Oblivious to whatever doom that was about to befall him, Bahamut washed his face and prepared to head out to continue his training and cultivation. His face twitched every now and then as he felt the new weight on his body from the suppressors. They had given him reprieve for close to a week and decided to continue their work, stronger and heavier this time.

The past days had been tiring and stressful for him. The only good part was that he still got to spend some time with the girls, and later Ren and Sel, but even that wasn’t forever. Not with the disciple evaluation on their necks. Everyone wanted to perform well and win whatever competition they found themselves in, so their meetings were becoming fewer and fewer. Thankfully, he didn’t need Alana’s access into the darkness domain she possessed. Since she was his contracted "beast", he had equal rights to go in and out, but it drained a lot of energy from him. At the moment, the longest he could stay in there was thirty minutes. Anymore, and he would be kicked out.

Looking at the system interface showing his current progress in affinity upgrading, he couldn’t help but smile.

[STATUS UPDATE]

[Affinity Changes]

Light: 55%

Fire: 56%

Wind: 56%

Earth: 56%

Water: 57%

Darkness: 59%

...

Darkness still took the lead with 59%, and 2% was gained with him doing nothing. It was a passive growth from Alana. Water followed with 57%, which was surprising considering the head start the others got. But it was to be expected since his master, Elder Silvia, was a very powerful water element user. She had assisted him, albeit from the shadows, with pushing the water affinity to its current percentage. From where he had cultivated it, at the stream where he massacred those idiots, she had managed to block out other elements. He wondered why she was helping him, but no matter what he tried to ask her, she would be nowhere to be found until he went back, exhausted and looking like a dead zombie.

As for the rest, he cultivated them using the sun and his surroundings, and they were progressing just fine. It was only a matter of time until he hit 100%, and he would attempt a breakthrough and ascension to Tier 2. He could do that now, but what was the joy in it? Why choose an old cat when you could choose a tiger cub and take care of it to become a tiger?

But it was easier said than done, and after surpassing 50% for each of them, he had to make sure he did things right, or he would risk becoming a cripple. And that was worse than death for him. Fortunately for him, the more his affinity for an element increased, the easier it became for him to control those affinities. So, anytime he was cultivating out in the open, he managed to hold off darkness and water, and allowed the rest to absorb the energy and mana from the world they needed.

Afterwards, he would train with either his sword, Iron Fang, or a spear from the training hall, to push his physical limits, then he would head to the eatery at 12 noon to have lunch with his friends, namely, Exildra, Lily, Ren, Sel, and Gabi. Sometimes, Apollonia and Rakia joined them, but it wasn’t always. They were even busier than him as they had to go on missions upon missions. As a matter of fact, the disciple evaluation competition had already commenced for them.

With confident strides, Bahamut finally reached Elder Silvia’s residence, which he had recently found out that it wasn’t her actual home, but more like an office. Every elder had one, and only their disciples lived there. But only inner sect disciples and core disciples could live there. Elder Silvia had no inner sect disciple and one core disciple, Apollonia. Apollonia also wasn’t always around to live there, meaning that, basically, no one lived there. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Very soon..." Bahamut said with a smile as he took off his shirt and sandals and walked to the open field. Up on her balcony, Elder Silvia watched the Bahamut sit cross-legged on the grass, take off his blindfold, and close his eyes, while stabilizing his breathing.

She changed views to the training hall where Sel was training with his spear, with a faint outline of a silver sword hilt hovering behind him.

Her gaze changed again to a white, five-foot-tall bunny with golden stripe-like marks on its head down to its tail and hands, Ren. He was sleeping, but the air around him shimmered, twisted, and changed trajectory, but never truly left, as if he had locked the air in space.

"Just what sort of monsters did I end up with? Not like I’m complaining..." Elder Silvia muttered as she sipped from the small, ceramic cup in her hand and moved her gaze back to Bahamut, whose skin had turned very dark, his hair floating and glowing.

Behind him, three circles of different shades of red materialized, making the air around him rage. Four small orbs of different colors: red, gold, azure, and brown appeared in front of him. If he could see what was happening at the moment, he would be surprised. Those orbs were manifestations of his cores, and they had come out to absorb the mana directly, using him as a catalyst and conduit.

His hair at one point was set on fire, then it began glowing so brightly that Elder Silvia had to avert her eyes. His skin turned rigid for some time, while his body floated for a few seconds.

"A wielder of six elements, and he doesn’t realize that he isn’t hiding it..."

Elder Silvia commented with a cold expression. Bahamut had been so engrossed in pushing his affinities that he forgot that he was supposed to be keeping his elements a secret. Fortunately for him, Elder Silvia had cast a barrier that prevented prying eyes from her residence after the incident with his First Awakening; otherwise, only the gods or whatever being could tell what would happen.

Bahamut, on the other hand, didn’t know what was going on. He was just cultivating...