In the tunnel, the 'very, very poor' Leaf Gray was taking stock of his assets. He only had a little over two hundred spirit stones. He didn't know if it was enough to buy a technique manual. If it wasn't enough...

He took out the small bell artifact from his storage bag. This was a relic left by The Ennead Star Sect's young master; it should be worth a lot. If absolutely necessary, he could only use this to cover the cost. If that still wasn't enough, use the Metamagnetic Ore? He also had the storage bag of The Ennead Star Sect's young master, which should contain many good items, but unfortunately, he couldn't open it.

But then again, many The Arcaneum Gate disciples had gained benefits from him these past few days. By reason and sentiment, The Arcaneum Gate side should give him a discount, right?

Samuel Castillo sent another message, asking about his elemental affinity.

Leaf Gray truthfully informed him. There was no need to hide this, and a technique that matched his affinity was very important.

A short while later, Samuel Castillo sent another message, informing him that he would have a definite answer by tomorrow at the earliest, or the day after tomorrow at the latest, because the technique manual needed to be sent from the headquarters, which would take some time.

Leaf Gray indicated that was fine.

After ending the communication with Samuel Castillo, Leaf Gray stood up, intending to practice his blade work. Although there had been constant battles these past few days, he had never interrupted his blade practice because he could feel that this most basic training was very helpful to himself, and the key to this matter was persistence.

However, before Leaf Gray could even draw his blade, a tiger's roar suddenly came. Leaf Gray abruptly turned his head to look and saw Amber's figure scurrying towards him in a somewhat disheveled manner.

Evie, who was monitoring the situation at the other end of the tunnel, also ran over. After exchanging a glance with Leaf Gray, she vanished into the rock wall.

Amber ran in front of Leaf Gray, turned around, crouched low, its body bearing a not-too-serious wound, and growled menacingly towards the front.

A figure leisurely appeared from that direction. Leaf Gray channeled spiritual power to inspect the other party's spiritual aura, mentally deciding that if it was a fifth-layer cultivator, he would immediately retreat; if it was below the fifth layer, he would fight ruthlessly.

But after clearly seeing the spiritual light on the other party, Leaf Gray frowned slightly. Judging solely from the luster of the spiritual light, the newcomer was actually only a Spirit Creek second-layer cultivator...

What puzzled him was that the spiritual light on this person was very different from that of an ordinary second-layer cultivator. It was not only extremely pure but also gave a feeling of being very solid.

"Finding you really wasn't easy." The newcomer stopped ten zhang away from Leaf Gray and smiled slightly. In the darkness, his set of white teeth was extremely conspicuous.

The other party wasn't old; Leaf Gray felt he looked a year or two younger than himself. His physique wasn't particularly burly either. But just this person standing there so calmly and effortlessly made Leaf Gray's mind involuntarily tense up.

He had fought many battles with The Ennead Star Sect cultivators these days. He couldn't accurately judge whether a cultivator could pose a threat to him, but he had a vague feeling.

Being able to make his mind tense up indicated that this second-layer cultivator must have something unique about him.

"Mountain-Passing Tiger?" the newcomer asked, not waiting for Leaf Gray's answer before introducing himself: "The Infinitas Isle, Benjamin Patel!"

Leaf Gray immediately remembered Samuel Castillo mentioning this person to him during the day. He hadn't asked at the time what exactly The Infinitas Isle was, but judging from Samuel Castillo's tone, it should be a very powerful force. And a cultivator originating from such a force must have an extraordinary foundation.

So, after the other party finished introducing himself, Leaf Gray stepped forward, his long blade leaving its sheath as he charged straight towards the man.

Attack first, talk later!

He could kill fourth-layer cultivators while he was at the second layer; now that he was at the third layer, why should he fear a second-layer cultivator?

His legs, infused with spiritual power, burst forth with swift speed, closing the ten-zhang distance. A bursting sound came from Leaf Gray's spiritual apertures; that was the sound of the Spirit Gathering Patterns he had constructed earlier shattering under the agitation of spiritual power.

"Brute!" Benjamin Patel snorted lightly, unhurriedly raising his hand and pointing a finger towards Leaf Gray. "White Blaze!"

As he spoke, a point of fluorescent light appeared at his fingertip. The fluorescent light suddenly expanded, transforming into a sheet of intense white light that illuminated the dark tunnel, revealing every detail.

Leaf Gray was instantly blinded by the intense light, unable to open his eyes. In that moment, he felt like he was looking directly at the sun. Even though he closed his eyes immediately, he couldn't avoid the soreness in his eyeballs, and tears streamed down.

This damned Benjamin Patel was truly despicable! He hurriedly retreated.

"Earth Spike!" Benjamin Patel called out again, simultaneously stamping his foot on the ground.

The next moment, a section of earthen spike emerged from the ground behind Leaf Gray out of nowhere, slamming hard into his lower back. Leaf Gray, who was retreating, was thrown off balance, his lumbar spine aching sorely. If he hadn't activated his protective spiritual power, that hit might have injured him.

"Icicle!" A sudden chill arose. Benjamin Patel pointed a finger towards Leaf Gray. A sharp icicle, the length of a chopstick, shot towards Leaf Gray's face like an arrow from a bow.

Leaf Gray's eyes were still not open, mainly because he had been caught off guard and dazzled quite severely. Feeling the cold air rushing towards his face, he didn't think twice and activated a Defend Spirit Pattern, blocking in front of him.

With a bang, what hit the Defend Spirit Pattern felt not like an icicle, but like a huge rock. The great force sent Leaf Gray stumbling back further. At the same time, his cheeks stung as the shattered icicle left small cuts on his face.

"Golden Arc!"

In the tunnel, a golden crescent-moon-shaped slash shot towards the stumbling, retreating Leaf Gray. Compared to the previous few spells, this one was particularly powerful in terms of lethality.

The Golden Wheel Talisman that Leaf Gray had used before was actually developed based on this Golden Arc Slash as the prototype. The attacks released from the Golden Wheel Talisman were weakened versions of the Golden Arc Slash.

In terms of power, this Golden Arc Slash released by Benjamin Patel was even more powerful than the slashes from Leaf Gray's activated Golden Wheel Talisman. If hit by one unprepared, one might be cut in half.

The Golden Arc Slash was extremely fast, arriving before Leaf Gray in the blink of an eye. Benjamin Patel's lips curled into a smirk.

With a clang, the Golden Arc Slash was shattered by Leaf Gray's blade. Behind the long blade, Leaf Gray squinted slightly, his expression extremely grave.

The opponent was only at the second layer. Leaf Gray had originally thought that even if this Benjamin Patel was somewhat peculiar, he could still take him down. But after this exchange, he realized he was wrong.

This second-layer cultivator was different from any second-layer cultivator he had ever seen!

He had killed many The Ennead Star Sect disciples these past few days and had seen how The Arcaneum Gate disciples fought. Although spells were occasionally cast, they all required some preparation time. No cultivator had ever achieved the level of Benjamin Patel. The other party cast spell after spell effortlessly, with extremely high proficiency in those spells, clearly following the path of a spellcaster...

What surprised Leaf Gray even more was that the spiritual power of this second-layer cultivator seemed even more abundant than his own. He couldn't tell just by looking at the spiritual light before, but now that they were fighting, the other's spiritual power fluctuations were clear for all to see. That was definitely not the spiritual power fluctuation a second-layer cultivator should have; it was even stronger than some of the fourth-layer cultivators he had killed.

Combining all the evidence before him, Leaf Gray immediately thought of one possibility.

This guy cultivates a Heaven-grade technique!