Is that a Wisp?

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Time passed, and Krune's restaurant soon got busy again. The waiting list quickly filled after a few days. After all, Spiritual Chefs wouldn't become obsolete after just a few months out. Krune also began to try his hand on Semi-Divinity Realm ingredients, which proved to be quite hard.

Krune was successful in 40% of the tries, and they took quite some time to be finished. He deemed it not very suitable for the restaurant due to the number of dishes he had to make at the same time. Still, he wasn't discouraged. Considering that he was still in the 2nd Stage of the Divine View Realm, that was already a good result.

Nina had been helping him as much as she could. Krune also asked her to change her cultivation time. Before, she used 4 of her 10 hours of work to cultivate in the Energy Gathering Formation. But now, she spent the entire working day in the kitchen with Krune. Little by little, she got to understand how things worked. As for cultivation, Krune allowed her to stay in the restaurant for longer to use the formation. He also provided her with Godly Stones for cultivation.

He didn't think he was being too generous. After all, he really made Nina work hard every day. The extra Godly Stones used on her cultivation could be said to be the compensation for that. Besides, it was he who put her to cultivate again.

Lino, Nina's little brother, came to visit Krune after he came back. For some reason, he seemed even angrier than he was before. Still, Lino refused to tell the reason. Well, in fact, he would have already spilled the beans. But he Nina once again covered his mouth before he spoke too much.

The reason he was angry was still the same. He was afraid that Krune would be taking his sister away. During the time Krune disappeared without any news, he saw how worried Nina turned out. It was evident that she was still thinking about the time she spent in Krune's restaurant. How could he not get angry?

Even though Krune didn't use Semi-Divinity Dishes in his restaurant menu, he still went to the Spiritual Chefs Guild to take the test. As long as he proved that he had a good enough successful rate, he would be considered a Semi-Divinity Star Chef.

Later that day, Krune exited the Guild with his new badge. He also changed the mark of his badge on his restaurant's board to show his new level.

Iem also spent most of his time in the Formations Guild. He began to take jobs for Formations Masters now and then to gain Godly Stones. It didn't take long for the other Formations Masters at his level to take notice of him. After all, he was a Heavenly Race Member and a Heavenly Core Owner. Without a doubt, his talent was very high.

Just like that, three years went by.

---

By now, the Dimensional Realm where Krune and the others were before was already invaded. The demon beasts who reached the Semi-Divinity Realm at the very least got their sentience once the Heavens touched them again. As for the remaining citizens that were afraid of taking the teleport formations, they ended being guided out as well.

However, the Heavenly Fragment Treasure, Realm Barrier Dimensional Slasher, was nowhere to be found. The cultivators and demon beasts at the Nascent God Realm used all methods they knew to look for it, but it was as if it had never been there before. With time, the hype around the Trial Grounds' reappearance of the old Emukran Sect cooled down. The war that others were expecting didn't happen either. No one found it weird. That was supposed to be a fight for the Treasure. No treasure, no war.

There were several people and beasts looking for Krune and Iem as well. But because they had their appearances and auras changed while they were in the city, no one could find them anywhere. However, few believed that they got it. That's because both of them were only Divine View Realm cultivators, far from being enough to control the Treasure's sentience.

In the end, the search for them continued, but all the powerful cultivators and demon beasts left the planet after some time.

---

Krune eventually moved his restaurant to a bigger building. The number of employees inside increased to 10, 3 of them being chef's assistants. Nina, now 19, had been working with Krune until now, and she was seen as the most important member in the kitchen after Krune. The years of proper cultivation and learn were really good for her.

That wasn't all. Krune's support did wonders for her cultivation. The 8th Stage Foundation Establishment Girl from 3 years ago was now at the peak of the Divine Soul Realm. She already talked with Krune and will be taking a few days off to make her breakthrough into the Soul Forging Realm.

