102 Simultaneous Breakthroughs

On the way to Xander's villa, the group discussed many things, such as their goals after college. Their careers were basically determined for them, as they have already decided long ago.

James' decision to also study Metallurgy was quite a surprise to Xander, as he had thought that he was going to focus on the business side only. However, when James explained why he was choosing that career, it was to benefit his business; more alloy derivations means more possible, marketable products, after all.

Once they reached the villa, they were all surprised to see Xander's guards, who looked quite intimidating and powerful based on the pressure they were exerting.

Xander and Faykes, however, paid no mind to them, as the former was their employer, and the latter had sufficient experience with them in the past few weeks.

When they passed through the main gate, they were surprised at how big and spacious Xander's villa was.

There was literally around 50 meters from the main gate to the main door of the villa itself, and the surrounding area was filled with greenery and flat plains, as well as plant sculptures of various animals and beasts that they had no understanding of, lined up in order.

When they reached the main door, they hopped out of the car and they saw it head towards one of the buildings in the villa, ensuring more shock in their hearts and minds at how extravagant the villa was.

For Faykes, however, confusion was in his mind. Wasn't the villa entrance shorter before? When did those 2 other buildings pop up from, wasn't there only a villa here? When did these plant sculptures pop out of? Did his villa relocate or expand or something? Could it be, he used his space powers to distort the area? Ugh, never mind, stop thinking about it for now, not worth the headache, Faykes chanted to himself.

If Xander could hear Faykes' thoughts, he would have rolled his eyes. He merely expanded the villa and bought several pieces of land nearby, then adjusted the villa itself. He didn't use any space manipulation to make the villa larger than it was supposed to be.

When they entered the villa, they were surprised to see how pretty and pristine the place was; it was all white marble, with the pillars and edges of the villa having a gray, marble-like coloring.

It had a high ceiling, giving a vertical feel, with a rectangular, oval shape overall. The black metal chairs were in contrast to the white, pristine feel, but seemed to get the attention in the room. The sofa set in the living room was pure white leather, with intricate patterns and designs that Xander's friends do not know what they stood for.

Of course, these patterns were produced after Xander had purified the power from Cenele, and rather than make a new set, he just let it be, as the patterns looked quite cool. However, for some reason, he felt there was more into the patterns, but he couldn't explain it quite clearly. The system was also quite mum about it, so it's probably not a threat to him.

Xander, acting as a good host, asked them,

"Would you all like to eat an early dinner first? I got some fresh ingredients."

They all agreed. Although as master magicians, they can stop eating meals already, as they can use the elements around them as sustenance, they still couldn't let go of the basic necessity that they grew up with. Probably in the future, they would stop eating, but for now, they still had cravings for it.

Xander nodded, and clapped his hands, causing two figures to appear, both in maid uniforms.

"Esta, Rosa, please cook recipe number 23981 and 45812. The ingredients are in the pantry and the recipes are also in the document I gave you both."

"Yes, master." Esta and Rosa replied, disappearing into the kitchen. Faykes was quite surprised because he felt that their fluctuations were several times higher than when he went here before. He remembered asking them what their cultivations were, and none of them were at the Legendary class yet.

"Guys, you can sit down on the sofa and watch some shows in Metflix, or go head to the garden and relax there, up to you all. However, please do not go to the second floor, or the basement, for your safety." Xander briefly mentioned, before he turned around and headed to the garden.

The others looked at each other before deciding to follow Xander. Of course, Valerie and Faykes decided to watch some shows instead. The other three were curious and wanted to take a look at the places in Xander's villa.

However, when they saw the garden, they couldn't contain the shock in their faces.

"So many…Class 6 and above plants…" Alexa stuttered as she had been exposed to identifying magic materials at a young age, and none of the plants in Xander's garden were identifiable to her, in terms of magic and elemental fluctuation. After all, she had been exposed to classifying Class 5 and below.

However, when Xander corrected her, her face turned more unsightly.

"Actually, they're all Class 8 plants, or so I'm told. Although they look quite mysterious, they produce good-tasting fruits and adds variety to my garden, so I'm not complaining," Xander shrugged, causing the other two beside Alexa to look weirdly.

