Chapter 39: The Jet-Black Energy

The mysterious white stone within his upper elixir field unexpectedly flew out of his body on its own accord, and with a soft whoosh, disappeared into the heart of the colorful mushroom cloud.

Roland was alarmed. He hurried forward, intending to retrieve the white stone at once. This enigmatic stone had set him on the path of a magician—he couldn't afford for anything to happen to it. Otherwise, he would have to laboriously absorb and refine fire elements himself, a method sure to drastically slow his cultivation speed.

But at that moment, the donkey abruptly blocked his path with its body. "Roland, don't touch that thing!"

"Wha—what's wrong?" Roland was startled by Little Black's sudden intervention, the urgency in its telepathic voice betraying a fear that he might touch the colorful mushroom cloud.

Little Black didn't answer immediately. Instead, it gently nudged a pebble on the ground with its front hoof, sending it into the swirling colored mist.

Roland looked on in horror as the moment the hard pebble entered the colorful current, it was silently ground into a small pile of dust.

He broke out in a cold sweat—if Little Black hadn't stopped him, his hand would have been crushed to nothingness just like that pebble the moment it touched the colored current!

Yet the white stone remained inside, safe and sound. If even a pebble was so easily destroyed, he feared the white stone would not fare much better.

"Uncle Cus, what do we do?" Roland asked anxiously.

When they first entered the cave, Cus had emerged from the white stone and marveled at the wondrous scene inside. Now, seeing his 'home'—the white stone—fly headlong into the unknown colored current, he was even more shaken. If the stone was destroyed, his soul would soon dissipate into nothingness.

But thousands of years of experience quickly steadied him. "Don’t panic, boy. Look—the stone is just fine in there!"

Roland steadied himself and peered through the colored mist. Sure enough, the white stone hovered motionless within, untouched and unharmed.

"Roland, watch this!" said the donkey, and with that, Little Black stepped directly into the colorful current.

"No, Little Black—!" Roland cried out in shock. He hadn't expected Little Black, who had just stopped him, to charge in so recklessly.

But inside the colored current, the donkey turned its large head and flashed Roland a toothy grin. "Heh, Roland, I’m fine!"

To Roland's amazement, a colored shield—the same as when they entered the cave—appeared around Little Black's body. The donkey was entirely within the colored mist, completely unharmed. Roland wiped away a cold sweat; evidently, the colored shield provided formidable protection.

The donkey walked two steps to stand beneath the floating white stone, then stretched out its neck and took the stone in its mouth. Turning around, it prepared to carry the stone out. But just then, Roland’s voice echoed in its mind: "Little Black, let the stone go. Let it stay in the current!"

Little Black shook its head, puzzled. Only moments ago, Roland had been desperate to retrieve the stone, and now he wanted to leave it? But obediently, it opened its mouth and released the stone. Freed, the white stone shot back to the center of the colorful mushroom cloud.

It turned out that as Little Black tried to carry the stone away, Roland sensed through a subtle connection that the stone was resisting—it did not want to be taken out of the colored current, pleading with him to let it remain. Since the colored current did not seem to harm the stone, Roland agreed to its request.

"Little Black, what exactly is this colored current?" Roland asked, puzzled.

The donkey shook its head. "It’s been here since I was born. The first time I ran in to play, this colored shield formed automatically around me, so I was never harmed. Later, I found that even rocks couldn’t survive inside!"

Roland nodded and decided to wait for the white stone to return. After some time, as the stone remained motionless in the current, he simply sat cross-legged, meditating while he waited.

Little Black did not disturb the white stone again but returned to silently watch the pile of colored eggshells.

Cus narrowed his eyes, observing for a long time before suddenly approaching the colored current. He extended a withered hand, cautiously bringing a finger toward the swirling mist.

The instant his translucent fingertip touched the current, it vanished without a sound. Cus snatched his hand back, staring in horror at the missing tip. The colored current could not only annihilate physical matter, it could even shred his faint soul body.

His finger regenerated after a few breaths, but he retreated, terrified that even a brush with the colored current would spell his end.

The white stone remained inside the colored current for more than an hour before it finally emerged, flying back into Roland’s upper elixir field. Roland ceased meditating, not immediately rising, but quietly sensing the stone for any change.

After a long examination, he found the white stone was unchanged; its corners, the white veins, all exactly as before. But just as he was about to stop, he gasped in shock.

"Boy, what’s wrong?" Cus hurried over.

Roland exclaimed, "Uncle Cus, the fire elements are being absorbed and refined by the white stone even when I’m not cultivating!"

Previously, the white stone only absorbed and refined fire elements when Roland was drawing in lightning or dark elements. Now, even at rest, fire elements were being steadily drawn in and refined!

Following Cus’s guidance, Roland entered meditation again. He discovered that regardless of whether he absorbed the other two elements or not, the white stone consistently refined the surrounding fire elements at a constant rate.

Roland was elated. Since advancing to a second-level magician, he had realized that reaching the third level required twice as much magical power as before. At the previous speed, the white stone’s absorption of fire elements couldn't keep up, and he would have to spend more time and energy on it. But after the stone’s transformation in the colored current, it now refined fire elements constantly, regardless of his cultivation state. This meant he no longer needed to focus on fire element accumulation, saving him considerable time!

After lingering a while longer in the cave, they prepared to leave. At Little Black’s request, Roland put the pile of colored eggshells into the Undead Space—Little Black said that when he felt homesick, looking at the eggshells would comfort him.

Just as Roland was about to exit the cave, the colorful mushroom cloud in the corner suddenly expanded, then silently returned to its original size.

At that very moment, Roland sensed a sudden movement from the strand of 'jet-black' energy in his elixir field—the one apart from the seven elemental energies—that had long lain dormant.