful, he just needed their energy to rise higher. It was a bit stressful to create such an intricate web on the entire lines of Explorers while keeping everything nearly invisible, but he was determined to raise these Explorers until they were as fat as possible. There was a growing excitement among the ranks of the Explorers even if they still maintained their discipline. They all knew that the rise of the Calamity Suns should be the best time to advance their powers, but no one was crazy enough to release the energy of Ascension to gain the benefits of claiming many weaker Calamities and harvesting their Aura, something was different about this place. The next round of bolts killed more Calamities and when the new wave of Aura flooded their position, the truth of what was happening could not be denied and even the two Deific Explorers above began to scrutinize their surroundings with more focus. What happened next was a slaughter of epic proportions, for as more Heroic Ranked Explorers reached the Glorious Ranks they could use higher level staffs, and push back the Calamities further, and this divide only grew when the first Glorious Ranked Explorer reached Legend. For a while, it was as if the beach was filled with red fog that was shaken by the force bolts rippling through the haze. The screams of the Calamities were beginning to have hints of frustration for they were being butchered so quickly that they were unable to consume their dead. Rowan cursed, if the Explorers were a bit smarter they would wait for the Calamities to grow before killing them, but their excitement could no longer be held back, even the Deific Explorers above seemed at the edge of leaving their posts. The Explorers were filled with happiness, their stoic expressions broken, while Rowan in the air was beginning to sweat as he processed more and more Aura while ensuring all of them were perfectly made in the midst of battle. This was not helped by the disorganized mode of shooting as the Explorers began to fire at the earliest opportunity they had, and Rowan had to account for all the chaos, even the Shiik below ground was screaming in outrage at the battle happening overhead without it. 'Damn it, this better be worth it.' Rowan growled and pushed more tendrils into the growing Explorers below. He looked at the edge of the battlefield where the crashed ships had begun to stir, it would seem their healing was almost completed. In the horizon Rowan frowned when he noticed certain shapes coming closer, more visitors were arriving.