Who on their right mind would have a garden full of Class 8 plants, which can then be sold or used for different purposes, and use them for the sake of diversifying their garden?

"Eh, wait, how do you take care of these plants? Do they have sprites or something? How do you ensure they don't conflict or influence one another?" Alexa asked, her curiosity piqued with the appearance of so many Class 8 Plants. She knew a bit about the birth and death of a sprite, mostly from a research perspective.

Xander shook his head, before saying,

"These plants don't have any sentience or sprites being formed. They're…quite special; if you would define them, they would be known as modified plants."

Xander, upon seeing the confused look the three gave, patiently explained,

"These plants were modified in such a way that they can have the longevity and elemental accumulation of plant sprites as well as sentient plants, but do not show any formation of sentience. I assume you all know that plants can gain sentience, but not form any sprites, right? My friend modified it for me, allowing me to plant them securely and safely in my garden."

When Xander said the word friend, he eyed each one of them, causing the trio to feel an unexplainable chill run down their spine. They had an inkling who the friend Xander mentioned was.

They all nodded, understanding what Xander was trying to convey. They were, however, shocked inside that plants could actually form their own consciousness without a sprite manifesting. Seeing this response, Xander then said calmly,

"You can go around and explore the garden, as nothing will harm you there. When dinner is ready, just come back to the villa." He then sat down on one of the fancy garden seats in the patio, overlooking the garden which looked like a fairyland.

The trio, although a bit scared, were excited to explore the garden, as it was their first time to see such an extravagant decor. The garden was bigger than before, actually, having an area of 1 kilometer. It was pretty big enough for the three to explore and take note of the different plant species present.

They had numerous thoughts running in their minds; Carly was innately curious because she felt that these plants didn't exist at all natively in Eteria. James, on the other hand, was thinking of capitalizing such resources for tourism or producing rare elixirs/pills. Alexa, on the other hand, wasn't focused on such things, but rather, the why and how these plants were formed.

What struck her the most was that Xander said these plants could never produce sentience naturally; does that mean, they can produce artificial sentience to these plants? If not produce, can one inject sentience to them? How would one go about doing this? What would you call them? Are they still living beings, or merely puppets?

Faykes and Valerie, on the other hand, were watching in Metflix a show about tertiary students facing problems in school, in their love lives, and their family dramas. It was a bit corny, with some of the characters suddenly singing and whatnot.

While they were watching, Valerie spoke.

"You're under Xander, huh?"

When Faykes heard this, he rose his eyebrows in surprise, before shrugging. He then responded,

"It's a price I'm willing to pay to be free." His voice was nonchalant, yet if one would carefully listen, there was a hint of gratefulness and relief, which Valerie caught on and was confused about.

However, she knew not to pry, because if Faykes was ready to tell about it, he will. Both continued to watch the series in silence. After a few minutes in, it was Faykes' turn to ask Valerie,

"How did you guess, though?"

"…instinct."

"…"

The two continued to watch. When the first episode was about to end, Xander appeared in the living room coming from the garden, with the 3 others looking disheveled and dirty. He then smiled at the two confused faces and said,

"Dinner is ready."

Faykes immediately stood up and headed towards the dining room while Valerie stopped the hologram projector, closing the application and turning it off, before following suit.

The 3 others who looked like they crawled out of a septic tank but without the pungent smell sat down in the seats, their faces plastered with looks of excitement.

Faykes was merely curious, while Valerie wasn't really expecting much about the meal.

However, when the twin maids pushed out 7 large plates containing their food, they were smacked silly by what they saw.

As the 2 plates were placed in Xander's area and one plate in front of each of them along with a glass of clear liquid, Xander introduced the dishes.

"The meal you are eating right now is recipe number 23981, or Roasted Mongol Phoenix sauteed in 7 secret sauces with mashed Barsley potatoes and diced Garland carrots on the side. The drink you have on your glasses is a 100% Life Fruit extract mixed with pure glacial ice water, resulting in a 1% concentration."

"Do eat slowly, and savor the flavor." Xander casually mentioned as he started to take a bite out of the food.

