<h4>Chapter 0260: Sneaky Gains</h4>
Pattern Genesis Tier, Third Pattern!
Li Luo could feel the new energy coursing through him, building him anew. His resonant power was on a whole new levelpared to what it was before.
And as a Third Pattern, he could stand against the top 30 in the Two Star Hall with sheer power alone.
Aplishing this in less than half a year at the Astral Sage College was not unheard of, but it still ssified him as one of the undisputed elites.
Li Luo was \pleased with himself. This was one of hisrgest jumps in recent history.
The onyxke had been well worth the trip.
All the pain he had been through fell away from memory as his sess glowed within him. If he had spent all his time in school, he would have taken two months to get this far.
As for other students, they might not match him even by the end of the first year.
That was how rare and effective the onyxkes were. To get ahead in this world, both luck and skill were necessary.
Now perhaps only Qin Zhulu could stand against Li Luo in the One Star Hall.
As for Wang Hejiu, Bai Doudou, and the others, they were already eating his dust.
Even at the start of school, Li Luo had been able to hold his own against them in battle. It had always been his resonant power holding him back.
Now that he could stand herefortably, he continued to absorb what other energy he could. The more the better.
While absorbing, Li Luo looked deeper into the dark abyss ahead.
The 38th step was supposed to be the limit, but if so... what was below?
On impulse, he flicked a Waterlight Bullet forwards.
Whoosh!
A bright, illuminating pellet whizzed off into the murky depths.
After a few moments, it was snuffed out by the energy vortex, but Li Luo could see a stone wall below, where arge, ck tree grew.
On the tree, there were ck leaves that swayed and rippled with the waves of energy, some of them being ripped off each time.
The onyx tree and its onyx leaves.
Li Luo also noticed that only the topyer of leaves were being blown off by the energy waves. There were many more leaves pressed up against the stone wall that were sheltered against the energies.
No wonder only two or three leaves blew out each time.
"I wonder if I can grab some."
Since onyx leaves were tickets into the onyxke and cultivation, the students outside were desperate for them. Each time, they fought like lions over the few leaves that were released.
If Li Luo could grab a handful here, he could trade them for Other fragments. Others could get their shot at cultivation, and Li Luo would win a whole bunch of points for himself. Plug a bit of that 100,000 point bank he needed...
Win-win, eh?
His eyes brightened with the thought, and he almost pped himself on the back. “Great idea, you!”
Without hesitation, hebined his des and sent a light arrow whistling forth.
Still, dreams were much prettier than reality.
The light arrow had only flown a dozen meters before it was lost to the buffeting energies.
Li Luo frowned. The energy disruption here was too strong for other energies to pass through cleanly.
It was like throwing wooden spears against a wall. No matter how hard you threw the spear, it was always going to bounce away.
So it wasn''t such an easy goal after all.
Surely he wasn''t the first one to have made it to the 38th step and think of this money-making scheme.
Then again... no one else had his advantages.
Maybe he could make this work.
Still, resisting the environment was tiring, and his dual resonances were more or less depleted for the moment. If he was going to make a move, any move, he probably only had onest shot left in him...
After that, he would have to leave before his defenses expired.
He lifted his bow again, this time with a sense of urgency. His two streams of resonant power flowed upwards, gathering at his bow.
This time his light arrow was much more slender, barely a thread of light that connected bow and string.
Yet on this faint thread danced more prative deadly power than Li Luo had ever summoned before.
Hum!
The bow sang, and the light arrow charged with blue and green shot forth. As it passed through the energy field, it flickered and wavered.
Still, this time it made it through without slowing, punching through many of the connections between tree and leaves.
Crack!
As nned, ck leaves were separated from the tree.
Whoosh!
The ck onyx leaves immediately took flight in the energy current, swiftly ascending upwards.
Li Luo had prepared silk strings, reinforced with resonant power, and was ready and waiting to snag them up.
He roughly counted them. Eight onyx leaves!
He smiled at them with a maniacal grin of greed.
And then a cold chill passed through his spine. Danger. He looked back down again.
He sensed a pure evil, emanating from the depths of the onyxke. And it was staring at him.
His scalp crawled with a prickling sense of danger.
He could not exin it, but the desire to get out immediately was overwhelming. He hesitated no more, kicking off with the leaves in hand, letting the current take him back up.
Faster, he prayed. The current couldn''t get him away fast enough. He didn''t even know what lurked below, but he knew that it was something far beyond his abilities!
...
Deep in the mountains of the forbidden zone.
A certain dark cave.
Crimson beast eyes red open with a feral growl. They were fixed in the direction of the onyxke.
The onyxke ran very deep with tunnels, and one narrow tunnel ran directly to the rubyke that it usually cultivated in.
It could sense a strange power thatpelled it.
Could it be... dual resonances?
Had another Dukee to challenge it?
No, this was a Resonant Master kid. But... with dual resonances?
There was thoughtfulness in the crimson eyes, a human-like intelligence that pondered the notion.
It seemed to recall something as its huge body rose out of theke.
A natural dual resonance user?
Well then. If it ate the kid, wouldn''t it move a step closer to Duke-level power?
Greed filled those eyes, alongside a savage intelligence that would stop at nothing to fulfill its goal.