Chapter 5535

Only then did he notice the heap of once-luminous celestial gems at his feet. Their surfaces had dulled to dead gray, spent entirely by the ferocious appetite of their training.

Flaxseed’s eyelids fluttered open. A faint sigh slipped out as he brushed sandstone dust from his robe. “Looks as though we drank every last drop of power those stones could give.”

Jared nodded, the grin already curling on his mouth. “True, but what we gained is worth ten piles of gems. We’re worlds stronger than when we walked in.”

Flaxseed’s laugh was quiet and full. “No doubt. Without these stones-and Pentacarna Tower-we would have needed years of sweat to reach this height.”

Jared rose, bones cracking like sparklers in the night. He rolled his shoulders, feeling energy roar beneath his skin like a contained storm.

A smile tugged at his lips, subtle yet irrepressible. Power, living and eager, thrummed inside him.

‘Enough basking,” he said, voice firm yet light. “Time to head outside. I’d like to know what’s been happening while we were buried in cultivation.”