The other 5, specifically, Valerie and Faykes, were quite surprised with the food materials used.

"Er, Xander, this meal…you used magic beasts higher than legendary rank, right?" Valerie asked, a bit hesitant in her phrasing. Faykes and the others looked at Xander, waiting for his answer.

Xander, who was chewing a piece of the chicken leg, paused for a bit, and nodded, then swallowed the meat and said,

"Yep, the magic beast is a Demigod-9 multi-elemental being. The secret sauces are made from Class-8 elemental plants, while the potatoes and carrots are also harvested from Class 8 plants. They're quite good in terms of taste! You should try them!"

His face was quite happy as if he was just telling them a casual story. After all, Xander really did love food. It was his constant comfort. It was a different scenario for those who heard what he said.

"D-d-demigod-9 magic beast? Are you sure we can eat them safely?" Alexa stuttered. She didn't have much information about magic beasts beyond legendary rank after all.

It was Faykes that answered her question by taking a small bite from the chicken in front of him, surprising others, but then noticed that after a few seconds, nothing happened, except that Faykes' face looked like he was enjoying the flavor; Valerie and Carly, on the other hand, noticed that the magic fluctuation in Faykes' body was increasing, albeit in small amounts.

Seeing that Faykes continued to eat, the others followed suit and began to munch and drink their water.

After 3 minutes in, Xander had to give them a warning about the drink seeing Alexa about to drink the whole glass.

"I wouldn't do that, Alexa. It's better to take small sips. It's better for your body's safety." When the rest heard this, they looked at Alexa who was about to down the whole glass. The latter stopped midway, but her face showed a bit of puzzlement.

It was Faykes that then spoke up,

"Xander, is this from the same fruit you offered me before?"

"Well, yes, albeit aged older and its essence is much thicker, which is why I had to dilute it to 1% of its original potency by mixing it to pure glacial ice water. If you ate the whole fruit's essence, it wouldn't take more than a second for your current body to explode from the overwhelming potent elemental energies inside the fruit. After all, you need to be at least a Mythic-9 to actually eat the fruits." Xander said calmly, continuing to eat. He was nearly done with the first dish, with only a few more meat pieces left.

Faykes nodded, before inwardly thanking the mysterious universe that he didn't choose the fruits as a reward.

During the early dinner, It was Alexa and James who initiated the conversation about different things, causing everyone to participate, with Xander dropping his opinions and ideas about these once in a while, surprising others with his different perspective about the topics.

Around 20 minutes later, everyone was quite full, their bodies filled to the brim with magic and elemental energy from the food they just ate and drank.

Xander then mentioned to them,

"Guys, go to the open field once you're finished digesting the meal. I'll be giving the gifts to each of you at that time. Make sure you're at your best condition, ok."

When they heard this, they all nodded in response to Xander, before focusing their mind and body to undergo Magic meditation.

Xander, upon seeing this, shook his head wryly and headed to the open field. He knew it would take around an hour or two for them to digest the meal. He wouldn't be surprised if all of them ranked up, using this opportunity to integrate their other newly-created Master rank spells. They were currently all Master-2, with Faykes being Master-5 and Valerie being Master-3 stage.

The different degrees of their cultivation speed speak volumes about their determination and innate talents.

Time passed by, and Xander was merely waiting in the open field, wherein there was a 100-meter radius arena. It's been an hour and a half, and they're not yet finished?

Xander was a bit confused and looked using [Divine Eyes], and saw that there were multiple colored rays of light coalescing around each one of them, and these rays of light were interacting with one another, creating a synergistic effect.

Xander was a bit surprised, as he didn't expect that the group would actually create a magic phenomenon called elemental resonance meditation state, or ERMS. Xander himself had only heard and saw recordings of what this state was, and according to research done by the empires he visited, this phenomenon only occurs between people with uninhibited trust or those with a direct bloodline with one another. It's unlikely they had the same parents, so did they trust each other already to that point? Hmm, there might be another factor that I might not have read yet, or maybe… completely unknown yet to these empires?! Xander thought to himself.

