Austin had hidden the gnome in Violet's Illusion Bead since the time he had managed to flee Ghost Valley.
Staying in the Illusion Bead for such a long time had bored the little creature to no end. Upset at the confinement, it was complaining to Austin about this inhumane treatment.
To appease the gnome, Austin took two crystals that contained dense vital energy, from the Space Ring, and handed them to it. Letting out a cheerful cry, the gnome gulped the crystals down in no time.
Gnome made a noise and pointed at the valley.
Austin understood that the gnome wanted to stretch its legs and stroll around. Nodding, he asked it not to go too far, and then let it out to play.
As the gnome vanished into thin air, Austin retrieved a powerful crystal and began cultivating his spiritual sense.
Violet entered the Illusion Bead, convinced that her cultivating speed could increase while in there.
Half an hour later, Austin had absorbed the energy of the first powerful crystal and felt that the reach of his spiritual sense had extended fifty meters.
Austin wasted no time refining the second powerful crystal.
Then the third.
The fourth.
The fifth.
The sixth.
The stronger his spiritual sense was, the faster Austin could absorb the energy of these powerful crystals.
At first, it took him approximately half an hour to refine a crystal. But as time passed, he could absorb the energy of three to four crystals in thirty minutes.
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During this process, his spiritual sense grew increasingly powerful.
3100 meters.
3200 meters.
3300 meters.
3400 meters.
4000 meters.
5000 meters.
6000 meters.
Two days later, Austin's spiritual sense's reach had doubled. He could detect everything that was happening within 6000 meters.
Austin believed that his spiritual sense was now higher than most cultivators at the premium stage of Mysterious Realm.
He had used about eighty powerful crystals in the past two days. And now, there were only dozens of powerful crystals left in his Space Ring.
He took a deep breath.
He stood up and stretched. It suddenly occurred to him that he had seen the gnome only once these past two days. When it had noticed that he had been way too focused on cultivating, it had pouted and left again.
And now, he had no idea where the gnome was.
He unleashed his spiritual sense and took in everything that was within a 6000-meter radius.
A few seconds later, he spotted the gnome in a field near the low-lying bushes, eating something.
'What? It's a ripe fleece-flower!" Austin exclaimed inside, his eyes widening.
Gnome was sitting on the ground, its half-eaten food clutched in its little claws. Its food looked something like a human baby and Austin immediately recognized it as a fleece-flower.
Austin concentrated his spiritual sense on the fleece-flower and found that it had lived for at least 200 years. For cultivators, it was a godsend for their cultivation. But gnome here was eating it like snacks.
Austin shook his head, his heart aching.
'What are these?’ Austin caught sight of a pile of things in front of the gnome.
Out of curiosity, he looked closely at them with his spiritual sense.
"Oh my gosh! Arhat-shaped fruit, Seven-color Illusory Flower, Snake-shaped Yam!" he screamed. ...
Four or five elixirs that were labeled as rare were on sale in the Sky Dragon Elixir Shop headquarters. But right now, they were scattered on the ground before the gnome. It looked like the gnome didn't realize what its food actually was. It was just enjoying its lunch leisurely.
It ate noisily and looked very satisfied with its food.
Soon, the gnome had finished its meal, having swallowed all of the expensive rare elixirs.
Austin estimated that the gnome's lunch had roughly cost tens of thousands of crystals.
He shook his head yet again, speechless.
In the following days, Austin started cultivating his Wind-commanding Skill.
He reached the third stage of this skill, Using the Wind. Right now, his stride was 110 meters long.
He kept flying around the valley to practice this stage.
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Using the Wind meant that the practitioner needed to utilize the wind to help him move forward.
Since he had perfectly mastered Feeling the Wind and Knowing the Wind, Austin didn't have any trouble practicing Using the Wind. Even in an environment where other people couldn't feel the wind, he could detect the flow of air.
Even a wisp of unnoticeable breeze couldn't escape Austin. He could take advantage of this to move faster.
During the cultivation, he ran without a break, which seemed energy-consuming. But the truth was, he only used a little of his energy and made full use of the wind which was why he didn't look exhausted as he ran. He looked rather composed.
Apart from cultivating the Wind-commanding Skill, Austin also absorbed the vital energy of two vital energy crystals. When he felt that the vital energy in his energy meridians was adequate, he started to transfer the vital energy to the vital energy stone in his elixir field.
With enough vital energy, Austin wasn't afraid of using too much vital energy in the Outstanding Talents Exchange Games.
Meanwhile, Austin activated his spiritual sense from time to time to keep an eye on the gnome. And every time, the scene left him speechless.
The gnome had found many rare elixirs and eaten them without a second thought. By now, Austin could tell that the value of the elixirs that the gnome had eaten was equivalent to a million vital energy crystals.
'What a lavish little creature!" he thought wistfully.
Besides, Austin also discovered that the gnome was particular about its food. When it found its favorite, it would eat it all, and as to those costly rare herbs, it only took a few bites and then threw the rest away.
Austin's heart bled every time he saw this through his spiritual sense.
Soon, he stopped bothering with checking on the gnome.
Two days later, Austin felt that he had made some progress in Using the Wind, the third stage of the Wind- commanding Skill.
Now, each of his strides was 200 meters long.
There were two days to go for the Outstanding Talents Exchange Games to start.
Austin summoned the gnome after finishing his cultivation and hid it in Violet's Illusion Bead before heading back to imperial capital city.
A couple of hours later, he was back at Reuben's residence.