"Aaaahhhhhhh."
Luck yawned as he sat up and lazily stretched. It had been three and a half months since they had left the village for Lysarrieth, and they had been making good progress with the lightning wolves pulling the carriage.
They would probably arrive at their destination in a week.
Which was incredible, considering the fact that the summons weren't that fast individually.
No, their sudden boost in speed was because of their proximity to one another. They essentially served as batteries to each other when they used their powers, making it more potent. And with an increase in the quality of their affinity, although temporary, speed would naturally follow suit, allowing them to break the sound barrier with relative ease. Even with the frequent stops they made at some of the border villages, their travel speed was mostly unhindered.
(I wish Mum could see us now) Luck thought with mirth. (Oh, how I would love to see that smug grin of hers get wiped off!)
Unfortunately, they were miles away from home. But he would make sure to call his mother when they got to Lysarrieth. Video call, in fact.
Yes, he was that petty.
Luck slowly stood up as he began to make his way to the front of the carriage, contorting himself into different strange shapes, so as not to step on his sleeping mates.
They deserved the rest after all.
The past months had been spent on the roof of the wagon. Despite its moving at the speed of sound, they all agreed that training up there would be beneficial for them.
Well, most of them agreed.
Harry was utterly against it at the beginning. He immediately made his stance clear that he would prefer to stay in the wagon and remain stagnant than go up there, where even the wind resistance could flatten an average mortal.
(In the end, we managed to get him on board as well.) Luck mused as he remembered how they managed to 'convince' Harry.
Yeah, 'convince' was putting it nicely. But if you drag a person kicking and screaming, and they come on their own free will the next day, they're convinced, right?
Anyway, Harry was right. None of them could even stand without the wind pressure knocking them like a piece of paper.
They never flew off the carriage, though, and that was only because Luck's improved shadow and gravity control, combined with their own respective skills, managed to keep them planted on the bone-white surface.
And even then, they constantly had to take healing pills because their bodies were systematically breaking down due to the pressure.
Speaking of shadows and gravity, Luck's control over all the sub-elements of Darkness had skyrocketed.
His splendid control meant he spent considerably less mana when casting spells, making his spells more efficient, to the point that all his regular spells had gained the potency of Rare rank spells and above.
It took two entire months before they could stand properly without being blown away by the moving speed of sound, while it took an extra half month for their bodies to actually stop taking damage.
Well, most of them, anyway.
Luck actually took half the time they did.
For one, his body was much tougher than a regular awakener of his level, making his body only sustain the occasional rips and tears, and even when he did, his Lesser Regeneration immediately healed, while slowly tempering his body.
Plus, his adaptation speed was further boosted by his improved soul quality.
So, with the free time his mates had indirectly given him, Luck trained his body in an attempt to learn how to control the sudden increase in strength he had received.
That alone took most of his time, since his overall physical capabilities had improved to where he could now fight early Enma rankers toe-to-toe with just his bodily strength alone.
The thought of it alone made him giddy with battle lust, but he controlled himself surprisingly well.
Anyway, when he wasn't training his body, he was training his elements. He had reached the next phase early, so he now had the responsibility of thinking of new ways to use his affinity.
Energy control was divided into five stages.
Manipulation, Control, Dominance, Sovereignty, and Supremacy
(Normally, awakeners advance into control when they enter the realm of high awakeners. After all, it all happens automatically due to the Inception.)
Even though it's rare, I've also heard about geniuses who advanced at the mid-level stage.)
What was he now that he had advanced in his energy when he was merely a low awakener?
"Ngggghh-kk!"
A loud snort interrupted Luck's thoughts. Glancing back, he saw his brother tossing around in his sleep.
Surprisingly, he didn't go and wake them. As he had said before, they deserved it.
They had spent the week sparring on the roof as they acclimated to the moving vehicle and its speed.
Yesterday, they had all sparred with him. The result was obvious. He had absolutely dominated all of them.
If before their losses were close shaves due to their talent, now it didn't matter what they did. They were absolutely overwhelmed and beaten into submission.
So they needed their rest.
(Now to focus on other things.) Luck thought as his shadow began to wriggle.
He had focused mainly on training his body, with his elements being secondary at best.
He had tried to add other things, like understanding the concepts that made up the divinity now inhabiting his body, but he quickly found out he couldn't do it.
It was way too complicated to be done as a side quest.
Now was not the time for that, though. Luck had recently reached a level of bodily control that he considered optimal, so now he was going to do what he loved doing the most.
Grow stronger.
Luck's shadow continued to quiver, but nothing rose out of it. Instead, a 'stream' of energy flowed out of it, connecting to Luck and causing his eyes to roll back in pleasure.
Even though Luck had barely practiced his elemental control, he had managed to make a few significant leaps in his comprehension.
For example, what he was doing now with his shadow was one of those improvements. Luck no longer needed to pull objects out of his Shadow Inventory to interact with them.
What he was doing now was relatively simple. He was absorbing the cores he had collected through his space.
Right now, the number of cores in Luck's space was simply large. It was large enough to fill the entire wagon and still leave a few hundred more.
So by doing this, he was effectively and 'discreetly' absorbing the essence while ensuring he did not discomfort his friends.
As he absorbed the monster cores, Luck began to distribute his stat points accordingly.
With the points he had gained and was gaining, it didn't take long until...
*Ding*
[Congratulations, you have reached Enma rank [Low-tier]!]
Without wasting further time, Luck opened his grimoire and checked his Status page.
Name: Luck Raizer
Race: Human Physique: Divine Abyss Physique
Rank: Enma [Low-tier]
Class: Necromancer Subclass: Phantom Warrior
Health: Mana:
Strength:90 (+15) Affinity: Darkness
Agility:90 (+15)
Dexterity:95 (+15)
Endurance:85 (+15)
Intelligence:100 (+15)
Vitality:90 (+15)
[Skills] [Titles]
Luck smiled widely as he saw his blatant increase in strength. The best part was that it was much easier than before.
His soul quality, coupled with his new status as the Apostle of a god, gave his body enough strength and tenacity to withstand the substantial amount of volatile energy from the heavy number of cores he had absorbed easily.
For normal people, growing stronger was never this easy.
(Now it's my summon's turn.) Luck, though, as the pages of his grimoire began to flip.