ERMS has a lot of benefits for those who participate in them, specifically, a permanent boost in one's comprehension and mastery speed of their primary elements. At the same time, when this phenomenon was observed for those in the Master class, their spell foundations improved in terms of age as well.

He was now in the dilemma of whether he should accelerate the time where they were in since ERMS can last from a day to a decade or even more. What was weird with ERMS was that the body undergoes suspended animation, meaning they don't age or undergo normal biological/non-biological functions. This was tested by the Cerulean empire, who wanted to mass-produce the phenomenon but ended up in failure as those who forcefully underwent ERMS had developed magic psychosis and self-destructed.

Hmm, there's still class tomorrow, so I really can't wait for them to finish. Oh well, I'll accelerate the time around them then, Xander thought to himself, before moving his finger for a bit, creating a time-accelerated area in the dining room. They were the only ones there anyway, with the twins being in the kitchen, practicing their cooking.

He accelerated the time with a ratio of 1 second: 15 years in the whole dining room. With his improved control over space-time, he could already do a micro-control of the time-accelerating/slowing/stopping/reversal fields, isolating certain parts of the space from its effects.

1 second passed. They were still not done. While this was happening, Xander was using the System and his accelerated thought processing to take in vital information about ERMS.

2 seconds passed. Not yet done. It's been 30 years.

3 seconds passed. Still not finished.

5 seconds passed. Still not finished. Hmm, could it be the number of participants in ERMS will increase the period of time the phenomenon occurs? Interesting.

8 seconds passed. Still not done. All of them had reached the Transcendental foundation with their spell foundations. 120 years.

10 seconds passed. Still not done. Damn, how long will this take? I planned to give them each a gift to help them boost their foundation and comprehension; I guess I don't have to help anymore, Xander thought to himself.

20 seconds passed. Still not done. Its' been 300 years.

30 seconds passed. 450 years.

40 seconds passed. 600 years. Not yet done. Interesting elemental and magical data. From the scan the system has done, they are rapidly increasing the comprehensions for their primary elements, to the point that they have at least formulated at least 2 spells.

50 seconds passed. 750 years. Not yet done? Sheesh. Faykes already broke through to the Immortal Foundation, the same foundation that I have, Xander muttered to himself. He felt a bit jealous to be honest, that he wasn't included in such a magic phenomenon.

60 seconds passed. 900 years. Wait. Finally, they're opening their eyes. Immediately, Xander canceled the time acceleration, causing the very dense collection of elemental and magic energy to gravitate to their bodies and to the surroundings. However, the system and Xander didn't stop collecting data on what was happening to their bodies.

After a while, they all opened their eyes, a bit disoriented. They felt like such a long time had passed, but when they checked the clock in the dining room, only an hour and a half had passed.

Then, they remembered that Xander was waiting for them in the field. They all left the dining area and headed to the field, not noticing that the air around their previous location was rapidly reversing, as if… they were moving in reverse.

In a few seconds, they finally reached the field Xander was talking about, and they saw a grassy field with a circular arena in the middle, covering most of the space.

Xander was atop the arena, sitting cross-legged, reading something in his communicator.

Alexa shouted, trying to catch his attention.

"Yo, Xander! We're here already! Sorry for the delay, haha!"

"Hmm? Not at all. Congratulations by the way, for the massive improvement of your foundations."

When they heard the words Xander said, they were confused for a while, before realization dawned on their faces. They instantly used their magic perception to observe their bodies and their spells circling the life essence doll and was surprised to see the changes. From their pale white color, the spells circling their life essence dolls were now colored silver with a heavy tint of gold.

However, they were a bit confused, because they don't know what the rank of their foundation is.

It was then Xander answered their confused looks.

"You all basically surpassed the Perfect foundation, reaching Transcendental foundation. If the color is silver with a heavy tint of gold, it means your foundation is roughly 900 years old. If the color is pure gold, then it means you have reached the Immortal Foundation, surpassing 1,000 years."

"Transcendental Foundation allows you to fight 3 ranks above your current stage and win. Immortal Foundation allows you to fight 6 ranks above your current stage and win."