Her little brother, Lino, was now 15. His siscon behavior eventually calmed down, and he looked a lot more reliable now. Krune eventually hired him as well as one of the waiters. So now he also got enough Godly Stones for his own cultivation. At the moment, Lino was at the 7th Stage of the Soul Forging Realm.

Bai and the others also kept working there as well. Krune also never minded giving everyone guidance in cultivation. As an Elemental Major Divine Soul and Elemental Eyes owner, few could match him in teachings. Not to mention that Krune was already used to guide others to start with. Thanks to all of that, the restaurant workers also improved in cultivation a lot faster than they would in the past. As one can imagine, no one wanted to leave Krune's restaurant. They all put their best effort into their tasks, eventually making his restaurant one of the most sought ones for those at the Semi-Divinity Realm or below. Sure enough, Krune reached enough proficiency to include Semi-Divinity Star Dishes on the menu.

As for Krune himself, his cultivation also improved by leaps and bounds. Surprisingly though, Iem was not left behind in cultivation speed. Iem could come to eat Spiritual Food without having to wait, which helped a lot, and made quite a few jealous. That was the advantage of being the chef's friend. Of course, a great part of the reason was his Heavenly Race bloodline and his Heavenly Core/Divine Soul. As amazing as Krune's Myriad Energy Technique might be, he isn't a Heavenly Divine Soul/Core Owner, much less a Heavenly Race member. Iem was able to close the gap in their cultivation speed with those two advantages.

Krune and Iem were now in the 8th Stage of the Divine View Realm, and both were close to having a breakthrough.

One night, Iem and Krune were alone while discussing their next moves toward cultivation.

"Are you sure about it? It's not like we are doing too bad."

Iem nodded.

"I am. Although we have enough Godly Stones, we are lacking a lot of other resources. For example, I wanted to buy a Three Color Formation Core to use it during my practice. However, this was a controlled item that wasn't available just to anyone. I would need to be a Mortal Rejection Realm cultivator if I wanted to buy that by myself."

Krune pondered a bit.

The fact was that they were discussing whether they should join one of the Sects or Organizations available in Zamaria Planet. It turns out that Zamaria is quite a big world, with a few powers which even have God Core Realm cultivators and Demon Beasts as their ancestors. In the past, Emukran Sect had a Nascent God Realm Ancestor, but this sect had long since gone extinct. Now, those with God Core Realm cultivators or demon beasts are the ruling groups of the world.

Seeing that Krune didn't refuse immediately, Iem added.

"It's not like you didn't notice that, right? I'm sure that there were a few resources you had the Godly Stones to buy, but couldn't since they were restricted for vagrant cultivators. Am I wrong?"

Krune couldn't help but nod. In a place with so much Godly Energy, natural and crafted wondrous treasures that could help with cultivation appeared everywhere. Krune had already tried to buy quite a few things that could help with his cultivation, skills, equipments, foundation, etc. However, quite a few were not available for those without a background. At least, that was the case in the Zamaria Planet.

"Wouldn't it be too dangerous? What if they find out that we are Heavenly Fragment and Core owners?"

Iem the shrugged his shoulders.

"And how exactly would they do that? It's not like we are going to tell them. We only want their support. Of course, we probably are going to need to help them with some missions or tasks. After all, there is no free lunch in this world."

"There is also another thing. It should be several times harder to find a Heavenly Fragment and Core owners in this Realm. Don't forget that we only have Godly Energy here, no Spiritual Energy at all. That being said, I'm sure that there is no lack of geniuses who cultivate as fast as we do. Some of them might be even faster than us since they have better cultivation techniques specially designed for Godly Energy cultivators and demon beasts. Not to mention access to those resources we need so much."

Krune admitted that Iem as right.

"Luvile, what do you think?"

Luvile was obviously hearing everything.

"I believe he is right. There is only so much you can do alone here. As long as you are careful, it shouldn't be a big problem."

Krune took a deep breath and agreed in the end.

"Very well. Do you have any background in mind?"

Iem nodded.

"Yes, we believe we should join the Sky Shifting Sect."